General News of Thursday, 29 August 2013

Source: Louis Atsu Agbo (University of Education, Winneba)

Comment: Nationalism must unite us

The country in which we live was fought for us through the blood and toil of our forefathers. Over the years, we have had some number of political turmoil which have been major setbacks to the development of the country. We can talk of the 1966, 1972, '79 and '81 Coups.

Interestingly, the reasons for these political turmoil had only benefitted some few people because they (reasons) did not represent the collective view of the good people of Ghana. The master-minders ended up looting colossal amounts of money which would have been used to develop our nation which further worsen our condition of living. The end has always left us divided, further polarising the political divide.

Blindly, we have followed the political parties and lost our sense of nationalism. We have forgotten the first 2 lines of our National Pledge which goes like "I promise on my Honor, To be Faithful and Loyal to Ghana My Motherland" and adopted that of the Political Parties if there is any. It is very surprising and disappointing to see some men & women go to whatever extent to "die" for their political party at the peril of our Great Nation, Ghana.

Fellow Ghanaians, as we all await the Final Verdict of the Highest Court, let us remember that "Ghanaianism Must Unite all Of Us". Before we act untoward for any Politician, let us remember the waakye seller, the Kooko seller, the Beans seller. Let us remember the future of our Kids and put our country first for we have no other country of our own. We should remember that from Gambaga to Accra, From Elubo to Aflao, we are one people with a common destiny.

Dr. Kwagyir Aggrey of blessed memory once said "You can play a tune of sorts on the black keys only and you can play a tune of sorts on the white keys only; but for perfect harmony, you must use both the black and the white keys." We are one people with a common destiny so we should maintain the peace ourselves and live in harmony even after the Supreme Court's verdict comes 29th of August, 2013.