THROW BACK: GHANA @ 60, ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND THE WAY FORWARD!

Ebenezer! Indeed this is how far the Lord has brought us as a country that was once in captivity and suffering(slavery). Well I may not have existed by then but for all that I’ve lived to know this far, I wouldn’t doubt how great and graceful the Lord has been to us. Just as Canadian hip-hop songwriter and rapper Drake would say, “started from the bottom and now we’re here”. Indeed we did start from the bottom but as far as we’ve come what are the key achievements we as country can boast of when compared to other countries that were once like us? Well, yes talk of democracy and the whole world would applaud Ghanaians for that but what exactly has our democratic style of living gained us in terms of Education, Technology, Agriculture, Health, Industrialization and other nation building sectors? If a forum is to be granted to all Ghanaians to express how they see our journey through this past 6o years, I can assure you that majority will provide similar answers and that is, “It has not been easy”.

Well, here’s what I’ve come to notice and I am strongly sure that most of you will bear with me that Ghana has failed through this 60 years Journey. Why? All over the world I haven’t really come across or head of a country that has got almost all the natural resources like Ghana does; talk of the Gold, Timber, Bauxite, Diamond, Oil, numerous water bodies as well as the human resources itself. How can a nation claim to be successful as at 60 years and all we find is foreigners still invading and extracting our possessions illegally, or students completing their senior high or tertiary education and flying overseas to different country to make a living there, as well as many other scenarios. So when I look at all this I ask myself this today, “are we really independent?” Well if the answer is yes which I believe is no, then what have we lost, how are we retrieving the lost and where are we heading? We are so much filled with propaganda politics to the extent that we fail to accept the realities on the ground, and with this I doubt even if we are given the entire American continent for free we still can’t develop it. And it all boils down to our attitude as a nation, right from the upper seat of the government to the least citizen we all have failed to accept the truth that our country is falling and instead of helping each other move it back on its level, we brutalize ourselves with political taunts and all sort of unnecessary things. It is time we focus as a country and develop ourselves than expect others to do that for us.

Our agriculture sector for example has suffered a lot of damage right from cultivation through harvesting to processing and marketing. Even we Ghanaians fail to purchase our locally harvested and processed agricultural products and yet we expect our economy to grow. I ask this, how are we expecting that rise and improvement in economy with this kind of living? Its highly impossible! Also we have concentrated too much on some sectors of development whilst we have neglected other sectors as well. We tend to believe sectors like infrastructures, some aspects of education and somehow agriculture is all that we can depend on forgetting that some countries that barely had any resources have now developed upon a wide scope of sectors like that of entertainment, sports, technology and tourism as well. Yes, I believe we can be a great nation with great assets and achievements but to do all that we must not only rely or focus on some sectors of development whilst we ignore the others. Just as I stated earlier on, individual attitude is highly required to reach our goals as a country but over the years now I really don’t see it going that way. I say this because for some time now one major thing Ghana has been recognized for is ‘CORRUPTION’ and I don’t see that tag getting off us any moment simply because the act of corruption is still ongoing and is infesting us day-in-day-out. 60 years journey is not easy and so as long as we have come this far, I don’t think this is the state our forefathers would have expected their toil to yield. We need to get ourselves back up, put aside political differences even if it means Ghana becoming one-party system governance and gather all the resources including that of human to help build our country and make it better again. We have only one Ghana and I don’t think watching it go down will benefit any of us and this is why we must start building now and prepare for the ‘future rains’. Yes, there have been flaws but this is not the time to play the blame cards but instead let us live the dreams of our forefathers who sacrificed a lot to gain us our freedom and set up a nation that generations will live to be forever proud of.

Let us increase, patronize and consume our local products, influence more of exports than imports as well as focus on the strengthening of areas like agriculture, education, entertainment, sports, technology and tourism. For areas like agriculture especially, I believe it is through the introduction of modern equipment and methods as well as enforcing proper extension works that can improve our system. Nevertheless, we must encourage more youth to involve themselves in agriculture as it appears most thinks agriculture (farming) is for the aged and since the aged are also aging out, so is our agricultural system. Aside that the government must invest more into beneficial entrepreneurial projects which will help generate more income from both government sectors and private sectors. I can write a whole book of what I believe should be done and so can anyone else do but it all comes to the fact that if we do not rise and do something then we will only be building castles in the air. I am a concerned citizen and not just some sideline spectator so I would not just sit and watch my country whirl like a lost chopper in the skies; but instead do my best to help make it better….. ‘Y3n ara Y3’asase ni, 3y3 abo)dzendzen ma h3n’, indeed Ghana is ours and very valuable to us so we must all hold it with extra care. Happy independence to all Ghanaians and once again I say “Ebenezer, this is how far the lord has brought us”. Long live Ghana, long live us all. Thank you.