Professor Stephen Adei
Unfortunately, the lithium deal has become the whipping boy of most commentators, especially those aligned to opponents of the government.
The airwaves are awash with all kinds of views opposed to the agreement, although some of them contain no workable alternatives.
Our major problem is that those who sit on radio and television have never told their hosts humbly to spare them comments because they lack the knowhow.
Whatever the topic, they are eager to comment on and in our local parlance, “na wom ati” or “ame gbaa”. And they have always got it wrong but they belong to the loud voices in our society and, thus, polluting the media space with their ugly voices.
Soon Professor Stephen Adei would also join these heated debate as undoubtedly he belongs to the renowned citizens of our land who consider every step of President Nana Akufo-Addo as retrogressive and demonic.
A few days ago, Ghanaians woke up to the news of the arrest of the spokesperson of a new political movement called The New Force. And strangely, the person promising new hope is hooded, making it difficult for the people to identify with the personality on the billboards scattered around the country.
Anyway, does our constitution allow the participation of foreigners in our party politics? The NPP government has in recent times been very slow to respond to negative activities of people who obviously are enemies of the state.
The government should not succumb to the assertion that it is showing weak leadership by sweeping aside like tsunami, the headmasters who are bent of destabilising the free SHS policy. Therefore, we remind the government of the Biblical exhortation to the people on wrongdoing. We appeal to the Minister of Education to crack the whip on all those who have fallen foul of the Ghana Education Service (GES) directives on prospectus, to instill the fear of God in public servants.
Today, lawyers, economists, political scientists and journalists propound theories about the extractive industry such as lithium as if they appreciate the industry better than the professionals.
We accept that everybody can appreciate bad agreements that are detrimental to the people, but we equally expect these people to admit their limitations in order not to poison the atmosphere.
We are students of free speech, and for which reason we would not stand in anybody’s way to express them even if we detest them.
What we find nauseating is the tendency among so-called intellectuals to speak on any topic at all. Where is the Ghanaian modesty and acknowledgement that we are mere mortals and we cannot play God?
We were alarmed when we saw Mr. Kwame Pianim speak about the economy at a forum at UPSA and predicted doom for the banking sector next year.
We are not economists but we had expected him to proffer some solutions, otherwise we dismiss his claims as coming from a prophet of doom.
Another personality whose public posturing we find uncharacteristic of a retired public servant is Ms. Sophia Akuffo, a former Chief Justice who like other Ghanaians have become social commentators or serial callers, commenting about anything in the country.
Our expectation is that these group of people, if they still have something in their repertoire, would form a think-tank to advise the government on important national issues.
When she stormed the offices of the Ministry of Finance to picket against the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), we felt perhaps as a pensioner she was also affected. Nonetheless, when she decided to take on government over the lithium agreement, it became clear that she does not have peace on retirement, but be part of our chaotic polemics. Now that she does not want to follow on the footsteps of her predecessors and be accorded the respect as a stateswoman, we welcome her to the political terrain. Perhaps, she is lacing her boots to be appointed a Council of State member in the unlikely event that John Mahama wins power.