What can we say is the one true value we possess as a people? Is it the well acclaimed Ghanaian hospitality or our ability to find good things in every bad situation? In an era where our rich Ghanaian culture has been overshadowed by western lifestyle, which aspects of our culture and heritage has over the years created in us a sense of national pride and identity? It is to answer these questions that the brand Ghana office is seeking to infuse in our homes, offices and schools, a new philosophy on what should constitute Ghanaian values. “In the process of unconsciously branding ourselves, we’ve dropped some important values. In the past 20 – 30 years, we used to be very patient on our streets. We used no to do things in the street corners like we do today. This is because we have allowed ourselves to be branded unconsciously. What we are saying is let us brand ourselves consciously over time” Mathias Akotia, CEO Brand Ghana. Some years ago, it was an offence for a young person to be seated in a vehicle, while an elderly person remained standing. The popular adage “it takes two people to bring forth a child, but a whole village to raise the child” had meaning, an adult irrespective of family relation could discipline a wayward child. Over the years, these Ghanaian values seem to have been lost to modernization and westernization. The values of community, family, integrity, honesty and truthfulness all seem to have been replaced with “everyone for himself, God for us all’ It seems there are currently no Ghanaian values that still instill in us a sense of national identity and pride. As the Nigerian would put it “na who cause am”… we ask what happened that we seem to have lost our Ghanaian values in the face of modernization when other countries have still maintained theirs. According to Jonathan Kuma-Gavi, senior program manager for citizenship at Brand Ghana “At this moment, many Ghanaians don’t want to be identified with Ghana. They will prefer to say … I have an American passport or citizenship. All we are saying is that for Ghana to be attractive, we must live the brand Ghana values. That is why we are having the true Ghanaian orientation program” The brand Ghana office has a huge task on their hand. Aside their mandate to brand Ghana globally, they are also saddled with the task of branding the country’s values to its own people, a people of whom most believe that nothing Ghanaian is good. On the principles of honesty, oneness, integrity, social integration and hospitality, officials at the brand Ghana office believe when these values are infused in the homes of all Ghanaians and in the school curricula, beginning this year, a new sense of national pride and identity would be instilled in all persons. Officials over the next few weeks will be locked up in a series of meetings to fashion out a road map that will seek to engage the media, religious structures, the entertainment industry and the social structures to encourage more Ghanaians to believe in Ghana and to work hard toward advancing the growth of the country’s development