Who am 1 at 50?

I am Ghana at 50 so I dance
Freedom drums compel my jubilee joy
I am a shinning black star
A fundamental misnomer, so I dance

My celebrated fathers are dead
They exited through exile or died miserable deaths in situ
Posthumous trumpets extol virtues in brow beats of nostalgia
Flowing blood of military adventurers now congealed
Settles on my sober democratic conscience
Widowed mothers mourn shattered lives in reconciled silence
I am a peaceful country so I dance
Blood stained clouds overhung my jubilee joy

Nkrumah’s forward ever backward never march was liberated to a martial halt
Busia’s progress momentum was cut in pieces by arbitrary redemption
Those who reigned in military supremacy were revolutionised,
Liman’s third Republic was caught in the stampede of tornado power
It gave way to a democratic congress badly in need of reformists
‘New patriots’ preach positive change,
A sure sign of regression for dancing reflection
LET US ALL DANCE

I am independent black Africa at 50 so I dance
I am a proud graduate of the college of highly indebted poor countries
I have reached saturation point to international acclaim
I dance the self congratulatory dance

My economy has been structurally adjusted to no avail
Potholed streets, Power outages, water shortages, mock my liberation march
Haphazard dwellings sprawl in endless mishap on Development Street
My Poverty reduction is highly charged with strategies of western strawberries
I have yielded to wealth creation aid terminology now in vogue
Yet burdens of stagnation straddle my bewildered steps
Abandoned projects dot the contours of my celebration song
Naked truth stares me down
Still I dance, I dance the independence dance

The global age of commerce has bound me up in fair trade imperialist shackles
My children carry grief in their hearts: their wares on their heads
They sell non descript foreign goods to exotic tastes to reminisce colonial past
Desolation buying and selling herald the dance of cynicism
Indigenous ingenuity is stabbed to despair
Sorrows of gold and teardrops of diamonds in my trail

The dance of mirages on continental liberation circuit has come full circle
Rhythms of dissonance on Constitutional Street, entangle my dancing steps
The new parade for handouts is led by freshly minted leaders
They are well heeled in democratic rhetoric
Recycled military in civilian outfits cemented in their midst,
I am chairman of the African Union
To curtail ravages of dementia wars and civil conflicts
I am in need of substantive resuscitation
I need this dance

The new deal of debt forgiveness
Challenges with millennium accounts
Will accountability elude corruptions dead bolted doors?
Lay wounds bear in the dance of adulterated truth
Dissolve shame in the deluge of jubilee reconciliation
Development knocks, Dance yes
Dance the dance of positive acquiescence
I am Ghana, I am black Africa at 50,
I must celebrate with a dance