Time to unmask the 'honourable' Members of Parliament

By Daniel Danquah Damptey

“Nature does work miracles. Even Nature has its own laws. Seeds take time to mature. Everybody must know that.”

The above excerpts were taken from a speech by Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister of Ghana in the Second Republic during an address to debunk the assertion that the Progress Party Government had not done much in the area of development.

One should not overlook the fact that a medicine man who seeks to inherit the widow of dying husband will not give a redeeming drug to the dying man. Just as it is true that not all palm trees can be climbed by a loop, it is not every stream or river that can be crossed by a canoe.

Recently, some MPs from the Minority side made some serious and “wicked” allegations against the Chairman of the Parliamentary Vetting Committee, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu (Joe Wise), the Minister of Energy, Hon. Boakye Agyarko and their own Chief Whip, Hon. Muntaka Mubarak.

I was extremely shocked to hear of such allegations and effusions coming from Okudzeto Ablakwa during an interview on air.

The first thing that came to my mind after listening to him was to ask this question. “Is Okudzeto and his “co-conspirators” really honourable?” He alleged that Honourable Boakye Agyarko had given some money to the Chairman of the Vetting Committee to influence his appointment as Minister of Energy. The bribe, according to Okudzeto Ablakwa was channeled through the Nefarious Destructive Cancer’s Minority Chief Whip and MP for Asawasi, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak.

Initially, they were made to believe that the money was in respect of their sitting allowance as members of the Appointments Committee. Later, one NPP okro mouth whispered into their ears that the money emanated from the “stable” of Hon. Boakye Agyarko.

Three of the NDC MPs on the Committee decided to verify the authenticity of the information and so went to the Chairman, Hon. Joe Wise. The Chairman confirmed that the money had indeed come from Boakye Agyarko. Earlier on, Okudzeto Ablakwa had stated that the monies given to them were in envelopes, but he did not count his own on the spot. He did so when he got home and found out that it was GhC3,000.00.

Later on, the Minority Caucus on the Committee met in the office of the Chief Whip where it was resolved that they would not take money from any of the nominees to influence his/her appointment.

Huck! Stop there!

The Minority had resolved not to accept money from any of the nominees to influence his/her appointment! Why bring in that statement? Was that the normal procedure that nominees had to pay money to the appointment committee before they had a smooth sail through? Was that the normal procedure or practice during the previous administration?

Now, the posers:

When Okudzeto Ablakwa was asked how much sitting allowance he had received as a committee member under the previous administration, he could not say it. He prevaricated on the subject and couldn’t come out with any figure.

He said he the amount he got was GHC3000:00.If one may ask, a whopping 30million Cedis as sitting allowance for a few days? Haba! Come out of it. This is the average pay of Ghanaians for eight or nine months, and somebody is collecting it for a few days work. Hmnnn! Asem beba dabi!

The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has been deliberating on the Auditor’s Report of various Departments and Ministries. The Auditor General has faulted the practice where people collect money without acknowledging it in the form of signing for it.

How could our august law making body disregard this cardinal accounting principle? How could someone collect money on behalf of a group of people without signing for the money.

The allegations by these desperados from the Minority side lack merit. Their Principal witness who happens to be from their own contraption and a member of their leadership, Alhaji Muntaka has denied ever receiving any money from the Chairman of the Vetting Committee. The Chairman has also denied giving any money to the Minority Chief Whip. And if this is the case, where did these people get the so-called bribe money from. This smack of conspiracy and the matter must be investigated to its conclusive end.

To think that Muntaka, who is alleged to be the arrow head of this bribery allegation is not only an ordinary member of their contraption, but their chief whip makes one come to the conclusion that indeed, these lying lips of the now dwindling fortunes of desperados have indeed played a yoyo with our collective destiny for a long time. They have now been unmasked but instead of begging Ghanaians for the evil agenda they had harboured against the masses, they are still behaving like Lucifer after he was cast down from heaven to the earth.

One could punch many holes in their argument. How many members from the minority side are on the Appointments Committee? Eleven! If Boakye Agyarko wanted to influence them why should the money be given to just five or six of them?

You remember the bribery allegations leveled by some members of the Senior National team, the Black Stars against the then GAFA Executives. According to some of the players, in a World Cup qualifier between Ghana and Liberia, George Weah, then Captain of the Liberian National team, the Lone Stars questioned some payers in the Black Stars in the following words, “what about the deal?” .

The Black Star players were playing the match as if their entire lives depended on the outcome of the match. But at that time, the Stars were not in contention. Liberia and Nigeria were the contending nations for the single slot from that group. It appeared the leadership of the Ghanaian federation had entered into negotiations with their counterparts from Liberia without taking some of the players into confidence.

Okudzeto Ablakwa, Sampson Ahi, Mahama Ayariga and their “co-conspirators” had behaved like “castrated eunuchs” who have lost their sense of reasoning. Ghanaians would like to know if the Minority Leader was put in the picture. Did he also receive part of the bribe? But how could you collect money on behalf of your contraption without the knowledge of your leader? Doesn’t it seem odd?

Another spurious statement which makes their allegation fall like a pack of cards is their claim that they decided to return the money to its source. When and where was such decision taken? How many of their members were present when they gave back the money? Whom did they give back the money to? Is there any documentary evidence to buck up their assertion?

On what grounds are they going to back up their allegation? Where is the exhibit? If indeed, it is true that they returned the money, which I doubt, then that must be the “most stupid” thing to do. (Sorry for the use of this expression. I have been cracking my brains to get a better expression, but couldn’t get.

If they have returned the money to its source as they claim, then they must be prepared to face the consequence of that action because in our justice system, destruction of evidence constitutes a crime itself

Again, Okudzeto Ablakwa says it was an NPP member who said the money had come from Boakye Agyarko. They must mention the name of that “okro” mouth MP.

On hearing that the money had come from Boakye Agyarko, three of the MPs from the Minority side had gone to verify the authenticity of that allegation from Honourable Joe Wise who responded that indeed, the money had come from that source. Haba! That Joe Wise said it was Agyarko’s money! That could be regarded as the most senseless confirmation made in the political history of Ghana.

In Japanese terminology, it could be political hari-kari.

What evidence do they have to prove that indeed, Chairman Joe Wise indeed confirmed the allegation? If those leveling the accusation wanted the public to believe them, they could have gone to the Chairman of the Vetting/Appointments Committee with some sort of a recording device so that their argument would be full proof. Anything short of that renders their arguments /allegations spurious.

Again, one will ask what Boakye Agyarko stands to gain by offering such a colossal sum of money to “incorrigible babies with sharp teeth” who felt it was pay back time to exact their pound of flesh from him for having the temerity to refer to their paymaster as corrupt?

It does not make sense for the Minister of Energy to part with that amount. After all, the New Patriotic Party is in absolute majority to ensure that he is confirmed. The Party has learnt its lesson and in a hard and bitter way too! During Kufuor’s tenure the appointments of Ken Noworsu and Vickie Bright were put on hold “till thy kingdom come”.

But that of Alhaji Mumuni’s was “bulldozed” through by NDC dominated Parliament even though a serious corrupt allegation charges hung round his neck like an albatross. The NDC threw caution to the wind and confirmed him. Today, the party wants to shift the goal post. SE WO MAAME ATU WO FO A, YEN NSO MAAME ATU YEN FO. (If your mother has cautioned/ advised you, we have also received similar advice/ caution from our mothers).

Even with incontrovertible evidence to buttress the bribery allegation against our immediate Past President, John Dramani Mahama, what did the Nefarious Destructive Cancer do? They parried the allegation away with a mere wave of the hand as if the issue was not worth looking into.

The Speaker, goaded on by the saucy and lean looking Asiedu Nketiah, whose smiles had daggers in it like the Cassius in Shakespearean “Julius Caesar” looked the other way and behaved like Pontius Pilate. The Speaker, Honourable Doe Adjaho sat on his judgment seat and exonerated the then President of the serious allegation mage against him. That was exactly what Pontius Palate did when he was faced with the choice of releasing either Jesus Christ or the notorious hardened criminal, Barabba. He caved in out of fear and pronounced Jesus Christ Guilty and ordered that he be crucified.

Taking a cue from the Biblical Pontius Pilate, Doe Adjaho passed a verdict of “not guilty on the immediate past President, even though every available evidence pointed to the contrary. Here, you see a clear case of travesty of justice when the guilty one is freed, but the innocent is condemned.

Again, Oti Blessed was confirmed by Parliament with less than 2 months to the end of Mahama’s administration, even though he had made divisive ethno centric statements on air.

Now the ignoramuses in the society are blaming the President for swearing in Honourable Boakye Agyarko as Minister of Energy. The argument is so infantile that it should be discarded outright. It lacks merits and common sense. The Minister had provided conclusive evidence to buttress the allegations he had made against ex-President. It was upon that that Parliament approved of his nomination. What has President Akufo Addo done wrong here? Such hyper-critics should direct their complaints to the appropriate quarters.

One thing I have realized about the Nefarious Destructive Cancer is that they are wicked both inside in and out. They have always attempted to put mines in the political landscape. But, I WANT TO ASSURE THEM THAT WE HAVE MINE SWEEPERS TO CLEANSE THE MINE FIELD. They did it during the Dagbon Crises. They leveled serious Charges against General Joshua Hamidu and another hard-working Minister in the Kufuor’s Government. Now, they are trying to do a similar thing to Boakye Agyarko and Otiko Djaba. But, heck, I say, they lie bad!

In conclusion, let me state here that the TRIO OF Okudzeto Ablakwa, Sampson Ahi, Mahama Ayariga and others in the nefarious contraption have played a dangerous game which I believe they will lose. In the event of the losing out, I recommend that their seats be declared vacant to send a strong signal to would-be destroyers of people’s destiny that propaganda does not pay in governance.

On this, I stand.

I shall return.

Daniel Danquah Damptey (Self Appointed Special Aide to the President)

Writer's e-mail:damptey_daniel@yahoo.com