Hope soared on Saturday in West Legon.\u00a0 I am in the neighborhood to meet a good friend and I can see four young girls at the side of the road, nearly opposite the gate where I will turn.\u00a0 They are looking through notebooks and clearly comparing notes and having a conversation of sorts.\u00a0 No phones, no iPads.<\/p>\n
I turn and park in front of the large closed brown gate and toot my horn once.<\/p>\n
I answer a call and getting into the conversation I see the group of four in the rear view mirror hesitatingly making their way to the car.<\/p>\n
I roll down the side window and Cecelia, Serwaa, Abigail and very cute Amina (she will break some hearts in a decade) politely ask if I will support them with their school outing.<\/p>\n
It will cost thirty cedis each.\u00a0 I think hundred and twenty cedis I am not prepared to fork out, so I probe the event further.\u00a0 It sounded genuine enough, but, says Serwaa, (she is a head taller than the rest and team leader) \u201cwe have already collected some, we have to contribute fifteen and the school will add the remainder\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ok, so this is now sixty cedis.\u00a0 Well, I can bite that on a Saturday morning, and I reach for my wallet.\u00a0 I count sixty cedis, before cute Amina, with laughing eyes, dimples and the most vivacious smile I have seen in decades, says, \u201cyou don\u2019t have to pay for all.\u00a0 We already have some, so you can help with anything more\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now I am thinking I have a group of honest young pre-teens, what more can I do to entrench this honesty?\u00a0 Prevent them from growing into adult \u201ckwakyes\u201d<\/p>\n
They each have varying collections so I ask for simple subtraction calculations, deductions from fifteen so I can balance out; and amazingly, the arithmetic was spot on.\u00a0 I fork out thirty-four cedis for the cause.<\/p>\n
Many thanks and they turn animatedly to carry on the quest.<\/p>\n
\u201cSerwaa, guys, wait.\u00a0 Why are you guys all wearing red bands on your wrist?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, we wore it to school yesterday, our mummy and daddy said it was RedFriday so we should wear it to school\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they tell you why?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said some people are asking the government to change some things in the economy because we are all suffering and it is for our future\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to continue wearing it today and next week\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease you did not give us your name\u201d.\u00a0 Cecelia the accountant, \u201cwe have to write it in our book.\u00a0 And your phone number too please\u201d.<\/p>\n
I part with the confidential information and my paranoia is wondering, \u201ccould they be BNI or National Security Operatives walking to trap RedFriday sympathizers?\u00a0 Then I remember Gbevlo Lartey don commot dee.<\/p>\n
But it was the call I got later in the day that crystallized my hope.<\/p>\n
Unrecognizable number on the phone, strange voice on the other end.\u00a0 \u201cIs this Mr. Casely-Hayford?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cyes\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cAre you Sydney Casely-Hayford?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cyes, who is this\u201d?\u00a0 \u201cAre you the same one who writes in the Daily Guide?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cyes, who is this?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cyou don\u2019t know me, but my daughter Amina says you gave her money for her school program and I was curious whether you were the same person\u201d.<\/p>\n
And so we had our RedFriday conversation.\u00a0 Much respect to you Alhaji, I enjoyed talking to you and your decision to get the girls involved earned my respect.\u00a0 Alhaji (that is the only bit of his name I can part with because of BNI\/NSA paranoia) has six other children.\u00a0 They all \u201cREDDIT\u201d on Friday.<\/p>\n
But I heard on good authority about government \u201cno red policy\u201d on Friday.\u00a0 Pity, but that is a decision to make if you can see the black hole in our day.<\/p>\n
Just like how the 200 Ghanaians (other nationalities if you caught Ablakwabish on air) chose to stay back in Brazil and make their home there.\u00a0 I can\u2019t blame Government for their decision.<\/p>\n
Choosing where you stay is a personal matter.\u00a0 If for whatever reason the 200 feel religiously persecuted in Ghana, or if the \u201cecomini\u201d is too harsh but they needed a better reason and so decided as a group of NDC party loyalists dispatched by Yammin to go and occupy some KVIP\u2019s there, the Brazilians have to deal with that. \u00a0It means two hundred less votes for the \u201cGreat Party\u201d come 2016.\u00a0 And after their relatives join them there, it could be twenty thousand.<\/p>\n
Kwakye Ofosu surpassed Ablakwabish in the search for a return to Neanderthal Ghana.\u00a0 After reading a list of cut and paste material from previous budgets, he tried to pass it on as a non-response to the \u201cOccupyFlagstaff\u201d initiative.\u00a0 There is nothing to gain by all this, a waste of our time and resources.<\/p>\n
We need to get into the RedFriday campaign.\u00a0 As a body, I think Ghanaians are all concerned with what we can do to bring some sense to this governance.\u00a0 We are constantly being reminded now that it is our collective citizen fault that things are not going right, and to some extent it is true.\u00a0 We ended up with another NDC Government.<\/p>\n
President Mahama should not hope that someone will come to his rescue with a Coup or some other instrument, collapse his government and make him a modern day political martyr in Sub-Sahara Africa.<\/p>\n
The Civilian Advocacy movement happening in Ghana today is not about intervening in Government; it is about changing, \u201coccupying\u201d the hearts and minds of Ghanaians to prevent the madness we engulf in every four years, engage the people of this country in a more meaningful and exact way so we don\u2019t keep choosing a group of mediocre-capacity individuals incapable of thinking without factoring in their personal benefits from contracts.<\/p>\n
What is simpler than following a set of guidelines crafted by a body of thought, which has consistently pointed out and suggested fixable solutions to the constrictions in our economy.\u00a0 I am referring to the National Economic Forum at Senchi.\u00a0 We are still waiting for PV to maybe resurrect and come and type up the fuller report for us, impliedly suggested by someone who holds a PhD from a respected international university.\u00a0 An educated man by all standards.<\/p>\n
Instead we choose to label them \u201cchallenges\u201d, trivialize the tasks and play on religious fanaticism by raising a finger and eyes skyward and inviting a slew of shylock priests to conjure the economy using \u201clevitronics\u201d.<\/p>\n
I am rather tired of the inertia that has engulfed our Governors, the impossible bottlenecks we have created and our fixation on mechanisms that only exist on paper.\u00a0 We have all the rules and laws in place and unless we apply them to the letter and demand what should be ours by right, we will never move this country.<\/p>\n
Kudos to Richard Nyamah, who won his case against Government to release mandated funds to GETFUND.\u00a0 If that is what we have to do to free the system, then so be it.\u00a0 We will test the mettle of the courts all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, to ensure we get some justice and our freedoms are made sacrosanct.<\/p>\n
Castro dead, Castro not dead.\u00a0 Castro went with Mami Water.\u00a0 Castro girlfriend was Mami Water, wanting to sleep with Castro to have more baby Castros.\u00a0 Castro will be found on Friday coming if we all stop crying.\u00a0 Such a load of nonsense in the \u201cDe Sosoo\u201d higher education learning Center.<\/p>\n
Our mystery-loving nature has taken the possible Castro drowning at Ada to another level and I hear a Mallam from the North has been guaranteed much if his claims to bring Castro back become real.\u00a0 I must admit, it will be something else if it turns to be a publicity stunt and Castro is back to make more music.\u00a0 I like his style and songs, but it has been a week since he went under the water.\u00a0 What are the chances?<\/p>\n
Some of us have made a choice.\u00a0 We have decided to challenge the drivel and pressure Government to make corrections to Governance that will make Ghana a better place to like and live.\u00a0 We have a lot going for this country and it should not be the prerogative of a languid and corrupt cartel to keep us from a brighter future.<\/p>\n
I am decidedly RED and I invite all those who read and agree with me to Red Band, clothe, scarf, blouse, sock, shoe, vest, tie or wear anything red to symbolize our disaffection with what is going in Ghana.\u00a0 Every Friday till we decide otherwise.<\/p>\n
Amina, Serwaa and the team decided to support their future.\u00a0 It is and has always been a choice.<\/p>\n