Chicago Independence Celebration -President's Speech

ADDRESS BY REUBEN C HADZIDE ON GHANA?S 49TH INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS AT THE FOUR POINT SHERATON HOTEL, 7353 S. CICERO AVENUE-MARCH 4 2006.

Invited Guests, fellow Ghanaians, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Ghana National Council., I warmly welcome you to the 49th Independence Anniversary celebrations of Ghana, formerly called the Gold Coast.

I am honored to be given the chance to share a few words with you today as we celebrate the historic achievement of our beloved country, Ghana-of course!

At this point, I quote the first president of our country, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah??? and I quote---

?At long last the battle has ended; Ghana our beloved country is free forever.

?The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of Africa!?

These were the solemn words he proclaimed at the Old Polo Grounds on the eve of Ghana?s independence on March 6th 1957.

Indeed March 6 1957 was no ordinary day; it was the day the lightening rod that would eventually decide the fate and future direction of the rest of Africa was ignited. Our fore fathers became the trailblazers of the African liberation movement. Many black African freedom fighters across the continent came to seek advice, counseling and even training in Ghana to free their people! Not surprising, three years after Ghana?s independence, colonialism disintegrated massively from the soils of Africa; when many nations achieved their freedom from European domination.

Though we still have problems of our own as a country, Ghana still leads black Africa in democratic dispensation and good governance. We need to build upon these achievements and not rest on our laurels.

The present state of affairs in our country is encouraging but we have a long way to go. Ghana is aiming to achieve a per capital income of $ 1000 by the year 2010. Per capital income of a $1000.00 would have built the expected middle class economy that would lift our country into the foothold of development! Ladies and gentlemen, 2010 is 4 years from now! Every statistical index points to the fact that the current 0.5 % GDP growth rate will delay this noble goal for well over 100 years!!!

Every now and then some of us in the dispora get the noble call to serve our country as ministers of state or occupy top positions in government. If any of you get the nod in the future, please do not forget Chicago and do not join the chorus. Be the lightening rod for others to emulate.

For three years now, the remittances Ghanaians in the diaspora send to our loved ones home has become one of the largest foreign exchange earners for our country- over two billion US dollars annually-yes 2 billion dollars!. It appears we are far away from our motherland but still an integral part of a communal system handed down from our forbearers, which if nourished well will serve our country enormously.

Building our communities where ever we Ghanaians find ourselves should not and never left on the shoulders of the leaders of the community alone. The leaders of Ghanaian communities across the globe must also share ideas and ideals as to how we can join forces to help our motherland.

The present leadership in Chicago has been inundated with calls for advice and assistance by many Ghanaian organizations across the United States seeking to build a formidable community like ours. Like the trailblazers that set in motion the liberation of the African continent, we owe our present state in Chicago to the founders of the Ghana National Council for their vision and foresight by founding this organization so many years ago. Our organizational skills and programs has endeared us to the community of Ghanaians and Africans across the globe. Many of you are talented and should make this talent available for our common good. Nothing you do is too small or insignificant. Since assuming office a year ago, we have given the youth in Chicago a place on our agenda with several community programs. We have steadily made profit on our programs; town hall meetings were held to reach out to the community, and our main activity, GhanaFest has gotten bigger and better, our finances have been more transparent and for the first time we have secured the services of professional accountant to certify our accounts.

We have made great inroads in our goal of AQCUIRING a Ghanaian community center or Ghana House. Let me however state today, that we have put across a plan for the acquisition of a Ghana house! This proposal calls for capital investment through the purchase of shares as to the communal ownership of our dream center. Very soon you will be given the opportunity to discuss the proposal and offer your suggestions for a final plan for the Ghana house project.

~I like to pose this question to my audience anytime I have the chance, for you to contemplate!

May I ask you to pause for a moment with me and ponder over what will happen to the next generations of our children here in Chicago, if we do not put in place structures that will bring them together when we are no more?

The frightening answer if we do not put those structures is that, our identity as a people will be lost and our community as we know it today will be wiped off, and that is the stark reality!

Though our challenges are formidable, so are our strengths.

Ghanaians and for that matter Africans have ever been a restless, questing and hopeful people. We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who fought to liberate our country and relate the circumstances they conquered to ours.

49 years ago, our forbearers set the pace to dismantle colonialism from the continent of Africa, and they succeeded. It is our turn to overcome our present challenges and make Ghana lead the way for the development of the continent. Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal. With proper planning and sacrifice, we can overcome our present economic predicament and liberate our people from the crutches of poverty, disease and suffering. We call on our leaders to make choices and sacrifices that will have real impact on our people. There are a lot of things we could do as a nation to invest in our people and economy. Some that come readily in mind are:

? The ten percent payment to officials for purchases and contracts for jobs they are already being paid to do must stop.

? Civil servants and other government appointees must live off their salaries like the rest of the working people and not be given bungalow?s, houses, cars etc. at the expense of the people!

? The abuse of Per-diems (daily expense allowance) must stop. Officials have to be reimbursed with what they spent on behalf of our country NOT A FREE HAND OUT!

? The Government must take stringent measures to arrest the 40 percent loss to the country from all purchases made in the civil service sector-this statement is from our own government officials.

? Government must mobilize the human and financial capital of its citizen?s home and abroad for the development of our beloved country. For 49 years we have relied on foreign donors and what do we have now to show for it, mass underemployment and unemployment, dilapidated roads, hospitals that has become morgues, increase in prevalence and infection of preventable diseases, poor or no water supplies even to vital institutions, schools lack text books and important amenities, unreliable electricity, abject poverty affecting majority of our people, equipments needed by the police to protect us are lacking, and the list goes on and on! After 49 years our country will come to a stand still if we do not go begging donors to finance our national budget ?and you know, what these donors give us yearly is less than the total remissions we send home!

? Corruption must be tackled with vigor and without exceptions. Corruption has entrenched and encapsulated itself in our society so much that we tend to glorify than condemn it! We need to tackle it as a social and national crisis and not a political problem.

Conservative estimates of the loss to our country from these benefits for the 49 year period is over 20 billion us dollars!

I must however state that the problems mentioned earlier are not the makings of one particular government, they are benefits, loopholes, kickbacks and porous structures that has existed for 49 years! As a matter of fact, some of these benefits were created by our colonial masters for themselves.

Some experts have projected that the above measures alone could make available close to a trillion cedis annually. These lost funds could have bought the necessary equipment for the police force to protect us from the armed robbers, purchase text books and build schools so that our children would not sit under trees to study, build hospitals, clinics, buy medicines, medical equipment and supplies so that we can all get better healthcare at home, including our leaders who normally go to develop countries for treatment, build our roads, keep electric power flowing to light our homes , offices and industries etc!

We know we have to face the hard truths and take strong steps, but we have not done so. Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our poise for the eventual economic emancipation of our people!

Invited Guests, fellow Ghanaians, ladies and gentlemen??.

To renew Ghana and keep the beacon handed over to us 49 years ago shinning, we must revitalize our commitment to our country.

Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.

My fellow Ghanaians, the job of lighting those beacons falls into our hands, onto our shoulders and families.

This is our time, let us embrace it without fear or favor so that we can take our nation to the Promised Land!

Thank you and God bless you.

Reuben Hadzide-President

Ghana National Council of Metropolitan Chicago.