Resetting the direction in Ghana

Presently everything we know about work growing up has been turned upside down. The situation where we just put loyalists into key positions is inimical to our developmental agenda.

This is uncharted territory and no one has all the answers, it’s a pandemic and for most of us alive, we don’t know anything about the Spanish influenza. It is nauseating to find politicians as well as many arm chair critics second guessing decisions that are made to protect, insulate or guide our lives. It is novel as the virus itself is called. Some of the issues that has come to the fore are the disparities in our society. The rich easily call for locking the country to protect us. Examining this critically you find that the poor neighborhoods will not survive this for any given time. As a way of mitigating a prolonged lockdown, government offers to cushion them with handouts, even partially successful been met with serious challenges.

 What we find instead is politically trying to outdo each other. Second guessing and coming out with theories showing how ineffective the help is. One may ask if this has been done before and there is an existing blueprint to follow. It is in doing something that the short comings can help shape a system going forward.

The outreach effort shows clearly the ministry is not well resourced with personnel as well as budget to undertake this seamlessly. It is better to focus on the facts and allow that to lead all solutions we draw. The critics who have other views, can communicate this without taking potshots and expect their views to be upheld. After all who says they are right, it is novel and we are all navigating our way through this the best way we know based on our experiences.

With that it becomes very clear we should look at how we appoint people into political positions. Some areas do exceedingly well when the right people are put there. Else we can put our loyalists there who should be counseled to allow the technocrats to lead and they the politicians can take the credit. At least then we would get it right.

Between 1996 and 2000 parliament was vibrant and we chalked a lot of successes in our march forward. The quality of the debates which in turn informed the direction were just great to watch. It stands to reason why it is said experience does matter. Politicians over estimate loyalty.   

 Let us take advantage of the experiences our people have. What are the lessons this virus has taught, it is important to put the lessons together and seriously learn from it. It is too early to conclude and second guess any actions and also start crediting people, not too fast we are still in it and do not know how this would end. We should be apolitical in looking at this and patriotism should lead in everything we do. It is about the Ghanaian, the selfish politician in our parts like to patronize us with terms like the good people of Ghana. Enough of patronage and hypocrisy, let us face this head on and be sincere in all we do to get through with few fatalities as possible.

In looking at how to open our economy and streets to allow for life as we know it, the question will be how we do this. This has exposed so many inadequacies in our society and we ought to focus on this as we put it back on track. This thing can happen again so one of the key things to look at is our health delivery system and all that goes with it. It is about time attention is given to this sector seriously as well as our education.

Again another key area is how the public service can work remotely next time this thing happens. The infrastructure to get this done should be done as soon as possible and we must not pay lip service to it. We were found wanting on how to arrange that and therefore many people who didn’t need to put themselves at risk were all categorized as essentials services. Our markets as they are today, are not open to cleaning and also allow for a healthy interaction there. They stink for years, this also has to be looked at by the local government authorities and proper designs done to make them healthy. It is good time to reset our developmental programs. This opportunity has been presented to us with this crisis so let us take the bull by the horn and clean up our environs. One can go on forever about what to reset, we know our country, let us see us see this as a call to arms and do the right things. Another pandemic or situation would arise and preparing now saves us millions when that time comes knocking.

God bless our homeland Ghana