I am a dreamer and every now and then, I allow the dreamer in me to soar and this morning is one such occasion. So, this morning, I bring you a few of my pet dreams for Ghana. Here we go:
- Education.
I dream of a Ghana where every child gets the opportunity to go as far in education as his/her capabilities will allow, and not as the parents or family can afford. I doubt if I would have gone to school if first cycle was not free in Ghana at the time. And if university had not been free, I would not have been able to raise the fees to do a course at the university.
Thank God that second cycle in Ghana is free now but university education is still beyond the reach of many capable students. I dream of a Ghana that has all kinds of financial interventions, scholarship schemes and grants that can be accessed by everyone irrespective of political, economic and ethnic background.
And still on education, I dream of a Ghana where those educated through the public system, will truly be educated.
- Attitude.
I dream of a Ghana where the attitude is to support the efforts of fellow Ghanaians and not to discourage and undermine them. The attitude in Ghana now is to frustrate the efforts of a Ghanaian but facilitate the efforts of foreigners among us. The Ghanaian will willingly assist a foreigner to succeed but sabotage the efforts of a fellow Ghanaian.
In Ghana if you are doing your best to succeed, you become the enemy of the system and all kinds of obstacles are put in your way to frustrate, discourage or destroy you. This is why we do not have many real Ghanaian success stories. The few who are able to overcome the efforts to bring them down and succeed, have to hide the fact that they have succeeded. They are forced to keep a very low profile or the system will go after them.
It is the quality of the Ghanaian that is most difficult to understand and in this, Ghanaians are very different from say, Nigerians. The Nigerian will protect, support and promote the interest of a fellow Nigerian over those of a foreigner but in Ghana, it is the other way round.
I dream of a time when a Ghanaian can count on the total support of Ghana and Ghanaians in his efforts to make it in his field of endeavor.
- Housing.
There is nothing more traumatic and stressful than to discover that your rent is due and you do not have the means to raise another two years rent advance. This is the nightmare situation that most Ghanaian workers living in Accra have to deal with every two or three years. It is a terrible situation to find yourself in. And so, I dream that rent advance will be a thing of the past in Ghana.
I know that there is a law on rent advances but the truth is that the practice still thrives, the law notwithstanding, because of the shortage of housing. So, every two or three years, the Ghanaian worker renting a house in Accra goes through the hell of coming up with two or three years rent advance. You know, if workers in the US and in say the UK had to pay three years rent advances, not many will survive. The total eradication of the curse of rent advances in Ghana must happen, not just on paper, but in reality, for the average Ghanaian worker to feel free.
Transportation.
Imagine that a worker can live at Nkwakwa or at Mankesim or at Tsito and come to work in Accra every day and not spend more than 40 minutes on the commute. It is sad that we spend so much of our lives in traffic commuting just a few kilometers from our homes to work. In countries that know what they are about, people live 100 kilometers from their places of work and still do not have to spend more than an hour making the trip every day. So, I dream of a speed train between say, Accra Central and Nsawam, and, Accra Central and Cape Coast. I dream of the day when a worker living at, say, Dawhenya does not have to spend more than 30 minutes traveling to work in Accra Central.
- Sports.
I hear of major sporting events taking place in other countries and I wish these events were happening in Ghana. Can you imagine an Accra tennis tournament that becomes part of the grand slam of tennis? Can you imagine a motor rally in Tamale or at Kwahu that attracts teams from all over the world? What makes Dakar rally possible but not Tamale or Kwahu rally?
I dream that Ghana will position herself and put in place the necessary infrastructure to attract some of these major high-profile sporting events. As it is, we have limited ourselves to soccer and boxing for too long and even that, when was the last time we hosted a global soccer tournament or a major world title fight in boxing in Ghana?
- Culture.
Countries and societies whose cultures embrace change required by the times and adopt whatever works elsewhere as their own, find that their cultures allow for innovation and progress. Such societies discover that their culture creates an enabling environment for the people to unleash their potential fully. The opposite is true of Ghana. There is a lot in our culture that lags woefully behind the times and inhibit the progress of the people. I dream that we will be willing to allow our culture to expand to embrace best practices and allow for innovation.
- Religion.
I have been part of the religious scene in Ghana since the 70s. Over the years, I have seen the evolution of what I call commercial religion. This is the kind of religion whose primary driving force is not service to God and man but money.
I have seen the rise of churches that are nothing but business enterprises that are selling a product called spiritual protection. They make members so afraid of everything in life so that they will depend completely on the church. These are the churches that convince members that their mothers are witches; that their spouses are witches; that everyone who matters to them is out to get them. So, I dream of a Ghana where churches are not about money but about God and righteousness and love.
- The arts.
The arts or creative sector in Ghana is in big trouble. Many people who are not in the sector assume that those in the sector are making a lot of money. Nothing can be further from the truth.
The sad reality of the creative sector in Ghana is that most practitioners are not making enough from their art to support a decent living. Most people in the arts have to take on other jobs to survive. It is sad because Ghana is blessed with very talented people and yet most cannot contemplate working with their artistic talents full time. If some of these people were in, say, the US, they would have been millionaires yet in Ghana, they struggle to survive. I wish that changes in the near future and I dream of a Ghana where actors, musicians, and others in the arts can make more than enough money to support their lifestyles as celebrities and role models.
Those are just eight of my dreams for Ghana. I don’t think I am asking too much of Ghana, am I?