“I say to you publicly and frankly: The burden of suffering that must be accepted, impose it upon one generation! Do not, with the false kindness of these missionaries and business-men, drag out this agony for another five hundred years while your villages and towns rot and your people’s minds sink into the mess of a subjective darkness … Be merciful by being firm and strict!
Make no mistake, Ghanaians, they are going to come at you with words about democracy; you are going to be pinned to the wall and warned about decency; good looking men will mumble academic phrases about “sound” development; gentlemen of the cloth will speak oily of values and standards; in short, a number of concentrated arguments will be thrown at you to persuade you to temper the pace or paradigm and drive of your movement…
But you know as well as I do that the logic of our actions is being determined by the conditions of our lives and that of our people…”- Paraphrasing an excerpt of a letter to Ghanaians from Richard Wright (London and New York)
Who told you there are no solutions to solving the current onerous plight facing the people of this country?…Who told you our engineers are daft and that is why we are experiencing load shedding day in day out?… Have you considered the broad day corruption which keeps on going on each passing day? What makes you think illiteracy is causing our problems in this 21st century? Or you think it is poor governance of our leaders and Kings? Well, I beg to differ that there is more to what we see at this period of abyss and institutional failure…
Our pursuit to success as a nation has been based on quick fixes and social image and recognition, personality ethics to solve and satisfy our wants and needs within the shortest possible time living bare the paradigm of our core character ethics which seeks to redress a nation to a total perfection making room for lots of generations yet unborn.
A paradigm which when considered and appreciated the sons and daughters of our country will no more wallow in poverty, will eat the food of the Kings, and will have no boundary on their fields of optimism, idealism and imagination…. Our old and aged would be proud and confident to live willingly, the nation into the care of the youth and the children uprising, a paradigm which will sincerely not let a pensioner still hold on to his or her position, duty or service as a result of fear of poor living conditions when he or she goes home; a paradigm which can make someone die for his or her country because of the spirit of true patriotism….. Yes, the Character Ethic style of leading a nation, which most countries like the United States of America, Britain, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Malaysia and even, our own South Africa within the same continent of Africa have pursued to realize its nation as it is today.
The truth of the matter is we had this true ethic, yes the Character Ethic which had vision for the yet to come future, the present of our time and the next generations yet to take over from us. Then what happened? Hmm…Our leaders forgot that “the ship that brought the bible was the same ship that brought the gun”. Our leaders allowed themselves into captivity with this social image consciousness by these people who came here for dual purposes…
The Personality Ethic is of social image consciousness, techniques and quick fixes — with social Band-Aids and aspirin that addresses acute problems and sometimes even appears to solve them temporarily — but lives the underlying chronic problems untouched to fester and resurface time and again.
In stark contrast, almost all the thoughts and directions of our predecessors in the first 150 years focused on what could be called the character ethic as the foundation of success — things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, truth, love for one another, respect, fear of God, love for our nation among several others you can think of. The character ethic teaches that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.
But shortly after the acceptance of the “doctrines” of the Whites among their dual purposes of visiting our Gold Coast, the view of success shifted from the character ethic to what we might call the personality ethic. Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviours, skills and techniques that lubricate the processes of human interaction.
This personality ethic essentially took two paths: one was human and public relations techniques and the other was positive mental attitude (PMA). Some of this philosophy was expressed in inspiring and sometimes valid maxims such as “Your attitude determines your altitude,” “Smiling wins more friends than frowning,” “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve,” “Man came to do some but not all,” “The end justifies the means” and several others.
Other parts of the personality approach are clearly manipulative, even deceptive, encouraging people to use techniques to get other people to like them, or to fake interest in the hobbies of others to get out of them what they want, or to use the “power look,” or to intimidate their way through life. Some of our leaders acknowledges character as an ingredient of success, but tend to classify it rather than recognizing it as foundation and catalyst. Reference to the character ethic has become mostly lip service; the basic thrust is quick-fix influence techniques, power strategies, communication skills, and positive attitudes…. I am sure you are thinking of how you have been once swayed by someone probably a Politician with these techniques… LOL
Our tragedy as a nation is not as a result of corruption, illiteracy, poor governance or management but rather our utmost unwillingness to learn, unlearn and relearn… Our attitude of Personality Ethic we have decided not to change and give way for the new paradigm of Character Ethic… Our attitude… “We are the same change we are seeking”
How then do I intend to lead Ghana in my twenties? (TO BE CONTINUED…)
