An Open Letter to Felix Kwakye Ofosu.

Selorm Brantttie writes an open Letter to Felix Kwakye Ofosu, and here we go!

Dear Felix Kwakye Ofosu,
I heard you mentioned my name on
Peace FM as an example of a
"middle class" occupier. Thanks for
the free publicity.
First of all, let me congratulate you
on your recent wedding. Marriage is
indeed a nice thing, and God Bless
you richly for taking that step. Now
back to the issues.
You see, here in Ghana, we have
talked so much, and trivialized so
much that achievements and the
relationship between hard work and
success is not deemed important
anymore. All people think about is
privilege, how quickly you take a
shortcut from obscurity to fame,
from poverty to fame, from nothing
to being powerful. In short,
everybody wants the end result,
but isnt ready to work for it.
Examples: The richest pastors and
the most popular ones are those
who promise miracles; the most
popular politicians are those who
promise utopia, the most popular
musicians are those who sing
about counting money. People have
conveniently forgotten how hard
people work to get to where they
are, and therefore think that since
they had it as a matter of privilege,
everybody got it so. Especially you
politicians.
There is a young breed of your
genre who are gently weaving
themselves into the national moral
fabric. Most of you just after your
education have become career
politicians, whose best attributes
are the religious nature with which
you guard and spread party
propaganda narrative. I agree with
your perspective, since unlike some
of us who are just observers, you
guys are the ones on the frontline,
whose pocket depths are
determined by the whims of a voter,
or in some cases, the extent to
which the electoral machinery can
be rigged to favour a candidate.
To that extent, you are actualized
in your career when the benefits of
positional perks are extended in
your direction, i.e. the default Land
Cruisers, fuel coupons, per diems,
business class tickets to needless
meetings, press hearings,
investment deals where family
members get to be shareholders,
free school fees abroad, medical
care abroad, family vacations, etc.
etc.
These benefits usually involve the
ability to be placed well in the
corridors of power, by walking
behind certain shadows, and
murmuring the right words, and
shutting up when you need to,
always a game of self-survival
while assuaging the worries of the
masses when need be, or
galvanizing the support base with
the right phrases and slogans when
the time materializes.
For some of us rather, we grew up
with our parents being teachers
and seamstresses, who sacrificed
to give us good educations with a
dream to live a life our parents
could only dream about.
Fortunately for some of us, we
tapped into those dreams,
recognized the effort of our
forebears, worked hard to gain
every single advantage in life,and
put ourselves in positions of
responsibility not by virtue of who
we are or who we know, but what
we achieved.
I did my first bout of national
service at 16, as a Maths and
Science Teacher. I had my first job
at 17, as a research assistant. I
went to the University at 17, and
graduated at 21. Inbetween, I
worked little jobs here and there to
help augment my school spending
money. I have alternated between
jobs and my own enterpreneural
work, of which I have been
successful in a few, and failed
woefully in others.
I have had my motives questioned,
resolves quashed, dreams broken, I
have had people doubt me, ridicule
me, laugh at me, call me names. I
have also tasted the benefits of
being resilient, challenging myself
and defying the odds. I have paid
my dues not to myself, but to the
world. I keep paying those dues
through my work because success
is not just the best revenge, but
because it is also a driver to create
more value for people around you.
I am not yet successful because I
havent impacted as many people as
I want with what I do, but I hope I
am on the path.
I will proudly call myself Middle
Class for the simple reason that I
have risen from a more deprived
state of life to a better state of life
based on one principle: Hard work
and NO SHORTCUTS. I believe that
by being aspirational, I can help
drive others not to look at the
negatives out there, but the
positives they can bring to
themselves and their loved ones.
That is the triumph of being in
middle class. For those of you who
by your chanced presence in the
trade of politics, look down and
scoff at us, know that you are the
enemies of the Ghanaian dream,
that the Ghanaian regardless of his
background can gradually change
himself and his or her
circumstances, defy the odds and
break through glass ceilings and
barriers, and that you are the ones
who make it so HARD for people to
look into themselves and excel, but
rather want shortcuts because the
script there is so clear.
Be happy for some of us, if you do
not wish to celebrate our rising
stature, because, it is us that pay
for your lifestyle. I just hope that
on the fateful day that a thumb
changes your destiny, you will have
amassed enough to cushion
yourself and your family.
As for me, everything I have I
earned. I thank God and those who
helped me on the way up, and I
wont fail them. But, unlike others,
my financial independence, social
relevance and will to succeed is not
conditional to the thumb of an
errant stranger.
I keep rockin' Louis Vuitton and
Reebokin'........
#OccupyGhana