<\/p>\n
\u201cThis let him know,<\/em><\/p>\n Lest, Willfully transgressing, he pretend<\/em><\/p>\n surprisal, unadmonished, unforwarned\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Archangel Raphael receiving God\u2019s message in \u2018Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained\u2019: John Milton.<\/p>\n \u201cAND ACROSS THE PARAPET, I see the Mother of African Unity and independence, her body smeared with the blood of her sons and daughters in their struggle to see her free from the shackles of imperialism and I could see her and hear springing up and cities of Ghana, becoming the metropolis of Science, Learning, Scientific Agriculture and Philosophy. And I hear the mortals resound the echo and the rejoinder: \u201cSeek ye first the political kingdom and all the rest shall be added unto it.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a lovely day, March 6, 2022, at Cape Coast, the 65th anniversary of independence. If Ghana was a Ghanaian man or woman worker, he\/she would have gone on pension, five years earlier, or even he\/she was a High Court Judge, he\/she would be unlacing his\/her boots to back-slide home \u2013 ward bound.<\/p>\n Ghana Television used to be awash with \u201cwhat went wrong\u201d series in the sixties and seventies. The question still keeps lingering: what went wrong? After independence, Ghanaians had very high hopes (of prosperity, progress and so on). Then, basking in the rays of Ghanaian wealth and rolling in her over-abundance, the politicians of the First Republic dissipated nearly all her resources. And corruption became the order of the day. Nkrumah could have been holy but his ministers and appointees could hardly be! In one of his \u201cDawn Broadcasts\u201d in 1961 Nkrumah warned: \u201cSome party members in Parliament are tending to become separate social group of self-seekers and careerists.\u201d Krobo Edusei, Minister of Transport and Communications (who used to earn $ 22 a month as a newspaper vendor and was then earning $ 1,400 a month) charged in Parliament: \u201cWhen I receive my salary am I expected to throw it into the sea? I must not build a house, or buy a car, or enjoy the fruits of my labour?\u2026 These people who are talking about socialism must go to the ideological school and study it \u2026 We are not small boys for anyone to shout unnecessary slogans at us.\u201d<\/p>\n Patrick Quaidoo, Minister of Social Welfare spiked the myths surrounding Nkrumah: \u201cPeople are stupidly engaging in flattery. They say the leader is immortal and will never die. This is rank stupidity or sycophantic adulation. You can never have a President who is infallible\u2026 The methods being used are exactly the methods which the Nazis and Fascists used.\u201d The Evening News\u2019 was unkind to Quaidoo: \u201c\u2026 a Tshombe \u2013 faced nincompoop who stands out as one of the biggest buffoons who ever walked the floor of free Ghana\u2019s Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n By early 1965, Ghana had become a one-party state; after a referendum which the government\u2019s CPP won 99%. All opposition parties were banned.<\/p>\n At the Assets Committee probe, one minister said, Ministers of Nkrumah were all \u201cgaping sycophants because power and authority were solely in the hands of Nkrumah,\u201d and all they could do was to do his bidding. After Nkrumah\u2019s overthrow in February 24, 1966, some of his closest confidantes declared at the Kotoka Airport they could \u201cbreathe a whiff of fresh air.\u201d And Krobo Edusei admitted to owning over 30 houses, and having bought a golden bed for his wife.<\/p>\n The foundation of Ghana\u2019s development had been shaken \u2013 not solid, not firm. So, a lot of things went wrong. After 1966, the civilian politicians foundered, and the soldiers who staged coups d\u2019\u00e9tat floundered. For his principle, J.B. Danquah was prepared to go to Nsawam Prison (to die there) rather than receive hand \u2013 outs from a government which was raping the county.<\/p>\n The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo may be doing the best he can, in the face of Covid-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian War, leading to price of oil rising to an unprecedented $130 per barrel! He has declared that he is not corrupt, and we believe him. But can the same be said of his ministers and appointees? It is always safe to hide under the defence of \u201ccorruption being as old as Adam\u201d OR\u201cI cannot fight corruption alone.\u201d It will only be man (or woman) who has deliberately blinded himself\/herself who cannot see the roads being constructed by this government. Who will fail to appreciate the free SHS education? Have we assessed properly the cost of this policy to the nation? But everyone is benefitting from it. Remove this, and you will see the number of children who will drop out from school!<\/p>\n Some political observers are asking why political big-wigs are struggling over \u201cconfiscated vehicles?\u201d It is a shame that people who have the capacity to buy their own private cars are fighting over vehicles imported by some hapless Ghanaians abroad and these vehicles have not been cleared from the ports after 60 days \u2013 and they call themselves Christians, Moslems, Idol worshippers.<\/p>\n Our principle kept us away from these vehicles when we had the chance to allocate them to ourselves. And our principle made us resign from the committee that was charged with \u201callocating\u201d such confiscated vehicles. What thought do we have for those who struggled in Europe, bought these vehicles, paid for freight into Ghana \u2026 haba! It is great to reflect on \u201cworking together, bouncing back better.\u201d It pays to be modest in our expenditures. It is not Okudzeto Ablakwa alone who will \u201capplaud President Akufo Addo for flying commercial to the Dubai Expo as he left Ghana yesterday\u201d it has saved NPP loyalists from defending the indefensible.<\/p>\n Look at Ghana\u2019s wealth, and we are still suffering because of corruption \u2013 the bloating of project costs (that enables the initiators their 10% cut); receiving bribes before recruiting people into government agencies; embezzlement of government funds; diversion of development funds. Why can\u2019t those who stole moneys under John Mahama\u2019s government be tried swiftly? Or is it scratch my back, I scratch yours? And the Airbus scandal; the bus branding?<\/p>\n The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Afriyie Akoto, would pitifully lament the absence from our banks departments that process loan requests of our farmers! Why was the Agricultural Development Bank established? Does anyone need telling the harmful effects of the goings on in NPP constituencies, especially in Ashanti? Fomena is burning and some radicals would paint the constituency office in NDC colours. Honourable Osei advises NPP members to do all they can to bring unity and peace. We don\u2019t want to say: \u201cI told you so.\u201d<\/p>\n africanusowusu1234@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n By Africanus Owusu-Ansah<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThis let him know, Lest, Willfully transgressing, he pretend surprisal, unadmonished, unforwarned\u201d Archangel Raphael receiving God\u2019s message in \u2018Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained\u2019: John Milton. \u201cAND ACROSS THE PARAPET, I see the Mother of African Unity and independence, her body smeared with the blood of her sons and daughters in their struggle to see her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":736242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1016998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}