There’s a reason why we are counted amongst THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. These are the countries whose growth are stunted by one reason or the other or those who move slowly towards progressive attitudes and trail behind other countries in the advancement of all things that make life easier and better for its people. Developing Country because we don’t ever seem to move from the same spot, let alone play catch up. Whiles you can forgive and understand some countries for not having the wherewithal to act as launch pads to fly sky high, in other instances it is simply unforgivable and a testament to how one can have it all and yet whittle it away somewhat or have it all and mismanage it till it becomes a noose round the neck and a shame to observe.

I often read and listen to various commentaries about ancient issues like the Slave trade, Colonialism and certain world orders that drive the pace of change in our development processes, and in some cases I have had my say about injustices and what-nots, and negative legacies passed down through the ages. But having considered the pros and the cons I have come to the conclusion that we simply haven’t done our homework well and therefore it is easier to blame the exams/test for being too difficult when it is obvious that we didn’t put in the hard work of revising history when it came to it.

SANKOFA, the mythical bird of ancient Ghanaian wisdom signifies going to the past and learning from it…taking the goodness of it and running with it or discarding the rotten aspects back in the past where it belongs. Alas when I look at GHANA as it stands today, it is nothing but a rich Kente clad woman who gives the appearance of opulence and grandeur but a closer look at the Kente shows that it is thread bare in its intricate design.

ALL THIS TALK ABOUT DEVELOPMENT
What exactly are we talking about when we mention developing a nation? Is it the white washing of rotting wood or brain washing and throwing sand into people’s eyes? No, It is the focused, hard-nosed but realistic task of moving the country forward to bigger and better things or on to higher ground and being better off for it. That is what the Developed and Advanced Countries did, to get where they are today
Looking back over my shoulders and turning round to look at the horizon in equal measure, I don’t see much change in the landscape in Ghana.
It is what one can analyse as a simple case of misplaced order of priorities and a misguided sense of duty. The planning hasn’t been implemented and foundations haven’t been laid, thus building on anything is a lost cause.

Our first republic gave us Airports, harbours, Tema Township, hydro-electric stations and all sorts of progressive institutions. They were land marks in their hey days and were driving towards advancement in society and to this day we still rely heavily on them but can we honestly count many things that have been added to these or improved upon 52 years on? There is a lot of glossing going on in society and a social class divide as wide as one can make it.
Electricity Rationing in this Century and Rail and Road networks that look like jig-saw puzzles? Open sewerage, Rubbish tipping and Malaria still a killer?
No Specialist Units in some of our hospitals because lets face it the Doctors wont even want to live in those areas even if they had one and some are lucky if they even have a health post. A stand-pipe or indoor tap is classified as a luxury in most parts of Ghana? Whiles all the action is on Politics, hot air between opposing parties year after year and mundane promises that never get done?

THE PARABLE OF A LAND SHARE
So a Nation sets out to split itself into divisions in a bid to classify its diversity. Each sector had its central point or shall I say Capital City but when it came to apportioning the adornment, only the capital cities were given it. Unfortunately, the people outside the capital cities could not cope because they had no adornments or they also wanted a piece of the action, so they push down to the city to be part of it.
Meanwhile this gives rise to over population and unemployment and social services in these adorned areas get hard pressed.

Whiles this is going on, somebody suggests that some of the Proffessional dwellers of the Capital Cities should go to the unadorned areas and live, work and serve there. Why me they ask and what’s in it for me they say. It hasn’t got any of the adornments i am used to so I don’t think I can do that.
Meantime those in the unadorned areas can’t cope because they need to look to themselves and also take on the extra burden of sustaining the adorned areas.
The result is three quarters of untapped human and land resources, proffessional expertise crammed and jammed into small areas, disaffection with unemployment and resulting brain drain into far flung countries for greener pastures, food and agricultural products in shortfalls, health and poverty issues, communication and transport problems and a job not done. And because the trend hasn’t been reversed, another generation will inherit these same tracts of land and its negative legacies.

COMMON GRASS? I DON’T THINK SO
In Ghana common things don’t come across as so common. If they were we wont be having this debate. An example is how grass abounds from Accra plains to Afram plains but come a drought or floods in the Northern Region which happens to be the Pastorial farming hub of the nation, the cattle’s ribs can be counted and those who do not die are not fit for market thereby driving supplies down. But then a Ministry of Agriculture or a Forestry commission hasn’t thought to make ‘HAY from COMMON GRASS’ from other sources and keep them in silos for onward distribution to support these farmers in hard times as proximity issues to the Sahara makes their weather conditions naturally unreliable. And what of alternative storage and farming practices to help these farmers in bad weather conditions? I have never heard of all the thousand farming cooperatives scattered over the country owning say a tractor each, which goes out as part of a scheme to plough lands during the planting season. Implements are still relegated to cutlasses, hoes and rakes. Commercial farming is still in the iron ages and very slow and tiring work.

Ever thought that if running water, hospitals, good roads and electricity became basic rights in all parts of the country, the teachers, doctors, lawyers and other professionals would go inland? And that by their presence education will receive a boost, good healthcare will reach the majority of the population and social services will be at their door step which will in turn drive private and state industry towards them, thereby creating employment for the youth, which will in effect stop the movement down to the Capitals and ease the unemployment issues down there and disaffection of graduates at not getting jobs and thereby stop the brain drainage because there is more choice of employment and location? Ever wondered about how such a very important chain reaction has been overlooked years on end whiles we still cry foul?

WHY THE UNFAIRNESS IN SPLITTING THE NATONAL CAKE?
If a nation be made up of its regions in its entirety with each contributing their utmost quota to national development and sustainance, then how come some are being short changed resulting in such a big difference in what can be considered as basic rights to a fair share of the national coffers?
And when is it going to dawn that the road to recovery is getting back to basics and working our way up instead of always side stepping some very simple but important issues.
It’s a shame when indeed we have a lot of things at our disposal, but cannot seem to be making the most of them because our sense of duty and priority is warped and partial.
This is why people like myself get very sceptical about stuff like the discovery of oil and all the dance about it. Is it yet another poisoned Chalice to be passed from hand to hand, round and round till a nation gets dizzy with thirst?