An Honest Dead-goat And The Dishonest Live-sheep

In most Ghanaian traditional communities, traditionalists prefer using a sheep in making sacrifices to a goat. This is also not disputedBiblically when Abraham had to use his only son to offer sacrifice to God. God seeing the humility and devotedness in Abraham suggested aram (sheep). These two scenarios clearly ascertain the sort of animal a sheep is and its relevance in making sacrifices.

We all have taken the clue what sort a goat has become to homes. Goat, The irritating and troublesome domestic animal, but appetizing meatfor soups. Even a tamed goat is more troublesome than a wayward sheep.

Am tempted to attribute the goat scenario to the happenings in our country. This dead-goat syndrome has made countless trends on all socialmedia platforms and those very versatile with computer generated designs made news with dead-goats that feared no knife by cartooning.

It is alarming and unfortunate when the president of state paradoxically made the dead-goat statement that has generated many publicoutcries.

With the charisma and the much celebrated humility the president of the Democratic Republic of Ghana (DRG), his Excellency John DramaniMahama has exhibited to many Ghanaians and the world over, I deemed him not a dead-goat. Dead-goats feared no knives and are notsentimental. Dead-goats have no human or better still animal feelings. What will the dead-goat do if another goat is in labour and making thecry? Am afraid, the president if considered metaphorically as a dead-goat, this country will be heading a no go zone. A zone where hand-in-hand we all feel nothing for each other whatsoever. A zone, where survival is for the fittest. Like it has always been in Ghana, - the swift and the crafty survive and flourish.

The recent conundrum in the labour front where doctors threatened strike and manifested it is the most unfortunate thing and a surviving “Goat” president should condemn before dead. Every occupation and profession matters in this Nkrumah left behind country and need to be treated with equity. I was actually bewildered when the minister of Labour calmed the agitated Doctors and Nurses to resume work and on the subsequent day, the president reiterated his stance on expenditure outside the budget, and the dead-goat speech he made in Botwana. In fact, Ghana has come a long way with its natural and human resources to be experiencing strikes from the labour front. Ghana need to prioritize its workers for once and our leaders headed by the president should empower this philosophy rather than inciting the raging labour with the unfortunate dead-goat analogy.

Thinking the doctors will heed to the president, the unattended worse has also plunge this country where the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) had to also join the strike. The teachers even though do not save lives have always nurture the lives God saves through the doctors. And equally, they have to be attended to.

Everything in this country seems to be at a stop. Most Organizations have cease to be operational, the youth since 2011 who graduate from the Universities and Polytechnics are left home jobless due to public sector embargo. I don’t know as I lay prostrate here writing sorrowfully, when the embargo will be lifted. When I asked my next door neighbour’s class four pupil to calculate the number of graduates who leave school each year to the number of years the embargo has been in existence, she screamed. We should not forget that a country that celebrates unemployment is a failed country and a leader that fails to empower the youth to actively work to help build a country is a failed leader.

More so, a country that places no concrete values on doctors, on teachers, on the farmers, on nurses, on the security services and all the private and public work force is a sinking country. We should delve into other countries that place values on the labour force and see their development.

Education is sinking in Ghana and all leaders can do is to politicize it. Alternating and see-sawing the future of Ghana’s schools is what leaders and stakeholders of this country are proud of. I wonder what our eyes see when most of us travel outside this peaceful African country- Ghana.

Coming back to the dead-goat, I think our president need not constantly hit on the dead-goat syndromic statement that catapulted many Ghanaians to the believe that our care takers are manipulating the system to suit their tunes and making the poor Ghanaian widow to keep wallowing in chronic poverty.

The mantra, dead-goat can be averted and the people will be happy. If the NDC and the ruling government want to seat themselves again come election year, many reforms as to how the Ghanaian is handled should be put in place. You think it is every Ghanaian who has ‘short memory’? Of course Not. Many have their memories as sharp as my facebook friend and icon Manasseh Azure Awuni will say, circumcision blade, and will definitely use situations to unseat the party.

I will go for the humble sacrificial sheep. Although it has losses its delicacy when used to prepare our local light soup for fufu. I will go for the sheep because; it has immeasurable sentiment and will feel for the cry of other sheep. The sheep despite its calmness, fears knife and will not wish a knife be on its throat even if it is dead. We don’t need the stubborn goat that will dip its mouth in any chewable thing it finds. You try driving it off and until a sharp tool or water is used, this goat will not leave the scene. Our dirty but unattended to sheep behaves otherwise.

I think we all have a duty to play as citizens of this country to respond to the call God gave us on that day, Adam and Eve realized they had to make generations. We all need to think of others as ourselves and feel for others. We need not behave like the dead-goat and fear no knife. We should also remember, IT IS NOT WHAT WE TAKE WHEN WE LEAVE THIS WORLD BEHIND BUT WHAT WE LIVE BEHIND WHEN WE GO. That is our call. On that note, we have to prioritize this country and leave positive impacts as if Ghana is our mothers only treasured ‘kente’

Am conscientiously appealing to the president of Ghana through this media to retract the much criticized dead-goat statement and look like the dull but smart sheep who eventually fear knife to see reasons with our aggrieved labour and work on the financial cacophonies that have generated the strikes and causing productivity to be low. I hereby also wish to sound this to all workers in this country to root back those our basic school days when we all use to chant the national pledge to resume work and iron out grievances with government.………….. I promise on my honour, to be faithful and loyal to Ghana my motherland. I promise to hold in high and esteem………….to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana and we all will chant …………….so help me god…….Amen.

Wisdom Bonuedi
Teacher, Asamankese Senior High school
The writer is an art Teacher who writes issues on education, politics, social life and humanity.

Email; [email protected]