Opinions of Monday, 11 January 2016

Columnist: Daily Guide

Sick and tired of the opulence and greed!

I feel very refreshed after a very sound sleep last night, so I cannot claim to be tired. I’ve also been strong and healthy ever since I had a cure for my osteoarthritis, so I cannot claim to be sick. But the truth is that I’m very sick and tired of the opulence of the Opana government and the insatiable appetite of the greedy bastards.

To say I’m angry is an understatement. I’m so angry that I can use my fist to break a 6-inch block without feeling any pain. But I would try to control my anger so as not to make my tongue lose control.

The source of my anger is not far-fetched. If you live in a country where you struggle to make ends meets due to bad economic management, then you would be livid when you see state cowries being splashed on frivolities. You would even be more livid when your cries and complaint are rubbished and treated with contempt by corrupt officials.

We woke up last week to be greeted by the news of a 27% increment in the price of fuel. The huge increase came as a surprise to me and my compatriots because the price of fuel on the international market is at an all-time low. It therefore defies common sense that fuel prices could be pegged so high.

The fuel increase came at the heels of an astronomical increase in electricity bills. What this means is that the average bloke in the country would be compelled to spend about 50% more with the same income.

You see, the ‘waton kyini’ truck is not called bone-shaker for nothing. It is indeed a truck that shakes bones. Only a man who rides in a bone-shaker on a very bumpy road knows the ordeal he goes through. Such a man would feel insulted if someone told him it was a very comfortable ride. Why? The reason is very simple: A ride aboard a bone-shaker is anything but comfortable.

It is no secret that some officials of the Opana government colluded with Woyome to siphon cowries in the name of judgment debt. Despite an order from the highest court of the land for him to refund the cowries, the greedy bastard has refused and is still walking free. Do you know why? The man will spill the beans if he is pushed to the wall.

Last Saturday I watched a documentary on the sad SADA saga by Manasseh Azure Awuni on Joy News and I could not help but weep for this country. Yes, I wept! How such wanton thievery was allowed to go unpunished still beats my imagination. Whopping 15million cowries were wasted on the guinea fowl project and the architect of the wastage was rather applauded. Not to talk of the cowries he wasted on the phantom tree planting project. Millions of cowries down the drain!

I laughed to tears when I heard President Opana compare his government to that of Dr Okro last Saturday. What he fails to realize is that Dr Okro was neither greedy nor corrupt. Dr Okro’s government did not inflate the prices of projects, so the country got value for money.

. Can same be said of Opana’s government? Certainly, NO! The shameful MMT buses re-branding saga and the messy AMERI deal, in which the country was short-changed to the tune of $290million, have confirmed what we suspected all along. It has now been confirmed that Opana’s government inflates the prices of projects in order to line their pockets.

This country is yet to see the end of opulence and the gluttony of the greedy bastards. In 2012, we saw the free distribution of Opana-branded laptops. How many laptops they shared and what the unit price was, we were not told. Isn’t that a perfect way to siphon cowries?

In 2012, 2013 and 2014 budgets, huge cowries were set aside for ‘capacity building’. We are yet to know whose capacity was built with those huge cowries. For sure, this is pure looting in the name of capacity building!

The word in vogue for the greedy bastards is ‘branding’. The year 2015 saw the branding of buses, chocolates and Christmas cards. We now know that the branding of the buses was inflated by 1.9million cowries. If I may ask; how much did we splash on the branding of the chocolates and the Christmas cards? And how much of the total amount was used in lining people’s pockets?

Efo Seth Tekper recently told Parliament that over 1.6million cowries were spent on the free distribution of 10,000 solar lamps. We do not know the unit cost and who the recipients were. Once again, cowries down the drain!

We are again being told the government would spend huge cowries on decoders for ‘poor’ folks when the digital migration eventual takes off. Who are the poor folks and what criteria do they use in determining one’s level of poverty? Clearly, this is just another ‘create, loot and share’ scheme.

It seems to me a great misfortune for this country that persons with such trait could be at the helm of affairs. It is even a greater misfortune that we still have a section of the populace which does not mind retaining such characters in power. It’s a great pity!

See you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente!