Minister, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime of H. E. President Mills, is really in deep trouble, if it is true, that you, a deputy minister for information, in the administration of the most honest and principled individual to lead Ghana thus far, since the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, believe that buying the conscience and loyalty of Ghanaian journalists, will guarantee your regime's return to power in December 2012.
What can a group of professionals, who are largely bereft of original thinking, do for your regime, which efficiency in all spheres of the machinery of government cannot do, to get you re-elected, I ask?
If you and your colleagues focused on administering your ministerial briefs creatively and efficiently; ended the widespread complacency within your ranks and focused on what ordinary people need and want - a system that makes it possible, for example, for those who work to go to work in the morning and get back home again in the evening, in reasonable time and in some comfort; one that provides all those who work hard and are unable to build or buy their own homes, with well-designed, well-built and affordable rental accommodation; and ensures access to education at state expense (paid for from a transparent scholarship fund - open to all and exam-based), for the truly gifted academically up to tertiary level, and provides a social safety net for the vulnerable in society, will that not stand you a good chance of getting re-elected again in December 2012?
Why rely on bribing members of a profession, full of unethical incompetents, most of whom have even failed to master the basic tool of their profession, the English language, and don't understand that their role in Ghanaian society is not to toady to politicians - because it is a sure-fire ticket to riches for themselves - but to prevent our ruling elites from stealing our money, robbing us of our freedoms and ending up eventually enslaving us?
Minister, I say what follows, only in matter-of-fact fashion, and with the greatest of humility: Ask for the letter I wrote to your ministry last November that was never even acknowledged by your complacent colleagues, who seem to forget that no condition is permanent (just as the perfidious Kufuor & Co. did, when they too became power-drunk and arrogant!).
Well, being a patriot and not wanting it to remain just an idea on paper, discarded and treated with disdain by clueless politicians, I subsequently put it into the public domain by publishing it on my "Ghanapolitics" google blog, to achieve the same end I sought in writing to your minister - ensuring the long-term cohesion of our nation, by getting the more responsible sections of the Ghanaian media, to start focusing on sustainable development at the grassroots-level nationwide: by regularly covering the activities of District Assemblies.
I am glad that what I sought is now a reality. And I dare say that if you study the contents of the aforementioned missive of mine, you will see how altruism can be harnessed by imaginative politicians in power, to move our homeland Ghana forward - without their having to spend billions of hapless taxpayers' money, bribing clueless and malevolent journalists.
Minister, does it never occur to you and your colleagues, for example, that were all of you - from the president down to the last district chief executive of the smallest district in Ghana, and your spouses - to publicly publish your assets now, and promise to do so again when you leave office, you could change the nature of the political landscape in Ghana in one stroke: with your regime setting the political agenda, instead of being on the ropes and endlessly pummelled by your political opponents and their hirelings in the Ghanaian media, with their endless "Enkoyiea" dissimulation and propaganda of falsehood about President Mills' undoubted decency and honesty?
And will such a gesture not put clear blue water between your regime and the present-day stooges for neo-colonialism and lackeys of imperialism, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of the perfidious Kufuor & Co.?
Minister, I can't for the life of me, fathom why a regime led by the honest H. E. President Mills, continues to turn a deaf ear to advice that it must seize the historic opportunity offered it, and enter the Pantheon of transparent 21st Century regimes globally, by publicly publishing your assets, as well as that of your spouses.
Exactly what are you and your colleagues afraid of, which makes you so reluctant to do the one thing, which will get your regime re-elected to office again for sure, in December 2012? Politicians can, indeed, be a strange breed of the species, sometimes. Pity.
And against such a historic move, which will set a precedent for every future government of Ghana to follow, and will be a positive contribution to the fight against corruption in our homeland Ghana, what unprincipled journalist (even those mercenary ones in the deep pockets of the financiers of the NPP - who grew super-rich thanks to the munificence of those Kufuor & Co. kickback-specialist rogues), could possibly dissemble and engage in "Enkoyiea" propaganda - to try and counter what will undoubtedly be an incontrovertible fact-on-the-ground, that is clear evidence (for all Ghanaians to see!) of your regime's commitment to transparency and accountability in the governance of Ghana, I ask?
Finally, I do hope that you will accept this humble piece of advice: Minister, there are many altruistic and patriotic individuals around the country, who are creative thinkers, and who if asked, will happily work to get your regime re-elected for free - because they believe that a second term for President Mills, will help consolidate Ghanaian democracy.
Such individuals see and applaud the gains made thus far, by the Mills regime: refusing to persecute the many well-connected Kufuor-era crooks, whiles investigations of past corruption go on to enable their prosecution in the law courts to take place, sticking to due process despite pressure from the hawks within your party, ensuring the rule of law and taking a non-partisan approach with regard to the tenure of civil servants (despite the outrageous partisanship of many of the top echelons of the largely pro-NPP civil service - virtually all committed to making sure the Mills administration fails, alas!).
And it might interest you to know that whiles those lusting for power in your party fight those of your colleagues who have become power-drunk, for dominance in your party, I know of at least one hard-working individual in it, who constantly engages all the different factions in your party to help keep it united, and who is working hard on a plan to attract patriotic, altruistic and apolitical individuals, to volunteer their time and offer their creative ideas and knowledge for free, to help get President Mills re-elected - now that the primary to select your party's candidate for the December 2012 presidential election, is over.
At his own expense, and quietly without fanfare, the aforementioned colleague of yours - who is a great believer in consensus politics, and publicly acknowledges the contributions of both President Mills and Flt Lt. Rawlings to the Ghanaian polity, and who, for national interest reasons, even tries hard to get the good elements in the NPP to contribute positively to the development of our nation whiles they remain in opposition, whenever the opportunity to do so presents itself to him - intends putting together a team of such altruistic individuals to come up with cutting-edge ideas, to help your party retain power and start the transformation of our homeland Ghana, into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia, in earnest.
Minister, adopt the positive service-to-Mother-Ghana template being used by that hard-working and brilliant political strategist and tactician, the Hon. A. S. K. Bagbin's low-profile approach: and get your team to also try to recruit honest and altruistic individuals who love Ghana and put the national interest above tribe and party, to work as unpaid volunteers to come up with cutting-edge ideas, to help your party return to power again after December 2012 - for the sake of Mother Ghana and to ensure a better future for Ghana's younger generation.
Finally, Minister, the Bagbin approach outlined above, is one I would highly recommend to you and your colleagues. Speaking personally, that open-minded approach towards politics, and his warm and welcoming nature, which puts all who approach him at ease, are some of the reasons why he happens to be the only politician in Ghana, who I consider to be a personal friend.
We go back a very long way indeed - a fact that any of today's senior journalists, who worked with me whiles we were at The Independent, will attest to.
However, we hardly ever see or speak to each other - and if he were to be caught in any illegality, I'd be the first to expose him: and the same would be the case with him, were I to break the law, too.
And anyone who reads my writing, would be surprised to learn he's my friend - as I don't hesitate to criticise him, whenever the need to do so arises. And that is as it should be, for all who put loyalty and service to Mother Ghana, above all else. But I digress.
Politicians in Ghana must start finding unpaid volunteers who love Nkrumah's Ghana unconditionally, to help them turn our nation round - and avoid those who will not lift a finger to help make political parties better and more effective tools for national development, for Mother Ghana's sake - if they are not first paid small fortunes as consultants or bribed with zillions as mercenary media-types, to do so. 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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