NPP's Buttered Bread

Q--When is a buttered bread delicious?.

A--When it's being eaten with a president.

Why have Ghanaian presidents become fascinated with unimaginable and sometimes loose statements?. Was Mr. Kuffour speaking in jest or he meant what he said at Koforidua?.

The directives he gave to the Ministers' DCEs, MCEs and other government appointees not to forget "where their bread" is buttered is uncalled for. This has made some people very livid and sparks are now flying. The President's speeech on that day should have been full of "glittering generalities" and not pure favouritism for one party. He had the opportunity to bridge the partisan divide and move all of Ghana along or forward. It should have been all about hope and unity, not NPP or NDC. It should have been about possibilities and promises not right vrs left.This is called the grown-up approach, one we as ghanaians have not seen for much of fourteen years.He has really sown a lot of hate with his verbiage. Mr, President if you want peace you must work for justice.

If it is true that the president said what was reported by the LENS newspaper then it goes a bridge too far as he is wilfully setting the stage for corruption, favouritism and hatred. The zero tolerance he harped much about during his campaigns has really suffered eclipse and maybe dead and the orbituary was held at Koforidua on that saturday afternoon. The green light was given by the boss for corruption. I wouldn't therefore be surprised as to why not a single member of NPP has been fired or disciplined for being corrupt.(Names witheld for security reasons)Those people were able to butter the bread of NPP so they were also saved from going to prison. Yes, corruption pervades in the party which claimed to be holistic in the initial stages when it was voted into power. There were promises of "good times" for the citizens but instead they just continued from were their pre-decessors left off. It is true that everyone is responsible for what is in his or her custody but it's the governments responsibility to allow all the citizens enjoy the fruits of their own labour equally.

The President must know that any type of favouritism for one party or that government corruption is the violation of public interest for personal or partisan gain.The country is not owned by members of any one political party hence there shouldn't be any preferential treatment. When a president is allowed to speak freely without considering the after shocks effect, the party of the president must be willing to take the risk that the citizens will listen. Immediately Mr, Kuffour made those "heavy duty" statements the NPP party went into damage control mode and Rawlings was pardoned unknowingly for all the "wild speeches" he had made before. If it is because of this scratch my back I scratch your back attitude that makes Mr, Mac-Manu always brag that NPP is the most organised and disciplined party in Africa, then the man needs to examine himself very well.

Whenever party trumps the citizens in the country then that particular country has turned a corner. The president of any western country would have been jobless two days after making that speech to party faithfuls but in Ghana it is considered as a "pay back" statement for the opposition and which is always acceptable. The President should be forced by the opposition to explain himself away or retract what he said for it is very despicable and stinks into the bargain. If because of partisan politics people support what the president said or are shying away from the truth, then those people should question the depths of their own morality.

It is good to give contracts and governmnet jobs to party faithfuls irrespective of their qualifications but it is not good to pay Doctors and Teachers what is due them just because they don't play the same ball game with the faithfuls. It is time to put an end to "a culture of partisanship over principle". Turn the page on partisanship and usher in a new era of bipartisan progress. Only this can move the country forward together and we shouldn't forget that everything will be extinct by time, only the truth is perpetual.

May God bless Ghana.

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