Weeks before Christmas last year, President Mills declared 2011 a year of action. The President made this heart-warming statement when he was addressing a delegation from China led by Mr Fan Bing, Managing Director of Standard Bank.
On that occasion, Mr Atta Mills assured the people of Ghana that the year 2011 will be the year Ghanaians will witness the execution and implementation of most of the promises his government has made to them.
“Time is not on our side and we want the year 2011 to be a year of action. Our people are very expectant and justifiably so because we have made them aware of the generosity of our brothers and sisters from China. They know that there are a lot of things in the pipeline and they are itching to see what is going to be on the ground”, said the President to the admiration of expectant Ghanaians.
Some months before the declaration of the Mills-Mahama action year, 21st September to be precise, the government`s propaganda outfit got very busy. The expectations of the Ghanaians were raised to yet another level. We were brazenly told by the NDC propaganda machinery that President John Evans Atta Mills and his Chinese counterpart, Mr Hu Jintao, had signed a deal for China to give Ghana a loan of three billion dollars to develop her energy sector. We were excited, and rightly so, because we read this:
“Specific areas to be targeted under the deal include infrastructure development, job creation and the development and other derivatives of oil and gas. The package, which would be disbursed through the China Bank, constitutes the first phase of Chinese assistance, which would start rolling out in the next six months after the Government of Ghana has devised a framework for the package.”
Ladies and gentlemen, nine months into the signing of this “unprecedented” loan package and six months after the President declared this year an action year, the people of Ghana are yet to have a taste of these sweet promises. The 3 billion USD we were promised is nowhere to be found.
Many Ghanaians have been left disillusioned by the non-performance of this President. Members of his own party have been left baffled by the level of incompetence being displayed by President Mills.
Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, who is contesting Prof John Evans Atta Mills for the flagbearership position of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), told Ghanaians recently the President is superintending over a corrupt government.
"The people have not seen any improvement in their lives and there is massive corruption all over the place," she said to the amazement of the good people of Ghana.
Nana Konadu also told us in plain language that the man she and her husband imposed on us has not been able to deliver on the numerous promises he made to the Ghanaian electorate prior to the 2012 elections which saw him becoming President of the Republic, since areas like Accra, the capital city, is still reeling under acute water shortage whilst the electricity situation has worsened. What did we do to deserve this bunch of incompetent folks ruling and making a mess of the nation Ghana? Just a year into the Mills-Mahama presidency, the loud mouthed deputy minister of information, Mr Samuel Ablakwah shamelessly told us his government has created 1.6 million jobs only for Mr E.T. Mensah, Mills` minister for Employment, to disassociate himself from it.
In 2008, Candidate Mills promised prosperity for all Ghanaians, irrespective of one’s political affiliation. Today, what do we see? More than half a million more Ghanaians have fallen below the poverty line since 2009.
True to his words, the President`s action year has lived by its name. Sadly, the action he and his party promised is far from the action Ghanaians are expecting from their president. In the action year, we have been living witnesses to the resurgence of bitter feuds within his party. Yesterday, it was FONKAR and GAME, today it`s OLONKAR and SADAM, the action year of acronyms. The President has absolutely no control over his own party, of which he is the leader; and you will be deceiving yourself big time if you should believe the man is in charge of the affairs of the country. Do you remember the much touted STX Korean housing project? When you ask them about STX and when the billion dollar project will start rolling, they will tell you it will start next month, next month and next month. The truth of the matter is that STX is dead and cannot be resurrected.
Of course, there are some actions going on. We have a desperate President going from village to village and town to town commissioning 200 projects here, 500 projects there and a thousand projects all over the place. Today, NDC foot soldiers are in firm control of the country. They hire and fire as they please without the President uttering a word. Ghana, today, is a polarized nation, being governed like it was in George Owen`s animal farm. During Atta Mills’ time, the Gas have had the misfortune of witnessing the installation of a second, or is it a third chief?
Ever since Atta Mills`NDC government took over the realms of affairs of the nation, there have been numerous calls from activists and government officials of the party asking for the head of the country`s Chief Justice. We all remember the infamous “kill the cat” statement made by no other person than the chairman of Atta Mills`NDC party. Many such calls have since followed suit. Quite recently, a group that calls itself the Network of Social Democrats gave Justice Georgina Theodora Wood fourteen days to resign her office, alleging her regime had failed woefully to maintain professional standards in the judiciary, saying either she resigns or they would force her out of office “through the narrow window”. Quite sadly, we had people like Kwesi Pratt jr. supporting this shameful and irresponsible call.
In their desperate attempt to maintain its stranglehold on power, the Mills-Mahama government has resorted to dubious plan by coming up with something called the NDC Heroes’ Fund, a monetary inducement fund to recruit desperate NDC foot soldiers to help the party maintain political power at all cost. Meanwhile, the country`s external debt is escalating by the day. It is a fact that Ghana's debt stands at $13.4 billion, up from around $8.1 billion when President John Atta Mills was elected into office in late 2008. One may ask; what happened to all this money? His ministers and appointees are “chopping” like there is no tomorrow.
Ghanaians are suffering and they cannot wait for 2011 to come for them to show this incompetent government where power lies. Today, everywhere you go in Ghana, the song on the lips of our people is the same “enkoyie” and “Atta adaada yen”. Indeed Atta has been a phenomenal failure and disappointing. This is a president Ghanaians do not deserve. Our country needs to move forward and we shall surely do so come 2012 with a competent, forward looking and inspirational president. Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo is tomorrow`s man.
Desmond Frimpong, member of NPP-Norway communication team
