I WILL TELL THE BIG SIX – IN DEFENCE OF YVONNE NELSON ET AL LIGHTS FOR JUST 2 DAYS IN ONE WEEK CANN

A wise man once said, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side, my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” It’s my birthday month once again and as you already know the first day of my birthday month is always a workers day holiday. This time, 1^st May was not any ordinary workers day as our president reportedly took a dig at his critics by saying smart businesses are not laying-off workers due to Dum-SOR. In what can be described as an apparent response to those who are complaining that DUMSOR is affecting their businesses and thus causing them to lay off workers. However, I am not writing to talk about our president but to throw my support behind some very brave celebrities who are making their voices heard over the unacceptable load shedding exercising.

A BAD MAY DAY SPEECH.
The presidents May day speech has been described by many and I also believe it to be true as a very bad comment which marred his otherwise near-perfect speech. The president shouldn’t have made such a comment on any platform let alone at a workers day parade.

Shortly after the speech, social media and news websites were awash with opinions of some notable Ghanaian celebrities including multiple award winning musician Sarkodie. It first began though with Yvonne Nelson starting a twitter campaign with the hash tag #DumsorMustEnd after her best friend John Dumelo was reported to have said President Mahama should be given time to fix the problems in Ghana because even Rome was not built in a day.

CELEBRITIES LAMENTING?
Yvonne Nelson started on social media criticizing government for doing little about DUMSOR, then she accepted an interview on the BBC world service and lamented about her fear of going home at night only to meet darkness and the risks that come with it, as well as the negative effects it is having on businesses. Lydia Forson quickly followed with an open letter to the president about DUMSOR, and then Ama K. Abebrese also posted something on facebook urging government to fix DUMSOR. Sarkodie followed with a time bomb, as he alleged the DUMSOR will abate in the 2016 election year.

BEING ON THE SIDE OF GHANAIANS
The quote with which I started this piece is a bold statement made by no mean a person like Abraham Lincoln father of modern day democracy. Immediately after these celebrities made their voices heard, government functionaries and apologists descended heavily on these celebrities especially the women, with some labeling them as prostitutes and questioning why they were in their 30’s and still not married.

I don’t get why someone’s age and/or marital status should be a yard stick for judging the persons intelligence or for analyzing what the person has said. In any case, what I know and believe is that these celebrities rather than being boot-licking praise singers of the government, have decided to stick with the people of Ghana. The truth is that, they have decided not to care about being on the side of the government or whoever is in charge, but have decided they appreciate it if the people of Ghana or on their side. The most important people in the entertainment industry as well as in politics are the people of Ghana if people in government care to know. The same way the masses queue up to vote during elections, it these same masses who patronize the movies which feature these celebrities as well as the songs they produce and these same masses I can confidently claim are on their side. I am a Ghanaian and I am on their side. There are hundreds of Ghanaians who are also on their side, so if anyone thinks attacking them will achieve anything, they should think twice because they spoke for the masses

They spoke for the voiceless, they spoke for the silent majority of Ghanaians who close from work and go home after a stressful day only to sleep in darkness and heat. They spoke for the many that have lost relatives and friends because of this energy crisis. They spoke for the mother who lost her baby during child birth because the nurses didn’t have lights to execute their duties efficiently. They spoke for the family of the person who is died during a surgery because power was cut off abruptly. They spoke for the person who has just lost his/her job because the company he/she is working for has to close down because of DUMSOR. They spoke for the boy/girl who is finding it difficult to study in the evening for his/her WASSCE and thus putting his/her future in jeopardy. THEY SPOKE FOR THE PEOPLE OF GHANA.

LIGHTS FOR TWO DAYS OUT OF SIX DAYS
The current load shedding means that in 144 hours or 6 days, Ghanaians have lights in their homes for just 48 hours or two days in total. This is unacceptable anywhere in the world more so in a country like Ghana given the amount of natural resources we have in addition to our human resource. There is no way any businesses which use electricity in production can survive under such a system whether the owner is smart or not. The effect is alarming and crippling to say the least even for the most prudent of managers and one can only survive in such a business climate for a while but not for so long. John Dumelo who was apparently trying to defend President Mahama after criticisms ate back his words and revealed that he has had to close two companies and lay off several workers too just because of DUMSOR.

Let me end by quoting Abraham Lincoln again, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

Until I write to you again, good bye for now. YOUR GRANDSON. ALBERT OPARE. [email protected] ibelieveinghana.blogspot.com

The Author Albert Opare is a political science graduate from the University of Ghana and a social commentator as well as a social & political activist. You can contact the author by mail on [email protected] or txt on 0575125101. Comments and Criticisms are welcome.