Do Not Tax Me By

It has been a while hasn't it. Lots has happened in this beautiful country of mine.  From the Ayew brothers (our male versions of the William sisters) and their meeting with H.E. the President, the baptism of fire that has engulfed Accra and its environs with its invisible arsonists and arson experts, drama over Asamoah Gyan buying a customised Porsche, the smoothness level of Sammi Awuku of the NPP courtesy of the Supreme Court of Ghana and the imprisonment of the "Latrician" and the Editor of the Daily Searchlight also courtesy of the Supreme Court of Ghana. 

 *Quick chip in* People are skimming the surface of freedom of speech because of the 10 day imprisonment of the editor of the daily searchlight. All I have to say on that subject is a quote from Prince Metterinch (Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire from 1809 until the liberal revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation) 

"The word 'freedom' means for me not a point of departure but a genuine point of arrival. The point of departure is defined by the word 'order'. Freedom cannot exist without the concept of order".

So I ask whilst we go on and on about freedom of speech, is it in any form of order? I will love to hear your thoughts on that.

Any-ways, I have decided to be a judge in my next life.I will quickly discuss one of the current events...yep you guessed right "Latrician". But I will shy away from discussing his comments, his American slangs that landed him in jail and rather focus on his release.
His release, his release....What about his release?! If you ever did literature in school or you are just a book worm and love to read, you would have done a couple of late night sessions with George Orwell's book  Animal Farm. By now, you sure are part of the list of people exclaiming what a genius George Orwell is. For me I have long decided that it is not a novel but reality dished out so honestly. At first, you begin to think the characters are far fetched but it is us. It is us humans. A vivid description of how man at his lowest would seek to undermine everyone and everything around him but do much worse at his heights. And what has that got to do with his release you ask? I am wondering why my Minister of Information would use our time (public service) to go to the prisons the day of release and pose for pictures. Pictures that have found their way on social media networks. Very sad if you ask me, even if you will not listen to us common floor members and still feel strongly you need to show solidarity why not send a deputy? Or you do not get my point?

First of all, there is nothing in our constitution named as "government communication team". Nothing. Correct me if I am wrong, we have a minister designate with two deputies (grin my Felix) and unless we have not been told something, they are capable of handling and discussing official government communiques. This "government communication team" is a coined something from the party. I cough at this point.... knowing it is job for the boys and they get resourced by the Information Ministry. Sad truth. But there must be a fine thick line between government and party. We cannot have party boys and girls going around feeling like they have a legal instrument/appointment letter signed by the President. Why do you think for quite some time now, information is all over the place and we do not have proper information channels.

 If something happens, before government officially releases a response then you have already heard it on radio, read it on twitter and Facebook before long someone will send it to you via whatsapp. *shrugs* It is very embarrassing and come to think to it, most people do not understand why the presiding Judge asked him what his profession was. Government business, government policy, government decisions on finance, foreign affairs, security, interior, health and you actually let a "Latrician" sit on air, live radio and talk on your behalf? as what? Aint you embarrassed? When you are honest to yourself, the ratio of being disgraced is a bit on the low-key. I know I hate maths so I will not pretend to like and love so that I get a lucrative position. There is nothing wrong with accepting who you are. But this is Ghana, you will expect people to understand a simple point as this, but no. It will dance in an ear and dance out and all they will see is a five letter word called elite and tag you as such.

Any-ways I have this friend called Eboue Beecham, and he made me realise that I have neglected my blogging duties. Thumbs up for the gentle reminder. But he did it unknowingly, through a picture he posted on his Facebook page. It is a picture of a building that can be found in the Airport City opposite the Silver Star Building. For those of you my readers, who are not in Ghana....Airport City is a prime location quite close to Kotoka Airport (I have left International out for good reason) where we have high-rise buildings though a couple have come to a stand still ( money talks eh). But kudos to the Villagio Hotel contractors. Once they started, they were on till they finished. I haven't seen the privilege to see architectural drawings or overview of Airport city but um mm it is not wrong to deduce that it is designed primarily to be a business hub ( hotels, apartments, offices, malls etc...) That kind of one stop shop for the business man or woman (investors) who are used to a certain kind of lifestyle. Flying in and out for meetings, New York- Accra- London- Paris. Holiday in Milan, one week in Ghana or better still Africa.
That is proper elite......... not the I own 2 land-cruisers kind of thing we do here. hahahaa. Do not mind me.

Back to Eboue. Well, he put the picture up with the title "Who say money no dey Ghana" to wit Who says there is no money in Ghana. I will answer  his question with this "Money dey Ghana but idey for investor in pocket".  (Let me clear this out of the way....Eboue and I are good friends. I am sure he will read this and respond in a bit. So if you know him and looking forward to gossip about this, sorry in advance).
I am not a mind reader, but I think it is safe to say that Eboue belongs to the majority who think that because we have a couple of high rise buildings in Airport City and some parts of Accra, we have reached. What adds to this painful fallacy is the fact that, they see local companies e.g. BROLL advertising the space or acting as brokers for lease or rent;so yes we have arrived. In this day and age, all you have to do because is to search on-line and you will find that local companies acting as brokers are just icebergs that have broken off a glacier. The glaciers are all non Ghanaian. All the money is made abundantly here and sent right back to where ever it came from. All the big buildings with 50% space gone doesn't mean a thing. You should find out who are renting? What percentage is for foreigners, what percentage is for Ghanaians?

But of course they must have Ghanaian partners, it makes it easier to navigate through business registration and knock open a couple of doors, get connections especially if you are looking for government contracts.
It is easier to have Ghanaian partners, so you can build your portfolio as a big foreign investor and then apply for tax exemptions et all.  And is that not what we see around? Big buildings, big tax exemption companies, all non Ghanaians all over the place, unless of course you have a PPP ( Private Public Partnership) with government . And we know how the PPPs are thriving. But seriously we must be careful not to live this fallacy. Who am I kidding? We are living this fallacy that is why we think we are thriving and our government wants to tax us more. Well they need the money, we do not have the money and those who have the money are not taxed properly. Life is war.
But they must tax nonetheless. If only the money was going to be used for the purposes for which it is taken. It sure is painful looking at my pay slip after deductions. Very painful. What annoys me most is the NHIL. ah!

So Eboue and anyone who thinks like him, it is time you accepted the truth about who we are as a nation and where we have reached. It doesn't mean you love your country less. And umm unless of  your "who say money no dey Ghana" means something else, I am waiting for your rebuttal. Bye. Not for long though.


PS. "Latrician" means Electrician.

*ignore typos as always....looking for a proof reader. No I will not pay. Laughs.*