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30.07.2018 Feature Article

Ghanaians Can Make What Appears To Be An Impossible Reformation Possible

Ghanaians Can Make What Appears To Be An Impossible Reformation Possible
30.07.2018 LISTEN

It is very gratifying to know that, our beloved country, Ghana, is ranked as the fourth most peaceful nation in Africa and the forty-third in the world ranking.

However, anybody who has traveled to live outside Ghana, especially in the USA and Great Britain or somewhere in Europe even for a short period of time and then returns to live again in Ghana, finds it extremely unbearable to understand why the Ghanaian system looks somehow absurd.

It is a plain truth that, the systems in those countries are so comfortable to assimilate. The security system, health facilities, education programs, social setups, respect for human lives, very organized transportation system, well-planned commercial activities, with her computerized credit acquisition plans are just so superb.

Again, restrictions on the purchase of controlled drugs which are fully supported by national laws and the fear of engaging in bribery and corruption, though not completely eliminated, are a few of the proper systems that one can enjoy in these countries.

Corollary, any patriotic and serious Ghanaian, who embraces the established national laws for peaceful living conditions and who shuns traits of activities leading to any form of bribery and corruption and is determined to live according to the principles of true patriotism, finds it quite burdensome to cope with the rot in the Ghanaian lifestyle.

Ghana is seriously and fatally sick. This is because majority of Ghanaians are extremely greedy, highly corrupt and unrealistically egocentric. Many people at the top hierarchy of our national administrative strata would not care if they could wrongfully amass wealth at the expense of a national genocide. It is very sad to note that, a chunk of the Ghanaian populace, from the top to the bottom, is afflicted with the bad habit of irrational corruption rooted in inherent greed and wickedness.

A custom officer at our port of entry does not care to authenticate the fitness and efficacy of contaminated and poisonous edible products, including “drugs” from another country, when a pittance of dollars has been given to him as a bribe. As long as he and his family would enjoy the value of that small amount of money while the rest of the population suffers is something he does not worry about. And after doing very unpatriotic act, he/she feels proud as a Ghanaian.

A police officer feels very innocent and satisfied to cover-up a treasonable criminal offense when a small form of bribe has been offered to him. It is really pathetic for a police officer in uniform, who is on duty to check obedience to traffic laws, to collect as low as just two cedis (GHC2.00) and then allows a car without insurance to ply our roads, a driver without license to sit behind the wheels, which ultimately can be the cause of vehicular homicide. A police officer can support some well-known criminals living among us in the society to thrive among us comfortably, as long as the officer is given frequent supply of two or three bottles of beer every day either by the criminals or their rich accomplices. Patriotism has died down almost completely in certain men and women in uniform.

It is quite lamentable that some doctors, nurses and midwives, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, X-ray professionals, and other health workers in some of the departments in our hospitals do not value the lives and the rights of the patients that visit our health institutions. It would not be far from wrong, if one concludes that, the lackadaisical attitude of some of our health workers breeds substandard services from our hospitals; and they face no sanctions, suspensions or punishment, because the ethical laws which are supposed to control their work are glossed over by those who are required to make the laws work. The practice of demanding “motivational gifts” by comparatively well-to-do doctors, nurses and midwives from very poor patients is unthinkable. Is money the end of everything for this health personnel?

It may interest you to know that, most of our educational institutions violate all principles of proper administrative procedure; procurement rules are downplayed, such that very vital procurement documents are “forged” by some of the heads and accountants of our institutions just to cheat the system and steal from the government’s funds; some government auditors collude with accountants to cover-up embezzlement, all to the detriment of the national development. The activities of majority of suppliers of various items to our schools and colleges is an eyesore. Satanically, some teachers, tutors and lecturers engage in illicit and immoral sexual acts with innocent students against their will; ironically, students who resist immoral sexual moves by their teachers or tutors or lecturer are victimized, at times they are wrongfully failed. There is the serious need to embark on a complete reformation within the health sector.

Some of our parliamentarians and top party functionaries, both past and present, cannot be vindicated from corrupt practices. Contract figures are inflated; kickbacks are encouraged; monetization in an election to maintain their positions is practiced. Some support the evil deeds of some individuals living within their constituencies. (Asunafo Constituency Activities).

It is only in Ghana that everything from the opposition party is deemed as “stupid” by the ruling party; similarly, Ghana is the only place where every good thing from the ruling party is portrayed as unproductive by the opposition party. Nothing good in parliament is supported by either side if the good thing did not originate from their side. I can only remember few occasions when Honorable P.C. Appiah Ofori sided with discussions from his opposition party.

Even in Churches, some pastors, elders, and treasurers steal money from the coffers of the Churches in the presence of the Invisible God. Some reduce the number of zeros of the amount of money on the duplicate receipts that is going into the Church’s treasury, then they pocket the difference.

Some of the owners of “one-man churches” keep on to dubiously squeeze the little resources from their members and they do not feel any sympathy. They have amassed an incredibly enormous wealth. They make money far better than some of our factories and other commercial entities. These Churches should begin to pay taxes. What kind of society is Ghana?

I wonder the kind of components in the material that God used to create Ghanaians; the majority of us is so evil-minded, that we resist all strategic plans/arrangements to improve our system. Corruption in Ghana is practiced by both Christians and Muslims.

Drivers on our roads do not follow laid down traffic rules and regulations; there is nothing like speed limit in Ghana; heavy duty truck drivers don’t respect the right of way of the small cars. They cause vehicular homicide with impunity and face no severe punishment. Every driver is a king of it’s kind immediately he sits behind the wheels. Drivers cross red light in the presence of police officers in uniform and face no punishment. Causes of accidents are investigated and left in the files to go stale. Therefore, guilty drivers flip through cases of vehicular homicide unpunished. What type of country is Ghana?

Some tenants decide to evade payment of electricity bills; when disconnected, they illegally connect the electricity back again, but no criminal action is taken against them. This cannot happen in any of the advanced countries; Opinion leaders spearhead the agenda to plead for offenders in such cases. The same goes for water bills. Are we serious as a nation?

Go to the manufacturing and industrial sectors: over-invoicing and under-invoicing, evading of taxes, failure to give correct data for proper evaluation by the government.

Somebody told me that, if the office of Rev. Kusi Boafo will be successful, then God should allow either a natural or artificial catastrophic homicide to happen in Ghana to exterminate everybody from the age of seven and above; after that, the young surviving kids should go through some conscientization by training them on how to live patriotically. Or a new strong and severe revolution should take place in every sector of our lives; those who resist proper law-abiding lifestyle are given the appropriate corrective measures no matter their position in the society.

The Executive should be firm damn the consequences; parliamentarians should be truthful irrespective of what the citizens would say; the police must abide by tenets of their profession; everybody should resolve to change his/her attitude for the betterment and progress of Ghana.

PHILIP AKWASI OPOKU.

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