The President of the republic of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama was complaining the other day that his message concerning his ‘great achievements’ in Ghana is not getting through and he blames what he calls a media cabal for this.
Our President believes there is a group of journalists who are blocking his message and making it impossible for the ordinary man or woman in the street to come to terms with what he has done for this country and sing his praises accordingly and perhaps vote for him as well, to secure his second tenure.
Journalists
I cannot see how this can be done though, that some journalists can block the President’s message from getting to the people. It’s not possible! A lot of MPs including NDC MPs have FM stations all over the country and are using them for propaganda purposes like it’s no one’s business. So, what’s the President complaining about?
It’s incorrect to assume that citizens of this country are blind and do not see things springing up by way of infrastructural development all over the country. They do see them alright but they are over-awed. They can’t reconcile themselves to the fact that developments are taking place and yet they live in penury and are famishing. They just don’t understand.
Flyover
Everybody has seen that the President is building a fantastic flyover complex at Circle. But should the people famish while this project goes on? And how much, by the way, is that project actually costing the people of Ghana? Experts knowledgeable in the building industry say the cost has been greatly exaggerated. A smaller version of that is being constructed at Kasoa the price of which is also believed to have been massaged significantly.
The President has also changed the face of Kumasi airport and brought it to international standards. Again how much is the actual cost? Those who know say the cost in rehabilitating the Kumasi airport can build a completely new one and an example is cited of Ethiopia where that quantum of money was used in building a completely new airport.
Ridge Hospital
The President is adding extras to the Ridge Hospital which is now named Greater Accra Regional Hospital. I drive past that hospital frequently and it looks magnificent. But how much exactly has that project cost the people of Ghana? We may not know it for sure now but again knowledgeable people in the fields of architecture and hospital designs say the cost of the Ridge Hospital project has been inflated more than three times and that the quantum of money being quoted can build a new hospital altogether. A hospital being built by a Nigerian entrepreneur in northern Nigeria is said to be three times cheaper than what we are being offered by the NDC government at Ridge Hospital.
SHS compounds
The President has/and is building new SHS compounds in so-called deprived communities where unfortunately teachers’ accommodation has not been added to serve as complements to the schools. No one therefore knows where the government expects the teachers and workers in those schools to lodge.
We are even told that the schools that are ready for use are so far away from the communities that transport is needed to convey students and staff to school and back every day. I overheard a resident of Otuam-Ekumfi on radio last week expressing concerns about the distance between where the SHS complex is sited and where the students live in the communities. He said the students face transportation problems as a result of which scores of them have abandoned school. Their parents can’t afford the daily fares for their children.
Achievements
These great achievements of the President however, are one side of the story. The other side of the story where Ghanaians are famishing for lack of money to buy food to survive and to pay their children’s school fees and pay for utilities is what is causing problems for the President. People see the new structures but they are too hungry to take notice. They say a hungry man is an angry man and this is true in our context. When someone needs only a few cedis to buy food for himself, wife and three children for a day and is not able to get it because he is jobless as a result of government’s mismanagement and incompetence, he sees the new SHS complex building and any other new project alright but his mind is far away from appreciating what the NDC government has done. He is too famished to even take good notice of the structure and appreciate its value.
Samira Bawumia
This is how Samira Bawumia sums it up: ‘President Mahama, we see your billboards, but we also see corruption; we see your posters but we also see suffering; we see your bill boards but we also see incompetence; we see your posters but we also see mismanagement; we see your billboards but we also see how you have spent our money in putting them up.’
Frankly, many, many Ghanaians share similar sentiments with Samira. They see Mahama’s billboard but their minds immediately go to how scrappy the NHIS has become under his leadership and chuckle; they see his poster and they immediately associate it with the School Feeding Programme that has lost its meaning and caterers are putting monies into their pockets instead of cooking for the poor children, etc., etc.
Crux of the matter
That is the crux of the matter. People see the billboards of the President but they are so hungry that they are put off by them and the billboards rather become an icon of anger and not appreciation. The huge billboards also show how the NDC is throwing our money into the drain when ordinary villagers in the north need potable water to also live as decent human beings.
There is so much hunger in the country; there is so much hardship in the country; there is so much joblessness in the country; there is so much poverty in the country that those who are affected are blinded by whatever project Mahama has done and don’t see it. You can’t blame them. Nobody marches on an empty stomach and hardships.
Taxes
The taxes are killing the people. Almost anywhere a Ghanaian turns there is a tax to be paid, to the extent that businesses are choking and some are really folding up. The last straw that has broken the back of Ghanaians is the rise in tariffs for electricity and water without corresponding rise in wages and salaries.
Our President appears to be insensitive to the plight of the people as he is impoverishing them and running the country down like it’s nobody’s business.
Never in the history of Ghana have Ghanaians been so impoverished like we have today by a ruling party that is supposed to be a socialist oriented party. Every economic activity that ordinary Ghanaians engage in, from north to south, from east to west, is not jelling because of the mismanagement of the economy by this government.
Square meals
Ordinary Ghanaians cannot have three square meals a day. Ask those who sell in the markets; ask those who sell dog chains and pure water in traffic and they will tell you the real hell they are going through because of the economic mismanagement by the government.
It is the considered view of many Ghanaians that while infrastructural projects are being undertaken, the welfare, economic well being and health issues of the people should concurrently be taken into account and worked on.
If this is not done and the people continue to suffer extreme hardships, remain jobless and unable to pay their children’s school fees and utilities, nobody will appreciate it if Mahama builds skyscrapers and airports all over the country.
Meanwhile, we see all Mahama’s projects, real and phony but at the same time we see corruption, we see mismanagement; we see incompetence; we see propaganda and we see suffering. These have overshadowed the so-called achievements.
<<Print>>