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Kofi Wayo's hands are in Mahama/NDC economic mess

Mon, 21 Oct 2013 Source: Yawose, John

Kofi Wayo's dirty hands are in Mahama/NDC economic mess

There is this guy called Kofi Wayo. I don’t know his educational background. But he does not look like even a High School graduate. He seems to have spent some years in USA as a hustler and eventually selling arms and he thinks he is something and that he has arrived. He started making waves during Rawlings last years in the 1990’s.


Kofi Wayo gained the attention of top politicians and other influential personalities of the land mainly because of his aggressive and authoritative accent and command on American English. Treacherously this good for nothing upstart Kofi Wayo armed with the intimidating attributes already referred to, somehow, having succeeded to worm himself into the high echelons of the media became a person whose views and comments were sought after and of course made news in politics, governance, industry, oil/gas spheres, economics, security, health legal and all technical matters. Armed with this self-belief of his capacity, he formed the political party United Renaissance Party –URP whose flagbearer he became, to contest the 2008 Presidential elections.


Enter, the late Professor Mills into the Presidency in 2009. The Single Spine Salary Structure, SSSS, worked out by the preceding NPP government was on the table ready for implementation by his new government. Of course the Do-nothing Professor had no idea what the whole damn goddam thing was about.


Then, Kofi Wayo acting like the famous Biblical Ahithophel , the quack adviser of King Saul , cashed in, confusing the timid and apprehensive Professor Do-Little about the implementation plans of the SSSS. Kofi Wayo was all over the place advising right, left and centre and almost daily that: ‘’the Security forces are the backbone of the state. They should be paid well. They should be properly cared for. Any serious government must treat the Security Forces with respect and honour. The security should be Mills #1 priority if he should succeed. How can the police survive on scanty salary and Mills expect them to keep law and order in a democratic state? In the USA, the military/police are the #1 before even the politicians and doctors in terms of security of tenure and remunerations and pensions. They don’t suffer like their poor Ghanaian counterparts. How, how, how can the police check economic crimes, armed robbers, cocaine dealers, smugglers etc on empty stomach? The damn Single Spine salary Scheme must correct this serious anomaly. This is the chance for Mills to demonstrate his seriousness and love for the security services and enhance their remunerations. As for Kufuor he was there to please only his party people. He did not care about anybody-------‘’’


Kofi Wayo was making all the cracking noises-howling, barking and miaowing- along these lines in the media and various fora advising Mills to correct the pay packets of the security forces with the SSSS implementation- to lay the foundation for proper rule of law in the country. Kwasi Pratt, the rat, is also guilty of such ugly noises of wanting to gain cheap popularity with the security forces in support of Kofi Wayo’s demagoguery.


Professor Mills somehow bought into Kwasi Pratt, the rat/Kofi Wayo’s Ahithophelic idiocy and even created the setting into the $10b STX mad adventure. (I have always wondered how a whole Professor could ever think of sinking in 5 years, a whopping $10b of the tax payers scarce funds into just one sector of the economy –housing-, with the police as main benefactors). Thank God, Prof Mills died with his sham STX idea.

Professor Mills/Mahama still went ahead to start the implementation of SSSS with Kofi Wayo/Kwasi Pratt, the rat, idea and pushed the Military and Police into the heavens on the salary scale-to taunt and show the NPP that they cared for the Security. Readers will recall the political ballyhoo about the SSSS implementation towards the run-up to last December’s elections.


With the new salary scales, recruits to sergeants in the military/police are getting more than Gh cedis 1,500 to 2000 a month and Generals, Police Commissioners are getting more than Gh cedis 4,000 to 5,000 a month. Do we expect the doctors, nurses, teachers and other professionals to be content and keep quite with GH cedis 1,800 to 2, 500 per month? No way.-‘We no go sit down make them cheat us’.


As other workers in the civil service were being migrated into the SSSS, then Mahama /Amisa Aidoo/Fiifi Kwete/Seth Tekper, with their little minds started panicking after seeing the negative effects of the same SSSS implementation they had used on political platforms to win votes. They now want to blame NPP.


Here in lie the constant agitations by UTAG, GMA, FUSSAC, NAGRAT, GNAT, Nurses, Pharmacists and other professionals for better financial particulars in the SSSS. So are we saying a military sergeant /lieutenant of 5 years or so standing should earn more than a University lecturer of more than 30 years standing—in the name of Kofi Wayo/Kwasi Pratt, the rat, irresponsible advice? So the doctors, nurses, engineers, pharmacists etc should lag behind low ranked police/military officers? Mahama and the garrulous Nunoo Mensah must come again. They should stop the intimidations and rather apologise for mismanaging the economy.


It has now dawned on them that 70% of revenue is servicing salaries monthly and Ghana’s economy is clearly heading towards decimation. Did they not do projections in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 budgets? Don’t they have statisticians and economists to do forecasts? So, Fiifi Kwete , the wide-nostrilled loud mouth economist is of no value to the Mahama government after all? The NDC majority MPs and communicators including Kwasi Pratt, the rat, described NDC yearly budget statements as the most progressive and lambasted the minority and NPP who criticised the hollowness of their budgets as jealous and matemeho evil men who saw nothing good in any ruling government.


I was thrilled about the bold observations of Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, Senior Lecturer and Head of the political science department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) last Saturday that:- the quantum leap in the salaries of Police Officers is what triggered other labour unions to begin clamouring for their migration onto the single spine salary structure. Dr. Amoako Baah said since the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure, the salary of some high level public sector workers has “doubled” and in some cases, suchas that of the Police, increased by as much 1000%.

It was the first time I heard such truthful analysis of the SSSS implementation. I doff my hat to Dr. Amoako for saying what angels fear to say all along. I go further to say that the salary of the military is also a huge part of the problem. Mahama must see this. He created the problem. It was not NPP.


As said earlier, it was all a grand design orchestrated by Kofi Wayo/Kwasi Pratt, the rat who with their infantile simple minds wrongly thought that upping remunerations of the security forces could well ginger the economy. It has backfired and John Mahama must heed Dr. Amoako Baah’s prescription, take the bull by the horns and do salary cutstargeting mostly, politicians in the executive and legislature, high level government officials, military, police and not the ordinary Ghanaian. I am told by the end of the year, about GH cedis11b will be needed to pay the existing 700,000 public sector workers.


Ghana is clearly heading towards decimation. We need deep thinkers to help John Mahama. Is John Mahama up to the task? Mahama must be wary of Brig Nunoo Mensa who has nothing to offer apart from brutish talk. Also, he should be wary of babyish advices from maverick Kofi Wayo. Is it any wonder that since the negative backlash of the SSSS implementation as predicted by the minority led by Dr. Bawumia was finally admitted by the myopic Mahama government, Kofi Wayo has never commented on it? Kofi Wayo knows the damage he has done.


John Yawose

Columnist: Yawose, John