It may sound like a story if someone says that Ghana is richer than any European country but this is not a fairy tale. The fact that Europe is well developed with good medical facilities, schools, roads, with an effective banking system and taxation, doesn’t mean that European countries are richer than Ghana.
Many times, when writers devote their precious time to write articles about the poor performance of the president or politicians in Ghana, many get angry, even though the logic behind the article is to make things better for the common Ghanaian.
This article will give you a better understanding to acknowledge the fact that Ghanaians are being ruled by politicians that care about themselves, even though there are a few who care about the suffering masses.
As a matter of fact, about 95% of politicians in Ghana are inspired to join politics just to amass wealth but not to address the needs of the common Ghanaians. This article will prove it.
If one analyzes any European country, including, France, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Britain, Portugal, and the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, none of them has gold, diamond, timber, bauxite, manganese, cocoa, and many others like Ghana.
Even if European countries have resources, they don’t come close to Ghana. The country has what it takes to turn a desert into paradise, yet, corruption, the lack of knowledge and wisdom have caused a serious injury to Ghana.
Every Ghanaian worker needs better living conditions, healthcare facilities, education, welfare benefits, and good roads. It’s therefore irrelevant for any Ghanaian leader to say that Ghana is poor, therefore, they can’t provide its citizens with such amenities or benefits.
Since Africa is not a poor continent, Ghana is, therefore, not a poor country. It is greed, selfishness, and corruption that have taken over the brain of politicians, to neglect the common people that cast their votes for them to wallow in abject poverty.
In Ghana, every politician and people serving in government institutions, have access to many benefits. The price of fuel has been increased, yet many politicians get free petrol for their vehicles. Such benefits don’t exist for the common Ghanaian.
The European governments work very hard to give their citizens better medical care, education, welfare benefits, and flexible transportation systems (whether poor or rich), while the story is the opposite in Ghana.
In Europe, you don’t need to be rich before buying a car or a house. You don’t need to have money before going to the hospital. Once you have a contract, any bank can give you a loan. Depending on the price of the house the cleaner buys, sometimes it may take between 15 to 20 years to finish the payment, while a car takes 5 years. This makes life worth living even if you don’t earn high.
This is never possible in Ghana, even though the country has enough rich resources to put a smile on the face of everyone, even if they can, many of the lazy politicians are not interested or even inspired to do that, even though they enjoy Europe and America any time they are on a visit.
This is one of the reasons there are many armed robbers in Ghana because the government doesn’t know how to solve the unemployment crisis.
Belgium is a country that committed serious crimes against humanity in Africa, yet the government takes care of its citizens (whether black or white) by providing jobs in all careers, good education, medical facilities, and creating new avenues if necessary for the benefit of the people.
The O.C.M.W, a public center for social welfare and assistance, ensures a number of social services for the well-being of every citizen. Every municipality or city has its own social office that offers a wide range of services.
The VDAB, one of the largest job assistance centers throughout Belgium, will assist you to find a job and give you training for a new job if you are not interested in your old work. In fact, the system of providing a new job by allowing the person to go under training could probably be one of the reasons the unemployment rate in Belgium is very low.
The former Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel, has to step down before his official duties end by taking a new appointment offered by the European Union, however, before taking his new job he created 290,000 new jobs.
Which African or Ghanaian leader can achieve this? Only an African leader who thinks about the people can achieve one-tenth of this.
Streets are well planned and houses beautifully laid with computerized addresses. The government knows about everyone that lives in that house and the one who drives that car. Since they know good roads invite overspeeding, European governments have provided good road signs and overspeeding monitoring cameras to reduce road accidents.
The money they get from the fines of overspeeding drivers is a form of tax to develop the cities.
How the Belgian government assists pregnant women
Due to poverty in Ghana, many women get rid of unwanted babies because of unprecedented hardships. The fear and the cost involved can kill the mother before the child is delivered.
In Belgium, pregnant women are not only given special attention and care but also financial assistance. Whether a national or foreigner, the government deposits over 900 Euros (free) into your account to help take good care of the baby before delivery.
When the baby arrives, the Belgium government will continue to assist the mother of the child with “Child’s monthly allowance,” until the child completes his education and finds work. The only African country with such care and welfare benefits for its citizens was Libya before the country was destroyed.
The Belgian government cares so much about its citizens to the extent that workers that use bicycles to work are given allowance every three months in many companies throughout the country.
Some employees are entitled to a free or reduced full year ticket to join the bus, train, and the tram. Please, Mr. Ghanaian president, don’t tell me that Ghana is too poor to treat their citizens in this special manner.
What makes Belgium education unique and superior throughout the whole world is you can’t get any job in a big company as a cleaner if you haven’t participated in a cleaning course to have an attestation or certificate.
Yet there are thousands of cleaners in Ghana without certificates because the government or educational institutes think one doesn’t need a certificate to be a cleaner. This is also one of the reasons nothing goes well in Ghana or Africa generally.
Ghanaians don’t need to suffer because the country has enough to feed and provide better services for its citizens but because of greed and corruption; the wealth goes into the pockets of the politicians, as a result many Ghanaians are living in terrible conditions.
Holland is also one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, yet they can’t boast of the resources that Ghana has. Despite the hard work of the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte uses a bicycle to go to office and back home. Which Ghanaian politician can ride a bicycle to work?
Ghana indeed is a miserable country because we are our own enemies. There are thousands of Ghanaians in the diaspora across Europe, some in England, Germany, Belgium, France, and other places like America, etc, that will never live in those countries if the situation is like Ghana, yet, they are the first to attack you if you write anything about bad governance and corruption in Ghana.
Many Ghanaians living in and outside of the country hate the truth and support corruption and inefficient government in the country because of tribalism. Until Ghana will achieve something significant to move forward, the need to bury tribalism and nepotism is very necessary.
By Joel Savage