Why should the President be disobeyed?

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ARTICLE BY: ANTHONY KWAKU AMOAH

“It does not come to The Chronicle as a surprise that the orders of the most powerful man in the land could be flouted in such manner, as the EOCO wants us to believe, for such a heinous crime to be perpetuated against the people of Ghana”-The Chronicle Editorial on 03/02/2012.

I now understand why ex-President Rawlings is always on the neck of President John Evans Atta Mills and his government. The reason is simple—to expose rots in government and hold it accountable to the people. Which words haven’t we heard from ex-President Rawlings against the Mills administration? President Mills was once described by Rawlings as a weak leader, who has been surrounded with ‘greedy bastards’ determined to milk the nation dry of its resources. J.J Rawlings again said his once ‘buddy buddy,’ Atta Mills started losing power a few weeks after assuming office.

For now, this piece cannot give any exhaustive commentary on the vituperations launched, at one point in time or the other, against the Mills NDC government by Jerry John Rawlings and some leading party members.

Remember when Mr. Frog comes out of the bottom of a river to announce that Mr. Crocodile is dead, he must be believed. We all saw how NDC supporters jubilated over the appointment of Madam Betty Mould-Iddrisu as the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. We were told her vast expertise in legal and human rights matters would enable her prosecute ex-government officials purported to have defrauded the state in one form or the other. Admittedly, some of us were convinced she would perform judging from her confidence level at her vetting.

Not knowing hard times awaited her. Months passed away with no concrete evidence of her determination to prosecute so-called corrupt past officials. She was just dangling around a few cases that were perceived by critics to have no blood. A major cabinet reshuffle came and Betty was migrated to head the education ministry.

The Attorney-General and Justice Ministry was then handed over to Mr. Martin Amidu. He was in one occasion a deputy Minister of Justice and the running-mate for then Candidate Mills in the 2000 presidential election. Those close to him say he is principled and hard working. Though could also not pursue any major case to its logical conclusion as would have been expected by many NDC gurus and foot soldiers, Mr. Amidu would be remembered for having alerted us of some gargantuan offences going on in his government against the good people of Ghana. Typical among them, I guess, is what the EOCO interim report on the Woyome saga has confirmed.

The report is indirectly telling us that our president is not on top of affairs. It appears he is not being respected by some of his officials. How could a president give an order just for it to be flouted? If I sit down to analyze the on-going Woyome judgment debt saga, I often get perplexed. Why should Betty dole out over GH¢51 million to Mr. Alfred Woyome knowing fully well the man had no contract with government? Assuming it was an oversight, why did she still defy the president’s orders to go to court and defend the matter?

The query is that if truly the president gave such orders, which were flouted on two occasions or so, what prevented him (president) from taking instant action against Betty long ago? Surprisingly, the president is on record to have no knowledge of any payments and to him, should there be any blame it must rather be directed to those that created the problem and not those that did the payments.

Actually, some opposition parties and civil society groups have done commendably in digging into this affair. If high energy had not been exerted, it would have been covered by government and consigned into history dustbin long ago. This is the time for Mills to prove that he truly abhors corruption.

He should quickly locate where Madam Betty is for her to answer questions on her alleged involvement in the case. The issue cannot end with just the resignation of Ms. Mould-Iddrisu. She must be made to face the law. For this one, there should be no mercy for the cripple!

I was glad to hear the president the other day query, “When I know the plight of our people; when I know our people are crying for water, the basic necessities of life, how can I be so criminally minded, so irresponsible to say, give GH¢58 million to one person?” Now that a report from an institution which he himself tasked to delve into the matter has made some serious disclosures, the onus lies with the president now to act for us all to see.

For our president to be disobeyed to such an extent that an amount of that magnitude could be dished out to one man to ‘chill’ with is really worrying. We want our economy to grow but should practices like these be allowed to continue, I am afraid.

I would suggest a total public scrutiny of the present ministerial team to possibly expose similar activities. Long stay at one ministry could push an official to be complacent and corrupt. The emerging negative reports about individuals initially perceived to have been very experienced and competent deter some of us from having any trust in the new persons appointed as ministers at this eleventh hour that they will be able to bring any significant change to this ailing economy.

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