God, it is said in the Christian Holy Scriptures, “moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.”
Topping the local unwritten headline chart yesterday is ‘Money Swine’, ‘Sammy Gyamfi Sprays Dollars.’ What better way to headline a display of obscene opulence!
‘Money Swine’ is an early 1960s Accra pigeon English reference to opulence.
Last weekend closed with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the newly established Gold Board (Goldbod) in an unusual display of opulence at a social activity.
In a social media driven era, bystanders captured the display on their mobile devices and quickly dispatched the images across the world, thanks to the power of social media.
The expected public outrage was unsurprising. In the eye of the storm was Sammy Gyamfi, the man whose abrasive tongue is no respecter of age or gender. Many accomplished politicians outside the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have endured his insults and lies when the NDC was in opposition.
In a political party where accomplishment is measured by one’s ability to throw invectives at political opponents, he stood out and was appointed to head the new Goldbod even as many questioned his appropriateness for the task. He has proven such sceptics right by his recent act of indiscretion.
This young man, one of those NDC founder, the late Jerry John Rawlings described as ‘babies with sharp teeth,’ would have had a field day had what has befallen him over the weekend happened to a New Patriotic Party (NPP) government appointee.
Today, God has brought the NDC to power and the man who professed to be a paragon of moral excellence has fallen foul of decency.
Bestowing power to a man is the most appropriate means of testing their moral uprightness.
Sammy Gyamfi has been bestowed with power and a whopping $279m budget at his disposal as head of Goldbod. His is the only budget quoted in dollars, and this underscores the monetary power the Goldbod commands in the scheme of things.
The Chief of Staff is said to have summoned him, summons which we can bet is just for the optics.
The bottom line is that no sanction would be imposed upon Sammy. Indeed, any semblance of a sanction would mean nothing if he is not asked to step aside as a replacement is made for the headship of the Goldbod.
For a board about whose establishment many associated with corruption, such opulence as displayed by Sammy calls for a convincing sanction by the President.
The Golden Boy has too many insults hurled at the NPP to his credit that he would only be reprimanded and that ends it all.
We are in an interesting country where sycophancy and hypocrisy ride high. Regardless of the indiscretion displayed by Sammy, we have read about an intellectual coming to his defence with an expression that “we should not discourage acts of charity in society”. To describe the nonsense displayed by Sammy as an act of charity is to exude imbecility.
The Gushegu Member of Parliament (MP), Hassan Tampuli, likened President John Mahama’s Code of Conduct for government appointees to ‘Courtesy for Boys and Girls’. The latter was a code of decent conduct published during the Busia regime for school children.
President Mahama’s Code of Conduct for appointees without verifiable sanctions for defaulters is mere hot air. The Sammy dollar opulence is test case for the President to strike at corruption.