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We have produced full text of President John Mahama�s speech at a World Leaders Forum, organised at Columbia University,September 23, 2013. It reads: It is a pleasure and an honour to have been invited to Columbia University to take part in the World Leaders Forum and to address this audience full of talented young people, many of whom, I am sure, are already well on their way to becoming our future world leaders. It was my intention to speak to you today about democracy in Africa. I�d wanted to speak about how in recent times, more and more countries on the African continent have turned to democracy and the rule of law, about the pivotal role that democracy can play in a developing nation, especially where the safety and social welfare of its citizens are concerned. Then as I was preparing to leave Ghana, I received word of the terrorist attack that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, where a group of armed men laid siege to the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall and massacred dozens of people. It was confirmed in later reports that one of those individuals killed in the attack was Ghanaian poet and statesman, Professor Kofi Awoonor. During my journey from Ghana to the United States, my thoughts were centred on Professor Awoonor, his impactful life and the legacy of literature he has left for us and for future generations. Coincidentally, the date of Professor Awoonor�s death, September 21st, is also the date that the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana�s founding father was born. What links these two men, besides this fateful date, is the fact that they were both men of conscience and consciousness. They were men of tremendous vision. Far too often, democracy in Africa is defined simply by the absence of dictatorship rather than by the presence of the vision that fuels it, and the willingness of individuals to take a stand in defence of that vision, regardless of the consequences. In 1957 when Ghana became the first sub-Saharan nation in Africa to gain its independence, it spearheaded a revolution on the continent. Country after country followed, each one claiming its liberation from colonial rule. It was a revolution that was led by the people, by visionaries, men and women who believed that the future they saw for their country was possible. It was a goal well worth fighting for, a destination well worth marching toward, a dream for which they would sooner die than have deferred. It was a revolution that was led by poets and professors, by singers and lawyers and day labourers; the wealthy as well as the working class, anyone who dared to give voice to that vision. They were the politicians of that era, the leaders who were destined to shape a new world. And the price many of them paid was steep. Nelson Mandela was jailed, as was Ngugi wa Thiong�o, Wole Soyinka and Fela Anikulapo Kuti. There were many who lost days, months and years of their lives in prison. There were also many who lost their lives entirely. Christopher Okigbo was killed, as was Patrice Lumumba, Steven Biko, Sylvanus Olympio, and Eduardo Mondlane. Untold numbers of others fled into exile. Far too often, the collective battle for independence in Africa is mistaken for the struggle for freedom. But the independence of a nation does not guarantee the freedom of its people. And this was a significant hurdle that Africa needed to overcome as its many countries moved into self-rule, this belief that the revolution was over, that with independence we had arrived at our final destination, we had met the ultimate goal, the dream had been fully manifested into reality. Now, we know better. Decades of poverty, war, despots and brain drain have taught us better, decades during which Africa seemed to have lost its way and lost sight of that vision. Decades which were just lost. As I said, it had been my intention to discuss democracy in Africa, but on the heels of what has been taking place in Mali, in Somalia, and in Egypt; on the heels of what has just taken place in Kenya, it�s important to first ask, �Why is it that this system is seen by some as a threat?� I believe the answer exists in the vision.