If you are a very active on social media, over the past few days or I should say a little over a week ago, a new campaign dubbed #FixGhana started on Twitter. At the beginning of this campaign, different photos of dilapidated roads, children in school buildings with extremely bad conditions, polluted water bodies (mostly from galamsey/illegal mining) among others were trending on social media. On the other part of the campaign, there was #nameandshame where MPs in different constituencies pictures were put up against bad roads in their constituencies among others. Also, there were videos and tweets of the current President and Vice President criticising the now opposition party when they were in opposition and so on and so forth all dubbed with #FixGhana.
In the heat of all these, some MPs and ministers in the current government lambasted the citizenry that instead of pointing fingers at the government to fix the country, they should rather fix themselves. One particular tweet that generated a lot of comments mentioned things that some citizens also do that stalls the development of the country hence #fixyourself instead of #fixthe country. He cited not paying taxes, littering, illegal electricity connections, bribery and corruption orchestrated by some individuals among others just to mention a few. Now, where exactly should the focus be, should we fix ourselves as citizens or the government should fix the country?
The answer to this is not just by choosing a side. To sum it up, both the government and Ghanaians are responsible for the current state of the country, including past governments…so we all need to fix ourselves! The truth is, the leaders we elected do not come from anywehere but within the citizenry, so if as a people we are greedy, selfish, corrupt, we should not expect our leaders to be any different. You cannot fetch water from the sea and expect it to be saltless. It is as simple as that in that end! I have seen arguments that we elect our leaders because we believe they should know better to make and implement better policies for the advancement of the country but then this is flawed if this particular leader was already corrupt in their daily lives; giving bribes to get away with their wrongdoings, embezzling church funds as a church treasurer among others…When that person is elected into power, they would have been given a bigger platform to steal more and then it goes on and on…In this vein, I agree that we as citizens need to fix ourselves!
On the other hand, when we fix ourselves, we can start demanding better! If we start by eliminating bribery and corruption in our workplaces, by refusing to cut corners when awarded with contracts to complete a project and start policing each other to do the right thing, then maybe our leaders will take us seriously. If they do not, then we know we as a people have done our part then we will use the power of our thumb to demote them and elect those people who now reflect our goodwill into power. If not then we will be going in circles forever; after few months, this hashtag dies and then life goes back to normal.
On the other side of #FixGhana, our leaders should also realise that you can fool some of the people at some point in time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. If people were always foolish, I think the scales are beginning to fall off their eyes (especially the youth) so then if you lied to the people that you will build 88 hospitals, construct several roads, fix ‘dumsor’ (power outage) among others and you were relaxing and busily embezzling funds, it is NOW time to ACT. The people are speaking up because they are TIRED! The youth NEED jobs because the unemployment rate is too high, the health system needs to be FIXED because people are dying just because there aren’t enough beds in the hospital, or equipment are lacking, lots of people are dying from road accidents because roads are poorly constructed or on the other hand the corrupt system has eaten deep to the extent that policemen standing by the roadside are taking bribes instead of arresting drivers with vehicles in poor conditions or drivers with no driving licence at all or fake ones…Hence FIX the SYSTEM. Let the LAWS work so that those individuals who still want to perpertuate a corrupt style of life will be brought to book! This is what citizens NEED.
Because if you only argue from the side that people should fix themselves instead of fixing the system you are exonerating yourself from the BIGGER problem which in one way or the other we all contribute to. For instance a lot of people including celebrities flouting the Covid 19 protocols because they KNOW that laws dont work in Ghanathat is a narrative that NEEDS to change! Because when most Ghanaians travel abroad they commend the system for working, hence if they were always late to work in Ghana they have to learn to be punctual in abroad because they know there are consequences but in Ghana they may get away with. They know that if they overspeed on the roads or park their vehicles just anywhere, they will be FINED hence they drive with extra caution. They know that they have to work hard to pass an exams to get admission to university and not have to resort to an uncle who knows someone in that university hence they can be admitted anyways knowing fully well they don’t deserve it!
In effect, a working system will see people from a BROKEN system adapting to it because they are FULLY AWARE that LAWS work!
I could go on and on..but the point is, the government has its part to play in terms of ensuring that LAWS are not only made but also ENFORCED and that campaign manifestoes are not just filled with promises as we do not run a country on promises but feasible policies with reasonable time periods for delivery, being role models to the citizens so that in effect the citizens will also adapt to a working system, be able to hold their leaders accountable when they falter and every now and then both governments and individuals can evaluate themselves regarding how far they have come.
The Ghana we all want to see will not fall from heaven or does not end in shifting blames. It requires all hands on deck. So after all is said and done…there is plenty of WORK to do and trust me, we have not even scratched the surface yet!
Gertrude says...... 