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Opinions of Thursday, 17 July 2014

Columnist: Dabbousi, Fadi

The Travesty of Governance – Tissuless Issues

By: Fadi Dabbousi
Ghana, the gateway to Africa, has been rendered the laughing stock of Africa. With a parliament that convenes to pass comical laws and Ministers of State who peddle lies, inconsistencies and vile propaganda in shameful untoward sarcasm, to put it lightly, we are experiencing the most atrocious incompetence on the part of a government never ever fathomed well over half a Century post-independence. International News agencies have told the unbelievable truth about the absurdity of events that have unfolded in recent times. Caricatures of the National Soccer Team, Black Stars, have appeared in tabloids and other newspapers in Europe but most intriguingly in the Dutch print media.
This is the government of misplaced priorities. Roads have become death traps and culverts death pits. Sewers are always choked and flooded with faeces, polythene bags and garbage causing floods of dunk out of which emanate the most dehumanising odour that repel stray dogs and area cats. Ghanaians constantly hear a one way tune, “No Money, No Money, No Money”… I beg your pardon! The ability of President Mahama to conjure stunts just short of being miraculous is a credit to his tactics of tranquilising the nation. Against all odds, before they were punched into oblivion, when the Black Stars defied a plea to continue playing in Brazil 2014 unless their allowances were paid, lo and behold, the money was readily made available. A costly aircraft was soon chartered and dispatched with equally expensive security detail to guard the hard cash.
The money was said to be three million US Dollars but other sources claimed four and half rather, insinuating that the extra one and half millions were a top-up for “chop chop”. However, since there was no official substantiation of this, let us maintain the first figure of three millions. I am afraid that in describing the inefficacies of President Mahama, “shambolic” is by large an understatement. The movement of physical cash out of the country in itself constituted a crime against Ghanaians because it was tantamount to money laundering, prohibited internationally.
Fuel shortage bedevilled the nation recently and confirmed rumours have it that there will be yet another shortage of this commodity, which shall last for many months. The banks have withdrawn their participation in supporting government while some foreign ones continue to give us money knowing that by this we are digging our own graves; basically, they are just assisting us to do so. Government is said to have sold resources forty years in advance and though the veracity of this submission remains to be checked, I am more inclined to believe that same is true.
Then, the last straw to break the camel’s back came with the promise of John Dramani Mahama, an apology of a President our ailing Ghana has, in the form of a public statement that his outfit would be hammering yet another nail in our coffin by borrowing in excess of $150,000,000 US Dollars (one hundred and fifty million US Dollars), part of which would be used to import sanitary pads to be distributed to 10,000 (ten thousand) female students.
This shameful and faceless deliberation, coming out of the mouth of the CEO of Ghana, is an unfortunate calamity defended by Ministers of State, ridiculing us all the more before the international and local media. Besides, if truly this president wants to be generous with the tax payers’ money, why would he not promote and assist the singular sanitary pad factory in Ghana. Is it not said that “charity begins at home”? Feytex pad factory is located at the industrial area in Accra and, although I have no idea who this factory belongs to or have any affiliation with anyone there from near or afar, I see it a moral duty to speak up against such traits that put a question mark on Mr President’s head.
Your iniquitous style of governance, Sir, is quite unethical to say the least, so try correcting the Pad saga by injecting the necessary life into our local industries to produce them rather than having to benefit China or other sources for no reason at all. Well, there may be a reason why the pads have to be imported and I shudder to believe what everyone else does…I shudder to believe that it is, purposely, to keep corruption on the blind side of Ghanaians, albeit every Tom, Dick and Harry believes it to be a fact that your government is massively corrupt.
As if it is not enough, fuel took an upward jolt by over 23%, a few days ago. Electricity and water experienced similar hikes within the ranges of 30% and 16%, respectively. Salaries have remained stagnant, while cost of food has adopted the jumping bee furore, now it is here and then it is there, never stable. National health Insurance is dysfunctional and many sick Ghanaians cannot afford cash and carry Medicare. What is next Mr President, mass holocaust of Ghanaians? Is this what you made yourself President to do?
Support our local industries to produce your pads, Mr President, now, now, now.