NDC and NPP and their politics of Inaction (agriculture)

The NDC and NPP and their politicians do not have any concrete agenda to help Ghana to become a food sufficient nation. Their their empty rhetorics, promises, pledges and policies of inaction is seen in the high food prices seen all parts of the country.

Look at the state of the agricultural sector in Ghana. 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 17 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, politicization of every national issue and whipping of tribal and ethnic sentiments by the NDC and the NPP politicians and their agents.

Do we have to support NPP and NDC blindly?

"Ghanaians must sit up"

NDC and NPP and their politics of inaction (Children)

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 being taught by the street in Accra, Kumasi, Tema, Takoradi, Ho and Koforidua?

Don't they see the many children who sell ice water, coconut, sugar cane, plantain chips? What has the NDC and NPP ministers of Children done to ensure that these children who are the future leaders of the country will be given help so they can remain in the classroom? Majority of these children are on the street hawking instead of being in the classroom because their parents have no jobs and cannot afford to put the kids in the classroom. Yet we have NDC and NPP governments that continue to receive millions of dollars in loans and grants and receive billions of cedis in taxes yet cannot provide for these future leaders.

Look at how the two parties have been playing politics with the school feeding programme that is supposed to ensure that these kids are given some food in school. In many schools children have had to suffer and go without food because the NDC wants its caterers to prepare the food while the old caterers (seen as NPP sympathizers want to continue doing what they have been doing since the programme started).

"Ghanaians must sit up"

NDC and NPP and their politics of inaction (Education)

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.

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.

What action has the NPP or the NDC taken to ensure that graduates from our tertiary institutions will have access to jobs? Massive graduate Unemployment is the order of the day and what action has the NDC and NPP governments which have ruled Ghana for the past 28 years taken to ensure that graduates have access to jobs? Look at how the two parties have been playing politics with the so called National Youth Employment Programme.

"Ghanaians must sit up"

NDC and NPP and their politics of inaction (Health)

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.

What action have NDC and NPP politicians taken to provide solution to the many problems the hospitals are facing? 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 to deliver their babies 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.

The NPP and the NDC are good at rhetorics, pledges and promises but lack any vision and direction. 28 years of P(NDC) and NPP rule six killer diseases continue to kill children. They cant take action because they lack a sense of purpose and direction. They are only interested in the votes that will make them MPs, Presidents, Ministers and not the responsibilities that go with the votes.

Ghanaians must sit up.

NDC and NPP and their politics of inaction (Housing)

What direct and measurable action has the NDC taken to improve the state of the housing infrastructure in the country? 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.

When will the NDC and NPP actually think about Ghanaians? When will they provide for the needs of the people? When will Ghanaians living in Ho, Accra, Kumasi, Nsawam, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Axim, Nzema, Sunyani, Mampong and Bechem have access to good drinking water flowing direct into their homes?

When will commuters from Taifa to Accra or Circle be spared the agony of having to stay in traffic for hours? What action are the NDC and NPP politicians who have ruled Ghana for for the past 28 years taken to develop Ghana for all to benefit?

They take taxes from Ghanaians and use it to buy land Cruisers for themselves while majority of the people live on less than two dollars a day.

NDC and NPP and their politics of inaction (Sanitation)

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.

Many people living in cities and rural parts of Ghana live in unsanitary conditions, and use hazardous pollutants such as charcoal with all the health impacts.

"In terms of visibility, garbage or solid waste management remains one of the most intractable problems within Greater Accra Metropolitan Authority although its health implications may not be as serious as that of the water sanitation complex. Residential domestic waste is estimated to form a greater proportion of all sources of solid wastes produced in Ghanaian urban settlements. Currently, the Waste Management Department of AMA, for example, is only capable of collecting 60 per cent of the more than 900 tonnes per diem of refuse and about 300 tonnes of night soil. Garbage or solid waste disposal is dominated by open dumping of garbage, which is practised by 83 per cent of all households; only 11 per cent of the metropolitan population, often the wealthy, benefit from home collection service".Source: Peter J. Marcotullio and Gordon McGranahan from their book Scaling Urban Environmental Challenges From Local to Global and Back, 2007.

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?

What direct, measurable and tangible action has the NDC taken to help the people of Teshie, Taifa, Nima and Nungua to overcome the difficulty of not having toilet and waste management facilities? What action has the Mills led administration taken to ensure that the people of Adenta will have access to water supply everyday?

"Ghanaians must sit up"

Better Ghana for NDC politicians

What has changed under President Mills? Are Ghanaians well off? Don't we still have children selling ice water, plantain chips, sugar and coconut in every street corner of our major cities? AS happened under Kuffour where few NPP members got rich at the expense of the nation the same is going on under Mills. Nothing has changed in the country except the players.

I pity Ghana and Ghanaians.