Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo! Well, gentlemen, all I can say, reading some of the many interesting comments appearing in the comments web page (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=149496&comment=4006158#com) from across the spectrum, is that one must simply thank providence that the younger generation of Ghanaians aren't the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types one so often sees jam-packed in the comment web pages of http://www.ghanaweb.com/!
It is such a pity that sometimes one has to endure being in the same virtual space with individuals so prone to making those (taflatse) asinine comments one is forced (as a patriot and responsible journalist!), to read daily, at www.ghanaweb.com - simply in order to regularly gauge the political temperature: and feel the pulse of the politically active Ghanaians in the Diaspora.
Oh, mpaninfuo, adeni? Has it never occurred to you that perhaps both of you miss the point completely?
Has it never struck you, gentlemen, that the so-called "boom" that the post-2001 upward trend of GDP growth rates are often made out to be, is only the result of what those of us who had the imagination to fight publicly for debt relief from as far back as the 1990's, predicted would happen - once that albatross around mother Ghana's neck (which our pre-HIPC debt represented!), was removed?
Mpaninfuo, the truth of the matter is that none of the political parties you are so enamoured with, had the nous or the imagination, to think of debt relief as holding the key to Ghanaian prosperity - and that since that was vital to ensure the sustainable growth of our nation's economy (and that of the other highly-indebted nations in sub-Saharan Africa!), they had to fight hard for debt relief?
That same lack of imagination in not having the gumption to fight for debt relief in the past, has also meant that having being freed from the burden of servicing Ghana's pre-HIPC debt, the masters of the universe now in charge of our country, are taking us right back to square one again - and are busy piling up yet more debt, in the process. Incredible!
Rather than point out the fact that a regime benefiting hugely from debt relief has a moral obligation not to incur yet more debt for our nation: and that it is consequently outrageous and an obscenity that this regime has been going to the capital markets of the West to pile up yet more debt (and commercial ones at that too: for which they are obliged to offer high interest rates to attract sufficient investors!), the said press conference by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), was strangely silent on this particular aspect of the monstrosity of a democratically elected regime saddling the next generation of Ghanaians, with such enormous debt.
Why did those who called that press conference not make the point that this regime is the only one in our nation's history to benefit from debt relief - and should therefore have done a great deal better for the country as a whole: than the trillions of old cedis worth of shoddily-constructed infrastructural projects across our country, which they boast about so much?
Was it because yesteryears' masters of the universe (who once ruled our nation with a rod of iron, incidentally!), merely called a press conference to talk about the quantum of debt - as a tactic in that zero-sum game of “comparison”, that our political class are so fixated with?
Why did they not mention the fat fees from which foreign currency “kickbacks” are accruing to the crooks amongst our current rulers from their intensive-fishing - in the piranha-infested waters of the capital markets of the West?
What is now happening in our country, the pure nonsense on bamboo stilts that piling up yet more debt: and mortgaging our future oil and gas revenues represents, is a crime against humanity, no less, independent-minded Ghanaians will have you know, mpaninfuo - if you have not yet cottoned on to that sad and irritating fact yet.
It is unconscionable that it is being committed by the current crop of economic geniuses who now rule our country.
The outrage in all this, mpaninfuo, is that it is the self-interest of the ruthless titans in the financial services sector of our economy, that is driving the insatiable hunger of some of our more crooked rulers, for hard currency loans and the issuance of sundry bonds in the capital markets of the West.
The unfathomable greed of our powerful oligarchs and the abiding desire to lay their grubby hands on yet more of the lucrative fees they charge, and are paid, for "helping" Ghana to source those loans in the capital markets of West, is what drives all the madness that has finally brought our nation to its knees, in an election year.
Perhaps our leaders are being made to pay for their hubris by providence? Anyway, those regime-crony capitalists, our super high net worth oligarchs, unlike our local contractors, pay their 10 per cent kickbacks to the rogues amongst those who now rule our country, in foreign currency.
For that reason, they have forged an unholy alliance with a cabal of ruthless tribal supremacists who now dominate the ruling party, so completely.
Those tribal supremacists are our local version of the odious white supremacists of the Western world - who look down on people of colour and think, incredibly, that we are less than human and incredibly stupid: the white (taflatse) imbeciles that they are!
Incidentally, it is those self-same clever oligarchs, who have taught the crooks amongst those who now rule us, to set up offshore shell companies, structured like traditional Russian dolls: to hide their ownership.
That task is often accomplished by the simple ruse of using paid nominees - Western professionals who earn "big-money" acting as legal fronts for African despots and kleptocrats.
This is what enables the crooks amongst our ruling elites to successfully hide their ownership of such offshore vehicles: through which stolen Ghanaian taxpayers' money is funneled!
As for Mr. Fifi Kwettey's assertions that the "NPP economic expert", Mr Kwame Pianim, recently mentioned the need for an injection of about US$ 130 millions to stabilize the economy, with respect, Mr. Pianim was simply putting a spin on the painful reality we now face.
He is fully aware that our country has finally, in an election year, been brought to its knees. One reason looming large on the horizon and responsible in no small measure for the sorry pass we have come to, is the pressing need, to find the money to make those regular payments we are obliged to make to the clever overseas investors: who piled into the US$750 millions sovereign bonds - as well as the GT corporate bonds issued on its behalf by Iroko in London.
Incidentally, the men in gray suits from the World Bank and the IMF euphemistically call the plight our country currently faces, “debt distress"!
It is the desire of our current leaders not to experience any loss of face: and prevent any revelations about the true depths to which we have now sunk, that was largely behind the fire-sale of Ghana Telecom (GT).
It was simply to raise enough money to, amongst other pressing needs, ensure that Ghana did not default on the interest payments due to those overseas investors who bought both Ghana's sovereign bonds and the GT corporate bonds abroad: to provide themselves with an investment product yielding a regular income-stream.
The panic and fear that gripped many of those who now lead our nation and forced their hand in selling GT despite widespread disapproval of the sale amongst discerning Ghanaians, was a direct result of their realization that the world would finally become aware of their incompetence: and remember that once upon a time they told Ghanaians that their regime was going to source funds for Ghana’s development from foreign crooks in London, ‘posing’ as the “IFC”.
Amazingly (not having learnt any lessons, obviously!), our leaders then went on to dream up yet a second wheeze in similar vein, not too long after that - this time round a loan: from a Chinese hairdressing salon in the seedier back-streets of London!
Let me use the GT corporate bonds issued in London by Iroko on the company’s behalf, to illustrate, in a nutshell, all I have said above - to show you, gentlemen, just how our nation is now being ripped off today by ruthless and greedy politicians and their cronies in the financial services industry: who have now discovered a far better method of ripping Ghana off, than that which the denizens of Chinese hairdressing salons in London could have ever offered them.
The current president, whose more cynical critics call Ghana’s “hypocrite-in-chief” asked his critics, during a speech in public recently at a TUC congress meeting, not to be hypocritical, the obvious inference, according to his critics, being that some people in the previous regime, had been bribed by Scancem to sell Ghana’s state-owned cement factory at Tema for a song.
If you recall gentlemen, evidence was produced in a law court in Oslo not too long ago, that the Norwegian cement giant Scancem, had a secret slush-fund from which it bought off African politicians to induce them to sell off grossly-undervalued state-owned cement factories across Africa, for values far less than their actual net worth.
Well, what he forgot was that even those crooks in the past regime who took money from Scancem, did not have the gall to pass a law to provide them and their foreign carpetbagger friends, with legal indemnities to protect them from being prosecuted for causing financial loss to the Ghanaian nation-state.
What the crooks in this regime forget, is that such a law is patently illegal: as our constitution enjoins all Ghanaian citizens to prevent corruption - not provide cast-iron legal loopholes for corrupt officials and their collaborators? I boldly predict that all those who helped foreigners acquire GT for a song, will end up suffering the same fate as Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata!
But I digress. To begin with, let me give you a brief background of Iroko. It is registered as an offshore company in the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. Your guess is as good as mine why it is registered as an offshore company.
It was sold off by its former Botswanan parent, who spun if off because it was hemorrhaging badly.Those who bought it, had the emerging markets of Africa in mind, when they sought a license to operate in the London capital markets - for, they know the mentality of their target market very well: The cachet of London would draw Africans (on the make and on the take!) like flies to Iroko - and it worked a treat with GT.
The question that decent and independent Ghanaians ought to ask our current leaders is: was there any insider dealing in the GT corporate bond issue? Precisely who brought Iroko to Ghana? Does Iroko have any Ghanaian partners or directors?
Just what plan did the GT management and board have to meet the interest payments (which, by the way, was regular income for the overseas investors who bought them - for precisely that very reason) on those GT corporate bonds, without jeopardizing the financial stability of the company?
Precisely what plan did Ghana's minister of finance also have in place to pay those overseas investors who were prescient enough to buy some of those US$750 millions worth of Ghana's sovereign bonds - at a time when it was not clear that soon such income would be pretty hard to come by for investors in the capital markets of the West?
Mpaninfuo, you will be shocked by the unethical way that many players in large swathes of Ghana's capital markets and its economy's financial services sector as a whole, operate. Nowhere in the world, is there such an incestuous relationship between the regulators and players in the industry. The boards of private sector banks in Ghana are positively crawling with ex-central bank governors!
The insider dealing, which according to the “bush telegraph” occurred during the takeover of GT by Vodafone, is said to have resulted in some GT board members profiting from that particular deal - and if truth be told, that is only the tip of the iceberg: in the Byzantine and incredibly opaque world of Ghana’s financial services industry.
In more “civilized” jurisdictions, all those who did not step aside in the deal to sell a 70 per cent stake in GT, when they knew there was clear conflict of interest in their continued presence on the GT board whiles entities with which they were closely associated, were beneficiaries of Vodafone’s munificence (as providers of professional services to Vodafone!), would have been hauled before the courts by now by prosecutors, tried and jailed for long prison terms.
For good measure, they would also be banned for life, from working in the financial service sectors of all those nations - which care about the protection of investors in their capital markets and about the need for transparency in their financial services sectors.
Here, such high net worth white-collar criminals, sit in the front pews of charismatic churches founded by narcissistic adventurers, with a nice line in fleecing their flock out of billions annually to fund their lavish lifestyles - and are hailed as heroes: and some are even made candidates by political parties for the highest offices in the land. Incredible!
Just stop for a moment and think, gentlemen - we should not really be tolerating our political parties playing the “comparison” game between the previous regime and its successor in office, at all, should we?
Developing Ghana is precisely what governments are elected to do. It is their view of the nature of society that we should rather be concerned with: now that for the first time in our nation’s history, it is feasible that our rulers will have the wherewithal from within our country, to enable the visionary ones amongst them, successfully transform Ghanaian society.
We must mull over questions such as whether or not this will continue to be a nation in which greed for money is paramount - to the extend that truth has nearly become an extinct virtue in our society.
Or will we strive to become Africa's equivalent of the egalitarian social and economic models of Scandinavia: and end up as a nation in which disparities in wealth are not of such a yawning gap: that it literally threatens the stability of the Ghanaian polity.
Let us mull over and have sane conversations in which instead of blind support for political parties, we seek answers to questions such as whether as a people, we want our country to be one in which our towns and cities are forever drowning in filth: because those highly-educated professionals paid by society to make sure we have an efficient waste disposal system, are busy feathering their own nests - because having wealth, not pride in their profession and the quality and value for society, of the output of work they do, is what motivates them?
Do we want ours to be a nation in which society does not have any real differences in the quality of life between the very wealthy and the not-so-well off - because as a people we value political parties and politicians who fight for an improvement in the common weal?
As a people do we prefer honest leaders who care about creating a fair nation in which we have a caring and sharing society, or do we want our country to be run by leaders who hide their greed and selfishness behind innocuous-sounding phrases such as: "private-sector led growth" and "a property-owning democracy" when in reality they only seek power to enable them cleverly siphon our nation's wealth and hide them using offshore companies as legal fronts to shield their perfidy, from unwelcome gaze?
Should we as a people tolerate super-rich and idle individuals pretending to be in politics in order to work hard for society, but who in reality are nothing more than clever thieves, ace spongers living off the fat of the land, prospering from the blood, sweat and tears of ordinary people?
Let us focus on the issues that answer questions such as whether or not this will become a nation in which our leaders are smart enough to realize that a poor nation cannot afford not to have completely free education for all its brightest citizens, right up to tertiary level – and opt to provide resources towards that end: instead of the obscenity of the leaders of a poor nation building presidential palaces and purchasing two luxury presidential jets at the same time?
Mpaninfuo, that is the kind of conversation decent and honest Ghanaians ought to be having, should we not?
That - and questions such as the need to take a leaf from the book of Venezuela: and nationalize our oil and natural gas industries.Naturally, we must pay the Western oil companies fair compensation (by issuing them Ghana’s sovereign bonds, not cash!) and set up joint-ventures (GNPC will have a 70 per cent stake, of course!) between the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the best-resourced of the Chinese state-owned oil and natural gas companies.
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
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