An Old Man's Reflections!

I had always been under the misguided impression, that somehow, I had succeeded in developing my mind to a level, which was sufficient to give me a high pain threshold.

However, when I was laid low by a bout of illness recently, it quickly became clear to me that one can never really become inured to pain, as long as one is a conscious being – and that at some point, one will doubtless feel some pain, whiles alive.

Faced with evidence of my own mortality, during my illness, I spent some time reflecting on my life thus far – and vowed to spend the rest of my life, concentrating on doing all I can, to ensure that a planned forest canopy walkway (similar to the one in the Kakum National Park), is eventually built in the Akyem Juaso section of the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest.

The idea is to use the forest canopy walkway as the centerpiece of a community-based eco-tourism cum conservation initiative, which will enable the village of Akem Juaso to become a leading community-based eco-tourism destination.

That way,  at a time of global climate change, ecotourism will enable us conserve the P. E. Thompson Nature Resource-Reserve (PETNRR) for posterity.

When the project comes into fruition, it will be a fine example of a win-win private-public-partnership (PPP) between a local fringe-forest community, and the owners of a large and pristine privately-owned rainforest, which is part of an area of outstanding natural beauty, which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) by Conservation International.

I came to the conclusion, during one of the periods of introspection I had during my illness, that that kind of green project was precisely what I want to be remembered for, when I finally die.

In a nation full of hard-of-hearing politicians, who worship at the  alter of the cult-of-the-mediocre, why waste one’s energies thinking up creative ideas, as one’s contribution to the nation-building effort, when they will only fall on the deaf ears of our ruling elites, dear reader?

I have simply had enough of Ghana’s Byzantine political world. I am sick and tired of a political class that seems impervious to reason – and appears bent on pursing its own hidden agenda: the handing over, for self-serving reasons, of the bulk of the wealth of our nation to foreigners and their greedy local lackeys.

Whiles the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah believed that it was possible for us to build a caring-and-sharing society, in which all Ghanaians could lead decent lives, in a modern African nation that gave them access to good quality and affordable housing (provided naturally by the Ghanaian nation-state), as well as ample opportunities for meaningful employment; and access to free education and healthcare, his puny successors continuously toy with the lives of ordinary Ghanaians.

They compete ruthlessly amongst themselves for the opportunity to serve in regimes whose sole purpose appear to be the wholesale transfer of the wealth of our nation to perfidious foreigners.

I have simply had enough – and will henceforth concentrate on my environmental activism.

The last straw for me, was listening to the lamentations of an erstwhile acting chief internal auditor of the defunct omnibus services authority (OSA), who is now retired.

During an interview with Adakabre Frimpong-Manso, broadcast recently on Hot FM, he stated that some cynical big shot, determined to profit from his position in society, once posed this question, to a fellow politician (which I will paraphrase) : Enti yerbetor Leyaland bus yiaa erhu eyedini sei, na debani yator fofro, ebiom?

Translated from Twi to English and paraphrased he said the big-shot  asked: When will we ever have the opportunity to profit from buying a new fleet of buses for the omnibus services authority, if the government of Ghana were to decide to purchase those well-built and durable Leyland buses: which take forever to wear out before having to be replaced?

The question is: Just where will that kind of dishonest, selfish, and self-seeking leadership take our country? Hmmm, Ghana, eyeasem o – asem  kesie ebeba debi ankasa!
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