Friday 18 July 2014

WEAR YOUR RED ATTIRE BUT PUT ON A "READ ATTITUDE"



WEAR YOUR RED ATTIRE BUT PUT ON A ‘RED ATTITUDE’
It would be recalled that on 1st July, Ghana’s Republic Day, a social society group by name Concerned Ghanaians for Responsible Governance, CGRG embarked on a demonstration which was dubbed ‘occupy flagstaff house’. The leadership of the group presented a petition to President John Dramani Mahama expressing their disappointment about the country's economic woes. This crop of the Ghanaian citizenry is agitated about the economic hardship that has descended on heavily on Ghana like an 'unannounced' rain.
Ghanaians are unceasingly singing the chorus of fuel price upsurge, the verses of hikes in utility tariffs, the refrain of the ever increasing prices of commodities. The trumpet of government’s seemingly inaction is being blown on high octave. The hiplife tunes of the ‘falling Ghana cedi’ are being played on sustain on the economic piano by the Ghanaian. The strings of the economic guitar are plugged to sound the highlife tunes of gross corruption by all and sundry. CGRG therefore harmonised all these ‘tunes’ into the sorrowful album of economic hardship under the record label #occupyflagstaffhouse.
The demonstration dubbed “Occupy Flagstaff House” had the thrust of re-echoing the economic tribulations the Ghanaian has constantly sang on repeat and instigating government to take action to alleviate the suffering of the people. Anyone who  envisaged that #occupyflagstaffhouse demonstration was going to be a ‘one night stand’ like most demonstrations in the country will have to revise his/her script and rewrite it. This is premised on the fact that CGRG has rebranded and intensified its campaign with the introduction of #RedFriday campaign which expects members of CGRG and Ghanaians suffering the economic hardship to wear red coloured attires or clothes every Friday. This initiative has the thrust of propelling government to find solution to our malnourished economy. This is not far fetched because Ghanaians sleep each night hoping and praying to wake up to witness the tragic crucifixion and death of our economic woes and watch the triumphant resurrection and entry of a booming economy adorned with a bright sparkling cloak of low cost of living.
I have no iota of reservation at all with the #RedFriday campaign neither that of #occupyflagstaffhouse demonstration but I would like us to ponder over these questions about the #ReadFriday campaign that started last Friday, 11th July, 2014.
In your red attire did you arrive at work early or on time? Or did you arrive late heaping a mountainous blame on the monster called traffic jam? If traffic jam was a living being he/she certainly would have arraigned a lot of Ghanaians before court for false accusations.
In your red attire agitating for responsible governance, did you pretend to be working only when your boss was around and relapsed into that lackadaisical demeanour when he/she left?
In your red attire, did you close work earlier than the designated time when there were several duties you had to perform?
In your red attire, were you playing ‘Temple Run’ or any other game on your smart device when you had a pile of work to execute?
In your red attire, did you intentionally stick to one task in order to avoid doing other tasks, when you could actually finish that task in a jiffy?
In your red attire, did you mind to carefully use and maintain the materials, vehicles and equipment at your work place? Or did you stick to the antiquated theories of 'It’s for the government’, ‘It’s not my property?’
There are many more similar questions that can be asked because each of us knows what activities we engage in and out of our work places that are not acceptable.
I am not in any way expressing an iota of reservation about the actions of CGRG or the agitations of Ghanaians, but I will like everyone to ponder over how in our little way(s) we contribute to the situation in which we find ourselves. Come to think of it some of us might have engaged in one or more of the above these activities or done so on any other day when we were supposed to be working. It will really be hypocritical and ironical if we put on red clothes or attire campaigning for responsible governance when we do not exhibit that we are responsible. We must learn to do things right, then we can have all the audacity to agitate for the right thing to be done. It’s another ‘Red Friday’ (and many more to follow I guess) and as you put on your red attire ponder over these questions and put on a ‘#RedAttitude.’

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