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Opinions of Friday, 7 December 2012

Columnist: Edusei, Eric Kwabena

Ghana Needs Only One Visionary, Selfless And Resolute Leader

Ghana has seen the mountain top of economic mismanagement through the valleys and hills of nepotism, tribalism, hate and lies. The lingering question of whether we are going to develop as a nation using our endowed natural resources depends on the choices we make on Dec 7th. Our future is definitely in our hands as we get ready to vote and we must be prepared to defend our decisions with sincerity, honesty, genuineness and live with it. In our pursuit of political freedom and economic emancipation, all what we need is good shepherd, an excellent CEO who has great ideas of his own and resolute enough to deal with the menace in our society. As a country endowed with both human and natural resources, we do not need an arm-chair politician but a vibrant and visionary leader who understands the plight of Ghanaians. We need a leader who is prepared to sacrifice himself, party faithful and indeed everybody to ensure a responsible nation where greed and corruption have no value. Why should we live as puppets in the midst of plenty? Why should we allow our nation to be so mismanaged as if God did not grant us wisdom in addition to our natural wealth? Does our leaders travel outside Ghana and what do they see, people peeing on the road side and others defecating in streams or what? We need to grow as a nation in wisdom by functioning as conscious people with ideas and vision, and not economic entities to earn the respect of the world.
Ghana is in a sorry state and it is sad. How do we deepen our democracy when the masses do not even understand the issues at stake making voting a farce? It is indeed, a travesty to see and hear seasoned politicians who have taken oath to defend the assets of Ghana going contrarily to their vows to defend criminals which is sickening. How come that some of our politicians have chosen to support crimes against the state? Is it not funny and frightening to see people like Hon. Joe Adjaho , Hon. Burton, Mr Segefia, Hon Betty Iddrisu defending Mr Woyome? How does one understand the NDC communication team, the rulers of Ghana, comprising of Mutala, Kojo,Sammy, Boateng, Jacobs and Felix , defending Mr Woyome and other questionable judgment debts. Ghanaians must open their eyes and defend themselves because we cannot depend solely on our politicians, some of who are out there to enrich themselves at the expense of the nation.
Ghana is entering into economic renaissance which calls for a great leader with huge ideas, serious convictions and resolute enough the set our agenda right for our economic take off. The oil ‘black gold’ is here and so are our cocoa, diamond, manganese, bauxite, aluminum and what we need is a conscious and selfless leader. We need someone who understands his surroundings with a vision to diversify the lives of the citizenry based on our strengths, culture and the psychology of our people. We should not allow the few to control the national assets while majority of the populace languish in deprivation and want. If we can evolve an economic plan to reduce our import by 25%, everybody will get a job to do and graduate unemployment will be history. We need leaders who can think beyond the box to salvage this nation from decadence. Let us for once bury our political connotations and justify our votes by selecting a real MaCoy to lead us.
Ghana has seen the works of many leaders including the Late Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, Mr J.A. Kuffour, Mr Jerry John Rawlings and the late Prof. Atta Mills who proved that good intentions are not enough to ensure efficient governmental machinery. Although, he was a good man personally, he was not resolute enough and thereby failed to control his functionaries who abused the system. The level of corruption and debauchery in Ghana today is very alarming and nobody has the right the question the sitting government since they are not answerable to anybody. We need God’s favor to find us a leader who has the vision of leaders like Dr Nkrumah, Mr Kuffour and Dr Busia, the humility of Prof. Mills and Mr Kuffour and the fortitude and unwavering character of President Rawlings to deliver us from our perilous journey.
Ghana is classified as the 9th worst mismanaged economies among over 200 countries in the world based on our resources and the kind of governance in place. How and why did we get there? Just imagine the kind of judgment debts that we have genuinely or otherwise conspired to pay to undeserving people. Just sit down and study the trend of issues in Ghana today – Woyome’s case is dead because you cannot discuss it since it is before the court which has suspended the hearings until further notice. Look carefully and analyze all the amazing loans we have contracted for various reasons vis-à-vis the state of our economy today. Ask yourself whether we got value for the loans (in excess of $14 billion in 4years). Are we interested in committing the nation for all these outrageous loans because of our cuts or what? Why do we buy processed fuel when we have GNPC? Is it because the procurement arrangement fills our pockets or what? Why should we attempt to engage STX when we have GREDCO for national reconstruction and still talk about unemployment, local content and poverty? Is our economy built for foreigners (Chinese) or Ghanaians? Why do we sit down unconcerned when foreigners (Chinese) destroy our land without even paying taxes? What governance is this, God should save mother Ghana from this albatross because most of us are naïve.
Ghana needs a good CEO who will not condone corruption but align himself with the right caliber of people to harness and translate the resources of our nation into fruition. Who do we trust to cut down corruption among the presidential aspirants; who has to gust to lead the nation to the promise land; who do we believe can help us industrialize and move away from the current Guggisbury economy? We need jobs in this country which can be attained by reducing our import bill by 25% and ushering in policies that will help us to industrialize. It takes a leader with a vision and who is going to take the mantle?
The challenges we face are real and the indicators of crises are very vivid. There are no short routes, not even advance propaganda can save us. We cannot afford a lot of mistakes having used amateurs’ people (team B) to manage our governmental machinery with propaganda, people who have not tasted live before. How do we allow people with bachelor’s degrees without experience of their own and crowded with utopian ideologies to manage our nation? Why should we settle for mediocrity when there a lot of seasoned technocrats with immense reputation in the public domain? What do you expect from an undergrad who is detailed to handle the economy of a country? We have borrowed $14 billion to date, more than the entire loans contracted since independence and nobody is telling us the uses to which the disbursed monies were used for? We are the 9th worst mismanaged economy in the world and we seem not to understand the mess. Citizens of Ghana, let us avoid the temptation of voting for money and the inducement of gifts because they will destroy our deepest hope of good governance ,and reduce ourselves into economic entities. It is about time we liberated ourselves with our vote to give credence to Dr Nkrumah’s dream that the African is capable of managing his own life when given the chance. God save mother Ghana and peace to all.
ERIC K. EDUSEI. VA USA