OPEN LETTER TO FRENCH TAXPAYERS!

Fellow citizens of the planet Earth, I salute you. I wish to bring to your attention, a matter that ought to be of great concern to all the taxpayers of France – especially as your government, like almost all the governments in the European Union (EU), is now making deep cuts in public spending, which is ushering in an era of austerity for all the citizens of the EU: and impoverishing all of you in the process. A few years ago, your government made available a grant of some thirty million euros to the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime, which used to rule Ghana – before it was voted out of office in December 2008: by a people fed up with the exploitation of their nation’s economy for the personal benefit of a greedy and corrupt ruling elite.


The money was meant for the digital registration and issuance of identity cards to Ghanaian citizens and foreign residents in Ghana. Naturally, a French ICT company was to benefit handsomely from the grant – by providing Ghana’s National Identification Authority (NIA) with an ICT-solution to facilitate its work. The money was to be paid into an escrow account – so as to ring-fence it from other donor funds meant for various projects in Ghana. To the astonishment of the whole country, we were told a few months ago, that the previous government never paid the said money into any escrow account – and as we speak, the work of the NIA has ground to a halt: because it has run out money.


Ghanaians are fed up with the constant siphoning off of state funds by corrupt politicians and public officials – and appeal to you to demand that your government suspends all aid to Ghana: until the members of the previous regime responsible for the ‘disappearance’ of the French grant meant for the NIA, give a full explanation of precisely what they did with the said thirty million euros. We would also be grateful if you could put pressure on your government to lobby the rest of the governments of the member-states of the EU, to suspend all bilateral aid to Ghana, as well as multilateral grants from the EU to our country: until a satisfactory response is given to France about the whereabouts of the said grant. Many thanks in advance and regards to you all!


Tel(powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109 & the not-so-hot and clueless Vodafone wireless smartfone: + 233 (0)30 2976238.