body-container-line-1
08.03.2013 Editorial

Country In Crisis

By Daily Guide
President John MahamaPresident John Mahama
08.03.2013 LISTEN

President John Mahama's belated admission on Wednesday that Ghana is in crisis was a wise political action, a welcome departure from the pretentious all-is-well attitude and propaganda rhetoric we have lived with for the past four years or so.

All the symptoms of a distressed country are palpable in our everyday lives; the only thing that we have not witnessed is a declaration of a state of socio-economic emergency by the Commander-In-Chief.

The importance of the admission was watered somewhat with his observation that his compatriots are extravagant with the use of water and electricity. These cannot be good times for lessons on water and electricity frugality. It is an admonition which can be stretched to mean that extravagance in the use of water and electricity, according to the President, is responsible for our closeness to the precipice.

The challenges confronting the country are motley and enormous and they demand sincerity on the part of the President and his government for proper resolution.

The presidential admission is meant to prompt Ghanaians to appreciate the realities on the ground lest they are carried away by frivolous propaganda speeches they are used to hearing. Now the cat is out of the bag about the country's genuine status. It would not be long before more admissions are laid bare on the public domain. We can only hope so.

For the first time in recent times, the supply of water is suffering deficiency in areas which previously were sufficiently fed with the life-giving fluid.

It is our position that the economy is not only burdened with the crisis of water and electricity but mismanagement of the highest order and posting dismal fiscal figures.

When governance is hinged on mendacity and empty rhetoric, essentials we took for granted in previous dispensations become endangered.

Unfortunately, the 2013 budget does not look set to tackle the motley challenges besetting the country, including water and energy. For how long shall we continue to grope in darkness as the solutions to our challenges elude us mockingly?

The country, which we were told was in Intensive Care Unit four years ago, seems not to have recovered well enough to be discharged and to ensure free flow of water and supply of 24-hour electricity countrywide.

Much as we appreciate the stressful moments the President is passing through, including insomnia, as a result of the overwhelming challenges he is shouldering, we can also recall that he has been in charge for as long as the late President's malaise prevented him from working when he was alive.

We are in desperate times and eagerly look up to the President for a way out of the maze, an action beyond mere admission, we may say.

 
 

body-container-line