The more abstract the truth you want to teach, the more you must reduce the senses to it – Friedrich Nietzsche
WHAT! – The slur would not come out, because the professional ethics would not welcome pejorative discourse. But the word was the opposite of “sensible”, “intelligent”, “prudent”, and “clever”.
A day before the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, 27th February, 2025, the vetting of the Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney-General-elect, Hon. Srem-Sei took a dramatic turn. In days of yore, a film show would have “comedies” or a “foreword” (NOT forward) of a book.
Was it not quixotic to ask Hon. Srem Sai to demonstrate a particular Ewe dance? Were they vetting someone for the Culture Ministry OR was Afenyo-Markin acting like the clown (fool) in Twelfth Night or King Lear? Hon. Bernard Ahiafor overruled the question, deeming it inappropriate. A lawyer and a Deputy Attorney General – what about questions relating to “nolle prosequi”, “amicus curiae”; “independence of the Judiciary”, “emoluments of labourers in the Judicial Service”, “abolition of legal vacation for judges of superior courts”…
Hon. Afenyo-Markin: “Your action is whimsical and capricious”. Hon. Ahiafor: “Withdraw the words whimsical and capricious”. Hon. Afenyo Markin: “I won’t withdraw”. Hon. Ahiafor: “Withdraw ‘rudely’. Hon Afenyo Markin: “I won’t withdraw”. Hon. Ahiafor: “To demonstrate to you I am the Chairman of this Committee this will be your last question…” AND the vetting ended abruptly… so, was the whole period wasted? And the Vetting Committee will take their allowances, and Ghanaians will pay for this Jaguar Jokers’ play (NOT concert). Are these theatricals what Ghanaians sent MPs to do? How many MPs return to their Constituencies to share ideas with the electorate?
Then came the day for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) -Article 67: delivered at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before a dissolution of Parliament, Sweet-flowing President got a hiccup when he addressed the Speaker: “Mr. Mensah (ei), Mr. President (ha) Mr. Speaker… the “nkoko-nketenkete” (small chickens) was to whet the appetite of Ghanaians to rear poultry – for home consumption, if not for export. Imagine all schools with their large farmland having a poultry farm. As for guinea-fowls, they would fly to Burkina Faso.
The President swore to “fix the economy”, bad as it was, and the yeah-yeah was loud. He had to make sure to avoid Akufo-Addo’s “mistake” of a 2-hour SONA which led to his bodyguard’s swoon. BUT he could not hide the reality that the economy he inherited was worse than originally anticipated. There were updates on the work of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) as well as the Agenda III, without a single hospital of that category being operational.
With the size of the Cabinet reduced from 120-plus to 60, his government was set to cut down the cost of running the government, because “our economy is in crisis and our people are suffering unprecedented hardship”. Why should the President “lament” when he knew the state of the economy before he accepted to lead the NDC to a historic victory?
Unbelievably, the public debt which stood at GH¢721 billion had a component of GH¢68 billion owed by State Owned Enterprises including the Electricity Company of Ghana and Ghana Cocoa Board – A case of the staff pay always rising with the CEOs paid in billions of cedis every month.
His government would have a place for “consultation and consensus building”. Not the “tintin-tininti” like the President before Free SHS was to stay.
Government was to revamp the energy sector upstream. The paradox of having fertile lands, abundant water and human resources yet facing a huge food import bill? “The nkoko-nketenkete project will cover 55,000 households”. The Adwumawura Project to be rolled out will actualize his plans for job-creation, especially among the youth.
To the micro-minority NPP MPs, the SONA was full of lamentations and had a foreboding of “taxes galore”. Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the short-lived ex-Minister of Finance, argued: “Does it make sense to scrap the e-levy and betting taxes and replace them with new taxes on the mining, telecommunication, financial sector and real estate industries which will all be passed on to the customers? (We) should wait for the deception of the NDC government when they present the 2025 budget-taxes galore. “This is how they intend to tax Ghanaians to collect their target of GH¢200 billion in tax revenue this year”.
Which will be the “true”, “truer” and “truest” SONA? To Dr. Adam “halving inflation within a year is no small feat” and that the disinflation process is well under way and that the minor deviations observed are within an acceptable range given global economic pressures (the Russian-Ukraine war, COVID-19, the Gaza-Israeli conflict, the Los Angeles fires with floods in Spain, France, Thailand, Nepal, Japan, Morocco, Algeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Libya, the Canadian cold snap and the Australian Cyclones or tornadoes- emphasis ours).
Dr. Stephen Amoah (Sticka) MP for Nhyiaeso is reminded of Macbeth’s soliloquy: “… this even-handed justice commends th’ingredients of our poison’d chalice to our own lips…” How did Sticka eclipse Kennedy Kankam to win the Nhyiaeso primaries?
He would say: “…Our President, John Mahama, is respectfully creating a picture as if the economy is in coma, Totally, it is not true”. The National Economic Dialogue as a follow-up of the Senchi Forum? But what do we do with the recommendations of the National Development Planning Commission (GNPC) at the seat of government per Article 86 and 87 of the 1992 Constitution.
Dr. George Domfeh will call TV3 to urge “ignorant” Mr. Joe Jackson, a veteran financial expert and Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance to “learn” the true state of the economy! What did Joe Jackson say? “If you can’t pay your debt, are you not broke? We feed SHS students on less than GHc2.00 a day, so what are we talking about… what has been done to the cocoa sector is almost criminal and such that any attempt to hold the value of the cedis this year is going to be severely hamstrung by what has happened in the cocoa sector”.
Martin Kpebu gets hurt by Dr. George Domfeh “consistently insulting” panelists, and refers to Article 36 of the 1992 Constitution: “The State shall take all necessary action to ensure that the national economy is managed in such a manner as to maximize the rate of economic development and to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every person in Ghana…“If you see us criticizing the NDC’s Hajj Village Project, it is only because we don’t want a reincarnation of the NPP National Cathedral project.
The post-script would be on eccentric Kwame Baffoe a.k.a. Abronye, the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP, a student- lawyer, had not seen the word “confidential” written on his invitation letter and blew up the story to the media: “You have revoked people’s appointments take their GH¢550 million and put it in a bullion van”.
After honoring an invitation to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) he came back to say “… I posed a question seeking to understand the whereabouts of the funds if the workers’ appointments had been terminated…” Irony or sarcasm? Parody or burlesque. If you have such a person as Chairman of a political party in a region…?
