I have been absent for a while, but my absence was for a good cause.
Ghana has received a lot of negative bashing in the past from in and outside. Chief among them is Gitmo. Most Ghanaians still can’t believe the decision. President of Zimbabwe has not spared Ghana either on the same matter.
As a Ghanaian I am tired of reporting and feeding my readers with negative news. I was waiting for something significantly positive to happen but It looks like Guantanamo (Gitmo) detainees saga will just not go away.
Last week the President of Ghana had a press conference to explain issues in the country. I was sure something will come up to quench the detainees saga but no.
Bin Aterf One of the Prisoners
Top amongst issues to confront the president at the encounter was Ghana’s decision to accept detainees from Gitmo. The minister from communications Dr. Omane Boamah has been praised for a great organisation. But try as our President to explain issues the more questions he left in his trail.
For instance, regarding the Gitmo prisoners, our President said he received them on compassionate grounds. He says the detainees were very young guys (20) when they were picked up and therefore Ghanaians should be compassionate and accept them. Is the president aware of the adage “love your friend as you love yourself”. By our decision Ghana decided to love America more than itself. All states in the USA rejected receiving any of the detainees.
Interestingly, the Gitmo saga told another twist just after the press conference, the minister of foreign affairs who is going round seeking “compassion” of Muslim and Christian leaders is saying he is not aware of the full details regarding the detainees coming to Ghana.
The press secretary of the United States Embassy in Ghana has also not helped matters. He had admitted on a radio discussion programme on (TV3 Ghana) that the cost of maintaining the detainees in Ghana is been taken care of by Ghana and the USA. Soon after, he is granting interview to media that the cost of maintenance is solely on the US and that he was not privy to some fact prior to granting the interview on TV.
On the resignation of ministers and bus branding, the President sought to shift the blame on civil servants. He insinuated that most of the contracts are initiated by them and therefore it is possible to have contracts which ministers know nothing about. I leave this one to you my readers to judge.
President J. D. Mahama
Our President is also saying that the only way he and his administration can raise revenue is through taxes. Taxes are very good source of government funds but should people be made to pay taxes to the point where companies are collapsing. H.E. says that Ghanaians pay less taxes compared to Kenya but he stopped short to compared the many good things Kenyans enjoy that we don’t. Your Excellency what happened to agriculture, can’t we invest in agriculture and become a net food exporter. Dr. Spio Garbrah minister for trade rightly points out that Ghana has not produced a tea spoon of sugar in years. This means all our soft drink companies, bakeries etc depend on imported sugar. We have wetlands good for the cultivation of sugarcane and rice.
On corruption, it is said that because we have a free media the perception of corruption will be high but is not the reality. Government, the President points out he is dealing with perceived corrupt corruption cases and has retrieved over 70 million cedis. But my question is beside the retrieval what happens to the corrupt officials. Because if it is just a matter of refund what stops somebody from carrying huge government monies and investing them in treasury and fixed deposits and making profit on them. Once it is found out that the money is with him or her he just goes to court to say give me time to pay and that is the end. Free profit on Ghana money.
All that said and done I think our President H.E. John Dramani Mahama did well in answering all the 26 questions posed to him, people think he spoke from his heart I didn’t see that.
Gyasi Appiah
