Curtailing the excuses   E. Ablorh-Odjidja May 28, 2015   It is interesting, for lack of better word, to hear certain words and phrases being used in Ghana. Words like "honorable" and phrases like "human face" or "you must all come home to help."   The last phrase is mostly reserved for Ghanaians in the Diaspora; meaning they should come back home to help in the development effort.   Problem arises when you attach real intent to these words and phrases.   For example, you see a man, who is qualified only to be a dog catcher, being called honorable, then you know we are faced with a real quandary somewhere.   Not that dog catchers can't be honorable.  Some could be honorable. But those who would steal somebody's dog or be cruel to the ones they already own should not be called "honorables."   The other is "human face." Try fighting squalor in Accra and you hear politicians putting "human face" on the squalor.  And that you can't move people out of the filth because they have nowhere else to live.   My favorite peeve is, however, reserved for the phrase I call the "come home to help" syndrome.   This phrase is usually an attempt to silence criticisms from the Diaspora. Or, to raise guilt in the minds of those who offer the criticism from abroad.    This phrase is often heard, especially, from the mouths of those already engaged in the running of the affairs of the state and/or their ideological enablers, who are already failing at the task.   It is a phrase that says by being away "you are not patriotic enough." No further proof or evidence required.   We use words and phrases for actionable meaning; the more precise the more useful the message.  In this regard, the word "honorable" is useful, only when we use it for people who really are and not those who are not.   The use of the phrase "human face" in social crisis, over the years, has proven to be often cynical. Using "human face" on "human squalor" as an excuse can only be described as diabolical.   And the utterance "you must come home to help," is often empty of meaning because it is openly not sincere.   People in the Diaspora, for most of the time, are not wanted back home anyway.  They are seen as more useful by their absence.   But one thing the phrase "must come home" does, at least, is to beg the question; "you must come home to do what”?   For obvious reasons, the answer is not always pleasant for those who ask.     People in the Diaspora do come home in multiple numbers.  Many have done the "what" that was being asked to be done and have failed.   They have returned to the Diaspora, disillusioned.  Whatever they thought they could possibly have done never came to fruition, not because of their ineptitudes, but because of obstacles at home.   You would think that those who raise the invitation, the self acclaimed local patriots, would bother to know why the Diasporas failed and move for solution to remove the barriers, if there were any.   By all means, one must return home to help. But only those who can offer real help should.  There is no need to stress the obvious, that even by being away, the Diasporas are already offering serious help.   Effective help can be offered both at home and abroad.  But there must be one requirement for all, including those who are already home in various positions of influence and power and never left.   By all means, one must attempt to make a difference but one must not aim to become a deadwood.  And there are many in the society who are.   They will not accept the idea that when one is not making any positive impact on a situation the honorable thing to do will be to call it quit, thus make way for new potential for regeneration.    It is never the case that "the beautiful ones are not yet born." They are inside and outside Ghana.  But would you allow them to come in and help from wherever they are?   Self-censorship, self-awareness and decency are requirements, for those we call "honorable," to be able to provide the appropriate answer.   The real trouble is there are not enough "honorables" in our society.    So, the self-deception goes on, as we make the name "honorable" common and available to all, including rent-seekers, megalomaniacs and simple clowns; the very people whose antics dissuade others like those from the Diaspora to come back home to help.   Patriotic Ghanaians in the Diaspora provide help by other means; remittances to Ghana for instance.   In 2012, according to figures released by the World Bank in 2013, remittances from Ghanaians overseas to families and individuals amounted to some $1.8 billion (more than the cash FIFA had on reserve that year).   These officially recorded remittances could only count as the tip of the iceberg since some Ghanaians overseas prefer to carry the cash home on persons, instead of through the banks.  Such remittances never show up in receipts or statistical reports from the Bank of Ghana.   It is important for the "come home to help" crowd to know that a total of $1.8 billion sent home is a huge help; comparing favorably with receipts in foreign currency earnings from some of our best exports.   And huger also because these remittances, are unearned by any labor or toil inside Ghana.  They come as complete largesse.   The largesse goes to support families, create jobs, put kids through school and provide social services that otherwise would have drained negatively on government coffers.   Granted, money alone is not everything. Human presence counts for something. So, the statement " come home and help" still has some validity left.   But again, to come home to do exactly what?    The good that the Diasporas do by being outside and sending in remittances is not recognized by the phrase "come home to help."   The phrase "everybody must come home to help" is, therefore, not said in earnest.    It is a way for some of our "honorables" to self-accentuate and maintain the illusion of doing something more important for the country, contrary to and different from the story our circumstances tell the world.   Likewise, a "human face" utterance, that keeps a man in the same squalor, only because you want his vote, come election time, is not sincere or helpful.   We need help from all but we need sincerity most from those in power!   Just think about it. A nation chuck full of brilliant people, in and outside, that for 50 years or more is still struggling to provide basic infra-structural needs and failing.   Unlike Japan where shame, failure and nonperformance mean something, Ghana's has been different.  People fail in jobs but proudly remain at post for lack of the decency to move out for others to move in.  These are the deadwoods; not helpful to Ghana but we still call them "honorables."    E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, May 28, 2015. Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website, email a copy of the web page to publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't publish at all.

Response to Curtailing the excuses - Nii Adziri Sackey Another response to  "Curtailing the excuses" - N. B. Andrews

 

Another response to  "Curtailing the excuses" - N. B. Andrews