I have sufficient knowledge of what it means to be a Ghanaian legally. But I am thinking about what it means to be a Ghanaian vitally or in terms of what we represent or stand for. What is ‘Ghanaianness’ a symbol of? I saw the American passport of a little baby and it had the inscription, ‘now with your American passport, the world is yours’. What optimism and positivity! It is time to craft a new image of what it means to be Ghanaian. It is time to fix our broken attitudes. Until we fix our attitudes, we cannot sustain any thing we build or have.
The Liability of Negative Attitudes
An untrained citizenry are captives of negative attitudes. A man with a degree but dripping with negative attitudes is not a match for a counterpart who has nothing but great attitudes. There has to be a values revolution. Every parent, teacher, supervisor, managers of state institutions and private organizations, leaders of faith-based organizations and political leaders must model attitudes that sustain progressive thinking and development. Right attitudes are more valuable than natural resources. This must become the current national emphasis. It is intangible progress that leads to empirical progress.
Ghanaian hospitality is skin deep
I do not want to believe that the phraseology, ‘Ghanaian hospitality’ is overused. Is the average Ghanaian trained to deliver service? The golden rule is ‘love your neighbor as yourself’. Without loving ourselves we cannot claim to be hospitable to others. The average Ghanaian is unsettled, worried and impatient. This is evidenced by the carnage on our roads. You cannot sustain a hospitality orientation when you are afflicted with negative emotions. There is an urgent call for the manifestation of new Ghanaians.
When will Ghanaianness mean:
Commitment to excellence and relevance
The spirit of excellence must be unleashed in every Ghanaian. Beauty and quality must be so appreciated that everyone wants to make a contribution towards it. There must be a deliberate effort by leadership to invest the fire of excellence in every citizen until becoming the best version of ourselves is the minimum standard. The nation must think contribution and not consumption.
Commitment to ethical living
We cannot be swept off by the waves of perversion and moral bankruptcy from distant shores just because that’s is what in in vogue. Great empires that survived many wars collapsed when their societal values collapsed.
The rebirth of new Ghanaians
There must be a rebirth of the inhabitants on the portion of the earth called Ghana. A people who believe they can fly. Leadership of Ghana must cast a vivid vision of what is possible on our portion of the earth. The confusion we see on our streets and in different departments of our national life can be cured by introducing a crystal-clear vision right in the midst of the confusion of what is possible. When the national vison is clearly laid out, individual citizens will come out with strategies to accomplish the portion of the vision they are responsible for. There has to be a national plan to activate every citizen. Even if all citizens are not activated at a given time, those activated should be sufficient to determine the destiny of our dear nation.
Rule and subdue the earth!