IS THE MEDIA FAILING GHANA?

As the ruthless and mostly corrupt oligarchs, who now maintain such an iron grip on the party currently ruling our homeland Ghana, continue to be accused by some of their more uncharitable critics, of blatantly using the resources of the country’s secret services, to buy off sizable sections of the Ghanaian media, the need for the masses to continue encouraging the ever-dwindling numbers of journalists, who are dedicated to protecting the national interest (as opposed to being ensconced in snug corners of the ever so deep pockets of some of our greedy oligarchs), has never been greater.

One of the most effective means for the honest but financially-challenged journalist, to continue remaining dedicated to the agenda of protecting the interests of mother Ghana (as well as the masses); and fighting against the baleful influence of our oligarchs on our national life, is to link up with anti-corruption organisations outside Ghana. They can strengthen their hands considerably, by building alliances with organisations such as Global Witness, which are willing and able, to investigate (whenever the need arises) the murky financial affairs of those responsible for the miasma of greed, which now so densely envelopes Nkrumah’s Ghana.

The Scancem scandal, is a classic example of the inability of the media to investigate cases of grand corruption in Ghana. The revelations about Scancem's slush fund, exposes so cruelly, the impotence of the largely under-resourced private media, when it comes to investigating high profile corruption in Ghana. It is embarrassing that up till now, incredibly, the Ghanaian media has been spectacularly unsuccessful, in unearthing any significant details, about payments, over the years, of large sums of money, by the Norwegian cement manufacturer, Scancem, to a host of key public officials. Those payments, were clearly to ensure that the officials concerned, would close their eyes to what its critics say, has been Scancem's shameful rip-off, of the Ghanaian nation-state.

The question, dear reader, is, why has the Ghanaian media never cottoned on to what a number of Scancem's critics say is a practise that effectively amounts to grand larceny, all these years? Perhaps if some of the well-paid mercenaries in the media, who have more or less sold their conscience, stood for the truth, instead of sitting down to scheme with our ruthless oligarchs, to hide the truth about what is going on in our homeland Ghana today, companies like Scancem, would think twice about blatantly engaging in what is actually a crime: bribing public officials.

There are many observers, dear reader, who say that the incestuous deals, in which Scancem apparently purchases clinker from its own subsidiary companies, instead of developing the substantial deposits of suitable raw materials found in parts of our country, as a substitute for imported clinker, is a clever scheme, solely designed to enable the company to continue syphoning vast sums from Ghana ’s foreign currency reserves. Scancem's critics also claim that the subsidiaries from which the clinker is purchased from, persistently over-invoice its Tema operation and that it has got away with that sharp practice over the years, because those who were supposed to protect Ghana from this predatory Norwegian company, had all been bought off - effectively enabling the company to legally bleed Ghana dry.


Those payments, were clearly to ensure that the officials concerned, would close their eyes to what its critics say, has been Scancem's shameful rip-off, of the Ghanaian nation-state.
There are many observers, dear reader, who say that the incestuous deals, in which Scancem apparently purchases clinker from its own subsidiary companies, instead of developing the substantial deposits of suitable raw materials found in parts of our country, as a substitute for imported clinker, is a clever scheme, solely designed to enable the company to continue syphoning vast sums from Ghana ’s foreign currency reserves.

Ghanaians cannot understand why, for example, none of the parties in opposition have come out to condemn Scancem - and served notice, that when they come to power, they will re-nationalise all state enterprises that were acquired fraudulently, no matter how many years ago the event took place.

And the irony in all this, dear reader, is that if the media had looked in the direction of the very organisation that now spoonfeeds the mercenaries amongst them so copiously, when the story first broke, and nudged it to approach its counterpart, the Norwegian secret service, for the list of names of the public officials from Ghana, who were paid from the Scancem slush fund, no journalist would have had to travel all the way to Oslo, to suffer the indignities, which Africans in the West have to put up with, on a daily basis, as a result of the rascist nature of Western societies.



It is such a pity that influencial and important journalists from Nkrumah's Ghana, were treated so shabbily in their quest for the truth. And it is also a pity that they themselves too, never thought of asking Ghana's secret services (a collective that seldom thinks outside the box, itself!) to contact their colleagues in the CIA and MI6, as the two organisations would have obtained the information from the Norwegian secret services in no time at all - and we would all have been saved the agony of having to watch the embarrassing farce called "Oslo Quest". And two of our most seasoned journalists would have spared themselves the trouble of travelling all the way to far-away Oslo, just to cool their heels, and ending up literally throwing good money away and watch it disappearing into the ether, in the process.

The importance of the Scancem scandal, is that it has created an awareness amongst ordinary people, that our rulers are busy disposing of our nation's assets (built with the blood, sweat and tears of ordinary Ghanaians), not for the spurious reasons they advance to justify the unjustifiable, but only because they profit mightily from handing over Ghana's assets to crooked foreigners in league with our greedy and ruthless oligarchs - and this shameful practise, which did not start today, has now come full circle: it was the political progeny of that paid agent of the CIA, Dr. J.B. Danquah, the regime of Dr. K.A.Busia, which began the process, after the overthrow of Nkrumah. The present crowd of stooges for neo-colonialsm are only taking up, from where yesterday's crop of stooges for neo-colonialism, left off, in 1972.

It is the "kick-backs" (a particularly high yielding "Anansekrom" financial instrument - if a certain verbose ex-NPP chairperson is to be believed!) derived from selling Ghana's assets to sundry rogues, which was the motivating factor, in the refusal of the the regime currently in power, to consider inviting that ethical and principled British tycoon, Sir Richard Branson, to take over Ghana Airways, when many of us suggested it - as a better alternative, to the opaque transaction, in which offshore entities, some structured like a Russian doll, and non of which was an existing established scheduled airline, were working feverishly, to be allowed to replace the defunct Ghana Airways, as the national flag carrier (an incredible situation that only an "Anansekrom nation's" government, would ever confront - and today we are all seeing the result: after the crooks behind it have all obtained their kickbacks!).

The highly principled Branson, dear reader, is famous for not paying or recieving bribes, in all the countries he invests in. And the result is that today, the Nigerians have a well-run and profitable national carrier, Virgin Nigeria, whiles Ghanaians are saddled with a national flag carrier, Ghana International Airines, that is worse than even its notorious predecessor - and does not even have a single aircraft of its own! No matter how long today's ruling party stays in power for, all those of its members, who have taken part in the gang rape of mother Ghana, will pay for it one fine day, for sure. For, the Ghana of today, is not the kind of nation any sly politician can take advantage of, and get away with, permanently.
Hmm, Ghana. Asem ebeba debi. May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana! Kofi Thompson can be reached by email at: peakofithompson@yahoo.co.uk and by SMS text message on: 027 745 3109.