Is our world really spoilt? - A thought-provoking article from the study corridors of Bukari Ali

By: Bukari Ali


Growing up as a child in my farming village, I saw the sun rise from the east every morning I woke up from sleep. This morning I thought I’d see it coming from the west, but no, it still came from the east.

The path that led me to the farm everyday when I was only five, is the same path that would lead you to the farm today.

I experienced harmattan every December when I was a child, I still experience it as I write this piece as a father.

Is it far-fetched to conclude that we are the problem and not the world?

Can’t we spare the world the incessant blame and cure ourselves of the cancer that’s gnawing our collective heart?

Growing up, every community was noted for one activity or the other.

The man that played the flute so beautifully, might not be the one that would give you a good hoe handle.

The man that treated people of leprosy and other mysterious ailments, could perhaps not pull the trigger of a gun to put the lifeless body of a partridge in the cooking pot of the best cook in the compound.

Life was worth living in the dark days of our forefathers when idol worship was fashionable.

Those were the days when the main sources of education were tales that were told of the old at night and during meals time when the old men would teach some moral lessons to the children they saw as owners of the future.

In every community, families were recognized for what they possess that was of benefit to them and others within and outside the community.

You send a case of food poisoning to a community and the folks would tell you where you would get cure before long.

If it was farming prowess, it was clear who were the pacesetters. Hunting as an art had owners.

Even laziness was traceable to some people in the days of old.

Everyone knew who was stronger than who in the community.

People were sincere to tell you those who were responsible for the goodwill that the community enjoyed when it came to entertainment.

Without the drummers, dancers, singers and those who would appreciate the performers by watching them perform, the fame of the community would diminish.

We blame the abstract world everyday. That is absurd, isn’t it?

Those who want to be who they are not, are the ones to blame for the woes of the world and not the innocent world itself.

The problem of the world today, should be blamed on those who would want to be drumming, dancing, singing and watching themselves at the same time in our communities.

The objective to arrogate everything to a select few to the neglect of the generality of the people must be watched, if we are to experience a semblance of that which our forefathers enjoyed in their world we consider dark.

Today, there is no single community that is either not grappling with chieftaincy conflicts or land litigation or both.

How did the foremost settlers of our lands resolve these disputes that we can’t emulate today?

Why would we rely on money, political leaders, the courts and so forth to determine who has allodial right to which land and who is eligible or not to become chiefs of our communities?

How can we blame this on the abstract world?

We have been grossly unfair to the world that is too patient that it hasn’t devoured us but continue to feed our ungrateful stomachs.

Not until we come to terms with the fact that money is just one of the many things and not everything in the world, we would die ceaselessly blaming the world.

Most leaders cannot be educated to understand that power is ephemeral.

They cannot be persuaded to know that power is transient.

They behave capriciously in our communities, not taking into consideration what would happen in the event of their death.

Have our leaders taken time to learn that we aren’t in monarchical regimes?

Mustn’t they be told that we are in a democracy and no traditional leader holds the power to final judgment?

Can we spare a moment and listen to Mahatma Gandhi when he maintained that “there’s a court higher than the highest court of adjudicature? It is the court of the conscience.“ Have we lost our collective conscience?

Well, our world is this messy not because it lacks wise men. We have professors, doctors and other educated professionals.

Our forefathers had men of mettle and candour, men of unassailable integrity, and leaders who would go to bed without dinner, if it meant to tell the truth and starve their pious bellies.

Regrettably, our world cannot be better or properly analysed without drawing in politics and its players.

Political officials and leaders would exploit every opportunity that presents itself in our communities.

Some highly placed political officers would feed on the ignorance of the people, leverage the burning greed of a few village folks to perpetuate their stay in office, even if it would mean that the people should bath blood, instead of water.

But must the politician be blamed? I guess not!

Why must I depend on someone who knows nothing about our history, our culture and our ethos to be the one that would determine how I relate with my people traditionally?

It may be mind boggling, but it is a notorious fact that politicians are feeding on the ignorance and naivety of the village folks to the detriment of the growth and development of our society.

Let us spare the world we came to meet, and blame our actions and inactions.

I agree largely with Emperor Haile Selassie when he said “all through history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should know better and the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made possible for evil to triumph” and Dante when he put it so adroitly that “the hottest places of hell shall be reserved for those who in times of moral crises maintain their neutrality.”

Our world isn’t that spoilt, we are the pollutants that are bent on adulterating the only continent that supports life by the divine grace of God almighty.


“That” Bukari Ali
Former Upper West Regional Communication Director -NPP.