A BEAUTIFUL
COUNTRY,
A TIMID
CITIZEN CALLED GHANAIAN,
AND A
BLUNDER CALLED LEADERSHIP
‘God bless
our homeland Ghana
And make our
nation great and strong
Bold to
defend forever
The cause of
freedom and of right…’
These were
the humble wishes of the bricklayers of this country.
Just a few
decades after their demise,
The once
great nation Ghana which lent money
To other
countries is now a wealthy pauper.
Blessed with
minerals and cash crops
And the
recently discovered oil,
One would naturally
expect Ghana to rock shoulders
With the
likes Singapore and Malaysia at least.
Yet, as
Robert Nesta Marley aptly put it,
‘In the abundance
of water the foolish man is thirsty’
This is where
we now find ourselves.
A nation of
countless ‘leaders’
Whom upon all
their academic accomplishments and laurels
Continue to
remain clueless in practically solving basic problems.
A bunch of
so-called leaders
Who see ‘yellow’
yet decide to call it ‘pink’.
A bunch of
so-called leaders
Who invest
heavily in blaming past political regimes
For the
current predicaments of the country,
When they
could have spent less in finding solutions.
A bunch of
so-called leaders who will never embark on projects
Without being
accused of misappropriation and corruption,
Accompanied by a bunch
of Parliamentarians
Who do not
sit to deliberate on vital national issues
But take
delight in voting on party lines
And approving
needless loans irrespective of their future implications.
Evil they say
thrives when good men remain silent.
As timid as
most of us are as Ghanaians,
We have continually
failed to stand for our rights.
These so-called
political leaders plead with us
To elect them
to power all in the name of serving us.
Yet when
elections are over and they get intoxicated with power,
We become
Kunta Kintes to them instead.
We have
elevated them into demigods
And accorded
them powers far beyond their reach.
We are where
we are as a nation
Due to our timid nature as Ghanaians.
We're in this mess
Because high profile religious authorities,
Professionals and revered opinion leaders
Have conspicuously held their tongues in cowardice
And allowed some ignoramus politicians to have their way.
They're scared of being labelled as affiliates of a particular political party.
We're in this mess
Because high profile religious authorities,
Professionals and revered opinion leaders
Have conspicuously held their tongues in cowardice
And allowed some ignoramus politicians to have their way.
They're scared of being labelled as affiliates of a particular political party.
We are in
this state of rot
Because we’ve
turned public servants into public princes.
We’re in this
state of chronic energy crises
Because Ghanaians
have failed to question authority
And failed to
call for accountability and efficiency.
It’s with a
bleeding heart that I say these.
But before I bow
out,
I pray God
continues to bless the nation Ghana.
I pray He
bestows confidence and boldness upon Ghanaians,
And for the so-called
leaders,
I offer them
for deliverance.
