Tonight:
5°c
When Bill Clinton became the first US President to step on African soil in 1998, he chose the land of my ancestry, the nation many call the Switzerland of West Africa, Ghana.
Being the first African nation to gain independence in 1957, it seemed a fitting first stop for the president of the United States, a nation that many believe was built on the backs of imported West Africans.
President Clinton began his opening address to the people of Ghana with the words “Mitsea mu. America fuo kyia mo” (roughly translated as “My greetings to you. Greetings from America.”) He continued: “Now you have shown me what akwaaba [welcome] really means.”
But if Bill thought he was given a good akwaaba, wait until we see what's in store for President Obama and his wife Michelle when they arrive in the state capital Accra today.
As the young people say, it's gonna be off the hook, for no one cannot overestimate the huge enthusiasm the first African-American president returning to his ancestral homeland has created across that country.
I'm getting emails and texts from family and friends who say the streets are awash with images of Barack: it is as if he were one of them.
Of course we all know that Barack's father hails from the other side of the continent, Kenya, a country White House officials say is too unstable for the President to visit, but he is going to Africa.
And the popularity of Barack Obama throughout the continent is second only to Bob Marley, in my opinion; actually, I think maybe he's pipped him, at least for now.
I was in Ethiopia last year when Obama beat Hillary Clinton to the Democrat nomination to run for President and within a week, three Barack Obama cafés had opened in Addis Ababa.
I then flew on to Ghana, where the front page of a popular newspaper carried the headline “The woman who taught Barack to be black”, accompanied by a huge celebratory picture of his white mother.
A few months later in Uganda, I jumped out of my vehicle on a dusty high street to take a snap shot of the “Obama butchery” — strap line, “a better kind of meat”, next to a huge photo of the man and a leg of beef.
It seemed the whole continent had taken Barack's victory personally.
And why not? In this much-maligned continent, the sight of a child of direct African ancestry ascending to the highest position in the world has almost biblical connotations.
Africa has many presidents but arriving in Ghana today is the president of all presidents.
The welcome, I believe, will match the symbolism.
We are told that after having breakfast with Ghana's new president, John Atta Mills, Barack and Michelle will then fly to visit the monument that many describe as the symbol of the African holocaust, Cape Coast castle, the former headquarters of the British slave trade in West Africa.
Suffice to say, I have never walked out of the slave dungeons that held so many Africans at this huge “temple of pain”, nor walked through “the gate of no return”, the last point at which the now enslaved would see their homeland, without feeling as if my heart had been broken in several places.
No doubt as in Auschwitz or other symbols of man's inhumanity to man, after experiencing what I can only describe as mild trauma I have seen perfect strangers, tears still in their eyes, hug each other without exchanging a syllable.
A guide at the castle once told me that during the early days of the tours — just after the TV series Roots — diasporian Africans would sometimes come out of the dungeons, see a white person and attack them. (In typical Ghanaian fashion, the authorities re-trained the guides, urging them to use a less inflammatory description of the castle and its functions and play up the role of African complicity in their own enslavement.)
I wonder how this visit will affect the heart of Michelle Obama.
For although Barack's father was a victim of colonialism, Michelle's forebears will have suffered the injustice and pain of this specific enslavement and will have walked through a gate of no return.
But one of the most beautiful things about this trip is that their child returns, and as the wife of the most powerful politician in the world.
This symbolism surely will not be missed by Ghanaians — nor by African Americans back home.
As for the President, the visit to the former slave castle might prove interesting beyond the personal.
He has been quoted as being against reparations for the transatlantic slave trade, a move that has angered many in the powerful reparations movement throughout the US and beyond.
Slavery is still a hot potato in America and several US institutions have been already forced to apologise or have acknowledged their links to slavery.
From Lehman Brothers and Bank of America to Yale and Brown Universities, all have in some way set up “ways to repay” in the form of scholarships and the like.
And although the US Senate recently unanimously passed a resolution apologising for slavery and segregation, that is a far call from the national reparation many are calling for.
Any pronouncements on the issue by Obama will be read with interest.
However, overall this trip could not have come at a better time for both countries.
Obama will in one fell swoop symbolise the potential for Africa's rise from the ashes, America's push into a post-racial 21st century and — having recently hosted exemplary democratic elections — the President will highlight to the world Ghana's successful model of good African governance.
As Ghana's Black Star newspaper concluded, “Ghana is being rewarded for good governance, good economic management, and the rule of law.”
I have rewarded myself for nothing more than being happy, by doing something I said I never would: I have signed up to “follow” both Barack and Michelle on Twitter.
I figure if he's going to visit my ancestral homeland, I want to know exactly what he's thinking as he exits Cape coast castle and the extent to which the akwaaba moved him, and the people of Ghana.
Reader views (5)
Dear,
we are talanted to build our Africa together, every one should work hard to make sure we are the place where we need even if Barack Obama will help Africa still our power working,
Cheers
- Paul Harun, Moshi, Tanzania, 30/09/2009 14:17
Report abuse
A beautifully written piece. It will be a truly moving and inspirational event. Nothing has made me prouder to be black than seeing Barack Obama become America's first black president. All things are possible.
- Uvie, Beckenham, UK, 30/09/2009 13:17
Report abuse
Actually it is a shame the article did not give a proper mention to the work George W Bush in Africa, as Bob Geldof has noted. I think it is a shame that Obama is not focusing on the problems in his own country right now, where he has racked up huge debts for the next two to three generations without any significant improvements in the economy, and if the US fails, then so will its ability to continue helping Africa.
But Obama will never miss a good photo op!
- Stephen Rothbart, Prague Czech Republic, 30/09/2009 13:17
Report abuse
I saw a documentary of yours which mentioned that you changed your name in allegiance to Ghana since you are of Caribbean descent and therefore it is understandable that you feel nostalgic, but one should not forget the underlying motive for the visit. Don't get carried away because Obama's black he is also an American.
- Gina, London, 30/09/2009 13:17
Report abuse
Oh, sure! Haven't you heard about the 600 million barrels of OIL to be found in Ghana? Obama is there to get that oil, not to make Ghana a rich country! Don't you feel that Obama is a part of the US Establishment, and that he is NOT a sovereign president?
- Deshapria, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 30/09/2009 13:17
Report abuse
