We Must Not Blow This Chance Oh!

History does have a way of mocking humanity, doesn't it?

Think of this: 21 February 2017 – Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo delivers his first State of the Nation Address to Parliament. The Address contains so many positive ideas that some MPs – mainly from the majority side – interrupt the President with yells of: “Yeah! Yeah!” … “That's it!” and “Hear Hear!”

Other MPs, mainly from the Minority benches, jeer at him. But the President is unperturbed. At one stage, he humorously remarks that the Minority “have a problem with facts”!

This is greeted with an uproar, of course, but it's all done in good humour. Indeed, someone with a shrewd perspective of history would have observed that the atmosphere was reminiscent of the first Parliament of independent Ghana. Our President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, had been an MP before becoming Leader of Government Business (1951) and later Prime Minister (1952). So he was used to 'Parliamentary cut-and-thrust'.

President Akufo Addo had also been an MP for 12 years. He too knows the Parliamentary game back-to-front. Watching him “joust” merrily with the Minority, as they heckle him, one's heart is gladdened: this is truly the only system of government that is suited to the Ghanaian spirit.

Ah? [history's mocking voice breaks in] “if the Ghanaian spirit loves democratic disputation so much, why did that spirit disappear after 1958? Why did Prime Minister's Questions cease to exist after 1958? What caused the muting of democracy that led to our eventually becoming a “one-party state”?

History answers with its reproachful tone: “You pretended to love democracy. At heart, you were all autocrats!” (DISCUSS!)

Yes! And one fine morning, exactly 51 years ago, the gun boomed to teach us that if you don't play the democratic game sincerely, you are doomed to obey what “The Man-On-Horseback” says (no matter how nonsensical it may turn out to be).

It is my prayer that the tribulations we have endured as a nation since 1966 will reinforce our desire to prioritise and meet the real needs of our people. For too many Ghanaians are -- once again -- becoming extremely disenchanted with, if not cynical, about the role being played by some of our politicians. All Ghanaians hear about are stolen/retrieved cars; expensive houses for elected officials; bad contracts that were awarded solely so that commissions from them could be banked at Dubai and other places; who has got what appointment and so on -- with very little said about what actually concerns the-man-in-the-street. Well-fed and well-appointed politicians are invited by well-fed and well-appointed media hosts to talk endlessly on the electronic media about so-called "current events", where lies and more lies are peddled to the public, with no attempt by the media hosts to "fact-check" what is being said. Almost every discussion on the eletornic media ends with a deadlock of "he-said-I-said". It is as if our media owners have never heard of competent journalists who can ensure a "rounded" discussion of contentious events, carried out in a rational manner.

Instead of being apologetic about their past misdeeds, some of our politicians choose to go on the offensive and abuse our intelligence. How could ex-President John Mahama, for instance, summon the sheer gall to ask the NPP Government to chase the C51 million “dashed” by the NDC to Woyome, when Mahama's ownAttorney-General had pussy-footed endlessly -- and with little concern for public opinion -- about retrieving the money? What made Martin Amidu a national "crusader" (if not a super-hero!) all of a sudden?

In his speech, President Akufo Addo made some startling disclosures that should make us sleep less soundly at night. The President said:

QUOTE: “To give a fair account of the state of our nation, I have to give an account of the state of our economy....Mr. Speaker, I say nothing new or dramatic, when I tell this Honourable House that the economy of our country is in a bad way. ... Some six weeks after taking over the reins of government, it gives me no pleasure to have to say that our worst fears have been confirmed, plus a few additional, unpleasant surprises as well”.UNQUOTE

Awirade ei! [Good Lord!]
“Worst fears confirmed”!
Worst fears?
And “additional unpleasant surprises”? What could these be?

The President didn't leave us in any doubt:
QUOTE: “Mr Speaker" he expatiated) "Notwithstanding the fact that the previous government had ten times [more] financial resources than any other government since independence, its management of our economy in the run-up to the 2012 …. elections resulted in a quagmire that necessitated the urgent intervention of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2014.

“The IMF programme negotiated was ostensibly to restore fiscal discipline, debt sustainability and increase economic growth. ...[However] fiscal indiscipline, once again, reared its head in the 2016 election year. Total projected expenditure for 2016 was GH¢43.9 billion (26% of GDP), but actual expenditure amounted to GH¢50.3 billion (30.2% of GDP). .... It appears, from what we are finding out, that some GH¢7 billion of arrears and outstanding payments circumvented the very public financial management system that was put in place to prevent such occurrences.

“...Revenue performance for the year was poor. The total revenue target for our country was GH¢37.9 billion (22.7% of GDP), but the actual revenue came in at GH¢33.2 billion (19.9% of GDP)....

"The combination of higher expenditures and lower revenues than projected resulted in a significant increase in the budget deficit for 2016. As compared to a target of 5.3% under the IMF programme, the fiscal deficit for 2016 was 9% of GDP on a cash basis and 10.2% of GDP on a commitment basis (that is on the basis of expenditures undertaken but not yet paid for)....

“Mr. Speaker, the increasing fiscal deficits were financed by increased borrowing. As at the beginning of 2009, Ghana’s total debt stock was GH¢9.5 billion. By the end of 2016, the debt stock had ballooned to GH¢122 billion. Ghana’s debt stock now stands at 74% of GDP.” UNQUOTE

Agya ei! Me Maame ei! [My father! My mother!]

President Akufo Addo added:
QUOTE: “More debt was accumulated by the previous government in the last eight years than all other governments put together since independence!...

"92% of Ghana’s total debt stock was incurred in the last eight years under the previous government. The interest costs on this debt have also increased and will amount to an estimated GH¢14.1 billion in 2017. UNQUOTE

One more quote: According to the President, “Ghana’s total revenue is consumed by three main budgetary lines: wages and salaries, interest payments and amortization and statutory payments. These three items alone account for 99.6% of government revenue.” UNQUOTE

That being the case, where is the Government going to find the money to finance, for instance, the enormously imaginative Takoradi-Paga Railway project and the other lofty projects envisaged by the President?

Most important: Are we going to be able to develop and finance – as an urgent priority – a realistic programme to end galamsey so that our children and their children can continue to find good water to drink? Or are we going to doom them to say goodbye to Mother Ghana and trek to Libya and elsewhere to join the dangerous flow of immigrants to areas whose people have preserved their natural heritage better than we have protected ours?

Ghana's survival, no less, is at stake. The NPP Government must prove equal to the task, or we are up for the high jump.