Muammar al-Qaddafi —

A Role Model For Ghana’s Future Leaders

I didn't know of his existence — nor was I told of his existence until the year 1986. My surrogate family and I were watching the evening news, when the anchor man mentioned his name. He reported that Muammar al-Qaddafi's house— the Bab al-Azizia barracks, has been bombed.

The GBC then proceeded to show images of the said building. Most of its walls were gone! As for the walls, which were standing — most of them were decorated with bullets. Of course, there were deaths — and Qaddafi's adopted daughter was amongst them. I remember the anchorman saying that Qaddafi was lucky to escape — for America came to visit him with death.

To tell the truth, I cried on that day — and my tears were for a man whom I barely knew! I couldn't, for the life in me — fathom why Ronald Reagan — who was the President of America at that time — wanted to kill Qaddafi. What was he guilty of? Better yet, what was his crime? Well, the news reporter didn't go into details. He didn't give much away! And so, my questions were left unanswered. Perhaps, I should've gone on a search myself.

I am sure I would've found some of the answers to my questions. Needless to say, I was too young to do so. Mind you, I was eleven years of age, when the said incident occurred. That aside, my understanding of world politics and affairs equaled zero. And so, my questions remained — and the years lumbered on.

For whatever reason, I didn't forget Qaddafi's name. It stayed with him until I became politically matured! I then discovered what kind of person he was as opposed to what he was not! Muammar al-Qaddafi came to power through a bloodless coup in 1966. King Idris, who had been misruling Libya for a number of years — saw his days numbered. He was driven out to the delight of many — and the old days and ways came to a close.

When Qaddafi took over the reins of power, Libya was a highly indebted country. Of her approximately one million citizens, 90% of them were illiterates. Her economy was far from robust — and her infrastructure was appalling. Her high quality oil was in the hands of foreign companies — and those companies took without giving. The Libyans were suffering! Most of them were living in abject poverty. In certain parts of the country, people were living in tents — Qaddafi's parents included. Water was also hard to come by! As a result, the farmers couldn't farm the thirsty land.

Foods had to be imported from the nearby countries. In a nutshell, Libya was just another poor northern African country with oil. Things needed to change for the better! And, how soon? Qaddafi drove out the western oil companies — which were in charge of Libya's oil. He then nationalized Libya's black gold! The wealth, which ensued from this action — made it possible for Qaddafi to pay off Libya's debts.

Libya's economy felt the change! Shortly after that, the Great Man-made River Project was given a start. Billion of dollars were pumped into this project — and the money yielded its results. Water was taken out of the burning desert sand — and the water transformed the desert city of Benghazi into a rich farmland! In 1974, Qaddafi introduced the Jamahiriya — a direct democracy whereby the people of Libya propose and pass the laws themselves.

Therefore, having no need for political parties to make decisions for them. They made their own decisions through referendums! He then gave up power and became the country's ceremonial leader. Qaddafi didn't sit still! He turned his attention to Africa's development and progress. Millions of Libya's money went into various developmental projects across the African continent! When Africa needed her own communication satellite, the African countries, which were involved — wanted to go and borrow from the World Bank. Qaddafi told them not to! He told them that Libya will pay half of the cost — and his country did.

Nelson Mandela praised Qaddafi, when the latter paid the former a visit in 1990. He praised him for not only financing the ANC, when it needed help — but also for helping the poor regions in Africa. In 2009, Maummar al-Qaddafi met with several Africans leaders in Addis Ababa — Ethiopia. Certain issues were brought to light, and certain plans were made!

During the meeting, Muammar al-Qaddafi told the African leaders present that instead of Africa going to the IMF to borrow with interest, Africa should have its own interest free monetary fund. This plan was accepted by all and sundry! It was agreed that the African monetary fund will have its headquarters in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Additional plans were made to set up an African central bank in Nigeria for a single African currency. To kick start the projects in question, Qaddafi took billions out of his country's purse. Please, bear the following in mind.

The western powers aren’t prepared to loosen their firm grip on the African continent. The continent’s resources fuel the western economies! So, they got antsy, when the aforementioned plans became public. Qaddafi, the initiator — had to go! But, how? In January 2011, the western powers that be used Al-Qaeda — a global militant Islamist organization — to create unrest in certain Arab countries.

Their aim was to replace one regime with another. United States four star General — Wesley K. Clark, was the one who came out with this truth! Almost ten years ago, the General was shown a memo from the Pentagon — and it had names of the Arab countries on it. The names were Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Iran. Evidently, the United States was behind the so-called Arab Spring. It wasn't a people's uprising after all!

But, what did the western powers that be tell the ignorant masses? What did they say about Muammar al-Qaddafi? The western powers that be used the media to propagate falsehood about Qaddafi. They are doing the same thing to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad! The late Libyan leader was demonized. The western-controlled media called Muammar al-Qaddafi all kinds of derogatory names. The late Libyan leader was called a dictator, a terrorist and the enemy of freedom — amongst others.

NATO went into Libya to protect the Libyans from this so-called wicked leader — only to kill thousands of them and to destroy the country — which Qaddafi built for the glory of Africa. To be precise, the country — which became the envy of the world. And, what did African leaders and her prominent figures such as Atta Mills, Kofi Annan, John Kufour, John Rawlings, Nana Akuffo Addo, Robert Mugabe, Jonathan Goodluck and the others do?

They did nothing to stop the carnage in Libya! They did nothing whatsoever to save the life of this great man and African hero — Muammar al-Qaddafi. Now, tell me, are these cowardly leaders and prominent figures of ours worth our love? If they can betray Qaddafi to death, then they won’t hesitate to sell Africa into slavery if given the chance.

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