Punishment Timelines for Double-Salary Thieves or Tamale Police-Soldier Clashes?

Among the Akan, we have a saying that runs as follows: “The very cane / cudgel with which Baah is beaten, is the same cane / cudgel that is used in beating Takyi.” Ever since it came to light that some National Democratic Congress’ Members of Parliament who also doubled as cabinet appointees deliberately and criminally took home double salaries, for barely performing single jobs, the Parliamentary Minority Leader, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, has reportedly been hopping from the home of one prominent or powerful ruling-party politician to another, as well as the homes of some influential traditional rulers, trying desperately to enable his thievish colleagues and himself escape the proverbial long-arm of the law.

Interestingly, in the wake of the Tamale violent clashes between some members of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and the Ghana Police Service (GPS), Mr. Iddrisu, who is also the NDC’s Member of Parliament for Tamale-South Constituency, has demanded timelines for meting out punishment to soldiers found to have afoul of the law (See “Tamale Clash: ‘Give Us Punishment Timelines’ - Haruna Iddrisu” Classfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 5/18/18). The Parliamentary Minority Leader says that the word of the police and military authorities, who have promised to conduct thorough investigations into last Wednesday’s bloody clashes in the Northern Regional Capital that reportedly left at least 8 of the parties involved seriously injured, is not enough.

Mr. Iddrisu would rather be availed of a documentary list detailing precise punitive timelines for the soldiers involved in the Tamale hostilities. Now, this dogged pursuit of double standards is an inexcusable insult to the intelligence of the Ghanaian voters and citizens who mandated our legislative assembly representatives to conduct and manage the affairs of the people. It clearly appears that Mr. Iddrisu and his fellow NDC parliamentarians believe themselves to be way over and above the laws of the land. Mr. Iddrisu has hypocritically pointed us to what the Ghanaian taxpayer ought to be doing by way of having condign and prompt and swift justice meted these roguish politicians, who would rather double-dip their hands into our national treasury and criminally pay themselves salaries they do not deserve, nor are entitled to, rather than have these stolen monies wisely, legitimately and profitably invested in the education of youths and future leaders, and in the health and welfare of the Ghanaian citizenry at large.

We therefore solemnly call on police investigators to speed up their indictment of those common thieves and robber-barons who are occupying undeserved seats in our august House and mischievously pretending to be duly conducting the business and other affairs of the people when, in fact, their sole and primary interest and objective of being seated in our National Assembly is to line their wallets and fill their bank accounts, and those of their cronies and relatives, with monies that ought to be invested in the general welfare and the socioeconomic uplift of the people.

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