Kennedy Ohene Agyapong
Revelation by radical-progressive New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Assin-Central Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, that President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo rejected a Christmas gift worth some GHC 500,000 or about $ 60,000 (in US currency) from an unnamed foreign company with businesses in the country, does not the least bit come as a surprise to me at all.
But even as I told a couple of friends and some relatives in the wake of this laudable and morally edifying revelation, President Akufo-Addo and his aides could have devised a creative means of accepting the alleged gift and then promptly donating it to some charity and/or some non-profit organizations and foundations to be put towards the indisputably progressive use of poverty alleviation.
Such creative approach is necessary because Nana Akufo-Addo assumes reins of governance at a time that the coffers of the country are widely known and/or alleged to have been thoroughly depleted by the outgone Mahama-led regime of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). What I am suggesting here is for the Akufo-Addo Administration or the key operatives of the New Patriotic Party to establish a well-audited and independently run fund or foundation for the management and distribution of resources or donations made by corporate donors to charity and non-profit organizations for the development of the country. The government alone cannot do everything for Ghanaian citizens, even as President Akufo-Addo himself underscored in his inaugural address on January 7.
And to disabuse the minds of skeptics and/or detractors of the government, a transparent system could be set up to ensure that the names of all donors, both corporate and individuals, are listed and publicly released to the media and any interested citizen on demand. The donors will also be given written notification stating categorically that while, indeed, the government was highly appreciative of such direly needed development assistance and gestures of first-rate patriotism, nevertheless, donating voluntarily to the public fund must not be interpreted or construed as entitling the donor or obligating the government to give preferential treatment in contractual bids entered into with executive operatives of corporate donors or individuals.
It is also time for President Akufo-Addo to lay down and hand out a code-of-conduct brochure to all cabinet and non-cabinet senior appointees of his government, especially protocol regarding the acceptance of gifts from members of the public in general, but especially corporate and business people, as well as traditional rulers, because the very nature of Ghanaian cultures makes the acceptance and the offering and receiving of gifts inevitable. Actually, it is fundamentally a human trait. And so, for instance, President Akufo-Addo could clearly stipulate that no cabinet member or senior executive operative can accept a gift worth more than GH? 100.00 or $ 25.00.
In other words, there are creative and fetter-free ways of accepting gifts and making the latter serve the quality-of-life improvement needs of the people, without compromising one’s professional and political integrity.
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