How simple is it to make Institutions in Ghana work effectively?

Everyone is aware that things are not in order in Ghana. People have lost confidence in the Police, Judiciary and the political parties (NPP and NDC). Our homeland is craving for a redeemer to restore law, order and prompt justice. His Excellency, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo Addo, the president of the Republic of Ghana is no least of such a person to ensure that institutions in Ghana are working properly. A former Attorney General under Kufuor’s administration and now, backed by the Special Prosecutor, Mr. Martin Amidu, Nana Akufo Addo is capable of helping and coercing our institutions to live up to their mandates.

The question which some observers are asking is How simple is it to put things in order in Ghana? In a country which is so dominated by partisan politics and tribal politics, public institutions like the Police and the Judiciary are often caught in political play.

Corrupt and criminal people enjoy their lives with impunity. Justice is always adjourned to the exponential infinity while most people are praying to God for a better Ghana. That God will not do it until we do it ourselves. Our judiciary system is entwined with the mouths of statesmen, clerics, kings and opinion leaders. So, the independency of the legal apparatus is not there to punish offenders. The laws in Ghana seem to bite only goats, cassava and plantain thieves. The looters and the destroyers are free and protected.

The erstwhile Electoral Commissions Chairperson, Ms Charlotte Osei, in December 2016, when under pressure to declare the results of the elections quickly after a seeming delay, rebuffed all suggestions and said that the Electoral Commissioner is not the only person who determines the outcome of elections. Waow! As always, the National Peace Council has to talk to the EC Chairperson, the wining candidate and the losing candidate before results are declared because we have lost trust in our own institutions.

In hospitals, patients need to bribe nurses before their folders are taken. Bribery and misappropriation in our schools and tertiary institutions are beyond understanding. Don’t talk about DVLA. As for the churches, members are robbed not with guns but by mouth and by intimidation but the So-called Christian Counsel say they have no jurisdiction over fake pastors and self-acclaimed prophets. It seems we have no planners and regulators because people are overly money conscious.

In Scandinavia, every worker watches his or her colleague and is ready to report the one who is not doing his or her work. This is a kind of cohesive supervision. Everyone is involved and the people are responsible to their duties. In Ghana though, some people receive salaries but with less input at work. This affects all sectors of our economy because we are not productive and efficient enough.

Is it true that Africans are people who cannot obey simple rules and must be taught what to do by the Europeans? Perhaps Yes! Should Theresa May come to Ghana to say that “Ghanaians, stop open defecation, don’t put trash in gutters, render prompt justice to JB Dankwa Adu’s killers, jail Mr. ‘P’ for corruption and so on”, I am sure that we are going to please Theresa May without delay.

Recently, when two Canadian girls went missing in Kumasi, the swift professionalism that the police executed to ensure their release was marvelous and worthy of pleasing the white man as always. Many Ghanaian children, men and women have gone missing forever but where were the Police? As people who always want to please the international community while the children of Ghana are burning from within, we are a bunch of hypocrites.

Peoples’ confidence in the public institutions must be restored with earnest. President Nana Akufo Addo cannot do it alone and Mahama cannot do it alone either. It must be emphasised that our leaders alone may not be able to change Ghana. We all need renewal of minds. We also expect more from the judiciary and law enforcement agencies. When the law is allowed to work, every other institution in the country will function effectively. Also, people have to change their lackadaisical attitude to work, especially government jobs.