Listening to the president’s speech, I felt he was, as usual, wordy but empty on substance. His ability to deliver has never been in question, though his opponents are often on the lookout for slips. Thankfully the president did not give them that, and most of them were very much let down. What were they thinking in the first place-that he is not articulate?
As an independent minded person and a Ghanaian citizen who is very much concerned about the direction of this country, I think the president’s speech did not carry significant development that had been executed through. Rather, it was laced with ‘WE WILL’ or ‘WE’RE ABOUT TO type of speech, which has become very much part of the country’s political leadership- which has no clear vision good enough to uplift Ghanaians from the doldrums of abject poverty.
Next month Ghana will be 54 years as a so-called independent country and there is nothing to show for it, apart from soaring unemployment and increasing shortage of water supply. As for energy the least said about it the better. I wanted to hear the president talked about on-going measures put in place to reduce unemployment, give meaning to the drop in inflation and reduce the scale of opulence in government.
Our ruling elites have developed a penchant for raking empty. Some see the coffers as their haven of loot, grabbing anything they see with their eyes or even stumble on. Nothing seems to be working in this country, as we approach 54 years of a so-called self rule.
The direction of the country is very much hinged on baseless political party manifestos. Be it NDC or NPP who gets into power, the policy or direction at which they want to take Ghana (even if there is any) is purely based on their own manifestos full of ideas they care less to implement. No wonder we are still struggling as an independent country. we have become beggars to such an extent that even countries in the Far East who crawled out of colonialism with us are firmly walking on their legs, leaving us to sit at the same place-without even crawling any further. We have become a wasted nation.
“Madam Speaker, I have had occasion to state that too much has passed us by as a nation and we need to move as fast as we can; of course at calculated speed.
“Past failures seem to have created a mentality that has restricted national ambition. It is time for this country to think big and think positive. “
The president’s call for us to be confident and positive thinkers is in the right direction but sometimes the question I ask myself is whether he and his team believe in the things they say. it is nice to be confident and think positively but how does that manifest in mine getting constant supply of water, power supply? Been confident and thinking positively surely are brilliant but will do bring an end to the soaring unemployment?
Today in my office for example, the power went off in the morning and came back after 4pm. It is almost like a daily ritual. We expect the president to be telling us work done so far to eliminate that mess. No country determined to develop thrive on an unreliable power supply, that will be suicidal. We expect the president(s) to focus on the job instead of often telling us things we already know. Ghanaians are self-confident but that confidence can easily erode in an environment that is very much embedded with massive inefficiency, with state corporations like the water and energy supply sectors performing below point one. Managers of the country’s power supply come across as primitive persons who don’t know we are in the 21st century and things ought to change.
We want the president to resolve such problem not to be telling us inflation figures that end up reflecting in the pockets of his own people and not the larger populace. What is the essence of single digit inflation to a civil servant who is collecting less than $300 a month after serving his country for decades?
Such a civil servant a speech laced with ‘WE WILL’ is bound to further depress him.
