Thabo Mbeki Addresses Students of Stellenbosch University on the Arab Spring

“The potential of African Students in the light of recent events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.”

Chairperson of the SRC,

Chairperson of SASCO,

Vice Chancellor, leaders, staff, students and workers of Stellenbosch University,

Ladies and gentlemen:

I would like to thank you for inviting me to return to this important centre of learning to reflect on what is obviously an important and relevant topic.

In its invitation letter to me the SRC said the Council had “identified as some of (its) goals to stimulate dialogue, encourage critical thinking and reach for a more transformed campus.”

I would like to commend the SRC and the student body as a whole for setting these important goals. I hope that indeed that you have given y ourselves time critically to assess the historic events in North Africa to come to some conclusions about what they mean for Africa and for the African Students.

What can we say about these events, restricting ourselves, for now, to Egypt and Tunisia?

We will return later to the case of Libya.

With regard to everything we will say, please remember that the youth constitute the overwhelming majority of the population in all the countries we are discussing. In Egypt, for instance, two-thirds of the population is under 30, while youth unemployment stands at least at 25%.

Given the topic you have asked us to address, I hope you will agree that necessarily we will have to spend some time reflecting on the events in North Africa so that together we are better able to assess the potential role of the African students in this regard.

There is no doubt that what we saw in Egypt and Tunisia were genuinely popular and peaceful Uprisings aimed at the democratic transformation of these two African countries, starting with the overthrow of the ruling groups.

Accordingly, the Uprisings aimed to achieve the fundamental transformation of their societies, and not only their political systems.

It is also clear that in both instances the youth and students exercised leadership by being the first to take to the streets and by their persistence until the first objective of the Uprising, the overthrow of the ruling groups, was achieved.

It is also important to understand that this objective was achieved because the people as a whole joined the youth and students, transforming the rebellion of the youth and students into a National Uprising, which more or less guaranteed its success.

Equally we have to understand that what also facilitated this success was that the Armed Forces in both countries refused to suppress the Uprising and therefore to protect the governments of the day. On their own, the Police and other security organs could not defeat the Uprisings, regardless of the amount of force they used.

It is also clear that the Uprisings were an indigenous affair, carried out without any significant interference by foreign powers to help direct what were authentic African endeavours.

It is also significant that the governments of both Tunisia and Egypt collapsed within a very short time after the start of the Uprisings, marked in particular by the resignation of the Heads of State, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak respectively.

This could only mean that such was the degree of social rot over which these Heads of State presided, and such was the isolation of their governments from the masses of the people that it would not take too much pressure to topple them, as actually happened.

The April 6 Movement was one of the most prominent of the youth and student formations which played a critical role in the Egyptian Uprising, which incidentally named itself after a brutally suppressed workers’ strike which had started on April 6, 2008.

In a Statement this Movement issued on February 6, 2011, and reflecting the extent to which the Mubarak regime had lost the confidence of the people, it said:

“We will complete what we started on the 25th of January. We the Egyptian youth will not be deceived by Mubarak’s talk, which aimed to manipulate the emotions of the Egyptian people and under-estimated their intelligence as he has become accustomed to doing for thirty years in speeches, false promises, and mock election programs that were never meant to be implemented. Mubarak resorted to this misleading talk, thinking that Egyptian people could be deceived yet again.”

The youth and students and the people of Tunisia took exactly the same position with regard to their then President, Abidine Ben Ali.

By the time he was forced to leave office, Ben Ali had served as President of Tunisia for just over 23 years. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had served in the same position for 29 years.

Again as all of you know, both of them held onto these positions through what were described as democratic elections.

The reality, however, is that these elections were not democratic by any stretch of the imagination, and therefore that both Presidents and the groups they led clung to power depending not on the will of the people, but resort to other means which deliberately sought to frustrate the will of the people.

These were fraudulent elections and the maintenance of an extensive machinery of repression. Many in the Arab world claim that Tunisia had the most repressive state machinery of all countries in the region, making it what is correctly described as a police state.

In addition to the monopolisation of political power by a few, this meant that this tiny minority, as in Egypt, had every possibility to abuse its illegitimate power to enrich itself by corrupt means.

In a January 28 article this year, The Washington Post reported that:

“The Ben Ali and Trabelsi families, (Leila Trabelsi being his wife), controlled a vast number of companies and real estate, sometimes taken by force. Even distant relatives seemed above the law. Tunisia was their personal treasure chest.”

It is said that the Ben Ali and Trabelsi families controlled between 30% and 40% of the Tunisian economy.

One commentator, Professor Juan Cole, said “the U.S. leaked cables from WikiLeaks suggest that 50 percent of the economic elite of (Tunisia) was related in one way or another to the president or to the first lady, Leila Ben Ali, and her Trabelsi clan.”

We must expect that in time credible information will also come out which will also demonstrate that the Mubarak family and its associates also accumulated a great deal of wealth by corrupt means.

At the same time as the ruling groups in Egypt and Tunisia were enriching themselves, millions among their people faced challenging socio-economic conditions, characterised by high rates of poverty, unemployment, and an unaffordable cost of living.

This meant that not only were millions languishing in poverty, but also that the situation was made worse by glaring disparities in standards of living between the rich at the top and the poor at the bottom of the proverbial pyramid.

But what about the students and the intelligentsia?

In an article headed, “Students Spark Tunisian Uprising”, and published on January 18, Toufik Bougaada wrote:

“After four weeks of street protests in Tunisia, triggered by angry unemployed university graduates, Tunisians have ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who ruled for nearly a quarter of a century.

“The protests started on 18 December 2010 when Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed university graduate working as a street vendor, committed self-immolation in protest after police confiscated his stock of fruits and vegetables.

“This sent ripples through society, with many academics decrying day-to-day life, which is rife with corruption, unemployment and hikes in food prices…

“Unemployment is even higher amongst university graduates, with almost 25% of graduates failing to find work…Despite having a better education system than its North African neighbours, the high rate of graduate unemployment in Tunisia means many young people shun third-level (tertiary) education.”

As you know, and as we have just mentioned, the Tunisian Uprising was sparked by the disturbing event when an unemployed graduate, who made a living by selling fruit and vegetables as a street hawker, burnt himself to death.

In this context we should also note that even in Egypt, in part the Uprising was sparked by the death of yet another university graduate, Khaled Said, who was killed by the police in Alexandria.

Early last month, in an article entitled “Brains unused”, Rania Khallaf of Al Ahram reported on a sit-in by university graduates at the Academy of Scientific Research in Cairo. These were unemployed graduates who were demanding to be taken on as lecturers in the Egyptian universities, with some of them, including PhD’s, having been unemployed for seven years after they had graduated.

So acute is the problem that Khallaf’s article concluded with the words; “What is needed is an in-depth review of the problems facing higher education in Egyptian universities and an ambitious plan to make use of Egypt's brainpower. Again, if there are not enough job vacancies in Egyptian universities, it is high time for the government to find ways to benefit from this brilliant, highly promising manpower.”

Responding to this situation, a February 4 Communiqué of the January 25th Youth (Movement), named after the day the Uprising began, said:

“Egypt’s youth went out on the 25th of January with a strength, courage, boldness and heroism that had been unprecedented for the people of Egypt and completely unexpected;
“So that there would be no difference between the graduates of professional schools and those with lesser degrees;
“To confront the unemployment that has destroyed the lives of Egyptian youth;
“So that 472 youth no longer drown weekly in the Mediterranean Sea, their only crime (being) that they seek work and food to lessen the burden their families bear;
“We came out to protest the lines for (even) propane (gas) bottles and bread;
“We came out to demand an education that allows us to compete among the nations of the world, not an education that allows the world to mock us;
“We came out for the sake of the 52% of our people that are illiterate;
“We came out for the sake of national goals that unite all of us and would allow us to dispense with idling our time in cafes…”

I hope that what I have said so far is sufficient to indicate, among others, the principal objectives of the Uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, including issues relating to the students and the intelligentsia.

As I said earlier, it is clear that these Uprisings had as their fundamental objective the victory of the democratic revolution in both countries. However, as the people who constituted the heart of the Uprisings admit every day, the democratic revolutions have not as yet emerged victorious.

It was therefore always a misnomer to describe the Uprisings as Revolutions.

To indicate the challenges facing the democratic forces in Egypt, concerning the fundamental changes for which they fought and are fighting, I will present to you observations made by some Egyptians, which comments speak for themselves.

What I will present to you henceforth will include relatively extensive quotations by various individuals and institutions. I must confess that I chose to rely on these citations to avoid the accusation that I have sought only to convey my partisan views.

In an article published at the beginning of this month, entitled “Time to get serious”,

Salama A. Salama of Egypt says:

“The brief honeymoon that followed the 25 January Revolution, when the army and the people were said to be "one hand," has ended in mistrust and misunderstanding that the recent reshuffle of the Essam Sharaf government failed to address…

“As it turned out, Sharaf is now catching flak from all sides, with people blaming him for slowing down the revolution, failing to address security, or failing to speed up the trials of former officials…

“Turning to the revolutionaries, we have to admit that they are still a motley crew of well-intentioned but disunited groups and alliances, hard to enumerate or figure out. They have no leadership to negotiate on their behalf or a set of suggested policies to follow. But what this country needs right now is policies that take domestic as well as external considerations into account. We need a government that knows how to tend to economic and social demands while keeping at bay those powers, Arab and non-Arab, that do not wish to see democracy take root in Egypt.”

Towards the end of May this year, Khalil El-Anani published an article entitled “Egyptian Revolution Reconsidered”. He said:

“Although the Egyptian revolution succeeded in ousting the Mubarak regime, it has not yet managed to uproot the ills of its culture, value system and prevailing modes of behaviour. In this sense, therefore, it remains "half a revolution", or more precisely, a "revolutionary act" that still needs follow-through towards completion…The "heart", or foundation, of (the Egyptian) state remains unchanged…Change at both levels - the political system and society - is a prerequisite for the completion of any revolution.

“Of course, there is no denying that the Egyptian revolutionary act was sudden and very powerful. However, its major thrust emanated from and remained largely restricted to a particular stratum of society, namely the middle to upper- middle class. It has yet to spread to other strata of society, which remain essentially the same as they were before the revolution. This phenomenon is not peculiar to Egypt. Other countries have experienced similar popular uprisings that succeeded in overturning regimes but did not go as far as to engender radical change in the prevailing values, culture and structures of society…

“The Egyptian revolution can, therefore, be described so far as a minimal revolution - it achieved the minimal level of the dream of the majority of Egyptians, which was the overthrow of the old regime and the prosecution of its leaders and most prominent figures. However, it remains a considerable way off from the upper level, which involves the transformation of social and institutional structures and value and behavioural systems so as to enable society to regain its health and proceed towards the realisation of human development and prosperity…

“Not every outburst of collective anger and frustration is a revolution. Not every defiance and overthrow of an old regime and its legal edifice is proof of a successful revolutionary act. The sole guarantor of the success of a revolution is society itself. Herein lies the crux of the dilemma: the performer of the revolutionary act (the agent) needs a revolution so that the act and the agent can be brought into harmony, and so that the results are consistent with the beginnings.”

Let me conclude these quotations with one from Fatma Khafagy, a women's rights activist and a board member of the Alliance for Arab Women, extracted from a February article headed “Now for the Gender Revolution”.

She wrote: “I want to see the opposite of what has always happened after revolutions take place, now in Egypt. History tells us that women stand side by side with men, fight with men, get killed defending themselves and others along with men, and then nurse the wounded, lament the dead, chant and dance when the struggle is victorious and help to manage the aftermath when it is not. However, history also indicates that after the success of a political struggle, women are too often forced to go back to their traditional gender roles and do not benefit from the harvest of revolution.

“I am sure the Egyptian revolution will not allow this to happen…

“The Egyptian revolution, as I witnessed every day and night in Tahrir Square, was not only about getting rid of a political system. It was also about creating another more beautiful and just Egypt that would guarantee human rights to all its citizens. I saw young women discussing with young men what kind of life they wanted to achieve for Egypt. I feel sure that the gender equality that was witnessed in Tahrir Square and elsewhere in Egypt will now prevail because we need it to create a better Egypt.”

I am certain that the observations made by the three Egyptian commentators I have just quoted would apply in similar manner to Tunisia.

Libya was and is of course a completely different kettle of fish.

In this case, it is obvious that the major Western powers decide to intervene to advance their selfish interests, using the instrumentality of the UN Security Council.

I am certain that many of us here will at least have heard of the independent non-governmental organisation, headquartered in Brussels, the International Crisis Group, the ICG, which focuses on conflict resolution.

Its current President and CEO is the Canadian Judge Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former UN Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

I mention all this to make the point that neither the ICG nor its President and CEO were, or are, or can justly be accused of being in any way sympathetic to the Libyan Gaddafi regime.

But yet, in a Report on Libya issued on June 6 this year, the ICG said:

“Much Western media coverage has from the outset presented a very one-sided view of the logic of events, portraying the protest movement as entirely peaceful and repeatedly suggesting that the (Libyan) regime’s security forces were unaccountably massacring unarmed demonstrators who presented no real security challenge. This version would appear to ignore evidence that the protest movement exhibited a violent aspect from very early on…

“Likewise, there are grounds for questioning the more sensational reports that the regime was using its air force to slaughter demonstrators, let alone engaging in anything remotely warranting use of the term “genocide”. That said, the repression was real enough, - and I would, as an aside, add, as was the case in Tunisia and Egypt - and its brutality shocked even Libyans. It may also have backfired, prompting a growing number of people to take to the streets.”

Similar observations had been made earlier by Alan K. Kuperman on April 14, writing in the US newspaper, The Boston Globe. In an article headed “False pretense for war in Libya”, he wrote:

“Evidence is now in that President Barack Obama grossly exaggerated the humanitarian threat to justify military action in Libya. The president claimed that intervention was necessary to prevent a “bloodbath’’ in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city and last rebel stronghold…

“Obama insisted that prospects were grim without intervention… Thus, the president concluded, “preventing genocide’’ justified US military action.

“But intervention did not prevent genocide, because no such bloodbath was in the offing. To the contrary, by emboldening rebellion, US interference has prolonged Libya’s civil war and the resultant suffering of innocents…”

Later in its Report, the ICG said:

“The prospect for Libya, but also North Africa as a whole, is increasingly ominous, unless some way can be found to induce the two sides in the armed conflict to negotiate a compromise allowing for an orderly transition to a post-Qaddafi, post-Jamahiriya state that has legitimacy in the eyes of the Libyan people. A political breakthrough is by far the best way out of the costly situation created by the military impasse…

“Instead of stubbornly maintaining the present policy and running the risk that its consequence will be dangerous chaos, (the international community) should act now to facilitate a negotiated end to the civil war and a new beginning for Libya’s political life…

“To insist that, ultimately, (Qaddafi) can have no role in the post-Jamahiriya political order is one thing, and almost certainly reflects the opinion of a majority of Libyans as well as of the outside world.

“But to insist that he must go now, as the precondition for any negotiation, including that of a ceasefire, is to render a ceasefire all but impossible and so to maximise the prospect of continued armed conflict.

“To insist that he both leave the country and face trial in the International Criminal Court is virtually to ensure that he will stay in Libya to the bitter end and go down fighting.”

Bitter facts on the ground, showing the loss of African lives and the destruction of property in Libya, demonstrate that the ICG was absolutely correct.

The naked reality is not that the Western powers did not hear what the ICG said. Rather, they heard but did not want to listen to anything informed by the objective to address the real interests of the African people of Libya.

They were and are bent on regime-change in Libya, regardless of the cost to this African country, intent to produce a political outcome which would serve their interests.

Earlier this year, on March 2, a senior journalist on the London Guardian newspaper, Seumas Milne, said:

“The "responsibility to protect" invoked by those demanding intervention in Libya is applied so selectively that the word hypocrisy doesn't do it justice. And the idea that states which are themselves responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands in illegal wars, occupations and interventions in the last decade, along with mass imprisonment without trial, torture and kidnapping, should be authorised by international institutions to prevent killings in other countries is simply preposterous…

“The reality is that the Western powers which have backed authoritarian kleptocrats across the Middle East for decades now face a loss of power in the most strategically sensitive region of the world as a result of the Arab uprisings and the prospect of representative governments. They are evidently determined to appropriate the revolutionary process wherever possible, limiting it to cosmetic change that allows continued control of the region…

“(Foreign) military intervention wouldn't just be a threat to Libya and its people, but to the ownership of what has been until now an entirely organic, homegrown democratic movement across the region…

“The Arab revolution will be made by Arabs, or it won't be a revolution at all.”

Later, on March 23, he wrote: “As in Iraq and Afghanistan, (with regard to Libya, the Western powers) insist humanitarian motives are crucial. And as in both previous interventions, the media are baying for the blood of a pantomime villain leader, while regime change is quickly starting to displace the stated mission. Only a Western solipsism that regards it as normal to be routinely invading other people's countries in the name of human rights protects NATO governments from serious challenge…

“For the Western powers, knocked off balance by the revolutionary Arab tide, intervention in the Libyan conflict offers both the chance to put themselves on the "right side of history" and to secure their oil interests in a deeply uncertain environment.”

Seumas Milne’s colleague in the same newspaper, Simon Jenkins, wrote only three days ago, on August 23:

“If (British Prime Minister) Cameron wants to take credit for the removal of Gaddafi, then he cannot avoid responsibility for the aftermath. Yet that responsibility strips a new regime of homegrown legitimacy and strength. This is the classic paradox of liberal interventionism…

“Britain remains enmeshed in the Muslim world. It made a mess of Iraq and is trapped in Afghanistan. It hardly needs another costly and embarrassing client state to look after in this surge of neo-imperial do-goodery. We may applaud the chance of freedom about to be granted to a lucky group of oppressed people, but that doesn't justify the means by which it is achieved, in another fury of great-power aggression. The truth is that Gaddafi's downfall, like his earlier propping up, will have been Britain's doing. A new Libyan regime will be less legitimate and less secure as a result.”

In this regard, four days ago, on August 22, the veteran Guardian correspondent, Jonathan Steele, had said: “Thanks to its crucial role in tipping the military scales in Libya, Nato and the rebels are inextricably linked. Gaddafi had few supporters in the Arab world but there is a justified perception on the Arab street that the rebels are over-reliant on Western support and that the overriding Western motive is access to Libya's oil…

“The best revolutions are homegrown as they were in Tunisia and Egypt. Those who took to the streets in Tunis and Cairo's Tahrir Square wanted to regain their country's national dignity after decades of seeing their rulers doing the bidding of France and the United States…

“The new rulers in Libya face a long road ahead in establishing their legitimacy on the Arab and African stage.”

And indeed they do!

At the end of everything I have said, relating to Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, what should the African students do, including you, students at Stellenbosch University!

I am certain that the totality of my comments will have confirmed the reality of which you are aware, that the recent and contemporary processes in North Africa are indeed truly complex.

The first suggestion I would therefore like to convey to you is that in order for you to play a meaningful role in this regard, and indeed in the context of all other significant developments in Africa, you must make the effort to study and understand these developments.

You have the unique advantage that you are students. As a former university student, I know that your principal task is to study. If you do not do this, it would be incorrect to describe, respect and honour you as students!

Further, as my second suggestion, I would like to believe that you will seek to understand African reality not for the pleasure merely of knowing, but because you would want to do what you can to help change our Continent for the better.

In this regard you would, of course, be inspired by what your peers have done in Tunisia and Egypt, who took the lead in the popular Uprisings in their countries, which have served to advance the African democratic revolution.

At the same time you will have been motivated to follow the heroic example set by your South Africans predecessors, such as those who participated in the 1976 Soweto Uprising, and others of our students, before and since.

Quite correctly, you see yourselves as part of the greater family of the millions of students in Africa, determined to act together with your colleagues to reshape our Continent into the kind of homeland you wish to inherit.

In this context, and as my third suggestion, I would like to propose that you make a determined effort to study various documents which constitute all-Africa policy by virtue of having been adopted by the OAU, the Organisation of African Unity, and its successor, the African Union, the AU.

In the context of the topic the SRC asked me to address this afternoon, I would suggest that you give yourselves time to study and debate, among others:

· the Constitutive Act of the African Union;
· the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
· the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa;
· the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption;
· the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union;
· the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance;
· the African Youth Charter;
· the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance;
· the various documents on Human Resources, Science and Technology;
· the NEPAD Founding Document (2001); and,
· the African Peer Review Mechanism.

I mention these particular documents, all of which have been adopted by all the African governments, because they address directly the many political, economic, security and social issues which have arisen in the context of the North African struggles we have convened to discuss, and which, if implemented, would have addressed the concerns of our North African brothers and sisters.

As you study and debate these documents, as my fourth proposal, I would suggest that you ask yourselves and strive to answer two important questions:

· what should be done to position the African Union so that it has the ability to help ensure that all our Member States actually respect the objectives defined in these documents; and,

· what should the African student movement do to help achieve this outcome?

The fifth suggestion I would like to make relates to what has happened in Côte d’Ivoire and what is happening in Libya.

Specifically, in this regard, you should debate what Africa should do, and what Africa’s students should contribute in this regard, to defend and advance our right as Africans truly to determine our destiny, as a sovereign people.

I have been told that some of the intellectuals at our Universities reject the claim we make regularly – to find African solutions to African problems!

The only way I can explain this very strange posture is that these are Africans who have lost respect for and confidence in themselves, as Africans, and who therefore feel obliged to adopt positions which question ours and their right and capacity to solve our problems.

Certainly I have never come across any Europeans or Americans or Asians who would even so much as find it odd that they should assert that they have every right to find solutions to their problems!

I am also convinced, and as I said earlier, that the Stellenbosch University SRC was correct to set as one of its tasks the achievement of what it called “a more transformed campus”.

As a member of the Convocation of this University, I know that certainly under the leadership of our Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Russell Botman, you have been discussing what this means.

Placed within the larger African context, this must surely mean that we strive to ensure that this University does its best not to produce the “Unused brains” to which an Egyptian commentator referred, and that our country, as well, “finds ways to benefit from (the) brilliant (and) highly promising human power” of those who graduate from Stellenbosch University.

Thus should you, the students, together with the rest of the University community, which is my sixth suggestion, continue to engage the critically important issue of how the University should persist in the effort to transform itself so that as an African centre of learning, teaching and research, it also serves as a vital intellectual centre for the progressive fundamental transformation of our Continent, and therefore its renaissance.

I am also very pleased that as students here at Stellenbosch you see yourselves as having shared obligations towards our Continent with the larger collective of other African students.

As my seventh suggestion, I would therefore like to suggest that through formations such as SASCO and other societies, and indeed through the SRC, you should do everything you can to strengthen your links with your African peers, including through a strengthened and more active and correctly focused All-Africa Students Union.

The recent and current events in North Africa have confirmed that Africa’s students remain one of the most vital and courageous forces for the progressive transformation of our Continent, which entirely healthy reality we also know from our own history.

To conclude, and as my eighth proposal, I would like to appeal to you always to remember that you have an obligation to take advantage of the opportunity you have as university students, and therefore Africa’s nascent intelligentsia:

· to empower yourselves to become the quality intelligentsia our Continent needs, by diligently applying yourselves to the exciting task of studying;

· to act to ensure that as you inherit the future as leaders of the peoples of Africa, you will have done your best to help build a better Continent;

· always to honour the truth, to respect ‘the great unwashed’ who are our mothers and fathers, and to have the courage fearlessly to stand up for what is right and just, ready to present reasoned arguments in this regard;

· always to question and challenge even what is conveyed to you by all and sundry as established truths, including what I have said today, acting both as young people and as students who have the opportunity to re-discover anew all truths about the human and material worlds we inhabit;

· never to abuse the fact of your greater access to knowledge to position yourselves as a corrupt and parasitic segment of African society; and,

· never to be tempted to use your learning to sugar-coat a deadly virus of false knowledge you can impart to the Africans, in what our Nigerian fellow Africans would describe as giving poisoned kola nuts you offer to friends, pretending that these were but the traditional African gifts of friendship.

The eminent Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said – Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children!

By their actions, your peers, comrades and friends, the youth and students of North Africa, have challenged this provocative observation.

Through your own bold and principled actions, please continue to challenge it!

Thank you.


Sourced here: http://www.thabombekifoundation.org.za/Pages/ADDRESS-BY-THE-PATRON-OF-THE-THABO-MBEKI-FOUNDATION,-THABO-MBEKI,-AT-STELLENBOSCH-UNIVERSITY-AUGUST-26,-2011.aspx

The Quest for Excellence in Higher Education

The Quest for Excellence in Higher Education Making Legon A World Class University in Africa. Remarks by World Bank Vice President for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Accra, 14/11/2011. Thank you for the very kind introduction. Honorable Minister of Education, The Distinguished Chair of the University Council and the Vice Chancellor, Students and Faculty, Fellow Participants, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen. It is wonderful to be back in Accra and to enjoy the unique warmth of the hospitality that only Ghanaians offer so well when they say and truly mean that heart-warming word of welcome: “Akwaaba!” Let me take a brief minute to acknowledge a couple of my many outstanding friends. Let me express a sincere word of thanks through my good friend the Honorable Minister of Education to the Government and the people of Ghana for the welcome but more importantly for the huge investments they have made in education in this country. Hundreds of thousands of Ghanaian teachers who benefited from it went on to bring education to millions across Africa. Remarkably, the Government of Ghana already spends about 30 percent of its budget on education (almost 9 percent of its GDP) which is higher than the world average of 18 percent of budget or 4.3 percent of GDP. The good news is, therefore, that you have done and are doing a lot. The bad news is that India, which has expanded its education budget by 31 percent since 2010 is still doing better than Ghana. So it is important to pursue the reforms needed to grow the economy even faster, to help expand the fiscal space for new spending in higher education and to squeeze more efficiency from current spend. Please permit me to also acknowledge my brother, Professor Ernest Aryeetey for his outstanding work here as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon. It is appropriate for me to do the proudly Ghanaian thing by telling Professor Aryeetey as you say to your friend and brother here in Ghana: “Charley, you have really done us proud!” And, let me say one more thing to Professor Aryeetey. Charley, you have gotten to that point where only few achieve in their life time… the point where you no longer belong only to your country of birth, but to Africa… where you speak no longer for Ghana but for Africa… where you fly not only the Black Star of Ghana - as important as that is – but also you fly the many rainbow flags of Mother Africa. You are, I believe, in the league of Africa’s finest intellectuals... I would dare to call it the African Intellectual Hall of Fame to which belong the likes of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Cheick Anta Diop, Kofi Annan, Ali Mazrui, and only a few others... My thanks to you, but also to the outstanding faculty members whose hard work and devotion to the extraordinary students of this university combine to make you an excellent Vice Chancellor. Now, as our people say, when an African praise singer lauds your achievements, he or she is about to ask you for a favor or is expecting you to lavish them with money. Indeed! We are gathered here today because we want to ask Professor Aryeetey and his colleagues, the Government of Ghana, the private sector, Ghanaian families and students to do more for us all and to ensure that they deliver on the promise of a world class university here at Legon. Honorable Minister, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I could give you another speech, explaining the many things all of you already know. But what use would another speech be? We all know what we must absolutely do – and not only do, but excel in doing – for Legon to gain “world class status”. So, instead of boring you with another speech rehearsing those points, I thought I should cut to the essential. Later, I would like to challenge you to think out of the box as you take on this challenge, but first let me begin by drawing your attention to three key findings from one of our most recent reports (Accelerating Catch-Up: Tertiary Education for Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa) on this issue. First, the report concluded that a more knowledge-intensive approach to development is not an option for Africa. It is likely the only path that will lead to sustained development. The good news is that many Sub-Saharan African countries, including Ghana, have realized this and are embarking – as you are doing here today with Legon – on the path to laying that foundation for a competitive Ghana in a knowledge-based, globally interwoven and interdependent global economy. High youth unemployment across Africa – where seven-to-ten million young people join the ranks of job seekers every year – places a particular burden on us all – governments, communities, private enterprise, development partners – to create jobs and expand income-earning opportunities for youth, especially girls and women. Yet, with a secondary enrollment rate of 45% and tertiary GER of 6%, applications for admissions outstrip supply by a large margin. Thus, while there is nothing wrong with investing in a few institutions towards world class status, we must not lose sight of the need to build a diversified system that offers adequate opportunity to the vast majority of young people in an affordable manner. Second, we need to pay more attention to quality and relevance of higher education to economic growth and competitiveness, even as we continue to expand access to tertiary education and ensure that universities have more dynamic and visionary leadership at the helm. Our progress in this area coming from a very low starting point means that only about six percent of Africa’s potential tertiary age group is enrolled in tertiary institutions compared to a world average of 25.5%. In fact, nine of the ten countries with the lowest tertiary enrollment in the world are in Africa. Third, is the clear message from the study is that we need to embark on “business unusual” in order to bring about the game-changing transformations in tertiary education that our countries need. The crucial reforms needed, include the need to restructure tertiary education away from the universities founded to serve a colonial administration (where a bulk of students study English and French while faculties of engineering and agronomy have a handful of students only). The reforms should promote regional collaboration to achieve excellence particularly in science, technology and innovation. Institutions like the African Development Bank and us at the World Bank, as well as private foundations and the private sector need to support these reforms to ensure that they help fulfill Africa’s development promise. We at the World Bank incubated the Nelson Mandela Institute and we are currently supporting the Burkina Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering through a $5 million credit to the government of Burkina Faso. There is the Arusha Higher Education Hub under development in Tanzania and the Pan African University Initiative of the African Union with which the Bank is in dialogue. Reforms are also needed in the governance structures of tertiary education systems, which are too fragmented in many countries and the need to reform vocational education in ways that more directly involve the participation of the private sector. However, we chose to proceed, a few things must be clear. One is that not every African country can afford to invest in quality tertiary education and world class research in all fields of study. We need to leverage our collective strengths across national borders and build linkages with existing pools of world class knowledge – including linking African tertiary institutions with each other and with other institutions around the globe. We need to be clear, too, that not all post-secondary institutions are universities. There must be room for community colleges. Not all universities should automatically quality to grant masters and doctoral degrees, for instance. We also need to work more collaboratively with the private sector so as to produce graduates with the right skills for the job market. The founding father of this country, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is known for his admonishment to all Africans: “Seek ye first the political kingdom and the economic kingdom will be added onto it!” I may be wrong, but I dare say that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah made the assumption that Africans would prioritize achieving the education kingdom as a pre-requisite for reaching all other kingdoms. That explains the emphasis and the investments Ghana put then and has continued to put in education... from primary through secondary to tertiary education. It is, therefore, appropriate that we are meeting here in Accra, Ghana, to discuss one of the goals we have laid out in our World Bank strategy for support to Africa’s development, which is to get as many African universities as possible to attain world class status. It is good to begin in Ghana because too many African countries have benefited from the knowledge dispensed by tens of thousands of Ghanaian teachers who fled military dictatorship into other African countries, bringing Ghana’s signature export service to Africa: excellent teaching. Coming back to the source of that knowledge here in Accra to begin this new effort at building world class universities is consistent with the African proverb which says that “any river that forgets its source will definitely dry up”. During this conference, you will be invited to help find solutions to the many questions that University of Ghana, Legon, must answer before transforming into a world class institution. A first question is to understand what a world class university is or is not. World class universities are known for their very high concentration of talent (faculty and students); they have an abundance of resources (enabling them to offer a rich learning environment and to conduct research); and they enjoy favorable governance features that encourage leadership, strategic vision, innovation, and flexibility. The results they produce, according to a 2009 book (The challenges of Establishing World Class Universities) include highly sought-after graduates (the majority of whom find jobs as they graduate), leading-edge research, and dynamic knowledge and technology transfer. Why should we bother to set up world class universities? In today’s global knowledge-based economy, it is ideas and innovation – largely driven by universities - that are the new sources of growth, economic development and wealth creation. Our friends at CNN have an expression for it: “Smart is the new rich”. Elite universities play a key role in training skilled workers to be fluent in the latest technologies and to apply their learning to industries, making a broader range of products that win ready customers worldwide. It is such universities that stimulate innovation, trigger creativity, and will contribute to the production of new varieties of goods and services, as well as crops and sources of energy that can create millions of jobs, speed progress toward reducing poverty, curb vulnerability, build the resilience of African economies, help achieve food security, fight disease, pandemics and improve health. Ghana is the perfect example of how the expansion of access to higher education is interlinked with the solid economic growth and sharp declines in poverty that Ghana has experienced over the last decade. Not surprisingly, the country has seen its number of public and private tertiary institutions grow to over 120 today, leading to a 13-fold increase in enrollment from 14,500 students to over 150,000 by 2010. How will a world class Legon University be distinguished from its competitors? Our studies are clear that world class universities are distinct from their competitors by the fact that the former have a strategic vision and leadership; and that they rely on four main sources of financing, instead of just tuition or just government funding. They rely on (i) government budget funding for operational expenditures and research, (ii) contract research from public organizations and private firms; (ii) the financial returns generated by endowments and gifts, and (iv) tuition fees. Abundant money and international prestige creates a virtuous circle that allows elite universities to attract even more top professors and researchers. A world class Legon University will be an environment that fosters competitiveness, scientific inquiry and academic freedom, critical thinking, innovation and creativity. In line with the findings in a study of 11 leading public and private research universities in nine countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, a 2011 World Bank study (The Road to Academic Excellence), stresses that a world class Legon University will also have a high concentration of diverse and talented academics and students. Leadership, governance and management are key levers. Visionary leadership, appropriate governance, and effective management make it easier to generate and manage additional resources, which, in turn, support building up a world-class group of professors and researchers and attracting talented students. How to build a world class university. Universities either upgrade or start anew when they want to embark on the path to academic excellence. Many studies also show that world class university status is more easily achieved with niche programs. You would have to determine which niche programs here at University of Ghana, Legon, would work the best. This was the approach taken by the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Pohang University of Science and Technology, the Higher School of Economics, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. This is going to be hard work, but success can come early. If it does, please remember that it is usually fragile and easily reversible, as the study of the University of Ibadan suggests. Then there is the never-ending challenge of achieving a harmonious balance between equipping students with technical skills and rigorous methodologies and imparting the ethical values needed to pursue scientific inquiries in a socially responsible manner. That said let me leave you with five messages, challenging you to think outside of the box. First, I have a message for faculty, alumni and those Ghanaians who are keen to give back to their country through their service to this university and others. Every one of you needs to be the inspiration that the students here seek. You have to be capable of detecting and nurturing their talent, and work to ensure that students have the very best environment in which to be daring, inquisitive, inventive, and eager to find practical solutions to the problems of our time. Faculty members here have – in most cases – returned from studying abroad to teach here. You have to find ways of combining with alumni who live abroad and to take advantage of today’s technologies to do what Ethiopian doctors in the United States and Europe are doing to train doctors through an Italian Government Trust-funded ran by our Diaspora Program. Although adequate, predictable funding from diverse sources is an important ingredient of a world class university, it is heartening to know that the best lecturers do not join this profession or serve our universities for the salary their jobs pay. Lecturers in world class universities do their work well not for the salary. Besides, nothing can quite compensate the long hours you must spend planning classes; the hours you must spend delivering lectures; the headaches you must; the load of extracurricular activity you must embrace; they patience you must show when students do not get it; the time you must spend grading papers; ensuring that each student gets the best feedback on why they got it wrong, and that the high-performing ones understand what they need to do to continue to improve. The University of Ghana, Legon, will become a world class university if you accept yours as an often thankless job... in fact, if you accept it as a vocation to help build a better Ghana for generations unborn. That said, Legon does need to make sure that your pay grows in attractiveness – partly by ensuring the efficiency of its current funding and by finding new and innovative approaches for raising revenue from non-traditional sources, including from the financial markets and international partnerships that provide grants for scholarships, fellowships, study tours and research. Second, I have a message for the private sector. Universities train students not for themselves but in the hope to make them skilled workers, inventors, entrepreneurs, etc. What that means is that the private sector – perhaps more than every other sector – has a very high stake in the final product being of world class quality. What that means is that universities and funding for universities cannot continue to be the business of only governments and individuals in the education sector. Students who get trained in “big book” but graduate unable to translate what they learned in the university into a contribution at the workplace and in society do not render a service to the private sector which needs to work more with universities like Legon to offer opportunities for students to intern, to get exposure and experience, to develop the habits needed to be successful in the modern workplace. There will always be students who go through university, without any university going through them. Third, I have a message for those who may be tempted to believe that university drop-outs can only be a failure to our society. Many of your students may not succeed with a formal education, but do not pass them off for failures. An Akan proverb puts even better: “Do not conclude that someone is rich just because you saw him/her head to the farm in a beautiful piece of “Kente” clothe, because it may the only piece of clothe that person has”. There is a University of Life that is perhaps just as important as the University of Ghana, Legon. Think about it... Where would the world be without Gerard Ford, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, all of who either did not go to or dropped out of college? Gerard Ford built the automobile working part-time after coming home from his regular job as an engineer. He did not learn the trade in some faculty of engineering. The co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs (God rest his soul) and the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, both dropped out of college and built their dreams and wealth leading to the millions of jobs they created indirectly working out of the garages of their parents. World class status universities, no matter how good, will see students drop out. What I call the University of Life thrives all across Africa today. Anyone who visits the market at Circle here in Accra must marvel at the young girls and men there who repair, reconfigure, unlock cell phones, mend cutting edge flat-screen TVs and other electronic gadgets. They are in the image of the millions of African youngsters in retails or in mechanic shops across Nigeria, Ghana and other countries, who know everything there is to know about a motor vehicle engine. They have everything but the diploma in engineering... The well-known West African business woman without whom retail is impossible across Africa, such as the Nana Benz of Ghana, Togo and Benin, know everything about trade – including trade with China – but they are not recognized as holding a Masters in Business Administration. A Fela Ransom Kuti or a Kodjo Antui may write and play the best music in their genre, yet be challenged by diploma-holding, academic musicians who have not written or sang a note all their lives. I make this point not to undermine the importance of a formal research-based university education, but to stress the need – especially to the government and business - for solid higher vocational schools and training. Africa is unique and its universities have to be as well. They will make a difference if faculty members become an inspiration for the students who walk through the gates of this campus. Being an inspiration is to recognize that we must listen to all, even the dull and ignorant. As the Desiderata says: “They, too, have their story”. My fourth message is for students. My three sons are in university now, so I would like to tell you what I tell them. The University of Ghana, Legon, or any other university – Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Nsuka, Nairobi - cannot attain world class status unless the students work hard and strive to excel at all times. New ideas are hatching in your minds. Innovations will come from you. The next inventions – the next iPad and the next on-line sensation - like Facebook or Twitter – are at your reach. The passion to build the new Ghana, to search for and find solutions to the problems of our time must inspire you to achieve. Let me tell the story of a teenage girl in the United States and hope that it inspires you. Some of you may have heard the story of the 16-year old girl from Richardson, Texas in the USA, who taught herself Chemistry over the summer holidays. She had not yet done those Chemistry lessons in class but because someone in her family took seriously ill from cancer during the summer, she decided to study Chemistry in the hope of finding relief for the patient. When she applied what she had learned, it turned out to be a major breakthrough. She had discovered how to use light to kill cancer cells. Now doctors, hospitals, research laboratories and banks are interested in working with her to advance her discovery. My fifth and last message is a very short and simple one for government. The examples I have cited of success despite dropping out of university challenge you and the Government of Ghana, Honorable Minister, to work harder to create the environment that made it possible elsewhere for Gerard Ford, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates – and soon the 16-year American girl I just mentioned – to succeed and to thrive in spite of dropping out of college or in spite of making a discovery early in life. What can we do with research grants that we are not yet doing to ensure that those from the University of Life here in Ghana and all across Africa can bring their own innovations to life? A key part of success will come from belief in the creative genius of Ghanaians a trust that young Africans can find solutions where our generation has failed. A second part of my message to government is that world class universities will not emerge in Africa unless governments accept that universities must be run freely by education specialists; not political appointees; and that universities must be the laboratories affording rights for students and faculty to experiment; think independently and express themselves freely. Given the important role that government funding and government schools play in molding the minds of children who later end up in universities, it is important that governments realize firstly that they will never have enough money to fund tertiary education alone. That means that it needs to redefine and limit its role to creating an enabling environment for private sector participation (policy, strategy, tax incentives, labor laws, access to student loans, etc.). Governments need to put in place adequate regulations and to set standards and accountability mechanisms. Given government’s heavy involvement in funding basic education, it is important that it gets this right. If we botch pre-nursery, nursery, primary, secondary and high school education, we cannot expect the input into our universities to be good and should not be surprised if the output is less than world class. We can and must ensure that students arrive university ready to learn; that they receive a quality learning experience while at school; that they leave with adequate knowledge and work-and-life skills to contribute effectively to the well being of their communities and nation. Finally, governments can play a role in ensuring that university education serves as a ladder for even the poorest in our societies to climb out of poverty. So, wherever the poor but talented cannot afford college, governments, scholarships, support from alumni and private enterprise must sponsor talented but poor students seeking a world class education. Honorable Minister, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen In closing let me go back to what my invitation to this conference said. My letter of invitation asks if the Africa Region of the World Bank would work with the University of Ghana as a partner to make Legon a world class university that serves the needs of the entire region and is capable of assisting other universities to grow in a similar manner. Let me answer that in two short sentences. “You do not even need to ask. You have the full support of the World Bank, and that means the World Bank beyond the Africa Region as well”. Just for your information, between 2004 and 2011, the World Bank has been supporting innovation in teaching and learning in Ghana through the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TALIF) for a total of US$35 million. University of Ghana received almost 20% of the grant through 50 grants with a value of about US$6.5 million. The Bank is now considering a new generation of TALIF to focus on S&T, research and graduate education. The Bank will initially provide technical assistance to support Government efforts to develop a strategy for sustainable financing of higher education in the country. Honorable Ministers, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish thank you once again for the invitation. I wish you fruitful discussions during this conference and look forward to receiving the outcomes of your deliberations. Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=289895034374580

Fee Paying Policy at Public Universities is Constitutional(?)

The debate about whether the letter and spirit of Articles 25 and 38 of the constitution of Ghana are not being violated by given admission to candidates who can pay 'commercial fees' for their education has reached great heights. The universities offer admission to persons who may not have been qualified for specific programs but are given admission simply because they can pay for the cost of the education.

Many have observed that this is discriminatory especially with increasing belief that the quota for regular students is being reduced to admit more 'fee paying' students.

There are a number of factors to take into account:
1. In Shelley Ann Chapman's 'Trasformative-Deliberative Curriculum Theory' (2007) the idea of providing education (especially professional education) to someone simply because the person can pay was frowned upon, in fact rejected.

2. Admittedly both Articles 25 and 38 conditioned providing free education 'on the basis of capacity'. An expression that is subject to various forms of interpretation. The point has to be made however that, if the universities are complaining about over population leading to enormous stretch on facilities, then there is every need to contain the admission quota, to the extent that is being covered by the government subvention. The case of Independence Hall at KNUST where a part of the hall collapsed apparently due to stress can be mentioned.

3. The universities earn income from non-academic activities, which when looked at, could contribute more than the fees paid by less than 10% of the universities students population - the fee paying students.

4. It is not being suggested that the universities can not engage in commercial activities, such as sale of university placements - termed as fee paying - but it ought to be noted that such an activity should not place the greater majority of students of indigent backgrounds in possible disadvantage.

5. We ought to be guided by events in other jurisdictions. In the past year or so, there were some protests in the UK, for instance, about the increasing cost of higher education. A country where living conditions are much better compared to Ghana.

6. This ruling may give the universities an opportunity to charge higher fees for some other programmes. For instance I understand the University of Ghana, Legon has introduced a two year part-time LL.M/MA in Alternative Dispute Resolution this academic year. And they are charging Ghana cedis 5000 a year. A total of Ghana cedis 10,000 to complete the programme! Not taking into account books, transport, field trips, feeding and other associated costs.

The case simply should not have been sent to the Supreme Court. If the plaintiff had lot of faith in their case, which it appears they did, then they should have done a lot of research before sending the matter to the Supreme Court.

Read the news article below.

SMK
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Paying University Fees Is Constitutional - Court

The Supreme Court has dismissed an action filed by the Federation of Youth Associations of Ghana (FEDYAG) against the Public Universities and the Attorney-General, which sought a declaration that the full-fee paying policy of Ghanaian Public Universities is unconstitutional and that the offer of admission to full-fee paying students amounts to discrimination under the Constitution.

In a unanimous decision, the court declared that the full-fee paying policy is justified and achieves a constitutionally valid purpose because it is one of the means by which the universities have been able to offer education to others.

FEDYAG sued the Public Universities in the Supreme Court claiming that the Public Universities “sell” admissions based on economic status and not intellectual abilities, in breach of Articles 17, 25, and 38 of the Constitution, because tertiary education is to be made “progressively free”. The plaintiff asked the court to interpret these articles and declare the full-fee paying policy unconstitutional.

However, the Public Universities argued that admissions are generally based on how much government subvention they receive each year, and that it is after the quota determined by the subventions has been determined, that spaces are made available to foreign students, Ghanaian nationals resident abroad, and Ghanaian students who have qualified but did not benefit from the subvention.

They also argued that although the full-fee paying students constitute less than 10% of student intake, they contributed over 28% of the Universities’ income, and that this goes to support non-fee paying students and provide scholarships to brilliant students from deprived schools.

The court found that the plaintiff only made bare assertions which it failed to substantiate and that the full-fee paying option is not discriminatory because normal admissions are not affected. The court said that although Article 25 of the Constitution demands equal opportunities for educational advancement, it also recognises limitations that are based on students’ capacities and available educational facilities. The court said that the ultimate object of Article 25 is free education by gradual introduction, and that under Article 38, education objectives can only be implemented by “the availability of resources.”

The court said that in reality education comes with costs, and that the nation cannot provide free tertiary education in the shortest time possible. The court cited statistics supplied by the Public Universities which defeated the plaintiff’s claim that spaces for non-fee paying students have been reduced in favour of full-fee paying students.

According to the court fee paying is one of the means by which the Public Universities are able to offer education to others and that this was justified and did not contravene the Constitution. The fee paying policy, according to the court, is not discriminatory as it does not affect the quota that is based on government subvention, and actually creates more opportunities.

The plaintiff was represented by Dennis Ofosuapea, the Public Universities by Ace Ankomah and Kwesi Fynn, and the Attorney-General by Cecil Adadevoh and Helena French.





Source: citifmonline.com via peacefmonline.com (http://news.peacefmonline.com/social/201107/59294.php )

THE DAGBON REGICIDE AND MATTERS ARISING

THE DAGBON REGICIDE AND MATTERS ARISING

In March 2002 there were some uneasiness in the Dagbon Traditional area lasting some three days between March 25th and 27th. This uneasiness resulted in the death of the overlord of the Dagbon Traditional area Ya Na Yakubu Andani and some forty (40) other persons.

The incident has since heightened tension in Dagbon leading to the resignation of key government functionaries including the then Minister for the Interior who is also a Member of Parliament for Yendi, the area where the incident occurred which is also the place where the palace (Gbewa Palace) of Dagbon is situated and the then regional Minister for Northern Region Prince Imoro Andani. It is instructive to note that whilst the former is believed to be associated with one of the gates to the Dagbon differences, the latter is believed to be associated with the other gate. Others who resigned include Major Suleman and General Joshua Hamidu. I have brought this to light at his stage of our conversation so as to as much as possible help us draw the line to the colourisation of the dispute in political lights. This is important when we wish to reflect that the two Ministers are members of the same political tradition a la Prof. Wayo Seini known to be a royal of one of the gates and a politician who has had a taste of any of the two leading contemporary governance groupings in Ghana – NDC, NPP.

This having been said, the Dagbon differences is known to be an age-old issue of succession. There may be other attendant issues but that of succession has always been the highlight. Please refer to the Wuaku Commission Report.pdf. The Government of Ghana at the time considered the three-day incident as events that occurred within a state of war. Please refer to Gov't White Paper on Wuaku Commission.

Persuant to the recommendation of the Wuaku Commission that the Government of Ghana should take up steps to integrate the two gates to the Dagbon skin, the Government set-up a three (3) member Committee of Eminent Chiefs (CEC) comprising the Asantehene as chair and the Na Yiri (Paramount Chief of the Mamprusi Traditional Area) and Yagbonwura as members respectively, to facilitate a resolution of the dispute. The Yagbonwura, Paramount Chief of the Gonja Traditional Area has since passed away earlier this year (see Yagbonwura Bawa Doshie). It is not clear how the committee has since been conducting its business.

Again, it is worth mentioning that there has been some disquiet among some dagombas with the choice of mediators. The view is that differences between and among Dagombas has traditionally been settled by the Na Yiri, the Paramount Chief of the Mamprusi Traditional Area. Nontheless there has been general co-operation with the panel of mediators by the two gates, namely the Abudus and the Andanis, since the commencement of the mediation process in 2002.

As part of the process the Gbewa palace has been renovated, a Regent has been installed pending funeral(s) of the deceased among other monumental strides.

Understandably there has always been claims of involvement of politics or politicians in the regicide and its aftermath. And a section of the political population often use association with their party or lack of it as a trump card to justify or rationalize one deed or another.

In recent times there has been numerous anxieties in different parts of the country in relation to chieftaincy. In fact the Andani gate of the Dagbon royal family held a press conference to request of the current Government of Ghana to own up to its campaign in the last election of finding those who committed the regicide of the late Dagbon king and making them face justice. See Andani Press Conference on Prez Mills' pledge

Putting in motion the criminal justice system in itself is not out of place. Especially being aware that criminality has no expiry date. Also being aware that some persons were arrested, charged and arraigned before court is important except to say that they were discharged and acquitted for lack of evidence. The arrests followed shortly after the recommendation of the Wuaku Commission Report.pdf which was formed by Constitutional Instrument (C.I. 36)in April 2002 to investigate the disturbances in Dagbon.

So, having come this far, it is understandable when some stakeholders demand of government to fulfill its campaign promise of finding those who by law might have erred and making them face the law. It is also known that by law a criminal proceeding can be commenced at the same time a civil proceeding is commenced for an offence that has both a criminal aspect and a civil aspect.

But there has already been worrying signal with the recent arrests. Some of the arrested persons are being represented by a key member of the current Minority in Parliament The Party Politics of Dagbon Crisis and government apologists are already rationalizing and using not so pleasant language in condemning critics who suggest government is responding to the pressures of the Andani Press Conference on Prez Mills' pledge to find the killers.

While recognizing that the NPP lawyer representing the accussed persons may be doing his rightful job, it is also important to state it may actually fuel suspicion that the Abudus are indeed NPP and a lot of political capital ( or liability) could be made out of it. So it is no wonder that some civil society suggested that Ghana should Create a Platform to Engage Dagbon Politicians. This arrest if not well managed may be set-off on a bad start. The government apologists may want to reword their responses and the MP/Lwayer may want to reconsider his involvement.

In future it is important to give maening to the Constitutional Provision on National House of Chiefs, give the National House of Chiefs the necessary capacity to ajudicate on matters relating to chieftaincy from within its structures. Indeed the Chieftaincy Act of 1971 (Act 370) and its replacement, the Chieftaincy Act of 2008 (Act 759) are expected to be documents that help reduce governments participation in resolving chieftaincy matters. All governments have complexions that have always affected the pace, perception and procedure for resolving chieftaincy disputes. And as may be noted there are Debates about the place of Chieftaincy in contemporary times

Be it as it may what however is expected is the full integration of Dagbon with each being the brother's keeper as ever before. This may take a while and Ghanaians will be much pleased if nothing is done to unduly affect this transition. It is our expectation therefore that the recent arrest of some forty-one (41) persons in Yendi in relation to the 2002 incident does not unduly affect the true management and resolution of the differences in Dagbon.

Saeed Musah-Khaleepha

rafani@email.com

+233(0)208121764

http://samuleepha.blogspot.com/

http://raafani.blogspot.com/

http://i-mediate.blogspot.com/

Khaleepha Consult

Box AS 194, Asawasi, Kumasi

Box NB 889, NiiBoi Man, Accra

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Posted By samuleepha to Platform for Social Conversations at 4/13/2010 08:37:00 AM

The article below point to some challenges in South Africa. It principally is about some reports about what the leader of the youth wing of the ruling political party has said; a quotation of parts of an anti-apartheid song. That (the comment) appeared to be in bad taste and already there is some anxiety in the atmosphere with some court issues raging.
The last time I checked there were about thirty (30) or so facebook pages/groups promoting anti-the ANC Youth Leader agenda.

The reports indicate the ANC Youth Leader has denied any wrongdoing. And the party has indicated its preparedness to protect the youth leader from some death threats he's received.

I hope we will learn from the lessons thereof.

Saeed/SMK
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ANC shocked by Malema death threats

The ANC expresses its shock at an SMS promising a R2 million reward to anyone who kills its youth league president Julius Malema.

Read more

Journey for Change: Day seven in Ghana

A group of young teenagers share their experience on Anderson Cooper 360 blogsite

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/17/journey-for-change-day-seven-in-ghana/

.
If you happen to be familiar with the place(s) they visited and the account they give I'm sure you will better appreciate their accounts of it.
All the same I find it worth sharing with you.
For those who might have challenges accessing the site, I have reproduced the accounts here.
SMK
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Editor's Note: Students from Brooklyn, N.Y. are traveling to Ghana as Global Service Ambassadors as part of a trans-Atlantic youth service and advocacy summit, bringing together African-American youth and Ghanaian child labor trafficking survivors. The project is called Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service and is in partnership with the Touch A Life Foundation. The Ambassadors will advocate for the eradication of child slavery when they return and they will visit Capitol Hill and the United Nations as part of their efforts. Read their blogs from the trip below.
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Jasmine Figueroa, Age 15
Journey for Change

Before I went on the trip to Ghana, I visualized and thought of what the food was going to taste like and how Ghanaian people live. Now that I have experienced the culture, I think that the Ghanaian people have a lot of pride in their homes. They take good care of them no matter how poor they might be. When I first met my Ghanaian partner, who is a former child slave, I thought she was very beautiful with a big smile on her face. She is 13 years old and I knew we were going to have a loving and beautiful relationship toward each other. I began to talk to her and she was very polite and outgoing. She told me about when she was a slave and told me all of the things that she had to do when she worked. She had to get the nets for the fishing boots, cook for the fisherman and his family, and clean the fish. She slept outside on rocks or on the hard ground or with the animals. And she was treated like an animal too. I shared a little about my life too. I told her that in my life I have problems at home and in my life and she was shocked. She thought everyone and everything in America was perfect. But when I heard about her life as a slave, it was sometimes too hard to bear and to hear. There were a lot of tears, but also a lot of laughs.

My experience in Ghana was sad, happy, and emotional. I liked the entire trip, but the part that meant the most to me was being on the Lake Volta meeting the trafficked kids either on the islands or rowing to the sides of their boats. It just tore me apart when I first started to experience the reality of child slavery. The kids were as young as 2 years old that were sold into slavery and forced to work the waters of Lake Volta. And the slave’s masters, who were fisherman, did not care about them at all. Some of the children only ate once a day and did not have proper places to sleep. They were tied to trees and beat if they did anything wrong.

The other part of the trip that touched me was going to Elmina Slave Castle. This is a place that our ancestors were held hostage and ripped away from their homeland. 60 million people were brought to Elmina. 20 million dies while being held there, 20 million died on the way to the Americas, and 20 million were sold into slavery. I felt insecure going through the castle. It scared me to think of what they had to go through. It was such a painful, disturbing situation. It brings tears to my eyes just to think about it.

If there was one thing that I would change in this world it would be to end trafficking of children worldwide. So, I will speak out to my community and the world to try to make it a better place for the children sold into slavery and all children.

It is our second to last day in Ghana and this blog is about my experiences in Ghana.
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Benjamin Goode, Age 13
Journey for Change

This trip has been very cultural and emotional. My emotions were very complex and mixed with joy, sadness. Journey for Change mission trip to Ghana would give us an opportunity to talk about child slavery and work with Touch A Life Foundation Staff who are involved in rescuing slave children who work for their masters in the fishing industry here Kete-Krachi on Lake Volta. Our first couple of days in Ghana was fun; we had a chance to meet our partners from Touch A Life Foundation for the first time. We saw and met other children in Tema house who were rescued just like our partners; we renamed this village “Village of Love”. We also played basketball with the children in the village of Hope. Then on Sunday, we went to church at The Salvation Army in Accra; we praised and worshiped God the Ghanaian’s way; it was uplifted. I was blessed. The same day we went to T.K. Beads factory where we learned how to make beads. That was very interesting to see the different stage that go into making beads; everything was made by hand; even the glass had to be crushed in a wood container.

Finally, we went to Elmina Castle where we learned and see how our ancestors had to go through so much from the time they were captured or sold as slave to the point they would be ready to be shipped to the Americas and other parts of the world. We saw where the slaves where beaten, raped, unfed and the door of no return where they would say goodbye before they board the boat to be shipped.

The next day after going to Elmina Castle we went on an 8 hour bus ride and a ferry ride to Kete-Krachi. Once there the sadness began to settle in as the bus pulled in Village of Life and into the house where we would stay for the next 4 days. This village has 200 kids who were all rescued from slavery. Also, this is where we really get to spend time with and know our Touch A Life rescued child slave partners. It was as if they were our brothers and sisters and no matter what happened, if we argued or yelled at each other we still will have love for each other. My partner was Ezra and we became friend very fast and bonded well. When we first met he was quiet; and before you know it he opened up; he is fun to talk to because he always makes you laugh and smile. In Kete-Krachi other JFC participants such as Sydney, Jasmine, Latoya, Joshua and I, and the Journey for Change and Touch A Life staff were going back and forth on Lake Volta to different islands where there are lots of children who are slave. Our Touch A Life partners who used to be slave themselves lived on these islands before they were trafficked as child slave. On one such a trip to an island we saw a small fishing boat with four people on board: one adult man with two teenagers and a 6 year old child working; our boat came very close to that boat and Touch A Life staff started to beg the man to free the younger child and handed him over to us. He refused, but agreed for meet us late on before releasing the child. I was very glad that day we left the island with 2 children. This made everyone feel great knowing that Journey for Change and Touch A Life came to Ghana to free children who are in slavery. It feels good to know that we’ve achieved our goals.

After visiting several of the islands it was time to leave Kete-Krachi and go back to Accra. We had a nice farewell dinner with the kids and a nice soothing African dance. Then the next morning we left.

Once we arrived in Accra, we only had a couple of hours before we would get ready for our farewell dinner at a beautiful resort hotel by the beach. We had a very emotional meeting before dinner; almost of us shed tears; it was so emotional; I can’t even explain it. Each one of the Journey for Change participants read a poem we wrote as part of our writing assignments during this trip. By 10:00pm we were back at the hotel getting ready to leave Ghana on such a rewarding trip to empower and rescue slave children and return to New York tomorrow.
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Joshua Hall, 16 years old
Journey for Change

It’s almost time to go home, as today is the last day at the village of life. With our bags packed we headed on the bus ready to go to Accra. After the multi-hour drive we finally got to our hotel in Accra. After a short rest we were back on the road headed to a restaurant where we celebrated our journey so far. Before we ate, there were a few presentations that were done. Of those, I read a few poems. But then my partner, Donald, had a presentation along with the other five children. During this, they gave my peers and I gifts and letters thanking us for being there and caring for them. They told us how much they would miss us when we leave, and the feeling is mutual.

This experience has been a great one for me. I now truly understand the seriousness of trafficking children into child slavery. I am even more willing to help end it. I really wanted to get a lot out of this trip and I’m glad I did. Knowing that my ancestry can be traced back to Ghana, this amazing trip has definitely broadened my horizon. It has also given me a better understanding of the world’s cultures, ideas, geographic features, etc.

Before we went on this journey one of the things I looked forward to was meeting our partners. It was great to meet all of the kids especially my partner Donald. I will never forget the days in Kete Krachi at The Village of Life. At night before we slept all the boys would just sit up and talk about anything. We would sometimes talk about favorite sports, food, music, cultures and so much more. I will miss all five Touch a Life kids though.

Of the many magnificent things we have done over the course of this trip, I would say that the best two days of them all would when we went to Tema House and when we rescued Christian and Jacob from their masters on the lake. Going to the Tema House was great. As soon as the doors opened they charged us with smiles on their faces. It was great to be able to put those smiles on their faces. On this trip one of my goals was to rescue at least one child slave. To know that we saved more than just one made me very happy and proud of myself and my peers. All in all, this was a magnificent experience and I would love to do it again if I had the chance.
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Latoya Massie, 16 years old
Journey for Change

We arrived here on Saturday, March 6. After we rested , we went to The Village of Hope, took a tour and met many children. I played basketball and later that night had three plates of food at dinner! It was great! We had a lot of fun activities and when our Ghanaian partners found out they were staying at the hotel with us, they were excited because they had never been to a hotel before.

On Sunday we got prepared to go to church. The service was energetic and powerful. We went to eat after the service and the food was okay. I have to say that I preferred the meal we had at Village of Hope, but I appreciate the people that cooked for us everywhere.

We then went to T.K. Beads which is a company that has a 6 month to 3 year training program in the making of glass beads. We bought some of the jewelry and some of the beads that we can use to make our own jewelry. I really liked the purple, multi-colored, and sky blue beads. Some of them were shaped like hearts and there were also gold pieces that I really liked.

We followed that up with a visit to Tema House and the children who live there ran to us and clang to us like magnets. We rode bikes with them and played with them until dinner was ready. They performed a dance for us and sang a song. We ate dinner and I enjoyed every moment of that day. Before we left we gave the children of crayons, cars, paint sets and books.

On Monday we went to Kankum National Park and went on a hike to the canopy walk. It was fun, but I didn’t find it challenging. I would love to jump out of a plane! After that we went to lunch at a beach resort where I had typical American fast food-a cheeseburger and fast food! I walked on the beach and drew shapes in the sand. I also collected some little shells.

We also went to El Mina Castle which was originally a storage place for goods such as gold. Later it became a slave trading place. We saw the “door of no return” and it was such a scary walk and at time it made me angry and I felt a lot of pain. To actually experience what went on with our ancestors, how they were treated and how they lived made me write a poem that really expresses my feelings. It was an eventful day that took my emotions a lot of places.

Tuesday we arrived at the U.S. Embassy and met the Ambassador. We learned about their different programs, positions and what they are doing for Ghana. They are expanding roads and building new ones. They will also be operating a new ferry in the next two years!

We then left on the long trek to Kete Krachi. We took a ferry to cross the river and continued on a dirt road. Along the way we saw frogs, owls and goats. There was one owl that landed right in front of the bus and would not move at all! It finally got on when we revved up the car.

We spent the next three days in Kete Krachi. Although we had basically the same schedule every day, each day held different emotions for me. On Wednesday we went out on the lake and Jasmine and Benjamin poured out their emotions in an amazing way to a community of elders on a village island. They were really impressive and we were able to rescue two boys that day. They were named Christian and Jacob and looked to be around 10 years old.

Generally we would come back from the lake, have snacks, rest a bit and then go play with the children living there at the Village of Hope. We would then have dinner, work on our writing and just relax. We would get up early and start all over again the next day.

We learned so much about advocating for the freedom of the kids on the lake and what it takes to negotiate with the masters and the people in the communities. It was such an eye opening experience. The first day was so hard to take in and to have a great outcome made us know that we were capable of doing what we did. So the next day was a bit less emotional and the last day we were all more comfortable taking a stand for the children.

Saturday we came back to Accra. It was a long and rough drive, but at least it was in the daytime and we could see all of the things going on in different villages along the way. When we got back we got ready for dinner near Independence Square on the beach. I was the most emotional of all because it really hit me and my partner, Sally, that we were going to be leaving each other. It was hard, but there was a lot of gift giving, thank you’s and goodbyes. I know we will stay in contact.

Today is a new day and we are still here in Ghana because our flight was canceled because of bad weather in New York. So today is a day to have peace of mind and to share what we have been experiencing. I’m looking forward to getting back home though and show my peers and the world what is going on here. I hope to open their eyes and ears and get the kids on the lake the respect they deserve and the freedom that is their birthright. This issue has become really close to my heart.
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Sydney Smart, Age 13
Journey for Change

Visiting Ghana has been one of the best experiences that I have ever had. I would not have changed a moment no matter how many hours we stayed on a bus. I would not even change the food that I did not like or getting up very early in the morning. I loved listening to the music in Ghana especially the drumming and watching the African dance. Our partners and the people from Touch A Life Foundation, arranged for traditional dancing on a daily basis and I loved it.

It was also great to spend time with the children my age. They were former child slaves and it was the most beautiful thing ever. Unlike South Africa, we got to know everything about the children we were partnered with and developed good and close relationships with everyone. My partner was Gideon and he was 13 years old. It was so nice to get to know about his life as a former slave and about how his life is now that he is rescued and in school. After a few days, he really started to open up to me. He did talk about his life on Lake Volta, he felt solemn talking about it. But through the days he opened up more and more like a flower. On the bus, we both learned that we had a lot in common like our personalities as we are outgoing, shy, playful, and get bored quickly. Between all of the children, day by day, we would feel more and more connected from our experiences.

Even though this trip was based on child slavery, we also got to reconnect with our ancestors. Luckily for my fellow Ambassador Joshua, his ancestors are from Ghana but I am from Sierra Leone. That did not stop me from visualizing how my ancestors were treated and also making a connection that this is where my people stepped away from where they were raised and from their home. People from many countries like my ancestral country of Sierra Leone, as well as Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and more, came through Elmina Slave Castle. To be vanished and brought to a strange place, to be treated like you were a mutt dog and also to work endless hours only to be beaten and starved. Anytime I think of that, my heart skips a beat. But luckily for Gideon, not only was he rescued and saved, because he is from Ghana, he knows his ancestry. But he did lose information about his village and past due to being sold. And that is a big similarity between the two of us. We have lost information due to slavery.

Ghana was a great trip. It was multidimensional and the whole experience meant a lot to me. I now have an opportunity and an obligation to speak out and make sure that all children go to school and play and not live their lives as a slave.

Australian Parliament passes Youth Allowance changes

I guess the highlight is the fact that the rural-youth in Australia were excluded from this allowance.

Parliament passes Youth Allowance changes
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/17/2848880.htm