Writer: Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng
Accra, Ghana//-The Famous Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe’s 1958 book popularised the term “things fall apart”, which is the book’s title to generations of African readers.
However, few people know the origin of the phrase, which is part of a poem, the Second Coming, written by the English poet W. B. Yeats. This is the first part of the poem from which Achebe took the title of his famous book:
Turning and Turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart
The centre cannot hold…
The first two lines refer to a British sport called falconry in which a falcon, a bird of prey, is trained to hunt small animals like rabbits and squirrels. The sport works only when there is complete communication between the falconer and the falcon bird. In other words, bird and man must be in complete sync in order to corner and conquer their prey.
The question I have posed in the title of this piece came to my mind spontaneously last week on the day a mob of motorcycle riders were reported to have set upon a policeman who was instructing them to do the right thing in traffic.
According to a police statement on the issue, the group of motorbike riders assaulted the officer who was “performing traffic management duties”. So far, I have not seen or heard any reports of arrests from this unsavoury incident.
All over the country, there are reports of robberies, murders, accidents, fires, dupings, fraud and the ever looming leviathan presence of corruption in public life. Everywhere one looks, from insanitary conditions to market fires and gruesome accidents, there is the sense that the centre is not holding.
If ministers and high government officials would endure the indignity of walking on their own feet anywhere in our nation’s capital, they would find gutters full of rubbish which choke after every rain shower, toxic waste being burnt in communities, food being sold right next to filthy rubbish dumps, and thousands of children roaming the streets begging for money and food.
In the past few weeks, this column has highlighted the plight of young single mothers whose baby fathers have simply abandoned mother and child. It is only one example of deep social malaise concealed beneath the surface of our respectable social order. The point is, people in this state who have nowhere to turn, are flocking to TV and radio stations looking for help.
Although some of the incidents that add up to the sense of chaos writ large cannot be laid at the door of any human agency; for example, Covid 19 and its consequences. For the most part however, it appears that the institutions responsible for many aspects of our lives are just not working as expected and that is the main cause of this sense of despair.
Let me isolate a few incidents to make my case. The mob assault on the police officer who was on traffic duties is a shocking example of indiscipline but not surprising or isolated. For as long one can remember, every week, groups of motorcyclists take to the streets in some of procession and not make extreme nuisance of themselves, but pose grave dangers to pedestrians and other motorists alike.
A few years ago, I made a complaint to policemen who were stationed at the Gold House Intersection at Kawokudi in Accra when a similar motorbike funeral procession disrupted traffic for a long time right under their noses. They threw up their hands in despair and made it clear to me in unspoken exasperation that they would rather be left alone. I left the alone. Now, the chickens have come home to roost.
One of this column’s major irritations is bareheaded motorbike riders. There is a law requiring the wearing of crash helmets in the country but the majority of motorcyclists disobey it. Of course, they place themselves in harm’s way, but in my view they commit the equally odious crime of thumping their noses at our national laws.
A few years ago, I happened to share breakfast table with a top traffic police officer at a hotel restaurant in Kumasi where we were both attending conferences. I raised the issue of helmetless riders and their contempt for the law. Again, he figuratively threw his hands up in the air and made some untenable excuses.
The perception that things are falling apart comes from a number of sources and causes but principal among them is that the institutions set up to deal with our lives are either working below par, or in some cases not working at all.
In some instances, it is difficult to know which institution is in charge of a particular issue. A case in point: much of the confusion and carnage on our roads come from lack of proper driver training and traffic police inaction, to put it charitably.
Anyone who has had the benefit of driving instruction and licensing in Europe or other places where they mean business knows that what we do here as driving instruction is pure mockery of driver training. Even if drivers received the best training, without enforcing traffic rules, our roads would still be unsafe due to indiscipline.
Take the Kasoa Road, which is perhaps the most dangerous piece of God’s earth ever created. It should not take any intelligence beyond the obvious to know that police presence is constantly required to ensure sanity on that road.
But it is one of the least policed roads in Accra. Trotro drivers choose wherever they fancy to create a station while ignoring the properly designated bus stops on the route. Drivers simply ignore zebra crossings and put thousands of pedestrian lives at risk every day.
In anybody’s book, the police must be the most respected institution in our country for the simple reason that for most people, they represent the face of the state. In some countries, the very presence of the police ensures that potential lawbreakers think twice before acting. Here, in most cases there is no police presence and sometimes the presence is hollow.
We can say the same thing for the Fire Service which is fast becoming the butt of many jokes on social media and in conversations. There was a recent video of a taxi that burnt to ashes next to a fire station and the recent Makola fire incident was another case in which the service did not cover itself in glory. There can always be excuses but we are looking for solutions to the rising spate of mishaps that befall us with unfortunate regularity.
The temptation to heap all the blame on the current government is an inviting one but it must be resisted. Of course, much of the solution must lie on the ruling authorities because they have the power and the budget to effect or initiate change, however, the political blame game will only be a distraction and lead us down the blind alley of divisiveness and sterile argument.
The truth is that the below par performance of institutions has solidified over a long period of time into a culture, which means reversing it will be a long and complex process.
The worst we can do is to politicise it and turn it into a blame game. Democracy is a good thing but by using its opportunities to politicise every issue, it undermines our nationhood and its positive attributes.
Having said that, the current government has the responsibility – constitutionally, legally and morally – to begin the process of getting our institutions to work as intended. Some institutions may require complete rethinking and overhaul to make them fit for purpose in the modern sense. It is only by doing that the government, which is the falconer, can get the falcon readied for action and victory. Only in that way will the centre hold and prevent things from falling apart.
First published in the Mirror
