Let’s complete all national projects

Ghana is replete with projects that have reached various stages of completion but which show no sign of being completed.

The scenario gained currency in 1966 when the government of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), under the leadership of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was overthrown.

At that time, many state projects came to a standstill, prominent among them being the food silos scattered throughout the country. None of them and other projects that were started in the First Republic were completed, bringing to waste resources that were sunk in them and contributing in no small measure to the current poor state of infrastructure in the country.

This trend has continued in the 61-year post-independence history of the country, with many projects being abandoned after every change of regime.

The Daily Graphic is appalled at the careless abandon with which regime after regime treat projects started by previous governments simply because they were not initiated by the succeeding regimes.

We cannot think of any good reason for any of our leaders in the Fourth Republic to supervise the abandonment of projects started with state funds.

We are concerned because many projects are still being abandoned under the Fourth Republic when democracy appears to be thriving and Ghana has become a shining example for many African countries.

It is a known fact that a number of projects started under the first National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Jerry John Rawlings were discontinued when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government under President J.A. Kufuor came into office.

Again, many of the laudable projects started by the Kufuor administration were left to rot when the Mills/Mahama NDC government took office. We note that in many cases succeeding governments tend to start similar projects, so that they can take credit for them.

Such practices, to say the least, have tended to impact negatively on our ability to achieve sustainable development.

One is tempted to believe that our leaders do this because of political consideration, without thinking about the interest of the nation first. Otherwise, what justification is there for our governments to abandon what their predecessors had initiated?

With this unhealthy state of affairs, the Daily Graphic is happy to learn that the government is creating the National Asset Recovery Trust (NART) to complete ongoing projects started by previous administrations.

The trust, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will push for the completion of viable projects started by previous governments that will bring maximum benefits to the state.

And, last Monday, the President, while on a tour of the Volta Region, inaugurated a shopping centre in Keta and acknowledged that phase one of the project had been executed by the erstwhile NDC government.

With the setting up of the NART and the assurance by the President in Keta that the government was committed to completing projects started by previous governments, we look forward to the completion of all projects that appear to have been abandoned, not least among them being the health facilities and the E-Block schools started by the previous administration.

We say kudos to the government for this initiative and encourage it not to rest on its laurels. It is our expectation that henceforth succeeding governments will take a cue from this, for it is only by doing this that our governments can win the trust of the people and show that they truly have the interest of the nation at heart.