#01: Whose fault is it? Reasons for Ghana's inability to address its developmental challenges.

Airport City, Accra, Ghana

Photo Credit: Yaw Pare Photography

---

The world is in trying times as the year 2020 has been plagued with quite a number of misfortunes with the Corona Virus also known as COVID-19 being the outstanding one. All over the world, health systems are struggling to keep up with the Corona virus. Africa is projected to be heavily hit by the virus as a result of its weak health systems. In Ghana, although there have been many efforts to catch up with the curve as well as to flatten it, it still does not take away the fact that the health system is very weak. Evidently, the health system is just a fraction of the dysfunctional systems in Ghana. Why are the systems so weak? Whose fault is it? To know this we have to go all the way back, back in time, to when there was potential.

“Ghana our beloved country is free forever!” These are the words that liberated us from the supposedly “cold grips” of colonialism. The story on the fight for independence is an interesting one. From 1471 when the gold coast was discovered like an unearthed Talent in a five-year-old child, down to 1957 when Ghana our beloved country was born. From buying slaves to being slaves; from being annihilated to being educated, our forefathers fought, fought our “masters”; and through this fight came the role models for both past and present democratic leaders as well as monarchs. 1957 was the exclamation mark on a well won battle. Since then, Ghana has been a beacon for economic development and political stability. She broke free from Western colonialism; survived the perils of military rule; strengthened her democracy by keeping leaders honest with the ballot box, and showed strong potential for economic success by using our natural resources as local and foreign investment tools.

“You do not throw a feast for a hungry man.” In an era where less than five per cent of the populace were educated, like food being handed to the hungry man who knew little about “storing for the winter”, democracy was handed to us knowing little about what it actually meant to us and how it actually worked. People who were used to being submissive to monarchs for a great chunk of their history were given the chance to choose leaders who were to “work” for them. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah delivered Ghana to the people and became the Hero the then Gold Coast and Africa as whole wanted. Bearing in mind that Heroes work with sidekicks, and work for the good of the people, that agreement was accepted. Like Caesar, Dr. Nkrumah was loved by the the citizens and was honored and respected greatly until he was diagnosed of the Dictatorship syndrome. Apparently, Ghana needed a new leader who would come and change things. Doc was taken out and we had a different type of leadership; military rule. And it was like this till we came to where we are now, the fourth republic which already has had 5 different leaders and thousands of leaders acting in the background from the Political, Religious and traditional sectors. Ghana has had all these very capable leaders and yet still has a developmental rate as that of a moving tortoise. Why are they blamed for the misfortune of the nation? In Africa and the world as a whole, leaders are a beacon of hope, they are looked up to for answers when things go wrong and also receive the praise when things go right. At the helm of all affairs, shots are called at the top affecting those at the bottom without having jack to do about it. Our leaders are Kings; they are bosses and “Royalty”. You do not hold Kings accountable for decisions they make... do you want to lose your head? Most often than not, it is ideal to take the blame for a fall, but not in Ghana. They are immune to subjection and criticisms from anybody. Also the public sector holds the national treasure chest. It is where fortunes are made. Forget grass to grace being Kotoka to JFK or Heathrow, it actually is getting high profile positions in the public sector. Also one sector which has failed is the Religion sector, known for taking from the people and always giving back to the people nothing but prophecies and predictions and suggestions on problems that already exist or are most likely to happen. They have failed to educate the masses on how they can better themselves as well as the country we live in. With all these attributed to our leaders why would they not blamed? In a true Ghanaian statement; “after all they are getting all the money and the good things they come with.”

“Don’t believe in Kings, believe in the kingdom.” Independence should come with some confidence and self dependency. Take a young man leaving his parents house, not because he has to but because he is confident that he can be independent and can take responsibility for all the actions he takes. It’s the same for a country, we are to take responsibility for where we are as a nation as a people and not blaming the Leaders for our inability to grow. Like the human body all parts grow together, you do not have the head growing before the legs or arms growing before the head its all simultaneous. It is true that we have our leaders coming round promising what they have planned for the nation and take their word. My problem is, are we just going to sit and watch when nothing is being done? Or we are going to make our leaders accountable for every promise, Tick off whatever they promised like a completed shopping list? As much as we blame our leaders we are to blame ourselves. Reforms and laws are meant to guide us, policies are meant to guard us, it is the duty of the citizenry to keep it that way. Taking Ghana into perspective, let us look at sanitation; the leaders do not do the littering which causes a slippery slope [ an action that leads to the occurrence of negative unforeseen events], Centralization; Blame both parties, but greatly blame the people; the inability of inhabits to develop the town they live in and rather wait for the government to intervene is quite shallow of the people. The people should know that they have that will power to develop whichever community they find themselves in. We should be our own heroes. After all, “we” fought for our own independence, we should be able to fight for our own development and not wait for our leaders.

The instinct which allows us to nicely put up the house or room we live in, big or small should be the same instinct with which as a people of the only place we can call home we should live by.We should live by the code, the code which makes us develop ourselves, our communities, our region and our country as a whole, the nobility code we should call it. We are creators of our own destinies and future. The outcome of the pot is proof of how careful the potter handled the clay.

“Accept it we have failed together”, How valid is that claim? In conclusion, we have failed ourselves and we have failed each other. If you are a leader, or you are as common as the porter at the transport yard and call yourself Ghanaian, we have failed. We could blame it on “Don Diego”, The Queen of England, but they don’t have a hand in the tomorrow of this country, they do not have a hand in the development of this country. When we come to the realization that as a leader, pilfering from your country is stealing from your family and as people not giving a hoot about your country is showing hatred to your family, then we would develop together. Everything should be put aside, ethnic, religious and political backgrounds. We sit and wonder why we are behind when the answer to this very question is right before our eyes. Until then we will remain where we are, Sadly.

---

"To get lost is to find the way"

If you enjoyed reading this post, Subscribe.