The president of Ghana, Prof John Evans Atta-Mills has built a persona of an incorruptible, morally upright politician whom the heavens themselves cannot best. But that is a false image, isn't it? What matters to me and hopefully to the Ghanaian electorate is his claim of financial accountability and incorruptibility. His integrity is being destroyed by the evolving scandal dubbed 'Woyomegate'. This scandal could further destroy the minuscule trust the people have left in our politicians. If the facts are not fully disclosed and a cover up allowed by the political elite, then our political system would also lose its credibility, a situation which could not be unlike what persisted before the 1979 ‘revolution’. Most readers might be aware to some extent of what the Woyome scandal involves. In summary, a hefty sum of money has been paid out of Ghana's consolidated fund to an NDC party financier who alleges to have a contract with the government, breach of which entitles him to damages. The facts of his claim have not been proven in any court. The Attorney-General (then Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu) who is by law required to represent the Republic in any such civil suit in her wisdom concluded that the state has no defence, with the concurrence of her deputy, Mr Ebo Barton-Oduro. Since the publication of the 2010 Auditor-General's Report the minority in parliament have alleged and to some extent backed it up with official documents, that payments were agreed and or paid to Mr Woyome on the say so of Mrs Mould-Iddrisu outside the court process. They have demanded a public inquiry. At no point were any of the claims interrogated in court to establish the authenticity of Woyome's claims. The court was duly asked to ratify whatever agreement the then A-G had reached with the claimant. This summary may not even do justice to this analysis. In December, days to Christmas the president in a rare radio interview outlined his reasons for referring the matter to the Economic and Organised Crimes Organisation (EOCO). He went on to render a somewhat apology to Mr Woyome that he is not out to embarrass him. To the president, once a court has approved payments of such a kind, it means the person must have merited it. His main concern however, as he put it, is to establish how the liability arose i.e. pointing the finger of blame towards former Pres. Kuffuor's administration. I find the President's legal reasoning on that question rather curious, especially since it has become apparent in the EOCO report published on the 2nd February 2012 that the courts were never afforded the opportunity of interrogating the claims made by Mr Woyome by wilfully refusing to present a legal defence, a fact that has always been known to him. Mr Kuffuor in an interview when asked for his thoughts on these happenings said that as an elder of a household (Abusuapanyin) your primary responsibility is a fiduciary one, to secure all assets for posterity. Not only has President Mills failed this test, but has been found complicit in this blatant attempt to bleed the nation dry. So why was the summoning of EOCO irrelevant? Most who have commented on these issues including Dr Bright Akwettey of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) have asserted the need for a public inquiry, ideally by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (if for nothing, for cost reasons and its democratic representation). The EOCO have proven they were out to whitewash for the president, and they did not disappoint. Mr Mordey Akpadzi in an interview after submitting his report to the president admitted that not only did the president knew about these claims but ordered the payments not to be made. One has to be gullible or recently returned from planet Mars to believe this Mickey Mouse story. The president at his meet the press series of January stated that his Finance Minister and for that matter none of his ministers need his approval to execute such payments. If so, why would this even be referred to him, let alone direct that it not be paid? (I dare say the Finance Minister is faultless here). But in all these, one cannot forget the first confirmation of criminality and an apparent cover up by the government when The Right Hon Martin Amidu issued his bombshell press statement that "gargantuan crimes" are being covered up by persons in government. He was sacked for what the government claimed to be misconduct, not for his press statement, but for failing to substantiate his allegation. In fact his position had become untenable, for refusing to be a part of this 'temporary' cover up. No government is perfect. Some even order that certain 'dark' arts be employed to achieve what is then justified as the national interest. Can this cover up be one of them? Certainly not. And more-so when the head of the government casts himself as an angel. Certainly not, when all these points towards a corrupt electioneering drive. Richard Nixon's might even pale in comparison, except this is Ghana where £21,000,000 is such small change to let forget. I was starkly reminded by comments attributed to Mr Osei Prempeh (former deputy A-G) last week on Mr Herbert Mensah's unproven allegation of the Castle's plans to expend GHC90, 000,000 on Get Atta Mills Elected - GAME. It may sound circumstantial, but the president’s reputation has indeed been sullied by this whole affair. He will be a hypocrite for pretending otherwise. We have heard his spokesmen, in their 'Comical Ali' mould talking of the president's integrity leaping in bounds. The dramatic arrest of Alfred Woyome may only be a belated attempt at damage control, but that point was crossed on December 22, 2011 at Radio Gold. There is a saying that when the fish starts to rot, it starts from the head. The metaphoric Yutong bus is no longer an NDC vehicle being negligently driven by His Excellency. It is now a Ghanaian ship ‘Costa Concordia’ being dangerously steered towards an iceberg by Prof Mills. The NDC as a party does not deserve to proceed in government past the 2012 elections, but that will hopefully be a very democratic decision. Past that point, the party will need to purge itself to continue to play its part in our democracy. Democracies may thrive on fundamental principles, but are driven by vibrant and forward thinking political parties. At this present moment, the National Democratic Congress led by Prof J E A Mills is not one of them. Ineptitude, incompetence and corruption appear to be the hallmark. Ghana's democracy will have to learn her lessons from this affair and start necessary reforms on political party financing, freedom of information and even more importantly, reform of our justice system, starting with a decoupling of the Attorney General from the Director of Public Prosecutions who should be appointed by parliament, a position which I believe Mr Amidu will be well suited.