The President’s Cosmetic Changes: Why Not The Chief of Staff!!!!!


Realizing that his presidency is in jeopardy and the fortunes of his beloved NDC tumbling, the President has deemed it fit to reshuffle his team to inject some robustness into his imperiled government. Contrary to what some pundits want us to believe, the President, either by tradition or the dictates of our constitution, is not obliged to tell us the reason or reasons behind his latest political chess game. Needless to state here that we should be thankful that the President has now realized that the good people of Ghana expect more from him and that there is the urgent need to bring on board, fresh brains and ideas.


However, there is a good reason why discerning Ghanaians are skeptical about the President’s latest political move to rebrand his government. They sincerely believe that he is just sacrificing the small fishes, namely, the deputy ministers, to quell the seething discontent in the country and appease his party. They are questioning aloud the President’s resolve and courage to prune from his administration the bad and inefficient nuts among his advisors. They ask: After all, hasn’t the President been living with these terribly bad advisors for over a year now?


For good measure, if you ask for my opinion, I will tell you that the changes made so far are cosmetic in nature because they do not go deep enough. This feeble attempt at window dressing the giant problems facing his administration and the country is not going to cut it. The hard truth is that the nation is paying a deep price for his misjudgment in appointing terrible advisors. His administration has so far been very disappointing to many of his ardent supporters including the present writer. I perfectly understand the challenges facing this government including, but not limited to, the economy downturn in the world but that should not be enough excuse for his abysmal performance. Ghana is so blessed with so much human and natural resources that there should be no room for failure. The general popular must not feel despondent just because government policies are not satisfying their basic human needs. Countries like Rwanda and Kenya with about one tenth of our natural resources and facing serious political problems are doing really well.


Many of the debilitating problems facing this government are self-inflicted. For example, if he had appointed good and efficient advisors, he would have been advised to deal honestly and resolutely with the SADA, GYEEDA, FORTIZ, SUBAH etc scandals that continue to rock his administration. Sadly, the President has become weak because he has surrounded himself with self-seeking advisors and lazy thinkers led by the Chief of Staff. The credible danger here is that because the President is weak, the NDC party and the nation as a whole are becoming weaker and weaker every day. Let nobody deceive the President: he and his party are going to be punished severely in 2016 if he does not change course in a most dramatic manner to deal with endemic corruption, joblessness, deprivation, arrogance etc that are bedeviling our dear nation.
The harsh truth is that the Presidency is in disarray and failing in more than one way. That is, the Presidency is ill and it must cure itself. The President knows that as the chief architect of this administration, he is empowered to make those fundamental changes in his team to re-energize the confidence the masses have in his government. Since the tinkering currently going is not going to save his Presidency and the fortunes of his party, His Excellency must go to the heart of the problem. As a matter of urgency, I am once more calling on His Excellency to fire his inept, incompetent, clueless, arrogant and pretentious Chief of Staff. I sincerely believe that among other things, the President knows that the anchorman of his administration, Mr. Douglas Prosper Kwaku Bani, has been a total disaster.


If the President really wants the nation to take him serious, he should do the right thing by firing the Chief of Staff. This should be a no brainer for the President. Time is of essence in this matter and the President should not fail his party and the nation, again.


On a second thought: Am I tempted to believe that by the time, this article is published, the President would have done what is right by the country? Hopefully, the nation is not going to be disappointed again because it has experienced too many disappointments under this otherwise affable President.


I sincerely wish him very well.


KWADWO CRISTO

KWADWOCRISTO1234@YAHOO.COM