Bond Of 2017 And A Recall From Slumber

Am I back from retirement? I haven't had enough rest yet and I find myself back in the fray arguing about Bonds, Galamsey, Invisible Forces, Delta Forces, Azorka Boys and all manner of illegal things Ghana is throwing up. But I am back and I hope with as much vim as I can muster for at least another decade.

So ….. hello readers!
Well, the Invisible and Delta Forces have been corralled, jail terms and fines imposed and some discipline restored except for all the noise being made by NPP member of Parliament and financier Mr. Kennedy Agyapong whose personal crusade is now a confused mess of effusions wherever he can find audience. Unfortunately, he comes across as a somewhat uncouth orator shouting out his invincibility because he has a connection to the NPP hierarchy that we regular citizens are not privy to, but have to accept as possible surprise, disclosure made even more intriguing because he is still walking as free as a “woyome- mould” cloaked in political fabric of just recent memory.

How interesting that we have so soon dropped the heat off Alfred Agbesi Woyome, who just a few weeks ago was the main fulcrum of protest in an election corruption campaign that could have been the true cost of our democracy had the results gone a different way.

We campaigned hard and determinedly and my only regret is I never had the opportunity to record the events my way, as I peaked too early and run out of adrenalin. But it was a sweet victory and even more pleasurable not to hear the noise from Fiifi Kwetey, Ablakwa and the rest of the NDC talking heads. And the margin was significant. I think we are still yet to know the full and final result, as there are still a few more constituencies yet to be added to the final score. But I could have missed the announcement.

So Ibrahim Mahama was arrested and asked to cough up that value of bad cheques of nearly GH¢12million. He admits to issuing these dud cheques over two years and has expressed willingness to pay back the tax-payer's monies that for some strange reason the Ghana Revenue Authority never found prudent to collect or prosecute when his brother was then the reigning “king: of Ghana.

You would have thought that the President's brother who is rumoured to own several cars and residences would be a very easy target to pin down and search his pockets for some chop change, which he should have, on account of all the easy contracts he sole sourced through his consulting company Engineer's and Planners. He is even involved in the now totally baffling Ameri energy deal, which is beginning to look like we gave away $150million to a broker and which is now the biggest yet to be unravelled theft, if only we can.

The team from IMANI Ghana led by Bright Simmons and with the support of all his work mates and all Ghanaians who can read, is yet to show the way on how we collect money from an air-tight contract crafted in rock-tight language, which even though proven numerically as a major loss to the Ghanaian taxpayer, appears to be another win for the slimy NDC operators whose contract approval scheming in Parliament will soon become legendary.

You know this will one day become the stuff of a major blockbuster starring the “legendary=Ghana=Parliament” as portrayed by the new minority leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu.

In an interview with GHOne Television this past week, Haruna praises Alan Bagbin as legendary as we still look for the new successor to the Mahama legacy. Strangely, the NDC mantra seems to be evolving into the new hope that a decision at Congress and the appointment of a new national executive will heal the recuperating lame horse ridden by a “dead goat;” made special because they have managed to snare the young aging Kwesi Botchway to run around Ghana asking foot soldiers how they can win the next election in 2028!

I wonder what Kwesi B expects to get out of all this. Could it be another opportunity to take a whack at his head-on with Jerry John after he was kicked out of the University of Ghana hall during one of the more hot headed times of the NDC?

No one from their camp is listening to what the voters told them in 2016 that a gap of a million votes will need a lot of accelerated pregnancies to mature in time for them to make up the gap. I think Nana Addo should call an early election just to let it sink in that the voters have said their piece and while he is at it, kindly lift the tax on condoms just for the sake of the NDC. Oh. It was already done? Let's do it twice just to be certain.

So no where cool as the NDC washes some dirty linen all over Ghana looking for good clean water from the rivers they ignored and allowed “galamsey” to overrun the terrain in search of our now dwindling gold reserves.

Occupy Ghana's charge into the galamsey space created a significant level of awareness. As we prepare to do battle with the Chinese wreckers who have virtually destroyed the water bodies with the help of limp institutional heads, we continue to “beg” for what is ours, asking them to please leave our gold and take away their armoury of mercury and cyanide.

The challenge now is whether this government will be tough enough to stand up to the kingpins of the gold diggers and push the chiefs and district authorities to insist that the Minerals Commission and those we have trusted to keep our water clean and drinkable will erect a conscience and make restitution for a fast fading future.

Which is why Vice President Bawumia needs to get off the campaign trail and get into achievement mode. His checklist of one hundred and three achievements in a hundred days including intentions to do and paper allocations of money was just a tad infantile to score intellectual marks here. One achievement one day? Good political rhetoric but I would have been happier with just a solid ten.

If we are to see the achievements, a hundred days is too soon to judge and the impact is definitely not here yet. I am still paying VAT for account maintenance on my Ecobank account and my electricity bill is still playing havoc with my bank balance and dancing kpanlogo with my fridge. It should be getting better soon, I hear.

Ghana. Aha a yƐ dƐ papa. Alius valde week advenio. Another great week to come.

Sydney Casely-Hayford, [email protected]