Showing gratitude

The lips of the righteous know what is fitting. But the mouth of the wicked, only what is perverse. — Prov 10:32. Dr Martin Luther King has noted that one of the banes of humanity is looking for all the good things for ourselves and selfishness.

He notes, “We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade…. Adler came with the new argument saying that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life — this drum major instinct.

“Everybody likes it, as a matter of fact. And somehow this warm glow we feel when we are praised, or when our name is in print, is something of the vitamin A to our ego. Nobody is unhappy when they are praised, even if they know they don’t deserve it, and even if they don’t believe it. The only unhappy people about praise, is when the praise is going too much towards somebody else.”

At another level, Tenzin Gyatso has noted that: “Our prime purpose in life must be to help others and if you cannot help them, at least do not hurt them.” Our elders say it is when one is confronted by an issue that one identifies true friends. There is also the saying that help usually comes from where there is no hope.

Last Monday, I was one of five persons appointed to serve on the National Media Commission (NMC) in the name of the Executive, Parliament and Ghanaian women. I consider it a great honour to have been identified by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to represent him on the commission.  I am not a mainstream activist of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). There may be many issues for which I have never played neutral but taken active position, not because of partisan considerations but to uphold the national interest. Whether I deserve the honour or otherwise is left to Ghanaians to judge.

However since the swearing in, I have learnt a great deal from human action. I now understand Dale Carnegie when he submits that, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic but creatures of emotions”, while Plato also says that, “we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

I am equally reminded by Valerie Anders and Fred de Witt who submit respectively that “giving thanks is one course we never graduate,” and “none is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves and spend without fear of bankruptcy.”

To avoid the charge of being ungrateful, I would like to thank President Akufo-Addo and the Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Hamid, and especially Ms Afisa Otiko Djaba, who as National Women’s Organiser of the NPP and now Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has always mentioned me in good despatches to the hierarchy of the NPP. There are  members of the board of directors of the Graphic Communications Group Limited who have called to congratulate me on the appointment and to encourage me to live up to the expectation of the President and the aspirations of our people. 

There are three special mentors; part of my life’s development who proffer advice whenever I need it. They are Nana Otuo Siribuor, the Omanhene of Juaben and now Chairman of the Council of State, Prof. S. K. B. Asante and Mr Nutifafa Kuenyehia, who as Chairman of the NMC supported me to build the institution into a formidable one when I served as its Executive Secretary.

I am sincerely grateful to Supreme Court Justice Anin Yeboah and George Sarpong, Executive Secretary of the NMC for complimenting me during the swearing-in ceremony.

To all others, who have expressed goodwill and stimulated me to do what is right and beneficial to the motherland and to deepen democratic constitutionalism, I pledge to do my bit and to follow the examples of Messrs Clifford Siaw Buabeng, Daily Graphic, Yao Dziekpor, Cyril Acolatse and Mr Berifi Apenteng of GBC who while in service never compromised when matters of national importance came up before them at the NMC, where they represented the Ghana Journalists Association. They equally never failed to perform their functions as public servants who operated under rules and regulations within their respective organisations.   

In performing my duties as a member of the NMC, I will always be guided by the saying that, “In giving advice, seek to help not to please your friend” because “we find comfort among those who agree with us, but growth among those who doubt.”