Ghana@50: Where Are We & Wither Are We Going?

Part I

Introduction

On March 6, 2007, Ghana will be 50 years old. This day will mark a very important milestone in our history as a people; exactly fifty years to the day since our dear nation gained her independence from Great Britain. It was on that day in 1957, that Ghana claimed the freedom to decide her own affairs as a nation, and with it, the freedom to chart a course into the future for herself and her people. Fifty years along the way, we have to pause and ask ourselves a two-faced question: Where Are We, and Whither Are We Going? That is the 50 Billion Dollar Question. That question must be asked and answered, if we are to assign any meaning and purpose to the celebration of Ghana@50.

Ghana has come a long way at fifty. When we compare our current circumstances with those of other African nations, particularly those in Sub-Sahara Africa, there is a great deal to be grateful for. In so many ways, God has blessed, and continue to bless our nation, and for that we should be thankful, and we should celebrate. But we are not there yet. Like the eagle, our place is in the skies, and God has endowed us with the resources to soar above and assume our place among the stars. Our only destiny is greatness, and it is our responsibility to ensure that, indeed we achieve it. That is why it is so important for us to also admit, that in spite of all that is good in our accomplishments, we still have a very long way to go.

I was only a baby fifty years ago, when Ghana gained her independence. Admittedly, I was too young at the time to perceive and understand the events leading into our independence in 1957. Nevertheless, my observations from the time I was old enough to appreciate my environment until this day do tell me that, in spite of the gains that we can safely point to, our nation has missed tremendous opportunities. It may even be said that 50 years in the beginning of a nation is still early yet, and that the best is yet to come. True enough, except that what we see today may be an omen for what tomorrow may bring. We can only expect greatness if we have learnt any lessons from the mistakes we have made along the way, and are willing to use them as a guide into the future.

Fifty Years Ago Today: A Hard Look Back

As the first black African country to gain independence, our nation was born with a heavy dose of hope and unlimited supply of good tidings. Yes, our nation was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but neither was she born “in a little manger”. With a population of approximately 5 million people, it can be said that Ghana had enough resources, natural, financial, human and social, to consider herself a middle-income nation, particularly among those that were similarly striving for independence at the time. In 1957, the nation’s foreign reserves as left by the colonial masters stood in excess of 600 Million Pounds Sterling, a colossal amount by any standards at the time, for a small nation such as ours. Indeed, at the time of our independence, we stood at par with nations such as Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore in terms of Per Capita Income. Today, these are among the nations we all know as the Asian Tigers.

Our economic standing in the world in 1957 was not too different from that of countries like India, China and Brazil, nations that are emerging today as the economic giants of the very near future. Ghana was also lucky to have a learned visionary as our father and leader, and the world offered him and his new-born nation unlimited goodwill. So why is it, that fifty years after independence, those nations have become giants, while Ghana has only managed to become a midget? The answer, fellow countrymen, is in our own stars. It does appear to me that we misplaced our priorities, and we focused on the trivial.

At the time of independence, education was pretty important stuff. Even in the small town where I grew up as a child in the Ashanti Region, pre-school education was available for parents to enroll their children at no cost. Public primary and middle school education were free. My recollection of those initial years in primary school is that teachers were matured, serious and knowledgeable. Kids were taught well, and it was fun going to school. February 24, 1966 must have marked a significant turning point in all this, for it was the day that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the father of our nation, was overthrown in the first military coup d’état in Ghana. I remember the day very well, because it was also the eve of the day I took the Common Entrance Examinations for the chance to enter Secondary School. I was in Form Two at the time.

In spite of the violent change of government in the country in 1966, our days in secondary school after Nkrumah’s overthrow were very exciting and rewarding. It really meant something to enter Secondary School, and it was a great achievement to complete either the Ordinary (O) Level or the Advanced (A) Level studies. I guess the equivalents of those are the BCCE and the SSSCE of today! Oh, what a difference time makes! Students from all parts of the country, rich and poor, Moslems and Christians, Ashantis, Nzemah, Akwapims, Ewes, Fantes, Frafras, all came together to form the melting pot in the dormitories and classrooms of the few secondary schools at the time. What I remember most with great joy is that, in all the seven years that I spent at Prempeh College, there is absolutely no recollection of the malice and resentment associated with references to tribe and ethnicity that have engulfed this nation so much in recent times. What went wrong?

Our nation and her people were very healthy in 1957. Even as a child, I experienced the strong fear of the Town Council health inspectors ever present wherever I went. Probably because of the vigilance to good health on the part of the colonial administrators at the time, Ghanaians were very conscious of their environment, and this no doubt contributed to the long life expectancy of our people. There were certainly not the countless numbers of funerals held all over the country every week as we see in Ghana today. Our hospitals were not the last stop on our way to the cemetery as they have turned out to be these days. Our doctors were serious, and those who went abroad to study were very eager to come back and practice among, and help their own people. At independence, our society cared about life!

Time had meaning in our lives too, and our transport systems operated efficiently with it. While still in Primary School, I used to commute every Friday and Monday between Kumasi and the town, about twenty miles away where we lived, on the buses of the National Omnibus Services Authority. You could safely rely on these buses to pick you up at the scheduled times and drop you off, so that you could attend your classes without being late. The frequent number of accidents and the associated senseless killing of innocent people were not any part of the transportation system at the time. Passenger train services within the Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi triangle were convenient and very reliable. It meant something to have a driver’s license, and those who had the privilege to be issued one strived to retain it with a deep sense of pride.

It was unimaginable then to see a policeman in broad daylight collecting pittance for a bribe from motorist at the time of our independence. Corruption may have been part of our system, but it was very vehemently frowned upon, and was concealed with all tact. The idea of a doctor working in a public hospital asking for money before attending to a patient would never have been tolerated in those days. Public officials were very responsible, and the civil service was very reliable and efficient. Indeed, the system worked!

It is quite impossible to outline all the economic and social advantages that were in existence in our nation at the time of independence, but I guess you catch the drift. It is rather amazing how far we have come in just 50 years, albeit heading in the “opposite” direction. It is sad indeed, to have to admit that we have used all those fifty years, not so much to advance and improve our conditions of life, but to create an environment in which we are constantly struggling to untangle the mess we ourselves have created. Making a mess of everything we do has become our way of life, and we take pride in it. Who ever tries to draw attention to this sad situation, and calls for a change is branded “too known”! We complain about it in public, but we must love it in private, because we make no effort to change it.

Indeed, our 50 Billion Dollar Question is a question that needs to be asked and answered if we are to extricate ourselves from the terrible mess we find ourselves in today, and to truly free ourselves from the self-created prison in which we have incarcerated ourselves. It is a question that must be answered if our nation is to have a real say in matters that affect the well-being of her people, and to be counted someday among the comity of progressive nations of this world. Indeed, it is a question that must be answered if our children and grand children are to claim their rightful places among the seemingly exciting world of tomorrow, and to play their rightful roles in the affairs of the world in the rest of the 21st century and beyond.

We start answering that question with a thorough review; a hard look back fifty years ago, together with a sober and critical assessment of ourselves today. The ultimate result of this review exercise must be a clear vision of where we want to be in another fifty years. We need to clearly define Ghana@100, and we need to draw a crystal-clear blue-print for it. We must develop a bold and accurate plan of action, together with a strong determination to get there.

We are a nation blessed by our creator, and endowed with the most abundant of natural resources. We are a peace-loving people full of talents and unusually great potential, and this we have demonstrated to the rest of the world time and time again in important areas such as diplomacy, politics and sports. Yes, we had to free ourselves from the shackles of colonialism in 1957, and yes, we may even have started very well; but somewhere along the line, we took the wrong turn. We have suffered immensely as a result, and we need to change course. We cannot continue with business as usual, because judging from where we are today, we are doomed if we do.

Ghana@50: How Far Have We Come?

In most places in the world, people are working hard day in and day out, to find easier and better ways of doing things. In Ghana, we are constantly “engineering” ways to make life more difficult for our neighbours and those we are paid to provide services for. We engage in these corrupt practices, just to frustrate others and force them to part with little change for us, and that is what we live on! Corruption has become an integral part of our lives, right from our infancy. We do not seem to appreciate how much this is costing us as a nation, and how it degrades our way of life as a people. Indeed, it is the root of all our problems! In case we do not know, all of us will advance and experience dramatic improvements in our economic conditions if we work hard, and find easier and better ways of doing things. If we adopt this concept, nobody will have to live their lives with the little change we take as bribes from others.

Our educational system is in a mess of its own. Until very recently, parents were not bothering to send their children to school. They could not afford it, and the end result of the education was not worth the effort, anyway. Most kids dropped out of school before they could ever get a certificate, and those who came out of the system had very little or nothing to show for it. They could neither read nor write, so what was the point in going to school? The most pitiful ones are those who are coming out of our universities. It is very hard to accept it, but a vast majority of our university graduates are functional illiterates. Engage them in a discussion on any subject, including those in their own areas of specialization, and you wish you had not even bothered.

There is an acute backlog of students who are qualified, and waiting to get university education. Through corrupt practices, those who do not possess the requite qualifications find their way into the universities, while the qualified and most likely to succeed end up out of school. Using fraudulent means to gain admission has become the standard way of life among our students, and rewarding students who grant sexual and other favours to lecturers and heads of departments has become a standard way of establishing the students’ academic standing in almost all our institutions of higher learning.

We have become a nation of beggars! Both as a nation, and as individuals, nobody believes that they have what it takes to live life on their own. Their existence and their chances of ever making it in life depend on others. Yet, in all these, we tend to think we are a nation of very smart people! For once, let us be honest with ourselves! We need to get something straight; no nation will progress with this mindset, and this set of attributes. If we continue with this way of life for another fifty years, we will perish as a nation, and that is the bottom line.

Next Stop: Ghana@100

In another 50 years, those of us who are lucky to be alive will be celebrating Ghana@100. That must be the most joyous day of all, for indeed, Ghana would have truly come of age. So the question to ask ourselves is “What nation will Ghana@100 be”? The answer is all we want her to be!

On the eve of his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967, Rev. Martin Luther King Jnr. saw the future of America with a great deal of hope. He saw America at the mountain-top, and he perceived the fact that he might not get there with the rest of them. But he was full of hope, nonetheless. Like Rev. King, I can only picture Ghana@100 in 2057, because from where I stand today, it is very hard for me to imagine that we will all be together then as we are now. Nevertheless, the shaping of Ghana@100 starts from today, and it is crucial for the survival and sustainability of our nation. It is an honour, a privilege and indeed, a worthy responsibility for me, and all of us for that matter, to help define it.

Ghana@100 must be the “City on the Hill”, the “Star above the Horizon”, if you will. It must be a nation that is a shining example not just to the rest of Africa, but to the rest of the world. Her shadow is already showing signs of emerging. It is up to us to shape it, nurture it and guide it to its already-erected platform on the world stage. Look at the young Black Stars of today, and you will be seeing the matured Ghana@100 in 2057!

The City on the Hill

In 1630, John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, used the phrase “City on the Hill”, to describe the “new world”, the settlement far away from England where citizens who were yearning for freedom were aspiring to move to. Several reports from pioneer visitors to the new settlement had described it as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men.” Yet in spite of the hopelessness described in these reports, the settlers craved for something; they wanted to create for themselves a heaven on earth, a community in which they could worship and live as they sought fit - without interference.

Using the “City on the Hill” from the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in his unenviable effort to lay a foundation on which the new world would be built, this is what John Winthrop had to say among other things: “Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck and to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of Micah; to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together in this work as one man, we must entertain each other in brotherly affection. we must be willing to abridge our selves of our superfluities, for the supply of other necessities……..”

“Therefore let us choose life, that we and our seeds, may live; by obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; For He is our Life, and our Prosperity”. He entreated the new settlers to envisage the “new world” as the city sitting on top of the hill, so that all eyes will be upon it, and with that, he created the vision, and laid the foundation on which the great United States of America was built.

This became the vision for the new world and because of what the vision meant to the new settlers, they were determined to succeed, and they did succeed. If our city on the hill is to become a reality, we must create a strong foundation on which Ghana@100 will be built, and we must have a strong determination to succeed.

The Star Above the Horizon

Ours is the Star above the Horizon. What will it be? Who will build it? Who will inhabit it? Who will govern it? How will it be governed?

In my next piece, these are the questions that I will attempt to answer, as my contribution towards the definition of Ghana@100. I wish to extend an invitation to all citizens of our great nation, and all those who wish our nation well on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday, to start thinking about these questions. Send in your comments, suggestions and other contributions on this subject, and let us define Ghana@100 together.

Fifty years in the past might not be too long, but fifty years into the future is a mighty long time. With a good definition of Ghana@100, we would have taken a giant and perhaps the most important step towards the establishment of the Star Above the Horizon, the Black Star of Africa. Ghana@100 is definable and achievable in fifty years!

P.S. In this article, and others to follow in a series, I seek to initiate discussions among readers, and outline what I see as a plan to move ahead as a nation that is coming of age, and one that is looking for place in the sun. It is my hope that readers will see the benefit of this, and with that, become motivated enough to contribute towards the exercise.