Veteran communications scholar and press freedom advocate Prof Kwame Karikari has called for a radical shift in social mindset, warning that the growing obsession with money is robbing society of its most essential value: wisdom.
He made the remarks last Thursday evening during a public lecture held at the GNAT Hall in Accra to mark his 80th birthday and honour his decades-long contribution to journalism, mass communication and public service across Ghana, Africa and beyond.
“I hear people asking Dr Yao Graham why didn’t you become a minister, president a this and that; and he gave a very fitting answer. I think in Ghana, we don’t get angry enough. We should try sometimes to be angry.”
Lamenting what he described as an increasing culture of complacency and materialism, Prof. Karikari urged citizens to confront the decay of values in public life and to revive a stronger ethic of service and sacrifice.
“We like the soft way too much…we must strive. You see, there’s a culture now about money. Money is good. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with money, but if it becomes the God we worship, then we have a problem. And that is what is showing so many young people, so many people away from things that really make life worth living.”
He reflected on a time in Ghana’s recent past when idealism and national commitment were more deeply rooted in the country’s psyche, citing his experience with the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) era.
“We need the money, but there must be more, better values than money should be able to bring about. When a PNDC came to power, and some of us joined, wanting revolution.
“There were people like Dr Yao Graham who worked for two years without a salary. Many people worked like that, and so on and so on.”
Prof. Karikari contrasted that spirit with today’s transactional mindset, which he believes has eroded a sense of civic responsibility and communal pride.
“Today, it’s very difficult to help people, even in the rural areas, to volunteer to do anything. If you don’t pay people, even the dirt they have created, they won’t sweep it.”
He argued that Ghana’s value system must be re-examined, beginning with an individual’s search for personal fulfilment and purpose.
“And I think the mindset we are talking about must start from there. What is the value in life for me, when I at the end of the day, I go to sleep, what makes me happy?”
Recalling his appointment to the Constitution Review Committee, Prof. Karikari shared a story that captured both the cost and the pride of national duty.
“When I was appointed to the Constitution Review Committee, an elderly man I respect very much, who comes from my village, called me and congratulated me. And I said, Oh, opanin, you know that for some of us, our whole life has been national service. So when the politicians have finished eating the meat and have even sucked out the marrow from the bone, they give us the empty white bone.”
He said the elderly man rebuked him gently, reminding him why he was called upon to serve.
“The man said, ‘Oh, Kwame, don’t talk like that. Don’t talk like that. When they were calling you people, did they call so and so—he mentioned about three wealthy names. Did they call those people with those kinds of money to come and work on the Constitution?”
And then came the lesson Prof. Karikari says is at the heart of the issue.
“You don’t manage society with money. You manage society with wisdom, and that’s why they called you.”
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