Some few months ago, I wrote a piece titled “Why I don’t want to graduate from the university”.
Few days after the publication of the piece, I received words of encouragement from goodwill people and I also received insults from people who thought that every person on earth will stop breathing if “partisan politics” ceases to exist in the world. I am not a prophet, neither am I related to prophet Obinim or Opambour. However, everything I said in the said piece has embraced its waves of manifestation. Graduate unemployment, National Service posting ‘wahala’, marriage pressure and expectations from family members are some of the challenges I mentioned in the piece, as to be expected by every graduate. It has been four months since we graduated from our respective universities and frustration seems to be the only thing we dine and wine with.
The pressure has been unbearable. In the developed countries, children are oftentimes sent to school for self-discovery and accomplishment. In our case, children are sent to school to make money and take care of their parents and entire families. I am a young graduate from the university who hasn’t even started my National Service due to the unbearable conditions at my place of posting. Nevertheless, I have received so many calls from old friends and family requesting for money and job links. The request for money happens much more frequently than the number of times I breathe in a day. To them, once you complete university, your pockets are automatically connected to the well of money. Initially, I thought I was the only person going through this until some few friends shared worst sentiments with me. Some of them said the request for money from family and friends sometimes come with deadlines and specific amounts that they are forced to meet.
Gradually, this situation is making me understand why corruption is so prevalent in our system. If such pressures are mounted on you and you don’t put your trust in God for rescue, you may be tempted to resort to dubious means of making money to meet these high expectations.
As a country, we spend so much time casting insults on our politicians for being corrupt but I am tempted to believe that we have made them corrupt. I wonder what our politicians have been going through if a mere university graduate is expected to meet the demands of friends and family. Some few years ago, I decided to add the title “Honorable” to my face book profile and spontaneously, I began to receive messages from unknown persons who had no idea if indeed I was an Honorable or not. Most of these messages were requests for the payment of school fees, hospital bills, weddings and funeral invitations. I had wanted to help but the best I could do was to pray for them.
In reality, an MP who receives a salary of GHC7,200 is expected to pay the school fees of thousands of students, pay hospital bills, attend weddings and funerals etc and would be threatened with losing the next elections if he fails to meet these unbearable demands. These are some of the situations that compel our politicians into corruption.
Trust me, every wind vane moves in the direction of the wind. We are the wind and our politicians are the wine vanes. We the citizens determine their movements and in our case we force them to move in wrong directions. The perception that every child sent to school, is to make money and cater for his family must change. It is an unbearable condition that compels young people into dubious ways of making money. Albeit, I am not preaching against giving or taking care of the people who have brought you up or supported you through life, but it should be done out of free will and not under pressure. It shall be well.
“We are not children of a lesser god”
Ntenhene Felix
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