We would not equally say Obama dribbled us into believing that he was our messiah. We must be the architects of our destiny thus, chart our road map, formulate sustainable and workable strategy and deploy resources to attain our goals. We must remember that Obama swore to defend over and above all the American Constitution. In other words, he took an oath to defend American interests. Our interests are secondary whether they run in step or out of step with American interests.

And, we would not also blame Obama for our woes because, apparently, we do not mind our business. Take the case of Darfur and the indictment of Sudanese President Omar El Beshir for genocide against his own people. No demonstrations were organised in African cities against Sudanese atrocities in Darfur. Till date, no African government has recalled its Ambassador to Khartoum as a sign of protest.

However, when Israel began bombing Gaza, Africans rose up and Mauritania recalled its Ambassador to Tel Aviv! The African Union President, Jean Ping, decried the selective nature of international law when quizzed on the prosecutor (Mr. De Campio) of the International Criminal Tribunal’s decision to issue a warrant of arrest on Beshir! And yet, he is not an advocate of Nescafé democracy!

However, we are lucky for this that Obama offers hope, vision, conscience and mental emancipation. When Obama left Harvard, he went back to Chicago to continue community work! This should set every sub-Saharan African at whatever level thinking. This is in line with the late celebrated Sri Lankan journalist, Lasantha Wickramatunge’s assertion that “whatever else I must have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.

But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call for conscience”.One day shy of being sworn in as the President of the United States, Obama rolled up his sleeves and together with his wife did one more community service act! Very few sub-Saharan elite are willing to soil their hands with backstreet and rural problems.

Everybody wants to be a big man in a plush office. Inevitably, the big man has been at the root of most African crises. Paradoxically, these African big men and women identified with Obama by organising fund raising and setting up Obama fan clubs throughout Africa!

To sub-Saharan African dictators, village tyrants or sit-tight leaders, Obama was loud and clear: “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

To the sub-Saharan African farmer, Obama had these soothing words: “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds”.

To sceptics, all these sound like the pious preachments of Christ at the Sermon on the Mount.  However, times are changing, and fast. Obama is probably the first American president with experience on crisis resolution in Africa – Kenya. His contribution to the resolution of the Kenyan problem cannot be minimised.

His stance on Darfur and Zimbabwe is very clear. To paraphrase him, Beshir and Mugabe are on the wrong side of history. Same too for other sit-tight dictators who pass for democrats by organising flawed elections.Jeffrey Bartholet and Daniel Stone in Newsweek of Jan. 17, 2009 aptly described Obama’s crack team as “a team of expatriates”.

They state: “It is a common point among Obama’s top aides, a surprising number of whom grew up in other countries – the insight they developed by seeing America from the outside in”.

This is a great departure from previous American administrations particularly Bush’s.  Obama stated on his campaign trail in Iowa in 2007 that: “If you don’t understand….cultures, then it is very hard for you to make good foreign-policy decisions.

The benefit of my life of having lived overseas and travelled overseas…is I have a better sense of how they are thinking and what their society is really like”.These say much on how Obama’s foreign policy would be run particularly towards Africa. Pundits expect that African issues should not be dumped at the State Department but should be treated at the Oval Office.

Agriculture is a thorny issue that the Obama administration has to muster courage and determination in order to wipe the tears of the African farmer. Take the case of cotton. The African farmer cannot stand up to his American counterpart because the cotton sector in America is heavily subsidized; 4 billion US dollars per year.

According to an OXFAM Briefing Note of 2005, “Africa loses on average 441 million US dollars a year because of trade distortions on cotton markets”.However, other areas like on-the-spot transformation of produce, high yielding seeds, mechanized farming, funding and irrigation and so on can be explored by African governments together with America in order to soothe the African farmer pending implementation of World Trade Organisation resolutions by the United States.

Furthermore, an American Growth Opportunity Act on African Agricultural products can be examined.