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Tangled Roots?
Rebuttal to Wall Street Journal’s Article

by Clement Timpo

Mr. G. Pascal Zachary’s article that ran in the Wall Street Journal on March 15 and also in the Chicago Sun Times on March 18 makes for interesting reading. It is very articulate in dialogue and very convincing in presentation if you have not yet visited Ghana. My first reaction however, is to the motive behind the article. Is it his intention to scare and persuade African Americans from migrating to their ancestral homes, or is the article a result of a personal experience, which he would like to share with others?

Before we jump into any forms of conclusions on the article, the facts - both from his opening paragraph on the satirical jokes of a comedian - to the so called promise of Ghana’s former head of state, President Jerry John Rawlings needed to be clarified before we formulate any umbrella condemnation of all Ghanaians. I would also like to draw a parallel between his presentation and the sufferings and the sometimes inhuman treatment of Ghanaians and other Africans in the United States, sometimes by a few of our fellow blood brothers and sisters. We appreciate and owe a lot of gratitude to the majority of our blood brothers and sisters; however, a minority has not supported our cause when we most needed. Should we therefore be justified in any type of umbrella condemnation of all our African American brothers and sisters in the United States as a result of the mischief of a few?

We have Ghanaians and Africans with PhDs., Master and Bachelor degrees who can’t find jobs in the United States and have resorted to driving taxis, working as security guards and hotel floor attendants e.t.c. We have quietly gone about our businesses without resorting to writing articles about our sufferings and tribulations here in the United States. The fact that we have not complained about our problems is no testament to our ignorance or our inability to write, but because we are matured enough to realize that nobody brought us here, we came here on our own volition; we have brought our problems unto ourselves. When you travel outside your home, the comfortable conditions of your home surroundings are not going to be the same.

The satirical joke of the comedian Kwaku Sintim-Misa is based on the premise that, Ghanaians at home have a hard time comprehending the rational behind the influx of African Americans to the present day Ghana, considering the intolerably hash and unbearable economic and socio-economic conditions. Some Ghanaians would readily trade places with these African American for the United States. The comic jokes should have been left alone as satires by a comedian, and not to be lifted to the grandeur of a national issue. We have similar comic situations here in the United States. It is therefore the responsibility of our African Americans who have migrated to Ghana to hang in there and to help in educating the Ghanaian public about the pride in having a homeland and for them to cherish what they have.

That, their American presence in Ghana is based on the emotional issues of slavery, their visits are to serve as a means of paying homage to their ancestral blood home. Their presence should be portrayed as being geared towards helping with the transfer of their acquired experiences and technological skills to finding solutions to the prevailing economic, social and health problems of their ancestral homes. Ghanaians are a very proud and understanding people, they however, despite their sufferings, would detest the idea of someone coming to their country and lording over them with an air of superiority. It would be like colonialism all over again. They would fight any idea of demagoguery. These are things one should know about the people before visiting.

African Americans should not go to Ghana or Africa with any expectations of preferential treatments; they should be ready to suffer just as Ghanaians, and to roll up their sleeves and help in fighting to abate the chronic and deplorable economic situations. What we must not forget is that the failures of Africa are being used as a measure of blacks in general. African Americans must go to Africa and fight any obstacles hindering the progress of development and offer help in re-building instead of fuelling and buttressing the augment that black are incapable of ruling themselves. I was particularly surprised at the writer’s implication that many African Americans living in Ghana are not particularly welcome, and wonders whether they needed a new civil rights movement to secure a place in their adopted home. He went on further, that, Ghana forbids Americans from taking government jobs, voting in elections or paticipating in local politics; the writer should have known that, Ghana, like the United States, has laws regulating such issues. If one cannot take federal jobs, vote in elections or participate in local politics in the United States if not a citizen, why should the expectation be any different in Ghana? Those are the laws of the land, which can’t be changed overnight without parliamentary legislations. No country grants citizenship purely on the basis of preference and emotion. One first of all must be granted an immigrant status, and after a certain number of years of permanent residence, one can then qualify to apply for citizenship.

What the writer does not know is that, Ghanaians of the “land”, those who were originally born in Ghana, and have migrated to the United States and acquired the United States citizenship have the same problem. They do not have dual citizenship, even though they are Ghanaians of the “land”. In so far as they have voluntarily opted to change their citizenship to that of the United States, they are required by law to obtain visitors visas before visiting the land of their birth. If they should over stay their visitors’ visas duration without requesting for extension, they suffer the same fate as African Americans who are Ghanaians of the “blood”. Those are the laws of the land, which every one must respect. When one disobeys the laws of the land, one is at the mercy of the cancerous crooks and rogues, who would demand bribes with a promise to ratify the situation. It is the same condition in every country, including the United States.

It is true the former Ghanaian president, Jerry John Rawlings, upon his visit to the United States two years ago, demonstrated solidarity with American blacks by encouraging them to migrate to Ghana, the land of their ancestry. I believe the present government of president John Agyekum Kufuor adheres to the same philosophy. I am pretty sure there is no change in ideology and political platform by the current government in Ghana in regards to African Americans migrating to Ghana. What the writer failed to understand is that, the president’s promises do not become the laws of the land until parliament says so. These issues are dictated by acts of parliament. The legislative proceedings take time to enact into law, and we must all be patient.

President Clinton went to Africa and promised among several things, to look into the forgiveness of the African foreign debts, which are crippling the economies of most African countries. We all know president Clinton has no direct control over the world financial institutions. He has enormous influence and that is as far as it goes. Until now the situation has not changed. It is because we understand that these things take time to enact into law. If Africans are patient, we expect our fellow African American brothers and sisters who are supposed to be fighting our African cause to be patient and tolerant in their demands.

Contrary to what the writer might be trying hard to espouse, I have met several African Americans here in the Chicago area, which have gone to Ghana and have been enstooled as chiefs in several Ghanaian villages. Several of them have approached us to enable them to be allowed to participate in our annual summer cultural festival in Washington Park, Chicago. Most have acclaimed Ghana their home and have bought lands and other properties, and are making arrangements to resettle permanently.

As a matter of fact, I know one gentleman, Mr. Robert A Willis, Jr. an attorney at law here in the Chicago area, who despite all the problems of being requested by the Ghanaian Bar Association to pass the law exams of Ghana before his eligibility to practice law in Ghana, was able to put aside his pride of being a practicing lawyer in the United States and adhered to the provisions. He knew that that was the standard practice in the United States also. He went back to the law school at the University of Ghana and has since passed the Ghanaian Bar exams. He is now licensed to practice law in Ghana and has an affiliate office in Accra, the capital city of Ghana and should be a shinning example for all to emulate.

In conclusion and as a word of advice to Mr. Zachary and other African Americans who might be desirous to embark upon a trip to Ghana, or to resettle in Ghana, I would advice that before indulging in their wishes, they should first of all try to align or associate themselves with Ghanaians living in the United States, so that they could learn more about the Ghanaian customs and traditional ways of doing things before embarking upon such trips. There are several Ghanaian Associations in the United States, which will be willing to educate aspiring immigrants to Ghana on the Ghanaian customs. In the Chicago area, we have twelve Ghanaian Associations, under the umbrella of the Ghana National Council of Metropolitan Chicago, 6200 South Drexel, Suite 130, Chicago, Illinois, 60637. Ghanaians are acclaimed worldwide to be laid back, very friendly and hospitable people. If you know them, you will love them!

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