Where does President Mahama fall on the spectrum of how some leaders reportedly react when confronted with the harsh reality of underperforming systems? Does he say, “the data is wrong, the data is right but it is not a problem, the data is right, it is a problem but it is not my problem, or the data is right, it is my problem and I accept the burden for improvement?!”
That Mahama’s two-year-old government has been under siege is not in doubt. In fact today, the more popular thing appears to be to take President Mahama’s government to the cleaners. Recognising his skills for woefully predicting an end to the now perennial power crises, aka ‘dumsor’, some compatriots have taken to calling him ‘Bosheba’, loosely translated as the “Son of Promises!”
The economic front has seen no less stress with a lot of panic buttons being pressed by the Bank of Ghana, including futilely attempting to prevent foreign currency deposits from being withdrawn as such. With rising budget deficit, high inflation, inconsistent power supply, the Private Enterprises Foundation has reportedly described 2014 as the most difficult year for businesses across the country. There are those that have for example analysed the power crises and pointed out that the less than impressive investment made into the sector by the Kufuor administration is what is accounting for the mess of today. While this may have some ring of truth, my general comment would be that six years in power is too long to continue to blame the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The government ought to simply accept the burden for improvement as it indeed has in its manifesto.
Challenges
In addition, about 76 per cent of respondents in an afrobarometer survey are reportedly blaming the Mahama government for failing to improve their living circumstances. With an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected in the first quarter of 2015, it is still not clear what the future portends with one economist downplaying the President’s optimism about turning our economic fortunes in one year.
Massive industrial unrests and demonstrations have been rife. Defaults on payments to statutory bodies have been commonplace. Delayed reimbursements of health insurance claims have been cited although it is to be noted that the performance of the Seth Terkper Ministry of Finance in release of funds to the National Health Insurance Authority has witnessed the least delays since the inception of the National Health Insurance Scheme( NHIS). So while the problem of delayed reimbursements to health facilities is still a problem, perhaps, those who readily blame all insurance challenges at the doorsteps of the finance ministry may need more rigorous or more honest analysis.
Misapplied funds
On corruption, the government has made questionable payments to certain entities, including some that are now being requested by the government itself to refund all monies so paid for unexecuted work. In some cases, the courts have also called for a refund. And yet in most of these cases, the government has been less than zealous in retrieving the misapplied funds. Some government sympathisers have been quick to point out that the NPP was even more corrupt. They have pointed out how the President is being more proactive in getting Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies(MMDAs) to act on recommendations of the Auditor General and they have cited the example of the rot at the National Service Secretariat which was discovered by the Bureau of National Investigations at the instance of the President. Again, I make a general comment that if after six years, the government has not secured conviction of any NPP member on account of corruption, then the least said about NPP corruption, the better. In any case, six years is more than sufficient time for the government to fully accept the burden for changing the anti-corruption narrative and actions beyond political equalisation.
So yes, it has been two years characterised by weekly crises. Two years of challenging circumstances. Two years of quantifiable difficulties. Two years of government playing catch up with the negative narrative. And this brings me to the real point of this article, which is to give President Mahama a word of encouragement. If it has taken two years for things to be this bad, then it is entirely possible to leverage the next two years to cause a positive turnaround. It requires focus, better ways of doing things, bold decision making, targeted communication and tenacity. I totally disagree with those who say Ghana and the government’s problems are insurmountable within the remaining tenure of the President. Most often, one gets this morose reaction when very ambitious numerical goals are set, with some people not realising that with redesign, and working in a very different way from what we are used to, two years is enough to change the entire negative narrative. We want more concrete achievements like the recent restoration of pipe borne water to citizens of Adenta after decades of drinking air from their taps. Similarly, it is possible to make ‘dumsor’ a thing of the past. It is possible to retrieve all misapplied state funds, possible to create more jobs, possible to redesign the health insurance scheme, possible to make all our current experiences a dim memory only.
There are some of us currently making a name out of publicly hitting the government extra hard on the back of perceived or real failures. There are also those who in the name of twisted partisan political considerations, are openly or secretly rejoicing at the multitude of challenges. These people have myopically forgotten that Ghana can never develop if within every four-year term, we have one half of the population wishing the government ill, while the other half wishes the government success.
Well, for those of us in the above bracket, I also have a message. When things demonstrably improve over the next two years in Ghana, let us be humble and truthful enough to acknowledge that the things that once most plagued us, are no more. And let us, at that point, replace ridicule with credit. Similarly, if the crises-ridden agenda does not abate, let us honestly, on the basis of the facts, admit that the government has not been a significant force in transforming our living conditions.
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