By Atkilt Geleta

Generally considered a fringe candidate, lawyer Rocco Achampong earned respect and recognition as an emerging political player in Toronto  with his mayoral run.  At 31 he was the youngest in the contest, and struggled from the outset to gain consideration as a serious candidate.  Frustrated at the partial and uneven media coverage, he halted donations relatively early in his campaign.  Often referred to as the other Rocco, the former Student Administrative Council president at U of T still managed to garner interest through several debate appearances.  He finished 6^th with a couple of thousand votes.

Born in Ghana, Achampong arrived in Toronto in 1987 with his family.  After returning to his homeland for a few years, he moved back to Toronto and graduated high-school at Weston Collegiate Institute.  It was around this period, at 18 years old, that Achampong and a few friends were involved in a robbery attempt that ultimately saw him going to prison for a year.  When the judge asked him about his goals and ambitions, he replied that he wanted to pursue a career as a lawyer.  Remarkably, in a story that is not too common, he achieved that aim 13 years later and was challenging the city’s mayoralty post.  After failing to track him down for a few weeks, Sway finally caught up with the young lawyer to discuss public service, perseverance, the value of arts and culture and moving forward as a society.

You got a few votes even though you had officially stopped campaigning a little while ago.  You were 5^th or 6^th I believe.  What are your thoughts going forward?

Obviously the mayoral office is unavailable to be pursued and one can’t really decide what’s going to happen in the years to come or the years thereafter.  I’m obviously going to be engaged as a Torontonian in our civic discussions.  I look forward to just lending my voice to the many voices in a debate.

In a previous interview you mentioned that with the ethic of society in this generation, there’s less of an emphasis on public service.  Why do you think that is?

Because we’re all busy struggling to survive.  I think public service becomes the consequence of an answer to the second question to Rabbi Hillel, that being, ‘If I’m only for myself than what am I?’  But the first questions appreciates, ‘if I am not for myself than who is for me?’  I think most people are still stuck in trying to come to terms with the question and living it out, quite frankly.  By being self interested and just having to generally survive in very terrible economic times where opportunity is limiting and will be limited for some time to come.  Most people are focused on just trying to keep feet above ground rather than being buried in the economic mess that so many, after all is said and done, will succumb to.

What is it that got you into public service then?  You seem to [always have] been involved in community initiatives and whatnot.  How did you develop an interest in lending yourself to public service?

I think without overstating it and tempering how this will come across to other people, I have to say I was born, bred and groomed to be a guardian.  My interests have always come second.  In fact, an assessment and a measure of my private life would certainly confirm this.  There are just ethic and principles that have been imbued in me for some time that’s sort of always propelled me towards serving others rather than myself.

You did a little bit of jail time in the past [as a young person] as has been reported.  You told the judge that you wanted to be a lawyer and then you actualized it.  So talk about your drive, because most people might be emotionally or mentally defeated [when] finding themselves in that position but you actually persevered.

Well to that end I think that’s another reason I felt the need to be out there and not drop out and join one of the major campaigns which was an opportunity [and] an option.  I just felt that that story had to be told and those that make mistakes young should certainly have some symbol to know – if that’s all I’m going to be, a symbol – it is possible to change your stars.  We don’t communicate that enough anymore.  It’s just my hope people don’t get stuck in time and think your whole life is defined by one shortcoming.  Those around you will certainly try to make you feel that way but you just have to know that such is the journey of life.  You’ll make very bad pit stops along the way but it doesn’t define whether or not you succeed or finish the race that is life.  So don’t give up.  Hopefully my candidacy and my story will help some people point to a precedent that has already been done.  And if it has already been done, the human logic has always been that it can be done again.  I wish people the best in that regard.

I also heard you say you were in Europe for the better part of 2008.  What were you doing there?

Basically backpacking, getting to know the roots of Canada really.  One has to appreciate that there is a foundation that is rooted in Europe.  I think to better understand what has come to pass with respect to the establishment of a colony, post-colonialism, to the founding of a country, to taking our future into our own hands.  I just wanted to go back into the past to appreciate the ethic of the people that started this whole thing.  It was very eye opening and I enjoyed it, very hard working people.

You said that we’re at a significant point in our history where can’t rely on traditional industries so we sort of need to innovate and find ways to contribute to our common prosperity.  How do you propose that we do that as a younger generation coming up?

We have the competitive edge and competitive advantage in avant-garde technology.  I think in terms of technology we are number one.  Finance, we are the third biggest hub for the major financial banking outfits.  [And] a great deal more.  I think we have to ensure that [we] yield insistence on the traditional industrial base and the manufacturing aspects of things, and the regular service-oriented nature of things which account for well over 70% of our employment in Toronto.  They’re not sustainable.  We’re losing out to competition by virtue of the fact that others are not brought within the framework of regulation.  So if I can produce a pen for 10 cents in Mexico and not have to pay someone $10 to stand in a line I would do so.  That’s the economic thinking that’s governing outsourcing and/or globalization, and it’s here to stay.  At the end of the day I think we will be the major losers, the everyday people, of economics taking it’s logical next step, which is finding where money is best invested, costs are best saved, and returns are best realized.  That is the for-profit motive.  So we have to become innovative.  At the very least I think systemically we have to start caring for our people in a way that reflects our best traditions.  I think going forward guaranteed minimum income for every Canadian should be on the agenda and to find a workable way to get it done.  And it can be done.

One of the things that propelled you to pursue office was that after the death of Amon Beckles you noticed officials didn’t have the language to address the issue.  So do you sort of see yourself as bridging a gap between certain communities or certain age groups and the establishment so to speak?

I speak the language.  They are my people.  However wrong or right, I’m from their community.  I think to an extent before you lead the whole society one has to embed themselves in as many communities as possible.

Last question would be that you stressed the importance of arts and culture grants.

It’s so necessary.

Why do you feel it’s so necessary and so important, whereas the other candidates didn’t make that emphasis?

Because all great societies have a highly developed cultural and artistic sensor.  In fact, arts and culture far outlive even the decline or prosperity of societies and it will continue to do so through time.  So enhancing that portfolio tells the world that we are here to stay and we will influence the way the world operates even if it’s through art or culture.  Our culture will dominate – which includes the whole world living under one banner and getting along peacefully.  What we do and what we’re able to maintain culturally here in Toronto is a signal to the rest of the world.  That’s what makes us a shining example.

So you’re seeing Toronto within the scope of history, comparing the achievements of this city now and trying to forecast how it will be looked upon later?

I am looking at how people will see us a 1000 years from now.  I am looking at how people will even view us 500 years from now.  I think that’s what leadership is all about – foreseeing what will come to pass and readying for it.