56th Independence Day in Ghana

Independence Day

Yesterday marked Ghana’s 56^th year of independence from colonial rule.  As such, I asked two Ghanaians a few questions about Ghana and Independence Day. Here is what they had to say.

1.    When you were in grade school, what did you do for Independence Day?

M: We went to march at the stadium to commemorate the event. We competed against other schools and the best marchers were given a special reception.

F: We were in the house, mostly I sat at home and watched TV. We didn’t do anything. It was only once that I went to watch the marching.

2.    Now that you’re grown how do you celebrate Independence Day? It seems like a lot of people go to the beach – do you also join those excursions?

M: It’s a holiday so we relax, sleep, watch T.V.  I don’t think I’ve been to the beach on 6 March before. Most of my Independence Days have been in places where there’s no beach. This year I don’t have money so I won’t go to the beach.

F: We don’t have a beach in Tamale so I just stay at home and watch T.V.  Once I went to watch the parade at a school programme. 

3.    What does Ghana’s independence mean to you?

M: We are ruling our own country.

F: It means freedom.

4.    How has Ghana improved since independence?

M: People who lived through the system are the best to answer and they even think their days were better than ours. Early days of independence, people were attending school for free and being fed so they feel they had the best at their time. Our population now has gone up so you can’t be looking at the 60s and 70s.  We have moved from the Castle to Flagstaff House which is good because we have moved passed the colonial legacy of being in the  [Osu] Castle.

(Osu Castle was a previous British administration fort and a fort for exporting slaves, located on the coast of Accra. During Kuffuor’s administration Flagstaff House was built to be the new centre for government to move Ghana away from some if its colonial legacies. There was some debate over its construction when the late President Mills took power, so it was not until the recent election of December 2012 when President Mahama came into power that Flagstaff House became the new centre for government, as well as his residence.)

F: Have we improved? We have elections, democracy has improved since independence. We have free press. We used to have curfew and we have freedom of movement. You can now be on radio and insult the president and nobody will arrest you. But we can still do better.

5.    Some people say the British should have stayed longer and that if they had, Ghana would have developed more. What do you think?

M: It’s not true. The British were not saying here and even the places they claimed they developed were purely for commercial interests. If they would have been here Ghana would have been worse off because they would have exploited our resources to their own benefit.

F: They should have stayed longer. There were two schools fighting for independence – Nkrumah wanted it in the shortest possible time and the others wanted in gradually. We could have waited a little bit and maybe we would have been better off. If they would have stayed a bit longer more people could have been educated and learned how to better manage the system at our independence. As it was, very few were literate and even semi-literates were made Ministers…and you know what happened because of that.

6.    Some people think Africa should be compensated for colonialism. Should there be some form of reparation or ‘colonial debt repayment’?

M: I don’t even see why we should need a visa to go to the UK because that country belongs to us.  Our raw materials were used to build their industries. They should give us money not in the form of aid because everyone, even the US who hasn’t colonized us, gets aid. Like the Jews were compensated for the Holocaust, we should be compensated for colonialism. 

F: Who do you pay to? Is it Africans or the Blacks in America? An apology is okay. If they decide to, the money should come to us for Africa’s development

7.    What makes you proud to be a Ghanaian?

M: We are peaceful – we don’t fight.  We were the first country to attain independence in ‘black Africa’.

F: A lot of things – through the dark days we are still one people. We have been through thick and thin together and even though we have disagreements, no matter where you meet a Ghanaian they forget about which part of Ghana you are from and they just acknowledge you as a brother or sister.  We could have done better in 56 years, but we have a leadership problem. But Ghanaians should start being more patriotic and teaching their kids patriotism and we will move forward. There’s still hope.  Long live Ghana, long live Africa.