Features
Why return of the allowances by the First and Second Ladies was right
Even though society is governed by laws, rules, and regulations as well as moral values, it is recognised from time to time that in certain cases certain individuals and groups of people do not apply the laws, rules and regulations together with the moral values making right-thinking people in society wonder whether we are all upright in terms of laws and moral values with which we measure ourselves.
A few days ago, the First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Okaikour Akufo-Addo, had cause to return some allowances paid to her by the state, following the recommendations of the Prof. Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu Committee, as First Lady of the Republic in line with similar payments made to other members in the country. This gesture was followed by the Second Lady, Mrs Samira Bawumia, who has also been treated in an unfair manner in the same way.
Irritating and atrocious comments
What made the issue irritating and annoying was the atrocious way some members of the opposition exploited it to score political points and to create the impression that President Akufo-Addo and the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, cared less about Ghanaians. This unfortunate incident attracted adverse comments from certain individuals and groups of people including the NDC and the CPP which took advantage of the situation to mount unprintable attacks on the First and Second families of the Republic of Ghana.
Some CPP women for instance organised a press conference to say that they did not know what the Second Lady, Samira Bawumia, was doing in the country except to portray herself as a beauty contestant. This awful comment came from women who were older than the youthful Second Lady. Their comments came out of mischief, jealousy and probably sheer envy though, it was unwise to unleash this attack on the Second Lady in this way.
Regarding the First Lady, these women pretended not to have seen the good works this woman is carrying out in this country but to rain unprintable insults upon her as if she did not know what to do in this noble country of ours. It is very unfortunate that such misguided women misfits had to put up behaviour like uncultured people whose only aim in life was to insult decent and hardworking people who were far pleasant in behaviour and comportment when compared with them.
Uncouth behaviour
The CPP is the party that helped Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to emerge the first political leader in independent Ghana so for some of its followers to have gone that ugly way to attack real ladies of the state compared with their own rusty and uncouth behaviour leaves much to be desired.
As for the NDC and the former President Mr. John Mahama, the least said about them the better. The NDC falsified the facts and presented them to Ghanaians as if decent President Akufo-Addo was only in to satisfy the current First and Second Ladies even though this was not the case of my own friend, Mr. John Mahama, knowing very well that his agenda was false, dirty and mischievous deliberately issued a statement emphasising the fact that President Akufo-Addo and the First Lady were rather being greedy and mischievous even though this was far from the truth compared with their lifestyle which was nothing good to write home about.
Sheep in wolves’ clothing
Ghanaians can distinguish between genuine sheep, the NPP, and wolves in sheep clothing, the NDC, and its cohorts. Since this is the case, the NDC should never think that such dirty tricks can win them political power in Ghana today. They may succeed in deceiving a few people in society, but majority of well- meaning Ghanaians cannot be deceived in the same way. If this is the case then the NDC should sit up and forget about such usual dirty tricks which they embark upon, without success though, from time to time.
What crime was committed by President Akufo-Addo in this matter?
Indeed, the payment of allowances to the spouses of the current president and vice-president, former heads of state, presidents and vice-presidents respectively formed part of the privileges due the president and the vice-president under Article 71 of the Constitution. Thus, instead of keeping it in darkness and not backed by any law, President Akufo-Addo thought it wise to regularise the practice by asking parliament to approve and back it with the appropriate law in line with rule of law, transparent practice, openness, democratic principles, and good governance.
Filthy and distasteful comments
In the light of the distasteful and filthy comments from destructive sections of the population “…..the First Lady in consultation with the President of the Republic, has decided to refund all monies paid to her as allowances from the date of the President’s assumption of office i.e., from January 2017 to date, amounting to GHS 899,097.84.”
Justification for rejection
Against this background, the First Lady, is very right in returning the allowances due her to government chest to the embarrassment of shameless members of society. This marks the first reason the return of the allowances was good. In other words, both the First and Second Ladies by the return of their allowances wish to let the world know that they cannot beheld to shameless behaviour as exhibited by some Ghanaians whose corrupt acts are beyond description.
The second reason justifying the return of the allowances is the fact that they are not only beautiful ladies in character and deed, but decent in what they do. Their decent behaviour is incomparable when aligned with those who organised press conferences to attack and insult them without any good reason.
The third good reason for the return of the money is that by the grace of God, the two ladies operate various businesses which give them more than enough money to cater for their ‘own selves’ and spare a little on others who may need to be assisted in one way or the other. What this means is that they have fought hard, with the blessings of God to become what they are today, compared with others who came into politics to steal the little wealth available for the development of people in the country.
Fourthly, they are not envious of others who were paid similar allowances and are keeping them whether they want to return them or not, seeing that it is not everyone who is not in very good health or wealthy enough to decently return the amount already paid to them in the past. This explains why according to the First Lady “she is doing this as a purely personal decision, without prejudices to the rights of others, and not to undermine the propriety of the process undertaken by Parliament.”
Support for the President
They will, therefore, continue to play their pleasant roles to support the President and his administration as has always been the case in the implementation of the mandate given him by the good people of Ghana who deserve to be treated better in line with the image of God the Creator of the universe and all the people who dwell in it.
Ghanaians should be proud of the current First and Second Ladies, seeing that having made it on their own by the grace of God, are in no way joining their husbands to dissipate public funds instead of protecting them in the interest of all Ghanaians to ensure progress and rapid socio-economic development for the nation.
By Dr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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