Alleged expenses by the thieves show that the poor have taste
The expenses of two maidservants who stole from the personal vault of Ghana’s Sanitation Minister show the poor have taste, and that ”if wishes were horses……..” They stole one million dollars, three hundred thousand Euros, and an unspecified amount of money in Ghanaian currency, the Cedi.
The female thieves then went on a spending spree and their lists are spectacular. Scant information reveals the alleged purchase of a house that is furnished with top-of-the-range gadgets, the renting of a plush apartment and a store, the acquisition of luxury vehicles, and not to talk of the greed that pushed them to steal other expensive items such as clothes, designer bags, and perfumery.
The 18-year-old and the 30-year-old, particularly the younger one, are cited to have generously disbursed their booties on their relatives and associates. The younger maid funneled good amounts of money to her current boyfriend and her former boyfriend. Then it continued in a chain with other petty service providers as plumbers and traders also getting a hefty share of the loot.
The lift from grass to grace would normally be marked by sudden changes in lifestyle. Did the communities in which these transformed lives are featured take a second look at the trend? If the looters relocated to another place to cover their tracks, the nonchalance of the members of the new community would highlight another dimension of society’s insensitivity to the dynamics in their environment by not asking some questions.
Well, in Ghanaian society, any ”busy-bodied” interest in the affairs of others is interpreted to be too nosy, envious, or an act of gossip. Societal reaction to certain patriotic civic actions has forced people into their shells to mind their own business.
This then throws up the issue into the court of anti-corruption bodies to spread their tentacles beyond official corridors and take the fight to the population. Whilst the alleged theft by the maids on the minister brings back to the fore, whether assets declaration before taking up public office is operationalized, no interest has been taken in the new trend where youngsters are found swimming in luxury. They drive the latest Mercedes, Jaguars, BMWs, and the like.
Of course, there are exceptions to the new rule in town that is causing trepidations. Young persons found to be talented in their chosen fields such as sports, ICT, music, art, and other areas have attracted enormous wealth.
If the hushed reaction to the ill-gotten wealth of two alleged ”villains” in the Cecelia Dapaah case by parents and some relatives is anything to go by, then we are home and dry with the negativity that has gripped society. Parents are departing from the Ghanaian cultural norm of questioning their wards or the young ones to straighten them up. The flip side is the harsh socioeconomic conditions that impose poverty, and the desperation to exit that situation has consumed some people in heartlessness and irrationality.
In the year 2020, a Member of Parliament was killed by gangsters who got infuriated when he revealed his status. In the small hours of the night when the lawmaker was returning from a political campaign tour, the hardened members of society overlooked the politeness of the public officer and refused his offer to attend to their needs. They shot him to his death, taking nothing from him. ”You people are the reasons we are suffering”, it is alleged the unsavory words were issued at him, unfortunately, a scapegoat on that occasion.
Latest UNDP figures on Ghana point at almost half the population below the poverty line.