Features
Construction crew or demolition squad? Part 1
In every society, there are two distinct groups of people – those who solve problems and those who create problems. This reminds me of the days of yore when civics was taught as a subject in Ghanaian schools. And mind you, it was taught at the elementary level. By the way, for the uninitiated, civics is the study of the rights and obligations of citizens in a society. Not just rights as many Ghanaians have come to delude themselves that this is all democracy is about. More importantly, it is about obligations to the state.
I remember civics was my best subject at that stage of my formal education because during terminal examinations, I could easily get 100 per cent. All I needed to recall were the type of citizens and how they behaved. A question or two would almost invariably pop up from that domain. If my memory serves me right, we were told that we had the good citizens, bad citizens, active citizens, and passive citizens, of course, the active and good referring to those who were participating keenly and positively in the process of nation building. We were again told the good ones paid their taxes to help advance their societies.
On the other hand, we were taught that the bad ones, while not contributing anything to the efforts to promote their societies, were also wreaking havoc by their vices, in the process, causing their communities to retrogress. I do not recall the name of the book we were using but I remember how the passive citizen was characterised, in a pictorial representation, as someone sitting on a fence with folded arms while others were busy working hard for their communities to bring about positive change. At least, these only sat on the fence, but the bad ones indulged in all sorts of evil, kleptocracy leading by a mile.
On hindsight, I realise that it all boils down to the Construction Crew and the Demolition Squad. In biblical terms, we might say the Nehemiahs representing the builders, and the Tobiahs, Sanballats, and Geshems characterising the nation wreckers. Where do you belong as Ghana tries, through thick and thin, to move to the level where it will be respected among the community of nations?
As a nation our motto is: Freedom and Justice. Well crafted! But where is the justice after Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and other nationalists led us to snatch, as it were, our freedom from the jaws of the imperialist lions? Where is the justice when the slogan seems to have been implicitly replaced by the unwritten code that suggests that “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others?”
In “Animal Farm”, the satirical masterpiece of a novel by the British author, George Orwell, he writes about the betrayal of other animals by a pig named Napoleon, and its ilk. After the animals chase the farm owner, Mr. Jones out of town for oppressing them, they draw up, as it were, a constitution, described as the Seven Commandments to promote certain principles of the animal community dubbed, “Animalism.” Those principles are as follows:
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, (that is, humans)
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend
3. No animal shall wear clothes
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed
5. No animal shall drink alcohol
6. No animal shall kill any other animal
7. All animals are equal
Initially, meetings are held on Sundays to plan and regulate life in the commune. But sooner than later, Napoleon and the other pigs cancel all meetings and insist that they will take all the decisions “for the good” of the other animals.
With time, Napoleon and its cohorts assume the air of superiority and arrogate to themselves the role of overlords, breaking all the rules of “animalism” and behaving just like Mr. Jones whose exploitation led to his overthrow.
First, the pigs start to take all the milk and apples for themselves to the exclusion of the other animals. Then, Napoleon and its band of traitors begin to sleep in cozy beds, drink whisky, walk on their hind legs with their chests out, that is, upright as humans, not on all fours any longer, wear clothes, and have a whip in hand ready to rein in noncompliant animals. Napoleon even trains the dogs as bodyguards which are used to charge at perceived rebels or troublemakers. Before long, Napoleon and its notorious gang replace the Seven Commandments espousing “Animalism” with the single code: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
With sorrow of heart, the “common animals” spy on the “elite pigs” through the farmhouse window as they party hard at their expense, with a human friend they welcome into their company. Something else. Now, it is difficult to tell the difference between the pigs and humans. Does it ring a bell in Africa? Does it sound familiar in our body politic? Do you recognise those who have now put on airs; people who had nothing to boast of before they sought redemption in politics and became overnight millionaires? And why not, when no one insists that they should declare their assets as stipulated by the law!
The African-American civil rights leader and trade unionist, Asa Philip Randolph, (1889 – 1979), made a poignant declaration as follows: “Equality is the heart and essence of democracy; freedom and justice, equality of opportunity in industry, in labour unions, schools and colleges, government, politics, and before the law. There must be no dual standards of justice, no dual rights, privileges, duties, or responsibilities of citizenship. No dual forms of freedom!”
Speaking on the same issue, the 19th century British lawyer, judge, philosopher, law reformer, and writer, Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, (1829-1894) remarked:“The only shape in which equality is really connected with justice is this – justice presupposes general rules. If these general rules are to be maintained at all, it is obvious that they must be applied equally to every case which satisfies their terms.” In other words, “what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander.”
As a government where is the justice when the water that the city dwellers use to wash their cars is cleaner, in most cases, than what some cocoa farmers and other rural folk drink? Through no fault of theirs, our brothers and sisters in the rural areas are born with daunting odds stacked heavily against them. They struggle under those circumstances to meet their most basic needs of life – shelter, clothing, food, and water. Unfortunately, whatever help they get is usually piecemeal
The great pan-Africanist leader, Nelson Mandela blared the truth loud and clear when he declared that “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice.”But where is the justice when the roads that link the food growing areas and mineral producing regions of the country to the big cities, appear to be in a perpetual state of disrepair? The dangerous roads put the lives of the people there at risk, especially, when they have to transport the critically ill to the nearest health facilities which in most cases, are mere first aid posts. We must be in government with the abiding consciousness that every human life is of equal importance. Otherwise, we have no business being there.
Government after government periodically applies some stopgap measures to improve the situation as if they are giving the people some charity. The most disrespectful aspect of this attitude is that most of the time, these repair works are done close to elections. What do you take the rural folk for? Dummies? No, they are only longsuffering and that should not be misconstrued to be a weakness.
The truth is ad hoc interventions are not the solution. An equitable distribution of projects under the national development agenda is the appropriate option. Besides, we cannot stop the rural-urban drift if we do not make the rural areas attractive enough to stem the tide. This is a basic fact that most of our leaders learnt long ago in their school days. They wrote about it in examinations and got their pass mark, or even an excellent grade. Yet they are not applying it practically. Or you think your script is not being marked any longer in school? The school of voters is scrutinising the performance of elected officials.
Do not forget that a stitch in time saves nine.
Writer’s email address:
teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk
By Tony Prempeh
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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