Wednesday,
January 30, 2013
A
group calling itself the “Kwame Nkrumah Inspired Citizens Movement” has urged
President Mahama to implement the 7-year Development Plan of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah. In a statement issued in Accra, the group said the plan will
boost Ghana’s progress and sustainable development (Myjoyonline, Jan. 30, 2013).
I agree
with the group and add my voice to its appeal. I challenge President Mahama’s
administration to act on it immediately to dig up that Development Plan and
implement whatever is feasible in it and relevant to our contemporary Ghanaian
development agenda. Remember the saying? “Nkrumah Never Dies!”
Undoubtedly,
the Great Osagyefo implemented development programmes to actualize his policy
of indigenization/Africanization of the Ghanaian socio-cultural, political, and
economic regimen, although overspeeding in some areas, making atrocious
mistakes in others, and creating enemies for himself thereby.
But
his overarching vision for Ghana is still relevant at several levels, which is
what this group has drawn attention to. Nkrumah’s infrastructural development
programme, especially, holds the key to any effort to alleviate suffering in
the country. There must be something special about that 7-year development
programme to warrant its being revisited.
Of
course, a number of projects initiated by Nkrumah earned the infamous tag of “prestigious
projects” from his political opponents in the United Party, but they have stood
the test of time. I have in mind the Tema Motorway, Akosombo hydro-electricity
dam, Job 600 (State House), Ghana Education Trust schools, and many others that
were either being initiated or had just been started when those cowards in the
security services overthrew his government. There ended Nkrumah’s vision.
The
huge silo project in Tema is still standing there as a white elephant and an
eyesore on the Tema skyline. The purposes for which this silo project was
initiated are still relevant. Grain storage might be the most obvious one but
it could serve other useful purposes for food preservation rather than being
left to remind Ghanaians of their post-Nkrumah era leaders’ misguided attitude
to national development. This project must be re-activated and put to good use.
Another
interesting aspect of the group’s statement is the support that it has lent to
President Mahama:
“The
Kwame Nkrumah Inspired Citizens Movement wishes to congratulate the President
on his winning the December 7, 2012, elections and his subsequent assumption of
the High Office of the Land as President of the Republic of Ghana. We
wish to convey our heart-felt gratitude to the millions of Ghanaians who went
out there to vote to ensure that he became the President.”
And
he did not become the President to repeat the mistakes of the past. He was
elected to implement policies and programmes to alleviate suffering and move
Ghana out of the woods. That was his own message for the first batch of 7
ministers whom he swore into office today.
Congratulating
the President on his electoral victory is a clear demonstration of this group’s
desire to see peace and tranquility prevail in the country for development
programmes to be implemented successfully. Those who still think that President
Mahama colluded with the Electoral Commission to deprive their Akufo-Addo of victory
can save themselves from more woes if they come to terms with reality.
As
for me and my household, we have accepted that reality and moved on. So have
the many millions of Ghanaians who aren’t anymore bothered about the temper
tantrums on display, even in the dark chambers of the Supreme Court, where the “Apostles
of Liberal Democracy” and “property-grabbers” have pushed their grievance,
hoping against hope that there is a God who is ready to do a miracle for them
with an “Open Sesame” declaration to install Akufo-Addo as Ghana’s President by
Christmas this year!!
I am
more than persuaded that Ghanaians are more invested in what the government can
do with their mandate to solve their socio-economic problems than buying into the
wishful thinking that a Messiah would emerge from the Supreme Court’s
proceedings to wave a magic wand and rain down manna for them to gorge.
That
is why it will be reassuring if President Mahama listens to this call to
energize his administration to tackle the problems that have kept the
population below the poverty line all these years.
Not
only should the government turn to Nkrumah’s 7-year development programme but
it must also revisit all others enunciated by the various governments but
abandoned. There is much to glean from those disparate development programmes
to be put together to enhance the government’s own “Better Ghana Phase Two Agenda.”
For
instance, we know of Busia’s Rural Development Programme and how it began being
implemented before the overthrow of that government. Although much has been
done to extend development projects to rural areas, there is still more to be
accomplished. The government must not shy away from development programmes
whose tenets are still useful. They should be mined and put together for use in
raising living standards.
We also
recall Rawlings’ “Vision 2020” agenda, which the Kufuor government jettisoned,
replacing it with its own version, which ended up in smoke. Efforts to glean ideas
from these development programmes must be made without any delay.
There
is nothing shameful about using those development programmes to serve the
country’s needs. What is shameful is that the government will waste resources
devising development programmes to only end up replicating what is already
available but sidelined for unne3cessaqry political expediency.
I
have already condemned the negative politics of abandoning development projects
started by previous governments just because of political differences. This
spiteful attitude doesn’t help the country and must be discarded. That is why
it is imperative for this government to make the difference by revisiting some
landmark development agenda left behind by previous governments to implement.
So
also should it be good for the government to consider closely the development
agenda of political parties that couldn’t win the elections to be in power to
implement them. I listened closely to all the Presidential Candidates in the
pre-election debates organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Indeed
almost all of them had very laudable development strategies that they can’t
implement because they aren’t in power.
Their
development agenda can be mined and implemented to boost national development.
Any talk of “an all-inclusive government” must not be limited to appointment of
personalities into offices only. It must be extended to cover development
strategies too. That is why it is really important for the government to
re-appraise its own agenda for the “Better Ghana Phase Two” and determine where
to fit in the significant ones from the other political camps. It is not
stealing of others’ ideas but a purposeful political-economic strategy, which
may end up doing much good for the government.
The
point is that if it doesn’t do so and concentrates on its own agenda, it may be
denying the country the benefit of the others’ development agenda. Generally, I
don’t see any major difference between what the Mahama administration has up
its sleeves and those of its political opponents in terms of national
development. It’s just the approaches toward realizing the objectives that
differ.
If
anything at all, the obvious difference may be at the political level—that it
is the NDC administration that is implementing those development programmes.
Putting these political differences aside, we can say that national development
will be catalyzed instead.
No
matter what happens, it is the public good that will be served if genuine
efforts are made to tackle the problems hindering national development.
Those
who may easily deride the government as not having a development agenda of its
own and scavenging should be disregarded. After all, considering the current
political trends, whenever does anybody think that apart from the NDC and the
NPP any of the other mushroom parties or Independent Candidates will ever win
political power to implement their development programmes?
The
government must be determined to tap into all available resources to boost its
efforts at serving the needs of the population. That is what this
pro-Nkrumahist group’s call entails at a larger level.
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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