It
was one faithful afternoon in Keta. The sound of political mantras were
reverberating all over the place in a fully packed soccer field. Ushers served
the audience with cooked rice in white ‘’take-aways’’. I saw on the face of old
Bobi a big excitement, l was so happy for him because l have always believed
our grandfathers are custodians of wisdom in every community. Little did l know
that was the first time Bobi felt joy in four years. I saw some kids made fun
of him. I was so curious l decided to dig a bit around Bobi. Everything l found
our sent waves down my spine. Astonishing will be an understatement.
I
have come to realise it is not only Bobi who is left to his fate of
sorrow-getting a good meal like plain rice with chicken once in four years at a
political rally. Scenarios of persons struggling to make ends meet are abundant
in Ghana and the world. The story goes beyond the daily routine of menial jobs,
begging for alms, starvation, lack of shelter, abuse, and the list goes on. Poverty
is a very familiar sight in Ghana.
Whenever
one sees people like Bobi, many questions come to mind. How come someone could
be too poor? Where are their families? What efforts has government made to
lessen their plight? Many more questions come to mind that we may never get the
right answers to.
One
thing for sure is the poor person really hustles for survival. It is such a
shame that only a countable people care about the plight of the pauper. Worst
still, when the pauper passes by a group of people, even the presence of a
ghost would have been more felt. To the contrary, even before a member of
parliament arrives at a particular setting, people had already aligned in
expectation of him. Should we always judge on social status? Why can we not
give the deprived the chance to make a meaningful contribution to society? If
the rich in all their glamour cannot solve a primary challenge like ‘’dumsor’’
upon attempts to do so for decades, then why the sudden allure for the rich? We
are being blinded by hypocrites who parade themselves in stolen national
assets.
Some
say poverty is a disease. They may just be right. The little l know about
diseases is that it is not always one’s fault that one gets an infection.
Someone else’s actions and inactions could lead to another person being
infected.
We
can identify blatantly our greedy politicians who amass national resources for
their personal benefit as a root cause of poverty in the country. Nations who have
established their reputation as corruption-free low prevalence rate of poverty.
The reality of the issue is that those at the top of the national financial
ladder are making no efforts to give a helping hand to those sinking below. One
would cite a typical scenario where a pauper could be legitimately be blamed
his/her distress. Regardless, help cannot be classified as help if all efforts
made to give an assistance proves futile. A true helper ought to adopt all
possible measures in order for a positive change to occur in the situation that
he/she is contributing to. In a nutshell, l am saying we have high prevalence
rate of poverty in the country because we have failed as a people in making
concerted efforts to help our fellow citizens who are deprived in a complete
manner. Jesus has given a blueprint of help by dying to save us, and this is
all what help is about-sacrifice.
I
am of the opinion that until we have-nation and individuals- for more than
enough resources to ensure no citizen languishes in poverty.
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