When Batakari With a Rich Starched Kufi and a High-Risen Gele Sets a Wrong Record of Being Buffers in Stocking Cedis and 'Dollars'

If the recent Attorney General of Ghana's briefing on an unimaginable financial malfeasance to the public has not shaken men and women who love and wear Batakari 'garnished' with Kufi and elegantly wrapped Gele respectively in the political circles, then no doubt it has at least shaken local fashion designers. The ones that are popularly known for their unique and epic choice of colors for elaborate embroidery designs as well as various heights of Gele.

One would never have thought that the beautiful picture of a husband and wife in Batakari cum Kufi and Gele once admired by many in public space will be associated with buffers in stocking of millions of dollars and cedis stolen from the public coffers, as the AG revealed recently.

The former CEO of National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul Wahab, under Nana Akuffo Addo and Dr. Bawumia government, and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, charged with allegedly stealing public funds have left many Batakari and Gele favorites and many others in shock.

The couple whose signature portrait picture of sharp looking Batakari cum Kufi and elegantly wrapped Gele that appears to have recently gone viral and continue to fly on media platforms have surprised many Batakari and Gele wearers.

Some people are not surprised at all following the impunity and rate at which some politicians, especially in the Akuffo Addo and Dr. Bawumia government are being charged by the Attorney General to have dipped their greedy hands in the public purse and denied the citizenry better and prosperous living during their reign.

Must we now measure how much dollars and cedis politicians misappropriate based on the embroidery on their Batakari, their kufi height and heights of their Gele, with all due respect? Maybe, we should equally begin measuring possible figures in dollars and cedis that politicians stand to steal from public office based on the type of suits, dresses, and jeweries they wear.

Hopefully the phenomena does not infect our lovely three-piece Agbada, Fugu (smocks) and Kente clothes, else all Ghanaian politicians will soon be sadly categorized as thieves when we have many decent and honest ones among them in all political parties whose hobbies or pleasures just gravitate towards fashion and are motivated by looking good and elegant, just as the many decent Batakari and kufi wearers are generally known.

If Abdul-Wahab's wife is alleged to be receiving GH 5000 Ghana cedis monthly as a housewife which is her right but questionable with all these revelations, then painfully, spouses who elect to be housewives, or 'house husbands' of politicians are not going to be spared for the allowances or homekeeping monies they receive genuinely in most cases as spouses of incorruptible politicians.

That sector will soon begin to be under stringent scrutiny by many lenses, especially when the issue of first and second ladies' salaries or allowances caught the attention of many during the Article 76 public officials' remunerations brouhaha under Nana Akuffo Addo and Dr. Bawumia administration.

High-risen Gele was replicated in the purchase of 'high-rise' buildings as was elaborate embroidered Batakari and Kufi replicated in some luxurious three bedroom house, one of which cost a whopping 1.6 million dollars! The Attorney General revealed.

Hanan Abdul-Wahab and some of his colleagues are alleged to have stolen not less than 40 million Ghana Cedis meant for the Senior High School (SHS) Feeding Program between 2017 and 2024. Hanan's wife was also fingered to be part of the alleged thievery.

The Attorney General in his briefing to the public in his periodic signature presser, since assuming that office, Dr. Ayine could not believe why a flagship program like SHS dear to many that was struggling to feed students and pay workers of the feeding program, who held countless demonstration for non payment that became a public outcry will still be exploited by people like Hanan Abdul-Wahab, and his wife to conspire with some colleagues manning the program to starve students and drain taxpayers money meant to help the SHS feeding program succeed.

These colleagues the Attorney General confirmed included one Richard Sam Asante, who was the Head of Finance, and Bismark Owusu Boakye of the Finance Department, designed and executed a well thought through criminal enterprise to siphon and launder public funds through some private companies in which they transferred over 78 million Ghana Cedis from Buffer Stock accounts to outfits, including Abdul-Wahab's companies, and others linked to his wife and some staff.

The quest for riches overnite among many young men and women these days, especially in public office to impress friends, former classmates, and society must begin to be seen as a psychological menace that requires urgent national discussion to find some sort of remedy, if not a cure, to inject into the minds of upcoming young men and women either through intensive and continuous public education the ramifications of choosing such illegitimate means of wealth acquisition and fame.

Hope must be retooled and invested in as a nation to be a motivating and encouraging asset to the young to aspire higher legitimately and to appreciate the reward of hard work and integrity. That hope must be seen and felt to be compelling the citizenry to become content with legitimate earnings, and to discourage illegitimate earnings and the temptations of greedy and fraudulent acquisition of properties.

The older men and women in society, especially in public offices who have the same chronic appetite for stealing public funds and properties in the hope of leaving it as a will to their families and generations to come must equally be cured of such psychological deficits.

Many, especially politicians whose addiction to stealing of public funds and state properties is increasingly becoming their health insurance and pension schemes after leaving public offices, must be stumped out through vigilance, lifeclass audits and asset declaration scrutiny, and the culprits severely punished in accordance with the law to serve as deterrent to would be older people.

The government on the other hand, must make life comfortable for the citizenry. Most well paid, healthy and financially stable ordinary citizens' preoccupation is mostly not stealing though exceptions exist and generally minimal.

Too much expectations from regular politicians must also be measured on the sight of the citizens to not put pressure on their being. Equally, politicians must be measured in their promises that project them as custodians of all types of solutions to societal issues.

In all, discipline in every aspect of life must be set at the highest standard. It must be the hallmark of every politician and public servant and the citizenry must hold them to it.

In the spirit of elegance, yet discipline and trustworthiness in the service of humanity, nation and the Almighty creator, decent Batakari cum Kufi and Gele wearers deserve some respect, including politicians and appointees. They must seize any opportunity to redeem the cultural significance and image of the African own Batakari, Kufi and Gele.

I rest my PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan
Pennsylvania, USA.

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