Lessons for judicious use of natural resources : Where the reality and Myth Meet
As the human population keeps increasing and resources are dwindling as a result, the scrupulous use of natural resources become a guide word and a major concern for all.
Advertisement
In addition, more often than not, emphasis is being laid on avoiding the exploitation of natural resources to the detriment of current and unborn generations by unscrupulous development partners.
Ghana is blessed with abundant natural resources -gold, manganese, bauxite and timber. Recently, crude oil was discovered and drilling has already begun. However, there is the sense that the resources are not being used to the benefit of the citizenry.
The empirical evidence has shown that some foreigners have been exploiting Ghana’s own natural resources for their own benefits since the colonial era up-to-date. The essence of harnessing these resources is to bring about economic development and growth of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in order to improve the conditions of living and standard of living of people in the country. However, the rate at which natural resources are being exploited by some foreigners in the name of pecuniary development and growth needs to be looked at again.
In my opinion, the manner in which Ghana’s resources are being exploited by some foreign developers smacks of a hidden agenda and if care is not taken, a time will come for the nation to fall on them for natural resources. The fact of the matter is that they reserve theirs yet harness ours. This conviction moved me to write this article to nudge the whole country to our forefathers’ wisdom in myth. This is in connection with the resources use and conservation, especially in bilateral or multilateral relations.
The myth
So once upon a time, there lived the moon and the sun; the two were good and close friends. The relationship was cordial and built on trust. As a result of this, one day the moon suggested to the sun that they should start killing their children and eating them since they had more than necessary. The sun agreed to the proposal from the moon with alacrity. Without much delay, the moon killed one of his fat children and prepared a delicious meal and sent it to the sun. The sun was very happy and accepted the offer with enthusiasm.
Without delay, the sun quickly killed one of his own too, prepared a nice and garnishing soup and sent to the moon in return. Knowing his intention of that proposal, the canny moon never killed any of his children again. He did not want to deprive himself of children and suffer later in life. What he was doing was that whenever the sun killed any of his children and prepared a delicious soup to the moon, quickly, he [the Moon] changed the soup to a different one (e.g from groundnut soup to palm nut soup) and sent back to the sun.
The sun was very happy and innocently continued to kill his children until he finished them all. As the sun began to feel deprived, one day, he decided to visit the Moon to see how he was also coping with the condition without children. As soon as he reached the home of the moon, he saw the moon with his children in effervescent mood. The sun was shocked and remained speechless, alas; the harm had already been caused. However, it was concluded that because the sun killed all his children and unknowingly ate them that is why there is no star surrounding the sun during the day.
Analysis of the myth
I think that a thorough analysis of this myth would depict the long relationship between Ghana and the Europeans over the centuries. Historical records have indicated that the Europeans first came with goods derived from their own resources which they used to do the barter trade. Later on, they started taking advantage of ours and sent them to their respective countries, processed them and brought them back to us as finished goods. Human resources too were not spared. A large chunk of exuberant youth were bartered and transported across the Atlantic to the Newland (America) to work in plantations (see Letters on West Africa and Slave Trade, S.A Winsnes (e.d),1992).
The output of their labour were transported to Europe for processing and the finished goods again brought us in Africa. This operated in a framework called the triangular trade. That is from Africa to America, then to Europe and back to Africa. So the critical question is, is it a ploy to deprive us of natural resources in the future while theirs remained intact?
Though an independent state, the exploitation of Ghana’s resources still continues . Since the ultimate objectives of resource exploitation is to create employment to better conditions of the citizenry to transform the country to a developed status; however it must be done thoughtfully and guided by the wisdom of our forefathers in order not to deprive the posterity of these resources. In line with this, Kofi Awoonor cautioned us in his literary work (We Have Found a New Land) that as we are reaching for the stars, we must make a stopover at the home of the Moon and break in proceedings to relearn the wisdom of our fathers and mothers.
It is suffice to say that the time has come to revisit folktales like this and relearn the moral lesson and/or good judgment embedded in them when dealing in bilateral or multilateral agreement with regard to harnessing our natural resources so that we do not fall victims to any unscrupulous and depraved mind.
The writer is with the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA) the University of Ghana, Legon
Writer’s E-mail [email protected]/[email protected]