Ohemaa Fremaa Busia, you must call off your hunger strike, at once. That is precisely what those ruthless and powerful hypocrites who think you are now their "Tormentor-in-Chief" want - you very ill and too weakened by a hunger strike, to continue embarrassing them with your media blitzkrieg.
Decent and fair-minded Ghanaians are appalled that those worthless men, who are permanently sozzled from downing never-ending torts of Alomo gin bitters to keep their infernal libidos up, have the gall to try and make out that you are a liar and a mad woman.
It is they, those pathological liars and men without any honour, who are rather mad, bad and dangerous - and certainly not fit to hold the high positions they occupy, morally. May God bless, protect and guide you in all you do, Ohemaa - and may the good inhabitants of Manhyia, do the decent thing: and stand up for truth and decency, by electing you as their elected representative in our spineless parliament: where you will be a beacon of hope for decency in our public life.
Today, the amoral crooks who wish you dead, are selling VALCO, because they need yet more kickbacks - and that spineless parliament will doubtless allow the sale and purchase agreement to pass: even though the empty and loudmouthed talking-heads had told us they were going to set up an integrated aluminium industry in our country - a foolish dream at a time of global climate change: when the last thing we must do is tear down the Atiwa Mountain range rain forest, for such (relatively) short-term lunacy.
It won't surprise me one bit, if it turned out that they have already asset-stripped VALCO completely, laying their grubby hands on its large property portfolio, prior to the ill-fated aluminium smelter being quietly offloaded to foreigners for a paltry US$175 millions.
May God bless Professor Ken Attufah, who has shown, in deriding the outrageous claims by your enemies that you are mentally ill, that he is a truly decent man indeed, in a nation full of cowards and sycophants - too frightened of people in power, to stand up to them publicly. I salute him - and would like to tell him that I admire his courage in this matter, very much.
Although it is frowned on in newspaper circles, I can tell him, that today, I am truly sorry that I once wrote an unpleasant editorial in The Independent newspaper, in which I accused him specifically (and the National Reconciliation Commission, in general!), of trying to hide the exhumation of the bodies of Mawuli Goka and Co., during the sittings of the NRC. Do forgive me Professor Attufah - Mawuli Goka had been a childhood playmate of mine (once upon a time), whose infectious laugh, still rings in my ears: all these years from our childhood.
Oh, Ghana - ye awiaye paa, enia? Hmmm, Ghana, eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Friday, 31 October 2008
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Re: "Ama Busia distances herself from Fremaa Busia's accusations"
Fremaa Busia, the Joan of Arc of Ghanaian politics, is mad? How can any decent soul say such an outrageous thing? How very sad.
Has our homeland Ghana now become an African version of Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union - in which dissenters are regularly "diagnosed" as being "psychiatric cases" in order to discredit them and get rid of them permanently?
Do Fremaa Busia's enemies now want to forcebly commit her to Patang Hospital - as a clever way to rid themselves permanently of an acute embarrassment: which is why they insinuate that she is mad?
Nana Oye Lithur must keep an eye on our heroine. She must also keep her in the eye of the international community of feminists too. God bless and keep Naana Fremaa Busia safe always. Ohemaa Lithur, wu ye bue, ankasa!
It is no surprise that Madame Ama Busia makes disparaging remarks about Fremaa Busia. Power, some say, is an aphrodisiac, after all - and she is benefitting from the pork-barrel politics of the oerfidious Kufuor & Co is she not?
Perhaps Madame Ama Busia forgets that there are those who might also say that she is a hypocrite and a coward - who is enjoying the fruits of the nepotism of our "Hypocrite-in-Chief".
Is she not living the life of Riley, at taxpayers' expense (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=152332.)?
No doubt, she will be quick to accuse those who make such a point of being "lazy" and "envious" - the favourite mantra of the greedy and uncouth philistines who now rule our country: and are busy looting our nation and participating in the gang-rape of Mother Ghana.
This is a nation full of misogynists, in case that blinkered soul hasn't yet cottoned on to that. How can she possibly close her eyes to that shameful and outrageous fact?
Does she not know that powerful men in various positions up and down this country (including even some of those occupying the highest offices in the land!), abuse and sexually harass women, on a daily basis - and with total impunity? Incredible.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Has our homeland Ghana now become an African version of Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union - in which dissenters are regularly "diagnosed" as being "psychiatric cases" in order to discredit them and get rid of them permanently?
Do Fremaa Busia's enemies now want to forcebly commit her to Patang Hospital - as a clever way to rid themselves permanently of an acute embarrassment: which is why they insinuate that she is mad?
Nana Oye Lithur must keep an eye on our heroine. She must also keep her in the eye of the international community of feminists too. God bless and keep Naana Fremaa Busia safe always. Ohemaa Lithur, wu ye bue, ankasa!
It is no surprise that Madame Ama Busia makes disparaging remarks about Fremaa Busia. Power, some say, is an aphrodisiac, after all - and she is benefitting from the pork-barrel politics of the oerfidious Kufuor & Co is she not?
Perhaps Madame Ama Busia forgets that there are those who might also say that she is a hypocrite and a coward - who is enjoying the fruits of the nepotism of our "Hypocrite-in-Chief".
Is she not living the life of Riley, at taxpayers' expense (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=152332.)?
No doubt, she will be quick to accuse those who make such a point of being "lazy" and "envious" - the favourite mantra of the greedy and uncouth philistines who now rule our country: and are busy looting our nation and participating in the gang-rape of Mother Ghana.
This is a nation full of misogynists, in case that blinkered soul hasn't yet cottoned on to that. How can she possibly close her eyes to that shameful and outrageous fact?
Does she not know that powerful men in various positions up and down this country (including even some of those occupying the highest offices in the land!), abuse and sexually harass women, on a daily basis - and with total impunity? Incredible.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Re: "Has President Kufuor Used His Presidency To Promote Asantehene?"
Opanin, please leave the Asantehene out of this. The guilty party here is our "Hypocrite-in-Chief" - whom Ghanaians, the citizens of a nation of diverse ethnicity, elected to pull their country together, amongst other positive changes they wanted to see in their nation, in December 2000.
(http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=152331.)
He has disappointed many independent-minded, non-partisan and non-tribal Ghanaians, by his outrageous use of the machinery of state - to promote his favourites amongst his tribal chiefs.
Unfortunately, all of those personages are tribal supremacists (our local equivalent of the odious white supremacists of the Western world) - and it is important that they are never mentioned in the same breath as ordinary Asantes: who are good and decent human beings, who are not tribal supremacists one bit, as evidenced by their intermarriages and peaceful co-existence, with members of all the tribes in Ghana.
The president's actions, in this respect, are nothing short of treasonable - and worst than any past military coup in our country: because there has never been a coup in Ghana, which sought to, and ended up, dividing Ghanaians along tribal lines, ever.
Mr. Kufuor is the worst leader we have ever elected into office, in that sense - and history will condemn him for actively seeking to divide Ghanaians along ethnic lines for political advantage, as his many critics have always admonished him for, throughout his tenure: in his constant and shortsighted humouring of the megalomaniac traditional rulers he favoured over all other chiefs in Ghana, throughout his tenure.
In so doing, he created a great deal of resentment amongst decent and fair-minded Ghanaians: who were irritated by this insensitivity of his, and despised him for his abuse of the position he occupies to promote a tribal chief who offends his critics, because apparently, he mistakenly sees his role, as the reviver of the pre-colonial sovereign status, of his predecessors - an absurd, treasonable and foolish folly, for any traditional ruler in the unitary Republic of Ghana, to aspire to: and an outrage that actually threatens the cohesion and stability of our dear nation, on top too. Period.
Genuine Nkrumaists and all Ghanaians who are not the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types (who wear blinkers permanently, and are too blind to recognise truth, even if they bumped into her in broad daylight at Asafo market), will be glad to see the back of the most tribalsitic head of state we have ever had the misfortune of electing into office in our homeland Ghana. Shame on him!
As far as your criticism of our "Hypocrite-in-Chief's" favourite tribal chiefs goes, let me remind you that history will judge Otumfuo Opoku Ware 11 as the greatest of the modern-day Asantehenes - for, he clearly understood that precisely because of the weight of history behind the stool he occupied, he had to keep a low profile, in order to foster national unity in our homeland Ghana.
There was no part of our country in which that august gentleman was not respected - and he was genuinely mourned by all Ghanaians when he passed away. May his soul rest in peace. That was a man who had class - and even though he was one of the most humble of men who ever walked the surface of this earth: he was respected throughout our nation. Food for thought, Opanin? Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
(http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=152331.)
He has disappointed many independent-minded, non-partisan and non-tribal Ghanaians, by his outrageous use of the machinery of state - to promote his favourites amongst his tribal chiefs.
Unfortunately, all of those personages are tribal supremacists (our local equivalent of the odious white supremacists of the Western world) - and it is important that they are never mentioned in the same breath as ordinary Asantes: who are good and decent human beings, who are not tribal supremacists one bit, as evidenced by their intermarriages and peaceful co-existence, with members of all the tribes in Ghana.
The president's actions, in this respect, are nothing short of treasonable - and worst than any past military coup in our country: because there has never been a coup in Ghana, which sought to, and ended up, dividing Ghanaians along tribal lines, ever.
Mr. Kufuor is the worst leader we have ever elected into office, in that sense - and history will condemn him for actively seeking to divide Ghanaians along ethnic lines for political advantage, as his many critics have always admonished him for, throughout his tenure: in his constant and shortsighted humouring of the megalomaniac traditional rulers he favoured over all other chiefs in Ghana, throughout his tenure.
In so doing, he created a great deal of resentment amongst decent and fair-minded Ghanaians: who were irritated by this insensitivity of his, and despised him for his abuse of the position he occupies to promote a tribal chief who offends his critics, because apparently, he mistakenly sees his role, as the reviver of the pre-colonial sovereign status, of his predecessors - an absurd, treasonable and foolish folly, for any traditional ruler in the unitary Republic of Ghana, to aspire to: and an outrage that actually threatens the cohesion and stability of our dear nation, on top too. Period.
Genuine Nkrumaists and all Ghanaians who are not the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types (who wear blinkers permanently, and are too blind to recognise truth, even if they bumped into her in broad daylight at Asafo market), will be glad to see the back of the most tribalsitic head of state we have ever had the misfortune of electing into office in our homeland Ghana. Shame on him!
As far as your criticism of our "Hypocrite-in-Chief's" favourite tribal chiefs goes, let me remind you that history will judge Otumfuo Opoku Ware 11 as the greatest of the modern-day Asantehenes - for, he clearly understood that precisely because of the weight of history behind the stool he occupied, he had to keep a low profile, in order to foster national unity in our homeland Ghana.
There was no part of our country in which that august gentleman was not respected - and he was genuinely mourned by all Ghanaians when he passed away. May his soul rest in peace. That was a man who had class - and even though he was one of the most humble of men who ever walked the surface of this earth: he was respected throughout our nation. Food for thought, Opanin? Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
ARE GHANAIANS GETTING FED UP WITH THE UNFATHOMABLE GREED OF SOME OF THEIR RULERS?
"The government further noted that construction of the George Bush Motorway along the site provides an ideal opportunity to transform the area into a high density commercial centre property to improve the outlook of the city and provide the private business community with opportunity to expand their businesses. Government's position also supports the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy objective of making the private sector the engine of growth." Amazing!
The statement above, put out by the clever sophists, who daily dress up the ugly face of the greedy ones amongst our rulers, observes: "that the outcome of these consultations" were that the "Achimota Forest remains essentially intact" and "the portion being returned interfaces the motorway and the forest and represents a mere five per cent of the total." Incredible!
Have we not learnt any lessons from wrongfully siting that monstrosity, the shopping centre causing traffic mayhem at the Tetteh Quarshie interchange? So what sense is there in saying it: "...provides an ideal opportunity to transform the area into a high density commercial centre property to improve the outlook of the city and provide the private business community with opportunity to expand their businesses." So just who do these well-educated morons think they are fooling?
Is the new monument to the most unpopular president in America's history, that war-monger and mega-economic-failure, "Dubya" Bush, not supposed to speed farm produce to Tema and the Accra international airport, amongst other things - so why build a sodden shopping mall there: just to send the already high personal net worth of the crooks amongst our rulers into the stratosphere, I ask? What perfidy!
Is it not amazing, how for years, since the overthrow of Nkrumah, that seductive and innocuous-sounding phrase, "making the private sector the engine of growth", has been used by successive groups of greedy crooks ruling our country, as a cloak to hide the unfathomable greed that drives them - so as to give their rapacious nature respectability?
Obviously, the spin doctors paid to hide the perfidy of the greedy crooks amongst those presently ruling Nkrumah's Ghana, have returned to town from their junketing abroad at taxpayers' expense. They have moved swiftly and have set about making sure that they use the most soporific language possible, to ensure that their paymasters do not miss the great opportunity that this deal represents - and, above all, make sure that public disquiet doesn't stop their paymasters from grabbing this prime site for their infernal shopping mall.
So they are now in full flow, giving a patina of respectability and coherence, to the massive effort underway to find a way to justify the daylight robbery, which the rogues in the presidency (who are using their position to milk Ghana dry through various special purpose vehicles: i.e. the opaque offshore companies they are using to launder their kickbacks), are so determined to carry out - using the Nii Owoo family as a cover for their lust for super-wealth.
The usual Orwellian-phrases deployed by the regime's spin-doctors are so true to type: "The government further noted that construction of the George Bush Motorway along the site provides an ideal opportunity to transform the area into a high density commercial centre property to improve the outlook of the city and provide the private business community with opportunity to expand their businesses. Government's position also supports the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy objective of making the private sector the engine of growth." Interesting!
So there we have it - naturally, it talks about the "private sector" being the "engine of growth", and then goes on to tack on the phrase "Government's position also supports the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy objective of making the private sector the engine of growth" to lull those who are concerned about "poverty reduction" into happy sleep-land - and hope that that will sway them.
Well, being one of the many daft people in Ghana, I am wondering whether the poor are now going to be given the opportunity to build shopping malls, to banish their poverty, perhaps? Will the government go to America again to source funds from the American government for that purpose - as they say they went to America and were able to "source" funds for rural electrification?
Will the money for those poor people, who might be given the opportunity to build shopping malls as a wealth creation strategy under the GPRS, be funnelled through J. P. Morgan Chase too, perhaps - so that the crooks now holding Ghana to ransom can get their kickbacks from the crooks in J.P. Morgan Chase: who know a good thing when they see it delivered on a silver platter - especially by dump but powerful African kleptocrats? Really.
Why, do these well-educated morons think we are all "dumbos" in this country? Are the United States and the other wealthy nations of the Western world not busy using their taxpayers' money to bailout banks, insurance companies and other financial services sector companies - in order to stop their economies from melting down completely?
So what is this nonsense on bamboo stilts and lame excuse that the "private sector" is the "engine of growth" that is being bandied about to help justify the unjustifiable? This land-grab, perfectly illustrates the mindset of the greedy ones amongst the men and women now ruling us, who really do not believe in democracy - but merely use it as a cloak to enable and empower an elite group of greedy and amoral tribal supremacists (who think they are clever enough to dominate Ghana till kingdom come).
Well, if they think that they can use their positions in government, to send their already high personal net worth into the stratosphere through such deals, then they must just pause awhile - and remember the fate of the crooks who reigned supreme in the days prelude to the June 4th 1979 military uprising.
They must not tempt fate - and provoke an uprising by ordinary people: completely fed up with the outrageous, grasping ways of their rulers. They must always remember that we are not all the tiresome and partisan "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types, who wear blinkers 24/7 and are too blind to recognise truth, even if they bumped into her, in broad daylight, at the Asafo market. A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asemebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
The statement above, put out by the clever sophists, who daily dress up the ugly face of the greedy ones amongst our rulers, observes: "that the outcome of these consultations" were that the "Achimota Forest remains essentially intact" and "the portion being returned interfaces the motorway and the forest and represents a mere five per cent of the total." Incredible!
Have we not learnt any lessons from wrongfully siting that monstrosity, the shopping centre causing traffic mayhem at the Tetteh Quarshie interchange? So what sense is there in saying it: "...provides an ideal opportunity to transform the area into a high density commercial centre property to improve the outlook of the city and provide the private business community with opportunity to expand their businesses." So just who do these well-educated morons think they are fooling?
Is the new monument to the most unpopular president in America's history, that war-monger and mega-economic-failure, "Dubya" Bush, not supposed to speed farm produce to Tema and the Accra international airport, amongst other things - so why build a sodden shopping mall there: just to send the already high personal net worth of the crooks amongst our rulers into the stratosphere, I ask? What perfidy!
Is it not amazing, how for years, since the overthrow of Nkrumah, that seductive and innocuous-sounding phrase, "making the private sector the engine of growth", has been used by successive groups of greedy crooks ruling our country, as a cloak to hide the unfathomable greed that drives them - so as to give their rapacious nature respectability?
Obviously, the spin doctors paid to hide the perfidy of the greedy crooks amongst those presently ruling Nkrumah's Ghana, have returned to town from their junketing abroad at taxpayers' expense. They have moved swiftly and have set about making sure that they use the most soporific language possible, to ensure that their paymasters do not miss the great opportunity that this deal represents - and, above all, make sure that public disquiet doesn't stop their paymasters from grabbing this prime site for their infernal shopping mall.
So they are now in full flow, giving a patina of respectability and coherence, to the massive effort underway to find a way to justify the daylight robbery, which the rogues in the presidency (who are using their position to milk Ghana dry through various special purpose vehicles: i.e. the opaque offshore companies they are using to launder their kickbacks), are so determined to carry out - using the Nii Owoo family as a cover for their lust for super-wealth.
The usual Orwellian-phrases deployed by the regime's spin-doctors are so true to type: "The government further noted that construction of the George Bush Motorway along the site provides an ideal opportunity to transform the area into a high density commercial centre property to improve the outlook of the city and provide the private business community with opportunity to expand their businesses. Government's position also supports the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy objective of making the private sector the engine of growth." Interesting!
So there we have it - naturally, it talks about the "private sector" being the "engine of growth", and then goes on to tack on the phrase "Government's position also supports the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy objective of making the private sector the engine of growth" to lull those who are concerned about "poverty reduction" into happy sleep-land - and hope that that will sway them.
Well, being one of the many daft people in Ghana, I am wondering whether the poor are now going to be given the opportunity to build shopping malls, to banish their poverty, perhaps? Will the government go to America again to source funds from the American government for that purpose - as they say they went to America and were able to "source" funds for rural electrification?
Will the money for those poor people, who might be given the opportunity to build shopping malls as a wealth creation strategy under the GPRS, be funnelled through J. P. Morgan Chase too, perhaps - so that the crooks now holding Ghana to ransom can get their kickbacks from the crooks in J.P. Morgan Chase: who know a good thing when they see it delivered on a silver platter - especially by dump but powerful African kleptocrats? Really.
Why, do these well-educated morons think we are all "dumbos" in this country? Are the United States and the other wealthy nations of the Western world not busy using their taxpayers' money to bailout banks, insurance companies and other financial services sector companies - in order to stop their economies from melting down completely?
So what is this nonsense on bamboo stilts and lame excuse that the "private sector" is the "engine of growth" that is being bandied about to help justify the unjustifiable? This land-grab, perfectly illustrates the mindset of the greedy ones amongst the men and women now ruling us, who really do not believe in democracy - but merely use it as a cloak to enable and empower an elite group of greedy and amoral tribal supremacists (who think they are clever enough to dominate Ghana till kingdom come).
Well, if they think that they can use their positions in government, to send their already high personal net worth into the stratosphere through such deals, then they must just pause awhile - and remember the fate of the crooks who reigned supreme in the days prelude to the June 4th 1979 military uprising.
They must not tempt fate - and provoke an uprising by ordinary people: completely fed up with the outrageous, grasping ways of their rulers. They must always remember that we are not all the tiresome and partisan "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types, who wear blinkers 24/7 and are too blind to recognise truth, even if they bumped into her, in broad daylight, at the Asafo market. A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asemebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Endless Suffering Of Civilian Population In Eastern DR Congo: An Egregious Example Of The Cruelty Of Africa’s Power-Hungry Elites?
Writers are often sensitive individuals who can put themselves in other people’s shoes – and imagine the pain they suffer in their everyday lives.
The fact that there are hundreds of thousands of my fellow Africans, who, in the 21st century, are literally going through hell, in the DR Congo provinces of North and South Kivu, is something that one finds particularly painful and troubling.
The question is: Why are the AU and the rest of the international community, unable to halt such senseless cruelty in Africa?
How can it be, that in this day and age, the African Union and the leaders of the nations in the continent, remain so strangely silent about the abominable acts of cruelty going on in that beautiful part of what is potentially one of the wealthiest nations, on the planet Earth?
Leaving aside its huge mineral wealth, the DR Congo, even has the hydroelectric potential to power the whole of Africa, if the power of the River Congo was ever harnessed for that purpose.
Over the past few months, over one million of the inhabitants in both provinces have become internally displaced persons – and the women there suffer from what are undoubtedly the world’s worst cases of the incidence of rape.
It appears that no African leader is willing to lay the blame for this avoidable tragedy and humanitarian disaster, squarely, at the doorstep of those responsible for this unacceptable example of the brutalizing of innocent civilians – and a complete disregard for their safety by those responsible for the savagery going on in northern and southern Kivu.
The time has come to name and shame those who are using their supposed concern for the safety of the Congolese Tutsi population in North Kivu, the Banyamulenge, as a cover to hide their real objective: seizing control of the DR Congo - and making it a vassal of Rwanda and finally opening up its vast wealth to their predatory ambitions.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, and his stooge in the DR Congo, the so-called “General” Laurent Nkunda, ought to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Their cruelty and the suffering they have caused in DR Congo, is really in the same league as that caused by the Sudanese leader, President Omar Bashir, in Darfur.
Paul Kagame, has succeeded in portraying himself as the man who has achieved a miracle in Rwanda – reviving a broken nation in which nearly a million people were massacred in a wave of genocidal killings, orchestrated by the Huttu-dominated regime, which his Rwandan Patriotic Front army overthrew, to end the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Yet, today, he presides over an unjust society and runs a repressive and brutal regime, which has been wrapped up in the deceptive garb of a "paper-democracy" that in reality is a one-party state in which there is widespread fear amongst the populace - and no one dares criticize Paul Kagame.
It is instructive and indicative of his war-like nature that at the height of the post-election killings in Kenya, his proffered advice about ending the violence there, was for the Kenyan military to take over the running of their country.
The AU and the continent’s leaders must not allow him to engineer the overthrow by proxy, of the elected government of the DR Congo – to enable him install his puppet Laurent Nkunda, as the new leader of that much-abused nation and its long-suffering people. Period.
My humble appeal to West Africa's leaders is that they must quickly go to the aid of President Joseph Kabila, by putting the sub-regional military force, ECOMOG, at the disposal of the UN to reinforce its peacekeeping force in the two Kivu provinces (north and south) of the DR Congo.
The fact that there are hundreds of thousands of my fellow Africans, who, in the 21st century, are literally going through hell, in the DR Congo provinces of North and South Kivu, is something that one finds particularly painful and troubling.
The question is: Why are the AU and the rest of the international community, unable to halt such senseless cruelty in Africa?
How can it be, that in this day and age, the African Union and the leaders of the nations in the continent, remain so strangely silent about the abominable acts of cruelty going on in that beautiful part of what is potentially one of the wealthiest nations, on the planet Earth?
Leaving aside its huge mineral wealth, the DR Congo, even has the hydroelectric potential to power the whole of Africa, if the power of the River Congo was ever harnessed for that purpose.
Over the past few months, over one million of the inhabitants in both provinces have become internally displaced persons – and the women there suffer from what are undoubtedly the world’s worst cases of the incidence of rape.
It appears that no African leader is willing to lay the blame for this avoidable tragedy and humanitarian disaster, squarely, at the doorstep of those responsible for this unacceptable example of the brutalizing of innocent civilians – and a complete disregard for their safety by those responsible for the savagery going on in northern and southern Kivu.
The time has come to name and shame those who are using their supposed concern for the safety of the Congolese Tutsi population in North Kivu, the Banyamulenge, as a cover to hide their real objective: seizing control of the DR Congo - and making it a vassal of Rwanda and finally opening up its vast wealth to their predatory ambitions.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, and his stooge in the DR Congo, the so-called “General” Laurent Nkunda, ought to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Their cruelty and the suffering they have caused in DR Congo, is really in the same league as that caused by the Sudanese leader, President Omar Bashir, in Darfur.
Paul Kagame, has succeeded in portraying himself as the man who has achieved a miracle in Rwanda – reviving a broken nation in which nearly a million people were massacred in a wave of genocidal killings, orchestrated by the Huttu-dominated regime, which his Rwandan Patriotic Front army overthrew, to end the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Yet, today, he presides over an unjust society and runs a repressive and brutal regime, which has been wrapped up in the deceptive garb of a "paper-democracy" that in reality is a one-party state in which there is widespread fear amongst the populace - and no one dares criticize Paul Kagame.
It is instructive and indicative of his war-like nature that at the height of the post-election killings in Kenya, his proffered advice about ending the violence there, was for the Kenyan military to take over the running of their country.
The AU and the continent’s leaders must not allow him to engineer the overthrow by proxy, of the elected government of the DR Congo – to enable him install his puppet Laurent Nkunda, as the new leader of that much-abused nation and its long-suffering people. Period.
My humble appeal to West Africa's leaders is that they must quickly go to the aid of President Joseph Kabila, by putting the sub-regional military force, ECOMOG, at the disposal of the UN to reinforce its peacekeeping force in the two Kivu provinces (north and south) of the DR Congo.
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Dr. Edward Mahama's Unfortunate And Unhelpful Promises To Illegal Gold Miners!
Given their irresponsible attitude towards the natural environment, politicians ought not to have any truck with illegal gold miners, in the slightest. Yet, apparently, Dr. Edward Mahama wants to help them, one gathers.
With respect, the last thing we need at a time of global climate change, is to give succour to those greedy and ruthless fellows, who are polluting rivers and
and poisoning water tables across the country, with such impunity.
It would be far more beneficial to society, if they were trained as goldsmiths and jewellery designers - so that they can earn a decent living adding value to gold: and society can finally halt them from the wanton destruction of vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside, which their greed for money is driving them to inflict on our nation.
One respects Dr. Mahama a great deal. However, it is pure nonsense on bamboo stilts for politicians to humour such callous and selfish individuals at a time when global climate change is impacting our natural environment so negatively.
The question is: Should we allow politicians to say such dreadful things just to help them win power? Haaba.
As we speak, for example, illegal gold miners are busy destroying part of my family's land at Akyem Juaso, with total impunity - and polluting the Apotosu, Subin and Akosu streams too: all of which have their headwaters in our part of the Atewa range upland evergreen rain forest.
Given the vital ecosystem services the area provides, what they are doing amounts to a crime against humanity. Literally. That is why politicians like Dr. Edward Mahama must not humour such ruthless criminals.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
With respect, the last thing we need at a time of global climate change, is to give succour to those greedy and ruthless fellows, who are polluting rivers and
and poisoning water tables across the country, with such impunity.
It would be far more beneficial to society, if they were trained as goldsmiths and jewellery designers - so that they can earn a decent living adding value to gold: and society can finally halt them from the wanton destruction of vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside, which their greed for money is driving them to inflict on our nation.
One respects Dr. Mahama a great deal. However, it is pure nonsense on bamboo stilts for politicians to humour such callous and selfish individuals at a time when global climate change is impacting our natural environment so negatively.
The question is: Should we allow politicians to say such dreadful things just to help them win power? Haaba.
As we speak, for example, illegal gold miners are busy destroying part of my family's land at Akyem Juaso, with total impunity - and polluting the Apotosu, Subin and Akosu streams too: all of which have their headwaters in our part of the Atewa range upland evergreen rain forest.
Given the vital ecosystem services the area provides, what they are doing amounts to a crime against humanity. Literally. That is why politicians like Dr. Edward Mahama must not humour such ruthless criminals.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
OHEMAA: DO NOT INSULT FREMAA BUSIA - FOR, SHE IS A PATRIOT AND A VERY BRAVE WOMAN, INDEED!
Ohemaa, do not soil an honest woman's reputation, so glibly – lest, God, becomes displeased with your person, too: as he clearly is, the amoral ones, amongst our leaders.
This is a nation that is being strangled by a powerful minority of immoral men and women, who, sadly, dominate this regime so completely: and who only think about enriching themselves - at our nation's expense.
Don't insult a woman of honour like Fremaa Busia, simply because she loves her country enough, and is brave enough, to expose the hypocrites into whose deceitful hands mother Ghana has now fallen.
Today, all our political parties, which are mostly peopled by the same sort of immoral and greedy men and women (all eagerly awaiting their turn to participate in the on-going gang-rape of mother Ghana!), are busy going around Ghana, telling people lies about turning Ghana into paradise.
Yet, commodity prices are falling globally - meaning that our major exports are losing value almost daily. Where do they intend getting the money to transform Ghana into paradise, I ask - since there is no more "awuf" money for our ruling kleptocrats, and their regime-crony high net worth financial services Titans, to make, from the outrageous business of lumbering our country with endless debt?
The massive fees they have been notching up in millions of dollars (and have been laundering through their opaque offshore companies), is a thing of the past, today.
Unfortunately, for them, the easy money they have been making from their kickbacks from the fees, which the regime-crony oligarchs in the financial services sector, have made from the debt Ghana has so soon succeeded in piling up again, can no longer be a business-as-usual way to make cheap money, and send their already high personal net worth, into the stratosphere.
Today, those super-fat fees, earned from the criminal piling up of debt (for future generations of our people to pay - long after the crooks who piled it up have disappeared and sunk into oblivion: to spend the rest of their natural lives in Nsawam prison, for recklessly causing financial loss to the Ghanaian nation-state), have dried up: in the credit crunch and annihilation of the capital markets of the West: from whence they foolishly used to sally forth, into piranha-infested waters, to fish
This regime, as those of us who know what has been happening over the years, have constantly said, is the greediest and the most amoral regime we have ever had the misfortune to elect into office, in our nation's chequered history (and that is saying something, considering the crooks we have had over the years to rule us!).
I don't need to tell you that our nation has been brought to its knees, Ohemaa - you will discover it for your own self, soon enough. You will see it being played out dramatically, in your own life, not too long after the December 2008 elections.
You will rapidly become acquainted with endless power outages (as they become daily fare, yet again), stay parched for days on end, due to lack of treated drinking water (as shortages of that essential of life, too, becomes widespread), and witness strikes by unpaid workers in different sectors of our economy, all of which begin to disrupt your own family's daily life.
Of course, that is, if we are lucky enough, and the large armies of drunken, partisan "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who wear blinkers 24/7 and cannot recognize truth even if they bumped into it in broad daylight, don't destroy our country first - at the behest of their selfish paymasters: our largely "good-for-nothing" political class, during, and after the elections.
Ohemaa, Fremaa Busia, is not a spurned women - she is an outraged woman, who is sick and tired of the shameful hypocrisy, which the Ghana of today represents. Get that straight - for that is the plain truth, Ohemaa. She is a true patriot and Ghanaian nationalist - and a fighter for the truth. She is one of the few brave souls in a nation full of hypocrites and cowards. Get it?
Don't be taken in by the propaganda of the evil men and women she exposes - and who want you to believe that she is mad, bad and dangerous. They are the ones for whom those caps of ignominy, fit, perfectly - not her! God bless and keep that Joan of Arc of Ghanaian politics and splendid "Obaa-Sima-Champion", always!
Finally, do you not recall the prescient words of Dr. Asemfofro at that infamous Sunyani propaganda event, during which he posed certain uncomfortable questions to our "Hypocrite-in-Chief" - and for which the poor man was beaten mercilessly afterwards: in the land supposedly famous for the rule of law, but which in reality is governed by greedy gangsters, and is a brutal two-party dictatorship, masquerading as a democracy? Ao, Dr. Asemfofro, ba ni obahe ote, oo!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
This is a nation that is being strangled by a powerful minority of immoral men and women, who, sadly, dominate this regime so completely: and who only think about enriching themselves - at our nation's expense.
Don't insult a woman of honour like Fremaa Busia, simply because she loves her country enough, and is brave enough, to expose the hypocrites into whose deceitful hands mother Ghana has now fallen.
Today, all our political parties, which are mostly peopled by the same sort of immoral and greedy men and women (all eagerly awaiting their turn to participate in the on-going gang-rape of mother Ghana!), are busy going around Ghana, telling people lies about turning Ghana into paradise.
Yet, commodity prices are falling globally - meaning that our major exports are losing value almost daily. Where do they intend getting the money to transform Ghana into paradise, I ask - since there is no more "awuf" money for our ruling kleptocrats, and their regime-crony high net worth financial services Titans, to make, from the outrageous business of lumbering our country with endless debt?
The massive fees they have been notching up in millions of dollars (and have been laundering through their opaque offshore companies), is a thing of the past, today.
Unfortunately, for them, the easy money they have been making from their kickbacks from the fees, which the regime-crony oligarchs in the financial services sector, have made from the debt Ghana has so soon succeeded in piling up again, can no longer be a business-as-usual way to make cheap money, and send their already high personal net worth, into the stratosphere.
Today, those super-fat fees, earned from the criminal piling up of debt (for future generations of our people to pay - long after the crooks who piled it up have disappeared and sunk into oblivion: to spend the rest of their natural lives in Nsawam prison, for recklessly causing financial loss to the Ghanaian nation-state), have dried up: in the credit crunch and annihilation of the capital markets of the West: from whence they foolishly used to sally forth, into piranha-infested waters, to fish
This regime, as those of us who know what has been happening over the years, have constantly said, is the greediest and the most amoral regime we have ever had the misfortune to elect into office, in our nation's chequered history (and that is saying something, considering the crooks we have had over the years to rule us!).
I don't need to tell you that our nation has been brought to its knees, Ohemaa - you will discover it for your own self, soon enough. You will see it being played out dramatically, in your own life, not too long after the December 2008 elections.
You will rapidly become acquainted with endless power outages (as they become daily fare, yet again), stay parched for days on end, due to lack of treated drinking water (as shortages of that essential of life, too, becomes widespread), and witness strikes by unpaid workers in different sectors of our economy, all of which begin to disrupt your own family's daily life.
Of course, that is, if we are lucky enough, and the large armies of drunken, partisan "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who wear blinkers 24/7 and cannot recognize truth even if they bumped into it in broad daylight, don't destroy our country first - at the behest of their selfish paymasters: our largely "good-for-nothing" political class, during, and after the elections.
Ohemaa, Fremaa Busia, is not a spurned women - she is an outraged woman, who is sick and tired of the shameful hypocrisy, which the Ghana of today represents. Get that straight - for that is the plain truth, Ohemaa. She is a true patriot and Ghanaian nationalist - and a fighter for the truth. She is one of the few brave souls in a nation full of hypocrites and cowards. Get it?
Don't be taken in by the propaganda of the evil men and women she exposes - and who want you to believe that she is mad, bad and dangerous. They are the ones for whom those caps of ignominy, fit, perfectly - not her! God bless and keep that Joan of Arc of Ghanaian politics and splendid "Obaa-Sima-Champion", always!
Finally, do you not recall the prescient words of Dr. Asemfofro at that infamous Sunyani propaganda event, during which he posed certain uncomfortable questions to our "Hypocrite-in-Chief" - and for which the poor man was beaten mercilessly afterwards: in the land supposedly famous for the rule of law, but which in reality is governed by greedy gangsters, and is a brutal two-party dictatorship, masquerading as a democracy? Ao, Dr. Asemfofro, ba ni obahe ote, oo!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Monday, 27 October 2008
THE BRITISH WERE NEVER OUR "COLONIAL MASTERS" - THEY WERE MERE OCCUPIERS OF OUR LAND!
With respect Opanin, I would like to humbly point it out to you, that the British were never our "colonial masters". They were mere occupiers of our country - whom various patriots tried to dislodge from our country, from the very day that the Bond of 1844 was first signed. Period.
They used their forked-tongue to successfully occupy our country, and throughout that time, many brave souls risked their lives to rid our country of those usurpers. You must never forget that, Massa.
It is time educated Ghanaians stopped using that servile phrase, "colonial masters". We are a proud people, who, in the end, despite the treachery of the progeny of some of the pre-colonial feudal ruling elites, succeeded in regaining our independence: against great odds, and in spite of a very crafty colonising-power.
Sadly, some of the progeny of our pre-colonial feudal ruling elites, actively collaborated with the British - in the hope that they could exploit the indirect rule system, which the British adopted as their colonial policy in our part of the world, to enable them replace the British as our rulers.
To that end, they actively collaborated with the British against Nkrumah and his followers: once they discovered that he was not an elitist like they were, and did not share their admiration for the philosophy of the British philosopher, Edmund Burke (who believed, incredibly, that society ought to be governed by a pre-ordained elite - meaning, in our context, the beneficiaries of inherited privilege: our so-called "traditional rulers" and their relations!).
They had always schemed with their backers in the Colonial Office, in London, to continue with (and benefit from), the exploitative indirect rule system - in the hope that when they finally stepped into the shoes of the departing British colonialists (after they had given us our 'independence' on their terms!), they (those super-quislings - the progeny of our pre-colonial feudal ruling elites) would enslave ordinary people till the very end of time!
Massa, please never use that servile phrase again - if you are a proud African imbued with Nkrumaist self-belief, that is. Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
They used their forked-tongue to successfully occupy our country, and throughout that time, many brave souls risked their lives to rid our country of those usurpers. You must never forget that, Massa.
It is time educated Ghanaians stopped using that servile phrase, "colonial masters". We are a proud people, who, in the end, despite the treachery of the progeny of some of the pre-colonial feudal ruling elites, succeeded in regaining our independence: against great odds, and in spite of a very crafty colonising-power.
Sadly, some of the progeny of our pre-colonial feudal ruling elites, actively collaborated with the British - in the hope that they could exploit the indirect rule system, which the British adopted as their colonial policy in our part of the world, to enable them replace the British as our rulers.
To that end, they actively collaborated with the British against Nkrumah and his followers: once they discovered that he was not an elitist like they were, and did not share their admiration for the philosophy of the British philosopher, Edmund Burke (who believed, incredibly, that society ought to be governed by a pre-ordained elite - meaning, in our context, the beneficiaries of inherited privilege: our so-called "traditional rulers" and their relations!).
They had always schemed with their backers in the Colonial Office, in London, to continue with (and benefit from), the exploitative indirect rule system - in the hope that when they finally stepped into the shoes of the departing British colonialists (after they had given us our 'independence' on their terms!), they (those super-quislings - the progeny of our pre-colonial feudal ruling elites) would enslave ordinary people till the very end of time!
Massa, please never use that servile phrase again - if you are a proud African imbued with Nkrumaist self-belief, that is. Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Asamoah Boateng & Co: Do Not Forget The Events That Precipitated The June 4th 1979 Military Uprising!
Let us get our facts straight - no family "owns the whole of the Achimota Forest" as this mealy-mouthed fellow, Mr. Asamoah Boateng, is quoted as saying.
Typical of that kind of politician, he condemns Osafo Marfo and Captain Effah Darteh, for speaking out against the outrage that the crooks in this regime are so determined to carry out.
Mr. Asamoah Boateng and his ilk must always remember that old Ghanaian saying;"No condition is permanent": when the temptation to feel that they are all-conquering and own the Ghanaian nation-state because they control the security agencies, takes hold of them.
The colonial government paid the Nii Owoo family for their land that it turned into a forest reserve - including the "small woodlot" did it not?
Well, as far as Ghanaians are concerned all the land, including the "small woodlot" still remains the property of the Ghanaian nation-state, the legal successor to the British colonial government of the Gold Coast, which paid full compensation to the forbears of the Nii Owoo family. Period.
Let there be no doubt about this: this is the thin end of the wedge - and if we allow people who have been duly compensated for land they were asked to forfeit for the common weal, to take the totally unacceptable position that it is their land, regardless, when it is not, where will that end us?
Mr. Asamoah Boateng and the regime of which he is such a prominent member, must not underestimate the intelligence of Ghanaians. They may think they are invincible, but in reality, they are not at all - and they had better wake up to that bald fact.
Some of us did not fear Mr. Rawlings, even at the height of his powers - and we most certainly do not fear the effete, greedy and amoral members of this regime, whose unfathomable greed appears to know no bounds.
Let Asamoah Boateng and his crowd understand one thing: Every single member of this regime, who has participated in the gang-rape of mother Ghana, will be made to pay for their crimes, one fine day.
They must constantly bear in mind the prevailing atmosphere of immorality during the era prelude to the June 4th 1979 military uprising - when the clever crooks then, who were also incredibly well-connected politically, thought that they too were invincible: and that they would never be made to pay for their crimes against Ghanaians.
Mr. Asamoah Baoteng and his crowd had better sit up - for Ghanian's aren't nearly as stupid and foolish is they seem to think we are.
They must remember the events that precipitated the June 4th 1979 military uprising - an era that was very similar to today's political landscape.
It will be recalled that the prevailing atmosphere then, was one of immorality and greed amongst the then rulers - who showered gifts of cars and houses on their young girlfriends, and cut insider deals with their all-conquering high net worth kleptocratic cronies.
The actions of those greedy and powerful politically well-connected individuals, who are behind the Nii Owoo family's outrageous claims, for the return of the so-called "small woodlot" that their forbears received fair compensation for, is completely unacceptable to the residents of the heavily-polluted and filthy city of Accra.
For the information of the Asamoah Boatengs, Accra's residents need every bit of greenery (including the so-called "small woodlot" that the greedy ones in this regime so desire), to act as the lungs of their city. Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Typical of that kind of politician, he condemns Osafo Marfo and Captain Effah Darteh, for speaking out against the outrage that the crooks in this regime are so determined to carry out.
Mr. Asamoah Boateng and his ilk must always remember that old Ghanaian saying;"No condition is permanent": when the temptation to feel that they are all-conquering and own the Ghanaian nation-state because they control the security agencies, takes hold of them.
The colonial government paid the Nii Owoo family for their land that it turned into a forest reserve - including the "small woodlot" did it not?
Well, as far as Ghanaians are concerned all the land, including the "small woodlot" still remains the property of the Ghanaian nation-state, the legal successor to the British colonial government of the Gold Coast, which paid full compensation to the forbears of the Nii Owoo family. Period.
Let there be no doubt about this: this is the thin end of the wedge - and if we allow people who have been duly compensated for land they were asked to forfeit for the common weal, to take the totally unacceptable position that it is their land, regardless, when it is not, where will that end us?
Mr. Asamoah Boateng and the regime of which he is such a prominent member, must not underestimate the intelligence of Ghanaians. They may think they are invincible, but in reality, they are not at all - and they had better wake up to that bald fact.
Some of us did not fear Mr. Rawlings, even at the height of his powers - and we most certainly do not fear the effete, greedy and amoral members of this regime, whose unfathomable greed appears to know no bounds.
Let Asamoah Boateng and his crowd understand one thing: Every single member of this regime, who has participated in the gang-rape of mother Ghana, will be made to pay for their crimes, one fine day.
They must constantly bear in mind the prevailing atmosphere of immorality during the era prelude to the June 4th 1979 military uprising - when the clever crooks then, who were also incredibly well-connected politically, thought that they too were invincible: and that they would never be made to pay for their crimes against Ghanaians.
Mr. Asamoah Baoteng and his crowd had better sit up - for Ghanian's aren't nearly as stupid and foolish is they seem to think we are.
They must remember the events that precipitated the June 4th 1979 military uprising - an era that was very similar to today's political landscape.
It will be recalled that the prevailing atmosphere then, was one of immorality and greed amongst the then rulers - who showered gifts of cars and houses on their young girlfriends, and cut insider deals with their all-conquering high net worth kleptocratic cronies.
The actions of those greedy and powerful politically well-connected individuals, who are behind the Nii Owoo family's outrageous claims, for the return of the so-called "small woodlot" that their forbears received fair compensation for, is completely unacceptable to the residents of the heavily-polluted and filthy city of Accra.
For the information of the Asamoah Boatengs, Accra's residents need every bit of greenery (including the so-called "small woodlot" that the greedy ones in this regime so desire), to act as the lungs of their city. Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Massa, Leave Mr. Kweku Baako Alone!
Opanin, I do not hold brief for Mr. Kweku Baako - who (along with Mr. Kwesi Pratt) happens to be my hero - but it is important that certain facts are made plain.
Mr. Baako, unlike the many praise-singing regime-guard-dogs in the media, has not sold his conscience to anyone - but has rather taken a principled stand to defend Ghanaian democracy, at all costs.
His constant criticism of the former president ought to be seen in that light. He regards Flt. Lt. Rawlings as a threat to the constitutional order. Period.
Give Mr. Baako his due - the former president does have a history, does he not?
Mr. Baako takes as his reference point, the derailment of the 3rd Republic - a tragedy he believes stemmed in part from the endless media criticism of the Limman regime. He believes that that played a large part in eroding public confidence in that regime: and that the former president took advantage of it.
He is right to hold Flt. Lt. Rawlings to a different and higher standard - for, at a point in time, he presided over a regime that actually executed many senior military officers, including three former heads of state, for corruption and for coup-making.
If you recall, after he overthrew the Limman administration, Flt. Lt. Rawlings actually did say that if he failed to root out corruption, he ought to be shot: as he would have failed Ghanaians.
Mr. Baako is not on a personal vendetta against the former president. Have you ever heard him asking for Mr. Rawlings to be shot, although Flt. Lt. Rawlings did say so himself: when he wanted to gain acquiescence for his treasonable actions of 31st December 1981 and ensure that Ghanaians gave their support to his unnecessary military coup?
Do not forget that Mr. Baako has even stated publicly, that he will never be part of any attempt to physically harm the former president in any shape or form. He is not being personal - just doing all he can to protect the constitutional order from the threat he believes Mr. Rawlings does pose to it.
And he is not alone in making that assessment of the former president, Opanin, is he?
Massa, perhaps you forget that the only justification for the former president being in our public life in the first place, was supposedly because he was going to root out corruption from our public life.
He did not succeed - and in that sense does not deserve to figure prominently in any way in our national life: going by his own statement that he should be shot if he failed Ghana. He did fail in the task he set himself, in that sense, Opanin.
Well, not only do you and I know that Rawlings did not succeed in rooting out corruption - but there is also the small matter of the extraordinary story he tells us: that his "friends" have bankrolled the lavish overseas spending on his children's behalf, to pay for their education, and to cover their everyday expenses.
In the book of any Ghanaian patriot and nationalist, who cares about public morality, and about the personal integrity of our leaders, saying that "friends" are funding his children's education, is not the kind of statement the hero of June 4th 1979 ought to be making, in the slightest.
Massa, do you think that if any of the people who sprung him from prison on the morning of June 4th, 1979, had had the slightest inkling that twenty-odd years down the road he would be making such outrageous statements, they would have risked their lives to free him from his Special Branch cell?
Well, I have no doubt at all that they would simply have left him to his own devices: to face the music alone, for his failed insurrection of May 1979.
Perhaps you can ask Captain Boakye-Djan, a key June 4th 1979 figure, who has the benefit of twenty years of hindsight, about the many betrayals of the ideals of June 4th, 1979, which Flt. Lt. Rawlings' many critics accuse him of having notched up!
So why should Mr. Baako - who cares about freedom enough to have risked his life criticising the regime then in power on many occasions, when it was dangerous to challenge Rawlings and Co. - "rest our ears", today, as you put it?
Massa, make no mistake about it - Mr. Rawlings is a man who has a date with destiny: he will be made to stand trial for the overthrow of the Limman regime, as sure as day follows night. Naturally, having made the point, he will then be forgiven and pardoned: to live out the rest of his natural life in peace.
That will serve as a warning to future coup plotters wishing to take advantage of a democratically elected regime's unpopularity with the masses, to stage a military coup in Ghana.
The fact is that Mr. Rawlings did commit treason on 31st December 1981 - and you must never forget that. And did he not preside over a regime that shot coup makers as a lesson for future coup makers? Massa, let us let sleeping dogs lie - Mr. Rawlings is better off that way, believe me!
Just leave Mr. Kweku Baako alone, Opanin. He has his faults like all of us - but at least he loves his country enough to want to protect Ghanaian democracy, from the threat he believes Mr. Rawlings poses to it.
I disagree with many of the things he says in support of (and in defence of) this most incompetent of regimes - but at least I do know that he is sincere in what he says: unlike many of those who have sold their consciences to the highest bidders in the land: the greedy crooks in the present regime!
Hmmm, Ghana, eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Mr. Baako, unlike the many praise-singing regime-guard-dogs in the media, has not sold his conscience to anyone - but has rather taken a principled stand to defend Ghanaian democracy, at all costs.
His constant criticism of the former president ought to be seen in that light. He regards Flt. Lt. Rawlings as a threat to the constitutional order. Period.
Give Mr. Baako his due - the former president does have a history, does he not?
Mr. Baako takes as his reference point, the derailment of the 3rd Republic - a tragedy he believes stemmed in part from the endless media criticism of the Limman regime. He believes that that played a large part in eroding public confidence in that regime: and that the former president took advantage of it.
He is right to hold Flt. Lt. Rawlings to a different and higher standard - for, at a point in time, he presided over a regime that actually executed many senior military officers, including three former heads of state, for corruption and for coup-making.
If you recall, after he overthrew the Limman administration, Flt. Lt. Rawlings actually did say that if he failed to root out corruption, he ought to be shot: as he would have failed Ghanaians.
Mr. Baako is not on a personal vendetta against the former president. Have you ever heard him asking for Mr. Rawlings to be shot, although Flt. Lt. Rawlings did say so himself: when he wanted to gain acquiescence for his treasonable actions of 31st December 1981 and ensure that Ghanaians gave their support to his unnecessary military coup?
Do not forget that Mr. Baako has even stated publicly, that he will never be part of any attempt to physically harm the former president in any shape or form. He is not being personal - just doing all he can to protect the constitutional order from the threat he believes Mr. Rawlings does pose to it.
And he is not alone in making that assessment of the former president, Opanin, is he?
Massa, perhaps you forget that the only justification for the former president being in our public life in the first place, was supposedly because he was going to root out corruption from our public life.
He did not succeed - and in that sense does not deserve to figure prominently in any way in our national life: going by his own statement that he should be shot if he failed Ghana. He did fail in the task he set himself, in that sense, Opanin.
Well, not only do you and I know that Rawlings did not succeed in rooting out corruption - but there is also the small matter of the extraordinary story he tells us: that his "friends" have bankrolled the lavish overseas spending on his children's behalf, to pay for their education, and to cover their everyday expenses.
In the book of any Ghanaian patriot and nationalist, who cares about public morality, and about the personal integrity of our leaders, saying that "friends" are funding his children's education, is not the kind of statement the hero of June 4th 1979 ought to be making, in the slightest.
Massa, do you think that if any of the people who sprung him from prison on the morning of June 4th, 1979, had had the slightest inkling that twenty-odd years down the road he would be making such outrageous statements, they would have risked their lives to free him from his Special Branch cell?
Well, I have no doubt at all that they would simply have left him to his own devices: to face the music alone, for his failed insurrection of May 1979.
Perhaps you can ask Captain Boakye-Djan, a key June 4th 1979 figure, who has the benefit of twenty years of hindsight, about the many betrayals of the ideals of June 4th, 1979, which Flt. Lt. Rawlings' many critics accuse him of having notched up!
So why should Mr. Baako - who cares about freedom enough to have risked his life criticising the regime then in power on many occasions, when it was dangerous to challenge Rawlings and Co. - "rest our ears", today, as you put it?
Massa, make no mistake about it - Mr. Rawlings is a man who has a date with destiny: he will be made to stand trial for the overthrow of the Limman regime, as sure as day follows night. Naturally, having made the point, he will then be forgiven and pardoned: to live out the rest of his natural life in peace.
That will serve as a warning to future coup plotters wishing to take advantage of a democratically elected regime's unpopularity with the masses, to stage a military coup in Ghana.
The fact is that Mr. Rawlings did commit treason on 31st December 1981 - and you must never forget that. And did he not preside over a regime that shot coup makers as a lesson for future coup makers? Massa, let us let sleeping dogs lie - Mr. Rawlings is better off that way, believe me!
Just leave Mr. Kweku Baako alone, Opanin. He has his faults like all of us - but at least he loves his country enough to want to protect Ghanaian democracy, from the threat he believes Mr. Rawlings poses to it.
I disagree with many of the things he says in support of (and in defence of) this most incompetent of regimes - but at least I do know that he is sincere in what he says: unlike many of those who have sold their consciences to the highest bidders in the land: the greedy crooks in the present regime!
Hmmm, Ghana, eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
We Are All Members Of The One Human Race, Are We Not? - A free-verse poem by Kofi Thompson
Apparently
She said
She
Was
Attacked
By a six-foot plus
Black male
Poor
Young
Female
Caucasian
Slightly
Mixed-up
Mentally
Apparently
She said
She had
Been
Attacked
By an Obama
Supporter
Allegedly
A tall
Six-foot plus
Black man
Poor
Young Caucasian
Female
McCain supporter
Apparently
Out to cause
White mischief
Heavens
Thank God
They
Had no tall
Black man
To fasten on
Who
Just happened
To be out and about
In the vicinity
By accident
By sheer coincidence
Innocently
Oh God
How many
Innocent
Black males
Over the years
Have
Been so framed
And
Judicially-murdered
Unjustly
Only
Because
Some mentally deranged
Troubled soul
Who hated
For no reason
At all
Simply decided
To fasten
On some
Innocent
Black male
Unjustly
Condemning
An innocent man
For no
Good reason
No just cause
Oh when
Will such
Naked hatred
By troubled
Caucasian souls
Fastening
On innocent
Black people
For stereotypical
Reasons
Finally end?
How
Would they
Like it
If the roles
Were reversed
And they
Were
At the
Receiving end
Of some
Deranged
Black person's
Racist hallucinations
And were
Consequently
Condemned
To die
Because
That deranged
Black person
Made up
An untrue story
That had
No basis
In reality?
Let us
Stop
Race hatred
For once
Forever
For
We are all
Members
Of the one
Human race
Are we not?
She said
She
Was
Attacked
By a six-foot plus
Black male
Poor
Young
Female
Caucasian
Slightly
Mixed-up
Mentally
Apparently
She said
She had
Been
Attacked
By an Obama
Supporter
Allegedly
A tall
Six-foot plus
Black man
Poor
Young Caucasian
Female
McCain supporter
Apparently
Out to cause
White mischief
Heavens
Thank God
They
Had no tall
Black man
To fasten on
Who
Just happened
To be out and about
In the vicinity
By accident
By sheer coincidence
Innocently
Oh God
How many
Innocent
Black males
Over the years
Have
Been so framed
And
Judicially-murdered
Unjustly
Only
Because
Some mentally deranged
Troubled soul
Who hated
For no reason
At all
Simply decided
To fasten
On some
Innocent
Black male
Unjustly
Condemning
An innocent man
For no
Good reason
No just cause
Oh when
Will such
Naked hatred
By troubled
Caucasian souls
Fastening
On innocent
Black people
For stereotypical
Reasons
Finally end?
How
Would they
Like it
If the roles
Were reversed
And they
Were
At the
Receiving end
Of some
Deranged
Black person's
Racist hallucinations
And were
Consequently
Condemned
To die
Because
That deranged
Black person
Made up
An untrue story
That had
No basis
In reality?
Let us
Stop
Race hatred
For once
Forever
For
We are all
Members
Of the one
Human race
Are we not?
Friday, 24 October 2008
COMMON SENSE IS NOT A WHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF GHANA'S EDUCATED URBAN ELITES, MASSA!
Opanin, the idea that freedom - the love of which beats strongly in the hearts of all members of the human race - somehow, ought to be in the gift of governments, because they, apparently, have a monopoly on the mechanism needed to ascertain the administrative skills, and suitability for office, of potential district chief executives (DCE's), is a notion that ought never be entertained by those who believe in democracy: and have faith in the innate good sense of ordinary people.
Massa, whatever gave you the idea that ordinary people will not be able to make a well-informed judgement, about the suitability for office, of the competent individuals, who presumably would have put themselves forward in primaries to elect their party's candidates for the position of DCE's, and emerged victorious, after being selected from a field of other equally competent individuals, were we to have the good sense to elect them as DCE's on a party political basis?
Opanin, is that not a rather curious position for any individual who believes in democracy, and the fundamental right of all human beings to elect their own rulers, to take?
Ordinary grassroots people will always select the candidate they feel will best promote their welfare, in any election - and subsequently turf them out of office if they fail to deliver, Massa.
Please, do not give one the impression that you are an elitist, Opanin - people with formal education, do not own common sense as a whole-owned subsidiary of theirs. Never forget that.
Ordinary people are not daft - and simply because they do not have a university degree, does not mean that those who have, know what is best for them, when it comes to the simple business of casting their vote for their choice of DCE, does it?
Let us not show such contempt for those whose blood, sweat and tears, built this country of ours, Opanin - for, they deserve better! Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Massa, whatever gave you the idea that ordinary people will not be able to make a well-informed judgement, about the suitability for office, of the competent individuals, who presumably would have put themselves forward in primaries to elect their party's candidates for the position of DCE's, and emerged victorious, after being selected from a field of other equally competent individuals, were we to have the good sense to elect them as DCE's on a party political basis?
Opanin, is that not a rather curious position for any individual who believes in democracy, and the fundamental right of all human beings to elect their own rulers, to take?
Ordinary grassroots people will always select the candidate they feel will best promote their welfare, in any election - and subsequently turf them out of office if they fail to deliver, Massa.
Please, do not give one the impression that you are an elitist, Opanin - people with formal education, do not own common sense as a whole-owned subsidiary of theirs. Never forget that.
Ordinary people are not daft - and simply because they do not have a university degree, does not mean that those who have, know what is best for them, when it comes to the simple business of casting their vote for their choice of DCE, does it?
Let us not show such contempt for those whose blood, sweat and tears, built this country of ours, Opanin - for, they deserve better! Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
GRASSROOTS PEOPLE TOO DESERVE TO ELECT THEIR OWN LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEADERS!
Opanin, democracy is about the competition of ideas in the public domain: pertaining to the nature of the society we want to see established in our country, is it not - so why must we get diverted by talk of "polarisation": simply because we want democracy for grassroots people, too?
With respect, Massa, we do not want our political parties to become mutual admiration societies - so let them fight each other in the arena of the market-place for competitive ideas, openly.
That is not "polarisation", Massa - that is democracy as a way of life. We must not just think that democracy is only about institutions, as most educated folk seem to think in this country, sadly.
Please, let us not keep on implying that somehow grassroots people are not nearly as intelligent as our educated urban elites are - because they are incredibly intelligent people, too, Massa.
Above all, do not forget that they have fed the people of Ghana for centuries, and provided the bulk of Ghana's foreign exchange since we gained our independence: by growing cocoa.
They deserve to be given the opportunity to practise democracy too - by electing those whose actions at the district level has the greatest impact on their daily lives - so that when those at the helm of affairs at the national level fail them, they will at least have some control over those in charge of local government, Massa.
We must make DCE's and district assembly members, do the bidding of grassroots people, if we want the roots of democracy to deepen in our country, Opanin. For example, I recall the arrogance displayed by a DCE I once had the misfortune of interacting with, years ago, on a community-based eco-tourism project.
That sly and deceitful man, does not deserve to be a DCE - but he was, and still is: because he is the lackey of those who now rule Ghana. No doubt, other equally unsavoury characters, who were also equally undeserving of serving as DCE's too, did so, in the previous regime, I am sure. How can that be, Opanin?
We either believe in democracy - or we do not. We cannot sit on the fence in a matter like this - and pretend that that somehow is a position that is supportive of freedom: for it is not.
We must elect all DCE's and district assembly members, too: in order to make this a true democracy - not the present kleptocratic two-party oligarchy, and elected dictatorship, which our country has now sadly become, if truth be told, Massa.
For those of us who think independently on issues in the public domain that affect our nation, and who are not the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types (who wear blinkers, 24/7), that is the unfortunate reality, today, of the country we all love so dearly: our homeland Ghana. Pity.
So, let us change that unfair and iniquitous situation: by giving grassroots people the right to choose those rule them at the local level, as DCE's and district assembly members. Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba deba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland , always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
With respect, Massa, we do not want our political parties to become mutual admiration societies - so let them fight each other in the arena of the market-place for competitive ideas, openly.
That is not "polarisation", Massa - that is democracy as a way of life. We must not just think that democracy is only about institutions, as most educated folk seem to think in this country, sadly.
Please, let us not keep on implying that somehow grassroots people are not nearly as intelligent as our educated urban elites are - because they are incredibly intelligent people, too, Massa.
Above all, do not forget that they have fed the people of Ghana for centuries, and provided the bulk of Ghana's foreign exchange since we gained our independence: by growing cocoa.
They deserve to be given the opportunity to practise democracy too - by electing those whose actions at the district level has the greatest impact on their daily lives - so that when those at the helm of affairs at the national level fail them, they will at least have some control over those in charge of local government, Massa.
We must make DCE's and district assembly members, do the bidding of grassroots people, if we want the roots of democracy to deepen in our country, Opanin. For example, I recall the arrogance displayed by a DCE I once had the misfortune of interacting with, years ago, on a community-based eco-tourism project.
That sly and deceitful man, does not deserve to be a DCE - but he was, and still is: because he is the lackey of those who now rule Ghana. No doubt, other equally unsavoury characters, who were also equally undeserving of serving as DCE's too, did so, in the previous regime, I am sure. How can that be, Opanin?
We either believe in democracy - or we do not. We cannot sit on the fence in a matter like this - and pretend that that somehow is a position that is supportive of freedom: for it is not.
We must elect all DCE's and district assembly members, too: in order to make this a true democracy - not the present kleptocratic two-party oligarchy, and elected dictatorship, which our country has now sadly become, if truth be told, Massa.
For those of us who think independently on issues in the public domain that affect our nation, and who are not the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types (who wear blinkers, 24/7), that is the unfortunate reality, today, of the country we all love so dearly: our homeland Ghana. Pity.
So, let us change that unfair and iniquitous situation: by giving grassroots people the right to choose those rule them at the local level, as DCE's and district assembly members. Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba deba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland , always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Re: "Statement By NDC Forum For Setting The Records Straight"
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! The independent-minded Ghanaians (the so-called floating voters!), who love mother Ghana dearly, would be most grateful, if the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would tell us, precisely when Professor John Atta Mills intends to publicly publish the assets of himself and his dear wife.
We also want to know if the good professor will demand that all his ministers and their spouses do same too: both on assumption of office and when they leave office.
If they recall, although President Kufuour stood before the whole country and promised that he and his wife would publicly publish their assets, in one of his first speeches as president, at the Independence Square, he did not keep his promise. We expect Professor Atta Mills to do better by Ghana, this time round - and set a new standard of morality in our public life, that way.
Unlike the partisan "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who support political parties blindly, and whose blinkers stop them from seeing what is in the best interest of our homeland Ghana, as opposed to what benefits political parties and their supporters only (and in the short term!), independent-minded Ghanaians, simply refuse to be fooled by party propaganda from all Ghana's political parties, this time round!
Consequently, we humbly seek straightforward answers from the NDC to all the issues we are raising here - to help us make up our minds: as to which of the presidential and parliamentary candidates to cast our votes for.
For a start, we really don't want to see a return of the old cronyism and the favouritism that sadly characterised the latter years of the previous NDC regime: should it be voted into office again this December - and we most certainly do not want them to repeat the unprecedented cynicism and greed that we have seen from the present regime, either.
We also want to know if the good professor and his NDC party will let grassroots people elect district chief executives and district assembly members, on a party political basis - to ensure that local government is responsive to the needs of grassroots people: instead of toadying to the president of the day, as is now the case, under the present iniquitous and undemocratic system. It may have suited a military ruler metamorphosing into a civilian ruler in 1992, but it certainly does not help our country in the slightest - and must go. Period.
As things now stand, DCE's countrywide are abusing their offices, on a daily basis - and are using it to further the parochial interests of the ruling party, as opposed to working to improve the quality of life of those they are meant to serve at the district level. Can the NDC's position on this important matter be clarified the next time the NDC meets the press?
If we elect DCE 's and the membership of district assemblies, it will create a pool of men and women with solid track records of executive decision-making for our country. It will also make all the political parties feel that they too have a stake in the running of our country - and help lessen political tension in our country, that way.
Furthermore, far from opposition parties and their elected DCE's sabotaging the government of the day, as some say will happen, if they were elected on a party political basis, they would rather seize the opportunity to show Ghanaians what they can achieve at the national level, if they were elected into power: by turning their districts into model communities, and point to them as examples of their ability to improve the quality of life of ordinary Ghanaians.
That is one of the most effective ways of bringing about sustainable development that benefits local people and improves their quality of life - because elected DCE's will ensure that that always happens: in order to be re-elected to power regularly. We cannot call this a true democracy if we continue to deny grassroots people the right to elect their DCE's and assembly members.
We also want an assurance from Professor Mills that he will not repeat the outrageous attempt by President Kufuor to foist his tribal chiefs on Ghanaians - and never encourage those megalomaniac-bloodsucking-progeny, of the ruling elites from our pre-colonial feudal past, to act as if they were running mini-states within the modern Ghanaian nation-state.
This is a unitary republic - not a kingdom. With respect, in a strictly legal sense, there are no "kings" in our country. Period. Ordinary Ghanaians, who understand perfectly that inherited privilege is the worst enemy of any meritocracy, do not want our political leaders to encourage any chiefs in our country to think of themselves as sovereigns - for they are just private citizens who happen to be important members of society: nothing more, nothing less.
The NDC must also ensure that all chiefs in Ghana, stay out of politics. President Kufour's disgraceful attempt to use the machinery of state to promote the ambitions of his tribal chiefs (at the expense of all the other chiefs in Ghana) to somehow become political leaders in our country, is one of the most egregious examples of abuse of the office of president of Ghana, which we have ever seen in our country's history. Professor Mills must not attempt to emulate him, in any shape or form, under any circumstances - as it really is treasonable to attempt to divide this country in such an outrageous and tribalistic fashion.
Above all, I recommend that the NDC takes a good look at the sustainable development models used by the following individuals and organisations - and collaborate with them, to help bring positive change to the "real economy" of rural Ghana: Graham Knight's DIY Solar (http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/), Folke Gunther (http://www.holon.se/folke/), Ken Hargesheimer - MiniFarms organisation
(http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development organisation, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe (http://biocharfund.com/index.php.). One also hopes that the NDC will study biochar too - for, it will blow their minds: (http://www.biochar-international.org/).
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
We also want to know if the good professor will demand that all his ministers and their spouses do same too: both on assumption of office and when they leave office.
If they recall, although President Kufuour stood before the whole country and promised that he and his wife would publicly publish their assets, in one of his first speeches as president, at the Independence Square, he did not keep his promise. We expect Professor Atta Mills to do better by Ghana, this time round - and set a new standard of morality in our public life, that way.
Unlike the partisan "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who support political parties blindly, and whose blinkers stop them from seeing what is in the best interest of our homeland Ghana, as opposed to what benefits political parties and their supporters only (and in the short term!), independent-minded Ghanaians, simply refuse to be fooled by party propaganda from all Ghana's political parties, this time round!
Consequently, we humbly seek straightforward answers from the NDC to all the issues we are raising here - to help us make up our minds: as to which of the presidential and parliamentary candidates to cast our votes for.
For a start, we really don't want to see a return of the old cronyism and the favouritism that sadly characterised the latter years of the previous NDC regime: should it be voted into office again this December - and we most certainly do not want them to repeat the unprecedented cynicism and greed that we have seen from the present regime, either.
We also want to know if the good professor and his NDC party will let grassroots people elect district chief executives and district assembly members, on a party political basis - to ensure that local government is responsive to the needs of grassroots people: instead of toadying to the president of the day, as is now the case, under the present iniquitous and undemocratic system. It may have suited a military ruler metamorphosing into a civilian ruler in 1992, but it certainly does not help our country in the slightest - and must go. Period.
As things now stand, DCE's countrywide are abusing their offices, on a daily basis - and are using it to further the parochial interests of the ruling party, as opposed to working to improve the quality of life of those they are meant to serve at the district level. Can the NDC's position on this important matter be clarified the next time the NDC meets the press?
If we elect DCE 's and the membership of district assemblies, it will create a pool of men and women with solid track records of executive decision-making for our country. It will also make all the political parties feel that they too have a stake in the running of our country - and help lessen political tension in our country, that way.
Furthermore, far from opposition parties and their elected DCE's sabotaging the government of the day, as some say will happen, if they were elected on a party political basis, they would rather seize the opportunity to show Ghanaians what they can achieve at the national level, if they were elected into power: by turning their districts into model communities, and point to them as examples of their ability to improve the quality of life of ordinary Ghanaians.
That is one of the most effective ways of bringing about sustainable development that benefits local people and improves their quality of life - because elected DCE's will ensure that that always happens: in order to be re-elected to power regularly. We cannot call this a true democracy if we continue to deny grassroots people the right to elect their DCE's and assembly members.
We also want an assurance from Professor Mills that he will not repeat the outrageous attempt by President Kufuor to foist his tribal chiefs on Ghanaians - and never encourage those megalomaniac-bloodsucking-progeny, of the ruling elites from our pre-colonial feudal past, to act as if they were running mini-states within the modern Ghanaian nation-state.
This is a unitary republic - not a kingdom. With respect, in a strictly legal sense, there are no "kings" in our country. Period. Ordinary Ghanaians, who understand perfectly that inherited privilege is the worst enemy of any meritocracy, do not want our political leaders to encourage any chiefs in our country to think of themselves as sovereigns - for they are just private citizens who happen to be important members of society: nothing more, nothing less.
The NDC must also ensure that all chiefs in Ghana, stay out of politics. President Kufour's disgraceful attempt to use the machinery of state to promote the ambitions of his tribal chiefs (at the expense of all the other chiefs in Ghana) to somehow become political leaders in our country, is one of the most egregious examples of abuse of the office of president of Ghana, which we have ever seen in our country's history. Professor Mills must not attempt to emulate him, in any shape or form, under any circumstances - as it really is treasonable to attempt to divide this country in such an outrageous and tribalistic fashion.
Above all, I recommend that the NDC takes a good look at the sustainable development models used by the following individuals and organisations - and collaborate with them, to help bring positive change to the "real economy" of rural Ghana: Graham Knight's DIY Solar (http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/), Folke Gunther (http://www.holon.se/folke/), Ken Hargesheimer - MiniFarms organisation
(http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development organisation, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe (http://biocharfund.com/index.php.). One also hopes that the NDC will study biochar too - for, it will blow their minds: (http://www.biochar-international.org/).
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Is The Achimota Forest Too For Sale Now?
If this latest story doing the rounds is true, then it is just so reminiscent of the mad and bad days of Kalabule, before the June 4th 1979 military uprising - when politically well-connected individuals grabbed everything they could lay their grubby fingers on, that lay within their sight, nationwide.
Do those greedy philistines ensconced in the presidency under this corrupt regime, who think they know the price of everything under the African sun, but in reality haven't the slightest idea of the value of anything of worth, on God's planet Earth, want to own practically the whole of our country - if they had the opportunity to do so: and could get away with it? Is there no limit at all to the unfathomable greed that drives them?
Why do they want to sell the Achimota Forest, at a time of global climate change: when such forests are needed now, more than ever - especially when the Achimota forest is a unique green zone abutting a major metropolis like Accra?
How could anyone who cares about nature even begin to think of such an abomination – and scheme to deprive a whole city of its lungs, literally: just so that some bunch of uncouth, nouveau riche barbarians can send their already high personal net worth, into the stratosphere?
Well, let them dare sell it - and face the consequences. For, when the masses get fed up and finally rise up to halt the ongoing gang-rape of Mother Ghana, they will exact their revenge - against those who now act with total impunity and think they are invincible.
They must not think that the praise-singing of the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons in the Ghanaian media, whose consciences they have bought, and whose blinkers blind them to the ongoing brutal gang-rape of our country, is the actual pulse of the nation. It does not in the slightest.
The decent and independent-minded Ghanaians, whose votes will decide this election, are thoroughly fed up with the insatiable greed of some of our present rulers. Ghanaians are sick and tired of the endless greed that seems to have become such an epidemic in this regime. Have they no shame, at all?
Our current President, whose many critics up and down Ghana, now call him our nation’s “Hypocrite-in-Chief” has certainly presided over the greediest and most amoral regime that we have ever had the misfortune of electing into office, in our homeland Ghana.
But what does one expect of a regime made up mostly of men who break their marriage vows constantly? Can one expect such men to be honest in all their undertakings in life - big or small? Can one be dishonest in one area of one's life and be honest in other areas of one's life at the same time? Well, in the book of simple everyday folk, one is either honest, or one isn't - there is nothing in between. Period.
No wonder the most uncharitable of his critics say that the prevailing greed amongst the regime-crony oligarchs is a reflection of his own personal character: sly, ruthless and super-greedy. Achimota Forest, for sale - whatever next, one wonders? Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Do those greedy philistines ensconced in the presidency under this corrupt regime, who think they know the price of everything under the African sun, but in reality haven't the slightest idea of the value of anything of worth, on God's planet Earth, want to own practically the whole of our country - if they had the opportunity to do so: and could get away with it? Is there no limit at all to the unfathomable greed that drives them?
Why do they want to sell the Achimota Forest, at a time of global climate change: when such forests are needed now, more than ever - especially when the Achimota forest is a unique green zone abutting a major metropolis like Accra?
How could anyone who cares about nature even begin to think of such an abomination – and scheme to deprive a whole city of its lungs, literally: just so that some bunch of uncouth, nouveau riche barbarians can send their already high personal net worth, into the stratosphere?
Well, let them dare sell it - and face the consequences. For, when the masses get fed up and finally rise up to halt the ongoing gang-rape of Mother Ghana, they will exact their revenge - against those who now act with total impunity and think they are invincible.
They must not think that the praise-singing of the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons in the Ghanaian media, whose consciences they have bought, and whose blinkers blind them to the ongoing brutal gang-rape of our country, is the actual pulse of the nation. It does not in the slightest.
The decent and independent-minded Ghanaians, whose votes will decide this election, are thoroughly fed up with the insatiable greed of some of our present rulers. Ghanaians are sick and tired of the endless greed that seems to have become such an epidemic in this regime. Have they no shame, at all?
Our current President, whose many critics up and down Ghana, now call him our nation’s “Hypocrite-in-Chief” has certainly presided over the greediest and most amoral regime that we have ever had the misfortune of electing into office, in our homeland Ghana.
But what does one expect of a regime made up mostly of men who break their marriage vows constantly? Can one expect such men to be honest in all their undertakings in life - big or small? Can one be dishonest in one area of one's life and be honest in other areas of one's life at the same time? Well, in the book of simple everyday folk, one is either honest, or one isn't - there is nothing in between. Period.
No wonder the most uncharitable of his critics say that the prevailing greed amongst the regime-crony oligarchs is a reflection of his own personal character: sly, ruthless and super-greedy. Achimota Forest, for sale - whatever next, one wonders? Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Re: "90,000 rural dwellers to access solar power"
We are such a strange and interesting people, Ghanaians. According to a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report of 21st October, 2008, the World Bank apparently wants poor rural people to pay a deposit, in order to benefit from its new rural solar power initiative - yet those are the very people it is busy handing over a pittance to, every month, for the next seven months, apparently. Incredible!
How many of the poor, who live a "hand-to-mouth" existence, can afford to pay a deposit on anything in this world?
So, instead of breeding and encouraging a dependency-culture amongst our hardworking rural poor (by handing them money for seven months, just to get them to vote for the ruling party in the coming elections: which will then promptly forget that they even exist - once it wins power again!), why does the World Bank not simply use the money it is giving to them as monthly handouts, for the next seven months, as the deposit required for those wishing to benefit from this solar initiative?
Surely, that is a far more dignified way to proceed in dealing with the rural poor in our country: if the World Bank really wants to help them for seven months - as opposed to helping the incumbent regime retain power, in an election year, by stealth?
If those in charge of the project in Ghana, were to get the various district assemblies in the areas in which those 90,000 poor rural dwellers they are targeting, live, to work with the UK DIY Solar philanthropist, Mr. Graham Knight's (DIYSolar@btinternet.com ) http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/ , they could turn this initiative into an empowerment project - in which an enterprise culture is created for the youth who can be trained to become micro-solar entrepreneurs in rural Ghana.
For those of us who love our country, it is just so disheartening that the many tips and suggestions we put in the public domain, always fall on deaf ears, as far as officialdom is concerned.
Yet, such tips and suggestions are put in the public domain, in the hope that those whose job it is to help improve the quality of life of ordinary people in our country, will make use of them. Sadly, however, at the end of the day, hardly anyone in authority ever bothers to act to explore the possibilities that such tips and suggestions could lead to.
Just what have they got to lose if they followed such tips and leads, I ask - and exactly what are they frightened of? There are actually some people left in our country, who still act for purely altruistic reasons - surprising though that may be to the many corrupt, self-seekers in our country, today: who seem to think that somehow, in all they do, Ghanaians have to have an "angle" or "hidden agenda" How sickening!
Hmmm, Ghana eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
How many of the poor, who live a "hand-to-mouth" existence, can afford to pay a deposit on anything in this world?
So, instead of breeding and encouraging a dependency-culture amongst our hardworking rural poor (by handing them money for seven months, just to get them to vote for the ruling party in the coming elections: which will then promptly forget that they even exist - once it wins power again!), why does the World Bank not simply use the money it is giving to them as monthly handouts, for the next seven months, as the deposit required for those wishing to benefit from this solar initiative?
Surely, that is a far more dignified way to proceed in dealing with the rural poor in our country: if the World Bank really wants to help them for seven months - as opposed to helping the incumbent regime retain power, in an election year, by stealth?
If those in charge of the project in Ghana, were to get the various district assemblies in the areas in which those 90,000 poor rural dwellers they are targeting, live, to work with the UK DIY Solar philanthropist, Mr. Graham Knight's (DIYSolar@btinternet.com ) http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/ , they could turn this initiative into an empowerment project - in which an enterprise culture is created for the youth who can be trained to become micro-solar entrepreneurs in rural Ghana.
For those of us who love our country, it is just so disheartening that the many tips and suggestions we put in the public domain, always fall on deaf ears, as far as officialdom is concerned.
Yet, such tips and suggestions are put in the public domain, in the hope that those whose job it is to help improve the quality of life of ordinary people in our country, will make use of them. Sadly, however, at the end of the day, hardly anyone in authority ever bothers to act to explore the possibilities that such tips and suggestions could lead to.
Just what have they got to lose if they followed such tips and leads, I ask - and exactly what are they frightened of? There are actually some people left in our country, who still act for purely altruistic reasons - surprising though that may be to the many corrupt, self-seekers in our country, today: who seem to think that somehow, in all they do, Ghanaians have to have an "angle" or "hidden agenda" How sickening!
Hmmm, Ghana eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Re: "Parliament condemns executive for flouting constitution"
On Monday, 20th October 2008, the Ghana News Agency reported that Parliament had condemned the executive for: "...failing to bring mining lease agreements entered into with companies to Parliament for ratification. The Government has since 1994 to 2007 failed to seek parliamentary approval for majority of mining companies operating in the country..."
That the surface gold mining companies have operated for decades in our country without the approval of parliament, as required by our constitution, is not surprising in the slightest.
For, the mining lobby in our country, is the most powerful in the land. For decades, the surface mining companies have operated in the most environmentally irresponsible way possible - and have poisoned vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside, with total impunity.
They would certainly not be allowed to commit what in effect amounts to a crime against humanity, in their own home countries - where surface gold mining has long since been banned.
The poorly-resourced Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is powerless in the face of the political clout the mining lobby wields in Ghana - where they are a law unto themselves, virtually: enjoying the patronage of some of the most powerful people in the land.
Their corporate trade union, the Ghana Chamber of Mines, is currently led by a smooth-talking, super-respectable and sophisticated lady, Ms. Joyce Aryeh - whose good name and reputation they are ruthlessly exploiting with her well-paid permission: to cover up their devastating impact on the natural environment, in the areas they operate in, in our country.
It is such an outrage that apparently, all along, their status here, has more or less not been sanctioned by parliament, even. How can that be - if certain greedy and powerful members of our political class, weren't in their deep pockets?
Well, some day soon, they will be taken to court by concerned citizens for operating without parliamentary approval in our country - and be sued for billions of cedis for the harm that they have caused to many rural communities: whose areas they have succeeded in turning into versions of hell on earth.
The approval by the previous regime of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for surface gold mining to take pace in Ghana, at the behest of the World Bank and IMF,was one of the biggest mistakes that regime ever made.
As a nation, we are far better off leaving the gold in the ground - instead of destroying our precious rain forests, which contain billions and billions of dollars in yet-to-be discovered medicinal plants, for the sake of those who profit from the operations of surface gold mining companies in Ghana - and don't care one jot about the harm the operations of surface gold companies cause to Ghanaians and the natural environment. Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
That the surface gold mining companies have operated for decades in our country without the approval of parliament, as required by our constitution, is not surprising in the slightest.
For, the mining lobby in our country, is the most powerful in the land. For decades, the surface mining companies have operated in the most environmentally irresponsible way possible - and have poisoned vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside, with total impunity.
They would certainly not be allowed to commit what in effect amounts to a crime against humanity, in their own home countries - where surface gold mining has long since been banned.
The poorly-resourced Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is powerless in the face of the political clout the mining lobby wields in Ghana - where they are a law unto themselves, virtually: enjoying the patronage of some of the most powerful people in the land.
Their corporate trade union, the Ghana Chamber of Mines, is currently led by a smooth-talking, super-respectable and sophisticated lady, Ms. Joyce Aryeh - whose good name and reputation they are ruthlessly exploiting with her well-paid permission: to cover up their devastating impact on the natural environment, in the areas they operate in, in our country.
It is such an outrage that apparently, all along, their status here, has more or less not been sanctioned by parliament, even. How can that be - if certain greedy and powerful members of our political class, weren't in their deep pockets?
Well, some day soon, they will be taken to court by concerned citizens for operating without parliamentary approval in our country - and be sued for billions of cedis for the harm that they have caused to many rural communities: whose areas they have succeeded in turning into versions of hell on earth.
The approval by the previous regime of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for surface gold mining to take pace in Ghana, at the behest of the World Bank and IMF,was one of the biggest mistakes that regime ever made.
As a nation, we are far better off leaving the gold in the ground - instead of destroying our precious rain forests, which contain billions and billions of dollars in yet-to-be discovered medicinal plants, for the sake of those who profit from the operations of surface gold mining companies in Ghana - and don't care one jot about the harm the operations of surface gold companies cause to Ghanaians and the natural environment. Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Re: "Micro financing is not a panacea to women's problems - Issahaku"
I refer to the Ghana News Agency news report of Tuesday, 21 October 2008 which appeared on ghanaweb.com's business news web page (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151876.).
This is such a brilliant and inspiring story - and one hopes that many more women in the three northern regions will be given such training too, going forward. The women of the north work extremely hard - and deserve all the help they can get.
I urge the three regional administrations there to consult the South African sustainable livelihoods company, Sustainable Villages Africa (SVA) http://www.sva.co.za/.
Perhaps they can work together with SVA, the various women's groups in the three northern regions, as well as the various district assemblies, in a public private partnership, to improve the quality of life of farming families in the north.
US Embassy, ye ma mu ayeekoo (thank you, US Embassy to those who don't speak Twi!). Ditto, the three regional administrations - ye ma muyinaa ayeekoo (We thank all of you - to non-Twi speakers!).
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
This is such a brilliant and inspiring story - and one hopes that many more women in the three northern regions will be given such training too, going forward. The women of the north work extremely hard - and deserve all the help they can get.
I urge the three regional administrations there to consult the South African sustainable livelihoods company, Sustainable Villages Africa (SVA) http://www.sva.co.za/.
Perhaps they can work together with SVA, the various women's groups in the three northern regions, as well as the various district assemblies, in a public private partnership, to improve the quality of life of farming families in the north.
US Embassy, ye ma mu ayeekoo (thank you, US Embassy to those who don't speak Twi!). Ditto, the three regional administrations - ye ma muyinaa ayeekoo (We thank all of you - to non-Twi speakers!).
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Monday, 20 October 2008
RE: PRESIDENT KUFUOR LEAVES FOR THE NETHERLANDS
Dear God Almighty, bless our homeland Ghana, always. Have you noticed, O Lord, that in spite of the many problems our nation faces, our current president has left for yet another trip overseas - his 17th thus far, this year alone: and at a time when our nation is said by honest and independent-minded economists, to be virtually bankrupt (suffering from acute "debt distress" - to use the World Bank and IMF's euphemism!)?
Consequently, it is our prayer, O Lord God Almighty, that in the year 2009, you will give us a new president (unlike the current one!) who has not been infected by the super-dangerous wanderlust bug - and is in the mould of the late General Kutu Acheampong (of blessed memory!).
Like General Acheamong, may that new president be a hardworking leader - who will regard invitations to travel abroad from foreign powers seeking to enslave us yet again (but this time by stealth!), as a nuisance, a distraction from his or her job: and a complete waste of his or her time.
Please give us a new leader who will not regard as the prime indicator (of the presence in Ghana, of the concept) of good governance, the fact that his or her regime is constantly showered with the empty praises of self-seeking foreign powers, but rather because the whole world can see a real and tangible improvement in the quality of life of all the people of Ghana - not just the families and cronies of our rulers.
Oh Lord, is it not daft for foreign powers to regard a regime that is superintending the gradual engulfing of our whole nation by filth, as an example for the rest of Africa to follow?
How, O Lord, can they possibly regard the regime of a such a nation, whose priorities, rather than focusing on actually ridding our nation totally of filth (because they care about the quality of life of all Ghanaians), instead places emphasis on the use of scarce resources (and borrowed resources at that, too!) to the building of a luxury presidential palace complex and the purchasing of two presidential jets (and in one go, too, O Lord - to add insult to injury!), as the mark of a regime that practises good governance?
In the light of all the above, O, Lord God Almighty, let the new leader of our country regard an improvement in the living standards of all Ghanaians (not just the politically well-connected, such as the scions of the family clans of our rulers, their siblings, as well as the many youngish and delectable girlfriends of our rulers), as a "facts-on-the-ground" indicator that the regime he or she leads, does indeed practise the concept of good governance.
Let our new leader, O Lord, be a smart enough individual, who has self-belief in abundance enough, too, to treat the forked-tongue utterances of foreign powers, with all the contempt they deserve.
O, God Almighty, please open the eyes of the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons in our nation (especially the uncouth kind that flock to make asinine comments on the web pages of www.ghanaweb.com!), who wear blinkers permanently: and thus cannot see the harm that their blind support of the self-serving positions and policies, of some of the members of our political class, does to our country - because they are too narrow-minded and too blind to see the truth.
Above all, O Almighty God, let our political class tell us the truth about the real state of nation's our economy today (particularly at a time when even the governments of the wealthiest nations of the world are openly acknowledging the fact that their economies are in - or nearly in - a recession).
For, O Lord, today, many independent-minded and discerning folk, keep telling those of us with ears to hear, that our country has finally been brought to its knees - because of the penchant for massive borrowing by the ruling regime, on the piranha-infested capital markets of the Western world.
A case in point being their inability to refinance the Ghana Telecom (GT) debt. That outrage, in which Iroko successfully inveigled GT, into getting it to issue corporate bonds in London on its behalf - because, according to the bush telegraph (not poor old me, I hasten to add!), some on the company's board got kickbacks from the fees Iroko earned in that transaction!
Just who in our country led Iroko to the corporate boardroom of Ghana Telecom, one wonders, O Lord? For many decent-minded Ghanaians, it still remains a mystery, why this regime curiously (and foolishly, their many critics, say!) assumed that debt when they sold a 70 per cent stake in GT, for a song, to foreigners.
Why O Lord, do you not find a way to make the former U.N.Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan our next president? Lord, you know we don't want the kind of leaders who toady to foreign powers and further their interests in our country, and even more annoyingly, are also the lackeys of those rapacious Western multi-national corporations.
O Lord, you know how principled and independent-minded Mr. Kofi Annan is - remember how he stood up to the war-mongering neo-conservatives (who have now finally succeeded in ruining that great nation, the United States of America!), in the U.N. debates that were a prelude to the Iraqi war?
Just yesterday, O Lord, that great and humble man, said that at the appropriate time, he would reveal the names of those who were behind the post-election ethnic-cleansing that occured in Kenya.
Dear Lord, can you imagine our current "Hypocrite-in-Chief" saying that he would arrest someone like that mass-murderer, the ever-sly and racist President Omar Bashir of Sudan - and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague?
Yet, that is precisely what the principled Mr. Kofi Annan says he will do in effect in the case of Kenya - because, to paraphrase him, society must not allow them to get away with their crimes against humanity, with impunity.
(Incidentally, O Lord, our current "Hypocrite-in-Chief" hosted that monster, President Omar Bashir, here, not too long ago, to the consternation of those of us who are appalled by the Sudanese leader's murderous campaign being carried out in Darfur, by his army and its allies the Janjaweed - a veritable 21st century pogrom of apocalyptic proportions, as you very well know, O Lord.)
Do we not deserve a principled man like Mr. Kofi Annan - after all our many years of suffering: at the hands of our selfish, largely clueless, greedy and corrupt political elite, as Ghana's new leader, O Lord?
Above all, O God Almighty, your servants who love mother Ghana, ask that you hear this humble prayer of theirs - made on a wing and a prayer, so to speak dear Lord!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeaesm oo: asem ebaba debi ankassa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Consequently, it is our prayer, O Lord God Almighty, that in the year 2009, you will give us a new president (unlike the current one!) who has not been infected by the super-dangerous wanderlust bug - and is in the mould of the late General Kutu Acheampong (of blessed memory!).
Like General Acheamong, may that new president be a hardworking leader - who will regard invitations to travel abroad from foreign powers seeking to enslave us yet again (but this time by stealth!), as a nuisance, a distraction from his or her job: and a complete waste of his or her time.
Please give us a new leader who will not regard as the prime indicator (of the presence in Ghana, of the concept) of good governance, the fact that his or her regime is constantly showered with the empty praises of self-seeking foreign powers, but rather because the whole world can see a real and tangible improvement in the quality of life of all the people of Ghana - not just the families and cronies of our rulers.
Oh Lord, is it not daft for foreign powers to regard a regime that is superintending the gradual engulfing of our whole nation by filth, as an example for the rest of Africa to follow?
How, O Lord, can they possibly regard the regime of a such a nation, whose priorities, rather than focusing on actually ridding our nation totally of filth (because they care about the quality of life of all Ghanaians), instead places emphasis on the use of scarce resources (and borrowed resources at that, too!) to the building of a luxury presidential palace complex and the purchasing of two presidential jets (and in one go, too, O Lord - to add insult to injury!), as the mark of a regime that practises good governance?
In the light of all the above, O, Lord God Almighty, let the new leader of our country regard an improvement in the living standards of all Ghanaians (not just the politically well-connected, such as the scions of the family clans of our rulers, their siblings, as well as the many youngish and delectable girlfriends of our rulers), as a "facts-on-the-ground" indicator that the regime he or she leads, does indeed practise the concept of good governance.
Let our new leader, O Lord, be a smart enough individual, who has self-belief in abundance enough, too, to treat the forked-tongue utterances of foreign powers, with all the contempt they deserve.
O, God Almighty, please open the eyes of the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons in our nation (especially the uncouth kind that flock to make asinine comments on the web pages of www.ghanaweb.com!), who wear blinkers permanently: and thus cannot see the harm that their blind support of the self-serving positions and policies, of some of the members of our political class, does to our country - because they are too narrow-minded and too blind to see the truth.
Above all, O Almighty God, let our political class tell us the truth about the real state of nation's our economy today (particularly at a time when even the governments of the wealthiest nations of the world are openly acknowledging the fact that their economies are in - or nearly in - a recession).
For, O Lord, today, many independent-minded and discerning folk, keep telling those of us with ears to hear, that our country has finally been brought to its knees - because of the penchant for massive borrowing by the ruling regime, on the piranha-infested capital markets of the Western world.
A case in point being their inability to refinance the Ghana Telecom (GT) debt. That outrage, in which Iroko successfully inveigled GT, into getting it to issue corporate bonds in London on its behalf - because, according to the bush telegraph (not poor old me, I hasten to add!), some on the company's board got kickbacks from the fees Iroko earned in that transaction!
Just who in our country led Iroko to the corporate boardroom of Ghana Telecom, one wonders, O Lord? For many decent-minded Ghanaians, it still remains a mystery, why this regime curiously (and foolishly, their many critics, say!) assumed that debt when they sold a 70 per cent stake in GT, for a song, to foreigners.
Why O Lord, do you not find a way to make the former U.N.Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan our next president? Lord, you know we don't want the kind of leaders who toady to foreign powers and further their interests in our country, and even more annoyingly, are also the lackeys of those rapacious Western multi-national corporations.
O Lord, you know how principled and independent-minded Mr. Kofi Annan is - remember how he stood up to the war-mongering neo-conservatives (who have now finally succeeded in ruining that great nation, the United States of America!), in the U.N. debates that were a prelude to the Iraqi war?
Just yesterday, O Lord, that great and humble man, said that at the appropriate time, he would reveal the names of those who were behind the post-election ethnic-cleansing that occured in Kenya.
Dear Lord, can you imagine our current "Hypocrite-in-Chief" saying that he would arrest someone like that mass-murderer, the ever-sly and racist President Omar Bashir of Sudan - and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague?
Yet, that is precisely what the principled Mr. Kofi Annan says he will do in effect in the case of Kenya - because, to paraphrase him, society must not allow them to get away with their crimes against humanity, with impunity.
(Incidentally, O Lord, our current "Hypocrite-in-Chief" hosted that monster, President Omar Bashir, here, not too long ago, to the consternation of those of us who are appalled by the Sudanese leader's murderous campaign being carried out in Darfur, by his army and its allies the Janjaweed - a veritable 21st century pogrom of apocalyptic proportions, as you very well know, O Lord.)
Do we not deserve a principled man like Mr. Kofi Annan - after all our many years of suffering: at the hands of our selfish, largely clueless, greedy and corrupt political elite, as Ghana's new leader, O Lord?
Above all, O God Almighty, your servants who love mother Ghana, ask that you hear this humble prayer of theirs - made on a wing and a prayer, so to speak dear Lord!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeaesm oo: asem ebaba debi ankassa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Sunday, 19 October 2008
"Poor Souls: They Are Still At It - From My Online Community!" - A Free-Verse Poem By Kofi Thompson
How frightfully boring
They now are
The mercifully few
Highly-educated
Morons
From
My online community
The few bigots
Amidst serious
And decent
Scientific minds
Bloody fools
Who simply
Don't know
When to stop
Just what
Do they think?
That one thinks
That their
Sodden list
Is the world's
Only repository
Of knowledge
On their specialty?
God give us patience
Do they not realise
A whole
International initiative
On the sodden subject
Does exist
And that
One now consults
The website
Of that
Scientific body
Online?
Get a life!
Its you
That is now absurd
Why
Do you think
That we swing
From trees here?
Have tails
We tuck
In between
Our legs?
Grow up
Chaps
Get a life!
They now are
The mercifully few
Highly-educated
Morons
From
My online community
The few bigots
Amidst serious
And decent
Scientific minds
Bloody fools
Who simply
Don't know
When to stop
Just what
Do they think?
That one thinks
That their
Sodden list
Is the world's
Only repository
Of knowledge
On their specialty?
God give us patience
Do they not realise
A whole
International initiative
On the sodden subject
Does exist
And that
One now consults
The website
Of that
Scientific body
Online?
Get a life!
Its you
That is now absurd
Why
Do you think
That we swing
From trees here?
Have tails
We tuck
In between
Our legs?
Grow up
Chaps
Get a life!
Saturday, 18 October 2008
"I Joined an Online Community Once!" - A free-verse poem by Kofi Thompson
I joined an online community once
In my enthusiasm to participate
I unwittingly became a nuisance
Filling the in-boxes
Of scientific minds
With my off-topic meanderings
Until disaster struck
I answered what I thought
Was private e-mail
From a member of the list
To my horror
Back it came
The property of the whole list
Then came the sniggering-set
Crowing
That the nuisance
Had had his come-uppance
What to do?
But to do the decent thing
And retire from the list
Then the true nature
Of some began to show
In endless posts
They made cruel jokes
Obviously
Aimed at the nuisance
That-used-to-be
Poor souls
One mentioned Fair Trade
Not to be confused
With trade fair said he grandly
Hellooo!
Seen any flying-pigs larely?
The lipstick-wearing kind?
Do you mind?
We have actually been involved
In the Fair Trade movement for yonks
Then another came up
With a solar fantasy
So-called
Weed biochar-maker
For bare-feet-farmers
Hellooo!
Actually
We have prepared
Vegetable beds
For a biochar experiment
Of our very own
Do you not know
When to forgive
Another human being
For a faux pas?
Human nature
Little minds
Brilliant minds
Good people
Narrow-minded folk
Insular folk
Broad-minded folk
Kindly souls
Life
It takes all sorts
I joined an online community once
But will never post online
On one again
Just absorb
The wisdom posted online
And keep
My foolishness
To myself
I joined an online community once
But never again
Lest the cruel-set
And the sniggering-set
Declare open season
On a sensitive soul
I joined an online community once
But never again!
In my enthusiasm to participate
I unwittingly became a nuisance
Filling the in-boxes
Of scientific minds
With my off-topic meanderings
Until disaster struck
I answered what I thought
Was private e-mail
From a member of the list
To my horror
Back it came
The property of the whole list
Then came the sniggering-set
Crowing
That the nuisance
Had had his come-uppance
What to do?
But to do the decent thing
And retire from the list
Then the true nature
Of some began to show
In endless posts
They made cruel jokes
Obviously
Aimed at the nuisance
That-used-to-be
Poor souls
One mentioned Fair Trade
Not to be confused
With trade fair said he grandly
Hellooo!
Seen any flying-pigs larely?
The lipstick-wearing kind?
Do you mind?
We have actually been involved
In the Fair Trade movement for yonks
Then another came up
With a solar fantasy
So-called
Weed biochar-maker
For bare-feet-farmers
Hellooo!
Actually
We have prepared
Vegetable beds
For a biochar experiment
Of our very own
Do you not know
When to forgive
Another human being
For a faux pas?
Human nature
Little minds
Brilliant minds
Good people
Narrow-minded folk
Insular folk
Broad-minded folk
Kindly souls
Life
It takes all sorts
I joined an online community once
But will never post online
On one again
Just absorb
The wisdom posted online
And keep
My foolishness
To myself
I joined an online community once
But never again
Lest the cruel-set
And the sniggering-set
Declare open season
On a sensitive soul
I joined an online community once
But never again!
Friday, 17 October 2008
ANDREW AWUNI: DOES THE PRESIDENT OF GHANA OWN A SIGNIFICANT STAKE IN A NIGERIAN-DOMICILED OIL COMPANY OR NOT?
I nearly fell off my chair, when I read the first paragraph, of a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report: "Accra, Oct. 16, GNA - Government on Thursday, gave the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), a two-week ultimatum, to prove an allegation that President John Agyekum Kufuor owes more than five billion dollars to Kuwaiti Oil suppliers."
Well, we will wait for the two weeks to pass - and see the denouement of this juicy story. Still, you have to hand it to him - Mr. Andrew Awuni "really has more front than the Osu Castle" (to use the Ghanaian equivalent of a phrase much-beloved of the UK's Essex Man and Woman!). I simply had to laugh at the sheer audacity of that gentleman.
How very interesting - and how very typical of Ghana's dissimulating political class.The point (in case the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who flock to the general news web pages of www.ghanaweb.com to comment, and pollute it with their narrow-minded bigotry, have not noticed!), is just what the suave, sophisticated and smooth-talking Mr. Andrew Awuni, left out, in his clever little statement.
What is pretty germane to all this kerfuffle, is whether or not it is true that our president did vouch for the said Nigerian-domiciled oil company in a conversation with some of the senior executives of the said "Kuwaiti Oil suppliers." Ditto, whether or not the president (or his nominees!) actually does own a significant stake in the said Nigerian-domiciled oil company.
Mr. Andrew Awuni, if I have understood the gist of the GNA report quoted above correctly, did the president a great disservice.
As presidential spokesperson he ought to have refuted the "bush telegraph" stories doing the rounds: specifically, those which claim that the president spoke to senior executives of Kuwait Oil Company, and gave them assurances that more or less vouched for the bonafides, of the oil company he (or his nominees!) is said to have a significant stake in.
Clearly, it would be an outrage if it were true that a sitting president of Ghana had vouched for a private company in an international business transaction involving a Nigerian-domiciled entity - as that would amount to an abuse of his position and office.
That the clever Mr. Andrew Awuni failed to clear the air about the allegation that the president owns a significant stake in the said oil company, is unfortunate. He must do so - and do so quickly: in order to remove any doubt in the minds of ordinary Ghanaians, who expect their leaders to live above reproach! Period.
The Andrew Awunis of this world must always remember that it is not the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, those fanatical political party supporters, blinded by the blinkers they wear permanently, who will decide the outcome of the elections, this December.
It is the discerning and independent-minded voters, the so-called "floating voters", who will decide the fate of his party - so he had better treat us with some respect: and tell us all the facts in this shabby affair (or outrageous slander and "non-affair", if that be the case, two weeks hence!).
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asemebaba debi ankasa! May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Well, we will wait for the two weeks to pass - and see the denouement of this juicy story. Still, you have to hand it to him - Mr. Andrew Awuni "really has more front than the Osu Castle" (to use the Ghanaian equivalent of a phrase much-beloved of the UK's Essex Man and Woman!). I simply had to laugh at the sheer audacity of that gentleman.
How very interesting - and how very typical of Ghana's dissimulating political class.The point (in case the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who flock to the general news web pages of www.ghanaweb.com to comment, and pollute it with their narrow-minded bigotry, have not noticed!), is just what the suave, sophisticated and smooth-talking Mr. Andrew Awuni, left out, in his clever little statement.
What is pretty germane to all this kerfuffle, is whether or not it is true that our president did vouch for the said Nigerian-domiciled oil company in a conversation with some of the senior executives of the said "Kuwaiti Oil suppliers." Ditto, whether or not the president (or his nominees!) actually does own a significant stake in the said Nigerian-domiciled oil company.
Mr. Andrew Awuni, if I have understood the gist of the GNA report quoted above correctly, did the president a great disservice.
As presidential spokesperson he ought to have refuted the "bush telegraph" stories doing the rounds: specifically, those which claim that the president spoke to senior executives of Kuwait Oil Company, and gave them assurances that more or less vouched for the bonafides, of the oil company he (or his nominees!) is said to have a significant stake in.
Clearly, it would be an outrage if it were true that a sitting president of Ghana had vouched for a private company in an international business transaction involving a Nigerian-domiciled entity - as that would amount to an abuse of his position and office.
That the clever Mr. Andrew Awuni failed to clear the air about the allegation that the president owns a significant stake in the said oil company, is unfortunate. He must do so - and do so quickly: in order to remove any doubt in the minds of ordinary Ghanaians, who expect their leaders to live above reproach! Period.
The Andrew Awunis of this world must always remember that it is not the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, those fanatical political party supporters, blinded by the blinkers they wear permanently, who will decide the outcome of the elections, this December.
It is the discerning and independent-minded voters, the so-called "floating voters", who will decide the fate of his party - so he had better treat us with some respect: and tell us all the facts in this shabby affair (or outrageous slander and "non-affair", if that be the case, two weeks hence!).
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asemebaba debi ankasa! May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
A KOFI ANNAN PRESIDENCY IN GHANA WOULD INDEED BE TRULY PHENOMENAL!
Mr. Kofi Annan, the former U.N. Secretary General, is so right in what he is reported to have said recently in Ireland - an Obama presidency in America would indeed be "phenomenal."
The irony, for many a discerning and patriotic Ghanaian, is that one of the tragedies of our time, is the unfortunate fact that Mr. Kofi Annan has not sought the presidency of our country.
For many such patriots, in seeking the presidency, Mr. Annan would literally be coming to his country's rescue, at its time of greatest need - for, like an Obama presidency in America, a Kofi Annan presidency in Ghana, would also be "phenomenal", indeed.
It is a position he is so eminently qualified for - and what a phenomenal change it would be for our homeland Ghana, if this dignified, honest and competent patriot, became Ghana's president, somehow: against all odds.
He has more gravitas than all the members of our political class combined - a truly world class statesman who commands the respect of all the world's leading politicians. It is such a pity that some wealthy Ghanaian patriot has not seen it fit to bankroll Mr. Kofi Annan to run for the presidency - a position he is the most qualified Ghanaian alive today, to occupy. No question!
It will not come as a surprise to me, for example, if even the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who flock to www,ghanaweb.com (those infernal narrow-minded and partisan individuals, who wear blinkers permanently and will not recognise the truth, if they were to bump into it, at Kajetia or Makola market, in broad daylight!), would not support a bid by Mr. Kofi Annan for the presidency - for, it is just so clear that Mr. Kofi Annan as president of Ghana, would, indeed, be truly "phenomenal."
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
The irony, for many a discerning and patriotic Ghanaian, is that one of the tragedies of our time, is the unfortunate fact that Mr. Kofi Annan has not sought the presidency of our country.
For many such patriots, in seeking the presidency, Mr. Annan would literally be coming to his country's rescue, at its time of greatest need - for, like an Obama presidency in America, a Kofi Annan presidency in Ghana, would also be "phenomenal", indeed.
It is a position he is so eminently qualified for - and what a phenomenal change it would be for our homeland Ghana, if this dignified, honest and competent patriot, became Ghana's president, somehow: against all odds.
He has more gravitas than all the members of our political class combined - a truly world class statesman who commands the respect of all the world's leading politicians. It is such a pity that some wealthy Ghanaian patriot has not seen it fit to bankroll Mr. Kofi Annan to run for the presidency - a position he is the most qualified Ghanaian alive today, to occupy. No question!
It will not come as a surprise to me, for example, if even the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who flock to www,ghanaweb.com (those infernal narrow-minded and partisan individuals, who wear blinkers permanently and will not recognise the truth, if they were to bump into it, at Kajetia or Makola market, in broad daylight!), would not support a bid by Mr. Kofi Annan for the presidency - for, it is just so clear that Mr. Kofi Annan as president of Ghana, would, indeed, be truly "phenomenal."
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Thursday, 16 October 2008
GHANA COCOBOD: PLEASE LISTEN TO THE ORDINARY COCOA FARMERS OF GHANA FOR A CHANGE - FOR, WE AREN'T FOOLS AT ALL!
As an ordinary cocoa farmer, I am constantly amazed at the display of wealth that I see in the car park of the COCOBOD, whenever I visit its headquarters building, Cocoa House, in Accra.
The latest models of luxury Volvos assigned to COCOBOD executives, and the billions spent renovating Cocoa House, are an indication of the massive resources the COCOBOD commands in our country.
As a simple and very ordinary cocoa farmer, who likes to think he is a creative thinker, I believe that the time has now come for a paradigm shift in the role that the COCOBOD plays in the lives of cocoa farmers.
Those who run the COCOBOD must now start listening to us: and to think of us as equal partners - in the important task of moving the industry to a higher and more sustainable level.
My family farms at Akim Abuakwa Juaso - where the community desperately wants to improve its quality of life: by farming in an environmentally sustainable manner that also results in improved farm productivity.
For example, the inhabitants want to build a library for the schoolchildren in the community. They also want to use the biochar retort developed by the renowned sustainability expert, the Swedish gentleman Folke Gunther, to make biochar from waste cocoa husks and other biomass available on our farms.
The use of biochar by Ghana's cocoa farmers will increase yields dramatically - and without all the harmful chemicals (the so-called HITECH mass-spraying initiative: the “chemical-cocktail-lunacy”) that is making health-conscious foreigners shun chocolate made from non-organic cocoa beans - and consequently makes discerning overseas buyers wary of Ghana's cocoa these days.
Ultimately, the community wants to use the American designer Sean K. Barry's biochar plant, to make biochar and produce electric power - and also use the waste gas to provide the town's inhabitants with a refrigerated warehouse.
We do have the ideas - but sadly lack the means to realize our goal of turning Akim Abuakwa Juaso into a model sustainable cocoa-producing village.
We urge the COCOBOD to take a look at the sustainable development model that Sustainable Villages Africa (SVA), the South African sustainable livelihood organisation has developed - and give them a contract to do a pilot project to develop Akim Abuakwa Juaso into a model sustainable village: and replicate same if it is successful, all over the cocoa-growing areas of the enterprise Ghana.
The COCOBOD must also take an interest in the work of the International Biochar Initiative - and empower the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to work closely with that body, to leverage the many benefits of biochar, for cocoa farmers in particular, and Ghanaian farmers generally.
Let them listen to a poor cocoa farmer, for once, for a change - for, it is precisely because of our labour, that they get perks like the poshest Volvo models and COCOBOD-paid chauffeurs to drive them around in the lap of luxury; live in luxurious Hollywood-style COCOBOD properties; are paid the local equivalent of fantastic developed-world-level salaries; and work in air-conditioned glory.
Hopefully, none of them will dare accuse poor cocoa farmers who point out all the perks they earn, as being "lazy" and "envious" - as our "Hypocrite-in-Chief" is wont to describe those who point out the glaring disparities in wealth in our nation, today. A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasesm oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
The latest models of luxury Volvos assigned to COCOBOD executives, and the billions spent renovating Cocoa House, are an indication of the massive resources the COCOBOD commands in our country.
As a simple and very ordinary cocoa farmer, who likes to think he is a creative thinker, I believe that the time has now come for a paradigm shift in the role that the COCOBOD plays in the lives of cocoa farmers.
Those who run the COCOBOD must now start listening to us: and to think of us as equal partners - in the important task of moving the industry to a higher and more sustainable level.
My family farms at Akim Abuakwa Juaso - where the community desperately wants to improve its quality of life: by farming in an environmentally sustainable manner that also results in improved farm productivity.
For example, the inhabitants want to build a library for the schoolchildren in the community. They also want to use the biochar retort developed by the renowned sustainability expert, the Swedish gentleman Folke Gunther, to make biochar from waste cocoa husks and other biomass available on our farms.
The use of biochar by Ghana's cocoa farmers will increase yields dramatically - and without all the harmful chemicals (the so-called HITECH mass-spraying initiative: the “chemical-cocktail-lunacy”) that is making health-conscious foreigners shun chocolate made from non-organic cocoa beans - and consequently makes discerning overseas buyers wary of Ghana's cocoa these days.
Ultimately, the community wants to use the American designer Sean K. Barry's biochar plant, to make biochar and produce electric power - and also use the waste gas to provide the town's inhabitants with a refrigerated warehouse.
We do have the ideas - but sadly lack the means to realize our goal of turning Akim Abuakwa Juaso into a model sustainable cocoa-producing village.
We urge the COCOBOD to take a look at the sustainable development model that Sustainable Villages Africa (SVA), the South African sustainable livelihood organisation has developed - and give them a contract to do a pilot project to develop Akim Abuakwa Juaso into a model sustainable village: and replicate same if it is successful, all over the cocoa-growing areas of the enterprise Ghana.
The COCOBOD must also take an interest in the work of the International Biochar Initiative - and empower the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to work closely with that body, to leverage the many benefits of biochar, for cocoa farmers in particular, and Ghanaian farmers generally.
Let them listen to a poor cocoa farmer, for once, for a change - for, it is precisely because of our labour, that they get perks like the poshest Volvo models and COCOBOD-paid chauffeurs to drive them around in the lap of luxury; live in luxurious Hollywood-style COCOBOD properties; are paid the local equivalent of fantastic developed-world-level salaries; and work in air-conditioned glory.
Hopefully, none of them will dare accuse poor cocoa farmers who point out all the perks they earn, as being "lazy" and "envious" - as our "Hypocrite-in-Chief" is wont to describe those who point out the glaring disparities in wealth in our nation, today. A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasesm oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Re: "Ghana must draw plans to explore nuclear energy - Prof. Akaho"
Really? With respect, let the good professor answer a simple question: what is a nation with abundant potential tidal power, doing about that safe and reliable renewable source of power? Ditto large-scale wind power generation - also safe and renewable? Why are we not doing anything positive about exploiting that gift of nature, which renewable power represents?
Sadly, we are people who are world-famous for not maintaining our infrastructure, buildings and structures in the built-up public space. So what are we doing dreaming about something as dangerous and complicated as the business of storing and securing nuclear waste - something that will remain radioactive, and hence very dangerous, for thousands of years?
The question which discerning Ghanaians ought to ask the good professor and those who think like him, is: have we mastered the relatively simple science of safely disposing of household and industrial waste, yet?
If not, what right do we have to condemn future generations of our people to living with the ever-present danger of an accident at a Ghanaian nuclear waste storage facility (during an earthquake, for example)?
Any primary schoolchild living in any of Ghana's coastal communities will tell the professor that in their view, Ghana has enough potential in tidal power, to provide it with safe and renewable power, till the very end of time.
Since we have close relations with the UK, why does he not talk to the Chief Minister of the Scottish Parliament - so that our scientific community can cooperate with their research scientific community involved in tidal power generation work?
Some of us feel so strongly about preventing this lunacy - and feel that we must never risk the consequences of an accident at a nuclear waste storage site in our country, ever.
Taflaste, indeed, so strongly do we feel about preventing the potential risk it poses to future generations of our people, that some of us are even prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice: and risk our lives to overthrow any regime that undertakes the lunacy of building a nuclear power plant in a nation that can't even deal with the relatively simple task of household/industrial waste disposal, efficiently and safely, let alone the risky business of storing and securing nuclear waste that is super-dangerous and will remain so for thousands of years. Massa, never! Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: easem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Sadly, we are people who are world-famous for not maintaining our infrastructure, buildings and structures in the built-up public space. So what are we doing dreaming about something as dangerous and complicated as the business of storing and securing nuclear waste - something that will remain radioactive, and hence very dangerous, for thousands of years?
The question which discerning Ghanaians ought to ask the good professor and those who think like him, is: have we mastered the relatively simple science of safely disposing of household and industrial waste, yet?
If not, what right do we have to condemn future generations of our people to living with the ever-present danger of an accident at a Ghanaian nuclear waste storage facility (during an earthquake, for example)?
Any primary schoolchild living in any of Ghana's coastal communities will tell the professor that in their view, Ghana has enough potential in tidal power, to provide it with safe and renewable power, till the very end of time.
Since we have close relations with the UK, why does he not talk to the Chief Minister of the Scottish Parliament - so that our scientific community can cooperate with their research scientific community involved in tidal power generation work?
Some of us feel so strongly about preventing this lunacy - and feel that we must never risk the consequences of an accident at a nuclear waste storage site in our country, ever.
Taflaste, indeed, so strongly do we feel about preventing the potential risk it poses to future generations of our people, that some of us are even prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice: and risk our lives to overthrow any regime that undertakes the lunacy of building a nuclear power plant in a nation that can't even deal with the relatively simple task of household/industrial waste disposal, efficiently and safely, let alone the risky business of storing and securing nuclear waste that is super-dangerous and will remain so for thousands of years. Massa, never! Period.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: easem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
A HUMBLE PRAYER TO GOD ALMIGHTY!
Dear God, we pray that you will mellow the hearts of all those tiresome "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who flock to www.ghanaweb.com - and remove their blinkers, so that they will see truth clearly when they meet it: even at night.
As you are aware, O Lord, today, the wealthy nations of the capitalist world, are busy nationalising private banks, in order to secure their national economies.
Please give our political class the wisdom to understand that it is only because we did not think of good business models for our state-owned entities that most of them never did well - and that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that model of development: as prosperous Singapore has amply shown the whole world.
Soften the hearts of our selfish and obtuse neo-liberals - and let them understand that "trickle-down" economics, never has made sense: as it enriches a powerful few, whiles impoverishing the rest of society.
Lord, it is a recipe for political instability that Ghana's selfish and cowardly middle classes, simply fail to see and to understand - so open their eyes widely O Lord: and give them the wisdom to understand the danger an underclass poses to their well-being and that of our homeland Ghana.
O, God Almighty, as you know, the present business model of a typical Ghanaian state-owned entity is one in which management gets given all the perks - such as: posh cars, luxury company-owned homes, all with stand-by power generators (and with fitted kitchens - which are even worth a great deal more than the retirement benefits of the average worker, dear Lord!).
Please we also pray that you will bless our political class with the wisdom to create new business models for our state-owned entities - in which workers get a 20 per cent stake in the business, 20 per cent is floated on the Ghana Stock Exchange, and the state keeps 60 per cent of the shareholding: and of course rewards management well, when they perform as well as those who pay them expect.
It is also the prayer of all ordinary people in Ghana, dear God Almighty, that you will let that arrangement come into force next year, immediately after the new president is sworn into office.
O, dear God Almighty, please send us a miracle immediately, so that our political class will suddenly become infected with the benign bacteria known as "patriotism" - and make them do what is in the best interest of Ghana, currently: agree to field a consensus candidate for president of Ghana, and choose the man most qualified for that exalted position, today, in our country - Mr Kofi Annan.
For, he will move rapidly to create a government of national unity (made up of honest and patriotic technocrats, who are apolitical!) for us, and use our oil and natural gas revenues wisely, as only he can, and will - and, as you know O Lord, use those revenues to transform our society into Africa's equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
Let them also choose our current lady Chief Justice to become his vice president - so that we can have two incorruptible individuals at the helm of affairs in our homeland Ghana, for a change, for once!
Above all, dear God, let them decide to make the position of district chief executive and the district assembly membership, elected ones - so that there will be real democracy at the grassroots level in Ghana. That, O Lord, will ensure that those in charge of local government will be responsive to needs of grassroots-level people: instead of toadying to the president and doing his bidding, rather than serving the local people they are paid to serve.
As you know, dear God, that will have the added bonus for our country, of creating a vast pool of experienced men and women with solid track records - and years of experience of executive decision-making under their belts: a perfect way to create a meritocracy in our ruling elite.
We would also plead, dear God that instead of creating a new underclass of truly lazy people in the rural areas of our country, as this new madness surely will (that daft new World Bank poverty alleviation scheme, i.e., dear Lord!), you will have mercy on our country and give our leaders the wisdom to contact the organisations I will list at the end of this email to you, O Father.
That list contains links to a number of sustainable development organisations and ideas that will bring prosperity to our rural folk, if our country works with them. That list is part of an article I wrote to Nana Asante Bediatuo, of Akyem Abuakwa - who ignored it completely: because I am neither an important personage nor a boot-licking hack, which, sadly, is all that that kind of Ghanaian has time for, at the end of the day. Bottom line, Lord!
Well, dear God, you know perfectly well that what rural people in Ghana really need is the opportunity to have sustainable livelihoods during their adult working years - not miserly handouts from the World Bank to boost the chances of the discredited neo-liberals whose selfishness and greed has finally brought our nation to its knees.
Do not let this sop to the poor in our country, be used to trick them to vote for those who, when given the historic opportunity to change our country for the better, and to set new standards of public morality, simply ended up outdoing their predecessors in office, in the very same vices they condemned them for, when they were in the political wilderness.
The poor in rural Ghana do not need their dignity toyed with to enable our incompetent leaders to be reelected into office, on their backs. Certainly they deserve better, O Lord.
Yet another point, dear God: please let our leaders see the sense in abolishing personal income tax and lowering the corporate tax rate to just 9 per cent to make it one of the lowest in the world, if not the lowest - so that working people will save what they now pay on their income and which our rulers just fritter away (mostly, as you know, on useless undertakings, such as endless travel overseas for per diem - at taxpayers' expense).
Of course, dear God, as you know, corporate tax at 9 per cent will quickly attract scores of companies that presently have their African headquarters in Europe, South Africa and elsewhere, to our shores. That will mean jobs galore, as they hire local people, a mini property boom, as they buy and rent property, and best of all, more government revenue from them.
It need not even be said openly by me, that all the crooks in our private sector who make zillions but dodge their taxes, will troop to do the decent thing and pay up, annually - for it is so obvious they will play their part in nation-building, by paying such low corporate tax rates.
Finally, dear God, here is the portion of that article I wrote but which Nana Asante Bediatuo, ignored completely - as our "big men" here are wont to do. Please let all who read it, click unto the links to the various websites - so that they too may benefit from it personally.
Above all, let our big men and those who read such irreverent articles for them, contact the organisations: so that all rural communities in Ghana and our district chief executives (whom you will send us a miracle that will let us quickly amend our constitution to enable ordinary people elect to four-year tenures!) can collaborate with them in private public partnerships, to bring prosperity to rural Ghana.
Many thanks indeed, dear God Almighty - and do listen to this humble prayer, O Lord: for mother Ghana's sake! Please bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
PS Please find below, O Lord, the portion of that article I mentioned earlier, which Nana Asante Bediatuo ignored totally:
"Nana Asante Bediatuo, if you guys really want to promote sustainable development in Akim Abuakwa (as opposed to merely talking about it!), you can contact the following: Graham Knight's DIY Solar: (http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/), Folke Gunther (http://www.holon.se/folke/), Ken Hargesheimer - MiniFarms organisation(http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development organisation, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe(http://biocharfund.com/index.php.).
Do study biochar too (http://www.biochar-international.org/) - it will blow your minds! For good measure see the possibilities here for young welders and other young craftsmen: (http://www.aussiethings.biz/coolgardie_safe.html)
Nana Asante Bediatuo, you and your cousins can help all the rural communities in Akim Abuakwa create sustainable livelihoods and real wealth, if you help them leverage the environmentally-friendly and sustainable development models for rural development, of all those marvellous organisations and individuals, whose website links, I have taken the trouble to give to you - for the sake of our homeland Ghana, and Akyem Abualkwa. "Over to you", as we say in local parlance!"
As you are aware, O Lord, today, the wealthy nations of the capitalist world, are busy nationalising private banks, in order to secure their national economies.
Please give our political class the wisdom to understand that it is only because we did not think of good business models for our state-owned entities that most of them never did well - and that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that model of development: as prosperous Singapore has amply shown the whole world.
Soften the hearts of our selfish and obtuse neo-liberals - and let them understand that "trickle-down" economics, never has made sense: as it enriches a powerful few, whiles impoverishing the rest of society.
Lord, it is a recipe for political instability that Ghana's selfish and cowardly middle classes, simply fail to see and to understand - so open their eyes widely O Lord: and give them the wisdom to understand the danger an underclass poses to their well-being and that of our homeland Ghana.
O, God Almighty, as you know, the present business model of a typical Ghanaian state-owned entity is one in which management gets given all the perks - such as: posh cars, luxury company-owned homes, all with stand-by power generators (and with fitted kitchens - which are even worth a great deal more than the retirement benefits of the average worker, dear Lord!).
Please we also pray that you will bless our political class with the wisdom to create new business models for our state-owned entities - in which workers get a 20 per cent stake in the business, 20 per cent is floated on the Ghana Stock Exchange, and the state keeps 60 per cent of the shareholding: and of course rewards management well, when they perform as well as those who pay them expect.
It is also the prayer of all ordinary people in Ghana, dear God Almighty, that you will let that arrangement come into force next year, immediately after the new president is sworn into office.
O, dear God Almighty, please send us a miracle immediately, so that our political class will suddenly become infected with the benign bacteria known as "patriotism" - and make them do what is in the best interest of Ghana, currently: agree to field a consensus candidate for president of Ghana, and choose the man most qualified for that exalted position, today, in our country - Mr Kofi Annan.
For, he will move rapidly to create a government of national unity (made up of honest and patriotic technocrats, who are apolitical!) for us, and use our oil and natural gas revenues wisely, as only he can, and will - and, as you know O Lord, use those revenues to transform our society into Africa's equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
Let them also choose our current lady Chief Justice to become his vice president - so that we can have two incorruptible individuals at the helm of affairs in our homeland Ghana, for a change, for once!
Above all, dear God, let them decide to make the position of district chief executive and the district assembly membership, elected ones - so that there will be real democracy at the grassroots level in Ghana. That, O Lord, will ensure that those in charge of local government will be responsive to needs of grassroots-level people: instead of toadying to the president and doing his bidding, rather than serving the local people they are paid to serve.
As you know, dear God, that will have the added bonus for our country, of creating a vast pool of experienced men and women with solid track records - and years of experience of executive decision-making under their belts: a perfect way to create a meritocracy in our ruling elite.
We would also plead, dear God that instead of creating a new underclass of truly lazy people in the rural areas of our country, as this new madness surely will (that daft new World Bank poverty alleviation scheme, i.e., dear Lord!), you will have mercy on our country and give our leaders the wisdom to contact the organisations I will list at the end of this email to you, O Father.
That list contains links to a number of sustainable development organisations and ideas that will bring prosperity to our rural folk, if our country works with them. That list is part of an article I wrote to Nana Asante Bediatuo, of Akyem Abuakwa - who ignored it completely: because I am neither an important personage nor a boot-licking hack, which, sadly, is all that that kind of Ghanaian has time for, at the end of the day. Bottom line, Lord!
Well, dear God, you know perfectly well that what rural people in Ghana really need is the opportunity to have sustainable livelihoods during their adult working years - not miserly handouts from the World Bank to boost the chances of the discredited neo-liberals whose selfishness and greed has finally brought our nation to its knees.
Do not let this sop to the poor in our country, be used to trick them to vote for those who, when given the historic opportunity to change our country for the better, and to set new standards of public morality, simply ended up outdoing their predecessors in office, in the very same vices they condemned them for, when they were in the political wilderness.
The poor in rural Ghana do not need their dignity toyed with to enable our incompetent leaders to be reelected into office, on their backs. Certainly they deserve better, O Lord.
Yet another point, dear God: please let our leaders see the sense in abolishing personal income tax and lowering the corporate tax rate to just 9 per cent to make it one of the lowest in the world, if not the lowest - so that working people will save what they now pay on their income and which our rulers just fritter away (mostly, as you know, on useless undertakings, such as endless travel overseas for per diem - at taxpayers' expense).
Of course, dear God, as you know, corporate tax at 9 per cent will quickly attract scores of companies that presently have their African headquarters in Europe, South Africa and elsewhere, to our shores. That will mean jobs galore, as they hire local people, a mini property boom, as they buy and rent property, and best of all, more government revenue from them.
It need not even be said openly by me, that all the crooks in our private sector who make zillions but dodge their taxes, will troop to do the decent thing and pay up, annually - for it is so obvious they will play their part in nation-building, by paying such low corporate tax rates.
Finally, dear God, here is the portion of that article I wrote but which Nana Asante Bediatuo, ignored completely - as our "big men" here are wont to do. Please let all who read it, click unto the links to the various websites - so that they too may benefit from it personally.
Above all, let our big men and those who read such irreverent articles for them, contact the organisations: so that all rural communities in Ghana and our district chief executives (whom you will send us a miracle that will let us quickly amend our constitution to enable ordinary people elect to four-year tenures!) can collaborate with them in private public partnerships, to bring prosperity to rural Ghana.
Many thanks indeed, dear God Almighty - and do listen to this humble prayer, O Lord: for mother Ghana's sake! Please bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
PS Please find below, O Lord, the portion of that article I mentioned earlier, which Nana Asante Bediatuo ignored totally:
"Nana Asante Bediatuo, if you guys really want to promote sustainable development in Akim Abuakwa (as opposed to merely talking about it!), you can contact the following: Graham Knight's DIY Solar: (http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/), Folke Gunther (http://www.holon.se/folke/), Ken Hargesheimer - MiniFarms organisation(http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development organisation, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe(http://biocharfund.com/index.php.).
Do study biochar too (http://www.biochar-international.org/) - it will blow your minds! For good measure see the possibilities here for young welders and other young craftsmen: (http://www.aussiethings.biz/coolgardie_safe.html)
Nana Asante Bediatuo, you and your cousins can help all the rural communities in Akim Abuakwa create sustainable livelihoods and real wealth, if you help them leverage the environmentally-friendly and sustainable development models for rural development, of all those marvellous organisations and individuals, whose website links, I have taken the trouble to give to you - for the sake of our homeland Ghana, and Akyem Abualkwa. "Over to you", as we say in local parlance!"
Monday, 13 October 2008
ARE GHANA'S NEO-LIBERAL GREEDY-BRIGADE GUILTY OF NOT THINKING CREATIVELY, ALL THESE YEARS?
Brilliant - very witty, Massa! I really enjoyed reading your comment on the "flying coffin" presidential jet story. Opanin, you are absolutely right, of course - its the perfect way for him to travel to the place where his ancestors will welcome him to, at the end of his final journey, out of this world: to his final resting place.
One of those special Teshie coffins, in the shape of an Airbus 320 (is that the right series number, I wonder?) will do just fine for him - nothing but the best for the V.V.I.P traveller from our shores. That man is incredible, isn't he?
We are supposed to be flat broke: yet, he and the members of his regime blithely continue to travel around the globe regardless, raking up billions of cedis in per diem for themselves and their hangers-on, at taxpayers' expense. What is the point of a cash-strapped nation having ambassadors and diplomatic missions abroad, I ask? What perfidy!
Apparently, the more uncharitable of his many critics, call him Ghana's "Hypocrite-in-Chief." It is also said that Flt. Lt. Rawlings is his "2-I-C" in the hypocrisy stakes! There is even a joke about their exchanging text messages: One texts the phrase "Corruption, waa waa!" to the other on his Blackberry - and the other replies: "Scancem - where are the millions?"
Fancy insisting on still going to America to say good bye to Dubya Bush with a small army of sundry hangers-on and sycophantic acolytes, in tow (at a time when the US is reeling from the results of years of greed by the Titans of its financial services sector, and is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and economic collapse). Typical - sheer profligacy!
Today, Ghana too has been brought to its knees - because our leaders (since Nkrumah's overthrow, with the exception of General Kutu Acheampong, God bless his soul) blindly followed that neo-liberal philosophy based on selfishness and greed, which insists on the potency of market forces: and their ability to deliver endless growth rates (the fallacy known as trickle-down economics).
Of course what that meant in practise in our country, was that the politically well-connected and the scions of the family clans of our leaders and their siblings, became super rich, overnight.
If you dared criticise the greed and the unacceptable speed with which those lucky ones, not previously known for their genius at finance, were building up their personal net worth into stratospheric heights, you were said to be "lazy" and "envious" of those super-hardworking golden folk.
Alas, they forget, the poor souls, that not all of us wish for tainted wealth, at all cost. There are many in this country, who care more about their good name, than riches. They simply don't know the wisdom that underlies that pithy Ghanaian proverb: "Adeni pa eyeseni sika." Amazing ("A good name is better than riches" - to those who can't speak Twi)!
Today, they have been shown so clearly, to have been wrong all along: having destroyed our nation's asset base, in the meantime - just as so many of us had said would be the end game if they persisted with their foolishness.
Are the capitalist nations of the West not busy nationalising private banks, to secure their national economies, as we speak? Yet, the well-educated imbeciles here, are busy plotting to sell (and have already sold!) vital and strategic national assets, built up over the years with the blood, sweat and tears of ordinary people.
God, how right and wise Nkrumah was - and how damaging to our nation's interests was his overthrow. Has Singapore not grown super-rich using his public private partnership formula - a model Nkrumah thought of, long before it became fashionable? Pity.
It is a model we can make to work for our country - if we give Ghanaian workers a 20 per cent stake in all our state-owned entities, float the other 20 per cent on the Ghana Stock Exchange, and let the state keep the other 60 per cent: and above all, find honest and competent patriots to run them.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebeba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
One of those special Teshie coffins, in the shape of an Airbus 320 (is that the right series number, I wonder?) will do just fine for him - nothing but the best for the V.V.I.P traveller from our shores. That man is incredible, isn't he?
We are supposed to be flat broke: yet, he and the members of his regime blithely continue to travel around the globe regardless, raking up billions of cedis in per diem for themselves and their hangers-on, at taxpayers' expense. What is the point of a cash-strapped nation having ambassadors and diplomatic missions abroad, I ask? What perfidy!
Apparently, the more uncharitable of his many critics, call him Ghana's "Hypocrite-in-Chief." It is also said that Flt. Lt. Rawlings is his "2-I-C" in the hypocrisy stakes! There is even a joke about their exchanging text messages: One texts the phrase "Corruption, waa waa!" to the other on his Blackberry - and the other replies: "Scancem - where are the millions?"
Fancy insisting on still going to America to say good bye to Dubya Bush with a small army of sundry hangers-on and sycophantic acolytes, in tow (at a time when the US is reeling from the results of years of greed by the Titans of its financial services sector, and is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and economic collapse). Typical - sheer profligacy!
Today, Ghana too has been brought to its knees - because our leaders (since Nkrumah's overthrow, with the exception of General Kutu Acheampong, God bless his soul) blindly followed that neo-liberal philosophy based on selfishness and greed, which insists on the potency of market forces: and their ability to deliver endless growth rates (the fallacy known as trickle-down economics).
Of course what that meant in practise in our country, was that the politically well-connected and the scions of the family clans of our leaders and their siblings, became super rich, overnight.
If you dared criticise the greed and the unacceptable speed with which those lucky ones, not previously known for their genius at finance, were building up their personal net worth into stratospheric heights, you were said to be "lazy" and "envious" of those super-hardworking golden folk.
Alas, they forget, the poor souls, that not all of us wish for tainted wealth, at all cost. There are many in this country, who care more about their good name, than riches. They simply don't know the wisdom that underlies that pithy Ghanaian proverb: "Adeni pa eyeseni sika." Amazing ("A good name is better than riches" - to those who can't speak Twi)!
Today, they have been shown so clearly, to have been wrong all along: having destroyed our nation's asset base, in the meantime - just as so many of us had said would be the end game if they persisted with their foolishness.
Are the capitalist nations of the West not busy nationalising private banks, to secure their national economies, as we speak? Yet, the well-educated imbeciles here, are busy plotting to sell (and have already sold!) vital and strategic national assets, built up over the years with the blood, sweat and tears of ordinary people.
God, how right and wise Nkrumah was - and how damaging to our nation's interests was his overthrow. Has Singapore not grown super-rich using his public private partnership formula - a model Nkrumah thought of, long before it became fashionable? Pity.
It is a model we can make to work for our country - if we give Ghanaian workers a 20 per cent stake in all our state-owned entities, float the other 20 per cent on the Ghana Stock Exchange, and let the state keep the other 60 per cent: and above all, find honest and competent patriots to run them.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebeba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Nana Asante Bediatuo & Co Must Help Halt The Destruction Of The Akyem Juaso Upland Evergreen Rainforest Now!
Perhaps the time has now come for Nana Asante Bediatuo and Co to beat a path to Akyem Juaso as soon as practicable - to see for themselves the egregious destruction of the upland evergreen rainforest there: and the degradation caused there by galamsay surface gold mining operators, who are poisoning the streams there, with total impunity. (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151470.)
If Nana Asante Bediatuo and Co are not to be regarded by some of us, as yet another bunch of well-respected hypocrites milking the green movement, and getting undeserved global acclamation as protectors of the natural environment in Akyem Abuakwa, then they had better put pressure on Barima Kofi Osei, and his elders, to halt the illegal tree-felling that goes on at Akyem Juaso day and night, 24/7, immediately.
If it should continue to remain business as usual there, and those responsible for the serious degradation of what is one of only two upland evergreen rain forests in our country, still succeed in getting away with their crimes against humanity (which their illegal actions practically constitute), then I am afraid that some of us will have to come to the rather painful conclusion that the "traditional authorities" of the area are just another group of sophisticated dissimulators, out to promote their wealth creation agenda by stealth: under the guise of promoting conservation there - whiles in reality they are merely engaged in greenwashing.
They must remember that all it will take to expose such fraud, will be just one click of a computer mouse. With respect, this is the 21st century, not the 18th century. Today, traditional authorities only have moral authority - and even then, only as long as they are genuine and remain true to the causes they promote publicly!
The patience of some of us is begining to wear thin - and we are getting fed up with the continued destruction of the Atewa Mountain range upland evergreen rain forest. If it continues, we shall mount an international campaign to expose the outrage that is going on there - whiles some trumpet what in effect will be bogus green credentials: green credentials they do not deserve. They must simply act now to halt the destruction of the Atewa Mountain range upland evergreen rain forest. Period.
At a time of global climate change, no one, not even apparently respectable figures, should be allowed to continue milking an undeserved public image as protectors of the natural environment in the area, when in reality they do zilch to protect the Akyem Jauso rain forest. Hopefully, it will not come to that, Opanin? A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana, eyeasem oo - asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
PS Nana Asante Bediatuo, if you guys really want to promote sustainable development in Akyem Abuakwa (as opposed to merely talking about it!), you can contact the following: Graham Knight's DIY Solar (http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/), Folke Gunther (http://www.holon.se/folke/), Ken Hargesheimer - MiniFarms organisation
(http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development organisation, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe (http://biocharfund.com/index.php.). Do study biochar too - it will blow your minds! (http://www.biochar-international.org/)
You and your cousins can help all the rural communities there create sustainable livelihoods and real wealth if you help them leverage the environmentally-friendly and sustainable development models for rural development found on the abovementioned websites. "Over to you, Joe Lartey", as we say in local parlance!
If Nana Asante Bediatuo and Co are not to be regarded by some of us, as yet another bunch of well-respected hypocrites milking the green movement, and getting undeserved global acclamation as protectors of the natural environment in Akyem Abuakwa, then they had better put pressure on Barima Kofi Osei, and his elders, to halt the illegal tree-felling that goes on at Akyem Juaso day and night, 24/7, immediately.
If it should continue to remain business as usual there, and those responsible for the serious degradation of what is one of only two upland evergreen rain forests in our country, still succeed in getting away with their crimes against humanity (which their illegal actions practically constitute), then I am afraid that some of us will have to come to the rather painful conclusion that the "traditional authorities" of the area are just another group of sophisticated dissimulators, out to promote their wealth creation agenda by stealth: under the guise of promoting conservation there - whiles in reality they are merely engaged in greenwashing.
They must remember that all it will take to expose such fraud, will be just one click of a computer mouse. With respect, this is the 21st century, not the 18th century. Today, traditional authorities only have moral authority - and even then, only as long as they are genuine and remain true to the causes they promote publicly!
The patience of some of us is begining to wear thin - and we are getting fed up with the continued destruction of the Atewa Mountain range upland evergreen rain forest. If it continues, we shall mount an international campaign to expose the outrage that is going on there - whiles some trumpet what in effect will be bogus green credentials: green credentials they do not deserve. They must simply act now to halt the destruction of the Atewa Mountain range upland evergreen rain forest. Period.
At a time of global climate change, no one, not even apparently respectable figures, should be allowed to continue milking an undeserved public image as protectors of the natural environment in the area, when in reality they do zilch to protect the Akyem Jauso rain forest. Hopefully, it will not come to that, Opanin? A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana, eyeasem oo - asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
PS Nana Asante Bediatuo, if you guys really want to promote sustainable development in Akyem Abuakwa (as opposed to merely talking about it!), you can contact the following: Graham Knight's DIY Solar (http://biodesign.webeden.co.uk/), Folke Gunther (http://www.holon.se/folke/), Ken Hargesheimer - MiniFarms organisation
(http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development organisation, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe (http://biocharfund.com/index.php.). Do study biochar too - it will blow your minds! (http://www.biochar-international.org/)
You and your cousins can help all the rural communities there create sustainable livelihoods and real wealth if you help them leverage the environmentally-friendly and sustainable development models for rural development found on the abovementioned websites. "Over to you, Joe Lartey", as we say in local parlance!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
