Looking At Our Ghana Today, Any Hope Tomorrow?

It is with regret to know that we started the race with the likes of Malaysia and South Korea, and just look at how they have progressed. They are making cars, electronics, good roads, good housing, and have put in place effective programmes to develop their countries. And where is Ghana now? Regrettably, we now go to those countries to borrow money. I weep for Ghana and the generations to come. We need a true LEADERSHIP. We need Leadership with vision and ideas, selfless Leadership devoid of greed, Incompetence, cronyism and capable of transforming us into an industrialized and robust economy.

For the purposes of this article, I will define a leader as a person who is appointed, elected or informally chosen to direct and co-ordinates (Fiedler, 1995). This definition acknowledges the significant truth that the formally appointed leader is not always a real leader. On the other hand, leadership can be considered to be the personal qualities, behaviours, styles and decisions adopted by the leader. In other words, it concerns how the leader carries out his/her role. Hence, while the role of leader can be described in a job description, leadership is not so simply pinned down.

More importantly, a true leadership is not one that displays extreme power and possession, but a true leadership is the one which provides vision, motivation, and by and large, builds relationship with its subordinates. In Ghana, the men and women who are spearheading the affairs of the nation are with the opinion that they are not obliged to account to anyone. Thus, they choose to do what they see fit.

Do I blame them? Actually, I do not blame them for approaching their work lackadaisically. This is because Ghanaians have given them the licence to underperform, in the sense that Ghanaians are not prepared to hold the leadership accountable in spite of constant neglect. In other words, we do not reject mediocrity. Simply put, we are ‘nodding yes men and women’; therefore we persistently glorify men and women who cannot see their ‘backside from their elbows’. That is, we unnecessarily hold individuals who cannot ‘hit the ground running’ in high esteem, instead of holding them accountable.

Just look at our political landscape today, and you would agree with me that our leaders are not prepared to lead. In actual fact, they are only interested in political inebriations and property ownership. They do not have the nation at heart. Hence, despite our copious resources, the country is sinking deeper and deeper into the mire.

May I ask, which independent country on planet earth, is looking on nonchalantly, whiles immigrants despoiling its natural resources? The answer is Ghana! How can we look on somewhat unperturbed, and allow the Chinese immigrants to seize our country-sides and forcibly dig our gold, destroy the environment and above all, terrorise the rural dwellers? Where is the leadership?

After fifty five years of independence, you would expect a nation like Ghana to be in contention with the likes of South Korea, Malaysia, and Brazil etc. But, due to leadership paralysis, we are at where we are today. We are surrounded by individuals we may call leaders, but in actual fact, they are not true leaders. These individuals are in government, organisations, education and in the arts etc. Nonetheless, we are enduring the deficiency of true leadership.

God bless our homeland Ghana, And make our nation great and strong, Bold to defend forever the cause of Freedom and of Right. Fill our hearts with true humility Make us cherish fearless honesty, And help us to resist oppressors' rule With all our will and might evermore.

K. Badu, UK.