• Home
• About SMS
• Show Format
• The Team
• Contact Us
• Ghana Speaks
• ASK

• Blog
• Features
• Guest Gallery
• News
• Uncategorized

Subscribe

Back from Kumasi……….

I spent last Wednesday and Thursday visiting Kumasi and its environs with my show. As part of the coverage of the 2008 elections, I am travelling across the country to offer Ghanaians all over an opportunity to speak up about the things that really matter to them. I am doing this with the hope that as the Politicians campaign; they would be guided by the demands of the people and hopefully held more accountable.

I arrived in Kumasi by 5:30pm and was rushed into the studios of LUVfm (our local affiliate) for a quick interview and then off to Adum for a test run ahead of the next morning’s show. It took us over eight (8) hours to get a good signal to accra and stream an hour’s test to our JOYfm studios…………..And by the time we retired to our rooms around midnight, we were all broken…….Presenter, technicians and producers.

4am on Wednesday morning we hit the road towards Adum for the much publicized Show. The Hype had been big. The promise had been great. Much was expected especially from the new technology for transmission and from the entire team…….And my objective was simple…….to inquire from the minds of the people of Kumasi, if the NDC was really making in-roads into the Ashanti Region, if the NPP had delivered on its promises to the satisfaction, what really was of interest to them ahead of the December Polls.

By the time I was done by 10am, my heart was filled with a mix of JOY and sadness…………of hope and fear……….and of a real understanding of what matters to Kumasianos…….

A number of events remain on top of my mind days after I returned from Kumasi and would surely make an impact on my life in many ways.

Perhaps the most impressionable was the 90year old man who walked from Kwadaso to Adum in the early morning rain to tell me about the poor state of his pension. With his all white hair and huge lens frames he told me of his years at the forestry department for about 40yrs only to be handed a menial monthly pension at age 90. In his words, if the nation wanted its citizens to sacrifice then it must take the best care of its heroes and pensioners. He was later joined by another pensioner who had heard him speak and had come to corroborate the demands of the old.

Another thing that hit me hard was a group of teachers who came over to show me their payslips saying they were only teaching because there was nothing else to do. The take home pay however could hardly take them to the next town. These young and able men would leave the profession if they found a more lucrative job in Libya and just cannot be committed to the most important job in the world which they do today: teaching tomorrow’s leaders. “I don’t care about NPP or NDC, I just need a leader who will resolve my problem of low salary.”

The workers of the Suame Magazine told me of what they had done for themselves with the desire to improve on their capacities and make them more useful to today’s technological world. They were however disappointed that all Politicians do is to promise. For them too they were looking for leadership that resolves their problems.

At the KNUST campus, students were more concerned about education and security. I must admit that I was very much disappointed to hear students split into an NPP, NDC discussion and replicating what the politicians have always been circling in. In fairness however, students expected government to pay a higher percentage of the cost of tertiary education. Students always expect the quality of education to be improved drastically creating more entrepreneurs and offering more job market relevant courses.

Later in the week the Asantehene granted me audience and a tour of the Manhyia Palace museum. I listened with rapt attention to the admonition of Otumfuo asking me and media practitioners to be more responsible to the public good especially ahead of the December Polls. He asked that we not focus much on scoops and competition but focus more on our gate keeping duties and the role as the fourth estate of the realm. Otumfuo also reprimanded Politicians for inciting violence and pitching Ghanaians against one another. Nana also talked to me about his disappointment in the youth who do the violent bidding of Politicians and expressed his wishes on how he would like to see the 2008 campaign focus on. I had a lengthier chat with the Akyempemhene who also told me about the relevance of the traditional authorities in Ghana’s democracy today. In all, I left Manhyia with a higher regard for the chieftaincy institution and an invitation to return someday.

Interacting with people across the Ashanti region was an eye opener for me. It quickly revealed to me how distant Accra, its politics and personalities are mostly distant from the heartbeart of the peoples across the country. It also revealed to me the folly of many in the capital that all that happens or is said in Accra is the real vibe across the country.

The Ashanti region trip has increased my resolve to ask for more….not just for the middle class in traffic in Accra, but for the son of the poor farmer in Agogo. Its opened me up to the realities of what people expect from us all who have the opportunity to speak on public platforms…..to be their voice and not an elite theorist who has lost touch with the realities on the ground.

I also learnt from Kumasi to relax a bit more and enjoy life………the people of Oseikrom as you may well know, know how to pride themselves in a treat. I hope to return to Kumasi in the future as I travel more out of accra to learn more about my country and its needs.

Comments

Audio On Demarnd

Copyright © 2007 Super Morning Show · · Log in