Is It About Ghana Or NPP? CJA Men Of Principles, Indeed!

Some leading members of the now not-very-active Committee for Joint Action have sought to consistently accuse other people of not having principles because they have been saying one thing or the other depending upon the exigencies of the times and how the positions they take suit their interest.

These CJA members want the whole world to see them as men of principles who must be hailed at all cost by the masses.

But the real masses of the nation last week indicated that was certainly not the case when they used various media network, especially the electronic media, to pour out their disgust at the current position taken by the CJA on development in the country.

The CJA used to be a very militant pressure group during the previous New Patriotic Party under the leadership of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, vehemently articulating what it believed to be the 'wahala' of Ghanaians at the time.

It therefore became a very active, popular pressure group with its 'Wahala' demonstrations, which simply sought to draw attention of the then government to what was considered to be the harsh economic realities in the country.

In the course of those agitations, some of them sought to make Ghanaians believe that the actions had not been triggered by any motivation from any political party, neither were they meant to promote the agenda of any political party. Simply put, the 'wahala' demonstrations were meant to identify with the suffering of the masses, so they claimed.

The last six years of the National Democratic Congress government has witnessed one of the worst forms of governance ever seen in the country since independence, with corruption, incompetence and naked, systematic loot of the national coffers carried to ridiculously high heights.

The verdict out there among Ghanaians, at least the discerning and objective majority, is that the current NDC administration, which has spent six years in office, has been a complete waste to the nation. And the outcome of its mismanagement and maladministration has been the massive hardships foisted on the country, with virtually no hope left for the masses.

Having inherited a sound economy growing at 8.4%, without oil, the NDC has succeeded in lowering Ghana's economic growth to a projected 3.9% in 2015.

The NDC government has had access to the quantum of resources never made available to any government since the nation attained political independence. But, many Ghanaians find it difficult to see the projects or development the resources have been used for, with the government claiming that one would need a vertical 'elevation' to see the so-called development being carried out.

Within that period, the cedi was declared the worst performing currency in the whole world, having suffered about 200% depreciation in the last six years.

After inheriting an interest rate of 25 per cent, the NDC government, under the presidency of Mr Mahama, has pushed the rate to 30%.

This, coupled with other disincentives to business growth, including the ongoing 'dumsor-dumsor', has led to the collapse of many businesses, thus rendering many Ghanaians jobless and poorer.

Ghanaians have lived in a state of complete despondency for the past six years under the Mahama-led NDC government which has been characterized by the worst forms of corruption ever witnessed in the country's governance system, gross ineptitude, leadership paralysis and unprecedented economic mismanagement.

Yet, members of the CJA seem to be content with the current state of affairs in the country. Many Ghanaians were shocked last week to hear some leading members of the CJA mounting a spirited defence for their decision not to embark on any demonstration against the NDC government. They say any demonstration they embark upon will serve the political interest of the NPP. They, therefore, want the 'grandfathers' in the NPP to go onto the streets.

We want to ask: it is about Ghana and the suffering of the people or the benefit NPP will get? Are the CJA members now tacitly confessing to Ghanaians that the whole 'Wahala' demonstrations were targeted at a regime change, so that their friends in the NDC could come to power? Men of principles, indeed!