President Kufour's Jumping Heart

By Ekua Kwansema

It was reported in the Ghanaian Times that President Kufour’s heart jumped when he heard about the misappropriation of funds at the University of Development Studies (UDS). It is heartwarming to read that finally the president’s heart has started jumping at the mention of corruption in certain institutions.

But I Ekua has a problem with the president’s jumping heart.. If indeed the president’s heart has been jumping any time corruption is reported elsewhere in Ghana, I guess the pace of his heart would beat the speed with which Usain Bolt used in winning the 100 meters of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Ever since President Kufour took office, there have been series of corruption cases reported again certain officials in his government both by the media and individuals. But the usual reaction by President Kufour has been, “If you have evidence, go to the police”. So why did his heart jump this time, when all he could have done after reading the evidence of corruption at UDS, was to ask those with the evidence to go to the police. It would have saved Ghanaians from worrying about the president’s heart.

I have some few nagging questions, so I guess President Kufour would be the best person to assist me in connecting the dots after his heart cools down. My first question is; did President Kufour’s heart jump when seized drugs at the police lab later turned into “Kokonte” powder?

I would also like to know how many times did President Kufour’s heart jump when Osafo-Maafo as a finance minister attempted to defraud Ghana by trying to secure two loans from highly suspicious sources in the United States and Britain?

Mr. President, what was the rate of your heartbeat when Kwamena Bartels used his position to channel loans to a bogus company formed by his daughters?

I am at this point wondering if President Kufour felt anything in his heart when his best pal Richard Anane, who was attending an AIDS conference as a Minister of Health ended up making two babies with one of the conference attendees.

I am also a bit curious to know if there were any paramedics around who checked the condition of the president’s heart when Mr. Bamba, whose office happened to be in the Castle, Osu, was caught doing fraudulent visa deals.

The NPP party believes in the rule of law. As to whether they believe in Ghana is another topic I would comment on another time. With the party believing in the rule of law, the last thing anybody would want to see or hear is an official of the party taking the law into his own hands to embarrass the party. Yet it happened again and again. I am talking about Mr. Adumadze the former Central Regional Minister who became a law unto himself, beat taxi drivers and seized their vehicles without any reprimand from the President Kufour. I don’t know the condition of the president's heart at that time. Somebody tell me.

Mr. President, if indeed your heart really jumps when you hear about corruption and you had acted promptly to stamp it out, Ghanaians would have regarded you as a hero, and Akufo-Addo would be preparing his swearing-in speech today.

The truth is your heart has never jumped, but you have always turned your eyes the other way when members of your party are involved in corruption. To me it’s not wrong to punish members of your own party for their misbehaviour to serve as a deterrent to others..

But just like President Bush of the United States, who feels like admitting a mistake is a sign of weakness, you felt like outing or punishing NPP officials involved in corrupt practices would make your party weak in the eyes of Ghanaians.

The result is what we see today. Your inaction has rather made your party look bad in the eyes of Ghanaians. Is it therefore any wonder when people keep asking questions like; what happened to the NPP women who were arrested for attempted drug smuggling at the Kotoka International Airport, what happened to the missing cocaine in MV Benjamin, what happened to the people who murdered 42 members of the Andani family? And many more questions. The list is unending.

Mr. President Kufour, I would at this time urge you to ponder over the harm that you have caused not only to Ghanaians, but also to your own party. If your part goes down, which I believe they will, during the upcoming presidential run-off, your party members would forever blame you. If NPP loses, your party members would conclude that your heart stopped jumping immediately you entered the Castle and saw and tasted all the goodies.

ekwansema@yahoo.com