Inner Visions

When the harmattan of discontent ended, the sun emptied its bowels, shooting arrows of radiant heat unto an increasingly treeless Accra.? We roasted in the sweltering heat, hemmed in between the dual claws of floundering economy and dumsor, spirits flagging. When we would get occasional rain, there was relief, because at least one could get some sleep, and the whine of the mosquitoes seemed less malignant.

And now it seems like the days when the rain just showered to pat down the dust, are over. Its rain game season now.? And climate will not check whether we are ready this time.? The rain will not understand that we diverted the money for drains into other important things. Water flows, and will find any channel.? What we have built, or failed to… is irrelevant.

The way life goes, it seems like as the normal flow of electricity is re-establishing, the cloudy lungs of rain are breathing in, waiting to exhale.? I have experienced a few bursts so far, short affairs of rain beating down in various parts of Accra.? I saw rivers replacing small streets, flooding homes with brown liquid filth. I have seen school children having to be ferried on Good Samaritans’ shoulders, just so they can get home. Two years ago I lost the home my Daddy built to flood waters.? Whole documented chapters of my life history have been washed away.? I know what the brown liquid filth can do.? A year ago we said never again, today the rain falls, and waters retain, they do not drain. They just stain walls, ravage property and remind us how dangerous it is, to postpone solutions.

And it is at this time that Stevie Wonder becomes a citizen.? God has a sense of humour. The Cedi is at an all time low, fuel prices at an all time high, and life is hard.? And here Steve comes with his amazing voice.? Suddenly I can call this record breaking lyricist a countryman.? I am sure that he has more intelligence on Ghana than I will ever have, and yet he chose this time to become Ghanaian.? Now I think differently of him, when his music plays.? He actually lives in my country!? I wonder how the reality that is surviving in Ghana, will treat him.? I am sure however, that the miracle of survival that makes some people call Ghanaians magicians, will strike him. Sometimes, the optics of the country we live in, can distract one from the beauty that shines through? the everyday resilience of Ghanaian millions.? There is deep wealth in this country, waiting to be mined.

I am convinced that there is something that he saw about our country, in his inner visions.? Sometimes I see it too, even without the inner visions of Stevie Wonder. It’s in the smile of the hawker by the road side, jangling key holders in my face, and insisting that it matches with the make of my car.? Its in the erect walk of the kenkey seller, balancing the heavy basin on a small head placed in the exact centre of a heavy load, announcing her wares with a voice that carries for miles. Its in the inimitable taste of our fruit, the freshness of the vegetables, the grit of the marketwomen who brave long rides on terrible roads, to make it available for everyone.? Its people like these who make Ghana worth living in, the Ghana that Steve experiences in his inner visions.? I hope this Ghana sustains, and enriches his time here… inspiring songs that will reflect the richness, the fullness that staying here grants to his soul.

I hope that this Ghana lives on, sustained by the leadership good people deserve.