Opinions of Monday, 21 September 2015

Columnist: Joseph Naquentera

My beloved country

Opinion Opinion

My beloved country formally known as Gold Coast and now Ghana is located in the West Africa Sub-Region which share boundaries with Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east, Cote D’lvoire in the west and the gulf of guinea in the southern zone.

With a growing population estimated 27 million citizens, Ghana is well endowed with natural resources such as Gold, Diamond , Cocoa, Bauxite ,Timber and the latest glamour discovery of oil. My beloved country was born democratically on the 6th of March 1957 and just celebrated its 58th Independence Day, Hurray!!!!!!!!But the mind boggling question within the inner core of this duration is, has there been development to the core? I am among those who do not fancy politics a bit but concern with social development and democratic enhancement. Now back to my earlier question for the discourse, has there been development in her life? The answer is YES and NO.

In terms of democracy, Yes Ghana can boast of total transformation and development in that dimension moreover as the status quo stands, the country is the beacon and a benchmark for measuring democracy in Africa. Nevertheless some social and infrastructure development have also taken place within these years. Electricity expansion to the rural communities have been massive in that at least one –fourth of rural areas enjoys electricity not until this sudden power crisis in the country that has been the crux for discussion among Ghanaians.

Safe drinking water has in the years improved and expanded to communities saving us from the predicament of water borne diseases such as bilharzias and guinea worm that have dented the image of the nation for so long. Road networks across the nation have also been enlightened not forgotten about health facilities establishment in vantage areas within the districts curbing the miles walking all in securing of health attention.

Gone were the days when children walk over 20 kilometers all in search for education, but now what can we see, almost every corner of a community has school facility making education highly accessible to all people. The fore-mentioned developments were all made possible by the aegis of our present and past governments; however, were these developments the best that can ever happen to the Nation? What about the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian, has it improved in tandem with the social and infrastructure development? 3h) na As3m no wo no!!!!!!!

One day I sat in a tro tro bus with one old lady who should be in her late seventy’s (70s).She was about buying bread and pointed out a fat one among what the seller was carrying. This old lady then brought out her money as to obey the principles of trading, unfortunately for her she was disappointed by the mammoth price of it which was gh7cedis meanwhile the old lady had in her hands only gh2 cedis.

Out of frustration, she exclaimed’’Me Na Na wop3 s3 wobu me ooohu? Meaning My granddaughter do you want to cheat me? This reservation of the old lady attracted the attention of all the passengers and some women were able to defend the bread seller’s price whiles convincing grandma to accept the status quo. I could feel the old lady’s nostalgia of the olden Gold Coast where things were so affordable. Indeed time changes. As @58 years of total independence, mother Ghana still export raw materials for scanty returns whiles paying huge sum of money for the importation of goods and services ;Ohh Ghana.

As we celebrate the 106th birthday of Ghana’s first president Dr Kwame Nkrumah, let us not forget about the exact message he was so passionate with during the delivery of his first speech on the Independence Day.ie OUR INDEPENDENCE IS MEANINGLESS UNLESS IT IS LINKED UP WITH THE TOTAL LIBERATION OF AFRICA. Fellow Ghanaians is about time we all change our attitude especially our political leaders so as to make Ghana a place worth Living.

God Bless Ghana!!!!