Honouring national heroes, heroines properly crucial

Since pre-colonial days, Ghana has been blessed with so many personalities whose ideas, vision and contribution to national development can never be wished away.

Instead of the nation giving them the pride of place as statesmen and women who must be celebrated, Ghanaians have often looked at them through a pure political lens, and often tried to make them irrelevant until a political party believed to be aligned with their cause comes to power to give them recognition.

A typical example which often comes to mind is the declaration of public holidays, with the recent August 4 Founders’ Day coming in handy in support of this position.

Indeed, with such partisanship on display, it is difficult for well-meaning Ghanaians to dare to contribute their quota to addressing the country’s challenges because they do not want to be tagged.

This situation certainly does not augur well for our country.

At a recent lecture in Kumasi to mark the 45th anniversary of the passing of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, the former Prime Minister in the Second Republic, the Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, hit the nail on the head when he stated that extreme partisanship and political polarisation hampered the celebration of the country’s national heroes.

In his observation, attempts had been made to obliterate the contribution of many notable Ghanaians, and to some extent, the distortion of the country’s history.

As the adage goes, a nation that does not honour its heroes is not worth dying for.

The great American leader, Abraham Lincoln, puts it succinctly that “a nation that does not honour its heroes will not long endure.”

The Daily Graphic believes that it is time we put aside partisanship and recognise the men and women who have blazed the trail, regardless of their  tribe or political affiliation, to motivate the younger generation to give their best for the country’s development .

We need to remind ourselves that acknowledging our heroes offers us the opportunity to celebrate our history, heritage and values as a people. 

Aside from serving as role models, the country’s heroes and heroines are an embodiment of wisdom, moral behaviour and inspiration to the younger generation.

This is why the Daily Graphic believes recognising them should not be viewed through partisan lenses.

If for nothing at all, the recognition accorded Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, on the global political scene and the football great, Abedi Pele, in sports circles, should motivate our current and future leaders to put aside the unhealthy partisanship and selectivity when it comes to recognising our heroes.

We also urge members on both political divide that when celebrating some of these important days, they must involve all stakeholders and not only people who are aligned with their political parties and ideologies.

Similarly, we entreat all others to fully participate in such national celebrations.

The Daily Graphic thinks that when the nation starts from this small scale, we will be bridging the gap of partisanship and putting polarisation where it belongs.

Every citizen should aspire to work hard to emulate the courage and contribution of heroes of the nation in serving the country.

We also need to unite to stay focused on important things that lie ahead of us as a people.

In unity lies strength, and with it, we can put aside our differences to sacrifice for the common good.

Let us put aside partisanship and recognise all those who have contributed immensely to bring the country this far.