Monday, July 6, 2015
The Sole Judgement
Debt Commission’s indictment of the NPP’s Akufo-Addo over the controversial
circumstances in which the GNPC’s drill ship was disposed of and the money
handled during the Kufuor era is nothing to enthuse over even though it has
rattled and nettled the Akufo-Addo camp. It is no news after all.
We had known
directly the matter cropped up that something really went wrong. Responses from
K.T. Hammond and his handing over of the “huhudious” envelope containing
documents on the deal that he claimed to have received from a “Good Samaritan”
worsened matters. The fire set by his reference to Akufo-Addo in the matter
piqued much interest and we expected the Commission to invite Akufo-Addo for
grilling. It didn’t but came out with a report indicting him on the
transaction. That is the only reason why I will damn the Commission for not
being exhaustive in its inquiry. Everything else is no news.
Proceedings were
held in the open and we monitored happenings regarding this drill ship to know
that something really fishy went on for which all those involved must answer
questions and stop crying for public sympathy to boost their political
interests.
The indictment teaches
lessons on effective leadership to improve governance, and should not be
dismissed as any plot to vilify Akufo-Addo. Clearly, Ghana incurred the
judgement debts because of the shoddy work (or no work at all) done by the
Attorney-General’s Department in defence of national interests; and once
Akufo-Addo was in charge of that sector at the time that the GNPC’s drill ship
was sold to defray the cost to Societe Generale, he cannot escape blame. No one
is saying that he personally sold the ship or profited from the deal. It is all
about inefficiency in public office and the controversies that he has been
caught up in over the years to portray him from many angles.
Let’s cast the net
wider for Akufo-Addo, and we will see that his brush with the Sole Judgement
Debt Commission isn’t the first time that he’s been cited in controversial
happenings. Such citations remain in public conversation, especially if we
consider Akufo-Addo’s attitude to them. In most cases, his reaction has been
silence (implying that to him, silence is golden) or the use of loud-mouthed
and cowardly ventriloquists of lawyer Nana Bediatuo’s type. By choosing to
remain silent whenever put on the spot, Akufo-Addo might have avoided further
calumny but it hasn’t freed him yet.
Our net has caught
the following instances involving Akufo-Addo:
- Alleged
fatal motor accident caused by him in the late 1960s, but his not being
tried (I remember reading about 5 years ago an opinion piece on Ghanaweb
by someone I can’t readily recollect who claimed that Akufo-Addo was
shielded by the mafia in the judiciary at the time);
- Alleged
“vanishing” of diplomatic passports being kept in the vault of his office
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he was in charge of that Ministry
under Kufuor (The fate of his brother-in-law Amankwaah, who was issued a
diplomatic passport at the time but is now doing jail time in Brazil for
drug trafficking, speaks volumes);
- Drug
abuse (The Wikileaks report about diplomatic cables from the United States
Embassy and claims by Kwesi Pratt about Akufo-Addo’s smoking of “wee” come
to mind);
- Controversial
circumstances surrounding Akufo-Addo’s leaving Oxford University have been
discussed in public discourse about his shortcomings;
- The
controversy surrounding his legal training at Middle Temple after he had
had 3rd Class in Economics at the University of Ghana won’t
evaporate just because the mafia in the Judiciary scuttled Justice
Kpegah’s suit against him. Indeed, the affidavit filed by his legal team,
led by Lawyer Dame, even exposed more about him: the claim that he made
about losing his law certificate and the use of entries from a dubious
source to attempt dousing the fire only went further to heighten suspicion
that he didn’t complete the training to be awarded any certificate. Where
he did his pupillage as required by the rigours of Middle Temple’s
professional training regimen is still a mystery. Certainly, what he did
at the French company (Coudert Freres) soon after his classroom work can’t
be considered as pupillage. Where is his law certificate?
- The
circumstances under which the General Legal Council admitted him to the
Bar still remain ridiculous, especially if we return to the document that
Akufo-Addo’s legal team produced in support of his affidavit in response
to Justice Kpegah’s suit.
- The
claim by Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings that Akufo-Addo wasn’t a “lawyer”,
which touched raw nerves but was swiftly dismissed before Justice Kpegah’s
suit. In fact, sources revealed that an earlier suit against Akufo-Addo on
that score had been filed in 1977 but not heard. When the mafia in the
Judiciary purpose in their hearts to defend one of their own, they do so
with much vigour, violence and determination.
There may be more of
such controversies involving Akufo-Addo, which suggests that he is not merely
the target of vilification by his political opponents as implied by the
interpretation being given his indictment by the Sole Judgement Debt
Commission. What manner of man is this who is caught up in such controversies?
No other Ghanaian politician is suffering so much. Why Akufo-Addo alone?
In choosing to rely
on his legal team to do damage control for him, Akufo-Addo has opened himself
to doubt and emerges as a weakling. Why can’t he take the bull by its large
horns in front of him instead of running behind it to grab its tail? Records
confirm that many political figures worldwide caught up in controversies
threatening their political career (especially those having to do with their
waywardness in abusing drugs or for being incontinent) have openly come clean
and earned credit for doing so. Why can’t Akufo-Addo follow suit to clean his
own slate?
Using Nana Bediatuo
and Co. to attempt intimidating people in the hope that such an action will cut
short the discourse won’t work. This is not the first time that Nana Bediatuo
would have threatened to go to court over Akufo-Addo’s public image. He loudly
threatened to sue anybody commenting on Akufo-Addo’s drug abuse; but he hasn’t
had the courage to do so. We want to tell him that the worms squirming in
Akufo-Addo’s can are restless. We urge him to go to court over this Sole
Judgement Debt Commission’s indictment so the worms can leap out into the open
and be free!!
I have read his
reaction to the indictment and laughed it off as a mere empty boast. So also
have I dismissed his use of emotive language to paint the Commission and
Justice Apau black. Even though I have condemned the Commission for not hearing
from Akufo-Addo before indicting him, I am of the strong opinion that taking a
court action against the Commission won’t redound to Akufo-Addo’s political
interests, intents and purposes. It will rather worsen his public standing.
I am not a lawyer to
know the intricacies of such a suit, but I can tell that it will be a
non-starter. What will be the charge? Defamation of character?
And the reliefs? What
will the plaintiff be looking for? That the Commission’s report is skewed
against him and should, therefore, not be accepted and a government White Paper
issued on it? Or that the report should be rejected because the Commission
didn’t hear his evidence? Or that the Commission’s report indicting him should
be discarded just because the Commission failed to do a proper work? Or that
those accused of misapplying the proceeds shouldn’t be punished just because he
wasn’t heard?
It will be
interesting to read the contents of such a suit for further comment. In any
case, I am certain that the hot air being blown by Akufo-Addo and his legal
team will soon evaporate and nothing will be done to sue the Commission. It is
just an impulsive reaction to the indictment that Akufo-Addo fears is harming
his political interests.
Folks, there is a
lot to talk about, which is why I don’t see the Commission’s indictment of
Akufo-Addo as anything to turn my crank in any different direction. I foresaw
it long before now. It is just a matter of the chips falling in place.
Conclusion? Ghana
cannot be redeemed by weaklings who blow their own horns of incorruptibility
but fail to exert the required force to prevent those around them from being
corrupt and corruptible. On that score, two of Ghana’s leaders emerge for
comment. The Great Osagyefo didn’t steal Ghana’s assets; the late John Atta
Mills didn’t either. But it cannot be said of their appointees, especially when
the leaders couldn’t act decisively to plug the loopholes or when those crafty appointees
outwitted the system to loot the coffers.
Akufo-Addo says he
won’t be in power to steal Ghana’s money; but can he protect that money against
being stolen by those around him? A good leader does so. And that is what Ghana
deserves.
To me, then,
Akufo-Addo stands indicted (whether heard or not heard by the Commission) for
being incompetent or criminally involved in the conspiracy leading to the
disposal of the drill ship to the blind side of the other arms of government
and Ghanaians, generally. State property shouldn’t be disposed of that way. He
can proceed to court, but it won’t change our impressions about him.
We see his posturing
of being incorruptible as paradoxical; it is a mere hot air, a nonsensical
ruse. What will Ghana gain if the leader doesn’t steal money/national assets
(or is not corrupt) but his appointees do so because that leader is a weakling?
It takes more than the ongoing posturing by Akufo-Addo to prove that he is not
culpable in the matter concerning the drill ship, which is why the hollow noise
from his apologists against his indictment is not only ill-advised but is also
ridiculous in its vulgarity.
I shall return…
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E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
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