A few weeks ago, I had an argument with a colleague about whether we the citizens of this nation have failed as individuals to take responsibility for our own actions. My friend thinks that our underdevelopment should be blamed on our leaders. He argued that once we give them our mandate, they must at all cost improve our social life. It is this conventional thinking that has produced nothing but mediocre achievements. Although the government plays a crucial role in bringing about the changes we need, each of us will have to accept responsibility for strengthening our communities. We don't need to cast all our hopes on political leaders or forget about our duties. What most of us have failed to understand is the fact that we all share a deep sense in the country's development. And that we can only reach the 'dreamland' if we begin to take individual responsibility for our actions. The key to every societal development is the mindset of the people who constitute it. Their actions, individually or collectively, has both short and long-term impact on that society. Since no society would want to retrogress in development, the people's actions are guided by a sense of responsibility, purpose and direction. Every election year, political aspirants come to us and ask for our mandate in return for development projects. What happens after we have entrusted our destiny into their hands is well known to you and I. Well, do we need to blame them when a significant proportion of the populace is still uneducated, when there are scores of graduates without jobs and majority of the people live below the poverty line. An aspiring member of parliament knows that his or her main function in parliament would be to formulate policies on behalf of constituents but hides this truth from the people and rather parade themselves as development agents. This is what they have made us believe all these years. It is time we rededicated ourselves to a new kind of politics. A politics of individual responsibility. A politics of brotherliness. A politics of accountability and honesty. We need to adopt an attitude that would put politicians on check. Let us understand that for every action we take there is a corresponding result that would have a negative or positive impact on the nation. It always baffles me why we cannot maintain a clean environment so that tax monies that can be channelled into education, health care and research would not be spent fighting mosquitoes. The ultimate victory against our underdevelopment will come only by redirecting our focus to those ideals that will bring hope and opportunity to everybody. The fundamental truth is that no matter how many government programmes we launch or how much taxes we pay for development, we can still fall short if each of us is unwilling to do our own part. If we don't cast off our doubts, our cynicism and eschew negative behaviour; if we don't see that we all have a stake in developing the nation; if we don't realise that the fight for the future is the fight for our own, our development would remain a mirage. Achieving our national dream requires more than just electing faithful leaders. It requires selflessness, definition of national purpose or priority setting. It also requires great effort, determination and a change in heart and policy. I have always imagined how this nation would be if few people can pool their resources together and renovate that dilapidated classroom, build a new classroom or donate learning materials to those children in that small town or village. My heart bleeds anytime I hear that children are still studying under trees after 51 years of self rule. The quality of our society in the future depends, to a very large extent, on the quality of education we give our children today. Let us not destroy their future for they hold the key to the continuity and sustenance of the nation. We need to commend those who have over the years committed their resources to betterment of the lives of these future leaders. The great need of the moment demands that we attach a sense of urgency to the total transformation of the educational sector in order to equip our children with the requisite skills needed to confront the challenges ahead. We must all be inspired, encouraged, motivated and fired up to contribute our quota in every little possible way for national progress. Let us not use the obstacles we face today as an excuse for cynicism or to shy away from our duties. We have to do what we can individually, knowing it is hard and not swinging from a naive idealism to a bitter defeatism but accept the fact that we are not going to solve every problem overnight, but can still make a difference. Our politics has made us believe that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us; that our problems are the fault of those who do not think like us or come from where we come from. Every day our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division. All these, have no doubt, distracted us from the common challenges we face as a people. We cannot afford to continue on this negative trend. We can disagree without being disagreeable. The conscience of this nation cannot rest so long as we are not doing everything in our personal or collective power to solve our problems. Politicians need to stop playing on the ignorance of the people especially the illiterates and start doing things that will lift the downtrodden out of despair. Let us move forward by learning from nations that have progressed through unity, purposefulness, commitment and optimism. In everything we do; let us be guided by our conscience, culture, vision, and the type of legacy we want to leave for the next generation. The time for responsibility is now. Source: Christian Joe Dorvlo/Daily Graphic