Every human being is endowed with one form of intelligence. These intelligences, however, differ in one way or the other among people. This point was expatiated in my article entitled: "Unearthing and Nurturing Children's Talents in Schools". The differences in intelligence are usually dependent on what an individual wants to achieve at a particular point in time. For instance, if a person decides to steal, he may exhaust his intellectual capacity to achieve that goal. Similarly, a politician may use his brains to steal from the national coffers, deny others the basic necessity of life, yet convince the same vulnerable people to elect him into political office.
Looking at the state of Ghana's economy, in the wake of the discovery of oil, the level of poverty vis-a-vis the energy crisis, water rationing, falling standards of education, massive unemployment, and the level of polarisation of the country on partisan lines, many a Ghanaian argue that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) does not have what it takes to govern a blessed country like Ghana.
However, I beg to differ to some extent. Though the intelligence level of the general NDC membership might not be geared towards the socio-economic advancement of Ghana per their style of leadership, it is preposterous for anybody not to acknowledge the strength of the NDC, in terms of the usage of their brains.
I am giving you only 30 examples of areas and circumstances under which the brains of the NDC members have been utilised for their own benefit. I'll then pinpoint the areas where their intellectual prowess is either completely missing, or totally reduced. This would go a long way in sensitising Ghanaians about the sort of people and political party we are dealing with.
1. They only have the brains to rename national monuments and policies - from Golden Jubilee House to Flagstaff House, Ohene Djan Stadium to Accra Sports Stadium, and NYEP to LESDEP. They will never have the brains to build a Presidential Palace or single sports stadium.
2. They only have the brains to remove beneficiary schools of the school feeding programme to their strongholds. They will never have the brains to expand such programme to cover the entire country.
3. They only have the brains to add one or two structures to existing institutions and rename them two new public universities. They will never have the brains to expand existing infrastructure at any educational level.
4. They only have the brains to chase people out of toll booths, car parks, market centres, and tell the world that they have created 1.6m within two years. They will never have brains to create jobs for the youth.
5. They only have the brains to sell our oil, misapply the funds, and tell Ghanaians the oil revenue is insufficient. They will never have the brains to discover oil in commercial quantities.
6. They only have the brains to oppose free SHS and offer Ghanaians "edey bee k3k3". They will never have brains to implement such flagship policy or offer alternative.
7. They only have the brains to steal people's votes, and perpetuate themselves in power. They will never have brains to win elections in a free, fair, and transparent manner.
8. They only have the brains to lie, propagate, and "win" elections through the help of Afari Gyan and his Electoral Commission. They will never have the brains to develop the country in any way.
9. They only have the brains to dispose off Ghana International Airways and buy 5 Military Jets. They will never have the brains to buy at least one national courier for the 25m people.
10. They only have the brains to revert SHS duration from 4 years to 3 years. They will never have the brains to improve educational standards at the secondary level, keep the children there to learn more skills.
11. They only have the brains to rain insults anyhow on Christians, political opponents, cocoa growers etc They will never have the brains to differentiate between constructive criticism and insults.
12. They only have the brains to do tribal politics. But they will never have the brains to assess the consequences of tribal politics on the country's socio-economic, and cultural development.
13. They only have the brains to distribute school uniforms, drinking cups, and paint school buildings. They will never have brains to expand educational access.
14. They only have the brains to criticise pro-poor policies like NYEP, Metro Mass Transit, mass cocoa spraying, SFP etc. They will never have the brains to initiate such programmes.
15. They only have the brains to level blames on the opposition for their own failures. They will never have the brains to find solutions to such problems like energy and water crises.
16. They only have the brains to negotiate and pay any judgement debt behind close doors. They will never have the brains to challenge such debts at the law courts.
17. They only have the brains to pay GHC858m judgement debts to party cronies. They will never have the brains to use that money to provide free SHS to Ghanaian children.
18. They only have the brains to go for $1.5bn STX Korea deal in the name of affordable housing. They will never have the brains to complete over 5,000 units of affordable houses built by their predecessors.
19. They only have brains to celebrate Kwame Nkrumah's birthday with GHC48m yearly. They will never have the brains to use such money to reduce poverty.
20. They only have the brains to build a party headquarters valued at $20m. They will never have the brains to construct school buildings.
21. They only have the brains to sponsor their party foot soldiers to football tournaments with over $5m. They will never have the brains to invest such money in skills acquisition.
22. They only have the brains to accuse their opponents of behind any calamity - fire outbreaks, motor accidents, mining disaster, plane crash etc. They will never have the brains to put in any proactive measures to avert those disasters.
23. They only have the brains to make appointments anyhow - homosexual Vice President, Minister for Gender, Child, and Social protection. They don't have the brains to assess the impact of such appointments on the country's cultural and moral values.
24. They only have the brains to make political talks, turn black sheep into white cows, and find many ways to kill cats. They will never have the brains to make "economical talks", prove their allegations, or speak the truth for once.
25. They only have the brains to set up Heroes Fund to award victims of electoral violence. They will never have the brains to set up Economic Fund to empower such useless party foot soldiers.
26. They only have brains to donate $3m to Haiti, $3m to Mali, and $48,000 to Obama's wife. They will never have the brains to invest such funds into productive sectors in the economy.
27. They only have the brains to increase salaries of presidents from GHC5000 to GHC12,000, that of MPs from GHC3,600 to GHC7,200. They will never have brains to increase the salaries of teachers, nurses, and doctors, yet they brand them as 'drunkards', 'stupid', and 'murderers'.
28. They only have the brains to implement Cash and Carry system in the healthcare delivery. They will never have the brains to set up national health insurance scheme and free maternal care.
29. They only have the brains to pamper a sickly president to hang on to power, provide him with cups of coffee to keep him awake, and "kill" him eventually to pave way for John Mahama to become president. They will never have the brains to advise him to resign to save his life.
30. They only have the brains to set up fake Special Forces unit in the army to harass political opponents. They will never have the brains to resource the Ghana Police Service to fight crimes.
Folks, why do you support a diabolic party like the NDC? Don't you see they lack ideas to move Ghana forward? Can anybody tell me one major achievement of the NDC in the last four years? Can anybody just pinpoint one major policy or programme undertaken by the NDC since John Mahama became president 7 months ago? Don't you see Mother Ghana is 'dying' slowly? What legacy is the NDC leaving for the current and future generation - judgement debt payment, poverty, homosexuality, mediocrity, tribal politics, or what? Let's gird our loins and resist the misrule of these "political armed robbers"!
God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!
Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Enfield, London.
(Free SHS Ambassador) Official blog: (www.katakyie.com) [email protected] 07577626433 A native of Asante Bekwai-Asakyiri