Maybe somebody who knows better ought to remind the managing-editor of the so-called Insight newspaper that the Wikileaks are not the handiwork of the American government but rather, that of a bona fide European citizen fed up with the hypocritical political culture of Western governments (See “Kwesi Pratt Speaks on 'Akufo-Addo Smokes Wee' Wikileaks Claims” MyJoyOnline.com 9/6/11).
What is troubling here is not the mere, or very, fact of Mr. Pratt's alleging that the presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party is a heavy marijuana smoker, but really the fact that either out of a creepy feeling inferiority complex and/or plain stupidity, Ghanaians, including our most highly placed leaders and government officials, are often too eager to malign each other and the image of the country at large to foreign diplomats at the click of the heels of the latter.
Recent Wikileaks publications, for instance, had President John Evans Atta-Mills confiding to a U.S. ambassador in Ghana that the former did not even half-trust most of the customs officials at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) that his own government, the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC), appointed! Needless to say, the foregoing is a patent act of criminality of a felonious order. In other words, what the president did is tantamount to giving away national security information to the agent of a foreign government. And were he not Ghana's chief-of-state, I may well be recommending his immediate indictment and prosecution.
To be certain, while definitely not laudable, alleging that Akufo-Addo is a heavy, and even a chain-, smoker of marijuana, an act that is purely private and personal, is far less dangerous than letting foreign government agents so facilely in on our national security affairs, except, of course, if the Akufo-Addo joint-toking allegation had been forensically confirmed while the latter was Ghana's substantive premier. In the Akufo-Addo case, while some may well be tempted to invest Mr. Pratt's allegation with some modicum of credibility, for the Insight's managing-editor has, reportedly, had a long and intimate association with Ghana's former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the Kufuor government going back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, nonetheless, what ought to be equally considered is the fact that a staggeringly naïve Mr. Pratt appears to have been overly eager to ingratiate himself with the anonymous American diplomat to whom the staunch Convention People's Party operative let on supposedly confidential information on Akufo-Addo.
That the now-exposed Mr. Pratt appears to be palpably angry, ashamed and mortified, ought to be a wake-up call to all those naïve Ghanaians who think that flagitiously maligning our prominent leaders before foreign security agents is the hallmark of patriotism. On this score, Mr. Pratt is dead-on accurate to highlight the fact that such “confidential” information is likely to be used to manipulate Ghanaian politics by foreign governments and agents. In our time, this is what classical neocolonialism is veritably about.
We must also hasten to point out that Mr. Pratt has acquired a longstanding notoriety as a snitch, or a calculating government informant, dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. The latter, of course, directly implies that Mr. Pratt's credibility is not airtight or foolproof. One, we actually are in the dark vis-à-vis the exact circumstances under which Mr. Pratt snitched on Nana Akufo-Addo, since the former has clearly admitted to the act. In other words, did any gifts or bribe money change hands? And if so, what was the nature of such gifts or bribe money? And is Mr. Pratt, himself, a marijuana smoker? And has he engaged in any marijuana-smoking binge with any of the foreign diplomats and security agents for whom he clearly appears to have worked?
These are legitimate questions which ought to be of great interest to our national security operatives. Better yet, maybe Ghana's Bureau of National Investigations may well want to consider having certified informants like Messrs. Ephson and Pratt register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and/or the Interior as foreign agents, so that the proper tabs are kept on their movements and associations, since they have clearly shown themselves to be prime national security risks.
*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is Director of The Sintim-Aboagye Center for Politics and Culture and author of 22 books, including “Ghanaian Politics Today” (Lulu.com, 2008). E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net.
