“We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans” – Barack Obama, speaking in Ghana during his recent visit.

The Messiah President of the United States has just recently completed his trip to Africa. It was an alright visit, as these things go. There was some hullabaloo from the Kenyans about their most illustrious son (well…sort of) not returning home on his first official trip to The Dark Continent. However, I don’t think anyone really expected him to do that. The political situation in Kenya is just not up to scratch. Dodgy democracy, general instability…that sort of thing just won’t do. He is the President of America. “Snubbing” Kenya for Ghana is a standard American move; reward those who do the things we like…or who we can work with…or who we can gain from…ahem.

Hats off to Ghana. They have come a long way…and I say that as someone who grew up in West Africa as well. At some point in my teen years (when I could finally be bothered to consider matters more important than pocket money…or a lack of feminine companionship), it looked to me that we (meaning Nigeria) and Ghana were on similar paths. We both had leaders who had come into power via coups. Corruption was also an issue. However, on closer examination, it became apparent that the similarities ended there. Jerry Rawlings (the man who assumed power after the coup) seemed to stand for something somewhat genuine. He might have come into power by force, but he did his work, achieving stability for Ghana in a region known precisely for the opposite of that. Consequently, they made progress. When he left the army, he won two terms as a civilian president. Stable democracy has existed since then. There has been some progress made in Nigeria since then, but I think it’s safe to say that Ghana is on a different level. In fact, I thought it was particularly funny that some people expressed anger that Obama would not visit Nigeria first. How dare he ignore the “Giant of Africa”?! Ha ha (“LOL” might be more appropriate here, but I hate mobile text-speak). I think we have to do more as a country to earn such privileges.

I mentioned “Gain” earlier on. Yes, there are gains to be made here for the US of A. Oil. Ghana is about to join the elite group of oil producers. Now, I am not a cynic. I don’t think that a step like this visit is ALL about profit; but there is something substantial at stake here, and the US definitely wants its cut…before the Chinese get their foot in. Fair enough. It’s got to be someone. Might as well be America.

Obama also mentioned the need for care in managing this new resource; a point that one would hope those from the Gold Coast do not need reminding about. Case in point, Nigeria…again. Oil drove the the Nigerian Authority completely mad (the military and corruption didn’t help). Other resources were basically ignored. There are estimates that say Ghana will begin to make $1 Billion Dollars per year from Oil, starting next year. Proper management of the funds will be key (I’m not going to keep moaning about Nigeria, but it just makes my blood boil. Grr!!!). The Ghanian people will have to work hard to ensure that they keep their wits about them and avoid the mistakes those who have gone before them made.

In investment spheres, we talk about “diversifying your portfolio”. You could just simplify that by saying one shouldn’t put all of ones eggs in one basket. No doubt this new cash cow will become the primary focus. That’s fine. Any new project with the potential for such large returns must be given the attention it deserves, but not to the complete exclusion of all else. They managed what they had quite well. Now they have more, and they deserve to. They have earned it. They handled (and are still handling) their issues by facing them.

That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day. The message, articulated at the start of this post, is that we are responsible for our own destiny. Responsibility is a necessary step to take in order to make real progress…in just about any situation in life. The same is true for Africa and its “issues”. We have to own the problem first, then we can go about fixing it.

So far, Ghana has done well during the standard season. Now they are going to the Playoffs. Here’s hoping they keep up the good work.

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