Accra — Pride and a tough recognition of his nation's still-difficult road colored Ghana President John Kufuor's speech to a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands in Accra's Independence Square, Tuesday.
Ghana is celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence.
Although Ghana was the first of the sub-Saharan nations to gain independence, and it "opened the floodgates of liberation against colonialism and apartheid," new challenges quickly became apparent, said the president.
"There was no blueprint for the more difficult business of governance, economic management and the building of a nation out of the diverse peoples that had been forced within artificial boundaries imposed by the colonialists for their own convenience," he said.
So part of what Ghana was now celebrating was survival against all of the odds. "The new, enthusiastic but mostly inexperienced leaders had barely any guide in the art of government."
Kufuor's sober words did not attract the roaring, thunderous cheers which greeted the fly-bys by jets and helicopters moments before he spoke. But most faces in the crowd suggested intense consideration of them.
Ghana's - and Africa's - new mission to secure the future rests on the shoulders of the youth, the president said.
"I make a plea to the youth of Ghana and Africa. Your continent and its nations need your energy, your dynamism, your creativity and above all your dreams."
Emigration from Africa to America or Europe—often seeming like flight—is of increasing concern. Some five million Ghanaians live abroad; Ghana's population numbers 22 million. Nor is the problem Ghana's alone, said Kufuor.
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"There are daily stories of young Africans undertaking perilous journeys across the Sahara desert and in flimsy boats on raging oceans in a bid to get to Europe and elsewhere… Old and new diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS still plague Africa and reap a grim harvest on youth."
These hard facts, "leave no illusions" in 21st century Africa, said Kufuor.
Continuing to speak directly to his overwhelmingly youthful audience, the Ghanaian president added: "I urge you…to stay at home. The future of this continent is yours; it is your heritage and you must be part of building the well-governed, economically vibrant nations we all aspire to."
