By Larry-Alans Dogbey
President John Evans Atta Mills has marked his two years in office
successfully without any scandal in his presidency or false coup d’état
reports which characterized the first two years of his predecessor, John
Agyekum Kufuor, leading to the sacking of some ministers and the deportation
of a foreigner, Albert Odinga Odinga, a Belize national and personal friend
of ex-President Jerry John Rawlings.
This time in 2003 saw a massive hullabaloo about the renovation of the Osu
Castle, repair works at ex-President Kufuor’s private Airport residence by a
certain farmer Marfo, and the purchase of Peugeot cars from Nigeria for the
Police Service, all under very questionable circumstances.
Whiles Mallam Issa had been sacked and subsequently jailed for embezzling
US$45,000 meant as bonuses for the Black Stars, President Kufuor reluctantly
sacked Muktar Bamba, his deputy chief of staff, for using the presidential
letterhead to source for loans, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, his Chief of Staff,
had also compromised his office in the Mormons church affair.
All these came, and badly dented the Kufuor regime which had promised “zero
tolerance” for corruption.
But after two years in office, Mills is yet to be cited in any corruption
scandal which he last week Friday marked, with a question- and- answer
encounter with selected Ghanaian and international journalists at the
Castle.
Unlike the case of Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka in 2009, there was no specific
act of corruption involving any of his appointees for him to respond to.
At the end of the two-and-a-half hour encounter, President Mills emerged as
a physically fit person and mentally sharp as he was in total control of the
issues within his government.
He did not look sick and frail, delusional or blind as claimed by certain
personalities.
His only problem was that he sounded nasal, but explained that he had
problem with his nose, and this has affected his speech.
President Mills who lazed some of his responses with humour most often
supported his answers with figures, never implored any of his ministers or
appointees to help him answer the questions thrown to him by the media men.
He also did not use pen and paper to note down the questions before
answering them.
The president expressed his regret for having to take a painful decision to
increase fuel prices.
He said it is not an easy decision to increase fuel prices but had to do
that in the interest of the people.
He said Government had a choice to continue subsidizing the price of fuel to
the neglect of other social intervention, but it choose the increment so as
to safeguard the economy and also be able to meet other developmental
commitments.
The recent fuel price hike has received criticism mostly from the opposition
parties, some political organizations as well as a cross-section of
Ghanaians.
The argument has been made that President Mills promised to reduce fuel
prices drastically but has acted contrary.
But in a quick response to a question by one of the journalists at the
programme, President Mills mentioned that his statement at the time was in
context, and that given the world crude oil price at the time, he would
reduce the price of fuel if he was the President.
“I have been called upon to apologize to the people of Ghana by the NPP.
They need to apologize to the people of Ghana for leaving us with GH¢1.5
billion TOR debt”, he said
“I made the point that, given the world crude oil price at the time and
comparing it with the fuel prices, I said…if I had my way, I would reduce
the prices.
The records must also show that not long after I had made this promise, the
Kufour administration reduced fuel prices. They reduced fuel prices which I
thought was a vindication of the stand that we had taken,” the president
added.
President Mills said that at the beginning of 2009 when he assumed office,
he met a crippling Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debt of GH¢1.488 billion. He
explained that even when prices of world crude kept rising, the government
refused to increase prices while spending huge sums of money to subsidize
the product.
The President said that the recent price hikes were necessitated by calls
from people who needed better livelihoods and social amenities to make their
lives a lot easier.
He added that there is no money in government coffers because they were
paying the TOR debt and subsidizing the fuel prices. Government could,
therefore, not carry out developmental projects.
“Increasing fuel prices is not an easy decision to take, but at some stage,
I had to take a decision…
A choice between fuel subsidies and using the money for social interventions
to cushion the impact of the hard and parlous state of the economy for,
especially, the underprivileged people, I thought that I should take this
decision,” he admitted.
“It is even a miracle that at this stage we can even supply fuel to
Ghanaians, so I want my brothers and sisters to bear with me. It is not that
we are not caring.
We had to make a choice, and I want to promise you that whatever it is that
we can save, we will put it to some productive use,” he pledged.
On the issue of Ivory Coast, President Mills said categorically his
government was unable to contribute soldiers to any ECOWAS mission to oust
incumbent president of that country, Laurent Gbagbo, should the regional
body make do with its threat.
He said the country’s military was overstretched, engaged in many
peacekeeping assignments around the world, and that he was not about to risk
Ghana’s internal peace to remove Mr. Gbagbo since opposition leader
Alhassane Ouattara won the elections, since “It is not for Ghana to choose a
leader for Cote d’Ivoire.”
“As Commander in Chief,” he said, “I consulted with my Military High Command
and they advised that they could not release troops to join contingent to
take military action in Cote d’’Ivoire.”
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President Mills said Ghana was monitoring the situation very carefully, and
“will continue to pursue initiatives which will ensure there is peace in
Cote d’Ivoire.”
“Ghana is not taking sides,” in the delicate political standoff, but “Ghana
should support any measures to implement the democratic ideals that we all
cherish, “he said, and flatly denied accusations that some airplanes loaded
with weapons were in Ghana to jump to the aid of President Gbagbo.
He said: “It is not true that we are helping to import arms to Cote
d’Ivoire. It is certainly not true, we cannot do this!”
The president said he had been communicating with both Mr. Ouattara and Mr.
Laurent Gbagbo, but stressed: “It is not every detail that I can put in the
public domain. Some of us believe in quiet diplomacy, and that is exactly
what we are doing.”
President Mills, who was exceptionally humurous on this occasion but blunt
in a lot of his responses, said: “As a person, I do not think that this
military operation is going to bring peace to Cote d’Ivoire.” For him, it
would be better for Ghana to ‘mind your own business’ in the crisis.
On the seeming crisis in the Ministry of Youth and Sports which has seen
four ministers in a spate of two years, the President said “the reason is
that every minister is sent there to execute a particular programme. When
the person finishes, I know who to send there for that particular
programme.”
The President addressed issues about his association with the 31st December
1981 coup which gave birth to the formation of the Provisional National
Defense Council (PNDC) which consequently founded the National Democratic
Congress which he leads.
President Mills stated: “Let nobody forget that NDC has December 31st as one
of its founding days. I cannot change it…
Other political parties may have founders days that they are not even
disclosing, and they may be associated with something else. Yes! But what I
am saying is that, I belong to NDC; this is the party’s founding day, and if
people decide to celebrate it, I will encourage them to do so. Pure and
Simple.”