In the West African city of Accra on a steamy night in 1957, I was in the government buildings as the clock ticked steadily toward midnight. At that hour, the British colony of Gold Coast would become the sovereign nation of Ghana. Africans whooped as the time grew nearer, shouting "Free-DOM, free-DOM, free-DOM," at white British colonial officers who would soon be departing. The British shouted back "And justice, justice, justice."
It was a vignette that captured the Africans' jubilation and hope for democracy, and the Britons' skepticism that Africans could make it work in an orderly way.
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