Features
Why Ghanaians need to be fed with the truth
Truth-telling is essential for authentic communication to occur and makes genuine interaction between people possible. The truth matters, both to us as individuals and to society as a whole. As individuals, being truthful means that we can grow and mature, learning from our mistakes. Honesty means to develop a practice of speaking the truth throughout life. It is said that a person who practices honesty in his or her life possesses strong moral character, since the person shows good behaviour, follows rules and regulations, maintains discipline, speaks the truth, and is always punctual.
MORAL OBLIGATION
Truthfulness is the foundation on which human relationships are built. Without truth, sustainable success will be impossible in human dealings. The moral obligation as recognised by common sense is that each and every one has to tell the truth always. Some of the benefits of being honest include establishing a closer friendship that will pave the way for greater intimacy, building trust and confidence, having quality friends, less stress, and improved wellness, among others.
The power of always telling the truth, which is more than just honesty, is that it yields a deeper understanding of oneself and elevates self-esteem. In short, the importance of being truthful and honest means not to lie, steal, cheat, or deceive in any way. When we are honest, we build strength of character that will allow us to be of great service to God and others. The Holy Bible says that when we are truthful and honest, we are blessed with peace of mind and self-respect and will be trusted by the Almighty God.
JOURNEY OF TRUTH AND HONESTY
I have decided to take my readers and patrons on this honest and truthful journey because of certain negative developments in our country where some of our political leaders and office holders have tried not to be economical with the truth even though they are aware that the factual aspects of things that are going on are not exactly what they are churning out to the people, and for that matter, Ghanaians who made them what they are today in the society.
BUNCH OF LIES
It is a fact that the people continue to be shortchanged of the truth and deceived by some of our leaders and office holders, who try as much as possible to hide the truths and facts from them and provide them with a bunch of lies. Ghanaians are now discerning, and they can decipher the truth from the lies.
When President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo presented his State of the Nation Address to Parliament recently, he expressed optimism that the government was systematically fulfilling the terms of the staff level agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and expressed confidence that it would secure a deal by the end of March. With the successful process of the domestic debt exchange programme and support received from other creditors, the President was upbeat that Ghana would clinch the $3 billion bailout from the IMF to improve the country’s downward economic situation.
PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT ON IMF
Hear the President: “I am confident that with the cooperation we’re receiving from members of the Paris Club and the People’s Republic of China, which has sent a delegation from China’s Exim Bank to Accra over the weekend to meet with officials of the Ministry of Finance, we shall be able to go to the board of the Fund to finally conclude the agreement by the end of March.”
But according to the Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Ghana was not likely to clinch a deal with the IMF in March and would be lucky to get a deal in April. “Mr Speaker, our President said on authority that Ghana would get IMF Board approval by the end of this month (March). I don’t know who is briefing our President, but Ghana will not be able to get IMF Board approval by the end of this month because even the board documents are not prepared. We need to get China to give Ghana financing assurance and that they are ready to take a haircut, and China has not agreed,” said the Minority Leader.
MINORITY POSITION
The Minority Caucus was of the view that the March 31 deadline to secure the IMF Board’s approval for the loan facility would not be feasible, contrary to the claim by the government, because it has not been able to satisfy the financing assurances regarding the bailout, which include the board documents.
Indeed, many economic analysts, think tanks and international financial organisations have alluded to the viewpoint expressed by the Minority Caucus that meeting the March 31 deadline cannot be possible for Ghana to secure the economic bailout by the IMF. For instance, an international rating agency, Fitch Ratings, was of the view that the IMF’s support for Ghana, would likely depend on the government’s ability to show a path towards bringing the present value of the debt to 55 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
FACTORS TO ENCOURAGE IMF APPROVAL
Germany recently, through her envoy in Ghana, asked the Akufo-Addo-led administration to prune down the size of his government and cut down on waste in the system if, truly, the country needed a bailout from the IMF to revamp its shattered economy. It appears that President Akufo-Addo is adamant about following that advice from the German envoy and is rather criticising him for interfering in Ghana’s internal affairs.
Really, what is happening is that the present government’s appointees, especially those in charge of finance, are not briefing the President well about the true state of affairs of the economy but rather feeding him palpable lies and falsehoods about the IMF deal. They knew very well that it would not be possible for Ghana to secure the IMF facility by the end of March, yet they decided to include it in the President’s State of the Nations Address that was delivered to Parliament recently, only for the President to announce it to Ghanaians.
TRANSPARENT WITH THE PEOPLE
We need to remind ourselves that the country has reached a stage in its development where we have to be truthful and honest with ourselves since we need support from the international community to revamp the downward trend of the economy. The truth must be laid bare to Ghanaians about the true state of the economy so that they will understand what is going on and, if there is any sacrifice they have to make, they will do so willingly and wholeheartedly. Hiding the truth and not being honest with the people is indeed dangerous to the survival and progress of our dear nation.
Now that the President has indicated that the IMF facility would be ready by the end of March this year, Ghanaians are expecting that from the beginning of April, their lifestyles will definitely change because they believe that the economy will start improving gradually, but this is not the case. Even if the bailout is approved in March, as the President alluded, it will take some time before the economy starts bearing fruit. This is what we expect from the President’s appointees: to educate Ghanaians about how the IMF programme will work and not to feed the President with palpable lies to score cheap political points.
ADVICE TO OUR POLITICIANS
This article cannot end well without advising our politicians, especially those at the helm of affairs, to be transparent in their actions, mindful with their utterances, and also to be truthful, honest, and sincere to the people from whose backs they rode to the positions they are occupying. The entire Ghanaian population cannot occupy these limited positions, and, therefore, that is why they are there as representatives of their constituents, or the people. Let the truth and honesty lead our nation, Ghana. Period!
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By Charles Neequaye
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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