Editorial

GHANA NEEDS ATTITUDINAL REFORM

Apathy, crime and official corruption are group of three evils that is breaking Ghana’s back today, with the officialdom becoming helpless, but in dilemma - whether to participate in finalizing the destruction of the spoilage or simply throwing its hands in the air.

It is all survival of the fittest, when the rulers mind their own business with scattered vituperations of doing their best; and the ruled struggles to survive; the pedestal of the two is in fact, poles apart that when the rulers rock each other’s shoulders and backs up there, the ruled also tagging one another down below; with the fittest surviving in foul or fair means no one cares to bother himself about.

But The Republic is taking keen interest in the seemingly crippling situation where we end up creating a class society with its resultant crass ramification that might prove devastating to handle in future.

When one becomes fancied or in fact, a system becomes fancied for creating the ‘baboon and monkey’ society, the person or that system must be equally prepared to ‘plant a lot of bananas – because people, a lot of them, would go bananas.

Indeed, we all wouldn’t forget so soon our recent past history when people felt rejected, dejected and suppressed revolt in what had become an Africa’s enviable revolutionary history, a difficult political path a lot of African countries, especially south of the Sahara happily and bravely followed.

We cried foul when seemingly stubborn sisters and, unfortunately, mothers playing economic mischief had been peppered in public, and in fact, brothers and fathers were stretched at marketplaces and given lashes.

But should we still invite upon ourselves ultra-ambitious uniformed small boys and girls to take us through involuntary military drills and punishment before we look sharp?

Now that the 2012 Presidential Election hearing has ended transparently, fairly, peacefully and acceptable to all – conquerors and vanquish – by the grace of almighty God, this paper would urge the nation to rather set up a mechanism that would emphasise on attitudinal change toward nationalism, so to get our nation up and strong.

Nationalism and patriotism that make a strong nation like Ghana’s forebears encouraged, had today been thrown down to the dogs; the nation’s cultural and traditional values have been desecrated in such a sacrilegious way that to quote from an English poet and playwright, George Chapman who once wrote: “Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools”, to suffice the nation’s current precarious human catastrophic situation.

The Republic may choose to mince words on the foregoing suggestions at the risk and detriment of the nation it loves so much, so would need forgiveness if the paper’s views on this subject are perceived unacceptable to those who matter most.

However, it is the case of The Republic that, when a stitch in time saves nine, it is better the country begins her thousand miles with the first step today and quickly, to be able to beat time and tide’s challenges in-built in every nation and person life.

If it is the type of formative school syllabi we accepted under pressing and imposing social duress to start the nation’s leaders-of-tomorrow with, couple of decades back, or the kind of one-sided, and in fact, socially-retrogressing face-serving laws that bleed and promote societal indiscipline that are destroying our human value through the neglect of culture and traditional values, why not? Are the laws not made for us? We can change them for the betterment of posterity and nation.