A REJOINDER.
The last two week`s edition of your on-line publication, which carried a headline :??Corruption at the Ghana Embassy in Germany???,( which was picked from the Ghanaian Voice), cannot just pass without comments.

The latest allegation just added up to a series of character-assassination attempts, being made by a man whose favour-seeking escapades (at the door-step of the Ghana Embassy in Germany) have fallen flat on a hard rock .

The story, was to say the least: MISLEADING!

The first paragraph of the story alleged that the Ambassador has deserted his residence in Bonn and moved to Berlin - giving impression of an official who had abandoned his duty.

The fact of the matter is:

The government of Ghana sometime last year approved the relocation of the Ghana Embassy from Bonn to Berlin. A move which had been necessitated after the re-unification of East and West Germany and the subsequent return of the federal capital to Berlin. This is in line with diplomatic convention- as almost all Embassies have relocated or are winding up to re-locate to Berlin.

Since Ghana’s could therefore not be an exception, the government then purchased the building which used to house the Berlin Consulate along with similar two-story building adjacent to the mission in addition to the home which serves as the Ambassador’s residence, then renovation started in earnest sometime last year to give the new place a face-lift befitting of a world-class Embassy.

Due to the commitment of the Ambassador and the (Bonn) Embassy officials to serve its clients, they did not wait for the renovation to be completed, but moved to Berlin at a great inconvenience- as they have to put up with work in a small make-shift structure under huge pressure from its clients who are teaming up in large numbers for visas, passports, among others.

Coming to the Embassy and setting eyes on both the Ambassador and his staff going about their duties, one could always read a sense of unease in their mood. Yet the mission and its officials, have put service to its clients before personal convenience!

The same paragraph alleged that he lives in an apartment for which he is pays 500 Euros a month. This is utterly ridiculous and not worth responding to by any right thinking being!

But one could sarcastically ask: What at all is 500 Euros to a German middle class?!

Rau has (now) got to a stage where he cannot even tell good lies about the Embassy, and has therefore resorted to childishly stupid allegations!

Personally, I’ve once lived in an apartment with a German friend who used to pay 1,200 marks ( thus 600 Euros), and this guy (the German friend) was even a high school drop out working as a waiter in a restuarant!

My own investigation (at some African Embassies who had moved to Berlin since year 2000) revealed that some African missions in the federal capital are paying rents ranging between 6000 and 8000 Euros!

The Hamburg-based dread-lock-headed maverick (Rau), has therefore given some credence to the widely-circulated rumour that: he carries a mental invalidity certificate!

Well, the ``Oyibos``(Whit Doctors) have been said to had since established that Rau?s rowdiness could be traced to some kind of mental maladjustment, which stimulates in him a kind of aggression whenever he finds impediments on his way (and this time- dubious ways of looking for undue favours) - then he fumes with anger, and then he ``pounces without warning``!

But interestingly enough, he does this not here in Germany. Rather, he prefers to take the ??fight?? far onto the home turf ( in Ghana), where he is being helped by some hopeless ``stringers``, who scribe to some tabloids to throw ??blows?? which (thank God) hit no body!- thanks to freedom of speech, which has been guaranteed by the very government Rau is chastising for ``not performing``.

I got to know of Rau’s ranting some time last year, when a friend gave me a copy of a report which he managed to get a stringer to write in one of the Ghanaian tabloids mudslinging the then Bonn Embassy staff - for refusing to bend the rules in his favour !

Yet the weekly, which carried this latest allegation, ignored all ethics of journalism, as it did not take the trouble to contact the Embassy (through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for its side of the story to make for a balanced report- but jumped with full glee to peddle lies in order to sell!

If this is what journalism was all about, then God help the future of our dear country Ghana!

As a concerned Ghanaian who knew the facts in respect to the man’s complaints, as well as the man’s cantankerousness (for which many Ghanaians and Germans- from Hamburg all the way to Munich are avoiding him), I wrote a rejoinder to some of the tabloids last year, rubbishing these unfounded allegations. But they apparently refused to publish it.

Perhaps the so-called ``Human Rights Activist``, who seems to be gripped by some kind of amnesia, does not surmise that his actions could soon land him in jail- should the Embassy decide to take a legal action against him ( in Germany or in Ghana).

Silence, they say is golden, but some times excess silence could easily be misinterpreted as a consent.

I would therefore urge the Embassy to show Rau that he cannot continue to express his ``frustration`` for not getting undue favours, by deciding to go on rampage!

Abu Frank,
A concerned Ghanaian.
Berlin, Germany.