Political Animals

THE AFRICAN LEADER: A TOTAL MISTAKE OF POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE

Independence is the freedom from outside control or support: the state of being independent: the time when a country or region gains political freedom from outside control. (MERRIAM-WESBSTER DICTIONARY). When a nation is independent, such a nation is free from intimation from the super power countries or colonial leaders. Ghana gained its independence on the 6^th of March 1957. A statement Dr.Kwame Nkrumah made before the attainment of such a liberation was “ The Black man is capable of managing his own affairs”, This was a speech to commemorate the cry for independence.

God loves Ghana as he does to any other nation so we gained liberation from the British and its governance, its rules and its leaders. However, Dr.Nkrumah on the 1^st of July 1960 became our very first elected president and that was our first republic.  He was a selfless leader, no human is without fault so I do agree with people if It’s said that he was growing to be a dictator and needed to be cut off. Regardless, he was a visionary leader and the world knew about this. A man who wanted to unite the entire African Continent.

What the colonial masters wish to see is the colonies running to them for every help being it financial or technical support. The resources in Africa are enormous from cocoa, coffee, minerals etc. if a continent has these or specifically, if Ghana can boast of these, what prevents this nation from growing economically. Luckily, we don’t face natural disaster like earth quakes compared to countries like China in Asia, yet our nation keeps going back and forth in terms of economic development. In Africa or Ghana, developmental projects are party tagged. When one party starts a national project and unfortunately leaves power without completion, the incumbent does not continue such project. The reason why I can’t explain, but the bottom line is, the tax payer is the one being fooled. In Africa, the tax payers money is the property of the sitting president and his cabinet. This is the economic effect of abandoning projects started by ex-officials, the money invested becomes a sunk cost, reaps no profit.

Independence was to make us better as a nation but it has systematically crippled the nation and its inhabitants. A minister resigns after misappropriation of funds, the Electoral Board and the Judiciary are the sitting presidents remote, he can control from every angle. If we are independent, why should our constitution constitute an element of the American and the British Constitution, Do we owe them any Allegiance? Or we Think such system of Governance is good for Africans as well? What is good for the goose can’t be good for the gander at times.

China inspite of its natural disaster undoubtedly,  has over the years been classified as the fastest growing economy because of the right policies put in place to ensure growth. This has steadily placed its economy at a rate of 7 to 8% annually unlike the economy of the United States which grows around 2%. Does Ghana or Africa lack Critical Thinkers after Dr.Nkrumah death or we are just super selfish. What is independence if we are still running after nations for Aids and grants and technical support? Someone asked me “has Ghana started drilling the oil from the Jubilee field”, she wasn’t naïve, she was only shocked we still experience an upward trend in fuel prices. Our policies makers are probably dead and I think they died with Nkrumah. The increase in our utilities and petroleum in general is as a result of a bad decision taken at the start of this project by our “Stomach Politicians”. They think about themselves and family perhaps.

When an African Leader and his bunch of ministers gain power, to them they have won a national lottery because they are in to loot the nation of its coffers and leave it highly indebted. What is WRONG with the African leader? Is it the SKIN color or the MENTALITY. We need to change our institutions probably by first Amending the very constitution that governs the nation. To me, a sitting president shouldn’t be given the power to appoint the Chief Justice and neither should he appoint the Electoral Commission, humans are humans and an African is soo human. A process of such is dangerous and still such parties see it as, they owe the sitting president an allegiance because he appointed them. In Ghana, every president elected in power at least goes for two terms in office, it is not by chance but by the mistakes stipulated in the constitution. If these institutions are independent, then they totally have to be from their appointment to end of tenure. We need a change of mind, thinking, way of doing things, we need to do away with selfishness and leave a good legacy. The only legacy most African leaders leave behind is the level of corruption, unemployment, tariff hikes, and a total collapse of most institutions which form the anchor for nation’s growth. We can change this phenomenon.

Let’s build our continent.

Let’s build our nation, steadily, we can make it work.

Author: Emmanuel De-Graft Quarshie “the anti-partisan”

“Economic Vigilante”