Slavery All Over Again
To be independent simply means to be free. Ghana was declared independent, in other words free some sixty-three years ago, as to where it was declared is not the current matter for discussion. What Ghanaians need to understand is that it took a man to enslave us and it took yet another man to set us free and if care is not taken men will take us back into slavery. Our independence was not delivered to us on a silver platter , people actually fought for us to be free, meaning that our colonial masters had no intention of freeing us, but they gave in under serious pressure both from within and without. So if they are given an opportunity to rule over us again trust me they will take it without hesitation. Our present day leaders are toiling with our independence, they are leading us into a snare. Most of them are old and might not be here to see the results of their irresponsibility, but the youth of this generation and the generation afterwards will suffer it. The sins of the fathers will be visited on the children. It’s a pity.
A few years back, the kuffour led administration took us (Ghana) into HIPC, that is, Highly Indebted Poor Countries. It is an organization which assist countries that have acquired so much loans and are incapable of paying back, within the organization, some projects are provided for the countries involved freely, some debts are even cancelled. This singular action by a government who claims to be ruling in the interest of the people drew my attention to the current state and future of our country, Ghana. The loans which were acquired by predecessors that made them decide on taking us to HIPC, are the same loans being taken now. One importance of history is that, the current generation will not repeat the mistakes of their elders but No, the current leadership seems to disagree with academia on this so they are reluctantly repeating the same mistakes. The next time we might not end up in HIPC but in slavery.
When private individuals go for bank loans, they invest those monies in profit making ventures that will enable them pay off the loan, the story is not the same with the government. The government goes for monies for projects instead of making sure the money for the project is judiciously used? They take the money through the ‘normal’ Ghanaian procedure, that is, before the money gets to the contractor it has to go through various protocols (which is actually the right way to handle the money to ensure accountability) but these protocols allegedly pay themselves as the money goes through their hand. At long last when the money finally gets to the contractor it becomes difficult for him to buy quality products to execute the project. Inferior products can only results in inferior projects which lasts for the shortest period of time.
Currently our donors, having realize that we hardly pay for our loans have started demanding for ridiculous collaterals. They are now giving us loans on the condition that they are given unrestricted access to our natural resources. When we discovered oil, the company with the right machinery offered to give us the machinery knowing very well that we couldn’t afford it and demanded for a greater percentage of the output over a number of years. China also loaned us a substantial amount of money, knowing very well that we won’t be able to pay back demanded that they are given unrestricted access over the country’s bauxite over a period of time. Parts of our country are in the hands of foreign countries who don’t care about us, they can go to the extreme when it comes to making money from our land and we are not alien to these facts, even when they employ the locals they pay them less and treat them worse, because we signed an agreement with them, our leaders keep mute and stand sheepishly as these foreigners maltreat the locals. This is slavery all over again.
Running to foreign countries for loans and aid of any sort is becoming dangerous, they have identified our weakness and are ready to exploit us if we give them the chance. Our leaders actually read the memos before signing, I will doubt it if I am told they don’t know the terms of the contracts they sign because I am convinced they do. But because of their selfish desires they care less. Arise Ghanaian youth for your country and demand for your freedom, nobody has the right to jeopardize with your freedom all in the name of governance.