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Why are some Government Appointees Undermining the President? – Sack Them!

Feature Article Why are some Government Appointees Undermining the President? – Sack Them!
OCT 29, 2018 LISTEN

His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, needs to be rekindled to live up to the expectations of him by Ghanaians who voted him to power. In spite of all his numerous promises to the Ghanaian electorates, I can say on authority that the one that most persuaded many a discerning Ghanaian to vote for him was his promise to fight to uproot corruption from the Ghanaian society.

By taking his first step in the right direction with the appointment of the Special Prosecutor, many a Ghanaian including Rockson Adofo thought the day of reckoning had dawned on the perpetrators of official corruption. However, our joy seems to be short-lived. Until today, we are still waiting to see if the appointment of the Special Prosecutor was not only to mask NPP’s own version of corrupting themselves.

Honourable Martin Amidu, the Special Prosecutor, a man of proven integrity and credibility, means business yet, his boss, the Attorney General, Ms Gloria Akuffo, is dilly dallying in what is apparently an attempt to stop him from doing his job. When will the Special Prosecutor indeed start doing his job of successfully prosecuting some obvious embezzlers of State funds and assets to help dissuade other would-be offenders from engaging themselves in nation-wrecking corrupt practices?

I am fuming to read about an alleged corrupt practices by one Mr Kwame Owusu, Director General of Ghana Maritime Authority. If all the allegations of malfeasance against him are true, then I shall strongly recommend to the President to FIRE HIM without hesitation. He is not only to be sacked but prosecuted and the money he has so dubiously stolen from the State retrieved. Should he be found guilty, and in default of paying back any stolen money, his assets must be impounded by the State to serve as deterrence to all public office holders in Ghana.

Failing to punish corrupt officials will go to conclude that the hyped electioneering sloganized promise to fight official corruption by the President was just a mere campaign rhetoric.

Without specifying his alleged committed acts of abuse of power and embezzlement of State funds, my publication will be as valueless to the public reader as my time spent on writing it amounting to zilch! He is alleged to have;

  1. Renovated his two bedroom official residence at a cost of GHS780,957.20. He has also constructed a boy’s quarters at the cost of GHC263,781.95.
  1. Bought eleven air condition units for his two bedroom official residence (amount spent not disclosed)
  2. He organised an end of year party at a cost of GHS125,000.00 where his personal hotel was contracted to supply food and drinks (clear case of procurement breaches and conflict of interest)
  3. Within two years in office, he has built a new hotel in his hometown, built a new private residence at Aburi and built many shops at East Legon near American House
  4. He has also acquired two plots of land in East Legon at a cost of US$2 million

The allegations against him are exactly as I received on my WhatsApp page. If he has been in power for two years, then which President appointed him to that post? The question of who appointed him to that post may at this juncture be irrelevant to ask. What matters here is, has he committed any, or all of the allegations levelled against him? If he has, then his head must roll, period!

Why are our political and civil service heads in whose hands we entrust our collective welfare, safety and security so corrupt? Why are their mentality so dark as their skin colour?

By the way is he still at post since the revelation of his alleged committed crimes against the State? The money involved is too high for the jobs done. Simply put, he is a thief and has robbed the nation in a broad daylight if the allegations are true.

Again, how far has the government gone to finding the recorded voice that lambasted our Ghanaian compatriots of northern origin? I mean the one allegedly attributed to the Ashanti Regional Minister (Hon) Simon Osei Mensah? The NPP government must not sleep on it at all. If it turns out that Simon did it, he must immediately be relieved of his post and punished for unnecessarily provoking tribal tension in Ghana, a peaceful multi-tribal small country.

It is very easy to tell if he is the one whose voice was captured on the audio that has gone viral on WhatsApp and other social media. He has already had his voices recorded on tapes during some public functions. We can get an Audio Forensic Expert to verify if indeed it is him on the audio or someone else. Failing to prove that it was him or not, will be a huge politically incorrect attitude to take. It will be politically suicidal to simply brush it under the carpet. If it is proven to be the voice of Simon Osei Mensah, let his head roll for after all, he will not go and eat stones as ironically said by him to some NPP activists he recently offended in Kumasi.

If the voice is not his but a saboteur trying to undermine him and NPP, for their political gains, or simply the acquisition of their malicious agenda, then so be it. Can we find the culprit in case it was not Simon? All that is needed is to prove whether it is Simon or not. Some people of northern extraction have taken to the social media lambasting not only Simon but also, the entire NPP and its leadership all to court northerners’ anger against NPP.

As Ghana politics is cheap and anything is politicised, the NPP should do whatever it takes to ensure that whoever did it is found and punished. It will suffice if Simon is proven innocent of the said audio to exonerate NPP from blame. Most people in Ghana can speak Twi. Therefore, the fact that the voice on the audio is in Twi does not necessary mean the person is an Akan or an Ashanti.

Could it not be that a member of the opposition parties, e.g. NDC, did that as a campaign tactic to court the northerners’ votes? Indeed, Ghana politics sucks! Anyway, let me retire to bed.

Rockson Adofo

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