The Envisioned Ghana-Ghana Beyond Aid?

Every day, especially in those years popularly referred to as ‘election years’, we are reminded by our politicians of how great our nation is. ‘’One of the commonest manifestations of under-development is the tendency among the ruling elite to live in a world of make-believe and unrealistic expectations’’ -Chinua Achebe.

We have heard politicians make pronouncements such as ‘’Zero tolerance for corruption’’, ‘’Better Ghana Agenda’’, ‘’I care for you’’, ‘’Y3resesa mu, na y’ak) y3nim (we are changing, so we can move forward)’’Changing lives, transforming Ghana’’ etc. But can we boast the achievability of these dictums. Oh I forgot, here comes Ghana beyond aid, the current mantra.

Listen to Ghanaian leaders and you will frequently hear the phrase, this great nation of ours. For our consumption, Ghana is not a great nation. She is one of the most disorganized nations in the world. She stinks of corruption, fraud, politics of insults, insensitivity on the part of the rich minority, abject poverty on the part of the majority.etc. She is gradually becoming an expensive place to live and gives least value for money considering the infiltration of our markets with substandard goods. Ghana is unequivocally wallowing in filt; gradually becoming a state filled with blatant social commentators; also there is cacophony across the studios of almost every single radio station; a nation filled with ‘ineffectual’ experts who are only heard when there is a problem; the proliferation of dishonest leaders even at the SRC level of our educational institutions. In short, she has become the most awful place on earth.

It is a measure of self delusion that we; Ghanaians boast of becoming the preferred tourism destination in the Sub-region. Considering the poor nature of the roads leading to these tourist sites and our lackadaisical attempt towards developing tourism in Ghana; Our inability to develop tourism in this country even though we generate massive income from that sector is very questionable. According to a United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), there were 55.7 million international tourist arrivals in Africa in the year 2013 alone. And several countries around the world are seeking to diversify their economies now seeing the marketability of tourism potentials. The WTO figure is expected to increase exponentially over the next five years. Needless to say Africa has enjoyed a massive increase in the tourism industry and is still booming. According to research, the tourism sector represents 9 percent of global GDP and one in 11 jobs worldwide are found in this sector. In addition, Tourism has become an important revenue source for several economies in Africa. For your information, According to the WTO; the top ten tourism destinations in Africa as follows; Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe (yes Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe), Kenya, Uganda, Namibia and Senegal. Note: Egypt is classified under Middle East in UNWTO’s scheme

Why is Ghana absent from this list…..?We should have made this list…….it’s top ten and not top three for crying out loud. We are ranked among the ten best football nations in Africa. In addition, we invest so much in football but can anyone pinpoint the contribution football makes to our annual GDP…….? Is football a foreign exchange earner for this country?

As a nation, we spend so much in protecting our Heads of State both past and present; these gallant men received monthly salaries, per diems, emoluments(ex gratia).etc. Have we not honoured them enough already…….? Do we still have to spend a fortune of our money in making a showmanship of them on our buses….? Could we not make money from using these same buses as ‘mobile advertisers’ in order to raise money to support NHIS or free SHS?

Sorry If I seem personal but the main impulse of this writing to prevent me from developing high blood pressure. Only a debaucher with an exuberant taste for revelry will pick Ghana for a holiday; only someone who wants to know abject poverty at first hand would do so. Ghana maybe a destination for galamsey operators and reprobates from Asia, but not tourists.

The gentle reader of this piece may wonder if he or she is reading the Lamentations of Jeremiah. But honestly, must we remain silent whilst each day that passes by leads to our impoverishment. Ghana is where God in his infinite wisdom chose to plant us; as citizens and not spectators. Therefore we shouldn’t expect salvation from the ‘’Whiteman’’. Has the maltreatment of citizens in the gulf and Libya not communicated to us the need to purge this country from the ‘’sins of politics’’. Innocent and well meaning citizens seeking for greener pastures or a more comfortable life in another country should not forget the fact that someone else’s intelligence and labour have squared away. Civilization has always been the result of the toil and sweat of the masses. The fruit of their labour, their appetite for modernization, orderliness and justice under audacious and enlightened leaders. I also believe that, futureless as she may seem today, Ghana is not utterly beyond redemption. Critical, yes but not entirely hopeless. But every single day of continued negligence brings her ever close to the threshold of the failure. To turn things around is vividly beyond the contrivance of mediocre or middling leadership. It calls for ‘sacrifice’ and due diligence.

Ghana is in her present state because we have not had the right calibre of leadership necessary to improve the standard or cost of living and eliminate short-term vulnerabilities such as trade shocks, profligate expenditure leading to increasing public debts with little to show, inflated contracts.etc. As for corruption, it’s as old as Adam, so the least said about it; the better.

We the indigenes of this country (that showed so much promise in the 90’s) have become fed up with political messages that only entice as to make believe. As our maker commanded in Genesis 1:3- ...let there be light, and there was light. So shall we with one accord scream; let there be change, and there must be change and not retrogression.

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana, And make Our Nation Great and Strong.

By MH/Dr Ernest Aggrey, 0543999776/[email protected]