When Pigs Take Over Jubilee House…

I AM a very angry Ghanaian of late. I have tried to keep the smile going in order to assure doctors at Cocoa Clinic, who are working tirelessly to postpone the time when the other foot will join the one already in the grave that they are not working in vain.

Try as I do, I keep being frustrated by actions and pronouncements from those who have hoisted the Umbrella at the seat of Government.

I get the impression that some leading members of Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills' front-line team that believe that this nation, formerly called the Gold Coast, is inhabited by men and women who have stopped referring to the grey matter. In plain language, they seem to be telling us that we are all downright dunces.

With the Mabey and Johnson scandal in the background, Mr. Mahama Ayariga put up a statement that tells much about the thinking in Government house these days. To add insult to injury, state-run Daily Graphic deemed it important to devote half a page to it in its Monday, October, 2009 issue.

When I finished reading the article, my immediate reaction was to reach out to my fellow Ekumfi man, who has appointed the one-time Bawku Central Member of Parliament as his official spokesperson.

It is the sign of the times that these days I am unable to reach someone who used to phone me regularly. When time changes, according to the wise old folks, one has got to change too.

This explains why there has been no contact between the President and my humble self, since my fellow Ekumfi man had problems with his Oath on that faithful day on January 7, 2009.

I do not believe though that all changes are good for society. The 'Yeresesamu' slogan for instance has brought quite a bit of problems.

According to the statement, Mr. Ayariga initially applied for two tractors and was in the process of looking for the money to settle his debt, when he 'CHANCED' on the Minister of Agriculture.

The minister is alleged to have advised that five tractors would do a better job than the two. It is a matter of two tractors good, five tractors better!

Who said the man trying hard to paper the cracks in this administration's inability to deliver, does not deserve better. Five tractors Mr. Ayariga ordered. All the tractors have been duly delivered.

There is this story about Kokofu and its football. In their game of eleven-a-side, if your brother is not on the team sheet, you are never likely to receive a pass, which tells much about the happenings at the old Slave Castle these days.

As I settled down composing this piece, my sub-conscious mind kept reminding me of the lyrics popularized by Jerry Hansen and his Ramblers Dance Band. 'Wonnea Sika Ba A Wokye die No, Wonnea A Na Eka Ba A Wokye Tua'! (Those who share the booty are likely to be those who would ultimately be called upon to settle the debt).

Forgive me if I have not done justice to the interpretation in the white man's language. It is one of the problems of society; some of us who should have done justice to the local dialect have still not really mastered the art of situating it in its right context.

That is only by the way.
The statement, according to the version that appeared in the Daily Graphic said, “Apart from the large number of tractors that the National Democratic Congress government was in the process of importing, an additional 2,000 tractors were imported with the expectation that every farmer who needs a tractor service should have access at affordable cost”.

“Unusual deeds”, wrote William Shakespeare in Macbeth breeds unusual trouble.

When the NDC was in the process (My simple understanding is that the importation has not been done yet.), how could what is available become an addition to what is not there in the first place?

The 2,000 tractors were imported during the Kufuor Administration. The Atta-Mills Government knows next to nothing about the arrangement that brought the tractors from India. But ye men of little faith, they cannot even acknowledge that the booty they are sharing is a legacy from the administration they chose to lampoon.

What has the NDC administration succeeded in importing through our harbours since it assumed power?

The last I heard, the Ghana Harbours and Port Authority is finding it difficult to balance its books because business has been unusually slow in the last nine months. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth”? the Holy Book poses.

Pre-mix and other petroleum products were in short supply recently. I do not believe even the spin-doctors at the old Slave Castle will deny that it is because the government has not imported crude oil. In trying to calm nerves, this administration only succeeded in fraying nerves in Ekumfi and other fishing communities in the country.

There was this statement about haulage vehicles being painted to correspond with the pre-mix they were supposed to lift, when in fact there was no pre-mix at all.

If the men and women at the old Slave Castle have nothing to offer, they need to stop insulting the intelligence of Ghanaians. One of Prof Atta-Mills campaign promises was to cut down on foreign travels in both flight numbers and the size of the entourage.

When the President addressed the United Nations the other day, I counted at least 40 people on the entourage, thanks to television cameras.

Party officials and other people who had no business at the General Assembly were beaming for television cameras at the expense of the tax-payer.

Suddenly our ears are being assailed by roof-top advertisement suggesting that the trip has been hugely beneficial to the poor fisherman who had to sit it out at home during the bumper harvest season.

Please feed the nation on the tangibles and leave the rhetoric for the electioneering season.

We are gradually approaching the era in George Orwell's' Animal Farm when the pigs took over and made life worse off than when Mr. Jones owned the property.

The main difference is that unlike the Kufuor Administration which posted positive result within the first two months of occupying the Castle – reference lifting of crude oil to the Tema Oil Refinery and importation of vehicles and other equipment to enable the police fight crime – we are being fed in the Mills Administration with empty promises. It is as if the professor and all his men are on the campaign trail.

It is becoming a taboo topic, but I dare state that those speaking on behalf of this administration are rather turning a large majority of people off Government statements.

It is not the very best that instead of learning from the advise of good old Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, spin doctors at the Castle rather choose to ridicule themselves.

We are not being told that the former Minister of Communication does not have a doctorate degree. Doctorate or not, what has that got to do with issue at stake.

The outburst of the Communication Director at the Mills' Presidency only goes to confirm the general notion that communication, as a skill, is in short supply at Government House.

Anytime I hear or read a statement attributed to Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa especially, my mind goes on an excursion to the elementary school days at Ekumfi Ekrawfo and the exhortations of Messrs Hammond and Hayford (May the Almighty have mercy on their souls.) The two heads had a way of making an erring pupil feel really bad.

“Ana Wowo Wo No, Woason Wo Adur A”! Loosely translated, it suggests that the erring child might not have benefited from local herbs, that were specially treated and the liquid contents squeezed into the noses of kids as cure for head related diseases.

Once upon a campaign, Ghanaians were told that the new Jubilee House would be turned into a poultry farm or a piggery, when the Umbrella occupied Government House. Now, there is a very lively debate generated by Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa's statement that they need to fork out $50m to get the place ready for occupation.

The conundrum, as I bring this piece to an end is this: Will the $50m seek comfort for the pigs or chicken?

Have a wonderful week!