58 YEARS OF HONOURABLE EXCUSES

The President’s 58^th speech on the state of Ghana proceeding the occasion of Ghana’s anniversary celebrations is conveniently arranged. It reads like wedding refreshment designed to tame and temper the stupor of an inebriate. Ghana at 58 represents the babel of the ancient world that foreshadows our current situation. Languages and politics still divide us, we’re still distrustful of and perplexed by one another. Ghana at 58 is like a football game in which millions of Ghanaians as spectators in need of exercise are watching a handful of players in need of rest.

Have you ever spent the night in countryside? If so, you will have little trouble identifying with the complaints of Ghanaians as John celebrates his achievements on the anniversary of Ghana. A Ghanaian community is a hostile place. By day, the sun beats down pitilessly, and the temperature soars. Food is scarce, and water is virtually nonexistent in our communities. This is the graphic picture. This is the metaphor of Ghana at 58 anniversary celebrations.

Our Presidents’ speech is not an encouragement for Ghanaians who are down in the pits. It is not a discouragement either over temptation from lustful and corruptive thoughts. Surely, it is not a diagnosis for the purpose of living for the mistreated and ignored Ghanaians. For me, it was honourable excuses told in the house full of honourable men and women.

Mr. John said he considered himself “specially privileged to lead our country into its second century of existence… But what I feel most is not frustration, it is not disillusionment. What I feel is great pride and great hope for a country that is bound to overcome the transient pains of the moment and eventually take its rightful place among the greatest nations on earth.”

Mr. President, how could you feel frustration and disillusionment when you are not one of the several shoeless Ghanaians. Speaking of hope, well there is no medicine like hope. However, it is one thing to speak of hope when things look doubtful, when the future of Ghana and Ghanaians are uncertain, when circumstances are crowding them in and when Ghanaians have been crushed to the floor. It is something else to speak of hope when there is no doubt about the present, when the future is certain. Hope in the midst of utter turmoil and butchery of our economy cannot simply be starry-eyed optimism, it must be built upon bedrock reality.

While the occasion of our anniversary undoubtedly calls for celebration, it is also a moment to pause and reflect on our journey of the past fifty eight years. It is sad but true that those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. The anniversary should be an occasion for a sobering warning and an opportunity to learn from the past, and not a time for celebrations, what is there to be celebrated?

We are not yet at our destination of greatness; a nation of the future, which future? A hopeless Future? A poverty ravaging future? A corruption infested future? A future of wasted generation of youths? A nation without vision for the future? Which destination of greatness was Mr. John talking about? Mr. President no one except you and your followers can visualize the future you dream of. From all indications and the compelling body of evidence before Ghanaians, we’re a nation of the past. The future is grim and dire and scary. Therefore the arrogation of fake and empty hope of safety by the president and the absolution of ignorance not to keep same is tantamount to a charade and facade of sequential oblivion which is left unsolved after such promises are made. The lives of Ghanaians are no longer safe and rather than going about our normal duties, everybody now walk on the streets with not just ultimate care of consciousness  but every bit of suspicion. It is no longer news that we are under serious attack by darkness enemies who don't wish Ghana any good but have her major aim tailored towards annihilation and extinction of our very existence. 

For Mr. Mahama, the only visible achievement of the country in the past 58 years is democracy, the new Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange of Accra and the uniqueness of Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan and how he makes presidents at the expense of the voting populace. 

I have never seen or read of nations of people whose prosperity, strength, and unity were dictated by their ability to build a new interchange. Mr. Mahama must be a unique President of a unique nation.

 How many times do we have to stumble and fall as 58-year old nation before we learn how to crawl, walk, and run? The falls have been many, the falls have been unnecessary; the falls have been shameful, laughable, and ludicrous. And every single time we stumbled, we fall deeper and deeper into the abyss.

A lot has been said as to the wisdom that informed the President’s decision to celebrate the 58^th anniversary This administration in line with past administrations have ruinous infatuations with meaningless and wasteful jamborees that have no economic value to the people. Again, this circus of foolishness like others have not survived the disillusionments and disappointments associated with such infatuations.

But by far, the brainless and despicable part of the politics of the 58^th celebrations is the timing. The 58^th was being celebrated when the sour smell from the offensive odors of fresh blood of innocent children from the killing fields of our hospitals by ‘dumsor’ had hardly cleared out of the air; and to demonstrate the insensitivity and “I don’t give a damn” attitude of President. Mahama to the horror and nightmare that have befallen the Ghanaians as a result of ‘dumsor’, he went beseech promising again to fix ‘dumsor’ perpetually, as if he has not promised enough and failed.

In a single climatic day, our civilization once again was assaulted and threatened. Take a look at the mismanagement of the resources of the country. It is a raw deal for us as citizens of Ghana for Mahama to dare our sensibilities by celebrating a 58^th of no historical essence in the midst of death and funeral. History will judge Mr. Mahama for letting loose the turmoil by given free rein to the saboteurs and for doing absolutely nothing to finally corral the slaughtering of our future.

History will not be kind either to the legislators in Accra. Their lack of initiative, their wavering posture, and their lackadaisical approach with content far away looks on their faces to national issues paved the way for the much deadlier violence and the collapse of our collective civilization.

At 58, Ghanaians live below the poverty line. Our economy is in decline. Pensions when paid are not enough. People are literally hungry. Young people have no future as unemployment hovers all over the place. The oil, supposed to be a blessing is our biggest barrier to progress. We thought it would bring the greatest joy; it is our greatest undoing – a resource curse. Things have never been worse.  

Political promises to improve the economy have never been fulfilled. Badly managed privatization policies continue to stagnate the economy. The same people are holding power all the time. They don’t do anything but they do get the largest salaries in the world. The political system has kept the country balkanized and created restrained economic growth. Our political leadership is divided along ethnic lines. The many layers of government curb economic development because no one is in charge. Now, Ghanaians must starts warming up to the idea that they have to take power in their hands in order for the political elite to feel fear and insecure. 

What a strange, upside-down country Ghana is? We live in a country where those receiving the greatest public applause and financial reward are those who loot the treasury with no regard to their moral character or ethical conduct. By contrast, those fighting for the people are without recognition or reward – the humble, the merciful, those who work for the peace, progress, and fairness – are persecuted for doing right.

Meanwhile, the victims’ parents and the rest of Ghanaians would have to cope with the shock of recent days. The biggest problem now is to come back to our senses it all began like a joke and now it has climaxed to its credulous crescendo leaving almost everybody dumbfounded, hapless and helpless with no valve and vision of hope light at the end of the tunnel. The law is sacrosanct and just like the right to life of every human being exiting under the surface of the sun, hence effects have been dwindled into the dark ray of soliloquy.  

It is therefore worthy to note that; with these present and unpredictable ventures Ghanaians find themselves, the future of our safety is not just bleak but murky and highly acrimonious.  

Before now, it was this popular belief of alluring ethnic diversification and religious jingoism as being promoted by some greedy politicians who apply such gimmicks of deceit to mislead the people whenever they fail in their duty to provide what is due to the electorate. When they lost their sense of commitment to the people, they resort to cheap blackmail and plant seed of discord among the people just to divert attention from the original stable issue on ground and make them embark on a war of ethnic and religious superiority. This is typically against the evil deeds of these miscreants from a strange world because their operations and activities are not secluded, selected or manned in targeted coordinated spheres as no religion is spared.