Editorial: President Mahama Is On The Right Trajectory

One of the major problems confronting Ghana in recent times is the sheer greed being exhibited by some of our political office leaders. Ghanaians go to the polls every four years to elect political leaders to implement policies that would inure to their economic benefits.

Unfortunately, when some of these leaders finally assume office, they throw the implementation of sound policies to the dogs and rather concentrate on how to amass wealth at the expense of the very poor people that voted for them. The Fourth Republic is replete with some of these stories.

The Jerry Rawlings administration, we believe, came out with in-filling land policy where large acres of land, hosting small government bungalows are divided and sold. The aim is to economise the use of the land. Unfortunately, this became an avenue for political office holders to grab state lands without blinking their eyes.

Some of these lands, located at North Ridge, Roman Ridge, Cantonments and Airport Residential area among a host of other prime areas were sold to politicians in the name of this in-filling policy. Space will not allow us, else we would have listed majority of these politicians and other public office holders who grabbed some of these state lands.

As if this is not enough, the same public office holders have crafted a policy where vehicles they use whilst in office are sold to them when they are leaving office at give-away prices. Meanwhile, the politician and non-public office holders are all tax payers, but the latter do not have access to some of these pecks. In fact, our politics have been commercialised to the extent that most of the youth today think the only way they can make it in life is to do politics.

Our university graduates are no more thinking outside the box on how to create wealth for themselves and the country as a whole. They only think about joining TEIN (National Democratic Congress Students wing) or TESCON (New Patriotic Party Students wing) on the various campuses so that they can get easy job opportunities after graduation. But one cannot begrudge these youth because they have seen some of their colleagues who, after engaging in politics for a few years, amass wealth that are difficult to comprehend.

Apart from the scramble for state assets, some of our public office holders have also made themselves ‘Arabian Kings’ and look down upon the very people that gave them the mandate to rule the country. In fact some of their conducts are very reprehensible, but they seem to get away with it, because the power is in their hands.

The Chronicle has not conducted any scientific research on the subject, but it will not be far-fetched to say that some of these conducts are the very things driving people away from exercising their franchise during elections.

The Chronicle is, however, happy that President John Dramani Mahama has decided to change the narrative through his resetting agenda.

On Monday, this week, the president launched a code of conduct for all his appointees. In this code of conduct, it is unlawful for any minister and other government appointees to purchase state lands or buy their official vehicles when leaving office. These appointees have also been barred from awarding contracts to companies they have business interest in them. Similarly, they cannot accept gifts beyond GHS20, 000 without declaring them to the Chief of Staff.

As if these are not enough, all foreign travels, according to the code of conduct, must be approved by the Chief of Staff. All these measures, we believe, are meant to protect the public purse and this is where we commend President Mahama for setting such a high standard for his appointees, which as we earlier indicated, will inure to the benefit of all Ghanaians.

The president will agree with The Chronicle that during his first term in office as president of Ghana, a number of things went wrong. But having spent eight years in opposition, he seems to have learnt a number of useful lessons and that is why his current administration is doing well when it comes to the issue of governance. As the president himself told the appointees, he is determined to leave a lasting legacy and we pray that he achieves his aims.

President Mahama is now constructing a new path, which all future presidents will tread to ensure the growth and development of our motherland. With the launch of this code of conduct, it will be foolhardiness on the part of any appointee to disobey them, knowing the consequences – dismissal.

We once again applaud the president and hope that the same zeal will be applied till the end of his term.

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