Jubilee Lecture Series - Part II

In January, I was privileged to attend the launching of the Golden Jubilee Lecture Series, which was christened by the first public speaking engagement given by Kofi Annan since leaving his post as UN Secretary General. While the speech was impressively precise in evaluating the state of affairs on the continent, and major areas of concern, it was just as much the celebration of the homecoming of a national hero.

The actual lecture series has twelve dates (the last Thursday of each month), and will cover a holistic range of topics exploring all facets of Ghana @ 50.

Last night, the topic was “The Struggle for Independence: 1947-1957”. While the venue was the same (Accra International Conference Centre), the atmosphere was toned down. The premises was not swarming with soldiers, the numerous entourages of luxury vehicles were not present, the jubilant welcome and introduction were replaced by a monotone welcome, the musical interludes in the program were skipped, and the full house was scaled back by half.

I sat with Adwoa, and awaited Henrietta and her friend in that auditorium that is growing more and more familiar (I saw Jay-Z there too).

After a lengthy welcome, which surpassed the length of Kofi Annan’s previous lecture (giving his own speech on the topic and listed every step of education, position held, honour received, and many of written publications of the speaker), Dr. Yaw Saffu stepped forward to the podium.

As a doctor of philosophy, Dr. Saffu interested me; I knew very little about the years that preceded Kwame Nkrumah’s March 6^th declaration that Ghana was “free forever”.

Over the course of the next 90 minutes, Dr. Saffu – in meticulous detail - went through every piece of legislation, every significant meeting/conference/convention, the evolution of political alliances and animosities between many key figures, and the major events which pushed forward (by over thirty years) the British ‘willingness’ to loosen their colonial reigns and make way for self-government, and made Ghana the continent’s first.

While absorbing all of that information would be difficult for even the most enthusiastic of political and policy junkies, his work is commendable. Previously, much of the information that he presented was to be found in bits in pieces in sources ranging from rare books no longer published, copies of newspapers from that era, the records of British colonial authorities and political parties (some of which have now disbanded), and a great deal in the memories and stories of those who witnessed and took part in those events. Putting it all together in a clear, chronological, singular source is a remarkable feat and a gift to the nation.

He traced the events and riots that put pressure on the British authorities to relinquish power to moderate domestic authorities (mainly chiefs), the rise of criticism and eventual rejection of this system which only modified colonialism, the repression of the unions and leaders that mobilized this dissent, and the eventual achievement of independence. The speech also traced Kwame Nkrumah as the central character, illustrating his ability to mobilize the masses as an upstart outsider in the political realm, explaining what led to him becoming a political prisoner, following how he became Prime Minister under a colonial reworking of the Gold Coast, and then to the final destination as the nations first president.

After that mountain of facts, the audience was clearly relieved that the long winded chair of the event conceded that he need not say anything more on the subject.