The "Dirt" in Ghana

A visit to Ghana on holidays can sometimes be very exciting and rewarding especially having been away for a long time. The thought of seeing old friends and the joy of visiting old spots gives you a strange feeling, it really puts you in a trounce which can be very intriguing. To many people, it is a ‘tune up’ process, an adventure which helps us to mentally and physically re-energize and re-organize ourselves before returning again to continue our ‘slavery’ and stress related duties here in the United States.

That notwithstanding, one’s felling of hope, excitement and demeanor can change when he or she is forced to interface with any of the government apparatus, be it the police, our hospitals, the customs or the ministries. This is an area where your nightmare begins and your perception about Ghana changes. In these offices, people who are tasked with providing services to our communities always saddle unsuspecting citizens with unnecessary problems and hurdles as a way to soliciting money from them in the form of bribery. The irony of this situation is that, people succumb to their prey, to save themselves time and inconveniences. This hideous spectacle of bribery and corruption is an acceptable norm by default and you stand accused alone in the ‘wilderness’ trying to correct this inherent negative trait of our people. Countrymen and women, our current situation is getting worse and my concern is how do we progress as a nation with this kind of attitude which undermines our development and growth as a nation?

I am very troubled by the state of life in Ghana which is very corrupt and continues to get worse with each passing day. We have seen and witnessed the current Auditor General's Report, the Cement deal involving some NDC gurus, the Cocaine deals, some involving an NPP parliamentarian (Amoateng), the Westle case and others. For God's sake, we need direction and leadership to shepherd us out of this restless and agonizing situation. These nagging issues and our vision of changing the status quo to represent a more progressive and functional institution capable of forging a path for our rebuilding process requires our serious participation in the decision making process. I do not care about the party of your choice, what matters here is one’s participation and influence in the re-building process to create stability and growth. We are Ghanaians by default and whether we like it or not, most of us will have to settled down one day in Ghana so the earlier we changed our behavior and approach to effect change in Ghana, the better, because when the rain falls it does not fall in one man’s house.

We all wish, we had a system that understands it mission and objectives, a system that is courteous, productive and capable of protecting and defending the masses. On the contrarily, we have a structure that believes that paying bribe was normal and acceptable. It hovers on the assumption that bribery is 'sine qua non' to getting any request executed in Ghana. Besides, being corrupt is okay so far as you get a nod from your Director/Heads of Departments or the Political boss. When Politician “chop’1,000.00 GHc , the Directors/Heads of Departments get the mandate to make millions and people don’t talk about them, they are the silent vampires in the economic life of our country. We have seen and witnessed the infusion of millions into our economic system showing results mostly in people’s pocket. Ghana has seen some measure of economic development but we could have done better with our resources if we had co-opted better 'resourced people' with ideas to embark on the national agenda. We already know about the zero tolerance bluff which was a good idea on paper but fizzled-out after a great fanfare, but we do not have to lose faith in our country because we have the capability to redefine our way of life, realign our corrupt practices and rebuild our nation. We have to continue engaging each other until we get there one day.

There is high level corruption in Ghana as a result of the emergence of conspiratorial groups at differently level of our governmental machinery which calls for serious attention. It is not about politicians alone, but our Heads of Departments/ Directors who have teamed up to dupe the nation. The politicians alone cannot do anything without the assistance and participation of their administrators which explains my point that we can not hold them accountable without their complementary agents. We know that many of these people who have series of properties with some of them costing over $500,000.00. One of a kind is acceptable but many of such dollar component calls for attention. (I not referring to NPP functionaries alone but all politicians and public officers) It is therefore strange and a serious understatement for the President who believes in curbing corruption to state that complainants of crimes against public servants should have to support their allegations with facts; in a social setting like Ghana where information does not come cheap without some kind of coercive persuasion. Historically, it is known that rumors in Ghana always carries some weight, so it makes sense based on our culture for defendants to disprove allegations against them—it is a fact that many sector director's and department heads acquire houses and properties with some costing over $500.000.00. How do we question or investigate the multi billion cedi house currently under construction in Accra by dept of urban road personal? We always talk about politicians when it comes to discussing corruption; however, most of the crimes are committed by our civil servants. How many hard working here who work 3or 4 jobs are capable of putting up such half a billion dollar houses? Our politics unfortunately is characterized with materialism, pride, arrogance and greed. The question of ‘service to the nation’ has assumed a new meaning of ‘prepare yourself for the future’. There is neither love for our country nor reward for hard work; your own family will even chastise you for not making good use of your position. There is something wrong with our system!

Another area of interest and concern is the need for a cultural revolution to change our way of life which begin with our involvement in the political process back home and changes in certain behavior practices that negate development. It is by doing the right things that we can help structure the agenda for our nation and also manage to influence decision making process in a positive way, which guarantees a healthy economic environment, promote business and create growth. Similarly, our conscious efforts could also help change the political direction and understanding of our people by influencing delegates to elect good leaders on the basis of proven qualities and their vision for the nation to help change Ghana. Who developed the term “African time” or how did it evolved? How do we expect to be competitive in the global economy when we do not conform to acceptable rules of engagement? How can we be late for all engagements , be it interview appointments, work, social functions etc and convince ourselves that it is all good or expect conscious people to accept our inadequacies as normal in the realm of civility? As far as I know, no African has developed a watch that translates time differently and it is about time we changed our ways to conform to rules of decency as we operate as pace setters for the re-construction of our nation. Our dream as agents of change in our country will in reality be a joke unless we diversify our ways, having learnt so much about our foreign travels and what it takes to be successful; for a blind man cannot lead a blind man. We have to export the good part of our traveling experiences to build our nation.

Life in Ghana can sometimes be very tough and extremely aggravating if you have to deal with any of the government institutions unless you are prepared to pay bribe. The sorry state of hopelessness of the Police Institution, the law enforcement body is indicative of why crime permeates in our socio-economic life. Their morale is low, under paid and very pathetic when it comes to ethics, they almost always compromise their positions. They have knowledge at different levels about almost all the crimes committed and the people involved and yet they prefer to protect the criminals. They know where most of the armed robbers reside yet they choose to prey on them for their share of the booty whilst they guarantee them protection, i.e. the notorious Ataa Ayi of Kaneshie. Collecting bribes on the streets is an acceptable norm for the citizenry and the Executive Branch of our nation because everybody pays without complaining. Criminals operate with impunity, striking everywhere from Otumfour’s Palace to Ministers houses. They can even inform you of their coming and the police cannot do anything about it. Now, the system has been introduced to contract killing which has been going on for sometime now without any solution. We are almost defenseless in our own houses. This reminds me of a friend who lost her bag containing her passport in Accra whilst shopping. She was readily advised to go to a special location in Accra called chorko. To her amazement, she was able to locate the bag after paying some money. Are we saying that the police have no knowledge of where these cell phone gangs and other criminals are operating from, in Kumasi and Accra? Let's be serious.

We need to establish a mechanism where by we can publically advertise heavy ransom leading to the information and arrest of these armed robbers who are a menace to our society. In addition, we need to establish special military tribunals to deal with serous crimes. I make this suggestion on the assumption that our weak legal system couple with threats on court judges debars them from doing the right thing, hence, we have the perpetrators of the most serious crimes coming back into the system with impudence; after all they can 'influence' the legal system in any way or shape. We are all witnesses to many cases of corruption involving cocaine cases where culprits have been let go for reason of lack of evidence whilst in other cases evidence of swallowed pellet of cocaine turns out to be cotton wool. What a miracle? How can someone swallow cotton wool and for what reason? Who was responsible for taking care of the evidence and what has the Attorney General and the Police done to investigate these atrocious cases? Something is seriously wrong somewhere with the psychology of our people and management of our country, the earlier we find ways to get involve in matters affecting our nation, the better for us and the unborn. Presently, there seems to be no pride and reward in doing the right thing any longer which is dangerous for our growth and development. Where is the motivation to work on case sensitive cases without being culprit? It might be time to create an award system i.e. monetary consideration for officers who risk their lives to fight serious crimes.

How do we expect our nation to change by people who do not see anything wrong with the system; what they know is what they are practicing in Ghana today. I have made my point because there is little room in life for second guessing, if we really want changes. We have the mandate to either identify ourselves as participants of change by getting involve in the decision making process of the politics in Ghana at different levels, or forever keep our peace in the current war of idea for our national reconstruction.

Many of us are ageing and thinking of going home to settle in our dear country which is unfortunately saddled with ‘shacks’. They ran schemes call 419 and 519 characterized with fraudulent activities which can destroy unsuspecting people for life. Many people having stayed overseas for a while cherishes trust, a virtue that is non-existent on the street of Ghana. Potentially, about 90% of the people including family members are tricksters and will rip you off, when given the opportunity. In as much as the situation appears complex, it is still a workable environment just that you have to understand the psychology of the people i.e. (1) You never make full payment for anything unless it is delivered in full. (2) Always make sure that you owe your contractors for them to show up to complete their assignment, and in a timely fashion.(3) Deal with all people with caution always remembering that they could be potential liars (trust is a big issue). Some of these cultural traits inhibit commerce, which calls for the institution of Commercial Courts all over Ghana to deal with fraudulent issues as a way of promoting trade. We can train our retired military officers to do this job whilst we promote and educate the public on the habit of ensuring written contracts in all major transactions including the issuance of receipts for all payments. These practices will make enforcements and rulings easier by the courts.

I have been wondering for sometime now whether we have a functional Parliament. We seem to be operating without understanding our roles over there. Ghana, our dear nation is saddled with issues of crime, land acquisition disputes and serious sanitation issues. (Personally, I do not know whether there are policies to address these issues or not). I will attempt to introduce a discussion on these delicate and important issues destroying the peace and growth of our dear nation Ghana in the second part of this article.

Our Ministries and Institutions are managed by arm-chair politicians, many of whom have become administrators overnight. Instead of getting off their butt to really find out what the real issues are on the ground, they have developed comfort zones in their respective ministries, running clinics everyday with visitors and friends. We have so soon forgotten the stir and effect created Colonel Baidoo, a once Regional Commissioner for Ashanti Region, who used to visit the Ministries and other government institutions un-announced. This conforms to the Hawthorne on human behavior, which simply implies that people work better when they feel that their productivity is under surveillance. This calls for action oriented and seasoned people with objectives and commitment on their sleeves to delivery. We can not and should not expect anything good from people whose perception about politics is to line their pockets and that of their families, instead of service to the people, and creating adequacy for the future. It is time for us especially the ageing and experienced cream of the Ghanaian community here in Diaspora to make a u-turn home and help tilt the pendulum to ensure progress. We do not have to wait until the Akosombo Dam dry up before we start discussing about power. Our late President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah of blessed memory knew of our problems today and that was why he commissioned the Atomic Energy on the 20th of November, 1964, to take advantage of research in producing the cheapest form of energy for accelerating our developmental program which was misconstrued. He knew and talked about solar energy long before it became a household word in advanced countries.

Ghanaians have to change our culture of nepotism, favoritism and selfishness. These elements are traces and reasons for underdevelopment which creates high doses of abject poverty for the citizenry. We have the best and the brightest on the surface of this planet just that we have had many leaders who could not operate beyond their reason to be President ‘themselves’. What is needed in our path to our national reconstruction is a visionary leader, one who is capable of harnessing the best resources available for our growth. We need a good listener and a seasoned person, tested and proven with original idea for our development. The best are not always within realm of our family members, party functionalists or our friends. We need a selfless leader who will protect and project our nation into the millennium with optimism and prospects. We expect and hope to see a day in our lives where the rule of law governs and civility permeates through the rank and file of the populace.

Our forefathers fought to establish our nation called Ghana with their lives and so must we, to ensure continuity in its progress, our politics and growth. Change, we must, to ensure the re-construction of a system that represents civility and creates room for human development. We are involved in a war of ideas and reason to participate in our nation’s building process which is not going to be easy because of the 'status quo'. Truth hurts, but it is important that we live by it. I have made a submission in one of my articles that NDC could have caused a big stir in the impending elections if they had selected Dr Spio Garbrah, who in my estimation is capable of attracting the independent voting block, which is tapped to win elections but that did not happened. CPP is emerging as the ‘new’ political group of the millennium and has to be taken seriously in view of the inadequacies of the two leading parties. I believe that it can be a force to be reckoned with, in the future 2012 elections, if they can form cohesive alliances to form a strong base. The NPP still has the urge and whether they want the party to win or falter depends on the impending delegates conference. They have the mandate to elect a seasoned and proven leader, someone with a vision to lead the nation without reference to looks, time spent with the party, loyalty, monetary considerations etc. The contrarily could be a disaster.

This is a test of our democratic conscience to showcase to the world that, given the requisite environment, we can reason and make decisions that reflect our love for our nation which surpasses our loyalty to our party gurus. God created man in His own image and God is knowledgeable. There is the presumption that we are endowed with the gift of wisdom and knowledge to be able to make good decisions if we so wish. Nonetheless, our development and progress or otherwise is routed in our own attributes and not our stars. To be or not be, starts with ensuring a seasoned, tested, selfless and visionary leader. If the foundation is destroyed where will the righteous be. We pray to God for His mercy and direction.