The Leadership Of The CPP And PNC Must Initiate Talks With The PPP & GCPP

The leadership of the Convention People's Party (CPP), and the People's National Convention (PNC), deserve to be commended for putting the well-being of our nation, and the welfare of ordinary people, above personal ambition and party advantage - by opting for an Nkrumahist alliance for the 2016 elections.

Entering into an alliance-of-equals (in which each party retains its identity), with the view to eventually selecting a common 2016 presidential candidate for all the Nkrumahist parties, will demonstrate to ordinary people that a government of national unity, which oversees a meritocratic system in which the brightest and best amongst the Ghanaian people, are appointed to manage and oversee public-sector entities, irrespective of party affiliation and ethnic background, will be formed, when that Nkrumahist alliance's presidential candidate is elected president in 2016.

The task before the leadership of the CPP and PNC now, is to initiate talks with the leadership of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) and the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), to bring them into the alliance of Nkrumahist parties.

It is vital that Samia Yaabah Nkrumah display's the same tactical genius, which her late father, President Nkrumah,  had in such abundance, in dealing with the PPP's founder and leader, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom.

She must make a fresh start in her relationship with Nduom. They must both put the unpleasantness of past personal disagreements between them, behind them - for the sake of our nation and its hard-pressed people.

Strategically, it is Nduom who holds the key to an Nkrumahist alliance's victory, in the 2016 presidential election.

As a result of his record in creating wealth and jobs, he dwarfs both President Mahama, and the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, in terms of personal achievement.

With a radical agenda (including passing the right to information bill, making publicly publishing the assets of public officials and their spouses before and at the end of their tenures mandatory, abolishing personal income tax, making Ghana a nation with Africa's lowest corporate tax rate, changing the constitution to reserve half the seats in Parliament for women, as well as electing district assembly members and district chief executives), an Nduom-Samiah Nkrumah presidential ticket, can beat both President Mahama and Nana Addo Daquah Akufo-Addo in the 2016 presidential election.

Nduom is precisely the kind of honest and incorruptible world-class technocrat, who has abundant self-belief, and has consistently shown faith in the enterprise Ghana, over the years, by investing his own money in it, that today's young generation of Ghanaians want to lead Nkrumah's Ghana.

The narrative of his rise from humble beginnings to great wealth, through his own efforts, will resonate with millions across the nation - many of whom will identify with someone from a background similar to theirs: unlike the privileged backgrounds of President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo.

Above all, Nduom has the money and resources, which will enable the Nkrumahist alliance to show Ghanaians, the difference between politicians and political parties that are transparent about their sources of funding, and the opaquenes of the NDC/NPP duopoly that is completely dependant on the vested interests responsible for high-level corruption in our country, and the erosion of the moral fabric of Ghanaian society, for funding their election campaigns.

The leadership of the CPP and PNC must initiate talks with the PPP and GCPP, with a view to getting those two Nkrumahist parties to join the Nkrumahist alliance-of-equals to fight the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections - and they must move quickly to do so.

Who Else Does The NPP Owe Money To - And How Does It Intend To Repay Its Debts?

It is instructive that the national organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. John Boadu, was so uncomfortable when the issue of the indebtedness of the NPP to the Prudential Bank, was being discussed on Peace FM's Kokrokoo morning show, hosted by Nana Yaw Kesse, last Friday.

It was obvious that John Boadu did not want Ghanaians to know about his party's indebtedness to the Prudential Bank - as the sources of their party's funding are a top-secret-matter that the John Boadus would rather ordinary people did not take an interest in.

Clearly, if instead of giving blind support to political parties, ordinary Ghanaians took more of an interest in precisely how political parties are funded, perhaps it would eventually help rid our homeland Ghana of high-level corruption.

The opaqueness surrounding the funding of political parties in Ghana is totally unacceptable in this day and age. The Byzantine world of secret party funding is the mother and father of all corruption in Ghana. It is an issue civil society groups like #OccupyGhana ought to take up urgently.

And it is an indictment of the Ghanaian media - a large section of which,  instead of being society's watchdogs in such matters, act instead as guard-dogs for politicians and political parties - that a major political party can be indebted to a bank without any journalist questioning the propriety of banks lending money to political parties "to pay polling station agents" ( to quote the sly John Boadu). It is an intolerable situation.

(One hopes that a similar situation does not exist in the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) too - which has apparently paid a media consultant GHC100,000: as a result of which sundry groups (including farming associations) are busy making statements in the media backing the bank's management. The question is: precisely how many of those farmers have actually ever been given loans by the ADB? And why is President Mahama's government still reluctant to sack the ADB's current managing director and dissolve its board - for the bank's steady decline over the years, and for asset-stripping the bank, and selling its properties cheaply to themselves? One hopes that the National Democratic Congress is not indebted to the ADB. But I digress.)

It is typical of the politics of our country  that it now turns out that those politicians in the NPP, who made such capital out of the  indebtedness of President Mahama's brother,  Ibrahim Mahama, to the Merchant Bank, themselves belong to a political party that is indebted to the Prudential Bank - with interest on the principal piling up: and the party clearly in no hurry to clear the ballooning debt, because it is confident it will win power in 2016. That is amoral. A political party like that does not deserve to rule Ghana.

What hope is there for our nation when the largest opposition party, which many think will come and change Ghana for the better after the 2016 presidential election, is so casual about its debts to banks?

The question the more responsible sections of the Ghanaian media ought to ask is: who else is the NPP indebted to - and exactly how does it intend to find the money to repay those debts?

The NPP must make sure it repays its debt to the Prudential Bank, as soon as practicable. How can its leaders talk about ruling Ghana more responsibly - when their party refuses to repay its debts to banks?

That is amoral - and hypocritical. What do the Dr. Bawumias have to say about that outrage, one wonders? They must bow their heads in shame for their hypocrisy. Let them come and tell Ghanaians who else the NPP owes money to - and precisely how it intends to repay those debts.

Is Trying To Oust Paul Afoko And Kwabena Adjapong Akin To Cutting Off The NPP's Nose To Spite Its Face?

If the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) chairperson, Mr. Paul Afoko, and its general secretary, Mr. Kwabena Adjapong, were malleable individuals who could be easily manipulated, the current crisis in the party would never have occurred.

The opponents of Afoko and Adjapong in the NPP who attempted to oust them from their positions miscalculated badly.

Clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, those seeking to control the machinery of state in a Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo presidency, would never have struck, if they had had the slightest inkling that trying to oust Paul Afoko and Kwabena Adjapong would bring about a crisis of such magnitude - particularly one that threatens what they believed (to a man) until a few days ago was certain victory for the party's presidential candidate in the 2016 presidential election.

Now their dream appears to have been shattered. In addition to their latest error of judgment, in trying to oust Paul Afoko and Kwabena Adjapong, sabotaging the nation-building effort for political gain, in order to win power for the NPP, was never a wise move. How can anyone cause suffering on a massive scale amongst the citizenry and expect that Providence will allow him or her to win power in Ghana? How, daft.

The attempt to force the chairperson and general secretary of a party that claims to be a champion of individual liberties and a bastion of democracy, out of the positions they were freely elected to, is tantamount to cutting off the party's nose to spite its face.

Those behind it must not escape censure. It is abominable and unpardonable that  they were callous enough to exploit a heinous crime that resulted in the murder of Alhaji Adams Mahama (may whose soul rest in peace) to achieve the end they have sought since Paul Afoko and Kwabena Adjapong were elected to their respective positions.

It is time that small cabal of insufferable individuals and bad-faith politicians, who think that they have a divine right to rule Ghana, and therefore resort to Machiavellian tactics at every turn with impunity, whenever they do not have their way - including losing elections - were themselves thrown out of the NPP.

Where is tolerance in all this? Democracy is not just about institutions of state and their relationships with each other, as defined by constitutions. It is also a way of life based on tolerance, is it not?

Alas, one gets the unfortunate impression that there are far too many intolerant individuals in the NPP of today. Pity.

As an old  wag I know put it: "Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo is a good man who is blessed with many brilliant family members. His curse is that a few of his blood relatives think that they were born to rule Ghana - and therefore see his quest for the presidency as a family enterprise that will make that happen for them: which they must therefore control."

Is that the elephant in the room that no one in the NPP is willing to talk about openly, one wonders?

If the old wag is right in what he says about Nana Addo's extended family clan, then the aforesaid few blood-relatives of Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo and their allies in the party, must not be allowed to continue causing confusion in the NPP from the shadows.

What they and their party allies seek to do, in trying to engineer the ouster of Paul Afoko and Kwabena Adjapong, by "remote control", amounts to cutting off the party's nose to spite its face. It is the height of madness.

The top echelons of the NPP would be far better off remaining united - with the same national executive council team that was  in place before the passing away of Alhaji Adams Mahama being kept in office: and seeing out their individual mandates. The NPP must not cut off its nose to spite its face.

The Yearning For A New Ghana Must Inspire Nkrumah's Followers

It is obvious that many ordinary people in our country are yearning for a new Ghana. They are fed up with the corruption-riddled dog-eat-dog society created by the policies of governments formed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Perhaps in the fullness of time, political observers in Ghana, will come to realise that sea-change occurred in Ghanaian politics, towards the end of President Mahama's tenure - with the emergence of apolitical pressure groups like #OccupyGhana and the use of social media platforms to organise public demonstrations: such as the recent #DumsorMustStop vigil.

It is obvious that many mainstream politicians (and their parties) have failed to recognise  that change of a very fundamental nature is actually occurring in Ghanaian society - with many ordinary citizens, including middle-class professionals, no longer willing to tolerate the negativity of the politics-of-equalisation: and the corruption and incompetence it is used to justify.

Parliament recently considered the Conduct of Public Officers Bill - but the Speaker had to adjourn the debate: for the bill to be sent back to the relevant parliamentary committee to take a second look at the monetary threshold at which gifts will have to be declared by public office holders.

It is instructive that the only politician who publicly published his filed tax returns, and publicly disclosed the sources of funding for the political party he founded (the Progressive People's Party), during the campaign for the 2012 presidential election,  Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, in commenting on the debate in Parliament  on the Conduct of Public Office Holders Bill,  insisted that there should be no threshold ("not even one pesewa") put on the value of gifts that will trigger their disclosure by public office holders.

Nduom's sense of outrage that parliamentarians were seeking to put a threshold on the cash value at which the disclosure of gifts to public office holders  (who he thinks should publicly publish their assets in any case), has to be made, sums up the mood of the nation perfectly.

Clearly, most Ghanaians want their nation to be a well-run and prosperous society, with a government made up of honest, competent and world-class individuals.

And they want to live in a nation in which all who break the law, rich and poor alike, are prosecuted and jailed for their crimes.

For many people it is intolerable that those engaged in petty crime invariably end up in jail, whiles the white-collar criminals who steal huge sums of taxpayers' money, almost always get away with their crimes. Above all, Ghanaians want  to rid their nation of high-level corruption.

That is why many were scandalised that Alfred Agbesi Woyome was not found guilty of defrauding Ghana and jailed - but instead was asked to refund the GHC51millions unlawfully paid out to him as judgement debt without interest.

Ghanaians yearn for a leader who can undertake the kind of rapid development that took place under President Nkrumah - which benefitted ordinary people: who had access to well-designed, well-built  and affordable accommodation, free healthcare and free education from primary to tertiary level, and jobs galore from import-substitution-industrialisation.

That yearning for change (and desire for the nation to move in a completely new direction) that is reverberating across our homeland Ghana, should inspire Nkrumah's followers to create a coalition-of-equals: in which each of the Nkrumahist parties maintains its identity, but joins an alliance that selects a common candidate to stand for president in the 2016 presidential election.

A Paa Kwesi Nduom-Samia Yaabah Nkrumah presidential ticket would be  a formidable one - and attract the votes of the many young people yearning for a new Ghana.

Like President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Nduom should serve one term as president  - and hand over the baton of leadership to the next generation, under a President Samia Yaabah Nkrumah: who will lead the transformation of Ghana into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.

Ghana needs a fresh start - as a united and disciplined polity. That is the yearning of millions of young people across the nation. That should inspire today's followers of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Should Political Parties In Ghana Be Encouraged To Help Their Foot-Soldiers To Become Self-Employed?

It is such a pity that some politicians are seeking to turn an idea that has the potential to empower the foot-soldiers of political parties in Ghana financially into a political football.

In a nation with high youth unemployment figures, any political party wise enough to create employment opportunities for its foot-soldiers, ought to be encouraged to do so.

It will help cut down the numbers of unemployed young people - particularly in rural Ghana.

That will lead to a reduction in unlawful activities such as illegal logging and illegal gold mining - which result in the pollution of streams and rivers across Ghana, and the degradation of the natural environment, in vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has made a good move in setting up a committee to help its supporters to either find work or become self-employed.

What is needed is a national conversation on how it can be done ethically and transparently.

Surely, any idea that will help young unemployed Ghanaians either find employment or become self-employed ought to be welcomed - regardless of  where the idea emanates from: and as long as it is done in transparent fashion and within the law?

Alas, such is the toxic nature of the rivalry between the ruling NDC, and the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that even an idea that actually has the potential to free political parties from the clutches of the vested interests that corrupt our system - and to which both the NDC and NPP are beholden for most of their funding - has been turned into a political football. Pity.

If tens of thousands of party foot-soldiers who are gainfully employed,  or run their own businesses, can support political parties in Ghana financially with small amounts of cash contributions, will that not lessen the dependence of political parties on the vested interests that want the corrupt system that is slowly destroying our nation to remain in place - because it enriches them so?

The less party foot-soldiers  are dependent financially on individual  politicians and the political parties they support, the better  it will be for the long-term future of Ghanaian democracy. Surely, that is how the idea ought to be viewed?

US President Obama did not have to depend on large cash contributions from big corporations to raise money to campaign for the two presidential elections he won.

It will be good for Mother Ghana if that were the case here too - and those running for president did not also have to depend on big businesses for cash donations to run their election campaigns.

The NPP would be wise to see the NDC's idea as one that it could also adopt to widen the pool of potential donors for its election campaigns - and to enable it free itself from the grip of the vested interests it currently feels obliged to rely on.

It is that reliance on vested interests that makes both the NDC and the NPP opaque entities unwilling to reveal their sources of funding publicly - and has turned our system into a Byzantine one full of corrupt officials.

Politicians from across the spectrum must  find a way to make the idea work for all political parties in Ghana - instead of seeking to  make political capital out of it. All the political parties in Ghana ought to be encouraged to help their foot-soldiers to become self-employed or find employment.

There is nothing wrong with that in the real world. Politicians and political parties have a right to help their own supporters from time to time whenever necessary. The NDC must not allow itself to browbeaten into shelving the idea. The hypocrisy of some of those criticising the idea is nauseating.

If truth be told, individual NPP politicians, and the party itself, already do so for some of the NPP's own supporters too - and that is as it should be.

All the other political parties in Ghana must be encouraged to do so too - if they are not already doing so.

In the long-term it will end up making a pool of well-off potential volunteers available for all the political parties in Ghana to tap into during election campaigns. That is far better than relying on impecunious party foot-soldiers always begging for cash from politicians and political parties. That breeds corruption, alas.

The Ghanaian Media Ought To Make Ghanaians Understand Why Private Investors Are Needed In The Power Sector - If Power Outages Are To Become A Thing Of The Past

In the situation we are currently facing, it is vital that those in government who talk about the need for Ghanaians to pay realistic tariffs for electricity, always make the point that since it is private investors in the power sector  that will provide the power Ghana needs in the medium to long term, a tariff regime that is attractive to private investors, is definitely necessary.

To talk about realistic electricity tariffs without mentioning its pull-factor for private investors in the power sector is suicidal - in an overtaxed nation whose long-suffering people have clearly had enough of having to make endless sacrifices that yield no long-term benefits.

The question then is: how much should Ghanaians expect to pay for electricity if tariffs that will make Ghana attractive for private power producers are set?

Perhaps the Energy Commission should develop charts showing Ghanaians how much different types of randomly selected properties are paying today for electricity, and how much those same properties will have to pay (all things being equal) if tariffs that are attractive to private sector power generating companies,  are set.

 A conversion chart to enable all electricity consumers do same would be helpful and appreciated nationwide.

Such a move by the Energy Commission would help all stakeholders adjust psychologically to a future of realistic tariffs that will enable Ghanaians to enjoy reliable round-the-clock electricity supply.

The more responsible sections of the media in Ghana, ought to see educating Ghanaians about the need for setting realistic tariffs that will attract private-sector power-generating companies to Ghana, as an important national-interest-issue that they must take up - as their contribution to the nation-building effort.

The plain truth, is that in the Ghana of today, no government can provide the public-sector power-generating companies with the money they need to build and operate more thermal power generating plants.

That is why we must make Ghana an attractive place for independent power producers to invest in. The Ghanaian-Chinese joint-venture,  Sunon-Asogli Power  Company (Ghana) Limited, should be the partnership model for all such private power investors.

Only a tariff regime that will enable independent power producers to make reasonable  profits will bring them to our shores in numbers sufficient to enable Ghanaians enjoy round-the-clock  electricity supply - and for their nation to become a net exporter of electricity to the rest of west Africa.

That is a reality we cannot and must not run away from - if we want the enterprise Ghana to prosper.

It is for that reason that patriotic and discerning Ghanaians must not allow the power crisis to be turned into a political football by irresponsible politicians. Civil society initiatives like the #DumsorMustStop campaign ought to be supported to ensure that that does not happen.

The more responsible sections of the media in Ghana have a moral obligation to make Ghanaians understand the painful reality that tariffs must go up in order to attract more private power producers - and  that that is the only way power outages in Ghana will become a thing of the past in the medium to long term.

Ghana's Minister For Power Must Form Alliances With Dumsor Critics

It would help our present crop of politicians a great deal if they  saw their critics as potential allies - instead of viewing them with suspicion: and constantly berating those who criticise them.

Those in power now need to understand the potential the power crisis has to destabilise our country - and give measured and reasonable responses to those who complain about its effect on the national economy and on society generally.

Far better to have disenchanted citizens criticising their country's rulers openly, and  organising peaceful public  demonstrations in Ghana to vent their frustrations over power outages, than resorting to the kind of violence that led to the overthrow of the Blaise Campoares, the Maummar  Gaddafis and the Hosni Mubaraks.

Public demonstrations are a safety valve to ease the pressures that build up from time to time  in democracies due to public anger over unpopular policies. Politicians in Ghana need to understand that - and find creative ways to deal with disaffected sections of society at such times.

Electricity underpins modern civilisation. Without it modern life as we know it will grind to a halt. Indeed modern life cannot be sustained without round-the-clock electricity supply. That should be a no-brainer for our political class.

(That is why some of us urge the minister for power to ask his Bahamian counterpart to let him have copies of the proposals submitted over the years by companies wanting to enter the Bahamian power sector. Some of those companies  could make a huge difference to Ghana's power sector if they were invited here to partner with  Ghanaian companies. But I digress.)

The minister for power must find  time to meet with the organisers of the #DumsorMustStop campaign. Their impact on the nation should not be underestimated.

It would be an expensive folly on the part of President Mahama's administration were it to be dismissive of the impact of the #DumsorMustStop campaign on society generally.

The question is: why does the minister for power not  ask his senior officials to meet with, and explain to the #DumsorMustStop campaign organisers, how a lack of investment in the power sector over the decades - because it was not attractive to private investors - has led to our present predicament?

The organisers of the #DumsorMustStop campaign could play a critical role in preventing the power crisis from being turned into a political football by cynical scorched-earth politicians desperate to get to power by any means necessary.

Instead of scorning them, President Mahama's government would be wise to  enlist the help of the #DumsorMustStop campaign's organisers - in educating the public about the need to conserve electricity:  and for Ghanaians to accept that those who invest in power plants need to make profits that enable them pay back the loans they take to build power plants here.

For their part, honest and law-abiding Ghanaians, should not  expect to see the power situation improving any time soon, if those who steal electricity with impunity continue to do so.  That is why individuals and businesses that steal electricity ought to be reported to the relevant authorities.

Neither should honest and law-abiding citizens expect the power situation to improve if most Ghanaians continue to resist paying realistic tariffs. Above all, we all need to revise our notes - and see the situation for what it actually is: a collective failing we should all accept blame for.

If consumers are careful in their usage of electricity, they will never have large monthly bills to pay, no matter how high tariffs get. That is a fact. We waste electricity needlessly in Ghana, if truth be told.

We can have a vibrant power sector that provides stable and reliable electricity all year round, only if the power companies are profitable businesses. There is no disputing that, either.

We must all accept that a tariff regime that ensures a fair return-on-investment is vital if we are to attract investors to build power plants in Ghana.

That is a message the #DumsorMustStop campaign organisers can take across Ghana - if the government accepts them as allies in sensitising Ghanaians on what needs to be done to provide Ghana with reliable electricity supply all year round.

The minister for power must form alliances with his critics - and get them to see the power crisis from the right perspective: a problem that can only be solved if power companies can make decent profits after investing in Ghana.

Kwesi Brenyah, Dua Eni Amanehunu!

If the size of the throngs of people who assemble to pay homage to the memory of an individual who has just  passed away, is a measure of the standing in society of that individual whiles alive, then judging by the masses that attended the tradirional Ghanaian ceremony to commemorate the first week after the death of the Despite Media Group's general manager, then the late Mr. Kwesi Brenyah was indeed a giant amongst men, in Ghana.

That traditional ceremony held a week after a death to deliberate on and choose  a burial date for the  deceased that is part of Ghanaian culture, which was held at East Legon's  Lizzie sports complex last Sunday, was indeed one fit for a king. The family settled on 26-28 June, 2016, for the funeral and burial of Mr. Kwesi Brenyah.

The traditional Ghanaian ceremony to mark the first week after the demise of Mr. Brenyah, was held at the Lizzie sports complex, and showed the power and influence, of the Despite Media Group.

Virtually everybody who is someone in Ghana came to pay their respects to Mr. Brenyah, and commiserate with owners and employees of the company he helped build into such a potent force in the Ghanaian media world.

In a sense, the happy family atmosphere that prevails amongst the staff of the Despite Media Group - which is so palpable on the airwaves of the company's  television and radio stations - is a reflection of the character of Mr. Kwesi Brenyah.

That positive company culture within the Despite Media Group evolved because Mr. Brenyah was a soft-spoken gentleman who had a welcoming and all-embracing nature. His gentle nature was the ethos that underpinned his management style.

That family atmosphere amongst the staff of the company,  is a reflection of  the loyalty inspired amongst the company's staff by the owners of the Despite Group of Companies  - Mr. Osei Kwame Despite and and his brother Mr. Ernest Ofori Sarpong.

That Osei Kwame Despite has captured the imagination of Ghanaians is beyond dispute.

Indeed many who came to the Lizzie sports complex last Sunday, came in solidarity with Osei Kwame Despite  and his younger brother Ernest Ofori Sarpong  - to commiserate with them on the loss of a trusted right-hand man: who was with them from the very early days of their business lives.

The story of Osei Kwame Despite's rise from humble beginings - trading from a table-top, to immense wealth owning and running a flourishing conglomerate, which  aside from the multimedia company also includes companies ranging from those producing iodated salt to powdered fufu and powdered milk chocolate -  is one that resonates with millions of hardworking Ghanaians: who see him as a role model whose example they can also emulate.

The well-organised and well-attended traditional ceremony held following the death of Mr. Kwesi Brenyah was a portrayal of  the capabilities of a part of Ghana that is world-class and actually works - despite the many challenges it faces.

Many hardworking and prosperous individuals from the private-sector who have built solid  and successful businesses of their own came in their expensive vehicles to the privately-owned (by the former French footballl star Marcels Dessailley) Lizzie sports complex to commiserate with Mr Brenyah's  family and pay their respects to the memory of a hardworking man who was full of humility.

Kwesi Brenyah played an important part in building a Ghanaian company that has a well-deserved reputation for being a business underpinned by corporate good governance principles that is owned by hardworking and honest individuals  who see giving back to society - by supporting the needy and disadvanted in Ghana - as a moral obligation.

He will forever be remembered in the annals of the history of the Despite Media Group - some of the shares of which one hopes Osei Kwame Despite will float on the alternative market of the Ghana Stock Exchange as a response to the emerging challenges on the media landscape in Ghana: with some of the shares going to staff and management of the company (with dividends always being shared amongst staff on its payroll).

That will be a fitting memorial to Kwesi Brenyah's long and honest stewardship. Hopefully, his wife and children will be allocated his complement of the company's shares - should that idea ever be taken up by Osei Kwame  Despite.

Our hearts and prayers go out to Kwesi Brenyah's wife, children and members of his extended family clan. He was a good and decent man who impacted the lives of many positively. May his soul rest in peace. Kwesi Brenyah, demerifa dua - dua eni amanehunu!

To The Organisers Of The #DumsorMustStop Vigil

Dear #DumsorMustStop vigil organisers,

I shall go straight to the point. After keeping your forthcoming nightly vigil, one hopes that you will be inspired by President Kennedy's advice to young Americans - whom he admonished not to ask what their country could do for them, but to rather search their souls' and  ask themselves what they could do for their country (to paraphrase the late US president).

Speaking as a cantankerous old fogey, most of whose generation's greed and dishonesty  ended up destroying the moral fabric of our dear nation, my humble advice to you, is that as creative types, there is a lot you can use your imagination to do, to help change our country for the better.

To start with, request that President Mahama's government makes the entire renewable energy sector's value-chain tax free - so that roof-top solar power systems will become affordable for many ordinary Ghanaians.

You can, for example, also contact the UK organisation, Practical Action - and suggest to them that they could build micro and mini hydropower plants in Ghana on a build-operate-and-transfer basis, in partnership with reputable Ghanaian companies, such as Genelec Holdings Limited.

The feed-in tariff regime in Ghana, is quite generous to independent renewable power companies, one gathers.

Solar power offers a doable short-term off-grid solution - whiles we wait for the minimum two-years it will probably take to actually resolve the power crisis in Ghana permanently.

And because micro and mini hydropower plants use the kinetic energy of the flow of rivers and streams to produce electricity, there is no need to build super-expensive dams for power generation in their case. Perfect.

Perhaps your two  industry associations - for  film and music - could also partner Practical Action: and fund some of your own film and musical projects from your share of the profits from such a renewable energy joint-venture? Why don't you speak to the British high commissioner to Ghana, about this?

(Contact for Practical Action - Email: enquiries@practical action.org.uk. Tel: +441926634400.)

You could also encourage President Mahama's government to invite SolarCity of the US, and M-Kopa of Kenya, to Ghana - with a view to getting them to replicate their roof-top solar power business models here, with Ghanaian partners.

You should also ask President Mahama's administration to ask the government of the Bahamas to give them copies of the proposals for providing power to that nation, which it received from a number of international consortia. The Caribbean Power Company, for instance,  submitted a proposal to the Bahamian government.

And some of those consortia included US companies willing to fund the provision of power barges themselves and also fund the restructuring of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, the Bahamian equivalent of our Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). SGI Global Holdings is one such consortium.

They were also willing to sell the power generated by the barges to the Bahamian government, for relatively better-value-for-money sums per kilowatt-hour than we will be paying for the electricity from the Karpowership Company of Ghana, set up by Karedeniz Holdings for their Ghanaian operations. The question is: why the fixation with Karadeniz Holdings?

Some  of us have contacted our hard-of-hearing leaders with this information to offer it to them free of charge  - but as usual it also fell on deaf ears. Pity. Perhaps they will listen to important stars like you, however. One hopes so for Mother Ghana's sake.

If truth be told, dumsor is a collective failure, on the part of all Ghanaians.

For example, millions of Ghanaians failed to join those of us who advised our New Patriotic Party (NPP) rulers at the time, not to go ahead with building the Bui dam and its hydropower plant.

It was our humble view that  as a result of the impact of global climate change on wheather patterns here, the proposed Bui hydropower plant would never be able to produce enough power - because of low water levels the dam would constantly have to grapple with: as a  result of  frequent and prolonged drought periods we would be experiencing in an era of global warming.

The money used to build the Bui hydropower plant could have built a thermal plant instead. All our pleas to the then government, made through our writing, fell on deaf ears, alas. Pity.

And neither did many Ghanaians join those of us who criticised the then government for allowing some of the family members and friends of President Kufuor to engage in egregious profiteering at the expense of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) - in the contracts to supply the ECG with meters that were handed out to them like confetti.

That rip-off did not help improve the company culture of the ECG - as it encouraged the company's staff members to also engage in rip-off schemes of their own: to milk the company dry.

And as we speak, to date, ECG staff rip-off schemes still persist in the company. What are our secret services for, one wonders? Their inaction has meant that today we have dumsor to contend with. Corruption inside the ECG and other public-sector power industry entities has been a contributory factor to the power crisis.

(That is why we must show the National Democratic Congress/New Patriotic Party duopoly the red card in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. Voting for a Paa Kwesi Nduom-Samiah Yaabah Nkrumah ticket is what will rescue Ghana from the doldrums in 2016. But I digress.)

How many Ghanaians report those who steal electricity, for example, I ask? Only heaven knows how many megawatts of lost electricity and revenues that that illegal activity amounts to. We must have a national conversation about this.

Perhaps you could start a media campaign to get Ghanaians to report individuals and companies that steal electricity around the country? Ditto mount a media campaign for energy conservation in homes and sundry buildings that house private businesses and public organisations countrywide?

Finally, not too long ago, it was reported that a Ghanaian living in the US, Sigismund Segbefia, had duped a South Korean steel manufacturer, Dosko  Limited, which was apparently looking to diversify its business, by branching out into the entertainment industry, of US$375,000 - by leading them to think that he could arrange for the US rapper Pharrel, to stage a concert in South Korea.

We must find a way for our nation  to apologise to Dosko Limited's CEO, Mr. Sungdae Cho, and his son David Cho, for Sigismund Segbefia's abominable and unspeakable behaviour - and at the same time seize the opportunity to develop a mutually beneficial relationship between Ghanaian musicians and Dosko Limited.

Why do you not approach the minister of tourism and the creative arts - and suggest that she  asks the South Korean ambassador to Ghana to invite Dosko's executives to Ghana, to meet with Ghanaian musicians:  with a view to collaborating with them to stage concerts in South Korea?

They could wow South Korea's younger generation with their hiplife  dance music - and make azonto popular in that country too.

That would create a new revenue stream for some Ghanaian musicians, would it not  - and help improve our country's balance of payments position? Ditto if Ghanaian filmmakers collaborated with their Diasporan counterparts in the UK, US and  EU? The UK's Abbeam Productions comes readily to mind.

Millions of ordinary people in Ghana are one with you in your #DumsorMustStop campaign. You must take it to another level after the vigil - by campaigning for an end to the theft of electricity: and for Ghanaians to learn to conserve electricity, above all.

Do ignore those shallow-minded and sychophantic types that heap abuse on you for deciding to get off the fence, and pressurise the government into fixing the dumsor destroying businesses and lives in Ghana.

Ghanaians thank all of you for your courageous stand. Peace and blessings to all of you. You are genuine patriots (as far as one can tell, that is).

Good luck with the vigil. #DumsorMustStop!

Yours in the service of Mother Ghana,

Kofi.

Ordinary Ghanaians Are Fed Up With The Greed Of Corrupt Public Officials - Which Is Why President Mahama's Government Must Probe ADB Now

Reading news reports about the recent upheavals in the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), one could not help wondering why the bank's staff members - who have been agitating for the removal of the current managing director, and dissolution of the bank's board of directors - don't seize the opportunity offered by the proposed floatation of part of the ADB's shares on the stock market: and counter that proposal with a buyout proposal of their own (in partnership with sections of organised labour) to the government.

They could leverage their pensions for that purpose, could they not - if they are passionate and feel  so strongly about the ADB's well-being and future? Much better striving to own the bank themselves - and prospering  from the hard work they put in to securing  its future.

One  also wonders why the ADB's managing director, Mr. Stephen Kpordzih, is bent on asset-stripping the bank - if that particular accusation by the bank's staff members is true, that is. It appears that on all counts he fails the if-it-were-your-own-business-would-you-proceed-like-that test miserably.

If the managing director of any bank in the UK, sold its headquarters building for a piddling sum far below its real value, and then went on to give out valuable land belonging to the bank to a developer to put up a building on, for the sole purpose of renting it  out to that selfsame bank for a million pounds a month, to serve as its new head office building, he or she would be fired from the position of managing director, by the board of directors, and the case handed over to the police to investigate.

And prosecution would  follow swiftly if a case of negligence of fiduciary duty occassioned by conflict of interest was established against the said managing director - and if found guilty, jailed and barred from being a company director, for life.

Mr. Kpordzih must be prevailed upon by the government of President Mahama to tell the nation who the developer who was given the bank's land to build on and rent that same new building to the bank to serve as its head office is - and divulge the terms under which the land was given out.

It is also important to establish that Mr. Kpordzih did not benefit personally from that particular deal.

He must also be made to produce a list of all those who have bought properties belonging to the ADB since he assumed office as managing director - and precisely how  much  they each paid for those properties: and where exactly they are located.

That list must include the name of the Ghanaian company to which the headquarters building of the ADB along the Independence Avenue was 'sold', but which apparently failed to pay for the building - for which reason the sale will now no longer go ahead. Apparently.

Hopefully, the aforementioned property deals were all ethical transactions, and devoid of any conflict of interest undertones. If the management of public-sector entities are going to sell state assets entrusted to them, at least let them get the actual market values, for such asset disposals.

Incidentally, the ADB must also publish the names of all individuals and entities on its unrecoverable assets list - and find a reputable specialist debt recovery company to collect those oustanding debts owed it by those it provided loans to in the past.

It must take a leaf from the book of the UT Bank, in that regard. Aggression is the name of the game where recovering money from defaulters is concerned. If it has to take a haircut in paying a loan recovery company to collect money owed it, that is far better than letting debtors get away with not paying back loans.

It is outrageous that the management of state-owned  companies in Ghana can engage in asset-stripping  - and have the gall to dispose off valuable assets of the companies they have been entrusted with by government: which no private-sector entity would ever contemplate selling off if they owned them.

The government must stop the management of state-owned  entities from renting luxury office and residential accommodation for the companies they run - and ban them from paying out the Ghana cedi equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars as rent advance to private landlords.

 In the most egregious cases, politically well-connected landlords have been known to simply use the rent advance paid them by state-owned  entities, to quickly build and rent properties to those very same state-owned  entities paying them huge  sums, as rent advance.

Surely, paying rent advance for a non-existent building amounts to fraud, does it not? Does it not amount to providing  a private developer with a grant to put up a building - and then paying that same property developer astronomical sums as rent advance at regular intervals for years to come? Some, wheeze.

Ordinary Ghanaians are sick and tired of the greed of corrupt and selfish public officials that is impoverishing our homeland Ghana.

It is monstrous and intolerable that publicly-owned entities in Ghana that are financially challenged, provide compensation packages and perks to their senior management,  which enable them to live like Arabian oil sheiks - in a nation in which millions struggle daily to make ends meet.

Yet, today, even the genuine article in the Middle East now bows to austere times - occassioned by low global oil prices - and watch their spending carefully. In an era when even Arab oil Sheiks have become frugal, why tolerate reckless spending, by state-owned  entities?

This is not a matter for mediation between parties by a government minister. If the government of President Mahama does not want to have yet another major scandal on its hands, it must put Mr. Stephen Kpordzih's stewardship of the ADB, thus far, under the microscope.

And if the government wants any probe into the affairs of the ADB, under Mr. Kpordzih's leadership to be credible, he must be made to step aside. Now. Not tomorrow.

If he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, using the ADB as a vehicle to increase his own net worth, he must be exposed and prosecuted.

If he steps aside now, he can be reinstated if the charges against him are proven to be false. And he can then also  sue all  those whom it would have turned out have slandered him - if he so desires. Then it will be case closed for all involved in this shabby affair.

Ghanaians are indeed thoroughly fed up with the unparalleled greed of selfish and corrupt public officials, and their crooked private-sector collaborators - who gang up to rip-off Mother Ghana. President Mahama's government must probe the ADB, now.

Why Paa Kwesi Nduom Will Be The Best Candidate To Elect As President Of Ghana In 2016

There are moments in the histories of all peoples, when the critical interventions of particular individuals,  in their nations' affairs, changes the destinies of those countries.

This truism is something that today's younger generation of Ghanaians need to reflect on as the 2016 presidential  election approaches.

They must make a choice that will ensure a better future for all Ghanaians - in that all-important election that will be a defining moment in our history.

It is time younger generation Ghanaians embraced a new kind of politics, based on what will improve the well-being of our nation, and promote the welfare of all its people.

Young Ghanaians must reject the old-fashioned Kokofu-football-politricks - the sole aim of which is the  enrichment of a powerful, selfish and greedy few.

Perhaps they ought to take their inspiration from a similar moment in the history of the  Gold Coast - when prominent businessman George Alfred Grant felt that the country was going downhill and needed rescuing.

The history of the Gold Coast would have been totally different, if George Alfred Grant had not been born when he was, and if he had not become an incredibly wealthy and successful timber merchant.

Grant had the money - and was prepared to use it to help free his people from colonial bondage.

Indeed, so successful was the timber export business of Paa Grant, as he was popularly known, that his company, George Grant and Company Limited,  opened offices in London, Liverpool and Hamburg, between 1920 and 1922.

He bought a German minesweeper that he had converted into a freighter that traded along the coast of the Gold Coast - its itinerary included stops at Half-Assini, Axim, Sekondi and Cape Coast . It was crewed by German and English sailors.

He chartered ships to export his logs to timber companies that he dealt with in the UK, Europe and the US.

So, more than most, amongst his contemporaries, he clearly understood how the Gold Coast was being literally drained of its wealth - as timber, gold, bauxite, manganese, diamonds etc, etc. were exported from the Gold Coast by the shipload to the UK, Europe and America, by British and European companies.

Paa Grant knew that in order to prosper the people of the Gold Coast had to rid themselves of the yoke of colonialism - so that the wealth that was being shipped out of the country would remain here: and be used instead  to develop the country for the benefit of all its people.

To achieve that end, he decided to use his considerable wealth to fund the fight for independence for the Gold Coast, from the British occupiers of our country. The idea for establishing the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was his - and all its funding came from him.

 The £100 sent to Kwame Nkrumah to pay for his passage from the UK back to the Gold Coast to become the UGCC's general secretary was from Paa Grant - and for the first few months after his arrival home it was in Grant's Sekondi house that Nkrumah stayed.

Today, we have also reached a point in our post-independence history, when in order to prosper as a people, we must rid our nation of the baleful influence of the vested interests, which corrupt Ghanaian politicians and public officials.

For the vested interests that dominate our country from the shadows, it is important that Ghana continues to remain a Byzantine developing nation,  in which corruption is endemic - because they prosper mightily from the maintenance of our corrupt and opaque system.

Alas, as currently structured, both of the two main political parties in Ghana that dominate our nation's politics, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), are beholden to those selfsame vested interests that prosper from our corrupt system - and want it kept in place by hook or by crook for that reason.

An egregious example is the ferociousness and tenacity of the destination inspection companies - which are siphoning off billions of Ghana cedis in taxes annually that could be used to develop Ghana: and all of which maintain close links with bigwigs in both major  parties.

Yet, the work they are paid obscene amounts to do at Ghana's ports and other entry points, could easily be transferred to the Customs, Excise and Preventative Service (CEPS) of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) - and done efficiently by  CEPS officials.

Unless and until the NDC and NPP undergo reforms that will make them transparent political parties that publicly publish all their sources of funding, and whose constitutions make it mandatory for all their elected officials  to publicly publish their  assets, and those of their spouses, when their parties win power and form  governments,  Ghanaians must reject both of them at the polls in 2016.

We cannot have the leaders of political parties, which are in bed with the very vested interests whose unparalleled greed is ruining our nation, ruling our homeland Ghana at this stage of our history.

Measured by that yardstick, the Progressive People's Party's (PPP) founder,  Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, would be the most suitable leader for Ghanaians to elect as president in 2016.

It will be a national tragedy for the younger generation if that does not happen - for their country would have missed the only opportunity open to it thus far, since Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966, to free itself from the iron-grip of the vested interests holding it back, and be in a position to move forward once again.

Nduom is the only politician in Ghana today, who has the moral authority to stand up to the powerful few, whose greedy ambitions is slowly destroying the moral fabric of Ghanaian society - by the example he set (by being transparent about his personal finances and that of his party) during the campaign for the 2012 presidential election.

As things currently stand, it is only Nduom who can rid Ghana of the malevolence of the vested interests, which are sucking the very lifeblood out of our nation - because he and his  party  do not depend on the ill-gotten wealth of vested interests in Ghana to survive.

Like Paa Grant of blessed memory, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom is using his considerable wealth to pursue a radical agenda, which will make Ghanaian businesses really benefit from our expanding national economy.

One doubts very much if any foreign company will be able to win a contract in Ghana without a Ghanaian partner under an Nduom presidency. It is such investment policies that have empowered China's private sector - and will help grow Ghana's private-sector too.

And it is Ghanaian businesses, large and small, which will create the wealth that will enable our country to be transformed, into an African equivalent, of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.

In the situation we currently find ourselves, as a people, Ghana actually needs a leader who knows how to create wealth and jobs - and understands clearly how the governance architecture of  an enabling environment (low-taxes, low interest rates, business-friendly policies and pro-business initiatives, etc., etc.) for wealth-creation should be structured: practically and theoretically.

Younger generation Ghanaians must not gamble with their collective future - by listening to the beguiling promises of those political parties and politicians who are in bed with the very vested interests draining our nation of its wealth.

With the best will in the world - and decent individuals though they both are - neither the ruling NDC's President John Dramani Mahama, nor the opposition NPP's Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, can rid Ghana of the vested interests destroying Ghana. Not when their two parties are beholden to those selfsame vested interests.

For that reason, in the 2016 presidential election, Ghana's future will be best served, if Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom is elected president of the Republic of Ghana. He has a radical agenda to transform Ghana.

A vote for Nduom, for example, is a vote to make grassroots people control their own destinies at the district level - by electing their own district chief executives (DCE).

Having began his career in politics at the district level,  by becoming an assemblyman, Nduom knows why electing DCEs is so important for development at the grassroots level, from a practical standpoint.

That is why he is committed to the passage of legislation to make the election of DCEs possible when he becomes president -  a move that will deepen the roots of Ghanaian democracy yet further.

Ghana definitely needs an honest leader who is totally open about his own health status at all material times, is transparent about his private fortune, and is also transparent about the sources of his party's funding. Only such a Ghanaian political  leader can remain incorruptible whiles in office.

Above all, amongst all the leading politicians vying for the presidency in 2016, it is only an Nduom presidency that will secure the future of Ghanaian business - which will provide the wealth to transform Ghana into a prosperous society: for the benefit of all its people.

As a self-made man, who built a fortune from clever strategising and hard work, he knows exactly what policies will benefit Ghanaian businesses: and intends to use the power of the Ghanaian nation-state for precisely that purpose.

In a nation with unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment (and the attendant dangers to society that that  entails), and in which the ignorance of politicians is resulting in policies that are killing businesses in droves, his business acumen and ability to create meaningful jobs, above all, are two justifiable reasons why Ghanaians will be better off electing Paa Kwesi Nduom as president in 2016.

Finally, unlike his two main opponents, President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo,  Nduom does not come from a privileged background - and knows what it is actually  like to have to struggle in life. That will enable him to empathise with the plight of the disadvantaged in Ghanaian society -  and motivate him to create opportunities for them to lift themselves out of poverty:  by their own bootstraps. Perfect.

Clued-on younger generation Ghanaians would be wise to volunteer to help elect Paa Kwesi Nduom as president of Ghana in 2016. He will secure Ghana's future - and their own individual futures too: both good enough reasons to vote for Nduom in the 2016 presidential election.

Could Ghana Present A Special Gift To Humankind On Earth Day, 22nd April, 2016?

Yesterday, 22 April, 2015, was Earth Day. It is instructive that the day's significance was mostly ignored by the Ghanaian media - and lost on society generally. In the main, as a people, we have looked on as our natural heritage has been trashed,  and steadily eroded.

This lack of interest in protecting the natural environment - particularly from the greed of ruthless individuals, and rapacious businesses engaged in destructive and unsustainable activities such as illegal logging, illegal gold mining and sand-winning - has led to vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside being degraded and polluted, some on an apocalyptic scale.

Yet, before the advent of the first Europeans in what eventually became known as the Gold Coast, we lived in harmony with Mother Nature - and took active steps at all material times to ensure that the natural environment was kept in a pristine state.

Alas, what the human race seems to forget, is that it is humankind's existence that is actually threatened - not the biosphere we inhabit with other living things and whose features are shaped by the passage of time  in periods that are measured in millions of years.

The planet Earth will always recover from whatever calamities befall it, as a result of the activities of human beings, over time.

Having failed the younger generation in so many ways, perhaps the older generation in Ghana can make amends, by strictly enforcing the many laws passed to protect the natural environment - particularly those laws that deal with illegal logging, illegal gold mining and illegal sand-winning - so that at the very least, coming generations of our people, can enjoy the same quality of life that we enjoy today: if not better.

Additionally, now, more than ever, as the number of vehicle owners in Ghana grows at a rapid pace, we have a duty to ensure that air quality in urban Ghana, does not deteriorate to the point where it poses a risk to public health.

Worldwide vehicular emissions contribute greatly to global warming.

As Ghana's gift to humankind, to commemorate Earth Day, 2016, why does President Mahama's administration not ask the South African-born US electric carmaker, Elon Musk, of Tesla Motors, to negotiate with the world's global automobile manufacturing giants, to club together, to pay Colonel Kofi Abaka Jackson US$10 billions, to obtain the rights to his invention that enables electric cars to maintain the power of their batteries whiles in motion - obviating the need for expensive recharging-station-infrastructure: and speed up the switch to electric vehicles globally?

Ghana would immediately be put on the world map as having made a significant contribution to slowing down global warming by the lowering of the total  amount of worldwide vehicular emissions - resulting  from the increase in the use of electric vehicles globally made possible by the adoption of Colonel Kofi Abaka Jackson's invention by the global car industry.

And it would do absolutely no harm to anyone, if Ghana shared the US$10 billions with Colonel Jackson on a 50-50 basis - and uses its share to improve the country's off-grid roof-top solar power generating capacity: in partnership with SolarCity, a US solar company that Elon Musk chairs, and which is owned by his cousins, Peter and Lyndon Rive.

Would that not be a fitting bonus for households and businesses countrywide - were Ghana to present such a special and rare gift to humankind, on Earth Day, 22 April, 2016?

We Must Create Opportunities For Young People In Ghana - So They Don't End Up Being Murdered in Killing Fields Abroad

The gruesome and abominable murders of foreigners, including some Ghanaians, in South Africa,  recently, highlights the urgent need for members of Ghana's political class to stop bickering amongst themselves, and work hard and diligently to create opportunities for young people in Ghana.

Many young people travel abroad to places like South Africa, simply because they feel there are no opportunities for them to improve their lives in Ghana - and that to make something of their lives, they must therefore leave our shores.

The regular sinking of boats carrying African migrants who drown in their hundreds in the Mediterranean Sea off the Italian island of  Lampedusa, shows the terrible risks young migrants from Africa face, when they attempt to enter Europe to live and work, without first obtaining visas.

Yet, tens of thousands still make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in unseaworthy boats.

If things don't change in Ghana soon, and many young people continue to feel alienated from society, because there are no opportunities for them to work in Ghana, we could end up having to deal with the consequences of a huge social explosion, one day.

When government infrastructure projects, such as the contract for the construction of the Kwame Nkrumah interchange being executed by the Brazilian company, M/S Queiroz Galvao Constucao,  are mooted, it is important that our leaders see them as opportunities to lift young unemployed people out of poverty - instead of avenues for wealthy regime-cronies running unethical employment agencies to win lucrative contracts to exploit young people by paying slave-wages: and grow even richer off their backs, by pocketing most of their pay and denying them other benefits paid them by contractors.

There are many simple measures that our leaders can take to create opportunities for young people in Ghana.

Could the ministry of food and agriculture not arrange for the University of Ghana to collaborate with the Bangladesh Agricultural University - and get it to transfer its aquaponics technology here to teach young entrepreneurs how to grow vegetables and farm catfish in greenhouses for domestic and export markets, for example?

And could young people who form cooperatives not grow teak and other tree species in agro-forestry plantations on land degraded by illegal gold miners, which could qualify as REDD+ projects funded by private companies - such as the UK non-profit Profoco and Wildlife Works from the US - seeking developing world clean development mechanism projects to invest in?

Furthermore, now that wooden skyscrapers are becoming fashionable in Europe, could Chiefs in the Western, Central and Volta regions, not collaborate with Dr Jan van Dam's Ecoboard project team at the Wageningen University of Holland, to grow coconuts to process into ecoboards in factories set up for the purpose in those regions, for domestic and export markets?

That could create wealth and jobs in those areas, could it not?

And could that selfsame ministry of food and agriculture not urge Chiefs in the Western Region to invite the biggest supermarket chains in the US, China, Japan and Iran to come to Ghana to establish cocoa processing factories in  joint-venture partnerships (with their land as equity) to produce own-brand organic  chocolate and other organic cocoa products for their supermarket chains  back home?

 Would the US supermarket giant Walmart, not give serious consideration to such an invitation, from Chiefs in the nation that produces the world's best organic cocoa beans, I ask?

Surely, such a development would create jobs for some young unemployed people in Ghana, would it not?

And if those Chiefs from the Western Region also invited  Japanese power companies to come to Ghana to establish joint-venture partnerships  with them to build power plants (again with their land as equity) could that also not help boost our electricity generating capacity too, in addition to creating jobs for sundry engineers, technicians and other skilled workers?

And would such power sector investment not enable factories across the country to be supplied with electricity round the clock - and keep young workers in employment: instead of being laid off because of never-ending power outages?

And if we encourage musicians and film producers in Ghana to  collaborate with their Diasporan counterparts in the US, the UK and Europe, by giving such collaborative efforts tax holidays, would that not create opportunities for many creative types here? The UK's Abeamma Productions' recent collaboration with Ghanaian actors comes to mind.

Finally, in a nation that abounds in young people with amazing raw talent that could be developed to make them globally competitive, if Ghanaian football was not dominated by selfish and sly hypocrites, running the game  for personal gain - who hide behind Sepp Blatter's Soviet-era-politburo-style Fifa to escape scrutiny by the media and football lovers - could many young people in Ghana not find fame and fortune through soccer? Ditto through other sports such as boxing,  tennis, basketball, swimming, etc., etc - if they were also allowed to flourish in Ghana: instead of being dominated by visa-racketeering mafioso?

Let us be imaginative and create opportunities in Ghana for young people to stay at home - so that they do not have to travel abroad to look for greener pastures: and end up being murdered in killing fields abroad.

Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo Must Reassure Ghanaians That No Part Of Ghana And Its Indigenes Will Face Discrimination If He Becomes President

I listened to the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) candidate for the 2016 presidential election, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, attempting to use humour to lessen the impact of the controversy caused by the phrase "All die be die" contained in a campaign speech he delivered at Atewa, years ago, during a recent radio interview on Starr FM (if I remember correctly), which was replayed on Peace FM's mid-day news, today.

Unfortunately, having effectively dealt with the issue of the  controversial phrase from his Atewa campaign speech, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo then went on to try and also use humour to make light of Yaw Osafo Marfo's lament that southerners,  whose part of the country contains most of Ghana's natural resources, did not dominate Ghana politically, when it was proper and fit that they should do so, in his opinion.

Yaw Osafo Marfo's outrageous comments should never be made light of by his party colleagues - as this is a nation of diverse ethnicity in which all Ghanaians have an equal stake. His remarks were deeply offensive and unpardonable.

The NPP's leading lights need to understand that  there are many fair-minded Akans who felt uncomfortable with the "Yen Akan fuo" phrase uttered by Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, in that selfsame Atewa campaign speech, in which he used the "All die be die" phrase.

No ethnic group in this country has a divine right to dominate Ghana politically. Osafo Marfo's foolish remarks betray an attitude of mind that evokes resentment in independent-minded Ghanaians who are nationalistic and patriotic - who have no time for the atavism of  tribal bigots: who in their view pose an existential threat to Ghana as we know it.

 It is precisely such backward and tribalistic attitudes of entitlement that led to the civil wars in the DR Congo and the Ivory Coast, and to the genocide in Rwanda and the pogrom in Darfur in western Sudan. This is the 21st century - no tribe is superior or inferior to another in Nkrumah's Ghana. No politician in today's Ghana must ignore that reality.

The natural resources of Ghana do not belong to the indigenes of the areas they are located in. They belong to the state - which holds them in trust for the benefit of all Ghanaians. That right to benefit from Ghana's natural resources, no matter which part of the country Ghanaians hail from,  is non-negotiable. The Yaw Osafo Marfos had better revise their notes accordingly.

What Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo ought to do - instead of making light of Osafo Marfo's tribal-supremacist worldview - is to focus on reassuring all Ghanaians that any government formed by the NPP, should he become president after the 2016 presidential election, will provide the needed resources to develop all the ten regions of Ghana, and that he will personally ensure that no region in Ghana and its indigenes, will be discriminated against, during his tenure.

Why Dismember The Electricity Company Of Ghana's Distribution Network?

Recently, President Mahama opened a new electricity sub-station, belonging to a privately-owned Ghanaian company, Enclave Power Company - which supplies power to the free-zone enclave.

In our present predicament, any new power-sector investment - be it from a public-sector or private-sector source - is to be welcomed.

Presumably, the Electricty Company of Ghana (ECG), must have previously been the supplier of electricity to the free-zone enclave. The question is: why did it lose out to a newcomer?

Perhaps the ECG did not have the required funds to enable it put up a modern sub-station of its own to serve the area, when it supplied the free-zone enclave with electricity - which might have informed the decision to let a private-sector company take over the supply of electricity to the free-zone enclave.

But what is wrong with giving companies in the enclave the opportunity to choose their preferred electricity supplier,  I ask? Why not allow the ECG and the Enclave Power Company to compete for customers?

And should that selfsame competition yardstick not be applied to any other company that might want to enter the power industry's  distribution sector?

Elsewhere, such as the UK, as a matter of principle, regulators always insist on competition not being negatively impacted,  when new companies enter markets - but in Ghana the geniuses who rule us rather choose to replace government monopolies with private monopolies, which then go on to manipulate their markets: and engage in egregious profiteering.

What is the point of a belief in the efficacy of market forces, and the benefits of private-sector led growth, if we molly-coddle investors - and allow them to operate in protected markets here?

How does that ultimately benefit consumers and the national economy? What electricity consumers in Ghana actually need is the opportunity to select their preferred electricity suppliers.

With respect, if the most profitable parts of the ECG's distribution network are going to be hived off for private entities to operate, then what is the point of government officials insisting that the ECG will remain 100% government-owned?

Why do our leaders never consider floating part of the government's shares in the companies it owns on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) - to raise interest-free capital for those companies: in an economy hobbled by high interest rates?

Surely, the government could part-fund the modernisation of the ECG's infrastructure, by selling some of its shares in the company, on the GSE?

The success of the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), part of whose shares the government sold on the GSE years ago, ought to be an example to the government, in the case of the ECG.

The GOIL privatisation model, is one that makes perfect sense, for the cash-strapped government of a highly-indebted nation like ours.

If that option exists, why dismember the ECG's distribution network - and let private operators take over its most profitable parts?

Alas, 100% state-ownership of an ECG  that is deprived of access to its distribution network's most profitable parts, is neither in the long-term interest of the state, nor does it serve the best interests of electricity consumers in Ghana - who seek the most affordable tariff rates possible at all material times.

Only competition between electricity distributors can deliver that - not the dismemberment of the ECG's distribution network: and hiving off its most profitable parts to wealthy and well-connected regime-cronies.

Kudos To The National Identification Authority's Leadersdhip

The National Identification Authority's (NIA) leadership deserve to be commended for the remarkable way they  have revived its operational capacity.

The NIA's executive secretary, Dr. Josiah Cobbah, has taken bold steps to put the NIA in a position, which makes it possible for national identity cards that are cutting-edge, to be issued  - and for virtually all the other state agencies to share and tap its database.

By utilising the public private partnership (PPP) model, a vital state institution, whose work is crucial for the success of the government agencies tasked to protect our nation, and all its citizens, is on the  cusp of being able to carry out its work across  Ghana.

The NIA is working to give entities in Ghana's public-sector the same capability that state agencies in wealthy developed nations have for sharing information - and that is to be welcomed: as it will benefit both the country and ordinary people in diverse ways.

For example, at a juncture in our history, when the threat of terrorism has become a serious security concern to governments across west Africa, it is imperative that every individual residing in Ghana can be quickly identified by the authorities, whenever necessary.

To avoid a situation similar to the one in which the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) was taken advantage of by Simnet in a PPP agreement, which went sour, and eventually ended up in court, it is necessary that the NIA collaborates  with reputable international organisations such as Adam Smith International of the UK - to help it build its in-house capacity to evaluate PPP proposals from potential private-sector businesses: and ensure that all the PPP agreements it enters into are win-win ones.

Adam Smith International's advice once saved Nigeria over £100 million - in a PPP deal to build a second bridge across the River Niger, which was originally to cost £500 million. Through cost-cutting resulting from Adam Smith International's intervention the cost of the project was eventually scaled down to £400 million.

Above all, Dr. Cobbah must ensure that all PPP proposals received by the NIA, are put into the public domain - so that concerned individuals and civil society organisations can evaluate them too.

That will ensure that at all material times, concerned Ghanaians will be in a position  to see whether or not those in charge of the NIA are being transparent in carrying out its mandate.

This being Ghana, there will always be suspicion in the minds of many, that public officials are receiving kickbacks from those who win government contracts.

Transparency in all the NIA's PPP agreements will ensure that those who manage it are not tarred with that same brush too. A reputation for good project governance will be good for the NIA - which needs to be seen as a credible state institution.

Dr. Cobbah has a well-deserved reputation for being a man of integrity.

He is a fair and decent gentleman - and one  wishes  him well at the NIA: which he has revamped in such a short space of time since his appointment, by utilising the PPP model.

It is exemplary work that other public-sector entities ought to learn from. Kudos to the NIA's leadership.

Let Us Help Ghana's Forestry Commission To Find New Sources Of Funding

No one in Ghana, who is a nature lover, can remain unconcerned about the many challenges, which  the Forestry Commission has to contend with - chief amongst which is the lack of resources needed to enable it function effectively.

Over the years, through our writing, some of us have urged those in government, to negotiate a low-carbon development agreement with Norway - and obtain REDD+ forest conservation funding for the Forestry Commission that way.

Now that public private partnership (PPP) agreements are all the rage, why does the Forestry Commission not strike deals with innovative green organisations that help protect forests across the globe, such as the non-profit company, Profoco, of the UK?

Profoco's innovative greensquares CSR programme, could help partially fund both the Forestry Service, and the Wildlife Division, of the Forestry Commission.

It will be a shining example to other organisations in both the public and private sectors of our national economy - as a market-driven sustainability-path available for them to opt for in Ghana's transition to a low-carbon development model.

And a relationship between the Forestry Commission, and the UK glasshouse rainforest attraction, The Living Rainforest, could provide its officials with valuable insights into new awareness-creation methods  - which could be used in Ghana to teach the younger generation  to value forests: and get them to become life-long conservationists.

At a time when our country is being negatively impacted by global warming, the more conservationists there are in Ghana, the easier will be the task of protecting the remainder of our nation's forests: which perform vital ecosystem services crucial for ensuring a good quality of life for all our people.

Finally, a partnership between the Forestry Commission and Greenheart Conservation, for example, could help the Forestry Commission to further enhance visitor-experience at all the national parks - by providing them with canopy walkways and ziplines.

That will make them even more attractive places to visit for both nature lovers and adventure seekers. Greater visitor numbers will help the Forestry Commission to generate more funds for its operations.

Let us all help those in charge of those valuable forests - the Forestry Commission - who also protect the wildlife that inhabit them, to find new sources of funding. This has been my two-pesewas. What is yours?

 Post Script

Readers can look up the Akyem Abuakwa Juaso Nature-Resource Reserve's Facebook page to read about a private initiative by a large  landowning family and the cocoa-farming community of Akyem Juaso to preserve their section of an upland evergreen rainforest in the Atewa Range, in an area designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area, in a conservation-through-eco-tourism project, which  is supported by the M&J Group's subsidiaries, SYTO and M&J Travel and Tours.

Will The US Dollar As Legal Tender, A Low-Tax Regime And Business-Friendly Economic Policies Not Make Ghana Thrive?

Every four years, since the 4th Republic came into being, whenever an incumbent president has faced re-election, to enable him secure a second term in office, fiscal discipline has been abandoned - and there has been a resort to reckless and unbudgeted-for-spending by his administration.

That profligacy has resulted in huge government deficits that have often placed an unnecessary burden on individuals and families from every strata of Ghanaian society.

We must force Ghanaian politicans to be responsible fiscally and manage the macro-economy prudently - even when they face re-election.

One of the most effective ways we could do so will be to take away the power to print money from the Bank of Ghana. The question then is: how do we achieve that end?

Since most businesspeople in Ghana regard the US dollar as a better store of value than the Ghana cedi, why do we not put aside foolish national pride, and take a leaf from the stressed-economy-policy-handbook of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe - and dump the worthless Ghana cedi: and adopt the US dollar (or euro) instead as our currency?

Loss of seigniorage from issuing coinage of the discarded Ghanaian currency can be calculated and a commensurate dollar equivalent negotiated with the US Congress and US Federal Reserve officials, and collected regularly by the Bank of Ghana.

With one stroke of the pen, we would have removed the ability of profligate politicians to destroy the results of people's hard work, and ruin the carefully-laid plans of industrious individuals and well-managed businesses - as inflation resulting from economic mismanagement steadily erodes the value of cash assets, and bouts of uncertaintity caused by the unstoppable decline in the value of our currency, makes a complete nonsense of the yearly budgetary-plans of individuals and businesses.

There is also the question of the overburdening of individuals and businesses with taxes. It is intolerable that Ghanaians are overtaxed merely to enable politicians manipulate the machinery of state for party advantage - and to feather their own nests and that of their cronies. The National Disaster Management Organisation's outrageous overspending is an egregious example.

Why provide them with the wherewithal to continue doing so, I ask?

As we all know, only a relatively few people in Ghana, who work in the formal sector of the national economy, actually pay income tax. It is an unacceptable situation - and unfair for hardworking Ghanaians.

If white-collar criminals will end up siphoning off taxpayers' cash held in the national treasury, anyway, why not abolish personal income tax in Ghana - and make this an attractive location for high net-worth individuals from across the globe, in so doing?

And instead of piling on yet more taxes on already overburdened entrepreneurs, why do we not simply lower taxes on the profits of businesses to just 5 percent - and put Ghana on the world map as the nation with the lowest corporate tax rate in Africa?

Which transnational corporation interested in Africa as a market, would not move its African headquarters here, if that were the case?

And will they not spend money locally hiring staff, renting or purchasing office accommodation, build factories, warehouses and establish new service-sector businesses, etc., etc.? Surely, that will help increase our GDP, and create more jobs for the younger generation, would it not?

And will low taxes on business profits, not encourage tens of thousands of businesses in the informal sector of the Ghanaian economy, to regularly pay their fair share of taxes - leading to a significant widening of the tax net and an increase in tax revenues?

Perhaps the Hon. Kennedy Adjapong of the New Patriotic Party is right to hold the Ivory-tower mentality of our educated urban elites in such contempt - expressed so angrily in his recent "NPP fuo eyebooklong" rant. Alas, our educated urban elites are long on theory - but pretty short on practical common-sense-solutions.

In the main, many Ghanaians seldom do any original and creative thinking - because our diverse cultures and educational system do not encourage curiosity in the young.

What will make Ghana thrive is to remove the ability of our ruling elites to print money - by making the US dollar legal tender: and turning our country into a nation with a low-tax regime and business-friendly economic policies.

Ghana's Government Must Encourage Partnerships Between Ghanaian And Foreign Construction Companies

President Mahama recently inspected work, which is being carried out by the contractor building the model community day secondary school, at Bamainkor, in the Western Region.

The president agreed with the Omanhene of Bamainkor, Nana Angama Tu-Agyan IX, that shedding tears of joy was an appropriate  response to the contractor's diligence and hard work, in executing the project - which apparently is nearing completion.

Clearly, our homeland Ghana will move ahead more rapidly,  if all contractors given government contracts were as hardworking and conscientious, as the contractor building the Bamainkor community day secondary school.

President Mahama's administration must encourage such contractors by pairing them off with reputable foreign contractors - to enable technology transfer to strengthen such responsible and productive Ghanaian construction companies.

Perhaps they should study the partnership model being employed by the UK company, NMS Infrastructure Limited, to execute the district hospital projects in Dodowa, Sekondi, Kumawu, Abetifi, Fomena, and Garu-Tempane.

NMS Infrastructure Ltd has partnered the Ghanaian company Genelec Holdings Limited to execute the 6-hospital project in Ghana.

A similar partnership could be brought into being between the contractor building the Bamainkor community day secondary school, and the UK company, Precast Concrete Structures Limited, for example - to enable the government to complete many of its construction projects across Ghana on time and within budget: using world-class construction-engineering technology.

To strengthen Ghanaian construction companies, and turn the best amongst them into world-class entities, it is in the long-term interest of our nation that the government  pairs them off with the foreign construction companies, which execute government projects across the country.

No government contract must be awarded to any foreign construction company in this country if it does not have a registered Ghanaian partner. That is the only way we can effectively build the capacity of Ghanaian construction companies - and enable them to bid successfully for jobs across Africa: and help improve our nation's balance of payments.

How #OccupyGhana Can Help Transform Ghana - Into An African Equivalent Of The Egalitarian Societies Of Scandinavia

When the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, was heckled and booed at an early #OccupyGhana demonstration (shortly after it was formed), when he put in an appearance at the event, it gave many apolitical Ghanaians the distinct impression that the movement was indeed genuinely non-partisan.

It is for that reason that the recent announcement that Mr. George Andah, who is a leading member of #OccupyGhana, is to stand as a candidate in the NPP primaries to select a party member to contest for the Awutu Senya constituency parliamentary seat, in the 2016 elections, raised eyebrows amongst some of those who had always believed that #OccupyGhana was a nascent Ghanaian equivalent, of Spain's Podemos and Greece's Syriza.

Some of us had gained the impression that #OccupyGhana had come onto the political scene because its founders had seen the damaging effect that the intense rivalry between the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the NPP, has had on our national life - and therefore wanted to work to ensure that henceforth the national interest, instead of party advantage and personal-nest-feathering, would underpin governance in Ghana: and determine the fate of our nation and promote the welfare of all its people (rich and poor, alike).

It is obvious to many independent-minded Ghanaian patriots that high-level corruption in Ghana, can never be tackled effectively, as long as the NDC/NPP duopoly take turns to govern  Ghana - because when in power both have tended to rely on the very vested interests that profit so handsomely from the existence of a corrupt system, to enable them hang on to power.

Whenever they have been in power, it is to those selfsame vested interests that both parties have turned, to fund their nationwide activities - and build up a war chest large enough to enable them  successfully fight the next presidential and parliamentary elections, and return to power again.

#OccuppyGhana must not let the ordinary people of Ghana down by allowing its leading  members to abandon the noble and worthy cause they are pursuing as a collective - just to line up to take their turn in the ongoing gang-rape of Mother Ghana by the NPP/NDC duopoly.

It  would be far better for our nation if they remained with #OccupyGhana - and worked with patriotic one-nation politicians, who practice accountability and  are incorruptible, to form a broad coalition-of-the-like-minded, to fight the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Those naive enough to think that Ghana will experience rule by saints, should the NPP win power, after the  2016  presidential and parliamentary elections, had better revise their notes.

They would do well to ask the Dr. Bawumias if they and their spouses - to prove that they will also not come to enrich themselves at Mother Ghana's expense when in power - will publicly publish their assets before the next presidential and parliamentary elections in 2016, and promise to do so again at the end of their tenures, should they come to power after the presidential and parliamentary elections.  Ditto publicly publish all the sources of the NPP's funding.

Ghanaians, to use local parlance, "Go then sabbe what be world-class equivocation in motion, Massa." - in the response they get from the erudite Dr. Bawumias: who give endless public lectures about what is wrong with the economic policies of the present government, but never once profer any solutions to Ghana's many challenges.

Surely, if Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), were able to demonstrate accountability in practical fashion, so dramatically, in the 2012 elections, why should the NPP of the  Dr. Bawumias - a party so vociferous in condemning today's high-level corruption, and which promises Ghanaians a corruption-free administration, if elected to power again - be unable to publicly publish the sources of the party's funding,  and publicly publish the filed tax returns, as well as the medical check-up results of the party's leading lights, too, I ask? 

 It would be helpful if #OccupyGhana did not give its blessing to those of  its leading members who decamp to join opaque political parties, practising the old-style divide-and-rule-politricks, which is slowly destroying Ghanaian democracy - and many of  whose leading lights approved engineered-siphoning-off-schemes in the past, which led to Ghana losing out badly in a number of international agreements.

Egregious examples of such perfidy, are the agreement with Kosmos Energy (in which two well-connected Ghanaians who did not pay a pesewa upfront were given shares in blocs in oilfields off our shores, which they eventually sold to Tullow Oil for some US$350 millions), and the fraudulent sale and purchase agreement for the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO), to a so-called International Aluminium Partners (IAP), which was railroaded through Parliament during the Kufuor-era.

That outrage, was under the active personal supervision of the hypocritical Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsus - who, as a result of the persistent and strenuous public denials by Norske Hydro and VALE (the purported IAP joint-venture partners),  knew perfectly well that the IAP that the then NPP administration claimed had agreed to purchase VALCO,  did not actually exist: yet went ahead to manipulate Parliament towards a dubious end meant to enrich a powerful few with greedy ambitions.

The question for #OccupyGhana is: How can Ghana become a better and different place, from what it is today, if such cynical and unprincipled politicians should come to power again, after the 2016 elections?

If #OccupyGhana's members want to join established political parties to fight for parliamentary seats in the 2016 elections,  why do they not look instead to a strategic alliance with the Paa Kwesi Nduoms - who demonstrated their commitment to transparent governance in the 2012 elections - instead?

 #OccupyGhana must denounce the old-style politics of division, rancour and sham-accountability, practised by opaque and corrupt political parties - and strike a strategic alliance with those politicians who embrace the new one-nation politics of uniting to work to protect the national interest at all material times, and promote the welfare of all Ghanaians.

That is how #OccupyGhana can help transform Ghana into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia - which ought to be our national goal as a people.

A New Age Dawns For Nigeria

The people of Nigeria have just elected a new leader. President-elect Muhammadu Buhari has all the qualities that that great nation requires in a leader at this juncture in its history.

Ordinary Nigerians deserve to be congratulated for the peaceful manner in which they conducted themselves during the just-ended parliamentary and presidential elections.

They have made pan-Africanists proud of a continental giant that is black Africa's only potential world power.

Faced with the barbarism of Boko Haram, which threatened voters with death if they voted in the elections, ordinary Nigerians were defiant - and clearly demonstrated their commitment to the democratic system of government by queuing in their millions to vote.

Clearly, ordinary Nigerians regard their constitutional right to vote in elections, as a fundamental human right, which is non-negotiable.

For so graciously conceding defeat,  President Goodluck Jonathan has secured his place in history. He must be praised for his wisdom.

Posterity will remember President Goodluck Jonathan for the statesmanship he showed, when he put the interest of Nigerians above party and self, and accepted that the All Progressives Congress' candidate,  Muhammadu Buhari, had indeed won the presidential election.

President Jonathan's phone call to Buhari conceding defeat, eased the tension that had built up as the nation awaited the declaration of the winner of the presidential election, by Nigeria's Independent National Election Commission.

That noble gesture brought the election to a fitting end - and Nigerians now eagerly await the dawn of the new age that their dynamic country will be ushered into when president-elect Muhammadu Buhari is sworn into office. Nigeria will soon show the world her true potential. Brilliant.

Should Ghana's Private Sector Not Venture Into Micro & Small Hydropower Production?

Whiles we await the merging of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Bui Power Authority (BPA), one hopes that the minister for power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, will revisit President Nkrumah's idea of building small hydro power plants to supplement power from the Akosombo hydro power plant.

Building small and micro hydropower plants could make a difference for many communities going forward into the future  - as they  could harness the kinetic energy from the flow of rivers across Ghana to produce electricity: obviating the need to find millions of dollars to dam rivers for power.

One's humble advice to Dr. Kwabena Donkor, is that he should consult the European Union's (EU) office in Ghana, about possible collaboration between his ministry and the European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA).

On that basis, the EU office here could  arrange for engineers from both the VRA and BPA, as well as their counterparts from the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), to visit micro and small hydro power plants across Europe. Ditto representstives of relevant sector-specific member companies of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).

The GWCL's engineers could learn from  the example of the German water company, Veola Wasser GmbH - which has achieved energy autonomy at some of its drinking water treatment plants in Germany (Gorlitz and Gera, for instance).

Perhaps the visit will inspire the GWCL to strive to achieve a degree of energy autonomy at some of its drinking water treatment plants - and lower its production costs that way.

The visionary Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah planned to build mini hydro power plants - and would have doubtless done so had he not been overthrown in 1966. This is the perfect time to revive the idea.

Those in Ghana who are keen to take the idea a step further, who might want to contact hydropower turnkey project consultants, could write to:  Power From The Landscape, Alternative Technology Centre, Unit 7, Victoria Works, Victoria Road, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8 LN, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1422842121.

 If the power industry's  renewable energy sector's entire value chain was given tax-exempt status, it would encourage some of the most creative entrepreneurs in our country, to explore collaborative initiatives with mini and micro hydro power producers in the EU and the US, which  could lead to the establishment of joint-venture micro and small hydro power companies in Ghana.

Food for thought for the Association of Ghana Industries, perhaps? Ditto the energy-starved big gold mining companies?

(To digress a little: Incidentally, those big gold mining companies would be wise to buy the UK company LIFESAVER Systems' water tanks, which have nanotech filtration that can provide pure water from even contaminated sources, to the communities that border their concessions. Those communities often suffer terribly when there is spillage of toxic chemicals and heavy metals from the gold mining companies' tailings ponds into the rivers that they depend on for their drinking water supply.)