America is to Opportunities as Ghana is to What?

The 6th of March each year marks the celebration of Ghana's independence from the British. The day being a national holiday, I got to sleep in. But later when I tottered out of bed, showered and had half of a mfantse dokon and okra stew with crabs and fish and meat for breakfast – god, this post is degenerating into a personal diary entry yikes! – then showered, Ghana style with a bucket (I live at Ashale-Botwe where our taps don’t flow), it was time to dress up. I wore my red, gold, green necklace and fashioned a headband out of a scarf coloured red, yellow and green with a black star in the middle, just like the Ghana flag. I was feeling very jiggy:) but when I got to town, I felt a little overdressed. It was as if no one else got the memo that it was Independence Day. I wondered if this was another case of the returnee trying to be more Ghanaian than everyone else, as Mammie from motherhood: learning on the job says, but I really felt like it wasn’t that I was being more Ghanaian than everyone else, but, why did everyone else have to be so nonchalant?

Maybe Ghanaians don’t have to wear the colours of the country to show that they value what the day represents. Wasn’t I the same person who thought it unnecessary for Gey Hey Alumnae to display stickers on their cars? But it’s not the same thing. Or is it? I was a tad disappointed because It seemed to me that even though there would be discussions, and marching, and patriotic songs on TV, for the ordinary man and woman on the streets life was going on as usual. The street-sellers were selling, what did the day mean for them? When I start thinking like this my thoughts go in so many different directions. Eventually I settle on a big idea, a question, usually philosophical.

Who are we as a people?

Yes, what makes a Ghanaian a Ghanaian, What makes Ghana Ghana? What can we claim? How would a person advertise Ghana? What is its unique value proposition? It’s all the same question. Essentially, what’s it we got that no one else has got? What the heck are we about?

When I think of America, I think...Land of Immigrants, Land of Opportunity. Whether these descriptors are accurate or not, at least something tangible comes to mind. Germany is known to have produced some of the finest thinkers, writers, philosophers and scientists. When I think of Germany, I think of Mann, Nietzsche, Kant, Einstein and other guy. When I think of Brazil, I think of Football and Capoeira.

What do Ghanaians have? What do our children have to identify with? What would a person who is not Ghanaian think of, assuming they were to think of Ghana? Man, even I who is fiercely Ghanaian cannot name a thing. This is fast leading me to the conclusion that Ghanaians don't have any obvious common values, ideals or spirit that binds us.

I watched Oprah tell her life story once and she said America is great because "this couldn't have happened anywhere else in the world". I wanted to challenge that but the truth is, I can't say anything like that about Ghana. Even when I look at our heroes, I'm tempted to think they could have been greater elsewhere. Unlike Oprah who was made by America, sometimes I think being from Ghana takes away from us.

I'm positive about Ghana and want to rep it but that's near impossible to do when it seems there is so little to rep. Can we hope for change? If so, based on what would we hope? It's promise? As one of my friends noted "it's been promising since 1957" but if I may quote Paa Kwesi Nduom, "we're still where we are". As we attempt to celebrate Ghana in this post, I'm sometimes tempted to agree with one of my friends who said "all that holds us together is the heavy food that we keep assigning positivity to as we try and claim superiority from our history" which if I may add, we do not know. Where we are is not good enough.

Since I can’t think of anything, that binds us, I’m going to boldly assert that Ghana does not have a brand. If it did, I would know it. Having done that, we move on to do something about it.

What would make a nation great? I think it could begin with a big idea. For America, that idea may be just what Oprah said “this could only have happened in America”. It’s a big idea. It means an American kid is going to hear that and think, man, I could be big, just like Oprah and I am here, in the only place on earth where this is possible. Bingo! Inspiration!

For a country like Ghana that does not really have anything yet, we have to create it. Yes, us! We study the enlightenment era, the romantic era or the renaissance because someone or some people made it important. These eras are centered around ideas initiated and lived by people. Great nations study themselves, write about themselves and forge identities around these ideas so that if you want to know anything about Europe, you're forced to read about these periods which often brought great advances in their performing arts, music, writings and lives!

I’ll have to think some more about what could be Ghana’s big idea but I really liked the Black Star Campaign which was launched by the Neo Africa Foundation in 2006. I thought it had a powerful message and played on something which Ghanaians are proud of – The Ghanaian soccer team, The Black Stars. It was also a nice reminder of our history and the national flag.

I’d be interested to hear if you readers think of anything else.

The tone of this post may be dour, but I’d like to conclude on a somewhat positive note. The wonderful thing is that we are alive, here and now. We can do something. See below for the words of the 2nd stanza of the national anthem provided by Museke.com which calls us to build our nation:

Hail to thy name, O Ghana

To thee we make our solemn vow:

Steadfast to build together

A nation strong in unity

With our gifts of mind and strength of arm

Whether night or day, in mist or storm

In ev'ry need, whate'er the call may be

To serve thee, O Ghana, now and evermore

It's our turn to create Ghana. We can be the icons, the thinkers, the greats! I truly believe that change begins with us, so...You be it!

http://times.fienipa.com/content/america-opportunities-ghana-what

Esi Cleland is a copywriter at Publicis Ghana. To read more of her articles, visit www.maameous.com