THE HYPOCRISY OF SOME GHANAIANS – HATING RACISM BUT PRACTISING TRIBALISM

There is one aspect about life which is having effect on the Ghanaian populace but everyone seems to be silent on it. In this piece, I will love to address the issue of tribalism but in the relationship or marriage perspective. It might seem insignificant but bad relationship or marriage has effect on the economy and if not dealt with, we might end up building a generation of people who do not have love in them. So many a times in this part of the world, family contribution or opinion is key in the process of marriage to the extent that parents or family members can deny their son or daughter the right and privilege to marry someone they have loved over a long period of time.

One basis on which most of the denial is centred on is the tribal root of the person. For instance, the family of Yaa Asantewaa could deny her marriage to Nii Kpakpo because Nii is from the Ga tribe without considering their personal feeling, the love they share or how long they've known each other. This menace have brought a lot of confusion to families such as parents denouncing their children, parents not showing up at their ward’s wedding, breaking a relationship that took so many years to be built and so on.

Several reasons are given especially by parents for their refusal of certain marriages or relationships. Some of which are; people from the tribe they do not like have certain character traits, someone from that tribe have wronged them in a way and other excuses. Some parents also claim that they've stayed in the particular area or worked in the same office with people from where your spouse hails and do not like their attitude, thus will not agree to a marriage relating someone from there.

Such comments finds its way down the heart of many young ones who in their quest or journey in life about relationship or marriage try to avoid some persons from the tribe their parents seem to hate. It happens even at the cooperate level where owners of some companies refuse to employ people of certain tribes just because of the mentality.

Funny enough, there have been several divorces, quarrels and bad relationship as a result of such mentality which is having a negative effect on our beloved country such that if it is not addressed in a proper way, the consequences will be nothing good to write home about.

From the reality point of view, approximately 70% of one’s attitude or character results from the society he or she grew up or stayed over a long period of time, thus tribal character traits does not constitute a greater percentage of how someone acts. From a typical Ghanaian perspective, people from a particular tribe act in a certain way so as soon as your identity is revealed, many people around begins to perceive that you are of a certain character which from a factual ground has less truth. Yes one might act in a certain way that depicts where he or she comes from but more of that person’s actions or reactions depend on where he or she was brought up. Even in that case, it’s a bit relative because some people stay in an area but act differently from how may be a typical person from that area will act so one might conclude that it’s a matter of the mindset. For instance Nii Kpakpo is Ga man but might not in any way act like a Ga man because he stayed Kumasi thus greater part of his attitude will show traits of someone who lived in Kumasi or the kind of home he was brought up in. So in what capacity should someone judge that if Nii Kpakpo gets married to Yaa Asantewaa, he will do something that is common with Ga men?

One typical example I hear people say is if a non-Ewe lady marries an Ewe man, no matter how long the marriage lasts, the man will go and marry another lady from his home town or a lady who is also an Ewe thus some parents refrain their daughters from marrying Ewe men. Others say if you marry an Asante lady, she will be arrogant and also demand you to serve her an ‘elephant head’ as dinner when you actually do not have because may be the uncle is a rich man. It sounds funny but this is happening in almost every home in Ghana. Dissecting the above example, I have seen several Ewe men who marry ladies from another tribe but do not go out to marry another because the second lady is from his tribe likewise I have seen Ashanti women who are not arrogant to their husbands.

So many a times I ask myself where these mentalities emanate from or was it something that used to happen often among the earlier generations.

From the religious point of view, many people who claim to be religious but still hold these beliefs are lying to themselves. I will relate this to Christianity and Islam because they are the two most common religions in Ghana. Christians and Muslims believe that most occurrences including marriage comes from God thus the one you marry is given by God. This refusal of marriage and relationships based on tribal grounds occur mostly in the religious homes. And am not sure God created tribes like we see in today’s world so in what capacity should worshippers of that God be discriminatory since they believe everything that happens is God’s decision? If God is the giver of everything including marriage, then I don't think its appropriate to reject someone on tribal grounds.

Notwithstanding, there is a saying in Ghana that, we do not marry people but family which means family of both spouse have their ‘nose’ peeping into the marriage affairs every now and then. That’s where our parents have their strong hold because they claim that definitely, an issue will come up in the marriage that needs both families’ presence to solve it so in the situation where both families or tribes don’t like each other, how will that particular issue be resolved.

This issue is a bit sceptical but I am personally against this tribal doctrine that keeps breaking God given and strong relationships and marriages, thus all of us must endeavour to change because everyone is a victim. Am not sure anyone will be happy if he or she or a family member is denied what he or she truly loves.

But shockingly, many of the people who engage in this form of tribalism do not hesitate to receive an offer, a gift or assistance from persons of these tribes they clam to hate.

Its another reality from my medulla oblogata so please do not hesitate to write down your sincere comments or contributions.

Thank you for reading!

THE DUMSOR DIARIES...WHY PREZ. MAHAMA DESERVES THE PRESSURE

In my previous piece on The Dumsor Diaries, I addressed how we the people of Ghana shot ourselves in the foot or ate our cake and asking to have it back pertaining to the current power crisis in the country. In this piece, I want to address why President Mahama deserves the pressure that he is getting now. In reality, President Mahama is not to be blamed entirely for the current power outages, rather all successive Head of States and Presidents must share the blame. Because when Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah thought it wise that Ghana's population will increase as the years go by, he began building the Bui Dam but just after he was overthrown in 1966, none of his successors gave a deserving attention to the continuation and completion of the Bui Dam or plan to build other smaller dams which can supply Ghana electricity. It was so until 2007/2008 that authorities realised the need for more power, thus plans to continue the construction of the Bui Dam. It was said that by 2013, the dam would be ready for full operation but that never happened. 
This current power crisis is not the first of its kind. Ghana had power crisis in 1982-1985, 1998-2000, 2006-2007 and this current one which began from August 2012. So in all, Ghana has witnessed 4 major power crisis. I will not want to bother you with much details for the causes of these crisis but the bottom line is that Ghana depends mainly on the Akosombo Dam for power so any time rainfall pattern reduces or a major machine gets damaged, Ghana feels the heat. Quite recently, we have had the Aboadze and Asogli Termal plants assisting in giving power to a fast economy growing Ghana. At first, not much rainfall was needed but after Valco was established and it began working with so much power plus the emergence of several production companies, the Akosombo Dam needed to increase its power supply.
Talking about the current crisis which began in August 2012, the crisis was attributed to several told and untold factors. Among them was when a fault was detected on the West African Gas Pipeline which halted natural gas flowing from Nigeria to the thermal power plants in Ghana. Poor rainfall into the Akosombo Dam, lack of financing for fuel procurement, lack of proper maintenance on the thermal plants, delay of Jubilee gas were also among reasons for the current power crisis. 
Though President John Dramani Mahama is not to be blamed entirely for this current power crisis since it is somewhat a creeping problem, I think he deserves the pressure. As a President, though you might not be the cause to some problems affecting your country, your ability to be very proactive in curbing or saving the situation proves your potentiality. President Mahama claims to be working hard in saving the situation which I trust he is doing but I think the help should be forth coming better than what is happening now. 
One most important factor in all these to and fro about the power crisis is financing or money to help solve the problem. Government needs money to complete the Kpone thermal power plant, the T2 plant expansion, payment of its debt to ECG, acquire fuel for TT1PP and CENIT Power plants among others. All these boils down to how government can generate and manage its money so that enough will be channelled through funding for the power sector. And this is where the problem lies.
Government is unable to manage it funds as expected. We've had several issues pertaining corruption such as ghost names in the government pay roll, corruption by Ministers of State, corruption at GYEEDA, NADMO, NSS, SADA and co among others. The monies being lost in these instances are huge sums of money that when recouped or prevented can pay for the problems facing the power sector. Government is not being hard on its officials who have through several dubious means committed these crimes. And in cases where government claims to be working at it, not much is seen. Ghanaians as a people do the talking when issues come up and after one or two weeks, very few people remember those issues, thus our call for accountability is nothing to write home about. In some of these cases, several evidences show that indeed the officials accused are somewhat guilty but government either takes no action or less action to recoup the money and prosecute these officials. 
Government's inability to punish corrupt officials gives the way for others to also engage in corruption because many in their minds will believe that much will not be done to them even if they get caught.
Furthermore, I think it was not that much of a necessity for government to establish the Power Ministry. Am not sure the power crisis was lack of human resource so what difference will the Power Ministry make in a country who is already suffering from financial difficulties. Because workers of that Ministry will get paid, cars will be bought and many other procurements will be made to keep the Ministry running. Ghana needed an emergency and am not sure the establishment of the Power Ministry can contribute effectively to solving the problem since we already have the Energy Ministry, VRA, GRIDCo, ECG and co managing power. Even if human resource was needed, a desk or an office with few intelligent personnels could have helped in contributing than establishing a whole Ministry which might not generate money but rather spend money. 
The communication aspect of this whole power crisis is also one of the reasons why President Mahama is receiving pressure from many Ghanaians. The promise and fail factor which raises the hope of the people but later results in disappointment is part of why many keep calling for the President's head. The truth about the issue must be told so that every Ghanaian knows when the problem will be solved. Some Ghanaians know that President Mahama is not to be entirely blamed for the crisis but when the solution that comes out goes contrary to what is being promised, then the people feel they are being lied to. On several platforms, the President and his Ministers claimed that the solution is near but as soon as the time is approaching, they make a U turn to say something else. Notwithstanding issues to do with the purchasing or renting of power badges, etc. 
In conclusion, President Mahama must find a way to solve the problem because the pressure will keep coming. There is a saying that if you tell a lie, you have to continue backing that lie with another lie till the end so it makes everything you say a lie. Am sure if monies that goes down to the throat of corrupt officials (both government officials and officials of the various institutions), money for managing the Power Ministry and so on are safe in government coffers, we might not be where we are now, thus President Mahama should punish corrupt officials without fear or favour. It is until then that Ghana will be a bit sufficient with money to solve its power problems because borrowing to solve the problem is like selling your colour TV to purchase a black and white TV. Ghana is capable of managing its own affairs so President Mahama should prove we can otherwise the NDC government will continue to be unpopular which might affect them in the 2016 general election.