Opinions of Saturday, 24 December 2011

Columnist: Nyarko, Kingsley

From Oyibi to Oyarifa to Adabraka

We are still earnestly and impatiently waiting on the National democratic Congress to lead us to the final destination in our search for the actual location of the 20 million dollar ultra-modern headquarters purported to being built by the party. What is interesting about this project is the mystery that surrounds the actual location of the building. The location and existence of the highly touted sophisticated edifice are shrouded in secrecy, leading concerned citizens to speculate about the possibility of fraud in the whole project. As I was writing this paper, Ghanaians are still being kept on wonderland as to the exact location and financiers of the building project. I don’t know, but wouldn’t be surprised if the financier turns out to be their “sweating” and under fire bankroller—Mr. Alfred Woyome—who has succeeded, with the connivance of the government, to defraud the state to the tune of GH¢58 million.

Honestly, I didn’t have any problems when the NDC won the 2008 elections. After all, the beauty of democracy is the improvement in the lives of the citizenry. I thought at that time that this time round they will be bringing something new to bear on the governance of the country by improving the lot of the citizenry. However, my greatest fear was that they were likely to loot the economy considering their uncontrollable and voracious quest for power. This was a legitimate fear because we have been under the spell of poverty for far too long and didn’t want to drift back deep into economic depravity, especially after the successes chalked by the Kufour-led administration. But folks, that greatest nightmare has become a painful reality. Our economy is under siege and hurriedly heading into the abyss of socio-economic obliteration.

Is it not strange that the Mills-Mahama-led administration has not been able to convince us of the existence or otherwise of the 20 million dollar mansion? Their apparent silence about the location and veracity of the structure insinuate that there is an on-going project with such a fortune, but because of the endemic corruption surrounding it; they have deliberately made the project a “ghost” one. The president has spoken and ordered investigation into the Wayome-NDC collaborative scandal; he must as well speak on the 20 million dollar mansion being built by his party. Obviously, as a leader of the party, he must be aware of what is going on.

Executives of the party who have spoken on the project have disagreed on the exact location and the existence of such a project. These disagreements obviously smack unthinkable and unimaginable corruption. If they are clean, they should come clean about the project and stop the wanton lies being churned out by their propagandists. I need to put on record that the NDC government does not care a hoot about the development of the country; they don’t care a hoot about improving the living standards of the people. What they do care about is to amass the collective wealth of the nation to satisfy their insatiable greed and ingrained appetite for corruption.

This is a clueless administration, and I am not surprised the founder of the party—President Rawlings describes them as a looting brigade (greedy bastards). Yes, they are! I agree with President Rawlings 99% because of the massive corruption that has been uncovered since the inception of this administration. The building of the 20 million dollar ultra-modern headquarters situated at an “unknown” location plus the Woyome-NDC orchestrated fraud are likely to represent the heaviest corruption that have happened to a struggling developing economy such as ours.

Folks, we don’t have to sit aloof and watch unconcerned for the NDC government to dissipate our limited resources. Come December, 2012 we will be offered an opportunity to right the wrongs of the NDC administration; we will be offered the opportunity to put the nation back on the pedestal of progress and prosperity; we will be offered the opportunity to deliver our great nation from engineers and perpetrators of corruption to engineers of societal transformation and adherents of zero tolerance to corruption. If we don’t want them to continue spending our hard-earned resources recklessly and wastefully by conniving with others to dupe and rob the state, build mansions at the expense of schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure; then we have to send them to the rains with their broken umbrella. Let us show the NDC government that governance is about the people, and not our party and pockets. God bless Ghana!

Source: Kingsley Nyarko, Psychologist, Accra (kingsleynyarko73@yahoo.com)