Presidential What? is the Government Losing It?

There has been some brouhaha ever since the Press Secretary to the President, Mr. Andrew Awuni went on air-JOY FM, precisely-to defend the purported decision of the NPP government to purchase a $37,000,000 Presidential Jet. Mr. Awuni tried desperately to justify why the country needs the jet so badly that, it appears, if it is not purchased, Ghana will be on the brink of collapse.

Indications are that a proposal is currently before Parliament for approval for the purchase of the Falcon 900 12-seater jet which Mr. Awuni says is part of a $100 million agreement to acquire equipment for the Ghana Air Force. Officials of the ruling government believe that the equipment, when bought, will replace the old fleet of the Air Force which will be grounded in about three years.

When a JOY FM reporter allegedly asked Mr. Awuni why the country would spend over $20 million to celebrate Ghana@50, $60 million to build a presidential palace, and now $37 million on a presidential jet, he asked the reporter: "how will you explain to Ghanaians that we are spending $600 million building the Bui Dam when we don't have water?" He added that Ghanaians should move away, from what he termed, the 'poverty mentality.' He argued further that if Ghanaians questioned the purchase of the jet, "then we should stop building the roads, because we don't have water, we should stop building the Bui Dam because we don't have water." "Is that what we are saying?" was his rhetorical question.


Such answers from Mr. Awuni made me want to puke! In fact, his demeanor and unbridled, headstrong approach to responding to the reporter's questions just reminded me of the last days of the NDC, when the likes of Dr. Tony Aidoo and some individuals within the NDC had become so arrogant and near larger-than-life, until Ghanaians proved to them that they did not send themselves to power. It was Ghanaians that did! Who does Mr. Awuni think he is addressing, here? Some uneducated Ghanaians? Some people who have lost touch with what is happening lately in the country? Some unwavering loyalists, who will keep mute even when they are starving to death?


The problem is not about the purchase of a Presidential Jet or building a Presidential Palace. I believe every well-meaning Ghanaian would love to see the President live in a structure and an environment that befit his status as the President of the Republic of Ghana. After all, he is the one who has spearheaded all these many debt-relief processes for the country, in addition to doing some wonderful work on the economy that has seen so much macro-economic stability, since his government took over. It will be ridiculous for anyone to think that the safety of the President is no one's concern, especially so when the jet would serve the interests of future presidents.


The questions hinge on priority and timing. What baffles me about this decision and the passion with which government officials are moving from media house to media house defending this decision is the blind eye they have turned to the basic needs that most Ghanaians are struggling, daily to access. The last time I heard Ghana had only one Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment for undertaking scans, and even when a player of the senior national team needed an MRI done on him, during the just-ended African Nation's Cup, he had to be sent to Nigeria. Just recently, the new CEO of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital was crying badly for some equipment that needed replacement at the hospital. How does Mr. Awuni justify the need for a Presidential Jet-and arrogantly so-when materials and equipment needed in our nation's hospitals, that will benefit the majority of Ghanaians are ignored?

As advanced as the United Kingdom is, its Prime Minister, Gordon Brown does not have a private jet. Of course, that does not mean our President cannot fly in his own jet. However, it simply is inexplicable and unpardonable when our politicians take some decisions even in the face of widespread economic and social issues that are bedeviling the people who voted them to power. How can the terms 'Presidential Jet' and 'poverty/lack of water' be mentioned in the same sentence? It is such an insult to Ghanaians.


During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the US media criticized-or, let me say, poked fun at-Ghana for giving the sum of $20,000 as winning bonuses to players of the senior national team. Coming after the US national team's defeat to the Black Stars, some of us thought it was purely a case of sour grapes, but from hindsight the comments captured a microcosmic problem that confronts Ghana and other developing countries. Funnily, government officials of the so-called developed countries who give their developing counterparts several forms of aid, every year, do not live in the kind of opulence that our leaders crave for. I am even of the view that these leaders of the developed countries sit back in their offices and wonder why that is the case.


As far as I am concerned, for Mr. Awuni to blatantly assert that Ghanaians should move away from their 'poverty mentality' tells some of us that he has lost touch with the daily struggles of Ghanaians. A World Bank report of 2007 indicates that about 42% of Ghanaians live below the poverty line; also, not long ago, the "Patterns and Trends of Poverty in Ghana: 1991-2006 Report" released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) revealed that the poverty level in the Greater Accra Region alone had doubled from 5.2 percent in 1999 to 11.8 percent in 2006. Sadly, for the three northern regions and many in the rural areas, poverty has a cutting effect on their daily lives. It is clear that Mr. Awuni is not abreast of the daily struggles of Ghanaians.

The World Health Organization's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health recently estimated that Ghana and other developing countries, where malaria kills people in droves, needed to spend about $35 or $40 per person, a year just to meet the essential health need of their population - keeping workers healthy enough to work. Unfortunately, Ghana has only been able to afford $10. The usual practice has been for these developing countries to depend on their 'grand-daddies' to come to their aid, through financial infusions, without which more people will die. What baffles me-and perhaps a lot more people-is how politicians forget about the little but important things that count. Our politicians soon forget to make the people who vote them, a priority and soon resort to opulence. Yes, buying a jet at this time is opulence, and amounts to misplaced priorities.

When he took his turn at the "Meet the Press" series, the Minister of Water Resources and Housing, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique did what many politicians have failed to do. "I feel guilty when I have to flush my toilet after a single tinkle" were his words. He said flushing away about a gallon of clean treated water that way is so wasteful and called on his compatriots to help in the conservation of water.


Each day many residents of Adenta, Ashaley Botwe, Madina, Legon, and many people in the rural areas struggle to get water, let alone get cleaner sources. Hardworking Ghanaians wake up early in the morning just to find water, a basic necessity of life to bathe and drink before they go to work. In spite of various social or political noise-making from these people, nothing has been done, and they continue to struggle.


Recently, the Northern Chapter of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) decided to close down second cycle institutions in the northern part of the country. The headmasters in a statement issued in Tamale said that it had become necessary to close down the schools due to the inability of government to release grants to feed the students. They claimed that since the beginning of the academic year, only 40 per cent of the first term feeding grant for SHS two and SHS three had been received. The schools did not receive anything for the SHS one students.


Unfortunately, while this economic war is being fought on the educational front in the northern sector, many public schools, especially in the rural areas lack the infrastructure to train and educate the people who will form the base of the country's human resource. Many countries such as Germany and Malaysia etc invested in their people, and that accounts for the development that has characterized their economies.

To borrow the word of a good friend, the country suffers from "fragile infrastructure, a filthy environment, streets filled with school-age children hawking dog chains and "PK" to make a living, hospitals lacking basic life-support systems, armed robbery at unprecedented height, and all what members of the ruling class could think about is their collective comfort and satisfying their bottomless egos."


To think that the country spent more than $20,000,000 in less than a year on the celebration of a Golden Jubilee anniversary, and to think of spending a whooping $37,000,000 on a Presidential Jet, when there is such widespread poverty in the country among other challenges to the youth is shocking.


It appears the NPP has not learned much-if not, anything-from the NDC's fall. Ghanaians are watching!