Feature: Maybe. Just maybe

Maybe our country is not poor. Just maybe Ghana is as rich as America… or even greater than Great Britain. Maybe our country is like that prodigal son who went wasting away his wealth on frivolity only to live in abject poverty.

Maybe Ghana could have been Africa’s shining pride. Just maybe… we could have been donors and grant providers, too. Maybe our hospitals could have indeed been a safe haven for every sick person around the globe. Just maybe our universities would have been the pinnacle of education in the world. Maybe Ghana could have not only been a gateway to Africa… but the world at large.

Just maybe if we had had our priorities right politicians won’t promise us KVIPs as though such made us VIPs. Just maybe if we had had a scale of preference, during elections, a politician couldn’t buy an entire household off for a pittance. Maybe if we knew what our needs were as a people, we won’t have politics riding on the back of tribalism and religion to tear us apart.

Maybe. Just maybe if we had been just a little cautious financially, resources we waste each year alone could resuscitate this nation’s economy. Maybe if we treated the national coffers as our own and guarded it with all of our lives, our nation’s destiny won’t be tied to whether or not another exits European Union (EU). Just maybe if our leaders spent wisely (and not wastefully), there would be enough to train the entirety of our human resource to leave each person with one employable skill or the other. Maybe if we were financially prudent as a country, we wouldn’t have to do the bidding of others today just because we may go begging at their doorsteps tomorrow. Just maybe!

Just maybe if we went to work to work and not just go to work, productivity would increase and our nation would be more productive, too. Just maybe if each of us went to work to work our hearts out and not our stomachs out, our nation will be like the America we see. Just maybe if we went to work to work to receive our salaries from our employers and not our clients, our hands will be too busy to accept a bride. Just maybe if we worked not just to give off an effort but to produce results, our nation as a whole would not also be making just efforts but yielding results!

Maybe if we voted for our leaders based on their capabilities and not ethnic belonging and/or other trivialities, we may not have to face the same challenges every year as a people. Maybe if we voted for our leaders based on their track records and not whether they were handsome or not, there will be no time to be commissioning toilets and even urinals! Just maybe if we voted for others based on reality and not our unflinching political loyalty, we won’t have to rely on that faint hope that things may get better… soon. Just maybe soon may never come.

Maybe we deserve the consequences of our ailing economy. Just maybe we must endure our meters which can ran more meters than Usain Bolt may ever imagine. Just maybe our carelessness is the cause. Maybe we must endure the utility hikes a little more. Just maybe we must endure the economic hardships even a little more until we decide to change as a people.

Just maybe we need to be the change we yearn to see. Maybe we need to take our destinies into our hands instead of leaving it in another’s custody.

Just maybe we won’t be yelling that our cedi is falling if we buy from our own. Maybe our cedi won’t be that wobbly if we buy from within more than from without. Just maybe if we buy as much as local enterprenuers sell, there would be more jobs and an even more stable cedi. Just maybe if our leaders buy as much ‘made-in-Ghana’ goods as they preach, our economy will be stable. Just maybe if we created a serene environment for entrepreneurship and innovation, no one will be ready to steal a ballot box for a measly remuneration of GHS5. Just maybe.

Maybe if we built a disciplined society with an appropriate, working sewage disposal system, we won’t have others disposing off their waste indiscriminately, thus, eventually causing floods.

Just maybe if we were a little more disciplined as a people, too, our careless behavior won’t contribute in any way to the floods. Just maybe if we cared enough about where we dumped what, rains in Ghana won’t be a curse but a blessing. Just maybe if we made it our responsibility to keep a clean environment always, just a drizzle won’t carry our homes away. Just maybe if we treated our surroundings as we did our homes, our nation today won’t still be battling with cholera every rainy season!

Maybe. Just maybe if we have regarded this nation as our own and not for some ‘faraway government’, we may have treated public property with some more dignity. Maybe if we knew every public facility we had the privilege to enjoy must last for the next generation, too, we would have valued them more. Maybe if we all were generational thinkers, our public facilities may have lasted a little longer.

Just maybe if you and I have been faithful to our motherland enough, here would have been a destination of the world. Maybe Ghana could have been a land of the greenest pastures. Just maybe if you had been a good citizen… Just maybe if I had been a good citizen, too. Just maybe milk and honey may have flowed through our taps.