Do Not Take Us For Granted Mr. President - Ivan Warns!

The growing concept of impunity invading our political landscape once again presents a veritable chance of destabilizing the peace Ghana has enjoyed since the inception of the fourth republic.

It’s an obvious reality that some politicians in Ghana have over the years preyed on the unflinching party loyalty of supporters and have successfully pushed everyone of them into economic slavery and subjugation in their pursuit for wealth and the quest to satisfy their crave to satisfy their insatiable financial needs.

The recent allegation of double salary, which l believe is a crucial policy error which requires fixing, has exposed how the executives and the legislature are in a serious breach of statutory provisions in their various engagements.

I believe the allegations are a bit silly, considering the flop system designed to pay emoluments of members of Parliament who are simultaneously ministers of state.

Delving into this double salary allegations is not the focus of this article but then l would want to shed light on the subject to justify why l believe we sometimes try to over burden political subjects by engaging in needles political accusations which ultimately end up bruising the already integrity crises facing parliament as an institution and other arms of government.

The system is designed in such a way that, until the emoluments committee completes its work, that’s determining salaries of members of Parliament, one cannot figure, the exact amount he /she is entitled to and cannot also verify from any source either.

Secondary we should also understand that, sometimes the committee completes its job at the end of the four years, meaning the exact salary due cannot be known for the entire four years, that’s a minister/ MP. So what happens is that, after the committee is done deciding the exact amount to be paid, all monies already paid will be subtracted from the amount the committee had agreed on.

So there’s no chance any mp or minister could cheat the system, so if we can be candid with ourselves and come clean out of the excesses of political jaundice many of us are suffering from, such utter flimsiness of allegations of this magnitude that equally have the potential to strip naked parliament of its integrity that’s if it has some at all considering the negative conducts and invective rhetorics which sometimes emanate from men walking under the honorifics “ Honourable”

Again if the alleged payments really occasioned and was a mistake from the payment source, why was it not verified for the entire 4 to 8 years, but continued repeating payments for more than 48 months, because of cheap politics, the ochestrators Of these alleged double salarygate, the CID is not interested inviting them for questions as being done to polical opponents, what happened to persons at the centre of this double salary-gate, if the allegations were true.

Again the auditor general is responsible for auditing all state institutions and agencies which includes parliamentary payments as well as the budgetary allocations to the executives.

So the baffling question is, for the entire 4 to 8 years, the auditor general couldn’t identify this alleged breach or systemic administrative porosity in the payroll system, if once again the allegations were true.

Again all these years what has coordination the between the two institutions designed to pay persons under double designation, lawmaker and a minister, any?

I can state unequivocally or without any shred of doubt on my mind that this is not the first time such financial miscalculation is occurring in the system that is designed to pay people under double designation so why are we limiting the scope of this investigations to persons who served under erstwhile Mahama administration only, doesn’t it justify the notion of political witch-hunt or a desperate attempt to distract public focus from numerous scathing scandals that has characterized this Akuffo Addo led regime, a regime of gross and super cluelessness pared with filthy incompetence.

I have listened to various public commentary on the subject, Mr. Kwaku Baaku keeps referring to integrity crises of persons alleged to be engineers of this articificial scandal. The system is so simple that even if a minister who is also a member of Parliament becomes convinced that at the end of the day, what ever amount he/she collects will be accounted for, every penny of it, thus monies spent at the end of his tenure would be subtracted from from his ex-gratia and monies the emolument committee decides on, so why should he or she bother to double check monies legitimately paid into his accounts, afterall if any mistake occurred, the source would identify and rectify or surcharge, if payment exceeds financial entitlements.

What is the CID doing in this instance, I think the Akuffo Addo government is desperately trying to sway public focus off the bad deal he transacted with the US Department Of State under the guise of military corporation agreement which in reality sets forth Ghana as a launching pad in America’s future war endeavors or any aggression they weigh on another sovereign country. I love the United States Of American so much but in all sincerity this was a bad deal for Ghana.

Undeniably there are genuine administrative bottlenecks in various state institutions and l have already complained about the excesses of human interface in state affair, simple technology can solve some of these petty issues, in the face of massive poor managerial discretions being exercised by heads of institutions on daily basis.

Some elements in the ruling government who raised the flag of thievery have rather exposed themselves and how both the executives and the legislature do not respect the ordinary taxpayer, in the context that they have loyal supporters who would rise to their rescue even if they messed up, and on other hand, the judiciary is silently resting on a penalty pad collecting goats and sheep to set loose abominations into our streets.

Aside the complainants in this case, several elements across the political divide had in the past benefited from this system, so if they now fancy calling that theievey, then they are equally silent robbers armed with pens and papers, calling this thievery and double-salary only exposes daouble standesrd in our body politics, in the recent revelations, a counter story to the alleged double salary scandals, has brought to the fold, about 63 ministers of state including the good old speaker of Parliament, Prof.Macheal Quaye after collecting over 900 million old cedis for rent, they still live in government bungalows, and surprisingly the state, is still paying them rent allowance. So to the poor mother reeling under the the rays of the unmerciful scorching sun, paying taxes daily, what disrespect could be more than this?

The saying goes, he who comes into equity must come with clean hands, the double standard under this visionless bridgades far outweigh the pain of labour.

These structureal inefficiencies should not be hitting us this hard at a time when advances in technological innovations continue to provide solutions to all manner of administrative problems.

It’s about time Ghanaians, we, the people rose and tell these men, we are not gullible and in reference to article 1 clause of the 1992 constitution, “sovereignty resides in the people of Ghana, in whose name, and in whose welfare shall the powers of government be exercised in the manner laid in this constitution” meaning the power belongs to the man on the street, the woman at the market, the farmer tilling the land with pain and frustrations, and thus this power can be taken at any time, but the question is, where and when, that’s why power handlers in this currrent dispensation should be careful, because when state institutions and machineries are used as instruments of oppression and intimidation as the CID and EOCO are threading now, civil uprising may one day spurt beyond imaginations.

Sooner or later Ghanaians will have the veil of sick party loyalty without any proper course and relevance and begin to checkmete leaders who have turned the political landscape into a money making arena at the expense of people they’ve sworn an Oath to defend and protect at all time.

Do not take us for granted, the poor taxpayer matters same as the president and his bouty eaters.

Sheer display of intellectual masturbation must stop, the ugly discretions, sick appointments, trying to cover all friends, concubines, and blood relations on government payroll system, now over 998 people are working at the flagstaff alone, again everyone tall lanky guy you meet on the streets with a huge handset attached to his waist is a national security officer, in fact Ghana is sick and something needs to be done to make things right, the youth must rise and resist 40 plus years ceiling on age qualification for President, we have had enough of the old cabal.

Enough of the sick policy dictates, trivial and medieval institutional reforms and policy frameworks that are hastily reversing the pace of development and economic emancipation if the ordinary citizen.

Time will judge you, do not take us for granted.
The Bible is my witness.
Ivan Kyei Innocent / [email protected] .
Ivan Kyei Innocent ( Nana-Kyei )
Columnist / Politician.
University Of Ghana- Legon.
+233-247892010.
@ivanKyeiinnocent-twitter