When It Is Coming , Its Doing -Anthony Obeng Afrane

 It’s common for politicians to make all manner of promises on political platforms during electioneering. Such utterances by politicians make the electorate think that the politician is capable of doing almost everything.

Many years ago, one of Ghana’s past Heads of State was on a working tour to Kuntunase, a town which is more than 100 kilometres from the coast. There was a durbar of chiefs in honour of the Head of State.

At a point, the leader of the nation asked the paramount chief of the area to name one very important need of his people. The paramount chief hesitated for a while, then one of his sub-chiefs whispered into his ears, “Nana, tell him we need a habour!” So, the paramount chief requested for a habour in an inland region! The sub-chief who made the suggestion had visited his son in Tema, and had gotten excited about the beauty of the harbour, and thought it wouldn’t be bad if they got one at their village.

Even though Nana Akufo-Addo has made notoriously preposterous promises in the past, things are no longer getting funny. He is now crossing the line of absurdity into that of deliration. I have tolerated his One District, One Factory promise; and endured his creation of districts and regions assurances; but wala hi, I can’t stomach his idea of constructing a dam in every village.

I think he is now insulting the intelligence of the people of Ghana. In Ghana, village dwellers are predominantly farmers; a village has at least 500 inhabitants. Assuming 300 people in a village want to do a minimum of an acre each of farming, and I’m being very magnanimous with my estimates; there would be the need to construct a dam that will irrigate 300 acres (120 hectares).

The cost of a dam project depends on size; for instance, a USU50,000 dam can irrigate one hectare of farmland. In this case, the type of dam that can irrigate 120 hectares will cost US$24 million. Even if Nana Akufo-Addo’s One Village, One Dam policy is meant for villages in the three northern regions, the cost could be unimaginably colossal.

There are approximately 6,000 villages in the three northern regions. So, if we want the costing, the costing, the costing, let’s multiply 6,000 villages by 24 million dollars. This will give us 144 billion dollars! The GDP of Ghana for 2015 was estimated at 116 billion dollars. GDP is the value of all goods and services produced in a country over a period of time. This is crazy, isn’t it? If you agree with me, Join Kwaw Kese, and with a clinched fist, hit the side of your head and shout abodam! As soon as Nana mentioned that he is going to build a dam in every village, I remembered the ridiculous Kuntunase chief; and I said to myself, kai, matter come! When it is coming, it is doing. Opana will soon promise one village one harbour.

Anthony Obeng Afrane/GhanaPoliticsonline.com