63 Years Of Ghana’s Independence: A Reality Or An Idealistic Concept

When I look at our beloved country Ghana, many questions come to mind. Many times I ask myself, would the country have attained independence in the presence of these 21st-century political leaders? Would we have birth forth great Pan-Africanists in the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, J. B Danquah, Joseph Casely Hayford, and the like?

What would have happened if those great Pan-African leaders we salute and celebrate today are currently in the helm of government affairs? Or it is true that the “good leaders” have left our country? I do pause to ponder if the euphoria we express on this faithful day is the same as our gallant great leaders. Will they be happy and proud as you maybe? Or they will be sad and disappointed as l am?

As the profound saying “at long last the battle has ended, Ghana your beloved country is free forever” still saddens the hearts of many. Has the battle really ended? What is freedom when the majority of our people are marginalized? Or freedom is and was meant for the privileged few?

Of course! Did you just agree? Why not? If the bigwigs and their stooges are given scholarships at the expense of the marginalized. When they have flown their wards and relatives to enjoy the services in the countries of best practices and yet claim to make a safe haven for us. I side with Philip O. Umeh to define the actions of our leaders even in this country as the "Ambassador's of poverty".

Yes! Freedom is when “they” appear in white to approve policies and bills and loans that will render the local folks to wear black because we are children of lesser gods. How do we live in this great depression and say we are practicing democracy when Ghana's 1992 Constitution states in article 36(e) the recognition that the most secure democracy is the one that assures the basic necessities of life for its people as a fundamental duty. If the most secured democracy is about promoting the welfare of the citizenry then how far have we come as a country with our supposed democracy?

What is independence when our leaders have simply and squarely failed us? The battle has never ended when the local folks’ average income is really averaged. The battle has never ended when the local folks are wailing and kicking to be expatriates because they have no hope in their own lands. The battle has never ended on this day as we are marching in the presence of unequal enjoyment of social amenities, unequal enjoyment of security services, corruption and embezzlements of government funds that we hear of on a daily basis.

Our independence is a reality as justice is the preserve of the big man. Our Independent is as real as our security forces are rapid in response to alarms on things that affect the foreigners in this country more than its own indigenous people.

Our independence is a reality as we have neglected to implement a National Development Policy that will define the clear path for the nation's development but rather choose to determine the course of the nation's development with the manifestoes of Political parties. "Oh cry my beloved country". The interpretation of the rules of the national game always lies in the bosom of the referee who was appointed by the big man who is never hungry but continues to muddy our waters in the name of mining to fund and win power, while the rural folks continue to implore for clean safe drinking water.

To the local folks, our beloved country is free forever because we are always at the service of the big black man, and not the slim White man. We are free because we are given peanuts or kola nut with "Akpeteshi" to sustain the big man in power. We are independent because we are given favor and other opportunities when we appear in the political party’s colours or with party cards, but not in the colours of red, gold and green. We are ever ready to be the vigilantes of the big man because it will bestow some economic and social "freedoms" on us. For we express freedom boldly as proud “Party men” but not as “Ghanaians”.

For we the “un-independent” and wish to see our beloved country free forever, profess, the country is yet not independent and free forever, because the good ones have refused to rise and fight for true independence for this country. Thus, we the good ones in the words of Winston Churchill “shall fight on beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight on the streets, we shall fight on the hills, we shall never surrender” until Ghana’s independence is never an idealistic concept but a reality in our time

Happy In-"Dependence" Day

By Michael Ofori And Kumordzi Enoch