Corruption in Ghanaian politics has been and will continue to be the hottest topic to be discussed in the political circles.
On 3fm’s national dialogue on corruption, the speakers apart from the
Member of Parliament for Salaga South constituency, Hon Ibrahim Dey
Abubakari (Alhaji), who played politics during the discussion said his
government is the only government that is fighting this canker and
making the subject corruption unpopular. But the civil societies group
representatives at the forum sought to disagree.
I will agree with Mr. Ato Bonful of the Citizen Ghana movement that
our President seems to be talking a lot on the issue of corruption but
don’t know how to fight it. It is only by acting that he can help fight
this social canker called corruption.
Indeed, Mr. Cudjoe Akpabli hit it right by saying, “We are a big joke
in this country”. According to him, there is nothing new insofar as
corruption and thievery are concerned.
He added that because of the way power has been vested into the hands
of the executive, nothing can be done to fight the canker. This is
because the executive arm of government appoints the head of the
institution that has to fight corruption and when it is fingered, it
can’t be held responsible.
Let’s look at some corrupt acts under the John Mills and John Mahama
administration as well as John Mahama and Amissah-Arthur administration.
MILLS-MAHAMA
Under the leadership of President Mills and John Dramani Mahama, the country was hit by a major scandal known as the “Woyome-gate”. A
name that traced its source from the Watergate scandal that happened in
the 1970s in the US following the break-in at the Democratic National
Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington DC,
where President Richard Nixon’s administration attempted to cover up
its involvement.
With “woyome-gate”, some officials under the NDC government led by
the late Prof JEA Mills and JD Mahama were fingered in the episode
leading to the virtual dole-out of GH¢51.2 million belonging to the
noble people of the sovereign state named Ghana by Osagyefo.
Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, former Attorney General, Ebo Barton Oduro,
former deputy Attorney-General but current first deputy speaker of
Ghanaian Parliament, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, former minister of Finance and
Economic Planning, Mr. Martey Newman, former Chief of Staff, Alex
Segbefia and Valeria Sawyer, former deputy Chief of Staff, were the
persons Alfrd Agbesi Woyome claims he had discussions with concerning
his alleged judgment debt.
In a statement attributed to Mr. Woyome, he wrote: “I wish to state
that before I went to court [in 2010], I caused to be written by my
Lawyer, Chris Coker Esq., to the Minister of Finance and Economic
Planning with copies to high officials in the Castle which I delivered
personally.
“When we filed our writ of summons issued on the 19th of April, 2010,
the Attorney General [Betty Mould Iddrissu] called me and demanded I
write to her to clarify my capacity. I did so, and I suggested, per my
clarification to her, that the clarification did not compromise my writ
of summons”.
According to Mr. Woyome, “Two days after, I was summoned to the
Castle to meet Mr. Alex Segbefia. I met him with my counsel- Chris
Coker, and the capacity document was discussed. In the conversation, he
indicated that he was going through the documents with Dr. Valerie
Sawyerr upon the basis of the clarification document.”
“The government of Ghana did not contest the default judgment, but
chose to negotiate it down from over GH¢105million to GH¢51 million,
which negotiations were concluded by the Minister of Finance and his
committee,” said Mr. Woyome.
“My Lawyers then put down the decision arrived at on paper for the
Attorney General to sign. In my presence, the Attorney General called
Mr. Neequaye Tetteh to come and witness it for her after she had
signed”.
This statement, apparently lent credence to the call by critics for
the heads of all the persons involved in the judgment debt negotiation
and its subsequent transaction. They insisted that Mr Woyome could not
have singlehandedly creamed off GH¢51.2 million on the blind side of the
State without accomplices in high places.
The officials are walking freely without no charge and Woyome is left alone to face the music at the court.
MAHAMA-AMISSAH-ARTHUR
Under Mahama-Amissah-Arthur administration a scandal occurred under
the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency
(GYEEDA).
According to the national security apparatus, unemployment was a
major security threat therefore the government of Ghana upon the advice
of the national security initiated the National Youth Employment Program
(NYEP) in 2006 to help deal with youth unemployment in the country.
The NYEP was renamed the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial
Development Agency (GYEEDA) in 2012, with a chunk of state funds devoted
to the program.
For instance, between 2009 and 2012 almost ONE BILLION GHANA CEDIS or
nearly $500million (per the exchange rate at the time) was spent on
GYEEDA.
Most government officials under this administration were fingered in
the GYEEDA scandal, also some businesses, political party and
politicians were fingered.
GYEEDA was plagued by what we call “ghost names”, which gave some
corrupt officials the upper hand to suck the blood of the state.
Beneficiaries including 7,000 ghost names were receiving GH¢250.00
monthly making a total of GH¢1,750,000.00 monthly and GH¢21 million or
$10.5 million annual lost.
This money can provide bole holes in most of the deprived
communities, build schools, roads, hospital etc. but with some greedy
politicians, our motherland cries each and every day.
GOD HAVE MERCY!
Mahama Ayariga, a former Minister of Youth and Sports made strenuous
efforts to get members of the Ministerial Impact Assessment Committee on
GYEEDA paid a whopping amount of Two Hundred and Twenty Two Thousand
Ghana Cedis (Gh¢220,000) as Honorarium and Imprest.
At the commencement of the review, the five-member committee was
given an amount of Fifty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢50.000) accountable
imprest at the instance of Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, who was then the Youth
and Sports Minister.
At the end of the assignment, which lasted for about three months,
Mr. Ayariga who had then taken over from Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah wrote a
letter dated 2nd March, 2015 to the Ghana Youth Employment and
Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) requesting that each
Committee member be paid GH¢30,000.00 as Honorarium amounting to
GH¢150,000.00. The two supporting staff were each to receive
GH¢10,000.00 also as Honorarium. The proposed Honorarium was aside the
GH¢50,000.00 accountable imprest. Ei!
Meanwhile, the State provided means of transportation and accommodation any time the committee moved into the regions.
After back and forth, and some heated debates GYEEDA eventually spent
an amount of GH¢76,000.00 instead of the total GH¢220,000 which was
earlier requested by Mr. Ayariga. The final payment, according to
documents sighted was made on 2nd May, 2015.
The Ministerial Impact Assessment Committee was formed to investigate
financial irregularities and challenges at GYEEDA and was inaugurated
on 12th April, 2013.
Mr. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, during the inauguration, said the committee was mandated to review the regulatory framework of GYEEDA.
It was also expected to carry out an in-depth investigation to
determine possible irregularities of crime and related financial losses,
as well as actions taken by management to recover possible embezzled
money and other assets.
Members of the Committee included: Mr. Ferdinand Gunn, Senior
Partner, Ernst and Young, Mr. Edward Amuzu Tuinese, Lawyer and Lead
Consultant, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and
Mr. Randolph Nsor-Mbala, Consultant, National Communications Authority.
The rest were: Mr. Kwame Edem Senanu, Management and Development
Consultant, and a Representative from the Public Service Commission, Mr.
Mike K. Garba.
We can be talking about corruption under this administration without
mentioning the controversial GH¢3.6 million bus branding deal.
The president, Mr. Bonful, said cannot absolve himself of blame in
the matter. He stated that the chief director of the transport ministry
to the Public Procurement Authority suggested the President John Dramani
Mahama authorised the contract to be awarded to Smarttys (a clear case
of chop-chop).
“If you look at, for instance, the chief director’s letter to the
procurement agency to get the authorisation for sole sourcing, he stated
there that the presidency has instructed them. So you see, the
president cannot even absolve himself from this because it is coming
from his office and that’s a very painful disclosure that we are finding
out,” he said.
The writer is a freelance journalist and a political junkie
Email: paanyna7@gmail.com
Twitter & Instagram: @ekowrites
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