CORRUPTION: Ghana sacks minister as Jonathan keeps Oduah on
The fight against corruption has assumed
a new dimension in Ghana as President John Mahama has sacked the Deputy
Minister of Communications, Victoria Hammah, for allegedly making a
statement that suggested that she could be corrupt.
On Thursday, a taped conversation that
Hammah had with someone, in which she allegedly said she would not leave
politics until she had made $1m, leaked. By Friday, she was sacked by
the government.
This is coming at a time that Nigerians
are impatiently awaiting a decisive step by President Goodluck Jonathan
over the role of the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, in the purchase of
two armoured vehicles at a mind-boggling cost of about N255m.
Ghana’s decision appears to have
reminded concerned Nigerians that by geographical standards, their
country and Ghana are neighbours. They have also shared some historical
moments, so much that they can sometimes be regarded as political
allies. But despite such affinities, both countries are far from being
on the same page when it comes to the treatment of corruption.
Although Hammah had not carried out the
intention credited to her in the said tape, she was fired
nonetheless.
In the tape circulating online, she appears to have said, “If you have
money, then you can control people.”
Interestingly, Hammah and Oduah are said
to have played similar active roles in the elections of their
respective principals. According to a BBC report, Hammah had,
ironically, also openly expressed disgust at corruption months back.
“In August, she said there was a lot of
pressure on her to steal public money because people thought that, as a
minister, she was rich. She described such demands as obnoxious,” BBC quotes Ghanaweb news site as saying. She is said to have added that “corrupt politicians are the reflection of a corrupt society.”
Apart from the fact that Oduah has
confessed to giving the approval when she appeared before the House of
Reps Committee on Aviation that probed her and other parties involved,
two other limousines bought by FAAN has been linked to her. Yet, she is
still a minister in the Jonathan cabinet.
The highest that President Jonathan has
done is to set up a probe panel in which many people have little or no
confidence. Many observers may not have any problems with the integrity
of the members of the committee. Rather, people are bothered about the
sincerity of the President, the political will to deal with the
situation and the fact that nothing concrete had come from similar probe
panels in the past.
Indeed, some are tempted to describe the
Nigerian government’s backyard as a cemetery of reports of other
similar earlier panels.
The fear assumed more substance
considering a report that Jonathan might not think highly of the House
of Assembly’s recommendation that Oduah be sacked.
Reacting to the development, the
Governance Manager of the Action Aid International Nigeria, Obo Effanga,
notes that although every President has the latitude to choose who he
appoints or retains as a minister, he must always consider the feelings
of the people he governs on an issue like the ‘Oduahgate’.
Effanga says, “Another issue is that
when you are talking about fighting corruption, there should be evidence
that every step you have taken points towards that. The experience we
have had with committees also shows that they take time to complete
their work. It also takes another long time for the President or whoever
is involved to act on the committees’ reports.
“On this bulletproof cars matter, we
have wasted a lot of time, and we have yet to take a decision on it.
One of the issues we need to address is: Were they provided for in the
budget? Who approved the purchase? Does the person have the authority to
do so? Whoever committed a crime in the whole matter should be made to
face the punishment due to anyone in that circumstance. The President
has delayed too much on the matter.”
He adds that it is wrong to give the
impression that a political office is meant for a particular person, who
must remain there no matter the circumstance.
Lagos-based lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, also
notes that the Oduah-Hammah story shows contrasting political cultures
in Nigeria and Ghana. In a telephone interview with our correspondent,
he argues that what Ghana has done shows that it has a political culture
that listens to the yearnings of the people.
He says, “It shows that Ghana has a
culture of decency. It shows that in Ghana, anybody who has done
something indefensible cannot hold political offices. It depicts that
theirs is a culture that does not accommodate indecency.
“On the other hand, the development
shows that we have a political culture that accommodates indecency in
Nigeria; a culture in which you can grab whatever you can for yourself
without being responsive to the yearnings of the people. It shows
clearly a corrupt culture and culture of brigandage. It shows that those
in government can go away with blue murder. They can steal anything and
go away with it.”
Aturu decries the working of what he
calls a cultic committee in the Odua scandal, saying that any committee
who Nigerians do not know when it is holding its meeting and who it is
talking to is a cultic one.
According to him, the step the aviation minister took in the purchase of the car amounts to recklessness of the highest order.
He says, “That tells you why we are
where we are. It is a wake-up call to Nigerians: We must insist on the
right thing. We must stop people perpetuating this culture of impunity
and brigandage.”
Human right activist and President of
the Campaign for Democracy, Joe Okei-Odumakin, salutes Ghana for having
made ‘giant strides’ in sanitising its clime. But she is sad that
Nigeria has not shown any sign of seriousness in this regard.
“One salutes Ghana for efforts it is
making. No wonder, the country has continued to make steady progress. In
our own clime, impunity continues to thrive. Even when the matter of
the scandalous purchase of the bulletproof cars had become public
knowledge and source of public outrage, some of our people embarked on a
journey to Israel, including the indicted person. We had probe panels
working on the issue, we have the relevant agencies, like the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, yet everyone embarked on the journey to
Israel.
“There must be enough political will to
sanitise Nigeria. There is so much poverty, unemployment, insecurity and
other problems in the country. Yet, someone is spending so much money
on cars. This culture of impunity must stop. What is happening in Ghana
should serve as a clarion call to Nigeria. President Jonathan must act
now because justice delayed is justice denied,” Okei-Odumakin adds.
