The Remaking of a Betraying President; the Haruna Iddrisu Wand

Just when everybody thought to be a youth and a successful career of Haruna Iddrisu in politics, we lied. He fell short of that unique and uncommon quality of “national patriotism” which is needed in our national body politic. If as a politician, you cannot put your people and continent’s needs ahead of your individual and egoistic needs then, you are forever cut out from the history books of the next generation. The former President of the National Union of Ghana Students’ (NUGS) is again about to betray the good people of Ghana on the grounds of “breakthrough economic revamping” to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) of the European Union (a continent still struggling under their own stupidity).

In 1997 Haruna Iddrisu, the then President of the National Union of Ghana Students’ (NUGS) signed the students’ suicide note to the erstwhile regime of Jerry John Rawlings in the infamous “Akosombo Accord” where students were asked to share the cost of their education with the “ever irresponsible” Governments of our country. After this death deal, he and his lieutenants went to sleep forgetting to keep a wakeful eye on the Government and the Private Sector. He received booty from the Government for betraying his conscience and the defenseless student body. Today, it’s unanimously agreed that, the Private Sectors pact has been heaved on students when they are the major beneficiary of graduates in the country. Many people have been forever cut out from receiving tertiary education thanks to Haruna Iddrisu who felt he’d done one of the brilliant things ever in Ghana.

As if not satisfied, Haruna Iddrisu is again in the center of a very disingenuous deal which will render many manufacturing plants in Ghana shut down sending many into abject poverty. And he found no support in any other person than Hannah Tetteh who’s half Ghanaian and half European. She felt that, pushing Ghana to sign the agreement is one of the least things she’ll do for her “unique” family. Side-stepping and backstabbing have been the lot of Haruna. He did the same thing during the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone Plc. by Kuffuor and his men. How can he be President of Ghana with this kind of unqualified attitude as he wished? Why are we listening to mushroom research firms in Ghana who are happy to see us in the ditch just because they are getting some brown envelopes for giving us that bitter pill? Why can’t we wait and listen for a second? Sometimes, in our body politic as Ghanaians, it’s important to give our ears the same amount of time we allow our mouth. It’s not all talk all day. We must learn to blend it with listening for that’s what cut-out leaders are – they are listeners.

If we naively think the EPA represent that rare pill our suffocating economy needs, then we are wrong as usual and the truth is not in us. Many right thinkers and researchers like Dr. Yao Graham have debunked the “useful” arguments from Haruna Iddrisu and his mentor Hannah Tetteh about the agreement. As for John Mahama, like Rawlings he doesn’t know the mess he’s found us in and he’s no clue to getting us out of the economic doldrums. He’s hoping “economists” like Hannah Tetteh, Peter Otukunor and Fiifi Kwatey will magically lift-up the economy of Ghana to what it was when John Kuffuor left power. However, what he doesn’t understand is that, economic debacle and resuscitation is not some kind of wishful thinking or imaginary. This cannot be done aloof. You need the spirit of the people to be with you and not praise-singers like Adu Asare (former MP of Adenta) and Felix Kwakye-Ofosu (Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relation). Ghana needs the truth and if our leaders themselves are not purveyors of truth who then are we listening to now?

Right now, Ghana doesn’t need politics. It needs, unity of purpose with each of the parties suggesting to Ghanaians and Government how we can escape from the sinking economic ship. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) doesn’t understand the times we’ve found ourselves either. If its leadership does then, they will be dispassionate when it comes to issues of the economy and education. Politics brought us here and politics must be responsible for taking us to that economic freedom we desire. And this can be achieved with a dispassionate heart and a truthful spirit. We don’t need Mahama and his men to defend the indefensible just because it’s politics as usual. The challenge is for us to cut out some of our stupid lifestyles that put huge holes in our tax revenue. The least we expect from Government functionaries are splash parties and holidays that blow away our tax revenue. Mahama and his men must do away with some things that do not benefit Ghanaians. You don’t need to borrow money at a high interest rate to surprise Ghanaians with a project which will later cost us our entire yearly budget. Mahama must learn to live within our current means. The truth is that, Ghana can no longer afford the lifestyle of Mahama as we did during the Kuffuor and Atta Mills’ regimes. We are broke - a consequences of irresponsibility and insensitivity on the part of Mahama.

The way to economic resuscitation may be long and tiring yet rewarding when home-grown economic policies like the Acheampong regime did are employed. The likes of the Strategic Adjustment Program (SAP) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) are surely not the best ways forward. We engineered our own problem. So let’s be up and doing to undo them after all Kuffuor and his men did a lot that we can be proud about. Can you be proud today? Mahama himself is not proud of his doings. Let’s do it right.s

Kwabena Brako-Powers

Author (Lost Leadership Conscience)