The Akata and Me

Tuesday in Accra Ghana,

Hello, How are you?


Another President dies (Ethiopia), another nation in shock and raw pain....yes I know how it feels especially when you didnt prepare for it. Still cannot believe the pain i went through with Prez Mills. I did not believe in his presidency but nothing prepared me for his demise. If nothing at all, I wanted him to exit power and not life on earth. Life and Death, phases we can never to begin to understand. A minute you live, the next minute you die. Crippling reality huh.
But as you read this take a minute and remember his wife Mrs. Ernestina Mills. Her bravery through extreme grief is something else. Well at least publically her composure is amazing, some of us konw how in her shoes we will be rolling all over the place.

Condolences to Ethiopia, Condolences to his family, condolences to Africa...it gets me thinking what are we doing to ourselves as a continent. Beautiful continent, wonderful history and treasure but we are struggling under the weight of poverty, conflict, famine what have you...No dont even think about it, we are not cursed!

As usual I selfishly pull my thoughts towards Ghana and ask what we can do as a nation to improve our lot. As for asking what the problem is? I do not bother to ask....it is loud and clear!! the plenty workshops and forums we have had is enough to last a lifetime. Especially in the area of asking what the problem is? We cannot pretend not to know (grin).

Well, I want to dedicate this post minus the death bit to young people who live outside. We need your help and expertise. We do. I am not talking about only those that serve as doctors, lawyers, bankers,nurses, architects i am talking about everyone. Yes even those who do the menial jobs sweeping, security jobs, construction helps, nannies, shop attendants, bar tenders etc We need you all to come home and bring all the sights and sounds you have experianced. This is the time to come home if nothing at all you have your piece of mind. Errrr let us go through some basics, just in case you decide to throw everything into a suitcase and jump ship..it is not that simple.

Ghana is a bit very slow on every thing ok who am i kidding very slow on errrrrthing. We who live here constantly wail and gnash our teeth.
Money, Education, Jobs, Healthcare, Service Delivery what have you?. So you just need to be patient. Not patient enough to slow down whatever you trying to do, but patient enough to understand that you will not get prompt responses (at least not on everything). So why am i encouraging you to come back? Why am i encouraging you to move out of your comfort zone? Because we need to grow this country. As for the politics of governments, ( not peculiar to this government) Policies and development it will take some time. Some of the policies we have are just time wasters.( That is a topic i will discuss thoroughly as we  approach the elections). We need to make this country look and operate like the one you live in. You agree that even our Kotoka Airport needs help. That is the only way. Young concious minded people implenting solid ideas. That is what sustainable development looks like.

Yes we have oil, you will expect massive jobs, infrastructure, the next Singapore, what have you...but we are not there yet. We are trying, we are finding our feet so if you are looking for the jobs with crazy renumeration errrr forget it either you know somebody up there or a job description fits you like a glove. Besides what is more satisfying than owning your own company? errrr you answer that!

So the next time you come to Ghana on holiday, just dont come and do the night life and go away...take a tour of the country and know it well. And Ghana is not Accra...Look for people you can work with, Look for ideas that can work here, decide on something, go back, plan properly,come back and start it. But mind you you have to psych your mind realistically so that you dont have falter when you get a hiccup.

 It is all about the mindset. My mother hold a Masters and is currently pursuing a PHD in Public Administration. She does not work in any brand name company. She bakes bread. Yes she bakes bread for Peki Secondary School and Peki Government College and some parts of Ho Municipality. She left Accra and the traffic to quiet Peki Dzake.When she started we thought( yes me included) that she was mad. Now the investment she made is our pride and joy But now she has being able to buy a mill for her township and other women have also ventured into baking. Her stories are incredible sometimes the people themselves resisted but today she is chilling.

Let us do Ghana right. Let us build her so when we say we are from Ghana, the r)sh go bi more.

See you soon,

Love

Me.