Osagyfo must hear this

Uncle Osagyefo, you may be aware that I am not one of your great fans since now ur ghost may have more privileges to see the unseen. Make you no bore. I think your obsession with building one African nation, cost this country a great deal but on this day, which would have been your birthday, I want to join the millions around the world who see you as some sort of demigod to wish you a happy birthday.

This is the first time I am wishing a dead man a happy birthday. It’s quite strange but it gives me yet another opportunity to reflect on what has become of the nation you led to independence. I don’t know whether they allow you, wherever you are, to take a peek into the nation every once in a while. I have no doubt in my mind that if you had an opportunity to see what has become of this country, you would weep until one of the angels in heaven calls you to come and sleep.

I have this feeling that those who die and come to meet you on the other side do not give you the complete picture and they try to ‘sugar coat’ their words to make it appear that all is well here. Uncle it is not true. Come and see for yourself or wait I will call you or send you a letter telling you of our deplorable state. The only good news is that we are now a democratic country. .

Take away the democratic structures we are trying to build, Osagyefo, and there is little – if any – good news to report.

I know people will say I am Konkonsah but I will tell you. Most of our politicians today are selfish, blockheads and come to power with little or No vision and only have the appetite for looting the Nations coffers. Can you imagine they like to reap where they have not sown. Most of them come to power to only enlarging their bellies. Infact for fear of your hunting Ghost I don’t want to mention names. Take it easy.

You dreamt that the nation you led to independence would not depend on outsiders for its survival, but that’s the exact situation we find ourselves in now. Our leaders go around the world cup-in-hand begging for grants, loans, debt-cancellation, used hospital equipment (including chamber pots and mosquito nets) and investments. In fact, one former president who listed travelling as one of his hobbies used begging for investments as an excuse to get on a plane at the least opportunity.

So Osagyefo, the nation you led to independence cannot do anything on its own. The colonialists you chased out do not just give us money to prop up our ever-faltering economy. They also give us money to feed our school children, take care of our pregnant women, sink boreholes, catch drug traffickers, build roads and bridges, and even take care of our garbage. All of this makes me wonder: was independence worth it? Was this what you had in mind?

I don’t think so.

Osagyefo, I also want to inform you that most of the factories you set up have collapsed.I don’t also think given the chance to come back you will like to use the Motto-way . To cut a long story short, Ghana is a broken nation.

Osagyefo, our educational system is also in utter shambles – the subject of constant experimentation for well over 20 years. We can’t even decide on how best to educate our children. The least said about our health system, the better. In this country people die like flies from diseases that have been conquered or subdued in other parts of the world. Our hospitals are so poorly equipped and staffed by over-worked and underpaid doctors, who go on strike more than once every year to demand better pay. Can you believe that pregnant women sleep on benches and the bare floor in a hospital like Korle Bu? Our hospitals are in such bad shape that our leaders prefer to seek treatment abroad at the slightest hint of disease. They know the local hospitals cannot take care of them yet they prefer to buy luxury cars and build mansions. It’s pathetic.

As we celebrate what would have been your birthday, Osagyefo, I want to tell you that much as I am not one of your big fans, I salute your visionary leadership. I appreciate your forward-thinking and the fact that you didn’t use your position as president to enrich yourself. Yet, you didn’t care about ex-gratia and you died without a penny.

Uncle Daminifa Due.