“The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up to the total liberation of Africa”, Dr Kwame Nkrumah said on the eve of independence.
If Dr.Kwame Nkrumah was alive today, his words would be ‘the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it backed up with common sense”.
We celebrated Ghana at 50 in a grand style with big parties and banquets, costing over 30 million dollars when we had about 80 Ghanaian children dying of malaria each day. And then just after this spending, we went to beg the then US President-George Bush for 17 million dollars to fight malaria…
What do you call this?
5 years after the huge celebration of Ghana at 50, we spent millions of dollars on expensive cars and banquets again, celebrating Ghana at 55.
Today, Ghana is 56 years old and we are weighed down by basic problems such as unavailability of electricity and water, courtesy our lack of common sense to establish priorities.
Just 2 days ago in Accra, President John Mahama read the 2013 budget which he mentioned that, he has allocated to the Creative Arts Industry (this comprises of Music, Movie, Creative Writing, Arts, etc) 3 million Ghana Cedis ($1.5 million) for its development and improvement (Para 193, Ghana Budget, 2013). This attracted huge applauds in parliament and jubilation from those in the creative arts industry.
And just yesterday, a single person (Chris Brown) was handed $1 million for 10 hours stay in Ghana by a Ghanaian company which is hugely supported by the government, almost the total amount the Government allocated to the development of the whole Creative Arts industry…
If you do not see anything wrong with just these two incidences, then you are part of those lacking the common sense needed to change things in Ghana…
Happy Independence Day to you all!
what took u soo long to publish this article ?? anyway you are right on this topic. we are 56 but this age is irrelevant. we claim we are independent but if care is not taking we will begging for the essentials we once provided to neighboring nations. Ghana needs a change ASAP. God bless our homeland and make our nation great and strong
Oh went to Law Centre today so just got home! Some of us have to work on each Wednesday out there you know! 🙂
I couldn’t steal time to write it whiles there!
@Posted By: Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri, am just glad you got time to wrote it. your heading got me bursting out with a loud laugh you know. but truth be told, you are not wrong at all with your article and for this i applaud u.
@Shaolin,just a correction….”am just glad you got time to (write) it”……….#brofo boni
To be honest, i guess having something is better than nothing. so Firstly thank God for the grace and also the fact that we have life to witness another year added to our homeland. However that doesn’t rule out the facts. 56 years and then some, and we still cant have a permanent provision of electricity or even water. then i say hell yeah something is wrong somewhere and its sure as hell not the fault of those poor people who are having to live on selling pure water or those who don’t even know where their next meal is coming from. look the government(be it NDC,NPP,CPP) needs to realize that when you come into power you are suppose to come solve, not increase the problem so lets hope that the government currently on the throne gets the hint. All the same i am still a proud Ghanaian even in the bad.
NPP propaganda pet
Every government and every country celebrates their independence.
Ghana is not the only country lacking what you wrote,NPP came to power did NPP fix Ghanaian major roads problems?did they cure everyone in Ghanaian hospitals,was Ghanaians not having eccentricity problems ???
Today is independence day instead of you to be proud of the peace in Ghana you are here making politics….
Wait till 2015 before …
You can choose not to post my comments cos you will read it before…
God bless Ghana
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), well written
@Dr. Miyagi, thanks bro
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), Amen cosign 100%, Ghanaians will forever be ungrateful
@Tina, hahahaha you are claiming that Chris should be grateful for coming from a nation that is being ripped off by his own government, for having no light wow i heard it all now.
@GoldenGurl, why are you making it like Ghana is the only country facing such problems,big rich countries encounter such problems in Africa..
And is not only in this government regime that Ghana is facing electrical power problems,
Do you even have idea what year ghana started facing this kind of problem???
So because Chris said it you are also in it AHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHA
OBEYING THE WIND
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), Listen MY opinions are not meant to offend you but I am someone who has a rebellious side. I know other countries are just as bad if not worse and yes I of course am aware Nigeria has worse situations and I will stand up and say that is the case. What I have noticed is when ppl defend what’s wrong and ignore major issues. It not about ‘Obeying the wind’ it’s about utilising MY right to express my opinion. If you don’t say what you don’t like how will those in charge know how the ppl of a country feel how will the situation change? This is a platform to express those opinions no? am I just to sing and dance and only celebrate the good and ignore issues important issues ? No of course not. So yes Ghana and my very own Nigeria have PLENTY PLENTY to celebrate but that doesn’t make the criminal injustices go away. Anyway you may think my opinion here doesn’t count as am not from Ghana but I do recall most commenters have gladly and openly expressed their opinions whenever GC posts any articles about 9ija so ppl saying I can’t express my opinion will simply be ignored.
@GoldenGurl, xdont be proud of your country many people are proud of their country which is lacking many basic items ,you are kind of people who are not even proud of yourself it partially call paranoid sadness n hatred will kill your soul ,
Just be happy with whatever you have in your life n it gonna do you good.
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), don’t mind her at all she talks like she is from GH and I’m sure this is the part that she will probably say that most of her friends are Ghanaians we all know that she is always here to defend “C” today is out Independence Day this has nothing to do with politics but the celebration of G.H.A.N.A which i believe it stand for God Has Appointed Nkrumah Already/ Africa and sure he is now the father of Africa
@Dr. Miyagi, she is not from Ghana,damn why did i even waist my time to reply..
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), looooool, she is “ble ble” a Nigerian
@Dr. Miyagi, omg who gave a Nigerian right to talk about Ghanaian affairs ,…
Maybe Nigerians have not encounter electrical problems before…
I still wonder if they have finished building their oil refinery .
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), I wonder I realise that many of them are coming here lately only god knows why they sniffing here nowadays
@Dr. Miyagi, we have nothing against them if they come here to enjoy our country’s peace .,
But if they comes here to kidnap.,or do any illicit things we will be waiting for them aggressively
We thank Kwame Nkrumah and the big six and Yaa Asantewaa for all they fought for and gaining our 56th Independence. As we celebrate this day. May we remember our fore fathers who fought & worked so hard for our liberation, for us to enjoy this freedom. Ma nyame endasu insura ye ma Ghana. Nyame asomdwe ne wo tena daa!
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL MY GHANAIAN BROTHER & SISTERS!
@Dr. Miyagi, same to you bro ,
Hope you are celebrating it with mahogany
HahahA yes my brother@27cдгibre(Ф_ф),
@Dr.Miyagi, lol
I think common sense would dictate that a government is not liable for the actions of company even one which it supports. The government even is they disapproved of such a large spend on artist could not have stopped it from happening anyway.
About the large spend on independence day celebration, i’d like to just highlight Ghana at 50 and 55 had different governments in power but yet they all spent huge amounts of money (to modify a popular saying, same sh*t, different government).
I don’t think Nkrumah would have talked about common sense…. I imagine he would talk about CHANGE. During his time he saw a need for change, a need to be free from colonial rule. His vision for Ghana would not have changed. He said in his speech that ghanaians must change their attitudes because now they are free. And that is absolutely true, every Ghanaian must realise they have the power to make a positive difference in their country.
The western countries that dominate the world right now all started from nothing. Japan (I love that country) after the Americans bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki decided we need to build up our country and make sure we are also a force to be reckoned with. The are now have the 3rd largest economy in the world!!!! It is definitely all about CHANGE. *sigh*
Chris say it and say it again o! In developed countries, the government, rich people like Bill Gates & Warren Buffet as well as corporations like Merrill Lynch, Shell etc. use their money to fund scientists to research & find solutions to problems. In Ghana & other African countries, Governments, corporate bodies & rich people prefer to give their money to kim kardashian, beyonce & chris brown to come to their countries give sub-standard performances & smoke weed. & yet several Africans support this behavior. You see why I say our governments alone are not the problem? How can the government spend $1.5 mill loan on creative arts when the whole Accra is in darkness? Don’t they realize it’s an emergency?
This and related articles are gud for insights but are slowly turning into mindless ramblings.We get it that our country is having problems so does that mean we shouldn’t celebrate our birthaday?Some countries are in deep crisis with wars,diseases,famine etc. We have problems that can be served in the short term and slowly we will get there.Be proud to be a Ghanaian and do ur part.God bless
@miyagi,you are right ,
If you dont respect the president of Ghana i have nothing against you you can respect when the one respect n regard as a president comes in power.
But you have to respect mother land Ghana because it independence day it a special day and wish Ghana well.
Ghana is not for the president alone or any political party alone ,if Ghana is on fire it gonna hurt you and me,and our neighbors will laugh at us …
What i like about my.Ghanaian brothers and sisters home is they are anti war,
Look around us,ivory coast,Liberia,Congo,Nigeria etc there was once not peace in those countries due to lack of knowledge or mistakes…
Ghanaians are wise and brave in difficult times….
God has bless Ghana with a fortune and the fortune is peace ,
Peace is expensive than gold and diamond including oil as well
May God bless Ghana
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), you said it all amen to that
@GoldenGurl,
Even your own country is encountering and fighting a pandemic which is not easy at all (BOKO HARAM) couple with the same electricity power issue which made you to POKE your nose into my country’s affairs…
I HEREBY WANNA ASK YOU A QUESTION SO WITH THE ABOVE PROBLEMS WHICH IS EATING YOUR COUNTRY UP DID THE PRESIDENT OR THE CITIZENS REFUSED TO CELEBRATE YOUR COUNTRY’S BIRTHDAY ???
I am a proud Ghanaian and yesterday i did celebrate my country’s birthday with my girlfriend and other friends ,they were happy about Ghana’s independence.
Nothing is gonna stop a patriotic Ghanaian from celebrate it birthday……
I know Nigerians who loves their country no matter what and i really respect them for loving their country ….
There is a saying in Ghanaian language which goes like this only a FOOL WILL USE HIS/HER LEFT FINGER TO SHOW THE ROAD OF HIS/HER FATHER’S HOUSE.
So celebrating a Ghanaian independence.with my friends ist not a crime.
God bless mother Ghana
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), Ah come on now Calibre, you seem normally quite objective to me on most issues…but you no as I said when GC has posted 9ija articles about any issues you freely use your right to express your opinion at will so surely I have the same rights to poke my nose the way all those here do with Nigerian issues. I did say I was aware we also have major issues back home and will not spite myself by getting upset everytime GC posts negetive articles about Nigeria. Anyway glad you enjoyed your independeence, of course it is a day of celebration but also a day to refelct and how things can get better. I am a HUGE fan of Kofi Wayo because he is straight to the point and honest about what needs changing and trying to do something yet his ppl mock him, I just don’t get it. He seems to love his country and his ppl or he would have given up but he is saying what going wrong and trying make things better!
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), i lie?
@GoldenGurl, true talk