<<Print>>

Koku Anyidoho, the President�s Spokesperson, has reportedly stated that President John Evans Atta Mills�s integrity has soared. The enhancement, according to him, was fueled by the Woyome debacle. Many people who heard the feel-good remark by the gentleman could not help wondering what exactly he was driving at, given the confusion the subject has wreaked on both the NDC and the country at large. We tend to empathise with him at this time when everything seems to be falling apart in both the Presidency and the NDC. So bad is the situation that some NDC elements have pointed at the possibility of the party coming under a sort of spell cast by their rivals. For someone used to talking big and spewing all manner of vituperations, there could not have been a worse moment in his political career when the Woyome saga continues to defy all propaganda manouvres including the Koku Anyidoho Mills�s soaring integrity. We think that it is an attempt to turn a bad story into a good one using all available resources such as an unfettered access to the media and money. Minders of the President must be seen to be doing something about the tainted aura of their boss including pretending that all is well and even better. Koku Anyidoho�s remarks, to go further, seek to defend President Mills�s handling of the Woyome saga since it occurred. He could be referring to the feigning of ignorance by the President when eventually this was punctured by fresh revelations by EOCO to the contrary. The unfolding developments, such as the arrest of Alfred Agbesi Woyome, and the pressure being mounted on the President to interfere in the course of justice, are beyond the powers of the old professor. If he had his way, he would interfere the way they want it; unfortunately however, Ghana has progressed beyond that notch of political culture. Some cynics, when they heard about Koku�s remarks, wondered whether there was a revised definition of the word �integrity� besides the �strict adherence to moral values and principles; uprightness or the quality of being whole and unimpaired�, as contained in the Chambers� 21st Century Dictionary. Whether in the light of the Woyome revelations President Mills�s ratings, according to Koku Anyidoho, are compatible with the definitions as aforementioned is left to readers to judge. For a man who feigns ignorance about transactions but intervened twice to stop them, we think the heightened integrity, according to Koku Anyidoho, falls below verity. These are testy times in the country, times when the integrity of politicians, especially those at the helm, is under scrutiny: The last thing Ghanaians expect under such circumstances is sincerity or silence as the matter is adjudicated. We cannot countenance propaganda at this time because it is an insult to the good people of this country as they brave the pains inflicted by the rape of the state kitty with the complicity of some state players. The politics of integrity, according to Koku Anyidoho, is a new chapter in NDC propaganda.