I am compelled to pen this reaction to a feature posted on citifmonline.com and attributed to nnyamewaa.com in which an un-named writer voiced his/her happiness about the loss of the Black Stars to the Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire in the AFCON 2015 final last Sunday.
By way of rationale, the writer put forward a litany of oft-repeated but deeply flawed arguments. One such argument is that victory would have provided opportunity to “justify government’s questionable decisions”.
[contextly_sidebar id=”zbAJRKHhHoG6yiCazGXdvZnRKFEniKpd”]Try as I have, I have been unable to appreciate the basis for such a stance. I submit that these justifications are not only untenable, they are also pitiful.
To start with, when the Black Stars appear on the field of play in any competition they represent the nation Ghana not the government of the day or themselves. To say that you are unhappy with the government-no matter how far-fetched or grounded your reasons are- and so you refuse to lend support to your country in an international competition is to abdicate your responsibility as a citizen. The colour of a particular government does not absolve citizens of their sacred responsibility to their country. Not liking the decisions of a government cannot constitute sufficient reason to disown your country.
The claim that had the Black Stars won, Ghanaians will suddenly forget about the excruciating discomfort brought on by the current electricity rationing regime is a gratuitous attack on the intelligence and reasoning ability of Ghanaians. It is unclear what gives the author of that article the right to insult his fellow countrymen in that manner.
Ghanaians like any other people deserve to take pride in the exploits and successes of their compatriots especially those representing them. Winning AFCON 2015 would no doubt have led to spontaneous outpouring of joy and I dare say, excessive celebrations but we are by no means dunces who will suddenly lose sight of long-standing problems because the country won an elusive trophy.
On the subject of sending a number of Ghanaians to Equatorial Guinea to support the Black Stars, I am sure the writer would have noticed that there were more Ivorians in the Bata Stadium than Ghanaians. They were flown there by the Ivorian government to urge their compatriots on to victory. I do not suppose that the writer is by any stretch of the imagination suggesting that there are no problems in Ivory Coast. They have even bigger problem than we do. They have not overcome the inevitable problems that come with civil wars even if modest gains have been made in aspects of their national life.
The notion that existing problems debar a government from engaging in other important national endeavours is quite frankly simplistic.
Perhaps the most vacuous claim yet made in that piece was that by purchasing power from Ivory Coast to enable Ghanaians watch the AFCON final, the government was manipulating them into forgetting the electricity problem as well as the “deplorable roads, broken hospitals and schools”.
Here too the author arrogates to him/herself the power to cast his fellow countrymen in the mould of mindless entities with no capacity to think hence a single victory by the national football team will cause them to permanently forget about the everyday realities of their lives.
Such arrogant posturing could only have been spawned by hopeless ignorance. Ghana is part of what is known as the West African Power pool under which the electricity systems of a number of countries notably Ghana, Benin, Cote D’Ivoire and Togo are linked such that in times of shortages in one country or the other another country with capacity to spare makes up for the shortfall. The records show that Ghana has on enumerable occasions supplied Cote D’Ivoire, Togo and Benin with electricity to meet their needs.
If it were the case that beyond enabling Ghanaians to watch the Black Stars take on the Elephants, nothing was being done to address the acute electricity shortages perhaps the author would have been justified to put forth such a position. In the circumstance however especially against the backdrop of irrefutable evidence of work to address the problem, these claims cannot stand scrutiny.
I do not know where whoever wrote the piece under question lives in Ghana. I live in Accra and I drive past several projects in the health, roads and education sectors which completely belie the notion that the piece sort to foist on Ghanaians that somehow our roads, hospitals and schools are not receiving attention.
I have personally been to the site of the University of Ghana Teaching Hospital, the New Ridge Hospital, and the Police Hospital. I have also driven past the site of construction of the New Military Hospital coming up at Afari Lands in Kumasi. I am also aware of many others across the country.
Having lived a large part of my adult life in Ghana, I can say without any fear of contradiction that never in the annals of the fourth republic spanning a 23 year period has the scale and scope of these hospital projects been seen.
The nature of my profession takes me round the country quite a bit and I see in Accra and a number of places I have been in the country, several major ongoing road projects. At the very least every honest person in Accra will see and attest to the construction of the Giffard Road between 37 round about and La Junction, Awoshie to Pokuase Road, ARS road (Boundary Road), Spintex Road by pass, Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, Ring Road Flyover and a host of others .I also know that work has resumed on the much spoken-about Suhum portion of Kwafokrom- Apedwa Road. In fact I just returned from Bolgatanga through Tamale yesterday.
The work on the Tamale International Airport is progressing steadily.
I have seen thousands of new classroom block built to replace dilapidated ones. Right here in Accra modern school complexes like the one recently opened in Dansoman form part of the many millennium schools which have ended the obnoxious shift system which prior to the coming into power of the NDC government was prevalent in Accra.
While the above do not show that all problems in those sectors have been resolved it would take a great deal of dishonesty as displayed by the author of the article under reference, to claim that these sectors are not receiving attention.
In a nutshell there can be no justification for turning against one’s country when it is doing battle against another country and surely the flimsy premise adduced in the original article will not pass as reason for supporting the Elephants against the Black Stars.
It is tempting to dismiss the line of thinking espoused in the piece as the product of a dangerous type of uniformed cynicism .To do so however would be to create an artifice to mask what is in fact a bizarre affinity for doom, gloom and hoplessness. Why some people are so fixated on painting such an inaccurate picture of our country and on that basis oppose every single move of government is a matter the boggles the mind.
May I end with what President Barack Obama said,“It’s easy to be cynical. In fact, it’s kind of trendy. Cynicism passes for wisdom, cynicism doesn’t invent the Internet. Cynicism doesn’t give women the right to vote. Cynicism is a choice, hope is a better choice.”
God bless Ghana.
God bless the Black Stars.
By: Edudzi Kudzo Tameklo Esq.