Ghana Is 50 (II)

Ghana, as a sovereign country is 50 years today. The problems and successes through the 50 years should serve as lessons for us to open a new chapter in the history of our dear country.

We have all the resources to make the country a better place to live in, a country in which people will enjoy peace and security, where the surroundings will be neat and the air not polluted, where food and commodities will be sold under hygienic conditions; a better place where every necessary step will be taken to reduce the poverty which stares the people in the face.

Ghana must be a place where our youth, through quality education, will be well equipped to be at the forefront of economic independence, a better place where law and order will prevail, where everybody will respect the rights of others and will refuse to make moves which will create anarchy.

We wish for a country in which the various arms of government would discharge their respective responsibilities with surgical precision to the satisfaction of the ruled, a place where the Ghanaian will have confidence in himself, speak freely but devoid of insult because our culture does not encourage that.

However, we must bear in mind that no freedom is absolute and that the interests of other people should not be jettisoned, provided they do not undermine national security or create confusion and anarchy.

Our dream is to live in a country where good governance will prevail, from the family level to the Presidency.

We are convinced that our forebears made enormous sacrifices to clinch a deal for political independence.

But political independence without economic independence will not satisfy the aspirations of our people.

Here lies the challenge for the next 50 years — We should have national objectives around which our compatriots will rally, well-focussed objectives which should be driven by the spirit that we can make it.

Just as Ghana's participation in the 2006 World Cup united the nation, it is equally important that our 50th anniversary should do the same on a permanent footing.

We have everything to gain if we do that; we have everything to lose if we do not make the interest in the country's development a major issue.

Selfless leadership which empathises with the people in their plight, so that their burden will be reduced, is what we ask for the country.

Certainly, the sacrifices of our forebears were designed to ensure that later generations enjoy the fruits of their toil.

Fortunately, there are indications that the economic fortunes of the country are better now and we are ready for an economic take-off.