I just found this post which I'd been writing on 20th June 2014 in my drafts folder! I never finished it but I think it still makes for an interesting read.
Sometime in October last year, I was driving to work when I noticed a sticker behind the car ahead of me. It was at the Fiesta Royale traffic light on the N1. The light had turned red so I reached for my phone to capture what I thought was an interesting aphorism, but just before I could capture the shot, the driver changed lanes ;( . I cannot quote word for word what it said, but it was something along the lines of "I love my country. It's those in charge I have a problem with".
So he loves his country but has a problem with those in charge. That's not a big deal. But it got me thinking and I must say it made me more aware of how almost everyone in Ghana is always whining about our leaders. I believe in constructive criticism. The kind which puts aside political party affiliation and objectively states ones views on how things are not being done right and how they could be rightly done.
What I've come to notice in recent days in Ghana is this. Almost EVERYBODY has nothing good to say about those we have elected to govern us. You log in to any social media for a maximum of 5 minutes and you're sure to be greeted with a tweet or status update berating the government. Now, I'm not saying everyone must sing the praise of government even when things are not being done right. I just think we seem to forget that the people in authority over us are a reflection of the people they govern. Corrupt deals are exposed or the price of fuel goes up and you get everyone commenting and using distasteful language on those in authority. The most recent one I sighted was on Facebook earlier this week when one of my social media friends said "We are being governed by a bunch of fools". My heart bled when I read this. I was like, "really?" It took Grace to stop me from commenting on that status.
And I wondered, where did these bunch of fools governing us appear from? Did those in authority who dabble in corrupt deals become corrupt upon assuming those positions?
I don't think so. We are a bunch of undisciplined people. I use the pronoun "we" not because I believe every single Ghanaian is undisciplined, but because majority of Ghanaians are undisciplined. If you need evidence of the indiscipline I'm talking about, take a walk or drive, depending on your location to the Tetteh Quarshie interchange. The section opposite the Villagio apartments. What do you find when you get there? What used to be greenery is now some sorry looking bits of grass competing with dry patches of land. Don't for a moment think the dry patches of land you're seeing has anything to do with the dry season. Rather, it has everything to do with Indiscipline both on the part of drivers and pedestrians. Crossing the N1 onto the motorway during the evening rush hour is any driver's worst nightmare. Instead of all of us staying in line and slowly inching towards our destinations, we have these group of drivers who decide to race along the green grass and the end result is...
ok i was just interrupted at work for some 45 minutes and the writing inspiration is gone. I'll save this and get back to it the next time it comes.
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