Demanding an end to high-level corruption is the best way Ghana's creditors can help save her from ruination

Ghana has the potential to become one of the wealthiest societies on the surface of the planet Earth. Yet, she  is currently  debt-distressed - and unable to meet interest payments on her massive debt mountain.

As we speak, Ghana has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund  (IMF), for a bailout amounting to US$3 billion - contingent upon debt forgivance arranged for it by the Paris Club group of nations.

If the dominant-elements amongst Ghana's ruling-elites were honest, principled and dedicated to providing generational-levelling-up opportunities to empower base-of-the-pyramid demographics, as well as abhorrent of high-level corruption,  Ghana wouldn't have come to the sorry pass she is now in.

In light of the above defect in the characters of the dominate-elements amongst Ghana's  ruling elites,  before extending any help to Ghana, the IMF, China and all her creditors, must demand the following reforms designed to end egregious high-level grand-larceny:

1) Passage of legislation by Parliament giving the Auditor General prosecutorial powers.

2) Passage of new legislation making it mandatory for all high-level  public sector appointees (and their spouses) to publicly publish their assets before assumption  of office, and immediately after their tenures end.

3) Passage of new legislation banning mining in all Ghana's forest reserves and cancelling all issued exploratory gold mining licenses in forest reserves.

4) Passage of new legislation to end statutory-requirement of payments by media houses of monetary fees to sector regulatory bodies, because it impedes freedom of expression  in Ghana, and is often used to muzzle anti-regime media entities and media professionals, by corrupt elements in Ghana.

5) Passing new legislation to end sole-sourcing in public procurement to  make it a clear-cut-illegality in public administration and nation-building.

6) Passage of new legislation indemnifying whistleblowers, whose revelations, and exposure, of nation-wrecking-corruption, results in prosecutions and recovery of stolen public funds, from prosecution.

Ghana is being destroyed by its greed-filled and hard-of-hearing ruling elites, whose impunity needs to end, if the nation is to prosper. In short, without the above-mentioned  reforms being carried out urgently, Ghana's creditors must let her stew in her own juice.

There is no question that high-level is impoverishing Ghana. Demanding an end to high-level corruption is the best way Ghana's creditors can help save her from ruination. Enough is enough. Full stop. Case closed.

Might isn't always right - and is doctrine that cannot and must not be tolerated in the case Ukraine

Might isn't always right - and is doctrine that cannot and must not be tolerated in the case Ukraine.

In that light, it is vital that the West understands clearly that defeating Putin, and trying him before the International Criminal Court (ICC), for his unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, where crimes against humanity have been committed by Russia's military, is vital for deterring other tyrants from invading other sovereign states, and for preserving the international order that has kept the peace in Europe for so long, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hmmm, ey3bsem piiiii, ooooo.

Ukraine must be strengthened sufficiently enough to help it free the ordinary people of Russia from the grip of a ruthless and murdererous kleptocratic-tyranny, totally dominated by Putin.

Providing Ukraine with fighter jets is crucial towards that end.

Far from escalating the fighting in Ukraine, it will rather eventually lead to a revolt by Russia's military - as sure as day follows night. No question.

The Russian military, facing a Ukraine able to protect its airspace effectively, with advanced fighter jets, will move rapidly to remove Putin - to enable it bring an end to the humiliations it has suffered in Ukraine: where those who prostituted the honour of the Russian military, by ordering them to target civilians, and critical infrastructure, must be made to pay for taking decisions that have dented the image of Russian soldiers, globally, so needlessly.

Right, is right - but might isn't always right, and is doctrine that shouldn't be tolerated in Ukraine, in any case. Simple. Case closed. Cool

Apologies to all the individuals and organisations I introduced to Nigel Guy Stonham

I wish to render a heartfelt apology, to all the individuals and organisations,  who feel terribly let down,  because they have not  been hearing from Nigel Guy Stonham  -  whom I introduced to them as someone who could make a difference for them.

The fault does not lie with Nigel Guy Stonham - it is mine entirely: because I completely misunderstood Nigel's plan to spread happiness in the Global South.

To make up for the disappointment felt by: the Gomoa Budumburam Camp Liberia Artists Kollective; Madam Cynthia Kampoe; Pastor Elijah; Reverend Deborah Deku; Madam Victoria  Bampoe-Addo; Sam Goba; young Miracle and his parents; Esther Osei Poku and Wilmot Dweh, I humbly suggest that they write to the French  Embassy in Ghana, to see if they qualify for funding, from their Small Grants Initiative.

They should also consider joining the Facebook Group administered by the ever-helpful Ms. Mary Smith: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LetsLearnGroup/permalink/743092029717765/?app=fbl

There must be a day of reckoning for those who brought Ghana to such a story pass

Prior to regaining control of our nation from the grasping-grib of the British occupiers of our country, in 1957,  then Prime  Minister, Kwame Nkrumah, envisioned an industrialised modern African nation, which would be a meritocracy.

 

Nkrumah's dream, was that Ghana would become a modern African nation, in which, through hard work, regardless of how humble an individual's background was, he or she could realise their full potential in life  through education  -  and contribute their quota to the nation- building process leading to the transformation of our homeland into a prosperous and equitable society: in which no tribe would be regarded as superior or inferior to another.

Today, Ghana, a nation that could be one of the most prosperous society's on the surface of the planet Earth, faces ruination, as a result of its inability to pay interest on its massive public debt.

That debt was incurred ostensibly to fast-track the expansion  and modernisation of Ghana's infracture.

However, vast sums out of Ghana's mammoth-sized public debt, eventually ended up (over the decades since independence), in the pockets and offshore  bank accounts, of sundry ruthless and thoroughly dishonest state-capture rent-seekers, in legitimised-grand-larceny cloaked as public procurement sanctioned by Parliament.

Surely, there must be a day of reckoning for all those whose greed and dishonesty has brought Nkrumah's envisioned  Ghana to such a sorry pass, Ghanafuo? Hmmm, Oman Ghana -  enti y3wiaye paaa, enie? Asem kesie bi, ebeba debi ankaasa, oooo. Yoooooooo...

Why the future of Ghana's cocoa sector is organic - bedrocked by agroforestry principles

As we celebrate our local equivalent of Valantine's Day, Chocolate Day, the point needs to be made, forcefully, that in an era of extreme weather, caused by global climate change, the future of Ghana's cocoa industry must be 100 percent organic  -  bedrocked on agroforestry principles.

 In that light, it matters not a whit,  what the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) does to boost the industry: artisinal chocolate manufacturing; mass hand-pollinating initiatives; high tech spraying  -  truth be told, they are all band-aid-solutions.

Alas, none of  those band-aid-solutions will secure the longterm survival of Ghana's cocoa industry.

The cocoa sector of Ghana is a vital economic-pillar, which will survive, grow and thrive, only if the COCOBOD converts it into a 100 percent organic sector, and makes Ghana the world's biggest organic cocoa producing nation. No question.

As the leading producer of organic cocoa, bedrocked on agroforestry principles, Ghana  can plan and execute a national green economy  initiative, enabling her to become the go-to supply-source, for supplying the world with the best organic  chocolates and other cocoa products. Simple.

Failure to comprehend this simple-truth, dear critical-reader,  disqualifies all those currently  leading the COCOBOD,  from continuing to lead it, because they are failing to see a plain-sight existential-threat.

Their  current old-model business-as-usual operational-mode, will be the death-knell of Ghana's cocoa industry, in an era of extreme weather caused by climate change, as sure as day follows night. The future of Ghana's cocoa sector is organic - bedrocked on agroforestry principles. Full stop. Case closed. Yoooooooo...

The Gabby Asare Otchere-Darkos must stop provoking Ghanaians with their arrogant-cakeisms

Those who came to power in 2017, promising to end borrowing for nation-building purposes, but failed to keep that promise, and have ended up growing super-rich from the orgy-of-fees from euro bond issuances, since they came to power, must not annoy Ghanaians by mocking the principled and honest former Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akufo - who sympathises with hapless picketing retirees who are protesting against the so-called domestic debt exchange programme at the ministry of finance.  

Unlike the greed-filled, hard-of-hearing and selfish individuals amongst those now governing our nation, Justice Sophia Akufo, understands perfectly, the implications of the government in a democracy ignoring the sanctity of contracts - in its unlawful take-or-leave-it rescheduling of its obligations to holders of government paper: resulting from their reckless borrowing, which has now bankrupted Ghana, oooo, Ghanafuo.  

The question those mocking Justice Sophia Akufo must address, as far as self-acknowledged ignoramuses such as myself are concerned is: Will pensioners, who rely on interest payments from the government paper they invested in (because they believed that it was risk-free investment), be receiving those payments on scheduled-due-dates, as previously was the case, under the so-called domestic debt exchange programme of today, anaaa? Yes, or no. No winding answers. Full stop. Ghanaians may be a long-suffering people, but fools they are not.   

The gas-lighting Gabby Asare Otchere-Darkos, obviously think that they have been extremely clever, and succeeded in creating a system helmed by people whose golden-sinicured-silence makes them complicit in the egregious state-capture rent-seeking, enriching a few powerful politicians and the big-thieves-in-high-places, who dominate our system, and that regardless of which political party of the duopoly that has monopolised power since the 4th Republic came into being in 1992, is in power, for the next thirty years they will continue to remote-control our byzantine system - but, for their information, their hold on power, even today, is tenous at best, ooooo. They must stop provoking Ghanaians, with their arrogant-cakeisms, ooooo. Yooooooooo...

To males globally: there is nothing manly about violently violating females - it is cowardly and dispicable

The appalling atavistic caveman-notion that battering women, and using violence to dominate them through fear, is manly, needs to be vigorously countered - especially on social media platforms: using the legal equivalent of asymmetric warfare.

One recommends that line of approach to the Romanian authorities, currently  investigating the notorious purveyors of online pornography now in their grip - whose evil influence over millions of young males globally (all primed to humiliate and violate women), is a crime against humanity, no less.

Real men, never violate females. It is cowardly for men to violate women in any shape or form - and men who do so (because they see the women they have relationships with as their properties), ought to be prosecuted and given long prison sentences, wherever in the world they live.

After all, was the infamous American gangster Al Capone not jailed in 1931, for tax evasion, when it wasn't possible to pin any of the many murders he ordered on him, directly?

Martial arts training must be made widely available for females, especially young girls, to enable them to defend themselves when attacked by violent men. Enough is enough. There is nothing manly about physically violating females. It is cowardly and despicable. Full stop. Case closed.

If Ghana were Anansekrom would the government have been overthrown by now?

It is a moot point to say that were Ghana to be like Anansekrom, regime change would have occurred in our still-beautiful homeland, by now, oooo, Ghanafuo.

Luckily, Ghana is not Anansekrom, thank goodness  - whose leaders are so corrupt they apparently attempted to sell their entire nation, at a point in time, one gathers.

That said, what worries one the most, about Ghana's current challenges, is this: It would be cruel, in the extreme, if we were to wake up tomorrow, to learn that powerful and well-connected regime-crony Ghanaians, had secretly piled into Eurobonds, by the hundreds of millions of dollars - which in time, are then somehow eventually engineered into a debt forgivance initiative, by the Paris Club: begging the question, what would be its repercussions, when no such leeway was given to pensioners holding government paper, in the domestic debt exchange programme?

It is a foregone conclusion, that were that to ever occur, in Anansekrom, we will doubtless witness bloodless regime change, sharpish - as no such chicanery discovered there, would be tolerated by long-suffering Anansekromians, oooo, Ghanafuo.

Be that as it may, as for Ghana's pork-barrel domestic politricks, diy3, Massa, no comment, oooo, wai - but suffice it to say that fa ma Nyame, is rumoured to have been murdered in Ghana, by a gang of shocking-revealations-and-brutal-facts, according to bush-telegraph sources.

Hmmm, Oman Ghana - Massa, ey3nsem piiii, oooo. Enti yewiay3 paaa eniy3? Asem kesiy3 bi, ebeba debi ankasa, oooo, Ghanafuo. Yooooooo...

Holders of government paper in Ghana refuse to be cheated by those who want something for nothing

Now the gloves are off: Retirees who bought and hold government paper in Ghana, refuse to be cheated by those who want something for nothing from them - the greed-filled rent-seeking state-capture big-thieves-in-high-places, whose reckless borrowing has now bankrupted their nation, and now want to impoverish them so capriciouslly and callously.


They too must make sacrifices for their nation's sake. Full stop.


Towards that end, the time has now come for Ghana's Parliament to pass under a certificate of urgency, new laws requiring the ministry of finance to produce a list containing:


1) The names of all Ghanaian eurobond holders, both individuals and corporate entities - including those hiding their holdings in offshore tax havens, as well as the total value of their holdings: all of whom must also make personal sacrifices too, and give up their looted monies to save Mother Ghana.


The new law must spell out clearly, and unambiguously, the penalties for non compliance - including being barred for life from company directorships for individuals, and being permanently barred from operating businesses in the financial services sector, for errant corporates.


2) A list of the Ghanaian transactional advisors and the total amounts earned from eurobond issuances, by them, in fees, since the Akufo-Addo regime came to power in January 2017. Mandatory jail terms of not less than 15 years must be prescribed for failure to comply truthfully with this provision.


Now the gloves are off - so, to use an apt Ghanaian pidgin English phrase: "We no go sit down make them cheat us!"


Ghanaian retirees who bought and hold government paper in Ghana, refuse to be cheated by those who want something for nothing from them - whose reckless borrowing has bankrupted their nation, and now want to impoverish them so capriciouslly and callously, to boot, too, on top of that, oooo, Ghanafuor. They must be forced to pay back what they earned from the reckless borrowing  that profited them so handsomely. Full stop. Case closed. Yooooooo...

The global rescue effort underway in Turkey's earthquake devastated areas must concern Ghanaians

One's thoughts and prayers are with Turkey and the victims of the terrible natural disaster, which has befallen this very good friend of our nation's Muslim demographic.

One hopes that those who currently lead our nation (which is a global power in begging-bowl-diplomacy), will, for once, help a friendly nation in its hour of extreme-need: and send planeloads of Ghana's dark chocolate to Turkey -  as our widow's mite contribution to the international rescue effort now underway in Turkey, and a symbolic shared-humanity gesture-of-solidarity.

What has occurred in Turkey ought to be of concern to us in Ghana, too, oooo, Ghanafuo - for, when, not if, Ghana's next severe earthquake strikes (the last major one was in 1939), we will witness a tragedy of biblical proportions, never experienced before, since we rid our nation of foreign occupation in 1957: as we witness thousands of shoddily constructed beautiful high-rise buildings collapsing.

Those responsible for the egregious corruption, in the oversight bodies overseeing Ghana's construction industry, will have the blood of all those who will lose their lives (or be maimed permanently), in the rubble of collapsed buildings, when the next big earthquake strikes, here, on their grasping hands, oooo, Ghanafuo.

The tragic events being witnessed in parts of Turkey struck by the massive earthquake (7.9 in magnitude on the Richter scale), ought to be of concern to us in Ghana, too, oooo, Ghanafuo - and as wise and aspirational Africans, we must learn useful lessons from that terrible tragedy. Yoooooooo...


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Afihyia pa oooo Ohemaa Paapabi Margie Doolin - wu tiri nkwa wherever in the universe you now are

Today would have been your special day, if you hadn't left this plane, when you did, Margie dearest. On this day, we thank the compassionate staff of the hospice that looked after you, as life in you ebbed away, and grateful for the dignified send-off, ensured by the funeral home that took care of you mortal remains, for your journey to the next plane.

We are so glad that you escaped the cabin fever that so many suffered from, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, by leaving when you did. Good timing, Margie dearest, lol. Brilliant. Cool.

Happy that you are now an adventurous free-spirit, happily roaming the universe, a curious-child of which, you were, while on this plane, and astronomy a key joyous-passion of yours enjoyed with humorous-abandon.

You are missed by your friends in Ghana - who have fond memories of the time you spent with them here, Ohemaa Paapabi Margie Doolin. Afihyia pa, oooo, wai - wherever in the universe you are now, having all-embracing-fun. Wu tiri nkwa, wai - and peace and blessings to you. Gone, but not forgotten!

Watch out mainstream Ghanaian media

"Generative artificial intelligence (AI) describes algorithms (such as ChatGPT) that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos. Recent new breakthroughs in the field have the potential to drastically change the way we approach content creation."


                   - McKinsey & Company


For a contrarian, for whom ethical behaviour and having a moral compass, are important attributes that all good journalists ought to have, the dream of being able to deliver world-class content, in one's own 100 percent owned media outlets, is finally here, thank goodness.

Today, providing world -class content, in media outlets 100 percent  owned by one, can, incredibly,  now be accomplished with AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, without a single human media professional employee, who may or may not have the desired attributes one seeks in those whom one would have had to hitherto recruit, in the past , before AI chatbots like ChatGPT, came along. Wow. Lol. Cool.

The experiment of curating and posting interesting content on one's Facebook Lite page, which has a worldwide readership spanning all our biosphere's seven continents, to establish a global reputation, will now be put to good use. Finally. Wow.

In light of all the above, dear critical-reader, with the greatest respect, and in all humility, the message to Ghana's media world, from this uneducated old fool, Kofi Thompson is: Watch this space, oooo, mainstream Ghanaian media - to use an apt Ghanaian pidgin English phrase: We dey come takeover, soon, oooo, wai.  Yoooooooo...