This Thing About The Former Speaker

By Sagito Musah Issakah

Politics in Ghana today is really something of a gold mine and the fastest way to get recognised in society and also the fastest way to riches. No wonder majority of Ghanaian youth today are ˜rushingly affiliating themselves to one political party or the other all in the name of getting rich quick and fast. The youth are now carrying political parties on their shoulders and are recognised and painted with good cloths and signs of riches all over. It seems to be competing with 'Sakawa' in today's Ghana. The question is ˜is this a positive phenomenon in our political life as a nation.

Recent events in the country tell it all but that is just by the way. This very short piece however will put the spotlight on the hullabaloo generated by the former speaker of parliament when he wrongly decided to pack off all furnishings in his ex-official residence. The camera will further zoom in on the amount quoted in the dailies as to the cost of the items taken away by the former speaker and its relation to the riches showcased by politicians as against the mass poverty of our people.

What baffles me is not about whether what the former speaker did was legal or not but the fact that the furnishing of a house cost over four billion old Ghana cedis. What kind of a house is that?

According to the daily Graphic of May 15, 2009, the minority spokesperson of parliament who doubled also as the chairman Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) constituted to look into the allegations levelled against the former speaker, said something to the effect that the value of items taken away was estimated to cost 4.3 billion old cedis (430,000 new cedis). That is really huge a sum for one house, don't you think?

This is an amount taken from Ghanaian tax payer's pocket to furnish the house of ONLY the speaker of parliament, the third citizen of this country. What then will be the value of furnishings in the official residences’ of the second citizen-the vice president and even the president? Rationally we expect that the values of furnishings should be higher than the speaker's. If so, then I humbly ask ‘are our politicians really conscious about the plight of the over 30% percent of Ghanaians living below the poverty line. Additionally, are politicians there for the masses as they want us to believe or otherwise? How can we justify that we are a poor nation, when we spend colossal amounts just to furnish the house of a political office holder. Is it that when one gets into politics and gets a political post, one immediately becomes a superman man and so will have to live in a superfluously furnished house so as to send a message to the poor people that he or she has arrived- He or she is a different human being now with a different class tag.

“The quantum of money used to refurbish the former speaker's house, he said was ‘abominable’ since it cannot be justified in the country’s present economic circumstances.” This is a quotation from The Ghanaian Times, May 15, 2009, page 3. It was a paraphrase of a statement made by Brig-General Nunoo-Mensah, the National Security Advisor to the presidency.

The Brig-General is very right because the country was still broke in 2004 and lots of Ghanaians needed help from government to better their lots and so it was preposterous on the part of the former government to use the tax payers money to make one person or few persons comfortable at the expense of the masses. Did they beg for political office so as to live in virtual ‘paradise’ or they were/are there for the betterment of those who ensured their holding those political posts.

If as a country we consider our nation a poor one in the community of nations which pushes us to go begging for aid from other nations, then we don’t need these wastage of funds that could have been used to solve some important social needs of our people such as the provision of potable drinking water, electricity among others.

Why can't a speaker, a minister or even the president and the vice live in official residents whose furnishings cost somewhere 400 million old cedis (40,000 new cedis)? Is it that they will seize to be considered humans when they live in a residence with furnishings costing that amount or they will lose their positions? Why must we make life expensive for our very selves when in actual fact we can make it very simple? All it would require is sacrifice and moderation.

The new administration says they will want to cut cost in government operations. That is a laudable idea. It should not be limited however, to the offices, cutting down of conferences and workshops, cutting down of presidential entourages but should be extended to residential furnishings of government officials. I advice that, there should be a rule to the effect that, no residence of a political office holder should have furnishings costing more than 40,000 Ghana cedis. This will save the country a lot. Just imagine how much we as a country will be saving from say furnishing about 70 houses each with amounts of say 40,000 Ghana cedis for our political office holders. 40,000 in place of 430,000 Ghana cedis will save us a lot of cash.

We have good local carpenters who can make good furniture for our residences. It is about time we used them. Exporting furniture for our houses is what is leading to all these inflated costs of furnishing for our official residences. This is a free advice to the new government and since we are living in a world of free-will, they can take it or leave it. My hope is that the government takes it because it will save us a lot of cash which can be used to provide social amenities for lots of localities in the country.

sagitom@yahoo.com