Free education and the ‘cargo cult’
I first came across the term “cargo cult” in Ayikwei Armah’s novel, “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born”.
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Later on I learnt that the expression originated from World War Two when American troops created air bases on remote Pacific islands. To the natives of these islands at the time who had never witnessed advanced technology, the military planes were like giant metal birds touching down and looked as if the gods themselves had turned their territory into an earthbound base.
They did not know how these things worked but they could see them land and what they liked about these happenings was the fact that they were getting free stuff.
They were getting cargo. When the war was over, these airstrips were abandoned and the troops left. The islanders, in total bewilderment, scratched their heads and said to themselves, “Wow, wasn’t it great when all these planes came out of the sky and gave us all those free cans of corned beef and all that stuff ? We really liked that cargo!”
Entire religions sprang out of this phenomenon where native priests actually said; ” Yes, you know, that was our dead ancestors sending us cargo.” So, what they did then was to revisit the old airstrips and build mock wooden airplanes in the belief of getting those planes to come back from the sky and deliver free cans of corned beef to them all over again.
Now let us see how the analogy of this fetish Pacific cargo cult plays out into the present-day scenario of modern Ghana. Most of us in leadership positions today have been beneficiaries of Nkrumah’s free education policy right from primary level to tertiary. But the question is whether the country has benefited much from the fruits of this policy.
The answer could be partly YES and partly NO. YES, because over the years it has produced a large cadre of professionals necessary for the country’s development and NO because as a nation, we have not maximised the benefits from this investment as we still grope with development when we should be on a clear path by now.
Perhaps the answer to this setback could be found in our “ Cargo Cult” mindset. The early 60s, it was fashionable for young secondary school students to brag about what they wished to become in future: Lawyers, doctors, administrators, accountants, engineers, architects, etc.
Unfortunately, these wishes were not necessarily born out of the desire to serve one’s country, but to a greater degree, the prestige and monetary benefits that came with such professions.
Consequently, there was great ambition among the newly liberated youth from colonialism to gain entry into the few universities at the time, where education ( including tuition and boarding) was not only absolutely free but free meals and snacks were also served by dutiful stewards as well as free allowance for books. This was the genesis of our cargo cult mindset.
Eventually, graduates from these institutions came out into the real world and expected these freebies to continue forever.
They immediately secured ready jobs in government offices and other well-established public organisations at the time when it was ensured that they had access to free, fully furnished houses, free cars and petrol, extra allocation of cars with drivers to transport their spouses to the market and their wards to school, as well as allowance for domestic gardeners, cooks, watchmen and for entertainment.
The trappings of these comfortable jobs were so attractive that even graduates whose professions demanded them to be in the field or in real workshops, engaging in meaningful developmental programmes and long-term thinking, preferred the executive swivel chair offices, peddling paperwork and signatures as well as organising ‘talk shops’.
In departments where the frivolous amenities were not available, the temptation to embezzle public funds to fuel these comforts became very great.
Our burden as a nation today is the excess baggage of the cargo cult mindset that is not only apparent in leadership but has also percolated deep into the very nervous system of our society. When highly placed public officials blatantly assert their right to make outrageous personal demands on the state, that is cargo cult mentality.
When a Speaker of Parliament decides to strip bare his official bungalow on his retirement, that is cargo cult mindset. When we often run helter-skelter for external help without exploring deep enough for home-grown solutions to our developmental needs, we are being driven by cargo cult tendencies. When we all flock to church in the expectation of miracles more than the search for knowledge in spiritual and moral values, we may be stereotyping the cargo cult of those Pacific islanders; i.e. metaphorically speaking, we may be building mock wooden airplanes.
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