The Infamous Acquisition, The Fact-Finding Mission And The Inquisitive Leader’s Demise

I could not believe my ears listening to Dr Steve Manteaw, a leading member of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) on Adom FM on Tuesday 23rd May 2017.

According to Dr Manteaw, the erstwhile NDC government paid a staggering $150 million for three helicoptersto be used by the Ghana Gas Company for surveillance.

However, according to Dr Manteaw, there are no visible signs to suggest that the helicopters have been allocated for such purpose.

Dr Manteaw insisted that the government used a loan facility secured from China to purchase the three aircraft after the original four became malfunctioned.

Meanwhile, on the same Adom FM’s show, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, the Minister of State for Monitoring and Evaluation revealedthat the cost of the helicopters was overpriced.

Dr Akoto-Osei insisted that the four out of the seven helicopters were originally procured for the project, but unfortunately, the helicopters broke down after a few years in operation.

He indicated that the standard cost of each helicopter is $8 million, but the outgone NDC government purchased the helicopters at a hiked price of $25 million each.

Dr Akoto-Osei declared: “The four Ghana Gas Company’s helicopters could have cost the taxpayer just around $32 million and not $100 million if we had purchased them from the Americans,instead of purchasing themat that expensive cost from China”.

The Minister of State for Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Akoto-Osei,however, maintained that the helicopters were bought througha loan from the Chinese Development Bank.

He, however, expressed disappointment for the fact that the loan application was not submitted to the Parliament,in spite of the fierce opposition from the then minority NPP.

Frankly speaking, I hate to admit the apocalypse of the unbridled bribery and corruption cases, but honestly, Ghana may not see any meaningful development, so long as we have public officials who are extremely greedy, corrupt, and insensitive to the plight of the impoverished Ghanaians.

In fact, I will strongly disagree with you,if you were to tell me that corruption has got nothing to do with Ghana’s underdevelopment.

Let us be honest, and rightly so, Ghana’s stunted growth could be attributed to the unrestrained sleaze, bribery and corruption cases.

Despite the rampant bribery and corruption cases, the justice system rather tends to descend heavily on goat, cassava and plantain thieves, and more often than not, let go the hard criminals who hide behind narrow political colorations.

Given all the reported bribery and corruption cases, I must not and cannot stand accused of exhibiting risible and inborn predilection for relentlessly reprobating Ex-President Mahama and his NDC government for wilfully collapsing Ghana’s economy.

It would, however, appear that some people go into politics for the love of their nation, while others just see power as an opportunity to amass wealth.

And what is more, the available evidence shows that some people enter into politics with a view to enjoying the power and satisfying their egos.

Somehow, we tend to put all politicians in one basket and then pass judgement over their conduct.

“When all parties turn out to be the same once in power, people lose faith in all parties, and ultimately in democracy.”

Well, the notion that all politicians behave in the same manner once they are in power is somewhat sophistic, so to speak.

I have never been, and will never be an NDC apologist, but I will forever highlight the late President Mills unparalleled adherence to moral principles.

Of course, the late President Mills was not without infelicities. Yet he was morally ahead of the other corrupt and greedy NDC apparatchiks.

Take, for example, the late Mills exhibited unmatched rectitude and inquisitiveness when he constituted an Investigative Committee to probe into the acquisition of aircrafts from Brazil.

It would be recalled that during his State of the Nation Address on 19^th February 2009, the late President Mills informed the Parliament that his government was looking into the decision to acquire two executive Presidential jets.

However, the late President Mills was somehow ambivalent over the acquisition of the aircrafts and thus observed: "Ghana simply cannot afford the expenditure at this time and we certainly do not need two Presidential Jets" (thestatesmanonline.com, 16/06/2016).

Astonishingly, however, whilst the late Mills was joyfully delivering his euphonious state of the nation address in the parliament, the Vice President John Mahama, who also happened to be the chairman of the Armed Forces Council, was blissfully entertaining delegations from Brazil and busily negotiating the acquisition of five jets, including the most expensive hangar without the knowledge of the late President Mills.

Unsurprisingly, the late President Mills became suspicious of the whole deal and decided to put a committee together to review the deal, according to Mr Martin Amidu, the former Attorney General under President Mills.

By inference, the late Mills was extremely unhappy about the deal, hence setting up a committee to investigate his then vice president Mahama.

Let us admit, though, it would only take an incorruptible, courageous and upstanding president to set up a committee to look into his vice president’s cloudy deals.

Interestingly, Mr Amidu went ahead and disclosed the identities of the members of the committee who were tasked to investigate the Processes of the Acquisition of Five Aircrafts (5) including Embraer 190 Aircraft and hanger for the Ghana Armed Forces.

Mr Amidu revealed that the committee members consisted of Mr. William Aboah, Mr. George Amoah, and Brig. Gen. Allotey (Rtd) former Judge Advocate-General was put together.

The fact that Mr Amidu named the committee memberssuggests that he was not belying the facts when he said that the late Mills set up a committee to investigate the then Vice President Mahama.

First of all, Mr Amidu audaciously named the members of the committee set up by the late President Mills.

Secondly, the fact that none of the committee members came out to repudiate or disassociate themselves from the allegations somehow makes Mr Amidu’s story appears credible.

The all-important question then is: why have they kept mute all this while? Your guess is as good as mine.

Mr Amidu continued: “the terms of reference of the Committee as I was instructed and drafted them for the late President were: “(I) to investigate the processes adopted in selecting, negotiating, and agreeing on the acquisition of the aircrafts; (ii) to investigate the competitive advantage, prices of the aircrafts and the level of economic and financial due diligence conducted by relevant agencies in the process of acquisition of the aircrafts; and (iii) to investigate any other matter that in the opinion of the Committee is reasonably related to the foregoing terms of reference.”

“Pressure groups never allowed the Committee to take off”, Mr Amidu maintained.

“But the very fact that the late President Mills even contemplated this committee meant that he was uncomfortable with and suspicious of the alleged inflated prices of the aircrafts”, Mr Amidu revealed.

Unfortunately, President Mills passed on under mysterious circumstances. He could not live on to stamp his authority and ensure that the investigations into the dubious aircrafts deal proceed regardless of the pressure groups shenanigans.

President Mahama had this to say on his tribute to the late Mills: “I believe I am the luckiest Vice President in the world to have had a President like him. He gave me the space to operate and gave me every responsibility. He made me Chairman of the Police Council, Chairman of [the] Armed Forces Council, Chairman of the Economic Management Team, everything [sic]… and he said, ‘John I trust you can do it.’ He reposed absolute trust in me. Anytime there was tribulation and I felt troubled, I went to him. He calmed me down and said ‘John I trust you, I like the work you are doing, carry on’.”

Let us face it, it would appear that some individuals betrayed the trust the late Mills reposed in them.

K. Badu, UK.
References:
www.martinamidu.com
www.dailyguideafrica.com
www.thestatesmanonline.com
www.adomfmonline.com