Ghana, Wiser@50?

Over fifty years ago the agitation and the confidence of the Ghanaian and their African counterparts soared so high in the struggle for self governance, self determination and freedom from colonial rule and dominance. The nationalistic instincts of our forbearers were unquenchable and unflinching until self governance and freedom from the shackles of colonialism was eventually achieved.

In their avowed quest to gain freedom, enormous energy, sacrifice, discipline, dedication and responsible services were expended. Precious and dear lives were lost, bodies were maimed to buy us freedom and purged us from servitude.

Even though, the quest for self determination was wide spread and shared by all the citizenry, this not with standing our forbearers allowed bickering, envy, backbiting and disloyalty to creep into the struggle.

Eventually, independence was achieved but on a divided front. I believe over the years, successive governments had done little consciously or unconsciously to remedy the situation in forging a united front towards the challenges confronting us. The winner-loser scenario that ensued degenerated and the irony was that, the much agitated quest for self determination with its associate fundamental freedoms became a mirage. The increasing hard handedness of governments resulted in resentfulness, leading to direct and indirect protests. The crusaders, freedom fighters who campaigned at the back of the people to free them from colonialism and bad governance, turned or masqueraded into dictators and usurpers of the peoples’ right themselves with obnoxious laws which they initially seemed to be fighting against.

The master-boy, the haves and have not, the winner and loser relationship of our governments have robbed the citizenry of her confidence and self-worth. In their failure to address the challenges facing the people and their avowed quest to deny and rob the masses, they succeeded in dividing the people and bequeath a legacy of low confidence and lack of industry as they appraise people on the circumstance of their birth, hometown, ethnicity and political party affiliations. They have turned the management of our country into a kind of mafia club with rules which they only know how to obey them and in effect have denied us participation. When they become victims of their irresponsibility, indiscipline and selfishness, they rush to us to invoke the rules they have set ‘ethnicity’ to cloud our sense of judgment and exploit our ignorance to shield and protect themselves.

I believe Ghana@50, we must be wiser and appreciate that ‘divided we fall’ to their tricks and ‘together we stand’ to defeat them. Over the last fifty years, Ghanaians with varied ethnic backgrounds have had the opportunity to serve this nation. The golden question begging for reflective answer is, had any of the leaders been able to change the lot of its ethnic folks? I am of the opinion that it is about time we allowed merit, discipline, dedication and responsible service drove our collective lot and wellbeing as a people than the fanning of ethnic or tribal sentiments and divisiveness. We have to leverage on our diversity to change our circumstances. We should reflect on where we are coming from, where we are and where we would want to be in the spate of the increasing challenges that we face. We should reflect on the following and note that,

There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies that can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colors (blue, yellow, red, white and black) yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen. There are not more than five cardinal tastes (sour, acrid, salt, sweet and bitter) yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted. (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)

It exemplifies the strength and energy in unifying or achieving harmony in diversity. Ghanaians should appreciate that what is militating against the welfare of our society is not our diverse ethnic backgrounds or circumstances of birth. However, it is our ignorance, the greed and selfishness of people who exploit this diversity to meet their selfish goals. The resources or the human capital of our people need to be nurtured, trained and inspired to bring forth the best. If people responsible and privileged in places of trust and confidence are bereft of ideas or strategies to harness the great diverse Ghanaian potential, they should spare us.

By Yaw Awuah Boadu A.
Ghana, Helsinki