- all happening on the web now.
Some time gone by,we Ghanaians were trained to respect authority-our Kings,Chiefs,Queen mothers,Parents Teachers,The Clergy,Leaders,our elders etc,. We were taught, not to use abusive words by heart,not to blaspheme or even swear or mention God's name unnecessarily. What is more,we were socialized to respect the reproductive organs especially the female ones;one dared not mischievously attempt to see the breasts of young women or let alone her ties and what was in between those ties.They were seriously revered.
This reminds me of an episode that happened at my late Grandfather's village at Nsuta-Ahafo-Ano one Christmas Day when we the young boys together with the grown ups had gathered to enjoy the warmth from a bonfire.We were five boys between 12-15 years old at that time in the good old 60s;we were throwing proverbs arond when one of our age group said literally in Twi"A woman who had brought forth twins or quadrupets does not fear any extraodinary big prig"Oh!God,Heaven broke loose and to our astonishment, my cousin had verbal and corporal punishments from our uncles and was severely warned not to let such abominable proverb come from his mouth again else, he would receive more severe punishment.It turned out to be a lesson for all of us. Indeed, those were good old days when displine in society was at its zenith and was srictly observed;when anybody was going wrong or doing wrong thing that person could be checked/corrected by any member of the community. It's sad that in this so called modern times people call this life-style"colo-".
In those times our forests,big rivers,Herbalists,Mallams,"Akomfour",deities and what have you were feared and respected.It was a taboo to do certain things and to show disrespect to any of those leaders mentioned above. Sometimes such actions elicited some form of sanctions.When we were indirectly being ruled by the colonialists through our chiefs we revered/respected them;even today, the whiteman is ignorantly respected and adored in Ghana. When the colonialits left and Dr. Nkrumah & co took over as rulers and leaders the same respect was accorded them.There was displine in all facets of the Ghanaian society;everybody played his or her role as was expected of him/her-old,young,woman and men-and there was cohesion and harmony in the Ghanaian society.We were proud of ourselves as Ghanaians with different tribal affiliations and diverse cultures but there were still cohesion.That did not mean we all agreed on all social,political and religious issues.We all regarded ourselves as brothers and sisters and inter-marriages though not on larger scale functioned well.
But, what did we experienced some few years after independence?Soldiers entered and infiltrated or interferred into our political system without the the majority of the citizenry inviting them.Since that time. from 1966,1972,1979 and 1981, Ghana,our beloved country, has seen so called liberation,redemption and the last that broke the camel's back was the so called "psydo revolution",that came to pololise our people;The painful overthrow of our civilian leaders-Nkrumah,Busia,and Limann killed our national psyche;Ghana's pride was wounded,morals broke down completely,our will crumbled and indiscipline set in especially from 1979 under the AFRC led by Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.
From that time onwards,disobedience to authority was institutionalised ;"we no go sit down make them cheat us everyday" "No dabi da",there arose too much disobedience and indispline in the system that junior workers were coached to challenge and spy on senior officers and their bosses.This happened sadly in all sectors of the Ghanaian society-in the forces,police,civil-service and even nearly pervaded the chieftaincy institution. Even in the army, roles began to be reversed-junior officers tried to control senior officers,the same thing reared its ugly head in the other security forces like the police,customs.fire services,prisons,etc,.:A Flt.Lt. was commanding most senior officers that undermined displine in the army,seemingly the most societal disciplined institution.
During those mad and bloody years, 1981and beyond,what became the last straw that broke the camels back was the situation where WDRs,CDrs and the other revolutionary groups tried to manage some sensitive public institutions.When evil men rule as the Bible tells us, things go astray;civil disobedience was always being preached and encouraged.There was no respect,no decorum and just no discipline.
This canker has so pervaded our society to this day, such that it's now very,very apalling to read some of the unprintable insults and unproven allegations being heaped on such a noble sitting President of Adehyeman Ghana;surely a prophet has no honour save in his own country!!!
Why would'nt there be indispline,insults and disrespect to the sitting president and his ministers if a country like Ghana has an Ex-President -a full blown adault of 60 plus years who is supposed to mature and to know better but refuses to grow calling the humane sitting President all sorts of names;calling for his arrest by the security forces without any apparent charge;Compelling the incumbent President to notorious N1 criminal Atta Ayi;etc,.;if you have an ex-president calling for civil disobedience the "Club"(NDC) he founded with state resources and errenously christianed it a political party is in opposition.Hear the ex-president"we can't wait for 4 years" that was somewhere in 2004-the very beginning of President Kufour's 2nd term.
This has made his die-hard Cuban trained ex-cadres to take a cue from his unguarded BOOM utterances to insult prominent people in our society including even the much revered and respected King Otumfour Osei Tutu 2nd sitting on the historic and symbolic Golden Stool.It's sad to read some of these postings on the Ghanaweb. This is unghanaian;What is wrong with a president of a developing country like Ghana travelling to developed country to solicit for assistance?What is wrong for President JAK to travel to China to look for funds to build the Bui Dam?What is actually wrong if a president's adult son is credit worthy and genuiely secures a bank loan to buy a hotel? What about if he had caused the arrest and trial JJR for some of his allegedly treasonable unwise speeches?
Fellow Ghanaians,I'm appealing very strongly to you and the Ghanaweb Master Mr.Francis Akoto,that despite the new dispensation giving chance to us for unlimited freedom of speech,writing and communication made absolutely possible by President Kufour and his NPP Goverment,try to do something about it. Don't let us think it's the president,the Asanteman KIng and prominent and people in authority alone that are being insulted or disgraced,it's a reflection on all Ghanaians including even you. I'm not advocating that people shold not criticise or say their mind,butcan do so on issues minus some of the unprintable,horrible,disgraceful insults you delight to print on your website.
Thank you Mr. Akoto for the wonderful job you're doing on the net.
From Nana Kwaku Kurankye Kwatei(AYACSA e.V.) Hamburg,Germany
Weissenhof,21,22159,Hamburg
E-mail:nanakk@ lycos.de
- all happening on the web now.
Some time gone by,we Ghanaians were trained to respect authority-our Kings,Chiefs,Queen mothers,Parents Teachers,The Clergy,Leaders,our elders etc,. We were taught, not to use abusive words by heart,not to blaspheme or even swear or mention God's name unnecessarily. What is more,we were socialized to respect the reproductive organs especially the female ones;one dared not mischievously attempt to see the breasts of young women or let alone her ties and what was in between those ties.They were seriously revered.
This reminds me of an episode that happened at my late Grandfather's village at Nsuta-Ahafo-Ano one Christmas Day when we the young boys together with the grown ups had gathered to enjoy the warmth from a bonfire.We were five boys between 12-15 years old at that time in the good old 60s;we were throwing proverbs arond when one of our age group said literally in Twi"A woman who had brought forth twins or quadrupets does not fear any extraodinary big prig"Oh!God,Heaven broke loose and to our astonishment, my cousin had verbal and corporal punishments from our uncles and was severely warned not to let such abominable proverb come from his mouth again else, he would receive more severe punishment.It turned out to be a lesson for all of us. Indeed, those were good old days when displine in society was at its zenith and was srictly observed;when anybody was going wrong or doing wrong thing that person could be checked/corrected by any member of the community. It's sad that in this so called modern times people call this life-style"colo-".
In those times our forests,big rivers,Herbalists,Mallams,"Akomfour",deities and what have you were feared and respected.It was a taboo to do certain things and to show disrespect to any of those leaders mentioned above. Sometimes such actions elicited some form of sanctions.When we were indirectly being ruled by the colonialists through our chiefs we revered/respected them;even today, the whiteman is ignorantly respected and adored in Ghana. When the colonialits left and Dr. Nkrumah & co took over as rulers and leaders the same respect was accorded them.There was displine in all facets of the Ghanaian society;everybody played his or her role as was expected of him/her-old,young,woman and men-and there was cohesion and harmony in the Ghanaian society.We were proud of ourselves as Ghanaians with different tribal affiliations and diverse cultures but there were still cohesion.That did not mean we all agreed on all social,political and religious issues.We all regarded ourselves as brothers and sisters and inter-marriages though not on larger scale functioned well.
But, what did we experienced some few years after independence?Soldiers entered and infiltrated or interferred into our political system without the the majority of the citizenry inviting them.Since that time. from 1966,1972,1979 and 1981, Ghana,our beloved country, has seen so called liberation,redemption and the last that broke the camel's back was the so called "psydo revolution",that came to pololise our people;The painful overthrow of our civilian leaders-Nkrumah,Busia,and Limann killed our national psyche;Ghana's pride was wounded,morals broke down completely,our will crumbled and indiscipline set in especially from 1979 under the AFRC led by Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.
From that time onwards,disobedience to authority was institutionalised ;"we no go sit down make them cheat us everyday" "No dabi da",there arose too much disobedience and indispline in the system that junior workers were coached to challenge and spy on senior officers and their bosses.This happened sadly in all sectors of the Ghanaian society-in the forces,police,civil-service and even nearly pervaded the chieftaincy institution. Even in the army, roles began to be reversed-junior officers tried to control senior officers,the same thing reared its ugly head in the other security forces like the police,customs.fire services,prisons,etc,.:A Flt.Lt. was commanding most senior officers that undermined displine in the army,seemingly the most societal disciplined institution.
During those mad and bloody years, 1981and beyond,what became the last straw that broke the camels back was the situation where WDRs,CDrs and the other revolutionary groups tried to manage some sensitive public institutions.When evil men rule as the Bible tells us, things go astray;civil disobedience was always being preached and encouraged.There was no respect,no decorum and just no discipline.
This canker has so pervaded our society to this day, such that it's now very,very apalling to read some of the unprintable insults and unproven allegations being heaped on such a noble sitting President of Adehyeman Ghana;surely a prophet has no honour save in his own country!!!
Why would'nt there be indispline,insults and disrespect to the sitting president and his ministers if a country like Ghana has an Ex-President -a full blown adault of 60 plus years who is supposed to mature and to know better but refuses to grow calling the humane sitting President all sorts of names;calling for his arrest by the security forces without any apparent charge;Compelling the incumbent President to notorious N1 criminal Atta Ayi;etc,.;if you have an ex-president calling for civil disobedience the "Club"(NDC) he founded with state resources and errenously christianed it a political party is in opposition.Hear the ex-president"we can't wait for 4 years" that was somewhere in 2004-the very beginning of President Kufour's 2nd term.
This has made his die-hard Cuban trained ex-cadres to take a cue from his unguarded BOOM utterances to insult prominent people in our society including even the much revered and respected King Otumfour Osei Tutu 2nd sitting on the historic and symbolic Golden Stool.It's sad to read some of these postings on the Ghanaweb. This is unghanaian;What is wrong with a president of a developing country like Ghana travelling to developed country to solicit for assistance?What is wrong for President JAK to travel to China to look for funds to build the Bui Dam?What is actually wrong if a president's adult son is credit worthy and genuiely secures a bank loan to buy a hotel? What about if he had caused the arrest and trial JJR for some of his allegedly treasonable unwise speeches?
Fellow Ghanaians,I'm appealing very strongly to you and the Ghanaweb Master Mr.Francis Akoto,that despite the new dispensation giving chance to us for unlimited freedom of speech,writing and communication made absolutely possible by President Kufour and his NPP Goverment,try to do something about it. Don't let us think it's the president,the Asanteman KIng and prominent and people in authority alone that are being insulted or disgraced,it's a reflection on all Ghanaians including even you. I'm not advocating that people shold not criticise or say their mind,butcan do so on issues minus some of the unprintable,horrible,disgraceful insults you delight to print on your website.
Thank you Mr. Akoto for the wonderful job you're doing on the net.
From Nana Kwaku Kurankye Kwatei(AYACSA e.V.) Hamburg,Germany
Weissenhof,21,22159,Hamburg
E-mail:nanakk@ lycos.de
