The Heaviest Of The Burdens On Ghana: 63 Years After Independence!

The hopes and inspirations that characterize Independence day celebrations cannot be overemphasized. It is the event that makes a politically divided nation wave to the flag once again in a long while, and pushes the political elites to renew their commitment to promoting the cause of the nation towards development, and continuing the positive legacies of our founding fathers.

Independence days are characterized by recounting of various successes chalked over the years with colorful display of culture, military drills, enthusiasm and rekindling the spirit of patriotism which are followed by political accounts and promises by government of the day on progress.

I however won't toe the line of narrating the various activities that take place during independence days, neither will I focus on the historical narrations of independence; those will be for another day.

This article looks at 63 years of our independence and the heaviest of the burdens that plague us as an independent Ghana. It is not pessimism that makes an individual to focus on challenges that plague a nation on the day of celebration of independence but rather a point of introspection and what we can do to enhance the cause of development of nation Ghana. Permit.

After years of independence, what’s the heaviest of the burden on Ghana today? The list cannot be exhaustive because the challenges and experiences faced by citizens in the country are numerous and widespread. I will attempt to table which are the heaviest, 63 years after independence.

Top among the challenges is the political development of Ghana, how consolidated is Ghana’s democracy with reference to the development of political institutions, their independence and effectiveness? Touted as one of the promising democracies in Africa, Ghana’s success with democracy can be seen in its various electoral turnovers in 2000, 2008, and 2016. But success can’t be said of its institutions. The institutional weaknesses are all too visible for one to miss. Timothy Snyder’s caution on been wary of individuals destroying the very institutions that brought them to office explains the various circumvention of processes that goes on in Ghana’s politics. Corruption can’t fester when our institutions work, breaching procurement processes can’t be normalized if institutions work. It is common knowledge that any proclamation of ‘our institutions are independent’ must be scrutinized because of the many bargaining and influence that goes on behind the scenes.

The patrimonial and clientelistic tendencies in the political system are as a result of institutions that work depending on who it serves. The politically charged environment prevent any serious discussions on what’s best to be done without party colors showing or without political equalization.

This is further complicated by a media that is idle and have become puppets of various political elites and parties in the country. The morning and breakfast shows in Ghana neither address the problems but instead gives political communicators platform to argue which party is the best and which has the best, ‘referable to’ and politically marketable scandal.

The infiltration of the media warrants my attention. Ownership and management of most media houses have been taken over by political parties and their subsidiaries. We don’t know today if a question asked by our journalist in finding answers are well scripted with well-rehearsed answers from respondents or it was cunningly crafted at someone’s request to make a point. The trust in the media is decreasing because of its inability to put political elites on their toes aside the conventional reporting. We read into headlines trying to know who is behind the scene doing the spin or the agenda they seek to push.

It is increasingly also becoming difficult for citizens to ask innocent questions without being tagged or labelled as belonging to a political party. This has led to steady but growing apathy towards the political system. We are tied between binaries that seek to categorize us in either ‘party A’ which may be the ruling government, or ‘party B’ which will be the dominant opposition party.

This new culture of shutting down opponents in debates through labeling and categorization rather than cogent articulation will need to be addressed. Our media, both traditional and new media in order to promote civil discourse on development of the nation will also need a change in their modus operandi if we intend to lift the burden.

Another burden, 63 years after independence is the heavy weight of the economy, its economics and management. The weight and burden of the economy affects almost every area of our life hence our attention. The economy affects the power and electricity that we have, the infrastructure available for development, employment generation, educational funding and the overall domestic and national economy. The debt burden not only scares but its servicing. Since our lower middle income status won’t allow us to be categorized as Highly indebted poor country, how will we be able to service or pay our debts? Debts in themselves are not bad because United States, the largest economy in the world owes huge sums. But of what benefit is our debt if we borrow to pay for non-productive ventures such as customers of collapsed financial institutions or borrowed monies that are lost to corruption without any accountability. How about unemployment and the communities that are far from the center without basic amenities such as electricity, safe water or education? Those are burdens we can weigh against each other.

How can a country develop without taxation? The challenge of getting everyone into the tax net has led to some paying more in both direct and indirect forms of tax. This burden is however complicated with the politics of tax exemptions on those who really matter in terms of getting more in tax returns. The tax exemptions are most atimes benefitted from by the politically connected with little impact to show in terms of growth on economy or the provision of jobs since they are not monitored.

Another heaviest of the burden is the socio cultural issues, evidence in the very things that affects the social fabric of our society, the dishonesty of some members of society and the attempts by people to game the system for parochial interests. It explains the attitude of people, and why they behave the way they do. The cancer of sanitation in modern Ghana, the corruption of elites and citizens as Ghana was ranked 41% in 2019 by Transparency International on corruption perception index and the various square pegs in round holes’ in various sectors of the country’s administration points to how individual interest are foremost with the national interest acting as secondary. These burdens are not exhaustive but explain the general challenges we face, 63 years after independence.

This narrative brings the question of which burden is the heaviest years after our independence. Every citizens of the country will know which one depending on where one sits without me choosing.

Amidst all these challenges, we are reminded that Independence is supposed to bring us joy and celebrations and not dampen our spirit. So let’s lift our voices and say; God bless our homeland Ghana, and make our nation great and strong!

The writer is Donatus Doe ([email protected])

Apprentice Political Scientist
And Teaching & Research Assistant @ KNUST
The opinions are mine.