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Opinions of Thursday, 23 June 2005

Columnist: Okraku, Dr. Yaw Anaafi

Can we stop the squalor?

Can we remove squalor from our Ghana? Should we attempt to remove physical Squalor from our Ghana? Should we attempt to remove administrative SQUALOR

from our Ghana? Should we say that it is impossible to remove squalor from our Ghana? Should we not even attempt to remove squalor from our Ghana, deeming this effort impossibility?

My view is that we must reach for the stars. We can reach the stars. Others have reached the stars. We must climb Jacobs?s ladder. This is the challenge of our era. Each of us must make every effort to remove the chains we have put on our view of what is possible for our society. There is a role for government. We must insist on accountability of our elected officials to the electorate. I am sure our elected officials will respond to the norms the realities of the political systems most of us are resident in?United States of America, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Hong Kong, etc. etc.

Are you tired of insinuations that we Africans are lesser humans, lower achievers? I am. We must take action on the ground to show ourselves that we can get rid of SQUALOR. Kwame Nkrumah, on the eve of our political independence, at the Old Polo Grounds, in Accra, Ghana, predicted that we would show the world that the ?black man? is capable of running Ghana. I have it on tape. You can all go to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and purchase tapes of some of Osagyefo?s speeches. Words are one thing. In 2005, I am asking that we take measures that will bring our words to concrete reality. We have a lot of work to do. We have now, freedom of speech and freedom of association. I am not afraid that someone will detain me or illegally remove me from society. The squalor that is chocking many activities in Ghana must be removed by you and me.

Are you supporting with your money the work of Ghana Leadership Union, (GLU)? Let us not be like some of the characters in the parable of the ?Good Samaritan??those who turned their eyes away fro the man who had been robbed and wounded and left lying by the road. Let our religion come alive in us, if we have that persuasion. If we do not have that persuasion, let ethics shine on us.

My view is that society can change and does change. My view is that the ?culture? of any society is in perpetual change. It is the rate of change and the direction of change that we sometimes do not agree on. Some of us need more time to reflect on the issues at stake. We must try to identify those traits that may be holding us back from doing our best for our Ghana.

I hold that humanity is one. Wherever humanity has done something better that we have been able to do so far in Ghana, we should want to learn from that experience of humanity. I do not share the feeling that if that experience is not in Africa, then that experience has not relevance for us in Ghana. This is not the same as mindless copying of other people?s experience. We must take our circumstances into account, but that factor should not be a barrier to wanting to learn from those who have done better than us.

I agree that one step at a time we must make all efforts within the law, to remove SQUALOR from our Ghana.



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