Ghanaian hip-hop recording artist Michael Owusu Addo, better known by his stage name Sarkodie, has criticized the country’s leadership for lacking focus, resolve, and perseverance.
He contends that there are many brilliant people in Ghana who have individually demonstrated how to create something from nothing with few resources and sustain it for an extended length of time; as a result, such people should have more power.
Sarkodie responded to a video explaining why Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, was removed from office with these remarks.
The aforementioned movie summarized ideas presented in Nkrumah’s 1965 book, “Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism,” which, among other things, advocated that
“the result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment under neo-colonialism increases rather than decreases the gap between the rich and the poor countries of the world…”
“Neo-colonialism is based upon the principle of breaking up former large united colonial territories into a number of small non-viable States which are incapable of independent development and must rely upon the former imperial power for defence and even internal security. Their economic and financial systems are linked, as in colonial days, with those of the former colonial ruler.” Sarkodie lauded Nkrumah for his selflessness in a comment on the video and urged contemporary leaders to emulate him.
“Typical politicians are trained not to build anything but just to fulfill political ambitions (just win power) … About time we check the track records of the leaders we give power to. The discipline, commitment, and resilience needed in a leader cannot be overlooked.”We have a lot of great minds in this country who have proven in their own way how they can make something out of nothing with little resources and maintain it for a long period of time. Such people deserve to be empowered.”We can’t sit on all these resources and always sit humbly in front of other foreigners (with not that much resources) asking for help. At this point we should be talking collaborations only and still maintain ownership (100%).”When you don’t want to be responsible, you should be fine with outsiders telling you what to do.”
