…… Good news.

Hoping this marks a turn-around for Ghana and the World Bank (WB), that the World Bank will cease plopping up corrupt, unaccountable regimes in Ghana and in Africa, in general. Yes, let them pass the FOI bill before any further loans. After all, it is lousy economics for a debtor to be ignorant of who got the loan, when, how much, why, when it is they who must pay back the loan to the WB long after the politician who actually took the money is gone. We are all watching the WB and the Mills administration. A weak FOI bill will certainly not constitute compliance with those WB conditions…(Prof Lungu, Ghanaweb, 24 June 09).

Recent news about the World Bank is refreshing – that among conditions for new loans are requirements for enactment of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill and reform of the public sector in Ghana. We are in total agreement! Also uplifting are the Mills decisions regarding the Alhaji Muntaka affair. They are at once bold, active, rocking resolutions and commands : Resignations, Refunds, Audit of all 2001 – 2009 Youth Sport affairs, and Interdictions to boot!

Fact still remains that daily, a lot of people are getting disappointed with the Mills administration. They wonder if the President is being aggressive enough in reforming the largesse and pointless expenses the people are bearing as they support a few well-placed people at the top. If the Chinery-Hesse report and its price tag of $15-plus million was such a lousy, wasteful, and ethically-indefensible recommendation, why must it take over 6 months to show the people the sustainable road to payment of reasonable governmental obligations? They wonder whether the dud in the Constitution is telling Prof. Mills that an MP deserves a BMW, a Jaguar, a Mercedes, or a $50,000 loan.

Relatedly, telling the people that you won’t ask for per diems for overseas travel (because your expenses are the responsibility of other governments), therefore, your colleagues must forgo per diems in the name of probity is not public policy. If any thing, it demonstrates a certain amount of crass lack of knowledge about properly managing people and compensating them for doing a good job. Per diems, after all, are meant to compensate employees for reasonable expenses incurred while on “approved” official travel. As executive, the key is to make sure there are no Kufour-type needless travels, that travel expenses are reasonable and do not compensate people at the highest-price levels in the local economy. That, we must say, would be public policy.

It is very difficult to understand why travel from Accra to Kumasi to watch a soccer game, a 170 mile event, would cost Ghanaian tax payers $2000 or even $1200 in per diem alone for one individual. Our sense is, it would not cost as much if we were the head of the US Department of Homeland Security managing a $50 billion budget, and we travelled from Washington DC to New York City, a 225-mile event. In fact, current US State Department data for per diems for Accra and Kumasi are $308 and $132, respectively.

Consider next $50,000 loans for 250-plus odd MPs that have so many people more than peeved in the Mills administration. One would think that Chinery-Hesse herself conducted a faux Constitutional-requirement cum cost-benefit analysis and shoved it in the face of Prof. Mills. In the first place, we would expect that a prudent and thrifty government would order vehicles using standard, sustainability criteria: purpose, efficiency, impact on the environment/pollution, cost, maintainability, fuel mileage, re-sale value, and warranty, etc. And if you began to use those criteria consistently as policy, you would never be in the business of purchasing BMW, Jaguars, and Mercedes for public servants, there would be no complaints from reasonable people, and there would certainly be no reason to suggest Ghanaian MPs deserve $50,000 “car” loans. How about that too, for public policy!

On the same topic, why can’t we expect that a 2-year old car imported by the government with scares loans/foreign exchange will not still be under manufacturer’s bumper-to-bumper warranty, when those cars have not even began to fully depreciate in “low-vehicle-mileage” Ghana? Besides, cost for new vehicles includes cost for warranties. This suggests to us the government ought to quickly investigate and inform the people that no persons are benefiting illegally from manufacturer warranties on new vehicles imported by the government.

And if we must import vehicles, how about dealer “Certified Used Cars” that are practically just as new, either have full manufacturer warranty (or drive-train warranty), and are typically less than 4 years old? Why not import those cheaper, low-mileage vehicles? After all, is it not the case that the biggest expense on a car occurs when you foolishly sign your name to the brand new car and drive it off the automobile lot the first time and put it on a boat to send Tema, suffering almost 25% depreciation on that very eventful day? Foolish you, you say!

ITEM: We live in Japan and have lived in other countries too. At present in Japan, you can buy the best made cars in the world – Toyota, Nissan, Honda - easily for $28,000 each, brand-spanking new. But the vast majority of cars on the roads in Tokyo are 3-6 years old, with an average price of $10,000. In fact, we have a $1,600 1994 Toyota Aristo (Lexus) that is in top-running condition, looks good, and has been driven over 105,000 kilometers. Trust us, Ghanaian tax payers deserve better in “low-vehicle-mileage-Ghana” and officials can do better if they PUBLISH and SHARE INFORMATION!

Fortunately, on Ghanaweb, JOYFM and other media, the record shows that many people have taken time to express their total outrage and contempt over the $50,000 car loans. They worry that Prof. Mills has not bothered to provide a status report of existing loan programs, of missing cars, of looted properties? They worry that Prof Mills has not told the people who owes what, how much, and for how long? They are concerned that Prof. Mills is piling up governmental largess to the exclusive benefit of a few individual called MPs like Bagbin, Ayariga, Sekyi-Hughes, Kufour, Muntaka, and other.

We are with all of those people!

We must ask Prof Mills what was his take-away from the UK when you visited Mr. Brown? Does the Professor know that the people who paid his London expenses are now reforming their own per diem process and procedures? Does he know that since he left London British MPs have refunded almost $830,000 back to British tax payers for unlawful or otherwise ethically-challenged Alhaji-Muntaka-type claims. Yes they have. And that is because several citizens stood up on/with the spirit of the UK FREEDOM OF INFORMATION law and provided details about all plunder by MPs to a media organization that cared to publish and committed to defending the whistle-blower?

So what else are you going to do, Professor?

Are you going to preside over yet another plunder of Ghana’s resources by a few while hospitals stay bare or are non-existent, while highways and roads remain death traps, while schools for young girls and boys lack toilets and permanent buildings, while your streets are unnamed/unsignalized/unorganized, while your highways have no toilets or rest stops, while thousands of eligible students sit at home because public universities have no facilities, while children in primary schools have no access to computers in this global/digital/information age, while “favored-MPs collect $50,000 car loans before they know how to use a fax machine?

Where is the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill and why is a $50,000 car loan a higher priority?

© 26 June, 2009. Prof Lungu, Tokyo, Japan.

Prof Lungu – Powered by www.GhanaHero.com. Prof Lungu – Ghana-centered, Ghana-Proud, Always