NDC and NPP and their politics of Inaction (infrastructure)

The health of every nation’s economy and its potential to grow strongly depend on a reliable infrastructure system because infrastructures are the bedrock, life blood and the engines that drive the economy. The role play by infrastructures in the economy of a nation cannot be overemphasized especially its effect on sustainable development, foreign direct investment flow, GDP growth, inflation reduction, job creation, trade, agriculture, delivery of goods and services, lowering cost of business, improving health and standard of living and poverty reduction. Therefore, efficient and effective provision of infrastructure in a nation underlines all attempts to reduce poverty.

P(NDC) and NPP which have been governing Ghana for the past 28 years have neglected Ghana's infrastructure needs for years, yet we have forgotten that no nation can develop without investing in infrastructure and technology. The state of Ghana's of infrastructure is so appalling to describe yet we have NDC and NPP governments taking hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and grants and receiving hundreds of billions of cedis in taxes from the poor Ghanaians yet cannot provide the basic infrastructures that will make life a little bit comfortable for Ghanaians.

The telecommunication including ICT sector, is still struggling to catch up with the rest of the world. Fibre optic cables, which make it possible for internet users to have access to fast speed internet connectivity, are very limited in the country. Internet connection is absent in the rural parts of the Ghana and connection is very slow in the cities where internet may be available. Besides it is also very expensive. In many areas, there are no fixed telephone lines and mobile telephone infrastructures are still at the infancy stage. Absence of telecommunication infrastructures is part of the reason why cost of running businesses is expensive in the Ghana compared to other countries. Schools, hospitals, banking and security operations are handicapped by the absence of these vital infrastructures. Companies and industries that heavily rely on ICT for efficiency and higher productivity are prevented from doing so, due to the poor state or absence of the infrastructure.

For example the problems of waste management in the cities and the associated health effect on the people need no telling. Accra and Kumasi Metropolitan authorities and other city authorities are struggling with waste management issues due to lack of vehicles, waste treatment plants and inadequate personnel capacity. Sewerage in the country is almost non-existent, with only a portion of Accra, Tema, and Kumasi enjoying piped sewerage services. There is no centralized wastewater treatment system in most of the cities and households and commercial premises generally have no onsite flush latrines. Within Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tema and most of the cities and towns solid waste is unhygienically burned, disposed; and indiscriminate dumping of waste is creating health problems.There are few cities and towns with reliable piped water supply. Many residence of Accra do not have access to good drinking water and many households have to resort to extreme measures to be able to cope. In short the infrastructures to deliver water to the people do not exist and poor city planning and management as well as untamed urbanization and continued influx of people from the rural areas into the cities have complicated the matter. The water situation in the rural areas is even worse. In the three northern regions people have to walk several miles in order to get water. The end result is that people are not able to live healthy lives due to poor water quality and dwindling accessibility.

That is why Democratic Republic of Congo has every mineral you can think of yet it is one of the poorest in the world. That is why Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong have developed and that is why President Obama is talking about building US infrastructures because they are the engines that run the economy. You cannot export if you do not have harbours and airports to support it. You cannot attract tourists if you do not have airport, hotels, well developed roads and other infrastructures that support it. You cannot move goods from centres of production to centres of consumption if you do not have roads, rail lines and inland water infrastructures to deliver it. You cannot supply the industries with doctors, architects, bankers, lawyers, planners, engineers, teachers, nurses if you do not have the educational infrastructure to deliver it. And you cannot run an efficient and vibrant economy if you do not have the energy and telecommunication infrastructures in place.

Look at the state of Akosombo dam. Ghana is shut off anytime it refuses to rain yet we have had parties and their political leaders who have promised us so much yet have delivered so little. Ghana has been experiencing serious disruptions in the energy sector for years and no political party has seen any wisdom to solve it. As a result factories are folding up and are laying off workers and we are waiting for nature to help fill Akosombo Dam before we rectify the problem. Will this do nothing approach to problem solving help our nation? What are we doing with the abundance of sunshine in the country? We have not taken advantage of it, have we? We have sunshine 365 days and we have not tap into solar energy which is cheap and more reliable than hydro.

In a situation that mimic problem facing the entire African region, the Finnish president on a visit to Nigeria in March 2009 asked, “Nigerian people have so much sun and wind, why don’t they use it for the generation of light for cooking and every other thing”? She queried, and added that “we do it in Finland for our renewable energy”. Source: www.dailytrust.com, 12 March 2009. The sad story is that Finland and most of the nations in Europe are locked up for most of the year by cold winter but take advantage of the short summer to convert the little sunshine they receive into solar energy while here in Ghana we have sunshine most of the year but do nothing with it. Dwindling rainfall has limited the ability of Akosombo dam to produce the needed energy to support the economy. It is another indication of the NDC and NPP inaction, lack of positive agenda.

"Ghanaians must sit up"