When our politicians visit abroad, don’t they feel ashamed when they see\/experience the facilities which they fail to roll out for the benefit of their citizens back home?<\/p>\n
When they visit museums abroad, don’t they feel ashamed knowing there is no proper museum in Ghana?
\nDon’t they feel ashamed when they drive on wide, first-class, pothole-free, roads with properly functioning traffic lights?<\/p>\n
Aren’t they ashamed when they enjoy sheer precision in arrival and departure schedules of tidy trains, trams and buses and other mass transport systems?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when our international airport looks like a bus terminal in another country?
\nAren’t they ashamed how illiterate our university students are, and how literate elementary pupils overseas are?<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”FWomg4uEEu38p1W0rAApzacWGw7plnP0″]Don’t they feel ashamed when they enjoy uninterrupted power supply?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they savour the beauty of carefully planned towns, well-addressed residences , manicured lawns and trendy shade trees?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed that their major contribution to education consists essentially of debates on the number of schools under trees before, during and after their respective terms of office?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed that jobless, hungry, party supporters follow them at rallies sometimes for pittance?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t they feel ashamed when they are met by crowds of unemployed cheering supporters when they return from trips abroad?<\/p>\n
When they take their families to Disneyland, Disney World, and Great Adventures, don’t they feel ashamed they have not provided a single proper garden, not to talk about amusement parks or recreation centers for our children?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they visit industries, knowing that the raw materials which fuel them come from our own backyard bought at unbelievably low prices and exported back to us at cut-throat prices because we fail to add value to them?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they have walked down plush avenues and boulevards, actually practised recycling garbage and going green campaigns yet, turned a blind eye to indiscriminate deforestation in Ghana then ask why we are experiencing climatic change? Don’t they see distinct water ways or know the ill-effects of poor drainage systems (annual floods and its attendant loss of life and property)?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they don’t see a single open drain or gutter?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they visit monuments named after prominent people, shop in clean grocery shops and street markets in those countries but then return home to a stinking Nkrumah Circle and filth-steeped Abgogbloshie and Kaneshie markets?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed that party foot soldiers are stake-holders and hold developments to ransom, when they participate in party activities on invitation?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they are given accurate addresses (house number, block name, street name, geographic positioning) when they travel, yet they have to use gutters, kiosks, plantain sellers and children playing football to direct people to their homes in Ghana?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they go abroad and are able to travel between states easily with well-planned rail and bus systems yet back home we don’t have a good enough system so we have to spend hours in traffic bringing down productive hours costing the country a great deal of production time and money?<\/p>\n
Don’t they bow their heads in shame that leaders from prosperous economies live on comparatively modest budgets; that some of their ministers work in public trains?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed that the nation\u2019s premier Teaching hospital has very efficient state-of-the-art medical screening equipment but very few personal to interpret the findings that the machines diagnose? That some countries like Thailand cannot compare with some of the equipment we have in Korle-Bu but have still plunged into medical tourism, raking in significant foreign revenue by providing top-notch healthcare delivery which our ministers sneak out of Ghana to enjoy while the suffering masses cannot afford to pay premium for the National Health Insurance Scheme? Don\u2019t they cringe in shame and fear that the lives of our wives, sisters and mothers hang on a string because there is a tall waiting list for Caesarian section at the Maternity Block of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and priority is given to ‘FIRST TIME BIRTHERS’ and patients have to carry their own beddings to the wards?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when people who attend party rallies abroad are genuine card-carrying members while they bask in the glory of being cheered on by 5-Ghana-cedi-plus-free-party-T-shirt -hired crowds?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when they superintendent over the deteriorating educational system in Ghana yet send their wards to schools abroad?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when decent accommodation is a dream for millions in Ghana, yet is basic in the countries they travel to? (Even Cuba has better housing than Ghana).<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed when a slight drizzle causes flooding at home, yet it rains heavier for days without flooding in other countries?<\/p>\n
Don’t they feel ashamed that children who have to be in school or at home relaxing have to assist their families to put a meal on the table and so dare the consequences to trade along the shoulders of busy roads?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t they feel ashamed of the lack of an effective emergency response system (causing avoidable deaths) when help is just a phone call away in those countries they visit?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t they feel ashamed when the national anthem is sang in the nations they visit and everyone is on their feet with hands solemnly resting on chests? Yet some of our ministers don\u2019t know the lines to our national anthem? Where is the nationalism Nkrumah and Co. fought for? Where is the nationalism Sergeant Adjetey and others died for?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t our leaders have any shame?<\/p>\n
Do they feel proud of what they see when they get back home after trips abroad?<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By:\u00a0Nana Awere Damoah
\nAuthor, I Speak of Ghana<\/p>\n
With contributions from Akwasi Yiadom, Abubakar Ibrahim, Jonathan Agyeman, Henrietta Hammond-Boadu, Francis Kennedy Ocloo, Efo Kwamiga, Kwame Gyan, Kojo Akoto Boateng, Fanny Awuye, Kofi Larbi]<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When our politicians visit abroad, don’t they feel ashamed when they see\/experience the facilities which they fail to roll out for the benefit of their citizens back home? When they visit museums abroad, don’t they feel ashamed knowing there is no proper museum in Ghana? Don’t they feel ashamed when they drive on wide, first-class, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":26417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[8],"yoast_head":"\n