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Fact: The chair on which the Speaker of Parliament for Trinidad and Tobago sits to conduct the business of the House was made in Ghana! Dr Kwame Nkrumah, on behalf of the people of Ghana, gave the people of the South American nation the seat as a gift on their attainment of independence in 1962.

Now, if that shocked you – as it did me - just listen to this. The seat is still in use!  (Source: an usually dependable contact at the embassy in Accra)

I know what is going through the mind of some readers, especially people who have a mind to defend the indefensible importation of chairs and tables from China in 2014 for use by Ghanaian Parliamentarians – 53 years after that noble deed of kindness by newly independent Ghana. Someone is going to argue that the quantities are not the same; that one chair for a Speaker is not 300 chairs and tables. 

I disagree.. The fly rubs its hands together as an indication that it possesses nothing and, therefore, cannot be counted among a league of givers/donors. What you don’t have, you can’t give. It goes beyond symbolism. Back in the day, Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana never played the fly. We had wood, and we had skilled craftsmen, including carvers and carpenters. Today, Ghanaian craftsmen, given time and resources, and most important, leadership, as do their counterparts in China and Italy, possess the potential to manufacture and export wood products.

Readers may recall that barely a week after Parliament started using the imported chairs, Peacefmonline.com cameras captured a scene that should have embarrassed Parliament into confessing that they were wrong and apologising to the long - suffering people of Ghana. One of the seats had been rendered dysfunctional: the wheels at its base were found broken.

As expected, we have stopped talking about it. Our short memories have consigned into the irretrievable recesses of our minds, this painful stab in the back. Anybody can count on the ever-forgiving hearts of Ghanaians – and our politicians know this too well about us.

Responding to criticisms, leadership of Parliament explained that it imported the furniture from China “because it was impossible for a local company to produce the over 300 furniture pieces within a limited time“.  

I cannot speak for furniture manufacturers but I find it laughable that a Ghanaian MP should go on air and retort: “Parliament needed over 300 chairs and 300 tables before resuming sitting, and now which furniture company in Ghana could have given us this quantity of furniture within this short time?” 

Of course, our furniture manufacturers could not (and cannot) deliver “within this short time”. With the type of leadership we have had since 1966, how can they? What happened to forward planning? Do we have leaders in this country? To think that we pay them a starting salary of GH ¢17,200 a month, a figure that is now worth some GH¢10,000 a month – by virtue of automatic adjustment!

If my intestines did not burst open with anger at what we were hearing from our elected leaders, it is because something the Speaker said turned the whole affair into a joke (for me). According to the story on citifmonline.com, “The Speaker of Parliament said six MPs travelled to inspect the furniture prior to their being shipped to Ghana.”

Most Ghanaians heard about the Chinese chairs and tables, but how many knew at the time that another set of furniture was on order from Italy? According to a news item on citifmonline.com at the time the scandal broke, the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, revealed that “some members of leadership and MPs, as well as Members of the Technical Team travelled to Italy to inspect and confirm various facilities and units of furniture.”

How was it boiled that it came out so raw! Is this Ghana? Are we talking about the country that was manufacturing glass in the 1960s? Is this the same Ghana that boasted a full blown Atomic Energy Commission and had an atomic reactor which, but for the coup of 1962, could have made it possible for this country to use nuclear energy to produce electricity cheaply! I recall that in the mid-to-late 1980s, Ghanaian knocked-down furniture were winning international awards in the UK. 

I don’t know the background of the MPs in the delegation but even if they had doctorate degrees in  furniture making, did it have to take a delegation from Parliament to inspect chairs and tables? Even if our embassy staff were morons, does Ghana have a shortage of her citizens anywhere in the world knowledgeable enough to inspect mere chairs and tables? 

And after all the plane tickets, the per diem and what have you, what did the inspection produce? As pointed out earlier, one of the chairs was found with its wheels broken after Parliament had taken delivery and installed them in the House. Who knows how many more are in similar situation but are  being kept away from the prying eyes of news cameras, fearing a scandal?

Meanwhile, I lower my cloth to waist level for Trade and Industry Minister, Ekow Spio Gabrah. It was his pained voice on radio and TV that sent the embarrassing news going viral.