When I heard on BBC that for the first time in the history of the United States, a street in the US has been named after an African country, I was fascinated. What country can that be because it means that that country has gained influence in the US. Then the report went on and said the street in Newark, New Jersey, that used to be called Victoria Street is now named Ghanaian Way, making Ghana the first African country to have a street named after her in the USA. Of course as a Ghanaian, I swelled with pride. My sense of pride did not wane even when I discovered that the BBC report had come rather late. The ceremony had taken place on June 24, 2011. But the late report does not change the significance of the event. In every family, there is someone who is destined to open the door before others can follow. So that in those families you will find one person who is a trailblazer and the other members of the family just follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, sometimes this destined trailblazer gets complacent or is sidetracked and then he is sidelined and others following him lose their way or someone else is raised to overtake him. But as long as he keeps focused, he remains the trailblazer. As it is in families, so it is with nations. In black Africa, Ghana's destiny is to be the trailblazer. Ghana has to take the step for the others to follow. We fulfilled that destiny at independence when we became the first to discard our colonial shackles South of the Sahara. We fulfilled that destiny in the return to constitutional rule after decades of military interventions in national politics all across black Africa. We fulfilled that destiny in soccer at the various levels. We were the first to win the extended version of the Africa Cup of Nations. The first to win a medal in soccer at the Olympic Games. We fulfilled that destiny in international diplomacy when Kofi Annan became the first black African Secretary General of the UN. Ghana's Adjetey Sowah became the first African to win the best dancer in the world competition. And the list of firsts can go on and on. Unfortunately, Ghana has lost its way somewhere along the line and other nations that should have been following Ghana have overtaken us and we were forced to follow them. But it does not negate the fact that Ghana is unique among African countries. It is sad that we don’t take ourselves seriously in Ghana and we don’t create the enabling environment in Ghana for Ghanaians to shine. So for a Ghanaian to shine, he must travel outside the country. Think of it. What would have become of the Tony Yeboahs, Abedi Peles, Michael Essiens, and others if they had not travelled outside Ghana? What would even have become of Kofi Annan if he had not travelled outside Ghana? It is significant that the reason given for the change of name of the street was that the street was lined with a string of Ghanaian businesses. The economic power of the Ghanaian business community in Newark could not be ignored and had to be recognized in the change of the street name. Thus America has recognized the growing economic importance of the Ghanaian business community in the US. I wonder if Ghana can recognize the importance of any indigenous Ghanaian business and indicate that recognition in concrete terms. We have to face two facts about Ghana. The first is that Ghana is a blessed country with a destiny to be the trailblazer for the black race. We are to be the star for black Africa. The second is that within Ghana, we have a system that does the Ghanaian a great disservice and works against a Ghanaian shining in Ghana. The factors for the second reality are many. They range from government policies and orientation to individual actions. If you are in the private sector as I am, you get the distinct impression that officialdom has the orientation of putting as many obstacles in your way as they possibly can and it happens at all levels of officialdom from the lowest to the highest. And we face that kind of attitude in the financial sector too. It is sad that in Ghana, the fortunes of a political party can affect the business of an indigenous company employing hundreds of Ghanaians. Let us sit up and do some serious soul searching and ask ourselves a simple question: why do Ghanaians do better outside the shores of Ghana than within Ghana, their own country? Isn't it time we crafted the Ghanaian dream in Ghana to which every Ghanaian can aspire?