The younger generation may consider the caption above as weird and unthinkable. Why should any sane person even think of postponing Christmas, the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ? They may wonder.
One of the main exports of Cuba is sugar. Many years ago, when I sojourned in Cuba, Havana to be precise, I realised that the Communist nation did not play with the cultivation of sugarcane. Whenever the time and season came for the harvesting of sugarcane, you could observe hundreds of tractors along the roads, conveying sugarcanes from the plantations to the factories where sugar is produced for export. In Cuba, sugarcane is harvested from November to December. If sugarcane is left on the fields for a long time without harvesting them, they rot and therefore, not suitable for the production of sugar. There is therefore, timeline for the cultivation of the crop.
In 1969, sugarcane did so well in Cuba that the harvesting of the crop became a problem. Much as farmers run against time to meet the deadline before the sugarcane rotted, the farmers anticipated that if something was not done immediately, that year’s sugarcane may go waste on the fields since they could not harvest all of the ripe sugarcane before the end of December. The Minister of Agriculture discussed the seriousness of the problem with Comrade Castro who decreed that in order not to let the sugarcane rot on the fields, that year’s Christmas should be postponed for farmers to get time to harvest the crop. So with the stroke of the pen, Comrade Castro banned Christmas in 1969 so that celebration wouldn’t get in the way of the sugarcane harvest. Cuba, which was already under US embargo, banned the importation of all Christmas items like biscuits, balloons, chocolates, hats, toy guns, Champaign, clothes etc. New Year celebration too was banned. The Cuban people concentrated all their efforts on the cultivation of sugarcane. Fidel Castro had told them that since Christmas comes every year, it could be celebrated at the appropriate year when times were good. The people of Cuba understood their leader and complied. That was patriotism at its highest level.
Here in Ghana, we cannot postpone Christmas. Any President who will dare propose such an idea will regret the day that he was born. All what we can do is to be modest in the celebration of Christmas this year. Economies all over the world are in difficulties and some countries are trying to keep their heads above water just to survive the onslaught. We don’t know when the Ukraine war will end so we must learn how to survive at times like this. It is very unfortunate that those who are supposed to know better like some politicians and academicians have refused to think because of their lust for political power. In other jurisdictions, when such crises happen, politics is thrown overboard and patriotism takes its place. This is not the time for Christmas parties, hampers and the popping of Champaign.
What we are seeing in Ghana is different from what happened in Cuba. Until COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, things were going on well for Ghana. Ghanaians will not have voted for the NPP in 2020 to continue to deliver their mandate if things were as it is today. Nobody anticipated that an epidemic will break out in the world which will lead to the death of millions of souls. And not even the most powerful soothsayer or prophet could predict that Russia will invade Ukraine because there was no provocation whatsoever for Russia to invade that peaceful country. We came face to face with these two calamities which have turned the apple carts of nations upside down.
What is happening in Ghana today, as far as the challenges of the economy is concerned, is similar to what happened in Nigeria in 1983 and 1984. In the early seventies, Nigeria, the highest populated country in Africa did strike oil in great quantities. Foreign oil companies literally swooped on Nigeria like the way vultures descend on carcasses. Oil refineries started sprouting up in the oil producing areas and Nigeria quickly joined OPEC. Oil tankers lined up at the ports of Nigeria, carrying away tons of crude oil for raw dollars for Nigeria. Cash started flowing and within a short time, the Nigeria economy took a quantum leap forward. It was the era of oil boom.
Citizens of many Africa countries, especially Ghana, started trooping to Nigeria to seek for greener pastures in the oil rich nation. Life in Nigeria was fine, very fine. Barely two years after President Shehu Shagari took over power, calamity befell Nigeria. The world price of crude oil took a nose dive and OPEC refused to increase the quota of Nigeria’s oil production. The economy started to face challenges and Nigerians felt the pain. The oil boom became oil doom. The government of Shehu Shagari introduced what was called Austerity Measures to solve the problems of the economic hardship that the people of Nigeria were facing. The government banned the importation of certain so-called essential commodities and appealed to Nigerians to cut their expenses since times were hard. The people moved in sympathy with Shehu Shagari. The weekly ‘miliki’ (party) stopped and the ostentatious lifestyle ended abruptly. Within two years, things started to become normal. Today, Nigerians always remember Shehu Shagari for that bold initiative which he took to salvage the economy. History is made from such bold ventures.
Much as the government tries to work so hard to rectify the unfortunate situation that we have found ourselves in, the opposition NDC continues to mislead Ghanaians into thinking that only the NDC can get us out of the woods. Very unfortunate for them, we are in a global village and in this internet era, it is easy for anyone who cares to know about what is happening in the world to Google and know the truth. But how many Ghanaians have access to the internet? The problem this government has is that the NPP Communication outfit is weak and useless. I will continue to say so until they sit up. See how they sit unconcerned for some so-called hired journalists to invade the airspace with untruths and infantile analyses of economic issues when they cannot even draw a simple demand and supply curve.
For example, Joe Biden, the President of the US, last week hosted a Summit of 49 African Leaders, including President Akufo-Addo, to counter China and Russia’s growing power across the continent. So far, the US has pledged $55 billion for the next two years at the summit towards the fight against hunger and climate change in the Africa continent and this braggart and ignoramus called Captain Smart sat on TV to peddle the disgraceful untruth that the President has run away into hiding. This pathological liar has no shame at all. Some of us have enough visibility, respect and recognition in relevant quarters and as such will not follow his uncouth behavior to stoop so low as he does. And no NPP communicator took him on to set the records straight so people believed in this palpable lie. I hope Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information and Mr. Ahiagbah, the NPP National Communications Director, and his team are listening. But will they listen? Aah, Yooo!
BY Eric Bawah