Sarpong, Justice
President Mills high morality facade that he has cocooned himself in took a tumble two days ago when it was reported that, he has accepted a house from Regimanuel Gray Estates on the Spintex Road . The following day, his communication Director, Koku Anyidoho the neckless sumo wrestler didn't help matters when he boomed that the said house was a token gift of appreciation, Koku's own words, from the real estate company. With the hue, public outcry and outrage about this teflon President accepting lagniappes for a lucullan lifestyle, Koku came back with another excuse that can only come from the clueless Presidential staff of this administration;
"Mills’ 'gift house' is pee and pooh-pooh house for security men-Koku
From: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana Last
Updated: August 17, 2011, 12:00
Mr Koku Anyidoho has rubbished suggestions a building the president has accepted as a "token" from real estate developers, Regimanuel Gray Limited, is a mansion. He says the facility is simply an outhouse for security personnel guarding the president’s private house at the Spintex Road to pee, pooh-pooh and relax and not a mansion as was being reported by sections of the media."
When did Regimanuel start building outhouses at their prime estates at spintex road? The truth story about this arrangement is that, President Mills asked for this gift using his office as the President to benefit which is against the dignity of his postion as the President of Ghana. Below is the supposed letter President Mills wrote to Regimanuel company regarding this deal.
RENTAL ACCOMMODATION TO HOUSE SECURITY PERSONNEL
I wish to thank your company very sincerely for the help extended to me for the past two and half years by erecting tents on your land as accommodation for soldiers and policemen on guard duties at my residence and also providing make-shift toilet facilities for them. However, I have realized that the situation is now creating some inconvenience to my neighbours. Besides this, the security personnel have been exposed to the vagaries of the weather. In view of this, I have decided to resolve the situation by requesting your company to provide on rental basis, permanent rest room and toilet facilities for the security personnel. I shall be personally responsible for the payment of the rent involved. I anticipate your early response to my request. Once more, kindly accept my thanks and gratitude for the help given me so far. Yours faithfully,
PROF. JOHN EVANS A7TA MILLS PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA
NB: This was dated 7th April 2011.
Let's examine what the President supposedly wrote to this company and see if he is not using his office to beat down a company to provide him with something on his own conditional terms, not what this company is known for and if such arrangement will pass the smell of corruption test.
First, this President was squatting his security detail on a land that he doesn't own or owned by the state for two and half years without paying rent. This is what the President wrote "I have decided to resolve the situation by requesting your company to provide on rental basis, permanent rest room and toilet facilities for the security personnel. I shall be personally responsible for the payment of the rent involved.".REALLY? Did the President expect Regimanuel to respond to his request with, NO MR PRESIDENT WE CANNOT DO THAT? If this is true, how did a toilet facility and rest room turned out to be a three bedroom house? Where did Koku Anyidoho get the idea that this house is a token gift of appreciation?
The Presidential staff can't even get their stories in sync and that is the first characteristic of lying.. Is it a token gift of appreciation or the President is going to pay for it, Koku Anyidoho? Only in Ghana can a developer approach somebody and suggest they want to build something as a token of appreciation. What are they appreciating for? Did Mills give them a kind of contract or a promise has been made to award them a contract? What kind of stupidity is this? According to Regina Botwe of Regimanuel,the structure was built as a three-bedroom residential quarters for the president’s security detail, insisting that “we have never given anything as a gift to the president”. Regina Botwe said President Mills later wrote to the company requesting that they provide him something for his guards to rent, “So the arrangement is going to be a rental…in fact it is for Regimanuel.”
I personally believe this house was a gift from Regimanuel to the President and the subsequent letters were hurriedly put together to douse the corruption flames that was about to destroy Atta Mills hypocritical morality that is neither here nor there. Can this administration accuse anybody for bribery? Now the police who extract bribes from drivers can call this as a token of appreciation from drivers and nobody can accuse them otherwise. What about custom officers at our airports and ports? Will they start defending themselves about the bribes they extract from importers as gif as a token of appreciation?
President Mills is a hypocrite and his hypocrisy is catching up to him. The same President that when the camera was around subjected himself to airport security when he himself admitted about his Aides using the VIP lounge to export illegal drugs. He has been propagating a myth of not collecting a per diem, when he is actually receiving this benefit. What is a per diem? According to dictionary dat com, a per diem is; "a daily allowance, usually for living expenses while traveling in connection with one's work or being employed at a distance from one's home:"
So when Mills travel outside Ghana or within Ghana, he collects a per diem, though the money is not given to him, his hotel bills, food, drink, laundry, entertainment are borned by tax payers, and these costs are what per diem is supposed to pay for, he doesn't pay these expenses from his own pocket so this myth of Mills not collecting a per diem is a myth like his "Asomdwehene" moniker when during his nrule this country has been divided on political and tribal lines.
The trick is that, instead of officials being provided with these services, some collect their allowances in cash and instead staying in a five or four star hotels, finds a motel six and skimp on food and others to save some of this money. The fact that Mills doesn't accept his in cash and allows the state to pay for these services does not mean he doesn't collect a per diem, he does. Mills is a big hypocrite trying to portray an image of high morality whilst accepting houses and others as gifts. We will finally know the lenght of the frog come January 2013.
Justice Sarpong
Houston, Texas
