Forty Billion Cedis to Kwesi Pratt and Co. is ...

..... a colossal waste of People’s money.

There is no doubt that the name of Dr Kwame Nkrumah is assured in the history of Ghana. It is equally important to state that that without the contributions of the other five members of the “Big Six” family, the accolade being showered on Dr Nkrumah would not have been possible. Nkrumah was a goal scorer, but obviously not a good team player and a rain maker.

He was human and indeed made mistakes, some very grievous. Thus, recent attempts by pseudo-historians to rewrite the history of the country should be fiercely resisted by all those who lived through the period. Nobody is ever going to force this lie on me that Nkrumah was an angel. No, he wasn’t!

The Mills’ administration has made no secret its intention to hero worship Nkrumah and push him into a demi-god status. But any administration which claims to follow the footsteps of Nkrumah must be proactive and pragmatic in action. Unfortunately, these are the very essentials this government lacks. “Se Aponkye se obema wo fever aduro a, hwe ne dwonso”. Translated literary, it means: if the goat tells you it will give you medicine for your fever, take a look at its urine. The anniversary of his death should be celebrated and commemorated, I have nothing against that. But to spend an unaccountable colossal sum of forty billion Cedis on the centenary anniversary of the birth of Dr Nkrumah is what I found extremely difficult to come to terms with.

At the moment, there are myriads of problems confronting the country. Pupils still study under trees. Our hospitals have become prescription centres and morgues and very few people can afford one decent meal a day. The ‘dumso-dumso’ syndrome has become the mantra of the electricity company of Ghana. Mills Government has increased electricity tariffs by a whopping 89 percent. Couldn’t the Mills administration have made judicious use of this money to replace some of the obsolete equipment being complained of by officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana instead of making some people rich overnight?

On top of this ‘suffer-suffer’, Mills is still asking us to tighten our belts by forcing more taxes on our throats and telling us we complain too much. Oh when will a redeemer come to our rescue? I shudder to think of where Mills Ghana will be like in 2012.

The “Nkrumah show” was nothing to write home about. There was nothing “grand” about the whole affair and you want to tell me that a whopping forty billion Cedis was spent on this “no show”! No! Such a poorly organized celebration cannot be said to have gulped such a colossal amount of money. No, those organizers have taken us for fools and dipped their hands into the national till. But that is not the end of the story. They will surely be made to account for their stewardship. If not now, they will at a later time. Yes, they will, For Sure!

There is a saying that the Black man spends on luxuries and begs for necessities. How relevant is this statement about this reckless dissipation of public funds by the Mills administration! Don’t we have enough problems at hand than to “dash” this unaccountable “imprest” of “opepepeepee” to Kwesi Pratt and co for being the darling boys of this government?

Permit me to recall what the Assemblyman for Nkroful said in connection with the money. He questioned the rationale behind “dashing out” such huge sums of money to the boys. He said part of the money should be used to rehabilitate some structures at Nkroful. He complained that Nkroful, the birth place of Dr Nkrumah has suffered neglect over the years. He did not leave out the NDC administration and even lamented that the government has taken the people for granted by doing things haphazardly. He concluded his lamentation by appealing to the Mills government to use part of the largesse to initiate projects and rehabilitate some structures at Nkroful. I wholeheartedly endorse his suggestion.

You see, the essence of the District Assembly Concept was to bring governance closer to the people by initiating people-friendly projects to develop various communities. Nkroful is the birth-place of Dr Nkrumah, no doubt about it. But the Government chose to build his mausoleum in Accra. What is the rationale behind such a move?

In this era, various communities are taking advantage of any good thing which nature has been kind to endow them with. Thus such places are developed into some sort of holiday resort centres which invariably bring in a lot of revenue to such Assemblies and communities. Thus Boti Falls, Lake Bosumtwi, the Big Tree at Akroso and many other areas harbouring such natural resorts have come under the control of various District and Municipal Assemblies which make no secret their intention to maximize their revenue base.

I recommend that if the Mills Administration respects the wishes of the Chiefs and people of Nkroful, then the Mausoleum should as a matter of urgency be built at Nkroful and Nkrumah’s mortal remains be sent there. We have not forgotten the promise Dr Nkrumah made to his mother before he sailed to England. If President Mills and his peoples claim to be disciples of the late President, then there should be no hesitation in sending Dr Nkrumah’s mortal remains back to his roots. The place should be developed into a tourist centre where people could go on a “pilgrimage” to pay their respects. There must be a library attached to it so that people could go there to do research about the life of Dr Nkrumah. It is only when this is done that the President will be acclaimed a disciple of the late President. “Obaa a onim se afe nnto no aware ase na out bankye a onnua”. It is only a woman who knows her marriage will not last a year who uproots cassava without re-planting it.

Similar courtesies should be extended to the late Prime Minister, Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia and the late President, Dr Hilla Limann. These two statesmen have, at various times, presided over the affairs of this country and deserve to be honoured. If Mills claims to be father to all, then his administration should, as a matter of urgency, put in place, measures to give recognition to these gallant men who held sway as leaders of the country at different times. There should be no sentiments on this.

What the Mills administration had done to Nkrumah is just cosmetic in nature. “Mere noise repels. But give me the yonder skies”. This is what we expect the President to do. The former democratically elected leaders should be immortalized. A lot has been done for Dr Nkrumah. What about Dr Busia and Doctor Limann?

Daniel Danquah Damptey (danieldanquah_damptey@yahoo.com)