A Letter For Posterity Part 5: Because Tomorrow Belong to Us

In every year or decade there are the early part and late. For instance the decade, 2000 to 2010, has the early part from 2000 to 2005 and the late also set from 2006 to 2010. Same applies to human generations. There are the old or older and young or younger generations respectively.

In Ghana, we have Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, George Sydney Abugri and Manasseh Azure Awuni. So there is Prof. Azumah Nelson, Joshua Clottey and Joseph Abgeko. There is also Abedi Ayew, Dede Ayew and Agyemang Badu.

The older generation is well ahead of the younger in years, experience and presumably wisdom. The younger generation literally stands behind the older generation to observe the way they take their steps and where they place them. The younger generation watches the older from a distance. If the older generation has been going the wrong way, the young can change course and do things in a different way, through learning from the mistakes of their fathers.

The choices of the older generation which are inimical to development of human society will be eschewed, discarded and thrown away. Is that what we are witnessing in Ghana? Has the Ghanaian youth abandoned the old ways of their fathers? Or like the proverbial duck who walk in a straight line with their young ones following, and in the process when the mother falls into a pit they also fall in one after the other?

It is time to take stock of our fathers and critically review each, whether indeed they are wealth continuing or stock and stones that should be given the marching orders. As youth we are the future of Ghana. We are fortunate to have acquired modern education. In our time social media and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has made the world a global village. With this respite we should be inspired to do away with tendencies that thwart national development.

Parents in the southern Ghana use to tell tales about the northern part of the country, and same was done up north. Today Tertiary education has broken the shields and myth around these tales and exposed the lies hidden in there. Should the Ghanaian youth proceed on this tangent as our parents did? Now, due to mobility of labour north, south, east, west and center has received citizens from all parts of the country who are working for the better of such communities. Therefore, tribalism and ethnic sentiments should be swept out from our compound.

The youth must keep their foot off the street named tribe which is backward, weird and demeaning to our acquired education. Listen carefully to yourself or any youth who pride his or her self in ethnic tendencies and it will come clear to you how raw, unpolished, uncivil and uncivilized the fellow sounds. If the Ghanaian youth can speak of all the social media sites and modern conveniences, then we should deal with this wasteful demeaning and blind sentiments.

In our quest to deal with sanitation, the youth must lead not the other way round. Talking and doing nothing is very dangerous. Filth is up to our necks, the rate at which open spaces are turned into refuse dump batters human comprehension. The markets where food stuffs are stored and sold are so filthy with constant swam of flies hovering, thereby infecting these food stuffs. The result, your prediction will be right, diseases transfer to the citizenry. This is perpetuated by the youth. We should call attention and time on this disgraceful scenario.

The youth are the future; our actions should be geared towards reforming and protecting the environment for our wellbeing. In every village and hamlet youths should organise themselves to deal with this mountain problem which threatens our health. We are sitting on a time bomb, for the reason that, in the 21st century a country which proud herself as the gateway to Africa cannot be swimming in filth. This would affect the responds to invitation for investors to invest in Ghana. Then, there is the probability of high rate in unemployment.

In recent times armed robbery suspects arrested in the country has the youth in the majority. This is unfortunate. Will it be acceptable to have the future of Ghana held up in the gaol? But this is the hard situation we are faced with. This goes to inform the fact that moral standards have dropped in our society. It will also be right to write that, the Ghanaian society is at a pathological state, where social roles cast for social actors are not being played. Parents and guardians are not playing their supervisory role as expected. Teachers can as well be dragged into the picture.

They hold in trust the upbringing and the shaping of the future of the youth of every country. Can it also be argued that, the youth are not allowing the older generation to impart to them wisdom? The get-rich-quick rhythm which has engulfed the youth like wild fire is indeed burning us away. This has thrown a lot of talent of the nation into our prisons. Are we aware that, tomorrows belong to us? The youth should have the hands well trained to be able to receive the baton of life from our current leadership. Imagine a corrupt youth! Good God, Ghana is finished!

Another area the Ghanaian and other youths elsewhere should take note of is the recent spate of social strives which the youth are seen taking center stage. In such instances, lots of government properties are destroyed. The youth should be preservers of the social peace, cohesion and protector of the property of the society. With the exuberance, the youth should look up to the few good and exemplified lives of the older generation and pick cues to enable us channel our energies into beneficiary ventures. The Ghanaian society look up to us the youth to work hard to cause the required change this country badly need.

There is no need to destroy in a moment of anger and attempt to express displeasure, what has been built with many years, using the scarce resources of your country. The appropriate channels might delay but they must be approached and utilised at all material moments. Creating your own laws and working with will only bring about disorder which neither help issues nor bring about the required change you expected. Tomorrow's leader must be extra cautious. That is you.

Discipline brings so much, while indiscipline takes same away. A generation that is being prepared to take over the leadership of tomorrow needs a lot of submissiveness. An arrogant heart and mind, as well as a busy richness chasing individual will not acquire wisdom. A humble heart and mind learns best. The Ghanaian youth can achieve so much only if they are ready to take their time to learn the basic rudiments of life. I am reiterating the call on the Ghanaian youth to allow to be trained in every field they find themselves, for the reason that, when tomorrow comes, we would be expected to deliver as required of our education and training.

We cannot afford to fail tomorrow when she comes. The demands of today should inform the youth challenges tomorrow would bring. The current generation of leaderships is seriously challenged in their quest to work to attain some level of comfort for the general citizenry. This might be due to how they had misconstrued the future requirements of them. Hence, we are virtually grappling with fundamental situations. The youth must lead the way to snap the sense of discipline from the clutches of indiscipline. There must be a change and the youth should be the ones to bring it about. The discipline deficiencies of the youth must be checked now.

Corruption remains one of the issues Ghana is faced with. It has become a cliché that corruption began in the days of Adam. Meanwhile, some youths are virtually swimming in it. Many are earning the basic rudiments of corruption. How would the youth make it tomorrow with a skill in corruption? Everywhere in the country there is one missing funds or embezzlement of dedicated resources to execute social amenities. The country is faced with a lot of facility deficits in most rural communities, yet nobody seems concerned.

Let's spare the country this disgraceful act, while the youth wane themselves off corrupt practices. Many of Ghanaian youths are school drop outs. Those who are fortunate enough to have completed the needed education have found politics as an avenue of enriching themselves. It is good to have tomorrow's leaders learn from the feet of the experienced. But let's look around us whether that is happening of the current youths in leadership? Leadership, is it position or disposition? Whatever is happening at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has the youth as the middle staff of the facility.

In spite of the negatives there is hope for the Ghanaian youth tomorrow. We can still learn from our mistakes and pick up the pieces from here. Socrates stated that, “Nature has given us two ears, two eyes and one tongue to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak” It is time for the youth to listen, look carefully and speak less, thus inculcating the attitude of learning.

Despite our pitfalls the youth still has the chance to reform and re-strategize how to reclaim the lost years of looking down upon each other. The days of merchandising disrespect among ourselves which has resulted in disunity without any dividend must be put behind us. Whether from up north or down south Ghana remains one, so are we the youth. The Ghanaian youth should stand tall above all egocentrism to activate the true freedom we were assured from the beginning by our forefathers. Posterity will not forgive the youth of today who would be leaders tomorrow if we should fail.

Let us give up on corruption, bribery, indiscipline and insanitary practices, because tomorrow belongs to us.

Patrick Twumasi
(0209045931)
[email protected]