… ‘Derailed: When Common Sense Eludes a Nation’
Solomon Mensah, a seasoned journalist has launched his first book titled ‘Derailed: When Common Sense Eludes a Nation’.
The book is a compilation of some of his thought-provoking articles from 2014 to 2019 covering areas such as politics, security, sanitation, health, motivation, obituaries and a mixed basket of issues that shed light on the road on which the country Ghana sleepwalks to tragedy.
He holds that the articles in the book point to the fact that it is not God or any other being retarding Ghana’s progress but rather the lack of common sense in national planning.
The 196 pages book has related the country to a moving train which has gone off its rails however direct or indirect managers are unwilling to return back on track or see nothing wrong with the path their on despite the wailing of passengers.
“Ghana has been moonwalking into tragedy with the economic situation in the country worsening in the tenure of successive governments. It is this that inspired me to write this book to help the nation address challenges that are drawing back its progress,” he said.
The articles, he noted are well-researched and woven with anecdotes and proverbs that will not only sustain readers but help send across his intended message.
Mr. Mensah added that working over the years as a journalist he has come to realize some constant challenges that are hindrances to the country’s effort to progress hence wrote this book to help address some of those issues.
“In my estimation, the only way to get the best out of successive governments is to think for them if they refuse or fail to think. Let us be, without violence, angry enough at our governments so to press them to do the right thing as the people in Taiwan did which today makes their country one of the cleanest in the world.
Let us not continue to say “Oh!” when the lights go off and jubilate when the lights are back without questioning authority. We pay for streetlights yet there is pitch-black darkness on our roads at night. Are we – Ghanaians – also not humans just as those in America or Europe? Do we not deserve better?
The NDC and NPP must be starkly told that they can no longer engage in this politics in our modern Ghana. If they are not ashamed to quickly seek medical assistance in America and Europe while deliberately collapsing everything back home in Ghana, then, some of us will continuously be bold to tell them to sit up and, as well, tell them that the handshake that goes beyond the elbow ceases to be a handshake,” he intimated.
“I have written on politics, security, and sanitation among others because I believe we – as a nation – have performed poorly in these areas. We needed someone well-informed on how to turn things around and I strongly believe my book offers this solution.
My mentor, Manasseh Azure Awuni together with Anas Aremeyaw Anas and some other journalists have done so much in the anti-corruption fight. Whereas these journalists fight to ensure monies go where they ought to go, some other journalists must ensure we have a clean environment, a good healthcare system and provision of such basic social amenities. Pages 51 to 64, in my book, I dedicate the chapter to sanitation. I wonder why in 2022 we still have insanitary conditions all over Ghana. I ask myself, are we really serious as a nation?,” he said.
For his part, the chairman of the event, Maximus Attah expressed confidence in how the book will help change the narrative and mindset on how things are done in the country.
Mr. Attah, a banker and journalist, who was once Mr. Mensah’s lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism said he believed in his craft and hope every citizen can grab a copy of the book to instigate change.
Reading out his review of the book at the launch, celebrated journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, lauded Mr. Mensah’s effort, reiterating that ‘Derailed: When Common Sense Eludes a Nation’ provides insightful perspective into the various areas it touches on, including a “mixed basket of socio-economic issues whose existence and persistence assail the sensibilities of the right-thinking people in Ghana”.
“In this book, Solomon provides facts, interviews and critical analyses of the subjects and topics he writes about. He transports the reader back to the mood at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) headquarters when the recalcitrant three were jailed by the Supreme Court for contempt and to the giant neem tree under which the Togolese family had spent about a decade of their lives.
He takes you to the dying members of the John Mahama administration and crosses you over the borderless era of the Akufo-Addo presidency, when nothing appeared to have changed after the people voted for change,” he said
“Solomon Mensah is one of the few hard working and committed journalist I know. His book and its content give a better testimony to these attributes than I can say with word,” Mr. Azure Awuni added.
