….in the days when I was admitted to the Axim Anglican Primary School in the sixties….life was very simple but most impactful…whilst I was a Methodist, my Headteacher expected me to attend Anglican Church every Sunday at the Upper Town, around Paa Grant’s magnificent house and have my name marked before I could leave to join rest of my family at the Methodist Church at Lower Town…
….during School time, key events that influenced my life most included morning and evening parades….the morning assembly was before we could march off into our separate classes after morning devotion…here one activity that etched the spirit of PATRIOTISM & NATIONALISM into my spirit….was reciting the National Pledge ….the one that we are expected to memorize like ‘ The Lord’s Prayer ‘ or ‘PSALM 23’….woe betide you if you couldn’t recite any of these, this will call for lashes of the cane to make your head stand well on your shoulders…
…..the NATIONAL PLEDGE ….
… I PROMISE ON MY HONOUR
TO BE FAITHFUL AND LOYAL TO GHANA, MY MOTHERLAND …
… I PLEDGE MYSELF TO THE SERVICE OF GHANA,
WITH ALL MY STRENGTH AND WITH ALL MY HEART …
…. I PROMISE TO HOLD IN HIGH ESTEEM,
OUR HERITAGE, WON FOR US THROUGH THE BLOOD AND TOIL OF OUR FATHERS … AND
… I PLEDGE MYSELF IN ALL THINGS TO UPHOLD AND DEFEND THE GOOD NAME OF GHANA …
… SO HELP ME GOD….
…all your days at the Primary School, five days a week per the three terms…you are expected to live every word of the PLEDGE to the extent that it ought to be the rod of measurement of who you are as a GHANAIAN….
….so we ought to ask ourselves – HOW FAITHFUL AND LOYAL have we been to this motherland, we call GHANA….do we really understand the two words in all their semantics….
….LOYAL…connotes faithful, dependable, patriotic, trustworthy, allegiant, resolute, unfailing and unswerving….so as you say the pledge, check yourself….if you are worthy of all these…
…. FAITHFUL ..by this, ask yourself: are you reliable, conscientious, dutiful, honest, sincere, truthful, upright, circumspect and or incorruptible….for the sake of our nation, GHANA, our Motherland….if you can’t answer any of these litmus tests, you can’t occupy any position of trust….like a Parliamentarian…a public officer like a Chief Director, like a politician….like a police officer….like a teacher or what have you….
….if you pledge yourself to the service of Ghana…then we demand that you work…avail yourself to offer your labour, your relevance or your serviceability UNCONDITIONALLY like any soldier for the betterment of this nation, ready to die…or like a member of an ANT COLONY ….play your part to the fullest of your life…placing GHANA FIRST ALWAYS ….with all your strength means…your energy, stability, power, backbone or might…again UNCONDITIONALLY….with all your heart ….
….and here, we looking at your character, nature, love in the true sense of the word as in SACRIFICE …temperament, benevolence, affection and your humanity….it means you definitely cannot say this pledge and connive with a foreigner to dupe this nation, you can’t betray this nation and her people for a bowl of pottage….you can’t take a bribe for the benefit of just you and your family to sign off the rights to our mineral resources to deny not only the living Ghanaians but worse the future of this great nation with all our descendants…especially as you occupy a position of TRUST…for the rest…
….if we could all work at any of these positions in the ministries, educational, industrial or whatever then we are all watchmen…but if you alone get appointed or elected then you DEFINITELY CANNOT betray the rest….that is what is expected of you for the position you occupy in public or civil service….as you pledge to us that you will work with all your strength and with all your heart….
….if you say: I PROMISE ….a commitment…TO HOLD IN HIGH ESTEEM….then this is something you hold dear, not to be toyed with it…you are saying…you revere…you cherish…you think highly of…you idolize…you regard highly to point of reverence…. OUR HERITAGE – our ancestry, our culture, our traditions, the legacies of this nation, our birthright, our inheritance, our endowment….thus, if our forebears have kept these resources for centuries for posterity for us to come and benefit now, why on earth would you be the one to MORTGAGE our destinies and future into BONDAGE & SLAVERY because you don’t understand the IMPORT of the National Pledge… that which our FATHERS won for us through their blood and toil….many died to gain for us our Independence….ONLY for you for the position you occupy to send us all back into slavery again….how callous and heartless can you be for just you and your family against the entire national interest….it means that you don’t understand NATIONHOOD….if you say the National Pledge and still betray this nation and us all by your parochial interests….
…if you work against the State & Nationhood, you definitely cannot end this pledge….which states: I PLEDGE MYSELF IN ALL THINGS TO UPHOLD AND DEFEND THE GOOD NAME OF GHANA….ask yourself…are you occupying any national position for yourself and your family ONLY or for all GHANAIANS….as that position is as a TRUST….that’s in trust for all of us and not your family or friends only….especially when others, our fathers sacrificed their lives to preserve and bequeath these resources for posterity….not even now but worse, for generations of GHANAIANS YET UNBORN….
….if you can’t pass all the litmus tests when reciting the NATIONAL PLEDGE, you definitely cannot land – SO HELP ME GOD …because it will turn or become an ABOMINATION against you and your family unto their future generations…..
…..we need to RE-INTRODUCE the re-affirmation of the NATIONAL PLEDGE to enable us reassess our values, ethics, traditions, heritage and culture so we really know WHO WE ARE ….otherwise we become a den of crabs….our forebears cannot sacrifice their lives for our generations to mess us up and send us back into bondage ever again…
AS we approach TUESDAY, 6TH MARCH, 2021 to celebrate the 64TH ANNIVERSARY of our INDEPENDENCE, it is critical for us all as Ghanaians to begin an introspection exercise, examine our loyalties, allegiances, commitments and sacrifices to this great nation – do we really understand what it is to be a GHANAIAN?
This exercise should begin with the highest office of the land, from the Presidency with Ministers of State; the Parliament House; the Judiciary, particularly the apex – Supreme Court; all other facets and the general citizenry. We owe it not only to ourselves but our descendants to get it right, making it mandatory to go back to the NATIONAL PLEDGE to realign our thoughts and feelings for a new GHANA.
The NCCE is blameable that we have missed the road for awhile now but not too late to join this crusade to save our nation, Ghana.
By Magnus Rex Danquah, a Ghanaian