Opinions of Sunday, 17 November 2013

Columnist: Sangaparee, Clement

Corruption in Ghana: Jan. 2009 to Nov. 2013

The late Professor J.E.A. Mills was sworn in as president of the Republic of Ghana on January 7th 2009 after beating the violent prone NPP led by Nana Akuffo Addo in December 2008 and the 2009 Run-Off.

President Mills took over from Ex-President J.A. Kufour who became Ghana’s President by default from January 2001-December 2008 and LEGALISED CORRUPTION IN GHANA for eight (8) with impunity. The slogan of the NPP was PROPERITY OWNING DEMOCRACY and it paved the way for several state bungalows to be sold at cheap prices to NPP members. They turned themselves in to a LOOTING BRIGADE and LOOTED STATE PROPERTIES with impunity. The late president Mills stated that he was the FATHER FOR ALL so no NPP members would be sacked to be replaced by any NDC member simply because the NPP had lost power. He added that he would NOT DISMISS ANY CIVIL AND PUBLIC SERVANT who are known NPP SUPPORTERS-YES THEY WERE ALL LEFT INTACT. He never told NPP CIVIL and public servants to PROCEED ON LEAVE-NEVER TO RETURN because they are now opposition supporters as President Kufour did from January 2001-2008. When ever they (NPP) are in opposition they have accused every government of corruption. President J.A. Kufour and his Asante/Akyem dominated cabinet members told Ghanaian that they did not go into government because of MONEY. On July 2002; they claimed that they already have their own houses, benzes, pajeros and land cruisers before winning power in January 2001 which was FALSE. This is because from 2001-2008 they stole government Benzes and Limousines, prime lands in Kumasi and Accra with J.A. Kufour buying 12 acres of land at Ridge, a suburb of Kumasi for Gh¢4.000.00. Dr. Frimpong Boateng bought the bungalow he was allocated as head of Korlebu Heart Department. Ex President Kufour also took over a government mansion for himself. The list is endless. The so called affordable houses they claimed to be building for public servants have been shared among themselves on behalf of the public servants and the poor in Ghana.
ON CORRUPTION
The NPP administration went so wild that they began to engage in 419 scams. They invented companies and pretended that Ghana was going to collect loans from those very ghost companies. The idea was to make the government pay up front fees such as “Commitment fees” “ Premiums” “Arrangement fees” “Management fees” etc so that they would in the end, say that the loan did not materialize. They knew that by that time, the government would already have paid those fees into THEIR OWN ACCOUNTS. What a bunch of de Africanized political criminals leading the NPP.
NANA AKUFFO ADDO-NPP FLA GBEARER
At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi where the Kumasi Peace Accord was signed, Nana Akuffo Addo told Ghanaians that he had never been cited for corruption, yet the Auditor General’s Report of 2005 INDICTED HIM on what happened at the Ministry of Foreign Africans when he was the foreign minister. A colossal amount of $1,446,396 cash was withdrawn from the Ministry’s Special Collections Accounts of Seven Embassies without the knowledge of the Controllers and Accountant General. Is Nana Akufo Addo who wants to become the President of Ghana at all cost TRUST WORTHY? Yet on 7th January 2001, Prez. Kufour stated thus: Under by administration, there will be zero tolerance for corruption, and I would personally set the example. Yes, Kufour personally set the example in a negative way on as corruption was rather 100% in Ghana and the suspected corrupt Ghanaians were those who do not belong to the NPP from 2001-2008. Kufour became the most corrupt and greedy President since independence in 1957. Unable to fight corruption because he was himself was corrupt Hear him; What do you expect me to do about corruption? After all, it is a sin that dates back to the time of Adam and Eve. This in plain stupid nonsense on the part of J.A Kufour and fraudulent NPP Party. We must not sweep all these under the carpet and rather blame Prez. Mahama.
WE MUST BE FAIR TO PRESIDENT MAHAMA
The then Vice President Mahama was sworn in as President of the Republic of Ghana after the untimely death of the late sitting president J.E.A. Mills.
In accordance with the 1992 constitution. On the orders of the late President Mills, the massive corruption that was unprecedented in the history of Ghana from 2001-2008 under the NPP Administration was left intact to the extent that MMDCE’s appointed by the NPP administration were allowed to stay in office and work with the ruling NDC government in 2009 until it appointed its own MMDCE’s. This was very strange and had never happened since Ghana’s independence in 1957 up till date 2013. President Mills issued a Fiat by saying LET IT BE and that was it, no one raised a finger, on one coughed within the NDC as the Massive Corruption Perpetuated by the Violent Prone NPP was left intact on the orders of Mills, so what are some people taking about? During the 2012 general elections all NPP leaders described President Mahama as a “Spare Tyre” only fit to complete a journey because they (NPP) members thought it was a forgone conclusion for them to grab political party by beating the NDC. However, the demeanor of John Mahama alone won him the 2012 general elections and the violent prone NPP leaders became so dazed and confused that they rushed to the Supreme Court with the aim of passing through the back door of the Court to win the elections. After 8 long months of litigation, their case was thrown out by the Supreme Court. Their next strategy is to use organized labour led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to embark on a nation wide strike in order to make the country ungovernable. The next group of people are most Head Masters and Head Mistresses of senior high schools who deliberately charged un-authorized school fees ranging from Gh¢1,200 to Gh¢2.008 instead of the approved fees of Gh¢600 for day students and Gh¢700 for boarding students. All these are measures put in place to make the NDC government unpopular, but whether the NPP and its innocent supporters like it or not, President Mahama is going to walk to and from the Flagstaff House until January 2021 when he will hand over to the next NDC presidential candidate.
DAN BOTWE
The Member of Parliament for Okere in the Eastern region was on air ordering the President of the Republic Of Ghana to come to Parliament and explain the reason why the sacked Madam Victoria Hammah the former deputy minister for information. Hon. Dan Botwe must read the 1992 constitution very well because the President owe nobody an apology at all and will therefore not explain the reason for dismissing the Minister so Dan Botwe must shut up and stop making noise.
Ever since President Mahama was sworn in as President of the Republic of Ghana on 7th January 2013, the Largest opposition party the NPP never recognized him as the validly Elected President until the Supreme Court ruled that he was validly elected President of Ghana, which the NPP accepted unwillingly.
Even after the judgment the NPP still believe falsely that they were robbed of victory by the ruling NDC government.

MAHAMA FIGHTS CORRUPTION
1. Determined to fight corruption in Ghana, he appointed a Sole Commissioner on Judgment Debts and he is uncovering dirty deals from the public and civil service including the Attorney General’s Department.
2. He has instructed the Attorney General to prosecute all those implicated in the GYEEDA REPORT.
3. The Public Office Accountability Bill will soon be presented to Parliament as his indication to fight corruption.
4. He has launched the code of conduct for Public Office holders. Therefore, what else does the critics of the President want him to do in just three months in office? The President accepted the fact there is economic hardships in the country, but who cause am?
5. President Mahama instituted the Special Task Force to monitor and report revenue collected and exposes malpractices at the various posts in the country in April 2013. These are all stringent measures put in place by the NDC government to fight corrupt practices among public officials and the various institutions in the public sector. The President needs commendation and not condemnation, so I say, Aluta continua!
6. The right to information bill (RTI) aimed at ensuring easy access to information was sent to parliament by the cabinet and has passed through its first reading stage in Parliament on November 12th 2013.
In 2002, the NPP government drafted the first RTI BILL to operationlise the constitutional right to information under article 21(1) of the 1992 constitution, but the document could not be sent to Parliament because the NPP hate transparency and had legalized corruption for the 8 years that Kufour was President of Ghana by default from 2001 0 2008.
We must blame he NPP leaders for taking the country to ramson for 8 solid months when they sent that hopeless petition to the Supreme Court and it was finally thrown out. Confidence in the economy of Ghana was low, in fact so low that no foreign investor will come and invest in the country.
An amount of 2 billion were lost to Ghana because of that senseless petition sent to the Supreme Court by the violent prone NPP.
It will therefore be most UNFAIR for any person or group of persons to blame the 3 month old government of the NDC. I say, three months, because the President was confirmed as validly elected for the second time by the Supreme Court after the Electoral Commissioner first declared the results on December 9th 2012.
The President therefore started work in earnest on 1st September, 2013 and this month, November is his third month in office, so we must all be very fair to the President and judge him in 2021 after he have finished his two 4 year term of office period. President John Dramani Mahama, the workaholic, is not important, but our country, Ghana, we must all get involved to ensure that we achieve he Better Ghana Agenda.
The 1992 constitution says that every Ghanaian citizen has the right to know how the government is functioning and because President Mahama is very honest, patriotic and transparent, he have sent the RT1 BILL to Parliament to the annoyance of the violent prone NPP.Is anybody listening? I shall return when the need arise. I am done. “Jaanbie Iwaii” Aluta Continua”.

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Clement Sangaparee
United Cadres Front
Obuasi

E-Mail clementsang@yahoo.com
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