Of Frenzied Pursuit Of Cash And Mansions

I am not going to mention names for now because those who the caps fit will surely wear them. We know them and they know themselves too. In fact, I am not going to be my mischievous self, neither will I be irreverent in my attempt to say it as it is, but rather I will say it loud. (Apologies to James Brown of blessed memory). The truth is that President Mills is in trouble. His promise to deal with corruption has hit the rocks as his own men and women are deep in the canker. Some of the Mills boys and girls are so corrupt that if Ghanaians should give the NDC another chance to rule this country again, we will live to regret the day God sent us to dwell on this piece of land called Ghana. Some government officials are so corrupt that one begins to wonder whether these people have any conscience at all. For this reason, I am going to prance away with angelic obstinacy and bombast. It was the NDC that threw down the gauntlet in the run-up to the 2008 general elections and surely they would be called to play the game by the rules. They accused the NPP of massive corruption and ended up being more corrupt than any other politician in God�s own country. (Ask Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings). It came to pass that during the 2008 electioneering campaign, the then opposition NDC, led by candidate Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, took President Kufuor�s government to the cleaners, unceasingly accusing the government of corruption and profligate spending. Even though they did not have any basis or prove, they kept the heat on until election day. They told whosoever cared to listen that MMDCEs were corrupt and that when they came to power they would jail all of them. President-elect Mills told the BBC that he was going to vigorously fight corruption and that his action would make corruption unattractive to Ghanaians. He went further to tell the world that the bane of Africa countries was corruption since a nation could not develop with corruption in the system. According to president-elect Mills, the previous regime was swimming in corruption, hence Ghanaians should reject them. On that programme, the law professor was at his oratory best as he turned his head from left to right and right to left, lambasting the previous regime uncharitably. Mills has entered the third year as the president of Ghana. What are we seeing? A deputy minister who hails from the Brong Ahafo Region has built two huge twin mansions in her hometown in a matter of two years in office. A regional minister has built a two-storey building in a matter of two years in office in one of the towns along the coast. In the same Brong Ahafo Region, a national executive officer of the ruling party has built a state of the art mansion in the regional capital while his colleague who holds a very high position in the same party has three buildings of architectural wonder in the same region and has topped it up with a block-making factory at the Bui dam site and a chain of petrol filling stations, all in a matter of two years. And this was the same man who referred to others as thieves! There was this deputy minister acquired a mansion in the US and thereafter chartered an aircraft to wed his wife somewhere in the northern part of this country. Meanwhile, he never landed any job in his miserable life until he was made a deputy minister. His status has suddenly changed. When I say more, say more. (Remember a magician called Professor Hindu of yesteryears?). Say more! Some MMDCEs who were renting single rooms are all owning mansions across the country. A former private radio station worker who once raped a groundnut seller and bribed to be left off the hook has now found himself in the corridors of power and is constructing a mansion in his home town. There is this Municipal Chief Executive in the Brong Ahafo Region who has built a complex hotel in Accra. I am holding a picture of the hotel as I write this piece. Any challenger? The question on the lips of Ghanaians is: where did they get the money to acquire these houses in a matter of two years in office? Their salaries? How much do they receive every month? Pen robbers! Today in Mills� Ghana, regional ministers and MMDCEs sell contracts. The era of competitive bidding is gone with the wind. A six-classroom block which used to cost seventy five thousand Ghana cedis now goes for two hundred and sixty thousand Ghana cedis. Habba! No wonder the Eastern Regional Minister cried to the high heavens to come down and save Ghana when he visited the site of one of such classroom blocks under construction and lamented over the high cost and shoddy work. If you want a contract, the regional minister or MMDCE would ask you to pay a percentage of the contract sum as kickback before you are awarded the contract. Bank accounts? It looks as if these ministers, MMDCEs and the deputy ministers think the party will not come to power, or a reshuffle will affect them. They are grabbing ill-gotten wealth as if the world is coming to an end. And so when they sit in their offices, all what they think about is to strike while the iron is hot. Many of them have opened foreign bank accounts in anticipation of flying out to enjoy when the NDC loses power come 2012. They have forgotten that the Interpol is there to pick them when asked to do so. To avoid seizure of their bank accounts in case a new regime sets up a probe, some of these ministers and MMDCEs use the names of their children and spouses to open the accounts. The foot-soldiers who live among these ministers and MMDCEs have seen all these corruption going on so if they request for something and it is not forthcoming, the only alternative is to demonstrate. Almost all the regional women organizers have acquired mini Yutong buses. They got them in the run-up to the Sunyani congress. As to how they managed to acquire them, your guess is as good as mine. But come to think of it, my cherished reader, what is the result of the investigation ordered by the president to look into the allegation of the GH�90 million campaign war chest for the Mills endorsement effort? Do we still have a National Security operating in this country, or have they all turned into NDC apparatchiks? Ebei! A whole president of a sovereign state gives a fiat for the National Security to investigate an issue which involves him and for two months the National Security guys have not been able to tell Ghanaians what really happened. Herbert Mensah told Ghanaians that the tape which revealed the ninety million Ghana cedis scandal was with Rawlings and the National Security guys were afraid to go to the gentleman for the tape, Ebei! Who born dog? The same president ordered the same National Security people to investigate his Deputy Minister of Misinformation, Sheep and Cow Affairs who was accused of attempted bribery, and nearly a month now, nothing has been heard of it. I must admit that my grief is a burden as cold and heavy as a Siberian rock. I grieve for our generation because generations yet unborn will one day refer to us as good- for-nothing docile citizens who looked on while our president continued to hoodwink us. When President Kufuor told Ghanaians that he would not sack his appointees based on reports of perceived corruption in the newspapers, candidate Mills scored a very cheap political mark by telling us that as for him, when voted to become the president of this country, he would never hesitate to investigate any of his ministers even if a newspaper perceived that they were corrupt. The President woefully failed in his pledge when he told the Senior Editors Forum that we should not worry him with the Muntaka Kyinkyingagate because Muntaka was not the only minister who ever traveled with his girlfriend. And so as it stands now, the president has lost control of his people. He has also lost the moral right to accuse anyone of being corrupt because he is supervising over corruption. What is most disturbing is how MMDCEs have thrown the Procurement Law and the Tender Boards to the dogs. In Mills� Ghana, MMDCEs award contracts to themselves and purchase items without any regard to the Procurement Law. Unlike the years gone by when tenders were opened for competitive bidding, this time around, contracts are awarded at the residences of MMDCEs. Party gurus and MMDCEs share contracts among themselves, with the more juicy ones going to the MMDCEs, followed by the Constituency Chairmen. The risk is that because these people are not tested contractors, they end up executing shoddy jobs to the disadvantage of beneficiary communities. If something is not done about this situation, we may wake up one day to hear that a school block has collapsed, killing innocent school children and their teachers. All these corruption which is going on in the Mills government is known to J.J Rawlings. That is why he fumes, rants, kicks and shouts his voice hoarse and calls them greedy bastards. Time is up for President Mills to apply the appropriate sanctions and whip these ministers and MMDCEs into line, else his name will be written in brass when he bows out as the president of Ghana. History is made from bold decisions and so Mills should be BOLD like Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings. Have I made myself clear, Mr. President? Handle the truth and get on the good foot before you fall. Good morning, Prof. Do Little.