Buckle down, deliver, and stop awarding yourself marks!!

A lot of people have assessed the performance of the government at the end of her first year reign, and the verdict has been a mixed one—depending on which political spectacle one is wearing. Whereas supporters and sympathizers of the government see the government to have performed above par, those on the other side of the political aisle see nothing, but a flop. According to the president, his administration has performed extraordinary and thus deserves a pat on the back. As much as I don’t begrudge the president for mentally patting himself on the back, and the functionaries of the government for misrepresenting the true state of the economy, the citizenry would be grateful if the government could find answers to the following questions: What profound policy did they outline and were able to realize that benefitted the majority of the folks? What has so far changed in the living conditions of the people since they attained the governance of the country? If they are able to provide convincing and authentic answers to these questions, then we can safely conclude that they are on track. But, folks, the evidence on the ground show that the answers to the above raised questions would be atrocious. Although, it is too early to ascribe failure to a one year old administration, a path I don’t want to tread, I also do think that the government should stop deceiving themselves and the people and understand that they have a long way to go. You don’t give yourself high marks when you know that you don’t deserve it. As a government, you don’t praise yourself when you have not been able to create jobs for the jobless, one of the most important determinant of good governance and leadership.

For the majority of the folks around, the government has not done anything yet to suggest that they mean business, and that they captured political power to make the country better. All the programs they claim to have implemented are very easy, and that is not the reason why the citizens gave them the honor to steer the affairs of the country for the next few years. A business-like president and a serious government would like to address and solve big problems and not touting their horns for even struggling to provide free school uniforms for some school pupils (not all)—a program captured in their manifesto, which might not be sustained in the long run. They should take the big decisions; they should make the best choices. If all of politics is about setting and achieving small goals, like the wanton setting of committees—a committee to figure out what incentive package should be given to our victorious under 20 squad for annexing the FIFA under 20 world cup, a feat that was the first on the continent, a committee to investigate a minister who was caught pants down for abusing his office, the outcome of which was completely hilarious: the corruption allegation that was leveled against the former minister of sports, Alhaji Muntaka, among others then there is simply no need to spend loads of our limited resources every four years to go to the polls.

If the government wants to be taken serious, then she should be proactive and dream of realizing something enduring—something that will go a long way in giving the economy a monumental facelift. They have to buckle down, think deeply into the future, and achieve something. The government should produce results and stop awarding herself marks for a non-existing achievement. They should think about leaving behind an enduring legacy, and stop embellishing the true state of the economy. Instead of trying to throw dust into our eyes regarding the socio-economic reality on the ground, the following should be their major preoccupation:

First, there should be a paradigm shift from our overdependence on natural resources: It is extremely difficult to understand why our leaders time and again have stuck to natural resources, which have not helped us in turning a corner in our development efforts. What our governments should understand is that it is about time they thought outside the box. The largest economies in the world don’t solely rely on natural resources in growing and sustaining their economies; they depend, instead, on man-made resources. Thus, instead of our government thinking about the oil-find, as if it’s going to be the source of our economic emancipation, they should fathom that in moving forward, there should be a change of course: an intentional and intelligent shift from natural to artificial resources. This means a huge financial investment in education and research. If the rich countries on God’s earth are investing hugely in education, innovation, and research, why are we wasting time on agriculture, when we don’t even have the knowhow to maximize production and even store some of the produce during bumper harvests?

Even though, it is obvious that the western rich world is doing her best to detach itself from oil dependency, we are head over heels in ecstasy over the oil find on our coastal belt. And this is the problem. Instead of the government thinking about new ways of adding value to the economy and improving the living standard of the people, they have banged all their hopes on the revenue to be accrued from the oil export. They have to comprehend that science and technology, and not agriculture or mineral resources are the engine of growth in this convoluted world. If dependency on agriculture and mineral resources has not worked in the previous centuries, what shows that it’s going to work now? Before the 1970s, Bavaria, the richest state in Germany was the poorest: they were solely farmers, until their most revered governor, Franz Josef Strauss advocated and pushed through a change from agricultural reliance to an industrial revolution. No wonder the Munich International Airport has been named after him. As a visionary leader of the state, he caused big things to happen in the State. Most of the big companies and industries in Bavaria, especially Munich were established through his initiative. He was even one of the driving persons behind the creation of airbus. This should be the focus of the President and the government and not implementing programs that are not going to take us nowhere.

Second, is job creation- When you are boasting to have managed the economy efficiently, you should also be able to tell us how many jobs you were able to create during the period of your assessment. Any government that finds it difficult to create jobs for the people is really stuck and does not deserve to be the ruler of the land. This is because one of their main responsibilities for being in government is to provide jobs for the people, and not snatching jobs from people perceived to belong to a rival party to those loyal to the government. This is not job creation, but rather job manipulation; and does not augur well for the country’s development. Failure to create jobs for the people, especially the youth means that we are gradually creating a failed state, since the youth who hold the future of the country would have been left out of the developmental agenda of the country. The reason why the government is not being proactive in the area of job creation is because, she is not proactive, and does not want to depart from the status quo: employment into the civil and public services and the agriculture sector, whereas they can generate thousands of jobs at even the sports sector. Can’t they resurrect from “death” traditional sports like “Oware”, “Dame”, etc., which can provide a living for some of the citizenry who are talented in these disciplines? Think outside the box, sirs and imbibed innovation in the governance of the country. Chart a new course, and I vouch you can add immensely to what the previous government did during their 8 years at the helm.

At this stage of our development, we don’t need political pandering or correctness, what we do need is a developmental agenda that is result oriented. The prior administration, against all odds was able to chalk some successes, although I think they could have done better. The good things they accomplished, notably the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND), among others should challenge the current administration to do even better. A change of government should be seen as an opportunity to do something new, something notable, something enduring, something that moves the nation closer to realizing her dream of liberating the citizenry from perennial untold hardships. The government should realize that the mandate the electorate has bestowed on them is that of action, progressive economic development, and not the scoring and awarding of undeserving marks. God bless Ghana!!

Source: Kingsley Nyarko, PhD, Psychologist & Educational Consultant, IAF- Munich, (kingpong73@yahoo.com)