When The NDC Rant In Parliament…

Ebo Quansah in Accra The Daily Guide Newspaper made my day on Tuesday. I laughed my lungs out when I flipped through the paper and saw the cartoon of the day.  It illustrates a a female teacher taking her pupils through the basic English alphabets. ‘A for Apple, B for Boy, C, for Cat,’ the […]

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Ebo Quansah in Accra

The Daily Guide Newspaper made my day on Tuesday. I laughed my lungs out when I flipped through the paper and saw the cartoon of the day.  It illustrates a a female teacher taking her pupils through the basic English alphabets. ‘A for Apple, B for Boy, C, for Cat,’ the teacher screamed, his whipping stick pointing to the blackboard.

Just as the class is getting animated, a hand shoots up from behind.  “Madam,” said the little child. ‘Yes!’  The female teacher beckons the boy to speak.  “Please teacher, acknowledge the source.”

In the aftermath of the presidential inauguration at the Black Star Square in Accra last week-end, some Ghanaians, especially members of the National Democratic Congress opposition, are getting ridiculous with their criticism of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s speech. The contention is that the Head of State failed to acknowledge the source of sections of his address, apparently sourced to some world leaders sometime in history.

Government House has already acknowledged the presidential gaffe and apologised for it. With its back to the wall after a disastrous election defeat, the NDC apparently is smelling blood. We are slowly getting to the ridiculous era when every person would have to source every word pronounced verbally or used in correspondents.

On Tuesday, the NDC caucus in Parliament issued a statement calling for the withdrawal of the entire presidential statement from the record of proceedings in the House. Signed by Deputy Minority Leader Dr. James Klutse Avedzi, the statement demanded a total expulsion of the President’s inaugural speech from parliamentary records.

“The sanctity of Parliament must be respected and preserved, and it is our expectation that the new Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Prof. Aaron Michael Oquaye, who thankfully is an academic of some repute, will better appreciate the full ramification of what is before us,” the NDC statement said.

Why the Minority attached the word ‘some’ to the ‘repute’ ascribed to the Speaker tells everything about the real intent behind the NDC statement.  Why, one would state, is the NDC in such a belligerent mood in the House? One would like to acknowledge the fact that the failure of Government House to acknowledge the source of the material used in the President’s speech has been acknowledged and an official apology already rendered.

It is unfortunate, but we are slowly getting into the era when one would have to research into the origin of words in order to acknowledge those who first used them. For instance, if one wants to say come, the person would have to research into the background of the word and the man, woman or group of persons who first used the word identified and acknowledged before going ahead with his pronunciation.

In our local setting, where proverbs are freely used in palaces, the chief and his elders would have to establish the first user of a particular proverb for acknowledgement.

It is getting ridiculous. When I heard Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, General Secretary of the party in opposition, one personality I can safely refer to as moving about with cotton wool wrapped in between his thighs, has joined the fray and poking fun at the President, I said to myself that people are playing with fire.

It is obvious that the one-time Chairman of the Bui Dam Project, who sold cement blocks to the company while chairing proceedings at its board room, making the Mickey out of the Head of State. According to the chief scribe of the party in opposition, the presidential gaffe at the Independence Square is worse than the wife’s winter coat he wore in Britain the other day, and subjected this country to international ridicule.

It is crystal clear that the NDC is spoiling for war, and like Kofi Karikari, one-time Asantehene aid sometime in history, they would have it. Already, signs are emerging of pay-back time from those directing affairs of state.

The public uproar that greeted former President John Dramani Mahama’s request to be given the official residence of the Vice-President he has been occupying since 2009, as his retirement home, appears to owe its genesis to a deliberate attempt by some officials of state to leak the information to the general public in a reprisal attack on the opposition.

It is believed that the former President’s request, which was discreetly done as part of the transitional arrangement, had virtually gone through, with sitting President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo already giving the go-ahead.

Somehow, with the Minority in Parliament firing on all cylinders on the allegation of Presidential failure to acknowledge various sources of material used in his speech, someone decided to play the mischief by making former President John Dramani Mahama’s request public.

The public ridicule that greeted the information on the request should tell officials of the NDC that these are not the best of times for the braggart nature of their politics. If they choose to be adversarial in opposition, they would have their match in public opinion.

For most Ghanaians, what is important is how to restructure the battered economy and get Ghanaians back to work. It is important to acknowledge the work of intellectuals, but I do not believe the right way to go is the beating of war drums by the NDC in Parliament. The Minority Leader, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, should know a thing or two about plagiarism, I dare state. Was he consulted before the NDC caucus in Parliament raised hell about the President’s speech?

I would like to believe that a political party that has left the state treasury leaking like a sieve, ought to be measured in its criticism of minor issues. Rather, officials of the NDC, the political party which has driven this economy into the woods with shaky deals, sole sourcing contracts ending in people lining their pockets, and outright thievery, ought to bury their heads in shame.

As you read this piece, the NDC has committed this nation into an extravagant expenditure of US$93 million, under which the Ghanaian electronic giant RLG, owned by Mr. Roland Agambire, is contracted to manufacture Set Top Boxes for the country, as Ghana moves into the final phase of its Digital Migration.

There are a number of problems with this kind of contractual agreement. In the first place, we are told that the contract was awarded on December 19, 2017, 12 clear days after former President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC had lost disastrously at the polls.

I do not believe there are many Ghanaians out there who would want to buy a second hand car from the owner of RLG, following dealings with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority through his Savannah Cottage Industry.

We are told, for instance, that guinea fowls the company was contracted to rear with state finance migrated to Burkina Faso some time ago. As you read this feature, there has been no indication of the fleeing guinea fowls ever re-tracing their way back.

Not many Ghanaians, I dare state, would raise a cheer over the mention of the same Cottage Industry’s performance in an afforestation project it contracted from the same SADA.
We are told, for instance, that the re-planting of trees in the three northern regions took place during the Harmattan season, and that all trees so planted withered away.

That is not all the reason why not many Ghanaians are enthused about Mr. Agambire and his companies. We were told, not too long ago, that the State of Ghana advanced financial facilities, running into several millions of Ghana cedis, as loans to Mr. Agambire and his companies, and that those loans attracted no interest.

I do not believe there are many Ghanaians out there who have ever been favoured in like manner. That aside, some of us recall the much-trumpeted one lap-top per child policy, under which basic school kids throughout the country were to be given a lap top computer in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. After a hefty amount of US$100 million had been sunk into the project, the whole idea virtually fizzled out.

Not many Ghanaian children ever benefitted from the project. I dare state that the computers developed for the project had memory chips that could not even accommodate that of a sun-bird.

When Ghanaians raised issues with the manner in which the ubiquitous $93 million contract was awarded, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, immediate past Communications Minister, was emphatic in his explanation that the Cabinet of former President John Dramani Mahama gave its approval.

For me, this is a straight forward case. The immediate past head of state and his entire Cabinet have a duty to enlighten Ghanaians on the mode of selection, and why they decided to commit this country to a US$93 million bout of expenditure, at a time the Mahama administration had lost the mandate of the people.

In the run-up to the elections, former President Mahama committed state resources on a campaign tour of this country, under the guise of accounting to the people. I would like to believe that the real accounting formula is about to unfold.

I shall return!

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