Some decades ago, there was strong discipline in this country. Children grew up with the rod as their guide, which made sure they always walked the straight path. But not these days, No!
Previously, dare walk home with something, your parents did not buy for you. You would be immediately summoned to a Sanhedrin, where you will explain how that item came into your hands, and be ordered to return it to its owner, if your explanation was not accepted.
These days, however, a young school girl whose father earns less than GH¢1,000.00 a month and mother, a small-time petty trader, could come home with a brand-new iPhone 15 and nobody will question her. She may even occasionally come home with provisions and money for housekeeping, and getupgraded to the ranks of breadwinner; meanwhile she is in school and not working in anyway.
Gone were the days, when you are walking and you see someone older than you also walking to cross your path. You will stop, even if for five minutes and wait till they walked across before you move on. These days, the young ones would even bump into you and never bother to say, sorry.
Those were the days when a child is adopted by the whole community and disciplined by it, when the need arises.
You got beaten at school and get home with cane marks on your body. Your mother will pick a cane and while asking why you got caned, every word from her mouth, will translate into a lash on your body.
Today, dare you discipline someone else’s child and you will find yourself taking a short excursion to hell and back. Teachers who cane pupils to correct them, have gone on this trip, with the help of the pupil’s kinsmen.
Dare misbehave in town and let it reach your parents. That day, you will demand from God to come out with a very good reason for creating you.
Can you imagine when you misbehaved in town and thought all was safe? Then one day while walking with your mother in the neighbourhood, she meets a total stranger to you, who turns out to be her friend. During their friendly conversation, this intruder looks at you and politely asks, “young boy, should I tell your mother, what you did the other day in front of….?” Withouteven being told of the felony you committed that statement is enough to have your mother sentencing youto uncountable slaps.
Under that circumstance, there is no way you can answer, either “Yes” or “No.” And without given that Gentile, the go ahead, she will spill out all you did. That will be when, you will wish your place of abode was on the moon.
If you are so stupid enough to misconduct yourself in the presence of your parents or family elders, then make sure you have gone ahead to dig your own grave, buy your coffin, pay for your mortuary fees andthe cost of your burial, because your stupidity should not come at any cost to your family, when burying you.
Gone were those days, when it was a taboo to express your love feelings to a colleague of the opposite sex. If you darelook at a female class mate and say, “I love, you,” you will find yourself waking up from sleep and hearing some angels of the Lord God, singing “Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!” What is the singing for? Your arrival, oh innocent soul, into Heaven. What actually happened? A wicked, unrighteous and unjust person who does not know that love is a virtue and not a vice, had ended your life on earth, so welcome to Heaven.
Today, the young ones openly hold hands and even kiss in public.
Those days, everything was orderly and there was some peace and respect in society. It was so beautiful and godly.
All of a sudden, things took a 180ᵒ turn. What happened? What are we turning our society into? Is it because of this Child’s Rights laws? Or was it because of Jerry Rawlings’ June 4 revolution, where he made the youth understand that they can discipline their elders? Or both?
I do support child’s rights. Children are humans and must have rights, but what is rights without responsibilities?
Today, a child, that is anyone under the age of 18 years, has more rights than an adult. Unfortunately, nothing is said about the child’s responsibilities as a growing human. Mind you, by this Child’s Right laws, if you are peacefully sleeping alone in bed and a promiscuous thirteen-year-old girl chances upon you and lays with you while you were fast asleep, and someone burst upon both of you, I am sorry, you have defiled the child and jail will be your new residential address.
I will strongly recommend that a committee of decent and well-intended persons is formed to evaluate the Child’s Right laws and come out with Child’s Rights and Responsibilities laws. We must be mindful of the fact that God has not amended any of His laws and will never do so, throughout eternity. We should then be mindful that when we approach Him, He will ask us, how we took care of His little gifts to us.
Society of today is almost the opposite of society of yesterday. People no longer seem to be bothered about correcting faults, and this is happening even with authorities set up to correct wrongs. The result is, when some misconducts are started by a few people, without correction, they spread like bushfire.
Some decades ago, every biker, will respect traffic rules. At the lights they will stop when red is on. Then a few bikers started taking chances and jumping the red. The authority did little to stop this. Now today, almost all bikers take it that the traffic lights were not meant for them and so they criss-cross anyhow, even when the red light is on. And you will find police officers standing and watching.
Gone were the days when all school-going children were obligated to be law abiding, especially where the school rules and regulations were concern. Once in school, the teaching and administrative staff held sway over all students. High moral standards were observed to the hilt. Things that were barred were hardly found on students. In some schools, students’ trunks and chop boxes were occasionally searchedto find out whether any contraband goods were smuggled into the school.
Students do quarrel and fight, but we hardly hear of bloody fights let alone fights that lead to fatality. Quarrelling was not entertained and as for fighting, if you have the strength to fight then you have the strength to clear all weeds on the compound, like a labourer, but you will not get paid.
These days, the school staff, maybe,strictly abiding by Child’s Rights laws, would rather stay away from the students’ privacy and lately we have been made to understand that the word privacy in our schools these days, includethe act of fighting. It means that when students are fighting, the new laws, mandates the staff to ignore them, until they finish fighting and/or something happens.
It is very sad to hear of the killing of Edward Borketey Sackey, a final year student of O’Reilly Senior High School. He engaged in a fisticuff with a mate over whose father was the richest. Godwin, his opponent in the ring and also a student, decidedthat the only way to prove his father was the richest, was to end the life of Edward. With him gone for good, no one would challenge him on that subject and his father will forever be declared the richest.
Whatever is happening in this day and age? During those decades gone past, pupils and students did argue over whose parents were the strongest or the richest. But never were blows exchanged. What were the authorities doing when the school was in chaos over this fight? And when Edward was stabbed, why did the authorities not find it necessary to commandeer a vehicle on campus to quickly rushhim to the hospital?
It was the students, who carried their dying colleague out of the school gates andhad to look for taxi to take him to the hospital, only for Edward to be declared dead on arrival. Could Edward’s life have been saved if a car immediately took him from the school to the hospital?
An innocent life is lost and here one need to ask, where indiscipline has gotten Ghana to. A student can carry deadly weapons on him to school, without the authority knowing and seizing them?
Talking about Godwin, which family is he from? Is he akplamase, whose waywardness cannot be blamed on his strict parents, but on his inborn bad character, or is he as adzimakpla, one who was reared and not brought up? In whichever category, Godwin is placed, the fact still remains, that what happened in O’Reilly is the result of indiscipline which isnow a pastime in Ghana, today. As I sympathise with Edward’s family, I pity Godwin’s.
Until, we come out with the Rights and Responsibilities of the Child and a re-packaged version of our traditional ways of bringing-up childrenand making sure they adhere to their responsibilities, in order to enjoy their rights, very soon Ghana will cease to exist.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
