TALKING DRUM: Freddie Blay & the marauding brigade!

Acting National Chairman of NPP, Freddie Blay

At the Passport Office, here in Accra, a police man stood on his feet giving orders. He was commanding stranded passport applicants to move back, a bit away from the premises.

“No one must stand here! Massa [referring to a gentleman] go, go,” he said.

It was January 10, 2017 hours after some thugs of the New Patriotic Party stormed the passport office demanding a takeover of the facility. Asking why? Their government is now in power.

This barbaric behaviour is not the first to be orchestrated by these NPP hoodlums. On January 9, 3news.com reported: “Persons believed to be supporters of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Monday seized the official vehicle of the Chief Executive of the Nzema East Municipal Assembly.”

On January 10, it was again reported that the “Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in the Trobu Constituency, Kwame Ofosu Adjei is in the grips of the Amasaman Divisional Police for attacking a police officer on duty at the Pobiman tollbooth.” It was alleged he was on a mission to seize the tollbooth.

Many discerning Ghanaians including some NPP MPs have since condemned the incidents.

Reading about the police’s arrest and seeing the officer, at the passport office, act the way he did to ensure sanity prevailed, I wore radiant of smiles. At last, the police have been brave enough to prevent these incidences from reoccurring.  

Little did I know, however, that the officer I saw driving away people who stood idle at the entrance of the passport office was exhibiting but the power vested in a child over a tethered he goat.

“We are here working in fear,” said a worker who wanted anonymity.

“Those the police arrested, yesterday, are back here [passport office]. At the security post and at the reception, these NPP supporters are today on a silent mission all in an attempt to take over the facility,” she said. 

Really? And that police officer was ‘showing off’ at innocent persons? I asked myself. This woman’s claim pricked hard in my ear the way the penis does to the wall of a bell. It pushed me to probe further.

“How sure are you concerning your claim, Madam?” I asked.

 “I am not supposed to tell you this, you know. But …” she said, looking a bit frightened.

“The truth is that we are privy to information that a high official, in government, ordered the release of these thugs.” 

Checks at the security post of the passport office, indeed, confirmed the allegation. Some civilians were seen assisting the police in manning the facility. At the reception, too, I was fortunate to have had a security man, who wore mufti, waiting to collect his passport, to also confirm how serious the situation was. 

This is certainly an affront on our democratic credentials as it has become a ritual that when there is a change in government the winning party’s supporters do the unthinkable. One would hear NPP serial callers and some party communicators say ‘the National Democratic Congress (NDC) did same in 2009. So, the situation repeating itself after the Electoral Commission declared the NPP winner of the 2016 election is but equalization of what the NDC supporters previously did.’

It, however, becomes very shameful when leading party executives, the elderly of course, endorse these nefarious acts of their supporters. When I heard the Acting National Chairman of the NPP speak to Ghanaweb and 3FM saying these party supporters are only protecting state properties, I buried my head in my palm. 

“At the harbour, people are stealing cars. People are carrying away items that should attract duties and so forth, containers being taken away without going through the right process.

“If we see people stealing cars from the harbour, are you suggesting that we should wait and go and call the Police?” said lawyer Blay to Ghanaweb.

Burnt Fiapre Tollbooth, in B/A

Citizen vigilantism is commendable but one does not do so by going beyond their limit. Do citizen vigilantes burn down tollbooth as it was seen and heard at Fiapre in the Brong Ahafo region? When did Mr. Freddie Blay’s brigade realise that some people were stealing at the Tema Habour? Where were these hoodlums when Anas Aremeyaw Anas caught on tape some officers at the habour taking bribe? In protecting state property, would it not have been ideal these NPP supporters went there to arrest these corrupt officers? Shaking my head!

Interesting, isn’t it? Their government is in power and they have big men behind them. They have the effrontery to explain why they attack and burn down properties. I vehemently condemn the NDC’s 2009 attacks and it could have only been reasonable the NPP supporters acted with a sense of maturity this time.

The Mighty Eagle in the movie Angry Birds said it right that “wisdom is not something that is given. Wisdom is attained.” I only hope and pray that these political parties’ supporters attain wisdom with time to understand that none of the politicians, they follow, will push their children to go seize toilets and tollbooths.

When I left the passport office on that Tuesday, I wondered which top official in government could have possibly called the police to release these NPP thugs. There seem to be an answer to this question now. Nonetheless, this is the time the police must prove that they are independent and deal with outlaws.

The writer is a broadcast journalist with 3FM 92.7. Views expressed here solely remains his opinion and not that of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: A lesson Tanzania’s Magufuli offers Nana Addo

President-elect, Nana Akufo Addo

"When I say NDC, you say no abaabasɛ. NDC, no abaabasɛ. Then, the third one, you say 'hweeeeeeeeoooow' [that, supporters whistle]," there was President John Dramani Mahama addressing teeming supporters.

Indeed, Ghana’s 2016 election was one of fun and would forever be remembered. While the National Democratic Congress were telling the New Patriotic Party (NPP) they were not going back, Nana Akufo Addo, then NPP’s presidential candidate and now president elect of the Republic of Ghana, was saying goodbye to President Mahama from somewhere.

"John Dramani Mahama, bye byeeeee! Bye byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The other contesting presidential candidates did not quench the fun-fire. Yes. The Progressive People’s Party’s Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, for me, scored the highest mark for the fun game.

"Every year Bole Bamboi road, JJ Rawlings. Bole Bamboi road, Kufour. Bole Bamboi road, Atta Mills. Bole Bamboi road, Mahama. Ah?!" Dr. Nduom asked at one of his campaigns.

But like the lizard’s excreta, the fun game was marred with some provoking jabs.

"The president said I was sleeping, I thank him. The people in the Western Region and all those who use those roads there will know the one who is peddling falsehood. If the roads were good, would they have included it in their projects?

“Let me ask you; do you see anything near good roads? Do you see that most of the roads are in good shape? We should not be deceived by these falsehoods," said Nana Akufo Addo.

He was addressing a rally at the Achimota Station in the Okaikoi North constituency on Friday, August 19, 2016, and would respond to President Mahama’s claim that he [Nana Addo] was sleeping in one of his tours to the Western region, hence, his inability to see the good roads there.

After months of intensive campaigning, the dust has settled and Ghana has finally chosen a leader to steer the affairs of the nation for the next four years.

Our president-elect, Nana Akufo Addo has enormous responsibilities to undertake as Ghanaians have a mountain of expectations from his government. Having campaigned and probably won the election based on promises, the nation looks forward to the NPP effecting that ‘change’ they called for.

When, after, the Electoral Commission’s Chairperson, Charlotte Osei declared Nana Addo the president elect, what I heard many people at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle jubilate about were the free SHS promise, one district one factory and improvement in the health insurance scheme.

Whereas these may be a few of the NPP’s promises the Kwame Nkrumah Circle celebrants were happy about, there are those who look forward to seeing our economy grow tremendously. The $1m per every constituency and the creation of jobs cannot be forgotten as we were similarly told not to forget the GYEEDA and other scandals, under the NDC government.

However, I strongly believe Nana Addo will have a very smooth tenure of office if he follows the exemplary footsteps of Tanzania’s president, John Pombe Magufuli.

Tanzania's President, John Magufuli

Mr. Magufuli, prior to being elected as president, had campaigned to crack down on corruption, promised to tackle the endless power shortages Tanzanians face, and to exploit its gas resources for the benefit of the nation.

The BBC reports that Mr. Magufuli portraying himself as a poor man’s son had reached out to Tanzanians to better their lives.

"Our home was grass thatched and like many boys I was assigned to herd cattle, as well as selling milk and fish to support my family. 

"I know what it means to be poor. I will strive to help improve people's welfare," he said.

So, what happened after Magufuli assumed the position of a president in Tanzania in less than a month?

Social media was awashed with messages of Mr. Magufuli’s announcement that there would be no celebration of Tanzania’s Independence Day on December 9. Why? His reason was reasonable. It would be shameful to spend huge sums of money on the celebrations while people were dying of cholera. Resources would rather be channeled to productive ventures.

At his official visit to the Muhimbili Hospital, in Dar es Salaam, Mr. Magufuli seeing the hospital’s horrible state, ordered over 200 million shillings marked for “parliament parties” be used to pay for beds for patients who either slept on the floor or shared beds, the sapeople.com reports.

Subsequently, the governing board of the Muhimbili Hospital was dissolved and got a new team in place, and within days broken MRI was fixed.  A cut from $100,000 to $7,000 as an amount for his inauguration party had the extra money being sent to the hospital. 

More so, the announcement of a ban on all foreign travel by government officials and ordering these officials to, instead, make regular visits to rural areas to look at how to solve and improve the lives of the ordinary Tanzanian cannot be over emphasized.

This is the man many call as the Bulldozer for he abrasively acts upon his words. Still on his assumption, in less than a month, Mr. Magufuli suspended the Tanzania Revenue Authority’s chief and other officials as irregularities were recorded at their office.

This is the shining example Tanzania offers a Nana Addo government. Our president elect must be able to not only sack corrupt officials but imprison them when the law courts find them culpable. This, President Mahama failed to do and even infuriated Ghanaians by releasing the Montie 3. Simply because he has that power to do so.

Our president elect must let his ministers and appointees understand that they cannot live the life of New Yorkers, in Ghana, while many people wallow in poverty.

Our president elect must either scrap or restructure government policies that are drawing us back as a developing country. The National Sanitation Day, for instance, must be restructured. The idea of calling on people to sweep and clean their environment on the first Saturday of every month is sickening.

Here, we end up filling the same gutters we cleaned just a day after the clean-up exercise. Malaria must be a thing of the past if the Americas and the Europes have drastically achieve this feet. Why can we not ensure sanity by fining people who litter indiscriminately? Could this not be a source of income for the nation in solving some of our numerous problems?   

There are a lot that could be said to Nana Akufo Addo but in a nutshell; I wish to say that per his status in life, this is not the time to create, loot and share. You have everything that could be said of every successful man.

Becoming the president of Ghana is just an addition to your feat in life, I guess, and you must, however, not ‘play’ with Ghanaians. Do not take this for granted. Work to write your name in the good books of our country. 

Dear, Nana Addo be reminded of what former President JJ Rawlings wrote to you in congratulating you. That, the people elected you “President because the electorate believes you have the ability to confront these challenges [the nation faces] and lead the country with fearlessness, humility and honesty.”

I wish you a prosperous term of office. Long live our motherland, Ghana.

The writer, Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with 3FM 92.7. Views expressed here solely remain his opinion and not that of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba