Features
Ghana: When hypocrisy preaches ‘melodious honesty’
In a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed.
The principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.
Indeed, elections are the central institutions of democratic representative governments. And all modern democracies hold elections, but not all elections are democratic.
According to Jeane Kirkpatrick, scholar and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations: “Democratic elections are not merely symbolic …
“They are competitive, periodic, inclusive; definitive elections in which the chief decision-makers in a government are selected by citizens who enjoy broad freedom to criticize government, to publish criticisms and to present alternatives.”
Democracies thrive on openness and accountability, with one very important exception; the act of voting itself.
To cast a free ballot and minimise the opportunity for intimidation, voters in a democracy must be permitted to cast their ballot in secret.
At the same time, the protection of the ballot box and tallying of the vote totals must be conducted as openly as possible, so that citizens are confident that the results are accurate and that the government does, indeed, rest upon their “consent”.
The fact of the matter is that, the practice of Ghana’s democracy is riddled with a lot of ‘election issues’. From internal party elections to inter-party elections or national general elections; there are a whole lot of issues.
And it is compounded by our District Level Elections and election of Metropolitan/Municipal and District Chief Executives, after their nominations by the President of the Republic.
For instance, some political analysts say with certainty that during the ‘primaries’ to select or elect presidential and parliamentary candidates to represent their various political parties in general elections, a lot of “underhand dealings happen.”
According to the analysts, the contesting candidates in the primaries, “flood the election venues with ‘pure cash and all manner of goodies’ including television sets, motorcycles, bicycles, sewing machines, wax prints, food and drinks to ‘grease the palms’ of the electorates, so that they could influence them to vote for them.”
The analysts contend that,”this is an open secret in Ghana’s internal party contests,” stressing that, “this is replicated by the political parties, all the way to the national elections.”
And for the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Executives (MMDCEs), other political watchers also claim that “the unspoken rituals” are known and performed by some nominated MMDCEs and their acolytes, irrespective of whichever political regime in power since the 4th Republic.
And the “rituals” are said to be turning the whole “confirmation process” into ‘moneycracy’ thus, influencing ‘the small-small honourables’ to vote in a certain way to confirm some of the MMDCEs.
And even in Parliament, some political watchers say, “some opaque rituals” are performed by some persons nominated for ministerial appointments during the vetting process, adding that “all these are presumably done to enhance the chances of the approval of some of the ministerial nominees by the Appointments Committee”; even though such activity is indirectly related to elections.
Mr. Elvis Afriyie
Ankrah, NDC’s Director
of Elections
•Mr Kwabena
Mintah Akandoh
Again, some political watchers claim that when some institutions are “pushing” or “lobbying” for Bills to be drafted and passed by Parliament to enhance their performance, such institutions are said to sponsor hotel bills, meals and transportation costs of the parliamentary committees discussing such Bills, insisting that “such acts by such institutions, together with Parliament, fly in the face of good governance practice and democracy,” even though it has no direct linkage to elections.
It is in line with such arguments that some critics have taken the Juaboso Member of Parliament, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, to the cleaners, about the statement he read on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
Mr Akandoh’s statement on the floor of Parliament demanded action from the House over the way some of the approvals of MMDCEs had been carried out in the midst of allegations of vote-buying among others.
Mr Akandoh mentioned the Juaboso District where a Presiding Member is currently challenging the approval of the DCE nominee in court, alleging that his confirmation was conducted on the blindside of some Assembly Members.
Mr Akandoh urged Parliament to probe “questionable election” of some of the MMDCE nominees, adding that, “at the core of our democratic practice is elections.
“The plethora of locations where such horrible examples occurred, included Suaman, Bebiani Ahwiaso, Bekwai and Sekyere Kumawu.”
He said, “as Members of Parliament, we have through democratic processes emerged as voices for countless thousands.
“For this reason, we must raise our voices against such acts,” and urged Parliament to institute a probe into areas where such schemes were reported to have taken place and to propose measures to rectify them.
According to the critics, however, Mr Akandoh and his cohorts in Parliament ” are acting ‘hypocrisy’ and preaching and singing ‘honesty’ with melodies.”
The critics contend that Mr Akandoh and his like-minded friends in Parliament are very much aware of the many of the “underhand election processes ” in the country, especially the performance of “monetary rituals” to influence voters at all levels of elections.
Readers, Wikipedia defines hypocrisy, as the practice of claiming to have higher standards or noble beliefs than is the case.
Hypocrisy is typically caused by an inflated sense of ego and self-righteousness, coupled with an inability to be humble.
Synonyms for hypocrisy include insincerity, pretence, deceit, falsity, duplicity and phariseeism.
The critics say, for Mr Akandoh to single out the election of MMDCEs for mention and attention on the floor of Parliament, while ignoring other related and very disturbing ‘election schemings ‘ in the country, smacks of hypocrisy and dishonesty.
The critics are, therefore, urging Mr Akandoh and “his friends” in Parliament to be candid and courageous to “open all the cans of election-related worms ” on the floor of Parliament for thorough scrutiny and redress; instead of using the election of MMDCEs as “an escape route.”
Per the recommendations of the critics, “the ball must be kicked, back into the court” of Mr Akandoh and his cohorts in Parliament.
Contact email/ WhatsApp of the author:
asmahfrankg@gmail.com (0505556179)
By G Frank Asmah
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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