Food for thought: Airing secretly-recorded fare

On the subject of airing secret voice recordings, of the kind spread by evil-minded rumour-mongerers for their own dark-ends:

It is always vital that one always (when one lives in any neighbourhood),  endeavours  to understand the context within which conversations, such as quarrelsome-loud-arguments  (which are secretly recorded with glee, by nosey-parker-neighbours), take place.

A pathological-liar, for example, will loudly bandy about, falsehoods, which are defamatory and unjustifiable   accusatory-words - such as, "You are a Chief-liar!", for example: to publicly humiliate and disgrace  someone innocent,  who is honest and doesn't lie, just to spread mud, publicly, on a person of good character.  

The moral:  Neighbours who hear loud arguments of that nature, must always remember that pathological-liars have a tendency to use loudly-shouted falsehoods, as a weaponised-tool,  to destroy the reputations of  good people whom they fall out with.

It is the hallmark of the egregiously-ungrateful, alas. Such is life in Anansesemkrom. The airing of secretly-recorded fare is veritable food-for-thought: 3y3nsem piiiii, oooo, Ghanafuor.    Yoooooooo...
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Hmmm, Oman Ghana - 3y3 tweaaaa anaaaaa?

Hmmm, Oman Ghana - 3y3 tweaaaa, anaaa? The mammoth-sized-scale, of the kickback-funding-effort, mustered by the state-capture rent-seeking fatcats, who now dominate Anansesemkrom's byzantine system, from the shadows, has been dramatically exposed, in vivid-fashion, to the astonishment of its hapless put-on citizenry.

Clearly, Anansesemkrom's greed-filled and hard-of-hearing ruling elites, have been bought, in lock-stock-barrel-fashion, to facilitate the creation of  what has undoubtedly become the world's most corrupt kleptocracy.

In effect, it is now an amoral plutocracy, masquerading as a constitutional democracy, effectively run, in reality, from behind the scenes - by  shadowy, canny super-wealthy criminal-types, for their sole benefit, at Anansesemkrom society's expense: to enable them send their net worth to stratospheric heights, lol. Hmmm,  Oman Ghana - tweaaaaa...

Why are so many Anansesemkrom busybodies casting insinuations at Borla-Sister Ntikuma?

Why are so many Anansesemkrom busybodies casting insinuations at Borla-Sister Ntikuma? As for some Anansesemkrom busybodies, paaaa, di3y33. Haaba: Ebeiiii. Hmmm, ey3nsem piiii, oooo, Anansesemkromfuor.

The million dollar question to ponder over, dear-critical reader, is: Do most public figures and celebrities in Anansesemkrom, not have their own local equivalents, of America's super-wealthy Harlan Crows, anaaaa, lol? But one digresses.

We really need a little Kweku Ananse toli, to lighten the national mood, in Anansesemkrom, lol.

 In that light, if a canny former Honorary Consul of Austria, in Anansesemkrom, Excellent-Excellency, #H.E.GHc51MillionJudgementDebtDiplomat, is allegedly now making money, waa, waa, waa, arranging loans for sanitation in Anansesemkrom, and banking commissions from those loans, waa, waa, waa, in arms-length-safety, far removed from Ananesesemkrom officialdom, in faraway Austria, why so much fuss, again? Ebeiiii.

If, accidentally, some of that dosh, is inadvertently dropped by malfunctioning drones, into the spick-and-span compound, of generous-hearted Borla-Sister Ntikumah's luxury home (dosh that eventually ends up being hidden, apparently, in hidden-secret-places, which somehow then magically  become open-secret, secret-places, for dear Borla-Sister Ntikuma's dishonest, grasping and light-fingered godless-househelps, according to bush-telegraph sources), why are so many begrudging her that, Anansesemkromfuor? Haaba.

Aren't Anansesemkromfuor, who are usually world-famous for being such nice Famanyame-folk, now being a tad unkind to Borla-Sister Ntikuma, who has experienced such mind-numbing inside-job-robbery? Haaba.

After all, unexplained wealth, amongst upper echelon public sector officials, isn't grounds for investigations by Anansesemkrom's Office of The Special Prosecutor, is it? Hmmm, 3y3asem, oooo.

Anansesemkrom media busybodies - saa enti, ena ewors33, mu nyinaa 3dii mu lane mu, oooo. Yooooooo. Abraabo bien, koraaa, 3naa, mu etumi aborh, koraaa - for you to have the effrontry to cast such nonsensical insinuations against beautiful Borla-Sister Ntikuma, lol?

Ghana's Parliament must work without endless needless boycotts by Minority MPs

It is outrageous that the very important work that Parliament carries out, when in session, is being interrupted by endless, needless boycotts, by Minority MPs - as a result of the ongoing trial of Mr. Gyakye Quayson, the Assin North MP.

If, dear critical-reader, it is a fact that there are no
 hard and fast rules, on the length of  time renouncing Canadian citizenship takes, then, surely,  what matters, is the intention to do so, in specific cases, such as that of Mr. Gyakye Quayson's?  

In that light, would it not serve Ghanaian society a tad more positively,  if the responsible sections of the  Ghanaian media, asked both Mr. James Gyakye Quayson (who has just been re-elected as Assin North's MP, as it happens), and the relevant Canadian  authorities, in faraway Canada, itself, when exactly  the application by  Gyakye Quayson to renounce his Canadian citizenship, was submitted and  received - so that justice is served in his ongoing trial, and the work of Parliament can be carried out without endless interruptions, to it,  resulting from boycotts from Minority MPs, on days that are  scheduled for hearing, in the law courts,  in his ongoing trial?

Let's end this farcical pure nonsense on bamboo stilts, once and for all, in commonsensical fashion, swiftly.

Parliament's very important work has to be done expeditiously, as it provides the legal framework-guardrails needed to protect Mother Ghana, from the gang-raping super-ruthless, state-capture rent-seeking big-thieves-in-high-places, who now dominate our byzantine system. Parliament must work without endless needless boycotts.  Haaba.

Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor: Take swift action to halt the illegal sandwinning at Thompsonakura, Kyekyewre!

The illegal sandwinning going on at Thompsonakura, Kyekyewre, off the Accra-Kumasi highway, which is part of my family's Akyem Abuakwa freehold land portfolio, is symptomatic of the impunity, with which the wealthy criminal-types, who now dominate our byzantine system, operate in lawless fashion nationwide. Intolerable. Monstrous. Abominable. Disgraceful. Unpardonable. Unspeakable. Full stop.

We demand that Ghana's Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, the dynamic Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor, orders an immediate halt, to the outrage going on at Thompsonakura - and institute an independent enquiry into the conspiracy that bedrocks a disgraceful phenomenon across Akyem Abuakwa: that is so off-putting to all the impact investors from overseas that we have shown our Akyem Abuakwa freehold farmlands to.

To think that we are Akyem Royals, from Oseim, too, on top, speaks volumes about this curse that is driving green impact investors away from Akyem Abuakwa in droves: it affects all societal demographics, equally. It is a wealth-detroying miasma, which has enveloped our beloved Kwaebibirim.

How ironic that Ghana's ruling-elites talk endlessly, and, glibly, about generating  jobs across rural
Ghana, through private sector agripreneurs: when such lawlessness goes on unabated. Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor: Take swift action to halt the illegal sandwinning at Thompsonakura, Kyekyewre. Ghana. Tweeaaaa...

A quick note to Dr. Michael Abedi-Lartey - on why we must usher in a new 5th Republic

Doc, to give up the fight against galamsay, and throw our  arms in the air, and allow a few vile-individuals numbering at the most, just a few thousands, to ruin our quality of life, permanently, would be irresponsible, in the extreme, oooo.

That is why if push comes to shove, some of us would rather pray for the world's first climate-change enforced regime change, which will declare a state of emergency, and  decree daily  lockdowns, from 6pm to 6am,  with mandatory jail terms of 2 years for all curfew breakers, without official exemptions: such as healthcare personnel;  security agency personnel; and other emergency service frontliners,   going to work, after curfew hours.

That's the only alternative, to surrendering like sheep, to evil-types, oooo, Massa. Doc, we have undergone societal  seachange that many don't still see, oooo. Trust me,  we shall rise up in a manner that no army on earth  can stop, to the world's utter amazement.


We may be a patient and long-suffering people, but we aren't sheep. Any African democracy that allows such impunity to persist, isn't worth preserving, koraaa, ooooo. So, just watch this space...

Much, much, better,  for us to usher in a new 5th Republic, which cures all the structural ills of the 4th Republic, than continue to watch this pure nonsense on  bamboo stilts,  continue - just  because it benefits some of  our state-capture rent-seeking big-thieves-in-high-places. Massa, yabr3, oooo,  wai.

To end this piece, dear critical-reader,  let me  repeat for emphasis: Any African democracy, which  allows egregious-impunity,  such as perfidious-galamsay to persist, is not worth preserving. We must abandon the 4th Republic and replace it with a new 5th Republic. Simple. Case closed. Haaba. Ghanafuor, asem kesiy3 bi 3b3ba debi ankasaaa, ooooo. Yoooooooo...

Are Ghana's ruling-elites drinking in the Last Chance Salon?

Are Ghana's hard-of-hearing ruling-elites - notoriously vindictive and criticism-averse - drinking in the metaphorical Last Chance Salon, anaaa,  Ghanafuor? Hmmm, 3y3nsem piiiii, oooo...

What is pretty clear, however, dear critical-reader, is that any African democracy, which is in effect, two nations within a single  sovereign territorial landmass - one a state-within-a-state, solely benefiting its perfidious ruling-elites, and which happens to be the world's most generous welfare state; and, the other, a state-within-a-state, which is a hell-hole of unremitting hardship,  and the lot of long-suffering hapless citizens, desperate to see transformative-change,  which they hope will end their misery - is one definitely heading for a disastrous apocalyptic-cliff-edge-fall: as sure as day follows night.

Such is the extent  of disenchantment felt by the vast majority of ordinary people across Ghana, with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) - who are now so thoroughly fed up with the harsh economic climate that has impoverished millions, and finally bankrupted Ghana - that even if President Akufo-Addo succeeds in turning Ghana into a paradise on earth,  between now and the end of his tenure, it will still not save his party from losing power, in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.

There are some who posit that victory for the opposition's presidential candidate, over the ruling NPP's candidate in the 2024 election,  will only materialise, if all the opposition parties come together, and unite around a common platform and manifesto, which is suitably game-changing, and innovative, for use as a roadmap for the redemption of Ghana, and also select a consensus candidate, to represent them, as their presidential  candidate, for the 2024 presidential election.

Whatever be the case, today's on-the-ground reality, is that Ghana sits atop a ticking social timebomb,  which could explode at any moment. Drastic change is needed to deal effectively with high-level corruption, and end the impunity of those ripping off Ghana in state-capture rent-seeking deals. In that sense,  Ghana's ruling-elites are drinking in the Last Chance Salon, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yooooooo...

The NPP will be turfed out of power in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections

Wonders. So, it turns out that Nana Boakye, the gung-ho national organiser, thought that the party he is such a prominent member, of, Ghana's ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was going to win the recent  Assin North by-election? What hubris. Tweaaaa.


Amazing that it still hasn't dawned on the bigwigs, in Ghana's current ruling party, the NPP, that they will be turfed out of power, in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, as sure as day follows night. Talk about living in cloud-cuckoo-krom, lol. Hmmm, 3y3asem, oooo, Ghanafuor.


Dear critical-reader, it's not for nothing that Ghanaians are justly known for being a long-suffering and peaceful people - we are wise and aspirational Africans who don't want out nation destroyed by violence and chaos: so we will effect regime-change peacefully, through polling booth ballot boxes, in 2024. Simple. Cool.


That said, truth be told, so fed up, are the vast majority of ordinary people, across Ghana, that even if the NPP successfully transforms Ghana, into an earthly paradise, within the next two years, the unprecedented and egregious daylight robbery, now being carried out with such impunity, by the state-capture, rent-seeking big-thieves-in-high-places, as well as the effects of the disastrous self-dealing public sector borrowing-spree, which has finally bankrupted Ghana, have all resulted in making Ghanaians even more determined, now, to rid themselves of the NPP, in the 2024 elections, than ever before, oooo, Ghanafuor. We will turf the NPP out of power, in those elections, come hell or high water. Case closed. Full stop. Yooooooooo...

Could Gomoa Buduburam prosper as a unique new green climate resilient melting-pot community?

Could what used to be known as the  Gomoa Buduburam Camp Liberia refugee settlement area, be transformed into a unique, and prosperous, planned new green  climate-resilient melting-pot  community?

The answer to that question, dear critical-reader,  is, a resounding yes. However, any such redevelopment, must be in tandem with the granting of Ghanaian citizenship, to all the Liberian refugees, who want to be integrated into Ghanaian society, instead of being repatriated to Liberia.

Such a move, will be an eminently sensible (and neat) solution, to the uncertainty about their continued stay, in Gomoa Buduburam, in one's humble opinion. It will remove a source of tension and emotional turmoil for them. For sure.

After all, we are quite happy to grant Ghanaian citizenship, to Global North citizens of African descent, who are the progeny of slaves who were shipped from Africa, to the Americas, and elsewhere, are we not?   

Speaking personally, one counts one's self, amongst  the independent Ghanaian media professionals,  who have come to empathise with the plight of the remainder of the Liberian nationals, who sought refuge in Ghana, and made Gomoa Buduburam, a home away from home - and would rather integrate with Ghanaians, and live out  the rest of their natural lives in Ghana, than be forced to return to a Liberia they hardly know: even if it is now safe for them to return to, according  to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which no longer officially designates them as  refugees, for that reason.

Naturally,  one also understands the desire of the traditional authorities of Gomoa Buduburam, who want to benefit financially, from selling the Camp Liberia land, once it is razed down, after the departure of the remaining refugees.

Its proximity to Kasoa, and Accra, both easily reached by tro-tros,  shared taxis  and Metro Mass Transit passenger buses, from Gomoa Buduburam, has made their land very valuable indeed.

However, perhaps if they thought of themselves as potential partners for overseas companies, which 3-D print tiny houses, in factories, and then ship them to the sites of real estate developers, which could be persuaded to invest in a new factory in Gomoa Buduburam,  they will end up being incredibly wealthy, in the long-term.

In that regard, they could turn all the land in the area  known as The Gap, and, all the land around the St. Gregory Catholic Hospital, into a world-class adventure park, and add another new green economy revenue stream for themselves.  

And, if they opted to replace a portion Camp Liberia, with new green communities, consisting of tiny homes with modern conveniences, individually  surrounded by forest garden compounds, in concentric circles, traversed by a road network built using inexpensive  EcoRoad technology, and lined on both sides with fruit trees, such as coconuts, mangoes,   they  could generate revenue from renting out tiny homes, too, as landlords.

Funding for such projects could be sourced from Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, for example. One would be happy to place contacts in one's extensive personal network,  at their disposal, at zero cost to them, to facilitate  that for them, if approached, as one's widow's mite contribution, to a noble common-good green cause.

As wise and aspirational Africans, if they want to ensure a prosperous future, for all their royal families,  Gomoa Buduburam's traditional authorities  must broaden their horizons, think longterm and see  themselves as ethical stewards,  of a truly unique climate resilient green African melting-pot  community.

What is the gravamen of the issue of global climate change?

What is the gravamen of the issue of global climate change? To address the issue, one ought to point out a simple truth, to begin with:

That so serious is the baleful influence, of the climate-change-deniers, in Global North politics, today, that one must drop all pretence, at civility, in pointing out the stupidity, which the ecocidal environmental positions adopted by the Ron DeSantises, and their ilk, in U.S. politics - who pretend that what is, isn't - represents.

Truth be told, it is actually we humans, who are at risk of becoming extinct, if we make our planet uninhabitable for our species. Let's be clear about that - for, if it isn't halted, ultimately, continuously trashing the natural environment, in egregious fashion, in pursuit of endless profits, will doom humanity, not the planet Earth.

We must all, also bear in mind, that long after our extinction, the planet Earth will recover, in a few million years, hence, and thrive - without shortsighted, foolish and greedy humans: barring it being smashed into smithereens from an object from outer space, before the end of time. That is what is the gravamen, of the issue of global climate change, oooo, folks. Full stop. Case closed. Yooooooo...

A quick note to Father Joop Visser - on the compassion of the deeply religious regardless of faith

Sage, wu y3 bue, ankasa ooooo. Wow. Kudos to you, Father Joop Visser, for yet another philosophical masterclass.

You have shown, clearly, in simple language, how a common denominator, which underpins the worldview, and mental outlook, of the genuinely religious -  regardless of their faith - is that compassion fuels their passion for common-good causes, in fighting for equity in society, worldwide. No?

Whatever be the case, this is just the one pesewa widow's mite cognitive-contribution, of an uneducated old fool, living near a fascinating small village, somewhere in the Central Region, oooo, Sage.

Incidentally, one happens to live in a housing estate, which is next door to what is a unique melting-pot community, full of energy, in which the fate of the many needy Ghanaians (and nationals from sister nations across West Africa, in Ghana seeking greener-pasture-opportunities), who took refuge there, because of the availability of accommodation at rock-bottom rental rates, from a location, where Accra is not too far by tro-tro, now hangs in the balance - as today's litigating descendants of pre-colonial traditional elite-privilege, oblivious of the fact that they will be killing a metaphorical goose that lays golden eggs, dream of coming riches: when they can legally begin selling land that once upon a time, was a UN-designated refugee settlement area, Camp Liberia, to super-wealthy estate developers. Such is life.

How can we bring lasting prosperity, to all parts of rural Ghana - and boost our immune systems too?

How can we bring lasting prosperity, to all parts of rural Ghana - and boost our immune systems, on top, too, dear critical-reader?

One would have thought that with available global Covid pandemic science and data, showing  us clearly, the  importance of strong immune systems, as a factor in the ability to survive and recover from  viral infections,  the  conversion of all food production in Ghana within the shortest possible timeframe, to certified organic  farming agribusiness models, would have been considered a national  public health policy priority - and all the needed steps taken to execute such a  national food security and common-good wellness  green economy strategic plan, to boost the immune systems of all those who reside in Ghana. Hmman, ey3asem oooo, Ghanafuor.

Could we not bring lasting prosperity, to all parts of rural Ghana, dear critical-reader, if such a policy were to be implemented?

To do so, we must first end the power and impunity enjoyed by the purveyors of the  agrochemicals (whose oft-ecocidal and health-damaging products, are poisoning our nation's soils, groundwater,  river systems, and impacting biodiversity in food producing areas nationwide,  and drastically reducing the invaluable ecosystem services they render Ghanaian society), who prosper so mightily, in the process, even though they are weakening the immune systems, of tens of millions of  consumers, too, and imposing avoidable costs on our over-burdened public health sector, on top, too.

In light of that, the question a wise and aspirational African people ought to ponder over is: How can we end the baleful influence of the purveyors of agrochemicals - and break the vice-like grip they have on those who dominate and control our corruption-riddled byzantine system?   

The remedy to that unfortunate situation, is simply to ban the importation and local production of agrochemicals, and implement a new national policy, designed to convert all food production in Ghana, to a new 100 percent organic farming agribusiness model. Nothing short of that will do -  if we are to become and remain a healthy people with strong immune systems, to enable us survive coming furure viral infection pandemics.

What is tragic about this unfortunate situation, is that the African Development Bank Group  (AfDB), could sctually be persuaded to fund the building of giant factories to produce  Apostle Kojo Sarfo Kantanka's amazing and innovative growth mediums,  foliar fertilizers and bio-pesticides, as key imputs for local organic food production, and for exporting surpluses to the  African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

Organic agricultural produce, command premium prices in markets worldwide. We can boost our export sector's contribution to Ghana's GDP, improve our balance of payments metrics, and strengthen our worthless currency,  if the whole of our agricultural sector is converted to 100 percent organic  production.

And if the unique organic profit-sharing climate resilient smart farming agribusiness model, of our country's  beautiful and bountiful Western Region's B-BOVID Farms (founded by  Issa Ouedraogo, and its production underpinned by agroforestry principles to empower its value-chain's smallholder farmer-stakeholder communities, to enable them bootstrap their own way to financial independence),  is replicated across our nation, food production in Ghana can be transformed into a profitable 100 percent organic farming agribusiness model.

 
We could definitely bring lasting prosperity, to all parts of rural Ghana, as sure as day follows night, dear critical-reader, if such an innovative  policy were to be implemented nationwide, could  we not?

How can we make galamsay a criminal activity tantamount to signing one's own death warrant?

How can we make galamsay a criminal activity tantamount to signing one's own death warrant? Egregious iIllegal activities in Ghana's mining sector, occur, because of failure on the part of Ghanaian officialdom, to end impunity, accompanying mining sector illegality.
 
That illegal gold mining (galamsay) has enriched a powerful and well-connected few, in our homeland Ghana, at the expense of ordinary Ghanaians, and at great cost to society, is beyond doubt.

There is no question, too, that the resultant destruction of vast acreages of land in Ghana's priceless forest reserves, by gold miners (ecocidal-criminality that runs through the gamut of both legally registered and illegal mining entities), would never have reached current levels, had regulatory-failure not occurred.

Regulatory failure, results from the unparalleled greed, and lack of moral compasses,  that  have made corrupting key officials of  all the  regulatory  bodies that issue permits and licenses to mining sector entities, a  path to personal enrichment for public officials employed to ensure compliance by sector players  of all the rules, regulations and laws governing operational activities in the mining sector.

In light of  that, the Special Prosecutor's galamsay corruption investigations will yield unprecedented dividends, if he demands that all the key officials in the mining sector regulatory bodies  who sanction permits and licenses for gold prospecting and mining for both small and large scale entities,  should declare their assets, and those of their spouses, to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, within a week.

They are the betrayors-supreme, whose greed and lack of moral compasses,  power the ecocide gradually destroying our biodiversity  hotspots, the invaluable  ecosystem services of which, our longterm survival, and quality of life, depend on, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

That said, clearly, to successfully root out mining sector illegalities, we must endeavour to remove the human factor, from the last-mile-end of the fight against galamsay, nationwide, as much as is practicable.

In that regard, we must treat the fight against galamsay as a national emergency, and put it on a war footing, and deploy killer-drones with night-vision capabilities that use AI to search, locate and destroy targets across the length and breadth of our country.

Nothing else will do if we are the effectively protect the remainder of our priceless natural capital - now even more valuable than all the minerals underneath our forest reserves combined, at a time of climate change.

To do so, we must put an end to  night-cover-galamsay operations pronto, by the usage of killer drones  -  which will quickly make venturing out at night to engage in galamsay, to be regarded by sundry criminal types, across Ghana,  as  tantamount to signing one's own death warrant. Enough, really, is enough.  Case closed.

Could credit card-sized gold bars and Adinkra symbol embossed gold coins bedrock Ghana's tourism sector?

Could credit card-sized gold bars and Adinkra symbol embossed gold coins bedrock Ghana's tourism sector? For yonks,  some of us have written countless articles, humbly suggesting that the Precious Minerals Marketing Company  (PMMC), ought to be allowed to mint credit-card-sized gold bars, gold coins embossed with Adinkra symbols, and traditional jewelry pieces.


The idea is to  turn the PMMC'S gold  trading floor, into a magnet for prosperous middle class Chinese and other Asian national demographics - and help grow our inbound tourism market, by leaps and bounds, that way.


If Thailand earned nearly US$72 billion from 31 million visitors in 2016, would gold-bedrocked tourism, not be more beneficial to our national economy - than allowing assorted  poverty-stricken foreign-chancers to come and engage in galamsay across Ghana's entire territorial landmass, with total impunity?


Even as we speak, criminals from all over the world, are busy destroying our groundwater sources, streams, rivers systems and other water bodies as they engage in illegal gold mining, with impunity - polluting our soils, sundry water resources,  with heavy metals and toxic chemicals, in the process: and committing ecocide by felling trees to produce chainsaw bushcut  lumber, to finance their operations, to add insult to injury. Haaba.


And, worst of all, they are  smuggling tonnes of gold out of our bankrupt nation, year round, without paying a pesewa in taxes on them. Why are they being allowed to get away with what is an open secret? Isn't that madness? Haaba.


As wise and aspirational Africans, the question to ponder over is: Has the time not now come for us to eliminate the galamsay business entirely in ruthless fashion - and replace it with community-based ecotourism,  bedrocked on PMMC trading floor sales of credit-card-sized gold bars, Adinkra symbol embossed gold coins and traditional-themed gold jewelry made by master-crafts-people?

Thinking the unthinkable to rescue Mother Ghana from the doldrums

We must think the unthinkable, if we want to rescue Mother Ghana from the doldrums, by stepping out of the shadow of conventional economic thinking, which limits our horizons no end.


Asked what stepping out of the shadow of conventional economic thinking, in practical terms, involves, I opined to a dear old friend that essentially, it means executing the steps needed to facilitate the transformation of Ghana into a prosperous and equitable society, underpinned by a system, which benefits all its populace's demographics.


As a wise and aspirational African people, whose national economy has tanked, and who face collective-ruination, we must think the impossible, oooo, Ghanafuor - if we are to pull ourselves out of the slippery-walled hole, we have ended up in: thanks to the unparalleled greed driving the state-capture rent-seeking crowd (whose greed is unparalleled in our post-independence history), who now dominate our byzantine system. 


What does thinking the unthinkable entail, dear critical-reader? It entails envisioning an African nation-state determined to profit handsomely from the myriad opportunities available to it, by the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) market, fork9 example.


What is the significance of the AfCFTA? To quote the World Bank:"The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world measured by the number of countries participating. The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a 11combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at US$3.4 TRILLIONS1. It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, but achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures."


Thinking the unthinkable to enable us benefit fully from the AfCFTA, means ditching conventional economic thinking and adopting creative sure-fire policies to grow our national economy rapidly.


Why, for example, do we not make Ghana a paradise for both entrepreneurs and workers, by encouraging them to collaborate to ensure the success of all commercial undertakings in Ghana? Will that not make our private sector companies super-competitive? Will that not turn our manufacturing sector into an AfCFTA manufacturing  hub for many products?


To achieve that desirable end, we should have the courage to ban investors who use shell companies, registered in tax havens, such as Mauritius and Luxembourg - which, when targeting Global South markets, are invariably established for the sole purpose of ripping off emerging nations, if truth be told. Nothing good can flow from such investments, as far as mobilising funds for the development of nations in Africa is concerned.


Thinking the unthinkable, also entails, for example, removing the burden of funding the expansion and modernisation of critical infrastructure required to grow our national economy, from the state completely - and in so doing, create opportunities for the private-sector (in partnerships between local and foreign investors), examples being private companies self-financing the building of high-speed railway networks, and tolled six-lane dualised concrete motorways, from Accra, to all the regional capitals, which they will own, operate and maintain for 35 years, before transferring them to the state: transferring their profits overseas 100 percent during that period.


Pension funds and insurance companies in Ghana can provide longterm low interest capital for such projects. 


Thinking the unthinkable, also entails designing initiatives that make regular assured tax-revenues available to governments-of-day.


Building new green climate resilient housing for slum-dwellers in new purpose built green communities, for example, will make it possible to raze down slums across Ghana, and facilitate the building of new world-class high-end mixed commercial and residential developments, in areas where hitherto  slums existed, nationwide.


The aforementioned policy, will be made possible, by the provision of 100-year generational levelling-up funds, for individuals and families, that apply for them, to underpin the building of new green family homes for slum dwellers, in new planned green climate-resilient communities across the landmass of the Republic of Ghana - with repayments from such loans providing revenues for pension funds and insurance companies that provide them, as well as taxes for governments-of-the-day.


Finally, to transform rural Ghana into an area of prosperity, we must encourage the brightest and best entrepreneurs in our country to invest in the agricultural sector, and ensure food security, by thinking the unthinkable - making the whole of our national economy's agricultural sector, not just the cocoa industry, tax free.


That can be done by replicating the brilliant Western Regional organic agripreneur, Issa Ouedraogo's unique profit-sharing climate smart organic farming model, which uses agroforestry principles, to empower its value-chain's oil palm smallholder farmer-stakeholders to bootstrap their way out of poverty to financial independence, for all our key crops, nationwide. These are just a few examples of thinking the unthinkable, if we want to rescue Mother Ghana from the doldrums.

A quick note to Kofi Boakye-Yiadom - on why the war in Ukraine concerns Africans too

Favourite nephew, on the thorny issue of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the question to ponder over is: Why fight wars in the first place - when every general, who genuinely cares about the well-being and welfare of the troops under his or her command, whom you talk to earnestly, will tell you candidly, that resolving differences between nations, is achieved most effectively, in the longterm, not militarily, but through diplomacy?

In any case, if the privileged politicians who declare wars (that ordinary folk invariably end up having to fight in, and risk being maimed and losing their lives doing so), were forced to lead battlefield troops, personally, from the frontlines, themselves, wouldn't wars virtually cease, somehow, worldwide, I ask? Haaba.

Unfortunately, many Africans think that the war in Ukraine doesn't affect them - but it does. Ukraine exported about 6.26mn tonnes of wheat to Africa in 2021-22, accounting for nearly 12 percent of total African wheat imports. Bread is important for most families across the continent, is it not? Haaba.

Furtheremore, the super-ruthless Russian mercenary group, Wagner, has a presence in Africa - where it is hoovering up minerals and other valuable natural resources, in exchange for providing more or less outdated Russian military hardware, and ineffectual training to enrich its founder, the billionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin.

So every African, who thinks clearly, ought to be concerned about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and its deliberate targeting of civilians and critical infrastructure. That the Wagner Group could attempt to do same here, too, one day, cannot be ruled out.

Favourite nephew, Putin has forced a great European power, the Russian Federation, which ought to be a force for good, globally, to morphe into a bad-actor on the global stage - which is why Africans, a mostly compassionate people, must condemn Russia's totally unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. Full stop. Case closed.

Is an iteration of the events of June 4th 1979 a certainly in today's Ghana?

Has the arrogance, unparalleled greed and insensitivity of those who now dominate our system, made an iteration of the events of June 4th 1979, a certainty, in our homeland Ghana, today, anaaaa, Ghanafuor? Hmmm, 3y3nsem piiiii, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

In that light, perhaps the key lesson that future governments-of-the-day, in Ghana, ought to learn (from the inability of members of the current government to properly guage the real mood of ordinary people across the country), is to ensure that world-class professionalism, bedrocks our security agencies, at all material times, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yooooooo...

If those who dominate any nation's system in Africa, jam-pack its secret services with party foot soldiers, as a jobs for the boys move  -  to placate those who miss out on the sharing of state-capture benefits, which flow from Machiavellian pork-barrel-politricks - the possibility of the leadership losing touch with the concerns of common people, because they inhabit a luxurious bubble-of-comfort, becomes a certainty: making the possibility of enforced regime-change, a question of when, not if, ooooo, Ghanafuor. Yooooooo...

The question a wise and aspirational African people ought to ponder over is:  What serious country, anywhere in our biosphere, will tolerate the continued stay in office, of a finance minister who more or less  destroyed the national economy, by piling up a gargantuan metaphorical debt-mountain, dear critical-reader?

Ken Ofori-Atta's continued stay in office, as Ghana's finance minister, illustrates perfectly, the total lack of respect for ordinary people, which characterises the current regime. The arrogance, unparalleled greed and insensitivity of those who now dominate our system, has made an iteration of the events of June 4th 1979, a certainty, ooooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

Father Joop Visser: Wu y3 bue a aankasa, wai!

Father Joop Visser, what I particularly like about Professor Kojo Yankah's virtual Pan African museum project's push into South America,  is that although  Blacks there are marginalised like most Blacks outside of Africa, often are,  through the museum project, and personal  visits to Nkrumah's Ghana, many will gradually gain self-confidence, and be imbued with abundant  self-belief, which will enable them to shine in the societies of their oft-racist countries.

Sage, Amen to all that, wai. One's hope, is that in the not too distant future,  perhaps a Pope much like you, in spirit,  might be selected to lead the Roman Catholic Church, from its Vatican City HQ. Amen.

As for the here and now, yes,  let us by all means enjoy our alloted time-span on this plane, in harmonious fashion, with all our fellow humans (regardless of skin-hue and professed religious faith), and all the other life-forms we share our common home (our existentially-threatened biosphere), with.

So therefore, Hallelujah, to all that, sayeth Kofi  Thompson  -  an irascible,  uneducated and ignorant old fool: who is not a fool for nothing, koraaaa, wai,  Sage, lol. Father Joop Visser, wu y3 bue ankaa!

Will rigging 2024 elections set off 1979-type house-cleaning-coup to end state-capture rent-seeking?

Sage, you posed the question: "Why should the IMF tell us our fate but not the loanseekers themselves and let the public know the consequences prior to adoption of those loans? If Parliament did not know, what is their reaction today?" Great question. Bravo. 

Sadly, Father Joop Visser, ours is a system that is a metaphorical revolving-door-of-greed, through which those who win power, swiftly replace themselves with yesteryear's powerbrokers: and continue the process of milking Mother Ghana dry.  

Our curse, as a wise and aspirational Africans, is that both the ruling NPP, and the largest of the opposition parties, the J. J. Rawlings-inspired National Democratic Congress (NDC), are two sides of the same coin-of-greed. 

They are the two entities that make up the duopoly that has monopolised power throughout the life of the 4th Republic, thus far - and when it comes to the art and science of state-capture rent-seeking family-and-friends governance, alas, they are all in it together, oooo, Sage.   

Their objective is sending their personal net worth to stratospheric heights within the shortest period possible - by any means necessary.    

That is why  one now understands those who think that nothing short of a Rawlings-type house-cleaning  revolution, will end the mammoth-purloining of our nation's assets, by the big-thieves-in-high-places who dominate our byzantine system. Hmmm, 3y3nsem  piiii, oooo,  Sage.   

Long story short: Nothing short of a Rawlings-type house-cleaning-revolution will end state-capture rent-seeking in Ghanaian politics, Ghanafuor  -  and it will be triggered by attempts to rig the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, as sure as day follows night,  oooo, Ghanafuor Yoooooooo...

Ghana not an exception to rule that no army can stop a fed-populace seeking regime change

It is interesting that the most arrogant and gung-ho top-level members of  Ghana's current ruling party, the New Patriotic Party's (NPP), have started intimating that they will never hand over power, after the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, to the largest of the opposition parties,  the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Hmmm, ey3asem, oooo, Ghanafour.

The question is:  What do the NPP's Hon.  Bryan Acheampongs know that the vast majority of Ghanaians, don't, about Ghana's future - in the immediate aftermath of the declaration of results for  December 2024 presidential and parliamentary  elections? Hmmm, ey3nsem piiiiii, oooo, Ghanafuor...

Be that as it may, given the significant numbers  of fair-minded and open-minded apolitical  Ghanaians, who have become  disappointed in the performance of the managers of our national economy, under the current government, it is rather odd that the Bryan Acheampongs  still think that somehow Ghanaians will return their party to power again, in free and fair elections.

Let the Bryan Acheampongs dream on. Time changes everything in the topsy-turvy world of politics. If they want a repetition of the events of June 4th, 1979, then, by all means, let them attempt to rig the results of the 2024 elections. Yoooooooo...


Whatever the Bryan Acheampongs have up their  super-expensive designer-labelled-sleeves (speaking metaphorically), they will get a rude shock, and experience a bewildering-awakening, after the 2024 presidential and parliamentary  elections  -  when it suddenly dawns on them that, really, the  game is up, and that no army anywhere in the world, can stop a thoroughly fed-up, peace-loving  population who want new leaders to govern their country: and that Ghana is no exception to that rule. Yoooooooo...

Tolling roads is the best option - if we want world-class roads nationwide

Tolling roads is by far the best option for Ghanaians - if we want world-class roads nationwide. As a wise and aspirational African people, surely we must no longer tolerate bad roads in our communities - constructed at great cost to hapless taxpayers but shoddily constructed despite that? Haaba.

In other words, we are a society in which the state builds expensive roads that invariably deteriorate rapidly, after a year or two. Scandalous. Unpardonable. Shameful. Intolerable. Full stop.


That said, the question to ponder over is: Will communities (both rural and urban) across our homeland Ghana, not willingly, and happily, pay tolls to use roads, which are world-class and always well maintained?

In that light, if governments-of-the-day are perpetually broke, why does the road sector industry association not talk instead to pension funds and insurance companies - to provide their members with longterm funding for constructing world-class roads: and split profits from toll revenues with those local road contractors? Simple commonsense, is it not, Ghanafuor? Tolling roads is by far the best option for our nation - if we want world-class roads nationwide, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

Ghanafuor: 3kafuor 3nsu 3ndidi anaaaa?

Ghanafuor: Enti 3kafuor 3nsu 3ndidi anaaaa? Haaba. Even an uneducated old fool like me knows that by definition, secret clauses in international  loan agreements that Parliament isn't aware of, and hasn't approved,  are illegal and unconstitutional.

Ghanafuor, shouldn't we demand that Parliament declares all those Chinese loans with secret clauses as unconstitutional  illegalities, anaaa  -  or perchance play Russian roulette and wait for another General Kutu Acheampong-type   y3ntua, afris3 3kafuo ensu edidi, military  coup?

Ditto look on helplessly, as we are  mercilessly swamped with yet more and more taxes, by the geniuses into whose grasping hands Mother Ghana has tragically fallen, anaaaa  -  the super-arrogant dissembling, hard-of-hearing rent-seeking state-capture grifters, who are determined to send their net worth to stratospheric heights at the expense of ordinary folk?  3kafuo 3nsu 3didi, oooo, wai, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

What reparations will ordinary Ghanaians eventually force their Chiefs to pay to atone for yesteryear's slave trade?

In the fullness of time, Ghana's thoroughly-fed-up populace, will force their nation's Chiefs, to pay reparations, for the role played by their forebears, in facilitating the slave trade, for European slave traders to profit so mightly,  from, during its apogee.

Chiefs across Ghana, will make those reparations, to atone for the egregious betrayal of the Black race, by their forbears  -  by making restitution to ordinary people across the territorial landmass of the Republic of Ghana: for facilitating the crime against humanity, which the abominable slave trade of the past, represents.

The question, dear critical-reader, is: How will that happen? Well,  as wise and aspirational Africans, ordinary Ghanaians will simply demand that their government nationalises, and takes over, Stool Lands, nationwide - and redistribute them to landless Ghanaians, who wish to farm, but don't have access to land: on 100-year leases. Simple. Case closed. Sarjewah. Full stop.

India rid herself of its Maharajahs to prosper - should Ghana rid itself of its Chiefs, too, to prosper?

India rid herself of its Maharajahs to prosper. The question is: Must Ghana rid itself, of its Chiefs, too, in order to prosper? There are some Ghanaians who posit that one of the key reasons why Ghana has failed to realise her full potential, is because the meritocracy Nkrumah believed in, was jettisoned after his overthrow.

Those who took over the country after Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966, opted instead for inherited privilege's handmaiden, nepotism - the last bastions of which are the palaces of Chiefs: still packed with slaves, nationwide, as it happens, as we speak, Ghanafuor.

In that light, the question a wise and aspirational African people must ponder over is: Has the time not now come to demand reparations from the major betrayers of the Black race, African Chiefs, whose slave-raiding pillaging-wars, enabled them to capture their fellow humans, whom they callously sold to European slave traders, who sent them to the Americas and the Caribbean, in hellish conditions, on ships designed for that purpose?

India, which had Maharajahs who were a zillion times more powerful, and magnificent, than all our Chiefs, bar none, swiftly rid herself of them, because its nationalist leaders understood clearly that they had to rid India of inherited privilege, if its greatest enemy, meritocracy, was to power post-independence India's transformation, into a prosperous nation.

They were prescient: Today, India is a global economic powerhouse, while Ghana (which perversely thinks that, somehow, Chiefs, corrupt super-arrogant tribal-supremacists, who still enslave people, and commit  ritual murder, routinely, with impunity, are the embodiment of its culture), has become a bankrupted nation, dominated by the greed-filled rent-seeking progeny, of our pre-colonial ruling elites, whose citizens daily struggle to survive an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis, amidst galloping inflation nationwide.

Ghanafuor, the question we can no longer ignore pondering over is: If we are to prosper, like India has, must we also rid ourselves of the Chieftaincy institution, anaaa? Yooooooooo...

Creative leadership is what Zimbabwe needs but lacks

Seldom has any Global South nation needed creative leadership, as does Zimbabwe, today.To avoid losing a massive green economy levelling-up opportunity, the government of Zimbabwe must swiftly rescind its unfortunate decision to grab private sector carbon offset funds.

That abomination is a grave error of judgement, for a country with a worthless national currency.

If Zimbabwe is desperate for hard currency, surely, it could use some of the funds from gold sales it is allowing regime-insiders to hold on to illegally - in collusion with foreign crooks smuggling gold out of Zimbabwe to GCC jurisdictions? Haaba.

Above all, why does the leadership of Zimbabwe not collaborate with the young local inventor, whose game-changing inventions in the EV, aviation and power sectors, apparently defy the laws of physics?

Those astonishing inventions, could transform Zimbabwe into the most prosperous society on the surface of the planet Earth - producing battery-free EVs with limitless range, helicopters that fly with no fuel and limitless truly affordable emission-free clean power, sans storage batteries. Creative leadership is what Zimbabwe needs. Pity there is such a dearth of it there currently.

Paying for an award of any kind makes no sense

At a time when we are experiencing an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis, surely, we need to rid Ghana of the unconscionable tweaaaa-outrage, which being asked to pay for high-falutin-sounding awards, by entities created spefically for that dubious purpose (to enrich its shady promoters, no doubt), represents? Haaba.

A paid-for-award, of any kind, and category, is a phoney-award that's best avoided, when genuinely-earned-money, is so hard to come by, in today's Ghana. It's strictly for egoistical-folk, who have more money than sense, oooo, Ghanafuor. Remember the infamous 'UN Awards' dreamt up by some chancer in Ghana years ago? Yooooooo...

No serious and truly world-class individual, or entity, would agree to be part of such grifter-fare, oooo, Ghanafuor. Genuine award-bestowing-entities the world over (such as the Nobel Prizes, for example) give out cash awards to selected winners - not the other way round, wai. With the greatest respect, paying for an award of any kind, makes no sense - and is nonsensical. Yabre. Haaba.

Would a citizen-science BioBlitz initiative help turn the Atewa Forest Reserve into a national park?

Perhaps a citizen-science BioBlitz, involving the youth of Akyem Osino, Akyem Saamang and Akyem Juaso, under the aegis of SYTO Ghana, A Rocha Ghana and Eco-Conscious Citizens Group, might finally help prod Jubilee House to get Ghana's President Akufo-Addo,  to declare the Atewa Forest Reserve (and the aboreal slopes off it), a national park, and ban all mining from it, at long last?

Surely that will make it possible for private sector entities from around the world, such as the airlines that fly in and out of Ghana, to buy carbon credits from there to neutralise their massive carbon footprints  - and help create a booming new green economic pillar there, for Akyem Abuakwa, and the rest of Ghana's Eastern Region?

As the biggest private freehold landowners in Akyem Juaso, my family would be happy to include the P. E. Thompson estate's Akyem Juaso 14-square mile freehold upland evergreen rainforest property, in any such citizen-science  BioBlitz initiative. Cool.

Authentic Ivory Towers actually have a purpose

Amazing that it's lost on so many in the Republican Party that world leadership requires a meritocracy that is truly world-class and cosmopolitan in its worldview.

That is what assured America's power and wealth in the past.

One shudders at the thought of the tens of millions of half-baked hidebound-ignoramuses America's besieged educational system will produce decades from now  -  as the narrow-minded and shortsighted policies advocated by extremist right-wing politicians, such as Ron DeSantis, the current Governor of Florida, begin to affect America's place in the world.

Authentic Ivory Towers across America actually have a purpose - suprising though it might be to some: continously producing world-class leaders able to compete globally, successfully, to ensure America's leadership in all spheres of human endeavour. Cool.

Let's say no to tribalism in Ghana

We pray for the ordinary people of Sudan, who are victims of the senseless and tragic civil war now raging across that vast sister nation of ours. Nothing can justify such abominable and unspeakable acts of violence - merely to enable selfish individuals to lead any nation in today's Africa.


We must never allow our homeland Ghana to descend into violence and chaos, because of the personal ambitions of politicians. Ever. No. No. No.

It is said that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. As a wise and aspirational African people, we must shun all tribal-supremacist politicians, regardless of wherever in our homeland Ghana, they hail from - for their foolish arrogance and narrow-minded chauvinism, will sow the seeds of future conflict that will ruin us all, ooooo, Ghanafuor. No tribe is superior or inferior to another in today's Africa. Let's say no to tribalism in Ghana. Yoooooooo...

Is high-level corruption the reason why Mother Ghana now faces ruination?

Why is Mother Ghana now facing ruination,  dear critical-reader? Is it because of the number of Ghanaian media practitioners, who are in the same situation that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas finds himself today  -  bankrolled for decades by their own Ghanaian fatcat-equivalents of Justice Clarence Thomas' benevolent/malevolent Harlan Crow, anaaaaa? Hmmm, ey3nsem piiii, ooooo, Ghanafuor.

Furthermore, is Mother Ghana facing ruination, today, because so many of our major political figures are also beholden to super-wealthy state-capture rent-seeking criminal-types, and the big-thieves-in-high-places, who dominate our byzantine system, anaaaa, Ghanfuor? Hmmm, ey3asem, oooo - asem kesiy3 bi ebeba debi ankasa, ooooo, Ghanafuor.

Well, for sure, it is what it is, dear critical-reader -  but whatever be the case, Mother Ghana definitely faces ruination: if as wise and  aspirational Africans, we don't sit up, and finally take immediate steps to end high-level corruption in our Motherland, swiftly, ooooo, Ghanafuor. Yooooooo...

Bravo to the unsung heroes who keep state-owned Ghanaian entities such as the ECG afloat

Today (9/5/2023), I am saying Ayeekoo to the Electricity Company of Ghana's  (ECG) entire workforce. Why, you might wonder, dear critical-reader? A storm, which was accompanied by gale force winds, struck  Gomoa Buduburam, two days ago - leaving  parts of the area without power.

As it happens, when virtually all the houses in the part of the Gomoa Buduburam SHC estate where we live had their power supply restored, ours was not restored, unfortunately.

As power is essential to life in today's world,  we called the Electricity Company of Ghana  (ECG), which assured us that a team had been dispatched to our area, and would contact me, to direct them to our place, to restore our power supply.  They did not disappoint us. We now have power,  thanks to them.

Such hardworking state-owned entity  employees are often criticised for failing the enterprises that employ them.  That is what makes the ECG crew that came to restore our power unsung heroes, in my humble view - such dedicated workers are the nation builders of our time, whose hardwork we seldom acknowledge:  but frequently criticise. I am most grateful to them. ECG workforce, mu  y3 bue, ankasa. Mi  ma munyinaa ayeekoo.

Let's be real about reparation

There is a need for humankind  to be real about reparations: Truth be told, woke-reparations don't make sense one bit. Where is the money going to be sourced from to pay for them, one wonders?

Smart-reparations: Surely, 100-year tax holidays for businesses owned by descendants of slaves, and free trade agreements for nations with large populations of descendants of slaves, could make a difference - and help  to create self-bootstrapped generational wealth for slave descendant communities across such nations?
 
Above all, why have the descendants of the arrogant, greed-filled and super-ruthless African tribal ruling-elites that launched endless wars, to pillage and capture prisoners, to sell as slaves to foreign slave traders, escaped scrutiny - especially as their palaces are jam-packed with slaves, today, even as we speak: and some of them allegedly  engage in ritual murder, routinely, with total impunity? Let's be real about reparations, wai. Yoooooooo...

The Russian Military Must Depose Putin to restore its honour

 "Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in."

-- Aristotle (384 - 322 BC).

Russia's President Putin needs to revise his notes quickly. If tyrants tracing their people's historical roots to ancient empires went to war to revive them, regularly, what would humanity's fate be, today?

Nothing can justify Putin invading the territory of a sovereign neighbour and massacring civilians, destroying critical infrastructure, as well as prostituting the  honour of Russia's military, on top, too, in the process.

Ukraine must be armed sufficiently enough to enable her defeat Russia, and expel Russian forces occupying Ukrainian sovereign territory, to make that possible - and finally help free Russians from a murderous delusional-kleptocrat ruining their great nation so egregiously.

For ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin must be deposed by Russia's military, and swiftly tried for crimes against humanity, by the International Criminal Court  (ICC). That will help restore the honour of Russia's military.

How the IMF can best protect the future of children in Ghana

The IMF can best protect the future of children in Ghana, by demanding anti-corruption reforms before providing funds for the government that has bankrupted their nation. It can do so by:

1) Asking for passage of new laws by Ghana's Parliament giving prosecutorial powers to the Auditor General.

2) Demanding new laws being passed under a certificate of urgency, to end public procurement sole-sourcing.

3) Demanding passage of new laws banning all mining in forest reserves to protect the remainder of Ghana's priceless natural heritage.

4) Demanding new laws requiring all ministerial and high level public sector appointees to publicly publish their assets, and those of their spouses, before assuming office - and immediately after their tenures end.

5) Demanding passage of new laws indemnifying whistleblowers from prosecution and guaranteeing their being rewarded with 30 percent shares of recovered stolen public funds made possible by their whistleblowing.

The children of Ghana know just how caring the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, is. She must not let them down. No. No. No. Bailing out their leaders without laws to drastically reduce high-level corruption will be tantamount to fetching water in a wicker basket.

Ghana's rapacious and hard-of-hearing ruling elites must be left to stew in their own juice if they resist the aforementioned reforms designed to curtail the egregious and ruinious state-capture rent-seeking designed to send their personal net worth to stratospheric heights, which is ruining the future of children in Ghana. Enough is enough. Case closed. Yoooooooo...

Is Moringa a cloak for illicit financial flows and tax-evasion?

Bush telegraph sources allege that the French investment entity, Moringa, is a front for illicit financial flows and tax evasion. 


The question is: Are the legal vehicles registered in Luxembourg and Mauritius, Moringa Mauritius Africa, and Moringa SCA Sicar, by the French investment company, Moringa (which bush telegraph sources say is exploiting Ghana's legal system to enable it hijack the organic palm oil processor, B-BOVID, from its founder, Issa Ouedraogo), deliberately engineered for use to cloak illicit financial flows, as some of its critics allege?


Apparently, all the signs of money laundering are present in Moringa's profile: Registered offices in scandal-ridden tax havens, and in the case of Mauritius, selfsame postal addresses used by many tax dodging entities accused of illicit financial flows. Ditto same auditors. Amazing.


In the revelations about Adani, the Indian conglomerate, by activist investors, Hindenberg Reseach, for example, the same registered office in Mauritius (actually a postal address on a particular street in Port Louis named after US President John F. Kennedy, lol), used by Moringa, popped up. Wow.


The question is: Why did Moringa inform the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre that the African Development Bank (AfDB) had given it US$20 million - when in actual fact the funding from the AfDB amounted to just US$10 million?


Was the ground being prepared to enable them eventually transfer the bloated figure from Ghana, to Mauritius and thence on to Luxembourg tax free, perhaps, as its critics allege ? 


Because Antoine Turpin's disputed recruitment is a key-factor in the matter of the dispute between Moringa and Issa Ouedraogo, the BUNGE Loders Cocklaan executive who wrote that letter, must be supoenaed to come and clarify to the arbitration panel, when it was that Antoine Turpin left their employ, and what his position was at his departure, and what exactly the USD48,000 he took from B-BOVID to pay them, was actually for. His evidence must based on strict-proof basis.


Critics of Moringa, make the point that it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a rent demand letter used to enable Antoine Turpin to withdraw USD48,000 from B-BOVID's bank account, might actually be documentation for a very clever tax-dodging money laundering scheme, with the accumulated rent demand letter, a bogus cover story, which was meant to be a perfect sleight-of-hand ruse, to enable them cloak an egregious tax-dodging illegality, and give it legitimacy, that way. This allegation needs investigating by the authorities in France and Ghana for the truth to be established. For all we know BUNGE Loders Crocklaan might be innocent and blameless. Cool.


Be that as it may, the question to ponder over is: Was the rent demand letter meant to facilitate stress-testing their illicit financial flows scheme, to enable them see whether or not it would be easy for Moringa and BUNGE Loders Crocklaan (and the other entities that Antione Turpin would also be working for while CEO of B-BOVID), to engage in illicit financial flows, with Antoine Turpin controlling B-BOVID, as its CEO?


It is noteworthy to observe that in the event, it was very easy for Antoine Turpin to transfer huge sums out of B-BOVID, once he had been successfully foisted on it. Moringa must not be allowed to get away with this abomination. No. No. No.


We must support successful local agrisector entrepreneurs if we are to ensure food security for Ghanaians. We must not rely on foreigners to ensure food security for Ghanaians.That is why B-BOVID must be returned to its founder, Issa Ouedraogo - and Moringa penalised for subjecting him to mental torture from egregious shareholder oppression and unspeakable reputational-harm: with their unpardonable falsehoods and twisted half-truths, in their bid to ruin him for defying them.

Open letter to Kofi Bampoe and Kwame Thompson

Dear Kofi Bampoe and Kwame  Thompson,

I shall go straight to the point: The court notice announcing the granting of our application for Vesting Assents, for our 50 percent of the bequests in Clause 12A of the  will of our late Grandpa, will be posted on the walls of the family house near the old Akwapim Adukrom Presbyterian Church, and on the wall of P. E. Thompson's uncompleted house near the telco cell  tower, regardless of what any of your clique says.

You would be in contempt of court if you tried to interfere with the work of the court bailiff fixing the notice, for your information.

It would be unwise to add that to the string of illegalities committed by the two of you, in the period since the death of the late Charles Benoni  Mante, the last surviving of the two executors, of the will of the late P. E. Thompson Esq., who was his uncle.

For your information, not even the President of the Republic of Ghana has the right to go to the Deeds Registry of the Lands Commission,  and disappear documents stored there. It is an egregious falsehood to accuse me of going to pose as P. E.  Thompson to disappear family  documents there. Be careful in slandering me, oooo. Yoooooooo...

Finally,  be clear in your own minds that as interested parties, who are equal beneficiaries of bequests made in Clause 12, you  have no authority in the administration of the Estate of the late P. E. Thompson, whose memory, once upon a time, my sister Nanayire Marian, and I, honoured, by establishing P. E. Thompson Farms & Commodity Exports Limited, to export organic produce  -  our vision for the whole family including both of you.

So stop the pure nonsense-on-stilts allegation that somehow, that means that I am going around  posing as P. E. Thompson. How absurd and daft can you get?

Had it not been for your lack of foresight and shortsightedness, today, our family would be one of Ghana's biggest producers of organic palm oil and artisanal chocolate  -  but, sadly, we aren't: mainly because of your obtuseness, unparalleled-greed and unpardonable-selfishness, over the decades, since C. B. Mante (may his soul rest in peace) passed away.

We have had enough and will now act resolutely to secure our 50 percent of all the assets bequeathed to us, by our late Grandpa, P. E. Thompson. No one in the family can stop us from taking full control of what is rightfully ours, and for which we have been granted Vesting Assents, by the Probate Court, to finally become legitimate owners of, ooooo (referencing the whole portfolio of our bequeathed 50 percent Clause 12A stake, that is). Full stop. Case closed. Yoooooooo...

Thanks.

Kind regards,

Kofi.

How to end outrage of taxpayers paying for poorly constructed roads

Has the time not now come for us to end the monstrosity of taxpayers having to pay for poorly constructed roads that quickly deteriorate, because of the public procurement state-capture rent-seeking kickbacks-scourge,  anaaa, Ghanafuor?

It is amazing that Ghanaian politicians talk endlessly about the private sector being the best growth-engine for transforming Ghana, yet, are unable to cotton on to the fact that we could actually develop a nationwide network of world-class concrete motorways, simply by giving access to low interest longterm capital from pension funds and the insurance industry (at less than 4 percent), to the private sector's best road contractors.

Surely,  giving road contractors the right to own and toll the roads they build, would enable them  to recoup their investments, over a period of say 35 years - and incentivise them yet further with long tax holidays on top of that?

Is that not doable by a potentially rich sub-Saharan nation, populated by wise and aspirational Africans, anaaaa, Ghanafuor - especially as it will spare long-suffering taxpayers from being forced to continuously  pay for poorly constructed roads that quickly deteriorate: as a result of the state-capture rent-seeking public procurement brown envelope  kickbacks-scourge that has ended up bankrupting our homeland Ghana? Eiiii, Oman Ghana - enti y3wiey3 paaa  enie? Asem kesiey3 bi abeba debi ankasaa, oooo. Yooooooo...

Why we must end all mining in our nation's forest reserves immediately

The dreadful events occurring in the Sudanese capital - as rival forces battle for the control of  Khartoum's key installations, including its international airport and the presidential palace - might seem far away and of no concern to us in Ghana.

Yet, what is now happening in Sudan has valuable lessons for us in Ghana. Warlords can destroy nations for control of valuable minerals, such as gold.

It happened in Liberia and Sierra Leone decades ago.  Their chaotic-murderous-eras still affect the people of both those sister nations, even as we speak, as it happens.

That is why our nation's hard-of-hearing ruling-elites must take active steps to end gold mining, both legal and illegal, in all our nation's  forest reserves,  asap, oooo, Ghanafuor.

If we are to avoid suffering the same fate in Ghana,  as our brothers and sisters once did in Liberia and Sierra Leone,  and the residents of Khartoum are now suffering,  at some point in the not too distant future, then, it is crucial that in the era of extreme weather,  our forest reserves (now definitely more valuable than all the mineral deposits underneath them combined), are ringfenced by our system and made no-go areas, in order to protect the remainder of our natural heritage. 

 

We are not fools. We are  a wise and aspirational African people,   oooo, Ghanafuor, so let us unite to protect our priceless natural capital. Yooooooo...

Let no one doubt that if the impunity of the bad actors destroying our forest reserves for gold,  isn't ended swiftly, today's recalcitrant galamsayers, rogue  small-scale gold miners, community miners and their bedfellows, bushcut chainsaw lumber producers, will morphe into tomorrow's murderous  warlords -  who will upend our democracy, by deliberately creating chaos and insecurity, through a strategy of constantly battling our security agencies: as sure as day follows night.

Ghanafuor, our own Hemeditis are waiting in the shadows for the right moment to arrive for them  to emerge in force. Think the Wontumis - whose  ruthless violence-prone footsoldiers jam-pack our secret services, wai. As a wise and aspirational  African people, we must contain them by ending mining in all our forest reserves. Now. Not tomorrow.  Yooooooo...

The nonsensical-wokery over the golliwog rumpus in the UK

Why are some Blacks so easily offended by the antics of racists? I don't get it, koraaa, oooo. Why burn energy over people who wish you ill, I ask? Daft and unproductive. Full stop.

Golliwogs? Massa, they offend me not, oooo. Cool. Mere dolls? Haaba. Got self-belief by the bucketful, ankasaa, lol. Ditto happen to be thick-skinned, paaaa.

When I used to run what was a very successful farm shop in West London (The Apple Man - London's first farm shop, 114 Goldhawk Road, London W12), during the Thatcherite-era, at a certain stage, I put up a sign saying: If you are infected by prejudice, leave it outside when you come in - and pick it up again on your way out.

It worked a treat. Won't allow dreadful people with narrow minds to get my goat, oooo. Ever. Sods. Cool.

Some people don't know when to back-off

Some people simply just don't  know when to backoff for self-preservation, lol. After carrying out independent checks, I decided against helping a notorious ex-child soldier, from the Liberian civil war period (who is now a refugee living in the Camp Liberia refugee settlement area, at Gomoa Buduburam, in Ghana 's Central Region), who approached me to help him retrieve his mobile phone, from the Tesano Police Station investigator who had been handling a case against him,  for allegedly defrauding a Spanish national, in an online scam, using an unregistered tour company.

At age 70, I now put my peace of mind, above all else - and burning energy on behalf of an online scammer with an ego the size of  Mount Rushmore, isn't something worth pursuing, in my humble view.

Alas, my refusal to help that heartless and egoistical-sod, has elicited a mocking song, Akokora Kofi, blasted out non-stop 24/7, designed to blackmail me - a fearless and thick-skinned fighter of good causes: who boldly speaks truth to power and can't be intimidated, lol. What a genius that ex-child soldier is. Some people don't know when to  back-off. Hmmm, ey3asem oooo...

Open letter to Ghana's minister for lands and natural resources

Honourable Minister,

I shall go straight to the point: My family's 14-square mile upland evergeen rainforest land in the Akyem Juaso section, of the Atewa Range, in the Eastern Region, was acquired on a freehold basis, from the Gyasehene of Kwabeng, Nana Kwasi Banning, in 1921 - and it was added to, and consolidated, as one, with the purchase of yet more land, in 1926, with the concurrence of Nana Ofori-Atta 1.

A total of £1,000 was paid officially, and recorded, but an off-ledger payment of an extra £4,000 was made and distributed. So, in all, my late Grandpa, P. E. Thompson Esq., forked out the princely sum of £5,000. 99.6 acres of the said land lies inside the Atewa Forest Reserve, as it happens. It is referred to in Forestry Commission jargon, as an 'admitted farm', to which we have legal access, but have kept pristine for a future community carbon sequestration project.

The descendants of the Henrietta Akosua Aboagye branch of the P. E. Thompson family tree, are committed conservationists, who are key stakeholders in SYTO Ghana's planned conservation-through-ecotorism land restoration project, in the area, and want you to cancel all the issued gold prospecting licenses, and small scale gold concessions, in our 2.5-square mile portion,  of the 5-square mile P. E. Thompson land lying between the Akusoo stream and the Cheboa stream, which is disected by the Bordwuser stream.

No official from any of the regulatory bodies consulted us (my sister Marian Alma Thompson and myself), when the prospecting licenses were issued, and the delineated small scale gold concessions of our land, were carved out.

With respect, Hon. Minister, we object to an economic activity, gold mining, that will ruin our biodeversity-rich upland evergreen rainforest land, which lies in land designated as a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA), by Conservation International, and thus prevent us from turning it into a community-based ecotourism destination, to preserve for future generations. That is unjust.

Thanks.
 
Yours sincerely,

Kofi.

Luddite-mentality drives tech sector xenophobic-political-football brinkmanship

Humankind deserve the best technology - which is why the legal domicile of the best class-leading tech start-ups behind them shouldn't matter.

The world's global-power nations' intelligence agencies by definition infiltrate all tech companies. The intelligence agencies of the  US, EU, UK, China, India and Brazil, all target tech companies.  That's a fact that cannot be denied.

So let's end the hypocrisy about China being such a huge security risk techwise - and let consumers worldwide benefit from cutting-edge technology wherever that comes from: be it the US or China.

Extremist politicians worldwide, must be discouraged from turning cutting-edge technology into xenophobic-political-football, to win votes. That's digital-age Luddite-mentality, wai.  Haaba.

The NPP will be turfed out of power in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections

Are the insensitive and power-drunk politicians in Ghana, who continue to make foolhardy-inflammatory-statements, in a bankrupt nation (whose hapless citizenry are being impoverished by galloping inflation amidst an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis), not aware of the fact our nation is sitting atop a ticking social time bomb, anaaaa? Literally? Yooooooo...

What makes geniuses like the Bryan Acheampongs in the world of Ghanaian politics think that Ghanaians will allow the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections to be rigged by the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to enable it retain power? It won't happen. Full stop.

For the information of the Bryan Acheampongs,  Ghanaians may be long-suffering, but we are definitely not stupid. Ditto not sheep. We will vote out the NPP, in an election that will be an annihilating-landslide-washout-defeat for the NPP. Full stop. No army in the world can stop a fed-up population from toppling a ruling party destroying their nation by voting it out of power. Simple.

Why should we not vote out the most corrupt, arrogant and inept elected government, ever, since independence in 1957, from power, after eight solid years of living in a nation misruled, ripped-off and turned upside down, by the world's most rapacious rent-seeking state-capture insider-dealing pork-barrel Machiavellian-mafiosi-politricksters? The Bryan Acheampongs can rave and rant as much as they want. The NPP will be turfed out of power in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections. For sure. Watch this space!

End mining in all forest reserves across Ghana now - to end an existential threat

In an era when life-threatening extreme weather events are the norm, Ghana's forests and rivers  have become priceless life-sustaining assets, which we must protect at all costs.

In that light, they are now even more valuable than all our precious  mineral deposits combined. We must end mining, both legal and illegal,  in all our forest reserves for that reason.

 Even if we have to resort to the use of killer-drones, with night vision and heat-seeking cameras, in a no-holds-barred high-tech war to stop what is an existential threat endangering the well-being and quality of life of our entire population (which is enriching only a tiny percentage of our total population), let us go ahead and declare war on the greedy  and selfish individuals destroying our  forests and polluting our river systems, soils and groundwater, and eliminate them from their operational areas  across the entire  landmass of the sovereign territory of our Republic,   to end what is an existential threat to all Ghanaians - before it becomes too late to stop them destroying all our forests, and polluting our soils, river systems as well as our groundwater, on top, too, ooooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

To whom it might concern

Been receiving email requests, of late, from complete strangers asking me to join "private twitter groups". Interesting. Very. Hmmm, ey3nsem piiiii, oooo.

I wasn't born yesterday,  oooo, dear critical-reader   -  and I am also not interested in any online/offline activity that isn't open, transparent and accessible to the general public: because I am not a criminal.  Full stop.

Above all, I am old fashioned (in my seventh decade on this plane, as it happens), and a serious person, paapa, oooo, please.

Although I am an uneducated old fool, I am only interested in serious societal issues - and I most certainly don't watch any porn: which to me is abhorrent, daft and a total waste of time. So those sending me those cryptic messages to join "private twitter groups" should take note, wai.  Yooooooooo...

Can digital age data protection be 100 percent foolproof?

Couldn't help being a bit cynical about news reports that some  Tesla employees had been sharing images from cameras on its vehicles sold to customers - contrary to assurances from the company that customer data was protected from such breaches of its laid down policy  from which its employees are barred.

The reality is that that's the price we pay for progress in the digital age, in our every day lives, alas.  That's why its best to lead a life that won't embarrass one when any of the zillions of data privacy breaches that  routinely occur  around the world, hits one, out of the blue. Simple.

Clean living (in all cultural contexts globally) is the only protection guaranteed to spare one from embarrassment in the digital age.

Tesla, like all responsible tech companies,  does what it can to protect data from customers using a policy designed to ensure that, which is compliant with required  regulatory metrics. That's the bottom line. It simply isn't possible for digital age data protection  to be 100 percent foolproof.

How China can help end the corruption draining the lifeblood out of Mother Ghana

Friendship between the people of Ghana and China, and their two governments, go back decades, to the eras of President Nkrumah and Chairman Mao.

In that light, before China agrees to reschedule Ghana's debt to China,  President Xi must be a force for good for the people of Ghana - and demand that Parliament passes tough new anti-corruption measures, to protect the public purse from the rapacious, greed-filled rent-seeking state-capture big-thieves-in-high-places, who dominate Ghana's byzantine system, and are ripping-off Mother Ghana with total impunity.

Chief amongst the tough new anti-corruption legislation, must be the provision of prosecutorial powers for the Auditor General.

Secondly, the assets of all high level  public sector officials and their spouses must be publicly published, before they assume office, and immediately after their tenures end.

Thirdly, whistleblowers must be indemnified from prosecution and rewarded with 30 percent of recovered purloined state funds made possible as a result of their exposure of high-level  corruption by public officials and government ministers and appointees heading quangos.

That is how best China can help to protect the public purse in Ghana, and stem the tide of egregious high-level corruption draining the very lifeblood out of Mother Ghana.

Guaranteeing state revenues in creative fashion

Wouldn't it be marvellous if we could generate a new source of guatanteed state revenues for Mother Ghana, I ask?

Could we not, as part of a nationwide slum clearance initiative,  build new planned green climate-resilient communities, in which all buildings had forest garden compounds, with road networks lined with fruit trees, to replace slums across Ghana - all of which we can then raze down and turn the vacated lands into community family  adventure parks, charging minimum entry fees?

Bank of Ghana Central Bank Digital Currency  (CBDC) accounts could be opened for all individuals and families who want to own properties in those new green climate-resilient communities, but can't afford them - and credited with generational-levelling-up CBDCs sufficient to enable them repay the cost of their chosen properties.

Installment payments for such family properties, in the new planned green climate-resilient communities, ought to be set as low as the equivalent of US $10 per month  -  and serve as guaranteed revenues for the state during the repayment period for all such generational levelling-up longterm loans. Surely this creative way to generate guaranteed state revenues is doable, Ghanafuor? No?

Answering Professor Kojo Yankah's latest concern about Ghana

"We Africans (Ghanaians) are piling up degrees upon degrees, which is great 👍🏿 Question is : why can’t we solve all our multifaceted development problems? What is wrong ? Are what we are learning and studying not beneficial to us?"

      -  Professor Kojo  Yankah  (Founder African University of Communications, Ghana)

With the greatest respect, in one's humble view, no society on the surface of the planet Earth can progress, when those who lack integrity dominate its system, oooo, Ghanafuor.

Ditto when good people sit on the fence and mind their own business - forgetting that the consequences of bad leadership eventually destroys society's moral fabric.  

Perhaps Ghana's tertiary institutions could make a difference in bringing about positive change -  by focusing on ensuring that their students understand the importance of  ethical behaviour in all aspects of their lives?

Just my two pesewas oooo - but then who am I, an uneducated old fool, to tell educated people who have acquired  a string of degrees, what will make a difference for our dear Mother Ghana, lol? Hmmmm,  ey3nsem piiii, oooo, Ghanafuor...

Finally, a little bit of creative-thinking: Instead of endless taxes and seeking an IMF bailout without any anti-corruption measures being put in place to protect the public purse,  why  don't we get this young Zimbabwean inventor to Ghana and partner him to help revive our bankrupt country's national economy:https://www.facebook.com/reel/489720039833829/?mibextid=eA6d3HrSeJoD5Dg0

How the IMF can help save Ghana from ruinous high-level corruption

There is no question that Ghana's hardworking and apolitical world-class solid-achiever-types, who make up its impressive middle-class demographic, now understand that far from being insulated from the effects of ruinous high-level corruption, because of their wealth, they are just as vulnerable to the debilitating effects of bad leadership, as are ordinary Ghanaians.

It is for that reason that prudence demands that middle-class Ghanaians ought to demand that before any debt rescheduling and cancellations take place, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), members of the Paris Club of Nations and China, must act in concert, to force certain changes, to drastically reduce the high-level corruption slowly destroying Ghana.

Chief amongst those anti-corruption measures, must be new legislation giving the Auditor General prosecutorial powers. That is a must if the big-thieves-in-high-places who dominate our system and are selfishly milking Mother Ghana dry, are to be checkmated.

Next up after that anti-corruption measure, must follow new legislation indemnifying all whistleblowers from prosecution - which also incentivises whistleblowing: by rewarding whistleblowers with 30 percent of recovered purloined public funds resulting from their exposure of nation-wrecking high-level corruption.

If those changes (amongst a host of other needed anti-corruption measures), aren't forced on Ghana's hard-of-hearing greed-filled ruling-elites, Ghana will not be able to achieve its full potential regardless of which of the two dominant political parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), happens to be in power, in Ghana, at any given point in time, going forward into the future. That is how the IMF can best help rescue Ghana from certain ruination. Yoooooooo...