... if there is no love and empathy.
I continue to struggle with being optimistic about this OIL and my reasons are simple. I see in many people in Ghana the lack of desire and ability to develop. Here, it is accepted that everything perfect has to come from Europe, Japan and America. There is frustration everywhere, common decency is so hard to come by, you have to go through hell to do simple things like getting your name spelt right by student record officers and they will even insist that you travel from where ever you are to come and wait in their office. The list is endless, so how can I believe the oil will do anything different??
The people need to know the value of empathy, making life easier for their fellow human beings so that all the money will not be stolen and locked up in Swiss Banks. The whole country looks like a slam, only small areas of Accra appear slightly dignified for a Country of 53 years of self-rule. And we have been exporting gold and diamonds all these 53 years. Only love and empathy filled people can make a difference for Ghana's development and then and only then maybe the OIL will grease their elbows in pushing this country forward.
People of Ghana have to first believe and respect the power of knowledge and skills and get our young people to appreciate that, so when there is another resource to be exploited in the future our children will have the dignity of building their own FPSO and send their own drilling robots. The people of Singapore and Texas-USA are humans just like us but they have skills that have been honed for generations and advanced in their life time to be able to come over here and do all that it takes for the OIL to pour out of the belt of the ocean. Our only contribution to this OIL industry is Drumming and Dancing and composing the Jubilee OIL song.
hmmm, Ghana our motherland, land of rich resources but where is the knowledge and skill to make use of these resources to better our lives? Our children must do better.
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Patrick Kobina Arthur (PhD),
That is a nice article u wrote. U sound like u could be our next president.Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThanks Maya for the response, I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you a hundred percent. Only love and concern for human wellbeing will push our nation forward. I do not see how the discovery of oil will make our nation any better, in my opinion, the situation just got worse since I do not see the measures being put in place in order to avoid fraudulent dealings and to promote sustenance of the oil discovered. We say that children are the future leaders of the nation but what foundation are we laying down to ensure that they develop the right attitude, knowledge and skills to carry on the nation in the future? We can change this; we have to set the right example for them to follow. Let us develop the right attitude and change the sloppy way in which we do things.
ReplyDeleteIt cannot not however be disputed that this found oil might not do much if our attitude does not change. I however go against the thought that every good thing comes from those countries because they are not any better than us. There are still some species of us left, who believe good comes from where we live. That on the lighter side I think that the older folks are not doing too well in helping the current situation of the country. They first of all do not like to exit positions for younger generations to take over. How then does the debate on experience come to play? It is scary if I sometimes think of what this oil might do if proper measures a not put in place as seen in neighbouring countries. It is obvious what people have started doing. It is not understandable why expertees are not allowed to handle such deals. These have already resulted in bad dealings, and the problem here is, it has been left and the later generations are the ones who are going to bear the consequences. The country started on good footing but is on the wrong foot now. I doubt if the current problems of the country can be solved by the oil found but it is however worth a try. It would however do some good but the only solution to this destruction is positive attitude. Hope this frustration would come to an end.
ReplyDeleteGhana’s oil find is indeed a blessing, but our only challenge would be in the judicious management of the resource. In a country where a change of government is almost always synonymous with a halt in the developmental projects of the previous government, progress is very minimal. Every successive government sees to the betterment of its people to the detriment of those in opposition. This is one of the main reasons why I would side with you that we need love to prevail.
ReplyDeleteAlso the nation must invest in the development of the youth in the area of science and technology so as to secure the her future. Let's not rejoice just yet because there is still so much to be done to make the oil find reflect in Ghana's economy.
God bless our homeland Ghana and may we continue to be the beacon of Africa.
Ghana’s oil can make difference provided Ghanaians put aside ethnicity, political affiliations, (e.g foot-soldiers), whom you know and who knows you and then place the right minded people into the right positions. I sincerely agree with you that Ghana export cocoa, timber diamond, gold and bauxite but the value is still the same but I will date you back to the 1950s, Dr. Nkrumah upon using the same resources built a lot of infrastructures and people lives were transform. So it is not necessarily the resources availability but the mindset of the personalities involve that can make a difference. Until Ghana get leaders who have not light lamps in search of wealth for their children and grandchildren, even if the bring the whole of Europe to Ghana and Africa as a whole and then send Ghanaians there, in the next jubilee to come there will not be any change in value.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I agree that the attitude is a majority of what it takes to bring about development. In addition, Africans must learn to instill applicable knowledge so that we can use it to design suitable models. In the absence of these two major facts, the oil will make no difference. The stealing of moneys by leaders can be reduced by allowing them to swear an oath not to open any swiss account within their terms of service. In addition, one’s assets must be declared right before he is sworn into office so as to reduce embezzlement.
ReplyDeleteOil like any other natural resource can benefit the nation if it is handled and used properly. if it is mishandled, then its importance would not to felt. like our cocoa and gold which we have in abundance, up to date, no relevant improvement have been seen in the revenues generated from these resources. countries like Nigeria has suffered and are still suffering form the mismanagement of their abundant oil resource. the only way to benefit from ours is to learn from the expects who are doing it right. and lastly, a junk of the profit or revenue is not even coming to Ghana but to the foreign drillers, hence much shouldn't be expected from this now, maybe in the future when things change.
ReplyDeleteThe discovery of oil came to us as great news, however the big question is "ARE WE GOING TO FEED ON THE OIL?????" a bit is up to us to manage the NO!!! It is up to us to manage the oil properly so as to gain income now and for a long time to come. It is funny how we implore the services of the foreigners to manage the oil and all we can do is to sit and compose songs about this great finding. This goes a long way in pointing accusing fingers at our past leaders for not laying the right foundations. Had this been done, I'm sure the blackman would have been able to manage this oil, all by himself
ReplyDeleteThe word difference could also mean a change. This means that before the recently discovered oil could cause a change, we the stakeholders should first allow for a change in our mentality and attitude else the idea that the oil is going to cause a change is mirage. How can one person or few people "sit" on the nations resources and deprive the nation and the people it's glory and think that better days await us. The sad aspect is these stolen moneys end up locked in some banks account. I think empathy and love as the writer said will help reduce the rate of the nation's transformation from grace to disgrace. There have been a lot of other important natural resources since 53yrs ago and yet the nation is sinking. Now let's try to discover new attitude and mentality. There is hope for Africa hence Ghana provided we don't wait to have grey hair before we becoming responsible.
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