Kofi Wayo's Letter to President Kufuor

Just about seven months into the administration of President John Agyekum Kufuor, the political firebrand, 'Chucks' Kofi Wayo, then in the fold of the New Patriotic Party, fired a letter to him, daring him to entrust the management of the Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG) or the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) into his hands. As a matter of public interest and for its relevance to the current situation at these state organisations, Ghanaian Chronicle are publishing unedited the letter, which was first published by the 'Daily Guide' in 2001. Dear Mr. President,

I am worried about your current activities vis-à-vis our Party Program. I helped fight for our party to come to power with the understanding that we would be completely different from the other parties. I was under the impression that you are a man of God and sincerely have the fear of God in theory and in practice.

We have been in power now for over seven months. The people arc still suffering from power outages, High Petrol Price, High Unemployment, Abject Poverty, High Infant Mortality, Unacceptable School Drop-out rate, Excessive drinking water rates without the service, etc. etc. Mr. President, I can go on and on.

Sir, I know that at least we, can bring some form of relief to our people right away.

I told you before that you should allow me to head a task Force to deal with ECG, the Tema Oil Refinery, for only six months. If I fail to show you any difference in the operation of it and did not alter its present state in six months then you can go ahead and disgrace me.

I just want to help my people. The suffering is too much. Their condition is not natural. It is purely man made Sir. The three areas that are vital to our people's well being is water, electricity and health. All these are the essential oxygen that we need to transform in order to make any impact.

Sir, I noticed now that you have decided to rely on the World Bank and the IMF and the other welfare organizations. Sir, this would not work. It has never worked anywhere in the world.

I am not asking for anything. I just want my people to be free and a little comfortable. If for an example, I head TOR or ECG, GWCL, I will not take a salary. I do not need it. I will inject capital into any one of them from my own sources and make it work to show my people that we can do the JOB. President, surely you can not say we are attacking the problems of our people by meetings with IMF, World Bank etc. we must show some creativity of our own.

Mr. President, give hope to our people, give me a chance to help them as Government is supposed to do. Sir, right row, nothing is working in Ghana. The people are crying. There are more youths selling dog chains now than during N D C time, there are more kaayaa yoos of very tender age than before.

Sir, for God sake, feel for the people. The vast majority of them have no hope, they are illiterate, ill fed and ill led. We brought them some hope, at least Sir, let's convert some of that hope into reality for them.

Sir, since you came to power, you have not taken any concrete action to head towards massive Job creation. You can start by organizing an immediate conference with the Ghanaian Industrialists, Engineers, Mechanics, Teachers, Trade Union etc., our problems are local, Sir. Every country in the world is unique. Nobody is going to solve Ghana's problems but the indigenous Ghanaians. Meetings in Europe and America are meaningless to the starving unemployed people of Ghana.

At voting time, Americans would not vote in Ghana nor the Europeans or the Asians in whom you seem to be putting all your faith. It is only the Ghanaians who will vote for you.

We have to prove to the voters that we mean business. I can seriously predict to you that, the team you have put in place at TOR, GNPC, ECG will fail.

I have heard rumours that you will replace Akoto of TOR.

Akoto is not a good businessman or a capable organiser, but he can be trained to perform. I and my engineers from the U S A. went and had a talk with him. I can assure you that if you change him now, the situation will completely get out of hand.

Mr. President, Ken Dapaah is not a businessman, I have talked to him a lot. Though a nice guy, he will never perform. I will predict to you that, the TOR debt will sky-rocket to between three to four trillion cedis in three years. This will cripple the banking system.

1 can explain this to you only when you agree to set up a Task Force to tackle the problem. In America, we say we get to the bottom of this problem. Sir, in short, we can save our people from this tragedy. Posterity will condemn yon Sir, if yon don't listen. This TOR. situation will get from bad to worse within eleven months and I can change the situation around in four months.

I have here with me four good guys from my US company and we want two hours of your time to explain to you why we are sure your energy team will fail and they will bring disaster to the entire country's financial system.

Mr. President, I want to give you the practical knowledge that I have, trust me, it will save you.

Mr. President, the team of Mr. Brobby and Mr. Dapaah will bring financial disaster. If this doesn't happen in three years, please kick me out of the party. Because, I would have been an alarmist. I want the best br my party Sir. Energy Sir, is the bloodline of any modern state.

I am prepared to deposit one million US dollars and if I fail in six months to save the situation, and bring energy prices down, the party should automatically keep the money, get all the news media to disgrace me and then drum me out of my beloved NPP.

This offer is good only for 30 days. If you keep the team you have now, Sir, I can tell you right away that, they will be controlled by crooks in the oil business, whose specialty is cheating African oil ministers and so on. I know all these people Sir, let me know if you will let me serve my country. If I don't hear from you, I will assume you have turned me down.

The oil business Sir, is so complicated that the international crooks will make mince meat out of your team. I will guarantee you sir, you will be in serious straits if you fail to listen to me. I am the only Ghanaian with the real practical knowledge to deal with this situation.

I have studied the Energy situation in Africa for 20 years and know what to do to save my country. Sir, you are the boss now. The decision is yours. Keep your academic team and fail or let me in to claim great victory for the people. Your team will only do one thing.

They would keep robbing the people through price increments. Your team like all African government oil teams will become millionaires in no time, and the people will be starving.

This is what brings coups. I hope Sir, that you love Ghanaians like I do, and through God help them live a better life. I am hoping you will call me. Eshi, Rado. Rado

Good Luck

KOFI WAYO.