Our oath, our faith : The need to revisit and uphold it as Ghanaians
It is the wish of all Ghanaians for our beloved country to be soundly developed. Two days ago, I reached out for the 1992 Constitution and found something exceedingly glorious and worth imbibing.
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What I saw had been written in the Constitution of this country since 1992 and I know that every public officer, politician and all other enlightened citizens have seen it.
The legal luminaries in the country have seen it, I guess, but it appears very few Ghanaians have either given it a deep thought or pondered over the merits of the declaration.
Preamble
"In The Name Of The Almighty God We the People of Ghana, in exercise of our natural and inalienable right to establish a framework of government which shall, secure for ourselves and posterity the blessing of liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity;
In a spirit of friendship and peace with all peoples of the world:
And in solemn declaration and affirmation of our commitment to;
Freedom, Justice, probity and accountability;
The principle that all powers of Government spring from the sovereign Will of the people;
The Principle of Universal Adult Suffrage;
The Rule of Law;
The protection and preservation of fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Unity and Stability for our Nation,
Do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution," the preamble reads.
Pledge
My veins could not relax; they kept wiggling because I was tingled by amusement that the people of Ghana had sworn before the Almighty God to solemnly uphold the very laws they had adopted for themselves.
So we really did swear the above oath before the Almighty God?
What then is our relative understanding of the Almighty God? A God who is blind to see or a small god who is a lover of lawlessness or a god who is limited by time and space?
If not, why has corruption taken over the country? There are reports of corruption in government and the public and private sectors almost every passing day.
On December 2, 2015, Ghana was listed as the second most corrupt country in Africa according to the findings of Transparent International (TI) as published by the Daily Graphic.
The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, in a press statement, passionately debunked these findings as if that was enough to curb the ongoing practice and erase the facts from our minds.
We, the people of Ghana, also swore per the last paragraph of the preamble to protect and preserve the fundamental human rights and freedoms of our nation, which has been unequivocally outlined in Chapter (5) article (12) -(33 ) of the same Constitution, but has this country lived up to these commitments?
Where are the systems that are aimed at alleviating poverty?
How effective have the vulnerable, including the poor, the physically challenged, children and women, been protected?
We see the physically challenged on our streets daily, begging and howling for comfort. Are they not Ghanaians too, whose skills could be harnessed through public and social interventions to secure their livelihoods so they can also contribute to the development of the country?
It is obvious that some Ghanaians have been alienated from the natural rights of equal opportunities, since nepotism, ethnocentrism and political affiliations are the pervasive means of justice, directly contravening our solemn confessions before the Almighty God as stated in the constitution.
Ask any Ghanaian today why he or she did not secure employment, acquire admission to an institution or why he or she performed abysmally in an assessment test, and the only response is, “I didn't know anybody." These constructs of nepotism, ethnocentrism and political infidelity are so real in the Ghanaian environment.
"And in solemn declaration and affirmation of our commitment to....." was the last phrase of importance to the goodwill of this country.
It is a statement that consolidates the individual meaning and effect of our overall vows before the Almighty. It readily tells that the people of Ghana desire to deeply and impressively live above the present reproach and embarrassment that has overwhelmed the nation.
Nevertheless, there is more room for Ghanaians to improve. Let’s therefore, in a spirit of faithfulness, justice and mercy revisit, uphold our oath and faith for a better Ghana now and for a happy posterity.
The writer is a member of the Ghana Police Service
Writer’s email: [email protected]
