Address to the Oslo Freedom Forum, Oslo, May 10, 2011. I would like t thank the Oslo Freedom Forum for inviting me to speak and you for coming to listen. I also would like to dedicate my speech to the following: Africa: The Cheetah generation – taking back Africa one village at a time. They have taken back Tunisia and Egypt and will take back more African countries.

George Ayittey does not mince words. So when his latest manuscript landed on his publisher’s desk a few months ago, the book’s title shouldn’t have surprised anyone: How to Topple a Brutal Dictator. “I had so much trouble convincing my publisher on the title,” he laughs. “He was so spooked. He said, ‘No, no, no we cannot go with this title. It is too provocative. We don’t want to do a how-to book on revolution.’”

The publisher countered with his own:

Accra, Ghana (CNN) -- The sudden death of Ghana's president, John Atta Mills, on July 24 did not come as a rude surprise. Most Ghanaians already knew his health was failing; he was losing his eyesight and voice. For the seven months that I was in Ghana (Dec 2011-July 2012), he rarely made a public appearance -- and despite official assertions to the contrary, most people did not believe he had the will nor the capacity to campaign for re-election in this year's elections in December.

Thousands of mourners pay respects to their late leader What was remarkable, however, was that within hours of his death, the Vice-President, John Mahama, had been sworn in as the new president. The smoothness of the transition was exactly how Atta Mills would have wanted it.

He was a man of peace and ardent believer in the rule of law. Ghana in mourning after president dies The smooth transfer of power not only attested to the strength and stability of Ghana's democracy but also stood in sharp contrast to the rocky and chaotic transitions that followed the deaths of presidents