A GHANAIAN PROPHETIC VISION

 
 
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SEARCHING FOR A GHANAIAN PROPHETIC VISION

N. B. Andrews

December 21, 2015

A maddening, muddling, mediocrity is now present at the core of Ghanaian public life.


It has destroyed our environment, broken our bodies and bent our spirit. It may well annhilate us.


For a long time a nagging suspicion has persisted that a severe pervasive cognitive deficit among our public officials has been a contributory factor. The recent public confabulation by a high ranking member of our august parliament on the Ameri deal lends further credence to this.

 

Of course we have not forgotten the pronouncements from many in that same grand body on the Ebola vaccine trial. We can understand why many observers on that day wondered (due to lack of understanding of basic knowledge concepts exhibited) if a public high school was missing students who had not been excused.


Part of the problem must be our current unfamiliarity with the written word.


Across board, we have difficulty committing our thoughts and concepts to paper- either in a proposal or as a critique. The "drive by" comments on some of our most popular news websites provide a very good example of this challenge.


Another example is the lack of written analytic material from almost all our "veteran journalists"- they talk on air and hardly ever write anything at all. The cut and thrust of the palavar tree is their forte; not the written word.


They are best heard on weekly or daily radio programs- often with Twi titles; always engaged in a partisan verbal slug fest with one upmanship as the prize.


The problem has been worsened further by the "presenters". They ask flippant questions of their guests; often times engage in outlier behavior and the undiscerning public parley all that into according them celebrity status- this then culminates in their contesting a parliamentary seat,.......easy!


These presenters never demonstrate that they have read or are reading anything of importance.


A couple of years on air (and perhaps a Masters Degree from where?.......GIMPA!) and that equips them imminently to make laws and scrutinize policy for over twenty five million people who are already significantly disadvantaged in education, health and industry.


On the flip side, we are often uncomfortable when people communicate with us in writing. Notice here the discomfiture of public officials when a written complaint is forwarded to them.


"You know me, why did you not come and discuss it with me? Did you have to write? that is not good".


That is the usual whining response before the public officer recipient proceeds to obfuscate, delay and bury the complaint in our byzantine do nothing bureaucracy and officialdom.


And of course, we hardly read anything of value on our own volition. Certainly, those "how to" paperbacks from the purveyors of warped theology in the lawless churches and the motivational speakers do not count.


In short, we lack a useful cache of cogent information and exposure that will provide us with a prophetic vision. And it shows.


A retort that these observations pander to a Eurocentric vision of literacy is itself founded on the exact shortfalls that have been enumerated; it cannot stand the light of thorough enquiry and evidence. We have become deluged by talkers devoid of basic knowledge and rudimentary scholarship.


Now, let us be clear; Israelis are different from Israelites- the two are not to be confused. Likewise a prophetic vision is not the prerogative of our self-styled charismatic prophets or pastors or bishops.


In the Abrahamic tradition, prophets are called by God to advocate for the poor and vulnerable while decrying unrighteousness and battling injustice. Prophets speak God's words on earth.


Michael Dyson writing in the New Republic explains, "They remind us of the full measure of God’s love for the weak and unprotected, especially in an era when prophecy has been co-opted, turned into a bland cultural commodity, and marketed as the basis for enterprising exploits of major corporations or for political gain."


For Ghana, a prophetic vision will result from the thorough dissection of the cumulative written output of our public intellectuals for the latter are the true prophets of our age.  It is only then that we can begin to harness what is nearest to the truth with respect to our current dire situation and then begin to chart a workable way forward.

 

Nii B. Andrews

December 21, 2015

 

   
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