Re: Leave NPP Projects To Rot- Dr. Tony Aidoo

May God Forgive Ghanaian Politicians For Their Wickedness; But May The Ghanaian Electorate Punish Them!

By Otchere Darko

*“Leave NPP Projects To Rot- Dr. Tony Aidoo
The Head of Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at the Presidency, Dr. Tony Aidoo has advised the ruling NDC government to leave projects and programs started by the erstwhile NPP government to rot. The shocking statement was made on Saturday, 31st January, 2011 on the pro-government radio station’s Alhaji & Alhaji program hosted by Alhassan Suhuyini.
This advice comes at a time the Times Newspaper reports of an almost completed but abandoned affordable housing project at Asokore-Mampong in Ashanti Region. According to the story, the project has been taken over by squatters who “have occupied portion of the uncompleted buildings after the various contractors had abandoned work for non-payment of jobs done”......” *[Culled from Ghanaweb General News of Saturday, 5 February 2011; Source: Faisal Ibrahim].

I could never believe that my eyes were reading and reporting to me the above. I read it a couple of times and pondered over it. Memories of similarities rolled across the lens of my mind’s eyes, confirming the correctness of what I was seeing. Like re-watching a bad movie seen over and over again, my mind’s eyes saw with repulsion all the numerous government projects abandoned by successive Governments after 1966, 1972, 1981, 2001; and now by this Mills’ Government..... the numerous projects started by previous governments and abandoned by their successors for no justifiable reasons, other than because they were started by previous governments that they, the new ones, hated. *The Asokore-Mampong project mentioned in the above cull is only one of the several. And for a PhD holder to have reportedly given advice to his ruling party to leave the projects of its predecessor “to rot”, is a clear affirmation of the wickedness, short-sightedness, and shallow-mindedness or, perhaps, even stupidity of some Ghanaian politicians and their parties, or their governments. It also shows why, in some cases, [and just “in some cases”], the holding of high qualifications like PhD does not necessarily mean that “such holders are suitable” for high political offices.

As a constitutional remedy against this negative behaviour by Ghanaian parties in government, I suggest that the Constitutional Review Commission should use the on-going review to amend Article 35 (7) which falls under Chapter Six of the Constitution, to ensure that no Ghanaian Government can abandon a project or programme commenced by a previous government, unless it makes a case for, and wins “an intention to abandon” such a project or programme. *As things stand now, a new government can choose to abandon any project or programme commenced by its predecessor or predecessors, because the Constitution gives a new government wide discretionary power through Article 35(7) which states: “As far as practicable, a government shall continue and execute projects and programmes commenced by the previous Government.” *The weakness of this provision is that it gives a new government the right to choose to abandon a project started by its predecessor without challenge, since the new government can always argue that the continuation of such project or programme is not “practicable”. The Constitution fails to define what it means by “as far as practicable”. The meaning of “as far as practicable” can be based on “financial availability, or otherwise for the project or programme”; or it can be based on “the compatibility, or incompatibility of the project or programme in relation to the new party’s ideology or its own programmes”; or it can be on “the new party’s own assessment of the economic viability, or non-viability of such project or programme”. In my opinion, because of the tendency for new governments in Ghana to abandon projects of their predecessors for reasons that are almost always based on ideology, rather than on economic consideration or logic, the said provision should be amended to compel any new government that intends to abandon, permanently or temporarily, any project commenced by a previous government to seek “authorisation” from either the High Court or Parliament. In my view, the High Court would be better than Parliament, since there is always the likelihood that a Ghanaian Parliament that is heavily weighted towards the new government because of the size of its majority will support any motion brought by the Government. If the authorisation has to come from Parliament, which is the more likely procedure that will be preferred by many constitutional experts regarding the exercise of control over executive actions of this nature, then it should be by a majority of 75% of all members in such a Parliament, to make it hard for parties with majority in Parliament to use their majority to kill projects of their predecessors for partisan reasons. The amendment should specifically make it compulsory for all previous projects and programmes, commenced by former governments but not completed by them, to be continued and completed by new governments, unless they, the new governments, make and win cases, or motions of “intention to abandon” such projects or programmes, at the High Court or Parliament, as the amendment may provide and direct.

As a second but individual remedy, I also suggest that Ghanaians should use their own “thumbs” and the protection granted by the electoral booth to punish any party that tries to play partisan politics with the wellbeing of Ghana and the lives of Ghanaians, by voting against any governing party that behaves so recklessly as Tony Aidoo is advising the NDC to do. Unless the electorate use the ballot box to punish parties that misbehave, Ghanaian politicians will ruin the country, not only through their thievery, but also through their wicked behaviour, such as abandoning projects or programmes started by their predecessors for partisan reasons, and to the detriment of the Ghanaian economy.

Source: Otchere Darko; [This writer is a centrist, semi-liberalist, pragmatist, and an advocate for “inter-ethnic cooperation and unity”. He is an anti-corruption campaigner and a community-based development protagonist. He opposes the negative, corrupt, and domineering politics of NDC and NPP and actively campaigns for the development and strengthening of “third parties”. He is against “a two-party only” system of democracy {in Ghana}....... which, in practice, is what we have today.]