Development is a practice but not everyone understands that it is a process that graduates from one stage to the other. Just as individuals develop through stages, so do nations do but not many nations understand it as such.

As once written by the Chinese Philosopher and Teacher; Confucius, “to put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order, to put the nation right in order, we must first put the family in order. We must cultivate our personal lives and we must set our hearts right.’

The approach we adopt to development can fail in the long run even though it may look interesting from the onset. America is where it is today because the founding fathers adopted the right approaches and they were lucky enough to have genuine minded and development oriented people who have from generations continuously followed the path of “the right approach”. So, do Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, France, China etc.

The question I have often asked myself is why can’t we become like the Singapore and Malaysia we have always compared ourselves with saying we have all attained independence during the same period.

One big thing I sometimes think majority of us are unaware of is that development takes an incredible amount of time to happen but we have already done 60 years plus after independence which Malaysia and Singapore also did but are far more developed than we are.

What then is the problem? Is it the skin color? Probably not. Is it the weather? May be not. Is it the continent? I don’t think so. Is it the strategy/approach? I will say a very big yes to this one.

The approaches we adopt to development might not be taking us anywhere because if after 60 years plus of independence and we can’t hit our chests ‘gbaaii’ as a nation and say; yes! we have arrived, then we are most likely going to keep marking time if we did not change the approach out of genuine and committed hearts towards a new approach. Let’s adopt the practical approach to development at all levels rather than provide it for all levels. After we have practiced it for years, the young ones of today will grow up with the practical mentality approach to development to mount positions of development.

The outcome for future generations would be; when people with the right mindset and genuine hearts grow on the ladder of practical development, the best desired states like the Singapore and Malaysia can be attained even though we cannot easily catch up with them. However, may be not all of us can witness that desired future state but if we truly want development, like the Japan, Malaysia and Singapore etc, then let’s change the gear from the old approach even though it may seem and feel tough to do. Thank you! God bless mother Ghana!!

By: Sampson Aglanu Kwamla SOCIAL WORKER AT SAVE THE FUTURE GHANA. GRADUATE FROM UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, ACCRA.

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