You are here: HomeOpinionsArticles2012 07 19Article 245080

Opinions of Thursday, 19 July 2012

Columnist: Manu, Yaw P. K.

Letter To The President

Dear Mr. President Mills
SOME TESTICULAR FORTITUDE, PLEASE!

Since you assumed office in January 2009, the issue and weight of judgments debts continue to grow around our necks, and despite the obviousness that the practice has become an avenue for your appointees to greedily enrich themselves, you have done nothing concrete to nip in the bud, this corrupt practice.
If for nothing at all Mr. President, Alfred Woyome was paid GH?52 million, Rockshell International Limited was paid $35 million, and Construction Pioneers (CP) €94 million. All these payments were made under very questionable circumstances, most of which you have admitted to. Indeed in the case of the payments made to Mr. Woyome, you explicitly stated that you were in total disagreement with the payments. You referred to the people who caused the payment to be effected as “criminally minded and irresponsible”
Mr. President, people who from all indications are scheming and fleecing the country of millions of dollars, which you know about are still walking free and performing their duties as your direct appointees. Barton-Oduro, Okudzeto-Ablakwa and Kwabena Dufuor are still around. How do we know they are still not fraudulently paying?
Mr. President, one thing you will be remembered for, when you exit after the December 7 polls, is the unprecedented level of indiscipline at the top-most level of government. It is only during your tenure as President, have we heard of Municipal, Metropolitan and District Chief Executives being chased out of office by foot soldiers of a political party of which you are leader, without any repercussions.
Mr. President Mills, it is only during your tenure in Office have we heard of people making counter-appointments to offices which you have the sole authority to do, without any repercussions. In fact, we are told that party big wigs like Prof. Ahwoi and Prof. Awoonor have snatched the power to appoint from you, yet all you do is complain.
Mr. President, your tenure in office has witnessed the fiercest political climate where school children with absolutely no experience in public service and so have no wisdom about national policy formulation, have been appointed to senior political executive positions, to spew insults at political enigmas, some of whose shoes, even you are not fit to clean the spittle from. They are being paid huge salaries just to denigrate your eventual political alternative, and for what?
For crying out loud Mr. President Mills, how can you appoint people with virtually no social or senior public service experience like Okudzeto-Ablakwa, Agyenim Boateng and Fiifi Kwetey to positions as analytically demanding as Economic Planning and Information? Fifi kwetey for instance is still in school, struggling to understand how best he can put his first degree economic knowledge into practice and yet you have appointed him to formulate economic policies that will expedite economic growth; how?
Mr. President, your political trek to the Presidency brought in its wake some interesting phrases, one of which I remember very well, is “PROFLIGATE SPENDING” which means reckless and extravagant spending. It is one thing you consistently accused President Kufuor of doing. But now Mr. President, how will you describe a trip to the United State of America with full entourage, just for a routine medical check-up minus injections or pills (treatment)? Where will you go when the time comes for treatment? Would you not describe a routine medical check up which costs the dear nation close to $1 million as profligate spending?
Mr. President, there are so many projects which you promised to execute when you became president; so many road projects, school projects, factories, irrigation schemes, boreholes, electricity, market centers, etc which you have not fulfilled. Your excuse has been lack of funds. But Mr. President, how can you ever have enough funds when all your people do is to save up our monies only to use them to pay non-existent judgment debts?
By the way do you know how much President Kufuor’s $570 million MiDa money did for Ghana? Apart from the many boreholes, schools, irrigation systems and electricity extension, the N1 Highway is a product of the package.
But with you Mr. President Mills, of the over $7billion that has so far been disbursed in Ghana since you assumed office, you have not been able to construct even half of a Flyover. Instead you have sat and watched dumbly as your appointees, lead by Okudzeto-Ablakwa, Betty Mould and Barton-Oduro continue to ruthlessly rape Ama Ghana. MY MAN! HAVE YOU NO BALLZ? Sorry.
Mr. President, because, your children, brothers, and sisters are so neck deep in “yuming” our monies, without any checks from you, they have now gone a step further to defend people bringing in frivolous claims just so that your Attorney General will enter into some fake negotiations with them, and pay them off. Now, day in day out, all we are disturbed with is warning after warning of imminent payment of huge amounts to people and companies we had no contract with, and in all this Mr. President, you say and do nothing. Mr. President, the people of Ghana respect the constitution of Ghana; they respect the office of the President. That is why we gladly spent hundreds of millions of dollars to select you as the visionary to lead us.
Mr. President, it seems your vision is burred so you are unable to see or read. At your last State of The Nation Address, I saw the font size of your speech and it was as gargantuan as a lorry’s number plate! So how do you read contracts, memos and letters? How do you scrutinize the figure on a Check before signing off our wealth?
Mr. President, it’s true that Ghana is a peaceful country, but I can assure you also that we are very angry at the way you are sitting just like that and allowing people to chop our monies left and right, and then they insult us on top with useless costly press conferences. It’s becoming too much.
Mr. President, know this: countries have been brought to their knees because of the dissipation of funds, far less than what you have allowed Woyome, Waterville, and CP, with the assistance of your appointees, to steal. Distinguished persons of this country have been murdered for borrowing far less monies.
Mr. President, all it requires is for some hot-headed person who cannot wait till December 7, to pull out some “kafu gbe” and you will see the wrath of the people that has been simmering bellow the surface. Already sentiments to that effect are growing in the rural setting of our urban population, and this is not cool, at all.
Mr. President, you were tasked, paramountly, to protect the peace and the constitution of Ghana, something I am afraid you are not doing well at all. Wanton acts of indiscipline and total disrespect of our toils from which we pay our taxes, by your appointees is really pissing us off.
Please, Mr. President, please, stand up and instill some discipline in you children. Stand up! Let us know we voted you into office; let us feel your protection as a father. Whip your children in line if you do not support their acts of irresponsibility, or is it immaturity?
FOR GHANA’S SAKE MR. PRESIDENT MILLS, PLEASE, DEVELOP SOME TESTICULAR FORTITUDE!!
Yours sincerely:
YAW P. K. MANU
PS: Are you in town?