The Red Apples (part 75)

The Red Apples (part 75)
The morning heat at Coco Beach was too much for a few of his guests. He avoided with great care to smile about some guests sweating as the day had just begun. The question of who they had enjoyed the traditional African breakfast the response was simple, they put through thumbs up with no exception. Fred the bus driver was an old friend of Oliver Odhiambo. Most of the tours he undertook with foreigners were with Fred. Fred a father of two widowed like Oliver Odhiambo was a very quiet person gifted with the important talent in his job not to remember words that were spoken. In that regard, he could have been a priest as well. He helped the guests to find their seats. And off they went.

Eric from Basel in the heart of Switzerland the only single in the group asked Oliver Odhiambo to sit next to him in the third row. As a retired banker with UBS, he wanted to know how Ghana could make a U-turn and become a financial powerhouse and in conjunction with new values of humanity the leader of the New African Union and subsequently through it the world ruler.

Oliver Odhiambo laughed while seeing a friend passing by with his classic Rolls Royce II from nineteen hundred fifty-nine still in excellent shape. He waved and signaled him that the suggested meeting in his friend‘s house in one week would be okay with him.

„Now, that is easy to understand,' said Oliver Odhiambo who started his favorite tour to lecture foreigners. The bus passed Korle-Bu which had developed into the largest hospital in the African continent a leading health facility to have seen cures against numerous medical issues overtaking Cape Town. It was a reference hospital for the Charite in Berlin with many German students completing their studies.

„I can’t wait to hear,“ smiled Eric and sat back comfortably in his seat.

„Now…right after his election King David put his thinking into motion. Long before he became King he knew that the white man came to Africa only for our rich mineral resources and to Ghana for our cocoa and slaves. At first, they decided to take out from us what we had. Then they went a step further and saw in our people buyers of the products for which they used our natural resources. Especially the Chinese dumped their cheap products in Africa. Others came with services and great projects to make money out of us. The money they paid for the natural resources they wanted to get back from us was not by stealing too much but by selling their goods and services to us. Our greedy and corrupt leaders opened the door for such a practice. But…,“ Oliver Odhiambo attended to Madam Winter from Leeds who did not feel well as using a bus for long never made her feel comfortable.

After his return from the eighth row, Oliver Odhiambo continued: “King David knew our natural resources were not endless. He predicted very precisely that by the time Africa's soil got emptied completely no more mineral resources to harvest. Before that moment came our oil and gas reservoirs were empty already and the small pockets left were no longer wanted by the traditional or recent buyers. He knew that a problem a serious problem was about to hit Africa hard.

Only through the selling of natural resources, most African countries were able to trade with foreign countries. Leaders of Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and so many more had no vision to transform their economies and be self-sufficient enough to generate national income for Africa to be independent and at the same time to do business with the outside world.

His main priority was focused on the New African Union of cooperative selflessly working nations with good-minded Kings. With the help of history and guided by God as in his grace and mercy, he trusted always…so he saw the African inner market as his priority. Leading Africa by example made him change by force…the force of a caring father of course…stimulated innovation, gave space to creative minds, promoted entrepreneurship over civil servants, and saw and used agriculture as the foundation of any healthy and prosperous society, gave room for thinking outside the box, allowed tries and failures to make with lessons to learn from.

He maintained a wise balance between force and letting people be creative and free to go their way. His communication skills were a reflection of his being a very humble person and his unshaken determination to achieve excellence for our nation Ghana and the whole of Africa. But please excuse me… Madam Winter…,“ he got off and left to the back of the bus.