As children at the Airforce Station in Takoradi, we were brought up to be disciplined, honest and truthful everywhere we found ourselves and people in leadership positions set good examples for the young and upcoming ones.

Religious believers such as Christians, Moslems and Traditionalists have reinforced this idea of good beliefs and practices so that after death we’ll be able to go to our Creator. Christians believe, for example, that we need to live good lives so that we can go to heaven where the Creator is. In the case of Moslems, they also believe that good behaviour as required by Allah, is what will take you straight into His bosom. These beliefs have influenced Christians and Moslems to behave well from time immemorial. When we come to Tradionalists, they also believe that to be able to get to the Creator, you need to be of good behaviour and refrain from sin or what is not good so that after death, you’ll become an ancestor or a living-dead, that is, people who though are dead, continue to live as good people who stay along with their Creator.

BELIEFS

These beliefs remind some of us as children when we were staying with our parents at the Airforce Station in Takoradi. The important caveat was a reminder to everyone that one day we will all move away from this earth and give an account of ourselves concerning the kind of life lived on this earth.

This belief is being taken for granted by the generation of today. The reason is not far-fetched. No one has come back from the dead to give an account of his or her experience on the other side of life. For this reason, people take it for granted that death is bound to come but forget that after death, there will be judgement.

One of the things we remember as children at the Airforce Station was that, behind that Station, there was one drunkard who often moved from a nearby village to the barracks, announcing from time to time in his state of drunkenness that “Obiara bewu but people don’t know” which simply means, “Everyone is bound to die one day even though people take it for granted.”

THE WORLD TODAY

In the world today, people forget about this advice and keep misbehaving, proving to be wicked to their neighbours and subordinates. In many workplaces, be it offices or workshops, many superior officers discriminate against their subordinates and suppress them in an unfair manner to such an extent that sometimes we wonder whether such people actually believe that there is a God somewhere who would expect judgement from us after death.

Many of these people in their wickedness only associate themselves with people who are prepared to toe their lines whether right or wrong in order to ensure that such people are given promotions even where this is not necessary or is needless. Such things go to show how unjust the world has become.

Sometimes those who are bold enough to cry out against such injustice are pushed somewhere else where they will not have any influence in social life. This behaviour must be stopped since all of us are bound to give account someday to the Creator.

It is also a well-known fact that many people today use charms and amulets as well as occultic powers to gain power into leadership positions using these powers to charm their own superior leaders, so that even when they go wrong it will never dawn on anyone to bring them to book. This is a very unfortunate and unpleasant situation, making us wonder whether, indeed, there is justice in this world.

INFLUENCE THROUGH MONEY

Many people have died from maltreatment. Where such maltreatment occurs, money is used to influence vociferous people in society, so that they will not speak about the evil they see.

The practice of journalism is a noble profession but some of the practitioners are easily influenced by money to turn a blind eye to what constitutes the truth.

Again, even though the law court system is supposed to render justice to all people irrespective of status, this does not often occur as expected, even though in some cases the law is given the appropriate interpretation by those expected to dispense justice.

In the legislature as we often see, many of our parliamentarians are so biased that they are not truthful to issues that come up for deliberation. If for example things are becoming tough for the country, and, therefore, should be helped to come up with generating more income, those in opposition for fear that the generation of more revenue may lead to massive development for people in society, may vehemently oppose such a move to the discomfort of everyone. The point must be made, however, it is not all parliamentarians who are so biased but that some of them try to be as honest and truthful as possible and pursue the national interest. These are the people we need in Ghana today. We hope the parliamentarians will stop fighting needlessly in the legislature, so as to earn the respect they expect as “Honourable Members”.

NEED TO CHANGE OUR LIVES

Many more people ought to change their lives for the better in society. Tailors and seamstresses must be truthful, so that they will be able to render quality customer service to those who come to them for their service, including delivering sewn items on time. In the same way, drivers and their helpers, often known as “mates”, should be polite to all manner of passengers. We also expect the passengers to behave well to these drivers and their “mates”.

Security officers like policemen and soldiers must be fair to all people in society. They should not allow themselves to be influenced by the rich in pursuance of injustice in society. We can go on and on but the list can never be exhausted, so the problems in society are caused by we ourselves.

We are always in love with the rich and those who can satisfy us with money, while the poor is allowed to suffer with no one caring for him/her. This trend of iniquity and bad behaviour cannot continue throughout this 21st century, so we need to put a stop to it without delay.

DISHONEST EMPLOYEES

It is important also to note that many individuals would want to set up businesses and employ people to work in them to earn their means of livelihood. Unfortunately, many people employed in this way are so dishonest that within a short time they collapse the business established by set ups in their own interest. So what a world do we find ourselves in? God has not created problems for the world but the problems and challenges we face are the creation of man himself.

Subordinates in organisations and workplaces must know that whatever they do in this world will be accounted for after death, so we all need to be careful and behave as honest people at all times. We should also learn to tell the truth even if we will be subjected to one form of victimisation or the other. This is how we can all make the world a better place for everyone and enjoy the fruits of happiness irrespective of where we find ourselves.

May God help us all. Amen.

Contact email/ahatsApp of author:

Pradmat2013@gmail.com (0553318911)

BY DR KOFI AMPONSAH-BEDIAKO