Throughout this week, the hymn “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” has for obvious reasons been on my mind. It’s well-known and obviously means different things to different people; but there are some poignant words in there that is relevant to our national life.
The early part of the hymn states as follows: “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, forgive our foolish ways/ reclothe us in our rightful minds…”
On September 21, the nation had her Founder’s Day celebration. And as one would expect, there were lots of plaudits and praises for the first President of the republic- who many up to this day, speak of in glowing terms.
Not that I don’t have anything against those who deservingly speak of the first President in such terms, but I think such a day should actually be a penitential service where we mourn our misdirection and continual decline as a nation.
To put it in other words, what have we been doing ever since Kwame Nkrumah? Is our country deservingly where it is supposed to be?
Superficialities seem to be the order of the day. Men and women clamouring for titles that translates in no way in improving the livelihoods and living conditions of people in the society.
Men who have the opportunity of turning things around easily relinquishing that duty which they owe not only to themselves but to the society at large as a result of their own personal comfort.
There are disconcerting tales of public officials who should know and act better engaging in acts that makes one wonder where the young generation are going to get their role models from.
We’ve got no choice. Our prayer should be that of asking God to reclothe us in our rightful minds as a nation. Take the much talked about CHRAJ rent saga for instance: it is unimaginable that the Commissioner is still in office.
On a matter of principle, the CHRAJ boss would better serve her nation by simply stepping aside; but it should not surprise anyone if she “weathers the storm” in spite of the continual cry asking her to resign. In view of all these, it should not be difficult to comprehend the reason why we are still stuck in the rut of the third world.
And oh, one more thing: whatever the outcome of the case involving the Ashanti Regional Editor of the Daily Graphic and Baffour Gyan should be considered as a reflection of ourselves as a nation. Once again, we prefer convenience to principles- a path which invariably embolden rogues and thugs to undertake whatever activities that pleases them and grounds them in the firm assurance that they would have their way at the end of the day.
The question is- what nation in this would handle the assault case in the manner in which it is currently being handled by the parties to the case.
Once again, our personality worship, blind allegiance; and our laid back temperament as a nation means that lots of people would commit acts with impunity and walk away more emboldened than before.
It is a sad development that the regional editor decided to as it were “leave the matter in the hands of God” as we are fond of putting it in this country.
But as pointed out earlier, he might have either misunderstood or underestimated the importance of his assault case to some of the senseless values that we uphold as a nation that needs to be chipped away.
Many do not recognise that it is because of our personality worship, dishonesty, blind allegiances and selfishness as a nation that is why we failed miserably at this year’s World Cup; that we are unable to eradicate poverty; that we have to live in continual darkness every now and then.
Whether the call by the Graphic boss is heeded or not is a separate matter; but as a matter of principle, I do not think the Gyan brothers in any way deserve the attention and coverage of the media- not even for a second.
If all persons who disagreed with journalists would go and hunt them out, would there be any journalist in this country?
Let’s face it: we have lost the plot! This was not the original plan. The true plan was to have a Ghana governed by laws to whom all manner of persons irrespective of background are subject to. The original plan was to have a Ghana where there was enough to share and pass around.
But we have betrayed all these. The least we can do now is to ask God to forgive our foolish ways and reclothe us in our rightful minds.
Email:
