Why the stealing of public funds will continue…

Monday, October 28, 2013

My good friends, the daily news reports about the theft of public funds are troubling. Within the past few months, we have been bombarded with such news reports to such an extent as to wonder whether there is any hope for this country at all in the management of its finances.

The problem is all the more frightening for other reasons: the economy is weakening because of low productivity and mismanagement, not to speak of ineffectual official policies, programmes, and measures. Generating revenue internally is an uphill task; borrowing money from outside sources has become a huge albatross threatening the country’s GDP and economic viability.

Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah and the “hot kitchen” (Part II)

Monday, October 21, 2013

Being a pillar of the government, the figure cut by Nunoo-Mensah has created misleading impressions and provoked public anger against him for nothing. After all, he has no more power to change anything in the country than I have. Being the National Security Advisor doesn’t empower him to do what the President or his Vice or even (Regional) Ministers or CEOs of the Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies can do. He is at the beck and call of the appointing authority and doesn’t wield the power that he can use to effect any change.

That is why his utterances need not be over-extended to cover the government or to suggest that his viewpoints on this score reflect the thinking of President Mahama. He spoke as an individual and is prepared for the consequences as such.

As he has already indicated in his interview with the BBC, he “owes nobody any apology for comments that have angered Ghanaian workers and some political groupings.” He is adamant, explaining, however that he is not against workers’ going on strike but that they shouldn’t expect to be paid for the period that their strike action covers. This is another important issue to be addressed, not dismissed.

Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah and the “hot kitchen” (Part I)

Monday, October 21, 2013

It is rare for Ghanaian soldiers to be well-fated as has happened to Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, National Security Advisor, and former President Jerry John Rawlings. Placed in the circumstances that have shaped and shaved their military and civilian lives all these years, they come across as really plucky beneficiaries of Lady Luck’s magnanimity.

Jerry Rawlings’ journey into the limelight is known and I won’t belabour it. Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah’s is mired in inexplicable circumstances. We remember him as a member of the Acheampong-led Supreme Military Council that metamorphosed into SMC II after Acheampong’s overthrow in a palace coup masterminded by his own henchmen, including Joshua Hamidu and Nunoo-Mensah.

When Rawlings and his AFRC stormed the corridors of power, Brig-Gen. Nunoo-Mensah found favour and was “grafted” a member only to resign later under murky circumstances. He resurfaced in the camp of Rawlings’ political opponents and became the National Security Advisor under ex-President Kufuor. It didn’t take long for him to turn coat, which benefited him when ex-President Mills rehabilitated him as the National Security Coordinator to be retained by President Mahama as such. Which other military officer has been so lucky to serve across varied political divides of this sort?

Too much noise already from the Judgement Debt Commission!

Friday, September 27, 2013

Friends, when President Mahama appointed Justice Yaw Apau as the sole Judgement Debt Commissioner, I was quick to find fault with it as a mere administrative hassle that might not help us solve any problem. Why? The judgement debts had already been paid and there was nothing the Sole Commissioner was going to do to retrieve them.

After all, once the beneficiaries were deemed to have qualified for the payments and were duly served, how could anybody go after them many months or years thereafter to demand a refund? And the systemic flaws that permitted those payments are still with us; so, where is the hope that anything fruitful will result from this inquiry?

I was also quick to conclude that Justice Apau won’t accomplish anything to solve the problem. And I haven’t seen anything yet to make me change my stance. Too much noise, no action on any matter so far investigated!!

There is a lot wrong with Ghana’s Missions abroad

Friday, September 27, 2013

My good friends, we have over the years had good cause to complain about the shoddy manner in which our Ghanaian missions abroad deal with Ghanaians living outside the country, especially when it comes to the request for official (travel) documents (passports, especially). And there are many other areas where they are lacking—human/public/working relations, business-mindedness, courtesy, etc.

Just call the Ghana Mission in New York or Washington and hear the irritating response that grates on your ears!! Then, put in a request to hear the annoying answer that is given you!! The staff behave as if working at those Missions places them above all other Ghanaians in every aspect of life. They have no sense of courtesy to display and stand condemned. It’s so in all the Missions. Let someone say otherwise and provide evidence to support it.

In my personal observation of the situation, I am more than persuaded that those working in those missions are not fit to be there because they hardly know how to do things to solve problems that Ghanaians bring to their attention.

Sam Okudzeto to install Akufo-Addo as Ghana’s President?

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Everything about Election 2012 is over for most Ghanaians but not the disappointed, frustrated, and hot-headed NPP activists and sympathizers who continue to make ugly noise just for its own sake. And that ugly noise betrays their deep-seated frustration and ignorance about the dynamics of contemporary Ghanaian politics.

But for purposes of placing their tantrums in their proper perspective, one won’t deem their ugly noise as worth one’s bother. That is why I want to respond to pronouncements made by some of those NPP elements at the forum organized by the Danquah Institute.

Isn’t Akufo-Addo more popular in defeat?

Sunday, September 15, 2013

­­Friends, the number of people “trooping” to Akufo-Addo’s Nima residence to interact with him since the Supreme Court sealed his sad fate is worthy of note.

Here is how the pro-NPP Daily Guide newspaper captured it in today’s edition: “The 2012 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and NPP National Chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, were on Friday mobbed at the Abbosey Okai Central Mosque in Accra when they turned up at the facility to offer gratitude to God.

The warm reception the trio received was given impetus by the Chief Imam Sheikh Nuhu Sharubutu’s commendation for Nana Akufo-Addo who, he said, deserved prayers.”

Good for him.