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Opinions of Monday, 1 November 2010

Columnist: Prophet Micaiah

The Dangers Of Presidential Double –Speak II

PROPHETIC POLITICS

With Prophet Micaiah

The Dangers Of Presidential Double –Speak II

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for [a] his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself
( Ezekiel 3 : 17-19 NIV)
Last week we considered the sincerity temperature of our President- Ofarinyi Kwaegya Atta-Mills.
In Psalm 15:3c, the scriptures prescribes “----speaking the truth in his heart”; as one of the eleven virtues that must be pursued by anyone who may want to court and enjoy God’s blessings in all his ways. “…. Speaking the truth in his heart” could also be reduced to –Sincerity- that one must be sincere in all his dealings.
Here is a quote from last week: “A sincere person may not be a man without fault. He may not be perfect- but he at least sets off from a premise of honesty. He is always on the side of fairness and objectivity. He does not set off to deceive. His failing may just be because of his limitation as a man. He is always true to himself and to his neighbours. This quality is especially accentuated if he is a leader of any social grouping: Family, community, tribe, church, business, nation, school, etc”
The prophet then called on the President to critically observe some of his actions and utterances that border on insincerity, double-speak and even at times hypocrisy. Here is the continuation:
The President on his pre-election campaign said at Mumford in Central region that: “Because Ex President J.A Kuffour is an Asante and not a Fanti from the coast: He has neglected the fishing industry; refused to build Cold Stores along the coast; but rather built Cold Stores in Kumasi.
The fact is that the late Kutu Acheampong’s regime built some Cold Stores along some of the coatal towns and in Mumford. The PNDC/NDC sold off all of these facilities.
Secondly, the cold stores in Kumasi were built by individuals and private companies. Many of them predated Kuffour’s Presidency.
The ‘Asomdweehene’ therefore spoke a wicked lie that had a potency of fanning tribal sentiments. In fact he made several of such statements throughout his campaign.
The President claims to have turned the seat of Government into a Christian Prayer Camp.
Question: Which denomination or sect of Christianity is offering the prayers with: Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Adventist, Jehovah witness or which one? So those who do not share in his religious beliefs; what do they do at the Castle when he is praying with others?
Do all his appointees and staff- Including Dr. Tony Aidoo join him in the prayer- willingly or unwillingly? Is he imposing his religious preference on them? Is he by inference prescribing that Mumuni also turns the Foreign Ministry into an Islamic Prayer Center? And if any of his Ministers believes in Afrikania (the religion founded and funded by the PNDC); is he also permitted to build a shrine at his Ministry? And then if all subsequent Ghanaian Presidents should also turn the Presidency into their respective religious-based Prayer Centers- that is a good example the learned Christian Law-Professor is setting- right?
Our Lord Jesus Christ advised: “When you pray- enter into your closet and pay; your heavenly Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”. He offered a similar counsel for Fasting and Giving of Alms. In fact Jesus described those who do not heed this counsel as hypocrites- period!
The President in opposition accused his predecessor of engaging in frivolous international travels. In office, both he and his Vice have embarked on quite a number of travels. In fact sometimes both of them have had to go to the same countries in turns. He refuses to take per-diems, but it seems his Vice and all others take theirs (I stand to be corrected). By refusing to take per-diems, he wants to imply that his predecessor may have embarked on his trips because of his ‘love’ for personal gains. This view was expressed by most of the NDC supporters before the last elections and subsequently.
He and his supporters vehemently and insultingly criticized Former President Kufour for planning to buy a total of six airplanes for the use of the Air Force and the Presidency (please remember that (Kufour himself was not going to use any of these planes personally- because he was definitely going to be out of office at the time the planes were supposed to arrive in the country). One of the planes arrived sometime in the first week of October this year. At its dedication, Ghanaians were shocked to learn that the Atta-Mills government has ordered seven more planes- bringing the total to eight. Can you believe this? And yet they feel they have done such a great deed; Ghanaians must give them loud praises for it!
The PNDC/NDC governments sold off over 300 State Companies under an IMF Structural Adjustment Program. The NPP government, working under similar IMF conditionalities, sold off a few of these Companies. Here comes Atta-Mills and a crowd of his supporters, with placards vehemently protesting an action he had previously pointed to as ‘very necessary for the take-off’ of Ghana’s economy.
He cried out loudly against Kufour for daring to call for ‘Evidence’ from those who accused his appointees of ‘Corruption’. Atta-Mills interpreted this as Kufour’s complicity in the whole process of ‘ripping Ghana off’. Interestingly in Office, the President is asking for same ‘Evidence’. In his case, when even this evidence has been adduced by the accusers, these ‘whistle-blowers’ have themselves become the target of recrimination and victimization. Civil and Public servants who have dared ‘expose’ their ‘thieving’ political overlords; are being hunted down all around. In one particular case the President posed a rhetorical question: “Is this the first time a Minister of State is travelling with a girl-friend?” This was in response to the accusation that a Mohammed Muntaka had falsified documents to enable his girl-friend in one of the government ministries to travel with him to Germany at State expense. In answer to another question as to whether his ministers had declared their assets as he had directed done within (I think the first three months after assuming office); the President said: “I have declared mine. Ask them if they have done theirs” (and this was several months after his deadline).

The President swears to the God of heaven that he will prosecute ‘corrupt’ operatives of the NPP government; yet when NDC operatives were tried and punished for similar ‘corrupt’ allegations, Candidate Mills was all over the place shouting that the trials were politically motivated and biased.
Before President Kufour left office, he conducted the then President-Elect Mills through the Jubilee House- the supposed Residence for the new President. Uncle Atta seemed to be quite elated and paid some glowing tributes to the edifice. He comes into office and refuses to occupy the rather ‘expensive’ national pride. And then he sends his Foreign Minister there. And then every now and then he steals in there to do a thing or two. Then comes the big surprise- Uncle Atta has changed the name of the Presidency to The Flag Staff House (same name given the original dilapidated structures that occupied that space by the Colonial Masters). By so doing, I believe the Holy Learned Fanti Professor, has finally exorcised the ‘Kufour Profligate Demons’ from the edifice. He may now be ready to take occupation!
There are so many of such Presidential Double-Speak that I may want to end here without boring you any longer. You are a better judge as to where such contradictions will take us as a nation.
The Prophet’s Call:
Uncle Atta, Ghana is for us all. I believe Ghanaians elected you because they trusted you. You have doubtlessly done some good. You know that former President Rawlings was a young man when he assumed power through a Coup ‘de Tat. He did well- but in the process he insulted Ghanaians to the extent that they had to insult him back to retain some ‘human’ pride. He is afflicting you with the same insults presently. This action of his desecrated the Presidency. President Kufour was called upon to return some of these insults on a few occasions. But on the whole he was quite decent. You have the opportunity to bring even a greater sanctity and dignity to the throne. Please cut yourself off the extreme partisanship and political game-man-ship. Cut off the pretense. Jerry did his part; Kufour did his; you are doing yours. All three of you are Christian-Church-Goers. It is only God who knows your hearts. Please stop the pretense and get to work!
Prophet Micaiah
prophetmicaiah@gmail.com ;