I remember the morning parades during my primary and secondary school days. Always begins with a prayer and hymn. Then a recital of the national pledge or anthem or both if the teachers felt like it. From Monday to Friday, for 6 years in primary school and another 3 years in junior secondary school, students across the nation would belt out the pledge or anthem at least once a day! It was a good way to instil a sense of nationalism after independence. The boundaries of Ghana, like all other African countries, are an artificial creation of the greedy colonialist. Different ethnic groups with different affiliations had all of a sudden become one nation. The new government was faced with the threat of separatism. One subtle measure it used to keep this young nation together is having school children recite the national pledge or anthem every morning before school begins, not only was this practice to instil a sense of nationalism but the words were to inspire patriotism… “I pledge 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 all my heart…” Words of deep inspiration, written to inspire the people of this young nation to give their best service to their motherland. So for over 50 years we have chanted the pledge and anthem like a mantra and it has sunk into our subconscious. We now see ourselves as Ghanaians first before all other affiliations, the first part of this practice – instilling a sense of nationalism has been achieved. The second part – inspiring patriotism has not been as successful. As I pointed out in my earlier blog – “Individualism V Patriotism”, I am of the view that Ghanaians have become less patriotic over the years. The failure of the second part of the mission is due to the fact that the meaning of the words of the pledge and anthem – which were meant to inspire patriotism, has been “lost in translation”.
Just like the rhymes you learn at school when you are little. You are too young to fully appreciate the meanings of the words but you are asked to memorise them anyway. As you grow older you would expect to have a fuller understanding of these rhyming words but very often most of us fail to, unknowingly. The words become “hollow” because we have recited them so many times. Our lips speak them without the brain fully digesting its meaning. They just roll off our tongues as mere words, its meaning lost in translation. As the many Christians who grew up saying The Lord’s Prayer every day, you get to a point in life you realise you just pray the words without actually thinking about what you are saying. The national pledge and anthem has become just like any other rhyme we learned in school. It evokes no passion or emotion, it’s just plain words.
Thinking back to my senior secondary school anthem – “Dwen Hwe Kan” we sung it only a few occasions during the year! On the speech and prize giving day and a handful of other occasions but each time we sang, it stirred up so much emotion, passion and pride. The words carried a meaning, the words spoke to you. Our national pledge and anthem should still be recited every morning at the primary schools. It’s a very good way to instil a sense of nationalism from a young age but all other uses of the pledge and anthem should be limited to very special national occasions. The less we use it the more precious the words will sound when we do use them. Each word of the national pledge and anthem should be uttered with meaning and pride. Each word should spur us to serve our motherland better than before.
