The most fundamental ingredient of any functional democracy is the prevalence of good education. How can we teach when we lack knowledge and how do we understand the intricacies in our national economy vis-à-vis the dynamics in the international circles, its politics and the truth when we lack education. We are in our current economic mess because most of our people are either uneducated or half baked and interestingly, a good number of the few educated ones are the most dangerous and dishonest people around, and that is the bane of our democratic process. Majority of the educated ones are greedy, power driven and selfish; they lack ethics and integrity which explains the hugemongus corruption in our nation. As we speak, D.C.E. Offices have become extension of Urban Roads Dept where contracts are awarded; officers of Urban Roads then increase contract sums only to be taken and given to them by the contractor and this is the Ghana we live in. That notwithstanding, we also lack leadership and drive in our society characterized with indiscipline, corruption, nepotism and sycophancy. We have chosen poverty in the midst of our enormous endowments as a result of poor leadership, greed and bad judgment on behalf of the populace on the heels of tribalism, nepotism, hatred and lack of objectivity.

Why should thinking Ghanaians allow ourselves to be manipulated like economic entities by shrewd managers of our political systems who are smart enough to know that most of us can be bought at any time for any paltry price as alluded by Hon.Victoria Hamah and confirmed by the rising to power of people like Dr Bisiwu, Hon. Fiifi Quartey, Hon. Mutala, Hon. Kwaye, Hon. Ebo Burton and Hon. Ablakwah? Yes, Vicky was right because no matter where and how you got your money you can buy power preying on the weak, poor and the intelligent few. Even when the road is raggedy and times are really tough like the current economic mess, there are still many of us who will vote to maintain the status quo despite their deep understanding of the present situation for either tribal reasons or a match box with GC50.00 (fifty Ghana cedis). How can we develop as a nation and thrive in prosperity when our thought process hovers around tribalism and nepotism, putting square pegs in round holes? I do not know whether it is part of our mix as black people because we lack objectivity in our everyday life allowing our politicians, most of who are tricksters, corrupt and power driven to take us for a ride. How do we explain the actions and inactions of people of the Northern Region regarding SADA, a program established to help them when their own people tasked with the project management squander the funds earmarked for the scheme without any protestation? We simply do not understand the issues because the same people who are being duped will convinced themselves with certain reasons and vote to maintain the status quo notwithstanding the magnitude of their crime for tribal reasons.

What has changed in Ghana before and after voting President Mahama into office? Corruption was widespread characterized with atrocious judgment debts scandals and so it is now with Gyeeda, Subah,Taba etc. Ghanaians by our behavior have confirmed that corruption has no consequence so what are we complaining about with the Gyeeda, Subah, Sada, Taba mess? We all knew about Woyome’s scandal and all the participating gladiators in the arena and yet our brothers and sisters of Cape Coast voted for Hon. Ebo Burton Odro who incidentally is the Deputy Speaker of our honorable parliament. Wonders will never end in this very intriguing part of the world with complex people and intricate mindsets.

Where is Mrs Bettey Mould Iddrissu and the back to work Mr Samuel Nequaye –Tetteh? Mrs Iddrisu is walking on the streets in Accra as a free person and Mr Tetteh is back to work with promotion having taken GC400.000 ( four billion old cedis) in the form of a cheque from Mr Woyome while the poor citizen who stole plantain is languishing in jail. He claims the money was a loan but how can you take such huge amount of money using half to buy a property at Ridge and the other to invest in Treasury Bills and still deem it as such? This is a strange country with strange people; how can we ignore all the problems of our car- bad battery, poor tires, bad engine, poor brake system, worn brake pads with its attendant drunk driver and expect to get home safely? God does not reward stupidity because He gave us brains to think and reason like human beings. Our governance is a joke with fresh college graduates assuming leadership to shepherd us to the promise land. Are we serious as a nation when we employ these misfits in the midst of our abundant human capital?

Ghana, unfortunately, is like the father of a family who collects his monthly pay, further secures a bank loan but refuses to pay for house expends including rent and food, and yet has the impudence to tell the wife that he is broke. We borrow money like confetti and wastefully spend like crazy on intangible, and expect the economy to magically hold. When Dr Akoto Ossei admonished the government for excessive borrowing and the emerging interest rates, people in the likes of Dr Dufour and Hon. Fiifi Kwetey insisted that the economy was in good hands. Hon. Fiifi Kwetey had stated that debt is good if it is geared towards capital development and I question myself, what have been achieved in the last 6 years to warrant all the excessive borrowing to date? What accounts for the hugemongus loans contracted to date which is larger than the entire loans contracted since impendence? Mr President, to what use did you put our monies into now that you are feverishly taking us back to HIPC for the second time? God created us in His own image and gave us brains; He is the embodiment of wisdom, a creator who was kind enough to grant us our enormous natural resources translating from gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, timber to oil. He, however, did not guarantee us prosperity because He gave us brains and expected us to function like cells and organs in our body to ensure growth but what do we see? We cannot even copy what others have used their brain power and resources through research to implement. Oh! No. we need to cry for our beloved country, mother Ghana. Our situation is a piteous spectacle, a sorry one and an affront to our existence as rational human beings because we cannot change the status quo as a result of our body politics and ignorance.

What kind of leadership did we offer to merit our status as the 9th worst mismanaged nation in the world of about 213 sovereign nations? Why are we not getting our foreign grants from donor nations? Oh! Yea!!!, that is the price of poor leadership when we borrow and waste money like confetti with no financial discipline and have the power to tell us that the meat is gone and left with bones so we should tighten up. How can the economy hold when we give away CARS like confetti to party functionaries? How did we finance the over 100 containers of items during the elections for distribution knowing very well that most of our people are economic entities? How can the economy hold when the Office of the President alone over spends by Gc 600 million ( C6 trillion old cedis); NADMO and SPP( Social Protection Programs) over spending by Gc 300 million( C3 trillion old cedis) and Gc700 million( C7 trillion) respectively. What happened to the Masloc Director Mrs Bertha Sogah who gave GC 5 billion to her husband? What happened to Mr Worlanye Agra in the Maputo report? What happened to Hon Bisiwu and her S5miilion saga at the airport? Where is our sense of responsibility and financial discipline to lead this nation? The Kayayo on the street does not understand this terrible impasse and those who do, the sycophants are just impervious to reasoning. If the leadership can mismanage our finances like this, what rights do we have to preach patriotism and ethics when the ordinary person cannot put on the table?

In this hard and harsh economic times, morality has broken down and prostitution is the order of the day in our schools and on our streets; cost of living is astronomically high and it is now survival of the fittest as there are no jobs; people who can make sense of the current terrain have become sycophants in order to take care of their big stomachs; in certain schools sex is the weapon for good grades and so it is for employment. We are in a serious state of disrepair because we have lost our sense of self, our identity as the young people insults the old to score political points. It is now exploitation of man by man (dog eat dog); corruption has eaten very deep into our social fabric to the disadvantage of the ordinary citizen; Government officials uses their offices as the gold mine and anybody who criticizes the government is attacked and chastised by the likes of the Mutala’s, Twum Boafo’s, the Fiifi’s, the Kwakye’s etc.

Ghana is a failed state; 8 month behind our statutory payments, public debt soaring to the roof (near HIPC), no jobs, high cost of living etc. We are in this mess because we have refused to think. When Nana Addo projected free education as the only way to make us competitive, the smart managers of the NDC campaign organize people from a certain ‘island’ to say that “We don’t want free education” and we believe them. This is the country we live in, governed by tricksters who want us to behave like the Kayayos, the greater number of our people who do not understand the machinations of the governmental machinery. Yes! The good, the bad and the ugly will one day pass on to eternity where they will answer charges on their leadership roles. President Mills, Vice President Aliu Mahama, Hon Kojo Baah Wiredu are all gone and so will we. People are seriously suffering and if we can cause this unwarranted pain in the midst of plenty for our own personal aggrandizement then we have charges to answer one day. May the good Lord grant us the functional wisdom to think and do the right thing because He does not reward stupidity specially when He has given us brains in addition to our enormous human capital and material resources ( gold, diamond, bauxite, timber, manganese and oil). God save mother Ghana.



Nana kwaboadu Edusei, Charlotteville, Va USA