The Question We Must Answer
If a young traditional authority in rural Ghana can find the courage to create and enforce laws protecting his people from illegal foreign exploitation, why can’t U.S. State Department officials provide basic consular services to American veterans?
If farmers in West Africa can organize to stop destruction when their government fails them, why can’t American veterans get basic accountability for six years of consular failures?
If a grassroots land protection movement in Ghana’s Berekum District can force change through persistent pressure and court victories, why should we accept State Department obstruction and veteran abandonment as inevitable?
If I can win court cases and deport illegal miners in Ghana, why can’t I get a FOIA response without filing appeals in America?
The Answer
Not because accountability is impossible in America. Because we’ve accepted dysfunction as normal. We’ve let “bureaucracy” become an excuse for incompetence. We’ve allowed “complexity” to shield failure. We’ve tolerated systematic obstruction as just how government works.
We’ve accepted that embassies can physically assault starving veterans and face no consequences. We’ve accepted that FOIA deadlines are suggestions. We’ve accepted that transparency is optional.
That acceptance is a choice. It can be unchosen.
The Path Forward
This is why I founded Covenant for Forgotten Warriors. Why I launched True Signal Media. Why I file FOIA requests until agencies respond. Why I document every failure, every delay, every pattern of obstruction. Why I took Chinese miners to court in Ghana and why I’m preparing congressional oversight cases in America.
Not because I expect officials to suddenly start serving citizens out of goodness. Because I’ve learned on two continents that persistent pressure works when nothing else does.
Every FOIA request is an act of accountability. Every documented failure is evidence for reform. Every story told chips away at the impunity officials rely on. Every coalition built increases the cost of continued dysfunction. Every court victory proves change is possible. Every appeal filed documents obstruction. Every congressional case prepared threatens consequences.
Final Statement
I’ve won court victories in Ghana that sent illegal miners home. In America, I’ve filed 180+ FOIA requests, 30+ appeals, and I’m building congressional oversight cases. The tools are different. My willingness to take officials to court is not.
When official systems fail citizens – whether through incompetence, corruption, regulatory capture, or career-protecting cowardice – citizens must organize to save themselves. That’s not how democracy should work. But until we demand better, until we refuse to accept dysfunction as normal, it’s how democracy does work.
The question isn’t whether accountability is possible. It’s whether we’re willing to fight for it with the same persistence that illegal operations use to exploit us, with the same determination that corrupt systems use to protect themselves, with the same relentlessness that broken bureaucracies use to obstruct transparency.
I’ve already answered that question twice. Once in Ghana, where we won. Once in America, where the fight continues.
AsaaseNnua proved citizen-led accountability works. Covenant for Forgotten Warriors is proving it again. True Signal Media exists to document both – and to show others the path.
How will you answer that question?
Learn More
Kelvin Blas’s Story:
This article provides an overview of Kelvin’s six-year abandonment by the State Department. For the complete investigation with full documentation, read our “Abandoned” series:
AsaaseNnua Land Protection Movement:
Learn more about the citizen-led movement protecting Ghanaian farmers from illegal mining exploitation:
- AsaaseNnua: Fighting for Ghana’s Future (Link coming soon)
Support Veteran Advocacy:
Covenant for Forgotten Warriors continues fighting for Kelvin and other abandoned veterans:
Support Investigative Journalism:
True Signal Media exists to force government accountability through systematic transparency journalism: