Toying With Our Destiny!

Dreams are a natural phenomenon. At one time or another, we do have dreams in our sleep. Images and feelings which we see in our subconscious mind during sleep are called dreams. Things we see in our dreams sometimes come true. Other times too, they do not come to pass. But believe me; most of my dreams belong to the former, and not the latter. As you already know, the world is not made up of only optimists. Indeed, a great number of the world�s population is made up of pessimists. It�s therefore only natural that I provide proof to silence the doubting Thomases. They may ask Wofa Kyei how he came about his millions of cowries, and he would tell them it was my dream-number (1, 90) that made him break the jackpot. Did I hear you say you want to break the jackpot too? Well, worry not! If and when I get another two-sure in my prophetic dreams, you will be the first to have them. But for now, let�s talk about my recent dreams. Today�s piece was inspired by series of dreams I had lately. The first, which occurred about a fortnight ago, was ignored because I thought it was as a result of the heavy fufu I ate the previous night. Exactly a week later, same images appeared in my sleep. Again, it was ignored because I was then down with a serious malaria and I thought the dream was only a symptom of the ailment. You know more than I do that severe malaria can lead to hallucination and phantasm. When the images appeared again a few nights ago, they were more vivid than the previous ones. That was when it finally dawned on me that the Bearded Old Man above had decided to use me as a vessel to deliver his message to my compatriots. It was a strange dream, but the message was very clear. In the dream I saw a country in shambles, as weapon-wielding rebels and their military counterparts engaged in serious warfare. Shops were ransacked, innocent people killed and schools closed down. Anarchy was the order of the day and life was a living hell. In my desperation, I rushed into a nearby forest where I chanced upon a tiger feasting on human flesh. Another tiger was behind, draining life out of Koo, the strongest wrestler in Kubease. I had goose pimples all over as I trembled with fear. I then turned to runaway, only to come face-to-face with a leopard. My heart began beating violently and my blood ran cold through my veins. I could not move as I remained rooted to the spot. I wanted to shout but fear held me by the throat. Before I could think of what to do, the leopard startled me with a deafening roar as it crashed me violently into a tree. It was about to pounce on me when a voice ordered it to stop. And to my bewilderment, it obeyed the command and moved away. As I lay on the ground wondering what would happen next, the voice ordered me to rise up and go back to my compatriots and warn them of an impending danger. It said: �Rise up and warn your compatriots about the looming danger. The anarchy and destruction you just witnessed is what awaits you and your compatriots should you fail to have a credible register and a transparent polls. Tell your compatriots to do the right things and not toy with your country�s future.� I woke up and found myself drenched in sweat. �Glory be to Allah that it was only a dream,� I soliloquized. That was indeed a timely call! I shudder to think what will happen after the 2012 polls, if the current electoral register is used. It is an open secret that the country�s electoral register is anything but credible. And many researchers have proven that an E-Register could help reduce double-voting to the barest minimum. Yet any time the call is made for the country to invest in an electronic register, the government pretends to be deaf. The President has for the umpteenth time pledged to resource the EC to function efficiently and effectively. But if it is true that coming events cast their shadows, then my compatriots and I have cause to worry. The disorderly manner in which the most recent district assembly poll was organized is still vivid in our minds. That it left a sour taste in many mouths is an understatement. A repeat of that shambolic organization in the 2012 polls will definitely spell doom for this great nation. I�ve heard time and again that the amount required for an E-Register is colossal. Yes, that is very true! But such an amount will be no cost at all when compared to the disastrous consequences of a discredited poll. It�s very obvious that we are taking the peace we enjoy for granted. Perhaps, it is the tendency to believe rather wrongly that we are a special breed of Africans. We tend to believe that the disturbances in other countries cannot happen here. We have forgotten so soon about the ethnic clashes in Bawku, Dagbon and the rest. We�ve also forgotten about the machete-wielding youth at Agbogbloshie who murdered their colleagues in cold blood; the Akwatia Jihadists who brutalized and maimed their opponents, and the youth at the Bawku Guerilla Training Centre who underwent training in order to terrorize their kinsmen. Perhaps, all these hoodlums are not Asomdwekromanians, and the dastardly acts did not happen in this country but somewhere else! Even without any fund to cater for their welfare, foot-soldiers did not hesitate to maim and kill their opponents and vandalize their properties. Now that the �Heroes Fund� has been established to cater for their welfare, one can only imagine what they would do. The stakes for the forthcoming polls are too high for us to risk taking any chance. Our leaders should stop playing �chaskele� with our future because we do not want to follow the path of Kenya and Cote d�Ivoire. They should remember that only the wise look for extinguishers when they see a neighbour�s beard on fire!