Opanin, I could not help smiling when I read your article. Have you not noticed the political sophistication of the ordinary Ghanaian yet? Although they are a peaceful people, Ghanaians have simply vowed never to tolerate tyranny and tyrants any longer.
Why do you think the NPP was voted out of office? It was because the independent-minded and patriotic Ghanaians (the so-called floating-voter types!), as opposed to the “My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong” myrmidon-types, who wear blinkers permanently and are too thick to think for themselves and too blind to see what is wrong with our society, had become fed up with the impunity of a ruling party that was constantly trumpeting its belief in the rule of law but in practice showed clearly that it did not believe in the concept.
Massa, there is no way any individual in the Ghana of today, can act in ways that are contrary to our constitution - and get away with it for any length of time, without being turfed out of power by ordinary people in an election. So please stop worrying yourself that former president Rawlings will usurp power under a Mills presidency – for, his party will not last beyond one term in office were that to happen.
May I also humbly point it out to you that you must never forget that the position of president of Ghana is a pretty powerful one, under our constitution - and that consequently there is no question of Professor Mills playing second fiddle to anyone in this country during his tenure? Just you mark my words – you will soon see him rapidly eclipsing all the members of his party (including even the charismatic former president you worry your head so unnecessarily about!) because of the enormous power he wields.
In any case, those of us in the media who turned against the NPP regime when we realised that it had been hijacked by a few powerful and greedy tribal-supremacist rogues, will be as critical of the new NDC regime as we were of the NPP too, if they give us cause to do so. Our consciences are not for sale at any price – no matter how financially challenged we might temporarily be at any given point in time!
Just as some of us refused to sell our consciences and join the NPP media gravy-train, so will we continue to maintain our independence too throughout the Mills presidency – and criticise the NDC whenever there is the need to do so in the national interest: and to ensure that it stays on the straight and narrow path always.
Perhaps it might interest you to note that some of us, have, for example, already asked some of the leading members of the NDC to ask Professor Mills to publicly declare the net worth of both himself and his dear wife. Ditto the vice president-elect and his spouse too. We also expect the NDC to quickly pass a new law that will require all ministers and DCE to do same too - so that their regime will set new standards of morality in our public life.
Sadly, President Kufuor and his party failed to seize a historic opportunity to set new standards of morality in our public life, when providence gave them the chance. It is instructive that President Kufuor failed to keep a solemn promise he made to Ghanaians that he would publicly publish his assets – at around the time of his swearing-in ceremony in January 2001.
Coming events, it is said, cast their shadows. If the NDC fails to take this straight and narrow path towards ensuring that we get an honest new administration (after that largely dissimulating and mostly-corrupt NPP administration), Ghanaians, can, as sure as day follows night, expect to see their nation ending up being robbed on an unimaginable scale yet again – by another bunch of forked-tongued and amoral politicians. Let us hope that it will not come to that.
Massa, Ghanaian democracy as we know it, will simply not survive were that to happen. Hopefully, the in-coming NDC regime will send out the right signal to our nation, about its determination to deal effectively with corruption in high places, by moving quickly to get the new parliament to pass a law that requires all ministers and district chief executives (DCE), as well as their spouses, to publicly publish their net worth – before and after their tenure of office.
What Ghana needs after the disastrous and elitist NPP regime’s misrule, is a new regime that has the same sort of high standards of accountability in public life amongst those who devote their lives to public service, as the men and women, who serve in the corruption-free governments of our sister African nation, Botswana.
If we want our nation to effectively utilize its oil and natural gas revenues to enable us create a meritocracy and also turn our nation into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia, those of us who are independent-minded patriots must simply try and persuade our new leaders to demonstrate their intention to run a corruption-free government, by publicly publishing their net worth.
We call on Professor Mills to set an example in this regard immediately upon assuming office. Ditto all the men and women he appoints to serve in his administration. We hope the NDC does not disappoint us in this matter – and that they will aspire to go down in history as a group of honest and patriotic politicians: who set an example for all the future administrations that followed their regime to follow. A word to the wise…
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
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