Below are excerpts of his address<\/strong><\/p>\nPr\u00e9cis: the missing link in Ghana is the middle class that has solved all of Ghana\u2019s problems for themselves, remain here physically but have effectively checked out of Ghana.<\/p>\n
This is the era of fake neutrality by a middle class that doesn\u2019t want to get involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.\u201d Desmond Tutu.<\/p>\n
Reminder of closing line in the Eagles\u2019 song Hotel California: \u201cYou can check out anytime, but you can never leave.\u201d If the Middle Class doesn\u2019t rise up, get involved and fix Ghana, \u201cone day the poor would have nothing to eat but the rich.\u201d That\u2019s the trigger.<\/p>\n
13-point Frank Chat about Ghana from #Rants. Let\u2019s chat forthrightly and bluntly about this country.<\/p>\n
\u2022 MYOPIA?<\/strong> (shortsightedness)? If so, how come the first High School in this land bears the motto is Dwin Hwe Kan?<\/p>\n\u2022 IGNORANCE?<\/strong> But we can learn. Or maybe we suffer from what I call \u201cthe arrogance of ignorance\u201d?<\/p>\n\u2022 COMPLACENCY? RETICENCE?<\/strong> Chronic lack of punctuality. Apparently the more late you are to an event, the more important you are or feel.<\/p>\n\u2022 LACK OF RESPECT FOR LAW & ORDER<\/strong>? Maybe; if you observe how we break speeding rules, how our motorbikes ride through red lights even in the presence of the police. Jay-walking is definitely not an offence here.<\/p>\n\u2022 EDUCATION?<\/strong> Really? Are we educated to solve our problems or simply to earn a living? Why are we staying and sleeping in darkness when we have trained thousands of electrical and mechanical engineers? Why are our roads and bridges bad? Where are the Ghana-made cars? Did we go to school just to learn the \u2018Whiteman\u2019s language\u2019 and to become like him? It is possible that all the colonial education system did was to show us which side of the \u2018Whiteman\u2019 he chose to show to us in the colony as a colonial master \u2013 a democrat in his home country, but a raving bully and oppressor in the colony. Having had the opportunity to unravel his mysteries through the same education system, we appear incapable of solving our problems with it.<\/p>\n\u2022 LACK OF BASIC RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER?<\/strong> Do doctors explain what is wrong and what they are doing, or do they \u2018bite your head\u2019 if you asked questions? Churches make noise. They only stop under the threat of attacks.<\/p>\n\u2022 ENTITLEMENT MENTALITY<\/strong> (beggar and patron mentality) & ZERO INTEGRITY? I suggest that these are at the root of the bribery and corruption canker. They steal your money and then give you the crumbs from off their tables. Wake up, buddy! No one owes you a living!<\/p>\n\u2022 MEDIOCRITY?<\/strong> Do we glorify the average, ordinary, run of the mill or pedestrian? Are we are so used to mediocrity that we let out a loud cheer when the lights come on after being off for a while?<\/p>\n\u2022 SUPERSTITION?<\/strong> Let us get this right. God still answers prayer and is still in the miracle business; not the magic business. He says \u201cHe who will not work, let him not eat.\u201d He says He will \u201cbless the work of our hands.\u201d He says \u201cI will bless your bread and your water.\u201d He says \u201ceverything that he does shall prosper.\u201d Sophocles wrote, \u201cNo good e’er comes of leisure purposeless; And heaven ne\u2019er helps the men who will not act.\u201d Calling a prayer meeting over a failing national airline was a joke if there was no serious plan to rescue that airline from imminent collapse. In fact, that airline collapsed and so did its successor airline. We didn\u2019t learn a thing!!<\/p>\n\u2022 LOVE FOR HOLIDAYS<\/strong>? I have written elsewhere about Ghana and holidays.<\/p>\n\u2022 Do we need SNOW<\/strong>? Would the \u2018Switzerland situation\u2019 where our land would be buried under ice for more than half the year lead us to think some more and plan better?<\/p>\n\u2022 TIMIDITY<\/strong>, disguised as \u201cfama Nyame\u201d (leave it to God) or \u201cgyae monka\u201d (let it slide)? Between timorous souls and bold spirits, what, which and where are we?<\/p>\n\u2022 POLITICS?<\/strong> Are our votes on \u201cauto-pilot\u201d on the basis of tribal affiliations, friendship or family connections?<\/p>\nCONCLUDING THOUGHTS:<\/strong> But the Middle Class isn\u2019t entirely quiet. Instead getting involved, it has become a bunch of visceral critics, spending more time hitting out at those who dare to care enough to do something.<\/p>\n\u201cIt is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.\u201d
\n-\u201cThe Man In The Arena\u201d
\nCITIZENSHIP IN A REPUBLIC Theodore Roosevelt
\nSpeech delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris, France
\nApril 23, 1910<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be ashamed of.”
\nFrom the Analects of Confucius, Book 8, Chapter 13<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By:\u00a0Ace Ankomah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A leading member\u00a0of pressure group, Occupy Ghana, Ace Anan Ankomah has spoken about the failure of the country’s middle-class to effectively bridge the gap between the rich and poor in ensuring that devevopment is equally spread across the country. The private legal practitioner was the Guest Speaker at the Third Annual Public Lecture of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":217519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,374,11],"tags":[1665,3,17086],"yoast_head":"\n
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