LET OUR LEADERS BE MODEST IN THE DEMANDS THEY MAKE ON THE PUBLIC PURSE!

Former President Kufuor’s recent defence of the proposed ex-gratia payments to members of the former parliament has generated a great deal of public comment. His critics point to the “unprofessionalism” displayed by members of that particular parliament the former president commends so highly – who apparently simply approved Mr. Kufuor’s own ex-gratia payment as a matter of course: without actually ever examining it in any detail whatsoever.

Such critics also chide Mr. Kufour for what they say is the cynicism contained in his assertion that those opposed to the ex-gratia payments to those parliamentarians did not know the “value” of their work in parliament – by pointing out the fact that in similar fashion, and without any due diligence checks, those selfsame parliamentarians incredibly approved the sale of VALCO to a non-existent special purpose vehicle, grandly christened by some of the rogues associated with the previous regime whom it was going to benefit personally, as, International Aluminum Partners: allegedly made up of two reputable international metals conglomerates that both strenuously denied ever agreeing to buy VALCO.

To such critics of our political class, it is outrageous that those parliamentarians, whom former President Kufuor defends so spiritedly, did not take into account the dire economic circumstances of what is still a poor developing nation, when they approved those astonishing ex-gratia payments to the former president and a host of other highly-placed former public officials.

In the view of many independent-minded and patriotic Ghanaians those selfsame parliamentarians whose work Mr. Kufuor praises, also let our nation down badly, on each occasion that they allowed the Kufuor regime to manipulate the legislative branch of government – by railroading bills inimical to the national interest through that particular parliament.

The question Ghana’s hard-pressed taxpayers would like answered is: Have the over-pampered members of our political class now completely forgotten that this is a nation in which there are such huge disparities in wealth – and whose government struggles to pay its own employees regularly? Do they not understand that no nation in which there are such glaring inequalities will remain a democracy for very long?

It is instructive that the gentleman who once campaigned for the presidency by asking Ghanaians to examine their personal circumstances and vote accordingly, has now forgotten his own apparent personal sense of outrage at the straightened circumstances the vast majority of ordinary people happened to find themselves in, when he was seeking to be their president, in 2000.

Mr. Kufuor’s amnesia is typical of the mentality of the generality of Ghana’s educated urban elites – a majority of whom do not really care about the plight of our nation and the endemic poverty most ordinary Ghanaians suffer from: as long as the going is good for them personally. His party’s philosophy of personal greed (respectably dressed-up with the innocuous-sounding phrase: “a property-owning democracy”) led to selfishness amongst Ghanaians rising to its apogee in the dishonest “dog-eat-dog-society” it turned our nation into.

Mr. Kufuor’s message then (when he was campaigning for the presidency in 2000), of a fair society in which there would be positive change in the personal circumstances of all Ghanaians, struck a cord with a majority of Ghanaians – who duly voted for the change in government that brought him to power as President Rawlings’ successor in office in January 2001.

What Mr. Kufuor and those who think like him in our country must understand, is that the dignity of nations, such as ours, does not lie in sumptuous presidential palace complexes (in our particular case the financial equivalent of a black-hole through which zillions of hard-pressed taxpayers’ money legally disappears regularly as costs for its construction escalate) and the luxurious lifestyles of its ruling elites – but in decent living standards and a positive overall quality of life for ordinary Ghanaians: both those presently employed and their compatriots who are now retired.

Ordinary people in Ghana do not begrudge their nation’s high and mighty ruling elite any generous retirement benefits paid them by the Ghanaian nation-state at the end of their tenures of office – as long as they are able to improve the living standards of all strata of Ghanaian society whiles in office. Until that happens, Ghanaians expect their leaders to be moderate in their demands on the public purse – as regards both their pay and perks of office whiles serving Ghana: and their retirement-benefits when they finally retire from office.

Former President Kufuor must remember that he once told Ghanaians that as a people we must learn to cut our coat according to the size of our cloth. The same advice applies in the size of the retirement packages that the Ghanaian nation-state offers its most important officeholders upon their retirement. That the former president and some of his supporters find it difficult to understand that simple fact of life illustrates perfectly the gulf that exists between them and the ordinary people of Ghana.

Since Ghana gained her independence in 1957, the ordinary people of our nation have constantly been called upon by their political leaders, over the years, to make personal sacrifices – in order to help build a better Ghana for the entirety of its people.

Today, times are tough everywhere in a world that has tipped into what by all appearances might very well turn out to be a rather severe recession. It is a situation that calls for Ghanaians from all strata of society to tighten their belts. Surely, those who volunteer to serve the people in government must set an example and also make sacrifices – such as accepting more modest retirement benefits, too? A word to the wise…