Which Ghana do we want?

Which is the ideal Ghana of our dreams?

The hypocritical stereotype founded on lies and delusion, the Ghana in which politicians (as well as stooges on their payrolls, also paid to do what they are doing) continue to lie and make us believe they are making the world so sweet for everybody? To the risk of making our values wither? Or a Ghana of tolerance and respect, where public confidence is bolstered by those in power? Ghana in which everyone says what he thinks in good faith, in a sustainable democracy worth its tenets? I ask a question, tell me the truth and I will tell you, without speculation, where we shall be by at the end of the next four years. In fact people have very, very mean streak in them, and unless we create a barrier that filters this tendency we are going headlong into a precipice. We would have lost faith in everything, since there would be no landmarks to guide us through.

Once upon a time my dad sat me down and had me startled by hitting on an old refrain I had heard several times over, on the idea concerning white people robbing us whenever they asked us to close our eyes in prayers, attributing some pejorative meaning to the church. I would have wished to God he were talking figuratively. However, what I inferred from it in reality was, in Africa we allow ourselves to be taken for a ride, too often deceived, while we sit on, swallowing everything stoically. And we allow this to continue over the years with just no end in view. The reason is simple; either we are stupid and refuse to learn or that we are unintelligent, our hypocrisy weighing much in it. Not that we like any of the serpents politicians offer us for fish. No! nobody can put up comfortably with unsuitable situations for long. There are a lot of Ghanaians who would better not nibble at the present problems, let alone write articles in the media, simply for the fact that they find it unnecessary. Because there is nothing one would write about that others do not know of. We all know our torments of the day. Pretending therefore, that those torments do not exist, we are doing more than just throwing away our dreams, we are digging our own graves. The last time, I read something really nice in an article on the Ghanaweb, 26 January 2005. Under the title ?Deaflympics Scandal? the writer contends ?Learning from our mistakes also involves holding accountable people in leadership positions who fail to deliver the expected outcomes in the public interest.? In a series of articles wrapped in hypocrisy signed by Appiah-Danquah Kufuor, we are biffed directly in the face as he endeavoured to convince us we do not see what we are seeing, nor yet feel what we are feeling. In an almost similar fashion just after the elections, some of those profiting from the Ghanaweb posted articles loaded with virulent and aggressive insults. Here again passions flared, as it became obvious in people?s endeavour to personalize facts, settle scores and hit along tribal dissent, when they professed justly to preach against these.

After a hectic but vicious presidential campaigns issuing out into a voting pattern that leaves much to think about in terms of democracy and what Ghanaians really want for themselves, all that should preoccupy us now is how to gird our loins toward national reconstruction, develop a collective conscience and how this could model our steps into our future that remains a much serious question than before. A gospel fact, Ghanaians must congratulate themselves they have the chance to say ?Ouf, at last!? we are out of elections that breathed hell. As I have always maintained, African politics gets ever and ever wallowed a paradigm of thoughts that has political opponents going for each other?s throat, as though we do not have the same set of aspirations.

Mr. Appiah-Danquah Kufuor?s long and monotonous sermon, that sought (Just like all his articles) to paint President Kufuor?s administration and their four-year term as a perfect sweet-scented flower garden (where milk and honey flow), only help us admire his fantasies and the kind of Ghana he has in his subjective mind. Nobody is perfect and so Mr. Kufuor and his administration are prone to mistakes, just like others before him, but when you were the present incumbent accusing the previous government of corruption, you assumed the premier position in order to steer the country out of corruption, swearing tooth and nail ?zero tolerance for corruption,? you would better not be toying with the people who elected you by saying corruption started from Adam! So his criticisms, otherwise seemingly genuine concerns about the conduct of the country, turn out to be, in event, a political mise en scene that eases him into a platform of his dreams. In a way, we were presented with feint reform programs. How really cute!

Mr. Appiah should instead have been very resourceful in explaining:

* Why he thinks the President of the Republic of Ghana should have over twenty close and distant relatives in his government and key positions. Should we understand this is a kind of ?transparency and good governance?? What dynamism! Under the title ?Kufuor?s all-inclusive family government? posted on the Ghanaweb last year (Mr Appiah-Danquah Kufuor certainly knows this) a detailed list described the presidents family and relatives engaged in key positions in the country.

* Why he thinks Hackman should still have a say in the government when he hasn?t even an iota of sentiment for the people of Ghana but rather thinks we are stupid? The former interior minister asserted having watched the video of the brutal Gbewaa Palace carnage (General News of Sunday 24 October 2004), the implication of which was obvious. Otherwise asking the question, who are we looking for apart from Hackman? This means with luck the killers of the Ya Naa and 40 others will never be indicted. It will be easier then, looking for salt in the ocean than finding the murderers. How best to pursue peace, unity and solidarity! Oh, Ghana of Freedom and Justice! Hackman?s maid, the poor lady man-handled by an uncouth police officer at his master?s bidding, might one day be reminded by her scars on how to admire people in power thought of as responsible.

* Why he thinks Osafo Marfo should not humbly resign and go to freeze his head of somewhere? After his disgraceful ventures and enterprise that provoked agitation all over, the former financial chief finds himself shifted to another very important arena, the Ministry of Education! In fact the minister?s outrageous exploits left us panting, our mouths dry from disbelief! It was as if Osafo Marfo and the others intentionally condoned in pulling the stunt for whatever reason no one could fathom. Why? Because it was next to impossible believing the government, with all its high profile white-collar stuff could pursue loan agreements without prior verification of documents submitted to them. People would be asking why I am very concerned. Because it smears all Ghanaians in falsehood, corruption, fraud and discredit! We all take a fair share of their blunders. But are we all crooks, corrupt liars? Then other than sing unworthy praises and clap our hands in admiration for petty trivialities we should be criticizing people at the head of the country who fail to deliver the expected outcomes in public interest. The blurb this time comes from J.H. Mensah. The so-called senior minister who arrogates to himself an extorted political situation chides the Media for the failure on the part of the government in the IFC and CNTCI loan deal (General News of Thursday 27 January 2005). J.H Mensah might have believed he was lecturing day-nursery kids. Who asked him any questions? Instead of making a care of, he should have faulted the media for exposing his romantic escapades. Any responsible person of the calibre of the Minister, after such tarnishing adventure, should have made himself less visible as possible and stop the lies. It seems nowadays, the ministerial virtue is to say as many lies as possible in order to be admired, forgetting of course they are embarrassing the country.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday 8 June 2004 in a very comprehensive detail and with professional erudition of unequal dimension, Dr. Nii Josiah Aryeh proved without least doubt a very mysterious sequence of procedures fraudulently engaged by the lenders of the CNTCI loans to dupe the country. ??Thanks to the CNT/CNTCI loan saga, a new coinage, documentation failure ? an euphemism for incompetence and forgery, has even found its way into our political lexicon,?? he commented, and confirmed Osafo Marfo admitted the CNTCI committed three times the same error ?by giving Ghanaians a hairdressing salon as their address for notices and services of legal process.? So much that it appeared, an institution which purports to lend money to a whole state suffers from some kind of dementia as to forget its own address! In the scheme of things, the former financial minister must have known the outcomes; the Republic of Ghana will loose, certain individual might fill a few pockets! So what? Mr Mensah would fondly call it a ?different ball game.? Well, indeed, it was a ?different? game! Last year J.H. Mensah and others deliberately employed very subtle methods to manipulate the primaries in his constituency as a means to pave for him a way of accessing the December elections. In an explanatory article by Asamoah Yeboah on the Ghanaweb in September last year Mr. Asamoah lamented the extent to which democracy is flawed in Ghana, as the people were ?fed up with the intrigues and manipulations of the senior Minister.?

In fact it would be waste of both time and energy to enumerate all that happened within the first four years of President Kufuor?s administration. We know, so people, (some of whom may write to insult me for this article) must bear it in mind when they undertake to tell lies on the net. It is bad to be indifferent to what is happening or pretend otherwise because one profits directly or indirectly from the Government and those in power.

President Kufuor and the Future

Even if it was generally accepted the President was re-elected we must not forget, at least once, to pronounce on the way the voting was conducted. That will be a drive towards political emancipation and maturity. To understand the votes we need to ask if there is any chance democracy is understood in Ghana, where the majority of the voters are still very ignorant about most things, and where the precariousness of the day obliges them to accept tokens for their votes. President Kufuor may dance for winning the elections, however, one would be tempted to ask if he was really victorious, knowing the President faces more serious challenges than before, as the next four-year term appears too short to root out the blunders created in the first term. When he started his four years term the President began by saying the term was too short to redress a country. Would this time be long enough? People ought to understand that governing a state such as Ghana is not exactly the same as a die game in which the outcomes involve some chance, and that when the chances are slim all the Government of the Republic of Ghana will embark upon is beat its wing desperately in an effort to send SOS messages to God (Last year the churches were asked to pray to God to forgive our trespasses and us not into temptation, at the moment when the ministers occupied themselves fishing everywhere for illegal money). Winning votes may not just mean most Ghanaians accepted in good faith the presidents four years as prolific. Perhaps the people voted against NDC, when they did not see any other candidate in a stronger position to head the country. On the other hand I have reached a lot of people who expressed fear about the conduct of the elections and Ghanaians. In the first place if the president did not really win, but used various methods to manipulate the results as some claimed then his conscience is betrayed. And that would be a very sad occasion for an incipient democracy. In the second place if he won in good faith, he must feel very sorry for the country, as people who voted for him did not fault anything in the government?s four years or probably don?t care. That is to say, if in the face of the conspicuous high level corruption, insecurity, the president?s divergence from his principles and he could still win elections, then we have a very long way to go build a country. The President may or may not be very successful depending on how much he is ready to accept criticisms and also review his principles. No one can afford to be a ?gentle giant? at the steer of a country like ours. The government must enforce a good spirit of competitiveness through the equitable distribution of resources ? a fair effort of openness and transparency without bias.

In one of the numerous letters I received some asked if I was a ?damn pessimist.? I did not think the questions we are asking about our country is anything about pessimism. But in my opinion I don?t believe pessimism is about as bad as contracting guinea-worm. However, optimism must be built on substance, and where there is none, we can?t dream.

Finally as most others like Appiah-Danquah may think, God is in heaven and everything rolls well for everybody on earth in Ghana, so long as it is determined by greedy politicians. He and others could carry on writing whatever farce strikes their fancy. True, the Good God looks on?