Political analyst and physician, Dr Arthur Kobina Kennedy, has described Ghana’s inability to address recurring national challenges, particularly flooding, as evidence of a deeper crisis in the country’s democratic governance.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile programme over the weekend, Dr Kennedy argued that successive governments had failed to translate promises into practical solutions to problems that continue to threaten lives and livelihoods.
His remarks was after host Samson Lardy Anyenini sought his views on the decline in President John Dramani Mahama’s approval ratings.
The discussion later shifted to the flooding experienced in parts of Accra, following weekend rains.”We don’t solve problems,” Dr Kennedy said.
He recalled a video in which President Mahama, while in opposition, criticised governments for allegedly diverting loans from their intended purposes and pledged greater scrutiny and accountability when his party assumed office.
“He said that when they come they would return that function to look at government and do this and do that.
And that hasn’t been done,” Dr Kennedy stated adding, “It is an eternal testament to the failure of our democratic governance that we seem unable to solve something that is so fundamental and foundational. And that is unfortunate.”
The comments triggered a broader reflection among panelists on Ghana’s developmental challenges, particularly sanitation, discipline and leadership.
A Lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Dr James Kwabena Bomfeh, expressed concern about what he described as worsening indiscipline among both citizens and leaders.
“I came through the rain and you saw that there’s water gathering almost everywhere. It’s flooding everywhere,” he said.
Dr Bomfeh also cited the disruption of traffic by a group of mourners near the Nima Police Station on the Ring Road, describing the incident as symptomatic of a wider breakdown in civic responsibility.
“The indiscipline is just too much. We are not committed to building a nation, Samson, and that is the greatest tragedy of this nation,” he lamented.
Referencing Ghana’s first President, Dr Bomfeh said the country had drifted away from the ideals of nation-building espoused at independence.
“We must realise that we are no longer colonial but a free and independent people. We must change our minds, our attitudes. This is our nation. No one will build it for us, but us,” he said, questioning whether Ghanaians remained committed to that vision.
Although describing himself as a “perpetual optimist,” he admitted growing concerns about the country’s future.”Daily, I am increasingly getting worried that citizens and leaders alike, we aren’t showing leadership. We must wake up,” he stressed.
For his part, Nana Agyei Baffour, Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, argued that Ghana’s education system had failed to become an effective instrument for national transformation.
According to him, education in Ghana had largely elevated individuals socially without necessarily translating into broader societal development.”Education has not been a tool to change our country. It has been a tool for people who have obtained it to be lords in this country,” the legislator remarked.
Drawing comparisons with countries such as Singapore and the United Kingdom, he suggested that education in those jurisdictions had been deliberately harnessed to improve public institutions and living conditions.
Former General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr Justice Yankson, also painted a grim picture of the country’s developmental trajectory.
“Some of us are beginning to lose faith in this country as far as our developmental trajectories are concerned,” he stated.
“We’ve never been truly committed to any activity that will improve our lives. It is all about the politics and how much rent-seeking people at the end of the day will benefit from.”
Dr Yankson criticised what he described as the absence of effective sanitation systems and the failure of state institutions to enforce regulations governing waste disposal and development planning.
“We have been engulfed by filth all these years and there are no meaningful approaches to solving them,” he said.
He further questioned the country’s waste management practices, arguing that inadequate landfill facilities and the lack of investment in modern waste-to-energy solutions had compounded the problem.
The panelists’ concerns came against the backdrop of renewed flooding in sections of Accra after less than half an hour of rainfall over the weekend, reigniting public debate about urban planning, sanitation enforcement and governance accountability.
The discussion highlighted growing frustrations over the persistence of challenges that have repeatedly confronted the nation despite decades of democratic rule and successive government interventions.
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