Opinions of Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Columnist: Bonsu, Justice

The “Kyeimania” In Ghanaian Politics

Once upon a time, one by one the stars faded into the light of the morning and the rising sun restored to objects their true outline. Indeed, the true nature of Hon. KYEIMANIA can now be seen with all clarity. Anyone who mentions his name can be assured of a belligerent and bellicose attack and would therefore prefer to whimsically and capriciously whisper his name in the ear. Okomfo Kwadee says in Akan that, “mi ni hwan ka se Okomfo si koo? , Okomfo yi ekom dadaa ” which literally means that, “who am I to say this “priest” has red teeth when the priest is already chanting”.

As a young indigene of Abusua-Krowa Maakro in the Suame Constituency, I used to be proud of the Member of Parliament of my Constituency. Having chalked individual successes as a Professional Urban Designer and equally distinguished himself as an intelligent legislator since 1997 and had maintained his seat ever since, I was engulfed with rapture when he became the MINORITY LEADER of Parliament on 7th January, 2009. Being the third-term Member of Parliament to represent the Suame Constituency, I thought rising through the ranks in parliament would bring my constituency into the limelight but to my dismay, he is now an epitome of impunity, hypocrisy, verbosity, and all the disappointing vices one can ever publish in this feature.

Hon. Kyeimania used to be my role model, but taking cognizance of my CATHOLIC teachings, I wouldn’t want to have a role model who is losing his values because of politics. Taking the ancient admonition explicitly captured in PROVERBS 11:2 of the Bible that: “WHEN PRIDE COMETH, THEN COMETH SHAME BUT WITH THE LOWLY IS WISDOM”, I am not only ashamed for his current public lifestyle and utterances but for voting for him. I wish to at this juncture apologize for failing the indigenes of Suame when I decided to vote for him, though impunity and hypocrisy was glaring and the signs were on the wall.

I shall at this point in time delve into memory lane and reminisce with regret the various disappointing roles played by Hon. Kyeimania as a legislator at the expense of the tax payer and those of us he represents.

Even though Amoateng had been busted in the US for drug trafficking, Hon. Kyeimania still thought the drug baron still deserved to be paid a salary. This criminality continued for years at the expense of the tax payer.

As a majority Chief whip, he strongly advocated for the Ghanaian Government to contract a US$5 billion ‘IFC’ loan from a hairdresser’s salon on the Hammersmith Road in London. Considering his entrenched posture and demeanour in this quagmire, questions were raised about the integrity of this man. Even when it was crystal clear that, this was going to be a shoddy deal, this man was still resolute and together with his cronies and conspirators almost bamboozled the whole of the nation into this preposterous act. He was so belligerent and bellicose about the whole deal to the extent that I was wandering if he was a shareholder in the salon.

Hon. Kyeimania still occupied that same office when the CNTCI loan deal was almost finalised! In his usual arrogant manner, he was defiant about the whole deal.

Through his mischievous machinations, Hon. Kyeimania became the Chairman of the Parliamentary Service Board which was to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the allegations into the STATE LOOTING of Begyina Sekyi-Hughes. In his usual characteristic, the report got leaked into the public domain before it was due for public discourse and information. This was not surprising since the previous instances attest to his blatant disregard for due diligence. With arbitrariness and arrogance, he leads the Parliamentary Service Board into granting themselves with PROSECUTORIAL POWERS.

After leaking the REPORT, he hypocritically jumps from one radio station to another, defending the Ex- Speaker in a whimsical and capricious way. With allusion to his unflinching advocacy for AMOATENG to be paid his salary even though the drug baron was still in jail, it must be conclusively stated that this man would always support all acts of corruption. With verbosity he wouldn’t allow anyone to comment on the issue. In fact, try talking about the Ex-Speaker and the supposed Honourable Member Of Parliament shall with verbose sarcasm unleash vituperation and vilification on you. Fellow Ghanaians, don’t be surprised about HON. KYEIMANIA’s attitude. In fact the role he played in sneaking the CHINERY-HESSE report in and out of PARLIAMENT speaks volume of how mischievous and malicious he is. This happened during his days as the Majority leader of Parliament and Minister of State at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. His orchestrations and machinations gave birth to the “EX- GRATIA SCANDAL”. Today, he still has the guts to defend the Ex-Speaker.

Fellow Ghanaians, we thank God for the intervention of brave Government officials like Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah, who defied all odds to give an ultimatum to those Ex-Ministers who were in possession of state cars. I had the shock of my life to hear that the Minority Leader of Parliament was also keeping one of the state cars. I was shocked this man pretended he didn’t know what amounted to theft and almost stole the “507 Peugeot” car. Indeed, Hon. Kyeimania and his cronies must be charged for wilfully causing a financial loss to the state since the value that the state would have derived if they had returned the car (s) earlier had been lost. It is surprising this man together with the Ex-Speaker and colleagues would still want an EX- GRATIA award. Despite having all these cobwebs in his cupboard, Hon. Kyeimania had the temerity to lead a campaign against the Ministerial nomination of Alhaji Mumuni and Mr. Fiifi Kwettey. An act which though proved futile, kept me bewildered since I consider it unfathomable if someone like Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu will support the likes of Eric Amoateng, Sekyi-Hughes, Osafo Marfo (in the CNTCI and the IFC) loan but will adopt such an uncompromising posture against Alhaji Mumuni and Mr. Fiifi Kwettey.

Today, we the people of SUAME CONSTISTUENCY are increasingly getting worried about the attitude of our MP. Even though he represents us in parliament, we would want to tell the whole world that the people of Suame are people of sound moral conscience who wouldn’t want to associate ourselves to this disappointing MP. Our roads are untarred, our parents are unemployed, there is abject poverty in Suame and all that he does is to stay in Accra and do all the bogus BIGIGACITY. Hon. Kyeimania, though has been in Parliament since 1997 and occupied various significant portfolios in the Chamber of Parliament ever since, fame came his way when the Appointment Committee of Parliament (Deputy Chair of Parliament’s Appointments Committee had the task of vetting the Ministerial nominees of the President of the Republic Of Ghana. As the Deputy Chair of the Appointments Committee, his “malapropism” and verbosity as well as his critical questions endeared for himself many admirers. He is noted for using words such as “bogus”, “bellicose”, “belligerent”, “whimsical”, “capricious”, etc.

This sudden fame has now gotten into his head and now, he has a bloated ego. During the vetting session, he took all the time in the world to ask his questions and probably saw himself as the Chairman. This power drunk and quick-tempered Deputy Chairman was harsh towards the nominees and at certain stages abused them. As if that was not enough, this man would do anything to challenge the Chairman and when he is not satisfied, he gets annoyed, uses words such as “bogus, whimsical and capricious” and then stages a walk out. His utterances over the airwaves is the least to be desired of a Hon. member worth his ego and credentials. The Kyeimania syndrome must stop now since public officials must learn to leave above reproach. My greatest worry however is about the rippling effect of the actions and inactions of the MP who is supposed to represent us in the prestigious HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT. I pray HON. KYEIMANIA turns over new leaf and be more circumspective in his approach to national issues.

GOD BLESS US ALL

BY: JUSTICE BONSU Email: shevrock23@yahoo.com