After The Elections Should We Not Have A National Conversation About A New System For Ghana That Will Unite Our Country?

''An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all."
                                  - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).

At the heart of all our beloved country's problems, is the fact that this continues to be a nation pandering to an institution underpinned by inherited privilege - the greatest enemy of meritocracy - that is also the bastion of tribal-supremacism in Ghana: Chieftaincy.

There are some  in this country who are of the opinion that Ghana will never progress if it does not rid itself of the Chieftaincy institution.

To such Ghanaians, it is significant that India, which got rid of its Maharajahs, has, despite the  sizeable proportion of its population mired in poverty at the beginning of its post-independence history, succeeded in becoming a globally significant economic power that has lifted hundreds of millions of its citizens out of poverty, and created a large  and prosperous middle-class on top of that.

They point out the fact that Indian nationalist leaders - such as Jawaharlal Nehru -  who fought to end Britain's occupation of their country, and eventually freed their people from British colonial rule, understood clearly that they could not continue to maintain the privileges of India's Maharajahs, in an independent India, and possibly hope to modernise and transform their country successfully.

The same applies to Ghana. The Chieftaincy institution is a bastion of tribal-supremacism - the source of the miasma of backward thinking and divisiveness  that has enveloped our homeland Ghana.

Tribal-supremacists exist in all the ten regions of Ghana - and everywhere they are to be found, the palaces of Chiefs are the focal points from which their Dark-Ages-worldviews emanate, and are spread from.

The plain truth about tribalism, is that the foolish and arrogant assumptions behind  it, have been shown to be fallacious: scientific research shows clearly that we are virtually the same people - who more or less share the same DNA. In other words, in 21st century Africa, no tribe on the contingent, is superior or  inferior to another. End of story. Case closed.

If we are so attached to the Chieftaincy institution, because we feel that it is the fulcrum around which our traditional culture revolves, then as a people, why do we not  replace it with an elected monarchy, in which - on the basis that all Ghanaian citizens are royals - any Ghanaian who meets certain basic minimum requirements, can be elected to become  King or Queen of Ghana, and serve for an initial period of five years in that august position (with a maximum of two five-year tenures)?
 
Naturally, it will require a new Constitution, which will abolish Chieftaincy in Ghana, and enable ordinary Ghanaians to finally rid themselves of the baleful influence of today's tribal-supremacist progeny of the pre-colonial ruling elites - whose forebears' effeteness and lack of gumption led to the catastrophe and abomination that European and British occupation of our country in the colonial era, represents.

The question is: Now that we are a free people, living in a constitutional democracy, should ordinary Ghanaians not welcome the opportunity to write a new Constitution that will underpin an elected monarchy, which will unite the nation as never before,  and abolish the present tribalistic Chieftaincy institution?

Why continue tolerating a corruption-riddled straightjacket - the 4th Republic and the 1992 Constitution underpinning it: that after all are the twin legacies of a brutal military dictatorship, I ask?

A key benefit of opting for a new Constitution, aside
from ridding ourselves of the divisive and tribalistic  Chieftaincy institution, will be the takeover of all  land currently held in trust for their people by Chiefs - and the redistribution of such land to landless Ghanaian families; tenant farmers; those seeking land for farming; developing social housing projects for those unable to build their own houses; etc.; etc.

(Naturally, fair compensation will be paid to Chiefs for all such compulsorily purchased land - with long-term government paper that can immediately be discounted for cash if need be in the financial markets.)

And all former Chiefs will be able to run for the position of King or Queen of the Royal Kingdom of Ghana, and ascend to the position purely on merit, not through  nepotism - which is how to create a meritocratic system that will enable Ghana to be transformed into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.

Above all, we will be able to end the 4th Republic and abolish the corrupt, divisive and Byzantine system underpinning it - which allows amoral, thoroughly dishonest and corrupt individuals to rise to the top of Ghanaian society. Hallelujah. Amen.

The question then is: Has the time not now come for a national conversation about the need to have a new system that will unite Ghanaians and rid their nation of the divisive forces pulling it asunder - such as the Chieftaincy institution?

One certainly hopes that it will be a nationwide conversation, which all who care about the well-being of our homeland Ghana, and the welfare of all its people, will be able have after the presidential and parliamentary elections.