IS THERE A CROSS-PARTY CONSPIRACY AGAINST PRESIDENT MILLS?

It is instructive that the most honest and selfless individual to lead Ghana, since the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, in February 1966, has also faced the most determined opposition to any Ghanaian leader, since the days of bomb-throwing terrorism, by Nkrumah's elitist, super-ruthless and tribal-supremacist political opponents.

And, unusually for Africa, President Mills has had to grapple with not only the opposing views of Ghana's other political parties, but has had to face some of the sharpest criticism of his regime's performance, from within the ranks of his own party.

When one looks at the vile way President Mills has been treated by his opponents thus far, it is almost as if Ghana's ruling elites think that an unwelcome interloper has come into their midst, and by his humble and honest ways, is exposing their cross-party class-interest conspiracy, against ordinary Ghanaians - and therefore has to be swiftly removed at all costs, and by all means necessary: lest he makes the masses think that political power in Ghana, has to be exercised on their behalf, for their benefit, as well as that of future generations of Ghanaians.

And in a very real sense, President Mills is indeed a political outsider - a man of integrity who did not himself seek a career as a politician, but was thrust unto the political stage by fate: and who sees his leadership position, as an opportunity to serve his people, and make a real difference to his nation.

And how faithfully that humble and sincere gentleman has kept his swearing-in oath, when he vowed to uphold and defend the constitution of Ghana - always respecting and being guided by the basic law of the land (in all his actions and decision-making since he assumed office in January 2009).

Clearly, he regards the constitution as the very foundation of the rule of law, and the guiding principles underpinning due process in the Ghanaian nation-state.

Yet, although virtually all who came before him, and after Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966, have simply manipulated Ghana's legal system, and often ignored the rule of law - in pursuit of party advantage and self-enrichment - none of them was treated as shabbily, by Ghana's educated urban elites, as President Mills has been.

A case in point is the reaction of some of those who benefited from illegal public land sales by the Lands Commission, at the behest of politicians, to the government of Ghana taking back land improperly allocated to them by dishonest politicians more or less bending the law.

Having tampered with their vital interests, in so doing, the pilloring of President Mills was ratcheted up a tad, as his regime took the necessary legal steps to redress that most outrageous of unjustifiable asset-stripping of the enterprise Ghana.

Sadly, amongst the past regimes that engaged in that outrage, was the Rawlings-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime.

Then, as usual, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime of President Kufuor, took it to new levels - of unheard of abuse of office: and the complete abandonment of the principle of fiduciary duty of those who govern our nation, to protect public properties at all material times, ever seen in Ghana's chequered history.


Yet, all President Mills' regime is seeking to do, is to take back land owned by the Ghanaian nation-state, and for which compensation had duly been paid, which ended up in the hands of the most well-connected of our educated urban elites (when it should never have been sold in the first place), from the Ghanaian worlds of politics; business; the professions; and the exclusive and Byzantine world of the favourite crony-capitalists of our political class.

To cover up their perfidy, and what in fact was a real crime against the ordinary people of Ghana, it was naturally made to look like a policy to return land to Chiefs and a number of pre-colonial traditional elite families, from whom such parcels of land were compulsorily acquired, and to whom compensation was duly paid, by the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) regime of Nkrumah - when in fact it was part of our elites' personal wealth creation agenda: made possible by the leveraging of political power (for personal advantage, at public expense), which enabled them buy land worth vast fortunes, for paltry sums of money.


To a mostly-greedy and corrupt political class, which has always seen political power as a golden-business-opportunity bar none: for themselves, the members of their family clans and their favourite crony-capitalists, someone like President Mills, who they think is naive because he believes that gaining political power is an opportunity to serve ordinary Ghanaians, rather than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to exploit the national economy for private gain - for family and friends - and therefore represents a very dangerous political development, and a personal irritant, who must consequently be gotten rid of quickly.

Hence the cross-party conspiracy against Mills. And that is why even the biggest beneficiaries of President Mills insistence on following due process, and submitting to the rule of law, for example, such as the upper echelons of the public service for instance, a majority of whom were appointed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime of President Kufuor (mostly because they were sympathetic to it and loyal to Kufuor & Co. - that small tribal-supremacist cabal, which dominated and controlled the NPP in the past, and still wields considerable influence over it, even today), and whom if normal practise in Ghanaian politics had been followed by President Mills, would have probably lost their jobs - are all doing what they can to ensure that President Mills' administration fails.

It is therefore important, that all ordinary Ghanaians who do not yet realise that far from being divided by party affiliation and tribe, Ghanaians are indeed actually divided along class lines today, ought to finally wake up to that stark reality and fact of life in the Ghanaian nation-state of present times.

Alas, the Ghana of today, is a land dominated and controlled by the "Atiyiea" (and has been, since Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966, incidentally).

And despite their minuscule numbers (they form only a tiny proportion of the total population of our country), the "Atiyiea" (who straddle the political divide, incidentally) dominate and control our homeland Ghana, and exploit our national economy for themselves - to the detriment of the have-nots of Ghanaian society, the "Moborowaa".

Yet, although the "Moborowaa", form the vast majority of Ghana's population, and always have to make the sacrifices that politicians say are needed to make our economy grow - they seldom benefit from such economic growth themselves: remaining instead, as the downtrodden class in Ghanaian society.

We have clearly reached an important juncture in our nation's history, and it is crucial that Ghana's "Moborowaa" stop and think for a moment - as the super-clever "Atiyiea" circle over our oil and natural gas industries, figuring out a super-smart stealth-move, to enable them divvy it up amongst themselves.

If they were damning President Mills for mere parcels of land, no matter how exclusive the location and the quantum of the small fortunes needed to build on them, what will they not do to him, in order to get their hands on revenues from the exploitation of our oil and natural gas deposits?

Does the wealth from that not make their riches from the selling on of extra parcels of state lands, acquired by them for peanuts, for mega-profits (in hard currency too, sometimes!), not pale into insignificance: compared to acquiring, through politically-backed sleight-of-hand manoeuvring, shares in blocs in Ghana's oilfields?

So, the honest President Mills has consequently become public enemy number one, for that self-seeking lot. The "Atiyiea" want to find a neat and clever approach, which will ensure that the masses, the "Moborowaa" of Ghanaian society, never cotton on to their perfidy - in successfully hijacking our oil and natural gas revenues: by utilising those offshore special purpose vehicles that have served them so well in the past, and enabled them to successfully rip Mother Ghana off (and hide the loot securely too, to boot!).

One hopes therefore, that after pausing to ponder the political situation in Ghana today, ordinary Ghanaians will then grasp the true significance, of the fact that after a number of American oil company executives paid President Mills a courtesy call at the Osu Castle, no one in Ghana woke up one fine morning, shortly afterwards, to hear news reports that a new Ghanaian oil and gas entity, had emerged on the scene - to partner some of the foreign oil companies operating off Ghana's shores (and which doubtless would have been called the Zuu-Zaa Group!).

We all know what eventually happened, after that selfsame entity's US executives paid a courtesy call on a certain former president of Ghana, at the Osu Castle, Ghana's seat of government, during that hypocrite-in-chief's tenure as president of the Republic of Ghana, do we not, I ask?

For those with short memories, let them recall the fact that it later emerged, from a leaked US Embassy diplomatic cable from Accra, to the State Department in Washington DC, that indeed President Mills had been deeply offended by an attempt by US oil company executives to bribe him.

It is such a pity that President Mills did not order their arrest and prosecution: as they would have spilt the beans about past acts of corruption in which they offered inducements to some of our ruling elites - as that would have practically made him unassailable politically, today.

Incidentally, as we speak, there are bush telegraph stories doing the rounds, to the effect that the most troublesome of the wealthy mavericks of the NPP, have been promised blocs in oilfields off our nation's shores, if they keep a low profile (and do not rock the boat by making controversial public statements, which embarrass their party and brings it into disrepute - as well as makes it a subject of public ridicule and opprobrium).

As we all know, Ghana's educated urban elites are far more subtle, and thus a great deal more lethal, than their Nigerian counterparts, especially in how they are going about the business of transferring value in our nation's oil and natural gas deposits, from the Ghanaian nation-state, into the private hands of their foreign collaborators, and the Ghanaians who front for the greediest of the rogues amongst our political class (and some of whom are part of the government of the day - both past and present).

Those powerful clever-folk-in-high-places, do not want a Ghanaian leader whose integrity and dedication (in faithfully serving ordinary people and protecting the national interest at all material times), will come between them and the vital process now underway, of ensuring that a significant portion of the revenues from Ghana's oil and natural gas revenues, eventually ends up in their private hands.

And as we have all seen from the E.O. Group's recent sale of the apparently tiny percentage holding it has in the Jubilee oilfield, to Tallow Oil, for over some US$300 millions, what has gone on in that burgeoning sector of Ghana's economy in the past (and is still on-going as we speak), is an attempt to transfer into private hands, really significant sums of money to grasping and selfish individuals, who neither have to pay a pesewa upfront for those oil blocs, nor pay a cent in the costs of exploration and production.

What kind of monkey business, and Kweku-Ananse smoke-and-mirrors business model, is that, I ask, dear reader?

And above all, it is money that should, by right, belong to all Ghanaians. It is also money which can be utilised for common-good purposes, such as building whole new communities of well-designed and well-planned affordable rental accommodation, for renting out to Ghanaians who will never be able to own their own homes in their lifetime, because of the meagre sums they are paid for their labour.

That, dear reader, is what essentially the get-rid-of-President-Mills-quickly project, is indeed all about: control of Ghana's oil wealth - by ensuring that the man of the people, President Mills, is eliminated from Ghanaian politics permanently: through fair or foul means.

He is the one man who stands between the determined rogues amongst our ruling elites (from across the political divide, incidentally!), and that once-in-a-lifetime jackpot that has all of them drooling, whenever they think about it: purloining Ghana's oil and natural gas revenues, as successfully as Nigeria's ruthless and murderous ruling elites, have done in that god-forsaken and unhappy nation, for decades.

The question is, will President Mills finally understand that he is really alone in all this, and must therefore do what will enable him survive politically - and go on to lead Ghana again for a second term as president: and enable Ghana's "Moborowaa" to consolidate the people's power over the greedy-folk-in-high-places (who are now in a tactical retreat, more or less: for strategic reasons), yet some more, during that period of his renewed tenure, ending in January 2017?

There is no doubt that the Mills presidency has delivered for them, a measure of victory, over those ghastly asset-strippers amongst our nation's educated urban elites, thus far.


That is why it is so crucial that President Mills realises that in order to win in December 2012, he must not make the grave error of judgment, in relying solely on the legacy of the District Chief Executives and their counterparts in the major cities, important thought that is. That would be a fatal mistake, indeed.

The smart game-changing move by him, will be to, and as soon as practicable, publicly publish the assets of his wife and himself - showing what assets they owned when they first came to power, in January 2009, and today.

He must them go on to order all his appointees, from the most senior cabinet ministers, to the last DCE running the smallest of Ghana's districts, to do same too.

That will enable him immediately set the political agenda in Ghana, in which integrity and honest stewardship of Ghana's resources, particularly oversight over its oil and natural gas industry, and the safeguarding of revenues from their exploitation, becomes the big-picture issue, for the December 2012 presidential elections.

When that is done, he will see the potency, during the campaign for the December 2012 presidential elections, of NDC billboards nationwide, which will truly resonate with ordinary Ghanaians: displaying photographs of himself and the NDC's umbrella emblem, juxtaposed against that of his opponents and their party emblems, and which ask voters the simple question: "In whose hands are Ghana's resources, including its oil and natural gas revenues, safer?"!

The NDC must ensure that their presidential candidate occupies the moral high ground in Ghaianan politics.

They must also understand clearly that the only way for President Mills to occupy that moral high ground in Ghanaian politics, is for his regime to make that historic anti-corruption move - by publicly publishing the assets of all their appointees and their spouses. And it must be done as quickly as it is practicable to do so.

For, against that, the NDC's opponents have no answer - as it puts clear blue water between the Mills regime and all those who oppose it: both from within the NDC and outside it. Alas, anything short of that will spell certain doom for the NDC in December 2012 - as sure as day follows night.

It is a veritable political game-changer - and if Ghana's First Lady Mrs. Naadu Mills is listening, she must insist that President Mills simply ignores all his advisers on this one important issue, and also sack all those ministers who kick against such a move.

If it is done now, during the campaign for the December 2012 elections, the NDC can, as has been said elsewhere in this piece, plaster the entire country with the aforementioned billboards that confidently pose the question: "In whose hands are Ghana's resources, including its oil and natural gas revenues safer?"

That is the only way to set the political agenda going forward - and by do doing, also finally enable the good and decent individuals of influence within the NDC, to thwart the cross-party conspiracy afoot against the most principled, honest and selfless leader that Ghana has had, thus far, since Nkrumah's regime was overthrown in 1966: President John Evans Fifi Atta Mills.

One hopes that he will not only have the courage to make such a move, but above all remember that he is the only hope for Ghana's "Moborowaa" - and must therefore seize the historic opportunity it offers him, his party, and our nation as a whole, to fight corruption with an effective transparency weapon.

Finally, dear reader, it is also a sure-fire and painless way (financially!) to win the December 2012 presidential election, for him - and one hopes that for the sake of Ghana's "Moborowaa" he will seize the moment: and instead of leaving it in God's hands alone, act decisively himself, at least just this once, to defeat the cross-party conspiracy against him. Even Jesus Christ advised his followers to give unto Caesar, his due, as a ruler: so President Mills must act accordingly! A word to the wise...

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