Features
Cost-cutting: Government takes lead
One issue that keeps emerging in this country is the reference to the need for cost-cutting by the government at a time when the economic conditions facing the country and the world as a whole are highly unfavourable.
The call has come from political opponents, especially the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who appears to have no good alternative to this country.
EMPTY CRITICISM
Members of the NDC appear to be interested in criticising only but not to come out with suggestions that will go a long way to help the country.
Cost-cutting for the economy of Ghana has actually been done by the Akufo-Addo administration.
Any honest person in Ghana can attest to this fact. It is only those who are dishonest who cannot accept this as a matter of fact.
EXPENDITURE CUT DOWN
If the NDC and their cohorts will be honest with themselves, they will be the first to admit that, in the midst of economic difficulties, the government has tried hard to cut down on its expenditure.
Not only has this government been able to cut costs, but it has also been able to carry out economic development in various sectors.
The sectors include agriculture, industry, trade, transportation, health, education and many others. These would be discussed at another time, but for now, let us concentrate on cost cutting.
REDUCTION OF
MINISTERS
The NDC has pointed out that President Akufo-Addo should cut down on his ministers from 86 to 65.
Most of these ministers are also parliamentarians, so what it means is that the parliamentarian’s salary, if he or she is also a minister, will only bring in a difference of 2,000 to 3,000 Ghana cedis.
This means that even if 10 ministers are dropped, the government can only save about 20,000 Ghana cedis since the civil servants in the ministries cannot be sacked.
WEAK ARGUMENTS
For this reason, the NDC and its cohorts do not have any good points to stand on. Their arguments are not convincing enough, so they need to think of something better.
It is unfortunate that, as people in opposition, they are not able to come up with alternatives that will help the country.
SALARIES CUT DOWN
Last year, President Akufo-Addo directed all his officers to have their salaries cut by 30 per cent. This measure taken by the government saved the country over 19 billion Ghana cedis. Ministers’ and their deputies’ salaries were reduced to save money. Members of the Council of State also agreed to cut their salaries by 20 per cent. All these have saved the country substantial amounts.
In the case of the NDC parliamentarians, they have stated that they will not agree to cut their salaries by any amount.
This goes to show that the NDC faction is not patriotic enough to lead this country. For this reason, Ghanaians will have to make sure that they make the NDC stay in opposition for a long time.
DOUBLE SALARIES
What makes the matter annoying is that under former President Mahama, some of his ministers were paid double salaries. Ministers were paid in full under Mahama. At the same time, those of them who were MPs were also paid full salaries as such.
In all, the Mahama administration had 79 ministers, so the double salaries paid to them over that period amounted to more than 85 billion Ghana cedis. This is unbelievable!
So, which of the two parties, the NPP or the NDC, loves Ghana more than the other?
UNFAIR CRITICISM
Ghana’s First and Second Ladies are supposed to be paid some allowances, but because of some unfair criticism from the NDC, the current First Lady has declined to take those allowances. The same thing applies to Mrs. Bawumia, wife of the Vice President.
These are facts that show how dishonest and wasteful the NDC is.
Meanwhile, apart from the two ladies, Mahama’s wife and all the others are enjoying that allowance. What hypocrisy!!!
If all 275 MPs in Ghana agreed to cut their salaries by just 10 per cent, the country would be able to save over 60 million Ghana cedis every month. Are the MPs thinking about this?
We hope the NDC is thinking about this also.
Email address/ WhatsApp number of author:
Pradmat201@gmail.com (0553318911)
By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediako
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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