Tuesday 14 September 2010

IS THE NDC GOVERNMENT REPEATING THE NPP REGIME’S ERRORS OF JUDGEMENT – IN PAYING SECTIONS OF THE MEDIA FOR PROPAGANDA?

During the era of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime led by that Akan tribal-supremacist, the profligate President Kufour, certain journalists and media houses were paid huge amounts, to do propaganda for that disgraceful regime, which was jam-packed with greedy and selfish individuals. As we all know, it was a government dominated by a small but powerful cabal, of asset-strippers par excellence. Such was the amoral nature of key people in that regime, that for years, some of us fought tooth and nail, and at great personal cost, and risk to our lives, to help rid our nation of a regime whose leader will go down in history as the greediest, most dishonest, and amoral leader, ever elected into office in Ghana – because we believed that irreparable harm would be done to the moral fibre of our society and to the value-system of Ghana’s young generation: if an NPP regime dominated by Kufuor & Co. was allowed to come into office again after the December 2008 elections. (Incidentally, ex-President Kufuor is welcome to sue me for saying all those very nice things about him, if he wants – for, like his famous and brilliant pal, Mr. Kweku Baako, I too have documents galore: even though I am only a senile old fool, and a semi-literate villager to boot! But I digress.)

The last thing one expected, therefore, after our nation had successfully rid itself of Kufuor & Co., was that one fine September morning, we would wake up to discover that some people in the regime led by the honest President Mills (a man who is undoubtedly the most honest and sincere individual to lead Nkrumah’s Ghana, thus far: since the overthrow of the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah on the 24th February, 1966!), which promised us a “better Ghana,” are, apparently, also taking taxpayers’ money, ostensibly to pay certain journalists and media houses to write “feature articles” (and heaven knows what else!) – and, incredibly, are, just like the loud-mouthed Asamoah Boateng, Kufuor's blunderbuss of an information minister, unable to properly account for the monies expended for that dubious purpose. Well, there are certainly a few questions, which the minister who currently heads the information ministry, ought to answer – in order to reassure those discerning and independent-minded individuals, whose crucial swing-votes, won his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, the run-off, of the December 2008 presidential election. To begin with, precisely what “feature articles” were paid for by that Mr. Stan Dogbe – and exactly who wrote those “feature articles” and in which media outlets were they subsequently planted?

Furthermore, what are the names of the companies and individuals from whom those confounded Christmas hampers were purchased (with hapless taxpayers’ funds!) – and which journalists and media houses received them: at a time when the president had made it plain that he frowned on the practice of sending and receiving such hampers? Finally, will he institute a probe into the matter – by asking the Auditor-General’s Department to do a quick audit to ascertain the true facts to do with the Daily Guide newspaper’s story about the alleged disbursement, by Mr. Stan Dogbe, of various sums, out of the little over 1 billion old cedis, which he is said to have received from the information ministry? As he is aware, his immediate predecessor in office, Mrs. Zita Okaikwe, has flatly denied any knowledge of the matter – and I do know for a fact that she is not being economical with the truth. Hopefully, this time round, the information minister will not ignore those of us who want answers to those simple questions – as he did when we asked him about that special legal-cloak designed to hide the transfer of taxpayers’ money to sundry government propagandists and apologists, as well as their collaborators overseas: officially known as the “Brand Ghana” office.

He had better pay heed to us this time, for, this is a story with the potential to do serious, and permanent damage, to the reputation of the Mills regime – so he must ensure that all the facts in this shabby affair come out into the open: and quickly. Incidentally, it is important that the few crooks amongst the many decent people who surround the president, understand clearly, that those of us who constantly demand that the members of our political class, serve Ghanaians and their nation diligently, and honestly, are neither enemies of the Ghanaian nation-state, nor engaging in subversion, when we criticize those who rule us. Let the few shameless and self-seeking individuals lurking in the shadows in the presidency, who have a tendency to manipulate the system, as a self-preservation measure, by using the state security apparatus to harass those who criticize them, understand clearly that some of us fear nothing – and are willing to risk even being killed to ensure that our oil and natural gas revenues are not dissipated by crooked politicians in our homeland Ghana.

If even those super-ruthless crooks in the Kufuor regime could not frighten us into silence, then how can the cowardly petty-crooks in the Mills regime, possibly ever silence us, or frighten us, from doing what we consider to be a service to Mother Ghana – on behalf of the voiceless and the marginalized? Well, if the many decent individuals in the Mills regime want their party to be elected into office again in December 2012, they must ensure that their regime is always guided by the maxim: ”Deeds, not words.” Endless spin (paid for from our national treasury, annoyingly!) and propaganda, invariably accompanied by their handmaiden, graft, are no substitutes for the important and difficult task of nation-building – as some of their more crooked colleagues seem to erroneously believe. Above all, the Mills regime must not make the same grave error of judgment, which the NPP made, in deciding to use taxpayers’ money to bribe certain key journalists and media houses (as part of the grand strategy, adopted by the few and powerful Akan tribal-supremacists, who dominated that party so completely during its eight-year tenure, to enable them rule Ghana permanently: for the next ”thirty years,” to quote that genius Maxwell Kofi Jumah). Hmmm Ghana – enti yeawiye paa enie? Asem kesie ebaba debi ankasa!


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.

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