The Wages Of Arrogance and Deceit

There is no denying, when the chair on which you sat accused you of spoiling the air. And evidently so; the contact between the two cannot be underestimated, as we live in a world of conscience and logic.

The recent presidential tumbles that must left the president stewing in disbelief shows how much this conscience is being flawed or made to appear so. And the sarcastic rebuttals spewing from ministers like hot water thrown on our faces aren?t making anything easier. If a president of the Republic stains his underwear and feigns denial we are entrenched in embarrassment, as in deciding which palliative measures to take to assuage the situation. And as is the case concerning the incumbent President there is a cleavage in decisions, as to whether to award roses, or flies. Whatever the outcomes there will remain forever engraved on the mind of Ghanaians an indelible scar that will scare us for a long time to come.

Skipping the horribly endemic cases of corruption and muddle, the latest presidential turbulence involving Gizelle Yajzi is discrediting and very regrettable. That our president has become, over a fortnight, a superlatively na?ve cavalier animates a debate that should not be waived with the back of hand and left over to the wind. In effect, Ghanaians and posterity will never forgive him, not only for betraying the country, but also for the worldwide disgrace and ridicule caused us, over an affair that his political nitwits are beating all flanks to wrap in filth and mist. It is so unimaginable that a President of the republic of Ghana in possession of all his wits(?), knowing well the exigencies of his culture, could open himself up to the luxury of being dragged in mud and shame by a hitherto unknown Iraqi lady.

The deceit-coated rebuttals fanned by politicians clowning around are a perfidious attempt to cushion the debris which will fall eventually no matter what. Take for instance Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu platitudes that would not have parliament ?dignifying the rubbish.? That was a contradictory defense, and a mockery at his ignorance and the intelligence of Ghanaians, since we sincerely doubt that the president saw things in this light, whatever he Mr. Bonsu wants to call ?rubbish.? And he certainly was not there when the President accosted Ms. Yajzi for intimate and business relations. The ensuing question that crosses the mind is, how many times in world history does a lady from a distant country scramble to another just for the interest of accusing no one but the President of the Republic in cases as loathsome as these? And the ministers thinks this is funny!

This case outweighs by far the Lewingsky-Clinton affair that stimulated American public outcry and indignation in that, our President Kufuor is doing nothing to clear the doubts that hang loose in the air, but rather gives momentum to Miss Yajzi to go squealing about all over on the air. This is untenable. That Gizelle Yajzi could give vent to and spiteful claims that she ?terminated? the affair and not President Kufuor, and that she ?didn?t need the president for anything? is more than anything one could easily digest and leave to dissipate as a Ghanaian. It is equally too outrageous to imagine the president who pledged refinement to our precarious daily as left over by NDC went only thinking about skirts to lift while underestimating the intelligence of lady who read into the future and stood on her toes with two eyes wide open.

It seems the president even started before Anane, and so it becomes now clear how Anane got his inspirations strengthened. There was also one ministerial bloke in the amorous funfair, Tom Broni? Well, he didn?t have to go to Iraq or USA as Ghana suited him perfectly well. It suffices he only had to stretch the right arm to scoop someone?s long-term wife? and the felicity goes unabated. We are tempted to ask; so how is the president and his team faring with the diplomatic community? Playing ostrich as usual?

The President?s initial error

The President must have disappointed the gods of Ghana. On assumption of power President Kufuor hurriedly engaged steps to accord fitting burial to General I. K Acheampong and company for their good job in enhancing corruption baptized ?Kalabule? and other infamous acts such as the indiscriminate quest liftable skirts, the consequence of which is the political and social turmoil of today. In effect, his very eventful penchant in that direction underlined his full acquiescence for corruption on massive scale, despite the paradoxical slogan of ?zero tolerance for corruption.? The president went about in John-the-Baptist fashion proclaiming (not in the wilderness of course!) with a loud voice a slogan, which in every detail was set to be appreciated upside down. General Acheampong and others were out sell to the country to Lebanese and Assyrians who had so much power that Ghanaians didn?t matter any more! While indulging in the felicity of orgies in very luxurious cars equipped with fridge and dining tables, they took pride in engaging foreign loans and refusing to pay. In the end when donors snubbed us, our generous general thoughtfully advised 8 million countrymen and women to feed themselves or go hang somewhere! Now, when the strife among the population rocketed to alarming heights Acheampong?s proud head and indulgence provoked his empty audacity to ban Pioneers hit ?Everyday, things are getting worse,? because it promptly brought to mind what the people were enduring. That act in itself was a measure of the conscience of those ?jumbo size? bandits. These were the people given fitting burial? It seemed evident therefore, that either President Kufuor grossly misunderstood what is called corruption and mismanagement, or ignored them completely. How then could he fight it? How could a president say things like ?they are fighting hard to avoid temptations imposed by the responsible position they hold??

His next step, ? la Kufuor mode, was to identify himself with Eyadema of Togo. So content was he with the relationship he weaved with this sanguinary nonentity that he went around singing his praise. Notwithstanding the chagrin he was causing Ghana he drifted further to grant ?Jeune Afrique l?Intelligent? an interview, making the Togolese dictator his doyen and sage counselor. No wonder some French-speaking journalists on Afrique Presse, a television program on Africa by TV5, believed Eyadema did much of the financing of the recent Kufuor presidential campaigns. President Kufuor?s behavior was carefully wrapped in vindictiveness. Except of course that he forgets, a goat that goes around tarnishing the image of a village with its droppings, forgets he soils his own tail?

If the campaigns heralding Kufuor presidency were lottery, almost every Ghanaian would take his stakes. People were so fed up, having drunk NDC cups till they could handle no more. They needed new system, with new feelings and new ideas. And the president Kufuor promised all these. But how soon fleeting had this dream turned. A year! Because, underneath a crystal-clear slogan that would have reduced NDC era corruption to insignificance were negotiations for the acquisition of a hotel, all garnished with ?intimate relations.? But, is this new or a scene d?j? vu? Enter President Hilla Limann. A calm president completely eclipsed by his hot-blooded entourage in the persons of Dr. de Graft Johnson, Bekoe and Batsa, he was always at the tail of decisions, most of which he didn?t even know. Just within a few months of being in office, Dr. de Graft Johnson had already accumulated articulated trucks and Peugeot caravans as Batsa was busy acquiring and multiplying a chain of stores across the country. Bekoe himself had an invariable crave for boats and canoes. The only difference, as compared to this government is that Hilla Limann was not personally involved. He was a very very gentleman. But with this government, it is the President who takes the responsibility of initiating himself the corruption bus,and putting every one on board; setting the precedence for all the others. This explains his inability to officially indict the subsequent disarray and muddle. And people should keep quiet! The handover of power to Limann saw a very arrogant Rawlings who defiantly told a weeping and emotional Limann ?the whole world is watching you.? This pronouncement was not to the gusto of Dr. de Graft Johnson who saw but a menace. So, as he undertook to acquire property and embraced wholeheartedly the corruption, he took care to assure himself that the eyes of Rawlings would not watch. In a deliberate feat spearheaded by himself that could fascinate Ian Fleming?s James Bond, Jerry John Rawlings would be abducted and spirited away. In contrast, Rawlings first years saw him, either singing in chorus with citizens in their endeavors to put back a derailed train, or with a group of students ferrying loads of cocoa somewhere, or diving into the Volta lake for some underwater research work or in a dirty gutter scooping out dirt or silt. President Kufuor has mismanaged the chance God gave him.

Chief and his father the president, with the apparent weakness in their endeavors as regards the polemic, tried several avenues aimed at throwing us off balance, but that failed to send journalists prostrate. Very unfortunately, arrogance and deceit soon fades into complacency and inherently childish motives. Chief should have done better telling the truth, which may not have allayed upheavals anyway, but truth is the responsible option. As the case stands a very bitter Gizelle Yajzi, poised like a proud gazelle but very enraged, probably for odds issuing out of the ?Early term nights' dream,? is out for battle and would not be daunted. There are others who saw nothing wrong with the conduct of the president and son and would put up arguments that aim at NDC as the source of Kufuor trying to scoop left and right. One understands the bitterness of Appiah-Danquah Kufuor, especially as one reads his ?Undermining the Presidency ? Facing Head on.? What?s the magnetic field? If he?s guilty in any scandal, look, there is no hiding place for the golden fleece!

The latest such big-head putting in his arguments, in the person of Dan Botwe, beats the tune to NPP rebuttals that assert the President could not have been so childish as to buy a hotel and put his son's name on it, after Felix Owusu-Agyapong, majority leader in Parliament mucked up all over accusing the NDC of similar behaviour as he tried to call for dismissal all further investigation to the affairs. So, the case turns out to be, Miss Yajzi is a liar, Ghanaians are born blind; and thumbs up for the President and child because they are right because NDC also messed around! If the so-called ?big? people in the society begin to reason this way then it is evident we are getting nowhere near a fair Ghanaian society; it creates the condition for others to follow in the future, since it will be easier to say, ?the NPP which accused NDC did worse!? What logic! Supposing President Kufuor hides nothing what is Chief waiting for to tender all documentary evidence of the transactions on the hotel deal? We would very much have wished the President were not involved in any of these. However, too much, is only TOO MUCH.

And, oh, what satisfaction that Miss Yajzi will not vaporise to other planets soon. Now, if Jerry Rawlings stashed money somewhere, the man is there in Ghana. The accusers still have time to reveal where those monies are kept so he can face up to it. Luckily his sons(?) or daughters didn?t have to buy hotels. That alone figures much.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.