Features
Finance Minister’s approval and resultant confusion in NDC
The opposition National Democratic Party (NDC) is suspected to be in turmoil, as the majority of its supporters who voted for the party in the December 7, 2020 elections, are not happy with current developments and also the way some of the leaders, especially those in parliament are misconducting themselves. Also, not happy, are some executives and parliamentarians of the party. The MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzato Ablakwa, is reported to have resigned from the Parliamentary Appointment’s Committee and tended his resignation letter to the Speaker.
The supporters felt betrayed by most of their leaders at the helm of affairs in parliament who they alleged for either some personal or selfish motives are beginning to sell their rights and conscience to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus in parliament.
ELECTION PETITION
Coming from the backdrop of the recent presidential election petition at the Supreme Court of Ghana which saw the party losing the case to the NPP, the members who were already agitated by the verdict, felt they could rely on the leadership of the party with the speaker Hon Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin who happened to be a member of the party as their backbone to frustrate the NPP and indeed, the ruling government through strong opposition in parliament. However, that seemed not to be the case as the NDC leadership in parliament was rather playing the ostrich. The supporters have accused the leadership of party of playing into the hands of the NPP parliamentary caucus.
The genesis of the problem emanated from the NDC side of the Appointment’s Committee headed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, who they alleged to be ‘rubber stamping’ all the presidential nominees for ministerial appointments who appeared before them without taking into consideration their incompetency, inconsistency in their deliveries and also failure to provide documents to support their deliveries when requested by the committee to produce them.
KEN OFORI-ATTA’S APPROVAL
The recent parliamentary approval by consensus of Mr Ken Ofori-Atta as the Minister for Finance, has generated upheavals in the party, added salt to injury and worsened the already volatile and agitated posture of the rank and file of the supporters and the party in general.
His approval followed a unanimous recommendation by the Appointment’s Committee of Parliament of which the NDC caucus was part of it. The committee, we are told, last Monday, March 29, 2021, presented its report to parliament as a whole which was endorsed by a voice vote.
The nominee who returned to Ghana for his vetting following his treatment in the United States of America (USA) for post COVID-19 health complications, faced an unprecedented two-day vetting before the Appointment’s Committee.
RESERVATIONS ABOUT MINISTER’S RESPONSES
It is recalled that during his recent vetting, several MPs from the minority side raised reservations over some of the responses by the minster-designate. The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, described the minister as having performed unsatisfactorily when he appeared before the committee. He insisted that Mr Ofori-Atta must furnished the committee with details on the recruitment of Mackenzie as revenue collector for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
REMARKS BY MINORITY LEADER
Hear the minority leader; “Mr Speaker, I beg to second the approval of the President’s nominee (Ken Ofori-Atta) as minister designate for Finance and Mr Speaker in doing so, as you may recall, our side of the appointment’s committee requested for some of the information related to Ken Ofori-Atta as Minister of Finance, we have accordingly recommended that he should be approved by consensus. But, Mr Speaker, it does not mean we are satisfied with his performance as Finance Minister. He probably will go and bear the brunt of his mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy in the last four years, he will bear the brunt of his inability to reconcile his fiscal data. He bears the brunt for not providing enough details of how much the Bank of Ghana financed the government of Ghana in the 2020 period”.
“We will demand more information on this matter, because we are convinced that he is in breach of law, in breach of the Bank of Ghana Act, in breach of their fiscal responsibility Act and in breach of their Public Financial Management Act,” he said.
INTERROGATION OF HARUNA IDDRISU’S REMARKS
Indeed, the matters and issues arising from the Minority Leader’s remarks cannot be allowed to go without proper scrutiny. This is because, if all those breaches in the law are carefully examined by the committee, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta’s appointment could not have been approved by parliament since there were outstanding issues to be clarified by him. Where then lies the justification in his approval when documents the committee requested him to submit were not made available by the minister-designate.
To add salt to injury, the General Secretary of the NDC was heard saying that the decision to approve the nomination of Mr Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister, was the collective decision of the party. That clearly shows that the leadership of the NDC caucus in parliament can be influenced at any time when it comes to decision making in the house. This, the members considered as most unfortunate.
To them, this current parliament is just behaving like the previous ones which compromised on proper scrutiny, check and balances and due regard to incompetency of nominees that appeared before them in the past and did wholesale appointments.
SAMMY GYAMFI’S ANGER
Reference can be made to the last vetting some weeks ago, which prompted the Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, together with some party members to register their protests and displeasure on the decision taken by the NDC leadership in Parliament led by Haruna Iddrisu to approve some ministers-designate whose questions had earlier been raised about them by the NDC side of the committee.
These appointees included the current Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hawa Mavis Koomson and the Agriculture Minister, Dr Owusu Akoto Afriyie.
The alleged betrayal by the NDC leadership in parliament prompted the communication officer to issue a strong statement urging the rank and file of the party not to allow them to succeed in their parochial quest to destroy the party that has done so much for them. “The shame they have brought on the party will forever hang like an albatross around their necks,” says Sammy Gyamfi.
According to him they brazenly defied the leadership of the party and betrayed the collective good for their selfish interest.
APPOLOGY BY HARUNA IDDRISU
But in reaction to that statement from Sammy Gyamfi, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, appealed for forgiveness from the supporters and the grassroots of the NDC over their failure to reject some ministers-designate who appeared before the committee. He said the disappointment by some members of the party was justified and assured that the NDC side of the Appointment Committee would do well not to disappoint the party in the future.
Therefore, what has changed now in view of the assurance given by Hon. Haruna Iddrisu on behalf of other colleagues of his party not to betray the course of the party? Members, especially the grassroots are waiting with bated breath for explanation.
The question that needs an answer is, Is the major opposition party, the NDC, in turmoil?
BY CHARLES NEEQUAYE
Features
The West African Samba dance
I was in sixth form! Precisely, I was in lower sixth, bubbling with enthusiasm for life. Incidentally, I wasn’t particularly a good dancer but liked watching others dance. When my pal Billy (Butter) did the ‘old man boogie,’ dance, he did so with passion, with contortions and distortions of the human frame. He often needed artificial respiration after a good dance.
Old man Boogie was the dance form adopted at the time. The more you danced like a bony and fragile old man, the more you got applauded. It was fashionable at the time to go to disco with a walking stick to simulate an 80-year-old boogeyman.
On the disco dance floor, everyone was crumbling over and if you didn’t know what was in vogue at the time, you’d be tempted to order an ambulance to cart the entire gang of dancers to the nearest hospital to check their sugar levels. No doubt, you were likely to mistake for old diabetics lapsing into coma on the dance floor.
The Old man Boogie did not last very long. Soon it was replaced with ‘dog’. The dancer was expected to have the men mentality of a dog, and that included baring teeth and ‘pissing’ with one leg raised. When you saw Korkorti on the floor, you thought he was directing traffic with his left leg.
FRENZY
The ‘dog’ gave way to ‘cat’, a frightening choreographic innovation that put the ladies to flight. If dog produced vampires, cat engendered tigers on stage, complete with claws to show for it. The ladies were not brave enough to encounter large human cats in a frenzy, boogeying to funk. They simply fled!
Finally ‘horse’ arrived on the dance floor and you could see Ghanaians galloping with care-less abandon. What saved the situation was the advent of break-dance which shortly superseded the era of freestyling captured in the musical movie “The Music Machine’, starring Gerry Sundquist and Pati Boulaye, a Nigerian performer.
Break-dance brought home an exciting dance variety with equally exciting medical problems. Youngsters began spinning on their heads and broke their necks. They were put in collar and never tried it again.
All the above mentioned dance forms were amply exhibited last Saturday when the Black Stars went on a demolition exercise in Cape Verde.
The 4-0 hammering reflected the level of determination of the Stars to get to Germany in 2006 to showcase samba made in Sikaman.
Soon after the victory, ECG went on ‘strike.’ The nation was plunged into darkness. I heard someone say the power off was deliberate to tone down the celebration, lest people drunk themselves to death. I wondered whether anyone needed electric power to drink himself to death. The lights came on at last.
I quickly drove through parts of Tema. Celebrations were not mass, but pockets of celebrants amply typified the general mood.
CARNIVAL
A group of about eight youngsters apparently charged beyond measure, with akpeteshie running through their veins and arteries, organised a mini-carnival from Site 14 and took to the streets. “God bless our home-land Ghana… they sang the Black Stars cheer song, while hopping like delighted kangaroos. Others were dancing like cats, others like horses.
The beer bars in Tema overflowed with booze. Huge loudspeakers were mounted at Emefa Bar, Site 14, to begin a night of music, booze and chops. Khebab stands smoked freely as sausages and suya were dished out hot, charcoal-grilled.
My wife had gone to Lome, Togo for the weekend with the kids. And what she saw marvelled her. The Togolese national team hitherto known for its disastrous performances suddenly came alive and surprised their own selves. In the final qualifying game, they came back twice to beat Congo in a spectacular display of skills and artistry.
The rain was pouring in sheets in Lome but the celebrants hit the streets in carnival fashion. My little daughter joined them in the rain. When I heard it, I was angry. Why allow the little girl to join in the fanfare?
My wife explained that the situation was so spontaneous that everybody was overwhelmed. Every kid was on the street dancing in the carnival, so why not my little girl? Nobody could stop her. It would have been a sin to stop her. The young and the old were dancing. Old men and women with walking sticks limped to the streets and lock to boogie, the Togolese style.
For me, the exciting aspect of it all is that West African football has come of age. If Nigeria had qualified it would have been a West African affair. Even without Nigeria, it is. Ghana, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire are going to play in Germany in 2006. It is a new beginning for West Africa.
PRESTIGE
Egypt, Senegal, Zaire, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Morocco have participated in the World Cup but did not shine. Other nations must slug it out there, because it is time an African country won the prestigious World Cup.
If African countries have won in the Olympics and the Junior World Cup tournaments, there should be no reason why they cannot make a mark in the seniors. They only have to shed the inferiority complex bothering some of the teams. Africa must shine!
Now, some Nigerians are saying Ghana, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire will be the whip-ping boys at the World Cup. I’ll advise those Nigerians to cry their own cry.
This article was first published on Saturday, October 15, 2005
Features
Legacy is important in life
The Bible which is usually referred to as the good book, says that good name is better than riches according to Proverbs 22:1. Our generation has turned this sound, Godly advice upside down and has put the love for riches first before good name.
Instead of making the right choices, we are all in a mad rush for money, fame and selfish ambitions. Morality is far from our minds and comes nowhere near the top of our list of priorities.
The first thing most people think of, when given a position as a leader, especially in government, is to look for opportunities to make money. It is a worrying trend in our society that should not be encouraged at all. Gradually our society is placing value on riches than integrity.
Time tested values that have characterised activities of churches are even being compromised to the extent that, leadership roles in churches, are being given to people, based on wealth. No wonder, scandals are manifesting in various churches.
Every person has the freedom of choice. You can decide to choose good or choose evil; it is in your power so to choose. However, what we should all realise is that, choices have consequences.
Decision making is all about choices. If you make the right choice as a leader, your name could be forever etched in gold and your descendants, shall forever benefit from your good choices.
Lee Kuan Yew, said that he had the option of being selfish and making himself and his family rich or to seek the welfare of the nation but he chose the latter because that was the right thing to do.
Today, his name has been etched in gold in Singapore forever. His descendants are revered simply because of what their father and grandfather and great grandfather, did for the nation of Singapore. He left a legacy, a legacy of selflessness, a legacy of patriotism, a legacy of honesty and integrity and finally a legacy of leadership.
I listened to a story about Peduase Lodge. Apparently, it was a gift to Dr Kwame Nkrumah out of love and appreciation by an Akuapim woman, for him to build his private residence. Dr Nkrumah not being selfish but full of patriotism, decided to use it as official residence like Camp David in the US.
He is widely acknowledged also as incorruptible and this has endeared him to the hearts of many Ghanaians although there were some governance issues like the PDA, which somehow dented his otherwise excellent legacy.
Whenever his name is mentioned, his legacy is remembered and wonderful things are said about him. Such legacies, buy favour for his descendants, which in the case of Dr Nkrumah, led to people voting for his daughter to be elected as Member of Parliament for the 5th Parliament under the 4th Republic.
Recently, the passing of a prominent chief in the Asante Region, was announced. This chief has been acknowledged as one of the chiefs in the country, who have banned Galamsey in their area of jurisdiction.
Given the national outcry against illegal mining as a result of the devastating consequences to our environment and related health problems, this fantastic legacy, will go a long way to create favour for his children wherever they find themselves in this country.
Compared this to the son of a notorious armed robber seeking favour for say admission to an SHS. I guarantee you, the moment you mention your name and confirm that you are the son of Ataa…, the legacy of your father will immediately start working against you.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
