Editorial: OF HUMBUGGERY AND ASSETS

The statement made by Jerry John Rawlings reminding his appointees of their asset declaration obligations only reveals a veritable dishonest character of Rawlings, just as it exposes a conspiracy by him and his gangsters to rape this nation.

Examined closely, the statement seems to take Ghanaians for nursery kids who would smile approvingly on anything just because they don't understand it. Otherwise one would have expected Rawlings to credit Ghanaians with at least some common sense to know that public officers are under constitutional obligation to declare their assets in the first place upon taking office, and again, four years thereafter.

Perhaps, Rawlings could have credited Ghanaians with some little sense of memory that he and his appointees declared their assets alright, and these were published in the government gazette. And, that little sense of memory must be enough to remind Ghanaians, that he Rawlings and his appointees declared next to nothing as their assets to deceive Ghanaians.

Indeed, Ghanaians are knowledgeable enough to know that the essence of assets declaration is to provide the basis upon which the integrity of such officers of state would be judged on the day of reckoning. Yes, the day of reckoning!

By the assets declared by such appointees, it is possible to determine the extent of other assets such officers had acquired over a period, and when their legitimate income had been assessed it is possible to determine whether their additional assets had been acquired legitimately.

Now the evidence is all over the place that social wretches who stormed into the political landscape wearing "Charliewote" and in "folks" clothing, unshaven, looking dowdy, coarse, and ugly, and reeking like decaying corpses at the Korle-bu morgue, now smart the most expensive, gilded, exotic, designer wears; and the newspapers are daily full of revelations of their amassed wealth, including hotels, gold mines, factories, shops, air-crafts, estates, banks, mansions, to mention only a few.

Yet those who only yesterday counted themselves among the suffering masses and raised rabble and hatred against the wealthy, accusing them of exploiting the masses are the very people in big business today, owning mansions, hotels, helicopters, gliders, yachts, stables, speedboats, satellite dishes and basking in Jacuzzi life- styles at the expense of the very poor masses they professed to be defending.

Confronted over their assets, some of the ministers of the uncouth culture had the effrontery to show off their ill-gotten wealth. And, man, when the moment of truth comes the likes of Col. Osei Wusu and Mike Gizo would have to tell Ghanaians whether their legitimate earnings after expenditure could acquire such possessions.

But all this tell a tale of hideous paradox, a tale of deceits of the people of Ghana at a time Rawlings and his tricksters are exacting, nay, extracting the very lives out of the poor people!

And such display of affluence by a few in the midst of mass hunger and misery having aroused the anger of the people as bluntly exemplified in "Kume Preko" and "Sieme Preko", a desperate Rawlings cannot but treat unsuspecting Ghanaians to a veritable humbuggery to cover-up himself and his bandits.

Surely, in this culture of kleptocracy and dishonesty, it is surely not the intention of Rawlings to remind his appointees their genuine obligations under the constitution so far as their assets are concerned., Rawlings must be reminding his rogues the need to start thinking up clever tricks to hide their ill-gotten gains, come next year, the fourth year of decision, as they did before.

Yes, Ghanaians know Rawlings is the character who would rather protect his crooks in crime than the public interest, the infamous indemnity for his PNDC gangsters still fresh in their minds.

Indeed, if Rawlings had intended to be sincere with Ghanaians, he would have seized upon the flood of allegations of illegal acquisitions of assets against himself, his wife, and his appointees to apply the Citizens Vetting Committee (CVC) sledge-hammer which he used against others in 1982, by which the assets of many Ghanaians were confiscated. Remember how many lives were sacrificed in the holy name of illegal acquisition of property when Rawlings ran riot in 1981.

Again, if Rawlings had been minded to be sincere with Ghanaians, he would certainly have called upon the Auditor-General to publish the declared assets of his appointees, instead of calling upon him "to ensure that interested persons had access to any relevant information in completed assets declaration forms on request".

Indeed, the conspiracy by Rawlings and his crooks to plunder this nation and cover it all up with cooked-up ploys can no longer be lost on Ghanaians. The people are now very much awake and at the right time, they will strike!

Once upon a time, a minister, confronted with allegations of ill-gotten assets, he and his colleagues asked his accusers, "but are we to go and dump our moneys into the sea?"

One can hear Rawlings and his thieves posing this very question. Of course no, must be the answer, except that when the day of reckoning comes the rod which Rawlings used to punish others will be used for himself, his wife, and his gangsters. And that would not be unfair.