The Centre Is Not Holding

One of the qualities of a leader and for the purposes of this commentary, the President, is firmness, decisiveness and readiness to take responsibility for the repercussions of such decisions. Whoever occupies the seat of president takes decisions on behalf of the citizenry and implements them for the general good of the nation. The President should be ready to take responsibility for the fallouts that these decisions would engender. Some decisions have improved the ratings of presidents while others have prompted their premature exit from the high office. They would be considered ineffective presidents who suffer from indecisions in the face of a plethora of options, especially so, since running a government is about taking decisions. Our President appears to be a victim of this ailment, as he finds it difficult to take decisions and inclining more towards announcing his intentions than actually walking his talks. It is good he has observed and remarked about the financial anomalies at the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). He has also served notice that he would descend upon defaulting officials in the revenue collection agency. While it is in order for the President to intervene in matters which threaten the economy and other sectors upon which the survival of the state hinges, such talks should be walked. There appears to be an all-permeating incidence of lethargy in government business as things fall apart in governance; a situation attributable to a conclusion by many Ghanaians about the inability of the centre to hold adequately. Until there is a reversal of the prevailing trend in governance, the impression about the President�s inability to take decisive action to rectify faulty government departments would continue to hold sway even as things continue to fall apart. Putting CEPS on the spot, as contained in the presidential warning, reminds many about how the late President John Evans Atta Mills stormed the Tema Port and observed that officials of the Service, when they are posted to the facility, built houses within two months of being there. The late President only succeeding in making the headlines and that was all. Picking on CEPS is downplaying the challenges facing the country today. All government agencies are plagued with challenges of indifference on the part of personnel to the ultimate detriment of Ghana. Action will always speak louder than words and so we would rather the President walked his talks and not the reverse. A general cracking of the whip on all government agencies will be preferable to limiting it to CEPS alone because, after all, there is a high level of indifference towards graft across the board.