One this, one that (uno este que) – Yes, we can

“As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For in those days, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man”. Matthew 24:37-39

In 2008, when Barrack Obama became the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the U.S.A, he adopted the slogans “Change We can Believe in”, “Change We Need”, “Hope” , “Yes, We can”. Obama was the first African American in history to be nominated on a major party ticket.

On November, 4, 2008, Obama defeated the Republican nominee, McCain of Arizona. The Latinos helped to propagate Obama’s slogan: “Si, podemos” (Yes, We Can). Literally: “Yes, it can be done”. This was the motto of the United Farm Workers of Arizona. There was magic behind the message. “Whatever we decide to do, together we can do it,” simple.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, US President, in May 1961 proposed the manned Moon Landing in a “Special Message” to the US Congress:

“Now it is time to take longer strides- time for a great new American enterprise… I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out, of landing man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish…” Kennedy did not pledge to make “U.S. first, but…”certainly not” U.S. first, and …”and definitely not “U.S. first, if…”, he chose to make “US first.” (period).

Kennedy knew little about the technical details of the project, but he was focused on what he sought to achieve, even though the 30% budget increase for the NASA project was frightening.

On April 12, 1961, the Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person to fly in space, and this had reinforced US fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. At exactly 4:17 EDT, July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 became the first manned spacecraft to land the moon with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins as the crew.

Thus, while the Soviets were the first to fly a man in space, it was the US who first landed men on the moon.

Why all these references to the United States of America, some of its Presidents and their acts, some of their electioneering slogans and messages. The answer is obvious: Take it or leave it, we are only mimicking what others have done before. We cannot re-invent the wheel, but certainly we can build on the invention of the wheel and improve upon it further.

We only have to have the will, exercise our brains, challenge our abilities. Look at the developmental stages of the mobile phone… from telegraph (by Samuel Morse in 1836). The template is available, and all one does is to copy (and paste).

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has not officially launched its official manifesto, but we have got snippets of what is contained therein. Whenever the leader, Nana Addo goes, he drops a hint. He talked about “one district, one factory”. And people sneering at this! He follows it up with “one village, one dam.” And people are reeling with laughter, and suggesting the impracticability of the projects.

Akua Donkor carries the joke to dizzying heights when she promises: “one fisherman, one sea.” But President Mahama must have been serious when he promised “one house, one meter” to residents of a town in the Central Region.

A factory for a district is over-ambitious? Someone thinks it is even possible to have more than one factory in a district. What kind of factory are we talking about? – What is the size? What are the raw materials to feed the factory? What capital will be needed to set the factory up? Go to Akenten Appiah Menka- the Apino Soap man.

He will give you a lecture on the possibility of establishing one factory in every district in Ghana. Or see Apostle Kwadwo Safo and learn about the possibility of turning a bushy area into a first- class modern industrial enclave.

Murtala Mohammed, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry thinks the concept (one district, one factory) does not make sense:” Now you can say that you are going to abolish all forms of taxes… people in Ghana will then have to consume those goods alongside the goods that are imported into this country freely. It simply does not make sense”.

But Kofi Adams, the National Organizer of the NDC thinks the one district one factory is not Nana Akufo Addo’s “bona fide” policy. He argues that such a policy was Jerry John Rawlings’ creation with the proposal being mooted by Ambassador Dan Abodakpi who identified 100 districts with raw materials to kick- start the project. According to Kofi Adams, the policy had already started under President John Dramani Mahama.

And what about one village one dam for the North? Is it all the Northern villages that need dams? The man Akufo-Addo is talking about those villages that need them, and why can’t we build sizeable dams for these villages? Small minds may be thinking about dams like the Tennessee Valley Authority or Ghana’s own Volta and Bui Dams.

Oh no! Check the dams at Professor Frimpong Boateng’s farms in some regions in Ghana or check the okro farms at Agbakope and rice farms at Dabala. Go to Japan or Israel- see what great minds can do. Didn’t National Health Insurance Scheme work under NPP despite the derision of the detractors? There used to be the School Feeding programme; there used to be free medical care for pregnant women. Where are all these?

Christopher Reeve says:” So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable”.

At independence, there were over 100 industries in Ghana. The problem was that they were all “state-owned”, including laundries, subjected to mismanagement- because “aban-adze, wotwi no daade”(whatever is government-owned, we drag it in the mud). How many ‘gari factories’ are in Kwamoso, a village in Eastern Region alone? How many ‘bread factories’ are in Nsawam alone? When ‘we’ visited a city in China, ‘we’ saw a sizeable room where a family could produce a container-load of cigarettes in a month. Please, don’t ask me the brand of cigarettes.

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberland’s song ‘Dream Big’ advises us: "when you cry, be sure to dry your eyes, cause better days are yet to come. And when you smile, be sure to smile wide. And don’t let them know that they have won. And when you walk, walk with pride. And don’t show the hurt inside Because the pain will soon be gone. [chorus] And when you dream, dream big. As big as the ocean blue, Cause when you dream it might come true, For when you dream, dream big. “Si podemos” “Si, se puede”.