You did not manufacture the land, God created it.
You did not design the buildings, Architects and Engineers did.
You did not monitor/manage the projects’ progress, there are systems in place to do this and you did not invent these either.
You did not even use your own money to fund the infrastructure, you have borrowed millions in foreign currency to fund these and the offspring of the people you want to hail you will bear this cost.
I believe this is what informed president John Mahama, a vice presidential candidate in 2008 when he said touting infrastructure development alone as an achievement is an exercise in mediocrity. I like to believe he knew then that governance is more serious business than pointing on a map to show where infrastructure should be located.
Managing the economy is the difficult part and no one can say this government has not failed. Managing state incomes in order that all statutory payments can still be made is the hard part.
Thinking through policies and consulting with all stakeholders including the opposition is the difficult part.
Tackling the poor quality of education, not just supervising increased enrolment is the difficult part.
Supervising the extension of electrical power can be a tough one but providing stable affordable power for the homes of our people and their businesses as well is the difficult part.
Respecting and cooperating with the other arms of government and not side-stepping SUPREME COURT judgments to satiate the whims of your political party is the hard part.
Tackling corruption is the difficult part and let me remain here a bit.
Do you realise that for 2 years we have danced round the Woyome judgment debt after the Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the GHc 51 million fraudulently taken from the state, after Mr. Martin Amidu challenged the legality of the judgment debt paid the businessman and two other companies; Waterville and Isofoton ?
Today, government’s lawyers (you and I, our lawyers, the prosecution) have joined the defendant’s lawyers to say that it would better benefit us if we did not follow up to find where Woyome’s assets are. In other words, those whom we trusted to represent our interests in this case chose to make it more difficult for us to get our money paid back ASAP.
The greatest opportunity a Ghanaian government has had in my lifetime to show that it is serious about fighting corruption will not be utilized under this government. Since there’s no one bold enough to tell us why we have been so betrayed, let’s not poke them. Everything lays bare before God.
Making speeches and being called a stellar communicator is all good but having a conscience and living by it is the hard part.
In my most sincere opinion we should not use construction projects started or even completed in a government’s tenure as capital for their election or otherwise. I feel it is a slippery slope that we shouldn’t be driving our Kantankas on.
When you go to a village and say “vote for me because I decide to give you a hospital”, it is not only the most obnoxious rung of condescension, it is also a shot in the foot. It is exposes how little you esteem the cognition of your people while unearthing a warped idea of governance that you hold, construction is not governance.
Remember you have a fixed number of years and you cannot do infrastructure in every community in the country before this term expires. What do you tell the neighbouring village that has not yet been connected? Make a promise?
The problem doesn’t stem from the politician if you ask me. If we prove that smart solutions to manage the economy are what we want, the politician will align!! So, it is our wrong equation of construction to development that is a problem. This is why we borrow to build roads at rates that no sane man would. May be this is why governments don’t feel any obligation to comply with due diligence and value for money analysis of projects, after all, “all they want is to see a hospital and roads with an interchange superimposed on it, contractor give it to them”. Maybe that is why governments print booklets full of construction projects to show as proof of good work.
Fellow Ghanaians, you may want to look at what should have been a great project – The Komenda Sugar Factory. The infrastructure is there, it’s been built but it is yet to produce a cube of sugar for sale. It is a huge investment that is now only yielding propaganda returns.
It was not mischief, it was not naysaying, and it was not cynicism when the president said “For the NPP to tell us they have constructed roads, hospitals, bridges, schools and other projects is an exercise in mediocrity. Every government does these” – Vice Presidential Candidate Mahama (2008).
I know you know he is right and that this is the truth but if you agreed publicly, what else would you leverage on for the candidate you like as he bids to remain in power? The bus branding saga and SADA fiasco? Of course not.
The unbelievable rot at the National Service Scheme and Ministry of Sports which led to reshuffles, the more favoured punitive measure in this administration? Of course not. The sad tale of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA)? The blatant disrespect, lies and arrogance we suffer at the hands of government appointees? Certainly not.
Fellow Ghanaians, this year’s election is a tug of votes between those who are fed up with mediocrity and those who refuse to recognise mediocrity, may the larger caucus win.
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