The People's Assembly and beyond

January 22,2008
By Kofi Akordor
Every political leader comes to office with something new and President J. A. Kufuor could not be out staged in this regard. He has come something he could call his own. That is the People's Assembly concept. The philosophy behind this concept from the President's own perspective is quite laudable — to bring the presidency to the doorsteps of the people and to have a direct assessment of his policies and programmes, receive complaints and hear the grievances of the people at the grass roots.
It, therefore, did not come as a surprise, when at the latest of the people's assembly held in Sekondi the Western Regional capital, the President appealed for the sustenance of the concept even after his tenure. From various accounts, the Sekondi assembly, like other ones was successful. That is when one considered all protocol arrangements, security and manner the President answered questions posed to him.
However, since the President himself would want the concept to be institutionalised to become part and parcel of our political regimen it is necessary we strip it of any cosmetic dressings and begin to see it as serious part of our political calendar.
First, the idea of lining up people in a queue to fire questions at the President is not the best. It is agreed there must be law and order but it should be possible for the prospective questioners to get seated in an orderly manner in the hall and rise up to ask their questions when called upon to do so. The atmosphere must be relaxed such that those who have serious questions to ask could do so without any fear of intimation
Another thing is that even though the forum is meant to encourage those at the grass root to express themselves and relate more closely with the President, care must be taken so that the whole exercise is not turned into a farce. Some of the questions are just trivial, mundane, bordering on personal sentiments or interests. An opportunity to have a frank chat with the President should not be wasted away on issues that have no regional or national bearing. It should be serious business in a relaxed atmosphere.
The President will be the first to admit that it is an opportunity for him to know the real feelings of the people which may differ from what his district chief executives and ministers may be telling him and, therefore, be in his own interest that only serious national issues are brought before him.
The forum is essentially for members of the public to ask questions. The right purpose will, therefore, be served if more time will be devoted for questions. Last Tuesday, the greater part of the time was spent on drumming and dancing and for the President to narrate the usual catalogue of achievements, something that we have heard again and again.
I do not want to believe it, but I heard some whisperings in certain corners that some people were purposely coached to come and ask certain questions which will be easy for the President to handle. I think if the exercise is to bear fruit, then it must be allowed to follow its natural course. People must be encouraged to ask fair and object questions without fear or favour. Any attempt to doctor the proceedings will dilute the exercise and render it a useless venture. I will rather expect the President to accommodate more 'hostile' questions, because at the end of the day it is the so-called hostile questions which would serve as the real mirror to help him see a true reflection of himself. If we fail to do that, the forum will only serve as a platform to heap praises on the President and that naturally devalues its relevance and significance.
One of the calamities of politics in Africa is that, the president is always surrounded by praise-singers, bootlickers, liars and opportunists, who always shield their boss from the truth for obvious reasons. These are the type of persons who will make our president walk naked among his people without knowing because he had been told, as was written in the “King's Beautiful Cloths “, that only his enemies will not see his beautiful magic cloth. That means telling the truth makes you an enemy of the president. It is only after they have finished with you and you come to terms with your own nakedness that you realise rather too late how you have been fooled by the so-called confidants and trusted friends.
It is, therefore, important that the people's assembly concept is taken seriously and stripped of all political entrapments so that it will serve as a barometer to measure the performance of our presidents and other political leaders. It is an undeniable fact that a lot of the things we read in the newspapers about development projects in the districts are on files and it is during such open forums that some of these truths will come out.
This country would have been a paradise by now if all the good things we have been hearing about and the promises made since independence more than 50 years ago were actually fulfilled.
I was not privileged to be in Sekondi to ask the President a few questions. I know if I were to be in Sekondi I would not have been allowed to ask too many questions and I do not want to abuse the privilege of this column to do that now. However, if I may be permitted, was the President aware that a private company had offered to build one of the two remaining flyovers on the Accra-Tema Motorway which will substantially ease traffic which piles up in front of his private residence on daily basis?
That flyover we were told, would have linked Accra to Tema, Teshie, Nungua, Ashaiman, La, Madina, Adenta and Ashaley Botwe and considerably ease the traffic congestion at the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange. That project, if it had had official green light, would have transformed the status of the Spintex Road, which now represents a giant fishing net which traps its victims and gives them no room for escape.
I know to some people, for every national project, there should be a personal harvest. So where this is not available or seems to be available, the whole nation must suffer, that is why the President should call his Transport Minister and found out what is happening. In this case, the usual “There is no money” is not an excuse.
If the people of Jamestown or British Accra, were in Sekondi last Tuesday, they would definitely have asked the President, “Where is our modern fishing harbour promised us?” As for me, if I have the opportunity again, the last question I would have asked the President was, “Where is the Accra-Paga railway line, which was to be a Golden Jubilee birthday gift to the nation? The President has limited time between now and election time and so we are anxiously waiting for his answers. For, the best measure for the success of the concept will be President’s response to the questions, not at the assembly halls, but how he solves the issues raised at the assemblies.