Category: Essays

On That Tightrope

Since the midterm elections about a week ago in the US, I have been thinking of funambulism, the art of tightrope walking. Now bear with me, I’ll explain.
 
You can argue till you are blue in the face but a representative democracy is really the fairest kind of government there is. It is far from being perfect and making it work and keeping it going is tough, however, it beats autocracy any day.
Sure, some autocratic-run nations are bucking the trend and achieving good standards of living for their people. However, the human can never be oppressed forever. Sooner or later, the wish for freedom erupts in ugly ways.
 
With that said, representative democracy has its challenges too and sometimes, I compare its practice to doing a walk on a tightrope spanned between two skyscrapers. One needs concentration discipline and balance. One small slip and it is plunge down into the depths of anarchy where fascist, autocrats and dictators lurk.
 
If one watches a funambulist as they walk across a tightrope, one notices that they hold a long bar during the walk. This bar, known as a balancing bar, is quite important for the art.
It does three things:
– it reduces the rotational torque of the funambulist, so he or she does not tilt off the rope;
– it lowers the center of gravity, giving the walker more stability on the rope, and
– by allowing the walker to shift the bar to one side or the other, helps with balance.
Thus we see how important the balancing bar is.
 
If I compare practicing representative democracy with tightrope walking, what in this system is comparable to the balancing bar? If the system itself, embodied in the leaders, is walking the tightrope, then elections and the people’s ability to vote form the balancing bar.
Think about it.
The votes of the people can move the nation to the left or the right. The votes of the people can provide leadership that stabilizes the country or leadership that causes it to tilt off the rope.
The votes of the people are what the leadership needs to stay on that tightrope. Without them, the leadership falls off and another takes his place.
 
There is a big difference however in the control a tightrope walker who has over the balancing bar versus the control a leader has over the balance the vote provides in a representative democracy.
Whereas the funambulist totally controls the bar and thus its effect on his walk, a leader only influences the electorate by his actions and words. If they like what they see and hear and appreciate how he wields the power of the balancing bar they have handed him, they give him control to make the changes necessary to keep the walk going.
If they are displeased with him, he notices a gradual or sometimes even sudden shift of the bar into other hands.
 
Thus one sees how potent the ability to vote is. Each voter has the ability to closely affect how a nation is ruled in a representative democracy. Sure, one can lament the role of money and corporations. One can also lament the slow speed at which change occurs. To the first, I’ll say, ultimately the will of the people comes through. To the second, do remember the analogy – representative democracy is like tightrope walking! Speed is an enemy during this feat.
 
It is no wonder that the first thing an autocrat, dictator or fascist does on attaining power is to ban elections. It shows you the power inherent in the will of the people.
No matter where you are in the world if you ever have the opportunity to vote, do so. It is a power that one never wants to give up, then like the balancing bar, it keeps a representative democracy on the rope and accountable to the people.

A Letter to Dela Goldheart

Dear Ms. Amelia Amedela Amemate a.k.a Dela Goldheart,
 
REGARDING THE PRACTICE OF CONTEXTOMY
 
Have you heard of the word “Contextomy” before? It was coined by the historian Milton Mayer in 1966 to describe the misquoting of the Talmud for propaganda purposes by the Nazi, Julius Streicher, editor of the Nazi paper Der Stürmer . This was in Germany just before WW II broke out.
Mr. Streicher was virulently anti-Semitic and his newspaper carried horrible stories and cartoons about Jews that led to their dehumanization and made it easy for Hitler to push through “The Final Solution”.
 
“Contextomy” is defined as “the selective excerpting of words from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts the source’s intended meaning.” Some call this practice “quoting out of context”.
Like Wikipedia says, “The problem here is not the removal of a quote from its original context per se (as all quotes are), but to the quoter’s decision to exclude from the excerpt certain nearby phrases or sentences (which become “context” by virtue of the exclusion) that serve to clarify the intentions behind the selected words.”
 
Recently, you took the words of a man you sparred with on social media back in February, omitted a few words, placed a few ellipses here and there, and hey, that man now sounded like a raging misogynist and none of your listeners was any wiser.
 
In his excellent book ”They Thought They Were Free – The Germans, 1933-45”, Mr. Mayer explores the many reasons a lot of Germans went along with the atrocities of the Nazis. If a lot of Germans believed the rather erroneous and inflammatory articles published in “The Sturmer”, and those articles helped dehumanize the Jews, then that tells you how potent the practice of contextomy can be.
 
That is why what you did is not only dishonest, fraudulent and low; it is also very dangerous. It is dangerous because you are using lies to sway public opinion about another human being, to his detriment. On a larger scale, that is what the Nazi, Julius Streicher did.
Herr Streicher also had a motto: “Something always sticks”. Even if his false claims were later debunked, something demeaning always stuck to the Jews’ reputation. Even if all attempts to show that you “contextomized” your opponent’s words, a sheen of misogyny now hangs over him!
 
A lot of the atrocities we see in this world start when dishonest men and women misrepresent the words of others, to fit an ominous agenda. Like the Nazis did and like the Boers did in South Africa as they misquoted parts of the Book of Genesis to buttress apartheid.
 
You may be doing this to further the noble cause of feminism but in so doing you actually besmirch the commendable attempts of all who try to do it the right way. Or maybe, you are trying to get back at your antagonist for his unkind words back in February. Well, at least he was upfront and honest while you are being backhanded and dishonest.
I have taken your words from that day some months back – the words that started it all. I have treated the words like you treated his words. See how much the meaning is altered! Do you now appreciate the severity of your dishonesty?
 
If you aim to make a mark on humanity, learn qualities that will carry you through this journey called life. Dishonesty is definitely not one of them. Courage is one very important quality. Now, dig into yourself, find some courage and let that propel you to apologize to everyone who saw those altered words during your presentation. You owe them the truth. You also owe the man whose words you altered an apology but for that, I am not going to hold my breath.
 
And while you are at it, find another nickname. If the soul of us humans sits in our hearts, I cannot imagine a dishonest heart containing any gold.
 
Sincerely,
 
Nana Dadzie Ghansah MD
 
PS: Julius Streicher was tried and found guilty of “incitement of active persecution of Jews” during the Nuremberg Trials and hung on October 16, 1946.

It’s Spooky Season

From now till the end of the month, I will be using photographs to explore the emotion of “fear” – to be exact, the fear of the unknown, especially death. I think this a good time to do that, then, after all, Halloween is just around the corner. You can see the images here.
 
As we celebrate Halloween, we need to remember the origin of the festival and its essence.
Halloween comes from the Celtic festival called “Samhain”. It was celebrated from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 and marked the end of the light summer and the start of the darkness of winter. It marked a time when the boundary between this world and that of the departed was removed and the departed could visit our world and the Celts could confer with the spirits of the dead.
Then came the Church and Christianity and disrupted a lot of customs in Europe and all over the world. As you can imagine, the Celtic custom of Samhain was not spared either.
In AD 609, Pope Gregory moved the All Martyrs Day from May 13 to Nov. 1 and renamed it All Saints Day. Then in AD 1000, Nov 2 was named All Souls Day or All-Hallowmas and Oct. 31, All Hallows Eve. On All Souls Day, the celebrations were just like the old Celtic rites of Samhain – big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils.
Soon, All Hallows Eve became “Halloween” and the celebrations of the Celts on Samhain had been appropriated.
 
Yet, the underlying meaning of the day does not need to be lost. The dead can teach us about living. Their mistakes, triumphs, achievements, and regrets are all things that we can learn from.
In most African societies, Death is feared more than Americans fear the IRS but I argue that we needn’t fear Death.
A most important exercise then should be an exploration of why we fear death so much.
Is it because of a fear of not knowing what lies beyond or is it because we fear we won’t be ready? Do we fear we’ll be snatched in our prime or before we see our kids grow into adults?
 
Those are questions I ponder often and hence the images. I seek to point out that instead of wasting our emotions on being afraid, we should rather seek to live in such a way that we’ll have no regrets when the time comes. That times like these should remind us that Death is just around the corner and our Time is finite. The images are thus “Memento Mori” symbols to remind you all that the clock is ticking so love, create, eat, dance, sing, hug, make love…like there is no tomorrow.

That Silver Lining

Look closely at the edges of the darkest clouds and you will see something interesting. You will see a rim of light as the sun tries to force its way through the murkiness. It almost looks like a rim of silver.
 
This observation might have inspired John Milton to write these words in his 1634 masque, “Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634”:
 
I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honor unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.
 
Milton coined the phrase silver lining. It would be expanded to the idiom, “There is a silver lining in every cloud” in the 19th century.
In 1840, one Katty Macane wrote a review of a novel titled “Marian: Or, A Young Maid’s Fortunes” by a Mrs. S. Hall in “The Dublin Magazine”. The review contained this sentence: “…there’s a silver lining to every cloud that sails about the heavens if we could only see it.”
Since those days, the phrase has come to represent something positive and hopeful – that one can always find a positive aspect in the worst circumstances.
 
Can one really find something positive in life’s tumultuous and frustrating instances? Can a path be found amidst the ruins of tragedy? Can one really find a song when the heart is in pieces like glass that fell in a storm?
Even with my hardened and faithless heart, I have to agree that every dark cloud really has a silver lining.
 
However, must we necessarily experience dark clouds before we can enjoy silver linings?
Why?
Sometimes I think there are two men out there – two old and cantankerous men. It has to be men – we are mean like that. Men like Randolph and Mortimer Duke from the 1983 movie, “Trading Places”. Two old farts who find joy in turning our lives upside down and then betting with each other on whether us poor mortals down here can see the silver lining that hovers at the edges of the dark clouds that they placed in our lives in the first place. I bet they don’t even bet much at all on their experiments. And as they sit up there pulling the strings and laughing their tails off, we strut around this stage trying so hard to make sense out of this thing called life. I wonder which of them bets on the fact that we will see the silver lining and move on to the next act and the next iteration of dark clouds. I bet he is the one who whispered these words to John Milton:
 
“…there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove”
 
I bet he did.
 
For my part, one of these days, when the sun sets into the recesses of the oceans that are rising faster than the fears that grip our world…one of these days, I might write about all those times I saw the silver linings that adorned those dark clouds that turned my days murky and my nights darker than Hades.

You Are Not The One

“But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth”.
I Chronicles 22:8
 
In the Book of Chronicles of the Christian Bible, we learn that somewhere along the line, King David was living well and in peace in his palace. However, it bothered him that the Ark of Covenant was in a tent. It bothered him that he as a mortal lived in a house of cedar while the Lord lived like a nomad.
He resolved to fix that. He would build a temple to God.
He summoned the prophet Nathan and told him of his plans. Nathan encouraged him to do so. However, in a vision, God told Nathan to tell David NOT to build a temple. As a soldier who had fought many wars and shed much blood, God did not find it fitting that David should build him a house of peace. His son Solomon was destined to build a temple.
So David did not build the temple.
 
As I read Chronicles this morning I could not help but think of the debate around the National Cathedral that a group of Ghanaian church leaders want to build in Accra. A plan that President Akufo-Addo supports.
 
We in Ghana do not have a King David. Neither do we have an Ark of Covenant that lives in a tent. What we have is a President, the leader of the nation, and priests and pastors of Christian churches, leaders, and guardians of our spirituality, ethics, and morality. They are hell-bent on building a National Cathedral.
Even as conditions of David’s reign disqualified him from building a temple to the Lord, conditions in Ghana disqualify the President, the pastors, priests and all the “cathedralists” from putting up a National Cathedral.
 
A cathedral or temple is a place of peace and worship. We note that David thought of building one only when he lived in peace, that is, free from the affliction of Israel worst problems – attacks by the Philistines and other neighboring nations.
Thus a temple or cathedral is supposed to be envisaged when a land is free from most of its major problems. Even then, the Lord thought David was not fit to do that. Even then we see that God wanted someone to do it who truly represented peace.
 
In a land where the majority of children do not get a good education, millions still do not have good drinking water, people die in cars from lack of beds, the roads kill, corruption is rampant, bankers are plundering deposits and so on, let the words of God to David be an admonishment.
 
If our nation is racked with corruption and lack of integrity, is that not a blemish on all the priests and pastors?
If our nation has so many poor and hungry is that not a blemish on the President?
Is that not our equivalent of “shedding blood”? Our leaders may not be shedding blood but they shedding hope in the future!
David had achieved peace after all the blood and still was not allowed to build a temple. Our leaders “keep shedding hope”, ruling a land with “no peace” and still want to build a cathedral!
 
As the leader of the nation and guardians of ethics and morality in our communities respectively, I ask that the President, the priests, and pastors lead the nation to a place where the children will live in peace in prosperity.
In such an era of good, one of these children will arise who will build a cathedral that will honor the Lord and the country of Ghana.
Until then, let us remember the words of God to David, “This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in.”

That Grace Thing

“By the Grace of God!” is probably the most beloved Ghanaian expression. That Grace is what supposedly allows all the good that happens in a Ghanaian life to happen.
My friend, the writer, and publisher Nana Awere Damoah put it best when he wrote, “The best health insurance policy in Ghana is the Grace of God”.
 
Are we Ghanaians the only recipients of this Grace?
I doubt it because aren’t we all humans supposed to be God’s creation?
If so that Grace is showered on all and makes good things happen everywhere!
Look around!
Some countries and people apparently are getting a lot of this Grace. Some have so much of this Grace of God, they even lend us some!
 
Is this God that unjust and unfair that he distributed this Grace in such an inequitable manner?
I doubt it!
Maybe this so-called Grace does not exist!
Or maybe you get what you demand of this Grace.
Maybe you get what you ask for, demand for work for, even beg for, borrow for…
Maybe you even get what you steal!
Ask the men and women who are living in opulence in Accra from money they stole from the coffers of the country how they are doing today and I bet you $100 the answer will be, “Nyame adom oooo!” (By the Grace of God!).
 
Ghanaians woke up yesterday to the news that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) was creating the Consolidated Bank Gh. Ltd to take over five struggling banks in the country – Sovereign Bank, Royal Bank, The Beige Bank, Construction Bank and Unibank. The five banks had run into liquidity challenges. I guess when the owners of those banks made it a practice to steal from their own banks and customers, they made those banks illiquid. When those who were supposed to watch these institutions went to sleep on the job, these banks were destined to fail.
Interestingly, at those times when these owners were flush with the cash they had stolen from their banks and customers, if one had asked them how they were doing, they would have answered with a smile, “By God’s Grace”.
As the Bank of Ghana spends taxpayer money to bail out these banks thus depriving the common Ghanaian of things like ambulances and schools, ask the Ghanaian how he is doing and he will reply, “By God’s Grace”. The same Grace that allowed these bankers to steal is also making Ghanaians apparently docile and accepting of such financial crimes.
 
Some grace!
 
The poor and destitute live by the “Fa ma Nyame” (Give it all to God) ideology and hope for an eternal life that comes after this miserable interlude. An interlude that they’ve been made to believe does not matter and whose misery they accept, happy with the droplets of that Grace that fall on them occasionally.
The powerful, the politicians and bankers also chant the “Fa Ma Nyame” mantra and claim they believe in a better life after this one but they go a step further. They make sure this life is NOT miserable. If they have to steal from the coffers of the nation to do that, they do. If in stealing they leave a lot of Ghanaians poor, destitute, hungry, uneducated, without healthcare, drinking water and power, it matters not. It is all “by the Grace of God!’
 
In 1555, the preacher John Bradford saw a criminal walking to the gallows somewhere in England and uttered these words:
“There but for the Grace of God goes John Bradford”.
Maybe when the powerful who steal from Ghanaians see the suffering masses that is what they say to themselves in the comfort of their air-conditioned V8s.
Maybe these powerful men, these politicians, and greedy bankers need to realize what happened to John Bradford – he was burned at the stake months later. That Grace failed him! Or did the Grace summon him to that eternal life?
 
Whatever the case is, I hope the people of Ghana will realize that one gets the amount of Grace one demands…or steals!…and demand their fair share of this Grace!

Those potential 181,993 “Kubɔlɔrs”

The free Senior High School (SHS) policy of this NPP government has unmasked several poignant problems and disturbing facts.
The most disturbing probably is that 181,993 kids would have probably not gained entry to a SHS! Let that sink in!
If this policy fails, we go back to producing over 180,000 “kubɔlɔrs” a year!…and every Ghanaian knows who a “kubɔlɔrs” is! (a truant, a dropout, a ne’er-do-well)
Remember the saying, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance”.
 
With a predominant boarding school system – 60% of the SHS are boarding schools – 90,000 of these 1st year SHS students have no spot for a secondary education. This has forced the government to consider a policy that I hope will be a short-term fix – a two-semester multitrack system.
We’ll come back to that system later but before that, let’s look at some numbers and impress upon ourselves why a predominant boarding schools system may be the bottleneck in implementing a viable free SHS program.
 
Per the government’s own numbers, if it was to expand facilities to meet the added needs of the 181,993 children, an amount of GHC 1.3 billion would be needed for 622 six-unit classroom blocks,181,993 student desks, 3,730 teachers’ furniture, 415 dormitories, 51,868 bunk beds, and 8,872 new teachers.
Whereas the 622 six-unit classroom blocks are estimated to cost GHC 404 million, the 415 dormitories will cost GHC 539 million and the 51,868 bunk beds an additional GHC 41.4 million!
Even the 8,872 new teachers will cost GHC 267 million, close to GHC 200 million less than the dormitories!
 
Let these numbers sink in. Take your time.
 
Am I wrong then to argue that a predominant boarding secondary school system is not the right model for our struggling educational system and porous budget?
There are those who insist that the boarding system has produced outstanding Ghanaians over the years and so we should keep the system. Well, in the process we have also managed to leave close to 200,00 kids behind every year!
The total for dormitories and bunk beds is almost GHC 600 million! That will build over 300 more six-unit classroom blocks or countless libraries or after school centers or buy school buses or hire more teachers or build labs for STEM education.
 
Now the multitrack system is definitely cheaper. It is expected to cost about GHC 323 million to fully implement. I do not have the breakdown of costs but I bet it is weighed down by boarding expenses and as a nation, we really need to cut the dependence on this boarding system.
 
The attached image illustrates how the multitrack system will work:
My question is whether the 81 days where the kids are at school includes or excludes weekends.
If they exclude weekends, the 81 days of school translates to about 16 weeks of tuition. That also means the kids are home for 8 weeks between the 1st and 2nd semesters and 12 weeks before the new school year starts.
Even though they will have more hours of tuition while at school, it does seem like the school kids will be home a lot!
If the days include weekends, that is even worse!
Maybe thought should be given to organizing camps for these kids while at home. This should not only be the job of the government but also of the society at large – churches, our universities, civic organizations, youth groups – they could all get involved.
The kids could be taught coding, computer skills, carpentry, masonry, sports etc. Things that will not only feed the mind but the body too. These activities could serve as the beginning of the establishment of day schools and help us wean ourselves off a system that worked but is now just not feasible.
 
If we really want to avoid creating over 180,000 “kubɔlɔrs” a year, then we have to accept the fact that a predominant boarding school system at the secondary level has outlived its affordability and it is high time we changed things!

The Day Model is Possible

The US has about 98,000 public schools serving some 50 million kids from pre-K to 12th grade. None of them have boarding facilities. Education is free. The average cost is about $11,600 per student per year.
There are just over 33,000 private schools serving some 5 million kids. Only 300 of them are boarding schools, charging anywhere from $15 – $65k a year.
In 2016, the percentage of high school students enrolling colleges was at about 69%. The graduation rate for public schools was about 85% and that for the private sector was around 98%.
 
With the right preparations, a predominant and cheaper day model of secondary schooling can be realized.
 
NOTE: I did not ask to abolish boarding schools but rather to make the day schools the predominant model of secondary schooling.
 
With that said, let’s look at 10 ways we could make that happen:
 
1. Every Ghanaian needs to be on board that free education at the primary and secondary levels should be free. Illiteracy is killing us.
 
2. Every kid from any Ghanaian family should be eligible for free education. This makes all invested in the program. A tax should be levied to pay for the program. It is well worth it and all efforts should be made to get all earning adults to pay this tax, even those in the secondary economy.
 
3. Each child shall be due a set amount of money per year for schooling. That money totally covers tuition, books, transport to and from school for a total distance of 40 km a day and two meals in a day school model. If the child goes to a boarding facility, the extra cost is borne by the parents.
 
4. Return all the old missions schools back to the missions that use to run them. Those churches can opt to keep them as boarding schools or make them day facilities. Also, allow private secondary schools and some boarding schools.
 
5. Divide each region into school districts. Each district gets a school, school buses and an after-school center that also houses a library.
One district, one day SHS
One district, one afterschool center
One district, one school bus
 
6. Kids go to school and return home strictly with the bus or are dropped off by their parents or a responsible adult.
 
7. Small villages and towns can be clustered together into a district and be served by one school. Several buses can transport students to and from school. Alternatively, a boarding school could serve the needs of such communities.
 
8. It is 2018. Education should go to the kids NOT the kids to education. Distance learning can supplement the kids’ education.
 
9. For kids at the risk of distractions due to child labor, consideration should be given to sending them to boarding facilities.
 
10. To those who say we cannot afford this, remember the famous saying, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance”. We have been trying ignorance for a while and I think we all can agree that it is pretty expensive.

Ten (10) Reasons why Ghanaian Secondary Schools should be Predominantly Day Schools and NOT Boarding Schools

1. The boarding school system is significantly more expensive. It is estimated that it costs about $114 per child per term in the boarding system but only $16 in the day setting.
 
2. The boarding schools are overfilled and their resources stretched, making them rife for outbreaks of diseases and pests like bedbugs and lice.
 
3. Kids with learning disabilities like Dyslexia and behavioral problems like ADHD, get lost among the hundreds of other kids. They do not receive the personalized care they need and go through the system without any benefits.
 
4. Teenagers, at a very important part of their development, grow up with very minimal input from their parents on issues of character, responsibility, independence, and morals. They learn more from their peers than from responsible adults. These kids need more time with their parents at those impressionable ages.
 
5. At a time when kids are actively growing, they have to live in boarding houses where nutrition is suboptimal stunting growth. Long periods of frank starvation may play a role in the future incidence of diabetes.
 
6. The healthcare afforded to these kids is not always the best and there have been instances of sick children dying due to negligence.
 
7. The negative psychological impact on these kids has never been measured but the separation does lead to anxiety, depression and psychological trauma in some wards. These conditions can have long-lasting negative sequelae.
 
8. Stories of abuse and bullying of all types are underreported but could be rampant and have long-term pathologic effects.
 
9. There is the incidence of drug and alcohol use that could have long-term effects.
 
10. It is quite difficult for parents to actively monitor the education their wards are receiving and many are unable to intervene if need be.

Let Them Ride in the Buses

“At length, I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: ‘Then let them eat brioches’.”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s in Confessions, Book 6
 
As Queen of France in the 18th century, Marie Antoinette is said to have heard the peasants rioting one day. When told that they were up in arms because they had no bread and were hungry, she is alleged to have said, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” or “Let them eat brioche!’
That statement has morphed into “Let them eat cake” over the centuries”.
However, all evidence points to the fact that Marie Antoinette never said those words and that they were mischievously attributed to her during the French Revolution to further reinforce the image of her as an uncaring, extravagant, out-of-touch aristocrat.
 
The phrase has stood the test of time and has come to signify insensitivity and a lack of understanding on the part of the ruling class for the suffering and realities of life of those less fortunate.
 
Recently, Ghanaians witnessed such a “Let them eat cake” moment.
 
Just over a week ago, the then acting Chairman (and now Chairman) of the ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Freddie Blay, took delivery of 275 mini-buses that he had ordered for all 275 constituencies of the party. The buses arrived just before the National Delegate’s Congress on Saturday, July 7. Mr. Blay was one of the men contesting for the chairmanship position.
The purchase and delivery of the buses to the party shortly before the election of a party chairman reeked of vote buying. Further, it was ill-timed and much worse, demonstrated a degree of insensitivity to the plight of most Ghanaians that is breath-taking.
 
Since the death of one Mr. Acheampong in his car last month due to the “No Beds” phenomenon, there has been a raging national conversation about the need for an Emergency Response Service that is well equipped with things like ambulances. The pitch of the conversation went a notch higher when a few weeks ago, the former Vice-President collapsed in a gym and had to be transported to 37 Military Hospital in the bucket of a pick-up truck.
 
It is into this contentious national milieu that Mr. Blay took delivery of 275 mini-buses for his party. It is worth noting that the whole country of 30 million people is served by 54 ambulances.
Sure, the buses were ordered probably months before this debate about ambulances gained center stage and by all accounts, it was purchased with private funds.
However, when the whole country is up in arms about the lack of ambulances, taking delivery of 275 buses that seek to serve the interests of a party is a classic “Let them eat cake” moment.
It was insensitive and cruel. It depicted a party that does not listen and does not hear what the people are crying out for.
 
Those mini-buses should have been sold and the proceeds used to get ambulances for all the country. I do not care how it could have been done but for the sake of wisdom and good governance, that is what the NPP should have done. A wise party, looking at the outcry about ambulances and the death of Amissah-Arthur in the bucket of a pick-up truck, would not have taken delivery of those buses. Not when they did!
 
Lord Acton once wrote that all power corrupts. He was right. When you are power-drunk, you feel invincible, always right and everyone else is a fool and needs not be heard.
It is not too long ago that Ghanaians voted Nana Addo and the NPP into power. Expectations were so high. Optimism flowed in the streets and most looked towards a new beginning.
Alas events like this “bus faux pas” makes one wonder if Ghanaians made a mistake and they have been had.
 
Shakespeare writes this quote for Brutus in “Julius Caesar”, Act 4, Scene 3:
“There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
 
The NPP was afloat on a sea of opportunity, riding a current that allowed them to serve this country and its people. Alas, I fear they lost their venture among mini-buses.
 
Unlike the French of the 18th century, Ghanaians do not need to attribute false statements to our leaders to paint that as uncaring and insensitive. They do that to themselves with their actions.
Then even as Ghanaians cry out for ambulances, all they hear from Nana Addo, Freddie Blay, and the NPP is, “Laissez-les monter dans les bus” – “Let them ride in the buses!”