You take, you spend, and then when you’re caught, you refund.
That’s the modus operandi of corrupt public figures in Ghana, and the system is set up to work exactly that way.
Smarrty’s Management and Production Limited, actress Selassie Ibrahim’s company that found itself at the centre of the bus branding saga that was an exercise in looting public resources, have paid back the first instalment of the money they owe the state after a probe found they were ‘overpaid’.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, carried out a probe into the matter which concluded that Smartty’s should be ordered to pay back Ghc 1.9m of the Ghc 3.6m they were paid to brand newly acquired MMT buses with the likeness of past and the current President. That figure was later revised downwards to Ghc 1.54m- we wonder why.
Anyway, Smartty’s have submitted a check for Ghc 300,000 to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) as the first instalment in the money they have to pay back. An agreement between government and the company calls for the money to be fully refunded by March 31, 2016.
Obviously that would be done, but no one would be punished for what was a travesty in the first place. After all, the money to be paid was reduced, and there’s evidence to suggest the Attorney General’s report is not being adhered to in its fullness.
Selassie Ibrahim is probably in her one corner, waiting for all this hullaballoo to subside so she can be granted her next contract.