Feature: What is an all-Inclusive government?

"Africa doesn't need Strongmen, it needs Strong Institutions" - Barack Hussein Obama

There has been many calls from different political divides and some identified opinion leaders, all

proposing an all-inclusive government, to do away with the winner takes all governance that has characterized our fledgling democracy since its inception in 1992. The call to commune however, does not sit well with some of us because the timing of the call is misplaced. Simply, an

What is an all-inclusive government when Ghana is always run by an all Ghanaian leaders who are either elected or appointed to post? 

The politician, by his cunning nature will do everything within his means and power to win or amass anything that belongs to the people or where the booty eludes him, he will try to at least have a portion of what the other is enjoying. It is rightfully so, because Politics has become an economic or a commercial venture in which you invest monies, with 98% surety of recouping it, simply because, it has proven to be profitable over the years.

As a political animal who cannot escape my descent, I have keenly observed politics in our dear nation, Ghana, and I have realized that, all we practice here is Politics of Convenience. We do not really love our Country as we profess to and our posture is just a facade. We shift goalposts to assuage for our loss or to still be relevant in the political terrain. Even though, the onus of governance currently lies in the bosom of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), there is no gainsaying that, only two successive governments, represented by the NDC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have taken turns to rule our dear nation, Ghana, for eight (8) years each in the past. 

We can’t rule out the possibilities the supposedly all-inclusive governance can reap for the nation, but how sure, are we that, the two opposing parties can work coherently to achieve the objectives of ensuring the welfare of our citizenry and the nation as a whole? Who then plays the role of checks and balances on the governing team?

Aside the over-arching constitution, we don’t even have national policies to guide the government of the day, so how are we going to go about the inclusion exercise? Are we just going to look around and call up members of the opposing political parties who can play ball or each party would be mandated to present a quorum to be integrated into the governing team?

Methinks it is another strategy to team up to rip our already touted lean coffers apart, thus denying the electorates what is due them. We all know that, the only bill that gets passed quickly in Parliament is the one that has to do with monies due our Parliamentarians, and that is an all-inclusive governance right there, so just do the math and tell me how our monies will be spent, should the all inclusive government be promulgated. 

Our Constitution clearly endorses a multiplicity of political parties in which the emergent Presidential hopeful forms his government, regardless of whether he obtained the right number of Parliamentarians or not. The system further gives him the right to appoint Ministers and their deputies from all over Ghana, especially those who made it to Parliament regardless of their party affiliation, so which all-inclusive government are we talking about?

Shouldn't we rather be consulting our Constitution which would help us put up strong structures to ensure that, the right persons are appointed by the President to work for us, rather than calling for an all-inclusive government that is already in place?

Since these calls started, prior to the election petition judgement, I thought the proponents of this all-inclusive government were making such calls just to massage the ego of the emergent loser or to bring about peace, but the incessancy of the calls from people who should know better has made it a worrying development which might not augur well for us as a Country.

To begin with, we were all Ghanaians until we decided to break up into different political parties, driven by our varied ideologies which is borne out of religious, Social and economic leanings. Then through the successive days, the individual and the political parties keep evolving through reforms which are dictated by the changing times, yet we still find it convenient being with our parties, because they embody our ideals. We also do this tenaciously because we believe in their governing know-how, so why would we cry wolf if our parties lose?

Just as I don’t expect to see or hear Chelsea Football Club soliciting for some of their players to be integrated into the Glorious Manchester United’s team to have a feel of what glory tastes like, simply because they have consistently won the European Premier League, I don’t expect to see any Political Party making such calls to their opponents either.

Being a good businessman among other things, includes your acumen to foresee what can befall your business and plan strategies to forestall negative occurrences, so I think failure on the part of an individual to see that s/he is not in a winning team should also be something the individual should dearly suffer for. Plainly, if you know or think that you have something to offer this Country, join the winning team to wrestle power and bring your know-how to bear or you sit and bid your time. You can still help from the fringes by suggesting to the government of the day, what should be done or where the government deserves some bashing, you give it to them constructively. 

After all, no one dines with their supposed enemy, because, that is what it is, per the governance in this country, as demonstrated over the years by both parties being at extreme ends of the pole. Any party which wins power is already an all-inclusive government because it is made up of diverse people with diverse backgrounds from every nook and cranny of our nation - so wherein lies the merit of the clarion call? 

Political Parties even in opposition, always have a government in place by appointing shadow Ministers et al; so, I think the call is just another ploy by the Politician to fleece us of our scanty resources.

Conversely, calling industrious Citizens who have a proven track record to join the government to help build the nation is welcomed but not the en masse integration of other party members who do not even believe in the ideals of the government of the day to start with and there is still an issue of trust. You may be finding ways to bring solidarity between your enemy and you, but trusting them with your business will be a tad stretching the already stretched lines.

While still pursuing our selfish ends through democracy, where only a few people create, share and loot at the expense of the populace, let us not lose sight of the fact that, Ghana is already practicing the all-inclusive governance as evidenced by the various representations from the Political parties in our Parliamentary system, so let us not push our luck further, because we might proverbially pooh like the lizard.

Musings - Sins behind the scenes!

You must be leaving in the stone ages if you still believe in the maxim "talk is cheap".  The

government has proposed to increase levy on emails including all the junks and international calls which are mostly placed to lonely and sick grannies in the villages from their children in the cold. Well, the government must be the channel through which these policies must come, but fellows, you have to bypass the government and look at the bigger picture.

 The government is just a group of people made up by members from our society. Some are friends, families, school mates and colleagues, so it's not like they are far-removed from our situation or suddenly become accustomed to riches or luxuries and have turned their back on us. No, their hands are tied and it is a pity all we talk about all day is their inability to deliver on their promises. How can they deliver their promises when the Paymaster has not released funds (which they have amassed from corporatocracy and fascism) or releases insufficient funds with shoe string budgets and strict directives as to how the money should be disbursed? 

From my purview, Ghana is too small a country to resist the overwhelming and imposing figure of Big Brother not to allow all these economic hit men to parade around as entrepreneurs, business and development partners. What is in for them for the street lights and roads they construct for us? What is in for them for the Electrification projects and the beautification of the city? Do they care that much to give us grants just to construct roads without necessarily solving our basic and pervasive problems?

The whole idea is to keep us on the fringes for exploitation because in the end, toxins from mining our mineral resources are willfully pumped into our water bodies which eventually kill people, plants and animals and consequently are paid outrageously for good work done, while the poor victims wallow in abject poverty. 

A look at the regular trends in worldwide poverty rates are published by newspapers everyday and per the world Bank, a daily income of less than two dollars per person have become the benchmark for defining the world’s poor while the poorest scrap on less than a dollar a day and it is hard to imagine how these poor people survive the hardships that come in torrents but even more harder thinking about how such people can ever prosper, not to think about emergencies and affording big-ticket items like building, education, furniture etc.

However the two dollar statistics is just an average over time, meaning there are days you go without the two dollars and there are other days you make more to which you can’t really make plans for because as irregular as the income is, it is small and unpredictable. It will also interest you to note that of all the statistics that have been availed by scores of scholars for the world bank, they have not been able to research into how the poor people survive on the two dollars and how they go through each day.

They don’t really care about you and it is time the poor majority change their attitude towards the government because the government is not there for you. They have actually come to make you poorer and trust me, of every ten units of items they take from you, they give you one.

The whole idea is to annihilate the human race which I know most of you will be quick to refer to as unfounded, but that just goes to portray your gullibility and what you are being fed with. There is more happening around you than you can see and you don't always need empirical evidence to believe. Read beyond the lines and you will realize to your chagrin that, there are other printed matters you have refused to see. They play with our minds; rein us in so we can rally around one figurehead by appending our signatures and consents that will be binding on us as a people. Votes for our Presidents and other leaders are all it takes to set their dominion in motion. Democracy.

Recently, there was a topic for discussion on Africans and for that matter Ghanaians now enjoying middle income status; another illusive praise on us, to probably assuage our psyche, but given that the report is true, how many people are actually in that bracket? How reflective is our single digit inflation and all the economic indicators they keep touting on our behalf? How beneficial is it to that hard working hawking woman with a child strapped behind her? And how does that incredible GDP figures that are churned out every time help the average Joe in Teshie, Wassa, Afram Plains and Atiavi? We as a people have to determine that enough is enough and we want to try another means of approaching same prevalent situations.

Dear reader, there is nothing like middle income class or middle class. Typically on a number scale, there are two sets of numbers, one being negative and the other positive, all gravitating to the middle number which is zero (0), so you realize that even the less positive number (+1) nearer to the zero is more than the highest (-1) on the other divide, and interestingly, the gap between the two divides only keep widening as the numbers increase in the opposite directions, so there cannot be anything like the middle class. You are either there or here. Simple.

Anything middle is defeating to polarity and the duality concept in Accounting and Creation where we have man and woman, up and down, table and chair, negative and positive, good and evil, God and Devil, a freeman and a slave and what have you. The attempt to fuse in ‘middle’ is what is giving birth to gays and their related rights; middle income class and what have you.

Consequently, we will be served more than we bargained for. We will be paying more levies that weever anticipated because everything is just playing to their galleries. Our system has moved into an era where one person can control about sixty percent (60%) of the economy and you think that man is not powerful enough to use human beings the way he likes? Can you imagine how many people will be dependent on that man through the number of employments he is willing and able to provide for the masses? Too much power vested in one person can be very dangerous but unfortunately that is where we are now and the bad news is we are on a journey of no return which ushers in modern day slavery.

There is always a price to pay for every single choice we make except, most of the consequences is not bearing on us because of their negligible effect. We only get to feel those that affect us seriously. The need to pay for everything we utilize is just a tip of the iceberg and a clarion call to what is yet to hit us. They are testing the waters and very soon, we will be paying to breathe ‘good’ air because the whole atmosphere would have been polluted. You either pay, breath and live or die. 

And there is this incessant feeling that will not go away anytime soon, that, one of these days, one or two people will start owning nations and by extension, everything the nation has to offer looking at the rate at which all our mineral and human resources are being used as collateral for borrowing from external sources. 

Brace up because serious times are here!