A highly intelligent young friend pointed out to me, during a conversation recently, the sad fact that there appear to be quite a few unfortunate contradictions in the Mills regime. Although in his view, the government has shown great courage, and discipline, in bringing down the crippling budget deficit it inherited from its predecessors in office, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime of the profligate President Kufuor, and ought to be praised for it, much of its good work is sadly tainted by the ability of the few crooks lurking in the shadows in the presidency, to get the government to commit itself to spending money on unecessary projects, which literally amount to pouring taxpayers’ money down the financial equivalent of a black hole. He gave two examples: The self-serving decision to ignore the limit set by the sports ministry for the number of Ghanaians who were sent to South Africa to support the national team, during the World Cup football tournament in South Africa in July 2010 – just so that some well-connected NDC little-emperor could rip Ghana off successfully: to the tune of over some US$400,000.
The second example he gave, is what he describes as: “The foolish idea to commit government to spending zillions of cedis “rebranding” Ghana": an idea he thinks is "akin to the alchemist’s dream of turning base metal into gold during the Middle Ages.” In his view, the ephemeral end-result of that expensive undertaking is an exercise in futility, which should not be tolerated in the better Ghana of today – particularly at a time when the hardworking minister, who heads the finance and economic planning ministry, is trying so hard to find money to fill the gap in funding for the all-important national 2010 census: occasioned by the apparent refusal of Ghana’s so-called “development partners” to partially fund it. My young friend thinks that the finance minister should look no further than the “Brand Ghana” office for a suitable candidate for immediate axing – to save government money it can ill-afford to throw around (to the fat-cats in Ghana’s advertising industry and their collaborators overseas!).
Who does not remember the millions of dollars that Angola and Nigeria spent “re-branding” themselves – only to have the specter of terrorism make a complete nonsense of their expensive forays into the shark-infested waters of the global advertising industry? Perhaps the question that the discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians, whose crucial swing-votes won the presidency for the NDC during the run-off of the presidential election in December 2008, and many of whom now look on askance, as those who only yesterday were forever pointing out the greedy ways of Kufuor & Co., now get up to all manner of shenanigans to enable them siphon off taxpayers’ money themselves, is: Why do those too-clever-by-half individuals in the NDC who came up with the bright idea to “re-brand” Ghana, not simply get our advertising and PR industries' leading lights, such as Stratcom, a company whose networking is peerless, to organize an industry-wide effort (in both sectors!) to “re-brand” Ghana: as the advertising and PR industries’ contribution to helping the Mills regime make Ghana a better place for all its citizens?
Why should hapless taxpayers’ money be distributed to private-sector companies to engage in such a Sisyphean task, I ask, dear reader? President Mills must close the so-called “Brand Ghana” office immediately – and ask the geniuses who work there to take their bright ideas to the private sector: and undertake their self-appointed mission of “re-branding” Ghana as a private-sector initiative: funded entirely from money they themselves succeed in raising from corporate Ghana. The independent-minded Ghanaians, who felt that Ghana’s oil and natural gas revenues would be safer in the hands of a regime led by a President Mills, than an NPP regime remote-controlled by the greedy and all-powerful Kufour & Co., certainly did not vote President Mills into office, to put up with such wanton waste of Ghana’s money. In case the few crooks amongst the many decent people surrounding the president forget, they may choose to ignore those patriotic individuals who criticize them today, whiles their tenure lasts, but they will definitely get their comeuppance in December 2012 – just as the hard-of-hearing Kufour & Co. got their just deserts too, for their obduracy and greedy ways, not too long ago. The time has come for President Mills to put his foot down and stand up to the greedy and crafty individuals in his regime: He must act swiftly to close down the so-called “Brand Ghana” office. A word to the wise…
Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): +233 (0) 27 745 3109 & the not-so-hot and clueless Vodafone wireless smartfone: + 233 (0) 30 2976238.
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