$100 Million TO BE SPENT ON PRESIDENTIAL JETS AND MILITARY HARDWARE

..... Amids Defeaning Silence

Back in 1999 the then NDC governent purchased a presidential Jet Gulf Stream G111 worth a little ove $16m. it was a sixten seater executive jet. this action provoked a wave of protest and indignation among the public , other political parties and civil society ,the proportion of which can macth any such protests ever undertaken in this country. Urged on the the media and stoked by the then oppossition party, The NPP the public was really angry and show thier anger in the strpongest manner possible... and rightly so. At that time Ghana was in th throes of many crises;gold prices on th inernational market had plumetted to an alltime low,crude prices were slowly rising albeit from the bottom,inflation was high ,unemployment was high , we had missed our GDP growth target etc. Student organisatins led impassioned protests around xthe country and the public space was really charged. The jet was an election issue in 2000, when President John Kufuor defeated the candidate of Mr Rawlings' party. President Kufuor described the $16m jet as "wasteful and frivolous". This led the NPP then in opposition to declare the shoukd come to power it will not use the aircraft.True to his words Kuffour has always refused to travel in the plane. The NPP government went ahead to tarde the aircraft for two chinese planes. This went staelth without any agitaion.

Over the last few days the governmet has droped another jet bombshell and this is in nuclear proportions. It has been revealed that parliament has been given an agreement to ratify to enable the government spend a whopping $100m on presidentail jets and other military hardware. this announcement comfirms a publication that appeared in a french magazine last yaesr taht reported that kuffour has signed an agreement with a frech arms company for the suppley multiple planes and other miliatary hardware to Ghana. the government stridently deneid that it had done any such thing and called the opposition all sorts of unpritable names for raising the issue.

This revelation comes in the wake of an acute water shortage that has hit accrea over the last few weeks. the government has so far failed to give any explainations as to what is happening and much less find solutions to the problem.It is estimated that about $200m is needed just to improve the quality of water for those connected already in Accra alone. In the midst of all this the government has time and resources to engaagein such"wastefull and frivolous"expenditure in Mr. Kuffour's own words.

Whats is most shocking ois the deafening silence that has been met with this information. The media practitioners and civil society groups who agitated in 1999 have kept mute and there not even a murmur in the public sphere. This is all dissapointing given that nothing much has changed since 1999 and we face the same the same problems as we did back then-dare I say even more acute problem. I am at a lost as what is happening to us a nation. we seem to have gone to sleep just as we did in the 1970s and woke up in chaos in the 1980 when faced so many upheavals. This goverment is getting away with a lot of bad decicions while our civil society and media keep mute. So what is the cause of siuch an obvious bout turn that is capable of damaging the image of this image -conscois government? Could it be that the governement geneuinly feels confident about its decision? or are they convinced it is the best decision they have taken? Could it be that they know for a fact taht civil society and media has been blunted enough to take such a roisky decision? Or could the it be that the president and his men were badly advised. Having recently discovered oil and increasing asuming a pivotal role as security spot in the west african sub region, our profile has shot up making us an ideal spot for security bureau in the laest.Despite the laying to rest of the American Base issue. My theory is that the decision to buy the military hardware and the Jets were informed by advice from some of the powerful and influential advisors of the president (i am reliably told that the president does rely heavily on them ) ,some of the influential people in the burgeouning oil industry and some of his foreign friends who weild a lot of leverage over him. i got a sense of this line of thinking when the Minister of defense aserted that "as our economy expands and more foreign investors pour into our country, we need to acquire a military capability to protect private property" during the inauguration of two aircrafts the Governent had recently bought.

Our country is at the crossraods after 50 years of nationhood and the need for a patriotic leader is more acute thna never before. Militarisation without purpose as is happening is only a drain on our scarce resources. The foreign influences dictating our foreign and defense policies are only here for what tey can take out and will leave as soon as our resouces are depleted.