Posted by By J E Solomon
News reports last month that Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills subjected himself, his wife and his entourage to a search by security personnel of the Narcotics Control Board at the nation’s international airport before his departure from Accra to the United Kingdom continue to generate much discussion among Ghanaians.
Some people have praised the president for setting a good example and suggested that all government officials must follow his unique example, especially those who use the VVIP and VIP lounges during foreign trips and, therefore, have the privilege of enjoying less rigorous luggage screening and body searches that regular passengers usually go through.
However, there are those who see the president’s subjection to the search as an attempt to publicly show Ghanaians how presidentially clean and virtuous he is. This group of people claim that either the whole thing was crafted to portray President Atta Mills as truly humble and law-abiding, or perhaps designed to cast insinuations at the immediate past administration for reported cases and allegations of drug trafficking by some of its officials.
They argue that high-ranking government officials usually enjoy diplomatic privileges and that their unaccompanied luggage are handled differently from those of the general public. Thus if any such official has contraband items they intend to conceal, they would definitely not carry them along for the routine passenger screening at any airport. And that is very true.
But whether or not President Mills’ subjection to a search was to court favorable political image for himself or for his administration in particular is not important. Fact is, it is not such public show of transparency that Ghanaians will judge him by. Taken for granted by politicians for far too long, Ghanaians will be watching to see how swiftly and courageously Atta Mills will deal with reported cases of corruption by members of his government should any acts of malpractice be exposed. They will want to see a leader who will act without fear or favor, a leader who would be seen to be independent-minded, credible and not one who is so spineless as to appear as being tied to other people’s apron strings.
Barely four months in office in his first term, former President John Agyekum Kufuor raised high hopes when he showed proof of his avowed zero tolerance for corruption by firing Youth and Sports Minister, Mallam Ali Yusuf Issa over the $46,000 he allegedly claimed was lost, but which he failed to report on his return from Sudan. The money was meant to pay winning bonuses to players of the senior national team, the Black Stars. That was in April of 2001. Mallam Issa was convicted and imprisoned for stealing and wilfully causing financial loss to the state. Ghanaians were excited and the general feeling was that things were going to be different. A transparent and incorruptible leadership had arrived; so was the perception among many Ghanaians.
There were, however, some people who refused to see Kufuor’s swift action as a demonstration of transparency and intolerance of corruption, and argued that Mallam Issa, who was drafted into the Kufuor Administration from the People’s National Convention, would not have been incarcerated if he had been an NPP member and, therefore, one of their own kith and kin.
It is not uncommon for political leaderships to display an inclination toward transparency and integrity in their early days in office. We have seen it too many times in the past. Kufuor, the immediate past president was the last example. It’s the usual thing – “ehoro a ebe dwo”, literally translated to mean that after the boiling, it’ll be cool.
In short, the initial zeal displayed by political leaders toward openness and incorruptible governance usually doesn’t last long. It’s all hypocrisy. Ghanaians hope that President John Evans Atta Mills will be up to the task and show courage in stamping out corruption within his administration and prevent his own officials from using their privileged positions to amass illegal wealth. They will want to believe that their current president is totally different and that he is the savior that has come, and that they won’t have to wait for another.