WE NEED TO RID ETHNICITY FROM OUR MINDS

There are two things in this world. It is either a yes or a no. You either come or go. That is the world. For this reason, after reading this piece, you would either like it or condemn it.

Whatever you choose to do is your choice. That is life. 

Sometimes, we need to be honest about some facts of life. Against this background l want to discuss how some people have allowed ethnic background to affect their relationship with people in this country.

Ethnicity and religion are two of the factors that define the diversity in our existence as a nation. While the first is strictly an incidence of birth, the other could be an incidence of birth or a matter of choice. That one finds himself among a caliber of people at birth is not a crime since it is simply an act of God. Nonetheless, out of celebrated ignorance, we fail to realize that our diversities should not be subjected to sentimental surgery in the theatre of shallow thoughts.

If we allow our thoughts to be ruled by ethnicity, it gives cause to why a boy born in the Volta cannot embrace his sisters in the Ashanti, while the Southerners dare not walk freely in the Northern regions. This feeling is borne out of ignorance and we have allowed it to become part of our lives.

We have used ethnic feelings to stereotype our own people into various groups. That is why when discussion about rowdyism, we quickly point accusing fingers to Zongo Muslim, when aggression and violence is discussed as a threat to the unity our nation longs for; we chant that the Northerners are at the vanguard of the vices. To us, Ashanti people are the pioneer of fraudulent and dubious acts while the Nzema tribe comes to mind when one needs a perfect example of a dishonest and deceitful tribal group.

As a Muslim man, approach a typical Christian lady for a relationship that would lead to marriage and watch out for the countenance and reply. At that point, you are in for the intellectual torture of your life as innocent biblical injunctions would be murdered to corroborate bogus and laughable position born out of no logical basis but ignorance. Try it, I mean if you are an emblematic Christian man, seek a Muslim lady’s hand in marriage and hear her tell you what even the Prophet did not envisage in His teachings. It is so ironical that the need for peace, unity and love are the ready topics these calibers of Tartuffe’s are always ready to preach anywhere they go. It is like granting a person the freedom of life and telling him not to breathe. 

I wonder where the concept of national unity and peace we lament is absent will come from when we go about hunting for a flying fish in the sky. I was once in a gathering where a lady commented that a good Christian versed in the Biblical teachings would never see a reason to marry a Muslim. I wonder what Jesus Christ did wrong to warrant such a twist in His teachings.

We have made ourselves so inherently low in orison that we do not know that if a person caught in the act of terrorism claims to be a Muslim, it is not because of his religion that he took to violence but because of the brutal nature inherent in him as a person irrespective of his religion. Our collective ignorance has degenerated to a stage where we think we can place religions and ethnic groups on a chart and match crimes peculiar to each. If a Hausa man is arrested for attacking another man in a lone place, it is not that Hausa people are violent or heartless; it is because of the beast nature inherent in every man which he had failed to curb. I was saddened when a colleague told me a Muslim is more likely to be involved in an act of terrorism than a Christian, while Christians are more often than not guilty of indecency than Muslims. That is how foolish it can get.

I have ran out of patience in expectation of the day we would realize that the mystery behind our birth, the strong bound between us and people we grow to know and the sacrifice we are ready to render to make them happy should also accrue to our brothers and sisters from the other parts of the country. No one brings his father, mother and siblings from heaven, yet we grow to adopt them as an integral part of our lives. Why then is it hard to adopt someone just because of his religion background and ethnic group? You are a Fante man today; your great grandchild may be the leader of a Konkomba community tomorrow. You are the choir mistress in a renowned church today; your grandson may become the Chief Imam of a mosque tomorrow. Today, you are a Hausa woman; your next three generations may be exclusively Akyem. Why then are we unreasonably determined to dig the grave our unborn children will come to be buried with impunity?

To an extent, we have grown generally myopic that we no longer dwell on merit and credibility in choice making. As long as he is a Northerner; he has the South-North, as long as his name is Mumuni; all Muslims will support him, as long as he is from the North; the Northerners will follow him, as long as she is Esenam; she is sure of securing a job at Nutsugah’s company, so far his name is John; all Christians must vote for him. We do not care about the credentials or the nature of the task that lies ahead of the man we want to choose. Someone was once quoted to have said “You will rot in hell if you do not vote your Muslim brother”. Wait; which hell? Is it the one he prepared? What if there is no hell? Is it about the Muslim brother or the competent Muslim brother? Is it about the church going Sister Blessing or the pious and modest Sister Blessing? Is it about Danjuma from the North or the credible Danjuma from the North? It is not always about where one is; it is about what one is doing there. A Christian never thought the sermon that would change his life for good would be preached in a Mosque and a Muslim never thought his life transforming blessing would come from a Pastor. Unfortunately, lives have been wasted in the quest for the wrong cause and blindly orchestrated struggles.

A Muslim friend was heavily criticized on his Facebook wall by another group of Muslims on the 1st day of January, 2014. The reason for the insult and criticism was so unfounded and strange. The team of over-knowledgeable people condemned my dear friend for saying "Happy new year" and celebrating with his Christian friends. I know that the Islamic calendar is quite different from the Western one Christians have adopted but should the difference pave way for condemning a person for the side he believes in or for wishing a fellow human well? Definitely, if these religion stone throwers are asked to tell us the date, they proceed to tell us the Western one we all admit. It is now safer to conclude that anytime a celebratory clatter arises on a religion basis, those in the other religion seek to spoil the moment for those involved with stupid self-constructed philosophies and derisory analysis. Shhh! Learn to close your criticizing big mouths and follow the glorious messages of the Bible and noble teachings of the Quran like a reasonable person you ought to be. No matter how good or convinced he is about his side, a wise person will not adopt violence or pressure to win people to his side, it is done with the example you lay with your life style and not loose-talking strategies. A well-behaved pagan is better than an unrepentant Church-goer. Being a Muslim or a Christian is not an automatic ticket to God's side, abiding by the laws of God and showing love to people irrespective of the diversities is the key.

 As a person, the writing skill and literal erudition I exhibit today were discovered by a Muslim friend. He was aware of my religion and did not for once see that as a bar to motivate and inspire me. Interestingly, he does not sing, but he made a first class in Music. Mr. Fanatic, has his discovery about me affected his life adversely because I am a Christian?  Has that prepared a place for him in hell because he discovered a hidden potential in a Christian? Now, I write not just for Muslims to read, but also Christians, Traditional worshippers, Pagans, Hausas, Frafra, Ewe, etc. Exactly one of the reasons I would never join the bandwagon of people making religion a basis for helping another instead of the zeal to help humanity. If you see me attend a Mosque for the union of a Muslim friend and his wife in future and you are aggrieved, it will do you better to shut up than allow me call you a certified hypocrite and world class mediocre that you are. If you are a Muslim and I approach you tomorrow for employment and you said No because I am a Christian, it is your loss: a great loss indeed! You would be the one to lose a vibrant, competent, dynamic, promising and industrious young man in your firm. Don't even think you can substitute me; I am one of a kind, so the loss will be irredeemably bad and apparent.

To my Christian readers, your Sunday worship song is not different from a mere ranting and packaged brouhaha if you cannot treat your Muslim neighbours right, to my Muslim readers, you are only polluting the Mosque on Fridays and wasting time if religion is a condition precedent before you render help to a needy. Forget that you pay your tithe and that you send people on pilgrimage to the Holy lands that does not expunge the fact that you are irresponsible and intolerable. To my Ashanti, Ewe and Akyem friends that cannot embrace each other, I think you should be categorized among the global natural disasters like Tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, flood etc. 

Finally, I am a Guan, it is likely I meet a Fante lady reading this; I may get to like you. I would surely make my intention known. You are free to tell me “No” for any reason because I know you have the freedom of choice and I appreciate that. However, if you tell me “No” because I am a Guan boy, I will give birth to a daughter and name her after you one day. By doing that, I would be showing you I am old enough to give birth to you. 

THE LICENSE TO POLYGAMY

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As a kid, I asked myself “why do I need to choose this from that when I can have them all. I felt like I would grow up and become ‘every man’. A little of a journalist, graphic designer, teacher and every other profession I loved. The truth is that I wanted to be good at all of them and it actually affected my concentration on a particular thing. I am not a jack of all trades and master of none anyway.

Monogamy is an imposition, a law that was designed to bring out the best in man. It is another form of specialization that was aimed at making men enjoy a particular thing monotonously for the short time they would be living on earth. It lets them to be good at it and also develop ways to bring out the best in the women. 

Someone who has been a good Mechanic for 30 years will surely be among the best mechanics ever known before retirement because he must have developed ways to get better in what he does. The same way you see that a man who has been a good husband for 30 years, is usually known as one of the best husbands.

King Solomon is often seen as the father of polygamy and one would be wondering how he really concentrated with that scary number of women in his household and under his majestic control. Women are usually seen as distractions when you have them in great numbers but a very low number like just one gives lots of peace of mind. Solomon had the grace of God to be like no man that will ever be, you can never be anywhere like him no matter how hard you try. After all whom the Lord has blessed and endowed with wisdom, you don’t challenge or envy.

In some countries, polygamy is constitutionally wrong depending on the form of marriage a man decides to take up, but in other places, it is ‘just’ morally wrong. Yet you don’t find these moral issues captured in any written constitution.

This is not supposed to be a religious article, but because we are mostly Ghanaian and Africans, I want us to look at Matthew 19:1-12 and 22:23-32, where Jesus only talked about divorce. The fact that the New Testament centered mostly on the works of Jesus and His disciples, it never mentioned the family structure of some great men who lived then.

We only quote Old Testament when we want Abraham’s blessings, Solomon’s wealth and David’s grace, not on some subjects like polygamy.

When we grow up, we will understand the difference between the laws of God and that of the Church [doctrines]. 

It should be a thing of choice and I think any man who is planning on living a polygamous life should discuss it with the first woman he would be getting married to. She deserves to know that in a very short time, she would be sharing the warmth of her man with yet another. She also needs to understand that if she takes your ring, she would one day have to face another woman in the house and if you turn out to be very polygamous, she would have to face many others and just remain as the ceremonial first wife that will usually accompany the husband to most of his official functions.

I have seen men who want to marry because they need a wife and not for a companionship and most ladies also fall in that area. The ladies don’t really care what their man does; they always have the consolation that men are polygamous in nature. That is nonsense though.

Marriage in the church should be between a man and a woman. But hypocrisy at times makes us see married men being allowed to hold a wedding ceremony with just one of their wives. Are we telling God to bless one and curse the others?

Polygamy is an orientation and also in most cases a child of circumstances. Men call it their right and I don’t really doubt it because it is the reason why a married man will still be attracted to other women. It is the only justification for infidelity and the fact still remains that before man chooses the second wife, he must have dated about ten others when the wife is at home in the cold.

A meme is saw recently says: “Women are like mango, orange, banana, pawpaw, pineapple, but the problem is men love fruit salad”

If you sort it out with your first wife before marriage to be polygamous, it will be very good for you; else I think it is betrayal. It’s like coming home to realize that what you have in the box is not what you ordered for in the market and I hail women who have been handling this seeming betrayal for many years.

Men should somehow come up and be more courageous in marriage instead of sneaking around behind the backs of their wives. We are just lucky women don’t sue men for infidelity in this part of the world.

It is morally and constitutionally wrong to go against a contract. 

A monogamous man, thinks of nothing but his wife and children, he has no secret to worry about and will surely have time for his wife, children and friends. Women need time, they are like horses, if you don’t ride them, and they are just like another animal roaming.

Imagine if all those love, money, attention go to one woman and her children, it will simply make her irreplaceable and also make you live a life void of guilt and regrets as a result of your extra marital activities.

If you want to be polygamous, get the license from the first woman and you are good to go.

It never ends here, that’s the man we are, every man.

Charles McCarthy is a Freelancer and blogs@www.pointoflaww.blogspot.com

WHEN CHANGE BECOMES CERTAIN

If you have been following recent happenings in our polity objectively as it concerns the general elections in the past three months, you will understand it is now clear to the discerning, obvious to the dissenting and acceptable to the pragmatic that change has become certain in our polity. 

This article was inspired by one of my favorite songs of Lucky Dube- of blessed memory, "It is not easy".  

In the song, he called on his mother, "mama I'm getting married". She replied, "Son did you take out time to know her"? 

The artist: "Mama she's the best, but today it hurts me so to go back to mama and say mama am getting divorced, this choice I made, didn't work the way I thought it would, it hurts me so mama...".     

The lyrics of the song are exactly what are playing out in our polity today. 

Rewind back to 2012 presidential election, we were so carried away by the circumstances surrounding president Mahama's emergence that we ignored many things and forgot to ask necessary questions. He gathered all the sympathy, popularity and attention through his "Ede bee K3K3” cliché. Thinking he's the Moses of our time, people defied ethnic, political and religious affiliations to vote and ensure he emerged president.  

Fast forward to 2015, just a year to the next election and everything has changed. The ones trusted and popular John Mahama had become the rejected stone. It is an irony that same process that ensured the emergence of a younger president in 2012 is same process that has kept him on the verge of losing the 2016 presidential election. 

The National Democratic Congress in its quest for jaded attention allowed itself to be sub-tenanted in the last 7 years by every paid and unpaid apologist of the government. The president's incorrigible media team didn't help either, they were beyond reproach, with their misleading and contradicting information they made it difficult for citizens to get accurate information on the happenings of the government, they hurled bitter diatribes and tirades to every critic of the government, in doing so their language deteriorated and included every profanity and obscenity on their lips and ended up accumulating more enemies for the president within and outside the shores of the country thereby making change certain.  

In the area of corruption, President Mahama has shown little willingness to tackle corruption. He identifies with the corrupt and presides over a government that embezzles public funds with reckless abandon.

Right now our nation is hemorrhaging from all sides, the bleeding is imminent and inevitable, with the daily decline in our economy, there hardly seem to be anyone who is not feeling the economic hardship this government has reduced us to.  

Many unfulfilled campaign promises of the ruling government have contributed to this certain change. The fact that Ghana is yet to generate more megawatts of electricity after expending millions of dollars in fifty-eight years in the power sector is beyond comprehension. 

Until recently, security is near zero with insecurity and insurgency taking a lead in wanton killings and destruction of lives and properties in almost all parts of the country.  

With its little and infinitesimal performance, the attack dogs of the ruling government have been obfuscating in defense that Mahama and the National Democratic Congress in the last seven years has performed more than all our past rulers.  

They pretend not to know records have shown under President Mahama Ghana has generated more funds per annum from loans, and the sale of crude oil. It is saddening that nations of equal promise like Ghana have left Ghanaians in its elementary level while at different levels of advanced development, hence the need for a change of government.  

The opposition New Patriotic Party may have its flaws but sometimes where there are no good options, a former dictator is a better choice than a failed president. 

 Back to the song, "It Wasn't Easy", same way the above named reggae artist went back to his mother, "mama am getting divorced", Ghanaians want a divorce from the ruling government, because the choice we made in 2012 didn't work out the way we thought it would and it hurts us so much. 

I take consolation from the words of his mother in the song, "it's not easy to understand it son, but I know you'll make it, you'll be happy again". 

Ghanaians will make change possible come December 7 2016 and we will be happy again.  

WHERE LAY THE SPIRIT OF CLASS STRUGGLE?

Class struggle, as opined by Karl Marx, a German Scholar, in his theory of historical materialism, is about the peasants’ strives for success. It is about war commissioned against perpetual hegemony, status quo and exploitation by the proletariats being used by the bourgeoisies to produce what they cannot buy. Class struggle is about the common people struggling towards restoring their battered souls. It is about the poorest of the poor striving towards becoming the richest of the rich. 

In Ghana today, the spirit of class struggle seems to have died amongst the youths. The youths have had their today and tomorrow strangulated by the old cargos that currently held the insignia of power. Sadly, the youths are not thinking. They have accepted that their future be mortgaged. The youths have refused to take their destiny into their hands. 

Those who ruled Ghana in first and second republics are still controlling the polity and economy of the country. How old was Dr. Botchey when he was appointed Minister; today, at his age, he still determines who get what, when and how in Ghana. Accra Metropolitan Assembly Boss under President Kuffour, Agyiri Blankson is 78, yet, he still want to be a Minister. Honourable Bagbin is still the heading the majority throne in parliament at his experience.

Member of Parliament, ET Mensah has been in Parliament at the advent of multi-party democracy and its first republic, but still remain a very powerful element in the country. Nana Addo, 71, has enjoyed power since; yet, he has refused to bow out. Sheikh Quaye, 76, has been in front line politics since 1969; yet, he has refused to retire for the younger generation to take over. Dr Richard Anane, is presently fighting 36 years old Stephen Amoah of Nhyiaso Constituency for political relevanc.

The nation of Ghana is presently being governed by those who had in one way or the other contributed to her woes, yet, the youths are looking. The current advocates of Change are not exempted. Akuffo Addo, Agyemang Rawlings and Dr. Ndoum all governed Ghana without achieving much. The Volta dynasty have been in charge of Volta Region  since the return of democratic rule to Ghana, yet, the region has the worst road network in Ghana. Dr. Kwabena Adjei has served as Minister and Chairman of National Democratic Congress, yet, the unemployment profile of the region is out of check. The progressives have been controlling the string and button of Ghana since 1992, yet, pipe borne water is not available for people to drink in the centre of capital despite the fact that the country is surrounded by water. 

 The Elites are rotating power amongst themselves while the large numbers of the less privileged youths are wallowing in squalor. Our fathers continue to recycle themselves in government instead of giving way for the younger generation. They made education, which most of them in the Ghana acquired free of charge, almost unaffordable with allowance on top.

The older generation has refused to retire and quit the civil service so that the younger ones could be employed. Instead, they continue to hang on by falsifying their age. The looting and widespread corruption by our fathers has battered the economy so badly that small and medium enterprises, which should be the main employers of labour aside the government, are virtually non-existent. 

Youths are the building blocks of a nation. The stronger, more vibrant and politically aware the youths are, the more developed the nation is. Countries that had empowered the younger generation in the past are now better off. David Cameroon became the Prime Minister of Britain at 43, one of his predecessors; Tony Blair has already retired from politics at 63. Americans elected Barrack Obama at 47.

Furthermore, Juan Barreto became the Prime Minister of Dominica at 32 in 2004. Joseph Kabila became the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 31 in 2001. Nikola Gruevski became the Prime Minister of Macedonia at 36 in 2006. Today, Macedonia has risen from a periphery nation to a semi-core country in the international politics. 

Mikheil Sakashvili fought a fierce battle against the order of gerontocracy in 2004; he triumphed and became the President of Georgia at 37. Faure Gnassingbe was inaugurated as the President of Togo at 39 in 2005. Bulgaria elected Sergei Stanishev as Prime Minister at 39 in 2005. Dmitry Medvedev made history when he became the youngest President of Russia in 2008 at 41. 

All the examples cited above are successes recorded in 21st century. In Ghana today, many youths at 36 are still single, looking for jobs whereas their mates are already Presidents and Prime Ministers in European and American sovereign nations. The next British Prime Minister might be a Nigerian. The young guy, Chuka Umunna, 37, a member of the British Parliament, hail from Anambra State. 

Unfortunately, I once coined a piece, arguing that age is not a barrier; hence, Nana Addo who served as Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs becoming the President of Ghana at 72 is not a bad idea. While many Ghanaians wrote to commend me over the article, a colleague, a blogger, Ghana Institute of Journalism sent me a mail thus;

“My dear friend, you wrote well but I want to advise you to stop writing like an Ancient Analyst; start writing like a modern commentator. At your age, instead of demanding for generational shift, you are agitating for institutionalization of the politics of gerontocracy. My brother, though I am not a fan of Mahama, but we can count of many young people that he has empowered; please how many brilliant young Ghanaians can we trace to Addo Dankwa’s school of thought? I agree with you that the Akyem Mafia is the only one who can give the NDC the run for its money; he’s loved by the majority of his party folks, but through Nana’s utterances, it is obvious that the Kyebi born former parliamentarian has lost touch with the reality of 21 century. Ask, why Americans rejected Senator Mc Cain (71 then), in 2009? Akufu Addo is just being packaged by those who have money but lacks electoral value”, my friend concluded. 

Many people constantly intimidate the youths (in fact, the youths intimidate themselves as well) that we are too corrupt, but they did not say that our fathers and grandfathers used their ill-gotten wealth to destroy our sense of decency and value system. 

Most Ghanaian youths are so disconnected from political happenings and government’s activities; as they do not know or care how they are being governed. The way youth argue blindly on social media whenever salient national issues are raised call for concern. 

One of the cogent reasons Ghana is moving a step forward then four steps backward is because we lack vibrant and informed youths. We youth are supposed to be the center of gravity of the society. The youth should be the ‘life’ of a society. The youth should be the hope for a better and brighter future of any society. But this is not the case in Ghana.

Even the older generation does not have ample confidence in us. In Ghana today, our leaders have abandoned the youths to start grooming their children who will eventually take over from them. It is not surprising, therefore, that most of our former and outgoing ministers, District Chief Executives, Members of Parliament, Ministers and Presidents have strategically “planted” their children into politics. 

Now, I begin to wonder and ponder, what then is the gain of millions of youth who support these leaders? Is it that the youths aren’t good for anything than being used for “bugabuga jobs” only to be dumped afterwards? For how long shall we continue like this? Ghanaian youths, where lay the spirit of class struggle?