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01.08.2018 Feature Article

2020 We Go Show Nana

2020 We Go Show Nana
01.08.2018 LISTEN

Is it true that some Ghanaians, especially those keen in enriching themselves through illegal surface mining (galamsey) but have had their dreams curtailed, been sounding the lyrical warning, “2020 We Go Show Nana”, to the President and the NPP government? Is it also true that those perceiving the government to have increased and widened the income tax net to capture many people to generate a level of needed revenue for the nation have also joined the “2020 We Go Show Nana” chorus?

I shall not delve deeper into treating this topic today since it will be accorded a full chapter in an envisaged memoire which may serve as a lasting remembrance of Rockson Adofo to posterity, should his dream come true. However, like beauty which is only skin deep, I shall give the topic a surface treatment to convey a message and a counter-warning to that group of Ghanaians chirping that myopic and ruin-infested lyric.

To start with, may I ask the entire Ghanaian population if they know the importance of water and the role it plays in the sustenance of human life on earth? Do they know that a greater percentage of the human body is made up of water? Again, do they know the role forest and the land play in supporting human lives on earth?

Going forward, has any Ghanaian had a relative travelled on land through Mali and the vast Sahara desert with intent to seek greener pastures in then Colonel Muamar Gadhafi’s Libya, a country then overflowing with riches and prosperity and from where an immigrant could have the opportunity to access Europe, the United States of America and Canada? Understandably, the desert is littered with human and animal bones, an assertion by observers.

The death of the animals is not only through hunting by human beings and predators but principally through lack of vegetation and non-availability of water to quench their hunger and thirst respectively, hence dying through hunger and dehydration. The human beings comprising Ghanaians and other nationalities travelling by foot through the desert with all its difficult terrain and erratic weather, do not only succumb to untimely death under the hands of highwaymen but dehydration and hunger owing to lack of rivers and food, the result of the bad weather condition.

Any Ghanaian who had had none of their relatives travelled on land and especially, on foot, from any of the West African countries to the North African countries through the Sahara desert, had better inquire from those who have had their relatives or themselves travelled that path to ascertain how many people do not make it to their destination but die on the way. This is all mostly because of want of food and water but not snake bites or ambush by robbers.

If my assertion stands the test of credibility, then it goes to confirm the importance of fertile land and rivers (water) to sustaining human life on earth. Nevertheless, in Ghana, some indigenes and especially foreigners, with the Chinese forming the majority, are destroying the ecosystem. They are devastating the water bodies, fertile arable lands, forests and communities in their pursuit of enriching themselves through “galamsey”.

Discerning Ghanaians will bear me out that Ghana has for the past few decades been suffering from the expansion of the desert southwards. This is the outcome of our irresponsible felling of trees, destruction of forests and lands and the water bodies. The galamsey is established to be one cause of destruction of forests, water bodies and arable lands as well as communities. It deprives some villagers of their source of livelihood – when their vegetable and cocoa farms are destroyed by the behaviour and activities of our myopic and selfish traditional chiefs and the galamseyers respectively. Destruction of forests has direct negative impact on rainfall.

No wonder that food prices are unbearable in Ghana; therefore depriving many a resident in Ghana a proper meal a day let alone, a three square meal as contrarily enjoyed by those living in the civilized Western world.

When a Saviour is sent to redeem Ghana from the destruction of our future, thus, the spoiling of our rivers, lands and the air that we breathe in order not to have the full visitation of desertification upon the country, with its concomitant untimely deaths as undergone by those travelling on foot to Libya as aforementioned, here we are with a “marauding” choir singing, “2020 We Go Show Nana”. “Them go show themselves”- breaking into pidgin English.

Former President John Dramani Mahama, as clueless, incompetent and corrupt and probably a renowned thief rivalling the Arabian Ali Baba and his forty thieves, is condemning the visionary attempts by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to stop that canker called galamsey. Galamsey is not the brainchild of John Dramani Mahama but he gave the activity a boost under his presidency and continues to promise its revival and thriving should he lead the NDC to regain power in 2020. What a misfit to have ever become the president of Ghana!

His behaviour confirms that he was, and is still, a thief. He did not only live on his official income as a Vice President and a President of Ghana, but might have dubiously acquired other sources of income to enrich himself to carry out investments in foreign countries, hence his family and himself have a place to go to and something to fall back on if Ghana collapsed today. No wonder that he is supportive of galamsey activities in Ghana despite the adverse effects of the activity on the nation.

Anyway, why is he called Kofi Dubai? Can he swear on the bible, the Koran and by the gods, river spirits and the Golden Stool occupied by his “yen ntie obiaa” buddy, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, that he did not pinch a pesewa from somewhere which actually did not belong to him while he was the Vice and the President of Ghana? Why was there a rumour that the late President Evans Atta Mills ordered him to be investigated following the Embraer planes saga?

In the developed Western world, the dreamland of every Ghanaian both rich and poor, especially the poor ones, the governments live on taxes to carry out essential developments. In Ghana, we expect the government to provide us with macadamised roads, electricity, potable water, free education, free healthcare, jobs etc., yet we decry the government for seeking means to raise the necessary revenue through taxes and others. I do not by this mean that the government should be collecting unreasonable taxes on imported goods as is currently the order at the nation’s ports.

Our attitude of desiring free things all of the time without pondering a second over its consequences is to me very deplorable.

Don’t let our misunderstanding of politics and the craftiness of our corrupt politicians play on our minds to make us reason like inhibited persons. We have to pay taxes. We have to ensure that the taxes so paid are not siphoned into a politician’s private foreign bank accounts for their private use. We have to abandon politicians who are so myopic and selfish not to see the adverse effects of galamsey on the nation and her citizens.

Make a date with my memoire where you will have the opportunity to drink from the overflowing fountain of wisdom of the son of Kumawu/Asiampa soil. He shall tell the story as it is and as he will be guided by God!

Will the NPP government start to research about communication and how effective it is to engage the people in the formation, implementation and dissemination of government policies? For lack of knowledge emanating from obstinacy, the NPP have an uphill struggle to be re-elected in 2020. Do they bite into the free parabolic consultancy I give to them through my online publications? No; hence the difficulty that lies ahead of them and on Ghana as a nation with clueless John Mahama still lurking in the arena of politics.

Rockson Adofo

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