The Communication Director of pressure group, Youth for Accountable Governance-YoFAG, Mr. Elikem Kotoko has hit back at government saying it failed to do what needed to be done before shutting down Menzgold if indeed they are serious about safeguarding the interest of customers of the collapsed gold trading hub.
According to him in a facebook post sighted by Awake News, a serious and competent government which wants to solve a social problem like the Menzgold’s should have immediately frozen all Menzgold accounts, the director accounts and declared all their assets confiscated before going ahead to stop their operation.
He also said government should have “periodically engage (communicate) to reassure the customers of cogent steps being taken to resolve the impasse, etc.”
For him, “Instead, government chose a collusion path, to cause panic, make reckless, irresponsible as well as very insensitive commentary that is injurious to the customers, etc, and above all, in a very infantile manner find an avenue to shift blame and heap it on the past government (NDC), that was taking all due processes to ensure the mystery was unravelled before unfortunately it lost power in the December 2016 polls”.
Mr. Kotoko also alleged that “Evidently, over 85% of menzgold clientele was gained between 2017 and 2018 [the NPP’s government]”
On government open statement that it will never commit the taxpayers money to pay any of the Menzgold customers, user the analogy of Ghanaians that illegally migrant through the desert to Europe, this is what he has to say:
We (governments) have ALWAYS warned our citizens against the hazards of going stoway or trying to cross the desert in an attempt to get to Europe.
Many are those who defy this advise and still embark on such life threatening journeys. Recently, news broke about the major human trafficking (slave market) in Lybia. What happened, governments of various countries responded immediately by making arrangements to evacuate their nationals from that failed State called Lybia.
Let’s ask ourselves, sending flights to Lybia, airlifting our nationals from Lybia and compensating them with something little to survive on as they return to assimilate, etc, where did that all come from? These are persons who defied warnings not to dare such treks, yet we spent taxpayers’ money to bring them home when matters become worst, right or wrong?
Read his full post:
We (governments) have ALWAYS warned our citizens against the hazards of going stoway or trying to cross the desert in an attempt to get to Europe.
Many are those who defy this advise and still embark on such life threatening journeys. Recently, news broke about the major human trafficking (slave market) in Lybia. What happened, governments of various countries responded immediately by making arrangements to evacuate their nationals from that failed State called Lybia.
Let’s ask ourselves, sending flights to Lybia, airlifting our nationals from Lybia and compensating them with something little to survive on as they return to assimilate, etc, where did that all come from? These are persons who defied warnings not to dare such treks, yet we spent taxpayers’ money to bring them home when matters become worst, right or wrong?
A lot of our ladies are equally experiencing very dehumanizing conditions in the hands of many Arabs in the UAE, all in their bid to seek greener pastures. Time and again government have stepped in to salvage the situation.
In all this, my point is that it will be outright irresponsibility for our government to state that it will not pay victims of the Menzgold brouhaha. The duty of state to protect and shield its citizens is not only in WARNINGS but putting in place the right measures to safeguard their vulnerabilities.
While steps were ongoing before power changed hands, one expected that a few of the first steps this current government will take before shutting down Menzgold will be to;
1. Immediately freeze all accounts of Menzgold
2. Equally put same freeze on NAM1’s accounts
3. Declare all their assets confiscated and
4. Periodically engage (communicate) to reassure the customers of cogent steps being taken to resolve the impasse, etc.
Instead, government chose a collusion path, to cause panic, make reckless, irresponsible as well as very insensitive commentary that is injurious to the customers, etc, and above all, in a very infantile manner find an avenue to shift blame and heap it on the past government (NDC), that was taking all due processes to ensure the mystery was unravelled before unfortunately it lost power in the December 2016 polls.
As images and other forms of NAM1’S association with the current government (especially the Executive, and the president in particular) Continue to emerge, the governing NPP is still trying very hard to simply find just a single form of evidence to associate NAM1 with the former administration. (I am sure they are still looking for any picture “non-existent” of NAM1 with @JDMahama).
Let us put this facts to a bare;
1. The company Menzgold never existed under the erstwhile NDC era, it was in 2017 that the company Mensbanc was changed to Menzgold.
2. Under the NDC, strict procedural actions were being taken by the related state agencies (BoG, SEC, PMMC) to steadily strip Menzgold naked and protect the customers at the same time.
3. U fortunately, the NDC lost power in 2016 and things changed, suddenly NAM1 gained some boost for his business and the rest is what we are witnessing today.
4. Evidently, over 85% of menzgold clientele was gained between 2017 and 2018.
5. At a well organized prestigious award ceremony under the auspices of Ministries of Trade and Industry, and Etrepreneurship, NAM1 was awarded the Best Business Entrepreneur of the year. Another evidence of how Ghana’s award ceremonies are just mere business as usual by the organisers to award the highest bidder while they also make money from the event organization.
Truth be told, it will be most unfortunate if govt tries to absolve itself of any wrong doing.
The customers have heard, they know what to do
Source: AwakeNewsOnline.com | Efo Korsi Senyo
