Colonialism lasted for hundreds of years, and in these years, there were records of the most inhumane and criminal acts perpetrated by Europe and the US, which came together to exploit Africa’s resources and its people. The various crimes of sexual abuse, rape, harassment, douching women and touching male private parts with untherapeutic fingers, all in the name of checking for sexual health, should have woken our generation. Nevertheless, the mass transportation of humans decked on ships like straw, with the sick and weak fed to sharks and fishes, however, has not signalled enough to the passing generation to learn and act.

Coming this far, though many argue that we have not made enough steps in the sixty years, and that can be the case for economy. Colonial nations such as Ghana stand at a critical point, facing a generation that has access to information and tools to explore additional complex ones. It sounds bizarre that Ghana is yet to develop its basic ideologies and frameworks for national policy, development and growth. This still hangs on the will of leadership in crucial areas of religion, chieftaincy and politics, and this and maybe future generations should admit that critical issues at home may still wait for foreign approval as if they have no relevance at all. For us, emergency has depreciated at all fronts, and life-threatening situations are seen as a norm.

In fact, our problems demanding immediate action and thinking have been indoctrinated and have become perfect moments to call for divine interventions or to call for God’s miracles. We have been so yoked by religion to the extent that the true God has become stupid for the endowment of both human and natural resources. We see destroying fellow humans and claim to protect God. We steal from our fellows and bring the proceeds to God. National issues that demand thinking are tabled back to God for his attention and to deal. We have been sold a misinterpretation to “ leave all to God”, “not think”, “let God do the thinking”. This is the same theory that was used to perpetrate slavery and crimes in the dungeon. It was not until the slaves appreciated the need to think that they became free. In fact, the slave master used religion to scare them from thinking. According to the slave master, thinking was synonymous with rebellion, and he who rebelled was the devil, who was cast into hell. Then I ask, why did God therefore give slaves brains? To think.

Today, we are conveying those same evil practices that were weaponised in the dungeon against us, and we continue to ruin our own future. In our time, it is woeful because we are sold fake ideologies and we use that to yoke ourselves. We are enslaving ourselves, and the master slave reports back to the slave master. The master slave is then rewarded with titles, tokens (in the form of towels, chains, shirts), and they think they are distinguished from the rest of the slaves. They may be different because the slave master enforces a doctrine that helps the chief slave in our time to extort the other slaves. We seem to serve the slave masters better now than those times when slavery was in full force. For now, they are at rest while we wallaw, punish ourselves, fight ourselves and kill ourselves because of faith and report back. We hold the whip now, the whip of extortion, the whip of collusion and connivance, the whip of embezzlement and hoarding the harvest for our future generations. We may not be free, though we have independence; freedom may be another dream we are yet to have.

The case of our traditional leaders brings many questions to the table. The lords and overlords of our lands have now felt useless and continue to blame others. Pointing fingers has now become the order of our thrones. Colonialism has left a painstaking mark on our traditional rulers, and the majority of them have now sold their glories for chairs (colonial masters call thrones), shoes (colonial masters call royal footwear), umbrellas (colonial masters call royal covering), and, painfully above all, titles; chiefs (colonial masters call kings). It is sad that after six decades of independence, our traditional authority has still not experienced freedom yet, and impacts have transcended generations and societies. Sadly today, traditional authorities fight over titles rather than competing on the well-being of their people. The slave master has sown a seed of discord by giving titles for chiefs, kings, clan heads, overlords and many more, and these elements have become centres for chaos and conflicts. However, real authority is not fashioned in the size of one’s chair or throne or the titles one bears but the quality of lives of their people.

The political sphere has not tasted anything different, and this generation and the future stand at the mercy of a political dice, whose outcome remains unknown. Ghanaian politicians have not come home to understand the need to develop a nation devoid of colonial impressions and positions, but rather they choose to be the mouthpiece of colonial masters. The economy, to a large extent, has never been the reason for political protest or motions, but rather to please the whims of colonial masters who have always pursued evil interests of loot. It is evident in the conduct of Ghanaian politicians; we see politicians spending national income and resources to debate write-ups of neocolonial fronts rather than upholding the constitution and providing for its citizens. Today, neocolonial institutions cited in African countries like Ghana have become quasi governments and their instructions are now considered shadow constitutional provisions for many African countries. The interests and goals of their people no longer matters but that of colonial institutions. When colonial masters speak, we don’t verify; we jump to accept, and these colonial masters have never said anything positive about us, yet many political leaders wait for positive recommendations. Governance of a sovereign state must not wait on the dictates of some neocolonial recommendations but rather on every form of economic policy that empowers its people. We sadly see in our time political parties in Ghana and some other African countries reporting to colonial masters or other politicians who threaten fellow opponents with colonial institutions. This leaves my generation with one question: are we still slaves?