Reflecting on Ghana’s 53 years

ON Saturday March 6, Ghana marked her 53 years independence anniversary. The anniversary was dedicated to the life and works of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President. It is important that we do not only look at March 6 as a national holiday. As a people we need to holistically reflect on what we can also do to move this nation forward. Our forefathers have done their bid and it is our turn to contribute to make Ghana a prosperous nation.

IMMEDIATELY Ghana gained independence from her colonial masters – Britain, Dr Nkrumah made it his priority to ensure that Ghana was not only politically independent, but also economically free. Based on this, Nkrumah marshaled all the resources at our country’s disposal to bring development to Ghanaians.

AND one tool Dr Nkrumah used to achieve his development objectives was education. Through education the presidency of Nkrumah was able to bring real growth to this country. Under Nkrumah Ghana established many industries which were located at strategic regions. Good roads were constructed and the railway lines were also working efficiently.

GHANAIANS had the opportunity to send their children to good educational institutions. And this brought about enough human resources to propel Ghana’s development wheel.  Unfortunately, since the overthrow of Nkrumah in 1966 our country has been going back and forth. Many of Nkrumah’s development projects were left to rot with little or no attention from successive governments. We almost import everything into this country.

53 years in the life of a nation is no mean small achievement. Ghana has made some progress. But the question we on this paper want to ask is: Can’t we have achieved a lot more? For us we think that if we had put our acts together Ghana’s economy could have become one of the greatest economies in the world.

WITH all our rich numerous resources we have become hewers of wood and drawers of water always at the mercy of our so-called development partners. We are always swallowing every pill given to us by our development partners without examining the consequences of such pills.

WHAT resources don’t we have in this country? We have gold, diamond, bauxite, cocoa, manganese, timber and quite recently the discovery of oil in commercial quantities. Indeed we have everything that a nation needs to develop; yet we are poor, why? We are always quick to compare countries like Malaysia and Singapore with our country.

WE gained independence in the same year with these two countries. But, it is shameful to see the wide development gap between our nation and these two countries. This means that there is more work to be done if indeed we are bent on catching up with even countries we started the race with.

PRESIDENT John Evans Atta Mills at the Independence Square on Saturday is reported to have called on Ghanaian youth to play more proactive roles in Ghana’s nation building. The president also advised Ghanaian youth against being used as instruments to foment trouble.

WE at Today agree with President Mills that our youth must be actively involved in the socio-economic development of this nation. But, it is equally important that government also creates conditions that will enable the youth of Ghana play a more meaningful role in the country’s development process.