I have big trust and respect for the people in this new administration in Ghana. But let them be informed that our forebears struggles all those years cannot and should not be remembered with quasi-informal activity on a backyard. Independence anniversary observations belong to the sacred Black Star Square.
Should our independence anniversary observations and celebrations be consigned to a backyard display in quasi-informal format? I don’t think so.
The need for cost-cutting, the reason for this austere version of independence Day celebrations may be a valid one, but that shouldn’t have resulted in this unspectacular, disspirited low-down display we’ve been served with.
An equally low-budget formal, more serious programme at the Famous Independence/Black Star Square, here not just to entertain the present but, more importantly, to, for just a day, serve as remembrance of our forebears spirited struggles to attain independence in self rule and to reclaim their/our self-esteem after long periods of slavery and of colonialism. No matter how poor we’ve made ourselves to become, just a day spent to remember, retrace, and spiritually re-engage with our past, this shouldn’t be too much to ask.
This scaleddown dispirited celebration should serve a novelty not to be reenacted. In honouring our forebears, they deserve better. Ghana, going forward, deserves the best. Independence anniversary celebrations must be sent back to The Independence Square. That is where the spirit, our spirit, is.
The perpetual flame should be under the perpetual gaze and in the perpetual sights of the fallen soldiers. This year is done and gone. We must return to proper form next year and years after. Yes, regional and local celebrations can go ahead, but the national thanksgiving to our forebears for their sacrifices should remain at the sacred spot where real independence history took place.
It should be at the independence/Black Star Square.
