Helplessness At The Helm

President Mills�s attribution of the challenges his government is facing in implementing the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) is nonsensical. Having created the erroneous impression that he had just begun the implementation of the scheme which he earlier sought to �steal� as an initiative of his government, as he has done with other programmes, he now turns round to claim it is unfeasible. No wonder it easily provided fodder for his political rival, Nana Akufo Addo, to poke derision at the faux pas. It lacks merit and fits the adage about the bad workman who always quarrels with his tools. Otherwise, why would President Mills add this subject to his litany of other challenges for which he blames the NPP government? If the blame-game had a place in the early days of the Mills government, the same cannot be said about it in this mature stage of an administration which has specialized in sourcing high-profile loans across the world. Members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) have unsurprisingly not been moved by the remark, perhaps, regarding it as too simplistic to be of any significance. The presidency is such an exalted office of the land that when its head, for that matter, the president, is making remarks, such utterances should be steeped in logic and merit so that they can be convincing to get striking doctors to reverse their seeming intransigence. Many who listened to the remark or had the opportunity of reading it in the print media wondered how it could be attributed to the president, with some even doubting the authenticity of it. We are tempted to believe that the vocal blunder could have been prompted by the frustration he is suffering, having failed to have the doctors rescind their decision to put away their stethoscopes. For a president who is nearing his tenure at the helm to whine helplessly that he is unable to implement a programme initiated by his predecessor government, because there was no money left for the purpose, is not only funny but reflective of the frustration the �father for all� is suffering as he faces the reality of governance. �It is a different ballgame,� he must be lamenting to himself. It is amazing that after gleefully dangling the SSSS package for the police in front of the nation like a kind of carrot, to score cheap political points, he now turns round to claim the kitty bequeathed him is empty. Governance, unlike the times of reckless castigation of those at the helm, as in the case of an NDC in opposition, has exposed the frailties of President Mills and the men with whom he prosecuted the smelly political campaign. Much as we join the good-spirited Ghanaians who are calling on the doctors to rescind their decision and return to work, we ask that politicians from the ruling party, especially, the president, should be mindful of their pronouncements. This way, simplistic remarks as the president spewed can be obviated and save all of us avoidable embarrassment.