Nothing provides such ample evidence, of the extent of the economic illiteracy afflicting some of the members of Ghana's political class, and exposes their cynicism, more than the outrageous vote-us-in-for-a-rosy-future propaganda narrative, now being vigorously spun and sold to ordinary Ghanaians, by the perfidious Kufuor & Co.'s New Patriotic Party (NPP).
A classic example, is their exploitation of the increasing frequency of the periods that consumers now experience the disruptive effects, on their households and businesses, of shortages of liquefied petroleum gas in the country.
Yet, Ghana would not now be experiencing shortages of liquefied petroleum gas, if the NPP, which is now seeking to exploit the public's irritation with the frequent shortages of LP gas, had had any foresight, and planned properly for the future - by creating a conducive energy industry climate, which could have, in addition to the state's own investment in that sector, attracted the private sector in sufficient numbers (to take advantage of the growing demand for liquefied petroleum gas nationwide) to invest in gas sector downstream facilities and activities.
It must be pretty difficult for independent-minded and patriotic Ghanaians who are discerning and apolitical individuals (as opposed to the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types whose blinkered support for Ghana's political parties, is slowly destroying our young democracy!), to understand why so many of the members of Ghana's political class, continue to believe that a political strategy underpinned by barefaced lies and the deliberate misleading of the ordinary people of Ghana, is the best path to attaining political power in Ghana.
Why pretend that any government in power today, sworn into office in January 2009, could have created a prosperous society in Ghana by now - when the reality is that our nation's economic prospects depend to a large extent on outside factors: beyond the control of those who manage our nation's economy?
Are such politicians unaware of the precarious nature of our nation's prospects - resulting from the challenges that many of our major trading partners now face, as they grapple with gargantuan budget deficits; high levels of unemployment; a growing debt crisis and increasingly weakened growth prospects?
As any honest observer of the Ghanaian political scene will confirm, most of the difficulties our nation and its people face today, stem largely from the NPP regime of President Kufuor's unprincipled governing style, characterised by the favouring of the regime's crony-capitalists at Mother Ghana's expense - and the deliberate Kokofu-football-politricks policy, of insider-information-provision to underpin and empower Kufuor & Co.'s outrageous nepotism, aimed at fast-tracking the enrichment of members of their family clans; their tribal Chieftains; sundry amoral bottom-power girlfriends and crooked and criminal-type cronies: from across the social strata in Ghana.
Yet, incredibly, we are now being told by the Akan tribal-supremacist and super-ruthless former President Kufuor that their corruption-addicted, mega-tribalistic and nepotism-riddled party must be returned to power again - because they were "selfless". Amazing.
Who has forgotten the asset-stripping spree that went on, as they plundered Ghana's accumulated wealth, built up over many years by the blood, sweat and tears of ordinary people, in their unprincipled 8-year stewardship of the enterprise Ghana, I ask?
The shameless scramble for state-owned land put up for sale to a well-connected few, at rock-bottom prices, in the poshest parts of urban Ghana, and the deliberate killing-off of Ghana Airways, just in order to grab the choicest parts of its extensive local, cross-border and overseas property portfolio, are typical examples of the unfathomable greed, which we all witnessed, during the golden age of business for the greed-filled cabal that was Kufuor & Co.
The annoying thing there, is that the perfidious Mr. Kufuor, is regarded by most sincere, decent-minded and patriotic Ghanaians, who are apolitical, as the most dishonest, greediest and the most amoral individual, ever elected to lead Ghana thus far - since we gained our independence in 1957, from the imperialists who occupied our country for decades.
Yet, today, he has the gall and barefaced cheek, to ask Ghanaians to return his disastrous and nation-wrecking party, jam-packed with violence-prone self-seekers, driven as always by unfathomable greed, to power again - apparently so that they can ensure that the days of prosperity and plenty for the hapless ordinary citizens of Ghana, return again. Incredible. Who does that sly man think he is fooling, I wonder? Unbelievable.
For those Ghanaians who are fooled by such cynical rubbish, let me make a point, by reproducing part of an article from the online version of the UK newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, written by Louise Armitstead, and posted at 6:39PM BST, on 05 Sep 2011, to show how close to the precipice are our so-called "development partners" (on whom our oft-lazy, unimaginative and mostly-clueless ruling elites like to sponge on, so):
"European banks face collapse under debts, warns Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann
Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, has warned that "numerous" European lenders would collapse if they were forced to book their losses on stricken sovereign bonds.
Deutsche Bank has already warned that it could miss its target of €6.4bn pre-tax profits this year.
Mr Ackermann said that the value of billions of euros of loans has plunged to a level that could overwhelm smaller banks.
He told a conference in Frankfurt: "Numerous European banks would not survive having to revalue sovereign debt held on the banking book at market levels."
Mr Ackermann said market conditions were as febrile as the height of the banking crisis. "We should resign ourselves to the fact that the 'new normality' is characterised by volatility and uncertainty," he said. "All this reminds one of the autumn of 2008.""
End of quotation from the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Does that paint a rosy picture of prosperity and even yet more prosperity to come going forward, for our eurozone "development partners" (Ghanaian begging-bowl diplomacy-speak for those who deliberately encourage our ruling elites' nation-wrecking dependency culture), I ask? So why are some of our feckless politicians pretending that the nation's future would be rosy, if they were voted into power?
Alas, if ordinary Ghanaians are not more discerning and are fooled by such pie-in-the-sky pure nonsense on bamboo stilts, they will only end up as their brothers and sisters in Nigeria have ended up: living under the thumbs of greedy, corrupt and ruthless ruling elites, in an oil-rich and inefficient nation, in which nothing works and where there are huge disparities wealth - if they continue to allow themselves to divided and dominated by career rogues: who go into politics only to enrich themselves at Mother Ghana's expense.
Why allow a well-meaning majority in our mostly-peaceful society to be fooled time and time again by such unprincipled characters, who delude ordinary people into thinking that Ghana can be made prosperous overnight, so that they can be voted into power - when the reality is that it will actually take decades of hard work by all Ghanaians: inspired by a visionary, bold, creative and honest leadership, for Ghana to become an African equivalent, of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia?
For those simple-minded souls who think that the NPP will lead Ghana to paradise overnight, if returned to power after the December 2012 elections, because they managed our economy well during their tenure, as I draw to the end of this piece, I shall paraphrase the independent Ghanaian think-thank, IMANI's Franklin Cudjoe , and in the process, hope they will appreciate the impact on the lives of the ordinary citizens of Greece, as their leaders grapple with the effects of dealing with its massive public debt, as they struggle to try and rebalance that nation's public finances, by reducing its budget deficit.
IMANI's Franklin Cudjoe once told Radio Gold FM's listeners that as a proportion of GDP, the NPP left a budget deficit larger than that of Greece's - ordinary Ghanaians must count themselves lucky that the Mills administration has spared them, from going through a quarter of the agonies being experienced by citizens of Greece and their forlorn nation, as a result of the massive public spending cuts, as we speak.
Finally, ordinary Ghanaians mudt understand clearly, that the fact of the matter, is that no political party in present-day Ghana can make our homeland Ghana a prosperous country overnight.
Our best hope, dear reader, is to have an honest and principled leader, like President Mills (but with a tad more backbone, and a degree of ruthlessness, sufficient to enable him or her, to deal effectively with the many crooks that often surround our leaders!), who can safeguard the revenues from our oil and natural gas revenues.
Such a leader will ensure that the J. A. Kufuor political-slieght-of-hand, which gave the E. O. Group a share of the jubilee oilfield even though they neither paid a pesewa upfront for it, nor paid a cent in its development and commercialisation, is never repeated again: so that all the revenues that ought to come to the ordinary people of Ghana, from what after all are finite resources, don't end up being owned by a few greedy, powerful and well-connected super-crooks - but can, instead, be used to transform Nkrumah's Ghana, into an African equivalent, of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
Ghanaians must be wary of Kufuor & Co.'s silver-tongued NPP - which would have them believe that they can make Ghana prosperous overnight once they are voted into power again. It just won't happen - and the only prosperous people we will end up seeing under them, will be NPP big-wigs; members of their family clans, their amoral bottom-power girlfriends, their over-ambitious tribal Chieftains and their regime's crooked and tax-dodging crony-capitalist bankrollers: exactly as it was during the apogee of the golden age of business for the super-greedy Kufuor & Co. Period. 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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