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26.06.2016 Feature Article

A Letter To Brexit Youth: It’s Not All That Gloomy!

A Letter To Brexit Youth: Its Not All That Gloomy!
26.06.2016 LISTEN

Dear Friends of Brexit,
I bring you greetings from Ghana. It’s been days after ‘Brexit’ and I know many of you are still devastated at the outcome. Particularly, at a time that you are ‘washed’ to believe that you have on the average 69 years to live with the future which they say the older generation has unleashed on you. It is human to be afraid of what you don’t know. Even ‘Demi’ who voted out and should now be jubilating is rather nurturing fears simply because she is haunted.

But is it all that gloomy, younger UK?
Your prime minister or more perhaps defeated prime minister, David Cameron says he has long supported EU membership, as long as the bloc reformed. He also claims to have negotiated for a special status for you in the EU. So I ask, was it a vote for a reformed EU or an EU with a special status for UK or perhaps both?

Economic history is clear on how you became a super house; from engaging with Low Countries to protecting your economy.

Today you have an opportunity to make the Commonwealth of Nations thicker and stronger. I believe you younger people have been presented with an opportunity to build a new UK; a UK that reflects your thinking, aspirations, and future; and a UK that will have the traces of your sweat and hard work.

Lest you forget one generation worked to make your nation what it is today. Don’t forget one generation transformed England from a Country relying heavily on raw wool export to the Low Countries into the most formidable wool-manufacturing nation in the world.

Now it’s your turn. What are you afraid of? Don’t make me believe you are too scared and lazy to work out your own miracle. We cannot always be walking around the world with the impression of a free-born generation. Build your own future. Carry your nation to its new destination. Leave something for the next generation.

Yes there will be challenges and it has already begun. This morning I read that £45 billion has been wiped off FTSE 100 in a day of chaos after Brexit. Do not panic, not at all. This is just an oligarchic conspiracy to prove you wrong, make you regret and blame another generation for your woes.

Be proud to be living in a mistaken nation and be proud to be part in correcting it. That is only if the former even holds. Forget the hardships. If you we are surviving in Africa then you too can. Like Demi wrote you only left the EU and not Europe.

If you are looking for motivation then look to Africa. We will be there to give you a shoulder and share our survival experiences. We have survived it all: from exploitative conspiracy to trade imbalances; corruption to selfish leadership; slavery to colonialism; sanctions to wrong policy prescriptions, wars to insurgencies. You are even fortunate to have leaders who are committed to go through these times with you.

Just be proud of your outcome even it if was stamped on you by a generation other than yours. You are the cheetah generation. Nations do fail and many have. The world needs motivation and you cannot disappoint.

America did it when they ‘‘rejected Adam Smith’s analysis in favour of common sense and the instinct of what was necessary for the nation.’’

Just cheer up and embrace today. It’s all you got to make a difference. Don’t forget you are all sons and daughters of the queen.

Yours in the Commonwealth,
Bernard Kwofie.

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