Is Ghana’s independence your independence?

The name of the country Ghana may be independent but the people may not be independent! Extreme poverty has given them no choice but to rely excessively on aids for survival. Even the presidential palace in Ghana relies on aid from elsewhere to pay its utility bills and maintain the place. The people of Ghana will prepare a meal but upon the charity of others: the name Ghana is what is independent but the country comprising the people and what she stands for is not independent.

One would wonder what was on the minds of the ancestors who fought for Ghana’s independence, when they declared on the 6th of March 1957 that Ghana was free. What type of independence were those men and women talking about that the contemporary Ghanaians are not seeing? Did they have a package to really prove that the people were from that time independent and free? What was the package like if current Ghanaians would want to know? Hmmmmmm!!!

Ghanaians are not independent but rather dependents: they depend on someone to even shit, eat, wash, drink, school, read, and many more. The whole nation even prepares budget here in Ghana and has China, Hungary, the UK, the U.S, and the EU member countries in mind for assistance to carry out her various activities.

The attitude of the nation can be compared to a mother who baths her son, get him dressed and ready for school but has to wait for the son’s uncle to pass by to give the son some money so he can go to school. If in a week the uncle does not pass by, maybe as a result of the uncle traveling, the conclusion is, that the child will for that week forfeit going to school. This is the situation of the country called Ghana.

Perhaps, those leaders who declared Ghana’s independence had in mind ways of mobilizing the natural resources available to present independence into the lives of Ghanaians.

The Declaration of independence since the time of Nkrumah till now has been an abstract reality and not a tangible thing. Ordinary Ghanaians must feel that they are independent. Evidence of this will be shown in the lives they live. In today’s Ghana, it’s difficult for most Ghanaians to afford good drinking water, let alone maize to prepare their local foods. There is free but expensive education in the country.

Most university students cannot afford hostels. This has been a result of not regulating house rentals in the country. The youths on which the future of this country rest are restless due to the hardships in the country and the pain of not getting a job, and when one has been able to find one, poor salaries put many of them in a situation that is too awful to talk about. Hmmmmm! When?

What is the assurance that there is going to be new dawn that the independence of the people will be sounded? The first sound from the throat of Nkrumah was declaring the name of Ghana independent. When are the people going to hear that they’re independent too? The nation has gold but on the land of a hand few bourgeoisies.

There are other minerals too but they are being extracted by some family members only. And individuals have claimed ownership over the vegetation and claim the money alone. They have enriched themselves and have taken their children abroad-where they can have independence.

Announcing the independence of the Ghanaian people is the least of their concerns. Painfully, they tell those who have not eaten not to frown their faces though they are satisfied. Nothing of the independence of the people concerns them.

Yearly, however, platforms are mounted, security agencies train, students are made to rehearse matching, only for the bourgeois to re-echo the same words Nkrumah spoke in 1957 with some few editing made: even with their editing, it is lies upon lies that they speak using the Queen’s language to make it sound sugary. What are workers' conditions? The country? They are always threatening to go on one strike or the other. How has the nation helped secure the economic and social lives of the people of Ghana? But all hope is not lost though.

All Ghanaians will be needed on board to work out the means to better the lives of one another. But first, the strict doctrine of selfishness being followed religiously must be rooted out from your hearts. When this is done, resources of the nation will be well managed and individuals put in certain positions will not be afraid to render public accounts to/her fellow people. And most about all, Ghanaians, if they all want a good life must be welcoming fresh ideas as to how to raise revenue to bridge the huge gap.

Thank you everyone for coming.

Be proud to be a Ghanaian and let’s work out to declare independence to ourselves. Only this, when done, will give meaning to those words and to us as Ghanaians. As we work to achieve that let’s wish our country Ghana a happy 65th Independence Day.

God bless our homeland Ghana and make her the greatness we now will for ourselves.

Thank you.