DID EX-PRESIDENT KUFUOR TELL POISONOUS LIES TO THE WORLD?

A friend who listened to some of the comments by investigators in recent news reports about the culmination of a ten-year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) into corruption in the American state of New Jersey, said that whiles listening to those comments, for one brief moment, he saw in his mind’s eye, the final unmasking, of what he described as one of the most amoral and corrupt of regimes, ever elected into power in our country. To quote him: “In a flash, I saw the final exposure of the countless sins of that government-of-many-rogues – which is precisely what the 8-year tenure (underpinned by unfathomable greed) of our ex-Hypocrite-in-Chief, that sly gentleman, former President J.A. Kufuor, represented.” In my friend’s view, much like the crooked goings-on in New Jersey’s apparently corruption-riddled political circles, behind the carefully crafted image of democratic respectability, which was sold so successfully to the world by Kufuor and Co.’s propagandist praise-singing cronies in the Ghanaian media (and paid agents from elsewhere), was a regime that grabbed every opportunity to exploit our national economy for the personal benefit of its members: which is why they ended up selling scores of government-owned properties to themselves and those in their inner circles, with such abandon.

To my friend, the Kufuor regime was in fact nothing more than “a nest of vipers that paid its praise-singing cronies in the Ghanaian media (and mercenary agents elsewhere), to hide the reality behind the façade of good governance: a regime afflicted by moral decadence, and jam-packed with grown-up liars extraordinaire; delectable-bimbo-loving philanderers supreme; and ruthless tribal-supremacists of the most rabid kind”: who abused their power to such an extent that they ended up destroying the cohesion of our country, in furtherance of the daft, treasonable, and overweening ambitions of their “tunnel-visioned” tribal Chief – “who apparently thinks his mission on this earth is to restore the sovereign power of his pre-colonial feudal predecessors, by any means necessary.” Strong words some might say – but brave of him to say so, nonetheless, in a nation full of fence-sitting moral cowards, and in which none dare mention the unpleasant truth when it concerns the powerful in society, for fear of its repercussions. Personally, I miss the wisdom and humility of the gentleman whom many, who know about such things, consider to be greatest of the modern-day Asantehenes: Otumfuo Opoku-Ware 11 (may his soul rest in peace) – who understood that, paradoxically, a modern-day Asantehene, by definition must be humble, always keep a low profile, and shun publicity, in a nation of diverse ethnicity: because of the weight of history behind the Golden Stool. But I digress. It is significant (because it says a great deal about the negativity of their vindictive and vicious natures) that ex-President Kufuor & Co. chose to begin a propaganda offensive shortly before the visit to Ghana by US President Barrack Obama.

Clearly, he and the fraudsters in his regime (well, what else can one call those who, incredibly, railroaded the VALCO sale and purchase agreement through Parliament, and sanctioned same, to a non-existent international consortium – said to be made up of two international metal conglomerates, Norske Hydro and VALE: which both denied ever agreeing to purchase VALCO, dear reader?) think that their hour has now come. It is obvious that despite widespread public disapproval, they are determined to get their pound of flesh: and obtain those overly-generous retirement packages, at the expense of the hard-pressed Ghanaian taxpayers (whom ex-President Kufuor amazingly once labeled “lazy” – forgetting that they were at the bottom of the heap in society, only because they did not have the same kind of opportunities, which his Kokofu-football brand of crony-capitalism opened up for the members of his family clan, and his cronies, during his confounded “era-of-the-blessed-golden-thieves that he thinks was the Ghanaian Renaissance” to quote my friend). His critics say that that is the sole reason why our former president pulled strings so furiously in his network of contacts built up during his tenure, in order to be made a “UN Hunger Ambassador.” They also go on to say that it is characteristic of one of the most insincere of men on the surface of the planet Earth, that he is ruthlessly exploiting a convention used by the UN system to raise awareness of various issues globally, by making prominent people (most often international celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment) “UN Ambassadors” – and that in the hands of an insincere man, today, it has become a useful building-block in the not-so-subtle behind the scenes campaign he has embarked on, to ensure above all, that somehow he realizes his dream of obtaining the million-dollar “seed-money” to set up a foundation: which was the centerpiece of the overly-generous retirement package he got the Chinnery-Hesse committee to recommend he be given.

His critics accuse him of hiding behind his lackey, his so-called spokesperson, Frank Adjekum, to direct the fight to enable him to win the battle of empowerment – and obtain his full ex-gratia retirement package, come hell or high water. It is all so sad and needless – especially as President Mills is such a God-fearing and fair individual who will not countenance any of them being persecuted in any way. Can they not see that he is an honest gentleman (probably the most honest of the post-Nkrumah rulers we have had, thus far) whom they must cooperate with, so as to isolate the hawks in his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party – who wish for the trials of all those in the Kufuor regime who took part in the gang-rape of Mother Ghana to be speeded up: so that he might be predisposed to pardoning those of them who will end up in jail for willfully causing financial loss to Ghana, midway through their jail terms? In response to his latest criticisms of the present regime, former President Kufuor’s harshest critics say that they are not in the least bit surprised, that a selfish and nepotistic leader, who did not care one jot about the unlucky and the hard-up in society whiles in power, now talks endlessly about feeding school children on BBC programmes: because it suits his purpose. Those same critics also say that they hope that now that the scales have been finally removed from the eyes of the “born-again” Christians in the present regime (as a result of ex-President Kufuor’s vituperative “Focus on Africa” interview-of-many-lies broadcast on July 22, 2009 by the African Service of the BBC World Service), the government of President Mills will finally see him for what he really is: an ace hypocrite and a very dangerous man – who should not be given the benefit of the doubt under any circumstances by the current regime: because he is undeserving of it. Incidentally, I must admit that that selfsame thought did strike one: as one heard his self-serving nonsense-on-bamboo-stilts during the BBC African Service “Focus on Africa” interview.

I was speechless as I listened to his fantasizing about his many “achievements” and how others were now vilifying him (and acting as if there had been a military coup), simply to focus attention on their regime, and away from him, with Ghanaians. Does he not know that as a result of the many kickbacks that he and his cronies received from the road construction sector (amongst other sectors), most of the drains and roads that he boasts about were so shoddily constructed, that they have almost all been washed away by the recent floods? How true to form, that the dissemblers in Kufuor & Co. as usual think that they are being terribly clever – and appear to believe that they have chosen their moment well: hence their new-found boldness in giving that dissimulating BBC African Service “Focus on Africa” interview. It is also interesting that that selfsame BBC interview followed closely on the heels of a similar self-serving Voice of America (VOA) African Service interview, with the host of its “Straight Talk Africa” (the VOA’s current affairs programme on Africa) programme, Shaka Ssali. What, dear reader, does one say about someone, whose critics say that whiles serving as a sitting president, turned the shady business of receiving kickbacks at the seat of government, into an art form (and whose own dreadful example of unfathomable greed, unmatched abuse of power, and unbridled nepotism, set the tone for his corrupt and amoral regime) – and gave free-reign to the very worst natures of his coterie of shameless sycophants: as they embarked on their gang-rape of Mother Ghana, to enrich themselves at the expense of ordinary Ghanaians and their country? How can he then have the gall, to turn around, upon leaving office, to describe himself as an exemplary leader who served his country well, in a BBC African Service radio interview?

The Mills administration must remember that when President Kufuor was asked, at the inception of his tenure, how he would treat his immediate predecessor, ex-President Rawlings, he gave a very clever answer that he never actually ever meant a word of – and said that he would treat him as he wanted to be treated when he left office. Yet, his regime then set about promptly demonizing former President Rawlings and rubbishing his regime, at every turn. Clearly, ex-President Kufuor will do everything he can to try and hide the terrible things his regime did whiles in office – which really is what this current bout of dissimulation is about. For the sake of the stability of our country, one hopes that the pacifists in the present regime (who preach what in effect amounts to the appeasement of crooks, in wanting to be accommodating, to the powerful rogues in the previous regime), will understand that our former president is a man, whom, in order to protect the image of his regime and stop the truth about its corrupt practices from leaking out, was even prepared to allow others to label Dr. K.A. Busia’s highly intelligent and sane daughter, Nana Fremaa Busia, who made serious allegations against him and some of the leading members of his regime, as a lunatic – just so as to destroy her credibility: in the hope that the world would ignore the embarrassing criticisms of a regime-insider, who knew at first-hand, a great deal about the corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power, which was going on in his regime. The current administration would be wise to heed the advice of those of Mr. Kufuor’s critics, who say that the current regime must end its naivete in wanting to please the whole world and be loved by all in it: and must now deal ruthlessly with the former president and all the members of his regime who took our nation for such a ride.

Perhaps they must not also forget, above all, that he is a politician, whom upon his election to office, promptly set about hijacking the entire machinery of state, to further the treasonable ambitions of his tribal Chief – and did not particularly care about the fact that he had been elected as president of the unitary Republic of Ghana (that also happens to be a nation of diverse-ethnicity), and had also sworn an oath to defend its constitution, but was prepared to actively help in its Balkanization too: in furtherance of the tribal-supremacist agenda that motivates him; his tribal Chiefs ; and the ruthless and greedy cabal who controlled the presidency, throughout his years in power as president of Nkrumah’s Ghana. They must also not forget that there are indeed many patriots and nationalists in this country, who see Mr. Kufuor as a traitor and a devious man, whose goal is the fulfillment of the Akan tribal-supremacist agenda of Dr. J. B. Danquah: and whom the new government must always be wary of. They also go on to say further that the government must expose him and his cronies to the world for what they think they really are: amoral philanderers and world-class liars of the worst sort – who turned the seat of government into a trading-floor for receiving kickbacks, yet have the effrontery to tell the world they were exemplary leaders. If his harshest critics are right in what they say about him, then the new administration must not treat ex-President Kufuor with kid gloves in the slightest after the web of lies he spun during his BBC African Service radio interview. They hope that the Mills administration will let him “smell pepper” (which are the exact words he used when he thought that his immediate predecessor, ex-President Rawlings, was attempting to destabilize his regime and overthrow it) if he continues along the path he has apparently now chosen to protect himself. A word to the wise…

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