Opinions of Saturday, 7 August 2021
Columnist: Reindolf Amankwa
While I appreciate the calls for Ghana to be fixed, I reiterate my position on the matter without any fear of contradiction as already highlighted in my article "FixTheCountry Campaign: Three Dimensions That Require Fixing; The State, Citizens And Government" and published on www.modernghana.com on 11/06/2021.
I remain convinced that without a deliberate collaboration of the State, Government and the Citizenry, this country cannot be fixed in any way as expected by anyone.
In an era of COVID-19 and its accompanying protocols instituted by the government and backed by law, a people demanding the country to be fixed blatantly flouted the safety measures outlined by government in the fight against the deadly virus.
Yet, after disobeying leadership and the safety measures so preferred by same for their own safety, they sought to seek for a fixed country.
Any attempt by the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to have ensured the strict adherence to these protocols of social distancing, mask wearing, etc would have been assumed to be an attempt by Government through the GPS to trample on the rights and freedoms of the demonstrators. Such a people clearly do not reasonably understand what they seek.
We must understand clearly that a fixed country is one in which her citizens obey rules, regulations and laws instituted by its legitimate leadership, in this case, what we have been blessed as a country.
We must understand clearly that no country in the history of the world got fixed with the attitudes of her citizens being as deadly poor as we have in Ghana.
To even argue that the strict enforcement of laws will automatically fix the country is a stillbirth argument. Of course, we all, in the wisdom of nature and our natural senses appreciate that laws should be enforced. But then, the laws do not enforce themselves.
Law enforcement is an action to be taken by CITIZENS who have been deliberately recruited for such purposes. These people are not from another planet but from among us the masses whose attitudes, just like the fix the country campaigners are so porous and badly scented.
Laws do not enforce laws but citizens. If the attitudes of these citizens remain poor, how well would the law be enforced? That is what we're facing in this country.
Whatever that has to do with fixing the country must first begin with a change in and fixing of attitudes of every single person in this country.
Until our attitudes are fixed, we cannot have a fixed country because no country was fixed by robots but humans. What makes the difference is the attitude of the citizens/humans who occupy those countries vis-à-vis those who occupy Ghana.
Simplicita.