AYARIGA IS EMBARKING ON A MISSION OF SELF-INCRIMINATION AND MONUMENTAL INDICTMENT

AYARIGA IS EMBARKING ON A MISSION OF SELF-INCRIMINATION AND MONUMENTAL INDICTMENT

Iddi Muhayu-Deen writes…

For the sake of analysis, let’s play the proverbial devil’s advocate, let’s assume without admitting that Ayariga is telling the truth, let’s assume that indeed an attempt was made to bribe them (ie. the Minority members on the Appointments Committee). Now, proceeding on these assumptions, let’s ask ourselves what it would mean, first of all, to the image of Hon. Ayariga himself, the image of all the members of the Minority side on the Appointments Committee and ultimately, the image of the august of Parliament.

To Ayariga and the Minority MPs on the Committee, this would mean that, he [Ayariga] is essentially confessing to the whole World that they are all corruptible and bribable, which regrettably, makes them dishonorable and unfit to be MPs. Why do I say so? If you listen to Ayariga, he says emphatically that, he and his Minority colleagues took the so called bribe money because they were of the mistaken belief that it was meant to be their sitting allowance. This, I say on authority, is a palpable falsity and Ayariga knows that. It cannot be true that they thought it was their sitting allowance.

They knew they were taking bribe money and perhaps, that explains why they never bothered to request for ‘allowance forms’ for the purpose of appending their signatures as proof of receipt as their own convention demands. That is why there were so many other procedural anathema and infractions in relation to their conduct under the circumstances. The whole thing stinks and it stinks big time.

These Minority MPs knew for sure, that per the standard practice, Parliament pays sitting allowances to committee members ONLY ON QUARTERLY BASIS after same has been consolidated over the period. So, they knew very well that they were not due for any allowance at the time. In the light of this, there cannot be any justification why they took the money even though they claim it was later returned. For accepting the bribe in the first place, you will be damn right if you say they are corrupt.

If you doubt what I’m saying, just place a call to your Member of Parliament and find out when MPs are paid their sitting allowances in respect of committee work. This is a no secret at all. That is why I wasn’t surprised when Hon. Inusah Fuseini, the NDC MP for Tamale Central took on his colleagues, the Minority MPs on the Committee who accepted the money claiming it was their sitting allowance. He made this critical observation when he granted an interview yesterday (January 30) on joy fm. So these MPs are only being disingenuous and I find that very problematic.

On the impact that this whole ‘arigate corruption story’ would have on the image of Parliament, I can’t even measure it. This is by far, the worst scandal to have hit the Parliament of Ghana. Like many others, I also do support a full scale investigation into the matter so that all the facts can be laid bare for the purpose of deterrence. But whatever the case may be, the image of Parliament would be greatly dented, perhaps, beyond repairs.

Regardless of the outcome of the investigations, our parliament would never be the same. Whether Ayariga is telling the truth or not, the people of Ghana and elsewhere would lose some confidence in the affairs of Parliament. I do not know which of the two possible outcomes is a better evil. That, a group of parliamentarians have ganged up to create a story that they accepted bribe (which in itself, is a criminal offence) and implicated their colleagues and leadership. OR, that, a Minister Designate paid bribe to MPs and members of the Appointments Committee in order to clear him to become a Minister of State.

Surely, it couldn’t have been worse. For me, it is a not not not and I feel very saddened as an ardent follower of parliamentary democracy in Africa and across the globe. I feel completely let down by my mentors and for that matter the people I admire so much. I mean, the very people I look up to have betrayed my trust and confidence. Certainly, the Parliament of Ghana would never be the same. I am deeply worried and I guess you should also be worried if you love your country. The thoughts of a citizen not a spectator.

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN

#ForGodAndCountry

Assalamu alaikum

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AYARIGA IN HOT WATERS AS HE IS STRIPPED NAKED BY HIS OWN LEADER, MUNTAKA MUBARAK

AYARIGA IN HOT WATERS AS HE IS STRIPPED NAKED BY HIS OWN LEADER, MUNTAKA MUBARAK 

Iddi Muhayu-Deen ayarigates the ayarigas....

We thought his brother, Ayaricough was a "disaster" in the body politics of Ghana, but it has now emerged that we were completely wrong as Ayariga himself, has amply proven to be more disastrous than the hitherto, disastrous Ayaricough. So I ask, what at all is wrong with the Ayarigas? Today, if they are not Ayari-coughs, then they are Ayari-lies. Aba! Haven't we had enough of them? 

For Ayariga, otherwise known as Ayarilies to think that any sane Ghanaian would believe his cooked story on the bribery allegations against the person of Boakye Agyarko, is the greatest insult on Ghanaians. To believe him, is tantamount to believing that indeed NDC as we speak, is still in a comfortable lead and cruising to victory after the 2016 elections. Or better still, is like believing that God does not exist. [Subhaanallahi!] 

What on earth would make any sensible person pay bribe for something he would get anyway? Even a madman won't contemplate that. Yet, Ayariga wants us to believe that a great personality like Boakye Agyarko, the Energy Minister designate, whose enviable accomplishments are incontestable, would stoop so low to want to bribe the Minority members of the Appointments Committee to clear him, even though they are not in a position to prevent him from becoming a Minister anyway. Such poverty of a logic! 

I do not want to dignify his mendaciously pathetic claims with any consideration except to say that, I'm happy the whole of Ghana has seen how much a liar he is. He has not only been exposed by some of the members as well as the chairman of the Appointments Committee, but more importantly, the person he claims, gave them the bribe and for that matter his star witness, Hon Muntaka Mubarak, the Minority Chief Whip. Certainly, it couldn’t have been more embarrassing than this. 

You would also by now know that, Parliament has issued an official statement rubbishing Ayariga's allegations and describing same in unequivocal terms, as “frivolous and vexatious”. Again, his entire claims have been completely expunged from the records of Parliament. Such a shame!

From the foregoing, I can extrapolate with certainty that, this whole funny story being cooked by Ayariga and his cohorts has absolutely nothing to do with Boakye Agyarko and the NPP. Rather, it has everything to do with the serious infighting currently happening in the Minority Caucus under the leadership of Haruna Iddrisu and Muntaka Mubarak. 

It would be recalled that after the departure of Hon. Alban Bagbin for the deputy speakership position, Ayariga was one of the MPs who was seriously lobbying to become the next Minority Leader which never materialized because neither him [Ayariga] nor any other NDC MP could withstand the legendary gravitas of Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, who himself, had become an institution in Parliament. 

Again, we know that Haruna has a presidential ambition and of course, this, is to the dislike of John Mahama and Ayariga. So in the circumstance, he [Ayariga] together with the Mahama 'boys' in the committee had to manufacture this corruption story in order to create the impression that the Haruna/Muntaka leadership is corrupt for obvious reasons. My only issue with Ayariga is, why does he have to bring in Agyarko and the NPP in their internal matters? 

Before I conclude, my brothers and sisters, let me quickly draw your attention to one curious observation I’ve made in this whole Ayarigate of a scandal. Ayariga, just like Muntaka, is a Muslim. In their battle for credibility, Ayariga is swearing by the Quran, whilst Muntaka is swearing by almighty Allah. 

Now, here is the trick, in Islam, we don't swear by the Quran but by almighty Allah. That is why you hear Muslims say, "Wallahi", "Tallahi" and "Billahi" when they are swearing and the repercussions of same, if it turns out that one is lying, are inestimably debilitating. I leave you here to draw your own conclusions. This is the ayarigated voice of a citizen not a spectator.  IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN

Assalamu alaikum

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AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CANNOT ‘THINK FAR’ IN RESPECT OF THE WORK OF THE APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE?

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CANNOT ‘THINK FAR’ IN RESPECT OF THE WORK OF THE APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE?

Iddi Muhayu-Deen writes…

An Appointment Committee of Parliament that passes somebody like Oti Bless, who does not even know which of his names is his surname, something my junior sister in primary 6 knows. This man was nonetheless, cleared to become a Minister of State.

An appointment committee that passes Muntaka Mubarak, the man who blew some $20,000 of the taxpayers’ money on 'chichinga' and pampers, which earned him the notorious accolade, Muntaka pampers, to become a Minister of State.  

An appointment committee that clears Oti Bless, who is on record to have subjected the whole Chief Justice of the Republic to an avalanche of insult and even accused her of kidnapping the son of ex-president Mahama’s lawyer, Tony Lithur during the famous 2012 election petition with the view to blackmailing him so he would compromise his stance.

An Appointments Committee that passes Fiifi Kwetey, who is on record to have said that Muslims are unfit to rule this country. He again went on to accuse the Kufour government of stealing the entire gold reserve of Ghana. The Committee nonetheless, cleared this man to become a Minister of State. I can go and on and on… The list is endless.

Now, here is the shocker:

Today, this same Appointments Committee is telling us that somebody like Hon. Osafo Marfo is unfit to be a Minister; not because he is incompetent or he has a negative public record but because he ever made a statement, they find, ethnocentric even though he categorically denied the attributions made to him. For the avoidance of doubt, Hon. Osafo Marfo is a former Education Minister, former Youth and Sports Minister, former Finance Minister. In fact, he was ever adjudged the best Finance Minister in Africa.  

Again, the Appointments Committee is telling us that somebody like Mr. Boakye Agyarko, the financial mogul of international repute and former Vice President of the International Bank of New York, New York is unfit to be a Minister of State in Ghana; not because he is incompetent, but because he alleges that the John Mahama government was corrupt. This is in spite of the fact that, every objective follower of the ongoing vetting process would attest to the fact that Agyarko was superlatively outstanding when he took his turn at the committee sitting. 

If these two great men of our land are unfit to be Ministers of State, then who else is fit? Is it the Oti Blesses, or the Fiifi Qweteys, or the Mintah Akandos, or the Sampson Ahi’s, or the Dzifa Attivors, or the Muntaka Mubaraks, or the Felix Kwakyes or who? That is why I keep on saying that our gods are increasingly getting crazy and we must watch that. 

What is even more shocking is that the governing NPP has a significant majority in the Appointments Committee and yet, they sit down and allow the likes of Muntaka Mubarak of 'chichinga' and pampers’ fame and his colleagues in the Minority side to have their way. You don’t need to be politically savvy to know that if the ‘majority members’ on the Committee are waiting to necessarily build consensus before clearing these two appointees, then they may have to wait till the day of judgement. 

Ghana is so polarized that I can say for certain that, it is the wish of the Minority to see the downfall of the Nana Addo government so that Ghanaians would regret voting for CHANGE. This is where I’m quite disappointed in the Majority members on the Committee. Why should they even think that in a democracy, you need everybody to agree on a decision before same can be legitimized? Did every Ghanaian vote for Nana Akufo-Addo before he became President? What is stopping the Chairman of the Appointments Committee for instance, from allowing the members of the Committee to vote on the status of the two nominees so that the majority wins, as has always been the case?

They must realize that the success or otherwise of the Akufo-Addo depends largely on the role these MPs play in the august house. If for nothing at all, I expect them to learn lesson from the downfall of the erstwhile Mahama government and the contribution of the NDC MPs to this unprecedented political fiasco. Hey! But who am I to advise these political gurus on such matters? I guess I have to shut-up because I probably know nothing under the circumstances. 

What I however do know is that Ghanaians are highly expectant of the Akufo-Addo government to deliver the public good. In view of this, the Ghanaian people cannot wait for the President to form his government and get to start work. There are so many problems to be fixed and the sooner these things are done, the better for our country. Ghana must surely work again. The voice of a citizen and not a spectator. 

Assalamu alaikum

SO WHAT IS THIS TALK ABOUT LEAN GOVERNMENT?

 

SO WHAT IS THIS TALK ABOUT LEAN GOVERNMENT? 

Iddi Muhayu-Deen writes... 

I have, time without number, heard some of the avowed critics of President Akufo-Addo, mainly NDC folks, express serious misgivings at the President's decision to appoint some 36 Ministers so far to help him administrator the country. They say, per the current trend, the President is likely going to miss an opportunity to run a lean government and this, according to them, would automatically balloon the cost of running government machinery at the taxpayer's expense. What a logic! 

I just can't connect the dots nor cross the ‘T’s. Such hasty generalization and premature ejaculation can only give birth to babies with sharp teeth. Mind you, we are yet to know the budget of each Ministry and whether each Minister would necessarily have a Deputy. In any case, the President himself, explains that as many as 6 of these Ministries would operate directly from the Presidency and would also not have a separate budget but from that of the Office of the President. Do not forget that at the last count, ex-president John Mahama had as many as 82 Ministers and Deputies. 

Why should this even be an issue? I thought our concern should rather be, whether we are getting value for money which, of course, was conspicuously lacking in the previous government. Okay, let's even assume without admitting that their argument against Nana Addo’s appointments is without blemish, I ask, did Ghanaians go to the polls last December to vote for a certain ‘lean something something’? Was that why Ghanaians voted against John Mahama? I thought we [Ghanaians] voted against hardship, hopelessness, legendary corruption and arrogance of power, which were the hallmarks of the erstwhile Mahama government. 

I thought we voted for value for money and institutional discipline. I thought teacher and nursing trainees voted for the restoration of their allowance. I thought we the people of Zongo voted for the Zongo Development Fund. So who voted for lean government? What at all is this monster called, lean government and who determines the leanness or otherwise of a government and by what yardstick? It is pretty obvious that our NDC friends still do not know why they lost the 2016 elections in that miserable way. I’m also not sure that you and I have to help them come out from their illusion.  

In the nutshell, what is evidently clear is that Ghanaians have overwhelmingly given the President, H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, a 4-year mandate to fulfil his campaign promises, some of which are quite grandiose and audacious but of course, doable. The machinery and methodology by which he [the President] wants to use to deliver on his mandate shouldn't really bother us. All we want, is to see the deliverables or tangible results at the end of the 4 years.

I am not sure Ghanaians, particularly, my boss, Franklin Cudjoe of Imani fame, whose criticism of Nana Addo’s appointments, has been louder than the sound of South African vuvuzela, would buy any excuse from Nana Addo if he came to tell us that he couldn’t fulfil his campaign promises because he wasn’t given the opportunity to appoint the number of Ministers he wanted in order to assist him deliver on his mandate. Imani Ghana, we all know, would soon be conducting a study to ascertain the extent at which the Nana Addo government is delivering on their manifesto promises. 

I am not sure Imani would accept that excuse from the government either. Festival of Ministers you call it? Respectfully my boss and mentor, forgive me for disagreeing with you on this. As you know, that is the kind of orientation you and the likes of lawyer Ace Ankomah, Sydney Casley Hayford, Egbert Fiable Jnr, Nana Sarpong, Ayesu Philip, George Andah and the rest of the OccupyGhana team gave me. You trained me to, at all-time, muster the testicular fortitude to say it as it is and not romanticize with words on the altar of appeasing Authority. 

Fellow Ghanaians, we have given the mandate to President Nana Akufo-Addo to govern this country for the next 4-years, at least. It is only fair and commonsensical that we allow him space to use his formula to govern. After all, at the end of his 4 years, we would have an opportunity to access him and this would form the basis of our renewal or otherwise of his mandate in 2020. In the meantime, let’s stop the “ugly noises” and think Ghana First for love of God and country. 

Assalamu alaikum