Where are the thinking caps?
It is TIME to THINK seriously about how we can improve systems and introduce ideas, services and products that will make life a lot more comfortable for us, as people in the so-called advanced countries are enjoying presently.
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Aaaba! We must be tired of using our bodies more than our minds to get round life’s challenges.
We must begin to think deeply because THINKING will allow us to make sense of, or model our country in different ways, and to represent or interpret our thoughts in ways that are significant to us, meet our needs, objectives, plans, commitments, ends and desires.
Thinking, as some psychologists have said, is an intellectual exertion aimed at finding an answer to a question or the solution of a practical problem.
We have so many practical problems and, therefore, need great thinkers, especially in positions of power to come out with solid ideas that will help make life more comfortable and worth living.
At this stage of our development, we do not need people who are mere talkatives. Smart men and women should be chosen to lead the country in all areas because, my brothers and sisters, Ghana is very late in its developmental voyage.
Do not look too far for pictures of Ghana’s underdevelopment. I am sure you have seen some women using disused washbasins with rusty mesh as grills (Twi: nkantankantan ) to roast yam, cocoyam and ripe plantain for sale to the public.
These women usually dress poorly and operate in messy surroundings with rubbish all around them.
The women, like many other food vendors and the untidy manner in which they do their business, constitute a perfect example of how, for centuries, food has been sold to Ghanaians in situations that can be described as a ‘cancerous eyesore’.
Have you visited a typical Ghanaian market during or after a rainfall or even after a drizzle? Well, I have; and what I saw were muddy grounds, chaos, an air of hopelessness on the faces of the traders and nasty filth. Wheeewww, FILTHY!
The cobbler (shoemaker) around the corner of my house, like many others across the country, has been using simple tools and working in a dirty environment for God knows how long, and it is obvious that things are not going to change any time soon.
And have you observed that almost all Ghanaian dishes are so, so, so h-a-r-d to prepare as well as time consuming?
Any time one enters the kitchen to prepare ‘fufu’ and soup, ‘banku shew’, ‘konkonte lapiwa’, ‘tuo zaafi' and ‘akonfem’ sauce, ‘kenkey’ with fresh ground pepper and fried fish etc., take a stop-watch and check how long it takes to come out with meals ready to eat? Sometimes, it takes hours.
For me, the most intriguing bit of the Ghanaian cooking drudgery is that it appears we invest the same amount of energy that we can potentially get from the food we eat into cooking it, so you may notice that after preparing a typical Ghanaian meal, one is too tired to eat it! Why?
I went to secondary school Form One about three decades ago and I can say on authority that the problems I faced due to the lack of utility services, especially water and electricity, are still persisting or have even become worse.
At the time, like now, we did not have constant supply of water and so it was difficult to flush the toilet after use. And the electricity was “semi dumso” (quite erratic).
When water supply was cut and one entered the lavatory, one was rudely greeted by a strong stench. And when the urge to attend to the call of nature was so wild that one could not help it, one was forced to enter the “gas chamber” and sit on a toilet bowl that was almost filled to the zenith with the “THING”. Gosh!
What happened was that after you had downloaded the “THING”, you just covered “IT” with tissue or a piece of paper to lay a better “FOUNDATION” for the next “VICTIM” of a failed system.
It is sad to note that all the issues that I have raised in the preceding paragraphs are worrying problems that have been with us since the days of Adam and Eve!
The good thing is that, as a people, we have not destroyed our country as others in other parts of the world have done to theirs.
All we need to do now is to begin to THINK and stop talking plenty, plenty.
NB: Somebody should kindly tell the boss of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije to minimise or stop his public statements because quite clearly and frankly, he is not a good public speaker.
If you are a THINKER catch me here:
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
