Being a Ghanaian these days

Being a Ghanaian these days

“_what is it like to have peace
 without justice
 in the land
 where
 the rich eat because
they want to eat?”

from 'Far from home i’

Celebrating the freedom we've enjoyed as a people makes us and our ancestors who we are and our sovereignty what it is. It means a lot to us, especially those of us born after the struggle for independence—to live in such an era where we can compare where we've been as a country and where we’d want to be if the future permits us. But, being a Ghanaian these days is terrifying.

The norm is “kill the system or the system kills you”, but this norm is not normal in the least. Everyone must eat. Everyone must live well as a Ghanaian. Everyone deserves part of the national cake. Everyone must say “I’m a Ghanaian and I’m proud”. But what do we see?  Some eat and others gather the crumbs. Some sleep while some weep. Some dream while some scream (in their minds) all day, all night. Some too are helpless and hopeless. And some are just fine. Isn’t this scary?

Every minute of the ordinary Ghanaian's life is another episode nightmare filled with invasion and great perils. Don’t our hearts quiver when politicians lie without shame and do what they do just to win elections? Don’t we know these things? Who’d know that it’s rotten everywhere and every scene is stained with bloody lies? Don’t they only stand for reelection? Don’t they create unnecessary tension just to win power? Don’t we know these things?

We can’t talk much about corruption these days— it’s a clichéd remark and no one gets to work about it. It’s total insanity. We hardly reminisce about where we've come from, because anytime we do, its sudden anguish fills our veins.   

We stand in awe doing close to nothing about / to our nation's wreckers—we watch as this country purchased with blood of those who were martyred for freedom get gang raped by people who must work for us. Must Ghana be killed several times in multiple episodes of crimes and gross awkwardness? Must this country (a land of sacrifice and bloody pains) continue to die many times to birth the dream of Osagyefo and all those who believed in us when we were yet in their loins? Maybe these servants are not civil and must be reoriented.

Maybe they're scared. maybe they’re not ready. They quote the constitution, but they don't safeguard its institution and the spirit that operates it—this is what has brought us here today as a people,but everyone knows they don't care. It’s survival of the political—your political colors determine what you think, say, do, see, hear and even sometimes what you eat and drink.

Maybe it’s time they swallow their pride and tear down their party cloaks and begin to realize their Ghanaianness and then revisit what makes us a great nation again.
I keep trying to sing the anthem till the last word, but anytime I get to “resist oppressors rule”,  I pause to understand why I must be helped to resist, when the oppressed also oppresses another oppressed in the same country where freedom and justice is meaningful only when the rich define what it means to be free.

Anytime I pause to understand, I restart the anthem, and over and over again I never get to finish singing of her majestic pride because of this unusual horrendous monster keeps haunting my patriotic charisma. Maybe I'm just tired of being afraid of the reality that I'm living  as a Ghanaian or maybe I’m ashamed of being tired of being a Ghanaian who keeps hoping in a system which pesters me almost all the time.

This country is about four decades older than I am, but we only have much to show for the things we’ve not realized yet as a county, a people of hope for many who once looked up to us for inspiration.

If you're a civilian, never be comfortable. Keep screaming until something gets done. If you're a leader (student, journalist, civil servant, politician, chief, pastor, imam…etc.) don’t be fooled, everything wrong about the system tolls for everyone, both great and small. For the politician’s ego, this is proof that someone is watching and may want you to know this and live justly. For the ordinary citizen’s pain, please be gentle, the future is not too far from home. For the heroes of the past, we salute you for the hope you’ve given us to dream and to be what we ought to be regardless the nightmares we see today.

Whoever finds this or is found by this, know that there’s a clock ticking somewhere in a Ghanaian’s room for him or her to give up being a Ghanaian.
Happy Independence Day

By: Samuel K. Atsitsre
katsi.samuel@gmail.com