On $175M loan misappropriation: Does NDC really mean well for Ghana?

I thought I was dreaming when perusing through the unfortunate news about the misappropriation of $175 million loan facility secured in 2012 which was meant to provide seven district hospitals, but I was not. I was wide awake. The NDC hierarchy indeed misapplied the loan facility on the blind side of Ghanaians.

Shockingly, however, the Joy News’s fact-finding mission has uncovered the damning scandal which took place in the outgone Mahama-led NDC administration.

The Joy News’s diligent investigation has revealed that the erstwhile NDC government surreptitiously diverted $6 million of a government loan facility of $175 million into researching the then governing NDC party’s chances of winning the 2016 general elections. How pathetic?

The clandestine research was alleged to have carried out by the United Kingdom based SCL Social, the mother company of Cambridge Analytica. According to the report, although SCL Social was given $6 million to carry out a nationwide survey to provide appropriate data for the proper planning of the healthcare needs of Ghana, the NDC government led by Ex-President Mahama deemed it fit to divert the loan facility for their internal research at the expense of the sick and infirm Ghanaians. How insensitive?

All the same, the contractors, SCL Social, admit: “The work consists of two discrete political and public health elements. The political element is testing the attitudes and perceptions of the population towards contemporary issues faced in Ghana and public confidence in the capacity and competence of the current administration to implement appropriate timely solutions. As well as the current level of satisfaction regarding the performance of the NDC at district, regional and national level is also tested and the research incorporates how this may translate into future electoral success.”

If we do the arithmetic of the $175 million loan facility which was supposed to provide seven district hospitals, each hospital should have cost us $25 million.

Nevertheless, credible sources have it that out of the seven district hospitals, only the one in Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region received the full funding and was thus completed successfully.

The all-important question then is: where is the rest of the $175 million loan facility?

How can we advance as a nation when some conspiratorial plotters keep hiding behind party coloration, devoid of patriotism and voraciously squandering our scarce resources to the detriment of the poor and disadvantage Ghanaians?

Frankly stating, since the birth of Ghana’s Fourth Republic (from 1993 to present), the nation has regrettably lost billions of dollars meant for developmental projects through unbridled sleazes and corruption, and yet the methods employed by the successive governments in combating the apparent canker have been extremely disappointing, so to speak.

Dearest reader, tell me, if the rampant bribery and corruption, the stashing of national funds by some greedy opportunists , the misappropriation of resources and the crude embezzlement of funds meant for developmental projects by some public officials do not warrant criminal charges, then where are we heading as a nation?

It is for this reason that some of us jumped for joy when President Akufo-Addo created the Office of the Special Prosecutor to lawfully retrieve stolen monies from the corrupt public officials.

To his credit though, Mr Amidu, the Special Prosecutor, is reported to have vowed solemnly to use his good offices to investigate the revoltingly ugly scandal without fear or favour.

In fact, I have always maintained that a fantastically corrupt public servant is no less a human rights abuser than the weirdo Adolf Hitler.

This is because while the enigmatic Adolf Hitler barbarically annihilated innocent people with lethal chemicals and sophisticated weapons, a contemporary corrupt public servant is blissfully bent on annihilating innocent citizens through wanton bribery and corruption.

Due to the greedy and corrupt public officials disgusting actions, the innocent citizens would often end up facing economic hardships, starvation, depression, emotional labour and squalor which send them to their early graves.

How on earth can individuals keep committing unpardonable crimes (gargantuan sleazes and corruption) against the state and get away with their misdeeds?

Well, the all-important question the discerning Ghanaians should be asking is: will the day come when “Ghana’s political criminals” find they have nowhere to hide?

In sum, it is our fervent hope that the Special Prosecutor will work strenuously and assertively towards our nearly impossible fight against the unbridled sleazes and corruption that have slackened our development over the years.

K. Badu, UK.

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