Editorial: Making our Community Organizations and Institutions Relevant

From the pages of our newspaper the Ghanaian News and from our own local knowledge, there are hundreds, of community organizations across the country that claim to be working for the welfare and development of our Ghanaian-Canadian communities. These organizations range from ethnic-based associations, old school (alumni) associations, benevolent organizations, community “development” associations and cultural associations, to mention but a few. And you can add on top of these our numerous church organizations and sects. All of them claim to be working for the good of our community. You can, if you will, add the various “drinking and eating” clubs as well.

While we recognize the fact that the formation and functions of these associations, clubs, organizations and churches have various roles to play, we also hasten to add that the multiplicity of these organizations may not necessarily be in the interest of our communities. Like the political scenes in the land of our birth, many of these organizations are organized and run on the selfish interests of their leaders or a few persons. Many of them could easily combine their efforts and achieve something bigger, better and effective. This however does not happen and every day we hear and read of the birth of yet another organization, association, church or club.

We commend the efforts of those organizations and institutions which are clearly providing services that are making positive changes and impact on the fortunes of our communities and the lives of community members. We however feel uneasy at the birth of organizations and other institutions with no clear discernible agendas. Some have well publicised missions but their practical actions seem opposite to their stated missions.

We strongly appeal to our community members and the numerous associations in our communities across Canada to pull resources together and work effectively for the interest of our communities. Duplication of services is simply counter-productive. Constant formation and birth of new associations, churches and organizations do little to lift the fortunes of our community. They do not help our community in any positive way. Fragmentation rather divides us, brings us down and stalls our collective development.

Our earnest appeal to our community members therefore is to find ways of working together from the existing associations, organizations and churches that we already have. Each existing organization need to recognize what its strengths and skills are and seek to work together with others with similar interests, skills and expertise. That way, we all win in the long run in terms of our communities’ development and progress.