THE JUDGEMENT OF THE SUPREME COURT?

The fear of contempt is still very much potent in present day Ghana and  it will be foolhardy of me to wholly ignore that animal lurking in every home now, ready to bite you at the least slip. Thus I will not venture in the area of contempt. But, what I seek to do here is to discuss the various conclusions that sections of the Ghanaian public have come to as regards the election petition case. Bear in mind that though I may seem coloured politically, I am human first of all and it is that humanity that I employ here, not necessarily my political biases.

There is no doubt that opinions are divided in this matter. Some want a retention of the status quo, and others want a direct overturn of the status quo. Most Ghanaians, in their usual peaceful nature are asking for a rerun of the elections. To say all these are opinions is not necessarily true because some of them are nothing but wishes as well. But what are the facts that the case was built on, and what has been proved?

I was one of the privileged few who understood the case from its very inception as a result of some very senior persons' patience to explain maters to me. Through this case, I have followed every development carefully, in the process, amassing my own set of documents relating to several of the the issues in the elections. Take a look at just the contents of one box out of the seven boxes I keep.

Those are just the hard copies. The many soft copy documents I have are also there and I have poured over all of these copiously.

Thus whatever opinion I hold is not one that I picked up from discussions on radio, or from secondary sources. As a person who to an extent worked for the process as well, I dare say that my opinion is very well grounded on facts.

The petitioners alleged that the 2012 general elections was fraught with irregularities, violations and gross misconduct, leading to the declaration of the wrong person as the winner of the polls. These claims were based on pre-election happenings, Election Day happenings and post election happenings. Lets shortly recap these.

BACKGROUND.

The voters register: the voters register contained, strangely, som one million people that were registered without polling stations. The electoral officials had announced a figure of less than thirteen million after registration but informed parliament that they had registered some one million people without polling stations. They promised to clean up the register, only to come back and announce a figure of 14,031,680. How this figure came about was an issue.

Again, the biometric register contained duplications and that was a very severe absurdity. If all persons were indeed registered biometrically, this aberration should not have occurred.

The role of STL: as a nation, we will all remember that when the STL issue first came up, the company admitted to being contracted by the EC and then they latter changed that story. The role of STL however declined in this trial due to the wish of the petitioners not to create panic by revealing the whole truth.

More coming soon.

Pressure

So this afternoon I decided to visit a friend at TS in tudu. I was expecting the usual bustle of the place to be there.  But I got the shock of my life.  The place is dead quite in a friday.

Is this a sign of an ailing economy?

17 PINK SHEETS EXPOSE EC, RESPONDENTS ON SERIAL NUMBERS, SAYS PETITIONERS

NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY

NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY

Headquarters, Private Mail Bag, Accra-North, Ghana

Tel: +233 0302 264329/ 264288    Fax: +233 0302 229 048  

Email:  nppdcom@gmail.com  Website: www.newpatrioticparty.org

 

 

 

DEVELOPMENT IN FREEDOM

 

 

​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​​​1st August 2013

17 PINK SHEETS EXPOSE EC, RESPONDENTS ON SERIAL NUMBERS, SAYS PETITIONERS

 

The petitioners in the Presidential Election Petition have reiterated that the malpractice in the use of duplicate serial numbers was compounded by evidence establishing the existence of pink sheets with triplicate and quadruplicate serial numbers that were used for the December 2012 presidential election.

 

In the “written address of counsel for the petitioners”, they explain that “the critical importance of serial numbers as a security feature which prevented electoral fraud, the swapping of one pink sheet for another and the manipulation of results on pink sheets became manifest” during the cross-examination of Dr Afari Gyan when he was confronted with 17 pink sheets bearing triplicate and quadruplicate serial numbers.

 

According to the petitioners, the fact that Electoral Commission ordered the printing of two sets of 27,000 booklets of identical pink sheets and, in fact, used both sets in the conduct of the 2012 presidential election, constitutes a grave malpractice which provided the platform for most of the other constitutional and statutory violations, malpractices and irregularities.

 

They are therefore asking the court to “find that, in addition to the duplicate serials numbers, 2ndrespondent used pink sheets with triplicate and quadruplicate serial numbers for the conduct of the December 2012 presidential election.”

 

“When account is taken of the fact that the great majority of the infractions that ground this Petition can be found on pink sheets bearing duplicate serial numbers, there can be no doubt that the use of such pink sheets severely compromised the integrity of the 2012 presidential election and subverted the realisation of the democratic will of the people of Ghana. According to the evidence, the number of polling stations where this malpractice occurred on its own is 5,591. When account is taken of the polling stations that registered other infractions together with use of duplicate serial numbers, the total number of polling stations affected by this malpractice is 8,987. The total number of votes affected by the malpractice is 3,508 491.”

 

The address recounts how the respondents were given a rude awakening from their disdain for the malpractice of pink sheets with the phenomenon of duplicate serial numbers used by the Electoral Commission for the conduct of the December 2012 election.

 

It is recalled that on the 11th July, 2013, counsel for petitioners, Philip Addison, confronted Dr.Afari-Gyan, with the list of 17 pink sheets that bore triplicate or quadruplicate serial numbers.

Dr Afari Gyan admitted that three sets of three pink sheets each had the same serial numbers, while two sets of four pink sheets bore the same serial number. These pink sheets were subsequently tendered in evidence through Dr. Afari-Gyan as Exhibit “X”.

 

When asked to “explain triplicates and quadruplicate serial numbers that we have just seen in Exhibit ‘X’”, Dr Afari Gyan remarked, “My lords, I cannot understand how there could be triplicates and quadruplicates, I cannot understand that and that is why we have to check.”

 

However, after checking and in a rather despairing attempt to minimize and deflect the obvious damage that the grave malpractice of pink sheets with triplicate or quadruplicate serial numbers had done to the case of respondents on duplicate serial numbers, Dr. Afari-Gyan, in re-examination on 16th July 2013, tendered as Exhibit EC11, a table, together with Exhibits EC 11 A to 11E3, the purported original copies of the pink sheets listed in Exhibit X.

 

This, the petitioners state, only confounded matters for the 2nd respondent.

 

“This is because a critical scrutiny and comparison of the pink sheets set out in Exhibit X with Exhibits EC11A to 11E3 revealed substantial differences between the pink sheets filed by petitioners and listed as Exhibit X, and the purported originals belatedly tendered in evidence byDr. Afari-Gyan on the penultimate day of trial,” the address reads.

 

The petitioners submit that the pink sheets listed in Exhibit X were carbon copies of the original copies and were given to the agents of Nana Akufo-Addo at the close of poll and the declaration of the results at the polling station on 7th and 8th December 2012.

 

“Being duplicates of the original, it meant every hand written entry or mark found on the duplicates must equally be on the original copies. Similarly, the originals cannot have entries on them which will not be found on their corresponding duplicates,” the petitioners note.

 

Indeed, the Court had noted on several occasions during the course of trial that no one was questioning the authenticity of the pink sheets that the petitioners filed and, further, that the duplicates that petitioners filed were as good as the originals in the official custody of 2nd respondent. That is why upon an application by petitioners for an order directed at the EC to produce for inspection and photocopying all pink sheets in the 26,002 polling stations, the Court dismissed the application, since according to the Court, petitioners had duplicates of the originals and that the duplicates were as good as the originals in the custody of the EC.

 

 

Differences between Exhibits:

The petitioners have stated emphatically that when they compared the pink sheet exhibits listed on Exhibit “X” with as the purported originals of the EC tendered as Exhibits EC 11, 11 A1 to 11 D4series it became manifest that there had been tampering with the alleged originals of the 2nd respondent and that, in some cases, there had been complete swaps of the pink sheets in question.

 

“It ought to be underlined that the reason why 2nd respondent virtually got forced to tender in evidence pink sheets for the first time since this Petition commenced was because it wished to discredit the damning evidence of triplicate and quadruplicate serial numbers which Exhibit X exposed. To do that, however, 2nd respondent necessarily had to produce pink sheets that were different from the duplicates that petitioners confronted Dr. Afari Gyan with through their counsel on 11th July 2013,” the petitioners note.

 

 

Triplicates

Citing the example of three pink sheets marked Exhibit MBP – 3246, CHIEF BELLO INT. SCHOOL, with Code C141004A, Exhibit MBP3238, APOSTOLIC REVELATION SOCIETY, with Code C141102A, MBQ 171, BAPTIST INT. CHURCH-ADIGON, with Code C140602, all bear the same pre-embossed serial number, namely 0025195.

 

However, two of the purported corresponding original pink sheets tendered in evidence by the ECas Exhibit EC 11A, CHIEF BELLO INT. SCHOOL, with Code C141004A and Exhibit EC 11BAPTIST INT. CHURCH-ADIGON, with Code C1409602, both bore the same serial number as the three duplicates, namely 0025195. The third, however, Exhibit EC 11 A1, APOSTOLIC REVELATION SOCIETY, with Code C141102A had a completely different serial number, namely 0026746.

 

“It is apparent from the entries on the two exhibits that the handwritings are quite different and that the specific entries are not the same. There are cancellations on the so-called original which cannot be found on the duplicate, a logical and empirical impossibility. On the other hand, a comparison of the two sets of pink sheets bearing the same serial numbers shows that all the entries in each duplicate can be found in the original and, further, that the hand writing is the same for each pair. Quite clearly, Exhibit EC 11 A1 is a recently fabricated document, generated in an attempt to rebut the evidence of triplicate serial numbers,” the petitioners add.

 

Again, the petitioners cited three (3) pink sheets marked Exhibit MBM–000474, MICHEL CAMP JHS, B, with Code C141105B, Exhibit MBP–3258, Methodist Church Zenu (B), with Code C140904 (B), Exhibit MBP–3264, ST. JOHN BOSCO CATHOLIC, with Code C141404B, and Exhibit MBP – 3254, GARRISON PRIM. SCH, MICHEL CAMP NO. 1, with Code C141104, all bearing the same serial number, namely 0025194.

 

Two of the purported original sets, the petitioners cite, namely, Exhibits EC 11E, MICHEL CAMP JHS, B, with Code C141105B and Exhibit EC 11E2, GARRISON PRIM. SCH, MICHEL CAMP NO. 1, with Code C141104 both bear serial number 0025194 which is the same as those of the petitioners’ set of corresponding duplicates.

 

“The other two purported originals, however, have completely different serial numbers. Exhibit EC 11E1, METHODIS CHURCH, ZENU (B), with Code C140904B, bears serial number0025196, while Exhibit EC11E3, JOHN BOSCO CATH CHURCH with Code C141403B bears serial number 0024724,” the address states.

 

“An examination of the entries in the two pink sheets in respect of St. John Bosco Catholic Church shows that the entries in these two pink sheets are not the same. The votes obtained in words by 1st respondent as well by 1st petitioner are written differently on the two pink sheets. The name of the polling station is ST JOHN BOSCO CATHOLIC on Exhibit MBP–3264, but on the alleged original copy, it is ST JOHN BOSCO CATH CHURCH. While the polling agents for NDC, NPP and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) have allegedly signed the pink sheet inExhibit EC 11E 3, those of the same parties have not signed the pink sheets in Exhibit MBP–3264. What is significant here is that, since the petitioners’ exhibits are duplicates of the originals, every entry or marking on the petitioners’ pink sheet exhibits must necessarily be found on the originals of 2nd respondent. Similarly, what is not on the petitioners’ exhibits should not be on the 2nd respondent’s original. In other words, the 2nd respondent’s exhibit must have exactly the same entries as the petitioners’. Where that is not the case, as is manifest on most of the exhibits bearing different serial numbers, the irresistible and logical conclusion must be that 2ndrespondent has manufactured new pink sheets after the polls. The presence of a different serial number on Exhibit EC 11E 3 is a clear indication that the actual pink sheet filled in at the polling station, is not what was produced in Court by the 2nd respondent,” the address explains.

 

It continues, “What truly exposes 2nd respondent is that in its attempt to rebut the evidence of triplicate serial numbers by generating a different JOHN BOSCO CATH CHURCH pink sheet, 2nd respondent produces a pink sheet with a different serial number, namely 0024724. In doing so, however, 2nd respondent only confounds it case. For, there are already in evidence two pink sheet exhibits with the same serial number, 0024724. These are Exhibit MBP–3266, ST EMMANUEL MUSLIM B ZION, with Code C141902B and Exhibit MBP-003074, ST. JOHN BOSCO CATHOLIC, with Code C14140A. The pink sheets for these two polling stations have the same serial number, namely 002474. Thus the fabricated St John Bosco Cath Church unwittingly finds company with two other polling stations with the same serial number and, thus, joins the disreputable class of pink sheets with triplicate serial numbers. ”

 

“While 2nd respondent filed Exhibit EC 11 E in order to rubbish petitioners‟ claim of pink sheets with more triplicate serial numbers, this move rather had the effect of deepening the crisis of 2nd respondent. Petitioners had already filed in this petition two other pink sheet exhibits bearing the same serial number as 2nd respondent’s Exhibit EC11 E1 with serial number0025196. These are Exhibit MBP–3257 KONKYIRKOPE EBEN. METH. CH. ZENU B, with Code C141001B and Exhibit MBP – 3273, TMA PRIM „B‟, with Code C140901B 118.”

 

Quadruplicates

On the issue of four pink sheets bearing the same serial numbers, the petitioners asked the court toexamine Exhibit EC 11 E 1, METHODIST CHURCH ZENU (B) in comparison with Exhibit MBP-3258. An examination will reveal differences which could only have arisen from substituting authentic original copy of MBP-3258.

 

“It is obvious that the entries in Exhibit EC 11 E1 were made by placing the authentic original under the pink sheet and tracing the entries onto Exhibit EC 11 E1. This is what explains the deepen inscription on Exhibit EC 11 E 1, which cannot be found on Exhibit MBP–3258. Furthermore, while figures entered on Exhibit MBP – 3258 bear no „whiskers‟ as it were, all the entries on the so-called corresponding original strangely have these „whiskers‟. Clearly, Exhibit EC 11 E 1 was manufactured after Exhibit MBP – 3258 had been given to the agents of 1st petitioner at the polling station, presumably when 2nd respondent hand was forced by the evidence on the face of the pink sheets listed in Exhibit X,” the petitioners stressed.

 

Moving on to Exhibit MBP 3268, ONYAI-SHI, with Code C140701, MBH–79, KATAMANSU PRESBY PRI. A, with Code 140601A, Exhibit MBJ – 000097, ASS OF GOD CH. ATAA SAKI (B), with Code C141401B, EXHIBIT MB-AB–000020, FINGER OF GOD CHURCH, with Code C140802, all had the same serial number, namely 0025200.

 

However, in stark contrast, only Exhibit EC 11 D, ONYAHI-SHI bore the same serial number of0025200.

 

“Not surprisingly, Exhibit EC 11D has the same polling station name and code as Exhibit MBP–3268. The entries on the two pink sheets are exactly the same and the handwriting the same, as should be expected of an original and a duplicate thereof and as the most casual examination of the two pink sheets will reveal. Strangely, 2nd respondent filed six (6) pink sheets in response tothe four (4) that petitioners filed. And all of the remaining five (5) are completely different from the petitioners’ sets. In contrast to the petitioners‟ set of three pink sheets, this set of five pink sheets had the names of the polling stations spelt differently from the names on the petitioners‟ set of pink sheets. They bear completely different polling station codes. The hand written entries on these pink sheets are completely different and the entry of figures on them are equally different. They bear completely different serial numbers from the petitioners‟ set of pink sheets. Exhibit EC 11 D1, PRESBY PR SCH, KATAMANSO, with Code C140601A has serial number 0025199. Exhibit EC11 D2, ATAA SAKI (B), with Code C141401B has serial number0024702 in pink colour, which is not the colour of an original. Exhibit EC 11 D4, FINGER OF GOD CH. KUBEKRO, with Code C140802A has serial number 0025191. Exhibit EC 11D5, FINGER OF GOD CH. KUBEKRO, with Code C140802B has serial number 0010711. Indeed, the Court will note that 2nd respondent has deliberately tendered in evidence pink sheets with polling station names and codes different from the exhibits that petitioners are relying on in this set of quadruplicates. Quite naturally, these pink sheets, being pink sheets in respect of other polling station names and codes, cannot be expected to bear the same serial numbers as those in petitioners‟ set of four. The entries on the two Finger of God Kubekro pink sheets in 2ndrespondent‟s set are different from the Finger of God pink sheet in petitioners’ set,” the address concludes.

 

Appropriate?

I am currently listening to the chairman of the peace council at an event organised by the media foundation for West Africa and it is turning out to be interesting.

But he has just used a quote from Dr. Afari Djan and I am wondefing that considering the time snd period, is it appropriate? 

I guess only time will tell.

Back

Ok so I have been away for a while but now I am back. I have spent the time arguably making myself more relevant to the country.

Now is the time so please welcome me back.

Thanks.

PROOF THAT H. E. ATTA MILLS IS A HYPOCRITE.

I know I am supposed to be continuing my analysis on the Green Book but I needed to do this to give my fellow communicators some perspectives to use. Please feel free to use it in whatever manner you want. Cheers. 

THE HYPOCRISY FILES

WHAT MILLS SAID AND WHAT HE DID- THE EXPOSE.

We must work together to fashion the requisite legislation that will help this country face and overcome her many challenges in these times of domestic and global uncertainty. In this quest consensus-building is vital and time is very precious.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 2.

When the time came to practice what he preached, the majority railroaded the STX fiasco through parliament. The CBD loan was also railroaded through. Consensus was thrown to the dogs.

Permit me to acknowledge my predecessors; President Jerry John Rawlings and President John Agyekum Kufuor. Ghana is indeed grateful to them for their service to our Nation. We are also grateful to them for moving our democracy further along the path to maturation.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 2.

Kuffour and Rawlings are yet to be paid their entitlements that are constitutionally their due. Ex- president Rawlings who is his party founder does not have a home. Nothing has been done to resettle him.

We will learn as a Nation to add to what is working, and to change course only when it is in the National Interest to do so. We will depart from the practice of undoing the valuable contributions of our predecessors. A house that is constantly rebuilding its foundation is doomed to remain stuck to the foundation level, never to reach completion and decoration, let alone occupation. Ghana deserves better.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 2.

Affordable housing projects were abandoned in the chase of STX housing which has now turned out to be an albatross around the neck of this government. Truly, Ghana deserves better. And this is one of the many abandoned projects. Our security forces still need a place to sleep though the affordable houses are almost complete.

During this administration, we will address transparency through a three dimensional approach

Ensuring the passage of the Freedom of Information Act

Expediting the passing of a National Broadcasting Law

Elaboration of a Code of Conduct in Government that includes key information disclosure, ethics and anti-corruption measures.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 4.

The newly published green book 2 claims the fact that the Freedom of Information bill is before parliament is an unprecedented achievement. The broadcasting law is still languishing on shelves. The code of conduct is yet to be seen.

Regarding Parliament and Parliamentarians, we will embark on the following:

* The construction and furnishing of a standard “Member of Parliament Duty Post Office” in each of the 230 constituencies and the payment of an Administrator appointed by the Member of Parliament to man the office;

* The establishment of a “Member of Parliament Constituency Development Fund separate and apart from the District Assemblies Common Fund in order to release the District Assemblies Common Fund for the exclusive use of the District Assemblies and to remove one of the sources of tensions between the District Chief Executives and the Members of Parliament ;

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 4.

None of these has even been put into a plan. For a man whose people are busy asking Nana Addo how much his free SHS will cost, do they know how much this will cost four years after they made this promise?

As promised in our Manifesto, we shall also introduce a Bill to amend the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998, Act 550, in order to make it more functional and effective in ensuring probity and accountability.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 4.

Majority of His appointees have not even declared their assets as required by law. The plan to introduce an amendment to the law remains in their heads.

We will continue to respect the diversity and independence of the media and in shaping opinion in our democracy.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 7

The recent boycott of multimedia tells how much the president respects this promise he made.

to be continued soon

TAKING ON THE GREEN BOOK - AN ANALYSIS.

INTRODUCTION

 So the government has launched “Overview of the Better Ghana Agenda” and is daring all and sundry who do not agree to challenge it. I have taken up the challenge. I find it very instructive that the government thinks this book cannot be challenged and I will prove it otherwise. As the recent STX saga has shown, wisdom does not lie in the head of one individual so I will invite all comments and suggestions from all of you. Please send them to nkoppongdamoah@gmail.com and I will take all of them into consideration.

I have endeavored to look at the various sections of the book and challenged all that is within my knowledge.  This work however is not exhaustive. We continue to look at it and it must be noted that critique of this work must be ongoing through the years as some of them will be further highlighted over the future. ‘Green Book 1’ is beginning to expose itself so we look forward to the ongoing critique of all of them.

 1.       EXAMINING THE BASIS.

The introduction to the ‘green book 2’ is apparently written by the government communication team. This is a new creation under the Mills Administration and I will want all of us to do a critical analysis of this creation. On page 4 of his maiden State of the Nation Address, the president, H.E. John Evans Atta Mills reminded Ghanaians of his “promise to establish a lean but effective government”.  I will want to question the idea behind having a government communication team when we have a ministry of information with a minister and two deputies, a communications directorate at the presidency and other such institutions for handling government communications. Is there the need for this government communications team when we have party functionaries, ministers and their deputies and spokespersons for various MMDA’s all on the government payroll?

Also, let us examine the transparency in the creation of this body. The president adequately said that “Transparency in government and the fight against corruption are cardinal for sustainable development. During this administration, we will address transparency…..” (Maiden State of the Nation Address by the NDC Government, Pages 3&4). This particular creation of the government has been so non-transparent that it baffles all who bother to take a close look. A number of questions come up:

1. Who set up this team and who is the head?
2. Who are the members of this government communication team?
3. What are the selection criteria?
4. How much are the members of this team paid and are their salaries and allowances drawn on the consolidated fund?
5. Are they taxed on these salaries and allowances?

I raise these issues because the ‘Green Book 2’ document is hinged on the credibility of this group that we know very little of. More worrying is the fact that this group is able to use the coat of arms of our dear nation. For us to consider this document and give any serious thought to what it is that they are saying, someone must answer these questions first.

Having cleared that, it is instructive to note that no one person bothered to sign the document. The introduction to the book is said to have been authored by this ‘Government Communication Team’ but no one appended his signature to the document. The problem this poses is that the group pushing this agenda is unknown to us so perhaps Ghanaians would have been better disposed to give some credibility to the document if anyone we know had appended his signature to this document. It is a government document so if the minister of information or perhaps even the president had signed it, then we could consider it. As it stands now, is it fair to assume that no one in government wanted to put his or her credibility on the line for this document?  These are just broad introductory questions.

“The NDC government will measure its successes, (not that we are going to be obsessed with touting such successes) in the extent to which we shall be able to implement the policies contained in this Manifesto…”-  H.E. Professor John Evans Atta Mills (foreword to the 2008 manifesto of the NDC, 3rd pg).

Again I have to question if things like having a government communication team to ostensibly tout the successes of the administration is not in direct contravention of this statement. That aside, why are we having discussions of the government’s achievements without any references to its manifesto? Clearly from the above quoted statement, anyone who undertakes such an exercise is not helping the Mills cause in any way. The government made a promise to strictly measure its achievements by the policies and in its manifesto so the ‘Green Book 1&2’ is not good enough an analysis. They should do it again.

I would understand if the chroniclers who put together the green book document have a difficulty in ascertaining which manifesto to use. This is because the NDC withdrew the manifesto they used for the 2008 campaign after they won the election and replaced it with a new one, citing mistakes in the pre-election manifesto. Such mistakes involved promises to build stadia for all regional capitals among others. With such a situation, one can sympathize with chroniclers who for one reason or the other decided to leave all mention of the manifesto out the green book. Sympathies aside, such an attempt to divert attention from what must be done as a result of an unsolicited attention is disingenuous and must be condemned. The government communication team must go back and do the right thing.

 2.       THE ‘UNPRECENDENTED’ ACHIEVEMENTS.

The prevailing context of these are that within three years of governing this country, this government has been able to achieve some things that have never before been done. It is instructive to note that this claim of unprecedented achievements is sited in an appeal that Ghanaians re-elect President Mills. Thus logically, they are claiming exclusive rights to these achievements and so let us examine them one by one.

-          Ghana under President Mills has recorded GDP growth rate of 13.6%. This is the highest in the nation’s history.

COMMENTS.

Firstly the figure is incorrect. Just a day after this publication was graciously outdoored in pomp and pageantry, the Ghana Statistical Service released new figures that put the GDP growth rate for 2011 at 14.4%. Granted that the figure quoted was the previous official estimate, this is a pertinent issue in that a government that promised: “not that we are going to be obsessed with touting such successes” certainly could have waited a while longer to provide us with the most recent data.

Secondly, the context within which the fact is quoted makes it deceitful and almost fraudulent. Ghana achieved non oil induced growth of 7.5%, which is less than the 2010 estimate of 8% final or 7.7% initial estimates. So in reality, without oil, our economy’s rate of growth will have slowed by a significant 0.2% in 2011. That is just one side of it. The 6.9% growth of the economy attributed to the production of oil is only a testament to the lies of the NDC. When the announcement was made in parliament on June 18th 2007 that Ghana had discovered oil in commercial quantities, “Mr. Lee Ocran, NDC member for Jomoro said a similar report was made 37 years ago to the day that Ghana had struck oil, arguing that it turned out that we had not made anything worth jubilating about.” As providence will have it, Mr. Ocran is today the minister of education at a time when his government is claiming ‘unprecedented’ economic growth as a result of this same oil discovery. The fraudulent nature in which this government has sought to portray this achievement in political light favouring itself lies in the fact that it does not have exclusive right to claim this achievement. The discovery and initial works were started by NDC 1 under President Rawlings, continued under Kuffour and he is continuing. Any benefits and achievement under economic growth as a result of this oil find in therefore not exclusive to the reign of this government. The classification of this fact an achievement of this government is therefore an exercise in deceit.

Governance, as we have often been told is a continuing process. Benefits of some initiatives are realized only after certain times have passed. When the fruits of seeds sown by past administrations materialize within your era, please give recognition where it is due instead of attempting to claim it as an “unprecedented achievement”. Honest men do this.

-          Longest sustained single digit inflation.(sustained for more than 22 months and now at 8.6%)

Comment.

In recent times, as government has attempted to tout this as an achievement, various people have scrutinized it. I choose not to question the veracity of the figures put out by the Ghana Statistical Service because we have to build strong institutions to further our democracy. However those who choose to question the figure raise very serious concerns. Take for instance Mr. Kweku Kwarteng, who has stated that for July 2011, “for certain areas they have left some of the items completely out of the inflation basket. We went to Wa and we discovered that for Wa for instance, 11 items; pawpaw, coconut oil, palm kennel, pork, palm wine, men’s kente, women’s kente, things like starch, pyjamas, were completely left out of the inflation basket, adding, that the team uncovered similar situations in other regional capitals like Ho, Koforidua and Takoradi. Many of the prices of the items that were cited had prices of 0, Property tax in the whole of Kumasi is 0. In Bolga, pineapple price is 0, coconut oil price is 0’. This invariably means that no one pays property taxes in Kumasi and all the other items listed are free in the market for all to go and grab. As I said earlier, I will not question the institutional competence of the Ghana Statistical Service but we need to keep these things in mind when discussing inflation in Ghana.

However, I will dare say that the inflation numbers are not a reflection of reality. It is important that we note that our calculation of inflation does not take into account payment for utilities and fuel etc. Aside that, bear in mind that from the above, some of the things in the inflation basket are actually calculated as having no prices. Thus the inflation figures churned out have no bearing on the reality. In actuality, the rate of inflation is higher than what is being bandied about. How else can we explain a bag of cement rising in price from about 9 cedis in 2008 to close to 20 cedis in 2012 though we have had single digit inflation for the past 22 months. How also could the unit cost of a standard six classroom block have risen from 700 million old cedis to close to 3 billion old cedis in just three months? The payment of gargantuan judgment debts may have taken a toll on the economy of the country but definitely not by that much.

to be continued soon.