Archbishop Nicolas Duncan-Williams
Obama Is Inspiring Africa’s Youth To Dream

President Obama is not the only person who knows about the supernatural power of hopes and dreams. That is why we went to Ghana’s most celebrated mega-church Action Chapel International in Accra to hear what Archbishop Nicolas Duncan-Williams had to say from behind the pulpit about President Obama’s visit. 

“President Obama is as much the message as he is the messenger. The sheer magnitude of his journey to power reveals the power of hope and faith. He inspires a new breed of leadership that is causing a paradigm shift in Africa because of his focus on the youth.

“Dreams are impossible tasks. Dreams do not always feel possible to anyone who has a dream. A dream is something that goes beyond your natural capabilities. To take nothing and make something. To take a nobody and make him a somebody. The story of Obama gives hope to everybody to dream.”

Photo Stills Provided by: Ni Mantse

Former President of Ghana Jerry Rawlings: Stay The Course

According to President Rawlings, the election of Barack Obama into the office of President of the United States of America represents the American peoples indictment against political immorality at home and abroad. He feels that Obama has carved out an important role for himself in Africa and the world, to restore sound ethics, goodwill, and excellence. 

When talking about Obama’s agenda for Africa and why Obama chose Ghana for his first visit to a sub-Saharan country, Rawlings cautioned us not to forget that peaceful electoral processes do not necessarily correspond to good governance and democracy. “I think we (President Obama and I) are on the same wavelength in terms of being people who treasure values that money cannot buy.”  Perhaps that is why former President Rawlings advised President Obama when they met to “stay the course.”

“President Obama must restore the ethical and moral values to international politics because if we don’t and President Obama serves his term and leaves, the old machinery will still be intact and rise again.”

 
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Sam Jonah: Africa’s Quest To Become A Timeless Beauty

Sam Jonah knows how to take lemons and make lemonade. He went from working underground as a shovel boy to his post as the CEO of Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, a trail blazing African gold mining company. Presently he is the founding Chairman of Jonas Capital. “It is instructive for me that President Obama chose to come to Africa. I take that to mean that due consideration is being given on the part of the US to Africa.”

In order for Obama’s vision for Africa to thrive Mr. Jonah feels that Africans can no longer afford to sell themselves short when it comes to issues of the environment and when it comes to issues of human resource development.

“Everything Africa has other continents have and because there is competition for scarce capital, we must make sure that in this beauty contest, Africa is more beautiful that the next. Even more, our beauty must be timeless if we want to compete globally moving forward. If Africa wants to be competitive and sustainable than we must begin to think about ourselves differently.”

Jonas would like a US-Ghana partnership to provide some fresh thinking and strategy about remittances from the Diaspora.  Remittances are the primary inflow of capital for many African countries. 

Photo Stills Provided by: image sourced from the internet