Ghanaian Politicians Must Be More Circumspect And Responsible When Speaking In Public

I was flabbergasted to hear a politician (whose name I could not quite catch) on today’s Peace FM Kokrokoo morning show, say more or less that virtually all Ghanaians, with the exception of a few, including President Mills, are corrupt, because they are underpaid.

Why did that imbecile (and I am weighing my words very carefully here, dear reader) not speak for himself only, I ask? If that is the mindset of a leading member of our political class – apparently a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – is there any wonder that our ruling elites seem unable to deal with the corrupt system we are currently lumbered with?

That politician’s cynicism was so outrageous, that I could barely contain my anger, whiles listening to his inanities. Why an amoral and irresponsible individual like that should be allowed to come on air, by a respectable radio station, to spew such nation-wrecking rubbish to the hearing of listeners of Peace FM, without being censured by the host, Kwame Sefa-Kai, I find hard to fathom.

That moron actually had the gall to ask that the Customs Excise and Preventative Service (CEPS) officers at the Tema Harbour, who were caught engaging in corrupt practices on a video tape-recording (by ace investigative journalist, Anas Ameriyaw Anas), should be “rehabilitated” – instead of being prosecuted and jailed for their crimes against the Ghanaian nation-state. Imagine that. What errant nonsense.

Then there is the incredibly foolish and irresponsible statement, reported to have been made by the brilliant Dr. Tony Aidoo (irascible Tony really ought to know better, if he actually did say so), that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, of which he is such a prominent member, should abandon all uncompleted “NPP projects” - and presumably concentrate on their own "NDC projects". Amazing.

Perhaps the time has come for independent-minded Ghanaians to remind members of Ghana’s political class that all projects initiated by ruling parties, are national undertakings funded from taxpayers’ money – not party-owned projects paid for from the personal contributions of politicians or from the party coffers of regimes in power, at any given point in time in our nation’s history.

If the shortsighted politicians and soldiers (stooges for neo-colonialism to a man) who came to power after the overthrow of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) regime of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and founding father, in February 1966, had had the good sense to continue the many projects his regime initiated, our homeland Ghana would have been a much better place today than it currently is, would it not, I ask?

Ghana’s politicians must stop acting as if they do not want the betterment of the Ghanaian nation-state and its citizens, when they are not themselves in power.

If that were not the case, why would intelligent politicians from the NPP, for example, be busy pretending that a nation with the huge budget deficit that they left behind when they were turfed out of power in December 2008 (thank goodness), could possibly be a prosperous country whose citizens enjoyed a high standard of living if they were the party in power today?

What little primary school child, who is clued-on and internet-savvy, is not aware that living standards are actually falling for millions of British citizens today, for example: as their Coalition government struggles to re-balance their country’s finances?

Who in Ghana does not remember that recently, the Ghanaian think-tank Imani’s Frank Cudjoe, in a radio interview on Accra's Radio Gold, admitted that the NPP regime left a budget deficit much bigger than Greece’s? It is such a pity that Kokou Anyidoho did not have the presence of mind to ask him to tell Ghanaians exactly how Greece is dealing with its budget deficit, as we speak.

Perhaps the failure of the NDC's many Kokou Anyidohos to ask such questions (and to point out the fact that today's hard times are a necessary phase for Ghana to go through, to enable a solid foundation to be laid, to guarantee a more prosperous future for all Ghanaians), is the reason why we are witnessing the nauseating spectacle of well-educated and highly-intelligent politicians from the selfsame NPP hopping from radio station to radio station and from television station to television station, criticizing their regime’s more fiscally-responsible successor-regime, which, in dealing with that deficit (resulting from the NPP’s own irresponsible borrowing and reckless spending whiles in power), has not slashed the salaries of public sector workers (none of whom, incidentally, have lost their jobs either: as public sector workers elsewhere in the developed world have); and has been able to ensure some modest growth in our country’s GDP despite cuts in public spending.

To those self-seeking hypocrites who are trying to fool ordinary folk into returning them to power again, with their self-serving Enkoyie propaganda, perhaps one ought to pose a few simple questions.

Is Ghana the only nation on the planet Earth today in which times are tough for ordinary citizens?

What well-informed Ghanaian does not know that in addition to the swingeing cuts in public spending (in nations like Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the UK, to mention a few countries that are contending with large budget deficits, and which like Ghana are also struggling to re-balance their public finances), it is a well-known fact that living standards are actually plummeting in many developed world economies too?

And do they not see the modesty of President Mills - and the sharp contrast between him and the profligate President Kufuor: in terms of what they cost hapless Ghanaian taxpayers' in perks and sundry allowances? Good leaders understand the need for modesty at times of economic difficulty for their people.

Is that not why one of the first actions of the new Coalition government of the UK, was to immediately cut the salaries of all its members – from the prime minister down to the very last under-secretary of state?

Is Britain not facing inflationary pressures, as we speak? Did the last quarter’s figures not show that the British economy contracted slightly? Is there not fear in some quarters in the UK that Britain might slip into a double-dip recession if the government does not put a growth strategy in place soon?

Every sincere individual in Ghana, who understands economics, knows that if the NPP had retained power in December 2008, ordinary Ghanaians would still be in exactly the same situation they find themselves today – if they were not actually worse off under that greedy and profligate lot, that is.

Ghana’s politicians must be more responsible in public and weigh what they say openly very carefully – if they want to be taken seriously by discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians.

Not all Ghanaians are fools - and Ghanaian politicians must stop thinking they can fool ordinary folk: for they certainly can't. A word to the wise…

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