STATESMAN OPINION: When a Government Brags About Borrowing For Infastructure

Last Monday, President John Dramani Mahama commissioned the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, amidst too much funfair by members of the governing National Democratic Congress.

The noisy propaganda being made by the NDC government and its media collaborators about the project appears mind-boggling, against the background that borrowing money on behalf of the State for infrastructural projects is nothing extraordinary.

Infrastructural development is a good thing, especially when it is properly tailored to address key needs of ordinary members of society. This must, however, not come at a cut-throat cost; neither should it be soaked in corruption, as the country is currently experiencing under the Mahama government.

Also, development of a nation by way of physical infrastructure must be dictated by careful planning, and executed with precision, as well as being well-integrated to ensure convenience and accessibility.

But taking into consideration the level of huge razzmatazz that characterized last Monday night’s commissioning of the Circle Interchange, it is evidently clear that, after nearly 60years as an independent nation, Ghana is still crawling.

The project whose contract sum is heavily over-bloated has been executed without proper drainage system; and considering the fact that this location is prone to flooding, we are all waiting with baited breath for the next seasonal rains.

After 60years of independence, and with our enormous human and natural resources, Ghana should not have been reduced to such a pitiful state where an ordinary piece of infrastructure should have attracted such a huge propaganda, with the NDC government spending huge funds to bus supporters to attend the commissioning ceremony.

We at the Daily Statesman are not saying it is a bad thing for government to provide infrastructure, but what we want the people to understand is that it does not take anything extraordinary to borrow to put up infrastructure. Anybody can do this. Period!

After all, the previous NPP government under President Kufuor also built overheads/interchanges, including the Tetteh Quashie, Madina-Atomic, Ofankor, and Alajo over heads. Mention can also be made of the Asokwa, Asafo, Sofo Line and Mallam interchanges.

And here, what distinguishes the NPP from the NDC is that whilst these projects were being constructed, the Kufuor government also ensured that it had put in place policies and programmes that benefitted the citizens directly and improved upon their socio-economic circumstances.

Mention can be made of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Free Maternal Health Care, Capitation Grant, School Feeding, among others, which to a large extent cushioned the citizens.

We believe what should be the most important issue of concern to the nation is how a government manages to initiate programmes that directly enhance the socio-economic circumstances of the people.

The NDC’s appetite for borrowing knows no bounds. In the last eight years alone under this NDC government, Ghana’s total debt has ballooned from GH¢9.5 billion to a projected GH¢110 billion by the end of September 2016.

Clearly, this NDC government has spent humongous amounts to achieve very little for the country. Yet, President Mahama and his functionaries think Ghanaians should consider them as a government that has done what is extraordinary for the nation.

That is why they keep bragging about their unprecedented borrowing to carry out some normal infrastructural projects for the very people who have been saddled with the burden of paying for the loans contracted on their behalf for these projects.

Let us not forget what President Mahama said about carrying out infrastructural projects in 2008, as then NDC Vice Presidential Candidate: “If you vote for someone because of schools, hospitals, roads and interchanges, you have a weak mind because it is government’s responsibility.”

Source: The New Statesman