Balancing the rural equation
Lamentations over the refusal of public servants to accept postings to rural communities are not new. They are as old as the poor conditions in those areas which have rendered those places unattractive to health workers, teachers and even national service personnel.
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The dilemma of the rural communities should not be seen in isolation. It is symptomatic of a national development programme over the years that had not followed any coherent, well-defined, well-thought and planned formulae.
We have treated this country as if beyond Accra, the national capital, and a few other places, the land mass called Ghana does not exist.
Seriously speaking, apart from Accra, Kumasi and a few other towns, even many of the regional capitals do not hold attraction to many workers, that is if they have their own way.
This is why we have been caught in a vicious trap where our governments for whatever reason thought that once the problems of Accra are solved, Ghana's problems are solved.
So as the national capital continues to expand in size and population, the government also tries to pour in corresponding resources to the social needs of the population such as roads, water, electric power, residential accommodation, roads, schools, name them.
While this fruitless efforts are going on, more and more people trying to escape the neglect of the regions and the rural communities troop to Accra and the few towns, made reference to, in the vain hope of having their fair share of the national cake.
By all standards, Accra has become a huge jungle with many satellite slums heavily populated by hundreds of young men and women, majority of them without any skills, competing for survival alongside the many school leavers who have gone through the educational system up to the highest level but who could not be employed by the formal sector for obvious reasons.
I find it strange when government officials talk as if they do not know this country. When they attack teachers and health workers for refusing to accept postings to some of our communities, I wonder if they are being realistic. These are people who are in a hurry back to the comfort of offices and homes in Accra any time they visit the regions for official assignments, but fail to come to terms with the plight of other public servants.
That no country has ever been evenly developed should not mean that as a country we should not make a conscious effort to spread national development as far as possible.
We have always advocated that until we bridge the development gap, the government should move away from mere exhortations, lamentations and sometimes threats to address the inadequate teachers, doctors, nurses and other essential workers in the rural areas by putting together attractive packages for those who will sacrifice their comfort and convenience to work in those deprived communities.
It is only fair that those who offer to work in the rural areas get incentives such as additional income, opportunities for promotion, professional upgrading or training opportunities.
Promises in the past in this direction have remained mere rhetoric at best. It could also be a national policy that should be rigidly enforced that certain category of professional should spend their early years serving in the rural communities before taking up higher appointments. Failure to do that means we do not appreciate the enormity of the problem; then we must as well stop the pretences that we care for our rural population.
Closely linked to this is the massive downward movement of young men and young girls to the south, particularly Accra, for survival. The phenomenon and plight of the female porters who have assumed the national title Kayayei epitomise a failed development pattern which lacks form and direction.
The trend will not change until we begin to see this country as one body whose parts require equal attention and treatment.
The permanent solution is to redefine our national development strategy or policy, which will redistribute the national wealth and ensure an even development of the whole country.
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