Ibrahim Tanko Ask Fellow Ghanaians?

To say that news today has become more depressing unbearable is a huge understatement. As soon as you switch on the 6:00 O clock news, log on to your email or pick up a newspaper, all you hear about are the increasing levels of violence, injustice and wickedness.

It’s no longer happening overseas or 10 miles away in a village you’ve never heard of .the worst bouts of criminal activities are now taking place on your doorsteps. Scary isn’t it? Sometimes you may even wonder if the world is hell on earth and heaven is just a dream. Low morals are there no more limits. Do people no longer have standards and morals? Even children aren’t being spared from this world’s incredible increase in despicable acts. Nowadays, crimes that were beyond our imagination just ten or twenty years ago are occurring all the times offenders are on the rise and are lurking among the very people whom we very much trust. Role models no longer exist because it ‘s almost certain that if you put your heart and trust in someone, they will eventually let you down although sad but true. These are the facts; this is real life.

Corrupt, Ghana has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Africa and family is being branded as a failed institution. Now, when youths commit offend(s), parents no longer wish to take responsibility with this entire happening, questions start to spring up as to what will be next? Where are we heading as seen on billboards and bus panels? But the big question that has always been on your minds that is, “Does God really exist?” Atheists have

Do other have a point or is this a cowardice response after all, it’s so very easy to blame someone who you know won’t answer back, isn’t it? No one seems to have the solution but there are many culprits.

May be your argument is that it ‘s down to our MPs the Minister or President himself. Who makes the rules and calls the shots. Others may say it’s down to the rich and famous who have the money to turn world hunger into a thing of the past. But instead, choose to parade themselves on national TV as some of the most promiscuous, size-zero drink and drug addicts this world has ever seen. It’s all so easy to point fingers and look for every culprit under the sun, as long as the person in the mirror is not asked to take a stand. YOU or ME? What can I possibly do to change things? How can I, being the just one be held accountable?

Let’s take a look at the some of the problems we face in Ghana if people are suffering with unemployment, debts, sicknesses, diseases and depression, we must not forget that the politicians who have power to minimise these problems, at times choose not to, but we were the ones who elected them. What’s worse is that some people don’t even vote at all, or try to make a difference.

If we were to carefully analyse most of the problems in Ghana, we would conclude that someone, selected through a democratic process chose that route. All we see today is only the consequences of the decisions we made yesterday. Individually, we can’t save the entire world but we are accountable for what we do in our personal lives. Living justly and making our lives some-thing to be proud of will surely inspire someone else to do the same. We all have our unique choice to make.

These are small investments in our collective future. Choosing to blame everyone else for what’s been going on in the world may be valid but it won’t change a thing in any way nor form.

Your individual world you may have been a victim of some one else’s selfish act or evil decision but you have the power to choose whether you will allow that choice to make or break you. Fellow Ghanaians, Do not let this year start on a sour and bitter note. Choose to live, choose to make it big, choose to love, to be happy and choose to do things differently. As we enter a New Year, we have to be guided by the basic principles of freedom and justice.

THANK YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL GHANAIANS IBRAHIM TANKO aaibrahimtanko@yahoo.com HERIOT WATT UNIVERSITY UK