Why wont Ghanaians scoff at the corruption fight when Official 1 of the Airbus scandal is walking freely?
Former President John Dramani Mahama was said to be Official 1  Readers would bear with me that corruption is a serious economic, social, political and moral impediment to nation-building, and therefore it is expected that corrupt officials will be held accountable at all times without fear or favour. Corruption, as a matter of fact and observation, is found in all countriesbig and small, rich and poorbut it is in the developing world such as Ghana that its effects are most destructive. Unfortunately, however, it would appear that in Ghana, the justice system more often than not, descends heavily on the goat, cassava and plantain thieves, and let go the remorseless criminals who hide behind the narrow political colorations. We were, however, extremely hopeful that with the arrival of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the justice system was going to descend heavily not only on the goat, cassava and plantain thieves but as well as the hardened criminals who hide behind the narrow political colorations. But that was not the case. Ghana, as a matter of fact, has been losing billions of dollars since the adoption of the Fourth Republican Constitution to the remorseless nation wreckers who take delight in swindling the state to the detriment of the poor and disadvantaged Ghanaians. And yet the methods employed by the successive governments in fighting the apparent canker have been extremely disappointing. One such disgusting corruption scandal is that Europes aerospace multinational Airbus deliberately paid huge payments of bribes to a few countries including Ghana in order to secure contracts during Mills/Mahama administration between 2009 and 2015. Considering the seriousness of the alleged Airbus bribery scandal, President Akufo-Addo instructed the then Special Prosecutor, Mr Martin Amidu to probe into the grave corruption scandal. Upon a stern investigation into the apparent damning scandal, the Office of the Special Prosecutor finally concluded that the said Government Official 1 in the Airbus bribery scandal is the former president and the 2020 flagbearer of NDC, John Dramani Mahama. The report, however, concluded that since we were in the election period and the said protagonist was a presidential candidate, the Office of the Special Prosecutor was not in a position to take any immediate action. Strangely, former President Mahama furiously came out and rubbished the report and referred to the findings of the Airbus bribery scandal investigation as nothing but stupidity of the highest order (emphasis mine). In fact, the Airbus bribery scandal involving some government officials in a few countries, including Ghanaian officials, remains the most shameful and disgusting scandal of international proportions in the history of Ghanaian politics. As a matter of fact, in any equitable jurisdiction, the suspects of the revoltingly ugly Airbus bribery scandal would have faced the full force of the law without fear or favour. It was, therefore, quite ironic that while the erudite English law luminaries were saying that the Airbus deliberately paid bribes to some selected countries including Ghana with the view to obtaining contracts, the Ghanaian counterparts, many of whom are the indigenes of Akan, Ewe, Dagomba, Dagarti, Frafra, Kusase, Gonja, Mamprusi, Sisala, Mossi, etc., were contending vehemently that the said payment should rather be called commission and not bribe. Another area of interest however was the seeming baseless debate that surrounded the identity of the elected government official one, who was cited in the report. Whilst the critics were arguing somewhat vigorously that the said official could be a prominent member of the opposition NDC, the diehard supporters of the main suspect were incredibly denying such allegation. Interestingly though, back then the governance experts maintained that only three people could possibly fit into the description of the said government official one, who was mentioned in the Airbus bribery scandal. According to the experts, the first suspect should be the first gentleman of the land. So, based on the expert's apt description, the first gentleman during the period 2009 to 2012 should have been the late President Mills. However, according to the report, the said elected government official one was still in power in 2015, while President Mills had sadly departed from the earth. So, the late Mills could not have been the government official one, as a matter of fact. The next possible suspect, according to the experts, should be the vice president of the land. Apparently, the former president and the 2020 NDC flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama fitted that description. The governance experts stressed further that the other person who could fit into the description of the government official one, mentioned in the Airbus corruption scandal should be the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Nevertheless, according to the experts, the CDS between 2009 and 2015 was not an elected government official. So he could not have been the said government official one cited in the Airbus corruption scandal. In synopsising, therefore, it should not take superior powers of the mind or a professorial in rocket science to arrive at the identity of the said government official one, mentioned in the shameful Airbus corruption scandal. What appeared much more bizarre though, was that the offending organisation, the Airbus, somehow admitted under oath paying huge bribes to the representatives of the countries involved, and consequently fined a humongous penalty in excess of 3 billion. Interestingly, however, the main culprit, who was a top government official one, cited in the report, was, and still is, a prominent member of the opposition NDC. So, the political gimmicks and the seeming denials by the vociferous NDC faithful was nothing out of the ordinary, so to speak. In fact, the NDC loyalists' argument that the Airbus payment was a commission and not bribe was out of order, so to speak. The opposition NDC vociferous communicators should stop throwing dust into our eyes: the Airbus indeed paid massive bribes to the selected countries including Ghana in order to gain trading advantage over its competitors. As it stands, the top government official one has an opportunity to answer the bribery and corruption charges being levelled against him by the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office. To me, Ghanas 1992 Constitution has to be reviewed and the irrational and inexpedient clauses such as the indemnity clauses are expunged and tossed into the dust bin accordingly.