PICTURE COURTESY: www.washingtonpost.com
The Ghana vision 2020,
An elaborate document
With lofty aspirations.
This vision was brought to the fore in 1996,
It entailed a coordinated programme
Of economic and social development polices
Which included agricultural and industrial
Programmes at all levels and in all regions of Ghana.
The long term vision of 2020 was to make
Ghana a middle-income country by the year 2020.
After 14yrs of vision 2020,
What have we achieved so far?
Are we still working with 2020 in mind?
Are we still envisioning 2020?
We’re more than halfway through our 25 year
March towards 2020.
What is a middle-income country anyway?
Does Ghana remember vision 2020?
Here’s Ghana’s attitude towards long term planning,
An idea, conceived,
Hours of man hours invested,
The idea, we pursue like a ferret on a rabbits’s tail,
Documents, first draft,
Second draft,
And so many other drafts.
Huge sums of money invested.
One early morning, a member of
Government stands atop the tallest
Mountain shouting,
Eureka!!! Eureka!!!!
We’ve found it, we’ve found it.
Wearing a Cheshire cat grin
With a huge tome in hand,
Which causes him to list to one side.
The days after that mountain top declaration,
Press conferences, countless held,
Bigwigs, all in attendance
Photo shoots, all smiles for the cameras.
Months and years after the mountain walk,
The tomes become doorstops,
Too voluminous to be keep idling on shelves.
Eventually, these much touted policies
And what nots fade into the background
Never to be heard of again.
Welcome to long term planning the Ghanaian way.
Years after vision 2020, can anyone tell me
Where we stand on this particular vision?
Are we still in pursuit?
Have given up the chase?
Please help me find vision 2020,
Last I heard, he was marooned on some
Island in an office in one of the government ministeries
Feeding off mouldy cheese and roasted nuts.
If you chance upon 2020,
Kindly ask the above questions on my behalf,
He seems pretty elusive
Almost reclusive,
The Ghana vision 2020,
A suicide mission?
A blurred vision?
A brilliant rendition?
Or a nation’s lack of vision?
Another pipe dream, bro. I guess it's now up to we the Generation Y to create our own better Ghana. Vision 2020 was a great idea but with our political structure the way it is, it was always doomed for failure.
ReplyDeleteSuch policies remain dormant after change in governments. It's up to the current government to take it up and run with it. We still got nine years more. Times ticking....never say never!
ReplyDeleteSAINT, HMMM...SO MANY PIPE DREAMS, WEN WILL THE PIPELINES IN GHANA GAIN FREEDOM. THEY'RE OVERLOADED WITH LOFTY DREAMS AND SELFISH THEMES...
ReplyDeleteWE'RE A REALLY FASCINATING NATION...
Armah, never say never but in gh, with these guys sitn up der, you cant help but say never. 9 yrs and counting, 2020 will be the judge, ie if we're still pusuing 2020. smtn tells me we never even began pursuing it in the first place...
ReplyDeleteThis in my opinion is attitudinal and cuts across all walks of life and it's evidently reflected in government. We are active planners and passive implementers. I don't know who vision 2020 is and I've never met him before.
ReplyDeletePaa Kwesi, you do not know the man called vision 2020? that's a crime. he came into prominence in the year 1996 with promises of gh becoming a middle-income country within 25 years.more than halfway through the 25 yr duration and i cant seem to find head and tail of this interesting vision. there were ambitious projects such as the Accra-Kumasi-Tamale motorway, the Korle lagoon project among a host of others embedded in 2020. active planners and passive implementers...you summed it up beautifully bro. good evening..
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for a blind man to have 20/20, I pray that the blinders will soon be removed because they have been put in place by choice.
ReplyDeleteAko, let's pray so bro, but i think it's high time ppl were guided by issues rather than ethncity, colour, characters and other trivial things. whether someone hails from ease west or in the middle of the atlantic ocean, i believe his realistic ideas and policies should guide a vote not colours and other forms of trifle...morning bro
ReplyDeleteWe as African have always lack this culture of continuity and maintenance.that has been one of our uniq character as Africans and not till we change our attitude in that direction any vision started by one will be blinded by the other> I think Nkrumah had that vision much...the others i dont see it much in them
ReplyDeleteAdjei agyei-Baah
Agyei ma bruva, until we get a leader cast in the mould or nkrumah or one who thinks like him, we'rewill always be moving in circles as a nation and begging for peanuts called loans and grants...since nkrumah, i'm yet to see a true gh leader
ReplyDelete