Why I am an unrepentant ‘professional critic’

On Tuesday, October 10, 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo coined the expression, “professional critics and cynics.”

It was at the media launch of the restoration of allowances of trainee nurses and mid-wives in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Responding to questions about the sustainability of the payment of the allowances, which is to cost us GH¢252 million, he told these breed of Ghanaians (the professional critics and cynics) that leadership was about choice.

He, as President, had chosen to invest in education.

Mr President might have forgotten that he himself, at a point in time, was in that profession.

He criticised the previous government on their policies, for which reason Ghanaians saw policy options to give him the chance to govern.

For instance, in November 2016, he promised the Civil and local Goverment staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) that he would review the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) to make it “better” for the challenges they were experiencing to end.

He also said that CLOGSAG, being the backbone of the executive, would have their concerns treated with ‘the urgency it deserved.”

As presidential candidate, he tweeted in April 2016, “incompetence is the hallmark of the J. D. Mahama government.”

But while in the past, the President had to be in that profession of critics by virtue of his vocation as a flag bearer, card bearing, and leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), some Ghanaians genuinely criticise to reconcile government policies with practical and perceived challenges.

Why?

I criticise now, because I have become tired of the seven consecutive times I have queued and voted for a “shaking” change to my government, but with no corresponding “shaking,” change or progress in my circumstance, community or country.

I criticise because I want an ideal government; one that will be transparent enough with the finances of the Flagstaff House.

I criticise because I voted for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

When the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was in power, I never did criticise.

Having lived through the revolutionary times at a military camp and having worked at the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), the testimonies of abuses made me lose all sympathies for the social democratic association of the NDC, an offshoot of the Peoples National Defence Council (PNDC).

I had no stake at all in whatever they did as a party.

The only time I really minded and voted for them was in 2008, when Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, a godly man, stood on their ticket.

I voted for Prof. Mills because he was human.

I criticise because, perhaps I want to go against the grain.

I do not want to be normal and keep quiet when I do not understand something, just because my sympathies lie with the party or because I voted for the party.

Because I sympathise with them, I will really, really, wish and hope they govern well.

I will wish they pay attention to the “professional critics and cynics,” perhaps they may get different views of bettering policies.

I wish the President will not lightly treat the “professional critics and cynics.”

They should be the voices urging him daily to do better.

Excellent

With the power of the executive in Ghana, and with the way Ghanaians fall over themselves to sing the praises of the President during his tours (not for transformative achievements, but merely because he is President), he or she, may sometimes feel great indeed!

However, the aspirations of the people for development, as seen in more developed jurisdictions, remain a mirage.

The “professional critics and cynics,” therefore, must be constant reminders that the aspirations of most have not been met, and the politcians, who lead, must strive to do better.

We wish for excellent governance! Ghanaians deserve excellent governance!

Writer’s email: caroline.boateng@
graphic.com.gh