I have had the privilege to live both in the UK and in U.S, as well as having visited some notable countries in Europe. In all my traveling, one thing has baffled me all along: The great contrast between these western countries and Africa. Despite the differences between the rich and the poor; the upper class, the middle class and the lower class; the governors and the governed, and what have you, they all share one basic thing in common- equal access to FOOD, CLOTHING, and SHELTER. Interestingly, the list goes beyond these three necessities. For instance a cleaner in the UK can buy virtually a car of any make if he so desires just as a CEO of a multinational company can; a low income worker shops in the same supermarket as the high income worker; the rich and the poor, irrespective of their titles, all have basically the same facilities in their homes. The basic law though implicit, requires that no house be built without these facilities: toilet, bathroom, kitchen, sink, heater, electricity, and gas, in some cases a yard and a garden. Moreover, these facilities are fundamentally the same, save only the brand.
The weights to these facts are supported by what I saw in the kitchen of the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in 2007 when the BBC interviewed him at his home during teatime. To my surprise, his kitchen looked the same as the one I had in the small apartment I lived in at Cambridge. His fridge had all the ordinary stuff such as orange juice, yoghurt, milk, etc, with Tesco and Sainsbury’s (supermarket) tags on them; exactly the same items of same quality, and price that I buy from these same supermarket branches in Cambridge. What is more, the cups, the plates, and the other kitchen stuffs were not entirely different from what I have been using in my home. And why not so, for can any leader justifies why he or she should be excused to live in luxury while the tax payers are languishing in extreme poverty? Which caring parents would live in luxury and at the same time watch their children to die in poverty? And does any one expect an ordinary worker to put in his best when he has compelling needs such as basic goods and services to worry about when their leaders have at their disposal such goods and services in abundance and do not care to help them have one? Surely not!
Another contrasting thing between the West and Africa is in management of national resources. Western governments are very economical. I will never forget the sight of the Queen of England when she visited the University of Cambridge. To see her being led by just one motorcade was unheard of and unthinkable, at least to my fellow Ghanaians and me. Equally surprising was the fact that all her entourage, which included ministers, army generals and other top dignitaries, were all carried in one nice Volkswagen minivan. What do we do in Ghana? You need to see the motorcade and the number of special cars that follow some of our chiefs to imagine what the president carries around on visits within the country. On the day of my congregation at KNUST, there was traffic jam at the university roundabout for nearly an hour when word got around that the president was on his way coming. All cars, including public transport vehicles, taxis, and minivans carrying people to their workplaces were brought to a standstill, and when he finally passed, his motorcade and the rest of the convoy were uncountable. What a contrast?
However, what is so annoying of our pharisaical leaders is their popular song “WE SHOULD TIGHTEN OUR BELT,” when it is very clear their ‘trousers and skirts’ are so loose. Can our governments ever convince us that there is not enough money to ensure every Ghanaian is provided with the basic necessities of life when they impudently and flagrantly live in opulence, with a lavish lifestyle that knows no boundaries? Surely, not! Not when they are thinking of building new presidential palace, whereas nothing shows the old one cannot occupy them? Not when they are thinking of buying a new presidential jet for the president whiles the Prime Minister of Britain fly the British Airways alongside passengers? When the Queen of Britain, with all her wealth can have just one extra car to make her motorcade, why would not our leaders? With all these bare injustices, why would they expect us to stop complaining and castigating when their wicked, inhumane, disgraceful actions are laid before our naked eyes? As if it is not enough, they go about asking us to tighten our belt. Tighten which belt? Is that the price we pay for putting our confidence in them to lead us?
The scenes I witnessed in the U.K always startles me whenever Ghana’s picturesque crops in my mind. These pictures show what we are from what we should be: Making sure every Ghanaian live in dignity, at least with easy access to the basics of life. Whereas our Presidents and leaders live in Castles and expensive villas, built and maintained by the tax payer’s money, the ordinary tax payers continue to wallow in poverty, living in dilapidated houses and hovels with no clean water, standard sanitation, enough food, and appropriate healthcare. Many neighborhoods in Ghana are ill equipped. For instance, I lived where over 100 people shared the same bathhouse. It is no surprise we were late for school almost every morning. It is worse with the public toilets where as many as a thousand people share one antiquated toilet facility. Do we really deserve this? Are our leaders proud of this? When the president and his ministers, parliamentarians, and government officials demand multiple cars for non official errands, for different routes, for their schooling children, (for there have been several occasions where some parliamentarians have demanded two cars for their traveling) we ordinary Ghanaians who cannot own even a bicycle are left to fend for ourselves.
Queuing for transport in the cities has been a torturous experience yet the Ministry of Transport is yet to find a lasting solution to this problem. When I was a student at KNUST, I had to fight even senior citizens for a trotro seat because I could not afford to wait for long hours to get to campus. And this was a journey that could have been accomplished within a short time, at no cost, had I, but money to buy just a bicycle. I need not talk of bicycle, because our city road planners have no such thing in their books Is it not ironic when the poor Ghanaian suffer to feed the family, ministers, parliamentarians, and notable persons in government positions spend what could feed a whole village during a single lunch? What an insult? This reveals the callousness of our leaders and the emptiness in governance: Leadership that has gone astray.
Whenever I contemplate upon these apparent opposite lifestyles of the two different worlds, I ask myself, why such a difference? Why is the difference conspicuously wide in Africa, a continent blessed with all kinds of resources from minerals to wildlife? Why would we, of all races, be doomed? Some of the answers that come to mind need not be mentioned, but in an unjustifiable and uncaring world like ours, I am left to think of radical answers. Do our leaders ever ask themselves why our own brothers and sisters, risk their precious life to escape from Africa? For instance: Why wouldn’t a young man gives up life in Ghana and leave for places like Libya, Gambia, and Sudan in search for riches even though the air is impregnable with reports of Ghanaians being subjected to cruel treatment in these countries? Why wouldn’t a young person be attracted to drug trafficking despite his conscience telling him it is immoral and too risky? Why wouldn’t a young woman trade her body for a mere penny despite the risks, especially HIV? Why should we be surprised when an unemployed young man on the blink becomes a robber? Why wouldn’t some of the Ghanaians who have had the privilege of studying abroad work so hard to get permanent residence in Europe or U.S? Why wouldn’t our sportsmen and women use their talents as springboard to Europe and U.S? Why wouldn’t they after excelling in athletics or football renounce their citizenship, and turn their backs against their motherland, their pure blood motherland without ado. The answer is clear: Harsh treatment meted on us by our unfocussed leaders. No wonder many Ghanaians have lost interest in their own country, and can we blame them for doing so?
In this 21st century when all the tools that guarantee the necessities of life have been made so simple, can our leaders be forgiven merely on the fact that we are Africans and cannot fully feed ourselves? Can we continue in this 21st century to expend unnecessary energy using cutlass and hoe for producing more than 60% of our foodstuffs? Must we continue to walk for long distances? If we cannot place enough cars on our roads, why can’t we have bicycle lanes on our roads? Must we in this 21st century be forgiven, for heaven’s sake, for not being able to make every citizen live in dignity? Should our leaders be forgiven for poor planning? Should our leaders be forgiven for their unnecessary spending all in the name of anniversaries, award ceremonies, when countries like America, though got independence from the same colonial masters, with all their riches and pride would not spend such huge sums of money, all in the name of anniversary?
We practice such lifestyles, then turn around to complain that the World Bank and the IMF are not clean with us. Why shouldn’t the World Bank, the IMF, and the donor countries, dictate to our leaders what loans to be given, and be lectured where and how to use it? Do we even think they do not know that left to us with no direction and supervision such monies would be spent on state funerals, national awards, and unnecessary state ceremonies, to the detriment of our pressing needs? Do we think they do not sweat to get the money they give us? What is more, isn’t it true that sometimes our leaders beg for loans with ulterior motives? To this effect, I fully support these funding bodies to continue dictating to us on what and how to use such monies until our leaders show some ingenuity in using borrowed money wisely for the benefit of their people.
Our leaders have no excuse whatsoever to say it is not easy. We all know it is not easy, but in countries like Ghana, these leaders have all the opportunities to immortalize their names forever in the country’s books for serving their people really well. There is nowhere in the world except in Africa where leaders have the greatest opportunity to attain greatness for the mere fact that just a little commitment and effective leadership alone would lead them to be regarded as one of the greats. Instead, what they like best is constantly traveling in numbers across the globe, sometimes aimlessly, spending millions of dollars per trip, such that by the time their intended flimsy investment initiatives of attracting foreign investments are over, their bills could have built equally the same size of the investment they were courting. Is it not strange that some of our leaders are more interested in looting the national coffers to swell their Swiss bank accounts for the benefit of their children? No wonder these days such monies elude them. Instead of working their hearts out to serve their countries, for their countries to also look after them for the rest of their lives, they prefer taking the country’s money for their own selfish good.
When the NDC were in power, we witnessed perhaps, the most excessive unnecessary spending in the history of the country, which is the main reason why Ghanaians voted for change. But, it appears the NPP have not learnt a lesson from this. Their spending habits have not been different. In fact, it has been detrimental and catastrophic. We are now witnessing some of the unnecessary lavishness disguised under the banner of state this, state that, this conference, that congress, annual durbar, that amount not only to economic loss, but also sets precedents which future leaders may quote to justify their unnecessary spending habit.
When is Ghana going to have a president who the first thing that spring forth from his mind before getting off or retiring to bed is how to better improve the lives of his people, instead of how he is going to get a presidential jet for himself? When is our motherland going to have a true son or daughter who puts the welfare of his or her people first, and whose ambition is to work with his or her people to create a better country? When will those zealous Ghanaians take over leadership and commit their entire God given talents to lift the people from the doldrums of abyss- ignorance, abject poverty, and disease? When are we going to have such leaders? When are we going to have sacrificial leaders ready to lead and not thinking of enriching themselves with ill-gotten wealth? That tax payer’s money meant for national development which they end up stashing in Swiss banks.
Our leaders attitudes can be traced back to the fear our society inculcate in us while growing up. We are taught to secure richness for our self and self-alone. Another reason is that majority of our leaders buy power for which they feel personal indebtedness to recoup their money thereby, focusing all their minds on reclaiming their lost share. Some also resort to ‘inner circle’ politics which dwells on “who do you know”, entertaining leaders with unfit qualifications managing the economy. Above all, most of our leaders ascent to positions with no sound profession or business career to which they could comfortably fall upon after serving their term in office, and thus loot the national coffers to cater for their life after power. Arise! Mother Ghana and make this beautiful country proud. Ghana and for that matter Africa, you have no genuine excuse anymore that in this 21st century, when your leaders are riding in posh cars and traveling in presidential jets, when you have all the technologies freely available and affordable, you cannot proudly afford to feed your own people, that you cannot turn the desert into oasis, that you cannot stop the annual starvation in Ethiopia and Eritrea, that you cannot come together to pool resources, ideas and manpower together for the benefit of this beautiful continent crying to be allowed to showcase its power in the world, that you cannot give to your people the basic necessities of life.
To this, we should know we cannot fail, not in this 21st century, and if we dare do fail, our children will never forgive us.
Ato Dadzie (ato.kwamena@yahoo.com)
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