Logical conclusions

TONY AIDOO, DAN BOTWE SLUG IT OUT
…Over Transition team’s ¢1bn tea-time spending

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Two stalwarts of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), yesterday set the tone for what appears to have ignited the passions of political observers into a wide debate.
The two, Dr Tony Aidoo who has been made head of the Evaluation and Oversight Wing Presidential Policy Unit at the seat of government, Osu Castle and the NPP Member of Parliament for Okere constituency, Dan Botwe yesterday justified their positions on why they think the expenditure of the transition team was either within normal spending or overboard on Joy FMs super morning show yesterday.
Whilst the loud-speaking Dr Aidoo believed the cost involved was reasonable, compared to what was spent by the then NPP government in 2001 when it was assuming the reigns of power, Mr. Botwe thought otherwise, considering the fact that the NDC government had promised Ghanaians to cut down on what President Mills himself has often described as ‘profligate expenditure’.
Tony Aidoo juxtaposed his position with the argument of the accommodation, fuel and transportation of members of the team, some of who had traveled from other parts of the country to do what he described as national service to buttress his point.
Ironically, Dr Aidoo said allowances on accommodation, fuel and transport was arranged in a manner that cut across board since according to him, there was no means of determining who was renting and spending in other areas.
That notwithstanding, he said consideration was given to those who were coming from outside Accra in the area of accommodation, saying “but then those who were living in Accra had sacrificed their private means of earning to participate in this exercise, so whichever way you look at it, the across the board determination of the allowances, can be justified.”
“If you look at the number of people who were involved and you calculate that number or you multiply that number by the allowances that were given to these people, you will find that the amount of money paid to a person who performs national service for well over one month, and one month was a minimum because as at March other people were still working, then I think that was reasonable”, he emphasized.
He explained that the determination of the allowance was done on the basis or consultation with the Ministry of Finance and the Chief of Staff at the Presidency who decided to cut down on amount by 20%.
In all this, Dr Aidoo said what surprised him the most was what he described as Dan Botwe’s exhibition of “a serious deficiency in the intellectual articulation of the issues and honoured presentation of the facts.”
He described as quite illogical Mr. Botwe’s assumption that many of those who were paid these allowances for their participation in the process were appointed by the President, as though they were in the mind of the President or they had been assured of appointments by the President.
Now that most of these appointees have not received salaries, he wondered whether Mr. Botwe would recommend to Parliament for a special fund to be set up to pay these government appointees.
He sees no reason why Dan Botwe and members of his party, the NPP, will be making a mounting out of a mole-hill when an estimated ¢1.3billion, which constitutes a third of the cost of the transition on refreshment, stressing “virtually everybody who participated in the transition process were fed, including even the NPP personnel whenever they came to the conference centre.”
He also identified Journalists, security personnel and those he described as ‘the gate-crushers’ among those who were fed.
Dr Aidoo thus noted that the question of cost is not a function for the determination of the leadership of the transition team but the function of those who provided bill for the catering services.
For this reason, he emphasized “whether thy inflated the prices or not, they inflated the quantity or not is a matter that probably needs to be investigated.”
But Mr. Botwe ridiculed Tony Aidoo’s argument indicating that some teachers and civil servants who have not received their salaries for close to a year.
His wondered why a government that claims the country is broke would make such lavish spending on refreshment, wondering how for example, people like the NDC Chairman for Nadowli we be found among those noted to have benefited these allowances when indeed he was not a member of the transition team.
He thus emphasized that the allowances and the cost involved in the work of the transition team was too much.