Can The Black Man Ever Manage His Own Affairs?

I have made an ugly observation over the years. Almost all African countries have the same (or similar) problems. The crisis of Nigeria is most likely to be the same crisis Botswana is facing. The greed of the leaders of Ghana likely runs in the veins of those in Kenya. The ordinary citizens of Togo are almost as indisciplined as those in Malawi. The African’s problem is the same wherever Africans find themselves!

Kwame Nkrumah believed that the black man could manage his own affairs. That was an audacious faith he had. But… was he over-dreaming when he was betting his last pesewa on the capabilities of his kinsmen? When he was envisaging the power in the collective efforts of black people, was he over-measuring the worth of that power?

Each day, I ponder over our state as a state and wonder if it was worth fighting for independence. Decades after our supposed freedom, I keep wondering whether we were better off under white oppression or the current black one. We assumed our own would take us to our promised land only for us to face the ugly truth of being promised a coming Savior every 8 years.

If you mean well for this nation, you should be genuinely concerned about our future. Would we ever enjoy a certain better future in our lifetime? Or, would it keep getting worse year after year? Would we stand aloof as our kind of retrogressive politics tears us apart day after day? How could a nation with everything almost always end up with nothing?

The black man is so blessed yet looks so cursed. Regardless of the number of mineral resources we discover as a people, we somewhat always remain poor. We have gold in abundance but our minimum wage is a pittance. If God created humanity with soil, was the black man’s soil any different from what was used to make others?

Our young men are starving from joblessness. Our young women are bowing down to the ills of society because having a decent job has also become a prayer point. Growing up, they said education was the key. I wonder if it still is because many young educated people are still knocking at the door of their first job decades after completing their first degree. Many have been forced to become hand-to-mouth entrepreneurs because their hands have been tied by an unproductive system!

Today, almost every young African man and woman badly wants to jakpa ─ travel overseas. Some would sell their conscience to do so. Others will use the arid deserts and stormy seas even if they will die trying to. After all, the promised land our independence promised us… never was. And yes, it is better to be a slave in a strange land than be one in your homeland.

The black man is not the white man’s subordinate. But… I wonder if the former can determine his own fate like the latter. Many of our leaders have traveled abroad before. Many of our lecturers have been exposed to what their colleagues are doing overseas. Is replicating the systems and structures here too much to ask for? If discipline and accountability have brought others thus far, is it too much to impose such on us and, especially, themselves?

Can the black man manage his affairs? Can the black man place the needs of others above theirs? It is 2024, and we cannot even manage our water resources. All of them are poisoned ─ a nation on a journey of mass suicide. Politicians are beautifully playing the blame game while our environment painfully punishes us.

Was Kwame Nkrumah daydreaming when he was boasting about the prowess of the black man? Today, no single sector of our economy can boast of flawlessness. Sports? Our poor selves cannot even maintain our pitches. Health? Hospital beds are still being rationed like our power supply. Education? Well, we still keep shuttling between different systems at the whim of the government in power. Theater? The whole nation has a single theater!

We need a National Day of Mourning on our national calendar ─ a day when we would all be in our mourning clothes and reflect on how far we have come despite how much we have been blessed with. On this day, we all would reflect on how we have collectively contributed to set this nation on its path of self-destruction.

On this day, we would collectively diagnose our problems and proffer solutions because it beats every imagination how one sector cannot be singled out and referred to as an exception. Isn’t it ironic how our fire service outfit, for example, never has enough water to fight fire? Is it not laughable how our problems never get solved?

How can a people have so much yet so little at the same time? Even the little we have goes to waste year after year courtesy of our poor maintenance culture.

The black man is indeed capable of managing his affairs. One day, we will get to our promised land. However, it will take you and me to mold that promised land together. And… it can happen in our lifetime. Each day, our actions and inactions either take us to or away from this beautiful promised land.

Each morning, sincerely ask yourself, “If I were at the helm of affairs, could I have managed our affairs better?” If you squander the little opportunities that everyone could benefit from, you are not any different from those you criticize. If you sell these opportunities on your bed of immorality, you will do worse when given more power. Who we would be when at the top is who we were when at the bottom.

The black man is not someone at the top. It is not a man in a distant place. It is you… and me. Can we manage our affairs in our little spaces?

Kobina Ansah is the Chief Scribe of Scribe Productions, an Accra-based theatre production house (www.scribeproductions.com).