Ghana: The Coming Anarchy: A stitch in time saves nine

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II When in the early 1990s Robert Kaplan warned of a looming anarchy that would engulf the whole of West Africa, many thought that he was an alarmist of insane proportions. But it came to pass that few years later Liberia, Sierra Leone and later the Ivory Coast saw anarchy of unimaginable dimensions. What Kaplan saw as necessary ingredients for the anarchy were the dictatorship, the clientilist approach to governance, corruption, tribalism, indiscipline at all levels of society, and above all imprudence in economic management, that were pervasive in the governance systems of west African states at the time. We in this column have had occasions to warn of similar consequences for our nascent democracy, if we did not eschew exclusivism, partisanship, mediocrity, pettiness, and especially indiscipline from our body politic. We had said that an undisciplined society never progresses, it retrogresses at all times. The negatives that we have enumerated above did not start emerging in our society today. Unfortunately, we are fond of nurturing them for use at the appropriate times. Since the days of the so-called revolution, indiscipline has been allowed to be part of our national psyche. The rule of law has been thrown to the dogs. Instead of nurturing and growing the principles of the rule of law and of democracy, we practice how to be defiant, lawless, and unprincipled. The worse offenders have been the political leadership of this country and the media. We call on people to be so-called positively defiant and they do our bidding for pittance. As such they are ready to carry away ballot boxes or beat opponents in times of elections. They are ready to be called ‘macho-men’, or in a more polite form ‘foot soldiers’. The media, on the other hand is prepared harp on the sensational, the controversial, the most mind-boggling non-sense, the insipid lies, and many more that assist more in polarizing society than help nurture democracy and growth. In effect, we have a society so polarized, and effectively impatient, illiterate on all dimensions of nation-building, and ready to tear the nation apart in the name of politics. Partisanship has permeated all the fabric of society to the extent that very soon the air we breathe would have to be distributed through partisan lenses. Incidentally, state institutions, upon whose platforms democracy may be built have all been belted under the idiotic hypnosis of this unfortunate but unfolding drama. Anytime there is a change of government state institutions begin to behave differently. The police, for instance had to instantly act as soon as my friend, Kofi Adams, reported that someone had insulted the former Head of State, Jerry John Rawlings. I do not know the law. But I know that insulting a Head of State is unlawful. We are told that there is a law dating back to the 1970s which forbids the publication of false information designed to cause disaffection and/or to incite public unrest. That is a very good law. But where were the police when Asemfofro kept heaping insults on President Kuffour? Where were they when on 28th December a Radio station asked Ghanaians to get ready for war? Where were they when we were told that President Kufour had emptied the vaults of the Bank of Ghana of all the gold bars? Some ex-government officials are being hauled to the courts for various alleged offences. I have no quarrel with that. My beef is where were the SFOs, BNIs, CIDs etc., and all the state institutions mandated to be the gatekeepers of our country in various capacities? President Clinton was made to face the law by an Attorney General (Janet Reno), whom he had appointed to office in the first place. All this is happening in our country because of all that we said above – partisanship, indiscipline, clientilism etc. Politics is polarizing our society to frightening dimensions. In appointments to public offices, in issues of national interests, in fact, in everything, politics is the least common denominator (LCM). The most frightening of all is that politics has entered the Chieftaincy institution. Most of the tribal wars we have on our hand have been exacerbated by politics. It is nauseating to note that during the succession deliberations of who inherits Otumfuo Opoku ware II, a government delegation went to Kumasi to present drinks to the Queen Mother on behalf of a contestant. Again, after the unfortunate assassination of the Ya Na, Yakubu Andani of Dagbon, political capital was seriously made of it to the extent that a particular political party quickly made T-Shirts, bearing the party colours and the effigy of the slain Ya Na. Of late we are witnessing partisan cleansing of the public sector institutions. The ‘proceed-on-leave’ syndrome and the spectre of party faithfuls and/or ‘foot-soldiers’, hounding officials out of their offices and virtually dismissing them are a sour blot on our democracy. What this means is that we are going to have cycles of vengeance politics – a recipe for disaster. Dear Mr. President, you promised to be the ‘father of all Ghanaians’. But you recently told the journalists that if anybody did not share your ideology it would be difficult to work with such a person. This reduces you to be the father of only one party. This statement of yours may have served as a catalyst to the syndrome of macho-men, foot-soldiers hounding people out of office. This is against the rule of law! Janet Reno, whom we earlier referred to is a Republican but President Clinton appointed her and worked with her for eight years. The current Defense Secretary of the US, Gates, is equally a Republican who worked under President Bush. But Obama has retained him. The current US Ambassador to China is a Republican. The latest on our hand is the Tuobodom-Techiman feud. It is precisely because it has been politicized, it is precisely because the police are perceived to be partisan that the Asantehene is angry and bore his teeth. Now we have to rush a government delegation in to calm the waters. Quickly and ironically, the police are now prepared to investigate the kidnapping issue. Can we imagine how even the chieftaincy institution is becoming undisciplined and that the macho-men syndrome has reached our palaces? What a world! Can we build a society based on rule of law and institutional governance? We in this column have always said that democracy is a process. It is driven by the rule of law and wheeled by institutional autonomy (governance). Democracy is derailed when there is no rule of law. Democracy collapses when institutions of state are belted under the whims of an incumbent government. Such situations breeds indiscipline and anarchy is the inevitable result. Credit: Dr. V. Antwi-Danso/Ghanaian Times

WHO WILL DELIVER GHANA?

There is too much poverty in the country:in the cities and in the countryside.

There is too much corruption in the country: in the NDC and NPP, police service and CEPS; at the harbours; in the universities, polytechnic, teachers' training and nursing schools sex for grades and money for admission. Many people are victims.

The illiteracy level in the country is very high: 44% of the adult population cannot read and write. Unemployment is very high between 25 and 50%. Many of the youth have no jobs and have resorted to illegal activities such as armed robbery, prostitution and other social vices.Graduates from our universities are without jobs either and many are doing their best to leave the country for the corrupt politicians.

Water pollution and poor sanitation is everywhere in our cities. The people of Teshie and Nungua are using the sea and the coast as places of convenience because they have no access to toilets. Many people in our cities and towns are without quality and the right quantity of water. In some communities, residents have to live without water for weeks if not months, yet there is a president and his ministers who receive tens of millions of cedis every month for not providing the people with water.

People live in mud houses roofed with raffia leaves in most of our rural areas. They are without electricity, water and social security. In the cities people have no mortgage, they face high renting and utility bills with poor services. Power cuts is everywhere in the country, yet every month the minister of energy receives millions of cedis for not providing the people with the facilities thy need.

Farmers have no access to tractors and fertilisers and have to plant using cutlasses and hoes every planting and harvesting season. They have no access to irrigation facilities and if nature fails to provide them with water then they are doomed.

There is entropy of infrastructure decay in the country. There are no proper waste management system.The traffic jams and pollution in Accra and Kumasi are unbearable.

There is food shortage everywhere and prices are beyond the reach of ordinary Ghanaians as a result malnutrition is increasingly affecting most of the children especially in the rural areas.

Poverty is driving more and more children into the streets of Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Ho, Tema and many others. Children serving as head potters are visible everywhere in the country. They are selling ice water, coconut, plantain chips and other hawking activities. They are sacrificing their education to find food for themselves. The MPs, the president, the vice president and their ministers drive by: some of them even stop to buy the stuff these children are selling without asking question why these children who are supposed to be in school and be trained as future leaders are on the street selling.

Most hospitals are without essential medicines and medical staff are in short supply in most health institutions. The minister of health says there is no money for medicines but every month taxes are paid so where does the money go?

Ghana has not modernized at all. 52 years after independence we still carry things on our head and wash our clothes with our hand. Nothing is manufactured in the country not even bicycles let alone cars, computers, dish washers and heavy equipments that help nations to develop. We are a nation that depend on what others have used and thrown away. Our economy is is littered with used computers, used clothes, used cars things that most Ghanaians could not do without. NDC and NPP have been promising to build castles in Ghana, yet people are living mud houses. We cannot even device plans to help our farmers to increase food production. We have not recognised that the cutlasses and hoes they have been using since the time of slavery and colonialism cannot help us to move forward as a nation.

Rawlings and his P(NDC) spent 19 years joking and toying with Ghanaians and the problems facing them. Kuffour and his NPP spent 8 years talking more and doing little.

Attah Mills has been in power for one year and has not found his feet yet, though his ministers are enjoying tax payers' money, driving Land Cruiser while fishermen have no premix fuel.

There is corruption at the Castle where Alex Segbefia who is the deputy chief of staff at the Castle and his men are rapping Tema harbour of cars that have been seized by the state. Those at the helm of affairs are doing their best to loot as much as they can for themselves leaving Ghanaians to suffer.

Frustration, hopelessness and desperation are written in the face of many Ghanaians. Ghanaians appear to have no leader: a leader who will provide jobs for the youth; a leader who will provide infrastructure for the economic take off, a leader who will transform Ghana's railway sector into viable transportation industry; a leader who is a problem solver and not just arm-chair president.

Come 2012 NDC and NPP politicians aided by the corrupt press and media practitioners will come with the same pack of lies, deceits and with smooth words: vote for us and we will do this and that but once they get to parliament they cannot even put a bill together to solve some of the problems. Once they become ministers they cannot even formulate policies let alone implement one.

Ghanaians are suffering not because we are poor in terms of natural resources. We are poor because we have bad political leaders who are interested in getting power without using the power to help develop the nation for all to benefit. Those entrusted with the management of the nation are simply visionless. They love to drive in convoy at the expense of the nation yet have no idea how to help Ghana become a food sufficient nation. More than 52 years after independence we still import rice from China and India and there is no sign that the importation will stop soon.

Ghana is a leading gold exporter but where does the money go? Ghana is a leading cocoa exporter but where does the money go? Rawlings couldn't give a straight answer when he was asked. Kuffour could'nt give a straight answer either. We continue to receive grants from rich countries in the global north but the politicians and their business friends are not allowing it to have impact in the country.

Hundreds of loan agreements have signed and billions of dollars have been received by our governments (Rawlings and Kuffour and now Mills) and we are paying heavy fees for it yet Ghanaians cannot trace where all the loan money has gone or the projects it has been used to complete.

It is so sad that the leaders who came after Nkrumah have done very little to add to the foundation he laid. I don't know what would have happened to Ghana had Nkrumah not built Akosombo dam. I don't what would have happened to Ghana had Nkrumah not built Tema city and the harbour with all the infrastructures and industries such as Valco. Nkrumah spent 9 years from 1957 to 1966 doing all these landmark projects, Rawlings and his PNDC spent 19 years doing nothing but selling what Nkrumah built and where did the money go? Rawlings and his PNDC couldn't even maintain the things Nkrumah did let alone adding some to it. They had to allow it to rot and decay because they did not have any idea how important those things were to the economy of our country. Kuffour spent 8 years selling Ghana Telecom and where did the proceed go?

The NDC and the NPP are toying with Ghana's secondary school system: 3 years for NDC, 4 years for NPP meanwhile they are sending their children to be educated abroad leaving Ghanaians to suffer from their selfish and ill conceived policies.

Will NPP's Alan Kyeremanteng and Akuffo Addo save Ghana? I don't think so. Because they are part of the same wagon that has not deliver to Ghanaians. Can Mills save Ghana? Well his style of governance shows that unemployment and many of the woes he came to meet will worsen. He has not shown any clear policy direction as what he wants to do or achieve for Ghana.

We have been mining gold for decades yet Ghanaians cannot even buy products made from gold. We have been selling gold at the international gold market for decades and ordinary Ghanaians do not know where the money goes. No one in Ghana except the corrupt NDC and their equally corrupt NPP rivals who know where the proceeds go. Now they are happy that we have discovered oil and are seriously strategising to steal so Ghanaians will continue to live in poverty again.

If Ghana is going to be a nation for all its people then the is the need for a leadership that will aggressively implement policies and programmes that will transform the nation from its current economic predicament. A leadership that will mobilize all the resources in the country to develop Ghana for all its citizens to benefit.

Ghanaians sit up and beware of who you vote for in 2012.

Credit: Lord Aikins Adusei

Where are the Independent Minded MPs in Ghana?

Government cannot be wrong all the time. Opposition parties cannot be right all the time. Ghana needs independent minded MPs who will be willing to call a spade a spade without conforming to the politics of the same. In Ghana issues are always discussed based on political lines where MPs of the ruling government always vote in favour and vote for the policies of government whether they be good or bad, whether the policies hurt farmers in his constituency or not, whether traders will be affected by the policies. There are no independent opinions in the ruling government. There are no independent opinions in the opposition parties either and Ghana is getting a bad deal. Why are our MPs not able to speak their mind freely for the good of Ghana? Do they have to vote on party lines all the time to the detriment of the nation and her people?

Due to lack of independent minds in both the the NDC and NPP the country is always driven by politics of the same. Ghanaians must begin to think about voting for independent candidates who do not support any of the major parties whose members continue to mismanage the nation while living on fat bonuses at the expense of the tax payer.

Are NDC MPs saying in Parliament saying everything that Mills has been doing is good if no then why they not letting their voices heard for the good of our country? Are the NPP MPs in Parliament saying everything that Mills has done is bad if no then why those who think otherwise are are not letting their voices to be heard for the good of our country?

Do you know what your vote can do? Very soon the president and his vice and the MPs will come begging you again to vote for them so they can keep you in poverty for another four years. Say no when they come.

If there is an independent candidate in your constituency listen to what he/she stands for and vote for him or her. Because if you vote for NDC or NPP MPs they will blindly put their interest and the interest of their parties first. Ghana and you will come second. You can let them think by refusing to vote for them.

"Ghanaians Must Sit Up"

Will Ghanaians vote for NDC and NPP for another 4 years of poverty?

Why do Ghanaians keep punishing themselves by electing corrupt NDC and NPP men and women who think nothing more than their own stomach? Have you seen any independent minded Member of Parliament in either the NDC or NPP speaking for Ghanaians or for Ghana other than themselves and their parties? Has anyone in the NPP or NDC being advocating for economic help for the poor in the country? Have you heard from your MP since he or she was elected in 2008? Has the regional minister in your region being doing anything to help the poor farmers and traders? Has the district chief executive been doing anything to help you and your community get water, waste bins, clean environment, and sanitation facilities in your community?

Don’t you know as a citizen of Ghana you have the right to know what your tax is being used for? Why have you kept silence when you do not have a job? Have you forgotten that Ghana is paying the minister of employment fat salary and bonuses to provide jobs for Ghanaians?

Why have you not taken any action when your community is without electricity? Have you forgotten that the Minister of Energy receives millions of cedis to ensure that you get electricity? Why have you not gone to his office to find out why he continues to receive salaries and bonuses every month yet you do not have electricity? Take action now. Organise the people who live in your community and are suffering like you and go to the minister, his deputy and the directors responsible for providing the service they are denying you, and ask for answers. Don’t take no for answer, demand answers now.

"Ghanaians Must Sit Up"

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"

Do we have to die for NDC and NPP?

NPP and NDC are fooling Ghanaians, our economy and the lives of our future leaders? Finally the NPP's Dr. Kofi Asare has been declared winner of the Akwatia Parliamentary election, but does someone have to die? Do we have to fight, destroy lives and property in order to vote for a candidate? Why should the entire residents of Akwatia have to suffer curfew because of NDC and NPP? Why should Salifu Maikankan has to die for NPP and why should Danny Ofori Atta has to die for NDC? It still beats my imagination that someone will die for politicians who have kept them poor, uneducated and unskilled and who do nothing to help them. You may be mad about NDC or NPP and will go heaven and earth to defend them but do you think these parties care about the plights of Ghanaians? NDC ruled Ghana for 8 years and NPP has also done the same but did any of them help to make Ghana a developed country? Did any of them solve the unemployment problem in Ghana? How about electricity, education and health? Look at the poor nature of roads in Ghana. Do we deserve that? Can Ghanaians recall anything extraordinary that the NDC did before it was replaced by the NPP in 2000? Or anything remarkable that the NPP did before it was replaced by the NDC in 2008? And since taking office 7 months ago has the NDC done anything tangible to alleviate the suffering of Ghanaians? Any person who has been to Europe, Asia or America can say for sure that both major parties have not done much for Ghanaians. Look at the state of Ghana's manufacturing sector. What do we produce? Close to nothing. What do we do with the cocoa that we produce? Don't we export the raw beans for peanuts? How about the gold and the diamond and the many minerals we mine? Aren't they exported to Switzerland and Dubai before Ghanaians go there to buy the wedding rings and bracelets to sell to us? Computers, cars, mobile phones, fridges are made in Europe, Japan and the US and they are affordable there but Ghanaians cannot buy common chocolate even though the vital raw material which is cocoa is produced here. And the same is true about gold and diamond. We cannot buy products made from them even though they are mined right here. Look around yourself and see if any of the goods you see are made in Ghana. I mean the mobile phones, computers, televisions, cars and all the flashy things that Ghanaians are crazing for. It is sad to note that almost all the raw materials needed to build these phones, cars, plasma TVs, camcoders, satellite dishes are obtained from Ghana and other African countries. Has the NDC or the NPP helped us to build any of these things? No. The reason why we are unable to convert these rich natural resources into finish goods to benefit ourselves is the poor manner in which the NPP and NDC have managed our country. Don't forget it is government that must take the initiative, provide the necessary environment and policy direction and resources for a strong manufacturing sector to take root. Look at the policies of both major parties and see if they can even put Ghana on the level of Korea, Taiwan or Hong Kong in the next 20 years. Ghanaian business men and women are frequenting Dubai and China importing every good you can think of. Investigate to find out how the Chinese and the Koreans did it and whether any of the parties can help Ghana do the same. Didn't the NPP throw the NDC Vision 2020 Document that was supposed to make Ghana a middle income country into a dust bin? And do you think the NDC is going to implement Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) prepared by the NPP? This is the politics that has brought us no development but unemployment, poverty, hunger, misery and hopelessness and divisions. So do they care, I mean NPP and NDC? Look at the state of Ghana's infrastructure: energy, roads, harbours, telecommunication, health, education, rail system, market and airport. What are the records of the two major parties on infrastructure? Have they been able to add anything to what Dr. Nkrumah built? Haven't they even neglected the few that Nkrumah built to decay? If you think I am not making any point just look at the state of our railway sector. Most of the tracks have been left to rot to the extent that there are no train services in many parts of the country which once relied on that vital important means of transport. For decades that sector received no investments and no modernisation to the extent that it now takes about 10 hours to travel by train from Kumasi to Accra, a mere 200km. Compare that with a train service in Japan where it takes one hour to cover more than 270km. Despite having the advantage of being cost effective, cheap, reliable and business friendly 11 years of PNDC rule plus 8 years of NDC and another 8 years of NPP did not help the rail sector and our country except turning former poor soldiers and politicians into billionaires at the expense of our nation. After 52 years of independence and more than 27 years of (P)NDC and NPP rule our trains still run on engines that are 50 years old. NDC and NPP have neglected Ghana's infrastructure needs for years, yet we have forgotten that no nation can develop without investing in infrastructure and technology. 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 useless institutions that we have and lip service paid by the various political parties and their leaders to Ghana's development. Look at the state of the agricultural sector. How many of our farmers have their own tractors and farming equipments to produce beyond the level of subsistence? Virtually all the important equipments needed to make the agric sector viable and productive have to be imported and how many of our farmers have their own resources to buy even the basic machinery to expand their farms? Today after 52 years of independence our farmers still depend on nature for water for their economic activities despite the availability of irrigation technology and what has the NDC and NPP done so far to help them? Aren't they still using cutlasses and hoes to plant and harvest their crops, technology our forefathers used before they were colonised. Aren't they still relying on nature to plant their crops in this 21st Century? Aren't we still importing rice from India and China after 52 years of self governance? We cannot even feed ourselves after 16 years of NDC and NPP rule. Where are the food sufficiency policies of the two major parties then? What are the many directors at the ministry of Agriculture who enjoy fat salaries and bonuses doing? Although we are in the 21st Century yet our farming practices indicate that we have still not moved beyond the 19th century. Fishermen are always faced with the constant shortage of premix fuel despite the pledge by both parties to help them. This is the more reason why we continue to hunger even though rich soils abound in Ghana. We under utilise our land for lack of political commitment. It is common to hear Ghanaians say that 'Malaysians got their palm fruit seed from Ghana'. Well Malaysians use the oil they get from the palm fruit as fuel for a number of engines including cars, something they accomplished through research and we what do we use the oil for? It is sad to say that Malaysia got independence about the same time as Ghana but they have made great strides economically, while we have been marking time curtesy NDC and NPP. While the rest of the world is moving forward scientifically and technologically we are still marking time because of corruption, poor leadership, poor governance, bogus agricultural and economic policies, politicisation of every national issue, tribalism, ethnicity and military incursions into our social, economic and political life. If Agriculture which provides us about 35% of our GDP is bad, then can our educational sector upon which the development of the nation rest be any better? Aren't the NDC and NPP toying and playing politics with our secondary school system. The SSS (now SHS) was a three year programme when it first started. When the NPP replaced the NDC in 2001 they changed it to four years and now the NDC is considering reversing it to three years. Who are they fooling? Is it not Ghanaians, our economy and the lives of our future leaders? Is the entire educational system anything to be proud of? Just look at the world ranking of Universities and see where the first university falls. Of the about 9,760 Accredited universities in the World, Ghana's prominent universities including University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology only managed to place 5,702 and 6,703 positions respectively in the World University Ranking. Even in Africa, our own backyard they only managed to secure 43rd and 63rd positions respectively. (Source: topuniversities.com/2008) Can we afford to develop the nation with ill-prepared graduates not to mention the millions of illiterates and semi-literates who roam around the cities and countryside? Dr. Ave Kludze, the top Ghanaian born NASA Scientist in a rebuke of our leaders and our education system said in an interview with the CNN "no empire has ever achieved greatness without technology and the earlier the leaders realise this the better". He later told BBC that, "But where African schools have a problem, is that they focus heavily on theory, whereas [universities in the west] focus on the practical - solving real world problems.” Source:bbc.co.uk, Thursady, 12 February 2009. It is abundantly clear that our education system is not producing the architects, engineers, planners, bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, social workers, nurses and the scientists that we need in the 21st Century. That is why every major architectural and engineering activity in Ghana is undertaken by foreigners and foreign companies especially from USA, Japan, China, India and the European Union. The Universities lack well trained lecturers. They lack modern facilities such as state of the art libraries, laboratory simulation facilities, studios, computers, and books. They lack them because we cannot build them; we cannot build them because the curricula have not prepared our students to build them. As a result we have to import the equipments and books from countries that have done their home work well and have invested heavily in education notably in science and technology. In many of our universities, Polytechnics and secondary schools lecturers/teachers are still teaching students the same way the 19th century academic institutions taught forgetting that we are in the 21st century. The same notes given a final year student four years ago are still being given to first year students with no addition or subtraction. Lecturers cannot write books for students because they do not have the resources to carry out research that form the basis of any academic material. Whereas students in advanced countries get their hands on books immediately they are released those in Ghana have to wait 4 years or even more to get the same books. What is more the academic facilities including libraries are in a state too appalling to describe. Not a single of our universities can boast of a million volumes of books in their libraries. Even the few text books that they have are so old that information contained in them are useless. Very few books have been published by Ghanaians. Due to this most students have to rely on the notes that lecturers give them. This is state of our universities and the little I say about our Polytechnics and secondary schools the better. The streets of Accra, Kumasi and other major cities in the country are swarmed with children selling ice water, bread, chewing gums and anything that can be hawked. Children head potters are visible every where in Kumasi, Accra, Tema and Koforidua, a clear manifestation of the misery and hopelessness that the NDC and NPP have brought to Ghanaians. These are the children who are supposed to be in the classroom and be trained as future leaders but have to abandon the classroom and scavenge for food because the NPP and NDC do not care about them. When they drive in their expensive tax-payers' Land Cruisers do the NPP and NDC MPs, ministers, Vice Presidents, the Presidents and their advisors see the children who live, sell, and are taught by the street in Accra, Kumasi, Tema, Takoradi and Koforidua? Do you know why NDC and NPP keep toying with Ghana's education? Because they want to keep the people in darkness like poorly cooked rice, so no one will rise up to challenge their corrupt and useless administrations. Ask your President or his vice or their ministers where their children are schooling now and you will understand why they don't give a damn about SHS, Poly or University education. Their children are schooling in expensive universities in Europe and North America. And as to how they pay for those expensive fees your guess will be as good as mine. When their children finish their education overseas they stay there and work. They only return to Ghana when there are big contracts where they would make millions of dollars for staying away and doing nothing for the nation, and what do the poor Ghanaians who could not travel to study outside and had to pass through God knows what get? Nothing - no contract, no retirement packages, just poverty. Our research institutions have achieved very little because they are underfunded and the researchers do not have the expertise and the facilities to carry out any meaningful research. A case in point is Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) located at New Tafo in the Eastern Region. Despite decades of its existence we still export raw cocoa beans for peanuts. No value has been added to the cocoa. CRIG has not been able to come up with other ways in which to use the beans to benefit Ghanaians despite the mounting evidence that the beans have several potential uses. Have you visited Korle Bu or Komfo Anokye or any of our hospitals lately? Didn't you see patients lying on the floor even though they are sick and are suppose to be receiving care? If Korle Bu and Komfo Anokye hospitals are crying for resources then you can imagine the situation at Donkokrom. And where is the NDC and NPP that you want to die for or support so blindly? Where in Ghana are mosquitoes not widespread? Are we not still dying from mosquito bites and other minor and preventable diseases? Despite NDC and NPP pledges, our hospitals are without the basic essentials needed to run a hospital not to mention the advanced technologies that save millions of lives in Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Europe, Japan and America. And NDC and NPP what are they doing? According to peacefmonline "888 out of every 100,000 pregnant women in Ghana who visit the hospital, end up dying. Another expert, whose statistics were even more frightening said, out of every 1,000 pregnant women about 451 die". Source: peacefmonline.com, Thursday, 23 July 2009. How about the state of the housing infrastructure? A visit to any village or town gives the same picture of poor housing and poor quality of public service. People are living in mud/thatched houses with bamboo/raffia leafs as roofing sheet with no electricity, potable water and clinics. They live in a subsistence environment without social security, health insurance and are condemned to poverty, desperation and hopelessness. Those living in urban areas are without jobs, without mortgage, and face high utility bills with poor public services. They face constant barrage of water and energy disruptions everyday. In every region the situation is not different. Go to Nima, Agbogloshie, New Town, James Town, Sodom & Gomorrah and see the kind of living conditions and environment in which fellow Ghanaians are living in this 21st Century. People are living in squalid conditions not even fit for animals yet we have NDC and NPP always promising to build us castles, swimming pools and what have you. Majority of the people in Teshie and Nungua have no access to toilet facilities and have to use the coast as places of convenience and even in those places where there are few toilet facilities you could hardly stand the stench. Please you can verify this by going to where Dutch Hotel is situated at Nungua and witness how people troop to the coast in the morning to attend nature's call. On the other hand our MPs, ministers, vice president, the president, their cronies and families live in total luxury with mansions, sport utility vehicles, bodyguards, fat salaries, fat bonuses, house servants and they have all the resources of the state at their disposal. When they leave office they propose special emolument packages for themselves yet they claim to be serving the poor. How can it be? I can continue all day but it is a fact that both the NDC and NPP are a bunch of hungry politicians with no concrete economic and social agenda to move Ghana beyond the level of importing used computers, used cars, used televisions, used underwear and any used thing you can think of. What are all these telling you about Ghana, the NPP, and the NDC? Do we have any option not to vote for them? Why should Ghanaians continue to die and suffer for such people who only think about their stomach? These leaders and their parties always play on the ignorance of the people promising them heaven but failing to even provide them earth. Until we have leaders who have vision like Dr. Nkrumah and are committed to industrialise Ghana beyond agro raw material production and export, Ghana will continue to be classified as a developing and poor country and even though we will continue to vote we will continue to wallow in abject poverty as we have always done. I want to urge every Ghanaian to seek education and knowledge which I believe will help us to question our leaders and demand accountability from them. I also want to challenge the various TV and radio stations to devote money and resources to embark on documentaries on what it really means to live in poverty in Ghana under the NPP and NDC, documentaries and programmes that will show Ghanaians the living conditions of the people in rural areas and expose the lies of the NDC and NPP. And to the parasitic NDC and NPP I say 52 years is enough for us to see real development in the country. Credit: Lord Aikins Adusei (Email: politicalthinker1@yahoo.com)