Waiting for the crocodile tears to dry
When I switch on my radio, glance through the newspapers or watch the TV and follow the analyses being made on current events such as the Victoria Hamah revelations or confessions caught on a secret tape recording, a traditional word of wisdom comes into my mind: wait until the frog dies, then you will see its full length.
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The former Deputy Minister of Communications, Ms Victoria Hamah, was recently allegedly caught on a secret tape recording saying, among other things, that she would not quit politics until she had made $1 million. Following the scandal that the revelation generated, she was fired, although the President had not assigned any reasons for the action.
This development is undoubtedly a dramatic one, given the political climate that the country has been thrown into of late.
The dust is yet to settle on a recent revelation by a senior member of the ruling NDC (National Democratic Congress), Mr Alban Bagbin, that the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has surrounded himself with so many uncommitted characters who make it very difficult or even impossible to approach and to offer him the advice he needs to fight corruption within his government.
Also looming in the background with equal political weight is a threat by organised labour, led by the TUC (Trades Union Congress) to go on a nationwide strike on November 18 if recent increases in utility tariffs are not reduced. Although the intended strike has been called off, there are other problems that the government has to deal with.
The most disturbing aspect of political developments of this magnitude is that they are just politicised and allowed to die off without being properly analysed and the appropriate lessons learnt.
So far, the main opposition, NPP’s (New Patriotic Party) reaction is a typical example of using politics to belittle serious issues. In various statements issued by a number of officials, the party takes a serious view of revelations on the tape that the Minister of Gender, Nana Oye Lithur, might have influenced the decision of the Supreme Court in the case that declared President Mahama’s election as valid.
In his analysis of the tape saga on Joy FM’s current affairs programme, News File, the editor-in-chief of New Crusading Guide, Malik Kweku Baako Jnr, re-echoed the fact that revelations made on the tape should not be taken lightly because of their damaging effect on the nation in general.
He was, however, not sure that Nana Oye Lithur had the ability to influence the Supreme Court judges as being claimed by Ms Hamah on the tape.
It is disappointing, however, that the analyses of revelations made on the tape so far have not touched seriously on the issue that is in the interest of all Ghanaians, irrespective of their political orientations – the ever-growing corruption among our politicians, those who preside over the economic destiny of Ghana. Victoria Hamah’s talk on that tape should not be dismissed as mere woman gossip but as revelations by an insider, a top politician.
It is an admission, albeit unintentional, of a fact that lies the heart of our body politic. It is an issue that makes people ask why an endowed African country such as Ghana with natural resources is very poor.
A Vice Chancellor’s Concern
While delivering his speech during the matriculation of newly admitted students at University of Education, Winneba, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, noted with concern the extent to which this country had been plunged into corruption and indiscipline.
It is a worrying phenomenon, the VC observed, which explains the fact that over 50 years after independence, Ghanaians still spent time brooding over the slave trade and the ills of colonialism instead of moving on.
The result is that the nation still relies only on structures and infrastructure built before or just after independence. Asabere-Ameyaw, therefore, challenged the youth, especially the students listening to him at the time to work seriously towards reversing the situation.
The Vice Chancellor’s genuine concern is a demonstration of the fact that the problem of corruption nationwide is no longer the concern of the ordinary citizen of this country. Ghanaians will be pleased to learn that some people at high places are also disturbed by how the wealth of this country is being used to enrich individuals.
Preceding the Victoria Hamah tape revelation saga was Alban Bagbin’s, another insider who expressed the concern that President Mahama was not making himself available for advice on how to fight corruption within the ruling NDC.
Although some politicians and commentators, especially within the NDC, are trying, as expected, to dismiss Mr Bagbin’s public remark as politically motivated, it contains a lot of food for thought. Ms Hamah’s revelations only amounts to fully opening the Pandora’s Box that her senior colleague had earlier attempted to open.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, Ghanaians do not need anybody to provide answers to the question, “Why do people enter politics in this country?”
From the horse’s own mouth
Ms Victoria Hamah’s declaration that she now understood politics (in Ghana) and that she would not quit (politics) until she had made $1 million is pregnant with meaning. This is a young politician speaking naively to someone she trusts and bringing out her genuine feelings. It would, therefore, not be out of place to conclude that what she was saying is a true description of what happens among our politicians.
And this explains some facts about politics in Ghana. Almost every Ghanaian wants to become a politician, with some using fair or foul means to become an MP, a minister, a DCE or the like.
An important thing that is worth pursuing from the tape’s revelations, though, is the hint that Ghanaian politicians make millions of dollars from politics. Politicians, irrespective of their party orientations, need to wipe off the crocodile tears they are shedding because of Ms Victoria Hamah’s revelations and provide answers to the moral issues raised on corruption.