PARLIAMENT IS NOT A STATE WITHIN A STATE – IT IS A MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY!

Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah, Ghana's National Security Advisor, is reported to have recently said that the general rule, which ensures that officials leaving public office leave behind all state property in their possession, should apply to Parliament - since "Parliament is not a state within a state."

My take on that: Yes, Parliament is not a state within a state - it is (at any rate, the 4th Parliament, definitely was!) a mutual admiration society: most of whose over-pampered members’ sole preoccupation is uniting to grab as many perks of office as they can possibly get away with. Its leadership (from across the spectrum!) constantly works closely together to rip mother Ghana off.

About the only thing most of our parliamentarians are good at is feathering their own collective nest – which is what occupies many of them most of the time: instead of diligently playing the oversight role our constitution earmarked for them, to closely check the executive branch of government, on our behalf. That is why they sanctioned the fraudulent sale and purchase agreement for VALCO, without batting an eyelid – to a non-existent consortium grandly named “International Aluminum Partners” by the crooks who dreamt it up.

If they were patriotic and not self-serving oligarchs in our kleptocracy (masquerading as a democracy!), they would never have agreed to give President Kufuor a cool one million US dollars to play at running a foundation with - to enable that globetrotter par excellence cope with the withdrawal pangs of leaving the office he hardly ever occupied in his 8-year tenure. What perfidy. Hmmm, Ghana – ensem ewohapaa oo!