An Independence Day paper by James Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr.

When Militant, Aggressive, Radical HAMAS won elections overwhelmingly in Palestine?s parliamentary challenge, it was News!!!! America sat and watched in awe. Many conservatives and reactionaries around the globe listened in dismay and confusion. How could this happen? Indeed it was victory for HAMAS but confusion, surprise and a wonder engulfed many. So was Ghana?s day of attaining independence in 1957 received by many including some prominent Ghanaians. It was a wonder and truly perplexing! But it was a reality. ?Ghana is free forever? Nkrumah said. Are we indeed free today after 49 years of independence? I ask.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in 1957 March 6, when Ghana became independent after many years in bondage ? over 500 years, many were those who jubilated, rejoiced and prepared themselves for the build up of a new sovereign state by her people, of her people and for her people. A few years before this event, the President, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah declared the motion of destiny in which the Ghanaian and the African would create their own personality and identity. The creation of this new African was necessary because of the many years of brainwashing and self deprivation or alienation. He further cautioned on the eve of independence that we had to work hard to prove our critics wrong and vindicate our chosen path ? Freedom and Justice. This was the genesis of a nation led by her nationals who knew and understood their native problems better and had the best solutions to them.

Mr. Chairman, permit me to ask, have we followed that path? Have we lived lives that run congruent to the desire and aspirations of the founding fathers? Are we at the point where we purposed to reach by now from 1957? Is Freedom and Justice truly reflecting as in the motive of the Ghanaian motto? Have we been able to usefully utilize our resources both human and material to the maximum? Clearly by the measure of life?s standards, Ghana has failed woefully to stay faithfully to her hope and dream. We live in a country where in there is poverty in the midst of plenty and scarcity in the midst of abundance. Why??

At 49years of independence, are we truly independent? Independent when some crook foreign nationals can take our liberty and independence for granted and trample upon our rights with impunity and with the open connivance of State institutions and structures? This country needs true healing. Truly, Ghana deserves better! Independent, yet we can hardly feed and clothe ourselves? Independent but cannot even plan how the structure of our education should be? They talk about retirement age within the education sector yet they keep their old staff and call them the advisers. What a shame that we cannot boast of independence though only one day after independence, we could not be tossed about to accept any policies anyhow. And yet some of us have been accused of saying too much about the name Nkrumah. Yes, we could be guilty of it. But isn?t it worth it? Isn?t it necessary to go back to the right track when you realize the path you sojourn on now leads to a different destination? Isn?t it important to return for something you hold in high esteem and can hardly move on without it when you suddenly realize that it is absent? This particular situation in reminds me of a very popular situation that took place in the life of Jesus. The story is very familiar, very popular; most people know it. Jesus was about twelve years old; there was the custom of the feast. Jesus' parents took him up to Jerusalem. That was an annual occasion, the feast of the Passover, and they went up to Jerusalem and they took Jesus along with them. And they were there a few days, and then after being there they decided to go back home, to Nazareth. And they started out, and I guess as it was in the tradition in those days, the father probably traveled in front, and then the mother and the children behind. You see, they didn't have the modern conveniences that we have today. They didn't have automobiles and aeroplanes and buses. They walked, and traveled on donkeys and camels. So they traveled very slowly, but it was usually the tradition for the father to lead the way. And they left Jerusalem going on back to Nazareth, and I imagine they walked a little while and they didn't look back to see if everybody was there. But then the Scripture says, they went about a day's journey and they stopped, I imagine to check up, to see if everything was all right, and they discovered that something mighty precious was missing. They discovered that Jesus wasn't with them. Jesus wasn't in the midst. And so they paused there and looked and they didn't see him around. And they went on and started looking among the kinsfolk. And they went on back to Jerusalem and found him there, in the temple with the doctors of the law. Now, the real thing that is to be seen here is this: that the parents of Jesus realized that they had left behind, and had lost a mighty precious value. They had sense enough to know that before they could go forward to Nazareth, they had to go backward to Jerusalem to rediscover this value. They knew that. They knew that they couldn't go home to Nazareth until they went back to Jerusalem. Going back had become a necessity otherwise the forward march would be useless and futile. Friends this is the reality in Ghana, yet we are slow of foot. All of a sudden it has become apparent that we cannot move on without going back to the principles and ideals of Nkrumah. His envisioned Ghana has been left in Jerusalem. God save us! Friends, we have come to the crossroads. Our choice today is as imperative as the decision of the founding fathers who chose freedom in the face of all the ugly odds. We need to redefine our vision and mission. The founding fathers chose a direction and a destiny for Ghana. We followed a chosen path rather than the bandwagon. Ghana aimed very high to be the example of many in Africa and the entire world. We are proud of the days where Ghana was indeed the black star of Africa; when every African wished to be called Ghanaian.

If the chosen path of yester years had not been deserted, we would be better of today. We need to get back on track as the new Ghanaian to get to our much desired destination. Our self inflicted undesired image strives on the way we think and act ? Our attitude and belief system. Great nations were built by people who believed ?greatness? thought ?greatness? and acted ?greatness?. The principle that we live by has created the nation we have. When we change the principles we live by, we shall surely change this country. I doubt if Ghana could have attained independence with today?s crop of citizenry. Self has been placed before nation. Students at higher levels of learning care nothing about nation building and sovereignty as against the fact that it was students of lower learning at Adisadel and St. Augustines who fired the momentum for the attainment of independence. There is so much greed that we are always asking for what Ghana has for us forgetting that we are Ghana and Ghana is us. We need to be asking what we can do for ourselves instead. The time has come to go back to the old unfettered path of Patriotism and Ghanaian nationalism. The difficult path that brings joy at the end of it rather than this cheap way of greed and selfishness that brings nothing but ruin and retrogression as well as underdevelopment.

Mr. Chairman, it is by no means a mistake that this occasion is taking placing here at the University of Cape Coast. Perhaps I should make a little reference to the third stanza of this University?s Anthem;

UCC, UCC: We are the kindest of them all.
UCC, UCC: We are the brain-child of Nkrumah.
We train; we mould and live by his vision to
Impart all virtues that Ghana May be strengthened!

It is a suicidal mistake to keep the youth out of the struggle for change because they remain the strongest force on whose wings change can best sail through the storm(s). No matter what success is attained without successors, it is worse than outright failure. There is an urgent need to indoctrinate the youth with love for country and others. We are untainted. We are idealist. We believe in the right things and work towards with speed ? the radicals! We are daring, fearless and adventurous. We ask for nothing but the best! Ghana has operated beneath our potentials for far too long. Today, what Ghana needs is the progressive youth; entrepreneurs, strategists, and visionaries (what the Americans call mavericks) who can break the sub strata, who will set to themselves big and challenging goals and pursue them with all the strength in them.

However, the youth of today have departed from their duty and responsibility ? the standing army of progress. We have lost interest in politics, the environment, the disabled, the marginalized groups, trade and commerce, national policy formulation, social justice, radicalism. We have been contaminated with the thought that things will remain the way they are no matter what. We need to triumph over this retrogressive belief and attitude. This is our greatest challenge and overwhelming responsibility. To walk the new path bedeviled with intimidations, reprisals, calls for a lot of sacrifice. Nonetheless, I am convinced that ?we shall not fail nor flag?. We shall neither be intimidated nor frustrated. We shall not be tired or fed up. We shall fight progressively. We shall fight on paper, in speech, in debates, in listening and in hardwork. We shall remain focused, consistent and forever committed. Let?s keep a worthy fight. We?ve got nothing to lose! Let?s always remember that without sacrifice nothing serious can be achieved. We are mindful of the critics but in the words of Theodore Roosevelt;

?It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points how the strong stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs the to man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.?

This is our belief; that soon and very soon we will not only speak of good governance but create a responsible and enlightened civil society that will make good governance a reality; that one day we shall measure strength and greatness in love, sacrifice, courage, honesty, peace, progression and justice but not hate, greed, selfishness, corruption, retrogression and mayhem; that our disabled brothers and sisters will be accorded their due in nation building; that our rich cultural values shall take their rightful places among us; that mother Ghana shall no longer weep, because her children have decided to render her waste, but make use of her riches meaningfully rather than allow some outsiders to rape, abuse and insult her beauty. This new path will take us out of our economic woes, the corruption, the greed, the dishonesty, the killing, the destruction, the sickness, the disrespect for our tradition and heritage. It will surely make for us the new Ghanaian! I invite you to be part of this grand and historic movement. We shall leave here having laid the foundation for a better deserving Ghana indeed! Where, freedom and justice will reflect in the sustained progress of the masses; where peace shall abound not just because there is no war but that justice is established; where we shall measure development not by roads and buildings per se but by the happiness and progress of the people. That is the kind of society we need.

I wish all us a happy Independence Day. My good friends on the stage, I thank you for coming. God bless all the fallen heroes who laid down their lives for this occasion. God bless mother Ghana and be with us all.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.