Nkrumah said it. The black man is capable of managing his own affairs. The African continent can be recognised for something better over and above the traditional narrative of war, hunger, deprivation and bad leadership.
Rwanda has shown it. And we can also show it. We just have to work at it.
I listened to the BBC over the weekend as they discussed the new 5p charges on plastic bags in the United Kingdom. The object of the levy is to discourage the use of plastic bags in favour of other environmentally friendly substitutes such as the paper bag.
Whiles some feared it might hurt the plastic manufacturing industry, environmentalist groups also complained that the policy was not far reaching enough.
Rwanda was the template for most people either as a basis for expressing dissatisfaction with the British policy or as a blue print for pointing out to a model that has worked best.
This development is very impressive. First of all, it is indicative of the fact that the African continent can become known for something better and effective.
Lets face it, Kigali, the Rwandan capital, might be well on its way to becoming the world’s cleanest capital. And it may be quoted wherever for the purposes of “best practices.”
Is it not amazing how on so many occasions, persons in the media and the academia would refer to something as best practice simply because it is what is done in the United States of America and Britain.
If the Rwandans had said to themselves, “Look, there is no Western Country that has banned plastics, why should it be us”, the narrative would have been different.
Secondly, this development is impressive because it lets us know that we can become known for something progressive.
Rwanda had to go through an ugly genocide in 1994 in which over 800,000 people died as a result. In such situations, institutions have to be reconstructed again.
Confidence has to be instilled in the various ethnic groups who at one point in time were peaceful neighbours and the next moment were enemies slashing and attacking each other. The nation had to be healed. I can only say some progress has been made.
Rwanda knows what it needs. It does what it needs. These needs are relevant to the lives and well-being of the people. The total ban of plastics in Rwanda is not its world first.
It is also known for the ingenious indigenous traditional justice delivery system that was rolled up to deal with the numerous cases of hurts, violations and injustices that had taken place in the aftermath of the genocide.
This was known as the gacaca or traditional community courts. These courts finished their work after a 10-year period and it is reported that over 65 per cent of those tried were found guilty.
What has been our response to the plastic waste that engulfs our lands and water bodies? Nothing impressive. The step towards the banning of plastics has not been taken seriously here in Ghana.
It is in fact consistent with the overall outlook and attitude of our decision makers- making long speeches, taking decisions that change nothing and make no difference.
There is a ban- so says the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation. But it is not absolute. The minister announced not long ago “We have placed a ban on up to 20 microns, nobody can manufacture plastic products below 20 microns. The microns are the test of the thickness of plastics.”
So there you have it. We must be inspired and challenged to do the very things that make us humans and Ghanaians and thus, differentiates us from the rest of the world.
We must not become excessively concerned about what has been done or has not been done elsewhere.
When I heard that footbridges couldn’t be constructed because of some supposed IMF conditionality, I just wondered the essence and relevance of our sovereignty.
The west and the so-called developed countries can still learn from the so-called “developing countries.”
To pick a line from the famous poem “Look to yourself first”, we need to remind ourselves that we have everything and we will never thirst.
Honey and milk flow in our hand and we should not say grass is green at the feet of others for the grass is greener at our feet.
It is time for some introspection. We know the things we need to do to change the fortunes of this nation. What are we waiting for?
We also can become world leaders in other things other than being host to the world’s most toxic site.
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