#THEBIZMICGOTTHINGSTOSAY PART 1(B): BEST DECISION EVER!

Its all part of the Plan!

As it turns out, coming back home was the best decision I have ever made in my whole life. I am now over the crisis that was my premature “akwaaba”, taken from another perspective it was pure destiny. I am still not over the trauma of the local educational system I had to wade back into and the ensuing long and painful readjustment phase; lets just call it a process of reverse culture shock. I have still not fully come to terms with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Sorrows and Tears (KNUST) and until I do, I shall not write much about it; save the necessity of inking that degree onto my CV. I mean I remember how the Frankly Unaccomplished Cabal Keeping Ebullience Radically Short nearly succeeded in preventing a conclusion to my quest for purpose; but like I said, now is not the time. I digress; the topic at hand is that coming back home was the best decision I ever did make. In retrospect I would not have said this and meant it the way I do now a few years ago, but still I can even claim some level of prescience. I remember sitting down with one of the dearest women I have ever met, a counselor at the International Students Office in ‘Cuse who took me under her wing and advised me against coming back to Ghana; she felt it would be a mistake. I told her, “Back home, there are far more opportunities and far less distractions for me; there is a lot less pressure and I really understand the system, I will be able to mature and fully realize my potential.” I was right!

I knew deep down that in the US, I would at best be comfortably mediocre, but that in Ghana I could be truly great; I tired of having to choose between being the token African dude, or part of the close knit African clique – after all I am by nature an outgoing loner. I realize now though that I came to Ghana at precisely the time that the country was on the verge of leaving behind its past of obscurity in favor of a more robust exploitation of its huge potential. It could not have been a better-timed return; within a year of my arrival Ghana discovered oil and I found my calling in life; to be to Ghana what Rockefeller was to America. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the plan! Since our discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities I have been learning and soaking up so much information and experience that in my own biased opinion, I have become quite an astute local expert on the nascent petroleum industry – at only 24. At the same time I was slogging it out with the academics, I was also running around busily building the right connections, networking in the business circles and getting practical on the job expertise the hard way; the entrepreneurial way. I am glad to say that bit-by-bit, we are bringing the plan closer and closer to its fruition, we still have quite a lot to learn before we get there, but it is nice knowing that you are way ahead of the game. Nowadays, I regularly meet a lot of people who are only now trying to do what was done years ago, or learning what has long been known; they are new to the system and frankly they are behind and will be playing catch up for a while.

It has not been easy at all, in fact at times I almost gave up and run away back to the States – I raised the money myself and seriously contemplated that possibility a few times. However I remained in Ghana for so many reasons; first of all I cured myself of some dangerous habits; certainly not all of them but a marked improvement from before. Also I fell deeply in love and suddenly had a reason to be truly happy for once, though that proved to be another failed attempt at searching for an extrinsic source of joy; karma is only pleasant to the guiltless. Thirdly, I made some great friendships with individuals who had been through similar traumatic experiences and they helped me to settle down and re-appreciate the sun, the heat, the food and the sights and sounds of the land of my birth. Another reason was the onset of the Global Economic Crisis, which had very little effect on Ghana but left the prospect of working and financing the rest of my US college education by myself and in such a climate very unpalatable. But the most compelling reason is that I had a very supportive family; the parental unit was constantly admonishing me not to blame external sources for my troubles, but to reflect on the internal causes for my mistakes and seek to correct them. Thank you so much Mum and Dad for not coddling me into a dullard but forging me into the man I am today, a man who can truly survive in any circumstance.

As I gradually went native again, I suddenly began to realize the vast business opportunities available in a region of Africa that has been enjoying some unbridled growth over the past decade. So great was this epiphany that I knew my destiny was to become one of the rising stars of Africa, but only if I put in the necessary quantum of work and sacrifice. Sometimes I miss the good old days when I was carefree and spoilt; but I am far better at being mature, thoughtful and meticulously calculating. I think, I plan and I execute with the calm and precision born of constant practice dealing with both structured and unstructured situations. I am equally comfortable in a Tro-Tro station educating passengers on the recent petroleum product price increments or negotiating a multi-million dollar investment with a foreign investor at the Holiday Inn. I have not finished paying my dues in the school of hard knocks but I can smell the faint fragrance of graduation into the Big Easy, so I have been spurred on even more. I recently read “Talent Is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin and became even more convinced that all this stress I am facing; all this pain I am enduring; all this sweat, blood and tears are not being shed in vain. I am not going to be Rockefeller without it. Please note, he begun working in 1855 at age 16 in very modest circumstances, and it was not until 1865 that he made the decisions that launched him on his career to become America’s first Billionaire. I begun my career at 20, I am four years into the hustle and I have not made much yet but I bet you that by age 30, I would have been already set on a similar upward trajectory – this is not a boast but a simple statement of fact. You see I do not only aspire to be like these people, I know in my very marrow I am capable of doing what they did or even better – these are the personalities that I would deign to compete with and nobody else.

And this is not simply about money or accumulation of wealth for its own sake, this is about showing people that it is possible to achieve anything that you want in this world if you are willing to work hard enough at it. It is about leaving a legacy of hope and opportunity to the masses of African youth who have little chance to better themselves and their circumstances. If they can be shown that they can make their dreams a reality through consistent hard-work and not via any shortcuts, they shall have hope and will be galvanized into action, into developing their nations and bettering their own circumstances. That is the legacy I want to leave this world with and I get personal satisfaction from knowing that I am trying as hard as I can to make this happen; and it can only happen right here on the Dark Continent. I only pray that God grants me life that I may enjoy the blessings that are still accruing and may He be graceful enough to amortize my sins.

Cheers,

TheBizmic

L.J.J @ 2:59am 14/01/11

A HISTORY FROM TIME PAST: AN ESSAY ON NKRUMAH AND GENERATION XYZ

Probably feeling himself small :)

“Kwame Nkrumah had been living abroad for twelve years, an itinerant student, invariably penniless but politically ambitious. In the United States he had collected degrees in economics, sociology and philosophy. To earn a living during student vacations, he had worked as a laborer in a soap factory and as a ship’s steward; he even tried selling fish on street corners in Harlem. Moving to London in 1945, he had intended to study law but soon became caught up in left-wing politics, befriending leading British communists and avidly participating in anti-colonial protests. “There was nothing to stop you getting on your feet and denouncing the whole British Empire,” he recalled. He abandoned his law studies but found it difficult to make ends meet as a political activist. Short of money, he would spend hours discussing politics in cheap cafes in Camden Town, only occasionally able to afford a cup of tea and a bread roll. When the offer of a job with the United Gold Coast Convention reached him, Nkrumah leapt at the opportunity." This excerpt is taken from, ‘The State of AFRICA’ by Martin Meredith. He was a man that believed in the power of politics to cause change, in his seminal speech at the Tenth anniversary of the CPP in Accra he said, “My philosophy, based on two axioms, has been clear from the very beginning, and it is quite simple: ‘Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto it.’ And secondly, we believe that. ‘The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.’ ”

The iconic picture of Nkrumah

When Nkrumah came back to Ghana, he was young but brimming with energy, ideas and ambition. He soon fell out with his colleagues in the UGCC owing to their very different views on how to achieve autonomy from the colonial powers. History remembers him as the liberator of the Ghana (then the Gold Coast) under the CPP banner making it the first country to achieve full independence south of the Sahara. He also built the Akosombo Dam, several schools, hospitals, roads, railways, heavily patronized agriculture, and various other community programs. But most importantly, Nkrumah used his new found power to encourage and support complete liberation for the entire African continent. Nkrumah was a legend among legends and in the age where the African was only beginning to release the shackles of slavery and realize his true potential, here was a man that was way ahead of his time. His vision not only affected the lives of Ghanaians but all other Africans since he turned Accra into the nexus of the African Liberation struggle, organizing conferences that brought together representatives from across the continent and nurtured many who were later to achieve prominence in their own countries – Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Joshua Nkomo (Zimbabwe), Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), Hastings Banda (Malawi), Patrice Lumumba (Congo), Holden Roberto (Angola), Amilcar Cabral (Guinea) among many others. At the height of his power Nkrumah was prolific on the international front, meeting with eminent personalities of all races and creeds to further his vision for the country and the continent. He travelled around the world bursting with energy, zeal and a magnetism that was unrivaled. He inspired, he motivated, and he fostered a feeling of pride amongst his fellow black men, that we were indeed capable of running our own affairs.

Despite all his achievements, Nkrumah was not perfect. According to Meredith, “Behind all the hurly-burly, Nkrumah was a lonely figure, distrustful of his close colleagues, rarely confiding in them. He enjoyed the company of women, but feared intimacy and declared he had no time to get married”. An English woman with whom he built one of the most trusting relationships he ever formed later described him as “moody, erratic, impatient and volatile, but also charming and considerate when it suited him”. Nkrumah was also known for his harsh treatment of his political opponents, and by the time he was ousted from power in 1966 he had already lost much of the overwhelming support that he had enjoyed in the early part of his political career. In fact in 1964 he orchestrated the passage of a constitutional amendment that made the CPP the only legal party and declared him President of both the nation and the party, for life. I was not there and I do not know, but I can posit that perhaps the trappings of absolute power made him loose touch with the people that he loved so much and it cost him dearly. In the introduction to Selected Speeches of Kwame Nkrumah Vol 3, Samuel Obeng states that, he [Nkrumah] was so reviled and rejected by his own people in his lifetime that it is a testament to his undying charisma that after his death he has been wholeheartedly accepted back by Ghanaians. He remains the greatest icon of love and adoration by all Ghanaians even to this day, and certainly remains one of the most prominent figures that our dark continent has and will ever produce.

Here lie the remains of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, forever Loved by his people

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Nkrumah has not been overthrown in a coup d’état supported by the CIA. Consider the aftermath; the vicious cycle of unproductive upheavals that brought the richest sub-Saharan African country in the early 1950s into abject poverty by the late 1980s. Consider also the plundering of Ghana’s wealth by various military regimes and the political elite that resulted in gross mismanagement of our resources, economy, politics and the very essence of our cultural identity. Sometimes I wonder but who knows perhaps it was all for the best; after all everything happens for a reason. But wonderment at Nkrumah and our nations past must pave way for the realities of the present because now I believe that we, the youth of Ghana and Africa at large, are at a crucial point in our history; a crossroads that echo the choices faced by Nkrumah and his generation: theirs was independence now or independence later and ours is development now or development later. We are the true beneficiaries of their bloody fight for total independence; it was their legacy and our inheritance. I say DEVELOPMENT NOW! Enough with the excuses and the blame game that all politicos love playing nowadays; enough with the corruption, cronyism, nepotism, and elitism that keeps the vast majority of Ghanaians, especially the youth in poverty and uncertainty. There has been enough time wasting and the we of Africa’s generations XYZ are faced with the huge responsibility of implementing system wide CHANGE because we cannot abide by the status quo – it has failed abysmally. And it is up to us, to seize the tools, the technology and the vast opportunities that the 21^st century has provided us to carve our own shining destiny out of the present rot permeating the system.

Africa's Generation XYZ.....The Hope of Africa!

However it is not enough for us to just help ourselves, as Nkrumah said, our development, be it as individuals or as a nation is meaningless unless it is linked up to the development of other individuals or nations. Ghana has enjoyed a relatively long period of freedom and stability that has lead to many socio-economic and political gains but even that is not enough. We must rapidly develop our nation and our continent but the present guard cannot do it. I think they know they truth of this matter themselves and they are not actively engaging the youth because they are afraid of losing their power. So I believe that the youth of today, the indigenous youth of Africa must position itself to use whatever means necessary to better ourselves and help others do the same; even if the Old Horses won’t give us way, we must build our muscles and shove past them. As George Ayittey said in his TEDGlobal ‘07 speech, ours is the Cheetah Generation, with whom lie the hope of Africa and we must take charge from the Generation of Hippos (aka Dinosaurs) that grow fat from the current mess and are quite comfortable with the present state of affairs. Like Nkrumah we must REJECT our past that is rife with poverty and chaos and embrace our bright and prosperous future; a future filled with promise, a future where we can catch up with the rest of the developed Global village. As our forbears will inevitably hand over the reigns of power to us, so shall we do the same to our progeny, and it is my fervent hope that we will be able to give a better account of ourselves to our children and their children. This is our chance; we must not waste it!

It is a momentous task but I know it is possible. Why? Because there was once a man who rose from selling fish on street corners to changing the destiny of millions with his words. This same man that went from toiling in a soap factory to hobnobbing with Kings and Queens; from not being able to afford a cup of tea or a bread roll to feeding a nation and freeing a continent. His name was Kwame Nkrumah; forever etched into our history books as a great man and a true visionary. He was just one of many that came before him and after him. If he was able to effect system wide change then why not you, why not me? It is not just our responsibility, it is our destiny.

We are doing our part on Nov 4 at TEDxHarambe; let us achieve our true destiny! Visit our site at www.tedxharambe.com for more details!

Cheers :D

DREAMING ON: HUSTLING AMIDST THE TUMULT.....WHY I TRY!

Le pays historique.....

I try because I dream. I am a wishful thinker at heart; deep down I am wildly optimistic. But all the lessons I have learnt in life have coerced me to build a wall of inscrutable sadness around myself. Yet however sad I may get, my hopeful confidence and enthusiasm to dream always shine through. I try to be infectious in my ambitions as well. I think dreamers like to know other peoples dreams as a matter of consequence. They do this to put their own dreams in perspective. You know, those deep down goals and fantastic objectives you had as a kid, but gradually are losing touch with, as you grow older. I ask other people what kind of life they envision for their future and they tend to give a safe answer; you know, the diplomatic response. The reply is always something sensible and expected instead of something incredible and juvenile. I sometimes feel very foolish because rather than play the safe game, I find Astons and yachts skipping all over the place. Hmmmm.....It’s really not my fault you know; blame my overactive imagination that is on a quest to build castles in the air and then proceed to wish them into being. If you are my friend you know as far as I am concerned Monaco is the place to be (probably because I am always trying to impress you with some tidbit of useless information about the principality) even though the closest I have ever gotten to this place is a mind-meld of James Bond, Wikipedia and recently Facebook. Actually Monaco is 641 miles (or 1032 km) away from London, I guess in geographic terms that is the closest I have been to that city-state. Oh, I almost forgot, I know this information because of....Google. Yeah, ‘technically’ Google is the closest I have been to Monaco. In fact courtesy Google, I go to Monaco whenever I want. I am amidst the tumult of 21^st Century Africa, and I dream of visiting some place in France so bad I find myself in random conversations telling people about it. I sometimes even wonder why, why there, why not somewhere else. I guess its an idiosyncrasy I seek to make a cliché, nothing more, nothing less.

Somebody drives one on the streets of Accra :)

And why, why am I always using words of Brobdingnagian proportions when I write, why bother? Its actually extra work you know. To find some obscure word that isn’t commonly used, string it with its brothers and sisters, and try to make them sing. That’s how I see it; I play with words the way physicists play with numbers. You put them together in interesting ways and then you try to convince other people that what you have conjured up makes sense and is relevant to them somehow. Maybe that is why I enjoy writing business plans because I like playing with both words and numbers. And it must be why I enjoy chasing business deals with such gusto because I enjoy playing with ideas; ideas that have a chance at becoming reality. I am not simply doing what I do to make money, no, that is not enough, not nearly enough. There are several easier ways to simply make money – a myriad really. But there is only one way to make an impact, especially a huge impact in the lives of people around you. And that is to look past the profit incentive, past the cash and dollar signs. I am not saying I don’t want money, I certainly do. But more so than that I want to positively affect the world around me, share what I learn, and show people that it is possible to succeed at anything, no matter how outlandish if you just try hard enough. I have learnt that the whole idea is to believe in yourself and never give up no matter what. That is why when people tell me to be less flamboyant in my writing, reduce the scope of my grandiose dreams or trade what I want for something less, I am obstinate to a fault. I really don’t see the point – personally – of wasting one’s finite time, energy and resources to merely exist safely, when one can truly live dangerously. Risk is always equal to Reward. That is why amidst this tumult, my hustle is to simply, try and never stop doing so.

I will try my hardest for supreme excellence because I can never settle for mediocrity. It is a very deliberate decision on my part to do so. I guess the norm is people grow and adjust to reality by downsizing their true dreams. They dilute their goals and they end up making it through this life safely but unremarkably. A few of us do the opposite, we do not adjust to reality rather we adjust to the fantasy we prefer to live in. We choose not to play it safe nor by the rules. Our whole agenda is to show that being unorthodox is another route through this life. A route that is fraught with so much danger and so much risk. A route that is most likely to end up in abject failure. And that is what most people see when they glance down this road, they see the path less travelled by and they shy away. Well, I tightened my belt, set my jaw and plodded on into the dusty winds. It is the avenue of tears and sorrows; where your confidence is sapped and obstacles beset you at all corners encouraging you to just give up. Yet I plod on, because I am willing to take these risks in order to stand a chance at getting the potential rewards. You see, that is all I will ever get if I try, a chance. The way I see it everything we do in life is a gamble, every decision we make will have certain consequences down the line. I would much rather play my game trying than not because the time we have on this earth is borrowed anyway. It’s not guaranteed that I will dream into reality but I don’t care because simply having that chance is good enough for me. Dare to dream and if at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again!

Cheers,

The Bizmic

TRO-TRO DIARIES PART 1: INTRODUCING PROJECT 4/11

Spot TheBizmic?

Things have really moved up into high gear of late so I have been moving around a lot. Since I don’t own a car, and my parent’s vehicles are off limits 95% of the time (owing to some bad teenage choices) I have had to consider other transportation options. Taxis have always been a staple part of my mobility requirements and they still are but their outrageous charges when you string the words, “Spintex” and “Regimanuel” in the same sentence encouraged me to master the Art of the Tro-tro. Seriously, whenever these taxi drivers first hear ‘Spintex’ I can see their eyes going dull contemplating the ever-present traffic, but when ‘Regimanuel’ follows, their eyes light up and some will even manage an avaricious smile and gesture me to sit down. That is my cue to release the fluent pidgin or Twi to let them know I am in for business, genially asking the fare before sitting down even as the price fencing proceeds. Perhaps it was the annoying nature of this constant haggling back and forth with taxi drivers over their hyper-inflated prices, or perhaps just the sheer affordability of the Tro-tro, that convinced me by and large to patronize them more and more. Now, I am a certified pro on the Spintex-37 Tro-tro route, I know all the bus stops. Though I am yet to figure out the mechanical jungle that is Kwame Nkrumah Circle, I have enough experience points to face the whole city in these rickety boneshakers. Alas, my knees, my butt, my back, my ears and my nose tend to pay the price but it is well worth the sacrifice – GH¢2 will fully finance the cost of a return trip home and still leave enough change for kelewele. Sometimes, I just love living in Ghana!

Then there are those moments when both the taxi and the ‘trosky’ become dim memories; these are the times when I find myself rolling with any of my friends who unlike me, either did not make those same teenage mistakes or have more indulging parents. I don’t think all the horses in the world can drag some of these people within a 2-mile radius of a Tro-tro station, they even tend to view taxis with such disdain – merely backups for emergencies. I understand them partly because I used to be a member of the “Ghana AC Brigade”, you know those people that talk of winter with nostalgia and cannot live without the air conditioners in their houses, their cars, their offices and yes, even their bathrooms blowing on the arctic scale. It is when I occasionally break into goose bumps and shivers in an air-conditioned environment nowadays that I realize how acclimatized I have become to walking in the sizzling heat that is the African afternoon and the sultry humidity that is the inside of a Tro-tro. For now I am juggling both temperature differentials with some practiced ease and this is all well and good seeing as I have taken upon myself the huge task of Project 4/11 which demands a lot of simultaneous troskying and dilly dallying with the Ghana AC Brigade. Consequently I have developed a very ‘balanced diet’, a heterogeneous mix of taxis, trotros and saloon cars. So when I am bouncing along in a Tro-tro, I dream of the days when it will be a mix of sports cars, yachts and jets; and when I am perched in a sleek saloon I stretch out my knees and lean back as far away from the AC as possible – I think I have found my niche in each setting.

Whichever environment I find myself in though, I am always preoccupied with Project 4/11 – TEDxHarambe. Thanks to the wonders of the internet and the blogosphere I was approached by the president of Harambe Ghana, Derek Nnuro, to jointly organize and host the TEDxHarambe conference – an independently organized event operated under licence from TED, a US conference where the world’s leading thinkers and doers – e.g. Bill Gates, Al Gore etc – congregate to share ideas on what they are most passionate about. In essence we are seeking to recreate the same unique experience of a TED event on Ghanaian soil, our theme for the event is “New Capitalism” seeking to spark a serious conversation among all stakeholders about encouraging youth entrepreneurship and social value creation. When I first heard about Harambe Ghana, TED, TEDx (x=independently organized TED event) and TEDxHarambe, I immediately thought where does BMIC fit in the equation. Well as it turns out, this was really a match made in heaven. “Harambe Ghana is a private, non-political and Ghanaian organization whose mission is to nurture a new generation of young leaders, entrepreneurs, and thinkers who see problems as opportunities in need of solutions and have the ability, will, and inspirational capacity to create long-lasting social impact.” Hmmm....rather much like BMIC’s mission statement don’t you think. Derek was a really cool guy and right off the bat I got the sense we could work together and make this program a prodigious success.  He had gone through the wahala of securing a license from TED to host a TEDx event but he needed someone on the ground with the experience and know-how to make things happen, be it via trosky or AC movement; enter TheBizmic. So he has jetted of back to the US to meet Obama at the Young African Leaders Forum in DC, wrestle with his people (Harambe Ghana is a subsidiary of Harambe Endeavor Alliance) and handle the international front in terms of the speakers flying in and what not. I am on the ground handling the local front tackling all the unending issues that crop up when organizing an event of this scope. It has been a few weeks since I got involved in this project and the momentum is gradually picking up as the team coalesces better and we sort out the workflow of this strategic alliance. Watch this space for more details on TEDxHarambe, the eminent personalities that are making speeches at the event, the who and what of the whole show. For now I give you the when, November 4^th, 2010, so mark your calendars people, you now know that truly, THEBIZMIC IS BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!

Tune in for Part 2 next week.

Cheers

Ghana's 21 Hours of Fame.......The Aftermath!!?

OBAMA CAME TO GHANA!......Now that he's gone back 'home', the mania, the glitz and the glamour have died down and practical realities are setting in. The question I have for myself and everybody else is this; how have we benefited from his 21 hours here and how will our lives change for the better now that his entourage is gone? What tangible gains have we made as individuals, as a country and as a continent?.....I've realized that Barack H. Obama summed the ultimate point of the speech himself, "We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans." So did this guy travel all the way from Washington to Accra via Moscow and L'Aquila to spend 21 hours here only to tell us a lot of things that are self-evident? Why would such a busy man, in fact the most powerful man on the face of the earth take such a humbling trip to a little known country in Africa which has little significance on the global socio-political kaleidoscope; WHY?.....Why not a bigger African country; why not a more developed African country; why did he choose the most boring place in the whole of Africa? No wars here; we have pliable roads, electricity, Mobile Internet and ATM's; many lovely hotels and its hot and rainy this time of year; in fact we are so boring that we rarely (if ever) appear on CNN or BBC!.....Why not Kenya, or Senegal which is much like Ghana in many respects? I mean, to be honest and fair, Ghana is neither the best, the richest, the most developed or even the most peaceful African country.....I mean Botswana is a fair example of another consistently democratic African nation......talk about South Africa, or Guinea or Nigeria (Ok....ok.....but its not such a bad place you know). I'm just trying to figure out all the other reasons for his choice apart from the obvious because the obvious reason has been bandied about for a while now but does not adequately address the whole picture.

I personally think Obama coming to Ghana was as much a personal trip as it was a political statement. He is a very astute and talented politician and his choice of a very small but quintessentially African 'success story' (by the relatively low African standards) for his first trip to sub-saharan Africa as the sitting president gives him and the US a great opportunity to kill many birds with one stone - commend Ghana, and vilify the so called miscreat nations; to affirm his own African roots and concurrently show Africans that he will not simply throw money at us simply because he is one of us; his trip also highlighted how truly safe and sound Ghana is especially in terms of its ripeness as a tourist destination (refer to I SPY....00.What is there to spy on in Ghana) which I think this was an intended consequence as well; but ultimately (and obviously) Obama's trip was to reward Ghana and Ghanaians for our commitment to democracy seeing as how we appear to be an island in a sea of poverty, tyranny and oppression.....right? Pardon my slight sarcasm here but it is important to realize that we still have such a huge amount of WORK to be done so we shouldn't be patting each other on our shoulders yet......we should rather saddle up for the tough times and painful choices ahead.

Another significant statement President Obama said was, "Above all, it will be the young people - brimming with talent and energy and hope - who can claim the future that so many in my father’s generation never found." This was after he had recognized the role of the members of parliament and the people they represent as the real purveyors of change; but he emphasized the role of the youth as the most pivotal in this century if Ghana and Africa as a whole is to rise out of perpetual poverty and over-dependence on inadequate Aid and Financial Support from the West. Essentially you don't have to be Nkrumah to effect positive change as well as succeed greatly in this life; you can just be yourself and hone your talents, use your energies wisely and never loose hope; if you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices and do the necessary work success is always inevitable. The main ingredient has already been provided by our politicians over the past 16 years - an imperfect but working democracy that supports the will of the people. We live in a country where anybody can laugh at the president's 'Ecominic' blunders, disrespect and disregard serious efforts by former regimes, where no corrupt official is safe from the media, where anybody can say and do as they like without fear of persecution and we take all this for granted. Consider China where even Facebook and Google are closely monitored and filtered, and insulting the political regime will subject one to severe harassment and persecution - overtly and covertly. It would be impossible for me to do this blog and state my true personal views if I were living in North Korea, nor would I hope to survive long if I were a Zimbabwean making fun of Mugabe's political mistakes and verbal blunders. Why concentrate on criticizing the bad when we can focus on utilizing the good and changing things for the better. We have here a peaceful, culturally rich and diverse, gradually improving socio-economic system that has reputable and working institutions (Obama congratulated these institutions even though they are inefficient for a reason; they work) as a basis upon which we can lay the foundation for our future success and wealth; the earlier you start building your house, the more resources you put into it and the better your plan the earlier your beautiful home is completed, the better it will look and the longer it will stand.

All throughout Obama's speech, I observed that whenever the camera's panned to the audience all one could see were 'old' people, the Giants of Ghana; the big people, the accomplished people.....The Dinosaurs......what a contrast to similar speeches he gave in Egypt at Cairo University and even more recently at the New Economic School, Moscow, Russia where he spoke primarily to students and the youth: their nations' future leaders - making similar profound policy statements to the Arab world and the Slavic nation - as well as dealing directly with the incumbent leaders.......I'm not saying that him speaking to the Giants of Ghana is wrong; it just appears as a stark contrast to what happened elsewhere, especially in the US where he toured the countries Universities and gave numerous campaign speeches. Discernibly with all the clapping and according murmurs there was a certain undercurrent of hypocrisy that wafted through the hall, for Some (but not all) of these same Giants are part of the very problems that Obama's speech sought to highlight and address; perpetuating corruption, inefficient bureaucracy, enriching themselves at the expense of the people they represent, begging for help when they mismanage things instead of doing their job well in the first place.....Some of these Giants are the problem but we are the solution because in time we shall also be giants like them. It is my hope that when that time comes we will be an even wealthier, stronger, more peaceful and democratic country.......but for that hope to become a reality the WORK starts NOW.

My challenge to myself and any youth reading this is simple; how do we claim the future that our forebears never found and are still struggling to find? Claiming our future would definitely involve honing and polishing our skills and talents for being young is like being a freshly discovered, unpolished, uncut and rough diamond; and growing up is the painful and difficult process of shaping that diamond into a glittering and beautifully cut stone that shines brilliantly always. This is a very difficult process to implement well especially here in Ghana and Africa in general where opportunities are easier to exploit and utilized by those with political and economic connections - but why loose hope when the whole world lies at our feet and opportunities abound and beckon - why loose hope when it is very possible and success is staring you right in the face......it is folks so don't blame blindness when Mr. Opportunity passes you by.......we can all create a better future for ourselves....Yes We Can.....YES WE CAN!!!