The Watchwoman: Leaving Addis Ababa with fondness and questions
View of Addis Ababa from a high rise building. As I boarded an Ethiopian Airline flight out of the city of Addis Ababa
back to the city of my birth—Accra, it dawned on me that this is an
African city that is rising. Addis has great potential. In May 1963 at
the founding of the Organization of African Unity, our first President,
Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah declared: ‘Ethiopia shall stretch forth her
hands unto God!’ Why didn’t Nkrumah prophesy that Ghana ‘shall stretch
forth her hands unto God’ considering how much he loved Ghana?
Addis is under construction:In as much as it
is possible to know a place in a short period of two weeks, I got to
know Addis Ababa. The sky-line holds promise. There is a spectacular
housing development boom. Addis looks like a big construction zone for
high-rise building projects. Everywhere one looks, a building of at
least ten-storey is under construction and at various levels of
beginning and completion. It’s easy to imagine that five-to-ten years
from now, Addis will look like cities in the so-called developed world.
But
when you look closely, you can see the layers of development firmly
being built over deeply pathetic under-development. Decrepit poverty is
etched like a tattoo. Shacks and thatch/mud houses abound; in many
cases, they have been strategically cordoned off and concealed with
aluminium sheet fences. On the ground level, the concealment works out
fine. But from high-rise levels, the view of poverty in its raw
nakedness dims the fine veneer.
I spent some time on the 17th
floor of the grandiose but yet awkward Chinese-gifted African Union
building. (Is that building strong enough? Does it carry something
ominous? I shudder to think so. I felt so! Something ain’t right.) The
photograph accompanying this article shows some of the shacks—the homes
of the indigenes. But as the city rises in its glory, the shacks give
way to more prestigious high-rise storey-buildings which the poor cannot
dream of occupying.
So as it happens in all such cases
throughout history, the poor and their eye-sore habitats will be pushed
away further into the hinterlands so they will not embarrass the fine
well-orchestrated posture of a freshly-minted capital city. The poor
will be the losers. They will lose their lands; they will lose their
places. But, almost for sure, they will keep their poverty and its
accompanying indignity until death do them part. A few lucky ones will
escape poverty and cross over into opportunity.
We plundered Ghana Airways!As
I sat with my seat belt fastened for the five and a half hour flight
back to Accra, I felt my national pride wounded. It was as if an
invisible hand was spectacularly stabbing me on every side of my body.
Why is it that there is a super-viable Ethiopian Airlines
(affectionately simply called Ethiopia) but there is no Ghana
Airways/Airlines? Why did we chew up our airline and spat out the slime?
We allowed naughty people, pure nation-wreckers to nibble away at Ghana
Airways until there was nothing left.
Ethiopian Airlines began
operations on April 8 1946, extending to international flights in 1951,
years before Ghana Airways was founded. Currently, it has an
overwhelming presence in the airline industry on the continent and
beyond. The motto of Ethiopian Airlines is “The new spirit of Africa!”
Maybe Nkrumah knew something! Bole International Airport on the
outskirts of Addis is of the standard of an airport in any of the
so-called advanced countries. It is vast and impressive. It dwarfs
Kotoka International Airport and makes ours look like a domestic
airport.
Roads made of stones:I’ve seen
roads built with bricks in some part of the Western world. But never
have I seen a road built with hewn stones. The novelty got my attention.
Imagine a road construction site packed with a load of stones of the
size of fists being arranged methodically on the ground and levelled out
flat. When the arrangement is completed, some holding material (maybe
cement) is used to bind the stones together. And viola, the road is
complete! I was told that a road made of stones lasts much longer than
our type of roads.
High sense of security:I
was impressed with the deep sense of security. You may recall my
article a few weeks back of my experiences of lax security at the
Jubilee Flagstaff House—our people’s house. I found a different model in
Addis. Probably because the country is located right inside the horn of
Africa, they have a certain alertness and awareness of the importance
of security and to be on the look-out for knuckle-headed crack-head
terrorists who might want to do them harm. One is searched when entering
major hotels. Even the tires of vehicles are checked for possible
bombs.
The world has changed so Ghana should also institute
modern-day security measures. The status quo of being casual, with a
God-is-our-protector attitude should give way to a heightened sense of
security. After all, Boko Haram has gained a foothold in northern
Nigeria. Mali is in a security daze. Niger too!
The sweetness of free speech: 
Dr Doris Yaa Dartey, the writerYes,
Ethiopia is rising. But not all that glitters is gold. On the surface,
everything looked fine. But there are layers and pockets of tension. On a
day last week, suddenly there was so much traffic where none had been
on previous days. Then I found out in the news that there has been a
one-of-a-kind massive demonstration by the opposition party. In a
conversation with an indigene, I began to dig deeper and peel off the
onion of the Ethiopian political matter. There is a heavy layer of
autocracy over which a concoction of democracy has been fashioned out.
There is fear. Freedom of speech is thin. Democracy is a veil that just
covers the status quo of an autocratic political dispensation.
In
undertones, someone confided in me: “Here, we don’t have much of a
voice. Yes, there are all these construction works but we have no say.
If you’re not careful and you say something against the government, you
could easily end up in prison.” I gasped for breadth, realising that we
in Ghana have it good; from sun-up to sun-down, our radio airwaves are
filled with talk of all shades. Bladders and hernias are rendered tender
over free speech. This is healthy. We can’t have it any other way!
Ghana’s shining star at AU:I
met an awesome Ghanaian, Dr Fareed Arthur who occupies a high-ranking
position in the African Union Commission as the Advisor to the Deputy
Chairperson. It is a BIG position at the highest hierarchy of African
governance. It was beautiful to watch him at work and to observe the
adoration and sheer respect he receives. His voice vibrates as an
influencer. It is usually said that when Ghanaians are removed from our
environment, they excel beyond measure. So what it is about the Ghanaian
environment that sucks out excellence and perpetrate our national funk?
As an icing on my little cake, I had a brief chance encounter
with Allan Kyeremateng, the ever-running NPP presidential aspirant—the
‘Allan Cash’ himself. As quickly as I could at the momentary
opportunity, I asked him, “What are you doing in Ethiopia when we in
Ghana are busy counting pink sheets?” He made some off-the-handle fun
comments, we laughed out loud and before I could say Cash, the encounter
had ended.
Written by Dr. Doris Yaa Dartey
The WatchWoman Column, Weekly Spectator
Email:
dorisdartey@gmail.com
Omotola Jalade Ekeinde
Nollywood sensation, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde on Thursday, June 13, 2013,
took to social networking site Twitter to speak on the lamentable state
of the country, caused by many Nigerian leaders who have failed to
deliver their constitutional responsibilities.
