President Kufuor under fire over knighthood

all credits - Black Britain


Rumours that the Ghanaian President could be knighted by the Queen have met with fierce opposition both on the continent and in the Diaspora who feel that it goes against everything that African independence stands for.

Insight Newspaper reported that rumours were circulating that President Kufuor could be offered a knighthood by the Queen, but the paper said that if accepted, this would make him “an obedient servant of the Queen,” which would be “a huge insult,” to Africans who fought for the country’s independence.

Whilst the British establishment prepares to commemorate the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1807, descendants of Africans in the Diaspora are organising their own events throughout the country to educate people on the role that Africans played in their own liberation, which is continually downplayed by the mainstream, led by the British government.

The fact that Ghana celebrates just 50 years of independence serves as a reminder that 150 years after the Abolition Act was passed, former colonies only just started to gain independence after the British Empire had continued to invade African countries and dispossess Africans from their land, most of which is still occupied by wealthy white minorities throughout the continent.

Insight also reminds President Kufuor that the same British Empire plotted with the CIA to remove Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana and a key player in the Pan African liberation movement.

Whilst speculation continues to fuel debate on the continent over the Knighthood, Africans in the UK Diaspora are equally enraged at the prospect of a knighthood being accepted by President Kufuor. Kofi Mawuli Klu, Joint Co-ordinator of Rendezvous of Victory and Chair of the Pan Afrikan Task Force for Internationalist Dialogue, who was born in Ghana told Black Britain:

“You cannot, right after commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ghana’s independence come and pledge allegiance to the Queen and even contemplate receiving this preposterous knighthood, which formally puts you among the servants of the Queen and at the same time claim that you are the head of a sovereign Ghana.”