Opinions of Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Columnist: Aidoo, Prince

How effective is Ghana’s Pledge for this generation?

WHO IS THE ENEMY?
How effective is Ghana’s Pledge for this generation? The Youth will like to know.

Ladies and gentlemen, just read Ghana’s Pledge as follows and give your judgment.

“I promise on my honour to be faithful and loyal to Ghana my Motherland.
I pledge myself to the service of Ghana, with all my strength and with all my heart.
I promise to hold in high esteem our heritage, won for us through the blood and toil of our fathers; and I pledge myself in all things to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana. So help me God“.

The question any clear-minded person should ask is, how can you Promise on your honour to God and ask Him to help you whiles at the same-time you keep on lying and stealing from His people you are serving?

How do we expect God to help our nation, when God knows very well that, both our present and past presidents, our police, our judiciary, our parliament, our health service, our lawyers, our military, our civil servants, our immigration, our customs, our ministry of education, our tertiary institutions, our ministry of energy, our political parties, our security service, and all our state institutions are deeply involved with corruption? They have no shame to note that, God is not a fool and does not help nor bless people who
are deceitful, liars and corrupt.

Unfortunately, they have the gust to tell the Youth to continue citing such unrealistic Pledge all the days of their lives in vain. All our leaders go to Church every Sunday, and from there they go out there to lie, sell national assets to their cronies, and again steal from the coffers of the State. They claim to worship God with their mouths, but their hearts are too far away from Him. A hypocrite cannot expect God to help or bless him/her. The problems that the country has been going through from time immemorial till today and the punishment we have been receiving from it is as a result of our leaders continuously lying, killing of innocent people, unlawful imprisonment of people and stealing from the people all in the Name of God.

Can we take a queue from what David told to Solomon in 1Kings 2-4 which states:

“Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying:
“I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the Lord may fulfil His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.”

How does our leader understand this advice from David to his Son Solomon? They understand telling lies, sharing of innocent blood and stealing better than that.

The Bible tells us that; “It is the truth that shall set you free”. I therefore ask all my listeners whether this Ghana Pledge above serve the purpose of demonstrating art of faithfulness, solidarity, and commitment to the development of the country? Can the contents of this Pledge motivate the Youth to live to the Promise they gave to God by citing this Pledge? How can God help his people, if despite such a Promise to Him, the whole country does not know where they are going? The Americans say: “In God we Trust”, but just look at the disasters they go through everyday, and you will perhaps understand what God can do to anyone who Pledges in His Name in vain. I leave this to your judgement.

The solution:
I am calling therefore for a change in this Pledge. I am calling for a Pledge that when it is enacted in our policy and instilled in the Youth from their childhood, their conscience will be awakened. We need a Pledge which if one Pledges in the Name of God, his/her conscience will defeat him and should be expecting a punishment in his/her lifetime. A draft of such a new Pledge is being prepared by the “Passionate Ghana Pastors and Professionals (PGPP)

Regards. Rev. Prince Aidoo