Obama to Africa: End Tyranny, Corruption

Says Continent Needs Strong Institutions, Not Strongmen; Tours Historic Launching Point for Slave Ships

(AP)  An American president who has "the blood of Africa within me" praised and scolded the continent of his ancestors Saturday, asserting forces of tyranny and corruption must yield if Africa is to achieve its promise.

"Yes you can," President Barack Obama declared, dusting off his campaign slogan and adapting it for his foreign audience. Speaking to Parliament, he called upon African societies to seize opportunities for peace, democracy and prosperity.

"This is a new moment of great promise," he said. "To realize that promise, we must first recognize a fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long."

The son of a white woman from Kansas and a black goat herder-turned-academic from Kenya, Mr. Obama delivered an unsentimental account of squandered opportunities in postcolonial Africa.

And he reached back to an older legacy, that of slavery, as he toured the cannon-lined redoubt where people were kept in squalid dungeons then shipped in chains to America, through a "Door of No Return" that opens to the sea.

"It reminds us of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil," he said from the stark white stone fortifications of Cape Coast Castle, converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th century.

He spoke with the ramparts and the sea behind him and in the company of his family. Mr. Obama said his girls, in their privileged upbringing, needed to see that history can take such cruel turns.

In his speech to Parliament, the first U.S. black president spoke with a bluntness that perhaps could only come from a member of Africa's extended family.

"No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or if police can be bought off by drug traffickers," he said.

"No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery.

"That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there," he said, "and now is the time for that style of governance to end."

He added: "Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions."

(Left: President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visit the La General Hospital in Accra, Ghana, July 11, 2009.)

Mr. Obama was on a 21-hour visit to the West African nation to highlight that country's democratic tradition and engagement with the West. His visit, his first to sub-Saharan Africa as president, was greeted as a "spiritual reunion" Saturday by Ghanaian legislators.

He, his wife Michelle, their daughters and the first lady's mother toured Cape Coast Castle as a festive crowd of thousands milled outside, pounding drums and dancing in the streets. Mr. Obama smiled and waved, pausing after he exited the motorcade, before disappearing with his family and entourage into the courtyard. Michelle Obama is the great-great granddaughter of a slave who lived in South Carolina but whose African origins are unknown.

Earlier, people lined the streets, many waving at every vehicle of Mr. Obama's motorcade as it headed toward a meeting at Osu Castle, the storied coastline presidential state house, before his speech to Parliament. "Ghana loves you," said a billboard.

The Obama administration sought a wide African audience for the president's speech, inviting people to watch it at embassies and cultural centers across the continent.

The 33-minute address was in part a splash of cold water for Africans who blame colonialism for their problems.

President Obama spoke of the indignities visited upon Africans from the era of European rule. He said his grandfather, a cook for the British in Kenya, was called "boy" by his employers for much of his life despite his being a respected village elder. He said it was a time of artificial borders and unfair trade.

But he said the West is not to blame "for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants." Nor for the corruption that is a daily fact of life for many, he said.

"Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war," he said. Yet for "far too many Africans, conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes.

"These conflicts are a millstone around Africa's neck."

Mr. Obama started his day with typical calm. Wearing a gray T-shirt and gym pants, he walked through the lobby of his hotel almost unnoticed at 7:30 a.m. local time on his way to the downstairs gym for a workout.

A short time later, his motorcade left the hotel, passed under hovering military helicopters and arrived for a delayed welcome ceremony with President John Atta Mills.

"I can say without any fear of contradiction that all Ghanaians want to see you," Mills said. "I wish it were possible for me to send you to every home in Ghana."

The castle visit mirrored ones paid by Clinton and George W. Bush to the slave-trading post of Goree Island, Senegal - with the added impact of Mr. Obama's mixed-race background and history-making election.

In Ghana, too, Mr. Obama followed in Clinton's footsteps. In 1998, a surging crowd cheered Clinton in Accra's Independence Square and toppled barricades after his speech. Clinton shouted, "Back up! Back up!", his Secret Service detail clearly frantic.

President Bush's reception last year was less tumultuous, but equally warm. At a welcoming banquet, then-President John Kufuor noted huge increases in U.S. development aid and AIDS relief - and named a highway after Mr. Bush.

Mr. Obama avoided scheduling large public events, wishing to keep emotions in check in a singular moment in African-American diplomacy.

Mr. Obama flew to Ghana after the G-8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, approved a new $20 billion food security plan. It aims to help poor nations in Africa and elsewhere to avert mass starvation during the global recession.

He also had a cordial first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. In their half-hour private audience at the Vatican, the two reviewed Mideast peace and anti-poverty efforts, aides reported. They also discussed abortion and stem cell research at length, subjects of disagreement between them.

[word2dwise]

Obama is to be applauded for his comments to Africa. In light of this perhaps he would be good enough to ask the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) how its favoured private equity firm, Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) came to develop a portfolio in Nigeria where 3 out of its 4 investee companies, Notore, Oando and Intercontinental Bank can be linked to a notorious, high profile Nigerian PEP, James Ibori.

Notore - Ibori has been identified by several due diligence reports and criminal investigations as the beneficial owner of Notore
Intercontinental Bank - Granted an Ibori associate with the unsecured loan used to buy Willbros Nigeria (another Ibori linked company). The loan has since gone bad in less than a year and forced the bank into distress.
Oando - Several directors are known to be Ibori associates and have been implicated in money laundering transactions related to Ibori, including the diversion of Delta State funds used to buy shares in Celtel (another Ibori linked company)

As a result of the global dimension of Ibori's money laundering activities several of his associates are facing trial in Nigeria and the UK. All these issues and investigations are in the public arena, but ECP and OPIC are continuing with their investments without any comment on the criminal associations.

So perhaps President Obama could ask OPIC to ask ECP how it managed to become the chief foreign investment partner to Ibori while investing US funds in Africa, given the US efforts to help in fighting corruption in Africa? Or is it that the US is only interested in fighting corruption when it is not the ultimate beneficiary of the corruption.

[GovernmentControl]

When will the obama/media complex stop playing the race card?

.....yawn.

[starleo146]

y darthcheney345 July 11, 2009 6:36 PM PDT
First Obama will have to end his own tyranny and corruption.

Or is it just cluelessness and incompetence?

Obama is the worst president in 100 years.

He should not be preaching to anybody.

Man you are a right wing nut (HONESTY) is better than sneaking in the back room doing your thing and keeping it a secret from the country you are suppose to lead.

[joe1022joe]

The only nation in Africa (save Egypt) that has made any appreciable progress in the last 200 years is the Union Of South Africa. As we all know, the blacks now running it simply took over what the Brits and Dutch built. The rest of the continent is essentially in the same condition it was in in 1800. Oh, they've got a few cars and microwaves for a few people, but from an institutional standpoint - nada.

It'll be like that in the year 2100, too.

[GiveMeFreedom]

South Africa is not a safe country to visit much less live in. Most of the white people there are now segregated for safety purposes. I heard the Congo is not bad though.

[joe1022joe]

Barak Hussein Obama - now there is a name for the President of Ghana. Sounds right.

[hungry1968-16]

by beaumuff July 12, 2009 6:48 AM PDT
Sorry Hungry , I didn't mean to insult your leader that can do no wrong.
He has done a real bang up job so far. Geithner is the only tax "cheat" left.Obama thought it would be best to have a wolf watch the hen house.Another great descision.







Six months in, and he's done five times MORE for America, than Bush did in eight years.

But to be fair, Bush sure did a lot more TO America. That recovery will take a long, long time.

[hungry1968-16]

by beaumuff July 12, 2009 5:18 AM PDT
Maybe once Obungler fixes Africa he will come back here and fix his own mess. His whole administration is nothing but tax crooks but most of them resigned.







If MOST of them are "tax crooks", (sic - should be "cheats"), then how could they have resigned? Can they still be in his administration, if they resigned?

Are you getting your "Fox News Talking Points" mixed up?

[beaumuff]

Sorry Hungry , I didn't mean to insult your leader that can do no wrong.
He has done a real bang up job so far. Geithner is the only tax "cheat" left.Obama thought it would be best to have a wolf watch the hen house.Another great descision.

[beaumuff]

Maybe once Obungler fixes Africa he will come back here and fix his own mess. His whole administration is nothing but tax crooks but most of them resigned.

[spudder8]

The prez should give this same speech in our congress, one of the most corrupt body's in our government. The kettle calling the pot black.

[harpoot]

Too funny. Telling African leaders to end tyranny and corruption is like telling the sun to quit shining. Ain't gonna happen.

[Sloughfoot]

harpoot-I believe we are the only ones on this page who read the article.

[ToolMangler1]

They will never stop until they are made to stop by their own people,
The people will never make them stop until they became "EDUCATED" Take the internet in there by satelite and pass out those free notebooks that the rich guy made available. Pass out books and other stuff for free and sit back and watch for about 5 years whe those kids grow up, Then it will hit the fan.

[IshineLikeYou]

Obama who is racially mixed doesn't understand the problem of Africa, and is acting like an hypocrite, because what the USA did in Iraq and Afghanistan is tyranny. he must call on the USA imperial system to end tyranny first.

If the USA was not tyrannical why would it do whatever it likes in the world with impunity? Trying to blame the oppressed Africans for tyranny is something only an enemy of Africa can say.

Africans are still dominated by the countries that brutally enslaved Africa and those countries are the one destabilizing Africa and imposing puppets that become dictators with impunity.

What Obama should do is help Africa decolonize because it never decolonized, decolonization mean Africa must stop speaking the oppressor languages, should free it economy from being totally controlled by the enemy of Africa. Obama by not attending the UN conference on racism showed Africa that he doesn't care about racism the African people are heavily victims of.

We tell Obama we know you have the traditional interest of the USA at heart and you cannot fool us.

[IshineLikeYou]

Obama who is racially mixed doesn't understand the problem of Africa, and is acting like an hypocrite, because what the USA did in Iraq and Afghanistan is tyranny. he must call on the USA imperial system to end tyranny first.

If the USA was not tyrannical why would it do whatever it likes in the world with impunity? Trying to blame the oppressed Africans for tyranny is something only an enemy of Africa can say.

Africans are still dominated by the countries that brutally enslaved Africa and those countries are the one destabilizing Africa and imposing puppets that become dictators with impunity.

What Obama should do is help Africa decolonize because it never decolonized, decolonization mean Africa must stop speaking the oppressor languages, should free it economy from being totally controlled by the enemy of Africa. Obama by not attending the UN conference on racism showed Africa that he doesn't care about racism the African people are heavily victims of.

We tell Obama we know you have the traditional interest of the USA at heart and you cannot fool us.

[rbstrcklnd]

Yep, save all that energy and direct it toward the Unites States.

[cranialnerves]

It is a special treat to watch the bulging veins of angry Republicans. It was so worth it to vote for Obama!

Let's do it again.

[darthcheney345]

LOL! You liberals are the ones who will have bulging veins when Obama's destruction of the USA turns the voters against the Democrats.

In 2012, the GOP can run Cheney with Newt Gingrich as his running mate, and they'd win.

After the GM debacle, anybody who is still a Democrat should be ashamed of themselves. I've never seen such a blatant example of our government stealing from the people and giving to the ultra wealthy executives of a big, greedy company.

Hey, that and Madoff. I thought only Republicans did stuff like that.

Obama is making Bush look good.

Democrats are toast.

[rbstrcklnd]

Interesting what makes people happy. You don't care about his policies or what they are doing to this country. Just that it makes Republicans angry. How sad.

[speakinup22]

"darthcheney345, - jee you hold a major in economics, impressive for a Repig.

And impossible for a lib.

[South-of-Heaven]

darthcheney345,
jee you hold a major in economics, impressive for a Repig.

[darthcheney345]

Anybody who opposes free trade knows more about economics than Obama.

[darthcheney345]

FYI - I just updated my Democrat List of Shame:

Spitzer Geithner Daschle Richardson Blago Burris Edwards Kilpatrick Mahoney(followed Foley on decency crusade, then had affair) Kennedy Clinton

Feel free to save this list for future reference.

[South-of-Heaven]

darthcheney345, the Economy tanked under SHRUB.
Obama is fixing whats was handed to him by the Repigs.

[darthcheney345]

darthcheney345, the Economy tanked under SHRUB.
------------------
The Dow reached its all time high of 14,000 on Bush's watch.

It tanked when the GOP lost its majority in Congress.

It's been all downhill from there.

[YuSoWrong]

The Repiggy-Wiggy-Poos? Skip over here and talk like gwoun-up.

[South-of-Heaven]

LOL

[darthcheney345]

And if Africa actually goes along with Obama, and he wrecks their countries like he did to us, then they can say

OBAMA = One Big A** Mistake, Africa!

ROTFLMAO! It works so many ways...