The Presidency

The 4 year social contract with the good people of my beloved country has begun. The listening and door to door campaign paid off, we have absolute majority in parliament and therefore have no room for excuses. I promised running a transparent, thin, anti tribal and corrupt free government.

Ministerial Appointment: A country struggling to provide basic amenities like clean water, hygienic toilets, uninterrupted power supply, good and traffic free roads, must avoid the luxury of 29 state ministers, it is a waste and a drain on the economy.

We need only 15 ministers; there is no need for “Ministers at the Presidency”, no Special Aides and Special Assistance as we call them and no deputy ministers.

It is too expensive to appoint ministers only to be acting as spokesmen, jumping from one radio & TV station to another. Being appointed a minister overnight does not make one knowledgeable enough to have answers to all questions.

The press departments of the various ministries are equipped with qualified personnel and logistics to explain government policies to the people.

We dissolved and assimilated some ministries. A Minister for Food, a Minister for Water, a Minister for Fishery, a Minister for Agriculture, Deputy Ministers and Special Assistants. That is a waste and an uncalled for means of creating jobs for the boys.

We appointed a minister for Agriculture who in turn created departments with departmental heads who serve a director, and who intend reports to the minister.

No ministry for Chieftaincy. This is an old unique institution that must not be dragged into party politics. The House of Chiefs should be empowered to dialogue with any governmental institution if deem necessary.

Competence, tribe and regional balance were taken into consideration. No tribe or region provided more than 30% of the appointments.

Kick Backs / Corruptions: Records indicate that my village school has for every four years since independence been contracted and considered executed.

I tasked the minister responsible for education that no single child of my country should be seen attending classes under trees. Remember I was a pupil under the mango tree, fighting my teachers anytime a mango falls.

A shocking revelation is that a village school costs 1 million US Dollars to construct. If a tenth of this amount is all we needed for a school, then it is more than possible to construct not only schools but also to put up accommodation for teachers.

Beneficiaries to governmental projects were endless, all projects have the same Munster, 10% National Patriotic Congress, 10% office of the presidency, 10% Minister, 10% MP, 10% Chief Executive officer and the list continues.

The biggest challenge facing my governance is corruption; every single individual in my country is contaminated with the “C-VIRUS”. Your family shall denounce you if found incorruptible.

Agricultural Policies: The Feed Yourself Program was introduced; we directed farmers to form community base associations and dealt with them directly. Tractors, insecticides and fertilizers got to them direct.

One major breakthrough was a ban on the sale of cocoa beans, we established cocoa processing companies. This way, we added value to it; we ended up creating more jobs and increasing national revenue.

We succeeded in directing all secondary and tertiary institutions in farming communities to undertake a farming project, 3 hours, 2 times a week. We provided them with free tractors.

I must admit we had to dismiss some headmasters who were using the tractors for their private projects. Industrialization can’t succeed on empty stomach.

Health: The president and all appointees are never to seek medical treatment outside our shores. Congested hospitals, insufficient equipment, fake medications, shortage of personnel were all things my office was aware of.

I visit any hospital and see a single patient on the floor, the director is fired. We were voted into power to deliver so are the people we appoint, our beloved country has everything it takes to solve a problem.

We succeeded in making it easy for people to establish cleaning companies; government was buying the waste, repackaging and selling to waste management and recycling companies. They in turn sell the energy they produce to government at affordable prices. The bigger cities overnight become clean.

All retired health workers were recalled and were paid 30% in addition to their entitlements. Those who argued that slashing government expenditure would stripe the ordinary citizens of cash were wrong.

Productivity is the key, people are to work for their money, unnecessary motorcades, ministers, directors and parliamentarians had no more kitchen boys, garden boys, watchmen, policemen, iron boys and what have you.

It was mandatory to have a toilet at least a KVIP in each household, government provided for houses which could not afford the amount payable within a given time. Easing at the beaches became a thing of the past.

Form of Government: As President I was on course, I am neither a democrat nor a conservative, neither a socialist nor a capitalist. I was to perform and not entangle myself to found ideologies.

My form of government is a democratic & dictatorship, I fire any appointee who does not believe in physical legacy. We are not only to pass bills, develop and design strategies. The people have to see and point fingers at our achievements.

Education: Years back we had no private schools; we completed “CYTO” and still could write and speak better than our children who have graduated from the universities today. Quality Education and Team work is my optimum goal, it is beyond my understanding that private schools which can’t boast of a single trained teacher were performing better than government schools. The teachers there are trained and receiving better salaries.

During my old days in Germany, I noticed a lack of willingness of my people to work as a team. We always wanted to go solo. A project 5 people could implement in 2 years an individual attempts to accomplish all his life.

We directed the ministry of education to inject more team work into our educational system/curriculum. The either first or last syndrome in our schools kills team work.

We provided each regional capital with a university.

Judiciary & Security Services: We inherited a judiciary system that was spoilt beyond repairs; steal a bag of cement and you are jailed 20 years instantly. A school prefect punishes the daughter of a police officer, and you find him in cell.

Steal millions of dollars from the state, build a six classroom block for a million dollars, you are a hero; the judges shall be sitting on the case till they go on retirement or die. We retired the older judges who had exceeded the mandatory retirement ages; others on indefinite suspension, there was an instant constitutional amendment specifying the maximum number of High Court and Supreme Court judges we should have. Trust me this was not easy.

The customs, immigration, police and prison officers were rotated every six months to check inefficiency and corruption. I was not popular among them. The army was my friend; it was more disciplined and less corrupt.

It was easy for me as a person to implement any project that is instrumental to national development but unpopular among my people, just because I was not coming for the second time. The Media: My government was constantly in touch with the press; we were constantly giving press statements and taking questions. We invited both media houses friendly and those critical of the government policies.

I answered questions I was very conversant with, and allowed others to answer questions I could not. I find it sad seeing my colleagues trying to answer every question, trust me this is suicidal.

This was very effective; if you deny the media information you compel them to speculate. A good media house is not one that depends on the state but depends on its own innovation and creativity. As government change, you see them getting better & better.

Foreign Policies: The president and all his appointees must travel with the national airline when on national duty. As private citizens they are free to fly with NASA.

My critics and predecessors argue they are cheap and not befitting a president. Their services are poor and workers inefficient and the aircrafts have over the years not undergone any major maintenance. I oppose such loose statements! Whose duty is it to address the above deficiencies?

Any minister who goes abroad is to meet his abroad and explain government policies and take questions from them. The days when ministers travel outside, hide in best hotels and meeting only family members and friends is over. You get the sack.

Germany: I was nervous travelling to Germany, would I be treated differently? My “container” days remain fresh in my memory. We arrived in Germany with a 5 man delegation, remember one of the promises I made was not to exploit my country. It is absurd to travel with a 30-man delegation.

The meeting with the German Chancellor was brief; I raised a couple of issues at which the seasonal politicians were not amused.

What are Germans still doing in Afghanistan? And if destroying the opium farms has really yielded any meaningful results? These were two questions I asked.

Germans should speed up integration, make staying permits easy for people born or brought up here, it is not acceptable for a family who has stayed here for 10 or longer years to be asked to go back to their country of origin.

Since the colour of Germany is changing, this should reflect in the ministries, we want to see a couple of black faces there. This shall motivate the younger generation to take education seriously. Most educated Africans are still unemployed because of their colour; this is a shame.

I condemn NATO for destroying the Libyan infrastructure and killing innocent people. My wise European friends are now going to award themselves lucrative contracts in rebuilding the country.

The less said bout the African Union (AU), the better. To be honest collectively we are useless.

My colleagues have forgotten our colonial masters have lost control over China, India and Brazil. After gaining full control of the Middle East, the next station would be Black Africa. I am tempted to speculate the next country. My team was as not amused.

Addressing the African community: The hall was full; the ambassadors and consuls occupying the front seat. I asked his Excellencies if they still organize the “Afrika Tag” the answer of course was yes.

I tasked them to be more creative and innovative and pay more attention to their people here in Germany, they are not only to focus on their home countries, but also pay attention to their people. Support your people in creating jobs, help educational programs, organize forums and constantly interrupt with your people.

Most of them are living in illusion; Germany is their home and are going to be buried here.

I challenge Africans to show more solidarity to one another, patronize your own lawyers and doctors, buy from your Afro shops, and the African entrepreneurs are to form strong unions to help support one another.

Take education seriously, help strengthen the few Media Houses and begin to show interest in the day-to-day politics of the land. You can only make a change from within and not from outside. The people are not going to invite you in; you need to fight your way in.

I took only a question, which was if I endorsed Ex Gratia.

If you pay your presidents about 20,000 dollars a month, provide them with free accommodation, free medicare, feeding them and their families for free and after 4 years they take 3 houses from you and huge sums of money. It is Greed.

I would advise you to go and re-allocate those houses, what is a 60 or 70 year old going to do with 3 houses. Besides the president, ministers and all parliamentarians are going to be on pension just like any government worker.

Citizens of our beloved country! Be wise and your leaders shall stop cheating you. Did President Bush or Gerhard Schroeder take that much from their people after serving them?

Desmond John Beddy http://www.topafric.com