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President Mills has issued a directive that seems more of a figment of the impulse than something well-thought-out to solve systemic national problems. He is reported to have directed NDC government functionaries in positions of trust to open their doors to the party�s foot-soldiers seeking audience with them. This directive may be interpreted as his response to the complaints that have come from the foot-soldiers and their spokesmen in the high ranks of the party. Is President Mills waking up to listen to these dissenting voices? It may be so. But why now, and to what effect? The directive gives the misleading impression that these appointees have the panacea for the unemployment problems that these foot-soldiers face. Thus, creating opportunities for such interactions would help solve those problems. It is not so and shouldn�t be seen as such. We must not institutionalize this kind of deception. We all know that these political office holders are more interested in serving themselves than the Ghanaian voters who put them where they are. No one should try to deceive us. Ridiculous! How is this directive going to be enforced? What is the penalty for any appointee who fails (or refuses) to obey it? Before this directive, was there any intentional move to close the door to those foot-soldiers? Why couldn�t these appointees grant audience to them? Does it have to go all that far? The directive is lopsided in another sense because it has created the impression that it is only the rank and file of the NDC that have needs to be met by the appointees. Knowing very well the nature of the Ghanaian politician, I have no shred of doubt in my mind that this directive will be used to discriminate against political opponents. It will encourage their bullying and create tension in the society. Then, when the political tide turns against the party now in power, the cycle of �do-me-I-do-you� will be re-enacted while the living conditions of the people deteriorate and the country�s growth stagnates. This crap of �father-for-all-Ghanaians� will not wash with me. There are better ways to demonstrate this sense of altruism than recourse to this worn-out and tired political catch-phrase. President Mills� government must get its acts together and do what the people expect. It is only then that the pressure on it will lessen and give Ghanaians the positive feeling that they are working for �a better Ghana.� Viewed from a wider angle, however, this directive clearly demonstrates something else. It is a tacit admission of failure by these government functionaries to relate productively to those whose hard work placed the NDC in government and created jobs for them. Of course, the spontaneous acts of thuggery and forcible taking over of toilets, lorry parks, and other employment avenues by the NDC�s foot-soldiers can be seen as the demonstration of their frustration at the government�s failure to create jobs for them. Although condemned for such acts of thuggery, the foot-soldiers justified their actions and even went further to issue threats against their own government. Those in Tamale are the latest to come to notice. Addressing the grievances goes beyond turning public offices into meeting grounds. The main issue is that the youths want work to do to earn their living in a decent way. The high unemployment rate is at the core of all these agitations. If the government does what will encourage job-creation and jobs become available, all these agitations will gradually evaporate. What is the government�s plan to solve this problem? No one is asking that the government should directly take up the responsibility of creating jobs or wave any magic wand to bring jobs into existence overnight. In countries that seem to be addressing this problem of unemployment, the governments don�t directly take up job-creation. They create a congenial environment for the private sector to do so. They enunciate favorable policies and offer practical support to the private sector, which then goes ahead to create jobs. What is the government�s policy direction on this aspect of governance? What is being done to implement such policies? Having discredited State-Owned Enterprises and gone ahead to divest itself of them, I don�t think that the government will now want to go back to lick its own vomit to create more SOEs. The onus should lie on the private sector. Any tax relief or incentives for that sector to motivate action toward job-creation? Should the government not turn more attention to the small-scale (industrial) area to create the jobs? In other countries, the economy benefits a lot from the small-scale sector and the government encourages the private employers to remain in business so they can recruit labour. The National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) that the Rawlings� PNDC established could have been depoliticized and given much official support over the years to perform better than it�s been doing. Then, the Association of Ghana Industries, Chamber of Commerce, Ghana Employers Association and others need to go beyond their talk-shop posture to do better things concerning job-creation. These institutions have become avenues for politicking instead of performing relevant functions to support the government in creating jobs. The Kufuor government wasted funds registering the unemployed because it thought that generating data on the unemployment problem was more important than creating jobs. Is that document available for the Mills government to consult and use in any way possible? What about other policies and programmes on youth employment that previous governments have developed? We must build on the existing body of knowledge about our circumstances and stop cutting off our noses to spite our faces! Desperate acts and on-the-spur-of-the-moment decisions will not solve the problems. At best, they only open the flood gates for all manner of people to flood the offices of government functionaries at the District/Municipal/Metropolitan Assemblies, Regional Co-ordinating Councils, Agencies, Departments, Ministries, and the Presidency. Official businesses risk being taken over by �consultations� on personal grievances and requests for favors from these political appointees. Then, these appointees will gradually become tin-gods instead of serving the people. The problem will definitely be compounded. I foresee a more serious problem, which will deepen the woes of these appointees and frustrate government itself. Already, our MPs have been heard complaining in the open about how their constituents have been bombarding them with requests (to pay their wards� school fees, utility service bills, to provide chop-money, and others). I have a hunch that these NDC appointees will face similar problems and find dubious ways to generate funds for serving those desperate people. It will end up promoting corruption at all levels. What is happening now should serve as a serious warning to future politicians who might want to manipulate the situation to advantage. When they mount political platforms and make sweeping promises, they need to know that the repercussions will sting them hard in office. Of all the numerous promises that the NDC made while in opposition, the one on job creation caught on well with the youths, most of whom had become desperate to the point of losing faith in themselves. The NPP had promised them the moon; thus, considering the NDC as a better alternative, they turned to it. Now that wishes have refused to become horses for them to ride, the reality of the situation is what we see: high crime wave, low productivity, apathy, and loss of hope for the future. Such people with a very low morale cannot build a country. These problems are the direct upshot of the various governments� failure to put in place consistent and workable policies to solve the unemployment problem that has perennially bogged down the people. What is the NDC�s own manifesto on the very issues that are cropping up here and there for which its foot-soldiers should seek audience with their political office holders? The government seems to be under-rating the enormity of the problem, which is unfortunate. Developing Ghana should go beyond this experiment of trial-and-error in the administration of the country. We need consistency in major policies. The NDC�s Vision 2020, which the NPP discarded for its own agenda, must still have some good pointers and should be revisited. Then, the good aspects of the NPP�s own programme should be gleaned and blended with whatever else is fit for implementation. Our leaders must stop being petty in tackling national problems. So far, issues appear to be viewed through terministic screens and geared more toward satisfying partisan political party interests than in addressing national needs. In all that happens, let us remember that Ghana�s interests are paramount and should be made to supersede all others. Before the NPP or NDC emerged, Ghana had been and it will outlive those narrow and selfish political entities. It is only trouble makers who will refuse to acknowledge this fact and do things to serve their parties� narrow interests.