A Look At Ghana's 60 Years Of Independence

According to the constitution of Ghana, retirement in public service is 60 years. Meaning if Ghana was a woman as we have been referring to our country as Ama Ghana, she would be retiring on 6th March, 2017.

I think our greatest achievement is our Democracy. Aside that, our 60years in active service hasn't been the best looking at the resources available. A lot could have been done by our past leaders. After 60 years of independence, we have problems with energy even though we are in sub Saharan Africa where sunlight is a gift. We are still relying on the Hydro electric Power which was built by Kwame Nkrumah.

The Ameri or whatever is another waste of crap and it  shows the short sightedness of the former power Minister . It's time to make good use of solar energy.

Waste management  is also an area we have failed drastically. Recently I read an article on how Sweden has managed zero waste. It's a shame to walk at Kumasi Central Market, Accra Central, Kaneshie Market and other public places and see garbage heaped at where market women are Selling vegetables. Where lie our conscience as people. We are always quick to judge but our lifestyle doesn't tally with our words. Our mistakes resulted to the loss of hundreds of people on the June 3 disaster. Every year, we record  cases of of death through flooding.

Our education system is another area which needs restructuring. The curricula should be amended. There should be inclusion of soft skills, entrepreneurship programmes, vocational and technical education and improvement in Science and Technology.

Moreover, the over reliance on foreign Aid like frequent borrowing should stop. The IMF has been an enemy to Africa but our leaders are not being smart about these bodies. We should give the private sector the enabling environment to thrive. When the private sector works, unemployment will be a thing of the past.

Furthermore, the reliance on foreign products is also another area  we need to address. It seems the Ghanaian citizen is obsessed with everything from outside Ghana. We haven't been able to manufacture even tooth pick. Almost 80% of the things used in our homes are imported. Rice is imported meanwhile we have local rice which is more nutritious. This is not helping the economy. Let's patronize our own things.
It would surprise you that all the seats in our parliament, the desks in our public offices and even the furniture at the presidency-Flagstaff House were imported. Meanwhile, we have local carpenters and craftsmen.

As a country, we don't patronize made in Ghana clothes . Look at our rich Kente cloth,  GTP and  ATL  but still people prefer foreign prints. Holland print is more valuable in the eyes of the Ghanaian woman than GTP. How will we move forward with this inferiority complex. We are making other countries rich while Mother Ghana keeps wailing.

In the Health care industry ,former  President Kufour ,one of the most innovative presidents came up with the National Health Insurance Scheme and the Free Maternal Health care. Subscribers benefitted very much from it but now it has become a white elephant. People keep registering but they render poor service.Our hospitals lack sophisticated state of the art life saving equipments. People die because of the inadequate equipment and resources in our hospitals.Our leaders even don't trust our doctors so majority of them resort to foreign hospitals. How pathetic!!

Now ,many well to do  Ghanaians go for medical check up in South Africa, UK or USA.

Agriculture is another sector which has failed. Our gallant farmers are not given the needed resources and support to produce on large scale. Most of them rely on subsistence agriculture. The use of sophisticated machinery for farming is only available to the rich farmer. Inadequate storage facilities make Ghana lose a lot of proceeds from the farm. Poor road networks leading to farming communities among others. Are we on the right direction?

We don't have to wait for the white man to tell us what to do before we reason. We have come  of age.  The crude oil, gold, diamond, cocoa, bauxite, manganese, timber, rubber and coffee are exploited everyday. But our leaders have refused to make use of the foreign exchange. There are still schools under trees, rural communities do not have access to basic infrastructure like portable water and electricity.

Unemployment is eating us up.What have we achieved that we want to celebrate? We don't have to empty state coffers to celebrate Ghana @60.

Instead of setting a tall member list  committee for this one day show, our leaders should  think of creating employment and providing conducive environment for private sector operators.
After all,we celebrate independence day every 6th of March.

We need to find solutions to our numerous problems. Our performance as a country in 60 years is very abysmal.

It's time to look into the future with unity of purpose, commitment and the spirit patriotism.
Corruption is a very serious threat to the progress of Ghana and I believe it's time to curb it. The destiny of every leader shouldn't be important than the future of our Motherland. It is time to come together and rebuild Ghana, a country blessed with everything.
I believe in Ghana and I know one day, this country will become the beacon of hope and opportunity in the world.

Source: Kenneth Gyamerah/[email protected]