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In power, the NPP’s ”Concert Party” shows don’t amuse anymore

Feature Article In power, the NPPs Concert Party shows dont amuse anymore
OCT 4, 2017 LISTEN

Folks, I will be bold here to say that a lot has happened since Akufo-Addo entered the Flagstaff House to sustain his party’s “Concert Party” shows. Over the past 9 months, a lot of enactments have rendered this “Concert Party” more than ridiculous.

Is it about the fixation on the electioneering campaign mode and the continuous making of promises (Akufo-Addo’s latest one being that his government would give each Ghanaian pupil a bar of chocolate every day?) or eliminating corruption from public service in Ghana, reducing the prices of petroleum products, creating jobs, fulfilling all the promises (election of MMDCEs in 2018, for instance), or what else?

No day passes by under Akufo-Addo without one scandal or the other rocking his administration and party. Just look at the memo sent out by the Regional Administration up north demanding 5,000 Cedis or whatever from the Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies to host Akufo-Addo on his tour of the area. Consider this scandalous move in the context of the denial by the Ministry of Local Government and the confusion among the NPP regional executives over it and their desire to hunt the one who leaked the memo.

In truth, while the regional administration denied ever soliciting funds, the NPP executives claimed that they were responsible for reaching out to the MMDA's for such contributions. What does that tell us about Ghana under Akufo-Addo?

For many days now, though, one particular scandal has dominated public discourse and won’t vanish soon. The allegation of corruption against Akufo-Addo’s appointees at the Flagstaff House it is.

(In any case, why is it that Akufo-Addo’s re-designation of “Flagstaff House” as “Jubilee House” (what Kufuor established but was pooh-poohed by Atta Mills) isn’t carrying weight? One would have thought that the official government house would be called “Jubilee House” as he moved for. But not so. It still remains as “Flagstaff House”. What is happening? And allegations are rife about corruption being cooked and eaten therein).

A-Plus’s blowing the lid off happenings at Korle Bu isn’t anything praise-worthy as an act of patriotism to be praised. It arose out of frustration and anger over happenings that won’t serve his personal interests. That is why I don’t value him for anything as such.

His allegations against Jinapor and Asenso, which Akufo-Addo referred to the police for investigation, has turned round to cut Akufo-Addo himself and his government really deep. Laughing stocks!!

Thus, little has emerged so far to prove to me that A-Plus was motivated by the spirit of patriotism to go the way he has done to date. He is portrayed as a confidant of Akufo-Addo, implying that he is established in the corridors of power, where he struts with impudence.

The kind of impudence that would open Sesame for him to have a monthly 12-Dollar contract with the BOST (noted for dealing in contaminated fuel under Akufo-Addo) and attend meetings of the management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in search for personal gains. Only under Akufo-Addo will such a nonentity carry himself to that height of inanity!!

The to-and-fro rhetorical exchanges between him and his supporters (the UniBank and staff of Korle Bu), on the one hand, and defenders of the rot that he has complained about, on the other hand, continue. The tension arising from such exchanges won’t abate soon because the “combatants” aren’t willing to yield ground without profiting from the situation.

Interestingly, the Minister of Health has jumped on-board to fault the CEO of Korle Bu for not consulting him before cutting off UniBank—a claim that takes everything to the highest degree of absurdity.

No matter who says what, we now know that this Korle Bu fracas is not only a test case for Akufo-Addo but it is also a pointer to what lies ahead in his boasts of fighting against corruption if put in power.

Eager to run his usual fool’s errands for the NPP, Kweku Baako jumped into the fray with his version of what might have happened only to be floored by A-Plus. He has leant to zip up, even as the staff of Korle Bu and management of UniBank reduced to absurdity the reasons given by the management of Korle Bu for terminating the arrangement with UniBank. Nothing from the Health Minister has solved the problem too. So, what is what now?

Clearly, something shady happened. Interestingly, Jinapor is talking while his co-accused (Asenso) has kept mum all along. Not that Jinapor’s self-serving talk is credible. It flies in the face of what has emerged so far.

The police defended the Establishment and worsened matters as revealed by the contents of the leaked tape about contacts that the Deputy Commissioner of Police and Deputy head of the CID had made with A-Plus. Ghana is not safe in the hands of such characters.

What does all this farce lead us to? Only one conclusion: that this Korle Bu fracas hurts not only Asenso and Jinapor but also Akufo-Addo himself, especially viewed against the smokescreen erected by those defending the two Deputy Chiefs of Staff. Something really fishy happened that a serious-minded President riding to power on the huge claim of anti-corruption should have given much attention. Not for Akufo-Addo.

No matter how this matter is handled, it will remain what it has been all along: a clear instance of failure on the part of the Establishment under Akufo-Addo to walk the talk on corruption. What the police did, which A-Plus’ scheming has ridiculed, clearly tells me that the rot in the Ghanaian system cannot be cleaned soon. More is being added to it. Too bad for Ghana.

I shall return…

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