By:Charles Nii Ayiku Ayiku

Email:ayiku13@hotmail.com

I have loved Ghana my whole life. There has never been a time I have regretted being a Ghanaian. In fact, I love Ghana so much that I always pray for unending peace as well as for knowledge, wisdom and understanding for our leaders so as to make Ghana a better place to live. All I have looked for and continue looking forward to is a better Ghana.

Ghana , as we all know , is relatively peaceful, I always tell my colleagues that God loves Ghana more than any other country and has blessed us with the heart of unity and hospitability, God-fearing people (in some cases), natural resources and many more.

Several countries see Ghana as the epitome of democracy in Africa; a country where businesses can thrive well due to its friendly business environment.

Ghanaians do not think about peace at home only; the country has contributed so much to peace keeping in the world that she has been adjudged one of the best peace -keeping nations in the world; maintaining her position of being in the top 10 contributing nations of both military and police personnel to UN peacekeeping operations.

Our intellectuals have also made significant contributions to the development of several nations and international bodies as heads, advisors and high level consultants.

Nevertheless, many well meaning citizens are concerned about how Ghanaians seem to be unable to employ all what they have to build a better Ghana than the one they live in.

We are in an election year; another time when we, Ghanaians, would be put to the regular political test to make the whole world appreciate our love for Ghana and for peace and harmony.

Sadly, beyond elections, we sometimes forget that enjoying a lovely and better Ghana does not rely solely on the government of the day but on ourselves collectively as a people. These are some few areas one could see how unhelpful the average Ghanaian is towards national development.

Firstly, one could point to filth in the Capital, Accra and other cities, choked gutters and the upsurge of malaria and other diseases; but we forget that when we do not keep our surroundings clean, mosquitoes would emerge and cause malaria; and, when it rains there would be floods because we sweep and put rubbish in our gutters. We engage in all these ill sanitary activities and blame government for the consequences. The rains are back and I think we should ask ourselves as citizens of Ghana whether we individuals we have done enough to salvage the situation.

Secondly, we talk about accidents on our roads and blame government for “causing the accidents”. The Greater Accra Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), ACP Victor Tandoh (Rtd) during the 2011 Best Performing Transport Organization/Union Awards in Accra, disclosed that Ghana loses 1,800 lives annually through road accidents, adding that speeding was a major cause of road traffic crashes, accounting for over 70 percent of reported cases in the region. Other causes he said are over-loading, fatigue driving and drunk driving.

Clearly, the issue is not about government only. As individual citizens who want Ghana to be a better place we must contribute to the development we want to enjoy.

The kind of country we yearn to see is one which would attract positive investments; the kind of country that the whole world could use as a measure of success worthy of emulation by other countries.

I know we all love Ghana and would be part of the challenge to make it a better place. It takes more than just the President of the republic to make things work; he needs our help

We must be proactive. This means supporting our laws to work and desisting from encouraging violation. Little violations often progress to bigger and more unlawful abuse in the end, so it’s better to stop it at the root. Reporting a crime to the proper authorities as soon as it occurs will go a long way toward seeing justice done. Instead of complaining about what is going wrong, we must take steps to act on it.

We should be civil when talking to each other; especially on radio, telephone and the print media,we must not inflame passions but rather promote peace and unity.

We must desist from insulting our elders and leaders in our society and over fellow human beings. Hate speeches must stop and let us live together as one people and enjoy a better Ghana.

All in all, good family values, social awareness, and a strong moral foundation will be the steps towards changing our society.

Just do your work well - with sincerity and with the thought that you are doing it for the country and for God.

After all, the success of this country is our responsibility. God Bless Our Homeland Ghana.