Is Someone Failing To Think Outside The Box To Offer Lasting Solutions?

And here come the screamers: "Accra submerged; 100 plus dead." "Almost 100 lives lost in fire at Goil filling station at Circle." I read the news items pitifully and felt tears melting on my eye balls. As usual, the condolences came in from all angles and I wonder if some people really mean "sorry" when they said so. But one of the stories provoked my anger bud. "Flood: We must make sure this doesn't happen again - Mahama." We must make sure this doesn't happen again?

Trust me, if that news item was to be a hard copy in my hand it would had attracted the dustbin like magnet in a second. Is this the first of it kind in this country? Is this not an annual ritual in Accra that makes people to live in abject fear for their lives and properties as soon as the clouds begin to gather?

When the man in the village prays for more rains, the man in Accra fast for less or no rain at all because his life is in danger should there be even a drop. Since God-knows-when we have been battling this long problem. Let's do a bit of history. I travel back through time lane to July 4, 1995. The date presented a horrifying case of flood in this country. It was the moment when the heaviest recorded rainfall in Ghana in 30 years came with its accompanying devastating results in parts of the capital.

The phone lines went dead. Blackout, damage to roads and the taps were crying for water to flow through them. Governments after government, we are never spare the effects of this natural disaster. Here we are today with about 200 people displaced from their homes and 100 plus precious lives will soon find themselves into the welcoming arms of the earth because of a protracted problem we lack the will to resolve. And someone wants us not to term this as a national tragedy. Maybe he awaits more lives to be lost before. My sincere condolence to the bereaved families.

This annual flood occurrence is one of the justifications for my long held opinion that we never solve problems in this country but rather try to manage them. Once that is done and the media houses' attention is off, we behave like the proverbial ostrich thinking all is well. Who knows that after the painful events of 1997 we would be here battling with the almighty christen "dumsor" again?

Let’s do a bit backward march. That was the time "working people who returned home late at night were heard cursing and screaming in pain as they walked into furniture, walls and objects in pitch-dark sitting rooms," as Jomo puts it. "The rationing of power was so stingy that many communities received power supply for only 12 hours every other day as is happening now." However, the fact is there is no successive government that hasn't done anything to improve the power situation in the country.

Right from Nkrumah to Mahama, all have in different ways added to the national grid. So what is wrong? This is what is wrong. ATTENTION PLEASE! We have crop of leaders who specialise in managing problems than solving them. Yes. Lack of problem solving skills is a key cause of our problems. Problem solving skills go beyond our academic knowledge of how to solve this and that problem.

The less-tutored student in class six can also recite like the Ghana Pledge, book solutions to our annual flood. Ask them and they will tell you; proper disposal of waste, construction of gutters, proper layout, add to the list. But the 21st century leader does not only need the academic or subject knowledge to address a problem. What is demanded of us is both analytical and creative skills.

The ability to critically analyse problems and the creative ability to initiate new approaches to solving long standing problems is what we require. It's obvious we can't keep doing same thing same way expecting different results. It doesn't work anywhere like that and so can't work over here. We must wake up and go to work with our thinking skills than manual skills. The brain must replace the brawn, and strength in thinking must replace strength in muscles.

Annual inspection of flood affected areas under heavy media cameras and daily recital of our problems over and over again must not be prized over creativity in ideas to deal with them. The spectrum must be widened to invite contributions to ideas in solving our challenges once and for all. And when leading minds are brought to solve problems the will to do/implement must not be compromised. We are in a serious economic crisis. Brains were stormed at Senchi at the expense of the tax payers’ money.

Finally, we came out with a consensus but till date our leaders are so feeble to implement this. I honestly have no doubt that the ideas contain in that document can be a secret code to ending our economic crisis. Time has come for us to stop pretending like everyone who fails to see that the emperor is naked as in Hans Christian Anderson's story; "Emperor's New Clothes."

Like the young guy who has not been cultural brainwashed and pointed out that the "Emperor is wearing no clothes," we must avoid the political brainwashing and point out boldly that there are problems in the land. That is the only way to have open mind in thinking through them and creatively and uniquely offer long lasting solutions rather than making them never ending rivers. Obviously, someone is failing to offer solutions to the mountain of problems and I can boldly say that they don’t even have the solutions because most are square pegs in round holes. Mr. President, let me show you the way.

Henry Ford brought an efficient expert to go through his plant. All that the expert has to do was; find unproductive people in the workplace so that he (Henry) can fire them. That shouldn't be difficult I'm sure. Or is it? Taking tough decisions is a mark of true leadership. Time has far elapsed for people who are sleeping on their jobs to be shown the exit. We don't need people who are only so loud on the airwaves and neither do we need people who pay journalists to occupy front pages of the dailies in order to create the impression that they work from dawn to dusk. No!!! No matter how hyperactive the person may be, we need results.

No more management of problems. People being paid to do their jobs must stop paying lip services. Actions must be taken. More importantly actions that will bring results and results that will be long lasting. We can't keep on managing so that in few days the same problems roll back to hit us in the face like balls thrown to the wall. The danger of becoming use to our problems must be dealt with very quickly otherwise trust to hear same screamers in few years to come.

Divine K. Kpe Freelance Writer l Author l Speaker l CEO, Teen Age Build-Ghana l Poet Tel: 0247698295 Email: [email protected]