The Hon. Ebo Barton-Oduro Must Examine His Conscience Over The GNPC's Defiance Of Parliament's Select Committee On Mines And Energy

When sundry high net worth scoundrels can manipulate our system, and get away with ripping Mother Ghana off, successfully, patriotic Ghanaians ought to worry about the long-term future of Ghanaian democracy.

If impunity is not brought to an end in Ghana, one doubts very much if ordinary people will continue to tolerate high-level corruption in Ghana - not when the cost of living is increasing relentlessly and they are being overburdened with endless taxes.

Our ruling elites must change their ways - for it will be dangerous for ordinary people to come to the conclusion that their country has become an unjust society, and that Ghanaian democracy has been hijacked by thieves-in-high-places: who are enriching themselves at the expense of the masses.

Parliament's oversight responsibilities, if taken seriously by parliamentarians, could help stem the tide of high-level corruption - and stop it from overwhelming Ghanaian society: and tipping our country over the precipice.

For that reason, many discerning Ghanaians rely on the diligence, and sense of patriotism, of the Speaker of Parliament, the Right Honourable Joe Adjaho, and his two deputies, the Honourable Ebo Barton-Oduro, and the Honourable Joe Ghartey, to ensure that Parliament acts to protect the national interest, at all material times.

Many patriotic and indepedent-minded Ghanaians have not forgotten that the Honourable Ebo Barton-Oduro, the first deputy speaker of Parliament,  allegedly played a role in enabling the scoundrel Woyome, to swindle Ghana out of the sum of some Ghc51 millions - because as the then deputy attorney general he and others did not do a diligent enough job scrutinising Woyome's exaggerated claims.

It therefore came as a surprise to them when he was selected to be the first deputy speaker of Parliament. Indeed, for many patriotic Ghanaians, it was disappointing that despite the Woyome scandal, the Majority side in Parliament went ahead and chose him to be the first deputy speaker of Parliament.

In light of all the above, he must not let it be said tomorrow, too, that as first deputy speaker of Ghana's Parliament, he also allowed those now in charge of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), to defy Parliament: and get away with dissipating the company's funds renting office accommodation - despite advice by a select committee to the company's management that they build a head office instead of renting one.

For many independent-minded and discerning Ghanaians, only one question comes to mind, when they reflect upon the recent exchanges on the floor of Parliament - over the propriety or otherwise, of referring to the photocopy of a document originally submitted to the Select Committee on Mines and Energy, by the GNPC's management - between the Hon. Ebo Barton-Oduro, sitting as first deputy speaker, and a member of the Select Committee on Mines and Energy, the Hon. Isaac Asiamah, the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) MP for Atwima Mponua.

The question there for such patriotic Ghanaians is: Does the Hon. Barton-Oduro want those in charge of the GNPC to defy Parliament - and fritter away the GNPC's money renting office accommodation at Dennis House in Tema: when they can use such monies to part-fund the building of a new head office building for the company?

Just whose side are the Hon. Barton-Oduros of our country on, one wonders  - the side of the masses of the Ghanaian people, or the powerful and well-connected few determined to "Chop Ghana small!"?

Do the Hon. Ebo Barton-Oduros not read the writing on the wall for our vampire-elites at all - and does it not strike them that they might possibly be drinking in the Last Chance Saloon?

From all indications, the GNPC, under its current management, has all the makings of an African equivalent of Brazil's corruption-riddled Petrobras - and, like Petrobras, could end up embroiling many people in the top strata of Ghanaian society, in massive corruption scandals too, one day, in the not too distant future.

It will be disastrous for our country, if crooks-in-high-places succeeded in targetting the GNPC - and stole massive amounts from it through create-loot-and-share sole-sourced public procurement schemes.

Alas, unluckily for those genuises, the Ghana of today, is not a nation in which high-level corruption can be successfully hidden away from the public, permanently - so in the end dubious deals entered into by the geniuses in charge of the GNPC will be exposed.

Getting such monies back will be the challenge Ghanaians will have to face - but we have President Buhari's example in Nigeria to guide us, thank goodness.

With the greatest respect, the Hon. Ebo Barton-Oduro ought to examine his conscience, in this matter - for he has the opportunity to help the Select Committee on Mines and Energy to stop the GNPC (on behalf of patriotic Ghanaians) from unwisely committing money it can use to build itself a new headquarters building to paying exorbitant rent to private landlords.

The Hon. Ebo Barton-Oduro must ask himself a simple question: If it was his own money, would he allow those geniuses presently in charge of the GNPC, to misuse it, by paying rent to a private landlord, instead of building a new head office for the company - as advised by the Select Committee on Mines and Energy of Ghana's Parliament?

Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o: asem kesie ebeba debi ankasa!