Gone are days when Ghana abounded in honest men and women
With each person being their neighbour’s keeper
Everyone ensuring their neighbour never went hungry
All sharing fairly the limited resources at their disposal
With love, honesty and sincerity
Bringing in their trail smiles to everyone’s face
What a great period it was!
Gone are the days when truth reigned supreme
Among the entirety of Ghanaians
And peace among people being conspicuous
Without any remarkable tribal animosity
Among the numerous tribes in Ghana
Harmony among tribes thrived
Uniting all people as Ghanaians
Without tribal distinctions
Gone are the days when children could play outside homes
Till late in the night
After they had returned from schools
Completed their daily after-school chores
Without parents getting worried about their safety
Because everyone cared for their neighbour
And guaranteed their safety
As they would for themselves
Gone are the days when in the villages
Nobody would remove a game from a neighbour’s trap
But would rather hurry to inform them of the good news
Having partially covered the game in leaves
The owner being very thankful of the noble service
Then sharing the meat with as many village-neighbours as possible
For when the neighbours were happy, he was also happy
Gone are the days when there was no marked corruption in government
People in government were industrious
Working to bring developments into their localities
Providing their people with roads, tap water and hospitals
They were really serving Ghana and their people
What a great period that was!
Gone are the days when the military were vigilant
Keeping eye on any wayward government
Whipping them into line
Chasing them out of government when need be
Imposing themselves on us for a while
Working to cleanse the rot from society
But oftentimes brutal in pursuit of their objective
Then hand over after probably messing up the situation further.
In hindsight, the old days were better
Ghanaians lived a much better life
Without encountering gargantuan corruption
As pertains today
Among our members of government
Insatiably greedy, corrupt and incompetent as they are
Scrambling for wealth same as the Whites scrambled for Africa
Lording it over their fellow Ghanaians
Intimidating them as they go by
With job and personal insecurity very observable
And everyone crying, cursing the day that they were conceived
Indeed, gone are the old good days,
When I dined from the same bowl,
With my schoolmates
Kwadwo Mahamadu, Adu Anthony and a host of others
Going to “Sofia line” (Surveyor Line) in Kumawu
Searching for mangoes, avocado (“paya” – pear) etc.
To be taken to teachers for “Section” marks
And waited for Fridays to hear the results
Which section had come first, and which was last
All these good days have gone to come no more!
Verily, verily, gone are the days,
When men were men
And women were women
And children were children.
Gone indeed, are the days!
Rockson Adofo
