Building a cathedral for God who lives in heaven whiles his children in Ghana are schooling under trees

The great Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah once said that “Africa is Rich and not poor, Africa has immense actual and potential wealth: gold, timber, diamond, bauxite, manganese, iron ore, uranium, cobalt and a host of other minerals, it is Africans who are poor and not Africans, and they are poor because of the uncounted profits that have drained from the labour and their land.

Today in Ghana, it is no longer our colonial masters who are draining and stealing the wealth of our country, it is our very own leaders who are stealing and aiding the white man to steal the wealth of the country in exchange for pittance.

Probably our politicians have realized that their sins have grown beyond the height of Mount Everest that cannot be forgiven by praying in an ordinary church, but a newly constructed national cathedral.

Whiles fuel prices have increased over 12 times within a year, whiles food prices have more than tripled, whiles wages of workers remain stagnant, whiles majority of the population cannot afford three square meals a day, whiles we have schools under trees in the 21st century, whiles the sick sit on plastic chairs in our regional hospitals, whiles national service personals have not received their allowances for several months, whiles nurses have not been posted for over 3 years, whiles thousands of Ghanaian businesses have collapsed and are collapsing as a result of poor, bad and terrible governance, a National cathedral is the priority of the nation.

25 million cedis has been released as seed money from the tax payer’s money with several millions yet to follow.
Ghana produces over 5 million ounces of Gold every year worth over 9 billion dollars annually, and yet we barely get less than 5% of our gold money.

We produced billions of dollars’ worth of oil and yet we get less than 5% of our oil money. Kwame Nkrumah in his wisdom at a time when we had not discovered oil setup an oil refinery, today we have several oil fields and yet we export our oil in its crude state to be refined in other countries and brought back to be sold to us at exorbitant prices.

We produce Cocoa and yet we don’t get even up to 5% of the actual value of our Cocoa.

It can take one several hours if not days to list all the resources we possess as a nation, and yet we are poor, our president and ministers are always in expensive private jets begging from door to door in Europe and America.Ghana is a tragic country.

Today over 70% of the youth want to leave the country because they have lost hope in Ghana. Achimota forest has been sold and shared forever, our gold mines have been sold forever, our oil sites have been sold forever. As if that was not enough, a new form of digital mining from the pockets of the ordinary suffering Ghanaian called E-levy has been introduced to enhance the expensive lifestyles of our leaders.

Political leaders do not buy fuel, they have free vouchers, they don't pay rent because they live in government apartments, they don't pay light bill, they don't pay water bill. Therefore, there is no way the Ghanaian politician can ever feel the Plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.

The greatest illusion is to think that those who created the problems we face in this country are those who will solve the problems.

The tragedy and irony at once is that we have elected the big thieves who steal billions of dollars into political offices, whiles the small thieves who steal goats and bags of rice just to survive as a result of the hardship caused by the big thieves are in Nsawam and other regional prisons.

I pray for a day when Ghana will get a leader like the great Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah who will put his selfish interest aside and put the needs of the country first, I look forward to that day.
I look forward to a day, when our young ladies will no longer resort to prostitution as a means of survival because there are no job opportunities, I look forward to a day when our young men and women will no longer que at the embassies of the United States of America and other European countries because they want to run away from Ghana.
I look forward to a day when the tax payer’s money will be used to build Schools, roads, hospitals and other vital infrastructure instead of been used to rent expensive private jets, I look forward to that day, I look forward to a day when we will all look North and South, East and West and say corruption where is your sting oh corruption where is your power, I look forward to that day.

God of National Cathedral, if you can hear the cry of your children who sit on plastic chairs when they visit the hospitals, God of National cathedral if you can hear the cry of your children you are dying daily on our terrible roads, God of National cathedral if you can hear the cry of your children who are can barely afford three square meals a day whiles our leaders who live like Arabian princes are building you a cathedral.

Listen to the cry of your children and give us a Moses who will lead Ghana into the promise land.


Joseph Atchulo
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