Should Ex-president Kufour Return The Cars To The State? I Say Yes And No.

After reading the story that ex-president Kufour should return some cars to

the state (http://topics.myjoyonline.com/news/200903/27294.asp), I felt the ex-

president should be allowed to keep the car(s), I don’t even know how many

BMWs that we are talking of. However, I believe our ex-presidents deserve the

highest protection that the nation can afford to give them. We can’t give anything

less than this. Having said that, I am also of the opinion that for security reasons,

ex-president Kufour must return the cars to the state. Why am I saying this? I do

believe that these vehicles are not just any ordinary cars. They might be

equipped with all sorts of gadgets, gadgets that only the state security apparatus

can be in possession and control of. Can one image a situation where Kufour’s

cars have listening devices that could be eavesdropping on communications

taking place within the new government and passing whatever they hear onto the

Coffee Shop Mafia? This, if it exists, will be a disaster for the current

administration. For this sole reason, I will prefer that government repossesses

the cars in question.

On the other hand, I will prefer that the government should provide the ex-

president with money to procure his own fortified cars for his protection. This is to

avoid a situation where the ex-president might think that vehicles given to him by

the state have been bugged or tempered with, the air of suspicion is still with us.

There are profound national security issues bordering this case. Both the state

and the ex president have a case and we should work out a solution that is
amicable to both sides.

As for the hue and cry about varying conditions of the ex-president, as

advanced by Frank Agyekum, I will say it’s just noise and nothing else. The NPP

stripped ex-president Rawlings of his privileges and my question is, where was

the latter day defender of the Ghanaian constitution, Frank Agyekum? What is

good for the goose is also good for the gander. Our politicians must know that

nothing is cast in stone. Come one day, the people of the land will speak with

their thumbs and they who think highly of themselves will be stripped of the

powers they wantonly wield. Does one realize the agility with which people like

Kwadwo Mpiani hurry to radio stations to “defend” their past acts? A few weeks

ago these men and women were the law onto themselves. They talk to people

just anyhow because of whom they think they were.

If Frank Agyekum wants us to accept his argument, then we should as well ask

ex-president Kufour to keep the aircrafts he used when he was president of

Ghana. Varying the conditions of the former president indeed! Unfortunately, this

“tin-god” was created by the NDC for the benefit of ex-president Rawlings.

This brings me to another point about our constitution. Why is some

aspect of the constitution couched in words that leave so much room for people

to act capriciously to their own benefits? Why can’t it be specific as to which

cars must be provided for our ex-presidents? Am not saying that our laws should

be cast in stone, but smart people must be forward-looking and foresee the

loopholes they create in our laws that allow some to act in manners that satisfy

none but themselves. Even when the law is clearly laid out, the powers-that-be

defy them with impunity.

Just take the recent issue concerning Akufo Addo’s SUV as an instance.

Whereas it is stated that no minister can buy such vehicles, if the vehicles have

not been used for some specified number of years, Akufo Addo bought one of

those official vehicles and registered it in his name and when the vehicle was

intercepted at Opera Square, all hell broke loose. It was all over the place the

NDC government has seized Akufo Addo’s car, car that he should not have had

in the first place. Besides that, he continued to used state vehicle even when he

ceased to be a government official.

The incidents did bring to the fore, some issues concerning how we do things in

Ghana. In this age and time, our police cannot depend on just the looks of a

vehicle and jump to the conclusion that the vehicle belongs to government. That

is a backward way of doing things. The seizure of the Barclays Bank (Gh) MD’s

vehicle is most embarrassing and sends wrong signal to the business community.

Business hates bad news, I don’t know how much I can drive this home.

In developed countries, the police can tell who owns which car by scanning the

number plate. In my country it’s not so. Even the past government can’t tell the

number of cars they imported and their where about. I mean the state has on

control over the inventory of things it buys with the taxpayer’s money.

Am at a lost as to why vehicle identification numbers from CEPS cannot be

marched with data at the DVLA so that we can know those in possession of

those cars that were imported by the state. I don’t know what is wrong with this

country.

Conclusion: I don’t think a BMW, even if it is armoured, is too much for

us to provide for ex-president Kufour or any other ex-president. The only issue is,

are there instruments or gadgets in those cars that are of concern to the national

security apparatus? If yes, then Mr. Kufour must be dispossessed of the cars. In

return, the state must provide money for the ex-president to get his own

armoured/fortified cars (to the less informed, am not referring to those tanks you

know as armoured cars).

By Ten Factorial, 10!