Frenzied Pursuit Of The Local Drachma

I am going to be my irreverent and iconoclastic self today because I do not believe that money can do everything in this world. There was this young undergraduate who sent me an email complaining that sometimes the captions of my articles confuse him. I wrote back to tell him that he should first remember that I am an Earth Angel. In order not to confuse this young guy, permit me to define Drachma.

Drachma is a silver coin of ancient Greece that is why I always refer to the Ghana Cedi as the local Drachma. I must first admit that money is good but making money through dubious means is evil. If we fail to expose the thieves in this country and continue to be indifferent on the issue of the naked thievery of the collective wealth of the people, our children will one day say those of us who could not build mansions, acquire landed properties and ride in state of the art cars were lazy cocoons.

They will compare the little that we have acquired legally through hard work with the massive wealth acquired by these criminals through thievery within the short time that they held political positions and say we played chaskele with our lives.

Mr. J.J Rawlings, the founder of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) has told Ghanaians in plain words that 60% of the leadership of the NDC in power are corrupt. He went further to tell us when Mr. Goodluck Jonathan's government was voted out of office that Nigerians have paved the way for the rejection of corruption. It therefore stands to reason that Rawlings in one way or the other is telling Ghanaians to reject the John Mahama government like the way Nigerians did when they realized that the Jonathan administration was corrupt.

Much as Mr. Rawlings always fascinates me anytime he makes certain pronouncements, I sincerely pitied the man because even though he did put his nose on the grindstone to fight corruption and even executed somebody like Colonel Roger Felli who was suspected of using his position in government to contract a loan from a bank to engage in a farming project, he is not in the position to fight against corruption in his own party in power because he is a retired military officer and a former president who can only talk against the canker and leave the rest to history.

I can easily read the disturbed mind of Mr. Rawlings because all what he did in his military days to fight corruption were still fresh in the minds of those of us who witnessed what took place in those days.The bizarre exhibition of soldier power, the drilling and shaving of suspects with broken bottles and acts of terrorism often explained away in the name of revolutionary justice'€ were still etched in our collective memory.

Madam Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings is another person who will go down in history as the First Lady who helped so many women through the establishment of gari processing and palmnut processing factories across the length and breath of the country. She risked her life and visited women in their cottages and villages to organize them when she formed her 31 st December Women Movement.

We never saw her travelling with long convoy of government vehicles and large retinue. She and her husband were revolutionizing and as such there was no time for ostentatious lifestyle. She also saw the naked robbery in the party she helped in no small way to form and cried to high heaven to soften the hearts of these looters of state coffers to stop. When things went from bad to worse, she boldly left the party which is bathed with corruption to form her own. That is the mark of a courageous and Amazonian woman. She has since sworn to high heavens that she will never, ever go back to that disgraceful party.

Ever seen the convoy of Madam Lordina Mahama and her large retinue before? I can bet with my last local Drachma that if you see the convoy that follows the woman anytime she visits the regions, you will regret the day you were born in Ghana. She acts as if she is the de facto president of Ghana and dashes out cars and other goodies to people as if she is in charge of the consolidated fund. I wonder what this woman will feel like when her husband leaves power, something which will surely come to pass very soon.

We still remember Kwamena Ahwoi Citizen Vetting Committee (CVC) which was used to seize properties of persons perceived to be corrupt. I personally witnessed a soldier driving his bayonet into the protruding stomach of a rich man who was suspected of being corrupt, killing the poor man instantly. At the Takoradi Market Circle we saw how soldiers from Apramdo barracks arrested some market women, stripped them naked and caned their private parts simply because according to these drunk and drugged soldiers, the women sold their goods above what they called control price.

In fact, we still remember how soldiers from Apramdo barracks one day surrounded the three storey building of a gentleman popularly called Penny Wise who used to sell Vono mattresses at the Market Circle in Takoradi with bulldozers and graders and brought the building down. The soldiers suspected the gentleman of being corrupt without substantiating the allegation.

I am very happy Mr. Rawlings is still alive and kicking and also sees what is happening in the government of the party he formed on the pillars of Probity and Accountability. Boys who never landed any job in their miserable lives and now walking the corridors of power are building mansions of geometric dimensions which could be described as architectural wonder. Apart from luxurious government vehicles that they ride with free fuel, they have acquired their own personal state-of the-art luxurious cars and are competing with cocaine dealers in acquiring the good things of life.

Even some District Chief Executives who hitherto were unemployed are educating their children in prestigious schools overseas. I wonder what the soldiers who helped to maintain Rawlings in power till he formed the NDC and who are living in abstract poverty are saying about what is going on today. Some of them are too old to even walk and others have gone because of the bad things they did during the revolutionary days.

As for the establishment of fuel and gas stations as well as the building of hotels, Rawlings will hit his head against a wall if he sees one of such hotels which was built by one of the DCEs of a certain district. When his wife gets pregnant this particular DCE makes sure the lady is flown to the US to deliver so that the baby will get American citizenship.' ' And this was a guy who was a poultry attendant before he was made the DCE of this poor constituency.

Deputy Ministers Who Rape With Serrated Manhood

When it comes to corruption, some Deputy Ministers in the Mahama administration can be compared to Mercenaries of Erose who live by seeking carnal communion for financial consideration. As for their female counterparts, they can be compared to libidinous lasses who flout all the rules of continence.

Both of them, boys and girls who are Deputy Ministers are grabbing wealth as if the world was about to come to an end. They have teamed up to rape the economy with serrated manhood. If Victoria Hammah the dismissed Deputy Minister had not been caught on a tape telling someone that she was in politics to make money, we would not know we have thieves in government. This small girl from Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region said she wanted to make at least one million dollars before leaving government. Eh! What have we done to deserve this thievery?

And there was this Deputy Minister who was walking the streets of Accra, unemployed and when he was made a Deputy Minister, he charted an aircraft to wed his wife in Wa in the Upper West Region and topped it up with an honeymoon outside the country. Because he steals our collective wealth with impunity, he insults everybody recklessly.

His attempt to defend his government can be compared to someone who suffers from infantile disorders. I do not blame this guy whose name I refuse to mention because you, my readers can easily identify this albino who once rudely addressed ex-president Kufour during one of the People's Assembly meetings organized by the Kufour administration.

On that fateful day, ex-president Kufour called him back after he (the albino) had made his submission and advised him to learn how to talk to elderly persons because one day he will also grow to hold certain high positions.The prophesy of Mr. Kufour came to pass when the NDC won the 2008 election and the guy was made a Deputy Minister.

But come to think of this: Will Mr. Rawlings be able to gather enough courage to campaign for the NDC, come 2016 in the face of all these glaring thieveries enumerated above? And how will he describe the moral high grounds that he has been talking about? Asem beba dabi, walaahi talaahi!!!

Some Cuban cigar brands have become legendry. Along with being the pride of Cuba, several have become a common language between cigar connoisseurs the world over. One of such cigars is called Romeo Y Julieta. Fidel Castro used to love this brand during his hey days as a cigar puffing Head of State. I have got one stick of Romeo Y Julieta so excuse me while I puff away.

By Eric Bawah