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08.05.2014 Opinion

SADA - For The Rich Or The Poor?

By Daily Guide
SADA - For The Rich Or The Poor?
08.05.2014 LISTEN

'The simple worker who owns nothing more than his hands, has nothing else to sell than his labour. He sells it more or less expensively, but its price, whether high or low, does not depend on him alone: it depends on an agreement with whoever will pay for his labour. The employer pays as little as possible; when given the choice between a great number of workers, the employer prefers the one who works cheap. The workers are, then, forced to lower their price in compensation each against the other. In all types of labour, it necessarily follows that the salary of the worker is necessary for survival.'

Anne-Robert Jacques Turgot- Baron de Laune (1727-1781)

ROBIN HOOD was the title of one of the many supplementary readers that fascinated us as young school-children. Robin Hood, otherwise known as Robyn Hode or Robyn Hude, has been portrayed as highly skilled in archery and swordsmanship. In English folklore or mythology, he was portrayed as a heroic outlaw and assisted by his right-hand man and other fellow outlaws known as 'Merry Men', he lived in Sherwood Forest, 'robbing from the rich and giving to the poor'.

For those of us from a poor background the 'wretched of the earth', the peasantry, the lumpenproletariat, as Frantz Fanon would classify us, Robin Hood was our hero, although he lived in the Middle Ages (the medieval period - between AD 500 and AD 1500) far away in Angle - land (England). In his essay 'Orygynale Chronicle', Andrew of Wyntoun wrote in 1283: Lytil Jhon and Robyn Hude, Wayth - men were commendyd gude; In yngil - and Barnysdale, that oysyd all this tyme thare trawale.'

An undergraduate student in Political Science or Sociology is likely to be taught some theories about the society or the state: Graecian definition, Roman definition, the classical definition-Aristotellian, Platonic, Adam Smith, Macchiavellian. He is also likely to be taught Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Marxism, and many others.

Karl Marx is a household name in Ghana-state control of the means of production and distribution of wealth, one man, one house, one car, one everything; but have you heard of Wilfredo Pareto? Wilfredo Pareto's pre - eminence as a Political - economist was captured by Benoit Mandelbrot in this piece: 'One of Pareto's equations achieved special prominence and controversy. He was fascinated by the problems of power and wealth. How do people get it? How is it distributed around society? How do those who have it use it? The gulf between the rich and poor has always been part of the human condition, but Pareto resolved to measure it'.

Mikhail Bakunin, another political philosopher, kept arguing that the rich must give to the poor, and if the rich did not give to the poor, the poor had every right to steal from the rich. Bakunin argued that there existed three inter-dependent platforms of the human society: that, human beings are naturally social (and, therefore, they desire social solidarity); that, human beings are more or less equal; and that, human beings want to be free.

Bakunin challenged Karl Marx, with the fear that the application of the Marxist system would automatically lead to the replacement of one repressive system (capitalist) by another (state-socialist).

Bakunin held the belief that God did not exist, and he advocated the abolition of religion, because religions '…create an intellectual slavery which in alliance with the state results in political and social slavery. Religions demoralize and corrupt people. They destroy reason and fill people's minds with absurdities, simply: 'We fool you, we rule you'.

A political party that parades itself as social democratic is expected to demonstrate this in practical terms. Thus, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was a glorified project. As the Chairman of the Board notes: 'What will make SADA a success is the ownership the people of the area will feel towards it. It is about their development and they should not allow the SADA process to be bastardised through narrow parochial party partisan lines. They should own it'.

Yaw Apiigah, the Coordinator of UN-FAO's Enhanced Guinea Fowl Production project, observed that if every household in the North had twenty guinea fowls, poverty among residents would be a thing of the past. For, as he argued, guinea fowl is economically viable, and the demand for it is very high on the domestic and international markets. But the obvious question is, how did the poor households benefit from the project? So, how were we trying to bridge the 'yawning gap' between the 'rich-south' and the 'poor-north'? Over the years, some politicians had made political capital out of the colonial administration policy: whatever happened in the past was not the making of any Ghanaian government, nor for that matter the making of any ethnic group against another. All the tribes in Ghana claim to have migrated into Ghana, either from the far north or from the east. People chose to stay on particular areas of Ghana for particular reasons…the rest is history. Asante came under British colonial rule just about the same time as the north in the early 20 th century (1900-1905)…the rest is history.

Ghanaians rejected the free education policy of the New Patriotic Party, and what did they choose instead? So, the children of the other parts of Ghana will not enjoy free education as enjoyed by their counterparts of the north? So, the rest of the nation should mark time, and wait for the north to catch up? Then the projects envisaged to help accelerate, accentuate, precipitate and crystallize this phenomenon should be botched by the very persons in whose hands lie the destiny of their own people?

To Professor Kwame Karikari, the former Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Northerners in the Mahama administration appear to be failing the north. He expects these Northerners to show more commitment to ensure that SADA works. From my rooftop, the corruption and financial malfeasance that have engulfed SADA are nonpareil. What do people say about Professor Karikari's charge: 'For political leaders, chiefs and other members of the middle-class from the north, it is a test of their patriotism to ensure that the dream of the patriots from the region who pioneered the idea is achieved. Will today's generation of Northern leaders… betray the trust bequeathed them by these patriots?'

Do we see SADA as a national programme? Then its conception and structure for its actualization must be seen as such. Is it in the interest of the beneficiaries to have its structures designed in such a way as to create the impression that only Northerners can develop the north? What would have happened if SADA was manned or superintended by non-Northerners?  What would have happened if say some Ewes, Fantis, Akyems, Gas, or Asantes had managed it. The money for financing the SADA belongs to all of us-Consolidated Fund-from taxes, including those extracted from importers, traders and Kayayei. That explains why we are concerned, and must be concerned.

Is the reconstitution of the board the solution to the problem? When we were young, we used to have a term 'kaskara'- whatever you do; it will be 'kaskara'. Unlike modern vehicles with automatic starters, the old ones required men with hefty shoulders (macho-men) to crank the engine before it would start, or the vehicle would have to be given a long push, say, a hundred meters, but it will still be 'kaskara'-there would be the need to restart the process.

I pity the people of the north… I pity President Mahama…Or is this also a question for which he would respond 'Yenntie obiara' a la Daddy Lumba? Was SADA for the rich or the poor people of the north?

 
Africanus Owusu-Ansah
[email protected]    
 
 

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