A few years ago, I went to Accra to visit my godfather, the late President Jerry Rawlings.
As we chatted in his living room on history, religion, culture and youth participation in politics, he shared a story with me.
Something he believed led to the death of Thomas Sankara, former leader of Burkina Faso.
He and Sankara had planned to form an alliance (Something similar to what the AES has done) Burkina Faso and Ghana to have a common economy, foreign affairs policy, military, currency, etc.
They were still at the rudimentary level of their plan when Sankara made mention of it during a public function.
The following week, he was brutally killed.
The French "tolerated" his "excesses" but got utterly pissed when they discovered the plan he had with Papa J. In their book, he crossed the line.
Papa J shared some very disturbing revelations about the state of Africa.
There was a time he wanted to build a particular infrastructure in Ghana, he was told some vested international power did not want the project, he ignored the warning and reached out to the world Bank to help finance the project.
The World Bank gave him terms that were so unfair, it got him so pissed, he walked out on them.
He said: ''Iyo, I did not compromise my principles and I did not steal a dime from my people throughout my years as President and I can swear with anything.
Despite my opposition to their relentless efforts in caging Africa, a part of me tells me, they did not gun for my life as I'd expected, like they did to Castro, due to my white heritage.
I survived a few assassination attempts, but I'm still alive? Could it be just luck? ''
There's no better way to put it, we are not free.
Africa is not free!
We don't even make the big decisions that shape our economy, education, military and public infrastructure (except it benefits the vested powers)
All I can say is, Africans who doubt that the value and quality of their lives are shaped and determined by geopolitical forces are just ignorant.
They are oblivious to the true state of things and how Africa is constantly being undermined.
These things are no conspiracy theories. They are real and they affect you.
@stall0o@readJerome Even during John Mahama’s first term, his presidency was contested at the SC for nearly a year. Yet, even with corruption scandals then, they pale in comparison to what we’ve seen under Akufo-Addo’s leadership. In hindsight, Mahama’s tenure, even with its challenges was better