Jihad Hijaz, AAL Director
With a dirty history spanning decades, the story of African Automobile Limited (AAL) will remain a sore issue on the political course in the months to come.
Like other smelly financial transactions, the emergence of fresh details about the conundrum is offering important insight into the nature of bad politicians, especially in our part of the world.
A test case in governance as it is, the AAL debacle will join the others to present a complete and apt picture of what a Mills/Mahama government stands for, notwithstanding the noisy propaganda about how good their leadership has been.
The revelation by an agitated Fergusson Darko elsewhere in this issue about what he knows about the company which suffered a PNDC sanction in the 1980s is an unquestionable testimonial about the AAL and how the company has been so uncharitable with the country. It makes interesting and useful musing for those interested in seeking solutions to the country’s myriad challenges.
The scandals are pouring and we do not know what awaits us in a country in which state players play angels at the helm of affairs of the country, yet display conduct which leaves much to be desired in decorum and patriotism.
The former PWD worker, now on retirement, did not waver in confidence when he poured out his heart about the genesis of AAL’s criminal collusion with state players over the years.
AAL is one company which understands the psychology of the average government official, having feasted on this shortcoming to their advantage over the years.
Prof Kwamena Ahwoi appears to be suffering from a form of selective amnesia, a situation which has led to his forgetting all the bad features of the AAL including what led to the PNDC days’ punitive action against the company.
For a company which shortchanged the country sometime in 1984 when it supplied 110 Mitsubishi Pajeros instead of 150, and was subsequently sanctioned for the malfeasance, to now be holding the country to ransom is not a thing to gloat over.
AAL’s penchant to cheat the state is not in any doubt as evidenced in its recent cheating of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to the tune of thousands of cedis in unpaid bills.
Is this the company some sons of this country are ready to defend to the hilt? We are not only surprised but appalled by this show of unusual display of abhorrence for the interest of the nation.
It is shameful that such naked show of inordinate obsession for the benefits of an unholy transaction is being watched by our youth who at their age are longing for role models and actions. This is another rueful entry in our fiscal history and governance too. Do we deserve these aberrations?
