Corruption - It Is Time To Wake Up (3)

'Democracies can no longer tolerate bribery, fraud and dishonesty; especially as such practices disproportionately hurt the poor'.

-Jimmy Carter, former President of the USA
'Corruption produces human rights violations and affects many lives'.

-Mary Robinson, Executive Director, the Ethical Globalization Initiative, and former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

 
'Ghana needs a Lee Kuan Yew'
-A Ghanaian Female Visitor to Singapore
 
Does anybody remember Prof James Watson? The name should sound familiar to those who have been regular readers of this column for a long time. For those who are recent converts to this column and also to refresh the minds of the old readers, I wish to take the opportunity to say a little bit about Prof. Watson. It brings to mind what the venerable late Prof. P.A.V. Ansah would have said in Fanti about President Mills and his NDC administration considering all the twists and turns which have characterized the STX episode and Woyomegate saga. These two acts of malfeasance and malevolence just represent the tip of the iceberg of such acts of commission and omission of the Mills NDC administration.  Prof. Ansah would have said in Fanti: 'Ebei! Agya Atta Mills ebadzie nti na eregu Mfantsifo animuase dem?' to wit: 'Ebei! Agya Atta, why are you disgracing the Fantis like this?'

The genesis of this posthumous quotation arises from the various indicting statements by some NDC apparatchiks of President Mills's NDC administration which have cumulated in the mother of all statements issued by Mr. Martin Amidu, the current Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in President Mills NDC administration. His statement read in part: 'I wish to assure the people of Ghana that I still stand by my promise in spite of the fact that hard core criminals in our society today have made it a habit to hold paid membership cards of major political parties in the Republic as an unconstitutional insurance against crime and criminal persecutions. I wish core members and supporters of the NDC who cherish the principles and ideals upon which the party was founded to know that the attacks against me which started in the Daily Post publication of 3 rd January 2012 were planned by a colleague Minister of State who perceived that my integrity and professionalism as a lawyer was a threat to the concealment of gargantuan crimes against the people of Ghana in which they might be implicated'. Readers will recall that Mr. Martin Amidu was the presidential running mate of Candidate Mills during the 2000 presidential elections and therefore a very close insider of the NDC. A second Daniel has come to judgment, indeed. 

Soon after Mr. Martin Amidu had released his statement, the vindictive and shameless Castle boys started singing like witches and wizards confessing to their hideous blood thirsty crimes. Listen to the cry of anguish from The Castle: 'The Attorney-General has opened the Pandora's box. He has stirred the hornet's nest'. So there is a Pandora's Box and an hornet's nest within the walls of The Castle where gargantuan crimes, corruption and fraudulent practices against the state are carried out by public officers entrusted with efficient, effective and transparent administration of the nation. Indeed, while some well connected and influential NDC members have called for the resignation or sacking of Mr. Martin Amidu, others in keeping with the penchant tradition of the NDC being economical with the truth while peddling propaganda lies, have expressed complete ignorance of this well publicised statement by Mr. Martin Amidu.

Quiet clearly, President Mills NDC administration has fallen apart and completely collapsed. The centre can no longer hold. It is worse than a ship without a rudder and akin to a bullet train hurtling down an inclined plane with brakes failure. The regime today exists only in name. In the advanced democracies, President Mills would have thrown in the towel and gone under the yoke as was done in ancient Rome by all defeated enemies. Clearly, President Mills is a defeated, lonely man whose dreams have gone sour, dreams which were never properly articulated in the first place. While the going was good, Candidate Mills promised to consult President Rawlings, his Godfather and his mentor all rolled into one 24 hours a day once in power. Within a wicker of assuming power, he jettisoned his Godfather and mentor and surrounded himself with a vindictive and incompetent group of 'greedy bastards'. A'Team B' cabinet and political appointees with 'Standard Seven' certificates to the chagrin and anguish of President Rawlings.

When President Rawlings realised the monster of an enemy he had created for himself in President Mills, he became the worst and leading critic of President Mills, calling him and his assembled team 'mediocre.'  Today, President Rawlings is so bitter with President Mills to such an extent that President Rawlings has become the conductor of the orchestra formed by the FONKAR melodious artists playing the dirge of President Mills's NDC administration. No political leader in the history of this country has been so assailed in the most derogatory manner from within his own quarters than President Mills. No political leader in this country has been subjected to such foul flood of vituperation from his political opponents and political supporters alike than President Mills. No political leader in the history of this country has failed to understand the socio-politico-judiciary environment he is supposed to operate in than President Mills.

No president or head of state in the history of this country has been derided, called names, insulted, abused, held in contempt, disrespected, ridiculed, held in public opprobrium, and rejected by the kingmakers of his own party as it has happened to President Mills. And yet, somehow President Mills pretends and convinces himself that he has the strength and goodwill to carry on in the noble Office of the President of this country, albeit, incompetently and even seeks a second term. The politically sycophantic, bootlicking, lapping greyhounds of party cheerleaders who have created the impression that their entire lives and those of their dependents depend on the continuous stay in office of President Mills were around during President Mills's latest failed encounter with the press before, during and after the meet the press encounter to tell their patriot saint that his achievement was that of an immaculate platinum award winner.

So what keeps President Mills hanging onto the straw in the manner of a drowning man? I can only hazard a guess as somebody who watches events from the touchline.  The only thing keeping President Mills's NDC administration in place is the semblance of the well verified and observed characteristics of obstinate impunity displayed by a dying cockroach combined with the characteristics of the black man as observed by Prof Watson. He has surrounded himself with the wrong people who are not telling him the truth and hiding the true situation in the country from him. Many of the people around him are so vindictive, lack the necessary expertise to handle the affairs of the nation and plain political rascals driven by the sheer motivation to seek their own welfare rather than have any understanding and appreciation of governance. But how can the devil drive out the devil? So there must be some element of devilishness in President Mills himself for him to assembly such a discordant Titanic working crew to manage this nation state in the centenary of the Titanic.  Is there no wise person with authentic Man of God credentials very close to President Mills who can offer him an authentic and original religious advice to move him away from the delusionary religious trance he appears to be under so that he can throw in the towel and save himself and the nation from further damage to the nation and himself?

This has happened because President Mills has never been a leader or a manager. Party faithful kept on harping on his 'successful' tenure as the Commissioner of the defunct IRS without pointing out any single successful achievement wile in office. President Mills is not a decision maker hence his resort to the empanelling of numerous committees. The national presidential throne just met him on the way and he grabbed it with both arms and legs which happened to be outstretched on impulse at the right time. I am also beginning to believe that he is a greater pretender and a vindictive person as pronounced on the FM stations by various and numerous commentators. The decision by President Mills therefore to run for a second term should have been ludicrous were it not so tragic, considering all the negative disasters which his administration has brought upon itself as a result of crass ineptitude and incompetence leading to the perpetration of gargantuan corruption by operators of his administration and NDC party supporters hiding behind unconstitutional certificates of insurance to avoid crime and criminal to prosecution. 

By Kwame Gyasi

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