It Takes One To Know One, Franklin Cudjoe

Well, he has been living in the country much longer that I have, so IMANI-Africa President Franklin Cudjoe perfectly appreciates the fact that in a generally politically superficial culture like ours, perception is virtually synonymous with reality. Which is why President Addo DankwaAkufo-Addo cannot simply cherry pick his way out of allegations of corruption leveled against either himself or any of his appointees (See “Don’t Chase Every Corruption Claim –Franklin Cudjoe to Nana Addo” Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 9/2/17).

That would be the easiest way to certain ruination of his credibility and that of his appointees and, indeed, his entire Administration or Government. You see, allowing every single allegation made against any of his appointees to be thoroughly investigated is the surest way of exposing the allegers or complainants, thus making them bear full responsibility for the consequences of their misbehavior as well as making them extremely cautious the next time they decide to put the credibility and reputation of any public official on the line.

It would also enhance the level and quality of transparency which Nana Akufo-Addo promised in the heat of his electioneering campaign. Besides, it is not as if such investigations, as may be called for, will be undertaken personally by himself. This is precisely why the various law-enforcement agencies were established. Well, in the case of the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), it was not merely the perception of corruption that hurt his regime; rather, there was clear evidence of the willful penchant for corruption, beginning with the Ford Expedition payola scam between then-Vice-President Mahama and Mr. Djibril (Gibril) Kanazoe, the Burkinabe contractor.

Mr. Cudjoe may also vividly recall the time when he was rudely and publicly removed from the economic restructuring committee inaugurated in Ho, the Volta Regional Capital, that was charged with trimming blubber from the bloated civil service payroll, at the clearly and shamelessly cynical urging of Mr. AmetorQuarmyne, one of the NDC apparatchiks, on grounds that the IMANI-Africa think-tanker was advocating policies that were inimical to the retention of the Mahama regime in the next election. Back then, I vividly recall admonishing Mr. Mahama to publicly apologize for the shabby treatment of Mr.Cudjoe and his immediate reinstatement on the public-payroll restructuring committee.

Of course, I did not expect a pathologically imperious and egomaniacal President Mahama to heed my call. But even more significant to point out, it has become crystal clear that both Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, the New Patriotic Party’s Member of Parliament for Assin-Central, and the Hip-Life musician known as A-Plus, or Mr. Kwame AsareObeng, were merely crying “Wolf!” for purely selfish motives when these two businessmen publicly accused some highly placed members of the Akufo-Addo Flagstaff House of extortion and, in the case of the two young Deputy Chiefs-of-Staff, namely, Messrs. Samuel Abu Jinapor and Francis Asenso-Boakye, of the dubious high crime and/or misdemeanor of “abject stupidity,” at least in the opinion of A-Plus.

Now, what I want to highlight here is the apparent flat refusal of these two well-known accusers to be debriefed by the police or any of the other security agencies.

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