Our wise ancestors had an adage stating that a human head is not like a pawpaw; one cannot cut it open to find out what is in it. This adage is applicable to the intentions of those who lead us as a nation.
\nThe heads of whoever is in power are not like pawpaw so it is difficult to find out what their motives are. But what we can do is to take a critical look at what they are doing to figure out the motives of our leaders.
\nNot long ago Ghana was very easy to rule. Just shoot your way into power and ask all citizens to obey you or else\u2026. These days we have something called a democracy \u2013 a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. One cannot use the gun; one has to work with people to be able to stay in leadership. And that is where the rubber meets the road.
\nSo far we have had two different parties rule our nation. Accusations are flying between them as to who stole what and who killed whom. But one thing is clear. They both have two distinct tendencies. So let us analyze their tendencies and see which of these two parties is really good for our country. There will be no mention of names. But please look at what has transpired in the last two decades and draw your own conclusion as to which is better. Then come 2012, vote accordingly. But first ask yourself if you want to be free or you want to be controlled.
\nOne party has figured it out. Most Ghanaians go to school with the aspiration to get a good job to raise a family. Then there are those who want to go into business for themselves. For those in the Former group, prospects are not that great because the government currently employs nearly 40% of the full-time occupational workforce compared to a place like United States where the government, federal or local, employs a mere 5% of the full-time occupational workforce. Thus in Ghana, you have a 40% chance of working for the government.
\nAgreeably we do not bite the hand that feeds us so we stay clear from criticizing our employers lest we lose our jobs. That means almost 40% of the people in the workforce will think twice before criticizing the government that employs them. This party wants to increase that percentage so that when it puts some information out, a larger portion of the population will not question or criticize it. One of the ways to accomplish this mission is to increase the size and scope of the government. Buy up or seize private properties or businesses and reduce the size of the private sector even though every single progressive nation is doing the exact opposite.
\nSo you say, why would Ghanaians go for that? Simple. Propagate the old argument that if it is in Ghana, it is for ALL OF US. It does not matter that one person decided to spend his entire day drinking palm wine and playing \u2018oware\u2019 while another person borrowed money to risk it in a farming business. And since the poor far outnumber the rich, this is a winning argument.
\nThe poor would always side with a government that wants to take from the rich and share with ALL OF US. Even if it is an institution that, although Ghanaian, works with rules set forth by the rest of the world like FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, the same rule applies. If it is in Ghana, the government must own and control it. To this party, the formula is simple. Expand the government to cover the most people possible. Then if you control the government, you invariably control the people. Then you can even \u201cslap\u201d anyone who criticizes you.
\nThe other party \u2013 poor souls. They don\u2019t believe in any of that. They would rather pass a law that makes it easier for the citizens to criticize it. In fact, its leader once asked a rhetorical question when talking with friends: \u201cwould you rather they insult you on the radio and television or would you rather they pick up a gun and overthrow you?\u201d The freedom that enables the citizens to insult others and to commit crime is also the freedom that unleashes their ingenuity, which develops our land.
\nNotice that because this party is not consumed by a motivation to control the citizens, it does not worry if they become successful in their own right. To that end, it actually encourages private sector and individual success initiatives by opening up the system and enabling personal freedoms. And if Ghanaians must deal with a small uptick in crime \u2013 which is prosecutable via the legal system instead of by the barrel of a gun \u2013 and a few insults here and there in exchange for an explosive growth in the economy, jobs, and global acclaim, then may be it is not such an unreasonable price to pay.
\nAnd talking about the economy, over 90% of economists all over the world agree that it is the private sector that grows economies. Ask the Chinese. From 1950 to 1989 when China was a purely socialist economy, it averaged 7.1% in annual economic growth, and most of those figures were not empirical \u2013 the government just put them out without any analysis from anyone else. In the last 20 years since China opened her economy up to private sector development, it has grown an average of 9.6% annually.
\nEven the Chinese have seen the merits of open market economy. They have a far longer history than a young country like the United States. Yet it has seen the latter take a little over two centuries (about a quarter of China\u2019s existence) to grow from a barren land to a world superpower using a simple concept called capitalism that unleashes human ingenuity by guaranteeing personal freedoms. It is not rocket science. There is nothing special about those who have accomplished notional development that is not prevalent in all of us in Ghana; we just have to graduate from our pettiness and jealousy.
\nSo this other party in Ghana that is committed to private sector development and even set up a ministry for that very purpose, it cannot get Ghanaians to understand the merits of developing the private sector. The FOR-ALL-OF-US crowd has accused them of taking what belongs to ALL OF US and shared it amongst themselves. Meanwhile those arguing FOR ALL OF US have amassed immense wealth that is JUST FOR THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES.
\nThere is instant gratification built into the ALL OF US syndrome that is very damaging in the long-term because after a while, no one would want to take risks and bring in rewards that benefit ALL OF US even if those rewards benefit the risk taker more than the rest of us. One party believes in this basic human ingenuity. Another party believes in the ALL OF US syndrome. Now figure our which is which.
\nSource: Akua Bonsu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our wise ancestors had an adage stating that a human head is not like a pawpaw; one cannot cut it open to find out what is in it. This adage is applicable to the intentions of those who lead us as a nation. The heads of whoever is in power are not like pawpaw so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n