Features
Ghana Card and possible ‘Ghana Visa Lottery’
• Prof. Ken Attafuah, NIA boss displaying his card
Our country is amongst one of the first countries in Africa to have gained political independence from the whites precisely from our British Colonial masters. This means Ghana is one of the pacesetters as far as political aspiration, dream and ambition is concerned.
What is trending in Ghana now is the registration of its citizenry for the Ghana Card. The Ghana Card is established to be one of the major biometric citizenship identification tools in Ghana other than the Passport.
It is hoped that soon every citizen in this country would possess this document for identification, telecommunication and transactional purposes. It would amaze you to learn that lots of people everywhere would love to identify themselves with Ghana.
Here in Africa, it is a pride not only to belong to the race of blacks called African but to belong as well to a particular African country. Is it not a pride to be known as a citizen of Morocco, Tanzania, Angola, Senegal amongst others?
People all over this continent would boldly love to show the country they belong in terms of the citizenship rights and the documentation they have. Why would an individual develop so much love for a country in Africa to the extent that they do not want to move to another place to settle and work there, or travel there for comfort, luxury or vacation?
We have heard it so many times that Ghana is the destination in Africa. Others have also said that it is the gateway to Africa. It is possible that Ghana is not yet known to some people in other parts of our world despite the fact that Ghana has been very active to a large extent in the FIFA World Cup on several occasions. Our youngsters have long been there. Our senior national teams have also been there for a while now.
Come to think of it. Employability and availability of jobs is a spice in one’s decision making plan so far as migration, choosing to stay in any nation or to belong there is really concerned. Our records here show that so many tourists would love to visit Ghana. Most foreigners would love to stay in Ghana into the distant and unforeseen future to pursue higher degrees, work and live here, make a family or search for a partner here.
Now that the Ghana Card is here to regulate the citizenry and show the authenticity of a person living in Ghana, what are the future prospects for the elderly and youths of other countries who were not born in Ghana, have no Ghanaian spouses and are in no particular way Ghanaian but have a strong passion for Ghana and would wish to switch nationality into becoming Ghanaian?
I have a genuine feeling that a mechanism like a ‘Ghana Visa Lottery’ if it were to be introduced into the migration machinery to Ghana would be so relevant and useful. Our political leaders and law makers could introduce a new structure for migrating to permanently stay in our Ghana, for switching and acquisition of a Ghanaian nationality and citizenry status based on a person’s knowledge and skills set, displayed passion, feeling of love and loyalty to our nationhood, amongst others.
Thanks in advance to any political leader who comes to the decision table or blackboard with a suggestion to introduce this innovation. Ghana could be the pacesetter in this dimension, too.
By Ebenezer K N Baiden-Amissah
Writer’s address and contact:
P. O. Box LG 1254, Legon, Accra,
Ghana /Telephone +233245310380
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
