The Woes of the Diasporan!

A lot of Diasporans (skilled and unskilled) have prepared to go back home finally, if the NPP had won the elections. Some have decided to move their businesses back home. They have the belief that many opportunities abound under NPP administration.
Some, including myself, have been to Ghana twice this year: first to have their names in the biometric voters' register and secondly to campaign and vote wisely.
These Diasporans from Europe and America were touched by the NPP's free SHS policy. They know that most of their family members depend on them for survival. They have been sending money every day, week, and month to their dependants to cushion then against high cost of living.
They send money to these needy families not because they have money in abundance, but they can't allow their own children, mothers, fathers, siblings, nieces, nephews, and friends to die due to poverty.
Living in a foreign land is not all that good as people back home perceive. As I said earlier, I have been in the UK since October 2004, but I'm yet to see any tree that bears fruits of money. I'm also yet to pick some money from the street.
"No where cool", as my friend Paa Sticky used to tell me. The economic crisis is not peculiar to Ghana; it is everywhere. But how do you convince the locals to sympathise with you? The perception a about abroad could be likened to two hens, one covered in a basket and the other outside. The one covered in the basket thinks she is sweating and sees her counterpart as enjoying everything. On the other hand, the hen outside the basket believes that her friend in the basket has the shade so she is rather enjoying. Both of them want to change their positions because of curiosity.
However, waking up at dawn, chasing buses, and trains to get to work on time and in this bad weather is not an easy task. But you even count yourself as the lucky chap if you have any job to fall on. In abroad, the way some foreigners are treated in their jobs is an eyesore. Sometimes it is more provoking to take unnecessary instructions from a white supervisor or manager who could easily be your son. His academic qualifications may come no where near yours, but what can you do?
You succumb to their pressures because things are not well in your native country. Regrettably, it is not because Ghana lacks natural and human resources, but the problem lies with the right leadership; leadership that can manage the resources judiciously to improve our living standards.
Most of our political leaders are corrupt, greedy and selfish. How could GHC51m be given to one person without performing any job for the government? Surprisingly, you get people born by human beings to defend such thievery. Some people have been in parliament for more than 20 years and collect ex- gratia every 4 years. Yet, they can't even provide common boreholes to their constituents. Due to poverty, many teenagers who could have been in school, have turned prostitutes and armed robbers in their constituencies, but such MPs would do everything to remain in Parliament.
So without politics, what would be the faith of Doe Adjaho, Alban Bagbin, E.T. Mensah, and others who are Metusellas in parliament? What work would Okudzeto Ablakwa, Koku Anyidoho, Fiifi Kwetey, Richard Quashigah etc be doing if not politics?
Diasporans believed that with the introduction of free SHS, at least their financial burden could be reduced. Those who could not go to Ghana offered prayers for Akufo-Addo to win. Others talked to their constituents and family members to vote massively for the NPP. Many of us also risked our lives and jobs, went to Ghana, campaigned and voted, all with the hope that the New Patriotic Party would be crowned winners. But what happened?
Kwadwo Afari Gyan then decides to rig the elections for John Mahama. This shocking declaration sent many people to the hospital and others died through the shock. Some of us who came back also lost our jobs. Many could not eat for some days and others had broken hearts. I have news of those whose marriages have broken down because their wives were against their trips to Ghana for the elections.
Christmas is around the corner and the phone calls are still coming through. Diasporans need to perform their financial responsibility. The last time a nephew of mine asked for money and I told him I was jobless, he asked me to come down to Ghana because it was pointless to live London and make such statement. He never believed me.
Is it not painful, my dear readers? Why should Afari-Gyan break people's hearts in this manner? And some people want Akufo-Addo and his NPP to stop the court action in the name of peace? Oh! My God! People should come again. Peace? What is it? Why not justice? Why not fairness? And why not transparency?
I don't think I can ever forgive Afari Gyan or John Mahama. No! Never! What will happen will happen this year, after all we have been told that "all die be die".
We will continue to champion the cause of justice for future generation even at the peril of our lives. We are confident of victory and know that good will definitely triumph over evil as Bob Marley said.
God bless our homeland Ghana, and make our nation great and and strong!
katakyienpp@yahoo.co.uk 07577626433
Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Enfield, London.
A native of Asante Bekwai-Asakyiri
"Vision, coupled with persistency, results in true success"