FINALLY! Somebody just spoke my mind. Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Chairman of the Databank Group, has charged on Ghanaians, including the youth, teachers, NGOs, journalists and clerics to stop being quiet and neutral in the search for justice and show some courage and outrage in the face of attacks on integrity in our democracy and the way the nation’s finances are being mishandled. He further told Ghanaians to stop being cowards.
He accused clerics, civil society groups, journalists, Ghana’s middle-class and other important organisations, such as the National Peace Council and the Ghana Bar Association of “cowardice and hypocrisy” and reminded the nation that it was this kind of culture of silence in the face of impunity that forced a young Jerry John Rawlings and his colleagues to stage their revolution of June 4, 1979.
My favourite part of the whole story is the ‘Stop being cowards’ bit. When I read some daily reports, I just ask myself if the country is a desert with no citizens apart from politicians.
In a country where the citizens pay tax, household bills and whatever amount of money the government can squeeze out of them; it seems they don’t care what the monies are being used for.
I’m using the word ‘don’t care’ because of the way they react through comments on particular issues. It will be a cliché to repeat myself that anything the government decide to do especially with money, doesn’t come from their individual pockets but the monies they collect from the citizenry.
One thing I have noticed with Ghanaians is they like ‘Fa ma Nyame’ (give it to God) too much. People sit there and hide behind cowardice with the intention of giving it to God. I may be wrong, but why did ‘Nyame’ give us brains, hands, mouth and feet? We are on earth, that is why He said that we should obey earthly laws (where are the bible scholars?).
This ‘give it to God’ syndrome is used in every area of their life, not only in political issues. Somebody took his pregnant wife to hospital to have a baby, through the lackadaisical attitude of health personnel in the hospital (name withheld) and loses both wife and baby and the only thing he could say was ‘He’s given it to God’. Instead of speaking to right authorities and taking action, to avoid a fellow human being from going through the same thing, he’s given it to God.
As he rightly said, everybody is quiet as if everything is fine. People who manage big offices are not being held accountable for their offices; monies are being thrown away just like that. It’s even annoying how they’re justifying this pilgrimage and re-adjusting the fee. If it costs even cost Ghc 1, it is still waste of money. Student’s lives hang in a balance because of strikes and all what you hear is ‘If you don’t want to go for the pilgrimage, then we’ll withdraw it’, whiles other parts of the world are busily fining and jailing parents because their children did not go to school? Ofori-Atta has spoken out, but what use can it be if he’s the lone voice in a crowd? It needs to be a collective voice.
The coat of arms is inscribed with the ‘motto’ freedom and justice, it appears the motto just applies to people in power (courts, workplaces, country as a whole); ‘freedom with your money, justice (justified) to waste’ AND the citizens are quite happy for the monies to be wasted or quoting Ofori- Atta “In Ghana many people don’t like the truth, they want what is convenient, but what is convenient is not always right for the people.”
For instance, if it was anywhere in Europe or America that people are paying for electricity and water without any supplies, they would have staged a big demonstration to pressure those in charge to resign, fix things or get them their money worth.
In Ghana, all we do when we are being taken for granted is to sit on facebook and moan, and then ‘Give it to God’.
I agree 100 percent with what Mr. Ken Ofori Atta said- civil society in Ghana doesn’t speak out about societal problem enough. I always say that we educated people have not done our part & that’s why Africa continues to suffer. That being said, sometimes, I understand why the ordinary man in Ghana would ‘leave it to God’. If you live somewhere that ‘the system’ and laws don’t work, you don’t want to get yourself victimized by complaining. Don’t forget that we have a strong history of coup d’états & human rights abuses where people who raised their voices were executed. That could have led to the culture of apathy among us where we keep quiet to ‘save ourselves from trouble’.
And i thought Ghana IS A STATE IN HEAVEn? So she still has issues, Why then do some GhanaIan devote more time and energy TO NIGERIA ISSUES THAN THEIRS. God help us all PEACE.
@Emma, please let this issue end. If there are problems in Ghana, Nigerians are entitled to discuss it in their newspapers & blogs & if there are problems in Nigeria, Ghanaians are entitled to discuss it in their newspapers & blogs. We’re all brothers & sisters so why shouldn’t we be bothered about the problems that happen in each other’s countries? I’m sure if your brother or friend is going through problems, you talk about it & it bothers you? So if Ghana has a problem why shouldn’t Nigerians discuss it? & if Nigeria has challenges why shouldn’t Ghanaians discuss it? For goodness sake let’s all decide to let this ‘online battle’ between Ghanaians & Nigerians end.
@Afia, So it pains abi. I thought we only have problems in Nigeria. Laughing in igbo.
@Emma, what ‘pains me’? If you think I’m one of those people who are caught up in the mock rivalry between Ghana & Nigeria then you’re sorely mistaken. I gave you a humble advice to stop this online war between Ghanaians & Nigerians. If my advice sounds sensible to you then take it. If you feel it doesn’t make sense, then carry on. But I believe that our ancestors will weep when they see how we’re so happy insulting each other & gloating over any negative news that happens to our brothers & sisters.
@Emma, but in Ghana we don’t bomb ourselves or kidnap innocent foreigners for money !!!!
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), Boss, it’s ok, let’s just end this argument yeah? Bringing up all these issues will just keep us going on and on which is unnecessary since we need to unite.
@Afia, i have no problem with any Nigerian comming here to comment,
But for Nigerian to come here to insult us HELL NO AM GONNA STRIKE BACK COS I DONT GO ON ANY NIGERIAN WEBSITES TO INSULT THEM ..
Am a peace lover so i agree with you….
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), yeah, I myself am not happy to read insults about anyone on this website but I think the best thing is to ignore all such people & not descend to their level. People who cannot debate matters without recourse to insults are not worthy of attention & so I suggest that from now on, we should all ignore anyone who chooses to insult Nigeria or Ghana on this website. Eventually, when they realize they’re not getting any attention, they’ll wise up.
@Emma, drop it …..dnt start dat here…..like i v always said,evry country has its own problems but d onli problem i v here is d skewed reportage dey giv to anoda country….we r quick to always complain about d western media paintin africa black n turnin a blind eye to d positive fins comin out of africa but rite here unda our nose,our african brodas n sistas jubilate @ d slightest misfortune or news of anyfin bad happenin in our different countries…so tell me whr is d african brotherhood?….whr is dat african solidarity?…..in a situation whr even in a veri postive post here,som veri veri few pple will always want to make negative comments n pour out insults on fellow contributors is not goin to take us any whr…….
The blogger shud also exercise caution in postin fins about oda countries knowin d kind of passionate contributors he/she commands though he/she has d rite to post wateva… but he/she shud also put into consideration d feelings of d pple n not to always post fins dat tends to divide us rada dan unite us….
@Afia…..i greet u…..hope u r gud?
@Echa, you have comment like you have not done what in your comments before ,glance through the content of your comment ,did you mean you have not rain insult on Ghanaian and her citizens on this site before…..
Chai Angel echa
@Echa, I’m fine o my good friend, long time no hear 🙂 So when are you inviting me to Nigeria? my Nigerian friend here made eba & ogbono soup for us to eat recently, after which I told her that I have to go to Nigeria soon & at all cost to experience the culture & enjoy some of the delicious meals!
Oh, I love this writer. Hit the nail right on the head. Sometimes if u’re talk, is it only you who has done this or gone through that. As a country, we cry Christianity but we don’t have the welfare of people at heart. Give to ceaser what belongs to ceaser and God what belongs to God.
Hmmm, the ruling party members don’t see anything wrong with what is happening. the only people who talk about it are those in opposition and no one minds them just because people think the person is complaining because his or her party is not in power. i was expecting to see massive demonstration (which i will gladly join) to protest against what is happening just as other countries do, but nothing. Everybody is quiet. Even those in power are suffering but they can’t talk, Cowards!!!!
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), lol….i am not goin to shy away frm d fact dat i v made som nasty comments in d past but i v made comments on only 2 major post here n dis one……@least mine can b counted but can dat b said of u?….u v neva 4 once v anyfin gud to say about Nigerians(even if d post here is a positive one)…i challenge u to prove me wrong……i v bin a regular visitor to GC but i onli started commentin dis yr…..
Nw lets check d trend here….who always start d insults on any post here?….u will c dat Nigerians onli always fight bak wen d volleys of insults v bin fired…….i v takin a decision neva to engage in any childish braggin or insults exchange on dis forum again(dat is not to say i cannot engage anyone…)….but again,if u do enjoy doin dat,den continue…….
@Afia, hahaha….dats nice…hopefully someday….kip d positive energy flowin…..i rilli do appreciate u……
Apologise for my earlier post, But some Ghanaians are very Good at celebrating Nigeria’s misfortunes as if we are in a competition. Its Good that some persons have realized that the rivalary are uncalled for. Lets all build on peace and project Africa to the world. Peace
@Emma, apologies accepted. It shows that you’re very mature & humble because few people are able to apologize. Yes, some Ghanaians say a lot of awful things about Nigeria & that’s really bad. I don’t think that it’s a problem peculiar to Ghana however. For some reason, we all seem to have problems with each other & that’s bad. I agree with you that we need to focus on peace. Best wishes.
so true this explains y we can’t move forward as a country. i for one have been indifferent. to me, nothing gets done when u talk so y bother?