Smelly Spyware Transaction

We wonder whether Ghana could have survived another four-year bout of corruption and general rot which bedeviled the country under the tenure of the erstwhile political administration.

There are so many of such instances that we might lose count of them as the days elapse. With only a tip of the iceberg now visible, we are convinced that many more wait to be announced in the coming months.

Those which are yet to surface could threaten the survival of those already on the spotlight by their sheer quantum.

This week opened with yet another mind-boggling tale from the National Communications Authority (NCA) thievery from the public purse and this taking place in the twilight of the John Mahama administration poses many valid questions.

It would seem that the idea of the importation of the spyware to eavesdrop phone conversations of Ghanaians and the like was driven more by the desire to rip off the state than undertake a so-called counter-terrorism operations.

We now understand why some disgruntled Ghanaians think that all politicians are obsessed with ripping off the state. Otherwise the 'create, loot and share' corruption concept would not have gained such a deep-root in our body-politics.

It is such a shame that a section of our political elite would stoop to such a level of cheating even as many youth are unemployed and parents of those at school unable to meet the cost of educating their kids.

It is ironic that the Israeli company from which the equipment originated received only a million dollars of the four million dollars cost of the spy gadget: the lion share was doled out to various individuals in the country, some of them board members of the NCA in the previous political administration and even a former Deputy National Security Coordinator.

Where are they, who think such malfeasances should not be probed but confined to the bottom of the carpet? Ghana would remain stagnant if we allow such open thievery of the state coffers to continue unabated. What better way to allow it to wax stronger than refuse to take action against those who perpetuated it?

Even as the looted amounts of money are sitting in the private accounts of NDC apparatchiks, the equipment has been transferred to a private location.

In spite of this smelly transaction, nobody has been detained. Even more disturbing is the fact that the transition engagements with the outgoing government did not contain any aspect of this subject. It makes us think, and rightly so, that the whole idea of the import was shrouded in a complex thievery intended to outwit even the most curious. That was how things got so bad under the previous administration.

Who are the persons who thought a ploy of excluding this transaction from the transition committee's deliberations? Their action must be informed by criminality which must be probed by the appropriate state agency.

The nonsense about witch-hunting if the authorities allow it to impede their work, would deal a worrying blow to the efforts at ridding the country of corruption and the acts of malfeasance which were features of the previous political order.

We risk retarding the progress of this country if we consider other options besides a probe and the application of the necessary sanctions as prescribed by law in the face of this wanton pillaging of the country's kitty.