A Tournament of Thieves

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

At a delegates' congress of the Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings-led National Democratic Party (NDP), a splinter of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Josiah Aryeh, the immediate-past General-Secretary of the NDC, is reported to have virulently accused top operatives of his former party of being shameless night-riding burglars and thieves of the wealth of the Ghanaian taxpayer (See "Asiedu-Nketia: I'll Happily Meet Josiah Aryeh in Court" Radioxyzonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 2/18/14).

What is fascinating about Dr. Aryeh's accusation is the fact that the accuser does not really distance himself from such theft and official kleptocracy as he alleges to have been recklessly pursued and prosecuted by his old political buddies. "I was there before and I compare certain people. I don't wanna name names to a gang of thieves. They go stealing, burgling in the night, and because you and I are not part of the gang that stole, you will never see any sign of the booty, because if you saw the booty, you will let them out; so they keep the booty to themselves."

It is fascinating because Dr. Aryeh also disingenuously claims not to have been among the gang of recklessly and pathologically thieving NDC apparatchiks whose nighttime shenanigans he, nevertheless, seems to know so much about. This pretty much reminds yours truly of the old maxim which, tersely, runs as follows: "It takes one to know one."

In predictable riposte, the firespitting current General-Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, has frontally accused Dr. Aryeh of being an unconscionable and self-serving robber-baron who stole at least two motor vehicles of unspecified makes - or models - belonging to the NDC at the time of his exit from the parent party. General Mosquito, as Mr. Asiedu-Nketia is popularly known, also added with brazen confidence that the allegedly stolen cars "have [continued to be comfortably kept by Josiah] and he [does not seem to have any intention] of returning them [anytime soon]."

Of course, the thievish tendencies of General Mosquito is widely known to avid students and observers of the Ghanaian political scene, in particular the Seikwa native's collusive ripping off, or stiffing, of the Ghanaian taxpayer as a cement-block supplier to the Bui Dam Authority. What made matters even more egregious in the latter affair, to be certain, was the fact that Mr. Asiedu-Nketia also served on the board of directors of the Bui Dam Project. And just recently, it was widely reported by the media that General Mosquito was poised to assuming CEO-ship of the Bui Dam Authority.

Like Dr. Aryeh, Mr. Asiedu-Nketia has never denied scamming the Ghanaian taxpayer in the Bui Dam Affair. His decidedly lame, albeit morbidly vehement, defense was that of the several contractors and sub-contractors who supplied the BDA with cement blocks, his was certified to have been of the topmost quality. Interestingly, though, the crucial question of why the Bui Dam Authority would so unwisely consent to being supplied with low-quality blocks by the competitors of Mr. Asiedu-Nketia has never been answered, at least not satisfactorily.

We must also quickly point out, at least in passing, that the CEO of the BDA during the period in question was Mr. Jabesh Amissah-Arthur, widely known to be the brother of Ghana's Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur. There is also one amusing aspect to this rhetorical joust between Messrs. Aryeh and Asiedu-Nketia; and it regards the threat of Dr. Aryeh to file a defamation suit against his successor to the NDC general-secretaryship. And here also, predictably, Mr. Asiedu-Nketia has dared his predecessor to "bring it on."

Ultimately, should he renege on his very rancorous and public promise to drag his successor before a magistrate, or judge, of the law, Dr. Aryeh stands to remarkably damage whatever sheen may be left of his dubious political reputation or standing in Ghanaian society.

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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Department of English

Nassau Community College of SUNY

Garden City, New York Feb. 18, 2014 E-mail: [email protected] ###