Dearest Mama,
How is life out there in the countryside? I know the weather is mostly fair at this time in our clan. Well, as for us in the Kwee people’s place, we are now wearing several layers of clothes because of the cold. As you may already know, the cold here during winter is very extreme - wintry reaches a degree where white ice falls from the sky. The kwee people call the ice that falls from the sky, Snow. I will send you some pictures of how people dress here during this weather and the way the snow placard the streets here.
Mama, what I really want to talk about today is the way Kofi Woods keeps embarrassing some of the big people in our clan. Have you tried to talk to Kofi recently? Did you know what he had under his sleeves during the Christmas and New Year celebrations? Kofi recently returned gifts offered him, including holiday greeting cards from the executives and bosses of many public corporations and companies. Imagine the shock on the faces of heads of companies and corporations when Kofi returned their gifts! Given the customary practice where corporations and companies traditionally give gifts and presents to big people in our clan; to miss or over look this gift giving tradition is considered superciliousness; just as rejecting gifts from the corporations and companies is seen as uncharacteristic and peculiar in our clan. The practice and belief in our clan is that "only a crazy man would refuse such gifts as a car, land, and diamond or gold studded jewelry."
Is this the first time Kofi has gotten out of the box?
Not long ago, Kofi turned over to the clan unused per-diem after returning from a trip where he had gone to run government errands. Imagine the surprise! From the onset of our clan, most big people would do anything to travel; some would even bribe the bosses just to travel because they wanted the per diem. Some of the strategies used to bribe are to negotiate with bosses about the per-diem; that is to agree to split the per diem even before the trip. So that means, if Mr. or Ms S wanted to travel, he/she would bribe the boss. The bribe would either be half of the total of the per diem, or in other forms. After the negotiation, S would then be listed as one of the clan's persons to travel with the chief, or S would be sent to represent the clan at a certain international event. It did not matter whether S was competent enough to represent our clan, or whether S possessed the requisite knowledge, skills, or information for that event. What mattered at that moment was the per diem and travel outside of our clan to one of the Kwee people’s places. Usually such persons, as S would sit like a dummy, or robot at meetings or events; nodding at what ever is being said; that is if S is not dozing during discussions or drifting while representatives of other countries are attending working sessions where communiqué, policy documents, or guidelines are drafted.
At the end of such international or regional meetings, or discussions, S would then become very active, eloquently dressed while brimming with smiles for the camera. S would also be one of the most noticeable during the signing of documents at the end of Summits, conferences, and most gatherings that attracts the media. The point is to catch the attention of others - show off.
So Mama, with this long tradition practices and customs of briberies for per diem, and in the midst of this pilfering of per diems from our clan’s coffers, Kofi’s return of unused per diem was definitely a whip in the face of many. Now, the prints and bruises of that per diem strike from Kofi Woods has not healed completely, when he again showed them this time returning Christmas and New Year’s gifts and greeting cards. I learned that some of the packaged contained what seemed to be expensive watches, jewelries, documents of maybe vehicles or plot(s) of land, wines, champagnes, gas slips, keys to apartments and others, checks, etc. Mama, when the little bird stood at my window recently to share this information with me, I could not help myself - I laughed so hard that my companion stared in a completely confused state. When I tried to share the joke with my companion, my companion returned to the lego blocks and continued building.
Whenever I think about this gift issue, a statement by Mr. Otroku Tetteh, one of my professors in the Gold Coast comes to mind. Mr. Otroku Tetteh during one of his lectures said, No gift is free. He said that a gift comes with a motive; the motive could be either positive or negative, depending on the intention of the presenter. Reflecting on this statement and based on our clan’s historical practices of gifts giving and the expectations especially when the givers are companies, corporations, agencies among other institutions, the decision by Kofi to return those gifts is an excellent decision. Better to be a poor man than a slave to vultures. I hope others will see this step by Kofi Wood as a way to de-institutionalize corruption and other ills in our society. As Mr. Otroku, said, “No gift is free,” and considering the implications these gift giving in return for immediate and long-term favors have had on our society, government officials, and others placed in positions of trust must begin to guard against actions that will compromise their duties, responsibilities to society, and activities that will stain their credibility.
Mama, I am using a public computer to write this letter. All of my computers are kaput. Even though the perception is that the facilities here are free, we know that nothing is free in the kwee people’s place, and not anywhere, not even freedom.
Let me hear from you.
Always,
musue
