Gen. Nunoo-Mensah's Weird Logic--Rejoinder

I am writing to raise objection to the logic and reasoning behind Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe’s write up published at the Ghana website on the 31st of August, titled, General Nunoo Mensah’s weird logic. The letter in question was purportedly posted by Gen. Nunoo-Mensah on Ghana web. To be frank, I read Mr. Ahoofe’s piece accidentally and could not believe what I was reading. My response is not based on a reading of the purported letter firsthand, I need not do that, but instead, the facts adduced by Mr. Ahoofe in his write up. Here we go!
Is Mr Ahoofe saying that the answer to every problem is to sell? GT is not doing well so sell it. Why don’t we sell the government of Ghana since we can’t get it right? Various Chief of Defense Staff will not live in a residence provided by the government so sell the house? If all you have is a hammer every problem certainly becomes a nail. I would think that the most logical way to solve this problems lies in finding out, besides the obvious, why various CDS refuse to use the house. Is the house in disrepair? Is the house haunted? What are the superstitions swirling around this house? Is it cost effective to keep this house, fix it and require that all CDS use it? Is it a security risk? What is it that lies behind why others CDS have refused to use it? Can the reasons be addressed? Are various CDS getting better housing by refusing to use this house? A little heavy lifting will lead one to uncover the objections and easily address them. For a while it did work right? What changed? I suspect that is what Nunoo-Mensah was trying to put across. What really is the haste to sell?
Selling the house seems to be the most corrupt solution to a problem that can easily be solved. Since when did we allow army officers to decide where they will or will not live? Are we so afraid of coups to acquiesce to every nutty demand of our Army officers? What is the use of the minister of defense if he cannot tell a CDS that this is the residence that the government can provide and you better plant your bud there or find your own accommodation. If the army refuses to pay the rent of a balking CDS, this nonsense of picking and choosing where to live by succeeding CDS will come to a screeching halt. If there is a problem with the house fix it! After all, the person who buys it will either fix it or tear it down and build another one. Where is that entrepreneurial approach towards governance? Why can’t the government fix the house instead of spending precious state funds on fat rent for these prima donnas?
Without mincing words, let us frankly look at the real intention behind the sale of this house. Just like what the NPP did with the illegal acquisition of land in La under the guise of government use and then cleverly passing it on to their cronies and tribesmen, this is just another plot to pass this property on to an NPP insider. Remember that in the case of the La issue, the NPP claimed that some faceless investors provided funds to build these houses. For their reward, the investors get to own the house after visitors to the dubious Ghana@50 orgy finish using it for no more than a week. What a sweet and clever deal. Hopefully, these NPP hacks will give such sweet deals to anyone off the street when it comes to their personal property. The track record of the NPP is clear. They are sniffing around Accra, fingering any property they can acquire and then concocting phony reasons to dispose of valuable government property for cheap. Their coffers are overflowing with stolen funds and what better way to use it than to cleverly acquire government property. All these deals are done with the interest of key NPP folks at stake. I guess this really is what property owning means to these clever thieves. What they forget is that they will not be in power forever. Democracy is not chieftaincy!! One day, all these dubious transactions will be investigated and the decisions reversed.
How this issue reveals Nkrumah as a “clinical megalomaniac”, according to Ahoofe, beats my dull and tired brain. Nkrumah, as head of state decides to acquire a building for official business just like Kufour is building the dubious 60 million presidential mansion at the very site in question. In return for using the power of eminent domain available to any government, Nkrumah provides an alternate or replacement for the army. How in the world does this make him a megalomaniac or show his disdain for the army? What kind of weird logic is Mr. Ahoofe conjuring? Is Kufour a megalomaniac for taking the land of the La people for Ghana@50 without fair compensation? Is he a megalomaniac for taking the very site in question for a presidential mansion? Why has the NPP not returned the house or site that Nkrumah acquired back to the army as a way of showing their love for the army? Instead, the NPP goes for a loan from India to build a presidential mansion at the site. I hope Mr. Ahoofe can objectively see the difference.
All around the world, democracies and dictatorships alike, government have the power to take property for official use with fair compensation. What really is Mr. Ahoofe’s beef here? Let us for a moment grant Mr. Ahoofe’s fleeting wish and say Nkrumah did not have much use for the army. Was he wrong in the final analysis? What good has Ghana’s army been to our political and economic development? By the way, if acquiring government property for official use, and in return, providing another property to meet the needs that existed before the acquisition, makes one a megalomaniac and furthermore shows his disdain for the army, how about Ken Dapaah who sells the property of this same army to his cronies and tribesmen with nothing in return? Weird logic indeed!! And oh by the way, why is it that everyone else can be charged with financial loss but not NPP folks? We must have a gaggle of holy folks on this debased NPP raft. The problem is that I can see the halo let alone kiss it. Tweahhh!! And this professor sees nothing wrong?
Mr. Ahoofe has developed rabid hatred for Nkrumah. What drives his hatred I don’t know. Mr. Ahoofe risks making himself laughing stock if he finds every little excuse to pour scorn on his self-selected political enemies, even when there is blatantly no need for it. He can’t be taken seriously if he continues with these illogical arguments even as he viciously attacks the logic of others. Nkrumah is no god and surely had his fair share of mistakes in a very trying environment. However, acquiring a house for official use is not something he should be chewed up for. In his wisdom, he provided a replacement that worked well until the apparent lack of proper maintenance and update made the house practically ineffective. Why should he be held responsible for the actions of various CDSs or incompetence of the army? Did Nkrumah tell them not to live in the house? Did Nkrumah tell us to run down GNTC, PWD, and State Housing etc? Why blame this man for all our failings? When will we grow up and accept responsibility for our actions?
Instead of going after the inability of these feckless NPP officials to solve pedestrian problems, Mr. Ahoofe, filled with blind and maddening rage, turns his sights, if not blazing gun, on a man who is dead in his grave. What a waste of precious bullets!! Go after the living souls who always choose the path of least resistance instead of racking their brains to come up with commonsense solutions. These people are paid relatively well for the trivial work we ask of them. Why must they take the pay and perks and then resort to these pre-school solutions? And you blame Nkrumah for their foolishness? Come on Mr. Ahoofe, don’t let your blinding hatred for Nkrumah addle you to such illogical conclusions even as you attack the logicality of others. You can do better!!
Mr. Ahoofe, in a twisted way, seems to be endorsing the 1966 coup that overthrew Nkrumah at the same time as he denigrates Nkrumah’s need to set up his own security. Can Mr. Ahoofe give us reasons why Dr Busia was removed from office by the army? What did he do to earn their scorn? How many of their buildings did he take if that is the yardstick and what did he give back? The least Mr. Ahoofe can do is to bring a sense of context as to why Nkrumah opted to go solo with his security needs. Even before Ghana’s independence, these quislings were planning to overthrow the government. The use of UP/UGCC operatives to corrupt army officials into organizing a coup is well documented. Anybody remembers Awhiatey and R. R. Amponsah?
The long and short of this crap is that Nkrumah would have been a fool to use the Ghana army or police for his security needs. And he was not overthrown because of his disdain for the army. He was overthrown because of the selfish aspirations of these matemeho goons. Regrettably, this same selfishness is on display currently for all to see. I guess “okoto nwo anoma” is a saying that comes to mind. If this does not make Nkrumah smell like roses, what else would? I know Mr. Ahoofe knows these facts but he is so saturated with hate for Nkrumah that he can’t think straight. I will like to suggest that Ahoofe leaves Nkrumah out of the current filth and tricks going on in Ghana. Nkrumah is dead and gone. Let the spotlight be on the NPP loudmouths and what they can do now. Isn’t it sad that Mr. Ahoofe chooses to take on a dead man? Haba!
Nii Lantey Okunka Bannerman (Also humbly known as the double edge sword or “Da D” for short)
I don’t give them hell, I just tell the truth and they think it is hell”—Harry Truman