Stop, start thinking!
“The development of this nation lies within the power of the politician,” we think. We blame the woes of this nation on the politician. We entrust them with power to turn things around within a time frame of four years… yet don’t seem to see many changes.
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Haven’t we given enough attention to politicians? Haven’t we given them enough opportunity to make our nation better? For how long will we continue to be tagged as a developing nation? Don’t we ever get developed!?
For how long will we continue to grapple with challenges which should have been solved centuries ago? For exactly how long will we continue to lag behind the world? I don’t know, I think.
As of this age, we don’t really know our priorities as a people; our needs have become our wants and vice versa. We have left the state of affairs in the hands of the politician and he, in turn, has left them in the autopilot mode.
Great achievements don’t happen in the autopilot mode. If we want great things to happen in this nation, we had better make them happen… and stopped thinking they might just happen!
Most of our leaders occupy positions (and slam huge titles on themselves) without any well-thought-out plans to really solve our challenges. Instead of amassing wealth for subsequent generations, we have amassed challenges... and debts. Chai! Our challenges today are only being managed instead of being solved.
We don’t regard our challenges with urgency. They then become problems. We don’t regard these problems with urgency, too, and then they become emergencies. Emergency barges on my mind! The politician chases us for power every four (4) years… and we chase them for power the next four (4) years.
How have the state of affairs reeled off into a state of emergency so soon!? Because… we are all thinking someone needs to solve them when they only intend to manage them.
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Though there’s dire need of water in other parts of the nation, we intermittently spill volumes of water from some dams (like Weija) at the peril of lives and properties, yet no one has really thought of solving this ‘emergency’. Can you imagine?
We have such a short memory. After the loss that comes with such emergencies is done, we forget about solving them. Then… they recur.
Take a critical look at the ills that have plagued this nation; from dumsor to whatever. There’s a simple trend. They all began as challenges, graduated to problems and now have blown up into emergencies!
The simple difference between a developed and a developing nation is that the former doesn’t wait for their challenges to become emergencies while the latter does. One can predict Africa’s problems easily and even more accurately than the weather.
We have been stagnant as far as development is concerned because everyone is thinking someone out there needs to solve the issues. And… no one is! After all, if they are solved, on which grounds will politicians base their campaign during elections?
A problem shared is not a problem half-solved; a problem identified is. It is about time we realised we are collectively the architects of the fortunes (and misfortunes) of this nation. That is the problem we ought to identify. We have to create that world we wish to live in… together. It is very dangerous to entrust the politician alone with such power.
The earlier we had such thoughts, the earlier we will put the politician out of business. We need to start thinking that this nation belongs to us all… not only the politician. If this nation will be any better… as we desire it to be… it depends on us all. Yes. Us.
In your own small way, you can make an impact wherever whenever. You can, for instance, avoid the choking of gutters by not littering indiscriminately. Good citizens make good politicians. Good citizens again… make a good nation.
We don’t need to occupy positions to make a change in our society. We don’t need ‘undeserved’ titles and ‘unqualified’ praise to leave a legacy in society. All we need are the right thoughts.
Stop thinking that the development of this nation depends on someone. Start thinking that this nation can only develop as long as we give our best as good citizens. This nation can only be as good as we consciously make it to be.
The writer is the Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications, an Accra-based writing company (www.scribecommltd.com)