As Ghana celebrates its 55th year of independence today (6th March), I'm asking what this day means to you? Personally I was a long way away from being conceived as most us today were and Dr Kwame Nkrumah was the leader I read about at school and heard about in the media. Yet every time I listen to his Independence day speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joBjzivBKz4 it clearly portrays a man with undisputed passion for his country. The kind we all need to portray.
To some Ghana's development lies with the government or the individual who so wishes to be concerned. But being Ghanaian is more than just flying the flag, wearing the T-shirt or displaying the ornament. It is about doing what you can in your own small way to promote our nations development. Our time keeping, work attitude, road manners, customer service to name but a few.
It's about time we do away with the attitude of "it's what grandmother used to do so I can do the same". There was a reason why our predecessors did things the way they did. A lot has changed since Dr Kwame Nkrumah led us to independence, yet we linger in our old ways.
As a brother of mine joked, ever since he can remember Ghana's golden tree chocolate comes in 3 forms. Small (long rectangular strip), medium(10 mini squares in two rows) and large(16 mini squares in three rows). To develop anything outside these squares must be a taboo. Otherwise, for a nation who prides itself as one of the world leading producers of cocoa, why is this brand not on the shelves of every international supermarket in all the shapes, forms and flavors there is to explore? (I'll save this for another day).
The responsibility of Ghana's development lies with the Ghanaian people. It's about time we stopped taking a back seat with folded arms and join in the quest to building a better Ghana. One thing i've always prided myself with though is the peace we have been able to maintain 55 years on. There's been a few local disturbances and curfews have been imposed on certain towns but if there's one thing i'm certain will be maintained its the peace.
A Ghanaian once asked, what is the Ghana dream? What does being Ghanaian mean to the average Ghanaian. if you ask me i'd say 'To be the role model nation for Africa since we took the first step toward independence. Self sustaining, free from government corruption and to be a peaceful democratic nation. PS: 24/7 power supply would be nice. :-)
We are in this together. United we stand. Happy Independence Day and God bless our homeland Ghana. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdwA5KwK2_4&feature=related
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