Michael J.k. Bokor
9 January 2009
analysis
Prof. John Evans Atta Mills assumes office on January 7 as Ghana's third President in the Fourth Republic, basking in the fresh glory of the Ghanaian electorate. Public expectations are high that his government will do its best to improve the living standards of the people. As an intellectual, law professor, tax administrator, and politician, Prof. Mills stands tall on the political landscape today.
It is, therefore, hoped that he will bring down his personal endowments to bear on how he governs the country for the next four years. To enhance the country's constitutional democratic governance, he should come clean as someone who will not introduce "buga-buga" into how his government conducts the affairs of state.
At the party level, he has an onerous responsibility to ensure that the NDC's image is enhanced through the party's manifesto and lessons learned from hindsight to give Ghanaians the relief that the Kufuor government couldn't provide in spite of numerous promises and assurances. Now pushed to the background, the NPP is a wounded lion (not elephant!!), licking its wounds and counting on its representatives in Parliament to keep the NDC on its toes. Such is politics.
Why am I tasking Prof. Mills with all these responsibilities all too soon? If we consider the fact that he had trailed Akufo-Addo in the Dec. 7 elections but ended up outstripping him in the run-off, we should realize that it was because the Ghanaian electorate saw in him (and the NDC) a better alternative than Akufo Addo and his NPP. This turn-around demands that Prof. Mills should do his best to justify that confidence as early and as resolutely as possible. There could be many things for him to do; but here are what I consider to be some pressing ones, to begin with:
MEDIA RELATIONS
Much of the bad press that characterized the first NDC administration could be attributed to the strained working relationship that existed between that government and the mass media. The Rawlings government's unproductive relationship with the media must be a thing of the past.
Prof. Mills should make himself available as the US President does, for instance, to relate to media practitioners without any fear of anything. After all, what will he have to hide if there is transparency in the way his government functions? Here are a few suggestions:
1. There is need for the Castle Press Corps to be revived to create opportunities for journalists to have access to government officials at the Presidency and for them to provide information as and when called for;
2. Openness in the dealings with the media should entail weekly press briefings apart from snap press conferences to allow the government to comment on issues of national and international importance as and when they occur;
3. A Press Secretary who knows how to do public relations and journalism---not just anybody who will shoot his mouth anyhow and create problems---should be appointed;
4. If possible, there should be Weekly Radio broadcasts to the nation---to address pertinent issues and prove to Ghanaians that the government is up and doing. After all, the US Presidents do so and gain from it. Opportunities should be created for the Opposition to respond to such Weekly Addresses so that Ghanaians can have both sides of the issues to instruct them on matters of public interest; and
5. Freedom of Information Act should be promulgated to allow the public to have access to information that will help them monitor the performance of government and offer opinions on national issues.
LABOR FRONT
The first NDC government's relationship with the workers' front was not all that cordial---the spate of industrial agitations and strikes did not help matters. The second NDC government must reach out more to civil servants (and indeed all workers) for them to strike a balance in what to do to maximize productivity and be handsomely paid as such. I want to see a reduction in industrial agitations, which eventually muddy the political waters and lead to disaffection. The government always stands to lose in that situation.
Teachers had always been at the losing end in their agitations with the first NDC government and that of Kufuor's NPP. What happened between the NAGRAT and the Kufuor government is a good example. Such strained relationships must be a thing of the past under the new NDC government. As an academic, Prof. Mills should know better the cost of such bad blood between teachers and the government. He has already made promises and we will hold him tight to ensure that he fulfills those promises.
Other identifiable organizations within the labor front (doctors, nurses, etc.) should also not be left out. In effect, the Mills government must be proactive right from day one so that any thorny problem that rears its head is tackled expeditiously at its formative stages and nipped in the bud before they get out of hand to torment the government.
PUBLIC IMAGE
Prof. Mills must hesitate in doing or saying anything to antagonize any section of the citizenry. Guarded comments should be the order of the day. I recall how former President Rawlings angered the people of Cape Coast and Elmina (Fantes, generally) with his expensive joke about sanitation, for which he has not yet been forgotten by those who felt implacably offended. That expensive joke about the cat's covering its faeces---which he intended for human beings to learn a lesson from---could not be far from the truth; but it had a very damaging impact on his relationship with the people. Prof. Mills must be alert to avoid such pitfalls.
GOVERNANCE
When the people get food to eat, they will play with and not fight the government. Food production for local consumption and export must be promoted through better policies and support from the government and its agencies. Thus, the Ministry of Agriculture and its numerous structures must no more remain dormant. If they can't support agricultural production, they must be scrapped.
Prof. Mills and his new NDC administration must work hard to demystify government (as begun by Rawlings) so that the people can participate in government in a more coordinated manner. Local Government is important and the various structures must be supported to perform their functions. Development must start from the bottom and it must involve the people directly. After all, when the people know what to do for themselves, they will do so without looking up to the Central Government in Accra.
There are other opinion leaders (chiefs, religious leaders, organized social and economic groupings) to whom the Prof. Mills government must relate productively. It shouldn't be difficult to make it a standing order for government functionaries to consort with such powerful forces to determine lines of action to take in matters concerning the people in the various localities. After all, good governance implies that the government officials should not see themselves as the only people who have solutions to national problems. Consultations with these forces must be encouraged and problems solved in a concerted manner.
FIGHTING CRIME
Armed robbery and other acts of indiscipline must be clamped down upon heavily as JJ Rawlings sought to do but which the Kufuor government couldn't sustain as expected.
The government should rebuild the Ghana Police Service and other para-statal organizations entrusted with the responsibility for providing national security. As a former Chairman of the Police and Prisons Council, he should know better what to do to enhance service conditions and capabilities of these vital institutions.
The determination to fight or stop corruption must go beyond lip-service. We all saw the futility of Kufuor's Office of Accountability, which operated from the Office of the President. How ridiculous!! Institutions for stemming corruption (CHRAJ, Serious Fraud Office, the Judiciary, and the Police Service) must be retooled and supported to perform their legitimate functions without any official interference.
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