On Packet Intrusion and Ambulances

I am old enough to remember.  The days when Kutu Acheampong so had this country in a rut of fear and economic foolishness, we all just resigned ourselves to a “no hope” future and to a savior who never seemed to have enough time to listen to our cries and closed communication channels to our pleas.

In those days of no internet and mobile phones, when Pentecostals were not in full bloom, we did not even consider that we could make a call to divinity and get a response from an all compassionate God to release us from the grips of a no longer creative dictator.

We dared to breathe a word if even in the long queues at the Accra stadium where we would go religiously to stand in the scorching sun, hoping to buy a few tins of sardines and tinapa with some gari and sugar.  In those days, individuals had import licenses to bring in shiploads of canned food.  You just had to be Kutu's friend to get an import license.

I remember staying in a queue for hours waiting to buy pieces of asbestos roofing sheet so we could turn the goods around quickly and make some money to keep body and “sunsum” together and preserve sanity in the next chamber.

Had I known asbestos would end up infiltrating lungs and liver, I would definitely not have thought any differently.  We were a desperate people in a country with no hope.

It was tough and we were so paralyzed with fright for the eventual outcome should you be heard or seen not to support the patriarch's views, we simply caved in and chanted in silent hope that some relief would show up in the homes and places of peace.

When it eventually came in the form of Justice Abban the then Electoral Commissioner, we could hardly cheer for fear that the probable UNIGOV government would succeed and we would all still be gagged and flogged at the least offence.

And today it is beginning to feel the same, but in a different way.  Now we talk, and we are not afraid to do so.  We talk on radio, TV and in print and we don't worry about dismissals and late night curfews in parts totally incomprehensible to sensibilities and hope.

But Pastor Otabil, knowing the folly of standing up and speaking the truth, said what we all are feeling.  The Nation is in a state of despondency and “give-up-ness”.  I can feel it, and so can many of those I come into contact with every day and most of these are the taxi drivers and “youth-selling-cheap-Chinese-toys” by the wayside.

I have been through it maturely now at least three times.  I was turning twelve when Nkrumah was overthrown and my joy was celebrated through my parent's ecstasy and relief that the dictator had finally been routed.  Then we knocked Acheampong out and I celebrated big time on campus, ponding friends and myself like a modern day Baptist.  Finally I celebrated with Jerry John, thinking we would get some home peace, but short-changed in the end to suit his dictatorial bent.

So my home has been invaded several times by ambitious politicians and military types but not once have I had to resort, as others have, to call for help from an ambulance service.

On the road to Kintampo, we heard the horror stories of dead bodies flying out of windows only to end up in makeshift death beds, with no place to go than the floor of hospital emergency wards, to die for the lack of essential oxygen and other medications which are in short supply within Kintampo, Kumasi, Sunyani and others meant to be rescue points.

I have been lucky.  I have not seen death through negligence; incompetence and lofty poverty, justified by politicians such as I had the non-privilege to address when I sat with NDC's Kofi Adams on the Big Issue on Saturday.  In what was a fun-filled morning, Kofi tried to convince me off air that NDC economic policies were so successful, they would win the election even if Nana Addo were the Electoral Commissioner, and Acting National Chairman of the NPP Freddie Blay was his deputy.

I was impressed with his brazen confidence in the cheating abilities of his NDC party, and on the back of the dithering or maybe “U-turning” ability of the Electoral Commissioner, I just had to wonder how deeply mired in political miasma is our Charlotte Osei, the Commissioner.

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This failure in the opportunity to manage “steering controls” today, gone tomorrow is symptomatic of the accident-prone buses we condone because of deteriorating standards of maintenance and reckless driving down highways of hopelessly pot-holed corners.

We murdered sixty-one people because we rather spend money teaching youth how to sew and stitch batakari, when we could use that money to better improve our Vocational Institutions and craft proper certification to ensure that professional drivers would be just that; professional, and would know that driving with partial brakes and overtaking in sharp corners is not the way to preserve the lives of a bus load of passengers.

But one person lost his life in an invasion of his privacy and a bungled robbery.  If we are to accept the story of JB Danquah's murder by a mad man, we would all bow our heads in shame.  The politicians have tried hard to make it a political kill, but it is fast fading and instead we are lining up for a by-election even before the body is cold and six foot under.

I had no water through my taps for four weeks.  Some have had no water for months and some for years. The NDC touts its solution in water supply as one of its most significant achievements.  I don't have a clue what that means when my pipes are dry for weeks.

Dumsor is still alive and well in some parts of Accra, but is fast being pipped by “men sor”.  We keep the lights off, because we can't afford the ridiculous cost of supply.  So how is the Electricity Company going to meet its debt obligation?  We have reduced our usage because of the high cost and how does Government intend to redeem that lie of a legacy debt, which it has used as an excuse to make life even tougher on us?

Government has resorted to a 15% tax on Institutions with better internally generated funds.  All these now half sufficient institutions have weaned themselves off GoG budget funds because the allocations never came.  Now GoG is taxing them for its own inefficiencies.

This is a bad government and we need to change it.  I won't mince my words, I will not cry a tear if this NDC government is kicked out in November.  In fact I am wishing Ghanaians will wake up and do the sensible thing.

Now they want to snoop in on our conversations and make money for the cronies of the “Interconnect Clearing House” galaxy, concocting stories of terrorism and terrorists in cyber space as reason enough to charge telecommunications companies while forcing them to provide confidential information (you should read clause 17 of the bill).

And they choose to do this even with the audacity of not having passed the Freedom of Information bill after many years of it sitting in the queue of government business.

Did someone call a procedural ambulance?  Don't wait too long, we run out of common sense vouchers.  The Speaker in Parliament has no intention of giving you a right to information that you will use to defend yourself against evidence gathered against you.

So where is all this heading?  A bill to be rushed through Parliament to invade the peace of our homes, because all this cold heartedness by a government that sees money for cronies instead of the welfare of poor suffering citizens, is heading no place than into our homes and our lives and we have no emergency rescue in dialing “191” for an ambulance service to get us out of this economic misadventure.

Ghana, Aha a yε din papa.  Alius atrox week advenio. Another terrible week to come!

Sydney Casely-Hayford, sydney@bizghana.com

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