THE FLAWED STATE OF A STATE PART ONE

I am not suffering from a recent heartbreak. I am not weeping the passing away of a loved one. Yet I wake up with my heart heavy. It sinks deep into my chest. My friends, I am gaining weight in the cardiac region and it is not healthy. I ponder daily on the plight of our beautiful continent that is Africa. In the age of space expedition and medical wizardry, Africa is knee deep in post World War I issues. Excuse my exaggeration, it maybe an understatement depending on your view. I examined the continual trend of war, poverty and disease that plaque my people, our people across the landmass. I sought to find a central causal factor. Surely not all Africans are lazy, corrupt, fraudsters, cheats, or selfish? I do not need to look beyond my own nuclear family to know the goodness of the African. But how do we find ourselves in such a state, a flawed state of a state?

There are schools of thought that will readily attribute the dark ages of slavery and colonialism to the continents gloom outlook. There is not an iota of doubt in such views. Quite frankly, it is a major contributor and must not be dismissed in all arguments. But pointing the proverbial finger in this piece of mine will not achieve my intended purpose. Instead of pointing the fingers outside, I will like to poke out our eyes...i mean point the fingers to ourselves. Now before we build emotions and get defensive, brothers and sisters, hear me out.

One cannot dispute the fact that wherever in Africa there is some sort of instability, close to it will be failed Governance. Weak leadership. Selfish, inward-looking, parochial and insensitive leadership. We have headless cocks trying to run the whole coop!....the pun is heavily intended. Those that crow in the evening and yawn at dawn. Crow at anyone that stands up to them and develop heavy eyes on important issues only to put them to bed as soon as they are raised.

So the canker is with our leadership. The question of why it is so flawed beckons the curious mind. I believe theories upon theories can be brought forth. From sociology to anthropology, genetics to religion. The good thing is I am not 'book-long' enough to bore you that much. So how do I seek to explain then you may ask? Grab a cup of tea or some hot chocolate. Let us sit this one through.

I will not say I have purported a theory to such an end. I shall claim all honours later though If I can drum home my points. I shall use my experience in the Ghanaian education system to highlight these concerns....I think they are more of concerns than theories.

First and foremost,I will say education, in Ghana and possibly the whole continent, is highly competitive. The quality of individuals and studentship is unbelievable. As I speak to you, I have Ghanaian school mates applying themselves in Harvard and the likes. In competitive fields of Medicine and Engineering to the Arts. Quality is not a problem. Motivation is second to none. I will recall some amazing Chemistry students who had to wait until their final year to see a mass spectrometer. Yet they were the gurus of anatomical chemistry and their calculations were empirical...excuse my play on words again!

So what is wrong with the education system that can produce candidates worthy of walking in the corridors of the most elite institutions? Well put the inadequate resources aside and the occasional teachers strike and I find a bigger problem....misguided importance of certain subjects or degrees. It is a long short right now but allow me time to explain. As a young primary graduate from New Zealand starting Junior Secondary in Ghana I quickly learnt that the smart students were the ones doing mostly well in the sciences and mathematics. The arts and languages were subjects you would use to try and up your marks should you falter in the aforementioned two. So it meant If you were endowed otherwise but wanted to compete you had to take on board the two main ones. It may lead to the total abandonment of of your strengths should you not be able to take them on board with your new challenge. All this to the detriment of the Arts and language. The effect of this is seen much more in the secondary schools...........TO BE CONTINUED.