Civically uneducated

It is amazing that seven EC citizens of this motherland would sit in a room to agree to abandon mother Ghana’s meticulously designed Coat of Arms for some huhudious symbol as a logo.

I clearly see thieving by rebranding. No wonder the woman did nothing to civically educate our people from where she came.

It tells so much about someone who, by many actions, shows she has no pride in the motherland. In every motherland, decisions are taken at certain moments in history to establish lasting symbols.

These are then taught to generations to internalise as pride of their motherland.

We who were born and were primary school children a few years before independence were taught flag and coat of arms. We started school in the transition period from Gold Coast colonialism to Ghana’s independence. We are Kwame Nkrumah’s accelerated education plan beneficiaries. It was the period when Empire Day was waning, and everyone was gearing up for independence celebration.

Midnight March 5 1957, the Union Jack (British national flag) was lowered and the new tricolour band (blood red, gold not yellow with the black star of Africa and leaf green) was hoisted. Along came the coat of arms as the national seal. These are symbols of pride all motherlands cherish. They are revered and often there are laws to protect them from abuse of use.

I never suspected anyone would tamper with a symbol like that. I never thought anyone would dare embark on that kind of desecration mission. But these are strange times; times when what would put money in people’s pocket is what matters most. No one, I thought, would dare touch that sacred symbol.

The pain of watching a renovated Peduase Lodge gradually fade in colour triggered my writing this column. And I have often asked who stands for this motherland in this era of desecration for enrichment of self. It is beyond my understanding to see anyone decide to change a national symbol depicting a national institution as if it was a privately owned entity.

I have watched our flag flown and hung in all kinds of ways. Today, I am asking whether there is any state institution responsible for protecting national symbols. I want to know so that I can direct my strong dissatisfaction towards that point for rectification and redress. I would have thought this would be a remit of State Protocol, to protect and preserve state symbols. If it is, they should not sit by for an election body, born by and for the motherland state, to divorce itself of same.

For those thinking, the independence of the Commission ends at being neutral in all political party matters and unbiased in the conduct of elections. It DOES NOT MEAN it is owned by commissioners who can then do whatever they like with it as if it is a company registered in their personal names.

If the commission is looking for a new image following their Supreme Court tattering, they should stay far away from the congress procured rebranding which, as far as I can say for performance so far, has become a thieving mechanism.

I have heard many say since January 7, 2009 that nkurasefoo aba krom. I concur the civically uneducated aba krom (are all over town). Love your country never sunk into their marrow unlike some of us. The civic education outfit is a complete waste pipe draining state salary resources for no work done. If a whole set of Electoral Commission is able to abandon the coat of arms under the nose of former civic education boss, NCCE has no business existing.

The organisation has done nothing about educating people about the rot of election 2012 exposed in the Supreme Court proceedings.

They did nothing before and there isn’t an iota of indication that they would do anything about that. The civically uneducated educating about civility is the quixotic situation handed the motherland.

The civically educated will know that state symbols are touch not areas.

When Kwame Nkrumah thought he should align the national flag and the CPP flag, CPP is Ghana and Ghana is CPP, he was probably trying to distance himself from Haile Selassie whose flag colours we had copied. Little wonder the NLC restored the gold from the white. He, as the one who promulgated it in 1957 and was a president, eventually had his decision reversed.

I am patiently watching how people who separate themselves as Ghana born from those of us Gold Coast born are going to sit by in the name of rebrand so you can thief Coat of Arms to be changed into someone’s money making design as the official logo.

The less the commitment to the national ideal, the less the capacity and ability to undermine a united nation by rigging elections.