NDC storm in a teacup

t is not really a scandal in the traditional or classical sense of the term. But listening to the hopelessly cynical likes of Messrs. Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka and Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa grandstand over the allegation that some business magnates in Ghana’s expatriate community were asked to pay some $ 100,000 (One-Hundred-Thousand US Dollars) apiece to sit close to President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at an awards ceremony sponsored by the Millennium Excellence Foundation, makes one wonder what these young career politicians have up their sleeves.

That these main opposition National Democratic Congress’ operatives are desperate to smear the Akufo-Addo Administration with muck is simply tautological. That, in fact, is what these disappointed Mahama pit-bulls do best. They have absolutely no constructive and/or progressive agenda to facilitate the socio-economic and cultural development of the country, which is why they were resoundingly chucked out of office, anyway; and so it is all too predictable that they would resort to throwing spitballs at the Flagstaff House (See “Explain $ 100 K Expats Saga – Akufo-Addo to Alan” Starrfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 12/20/17).

As Deputy Education Minister, Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa, the NDC’s Tongu-North Member of Parliament, was a crying shame and an epic failure. He is also one of the avid detractors of Nana Akufo-Addo’s fee-free Senior High School policy initiative, and was the Mahama hatchet man who callously robbed our teacher-trainees of their longstanding stipends, even as the Mahama Posse blindly and voraciously lined their pockets and bank accounts with our oil revenue. Okudzeto-Ablakwa is a naked man with absolutely no sense of shame whatsoever.

On the other hand, the Kumasi-Asawase NDC-MP and Parliamentary Minority Chief Whip, Mr. Muntaka, is a self-proclaimed statutory rapist and child molester who would have our Zongo girls married off to their parents and grandparents at 14 years old, and has been widely rumored to have openly consorted or cohabited with a minor. In sum, neither of both men has any credibility or moral respectability to cavalierly presume to tag the key operatives of the Akufo-Addo Administration with the label of corruption. That, in fact, is the sobriquet or nickname of Mr. Muntaka, who once covered up a payola scam that rocked the Parliamentary Appointments Committee. Mr. Muntaka did the latter with his hand clutching the Holy Quran in a prayerful mode. I mean, this man is the quintessence of corruption.

At any rate, what is significant to observe here is the fact that the sponsors of the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA), namely, the Millennium Excellence Foundation, is a bona fide nongovernmental establishment which has absolutely no direct links or dealings with the New Patriotic Party, much less the Akufo-Addo Flagstaff House. Indeed, we are told that it is the longtime career diplomat, Mr. Victor Gbeho, an NDC godfather and ideological lynchpin who may be the head of the Millennium Awards Committee (See “$ 100 K ‘Access Fee’ Normal Practice, Not Corruption – Awuni” Classfmonline.com/ Ghanaweb.com 12/20/17).

Thus, if anything at all, the Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen-headed Trade Ministry merely blundered in the routine process of endorsing the progressive activities of the Millennium Awards Committee with a ministerial letterhead, from what I gather. Unless, of course, it can be proven beyond the reasonable shadow of a doubt that either the Trade Ministry or the Flagstaff House was an active participant in the sharing of proceeds from the fund raiser that was fittingly graced by President Akufo-Addo. If not, then Messrs. Muntaka and Okudzeto-Ablakwa had better start drafting their letters of apology.

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

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York

E-mail: [email protected]