I slept in darkness last night and woke up with no power until about 7:30am this morning so what is the celebration for? We have painfully witnessed leakages and corruption in our system that have made individuals richer than the State, yet we are called upon to celebrate independence. We have become polarised along partisanship, preaching of ethno-tribal political campaign and what have you, yet the advocates say let’s celebrate. We have produced mis-leaders and dishonourable men in our 58 years of independence and seem to have fallen off the track, the cynics say and I agree.
Yes I side with the many who think there’s no cause to celebrate our independence. There have been times I had wished we could declare a national day of mourning on our independence day rather than the flamboyant display of heritage. But upon reflection on the popular quote of John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address on the 20th of January, 1961, “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” I have come to the conclusion, that our independence is worth more than just celebrating at the Black Star Avenue for it is a day that birthed the liberation of the African continent.
Ghana at 58 years and the question on most lips is; what has the country achieved? It is a question many have asked
and many more continue to do so. I may not have the appropriate or desirable answer for all but my answer is, “what have you done for Ghana since your birth?” In my over 30+ years, i can say without any shred of doubt that the net balance is in favour of Ghana and not us. Simply put the nation Ghana has given us more than we have given her back.
Ghana gave us a unique identity and heritage through the blood and sweat of our forebears which by far outstrips the total achievements of her sneerers. At the birth of Ghana some 58 years ago, she gave us a sense of nationalism and patriotism which these same misanthropists of today long ago traded for self aggrandizement and personal glory. Yet today, like the proverbial Oliver Twists we come before her and with the same question, demanding for more unabashedly.
On this day while you may disagree with the celebration, it cannot for one minute be lost on us that we as a nation have a a long way and have a lot we can be proud of. The pace may lack any sense of urgency, the results may be mixed but the HOPE that engulfed an entire continent some 58 years ago is what I choose to celebrate because I see same today in the eyes of the class 2 pupil. I see it in my mum’s eyes, I see it in the eyes of our chiefs, traders, students, I see it in the Ghanaian. Yes we have made grave mistakes but just as our forebears did in the fight against oppression and colonialism, we must not give up.
The fight for independence did not start and end on the 6th March 1957, the struggle began long before the birth of Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah. It was a chain of processes that began many decades before him. And I strongly believe so shall our quest for development be. We would make mistakes along the way, we may appear to slumber at some point and even deliberately stagnate our cause, but that HOPE that generations before Osagyefo had and kept alive would keep us going. It would make us forge ahead as one. There will be scoffers from within us who may try to derail us off our track with both justified and unconstructive criticisms yet we will remain HOPEFUL.
We would believe in the greater and collective interest and the only way to shut those nay sayers will be our resolve to be remain hopeful and believe in the course we are charting. Like the progenitors of Osagyefo who began the fight for independence, our time may just mark the beginning or foundation for a great and prosperous nation, Ghana. I choose to remain hopeful of Ghana’s future and will celebrate our independence.
I will celebrate our achievements in the past 58 years because I believe they are the foundational blocks of our development. It may have come at a time of dumsor and economic challenges but will never trade that for cynicism because I have come to know cynics achieved nothing. Cynicism did not birth an independent nation anywhere in the world, neither did it put man on the moon nor invented the computer I am using today but HOPE did. Long before the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Charles Babbage was hopeful of a post industrial era known as the computer age in 1832. I am highly sanguine about an even brighter future for Ghana more now than ever.
HAPPY 58TH INDEPENDENCE DAY ANNIVERSARY TO ALL GHANAIANS AND THE ENTIRE AFRICAN CONTINENT.
