‘Totally ignorant, setback mentality’ – Ama K. Abebrese jabs Efia Odo

Actress Ama K. Abebrese has described as “setback mentality” Efia Odo’s statement that Ghana gained independence “too early”.

Efia Odo had in a tweet on June 17, 2022, suggested that the country’s independence gained from Britain on March 6, 1957, should have been delayed while poohpoohing the prowess of the black man.

“We gained our independence too early! Never give a black man power, he’ll just misuse it,” the tweet of the socialite read.

Her comment triggered reactions from tweeps with some lauding her for what they said was a true observation.

But Efia Odo’s comment, according to Ama K. Abebrese who was born in Ghana and raised in West London in the United Kingdom, exposes the ignorance of the socialite.

“This is totally ignorant,” the actress emitted in a tweet sighted by GhanaWeb while backing her assertion with an explanation.

“To suggest that colonial powers were somehow better and their reign should have lasted longer is such a setback mentality to me. It ignores the history of Western interference in post-colonial Africa and the many years of bad trade deals that continually benefits the West.”

Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast, was on March 6, 1957, declared independent. The country was the first sub-Saharan African nation to achieve independence from a colonial power. The declaration was done by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah who had led a mass movement demanding “self-government now”.

“…new Africa is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all the black man is capable of managing his own affairs. We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our foundation – our own African personality,” Nkrumah said in his speech.

While it is unclear what inspired Efia Odo’s statement, it is worth noting that the socialite has for some time now been criticizing the Nana Akufo-Addo administration. She is a member of the #FixTheCountry movement, a group that describes itself as “a non-partisan and non-political civic movement by Ghanaian youths for Ghana… demanding a new society founded on justice and refusing to play by the rules of a political class that is so disinterested in the Ghana project.”