My mother told me a story about the incidents that led up to Ghana’s independence and their effects on my town Sekocity in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. When these struggles were going on I have arrived on this planet for just five years so all I know about were narrated to me by my beloved mother of blessed memory. She said my father would be in the village, about five miles from Sekocity and He would get a message that there had been a gunshot in one of the streets in the town and the old lady said my father would dress up, take his gun and head towards Sekocity. She said on one such occasions, she asked him, why would you like to risk your life whilst you could be safe here in the village instead of getting involved in these off –on battles and I liked the old man’s response and which will go on to be the way I look at situations affecting mother Ghana. The old man said “a man does not run away when he is attacked. He stands to defend himself and his family at all cost”. He therefore saw the attacks as an affront to society which needed to be nipped in the bud.

In the Bible, quoting from Esther 4:14, Mordechai was alarmed by plans the Persians had hatched to exterminate all the Jews in their land as a result of their disobedience and God’s punishment that they went into exile. Through Mordechai, Esther had presented herself as a native and had caught the attention of the King and been chosen as a queen of the land. The background of the story is that, the queen of the land had disobeyed the king by refusing to display her beauty in the public for all the nation to see how beautiful and elegant she was and that has angered the king and had been destooled so the search was on for a new queen. A decree had been issued that all the virgins of the land should present themselves so that the King would choose a queen out of them. Mordechai, who sits at the palace gates, falls into Haman’s disfavour as he refuses to bow down to him. Having found out that Mordechai is Jewish, Haman plans to kill not just Mordechai but all the Jews in the empire. He obtains Ahasuerus’- the King’s permission to execute this plan, against payment of ten thousand talents of silver (which the King declines to accept and rather allows him to execute his plan on principle), and he casts lots to choose the date on which to do this—the thirteenth of the month of Adar. On that day, everyone in the empire is free to massacre the Jews and destroy their properties. When Mordechai finds out about the plans he and all Jews mourned and fasted. Mordechai informs Esther what has happened and tells her to intercede with the King. She is afraid to break the law and go to the King unsummoned. This action would incur the death penalty. Mordecai tells her that she must.” He tells in Esther 4:14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

(New Living Translation). She orders Mordechai to have all Jews fast for three days together with her, and on the third day she goes to Ahasuerus, who stretches out his sceptre to her which shows that she is not to be punished. She invites him to a feast in the company of Haman. During the feast, she asks them to attend a further feast the next evening. Meanwhile, Haman is again offended by Mordechai and consults with his friends. At his wife’s suggestion, he builds a gallows for Mordechai.

That night, Ahasuerus suffers from insomnia, and when the court records are read to him to help him sleep, he learns of the services rendered by Mordechai in the previous plot against his life. Ahasuerus is told that Mordechai has not received any recognition for saving the king’s life. Just then, Haman appears, to ask the King to hang Mordecai, but before he can make this request, King Ahasuerus asks Haman what should be done for the man that the king wishes to honour. Thinking that the man that the king is referring to is himself, Haman says that the man should be dressed in the king’s royal robes and led around on the king’s royal horse, while a herald calls: “See how the king honours a man he wishes to reward!” To his horror and surprise, the king instructs Haman to do so to Mordecai. After leading Mordechai’s parade, he returns in mourning to his wife and friends, who suggest his downfall has begun.

Why this story, throughout our country’s history we have had men and women who know nothing about suffering and have by virtue of the political system in Ghana, they now have power and they have become so drank with it that they talk and and behave any how. We have made them semi gods. On one hand they form just a minute percentage of our population but because of privilege status which accrued to them either their parents who were in the civil service,politics or public service they do not care about the other part of the population. We have become just like South Africa in the apartheid era. In that period, the Black population of 85% of the over 40 million people controlled just 15% of the land space of the country. All decision in that country was taken by the 15% White, India and Coloureds of the population. In Ghana today, we have about 5% of our population who are so called politicians taking all decisions impacting on our lives and out of the remaning 95%, about 50% are illiterate and are so ignorant as to what happens in the country on daily basis and as a result, it become a field day for the party in power and with the NDC so entrenched in propaganda your guess is as good as mine as to the true picture of economic and social situation in Ghana being peddled to them.

The Mordechai’s story as it applies to Ghanaians is that :If we continue to keep quiet,help will come from elsewhere but how many of us will live to see it? How can we as a nation decide not to care about what the politicians in power are doing to our lives? How can we close our eyes to the fact that only a few of our country population ever benefit from the Gold,bauxite,diamond, oil and all the plunder that goes on daily in Ghana. Why have we chosen to tolerate any nonsense they tell us? Ghana is at a crossroads and all those who see Ghana as the only country they have must get off the fence and get involved in tackling the day today issues confronting the destinies of well over 24 million people, some of them are without any hope in life because those of who can read and write keep letting them down..