It is usual for Ghanaians to spend a good part of their time dwelling on the mundane and frivolous. And for about two weeks, national discussions revolved around one person for acquiring five tractors from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture which he claimed were for the use of his constituents who are poor farmers.
The question was whether there was fairness in the distribution system, or whether or not the beneficiary of the five tractors, being very close to centre of political power, had indulged in what could be described as abuse of office.
The Appointment Committee of Parliament grilled Mr Mahama Ayariga, a former Presidential Spokesperson, for over four hours on this subject when he appeared before it to go through the process of being approved as a nominee for the office of deputy minister at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Not even a declaration from the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to support Ayariga’s claim of innocence could turn the tide in his favour when the Appointment Committee served notice that it was going to conduct its own investigations into the matter.
The Appointment Committee’s position was challenged by some legal and constitutional experts who claimed Parliament would be overstepping its constitutional bounds by obstructing the path of CHRAJ which has a constitutional mandate to do what it had done in Ayariga’s case.
The CHRAJ, who knows, could have rested its case but was compelled under the circumstances to defend its position. That was how it became public knowledge that our representatives in Parliament, ministers and other top government officials have been beneficiaries of the MoFA tractors.
Our Parliament has every right — in fact the sacred responsibility — to question every action of public office holders and for one person to have five tractors when others do not have even one is a legitimate question that must be answered. Unfortunately, the hands of our MPs are soiled by the revelation of CHRAJ and to cast the stone at Ayariga could only mean political chicanery.
The matter could have been treated and quickly disposed of, but instead some people thought another great opportunity had come to do politics with our lives. The question is, have those MPs and ministers who acquired the tractors over the years put them at the disposal of the poor farmers whose interest they are supposed to champion or they became another of those packages to enrich our politicians and make their lives more comfortable than the rest of us? But for Ayariga’s case we would never have known that there exists a policy to distribute subsidised tractors to people who offered themselves as our representatives and leaders.
Before Ayariga’s case could be put to rest, there emerged a strange story that a group of journalists or people who parade as media consultants had been engaged by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime to do information management on its behalf, for which copious amounts of the taxpayer’s money was used to pay consultancy fees.
The airwaves, as would be expected, were choked with accusations, denials and counter-accusations as to who had or did not have their fair share of the media bonanza. The matter is still hanging and even though we have been told there are efforts to suppress vital information, the coming days may not be good for media practice in this country.
It is becoming a national pastime to devote our time and energy on issues that should not be our priority considering our circumstances. Let there be any careless or irresponsible statement from a politician or his agent, the whole television and radio discussions would centre on this statement which under normal circumstances should be ignored with all the contempt it deserves. A minister of state who should be thinking of the problems of his ministry would be hopping from one radio station to another engaging in useless talk in the name of clearing the air. The radio and television stations have virtually become their offices where they discuss reports published by newspapers which do not circulate even 100 copies a day, while our problems continue to pile up.
We have set ourselves some lofty targets that need hard work, deep thinking and conscientious contributions of all. For its size, Ghana has enough water for domestic, agricultural and industrial use, yet a lot of the time we are thirsty and our industries and commercial enterprises cannot meet their water requirements.
Our crops die under the intense tropical heat because of poor rainfall when a good irrigation system could have solved the problem and enabled us to crop all year round. Unfortunately, these are things which do not engage the interest of most of our politicians and their professional serial caller agents. Last year, for example, we spent a lot of time debating the ex gratia award for a few persons who had already fed fat on our resources by way of emoluments, allowances, kickbacks and shareholding in dubious companies.
How on earth could people who are not strangers to the plight of this country recommend that a former president, with all the good things that go with that office, both known and unknown, be compensated with two houses, six brand new vehicles of different sizes and designs among other mouth-watering things, just because he offered himself, under no compulsion, to lead this country?
I wonder if those who arrived at that conclusion spared a thought for our children, who, instead of staying in the classroom, run up and down the streets of Accra and other big towns in the scorching sun, struggling with vehicles for space to sell water and cheap goods from Asian countries.
Did they reflect on the fate of our children, who, after going through all the odds to pass the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), could not gain admission to tertiary institutions because there are no vacancies? Their concern was rather that a few people, including former presidents who have lived in comfort at the expense of the majority of the people, should go into retirement even more comfortable than they were when in office. And our MPs found this quite reasonable. This is a subject that had to be debated for the greater part of last year and it seems the debate is not over yet.
Our nation is faced with a lot of challenges. We are not at war with any country, neither are we under any ECOWAS, AU or UN sanctions, yet our progress as a nation is very slow. Tema is one of our two port cities, but look at the roads in Tema or the beach road leading to Tema. A drive from the military facilities at Teshie through Nungua to Tema does not tell a story of a country that is developing. There is no indication that Tema is one of the best and largest artificial harbours on the continent.
The roads in Accra, the national capital, are nothing to write home about and they are waiting for the first rains to expose the gaping holes covered by patches of clay. We have spoken about our educational system which is in a state of confusion.
The real challenges are many, but it seems our fate as a nation is determined by a few irresponsible commentators and serial callers who are goaded on by irresponsible and ill-focused media managers. Our lives are being manipulated by a few people who think of nothing except their selfish and parochial interests.
We may not be aiming at the moon now, but we still need a well-defined national development agenda and not just drifting like a log on the mighty ocean. Where do we want to be in the next five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years are issues that must engage all of us, especially those who have chosen to be our leaders.
Last Saturday, our children, just like their fathers and grandfathers, sang and marched in the sun to mark the 53rd anniversary of our independence. How different are their lives and which world would their children come to meet when they also troop to the Independence Square to continue with the tradition?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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