A Sloppy Ghanaian Economy and Ghana08 Fever

It is highly uncharacteristic of a football loving nation like Ghana, that barely a week to the start of Africa’s biggest fiesta, it took the whole Minister of State at the Education Ministry to come and explain why there is lack of enthusiasm among Ghanaians towards the tournament (Ghanaweb SportsNews of January 10, 2008). As the passion of the nation as well as one of the tools of recognition that helped and continues to help place Ghana well on the world map, football has always been the rallying point for Ghanaians from all walks of life, and the build-up to each and every tournament, involving any of our national teams, whether at home or 12 hours away, has seldom been this much lackadaisical.

Ghanaians have stayed “later than late”, and in some cases have done the most unthinkable, not so long ago, just to feed their greatest passion of cheering their beloved national teams playing in far away lands across the world, even at times when those teams did not seem to have the usual Ghanaian caliber of skill and agility. In most of those cases, the enthusiasm and moral of the average Ghanaian fan has always been “roof-top” high.

It is therefore unthinkable that, today, presented with the best chance of making history by virtue of the fact that we have, undoubtedly, one of the strongest teams not only in Africa, but also in the world and a home advantage, Ghanaians would be rather slow in coming to their usual rallying point.

I love to be optimistic, that is why I think this might as well not be the fate of our beloved fiesta, in spite of the fact that the four-nation tournament that was meant to beef-up enthusiasm did not seem to do much and also Togo and Burkina Faso not being in the tournament will not be helping matters.

It is hard to assign a reason for this phenomenon other than the fact that Ghanaians have no money right now. For the past seven years, after the election of a “property-owning-by-any-means” government, a government by the few and for the few, the average Ghanaian has seen his or her income dwindle to undignified levels, while their most basic financial obligations like food, transportation, and entertainment have more than quadrupled.

While it is obvious that those at the top of the economic food chain and those connected to government are making great progress, it is equally sad and shameful that government policies and actions have tended to put the most undue pressure on the middle class and the poor in society.

It is an irony to know that just a few weeks ago, all well meaning Ghanaians, and indeed, some NPP presidential candidates were alarmed at how the system was being flooded with too much cash in just one primary election, and today Ghanaians cannot afford forty (40) Ghana Cedis to watch a game of football which only comes once in a life time. They would now have to resign to the fact that their only hope is in that little box called Television. In that case, the game could have been played in Afghanistan or Zimbabwe and it would still not make a difference.

Reading from her words, one could only feel a sense of desperation and pessimism coming from the Minister of State at the Education Ministry, Miss Elizabeth Ohene, who without doubt, is one of the most under-performing ministers in this under-performing government. “A few things could go wrong; so what? That is natural. The most important thing is not to panic but stay optimistic and collectively put our best foot forward for a great tourney." ……"It is in our interest to do things that will ensure that together, we will feel proud in the end that we delivered a fabulous tourney that will continually sell the name of Ghana far and near". (Ghanaweb SportsNews of January 10, 2008).

Well, a lot of things have already gone wrong for the common Ghanaian and it is time to do a little reality check. With a government that busies itself expanding and duplicating positions like Minister of Education and Minister of State at the Education Ministry, just to please the privileged few, it is not surprising that today Ghana is notoriously known in the world for either drug trafficking or child labour. It was only this week Joy FM reported that three US Senators came to Ghana to work on reducing the prevalence of child labour. How low can we get after HIPC?

As if by divine intervention, this is an election year and every Ghanaian is faced with a simple choice of good or bad, absolute change or same-old. I truly believe this is a year for real change. Change from a president and his ministers who would jump at any opportunity to travel abroad at the peril of domestic problems just to make a little per-diem which was raised from $70 to $250 in early 2001. Change from a government that believes in divide and conquer and goes about sowing seeds of division all across the country just to keep power. Change from an arrogant presidential candidate who believes it is his right to rule Ghana at any cost. Change from a government and a party, as well as its sympathizers who find glory and pride in drug trafficking and tarnishing the hard earned reputation of our beloved nation.

Thank God that, with change being unavoidable this year, the Ghanaian has been provided with a cocktail of alternate leaders who have varying backgrounds and leadership experiences. However, with a divided Nkrumahist front, one (CPP) lead by a strong NPP mole and the other (PNC) in the grips of a strong self-centered lone-ranger; while the DFP continues to taxi and never able to take-off into political realty, it is obvious that God’s answer to our prayer is the NDC’s Prof. John Evans Atta Mills who is a selfless, dignified, likeable and a people’s person.

All round the world and most especially in Africa, political leaders seldom come with the character and personality of Prof. Mills. A politician with a great sense of honesty and respect for the life of the common person to the extent of defying his party’s objection to a rigged election in 2004 in order to ensure peace and avoid mayhem, is a blessing which comes once in a century to an African country like Ghana. Some have said that what is happening in Kenya today can never happen in Ghana, but they want to forget the fact that if Prof. Mills had pushed the system in 2004, Ghana could have been worst than Kenya today. Others have argued that it was a sign of weakness, but seeing Kenya today proves that it was a classical show of selflessness, love of one’s nation and great personal sacrifice.

As a proven social democrat, Prof. Mills would bring absolute change from the present chaotic “property-owning-by-any-means” government. We will have a president who will invest his attention in the common Ghanaian and put peace at home ahead of peace elsewhere. We will also have a natural diplomat for president who would understand that before he can broker peace in another country he needs to be invited so that he will not disgracefully returned from a taxiing plane.

Reading his policies from www.attamills08.com, it is easy to become a convert to the humble professor because he clearly puts the welfare of every Ghanaian at the centre of all his policies. With his rich experience in managing various sectors of the Ghanaian society and being one of our greatest public servants, no one deserves the opportunity to lead Ghana like this great industrious son of our great nation.

At this juncture in our history, coming out of eight years of not only an uninspiring leadership, but also a vulgar and greedy government, it is time to hand over this country in a landslide election this year to a man who has spent all his life, both in good and in bad times, teaching, managing, mentoring and leading a broad section of Ghanaians. This is a man who believes good quality education is the right of every Ghanaian child and not the privileged few. A man who believes that a golden age of business cannot be achieved by declaration, but by creating a dynamic and rapidly growing economy that attracts business. This is a man who believes that healthy people are productive people.

Finally, as more Ghanaians ponder this year on where their next meal will come from or whether to sacrifice their next meal for their greatest passion, it is important we all remember that, this is a golden year in our multi-party democracy when we the people get the power back and can send a strong message to the NPP that we are tired of not only the rot and greed, but also the incompetence, nepotism and divisiveness.

Election 2008, Power to the People!