A Nation Of Dangling Destiny

Have you ever paused to think of one of the thought provoking inscriptions we always see on lorries, kiosks, cannoes etc? In case you have not done that yet, how about hearing someone saying, I want a better future for my children hence my struggle to make it in life? Whether you have encounted such a statement or not, I wish to share a few thoughts with you.

In the usual hustle and bustle that have characterised our various lives, it is not uncommon to hear someone telling another that, ' you were lucky to have had someone to crack your kernnels for you'. When I was growing up, there was a song in town which seemed to say that some people were born on a hill-top whilst others were born into a pit. What I deduced from the aforementioned statements was that, the beginning and end of an individual, in fact, the totality of his life depended on the sort of people his parents were. In other words, if your parents were on top of the social ladder, you are destined to be a winner. Therefore, woe betides anyone whose parents were down in the pit.

hmmmmm! However, during my working days as a newly trained teacher in the Upper Denkyira District of the Central Region, I met a colleague who was a native of the village where I was teaching. This man, though was not idigent he was as rich as I expected to have ten children at that time. As usual I kept wondering how he was able to cope with his meagre salary and the size of his family, especially, as some of the kids were in the secondary school untill, as if by design, he accosted me one day that I found what his secret weapon was.- THE LAND. I realised that, as the only child he inherited a vast and fertile land from his parents and in his attempt to compensate the unit size of his parents' lineage, anytime his wife takes seed, he also nursed some cocoa seeds . As a result, every child of his has his/her own sizeable cocoa farm to take care of their needs as they grow. Very astute isn't he? I hope you are not bored. If you are, just take a pause and weigh the pros and cons of this man's approach to life and we may rightly meet at the same destination.

Every Ghanaian adult of today is spending sleepless days and nights to achieve and bequeath something to his children, those born and the yet to be borns. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with having such a laudable vision. However, in our quest for a brighter and enjoyable future for our children, we turn to do so in our very small and myopic way that, we do not care what happens to the larger society in which we live, we forget that, it is this same society which will sustain and protect whatever we are leaving behind for our children and therefore, it (society) needs also to be sustained.

Who in his right frame of mind will set or help someone to set the very hosue that houses his valuable property ablaze? Better still, what will be the use of a mansion embedded in the sea of criminals- armed robbers, fraudsters, wee smokers etc? Unfortunately, this is the very attitude of most Ghanaians both home and abroad. In attempt to be seen in the society, we resort ;greed, selfishness, laziness, apathy, waste, fraud, corruption et al. These are the seeds we are busily sowing today, as we try to safe-guard the future of our children, and their fruits will be more sour and bitter than we can imagine for the generation yet to come including ours.

Some years, not too long ago, anytime the adults hear of EWIEM (sky) in towns and villages, it meant those who have not paid their Basic Rates- LANDPOOL, should take cover because there was an imminent 'attack' on them. The speed with which storekeepers will dash to close their stores to avoid revenue officers was an envy of olympic games sprinters. At our points of entry, some of us will never care to condone and connive with unscrupulous officers to steal monies from state coffers by way of tax evasion, ironically, none of such people will dare to do so with tax officers in other countries. These same people will be the first to castigate governments and complain bitterly about non-existent and dilapidated infrastructure and social amenities.

As a nation, we are caught up in the web of brain drain partly due to fear of failure as individuals because we want only the best for ourselves and family and as such try to avoid the HEAT in our country of birth. This order has become so fashionable that, even pastors and religious leaders who should FATHOM the predicted LAST DAY EVENTS are among the worst offenders forgetting that our very existence and achievements are as a result of the vision, generousity and selflessness of some ILLITERATES, some of whom are still living and needed to be paid back in kind. To add insult to injury, some of us living abroad keep saying unkind words about our own country, others vowing not to return HOME, but I find hard to understand why the same people continue to scartter houses in this same country.We can choose to stay and seek the greenest pasture anywhere but not to the disadvantage our country of birth. Her development should be our heartbeat whether we are on the moon or pluto. After all, our elders say, a birds feathers never stays up there after it dies, and the sheep which decides to make a home out of its pasture falls is easily to fall prey to the wolf. We should also not forget that every single vote gained by a NATIONAL PARTY in our country of residence is a blow to our stay. Laziness, apathy , corruption, sleaze etc on the part of our civil and public service and the political leaders have been a bane to our development. The very policeman charged to fight crime is the master of it, indulging in day light robbrey. Most of our judicial personnel are more criminal than those they put in jail every now and then. It also amazes me the way of us have made tin-gods out of our politicians, to the extent that, we bully, maim and kill humanbeings to satistfy our masters' interest. Have you ever thought of this?; It is only the Ghanaian politician who has PHILANTROPIC FRIENDS who repairs his cars houses,feed their SHEEP, bears the expensive bills of their children's foriegn education and well being. Hmmmm! our elders were right to have said; POOR NO FRIEND. These were the people who were next to beggers yet after succeeding to confuse us and having given them the POWER to taste power they now live as magicians or lottery winners. You do not need a better nose than mine to smell the scent opulence around them.

The way forward as a nation, is to transfer the confidence we have reposed in our sleaze politicians into ourselves and remember that, besides creation, man has been an integral part of many miracles God has performed, the EXODUS, BIRTH OF CHRIST, FEEDING OF THE MULTITUDE, THE HEALING OF THE PARALYTIC etc.

If the DESTINY of a nation has PRECARIOUSLY DANGLED in the hands of her own citizens it is GHANA. Leadership perse, is never the answer we can have Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Busumuru Kofi Anann, Bill Gate, Abramovich, you name them, as our leaders, with all their shrewdness, dynamism and wealth the vision of our nation, no matter how appealing it is, will remain a mirage if you and I stick to our unproductive attitudes.

The future is still bright. As the Chinnese, the Japanese, the Malaysians, Americans, and the British keep building their countries, let not the Ghanaian fold his hands and keep going round cup-in-hand but to do our possible best to make our country a becon of hope for our generation to come and the hopless.

LONG LIVE MY BELOVED GHANA.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.