Even as an ardent critic of the National Democratic Congress, I still reserved a very high level of respect for John Evans Atta Mills. Not just because he is an accomplished professor or the former vice president of Ghana, but because deep within his core, he radiates the humility and meekness of a true African.

As our democracy would allow us, we may disagree on this issue; however, the simple truth is that we are blessed to have him as our president. And it is the responsibility of all Ghanaians, to honour him as such. In fact, decent as our African culture has distinguished us from many, we cannot tell the world our story by simply sitting on the fence and spewing criticisms about the leadership of our country for every failed policy and misery it brings to our people.

Of course, it is a patriotic move to care about Ghana and the wellbeing of every Ghanaian. But to stand aside or fold our arms doing nothing within our individual realms to help resolve the situation is fundamentally myopic and wrong. From my own experience, there is no shortage of creativity in Ghana and ultimately no limit to what the reliable people of Ghana can do to sustainably transform their own lives and make the world a much better place to live.

The power to grow is in our hands – as such, it is our job to either make things work for us or work against us. Furthermore, we cannot just complain of poor leadership simply because we do not like those in office. What we aught to do, is to cease the moment to explore and unleash our creativity to wisely industrialize and make Ghana more competitive on the global stage of business. Instead of looking up to someone else for solutions, it is high time we put this self-defeating spirit behind us and start looking deep within ourselves for that magic touch of transformation to be more creative and make Ghana a leading nation in the world.

Our African ancestors did it before; they built great empires and pyramids some of which survived the test of time. So why can’t we do it? Europeans did, Americans did, Japanese did and now the Chinese are also doing it, so why can we do it? It all boils down to the kind of education system we have in Ghana. We teach our kids to graduate and find jobs, instead of teaching them the art of job creation. We wrongly teach them to depend on someone else’s programs, instead of teaching them to be independently self-reliant, yet we claim to be an independent nation.

Now is the time to answer the call to lift Ghana up. We can no longer depend on others for our own survival. Rather, we can swiftly chart a new course to liberate ourselves from these destructive shackles of poverty and help many secure a future for themselves. Ghana, do not belittle your greatness, as it uniquely flows in the silent veins of your bright children – who stand poised to win. God bless Ghana, God bless the African.

Written by: Francis Aka-ebila Aka-eri someri21@yahoo.com