Come On, Multiply The Accusations!

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Garden City, New York
June 23, 2015
E-mail: [email protected]

Predictably, the Council-of-State weighed in on the side of the hand that generously feeds its membership with whatever sinecure it receives from the Flagstaff House. I don't want to sound unnecessarily cynical, but what the membership of our otherwise august Council-of-State ought to have done in the wake of the June 3 flash-flood that cost in excess of 200 Ghanaian lives, was to have called on the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to initiate an inquest into precisely what occurred, causally speaking, and then promptly finding a remedy for the same.

Instead, we have the largely comfortable, sycophantic and staid membership of the Council-of-State lamely attempting to silence constructive critics of the government (See "Accra Floods: Stop The Accusations - Council-of-State" Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 6/7/15). The fact of the matter is that while there defintely may be a genuinely unforeseen aspect of the June 3 fiery flash-flood, nevertheless, as has generously unfolded in the media - largely in the form of self-defensive excuses by Mayor Oko Vanderpuije and other government operatives - the impact of this most deadly event could well have been appreciably reduced, in terms of the unacceptably high human toll and massive damage to property, if the architectural and/or civil-engineering structures, such as storm drains, had been constructed well in advance.

To be certain, it was nothing short of downright irritating to hear Mayor Vanderpuije lamely blame Finance Minister Seth Terkper for having either failed or flatly refused to release funding for the construction of storm drains and other flood-abating landmarks. The fact of the matter, as already pointed out in a previous column, is that Mayor Vanderpije could have directly appealed to any number of more highly placed cabinet appointees for prompt assistance, including the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing; the Minister of Local Government; the Minster of the Environment, Science and Technology; the Minister of the Interior; and, of course, the Presidency itself, among a host of other cardinal members of the executive branch of government.

In view of the foregoing, it ought to be crystal clear to the members of the Council-of-State that there are absolutely no "blame games" here but grossly incompetent leadership that ought to be promptly and poetically called to account for their "epic" dereliction of duty, as my two little boys are wont to say. Needless to say, throwing its unreserved support behind President Mahama, the way the membership of the Council-of-State was widely reported to have done, rather unwisely encourages administrative incompetence and the social irresponsibility of those highly placed in government. More to the chase, as it were: What does Mr. Mahama's declaration of a three-day mourning period do towards finding prompt, practical and constructive solution to the problem?

The membership of the Council-of-State might just as well have called for the immolation or the ritual sacrificing of ten cows - the dear reader can pick his/her own number - to pacify the God-/ess of Rainfall so as to safely conduct His/Her fury elsewhere. For it is one thing for the Council-of-State members to call for an immediate cessation to our decadent and globally scandalous and inexcusably benighted culture of political abuse, and another thing altogether to vocally and imperiously call for responsible and sacrificial leadership, however democratically jarring such call may be deemed.

Personally, other than us Ghanaians being pathologically ceremonial, I really don't see the functional efficacy of the institution of the Council-of-State, other than the latter's otiosely serving as a manual-fan or toothless cheering squad for the Presidency. You see, I really don't care how highly some of the members of the Council-of-State may think of themselves. You can call me dangerous. My backyard is no haven for stampeded twerps!

_______________________________________________________________