Monday 6 March 2017


Still Growing

   dependence-    a state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else.
Independence-   the fact or state of being independent.
Independent-     free from outside control, not dependent on someone’s authority
-               self –governing
Interdependence- the dependence of two or more people or things on each other.
Interact- act in such a way as to have an effect on the other.

                       Source: Apple Mac Dictionary


Ghana is celebrating sixty years of independence today – 6th March 2017

A great day for my West African home, but I always wonder if any country is truly independent. I compare Ghana to my children who are dependent on my husband and I in different degrees and as the years go by, although the dependence may be less, as they grow, it will not completely cease.

As a country we need others to truly interact with us in supporting the various areas, for the systems to work. When we are interacting we are inter-depending on each other for various things. No country can be truly independent, unless we are only looking at the definition of ‘independent’ as self-governing.

We are all subtly controlled by other countries in quiet ways. I think in the celebration of independence we have to think about why we need other countries, not as colonizers but as partners in delivering for the good of our nations. No country can live in solitude, the rich addition supplied by others help us complete the fold. It is through some dependence that we enrich and develop our nations and ourselves.


Through the sixty years of self-governing, we relied on other countries and still do, we are still growing. The great achievement in 1957 was in self-governing but that has truly not been so successful. We live in a global world now, when independence has to marry interdependence as countries have something to offer each other in the big wide world.


3 comments:

  1. Happy Independence day, Ghana.

    This got me thinking that no writer can be truly independent either. We write in community, especially this month, when we write and comment to help each other become better writers.

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  2. Indeed, no country, no person is completely independent. For one, we all share the same planet and have responsibility for it. I'm dismayed by the isolationist path the U.S.A. is now taking.

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  3. I love the beginning of the piece- defining the words to carry through your work. I have been very reflective on the meaning of independence as of late, considering the state of the US.
    Bravo for capturing the essence of Ghana's dependence.

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