Features
Opinion: A prosperous Ghana must be built on hope
Any serious national conversation on an efficient governance system and its fruits of development should never exclude the active and productive population, including youth and women.
Thus, a country whose active population happens to outnumber all other sects of population, and is of sound and good health, has a duty to put such population at the centre of its policies and programmes.
And we believe that is exactly what the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is doing.
That is why such segments of the population should appreciate the opportunities and buy into them for their own well-being as they contribute their quota towards national development.
But that means digging deep into our innate abilities and taking advantage of the appropriate opportunities available in optimally benefiting from the schemes available, including skills training, ICT, revenue mobilisation, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and afforestation.
Models
There are, indeed, innumerable instances of countries which have proven that such ideas are the way to go in rapidly transforming society and positively impacting development and growth that touch every social layer and household, including the disabled and vulnerable.
We may cite China, almighty US, Malaysia, India and Pakistan as well as Cuba, whose expertise in basic health delivery services is the most effective in the world. Accordingly, we may agree that what is good for another country may be good for Ghana that is why it is imperative that we follow the example of such nations.
This being said, it becomes pertinent for the Ghanaian youth to note that without their active contribution and effort, all government initiatives targeting them would fail in the long run.
Empty sloganeering
Yes, we have certain countries where military coup d’état was orchestrated by young and vibrant youth with an ambition to revolutionise society.
We may, however, admit that such hollow ambitions, without concrete structures and processes, can hardly be sustained. In the history of Ghana, some exuberance ignited positive political result like the riots and looting in Accra Central in 1948 and the February 28 peace march by World War Two veterans.
But the absence of versatile and constitutional structures resulted in political instability that later divided the country into polarised groups, instead of a unified state with a clear, unambiguous programme.
Civic duties
That, of course, calls into question our commitment and willingness to accept and adhere to democratic processes, exhibiting the positive attitudes which we are willing to portray when we travel to the outside world while denouncing all practices considered blood-sucking habits (usurping governments, corruption, tribalism, et al).
The description ‘backbone of a country’ given to the active population calls for the youth to better position themselves in making impact in all of these important areas mapped out by our technocrats in the strategic sectors.
This is a basic step in preparing to take up the mantle of leadership, as we march on doggedly learning and allowing ourselves to be mentored responsibly, so that we do not become a liability to ourselves when that mantle falls on us in due time.
The task, which is being handed over to us by the older, experienced, accomplished generation, encompasses governmental policies set out specifically for the youth to master in systematically and gradually moving up into positions in public and private life.
We may similarly find ourselves in business and academia as well as politics and other governance environment like local government or religious and charity platforms – all of which support human uplifting and welfare and help improve lives and livelihoods.
History
Undeniably, successive governments in Ghana had been engaged in various efforts to mobilise and uplift youth to a better and worthy status than they came to meet us.These are evident in the creation of several organisations such as ‘The Young Pioneers’, which was formed to instill discipline and patriotism in the youth.
Support systems offered such youth include scholarships to train them as professionals, the Free Compulsory Basic Education and many other programmes put in place during Nkrumah’s era.
Similarly, Dr. K. A Busia’s administration followed suit with the establishment of Ministry of Youth and Rural Development, the National Service Corps and others, which ensured that the increasing population of youth in the country was not left out in the process of development.
Again, Col Kutu Acheampong’s National Redemption Council saw to it that the ‘Operation Feed Yourself Campaign’in which the youth were highly motivated as partners ensured that food security challenges were tackled and agriculture raised to an acceptable level.
Then, we had the J.J Rawlings era of both military and democratic governments which guaranteed that in all that it did, the youth played a central role, as Woker’s Defence Committees (WDCs) and People’s Defence Committees (PDCs) or market and lorry park unions, in partnering government’s development agenda.
Significantly, we had Ghana around this time making global gains in sports, particularly boxing and football, as we put in place desk at the relevant sectors to support music, boxing and football, resulting in us winning African and world class laurels.
NPP youth initiatives
The J.A Kufuor administration, similarly, never relented in incorporating the youth into its various policies. Basically, due to the significant rise in the population of youth during his tenure of office, and the threat of increased unemployment rate it had on Ghana`s economy, the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) under the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment was established to curtail this peril.
Also, the Distance Education Programme for Youth Development, now School of Continuing and Distance Education, was introduced in the University of Ghana to serve the working youth who wanted to obtain a higher tertiary education.
The urge to provide a platform for the youth by successive governments within the Ghanaian spectrum showed no sign of retrogression as the late Atta Mills and Mahama’s tenures saw that the policies regarding the presence of the youth in the country were made explicit.
These included the decoupling of Youth from the Ministry of Manpower and Employment and aligning it with Sports. Also, in doing so, the Ministry was tasked to identify the existing challenges the youth faced whilst suggesting resolutions.
The introduction of the Progressive Free Education was also one of the various measures implemented to curb illiteracy due to financial constraints. With all these and more as a tool to provide solutions by policymakers and government to the able youth of the country, it must be noted that the youth can only be gingered to aid in bettering the country when there is a holistic acceptance to engage in practices which affect the country positively not otherwise.
Current efforts
Efforts made by successive governments to uplift the youth of Ghana cannot be mentioned without citing the commendable achievements of H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo.
Evident among the numerous policies of this current government to guarantee the betterment of the youth include NABCO, which is employing 100,000 youths, Planting for Food and Jobs, Free SHS, One District One Factory, revamping of the Forestry Commission, which has created 83,000 jobs, the restoration of teacher and nurse-trainees’ allowances, among others.
These are but a few initiatives put in place by the current government to ease the burden on youth, thus creating platforms for exploration and exhibition of talents, skills and knowledge acquired.
It is, indeed, true that not all the existing problems the Ghanaian youth face have been resolved by government and policymakers.
Nonetheless, it is of utmost importance that we, as the backbone of this country, rally around the policymakers and government with a high sense of optimism in the knowledge that “Rome was not built in a day”.
United and resolved to work hard as patriotic citizens, our nation will sooner than later gain its momentum as the gateway to Africa.
The writer is the TESCON President,
University of Ghana Distance Education.
By Abdul Razak Nasiru
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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