John 2:20 “Are you going to build again in three days”? they asked him ” It has taken forty-six years to build this temple.
Jesus dared the Jewish authorities to tear the temple down and in 3 days he will rebuild it but metarphorically he spoke concerning his death and resurrection. At least most of us believe that Jesus died and rose on the third day so in actual fact it was fulfilled. Let’s not forget that the Jewish authorities actually revealed how long it took to actually build the temple – 46 years.
Now comparing a temple to a country which one is bigger? This temple took the forefathers of the Jews 46 years in building but a politician comes to tell you give me just 4 years or at most 8 years and I will develop the whole country or change the fortunes of the country. My brother, my sister it is not possible and can never be done by any political party in the world.
A country that must truly develop must have at least a 50 years development plan that every government must follow otherwise forget it. Nkrumah had a development plan for Ghana but all governments have not followed it so we always go back to square one. There is no 4 years manifesto that can develop a country in any part of the world. Ghanaians must open their eyes and seek more from our leaders. Our leaders are accountable to us and must give us short, medium and long term plan they have for the state. Since we are not practicing a one party system but a multi party system, there is the need for all political parties to be brought on board to agreeably come up with at least a 50 year development plan that we must all follow irrespective of the party in power or the party we belong to. The manifesto will then give a detailed tactics to be used to achieve part of the development plan within the 4 to 8 years. The electorate will then evaluate the performance of the party in power whether they deserve another nod or a change is necessary. Most importantly the development plan becomes the flag we all look up to that binds all of us as a nation. Impliedly the development plan becomes the social contract between the political parties and the electorates.
From the way I see things, Ghana is moving without a plan but an impossible political manifesto. It will never be fully achieved in the end and if looks like it is achieved, it will either be a half baked bread or have accompanying truck loads of problems with it. A picture will be painted by the politician that it has been achieved just to score political points but it will only be a mirage.
It is hard time we decide as a people the kind of country we want for our children and let’s put a sustainable development plan in place that will be followed in the next 50 years. Ghana is 61 years old now, if we had followed Nkrumah’s plan, we would have been well developed about 11 years ago. It is never too late to do a 360 degree turn and let’s have a national development plan for Ghana.
No government, I repeat no government can develop Ghana between 4 to 8 years without following at least a 50 year development plan.
