This is a story about three brothers (Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa) who were born of the same mother but different fathers. The brothers did not love one another as they were always quarrelling and fighting.
The eldest (Ghana) was born 69 years ago on March 6 1957. His father was Kwame Nkrumah, a very intelligent man who fought for the total independence and unity of his people. He was a selfless man whose beliefs were anchored on creating a fair society, achieving equality and promoting collectivism.
Nkrumah hated greedy and selfish people and disliked seeing any person suffering from hunger and diseases, helping everyone to access education and housing.
Despite Nkrumah’s benevolent gestures, some family members were jealous and hated him. While away on work, they plotted his downfall and laid accusations against him.
As they bayed for his blood, Nkrumah never returned and instead fled to Guinea, where his friend, Sekou Taore hosted him and used his brilliant mind to run his home.
Losing battle against cancer
When Nkrumah suffered from cancer, Taore gave him medical support and flew him to Romania, where he unfortunately succumbed. His wife was upset with his treatment and resolved to bury him in Guinea, where he received full honours.
Ordinary people who Nkrumah empowered, especially students were unhappy and pleaded with his wife to return his body to be buried in his private graveyard. After two decades, his remains were exhumed a second time, moved to his final resting place and became a national monument.
After Nkrumah died, Ghana suffered deep decay, hardship and repeated feuds. For long periods, Ghana was riddled with struggles for power and even killings.
The second brother (Nigeria) was born 66 years ago on October 1 1960. His father was Nnamdi Azikiwe, a man who shared the same qualities as Nkrumah and suffered the same misfortunes. When he was in England convalescing from a medical operation, he was toppled.
After Azikiwe was ousted, for three decades Nigeria also experienced serious infighting and killings, leading to hardships, poverty and lawlessness.
Historic animosity
For many years, the two brothers didn’t just hate each other as their historic rivalry was fraught with tit-for-tat mass expulsions. In 1969, under the Aliens Compliance Order, Ghana forced out Nigerians in their thousands out of his home, to reserve jobs for his locals.
In 1983, Nigeria retaliated by using the same tactic “Ghana must Go”, to chase them out. Ghana packed his belongings into cheap, blue-and-white checkered plastic-woven luggage and left.
The third brother, South Africa, was born 32 years ago on April 27 1994, coinciding with the death of Nkrumah in 1972, and signifying a historic moment. His father was Nelson Mandela, an intelligent man who suffered under the cruelty of white people. Mandela told his son very painful stories on how his two brothers ruined their opportunities and destroyed their lives.
Mandela brought his son very well and taught him excellent manners, urging him to always reconcile with his enemies. He spent 27 years in prison fighting for his people. His vision was to build a non-racial and prosperous society.
Despite some challenges like crime and diseases, Mandela’s son listened and began to, relatively, do well, investing in human capital, infrastructure and helping his poor people. He didn’t chase his enemies but built a rainbow nation. He offered his children free education, health care and houses.
The elderly, disabled and unemployed receive social grants to improve their lives. He protected workers from exploitation by employers, placing restrictions to set minimum wages.
Thriving economy attracting foreigners
As South Africa’s economy was doing much better than those of other African countries, he experienced a high influx of relatives from his brothers, Ghana and Nigeria. They arrived in large numbers, mostly lying that they were fleeing from wars and instability in their homes.
Most of them were driven by the desire to find jobs and improved living conditions, doing it at the expense of locals.
Instead of behaving well in their new homes, some indulged in funny stuff like organised crime, drug and human trafficking, fraud and scams and hijacking.
The children felt their parents were ignoring their complaints when they accused the new arrivals of taking their jobs and accepting low-paying salaries from the employers who accused the locals of being lazy and unskilled.
Taking law into their own hands
Out of anger, they took the law into their own hands by chasing them around, firmly saying: “Enough, you must now leave to go fix your home”.
As the two older brothers are aggrieved, they informed reported the whole village, saying: “Our young brother is chasing our children out of his house!”
For years, the younger brother fed their children and became the biggest contributor to the family. Suddenly, he is seen as a villain because he finally said: “Enough!”
The older brothers know that their children didn’t just visit the house, but they were looking for food. When they are refused, they groan, saying: “After everything we did for you! We bathed you when you were a baby, we changed your nappies, we carried you on our backs, now you treat us badly!”
The second brother is always loud and ill-mannered, likes to be called the ‘Giant of the Family’ and has bad habits. If the brothers are told to leave, they claim hatred of foreigners.
In life, sometimes love means saying, “Go back home. Go fix your home!”
The three brothers, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, must find one another and make peace. They must realise that from time to time, fights do happen in families. No family is perfect and their love for each other must endure despite arguments.
After fights, brothers must always time-out to calm down, reflect on their feelings, think about what led to the fight; communicate better; apologise and forgive each other!
- The article personifies Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa as three brothers born of the same mother but different fathers, symbolizing their countries with distinct historical and political backgrounds.
- Ghana (born 1957) was led by Kwame Nkrumah, a visionary leader who fought for independence and equality but faced jealousy and exile, leading to national instability after his death.
- Nigeria (born 1960), under Nnamdi Azikiwe, experienced similar struggles with leadership overthrow and subsequent decades of infighting and poverty.
- Historic animosity between Ghana and Nigeria included mass expulsions of each other’s citizens in 1969 and 1983, contributing to ongoing rivalry.
- South Africa (born 1994), led by Nelson Mandela’s legacy, pursued reconciliation, social welfare, and economic growth, attracting immigrants from Ghana and Nigeria, causing social tensions and calls for these older brothers to resolve conflicts and cooperate.
Despite
As they bayed for his blood,
When
Ordinary people who
After
After Azikiwe was ousted, for three decades Nigeria also experienced serious infighting and killings, leading to hardships, poverty and lawlessness.
For many years, the two brothers didn’t just hate each other as their historic rivalry was fraught with tit-for-tat mass expulsions. In 1969, under the Aliens Compliance Order, Ghana forced out Nigerians in their thousands out of his home, to reserve jobs for his locals.
In 1983, Nigeria retaliated by using the same tactic “Ghana must Go”, to chase them out. Ghana packed his belongings into cheap, blue-and-white checkered plastic-woven luggage and left.
Despite some challenges like crime and diseases,
As
Most of them were driven by the desire to find jobs and improved living conditions, doing it at the expense of locals.
Instead of behaving well in their new homes, some indulged in funny stuff like organised crime, drug and human trafficking, fraud and scams and hijacking.
Out of anger, they took the law into their own hands by chasing them around, firmly saying: “Enough, you must now leave to go fix your home”.
As the two older brothers are aggrieved, they informed reported the whole village, saying: “Our young brother is chasing our children out of his house!”
For years, the younger brother fed their children and became the biggest contributor to the family. Suddenly, he is seen as a villain because he finally said: “Enough!”
In life, sometimes love means saying, “Go back home. Go fix your home!”
After fights, brothers must always time-out to calm down, reflect on their feelings, think about what led to the fight; communicate better; apologise and forgive each other!
