President Akufo-Addo
It is easy to start off with high moral standards, strong convictions, and determination to beat down corruption. But it is difficult to live up to these good intentions unless the leaders are strong and determined enough to deal with all transgressors, and without exceptions. We cannot afford to forget that public order, personal security, economic and social progress, and prosperity are not the natural order of things, that they depend on ceaseless effort and attention from an honest and effective government that the people must elect”.
–Lee Kuan Yew
“’Who told you that you are naked?’ ‘Have you eaten fruit from the tree I warned you about?’ ‘Yes’ Adam admitted, ‘but it was the woman you gave me who brought me some, and I ate it’. Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘How could you do such a thing?’ ‘The serpent tricked me’, she replied’”
–The Living Bible
Today, even though, the PNDC/NDC is no longer in power, the members of that filthy conglomerate captured the commanding heights of the economy and the social setup before they lost power. The members control the media, the financial institutions, hotel and hospitality industries, the real estate business, the oil, gas and the energy sectors, the construction industry all through the scheme of beneficial ownership. They stole and salted away so much wealth waiting for the rainy day, only a fool will underestimate their ability to cause mischief. The criminals control so much wealth, they have virtually captured the state and positioned themselves in a critical mass where they are ready to wrestle back political power from the NPP at the least opportunity. The propaganda machinery the NDC established has only been blunted and not destroyed or dismantled. Their ability to conjure criminal lies and mischievous campaign still runs through their blood. The party machinery and its members will use every means possible to warm themselves into the fold of the NPP to cause havoc to it.
If you want to dine with the devil, you must have a long spoon. This is a simple truth which the NPP has never learnt despite 30 years and another 8 years in political wilderness at different times in its history. While the NPP kids itself of being a democratic party, the NPP does not appear either to appreciate or understand how democracy is practised in the doyen of the democratic society, the United States of America. The way President Nana Akufo Addo is ready and willing to accept freebies from the business community, many of whose sources of wealth are questionable, it will soon come to a time when the NPP will point to the Adam and Eve story where Adam put the blame of his woes on Eve while Eve put her own woes on the snake and the snake in turn scuttled away with a smile on its face all the way to the bank. One fact I have come to accept in life is that at any time you say thank you to somebody, you become that person’s slave. You cannot fight corruption if you keep on saying thank you to all sorts of people.
The old Merchant Bank was established as a joint venture between Gridleys Bank, a foreign bank and some state institutions. Gridleys Bank had 30% of the shares. Along the line, Gridleys Bank sold its interest to ANZB, Bank, another foreign bank. Then the bank went through several metamorphosis until it eventually became a wholly state bank. When the NDC criminals came to power they hacked a scheme to sell the bank to their faithful. A superficial effort was made to sell the bank to a South African interest which was aborted. All that was a grand scheme to hand over the ownership of the bank on silver platter to some members of the NDC. The issue did not end there. The new pension law was promulgated. The NDC with its nose and ability to sniff criminal schemes worked out a plan to divert the peoples’ hard earned pension money collected from employers for the tier two pension scheme to another diabolical cause. The third leg was to establish a pension trust company and attempt was made to force the workers to engage the NDC established pension trust company to manage their tier two pension funds which most of the workers resisted. There are many numerous cases of Merchant Bank which must be investigated.
If Akufo Addo NPP administration wants to be taken seriously over its promise to fight corruption, then one of the first transactions it must investigate is how the Merchant Bank was divested, who were the beneficial owners of the whole scheme, how much benefit did the state derive from the transaction, how and from what source the divestiture payment was effected. Also the implementation of the entire new pension law must be investigated to ascertain among others how the pension money collected was invested, how much interest income was earned, the mechanism used to transfer the funds from where it was originally invested to the designated trustees of the beneficiaries, who controlled the funds before their transfer, what use were the funds put before they were transferred and who had access to the funds.
What Akufo Addo NPP administration must note is that the Ides of March is come but not gone. The corrupt in society will change its colour to match the new environment. Many more Trojan Horses shall be crafted and put in front of the Flagstaff House waiting to be pulled into the courtyard to launch a massive invasion. That is why Nana Akufo Addo should always bear in mind the words of Lee Kuan Yew in order not to fall into the temptation of making the mistake both Adam and Eve made. Ghanaians will scrupulously hold the NPP administration to its word of fighting corruption and creating an environment of zero tolerance for corruption.
POINT OF ORDER
BY
KWAME GYASI
E-mail: macgyasi@gmail.com