The Sunday Mail
Statue of Kwame Nkrumah
Ibo Foroma
TO Rastafarians, the 25th of May is more important than say, the 25th of December. On 25 May 1963, Africa was born.
During my period of enlightenment and throughout the whole process, all I ever heard was that Haile Selassie fed his subjects to lions, was killed and buried under a toilet among other nauseating fabrications.
They never mentioned his pivotal role in forming and founding the conerstone Organisation of African Unity (O.A.U).
As King Alpha and Queen Omega, Ras Tafari holds the key to death and to hades, Jah lives forever and ever.
We are not worried about misconceptions and disbeliefs in the living King, the fact is non believers must simply appreciate the works Ras Tafari Makonnen performed for the whole world with disregards to race, colour, creed and all categories of irrational prejudice and bias.
It is the conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah who conquered and established the OAU in 1963 in his capital city Addis Ababa.
With special thanks to the hard work and efforts pursued by his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Ketema Yifru, the dream of uniting the African continent under one roof and banner became a reality.
Around the time when pan-Africanism was growing root and the hope of uniting Africa was taking shape, Ethiopian nobles met and discussed the burning issue.
As conservative as usual, the majority opted refraining from global and continental politics stressing out that they had enough local entertainment to attend to.
The Theocratic Emperor squashed tyranny of the majority and demonic democracy and insisted on Ethiopia’s intervention.
Ethiopia is the only country exempted from colonialism due to the Emperor’s resilience and God’s support from time immemorial. The Lion of Judah always prevails. The just mentioned Minister’s son lamented the fact that his father’s efforts and those of the Emperor were not being honoured and cherished accordingly.
Instead, many believe that all diligence was contributed by one person alone – Kwame Nkrumah. The Emperor’s name is nowhere to be found.
At one time in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Kwame Nkrumah’s statue was erected with claims that he was the only original founder of African unity.
Conscious brethrens and sisters of the faith and other truth seekers from all over the globe protested this misconception and misleading gimmick.
Attached to the Kwame Nkrumah statue were the words, “Ethiopia shall stretch forth her arms unto God. Let Africa unite.”
Of course these words happen to be Rastafarian mantra and divine consciousness, and also reveal the fact that it is Ethiopia and not Accra, Ghana that manifested the idea.
Later on, the statue was removed and the real champion of African freedom, ‘the Father of Africa’ as affectionately identified by the conscious, was erected in its rightful place.
Not that we intend to bow down and worship the piece of metal, but instead we enjoy having the right facts written exactly as they occurred and not reversed or mumble-jumbled.
Basically, before Africa was united through the pivotal OAU, two hostile camps existed. One was the Monrovia group, the other was the Casablanca group. The two were truly parallel and uniting them was an ardours task Hounarable Ketema Yifru achieved under the authority and supervision of his dear Emperor Haile Selassie I, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This stubborn fact must replace the false one.
Indeed Ethiopia is stretching forth her arms unto Jah Ras Tafari, the Lion of Judah. The following is an extract from a speech by the very first Chairman of the OAU delivered by His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie.
“This is indeed a momentous and historic day for Africa and for all Africans. We stand today on the stage of world affairs before the audience of world opinion.
“We have come together to assert our role in the direction of world affairs and to discharge our duty to the great continent whose 250 million people we lead. Africa is today at mid-course, in transition from the Africa of yesterday to the Africa of tomorrow.
“Even as we stand here, we move from the past into the future. The task on which we have embarked, the making of Africa, will not wait. We must act, to shape and mould the future and leave our imprint on events as they slip past into history.
“We seek, at this meeting, to determine whether we are going and to chart the course of our destiny.”
◆ To be continued next week
