KB Asante: Voice From Afar column
Is the Ghanaian character partly to blame?
Many Ghanaians who are not accessible to the prevailing loot are most unhappy with their economic and social situation. They complain and blame the government, the authorities or the ‘leaders’.
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They certainly have a case, for I believe that government in a country like Ghana is primarily responsible for economic and social development. That is what politics is all about and not contriving to stay in power or win election to continue to enjoy the spoils of victory. Those in ‘power’ and their predecessors are certainly primarily responsible for our present problems. But are we the people not partly to blame because we do not perform our civic duties?
Ghanaians generally do not want to get involved in any ‘unpleasantness’. We generally turn a blind eye to infringement of the law and bad behaviour. We do not help the police so that our friends, neighbours or even criminals are put into ‘trouble’.
When I was a teenager, we followed thieves who had been caught and marched to the police station as they carried what they had stolen on the head. We rained catcalls and hooting at them until we got to the police station. Then everyone melted away. No one wanted to make a statement to the police. No one wanted to be involved in the due process of the law.
We are still reluctant to help the police or give evidence against wrongdoers. Not very long ago, some lawyers schooled witnesses to tell stories to get criminals freed.
Fortunately, principled lawyers reacted angrily against the practice. But the public generally tolerated those who manufactured evidence and the ‘alibi’ lawyers who schooled witnesses to lie that a culprit was miles away from the scene of the felony.
A few years ago, I got a young woman lawyer to take a church group and a drinking joint to court for making excessive noise at night after they had not acceded to a friendly warning to respect the law on noise. To my surprise, only one man agreed to be a witness at court. All the neighbours swore they ‘heard nothing at night’.
The noise in Accra will continue until Ghanaians are prepared to report and help the police and the appropriate agencies to curb excessive noise. We have to endure a little ‘unpleasantness’ from neighbours to resolve some of the problems which confront us.
Recently, laws and regulations were passed or enforced to arrest the free fall of the Cedi. Some rules were obviously enacted or enforced in haste and were unhelpful. Now, as ambassador and government spokesman, I encouraged Ghanaians abroad as instructed to bank their savings in foreign currency in Ghana.
One of my ‘victims’ had a problem with a dollar cheque following the new rules and in bewilderment approached me. I decided to use the particular case as an example in a letter to the Bank of Ghana. My friend was not happy to get involved. I should not use the particular cheque as an example as it would expose the identity of the complainant.
The attitude is normal. We want things to change but we would not be involved. We miss the whole point about democracy. It enables us not only to talk nonsense freely, but to persuade and even compel authority and leadership to act to improve quality of life.
I believe some ‘self-comprehension’ is necessary. We have to examine our upbringing and try to understand ourselves and why we tend to behave as we do in certain situations. At outdooring, the eight-day-old Ga baby is advised not to be a windpipe and to promote the prevailing order of society.
The baby is advised:
‘You see you have not seen
You hear you have not heard’
Is the baby being advised to lie? The answer is no. The baby is enjoined not to be an instrument of strife and unpleasantness in the family and community.
The advice to the baby is to promote the good order of society and avoid being an instrument of strife. The evidence of the eyes and ears should not result in unpleasantness or upset the good order of society.
The good order of society is generally taken to mean not upsetting the prevailing norms. The practice is fairly common in Ghana and not restricted to the Gas. The one who brings bad tidings may have his or her tongue cut. And the one who wants a case examined and swears the great oath may have to slaughter a cow before proceedings begin. A reminder of an unpleasant past is to be avoided.
And we do not want to create unpleasantness. Acts of commission and omission and cover-ups which fuel corruption and judgement debts are known to quite a few. But do they talk or loudly join in blaming corruption in high places for our woes?
And even when summoned to give evidence or state what happened, do those who know relate or speak the whole truth or do they withhold information to shield friends or high personalities? And what then is the reaction of the public? We acquiesce. If, however, the culprit is convicted because of the evidence, then the one who said things as they were is a bad man or woman. He or she should not have caused unpleasantness to the culprit, the family or ethnic group!
We simply do not want to hear bad news. We generally do not want to confront a bad situation squarely and find a solution. We do not want to upset the general order and atmosphere. We talk and give ‘all to God’.
But God has given us the brains and hands to deal with our problems. We cannot give all to God or to government and the leadership.
We the people have a responsibility. We should understand ourselves and forswear our ways of character which do not move us forward. We should act to improve our well-being and insist that authority acts likewise.