A Kid?s Tale Without A Tail

A Kid?s Tale Without A Tail, Yet Sold To Us For Dime, When We Know The Story Is Stale In Taste Like A Paste.

The detachment of the presidency from the daily experiences of the public raises questions about the utilitarian value of the Executive system of government. Should we, as a nation, continue to elect a national leader who is not accountable to the public, or should we review the presidency, given its failures, and call for its replacement with a parliamentary system of government?

In my judgement, our nation can curtail the president?s addiction to power, should we replace the current system with a parliamentary political arrangement, where the head of the government, who is the Prime Minister, can be subjected to grueling questions on policy failures, and the government dissolved should it become necessary to do so.

Ghana?s adoption of the Executive system of government has not worked for the nation. If anything, it allows for the concentration of power at the centre without the necessary checks and balances to prune government arrogance, and the misuse of national resources for personal convenience. For instance, the President Kufuor?s ?s intransigence, and denial of vertical corruption in his government, despite evidence to the contrary, attests to the president?s knowledge of the excessive powers vested at the political centre by the nation?s constitution, and weakness of peripheral bodies to call some of the president?s policies, and conduct, to order.

One of the many mysteries that a parliamentary system of government would have put to rest was the role of president in the buying of Hotel Kufuor. The aura of secrecy, and the many weak excuses presented by hired publicists to stifle public protestations to getting to the bottom of this shady purchase are untenable. Since living at his official residence prior to becoming president, when did it dawn the president?s security experts that, the location of Hotel Kufuor was a threat to the president physical security, and the only way to eliminate the imaginary threat was to let his son, Chief Kufour buy the hotel?

If the threat of a coup d?etat was the basis for this lame security advisory, then the president?s security specialists must retain the services of Captain Kojo (E)Tsikata (Rtd) to teach them how they could maintain security, and still allow the president to move freely without unnecessary restrictions. Is one?s security assured within the confines of his/her house, and/or the perimeter around his/her residence? When did this imaginary security threat become an issue, and how does the purchase of a hotel eliminate the many threats that confront the president? If anything, the president?s security advisors should be advising the president to cut down on his reckless foreign travels, which in my opinion increase the likelihood of the president dying in an air crash than living at his official residence, which was remodeled at the expense of the state. Linking Hotel Kufuor?s to the president?s security is a kid?s tale without a tail, yet sold to us for dime, when we know the story is stale in taste like a paste gobbled in haste.

While some have given President Kufuor?s an ?A? grade for transparency, I think the president is one of the most obscured leaders in our nation?s political history. If public congeniality is a mark of transparency, then suffice me to say that, General Amin was equally friendly, given his excessive use of ?thank you very much,? which he always did with a smile. However, beneath the fa?ade of General Amin?s contrived grin was an unrelenting persecutor who hounded his political adversaries at night without moral compunction.

To make the political atmosphere even murkier, and (to) shield the shadowy dealings in his administration, the president has rejected the public?s call for the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act with the childish excuse that the cost of passing such a bill is prohibitive, and our dearest nation cannot afford to invest in ventures that yield marginal returns. Mr. President, didn?t our nation spend US$20 million on her Independence Day revelry? Didn?t our pauperized nation borrow from the Indian government to build a Taj Mahal at a cost of US$60 million plus? As a citizen, I would like my country to have an expensive law that works, and curbs pervasive corruption in your administration, than showcasing the Prisoners Extradition Act; one of the many useless laws, which will end up bringing the Eric Amoatengs and Sam Jonahs to serve their prison terms at home. I think the last thing we need, as a nation, is to import narco-felons to be crowned kings by a segment of our apple-polishing nation who would sell their birthrights for a penny to offset their ?ohukyere? under your ?Golden Age of Business? and ?Indigenous Capitalism.?

Since becoming president, our dearest leader has always avoided questions on his monthly income, and per diem. What is there to fear? Aren?t transparency, and the right of the public to know the business of the state, some of fundamental values cherished by the current administration? I do not want to engage the intellectual partisan ducklings on Ghanaweb who still publicize the nonsense that, the president was born with blue-blood in his black veins, and does not need the remunerations he generates from the state. If this is the case, which I think it isn?t, let the president make public his income, and declare his assets prior to becoming the president, and upon finishing his eight year-term as our leader. Maybe, we could draw some correlations between the president?s ascribed status as ?osikani? and Akora J.H, Mensah?s genetic theorem.

The sorry state we find our nation, and the appalling living conditions of Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, is the result of leaching hypocrisy within our culture. Where economics begins, one cannot trust the Ghanaian to uphold the values of morality by defending the truth. Unlike other nationals who stood up to their governments, and held them to account, the 21st Ghanaian is weighed down by the burdens of ethnic identity, and the defence of one?s ethnic group against national interests. Matter of fact, our sense of national identity is weakened by our admiration for primitive traditions, and institutions that erode our desire to actuate national aspirations.

I am not here to lecture my nation on governance. However, to condone symbolic political cruelty, and the exploitation of Ghanaians is a guilt no sane-minded being can overlook. Let?s shed the mindset of ?I told you so? after the fact, and cultivate an attitude driven by doing what is morally right to bring the justice to our nation, and the underprivileged. Hope all is well. Good day and cheers.