There seem not to be any atom of hope and assurance of the country’s development looking at the attitude of our leaders and their way of thinking. Concerned Citizens have become noise makers disturbing public peace, media houses are forced to be kept mute, representatives have become dictators, critics are forced to become spectators over indecisive steps taken by the government. I used to wonder and brooded over the saying ” the people in power who oppresses the Citizens can never afford and agree to give them quality and a better education because when you are well educated you don’t ask for freedom but you take it”. I now solidly and support that saying because of the oppressive decisions taken by the government in the country. The development of the country has been left to roll on rocks and deserts due to the mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds and resources by leaders in the country.
The country faces challenges and crisis but leaders chooses to tackle the beneficial and unnecessary projects of their choice without putting the wishes of the citizens and voters first. It was said by one of a Ghanaian political analyst Counselor Lord that” governance is not about living lavishly, having expensive mansions and cars, having ransom sums of monies in your account, traveling to the state for holidays but rather governance is all about the implementation of initiatives and policies which have positive impact on the lives of individuals in the country” . The leaders in the country have turned governance into an entertainment avenue and their source of income where they accrue larger sums of monies.
Governance has become a lottery business, legal scamming and betting business for leaders to boost their accounts and wallets with huge sums of monies. Ghanaian leaders are all suffering from the ” vote for me vision” disease. The vision and determination of the founding fathers of the country have been left to rot due to the vision less and lack of knowledgeable of our government and his officials. The country is facing unemployment situations, high and unprecedented borrowings, alarming and flaming increment in petrol prices, teachers and doctors on strike and many other crisis but leaders have chosen to use public funds for needless and unnecessary new chamber for parliament.
Political parties and their leaders are always intolerant on political issues when in opposition but becomes tolerant and when they are voted into power. They mischievously and criticize their incumbent but become power drunk and act worse when in power. Our leaders of tomorrow goes to school under trees, sit on rocks and and in deadly buildings while the government and his officials sit in a lavish and comfortable parliament for their unnecessary projects discussions. Free eduction policy is facing challenges but government has decided to build a lavish chamber for his parliamentarians. Government has decided to legally mismanage the resources of the country and steal from the state.
Sometimes I ask myself how the founding father and the first president of the country the late Dr Kwame Nkrumah will feel when he rises up to see how his beloved country is being governed by its leaders. The Constinuencies of members of parliament are facing challenges and problems but I wonder why they will sit in parliament to approve and support the government on his idea of building a new chamber of a 200 million dollars. Leaders claim there is no funds to commence an important national projects but will get funds to build a needless new chamber for parliamentarians.
Somewhere in the country primary school students were left with no option than to build their classroom with mud while leaders are pushing for a new chamber. Somewhere in the country, mothers at the korle bu teaching hospital are not being discharged due to lack of money to pay for their bills but parliamentarians are supporting a needless course. The concerned citizen like the freedom fighter Ernesto who criticized the government on his unnecessary chamber is arrested while those who steal from the state like Wayome are be walking freely. The NPP government is a very competent example of incompetence taking a careful look at how they are mismanaging the resources of the state.
It is high time Ghanaians rise up to oppose and go against the careless and unplanned projects and decisions of government for the betterment of the country. It was said by the late president Dr Kwame Nkrumah that” Ghanaians are not timid as has been suggested by the foreign press. They may be slow to anger. They may organize to act and when they strike, they strike hard. It pays no one to tamper the freedom and dignity of Ghanaians” . We( Ghanaians) think and claim to be independent, democratic, freedom of speech we have and out of slavery but leaders are indirectly ruling Ghanaians by dictatorship. The right time has come for Ghanaians to wake up from their sleep to put leaders on the right track. Looking at the small pace that contains the number of persons in the British 600 house of commons will tell you how Ghanaian leaders are useless. All the reasons given by the NPP government and his officials triggering them to build the lavish 200 million dollar chamber are unreasonable and is a clear mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds. A 1974 uncompleted maternity ward at KATH just needs an amount of 70 million cedis for completion and our unconcerned government and his officials are proposing to undertake a needless project of 200 million dollars. I felt worried yesterday when a concerned citizen was arrested in parliament for expressing his displeasure over the 200 million dollar new chamber planned to be built by the government. I now understood the great American cartoonist who said” Indeed we have now found the enemy and he is us” . The Chinese Nationals comes to the country, flouts our laws and we still hail praises on them due to the fact that we regard them for the loan their government give to us. The queen of galamsey Aisha Huang and another foreign national by name Roosewood flouted our laws and the worst punishment we gave them was to get them a flight and send them back to their country freely and safely but Ernesto practiced freedom of speech and he was arrested.
Yesterday I saw a news report where the former MP for upper Denkyira west saying those who are against the new parliament chamber are not generational thinkers and I sat down and wondered the kind of useful decision he ever made when he was in office as a member of parliament. I looked at the story and I asked myself those who voted for him to be their representative and wondered if he ever knew the meaning of a generational thinker? There is high power outages, deplorable roads, no bed syndrome in our hospitals and as a generational thinker as that charlatan claimed to be, I wondered why he could be pushing for a needless new chamber. The NPP government promised Ghanaians 1 district 1 factory, 100 million dollars for each constituency, 1 village 1 dam, better health care, no borrowings, high employment for the youth and I don’t think they have even fulfilled even one and they are busily wasting resources. The vice president Dr Mamudu Bawumia claimed in one of his speeches that they haven’t undertaken the projects due to lack of funds but I wonder where they will be accruing the funds from for their needless new chamber? Somewhere in the country workers of the school feeding programme and the cocoa pruning program are bitterly complaining of not being paid and leaders are pushing for a new project on a chamber for parliamentarians. Some Ghanaians are being charlatans but claiming to be propagandous criticizing the former president John Mahama and the NDC government of his plans to build a new chamber for parliament in his 2013 state of the nation’s address. Well, I have no problem with such criticisms but the issue and the fact is that he said it in 2013 and ruled till 2016 with 3 years intervals and the big question is that did he build it? The answer is a big no but the NPP government never mentioned it in either their manifestoes or state of the nation’s address but have allocated 200 million dollars to undertake the project. This evidentially and fatually shows how secretive and hidden this government is. I don’t want to believe the parliamentarians especially the majority have supported the course to build a new chamber because is their government because they were voted to represent the people but not the president or their political parties. How can we continue to claim Independence by words and a celebration day but not by our development and decisive governance and policies as a country. I know somewhere in the country where contractors have misused public funds to create a poor dam due to lack of resources and now leaders are pushing to build a new chamber with 200 million dollars? The government should take a critical look at the deplorable roads, no syndrome in our hospitals, power outages, high unemployment situations and petrol prices, school under trees, poor health care and other crisis before thinking of the needless 200 million dollar chamber#WeResistIndirectDictatorship#DropThatBankye Eiii Chamber!!!!!
By: Ibrahim Farouk: