Gift Doling Mode

President John Evans Atta Mills

There is no doubt that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is on a gift-doling spree. And why not, with elections around the corner and the party's flag-bearer coming nowhere near the campaign platform?

Perhaps, if he is able to regain the use of his voice he could go full throttle on the campaign trail. Until then however, doling out gifts such as laptops, cars, fishing nets, outboard motors and cash could be applied in the rather difficult task of convincing Ghanaians that their living standards have been enhanced by the Mills/Mahama administration.

Now we know how the ill-gotten monies are being expended, regardless of how the profligacy is impacting on the depreciation of the national currency in the face of other convertible currencies.

Teachers, chiefs, fishermen, taxi drivers and even media personnel who can be trusted to be mum about the manouvres are benefiting from the unwholesome government largesse.

Whoever is lucky to come across the gravy train as it speeds on its rail would have cause to enjoy a momentary smile but with a caveat. 'Remember to retain the Prof in power and this way you would have played your part.' That is the new face of NDC politics under an oil economy and Woyomenics.

The NDC campaign strategists, it would seem, have segmented the Ghanaian society, with each one receiving a peculiar item under the unusual game-plan.

Little wonder then that some teachers are being offered laptops- a mission in which the Education Minister Lee Ocran has been very active.

Having cursed the Mills/Mahama administration for failing to change their lot, the strategists have isolated teachers for a special treat.

They were assaulted on the orders of COP Rose Atenga-Bio by overzealous cops in the vicinity of the Teachers' Hall when the pro-NDC police officer was in charge of the Greater Accra Region.

Some of their allowances due them appear to be light years away from being release; yet they are the pawns in a cynical propaganda advertisement on TV screens. Their umbrage was translated into scathing press releases by the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), calling for the withdrawal of the propaganda stuff.

The Education Minister was not discreet when, after dishing out 60,000 laptops to some teachers, he asked that in return, they should retain the Mills government. If this is not desperation, we cannot think of anything else. It made perfect sense therefore when former President Rawlings describes the Mills/Mahama administration as a sinking ship.

Desperation, especially on the part of a grouping which has control over the public purse and mastery in circumventing procedures, takes the form of reckless wastage of public funds.

The turning of the Mills/Mahama administration's attention to the chieftaincy institution is another interesting development. They are greasing the palms of our chiefs in the name of supporting the custodians of our heritage- something they have discovered only when elections are around the corner. How such chiefs can organize town criers to announce their political preference after receiving the Mills cash is something beyond anybody's ken.

Ewes, goats and hens are part of the gravy train as it heads towards rural Ghana to hoodwink our compatriots who are being remembered for their votes.

Lucky taxi drivers would have the opportunity of accessing ostensible hire purchase facilities for mostly Korean cars. Such cars would never be paid for anyway, provided the beneficiaries would do the bidding of President Mills' anointed schemers.

Media? The practitioners under this category have been targeted. Some of them are beneficiaries of brand new Korean cars and with that their mouths are sealed up and their laptops cease composing credible stories. The question the newfound generosity by the Mills/Mahama government prompts is 'why now?'