The Nkrumah Interchange
Colin Essamuah
Opinion
4 minutes read
The current state of the interchange bespeaks a country of people without any hope of enlightenment till the rapture. How many modern cities in this world are hawkers who sell anything and everywhere, been permitted to capture the pavements and walkways of a fine structure like this, giving a very bad impression of ourselves regarding both personal and public hygiene? I will not accept the reason that we live in a democracy and so must pander to the lowest level of the citizenry. If that were to be the case, why would we need leaders to lead and show us the way in everything?
For the life of me, I cannot begin to understand or appreciate how the upper deck of the interchange gets littered with stuff you would expect to find at a laterite-paved transport station in our villages. Can anybody explain this provincial and backward conduct to me? Because it cannot be the case that President Mahama left this too as part of his legacy?
We must always keep what we have been left as a bequest to generations yet unborn, not as pointless political matches to which games the majority cannot play or even enjoy watching. The current state of the interchange is a complete disgrace to all of us, our sense of service, of public hygiene, our belief in efficiency and our commitment to improving our lives. What does the admonition in the prayer of the Speaker of Parliament intoned every time the House sits,teach us, to wit; ‘’the coming beauty of Ghana and Africa?’’
Presisdent Akufo-Addo’s speech
Which observation leads me naturally to comment on aspects of the speech of President Akufo-Addo on May Day. I disagree with both the platform he chose and the way he put it. I am a Ghanaian who passionately believes that our major problems are dishonesty and hypocrisy, and not the tired old song of corruption. Because the argument can be made that our civil and public servants and other workers in general have never enjoyed reasonable remuneration since independence in 1957. I accept that this too, is a function of our levels of productivity, that is the size of the national cake, never mind that we bake the cake ourselves.
The way to fight any of these problems is to lead by example and not by precept. Example is the most powerful and influential teacher of the Good Way in all human endeavours. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind. When we wake up one day and we hear orders given and implemented to dispense with the services of public workers who have no respect for time, their clients and publics, and for public property placed in their care, it will serve as a more welcome action affecting attitudes rather than the blanket condemnations.
I say this because when our gross domestic product (GDP) rises appreciably, we decline to even stop and pay our respects to the workers who made it possible, the same workers with the same attitudes we criticise today.
