Ghana’s literate “illiterates” , Can we solve our dilemma ?

On 11/06/2009 I posted an article on the deepening of democracy in Ghana . That means going beyond the facade of the ballot box It dealt with the representative government as we have it and how the “ New Patriotic Party” as it calls itself goes about selecting the representatives . Representative means speaking for or “standing or acting for another especially through delegated authority , b : of, based on, or constituting a government in which the many are represented by persons chosen from among them usually by election’

3 : serving as a typical or characteristic. From the above it will be obvious that all sections need to be included and so heard . It therefore become unrepresentative and hence undemocratic if this is not done as all constituents are not represented and will not be heard It has nothing to do with tribalism as this is just one component: but included are arguments for a balance in gender, religion, and I may add even in professional aspects. A company that is successful will have on its Board of directors Human resource , Financial, Operational experts that will give their input before a decision is made. Fellow Ghanaians , let us Look at the top Hierarchy of the NPP and state if it is composed of such diversity or blend ? Thus having said that I am accused of fomenting tribalism or I am a tribalist. How can I speak for some one from Bawku , not knowing their culture, interests and desires ? How can people who live in the “ Ivory Tower’ know the needs of those of us who are “ veranda boys” or even” shoe shine boys”? Boarding “ Tro Tro” for a day or having a Nima “concubine” does not give an insight into our problems and so how to solve them. Perhaps that is why a lot of times I advocate for solutions from other third world countries instead of the first world

Tribal Bashing . There are laws against “hate crime”. Tribal, gender and religious bashing fall under hate crime. We have just witnessed a Maj Hassan who snapped under that kind of degradation. The result is 13 dead and 31 wounded . Fellow Ghanaians, is that what we want for our dear and beloved country? It takes one person to snap and then there will be mayhem . Those who study psychology know full well the result of mob action and mass hysteria . The Major is a well educated person but reached his “ threshold” I know there are a lot of us who view being “ abroad “ as equivalent to being “ Educated” I understand in New York we have all nationalities under the earth living together. Can you live there and “ spew” out this kind of tribal , gender and religious hatred? Or are we like the proverbial “ ostriches” with our heads buried in the sand? Why can we not learn from our environs? That is “ EDUCATION” . So my question is, what benefits do we derive from the insults except to show our inferior complex? Have you ever noticed those who practice discrimination are those who have been subjected to it most?

Ghana’s Challenges . Ghana is in a mess and even our immediate past leader , Kuffour admits the issue is a leadership one . Does it not mean our selection process of leaders is flawed and hence the decisions they make are flawed? The facts are there for all to see. We are an indebted country that cannot even feed itself. We borrow money to meet our recurrent expenditure as our revenue collection is inadequate. We cannot run our institutions professionally and we blame doctrines for the failure . We are corrupt as evidenced by Ghana@50 and M& J episodes Our streets and gutters are cluttered and filthy . We have an aimless educational system ,if what we have can be called a “ system”. How can you explain schools registering 0% pass rate for 8 years and those who pass have no skills to work with and end up selling dog chains .Can we deny these? But we are caught up in ideological mind set and have set barriers for ourselves. Most of us do not even understand what we are fighting for . There is a monster called “ socialism and communism” for some people . They go to hospital for free and live on the University campus in State buildings and once upon a time went to college paid for by the State . They travel on the roads of the State . Some of them are overseas enjoying national Health benefits of their countries, Food Stamps when Unemployed and State free housing and will cry out against the system . Can we sit down and educate ourselves about the various systems we live in , in the UK, Germany, France, Norway and other Scandinavian countries? We can then model ours on the ones that work best . Ignorance is NOT BLISS but a disease

“ The business of government is not the business of creating employment” .Sarfo- Manu Of the NPP . So they argue as that is for the private sector ,BUT accept directorships ,managerial positions and even dismiss incumbents in the civil service and state institutions and of State enterprises to make way for their own. .They argue , the State institutions will be inefficiently run . True , as displayed by the NIB director funding the campaign of an NPP Flag bearer to the tune of $700,000 , or the Ghana Airways debacle How patriotic were these and how can the Institutions make profit? Were our resources used efficiently? Let us compare to a South African bank “Volskas” or S A Airways making profit and still owned by the State. There are many of these that started as State Funded and are now PLCs. What of all these Chinese Companies doing projects in Ghana? Who owns them? Is it not a fallacy that you cannot attract foreign investment if you are perceived to be a “socialist” State? How come we have Western Capital in “Communist China?” After 50 years of waiting for the entrepreneurs and private capital , should we continue to wait? Mr. Anton Rupert was a man from South Africa. He had money , millions of it. He wanted to build a Hotel so he flew in his Private helicopter and landed on a spot in the bush. That place is now Mpongo Park . Those of you who will have the good fortune to visit that place will know what I mean . How many Ghanaians have that kind of attribute ? If yes do they have the capital? If yes ,then where have they put the investments and the jobs? For how long shall we follow blindly ideologies or wait ?

Solutions I have said the best way out of fighting over limited resources is the “Growing of the National Cake” Let me ask a question. It is about a year since the last election. A lot have been written about the “Murderous JJ, useless , blind, and dump Mills and the “ecomini” and these Togolese Ewes” How much did it change your Bank accounts? If it did not, then, have you not wasted your time? Could you not have turned it into a more useful purpose? It is said “madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result” So instead of arguing , let the State invest in what it can while creating a climate for private investment as well. Let us take an Audit of our resources and plan how best to use these to generate income and create wealth. Let us come up with ideas as to how to more efficiently collect taxes so at least we fund our recurrent expenditure and not have to go a begging . Those in the Diaspora, instead of doing the country down can you interest investors to come to Ghana. Opprah is COMING , that is more exposure . Those in positions of decision making, can you sometimes listen to those in the Diaspora. ? They are all not crazy or threatening. Let us look at the opportunities instead of everything being a threat

Corruption. This is a cancer, so can we all get united and drive it out? This affects of all us. Fellow country people let us concentrate on the positives. We have a lot of resources. While we fight, others will take them from us. The choice is ours. Let us craft a common vision, common plan , common implementation formula and victory will be ours . Let us revitalize “ Patriotism anew”

Kojo Tamakloe Is a Pan Africanist who believes a United Africa will be a reality . A common market, one judicial system, one federal parliament and a vision to create a better life for our motherland and continent