Are Our Leaders Fighting The Causes Or The Symptoms Of Our Economic Crises?

It is interesting these days to wake up and all you hear on our media

airwaves is either embezzlement of public funds, corruption, mismanagement

of public funds, sales and auction of government properties, causing

financial loss to the state, judgement debts and setting up of committees

among others. When will this old vicious cycle thing stop? I have tried as

much as I can to go parellel with my thoughts of some of these issues (for

fear of being tagged as a politician) parading their dirty wings in our

political jungle but in as much as I try, my conscience attacks me for

being mute and voiceless. Just as we all have the constitutional right to

exercise our franchise to elect political leaders, we equally have the

right to comment on any issue of national interest and criticise

constructively when the need arise. I have said it time without number that

it's time the youth of this country rise up and hold the bull by the horn

against the corrupt leaders in this country without fear or favour. The

youths must always remember that the future of this country belong to them

and for how long shall we hide our emotions under the darkness of politics

whiles our politicians trample upon our faiths in the rhythm of politics. I

am tempted at times to consort with those calling for a military rule, for

it seems to be the ONLY tool that can truncate if not expunging the

perennial corruption bedeviling our country Ghana. We ought to take a firm

stance and mince no words or sentence in telling our unscrupulous leaders

to put the tax payers' monies into developing the country rather than their

selfish interest and personal gains.

My good friends, its clear from all indications that our leaders are not

poised to fighting corruption in this country and it is you and I who

suffer at the end of the day as tax payers. Instead of tackling the causes

of the economic woes and removing the causative agent, they jump to battle

with the effects and in no time the problems resurface. Corruption is

looming in almost every public office in this country and it's a

spine-chilling phenomenon. It is one of the major setbacks hindering the

development of Ghana since independence. People dip their long hands into

government coffers for their personal interest and when they are caught in

day light, the best the government of 'Nkrumah Ghana' can do is only to set

up commitees and that ends it, period! The culprits are left to gloat about

and saunter with shoulder high leaving the poor farmers and the tax payers

in the villages in abject poverty; no portable water, no goods roads, no

health care centers and the rest. At the expense of these, we are faced

with the pathetic irony of the villagers lining up to hail these nabobs in

the country who only come to give lip service development. Are we not

dwindling the spirit of our indefatigable journalists who risk their lives

to investigate some of these unwholesome practices in the system? Manessah

Azure Awuni's (a journalist at Joy fm) case about GYEEDA and others are

worth mentioning here.

What happened? Ghana and Malaysia are both former British colonies that

gained independence the same year with similar economic conditions and

Ghana was even rated as a potential fast growing economy because of its

huge natural resources, but today the story is the reverse. Today Malaysia

makes its own cars and boasts skyscrapers that rival anything in New York

or London (BBC). It imported its first palm oil from Ghana and managed to

improve its cultivation process thus turning the country into one of the

largest palm oil producer in the world and developing chemicals such as bio

diesel for industries and food addictives from the raw nuts. One may say

Ghana was plagued by coups shortly after independence, but what were the

causes?

Ghana on the other hand had a stable economy when the British handed power

over to Nkrumah but he was influenced by socialist ideologies. Shortly

after taking over Nkrumah started to lean more toward socialism

by calling for greater state participation in the economy. His CPP

government had greater authority over the economy which eventually led to

massive corruptions. Nkrumah wanted Ghana to play a commanding role in

Africa's liberation from colonialism and was a strong supporter of a united

African state. A mixture of economic

mismanagement, corruption and rising inflation due in part to Nkrumah being

a devotee of revolutionary movements and spending a lot of Ghana's

resources and money on this “Pan-African cause”. This led to a draining of

the country's foreign reserve forcing him to resort to deficit financing

and foreign borrowing. Over 50 years of Ghana's independence, we are still

faced with similar problems which ignited the coups in Nkrumah's era.

The solutions to the country's economic crises are not just imposing new

taxes without sealing the holes where the monies leak in the system.

Freezing salaries of public sector workers in 214, scrubbing off teacher

trainees and student nurses allowances, imposing taxes on condoms and the

poor farmers cutlasses will not solve the problem.

It is about removing the causative agents - the corrupt officials who are

milking the country's money and making them face the full rigours of the

law to serve as a deterrent to others. Untill our leaders make full

commitment by action to fighting corruption, I am afraid this country will

remain as it is.

By Chibaro Ali

Email: chibaronet@gmail.com

https://m.facebook.com/chibaro.ali