And Why Not, Aquinas Tawiah Quansah

I never followed the tenure of the former Mahama-appointed Central Regional Minister, and so there is not much that I can say about the man beyond this matter-of-factly response to the cynical sneer by Mr. Aquinas TawiahQuansah that very soon, the Akufo-Addo government will almost exclusively spend the Ghanaian taxpayer’s money on its fee-free Senior High School policy initiative (See “Free SHS Will Soon Swallow All Incomes Generated – Former Minister” Peacefmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 12/6/17).

Mr. TawiahQuansah is further reported to have said that “no roads, clinics, police stations” and even “school buildings” will be constructed by the Akufo-Addo Administration. This kind of cynical sneer or tantrum can only come from a very frustrated and utterly despondent career politician who does not see the country’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) returning to power anytime soon. For starters, even as Nana Akufo-Addo himself attested recently while on a working tour of the so-called Three Northern Regions, there is absolutely no palpable evidence on the ground that infrastructure development was among the list of the topmost priorities of the Mahama-led regime of the National Democratic Congress.

“Where are the much-ballyhooed roads that President Mahama and his ministers claim to have constructed all over the country?” one news report quoted President Addo DankwaAkufo-Addo to have queried with consternation. And soon what moral grounds is Mr. TawiahQuansah’s diatribe based? Not very clear; at least not to yours truly. You see, a regime that really cared about the multi-fronted development of our country would not have sunk GH₵ 13 million-plus into the uncompleted boondoggle purported to be a state-of-the-art Vice-Presidential Mansion.

Then also, the Mills-Mahama tandem regimes would not have willfully and criminally collaborated with Mr. Alfred AgbesiWoyome, the notorious NDC campaign underwriter, to scam the Ghanaian taxpayer of some GH₵ 52 million. At the last count by the vigilant operatives of the IMANI-Africa think-tank, or the Franklin Cudjoe Group, not even 20-percent of the promised 200 ultra-modern Senior High School physical plants or buildings had been constructed by Mr. Mahama and his Abongo Boys and Girls by the close of his scandal-ridden tenure.

We must also promptly add that the preceding is a very charitable estimate. The real, or true, figure hovers somewhere between 5-to-10-percent. In other words, the regime of which Mr. TawiahQuansah was a principal player has absolutely no credible track-record of caring about the quality-of-life improvement of the average hardworking Ghanaian citizen and/or his/or dependents. And, by the way, has the former Central Regional Minister bothered to find out whether the Mahama cabinet appointees actually followed through with their boss’ order to donate 10-percent of their fat salaries into a set-aside fund to be used to build community health facilities?

At any rate, exactly how many of such facilities were built out of a projected how many? Then, also, how many police stations were built by the Mahama government? We will not even dissect the details of the deluge of recruitment scams that rocked the Ghana Police Service (GPS) under the Mahama regime. The fact of the matter is that even if all the taxpayer-generated development funds are exclusively sunk into the fee-free Senior High School policy initiative, it would still be money well spent. At least the Akufo-Addo-led government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would have wisely invested in the future well-being of our country. the same, of course, cannot be said of the Cash-and-Carry NDC socialist ideologues who provided neither a fee-free nor a qualitative Senior High School System for the country.

Then, also, who said that taxing the Ghanaian worker in order to build a bright future for his/her own children and grandchildren is a regressive policy agenda? Compared to the distribution of free sanitary pads to schoolgirls, as a curricular-enhancing learning tool? Come on, folks, let’s get serious!

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