THE UNFULFILLED PROMISE

                                     THE UNFULFILLED PROMISE

We all make promises in life; to ourselves, our parents, friends and especially our loved ones into whose eyes we look as we stand  in  the presence of  God and vow to remain faithful till death separate us. In as much as we try hard, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health, to honour these promises, there is one that we as Ghanaians have failed to honour and this is “The National Pledge”.

Though it is one of the first” oaths” we swear from primary one, when we start morning assembly ritual in our basic schools till our mature stage when we enter public service, little attention is paid to the meaning of the words in it. Others even forget the words with time. It is not surprising that some government appointees and beauty pageant finalists have difficulty in saying it.

 Some of the question  that sometimes boggles my mind and other patriotic citizens are that; do we as a nation really understand the meaning of the pledge we recite?, Could it be that they don’t understand at all or they do but fail to fulfill because of reasons known to them alone? Is it because someone somewhere is not doing his work well? Or is it that society has failed in inculcating the spirit of patriotism into us?

Perhaps, taking “The National Pledge” line by line will help us identify our mistakes and in effect, correct them.

I promise on my honour to be faithful and loyal to Ghana my Motherland.

We make this promise but little can we boast about this to Mother Ghana. We are far away from the faithfulness and the loyalty we promise mother Ghana. We take the slightest opportunity given us to rob the country of what is due her especially when it comes to its resources.

Like the Israelites in the Bible, lead by Moses made a promise to God to be faithful to Him alone by not worshiping other god but upon the little opportunity they had, they took the earring of the females and made gods out of them to worship, we promise Mother Ghana of our loyalty and faithfulness to her and the next minute we do the contrary.

We worship the riches in the country more than the country itself. That is why it is of little wonder that illegal mining, encroachment of public lands and property have taken center stage in our dear country.

I pledge myself to the service of Ghana with all my strength and with all my heart.

We pledge ourselves to the service of Ghana with all our strength and with all our heart but we render inferior services to the state in all the public companies despite the many times we have open our mouth to make this promise.

How many of the public companies can compete with the private sectors in our country? For instance, a manager of a state owned company arrives at the office two minute to the closing time and takes salary incomparable to that of a manager of a private company who starts his work right from his home.

 Some government employees do not lose any strength nor might because as soon as closing time is due, they are out of the office. The funny thing about this whole thing is that people who are willing to offer themselves to the service of the nation are not giving the chance or are  tagged  with funny names such as “ Post kaya, “Alekye”, ”wo nam pe job” and many other names that discourage these  dictated ones.

I promise to hold in high esteem our heritage, won for us through the blood and toil of our fathers;

I am sure our fore fathers are bowing in shame, for we have failed them. What has happened to all the beautiful Ghanaian culture that makes us unique from other countries on the continent? The communal spirit is gone. Today we stand and watch on as state property is destroyed without any action. What happened to the rich land of ours, the green vegetations, water bodies, minerals such as gold bauxites and many other valuables that our fore fathers left for us? We have failed to value all the treasures they left behind for us and have allowed people from nowhere access to all of them.

And I pledge myself in all things to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana. So help me God.

There are a lot of people who are not upholding or defending the good name of Ghana but are always on the move to rather dent it. Sometimes I just wish God will descend and punishes some of us for calling on him to assist us honour promises we have turned a death ear to. We may say the pledge for saying sake but one thing we need to bear in mind is that every unfulfilled promise comes with its own consequences. If we do not uphold and defend the good name of Ghana, whatever happens to her affects us too because she is the only one we have. I am not interested in why the Jehovah witness do not make pledges but if we will makes pledges and do not fulfill them, then it is better we do not make them at all.

The composer of this pledge did not wake up just one day to put together all these words. I am quite sure it took him so many sleepless nights, a lot of thinking, a lot research and a lot more insight to have come up with such a piece.

If we love Ghana and believe in her, let us look behind us once again and correct the correctable. Like the Akans say, ‘Sankofa Wonkyir’. To wit, it is not forbidden to go back and reclaim. Let us change our mind sets and start being patriotic like our fore fathers. 

In an election year like this, when so many unprecedented event have happened, it is pertinent that we all contribute our in quota in maintaining peace and solidarity. And it is my fervent prayer is that we will take time and reflect on the words of the National Pledge and get involved in making Ghana the black star that shines even in the night.

VIDA ESSEL

 vidaessel4u@yahoo.com

GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM