Could Behavioural Economics Help Ghana Overcome Its FTT?

Ghana's political governance has never been the most sophisticated in the world. Granted. That said, a few years ago, the country was considered one of Africa's most promising, fertile entrepreneurial fields. That was, until its nascent oil industry became a showstopper. Rampant suboptimal decision-making, caused by behavioural and judgement biases,  lies at the root of Ghana's economic mismanagement and underperformance. To understand current economic problems, looking back to the 1960s and 1970s for lessons on Ghana's Failure To Thrive (FTT) syndrome is instructive. 

Then, Ghana was newly minted as the first independent country on the continent and a vanguard of the anti-colonial struggle across Africa. Kwame Nkrumah's triumphalism atop the explosive mix of nationalistic optimism and the euphoria of independence morphed into a fetish cult of personality and hero worshiping. Ultimately, this paved the way for dictatorship, unquestioned wasteful expenditure, corruption, and... finally, when government expenditure could no longer be covered by government revenue, a catastrophic fiscal disequilibrium brought the party to an abrupt end.   

According to Vito Tanzi (1982), the causes of disequilibrium are classifiable into five categories: export boom; price-inelastic tax system; public enterprise performance; increased expenditure produced by political exigencies or administrative weaknesses; and worsening terms of trade. In Ghana's case, one of the most serious problems encountered by Nkrumah government was rising government expenditure caused by inadequate control mechanisms and certainly Nkrumah's hubris that he could create heaven right here in Ghana within a generations. 

And now? 
Ghana is newly minted as an oil producer and the same cancerous atmosphere of leadership hubris, euphoria and unquestioned optimism of the masses (herd mentality) has resurfaced. In the current dispensation, the twin evil of ethnocentric political exigencies and severe administrative incompetence has skewed political governance along a path of least resistance toward a catastrophic feeding frenzy. The ongoing wasteful expenditure, wanton patronage and spiteful corruption, to an absolute certainty, have led to a very severe fiscal disequilibrium. Thus, instead of a strategic and judicious management of the temporary windfalls to establish a foundation for a long-term economic prosperity for the country, the inordinate serial blunders by the corrupt ruling class have squandered a unique opportunity for an economic quantum leap. Ghana, essentially, is once again a heavily indebted poor country (HIPC). By most conservative analyses of the current economic and political landscape, Ghana is bound for a very austere IMF-prescribed path of economic reforms. 

Because of fiscal indiscipline across the board, the hand of the prodigal government has been forced to turn to the IMF for help to deal with the debilitating self-inflicted wounds. As the denouement of Mahamanomics plays out, Ghanaians would have to buckle up for what is set to be a very difficult economic environment up to 2017, at the earliest.  Given that IMF assistance is conditional on the government of Ghana meeting a range of economic management and performance targets, Ghanaians will have to condition themselves to bear the indignities of the IMF's undesirable pressures. The truth of the matter is that in the next few years, Ghana will be leashed and led along a path of austerity to an unfamiliar territory of extreme frugality. For a nation that has just barely tasted oil wealth, the prescribed medicine would be particularly bitter. 

The behavioural economics lessons at stake here border on causal ambiguity among Ghanaians in general. And that is: what a little bit of economic discipline on the part of the government could have accomplished with much less pain for everybody, will now be imposed on Ghanaians with amplified pain by a bunch of youthful number crunchers at the IMF; all because when it mattered the most our leaders made reckless decisions with our money. The sad truth is that while our sovereignty is tossed over to the IMF, the architects of the mess will have the time of their lives, counting their looted stash. Shame.  

What Ghanaians hope for, and expect, is for the pathological binge borrowing under the current administration to be brought under some form of rational sanctity and control, and that the disparate, and often conflicting, policies currently in vogue will be given some strategic alignment to propel the economy forward. It is my cherished hope that the state will emerge out of the current crisis with a more streamlined and disciplined governance framework, including a much stronger checks-and balances element, and that the IMF will resist all forms of political pressures arising from the 2016 general elections to deviate from the much needed reforms.  Is that too much to ask?

Ghana in 2015: An Outlook

To an absolute certainty, 2015 will have huge implications for Ghana's political, economic and social developments for many years to come.

One scenario stands out as the most probable: A severe economic downturn.

By the middle of the year, the accretion of the systematically irrational decision making at the highest echelons of political governance over the last couple of years is expected to reach a crescendo. The worsening fiscal disequilibrium, severe balance of payment deficit, shrinking foreign reserves, huge debt repayment requirements and a depressive business environment will lead to an oppressive economic downturn.

To a large extent, the tragedy of Ghana's failure to thrive at this crucial hour of Africa's rising only illuminates the magnitude of the cripplingly bad decision  making at the centre of our political governance. As our reputation as a viable frontier economy takes a beating, foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to dwindle significantly, wreaking havoc on our economy with severe repercussions on the already weakened cedi.

With he advent of another IMF-prescribed economic recovery programme, troubling echoes of our recent past will come knocking, tearing down further our collective pride as a nation. All in all, the cedi is expected to bleed again and inflationary pressures are likely to be on the ascendancy in 2015, weakening the hands of our national leaders in any negotiations with IMF.

Contrary to familiar presidential pronouncements, problems with electricity supply will not get better in 2015. In fact, “dumsor” will get worse, dragging down economic and social welfare across the country. Thus in 2015, Ghanaians will increasingly feel the heavy weight of the state’s administrative incompetence.

Because our political decision makers manifestly lack the kind of discipline necessary to sort out the problems they have effortlessly created, Ghanaians should expect an environment of economic haziness and a clumsy misery of confusion throughout 2015.

Alas, investors, business people and Ghanaians in general would need to temper their expectations; for Ghana will fare rather poorly in 2015.

The Bermuda Triangle, Black Holes & The Ghanaian Craze

There are few phenomena in the entire universe that defy scientific, spiritual or any perceptible explanation as the Bermuda triangle and the Black holes.
Thank goodness most of us are not, in the least, bothered by thoughts of ever getting zapped into their eternal labyrinths. They are nature's gates of no return, if you ask me.
But like you, I don't get bogged down by whatever is happening in the backwaters of the seas nor do I even contemplate the possibility of being vacuumed into a ravenous cauldron of cosmic annihilation.
The world will carry on as usual, Black holes or no Black holes.
I am yet to meet a normal bloke who sweats over such matters.

Currently in Ghana, though, there is a similar craze akin to the paranormal manifestations of nature. The political divide sees each other as a sort of black hole or a Bermuda triangle doing their best to vacuum away properties of state.
There is a savage fight for the plum benefits of public service.
But, gosh, why should the matter of cars become the preoccupation of some state officials as if the ex-officio ministers of the NPP government are operating a supermassive black hole where all the cars belonging to the state are being pulled into cosmic nothingness. (I keep blogging about this because I am really baffled by the astronomical importance our public servants attached to such trivialities as if they is nothing else for them to do!)
In the same breathe, the way some NPP guys are virtually holding unto cars and other items issued to them to serve in their various offices, makes it seem look they are wrestling against the sucking power of the Bermuda triangle.
If the new government in accordance with the laws of the land have uncovered illegalities in the way state properties have been passed unto former ministers and are calling for such properties to be handed over, then for goodness sake I am for that. Politicians should never, by their very actions, give credence to the perception that they are above the laws of the land.
Why should our politicians, by their infantile fight over material gain, portray Ghanaians as morons who are only interest in creature comforts and illegally stashing away what belongs to the state. I believe many Ghanaians want their leaders to live exemplary lives according to the laws of the land. Such a culture of greed, corruption and lawlessness is antithetical to the democratic order we are trying so hard to build.
Shush! The partisan accusations and counter-accusations are so retarded.
Let both sides of the political divide hold fire and think of Ghana for a change.

The Lilliputian Crew At The Helm

Geez. I admire Kenyans. I absolutely do!
Who would not love the unorthodox project by the fairer ones in Kenya to fix the political impasse in that beautiful corner of Africa. They have embarked on the first ever mass sex denial demonstration staged for political reasons. Lol.
The sisters are refusing their men, the political elite at that, the supreme conjugal right until they stop the bickering and fix the festering political mess.
Let us hope that Kibaki, Odinga and their colleagues come to their senses fast before they are driven bonkers by the stance of their women, the beautiful no-nonsense daughters of Kenya.
Anyway, as everybody now knows pigs indeed do fly as Mexico has been shown.
Nations are putting up measures to prevent the virus from invading their shores. Heat-sensing cameras to scan arriving passengers are in place at many airports.
The lazy and obviously incompetent officials of Ghana's ministry of health have decided that the way to deal with the problem is to suspend all imports of pig products into the country. The question is: are our politicians and health officials really abreast with the issues of the Swine flu?
The issue here is that we are dealing with a strain of influenza that has not even been isolated in pigs. The name 'swine flu' is actually an erroneous concept since it has nothing to do with swines. It is not caught by eating pork or any of the products. Read this. The documented way to get the infection is person to person. Period. We should rather focus our attention on making sure that those arriving at our ports of entry are properly assessed and if necessary quarantined in isolation wards, instead of rushing to ban imports that have nothing to do with the disease.

On another sad note team NDC under the tutelage of Atta Mills is hell-bent on taking us back into slavery. The Better Ghana chanters have once again, obviously without first applying their minds, resolved to place the economy of Ghana under the yoke of the IMF for another gruelling
healing seance.
Gone are all the promises to fix Ghana with ease. Now the baton has been placed in their hands but instead of cruising to the next stage in the game of progress, they are looking back asking what the race is all about. Here is a bunch who have not acquainted themselves with the issues of economic governance which has taken place over the last ten years. Whilst Ghanaians question why the team is not running the race ahead as expected, these men and women who are fluent in nothing but excuses have fallen back on their old tricks of blaming others for their
sordid incompetence.
They have realised that they cannot move according to the trajectory already attained, so what do they do? They revert all the way back to where they left in the year 2000 in order to find a semblance of familiarity. Playing by the menu of the Bretton Woods institutions is the only sense they make in the unfamiliar territory they find themselves.
It is said that if you do not know where you are going any road will take you there.
Our beloved Ghana is going nowhere slowly. After all what do you expect, the Lilliputians are at the helm at our own invitation.
The show must continue.

The Obviousness Of The Mushrooming Sycophancy

It is given that leaders are a breed of seasoned, mature and principled men and women who exhibit a certain measure of honour, dignity and personal pride as well as a great deal of level-headedness in all their dealings.

Let us be frank, there are certain standards we expect from those to whom leadership has been entrusted. Wimps, sycophants and praise-singers have one pathology in common: they are all good-for-nothing, incompetent, desperate, despicable and untrustworthy bunch who will go to every length to sell even their mothers for the sole purpose of keeping a turf that is not theirs in the first place. They do so because really they have no morals, no ethics and obviously no backbone and they know that there is no prospect of landing another job similar to what they fear they are about to lose.

When so-called leaders resort to unbridled sycophancy to keep their job as demonstrated recently by Mr. William Ampem Darko, the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) [read here], and Mr. Ras Boateng, the CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority which administers the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) [see this], then we as Ghanaians must begin to ask ourselves whether these individuals are capable of rendering a competent service in their assigned positions in the first place or they are in it for their own selfish pursuit.

To order a programme live on air to be cancelled because somebody from the ruling party is not pleased with the opinions being expressed on air is simple unbelievable.

The GBC is not an extension of the NDC nor is it a mouthpiece of the government. So the Director-General should have sent Mr quashigah of the NDC, who phoned the DG demanding the programme to be taken off air, packing. Why should the interest of the whole nation be held to ransom by the partisan interests of a dictatorial regime? Where is the adherence to the independence of the national broadcasting service provided under the law.

Anybody with half a brain will tell you that no insurance scheme can be sustainable on a single premium. It will never work. Those who have studied actuarial science will laugh at you if you expressed such a view. That was the cheap, unreasonable, impractical populist campaign promise of the NDC and Mr. Ras Boateng should have known better to point out the futility of the idea. But to go to the extent of suggesting that he, Ras Boateng, is capable of instituting a scheme where every body pays a single premium for life, in my humble opinion, bothers on gross sycophancy and pronounced lunacy.

Mark my words, the NHIS will not survive under the NDC regime and then they will turn around and blame the previous government for implementing an unrealistic scheme.
As I write this post, reports are emerging of the harassment of businessmen in Kumasi who are perceived to be sympathetic to the NPP. The main perpetrator of this arbitrariness is one Samuel Sarpong, an NDC apparatchik, working in the Kumasi Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Another obvious sycophant trumpeting the herald of human right abuse and the trampling of our constitutional rights!
It appears to me that every minute a new breed of goons are being hatched! And like the biblical locusts, they are about to turn the nation upside down.
Nation wreckers, if you ask me!!

The Tragic Arbitrariness Of The Momentarily Crowned

Are the ever-increasing cases of arbitrariness in the Ghanaian society a sign of blissful incompetence on the part of the new kids on the block or are they an ominous telltale sign of the resurrection of a sadistic and barbaric dispensation? Is it a case of the leopard unable to change its spots or a rather pernicious manifestation of some deep-rooted monstrosity beginning to rear its ugly head? Whatever the case may be, Ghanaians cannot, should not and must not allow the shackles of lawlessness and duplicity to be re-imposed on them after the freedom from the brutal oppressions of the past . Whilst John Atta Mills continues to reiterate promises of decency, the rule of the law, justice and unity, hordes of NDC thugs from North to South, East to West are unleashing a campaign of savage terror on ordinary Ghanaians without even a whim of disapproval from the powers that be.
Gee, how absolute power corrupts! Now NDC thinks they are in charge so they can do as they please, brutalise who they choose to, when they choose to without any regard for due process and the constitutional rights of their targets. Such is the nauseating arbitrariness of the current regime in Ghana!
John Atta Mills promised to do things differently, alas we are witnessing a state of affairs akin to the what prevailed under a by gone era. Pal, how else would you explain the following occurrences:

• Members of the previous government being humiliated in broad-day light by being booted out of their personal vehicles and the vehicles subsequently driven to the seat of the government. Why do they have to drive the cars to the environs of the presidential offices? Doesn't Atta Mills have much more weightier national issues to deal with? Why are the cars not being driven to the police pools, for example? Where is the decency, the decorum, and due process? Another question is: why are they targeting vehicles and not immovable properties? It appears to me that the current government is manifesting a great deal of misplaced priorities. To them a car is the ultimate possession. NDC is not just in power, they are the power, so they they do as they please. What has been the response of the government? They simply said sorry, but the lawlessness continues unabated.
• The shameful interference in the recruitment drive of the Ghana armed forces. We are now being told that hundreds of young Ghanaian men and women already recruited before the election of John Atta Mills are to be sent packing because some people in the present regime are not happy with the population of certain ethnic groups amongst those recruited. They are eager to reconstitute an entirely new recruitment drive to achieve a preconceived tribal ratio which is acceptable to them. This is ethnic purging, if you ask me. What is the government response to this allegation? Silence.
• The unlawful attempt to retrench all the security details of the former government. Since when did it become a crime to be deployed as a an officer to guard government officials. What is the response of the John Atta Mills government? A shrug!
• The Offices of certain assemblies being invaded by thugs and hoodlums on the pretest that a new government is in power so the people in charge so leave immediately. Some people were beaten and robbed in the chaos that ensured. What does the government do to these thugs? Absolutely nothing.
• A number of Ghanaians being threatened to pack up and leave where they are residing by NDC thugs. Some have already been killed and others maimed. What does the government do or say? Nothing.

All the above and many others clearly point to the re-emergence of self-serving arbitrariness in the land.

If this is what Ghanaians voted for and are therefore keeping mum to this tragedy unfolding right before their eyes, then Ghanaians do not know that they do not know what they really want!

A Snoozing President, A Choatic Transition And A Nation in Need of Therapy!

There is a disturbing trend slowly evolving in the supposedly "better Ghana" under the watch, oops, the snooze of John Atta-Mills.
If the 'performance' of John Atta-Mills over the past week has any correlation with his oversung leadership credentials, then there is absolutely no hope for Ghana for the next four years.
How the chap has managed to self-induce himself into such a state of clinical comatose is beyond logic.
From the week-long demonstration he has thus far provided, it appears to me that, Atta-Mills is either clueless of what is expected of him and as a result he is incapable of dealing with the tragedy already brewing right under his nose or he is not really in charge of the affairs of state.
First. The disgraceful, highhanded, unwarranted and vexatious confiscation of vehicles from their rightful owners at the DVLA by a mufti-attired gang under the pretense that the vehicles belonged to the state.
How can a government, oops, a team that promised a clean, accountable, and respectful services to Ghanaians begin on such a shocking note of disservice.
Having bungled a simple exercise of verification of ownership of vehicles, the team in total humiliation had to return the ceased vehicles to the owners.
Why can't issues be resolved in an orderly manner? What happened to the rule by the law, or is the NDC now the law unto themselves?
Second. The Victor Smith mafia-like storming of the castle with another gang of mufti-attired hoodlums to supposedly stop members of the out-going government from looting state vehicles.
This turned out to be a complete alarmist faux pas. A really stupid action, if you ask me.
Why are these people behaving like they are taking over the country through a coup d'etat. There are procedures and rules of engagement that are supposed to be followed so that we don't appear as fools in the eyes of the world. But hey, these are not the type that follow the law!
How can they say that they are defending the interests of the state when their actions are against the jurisprudence of the state they purport to be defending.
This banana- republic mentality is so primitive!
Third. The senseless and fatal shooting of a Ghanaian-American tourist in Saltpond. An innocent human being killed like a dog. The executioners of this young man were of the very same mufti-attired brigade, who we are told 'mistook' the young man riding a motorbike for a common criminal and therefore decided to make him wet.
How can Ghana all of a sudden descend into such state of lawlessness and impunity at the very birth of the Atta-Mills presidency?
All these three guerrilla-style incidents are linked to the direct involvement of the 64 Battalion of the Ghana Armed Forces. Apparently, this unit is a remnant of the notorious commando structures which existed under Rawlings' brutal PNDC regime.
Now do you see where the real instructions are coming from?
The most savage actions reminiscent of the PNDC era are the reported takeover of the operation of toilets in Ashaiman by NDC functionaries, the dislodging of tenants perceived to be NPP by their NDC landlords as well as the daily beatings being meted out to NPP supporters by NDC members throughout the country.
Why is the president keeping mum whilst all these atrocities are taking place?
Now the one who cannot keep his mouth shut has started airing his displeasure whilst the snoozing one continues to snore in blissful disregard.
[They will not tolerate the poverty of inaction or perhaps the poverty of action is what he meant. ]

The Hide and Seek Has Begun

The speed with which our newly-crowned president has decided to dish all the pressing matters on his table in order to attend the extra-ordinary session of ECOWAS can not be simply explained by an agape love for the citizens of Guinea nor can it be explained by the dearth of suitable officials to represent him in Abuja. JAM had to be there because it was the only suitable way to get away from the pressure from the powers that be.
Me-thinks the dude used the ECOWAS meeting to dash away from the incessant calls coming from the generalissimo of his party's to come for the list of ministers he must appoint in the cabinet.
JAM has to devise a much more persuasive means of avoiding the inevitable arm-twisting than running to Nigeria. He simply must stand upon his two feet and make it clear to EVERYBODY that he is charge from now on. Perhaps he also wanted to meet the Man of God in Nigeria who, I am told, prayed him into Golden Jubilee House.[Read This]
Meanwhile did you hear that Victor Smith, the ex- charge d'affairs of JJ Rawlings, charged into Osu Castle like a hungry hippopotamus with a band of loyal soldiers to lay claim to all the keys of state vehicles?
Now look at where his priorities lie: cars!
It is time for them also to ride and ride they will big-time.
The gravy train is about to depart from the station.

We Have A Nerd In The Golden Jubilee House

Today, 7 January 2009, the presidency of the Republic of Ghana has changed hands, after a solemn and colourful ceremony, from J A Kuffour(JAK) to John Atta-Mills(JAM), the quiet, charisma-bypassed technocrat with a penchant for dogged inconspicuousness.
Unlike JJ Rawlings, who loved to have the headlights exclusively focused upon himself, John Atta-Mills by comparison likes to stay behind the scenes.
An almost avowed style of embellished silence coupled with a preference for invisibility defines this former Professor of law. A style that blends quintessentially Ghanaian humility with a streak of disguised discomfort for the limelight, JAM is first and foremost a nerd.
The average Ghanaians is used to the cowboy antics of JJ and JAK’s iffy “fa ma nyame” approach to dealing with difficult situations, however the uber-scholarly disposition of JAM has not been witnessed in Ghana’s realpolitik since the days of KA Busia, K Nkrumah, JB Danquah et al.
What are we to expect from The JAM presidency?
Is JAM a big-ideas person in the mould of K Nkrumah?
So far he has not manifested the characteristic traits of such a predisposition. Is he going to be a practitioner of classical social democratic ideology? I hope he does. However, in my opinion, he does not have the luxury of time and space to do so given the constraints of the Ghanaian economy and the unrealistic expectations of the masses.
Will he be able to bring about the socio-economic transformation of Ghana that he promised? A transformational leader he certainly is not, but if he is able to bring about some measure of positive change without destroying the foundations set by the outgoing administration I will be pleasantly surprised.
The restless wannabes in the NDC will try their damnedest to ride roughshod over everything JAK and the NPP stood for in the past eight years. Generalissimo is already waiting in the wings for the red carpet to be rolled out for him. Hopefully the true democrats within the JAM government will stand their ground from day one. The task ahead is to better the lot of Ghanaians and not the building of a platform to dramatise the hatred of JAK and the NPP.
To The Nerd-in-Chief Himself
The JAM presidency, I presume, will be characterised by a great deal of pragmatic equipoising. However as Ghanaians are not particularly known for tolerance for long-term economic policies, any attempt to employ long-tenured economic models, will be misconstrued as non-performance and the government may risk being voted out of office in the next election.
There is another lesson in the political history of Ghana that JAM needs to learn fast. And that is: every time a government had tried to implement an economic program that called for any measure of sacrifice on the part of the masses, they were voted out of office in the next election. We are allergic to all forms of sacrifice. The secret is that you must do the hard stuff whilst we enjoy the fruits of your labour with reckless abandon.
Mr president, don’t count on Ghanaians to tarry for you if you intend going for a long furlough on the mountain to workout the blueprints for our economic salvation.
We are simply a myopic and impatient bunch.
Whatever your plans, keep one thing in mind: the manna must start falling now!
Last lesson, JAM. Your tendency of overly relying on your NDC pals to take the initiative while you sneak out to cool off, as you did during the campaigns, could lead to a lapse of presidential oversight in your administration.
Hopefully you will stay at the helm of government now that you are the Head of state, Commander-in-Chief as well as Head of government.
In the final analysis, Ghanaians will be the arbiters of the JAM presidency in 2012.

I wish JAM, his government and Ghana the best of luck.
Bon Voyage Mr president!!!

What the Hell is Happening!

I had really hoped to catch the release of the final tally of the presidential election live on the web. Alas, my zeal is gradually turning into annoyance, thanks to Afari-Gyan and his team.
Having begun with the patience of Job, I must confess that the Electoral Commission of Ghana has single-handedly managed to turn the euphoria associated with the elections into one of total disenchantment. The silence from their quarters is stupefying.
It is simply not funny any more and the earlier the officials at the EC woke up from their provocative slumber the better it will be for everybody.
By their obfuscation, they are giving ample ammunition into the hands of those prone to bizarre utterances to unleash mayhem and anarchy.
For goodness sake release the results NOW!!

Ghana 2008 Elections: The Expected Outcome?

If everything goes according to the plans of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, as expected, the whole world will be celebrating with all peace-loving Ghanaians another milestone in our democratic system by Wednesday, 10 December 2008.

With the heightened preparedness of the security apparatchik , the appeal by most of the political parties to their supporters to conduct themselves honourably coupled with the acute awareness of most Ghanaians of the need to the keep the peace, I really see no reason for alarm bells as far as the legitimacy and fairness of the 7 December elections is concerned.

On the scale of probabilities, I perceive that the ALPHA SCENARIO in my earlier blogpost is the most plausible outcome after the elections albeit with some variations because of the on-going global economic recession. This notwithstanding my qualms about the absence of a transformational leader in the midst of the contenders for the post of CEO of Ghana Inc. as posted here.


While it is statistically possible to compute the expected outcome of any future event at any time before the actual event itself, the situation of predicting the outcome of the presidential election in Ghana is severely compromised by the dearth of reliable data on the ground.Another problem has been the subjective manner in which some of the polling of the 2008 elections has been carried out. Read this, this and this and also this.


Whispers from the ground reaching my wide-opened ears are( Caution: this has nothing to do with my personal preference ) that the presidential candidate of the incumbent party will be given the nod by Ghanaians to rule after the elections.
Whilst it is not yet conclusive whether there will be a re-run, it is believed by guys I talk to here that, Nana Akuffo Addo and the NPP have a few percentage points ahead of Prof. Atta Mills and NDC in the final home stretch of the political game. True/False? Anyhow, that is what I am hearing!
Wishing Ghanaians, home and away, and the friends of Ghana a free, fair, peaceful and memorable elections on 7 December 2008!

"A Better Ghana" vs " A New Ghana"

Having looked at the mutterings of the two main political parties in Ghana and the themes of their political campaigns, I am convinced that the essence of their messages is essentially similar.
The NPP chants "A New Ghana" and the NDC bellows "A Better Ghana".
While I believe that a new Ghana must lead to a better Ghana, I guess all of them are selling an agenda of change. I am at least encouraged by the fact that none of them is preaching a message of sankofa. Ghana cannot continue to be mired in the pit of poverty and underdevelopment. We need to keep on transforming for the better in order to generate a momentum of progress and modernisation across the entire Ghanaian society.
I suppose continuously pushing for change is our only escape velocity out of our present predicament.
Whilst there have been some oases of change in the landscape of the country, the much needed transformation of the human resources has been awfully slow. A Shopping Mall or two filled with imported products and the rise of a few rich individuals will not lift Ghana out of rank of the least developed countries. We need to develop an abrasive attitude towards becoming gernerators of wealth instead of importers and consumers of what other people have produced.

Having said that I believe each and every individual in their own small way need to work towards an agenda of personal transformation. Following the routine of the past will definitely not help us no matter who we elect to lead our beautiful nation.
Personally, I have vowed never to become a victim of routinism.
For me the busy-ness of a routine life is as suffocating as it can be. So I have devised ways of combating routinism without compromising my productivity and the quality of work I put in at the end of the day.
The three basic reforms I am choosing to adhere to are:

1. I will try to do something different every day. A non-reckless adventure is invigorating and has the capacity to unleash a great deal of positive vibe. ( Hopely this doesn't become a routine in itself)
2. I will take the responsibilty to get to know new people as often as is possible. This I believe will lead to a network of great friendships and create arenas of influence.
3. I will embrace change as it come or initiate change where necessary. I will take the needed steps to do whatever it takes to transform myself and positively affect those around me.