Ghana – Where are we after Independence?

My stomach churns when I read, listen or watch the news from Ghana. It’s mind boggling how a nation rich in mineral resources, fertile agricultural lands and a good number of academic elites, among others, is wallowing in economic hardships.

What went wrong in a country once the leading torch of Africa has often prompted me to ask the above question. In Africa corruption is alive and well. I have always held the view that the major cause of Africa’s problems is its leaders. Their creed is their greed. Professor P.L.O. Lumumba - a Pan Africanist from Kenya, (a man I revere much for his fight against corruption in Africa, objectivity and truth) rightly hit it well and I agree with him, ‘We elect thieves to look after our goods and when the goods are stolen we turn round and blame them.’ He likened it to tasking hyenas to look after goats and when the goats are consumed we blame the hyenas. We will be blaming the electorates equally as guilty as the elected, aren’t we?

What hasn’t happened in Ghana that should make our leaders and politicians think and learn. People accused of corruption in the past have been imprisoned, some have been tied to stakes and shot yet gaining wealth at the expense of the State is not going away. I cannot imagine why all these allegations of corruption under the cases of GYEDA, SADA, WOYOME SAGA, the World Cup Committee probe and recently the re-branding of 116 Public Buses where cost was inflated (infact the debris is scattered everywhere) those involved are still walking in the streets free in our country without prosecution and possibly jail terms all under the lame excuse of democracy.

Corruption seems to have eaten deep into every fabric of our society. Sometimes, when I watch the Parliament Account Review Committee sittings I wonder under what mandate or laws they operates. In situations where people are clearly seen to have misappropriated (the appropriate word should be ‘stolen’) State Funds or recklessly caused financial loss to the State they are asked to go and put their accounts in order. They are not penalised for that matter. What examples are we setting? Elsewhere in many African countries it follows the same the pattern. The only way an anti-corruption Committee can survive in Africa is to appear to be fighting corruption. With exception, Botswana, seems to be the only African country to be fighting corruption from the top. A government or public official accused of corruption is prosecuted and if found guilty the ill-gotten properties are seized and handed a prison sentence. Where are we on this in Ghana?

Since Independence we’ve been asked to tighten our belt with severe measures in the form of ridiculous increases in fuel costs, utilities, taxes, among others, all under the explanation for a better future which seems like a mirage. All that has not changed the agony of the Ghanaian as he appears to have been hooked under the throat to a height he cannot contain any longer and no explanation can convincingly give any satisfaction.

Government has often defended itself many Ghanaians don’t pay their taxes. This it says has affected economic developments and an impact on the economy. But whose duty it is to put in place a system to effectively collect these taxes? Me?

Elsewhere, in a more serious nation, there is a system that works on this and it’s pushed by Government which when you default you are punished.

Ghana has been on a long stretch of road after Independence. Fifty-eight years on this road is a long length of time and we should have made progress by now …. but our leaders. Some other nations on this same stretch of road have made enormous progress and our Government must know what time it is.

Going forward, we need not sit down, only to listen silently or discuss these thieves on our social media. We need to call for accountability in every sector where there’s leadership, we need to stand up every day banging on their doors and calling them to book and not until they answer, which we must insist and do the right things, we should not relent.

Again to borrow the words of Professor P. L. O. Lumumba. ‘Africans are good at dancing at every opportunity. Sometimes when you diagnose a disease and you think you have an antidote and you apply the antidote a new wound appears. There was a time in Africa when we thought our problem was disunity and one-party State will solve our problem, we applied that balm and a new wound appeared personified in different people who ruled their country like a personal property thinking it was a gift from God. When we were expelling the first generation leaders we danced when they went out we danced. When we thought the military will solve our problems and they came in we danced, when they went out we danced. When the guerrilla leaders came we danced and when they went out we danced, when we elect our leaders we dance, when they mess up we dance. We MUST STOP dancing!’

- Reggie Tagoe (regtagoe@yahoo.com)