Opinions of Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Columnist: Quaye, Stephen A.
By: Stephen A.Quaye.
For what reason did President John Dramani Mahamah, travel to London in the United Kingdom recently?
No one knows up till now because he has not come out to tell the tax paying Ghanaians what he spent their money on that journey for.
What we heard from some of his NDC communicators on radio, television and at a point read in the newspapers via the internet was that, “because of his quality leadership and excellent work since he became the president, he was invited to attend this year’s G.8 Summit” which was held in Ireland.
Other NDC hawks were also heard as they told the whole world that the president wanted to demonstrate to everybody how he cares for all so he put politics aside and visited the 2012 NPP presidential candidate Naa Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo who was said to be on admission at a hospital in London.
Yes the president went to United Kingdom specifically London and whatever happened you and I know about it, “DISASTER’’.
Let us take the reasons one by one as the NDC communicators gave to us and try to do justice to them as Comrade Kweku Baako will put it.
In a first place the president can never travel to another country without prior notice to the law making house and to the press to tell every citizen what business he is going to transact on their behalf and also informing all of his vice acting in his absence.
If the tax payers do not know what reason their tax money was used to pay for his round trip to London, then it could be blamed on someone who intentionally failed to make it public through the media so that point is tackled.
G.8 SUMMIT
39th G8 summit
Host country United Kingdom
Date 17–18 June 2013
Venue(s) Lough Erne Resort in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
The 39th G8 summit was held on 17–18 June 2013 at the Lough Erne Resort, a five-star hotel and golf resort on the shore of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.[1] It was the sixth G8 summit to be held in the United Kingdom. The earlier G8 summits hosted by the United Kingdom were held at London (1977, 1984, 1991), Birmingham (1998) and Gleneagles (2005).
The official theme of the summit was tax evasion and transparency. However, the Syrian civil war dominated the discussions. A seven-point plan on Syria was agreed after much debate. Other agreements included a way to automate the sharing of tax information, new rules for mining companies, and a pledge to end payments for kidnap victim releases. The United States and the European Union agreed to begin talks towards a broad trade agreement. The Group of Six (G6), started in 1975, was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. This select few became the Group of Seven (G7) starting in 1976 when Canada joined. The Group of Eight was formed with the addition of Russia in 1997.[2] In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981.[3] The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's President Giscard d'Estaing and Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the initial summit of the Group of Six in 1975.[4]
The G8 summits during the twenty-first century have inspired widespread debates, protests and demonstrations; and the two- or three-day event becomes more than the sum of its parts, elevating the participants, the issues and the venue as focal points for activist pressure.[5]
The current form of the G8 is being evaluated. Some reports attribute resistance to the relatively smaller powers such as the UK, Canada and Japan, who are said to perceive a dilution of their global stature. Alternately, a larger forum for global governance may be more reflective of the present multi-polar world.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/39th_G8_summit - cite_note-kumar-6
Participants[edit]
G8 leaders (left to right): Herman Van Rompuy, Enrico Letta, Stephen Harper, François Hollande, Barack Obama, David Cameron, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, José Manuel Barroso and Shinz? Abe.
Barack Obama with Vladimir Putin at the summit.
The attendees included the leaders of the eight G8 member states, as well as representatives of the European Union. A number of national leaders, and heads of international organizations, are traditionally invited to attend the summit and to participate in some, but not all, G8 summit activities
Therefore the participants at this year’s summit included Stephen Harper-Canada, Francois Hollande-France, Angela Merkel-Germany, Enrico letta-Italy, Shinszo Abe-Japan, David Cameron-United Kingdom, and Barack Obama United States of America and Vladimir Puttin for Russia.
Herman Van Rompuy, president of the E.U. Open Council, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission and Enda Kenny Ireland and European Union current chair of the rotating president were the invited leaders to this year’s G.8 Summit.
So by this account of checks and double checks, President John Dramani Mahamah was not invited to attend the G.8 summit as his NDC communicators made all to believe through their radio propaganda programmes and the president was never at the summit.
If it was not for a propaganda purpose then one can not tell whatever it was when the NDC communicators said the president demonstrated much love by visiting Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo at a hospital which in fact the later was not on admission in any hospital in London.
Checks and double checks revealed how the president bumped into the NPP 2012 presidential candidate at a popular restaurant in London where the NPP leader was relaxing with his wife and a couple of friends. Therefore Nana Addo was not on admission for the president to visit him.
So once again let us ask the president on what business did he travel to London because we do not know and neither he nor any of his followers has come out to tell us the truth about the journey he made to London?
You may be right, maybe this time round he brought back from London a hand shake he had with the Prime Minister David Cameron and the agreement on the 3,000 pounds assurance visa fee before Ghanaians could be permitted to reside in London.
Let us do some correction here by balancing the report in order to right the wrongs and get the truth out there for the general public to be better informed.
Checks and double checks revealed that the NDC communicators lied when they said that the president was attending a G.8. Summit upon an invitation based on his quality leadership.
It was also not true that Nana Akuffo Addo was sick and therefore on admission in London for the president to leave the shores of the country to visit him at hospital in London.
The cost of that journey to the tax payers for the government to fly the president in the iron bird to London no one knows uptil now which the nation needs to know.
Part 2 of this article will touch on the demonstration which took place in London. NDC communicators said only five persons tried to disgrace the president. Checks and double checks will help us look into the incident as we balance the report.
End.