A Year On After Ghanaians Gave Nana Addo A Second Term

A YEAR AGO TODAY, dust was beginning to settle on the drama of the previous day when millions of Ghanaians went to the polls to elect a President; it was becoming evident that the Nana Akufo-Addo led-Government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was headed for second term in office.

A year down the line, The New Publisher takes an objective look at happenings in the country and our view is that if the elections of last year were to have been held this week, the outcome is most likely to be different from what it was last year.

Times are hard and the cost of living is getting unbearable for majority of Ghanaians. Forget political equalization; the electorate voted to experience a positive change, real change they can feel in their pockets but not to listen to loquacious lectures of choosing between a rock and a hard place.

Disillusion is setting in. Unfulfilled promises and repeated promises are now beginning to sound like a cliché.

Government communication machinery has not been at its best. Tolerance for negative feedback has relapsed into a deficit and resulted in situation where persons who hitherto echoed the voices of reason and common sense have wisely adopted the attitude of the proverbial three wise Japanese monkeys: “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil”.

The one that clears the path does not know it is crooked. Until he is told, he would cut out a crooked path that would oblige users in a macabre dance.

Sweeping the dust in a room and covering it up with Arabian rugs as though the room is clean is not the best approach to effective public relation management. Face the facts. Fix the mess.

The New Publisher is of the view Government should not turn deaf ears to the cries of its own people. Not all the complaints are politically motivated. Some are reflecting the genuine harsh realities suffered by a majority of Ghanaians.

This week started with a sit-down strike by commercial vehicle operators who say they are unable to survive in business due to the ever rising cost of fuel and the continuous nature of it.

The drivers did not start to complain yesterday. Why wait for them to go on strike and get the whole country wailing before intervening to offer some listening ears?

They have pointed out an obvious lack of fairness and equity when they have their hands twisted backwards and placed under an obligation to buy fuel at the current increased price but are under an injunction from passing on the additional cost to their passengers.

Perhaps, Government is waiting from a similar protest by persons who have genuinely complained about the return of the erratic supply of electricity without a reliable time table for the purposes of planning.

Petty intra-party squabbles are simmering and emitting an aroma rather offensive to the nostrils; squabbles fanned by camouflaged subtle campaign machineries oiled by edgy appointees impatient to sit on President Akufo-Addo’s famous chair even though he has spent just 25 percent of his mandate.

That is a matter we rather shelve for another day.