“Ghana, our beloved country is free forever…” says the one-time President with a vision, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Today, as I observe the sudden transitions that Ghana has made, I begin to wonder if indeed the nation is free and if what our visionary President in the first Republic declared was just a mere prediction with no substance or he really meant it without mincing words. It is indeed an inconvertible fact and truism that Ghana has over the years passed through the claws of several governments, from revolution to revolution. But is it just enough to make the country a paradise to live in?
Fifty-four years down the line and Ghana is still grappling with the same challenges that could have been avoided but are not dealt with until they explode. Each and every moment, we tend to be aggressive talkers but not impressive doers. Sometimes too, we tend to be good directors but awful actors. I think someone by now is getting bored with this entire proverbial parable but that’s supposed to be just an introduction.
Now, I would like to ask an intrigued reader a question; do you still call Accra, a Millennium City? If you ask me, I would say “think twice” because it is only a monument with a bold inscription “Accra; The Millennium City”. We seem to embrace our capital with this ceremonial name and overlook the true nature of the capital city. I strongly think we are just deceived and blindfolded by the beauty of Accra while our scary challenges stare at us.
One major challenge to this most beautiful city is the very problematic traffic congestion. The traffic congestion in the city is gradually swallowing up the entire city as many more places are daily affected and many more people are extremely stuck in the snarl-up for several hours before reaching their destinations.
Nowadays, people wake up only to meet a long tail of cars stuck in almost three-hour traffic congestion and one can virtually read “upset” on their faces. As if nothing can be done to eradicate such avoidable situation, people accept to remain unconcerned and give those who call themselves “our leaders” a breathing space.
The Major of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (A.M.A), Alfred Okoe Vanderpuiye, once decided to slip on his reflector and direct traffic as a gesture to be forever remembered when he could have pened down realistically better ideas to rescue us from such situation.
Although, the Major received a rapturous applause from people who thought he deserved it, I didn’t think and still don’t think there was any need for such waste. I personally did not opt for a Major who directs traffic for some days but can’t deal with the cause of such deadlock. Do we make any progress when people are caught in traffic for hours when they could have churned productivity out of those wasted hours?
Roads are constructed and what seems to be a blessing turns into misfortune for the country. Instead of constructing proper and long-lasting roads, our leaders rather pay huge sums of money to contractors and sit back thinking that the contractors would conjure better roads from heaven.
Did we vote for leaders who are only programmed to wear classy tuxedos and sit in the Parliament giving long speeches without actions? Once a while, we see the Honourable Minister for Roads and Highways, Joe Gidisu, paying a courtesy call on the contractors who always make available plans on board to show the country that they are assiduously executing their duties but after the one-time ministerial visit, return to their “tortoise” road construction.
I sometimes wonder if our Ministers and Members of Parliament really ply some of the roads in the country or rather board a flight since they seem not bothered by what is slowing down the progress of the economy.
After screaming and responding “Ye…Ye…” in Parliament, I thought they would cut down on their trips abroad and act out their promises to the ordinary Ghanaian. Accra which is persistently perceived to be Ghana has experienced recurrences of water shortages but has anyone taken the time to look at the seven days splashing of water from the fountain in the heart of Accra?
I mean when you walk around Circle, please take your time and observe the fountain there and you will one day attest to this truth. We have a fountain that flows seven days and splashes water seven days but little is done about our water shortages. Ghana has a magnificent Akosombo dam which sees no need in reserving water for the future but only pours out its rage whenever it is so filled up to the brim, yet we still battle with water problems.
There have been several torrential rainstorms and uncountable flooding incidents and I hoped by now, a certain leader would have slipped off his or her political cassock to rather find a possible solution to this life threat. But what they seem to do is sit idle and always defend their political parties as if flood has a political head.
We always complain about our poor drainage systems but does flood understand English? Why do we know the right thing but wait till the time that we will move in a convoy to shut the flood up? Our leaders must wake up from their slumber and know that this is not a dream.
People lose their items worth millions of cedis and others lose their loved ones together with their enemies during flood situations, yet we think this is just a natural disaster and we can’t avoid it. If it is so inevitable, then why did our President escape being flooded or why didn’t he dry his precious items in the sun because of this natural disaster?
I think I am asking so many questions when we are searching for answers and realistic solutions with people who are ready to betray their governments and parties just to save lives and also contribute immensely to the development of the country.
Not long ago, we saw an angel sent down from the United States of America to this country and huge billboards running into millions were raised to commemorate his coming.
This angel only came to reinforce what we already know by reminding us with the idea “let us build strong institutions” and after his departure, the former Minister of Sports, Alhaji Mubarak Mutaka, was alleged to have spent a whooping amount of money also counting into millions on diapers and his baby.
Few months, maybe a year later, we entered into an agreement with STX company to provide thirty-thousand housing capacity for long deserving men and women in service but this move turned into a big soccer match between the opponents and proponents of the deal. And after long days of infighting, the deal has suffered a major flop but our concerned leaders still hope that the STX deal will be revitalized as if that is the only way out.
Recently, doctors went on strike leaving several lives at risk and reminded Ghanaians and patients of furthering their education for seven years as if somebody forced anybody to spend such long years when they could have resorted to few years such as four or fewer such as two years.
We also had the President of the Ghana Medical Association reminding Ghanaians of the daily and weekly loss of lives at the various hospitals as if he and his cohorts did not also know that doctors daily live on meager salary.
I do not say this to attack doctors because in my lifetime I have come across several doctors and I can bet anybody that doctors’ work is very tedious, complicated and challenging but is that a fair basis for somebody to lose his or her parent when a doctor could have treated him or her to stay alive? Sometimes, it is really hard to talk about it since we all know that sickness is one fastest way to the grave.
But instead of the President acting as President but not as a party head, and our Ministers and other leaders acting as indeed leaders of the country, I guess they forgot themselves and thought they were just like me and any other ordinary citizen whose voice is never heard. I believe somebody might be anxious about me being this hard on our leaders but when we have leaders who appear to be systemically dormant, I think it is worth it to shake them up to face the reality.
Let’s return to what I was saying; instead of our leaders acting as leaders and dealing with the situation in a decorous and proactive manner, they rather ignited the fire with petrol which hardened the hearts of the unwilling strike-prone doctors. In as much as I agree that the doctors were holding the whole nation and the lives of the innocent people to ransom, I earnestly think our leaders starting with the President could have done better than resorting to blame tactics.
I don’t really understand why almost every government tends to blame the previous government for the country’s troubles and repercussions when these are the same reasons why they were voted into power. In fact, our God-fearing President did his best to resolve the impasse between the doctors and the nation but his best was just a teaspoon. Being God-fearing does not necessarily mean you should be so lenient and calm when Jesus one day even lashed out traders from the holy temple.
Furthermore, a Deputy Minister calls for the arrest of police officers for committing a lip blunder against him and the police officers’ conduct or misconduct is prejudged by the police service even before the police officers were taken through queries and investigation.
Let us assume without admitting that the police officers indeed called our dear Deputy Minister “Stupid”, how reasonable is it for a person of his caliber to be insulted if nothing struck anything? And especially for a man who virtually insulted anybody because he has risen to the top and would never be ousted out of power. Please, give me a break.
Are our leaders exhibiting their leadership skills or rather showing us how strong they can be with power?
Now to the concluding part of this boring article…in fact, our leaders are so boring and no wonder this article is also boring.
Recently, a magazine with the name “African Watch” (I don’t really know where it came from but it has been making waves though in the media outlets and the country) did a Political Performance Index about the Ministers and Members of Parliament.
Some scored higher grades while others had the shock of their lives. One specific bigwig who sailed through to the top was the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and MP for Kwabenya, Hon. Mike Ocquaye.I agree to the grading point that he attained in the magazine and in fact he is not really bad in terms of performance but I don’t also believe he has done much for his own constituency.
The bad and porous nature of the roads at Kwabenya will attest to this claim since apart from the place being affected by heavy traffic congestion, it is highly saddled with very poor roads featuring potholes.
I guess a reader is asking himself or herself why I have hammered on the lackadaisical behaviours of those who are supposed to lead the country but have not provided any measures to curb it. Well, it is because I happen to be just a concerned citizen whose voice is never heard.
Yesterday, it was the turn of the former President J.A.Kuffour…today; it is His Excellency J.E.A Mills who is dancing to the tune…who is next tomorrow?
Ghana is so sick…no wonder the people within are weak.
