Letters
The "provisional" present
Thank you for publishing what The Standard of Ghana says about "The Provisional Present" which appeared in the Talking Drums, April 22, 1985. The Standard reports, inter alia, that there are as many as 31 PNDC Secretaries, and demands that the people of Ghana must know the appointees and their exact duties.I commend The Standard for making a realistic evaluation of the appointments of the PNDC Secretaries which have been devoid of acceptable criteria of competence, experience and training, because the paper confirms that people have been appointed to the PNDC who have since left in "embar- rasing" circumstances, and that the appointments should not have been made in the first place.
In support of the views expressed by The Standard, I must add that the most important consideration for the selection and appointment of a PNDC Secretary is notoriety in shouting hackneyed and meaningless revolutionary slogans, rather than due assessment of the candidate's competence, knowledge and experience of the specific ministerial tasks that are to be entrusted to the prospective Secretary. As a result, there is a tendency for appointed PNDC Secretaries to be as confused by the functions of their ministerial offices as the PNDC itself.
It is no wonder that Ms Joyce Aryee, a former PNDC Secretary for Information, did not know that Flight- Lieutenant Rawlings' Government of which she was a member was a military regime. Miss Ayree told journalists during her unsuccessful tour of Europe to woo investors for Ghana that Ghana did not have a military government.
Ato Ahwoi, the former PNDC Secretary for Trade, left his desk at the Trade Ministry for International Airport regularly to weigh passengers' goods himself and impose arbitrary customs duties on the items on the spot for immediate payment and in many cases, imported goods were confiscated, without knowing that collection of export and import duties and seizure of goods at ports after laid down legal procedures, are the responsibility of the Customs and Excise Department which is under the Ministry of Finance and has nothing to do with the Trade Ministry. Senior officials of the Trade Ministry refused to advise him of the irregularity of his interference in the work of other governmental institutions, because any technical advice given by a competent official in Rawlings' Ghana is considered as subversive by the "revolutionists".
Another 'SUPER' PNDC Secretary is said to have told a group of Ghanaians in Europe on the third leg of his world tour that he had not drawn any salary for the three years since he was appointed PNDC Secretary.
The point at issue is that Ghana under Rawlings is the only country in the world where ministers of State may work on voluntary basis without pay.
Since recruitment for full-time voluntary service locally may not attract people of the right calibre and induce maximum devotion, efficiency and honesty, the result is massive corruption, inefficiency and incompetence which underline The Kotoka Standard's assertion that "there must be wisdom after all in requiring people seeking responsible office to give public testimony of their suitability to hold such office".
George Asie
Rome, It
How to make history
Since Ghana's political system was interrupted by Flt-Lt Rawlings in 1981 it was only on the 6th of March that gave his main reason of coming to power. That "I have the will to make history"; (Talking Drums 25th Mar 1985). Rawlings has never been able to convince Ghanaians as to why he made his second coming except this.Who doesn't want to make history. Jesus and Judas both made history. Idi Amin, Bokasa, Hitler, George Washington, Lenin, Roosevelt Churchill, etc, etc, all made political history. But these people obviously have different places in history. His place in history will however be like this: Rawlings, the man who signed a constitution disqualifying himself from a position he so much liked that he had to assume that position illegally. The man whose reign saw many Ghanaians in their graves prematurely through hunger and sheer terrorism. The man who collected the people's C50 notes to reduce cash liquidity in the system but later issued higher denominations without accounting for the C50 notes collected. The man in whose reign prices skyrocketed so much that people now have to carry money in cocoa sacks when going on shopping. The man in whose reign C10 notes cannot be printed with security marks because of what he has done to the economy. The man whose rule saw education or its knees. The man who has a different meaning for democracy. There are many many more that historians will write for school children to read. If he had ever taken a closer look at a pound note he would have seen the head of Sir Isaac Newton who also made history but not through politics.
Joseph Annor, Dusseldorf
TOWARDS CONSTITUTIONAL RULE
Nobody is satisfied with the forms of government that exist in most West African countries presently.Even in those countries where there is yet no official sanction about discussion of what form of government to aspire to, there is still the acknowledgement that the present situation is unacceptable.
Some other countries have officially launched a search for this system that will bring the stability needed for the development of the countries.
As a result of numerous letters on this subject from readers, we intend to start a column under which the matter can be fully discussed and all the ideas aired and debated.
TALKING DRUMS
