Revisiting Our Priorities and the need to ...

banish reckless extravagance in Government

I would like to congratulate the new government for such a brilliant victory. Inspite of the seemingly unassailable majority of the previous NPP government’s goodwill with the citizens of Ghana they lost the argument with the people when they started using state resources to look after themselves rather than solve the myriad of problems facing the people. I think its is very important now to deal with the disease of reckless extravagance that characterises the way government officials and politicians profligately spend the nations money on themselves and non priority items (expensive status symbols) to the detriment of our priorities.

I am first to admit that since 2000 there has been progress in certain areas how ever it is worth noting that because of misplaced priorities the NPP governments much-vaunted objectives of bringing succour to majority of our people in their manifestos became unattainable. We saw how they consistently ignored the basic priorities facing our countrymen and opted for the now discredited concept of extravagant living, “trickle down economics”, and a policy of property owning democracy. The reality is the majority of the rich people or the property owning people did not even pay taxes on their vast incomes to enable national development. In my experience less than five percent of the very rich I know and have come across pay no taxes in Ghana.

The reality of what happened under their watch was a continuation of the same, the little money available in the states finances were always disproportionately being used to prop up the egos and interests of a small minority, the leaders and the elites whilst ignoring the basic needs of the vast majority outside Accra and Kumasi. In so many ways under past governments and the NPP one, government spending on the needs of citizens have been disjointed, ineffective or inefficient because of greed by leaders and officials who only want to look after their interests and that of their friends and families with state resources.

Anecdotal evidence shows that for an underdeveloped country like Ghana, where productivity is low and regulatory systems are weak, no government is going to survive if the leaders harbour the concept that they would look after the few rich folks and expect their wealth to trickle down to the vast majority who live in poverty. I don’t know why they believed in these concepts. Probably they have been reading too many “economics text books” which were not meant for societies such as ours. After all, any fool can work out that the consequence of blind copying of economic mantra, trotting out selective details of macro and micro economic statistics is to make a few illiterate people feel a false sense of hope whilst the promised future improvements in their well being never materialises. Why were there no periodic statistics about how many children died before the attain the age of five years, how many Ghanaians, young and old died unnecessarily due to poverty and lack of proper sanitation. Why were there no periodic statistics about how many children go hungry on a daily basis without food or water ?, how many children are denied basic education or how many Ghanaians died needlessly due to lack of medicines or health care? Have you even heard of any statistics about how many Ghanaians have no access to common water despite our relatively huge hydrological resources ? May be, if these figures were churned out on a quarterly basis to target resources, we shan’t be that proud of our country and our governments after all. These things appear to be unimportant on the radar screens of all pass governments. I sometimes feel sad for people who are determined to die for politicians in Ghana.

Millions of us, particularly in rural areas, still face severe hardship in conditions of persistent poverty. The evidence is there for everyone to see of the gross wastage of state resources on luxurious expensive vehicles, foreign travels, per diems and perquisites of garden boys and cooks for government officials to the detriment of the vast majority. How can our leaders, the President, his Ministers, their families and friends think they are going to use the limited state resources to live unbelievably such luxurious and ostentatious lifestyles whilst ignoring many acute basic priorities of the state and its citizens, and expect everyone else to tighten their belts and keep quiet. The costs of hotel bills alone to the state when these inconsiderate and greedy lot travel abroad is unbelievably extravagant.

After so many years of independence the state is still not playing any meaningful part in the lives of millions of people. In most areas government capacity still remains weak and not responsive despite all the economic development assistance and state resources generated over the years. Food and energy are still too expensive. People have no wholesome water to drink. Most government schools especially at the primary level have been left to rot. They do not only have substandard buildings and inadequate teaching but lack high quality text books. With such a poor state of affairs you find government leaders and officials bypassing the state system which continues to deteriorate on their watch and send their children to private schools both at home and abroad sometimes at the states expense. Overall public health remains poor due to progressively deteriorating environment. Here again you find this leaders bypassing the system which has gotten worse on their watch to seek medical treatment in South Africa and Europe. These actions are so grossly unfair to all of us.

The previous government and the once before it, appears to live in a different world. Whilst indulging in their gluttonous taste in catering for themselves, expensive luxury vehicles, unnecessary foreign travels and unnecessary conferences abroad, per diems and perquisites for themselves at the expense of the state, they failed to deal with the basics and instead kept bombarding us with. Spurious micro and macro economic statistics, and figures which bore no resemblance to easing the plight of impoverished citizens. The people did not buy it. Hope it is not a shock to the NPP that most of these ideas and spurious economic statistics did not have any logical value in a poor third world country like ours where life for a majority of people has always remained the bread and butter issues.

Almost all government institutions have consistently encouraged corruption, unethical behaviour and unfair advantage, which has and is still blighting the life chances of millions and hindering service delivery and undermining confidence in the state. Most state institutions, I have noticed, have been turned into welfare associations for employees, the same people who have been employed and getting paid to provide a service to citizens. Above all the state is not even able to guarantee security for its citizens. All these very important priorities have been woefully ignored whilst officials used the states resources to look after their own personal needs. This is a recipe for disaster.

These are naked failures which I hope this new government is not going to repeat. From now on it should be clear to all future governments that they must get the judgement on priorities right and their policies should be about the survivors and the surviving. What is the use of spurious statistics to some one who dies prematurely because of lack of the basic needs? There are too many people in our country who have perished whilst waiting for this hope from year dot and they are still waiting in their graves because of greedy and selfish policies of past governments. Leaders of who just get into office not to work for the betterment of the citizens but to live comfortably and get rich at the back of poor folks. We now need to put our possible priority areas in some kind of order. We have to do these things in a comprehensive and sustainable manner.

The new President and his team must stop pardoning wrong doers. Where is the deterrent? They must hold people to account and translate a vision where scarce resources and management attention should be invested in key basic priorities, like food, shelter, education and health care, rather than taking pride in driving around in $75,000 dollar luxury vehicles whilst providing a mediocre service to the people of Ghana. Can we not choose cheaper options and plough the balance back into our developments efforts? Shift resources from the expensive luxury vehicles and foreign travels and per diems to bogus conferences and meetings. Shift resources from providing perquisites for the few government elites and govern this country under the principle of equity. What this new President needs to realise is that the moment he gets comfortable in his luxury convoy of expensive vehicles and mansions, his subordinates both at the regional and local level would also aspire to live the same lifestyle at the expense of government efficiency and effectiveness without the commensurate performance and delivery. Stop the JUNKETING which is costing all of us an arm and a leg too much.

The new team should come down to earth and improve upon the system of resource allocation and monitoring right down from the national level to the district level. The development process we have adopted have been too centralised, top heavy and insufficient. There is the need to reform the system by building and strengthening local government capacity to deliver or oversee essential services delivery to citizens at the local level, especially in the provision of education, health , water and sanitation. All these things needs investment.

The number of our infants and their mothers dying on an annual basis per 1000 live births is unacceptable. Improve and expand secondary and tertiary health care to improve infant and maternal mortality to give people a chance.

It is now time to ensure that state institutions do not abuse the human rights of citizens. Apply the rule of Law and respect the human rights of all individuals. Stop pardoning criminals and wrong doers to enforce the concept of deterrence.

One of our greatest tragedies is our inability to take advantage of our abundant natural resources. In Ghana we cultivate less than a fifth of our hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land. For a Country like ours with abundant supply of arable land and water resources, why should we still be confronted by persistent poverty and high staple food prices? Agricultural policies just like what pertains in the cocoa industry needs investment and credit facilities to farmers to ensure increased production of basic food items that Ghanaians consume so prices can be affordable. Has anyone noticed the incredible amount of fresh wholesome water that drains into the sea from the Akosombo and Kpong dams whilst we cry about lack of clean water in our towns and cities? All we need is the construction of a few reservoirs outside major cities to harvest these waters.

Stronger leadership and greater efforts are required to increase women’s participation in government

Please ensure that the priorities are properly dealt with by translating them into targets that mean something to the people. Put qualified people with capability in charge of institutions and hold them to account through regular reporting. In assessing progress. It’s important to revisit and review these priorities at regular intervals.

All these things require investments and the little money available must be treated with the same due care and attention as one treats their personal budget. That is the only way we all can get some succour from the painful experience of our servile lives.

Last but not the least stop believing in what these ignorant religious men are telling you and do the RIGHT THINGS for once. We need Deliverance from IRRESPONSIBILITY at all levels of our society. Over to you.

Stephen Nyako Social Commentator