Could The Spate of Document Doctoring In ....

....Major National Projects Reflect An Endemic Flaw In Our Governance Culture Or System?

Upon reading an Article on a likely chaos in the NDC initiated Korean STX Housing Deal and comments generated on the Article on the Ghanaweb.com, my attention was specially glued unto a comment by one “Butumengebu Bronyi” (a pseudonym, I presume). In that comment, it was intimated that Mr. B. K. Asamoah, a key figure in the dispute reported on, and a Director of the STX in Ghana, is a crook who does not shy away from doctoring documents. The referenced Article is: “Rumpus in STX Ghana”, featured on Ghanaweb.com, today, June 1, 2011.

The comment, even in my recognition of its current status of being arguable, raised a very important set of questions that I thought all Ghanaians ought to seriously ponder on and strive to seek answers to. And the first question is: Why has Document Doctoring come to stay with us for much so long, and become as pervasive as to even encroach into the realm of National Projects?

It is only recently that the EO-Group, the private Ghanaian Firm that is thought to have led Kosmos Energy into Ghana to discover the Jubilee Oil, was charged with falsifying documents to fulfill certain requirements that were needed to authenticate their Agreement. In fact, it is that suspicion of Document Doctoring that gave any substantial legal tenterhook to the Government to object to the Kosmos deal, at the very start. That misdemeanor behavior was also used by Political opponents of the Jubilee Oil deal to further project the notion that the NPP Administration of former President Kufuor had some parochial selfish interest in clinching the deal, and somehow facilitated the process to conclude it before the new Administration took Office.

So, the idea that the next biggest National Project, the cost of which reaches over a Billion Dollars, could also be a victim of such fraudulent processing triggered in me a sudden massive mental convulsion that has set me off on this course--a course of howling, screaming and yelling for help from all fellow Ghanaians with conscience and any tint of integrity, dignity, pride and morals to wake up and demand that we sought immediate answers to this set of questions. Why do we have to resort to such dishonest, dubious, highly risky and even criminal means to promote, push for, and attract assistance for anything that could be only good for the Nation?

I am no stranger to the fact that people have had to creatively ensure their eligibility for Residential Permits in foreign countries, where certain requirements are almost impossible to obtain legally. That is not a uniquely Ghanaian attribute. Millions of Citizens of most Nations around the World have had to use the same means to gain legal recognition for Residence in other Countries. But it seems to me that Ghana has an exceptional vulnerability to that criminal recourse because of what our Politicians and Government Officials have perpetuated locally.

Anyone who denies that notion might have never had to apply for Passport in Ghana, especially during the 70s, 80s and the 90s. Even now, there are many folks who still see injustice done them by our own Officials locally and in our Embassies around the World, in that simple process of seeking a Passport to travel outside Ghana.

It is reasonable to extrapolate the local overwhelming desire for using the shortest possible means to become wealthy, by hook or crook, as what has ensnared us all in this globular containment of corruption. But it is most disheartening to realize that in Citizens’ efforts to bring the bacon home from beyond our borders we would have to fall on those criminal attitudes to break down the door for re-entry.

One would think that the main reason why, say, our Policemen and –women, the Judiciary and the Civil Servants take Bribes is because their Salaries are inadequate for supporting their families. So, one might understand, but not endorse, why Passport acquisition, say, would not be accomplished without some greasing of palms.

But how about Projects like the STX and Jubilee Oil exploitation, the financial sourcing of which mostly comes from abroad? Are our Citizens involved in courting foreign investments to make those Projects happen frustrated, intentionally, by our local Officials who think making it harder for the fellow Citizens to succeed in those Projects is the only way that guarantees they, also, would benefit directly from the transactions? Is it all for pure envious, jealous, green-eye sentiments that our own fellow Ghanaians would put impediments in our way to help the country advance? Or, it is just that for the selfish, greedy, avaricious, gullible urge to grab for our exclusive benefit, we tend not to follow the Laws of our Land to the letter to dodge paying the fees, and/or ignore filing the necessary and full documents for taxation? Or, we just choose to beat the competition for the inviting opportunity by falsification of documents that would make us look either the first in line or the most qualified for it?

While all of these scenarios are most likely the case in various circumstances, one thing is clear to me. And that is while almost all the fast advancing Nations, the so-called emerging Markets around the World, China, India and Singapore, Malasia, and Brazil, have a sacrosanct patriotic support from their Governments to venture outside to the Developed World and return home with substantial knowledge that would accelerate their growth and breakout from poverty, our Ghanaian Governments have had no such stipulated, binding Policy in place. The thousands of Chinese Students, for example, in the USA and other Western Nations were mostly sent there to acquire knowledge for their homeland, even via espionage and illegal transfer of Research outcomes. The Indian Students, for example, collaborate in drones to help each other pass exams at the Universities to eventually get access to crucial scientific and technological positions, from where they can easily launch similar programs back in India, where the Government has facilitated the environment for Firms and Ventures to succeed.

The direction of Education in all these Countries is phenomenally enhanced to produce the exact caliber of Students who would enthusiastically return home to help build their Countries. And most significantly, the Governments of these Countries do not undermine the success of these returned Patriots for Partisan or Tribal reasons.

Ghana is at the crossroads where major National Projects are either perceived to have been undertaken for the exclusionary benefit to the ruling Party and its foot-soldiers, or the Parties themselves have resorted to seeking such huge National Projects to offer its members and activists their own brand of exclusive opportunity to enrich themselves at the expense of all other Citizens. In such a hectic, abrasive “all-die-be-die” and “adze-wo-fie-n’oye” environment, these quests by the various Governments for huge National Projects, involving hefty amounts of our money, seem to have been only a frenzy to ensure their Political camps are equally well financially rewarded with our Resources.

If this assumption of parochial interest-seeking by the Governments is not true, then we should see a multi-Partisan consensus in approving of and enthusiastically encouraging initiators of various meaningful National Projects to succeed. That would require not blackmailing or undermining but genuine support of Citizens’ efforts to win investors over to help build our Economy. And that would, also, not need any Citizen to doctor any Documents to gain undue advantage in competing for opportunity access with other Citizens.

In fact, I might be tempted to concede an exception to a Citizen faced with outside Competition who would doctor Documents, locally, to ensure that the immensely nationally beneficial opportunity lands on our Soil. That last concession, would, by my principles, be in order only as a last resort in winning a crucial deal for our general good. For our general good, I must emphasize. In so doing, any Citizen taking the risk to ensure that National gain would be deserving of a sensible share in the profits. This is especially so we do not kill the entrepreneurial zeal in our Citizens. And if the EO-Group or Mr. B. K. Asamoah satisfies this condition, I say let’s give them a hero’s applause. I would be among the first to say “Bravo!” to them. And shame to any local Governmental entity hindering their efforts. But if their Document Doctoring was so they could rush to clinch a deal to serve their narrow personal interests, then I would say: “Shame on them!”, too.

Nevertheless, I would like to invite all our fellow Citizens to promote honesty always and most critically assess each and every National Project on its own merit, taking into consideration the exact National need for the Project, its timing regarding where it fits in our developmental process and associated projected cost, how competitive the access to its financing is, and whether other Nations are competing for it to be located on their Land, and how much real personal effort and resources are being invested in that Project by any well-meaning Ghanaians.

If our Governments fail to remove obsolete, restrictive impediments in the way of free and genuine entrepreneurial efforts, we should not be surprised to see more of this document doctoring by individuals who are clamoring to establish themselves financially. Are we therefore ready and willing to allow the necessary transparency, accountability and Justice needed to regulate but not impede Capital flow? Are we ready to ask the hard questions of our own friends and family, Party Members and Government to justify beyond reasonable doubt their actions that would consume massive chunks of our hard earned or irreplaceable Resources? Are we willing and ready to subject ourselves to the necessary scrutiny to establish our moral and legal competence in leading the Nation to spend our massive Resources in exchange for sensible returns?

Are we willing to set aside our Political and Tribal sentiments to retain an objective and honest measure of any Project we envisage for the Nation to undertake? This set of questions is what we need to most seriously confront at this juncture to ascertain our National advancement in Peace. So, did B. K. Asamoah doctor any documents in the STX Deal? And if he did, was it for the enhancement of his personal interests in it, or for the Nation’s ultimate good? And was it necessary that he had to doctor Documents to get the deal done? If so, why? Would our Government share with the Public any irregularities that both sides of the Deal might have engaged in? What Project would be next to suffer such deplorable stigmatization.?

Folks, we must ask the Government to confirm the authenticity of the Project and tell us where the funding is really coming from, and how much Mr. B. K. Asamoah is gaining for his personal efforts. Let’s continue the conversation keenly and maturely. Sorry for the length of this piece. But I did not want to leave anyone guessing on the main questions.

Long Live Ghana!!!