Renew sense of patriotism as we celebrate Independence — Mama Kuma II
THE Youth Queen of Ho-Ahoe, Mama Kuma II, has called for a national crusade to impart a new sense of patriotism in the citizenry, especially young people, as the country celebrated 66 years of independence.
“We now have young people who do not even know the history of Ghana and this was not the case in the past,” she observed.
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Mama Kuma, a retired teacher, said she was only three years when the country attained independence and so she could not recall Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s declaration of Independence.
“However, I remember how subsequent celebrations of Independence Day were occasions for us to demonstrate our spirit of patriotism and national pride,” she said in an interview in Ho on Saturday.
She said children took an active part in the parade rehearsals in the hope of getting selected for the main event on March 6, and every pupil ironed his or her uniform very well with a box iron to look smart on the day.
Mama Kuma recalled how in the days of military regimes, contingents from security agencies took part in route marches on the streets after the Independence Day parade, while children lined up the streets to wave their miniature Ghana flags in admiration.
Civics
The queen said Civics was taught as a subject in all primary schools and that enabled the children to have a sound knowledge of the country’s history and matters of governance.
She observed that in the widespread absence of patriotism, young people do not love their environment and therefore littered indiscriminately despite the presence of bins.
“In those days, we had rubbish bins at vantage points and you would not risk dropping rubbish on the ground,” said the queen.
According to her, the environment was kept clean because right from school, children were allocated plots to keep clean all the time.
Mama Kuma, who is the Secretary of the Asogli Queens Association, bemoaned the fading Ghanaian cultural values, especially among the youth, saying some of them dressed indecently and took to the streets, almost exposing their intimate parts. She said it was sad these days seeing young people look on unconcerned as an elderly person in the neighbourhood returned from the market carrying heavy bags, without offering any form of assistance.
Still, on sanitation, the queen said years ago, both the young and old readily took part in clean-up exercises fortnightly to keep the environment clean, but it is not so today as the young expect the elderly to plead with them to take part in such exercises.
Current affairs
On current affairs, she said soon after independence, radio boxes were installed at vantage points in the communities and neighbourhoods, and everyone heard the news and other national development programmes in their language.
“In the absence of the internet, we were well informed on national issues and that helped to build a strong sense of nationalism in us,” Mama Kuma argued.
She said information vans from the Ministry of Information moved from one location to another to brief the people on important national issues, sometimes through cinemas.
Mama Kuma observed that despite the dominance of cellular phones and the internet today, young people were unaware of what was going on in the country.
She expressed concern about what she described as the insatiable lust for instant wealth among young people and said it took hard work and the desire to serve one’s country with a sense of patriotism to earn an income.
Mama Kuma called for a renewed spirit of patriotism among young people to befit Ghana’s status as the Black Star of Africa.
“Let young people drop their gluttony for money and take a firm stance as agents of positive change for Ghana,” Mama Kuma urged.
Mama Kuma, 69, who retired from the Ghana Education Service at the rank of Deputy Director of Education, was a national netball star. She also played hockey in her heydays.
The queen, who speaks, Ewe, Ga, Twi and English, said learning and speaking as many local languages as possible was ideal for national integration.