How do you get people to believe they’re having terrible pizza if their only frame of reference for what it should taste like is Papa’s pizza? It’s an impossible conversation in the same way that discussing bad sex with a person who got married as a virgin and has only their spouse as their point of reference. There’s simply no way. So how do we navigate progress in a society where a state official can convincingly state that a donation of one canoe will be an economic stimulant for the community? The canoe was invented between 8200-7600 BC if wikipedia is to be trusted. That’s for context. A V8 Landcruiser driving minister of state is unabashedly touting this is an economic stimulant! It’s the ease with which we’re lied to by those who definitely know better that is heartbreaking and unconscionable. The standard is so low and the majority of the voting population are suffering beyond mustering the appetite for demanding anything meaningful from their elected officials, and these politicians are aware and fully exploit it to their short-sighted ends. The common politician is small minded and scrambling to get a piece of the decreasingly small pie instead of growing the pie. Ghana’s pie keeps shrinking and we the people are letting them get away with murder. The dialogue has stagnated for decades and sides have been chosen. This blogpost is to speak on it at a macro level. We must find purpose. Some of our issues are quite silly when we stand back to assess them. Here are some dynamics that need to change.
There is a condition in our country that needs naming. No suitable one comes to mind. It’s the divide between Ghanaians who have had the opportunity of living in a different society and Ghanaians with limited exposure to what an organized society can look like or be. I suspect the desire for better is mutual but the expectation for what the baseline should be is starkly different. This is not a judgment on either side of the divide. The blame isn’t on one side, rather on both for the lack of appetite to collaborate with respect in achieving an organic progress engineered specifically for our society. “Diasporans” or as some have named themselves “Ahasporans” are guilty of a brash disposition that smacks of elitism and disdain for how issues are handled by those who have spent the majority of their adulthood living and contending with a system that gives very little room for recourse or innovation to the issues that affect us all. We’ll not get into the silliness of delineating one’s self from your fellow countrymen by virtue of living abroad and feeling the desperate need to distinguish yourself by that fact. Unfortunate. Living abroad may be an advantage in exposure but not a reason to feel superior to your own countrymen. Those who have committed their lives to living in Ghana for the most part or entirely also exhibit a kind of defensiveness that may be interpreted as insecurity or exhaustion with the opinions/proposals of those who have moved back home from living outside. There must be a way we can work together or maybe it’s an impossible expectation?
What brought about this article, after years of abstaining from blogging is a deep concern for the nature of the dialogue for progress in the country. We all agree that things are not as they should be, The solution may be in starting with our integrity or lack thereof. In no other terms, the country runs on a default dishonesty among the general populace. Ghanaians lie with impunity on demand or even in regular conversation. We just have to lie. That is detrimental to the national discourse. If we can’t be honest about what is wrong, how can we truly fix up? We lie in business, in social interaction, in official capacity, about our reasons for making certain decisions, in intimate relationships, when we make appointments, when we take on jobs, how we tell our history and those of our loved ones who pass on, in almost every aspect of life we find the lie to tell. May be it’s a coping mechanism for the harsh challenges we face but it’s perverse and pervasive. It’s quite rare to engage with like-minded folks because it feels that our egos surpass the reality that we must work together to achieve sensible and meaningful change. May be there isn’t enough of an appetite for change?
It’s election year and the frenzy is already manic. From registering voters through the pandemic to debating who has developed more infrastructure for the country, our politics is mundane and juvenile. The conversations/campaigns from both sides are not innovative or even stimulating. What are we voting for? The bare minimum? The issue with the conversation on a fundamental level, is a disagreement of what proper governance should be. What these parties are offering is not a deviation from the redundancy of nation building post-Nkrumah. Their expertise is in looting the national purse, both parties. The youth, 40 and under need a long and deep reflection in the mirror to examine the future we’re interested in. Our elders have failed us miserably over the past few decades. In our lifetime, we haven’t had leadership that has ever prioritized the youth of this county, the very life blood of our survival as a nation. The youth have been ignored, undermined and dismissed for so long, most 40year olds(middle aged citizens even though that for us is 32 since life expectancy is 64 in Gh) don’t have any meaningful voice in the society. Unless they’re aligned with the corruption of the system and heavily sucking up and kissing ass.
It’s tempting to want-in and join the looting because every aspirational human wants to do well and that seems the more viable option in a country where access to advancement is so closely tied to political affiliation. There are others making a head way in the private sector but those are a handful if that. Most of those few come from some sort of privilege or if you dig deep enough, took advantage of “an opportunity or opportunities” that won’t hold up under the scrutiny of any ethical searchlight. If you speak loudly, you create enemies and put an indelible target on your back. Here’s the deal; we must stand for something, beyond material gains. A system that future generations can rely on their education and a profession to move up in achieving their dreams with integrity. We can’t repeat the patterns since we gained consciousness enough to understand politics and expect our politicians to improve their act. We can’t partake in the corruption, public or private sector and then hold each other accountable. These politicians count on our docility and or complicity as a collective and our nonsensical enchantment and alignment with the two-party option that we won’t force or demand different norms and standards. The times are demanding of our generation to take a hard stand. We must decide what is important for us and progeny. Every aspect of our daily lives is subpar for the regular Ghanaian. Our schools, health system, economy, communities, entertainment and civil service need innovation and change. Decent housing is impossible for the youth and working class to afford. This blogpost is intended to serve as the conscience of the youth. What is our collective conscience as the youth? Do we know? It’s uncertain but the hope is that we can rise up for a higher purpose. The hope is that we challenge a system that suffocates and snuffs out so many for the most basic of needs; food, shelter and health. We need a new agreement, a new conversation, a new genuine sincerity. This is the calling of our generation. What is scary is how dangerously the underprivileged live on the brink in poverty and the possibility that one day they snap. It’s an alarmist and simplistic explanation that wreaks of desperation to get attention or is it? When you hear the challenges most people face, it doesn’t feel alarmist to expect them to eventually start fighting back violently if things don’t change. Then again, if this post is to be believed in the discussion, Ghanaians can not be believed so maybe we’re all doing exceptionally great and just hiding our comfort with a mask of poverty and suffering.
If the cycle must be broken, we must be willing to break it. We must be willing to want more for our future, for our society, for our children. A better Ghana is possible and easily within reach if our leadership will be held accountable and to different standards. It’s our right to participate in voting and it is also ok not to when we don’t see any worthy option as individuals. It’s a valid form of political protest and civil disobedience. When you’re to choose between death by firing squad or death by drowning, your refusal to choose is a valid protest. We must demand something more for our society. We must demand better representation in every aspect of our society. We must demand more from ourselves in our standards and individual constitutions. We must make these demands of ourselves and our society. Let’s demand firmly before the affected demand it violently. Peace & Love.
PS – So many specific issues to complain about and so many solutions to these challenges but the spirit of this article is intended to inspire NOT preach. I think a good start is honest conversation. You’re challenged to start the honest dialogue in your group chats and social interactions, virtual and physical. We can rise to a different reality if we want it bad enough. The hope is that we do.
80griots 