It takes a lot of arrogance and chutzpah for a member of the ruling government to tell Ghanaians that they have to work hard. I am not sure whether it is unmitigated hubris, which detaches them from reality or pure contempt for Ghanaian that makes them insult the intelligence of their own countrymen. I read with astonishment a couple of days ago that the Head of the Human Security Department of the National Security Secretariat, Brig. Gen. Joseph Nunoo-Mensah speaking on Okay FM said going for the IMF loan will not help us.
Well, that is his opinion, but the alternative he suggested is what sent my blood boiling in my arteries. He asserted that what will improve the lot of Ghanaians is hard work, which was still within boundaries then he dropped the bombshell – the implied slippery word – patriotism. He said Ghanaians should die a little bit for their country. And I must say any leader who asks his people to die for their country is a scoundrel. The strength and prosperity of a nation is predicated on individual drive and desire to better their lot and not anybody committing suicide. Besides, there are people who die for their country; they are called soldiers. And of course, they get paid for their choice.

For all that insensitivity, this man was not done yet. The following day came his worse when he said on another radio station that Ghanaians are indiscipline. As I contemplated on his vituperative verbal odyssey the question I asked myself as I began to soliloquise: ‘just listen to who is speaking!’ A member of the ruling government having the incredible temerity to utter such pejorative statement in a time like this when people are dying because of their mismanagement was beyond me. The narrative of the struggles that families endure to set a table each day, that is if they have one, will suffice for the content of a mini tear filled drama. The economy is sinking beneath the waves. Though, going to the IMF is not the best option, however, if your head is just above the water wouldn’t you hold on to a lifeline, even, if it is coming from the IMF?

Now, since he has turn on the sluice gates I will play the game on his terms. To start with, what sort of hard work are they contributing to the national effort? Who should do the dying and who should enjoy? I don’t think our forefather who lived under colonial rule even experienced this blatant exploitation and humiliation at the hands of the British. Ghanaians have become literally slaves in their own land. And the sad part is that they are being enslaved by their own. As I write, he has probably got his business and investments that can cushion him against the constant depreciation of our legal tender. What about those who don’t have such firewall to protect themselves against the melting cedi. The currency needs to be stabilised immediately for those families who are gasping for breath due to the suicidal slide.

It will be an insult for him to look into the eye of a cocoa farmer who wakes up at dawn and returns at dusk and say that he is not working hard. How hard does he want Ghanaians to work? How many bones does he want sprained or fractured? In this day and age that wealth is created by brain power; sadly those who are privileged to have it scheme to get into the corridors of power, like he has, and through chicanery steal government assets and loot national coffers. Even to side with him, those who are not working hard are no fault of theirs. If you employ two people to do the work of one man you don’t have anybody to blame when they sit at their desk and try their probability skills on lottery numbers, or those who have access to computers playing games.

Whose fault is it when they have created a monstrous bureaucracy that is sucking the nation dry like a vampire? He should stop talking nonsense that Ghanaians are not working hard. Quite a few years back, a very prominent politician also made such silly twaddle that Ghanaians are lazy. Though, I am not going to mention his name, however, I believe you can recognise a pattern. The business practices that they will not countenance in their private enterprise are what they embrace with the government purse. There is a saying that there are no bad soldiers but bad generals. We have a leader who thinks that being a president is a candy party. Ghanaians do not provide presidential jet and all the perks of the jobs for nothing. They are provided so that he can make tough choices like retrenchment of the bloated civil service that they keep adding unnecessary presidential staffers and clean up the mammoth ghost name on the government payroll. What does he do instead? He rather up the ante on his promises – free sandals, sanitary pads, SHS and thousand and one that I cannot catalogue here.

Where was Nunoo-Mensah when the government sanctioned the creation of 45 new constituencies and 42 new districts? Does he know the financial implication to the national purse? Where was he recently when the President presented 4 wheel vehicles to those good for nothing chiefs who sell lands to multiple buyers and create chaos? I don’t seem to hear his voice when the nation is deluged with judgement debt, caused by their pettiness and criminal incompetence.

Whose fault is it when locally produced food rots in the hinterlands, because distributors cannot bring them to the cities where they are sorely needed due to bad roads? Whose responsibility is it to build roads in Ghana? If it is the individual then I will rest my case. Trunk and feeder roads turn into gullies during the rainy season while they spend billion dollars on useless loot and share scheme like GYEEDA. If Nunoo-Mensah does not know how to order his thoughts he should get out of the kitchen like he bleated out sometime ago.

To say that Ghanaians are indiscipline from a person like him is beyond me. I think he is the most indiscipline person in the country. If he is got any conscience left, at all, he will do Ghanaians a lot of favour by resigning his post in protest of the way the country is being managed. Who is more disorderly when members of the government connive with their cronies to steal money from the state? The $51.2 million that was paid to Woyome, which he probably got his share, could solve the problem of POTAG. I remember very well, initially, when the cloud started gathering they said everything was fine. I need not ask, but if everything was alright why the need to go to the IMF now? I blame Ghanaians for saddling themselves with this bunch of densely ignorant hicks and hacks who are just running the country down.

On a brighter note I hope he is talking indirectly to his colleagues rather the populace. For a start, they can do away with their superfluous luxurious lifestyle. Ministers with body guards; what are they afraid of? In London, where I live, the mayor of the metropolis, one of the most influential cities in the world, cycles to work. The people do normally learn from their leaders. What is done at the top is what will be copied by the lesser souls. For example, how many times do our MPs sit in Parliament and spend in their constituency surgery? In my candid opinion I think it will be rather appropriate for him to advice his colleagues to be selfless – especially those who are reaping where they have not planted a seed. Other than that, don’t sit on your Mount Olympus and spew garbage.

Philip Kobina Baidoo Jnr
London
baidoo_philip@yahoo.co.uk