ACHEBE HAS GONE A PLACE OF ALL MEN

Today mother earth will receive another illustrious son of Africa. A son who spoke louder than the chiming of a bird in the wilderness for repentance. The bowel of the earth is full of many genre of a kind but you are an exception. The Achebe of Things Fall Apart has indeed fallen. 

If works do speak may they speak in your favor as you embark on a journey of all men.  Greet Okonkwo, Ezeulu , Odili and the rest of the people you envisioned when you birth the dawn of literature in Africa. 

I am a firm believer in life after death but those who share in that life is not for me to decide. But if you do qualify, which i pray you do i will not hesitate to put my desire to master the art to write to your mentorship.

 Many of your writings particularly Things Fall Apart (Which I have read) depict the challenges posed to African societies by modernism and Western influence. It details the plight of three educated upper-class Africans attempting to survive in an atmosphere of political oppression and cultural confusion. Set in the fictional African country of Kangan, it is clearly patterned after your native Nigeria, though one can also see elements of Liberia and Ghana which clearly show how cross boundary your thinking was.

 “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”

Sleep well Chinua Achebe or better still Albert Chinualumogu Achebe RIP

THE PLIGHT OF AN ILLITERATE VOTER

Just about the best thing that can happen to any developing nation troubled with several coup d’état is to had few successful democratic elections devoid of violence. That happened over a decade ago.

But the most amazing thing about this thriving democracy is not about the continuous effort of the iterate voter not to commit electoral crime but the conscious effort of the illiterate voter to avoid electoral crime.

Madam. Akua Koranteng’s story began when she was still in her hay days in a remote Ghanaian village unreachable by road.

Amedeka one of the few villages resettled by the Volta River Authority during the construction of the Kpong Hydro Electric Dam in the 1970s is the village that Akua and her family were born without any fault of theirs.

A town whose future does not seem bright but bleak: not even the existent of the Kpong dam for the past three decades could rewrite their folk tale.

But the linkage of Ms. Koranteng’s present status and her village is the huge deficit in her development as compared to those who live in the township.

Her contemporaries boasts of good drinking water, motorable roads, and descent accommodations.

For her, where she live is where she could afford but what she drink and the education of her children are what her elected officials afforded her.

On my way to conduct this interview, I was greeted by a thin stretched pathway which you may decide to call a road with numerous potholes that could dislocate ones joint after traveling on it.

Upon arriving in Amedeka, I decided to tour the whole village and it took me less than an hour to finish my tour, what I saw ignited tears down my chins.

While standing under a tree believed to be the rallying point of the whole village where arbitration and issues affecting the village is resolved, I chanced on Akua Koranteng a mother of ten.

Our conversation centered mainly on what I saw within the one hour I have been in the town.

One thing I noticed from the conversation with Akua was bitterness. Bitterness not against her husband or kinsmen but against the state.

Her dilemma until she met me was whether it is the government’s responsibility to develop their area or the Volta River Authority.

After nearly thirty minutes of explanation to Akua she realized that they have been denied their share of development.

To Akua since the VRA operates in their locality and has relocated them it was their responsibility to fix their roads and provide them with the needed amenities which would make life easier for them.

She narrated her ordeal to me prior to the election:

“On the day of election I had to wake up very early to cast my vote in order to have time to go to the farm” she indicated.

We were told lives will improve for us the moment the elections were over.

Hopes against hope we queued to vote for a leader who will turn our mourning into laughter. She said.

So I asked ‘has your story changed after the elections?”

She nodded her head and then burst into tears. Then she whispered we have been deceived.

Akua just like many of her contemporaries in rural Ghana believes politicians whether past or present have thrown dust into their eyes. 

Their sorry nature have become a gold mine for people who pretend to have their developmental plight at heart, they come to them in a sheep’s cloth only for them to find out that they are wolfs after all.

The main road through Akuse to Amedeka has been washed away by rain in the past and nothing seems to be done about it. 

The worry of the village folks however is how bad the road will further deteriorate since the rains just started pouring in.

They have no idea where help would come from. After nearly over an hour and half chat with Akua, it was clear the only thing that matter to her is the future of her village. She wants to see the children in her village have access to quality education; farmers just like her have access to good road. 

In a later write up i will talk about my personal advice to village folks who may be going through the same trauma. The myriad complexities of Amedeka may not necessarily defer from other remote and remotest areas in this country.