Saving Ghana's young democracy and the Obama sensation

Come December 7, 2008 we (Ghanaians) will be going to the polls to elect a successor to the current President John A. Kuffuor, who would have served his two terms. He also succeeded former President Flt (rtd) Lt Jerry John Rawlings. Just looking at the turnover of presidential slots since we ushered in the fourth republic in 1992 is nothing short of a miracle. We have had a stable, vibrant and fast developing democracy for close to 16years and counting. Yet democracy as it name implies alone is meaningless unless the purpose for which it was envisioned and agreed by the electorate in the adoption of the 1992 constitution, is fully implemented. What use is democracy for the ordinary ghanaian when he can’t afford three square meals, forget about the nutritious content of the food, just anything to fill the belly, what use is democracy if we have our neighborhoods covered in filth, waste and grounds for breeding infectious diseases? What use one might still ask when we cannot sleep in our homes at night in peace, without the awkward feeling of waking up at night knowing there is a stranger in your home? these days the strangers are not your neighborhood rogues and thugs who just want something “small” and just leave but well armed robbers who rob, kill, rape and devastate a lot of families.
What use is democracy if I cannot decide one morning to visit the Northern part of the country and return to see my family the same day because a journey of a mere over 600km takes me the whole day because of the state of our roads!! Well I guess from my preamble you could see the gloom and doom of my pulse on the state of affairs of our beloved country: GHANA. However it is quite the opposite, where there are problems, opportunities abound, we cannot go no where but up from our current state. From the country that the our founders led by Dr kwame Nkrumah gave us and left us, looking back we all agree we have indeed spurned 50 golden years in the “Dark” judging from the potential of this nation.
When I say potential, forget the gold (second largest producer in Africa), forget that we have the finest cocoa beans, heck our chocolates are the best in the world, yeah, forget that we just discovered crude oil off our shore, our greatest asset is the human resource, the GHANAIAN.
it is the Ghanaian who through his hard work ethic can instill into his children and the next generation that sense of working for something better, teaching others the virtue of not having the things needed in life handed to them but only through hard work, breaking the back to make it in life. It is the Ghanaian who through her moral and civic code of conduct can guide our next generation daughters the importance of decency and the invaluable contribution of women in our nation building. It has to be said in this regard that the education of the girl child is the foundation of this nation, no mistaking about that.
This nation will rise and fall on the contribution of the typical Ghanaian to the cause of nation building. We become what we are. We cannot despise hard work ethics, strict moral and religious code of conduct and civic responsibility and somehow dream that we will raise this dear nation into the league of elite nations. I know some of us will scoff at the idea of us striving to be the greatest nation on earth, yeah I said the greatest nation and that’s no aberration. Well they can do that but for people like me and countless others we have no other country but Ghana, we may live in different places from US, China, Canada, Holland, Germany, Turkey, just about everywhere in this world where you can find Ghanaians but we have no home like home, Ghana that is. So we have no other aspirations other than wanting to improve the lots for our people. This is not a pipe dream but a patriotic vision. Let there be no qualms about our aspirations, it is our God given rights, inalienable rights, that we make life better for generations after us. Decent, basic human living standards is not a luxury we can’t afford, it is a necessity we should strive for.
Our development from a third world status, economy heavily dependent on agriculture, to that of a diversified developing economies like the Asia tigers (heck, we should call ourselves the Africa lions) require the basic foundation; that is political stability and hence the need to grow our democracy.
However, if the dialogue on radios and TVs and the media in general is anything to go by, then we really need a reality check. Name calling, ethnic tensions being played in the political arena, NDC, NPP are the two main culprits, while not absolving the other parties. Dividing and conquering different parts of this country based on tribe, language, in some cases religion and the worst of all using lies to deceive, hoodwink and bamboozle the electorate into buying their proposals. Power in Ghana has become the means to an end for some politicians; their priority is superficial to say the least. The person who is lost in all of this is the Ghanaian. They have no use for him/her after the die has been cast, he or she returns back to their families and neighborhoods, disillusioned, and wondering what the future holds for their next generation. Yes add all of these little stories across the breadth and length of this wonderful country and you will have millions of families crying out for help but no one to lend a hand. Yet all we hear is democracy is good for us.
In light of this, it is disgusting and heartbreaking to see our young democracy being toyed with by a few henchmen in suits, often smooth talking with the intention of deceiving the masses. Yeah I mean those politicians. I say enough of this nonsense. Enough is enough!!!
We need to go back and take care of the basic things, the reason why we elect our officials, DCEs, assembly members and all the public servants. They are chosen that they will serve the electorate, not the other way around, we need good and effective communication infrastructure, that means good quality roads to link our communities, that means the journey from one corner of this country to the other should be “smooth” and effective in such a way that it further enhances business opportunities, effective communication infrastructure also means, making telephone and internet access a matter of national policy, remove al the bureaucratic impediments to ensure rapid explosion of that sector, of course with government supervision. We need good and affordable health delivery, the corrupt malpractices associated with the current and commendable National health Insurance scheme, needs to be confronted head on.
Good quality education, we need our children to be among the best brains in science and technology in this global world, to be able to compete with their peers in the world. In this light I have not an iota of doubt that the ghanaian is as bright as any bright kid in any part of the world, any person who has traveled and schooled in the developed countries can attest to that fact that ghanaians are among the brightest kids in the world.
We can talk about crime, jobs, rule of law and so many sectors but my point in this article is the nonsense that is going on now in Ghana needs to stop now, GHANA IS ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE, yes we are neither a christian nation nor a muslim nation or atheist nation we are a secular nation, even for a Christian like me I have to admit that, it doesn’t affect my relationship with the almighty. We are a nation of many tribes, cultures, languages, there is no ewe, there is no Ashanti, there is no Fante, there’s no Nzema, we are all Ghanaians first and last, indistinguishable , I could care less about what some crazed politician says, no way to divide us, we will write our destiny in our blood and hard work, the same effort Dr Kwame Nkrumah called for on the midnight of March 6th march 1957 on the old polo grounds , when he said we are prepared to lay our own foundations with hard work and God willing steer this nation towards obtaining dignity and respect in the community of nations. So to conclude, I urge every ghanaian home and abroad to heed to the call to engage in a respectful debate on issues for this election not personal insults and lies and propaganda, tribal and ethnic tension rousing and reject violence in every form or shape. Look no further than a son of this beautiful continent Africa, Barack Obama, we can argue back and forth about the relevance of such a politician on our local politics but if there is anything positive we can take is his call to rise above the petty issues and debate and dwell on the major issues facing the people. This author is really rooting for him to win come November 4th, so he can continue to inspire our fellow brothers and sisters to reject the low, dirty, gutter politics that serves only the politicians and not the people.
Ghana is our country and we all need to pitch our tents in this land in an effort to grow this nation to where we want it to be in the generations to come.
LONG LIVE GHANA!!!
Ebenezer Hayfron-Benjamin Freelance writer, you can contact the author at [email protected]