Prince Jobodi, Writer
Growing up in a small village in the western part of Gonjaland, Bole, one thing that makes me a proud brand child is the fact that my neighbourhood was a proud one, truthful and honest, hardworking, protective, loving, and above all was a brave and solid Society. I love the social bond that made us one and unique.
Nothing was capable of separating us from each other. Not even death with its itchy hands could separate us from each other because we were so strongly bounded and even stronger was the bond with our ancestors. (May the souls of all our ancestors RIP)
There is a strange “Dove” that has arrived in Gonjaland and we all need to sit up. This “Dove” came to stay with us according to the grey beaded men.
It separates us from each other, it breeds a culture of silence over bad, it teaches and clothe us with laziness and to do us worse, the “Dove” is highly fertile and very fast spreading.
This strange “Dove” is however being loved and hated by all since it has so many colours and melodies. Each and every household has one.
Our chiefdom (our pride and identify) is under attack by the very beneficiaries (Royals), financed by the non-beneficiary hands (non-Royals). The power of a chief used to be measured by the skin title he holds but today, it’s measured by Bank account balances. The richest is the most important and respected skin. We all need to sit back and think together, or the strange “Dove” will distroy that beautiful system.
Our religion, traditional practices, cultural heritage and all the things that we are identified with are gone. We have suddenly changed to what we are not and in fact, we aren’t comfortable being who we are not but can’t do anything about it. Gonjaland used to be a brand with uniqueness untill the brown eyed man came here with his pen and paper, a camera and coloured water, and peaces of handouts (scriptures).
Have the religious leaders finished preaching good over bad? The clergy in Gonjaland is been on hibernation for same reasons as the Chiefdom. They are sharply divided and are at variance with truth, fairness and justice. They don’t care about morality lessons anymore, no need to read and interpret the scriptures anymore. All they believe in is to get the titles at all cost and wear beautiful regalia.
The media space would have been our last hope for restoration of our identity. But it’s as if we have just discovered it. The media landscape for Savannah region has been but for negative stories amidst a few development oriented ones.
It’s true good news do not sell in the media landscape but bad ones do. It’s also true that, the very bad news headlines sells the location of origin negatively. It’s difficult to blame news outfits for their love and interest in bad news headlines. Every ventures deals more in what brings in money and customers than what does not. To make things look even more serious is the infiltration of social media which has helped fuelled the spread of such news headlines in recent times.
But I still think the media landscape will grow to task with time. In as much as we blame the media for the negative reportage, let’s also stop living and acting in the negative ways.
My sadness stems from the fact that, Savannah region has been trying so hard to clean the bigger northern Ghana off all the negative stories that have bedeviled Northern Ghana for ages as against the Southern part of Ghana.
There have been numerous bad headlines making the news in recent times ranging from; chieftaincy conflicts/disputes, political hitches and the needless tentions that come with it, land disputes, deforestation (Logging and charcoal burning), domestic violence, forced marriages, theft, alcoholism, rapes, murder, armed robbery, witchcraftcy and all the negatives in the society in Savannah Region. Same is not easily heard from Northern Region, North East region, Upper East and West regions.
Is it the case that such stories have been constantly hidden from the public by the local media in these areas or the case that such bad news/acts just don’t exist there?
Is it the case that, Savannah Region has media men/women who are working extra hard to unearth every negative stories from any corner of the new region or the behaviour of the occupants is just what we read about on daily basis from the media landscape.
It seems all the bad news headlines that emanated from Northern Ghana were coming from Savannah region.
Let’s us change our ways and let’s protect Savannah region. Let’s respect each and every life and let’s respect the views of everyone unconditionally. Let’s love one another and be each others keepers.
Long live Gonjaland!
Long live Savannah Region!
Long live us all!