Africa Great Speakers | Dr. Arikana Chihombori Quao speaking on mistreatment of Africans in China

Here at Africa Great Speakers, we introduce Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao a medical doctor and activist. She is a public speaker, educator, diplomat, founder of medical clinics, and an entrepreneur.

The Zimbabwe native wears many labels beyond her always-stylish designer suits, among her properties, is the historic US-based Africa House, and South Africa’s Durban Manor Hotel. She is the CEO and founder of Bell Family Medical Centers in the United States.

Married to Ghanaian Dr. Nii Saban Quao with 5 children and moved to the United States after living many years in Zimbabwe.

But the one label she did embrace with the most pride is that of Ambassador to the US on behalf of the African Union (AU).

“In this new position, my mandate is to promote the longstanding and historical, cultural and economic relations between Africa and the US,” she states. “More importantly, to mobilize the African diaspora, which we define as ‘people of African descent living outside of Africa’.”

It’s the perfect job for a woman whose passion and pride for Africa and the diaspora is deep-rooted.

Like many first-generation immigrants, Chihombori-Quao traveled to America to pursue an education.

A graduate of Fisk University and Meharry Medical College, she holds a Bachelors degree in General Chemistry, a Master’s Degree in Organic Chemistry, and a Doctor of Medicine Degree.

After completing her medical residency in 1992, Chihombori-Quao settled in Murfreesboro, Tennessee – located in the southern region of the US – to open a medical practice. Soon after, she, along with her husband, opened a chain of family medical clinics in the state.

Her entrepreneurial DNA led her to purchase the historic Durban Manor Hotel – once a whites-only all-male hotel and club – now a place for cultural heritage tourism and intellectual engagement. In a greater ironic twist, she purchased a 15,000-square-foot plantation, sprawled across 30 acres of land on the hills of Gallatin, Tennessee, christening it Africa House.

“We encourage Africans to look at it as a place where they can not only hold lavish events but have something they can call ‘their home’.”

Alongside her career and business investments are her humanitarian efforts to promote women’s rights around the globe, and improve healthcare systems in Africa.

During her tenure as Chair of the African Union-African Diaspora Health Initiative (AU-ADHI), she led a delegation of medical professionals made up of other diasporans and ‘Friends of Africa’ living in Tennessee. They used their own money and resources to travel back to Africa on missions in Malawi, Equatorial Guinea, and elsewhere, to improve healthcare in the most deserved regions. The delegation donated supplies and trained healthcare workers in the various district and regional hospitals.

“It begins with reaching out to the diaspora,” she explains. “It takes a village to raise a child. There are many who say ‘Africa doesn’t matter’. We need to come together as one to raise the physical boundaries in Africa. But to do that, we need first to decolonize the black mind. We need to take time to sincerely inventory who we are and how we were colonized; otherwise the battle is going to be lost.”

However, in October 2019, H.E. Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, the African Union’s Ambassador to the United States lost her job. Her speech denouncing France’s colonization of Africa and her continued efforts to unite Africa and the African Diaspora is believed to have been the cause. The African Union gave her until November 1 2019 to clean out her office in Washington.

"I will continue to speak out on the issues that affect our people, and I will continue to tell the truth,” H.E. Dr. Chihombori-Quao told NNPA Newswire in an exclusive interview.

The interview occurred just days after she received a termination letter from African Union Commission Chairman, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, who didn’t return several messages left by NNPA Newswire. The letter didn’t specify the reason for firing the ambassador, who has served in that capacity for two years.

African Union Commission Spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo deflected questions about why Mahamat terminated Dr. Chihombori-Quao. “Political appointees at the African Union, including Dr. Chihombori, are appointed at the discretion of the appointing authority. The duration of such political appointments is also determined at the discretion of that appointing authority”.

“This is normal diplomatic practice for political appointees everywhere,” she continued, later refusing to respond to whether France was involved in the decision to terminate Dr. Chiombori-Quao.

A spokesperson for French President Emmanuel Macron declined to say whether or not Macro ordered or played a role in the termination.

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