Rediscovering and Reenacting Brand Ghana Values

Introduction

Everyone seems to have something to complain about in Ghana. Somehow, we live up to the truth in realizing that things are not the way we desire them to be even if we are not living up to our responsibilities. By our complaints we admit to the fact that our present condition is not what we aspire to be. We recognize that there is too much inequality and social dislocation in our society as a result of social injustice that is fed by parochial, selfish and sectional interests. By the same act, we silently voice our resolve to build a better society that offers its citizens equal opportunities and total wellbeing.

It is plain truth that no family is able to conjure pride and loyalty from its members without strong espoused family principles and values that are lived for others to emulate. Similarly, as a heterogeneous society, it is imperative for us as a nation to espouse a strong national culture that provides the context for our actions and decisions as one people and not as people whose behaviours are informed by conflicting allegiance to different influences. In fact, we critically need to purposefully spawn those values that knit our diversity into one single overarching entity to ensure the stability of our nation, and align our motives such that we are able to build an environment in which the entire citizenry share the same purpose and ground rules. In this manner, we would have established a framework within which national debates, acts and policies of government, civil society and business become more value-driven devoid of divisive party politics, patently vested self-interests and sycophantic loyalties towards political and economic godfathers.

Values in the National Anthem and Pledge

In talking about espousing national values, it is important to point out that we need to recognize the reality of our multicultural backgrounds which demand that we drill deep into a common heritage to unearth those qualities and visions we share together in order to build a single representative culture. On daily basis, at least in our basic schools, it is a common ritual for young school children to sing the national anthem at the attention position followed by a recitation of:

I promise on my honour to be faithful and loyal to Ghana my motherland. I pledge myself to the service of Ghana with all my strength and with all my heart. I promise to hold in high esteem our heritage won for us through the blood and toil of our fathers. And I pledge myself in all things to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana. So help me God.

This five-line document known as the Ghana national pledge is one of our national properties. In this pledge are spelt out the values of faithfulness and loyalty to the nation based on the recognition that it is the only land of our birth. We also recognize our collectivity as members of a common motherland – one nation, one people with one destiny, who now share a common identity because of the toil and ultimate sacrifice of our fathers (and mothers). In this pledge is the value of the need to eulogize the memory of people who literally laid down their lives to build this nation by defending the heritage they left us by working assiduously to build a nation we can be proud of. In addition to these values the national anthem adds a few more. These are the values of being fearlessly honest, resisting oppression from tyrants and ensuring freedom and justice for all. In the national anthem we declare our intention to live and die for Ghana by coming together to build a strong nation that will become the beacon of Africa.

Walking the Talk

As a matter of fact, Brand Ghana has to purposefully affect lives with our values to engender citizenship. This is because values (purposeful culture) describe the many ways in which we express ourselves for the purposes of uniting with others, defining our identity and even for distinguishing ourselves as unique people. When we fail to decisively champion and enact national values, we simply chose to live like a mob which allows values to be created by default in which no one is bonded to any standards. If our values determine what we stand for and therefore what guides our actions and decisions, then we ought to deliberately set ourselves to live up to those same standards to provide living examples and modeled behaviours to be emulated by generations. This requires that our leaders, just like the elders of a family, “walk the talk” and show the path of love, loyalty and undying commitment to the development of the nation otherwise teaching our children to sing the national anthem and recite the pledge would be empty sermonizing and parroting that would yield no results.

At this time of our development Brand Ghana needs a disciplined and inspiring leadership that shows the way by intentionally crafting the values, taking proactive steps to live by those values and demonstrating that they have the honour to deliver on their promises to transform the country into a thriving economy. Not only should the leadership walk the talk but also ensure that there is active involvement at all levels of society by holding each citizen, irrespective of their social status, responsible for demonstrating the espoused values and behaviors.

The Chain Reaction of Virtuous and Corrupt Behaviors

Daily, we are bombarded with news about corruption and financial malpractices. Usually, these stories are not simple reports of what happened and who were the perpetrators but more often than not detailed descriptions of what went wrong. The importance of such stories is that the value of truthfulness is taught and learned through the process of negative morality (learning from the mistakes of others) when such people are exposed and punished. Nonetheless, inadvertently, even though we may not readily be aware of it, we expose young and naïve minds to corrupt behaviours as they learn of the procedures used although the knowledge might not be immediately or ever put to use for fear of punishment. We need to understand that graphic and extended exposure to stories about evil doing without influential and consistent prosocial role models prime or habituate young minds towards dishonest behavior by inhibiting their prosocial behaviors. In fact, more especially, we need to recognize that when the modeled adult behaviors in everyday life that should form the contrasting reference for acquiring the desired moral values intentioned in warnings such as the reports in our media only parallel the negativity being proscribed, then such warnings rather become vehicles of learning the undesirable. In circumstances where perpetrators of such antisocial behaviors are seen as benefiting from their actions, even if remotely, a situation that is more prevalent in our society, we by default establish a system that rewards dishonest behaviours. In the future, given the chance of getting away with similar counterproductive behaviors, the average citizen is more likely to take the path of least resistance.

A Stimulating and Motivating Reward System

To stimulate voluntary compliance and initiation of nation building values, Brand Ghana must be seen to be rewarding hard work and honest behavior. This calls for establishing a reward system that is motivating and reinforcing. In recent times, materialism seems to have eaten so deep into our nation values that we make heroes out of the wealthy without questioning the source of their wealth. Instead of treating the honest “ordinary” citizen with disdain, Brand Ghana must begin to sincerely identify and make heroes of citizens who display courage to be honest, dedicated and upholding the good name of Ghana by overcoming the temptation of short-changing the nation.

Conclusion

The notion of Brand Ghana inspiring, guiding and feeding behaviours of the citizenry with purposeful values is a compelling one. This is our opportunity as a nation to engage ourselves in an open consultative and inclusive premeditated endeavor to distil and harness those qualities and values we want to be identified with as one nation with a common destiny. Misplaced reward values only help to institutionalize corruption and abhorred behaviors. We can, and must make heroes of dedicated citizens in walking the talk to provide prosocial role models for posterity. We have an opportunity. This is our time.

By:

Jonathan Kuma Gavi

(Social Psychologist)

E-mail: kumagavi@yahoo.com