Ghana at 59 in the eyes of Bright AckwerhToday marks the 59th year of Ghana’s independence fro

Ghana at 59 in the eyes of Bright Ackwerh

Today marks the 59th year of Ghana’s independence from the colonial masters.

In 59 years, Ghana has gone through growth, challenges, disappointments, happy days, etc. Some choose to call her a place of love and hate.

Who was it that said that the artist is like a mirror to their society; reflecting, through their art, the exact image of their society, at all times.Whoever this was, the person was wise. Patriotic citizen Bright Ackwerh once again on our radar, highlights some of the scandals that have hit Ghana in recent times. 

The artist presents a gift in the form of this metaphorical mirror. If President Mahama’s State of The Nation Address was followed by Nana Akuffo Addo’s ‘Real State of The Nation Address’, Bright Ackwerh’s gift could be named 'The Realer State of the Nation Address’- and this is a very worthy thing.

So among all the funfair and merrymaking, the recitation of perfumed speeches and the like, Bright’s mirror will be present, prodding and serving as a reminder of the unfortunate realities, the created and accumulated mess, and of the incredible amount of work that needs to be done to make this country a viable place of living for all its citizens.

Bright illustrates Kwame Nkrumah- the first president of Ghana, as a representation of the country celebrating his birthday. He is showered with gifts depicting some of the issues that went wild on the Ghanaian political scene recently.

1. The generator and the ECG hat - represent the recent power crisis

2. The helicopter - flying money to pay Ghana’s national team during the 2014 world cup

3. The branded Buses - branding buses with questionable huge amount of money 

4. The goat - president Mahama’s speech, referring to himself as a dead goat who is not threatened by the knife anymore, a leitmotif in Bright’s work.

5. Sandals - in June 2015, Mahama donated 10 000 sandals to pupils, raising concerns and debates about lack of chalks, food and other basics needs in schools

6. 2 legos in a box labelled “GITMO” - echoing the recent decision of the government to host 2 former Guantanamo detainees with no compensation 

7. Ameri - Ghana signing a deal with the Ameri energy group to provide power plants at a huge price and through a very questionable middle man 

8. Structure - The power badges that failed to arrive on the said dates several times before it finally arrived.

9.Yellow Tricycle - Nicknamed “Mahama Camboo” the tricycle initiative to be used as taxi was protested against by taxi drivers, trotro drivers and the police in some regions. 

After 59 years of independence, one may want to ask, is Ghana happy with her current sate ? or are her children not patient enough? can it also be that her people don’t question the people in power enough ? or should they just go with the words of spoken word artiste Kacey Moore ‘Ghana we dey’ and accept whatever direction the wind blows ?