Abuse of incumbency is not the charge

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Those criticizing President Mahama’s “Thank You" tours to the regions as “abuse of incumbency” seem to have too much time and too little to do. I see nothing wrong with the regional tours nor do I consider them as an instance of abuse of incumbency. Who are these critics to prescribe the modus operandi on public outreach for the President, anyway?

The President is using the appropriate channel to expose himself to Ghanaians. The timing is good, at least, to let the people know that there is no vacuum at the Presidency, following the passing on of John Atta Mills. How else do these critics expect President Mahama to reach out to the people?

To hop onto an NDC van and parade himself all over the country for them to agree that he is not abusing his incumbency? Hogwash already!!

Is the NPP now in love with socialism?

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The debate on Akufo-Addo’s proposal to implement a policy on free senior high school (SHS) education won’t end soon. Many voices have been heard on the proposal, mostly deriding it as irrelevant and not the answer to Ghana’s development problems. Those in the NPP have stood their grounds that the measure is feasible and that those opposing it are only being mischievous. I disagree with them.

Why does Akufo-Addo think that the lack of “free” education up to the SHS level is the most worrisome of Ghana’s development problems? And who says that practically, free SHS education ever solves any country’s development problems?

Honestly speaking, our main problem in Ghana today is not the lack of education but joblessness. The unemployment problem is acute, which is what one expects our politicians to concentrate on. All in all, though, it is not the responsibility of government to create jobs. Government’s role is simply to provide the incentives and the enabling environment for the private sector to create jobs. That’s not what has been happening, which worsens the unemployment situation. Solving this problem can’t be done through a free SHS education as Akufo-Addo is leading the NPP to bore us with!!

On the 45 new constituencies: What is the NPP afraid of? (Part II)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I am particularly disappointed at Kufuor’s conduct. If his main reason is the timing of this action by the EC, one will be less harsh on him. But there is more to it, which suggests that he doesn't know what he is talking about. Here is his main concern:

“Why should the Commission insist on creating 45 new constituencies on the eve of the election when we have only three months to go?”

Then, he comes across as a trouble maker by passionately appealing to the “Electoral Commission and to all the parties across the board to be careful nobody plants a time bomb [in the country] between now and the elections” (Ghanaweb, 8/27/12).

Baseless paranoia. Haven’t prospective voters already been registered to be able to cast their ballot wherever they are? Or won’t it be possible for voters to transfer their votes across constituency lines as has been happening all over the years?

On the 45 new constituencies: What is the NPP afraid of? (Part I)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The ongoing bitter criticism of the Electoral Commission for creating 45 new constituencies is nothing but an act of empty political jingoism.

Of all the factors likely to threaten the upcoming December 7 elections and, thereby, pose the gravest challenge to our democracy, this creation of 45 new constituencies is the least worrisome.  I see no reason for all the hullabaloo that those stridently criticizing the EC are causing here and there as if the creation of new constituencies is unusual in democracies.

As Woyome fights the Public Accounts Committee… (Part II)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

There is nothing wrong with efforts being made to unearth the truth behind the scandal. Ghanaians are impatiently waiting for the money paid to him to be retrieved and lodged in the national coffers if proved to be wrongfully given him. Ghanaians also expect stiff punishment for such a person and all others implicated in this scandal.

Then, they expect that all the loopholes promoting such thievery will be plugged and the necessary administrative and legal measures taken to guard against recurrence. All the subterfuge that has enabled such fraudulent practices should be detected and dealt with so that what belongs to all of us is not diverted to line the pockets of white-collar thieves parading as businessmen and government appointees.

As Woyome fights the Public Accounts Committee… (Part I)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The new phrase in the lexicon of Ghanaian politics—judgement debt—has aroused as much indignation as would make the ordinary Ghanaian cringe at its mere mention.

What has begun happening between the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) and Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the beneficiary of the 51 million Ghana Cedi judgement debt payment, has pushed that indignation a notch higher.

It also raises several disturbing questions bordering on legal issues and fundamental human rights. More troubling, though, is that it has also revealed the extent to which partisan political interests can jeopardize the work of institutions of state.

The NPP’s hypocrisy knows no bounds

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Gradually, the hypocrisy, treachery, and foolery that undergird the NPP’s political agenda are emerging to confirm opinions that the party doesn’t have what it takes to outdo any of the governments, especially the incumbent, that it has continued to waste its resources condemning.

But in consonance with the party’s grand agenda of using classical Greek sophistry as a major political weapon, we hardly expect anything to change for the better.

Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, National Chairman of the NPP, has just added more vim to such hypocrisy, treachery, and foolery. He has conceded that “two political terms, that is eight years, are just not enough to transform a country’s economy.”

Speaking on Election Headquarters on Joy FM on Friday, he stressed that it will be impossible to transform a nation within that duration:

“You cannot transform [an economy] in eight years. We will not transform a whole nation, a whole economy in eight years” (Myjoyonline, 8/24/12).

How will Akufo-Addo fight corruption? (Part II)

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The weird things that happen in government business (lumping together the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary) can’t be tackled with this kind of self-glorification. We have continued to voice out our indignation to no avail.

Sadly, those entrusted with the responsibility to solve our country’s problems are more interested in compounding them. And they care less about the anger seething in the citizens.

Despite all the indignation being expressed at the Woyome scandal and the fact that this payment of judgement debt is a subtle means by some unscrupulous government officials and their collaborators in business to fleece the national coffers, little is being done to solve the problem.

How will Akufo-Addo fight corruption? (Part I)

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The NPP’s Akufo-Addo made an emphatic statement during his encounter at the IEA’s Presidential Debate that he is not corrupt, has never been corrupt, and will never bow to corruption. Let’s hear him:

“I am determined to fight corruption aggressively, and I can do so, because I am not corrupt, have never been corrupt, and will demand the same of my team. Accountability and transparency are the hallmarks of good governance. Ghana needs this, Ghana deserves this and I, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, pledge to deliver this to the good people of Ghana.”

Some NPP-oriented political zealots fawning over this pronouncement have been quick to regard it as “The 60 Words that Forever Altered our Political Landscape” (Reference: Stephen Kwaku Asare, Ghanaweb article, 8/23/12).

I cringe!! And for good reasons. Open declarations of this sort by politicians put me on the quivive; they don’t evoke relief. I don’t appreciate them because they mean nothing concrete to me. They are clear instances of the hot-headed rhetoric that has continued to mislead the citizens into dining with the devil at the helm of affairs.

The Chinese are no Father Christmas, Mr. President!!

Friday, August 17, 2012

President John Mahama seems to have settled in the groove well enough to steer the affairs of this country. Good for him.

What is not good for him, however, is the resurgence of the politics of insults in a political environment that remains hostile. Public discontent at the high cost of living and the persistent complaints at government’s inability to fulfill its 2008 electioneering campaign promises are other troubling issues. On top of it all is the perennial bad-blood relationship between the NDC and the NPP. How President Mahama handles the situation will go a long way to make or mar his political chances for Election 2012.

All too soon, though, he seems to be moving toward slippery ground, mindless of the harm that promise-making has so far caused to the government he has inherited from ex-President J.E.A. Mills.

The NPP can’t solve its credibility problem by denying it

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

As the electioneering campaigns for Election 2012 heat up, we don’t expect to see anything remarkably different from the strategies used by the functionaries of the various parties, especially the NPP that is hell-bent on undercutting the NDC as a means to regain political power.

Press conferences will continue to be the most appealing mechanism, especially to those I characterize as arm-chair critics of the incumbent administration. The NPP held one yesterday at which its Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, set the tone on personal attacks.

If it were Akufo-Addo who had died…

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

I will raise a disturbing question as the framework for my opinion piece: If it were the NPP’s Akufo-Addo who had died, would the NPP leaders have swiftly and smoothly elevated his running mate (Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia) as their party’s flagbearer for Election 2012?

I have asked this question for a good reason, which I will explain soon in the light of some happenings over the past three weeks that have led me to conclude that Ghanaian politicians are a major cause for worry. By their unconscionable posture, they are doing nothing but leading the country astray.

Instead of flogging the dead “Asomdwehene”…

Saturday, August11, 2012

As is to be expected, those who have no concrete solution for solving the country’s problems are still fouling our air with their useless political rhetoric. They are still making utterances to annoy us.

Sekou Nkrumah is one of such idle-talkers whose presence on the political scene clearly confirms the shortcomings of contemporary Ghanaian politics. Let me say it for the umpteenth time that Sekou Nkrumah is an idle-talker who hasn’t made any concrete contribution toward solving Ghana’s problems and has no moral justification to continue making his presence felt. He is a nuisance.