WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO STRIVE FOR INDEPENDENCE?

It is not a new thing to hear both the young and old, people who saw the struggle for independence and people who has benefited from it speak against it. There are a lot of different opinions as to whether it was necessary or important for Dr Kwame Nkrumah and the freedom fighters to fight for the independence of Ghana.

I am not here to argue about the opinions or stand of anyone. But to be clear I believe that no human being has the right to colonize the other. “Colonialism is the massive fog that has clouded our imaginations regarding who we could be, excised our memories of who we once were, and numbed our understanding of our current existence.” ~ Waziyatawin.

Independence was and is a must and a right. Every man, race, color or creed has the right to self-rule.
Colonialism was the worst thing to happen to the black man because the black man never had the chance to undergo all the changes and metamorphosis of his own civilization. “The worst thing that colonialism did was to cloud our views of our past.” Some argue it brought as education and introduced civilization and Christianity to the” heathens” but colonization in itself was all about exploitation of both human and natural resources.

Colonization

Colonization thrived on the usage of another country’s natural resources, their lands and especially their people. This obviously leads the colony to rely on the other country and therefore, leaving the country underdeveloped and devastated. Millions of people were exploited and used for the benefit of other countries but our own. Our resources were in the hands of people who were not our people.

Many people say without colonialism, we wouldn’t be where we are now. Then we are going to ask them about the golf regions of UAE, Qatar and Dubai who were never colonized but have achieved maximum civilization and development. Without colonialism, we would be controlling all our natural resources which can be leveraged for technology with the highest bidder.

We would be educating ourselves and our young generations based on our own terms, we would be praising our own heroes of change instead of worshiping at the feet of other races. We would be seeking ways to improve daily instead of seeking Eurocentric validation all the time and we will be using our natural resources effectively instead of seeking for aids and loans.

Mental Colonization

You are free to disagree but whoever believes that the African will still be “uncivilized or backward” if not for colonization needs some mental examination to do. Colonialism in its broadest sense has affected our minds on how we view everything “African “. If you are too pan African, you are a conspiracy theorist or you are too complicated. From our religion, to culture, to how we view ourselves, our self-identity and self-worth have all been affected negatively. Bleaching is on the rise because of self-hate and inferiority complex.

Independence was a must because we needed to feel in charge of our own lives. Ghana has been through many phases and whilst we are not where we will like to be, 58 years is too short for us to put unnecessary pressure on ourselves leading our country into serious debts and string attached loans just to make our country look like Europe and America. They are where they are today because they benefited from free labor and resources, yet it has taken those over 200 years to reach where they are.

We need to get our basics right

One thing the nation needs to realize is we are not in competition with them.  We need to get our basics right, proper education system that addresses our societal needs. We need a reformation of our educational system to suit our environment and our needs.

There should be more investments into Agriculture since it is our back bone. Construction of storage houses and silos, irrigation plants, empowering farmers and making farming attractive to the young generation. As a nation we need to prioritize and know what our society needs. There should be more investments in technology exchange, subsidies for agricultural businesses and startups, strong and independent state institutions. Minimum political interference. One of our major problems as a country is politics. Until we realize that we are one people regardless of our political affiliations, things would never be right. Step by step and we going to build a better Ghana.

Why independence was a must

Independence was a must because we don’t want our Ghana to be like Kenya or Namibia. Where the only power black people have is political whilst economic power is in the hands of foreigners.
Neither do we want our Ghana to be like any of the 14 francophone countries in Africa. Where their lives and destiny still remains in the hands of their colonizers.

We don’t want our Ghana to be like South Africa where there are invisible lines of apartheid and segregation.

That is not the Ghana Kwame Nkrumah, JB Danquah, Wilson Sey, The Aborigines Rights Protection Society, Corporal Atikpoe and his gallant colleagues, the brave women of Kantamanto like Ama Shorshorshor Fought for. They fought for a free independent country and this is why I say independence was and still is very relevant.

Ghana is for Ghanaians and none but ourselves will make it better, and must we should. We have nowhere else to be. Ghana is for you and it’s for me. We can make our country  again, we just have to recognize it and have a renewal of mind. There should be  change in our attitudes and our mindset towards everything Ghanaian.

Written By: Bibiana owusu prempeh Gyasi

www.bibianawrites.com