The twin evil of bribery and corruption in the country appears to defy all forms of exorcism. Given that Ghana’s anti-corruption laws criminalise active and passive bribery, extortion, willful exploitation of public office, use of public office for private gain, and bribery of foreign public officials, among other offences, what is the problem? Is it about enforcement? Who enforces the laws? Are they blind?

I hope my friends in the police are reading this. Years back, during the funeral of my late father, Odehye3 Akwasi Agyeman Prempeh, (God bless his soul), one of his surviving friends who had not seen me since I morphed into a man, approached me, and slipped his right hand into mine. My heart leapt with excitement as my thought raced to the possibility that he was going to give his funeral donation“nicodemously” as some sympathisers prefer to do. How wrong I was!

Instead, he whispered in the twi language: “Ohenenana, kyia me apolisifuornkyia,” which translates loosely to, “Prince, greet me like the way the police do it.” I understood him. He wanted some money and I obliged him. Instead of me receiving, I ended up giving.

I believe our police are doing a yeoman’s job, especially under the leadership of the no-nonsense, businesslike, uncompromising new IGP, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare. I was thrilled when I read that the police had traced and arrested a 31-year-old driver following a social media post by a good citizen about his reckless endangerment of lives through a scary and deadly overtaking on the Accra-Kumasi road on December 30 last year.

But a few bad eggs are tainting the image of an otherwise excellent service by their proverbial style of greeting. IGP, keep up the good work! Drain the swamp! COP Rev. Dr. David Ampah-Bennin, greetings to you. You are an exemplary member of the inky fraternity and the clergy.

Dear pastor, man of God so called! You call yourself a shepherd. Agreed! But whom do you feed, the flock or yourself?Why do you feed fat off the hard labour, sweat and tears of the congregation? Why are you exploiting their ignorance and gullibility to make a fortune out of their fears?

By your cunning methods you rip people off and line your pockets while most of your church members merely scrape by. Occasionally, you conjure a trick which you claim to be “a direction from the Lord, “using the Book of Psalms to reap an uncommon harvest. Starting from the highest number in the Psalms, that is, Psalm 150 you tell the congregation that the Lord says each member should sow a seed of 150 cedis times the number of their children. That means if you have four children, you ought to pay 600 cedis in obedience to a so-called “direction.”

And you prefer the three-digit Psalms – from 100 to 150. As the number drops to two digits, you apply new methods to keep the seed up where you want it. And so, if it is Psalm 20, you may say: “We are in the twelfth month and today is the 20th day. The Lord says we should sow a seed of 240 cedis which is 20 times 12. This is a direction from the Lord.”How did you receive that “direction?” Through dreams, visions, slumbering upon your bed after a bowl of fufu, or was it God’s audible voice? God sits on His throne and says, “You rascals!”

God commands us to honour mothers and fathers, but you teach people to dishonour their parents, especially their mothers. With unproven claims of clairvoyance, you label certain mothers witches. By what foul spirit did you receive that vision? Do you have any idea about the magnitude of the chaos your lies have caused among some families? Why should you so callously tarnish somebody’s image and pierce her heart with the sword of your untamed and poisonous tongue? “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” but you do just that under the guise of speaking the oracles of God. And the last time I checked you were still hunting for more prey.

Mr. and Madam Honourable, what is happening in Parliament? Are we tearing the nation apart with unnecessary squabbles bordering on pettiness? Parliamentary rules of engagement should not be a replica of the ideas of Joseph Paul Goebbels, master propagandist of the Nazi Party who notoriously said: “We do not come as friends, nor neutrals. We come as enemies. As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come.” That tone is the beat of war drums. Do the recent events in the nation’s parliament reflect the words of Goebbels? This is an “urgent question” on the floor.

Our nascent democracy demands the thinking of the 19th century British lawyer, judge, philosopher, law reformer, and writer, Sir James Fitzjames Stephen (1829-1894) who famously said: “Parliamentary government is simply a mild and disguised form of compulsion. We agree to try strength by counting heads instead of breaking heads, but the principle is exactly the same… The minority gives way not because it is convinced that it is wrong, but because it is convinced that it is a minority.”That is some food for thought.

The majority, on its part, must learn to accommodate opposing views that can be proven to conduce to our national development aspirations.Every political party with a genuine desire to develop the country has only one option as espoused by that charismatic president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”Spot on! That is all we need to forge ahead.

Democracy thrives on the exchange of ideas but in an amicable atmosphere. Needless to say, two wrongs do not make a right. Is it not appalling that while most Ghanaians are beset with some of the most monstrous inequalities in the world, the seat of Ghana’s democracy, Parliament, which should lead the way in correcting those wrongs, should turn into an arena of confusion and melodrama?

For those who took part in the recent brawl in Parliament, what do you think you were teaching your children?In this era of social media, your disgraceful behaviour gained much currency in no time. It is likely that some of your children spotted you in the thick of affairs.When they queried you about your conduct, what did you tell them? Defending democracy?

Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader, apologised on behalf of his colleagues on both sides. As admirable as it was to eat humble pie,an impression had already been etched on the minds of Ghanaians about the kind of people we elected to represent us. The only way people will hit the delete button in their memory, and consign the incident to history,is for our parliamentarians to work together and accelerate the pace of our national development in a manner that can be felt by all and sundry.

There are plenty of policy differences to discuss that do not warrant any unnecessary distraction. By any acceptable means, let your differences be ironed out but let the process lead to development for the longsuffering people of this land of gold and oil. 

And for those who are so blinded by politics that they can stoop so low as to utter unprintable words against another, why do you even go to the house of God on occasion; to seek forgiveness and repent, or to deceive God? Of course, no one can hoodwink God. I believe politicians do not hate one another but unfortunately, they allow politics to make their blood boil.

We should all take a cue from the late President J.J. Rawlings and President Akufo-Addo who were sworn political enemies, yet, made some room for accommodation. Why would these guys reconcile, at least, to some extent? It was all in the interest of nation building. 

Fellow Ghanaians I leave you with two quotes from Nelson Mandela: “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.” He said also: “It is in your hands to make a better world for all who live in it.”

Where do you stand, with the Construction Crew or the Demolition Squad? As the King James Version of the Bible would put it: “Choose ye this day!”

And remember that a stitch in time saves nine!

Contact: teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk

BY TONNT PREMPEH