Weep not, Mr President

By Kofi Akordor
There was no doubt the President was in a foul mood. His voice could be heard trembling with emotion that was fully charged with anguish and despair.
President John Evans Atta Mills was a near-nervous wreck triggered by an Anas Aremeyaw Anas documentary which catalogued some of the malpractice going on at the Tema Port, with officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) being the main characters.
“Why couldn’t I receive reports on these wrongdoings from the numerous security agents operating at the ports, instead of relying on an Anas documentary?” the President asked himself in disbelief.
Any person in the President’s position will see his blood pressure rising to astronomical heights seeing so much horse-trading going on with national revenue, which is like the blood running through the country’s arteries and veins, being the main commodity. No leader desperately looking for cash to tackle serious development challenges will feel comfortable at the sight of the bargaining that was captured in the documentary.
I do not know how the President’s countenance would be like if he were told that most of what he saw in that documentary were just scratches on the surface. Seriously, a lot of the money changing hands was peanut. You may describe it as waakye or yor-ke-gari cash that could hardly dent the national cash box.
The real damage is done on paper which even the ubiquitous camera of Anas cannot capture. That is where 20 containers of goods could be cleared by documents covering one container. That is how containers with expensive items which could attract millions of Ghana cedis in duty could be cleared as containing second-hand clothing or used tyres with little or no value.
These are some of the ways in which the nation loses huge sums of revenue running into millions of Ghana cedis and the monetary benefits accruing to officials involved cannot be counted before any cameras. These is money that could buy vehicles, build the houses that the President made reference to during his visit to the Tema Port and not the pittance for buying fruit juice by the roadside that was captured in the documentary.
Those instances of malpractice have been part and parcel of customs business at the entry points, especially the main ones at Elubo, Aflao, the Kotoka International Airport and the Takoradi and Tema ports. Occasionally a few officials are caught and used as sacrificial lambs. Others may suffer punitive transfers. But, generally, the ports are money-spinning zones and the few dedicated ones are hardly noticed and recognised.
Those who have worked assiduously at the ports or in CEPS generally will tell you that the more hardworking and dedicated you are, the odder you become and the more you are likely to lose your job because you are seen as an enemy of an establishment in which bribery and corruption has been institutionalised.
The GRA has started initiating some measures against officials suspected to have played a part in the rape of the country of its revenue resources. In the coming days, some officials may be asked to proceed on transfer to areas where the grass is less green, all in the name of clearing the mess and making officers to be alive to their responsibilities.
Time will tell whether these measures will make the desired impact or not. The truth is that the system is fraught with so many loopholes to be exploited for personal aggrandisement that it will take more than presidential lamentations and a few spade works here and there to make any meaningful change overnight.
We will be making a sad mistake if we put all the blame on the doorstep of Customs officials. The chain is very long and the Customs officials are just only one of the conduits. There are the big-time importers with their agents in government who are always breathing down hard on the necks of Customs officials who want to do genuine work. As stated earlier, some Customs officials have lost their jobs or positions in the past not because they were corrupt, incompetent or inefficient. They were too good, dedicated and committed to pander to the corrupt whims of superior officers and politicians. So they had to suffer for being too honest.
It is good to ask GRA workers to fill asset declaration forms. It may deter some and make some more cautious. Beyond that, I am yet to be convinced that it will end the pillage. Remember — ministers and other top government officials have been enjoined by a constitutional provision to declare their assets before and after living office. But since the 1992 Constitution came into existence, are we saying all our political office holders have been saints and do not put a pesewa of state money into their pockets? Some have even refused to fill the forms and damned the consequences.
Are we saying those beautiful buildings in plush areas and the flashy vehicles being driven about were acquired from the public servants’ salary which everybody is complaining about every day? The President may want to know why people are ready to kill to attain political power, if it is only about serving the people.
President Mills should save his tears yet. He should spend one weekend at the Peduase Lodge and go through the Auditor-General’s annual report over the last 10 years. If he finds the documents too voluminous to digest, he should concentrate on the latest on the 2009 financial report of the country. He will realise, that is, if he had not come to that realisation already, that the monetary donations we have been so eager to receive, even at the expense of sacrificing our national sovereignty, are nothing compared to the money that has been siphoned out of our public funds.
We have paid millions of Ghana cedis for contracts poorly executed. We have even paid for contracts that were never executed. There are cases of the same project being awarded on several occasions to different contractors and huge sums paid. If he cares to find out, he will realise that some projects always feature in the country’s budget statements as being at various levels of execution. The truth is that some projects, away from the President’s eyes, have become regular sources of income for some people.
Our President should find out those who benefit most from exemptions on imported goods. He will be surprised to notice that far from being an instrument to assist charitable organisations and certain vulnerable sectors of the economy, the tax exemption regime has benefited many of those who have pledged to serve the people, even at the peril of their own lives.
Apart from dealing with the Customs officials, what happens to the National Security agents with the big titles who have, either through negligence or collusion, failed to live up to their national responsibilities? Will they continue to hold on to their titles at state expense?
We may also have to take a critical look at the bureaucracy at the ports. When simple things are made to look complex, it creates avenues for corruption. Our tax regime for imported items, especially second-hand vehicles which have become the mainstay of the majority of Ghanaians, should be given a second look.
This country, by its size and the resources God has given it, should not be where it is today. There are very few checks and balances, leaving room for too much illicit money in the system. The honest ones are the fools who make all the sacrifices so that this country does not grind to a halt. They have nothing to show for truth, honesty and dedication.
We may be making the mistake in thinking that Customs officials are the entire problem. They constitute a small fraction.
Mr. President, weep not. Start looking critically at some of the men and women very close to you. Start from the BIG House towards the ministries, departments and agencies. Many who profess your virtues are not only milking this country dry but also bleeding it slowly to death.

fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com