Opinions of Tuesday, 14 February 2023
Columnist: Frank Kuanyawo
2023-02-14Is President Akufo-Addo Ghana's Problems?
The flag of Ghana
Is President Akufo Addo Ghana’s Problems?
First, we must admit that Ghana belongs to us all. It does not belong to particular families or some group of people.
Even if there is a change of government today, the problems of Ghana will be more severe. There is nothing we are experiencing under Akufo Addo’s government that has never been experienced under the previous
Read full article.governments in the fourth republic. Is it corruption? Then we truly have short memories.
Too many ignorant people are in politics. Many are also confident in their ignorance. Is parliament productive? Based on the salaries we pay our workers and their productivity and what we pay our parliamentarians and their productivity, can we say the parliamentarians deserve such salaries? Of late, the young parliamentarians that we think should bring new and better ideas for development have only resorted to gossiping and rumor mongering.
Good thinkers solve problems and they always have hope for a better future. Good thinkers rarely find themselves at the mercy of ruthless people who would take advantage of them. We have failed to think as a country since 1993. We cannot continue to use the old methods to achieve new results. It is time to use new methods to achieve new results.
I have always maintained that life is not hard, it is people that are bad. Our biggest problem is, we keep meeting and listening to bad people so they give us a bad look at life and a bad look at Ghana.
l have also maintained that, we can all not be equal but we can all be happy together. Some may be kayaye, truck pushers, market men and women, and others may be teachers, doctors, engineers, musicians, politicians, president of the country and the list continues but we will be happy together if we are all ready to build Ghana together in truth and in honesty with the mind that whatever we are doing in private and in public is being watched by ONE MAN that is God and we will bear the consequences of our actions one day. We are all responsible for the current economic situation in Ghana today.
It is normal to live without food in our homes some days. It is also normal to not get money to pay our children’s school fees and allow them to stay home for a few weeks when schools reopen. Many want to breakthrough but they are not ready to go through. Our generation is becoming impatient and therefore resorting to shortcuts to solve problems.
Thinking is therefore required but thinking is hard work which cannot be done by lazy people and by those that are not ready to go through challenges in life. Life is full of challenges and our responses to the challenges makes us who we truly are.
6th January, 2025 will be exactly thirty-two years in the fourth republic. What will be the achievements of Ghana then? Our greatest achievement will be one thing; the politicians have become richer than the country they were put in office to transform. Very shameful. And for the rest of us, can we trust ourselves that the properties we own come from our salaries/income and they are genuine? What about the people who refer to themselves as businessmen and businesswomen? How do they get their contracts? Are they paying the right taxes? And what about the church of God? Is the church an example to the people of the country? Or the church is rather motivating people to steal. Who are the church elders and church leaders according to the book of Timothy? The so-called church today rather celebrates criminals.
The church is often partial to the rich because it mistakenly assumes that riches are a sign of God’s blessing and approval. The church has forgotten that God does not only promise us earthly rewards or riches; in fact, Christ calls us to be ready to suffer for him and give up everything in order to hold on to eternal life (Matthew 6:19-21; 19:28-30; Luke 12:14-34;Romans 8:15-21; 1 Timothy
6:17-19).Christianity brings a new dignity to the poor and not so called influential people of this world.
That dignity is most apparent in the church where there are not (or should not be) any class distinctions. All believers share the distinction and dignity of being changed by the gospel. Is the opposition providing constructive criticisms to the government or they just want to come to power to enrich themselves? Is the party in power accountable to the people of Ghana for the loans it takes? What caliber of people do we elect to office as parliamentarians and president?
Is the election influenced by money or knowledge, experience and skills needed to build a nation? Is admission to tertiary institutions done fairly? How are people selected for fee paying in the universities? And are fee paying students in the same lecture room with the regular students? What criteria is used to select students for fee paying? What about the selection of students to the senior high schools? Have we taken time to check the aggregates of the students selected in a particular school and that of those who are rejected in that same school with regards to their various programmes? Is honesty our habit? I have also maintained that if someone steals GHC1.00 and another steals GHC1,000,000.00, they are all thieves. Sin is sin.
Politics is not for boys and girls. Politics in developing countries like my beloved Ghana which is endowed with all the rich mineral resources and rich human capital resources should be for those who have achieved great feats in their private lives and are ready to sacrifice their time and energy to contribute to the development of the country. These people have experience and
exposure and understand how the corporate systems work. Let us not forget that developed countries like America are built with high intelligence, hard work, honesty and prayer.
Unfortunately for us in Ghana, It is different. Anything goes. Politics in Ghana is for those who have the money. Therefore the right people are not in politics. We have only a few genuine politicians. Corruption has become the order of the day. The majority of the politicians put their interest first before that of the country.
So far, we have two major political parties which have been in the hem of affairs from the beginning of the fourth republic. What were the observations? During this period, the minority had it say and the majority had its way. The very thing a party opposed while in opposition, the same party supported that same thing when in power. The NDC ruled for 16 years.
On 6th January, 2025, The NPP will come to the end of its 16-year rule. What is the way forward for Ghana after Akufo Addo’s government?
The population of Ghana is only about 30 million. Compared to the resources available to us as Ghanaians we do not need any foreign aid.We don’t need the IMF. We should be self-sufficient.
Our major problem is the CONSTITUTION. We must rewrite the constitution before the end of President Akufo Addo’s second term in office. The president's office has too much power.
Nobody is putting pressure on anyone to go into politics. It is a public office and only those who are ready to sacrifice for the nation should be entertained. It should not be a lucrative place for everyone.
Anyone who wants to go into politics should have a minimum of first degree and ten (10) years working experience. The person shall declare his or her assets including bank details. A Parliamentarian should serve for only four terms. We don’t need 275 members of parliament.
Between 100 and 150 members will be enough for Ghana for now because they are only to make laws for the country. We have district assemblies that are responsible for developments of the districts and constituencies.( For example, one member of parliament for Tongu in the Volta region is enough). Befitting salaries be given to the members of parliament just as any public office holder in Ghana.
No ex gratia for politicians. Ex presidents and wives should be taken
care of but the state should not build houses for them. Ghana does not need more than 40 ministers of state. The sale of state vehicles to only politicians should stop. Winner takes all should be abolished. An all inclusive government should rather be put in place. We can not afford to see Abu Sakara, Spio, Kumbuor, Alibi, Greenstreet, and many other good brains sitting idle when the NPP is in power.
Akufo Addo’s government has also failed us but there is no alternative outside the NPP right now. The one we hear of is more scary. Despite the fact that Akufo Addo’s government has failed us, it has implemented two major policies that serve as the foundation for us to begin the journey from the third world country to the first. These policies are FREE EDUCATION and DIGITALIZATION. It takes only leaders with vision to understand the value and the impact of
these two policies.
We are all involved in the building of Ghana. Honesty, high intelligence, hard work, and prayer should be our habits. Let the words of our National Anthem and that of the National Pledge be our guiding principles. Let us stop the politics of insult, character assassination, lies, propaganda, hatred and tribalism. Politics is about the exchange of ideas, achievements, and facts. Politics should not divide us.
