Opinions of Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Columnist: Damptey, Daniel Danquah

Mills’ State of Nature agenda for Ghanaians

The recent brouhaha over the acquittal by an Accra High Court of Kwadwo Mpiani and Wireko Brobbey has brought out the worst in the NDC. Comments and utterances by top members of the party have convinced me beyond all reasonable doubts that the party is made up of a mob or human beings being kept in a ‘political zoo’ who are waiting to vent their spleen on the unsuspecting public.
These leaders of the party, who some few years ago, were sheep have now mutated to rabid dogs and ravening wolves and are waiting for the signal to unleash their fangs at their unfortunate victims. The baying, snarling and bawling of these ‘rabid dogs’ of the NDC led by the unrepentant and disrespectful Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa are enough to send shivers down the spines of their unfortunate victims and send them to their early graves. I believe the expression ‘notorious Satanist’ by Michael Baigent aptly fits Okudzeto Ablakwa, who on becoming Deputy Minister of Information threw all courtesies to the winds and started behaving as if he were the master of all that he surveyed. But I do not blame him. I blame the Government which appointed him to such a sensitive position. It is only under this clueless Mills regime that we can have the leader of a student union who was repudiated by the very student body he was leading appointed a Deputy Minister of the ruling government. It is only under this myopic Mills administration which cannot see beyond its nose that we can have Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as the Deputy Image Maker of the ruling Government. It is only under this visionless Mills administration that we can have someone who has never worked to earn an income {to see the stress and difficulties ordinary workers go through} being appointed a member of the ruling government and quickly dispatched to the United States on a shopping spree. No doubt, the founder of the party described the administration as a sleeping and docile volcano. These are not the exact words ex-President Rawlings used to describe his administration, but they all connote the same idea. But like the equivocator in ‘Macbeth’ who used deceit to get to the top but could not equivocate to heaven, so will it be in Okudzeto’s case. He, who seeks the downfall of others, will have destruction waiting for him at the point of success. This is the Golden Rule, and the earlier Okudzeto Ablakwa came to terms with that, the better it would be for him and the Mills administration. He used lies, deceit, back biting and under-current tactics to get to the top and must be prepared to face the wrath of those he has destroyed when his cup is full. Okudzeto used unorthodox methods to reach the apogee of student union governance and what happened to him should be an eye-opener to those who would like to thread the same path. It appears that he, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa had not imbibed the essence of courtesy and humility. He should be careful on the use of derogatory words when he refers to his ‘betters’. He should always remember that power is transient and the very people he is insulting today will tomorrow be at the helms of affairs. The Holy Books speak against arrogance and advise us to be humble. But Okudzeto Ablakwa, because today he is occupying such a very sensitive position thinks he is all in all and so can do his masters’ will by insulting his elders. He and others like Anita de Souza, John Abu Jinapor, Omane Boamah, Inusa Fuseini, Nii Lante Vanderpuje, Kobby Acheampong, Richard Quashiga and Hanna Bissiw, to mention but just a few think they are very powerful than even their Creator and so have turned the country into their private property as they spew forth disgusting, distasteful and reckless utterances in the print media and on the air waves against their political enemies.
Jeremiah 5:28 warns such people “They have grown fat, they are sleek; yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not plead the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper. And the right of the needy, they do not defend”.
The Law is not an Ass: The Constitution supercedes every other law in the country. A Clause in The Constitution makes it abundantly clear that a Presidential Commission has the powers of a high court. There is also the Auditor General’s report. The President had the option of following due process by allowing the Auditor General’s report to go to the Public Accounts Committee. The President chose the former, thus waiving the state’s right to criminal prosecution. This is stated in clear unmistaken terms in the Constitution and the earlier the ‘illiterate’ historical ignoramus Anita de Sousa came to terms with that the better it would be for her and her party crooks.
Blinded by mere hatred and the baying for the blood of their political opponents, the NDC ravening wolves, disguised as friends of the friendless resorted to the worst form of propaganda and inquisition, worst than what happened during Hitler’s Germany, the Gulf War, the Biafra War and Russia under Stalin and Lenin. Their ‘trial’ even though was supposed to be an investigation was televised live on television and beamed across all the continents of the world. The two victims thus became an endangered species and were subjected to the worst form of indignation that any human being could go through. Should we not submit that he who authorized the beaming of the trial live on GTV should not be given an award for commonsense but rather be charged for causing financial loss to the state. Can you imagine the amount of revenue that could have accrued to the coffers of GTV if the transmission of such inquisition had not interrupted scheduled programmes?
And what was their crime? The Committee could only come up with the charge of spending above the approved budget. The Committee whose membership came from the ‘core NDC’ did not accuse any of the two of enrichment, looting or personal aggrandizement. Wherein therefore lies the allegation of looting?
Their own committee did not say that Wireko Brobbey or Kwadwo Mpiani had ‘chopped’ state money as the NDC members are chopping with both their hands and legs. So the charge of looting does not arise and unless we are in the lowest animal kingdom where might is supreme, those vilifying the Judge for the judgement should bow down their heads in shame. What they are suggesting could only be possible if we were to be reduced to the level of beasts. No sane human being will fault the judgement. It is only animals who have no regard for human life and value that will fault the judgement. The Judge based his judgement on a clause in the constitution and I see nothing wrong with that. Is the Constitution not clear on that? Double jeopardy is frowned at by the Constitution. I say, and I repeat that if the NDC hauls back Kwadwo Mpiani and Wireko Brobbey to the courts, then they are behaving like animals and must cease to be
The fact of the matter is that, the NDC, in their zeal to suck the blood of their NPP political opponents, they did not do their homework well and rushed through due process. In the process the got their fingers ‘quenched’.
The illogical arguments made by Anita de Souza do not portray her as somebody with a deep sense of political maturity, independence and thinking. She said they know some judges who were ‘pro NPP’ and called on the President to remove them. She claimed the judges were thwarting the efforts of the NDC government to prosecute NPP appointees who were perceived to be corrupt. Anita is a naïve of a politician to have come up with such a proposition. She could not come out with any concrete ‘sin’ of looting by the two. She alleges perceived corruption. How could you crucify a human being on perception? Anita should also answer this question” Who appointed Justice Henrietta Abban? Who jailed Tsatsu Tsikata? Henrietta Abban! And she was appointed by Rawlings. Does that make Henrietta Abban a’pro NDC’? Anita se Souza should know her stuff well before she comes out with her childish, useless and illogical arguments to hoodwink Ghanaians.
Procedural Errors: Now the NDC talks about procedural errors. But the Anita de Souzas, the Okudzeto Ablakwas, the Omane Boamahs, the Inusa Fuseinis, the Kobby Acheampongs, the Richard Quarshigas, the Nii Lante Vanderpujes, the Hannah Bissiw, the John Abu Jinapors and others should not forget that it was such procedural errors that the NDC used to justify and legitimize some of their bizarre actions like locking Kufuour out of the office that he had allocated to himself. They claimed that Kufuor ought to have obtained approval; from the presidency before occupying the office. There is enough evidence that the office of the former President had written officially to request permission for the use of the facility, but because he did not wait for official authorization the facility was seized from him.
The National Democratic Congress should be told in unmistaken terms that the era of the ‘gra-gra’, ‘patapaasem’ ‘akakabensem’, ‘atuturuasem’ are gone and gone forever. They cannot be found in the dictionaries of decent, cultured and civilized nations. And unless they want to take us back to such an era, they must be prepared to allow the rule of law to prevail. They could only take us back to the days of Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar if they were to kill some of us who are ready to defend the gains of our democracy with the last atom of our blood. We are a determined people and no pushovers.
Vision 2012 is now in earnest and the cleansing mission of the country had started under the dynamic leadership of our indefatigable and inspiring leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.

Daniel Danquah Damptey [DANIELDANQUAH_DAMPTEY@YAHOO.COM]