The
central point is simply that this kind of desperate scrambling individualism is
so pronounced in poor societies, precisely because not only do winners take
all, but also losers lose out absolutely. The cost of failing to take advantage
of opportunities for enrichment and indeed the cost of not having access to
such opportunities can be an absolute poverty; a stark, constraining and total
deprivation, (Gavin Kitching).
Gavin
Kitching made the above statement in his book ‘RETHINKING SOCIALISM’ published
in 1983. In my view, the statement above, made some 35 years back, was
prophetic when juxtaposed with the socio-political and economic situations
confronting Ghana today.
The problem
of this nation can be described as ‘Partitioning Ghana’s resources by the few
to the disadvantage of the many’. A few elite in politics and public office
today seem to have legitimized scrambling and looting of national resources as
a way of life, while the majority of the citizenry wallow in abject deprivation
of even the basic necessities of existence.
So vulgar is
the voracious and gluttonous appetite for the selfish expropriation of the
national resources by a certain cabal that they have no sympathies for the
nation. In the process, looting brigands parading as leaders of this country do
not lose a sleep over the mountainous heap of debts that have been poured on
this country without regard for the future.
The nation
has within such short space of time burdened its citizens with such level of debts
in normal times; the interest payments alone are so suffocating that all other
social and economic activities should pay obeisance to interest payment
schedules. We have not come from a war situation which requires massive
injection of finances to rebuild failed social and economic infrastructure
needed to ensure sanity that requires such rush in borrowing with its negative
repercussions on other sectors of the society.
Yet, this
nation has found itself in such levels of debts which are so baffling and
virtually bringing down the nation. And each time, the managers of the economy
are just proud that when they go borrowing, the lenders are too willing to lend
us what we want – the cost notwithstanding.
In recent
times, middle level professionals trained with the tax payers’ money, who are able
and willing to work to take care of themselves and support their families and
contribute their quota towards national development, have had cause to picket
at the presidency and the ministries, asking the government to post them to
anywhere in Ghana so that they will offer the services of their training to
Ghanaians.
Not once in
the history of this country have we experienced such blatant neglect of our
young energetic segment of the working populace to our collective detriment.
This country is going through a very difficult period for the youth whose
shoulders lay the challenge of repaying the unbridled loans being heaped on
this country. Formal education is becoming very difficult not only in terms of
poor infrastructure, but also teaching and learning. The implementation of the
Free SHS has taken away a huge burden off the shoulders of parents, but there
is still a huge population of the youth whose interests are not catered for.
In spite of
the relief for teacher trainees and nursing trainees to access the various
training institutions, there are those who still need to be supported in
acquiring other skills which will occupy them and also mould them for the
future. In the absence of such opportunities, the devil finds jobs for them, so
the saying goes. Those who have resorted to the use of drugs and are doing all
manner of evil things are predominantly products of societal neglect. Most of
them would have wished to be in SHS, teacher training colleges, nursing training
colleges or the universities too.
The frustration, hopelessness and despondency, which
have created some destitution among the youth as a result of misuse of our
national resources, are a major threat to the stability of this nation. The history of the world is fraught with situations
where the poor have been mobilized by the forces outside the peasantry – often
urban-based intellectuals from various professional backgrounds – to fight
colonial powers or the establishment of revolutionary authorities.
In our
contemporary world, the youth, in their quest to get out of such extreme
material poverty, which are ‘literally, metaphorically, intellectually and
emotionally stunting and narrowing’, poverty inflicted on a people by
circumstances and thievery of those who have the responsibility to properly
manage their collective resources and not by choice, has led to mass civil
rebellions in countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, to name a few.
And when the
decision time comes to break the crippling manacles of expensive education,
unemployment among the youth and a sense of hopelessness and frustrations and
uncertainty into the future, no action will be too risky for the young ones to
take if that will remove the shackles of dehumanization from their minds. Today
in Ghana, one of the safest escape routes from poverty and the pursuit of
affluence by the youth is the pursuit of public office, especially political
office. That is the reason why young people with no known experience in their
lives, who have not worked anywhere or for themselves, have become Ministers of
State and are clamouring to become Members of Parliament.
They are
few, and the majority, even if they want to travel that same road, the
opportunities will not be available to them. As human beings, well trained to
contribute to their personal development and the nation, there will be a time
when they cannot tolerate the shabby treatment the nation is offering them
through mis-governance. If middle level professionals could forgo an evening
bath and sleep on the premises of government facilities to make a case that
borders on their future as far as job opportunities are concerned, then let no
one think that the mass revolutions (not the fake ones by power-drunk
individuals who mobilize peasants for their own good) which have occurred
recently in other jurisdictions is very far away from us.
The millions
of young people – from the stark illiterates, the kayayeis, the truck
pushers, through to JHS graduates and SHS dropouts, most of whom
risk their lives selling on the streets to the middle level
professionals, university and polytechnic graduates, who move around our
streets daily without knowing where the next meal is coming from, adults who
still depend on their aging and poor parents for their daily survival even
after going through education and equipping themselves for the job market –
cannot continue to tolerate these undignified lives imposed on them by
circumstances and not a choice they have made.
They cannot
see their children go through similar or worse conditions of life, the young
pretty ladies cannot and must not sell their bodies and souls to buy bliss or
eke out existence which has become the norm today, many otherwise young men
have engaged in one form of illegal activity or the other just to keep their
heads above the crowded path of life. This is not to justify the criminal acts
some of them engage themselves in. Whenever it started, it must stop. It is
getting worse; this is a fact.
We are
sitting on a time bomb that can explode at anytime; the youth will lose nothing
but the manacle of poverty and uncertainty of life. Three tots of mahogany
bitters to wipe off my tears.
The post Any Hope For The Youth? appeared first on DailyGuide Network.
