The Inferiority Demon in Ghana needs urgent attention

In today's world there's always acontention between two things-Lies versus the truth, originality versus imitation, darkness versus light, and love versus hatred. One of these two opposing forces becomes a determinant factor of destiny and success, based on which side you choose. The most dangerous of it all is when one can not boldly choose a side but decide to play neutral among these opposing forces. For instance, many seem to amalgamate lies polished with a bit of truth in their daily lives. A society must be decisive in terms of who they want to be , what they tend to do, and where they want to go in the future. Ghana, as a nation, has come to the crossroads. We are in the period where we need to choose being ourselves or being someone else. We have come to the crossroad of either choosing to be free or walk around with the shackles of colonialism. We have come to a place where we either choose to believe in ourselves or look down on ourselves. From the Church to public institutions, from the Chieftainy institutions to the helms of government, we have lost the battle of identity to something which doesn't represent us. For many years, our system and policies have always made us second citizens in our own land. Was our independence only meant to protect colonial legacies in our land that, after many years, we continue to give power and amplify the voices of imperialism on our own soil? Not even the most powerful and vocal preachers could break free from it. We have seen Presidents and national leaders still walking in the shadow of their colonial masters. This canker has travelled down to the ordinary man on the street who have zero confidence in themselves. Have you bought a "made in Ghana" shoe that' has an embossment' of "made in Italy" even though this same shoe was manufactured in Adum in the Ashanti region? Why should a local shoe manufacturer do this? Is it that we consider anything manufactured in Ghana to be of inferior quality or they do not match foreign products in terms of quality?

It's heartbreaking to see how even the Ghanaian media in Ghana have contributed to the collapse of our movie industry. Most of the TV and radio stations invest so much time and energy promoting foreign soap opera or telenovella and shelving local productions. Truth be told, I don't think one would ever find Ghanaian local movies either on public or private TV channels in for example India or Mexico.

The danger of these practices is the introduction of alien culture in Ghana, and I won't be surprised that many Ghanaians will start naming their kids after these characters. Soon on the street of Accra and Kumasi, we will be hearing names like Gangaa, Gomez, Alvaro, Marcelo, and the likes. The media has a powerful influence on the behaviour and thinking of others. No wonder it is said the pen is mightier than the sword. Skin bleaching is another issue that needs urgent attention in Ghana. In recent times, it's so "normal" to meet a dark- skinned person turned white. Unfortunately, their knuckles and some hard to bleach areas of their body give them out. Even some respected persons in society including so-called pastors and musicians have all bleached their skin. Apart from the health implications of skin bleaching, anyone who bleaches his/her skin makes a mockery of himself/herself.

Hello Pastor, before you preach to others, check your skin to avoid discrepancies. Jesus is a man of confidence, and anyone who follows him must believe in themselves.

Last but not least is the insult of waiting for someone to come and manage our economy for us with all the PhD holders in the system. This clearly shows that there is a big disconnect between our educational system and living realities in Ghana. Our education syllabus is full of unrealistic theories, which have no power to address the needs of our people. Thousands of Ghanaians spend millions of cedis to acquire foreign education only to end up at the door of IMF to come manage our economy. We must believe in ourselves and give voice, power, and encouragement to our culture, identity, and our beliefs as Ghanaians to inspire us to champion the course of our freedom. If Kwame Nkrumah was inspired and determined to change Ghana and the whole Africa, then truly you and can rise today and free ourselves. Before I end this piece the emancipation song by Bob Marley is something that should encourage every African to join the fight for freedom but it begins from us being mentally free from the mirage of western dominance and prosperity.

By Richard Tawiah