Is August 29, the day for the pronouncement of judgement on the election petition going to spell doom for us as a country? Even though some are saying it is delicate, others are of two state of minds. To the optimist, it is a big no.
August 29 is rather going to be a day of positive revelations no matter which way the verdict goes. No doubt the maturity of the Ghanaian will once again endorse the belief that Ghana always comes first. The day is likely to signal the beginning of good things to come as far as our electoral system is concerned. Ghana is once again going to carry the torch as one of Africa�s true democracies.
That notwithstanding, there seems to be a feeling of trepidation as the day approaches and, therefore, the intensity of the call for peace by all and sundry. The fear of the unknown has enveloped us.
I have no direct interest or benefit in the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict on August 29 any more than the average Ghanaian who cares more about where his or her next meal is going to come from. However, I am eager to see the day whisk away. The wait, the suspense and the hullabaloo in the media arising from all that have gone on and might go on, have made us all anaemic, to borrow Justice William Atuguba�s words.
Since the announcement last Wednesday, by the Chairman of the panel of judges at the Supreme Court petition hearing that judgement day is going to be on August 29, the spin, particularly by social media and serial callers have been overwhelming. One wonders if there will be any productivity on the day of judgement.
For now, too much energy, time and focus have already been expended on the petition case that has travelled for good eight months. In the process, we seem to have glossed over serious issues, including bread and butter matters.
We are still getting intermittent power cuts and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has not given us any reasons why this is so. In my area, just last week, we suffered unexplained power cuts three times. Yet, all we hear is that they are proposing a tariff increase of 166 per cent to make them profitable. Meanwhile, we have also been told that the government owes ECG over GH�400 million for 2012. According to the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which is yet to be redeemed.
The anxiety over the petition has taken our minds off the proposed tariff increase. Yet, ordinarily, this would have called for passionate discussions by all stakeholders long ago. We all know the untold hardships an upward adjustment as high as 166 per cent would bring to families, income earners and businesses.
Last week on Ghana Television (GTV), one of their lead news items was on tomato glut in the country and how it is affecting farmers, tomato sellers, as well as transporters who cart the produce from the farm gates. The story was thrown out there and the next day we were back discussing the day of judgement and peace thereafter. Is tomato glut and its effect on those in the supply chain, a worry to the authorities? The schools are on holiday now but are the school matrons and the school feeding caterers taking advantage to buy in bulk and preserve for the lean periods or are they waiting first to see what happens on August 29?
We are barely 16 months to the year 2015, the year to take stock of how far we have come with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Who is monitoring how Ghana is doing with the goals we set for ourselves? Are we lagging behind, catching up or our preoccupation for now is not with MDGs but the verdict and its outcome?
When August 29, has come and gone, we would wake up to the reality that we have a lot to catch up with. Yes, the petition is one of the best things that have ever happened to our democracy. However, the pace at which it has travelled seems to have somehow stunted progress as attention seem to have been taken off issues of critical focus.
It is puzzling why despite the many promises; sanitation remains an issue for us. Garbage is overflowing in our markets and in our residential areas because garbage bins are not being emptied. To compound matters, someone is trying to clear choked gutters in some parts of the city. In the process, they have opened parts of covered drains to take out the rubbish stuffed in there and created yet some more problems by leaving the drains open. The pile of filth they took out is just waiting for another rainfall to flow back into the gutters.
Lawlessness on our roads is still going on even in the full glare of the police. Yet, the police have come out to show us their might and power and told us in no uncertain terms that lawlessness and chaos arising out of the aftermath of August 29, will be heavily dealt with. How about lawlessness now?
It has taken us eight anxious months to get to August 29. The trepidations would hopefully be over next week. When all is said and done and we realise that our fate was not tied up to the judgement day, how do we catch up with real issues? That is the question.
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