Sunday,
May 3, 2015
Folks, when I read the news
report attributing utterances to President Mahama on the occasion of May Day, I
cringed. I wondered what made him go the way he did. The aspects of the
utterances that “touched” me were:
i.
the crippling power crisis which has seen
electricity consumers enjoy power for 12 hours and endure power cuts for the
next 24 hours, is a temporary challenge.
ii.
smart businesses recognize this fact and are
therefore “not laying off workers,” but "are rather investing more
resources to expand their production in Ghana."
I considered such utterances are
overly brusque and needless, especially given the temper of the workers and the
inscriptions on placards that they paraded. I wondered why the President would
choose to be so audacious at the time, given the fact that the energy crisis
has so far harmed national life and that he needed to say something to placate
nerves and not burn them all the more. Yet, he said what he said.
Now, the consequences are
emerging; and the first to bare its teeth is the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI),
whose President (Seth Adjei Baah)
has condemned the President for making such claims. He is right, given the
enormity of the problem and the President’s seemingly lackadaisical manner of
presenting issues. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=356720)
The Chamber’s President might
have gone too far in dismissing President Mahama as “insensitive”; but the
import of his criticism of the President’s utterance is undoubtedly
appropriate. To any critical mind, the energy crisis facing the country is dire
and is not being solved with the seriousness and commitment that it deserves.
It is one major problem that has annoyed Ghanaians all this while; and anger of
this sort certainly has a huge political capital. To stoke it with such
utterances is, thus, politically unwise!!
For the President to describe it
as “temporary” (or “temporal”, which the news report called) is disappointing.
It is not temporary at all because it is a perennial problem, dating back to no-one-knows-when!!
A perennial problem of this sort
that has virtually incapacitated national life at several levels cannot be
brushed away as “temporary” or explained away with vain assurances of being
solved when, indeed, nothing concrete exists to prove that the solution is in sight.
The much-talked-about agreement with a Turkish company to provide electricity
barges has virtually turned into a battle of nerves and deception.
Assurances upon assurances have
rather ended up turning this problem into a dicey political issue to be used
against the government, as the NPP has already begun doing, picking up the
pieces from the Chamber’s vitriolic reaction. And the government will be the
loser in this game. That is why President Mahama and his appointees must be
very careful how they approach issues so as not to inflame passions all the
more.
Those of us not living in Ghana
cannot claim to know or feel the pinch as do Ghanaians resident at home whose
businesses and lives are adversely affected by the electricity crisis; but we
empathize with them because of the gravity of the situation. Businesses knocked
down by the crisis have laid off workers and others are contemplating doing so,
which will worsen the unemployment problem and invariably catalyze anti-social
activities—not to talk about the cashing in by the opposition to do dirty
politics.
For as long as the problem
remains unsolved, it is better for the President to either shut his mouth and
stop making promises of solving it or to continue falling out of step in his
utterances and suffer the negative backlash. In the kind of situation that the
energy crisis has created for Ghana, it is politically unwise to rub salt into
the wounds of the people. Who are the President’s advisers at all? Why is the
President himself not using his much-touted communication skills to advantage?
I wonder why; I truly wonder!!
It seems there is much going on
that makes it difficult for the government to solve the electricity problem
despite tons of assurances. The creation of a whole Ministry for “Power”
(Energy or Electricity) and the vain vows by the sector Minister (Dr. Kwabena
Donkor) to resign if the crisis isn’t resolved is a huge joke to be treated
with contempt. Such useless vows irritate more than reassure the people that
the problem is being solved.
And the more the people’s lives
are disrupted, the more they lose hope in the government. As Bob Marley puts
it, “He who feels it knows it”. It is the people wearing the shoe who knows
where it pinches; and the government must act quickly to solve this particular
problem. It is now a political game from which it won’t gain anything for
Election 2016 unless it plays its part properly.
In the meantime, I wish that
power supply to the seat of government and the bungalows of all public
officials, especially functionaries of the government, will be cut off for them
to feel the pinch. Electricity generators supplied to such establishments can
as well be switched off simultaneously as the blackout occurs in people’s homes
and businesses. It is only then that those in government will see the seriousness
of the matter to act more responsibly.
To redeem himself and regain lost
grounds, the President must either explain issues properly or retract his
utterance. Although such a reactive approach may not be supported by his
advisers, I consider it as appropriate for him to take if he wants to come across
in a better light than he has done so far. In politics, there is nothing wrong
with eating the humble pie!!
For now, we can only say that the
government’s inability to solve this electricity problem to date has already
created for it a bad name, which the opposition will add to the tons of
allegations and accusations in its arsenal for the electioneering campaigns
toward Election 2016. Not that such a political game is anything to bother
about in and of itself but that it creates the impression that President Mahama
and his team are incompetent and don’t deserve a renewed mandate. In the long
run, it is the country that matters.
I shall return…
·
E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
·
Join
me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue
the conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment