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  • THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE - SEAT OF PRESIDENT

    The presidential palace, the seat of president has finally been inaugurated at the capital city of Ghana Accra. The inauguration was done by the Head of State of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Prez John Agyekum Kuffuor this Monday. In attendance were dignitaries from different countries, council of members of state, members of the Diplomatic call, the press, members of parliament, ministers and their deputies. Also present there were the different cultural troupes and dance ensembles. The occasion was in a grand style and all those present were dressed in our beautiful national colors. The occasion brought people from all walks of life to this historic opening of the presidential palace. The presidential palace which has the authority of the country was very well decorated and was likewise admired by almost everyone present there at the function. What a building of our time, to be frankly speaking all the special guest that came for the inauguration really liked the building. What a spectacular building it was. I really like the building. The front view of the building is just too nice. I think this is one of the nicest buildings that have ever been built in this country of ours. I think the only problem that I have is that I am wondering where president Kuffuor had all the money he has invested into this building from. Is it the tax payer’s money or it is a loan? I wonder if it is the tax payer’s money. Then to what do we own this government headed over by President John Aygekum Kuffuor. That was just by the way. I heard the minister for presidential affair saying the last time on air that the president will be moving into the presidential palace. But the question that I want to ask is that was the presidential palace built for the incumbent president or it was built for the incoming president that the country was going to elect at polls come December 2008. When the minister made the statement I wondered how many more weeks or days the president has got to vacate his post for another person to take over the throne. It would be very mean and ugly on the part of   the president and his household moving into the presidential palace that has been built for the incoming president of the Great Republic of Ghana. So then, what happens to our precious OSU castle, who are those going to live there? Is it also going to be turned into a market place or a playing field for children of school going age? I think that the OSU castle must either be turned into a recreational ground or a place of interest for foreign investors and Ghanaians in general. The more we invest into the OSU castle today the better it will be for us all as a nation. Patience (0274260476)Verbian_09@yahoo.com

     

    Posted Dec 17 2008, 08:40 AM by patience with no comments
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  • THE LEVEL OF FILTH IN OUR MARKET.

    The level of filth in our market is just too appalling. Cleanliness they say is next to Godliness. But the way our markets are being littered nowadays is nothing good to write home about. Taking a market  like  Agbogbloshie for  example, the market is in such a mess, you will be surprised to note that a place where food stuff are being sold has being turned into  a  dumping ground for refuse. And just beside this refuse containers, food stuffs are sold for human consumption, and because of ignorance people stand at this vantage point to buy food stuff from people very close to these refuse containers. What even beat my imagination is that Accra Metropolitan Assembly has delegated people to go round the market and take monies from these market women in order to keep the market very clean, but then do they really use the monies they take from the market women to keep the market  neat? Some of the truck pushers and drug peddlers even ease themselves at the market square and little is done to give them the desirable punishment they need in order to deter others from doing likewise.The big question that I will like to ask is WHAT THEN HAPPENS TO OUR LITTLE CHILDREN WHO ARE LOITERING ABOUT IN THE MARKET AND PICKING FOODS FROM THE GROUND AND PUT INTO THEIR MOUTHS. Are they not being exposed to the dangers of this market? The monies that are being taken from the market women should be invested into something profitable like using the monies to organize clean-up exercises,  another amount to organize forum on the necessity to keep their environments clean to be able to live a healthy life and also live a disease free live. I think many are the things that we are doing to endanger our lives at our various market. Some market women just dump rotten foodstuff anywhere round the market where it’s dangerous to the health of every person that will be exposed to it. We are please calling on all sanitary inspectors to come to the aid of the Agbogloshie market and other small before matters get out of hand. And also before an outbreak of any disease and sickness is out there spreading. Court orders must be implemented to fine and jail all who will be caught dumping refuse anywhere and all those who will be using the making the market place as a place of convenience. Patience (0274260476) Verbian_09@yahoo.com 

     

    Posted Dec 17 2008, 08:26 AM by patience with no comments
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  • Celebrating With Caution

    Ghanaians are fun-loving people. It is no exaggeration that visitors to this country depart with fond memories of a people who do not allow the hardships of this world to extinguish in them their spirit to celebrate.

    Not even death. That is why funerals are gradually taking the form of festivals and are being euphemistically described as celebrations of life.

    So whether it is a religious or traditional festival or the celebration of the life of a departed relation, Ghanaians are quick to rise to the occasion to burn all their energies to fill themselves with food and alcohol.
     
    After all, what is life if you have to allow poverty and other vicissitudes of life to deprive you of fun or allow sorrow and misery emanating from the death of a dear one to reduce you to tatters when life must go on?

    But these days, either out of excitement or out of desperation, we descend to the extreme. Those selected to go to the mortuary to collect bodies are sometimes so drenched in alcohol that they easily pick the wrong corpses.
     
     It has happened several times and relatives only realise, deep into the funeral rites, that they have been mourning the wrong person.

    The drivers conveying bodies from the mortuaries usually get carried away by sorrow fuelled by alcohol and drive so recklessly that sometimes more lives are lost, turning a rather sombre observation of death into a bigger nightmarish experience.

    The funeral ground itself is something like a picnic, with different live bands or spinning groups competing for attraction.
     
    Depending on the stature of the dead and the financial weight of those in charge of the funeral, the celebrants could be assured of a free flow of torrents of alcoholic beverages.
     
    Then starts careless and loose talks and irresponsible behaviour.

    Some mourners never return home in piece because the reflexes of their drivers have been numbed by excess alcohol and, therefore, they could not make a difference between an approaching articulated truck and a wheelbarrow.
     
    Some of the women who take delight in competing with the men in alcohol consumption lose control and do not remember the vehicles they sat in to the funerals and naturally end up sitting by the wrong men. It is a common allegation that some marriages suffer after funerals.

    Some wake up after a funeral with missing teeth or swollen jaws because they had over-indulged in the celebrations.
     
    What should have been a solemn occasion to pay last respects to a lost one ends up with the deceased forgotten and the things we can remember are the losses and the pains.

    If funerals have assumed the status of carnivals, it is not difficult to picture what happens at festivals.
     
     It is the same drinking and eating and the vulgar display of recklessness.
     
     The joy and togetherness these festivals were designed to bring to us are most often lost in the midst of accidents, quarrels, broken limbs and sometimes death.

    It is sad that religious rites or festivals have not escaped this menace. Christmas, which is an important event on the Christian calendar marking the birth of Jesus Christ, lacks, in most part, any religious fervour.

    Apart from the ritualistic church services which many do not miss, the merry-making associated with Christmas may not make Jesus Christ, wherever he may be sitting, happy in Heaven.

    The same can be said of Easter, which commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    Where Christians have failed, we thought Muslims will show the way. But once a Ghanaian, always a Ghanaian.
     
    Eid-ul-Fitr is a sacred festival on the Islamic calendar, observed to mark the end of the month of fasting and prayers.
     
    Yes, it is a joyous occasion, having renewed our faith and strengthening us to count on the bountiful blessings of Allah.

    However, we need not dilute this special occasion with any unnecessary antics.
     
    What I saw last Tuesday in some parts of Accra unnerved me — motor riders zig-zagging in the middle of roads.
     
    Some people were hanging perilously on moving vehicles being driven as if the concrete roads have been padded with foam.
     
    Accidents have been recorded in the past and I will not be surprised if this year’s celebration was not without its casualties.

    The Jama sessions which followed in the afternoon, with loud music and intricate body movements, could not hide from even the casual observer that some people have over-indulged in alcohol consumption. It is true.

    By all means we must have fun, no matter the occasion. That is the only way we can ease tension and rejuvenate our bodies from this earthly stress.
     
     But moderation should be the watchword.
     
    There is no need to wake up with a severe hangover after celebrating.
     
    It will be even worse if we should be struck by one calamity or another just because we could not control ourselves when celebrating.
     
    That is why we should celebrate with caution.

    By Kofi Akordor
    Posted Oct 07 2008, 01:13 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • My Peace Machine

    What do you call a sheet of A-4 paper folded in two, with an executive chief managing editor’s imprint at the bottom of the back page, which is populated with stale bits and pieces downloaded from Internet blogs and websites, with crumbs of domestic political gossip and propaganda added for good measure? A newspaper!

    Fantastic, Jomo. Absolutely fantastic. I have never doubted your genius for discernment of little truths and accuracy of thought and observation.
     
     We have some of such publications on the newsstands and they are conning we readers of our daily chop money.

    Yet while journalism here is still a few millenniums away from Fleet Street, it is nonetheless up and running with admirable gallantry in its pursuit of good governance and official accountability.

    There are a few good newspapers by our standards.
     
     Television is not doing badly at all, if you forgive the pornography and discount the sloppy editing of television news scripts.

    With its relatively wider accessibility and the power of its instantaneous reach to audiences on the go, radio is getting better by the day.
     
    There are a few radio stations with a few programmes of quality almost comparable to radio broadcast content in some advanced countries.

    That is the good news. Here is snag: If a Third World War (please note the uncanny pun between the historical chronology of global conflict and the popular description of our part of the world), is to break out anytime soon, it will probably break out from a radio station in Ghana in an election year.

    The national election peace chant peaked a deafening crescendo this week but those who rightly turned their attention to the problem of abusive, provocative and slanderous phone-in calls, for some strange reason, ignored the problem of dangerous propaganda brewed right inside the studios.
     
    Election propaganda may not be a bad thing in itself and is probably no worse than your average commercial advertisement whose chief goal is to sell a product. How else would a political party sell itself and its candidates to voters?

    The problem arises when propaganda is promulgated not from campaign vans but through the sensitive communication medium of radio and programme hosts appear insensitive to the great dangers inherent in studio attitudes not too dissimilar to the “Milles Collins” mentality:

    Milles Collins Radio if you remember was the station in whose studios some blood-thirsty, tribalistic elements sat calling on Hutus to go out and exterminate the “inyenzi” (a Hutu word for cockroach.)

    Hutus responded by combing Rwanda’s hillsides and killing every Tutsi in sight and when it was all over 500, 000 Tutsis had been slaughtered while the world simply took a cool nap!
     
     I have seen at close quarters, its devastating impact on development and the lives of my people, to condone monkey games with conflict.

    The world will probably never know the Bawku we have known: Oppong was a native of the Brong Ahafo Region who built the first one-storey block in the commercial heart of Bawku town in the late 1950s.
     
    The ground floor housed the then famous Oppong Store which sold everything from Horlicks and toiletries to condensed milk and Heinekens beer.

    Heinekens came in wooden crates stuffed with factory straw to prevent breakage of the lager bottles.
     
    Dr Nkrumah’s representative, the District Commissioner, was just the slightest bit close to a mortal. Bawku was enjoying its historic immediate post-independence economic boom thanks to its location on the border.

    First, it was we the Kusasis, the Mamprushies and small populations of Moshies and Busangas savouring the good times, then from nowhere economic invaders came trooping in: Nigerians, Malians,  Upper Voltarians (Burkinabes), Niger nationals, Ivorians and  Togolese traders.
     
     For every native of Bawku there appeared to be two or three Nigerians, invariably Yoruba.

    Bawku was the transit point for a booming trade in cola nuts, salt, cattle and grain between Ghana and many Francophone countries.
     
    Caravans of donkeys came on weeks and months-long treks from the Sahel region through Bawku to Ashanti to sell and buy commodities.

    Later trucks took over transporting livestock to Ghana and transporting commodities from Ghana’s forest industry through Bawku to their dry land-locked part of the sub-region.

    The cargo handling needs of this brisk trade spawned an army of lorry park workers and traditional freight forwarders in Bawku, called the Congo Station Boys.

    The vicinity of the famous Congo Station at Bawku used to echo with the choicest swear and curse words from the Hausa language.
     
    They were a hardy breed of heavily built young men with chests like petroleum drums and arms like baobab tree stumps.

    As they loaded and off-loaded cargo onto and from trucks, they engaged in fierce fights over the cargo loading and unloading rights, their bodies glistening with sweat as they punched toe to toe in the hot sun.

    The era also spawned a breed of well-to-do gangsters who made fairly big fortunes by the standards of the time, from smuggling along and across the borders at Sankasi, Bugri, Werekambo, Kognogo etc.

    They were a law onto themselves and went by names like Boy London, Django and Zingaro.
     
    Zingaro made a pastime of beating up policemen and was frequently under arrest for assaulting the Law.

    Alabaraka Cinema screened films and Wild West movies. The latter often starred Roy Rogers and John Wayne, and young people picked up such strange words and expressions like “girarahee!” (get out of here!), “sanofabich” (son of a b…h.), “mesuran” (mess around), “hanzzop!” (hands up!), etc.

    Then the ethnic conflict picked up post colonial venom and eventually desertification launched an attack on agriculture.
     
    Development has since been so stunted that no one seeing Bawku today, will believe what great times we had and what hope for prosperity there had once been.

    There is apparently more to the authorities’ concern about security than the threat of electoral violence, though.
     
    A couple of weeks ago, J.J. Rawlings invited former security chiefs of his administration for a meeting. The man is planning a coup, some said.
     
    The former president’s aides said JJ discussed the threat to national peace with his guests.

    The government has announced that it is banning all six former security operatives who attended the meeting from ever entering any military installation.
     
    What is going on? Darned if I have a clue, Jomo.

    All the same, I am so moved by the peace sermons being preached all over the place  that I have invented a peace machine for the benefit of all and sundry:
     
    Genuine seekers of a peaceful election can use my machine. It runs on a fuel mix of fairness, justice, truthfulness, integrity and a total commitment to democratic practice and behaviour.
     
    If you turn it on with the key of sincerity after fuelling up, it works!
     
     
    By George Sydney Abugri
    Posted Sep 19 2008, 12:27 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • Impact Of The World Food Crisis

    Over the past couple of years, a world food crisis has emerged. The price of food world-wide has increased dramatically, threatening the welfare of millions who are struggling to afford basic sustenance.

    Since 2006, the world price of soybeans has risen by 107 per cent, maize by 125 per cent, wheat by 136 per cent and rice by an astounding 217 per cent.

    Although several factors have been identified as having impacted the present situation, the main catalysts in the emergence of the crisis are generally recognised as a combination of bad harvests, the increased production of biofuels, the rising price of fuel and an expanding middle class in Asia and India who are demanding a wider variety of foodstuffs.

    Despite assurances by powerful figures in the developed world such as George Bush, that extreme weather, rising energy costs and increased demand account for 85 per cent of food prices.
     
    A recent report by the World Bank, leaked to The Guardian newspaper in London in July, stated that the production of biofuels were, in fact, to blame for a 70-75 per cent rise in food prices.

    The increased use of crops such as maize for the production of ethanol has resulted in large amounts of farmland being used for fuel production, rather than for food, lowering food production output and, therefore, raising prices.
     
    For countries such as Ghana, which rely heavily on importing certain food products from abroad, inflation such as this can be crippling.

    Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Agricultural Unit, Robert Townsend, explains the problems facing West African nations, if they continue to import inflated food supplies:

    “In West Africa, rice accounts for a much larger share of food consumption than in Eastern and Southern Africa.
     
    As more rice than maize is imported, local food prices in West Africa will be more affected.
     
    Countries with local supply disruptions are also particularly vulnerable to global price increases, as experience with the drought in Burkina Faso, the recent cyclone in Madagascar, and localised floods in Ghana have shown.
     
    Less local supply means more reliance on imports to meet domestic demand — imports which are now much more costly.
     
    Within these countries, the poor will be especially vulnerable as they often spend as much as half their disposable income on food.”

    In the United States, the government subsidises the production of maize for ethanol, resulting in farmers increasingly producing crops for biofuels rather than food, with the proportion of maize being farmed for ethanol rising by 6 per cent in the year 2006-2007, and expected to rise another 37 per cent by the end of 2008.

    The rising price of fuel is another key factor in the global food crisis, not only affecting the cost of agricultural transportation and the running of machinery, but also increasing the cost of much-needed fertilisers.

    Across the world, rising food prices have caused grave concern. In the United States, the average food price increased by 4 per cent in 2007, the biggest increase recorded in 17 years.
     
    By the end of this year, it is predicted that this figure will rise by another 3 - 4 per cent.
     
    On top of this, local food donations in the US were recorded as down 9 per cent over the same period, prompting the California Association of Food Banks to describe the situation as the “beginning of a crisis”.

    In Europe, a similar story emerges, with many nations complaining of inflation over the past year.
     In Germany, unusual complaints have been raised concerning the rising price of meat used in the country’s thriving donner kebab industry.
     
    Similarly, in Italy, the increasing price of wheat prompted a nation-wide one-day boycott of pasta, Italy’s national food, in September last year.

    In the UK, complaints over the rising cost of living fill the newspapers, with the price of inflation rising by 3 per cent between April 2007 and April 2008.
     
    Figures from the Office of National Statistics further reveal that food prices have risen by 6 per cent in the same period.
     
    With such pressures weighing on the British economy, the usually strong housing market is suffering, and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has noted a near-universal slump in British property prices.

    Elsewhere in the world, the food crisis has created discontent, with rioting breaking out in several places, including Morocco, Mauritania, Indonesia, Italy and Mexico.

    Although Ghana, like many other African countries, is feeling the strain of the food crisis, there appears to be hope for the West African nation.

    In 2010, Ghana intends to commence work on an offshore oilfield run by Tullow Oil and Cosmos and aims to pump approximately 120,000 b/d of crude oil.

    Speaking to the Financial Times in London last week, NPP presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, explained how, if he were to come to power in December, he would utilise the estimated five-year $15bn income of the off-shore reserves to fight poverty nationwide, educate the people and improve agriculture in the north of Ghana: “We have large chunks of the northern part of our country which could assure us food security in Ghana, if we also go about the planning of the agricultural development there properly.”

    Nana Akufo-Addo has also pledged to invest in the Ghanaian manufacturing sector to create jobs in agriculture and production, generate income and increase local food production.

    With Ghana’s harvest season approaching, the forecast is looking good for this year’s cocoa crop, according to Cocobod Deputy Chief Executive, Charles Ntim.
     
    Speaking at the signing ceremony of a $1bn syndicated loan with a variety of international banks in Accra this week, the head of the state regulator expressed his optimism, saying, "We've been round the fields, we've seen the little pods coming up; we think we are in for a fairly good crop, if the weather will hold."

    It must also be remembered that we are not facing a food crisis for the first time; in the 1970s and 80s, records indicate world food commodity prices soared, with the price of rice in the early 1970s over four times the cost of today.

    If Ghana is to move forward in these times of economic difficulty, and as many of the key food exporters lay down export bans and tariffs in a bid to protect their own economic interests, it is vital that the country does everything it can to decrease its reliance on foreign imports through the successful exploitation of its own agricultural assets.

    With Mr Akufo-Addo’s proposed investment of funds from Ghana’s oil reserves, Ghana would be in a position to vastly increase food production, as access to transport, power and fertilisers would be more readily available.
     
    Furthermore, by utilising arable land in the north of Ghana, a larger number — and variety — of crops could be produced, lessening the need for the country to pay for expensive imports.

    By Frankie Freeman
    Posted Sep 18 2008, 02:31 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • Clap, Clap, Clap Again

    LADIES and gentlemen, with another round of resounding clap, let’s welcome her back on stage," says the MC. "Give him a clap; you can do better," another MC pleads.

    "I expect a clap for that one," an MC demands.


    Why must Ghanaians be told, implored, coaxed to clap and clap and clap again at functions? Does it say anything about us? Is there more to clapping than meets the eye?

    Ghanaians do clap; yes, they do, and it comes naturally and joyously.
     
    Universally, we clap to show appreciation and encouragement. We clap to convey our likeness and admiration at performances, and to reward those who make time to talk to us at events.

    Sometimes, during conversation, people just clap hilariously to show their happiness at a story or joke, or just to convey the sentiments of fun and contentment.

    Clapping is good. Since clapping is good, why do most MCs find it necessary to remind us to clap, and to do it more enthusiastically?

    The sparseness of clapping in the Ghanaian society says something about the content of our subliminal consciousness.
     
    It says that whereas we appreciate the good in people, our appreciation is not generous enough, and that means the degree of encouragement in our society is less than desirable.
     
    Against the way we clap in Ghana, let’s contrast the way Europeans and Americans clap.

    You would observe that when a performer ends his or her performance, the audience show a manifestly impressive appreciation with a clapping that touches the heart of the person.
     
     It is to say "well done" in a manner that is sincere and approving of what had taken place.

    Even at sporting events, including football, one notices the spontaneity and readiness to clap at the least show of effort, or extraordinary showmanship.
     
    Watch how often audience abroad clap at a football match, and how the effect imparts a magic to soccer, as the players play their souls out to win.
     
    That is one reason soccer pays abroad, and Africans, including Ghanaians, aim at being engaged to play for overseas football clubs.

    I do recall a musical show put up by an American jazz and pop group, Junior & Guy Wells ( I hope that’s the name), sponsored by the USIS, at the University of Cape Coast around 1976-77.
     
    The concert took place at the auditorium. The music was good, and the performance electrifying.
     
    But you see, when Ghanaians are appreciating good music, and I think most things, they concentrate on the activity, till it ends, before clapping.
     
    The poor folks from America were playing their hearts out, but we were sitting there enjoying the music in a restrained manner as if we were afraid of something.

    Suddenly, the leader burst out mid way in a song and said: "Hi, you there, why are you sitting there like a pack of boy scouts? Aren’t you enjoying the songs?
     
    Anything wrong? Get involved, men!"

    So, they played a couple of songs for us to clap and accompany them as they sang. We did it for some short time and stopped! Would it have been so in America? No!

    The sparseness of clapping in the Ghanaian society shows how difficult it is to do a thing and be encouraged to go on to higher heights.
     
    We are too quick to criticise, to condemn, to slight, to play down, to disregard and, altogether, to discourage.
     
    Such a consciousness is what shows in the type of clapping that takes place at events.

    Because it is so embarrassing to perform, doing your best, and it not being good enough, the MCs come in to pep up the spirit of the performer by asking the audience to show more appreciation by clapping better.
     
    Why don’t we realise that it is far easy to criticise than to do? And that those who perform need the utmost encouragement from us to do it better and actually be the best?

    At the function of a funeral recently, a Ghanaian acrobatic group performed kinds of displays, involving difficult postures, skilled juggling of things and pans, and generally showed mastery of their work.

    It was obvious they were not that educated, but they knew their vocation. They were excellent! I expected the audience to clap at the feats they performed, but they did not, though they appreciated them, from the smiles on their faces.

    It was as if we were condescendingly indulging them. My clapping was hollow and embarrassing!

    We must admit we are not altogether lacking in encouragement and appreciation, hence the National Awards given on Republic Day, ACRAG, Sports Awards, Prize and Speech Days, and Long Service Awards, amongst others.
     
    But beyond this, the society is not supportive enough, and what we should aim at is to be conscious of this deficiency in us as Ghanaians, and resolve to change for the good of our country.

    We must encourage, appreciate, support, push up, adore, honour, revere, exalt, idolise, and clap, and clap and clap again for all Ghanaians who do the least good thing, till our hands bleed from clapping! Clapping is love and kindness in action! Others do not clap; they act out love and encouragement.
     
    Let me share with you simple stories from America, culled from the book Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Cranfield and Mark Victor Hansen.

    A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys.
     
     They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every vase the students wrote. "He hasn’t got a chance." Twenty-five years later, another sociology professor came across the earlier study.
     
     He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys.
     
    With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen.

    The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with a feeling, "There was a teacher."

    The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked her what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement.

    The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile, "It’s really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys."

    If she had not encouraged them to bring out the best in them, would they have amounted to anything? She clapped the gold out of them!

    One more. Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed a word of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved one or a trusting friend.
     
    Had it not been for a confident wife, Sophia, we might not have listed among the great names of literature the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer.
     
    When Nathaniel, a heartbroken man, went home to tell his wife that he was a failure and had been fired from his job in a customhouse, she surprised him with an exclamation of joy.

    "Now," she said triumphantly, "you can write your book!"

    "Yes," replied the man, with sagging confidence, "and what shall we live on while I am writing it?"
    To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial amount of money.

    "Where on earth did you get that?!" he exclaimed.

    "I have always known you were a man of genius", she told him. "I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece.
     
    So every week, I saved a little bit out of the housekeeping money you gave me. So here is enough to last a whole year."

    From her trust and confidence came one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Scarlet Letter.

    What a word of encouragement does, what financial assistance does, what a prize does, what national recognition does, what confidence in one does is about the same thing that clapping does:
     
    it says to the person "well done"! And that’s what we all need for the best to come out of us.

    It won’t be long when you’d have the opportunity to clap soon. When the time comes, remember, you’d change someone’s life for the best by your show of encouragement.
     
     Clap, clap, clap again! We all need it!

    By Ahumah Ocansey

    Posted Sep 18 2008, 02:31 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • Security Consciousness - Have We Not Taken Our Eyes Off The Ball?

    If there is anything that as Ghanaians we pay less attention to, it is detail as well as personal security.
     
    In the midst of all the various forms of crime and the ‘get rich by all means’ craze, which is leading to all manner of misdeeds in our society, we seem not to be taking seriously that which goes on around us and which particularly borders on security be it in the home, office, marketplace, at public places and even on the street.

    Has anybody noticed that even the police are protecting themselves? Next time you go past the Police Headquarters on the Ring Road just observe the security barbed wires on their fence.
     
    Do not take your personal security for granted — that is the message I have deduced from the police.

    Topical today in our country is the issue of national security. Everyone is talking about it and linking it to the heightened politics and the safety of the electorate in the December polls.
     
    Whilst matters of national security are important and need to be highlighted and discussed, we should not take our eyes off personal security wherever we find ourselves.

    If you are the type who is out of the house most parts of the day, try finding out who came after you in your absence.
     
    You would be lucky to get a member of your household to describe accurately anybody who came looking for you.
     
    You would be even luckier if they remember the name given, what the individual was wearing, one characteristic feature, or the type of car he or she was driving.

    It gets even worse at crime scenes. People do not remember car registration numbers, colours are always mixed up, eyewitness accounts or descriptions give scores of versions of the same incident.
     
    We simply do not pay attention to detail.

    Sometime last week a radio station announced that some occupants of a taxicab had snatched the handbags of some ladies near the Methodist University and were calling for anyone who spotted the said taxicab to report to the police.

    Even though the vehicle registration number was given, the radio announcement was scanty but that may be due to the kind of information received from whoever witnessed the incident.
     
    More details as to how many men were in the cab, which direction it was heading and the make of the car could have helped with the instant arrest of the miscreants.

    In our homes, we have younger children who most of the time are left to hold the fort during our absence.
     
    Yet, we do not leave them with adequate instructions as to how to deal with strangers.
     
    We do not take them through what to do and what not to do when strangers come knocking at our gates or doors.
     
    Innocently, these children can reveal your whereabouts or those of any other member of the family without stopping to think of the security implications.

    You may be tempted to forgive a household for security ignorance but when it comes to security in highly sensitive public places like the banks, such ignorance displayed by those who are paid to supervise security definitely gives you cause to worry.

    At a high-profile bank the other day, having walked through two security-manned doors before reaching the banking hall where a uniformed private security person was supervising events, I thought that was an ever-prepared bank.
     
    In no time, however, in walked a gentleman purportedly to withdraw money from his account. His demeanour at the counter was in the first place questionable.

    The account name and number this customer repeatedly shouted across did not make much meaning neither the transaction he had come to make.
     
    He kept on talking about some thousands of US dollars that his employer had lodged into his account and from which he only wanted one hundred Ghana cedis.
     
    He started getting aggressive shouting inside the banking hall and all the security man on duty could do after some seven good minutes of watching was to go near him and smile and so did other customers.

    Some of us were left in bewilderment. So the bank’s security person, as well as its staff, thought it was a concert at that to watch anybody come in and start behaving funny?
     
    They did not see it prudent to call for the man to be removed from the banking hall.
     
    If this man had entered the bank with any obnoxious plans he would have had a field day. Security was lapsed.

    In the name of security, has anyone noticed the attitude of some drivers in town?
     
    These drivers drive in slow moving traffic with windows rolled down and documents and bags lying on unoccupied seats.
     
    A friend suffered a terrible shock one early evening in the Kaneshie traffic going home in the company of her driver.

    Busily engaged in a conversation on her mobile phone and with her side of the window rolled down, the next she heard and felt was a huge slap on her face and her mobile phone snatched from her.
     
    It all happened in a lightning flash to the amazement of her driver. That is the impunity with which criminals these days operate, a clear signal that they are closer than we ever thought.

    A reader's letter published in the Daily Graphic recently shared a nasty encounter he had on the Legon–Madina road one night on his way home after work.
     
     He had left his briefcase on the back passenger seat behind him. On reaching a junction, some miscreant suddenly hit the back window, picked up the briefcase and started running into the bush.
     
    Many such mishaps occur on our roads all the time so whether as drivers or as passengers, we need to be vigilant at all times.

    The non-observance of safety at fuel stations and even in an aircraft is worrying. At almost every fuel station, one sees clear signs, ‘switch off your engine’, and ‘switch off mobile phone’ captured boldly in black or red.
     
     Yet, some drivers drive into the stations with their engines actively running as they wait closely behind the next vehicle for their turn.

    Sometimes you see some drivers or passengers using their mobile phones whilst being served fuel.
     
    How irresponsible can we be? Even the fuel attendants are not helpful in cautioning offending drivers or passengers and it makes you wonder whether they have the requisite safety training to do their jobs.

    Has anyone heard about the new trick in town? Last week, I was a recipient of an e-mail and text messages warning people to be careful at fuel stations.
     
    Apparently, some tricksters were hanging around some selected fuel stations and handing over free executive key rings that they claimed were part of a promotion.

    Apparently, those key rings have some device that will track you to be followed by an attack at home.
     
    So someone can sit down and use his God-given talent to invent a thing like this?
     
    There is nothing really like a free lunch so we need to look out when people come offering freebies.

    The careless attitude of some people manifests even on board a flight at a time when air travel has become a bit of a nightmare due to global insecurity.
     
    Getting ready to take off, the instructions are given for passengers to turn off their mobile phones and any electronic equipment.
     
    It is at that moment that some passengers would be juggling with their two or three mobile phones wanting to make a call to let someone know that their plane is about to take off or they have been asked to turn off their mobile phones.
     
    You ask yourself, Should people even need to be reminded to put off their mobile phones?
     
    Should safety-conscious passengers not turn off their mobile phones the minute their flight is boarding for security’s sake?

    We are many miles removed from day-to-day personal security and safety and it is time some education was focused on personal safety and the need for all to stay conscious at all times, paying extra attention to what goes on around us.

    The education needs to start with our children, both at home and at school. Do your children for example know who they should talk or not talk to?
     
    Do they know that it is safer to walk in pairs when out there? Do children know that if someone tries to take them forcibly they should shout and scream hardest to draw attention?

    Kidnapping is relatively unknown but the incident at a school in some part of Accra quite recently must have been a wake-up call to all parents and educational institutions.
     
     We need to get armed with all the personal security and safety information from all the necessary sources for our world is not getting any safer.

    A weekly television or radio education, ‘Watch These Things’, sounds more like it. Let us look out for our own personal security and safety and watch attentively.
     
    By Vicky Wireko
    Posted Sep 17 2008, 12:43 PM by daisy with no comments
    Filed under:

  • Not Again, Asantehene!!

    After a short spell of absence from the public sphere, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has re-appeared as if with a vengeance. A Daily Graphic news report carried by JoyFM News on Sept. 10, 2009 (“Akufo-Addo will be good president—Asanteman”) had the following highlights:

    • The Asanteman Council has declared its confidence in Nana Akufo-Addo as a thoroughbred politician with the capability to lead the nation to progress when elected president.

    • Kufuor asked for blessing for Akuffo Addo to which the Otumfuo obliged and said, “I bless you to have a successful election, especially as you come from the Oyoko Clan of which I am the leader.”

    • Otumfuo Osei Tutu said even though, as Asantehene, he could not publicly declare his support for any political party, “I can tell you that it is where I look that my people also look”.

    In this write-up, I take issues with the Asantehene, not as a person, but as a chief who is debarred from partisan politics but whose public posturing and utterances at the durbar, particularly, give cause for concern. I am particularly bothered by these happenings at Manhyia, not because I see them as necessarily translating into an electoral victory for the NPP but because of their implications for the institution of chieftaincy itself within the context of national politics and the public perception of the Asantehene himself.

    Let me tackle the aspect of chieftaincy first. Whoever discounts the place and role of Ghanaian traditional rulers (both males and females) in the country’s life will be doing a disservice to posterity. Whether for good or bad, the traditional rulers have played their part in the development of Ghana’s political history and will continue to do so for as long as the institution lasts.

    Despite the onslaught on the chieftaincy institution by modern systems of governance that is gradually whittling away the authority of these traditional rulers, Ghanaians of various ethnic extractions still recognize them as not only an embodiment of their communities’ values but also as important authority figures to be recognized, respected, and deferred to because of their calling to unify the various cultural, social, political, and economic strands of the society.

    It is for this reason that successive governments have preserved chieftaincy through various means, including creating a whole Ministry to be responsible for Chieftaincy Affairs. So far, our history tells us that it was only Dr. Nkrumah who openly flexed his muscles against them when he threatened chiefs who had joined the camp of his political opponents (led by the Danquah/Busia United Party) to rock the boat of governance. His utterance that [those] chiefs would run away and leave their sandals behind is still fresh in people’s minds. That was about 50 years ago.

    Whether Nkrumah was right or wrong belongs to history. However, the picture is clear: that if chiefs take sides in partisan politics, they create conditions for disunity and tension, which invariably could explode into social unrests if not curbed in the nick of time. Probably, it is only a new-bie to the Ghanaian political scene who will dispute this claim. I am not a new-bie.

    I know that chiefs who have ever openly aligned themselves with political forces have felt the consequences of their incontinence as the political pendulum swung from one historical period to the other. They are complicit in the creation of bad blood in the body politic, which sets them up for scrutiny. The participation of the Asantehene in the politicking that took place at Manhyia last Tuesday is a case in point. As George Orwell said in 1949, “Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent, but the tests that have to be applied to them are not, of course, the same in all cases.” Replace “saints” with “chiefs” in Orwell’s statement above and you can place the Asantehene’s posturing in perspective.

    Such claims as made by the Asantehene are flyblown and will not do anybody any good. At best, they betray the one who makes them and reveal him as an inveterate hypocrite. Following Orwell’s admonition, the test that I will apply in holding the Asantehene as guilty is from his own admonition to his subordinate chiefs sometime last year to desist from open partisan politics or face the consequences—obviously, heavy fines and destoolment!! Barely a year after that injunction, the Asantehene himself has fallen foul of that very prohibition.

    I think that although his larynx was busily working, churning out those words, his brain was not involved in the articulatory process. He should have known better than saying what he was reported to have said.

    He shouldn’t allow himself to be carried away by parochial political interests as to turn against his own admonition to the paramount chiefs he presides over in his capacity as their Asantehene. He must stop tinkering with people’s emotions. He might claim to be the embodiment of everything “Asanteman” but it doesn’t mean that he can determine and control the political allegiance of the Asante people. Already, he should have seen the picture clearly: that although the NPP bigwigs that he is upholding may claim the Ashanti Region to be the “NPP’s World Bank,” resistance to the NPP is obvious in many parts of that very region. That claim of a “World Bank” status for the NPP doesn’t mean that the NDC or the other parties don’t have that much following there. What does he have up his sleeves to neutralize that resistance? Join the NPP with his clout as Asantehene to intimidate the electorate?

    If he wants to be conciliatory (as I suppose is the essence of chieftaincy), then, he must be guarded in his posturing. Commanding the respect of the society demands that he must not continue to be openly (and overly) partisan in his display of political faith. Doing so will likely give rise to scorn for him, which might have unpleasant consequences for the position he occupies. In my lifetime, I have seen three occupants of the Golden Stool; but none of them except this current Asantehene has entered the public domain and attracted much coverage either because of controversial renderings or something else.

    One major development for which he is appreciated is the Asanteman Educational Endowment Fund (that provided funds to support Ashanti citizens seeking higher education). However, I know that other happenings have converged to detract from his good standing. One of them is the circumstance surrounding the $35 million World Bank loan that he contracted for water projects in Ashanti and what has become of that money. His attempts to extend his domain to parts of the Volta Region and the impasse between him and chiefs in some parts of the Brong-Ahafo Region stand tall as a blot on his occupancy of the Golden Stool. The Committee of Eminent Chiefs tasked to ensure peace in Dagbon, which he chairs, appears to be at its wit’s end. The over-exposure (or preferential treatment) given him by the Kufuor administration has attracted concern over the years. Then, here he comes, taking sides in partisan politics.

    In our current political dispensation, it is important for us to make pretentiousness unfashionable. That’s the more reason why this display of double-standards by the Asantehene must not be countenanced at all. It is capable of sharpening political differences. We are already being threatened by the ever-worsening political disconnect between the NDC and the NPP in several parts of the country and don’t need anything more to fuel this tension.

    Add the numerous chieftaincy disputes to this volatile political situation and you can see the danger that lies ahead. Within this context, I consider it as highly impolitic for the Asantehene to make such invidious utterances. I don’t begrudge Asanteman for hosting the NPP gravy train to a durbar at Manhyia; but will the Asantehene honestly say that he and his Manhyia cabal will accord other political parties that kind of recognition and attention when they show up in the Ashanti Region (beginning from Kumasi) on their campaign trail?

    For reference, here is the Daily Graphic’s report:

    “The durbar [presided over by the Asantehene] was organised on Tuesday to welcome Nana Akufo-Addo and his running Mahamudu Bawumia, at the start of their eight-day campaign tuor (sic) of the Ashanti Region.”

    Even though Orwell’s words ring loud and clear that in our age, there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics … [because] … all issues are political issues,” I daresay that the constitutional provision, which bars chiefs from active partisan politics, was not framed out of spite for the chiefs. To all intents and purposes, it is well-intentioned because of its ability to keep chiefs out of what the late A.A. Munufie called “dirty Ghanaian politics.” This perception supports Orwell’s stance that “politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia...” (“Politics and the English Language,” May 1945).

    Political developments confirm such a stance and our chiefs should be the first to support any constitutional move to insulate them against the fallouts of partisan politics. It will not be too drastic for me to suggest that the advocacy of this kind of political quietism for chiefs must be taken further to ensure that our chiefs serve as bastions of unity. One can probably bring about some improvement by abstaining from partisan politics and starting at the point where the constitutional provisions are followed in their letter and spirit.

    One need not swallow such absurdities as portrayed by the Asantehene, because one ought to recognize that the emerging threat of political chaos is connected with the posturing and biased public utterances of people like this Asantehene who glibly denounce political violence in one breath only to turn round to do what promotes it in the same breath.

    If the Asantehene and other chiefs do what is expected of them, they will be freed from the worst follies of political partisanship. Once they expose their political allegiance and detract from their role as unifiers of society, they set themselves up for scrutiny and will incur the displeasure of those in opposing political camps. They cannot anymore command respect from people across-the-board because of their lack of self-restraint in partisan politics; and when they make themselves stupid through unguarded political remarks and posturing in public, the consequences of their stupidity should be obvious, even to themselves after the event. If they fail to recognize it, we have to point it out to them. And that’s exactly what I have set out to do.

    The Asantehene’s open declaration of partisanship is nothing but a “lump of verbal refuse [that should be consigned] into the dustbin, where it belongs” (George Orwell’s words again!). It will not wash with clear-minded people who know that a traditional ruler cannot play the unifying role by aligning himself with one political faction in this manner. By this public display of partisanship, the Asantehene has turned full circle in alienating those not subscribing to the NPP. At the end of the day, when the fog clears after the December elections, he should come back to tell us what went wrong.

    Email: mjbokor@yahoo.com

    Source:
    Kumah, Anthony

    Posted Sep 15 2008, 02:22 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • The Ugly Noises Of An Actress Turn Politician

    The impending 2008 general elections are generating a lot of anxiety and excitement. Whilst the flag bearers and other party officials are crisscrossing the length and breath of the country with their messages to Ghanaian, some followers of these parties are spewing falsehood to the electorates and discrediting other personalities.

    Recent developments on the NPP campaign platform where musicians and actors follow the flag bearer and perform during campaigns has generated some debate amongst Ghanaians. One school of thought is arguing that these actors and musicians should not mount campaign platforms and campaign for the party of their choice. MUSIGA and Ghanaians with that school of thought are arguing that Ghanaians from all the political divide look up to most of these artiste. The Musician Union of Ghana has cautioning its members to desist from campaigning for the political parties of their choice.

    Personally, I am against the call by MUSIGA and the other Ghanaians asking artiste not to campaign for political parties of their choice .My only beef with those artiste is that they should campaign on issues and desist from attacking personalites.The argument that our democracy is young and we should experiment it for sometime before artiste campaign for political parties of their choice is untenable because a journey of thousand miles begins with a step. In the first place, these artistes are Ghanaians living in this country. The programs and policies of any government affect their living standards too.

    I am however worried about the way some of these artistes campaign for their parties. One person who is spewing falsehood and spreading hate campaigns is Maame Dorkono.The actor turn politician.I know the NDC have ignored her blabbing because she is not worth their ink and paper and see her as a good riddance to bad rubbish. She was reported in media as urging Ghanaians not to vote for the NDC because former President Rawlings is roaring like a lion seeking to devour them. I found this statement unacceptable and unbecoming of a talk show host and an artiste. This was a woman who “confessed” that she was offered the platform to contest a parliamentary seat by the NDC on a silver platter in 2004.I recall the current flag bearer campaigning against her at her constituency and telling the people that parliament is not for “ concert party” people, today the “ concert party woman is leading his campaign. How interesting! I am sure she is leading the NPP to elect the president of the concert party association of Ghana; because we have been told before by the NPP flag bearer that she is a concert party woman.

    Maame dorkono cited intimidation and the NDC failing to seek the welfare of women and children during their tenure as some of her reasons for leaving the party. When did the former first couple started intimidating her? Was it after the NDC has lost power and if it is after the NDC has lost power why didn’t she make the whole Ghana aware of it then? What is her motive for doing it now? She is applauding the NPP for their achievement in the area of women and children. I don’t have a problem if she is praising the NPP government for that but I am sure she has not forgotten the immense support that she had during the NDC time towards those same activities. She was made to host “by the fireside” which was a programme aimed at empowering children and teaching them good morals. She was hobnobbing with the former first family and had the opportunity to attend conferences and programs on women empowerment. If for nothing at all she was given the opportunity to build her capacity on issues relating to women and children during the NDC area and that has made her what she is today (a so call advocate for women and children).She even had a golden opportunity to stand on an NDC ticket without a challenger. Her status in society today can be attributed to the mentoring of the former first lady. If all that the NDC did for and other women did not advance the cause of woman in this country, then she should tell us what women empowerment is all about.

    The former President is a Ghanaian and has been in this country since handing over power peacefully to the NPP administration. He has used various platforms to apologies on excesses during his reign. He has no ill motive against anybody and has been speaking his mind on national and international issues, although some of his remarks have not gone done well with a section of Ghanaians. He still has a large following in this country and no matter the hate messages that she spreads about the former first couple, she can never and would never be like them. If you are a member of a political party and you decide to resign you go your way quietly, you don’t insult and make disparaging remarks about that party and the leaders of the party. The moment you do that then Ghanaians would see you as a shameless opportunist and that is what Maame Dorkono has proven to be.

    Mustapha Jimah

    Accra mjimah@yahoo.co.uk

    Source:
    Jimah, Mustapha

    Posted Sep 15 2008, 02:20 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • What are their Business Plans for Ghana?

    The question explicit in the title of this article is directed at the political parties aspiring to govern this country.

    We are by no means ignorant of the fact that nations are infinitely more complex than businesses. Nor are we by 'business plan' referring to those multi-year 'development plans' favoured by certain 'political visionaries' ONCE THEY ARE IN POWER.

    We use 'business plan' generically to refer to any espousal of a plan of action that also contains some financial figures by means of which the viability of the plan in question can be evaluated.

    In the context of the political parties we are addressing, we are inquiring whether their MANIFESTOES, in their currently released or about to be released forms, are viable plans of actions.

    You will appreciate our point better after you have read the underlisted 'promises' made

    to the electorate by the various political parties vying for our votes:

    Provide free secondary education to all pupils in an extension of the current FCUBE program.

    Provide free tertiary tuition to all qualified students.

    Provide free electricity to the masses by means of 'permanent magnets'.

    'Grow' donkeys in sufficient numbers to transform the agricultural capacity of the North, in an integrated pastoral system in which the donkeys provide both free 'fertilizer' and mechanization-substitutes.

    Mobilise internal resources to the tune of $840 billion, up from the current ~$7 billion. On a comparative basis, this means Ghana's GDP during the tenure of this party will be ~$2 trillion, making the country the 5th wealthiest in the world – richer than the UK and France.

    Construct a pipeline from the newly discovered Western offshore oil fields to the North as part of an integrated petroleum complex. Figures from comparative endeavours elsewhere in the world (taking into account the geographical and industry context in Ghana) suggests a project outlay of 5 to 8 billion dollars (definitely greater than the current combined national expenditure).

    What we find worrying is that when journalists choose to scrutinize these plans, even in the superficial manner they usually adopt, they ask a generic 'how will you do it' question, thus providing enormous room for politicians to ramble long-winded strategies containing even lesser content than the original statement of purpose.

    It is not sufficient for a political party to 'cost' the individual initiatives they are proposing, something most of them are not even bothering to do anyway. They must produce a COMPLETE pro-forma budget which demonstrates what the opportunity cost for each initiative will be by showing the source of budgetary receipts alongside the inventory of expenses. A manifesto without such a pro-forma budget cannot suffice as a proper statement of intent.

    Nearly all political schemes are feasible in a certain context. The true measure of feasibility comes when all the schemes are hung together and their costs summed up against projected inflows of resources to determine whether the overall political program is viable or not.

    It may be entirely logical to argue for the entire northern corridor to be turned into an irrigation belt in order to feed a proposed cereal industry, but the question is whether in the inevitable trade-off that must occur for that to happen we are happy to sacrifice low public debt, NHIS concessions or the school feeding program in view of the expected levels of tax gain and donor aid.

    It is true that not all our compatriots are capable of following detailed assessments of political programs, and that only a few even bother to read manifestoes. But that is why the Media exists. That is why, like most other societies, an academic elite subsists on the backbreaking labour of manual workers and other economic producers. It is the duty of such to transmit sophisticated analyses in forms accessible to the general population. But the quality of what they convey will, obviously, be coloured by the substance of what they receive from politicians.

    Our argument is further that calls for an 'issues-based' electioneering campaign are empty demands unless we place a greater emphasis on improving the quality of manifestoes as actionable statements of intent. What constitutes an 'issue' is ultimately a subjective decision over which reasonable people can disagree.

    Objective politicking, on the other hand, cannot proceed in the absence of some form of figure-based analysis and commentary.

    We call on the Media and Civil Society institutions in this country to join us in a loud demand for all political parties to supply pro-forma statements of national accounts for, at least, their first term in office alongside, and correspondent with, their manifestoes.

    Bright B. Simons & Franklin Cudjoe are affiliates of IMANI and www.AfricanLiberty.org

    Source:
    Cudjoe, Franklin

    Posted Sep 15 2008, 02:13 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • JAK, Mills And The virus

    JJ was up and booming on the campaign highway this week, thumbing his nose at his political foes and grumbling that the ruling party was stockpiling arms to resist a transfer of power should the party lose the December elections!

    Here comes another one of the man’s ridiculously preposterous and irresponsible public statements, some said in reaction to his claims.
     
    A discreet investigation could well be conducted and the lie exposed if it is one, others suggested.

    I attended an international conference on energy at the Labadi Beach Hotel during the week and saw Miss Joyce Aryee for the first time since 2003.

    She was lovely as ever and looking a quarter her likely age. This is one distinguished lady of the land who will keep her figure till the last day, but sorry, that is not the story, Jomo…

    I was at the conference to make a presentation on the mass media and the energy industry in West Africa and as Professor “Kwatriot” Yankah would probably have put it, “I spake and spake and spake and spake…”

    This week, politically related violence came closer to the president of the Republic and one of those aspiring to succeed him than anyone could have bargained for.

    President JAK and the NDC’s presidential candidate, Professor J.E.A Mills met at a cultural festival in Cape Coast.
     
    In accordance with custom, the two gentlemen were each to walk across the festival grounds right up to where the others sat, for an exchange of greetings.

    Now, Mills walks over first, with his body guards in tow, see? The president’s body guards effectively prevent Mills’s guards from getting too close to the president.
     
    Then it is the President’s turn to perform custom and Mills Guards try to give the president’s guards a taste of their own security medicine.
     
    The president’s guards promptly set upon one of Mills’s guards, injuring him in a severe attack.

    The national security shrugged off the affair saying the security of the president could not be compromised by the private security arrangements of presidential candidates. No way.

    The NDC issued a public statement saying it would prepare to fight back next time round, punch for punch.

    Some said such an open declaration amounted to an open threat to national security.
     
    Me, I conceded to someone that a threat of violent reprisals in the event of any future confrontation of a similar nature was worrying.

    I added that it all had in my view, something to do with bio-medical psychology and microbiological genetics.
     
    I hope such medical disciplines of my own original fancy do exist, because we need the principles of such bodies of knowledge to guide us in our quest for peace.

    Even the tiniest of living organisms will fight back under attack, see? That includes even bad organisms which being lethally dangerous, should at least be natural enough to agree to die without a fuss when attacked.
     
    They do not, and that is why many medicines have been rendered totally useless by mutant, resistant strains of disease.

    When we were growing up in the early 1950s, the needle of the medical injection syringe was like a spear, only slightly thinner.
     
    The plunger was the size of a baobab tree trunk and its chamber the size of a gas tank.

    The very sight of one of those syringes was enough to send a poor malaria-stricken child slumping to the floor in a dead faint as the injection room nurse approached wielding the monstrous contraption.

    Yet the population of malaria parasite-laden mosquitoes kept increasing and children had to endure the frequent torture in the injection chamber repeatedly to stay alive.

    Soon the malaria parasite had fought back so fiercely that the famous quinine became totally useless in the treatment of the disease. Pharmaceutical companies then came up with chloroquin and subsequently, a progressive range of other “quines”, which the malaria parasite has continued to fight and neutralise in its determination to stay alive.

    It is called self preservation or the virus theory.
     
    Add the fact to the natural human response to public humiliation, and you will appreciate how incidents like that body guards fracas at Cape Coast are better understood from the point of view of human psychology and science, than political propaganda and an uncompromising insistence on the brutal enforcement of state protocol security rules.

    President JAK later got into a spot of bother with a matter of “political correctness”.
     
    He stated publicly that his administration had through various economics programmes, provided opportunities for Ghanaians to stuff their pockets full of good old “cashes”.
     
    He added that those complaining of empty pockets were lazy.

    Many did not take kindly to his words. There are indeed lazy people in every society including ours, but my own testimony is this, Jomo:
     
    Huge sections of our population sweat blood from sunup till sundown but still have only oxygen in their pockets, if they have any pockets in their garments at all.

    You need to visits road and building construction sites, our traditional and street markets, lorry parks, fish-landing beaches, manual labour stone quarries and farms (and make sure you do so at high noon when the sun is mercilessly roasting the people), to appreciate just how hard the majority work.

    Yankee Catholic Theologian Father Jude Winkler points out in a treatise on the subject, that it was the kind of situation which peeved the prophet Amos and angered God: Amos was chagrined that at a time of apparent prosperity in Israel, all appeared to be well with the nation when in fact, all was not as it should have been.

    The great wealth Israel was enjoying was not being shared in a just manner. “The merchants squandered the wealth in decadence while the poor of the land continued to suffer.”

    Those amassing wealth at the expense of the people sometimes showed token concern for the poor:
     
    They made donations to communities and churches in a manner that suggested that they were trying to bribe God and keep Him quiet, see?
     
    As Winkler put it, they were in effect accusing God of being an accomplice in their treachery against the people.

    Methinks those in authority should read the Old Testament more and listen less to spin and propaganda agents who must earn their keep.

    Now, Jomo, this is what God says for the benefit of those in power and those seeking power:
     
     “You rule the land and are proud that so many people are under your rule, but this authority was given to you by the Lord Most High.

    He will examine what you have done, and what you plan to do. You rule on behalf of God and His kingdom, and if you do not govern justly, you will suffer sudden and terrible punishment.
     
    (Wisdom 6: 2-5). Abgenaa…aa!!
     
    By George Sydney Abugri
    Posted Sep 12 2008, 01:26 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • Increasing violent conflicts in the north: The youth must rethink

    For the past decade, the northern part of Ghana has become synonymous with violent tribal, religious and chieftaincy conflicts.

    The recent past violence in the Bawku area in the Upper East Region and the arson in Tamale and Gushiegu, otherwise referred to as the “DO ME I DO YOU AFFAIR” are clear examples.

    Ghana has been reckoned globally as a relatively peaceful nation. But, in the northern part of this country it takes just a shout or little a provocation to spark-off chaos and anarchy.

    This is not to say that other areas in Ghana do not experience violent conflict. But I am particular about the frequency and magnitude of conflicts in and around the three northern regions and their concomitant loss of lives and property.

    The unresolved menace in Dagbon, the Bimbilla chieftaincy dispute, the Wa chieftaincy dispute, the Buipe chieftaincy conflict, the Konkomba-Bimoba scenario and lately the Tamale and Gushiegu arson are worrying to peace loving Ghanaians especially citizens of the north.

    These incidents have put the name and image of the area into question as some now refer to the north as the middle east of Ghana. Violence and of course armed conflicts have eroded peace, joy and to some extent life out of the area leaving it in a state of perpetual poverty and hopelessness.

    In all these cases the class of people actively domineering is the youth. The youth have become subservient to the powers of a bunch of cabals with diabolical intentions whose abiding motivation is political profit, nihilism and mendacity whiles simultaneously denigrating the image of the north.

    They forget that all men are created equal and are endowed naturally with certain inalienable rights which include the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness such that we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution.

    We should therefore engage in politics of hope instead of politics of cynicism.

    Some northerners and some Ghanaian politicians always engage in the amorphous news spin that the area is marginalized, thus continuing a tradition of stereotype and bombast, bias and disdain. These are often the warp and woof of media opprobrium and coverage when any issue about the north is the subject.

    I am of the conviction that the bane of the northern poverty are the intra-religious and chieftaincy disputes.

    The area which already experiences erratic rainfall pattern should have seen its youth who constitute the larger proportion of the labour force channel their energies into fruitful ventures that will provide an effective link in pushing for a positive change in the traditional landscape instead of trying to create lawless and a neo-culture of silence in the regions.

    It is now time we stood up and said no to those selfish politicians who take advantage of the vulnerability of the youth to employ them as serial callers into radio discussions of the polarized political environment to always launch vituperations and scurrilous attacks on their political opponents whom they consider as foes and adversaries.

    Often, hosts of radio programmes particularly on the private radio stations due to lack of professionalism, bias or fears allow such individuals to embark on such scurrility without correcting or putting them on track.

    As noted in political circles, one of the characteristics of a democratic organization is the capacity to manage opposing views through dialogue, compromise and respect for established procedures.

    So why do we resort to arson and armed conflicts when we should have been learning lessons from Rwanda, Liberia and Sudan.

    Solutions

    How do we resolve this multitudinal conflicts that have engulfed the area.

    First of all, I must sound home the caution that no outsider and no government or state institution can resolve the problems created by us except ourselves because we know the root causes and how weapons are being moved or smuggled into the land.

    The people training warriors, hiring mercenaries and trafficking weapons and ammunitions are within us; let’s expose them and stop shifting the blame on individuals and institutions outside the northern terrain.

    In fact, the challenge to change the socio-political attitude of the people of the north in particular may be a messianic one. The socio-political attitudes of a people determine the way they do things. That is, what they do, how they do them and when they do them. Are the youth of the area selfless and willing to sacrifice?

    Do we have a development agenda as northerners? Can we co-exist as one people with a common destiny? Granted the elderly have failed us, what are we as the young and upcoming doing? I mean the Haruna Iddrisus, Amin Antas, Alhassan Andanis, Mustafa Hamids, Inusah Fuseinis, Thomas Alonsis, Andrews Awunis, Rashid Pelpuos, Ali Nakyeas and the Adam Sules. Not to talk of the Bawumias and the Mahamas. The time to act is now.

    As young educated elites of the area, we need to come together and fight a common cause. Politics and chieftaincy tend to divide us, making many to wonder whether we can unite at all.

    Politics is directly related to the day-to-day socio-economic development of the people and it is time we became united in diversity. For now we look very disorganized and disenchanted.

    Most of us the youth need to soberly reflect on and examine our lives and contributions to the area’s development.

    We must realize that no matter the faith we practice, the language we speak, the ethnic group we belong to, the political party we follow, no matter how much money we have or how poor we are, we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother’s and sister’s keeper.

    While we as individuals have different past, upon a cursory look we all share the same hopes and aspirations – the development of the north and its peoples.

    Moreover, it is high time we discarded the rapidly springing up of religious fundamentalism, especially with regards to intra-Islamic controversies.

    Young preachers who profess to know Islamic theology launch very serious verbal attacks on their perceived Tijania or Ahli Sunna counterparts especially during Ramadan which is supposed to be a Month of Peace.

    Let’s bear in mind that religious factionalism will take us no where since it is abhorred by Allah Himself and if we do not take our time the very genuine reasons and goals for which we practice religion would elude us on the day of judgement.

    Why do we use religion to hold ourselves back when it should help us to progress? We need to ask ourselves many questions and imbibe the culture of tolerance into our social setting.

    Finally, in order for us to effectively resolve conflicts in the north, we ought to as youth break the too much dependency mentality that has been with us for only God knows how long.

    We should emancipate ourselves from the syndrome of political manipulations and influences.

    We have to unlock our own independence before that of our society. When we become independent we can then question the status quo and the injustices in our society.

    We should be able to identify the pro and anti-development attitudes and try to be vigilant of leaders whether within or without the north who try to misuse us for their own gain.

    We should learn to stand firm on the truth, for according to Winston Churchill the “truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it; but, in the end; there it is.”

    Let me sum up by saying that violent armed conflicts have been unnecessary and have led to catastrophic consequences.

    The economic costs of conflicts are immeasurable and in conflict areas, poverty sucks the energies of people, malnutrition kills children, illiteracy darkens their minds and forecloses their future.

    We all as northerners must therefore ponder over the issues raised in this article and endeavour to take part in effective conflict prevention; management and resolution for, the rest of the country may not wait for us while we struggle amidst conflicts.

    We have suffered enough backwardness already and do not need to continue to give people reasons why the stereotypes about the north and her should abate.

    As we approach December, 2008 General Elections, we as northerners and Ghanaians in general are being called upon to reaffirm our values and commitments to the legacy of our fore bearers who fought through thick and thin for our independence and the promises of generations yet unborn.

    Muhammed A. Yakubu,Youth Development Advocate,africansaphari@yahoo.com


    Posted Sep 12 2008, 11:07 AM by daisy with no comments
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  • The watchmen and women of Ghana arise!!

    In every community there is bound to be greedy people who are always in the minority but very powerful in society.

    These greedy people need to be put in check else, majority of the people in the society will be deprived of their basic necessities of life, majority of the people will be poorer and poorer and they will be trampled upon by the greedy people and eventually become slaves in their own motherland.

    The few greedy individuals will be amassing wealth excessively to the detriment of majority of the people in the nation. In such a situation, the society or nation will be marching time and cannot move forward in rapid development for the good of all.

    In order that the greedy may be put in check so as to prevent them from toying with the peace, happiness, prosperity and destiny of the nation, God in a very special way, chooses some people in the nation, both men and women, and endow them with special courage and makes them the voice of the voiceless, the defenders of the defenseless and the protectors of the poor in the society or nation.

    These chosen men and woman of God are supposed to oppose injustice that deprives humanity of sustainable peace, happiness and prosperity.

    They are even supposed to call for the removal of the powers that be especially when they have brought untold hardships, to God’s children (Jeremiah 1:10 & 18 – 19).If the chosen men and women of God refuse to voice out the injustice in society and the people perish, God has no other choice but to punish them for refusing to voice out the injustice in society. (Ex 33: 7 – 9)

    After fifty one years ( 51years) of independence, majority of Ghanaians still lack the basic necessities of life; simple refuse or filth management has become a huge problem for us, consequently, filth or refuse is engulfing our villages, towns and even our capital city, leading to all kinds of epidemics.

    So many people are suffering economically, socially, politically and even legally because of the complex nature of our legal systems. As majority go through such a hell in Ghana, few individuals are enjoying excessively and getting richer and richer each passing day to the detriment of the majority of people and this is happening as a result of greediness.

    The greediness and manipulation and exploitation of the poor masses is getting out of hand simply because those who are suppose to be the voice of the voiceless, the defenders of the defenseless and the protectors of the poor who are in the majority in Ghana, do not want to be branded as doing politics or perceived to be partisan.

    Consequently, when party A says 1+1 = 2 and then Party B says 1 + 1 = 3, many of those who are suppose to be the voice of the voiceless just simply look on and the nation gets more confused to the advantage of the greedy individuals in the nation.

    In the midst of this confusion, the greedy then take advantage of the silence of the watchmen and woman of the nation ( Ex 35 :7 – 9) and milk the poor masses to abject poverty and some just die out of pure abject poverty.

    I would like to encourage all those who have accepted the call to be the voice of the voiceless, the defenders of the defenseless and the protectors of the poor masses, not to look the other way, in pretense, and allow greedy people to have their field day in politics or partisan politics.

    1 + 1 is always 2 and cannot be 3, and this truth needs to be proclaimed in season and out of season and without fear or favour.

    The proclamation has no time limit and it is not time bound. Please never allow partisan politics to seal your mouths and stop you from preventing greedy people from tinkering with Ghana’s God given enviable peace and throwing dust into the eyes of the poor masses.

    Even when people desert you and brand you as been partisan for proclaiming the truth in season and out of season, do not be worried at all, because your Lord and Master who chose you was branded as Beelzebul , the chief of the demons ( Mark 3:22) and deserted ( Jn 6:66)

    For those who believe in politics of lies and therefore tell the masses terrible political lies and get whatever they want in Ghana, I would like to encourage them to be mindful of the fact that, it is only the truth that can help us to sustain Ghana’s God given enviable peace and not lies or injustice. Sustainable peace does not flourish in an environment charged with terrible injustice.


    Credit: Rev. Fr. Ignatius Amponsah, E.Mail: Difficultcat2@yahoo.com




     

    Posted Sep 12 2008, 11:07 AM by daisy with no comments
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  • Colours their essence

    Color is the reflection of light on the eye. The Sun is the source of all light. Actually, it is the light. In the absence of the Sun therefore, the color of all things revert to black.

    The principal colors are the Holy Black, Yellow and White of the sun, Green of virginity and productivity, Red of the blood and soul, Illusive Blue of the sky and sea, Cream of the moonlight, and Brown of the multi colored Earth. We are principally made of these colors because we reflect the universe which is in turn, a reflection of God.

    The Green vegetation is produced by the combined productivity of the moon, sun and earth, scientifically called photosynthesis. This Green vegetation is not merely a sign of productivity but actually core to our life’s sustenance. The cliché, ‘when the last tree dies, the last man dies’ is actually more literal than philosophical. This is because human beings actually inter breathe with the vegetation. In other words, we interchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the green vegetation. Thus, while we breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, the plants breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale to us the vital oxygen.

    More succinctly, it is the vegetation that freshens or replenishes the air we breathe after we pollute it. Secondly but equally important, virtually all foods we eat come from the green vegetation. Here again, the cliché ‘when the last tree dies the last man dies’ is true to the letter. The third essence of green is in protection and preservation of water. Whenever the vegetation around water bodies is destroyed, the water dries up. Thus water; another vitality of life cannot survive without the green. Even the ‘almighty’ sea has a great magnitude of green underneath.

    It is this same green that our Ancestors used in purifying water without any side effects before today’s synthetic puritants like chlorine from the Caucasian world. We all know the cost involved in this chlorine and its ilk, not to mention that of the mammoth and equally costing machines accompanying its process. We can now begin to understand the water crisis. The water crisis is not due to unavailability of water but rather, the abnormal cost of the current system of treatment and processing. It is sinful to be unappreciative of the free abundance of all things by Nature and consequently crave for a synthetic life. We are not against refinement. Refinement should seek to make life better and sustainable in quality and not focus on profit at the expense of the former. There is water beneath the land everywhere. Let us exploit it through filtered borehole mechanism!

    Green again is the symbolic color of virginity and productivity, our youth and our productivity! Ye mma bubu, ye daakye! In green as a banner color for the Black Nation therefore, glorification of our Creator in our collective endeavors was the principal consideration of our Ancestors. Every Black National should therefore have green as a symbolic banner of our roots! It is a betrayal of the Black Nation for anyone not to have Green as or among his/her banner colors! Every such African must be viewed with the suspicion of a traitor!

    From the above, it is clear that Green and Black are one and synonymous with each other. Whiles Green represents the pre birth, Black is that of the after birth. It is interesting however, that the Collins Shorter dictionary describes Green as “inexperienced” and “gullible”. Another representational color of the black moon is Cream. It is the color portrayed at full moon, appearing with the stars, (Nsoroma-Children of Above) also virtually in the same Cream color. Cream is therefore the glorification of the sun by the black moon. This Cream of the moon is a reflection of light from the sun. At critical analysis, it is realized that the Cream at full moons is a tint of white, yellow and green.

    It is the moon that guides us through the darkness. We should note that darkness is different from black. Whilst darkness is the lack of vision, black is the color from which all colors are extracted. In accordance with our heritage therefore, we should have Cream among our symbols of royalty, besides its beauty! One important color of our golden royal heritage is Yellow. Yellow is the color of our gold, a physical symbol of our royalty which has been the chief jealousy of our detractors since Kmt, Ancient Egypt, through Gold Coast to Modern Ghana.

    The Caucasian has been after Obuasi (literally meaning ‘stone under’) since the latter 1800’s not to mention the other versatile deposits of the southern belt of the country. It has been one of the core reasons for colonizing us. Any doubtful Thomas should take a look at the railway map of Ghana. Again why were the colonialists concentrated in the south of the Gold Coast? Does South Africa also ring a bell? We entreat every soul to read the history of Obuasi Gold Mines, now Anglo Gold Ashanti, especially its beginning. Biney, Brown and Ellis should turn in their grave with shame for their various contributions. We hand them over to the Ancestors!

    With admirable consistency, the Caucasians finally took Obuasi after one hundred years of envious and bloody pursuit! We should all bear a dent of shame for the loss of Obuasi. One way or the other, all of us, individually and collectively could have acted to stop the greed of our brethren and their masters. No one should tell us about the 17% share of Ghana. It’s amazing how some of our leaders are entrapped in the false beliefs of foreign investment as a panacea for economic growth. Over 95%of profit earned in the country by such foreign companies is repatriated to their home countries! Obuasi, very pathetically, reflects nothing but the opposite of its wealth. Of its impact on the country as a whole, only God knows.

    Let the consciousness sink in that there are generational blessings and curses, chains and links, generational umbilical cord. For that matter, the current generation should grasp the magnitude of the fight at hand and not be like the ostrich burying its head in the grass, thinking its whole body is safe from sight. We cannot shed our responsibility for we were just born for such a time! God has empowered us with all the accoutrements we need for the pending war, war to change the course of our current situation, the situation we are all mad about, and war of our destiny. There is no such time and opportunity as now. It may seem overwhelming only when we take a myopic stance. All it takes is personal conception and commitment to cure our sick life, God has done the healing.

    Anyone who refuses to flow with the process of the change can be sure of only one thing. The destruction of the outgoing evil system meant for the greedy brethren and their masters will not spare any obstacle in its path! Like the biblical Job after the tribulations, we have been blessed with a double portion of wealth, discovery of gold deposits in Northern Ghana and that of oil in our waters down south! Our leaders, for Kristo’s sake, dare not entertain any greedy motives over this new divine treasure. Let every individual soul of the Holy Land own a piece of the national cake.

    Simply float shares for all Ghanaians both in and outside Ghana. If there is deficit for the capital needed after, again float the shares for Ghanaian companies. The third round then must open for Africans before coming to agreement between the government and the companies with technical expertise. Dividends will then be periodically ‘felt’ in everyone’s accounts. Sadly, this warning may be late by the time of publication. Newmont has already cleared a stupendous acreage of green forest in the Brong Ahafo Region north of Ashanti, fishing for the royal metal, our gold!

    The current calculated mission of the Caucasian to take over our water, electricity, gold, oil, and virtually all our treasures not only of Ghana, the new capital of the Black Nation, but that of the whole Africa. This disguise of foreign investments are all traits of the neo-colonialism Nkrumah, Kenyatta, Nyerere, Sekou Toure and other ancestors warned us about. Can anyone explain the massive structures of virtually all the western missions springing up in Accra, the Ghanaian capital? There has been a modification in approach of the neo-colonialist.
    Here and now, the historical role of most western churches is being played by most of the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). That of the castles’ role is taken by most of the new structures of the embassies and high commissions. The African Unity vision and mission started by Nkrumah and the founding fathers cannot be stopped because it is a divine course. Hence the only way out is hijacking its control, thereby steering it to the contrary of African aspirations.

    Unless Africans re-take the spirit and control of the African unity mission, it will never be the vehicle to take us to the Promised Land. We should develop discerning eyes not only in the physical but more importantly in the unseen.

    Red simply symbolizes our blood. It induces passion in our endeavors for the attainment of our hopes and aspiration. Without passion, which is the intensity of our convictions, we will forever be in the wilderness. This is why red has become a universal symbol of danger because anybody or situation that is ‘Red’ is fully convicted of his objectives and therefore dangerous to cross path with. Until we come to such a ‘red’ state as a nation, our freedom will continue to elude us. In as much as we appreciate qualitative leadership, it is the redness of the masses that transforms a nation to its desired destiny. Let us fear not, for God has prepared and continues to prepare the leaders who will take us to the Promised Land.

    The first phase of the struggle (independence) was won not on a silver platter, but by the Red Blood and sweat of our fathers. The final phase cannot be won otherwise. Our Red should be on the sacrificial altar, knowing that NKUNIM (victory) is all but our mission. In other words, our collective nationalism for the deliverance of the Black Nation should be powered by our black spirit and body and a Red determination. No one else will do the job for us. It is our foremost responsibility. Let us lift our Redness to the heavens and we shall be resourced with all the energy needed for building the nation. We must begin to energize each other with the Holy Red Blood and like a single candle that lights a whole nation; our red will permeate every corner of the Holy Black Nation. In this state, we will become like the proverbial broom that cannot be broken when bound together but the slightest pressure breaks a single broom stick.

    It is only this red state that will bring the days when each is the brother’s keeper. This machine parading in the name of human rights and its parent, democracy should be tamed and modified into our Green Equation. Unless we infuse this democracy with morality and displace the greed of self which is sin, this system will lead us nowhere but certain destruction. Unless our Red, our Holy Red Blood becomes our sacrificial contribution, we will continue to be cowed into a state of fear, hopelessness and perpetual chaos. No one should underrate the power of one, for like a candle, which is all we need to light up the whole nation. In fact, our only fear should be that we are powerful beyond measure and that as we resolve to the point of the Red, the seemingly mountainous struggle for freedom and peace will evaporate.

    The Youth of the nation should especially consider this Red issue seriously. We are the current strength of the nation and until we are prepared to shed this Red, a guaranteed glorious tomorrow is impossible! Our fathers have finished their youthful task and it is their Red that brought us this far. Even though we are displeased with this current state of affairs, nothing will change unless we are ready to effect this change! Secondly, every nation is built on the energies of the youth and the wisdom of the old. We hereby call on our current youth that it is our time to contribute to the nation building. We should not, indeed can not disappoint our Nation! Let us face the Rising Sun of our new day began and march on till victory is won! The bell tolls for none but thee! We have no choice but to remain true to our nation and true to our God!

    Let us look now at Brown. Brown is the principal color of mother earth. We are children of Nature and must exhibit such. Inasmuch as we appreciate finesse and refinement, our natural rhythms should be allowed to flow with its purity. We must also be reminded that there can never be anything better than ‘natural’ finesse or refinement. Brown of the earth therefore is the epitome of beauty of nature both literally and philosophically. Brown comes in the equation of originality.

    Just look at brown sugar as unrefined sugar and its health implications. Health wise, white sugar should be the most untouchable product on the market. Brown rice is another example of natural finesse. The nutritious value of ever popular 'waakye' (a brown Rice meal) of northern Ghana cannot be over emphasized. Brown, by its very source, exudes the spirit of nature. It reminds us of our natural being and the need to maintain its accompanying beauty as such. The oneness of Brown and Green is demonstrated in trees as we know of the stem and leaves. It is also the Brown bark of these trees that our traditional healers source a lot of their herbal concoction for the health of our people.

    We should make a conscious use of herbal or traditional medicine. Orthodox medicine by its make up can develop into poison when a variety of them is combined in medicating a disease. We are witnesses to numerous such situations including that of a brother in–law. He died not of the sickness afflicting him, but of the prescribed variety of medication which metamorphosed into poison as the autopsy proved. He was resident in London, U.K. Thankfully, a degree program in herbal/traditional medicine has been commenced at KNUST.

    The condemnation of traditional herbal medicine on grounds of dosage is nothing more than propaganda. Doesn’t excess food come out as waste? In the extreme case of excess intake, one easily throws up or gets an instant dysentery since the body naturally rejects such excess intake be it food or medicine. In anyway, herbalist always directs dosage. We however admit that a lot needs to be done by way of packaging. Secondly and more importantly, the spiritual aspect of traditional medicine grants us total healing unlike orthodox medicine which simply cures the physical.

    In concluding this point, it is this same traditional medicine which made our forefathers more sexually potent than our generation. In fact, most of the ninety year olds in our villages are more sexually potent and generally healthier than the youth of our cities! Let us be critical in our analysis of life issues, discern and discard the brain washing and mis-education embedded in our educational system. Here, the total overhaul of our educational system is strongly advocated. We are not talking of lengthening or otherwise of school years, name changing nor changing school uniforms and materials but the substance of the content! We are talking about educational system that will make us conscious of both our spiritual and physical environments. How was it that there was more order in our society prior to this so called modern education? The fact that our traditional system of education may not have been formal does not mean there was no education. In fact, one only needs to tour areas in Africa least contaminated with this civilization and the amazement of a neater and orderly environment than Accra, capital of Ghana will knock you out.

    Not only is it evident in the physical environment but also in the fresh air against the polluted version of the cities! The stupendous filth, the dying water bodies and ever reducing greenery is but symbolic of our corrupted minds disguised as modern civility! Last but not least of the African colors is White. This is a very important color for us as a nation. White is usually synonymous with victory and purity. In purity, it can be equated with green as being virgin or fresh.
    Illusive Blue, the color of the Caucasian world, seemingly the dominating color in the world is worth a few comments. First of all, we find blue in the ubiquitous sky and the all embracing sea. This is the greatest illusion in nature! When one finally moves to the sky, the seeming blue vanishes into a colorless expanse. The same mirage is of the sea. When one actually gets to the sea water, it is the same colorless color of water found elsewhere that emerges. Can this be interpreted to mean that this whole current civilization is but a mirage?

    From the African perspective where symbolism is everything, we need to be extremely cautious when dealing with institutions and organizations with the symbolic color of blue. We should also be mindful when choosing colors as symbols for our organizations. A glaring symbol of the above is the blue color of the New Patriotic Party, NPP. Guess the blue of the New Patriotic Party, same as the national colors of the west is worth a national analysis! We can now understand the hardcore capitalist and pro-western policies of the NPP causing unparalleled hardship on the masses! Blue is not an African color and therefore its symbolism is not African! The NPP has replaced the appointed chiefs the colonialists used in the era of Indirect Rule. It is also very interesting that both the Convention Peoples Party and the National Democratic Congress, founded by Kwame Nkrumah and Jerry Rawlings respectively, which have been core Pan-Africanists and Socialists in character, have Green as their principal color! (Green, white and red for the CPP and green, white, red and black for the NDC) Remember independence now from Kwame Nkrumah and its opposition from the UP, parents of the NPP!

    We are not saying there is no color of blue in nature but the Blue in the sky and sea are ILLUSIONS. Scientifically and artistically, Green is made of Blue and Yellow. In relation to Green therefore, Blue is an incomplete color! In concluding the discourse on blue, it is worthy of note that the Collins Shorter dictionary and thesaurus describes blue as “depressed” and “indecent”. Blue however, is a cool color as the blue sky and refreshing expanse of the water in the sea portrays. The background to colors alone should commit all people of color to The Green Equation. Let The Healing Now Begin as The Holy Children Fly The Green Banners…. NKUNIM WO HO MAYEN!!


    Credit: Yaw Nkunim [nkunim@yawnkunim.com AND gbiney@yahoo.co.uk.]



     

    Posted Sep 10 2008, 03:16 PM by daisy with no comments
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  • Why they are at each other's throat

    Hello Kwame,

    First let me congratulate you for taking the bold decision to go up north to assess what’s happening there for yourself.

    But for God’s sake, where in heaven’s name is your brother, the president?

    I know you are interior minister and these things fall perfectly within your domain.

    But you don’t have as much clout as your brother does and I expected him to have been the first person to rush up there to help calm nerves.

    Instead, what did he do? He chose to go to Zambia to bury Mwanawasa. Does he care more about a dead friend than his living compatriots? Sometimes, your brother makes me wonder whether his grey matter has turned black!

    Just around the time we heard the news that there has been a violent eruption in the north, there was also news that construction labourers working on the presidential mansion were on strike.

    Your brother immediately rushed to site to talk some sense into the labourers’ heads.

    Just a few hours after he left the site, the labourers were back at work. Shortly after he had persuaded the labourers to get back to work, he jumped on a plane. Off to Zambia he went to bury his dear Mwanawasa.

    Obviously, your brother cares more about that mansion than about the people of the north. If this were not the case, he would have flown up there with the same urgency with which he raced to the Flagstaff House to talk to those striking labourers.

    But I suppose the argument, as always, would be that he is the chief executive and he has very capable line managers who handle these sorts of things and he doesn’t have to micromanage everything.

    That’s true. But if this is the case, why will he even bother to intervene in a strike by a bunch of lowly-paid construction labourers working on a project he’s not even the one paying for? The strike at the presidential mansion did not make the international news headlines.

    The violence in Gushiegu and Tamale did. So, even in this fickle mind of mine, I know that people burning homes and chasing each other with bows and arrows is a greater cause for concern than 200 labourers refusing to work.

    When a president behaves this way, I’m tempted to think that either he doesn’t care or he doesn’t get it. In this case, I think it’s a little bit of both: he doesn’t get it and he doesn’t care.

    And this sort of attitude by our leaders is one of the reasons why the people of the north, as those of us in the south like to say, “are fond of fighting.” They feel marginalised. I think they have been marginalised for far too long.

    The first time I visited the north, it felt like I was out of Ghana. The roads there are the worst in the country. They do not even have hospitals which are as bad as the ones we have down south. Even in their big towns, people still live in mud houses.

    The schools there make the bad ones we have down south seem like Ivy League Universities. And to cap it all, there are no jobs there for able-bodied young men and women to do.

    I’ve dealt with a few northerners and I find them to be the most hardworking people in the land. And they are honest.

    They are the sort of people any manager will love to employ because for them no work is beneath their pay grade.

    But all the jobs are down south and they are left up there with nothing to do.

    And you, your brother and your friends in government (and those before you) have done very little to end the marginalisation.

    After the floods of last year, your brother set up a northern development fund to help change the status quo.

    One year on, nothing has been done to get this fund to work for the benefit of our compatriots in the north.

    Even the legislative processes necessary for this fund to take off are yet to be initiated.

    Couldn’t you have done this with the same urgency you used to sell off Ghana Telecom?

    A man with no job, no place to lay his head and no hope for the future will not think twice about setting his neighbour’s house on fire if someone relatively well-off (like a politician) asks him to do so in return for a cedi or two.

    He has nothing to lose – except his miserable life. For someone like that, death comes as a blessing and so living on the edge offers hope of a quick end to a wretched life.

    They have nothing to lose. And that’s why they fight over guinea fowls and lotto kiosks. That’s why they fight over who among two dead chiefs should have their funeral rites performed first.

    Kwame, marginalisation is not the only cause of the sporadic violence in the north.

    At the end of your trip to Gushiegu, I heard you say on radio that “there are some people in the northern region, particularly in Tamale, who feel they can get away with murder... That is wrong but that’s a belief some people hold that they can get away with anything.”

    This is called impunity. And you and your brother and his government are partly to blame for the growing impunity in the north. I was even surprised to hear you make a statement like that.

    At the height of the Dagbon crisis, the District Chief Executive for Yendi was accused by several people of alleged involvement in the instigation of the violence.

    No one bothered to investigate the allegations against him and the guy is still walking around a powerful, free man.

    In the recent outbreak of violence, about three people have reported that they saw the Gushiegu DCE allegedly pouring petrol around some houses. He also reportedly gave out weapons to some people and pointed out who they should fire at.

    Police extensively questioned the people who made the allegations against him but have not bothered to ask the DCE a single question.

    And you are telling me there are people up north who think “they can get away with anything”?

    Please, spare me the long talk. You know who these people are. Deal with them and stop wasting our ears.

    Tell us something we don’t know. After all, you are the interior minister and you have “intelligence” we don’t have.

    The children of Alhaji Jemoni, whose houses and cars were burnt at Gushiegu, still fear for their lives because those who destroyed their property (and tried to kill them) are still walking free.

    I bet you will give us another lecture on impunity if, tomorrow, Alhaji Jemoni takes an axe to the head any of those suspected to have taken away everything he has worked so hard for.

    Remember, and tell this to your brother, that there can be no peace without justice. And justice comes in many forms.

    If the state doesn’t deliver it, people will find other means of getting it. The latter option often leads to war and the shedding of blood.

    Finally, Kwame, tell your brother if he even cares half as much as I think he should, he must get on a plane and go up north to talk peace with his fellow citizens.

    I can’t understand why your brother finds it easier to go to Kenya to talk to (Odinga and Kibaki) and to Zambia (to bury Mwanawasa) but finds it so difficult to take a 30-minute flight to the north to sit and talk peace with his own compatriots about peace.

    I think it’s because there are no five-star hotels up there. But that’s the point. He should go up there and live with them for a few days, look around and see the poverty and squalor for himself.

    For a man used to the comfort of the Waldorf Astoria, this is a tough thing to do. But he should try and go up north.

    He should go and sit down with as many of the people as possible – from Yendi to Bawku to Gushiegu – and talk to them about peace. They will listen. They may not immediately stop fighting.

    But such engagement, followed with sincere policy initiatives to bring development to the north will go a long way to calm nerves and bring hope to many of those up there who have nothing to live for.

    For now, there is calm. But you and I know there will be another storm soon. Question is “where?”

    It’s me,
    Citizen Kwamena

    Credit: Ato Kwamena Dadzie - email: akwamena@gmail.com





    Posted Sep 10 2008, 03:13 PM by daisy with no comments
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