Arthur Kennedy On “GREEDY BASTARDS”

When former President Rawlings uttered those words in reference to some Ministers of his own NDC government, he did that out of frustrated honesty. The former President who had made accountability the watch-word of his career had watched in disbelief as the Party he founded had come to increasingly embody the corruption he had spent all his public career fighting. Even though some in the NDC, led by none other than the Vice-President attacked him then, events since then have vindicated the former President.

It seems that at least he was right on the “Greedy” part if not the “bastards” part of that phrase.

Since the NDC got into office, we have witnessed or heard, repeatedly of DCE’s being chased out of office by foot-soldiers who accused them of not awarding them contracts. The implications were that those who were not being chased out had met the expectations of the foot-soldiers.

We have learned of the Mabey and Johnson scandal in which, allegedly, during Mr. Rawlings term, government functionaries were paid monies by the company in exchange for influence. The SCANCEM scandal that involved the former President himself was in the same league.

We have learned, recently, of how the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Asiedu Nketia, while sitting on the Board of Bui Power Authority, has been selling the same entity blocks. His excuse was that he was providing jobs for foot-soldiers in his area— as if no one else could provide work to the inhabitants of the area except him. As one wag exclaimed when he heard General Mosquito’s explanation, “These are the first of Okudzeto Ablakwa’s 1.6 million phantom jobs to be actually found.”

We have heard of epic battles over toilets instead of dialogues over technology, in pursuit of corrupt practices.

We have witnessed the release of a number of Anas videos followed by anger and anguish but no substantive action from the President.

Then this week, in another episode of “Confessions on Corruption” chronicles, two pillars of the Central region bared it all. The Central Regional Minister Madam Ama Benyiwa Doe, claimed that there was an orchestrated campaign to remove her and that the man behind this campaign was the Central Region’s NDC Communication Director, Mr. Allotey Jacobs. Furthermore, according to the Minister, speaking on Peace fm, the reason for Mr. Jacobs animus was that she had been unable to award him an extra contract because “yipa no dooso”. In response, Mr. Jacobs said he had received his contract, not from the Regional Minister but from the Education Minister.

As the two NDC bigwigs traded accusations, I marveled at how far we have come in many ways. There was a time when people would have been whipped or jailed or in some cases even, “tafrakye” shot for some of these things. Thankfully, today, we have the rule of law and due process, which ensures that the rights of the accused are protected. However, if 30 years ago someone had told me that members of a party formed by Mr. Rawlings would take to corruption as easily as a fish takes to water, I would not have believed it.

To be candid, corruption did not start with the NDC. It has always existed but given who the founder of the NDC is and their election promises to deal with corruption, this has been a breath-taking failure.

From time to time, as if on cue, President Mills has expressed anger and frustration at instances of corruption and vowed to fight it. Also on cue, people would step forward and swear to the President’s personal integrity. Since he assumed office, Kwame Painim, former President Rawlings and Kwesi Pratt have all come forward at one time or the other to vouch for the integrity of President Mills. However, as Mr. Pratt put it so eloquently, “Personal integrity is not enough”. At some point, we have to be able to see the President’s integrity in action. Those who were identified by the first Anas tape were discharged because the Attorney General’s department dropped the ball, twice on basic prosecutorial things. The President expressed disappointment all right but no one was reprimanded or fired. None. Instead, the President, who was a law Professor, expressed disappointment with the judiciary! Why would he blame the judiciary when his Attorney General was obviously the one responsible?

Then with the second tape, he went to Tema and put on display before the nation, his anger at the corruption. He praised his appointed Commissioner under whose nose all the malfeasance had been unearthed by Anas and urged him to clean house. Then he revealed that people hired to work at CEPS were know to put up houses within a short time of employment. He suggested that CEPS employees should be made to declare their assets. As to who was supposed to implement this suggestion, the President was silent. When he turned to his Security Forces, he expressed disappointment that Anas could find all these bad things while his Security Forces could find nothing. And he did nothing about that.

To be consistent he has done nothing about the Mabry and Johnson scandal. He has done nothing about the foot-soldiers fighting over toilets and chasing DCE’s from their offices except issue some ineffective warnings that have been honoured mainly in the breach. He has done nothing about the Asiedu Nketias of the NDC. He has done nothing about the Alottey Jacobs’s and Benyiwa Does of his party. And his party’s founder and the whole nation wait for him to act.

At some point, if the President does not act, the nation will conclude, as it should that this President’s supposed integrity is all smoke and no fire. Ghanaians will conclude either that the President cannot or will not fight corruption.

I remember during the Presidency of Shehu Shagari in Nigeria, I met some Nigerian students in Abidjan who were arguing about corruption in the Shagari government. In defending the President, one Nigerian said “As for the President, he is not corrupt. It is those around him who are corrupt.” I will never forget the other Nigerian’s response. “Tell me, abi; how the leader of a group of armed robbers can claim he is not an armed robber?” At some point, we have have conclude, reluctantly that by tolerating corruption all around him, the President, by inference, is corrupt.

Our country has a lot of history on fighting corruption. There have been commissions of inquiry. There have been slogans. There have been dismissals and there have been executions. Most of these did not work. Indeed, even former President Rawlings, as the Mabry and Johnson as well as the SCANCEM scandals show, Mr. Rawlings himself may not be unblemished.

After nearly two decades of fighting corruption, former President Rawlings admitted in his last year that he needed help from the British to fight corruption. Under Kufuor, some good laws were passed that established a good foundation. However, enforcement of the laws and regulations needed to be better.

What are left are measures that will strengthen institutions and increase transparency. What is needed, it appears is to strengthen institutions and hold them accountable in the fight against corruption.

As Security Analyst Dr. Kwasi Aning of the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Training Center put it, “I think the President now has the evidence, he has shown the anger but let that anger be followed by action.”
And therein lays the problem. Are we unable to act because there is no information or do we lack information because we lack the will to look for it and when we get it, to act on it?
As the Security expert put it further,

“If you have a government that cannot trust fully its own security agents that must be loyal first to the state and to protect the state, if they are unable to do that work and government is forced to go out of its rank to ask for the support of an investigative journalist to expose the levels of corruption and incompetence in one of its critical agencies, then it raises issues and questions we need to tackle seriously.”

What are we going to do about the security forces that saw no evil, heard no evil and suspected no evil done at CEPS? Do we need to change their leadership? What institutional changes will make them hear and see these evils?

What changes will make Parliament stop its name from being used to thwart revenue collection at CEPS? How can we stop people from using the President’s name to do their own thing when he knows who they are but will not name and shame them?

The President must change the leadership of the institutions that are not working, starting from his office and the Attorney General’s Department. We need a red alert on this! Parliament must stop those using its name and hold the executive to account. While at it, it must pass a law requiring CEPS employees to declare their assets when hired and then annually thereafter.

Furthermore, Parliament should review, as a matter of urgency, the levels of our tariffs/duties while simplifying the process of clearing goods from our entry points. While not condoning corruption and lawlessness, compliance with our laws will increase when they are more reasonable.

Finally, while focusing on CEPS, we should also name and shame the organizations that have been the “partners in crime” of the CEPS officials we are all condemning.

We should stop pretending that CEPS and other officials are corrupt, all by themselves. Let the President and government fulfill their promises.

Let Parliament do its part.

Let the Attorney General’s department, the police, BNI and other institutions do their work, honestly. Let the Judiciary be up and doing when people are brought before them on charges. Let us make this country the one Jerry dreamt of when he used to talk about accountability, starting with his party the NDC and its government.

Let us move forward, together.