Gradually, the vision of Ghana’s first President in forging African unity and building a supra continental state is taking shape.
With the setting up of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) Secretariat in Accra, this laudable project has begun in earnest.
With the signing and ratification almost completed, African trade, investment and overall economic development will follow suit, all things being equal, but the protocol on Free of Movement of Persons faces slower adoption.
On a recent trip during the legal vacation, I experienced a glimpse of the potential of fully implementing this overdue policy of integration of African countries.
Nairobi
We reached Nairobi in the early hours of the morning and were shocked to see the sheer number of tourists that visit Kenya.
I was hungry, weary and very tired as I had not properly slept during the overnight flight and was feeling sorry for myself, dreading the long hours I would have to spend navigating the airport formalities as a result of the huge crowd trying to go through the airport protocols.
Just as I was resigning myself to a long wait, something miraculous happened that I have never witnessed in my decades on earth: the Ghana passport, completely disrespected and denigrated at various European airports during my student and early employment days in the UK, was now my trump card and liberator: there was a call for all passengers with Ghanaian passports to jump the long and serpentine queues and move to the front.
We quickly went through immigration and this was the moment I realised how visionary our first President, Osagyefo Doctor Kwame Nkrumah, was when he advocated for the unification of Africa and, coming with it, free movement of people, goods and services.
Experience
This experience contrasted sharply with an incident as I was leaving Ghana at the airport. As always, it was with a high sense of anticipation that I had awaited the commencement of this year’s legal holiday.
The day of my impending vacation had finally arrived.
The thrill of the adventure and the holiday before me occupied my entire mind.
Now, finally at the airport, packed, checked in and ready to travel, I enthusiastically, like a child let loose in a sweet shop, started the departure protocols.
Just when I was imagining all the fun that lay ahead, my joy was given a sharp jolt by a security official who was hell bent on upsetting my mood.
His attitude encapsulated the superior and arrogant manner which some public servants assume when executing their duties.
At one of the security booths, one official told me I could keep my belt on and I happily obliged as I was proudly wearing a pair of oversized ‘broni waawu’ jeans, recently acquired at Tip-Toe Lane at Circle.
After emerging at the other side of the security scanner, chest out like a proud peacock about to display to his unsuspecting females, I was rudely accosted by another official. My crime; passing through the security scanner with my belt on.
I was riled, not so much about being asked to go back and pass through the scanning machine again without my belt but at the manner of his speaking. In a rather sharp tone, out of character and unbecoming of a pious Catholic boy, I complained about the uncoordinated work.
Why would one official say I can go through with my belt on, whilst the other publicly humiliate me?
Just when I thought I had made my point and was preparing to leave, the bully commanded his subordinates: Don’t process him, he’s not flying tonight!
I wanted to explode and offer some expletives but I realised that even though I was right, I would miss my flight by the time I had been vindicated.
I, therefore, calmed down but this man was not going to stop: he was going to show me his level, what my late father used to refer to as “dibiality” – Ghana speak for sense of importance or authority.
It took the intervention of a senior lawyer with whom I was travelling, to calm him down and resolve the matter.
In Nairobi I was told that I didn’t “behave like a lawyer” by various taxi drivers.
I was forced to show them my ID card as proof.
It seems lawyers in Kenya project the same attitude of superiority and over importance as they do in Ghana.
The world would be a better place if we all, lawyers and security officials alike, practice a little humility.
The writer is a lawyer.
E-mail: georgebshaw1@gmail.com
