Are the Diaspora elite ready to take over leadership role in Ghana or just interested in talking and criticizing the Establishment?
For our talk and visions to materialize Diaspora organizations would need to join hands and amalgamate to transform their many voices into one voice. As of now there may be too many pocket Ghana Diaspora organizations all aiming for the betterment of our nation. However, none of these is financially strong enough to contest against the Establishment. We only strengthen them the more when we stay divided or in isolation. ?United we stand, divided we fall? so goes the popular adage.
Why can?t GLU, GSDM, TUC, Save Ghana Now and the many others unite and fight for POSITIVE change in Ghana? Why can?t individuals give up their selfish ambitions for the good of all first? What prevents diasporans to have one voice in 2008?
ROBAP is passed but I?m afraid the Diaspora vote would not bring about any positive change if we still hang on to our individual agendas. Many may not even vote when given the chance because they (may) feel their vote may not even make a difference. A big mistake though. However our votes would make a big impact in the direction of our country in the next decade and decades to come if only Ghana Diaspora can vote in unison for Positive Change.
What is positive change? Fellow countrymen, when we talk about a positive change, we are not talking about ideologies and empty slogans to fool the people. We are talking about a change that shall empower our workers, farmers, peasants, fishermen, trade unions, medical staffs and the youth to stand-up against any president, parliamentarian, minister, and any public authority to step down when accused of irregularities, or in an attempt to undermine the development of our nation. This means we shall ensure that any president who fails to deliver what he promised the nation within a limited time to step down. Our call for positive change of our mindset is a recollection of the poor performances of most of our leaders who took over the leadership of this republic since 24th February 1966, a day that will forever be seared in the national consciousness.
Fellow countrymen, after this painful episode in our history, Ghanaians thought they were set free from neo-colonialism, corruption, nepotism, tribalism and dictatorship, and rightfully expected a new leader with vision. A leader with wisdom, a leader with compassion, a leader who is not selfish, a leader who is opposed to tribalism and nepotism; a leader with charisma, a leader who is not corrupt, a leader who can motivate his people. A courageous leader, a leader who is not a thief, a leader who does not tell ?LIES? to his people just to win their votes. Fellow men and women of Ghana, is that what we see from any of our politicians and leaders of this country today after 49 years?
Today?s politicians, after 49 years of independence share the same characteristics; intellectual arrogance, deceitful and corrupt. With these character traits, they have toyed with our hopes, destroyed our nation, and tarnished our good name. Sadly, they have succeeded to a large extent in making tribalism an ugly feature in our society. The victims in all this are our children whose hopes for a bright future grow dimmer everyday. By their greed and corruption, the politicians have deprived our children of basic healthcare and a decent education.
Our farmers and fishermen, tradesmen are also victims. Day in and day out, they are forced to feed the nation tilling the earth with rudimentary technology, and yet they are deprived of decent living and healthcare. As Ghanaians are forced to deal with declining living standards, armed robbery and other crimes have hit the stratosphere. And our leaders, from all indications, seem to be lost in a sandstorm, groping for answers. Millions of dollars squandered by numerous politicians and leaders cannot be accounted for; neither can any president hold the embezzlers accountable because their hands are also stained.
Many industries that were established before 1966 have been abandoned or sold to favourites creating higher rates of unemployment. The value of our currency is nothing to talk about. The only Airline of the country has been left to collapse, and about to be sold without anyone being held responsible for the gross mismanagement of the airline. What have our children learned from these wicked, selfish, murderers, hypocrites, liars, and above all corrupt leaders? Is there a constitutional provision that would ensure that such a president is impeached and perpetrators brought to justice? Have we learned our lessons?
Fellow countrymen, is the time not ripe for some of us in the Diaspora to stand-up to rescue our people from social and political bondage? To achieve this positive change, we would need to have dedicated citizens both in and outside Ghana who will have the wisdom and courage to establish such a political platform. We need to have a voice and structures that would support many men and women of integrity to get into parliament. Presidential aspirants shall be nurtured alongside. There is a lot to be done, including re-writing Ghana?s constitution which aids and abet corruption if possible. Having one or two honest and patriotic MPs may not be sufficient for the desired changes to be effected.
Perhaps it would be unwise to ask diasporans to pack and go to Ghana with the hope of winning parliamentary elections. The evidence are there to support the frustrations of the many clear-minded Ghanaians who left the comforts of their homes in the Diaspora with the hope to help build Ghana who never made it thanks to the unwelcoming attitude of the political elite ? I call them the Establishment- Some have had to return after incurring many unnecessary loses. We may need to strategize this time.
What about putting some structures in place such that one would not have to abandon his or her residency status and still be able to win elections in Ghana and affect the same positive change? This is possible if folks can get together and brain storm. For example, we can have a Movement in Ghana sponsored by the Diaspora. Someone from the Diaspora can volunteer his or her full services to organize and educate the masses on behalf of parliamentary and presidential hopefuls who may only have to go to their constituencies when needed to cap the election campaign. It would mean opening your wallets to support such an organizer on the battlefield. Are you willing?
Ladies and gentlemen of the Diaspora who are hungry for some positive change in Ghana, this is your hour. Your hour has come; seize it and make something out of the opportunities available. In fact it is our duty to save Ghana now! How long are we going sit behind internet boxes, talking only to those who can respond through internet cafes left alone those who can?t read or write in Ghana, those in the city and rural areas who have no access to internet, and leave Ghana in the hands of the Establishment who continue to mismanage our country? How long are we going to sit on the bench and watch the NDC and the NPP (our 2 main political parties) to fight over who should take ownership of the loot? For goodness sake the infrastructures Nkrumah built are for Ghana not any political party.
Mandela fought to save South Africa from the oppressors rule, Martin Luther King Jr. fought selflessly to redeem the Black American and the minority in USA, Gandhi fought to restore the dignity of India; our forefathers also fought for our independence in Ghana. It is our time to redeem Ghana from the mismanagement of the Establishment. Ghana has a chance to manage its own affairs if we can prove that Ghana is our motherland and not just for NDC, NPP or any political party. History has thought us that, if we continue to be lenient and afraid to resist such threats, the aim of these disgruntle politicians are nothing but to toy with Ghana?s security.
Fellow Ghanaians lets take the destiny of our country in our own hands not the foreign donors. If we can?t go to Ghana now we can support the establishment of such a third voice that can put structures in place and can ensure that our voices are heard. We need leaders who are clean enough to enforce the law not break it. Leaders who would be clean and honest enough to demand probity and accountability; leaders who can manage enviable and cherish and our cherish natural resource profitably and hesitate on foreign loans.
The ball is now in the courts of these Ghanaian Diaspora originations! Are we going to help them unite as one force and take the real challenge or we just want to sit in our comfort, talk, criticize and expect a foreigner to pay the price for our development? The proclamation of our ?Freedom and Justice? shall be like a nightmare if we fail to act now.
We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to accept that there is insufficient justice in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So let us be ready to demand our ?Freedom and Justice? check that our forefathers promised us. A check that will give us upon demand, the riches of freedom, and the security of justice. We shall remind Ghanaians of the fierce urgency of ?Justice Now? with all the dangers than slavery in tranquillity.? Now is the time for convicted Ghanaians to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of freedom and justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all Ghanaians. Now is the time to lift our nation from the political, tribal and social injustice to the solid rock of love and brotherhood, ladies and gentlemen.
There will be neither rest nor tranquillity in Ghana until the average Ghanaian is granted his peace, freedom, justice and unconditional social democratic rights. With this vision and faith, we will be able to re-write our history of slavery and pick up the pieces. With this faith and commitment, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a self-reliance and industrious country. With commitment, what other third world countries like Malaysia and Singapore have achieved after us in the past 49 years, Ghanaians can do the same.
Fellow Ghanaians, fellow Africans, the time has come for us to raise our voices like a trumpet and tell all wicked Ghanaian politicians to shape up or be shipped out of their cocoons. In due course we shall turn to see the other side of the coin.
God bless you. Long live Africa. Long live Ghana.
Thank you.
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