HERE
AND tHERE
11
laughed openly. "Pass on!" the officer said wi'fliout further Inspection.
At the lorry park on Boundary Road I found a
taxi
to take me
where I would be staying. There was the usual man sitting next to the
driver, and I supposed that he was the driver's "brother"-i.e., someone
to talk with-because most Ghanaian taxi drivers don't like being alone
-not because they fear robbery, it seems, but because they fear loneliness.
However I noticed that sitting in the "brother's" lap were the credentials
of a Criminal Investigation Division plainclothesman. I figured he was
one of the secret agents who report on what people say in taxis. During
the course of our long drive, he philosophized with me about the joys of
riding around town doing nothing. Now and then he would stop talking
and muse over that photograph of himself with the Ghana Police seal
impressed in it. He was probably a man who had never done much or
had much before, and now he wanted people to know he was doing
an important job of which he was proud. Or maybe his orders were
to dissuade people from spreading anti-Government rumors instead of to
catch them at it.
The next Wednesday, March 11, was a memorable day for the
Republic of Ghana: President Kwame Nkrumah announced before
Parliament the completed draft for the Seven-Year Development Plan
which had taken three years to draw up. Although most of his address
was a somewhat detailed account of what the Government hoped to do
and what progress could
be
expected, there were a few scattered moments
when Nkrumah returned to his usual preoccupations with Parliament.
For the Development Plan
to
be successful, he said, Ghana would need
men who were incorruptible. (Shouts of "Hear! Hear!" and "What?"
and general laughter.) The President warned that stern action would
be taken against contractors who "offer, give (a low moan in the Parlia–
ment), or agree to give (shouts and laughter) gifts (cheers) to members
of the Government" (shouts of "Hear! Hear" and "Yes!" and "No!"
and general tumult). Nkrumah then thanked the British and American
governments for their support in the Volta River Project (no stirring
among the MP's) and "the American private sector in the shape of the
Kaiser complex of industries" (wild applause). As he had done the
previous September, the President noted that certain Ghanaians were
draining capital from the country and in secret investing it abroad despite
stringent laws against doing so. (Shouts of "Shame!") As he had done the
previous September, he promised a three-month moratorium during which
Ghanaians could bring their money back with no questions asked.
(General laughter in the sensuous guttural tones of West Africa.) As
he had done the previous September, he leaned forward, smiled at his
boys, and said: "So bring it back!"
It
was Diogenes addressing the Mafia.
