In his usual abrasive style, NPP flagbearer,
Nana Akufo-Addo, in the heat of the doctor's strike last month sought to
question the intelligence of President Mills and his Ministers when he told
journalists that “...PERHAPS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR THE NPP TO
HAVE LEFT THE MINISTERS AND THE PRESIDENT, WHO COULD HAVE DONE THIS IN A MORE
INTELLIGENT MANNER.” So, what intelligent way would an NPP government
have handled the strike? The answer lies in re-capturing the 'intelligent' way
they handled the affairs of state when they were given the opportunity to do so
between 2001 to 2008. Below are just 18 of the numerous ways they
'intelligently' tackled the affairs of the state.
1) Signing a loan
agreement written in German without knowing and understanding the terms and
conditions only for the then Finance Minister Hon. Osafo Marfo to make the
excuse to Ghanaians that he doesn't understand German.
2) Believing and
approving a scam loan from a fake IFC whose address led to a hair dressing
salon in London. Another scam CNTCI loan was to follow. Per Ghana's
Parliamentary records; we are still waiting for these loans to materialize.
3) Signing an agreement
with a Brazilian company to take over Valco and taking it to Parliament for
approval only for the original Brazilian Company to distance themselves from
the loan less than 24 hours after Parliament had approved it.
4) Spending 1.5 billion
Cedis on diaries alone during the Ghana @ 50 celebrations.
5) Buying locomotives
from the high interest $750 million Eurobond facility when there was not an inch
of railway line. But for the NDC Government all those locomotives would
have been allowed to rot.
6) Registering Millions
of unemployed youth without any creative plan to offer them jobs. At the end,
it was adding insult to injury.
7) President Kufuor
awarding himself. Still the only democratically elected leader anywhere
in the world to have achieved this “feat”
8) Tonnes of Cocaine
under 24 hour CCTTV camera surveillance disappeared under the watch of the NPP
at the Police Headquarters. It has never been found.
9) MV Benjamin Cocaine
saga which revealed that the international community had given the NPP
government ample notice and support and yet in typical NPP intelligent handling
of the narcotic fight, the MV Benjamin cocaine remains unfound till date.
10) At the height of the
NPP created energy crisis, then Information Minister Hon. Oboshie Sai Coffie
announced to the nation that the problem will be solved on the 31st of
September (Only in the NPP's calendar does 31st September exist)
11) When Ghanaians were
complaining about unemployment and general hardship, an intelligent way to
handle it was when former President Kufuor asserted that Ghanaians who were
complaining about hardship were lazy.
12) When the people of
the Upper West Region were complaining that President Kufuor had failed to
visit them in over 4 years, the NPP's intelligent response was that Wa
was too far and that Wa had no airstrip. (Indeed the NPP exhibited gross
ignorance about the Upper West Region.)
13) When Ghanaians were
complaining about corruption. The NPP's intelligent response was that
Corruption was “as old as Adam”. President Kufuor added that he was not about
to embarrass his government and besides his intelligent solution was to pinch
himself anytime people tried to “tempt” him.
14) During the global
food and fuel crisis in 2007, the NPP's intelligent solution was that Ghanaians
should go and eat kokonte, roasted plantain etc. The major problem with
this strategy however was that it portrayed certain kind of Ghanaian dishes as
food meant for only the poor to be eaten only in crisis moments.
15) Though the NPP
announced that the duration for the Ghana @ 50 celebrations was one year, they
intelligently rented Largus Fort Hotel for two years at a whopping sum of
$30,000 a month. A substantial wastage of the tax payer's money.
16) Sheikh I.C. Quaye
intelligently claimed in Parliament during his “war on mosquitoes” that the
problem of mosquitoes in the capital was as a result of mosquitoes migrating
from “dirty Ashaiman”.
17) “The President v.
Tsatsu Tsikata” instead of “The Republic v. Tsatsu Tsikata” as per Nana Akuffo
Addo's charge sheet as Attorney General.
18) Extending Senior
High School duration from 3 years to 4 years without any expansion in
infrastructure.
