African Time

AFRICAN TIME In this wide-ranging collection of essays, Lord Mawuko-Yevugah explores the challenges of political reform and democratic governance in Africa at the beginning of the 21st century, focusing largely on Ghana's experience. The inspiration for the title of the collection, AFRICAN TIME, comes from Kwame Nkrumah's pan-African optimism as well as from recent discourses around "African Renaissance", "Africa's Century", "Africa Rising", etc. At Ghana's founding in 1957, Nkrumah proclaimed: 'Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world...That new African is ready to fi ght his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs'. That historic declaration, Mawuko-Yevugah argues, did not only set the tone and direction for Ghana's pan-African foreign policy but it has also made the country a reference point for Africa's postcolonial tragedy in the form of political instability and economic decay. Exploring Ghana's recent strides in democratic consolidation within the context of fresh attempts to reinvent pan-Africanism and mainstream good governance on the continental development agenda, this book offers incisive, critical and a rare refl ection on the changing landscape of contemporary African politics and governance through the eyes of a political journalist.