By the time you read this, the elections would be over and we may have an inkling of the results. Whoever is elected leader should start working immediately. Even if there is no outright winner and a runoff is pending, the two contenders should start working now. There is no time to waste. Our leaders are serious and they should by now know who their collaborators are and how they would work within the existing structures and any new ones to be established. The leaders should start work within this environment immediately. The challenges facing the nation are enormous. We know how we are. If the new President tries to recover from his election exertions and indulges in adulatory congratulations and praises, he would unwittingly surround himself with sycophants and self-seekers who would hijack his high purposes and plans. The new President should, therefore, set to work like a leader on day one. Even if his major plans would take time to assemble, he should still be in the office at 8:00 a.m. and deal with the myriads of little problems which make life unnecessarily irritable. One minor problem which causes tension and may even result in serious accidents is the malfunctioning of the traffic lights in the country. It is probably most acute in Accra. The traffic lights frequently break down and are not properly timed. For example, traffic is often congested on the road from the Aviation Social Centre to the Cantonments Intersection linking the Achimota Burma Camp roads. The congestion is caused because the time given to those from the Airport Road to enter the intersection is woefully inadequate. Often, only three or four vehicles get through the lights, assuming the waiting has not induced some motorists to doze. The President should summon the minister, and if one has not been appointed, he should ask the responsible Chief Director to explain the situation. If those in charge of the traffic lights are incompetent, they should be relieved of their onerous duties. It may be argued that this is not the work of the President. But in Ghana, he alone can resolve such long-standing inefficiencies. It may be that contractors are responsible for the construction and maintenance of the traffic lights. It may be that because of nepotism and corruption, incompetent firms win the contract. If such matters are not dealt with early and ruthlessly if necessary, all the big speeches of the President about zero-tolerance for corruption would be futile loud noise and empty protestations. If such sores are allowed to fester, it is difficult to cure when the President springs into full action. The present frequent cuts in electricity supply illustrate the point. Only an inept administration could tolerate electricity cuts to annoy the public when elections are near. And the administration is not inept. Obviously, the concern has been allowed to take root and it is not easy to uproot it even at election time. Minor inefficiencies can derail our major plans. For example, some of the big plans, which make Ghana a tourist destination, would not materialise so long as our towns and cities remain noisy and filthy. We do not need new laws, rules and regulations. We should enforce existing rules and directives. Unfortunately, indiscipline has so taken deep roots in the body politic that strong .leadership is needed to exorcise the disease. Naturally, anyone who insists we should forswear our foolish ways would be unpopular. Therefore, if the new President makes no nonsense of his leadership, he would be unpopular. But experience shows that he would not be unpopular for long when life turns better. The new President should, therefore, take the measures he should take in spite of our unreasonable protestations within the first two years of his tenure of office. If his development plans succeed, he should be re-elected. But even if he is not re-elected, he should hold his head high, because he did right and sought to give light to a people languishing in a darkness of their own making. To return to the suggestion that the President should start work at 8:00 a.m., we should admit that we are not a disciplined nation. We need a leader to show the way, so far as time is concerned. If work starts at 8:00a.m., we should all be at the workplace at 8:00a.m. If we give excuses of traffic jams or living far away and So on, we shall never succeed in building a prosperous nation. At present, the public officer works for an average of four and not eight hours a day. However good the plans and strategies of government, we cannot eliminate poverty in our life time, even with millennium development assistance if we are not disciplined. If the new government begins by putting the small things right, their successful end would be assured, especially if we continue to implement the promises which won them power. The promises can be achieved or they would be on the achievement road if the government implements an integrated development plan and not busy themselves over a motley collection of projects. To move forward in our present circumstances requires a strong, purposeful leadership devoted not to self, but to the downtrodden. Source: Daily Graphic