SONA: Dialogue with President

Salutations, sir! In response to the State of the Nation Address delivered to Parliament on February 24, 2025. I have a few things to share with you publicly.

Out of the realm of darkness you emerged victorious, like a morning sun illuminating the horizon with its dazzling light, activating life once more from the rest of slumber; renewing the energy asleep within the nation; enlivening the hopes of many with anticipated noonday ascent to power and vigour, for the realisation of dreams and aspirations otherwise ebbing away into nothingness.

The SONA conveys the shock of the horrendous criminal misuse of national, financial resources, so staggering it “beggars” description!

With a public debt of GH¢721 billion and losses of GH¢68 billion by SOEs, the average Ghanaian asks: Who and who caused such colossal wastage of national income?

Mr President, I shall be very open with you, because I have grey hairs all over me!  

A good number of Ghanaians have given up on the nation, especially with the Fourth Republic of governance by political parties. Know what?

We classify all of you as deceptive, selfish, acquisitive persons who loudly condemn the party in office, while waiting impatiently for your turn in office to repeat the very evils you condemned in others!

So that, if it is your agenda to reset the nation on another trajectory of growth and development, then, Mr President, your success depends on not being a “normal” President.  

When I say you should not carry on as a “normal” President, I mean you should not be glued to the Jubilee House, undertake frequent external trips and attend talk-shop conferences! 

Slogan

You may have to create a slogan that would galvanise Ghanaians into action, doing things that propel the nation forward.

For example, under Gen. Acheampong (NRC), Col Bernasko, Minister for Agriculture, came up with “Operation Feed Yourself”, that saw Ghanaians using every available space under their control to grow food!

We also had agricultural fairs to display our harvests. Col Bernasko gave respectability to pork and today, we have spots for roast pork and yam chips! 

If you hop into a helicopter and fly over Accra, as far as Kasoa, and back, then on to Tema and Ashaiman, you would observe the following:

• The nation is filthy and dusty! Abandoned!
• The towns are badly planned, and no one is in charge of new areas filling up with buildings; we build anyhow and anywhere.
• There are thousands of kilometres of untarred and tattered residential roads and highways, churning out tons of dust that settle on everything in their way;
• There are several street islands full of rank weeds and needless trees, so that our towns are bereft of beauty;
• Several open drains are filled with weeds and a mass of waste stuck up for a long time;
• Most lorry parks are not paved and without toilets, so that when it rains, the citizens are besmirched with mud and dirt;
• Traffic lights are not functional;
• At night, Accra and Tema are in darkness, poorly lit with stray light here and there.

Mr President, with a Minister of Local Government, along with regional ministers and district chief executives, yours is to order these officers to clean up the towns and to do this or to do that. 

Regions

It has been “normal” for our Presidents to visit the regions for a day for a rally or a conference and then back to Accra.

Not good enough.

Be in each region for five working days. 

Go to the markets, slaughterhouses, ghettoes, schools and hospitals.

Hop into a helicopter and see the region from above: the towns, forests, lakes, rivers and spaces.

When you hit the ground, you would know what decisions to take!

So now, with the massive loss/misuse of GH¢68 billion by SOEs, how is your government going to recoup these sums?

Will it be “business as usual” or shall we see some Rawlings’ show? 

The Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board has also betrayed the trust placed in it by the nation.

What calibre of persons are there? Is it a tribal cabal? 

It would be necessary for Cocobod to be investigated in relation to how they have managed Ghana’s cocoa and the use of money.

Mr President, Ghanaians want action. Don’t be soft; be tough! And let your enemies call you a devil!

Ghapoha

That takes our mind to Ghapoha. Are they managing the Tema and Takoradi ports with best practices? A team of experts should appraise the management of the ports, for best results.

And then comes in the GRA. With high import duties and demurrage, so many Ghanaians have lost their goods and are suffering!  GRA import duties must be reasonable and goods in demurrage redeemed at cost affordable by Ghanaians.

When walking around public schools, you hear much shouting, screaming and obvious disorder by pupils. Kotobaabi cluster of schools is an example. Are schools inspected, as of old?

Or, has the Ministry of Education also fallen into the cesspit of compromise and insouciance?  

You lamented: We have inherited a country that is broken on many fronts.

The profundities of the challenges are staggering.

There are practical ideas on the development of Ghana available for your use, Mr President.

It all depends on you. If you are willing to listen and to know of things beyond your sphere of experiences, if you are open to ideas, please tell the nation, then you will have the benefits of those ideas.

There is a gentleman whose work could transform Ghana’s economy and physical development. He is Prof. Kwame Addo.

On his initiative, at his own cost, he has designed and printed maps of Ghana with detailed locations of all the economic resources within each region/district.

Mr President, I suggest you engage him in conversation to know how he could help your government and the nation. 

The work on your shoulders is akin to that of Hercules cleaning the stables of King Augeaus, in Greek mythology!

The metaphysical transformation of the Ghanaian consciousness would be dealt with in another forum.  

May the Heavens open sluices of blessings on Ghana and may you be inwardly guided on the best course of action for each and every decision that you contemplate in the supreme interest of our beloved nation. 

The writer is a lawyer.
E-mail: akwesihu@yahoo.com