Will the E-Levy dry her falling tears?

Mother Ghana was given birth to on March 6, 1957. She was a bouncing baby girl, very beautiful with great expectation of a successful growth into a productive womanhood.

As she grew up during the First Republic, she saw a glimmer of hope of the fulfillment of her expectation.  There were ample signs of development to qualify her among developed nations. Industries began to spring up to industrialise her to give employment to her children.

Regrettably, however, alongside efforts to make her happy with development projects was a filthy ambition to let her live her whole life under one political party.  That agenda was the genesis of her woes.  This was because; most of her children loathed the idea of a one-party state. To prevent its growth, the military came out with a coup d’état on February 24, 1966. But it was business as usual, since the soldiers did not continue the industrialisation programme.

By that time Mother Ghana was just a girl of nine years old but she had started to grow lean with misrule by the soldiers till October 1, 1969 when Dr. K.A. Busia won a democratic election and exhibited some signs of seriousness to develop the country. He first ruthlessly attacked corruption but he was not allowed to show the political stuff he was made of.  On January 13, 1972 his reign was brought to an end through yet another coup d’état led by Col. I.K. Acheampong.

His “Operation Feed Yourself” programme somewhat encouraged Ghanaians to work hard to feed themselves. But, that was the only oasis in the esert. The daily groan and sighs under the weight of unemployment and underdevelopment were the lot of emaciated Mother Ghana.  That was the time “kalabule” (brute cheating) and its sister “Gyinabu” (instant cheating) were born.

The underdeveloped and its concomitant unemployment were due to the fact that the country simply had no money and the reason was not far-fetched. The tax-net seemed to be not wide enough to trap many tax-payers. Thus the coffers were perpetually dry.

Our liberators, redeemers did nothing beyond issuing decrees that did not touch development and unemployment. This accounts for the presence of numerous deplorable roads all over the country, dilapidated school buildings, situations in which school children study under trees while others sit on the floor to write.

In-between these military interventions were democratically elected governments, each of which tried its best to solve Mother Ghana’s problems. With scanty funds in our coffers, they could not do much and so Mother Ghana’s mournful tears continue to flow in torrents.

A loving Mother as she is, she cannot sit down unconcerned, against the background of the saying that “A woman’s tender care cannot cease towards the child she bears.” Certainly, she needs a savior to dry her falling tears, a savior bold and courageous enough to cling tightly to the horns of the bull, without looking back.

A savior with a genuine mission to transform beautiful but now a hag-looking Mother Ghana, to fit into the society of developed countries, no matter the efforts to keep her in the quicksand of perpetual stagnation in development.

Our democratic governments, indeed, always have the burning desire to develop the country, but alas, the “kudi” alias “agooji” is simply not there.  For how long must we continue to sigh in desperation and dejection? Must we not make efforts to get money to bring the country to the level of, at least, middle developed country?

It has been observed that, we often compare our country with others, such as Singapore. Such countries have been well developed, because the citizens did not grumble and vehemently, protest against the payment of taxes. This was because they knew that without taxes, there would be no development. They did not expect to go round other rich citizens, to beg for money with which to develop their countries.

Yes, there is comfort and generally are goodies in Aburokyire. Thus, we move Heaven and Earth, in some cases, at great risks, to travel there in other to enjoy the “windfall” there. We fail to think about how those countries got those comforts.  It was through taxes, but back home in our own country, we give the tag of “kaakaamotobi” to taxes and run away from them!

We can be likened to a pampered child, who is not allowed to do hard work at home. When the source of pampering ceases, such as the death of his indulgent parents, he is found wanting in many situations. For quite a long time, many people have escaped the payment of taxes just because those in responsible positions to enforce the payment of taxes have been derelict of duty.

There is now the urgent need for Mother Ghana to be rescued at all costs, in terms of development. This does not mean going to the IMF or the World Bank. We should end the pampering now and find money internally for this purpose for the benefit, not only of ourselves but also, future generations.  We must, indeed, avoid a situation in which future generations would say, “The generations before us were very wicked, selfish and inconsiderate. Look at the type of a country they have left us – poor development, poor infrastructure etc.” How would we feel in our graves?

The way forward

How is the government going to use the proceeds from the E-Levy to satisfy all Ghanaians? A million dollar question.  PERISCOPE suggests that: All  the Districts  in Ghana should form Committees comprising their Members of Parliament, Metropolitan, Municipal and District

Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Presiding Members of the various Assemblies and Traditional rulers. They should compile lists of all their needs, such as motorable roads, potable water, presentable school buildings etc. The lists would then be given to the government as a guide for it to respond to the needs without discrimination.

By the end of 2024, most of them must have been completed. This would assure the residents that the government has, indeed, kept faith with them and that the turns of others would come to pass.  The people would then realise that, after all, the E-Levy is advantageous.

John Mahama to note

Brother John Dramani Mahama is currently trying to discredit the E-Levy, so that Ghanaians would reject it.  Brother JDM, this is dangerous; it might go against the NDC, during the 2024 general elections. This is because , it has  been observed that, contrary to the belief that Ghanaians hate the E-levy for fear of bringing hardships  on them, they rather embrace it with great expectations that the E-levy would give them first -class roads, new school buildings, potable water and other needed  infrastructure.

This is accentuated by the fact that as soon as the issue of E-levy came up for discussion and communities were convinced about its benefits, they started to draw the attention of the government to their woes, such as bad roads, through frequent  demonstrations, punctuated with war songs and drumming.

Campaigning against it would, therefore annoy Ghanaians more especially, if by 2024, more places would have been proud beneficiaries of the “Asantrofi Anoma” E-levy.

Brothers and sisters, Let us shed copious tears today for the sake of our future generations, while we wait for a peaceful rest in our graves.

CERTAINLY, THE E-LEVY CAN DRY THE FALLING TEARS  OF MOTHER GHANA.

By Godfried K. Arhen-Kumi

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.