One certainly hopes that all those in the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) whose task it will be to decide which of the two candidates their party ought to back in the run-off for the presidential election on the 28th December 2008, will take the national interest into account - and consequently opt for the National Democratic Congress’ candidate, Professor Mills.
Clearly, Ghanaians want a change of government. For, when Ghanaians voted for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in December 2000, they were full of hope that the party would set new standards of morality in our public life. Sadly, they did not deliver. Today, we have all seen the kind of “dog-eat-dog” society that has evolved in our country over the period the NPP has been in power.
The NPP has been very successful at scrapping the bottom of the pork barrel - and in the process they have created the perfect enabling-environment for the politically well-connected to prosper mightily these last eight years. Men and women, not previously known for their acumen in accumulating wealth, have successfully sent their personal net worth into the stratosphere at a dizzying pace, as they progress from deal to deal.
The nation’s collective jaw dropped not too long ago, for example, when Ghanaians were told of the latest caper pulled by some of the most powerful amongst the country’s influence-peddling and politically well-connected, upwardly-mobile deal-makers (classic examples of the financial equivalent of eager neophytes!): getting parliament to approve a sale and purchase agreement of VALCO by a non-existent consortium said to consist of Norske Hydro and a Brazilian conglomerate.
Sadly, greed has so infected our rulers that some of them can even succeed in getting Ghana’s parliament to approve a sale and purchase agreement for a consortium (grandly christened International Aluminum Partners to give it gravitas: so as to impress the gullible who fill the debating chamber of our supine legislature, to approve the sale of VALCO!) that existed only in the rather vivid imagination of the influence peddlers assigned the task of fronting for the powerful and ruthless crooks who dominate the NPP so completely, and whose offshore special purpose vehicles usually benefit from such privatization deals (according to the bush telegraph - not poor old me!).
Yet another example of the perfidy of some of our rulers these last eight years is the amazing story of Jake Obestebi-Lamptey.
That rather important personage (whom I have a soft spot for, although I loathe his party and all it stands for!) actually led the media to the official residences of ministers of the NDC regime in the early part of 2001, as part of his effort to get them to quit those houses - so that they could be renovated for him and his colleagues!
Incredibly, today, Mr. Obestebi-Lamptey has now ended up trying to acquire the house allocated to him when he was a minister - and on which a great deal of taxpayers’ money was expended: because he demanded that further changes be made to suit his taste, after the initial renovation work on the building was completed. The denouement of the amazing story of the official residences of government ministers, which started with that 2001 media-circus, neatly sums up the ethos that has underpinned this most self-seeking of regimes. Who wants such a political party to govern our country, yet again?
The CPP has no choice but to back the NDC - so that the nation can discover the full extent of the (mostly-secretive!) egregious asset-stripping of the enterprise Ghana that has gone on since the NPP came to power. It is crucial that the good people of Ghana get to know which of the members of this regime have benefitted from that outrageous and short-sighted policy of selling national assets - assets built with the blood, sweat and the tears of Ghanaian workers: just to fund those globetrotting-profligates’ life-of-Riley lifestyles at mother Ghana’s expense!
The question we all ought to ponder, is: when the NPP government finishes selling all of Ghana’s assets to the foreign collaborators with whom some of them are busy gang-raping mother Ghana, what else will they try and sell? Will they try to sell the entire landmass of our country, too, just as they have apparently sold off large tracts of valuable land belonging to the Ghana Armed Forces - or try and sell the ordinary people of Ghana into slavery, too? Such a political party definitely does not deserve to rule our country for another four-year term. Period.
The CPP must get off its fence of convenience immediately - and call on its supporters to vote for Professor Atta Mills: who without doubt is one of the most honest politicians Ghana has ever had in its entire history.
How many of the presidential candidates, apart from Dr Mahama and Professor Mills, showed any willingness to publicly declare the assets of himself as well as that of his spouse before coming to power - and to get all his ministers to do same too? Ditto after leaving office? That is exactly the kind of leader Ghana desperately needs now - after the unfathomable greed we have seen over the eight years that the NPP has been in power.
The NPP’s idea of developing Ghana is no different from that of a shortsighted entrepreneur who aims to grow his company through leveraged buy-outs - at a time the world is experiencing a credit crunch of global proportions. We do not need a regime that boasts of increasing Ghana’s GDP, when in reality all it has done is to simply pile up debt for future generations of our countrymen to pay off.
What sense is there in borrowing money just to build presidential palaces and purchase two luxury presidential jets at the same time - rather than building hundreds of thousands of good quality houses for ordinary people to occupy at affordable rental rates?
The dignity of the people of Ghana is not reflected in luxury presidential palaces - it is reflected in the good quality of life enjoyed by the ordinary people of this country. Period. We will never become Africa’s equivalent of the equalitarian societies of Scandinavia with leaders who have that kind of an elitist mindset. Professor Mills is the perfect president for our country at this juncture of our history. Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - enti yeawiaye paa, enia? Asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana.
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