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Citizens Left In Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Feature Article Citizens Left In Between A Rock And A Hard Place
JUN 28, 2020 LISTEN

6 months to elections and when I look at my immediate circumference I don’t see anything significant that the NPP has done but rather I see disappointments and confusion.

The major achievements of this government apart from their beloved Free SHS is TAXES and right from the unset, it was Luxurious vehicle taxes that faced stiff opposition and rejection from the car dealers and users who saw that policy die a useless death.

I’ll limit my write up to only 3 sectors in order to make it short.

The first one is the Creative Arts sector and it is absolutely clear that they’ve done Zero(0) out of all the promises they made in fact they have added more confusion by putting square pegs in round holes and neglected the practitioners to suffer.

Secondly is the Fishing industry and from the moment they added taxes to ship-stores the companies stopped importing ship parts to maintain their vessels that need constant maintenance because of the corrosive nature of the sea since the vessels place of residence is the sea. In effect clearing agents also lost those cargos.

This year they increased the fishing license to over 500% to increase the woes of the fishing companies and as I type now 4 vessels that employ at least 50 crew making it 200crew members in total and in effect “800” family members if every family consists of 4 people, have lost their monthly salaries and bonuses. One company has abandoned its vessel and left with heavy debt all due to the unbearable pressure on the companies.

Thirdly the Clearing Agencies who play a key role at the port with regards to cargo handling have been complaining from day one when duties were increased and many of them folded up.

The ones left who were managing with the GCNET system have been hit by a new system called UNIPASS which they tried introducing in May 2018 and now forcing it on the people from 1st March 2020 at all entry points except the ports but now spreading it to cover every point in June.

Now the system that used to take 3days to clear goods from the port is now using 3weeks to still be in a confused state and yet nothing is being done about the Demurrage Charges.

As I said earlier we won’t waste our time on their 1 district 1 factory and 1 village 1 dam.

Now the problem is the alternative parties are worse in fact the biggest opposition party ie NDC does not even know their running mate, they seem not to even have a campaign message and their manifesto is yet to come for us to read and decide.

I strongly believe we need a Strong 3rd force but those who tried were either swallowed by these 2 big parties or they join them themselves.

TPP too that is preaching independent is saying they’re not a political party and even if they transmogrify into a political party their leader will be hit with his past of flirting with these 2 big Parties.

With such a situation all these 2 parties have to do is to just wait for 8years to take turns so they will continue to grow less accountable to the Citizens and corruption will become entrenched since one fears being taken on by the other when the tables turn.

One thing I’ve realized is that if our minerals like oil and gold could be drilled and mined in a day or two I’m 100% sure that our ancestors would have finished it long ago without any trace of development in our lives today and I’m sure whatever we are getting today from it is being squandered and leaving the next generation with nothing to depend on because it’s obvious that the motorway in Nkrumah days looks better than the same motorway today.

Once again it’s election time and the Voters/Citizens, as usual, are left in between a Deadly Rock & a Hard Place to make another decision and I wouldn’t be surprised if they retain the ruling party based on only Free SHS or reject them based on the countless unfulfilled promises yet in all this our leaders should start rethinking of how they use the Power when they get it for the sake of the Country and Next Generation.

#GhanaFirst

#VhimMoveMent

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