While most of the publicity and media hype have focused on Africa Fashion week which is scheduled to hold in London from the 11thto the 12thof August 2017, the preparations for this year’s ‘’Africa Week’’ in Oxford were almost derailed by pirate photographs of Africa’s (indeed global) icon Nelson Mandela prostrating before the Queen mother, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon when he visited her at Clarence House, London. The mischief was inspired by the following extract from a newly published book: ‘’ Behind Palace Closed Doors’’ by Colin Burgess who was the equerry- a glorified word for fixer and organiser to the Queen Mother for two years after completing three years in the Irish Guards. He was only twenty –six years old.
‘’I do remember the French President Jacques Chirac coming to visit Clarence House for afternoon tea with an entourage of about ten people. The President was slightly nervy in her presence, unlike Nelson Mandela- who startled her by prostrating himself in front of her with his face buried in the carpet while she stood there patiently acknowledging this gesture of deep respect.
On that occasion, I struggled to know what to do. There was nothing in the equerry Blue Book about this. But eventually, after about four minutes, the Queen Mother decided it had gone on long enough.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go and have some tea.’ And off they went. I know that Mandela made a huge impact on her.’’
It has taken considerable political skill and social dexterity on the part of James Schneider who was at public school (Winchester College) before going up to Trinity College, Oxford University where he was president of the Liberal Democrats student branch, to douse the outrage. James left the Liberal Democrats in 2010 and joined the Labour Party on May 11, 2015. This was only three days after Labour’s devastating defeat at the last general election. Unlike Nigerian politicians who gravitate from a losing party to the winning party without any scruples, James appeared to be driven by the politics of conviction.
It seems the main attraction at the Africa Week in Oxford is going to be Sir George Buckley. This is what a pirated copy of the flyer has to say about him:
“George is a working-class boy who made good. He was born in the north of England, from a poor family.”
According to George himself:
“I was born to the wrong parents. I went to the wrong school; went to the wrong university and I speak with the wrong accent. I suffered a set of impediments that are more important (and formidable) in Britain than they are in the United States of America.”
Regardless, aged 70, he has become a much sought after business guru and captain of industry with directorships in several blue chip companies. He is the chairman of Smiths Group, the engineering conglomerate and Stanley Black &Decker, the American toolmaker.
The reason he is so much sought after by Oxford University for “Africa Week” is on account of his integrity, forthrightness and candour. On Thames TV “This Is Your Life”, he pulled no punches. Neither did he adorn himself with any false airs.
“My father was a steelworker. He walked out on the family when I was only a baby and I was passed on to my grandmother who helped run lodgings for itinerants. I was sexually abused and raped. Eventually, I was sent to a school for the physically handicapped on account of the large cyst on my leg and chronic bronchitis as well as kidney disease and pernicious anaemia. In my interview with Robert Lea which I understand has gone viral, I disclosed that I left school at the age of fifteen without O levels or any qualification whatever. However, I found a job as an apprentice electrician. It was like an epiphany (On The Road To Damascus) when it hit me that I was in danger of being stupid or ignorant for the rest of my life.”
Friends of Sir George have added that what drove him was that he was scared. He realised that he was trapped and the question that confronted him was: what is the route out of here? The answer was readily available: Education was the route. That is a message which resonates with Africans who are studying at Oxford University.
Rather than wait until Sir George turns up in Oxford for “Africa Week”, public interest in his mantra: Education, Education and Education has been phenomenal. He seems to have struck a responsive chord not just in Britain but also in America where he has a considerable following courtesy of PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) on which he is regularly quoted.
“In the United States of America they admire people who have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. The US was the perfect place for me to go and work. Americans are very open, very accepting, say things as they are and have a can-do mentality. In the UK there is still that difference, even if the gap has narrowed in recent years.”
Matters were not helped by the outburst from the newly elected (since January 2017) President of Ghana, Mr Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo who was on the list of Special Guests for the “Africa Week” in Oxford. Rather than travel in presidential style on a private jet, he was contemplating travelling from Accra to London on British Airways (BA) until he developed second thoughts.
It was Paolo De Renzis, head of Middle East, Africa and Central Asia sales at British Airways who strayed into the lion’s den and unwittingly stepped on its tail. The President gave it to him full blast:
“When friends are speaking, I think we should speak frankly. I think I am the proper person to let you know what the pre-occupations of our people are. These are matters that will be easy for you to rectify. There are complaints about the quality of your planes on the London/Accra/London route and the service. In some quarters, there is a feeling that you are taking us a little for granted by the way in which we are receiving your services. We have been bombarded with complaints from travellers over poor service on your flights.”
Regardless, British Airways has not cancelled its plans to celebrate eighty years of flying from Britain to Ghana.
Oxford University has been boiling with rage over the monstrous and brutal treatment regularly meted out to women in Africa, especially those who have not had the privilege of university education (or any form of education). A case in point was featured on the front page of ‘’ Vanguard’’ newspaper on May 12, 2017.
J.K.Randle OFR; FCA
