Controversy Unlimited: Mindset Blues…

Trust me; there is no place like Ghana: absolutely none whatsoever! I have had the opportunity of traveling to almost every continent known on this globe, including quasi-failed states and stateless nations where the law of the gun reigns supreme and without any doubt, I can assert emphatically that there is no place like Ghana. We, the people of Ghana love to pride ourselves as being the most hospitable people on the face of the earth, warts and all notwithstanding. We also revel in the lost glory of being the first African country south of the Sahara to attain political independence, an independence that we have unwittingly used to denigrate and desecrate the very tenets for which independence was sought for by many and achieved under the aegis and cunningness of Kofi Nwiah, trickster and schemer extraordinaire. Perhaps it is this over-reliance in the faded glory of the past that has turned our energies into semi-automatons, behaving like the proverbial praying mantis that devours its mate after mating, for how else can one describe the emergent ministry and industry of negative thinking and aspersion-casting syndrome we clearly revel in without let or hindrance?

Last week and that preceding it, I continued discussing herein, the attitude and complexities of behavioural patterns especially as they relate to the political sphere and political appointees. I asked for a thorough re-examination of the “Mpiani Questions” that asked why it is that Ghanaians love to envy and go the extra mile to yank from under the feet of successful people, that upon which their successes were engendered in the first place. One very disappointed sidekick sent me a text message, stating “your article was very good and I think it would have been better if you had used someone else other than Kwadwo Mpiani”. I immediately prayed for his soul. I also raised issues about the extent to which John Agyekum Kufuor has gone the extra mile in promoting the image and prestige of Ghana in the farthest reaches of the globe only for him to come back home and be ridiculed by especially those who think that the ship of state can and must be kept afloat on the waters of politically degenerate propaganda. Again I prayed for their souls. Simply because we have socio-political disagreements with people of high standing does not mean that we should calculate measures to bring them into public ridicule, especially when the heat is on and the electorate appears to be baying for the blood of propaganda’s propagandists who have, courtesy of the same electorate, elevated such propagandists to temporary positions of authority with some questionable proximity to the real holders of political power.

Sometimes, I really miss both ex-president Rawlings and his successor John Kufuor: at least with them, you know where things stood. As for these ones, you cannot tell whether they are Social Democrats, Democratic Socialists, Capitalists in socialistic garbs or simply confused people operating under the clueless tenets of an ideologically questionable background. Nothing about their actions, inactions or pronouncements point Ghanaians toward a direction or path that would inspire or galvanize the entire establishment to follow their undefined pathway irrespective of our reservations or inclinations. Truth be told, everybody is complaining, including our donor partners, who have started asking how come the rules governing our emerging oil industry are being changed faster than fashion catches up with hats and eye glasses: Who is constantly shifting the goal posts? Why do we think we can get away with these antics because some interests must be satisfied at the expense of our image, integrity and fortunes? Do we think those who come to Ghana for business and investments are fools? When I read that Chevron and two more of the 7 sisters in the crude oil business had elected not to even take a look at the share offers in Ghana’s Jubilee Field, the political economist in me grieved for there is nothing more frightening than being written off by business interests, which looks for new opportunities for profit. If they have chosen to pass us over like the day of Passover when Jehovah did to Pharaoh what He alone can do, we must be concerned for one of the planks on which our future prosperity is hinged has been weakened by the constantly shifting rules of the petroleum sector. May I ask: Are the South Koreans still interested in building a pipeline from the offshore field to the coast? Why have they recoiled into their shell and withdrawn to Seoul?

If all the official brouhaha is causing such worries in the Business sector, what can one say about the future of our up and coming little ones, not the youth who are already filled with despondency and despair borne out of disappointments premised on promises made and a stark inability to deliver same by the sitting government, but the little ones, the so-called future leaders of our country? When was the last time anyone took a long, hard look at the sort of advertisements running on both Radio and Television? Do we still have an Advertising Association of Ghana? Is it a mark of journalistic excellence to use both the electronic and print media to educate, entertain and inform? How come these days it looks at though it is only the entertainment value that seems to matter to us?

Perhaps a few examples would suffice: Take the perfumed Dove rice advertisement, ably promoted with classic dexterity by my balding partner in crime Kwami Sefa Kayi. This advert, while promoting that particular brand of rice has also inadvertently provided a good lesson for children in this Land of Our Death to master the art of telling lies in their infancy. If a “big man” can tell lies on the phone, claiming that a meeting has to be rescheduled because he is stuck in heavy traffic when indeed he is salivating at uneaten morsels of Dove Rice set before him while the children giggle, are we not using that to sow seeds of approval for “acceptable lies” in the minds of innocent children? What do we think these children would do when they grow into full-fledged citizens in responsible positions in a few years to come? Sigmund Freud gained prominence with his studies into the recall capabilities of individuals as far as the experiences of their childhoods were concerned. I leave the implications of a national advert on telling lies vis-à-vis the future inclinations of our children to your distinguished minds.

If the Dove Rice ad is worrisome, then brace yourself for the “Anajo ye de” advertisement of Kasapa. Here, you have the case of a very infuriated husband, who to all intents and purposes, was expecting to spend some quality time with his wife in the late hours of the night only for that expectation to be dashed by a phone call to the Mrs. The obviously pleased wife, who talked for hours on end, had the effrontery to tell the suspicious husband that the call which she received and which lasted a few hours was indeed a “wrong number”. Now can you beat that? A wrong number that lasts for hours, courtesy of free night calls? Now anybody who has lived in England, to mention but one example, knows that free night calls start from 6pm. It is only in Ghana, that mobile phone companies are milking us dry by starting free night calls at 11 or 12 pm. So there we have it. We have lied to ourselves so much that even that which we should all enjoy, we are misleading ourselves about. How do we progress on the wings of lies? Which nation has ever succeeded on that?

I cannot end this piece that questions that mindset of our people without taking yet another look at the Pure Milk ad. Frankly, it makes me ashamed to be a Ghanaian. I really am. Here is an innocent-looking young girl who in seeking to have a meal, looks for the milk that would complete her cereal diet. In her search and subsequent disappointment at not getting the milk, she discovers that her elder sister has ‘commandeered’ all the milk for the benefit of her visiting boyfriend. Persistent requests for some pure milk ends in her being dismissed so what does she do? Take the phone and initiate blackmail procedures against her elder sister by questioning, “Does Daddy know he is here?” with her forefinger pointing at an obviously shocked and petrified visiting boyfriend and much to the chagrin of her elder sister? Needless to say, she gets the milk and the voice over adds “Pure Genius”. Pure genius? Somebody help me; blackmail from a child is now pure genius? So once again, we are being taught that if you need something that seems unattainable due to some constraints, your best bet is to traverse the path of blackmail. Are we not teaching our children to be looking for things that would compromise the elderly for their own selfish interests? Which country progresses on such cultural norms and mores?

Do we remember why Captain Planet was taken off the GTV screens? It was because some innocent kid (may his soul rest in peace) climbed the roof of their Tema home to combine powers and dive down to rescue the ‘perishing’. We are teaching dangerous things to our kids; we are mortgaging the future of this country on the altar of bad advertisements. We are painting a sorry picture of ourselves as people who cannot promote any cause unless it is firmly ensconced in the clutches of negative thinking. Gradually and subtly, we are telling ourselves that the images the outside world carries about Africa are true, for whether it is our films, where witchcraft and deprivation are given ovational ovations, or our political discussions where the need to score political points induces us to cast decorum into the dustbin, or our marketing and advertising strategists that are competing to see who comes out with the basest of negative promotions using children as actors, or our pastoral brethren who have taken delight in dividing families with their false prophesies and “pray for me” tricks, everything around us is radiating negative negativities. At the time of concluding this article, some malcontents within the ruling party in Tamale, had issued a three-day ultimatum to the Municipal Chief Executive that if they are not provided jobs within their self-imposed and unilaterally declared time frame, they would embark on an arson spree targeted at the structures of the party. Can we now see what forms the little seeds of blackmail we inadvertently advertise can take or sow in the minds of the restless and despondent youth I mentioned above? Now if negativity is fast becoming the accepted norm in this land called Ghana, what, with all due respect, does that say about our mindset as individuals, a society and ultimately a nation? Until we proffer real and workable solutions in subsequent articles, may Jehovah-Tsori show Himself strong, at least on behalf of the children of this land.