Few ardent observers of the Ghanaian political scene would fail to notice the theme of betrayal underlying the current scramble by top NPP men to become president.
Of the 18 men who have thrown their hats into the ring to succeed President Kufour, no less than 8 were until recently members of his own cabinet. All of the 8 men have chosen to resign in pursuit of inordinate personal ambitions rather than see out the second of the four-year mandate our countrymen have given to Kufour.
One other cabinet member, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, has resigned to pursue his own ambitions as the CPP’s presidential candidate. These are gambling, scrambling for their leader’s cast-off clothes, even before he departs.
Few men, in their lifetimes, gain the opportunity to serve their country at the highest level. These lucky former ministers of the NPP administration appear grossly dissatisfied with the leader roles given to them as ministers. With about a year and a half of the four-year mandate left and the government engrossed in various difficulties, they have chosen to jump ship mid-stream. There is a clear indication in the present NPP scramble that, none within the erstwhile cabinet, recognized the natural leadership of the other; that none stood shoulder high that the rest would defer to.
On the other hand, all these men seem to be saying “If Kufour can do it, so can we.”
What a testimonial for a departing leader!
But what worries the ordinary man in the street is where the former ministers, many of them formerly men of straw, found the fortune they are now splashing about as campaign money.
The Twenty-Five Thousand dollars they paid as part of the filing fee is only a small tip of the iceberg.
Campaign watchers estimate that men like Akufo-Addo and Alan ‘Cash’ Kyeremanteng have already spent above Four Hundred Million Cedis in their junkets up and down the length and breath of the country.
It is estimated that by the time the upcoming NPP congress is over many would have spent far in excess of Half a Billion Cedis. Yet, that is nothing compared to the Thirty Million dollars NPP gurus reckon they require to stitch up Election 2008.
Yes, it’s moneycracy as you’ve never seen it before. And all this in a country where many PhD holders and even judges earn less that fifty million cedis per annum.
Practically all the former ministers are using official cars as part of their campaign, even though they are no longer ministers and several of them are not even MPs.
They also retain a full compliment of security guards and draw fuel freely with GOIL coupons. This is the arrogance we have become used to under Kufour. What is even more startling is that recent revelations in Parliament have established beyond a shadow of a doubt that several of the ministers are corrupt.
How else can we describe a minister whose outfit awards contracts without tender or who does not care whether contracts awarded by his ministry are covered by adequate invoices and receipts?
As usual this stinking revelation of abject corruption before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee has been swept under the carpet by the NPP administration. If this is what Kufour’s first choice ministers are capable of, one wonders what will happen under the current crop of second-rate ministers. The writing is on the wall we do not need ministers and governments like the NPP is giving us.
Meantime, supporters of the various NPP presidential candidates have embarked on phone wars, exposing the misdeeds of ministers.
One former minister, now a presidential candidate, alleged to have had recent denture problems recently has been the butt of text messages on serial womanizing and boozing.
Another candidate is said to have amassed so much wealth over the past six years that he boasts that he has made more wealth than any Ghanaian dead or alive.
Many of the texts doing the rounds deal with moneys scooped from dubious contracts. Quite a few deal with which former minister was behind which personality demolition job which their darlings in the media picked and projected in an almost slavish manner.
Obviously these men have little time for the democratic platitudes they pronounce so glibly. NPP democracy has been shown to be skin deep. The antics of the Kufuor men know no limits. By far the most divisive subject in the ranks of the ruling party is the attempt to foist Alan Kyeremanteng as the party’s presidential candidate.
This is the pet obsession of Kufour and millions of dollars are being committed to the do or die project.
Recently a number of District Chief Executives (DCEs) were fired simply because they were unsupportive of Kufuor’s anointed candidate. Both tribalism and Islamophobia are suggested by many in the anti-Kyeremanteng camp for the lack of the president’s support for his own sitting vice-president Aliu Mahama. Certainly, non-endorsement of Mahama amounts to a vote by Kufour himself that his No. 2 man has been less than competent. This, in turn, points to poor judgment by the President. In any case, Kufour is clearly indicating that for the past 7 years he has been under-performing with a vice-president who is less than competent.
Watch this space next week for The Rise of the Politician-Thief Under Kufour.
