Magnifying glasses are not needed to see the general situation in Ghana

We brag as the first African nation south of the Sahara to put an end to the British occupation of our country Ghana, and brand Ghana as a gateway to Africa – one of the continent’s most urbanized with an educated work force and a hospitality which is second to none in Africa.  With that mentality and very little comparative basis, some of us Ghanaians have the image of been loud, but in reality, a large proportion of us live in poverty and many of our leaders have failed the nation and left false beliefs and an image of growth, transparency and success story.

Western hypocrisy is well known. They create policies to enhance their own interests and never point out to us that our nation really needs a bold and dynamic leadership with great vision and not leaders who sleep at meetings and conferences.

There is so much reliance on the World Bank and other donor nations that the various African leaders forget that leadership roles come with the responsibility of creating bigger vision and seeking its implementation. Instead, they are used to World Bank policies such as promoting economic freedom, poverty reduction strategies, and HIPC debt relief programmes.

Because of corruption, our leaders rely on World Bank projects to siphon Dollars, Pounds and Euros to their private accounts. They create projects and set up consultancies to bid for the projects and undermine the same policy through kickbacks and poor management.

I wish the politicians and senior administrators in Ghana will, between 10 pm. and midnight, take a walk around Malatta Market, Sodom and Gomora, Bukom, and Circle. They will see thousands of our dear citizens, women – children, women, and men from every corner of Ghana sleeping on the road in this weather of about 25-30c struggling with the mosquitoes. These are the same people who sell in the Market, the Kayaye who, in the day time with their children at their backs, carry heavy loads. These are the taxi drivers who get up as early as about 4 a.m. with nothing in their stomachs and sometimes work as late as 12 in the night; these are the ‘bofrot’ (toogbe or donor) ladies by the road side. There are other selling amadan, nkatie, kose, koko and they sit in the 30 degree heat all day trying to eke out a living.

Go to the rural communities and you will see barefooted farmers in torn clothes walking many kilometres to their farms to produce Cocoa, Citrus, Pineapples, Yams and Cassava to sell. The state keeps some of the money in its coffers or funds that accumulate. It is the same situation with mine workers.

You will see people in Greater Accra Region whose lives have not improved for centuries. They grind their vegetables on stones. They fetch dirty water from pots or bored holes. They live in mud houses with snakes and all kinds of deadly reptiles. Mosquitoes feed well on these peoples. Our brothers and sisters selling handkerchiefs, apples, bread. They run between vehicles absorbing the deadly exhaust fumes from all cars in the congested Ghana roads.

Ghana has a population of 22-23 million people. Up to 40,000 children die of malaria every year – a curable and preventable disease. Ghana is second to Sudan in Guinea Worms infections. There are between 350-400.000 Ghanaians with HIV. Some 70,000 of these have the full blown Aids who need anti-retroviral treatment. The country has the capacity to provide anti-retroviral treatment to only 11,000 people. If you go to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, (and this is true for all hospitals in Ghana, 37 Military Hospital included), most of the equipment is broken down or not available. Sometimes, diagnoses are made and samples taken and sent to South Africa for analyses. It can take months to get the results. That is the state of hospital care in Ghana today.

A few kilometres from the Accra after Madina, Ashale-Botwe, Kasua, you will find school children sitting on broken chairs or on the floor with some 100 pupils in a class built for 30-36 children. You will see children carrying chairs and desks to schools. These are the children that are promised one Computer each by one of the leading parties in Ghana if they win the December elections. Property owning party!

Pot holes are all over our streets and all the newly constructed roads are causing accidents. There are no street lights. Public infrastructure is broken down. There are no repairs, replacements or servicing of any kind. Our prisons are full of rats and cockroaches. Prisons built for 500 inmates are now housing about 2,000 prisoners infected with all kinds of diseases.

If in the face of all these, we are losing trillions of cedis through thievery, then we have to ask very important questions. What is the nature of the theft? Ok, there instances where huge amount of Dollars/Cedis are being paid without records or any justification. There are cases where the same job is given to two different companies at the same time (Ghana @ 50 is one). There are also cases where we overpay for jobs not done. Road constructions are good examples.

These trillions of Cedis embezzled by the super humans of our Nation Ghana are monies from the farmers, tro-tro and taxi drivers, yam and water sellers, market men and women, bricklayers, carpenters and Kaya-Kaya men and women. They contributed to these huge amounts in form of indirect taxes or through Value Added Tax. These funds include the huge amount of dollars donated to the people of Ghana by various foreign states in form grants and loans to be paid back with at high interest rates. These funds are mismanaged by our Ghanaian Honourables and Excellencies on their wives, children, grandchildren, concubines and relatives. They spend some of these billions on their candidacies and aspirants to the presidency of our beloved Ghana.

The time has come to take back our country Ghana (and Africa as a whole), institute checks and balances to make real leaders come out instead of years and years of mismanagement. We need economic expansion by building a strong infrastructure that will stimulate Ghana’s development. We need schools, day care centres, hospitals, police stations, water supply, electricity, good roads, railways and many such basic necessities to reduce impoverishment in our motherland.

Socialism is and will continue to be the hope, and the only hope and the road for the people of Ghana, the oppressed, the exploited, the plundered in Ghana, Africa and the world. It is the only alternative when it becomes very critical to solve the challenges facing us all.

May the Gods of Ghana bless our homeland; make our Nation great and strong, and give us the strength to defend her for ever.

Suberu Salaam, October, 2008

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