John Mahama
Many years ago, one of the notable clergymen of our generation in a sermon at the St. George’s Cathedral in Koforidua, Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle reminded his congregation about the “kalabule” traits of some Ghanaians, including those in the public service.
He asked the congregation to take a closer look at dogs, especially the local ones when they are served their meals.
Dogs have the penchant to engage in blood fights to gain advantage in their space, especially when they are served their meals, and likened the bloody exchanges to the “wickedness of man against man.”
And because human beings have copied that jungle life where might is always right, public servants do not show mercy on the poor and vulnerable in the society.
So the headmaster exploits parents during admissions, health workers demand envelopes before attending to those seeking healthcare, the police demand money for services for which they are being paid, those who do not put “weight ” on files in the offices of the civil service and the court clerks have themselves to blame.
In effect, the eminent clergyman was just drawing our attention to the exploitative character of most Ghanaians, who turn round to blame politicians.
The moral lesson is that if we all decide to be considerate in our daily endeavours, the cost of living will be manageable by all, including the poor. Some readers may already be guessing why today we have taken them to the pulpit of the St. George’s Cathedral in Koforidua. The answer is simple; we want to draw an analogy between the Homily of Most Reverend Palmer-Buckle and the “kalabule” traits of those selling goods and services to the people.
Since COVID-19 brought the global economy on its knees and high risk to lives, some of our compatriots have taken the law into their own hands under the pretext that the cedi has lost considerable value.
Thus the prices of all items including local food items have shot up through the roofs, leaving the government helpless because of the over-liberalised economy. Therefore, anytime the Akufo-Addo government tries to intervene, a section of the society led by the NDC Minority have always resisted the move, saying there is no price control regime in the country.
Ghana has moved beyond a controlled economy long ago and many Ghanaians will give a better testament of the benefits. However, the point that is lost to the Minority is that the government has a responsibility to regulate the market in order that unscrupulous persons do not take advantage of the situation to make life unbearable for the people.
Unfortunately, we have “dog bite dog” toxic environment today that has made our politics very adversarial from the position of the NDC Minority, who for lack of any policy alternatives from John Mahama think the NDC can only regain power by “urging” on the business community to adjust prices at will.
Recently, when the Minister of Trade and Industry, K. T. Hammond, tried to regulate the cement industry, there was a hue and cry from the NDC Minority. Such an intervention will help to reduce the burden on individuals and estate developers, an initiative that the NDC and its leader will not profit from.
The anti-Ghana rhetoric and actions have exposed the naysayers to the extent that, it is clear that their intentions are to get their collaborators in the business community to suffocate the people with prohibitive prices of goods and services.
Long before the advent of the Fourth Republic, it was constant experience that all our staples are seasonal in nature and prior to the harvesting seasons the prices were always very high or responsive to the elementary economic principles of demand and supply.
Nonetheless, the NDC, its leader, John Mahama and their allies started screaming about high prices in May, June and July, traditional lean season and for that reason, Akans call July, “kita wonsa” loosely translated to mean it is a difficult month and everybody should care not to steal to survive. Not too long ago, these enemies of the nation were shouting on rooftops about high cost of tubers of yam, saying it was because of poor rains. Those who care and do not want to engage in our toxic politics know that in the month of June and July, yams would not be fully in season.