The Bane Of Ghana’s Progress Is Our Own Government’s Actions And Pronouncements.

There is now talk about Ghana beyond aid by the government, on our airwaves and on the streets by the average Ghanaian is talking about Ghana beyond aid, though, I must concede that some Ghanaians do not understand that simple catch phrase “Ghana beyond aid” as demonstrated by television street interviews streamed on Youtube.Com. Others in the opposition camp including NDC’s communicators and their likes pretend not to understand it because of politics. I believe the President is dead on point by emphasizing that at age 61, Ghana needs to fine tune her policies to enable her wean herself from aid dependency for her development agenda and envision a day when Ghana’s developmental budget would certainly contain no donor support. Simply put, Ghana beyond aid is nothing but economic self reliance.

So the question now is how we got to where we find ourselves today, that our developmental progress has so much stalled to the extent that when we look at the list of the top 10 richest countries in Africa, Ghana is nowhere to be found on that list. It is very sad and pathetic that the country that was first to gain independence in sub-Saharan Africa is marking time when it comes to development.

I will put the blame squarely on the door-steps of the various governments that came after Nkrumah. Though, I agree that Nkrumah was not perfect and had his shortcomings, he was a leader with a great vision and set up programs to achieve his vision of making Ghana an industrial nation. The laws promulgated under him, whether good or bad were all geared towards achieving his vision. His strong arm of governance aimed at whipping people into line, all aimed at achieving his vision for Ghana. He instilled discipline in the Ghanaian society and made citizens responsible for their own actions and inaction. Ghanaians under Nkrumah were law abiding and very responsible in societies where they lived. Government under Nkrumah played its role and the citizens also played their role and the two combined to push Ghana forward. But what do we see today?

Governments after governments in post Nkrumah have assumed so much responsibility beyond their means to deliver and have made the citizenry over-dependent on government for almost everything they need. The communal spirit and the do it yourself spirit that characterized the Nkrumah’s regime have all died out.

In today’s Ghana, people just sit and fold their arms and expect government to provide them with almost everything from schools, to hospitals, boreholes, toilets, jobs, street lights, gutters, roads and even condoms for their own pleasure. This phenomenon has made Ghanaians so lazy and over-reliant on government so much that, today it is a common cry for our villages to petition government to provide them with toilet facility. What happened to the communal spirit that enjoined people in our villages to come together to provide their own toilet and boreholes? When did this over-dependence on government start?

I was very shocked when I heard that Nana Addo’s government had budgeted for the provision of thousands of toilets in Accra for private residences. Isn’t government bargaining to do so much beyond its capability? Is government not masticating more than she can bite? For all intents and purposes, I think that is a very bad policy because it encourages too much reliance on government. Government spending must not aim at pleasing people or making people feel good and over dependent on government, rather it must aim at helping the people to wean themselves from depending on government in the long term.

Instead of providing toilets for some households, government must pass a law mandating all households to have adequate toilet and bath facilities by a stipulated date and that law must be strictly enforced. The money earmarked for toilets in the budget could be used to build additional schools or hospitals for the communities and let landlords be responsible for providing their own toilet facilities. How on earth could people be allowed to rent residential facilities without toilets? Enough are the slums going on in Accra. If people do not have money, they should not build in Accra after all. We have made residency in Accra so cheap and so uncontrolled that slums are springing up everywhere making the city so uncontrollably dirty.

We need to pass laws that mandate all house owners to construct the gutter and pavement in-front of their houses to the streets adjacent their own premises so that the government would also do the street tarring if we want good inner-city roads and beautiful neighborhoods. People must assume some responsibilities and help government free some resources for more important projects that are prerogative of the central government like highways, bridges etc. That is what is done in America and elsewhere.

Government must also learn that she has no “business” in getting actively involved in production. That must be the preserve of the private sector period. It never seizes to amaze me that, government has after 61 years of independence, not learnt any lesson about the very people they seek to rule. Ghanaians are by nature selfish and egoistic; we care for what is “mine” and not what is “ours” that is why since independence, no single state owned enterprise has succeeded and trust me, none will ever succeed. If any government fails to recognize this simple fact, and gets itself involved in active production, it is bound to fail.

Just look at how students in public schools take care of school provided textbooks and furniture and compare that to how students in private schools handle the same and you would come to appreciate the point I am making. Even in our own families, if someone dies and leave a property for the extended family, just look at what happens to that property five years after the demise of the real owner.

We need to set our priorities right and work towards achieving them. Isn’t it a disgrace and humiliating that Ghana of all nations should import onions from Burkina Faso and Mali? Trust me, if we impose heavy tariffs on things that we can produce locally but are hitherto importing, within a year or two, we would create incentives for local people to fill the gap that would have resulted from the cut in imports. To the extent that imported rice continues to be cheaper than domestically produced rice, consumers will buy the cheaper imported rice and they cannot be blamed because that is basic economics. It is here that government policy becomes necessary to ensure that measures are put in place to turn the tide in favor of the domestically produced item. That is how government helps to create jobs but not to establish factories herself. Just look at the recently refurbished Komenda sugar factory. What has become of it two years after Mahama invested over $90 million into it? It is just lying waste.

In conclusion, for effective development strategy, government must clearly define her role in society and must spell out clearly what citizens must do and promulgate strong laws to guide the citizenry to do what is expected of them. Governments must encourage people to help themselves instead of promising to do everything for them.themselves instead of promising to do everything for them.