I’ve had the occasion to discuss choice and consequence in this column. I’m repeating the dose because there is no over-flogging an important issue. For the blacksmith always hits hard on the part of the iron he wants to shape.
Many choices in life may seem insignificant at the time they are made. But those choices may set in motion a series of events which shape your life and the lives of your children and grandchildren. Alternatively, those choices could lead to a very disastrous outcome.
Sometimes people make unwise choices which aren’t momentous in themselves, but they lead to tragedies: A teenager chooses to ride with a friend who has been drinking, resulting in a serious accident and the loss of life. A girl decides to have a drink at a party and letting down her inhibitions, resulting in a pregnancy or the contraction of a deadly disease. Those are choices and consequences.
I vividly remember how the electorate voted massively against the Ogwanfunu government in December 2016 because ‘create, loot and share’ was seen to be the order of the day. Most of the stories inflamed the already bad perception about corruption in the then government. The Gyeeda debacle, the Akonfem saga, the bus branding episode and many others ensured that President Ogwanfunu was kicked out of power.
It was not as if the Ogwanfunu government did nothing to improve the lot of its citizens. If nothing at all, the Ogwanfunu government built schools, hospitals, roads and made Kotoka International Airport’s Terminal 3 the cynosure of all eyes. But his reluctance in doing the needful cost him the presidential throne.
Trust me when I tell you President Ogwanfunu has regretted not cracking the whip on his corrupt appointees. The consequence of that choice was finding himself and his party in the political abyss.
I see same scenario being played out under the ‘Nana Dee’ government. The perception of corruption under the Nana Dee government is at an all-time high, yet Mr. President wants the world to believe his appointees are angels. His reluctance to crack the corruption whip and reduce the bloated belly of the Elephant will end up being the Elephant’s Achilles’ heels in the 2024 polls.
What in Mawu’s name makes President Nana Dee believe that all is well with his government? I’m a great sympathizer of the Elephant, but I sometimes cannot help but get angry at President Dee’s inaction and nonchalant attitude on the matter. And I believe many ‘Kukrudites’ feel the same.
But all is not lost. The current economic situation of the country should be a perfect excuse for him to reduce the size of his government by about 40%. Hon. Ken Ofori Atta must also be given the boot and a fresh face with fresh ideas brought in to steer affairs of the Finance Ministry. These two singular actions will buy the government some goodwill and engender some confidence in the government.
I used to believe completing 70% of ‘Agenda 111’ hospitals will make ‘breaking the 8’ a certainty, but not anymore. But I believe improving the economic standards of the people through prudent economic management and taking a drastic decision to reduce the high corruption perception of the government are the two main keys to ‘breaking the 8’. Anything short of that will make ‘breaking the 8’ a mirage.
President Nana Dee has not hidden his dream of handing over the presidential baton to another from the Elephant stock. If he is really sincere about actualizing that dream, then he will wake up from his slumber and smell the coffee. The choice is his!
I remind Mr. President of Ryan Blair’s words of wisdom: “Every choice carries a consequence.​ For better or worse, each choice is the unavoidable consequence of its predecessor.​ There are no exceptions.​ If you can accept that a bad choice carries the seed of its own punishment, why not accept the fact that a good choice yields desirable fruit?”
See you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente!