PROFILE: AFRICA,THINK

AFRICA, THINK.
This is one thing that worries me so much. My heart is vexed within me as I look at the proceedings of the USA elections. Sure, Donald trump has won and I watched in awe as most Ghanaians on social media sent messages of their family members being deported back to their homelands. This prompted me to research about Donald Trump’s policies regarding immigration. I came across this video where Donald spoke exquisitely about Africans. Though his words were sharp, I analyzed that he only spoke the naked truth. Africa has of late been the ridicule of many nations. Donald Trump calls Africans as lazy and good at nothing except sex. He wondered why Africans should come to America to take and control almost all their job opportunities whilst Americans were suffering. Surely, even God would not look on helplessly if His children were suffering and as such, Donald cares for his fellow countrymen.
In the video I watched, Donald spoke of African leaders being corrupt. The governance is corrupt to the extent that the leaders(presidents) take the financial resources of their countries and invest them in foreign countries to feather their own wings. The mindset of Africans is always called into question when such matters arise. What is the cause of all these? I look with sad eyes as I watch countless Ghanaians seek for greener pastures in foreign countries. I found myself in this sect of Ghanaians as I sought education abroad. I wondered why Africa could not develop to such a world class level. Why would I not want to seek a tertiary education in my own homeland but elsewhere? The grass is greener where you water it. This should be a great wake-up call to Ghanaians and Africans as a whole. The world is entering the fourth industrial revolution and my Ghana has not even immersed herself truly in the second and much more, the third. I hope that one of the presidential aspirants in this year’s election realizes his dream of an industry per district.
I watched Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala the former finance minister of Nigeria state undisputedly at a TED talk that one mistake Africa made was not creating enough job opportunities. The number of unemployed graduates in Ghana is nothing to write home about. One thing that sent me nuts on the video where Trump openly dissed Africans was the fact that he said the internet is theirs(whites) and they could disconnect us (blacks) from it. I do not want to speak of the technicalities in that but I would like to ask all Africans, what can we say is a brainchild of our creativity? What can we call our own? Our education system emphasizes on the gaining of theoretical knowledge without any practicality. Our creativity at best are all second hand ideas. I nearly cried whilst I was a student at KNUST as a lecturer did not fully comprehend what he was teaching and did not even know its usage but yet taught anyway. The problem we face as Africans is to water our own pastures and make them as green as countries such as those of the Americas and the Europes . The thing is, you do not get in life what you want, you get what you are- Les Brown
The matter at hand is to change our mindsets. Mindset refers to the established set of attitudes help by a person. I always grieve in myself as a person who calls himself educated would litter on the floor. Where is your education Oh man and what differentiates you between the person who never went to sit in a classroom if you do the same thing he does? We spend the 1st Saturday of every month cleaning up the nation(Ghana) but if we were to educate ourselves not to litter, that time could be used for something better. Our educational system needs to be revamped. A typical Ghanaian would never read a book knowing very well the benefits of reading. We just learn to pass exams. True education should be about the joy of learning and not the fear of failing. It is rather painful as I see most of my mates learn just to pass their exams and do not care if they are acquiring knowledge or not. They just cram and reproduce what they have learnt and when they come up with the first positions in their class, they think they are intelligent. What do you know of true intelligence? TRUE EDUCATION SHOULD MAKE US THINKERS, NOT PARROTS- Samuel Koranteng Pipim, PhD.
Postcolonial education may have helped emancipate the African mind from
the metal chains of traditional worship and superstitious beliefs and practices.
It has provided us with impressive degrees and diplomas but that education
has not succeeded in liberating us from the metal chains of secularism and
selfism - Samuel Koranteng Pipim, PhD.
Samuel Koranteng Pipim, PhD.
Let us cast a cursory glance at what our predecessors who brought about revolution said or did, and let us look at our actions today. Are we making Africa any better? Kwame Nkrumah said, “Revolutions are brought about by men, men who think as men of action and act as men of thought. Why do we litter and waste huge sums of money during the aftermath of any flood? It is time we brought about a revolution as Africans. We have to step up and make Africa better for ourselves because, “)man no s3e a 3si y3n nan so.”
I will end my short article with this quote by Christopher McDougall, “Every morning, and impala [African Antelope] wakes up knowing it must outrun the fastest lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning, a lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest impala or it will starve . It makes no difference if you are a lion or an impala, when the sun comes up in Africa, you must wake up running”. Now is the time every African must help in making Africa a better and a greener pasture for our good in his / her small way.


I am an African not because I was born in Africa but Africa was born in me- KWAME NKRUMAH.