Phantom 1000 Projects

The recent Greater Accra Regional tour by the President has come and gone, leaving behind a litany of incredible presentations by especially the Mayor of Accra, in his bid to whitewash a government which is still struggling to make good its pre-election promises. It was, as usual, a tour spiced with imaginary projects, with vintage President Mills in full flight, cutting the sod for the commencement of projects which have never been known by those living in the immediate communities where they are supposed to be. When the Mayor of Accra, Alfred Vanderpuye had the opportunity to review the trip, during which the President was unfortunately hooted at in some of the places he went to, he eulogized what for him was a successful Accra tour. What can we expect from someone who escaped impeachment by assembly members of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) by the whiskers, having been saved by a regional minister whose countenance he detests? He said the president was able to cut the sod for the commencement of work on one thousand projects in the Greater Accra Region and these, he said, would change the lot of residents. Nobody would ingest this crap without a pinch of salt. We find it unfathomable how such a high ranking personality would throw this amount of dust into the eyes of Ghanaians who know the reality on the ground. The ease with which state players use propaganda in their bid to prop what, by all standards, is a failed government is beyond imagination. In fact, we are compelled to regard such application of propaganda as insulting to our intelligence. How can one explain the now rampant application of lies to push government business in a manner which smacks of an underestimation of the quality of the governed? Where are the over 1000 projects located in the Greater Accra Region and what is their current statuses? If the crafters of such propaganda stuff are not intelligent enough to understand the import of such lies, we, the targets, do, and would not stand aloof as these confused state players continue to toy with our intelligence in a manner which can best be described as nonsensical. Statecraft requires a certain level of intelligence for those engaged in it to appeal to those they serve. The citizenry have had so much of such nonsense that they are sick and tired of them. We wish to put it out, cut and dry, that President Mills did not cut the sod for over 1000 projects in the Greater Accra Region as Mayor Alfred Vanderpuye tried to convince us about. We are surprised that after living in the US for such a long time and even working in a public establishment in a country where best practices are the norm, Mr. Vanderpuye would still engage in such dirty tactics. Perhaps, he learnt nothing after all those years in the US, living up to the dictum that regardless of the many years the crocodile lives in the river, it will never become a fish. As for the 1000 projects, the Number One Citizen could not have cut the sod for their commencement within those few days of his visit; it is a fantasy appropriate for the stage. A desk for Mr. Vanderpuye at the Information Ministry so he can join the likes of Okudzeto Ablakwa and Baba Jamal would not be a bad idea.