Opinions of Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Columnist: Asihene, K.

57 years of redefining the flag

57 years ago when our beloved Ghana gained freedom from foreign oppression, the hearts of the Ghanaian people bled for a better life and a better country for their future generation. Our fore fathers believed that it was always better to be ruled by your blood and race and for that matter independence was vital.
For 56 years and 56 times we have always stopped and reminisced about our past and present and yet for 56 times we have come to the realization of how fast we have moved but how little we have achieved. One thing is clear though, and that is, it is not because of lack of trying neither is it the lack of will but just the result of bad leadership.

For 57 years our leaders have intelligently found a way of crippling this nation. For 57 years our leaders have sat and watched the collapse of almost all our local industries. For 57 years, the have devised means of destroying our educational system. For 57 years they have succeeded in not securing a better and comprehensive health care system for this country. It’s so mocking when these same leaders always advise us to take a cue from countries like Singapore and Malaysia and look at how far they have come as a nation. Yet they forget these nations had leaders who were smart and energetic like them. It sometimes fascinates me how innovative they become six or seven months to elections. How they are able to cook up wonderful strategies and measures to enable them secure positions which later become their goldmines.
57 years as a nation our leaders have can boast of redefining the colours of our national flag. Now the RED stands for the blood and sweat of the Ghanaian people who pay taxes and patriotically serve this nation with their hearts and souls yet economic mismanagement, bribery, corruption and political greed has engulfed the benefits of their efforts.

The YELLOW stands for the abundance of resources that are of no benefits to the people of this nation. The cocoa, gold, diamonds, bauxite and oil which are able to impact in the lives of foreigners but are just charades in front of the Ghanaian.

The GREEN stands for the vast vegetation of agriculture forestry which brings abundance of food and water yet makes the Ghanaman hungry and thirsty for foreign products. The rivers and wonderful water bodies which beautify this wonderful nation yet now serve as a ‘sink’ for the waste of this nation.
The BLACK STAR that serves as the hope that will never materialize as long as we continue to stay in the darkness of our own shadows, the darkness of our own truths and lies and not forgetting the darkness of ECG.

All in all the flag neither represents the virtues of being proudly Ghanaian nor the patriotism that continues to maintain and run the peacefulness of our nation. The flag waves for the pain, sorrows and disappointments of the Ghanaian people. Independence tweaaaaaaaaa

By K. Asihene, @paaasihene on twitter, brainooj@yahoo.com