*A Letter for Posterity Part 5: Because Tomorrow Belong to Us*
In every year or decade there are the early part and late. For instance the
decade, 2000 to 2010, has the early part from 2000 to 2005 and the late
also set from 2006 to 2010. Same applies to human generations. There are
the old or older and young or younger generations respectively. In Ghana,
we have Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, George Sydney Abugri and Manasseh Azure Awuni.
So there is Prof. Azumah Nelson, Joshua Clottey and Joseph Abgeko. There is
also Abedi Ayew, Dede Ayew and Agyemang Badu.
The older generation is well ahead of the younger in years, experience and
presumably wisdom. The younger generation literally stands behind the older
generation to observe the way they take their steps and where they place
them. The younger generation watches the older from a distance. If the
older generation has been going the wrong way, the young can change course
and do things in a different way, through learning from the mistakes of
their fathers.
The choices of the older generation which are inimical to development of
human society will be eschewed, discarded and thrown away. Is that what we
are witnessing in Ghana? Has the Ghanaian youth abandoned the old ways of
their fathers? Or like the proverbial duck who walk in a straight line with
their young ones following, and in the process when the mother falls into a
pit they also fall in one after the other?
It is time to take stock of our fathers and critically review each, whether
indeed they are wealth continuing or stock and stones that should be given
the marching orders. As youth we are the future of Ghana. We are fortunate
to have acquired modern education. In our time social media and Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) has made the world a global village.
With this respite we should be inspired to do away with tendencies that
thwart national development.
Parents in the southern Ghana use to tell tales about the northern part of
the country, and same was done up north. Today Tertiary education has
broken the shields and myth around these tales and exposed the lies hidden
in there. Should the Ghanaian youth proceed on this tangent as our parents
did? Now, due to mobility of labour north, south, east, west and center has
received citizens from all parts of the country who are working for the
better of such communities. Therefore, tribalism and ethnic sentiments
should be swept out from our compound. The youth must keep their foot off
the street named tribe which is backward, weird and demeaning to our
acquired education. Listen carefully to yourself or any youth who pride his
or her self in ethnic tendencies and it will come clear to you how raw,
unpolished, uncivil and uncivilized the fellow sounds. If the Ghanaian
youth can speak of all the social media sites and modern conveniences, then
we should deal with this wasteful demeaning and blind sentiments.
In our quest to deal with sanitation, the youth must lead not the other way
round. Talking and doing nothing is very dangerous. Filth is up to our
necks, the rate at which open spaces are turned into refuse dump batters
human comprehension. The markets where food stuffs are stored and sold are
so filthy with constant swam of flies hovering, thereby infecting these
food stuffs. The result, your prediction will be right, diseases transfer
to the citizenry. This is perpetuated by the youth. We should call
attention and time on this disgraceful scenario. The youth are the future;
our actions should be geared towards reforming and protecting the
environment for our wellbeing. In every village and hamlet youths should
organise themselves to deal with this mountain problem which threatens our
health. We are sitting on a time bomb, for the reason that, in the
21stcentury a country which proud herself as the gateway to Africa
cannot be
swimming in filth. This would affect the responds to invitation for
investors to invest in Ghana. Then, there is the probability of high rate
in unemployment.
In recent times armed robbery suspects arrested in the country has the
youth in the majority. This is unfortunate. Will it be acceptable to have
the future of Ghana held up in the gaol? But this is the hard situation we
are faced with. This goes to inform the fact that moral standards have
dropped in our society. It will also be right to write that, the Ghanaian
society is at a pathological state, where social roles cast for social
actors are not being played. Parents and guardians are not playing their
supervisory role as expected. Teachers can as well be dragged into the
picture. They hold in trust the upbringing and the shaping of the future of
the youth of every country. Can it also be argued that, the youth are not
allowing the older generation to impart to them wisdom? The get-rich-quick
rhythm which has engulfed the youth like wild fire is indeed burning us
away. This has thrown a lot of talent of the nation into our prisons. Are
we aware that, tomorrows belong to us? The youth should have the hands well
trained to be able to receive the baton of life from our current
leadership. Imagine a corrupt youth! Good God, Ghana is finished!
Another area the Ghanaian and other youths elsewhere should take note of is
the recent spate of social strives which the youth are seen taking center
stage. In such instances, lots of government properties are destroyed. The
youth should be preservers of the social peace, cohesion and protector of
the property of the society. With the exuberance, the youth should look up
to the few good and exemplified lives of the older generation and pick cues
to enable us channel our energies into beneficiary ventures. The Ghanaian
society look up to us the youth to work hard to cause the required change
this country badly need.
There is no need to destroy in a moment of anger and attempt to express
displeasure, what has been built with many years, using the scarce
resources of your country. The appropriate channels might delay but they
must be approached and utilised at all material moments. Creating your own
laws and working with will only bring about disorder which neither help
issues nor bring about the required change you expected. Tomorrow’s leader
must be extra cautious. That is you.
Discipline brings so much, while indiscipline takes same away. A generation
that is being prepared to take over the leadership of tomorrow needs a lot
of submissiveness. An arrogant heart and mind, as well as a busy richness
chasing individual will not acquire wisdom. A humble heart and mind learns
best. The Ghanaian youth can achieve so much only if they are ready to take
their time to learn the basic rudiments of life. I am reiterating the call
on the Ghanaian youth to allow to be trained in every field they find
themselves, for the reason that, when tomorrow comes, we would be expected
to deliver as required of our education and training. We cannot afford to
fail tomorrow when she comes. The demands of today should inform the youth
challenges tomorrow would bring. The current generation of leaderships is
seriously challenged in their quest to work to attain some level of comfort
for the general citizenry. This might be due to how they had misconstrued
the future requirements of them. Hence, we are virtually grappling with
fundamental situations. The youth must lead the way to snap the sense of
discipline from the clutches of indiscipline. There must be a change and
the youth should be the ones to bring it about. The discipline deficiencies
of the youth must be checked now.
Corruption remains one of the issues Ghana is faced with. It has become a
cliché that corruption began in the days of Adam. Meanwhile, some youths
are virtually swimming in it. Many are earning the basic rudiments of
corruption. How would the youth make it tomorrow with a skill in
corruption? Everywhere in the country there is one missing funds or
embezzlement of dedicated resources to execute social amenities. The
country is faced with a lot of facility deficits in most rural communities,
yet nobody seems concerned. Let’s spare the country this disgraceful act,
while the youth wane themselves off corrupt practices. Many of Ghanaian
youths are school drop outs. Those who are fortunate enough to have
completed the needed education have found politics as an avenue of
enriching themselves. It is good to have tomorrow’s leaders learn from the
feet of the experienced. But let’s look around us whether that is happening
of the current youths in leadership? Leadership, is it position or
disposition? Whatever is happening at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has the
youth as the middle staff of the facility.
In spite of the negatives there is hope for the Ghanaian youth tomorrow. We
can still learn from our mistakes and pick up the pieces from here.
Socrates stated that, “Nature has given us two ears, two eyes and one
tongue to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak” It is
time for the youth to listen, look carefully and speak less, thus
inculcating the attitude of learning.
Despite our pitfalls the youth still has the chance to reform and
re-strategize how to reclaim the lost years of looking down upon each
other. The days of merchandising disrespect among ourselves which has
resulted in disunity without any dividend must be put behind us. Whether
from up north or down south Ghana remains one, so are we the youth. The
Ghanaian youth should stand tall above all egocentrism to activate the true
freedom we were assured from the beginning by our forefathers. Posterity
will not forgive the youth of today who would be leaders tomorrow if we
should fail.
Let us give up on corruption, bribery, indiscipline and insanitary
practices, because tomorrow belongs to us.
*Patrick Twumasi*
*(0209045931)
