When I look at Ghana today, many questions come to my mind. The biggest question I find is that in a country so rich and blessed with so much natural resources, why is Ghana ranked among the poorest countries in Africa? Why are Ghanaians still wallowing in abject poverty while tourists flock in our country on a daily basis to view of the beauty of our natural resources? Why do we have foreign investors making lots of money and take the money to enrich their countries? These same investors employ our citizens and subject them to hard labour under poor working conditions and yet underpay them.

I have come to understand that CORRUPTION is the cause of all this tragedy. Corruption is something that we talk about, it is something that we complain about, it is something whose negative impact we recognise, it is something that even the corrupt acknowledge is a bad thing. But the tragedy is that those involved in it love it and those who are not involved in it accommodate it. Our level of tolerance for corruption in Ghana is amazing.

It seems to be in the nature of Ghanaians to jail small thieves and elect the great ones into public office. Today the richest men and women are those who occupy public office. Our politicians will not rest until they have houses in which they will never live in. They have vehicles which they will never drive. They have beds of gold which they will never sleep in because they have no sleep anyway. They buy food which they will never eat because they long lost the appetite.

We live in a country where our Members of Parliament don’t care about the problems of people who voted for them but they care much about retaining their Parliamentary seats. Politicians claim to be concerned about the wellbeing of their citizens but at the same time they kill them with guns, they are being punished for the sins they never committed.

The blood of these innocent citizens is still fresh in Old Tafo while those who shot them are left scotfree. We live in a country where the police officers are no longer used to uphold the law and protect the citizens but they are being used as tools of vengeance in the hands of those in power to oppress those in opposition. Politicians during their campaigns promise us jobs and more money in our pockets but the jobs they give us is being supporters and being used as tools of violence. We live in a country where we vilify good men and women while we celebrate criminals and thieves.

While every other country in the world has moved in the right direction, Ghana still remains as a scar in the conscious of humanity. The tragedy is that in our health sector, our ministers don’t have faith in the health system of our country. They build hospitals and clinics but they won’t dare go to those hospitals and clinics when they are sick. Instead they seek medication in other countries like South Africa, India, France and the UK.

The question is, if these politicians can be so selfish to only think of themselves, how about a common citizen from Bamvim, Foshagu, Manguli,Manguli kukuo,Gbelahigu,Junshegu and Duhini who can’t even afford a bus fair to go to Tamale Teaching Hospital(TTH), how are they going to access medical attention to their various tumours and complications that need specialised treatment. They build schools but they won’t dare take their children to those schools, an indication that they have no faith in our education system. Today we have colleges,polytechnics and Universities in their numbers where many young people graduate every year as Medical doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Nurses, Ecomonists, Accountants and Engineers but after they graduate they can’t get jobs. When they protest for lack of jobs they are told to go and sell tomatoes.

We have civil engineers but the people we see constructing our roads are the Chinese. We have engineers who can’t even construct roads and doctors who can’t give treatment to our ministers, Ghana is a tragic country.
I want to submit to you that we are the authors of our own misfortune. When it’s time for campaigns, these politicians come to us and buy our votes at a very cheap price. They give us blank cheques in exchange for our votes. We behave like a man who buys a corolla and then expect it to behave like a Mercedes benz. We put hyenas to look after the goats and when the goats are consumed we wonder why. We vote for visionless leaders who even themselves admit they don’t have a vision but when the economy collapses we complain. Our leaders have fallen short, not only to the glory of God but also to the glory of our great nation.

Throughout the ages the greatest battle has been the battle of the mind and if your mind is conquered then you are going nowhere. We must always remind ourselves of these solemn realities because I believe we have learnt our lesson the bitter way. In order to liberate ourselves, as Ghanaians we must begin to think. But the question is, are we thinking? It gives me great joy that through the ongoing Electoral Commission talks and cleaning or Voter registration, many of our young people would choose to go and register as voters. If you haven’t done so in the past,your friend next to you did and you are the only one remaining, yes you!!.

Now is the time we need to move from the comforts of our homes to go into all the parts of our country so that the conscious of Ghanaians must be re-awakened and make them realise that corruption is a cancer that must never be allowed to grow. But I want to remind you that it’s not going to be easy for the children of darkness have one advantage over the children of light, they are well organised. They are prepared to kill in order to protect their ill gotten wealth and remain in power. The question is, are we ready to liberate our country from the hands of criminals and corrupt leaders? Are we ready to die for the economic liberation of our country? If you are ready, then I am ready and together let us move Ghana forward. I look forward to a day when we will be free from corruption and poverty. I look forward to a day where we will all declare, “Oh corruption, where is thy sting; Oh poverty, where is thy victory?” Ibrahim Hardi,contact;0208245615,Email;bigkolaaya@yahoo.com