Wednesday,
June 18, 2014
Folks, Mr. Clement Apaak (a presidential staffer) has turned my crank with an
utterance that I want to react to. And I will do so with all the vigour, verbal
violence, and determination that his utterance has wrought in me.
The hue and cry over the sagging
national economy over the past five or so years has created the impression that
the Mahama-led administration lacks ideas with which to move the country
forward. No day passes by without the gloomy picture being painted that it
cannot solve the economic problems, even when it initiates any measure, it is
ridiculed as inefficacious. The falling rate of the Cedi is a case in point. We
know what led to the National Economic Forum at Senchi a month ago and how it
raised hopes and expectations that answers would be found to the economic
challenges.
Senchi came and went; we heard
much noise about a 22-point consensus and the government’s promise to release a
final report on that Forum to help Ghanaians know what would be done to salvage
the economy. Apparently, the government sought to use the opportunity to
deflect the perennial criticisms against its approach toward tackling the challenges.
We’ve held our breath to date in the hope that for once, the government would
prove its critics wrong.
Unfortunately, we have reached
the point where we can’t continue to hold our breath any longer. And to help us
release that breath is Clement Apaak, who has blamed
the delay in implementing the report of the Senchi consensus on the untimely
death of Mr P.V. Obeng (Senior advisor to the president).
Clement Apaak said that the late Obeng was
key in the organisation and implementation of the Senchi accord and his death
would invariably affect how the Senchi consensus is implemented. (See: http://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/2014/June-14th/pv-obengs-death-affected-implementation-of-senchi-accord-apaak.php)
For many years now, I have never
heard any utterance more undignifying than what came from this Apaak. I am
boiling with concentrated anger at being told that only one man had everything
under the wraps and that his death would derail or delay government’s action on
the Senchi Accord.
How do those in government think,
anyway? That Ghanaians would buy such crap and continue to live in debilitating
poverty while the country’s rich resources are either exploited for personal
gains or while those elected to solve problems play hide-and-seek with them? And
to imagine that PV Obeng was the be-it-all-and-end-it-all as far as the Senchi
National Economic Forum is concerned beats my understanding. Relying on one
mortal human being to this extent? What low-level management of state affairs
is this?
Within this context, it is
appalling to observe that more often than not, people rally around and put so
much in the hands of one person that in any eventuality, the entire system
either collapses or gets stalled. How come that only PV Obeng could be the
repository of all that the Senchi Forum meant to the Mahama-led administration?
And that with his death everything would grind to a screeching halt or be
thrown into disarray (as Clement Apaak’s utterance indicates)?
When? Oh, when will we in Ghana
learn to depend on structures and institutions of state and not the whims and
caprices of one so-called intellectual Ghanaian technocrat? Regardless of
anything else that might have motivated Mr. Apaak’s utterance, I think that he
has woefully failed to persuade some of us that the government is ready to
implement the Senchi Accord. We may not really be keen on seeing a published
report. All we are interested in is that the 22 points and many more to be
derived therefrom will be implemented to solve the economic problems that have
gradually reduced the government to a laughing stock.
Will anybody in government stand
up to tell Ghanaians what exactly the government is readying itself up to do?
It sought for ideas to guide it in handling the challenges; and identifiable
institutions and persons of repute responded to the clarion call to offer those
ideas. By doing so, they threw the ball into the government’s court. Implementing
those ideas doesn’t call for any “Kwaku Ananse” trickery. It calls for
conviction, honesty, purposefulness, and a resolute effort to solve problems so
that if President Mahama (and the NDC) approaches the electorate for a renewal
of his mandate at Election 2016, he will do so, bubbling with justifiable confidence
that he used the power given him at Election 2012 to solve problems and can be
trusted to do so again.
Other than that, he will become a
good riddance to lead his band of followers into a swoon, where wailing and
gnashing of teeth will replace the current exuberance with which they do (or
refuse to do) things.But I wonder if the situation will ever change, given the
kind of mentality with which the Ghanaian operates.
Many happenings confirm fears
that the management of national affairs is not being done properly to ensure a
speedy, smooth, and uninterrupted, purposeful development of our country. Don’t
go far for the reasons. No consistent national development plan exists as the
blueprint for the prospecting, exploitation, and use of the country’s natural
and human resources to enhance development.
The ad hoc measures adopted by the
various governments to tackle problems have had hard-hitting, negative boomerang
effects on every aspect of national life to the extent that Ghana is today less
reputable than what it was at independence.
At the political level,
governance has been impeded by political mischief and intransigence, which made
it difficult for stability to be established prior to this 4th
Republic. We have this political stability but it is not complemented by
positive developments in the other sectors to improve our country’s standing.
Instead, we have a clear picture
of Ghana in focus: moral decadence, economic stagnation, social deterioration,
and cultural bastardization. And those in authority (politicians, the clergy,
traditional rulers, and what-have-you) glibly acknowledge that bribery and
corruption are on the ascendancy but can’t help eradicate them. They preach
about it in the open but ready themselves to profit from it on the quiet.
Hypocrites, liars, and unconscionable characters of this sort can’t help us
rebuild Ghana, however solid the political situation may be.
Despite the political stability
and the sustenance of the “ballot box” democracy, nothing drastically has
changed. The mere opportunity given the electorate to go through the quadrennial
ritual of thumb-printing ballot papers in making their electoral decisions hasn’t
led to anything concrete to prove that this kind of democracy is helping us
solve our systemic problems to improve living conditions. After all, the
essence of democracy is the improvement in living standards that it is expected
to cause.
Any democracy that doesn’t add
value to the people’s living conditions is not worth sustaining. Ours may still
be functioning but it is not being used to solve problems. Otherwise, why are
the citizens continuing to live in narrow circumstances as the poverty level
rises despite the enormous sacrifices that they continue to make to prop up the
democracy?
The economy has teetered and
tottered enough to instill fear in the citizens; and to demoralize them to the
point of giving up, even in the midst of the abundant natural and human
resources that Ghana has. Almost all the major problems that existed before the
establishment of this constitutional democratic order are still unsolved, which
is why Ghana remains under-developed. Why is it so?
It may be so because of poor
quality leadership, supported by a demoralized citizenry, more interested in
dealing with the devils ruling them that they know than the angels clamouring
for political power that they don’t know. Thus, whether by design or accident,
the situation hasn’t changed over the years.
We are still where we have been
in terms of national development because we don things haphazardly and refuse
to think outside the box. We will take only one major situation to exemplify
and reinforce our claim that our democracy is doomed for as long as those in
charge of governance fail to do the right thing.
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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