The media space in this country is becoming all noise with very little substance. It began rather innocuously with former President John Dramani Mahama, who led the National Democratic Congress to the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, refusing to accept the official figures declared by the Electoral Commission.
Crying foul, he sent the foot soldiers of the party Jerry John Rawlings founded from the remnants of his military junta unto the streets, ostensibly to protect the vote.
How street activism could protect the vote on behalf of the NDC was a matter for conjecture. The former head of state, who supervised the shrinking of the national economy to the bare bone, followed up the street activism by filing an official petition at the Supreme Court.
Before going to court, ex-President John Mahama, who was officially identified by the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Lamisi Amidu, as Government Official One in the infamous Airbus Scandal in the Southwark Crown Court in London, claimed he and his NDC had won the election and that he and his party had been cheated out of victory. He claimed that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensa, had denied him the win in collaboration with the sitting President.
In the petition to the court, the original effusion changed to No ’Winner’, submitting that the figures compiled by the NDC had indicated that no party won the Presidential Election. Mr. Mahama and his NDC called for a re-run between the NDC candidate and the incumbent Head of State.
In one of the most ironies of the court process, the NDC chief scribe, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, sat in the witness box with the aid of a calculator and submitted that, after all, the figures he had churned out clearly indicated that Nana Akufo-Addo, indeed, won the vote. However, since the petition was dismissed – 7-0 – on all the judges’ score cards, this country has known no peace.
In spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Mr. Mahama refused to concede defeat, and rather gingered NDC activists to pollute the airwaves with baseless claims – that the party had been done in by seven Supreme Court judges leaning towards the Elephant. The claim has no basis. But, instead of putting the matter to rest, the NDC and its agents polluted the airwaves with baseless arguments and suggesting that this country had no room for the under-privileged.
It looked innocuous when some Rasfarians claimed that the Achimota Senior High School, one of the most prestigious second cycle institutions for learning in this country, had refused entry to some school kids with dreadlocks.
By the way, since when were school rules bent to accommodate kids who refuse to trim their hairs? Second cycle institutions have rules and regulations that ought to be obeyed. You either decide to be part of the institution by conforming to rules and regulations, or you chose to lead your life outside the four walls of the institution. It has nothing to do with the Constitution of the land.
Someone should tell me something! Does it mean that because the Constitution of Ghana guarantees freedom of movement, could anybody come to my house and demand to sleep in my master bedroom? Certainly not! Why then is all the fuss about allowing people to break school rules because the Constitution of the land antes the right to education?
I am aware that case is still before court. But I do not believe it could be contemptuous of the Honourable Judge hearing the case to draw attention to the decision of a court in Jamaica, home of the world-wide Rastafarian Movement, which once ruled that school kids were mandated to obey the rules and regulations of institutions that enroll them. And that a Rastafarian ought to cut his or her hair to conform to school rules and regulations.
It is unfortunate, but men and women with Almighty’s grey matter are still making ugly noises about so-called rights of kids to education at schools of their choices, no matter the internal rules and regulations of the institutions concerned.
It may sound an isolated case, but I am getting the feeling that those resisting the right of Achimota School to stick to its rules and regulations are emboldened by the ugly noises from people seeking protection under the Umbrella following the toppling of the party at the Supreme Court over its reckless election petition. The misadventure in this country is that we have men and women of law assailing our ears with reckless abandon on the issue.
Where is this country going? The other day, I hear very irresponsible comments on the airwaves about men and women claiming that the Presidency had caused the apparent decision of Angel Broadcasting Network to suspend Captain Smart, one of its presenters. The Fanti woman would say Ebei!
Have the owners of the broadcasting service no right to discipline any erring member of staff? Who is Captain Smart anyway? It is unfortunate, but the media landscape in the county is getting saturated with presenters who have little or no respect for journalistic standards. Let those making noise check for themselves what led the ABN to suspend its star presenter.
Talking of ugly noises reminds me of events leading to the Wesley Girls High School refusing to allow Moslem girls in the school to fast. Wesley Girls is a prestigious Methodist institution in the country that inculcates the spirit of Methodism into its students. It is not by accident that the institution in Cape Coast is named after the founder of the Methodist faith – John Wesley himself.
If those Islamic girls are not comfortable with school rules at WEGEHI, they have every right to re-locate to any Islamic school of their choice. I do not believe that the Wesley Girls High School prospectus includes the Muslim buta, for instance.
My anger on the matter is fueled by so-called Muslim Members of Parliament invading the school to coerce the Headmistress to throw away school rules.
What those MPs are demanding is akin to a man entering a Mosque during Friday afternoon prayers and complaining that the Imam would not organise Catholic mass for him. Too much ugly noises are assailing our ears in this country.
When business mogul Sam Jonah delivered what he claimed was the perspective on the economy and indicted the authorities for failing the Ghanaian, he set the tone for an unreasonable attack on the government.
It is true that the economy has not performed to expectation, but I dare state that Mr. Sam Jonah cannot escape from blame. When Mr. Jonah was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Ashanti Goldfields Company at Obuasi, the largest state-owned mining company at the time, he supervised over the sale of the company to Tiny Roland’s Anglo Gold, in the process of which he emerged a filthy rich man.
Instead of investing in Ghana, he took all his money to South Africa and London. The British monarch rewarded him by knighting him. Please, let us criticise at all costs, but before we do so, let us weigh ourselves. How far have all of us contributed to the problems of Ghana?
We could do with a little bit of introspection. Of late, social media advocates are using Twitter to engage in a campaign dubbed hashtag #Fix the Country, ostensibly aimed at getting the government of the day to fix the problems of the nation.
It follows the announcement of increases in taxes of petroleum and liquefied gas prices. Liquefied gas, for instance, is attracting a tax of 18 pesewas per kilogramme of gas with effect from May 1, 2021.
Dominating Twitter trends are the likes of Yvonne Nelson, Efua Odo, Serwaa Amihere, Mr. Drew, DJ Mensah, John Dumelo, Wanlov and other actors and actresses. One of the originators, identified as Kelly Jay tweeted: “After NSS (National Service Scheme), many people I know are in the house because they have no job. Why should it be so? Are you educating people to sit in the house?”
In other words, the campaign is about lack of jobs.
Efia Odo went even further. “People are into prostitution because jobs in Ghana don’t pay well.” According to the actress, those challenging the protests against good governance are “sick in the head.”
She posted: “Is the water clean? Has jobs been created? Our leaders need to fix their mindset so they can be fixed. If you have a problem that people are campaigning for a better country, then there is something wrong with you.”
According to Efia Odo, a major player in the agitations, “This is not a political agenda. This is a human rights issue. We deserve to have basic needs. We are only asking for things in their manifesto. We said we are going to stop borrowing. We are in debt,” she said in a video released on social media.
Though the originators claim there is a political connection to their agitations, there is already reference to it as the beginning of the Ghanaian version of the Arab Spring, which toppled dictators in Arab North Africa.
One does not need a ghost to pontificate that the agitation is drawing political undertones, and that we should be careful not to throw away the baby with the bath water. In the past, this kind of agitation was music in the ears of coup plotters. From Kutu Acheampong’s coup to the destabilisation by the late Jerry John Rawlings, coup plotters had always fed on this kind of agitation.
I would caution fellow Ghanaians to take cognisance of the devastating effects of Covid-19 on the entire world economies. I am glad that the Vice President has waded in, in an attempt to tone down the agitation.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia took to a Facebook post to explain that the government was trying hard to fix the economy amidst serious challenges thrown by the Covid 19 pandemic.
He accepted the challenge posed by those asking for the government to fix the economy, and assured the agitators that that exactly is what the government has been trying to do since 2017. “The Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the global economy and caused increases in prices of commodities such as crude oil, cement and iron rods, as well as the overall cost of shipping,” he said.
“Nevertheless, it is very important to place the performance of our government during the last four years, after inheriting an economy with ‘no meat on the bone’.”
He assured Ghanaians: “Ours is a government that listens and cares. The facts and details speak for themselves. Trust Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” he said.
Trust is earned and not decreed into being. That is why the President and his ministers would have to roll up their sleeves and convince the people that they mean business.
It is my appeal that we all do our part to uplift our lovely country. And remember, once upon a regime, we were told that the flesh of the economy had been eaten to the bone. We should temper our agitation with a proper reflection of the reality on the ground.
I shall return!
Ebo Quansah in Accra
The post Ensuring that the economic bone regains its lost meat appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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