By Fadi Samih Dabbousi

We have paucity in morals and self-respect; as a matter of fact, we are in more of an acute scarcity of these ingredients of humanitarianism so much so that tales could be told about our stinking corruption as it is known in the local Ghanaian parlance, “K3t3ase ne proy3”.
The recent shortage of petrol that bedevilled Ghana for a week, forcing government to take extreme measures that were unnecessary had the NPA maintained a “CLEAN” policy in their dealings, brought back painful memories of dark days in an epoch of savagery. The epoch of insanity when a military junior could whip elders at the pump for wanting more than the specified three gallons; when people fought amongst themselves in a show of hatred for one another. Suddenly, a schism had ruptured a dreadful divide between societies and tribes; the days when queues were serpentine and infinite; those times when you would spend a week in line only to be told that fuel had just finished when it became your turn, then you would be left with no option but to wait another week for an improbable consignment to arrive, if it ever did. Those were the days that Ghana became a Mad House; and the symptoms seem to be creeping back into the forefront of today…present day HOME
What disgusted me was the greed of the Gao community who, instinctively, rushed to fetch petrol in “jerry cans” and large yellow containers, renamed “Mahama Buta”, to hoard and sell at double the price. This contagious conundrum became the affliction of our local taxi drivers, too, who along with many other charlatans brought about the rebirth of KALABULE. One gallon of petrol, which never measured up to 4.5 litres (British gallon), was being peddled for GHs30 (thirty Ghana Cedis) and if your car was an expensive one, it was offered you for Ghs100. That was how low people had stooped to make a buck taking advantage of a dire situation; then we strike our chests in pride that we Ghanaians are pious people. PIOUS? Certainly not!
What we fail to understand is that any President and Government are the true reflection of the people and if we are crying that this President is useless and his government is immoral and corrupt, it goes to say that we are so, for people who rule us are from within our communities and societies. So let us stop crying foul and effect change from within our souls in order that we may see an appreciable change in governance when the President and his government would be good, unconfused, helpful to Ghana and not forever stuck in REVERSE GEAR!
One afternoon of recent time, when the petrol shortage was at its diabolical peak, as I was descending the Pentecost Hill coming from Akweteman heading to Achimota via the inner roads, I noticed a car had parked on a side lane with earring studded, pants down, junkies looking haplessly stupid in their indecent outfits. They hollered to the taxi in front of me, “Capo, ya shortu oo”, which meant in decent English, “Boss, we are out of fuel” and the driver yelled back a carefree answer, “yoo, muntwen me, me ba”, or “ok, you wait for me, I am coming”, as he continued on his way to drop off a similarly hapless customer”.
This is the time in our lives when taxi drivers begun operating make-shift or mobile petrol stations.
All of a sudden, a distance from points A to B, which hitherto cost GHs10 (ten Ghana cedis) by chartered taxi now cost Ghs40 and Ghs50. People became stranded, unable to get to work for affordability, while those who managed most-often-than-not arrived late. The general pandemonium in the country was dire to the extreme with long human queues waiting for the few trotros and taxis whose drivers suddenly became apathetic as they lost their last speck of humanity.
This unfortunate incident in the country portrayed the meanness in us as a people, bound by traditional authority and cultural unity in a motto: One People, One Nation, One Destiny!!! Yet, we slur ourselves with vicious lies and propaganda that only adds to the acrimony within and as my sister Felicia aptly put it, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing“.
I shudder to imagine what untold suffering would be visited upon us should turmoil stick its evil head in our midst…I shudder…I shudder!!!