Ayekoo Ghana!60 Years On;Is It Not Time We Rise And Build The Nation Young?

Ayekoo Ghana!60 Years On;Is It Not Time We Rise And Build The Nation Young?
It was on the 6th of March.The task was daunting and might.But a man with much daring spirit descended words like thundercloud from Mars..."At long last, the battle has ended!And thus,Ghana your beloved country is free forever!"
Yeah yeah!My gallant first president in that voice was as eloquent as he was enthusiastic.Nay,it was a red letter day, and Ghanaians had every reason to be over the moon.And so the chorus was heard from the crowd, hurray!
It was a clean break,and good riddance,I guess!And Ghana was given the long rope to think free, build bridges again and rip the gains.The way was christened,"forward."
Yes,they(I) mobilized,came,saw and conquered (veni vidi vici).They were at the beck and call of mother Ghana.They laid their lives.They paid their dues and delivered a solid foundation for mother Ghana visible in the massive industrialization,not to talk of infrastructure...
Infact,the country was young, but their vision was long.A vision far beyond political freedom.A vision of hope and transformation.A vision that dared the ordinary Ghanaian to ask for more in life.And the message therein was clearly carried by Dr.Kwame Nkrumah, "Countrymen,the task ahead is great indeed,and heavy is the responsibility;and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge-a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe,the courage to dare,the courage to do,the courage to envision,the courage to fight,the courage to work,the courage to achieve the highest excellence and the fullest greatness of man.Dare we ask for more in life?"It is thus simple, dare we ask for more in life!
Suffice it to say,they prepared the way.But as birds of passage at nature's say are now eternally away!
60 years on,and reality has dawn on us to tell and sell the story of Ghana.The story of  successive crop of leaders or misleaders who have either continued or discontinued the vision of our forbearers.(May the soul of my late mentor,the great professor Mills rest in perfect peace)....
Before we continue,a story was recently told of Adjoa,a 79 year old woman who had reached her mandatory retirement age of 60 years.She was being encouraged by Atia to start mobilising for her future after 60 years of active work life.Interesting enough,Adjoa's grandparents had already mobilised enough for her future.She had the past to guide her and the future to shapen her way.But she was still mobilising after 60 years.Reason being that she had just survived a crucial contest.
Upon listening to her story,I told my self:I wish I'm given the opportunity to advice this woman.I would have told her in the face:Ignorance they say is a bliss!My dear Adjoa,start acting and making a justified pride in striving to build something to safe your disabled future.For well done is always better than well said.(This is the story of Ghana personified).
60 years on,amidst a seemingly winsome budget(Infact,one of the best budgets of Ghana I've ever read) presented to us,we are told we have to start mobilising individually and collectively for the future.Jumping Judast!Are we not betting on the wrong horse?
Last year by this time,we were investing in the youth for Ghana's transformation.Today, the youth are still highly unemployed.
Lest I forget,it appears somewhere last year,Tanzanian president,Dr.John Magafuli(a.k.a the bulldozer)scrapped the annually held Independence Day  Celebration held on December 9, in that country and saved a whopping 4 million Tanzanian shilling budgeted for the occasion.The money usually spent on the colorful event was spent in expanding the road between Mwenga and Morocco.The president then led the country in sweeping the streets on the said day.
He was quoted as saying,"It's shameful we are spending money to celebrate independence when our people are dying of Cholera."Wow!
How many Ghanaians have so far been attacked and mercilessly brutalised in the wake of the recently sparked xenophobic attack in South Africa?How many Ghanaians are dying of Cholera,CSM, annual flooding,malnutrition, extreme hunger...?But the money splashing celebration goes on.
That was just by the way.(Just something to ponder on).Back to the main issue...Infact,I love it very much when His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo says he is committed to leading Ghana into breaking the shackles of the Guggisberg colonial economy and a mindset of dependency,bailouts and extraction.Worthy of note also is the fact that he says he intends to focus on trade, not aid, a hand-up, not a hand-out.(Refer to the 2017 SONA).
But I get a bit worried if after 60 years of mobilising what our forbearers have mobilized already,we are still taking about mobilising.I think we are just trying to catch a shadow and lose the substance.(Same meat, different gravy).Malaysia and south Korea have innovated and industrialised, even though we started the journey with them.But we are still mobilising and being our great talkers and little doers.
Listen to me now,our forbearers have mobilised,we have mobilised, now is the time we rise and build the nation...Now is the time we fight the war on ignorance and the mind . It's said in Latin that Cogito ergo Sum-I think therefore I am.
Our human resource is mobilised already.Time we build and enhance its capacity.Our democracy is mobilised already(we are the beacon of democracy in Africa).Time we root out corruption and selfish misleaders(the apology of leaders).Our educational system is mobilised already.Time we decolonise the system and restructure the curriculum.Our natural resources are mobilised already.Time we wisely exploit same and create national prosperity.For national prosperity my export administration has taught me can only be created and not inherited.So the plenty talk about our abundant natural resources will only make us more poorer if we are not able to combine them efficiently and effectively with the other factors and innovate in the right direction.If it was about resources,Japan which has always declared that it's an island with no natural resources wouldn't have been among the most industrialised nations in the world.
Countrymen,now is the time to build a strong and prosperous nation.We have been through the challenges,we have learned and are experienced.We have the past to guide us and the present to shapen the way.
Let's together as a country put our best foot forward and scrap the transformation agenda.Let's whistle in the night with eyes widely open,and refuse to settle for anything less.
This is the time for the young blood to stay awake,and spark a common sense revolution and national reconstruction.
Ghana is capable of managing its own affairs and so shall it be....
May God bless us all...And do have a happy Diamond Jubilee Celebration.
The writer is a teacher by profession,a certified freelance journalist,a blogger and a student of Bsc Public Administration at the University Of Ghana Business School.Read more of his works on (ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com).

By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM-AB (THE VILLAGE WRITER)
TEACHER/JOURNALIST/STUDENT-UNIVERSITY OF GHANA BUSINESS SCHOOLS
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