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Opinions of Friday, 22 April 2016

Columnist: Dabbousi, Fabi

Respond to the Panama Papers - Part II

John Mahama is Richer Than Ghana? Respond To the Panama Papers - Part II

By Fadi Dabbousi

So I was called all sorts of names, and so what? The truth can no longer be swept under the carpet as the NDC and President John Mahama would want. Let me state that news of the President's debut in the Panama Papers was broken in the media a few days ago by the 'Ghana Must Know Forum" before I wrote Part I of this topic.

However, with the recent unrelenting intimidation and harassment of opposition persons by the BNI, John Mahama believes that criticising him and his government for massive stealing and running down of the economy would be an uninviting endeavour. It seems that he does not discern the fact that the elephant's hide is tougher than he can sink his teeth in. Let us delve into the issues that have made Ghanaians so resentful of the NDC, and angrily despondent, too.

Since the first known scandal of John Mahama, the ensuing ones have smelled more and more rancid. The suspected corruption in the five Brazilian Embraer aeroplanes that he negotiated prompted the late President Professor Ata Mills to set up an investigative committee. Alas, he died under mysterious circumstances shortly after; or, as word went round, murdered! The report of the investigative committee died along with him, also. Then John Mahama was sworn in as His Excellency the new President. There are many conspiracy theories in this regard, but to have a dead President huddled up in the back of a taxi and sent to the maternity ward at the 37 Military hospital was enough to warrant an all out investigation. And so it did, but the result was kept in the archives of hell to burn the conscience of an inefficient and incompetent lot. The question mark on this calamity remains colossal. That was an event that is known as the most scandalous unsolved mystery in Ghana's neo-history.

Then SADA began to stink. Millions of Ghana Cedis vanished under the forced "Houdini" circumstances. Almost magically, the nation succumbed to the spell of a thieving bunch. To account for the disappearance of millions of cedis, the puppet of John Mahama at the helm of SADA's affairs then, Mr Idi, embezzled more and more of the tax payers' money. An investigation committee was set up to look into the rot at SADA, but sadly, Idi is still on the prowl, today, for more of the nation's money. Worst of all, such busted thieves under the cover of John Mahama are relocated to more lucrative positions, and even made ambassadors. When a thief is made to represent the President and the country, how would we be seen as a nation, especially that representatives are seen to be the mirror reflection of the represented?
Soon, numerous scandals followed suit.
Judgment debts weighed heavily on the nation like a nemesis from hell. Unabashed thieves plotted and connived to steal Ghanaians. Alfred Agnesi Woyome said he bribed the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Madam Marietta Brew Appiah, an amount of one million US Dollars, as well as other amounts to Betty Mould Iddrisu, whom the former had succeeded, and Bart Oduro. The theft involved was to the tune of fifty one million Ghana Cedis at the time the exchange rate was GHs1.6 to $1, which translated to, approximately, thirty million US Dollars.

Ernesto Taricone, the real estate magnate, was a recipient of judgment debt to an amount of over ninety million Euros, for which he had to abscond from the nation for at least two months until the heat dissipated, as with other scandals. Many instances of error judgment debts spelled disaster on this nation, sinking the economy into an abyss of distress. Incompetence, like a twister of doom suddenly loomed above, obscuring the little beam of hope that we had remaining, after the uneventful rule of late Atta Mills when the successful governance of H.E President Kufuor started dissipating. Today, this twister has become overly aggressive since the advent of John Mahama as it continues on its path of destruction.
How then are Ghanaians not going to believe the slightest news of corruption and fustian theft that makes the rounds daily, almost. Hence, reports of John Mahama's inclusion in the panama papers involving ten billion dollars is utterly believable, except that some people are wondering about the amount involved. I agree, the amount is a bit too incredible, but the statement that broke this news is credible enough. And as we await a compilation of John Mahama's accomplices from a nationalistic group of whistle blowers, we shall continue to break the codes of leeching that have debacled the nation.

Unfortunately, President Mahama goes round on an "accounting to the people tour", a subtle campaign move using the tax payers' money, saying that he has performed well and should be given four more years. In the meantime, the President's party, NDC, is neck deep in its dastardly acts of crime as revelations hit the nation hard that Asiedu Nketia is printing hundreds of thousands of Voter ID cards to rig the 2016 general elections with. Other than these wicked circumstances, Minister of Roads and Highways, Issah Fusseini, was caught on video raining money on an artiste at a party, while the National service secretariat recently bought 18 pickups for a total of three million US Dollars, which amounts to about one hundred and sixty six thousand US Dollars each. THIEVES! Mr President John Mahama, you have changed lives to the worst ever in Ghana. Shame!

Ghanaians vote kick out John Mahama and his gang. It is time for change!