If you live in a country like Ghana which was once ruled by the NDC for eight years, you need a cardiologist to check your heart throbs on a regular basis. Sometimes when you hear pronouncements by these NDC failures of nation building you begin to get unusual heart beats. They still believe what Mr. Mahama told us that Ghanaians are shortsighted and forgetful. That is the mistake they continue to make and that is what will keep them in opposition till thou kingdom come.
I admire the faith of President Akufo-Addo. He believes that despite the mess he inherited from the previous government, with faith and hard work he would be able to turn things around. It is not for nothing that believers in all the religions in the world say faith is like a rock amidst shifting sand. The Holy Bible says faith can move mountains and that is very true. This is the type of faith that the President possesses and I believe success is staring him in the face.
I am happy those who initiated the Fix the Country movement are not referring to the Akufo-Addo-led administration alone. Their complaint is that governments that have come and gone did not wholly fix the country on so many issues and that is true. But what is also true is that no country in this world has been able to fix her economy wholly. It is all about gradual process but the difference between countries is that whereas others aggressively move to fix their economies, others take time depending on circumstances. In time of war and other crises for example, you don’t expect a country to quickly fix her economy. Such countries set priorities.
Take the issue of roads for example, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah did his best by building some trunk roads across the length and breadth of Ghana. After the construction of the Tema Harbour, the Osagyefo built the Tema Motorway which has been able to stand the test of time. When Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia took the reins of power, he set out to build feeder roads throughout the country. Villages which were hitherto inaccessibly were opened up. That was why he was nicknamed “Kofi Ayi Akwan.’ It is noteworthy to mention here that it was Dr. Hilla Limann’s government which was the first to construct an asphalted road in Ghana. This road was built by Construction Pioneers, a German construction firm and the Minister of Roads and Highways then was the late Colonel Zuarungu. Within a very short time the Accra to Takoradi highway was asphalted
Mr. Rawlings followed up by constructing an asphalted road from Kumasi to Dormaa Ahenkro, from Kumasi to Yeji, from Takoradi to Elubo, from Kintampo to Navrongo and many more. Since independence no President can beat Mr. Kufuor in the building of roads. The man did so well that within the eight years that he ruled the country as many towns could boast of tarred roads as well as feeder roads. Mr. Kufuor looked through his crystal ball and saw that apart from the fact that Rawlings was able to fix the bad road from Kintampo to Navrongo, the one from Kumasi to Kintampo was a death trap and he too built and asphalted road on that stretch of bad road to the joy of travellers along that road.
The Mills/Mahama administration also did their best in road construction but as I wrote earlier in one of my pieces, Rome was not built in a day.
Currently the Akufo Addo-led administration is doing a yeoman’s job as far as road construction is concerned. It is very unfortunate that people sit in Accra and think Accra is synonymous to Ghana. They don’t travel so they do not know what is happening in other areas. I do not blame them because I had an experience when I was schooling in Takoradi. One of my friends who was born, bred, educated, worked and lived in Takoradi without visiting a farm because he comes from an “Aristocratic” family thought yam is plugged from a tree.
Education is one area that we continue to fix as a nation. After Independence Dr. Kwame Nkrumah looked up north and saw the huge educational disparity between the North and the South as far as education is concerned. He then introduced free education in the then two Upper and Northern regions. He went further to build teachers’ accommodation to attract teachers from the southern part of Ghana. He even introduced free lunch and clothes to the school children. He fixed education up there in the north. Subsequent governments continued with Dr. Nkrumah’s policy on education in the northern regions until President Akufo-Addo came to introduce the free SHS nationwide which has become a game changer in education. Education is gradually being fixed. Can you imagine more than one million, two hundred children who could not get access to SHS roaming the streets of Ghana?
It was Prime Minister K.A Busia who first introduced what used to be called Experimental Schools on pilot basis. After Busia and subsequent governments, Mr. Rawlings came to turn all the Experimental Schools and in fact, all Middle Schools to Junior Secondary Schools in this country. I am using these few examples to prove to those who are rightfully calling for the country to be fixed. Developed countries too were in the same positions that we find ourselves but things changed gradually until they are what they are today. The United States of America too used to have underdeveloped rural areas but today they do not have any Minister for Local Government and Rural Development. Americans have practiced democracy for more than two hundred years and only God knows the hell they passed through to become what they are today. We need to have patience but it is also good that such a national conversation is introduced. The government of the day should take it in good faith and look away from some desperate politicians who want to reap what they did not sow. These are the people who spoilt it and instead of shutting up for others to fix it they are shouting from the rooftop as if the country was an Eldorado when they were pushed from power. I am short of Havana so I will go for Tusker For Men!!!
Eric Bawah