GHANA MUST COMBINE THE PDC-WDC IDEA WITH COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE, WE MUST NATIONALISE OUR KEY INDUSTRIAL/COMMODITY SECTORS AND START AMBITIOUS INDUSTRIALISATION AND MODERNISATION NOW!
Compatriots,
I was saddened that the PDC/WDC idea, that helped turn Ghana around during the early difficult days of the 31 December Revolution, was stopped. Of course, the idea was borrowed from Cuba.
The reason it was stopped was because of the so-called "Conditionalities" of the IMF/W.Bank. The West sought to kill all latent revolutionary possibilities within the working classes dead in the crib.
Compulsory militarised national service is practised in many countries including: Iran, Cuba, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Austria, Switzerland and some Eastern European countries. Writing on the topic of National Security, P Hedt wrote an article titled, Mandatory Military Service and the Effects it Would Have on Society:
"If the United States of America passed a bill requiring mandatory military service to all people upon leaving high school, what would be the effects on our society?...
It would raise patriotism and educational standards. It would make citizens take a higher interest in world affairs and politics. It would make society in general stronger, both physically and mentally, and it would make our government officials less trigger-happy. Foreign countries would be less likely to attack America and it would become impossible to take our great country over. Our society would be completely reformed back into a strong nation again" (http://www.nolanchart.com/article5649-mandatory-military-service-and-the-effects-it-would-have-on-society.html).
I have given some thought to military service. I don't think on its own it will radicalise and make our people more patriotic. I have observed the bullying, anti-public behaviour of our soldiers in 4 coups. Merely singing "Adjoa ma wo nanso, soldier lafia deede de" and beating Kalabule defendants in the streets is nobody's idea of Freedom and Justice! It is certainly not "revolutionary". It is rascalism.
However, it will help invigorate self-help projects in the hinterlands and discipline the more sloppy and wayward elements in our population. It will be a good idea to combine both ideas - PDC/WDCs and compulsory military service. Ultimately, it is most important if we finally cotton-on to the idea that we must have a youthful leadership. Our youthful leadership will positively leads us into nationalisation, industrialisation and modernisation.
These acts will by necessity require a working structure and workforce - such as the combined PDC/WDC, militarised national service - to put into effect and police.