Rawlings descends on NPP

…Describes party as undemocratic

Posted: The Chronicle Tuesday, April 28, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration. He finds it extremely difficult to understand why members of the NPP so much pride themselves as being democratic, since according to him, “contrary to the assertion that their tradition was truly democratic, the NPP government was an excellent example of an undemocratic regime.” According to him, “once you belonged to the party you did no wrong.” The former President made these remarks at a public lecture organised as part of activities marking the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, over the weekend. The lecture was under the theme -'Ghana's democracy; the way forward'. According to Rawlings, during the reign of the NPP government every effort was made to obliterate the legacy of the P/NDC regimes, which he superintended over, “the institutions of government were so politicised that even when they took decisions against government officials, such decisions were disregarded with impunity.” He therefore noted that under the reign of the NPP, Ghana once again sunk into what he described as a democracy of nepotism, non- accountability, power to the rich and a complete disregard for the feelings of the electorate. “More dangerous was the abuse of the security services structure, the hounding and persecution of some service personnel, refusal to follow laid down promotion procedure and a complete politicisation of the military”, he noted, stressing that the NPP could not co-exist with Institutions with integrity. Under the NPP, Mr. Rawlings said “the security services were not spared and the judiciary took a serious beating as well.” “Seeing shadows and recognising the fact that some of us were aware of the deepening crises in the barracks, a blanket ban was placed on respectable senior officers not to visit military installations, including the police and military hospitals”, he said. Fortunately, he said “Ghanaians knew better and did not hesitate to vote out the NPP when it mattered most, despite the clear doctoring of figures and tinkering that took place in a desperate bid to stay in power.” Whilst noting that many people were quick to point fingers at his party, the NDC, for being intolerant and threatening mayhem if it lost in the 2008 general elections, the former President noted that “the general populace was privy to the fraud that was taking place and a refusal to allow that to persist meant threats of a state of emergency and a culture of fear designed to compel the electoral commission to announce the NPP as the winner.” He therefore asked rhetorically -”what was a better recipe for chaos than this? Why did the NPP decline to go to Tain by citing security concerns when the Commander-in- Chief was the sitting (NPP) President?” In answering himself, he emphasised that “the soldiers and police were not discriminating in their search of persons entering Tain. Snipers who were entering the town with murderous plans were stopped and arrested. The fraud that had taken place elsewhere including Ashanti was arrested and NPP stared defeat in the face.” For him, therefore, “the NPP took us to the abyss as far as democracy was concerned and such methods do nothing to deepen or entrench democracy. It allows for chaos, lack of confidence in the electoral process and political apathy.”

Ex Prez mars Otumfuo`s 10th Anniversary

JJ DEFIES PROTOCOL

… To preach June 4th virtues at a symposium

Posted: The Chronicle Tuesday, April 28, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

FORMER PRESIDENT JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS once again threw diplomacy and statesmanship into the gutter when he nearly marred the beauty of a well attended international symposium organized at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology last Saturday, as part of activities marking the 10th Anniversary celebration of the enthronement of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.Mr. Rawlings, who appeared on the programme as a guest speaker alongside other international dignitaries and former Heads of State, was billed to address the topic -“Deepening Democracy in Africa”, failed to speak to the issue and instead spent the chunk of his time boring attendants with the essence of the June four uprising and other coup de etats that he staged in the late 70s and early 80s as a Military officer. Ex-President Rawlings as usual refused to stick to the well prepared speech in front of him and instead chose to speak extempore, by circumventing around the topic, much to the displeasure of the International Diplomats, invited guests and students who were present to grace the occasion. On three consecutive times, His Majesty the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who felt uncomfortable with the demeanor and posture of the former President, had to diplomatically bring him on track by signaling his bodyguard to tell him (Rawlings) to stick to his prepared speech. But the former President, who preferred to do his own thing kept hammering on the June 4 uprising and the fact that even against attempts by his political opponents to denigrate and downplay the significance of the mutiny , he believed that it brought the needed sanity and discipline into the society, the benefit of which the country was enjoying. “I remember right here on this campus, I had to spend two days trying to control students and I managed to convince them to back down on their call for blood to flow, all because the society was very much corrupted and people had lost faith in the system,” he recounted. According to him, the situation that Ghana found itself in, could be likened to a coma, where the people could not be salvaged, stressing that “there were many events that brought Ghana to her technical death (coma) in the years that followed Independence.” For him, therefore, events such as coups, military governments, four digit inflation, massive corruption, acute food shortages, smuggling and black marketeering (Kalabule) led to the uprising. Prior to June 4 1979, Rawlings said “Ghana's economy never existed. The rains stopped falling and the fishes vanished from our rivers and the sea. The forests were dry and waiting for the fires to consume them. Our abundant bush meat was nowhere to be found. Accra and other cities and towns were as miserable as an orphan, and the only thing visible were the long queues.” He noted that the country was heading in a direction where the Military top brass were playing what he described as 'Russian roulette' with Ghana's political leadership and taking over power at will, indicating that “the mutiny of May 15 was meant to pre-empt the likelihood of a very explosive situation.” According to him, it was meant to be a call for the re-institution of sanity and integrity within the armed forces by demanding the leadership to purge itself and the armed forces of the corrupt ones. For him, the situation was so dire, and many in the junior ranks had reached a point where they did not believe in the hierarchy anymore, because the values had sunk to an all time low, emphasising “there were clear signs that the economy of the country had collapsed, with the will of the people ignored, and corruption was a national pastime.” While such interventions are difficult to justify because of the baggage they carry, Mr Rawlings noted “when the elected ignore the tenets of probity, accountability, freedom and justice, they become unavoidable”, stressing “the events of the June 4 revolt was an expression of national rage at the abysmal failure of the leadership to stem the tide of corruption, which was eating away the very soul of Ghana.” That notwithstanding, he noted that the regime that took over following that revolt appeared oblivious to what had just taken place and almost immediately sunk into the status quo preceding June 4th, perceiving June 4th as a barracks issue and failed to recognise that the whole nation was in state of rage and were denied a right to give expression by the military, which bore the price. The former President, however, expressed grave regret at the excesses that characterised the June 4th revolution, saying “I will be the first to express regrets at the excesses of the AFRC and PNDC regimes of which I was the Chairman.” In the same breath, he insisted that “Ghana had to go through a phase where the people had to take control of their destiny through a popular uprising, even if it was manifested through the military.” “That latent energy from June 4th was transformed into productive energy during the PNDC era. The ten years of the PNDC was an era to end the rot through what we termed housecleaning and instilling a culture of accountability, discipline and economic resuscitation”, he emphasised. When the founder of the ruling party finally decided to heed to calls by participants at the symposium, particularly the students who shouted “Rawlings sit down”, “Rawlings sit down”, the former Head of State then turned the heat on the previous administration of the NPP, under Mr.Kufuor, describing it as an embodiment of undemocratic and autocratic regime. He was at his denigrating best when he condemned the past government of Mr.Kufuor for failing to respect the will of the people and for rendering all state apparatus including the judiciary, the legislature and the military as ineffective. He said the former government also condoned and legalized corruption by crippling state agencies like the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and other anti-corruption organizations in the country. Mr.Rawlings, however, observed that a true democracy should be the one which the government is answerable to the people and not the other way round.

He said democracy in Africa should be about what the people want and need and not what the government thinks the people want, adding that a democracy without integrity; probity and accountability always destroys the moral fibre of the society, the consequences which are sometimes very disastrous.Other guest speakers at the sympozium included the former Prime Minister of Spain, His Excellency Jose Manuel Aznar, His Excellency Festus Mogai, Former President of Botswana, His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo and His Excellency Ahmad Tejan Kabah, both former Heads of State of Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and MauricioToledano, the CEO of Eurofinsa, all stressed the need for African countries to deepen democracy through grassroots participation in order to accelerate the continent's development agenda. The Speakers were also full of praises for the country's electoral system and the way Ghanaians conducted themselves in the 2008 elections and said the rest of Africa needed to learn a lot from the experiences of Ghana. The former Prime Minister of Spain observed that even though Africa had witnessed relative improvement in economic developments within the past years, the general picture was still gloomy as poverty continues to plague citizens of many countries on the continent. He therefore commended the Asantehene for his laudable initiatives which have gone a long way to help reduce illiteracy and also enhance the development agenda of the country.

Mumuni's Woes Deepened

Posted: The Chronicle Monday, April 27, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Foreign Affairs Minister, Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni is obviously not having things easy since occupying the Foreign Affairs Ministry as the nation's number one Diplomat, considering the pressure being brought to bear on him to resign his position.
After months of failed attempts to get him out of office, the pressure group, Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) has finally petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to conduct investigations into the conduct of Alhaji Mumuni, which they alleged have resulted in huge losses to the state.

The issues border on allegations of financial improprieties, corruption, abuse of office and power, and improper conduct at the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare from 1999 to 2000, and as temporary head of the Ministry of Interior in January, 2009, and on his assumption of office at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The petition, which was presented to CHRAJ, was signed on behalf of the group by Accra-based legal practitioner and member of AFAG, Mr. Godfred Dame.
The group noted that somewhere in the year 2004, in exercising the powers conferred on him under article 187 of the 1992 Constitution, the Auditor-General commissioned a group of auditors, Messrs. Baffour Awuah & Associates to conduct a forensic audit into the activities and operations of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), an institute under the purview of Alhaji Mumuni, when he was the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare for the period January 1997 to December 2002.
In the final forensic audit report presented to the Auditor-General, they noted that specific findings of financial improprieties, corruption, fraud and abuse of office were made against Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, who is now the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The auditors established that through the gross negligence and misconduct of Alhaji Mumuni, the state had lost a colossal amount of Ë15 billion old cedis through his involvement in the purported disbursement of funds to the NVTI alone.
Further, the group alleged that Alhaji Mumuni was found to have authorized the fraudulent releases of money in excess of Ë19 billion old cedis from the Consolidated Fund (the nation's public fund reserves), into an undisclosed account, stressing that "the present Minister for Foreign Affairs had engaged in a "conspiratorial web of fraud tantamount to money laundering", and had failed to ensure compliance with financial administration regulations on budgetary control procedures pertaining to a Ministry he was head of between 1997 and 2000, i.e. the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare."
For this reason, they noted that "it was finally recommended by the auditors that Alhaji Mumuni should be made to ensure the refund of the money in question, into government chest", stressing that the said audit report as referred has been adopted by the Auditor-General and is now the official report of the Auditor-General of the Republic of Ghana.
They are, therefore, among others seeking a relief for the Commission to declare that the acts of omission of Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni spelt out above while serving as the Minister for Employment and Social Welfare in the year 1999/2000 amounted to corruption, and an abuse of office and state resources.
They are also asking the Commission to declare such acts as being prejudicial to the interest of the nation and an abuse of power, and to declare him unfit to occupy the position of Minister of State.
Below are the rest of the charges brought against the Minister as stated by AFAG; Alhaji Mumuni, purportedly acting on the strength of an illegal appointment by President Mills as a temporary head of the Ministry of Interior in January, 2009, at a time when he had not been properly nominated by His Excellency President J. E. A. Mills as a Minister for Interior, dismissed the lawfully appointed Head of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), ACP Douglas Akrofi.
Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni extended the reach of his tentacles to the Ministry of Roads and Transport to remove the acting Head of the Driver and Vehicle Examination and Licensing Authority (DVLA).
He purported to engage in further unlawful conduct by unconstitutionally imposing curfews on Bawku, a town in the Upper-East Region of the Republic of Ghana. This was a power exercisable by a Minister of State properly nominated, approved and appointed in accordance with the Constitution of Ghana, 1992.
Upon being approved by Parliament as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni continued with his acts of impunity and unruly conduct.
On the 14th day of April, 2009, upon the instructions of Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, the Acting Director of the Legal and Consular Bureau purported to terminate a headquarters agreement between the Government of Ghana and Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), a pan-African international organization, with its headquarters in Accra, Ghana, and working
for the promotion and protection of human rights and the creation of a progressive human rights jurisprudence in Africa, without regard to the mandatory provisions of the said agreement and due process.
Without providing any reason, whatsoever, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni ordered the immediate termination of the Headquarters agreement by the Government of Ghana. It is pertinent to note that no dispute had occurred between the Government of Ghana and AFLA to warrant the termination of the agreement. There had not been recourse to arbitration proceedings as directed by the mandatory provisions of the agreement. Further, Alhaji Mumuni elected to ignore the requirement of the agreement of a six (6) months' notice in writing to AFLA before the Government of Ghana could terminate the agreement.
It is also instructive to note that no reason was assigned by the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the withdrawal of the rights, immunities and privileges conferred on AFLA by this headquarters agreement, as is required by the rule of law.
This particular conduct of Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni evidences the gross impunity characteristic of the nature of the incumbent Foreign Minister of Ghana. The conduct of Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni while acting as a public officer as the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, led to the loss of a colossal amount of money which could have been legitimately applied for the nation's developmental and investment drive. The actions and inactions of Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni grossly undermined the nation's development and efforts to curb corruption and abuse of office.
Further, the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992 in its article 78(1) sets out the qualification of a person suitable to be appointed as a Minister of State as follows:
78(1) Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament from among members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as members of Parliament, except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament.
It goes without saying therefore that the qualification of a person for the position of a Minister of State hinges on his eligibility to be a member of Parliament. Article 94(2) of the Constitution, 1992 is as follows:
A person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he has been found by the report of a commission or a committee of inquiry to be incompetent to hold public office or is a person in respect of whom a commission or committee of inquiry has found that while being a public officer he acquired assets unlawfully or defrauded the State or misused or abused his office, or willfully acted in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the State, and the findings have not set aside on appeal or judicial review.
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It is noted that Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni is now a Minister of State. A finding of corruption, abuse of office or conduct in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the state by your esteemed commission after a due inquiry would render him unfit for the position he holds. With particular reference to the January 2009 actions of Alhaji Mumuni, same were hugely offensive and grossly sinned against the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution, as well as other relevant laws because at the time of the commission of the impugned acts, Alhaji Mumuni had not even been properly nominated as a Minister of State, in accordance with article 78 of the Constitution. He exercised the powers of a Minister when he had not appeared before Parliament for prior approval.
Again, in respect of the conduct of Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni in authorization of the unlawful termination of the Headquarters Agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Africa Legal Aid, gross impunity and abuse of due process were evident. Alhaji Mumuni's action has the tendency to send chilling signals to the nation's diplomatic partners and development agencies.