Opinions of Friday, 29 December 2017

Columnist: Charles Baffour

Ghanaians will say it's a political trial unless you start from your current appointees, Mr President

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Mr President Akufo-Addo, you are legitimately voted by Ghanaians to effectively take appropriate actions towards the development of our nation and not to be a reactive leader by being on platforms giving macho slang speeches and threatening former appointees by former President John Mahama a problem comes up especially corruption.

Since you took over the presidency, there have been numerous corruption cases engulf your administration , right from your violent-mind but-hiding vice president Bawumia to the Deputy Minister of Trade, Carlos Ahenkorah. Instead of you to take your promised appropriate measures to deal with them by sacking them to show Ghanaians that you are a man of your words and incorruptible of protecting our national purse, you move around the country on former President Mahama's constructed roads with hundreds of convoy and threatening former public officials in your usual macho-coughed slang speeches to cover up the corruption that is currently taking place in your administration.

There is nothing wrong with firing your vice president, Mahamudu Bawumia, for engaging in a fraudulent GPS app which takes away millions of dollars from our national purse. Now, where is the protection of our national purse as you promised? As it stands now, comparatively, former president Mahama did well in dealing with corruption cases during his administration than you as the current president. You can copy from him by dealing with corruption cases in your current administration as well.

You don't have to copy only his wearing of Ghanaian fibres (traditional attires) to official places but you must also emulate his tactics of dealing with corruption cases. It seems Mr President you have forgotten but let me remind you. Former President John Mahama fired one Victoria Hammah then deputy communications minister for merely saying on a leaked tape that she would enrich her one million US dollars before she quits politics.

This Victoria Hammah didn't not practically engage in any corruption as your vice president Mahamadu Bawumia and other appointees are seriously doing now, but then she was fired by president John Mahama. What about you Mr incorruptible president? You are doing nothing, apart from giving macho-coughed slang speeches by threatening former public officials and ministers so that they will be silent about the corruption taking place in your administration right from the vice president office to the deputy ministers.

If former president John Mahama could fire someone as a deputy minister based on the person's voice about a possibility of corruption rather than actions than you as the current president is million miles far from protecting our national purse.

As a matter of fact, Mr President Akufo Addo, no Ghanaian would become unconcerned and allow you to drag former government officials to court while your own vice president Mahamudu Bawamia has been involved in GhanaPost GPS app corruption and remains untouchable, while your own Minister of Finance, Ken offori Ata, has been involved in $2.25 billion bond corruption and remains untouchable, while your Minister of Energy, Boakye Ayarko and Alfred Obey (as the BOST CEO) have been involved in selling contaminated fuel to unlicensed companies corruption and remain untouchable.

Not only that, Ghanaians would not allow you to drag any former public official to court while the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah, has been involved in seats-near-to president corruption and remains untouchable by you, Ghanaians would not allow you to drag former public officials to court while the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson, has been involved in a website design corruption remains untouchable by you.

Ghanaians would not allow you to drag former public officials to court while the Senior Minister, Osafo Maafo, has submitted a fraudulent budget for an approval remains untouchable. And Ghanaians would not allow you to drag former officials to court while your own Kennedy Agyapong has disclosed that there are many corrupt practices taking place in your administration and you don't do anything about them.

In order for you as the president to be trusted by Ghanaians in any corruption fight, you must start right from your own vice president until you get to the last person in the previous government.