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Corruption In Ghana-2001-2008

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 Source: Sangaparee, Clement

Kufour’s Looting Brigade Revealed

The NPP administration with Mr. J.A. Kufour as the then President of Ghana by default anyway was rather a kleptocracy whose organized thieving was measurable through an institutional packaging order, the international whistle blower WikiLeaks had said in Part 21 of 22 .

The revelation is that under President Kufuor’s property grabbing regime, 10 government institutions were the pacesetters in the loot of the Public Purse.

According to WikiLeaks, the 10 most corrupt institutions under the Kufour regime were;

1. The Police

2. Ministry of Education, Oh! Yes, the notorious Ghana Education Service came under they Radar of the erstwhile PNDC government in 1985 where officials of that Ministry Stole Billions of Ghana cedis and shared among themselves.

3. The Customs Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS)

4. The Judiciary.

5. The Civil Service, Yes, if you doubt it, you just glance through the Auditor General’s report and you will see the billions of cedis looted by Kufour’s ministers and other appointees with impunity

6. The Ghana Health Service where Doctors and Nurses work to save lives and at times, if you are not rich and you dare fall sick and report at the hospital, your next home would be the mortuary.

7. The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) – where they would constantly switch off electricity for weeks and when the fact bills comes, they will never be any reduction for the three weeks that power went off- it is always the same huge bills.

8. Ghana Politicians, No, I am a politician since the PNDC era to date 2013, but I have never been CITED for corruption and the only highest office I once occupied was a Board Member of the Ghana National Fire Services from 1998 to 2001 when we were removed en block and replaced by Kufuor’s NPP men and my allowance of over GH¢30.00 remained there to date. I was appointed by His Excellency Flt. J.J Rawlings.

According to the 2005 cable leaked from the American Embassy in Ghana, the rest of the 10 most corrupt institutions under Ex-Prez Kufuor were (9) The internal Revenue Service and (10) The Immigration Service respectively.

WikiLeaks have established that Ex-President Kufuor himself was the King Pin of the wide spread corruption that was legalized in Ghana between 2001 -2008 since his administration had sidelined the late Vice President Aliu Mahama and replaced him with his brother-in-law Mr. J.H. Mensah who was appointed a Senior Minister. It was revealed that Mr. J.A. Mensah used the HIPC Benefit funds to sponsor the then ruling party’s patronage net works when President Kufuor set him over the funds to the spite of the late Aliu Mahama. President Kufour’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Kwado Mpiani is also revealed by earlier troves of Wiki Leaks to have been in the thick of a STATE LANDS LOOTING BRIGADE that evolved at the Osu Castle, the then Seat of government. It was the same Kwadwo Mpiani together with Charles Wereko Brobbey who were both in the dock of a Presidential Commission that looked into allegations of financial impropriety at the Ghana@50 Celebration and were both INDICTED, yet the two are still moving as free people because President Mills made the big mistake of investigating them with a Presidential Commission instead of using the Security Agencies. It is also a matter on record that the late President Mills Stated that he won’t INHERIT ANYBODY ELSE’S ENEMIES and nobody knew why he once made that statement. In his life time, he heard no evil, he saw no evil and did no evil, so the massive corruption and looting that took place in Ghana for 8 years under Kufour’s NPP government had been swept under the carpet by a Presidential Commission set up by the late President Mills, so NPP members must be the last people to blame President Mahama of Corruption after taking the country to ransom for 8 good months.

According to the WikiLeaks, the Judiciary under Kufuor whose latter head was state lands theft beneficiary, Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood was so corrupt that a Supreme Court Judge had to complain bitterly to the US Embassy officials. The Supreme Court Chief Justice Kingsley Acquah admitted to Ambassador Yates in her farewell call that judicial corruption is “ A BIG TERRIBLE PROBLEM” He noted that the Police recently discovered a judicial clerk embezzling funds using duplicate stamps. In July, the Judicial Council charged two High Court judges with stealing GH¢115MILLION ($13,000) deposited as fines.WikiLeak added. it went on to state that Theodora Georgina Wood who is still the current Chief Justice has managed to hold down her position in spite of glaring evidence that there are question marks on her integrity.

In the education sector, WikiLeaks revealed that under Kufour, it together with the Health sector had the greatest mis allocation of funds. The Assistant Director of the serious Fraud Office, A Tetteh Mensah told Poloff that the Ministries of Health and Education had the greatest mis allocation of funds in the GOG. WikiLeaks quoted. We will not allow anybody to sweep the facts under the carpet. According to the leaked cable, the mis-allocations mainly happened because schools and clinics that were paid for from government budget allocations ended up NEVER BEING Built. The money just ended up in some peoples pocket all in the name of property owing democracy. That is J.A. Kufour, the so called Gentle Giant for you. Another strategy that was widely employed under the Kufour regime to steal with impunity from the Health and Education Ministries was the massive insertion of Ghost Names in their payrolls.

In 2001 the Minister of Finance reported that ghost names on public payroll alone cost the state an estimated $33 million that was 300 billion Ghana cedis in financial losses annually, the leak revealed. In a Ghana Integrity Initiative that was conducted in the era of the Kufour regime, the Ministry of Education was perceived as the second most corrupt government entity in Ghana. That institution had been a corruption ridden organization since the PNDC era in 1985 to date, so the government must look at that important Ministry and the GES WITH EAGLE Eyes, otherwise, our FUTURE LEADERS being trained by that Ministry would face a bleak future. ON September 2nd 2011, the Police revealed that 22,000 dollars (GH¢200,000,00) million cedis had been embezzled by an employee of the Ghana Education Service in the Upper East Region. WikiLeaks stated again, in October 2005, Media reports exposed that the Ministry of Education had decided to sole source a $28 million contract for books without seeking the required prior approval from the Public Procurement Board. A BIG SHAKE UP IN THE GES like the PNDC did in 1985 will remove the rot from the Ministry of Education which had been a GOLDMINE for PEN ROBBERS and ORGANISED CROOKS who are worse than ARMED ROBBERS WIELDING GUNS on the High Ways. I also suggest that the government should set aside the Presidential Commission Report that was presented to the late Prez. Mills and hand the suspected NPP officials over to the Police C.I.D, BNI, EOCO and other Security Agencies to enable them squeeze the suspect to vomit the loot for the past 8 years under J. A. Kufuor.

It is a matter on record that former President J. A Kufuor made it clear to Ghanaians that HE WILL NEVER PUNISH OFFENDING MINISTERS IN ORDER TO DESTROY THE NPP. With this open endorsement of verbal vituperation, breeds the practice and ON and ON, we all match with it. In a discussion on Metro T.V. Good Evening Ghana, Ex. Pres. Kufuor described his hellish 8 years reign as well as his Ministers and even questioned the host to show evidence of a single corrupt act in his government from 2001-2008. As for me, I do not blame such a tall liar like J.A. Kufuor because if our late President Mills had not issued a Presidential FIAT by, telling NDC members to “Let It Be”- we would have exposed all these Political criminals in the NPP led by Mr. J.A. Kufuor for Ghanaians to see. On that programme, Mr. Kufuor defended his blood soaked regime with stout elegance and rather saw ALMOST EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE National Democratic Congress (NDC) which he made several attempts to destroy in the past eight years but failed. Mr. Kufuor never spared a thought to even identify a single good thing in the previous NDC administration which he never wanted to see in government again.

It will be recalled that Nana Akufo Addo did not congratulate the late President Mills after he lost the 2008 elections to Mills, and this could be seen as demonstrating lack of fairness and respect for his opponent. If one is not prepared to lose as much as he or she determines to win, then he or she is UNFIT FOR ANY RACE. Though defeat is very painful, which some times leads to irrational temper tantrums especially among high profile personalities, politicians must have the nerve to tame such monstrous emotions to breed peace.

WATCH THESE DEVELOPMENTS

In January 2001 Mr. J.A. Kufour was sworn in as President of the Republic of Ghana he increased petrol price by 100%. No one coughed in Ghana.

In AUGUST 2002, the NPP increased electricity tariff by 85%. No one coughed again in Ghana and the T.U.C saw it all as NORMAL. The first tariff increase by the NPP government was in March 2001 where there was an increase of 104%. The T.U.C, G.M.A. and the so called civil society groups in Ghana all saw that as NORMAL. Then again, in 2004, the NPP increased petrol price by another 100% and the GPRTU never called any press conference, while the TUC and GMA all remained silent. Therefore if all these institutions are integral wings of the NPP, they must all come out boldly to let the innocent workers know their true stand in National Affairs for they are more political than claiming to be neutral. This is very shameful. Let them clear the air, once and for all since Prez Mahama will leave The Flagstaff House in 2021 period.

1. President Mahama instituted the Special Task Force to monitor and report revenue collected and expose malpractices at the various posts in the country in April 2013. These are all stringent measures put in place by the NDC government to fight corrupt practices among public officials and the various institutions in the public sector. The President needs commendation and not condemnation, so I say Aluta Continua!

2. The Right To Information Bill (RTI) aimed at ensuring easy access to information was sent to Parliament by the cabinet and has passed through its first reading stage in Parliament on November 12th 2013.

In 2002, the NPP government drafted the first RTI BILL to operationalize the constitutional right to information under Article 21(1) of the 1992 Constitution, but the document could not be sent to Parliament because the NPP hate transparency and had legalized corruption for the 8 years that Kufour was President of Ghana by default from 2001 0 2008.

The 1992 Constitution says that every Ghanaian citizen has the right to know how the government is functioning and because President Mahama is very honest, Patriotic and transparent, that is the reason why he sent the RT1 BILL to parliament to the annoyance of the violent prone NPP.Is anybody listening? I shall return when the need arise. I am done . “Jaanbie Iwaii” Aluta Continua”.

……………………………..

Clement Sangaparee

United Cadres Front

Obuasi

E-Mail clementsang@yahoo.com

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Columnist: Sangaparee, Clement