When the New Patriotic Party (NPP) introduced a new element, which takes the national political discourse to a more mature level (of reasoning, ie!), by more or less making it clear, that it believes that it will take a minimum of 10 years, to transform Ghana, many an independent-minded patriot and Ghanaian nationalist, hoped that the geniuses in charge of President Mills' National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime's public relations, would seize that golden opportunity it offered their administration, to finally slay, and bury for good, that regime-changing and highly-toxic propaganda word-of-mass-destruction (WMD): "Enkoyie."
That very clever and potent Twi language WMD, encapsulates perfectly, all the frustration and disillusionment, felt by many, who clearly had unrealistic expectations, of what life under a new government led by President Mills (or any other presidential candidate and political party, assuming power after winning an election in Ghana, for that matter!), would be like. But as all those who know, know, it is a known known, not an unknown unknown (apologies to former US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld!), that Rome was not built in a day - and neither will our homeland Ghana be suddenly transformed, into a land flowing with milk and honey, overnight, either.
With revenues from oil production now coming on stream, surely, it is time the more sensible and responsible sections of the Ghanaian media, made that bald fact of life, abundantly clear, to the broad masses of the Ghanaian people - to avert a future upheaval, caused by the frustration of citizens fed up with unfulfilled expectations (occasioned by the glacial pace of change, which, alas, of necessity, cannot but evolve slowly!), and every one of them desperate for a bit of the riches they see our ruling elites, their family clans and their cronies, amassing at the speed of light: once they get into power?
The transformation of our homeland Ghana into an African equivalent, of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia, will certainly take more than two terms of any political party's tenure. And that is a fact of life that all Ghanaians ought to accept. It is to his eternal credit that the NPP's Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo is accepting of that reality - and responsible enough to more or less openly admit so: by even producing an economic development plan based on that time-frame.
(Regarding the need for realism, is it not a fact, dear reader, as someone pointed it out to me, that after a little over 16 years of combined NDC and NPP rule, during which two presidents (one from each party!), have served out the maximum two-term limit on a president's tenure, ordinary people's lives haven't seen much change - and in many respects in fact has gotten worse, over the years? Yet, their ruling elites collect obscene retirement packages, regardless, when they leave office - after which a new batch of hopefuls, line up for the empty-promises-stakes, to compete for the right to come to power, to ruin ordinary Ghanaians some more, too. We must break that cycle with the honest and selfless President Mills. But I digress, yet again!)
Having been presented with such a precious gift by the NPP, one hopes that most independent and fair-minded Ghanaians (as opposed to the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types, whose blinkered support for political parties, and individual politicians, is slowly destroying Ghanaian democracy!), will now no longer hear those geniuses at the information ministry (and their equally super-bright Osu Castle colleagues!), making daft remarks about the minimum 10-year time-frame the NPP now admits, is needed to transform our homeland Ghana.
They must respond to it, not by rubbishing it, but by pointing out the positive achievements galore, nationwide, which is slowly but surely bringing about the better Ghana, promised the Ghanaian masses, by President Mills. To do so much work across the nation, in a little over two years, out of a required 10 years, is no mean achievement, is it, dear reader? And in case those government PR geniuses miss the point, it is called getting-ordinary-folk-to-see-things-in-their-proper-perspective: and seeing through the NPP's self-serving propaganda. Hmm, ensu yesi yewo neemdie - eyeasem oo!
It is such a pity that those information ministry geniuses (and their equally-brilliant seaside pals!) have thus far failed so miserably to convince Ghanaians, that it is in their self-interest, and in the national interest, that they continue keeping faith with the most honest and selfless individual to lead Ghana to date, since the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in February 1966: H. E. President Mills.
Above all, one hopes that President Mills himself too, will now sit up and act decisively, to weed out the smug incompetents and sinister crooks (former President Rawlings' famous "greedy bastards!") lurking in the shadows in his regime - for, their continued presence in his government, only adds to the sense of frustration felt by many of those who wish him well: and want him to succeed for Mother Ghana's sake. Simply put, their continued presence in his administration, only gives his regime a bad name and a poor image, both on the home-front and internationally.
Will he also take action to bring to an end, their outrageous junketting around the globe, at taxpayers' expense, on what is often said to be personal or party business, but which apparently is sometimes disguised as a public-good assignment overseas, for the Ghanaian nation-state? We do know that politicians are particularly susceptible to President Kufuor's highly-contagious wanderlust bug - but are we not supposed to be in austere times, and do they not see President Mills' own example of a spartan lifestyle, as well as his abiding humility, I ask, dear reader?
The first on the list of those the president ought to dismiss, are the bright sparks at the so-called Brand Ghana Office - that financial equivalent of a cosmic black-hole that a regime headed by an honest man like President Mills ought never to countenance. He must close it down - and ask the geniuses who work there to take their cutting-edge ideas to the private sector: where market forces will decide their fate. It is intolerable that hapless taxpayers' money is being dissipated on that pure nonsense on bamboo stilts: and that he is allowing it to stay open. How can that be?
President Mills must be ruthless in dealing with all of those blackguards in his administration - if he wants to be re-elected in December 2012. But I digress. I do not know of a single well-educated and fair-minded Ghanaian, who thinks that Ghana can be transformed into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia, in less than five years.
There is also not a single such Ghanaian, who does not know that Mother Ghana will, unfortunately, continue to remain a corrupt and inefficient country that is unable to realise its full potential, as long as Ghanaians remain a people: who lack discipline; are unpatriotic individuals who rather than make sacrifices for the common good, seek instead to rip Mother Ghana off, at every opportunity that comes their way; avoid paying their taxes; constantly break the regulations and laws meant to ensure an orderly society; don't eschew corruption in their day to day interactions with officialdom, and with each other on a private level; and above all, do not lead lives underpinned by ethical considerations.
(Incidentally, even in the aftermath of near-apocalyptic serial-disasters and multiple family tragedies, look at the amazing discipline and resolve of the Japanese people - and the quiet efficiency with which they are going about the herculean task of picking up the pieces, and starting the rebuilding of an even more prosperous Japan, in earnest. Those are the kind of qualities and virtues we will need to transform Ghana - that and hard work on the part of all Ghanaians: not the empty promises of mostly-incompetent and largely-corrupt politicians. Period.)
It is so irritating that ever since Ghana was returned to constitutional rule in 1992, politicians have behaved irresponsibly, by constantly pretending, when out campaigning for votes during elections, that they can change the lives of the Ghanaian masses, as soon as they come into office.
That is why Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's NPP, needs to be congratulated, for alluding to the fact that nation-building is an ardours task that takes a minimum of 10 years. Of course, one doesn't need a PhD, to work out that having convinced itself that it will be returned to power again, the NPP is clearly preparing the ground, for successfully managing expectations of ordinary Ghanaians, after the December 2012 elections - which is the main reason why it has given a 10-year time frame, for transforming Ghana.
Clearly, their hope, is that by so saying, it will enable them to neatly side-step any chants of "Enkoyie" from their political opponents, when they come to power again - having seen the devastating effect the deploying of the word "Enkoyie" has, politically, on any audience listening to the electronic media, during current affairs programmes, in which the state of the national economy, and the future outlook for Ghanaians, are discussed.
Well, one must congratulate the NPP for that stroke of genius. And I say that, despite the fact that I loathe all that it really stands for - as opposed to what it tells the Ghanaian public it stands for. What I find most repugnant about the NPP, speaking as an Nkrumaist, a patriot who loves Mother Ghana passionately, and a Ghanaian nationalist keen to protect the cohesion of the Ghanaian nation-state, is the hidden agenda of its antedelluvian Akan tribal-supremacist and elitist clique, which is at the core of that party. Though consisting of only a few tribalistic individuals, it unfortunately has a vice-like grip on the NPP.
Any African in the 21st century ICT age who thinks a particular tribe is superior to another tribe anywhere on the continent, is an ignoramus, and has a mind-set set firmly in the Dark Ages - and definitely on the wrong side of history!
Their real goal, is to use the political power gained through national elections, to deliberately weaken the Ghanaian nation-state, and somehow work to revive the power, which was once exercised by the forebears, of their favourite tribal Chiefs, who ruled certain pre-colonial tribal entities. This was done during the Kufuor-era, by leveraging the entire machinery of state, to empower the favourite tribal Chiefs of the cabal that wielded real power in Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana, at the time.
A classic example of this divisive enterprise, during the NPP's tenure, was the absurdity of the issuing authority of what is a unitary Republic, describing certain tribal Chiefs as "Kings" - in diplomatic passports, issued unfairly, in a clearly discriminatory fashion, to a select few, amongst the many traditional rulers in our homeland Ghana, and what in reality, actually is an ethnically-diverse nation-state of equal ethnic groupings: none superior or inferior to the other: and in which, in a strictly legal sense, no kingdoms actually exist (and we are a nation of laws, after all, are we not - not a banana republic in which the citizenry have to bow to the whims and caprices of plutocrats?).
Well, finally, one wonders if those hapless geniuses managing the government's PR, from both the seat of government at the Osu Castle, and from the information ministry, will now work in unison and seize this marvellous gift-from-the-gods, and political game-changer, which Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's NPP has suddenly introduced into the national discourse.
Henceforth, they must repeatedly make the point, whenever "Enkoyie" is deployed by their political opponents, that the NPP knows perfectly well that it takes at least 10 years, to change the fortunes of nations: so how can any fair-minded and discerning individual, expect the NDC to. bring about the better Ghana that it is already slowly, surely and methodically bringing about, in any case, in a shorter time-frame than the NPP's stipulated minimum ten years? Time is not on their side - so they must have the wisdom to listen to free advice, humbly offered for purely altruistic reasons, by those who never seek a reward, for serving Mother Ghana. A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
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