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28.08.2006 Feature Article

Are Ghanaians Problem Solvers?

Are Ghanaians Problem Solvers?
28.08.2006 LISTEN

The eyes welling up and about to be drenched in tears, I wish my compatriots oxymoronic exit from their excruciating problems. I have for some personal reasons coupled with the intransigent repulsive ineptness of Ghanaians to reform by refraining from the near-innate inhibitive dismal attitudes, decided to keep aloof from matters relating to Ghana though, still keeping an eagle eye. Having reached the peak of conclusive vigilance with the socio-politico-economic accelerator steadfastly held down by a strong untiring foot, covertly and overtly, according to either the clear or opaque perceptions dependent of individuals, hurtling the country into doom, I have wriggled out of the mental delusive cave into wish I taciturnly withdrew, to prescribe the most effective though bitterest, medication to the near chronic ailment of mother Ghana.

As “ideas make great people”, sadly enough, ideas not followed up through will produce no great person much the same way as, “good intentions alone will neither bring about world peace nor produce results unless they are backed by practical implementations. Hence, “actions speak louder than words”. Now is the moment for action but not repetitive incongruous rhetoric prevalent among the rank and file, killing us softly but surely.

The venomous spider-web of insinuations, insults, constructive and destructive criticisms of our leaders and us are just painless scratch on the skin surface, insignificant enough to capture the attention of those being addressed, let alone compelling them to practically effect the intended objectives of such castigations. This is the very act in which we and other Africans excel but in nothing else. Our leaders have then grown to insulate themselves with the proven belief of the dust will settle in the end (“ehuru a ebedwo”), then becoming more mischievous, callous, nonchalant and charlatanic. In brief, we are going nowhere, stagnated, and mired in our anticipatory doom.
“Every peculiar problem has its own special remedy”, an ascertained fact by the intelligent minds, unlike the teased usual Ghanaian behaviour of “ko wo panie ko gye aduro” (get injected and collect your medicine) style prescription to all sicknesses brought before our health or medical doctors. It is this inability to think through problems to administer the appropriate called-for individual solutions, irrespective of how radical and bitter they are, that has brought Ghana and all of Africa to their knees, our leaders parading the corridors of foreign nations with bowls in hand kowtowing and soliciting for alms; their subjects ready-made willing self-subservient to enter into whatever form of slavery would they be accepted. What a shame?

There are only two effective solutions I can momentarily think of if we really meant to extricate ourselves from the self-wrapped suffocating cocoon in which we are ignorantly deeply embedded to the demise of ourselves and country.

First, history abounds with explicit facts on how great nations are built not only on the sweat but the blood of their citizens. In the annals of history of any great nation , there was a time that the nonsense of corruption, robberies, crimes of different shapes and forms and economic hardships emanating from bad governance and mismanagement, cropped up. They never sat on their ass twirling the fingers , lost in day dreaming, hoping against hope, resigned to fate, praying for a saviour from the outer space to rid them of the cancerous bane. They had always resorted to bloody revolution after all else had failed, to rectify the anomalous situation, to not only get the country going but also, propel it into greater heights and achievements. Ghana's case has been similar. What else are we waiting for but to resort to foolish insults, formation of more political parties while the stench of incompetence and the mentioned evils propagate on to the limits of the sky?

I profess revolution to redress the situation of the institutionalised corruption, naked daylight and nocturnal robberies, incompetence and laziness in the society and the fond of embezzlement of public funds by those entrusted with power to rule the nation. I am not by this calling for a starving opportunistic greedy soldier to usurp power but the suffering peasants to do as was done in the great French revolution of 1789 or the recent Eastern European “Velvet revolution”. This tells the difference between the dynamic Whiteman and the atypical Blackman.

We should learn to sacrifice our blood to save our nation and the offspring. I will bell the cat. Those forming new political parties should first dream of revolution as the answer to Ghana's teeming problems but not the formation of numerous and new parties based on the same stupid hidden agendas erected on same weaker foundation.

Second, we can revisit and embrace some aspects of our culture and traditions to solve most, if not all of our problems. The chief problem is corruption out of which all others are begotten. It is a known fact that most of the present day quack pastors and self-proclaimed men of God who the devil even scorn for their lies, have thrown dust into our eyes to feed in ostentatious opulence on our naivety and ignorance; declaring whatever tradition of the Ghanaian as evil but their lies, sanctimonious. Let us get one of the powerful fetishes in Ghana, if there is any at all not infected with the obvious corruption, to be sworn to by our administrators to be of good behaviour, incorruptible, in default of which the fetish should kill them. Should one be found, I would advise that we swallow our shallow ignoramus pride to uphold it. This does not bar us from doing our Christian duties along side our obligation to be faithful to official positions conferred on us by taking the oath of office consulting the Oracle.

We take refuge in Christianity to commit the most hideous crimes with impunity, all leading to the collapse of the little dignity that the Ghanaian has if we have any so far. All those committing the various crimes in Ghana, be it corruption, fraud, robbery or whatever, are all Christians and Muslims thus, religious. They are all adherents of foreign religions.

The patient God will not exact a pound of flesh immediately for the criminals to bleed to death as it was nearly the case of the “story of the Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare, the prolific writer, so every Dick, Tom and Harry hide behind Christianity to get away with murder.
Ghanaians, wake up, stand up and be counted as time and tide wait for no man. We the poor are in majority so if the evil is persisting to our disfavour, let us derail the train as our current leaders in Africa are all clueless non-far sighted incompetent corruptible. When the thumb is used to derail the train of leadership it will not stick. The follow-ups will do the same but when axes swing in the air, stones are thrown, sticks are wielded and guns talk; blood flowing in pools, any consequent and subsequent laws made will be respected to the letter and spirit as enshrined.

The separation of powers of the organs of government and how the judiciary have let us down will soon be discussed. If the judiciary were not corrupt, the level of corruption would be minimal as corruption can only be eradicated when there is a corrupt-free powerful earthly Oracle to answer to while God the Almighty supervises or else, we have to seek to reduce it to the barest minimum.
In conclusion, Ghanaians are until now problem makers through our actions and inactions but if we rise up to the task as suggested, we will then become problem solvers.

Long live Ghana and the sooner to come deadly revolution, spearheaded by the commoners but not the armed forces or political parties, to put things right to bring back the Ghanaians' lost integrity and dignity with smiles back to our face.

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