Opinions of Sunday, 29 January 2023

Columnist: Malik Mino Ereira

Changing the narrative for Ghana’s 66th independence commemoration

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Open letter to the chairman of the national independence day celebration.

Dear Sir,
First of all, permit me to congratulate the NPP Administration for their foresight in changing the status quo of hosting the Independence celebration only in Accra since Nkrumah’s time.

The above organization; Waste Segregation & Composting Movement embarked on an A-250km Climate Action Walk in six (6)-days (1st - 6th March 2020) from Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Accra to Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi to Climax Ghana’s 63rd independence.

The aim is to get citizens to be part of the solution process for a greener and cleaner nation as part of the change process by walking the talk in these five (5) high-impact social-capital and communal activities;1. Separate their Waste for recycling, 2. Compost the organic part, 3. Use a cloth /reusable bag for shopping, 4. Grow one tree, and 5. Involvement in community gardening. This is a climate action to solve the sanitation menace of the city of Accra.

But a true change process arises from a gradual improvement from the past. For the 66th Independence commemoration, this year on 6th March 2023 we would like this Government to move one step ahead of its initiative of rotating the hosting ceremony among the 16 Regions.

Merrian-Webster.com, Inc Americas' oldest (1831) reference book and dictionary publisher defines Independence(noun) as the quality or state of being. (Synonyms as Self-dependence, -reliance, -subsistence, -Support, -Sufficiency). A huge proportion of the earth’s fresh water is locked in glaciers and icebergs. Similarly, more than 50% of Ghana’s solution with respect to following the economic scale of development since 1957 is locked in the archives of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
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Now that you have chosen the Venue (Ho) of same the Region (Volta Region) of “Babies With Sharp Teeth’s” admonishing that ‘Don’t Blow Another GHC 10.4 million Like You Did In 2022 for Ghana’s 6th March 2023 National Independence Celebration, you could neutralizing that statement by adopting the Chinese proverb – A man complains about his torn undergarment but another uses it an opportunity to scratch his balls.

We would suggest that you divide the money for organizing the national commemoration into three (3) parts. 2/3rd goes to the chosen Region while 1/3rd remains in Accra.

You ask GBC to put all the documentaries of Ghana’s Independence celebrations from 1957 to 2022 into a One-Hour, Six Minutes (1hour: 6Minutes) A - 66 Minutes - Documentary. It is a way of compressing each year into one minute simulating a thousand years like a day before God. Then you let GBC show it on 6th March. Before that you allow the President to announce the 2023 environment Kum economic recovery activities.

Globally the human race is in a distress because of food crises and its shortage looming ahead but internally not all nations are to engage in a domestic debt exchange program.

Aside from the fact that the Minister for Agric is at large but visible on posters seeking the ultimate position, let the President give his state of the nation address on Valentine's Night stressing the need to enhance food security at the micro-level ourselves as a people.

It takes a minimum of three months to turn the soil into food. From the urban to the rural areas, let the President give everyone the opportunity to use the beginning of March 2023 to prepare their land no matter the size - the form be it container gardening, front or backyard.

Another name for the Month of April is called spring (that is when things begin to spring forth/grow). This changes the whole narrative, eliminates the blame game, and put the citizenry on the path of growth and recovery aside the quasi-austerity measure to improve public health.

Here you are using one stone to kill three birds; 1. Indirectly asking the citizenry to be part of the President’s initiative and not to be spectators 2. Rekindle the drive for Accra to be the Cleanest City in Africa by 2024 and 3. Closing the floodgate of funfairs until corporate bodies, Individuals and Faith-Based Organizations financially support Government’s environmental and sanitation drive.

Here are some of the 15 holidays to show we cannot be doing the same thing and expect a different result by overtaking Rwanda as the Cleanest Country in Africa.



According to research increasing global population and urbanization with its associated waste generation have caused grave uncertainties in the attainment of the Sustainable Deployment Goals (SDG No 6; Water and Sanitation). The 2010 population census of 24,658,823 put Kumasi as the most populous city but the 2021 population census of 30,792,608 shows Accra has overtaken Kumasi as the most populous region.

More people moving into the capital city means more associated waste generation More than 30% of the Local Authorities' budget is used for waste collection and disposal. In 2016, Only 60% of the waste generated in Accra is collected. The rest of the 40% left uncollected defeats the President’s drive of Making Accra the Cleanest City.

Nature provides an entertaining recreational-procreational structure alongside a sanitation and recycling facility and they both work perfectly in harmony. A population increase simply means those tools are being put to good use.

The binary copulation effect of a 3min 45sec joint work output by the opposite sex is yielding a compound interest at a faster rate than infrastructure and social amenities provided to make life comfortable.

In the whole of West Africa where betting companies are creating more jobs for the youth than past and current government combines could provide, there is a need to learn from nature to bring balance. For the host of the National Celebration, 1/3rd of the money for the national celebration should be used to address the Rural-Urban Migration from the 10 million.

Another 1/3rd to support mechanized farming to enhance food security at the micro-level. The rest of the 1/3rd is to address the sanitation menace in Accra with the establishment of buy-back centers for waste recovery.

COVID-19 Pandemic has shown that we can organize our independence without a funfair; same as Tanzania uses that money for developmental projects. It will be prudent to ask all 16 Regions to allocate the funds for this year’s 66th Anniversary as seed money for people from those regions to contribute to it under the 18 Category of Ghanaians below.

The opposite of failing to do this will be to remain in the firm grips of three funfair groups of companies that control us 1. Political Class, 2. Religious Economy and 3. Rebranding Folklore Entertainment as an industry. One borrows the word “Industry” as a suffice to read entertainment industry.

Another turn collapsed factories in the city into church auditoriums to pray for the things, we only have to process whiles posters and billboards of the ruling class are in dire need of votes before they fix the industries. The common thread among the three is they all rely on trees cut for paper advertisement without replanting.

This removes the commitment element that our forefathers used to gain independence. Here every project of progress becomes a fortress of recess. The normal icing will be a prepared speech for the president to read; making our independence lose its meaning.