Another SADA Scam Called PWDs Fund

In the 8 years that they occupied both Jubilee House and Parliament, the leaders of the now main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) put absolutely no originally initiated social intervention programs in place, whatsoever, to either ease up the plight of people with disabilities or seriously attempt to integrate the latter into the mainstream of Ghanaian society. So, it is rather laughable for Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, the dynastic General-Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, to be talking about making some of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund available to People With Disabilities (PWDs), to be used for managing their own affairs (See “Next NDC Govt Will Witness PWDs Managing Their Own Resources – Asiedu-Nketia” PeaceFM.com / Ghanaweb.com 9/14/20).

It is also outrageously obvious that the former Rawlings-appointed Deputy Defense Minister has absolutely no idea about what he is talking about. First of all, the plight of the physically disabled in Ghana goes well beyond the mere creation of physical plant facilities or universal access to public buildings, such as escalators, ramps and elevators. As well, there are a legion of categories of the disabled, not just the physically disadvantaged, to effectively and comprehensively deal with as an imperative matter of public policy. For example, we also have the mentally disabled and the emotionally impaired whose needs go far beyond the provision of wheelchair-accessible and other motorable vehicular facilities. Such people need special education resources and facilities that are, for the most part, lacking and lagging behind the rest of the human denizens of Ghanaian society.

But, of course, nobody expects narrow-minded and power-drunken NDC leaders like the man popularly called “General Mosquito” to have any inkling about this salient human-resource challenge or deficiency. The recent graduate of the Senior-Staff College of the Ghana Armed Forces likely read about the preceding from a pirated and badly damaged copy of the 2020 Manifesto of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and rushed to make political capital out of the same, without taking the necessary thinking-time to fully appreciate the complex question of mapping out a feasible strategy for solving the problems of bona fide Ghanaian citizens with disabilities. It just sounded like the right thing to say, if one were looking to win a few votes as well as score some cheap political points with the minimum of sweat.

Leaders who do not believe in a universally accessible fee-free Senior High School System, are also highly unlikely to be interested in the multi-varied preparation of the economically deprived and disabled in Ghanaian society for a more viable existence and to be able to effectively and academically and professionally compete with the rest of the Ghanaian citizenry. For a practical example of how to help the socioeconomically disadvantaged become an integral part of mainstream Ghanaian society, the likes of Mr. Asiedu-Nketia need to take a practical look at the Zongo Community Development Program put in place by the Akufo-Addo-led government of the New Patriotic Party.

Indeed, as one astute Kumasi Zongo Woman recently had occasion to reprimand Candidate John “Airbus-Kanazoe” Dramani Mahama in a WhatsApp videoclip recently, the former President’s verbal assault tagging of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as an “Akyem Mafia Capo” and a “Sakawa Grandpa,” has done absolutely nothing meaningful to facilitate the enrichment and improvement in the quality of life of Zongo residents, other than vacuously using his Gonja or “Pepe” ethnicity and cultural background, in the thoughtful words of the aforementioned savvy Kumasi Zongo Woman, to provoke violence, mayhem and war in an otherwise peaceful and harmonious Ghanaian society.

On the WhatsApp videoclip that was sent to me by a relative and fellow New Patriotic Party trucker, the aforesaid Wise Woman called on Candidate Mahama to seek counsel from himself, since the former President clearly seemed to be morbidly impervious to the wise counsel provided Little Dramani by The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei-Tutu, II, to responsibly focus on whatever Little Dramani rightly or wrongly perceived to be his past achievements, and what this payola- and political experiment-prone former President was looking forward to doing better, in the highly unlikely event of being returned to Jubilee House. Reading the “PWDs” in the caption of the news story containing the fake promise by General Mosquito, one could also not help thinking about the STX Real-Estate Scam abortively engineered by Little Dramani that cost the Ghanaian taxpayer a humongous $ 300 Million (USD), without a sod being cut. That is how criminally profligate Little Dramani and the rest of the NDC’s hoodlum pack are.

*Visit my blog at: KwameOkoampaAhoofeJr

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York

September 14, 2020

E-mail: [email protected]