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Ending the year with blessings; embracing the New Year with hope
Gradually, the year 2021 is drawing to an end, and in less than two weeks, the whole world including our dear nation, Ghana, will be embracing the New Year (2022) with pomp and pageantry. It has been a very difficult and tortuous journey to this point, but the good Lord has favoured most of us as we continue to be alive and, therefore, we must continue to give glory and thanks to Him for protecting our lives.
It is a fact that many were those who could not stand the test of time and, therefore, could not survive the year 2021 due to a number of factors including sickness, road accidents, disasters, murders among others. The deadly disease, the Corona virus pandemic with its attendant devastating nature which continues to wreak havoc and having a major toll across nations throughout the world had claimed many lives globally. To those who lost their lives as a result of some of these unfortunate incidents, we pray that the good Lord will protect their souls and grant them eternal rest. We also wish to console the various bereaved families for losing their loved ones.
PRAYING FOR GOD’s PROTECTION AND LOVE
As the year draws to an end, it is imperative for those of us who are alive to resolve ever than before to put our trust in the Almighty God and continue to pray to Him to grant us the needed protection as we strive to enter the New Year. We must kneel before Him and pray without ceasing by calling on Him to wipe out our sins completely.
Indeed, Ghanaians have not found life easy at all this year as the cost of living continues to escalate beyond bounds. The hardships across the country are so unbearable with people struggling to make ends meet. Prices of goods and services keep going high each and every day while people continue to complain bitterly. It is just the survival of the fittest as those who don’t have the means continue to starve due to lack of dependents. It is only just a few in society made up of government functionaries, businessmen, politicians as well as some so-called men of God who use their services to cheat and exploit the innocents in the society who are making it in the society through their ill-gotten wealth.
OUR POLITICIANS AND ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
Aside all these difficulties being encountered by the citizenry, our politicians especially, the ruling government continue to impose all kinds of ‘killer’ taxes on the already burdened and suffering people of Ghana without justifiable reason. While those at the helm of affairs demand that the people should tighten their belt and face the economic challenges squarely, they (themselves) and their families continue to live affluent and extravagant lives. These politicians who rode on the back of the people to power and the positions they occupy at the moment, have soon forgotten how they came to power and, therefore, continue to exploit and feed fat on the citizenry. They continue to milk the economy and when people talk or complain they become an automatic enemy to the state.
The notion most Ghanaians are have in their minds at the moment is whether it is right to pursue this noble path of democracy which we are all craving for, because we thought that will make life easier and better for us and reflect in our living standards. However, it looks as if they have been disappointed by the very people they gave them their mandate to protect the economy and for that matter their living standards. They have depleted the public purse and are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a cover-up, thereby imposing all kinds of taxes on the people as a means to revamp the shattered economy.
ERADICATING CORRUPTION IN THE COUNTRY
As the year comes to an end, it is the prayer of every Ghanaian that the good Lord will influence the minds of our leaders to show remorse to the people and provide the kind of leadership that will inspire confidence and promote good governance in our dear country. Those who don’t know God or Allah, must begin to know Him now and follow His footsteps. It is our prayer that corruption that has entrenched itself in our economy and having a major effect on the people should be a thing of the past. We also pray that the good Lord will influence the lifestyles of our politicians, especially those managing the economy so that they can live modestly to enable the people to have confidence in them.
ESSENCE OF CHRISTMAS AND THE LESSONS FOR GHANAIANS
Soon, we will be entering into the Christmas festivities which call for Christians to make the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ worthwhile by living good lives. The season calls for the sharing of good news and good things. As we mark the birth of Jesus Christ, let us all in our various capacities, put a smile on the faces of the less privileged around us, a reason Jesus Christ came to us.
Christian or the muslim religion should factor God or Allah into governance and work for justice and peace. The government must work assiduously to bring back the good times. This can only be done through respect for the rule of law, justice and accountability.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. A time for us to understand the lessons from Jesus and reflect on them. Jesus, we are told in the scriptures, brought new religion based on love and vision of a God who is full of compassion and forgiveness, a vision of doing everything with a positive mindset and from a place of love. Therefore, the essence of Christmas is love and that is why God gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
My prayer is that our days will be merry and bright because the radiance of the King of Kings has filled our hearts causing us to mediate in purity, rebirth, unique and eternal presence in our world.
ENTERING THE NEW YEAR WITH HOPE
As we prepare to enter into the New Year (2022), it is important for us as Ghanaians to change our way of life and thinking and chart a new path in our journey towards success. We must shake ourselves from the negativities of the past years, especially 2021, which have put our economy in bad light in international circles so that we will continue to be cherished by the outside world. Our political leaders need to wake up from their slumber and provide effective leadership that will touch the hearts of many including Ghanaians in general.
WE NEED PEACE AND TRANQUILITY TO FORGE AHEAD
For goodness sake, we need peace and tranquility in our dear country and the only thing that can bring about this crucial requirement is for our politicians to embrace dialogue and consensus building to resolve their differences. Constructive criticisms are necessary in democratic practice, however, they must be followed up with tangible solutions instead of confrontational stance which serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Let us remember that politics has come of age in this country and, therefore, there is no need turning backwards because it will not help anybody or particular groupings.
Let me use this medium to wish my numerous readers and patrons, Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year in advance!
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By Charles Neequaye
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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BY ROBERT EKOW GRIMMOND-THOMPSON
