By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Friday, October 17, 2014

Folks, don’t make any mistake to believe that any human being is above corruption, especially if we define corruption in a wider sense than the very narrow and simple one that characterizes happenings in Ghana. Corruption is corruption when somebody does something to unduly influence another for an advantage. It is not done for its own sake!

We in Ghana are very much aware of how corruption in public office, among our politicians and the clergy, not to mention the traditional rulers, security services, and almost every sector of the population has ruined our moral fibre and thrown governance into disarray. In one way or the other, someone is corrupting another or is being corrupted.

Some elements in the NPP have raised Akufo-Addo to a high pedestal, claiming that throughout his tenure in public office, he hasn’t been corrupt nor will he corrupt anybody. In other words, he is CLEAN and far above reproach, for which matter he stands far taller than all others stained by corruption. Now, he has pulled his own rabbit out of the bag to prove those praise-singers wrong. Here is why:

“Presidential hopeful, Nana Akufo-Addo, has come to the rescue of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by donating Ghc 600,000.00 to finance the October 18 national congress. He made the donation after reports suggested that the party might be forced to postpone its much anticipated October 18 national delegates congress due to lack of funds.

The Greater Accra Regional campaign coordinator for Nana Akufo-Addo, who disclosed this said, Nana Addo has also made provisions to transport delegates to and from polling centres on that day.

“Nana Addo wants to assure delegates that he is going to make provisions for them to be able to transport themselves to the voting centres and then go back to their respective homes,” he said.” (See: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=330873).

MY COMMENTS

Corruption stinks here. Abject corruption on display by Akufo-Addo. If the NPP is broke and needs logistics to hold the congress, why didn’t the party’s leaders throw any invitation to all well-to-do members of the party to provide financial aid or any other material support?

And why should it be Akufo-Addo alone to single-handedly take it upon himself to solve the problem, knowing very well that he is one of those contesting the flagbearer position of the party and that offering this assistance at this time will unduly influence the delegates to see him as the “deliverer” of their party and its cause and, therefore, go for him to the disadvantage of the other contestants?

More seriously, if this donation is not meant to corrupt the delegates, what else can it mean, especially coming on the cusp of the delegates’ conference tomorrow? And to consider that he has even promised more assistance “for them to be able to transport themselves to the voting centres and then go back to their respective homes”?

Does it really have to take an Akufo-Addo to be so magnanimous at this time and in this situation for the good of the NPP? Does the party not have its own means to move the delegates around? Surely, something obnoxious lies behind this magnanimity!!

If Akufo-Addo can dole out money and provisions this way, what will he not do if ever he becomes the President of Ghana? A Father Christmas on the loose? No wonder, he still is monomaniacal, fixated on his promise of a free senior high school education as the solution to Ghana’s hydra-headed development problems. What a joke (or is it a JERK)?

Folks, do you see how this NPP camp does rogue politics to hurt its own interests? The hypocrites that they are, they won’t criticize what Akufo-Addo has done but will be the first to condemn others (including President Mahama who gave vehicles to the National House of Chiefs for a good cause, among others).

Clearly, what Akufo-Addo has done is in bad taste and will spawn a lot more. Let the NPP people come out to tell me that his action doesn’t constitute corruption and I will have a lot more to tell them. Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaa!!

I shall return…

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