Ghanaians were surprise when the shocking news of Expatriates who work in Ghana were charged $100, 000 to sit on the same table with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards 2017.

This disgraceful and despicable conduct of the Ministry of Trade and Industry came to public light when it was revealed in Parliament by Muntaka Mubarak, Honorable Member of Parliament for Asawase. Ever since this scandalous information came out the ministry, the presidency and the organizers of the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards 2017 had tried desperately to explain why Ghanaians must not believe that the accessibility of our president depends on your ability to pay and he who bids highest is given the slot.

It is imperative to emphasis that t the presidency through Eugene Arhin has denied having knowledge about any payment and that the president had queried Mr. Alan Kyeremateng to provide him with further and better particulars of the $100,000 payment allegation. The Presidency having done the needful by acting Pontus Pilate, one would have expected that government officials and communicators would conduct themselves in a manner that would further not muddy the already murky waters but far from that, the conduct of the deputy minister of trade and industry is nauseating to say the least in this whole mess and it further give credence to the believe the whole thing was schemed by the government.

Whilst we give the presidency the benefit of the doubt in their denial of having knowledge about this shameful fees collected from people who sat close to the president at the event, we the citizen are curious to know how the protocol works at the presidency. Is the presidency saying that the president including his vice would attend a function and the security would not be interested to know the kind of people that would sit close to the president?

Is the presidency telling us that they had no advance knowledge of the background of the personalities that would sit close to the president and the reasons why the organizers have selected those personalities to sit close to the president? If the presidency did not have this information then our president is not safe and his security is very porous. This is because the person sitting close to the president could be a terrorist, a drug baron, a mafia etc and this exposes the vulnerability of our presidency.

However, if the presidency was briefed on the questions asked in supra then their denial of the allegation through Eugene Arhin is not satisfactory especially when similar allegation has been made in the past that people are being charged $20,000 before they could have access to the president. Whilst I believe Our president have no idea of this wanton behavior of the organizers and the trade ministry I still have my doubt that the handlers of the president were not aware.

Our president must watch those around him because whilst he may not be corrupt unknowingly some of his appointees may be corrupt. Whilst the president might have the best of intentions, not everyone at the presidency has the nation at heart and these selfish people care-less about his brand and reputation and their corrupt nature makes them vulnerable to money inducement. The president must watch out because the back stop with him, all the people around him draws their mandate from him and he must commence cracking the whip.

The explanation by the Millennium Excellence Foundation (MEF) President Ashim Morton that the use of “president” in the $100,000 offer made to expatriates for a reserved seat was in reference to him and not president Akufo-Addo sounds eccentric and any further interrogation leads to absurdity. If he is doing damage control then he has goofed because we the citizens are not so gullible to believe such puerile explanation.

The big question is when Mr. Morton became certain that he would be relinquishing his seat to President Akuffo Addo did he communicate same to the Expats and did he also informed the presidency that he has charged people $100,000k to sit close to him. This proposition is clearly an afterthought which has further complicated issues.

Mr. Morton like a typical businessman took advantage of the situation to make money from the president’s reputation and he carefully planned it with corrupt officers at the ministry of trade and industry who thought this repugnant act could have been covertly carried out without the citizens ever knowing it. Thanks to Mr. Muntaka Mubarak for being responsible minority member in our democracy and if the rest of his colleagues would play their role well as minority our democracy would be strengthened.

As for the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah, the least said about his conduct the better. He chose to engage in personality attack instead of addressing the issue. The minority has rather conducted themselves very well ever since this issue came up rather it is the government who is accountable to the people that are misbehaving.

We the citizens would want to know the explanation the trade minister gave to the president and it would be in the interest of the government to make public the truth in this allegation.

Yours truly,

A citizen not a Spectator