The Battle Of Mojabiyedum: Gordon Offin-Amaniampong Writes

Does Sergeant Bukari have the credibility to lead?

Rot in Mojabiyedum (Mogya-bi-ye-dom) has sent the people on the streets. A former ‘mutineer’ is leading the crusade. It’s a war that has never been won. And it’s unclear whether crusaders of today would be able to get the mission accomplished. Amid the public outcry sergeant Bukari and his anti-graft marchers have hit the streets.

His mission is simple—to free the people from economic bondage. The people are economically burdened not because they don’t have the manpower and natural resources. Mojabiyedum is endowed with gold, manganese, bauxite, timber, cocoa, oil and many more.

By many standards, it is not a nation that should resort to panhandling. Ironically she’s doing exactly that. Mojabiyedum has been dwarfed by debt, haunted by Dumsor, overwhelmed by unemployment and paralysed by corruption. In many years they that pledged to fight the canker got themselves embroiled in the mess. Unless you’re strong and have the will power to do so, you’d lose focus and grip.

For many years the leaders have been stealing, looting and plundering her. It seems nobody is bothered and if they did the thought that their efforts would come to naught often put that idea at the back burner.

Something ought to be done to end corruption. But who will lead the fight against the graft?

In the meantime sergeant Bukari has been gauging the terrain, carrying out investigations, conducting interviews, collecting facts and data. Bukari has in his possession a dossier as fat as Goliath’s head. And he concludes that the time is ripe to storm the streets. It’s time that all monies stolen from the state must be retrieved as early as practicable.

The people have bought into his idea. They‘re bent on retrieving all the monies that public officials have looted.

The story reminds me of English author George Orwell’s Animal Farm novella, published in England 72 years ago in 1945. The animals had won the battle at Cowshed against their master and renamed the farmland Animal Farm and that led to the writing of the seven commandments.

Indeed the commandments had been hailed by all the animals after their revolt. But I think what probably made it more popular was the seventh commandment which said. “All animals are equal. “ However, the leaders among the animals soon wound up amending the very tenets they’d set in the first place during the revolt. Power is a treasure. Therefore, they would do everything animally possible to consolidate it. And they came up with this: “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”,

This isn’t different from what we often hear during electioneering campaigns. Politicians speak like that when they‘re looking for power. We witnessed some braiding hairs and sewing dresses in the last general elections. Some of them had become culinary experts overnight. Corruption must be defeated they pledged.

Doesn’t that resonate or give you a clue as to what our country is going through?

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Perhaps this is just a tip of the iceberg. A whopping GH¢112 billion is believed to have landed in the pockets and hands of some corrupt public officials in Ghana last year alone (2016). The ironic twist is, Ghana‘s public debt from the time of the country’s independence to date is in the region of GH¢127 billion.

Think about it for a second. How did they do that?

This startling revelation was contained in a 310-page document compiled by journalists at Adom FM --a local radio station based in Tema in the Greater Accra region. Yes, the hawks stepped out of the proverbial ‘Mad House’ (Newsroom) to rake the muck in the system. On Friday Captain Smart led thousands of people on a demonstration in Accra to present the said report to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) an anti-graft agency.

“We are giving EOCO three months within which they must work and investigate persons engaged in acts of corruption who are in the documents we have presented to them. If the agency failed to heed our request, we would stage another protest in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital,” Captain Smart stated.

The protestors carried placards with messages, including “Stealers need psychiatric evaluation, Ghana Must Work, We need our gargantuan money,” “Pass RTI Bill”, “Simpa Panyin hates corruption,” “#Yegyeyensika.”

Does Captain Smart have the credibility to lead?

Even though many have commended Captain Smart for leading the fight against corruption in the country, it seems not everyone is happy about what the Adom FM presenter is doing. Former Communications Director of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Ernest Owusu Bempah is the latest person to raise bribery issue.

Mr. Bempah has alleged that former President John Mahama gave Captain Smart a Toyota land cruiser Prado ,whiles his brother Ibrahim Mahama also gave him 1.2 million cedis two weeks before elections to do dirty work on radio for the then ruling government .

“The persona of the character who is championing the course is himself fraught of corruption allegations and I am wondering how he can get the moral fiber to demand accountability from persons who are also alleged to have dipped their hands into the purse of the state,” he stated on his Facebook page.

I think this is a serious allegation and needs be investigated too. In recent times there had been unsubstantiated accusations of bribery scandals. It’s either someone is receiving or someone is giving but the accusers have often failed to provide evidence to back their claims. So the question is: How true is this allegation against Captain Smart?

Can Mr. Bempah prove this in a court of law if he’s asked to do so?

Or better still, I will per this write up urge the former communication director to report the presenter to any of the anti-graft agencies in Ghana. And I think if he cannot do this as suggested l here fore then he must equally not pigeonhole the good work Captain Smart is embarking on. We need our stolen monies.

Again my question is why now?
If you saw someone received bribe from none other than the president of the republic why didn’t you report as a patriot and one with high morals?