President Kufuor is Playing Games with us

This week is gradually unfolding to be become one of the busiest on our political 'ding dong game'. The issue of ex-gratia to former President Kufuor does not seem to be going away.

Where as most people in President Kufuor's party believe he deserves every penny outlined in the Hesse report, ordinary Ghanaians could not understand the basis of such recommendations. As of now, the new Mills administration has pulled the plug on the implementation of the Hesse recommendations at least from the government side and has promised a review of the entire report.

Not known to many Ghanaians, President Kufuor probably enjoys all the items outlined in the
Hesse report, but not directly. I know President Kufuor before he became president, he lived a modest life without a fleet of BMWs. Kufuor's penchant for 'good life' started from the very day he became president, he would not eat 'ampesie' which used to be his favourite lunch, rather, he would consume tea with short bread biscuit, life is no more about survival for Kufuor as it is for most of us, for Kufuor, life is about living 'large' to compel our respect and adoration.

This week saw other desperate legitimate attempts by the new Mills administration to retrieve state properties believed to have been deliberately kept or stolen by some elements of the Kufuor administration. Until now, it has always been about ex-ministers, DCE's etc, however, all changed when the long arms of the law reached the 'HIPC' junction - the private residence of President Kufuor - the mission was to remind President Kufuor to return vehicles belonging to the national Security apparatus, in case he forgot to do so earlier. My advice to all of us is that when you visit somebody and he gives you a nice chair to sit on don't try to take the chair home after your meeting, someone might think you are stealing it? The retrieval of the state properties did not go down well with President Kufuor.

This resulted into accusations from the government and the public against President Kufuor and counter accusations and ridiculous explanations from President Kufuor's spokesman Frank Agyekum. After sometime, we were told that President Kufuor finally released the vehicles to the state. The vehicles release includes 3 top of the range BMW 7 Series.

The New government provided 3 new top of the range Chrysler vehicles to replace the BMW's, to make sure President Kufuor continue to live 'large'. We are told that President Kufuor rejected the Chryslers saying they did not have the comfort and qualities to match his status.

Fellow Ghanaians, is this not a game? How come three top of the range Chrysler cars could not suffice President Kufuor in a credit squeezed Ghana? Is it because of a rumour that two new American cars, two new German cars to be cleared at the Tema port shortly belong to him and were ordered before he left office? Games huh…

Also this week, we are told by Frank Agyekum that President Kufuor is already working from a private office he acquired for himself when he was president. We know the building belonged to the state, at least before he became a president, when did he buy the building and how much did he pay for it? The question is that if President Kufuor had already acquired all that he needed to live like Arabian king, why were we being forced to double these items? The next you will hear, President Kufuor has started his own Foundation etc. Is it just a game?

I seriously believe President Kufuor is playing serious and dangerous games with us; he has already implemented the Hesse report 'privately', the game must stop now.

Credit: Kwame Agbodza [Email: [email protected]