IS THERE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WHO WILL DARE PUT FORWARD A RADICAL AGENDA?

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

- Winston Churchill

The success of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's mixed-economy model, proves that it is actually possible to avoid the classic economic ills, associated with capitalism and socialism, pointed out so succinctly above, in that quotation by Sir Winston Churchill.

Nearly 46 years after the overthrow of Nkrumah, today, it will require another visionary leader prepared to use Ghana's oil and natural gas revenues, if, and where necessary, to do the following - which the pragmatic Nkrumah would probably have done, were he alive:


(1) Use the power of the Ghanaian nation-state to ensure that our country ends its days as a plutocracy masquerading as a democracy - serving the interests of a powerful few, with greedy ambitions (to paraphrase Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah).


2) Empower our nation yet further, and unleash the creative energy of Ghanaian women, for nation-building, by initiating the processes that will lead to a constitutional amendment, which will reserve half of the total seats in Parliament for women.

(3) Make it compulsory for serving presidents to appoint cabinets, which have a membership that has an equal number of both sexes.

It simply does not make sense for an identifiable group of Ghanaians that is in the majority, population wise, not to have the opportunity to participate fully in the governing of our nation, and in other areas of our national life.

More so in a country where misogyny is rife amongst males of all social classes - which is why so many important men get away with sexual harassment and rape, incidentally. It is pernicious sexism to continue denying Ghanaian women an equal place at the high table in society, as it were.

(4) Change the constitution to make it compulsory for the president and all his appointees, as well as their spouses, to publicly publish their assets.

After all, Ghana is now an oil-producing nation. We must not end up as Nigeria has - with its ruling elites grabbing oil-blocs in oilfields like confetti. It is a moral imperative that this is done quickly.

Never again must we have a moral and political climate that enables sitting presidents to use legal-fronts to purloin part of our oil and natural gas deposits, through sleight-of-hand manoeuvring, with the connivance of foreign oil companies.

Let the E- O. Group be the last entity to acquire a stake in oilfields - off our shores or inland - without paying even a pesewa upfront, for such valuable and highly sought after assets.


(5) Provide every Ghanaian with the aptitude to study (up to tertiary level, if need be) with fee-free education - because that visionary leader will understand that a poor developing country with aspirations, cannot afford not to provide fee-free education for all its citizens.

(6) Ensure that no Ghanaian is without shelter - by making it an obligation for the Ghanaian nation-state to provide affordable rental accommodation for all those families or individuals that cannot afford to build or purchase their own homes. Ditto making the rental income, for those in the private sector who provide well-designed and well-built affordable rental accommodation for low-income families, tax free.

(7) Help spread the tax net, by making Ghana the nation with the lowest corporate tax rates in the world - and get Parliament to pass draconian laws making tax evasion a crime punishable by a mandatory prison sentence and a hefty fine.

(8) Encourage hard work by abolishing personal income tax. It is pernicious to tax hard-working people in the formal sector of the economy, whiles millions in the informal sector who earn far more, get away with virtually paying nothing.

(9) Make all types of farming tax-free businesses - to ensure food security and sustainable rural development, throughout Ghana.

(10) Create tax-free shops for personnel of the security services nationwide - as well as enable each of them to purchase one family car tax free, every five years.

(11) Guarantee 25 years of tax-free revenues for the 10 investors who are prepared to self-finance the building of railway lines to all 10 regional capitals in Ghana, on a build, operate and transfer basis.

(12) Initiate the processes leading to passage of legislation that ensures that oil companies, not the Ghanaian nation-state - and at the pain of having their agreements with Ghana automatically abrogated, if they fail to do so - pay for all the clean-up costs resulting from oil spillages; pay full compensation to all those affected by such spillages; and above all, pay fully to restore the natural environment, both offshore and on polluted coastal lands, to a pristine state again.

(13) Get London's Metropolitan Police to collaborate with the Ghana Police Service to re-investigate the murder of the Ya Naa - and bring all his murderers to book.


The question, is: which party's presidential candidate today, will have the moral courage, to have such a platform? As a wag I know, said to me, when I showed him my wish-list for presidential candidates, in the December 2012 election: "Kofi, this is wishful thinking - it won't happen, not in cynical Ghana. Period." More's the pity, say I, dear reader.

Hopefully, at least one candidate amongst those who will be in the December 2012 presidential race, will be bold and courageous to adopt some of the above, if not all of them. May Providence bless and protect our homeland Ghana, in this most crucial of election years.


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