Cameron Duodu

On Tuesday 28 June 2011, the late George Padmore – who was been described by the famous West Indian writer C.L.R. James as ‘The father of African emancipation’ – will be honoured with a ‘heritage plaque’, better known as a ‘blue plaque’, which will be unveiled at No.

Immokasai, the building in which we were accommodated, was not a ‘hotel’ in the normal sense, but a huge block of self-contained flats, organised in the manner of a hotel, with a reception and maid service.

By mid-1961, I had left the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to become editor of the Ghana edition of a general-purpose magazine called Drum. It had the reputation of being frivolous in that it always had a very beautiful girl on the cover.

The recent commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Congo, has touched off a series of reminiscences in my mind, which I’d like to share with those interested in the modern history of our continent.

‘Good morning!’ the headline greeted one cheerily. It then asked the question: ‘Are we now in the next life?’

Trust African women not to be politically correct!

Even though President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are congratulating themselves on their victory in both the presidential, legislative and governorship elections held in April, the elections results give some cause for concern.

On 18 April 2011, I had the opportunity to watch in London, a brilliant film, ‘Political Assassination, Colonial Style’, which sketched the background to the conspiracy that led, on 17 January 1961, to the murder of the Congo’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba.

They drink the best champagne in the world. They wear monogrammed shirts and make sure that the correct length of sleeve is exposed, at the wrist. Their ties are matched with colourful kerchiefs in the button hole and their whole outfits are finely coordinated.

Only one person gained from the Japanese disaster. It was Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, whose relentless suppression of the revolt against his regime’s dictatorship, was temporarily bumped off the world’s television screens, while the Japanese tragedy occupied the vacated space.