Listen to Hon Adutwum and Get a Career or Fall on Your Husbands' Ex-Gratia

Michael Sarfo Kantanka

“Have a career before you enter politics;” This is a sound advise the very selfless, wise and kind Hon Adutwum, our current Minister of education with many good fruits gave months ago.

Any who’d disagree with him lacks understanding of the complicated problems we face as a developing economy and the kind of people we need to overcome these problems. Look, loans that could be used to fix roads have to be given to MPs to buy rugged vehicles to access their constituencies with bad roads. That is just one minor manifestation of the Ghanaian problem.

I will paint a recent example of casualties to advance how important Hon Adutwum’s admonishing is to ALL with interest to serve; not just the YOUTH.

Look, many MPs lost their seats; some at no fault of theirs. We saw deliberate schemes by key government appointees at advantaged positions to unseat MPs just to chart their way into Parliament and of course, juicy ministerial roles. Some were successful, others for “Sheege” reasons traded NPP seats and the good works of Patriots to NDC just to disarm the patriot to take over their seats in 2024.

Fine protocol wouldn’t allow me mention names but any well discerning knows for a good number of MPs who lost, this NPP government had a hand in it with overt and covert moves!

Some MPs were poorly resourced to campaign whiles these advantaged members had all the juicy offerings to buy their way through.

Now here is the problem; many lost their seats and just after we managed to emerge victors in the 2020 election, we heard rumours which got confirmed eventually that MPs who lost their seats would have no appointments into the executive arm of government. A position that many fallen MPs feel betrayed about, but would dare not utter a word in expression of what they really feel to further worsen their plight to reckless victimization from people with vain power to their advantage.

This was in spite of the fact that some of these MPs though lost their seats, managed to increase votes for the President in their constituencies. A good reason enough to buttress my earlier point that some of the losses were not because the MPs were incompetent or incapable of retaining their seats with the necessary help from government which got apportioned to Darling boys currently occupying juicy positions!

Ok, let’s continue. This is the point Hon Adutwum’s admonition comes in. What has been the lot of all these MPs who genuinely meant well but lost their seats? How are they surviving? Whether we like it or not, we raised them to highly diplomatic positions that may not make it convenient to have them now chase jobs with Abilolo and my brother Ras, out there!

When NDC went into opposition in 2000, the Hon Amidu Suleman who served as ambassador in the Rawlings government quickly went back to the classroom to lecture at UDS Wa campus. This is to say some jobs are still attractive and instructional by nature for all Politicians who have been made redundant by decisions as the current order.

BUT how many do really fit for such positions other than honorary government appointments they’d obtain from sacrificing their lives to retain their Position in Parliament?

How many of these MPs were Lecturers who could easily go back into the classrooms to lecture? In fact, now the minimum qualification to be a lecturer is a PHD certification.

With which CV would they go and present themselves for the very little competitive jobs when all they ever did was to sacrifice themselves for party work that brings their government into power?

How many jobs, aside the International development field, would even offer emoluments any close to what they’d been used to as government appointees?

Is the fear of falling into such ordeal not the reason why the cheap ones steal so much from the state? Well, that is another subject for another day…lemme continue before I deviate..

How do these MPs manage their sustenance? For some, they happen to be the only formidable option for the NPP in their constituencies yet have been denied the jobs they toiled for even if the expected results were not fully realised. What is the government’s plan to empower these already marketable people to take back their seats from the NDC parliamentarians? Anaa we are helping to disarm them to pave way for advantaged government elements to go present themselves mighty men to win the seats?

I don’t get it but look, people, some of whom have been very successful as Private actors who just sought to give back to their communities had fatal accidents trying to retain their seats..I am constrained by fine protocol not to mention names…shouldn’t such sacrifices merit some juicy appointments for some of these former MPs to take back their seats from a point of influential government positions?

A false balance, the Bible says is an abomination. A government that treats its fallen heroes with such blatant betrayal and disrespect would now want to have the public empathise with them for choosing to put wives of Presidents on salary.

Really?

Have these wives not read or heard of Hon Adutwum’s admonition?? We know and see their worth to the state and their families, yet, are they not expected to enjoy from the mouth whetting booties their husbands retire with even if they served the country for just one term like JM? Why then do we pay Presidents so much in Ex Gratia if they cannot take care of their wives??

Are they not supposed to be a people with a career to serve in worse case as ambassadors of the various missions and organizations/foundations they served or serve in their husbands’ governments?

I believe it would be okay and commendable to identify those Ex-First Ladies in need for an all encompassing honor from the state but paying them as if they had some fixed contract with the people at a time everyone is complaining of hardship and job losses smacks of inconsistency and a lack of empathy on the part of the Akufo-Addo government. You don’t advance spendings as if you were some rich economy and expect the suffering masses to clap for you! No! That is a breach of public trust in the Akufo-Addo brand.

In fact, politically incorrect deeds as this, give strength to the growing impression the President has seen all the desired successes in his lifetime and just wants to see time pass out without touching on the very sincere and passionate cry of a youthful economy for jobs and interventions to bridge the rich-poor gap; that tough job.

I pray I am wrong to the triumph of the NPP we so love and have!

I’ll conclude here by saying let all who apply for service to the nation heed to Hon Adutwum’s sound counsel to have a career to fall on, should they hit an artificial roadblock like the former MPs face now, to save the government of the day from taking decisions to incur public displeasure.

Again, people like Prez John Mahama should be seen opposing such salary arrangements for their wives when they know the state is paying them so much for luxurious living that very well had their wives akɔnhoma sika in mind!

Like I said, let us identify those with perculiar needs and honor them by meeting their every need instead of polishing the same shiny shoes for people like John Dramani Mahama who led the nation into greater levels of impoverishment! Awerɛhosɛm sei!😔

These are my personal thoughts you may agree or disagree with. Thanks for reading!

©Hon Abilolo Billionaire!

A Patriot with Good Conscience for Mother Ghana!

[email protected]