A Chronicler's Diary
Part II of 1985 rolls on...
Hardly a month passes by without some flying rhetoric about democracy and participatory decision making and some overseas visitor showering praises on Ghana's social transformation. Again the re-surfaced PNDC member, Mr Justice D.F. Annan, using the occasion to address methodist church leaders on the 150th anniversary of their strife-torn, ethnically-divided church, called on all Ghanaians to evolve a stable political system by which, as he put it, "we will never endure mismanagement and mis- government of the past".
His call was echoed by the June 4 Movement, adept in issuing statements, who have promised to deliver a present to Mother Ghana in the form of a Paper on Grassroot Democracy, which will "vehemently reject foreign political systems which are incompatible with our Ghanaian environment". It is as if the Movement is some exemplary authority on grassroot democracy when its regular statements are planned, formulated and issued by a committee of less than ten members sitting in Accra.
The former Biafran "nationalist" Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, as the guest of honour at the graduation parade of the Ghana Military Academy & Training School, praised Ghana's efforts at socially transforming the country. He is reported to have said: "Ghanaians have almost seen the light at the end of the tunnel... Africa is waiting to applaud Ghana's success…”
The Scranage-Soussoudis affair obviously topped the sensational media chart during the period and has been chewed on enough and no doubt readers have had the opportunity to draw their own conclusions, especially as regards the race of the two security networks to exploit an amorous relationship of Scranage and Soussoudis to their respective national interests. The effects are, of course, still reverberating. The Voice, a four- page weekly is spearheading a campaign to press for a National Award for Soussoudis for his "patriotism in beating the CIA at its own game.
The events have, according to the paper, helped to bring Ghana closer to … ing in Ghana in which deserted sons and daughters are looking for their deserted Ghanaian fathers. You can bet, the Voice is waiting to cash in on such adverts.
The most interesting aspect is that after a week-long castigation and lambasting of the USA for all its worth, the Ghana government cooly, and quite unashamedly, accepted an aid package from the US of $9 million for the supply of - (can you guess?) — rice and cotton! The Secretary of Finance & Economic Planning then expressed his "appreciation to the US for her assistance to Ghana..." Not long after the Military Hospital in Accra was proud to receive a large quantity of hospital equipment and again the British government also sent in £100,000 worth of "military equip- ment" to the Ghana Armed Forces. Suddenly, it appears, the West are our friends or enemies depending on the issue at stake at any moment in time.
The economy of the country is all important and July-August has witnessed quite remarkable goings-on. The fuel price increase was announced to coincide with the trip to Iran by Capt. Kojo Tsikata where he went to beg for oil for Ghana. Airport tax has increased from C20 to C200 and the cedi has again been devalued twice within the past two months and life is becoming more and more difficult especially
The trend among hospitals these days, sadly though, is a sort of race as to which one has collected more money since the increase began. The Komfo Anokye Hospital, the Korle Bu Hospital and the Effia Nkwanta Hospital have been publishing with relish how much each obtains weekly, without reference to any improvement in their health delivery services. Meanwhile, the Komfo Anokye Hospital is topping the money-collecting competition with C4 million total so far.
The Akuafo cheque… abysmally. Can anyone actually pinpoint anything that this ruling govern- ment has initiated and developed successfully? A hefty C43.1 million has been embezzled through the much lauded farmers payment system. What else, you wonder can be tried?
Meanwhile, the foreign loans have started coming in after a short inter- lude which prompted one Secretary of State to state publicly: "... now the Economic Recovery Programme Loans are not flowing in smoothly at all... Well, it appears, the tap is open again: $8 million from the Swiss government for spare parts for the textile indus- tries, $32 million from Saudi Arabia for a Science College, grain storage, hospitals and harbours rehabilitation, $27.5 million from Washington for electricity expansion, $19.8 million from the African Development Fund for the Agriculture Development Bank fishing industry scheme.
As if it was becoming glaring to "worried observers" about the rate at which the country was grabbing loans, the Secretary General of the African Centre for Monetary Studies, Dr A.B. Taylor, has called on African Countries (with an eye perhaps on Ghana) "to use external loans judiciously". He was contributing to a public lecture in Accra on the "African External Debt" and revealed that external loans have often been utilised to increase economic performance and their beneficial impact is mostly unfelt in many places.
On the light note, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation has celebrated its Golden Jubilee with a mixture of fun parades and lectures and the revelation that "Ghana may have colour television next year!". The occasion was used by academic circles to call for an efficient and independent board to manage the GBC. In one of his many public lectures to mark the occasion, Professor Paul Ansah, Head of the School of Communication Studies at Legon said: "Too much government control and interference in broad- casting may result in sacrificing professionalism to short-term political expediency which is harmful for professional morale."
To conclude this diary, let us not forget that the past two months have seen lots of traditional festivals: The Ohum, Homowo, Akwambo, Ahobaa and many others and perhaps have offered solace and a little joy to an otherwise dull and lifeless existence to all of us.