Many years ago, the Catholic Church had a very charismatic bishop in Koforidua.
He is Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, the pioneer bishop of the Koforidua Diocese when it was established in 1993.
Currently, he is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast. Those days in Koforidua, Bishop Palmer-Buckle was such a fiery preacher to the extent that non Catholics in Koforidua and beyond would visit the St. George’s Cathedral just to listen to his homily.
Way back in the 1990s, Bishop Palmer-Buckle used to talk about the country gradually becoming like the arena where two dogs are engaged in a fight. In such a fight, the dogs do not behave like the cock that is always mindful of the eye during such a contest.
The dog fight is such a fierce one, where each does not care about the effects on their existence. The venerable Archbishop likened the dog fight to the inconsiderate character in recent times when wherever one turns for a public service, the one in need had to part with a ‘brown’ envelope else he or she may likely not get the service.
He said we are tearing ourselves apart like dogs that are engaged in a fight. In the country then and now, parents have to pay headmasters to secure admissions for their wards, especially in so-called first class schools even in the era of free Senior High School.
The person seeking medical care in our hospitals is met with same reception, otherwise he or she joins a never-ending queue to see the doctor.
The scenario is worse in the civil and public services where one is told point blank to put some “weight” on the file or it “flies” away or gets missing.
Never mind the service charter that Office of the Head of Civil Service has assented to as many people have harrowing tales of missing files at the ministries, departments and agencies because the ‘brown’ envelope was not far enough or nothing dropped on the desks of schedule officers.
The man of God concluded that the “dog bite dog” attitude in all spheres of national life does not help the nation act against corruption.
He noted that a headmaster who takes money from the parent also pays at the hospital and vice versa, while both doctor and school administrator are also forced to put “weight on the file,” else it flies like the Guinea fowl to Burkina Faso.
This is the disease that has afflicted the entire nation, compounded by international economic difficulties. Some politicians, naysayers and business people are quick to point accusing fingers at the government for its lack of commitment to expose corruption.
Unfortunately, we have forgotten about the civic education initiative of Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia to alert us to the dangers of corruption. Corruption, he said, was a crime by both the person who gives and the one who receives.
Now the opposition NDC in its desperate search for power is quick to point to the rising cost of living to try to equalise the tag of incompetence conferred on its Candidate, John Mahama.
The opposition politicians and some ignorant media houses are quick to poison the atmosphere with reportage blaming the high cost of food prices on the incompetence of the Akufo-Addo government.
Here too, the speculators are at work promoting shortage of food across the country during the planting season when historically food is scarce. Some of the traders too have become allies of politicians trying to create the impression that the country is in the throes of hunger.
On the contrary, there is abundant supply of foodstuffs at the farm gate. When pushed to substantiate their claims, these unpatriotic traders would cite high transportation cost for the high food prices. I dare these naysayers and nation wreckers in the NDC and other allied organisations to take a trip to, say the Nsawam, Adawso, Nkurakan and Asesewa markets and the story would shock them.
The prices are very reasonable and sometimes, the farmers have to carry their produce back to their villages because there was a glut. Yet in Accra the traders who are also politicians are always painting the picture of ‘a food crisis’ or famine.
I trust most people remember how these traders turned politicians took to social media platforms to announce to the whole world that they could no longer serve kenkey with free pepper because of the high cost of the item.
This threat was never carried through. Maybe the market did not receive it well, hence these kenkey sellers had to beat a retreat. This is the way some of our compatriots in mostly the NDC are manipulating the system to economic advantage.
They have become professional speculators whose stock in trade is to manipulate the market for political gain.
They are everywhere now, including the foodstuffs trade, the foreign exchange market and of late the downstream petroleum market. Ghanaians have been made to believe that the downstream petroleum market has been deregulated and this means the oil marketing companies would determine prices at the pump. But that is not to be.
Some so-called energy analysts have been speculating about ex pump prices in a bid to manipulate the market for personal gain.
In an election year, all players, on the farms, at the lorry stations, in the buses, offices, media houses, on the streets and in the offices of the political parties have reduced the struggle for survival to the battle in the jungle where might rules.
In our case, our public discourses have been reduced to a contest of ugly noises, lies and propaganda. I think unless we become more discerning, the politicians would use our knives to decapitate the python and kill our appetite.
In other words, the desperate and ugly struggle for power has mortgaged our cherished values for what is abominable, fake and vicious.
The sane voices like that of Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle who non Catholics yearned to listen to every Sunday in Koforidua must return to the values that endeared them to the people in order to make politics true service to the people and not erroneous impression created that politics is dirty.
Dirty people who lack morals, etiquette and moral values want to destroy politics for personal gains. We may be going through difficulties but those ‘Angels’ who want to redeem us or rescue us must first remove the cobwebs in their closets. Whatever our challenges, December 7, offers another platform.
Let us subject the digital economy and 24 hour economy to scrutiny to help us make informed decisions.
Megaphones of war
With less than six months to the polls, some media outlets, especially those owned by politicians have become megaphones of war.
They are ready to say anything just to satisfy their paymasters. The guiltiest ones belong to the NDC who have reduced media freedom to a licence to insult and smear the character of their opponents. While in a ride yesterday, the driver, obviously an NDC sympathiser tuned to Radio Gold’s afternoon political show.
It reduced its programme to insults and attacks on the person of the President and his Vice. It appears when it comes to the run up to elections, the National Media Commission (NMC) and the National Communications Authorityb(NCA) decide to turn a deaf ear to the airwaves.
These two institutions are sleeping on their mandate to ensure the highest journalistic standards.
They have acquiesced to the breach of professional ethics by NDC media houses whose interpretation of free speech is not guaranteed by free speech legislation in our Constitution.
Please, NMC and NCA, act quickly before these media houses that have turned into megaphones of war derail our democratic journey, the envy of our neighbours in Africa. Bite now, NCA and NMC.