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Opinions of Saturday, 27 July 2013

Columnist: Asimenu, Forson

Is the government smart, confused or plain crazy?

It appears the government has been bewitched by an evil spirit which is more than determined to bring John the Fourth face to face with Disgrace and public discontent. Otherwise how can one explain the tour de tax that the government is taking downtown. Any item seen on this tour is slapped with tax. Condoms, sex toys and mattresses; cutlasses, insecticides and herbicides; outboard motors, fish and seawater, just name the industry and the government knows all items and the appropriate tax to go with them.
Come to think of it, this an NDC government; a social democratic government. The government that swept votes along the coast as well as got the rural farmer queuing for hours on end on voting day. Clearly , something has gone wrong and the government is inflicted with tax-addiction.
Budget deficits have always attended election year activities. Post election years have always been slightly dry the first few months but governments have never been this less concerned about the hardships that frequent petrol price hikes will bring upon the economy. Meanwhile, the arguments in defense through the mass media are very effective in portraying an insensitive government. This is not just a matter of closing the gap. The question is why?
Some government folks I had a discussing with last time dashed my hopes in giving me one logical reason for tightening our belts for us. They rather increased my despondency. They sounded like men in a sinking boat without a lifeline. One was so frustrated he indicated that, should the Supreme Court rule against the government he and his family will never be part of any protest, be it by judicial means or otherwise. The second person then confided in me that, there is a deliberate plan to increase hardship before the Supreme Court verdict so that the populace could be once again sufficiently sick and tired of all politicians so as not to be willing to die for them. A kind of public unrest prophylactic medicine. After all, prevention is better than cure.
Really? I exclaimed. Is that the medicine towards social stability post Court declaration? Wow! Then I remembered the Otabillic prophecy and the part about praying against military takeover. Could it be that things could be made so bad that immediately after an unfavorable ruling, a surrogate military takeover would be orchestrated? Hardship being the evergreen excuse for such? I thought takeovers are over but alas , the prophecies say we must still pray against nationwide curfews. Tie this with events in Egypt and one cannot help admitting that . All things are possible.
So the question is, does government know what it is doing or it is confused or just damn crazy.
Kwaku Forson Asimenu( Wofa Gyan)
Awutu-Breku