Bye-Bye One Dollar President

Ghanaians have made history in the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. The results of the elections have clearly indicated that the “One-Dollar President” is not fit to be the leader of our community.

If the outgoing Commander In Chief of our community had respected us and had not employed the divide and rule tactics, nepotism and cronyism to the chagrin of the majority of the members of our community; if the outgoing leader had not endorsed corruption everywhere in the Ghanaian Society; if the “one-term” leader had not abused the rights of Ghanaians everywhere and if the incompetent leader had not mismanaged the resources of our motherland in an unprecedented and gargantuan manner, perhaps the story would have been slightly different.

Ghanaians have voted for real and positive change in their lives. Members of our community voted against our leader in the “special voting”.

From the military perspective, our leader was disrespectful and arrogant in the manner that the “One Dollar” increase in the Earned Dollar of formed troops on peace support operations was announced. For an uncaring leader, one dollar per day for Ghanaian troops was a “big deal”.

At a durbar with troops, expectations had been so high on what the leader could do to ameliorate the economic conditions and welfare of troops. The troops had experienced an exponential increase in their “Earned Dollar” from fourteen (14) to twenty-seven (27) under President Kufour. The troops had also witnessed the increase of their Earned Dollar from Twenty-Seven (27) to Thirty (30) dollars by the late Professor John Mills.

Yet, the One Dollar President had the impudence, disrespect and arrogance to defend an increase of only One Dollar within four years. Without any compunction, the Director of Public Relations, Colonel Aggrey Quarshie was made to defend this insulting behavior of our leader on the airwaves everywhere thereby annoying the military members of our community all the more.

The leader of our community “exported” corruption from the Civil Street to the barracks.

The new military formation had been formed by the Commander In Chief himself and had been placed under the direct operational and administrative command and control of the Chief of Staff, Major General SK Adeti, who had been appointed as the Second In Command of the new cabal with direct access to the President on matters of corruption and election malpractices.

For the sake of Major General SK Adeti, Major General Opoku Adusei had to be sacrificed at a time that the former was under investigations for various acts of corruption, impropriety and /or inappropriate actions.

While Ghanaians were reeling under the foul-mouthed atmosphere of NDC communicators, the President imposed on them an extremely arrogant, disrespectful and stubborn chair-person of the Electoral Commission.

For reasons best known to John Mahama, more experienced and competent persons were ignored and Madam Charlotte Osei was appointed the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana. All the steps of Madam Charlotte Osei were for the benefit of the President and the NDC and not mother Ghana.

All attempts to guide her to the path of peace and stability were ignored by her. Right from day one, Madam Charlotte Osei did not hide her intentions to rig the elections in favour of the NDC. The time table, preparations for and the conduct of the 2016 elections were all done to favour the NDC and President Mahama. But because God is not like the parents of Charlotte Osei and Amadu Sulley, all their evil plans were nullified by the Lord. They had forgotten that the elected leader of our community had appropriately themed his struggle for power as the “Battle is the Lords”.

The series of the electoral battles were left in the able hands of the Lord. By contrast, President Mahama and his NDC had placed their hopes in mortal human beings -Madam Charlotte Osei and Amadu Sulley.

Madam Charlotte Osei found willing partners in our community to assist her to rig the elections in favour of our outgoing leader and the NDC. The Chief of Staff, Major General SK Adeti, the Director General Joint Operations, Brigadier General N. Kporku, Commander Support Services Brigade Group, Brigadier General Francis Ofori, General Officer Commanding Southern Command, Brigadier General Musah Whajah, Director General Defence Intelligence, Brigadier General AK Adu, Colonels Komlaga, Vander Pallen, Mantey and some commanding officers and officers commanding companies, squadrons and detachments were deeply involved in the “Charlotte-Osei-NDC” machinery to rig the elections for JM and the NDC.

Already discussed and pre-arranged letters were written by the Chairperson of the EC to the Chief of Staff to facilitate the rigging of the 2016 elections. The tricks included proxy voting on behalf of troops, transfer of votes from certain locations to strongholds or weak areas to give advantage to the NDC, storage of electoral materials at military installations and facilities, conveying of electoral materials by the Chief of Staff, Director Generals and Commanding Officers,. The following are pertinent questions.

1. Why did Major General SK Adeti pick RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenades/Guns) from the Base Ammunition Depot?

2. What did Major General SK Adeti intend to do with them? Was he planning to kill the President-elect and his Vice?

3. Were Ghanaians at war to warrant the operational readiness of the Ghana Armed Forces as exhibited by Major General SK Adeti and Brigadier General N. Kporku?

4. Why did Brigadier General Francis Ofori turn his office and home into rigging machinery for the NDC?

5. Why did Brigadier General AK Adu go to the Ghana-Ivory Coast border to meet General PA Blay (Former Chief of Defence Staff and Ambassador to Ivory Coast)?

6. How many Ivoirians (or Ghanaians resident in Ivory Coast) did Brigadier General Adu facilitate their crossing into Ghana to vote?

7. Why did Lieutenant Colonel Awaribey (Co 3Bn) collaborate with the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander to facilitate the brutalities of Mr. Collins Dauda (Minister for Local Government and Rural Development) and Mr. Eric Opoku (Brong Ahafo Regional Minister) against innocent law-abiding citizens in the Ahafo Area of the Brong Ahafo Region?

These and many other questions are begging for answers from the leader of our community, the Chief of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces and the individual officers who played various inappropriate roles during the elections.

The Chief of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces did all those negative things against his background of corrupt practices. He wanted the victory of President Mahama and the NDC in order to escape any sanctions for his wrong doings.

Right from the time of General Smith as Defence Minister with General Blay as Chief of Defence Staff, several malpractices and malfeasance have been uncovered.

Most of the contracts signed to alienate the interests and rights in military and Public Lands to private developers have been fraught with corruption, greed and avarice to the detriment of the Armed Forces and members of our community.

Under the guise of Private Public Participation or Partnership (PPP), military land/or public lands under the care of the military have been given to these private developers at incredible terms to the benefit of the Generals and Ministers.

Lands at Takoradi belonging to the Airforce have been given out to friends of the Presidency and Military High Command. Lands around the Airforce Base and Airforce Mess are all gone under dubious terms inimical to the Armed Forces and the state. Most of those contracts, agreements or arrangements cannot be found.

The lands around the Headquarters of the Southern Command of the Ghana Army at Teshie have also allegedly been given out under strange agreements/arrangements. Certainly, “the fencing for land” deal was not in the best interest of the Ghana Armed Forces.

What about the land on which the two GOIL filling stations have been built –one at Teshie near the Command Headquarters of the Southern Command of the Ghana Army and the second at the Labadi Villas Junction. Who owns those two filling stations? What were the terms of the Agreement or Arrangement?

What about the Services Integrity Savings and Loans Financial Institution that has been formed under the auspices of General SK Adokpa who was all in all – (Director Resettlement and Director General Defence Industries for over six (6) years).

Where did General Adokpa keep the proceeds of the Provident Fund? What portfolio of investments did he engage in? Answer to all these questions may be sought at the appropriate times.

What about the “Army Mess Deal?
What were the terms of the so-called PPP arrangement with that private developer? Did it make sense to give such a prime area to a private person for such pittance?

Why would a private person be allowed to build a private hospital so close to the 37 Military Hospital? – Is it to compete with the Public Health Services of the Military Hospital? Or is to cause the ruins of the military hospital?

Did the Military High Command take into account the real living accommodation needs of Military and Civilian Officers? The type of accommodation being built by the private developer is not the best for modern circumstances. The officer corps is grappling with living accommodation problems and therefore the designs should have been for a quasi military marriage quarter of at least two bedrooms and a hall with kitchen, toilet and bath and not the old style single accommodation with a hall, bedroom, toilet and bath only.

Most officers may live in the single accommodation for over or close to ten years after commission owing to the inadequacy of and deterioration in the living married accommodation. That was not the concern of our Military High Command. All their actions were motivated by selfish interests. The unpatriotic Generals were thinking of themselves only and their future while ignoring the primary interests of the majority of the members of our noble professions.

What about the lands around the Air Force Mess and the Air Force Base in Accra? Who has “bought” them or who benefited from their alienation? There are all sorts of allegations that the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Blay, the former Defence Minister, General Smith and others are behind most of the “PPP deals”.

General Adokpa is also allegedly figured in those deals. My sources indicate that General Adokpa is subtly and surreptitiously more involved in the various deals than his egotistical, bigheaded and self-important “tribesman” who wants to conquer everything that he surveys.

There are also several questions about sole sourcing of the contracts at the Directorate of Engineer Services (DES). The allegations have it that Brigadier General Francis Ofori was the main architect and promoter of the sole sourcing at the DES. He is alleged to have “accumulated” so much as part of the ground design of the “new military cabal”.

General Francis Ofori is alleged to have used some of the funds to support the NDC in the 2016 Presidential Elections. According to the scheme of events, if the Charlotte Osei EC had declared John Mahama winner using the electronic transmission of results against the real tallied results as per the Collation Sheets, Generals Adeti and Ofori were to “fight” any attempt to challenge that declaration.

The work done at Northern Command along is enough proof.

The assertion continued that if the “Plan B” had succeeded, General Adeti was to become the Chief of Army Staff (Army Commander) and General Ofori the Chief of Staff. General OB Akwa was to be retired by March 2017.

But God has His own plans and does things His own way.