If I Were President Mahama (6)

Fellow countrymen and women, I bring you warm greetings from the seat of government. I thank those of you who have been sending me messages of encouragement, and those who have been praying for me and our dear country.



Brothers and sisters, as you continue to work tirelessly in you small ways and also offer ceaseless payers towards the economic liberation of Ghana, I’ll also put in my best to take all the hard decisions and explore all the needed opportunities to make our country the cynosure for other countries.



Though I promised last week to discuss in detail the raging debate on the need for Ghana to revert to the Westminster model of governance, permit me to digress a little to some of the issues that made headlines last week.



Two days after today, the 2014 World cup, the 29thedition, will kick start in Brazil. Even before kickoff, so-called witch doctors have started consigning some of the key players to the injury bed. While I thought Ghana’s self-acclaimed and powerful witch doctor, Kwaku Bonsa, disgraced the country by proclaiming he caused the injury of the Word best player and Portuguese icon, Christiana Ronaldo, a Portuguese witch doctor, in a direct snide Kwaku Bonsa, was also reported to have said he also caused our defender, Jerry Akaminko’s ankle injury.

I consider these comments as sidelines theatrics of the world cup that would add spices to the one-month long fiesta. Though our own Kwaku Bonsa’s pronouncement baffled me, I was more taken aback when I heard the Portuguese witch doctor’s version. Why would he not go for world stars like the Essiens, K P Boatengs, Muntaris, Dede Ayews and the likes but Jerry Akaminko whose inclusion to the final 23 was even suspect, I asked myself.



For Kwaku Bonsa, why won’t he use his powers-if he has any, to assist the team bring the trophy than needlessly waste it on destroying a world superstar? Any person with little knowledge in Psychology would know that these two witch doctors are suffering from chronic Histrionic Personality Disorder. Are they not looking for undeserved attention?



The mentioning of the world cup pricks my mind of the controversies that have rocked my Sports Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, for deciding to sponsor some celebrities to the Brazil.



Elvis claims his decision was informed by a recommendation of a committee at the ministry. If that is true, then I say the recommendation came from his brother Yaw Ampofo Ankrah who is serving on almost all the world cup committees at the ministry.



There is no doubt Yaw has great knowledge when it comes to sports in general, but I strongly reject the family business being run at the Sports Ministry. I appointed Elvis and gave him an able deputy in the person of Joseph Yamin, but he used the backdoor to bring his brothers to the ministry as personal aides, and now to my utter surprise, Yaw I understand has been performing some duties that ordinarily the deputy Sports Minister should be doing.

I’ll travel to Brazil to witness the opening ceremony and also psyche our ‘boys’ to perform, although my faith in their competence to progress beyond the group stages is not what it was few weeks back when I proclaimed they bring the cup to Ghana. I’ll meet Elvis and his family affairs ‘team’ there.



But as soon as the stars return from the world cup, I’ll conduct some ‘demolishing exercise’ at the Sports Ministry. When it gets to that time, we’ll all know who the boss is. The reshuffle I’ve started should be enough to tell them I’m bent on revitalizing my administration to deliver.



The amount we’re wasting on the world cup, though huge with little benefits; could have been used to construct drains for the capital city to avoid flooding at the least downpour.

The whole of Accra got flooded on Thursday, and it took me several hours to tour some of the affected areas. I could have done something precious with the time I spent in visiting those areas if we had properly constructed drains and if the citizens had well behaved and stopped turning the drains into dumping sites.



I’ve advocated time and again for us to desist from disposing waste into open drains. It is the cause of the sordid situation we found ourselves anytime it rained in Accra. The MMDCEs should also be up and doing to stop giving permits to prospective builders who intended sitting their homes on water ways. I don’t want to be heard repeating these points again.



Now back to my main topic. Discussions on suggestions that Ghana at the present time discard the presidential system and follow the footsteps of her colonial master, Britain which practices the Westminster system of Governance is broad and I might not be able to finish discussing it this week.



As I stated last week, I identify myself with arguments advanced so far by Chairman of Antrak Air, Alhaji Asuma Banda and the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu. My support for the Westminster model was further consolidated when I read an article last week in The aL-hAJJ newspaper written by an American Law Professor with George Mason University, Prof F. H Buckley, advocating for America to opt for the system currently being proposed for Ghana.



The Law Professor in his insightful piece among other things implored Americans not to blame the ills of their country on my colleague and ‘brother’ President Barack Obama but on the executive presidential system. Likewise, I would also like to entreat Ghanaians to blame the difficulties we’re facing particularly the ones relating to corruption on the presidential system and not me.



The presidential system of governance which Ghana presently operates (though a hybrid, with some aspects of the British system) was copied from the United States of America after the country had practiced the Westminster model in the First and Second Republics under Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia respectively.

Since Ghana discarded the democratic parliamentary system for the presidential system where all powers in the country have been concentrated to one man, the president, there have been myriad of challenges as the system seems not to be working for the country. Governments, by virtue of this system, have become burden on the people as recurrent expenditure is often higher than capital expenditure which invariably impact negatively on the economy.

This is not to say the country was without challenges when it practiced the Westminster model. But for some little shortcomings of the system which Dr Busia cashed on to abuse and corrupt his office, we would have stacked to it. I don’t want to go into that, we can discuss that another day.



From the day Ghana started operating the presidential system, official figures of yearly budgets and audit reports from the Controller and Accountant General Department have revealed how the three arms of government, especially the Executive, have raped the country of huge sums of monies without positive dividends.

But despite the huge resources expended, government at all levels still faces the challenge of delivering dividends of democracy to the people as the cost of running government remains high under the presidential system. Ironically, the Executive of which I’m the head is the most expensive arm of government because of its high cost of maintenance.

To cut a long story short, the presidential system is unsustainable in the face of the country's dwindling economic fortunes. I believe we just have to take a decision, and go back to the Parliamentary System, which is less costly but more effective.

Though America, which is perceived as the richest and most powerful country in the world, does not run our type of excessive government, some governance experts are strongly advocating the country adopts the British system. In Ghana, most of the earnings of governments; mine is no exception, are dissipated on compensation (i.e, salary, pension, gratuity and allowances) payment at the expense of productive capital projects as a result, there is the urgent need to canvas support to revert to parliamentary system.

The Westminster model has proven not only to be cheaper, accountable and reliable; it also compels policy/decision makers to be responsible to parliament (representatives the people). In the parliamentary system, you have to vote for the people that will rule you than that of the presidential system where you vote for only one man, the president and to some extent, the vice president.

That is the kind of system we have in Ghana. It is not going to help the country. I call it a ‘semi-dictatorship’ which has greatly retarded our progress as a country. In the parliamentary system, you have to vote for everybody that is going to be part of the administration and parliament can hold anyone including, the prime minister responsible for any action or inaction.

Every participant in the administration is not accountable to one person as in the presidential system where all the ministers are appointed by the President and even when they are ineffective in the discharge of their duties parliament is incapacitated and powerless to deal with them.

The best and surest way to develop this country and fight corruption is to join the strong and growing opinion in the country for us to jettison the presidential system of government and go back to the parliamentary system we had at independence. As I mentioned earlier, there is better discipline of governance under the parliamentary system with the prime minister and opposition leader and all elected parliamentarians facing each other during debates in the National Assembly in the case of Britain.

A bulk of cases of corruption we’ve witnessed in the past and present times, and the often acrimonious infighting in political parties for flag bearer positions would have been irrelevant if the country was practicing the parliamentary governance.

As noted earlier, the cost of running government under the present system has always been an issue. To keep and maintain government, unfortunately at all levels, is scandalous when subjected to financial interpretations. This, however, can been traced to the presidential system of government which has encourage a rather needlessly large cabinet with corresponding financial implications. And given the peculiarity of the Ghanaian state, her heterogeneity has always provided an escape route for the costly system. Yet, this has continued to have far-reaching implications for us all.

The presidential system as practiced now has become the conveyer belt for corruption. The Executive alone determined who takes what and where monies should go. Though I’m a beneficiary of this system, I still think it was designed to deliver poverty and squalor to the citizenry.

The way forward now is the drafting of a new constitution. I’m not unaware of the fact that huge sums of money is being spent on the Constitutional Review Commission which is almost wrapping up it work, but the fact is, we need a sustainable and less expensive system that would guarantee checks and balance.

Assuming all the questionable payments we’ve made over the years as judgment debts had gone to government chest, we wouldn’t have gone chasing $3 billion from China, whose officials have cashed on to exploit us. If we have had parliamentary system is place, the Kufuor administration wouldn’t have created this mess of judgment debts for us to compound them.

We politicians are very crafty when it comes to stealing but we don’t exude same smartness when it comes finding solutions to our country’s ’problems. Had it not been that, why would a government that prides itself as having the best of lawyers in the country decided not to send agreements requiring parliamentary approval to parliament? By virtue of their training, they were smart to find some loose ends in the law and did their own thing and the effects of those dim-witted behaviors we’re grappling with now.



The present system, and I dare say Kufuor’s extravagance as president and ‘big boyism”, has made the presidency so attractive to all manner of persons. Because the position encourages corruption and has indeed, made corruption eye-catching, all manner of persons would kill to become presidents.



Why do you think people go at any length including borrowing monies to run for president? Because they see the presidency as a place where there is a pot of gold that when they get there they can dip their hands in it anyhow without been questioned.



Although there are a lot to be discussed on this subject, I may have to stop here for want of time. I’ll continue next week to look at how the system will work in Ghana. Until same time next week, stay out of trouble and enjoy the World Cup as it starts on Thursday. Don’t forget to offer prayers for the Black Stars.

Adieu!

A A Yayra

[email protected]

10-06-04