The total Wrongness of Ghanaian Society

One thing which Islam, Judaism and Christianity agree on, is the story of, or facts surrounding the rise, the rot and the eventual demise of Sodom and Gomorrah. In a  nutshell, the ancient biblical city of Sodom and Gomorrah descended into so much moral wrongdoing that it eventually paid the ultimate price. In so many respects, our country Ghana, reminds me of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. This article is about the state of affairs a society finds itself in when it descends into a total morass of wrongdoing. Like I believe Ghana has.

A close friend’s car was rammed by a truck. Both parties reported to the nearest Police Station. Both cars were detained over the weekend because of the ostensible lack of a testing officer. On Monday the truck is gone. Pressed for an explanation, the cops say a testing officer was found on Sunday to test the truck so it had been released to its owners.

A relative sells something to somebody in good faith on credit. Full payment is not made so it proceeds to court. Court rules in favour of relative. Questionable appeal is made to another court. It is granted. Legal loopholes being exploited by the wrong people for the wrong ends.

Twice, CCTV cameras capture an employee entering his employer’s office after working hours, ransacking the office and pocketing various sums of monies found. Suspects spends a few days behind bars at the nearest police stations and then are bailed by their relatives. End of cases.

2 respected banks are called upon on separate occasions to honor performance bonds for non-performance during a project. They go through the motions of bureaucracy and there is a delay. Then out of the blue, the contractors go to court and place an injunction on the release of the performance bond. Further legal action and wrangling. Justice delayed is justice denied. Question is, who in the bank leaked to the contractors, that the performance bonds were being called upon?

All Land Cruiser owners in Ghana are de facto Ministers. So while the citizenr, inch forward patiently in traffic, they speed past, lights blinking on the opposite side of the road and against the flow of the oncoming traffic. Any brave idiot puts on his indicators and he will breeze past all of us. We are only trying to be law abiding. And the saddest thing is that they get away with it. That only serves to emboldens other ill disciplined drivers.

Increasingly, friends complain about being stopped by Policemen on the highway for speeding. They all  complain about strange speeds indicated on the radar guns that are at variance with the speeds there were actually doing. Then a speeding big shot encounters some Policemen who flag him down. He demonstrates a little “who born dog” and all Policemen are hauled to Accra for a good dressing down. The populace sit back confused because all sides are wrong, We can’t take sides.

The common thread through all this, is that the law and laid down procedures are exploited to achieve the wrong ends. Right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right. Innocents become victims and the guilty become innocents. In almost every aspect and facet of Ghanaian society, the wrong thing is done. And they are done “according to the law”. The pervasiveness of wrongdoing is such that criticism of a single act, becomes a criticism of the entire society. Like an immune system the entire society comes together to attack and consume whoever dares to criticize or correct it’s wrongs.

Just like a car, people, procedures, laws and societal mechanisms have to work the way they are designed to. A car or airplane is basically an amalgamation of many component parts, working the way they are designed to, and always in unison. Any deviation from the norm and warning signals are sent to the Pilot or driver. Prompt action to correct any deviant part or behavior and the vehicle gets to its destination on time and in one piece. Continuously ignoring the warning signals leads to delays at best or entire crashes at worst.       

Similarly, in a society, little acts of wrongdoing cumulatively generate a boiling cauldron of resentment that simmers just below the veneer of society. A trigger, however miniscule, ignites this resentment and it bubbles over into a mighty tsunami of upheaval.  On Friday the 17^th of December 2010, less than a year ago, a frustrated young fruit seller called Muhammad Bouazizi set fire to himself. He died 18 days later on the 4^th of January this year. That singular act of immolation, triggered a sequence of events that ended or disrupted the lives and lifestyles of countless citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria.

We sit in Ghana and pass comments like “God loves Ghana”, “God must be a Ghanaian” et al. And then continue the cumulative wrongdoing without compunction. Who knows what or who our Muhammad Bouazizi will be and when?

Make we dey there.