Tony Aidoo: Who The Hell Is Akufo-Addo To Warn Prez Mills?

Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency, Dr. Tony Aidoo, has questioned the temerity of Nana Akufo-Addo, flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to issue a warning to President Mills against collateralizing the nation’s expected revenue to be derived from the recently discovered oil.

On Thursday, 9th December 2010, Parliament voted to amend Clause 5 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill after the House failed to come to a consensus over the clause. The controversial Clause 5 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill which initially stated that future revenues from oil could not be collateralized, has been amended, meaning the state can now use the future revenues from the oil as collateral in accessing loans.

When the issue was put to a vote after a long tortuous debate, the Majority won by 97 votes as against the Minority's 87.

In an address delivered at a colourful ceremony on Wednesday night December 15, to honour former President John Agyekum Kufuor for his achievements whilst in office, the opposition leader warned of dire consequences for the Ghanaian economy if the amendment is not reversed or blocked by the Mills administration.

It was Nana Addo’s first public comment on the controversial amendment which received Parliamentary approval on Friday December 10.

But Dr. Tony Aidoo believes the NPP Flagbearer had no right to warn President Mills and overstepped the boundaries of propriety by issuing a warning instead of advising, adding that such attitude clearly defines how fascist the Danquah-Busia party is.

“The word warning is very very annoying. You are not even advising, you are warning! And the fact that you are warning indicates that they have the belief and the attitude that the wealth of this country belongs to them. The history of the NPP Danquah-Busia…political tradition,….is a history of fascism in Africa. A fascist political tradition believes that the organs of the state and the resources of the state belong to the privileged few and they should have unfettered right to determine how political power and the resources of the nation should be used. And…Akufo-Addo’s warning is clear indication of that kind of attitude,” he stated.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji programme, the one-time University Lecturer, who was emphatic that ‘collateralization will definitely come’, counseled President Mills against listening to such comments from the opposition since it will not auger well for his government.

“President Mills will depart from collateralization at the risk of his government. If he listens to these people and back out, I’m telling you that he’ll have a whole lot of problems from now on regarding how his government manages to survive,” Dr. Tony Aidoo said.

Still arguing for collateralization, he described as incredible, comments by Dr. Akoto Osei, a former Deputy Minister of Finance in the Kufuor administration, that as a result of re-basing of the economy, domestic revenue now represents a very negligible part of government expenditure. He accused the NPP of burdening the country with debts in excess of 90 trillion old Ghana cedis, despite raising domestic revenue through taxes to the tune of 208 Trillion Old Ghana cedis.

“For the eight years that the NPP was in power, they raised domestic revenue through taxes to the tune of 208 Trillion Old Ghana cedis, that compares with the 20 Trillion Ghana cedis raised by the NDC from 1992-2000. And yet, they borrowed!...208 Trillion Ghana cedis in revenue, over 5billion in HIPC benefits, 4.3billion in debt forgiveness and yet they borrowed!...And in the end they left a debt burden. They disputed this, they say it was 85 and I say it was above 90 trillion old Ghana cedis in the national debt stock,” Tony Aidoo said.

To him, the NPP’s suggestion that part of the oil revenue should be set aside and placed in a ‘Heritage Fund’ is just a ruse to ‘steal,’ as they (NPP) did during their eight years in governance.

“…these people are saying, go and put the money in some so-called “Heritage Fund”, and the heritage fund will earn what 2% of interest…No, it is not the 2% that they want. It is the opportunity for them to come back and steal the money…through chronic capitalism which they have practiced and everybody know they practiced for the 8 years of their governance of this country,” he screamed.

The former Deputy Defence Minister in the erstwhile Rawlings-led regime then derisively indicated that the NPP Flagbearer is ‘agitated’ because he sees their ‘golden goose disappearing’.

“It is disappearing into the welfare of the mass of the people rather than it is being retained for the benefit of the Minority parasitical elite,” he added.