So, we have finally arrived at the end of our first full week of 2016, and boy oh boy, what a week it’s been!

We’ve had market fires, we’ve had BNI arrests, we’ve had Tragedy in the Amakye Dede camp… but for me, three things in particular have made this week a memorable one – but not entirely for the right reasons.

First, January has brought with it some massive bills indeed! Fuel prices went up by almost 30%. And you know what that means, don’t you? EVERYTHING is going up! Transport fares are going to be reviewed upwards, which means everything that needs to be transported before being consumed will also now be more expensive. And let’s not forget, all this is coming on the back of an over 60% increase in electricity tariffs – an increase which actually feels like a 160% increase in real terms.

Now, there is something I don’t quite understand about the tariff increases. So the PURC has given ECG the Go-ahead to charge more per unit for the pre-paid electricity we put on our meters. But have ECG also shortened the validity period of the credit we put on the meter?

Anyway, I’m sure someone will call me with an explanation, but in the meantime, I am anticipating the PURC granting permission for further increases as the year progresses. Don’t forget there will soon be private players in the power supply chain, and these private investors will NOT involve themselves with any of the massive debts that our power sector players owe each other. So in order to have a clean slate for the private investors, tariffs may well have to go up again – perhaps a few more times this year. Exciting, isn’t it?

The second thing that has caused some bother this week is the Brong Ahafo brouhaha over microfinance companies. This particular one called Jaster Motors has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week.

First the customers went and laid siege to a radio station owned by the Jaster CEO, then a DJ at that station had his three-year-old son kidnapped by a disgruntled microfinance customer who wanted the money he saved with them to be returned. The police dealt with that.

Brong Ahafo remained on a knife’s edge as the Bank of Ghana, absentee regulator of the scheme, stormed into the fray by closing down 70 other microfinance companies, for not meeting some criteria they were expected to meet before they could officially start running their Ponzi schemes to defraud the poor and vulnerable in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Naturally, there was further uproar when an outgoing director at the Bank of Ghana then announced that in spite of closing down the 70 companies, the Central Bank would do nothing to help the victims of these institutions to get their money back. This is exactly what the BoG said last year when they closed down DKB Microfinance in this same Brong Ahafo region under the same circumstances.

Now, me, I’m just asking o: before the Central Bank gave these companies their “Provisional Licenses” or whatever, did they not collect and set aside a designated deposit amount, which was to be used to reimburse victims of any microfinance company that failed to abide by the rules? Where are those deposits?

And in any case, the Bank of Ghana is the regulator. Where were they when these companies were openly advertising in marketplaces and bus terminals that they guaranteed a 55% return on investments? Did this not raise a red flag with the Central Bank? Were they even monitoring these companies to begin with? If customers have been left out of pocket by unprincipled financial institutions, whose fault is it really? Who should take the ultimate blame here?

The third and most shocking thing to happen this week was the news that as part of Barack Obama’s bid to shut down the national disgrace that is Guantanamo Bay, the USA was “relocating” some of the inmates. Well guess which country had put their hands up and said “we’ll take 2 please”: Not Iran or Syria. Not North Korea, not even Afghanistan. No, the kind, neighbourly country that agreed to take two terror suspects who were both recruited and trained in the same camp that trained 2 of the 9/11 hijackers – is Ghana. The two Taliban Terror suspects arrived yesterday, and are probably enjoying their first Hausa Koko breakfast as we speak.

So why did our government agree to house and detain within its borders, two Arab militants who have been locked up illegally and tortured by their enemies for up to 12 years? To prove that we are their allies? So we are proving we are allies of the USA by opening our doors to highly trained, heavily tortured terror suspects who are sworn enemies of America AND ALL HER ALLIES?

Now, let’s not forget that Obama had wanted to bring the Guantanamo detainees back into the USA, but his own congress has voted against it, saying, among other things, that they were too dangerous. So it’s basically like your neighbour knocking on your door and saying to you:

“Hey, Buddy! I know I’m not supposed to, but I went out and trapped two really large cobras. Now you know how scared I am of these snakes. In fact, my wife won’t let me bring them into our white house next door. So please, do me a favour and keep them in your little flagstaff cottage for me, ok? And don’t worry, I’ll pay for their bed and breakfast, so tell your madam not to worry at all.”

I wonder what you would say to such a neighbour. I can tell you what the Government of Ghana said on your behalf:

“Oh sure. No problem. You know we spoke against your illegal snake grabbing operations some years back, but since you’re going to pay for their food and lodging, of course we’ll take them in and use our home as a halfway house for your illegally grabbed snakes. Now, let’s take a selfie while you hand those deadly carnivorous reptiles over. Do cobras eat Hausa Koko?”

As things stand, the two Guantanamo alumni are already in the country, so we can’t really reverse this agreement, but we still need to know what is going on. Where are they going to live and work? What if they decide to leave before the 2 years are up? Will we have to restrain them? Lock them up? Shoot them? What if they escape? Osama Bin Laden’s former cook was once relocated from GITMO to another country, and he fled – re-joined Al Qaeda. What if our two golden boys choose to do the same? Plenty questions, no answers. That’s how the first week has ended in 2016.

My name is Kojo Yankson, and it’s been a week of Tightening of Belts, Tension in Brong Ahafo and Terrorists on Board.

GOOD MORNING, GHANAFO!