Since the 1960s, many things about Ghana variously caused wonder, admiration, anger, envy, bewilderment and anguish among us Nigerians. They include the kolanut rich Gonja forest; Achimota School; the huge African stature of Kwame Nkrumah; Ashante Goldfields company; the rich cultural heritage around the Asantehene of Ashanti; the triangular Ghanaian coast that makes for savannah vegetation in southern Ghana; Akosombo Dam; Lake Volta; the meteoric impact Lake Bosumtwi; Ghana’s unitary system of government which Nigeria’s wobbly federation aims to achieve by stealth; Prime Minister Kofi Busia’s deporting half a million Nigerians in 1971; the small increase in Ghana’s administrative regions compared to the phenomenal increase in Nigerian states; Ghana’s Black Stars defeating our Green Eagles at the Nigeria-Ghana Games even though we won more medals overall; powerful Ghanaian sprinter Ohene Karikari and his female counterpart Alice Anum, who outshined our athletes at the 1973 All Africa Games in Lagos; famous football teams Asante Kosoko and Accra Hearts of Oak; Lt Jerry Rawlings’ executing three former Ghanaian heads of state in one fell swoop in 1979; and, only two weeks ago, recycled Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama’s unveiling a Code of Conduct for his ministers and other aides which is already causing jitters in Nigeria.
The Ghanaian Presidency said President Mahama has launched a “comprehensive Code of Conduct and Ethics for all political appointees” that marks “a significant step toward enhanced transparency, accountability, and ethical governance.” It was, they said, a key promise he made during last year’s general election as part of his “120-day Social Contract with the Ghanaian people.” This new Code of Conduct applies to all executive branch officials including President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Presidential Staffers. It “represents a bold declaration of the standards we must uphold as servants of the public,” Mahama said. “It is a living and enforceable framework that outlines what is expected of every individual appointed under this administration. This is a government of shared responsibility, and there will be no sacred cows.” It is intended, he also said, to promote a new political culture grounded in transparency, humility, and ethical leadership.
Ok, apart from long grammar in the preamble, what does it say in practice and how will it work if we adopt some or all of those principles here in Nigeria? All political appointees, it said, must “serve the public with integrity and impartiality.” What? The beginning of serving with integrity is to be elected or appointed to the office honestly. A person whose election was owed to vote buying, godfatherism, thuggery and social media misinformation, or whose appointment was owed to bribery, nepotism or blackmail, which serving with integrity and honesty do you expect again? He must recoup his losses and he must grease the palms of godfathers, especially since the next election is already on the horizon.
The second Ghanaian code stipulates that every public officer must “Place the national interest above personal interests.” National interest, for where? How does “constituency projects” of legislators, the biggest hole in the Nigerian Federal treasury amounting to over six trillion naira in the current budget, square with this code? All the bills that MPs are sponsoring to establish new universities and polytechnics in their constituencies, without an overall national plan as we once had in our National Development Plans, is that national interest or an election survival interest?
The Ghanaian code also states that all public officers must “Avoid misuse of office or state resources.” This is a tricky one. What is, in Nigeria here, the dividing line between use and misuse of state resources? Let us begin from official vehicles. Forty years ago in Nigeria, it was considered abuse of office if a public officer keeps an official vehicle in his house after working hours. If I remember right, the first hole punched in that ethical standard was a declaration by Secretaries to State Governments when they met at the Yankari Game Reserve in 1981. They declared that “a governor has no private life.” In other words, a governor [and, soon, his commissioners as well] could use government vehicles and other resources for anything at all. It soon led to awkward situations where a governor spent huge public funds for a burial. When newsmen asked him if it was not abuse of office, he said, “The food that was provided at the funeral ceremony, who ate it? Was it not the people of this state?”
Mahama’s code also prescribes that a public officer must “Declare and manage any potential conflicts of interest.” He is not serious. You mean, if a minister or a governor wants to award a contract to a friend, kinsman or girlfriend, he should come to the President’s office and say so? Up until the 1970s here in Nigeria, contracts were awarded by Tenders Boards through competitive bidding. That system has completely collapsed now. A powerful public officer will promise to award a contract to you, which he couldn’t do in the 1960s and 1970s because you had to scale through the rigorous tenders’ system. Anyway, remember the Nigerian minister who was accused at a press conference of awarding contracts to his friends? He said, “Those who are saying that I award contracts only to my friends, I pray to God to make them ministers so that they will award contracts to their enemies.” Finish!
Even saying a public officer should come and declare his personal interest in a contract, to who? If you go to Presidency bigwigs and say you came to confess personal interest in an upcoming contract award, will they not hijack it for themselves? All the agencies that have the power of oversight, the parliamentary committees, the anti-corruption agencies and the Federal Character Commission, don’t many of their officials demand a cut in the action? If not, why is it that agency heads get away with too many infractions?
The next item in President Mahama’s code states that public officers must “Eschew opulence and be accountable for the use of public funds.” Very good. Those huge bullet-proof jeeps recently acquired by the Presidency, are they for presidential security or do they qualify as opulence? You may argue that the Oga Kpatakpata must be protected from mobs, bandits and deranged gunmen, but is that to say that other citizens should be free for target practice by gunmen, terrorists and bandits? What about the N160 million apiece vehicles for MPs and some even bigger ones for ministers? Are they also Assistant Commanders-in-Chief so that, like the president, the country will suffer a national trauma if something happens to any of them? What about the use of official planes by family members of public officers, including a president’s daughter who travelled in a presidential jet to go and take photographs at a hastily arranged durbar as part of her school project work?
Even the food that top officials now eat out of the public treasury, is a recent invention. Alhaji Idris Koko, who was Principal Private Secretary to Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Governor of Northern Nigeria in the First Republic, said he had a small provision to entertain guests when the governor was on tour because, by protocol, the Governor is the host wherever he went in the region. Otherwise, he said, there was no provision for food in the Government House budget; “the Governor fed himself and his family from his salary.” It reminds me of what Chief Augustus Adebayo wrote in his biography I Am Directed, about the reception his home community held for him in 1972 when he was appointed Secretary to the Military Government [SMG] of Western State. The excited Master of Ceremony told the village community that this new position their son got, was so powerful that he “did not even have to touch his salary.” Mr. Adebayo, a civil servant of the old school, stood up, grabbed the mike and said what the MC said was not true!
The next item in Mr. Mahama’s code is that public servants must “Demonstrate humility in service, measured language and respect for citizens.” Humility? When a public officer charges through the town in a long motorcade, showcasing the latest German-made jeeps and limousine, wearing the most flamboyant dress and riding in expensive private jets, which humility again, even when his subjects ride in overcrowded molues, too many of them move around on foot [footwagon, as today’s youngsters call it] and organize lavish state parties to celebrate every Tom, Dick and Harry occasion? Measured language? Was it not here in Nigeria that someone said telephones are not for the poor, that citizens are not yet eating in dustbins, and that villages should be cleared from the flight path so that people inside descending aircraft should not be treated to eyesores? Which respect for citizens, when any sick, elderly or physically challenged citizen who is unable to get out of the way fast enough could be crushed by a speeding motorcade or at least whipped by mobile policemen who brandish whips through the pilot car’s window?
Mahama’s code has specific prohibitions include holding stakes in companies that deal with Government or relevant ministries, using insider knowledge for personal benefit, and awarding contracts to connected entities. Ok, we are supposed to have a Code of Conduct Bureau to which public officers must declare their assets upon assumption and vacating of office. But since this is done secretly, how do we ever know which public officer has a stake in a company that wins government contracts? Mahama’s code also prohibits appointees from accepting gifts or favours, particularly from individuals or companies with interests in governmental decisions. Tell that to the birds. Even the US President recently accepted the gift of a luxury Boeing 747 plane from the Emir of Qatar. Twenty-five years ago when US President Bill Clinton visited Kwali in the FCT here, the Chief gifted him a white stallion. Clinton pretended to gratefully accept it but the day after he left, the US Embassy in Abuja returned the horse, saying American officials do not accept gifts above a certain value. Now that American Presidents accept jumbo jets, who is Mahama to tell our public officials not to accept gold watches, latest iPhones, Hajj seats, cars and even houses from contractors and consultants?
Mahama’s code said “Gifts received during official engagements exceeding GH¢20,000.00 must be declared and surrendered upon leaving office unless otherwise permitted by the President. Purchasing and distributing hampers using government funds is generally prohibited, with limited exceptions for modest staff recognition.” In Nigeria here, we sometimes overdo things. The Obasanjo Presidency stopped ministries and government agencies from printing calendars and diaries or even placing congratulatory ads in newspapers. That measure severely affected local printers and newspapers. The Prime Minister of Israel is right now on trial for accepting gifts, reason why he does not want to end the war in Gaza.
To show that he is serious, President Mahama seized two vehicles that a car company gave to his Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, and said they should be added to the Government vehicle pool. He is not serious. If we seize all such cars here, which field in Nigeria will be able to hold them?
