Opinions

News

Sports

Business

Entertainment

GhanaWeb TV

Africa

Country

The Shadow President

Bagbin 02.07

Fri, 2 Mar 2007 Source: Kwamena, Ato

“The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before a dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the nation.” – Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. Per our constitution, only the President of our Republic has the duty of delivering the State of the Nation address. But Alban Bagbin thinks otherwise. He is the leader of the NDC minority party in Parliament; therefore he must also deliver his “true” state of our nation. He represents Nadowli North so he feels so big in his own shoes that when the President of the Republic speaks he must challenge him with his own address.

Friend, there’s been a clandestine usurpation of power by the NDC. Even in opposition they feel like they must act as if they are in charge of the country. Forget about the fact that Ghanaians have rejected them twice on the trot; in 2000 and 2004. If the President has his office at the Castle, Rawlings must have his own office (which although is not constitutionally recognized doesn’t necessarily makes it unconstitutional) so that he can carry around the title of the “former president”. So that every now and then, Victor Smith can come out to issue edicts from the “office of the former president”!


And so, if President Kufuor fulfills his constitutional obligation Bagbin of all people must counter that address for his NDC. They are so power drunk that they can’t even exercise patience and wait their turn. We never had this comedy when the NPP was in opposition. There was never a State of the Nation address from the NPP. They debated Rawlings’ address, but that was it. Now it’s different. Even in opposition they must act like they are in power. Power-drunk cocoons! Remember Martin Amidu? He was Fiifi Mills’ running-mate back in 2000. When they lost that election and the Kufuor Administration was sworn to power, Martin Amidu still carried himself around Accra as the “Shadow Vice-President”. A-plaz rightly said “Mo asiso for twenty years, but anso mo! Kokromoti ayi mo afiri hor a, afei ena morepe ‘Shadow Vice’.” Twenty years were you and your ilk in power, and it wasn’t enough. Even after the power of the thumb kicked you out of power, you still want to carry yourselves around as if you were still in charge of our country.


Now hear the NDC’s latter-day “Shadow President” – Alban Bagbin – as he delivers his and his NDC’s State of OUR Nation address. “The President in his State of the Nation Address presents a picture of hope, progress, and achievement instead of the actual picture of desperation and despair, doom and gloom of the future and the dark clouds of fear and insecurity hanging on the lives of the majority of citizens of this nation.” Wow! This picture of OUR nation as painted by Bagbin is worse than even that of Afghanistan. We are a nation of “desperation and despair”. A Nation of “doom and” of a gloomy future. “Dark clouds of fear and insecurity” are hanging over us. That’s serious! That sort of picture that the NDC wants to portray our country can only come from people who have put on clouded goggles and therefore cannot see crystal-clear. If Ghana were a country of “hope, progress, and achievement” it would spell doom for them politically, they reason. Therefore, against all incontrovertible facts they must paint as dark as their darkened minds can conjure our country. In their minds the darker the picture they are able to paint of our beloved country, the brighter their chances of coming to power. They are so consumed about power that at all cost they must have it whether by just or foul means.


According to the NDC’s “Shadow President”, the NPP government is filled with “viciousness, vengeance and arrogance” and “the culture of fear has been introduced into the body politics of the country.” Wow! That makes Bagbin and his men really bold then, doesn’t it? If in spite of “the culture of fear” Bagbin and his NDC cronies can make such an indictment about the Kufuor Administration in Accra (where the seat of government is) without facing any repercussions, “viciousness” or “vengeance” from the NPP then they really are living in some weird “culture of fear”! A “culture of fear” that makes it possible for Bagbin and his cronies to speak their minds, insult public officials, and go home to their families and snore at night without any fear of retribution. Such an irony is lost to Bagbin and his NDC. They are nothing but jokers! They deserve a place in a Concert Party show. The real culture of fear occurred in this country when one man determined when Ghanaians should go to bed; when one man ordered that no Ghanaian is allowed to be on the streets from 6pm to 6am; when offending one man could cause the lives of noble citizens to be kidnapped at dawn, driven in the car of Konadu-Agyeman Rawlings to the Achimota forest, and shot in cold-blood, then have their mortal remains burnt to ashes. Try as you may, Bagbin, you and your NDC cannot brainwash Ghanaians again. We have learnt our lessons. And it’s an insult to our intelligence when you and your fellow cultists make such statements in the face of your own record.


Hear Bagbin: “In his first press conference on 22nd March 2001, after the NDC had handed over the reins of administration to the NPP, Prof. J.E.A. Mills said “we had hoped that cooperation, consultation and consensus would characterize at least the first few months of the NPP Administration, so that they would have the benefit of the NDC’s long experience in government and also forge a united front in the face of external factors which have in the main been responsible for our economic difficulties in 2000.” Alas! This was not to be.” Fiifi Mills is nothing but a jokester. He’s nothing but a poodle with a PhD. He may be academically astute, but he’s not a wise man. For he doesn’t even understand how democracy works. If Ghanaians wanted “the benefit of the NDC’s long experience in government” why did they reject them at the 2000 and 2004 polls? Fiifi, Ghanaians had you and your master for 20 good years. We had had enough of you, and wanted a change. Change we got! Positive Change, that is. True democracy. Prudent economic management. Rising national pride. Our people chose Kufuor to lead, and not to spend his time in consultation with a rejected government (the NDC) and in reaching consensus with Jerry Rawlings. And mind you, Kufuor never pledged in 2000 to be in consultation with your god, Rawlings 24/7. He never did that. You did. And it’s part of the reason why Ghanaians didn’t trust you with that high office, as they could sense you were not your own man, that you were nothing but a poodle in Rawlings’ hands. President Kufuor is therefore under no obligation to consult Rawlings or yourself or reach consensus with you guys. After all, for the 20 years you and your lord were in power did you ever consult any opposition party? Did you ever consult Dr. Hilla Limann – then our only living ex-president as you and your lord had killed the rest? Was there any consultation when Martin Amidu declared himself ‘shadow vice-president’? Give us a break will you!


“Many [NDC members] have been hauled before investigative bodies, had their cars impounded, and subjected to numerous kinds of harassment” according to Bagbin. Now folks, let’s count them. Let’s count the number of NDC members who have been hauled to court for financial malfeasance. Ibrahim Adam, Kwame Peprah, Dr. George Yankey, Sherry Ayittey, the late Victor Serlomey, Emmanuel Agbodo, and Dan Abodakpi. Tsatsu Tsikata is still in court. Only eight NDC members have been hauled to court. Of these Sherry Ayittey and Agbodo were acquitted. So does taking citizens to court constitute “harassment”? And friend, note that these people were sent to court and not the Teshie-Nungua Shooting Range. If the government was bent on harassing NDC members, why would they choose only 8 people out of the lot? The only cars that have been impounded in this country were cars that belonged to the State but were intentionally being kept by private citizens when there was a change in government in 2001. Was Kufuor supposed to let people keep State property for their own private use? Rubbish!

“Fifteen years since the adoption of constitutional rule, institutions of governance are still very weak and subject to the bullying and manipulation of a powerful executive. Ghana needs a strong and independent legislature that is well resourced to carry out its constitutional mandate. Parliament as it exists today is weak and subject to the authority of the executive. It may be necessary to review the constitutional provisions that allow the majority of ministers to be appointed from Parliament in order to remove the ‘carrot’ that the executive uses to create a docile majority that are subject to its whims and caprices. There is the need to strengthen these institutions.” It’s amazing what one can see in opposition! Of these 15 years that Bagbin and his NDC talks about, they were in power for 8 of them, and they didn’t see anything wrong with the constitution until almost 7 years in opposition. Wonder how many eurekas or epiphanies Bagbin and his NDC would have after spending another 8 years in opposition. That statement from Bagbin shows how myopic the (P)NDC were when in power. They thought they’d rule this country forever and ever, so they made everything to be in the advantage of the government in power. Now they taste the fruits of their labor.


I agree that there ought to be a constitutional review eventually, but one of the major reasons Parliament is weak is that we have Parliamentarians like Bagbin whose allegiance is not to their constituencies but to Jerry Rawlings. For he can order them to boycott parliament and they follow his orders like sheep! Or else, how can one explain why Bagbin, Kumbuor, Ayariga, etc have consistently refused to lobby for or champion the cause of our northern people even as we just learnt that there are only 30 Ghanaian doctors in the northern parts of our country. Ever heard these NDC loudmouths champion the serious health problems of our fellow citizens in the north or the fact that there are very few economic opportunities there for our youth? No, that’s not important to Kumbuor. What is most important is to please one man. I’ve come to the conclusion that until our people in the north decide against sending their citizens who reside in Accra to parliament things will not change for them. Kumbuor, Bagbin, Ayariga, etc are Accra folks. They may be descendants of our northern people, but they are Accra boys. They have their houses in Accra. Their children go to some of the best schools Accra can offer. They are so out of touch with the average Ghanaian in the northern parts of our country. So we should understand it when they have no interest in talking about or forcing a discussion about the gross inequity in development between the southern and northern parts of the country.


“The general public’s opinion about the judiciary is not a flattering one.” Wonder if the NDC has ever thought of “the general public’s” opinion of their party? “There are allegations of interference in the work of judges by the Chief Justice. Ghana needs a strong and independent judiciary that is not subject to the manipulation of the executive or the rich and powerful in society. The public pronouncement of the Chief Justice that judgments are written for some Judges and the blatant interference in the work of the Judiciary by the President in the Tsatsu Tsikata’s case are clear testimony of the NPP’s misconception of an independent Judiciary. The judiciary must be strengthened and resourced to carry out its constitutional duties.” If for the sake of debate we were to accept that it’s true that the Chief Justice is interfering in the work of judges. Would that constitute “manipulation” by the executive? Is the Chief Justice part of the executive? If there is anyone in Ghana who has consistently been trying to interfere in the work of the Judiciary it is the legislator. Not the entire Parliament, but the NDC MPs who have consistently jumped their boundaries and challenged, denigrated, and ridiculed decisions by our courts. I have never heard President Kufuor malign the judiciary, but I sure have on record numerous insults from Rawlings, Doe Adjaho, Kumbuor, Kwabena Adjei and others to Chief Justice Acquah and other members of our bench. If it is not unconstitutional for the president to have appointed more justices to the Supreme Court any debate about interference is baseless. Tsatsu managed to get the Supreme Court Justices, most of them at that time had been appointed by Rawlings, to declare that the Fast Track High Courts were unconstitutional. In effect the judiciary were shooting themselves in the foot. The President decided to call for a review, which is fully within his constitutional powers to do, and exercised this constitutional power. We may disagree whether that was against the spirit of the law, but no one can dispute the fact that he had the right under our constitution to appoint more justices.


“Human Rights and security remain a great challenge to the NPP Government. Almost 5 years since the murder of the Ya Na of Dagbon and 40 of his elders, the NPP Government has still been unable to apprehend the perpetrators of the dastardly crime and bring them to justice. Even more recently in the case of the the murder in 2004 of Alhaji Issah Molbila, where the soldiers involved in the Alhaji’s torture leading to his death have been identified, the NPP is either unable or unwilling to proceed with their prosecution. Ghana which in the past was the most tranquil state in the West African sub-region, with a very low crime rate, has recently become a dangerous country to live in. Armed robberies involving rape and murder of the victims, highway robberies where buses are ambushed and the passengers mostly traders robbed of their entire capital have become a daily occurrence in Ghana.” God bless our policemen and women. They are the only police officers in the world who are expected to conjure magic on a daily basis. They never had communication gadgets, never had patrol cars (until Kufuor came to power), they never had the minimum accoutrements needed to perform their jobs creditably. Because for 20 years the NDC refused to resource them. Then when crimes occur they are supposed to do FBI stuff and solve them! Now go and take all the surgical instruments from our surgeons and see if they can perform any surgery. Until we resource our police officers we shouldn’t expect them to be at par with the best. Now, talking about crimes were those Kume Preko people who were shot dead in broad daylight in Accra in an era supposedly democratic also Ghanaians? Were those 30+ women who were raped, murdered, and had body parts missing during the time when Jerry Rawlings was in power also Ghanaians? Were those who killed thousands of our citizens and maimed a lot more during the Kokomba-Nanumba war in the early 90s also Ghanaians? Were these crimes ever solved? My point is, we are paying for not putting our monies where our mouth is. We never resourced the police. We therefore have no moral right to expect them to be amongst the best in the world in solving crimes. Let us give them the best of training, give them all the basic gadgets they need, provide them with top-notch crime labs, then we may have the right to be upset when they are not performing. For a long time we have been pretending like we have a well-resourced police service, therefore they have also been pretending like they can solve crimes.


“A prominent lawyer and citizen of Ghana, Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama, currently live in exile in Burkina Faso for fear of being attacked and murdered.” Is he an NDC member? No wonder! Why is he afraid “of being attacked and murdered?” What stops him from seeking police protection if that is really true. Or do they not trust in the capabilities of our inadequately resourced police. But I guess, only he (Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama) knows what is after him. Or is it a case of another Jojo Bruce Quansah wolf-crying? Jojo Bruce Quansah is that NDC activist who also doubles as the editor of the Palaver. He worked with Ahwoi to smear chicken blood on his shirt and made a police report that he was almost assassinated, just to make political capital out of it. The extent to which these NDC people would go to score political points is amazing! Now talking about exiles…what would Bagbin say about the thousands of Ghanaians who fled their own land into exile for dear life just because one man did not want them here in their own land of birth? I wonder how hard it must have been for Bagbin to fetch this Alhaji to use him as evidence that people are fleeing the country. And who even knows whether that’s not a concocted story. And isn’t it interesting that after putting in overtime in this course he could only come up with the name of only one man? And his case is even frivolous at best. The opposite is rather happening. We have Ghanaians who were in exile for 20 years now living and settled in their own land of birth. No more to be driven out of their own motherland by a mulatto – a half-Ghanaian.


“Recently mysterious killings in the Suhum area have created fear about the possibility of a serial killer operating in the area. This has heightened fear among the citizenry in view of the mysterious deaths of women that occurred in the run up to the 2000 elections. The brutal gunning down recently of the late Samuel Ennin, the Chairman of the GJA Ashanti Region, is a typical example of the state of insecurity Ghanaians have to live with under the Kufuor administration.” If that were the yardstick by which countries were labeled as ‘insecure’ then I tell you, Bagbin, that not even the US is secure. Murder is a serious and evil crime. The killing of Ennin is sad. Am glad our police, despite their inadequate resources are doing their best to unravel such evil crimes. But the truth is that there will never be a time when murder will not occur in society. Some people are evil and would always commit heinous crimes. It is our responsibility to work in tandem with the police and security officers to reduce the frequency of such crimes by assisting them with information. To say that Ghanaians are living in a state of insecurity is quite dishonest. Bagdad is in a state of insecurity. Afghanistan is in a state of insecurity. Ghana is not. We have criminalities in our land, so does any other country on the face of this sin-filled world. If the NDC is promising to eradicate crime, then they are living in a fool’s paradise. For the first criminals they would have to eliminate would be themselves, especially their god.

“The NPP Government continues to take pride in stabilizing the macro-economic environment. While it is largely true that there has been stabilization in this sector over the last several years, many factors account for this. A favourable international economic environment beginning 2001 has been a key factor in achieving this stabilization. Unlike the period leading up to the year 2000, when prices of our major export products were near collapse, with cocoa at an all time low of $700 per tonne and gold trading as low as $240 per ounce, cocoa from 2001 has traded at an average of $1600 per tonne, while gold has consistently kept pushing the $700 per ounce mark. Added to this has been the improved donor inflows and huge debt forgiveness granted Ghana and other developing countries.” Funny people, I say! Everything has been favorable, huh? The price of crude oil too? No Bagbin, you still don’t get it! There’s something called prudent management. Even whilst the price of Crude oil, which averaged $23 per barrel when your NDC was in power, shot up three times, Ghana’s economy did not collapse. Do you think, Bagbin, that that was by chance? Do you think it was by chance that made our cedis stabilize over the 6 years that Kufuor has been in power? Was it by chance that caused our foreign exchange reserves to rise from the $200 million that your NDC left to $2.4 billion over the 6 years that Kufuor has been in power? Shows that if given our economy to manage again, you and your folks would mismanage it again, for you do not think that it is by hard-work and prudent management that an economy can be developed. Now about the “huge debt forgiveness granted Ghana” was that also by chance? If today that “huge debt forgiveness” which you and your NDC opposed when Kufuor took us to HIPC is part of the reason that our economy is strong, I say “shame on you, Bagbin! Shame on you NDC!”


“Indeed one can say that with the amount of resources available to Ghana over the last six years, this country must be far ahead of where it presently is. It is a paradox of our development that with the kind of resources that have flowed into this country under the NPP Administration, Ghanaians feel even more financially emasculated than they did before the period up to 2000.” Teachers’ pay has reason over 437% since Kufuor came to power. Doctors and nurses, and civil servants have had a substantial increase in salaries since Kufuor came to power. The only people who are “financially emasculated” are you and your NDC cronies who used to enjoy free money. There’s no longer free money, so you are broke! There’s no longer the so-called ‘revolutionary organs’ like the ACDRs, CDRs, 31st December Women’s Movement, which all drew their salaries from our money for no work done. They were paid to kill, torture, and assault us. These are the people who are “financially emasculated”. They are finding it difficult to earn their money. Those times of free money are gone and gone forever!


“While the NPP in opposition was strongly opposed to petroleum price increases, and actually chided the NDC Government to look for other sources of generating revenue other than petroleum taxes, in government the NPP has superintended some of the steepest hikes in petroleum taxes and price ever in the history of Ghana. Where has all this revenue gone? What does the ordinary Ghanaian have to show for the huge revenues collected by Government over the last 6 years?” In 1981 when Rawlings came to power one liter of petrol sold at less than one cedis. In 1986 he had increased it to 33 cedis per liter, representing over 3,000% increase! Over 5 years he had increased petrol by 3,000%. Over 6 years the price of petrol has increased by 500% since Kufuor came to power. Now that increase was mostly due to the three times increase in crude oil price, which had shot up from $23 per barrel to $72 dollars. It has now fallen to about $50. Another reason is due to the huge debt that Tsatsu left at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) which almost collapsed Ghana Commercial Bank. So if today, Bagbin does not know where those taxes go, I say “Go ask Tsatsu Tsikata!” The trillions of debt plus the interest it generated have to be paid off by us. We must pay for Tsatsu and his NDC’s mismanagement. And each time we we buy petrol, for every liter we pump into our cars, 600 cedis go to pay for Tsatsu Tsikata and Rawlings’ debt at TOR. If you buy 10 liters, 6,000 cedis of the money you pay goes to pay a debt generated by the NDC. Part of those taxes on petrol added by the NPP also goes to finance the Metro Mass Transport which provides affordable bus rides for the poor and vulnerable in our society.


“NDC had started the pilot schemes for the introduction of a National Health Insurance Scheme before it left power in 2000.” Today the NDC which walked out of parliament when the National Health Insurance Bill was been debated wants to reap where it has not sown. They want to claim credit for it. They want to have it both ways, oppose it, and yet take credit for it. What we the people know is that NDC gave us Cash-and-Carry, but the NPP has given us a National Health Insurance. You can’t re-write history, Bagbin. We all remember it without any shadow of doubt when you and your party walked out of parliament and refused to vote for a Health Insurance program for our people. You did not want poor Ghanaians to have the possibility of enjoying better primary care. So please, Bagbin, don’t waste our ears.


“Under the cash and carry system, children under five, pregnant women and persons over 70 years were entitled to free healthcare. Under the current scheme, children are entitled to treatment only if their parents have subscribed to the NHIS.” – Says who? So Cash-and-Carry was better than NHIS? If so, then why did you try to take credit for the NHIS as you just did in the paragraph above? Isn’t that another contradiction? Are you that confused, Bagbin - you and your NDC? And it’s a lie that under the NHIS children are not entitled to free medical care. Another propaganda of lies by the quasi communists.


According to Bagbin the NDC is proud of its JSS/SSS system and the mess it left Ghana’s Educational System in. This is sad. They gave us this educational system then whisked their kids abroad to study at some of the most expensive and best institutions the West has to offer. Rawlings kids…educated abroad! Dan Abodakpi’s kids ….educated abroad! Victor Serlomey’s kids…educated abroad! And the list goes on and on. But our kids? Well they are selling dog chains after going through Rawlings educational system. As for Fiifi Mills…he only has one child whom he refused to take responsibility for, yet wants to take care of OUR kids. His only child was born out of wedlock…he cheated on his wife, yet refused to cater for that boy. Today he wants to be president. Today he can talk about Anane’s immorality whilst covering his own. Ghana politics!

“Morale in the teaching field is at an all-time low. High handed measures adopted to break the NAGRAT strike including withholding their salaries, has completely demoralized the teachers. This certainly will affect the quality of teaching and learning at the classroom level.” Ever heard of no work, no pay? Why should Kwami Alorvi, one-time a parliamentary candidate in the NDC’s primary at his constituency in the Volta Region, who led NAGRAT to strike, be rewarded? Do you and your party care about our children who suffered as a result of NAGRAT’s illegal and uncalled-for strike? Or is it another case of nepotism – “we” and “them” syndrome on display. Kwami Alorvi is an NDC member so he is part of the “we” and has to have the NDC fight for his parochial interest, but our children are part of “them” so they can ‘go to hell!’ In every country when a union declares a strike action, that union is responsible for paying its members. It’s not the employer’s responsibility to pay employees who refuse to work. If there is any pay that NAGRAT members feel it is theirs they should go and tackle Kwami Alorvi. Kwami Alorvi and his NAGRAT as the union which called for this illegal strike should pay NAGRAT not the Ghanaian tax-payer! And if President Kufuor or Papa Owusu Ankoma dare use our money to pay these miscreants, they should be ready for being charged with “willfully causing financial loss to the state”. Period!


“…the agricultural economy of northern Ghana will hardly pick up to the point of reducing poverty as envisaged under the MCA compact.” Pessimists indeed. Even before the MCA is implemented Bagbin and his NDC has written it off. Such ad hoc judgment is becoming common with the NDC. That same judgment made them declare HIPC as useless, NHIS as worse than their Cash-and-Carry, ROPAB as a green light for them to cause “mayhem”, etc, etc. If only they would exercise patience. History tells us that they’ll be proven wrong again.


“The sector [Communication sector] held the potential to have performed even better, but for the ill-advised decision to chase away the Malaysian investors in Ghana Telecom and hand over a lucrative contract based on cronyism with absolute lack of transparency to Norwegian Telecom Management Partners?” What at all is wrong with the NDC? Are they trying to con Ghanaians again or are they trying to throw dust into our eyes? They amaze me by how much they like to rub their bad deeds in the face of our people and try to cast them in better light. Every Ghanaian knows that the Malaysians robbed us dry with connivance from the NDC. We sold part of Ghana Telecom to them for 30 million dollars and when they were being kicked out they demanded 250 million dollars from government after about 5 years in charge with very little investment on their part into Ghana Telecom. To bring that issue back again and pretend that we should have kept the Malaysians is another insult on our intelligence. Especially when these Malaysians had no interest in fulfilling their part of the contract in providing at least 400,000 landlines to the country. Get over it, NDC.


“It is an irony of our history that the NPP Government, successor of the NLM and UP traditions that strongly opposed the granting of independence by sending a delegation to remonstrate with the Queen to delay granting independence to Ghana, should be the government presiding over the celebration of our independence on the occasion of this unique 50th anniversary. It is no wonder that President Kufuor in his recent state of the nation address, failed to acknowledge the role of the founding father of the nation Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, when commenting on the 50th Anniversary.” Ghana’s history has consistently been re-written by people. At the appropriate time this topic about our independence struggle will be taken up by yours truly. But for now, if we were to grant them that argument just for the sake of debate, how would they respond if they were also asked why they celebrated Ghana’s 40-year anniversary when they were the very people that overthrew an Nkrumahist government in Dr. Hilla Limann in 1981, what would they say? They overthrew a successor to Nkrumah in 1981, destroyed the CPP, but today they claim to be Nkrumahists. Hypocrites!


“Malaysia which also celebrates its Golden jubilee this year, set up its anniversary planning committee more than a year before the event. Unlike in Ghana the events have been better planned and publicized over an extensive period, evoking a strong national response and participation amongst the Malaysian people.” But how much are the Malaysians spending, Mr Know-nothing Bagbin? Don’t you know that planning and publicity are expensive? The Malaysians know better than you and your ilk. They know that even if they spend a lot on their anniversary celebrations they can gain it back tangibly in marketing the country and increasing tourism, and intangibly in fostering national unity. And their opposition party is more nationalist than ours whose allegiance is - unfortunately not to Ghana - but to Rawlings.


“When Ghanaians complain about the huge sums being expended on the anniversary celebration, the President arrogantly brushes them aside, telling suffering Ghanaians that they “know the cost of everything, but know the value of nothing.” Now we know that as for President Kufuor he knows the value of everything but not the cost of anything. He and his people know the value of constructing the Presidential Palace, implementing the re-denomination of the currency and the National Identification Program but obviously do not know or care about the cost to the Ghanaian people. We are at least grateful that the President and his hangers on realize the value of our independence contrary to the attitude of their predecessors. It is unconscionable that in a day and age when guinea worm has run riot, and more women are dying in childbirth, with increased mortality among children under 5, government has no qualms in spending over ¢200 billon cedis in celebrations including the importation of a huge fleet of flashy cars.” You see now? They want a beautiful celebration of our Jubilee anniversary like what the Malaysians are having, yet they want it for nothing. And then they turn around and cry foul that the program is not extensive and elaborate. Konongo kaya, them no go carry, and them no go let no one carry am too! Why don’t they recommended that we cancel the celebration of our 50 years anniversary of nationhood. That would be cheaper, wouldn’t it? It won’t cost any money to not celebrate anything. Can we have any program in Ghana without politicization? Even the de-worming exercise that seeks to improve the health of our kids has being politicized in the Volta Region by the NDC. They go round the villages telling our people that Kufuor wants to kill their kids and that some people have died from the de-worming exercise. Sadistic people! NDC is a sadistic party. They can see nothing but evil and they have derive deep satisfaction in causing pain and suffering to our people. And what’s wrong with the Presidential Palace, re-denomination, and National ID, NDC? Can’t we have all the good things concurrently? Must we always choose just because we are poor?

Ghanaians, let us not let these good for nothings ever have access to our country or our coffers. They’ll bleed us dry again and move the clock of development back.


Comments? Send them to ato_kwame@yahoo.com



Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.


Columnist: Kwamena, Ato