With the highest public debt in the history of the country, rising youth unemployment, businesses collapsing due to insensitive taxes, brazen looting by political appointees, and crass corruption due to deliberate collusion by public officials and private individuals, it is evident that the story of Ghana today is a sorry one.

It is a story told with shame and in tears – not with smiles. It’s a fact that the West African country is a complete mess compared to how it fared seven years back. This is no secret. That Ghana is currently not sound financially, economically, environmentally, morally, and politically, is known to all, including current public officials and government supporters.

However, had the government of Nana Akufo-Addo tried to undermine the facts to hide the truth, the data about the country’s worsening economic situation published by international development organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is so scary that Ghanaians will need to wake up from their present stupor if only they are tired of the mess being littered around.

The future of Ghana is more bleak and uninspiring than it had ever been since we were declared an independent nation on March 6, 1957, because of deliberate collusion by appointees of the present government and their sponsors.  

What is clear is that, despite the mass clamouring for a change of government in 2024, Ghanaians may be disappointed in the next leader of the country because s/he will spend a considerable time clearing the mess cleverly and deliberately created by the NPP than he will in implementing his policies and building his legacies.

It is patently clear what the next Ghanaian President will need to do in the first two years of his or her four-year term. S/he should not be more interested in building his or her legacies which in the end may be overshadowed by the mess created by the Akufo-Addo government.

Ghanaians will need the next leader to do the heavy lifting, rein in his or her appointees and weed out those in position for their selfish gains which Nana Akufo-Addo couldn’t take the tough decisions to reset the country’s degenerating moral decadence, restore its political glory, and bring it back onto the highway of economic boom.

The next President of Ghana will need to go after the corrupt public officials in the governing NPP and get those found culpable of corruption and other underhand dealings dealt with according to the law of the land. There is no need to be gentle about this. And there is no need to leave corrupt practices carried out by appointees of the NPP unattended to or unaddressed all in the name of peaceful co-existence. That is not noble. And there is nothing peaceful about that behaviour.

There cannot be peace when the wicked walk around in glory while the innocent and poor masses remain uncovered and struggle to survive.

The peace of the country is undermined every day when public officials steal from the nation’s kitty with total disregard and disrespect for the sufferings of poor Ghanaians who hand out their hard-earned monies to the government in the name of taxes. Going after the corrupt political appointees in the NPP when they go into opposition is called justice and this must be served COLD.

Again, the next leader of Ghana will need to focus on resourcing the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), to contribute to the fight against corruption. This must go beyond paying lip service to these public institutions.

The OSP, CHRAJ, and NCCE should be tasked, within the first 100 days (about 3 and a half months) of the new administration, to probe public bodies such as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Youth Employment Agency (YEA), National Service Secretariat (NSS), Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, BOST, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Lands Commission, Tema Oil Refinery, the Ministry of Tourism, Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), among others, of possible underhand dealings and corruption-related activities.

The next thing the new Ghanaian President will need to do after 2025 is to cause all contracts entered by the governing NPP with private individuals and businesses that span more than five years to be reviewed to ensure value for money and the observance of due diligence in the public interest. Many of these contracts that will be awarded to party cronies are likely to be signed between November and December 2024, just to tie the hands of the new government as was done by previous regimes.

Similarly, the new Ghanaian government in 2025 will need to appoint fewer ministers and deputy ministers since appointing more ministers does not translate into quality or impactful governmental work. If there is any lesson to be learnt from the government of Nana Akufo-Addo, it is that appointing more ministers burdens the taxpayer, strains the nation’s finances, and contributes nothing to nation-building.

The governing NPP has the largest and biggest government in the history of the country yet its impact in the areas of infrastructure, social and economic development, political stability, and moral development is minimal compared to past governments.

Another thing worth pointing out is that the new Ghanaian leader will need to find innovative and creative ways of generating money other than borrowing from both the domestic and international markets. The government of President Nana Akufo-Addo has proven that when it comes to borrowing with little to nothing to show for it, it is a master. I know the new government may want to borrow to survive and particularly to service the debts incurred by Nana Akufo-Addo and his appointees, but s/he will need to control this urge so as not to bury the next generation under a mountain of debts from which they will struggle to break free.

Also, the next President of Ghana will need to control his government’s expenditure, particularly on things that they don’t need. Some common examples include buying the latest vehicles when we have a pool of vehicles at the disposal of the President, the Vice President, and their ministers.

We know some people have the uncanny urge to have or use the latest vehicles when they are handed one government appointment or the other. Please stop your 'girls and boys’ from unnecessarily burdening the taxpayer. Try imposing restrictions on the purchase of new vehicles by your appointees for the next three years until this becomes necessary.

The next President of Ghana will need to drive around town at least twice a year to learn first-hand how disorganised Ghanaian society is and the poor state of our road networks. S/he should not allow his appointees to tell him or her how disorganised Ghana is. S/he might equally learn about the poor situation many Ghanaians have been forced to live in due to the current and previous government's mismanagement of the country’s resources.

Finally, the new Ghanaian leader will need to cut down on foreign travel unless they are likely to impact the growth, well-being, and development of the State of Ghana and Ghanaians at large. If it becomes necessary to travel, s/he must control his expenses and those of his appointees, particularly bathing in the air should not be a priority. If the Presidential private jet is not fit for purpose, s/he should urge Parliament to procure a different one that succeeding governments can use.

It’s important to note that no one can claim to love Ghana more than Ghanaians. And no Ghanaian can claim to love the country more than the others. Ghana belongs to all Ghanaians, and we need to sit up else our governments will sell all of us in the name of governance.

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The author, A. Kwabena Brakopowers is a development communication practitioner, author, and essayist who has written extensively on communication, brand management, international relations, education, and economic development. He could be reached at Brakomen@outlook.com