Time to take responsibility
There are somethings only a writer knows and understands. One of such thing is when the country is making progress in a particular area. After all, a writer spends time to reflect and write.
Time and again, the story of the floods in the country’s capital continue to make news. And there we are helpless and momentarily remorseful for our aloofness and nonchalance. Our only comfort is in statistics- which has a nice way of making nonsense of the individual experiences of people.
Let’s face it, we talk too much as a country. Little is seen by way of measurable improvements and developments. We are specialists in living in history but never quite found our way to learn from history. History is the warm blanket we wrap ourselves in. We never seem to find time to dream of a better future for ourselves.
It is amazing how time after time, the same challenges plague us and we are unable to find an appropriate response to them. We like to live in the present. Admiration of the past is our middle name. Our mindset is that of subsistence. Today is enough is our motto. There is no point in aspiring beyond today. We are an okay nation- satisfied with our lot.
We are the people. It is our individual strength and industry that will shape the progress and future of our nation. We should be able to lift the government machinery in the times when it is stuck in the mud of bad habits, inaction and inertia. With our collective strength, we can make a lot of difference- much more than we can ever think.
The dust is on our face. And there we are busily cleaning the mirror with all kinds of detergents and cleansing agents. It is our face that is dirty. It is our mind that is corrupt. It is our ambitions that are low. It is our aspirations that are out of tune with the visions and thoughts of our forebears. The biggest problem in this country is us- we the people.
As a people, we were meant to be tough and wise; but there we are, drown and drenched in waters we have no business in finding ourselves in. The recent floods are no longer an indictment on the government. That is a broken record. It is an indictment on our ingenuity and sense of direction as a people.
Maybe we have become veterans and skilful swimmers over the years. We just can’t be bothered with finding a remedy to the situation. We have just adjusted. We are hoping words of pity and commiserations will fly past our doors and windows.
We are hoping empty words from politicians will coalesce as rafts and take us to dry lands. We are just hoping. We are yet to make that firm and concrete decision to live a better life. We are just hoping we will.
What happened to community action and service? Who said persons in flood-prone communities cannot marshal their efforts to find a solution- independent of whatever the central government is doing?
Of course the government-driven sanitation programme will not yield as much dividend as initiatives flowing from the people themselves- springing out of a genuine need to take action to improve their well-being.
A large chunk of the problems that confront us as a nation are so predictable that it is an insult that people continue to lose their lives and property over them. Who did not know that there will be floods this year? But why are we crying over something we saw or should have seen coming long ago?
Leadership has everything to do with directing the collective energies of the people of Ghana. But leadership should not necessarily mean political leadership. Every one walking on the streets is a leader.
Even if they do not lead others, they lead themselves in terms of the choices and decisions they make daily. These decisions range from the place to dump refuse to being active in community and civic initiatives.
No one is safe within his or her own walls. It is time to engage and connect with what makes us a community and a nation. It is possible to reach some consensus regardless of economic and political standing.
The national anthem, which should be our national banner, is and has always been in the plural. So let’s put our heads and minds together. It is more than possible to escape from the rut of disillusion and poverty in which we find ourselves.
It is time to take responsibility. It is a basic fact of life that what you allow is what will continue. Let’s take charge of our nationhood once again. Let’s make our independence meaningful.