If you want to rape Ghana, at least use condom [Part 1]

Yep, if you want to rape Ghana and start cashing in on her misery at least use a condom and be more humane because we're destroying the nation inside out.

“What”?
You have a problem with that? This is not an oh-no moment. I'm just trying to lift the veil on the Ghanaians' iniquities or inequities — take your pick.

Welcome to what I hope is the most truthful, blunt, straightforward, no holds barred, no nonsense piece you have ever read. It's a personal piece; me talking straight with you as if we were hanging out in a bar and talking about the national issues.

You're about to get into a championship fight with your own conscience. You will be knocked around and many of your cherished selfish ideas and greedy tendencies will get punched and stomped on. Like a roller coaster, your stomach will drop and you might have trouble breathing. But don't worry, you'll arrive safely at the other end of this piece - trust me!

At least, most people in this business of writing for a wide readership are more subtle than this. They usually try to be a little discrete in their request for the fear of losing their readers or being attacked or ridiculed.

But, I'm not the one. I'm usually straight –up most of the time in my writing. I do not sugarcoat my points; neither do I try to increase my fan club membership by being soft on issues. So this time I'm asking you to be thoughtful and humane when you're screwing up Ghana, literally and figuratively. I'm asking you to do it NOW! Please don't say it has nothing to do with you. Oh, yes, it does! If we don't we're going to pay a price down the road.

So, as I was saying and you so rudely interrupted me, Ghana's success or downfall is an inside job. Our politicians and policy makers are seldom honest when they talk publicly of money or our welfare. And they're always promising to use the national resources judiciously but, that is something only small children might believe.

What's really important to you? It seems like it's easy to answer, right? The average normal Ghanaian would quickly say, “My kids, family, being healthy, security, job” and so on. I bet those answers are what you came up with. But, they're not true. I don't buy them.

I'm not calling anyone a liar but, those answers are not important to most average Ghanaians. Why would I say that? Because as a Ghanaian how on earth can you accomplish those goals when you're constantly raping Ghana with impunity? If you know what is important you would be obligated to do the job you were hired to do, without cutting corners. How can you succeed whilst Ghana is literally crawling on her belly? Nope, you don't know what is important to you, so don't get me started!

Our school children are failing academically and we're standing idly by, mute as stone because we have no qualms about it. So don't tell me that you know what is important. You're pocketing the revenue from the toll booth for your own personal needs and you want to tell me that you know what is important for the country?

As a teacher, you spend more quality hours for your personal business than being in the class room to teach. You want to tell me you know what is important? Thanks to the illegal timber loggers and chainsaw operators, Ghana's vegetation is gradually becoming a desert. Let's be real!

What sort of country do you want your kids to inherit?

I'm just warming you up, so stay with me!
However, if that offends you, please put this away or click on a different article ASAP, and make yourself happy.

I have a few issues with what has happened in Ghana lately that makes me shake my head in disbelief. These issues can teach us a lesson or two about what 'success' really means. Ghana's inclination to succeed is being hampered by our desire to succeed by any means necessary, without her (Mother Ghana).Yet we seem to expect more from Ghana than what we're willing to give her. But, can we realistically be emotionally happy living in the midst of an endemic poverty?

With the economy struggling, increased middleclass anxiety and social safety net collapsing under their weight, more and more Ghanaians are looking for ways to make quick money by any means necessary. The recession is causing deep anxiety among millions (especially the haves), who fear that the political situation is trampling on their rights and freedom. Their “pains” go deep, especially when the party they don't support is in power. As a result they depend on false assumption that they can succeed without Ghana. Therefore they don't care whether or not Ghana makes it because they are not waiting for Ghana and that it's not their duty to see Ghana prosper.

Come on folks, I know life is full of pot holes and temptations. Therefore, you will be ridiculed for not taking the easy road when you know you should take the right road. You will be laughed at for trying to do the Right Thing in the name of mother Ghana. You will be criticized for going by the book. Your friends and family members will give you crap for being a cause for change but not an effect. You will be at odds for setting up standards and raising the bar a little. But, Ghana's success or downfall is an inside job and we all have a role to play.

I just returned from Ghana after two months on facts-finding expedition. It was my voyage into the pure essence of what really is holding Ghana from seeing the socio-economic Promised Land.

It's a fact; most Ghanaians irrespective of their background, educational attainment, political affiliation, social status or wealth have this mindset: They think they can make it without the country, period! They don't think their success is directly linked to the success of the nation. In other words, we think we do not need Ghana's development and progress as a measurement of our own success. But can we grow socially and economically while the nation is stagnant? This is what goes on in Ghana. How did we arrive at that juncture?

My friend Buck put his own spin on it and he was right. He said, “put a Nigerian or a Ghanaian on the street of London or New York as a traffic warden and he does the job with all his might, without the thought of bribe. But, put the same person in Ghana or Nigeria, the next minute he will steal or solicit for bribe. Wage level is not enough of an excuse, rather a social and cultural mentality that says a position is an opportunity to enrich yourself”--Amen!

On my trip, I also found out there remains a wall between the poor and everyone else. Apart from inequality, which has grown significantly in the last two decades, a social barrier remains. There is a little direct contact between the haves and have nots. In effect we live in two nations, separate and unequal. If you don't believe me go to East-Legon.

But, can that go on forever?
Why should you give your time and financial resources to help members of your society who are struggling and who are often marginalized? What benefits are gained by people who reach out to others in need? What kind of self-reflection is required to give something wisely for the betterment of your nation?

Why is it important not to spend the nation's money on yourself? Why is it important to do the right job when others are slacking? Why is it so important to make a right decision when you have other choices? Why can't you live within your means so you can be a little truthful to yourself and the people with whom you come in contact? Why so many lies in Ghana? It's either truth or it's a lie. Why so many Ghanaians have the incentive to seek short-term rewards, at the expense of long-term prosperity? Answering these and other questions will help you to understand what 'success' is all about. It will also help you to teach yourself and your kids valuable lessons about success, life and happiness.

Here is a story about how an average Ghanaian thinks, that illustrates what I'm talking about: A young MP decided to acquire a lot of money and worldly toys before his party is out of power. So he embarked on his' mission' the first year he was voted into office.

He designed a cockamamie scheme to dupe the government and his constituency by misusing the funds intended to provide amenities for the people who voted for him. He built mansions upon mansions in his home town and at East-Legon. He accumulated fleet of cars and trucks — all at the expense of mother Ghana, by some means which will be very difficult to uncover without a whistleblower, even if the auditors are independent and objective.

In the eyes of the people and his contemporaries he was “successful”, until one day he realized that it's impossible for anyone to succeed without having tempo with one's own country. One fateful night when armed robbers stormed his house he called the police on his cell phone but, the police could not come to his aid because they lack vehicles and other crime fighting tools. His so-called success story is in smoke. That is the price of individual's success without the nation's. This illustration is generic, and doesn't refer to any particular person's circumstance.

Credit: Kwaku Adu-Gyamfi. (The Voice of Reason)

NJ, USA
*The author a social commentator and the chairman of the Adu-Gyamfi Youth Empowerment and Educational Foundation at Asuom, in the Kwaebibrim District.