President Opens the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of IAS

Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana

The Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, Legon, has held an International Conference on African Studies in Accra.

President John Dramani Mahama in a speech said if Africans allowed others to tell their stories, the media landscape would be inundated with stories of political strife, civil wars, hunger, diseases, oppression and dictatorship on the continent.

He called on the Institute of African Studies and other African organisations to tell positive stories about the continent in order to help erase negative impressions.

The theme of the conference was: "Re-visiting the First International Congress of Africanists in a Globalised World".

President Mahama also appealed to the media on the continent to continue to highlight the good and interesting traditions that have held the continent together for others to emulate.

President said, "Africa believes in utility, Africa believes in continuity, and that is why we need to let others know much about our culture, our upbringings and the values that have placed us in a good position on the international world."

The President said Africa was now playing positive roles in the areas of democracy, sports, economic development, literature and literary works. He also tasked Africans to take advantage of these performances and advertised the good side of the continent.

President Mahama said it was necessary for Africanists to step up their activities to rebrand the sociocultural activities of the continent to create indelible marks on the minds of other continents.

The keynote speaker Dr Carlos Lopes, UN Under-Secretary and Executive Secretary of Economic Commission for Africa indicated that Pan-Africanism had been an enduring ideal in the African continent with the degrees of engagement ebbing and flowing over the years. However, it was useful to review the various manifestations of Pan-Africanism to tease out what they represented in real terms.

Dr Carlos Lopes identified the Dr Kwame Nkrumah as "the symbol of the repatriation of Pan-Africanism to mother Africa. Although his home country Ghana became independent only 1957, his leadership was already exercised during the indirect rule transition. He was from the time of his studies abroad closely involved in the independent movement. It is curious to note that in his quest for the integration of Africans across the board he eventually would welcome back home, in Accra, some of the Pan-Africanism forefathers, from the Diaspora."

The Director of the Institute of the African Studies, Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo said the institute was engaged in two projects, the biographical research on the lives of important contributors to Ghana's social and political life and thought and a survey of Ghanaian Tales and Storytelling Traditions.

Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo pledged to revive the academic activities on African Studies to make it more important for both Africans and non-Africans beyond the borders of the continent.