A massive amount by all standards just for the NDC\u2019s primaries! Even more worryingly, Herbert Mensah revealed that the alleged discussion took place at the castle; the current seat of government!! If this allegation is true, then it could be the grand papa of all \u201cprofligate spending\u201d, certainly surpassing the so-called \u201cprofligate spending\u201d the President himself has labelled the NPP with. \u201cComing events\u2026\u201d they say, \u201c\u2026cast their shadows\u201d and so if the ostentatious show the President put up whilst picking his forms from the NDC\u2019s office is anything to go by, then Herbert Mensah and the inner sanctum of Rawlings\u2019 advisers have a genuine case. Did the President laugh the way he did because he thought the issue was so insignificant? Did the said meeting take place at the castle and did the President have any knowledge of it? And who was the mole at the castle who recorded the meeting right under the big noses of the ubiquitous state security apparatus? These and many others are serious questions which require urgent answers.<\/p>\n
Personally, I was really surprised at the President\u2019s nonchalance when presented with the opportunity to \u201cset the records straight\u201d (to borrow the phrase of Fifi Kwettey and co). This is a monstrous allegation and Prof Mills\u2019 hoarse comical laughter was unwarranted. When he eventually decided to answer the question, the President denied knowledge of any such budget and went on to mention some projects he would have spent the money on if he had it. What the President failed to tell Ghanaians though was how much he has committed to his campaign.<\/p>\n
The flagrant display of opulence and wanton show of profligacy when he picked his form from the NDC\u2019s office are clear evidence of the ostentatious spending that awaits Ghanaians come 2012. Needless to point out here that it is very worrying for the President not to even know the budget he has put in place for his own campaign. By his non-committal answer, I hope our President is not in anyway alluding to a bottomless pot of gold for his campaign team to dip their hands in. My view on this whole saga is that, either Herbert Mensah or the President is being \u201cecominical\u201d with the truth. Ghanaians deserve better than that.<\/p>\n
In the said radio interview, the President proceeded to inform Ghanaians after his long dry laughter that he has \u201cinstructed the BNI to investigate\u201d the matter. The question therefore is: why did the President laugh his head off the way he did if he deemed the matter so seriously? True to the President\u2019s words, the BNI picked up Mr Herbert Mensah at 0930am on Monday, 16.05.11 and kept him for 9 hours before being eventually released. No one knows whether Herbert is going to be invited for more \u2018friendly\u2019 chats with BNI in future. I will like to know what the BNI are looking for in their investigation. Does what is captured on the \u201ctape\u201d contain any information that compromises the security of Ghana? Or were the security apparatus commandeered to investigate the matter just to clear the President of any wrong doing and maintain his hyped up \u2018sainthood\u2019? Does the \u201cMr Clean\u201d image of the President take precedent over everything else in the country?<\/p>\n
If the BNI has nothing to do, I will like to draw their attention to the \u201cDaily Graphic\u201d of Tuesday May 17 2011 which reported that the Ministry of Energy has conceded that Ghana may be \u201closing money at the Jubilee field because there is no reliable way of measuring the exact amount of oil and gas being extracted.\u201d The report continued that, \u201c\u2026\u2026in the absence of a working export flow meter, both the Energy Ministry and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation have been using a ruler to manually determine the amount of Jubilee Crude meant for export.\u201d Could it not be a deliberate ploy by someone to measure the Jubilee Crude and Gas with a ruler in this day and age just to milk the country dry of its oil revenue? Is this practice not causing \u201cfinancial loss to the state\u201d and therefore, more of an urgent matter for the BNI to investigate?<\/p>\n
The truth of the matter is that, the President is desperate to keep his manufactured \u201cclean\u201d image and that\u2019s why he set the BNI on poor Herbert Mensah. I say this without any fear of contradiction because there has been many other more important \u201ctapes\u201d of national importance without the President butting an eye at those who claim to have them. Former President Rawlings claims to have a \u201ctape\u201d of those involved in the murder of Ya Naa. While President Mills continually promises to find the killer\/s of the late chief, yet he has dared not instruct the BNI to invite President Rawlings for a discussion on the \u201ctapes\u201d over a cup of tea.<\/p>\n
If the President Mills\u2019 hysterical promises to find the Ya Naa\u2019s killers were genuine and not pure political gimmickry, he would have long investigated the \u201ctape\u201d which President Rawlings has had for years. The same Rawlings also claims to have \u201ctapes\u201d of those involved in killing women in the late 1990s. Recently, the country has also seen Anas Aremeyaw Anas\u2019 \u201ctapes\u201d being aired on various TV stations. What happened to those caught in the Anas cocoa smuggling tape? And what happened to those who were caught in the Anas tape in the children home? Anas\u2019 \u201ctapes\u201d captured the nefarious activities of some Ghanaians against the state and some vulnerable children and yet the President appears mummified to act on them.<\/p>\n
Then again, there was the hyped Gizelle Yazji \u201ctape\u201d which was also used by the NDC pre-election 2008. One would have thought that this tape would be investigated by the BNI when the President assumed the mantle of power to unearth the truth about the financial misappropriation charges levelled against former President Kuffour by Giselle Yazji; the NDC\u2019s darling lady. These were some of the issues President \u2018Mr Clean\u2019 Mills campaigned on. Why has the President not involved the BNI in all these \u2018Tapegates\u2019? In the past few weeks, Ras Mubarak of the NDC accused Okudjeto Ablakwa of constructing a fish pond worth $20,000 in his stepfather\u2019s house. Is this matter not worth investigating especially at a time that the President had ordered a freeze on salaries of political appointees?<\/p>\n
The same Ablakwa is alleged to have purchased a house worth $130, 000 in America. What about the 1.6 billion Cedis spent by Koku Anyidoho on hampers? To me, the President\u2019s instruction to the BNI to investigate his campaign budget \u201ctape\u201d is just an exercise in self aggrandisement. President Mills is desperate to look cleaner than he actually is and that\u2019s the reason for this knee-jerk reaction. Methinks he pays more attention to his public image than the welfare of the ordinary Ghanaian. Is Prof Mills\u2019 image more important to him than the Ya Naa, Anas Aremeyaw, Giselle Yazji \u201ctapes\u201d et al? The President should stop shedding crocodile tears over the murder of the late chief if he hasn\u2019t the balls to investigate President Rawlings and the \u201ctape\u201d he claims to have.<\/p>\n
The swift swoop of BNI on Herbert Mensah over the $60 million \u201ctape\u201d is interesting indeed when one considers the stash of \u201ctapes\u201d Rawlings has. If the President pretends to see no evil and hear no evil about the other \u201ctapes\u201d, then Vice President Mahama should shake him up from his slumber, give him some more coffee and remind him that there are more important \u201ctapes\u201d in the country that the ordinary Ghanaian would like to see the BNI investigate. Ghanaians are sick and tired of this constant massaging of the President\u2019s ego when there are more salient things to do in the country. The President is no saint and he knows it.<\/p>\n
Ghanaians await the day Prof Mills would show same sense of urgency in setting the BNI on former President Rawlings to provide the Ya Naa \u201ctapes\u201d to help arrest the late chief\u2019s killers. On the other hand, if the President is not acting on other \u201ctapes\u201d because he thinks they are all not true, then he should have the decency and boldness to tell Ghanaians just that and apologise for lying his way to the castle. Ghana and the people of Dagbon need the truth and not a patronising President who operates with two sets of rules: one rule for \u201ctape\u201d about himself and another rule for \u201ctapes\u201d about everything else in the country. In the meantime, as the denouement unfolds, Ghana awaits the actual judgement day, come December 7th 2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n