KB Asante: Voice From Afar column
Brazil 2014: Ghana made a laughing stock of herself
We should admit it. It was ridiculous to load a plane with a currency we are asked not to use as legal tender to pay Ghanaians in a distant land to bring dishonour to the nation. It is only when we admit our folly that we are unlikely to repeat it.
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We would continue in our folly if we, the people, completely exonerate ourselves and put the blame solely on the country’s ‘leadership.’ It is true that the sports minister and his men and ultimately the President owe us some explanation, but we the people should accept our responsibility.
We approved the Constitution and elected the President, who acts within the constraints of the Constitution and who, with our encouragement, often tries to please us rather than uphold the national interest.
Let us examine the circumstances leading to the faux pas. We should ask specific questions and not confuse ourselves with comments which are not immediately relevant.
In the first place, is it true that the world football federation pays fees to national football federations at the end of the games? Is it true that the government of Ghana, therefore, usually advances money to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to pay the players?
Does the GFA then reimburse government after the world federation or FIFA has paid the appearance fees to the association? Were the formal or usual procedures followed and if not why not? In particular, was government approached and did government advance the money and if so why were the players not paid before they issued threats?
Was the delay in payment due to the same administrative inefficiency which causes new teachers, psychiatric nurses and some government officials not to be paid for several months? Or was it due to negotiations for bribes to be released before the players were paid? And when payment was decided on at the last moment, were all the avenues for a speedy transfer of money considered?
I do not understand the modern methods of transfer of money to distant lands in a flash, but my grandchildren show me how to press a few buttons on a gadget (do you call it a mobile?) and a money transfer is made.
Even I have the experience of money transfers across continents in a hundredth of the time it took Ghana’s chartered plane to move from Accra to Rio de Janeiro. And if the officials around did not know, did they try to find out? Did they ask Ghana Commercial Bank or the Bank of Ghana to transfer the money instantly as we old civil servants used to do?
Recently, the chairman of the commission of enquiry into judgement debts advised government institutions to consult the Attorney-General’s office when necessary. I was surprised that this was not being done.
In my time, we principal secretaries or chief directors were brought up to believe that we did not know it all; and that all the technical departments of state were at our disposal. We were expected to have enough common sense to realise when a matter had legal implications. We then consulted the Attorney-General’s office.
If it is something to do with Finance, we consulted the Accountant-General’s office or the Ministry of Finance itself. Sometimes we cut corners to save time. In this particular case of transfer of dollars to Brazil, we would consult the top echelons of the Ghana Commercial Bank or even the Bank of Ghana.
The top officials in the institutions concerned should, therefore, let us know if they are competent enough to hold their positions. If they were not involved in the saga, we should know why. What do all the deputy ministers and secretaries in the corridors of power do? Do they fuel the inefficiency in the administrative system?
Now, even if the President was so harassed that he sanctioned or ‘ordered’ the transfer, his principal or ‘around-the-clock aides’ should have humbly but firmly advised against it. Kwame Nkrumah had only three officials in his most inner office.
Enoch Okoh and Michael Dei Anang were politely and humbly firm in ensuring that the right thing was done in accordance with the rules and the larger national interest. I learnt from them and so even I could persuade a loan which had been engineered by an agent outside the Ministry of Finance not to be sanctioned by the President.
Incidentally, did those involved not know that the recipients should pay tax? And did they not know that only a specific amount of money could be taken by individuals outside the country – particularly in dollars and other hard currency? Did the Bank of Ghana approve the transfer? If so, is the Bank of Ghana not subject to the rules it makes?
And did those concerned not know that most countries have rules about carrying actual foreign money into its territory? Did the money transferred by the chartered or special plane attract tax or penalty? If so, why should those concerned not be charged with causing financial loss to the state?
What is happening now did not start yesterday. But we then had the ‘President’s men’ who knew their job and ensured that the national interest was maintained and a respectable image established.
We should ensure that we employ the competent and insist that they earn their pay. All those who did not act correctly in the US$3 million dash to Brazil should be sanctioned. Ghana deserves better. Ghana can afford and has knowledgeable men and women to fly the country to the heights of grandeur and not laughter.
