Every Broken System Needs a Hammer

A broken chair is not discarded. It is fixed. A vehicle that breaks down along a journey is repaired. When a door breaks, a carpenter fixes it. When the systems of a nation are broken, however, who is responsible for fixing them? A broken chair can be sat on. However, it poses great danger to the […]

General Sep 10, 2025 0 14 Add to Reading List

A broken chair is not discarded. It is fixed. A vehicle that breaks down along a journey is repaired. When a door breaks, a carpenter fixes it. When the systems of a nation are broken, however, who is responsible for fixing them?

A broken chair can be sat on. However, it poses great danger to the one who sits on it. Similarly, a broken system does not work as it should. It is like a ticking time bomb. One day will be its last.

A careful look at the systems of this nation points to one ugly truth ~ there is no single system that can be labeled as a perfectly working one. From sports to education, there is a yawning gap between what it is now and what it is supposed to be.

For as long as I can remember, BECE (Basic Education Certificate Examination) questions leak every year. If our teens have been taught to accept corruption at such a young age, we should not be disappointed the least at the caliber of adults our education system churns out.

For as long as I can remember, the lack of beds in our hospitals has killed more patients than malaria. Like a game of hide-and-seek, desperate people have to move their loved ones from one hospital to another in search of a nonexistent bed. By the time they find one, the sick would have given up the ghost. A sick health system needs healing first before it heals others.

For as long as I can remember, our security systems have become another appendage of politicians. Most recruitments and appointments are based on one’s political affiliation and not merit. “Who brought you?” is that question you need to answer to change your destiny. If you live in a country where your party card can open doors your certificate can only imagine, you should not expect much.

There is a cause to complain about every system. The stark difference between where we are as a people and where we ought to be is worth pondering over. If no single system in our beloved country can stand out as a model for all the others to emulate, we indeed have a lot of questions to ask ourselves.

Is this nation headed towards the right direction? Will posterity grow up into a nation that keeps nothing stable, not even our cedi? Will they grow up to fight battles of their ancestors when their contemporaries on other continents are fighting battles of their future?

Working systems do not fall from the skies. They are built intentionally. Wherever systems work, it is people who make them work. And when these systems work, everybody benefits. Nobody is left behind.

Recently, when reading about previous aircraft accidents that had happened in Ghana, I noticed an awful trend. There were no investigations or reports after most of them happened. We just left the bereaved to bury their dead… and moved on as though we had a magic wand that could prevent future accidents.

Was I surprised about this trend? Not at all. Many citizens perish day in and out on our roads, especially on the Kumasi highway. Are there investigations? Are there efforts to ensure these accidents do not repeat? Your guess is as good as mine. The system is awfully broken!

If even the remains of ministers were bundled up into cocoa sacks, you can imagine what you and me would be bundled into if we suffer a similar fate. We may be discarded like a piece of trash. When systems do not work, lives are not cherished. People perish needlessly. Every life that is lost only adds up to the statistics. Nothing more.

May the patriots who perished rest well. Unfortunately, they will not be the last because, as a people, we refuse to learn from our mistakes and life keeps punishing us bitterly. We will attribute every accident to the devil or God… and just move on. No meticulous investigation ~ only assumptions.

When such disasters happen, the media would rather consult prophets and spiritualists than experts in the said field. You see, we need a total re-engineering of our mindset. Our systems are only a product of our mindset. If this is how far we have been able to come with such an awkward mindset, imagine how far we can go if we have the right mindset.

Politics is supposed to be a tool of development. In this side of the world, however, it is not. We are rotting away because of politics of revenge. While the world is galloping in development, here we are paying our political opponents in their own coin. When they assume power, the cycle repeats itself and we only end up at our starting point ~ no progress; no transformation.

The white man’s land may look like heaven because greed and corruption has made our homeland hell. Close to 70 years after independence, our problems haven’t changed. Governments have come and gone, but we remain the same. Like the prodigal son, we now run back into the embrace of the father we so badly wanted to be free from.

Courtesy greed, almost every system is broken. Wherever there is greed, enough is never enough. What could have been enough for everybody ends up in the pockets of a few people.

Despite all our many mineral resources, we cannot do much for ourselves. Year after year, we make new discoveries, however, the poorer we remain. Slow development is always in bed with a broken system.

Interestingly, almost all African countries share the same problems. How can a continent have everything yet boast of nothing?

We call on the name of the Lord, but our hearts are far away from Him. We know all the scriptures in the Bible, but they never seem to change us because we are not ready to change. Is it not ironical that we are so religious yet so poor?

Mind you, the man at the bottom of the ladder is just as greedy as the one at the top. The former is just waiting for the opportunity the latter has. The same ills he complains about, he does worse when he has the opportunity to solve them.

Our politicians may be part of our problems, but they are not our entire problem. We are our problem! We are desperate to make profits, even if it means causing pain to others. People will knowingly sell expired food and walk to church right after. Someone will knock down another and not think twice about leaving them to die. We treat government work like trash yet want to be paid millions.

Whenever you want to complain about our bad systems, assess yourself first. If you are a young Ghanaian reading this, ask yourself how your (in)actions have contributed to the sorry state we find ourselves in as a nation.

You may not care much but you see, everyone eventually pays when a system is broken. When a system is broken, everyone, including the rich and poor, eventually pays for it. No one is exempted. A broken system is like a grave that swallows anybody ~ everybody.

Traveling abroad/Jakpa may not be a permanent solution because you still have your family back home. The broken system you are trying to escape will cut short their dreams. You cannot escape entirely from a broken system. You fix it!

Besides, the white man will still perceive you as a foreigner… no matter how long you live with him abroad. You have no option than to make your home home. There is no place like home.

“God bless our homeland Ghana” should be more than a prayer. There should be an INTENTIONAL EFFORT to make it happen. If you have the opportunity to jakpa, take it, especially if you have prayerfully considered it. However, do so with a PURPOSE. The purpose is to always come back home and make it a place worth living; a place where the dreams of your brothers will not die.

The purpose is to get angry enough and replicate at home the progressive culture you see abroad. The purpose is to be the change you want to see. The purpose is to come back home, and raise men and women who will not die for a politician just for a bag of rice.

The liberation of Africa is neither in the hands of God nor in the hands of the white man. Africa’s destiny is in the hands of Africans. Africa will wait in vain if she is waiting for others to take her from her pain. Africa’s problems can only be solved by Africans ~ you and me.

Be the light wherever there is darkness. Fix the broken system you find yourself in. Look up to nobody. You are the hammer!

Kobina Ansah is the Chief Scribe of Scribe Productions (www.scribeproductions.com) and Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com).

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