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It looked all the way that we are in the era of political equalisation. The sudden promotion of the drill-ship affair, to breaking news on air and front-page item in newspapers in the land, for the past one month, could certainly not have been accidental. In all probabilities, the promotion had official blessing to equate the happenings of the moment to the infamous Woyome scandal, the Akomfem the tree planting episode, and the GYEEDEA multi-million scam, all rolled into one. When the Sole Commissioner on judgment debts, former cadre Yaw Appau, summoned former Minister of Energy Albert Kan-Dapaah and his deputy, Kobina Tahir Hammond, to appear before him in connection with the drill-ship affair, the news doing the rounds was that a good opportunity had been created to rub their noses in the mud. With no documentation on the transaction, and no paper work on how the proceeds were utilised, spin doctors had already reached their conclusion. The deal stinks, and personalities involved were only fit for a long stay at Nsawam and other such prisons at the pleasure of the state. When Mr. Hammond answered the summons of the Sole Commissioner, not only did he provide documentation indicating the nature of the transaction that took place in the disposal of the drill ship to pay off one man�s adventure. Evidence was adduced to indicate that the US$3.5 million was, indeed, paid into government coffers. What happened to the money after it was deposited is another matter over which the state cannot gloss. On Joy TV�s flagship programme, Newsfile, at the weekend, Mr. Malik Kweku Baako produced all the necessary paper works to suggest that Mr. Kan-Dapaah, and his then deputy at the Ministry of Energy, did nothing wrong to warrant any harassment. Rather, if the state of Ghana is interested in knowing how the state came to owe Societ� Generale that huge US$47 million, the right person to contact is Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, former President Jerry John Rawlings� one-time financial wizard. We are told that as Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Company, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata engaged in hedging a potential oil find in Ghana with Societ� Generale, and lost the state a whooping US$40 million, without even informing his own Board of Directors. I would like to believe that the matter is serious enough for Mr. Tsikata to explain himself before the Judgment Debt Commissioner. From where I sit, I get the impression that the Commissioner, and the Presidency that set up the commission, might not be interested in knowing the truth. It is common knowledge that when Mr. Tsikata sat, virtually on the Greenwich Meridian at Tema, as boss of the GNPC, he was a law into himself. One of the long held beliefs in the politico-economic evolution of this country in the days immediately following the democratisation of violence was that Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, certainly, one of the richest legal brains and who aided the evolution of a system of visiting violence on hapless Ghanaians under the guise of a revolution, had compromised the economic well-being of this country by hedging oil in the Tano Basin, that had not even been discovered. As a nephew pointed out the other day, this administration appears even unable to know when it is possible to lay the blame on others. As a result of its tainted image, it is inclined to hold on to any happenings bordering on sleaze, and attempt to paste it on political opponents, while it is, itself, neck deep in scam. It is beginning to crystallise that this administration and its officials have been trying, rather too hard, to sell empty goods to the people of Ghana. It emerged in Parliament House yesterday, that the Government of President John Dramani has expanded Parliament with the inclusion of the 45 new seats Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan�s wobbling Electoral Commission introduced just before we went into the disputed poll on December 7, 2012. Apparently, Minister of Finance Mr. Seth Terkper had included in his 2014 Budget statement a statement that the government had actually carried out the expansion project. As it turned out, there had been no work done in the Chamber to answer for the alleged alteration to the House. For me, as a social commentator, my beef is not whether or not there has been any increase. For me, it ties in perfectly with the theory propounded by Mohammed Jamal, who sits in the Chamber as Member of Parliament for Akwatia, that in the newspeak of the NDC, a goat is a cow. In this case, there has not even been a goat to equate it with a cow. If the NDC could capture a project that had not been executed in the House of Parliament, how could anybody rely on the propaganda machinery of the ruling party, when spin-doctors speak of massive development projects in the rural areas. We are entering a new realm, when a mouse could be an elephant. In all these mysteries, the Suhum-Apedwa stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway remained abandoned to the elements. The Suhum Technical High School, my proud Alma Mater, known to some of us as SUTESCO, has been gathering dust for the five years that the Mahama administration has been in charge. I am told that the road is not even captured in the 2014 Budget. Who knows, it may appear in next year�s budget as a fully completed project, paid for by this fumbling administration. It is beginning to look like scandals are part and parcel of the administration of this country. Yesterday, Joy FM ran a story that could constitute impeachment proceedings in the near future. In societies where law and order underpin the art of running the nation-state, Parliament House would have already captured it on the floor. �Presidency stopped Merchant Bank from recovering debts from company owned by president�s brother,� Joy FM Online captured the story in this mouthful headline, after it had done a number of rounds on the FM station. �Struggling state-owned bank Merchant Bank may have been stopped from recovering huge debts owed by Engineers and Planners, a company owned by President Mahama�s brother,� the online publication said in its opening sentence. According to Joy FM, following the failure to service a debt of US$38 obtained from Merchant Bank, Engineers and Planners, through its solicitor, Mr. Tony Lithur, petitioned the late President John Evans Atta Mills to explore ways and means of rescuing the company, owned by then Vice-President Mahama�s brother (Ibrahim Mahama), to intervene to reduce the company�s obligation to distressed Merchant Bank. According to the radio station, Merchant Bank had refused to guarantee a US$60 million facility from African Export Import Bank, part of which was to be used to settle its debt with Merchant Bank. It is a very interesting proposal, in the sense that Merchant Bank was required to burden itself with a much higher debt than the US$38 million that Engineers and Planners has been unable to pay. The interesting development in this, according to Joy FM, is that current President Mahama was very much part of the presidential rescue team to bail out his brother�s company. We are told that following the Presidential intervention, the US$38 million was downgraded to US$28 million. In all these behind the scene dealings, the loan remains un-serviced until the announcement that a group of people had floated a company -Fortiz Ghana- to acquire the bank. Incidentally, we are told that President Mahama had earlier objected to the bank�s acquisition by the Rand of South Africa, on the grounds that the bank is not for sale. Mystery is all over in the air. In the new method of working out sums, Fortiz Ghana�s GH�90 for 90 percent share is higher than South Africa�s Rand�s offer of GH�199 for 75 percent. Under President Mahama, strange happenings are beginning to underpin state policies.