Why hide the Mike Oquaye report?

In Ghana, except when a politician dies and we are asked for tributes, or when MPs, on the floor of the House, debate their mutual welfare packages, including their emoluments and vehicles, this country is politically on a permanent high, daggers drawn, teeth bared, from December 8 to December 8. 

You remember the day Afenyo-Markin, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority Leader, was on his feet in the House, urging bipartisan support for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Energy Minister’s intended actions in the explosive revelations involving the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) missing cables and shipping containers?

That was a rarity. (We are yet to question Afenyo-Markin’s role as ECG Board Chair when all the evil was being perpetrated.)

In the  NPP and NDC camps, the campaign for the next flag bearer began on December 9, 2024, a day after Bawumia made his concession speech. 

Shot

Inside the NPP, it looks like the first shot has rung out already. Somebody or group within is blaming the party’s defeat on Bawumia’s religion and tribe.

Last week, the leadership of the NPP declined to disclose to the media details of the Mike Oquaye Committee report. But for how long?

At any rate, who needs the Mike Oquaye Report, anyway?

If you were in Ghana from 2016 through 2024, you don’t need a report to conclude why the NPP lost the last election and by the widest margin historically.

From the day former President Akufo-Addo told the people of Ekumfi in the face that they would be denied development because they didn’t vote for his party’s parliamentary candidate, the NPP became a sworn foe. (I wonder why the party never tried to mend the bridges thereafter. Was it pride? Was it over-confidence?)

He forgot that there are pockets of Ekumfi citizens in almost every region.

Former President Akufo-Addo’s “You don’t vote for NPP” chastisement of the flood victims of Mepe in the Volta Region sealed the fate of the party for 2024.

When relief infrastructure was unduly delayed by the NPP government for the part of Volta Region that had been devastated by the Akosombo Dam flood, the people took note that one radio station, Citi FM, from its limited resources and appeals to its listeners and viewers, had mobilised enough to build them places of shelter, they interpreted the NPP government’s delay as a political snub.

80

Fearing the worst, more than 80 NPP MPs asked former President Akufo-Addo to fire Ken Ofori-Atta for failing as the Finance Minister. He refused, promising to do so after the IMF bailout.

When, long after the IMF bailout, Ofori-Atta was still the finance minister, Ghanaians concluded that it was only because the two were cousins.

Bawumia is right: religion and tribe played no part in his loss.

Truth is, the feet of Ghanaians had been in pinching shoes for so long and had tightened their belts to the last hole with no hope of salvation.

They refused to separate Bawumia from the mess, someone who had been chairman of the Economic Management Team of a government considered the worst managers of the economy in living memory.

If religion played a part in the NPP loss, look no further than the effect of Prophet Owusu Bempah’s “Thus sayeth the Lord”.

In a country whose majority of Christians are sold on the prophetic, many saw his prophecy as a conclusive voice of God directing the people on whom not to vote.

All of the above is my humble post-mortem of the 2024 election.
 

Processes

I turn now to the processes leading up to the incumbent Chief Justice’s impeachment procedure.

Whether or not she would be found guilty as charged by her accusers, let the sanctity of the process prove it.

If you ask me, Mahama’s second term Presidency has been so far so good.

If I were him, I would take a vow with myself to leave no stench in the nostrils of Ghanaians after four years. 

From my observations, so far, what is chipping away some of the love and admiration for him seems to be his refusal to restrain some overzealous matchet-men in the NDC.

Chief Justice Torkornoo may be guilty or not guilty, but the utterances of some of these machete men have prejudiced the case.

The optics don’t look good, so far, President Mahama.

Long before her suspension, the NDC machete men were stating that “she has to go”. 

We are told that there are three petitions.

I don’t know the contents of two of them; they may contain the nails with which she will be crucified.

Thanks to the “Audi alteram partem” principle in Law that insists that "Let the other side be heard as well", Ghanaians heard on Joy FM on Monday, responses by the beleaguered Chief Justice to some of the allegations in one of the petitions.

In her responses, she didn’t argue; she only provided evidence to prove that as Chief Justice, she was entitled to all the perks of office, which her accuser interpreted to mean “corruption”.

Not only did she retire the imprest, she returned what was left unspent during her trip. 

The writer is the Executive Director,
Centre for Communication and Culture.
E-mail: ashonenimil@gmail.com
0208 178 680/0544 663 737