The euphoria that accompanies Ghana’s independent day celebrations is usually one that portrays the level of patriotism and love the citizens have for the country.
Colourful parades are held across the country, accompanied by march pasts and performances from the various security services, students, masquerades and traders among others. Other Ghanaians commemorate the day with beach parties and visits to local tourist sites.
This year, however, the story wasn’t the same and this can be attributed to the pandemic that has plagued the whole world, including Ghana.
But the question The Chronicle would like to ask is had it not been for the COVI-19 pandemic, would Ghanaians attach the same excitement to this year’s celebration, as they used to do? Are the citizens proud of Ghana’s achievements so far?
Article 199 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana states that “A public officer shall, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, retire from the public service on attainting the age of sixty years”. If Ghana was a human being and a public officer due for retirement, would her children (citizens) welcome her home with open hands based on a life well lived?
There is no denying the fact that the country has chalked some successes in some areas and deserves a pat on the back. For instance, Ghana’s political stability has been touted to be worthy of emulation in a muddled sub-region.
In June 2020, Ghana was ranked the most peaceful country in West Africa and third on the continent in the 2020 Global Peace Index report. The index being run by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) also ranked Ghana as the 43rd among 163 independent states and territories.
According to IEP, Ghana passed the three most dominant factors for grading these countries; Societal Safety and Security, Domestic and International Conflict, and militarisation. This is so true because the country has generally maintained a peaceful environment since it became a multi-party democracy in 1992. The country has held eight presidential and parliamentary elections which international observers have held to be relatively peaceful.
On the economy, the country has made significant strides as it has moved from low income to a middle income status, according to the World Bank country classifications in 2011. Many aspects of the economy have through good policies improved significantly.
As at 2017, the contribution of the tourism industry to Ghana’s GDP was GHC12, 573.3 million (USD1, 335.5mn), according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
On the issue of unemployment, current and previous governments have put some measures in place to reduce the teaming unemployed youths in the country.
The introductions of technical and vocational curricula and pro-poor programmes have gone a long way to help solve the issue of unemployment. Today, many youths are able to create their own jobs after school due to such investments.
In the educational sector, past and current governments, bearing in mind the constitutional provision of ensuring that every child gets access to education, have made serious investment in education, making it accessible and free.
For us at The Chronicle, we hail all governments and citizens for these achievements, but we still believe that there is more to do. Ghana embarked on the road to developing its economy with other countries like Singapore and Malaysia. Today these Asian tigers are performing better than Ghana in all spheres.
The issue of corruption, which ushered in late President Jerry John Rawlings into the political scene, is still lingering on. In 2020, Ghana ranked 75th out of 180 countries and territories on the 2020 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Meanwhile, corruption is said to be the cause of the woes of many African countries. This means that if we are able to reduce corruption to its barest minimum, we will thrive more than we are doing now.
The Chronicle calls on the powers that be and every Ghanaian to find ways to get rid of this canker to enable us develop, thrive and make our nation great and strong. On our independence anniversary, we say ‘ayekoo’ to all Ghanaians, bearing in mind that there is more room for improvement.
The post Editorial: Happy Independence Anniversary to Ghana but… appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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