Opinions of Tuesday, 27 June 2023
Columnist: Joel Savage
For the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the vice president, Mahamudu Bawumia, all Ghanaian politicians, and Ghanaians to fully understand the motivation behind my tireless efforts to stop the collapse of businesses and domestic and foreign investments in the country, I am inviting them to pay special attention to this article.
About the situation at the ports and its long-term effects which will affect the country, I published at least six articles, but nothing useful came of them. Everyone will understand the harm Akufo Addo has done to our beloved Ghana after reading this post.
The global supply chain's problems made 2021 another challenging year, but the Antwerp Port performed admirably, matching the record year of 2019. Despite not growing cocoa, Belgium is one of the richest nations in the world due to its chocolate manufacturing industry. With billions of euros in revenue, the overall cargo throughput in 2021 was 240 million tons, an increase of 3.8% from 2020 and hardly an increase from 2019. This demonstrates that ports are the cornerstone of any prosperous country, making it acceptable to criticize Akufo Addo for asking the IMF for $600 million.
I am aware of the dire circumstances at the Tema harbor, how pervasive corruption is, and how efforts to close the corruption gap have resulted in a rise in taxes on items like cars and everyday food. It doesn't matter to me any longer to do any investigations at the Tema port, so I went to the Takoradi port instead, and what I am about to reveal about the port will shock Ghanaians, as I also mentioned in one of my articles titled "The Lamentation Of Kennedy Agyapong Confirms Akufo Addo Is Behind Corruption At Ports," written on December 26, 2021.
The ship Grande Angola anchored at the Takoradi port between June 3rd and 4th to deliver the three cars. This shows that human mistakes, extensive corruption, and ineptitude are to blame for Ghana's current political and economic crises, which are unrelated to COVID or the Russia-Ukraine war.
What do COVID and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have to do with persistent, pervasive corruption that raises the cost of goods and deters both domestic and foreign investment in the nation? For anyone to attribute the tragedy that has befallen Ghana to the war and COVID is the height of illiteracy.
Even though Ghana received financial assistance from the World Bank and other international financial organizations to deal with the problem, the NPP administration siphoned off a substantial portion of the COVID budget. They attempt to persuade Ghanaians that the war and COVID are to blame, but they never bring up the money that was stolen.
In Ghana, there was a time when the commercial climate was growing and the harbors were thriving. When Akufo Addo was elected president, everything came to an end. When I went to the Takoradi Port to begin my investigation on June 4th, 2023, I never expected to see the sharp decline in business at a port where only a few years prior, hundreds of cars were shipped in, showing how this government has deliberately undermined the fortunes of this nation, just as Ken Agyapong claimed in one of my articles I wrote.
'Grande Angola,' a ship owned by 'Grimaldi Lines,' anchored in the port and can anyone guess what cargo or items the ship transported to the port of Takoradi? Only 3 vehicles.
Since the day I was born, I have never heard of or seen a ship that unloaded three vehicles when it berthed at one of Ghana's ports. The readers will recognize the seriousness of this writer, and how I substantiate and back each of my articles, using photographs I shot myself to give my articles authenticity.
The delivery of the three automobiles by "Grande Angola" shows how badly the NPP government has damaged the nation while deafening the ears of Ghanaians that they are adamant about ending the eighth cycle. Bryan Acheampong wouldn't declare that the NPP will never hand over power to the NDC if they were truly proud of what they had accomplished.
Any intelligent Ghanaian should question the importance of Kyerematen and Bawumia winning the presidency. What will they accomplish as president if Akufo Addo is a failure and his government has been destructive and incompetent? Will they lower fuel prices, upgrade the system's troubled banks, and revive the economy's collapse?
I firmly believe that they are incapable of doing it, and more crucially, that if any of them had been capable of doing it better, the national tragedy brought on by this abhorrent regime may have been prevented. Even lowering the price of fuel will just serve to further demonstrate Akufo Addo's incapacity, thus it is best to avoid engaging with these two.
I went to the customs' "Vehicle Clearing Depot" after seeing "Grande Angola" deliver three cars because I wanted to confirm how long business operations at the Takoradi port had been disrupted. When I arrived, I noticed that the venue was empty because the importation of vehicles, as well as other commodities, had been halted for a very long time due to the abnormally high customs duties on them, which is one of the reasons prices are so high across the country. Considering how nothing is functioning well, it is difficult to access and evaluate this government.
Whether or not one particular event is positive or negative, my presence at the "Vehicles Clearing Depot" actually helped my inquiry because I got to meet the owner of one of the three cars the ship brought over. He showed me a document with the money he spent on his car when I asked him how much he paid for it.
I found it hard to understand that someone would pay such a high duty for a car, and the terrible thing is that if the duty is not paid, the cars are sold at auction, where the same NPP politicians purchase them for the lowest possible price. This is a crime rather than wickedness.
The person who brought the Toyota Corolla into Ghana made a payment of 43,967.4 GHC or 3992.71 USD. After the car was cleared, the cost rose to 4.3085 USD. This amount alone could purchase a perfect second-hand car in America or Europe.
Therefore, if you are president, after reading this article, would you still deny your incompetence, corruption, and negligence and blame COVID and war for the calamity that has struck our country, when a little intelligence applied to tackle issues at the ports would have earned Ghana billions and even avoid going to the International Monetary Fund for assistance?
The importer of the Toyota Corolla paid 43,967.4 GHC (about 3992.71 USD) for the car. The price increased to $4.3085 USD once the car had been removed. In America or Europe, this sum alone might buy a flawlessly used automobile.
Tarkoradi ought to be a thriving commercial center now that there are no employments for the young people, it's more like a lifeless valley. Everyone I spoke to said, "Master, mi pede mitukwan - Master, I want to travel," right away.
I want to firmly assure Ghanaian President Nana Akufo Addo that I do not despise him and am only doing my best to help him rely on the better governments that he has seen in other nations.
Unfortunately, he has relied on dishonest law enforcement, the media, attorneys, clergy, and political criminals, to tarnish his reputation as an illegal gold miner and dealer. That cannot ever be taken away from Ghana’s political history. Your worst enemy is Paul Adom-Otchere.