By: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

I am not the least bit flabbergasted to hear the Senior Minister of the Akufo-Addo Administration, Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, bitterly complain about the last-minute, or eleventh-hour, signing of major contractual agreements by some key operatives of the then-outgoing Mahama regime that were scheduled to go into effect only after the executive signers/signatories of these agreements had exited from government (See “Abrogating Last-Minute Contracts Will Lead to Judgment Debts – Osafo-Maafo” Ghana News Agency / Ghanaweb.com 3/15/17).

I vividly recall that at the time that the various complaints against these bad-faith contractual agreements by the key operatives of the Mahama regime were publicly aired by some prominent members of the incoming Akufo-Addo Administration, I personally characterized this clearly unpatriotic behavior of the Mahama regime’s operatives as “scorched-earth tactics” that were meant to effectively hobble the operations of the incoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, in order to give the democratically ousted National Democratic Congress (NDC) a fighting chance in the 2020 general election.

As of this writing, Mr. Osafo-Maafo was reporting that several of these punitive and development-stalling contractual agreements had been referred to the Attorney-General’s Office for review, with the ultimate intent of having the most egregious or criminal of these contractual agreements either promptly abrogated, for being subtended by forensically provable spirit of bad faith, or renegotiated in order to synch them with the best interest of the nation. My personal response here is that the Attorney-General, Ms. Gloria Akuffo, must ensure that these bad-faith contracts are expeditiously reviewed and the necessary recommendations promptly submitted to the Flagstaff House for immediate remedial measures or actions to be taken.

The New Patriotic Party-controlled Parliament must also immediately consider enacting new laws or amending practically defective ones to ensure that members of the executive branch of government who deliberately sign contractual agreements that are proven to be inimical to the development and prosperity of the country are promptly and severely sanctioned, including the possible attachment or seizure of assets and properties belonging to these criminally minded culprits, to defray the cost of any judgment debts that may result from the present government’s efforts to rectify such acts of abject and insufferable criminality.

It also clearly appears that the Presidential Transition Law (Act 845) may need to be promptly reviewed and amended to synch with the practical realities of the times. For example, while it may sound good in theory, it practically does not make sense for any sitting government to submit handing-over notes to the Administrator-General’s Office 30 days prior to the conduct of the next general election, when the bulk of these bad-faith contracts have yet to be contracted or initialed by the executive operatives of the ruling government.

Rather, such handing-over notes, which ought to have been in preparation prior to the conduct of the next general election, ought to be scheduled to be submitted to the Administrator-General’s Office at least two weeks after the conduct of the next general election, regardless of which political party emerges victorious in the aforesaid poll, copies of which must be readily made available, upon request, by the relevant parliamentary committees for review and robust debate as deemed necessary.

By: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net

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