“I will be President for all Ghanaians whether they voted for me or not. I’ll heal wounds and strive to ensure unity. No Ghanaian should live in fear of armed robbery. Improvement in internal security would be top of my priority.
Atta Mills will, within the first hundred days in office send a bill to parliament to reduce taxes drastically Other promises include:
Hitting the ground running
Putting money into people’s pocket
Drastic reduction in the price of fuel
Forty percent representation of women
Open door policy
Good governance
Jobs for the masses
Ministers/Appointees to pay for using utilities/services
No blame game or political vendetta
The above were some of the laudable policies Professor Mills promised to put in place if elected President.Now, one year into his Presidency, can he (President Mills) look straight at Ghanaians, eyeball to eyeball and tell them he has kept faith with them?
Speaking objectively,I will say that Baba Go Slow hit the Ground crawling for his promises have been a bundle of contradictions. People were removed from their jobs and replaced with those from the NDC. According to him, if you were not of his political persuasion, he did not think you were qualified to serve in his government. Business confidence in the country has reached its lowest ebb.
Grabbing if State Property/Resources:This has been the norm rather than exception. The NDC had taken a swipe at the NPP for endorsing property acquisition. To them, the philosophy is anti-people. Their manifesto alleges that if you don’t have money, you cannot be part of the decision making process in the country.
But one year into the NDC’s administration, we are seeing the other side of them. If you see their convoys you will ask yourself whether these were the very people who had criticized members of the previous regime for living a life of ostentation.
These people who were paupers yesterday have become millionaires overnight. They are grabbing property here and there with both hands and legs. They are doing so openly and daring the rest of us to shout if we have guts. And the most pathetic this is that their number keeps increasing on daily basis.
Ama Benyiwa Doe has put up a mansion in Accra. And since the President saw nothing wrong with her action, she became emboldened and has moved over to her home region to start another building. Yesterday, it was the DCE of one of the districts in the Volta Region who became “wiser” after seeing how those in Accra are dipping their hands into the state coffers. He has put up a beautiful mansion in his hometown. When asked where he had got the money for the project, he said he won it through the National Weekly Lotto. Well, time will tell. Then, just today we learnt that John Abu Jinapor, a staff at the office of the Vice President has also put up a magnificent edifice in his home village.
The President would not be left out of this game. How could he sit idly by while mere appointees and subordinates who cannot extricate their hands from the juicy state coffers into which have unexpectedly come across are allowed to soar beyond the reach of ordinary mortals? He must fly very high indeed to meet the ancient gods at their abode, Mount Olympus. These “small” party men and women have put up structures befitting their status, what do you think the Commander in-Chief will do? To his hometown, Baba Go Slow goes, commandeer most of the community land. He must put up a more magnificent edifice comparable to Aso Rock at Abuja in Nigeria. And this must be ready before the anniversary to commemorate the death of his father. Yes, Baba Go slow too has to ‘teach’ his “detractors” that he too has arrived and that when it comes to grabbing of national assets, he is not as slow as people would have the world believe.
Opulence and more grabbing of National Assets: Mahama Ayariga jumped the queue when he, as Presidential Spokesperson did the unthinkable, unacceptable and absurd thing by forcibly ‘snatching’ from the jaws of his kinsmen three tractors sent there to assist in the cultivation of the lands. To show how greedy and callous he is, the spokesperson of Baba Go Slow hired those tractors out to his kinsmen/women at thrice the actual cost. And yet these greedy and uncaring people claim they love and care for you.
As if that was not enough, we saw them displaying opulence at their congress this year, especially during the election of the Youth and the Women Organizers. This is not an allegation which came from the opposition parties. It came from their members, including their Founder himself.
This time, it was not insignificant things like “bentoa” “kako” or “koobi”. It was money. Three hundred Ghana cedis in addition to a three hundred Ghana cedis mobile phone per person! Ras Mubarak added a humorous aspect to the whole “show” when he stated that, when word got to them that “the Castle had arrived”, most of the delegates abandoned the meal of rice and chicken and rushed out of the hall to be partakers of the good news from the seat of power
We should also not forget that, a serial caller, Dr. “Asem Foforo” had stated emphatically that the same Mahama Ayariga had brought some money in “Ghana Must Go Bags” and shared among NDC serial callers, but he (Asem Foforo) was denied his “legal share”.
It was during the NDC regime that a whopping sum of ¢1.2 billion was used to renovate one government bungalow. When the NDC was vetting candidates for appointment as DCE/MCEs, the party executives at the Regional levels imposed some levies on the applicants. The President declared the act illegal and asked them to refund the monies, but none did.
And to give credence to this manipulation of the electoral process, their Founder and ex President Rawlings condemned in totality the introduction of what he termed “monetocracy” into the NDC electoral dictionary. He went on to say that some latter day converts of the NDC had questioned the leadership of the party how much he (Rawlings) had contributed to the coffers of the party. That was how bad the situation has become in the NDC.
These are people who talked of accountability when they were in opposition. But now in Government, they are sharing dollars and mobile phones! Yes, if you can’t beat them join them. The NDC has taught Ghanaians a bitter lesson. And what is it? That it is only a weak man whose wife finds pleasure in another woman’s husband”.
Destruction of National Assets: The rate at which national assets have been allowed to go waste beats my understanding. I am referring to the rate of arson going on in the country. And anytime such a thing happens, top members of the government will point accusing finger at their political opponents.
First to be touched by fire was the office of the Deputy Minister of Information, to be followed by the office of the Energy Commission. Next was that of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. And now we another one has happened at TOR. In the case of the Foreign Affairs Ministry we had the Greater Accra Police Commander, Rose Bio Atinga, who has turned herself into the Propaganda Minister of the NDC just as the former Volta Regional Commander, ACP Derry did for the NPP.
If the NDC government cannot safeguard or protect life and property of individuals and the state, does that not portray its inefficiency and lack of total commitment towards solving the country’s problems? The NDC claims the NPP was unable to solve the country’s problem. Sure, the party was hooted out of power and in comes the NDC. But no, it has no blue prints on how to solve those problems. Instead of things getting better, they are getting worse.
If during the NPP period, Ghanaians could sleep with at least one eye open or closed, it is no longer so under the NDC. Ghanaians will now have to sleep with both eyes open. It is non-negotiable.
In ancient times, a king/Chief sought solution to the people’s problems. A Chief whose reign witnessed a spate hunger/famine, war, defeats, miscarriages, unnatural death, sickness/diseases was said to have incurred the wrath of the gods and libation/sacrifices were offered to cleanse the land and appease the gods. Nobody would like to remember the reign of such a chief. I would personally say that perhaps God was displeased with the NPP government and that was why it was booted out of office. I would also personally state that the spate of suicides at close succession is an indication of the fact that God is indeed displeased with the misrule and lack of direction of the Mills administration.
What do you make out of these?
John Nketiah hanged himself. (Reported on 3rd January, 2010)
Woman kills self and five kids (reported on 6th January, 2010)
Man strangles wife to death (reported on 19th January, 2010)
Student commits suicide (reported on 11th January, 2010
Man kills wife (reported on 13th January, 2010)
Reduction of taxes.Professor Mills before the election stated that if voted into power, his administration would within the first hundred days in office send a bill to Parliament to drastically reduce taxes in the country. Now the opposite has happened. Taxes have been imposed on almost everything that has a name in the country. It started with fuel and now it has affected “pure water” and toilets. Akpeteshie, the poor man’s drink is also affected. Very soon this clueless regime will impose taxes on the very air we breathe.
Is this Fair? Having taken the best part of everything in the country, including ‘snatching’ other people’ wives and girl friends, these power hungry gurus in the NDC are still not satisfied. They have extended their greed to using others as proxies to purchase strategic national assets. I am referring to the sale of some buildings belonging to the National Investment Bank which were advertised in some state media.
Prominent among them are 1) The three plots with a building on it at Tesano which caters for the Artisans (General Services).
2) The building which serves as residential accommodation for staff of the Bank at North Kaneshie behind Dans Bar. Where do they expect the staff to stay after they have sold off the property? Can the Board give at least one sensible reason why they are selling this strategic national asset? And this is a government that claims to have the interest of the ordinary people at heart.
3) The Training School at East Legon, opposite Erata Hotel. I am reliably informed that the building originally belonged to the Head of the power brokers at the Castle, Mr. Ato Ahwoi. He used it as collateral to obtain a loan from the Bank. When he was unable to pay back the loan, the bank took possession of the property and converted it into a Training school. I smell a rat here. Why is the board selling this property? Is it an indirect way of handing back the property to Ato Ahwoi? What the board wants to do is to get somebody to“front” for Ato Ahwoi. But let me assure them that if this is their plan, it will not work. The wrath of God will be made to visit all those who engage in any such clandestine and nefarious act in connection with this strategic national asset. God will surely do his work here. He has assured me of that and I dare the board to go ahead with their anti-people act see what happens.
If they sell the Training School where do they expect staff of the Bank to go for further training? Is this not a precursor to selling the National Investment Bank? They want to do the sale of the bank” bit by bit” so that the entire bidding process could go for peanuts.
And what is Baba saying about this sale? Is he going to look on helplessly as these cabal of nation wreckers go ahead to auction one of the few remaining strategic national investments amongst themselves?
Epilogue: At the end of its first year in office all that we can associate Baba Go Slow’s administration with are dashed hopes and aspirations, betrayal of people’s trust and a life of ostentation by government appointees in the midst of hunger and deprivation. The Baba Go Slow administration will go dawn in history as most conscienceless and totally insensitive to the sensibilities of the very people who gave them their mandate. Members of his administration believe, think and feel, though erroneously, that their time has come for them to plunder and pillage the national assets and resources to their barest minimum. But one thing they might have forgotten but which I must remind them is that one day the owner, their creator, the Omnipotent will come calling. What account are they going to give? Nobody will escape this day of reckoning.
To these permanent unrepentant greedy bastards and boot-lickers, there is no other better message for them than that of Peter Arubi, my Nigerian friend. He says ‘No evil deed can go unpunished. Any evil done by man will be redressed, if not by man certainly by God; if not now, certainly later. For the victory of evil over good can only be temporary’.
The President set his own questions and provided his own marking scheme with which I have used to mark his scripts. Over all, I score him a disappointing 43%. Better Luck next time, Baba Go Slow!
Daniel Danquah Damptey
danieldanquah_damptey@yahoo.com