Reaction to Prof. Kwesi Yankah’s address on corruption

Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah Opinion May - 18 - 2015 , 09:58

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) invited me to participate in a corruption conference on the theme “purging the nation of corruption: demanding accountability from public institutions” which was held on Tuesday, April 28, 2015.

The conference was expected to elicit proposals for strengthening public institutions to give them teeth. In addition to reviewing the institutions, it sought to make proposals for demanding accountability from heads of these institutions.

unfortunately, I could not physically be present at this conference due to official assignments; I however sent a representative to make my input available to the IEA.

It was at this gathering of stakeholders that Prof. Kwesi Yankah delivered a keynote address.

Ordinarily, I would have continued in my self-imposed silence and refused to respond to the rather erroneous comments made by the academic and President of the Central University College, Prof. Yankah who happened to be the Dean of Students at the University of Ghana at the time I entered the premiere university.

In my moments of silence for the past nine months, I have personally suffered abuse, naked insults and misrepresentations from all kinds of pundits, faceless and identifiable social media activists and commentators who have fed the public with nothing but deliberate distorted facts and outright falsehood. I did not expect a respected keynote speaker at an anti-corruption event to also lace his speech with innuendos and anecdotes without any factual basis.

Post Brazil world cup

After the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, I purposely decided to remain silent for very good reasons and allow the Presidential Commission to unearth the truth about the numerous but mostly ludicrous allegations that heralded the tournament. Silence they say is golden, and I steadfastly held on to that principle not to publicly speak about the events in Brazil because despite my genuine intentions, efforts and energy invested in the preparations towards the tournament, Ghana was disappointing in the World Cup.

Ghanaians were justified in displaying the palpable anger which followed our abysmal performance. I later apologised and accepted responsibility for the inability of the team to progress beyond the first round.

However, accepting responsibility for the team’s poor showing does not, and can never mean that I was culpable of any malfeasance. I availed myself before the Justice Senyo Dzamefe Commission and rendered a very truthful account of my stewardship in both the public and in camera hearings. It has been my hope that the Commission’s report will contain nothing less than the exposition of the facts for the benefit of the public who were obviously misled by fabricated and fictional stories. It is against this background that Prof. Yankah’s statement provoked the breaking of my silence.

Prof.Yankah misfired

First of all, there is no doubt that Prof. Yankah is an “eminent educationist” with valuable experience. I remember vividly how his articles which were published in The Mirror, were a source of constant nourishment to the aptitude of many university students. Without any effort, I can easily overlook comments by political detractors, over sensational media practitioners and sentimental social commentators who twist and embellish the events surrounding the Brazil World Cup saga.

On the contrary, when an astute Professor and President of an institution of higher learning speaks at such a conference with both local and international distinguished participants and makes remarks without recourse to the relevant facts, but feeds into the usual rumour mongering and speculative anecdotes – then there is the need to set the record straight!

Again, under normal circumstances, I will hesitate to respond to such a towering academic figure whose experience in the lecture hall far exceeds mine. Conversely, that is the more reason why he has a greater responsibility to speak to the bare facts and not the dramatic narratives that have become the norm rather than the exception.

Clearly, Prof. Yankah took refuge in inexactitudes when he stated in part that “when appointees are cited for embezzlement and corruption, no machinery is set in motion for investigation, prosecution or indictment” and further lamented with apparent reference to me, that “the Presidency is perceived to have become a comfortable refuge for officials suspected to have been involved in corruption and are under investigation” He argues further that there is “shelving in the Presidency of several reports on probes and investigations in which public appointees have been fingered for corruption, embezzlement and procurement deals.”

Setting the records straight

Now, let me put these misleading comments into proper perspective:

I have never and did not engage in any act of embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds in and outside the Brazil World Cup saga. I rendered full accounts of my stewardship to the relevant authorities with respect to both the funds allocated to the team by the government and the funds which I together with my team solicited through an innovative corporate sponsorship drive.

For the first time in the history of Ghana’s preparation for the World Cup, there was no seed money due to budgetary constraints. I, together with the organisers, devised creative means to raise more than GH¢4,500,000 to send supporters to Brazil.

All the accounts I presented to the World Cup Presidential Commission were subjected to a forensic audit by the internationally acclaimed audit firm, Ernst & Young and I am absolutely confident that I never did anything untoward.

As a matter of fact, I presented evidence to show and I still insist that out of the $ 9,417,024.87 which I received from the government for the World Cup expenses of the Black Stars, I left a whopping $ 4,444,053.59 in the Ministry's account as of the time I exited. There is no contrary claim to this fact.

Let me put on record that the cash that was flown from Ghana to Brazil (appearance fee) was part of the approved budget estimates. That single unfortunate incident was needlessly triggered by player agitations and entrenched insistence of cash payment before the next match as opposed to the original plan of electronic payments. Besides, it is impossible for me to unilaterally move money from the Bank of Ghana, load it onto an aircraft, fly into Brazil and get all the necessary clearance. Every decision taken in that matter was after due consultations with relevant state authorities.

As the Youth and Sports Minister, I personally set up a committee, under the directive and full backing of President John Mahama to investigate the numerous allegations and suspicion of wrong doing in the then GYEEDA with a lot of political will. Today, there are officials standing trial and monies being refunded to the State and wasteful contracts abrogated.

Before serving in the Youth and Sports Ministry, I was a Deputy Minister for four years and not a single act or suspicion of corruption was ever raised about my conduct.

It goes without saying that reassignments and reshuffling of Ministers of State is the prerogative of the President of the Republic. To the extent that I am not culpable in any malfeasance, I cannot be said to be enjoying some “comfortable refuge” at the Presidency. Such unmeasured remarks rather undermine efforts by the government to deal with corruption.

Conclusion

It is extremely regrettable and disappointing that combating corruption has been unfairly reduced to the heavy use of conjecture without any genuine effort to recognise the efforts of government officials. It is even more worrying to find respectable people in academia such as Prof. Yankah who have whether by design or coincidence, fallen to this rather obstructive terrain. This kind of conduct and attitude where every politician is labelled as corrupt, and it is further embellished by some anti-graft campaigners so it sticks for a desired effect is counterproductive and a disincentive to fighting corruption.

The fight against corruption is a collective goal which demands partnership between the government and civil society groups and not outright condemnation. We owe it a duty to our nation and generations unborn to ruthlessly weed out corruption. I strongly believe we are more than capable of winning this war provided we can focus and consolidate the gains we have made while discounting the unnecessary suspicion of every government official or politician as being corrupt.

The writer is a Minister of State at the Presidency.