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President Akufo-Addo in opposition, told Ghanaians that he was not in politics to amass wealth. He described politics as a public service and not an opportunity to amass wealth overnight at the expense of the ordinary people. He described himself as an incorruptible politician and warned party folks that his administration shall deal ruthlessly with appointees who engage in corrupt practices.
These and other assurances painted candidate Akufo-Addo as a man of unassailable integrity and selfless person. After one and a half years in office, Nana Addo is rated among the most corrupt leaders in Africa and the most corrupt leader in the history of Ghana and treating corruption involving his men as family affair. When allegation of corruption is made against his appointees, the President and his security Capos act like pet dog, but when it is against those whose faces the President and his appointees do not like, the anti graft agencies act like lions.
Ghanaians including our intellectuals, some pastors and Imams accepted the President’s self aggrandizement and assurances without looking at activities within his party and other crucial issues. Ghanaians were told that candidate Akufo-Addo was a self made man with so much wealth.
We were assured by him and his henchmen that because of his wealth, he wasn’t going to take a penny from our coffers. People forgot that prior to the 2016 election, officials of Prudential Bank Limited were on the heels of the Npp to repay an overdraft facility of Ghc 1.5 millions during the 2012 elections. Prudential Bank’s officials bank notice stated that the Npp had refused to make arrangement to repay the loan which had accrued to Ghc 2,290,631.36 due to interest. The notice of demand from the Bank was addressed to the then Chairman and copied to Ken Ofori-Atta and Keli Gadzekpo who were the guarantors. Where was the man they described as very rich (Nana Akufo-Addo) when his cousin and friend were being chased around by the Bank. The Bank even served notice that it will go ahead and initiate legal action against the Npp and the guarantors if they fail to comply with their directive. Where was the rich man when this notice was served. We were told by the Ohene Ntow-Committee that Nana Akufo-Addo and his cohorts made withdrawals from the party’s account with Ecobank to finance Nana’s travels and other personal commitments. Kennedy Agyepong recently told us that some persons appointed into this administration financed Nana’s campaign. We were told that the CEO of bost, gave the then Npp candidate an amount of Ghc 300,000 every quarter. All these support went to the man who described himself as incorruptible, who is not in politics to amass wealth. How was he going to pay back loans he and his group had contracted, and funds released to him by his friends. Those who were hoodwinked, should find out when the 2012 prudential bank loan was paid. Some of the party’s bigwigs sold their personal properties to support the party’s campaign, others went for personal loans and the candidate himself at a point had to sell few properties to support his agenda. People did not look at these events and moves by officials of the party and the candidate as individual. If Nana was that rich as we were made to believe, I don’t think he would have pushed his cousin and party into that blazing hole. We all heard authentic stories from some executives of the party about the challenges the party was going through prior to the 2016 campaign. The party’s campaign in 2016 was supported heavily by some Nigerians. The candidate and his team had no option but to accept the financial support with all the heart wrecking conditions. I don’t think Nana would have succumbed to those conditions if he had adequate resources to finance his campaign.
The man whose travel expenses and those of his daughters were covered by his party, suddenly could cover travel expense of himself, his daughters, grandchildren, wife, step daughters and other persons to the United Kingdom for a week cool off. He was able to pay millions of cedis to traders who were evicted from his place, pay 50 billion (old cedis) to his party during their congress at cape coast. Apart from the daughter who has been appointed into his government, we don’t know the kind of job the others are engaged in yet it being alleged that they have purchased expensive buildings in the United Kingdom. An anti corruption organization based in Gabon recently published that a daughter of the President owns an ultra modern pharmaceutical company in Gabon. It was also published that a nephew of the President recently bought a mansion in Cantoment costing £ 600,000. Washington Post, a credible newspaper in the United States recently published a story about an oil deal between a brother of the President and an oil company in Russia. Some appointees of his government (deputy chiefs of staff) were indicted of corruption and A-Plus a close friend of the President furnished the police CID with authentic evidence to support his allegation but the President cleared his officers. The President again cleared himself and his ministers over the Cash for Seat saga. He cleared the CEO of Bost over the famous contaminated oil sale and forced the NPA to shamefully retract its earlier position on the matter. We were later told by Kennedy Agyepong that the Bost CEO was untouchable because of the financial support he gave the Npp and candidate Akufo-Addo. If he is not in politics to amass wealth as he claimed, then why all these supports, loans and heart wrecking agreements with foreign donors. Later we shall discuss why the President and his finance minister supported the defeated candidates in the Liberia/Sierra Leone elections. Up till now Ghanaians are yet to be told the owner of a new ultra modern super market being built in the capital. It is alleged that a daughter of the President owns it. Can those who believed the President’s self proclaimed image, tell us the President’s salary? In Ghana’s fiercely hierarchical and materialistic society, it is easy for top politicians to discredit criticism of their lifestyle from those below them on the social ladder by simply implying that it stems from envy. That is what we hear whenever the people criticise the lavish lifestyle of the President and his family. It hardly helps that there have been numerous cases of civil society who lambast their earnings and corruption- only to be co-opted by the President and his henchmen and promptly reverse their views. The President mischievously told us his predecessor didn’t leave a penny in our coffers yet living expensive and lavish lifestyle with outlandish privileges. He will not have an easy task convincing those around him about the necessity to reduce their corrupt activities and necessity for modesty because of his activities and that of his daughters and other family members.
Our ministries have become gold mines with ministers displaying unprecedented impunity. All kinds of nefarious deals are going on in the ministries the recent ones being the Kelni GVG contract, the $15 million digital addressing system, $1.2 billion National ID card contract etc. The outrageous earnings of parasitical politicians around the President who act as if it is perfectly normal that they live lavishly at the expense of their monthly poor countrymen is another blow causing serious anger in the system
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