So Much For 'Zero Tolerance For Corruption'

ABODAKPI’S PARDON.

Many Ghanaians, myself included, bought into President Kuffour’s “Zero tolerance for corruption” A case could be made that the NDC party lost the election that brought the NPP to power because many of the agents of the NDC were perceived to be corrupt. Allegations of misappropriation of state funds were all over the place in the era of the NDC, so much so that NDC was synonymous with corruption. Common on, as far we were made to believe, the NDC agents were so corrupt that God had to” remove the umbrella for Ghana to enjoy the fresh air that God was blowing on mother GANA” (Agyekum Kuffour, emphasizes, mine).Apparently, the umbrella was blocking and hiding the corrupt officials.


Many were of the view that the Fast Truck Courts were set up for the sole purpose of weeding out corrupt government officials, notably, the NDC guys. That Tsatsu completely made nonsense of the fast truck project I well understood by all. Akuffo Addo like John Mcain owes his political downfall to one-Tsatsu; and Immigration John McCain’s case. It remains to be seen if these two individuals can pick themselves up and become Presidents of Ghana and USA respectively. Is it by sheer coincidence that these two gentlemen have striking similarities politically- Free Trade? Can we talk about that some other time? Back to Zero Tolerance for corruption.


The Kofi Wayo’s, Alieu Mahama’s, Kuffour’s, Akuffo Addo’s , all made a case for themselves that they were well-to-do individuals who did not have to depend on National coffers for their livelihood. I give some of them credit for having held themselves to such high standards so as not to be perceived as being corrupt. The same cannot be said about some of the NPP people. I mean, for fear of this article not being published, I dare say that the President himself has done very little to clear his name in this area. How about the Hotel Kuffour saga, mm, and the collecting kickback waaaa waaa, mm? Common people, we are not talking about it, yes, does not mean we perceive him to be above reproach.


It came to pass that the NPP government through the fast truck courts trialed and convicted some of the NDC agents to various terms of imprisonment. We thought, wow, Kuffour AINT messing around! We all know the story, Abodakpi, Selormey, Pepprah, Yahaya, etc were sent to prison. I think they are still pushing for Nana Kunadu, and Shirley Ayitey’s trial and conviction, but you know, Nana Kunadu is too tough for them. Can you imagine what would happen in Ghana if Nana Kunadu was sent to prison? I do not even want to think about it!


Yahaya served his term.Selormey is still serving his term, wherever he is. It has been a while, but I think Peprah also finished serving his term, right?

Kuffour comes out of nowhere and decide to pardon Abodakpi.Yes, I know, so-called political scientist and politician, and constitutional heavyweights will tell me, “THE PRESIDENT EXERCISED HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS’. Rubbish! The president could as well exercise his constitutional right to free all the murderers, armed robbers, rapist, etc. Nevertheless, he chose not to, why, because he stands to gain nothing from that other than littering our streets with social vices. What does he gain by giving Abodakpi that pardon? We will talk about that in a minute. I have nothing against Abodakpi as a person. Whether he truly did, what he was accused of is a whole debate on its own. However, I am talking about the principle upon which he was sent to prison and the lack of it that brought him back! Political principle; -to convict any body who acts corruptly in any shape or form-causing financial loss to the state is a form of corruption, the last time I checked. Lack of it; ‘you caused the state so much financially, but I pardon you for the sake of political expedience and because I can’-I am the President, remember? When I think about it, do these people really have principles-a standard of moral or ethical decision-making? If they did, how did they bring Anane back to the Ministry? I hear some lousy excuse that the guy is hard working. Is that not why his Ministry came to a standstill in his absence? Folks are telling me the President had a constitutional prerogative to do that. Yeah right! I thought the NPP government was sending a message of probity and accountability to all State Officials. The message has changed to; do whatever as along as you are not caught. If you are caught though, I will fire you but if you are close enough, I will bring you back when the dust settles. As a result, he did, and Anane is back. Now that is what I call zero tolerance! Well, I do not even know what to believe anymore; I mean, Wait a minute, President Kuffour does not truly believe in the ‘Zero tolerance for corruption’, does he? It was nothing but a political statement. He only had to say that when he needed to and then make complete circle to say that whoever had any EVIDENCE of corruption against his officials could proceed to the appropriate agency for action. Yes sir, we would do just that. We would forget about our hunger, turn ourselves into Investigative Agents, and fish out the Anane’s, the Bartels, the kick back waa waa people.


The more I think about it the more sense it makes that President Kuffour pardoned Abodakphi. He sets off with a corruption message (zero tolerance), he could not pursue it as vigorously as he would have wanted to-he realizes too late to his disbelieve that some his people are too steeped in corruption. He goes, let me appease my political opponents by bringing Abodakpi. Well done Prezo.The NDC friends of Abodakpi are saying, but could you go the next step and say I was wrong in sending him to jail in the first place? You might as well, while you are at it, Prezo.


The only obvious conclusion is that, in Ghana (God bless my homeland), corruption is nothing but perception; how sad!

KENNETH K SARFO VA USA

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