In honor of Ghana’s 55th year of Independence and women’s history month we honor and celebrate the daughters of Yaa Asentwaa- the image makers and global African powerhouses representing the future of the Black Star Nation of Ghana thru their powerfully creative endeavorers. March 6, 1967 Ghana was declared an independent African nation with the first globally recognized Black president who forever changed the global lexicon on what “Black Star Power” and “African Personality” was, is and will be.  Before Dr. Kwame Nkrumah stood at Black Star Square AKA Independence Square – there was Yaa Asantewaa who would forever epitomize why we call the continent with the most natural resources Mama Africa. Yaa Asantewaa showed why many African nations  are built on matriarchy and how the power of the women from village to city has always been there and will forever be there for the birth, nurturing , growth and progression of its future.  America may have Rosie the Riveter as their icon of unstoppable women who refuse to sit back  and be denied or have their freedom be deferred to their men to do right by them in a time of war; the women who gleefully say to their men anything you can do I can do better; however Rosie ain’t got nothing on Yaa.  Women of global Africa and in particular the women of the the Black Star Nation of Ghana will forever have the legacy and battle cry of Yaa Asantewaa empowering them in their sense of spirit and responsibility to building the future of Ghana as they consume & embody these words.

“Now I see that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it [was] in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokje, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king to be taken away without firing a shot. No European could have dared speak to chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight! We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.” Yaa Asantewaa-Queen King Of Kings…

Today we have great young women of global Africa continuing to build on this legacy, while remembering that Dr. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah said “Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.”

Get to know some of the many women who I call  ”Daughters of Yaa Asantewaa” hailing from the Black Star Nation…The work of Independence Continues……

Politics & Governance

By now most know that Samia Nkrumah has become one of Africa’s new darlings for the future of women in politics. With the polarizing Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the former first lady & founder of the 31st December Women’s Movement out of the running for the 2012 Ghana elections, many have their eyes on Samia Nkrumah to possibly be the first woman elected to Ghana’s presidency, following in the footsteps of her father & Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf & other women presidents around the world in also solidifying her place in the world record books as 1st. With the rise of Samia Nkrumah being elected as MP (member of parliament ) in her father’s hometown & then being named the chairperson for the CPP ( her father’s party ) along with the subsequent departure of Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, who was the CPP’s 2008 presidential candidate as well as the foreseen flag-bearer for 2012, there is now an opening for Samia Nkrumah to surge forward toward her presidential dreams & to follow in her father’s footsteps….READ MORE HERE

By now most people have become familiar with the ICC (International Criminal Court ) in its bias to bring only African heads of states and criminals to justice as representative of the criminality of governance in the world. While the ICC maybe criticized particularly amongst Africans for its apparent bias, today I celebrate one of our own Daughters of Yaa Asantewaa showing that in order to have a say at the table of power , one must first have a seat at the table. Get to Know Judge Akua Kuenyehia….

“Akua Kuenyehia’s office, on the top floor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, is filled with Africa. There are maps of the continent, African art on the walls and a shelf of beautiful African carvings…Judge Kuenyehia, one of three female African judges at the ICC, is first vice-president of the court. And because all the cases currently at the ICC are African, the Ghanaian judge feels that her knowledge of her home continent serves her well…For example, she and her colleagues had to approve the forms that victims of war crimes fill in if they want to take advantage of the court’s unprecedented move to allow them to have a greater involvement in proceedings….”When people run away from conflict they often take nothing with them, so we cannot ask them to produce passports, email addresses or paperwork,” explained Judge Kuenyehia…As well as being first vice president, Judge Kuenyehia is also one of the judges in the pre-trial division, which deals with preliminary issues, including admissibility of cases and the confirmation of charges against an accused. This means she assesses all the evidence that Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo brings against a war crimes suspect, and decides with the other pre-trial judges whether a case should come to trial…A former lecturer in criminal law, gender law and international human rights law at the University of Ghana, Judge Kuenyehia has co-authored several books and influential papers on how law is interpreted and implemented throughout her continent. She told IWPR she has spent many hours arguing over cases with her husband, who is still a practising lawyer in Ghana…She has sought to encourage African women to gain a better understanding of the law, setting up networks of female professionals who go out into communities to promote awareness of legal rights and issues…She represented Ghana on the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW, committee in 2003 and worked hard to contribute to its reputation and influence….READ MORE

Filmmakers

Filmmaking has grasped young Ghanaian women like wildfire in excellence amongst this new generation. There are a plethora of Ghanaian women filmmakers that are making their mark on the global film industry, while being in the forefront of building the African and in particular Ghanaian film industry, so many that I just can’t name them all, but be prepared to know their names because the takeover is coming to a theater/TV screen near you. We can not celebrate the future until we celebrate the past and in filmmaking there is no other woman representative of the Black Star Nation better than Auntie Efua AKA Efua Theodora Sutherland, whose own legacy continues through her charitable organization  Mmofra Foundation- where children and culture connect.

Efua Theodora Sutherland (1924-1996) renowned playwright from Ghana, affectionately called Auntie Efua, entered in the annals of African cinema history in 1967, in association with the production of Araba: The Village Story. The film was produced for the U.S. television network ABC to document the successful Atwia Experimental Community Theatre Project. The initiative is recognized worldwide as a pioneering model for the now popular Theatre for Development. She is well known and admired as dramatist and writer, continuing in her chosen field of drama having never produced another film. Her role as foremother in African cinema, documenting African culture and experiences, is indicative of the practices of many African women. Some women have entered filmmaking as a primary career, while others have used the moving image as a medium of expression in their work. And thus, Efua Sutherland was a devoted and passionate cultural producer whose vision and influence continue to reach far and wide. At the funeral of “Auntie Efua”, Kofi Anyidoho reflected on her life in this way:

“Dr. Efua Theodora Sutherland. ‘Auntie Efua’ is best known for her pioneering work as a cultural visionary and activist, her impact on society at once comprehensive and enduring. Teacher, research scholar, poet, dramatist, and social worker, she devoted her life to the building of models of excellence in culture and education, and to the training of young people who would carry her vision into the far future…” It was also in the final phase of her work that she gave to Ghana and the African world probably her grandest artistic vision for uplifting and reuniting African peoples through the arts—an original proposal for the Pan African Historical Theatre Festival, the Panafest Movement. This final gift underscores the significance she attached to connections between Africa and the Diaspora. She played a very critical role in the establishment of the W.E.B. DuBois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture. She belonged to an extensive global network of friends, many of them eminent creative minds….READ MORE

HERE…NOW… THE FUTURE ……

Amma Asante (born 1969) is a British Ghanaian writer/director/producer who has recently garnered the coveted big budget film project that many filmmakers dream of.  Amma’s first feature film A Way of Life was partly written to honor the Welsh identity of her niece and nephew. It won her a BAFTA (British Academy Film Award) for special achievement by a writer/director in a debut film. According to Amma “I found myself wanting to challenge the stereotypes, and show that people who seem different can be incredibly similar. I wanted to find the humanity that links us all, really. That’s what a good film is all about….” Amma’s second feature film of her career will be “Belle“ based on a true story of Dido Belle ( a mixed raced woman raised as an aristocrat in 18th-century England) projected at a budget of  over 10 million dollars.  Amma Asante is showing herself as a force to be reckoned with not only in the responsibility in educating the world on people like Dido Belle, but also being the manifestation of global filmmakers telling our global African stories all over the world.

“As a child, Asante attended the Barbara Speake stage school in Acton, London, where she trained as a student in dance and drama. She began her film and television career as a child actress, appearing as a regular in the British school drama Grange Hill. She fronted the “Just Say No” campaign of the 1980s and was one of nine Grange Hill children to take it to the Reagan White House. She went on to gain credits in other British television series including Desmond’s (Channel 4) and Birds Of A Feather (BBC1), and was a Children’s Channel presenter for a year. In her late teens, Asante left the world of acting behind and eventually made the move to screenwriting with a development deal from Chrysalis. Two series of the urban drama Brothers and Sisters followed, which Amma wrote and produced for her production company and BBC2. Asante’s 2004 feature film, A Way of Life, was her directorial debut. In November 2004 The London Film Festival awarded Asante the inaugural Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award, created to recognise the achievements of a new or emerging British writer/director who has shown great skill and imagination in bringing originality and verve to film-making. February 2005 saw Amma collect the award for The Times Breakthrough Artist of the Year at The South Bank Show Awards and nominations for Best Newcomer at both the Evening Standard and London Film Critics Awards. At the BAFTA Film Awards in February 2005 Asante received the BAFTA Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a Writer/Director in a debut film…Read More

I recently got to know filmmaker Akosua Adoma Owusu and found out she was part of  the petite spifires of the Black Star nation much like myself. I was happy to be introduced to her by our ever growing daughters of Yaa Asantewaa sisterhood slowly and steadily erecting globally, after first being introduced to her work “Me Broni Ba” AKA My White Baby-the bane of our colonial lexicon of affection in mental slavery . Akosua tackles a deeply seeded root from Africa to the Diaspora that have told generation after generation of global Africans that somehow being compared to White or Whiteness equates to being beautifully right. Akosua was 1 of 23 filmmakers selected to receive a Creative Capital 2012 grant for her upcoming project Black Sunshine which tackles yet another deeply seeded subject that is often untouchable not only in conversation let alone on full theatrical blast for the world to get in on the conversation of Albinism and the African perspective. As our global creatives continue our legacy, I look forward to having more and more of our stories told in our own voices.

“Akosua Adoma  Owusu is an award-winning filmmaker and artist of Ghanaian descent. A protege of prolific filmmaker, Kevin Jerome Everson, she received her MFA in the Schools of Film & Video and Fine Art at the California Institute of the Arts, and her BA at the University of Virginia. Owusu`s short film “ME BRONI BA” (“My White Baby”) garnered critical acclaim with screenings at over 60 international film festivals including Rotterdam, London Film Festival, Visions du Reel, Silverdocs, and the Cannes Film Festival at Short Film Corner. It was ranked Top 10 in the October Issue of ArtForum Magazine in 2010 and earned several Best Documentary awards, including a Golden Gate Award nomination in New Visions at the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival….Following the success of “ME BRONI BA,” Owusu`s next short work, “DREXCIYA”, was inspired by a myth of the Detroit-based techno band. It was praised at the 2011 Tarifa African Film Festival ‘for its radical nature’ and ‘poetic insight’ and went on to win Best Experimental Film at the Expresion en Corto Film Festival in Guanajuato, Mexico. Shortly after graduating from CalArts, she was the youngest of 42 black conceptual artists included in the group exhibition, 30 Seconds Off an Inch, at the famed Studio Museum in Harlem, where she also exhibited solo video projects. Her videos have shown at art venues including the Museum of Modern Art, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, the National Gallery of Art, Transformer Gallery, BOZAR, LA Freewaves, Vox Populi, Spaces Gallery, and The Luggage Store Gallery. She was also a featured artist at the 56th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar and a Directing Talent at the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Durban Talent Campus in South Africa….Owusu`s professional experiences include Development and Production internships at Echo Lake Productions and HBO Films. For the latter, she received an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences grant to provide post-production assistance on Chris Rock’s documentary Good Hair. She participated on the screening committee and jury of AFI Silverdocs and Festival Des Trois Continents. One of five recipients and the first Ghanaian to receive the award, Owusu will be funded by Focus Features` Africa First Program to direct a short film entitled “KWAKU ANANSE”, an adaptation of a traditional Ghanaian folktale mixed with live action and animation. She is currently developing her first feature, “BLACK SUNSHINE”, about a young albino girl. The film participated in the “Produire au Sud” workshop in 2010 and the Amiens Script and Screenplay Development Fund in 2011. The feature is an international co-production with Owusu’s company, Obibini Pictures, musician Salif Keita, his Salif Keita Foundation, and Arizona Films based in France…. READ MORE

California based Leila Djansi is a rising star amongst Ghanaian filmmakers. With her  often controversial love/ hate relationship with Ghanaian media, it seems Ghanaian audiences just can’t seem to get enough of how beautifully she captures their nation and tells their stories, while bringing an international audience to Ghanaian films by making great choices in casting and telling stories that are relatable to the world. Leila’s films continue to win awards in Ghana and abroad. Sinking Sands was no different winning 3 out of the 9 nominations and her newest release “Ties That Bind” seems to be accumulating the same praises of fine filmmaking starring great global African actors like Kimberly Elise, Ama K. Abebrese and Omotola Ekeinde.

You are among a growing number of African women who have studied filmmaking in the United States. You began your career in Ghana before traversing the Atlantic. What was your experience with cinema growing up in Ghana?

It wasn’t an elaborate experience really because not much was going on then. But, what was ongoing was fun. From where I am now it seems very amateurish but its how I got here. I learned the basics and got myself fortified for where I am now.

What are some of the differences and similarities in working in Ghana and the United States? Do you bring both an US aesthetic and Ghanaian perspective to your work?

Apart from the US working environment being more conducive, really not that much difference. I do try to bring both aesthetics to bear. If you are going to make an appealing film, you must make it within an acceptable standard.

Among your film credits are, I Sing of a Well, Sinking Sands and the soon to be released Ties That Bind. What have been some highlights during the production of the films? How have they been received?

Highlights, they were all fun to make. Tears and Laughter. Money and No money. I Sing of a Well was not well received. Ghana is a very tricky and delicate place. The people’s minds get conditioned and it takes time to add more to what they already know. So from the get with I Sing of a Well, we made mistakes. Casting, budgets and logistics wise, we made grave mistakes. But all that was a learning process which made Sinking Sands a success and more acceptable….READ MORE

Shirley Frimpong-Manso seems to be the go to writer/director/producer amongst established and up and coming Ghanaian actors who want quality work locally that sets the bar higher than your average Nollywood or Ghallywood films. Shirley seems to bring the challenege that many Ghanaian actors need in pulling out academy award nominated and winning roles for some of Ghana’s top actors like Lydia Forson and Jackie Appiah. She is one of the few women filmmakers from Ghana who is making great strides and gaining international recognition while being based solely in Ghana.
“Frimpong-Manso is a founder and CEO of the film, television, and advertising production company Sparrow Productions. Frimpong-Manso “seeks to raise the standard of film production in Ghana and Africa by telling progressive African stories as seen through the eyes of Africans.”She won ‘Best Director’ at the African Movie Academy Awards 2010…. Read More

Sam Kessie, a London born,Ghana raised & now Atlanta residing writer/director/producer/set designer and all around film creator, who has done it all from the bottom up into an award winning filmmaker taking on the daunting & epic task of telling the story of one of Africa’s sports heroes,Azumah Nelson AKA The Professor, can now add 2012 Ghana Music Awards nomination to her accolades for her beautifully crafted video  “No One Knows” by M3NSA featuring Asa. Sam has made it her goal to follow in the footsteps of great women of Ghana like Auntie Efua by also setting up her own charitable foundation The TKAFoundation or (Tomorrow’s Kaleidoscope of Artists) which raises funding in support of the arts along with teaching the freedom in filmmaking to Ghana’s disadvantaged youth.   ….Read More

FASHION

All you have to do is step off the plane at Kotoko airport to know that Ghana is where it’s at for fashion on the continent. I maybe biased but if you don’t believe me ask Franca Sozzani of Italian Vogue. It seems the world is delightfully enthralled with everything African these days and nowhere is the demand and elation of endless satiation more felt than what is being called the new renaissance of African fashion. For decades the grand dame of New York fashion week’s front rows, Zelda Kaplan had been wearing and telling everyone about her insatiable love and passion for African fashion, or as she tells it  ”Primitive Cultures”. This year in the most dramatic fashion forward of ways Zelda died sitting in her front row seat adorned in her beautiful primitive fashion without the show even stopping. Well Ms. Zelda,may the notion of “Africa as primitive culture” get laid to rest with you in fashion’s past because today’s African fashion innovators are far from primitive and have been steadily challenging the many preconceived and adopted notions about what African fashion is all about. There are countless male and female fashion designers doing the damn thing globally while raising the Black Star flag, but here a just a few of Yaa Asantewaa’s daughters of fashion that you should get to know.

Mimi Plange to me is the budding female version of Oswald Boateng, representing Ghana on a global high end level without utilizing the expected fabrications and stylings of what is traditionally seen as Ghanaian or African, yet making everyone proud from Ghana to the Diaspora in knowing that their brands represent the best in quality globally . Mimi is slowly and steadily becoming the new young talent that is the toast of the town amongst fashion elites like Andre Leon Talley, whom she counts as a mentor along with collaborating with the Sex and the City’s fashion god of sexy to die for footwear (until the red bottom takeover), Manolo Blahnik.

“With a mother who modeled for Ghanaian magazine Drum, Accra-born Mimi Plange has loved fashion from an early age, sketching under the guidance of an architect uncle. She learned the trade as a freelance contractor, first as a women’s designer at Rachel Roy. For her fall/winter collection under the label Boudoir d’Huitres, the designer presented 28 looks inspired by her homeland in a loft-like space with a sense of professionalism and a keen eye for editing…Her fourth collection shows just how adept she is at finessing her ideas into shapes geared to an upscale consumer who wants to dress in a variety of ways—she’s no Jane One-Note. She took the idea of African scarification to come up with the zigzag concepts on simple white sheaths, as well as for her cool biker trousers in luxe leather teamed up with a camel-hair T-shirt. She has a refined sense of fabric and mixes the rich copper tones of the African plains in wonderful little dry wool slip-like dinner dresses, some falling from jeweled halters, and others draped origami-style in bustiers that are flattering, not just a design conceit…READ MORE

Christie Brown is the go to designer at home in Ghana where she too brings Haute Couture to the home grown fashion in crowd by utilizing traditional fabrications with untraditional structuring of beautiful fashion creations. With a newly opened boutique in the hot shopping district of Osu,where foreign currency is king- Christie Brown will be sure to draw in her fair share of locals and visitors looking for top quality high fashion with dollars, pounds, euros and cedis to spare.

“Aisha Obuobi – creative director and founding partner of Christie Brown Ltd – began her love affair with fashion at an early age. Her grandmother, who the brand is named after, was a seamstress so she grew up watching Ms. Christie Brown, stooped over a sewing machine, creating beautiful clothes…like pieces of art – out of rich, vibrant materials. As a little girl, she reveled in playing with shreds of African print material and designed mini collections for her favourite dolls…Aisha started this label whilst in her final year at the University of Ghana, Legon, where she majored in Psychology and she is driven by the desire to create beautiful pieces that will enhance the natural beauty in Christie Brown’s clients. In 2009, Aisha won the highly coveted “Emerging Designer of the Year” award at the inaugural Arise Fashion Week, in South Africa. She was invited to sit on a panel at the African Economic Forum, which took place at Columbia University, New York, and Marie Claire (international) featured Aisha as one of twenty-one “Daring Women of 2010″, noting the “the energy, the courage, the creativity,” and “the drive” behind her work.…” Read More

As far as fashion journalism goes there is no other than Ghana’s own Zandile Blay. I first met Zandile during the time when she used to curate networking events for fashionistas while complaining about having to travel to London again for a lengthy period for work and study- poor thing-LOL! Those days have come and gone with stints at Paper Magazine and Huffington Post, but Zandile has continued to establish herself in the cutthroat world of global fashion journalists while still steadily letting the world know about all things beautiful that Africa has to offer thru her labor of love Africa Style Daily. Zandile while writing about the world of global fashion has also been the subject of many writers who also celebrate her “it girl” fashion sensibilities. Zandile recently penned a New York fashion week story letting Huffington Post readers know about the African fashion invasion that is slowly creeping up in the fashion world, ready for its close up!

“From the exuberant sexiness of HVS to the sumptuous elegance of David Tlale to the architectural austerity of Telfar, their labels show an African aesthetic that goes beyond ‘Tribal Prints.’ Yet, that we are even exposed to their aesthetic at all speaks of their greatest triumph: an ability to break into the West despite scarce resources, scant mentorship and few mainstream fashion contacts. In fact with the exception of Plange, who counts Duro Olowu and Andre Leon Talley as mentors, almost none of the designers above can boast of similar connections. In addition, they seem far from being on the radar of career-changing program’s like the CFDA Fund, Ecco Domani Fashion Fund or W Hotels’ recently launched Fashion Next…To solve this, these enterprising African designers are leveraging alternate methods like Twitter and Facebook to gain support and exposure…” READ MORE

Belinda Baidoo is a model, new mom and entrepreneur leading the way with others who are looking to change the face of Ghana’s fashion with upscale styled boutiques sprouting up along the busy international area of Osu in the capital city of Accra. As they say home is where the heart is and Belinda’s love for fashion is being developed at home in Ghana where she began her career as a model. Belinda opened the b2 models agency to give aspiring Ghanaian models the mentorship and opportunity  to blaze their own trails right along her own. Belinda first came on the scene after winning Top Model of Afrique in 1998 & then went on to sign with a Q model management , one of the top agencies in New York-known to many as the global fashion capital of the world. Belinda has been seen on billboards, advertisements in New York’s infamous Times Square along with international fashion magazine spreads and major Ad. Campaigns for international companies such as: Guinness, L’Oreal, Nike, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Motorola. Belinda has also been featured in international publications such as Vogue, Essence and Cosmopolitan, just to name a few. Belinda thru her modeling agency  b2Models continues to mentor & develop Ghana’s international models of the future.

Cultural Curators

The great writing daughters of Yaa Asantewaa like Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Ayesha Harruna Attah are telling the beautiful stories of the Ghanaian experience in literary form with their books Powder Necklace and Harmattan Rain, while what I call cultural curators of our generation are utilizing multimedia platforms to continue the oral, written and visual history of our global African experience.  There are so many cultural curators amongst the daugthers of Yaa Asantewaa who are finally coming into their own and getting their just due proudly preserving the culture of Ghana/Africa while maintaining the balance of sharing the culture through a global creative lens.

I recently had the pleasure of finally meeting Nana Oforiatta-Ayim on her travel to New York to showcase her work as part of The New Museum’s Triennial entitled “The Ungovernables” – showing until April 22, 2012. Nana was first introduced to me by iconic living legend of photography, James Barnor because of our collective dedication to see the wonderful artistic cultural history of Ghana preserved and well showcased for generations to come. We are now on course to build our global Black Star Collective in honor of Yaa Asantewaa and Dr. Nkrumah by putting Africa first because we know that Africa was the beginning and is the future.

“Nana Oforiatta Ayim is a cultural historian, writer and filmmaker based in Accra and London. She is currently working on a research publication and exhibition for the EU/AU on cultural heritage and contemporary arts institutions in Africa with architect David Adjaye (2011, Bozar, Brussels) and a book on Ghanaian photographer James Barnor (2010, Trolley Books, London). Her writing has appeared in publications such as The National Geographic, The Statesman, The Dubliner and Time Out. She has lectured and presented her scholarship at Universities, including Cambridge, Kumasi, London and Oxford. She has curated exhibitions and events for institutions such as The British Council, The British Museum, The Liverpool Biennial, The Royal Festival Hall and The Victoria and Albert Museum. In her fiction and short films she deals with the themes of translation and the gaps within language. Her first fiction book ‘The Tightrope Walker’ will be published in May 2010. Her films have been nominated for awards at various festivals, such as The Milan African Film Festival, The RAI Ethnographic Film Festival and The Real Life Documentary Film Festival. They have also been shown at venues such as The Museum of African Diaspora and used in university curricula. She is a founding director of ANO, a non-profit organization dedicated to the interface of culture and development in Africa and its Diaspora. She has an MA in African Art History and is completing a PhD in African Languages and Cultures at the University of London...” [Credit:This is My Africa]

I was introduced to Yaba Blay’s documentary (1)ne Drop dealing with the never ending issue of identity politics and colorism amongst Blacks in America before I ever knew it was done by a Ghanaian, then I learned that this Ghanaian professor was young, in touch and will organize the daughters in a quick New York City minute if  and when ever she sees our young girls and boys being disrespected  and led astray by the likes of those in and outside of our community.  Yaba Blay and other non-Ghanaian daughters of Yaa Asantewaa created  ”We Are the 44% ” coalition to bring much needed awareness to violence against young Black and Latina girls.  Blay does not only act from the heart of a mother at these times but also from the power of the legacy of Yaa Asantewaa fully locked & loaded to defend and protect the culture.

“Yaba Amgborale Blay is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Lafayette College where she also teaches courses in Women’s & Gender Studies. She received a BA in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Salisbury State University, an M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from the University of New Orleans, an M.A. and Ph.D. in African American Studies and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Temple University. Prior to her tenure at Lafayette College, she taught African American Studies at Temple University, African and African Diasporan Studies at Florida International University, and Africana Studies at Lehigh University. Professor Blay has developed and taught such courses as Engendering Black Popular Culture, the Politics of Hip Hop Culture, Black Images in the Media, Dimensions of Racism, and Black Feminisms….”Yaba’s research interests are related to Africana cultural aesthetics and aesthetic practices, the politics of embodiment and African/Black identities, issues of gender in Africa and the Diaspora, Black popular culture, and critical media literacy. Her dissertation, Yellow Fever: Skin Bleaching and the Politics of Skin Color in Ghana, relies upon African-centered and African feminist methodologies to investigate the social practice of skin bleaching in Ghana….” READ MORE

As a a long time fan of WBAI, it’s always great to hear a Ghanaian voice even if it comes in a British accent-LOL! Esther Armah is not only a sweet in the morning radio voice but also a writer whose first book “Can I Be Me” -a collection of essays about her travels as a journalist navigating her Black British identity across Africa & America- hit the top 10 list for best selling books for January and February on the website African American Literature Book Club dedicated to books by and about global Africans/Black people.

“Esther Armah is a radio & tv host, playwright and award-winning international journalist. In New York, she hosts Wake Up Call, WBAI 99.5FM’s morning show and is a regular commentator and guest host on GRITtv with Laura Flanders  and MNN’s Ancestor House with Camille Yarbrough. Esther has written extensively on African Diaspora issues for The Guardian in London, Essencemagazine in the US and West Africa magazine in Africa and Europe. The themes of her written work are reflected in the issues portrayed  in Armah’s four New York stage plays,  Can I Be Me? Forgive Me? Entitled! and SAVIOUR? Esther is the creator and moderator of ‘Afrolicious: an Emotional Justice Arts and Conversation’ series in New York. A global citizen, she now lives in Brooklyn, New York…(Source Here)

PHILANTHROPISTS

To say June Sarpong is a trailblazer is to say the least about her many accomplishments. This young icon of British television has become one of the best known Ghanaian philanthropist with honours from Buckingham Palace as an ambassador of  the Prince’s Trust along with being a Co-Founder with her fellow Bristish Ghanaian and former Hollywood executive Dee Poku of W.I.E (Women: Inspiration and Enterprise) – an organization that empowers and inspires women through its websites, symposiums and community.

“This month’s profile is a TV/radio personality who was at the forefront of urban youth TV programmes during my teenage years.  In era where “dark skin” women were not shown much love on TV she was a pioneer of the “young black female presenter”, here’s her story; Sarpong was born in London to Ghanaian parents. She was educated at Connaught Girls School in Leytonstone and Sir George Monoux College in Walthamstow. She began her media career with Kiss 100 and later became an MTV UK & Ireland presenter (MTV Dance Floor Chart and MTV Select show). As the one of the female faces of Channel 4’s Sunday morning strand T4 for the last nine years, she interviewed Tony Blair for a T4 special, When Tony Met June which aired in January 2005. She also runs her own production company, Lipgloss Productions. Projects in development include a sitcom and a programme on climate change…In recent years, Sarpong has presented other series including Your Face Or Mine?, a game show co-hosted with Jimmy Carr for E4; Dirty Laundry, an urban talk-show which was an original idea of Sarpong’s; Playing It Straight, a dating game-show filmed in Mexico for Channel 4, and Sarpong has presented the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party and the Party In The Park. Sarpong is a regular at the MOBO Awards and has presented them for three years in a row. She has also appeared on BBC Television’s Question Time, 8 out of 10 Cats, and Have I got news for you. She also has appeared on the programme, Never mind the buzzcocks and introduced reports on youth culture for This Week. In 2006 she hosted ITV2′s WAGs Boutique. Sarpong has also appeared on the third series of Bo Selecta…)…Sarpong is an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust and also campaigns for the Make Poverty History movement. In April 2005 she visited Ghana to make a film for Make Poverty History. She also hosted the major Make Poverty History event in London’s Trafalgar Square in summer 2005 on behalf of Nelson Mandela and Bob Geldof. Also On 7 July 2007 Sarpong presented at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London…Probably her most significant honour to date came at the age of twenty nine and after six years as a broadcaster, she was awarded an MBE in the 2007 New Year Honours List for “services to broadcasting and charity”…. READ MORE

Nana Eyeson-Akiwowo while building her career in editorial positions at globally known publications like Seventeen and Essence, established her charitable organization African Health Now to make sure that global Africans without money and insurance would be able to have basic healthcare after the personal experience of her father suffering a heart attack in Ghana catapulted her to seek to make a difference for others who are less fortunate financially but just as deserving of proper healthcare. Nana’s annual healthcare drives in Ghana where she comes as mother Christmas, fundraising and organizing Ghanaians to come together to take care of the basic healthcare needs of our communities has now been expanded to include the diaspora with an ever growing number of global Africans unable to receive basic healthcare because of lack of insurance and money.

“In 2006 my father suffered a heart attack in a taxi cab after leaving the hospital and being treated for numbness in the leg. Considering that at my father’s age at the time he was 68, any US hospital would have automatically checked his heart and other vitals especially if he came in for numbness in the leg or any lack of mobility of the leg or arms. However that is not the case in Ghana, at most hospitals you could barely get to see a doctor let alone have someone run your vitals. And though we were fortunate enough to have the means to get him better care, it made me wonder what happens to people who don’t have the means. And who speaks for them? ” READ MORE

Rebekah Frimpong -Filmmaker/Poet/Mentor/Activist and Philanthropist has manifested her words “Revolution over loot! Africa must be free in our hearts, Africa is our home only we can change the landscape of tomorrow”, as she works tirelessly to keep her dreams of being a great filmmaker alive while helping others manifest their dreams through her philanthropic work  with her Mama Africa charitable program. Rebekah is constantly on the move in creativity with all her heart and soul poured into project after project regardless of the obstacles and challenges put in her way as a filmmaker and philanthropist.

“Rebekah A. Ofori-Frimpong was a Miss Ghana Africa USA 2010/11 finalist in the Miss Africa USA 2010/11 Pageant , she is also a mentor, teacher, filmmaker, and activist.  As a Miss Ghana USA 2010/11 finalist, she pushed for a platform of Global Health for Africa and for Africans living in the United States.  She believes that a new face of African health is possible by encouraging African people to empower themselves through healthy lifestyles.  Her approach to Global Health and presenting a new face of African health is to connect communities in the United States and Africa through a three tier approach that will encompass social, environmental, and preventative measures in relation to improving health conditions worldwide.  She attributes her success to her mother and the many strong women in her life.  She has studied Public Health at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and has a pre-med degree in psychology and life science from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has had many years of experience in clinical research, education, women’s health, and environmental studies.  She developed MaMa Africa concept four years ago after working with teenage mothers in Virginia.  The MaMa Africa program, Rebekah hopes will be something that can be implemented around the world and she aims to reach at least 1, 000 mothers by 2012…” READ  MORE

Menaye Donkor Muntari- former Miss Universe Ghana 2003, Model, Actress, Philanthropist prides herself in being an image role model for young girls, particularly young global African girls, by promoting a healthy body image that comes with self love and confidence. Menaye’s modeling career and editorial credits span from Africa to Europe and America including being the only African woman featured in Fox Sports sexiest World Cup WAGs (Football wives & girlfriends) in 2010 along with a feature in Maxim Magazine’s Italian edition ,just to name a few. Menaye has an ongoing health & fitness blog with OK! Magazine’s Famously Fit and will be a guest judge on the African based Project Runway styled show entitled “Fashion Power” shooting in Ghana & Nigeria. Menaye is not only a beautiful model, but also a great philanthropist who recently commissioned an ICT center at her namesake charity school for boys and girls in Ghana. Menaye has been a great role model for young girls in Ghana with her push for education, AIDS awareness and her upcoming new fashion based shows making the dreams of young fashion designers and fashionistas from Ghana come true with an opportunity for mentorship and to promote their designs internationally. The Menaye International School in the central region of Ghana offers free education to over 150 underprivileged children and she continues to build a brighter future for Ghana one child at a time.

MUSIC IS A WEAPON

The daughters of Yaa Asantewaa have taken over the music world in the craziest of ways from opera, to rap, to R& B, to dance, to hip-hop, to pop and all sorts of mixtures and inflections brought together thru their global African experiences. These women know the power of music and they use it as a weapon to tell our global African stories while debunking the myth of a singular African sound. There are so many greats musically coming out of this generation but here are  a few of the ones to watch.

Born in Battersea to Ghanaian parents, Tawiah’s soulful rock melodies with gospel inflections compliment her quirky rainbow child punk rock fashion stylethat is very much her own. One can clearly hear & see the culmination in adaption of her personal influences which she touts as Kim Burrell, Björk, Radiohead, Erykah Badu & Ella Fitzgerald as her musical favorites & Vivenne Westwood as her fashion favorite. Tawiah comes to us from the Brit School peforming academy in London,which boasts recent success stories like Amy Winehouse, Adele & Leona Lewis. Tawiah’s short resume in music is impressive as she has rocked the stage singing backup for Corinne Bailey Rae & touring with uber producer Mark Ronson’s band. Taiwah recently inked a deal with Warner Music Group & is ready to take the world by storm as yet another child of the Black Star nation who will meet a meteoric rise to fame!

Vienna-born and raised, with parents from Ghana, Anbuley is a vocalist with presence and a style that sticks in the mind. She’s also got an unerring sensibility when it comes to drawing on those roots of hers to make inspired dance music…’The singer started out adding her resonant voice to some deep, Africa-inspired bass tracks with producers like Bert on Beats and Ku Bo. If you heard those, you remember them. Last year, she put out her equally memorable Tsakemo EP, followed by the Kemo’ Yoo Keke EP on Austria’s Seayou Records.The cuts mix the stunning efficiency of Euro dance with the organic power of the traditional music Anbuley grew up with. A lot of that power is channeled through her voice. And it sounds even more heavy when you know “Kemo’ Yoo Keke” is about not letting people push you around….” READ MORE

While American Hip-Hop connoisseurs debate over whether the Australian import and newly signed artist on T.I.’s Grand Hustle label, Iggy Azalea, or the toast of European fashion couture houses and Harlem stunner Azealia Banks are the two to watch in the new renaissance of female MC’s to give the reigning queen Nicki Minaj a run for her money and talent; the other side of the atlantic is toasting Ghana’s own dominating female MC and Queen of Azonto, Tiffany, who will be making her US debut at Ghana’s 55th Independence Concert on March 17th, 2012 at the Armenia Hall Ballroom produced by Boogie Down Nima Productions.

Rhian Benson Born in Accra, and raised in Wales, Ghana and India, Rhian grew up in a very musical environment. Her Welsh mother was an accomplished singer, and her father, an Ashanti naval officer, is a gifted guitarist. Rhian started playing piano at the age of nine and picked up guitar soon after and before long, a budding singer songwriter. Behind the warm honeyed voice is a sharp mind, Rhian gained an economics degree at the London School of Economics and worked in banking in the City for a time, a somewhat stark contrast to her own desires for a life in music. Her studies continued at Harvard in America, until her mother fell ill and Rhian returned home to care for her ailing mother. With time to think she found healing and release in music and decided to chase her singing dreams, feeling as though it was a risk worth taking in order to dance her heart’s dreams into life. With the help of Danish rising star production duo, Daniel Fridell and Jonas Rendbo, Rhian has diligently and lovingly cooked up the ingredients for her new album title ‘Hands Clean’ to be released in early 2011. HANDS CLEAN is a refreshing departure from Rhian’s previous work. Rhian’s well known sultry vibes are teamed with a collection of pulsating electronic grooves to introduce her fans to a hidden ground where Sade meets DJ Shadow. This is a bold album that dares to redefine modern soul music. Rhian has been nurturing her expressive style and is looking forward to showing the world more of her exquisite soulful sound. Everything about this album has been organic and refreshing, and Rhian is quoted as saying: “I met Jonas and Daniel for a brief writing session in Copenhagen a while ago and we just hit it off immediately, the guys were so passionate about creating truthful music that speaks from the soul to the soul. They instantly understood the sound and feel I was looking for… so I asked them to produce the entire album with me and I thank God they said yes!’ Rhian’s sophomore album -‘Hands Clean’- represents a strong evolution of her unique style and ventures into fresh and bold sonic terrain for the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter. These confessional tales of love and life represent a new direction for this singular artist as she journeys beyond the ‘Gold Coast’. “I experienced great change in my life since writing my first album so when I began writing ‘Hands Clean’ all I wanted to do was create a sound that in some way captured that state of flux”. READ MORE

As far as an authetic soul sound of Ghana goes there is no other than the reigning queen Rebecca Acheampong, AKA Becca, who has taken Ghana and Africa at large by storm with powerful music celebrating positivity, womanhood and sisterhood.  The glowing beauty of Becca shines as bright as a black star on a clear moonlit night when she calls us to Push and bring the Fire of  an African woman.

“Becca, the latest sensation in Ghana Music. The beautiful, simple and young looking 22 year old lady, an old student of Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast and Croydon College in London where she attained her certificate in Child Care and Education is back to her motherland Ghana to prove what she is made of…”. READ MORE

And Then there’s the incomparable Ghanaian Hungarian who goes by the name Sena. Sena is amongst the many European daughters of Yaa who are taking over the world of truly global music with versatility and their pulse firmly placed in their African foundation, such as  German Ghanaian songstress Y’akoto . To say the world needs a bit of Sena Dagadu in their life is truly an understatement because Sena’s effortlessly powerful voice resonates within the soul with that sort of soothing satiation that makes one remember why music is as essential to life as water and should be cherished in pure love. Yes I am a big fan of Sena, whether she is lending her voice to the reggae rhythms of her band Irie Maffia, taking us through the journey of global Jazz’s soul with Forward Ever or Barabas Lorinc Eklektric, FOKN’ around with the Bois in Ghana and Budapest or blowing our minds with another unexpected solo project that introduces us to a new sound in how we hear Shakespeare’s sonnets. Sena is the truth, fully representing for Hungary and the Black Star Nation of Ghana as a musical daughter who would make Yaa Asantewaa proud as she takes over the world with her electrifying sound. Now sit back and enjoy a truly independent global Black Star experience!

“The Future of Ghana is Bright …provided our leaders will make good use of financial resources…I believe that Ghana can do much better by investing in its people. I think that if you don’t provide education and training at all levels, we will miss that boat because Paradise is right here in Ghana. I believe it…I think we have a great Ghana but we have more to go but we have all the pieces in place to polish up into a wonderful place…God put us at the center of the universe for a reason. We are the shining bright start of Africa and I think Ghana is coming into its own…I also believe that Ghanians this year have taken a whole new appreciation for Ghana, but at the bottom of it is we need to work out our economics because at the end of the day it boils down to our economic strength apart from our spiritual strength. We’re thru with poverty, we’re thru with being highly indebted anything, we’re thru… I think we are going to a new place, completely new and it will have nothing to do with the spirit of poverty because there’s a spiritual awakening also happening right now in Ghana and that awakening is also identifying what that spirit of poverty looks like and we will have nothing to do with it. I think 10 years from now if we should have this interview again , we’ll be telling a different story…”

“I want to see a time when the children of Africa will not have a need to go overseas to make it..” Princess Asie Ocansey- CEO Neko Tech Centre -Daughters of Yaa Asantewaa

Photo Credit HERE

By now most know that Samia Nkrumah has become one of Africa’s new darlings for the future of women in politics. With the polarizing Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the former first lady & founder of the 31st December Women’s Movement out of the running for the 2012 Ghana elections, many have their eyes on Samia Nkrumah to possibly be the first woman elected to Ghana’s presidency, following in the footsteps of her father & Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf & other women presidents around the world in also solidifying her place in the world record books as 1st. With the rise of Samia Nkrumah being elected as MP (member of parliament ) in her father’s hometown & then being named the chairperson for the CPP ( her father’s party ) along with the subsequent departure of Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, who was the CPP’s 2008 presidential candidate as well as the foreseen flag-bearer for 2012, there is now an opening for Samia Nkrumah to surge forward toward her presidential dreams & to follow in her father’s footsteps.

“During that time we passed laws like fee free compulsory education, marriage & inheritance bill- so many things, vocational bills,- we were competing…when Nkrumah set up the state enterprises he made sure that the women were involved…Look at all the factories that Nkrumah set up, we had our own airlines -Ghana airways, Black Star line, so many many of them…can u believe that we were manufacturing sugar here- 2 sugar estates- how at this time in our Ghana history -after 54 years of independence we are still importing even toothpick to this country- it’s a shame, it’s really really a shame -if we would have continued Nkrumah’s vision of industrialization, farming where we had all the state farms -every district had a state farm… & we were feeding our people. Ghana is not a place even to import rice & yet Ghana is so handicapped – things are falling apart -we have gone backward backward -for after 54 years of Ghana’s independence we still can’t feed ourselves- It’s a SHAME….” Honorable Lucy Anin

As I said to all those intellectualizing about how to give Ghanaian children free education, how to bring jobs, factories etc. to Ghana as if it had never been done before-guess what? -none of us are reinventing the wheel. It was done before us successfully and til now we’ve gone more backward than forward -so we need to stop trying to reinvent the wheel or play ourselves or others for a fools where the so called right time and right way never comes because we stay in stagnation only talking about it , sometimes even starting it but never completing the task. The intellectuals love to over intellectualize  and the illiterates underestimate the power of the mind and creativity. Whether you can go around flashing Masters and PHD’s or the scars of the common laborer doing the groundwork as symbols of expertise in knowing how to build from root to fruit- we must still utilize  the blueprint of our past success to enhance and build the future…. Forward Ever…Backward Never!

As James Barnor said “Nkrumah was able to win because he was able to unite the people regardless of tribe…we all wanted Independence NOW!”  2012 – One Ghana in Awakening & Reclaiming Our Future…By remembering and learning from our past

“A leading member of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP) John Ndebugre has stated that the Convention People’s Party (CPP) will be destroyed if it goes ahead with plans to expel 2008 flag bearer Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom. According to him, the party will poll less than 1 per cent if recent happenings between Dr. Nduom and some executives of the party are not resolved. The Chairperson of the CPP, Samia Nkrumah on Monday fired salvos at Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, for allegedly orchestrating activities to disintegrate the party. Samia stated that Dr Nduom is behind “all negative happenings” taking place in the party. “We’ll not tolerate this nonsense, enough is enough, we are fed up with this nonsense” Samia said. Samia also threatened that Dr. Nduom could face expulsion from the CPP if he is found guilty of all the accusations leveled against him. Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom has been accused by party officials including General Secretary Ivor Greenstreet of being behind calls for an early congress….” READ MORE

Dr. Nduom has put in the hard work to bring visibility & viability back to the fledgling party of Ghana’s first president, but with public infighting & outbursts from Samia Nkrumah threatening to dismiss Dr. Nduom from the party if he does not fall in line to the mandates of the party with her as the chairperson determining the movements of the party, it was inevitable that in a nation that holds respect for our elders at the top of all things in our culture, that Dr. Nduom would not take kindly to public disrespect by a young female novice to the political arena in a resurrected CPP, which he was a catalyst in returning as a player in what has become a two party system in Ghana, rendering all other parties irrelevant.

“The Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Samia Yaba Nkrumah, has told Citi News that the party has no intentions of bringing Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom back into its fold. The Member of Parliament for Jomoro said the party wishes Dr Nduom well, adding that his resignation presents the CPP with a “golden opportunity” to surge forward in unity without “ambiguity” and hurdles. ‘We wish Dr. Nduom well but we knew that it was a possibility he would leave the party. It does not affect us in anyway. It rather presents us with a great opportunity to do away with the ambiguity that had been attached to this party for some time now. There is no disunity within the party,” she stated. However, Samia, daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, denied allegations that she is the main reason for Dr. Nduom’s decision to quit the party after her public outburst and threat to expel the party’s 2008 flag-bearer.…” READ MORE

On December 28th, Dr. Nduom held a press conference to officially announce his resignation from the CPP, electing to start his own independent party that will carry through on the vision he had set forth as the presidential candidate for the CPP.

“The decision by Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom to abandon the CPP ship to form his own party could at best be described as the most risky political gamble of the century. The move does not come as a surprise to most political watchers because it had been on the radar for quite sometime now. Nobody begrudges Dr. Nduom for the decision, coming at a time when the entire CPP leadership were turned on him. Over the past years, Dr. Nduom had had some brushes with the leadership of the CPP and in one of such instances under the Professor Edmund Delle administration, Dr. Nduom together with Freddie Blay and Kojo Armah, then Members of Parliament for the CPP were suspended from the party following some disagreements. The current executives find Dr. Nduom a tough nut to crack. He disagrees with them on policy direction, whilst the current executive thinks the party should hasten slowly by building its structures first, Dr. Nduom sees it differently. History our elders say, keeps repeating itself. The CPP was born in 1947 when its founder, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, then General Secretary broke away from his colleagues in the UGCC over whether to accelerate agitations for self government or go it slow. It is unimaginable how Dr. Nduom thinks he can win the Presidential election with an entirely new party when he had performed abysmally in 2008, garnering one-point-three percent of total votes cast….”READ MORE

2012 seems to be building up to be a very exciting & unpredictable election year for Ghana with many more surprises in store. There is no secret being made about the disunity between the current NDC administration & former President Rawlings & his controversial first lady, who have made it their job to cause all sorts of havoc, strife & drama in the life of current President Mills & his administration, with accusations of bad leadership, corruption & just an all around lack of confidence in what they see as his weak ineffective term as president after he had been under the tuteledge of former president J.J. Rawlings as his vice president. It seems there is no loyalty, love & frienship left amongst many of the leading parties in Ghana -which will inevitably lead the way for the NPP & Nana Akufo- Addo to easily sweep in over the dark cloud of disunity, choas & confusion of the challenging parties to win the 2012 election, if the NPP can avoid these types of public battles in showcasing any disunity that may or may not arise in their own party. It seems with speculators speaking of what led to the defeat of Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008, the once inappropriately boastful flag-bearer of the NPP who spoke of his sure fire victory, his almost entitled presidential legacy & his un-presidential verbiage on his bedroom/sexual capabilities employing a political agitator to go ask his wife about  how he is in bed -has been silently watching his competitors implode on themselves, much like the Democrats in the United States are watching the Republicans do the same in America.

Anyone in politics knows that any party that is not unified ends up splitting the vote  in favor of  electing its opposition. This public strife and disunity amongst the NDC & CPP alike maybe the best Christmas present the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo got this year in looking forward to a guaranteed victory in 2012, unless his message somehow completely does not resonate with the majority of Ghanaians, his party falls into the same chaos or some other unforeseen surprises come up to tilt the scale away from an NPP victory.

Ghana in 2011 has been filled with political surprises in a never ending topsy turvy cycle of turncoats , judases & plain old disgruntle party members who have taken the position of my way or no way toward their own parties. First Lady Nana Kondau’s unprecedented battle to unseat a sitting president of her own party by contesting his seat for his second term along with her constant barrage of insults & challenges against President Mills, juxtaposed with her husband’s cosigns with his own barrage of no confidence rhetoric against his former VP has all but put the nail in the coffin of a guaranteed unified NDC voting pool for 2012.

“Former President Jerry John Rawlings and founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) yesterday invoked the spirit of the infamous 31st December 1981 Revolution when he stressed the urgent need for what he called a ‘house cleaning exercise’ to rid the party of corrupt officials. He said it was not too late for leadership of the party to go back to the grassroots- to the foot soldiers- and listen to them because ‘the level of despondency amongst our support base is largely due to the detachment of our leadership from the people.’ Addressing a large crowd of mainly NDC foot-soldiers at the National Theatre in Accra yesterday as part of the events to mark the 30th anniversary of the 31st December Revolution, the NDC founder decried the manner in which President Mills and members of his administration were running the country with corruption at its highest peak.’Many in the NDC leadership now believe they do not owe any explanation to the populace,’ he said. On allegations of abuse of office, corruption, malfeasance, incompetence and a host of other vices characterising the current administration, Mr Rawlings said, ‘they respond in good measure by accusing the opposition of having done worse things……’ Read More

These days it seems like Former President J.J. Rawlings & his first lady have all but signed the papers as supporters of the NPP to win the presidency in 2012. They seem to be playing a school yard game of the flamboyant popular kids bullying the nerdy sickly weak kid that once followed their every wish & command, who is now met with constant insults & public taunts because that sickly weak kid all of a sudden grew up & found strength in his own voice & became his own man & leader, much to the chagrin & angst of those who once led him. Will President Mills be able to pull his own “revenge of the nerds” style victory by silencing the raucous banter of the Rawlings family & their supporters against him? This is the question that many of President Mills‘ supporters are eagerly looking forward to be answered as the 2012 election approaches.

Will Samia Nkrumah be the Barack Obama of Ghana- a one term MP of mixed heritage, who finds herself at the right place at the right time in a fledgling party who needs the hope & change that she represents in a beautifully well cultivated package that will be pleasing to the eyes, ears & tastes of Ghanaians begging for change & newly found freedom in hope, much like her father represented as he stepped out of the shadows of the big six & became the superstar who led Ghana to victorious independence from colonial rule & gave the Convention People’s Party (CPP) global recognition? The rift in the CPP  that forced Dr. Nduom’s resignation has clearly made many wonder if either Dr. Nduom or Samia’s political ambitions have not superseded the needs of Nkrumahist loyalists. It has even gone as far as causing not only a divide in the CPP, but also in Samia’s immediate family with her younger brother Sekou. Samia’s immediate family is coming more & more into question as she becomes more of a public figure in Ghana. With Ghana’s growing population of Italians & general globalization, are Ghanaians ready for the first man of their first female president to be Italian? You rarely hear about or see Samia’s Italian/Danish husband Michele Melega & son Kwame. I have scoured the internet looking for photos of them together & I can’t seem to find any, which makes we wonder would the visual be too much for some Ghanaians to digest & stand behind when many of them can’t even see themselves voting for their fellow full blown Ghanaians just because they are from another tribe or from the North?

Perhaps the new generation of Ghanaians who have been making noise to be rid of the old brigade in order to build their future are looking for the second coming of Dr. Nkrumah , so they could write the wrongs of their fathers & mothers who many of the younger generation believe were complicit in bringing the coup against him that eventually stifled the future of not only Ghana, but of Africa as a whole to a dream deferred instead of a dream realized. Many first & second generation American & European born children of Ghanaians along with the new expats who are flooding into Ghana seeking their African dream, maybe the voting block & constituency that may change the game toward one candidate or another in the upcoming 2012 elections. There is a rapidly growing number of dual citizenship card carrying Ghanaians & their children who are becoming more & more politically involved, have learned the power of their vote from abroad & are ready to utilize that power in 2012 in Ghana. Samia Nkrumah on the surface is the face of this constituency in Ghana & abroad, but does she have the platform, know how & fire to cause a political explosion in new beginnings for Ghana like her father did?

In historical reality, Dr. Nduom’s departure from the CPP in dissatisfaction with their efforts to rebuild the party gradually instead of surging forward in full force as a true contender to take Ghana’s presidency in 2012 is more reminiscent of Dr. Nkrumah’s unflappable fortitude in breaking from the reigns of Ghana’s Big Six to surge forward in his own path to declare “forward then to Independence Now“! Dr. Nduom can easily go back to his former NPP party & bring his supporters to guarantee the type of split allegiances that will benefit a NPP victory, but he has chosen to go on his own, declare an independent new party in Ghana where he is founder & leader, much like Dr. Nkrumah did with the CPP. Dr. Nduom’s presidential packaging is also as appealing to the people of Ghana who are looking for their own Ghanaian version of President Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama. Dr. Nduom is a social media savvy,  intelligent, highly educated, well spoken statesmen with an equally intelligent, highly educated, well spoken & elegant would be first lady by his side, whose platform much like Michelle Obama is also to inform & educate Ghanaian people about healthy living, healthy eating & growing your own food. While in the vision of Dr. Nkrumah, Dr. Nduom has declared a New Independence Movement in Ghana with young men & women at the forefront, many pundits have already declared  Dr. Nduom’s decision to surge forward independently as a big mistake in a decision that is said to be self serving, much like they said about Dr. Nkrumah’s decision to do the same.

Ghana’s politicos do not belive Dr. Nduom can possibly pull in more than even a meager 1% of votes, let alone pull an upset. As Ghanaians young & old become more & more frustrated with what seems to be a two party system that just continues to give more of the same year after year without any major big leaps in progress economically or otherwise to show for it, Dr. Nduom may just be able to build an audience amongst those who want a completely diffrent alternative than the two parties of the NPP & the NDC can offer them.  Dr. Nduom much like  then senator Barack Obama has been building his constiuency amongst the youth who want to play more of an active role in politics in order to have a say in determining their future. If Dr. Nduom along with his wife continue to be the source of inspiration for the dreams & hopes of the youth for a better Ghana, then just like then Senator Barack Obama & then independent founding father of the CPP, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah- the new wind of change will be in the air with a new unprecedented precedented presidential upset!

I look forward to following & covering the 2012 Ghana elections much more than I look forward to the 2012 American elections. Where America has become a nation filled with political tomfoolery with the majority of the nation rapidly losing hope in politics/politicians, which may end up in the reverse effect of 2008 where a record number of enthusiastic Americans, particularly youth voters came out to vote, turning into a record number of dissasitied & disaffected Americans not turning out to vote in 2012; Ghanaian youth are bursting with enthusiasm of what can be & must be for the future with more & more formidable choices to choose from.

Mark my words, any presidential candidate in Ghana who goes after & attains the youth vote will more than likely win because there is a new surge of politically in the know & involved younger generation of Ghanaians from Africa to her Diaspora that are ready, willing & able to make their voices heard & their votes count by any means necessary in creating a new Ghana wrapped in the cloth of the Forward Ever , Backward Never dreams of Nkrumah that has been a dream deferred for much too long for far too many generations of Ghanaians. Future Africa & particularly Future Ghana is ready for its Close Up & Take Over, so may the best candidate who speaks to & represents Ghana’s future be the victor! As the saying goes Many Are Called but Few are Chosen!

Photo Credit: Peter Dicampo Photography (Samia & Crowd)

Today the African nation of Egypt started a new path to freedom by forcing  the resignation of the 30 year reign of yet another African despot who refused to leave & allow a democratic government for the people by the people! Today Africa’s freedom fighting angels President Nasser & President Nkrumah smiled upon Egypt’s people & allowed their spirits to lead them to reclaim the revolutionary fight for freedom that they had brought to their nations & to Africa as a whole. No matter what, Egypt is & will always be not only African, but directly linked to the greatness of Africa’s history of freedom from both pre & post colonialism. As many Africans cheered on Tunisia & Egypt’s revolutions as the new wind of change in Africa’s freedom, many others fell back to old divisions of race, religion, culture & tribalism that has been the bain of African unity between Black & Arab Africa long before & after Dr. Kwame Nkrumah called for a United States of Africa & became the physical symbol of unity between Black & Arab Africa with his marriage to Fathia Rizk of Egypt.

“Fathia Nkrumah (1932–2007; born Fathia Rizk; Arabic: فتحية رزق‎), was the Egyptian First Lady of the newly-independent Ghana as the wife of the Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, its first president. Fathia Nkrumah was born and brought up in Zeitoun, a district of Cairo to a Coptic family. She was the third daughter of a civil servant who died early and Fathia was raised by her mother single-handedly after her husband’s death…Nkrumah proposed to marry her. Her mother was reluctant to see another of her children marry a foreigner and quit the country, as Fathia’s brother had left Egypt with his English wife. Fathia explained that Nkrumah was an anti-colonial hero, like Nasser, yet her mother refused to speak to her or bless the marriage. Nkrumah married Fathia the evening of her arrival in Ghana: New Year’s Eve, 1957-1958…Fathia Nkrumah was a very young wife and mother of three very young children when her husband was overthrown in Ghana’s first successful military coup d’état on February 24, 1966. She had to take her children to Cairo, Egypt to be raised there while her husband went to exile.”READ MORE

From facebook to twitter, to blogs & in many homes throughout the world there are heated discussions amongst Africans & African descendants on Egypt’s so called “African identity problem” that sees today’s Egyptians as Arab invaders who committed genocide  & enslaved  Egypt’s original residents, much like many Arabs & others who sympathize with the plight of Palestinians have labeled Israel & its Jewish state. Many Black Africans & their descendants including some Egyptians do not count today’s Arabs in Egypt as Africans & the media completely dismissing the fact that Egypt is in Africa as they report on the revolution shows that we still have a long way to go in recognizing the dream of what President Gamal Abdel-Nasser of Egypt & Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana not only expressed but embodied for Africa.

“Whenever Arab-African ties come into question, one cannot help remembering the days when colonialism was the threat closer to home and one Arab leader was always at hand to lend support to those Africans who wished to throw off its yoke. That was the time of solidarity, of a common Arab-African dream, of nations taking their first steps to freedom. That was Nasser’s time. The solidarity between Arab and non-Arab Africans is not a historic accident. It is rooted in a common vision, drawn from a common cause. It all started in the late 50s and early 60s, when Africa’s leaders-to-be were still freedom fighters, and Nasser was their closest ally. For Nasser and his fellow African leaders, African liberation was a historic duty. They lived and died for the cause of national liberation. Few Arab leaders of Nasser’s stature were involved as intimately as he was in the struggle to liberate Africa from colonial rule. It was this dedication to the cause of African liberation that endeared him to like-minded African leaders. What they had in common was a radical agenda of social change, a task they knew would not be easy, a mission that remains, to this day, incomplete…” READ MORE

There is no denying the long fought turmoil & hatred passed down generation after generation between Black Africans & their Arab counterparts in Africa & specifically brought to the world stage by the modern day continued enslavement & genocide in nations like Sudan- who just came to finally win their freedom just months ago through secession, which separates the Black Sudanese in South & the Arab Sudanese in the North. What has been seen as religious infighting between Christians in the South & Muslims in the North goes deeper than religious infighting & can clearly be seen in the division between color lines because there are Black Sudanese who are Muslim just as well as Christians, yet they have still been enslaved & deprived of their freedom by Arab leadership dominance in Sudan. The stupidity in color division is that many of these so called fairer & superior Arabs are darker than the so called Black Africans, a perfectly idiotic ode to the internalization of the teachings & mental enslavement passed down by European & American slave masters & colonizers.

It seems all over Africa there is always a certain hatred or division targeting Northerners as outsiders of every nation, whether it is in free democratic Ghana or war torn Sudan or Cote d’Ivoire. Africa in moving forward to true freedom, justice & unity needs to not only address its “Arab issue”, but also its northern divisions & other “isms” that separate us on our shared homeland amongst color, religion, tribe, region & class lines. Arab or Black African, non of us have clean hands in the killing, suffering & enslavement of generations of Africans through the years & even in present time in some nations. We have to deal with the wounds of our past, specifically the past & present internalized degradation of slavery that has never been properly addressed or abolished in Africa by Africans Black & Arab alike.  In order to move forward to heal for our future, we must acknowledge & make amends with our collective past from Africa to her Diaspora. Africa must unite because it has been proven time & time again that “United We Stand , Divided We Fall“.

When will Africans collectively recognize that we continue to do the bidding of our former colonizers & current neo-colonialists through our continued infighting & desire for separation instead of finding intelligent solutions for unity?  African unity by design has always been the biggest fear of demagogues, slave masters, separatist, colonizers & neo-colonialists because a continent of people with unparalleled resources  & intellectual power will surely be an unparalleled  super power if it ever unified to recognize & exert its full power & potential. Africa, since slavery was never meant to be made whole by those of the world who saw its true potential & threat because the beauty, glory, power & worth of anything made whole is worth much more than the sum of its broken pieces. Dr. Nkrumah’s vision was so simple & was perfect for his time, this time & anytime, but when one is broken even a simple vision can not be recognized until one is made whole. It is time for Africa to be made whole !

We all have a part to play in our forward movement as a continent- individually & nationally.  The young people of Africa have shown time & time again in their everyday lives that they do not want to carry the divisionism & separations of their individual nations & their collective continent’s past into shaping their future! The world has watched the young people of Egypt bring a nation together across religious, age, sex, class & color lines in hope for true freedom that will define a new Africa, where we can come together to recognize the dream that Dr. Nkrumah’s life & legacy exemplifies along with the vision in freedom that both he & President Nasser fought to see come to fruition. The younger generation live in a world made border-less through technology &  have & will continue to use it to fight the powers of demagoguery & division locally & globally.

“Repressive regimes thrive on ignorance –the ignorance of their people, and the ignorance of the outside world. For too long, the image of Africa has festered under the haze of the Western world’s ignorance and its resulting apathy. A relevant example of this is the unofficial annexation of Tunisia, Algeria and the continent’s other northern nations, for reasons of race alone, to the Middle East. (Though the majority of Egypt’s land mass is in Africa, a portion of that nation, the Sinai Peninsula, is in the Middle East, making it transcontinental.) Africa is, and has been for the past several centuries, a continent of artificial boundaries and of divisions constructed along the lines of race, class, tribal and ethnic grouping — divisions cleverly constructed for the purposes of conquering. It is an infrastructure that, by design, lends itself to dictatorship, to the powerlessness of the masses…” READ MORE

Each one teach one & let’s hold our truths in our proclaimed desire for peace, justice & freedom for not only Africa but for humanity to be self evident as we take Ghandi’s words to heart , mind, voice, action & soul by becoming “the change we want to see in the world”!

“Kwame Nkrumah inspired other leaders to break the yoke of colonialism. He had a vision of Africa linked by road, bridges, rail and air transport, just like in America. He started a transcontinental high way from Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and stopped after he was kicked out of office, in La Cote d’Ivoire. He funded a feasibility study that showed that the Congo river alone could supply all the continent’s electricity! (That is why he sent a Ghanaian Army Force to keep the peace after the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba was asassinated by the Belgians). The former colonial masters were concerned about the loss of ready markets for their goods, as these countries were now trading with Russia, China and the eastern European countries. America was interested in Africa for extension of its ideologies, markets and position as the only super power. Every African leader toppled after independence has CIA prints all over them! The Judas in the case of Nkrumah, was an African American named Brown who was his mate at Lincoln. Brown was made US Ambassador to Ghana, and he fed info back to the CIA who paid the Army officers who made the coup about $3m! (the 30 shekels was affected by inflation!:))You can check archival material that has been released 30 years after the 1966 coup in Ghana...”READ MORE

“At the age of ninety-three, Du Bois was invited to Ghana by President Kwame Nkrumah to assume editorship of the Encyclopedia Africana, a monumental project involving scholars from around the world. He assumed Ghanaian citizenship and lived in the land of his fathers until his death at the age of ninety-five on August 27, 1963– the day before the March on Washington that marked the climax of the civil rights struggle in the United States..” SOURCE

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“First Lady Fathia Nkrumah, the wife of Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, with their daughter Samia reading her husband’s book, ‘Challenge of the Congo’ in 1967. If the prospective union between Ghana and Egypt was such a threat to the then dying British Empire, what more could we say of the then prospective union between all countries of Africa – the very vision Nkrumah symbolized? What can we say of the power that symbol still wields? Regardless of whether Samia Nkrumah is ‘her father’s daughter’ or ‘her own woman’ let us not forget about the symbolic power of her ‘Africa Must Unite’ becoming” READ MORE

“We must change our attitudes, our minds, we must realise that from now on, we are no more a colonial but a free and independent people. I made a point that we are going to create our own African personality and identity. It’s the only way that we can show the world that we are ready for own own battles..We have won the battle and we again re-dedicate ourselves …Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa…Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. Thy claim it as their own and none can keep it from them. We face neither East nor West: We Face Forward.Forward Ever, Backward Never“- Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

IT’S TIME FOR AFRICA!

Billions have been raised so far in charitable donations for Haiti, but more & more Haitians are dying every day after surviving being buried alive in years of poverty & the rubble of the earthquake, having only their sheer will to live to hold onto. International bureaucracy & power struggles of people with invested interest more in economy than humanity is becoming the continued cause of many Haitians being handed their final death certificates.

We need to be diligent & aware about keeping up with who is controlling the purse strings of all the humanitarian aid & the future sovereignty of Haiti. We can raise all the money we want to help Haiti, but Haiti will still be in the same condition & possibly worse, with an achieved loss of sovereignty if Haitians & Pan-Africanists at large do not come to the aid of their brothers & sisters in attaining & retaining economic empowerment & sovereignty. We have seen throughout the history of the world that a nation’s power & health rests upon its economic power & health; however for many African nations & Diasporans, genuinely fighting to attain this reality has been less & less of a priority because it has been easier & less work to collect foreign aid in return for resources, to leave the health & upliftment from poverty of their citizens to NGO’s & to just silently exist without much fight nor change within broken systems of governance, as long as the few in power continue to hold their titles as beneficiaries.

“Something in the nature of an economic revolution is required. Our development has been held back for too long by the colonial-type economy. We need to reorganize entirely, so that each country can specialize in producing the goods and crops for which it is best suited…..We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival. ” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s First President

We need to be diligent about not turning a blind eye to where all the Haitian relief funds are going when there are so many still begging & waiting for relief. Where is all that money being allocated to? Who is watching over the money & making the decisions on how it is spent? These are the questions we should never stop asking as we give of ourselves in charity because what is the point of charity when the situation of the people is never helped, but rather seems to get worse than better? This is the question we should be asking the Red Cross & the 10,000 + NGO/charities that were in Haiti prior to the quake & the numerous more that are in Haiti now.

“We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages, and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my Government will ask to be judged.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

February honors Black History month in America- we should not & can not allow the history of Black people throughout Africa & her Diaspora to be written in the same way in the next decade as it has been written in the past because that only will show the lack of forward movement & the acceptance of stagnation amongst Black people globally. If this decade is going to be diffrent than the last decade for Haiti & Black people globally, then we must recognize our common struggle, the same struggle that became the catalyst for the movement of Pan-Africanism.

We need this new decade to be a revival of Pan-Africanism with new, young, intelligent, concerned, enlightened, awake, aware, unabashed,unbought, unbossed, pride filled Black people in the likeness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B Dubois, Jomo Kenyatta, Marcus Garvey,Patrice Lumumba, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Ahmed Sékou Touré ,Gamal Abd El Nasser,Haile Selassie,Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo Kuti etc. -everyday people turned leaders who knew,understood & accepted that although they have been spread all over the world, their legacy empowerment & economic freedom is intertwined in the legacy, empowerment & economic freedom of Africa-the spiritual birthplace of home. The type of feeling of home where one always comes back to pay homage while seeking the guidance & comfort of mama Africa’s bosom -the only true mother of our blood & roots regardless of our adopted mother nations.

There are the Kimmie Weeks of Africa & the Wyclef Jean’s of the Diaspora, who need to join forces with the likes of people like Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah, daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who has decided to take on the mantle of her father by starting a new intelligent revolution toward real resolution. There needs to be a new era/new decade of Pan-Africanism with a Pan-African summit based on the original teachings & goals of empowerment & health through our collective economic freedom at the forefront.

“She is emerging as the new face of the current crop of selfless continental African leaders who think more about the development and prosperity of sub-Saharan Africa, first and foremost than looting from the continent.” Ghanaweb.com.

Sami Nkrumah & the growing crop of new thinkers & leaders are the only way to make this new decade, a decade where Africa & the Diaspora truly gets our house in order in efforts to write our own history in the manner that we would like to be recognized & heralded. We can’t rest on touting the legacy & greatness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah or Toussaint L’Ouverture when there has been little to no forward movement created by the generations after them, in terms of the level of global respect & conditions of Africans & her Diasporans.

“Achieving political and economic liberation, social justice and national and continental unity including the African Diaspora are yet to be realized.” Samia Nkrumah

Pan-African movement
“Movement dedicated to establishing independence for African nations and cultivating unity among black people throughout the world. It originated in conferences held in London (1900, 1919, 1921, 1923) and other cities. W.E.B. Du Bois was a principal early leader. The important sixth Pan-African conference (Manchester, 1945) included Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. The first truly intergovernmental conference was held in Accra, Ghana, in 1958, where Patrice Lumumba was a key speaker. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) was founded by Robert M. Sobukwe and others in South Africa in 1959 as a political alternative to the African National Congress, which was seen as contaminated by non-African influences. The founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU; now the African Union) by Julius Nyerere and others in 1963 was a milestone, and the OAU soon became the most important Pan-Africanist organization.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60U0IV20100131

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1455459.html

http://mashable.com/2010/01/13/haiti-red-cross-donations/

http://open.salon.com/blog/ezili_danto/2009/10/13/oil_in_haiti_-_economic_reasons_for_the_unus_occupation

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” — Jomo Kenyatta, Pan-Africanist & first president of Kenya

“It is said, of course that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilize our resources for our own social needs…Yet all the stock exchanges in the world are pre-occupied with Africa’s gold, diamonds, uranium, platinum, copper and iron ores. Our CAPITAL flows out in streams to irrigate the whole system of Western economy. Fifty-two per cent of the gold in Fort Knox at this moment, where the USA stores its bullion, is believed to have originated from OUR shores. Africa provides more than 60 per cent of the world’s gold. A great deal of the uranium for nuclear power, of copper for electronics, of titanium for supersonic projectiles, of iron and steel for heavy industries, of other minerals and raw materials for lighter industries – the basic economic might of the foreign Powers – comes from OUR continent.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

http://ghanaianoracle.wordpress.com/the-history-of-ghana/

The Achievements and Failures of President Kwame Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

Richard Helms (CIA) file on Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

“Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge – a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve – to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life? ”
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah -Address to the National Assembly. 12 June 1965