After The Dumsor Rally, Go To Court (Part 2)

Learning in the dark

The Ghanaian temper and temperament are the joint greatest inhibitors to meaningful development and breathtaking advancement in this country.

In every society, as with most things in life, the normal curve proves applicable; and in that sense, there are some outliers who definitely turn out to be high-flyers anywhere they find themselves. And the very same is true about the Ghanaian situation.

In writing this article, I am steeling myself for uninformed mordant attacks. Life is strangely contradictory; and hence, people who can't survive a puddle occasionally feel convinced in their bones to criticise aspiring surfers. Such should equally be expected with the territory of writing. Unsurprisingly, an idiom advises: If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

To blast a tone of immediacy, I will stick my head above the parapet and postulate that—as a country—we will continue to lag and straggle behind until we catch a certain fire that has forsaken us.

"Rotten system"

I will not bother even commenting on the OECD's exercise that placed us at the basest reaches of that infamous list. Without doubt, I am convinced there are some finely educated people in our country who were beneficiaries of what the world has been told, in my own words, is a "rotten system".

Let others debate the statistics and how the compilers reached their conclusion. Today, I am wearing the realistic patriotic hat, and hence, I will not join anyone condemning those who commissioned and issued the report. My concentration is on a follow-up to my article After The Dumsor Rally, Go To Court, available here: https://angelinakmorrison.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/after-the-dumsor-rally-go-to-court/.

Having put out that article, I have had the chance to reflect further, and I am of the transparent view that it would be quite rare for such a suggestion to even gain traction in a country like Ghana. No, I should have known that, even before I sat down to write. It was a subject dead in the water before it even began. No, I should have known the cloth from which we are cut. Sorry, did I have the temerity to suggest court action to the average Ghanaian?

"Upsets the applecart"

Inferring from a separate article I am writing titled Does The Bible Make You Weak? I am clearly seeing how ideas like calling for a class action against the government will never find grounds in our society. The general setup frowns on anything of such nature. It upsets the applecart.

However, on the day we get tired of slumbering and snoring, we will wake up to see in broad daylight that our temper and temperament as a people has left us in our self-imposed lurch.

Unsurprisingly, it is the very same that has saddled us with some of the leaders that we have attracted over the years. In all truth, we deserve the leaders that we have had. They are just a representation and reflection of who we are. Right here, the French diplomat Joseph de Maistre was spot on when he suggested in a letter published in Lettres et Opuscules, a thought translated as, "Every nation gets the government it deserves."

"They will not answer"

I am mindful that what I am saying here will not win me many friends; I already have enough. In truth, I am always emboldened by Ezekiel 2:6-7: "And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious" (KJV).

Yes, I know some of my calls and my suggestions will not be dissimilar to Ezekiel's: "But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted" (Ezekiel 3:7). Indeed, the very same as Jeremiah's: "Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee" (Jeremiah 7:27).

If a government cannot fix a power situation for all this while; is an organised demonstration the only way to air out one's grievances? Take a step back and think: Is it not a narrow way to look at issues? And yes, while a demonstration will accentuate and indeed perpetuate the matter in the national consciousness; will it buy new electrical gadgets for those who have suffered from the effects of such shameful power crises; and will it stop the further damage inflicted on a citizenry struggling to survive what is already a harsh economic state?

No, we like to sit in our homes and debate politics, and when we can't handle it any longer, we hit the streets. Sheepishly, we still vote for incompetent leaders who only succeed in enriching themselves. In fact, our temper and temperament are well-suited to the situations we have, and will continue to suffer.

Is it the duty of the electorate who pay taxes to take it upon themselves to devise mechanisms to solve these power crises over the last few years? Is that our job? Are we the paid technocrats?

"Reign would be tainted and stained"

Perhaps, if the president cannot solve this problem, he should have honourably resigned by now. No, he will not resign. Nevertheless, forever his reign will be tainted and stained with this issue.

As I have indicated in a number of articles, I like the president as a person. However, I am not blind to the fact that perhaps the job came too soon for him; or there is a remote chance that he lacks that Homeric quality Ghana needs at this time.

Saying this, why do sensible souls buy into the prevailing but false presumption that when a person speaks the truth, then he/she is some sort of political tool? How shallow can our thinking get?

I have suggested a class action in my previous article, and I am unabashed and unfazed at making such a suggestion. I will continue to stand by my suggestion. After all, a class action in my view would have woken the government up by now. It would have equally provided vital redress to businesses and individuals that desperately need it. Don't they deserve compensation?

"Fear of reprisals"

Nevertheless, here again, considering the Ghanaian temper and temperament, it will come as a surprise if anybody will handle such an issue. Such fine breeds are not common on our shores. Over here, when people believe something, for fear of reprisals, they will say something different. In reality, in our culture, truth is no longer a welcome and delightful fellow. You must lie to fit in with the crowd. Attempt to be different, and you will attract the ire of the populace. Is this not Francis Bacon's Idol of the Tribe that we are all paying obeisance to? Indeed, it is playing out right in front of the virgin screens of our vacuous eyes.

So let's continue to sleep in the darkness and imbibe the hocus-pocus spin from leadership. In our current state of being who we are, our leaders know what they can get away with, and they will never cease to turn us into a dumping ground for their well-crafted falderal—we are used and intoxicated by it.

"Rain insults on me"

It's worth reiterating: Is the government not responsible for fixing the issue? Is there not a sense of immediacy that should be brought to bear? Let my captious critics go further than calling me a "prostitute"—it won't come as a surprise. Let them rain insults on me for even suggesting that government needs to be held accountable. Let them forget that when issues linger for so long, all cards must be on the table, and in that sense, a class action does not become foolish after all, particularly for those stretching their thoughts from the usual, acceptable, and circumscribed forms of venting frustration which till date has resulted in nothing significant.

In the final analysis, it is the next generation that will write our colossal failures on granite, and what we thought to be good deeds, on fast-flowing streams.

Until we shed that languid image of a people who can be fed 'anything' and they will sheepishly luxuriate on it, we will never approximate to true greatness as a people. After all, such disposition is rarely valued and needed—perhaps should be rather damned and disdained—when force of character; a willingness to confront issues; a resistless and restless drive to break grounds; and an overriding and overarching passion to secure both the present and posterity is the true and coveted star steering several other countries to the very summit.

I shall surely return with not just my talking drums but a megaphone; it might perhaps help deliver my message better.

Angelina K. Morrison is interested in national development, true religion, and self-improvement. She enjoys thinking, and writes stories only when the muse grips her. Her first short story, Gravellatina is a breathtaking five-part series available now at Amazon. You can email her at angelinakm75@gmail.com, or find her at www.angelinakmorrison.blogspot.com or Facebook page.