Rawlings’s corruption allegations and NDC’s ethos of probity, transparency and accountability

The ongoing corruption accusations and counter accusations within the NDC Party seem extremely interesting, so to speak.

It all started with the founder of the NDC Party, former President Rawlings, who has been consistently accusing the leadership of the NDC Party as the most corrupt in Ghana’s political history.

The chilling exposition unsurprisingly infuriated the brassbound NDC faithful, who discourteously and uncharacteristically decided to revenge by tearing their founder, former President Rawlings into shreds.

It would, however, appear as an illustrative cliché of ‘it takes one to know one’ or ‘birds of the same feather flock together’.

Whilst the founder of the NDC Party, former President Rawlings (who has an in-depth knowledge of the dealings within the party) has been inexorably pointing accusing fingers on the party apparatchiks of engaging in gargantuan corruptions, some party loyalists nonetheless have been confuting such allegations and rather accusing Rawlings as the one who has been indulging in corrupt practices.

The all-important question then is: who are the guilty parties in the gargantuan corruptions in the NDC Party, whose members bafflingly claim to be the exponents of probity, transparency and accountability?

In any case, we cannot deny or hide the fact that sleazes and corruptions were so pervasive in the outgone NDC government.

Indeed, the international community even acknowledges that sleazes and corruptions permeated every facet of the erstwhile NDC government, led by former President Mahama.

The Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index for instance, states: “in countries like Ghana, which is the second worst decliner in the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index in the region, the dissatisfaction of citizens with the government’s corruption record was reflected in their voting at the polls.”

“Despite being a model for stability in the region, Ghana, together with another six African countries, has significantly declined. The rampant corruption in Ghana led citizens to voice their frustrations through the election, resulting in an incumbent president losing for the first time in Ghana’s history.”

Apparently, some of us have unfairly incurred the wrath of the brassbound NDC Party loyalists for upbraiding the erstwhile NDC administration on its failure to curb the sleazes and corruptions which brought Ghana’s economic meltdown.

Truth be told, the erstwhile NDC government’s conspicuous disastrous economic management and gargantuan corruptions sent Ghana’s economy deeper and deeper into the mire.

Ironically, though, former President Rawlings is said to have founded the NDC Party based on the principles of probity, accountability and transparency. Yet sleazes and corruptions were so prevalent in his NDC government.

And worst of all, if we compared the alleged corrupt practices of the murdered army officers in the 1979 coup d’état with the sleazes and corruptions which took place in the erstwhile NDC administration, we cannot help but to pronounce that the Generals were “shot for less”.

As a matter of fact and observation, the corruptions pervaded every facet of the erstwhile NDC administration, hence earning the famous epithet, ‘create loot and share’ administration.

In fact, the corruptions and sleazes were so rampant to an extent that the 1979 coup maker and the founder of the NDC Party, Rawlings, grumbled openly: “I want to remind people that we could not have possibly forgotten that Generals were executed. The greed, corruption and injustice of today is a thousand times more than what these Generals were executed for, and if we are unable to restore a firm measure of integrity into our dealings, then the blood of many would have been shed in vain” (Rawlings 2017).

It goes without saying that despite their much touted mantra of transparency, probity and accountability, we have been witnessing so much scheming guiles, sleazes and corruptions in the successive NDC administrations. Who are they trying to deceive?

Astonishingly, though, the successive NDC governments’ officials have been committing the same crimes (sleazes and corruptions) their party founders killed many innocent people for.

Of course, there is nothing wrong for any individual to tag himself/herself as a proponent of transparency, probity and accountability. But then again, it is somewhat hypocritical when a group of people who claim to be the exponents of such ethos would then turn around and dip their hands into the national purse as if there is no tomorrow.

After all, aren’t the NDC apparatchiks claiming to be preachers of transparency, probity and accountability?

So why are they refusing to practice what they have been relentlessly preaching to us all these years?

Are they wolves in sheep’s clothing?

Perhaps, they are false prophets, who are relentlessly nagging their followers: ‘it is written in the Holy Book that thou shall not steal’, while they turn around and dip their hands into the church offerings bowl.

Let us face it, we have in our midst manipulating politicians whose primary objective is to clasp political power by the hook or by the crook, so as to advance their vested interests.

Dearest reader, if you doubt my observation, just take a look at our political landscape and you would agree with me that most of our politicians harbour vested interests, and, have no empathetic qualities whatsoever.

If that was not the case, how could a group of politicians conspire and surreptitiously import about 43 vehicles at a staggering cost of $9 million at the blind side of the incoming administration?

If those politicians aren’t heartless and insensitive to the plight of the impoverished Ghanaians, how come they conspired and paid dubious judgement debts to a tune of GH800 million?

If they are morally upright, how come they created loot and shared all the monies belonging to GYEEDA and SADA, which were meant to transform the lives of the needy in society?

Where is their honesty and integrity when they squandered funds meant to transform the lives of the penniless in society through cloudy deals such as the Brazil World Cup, the infamous bus branding, SUBA among others?

Clearly, their much trumpeting ethos of probity, transparency and accountability is a charade; it is rather an illustrative case of preaching virtue and practising vice.