It is important that the ministry of tourism, culture and creative arts sets up a committee, to investigate the 1st July, 2016, Republic Day holiday accident, which occured at the Bunso arboretum - when part of the forest canopy walkway there apparently collapsed.
It is said to have led to a number of visitors being injured. We must be thankful that no fatalities were recorded at the arboretum that day.
From reports in the media, it appears that over-exuberant visitors rocking it whiles traversing the canopy walkway, might have had a bearing on that unfortunate accident.
It is important, from a public safety standpoint, that the committee establishes the actual cause of the partial collapse of the Bunso canopy walkway.
Most of all, the ministerial committee should make recommendations, which will prevent such a tragedy from recurring anywhere in Ghana, again.
As someone who is personally involved in a planned project to build the world's longest forest canopy walkway, at Akyem Juaso, one would welcome such a public enquiry.
Forest canopy walkways are a vital in-situ logistics resource providing a unique living laboratory platform for biodiversity researchers - and are an important educational tool for inculcating a love of nature amongst young people.
Private individuals who invest in them ought to be encouraged - and supported financially. One way to do so, will be to grant them exemption from paying duty and taxes, on all the imported materials needed for constructing forest canopy walkways.
Preserving what remains of our nation's natural heritage will succeed only when young people treasure our forests - and actively seek to conserve them. Traversing forest canopy walkways develops a lifelong love of nature amongst many young people.
The Bunso arboretum's forest canopy walkway has definitely had a positive impact on many - who have come to appreciate the importance of preserving Ghana's forests: as a result of visiting the arboretum to traverse the Bunso canopy walkway.
This, no doubt, is a trying time for the Bunso arboretum's canopy walkway's owners - but they must not be discouraged: as out of this tragedy will no doubt emerge a unique eco-tourism attraction, whose entire operations will be underpinned by an ethos of professionalism - and guided at all material times by the highest global safety standards.
That is why a ministerial committee to establish the cause of the partial collapse of the Bunso forest canopy walkway is a must - as the committee's report is bound to include recommendations on ensuring the safety of all forest canopy walkaways in Ghana.
Above all, from the perspective of visitors, they must all be adequately insured. Since no insurance company will insure a canopy walkway that is not properly maintained, and safe, that can only be good for the general public who traverse Ghana's forest canopy walkways.
That will help restore public confidence in a niche market in Ghana's eco-tourism industry that is beginning to attract private investors. We must not forget that tourism makes a significant contribution to Ghana's GDP.
And, in an age of global climate change, Ghana' forest canopy walkways are important conservation-through-ecotourism attractions, which help conserve our forests. They ought to be safe for visitors - and setting up a ministerial committee to investigate what caused the partial collapse of the Bunso arboretum's canopy walkway will help ensure that.
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Friday, 26 June 2015
Why Ms. Samia Nkrumah And Dr. Edward Mahama Must Work Together To Get Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom Selected As The Nkrumahist Alliance's 2016 Presidential Candidate
We have arrived at a juncture in our history, when a confluence of events from across the country, has led to the realisation amongst many ordinary Ghanaians, that their nation needs a new kind of politics - one free of elite-self-interest and nation-wrecking corruption.
Tired of the polarised nature of Ghanaian society, today, and outraged by the unfathomable greed that fuels high-level corruption, many ordinary people yearn to live in a nation in which there is unity of purpose amongst the country's ruling elites - all of whom Ghanaians want to be honest individuals, who show a commitment to protecting the national interest and promoting the welfare of ordinary people, at all material times.
Many people sense that whichever of the candidates of the two biggest political parties in Ghana, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the largest of the opposition parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), wins the 2016 presidential election, the kind of violence seen at the grounds of State House, when a rampaging mob from Old Fadama invaded that part of Ridge last weekend, will be repeated across the country - as hardliners from both parties instigate fighting at polling stations across the country.
It is that fear, which many have, of violence erupting in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, which makes many ordinary people in Ghana yearn for a credible third force in our nation's politics - one whose presidential candidate will unite the country, and run a meritocratic and transparent system, as President.
It presents Nkrumahists with a rare opportunity to return to power again.
That is why it is so important that the major figures amongst the followers of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, put aside ego and personal ambition, and work together to offer Ghanaians a government of national unity - in which individuals are appointed to positions in the public sector strictly on merit: not because they belong to the president's party.
If they fail to form an alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties soon, the vacuum in the centre of Ghanaian politics will be filled by fledgling parties, such as Kofi Akpaloo's newly-formed Independent People's Party (IPP).
They must also resolve the issue of selecting the candidate who will represent the Nkrumahist alliance, in the 2016 presidential election, quickly.
Although probably too late to do so, they must use the by-election for the Talensi constituency, as a testbed for trying out the Nkrumahist alliance's strategy for victory in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
A key point is to hammer home the commitment of Nkrumahists to making it possible for grassroots people to elect district chief executives of their choice, when their candidate wins the 2016 presidential election - and that electing an Nkrumahist alliance candidate as the member of Parliament for the Talensi constituency is the first step to that end.
Picking a candidate who can win the 2016 presidential election is crucial for the Nkrumahist alliance.
There was a time in the past, when some of us used to say that Dr. Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC), was the best candidate to stand for president, for a new Convention People's Party (CPP): made up of all the Nkrumahist parties.
However, Nduom's sterling record as a job creator, and highly successful career as a world-class entrepreneur, with a far-flung business empire, make him the best presidential candidate by far, for an Nkrumahist alliance today.
Politically, he has built up momentum nationally, and has the resources to turn any alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties into a solid third force - able to take on and defeat the candidates of the NDC and NPP.
No Ghanaian politician since Ghana gained its independence in 1957, has been more forthcoming about his or her own personal finances, than Nduom has been.
And no politician has also been as transparent about the sources of funding for the party he or she leads, as Nduom has been. That is just the kind of transparent leader Ghana needs today.
We must force our leaders to follow Nigerian President Buhari's example - and publicly publish their assets (as well as that of their spouses) before assuming office: and immediately after their tenure ends.
Nduom is committed to that - which is why he was the only candidate who published his filed tax returns during the campaign for the 2012 presidential election. He also publicly published the sources of funding, for the party he founded and leads, the Progressive People's Party.
For the sake of Mother Ghana, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama, must rebuff attempts by some of their supporters to get them to run for president in 2016.
It will only divide Nkrumahists yet further if they vie for the presidency - and thereby prevent an Nkrumahist alliance from sweeping to victory in the 2016 presidential election. The plain truth, is that none of them stands a chance of pulling off a surprise win, in that election.
To honour Nkrumah's memory, and ensure that Ghana develops into an industrial powerhouse for West Africa, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama must work together, to get Nduom selected as the Nkrumahist alliance's 2016 presidential candidate.
That will enable a Paa Kwesi Nduom-Samia Yaaba Nkrumah ticket to start working early to win that all-important election - and lead a government of national unity: which will transform our country into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
We need to tap Ghana's best brains to transform our country - irrespective of the party affiliation and the ethnic background of such individuals.
That is an Nkrumahist nation-building philosophy that is still relevant today - and will underpin the administration of the next Nkrumahist president for our homeland Ghana.
As president, Nduom (who, like Nelson Mandela, should only serve one term and hand over the baton of leadership to Samia Nkrumah to head the next generation of Ghanaian leaders) will ensure that that philosophy guides our nation's development. So, as we say in local parlance: "Samia Nkrumah and Edward Mahama, over to you, Joe Lartey!".
Tired of the polarised nature of Ghanaian society, today, and outraged by the unfathomable greed that fuels high-level corruption, many ordinary people yearn to live in a nation in which there is unity of purpose amongst the country's ruling elites - all of whom Ghanaians want to be honest individuals, who show a commitment to protecting the national interest and promoting the welfare of ordinary people, at all material times.
Many people sense that whichever of the candidates of the two biggest political parties in Ghana, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the largest of the opposition parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), wins the 2016 presidential election, the kind of violence seen at the grounds of State House, when a rampaging mob from Old Fadama invaded that part of Ridge last weekend, will be repeated across the country - as hardliners from both parties instigate fighting at polling stations across the country.
It is that fear, which many have, of violence erupting in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, which makes many ordinary people in Ghana yearn for a credible third force in our nation's politics - one whose presidential candidate will unite the country, and run a meritocratic and transparent system, as President.
It presents Nkrumahists with a rare opportunity to return to power again.
That is why it is so important that the major figures amongst the followers of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, put aside ego and personal ambition, and work together to offer Ghanaians a government of national unity - in which individuals are appointed to positions in the public sector strictly on merit: not because they belong to the president's party.
If they fail to form an alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties soon, the vacuum in the centre of Ghanaian politics will be filled by fledgling parties, such as Kofi Akpaloo's newly-formed Independent People's Party (IPP).
They must also resolve the issue of selecting the candidate who will represent the Nkrumahist alliance, in the 2016 presidential election, quickly.
Although probably too late to do so, they must use the by-election for the Talensi constituency, as a testbed for trying out the Nkrumahist alliance's strategy for victory in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
A key point is to hammer home the commitment of Nkrumahists to making it possible for grassroots people to elect district chief executives of their choice, when their candidate wins the 2016 presidential election - and that electing an Nkrumahist alliance candidate as the member of Parliament for the Talensi constituency is the first step to that end.
Picking a candidate who can win the 2016 presidential election is crucial for the Nkrumahist alliance.
There was a time in the past, when some of us used to say that Dr. Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC), was the best candidate to stand for president, for a new Convention People's Party (CPP): made up of all the Nkrumahist parties.
However, Nduom's sterling record as a job creator, and highly successful career as a world-class entrepreneur, with a far-flung business empire, make him the best presidential candidate by far, for an Nkrumahist alliance today.
Politically, he has built up momentum nationally, and has the resources to turn any alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties into a solid third force - able to take on and defeat the candidates of the NDC and NPP.
No Ghanaian politician since Ghana gained its independence in 1957, has been more forthcoming about his or her own personal finances, than Nduom has been.
And no politician has also been as transparent about the sources of funding for the party he or she leads, as Nduom has been. That is just the kind of transparent leader Ghana needs today.
We must force our leaders to follow Nigerian President Buhari's example - and publicly publish their assets (as well as that of their spouses) before assuming office: and immediately after their tenure ends.
Nduom is committed to that - which is why he was the only candidate who published his filed tax returns during the campaign for the 2012 presidential election. He also publicly published the sources of funding, for the party he founded and leads, the Progressive People's Party.
For the sake of Mother Ghana, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama, must rebuff attempts by some of their supporters to get them to run for president in 2016.
It will only divide Nkrumahists yet further if they vie for the presidency - and thereby prevent an Nkrumahist alliance from sweeping to victory in the 2016 presidential election. The plain truth, is that none of them stands a chance of pulling off a surprise win, in that election.
To honour Nkrumah's memory, and ensure that Ghana develops into an industrial powerhouse for West Africa, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama must work together, to get Nduom selected as the Nkrumahist alliance's 2016 presidential candidate.
That will enable a Paa Kwesi Nduom-Samia Yaaba Nkrumah ticket to start working early to win that all-important election - and lead a government of national unity: which will transform our country into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
We need to tap Ghana's best brains to transform our country - irrespective of the party affiliation and the ethnic background of such individuals.
That is an Nkrumahist nation-building philosophy that is still relevant today - and will underpin the administration of the next Nkrumahist president for our homeland Ghana.
As president, Nduom (who, like Nelson Mandela, should only serve one term and hand over the baton of leadership to Samia Nkrumah to head the next generation of Ghanaian leaders) will ensure that that philosophy guides our nation's development. So, as we say in local parlance: "Samia Nkrumah and Edward Mahama, over to you, Joe Lartey!".
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Is The Real Scandal Not The Fact That Bankswitch Was To Be Paid For A Service That Could Be Provided Free Of Charge By Other IT Companies?
Most patriotic Ghanaians would be horrified to learn a few facts about Bankswitch - the company to which the International Court of Permanent Arbitration at The Hague, awarded the judgement debt in favour of, against Ghana, which has generated such controversy here.
Incredibly, just before Bankswitch had its contract with Ghana abrogated by the regime of President Mills, the company that eventually replaced it, Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCnet), actually offered to provide a service that Bankswitch had been contracted for, and was to recieve payment for, from the Kufuor regime, for free. Imagine that.
Clearly, being informed that a service for which Bankswitch was to recieve payment from the predecessor regime to theirs, was actually a service that GCnet was proposing to provide Ghana free of charge, must have provoked a sense of outrage amongst many senior members of President Mills' government.
Consequently, many of them must have felt that to protect Ghana from such fraud, it was their patriotic duty to do everything possible, to end the Bankswitch contract with Ghana - especially when the Kufuor regime ended a contract that Ghana had with GCnet when it came to power: and decided to replace it with one with Bankswitch instead.
Alas, it is that good intention that has now led to the hellish nightmare of our nation having to find GHC197 million or thereabouts, to pay for what is so clearly an unjust judgement debt awarded against it, by the International Court of Permanent Arbitration at The Hague. That judgement was unfair and unjust - and is disgraceful.
Any fair-minded Ghanaian, upon discovering that a service, which Bankswitch was contracted to perform for Ghana by the Kufuor regime, for handsome compensation, could actually have been performed free of charge, by GCnet, would equally feel outraged by such perfidy - especially when Bankswitch is now going to be paid so much money as judgement debt for doing zilch for Ghana.
In a nation whose people have such short memories, we must point out the fact that GCnet was actually the rival company that Bankswitch replaced - after the Kufuor regime abrogated GCnet's contract with Ghana on a technicality: in the halcyon days of the golden age of business for the greed-filled Kufuor & Co.
If Professor Mills had had the political nous that President Rawlings had, Bankswitch would never have had the gall to take Ghana to the International Court of Permanent Arbitration at The Hague - as the deal that Hon. Anthony Akoto Osei signed with Bankswitch would have been investigated, and he would have had to provide an answer to the simple question: "Why was Ghana to pay vast sums to Bankswitch for a service that some IT companies could have provided Ghana free of charge, during the tenure of President Kufuor?"
Rawlings would have had the hypocritical Anthony Akoto Osei prosecuted for conspiring to cause financial loss to Ghana.
President Mills did a great disservice to Ghana by allowing the crooks of the Kufuor-era who gang-raped Mother Ghana to get away with their many crimes. Now Ghana is paying a price for that misplaced kindness on Mills' part.
But to be fair, should we not also ask who the attorney general was at the time the Bankswitch contract with Ghana was abrogated by the Mills regime - and what role he or she played in this sorry saga?
And who represented Ghana at the International Court of Permanent Arbitration at The Hague? Did he or she do a good job - and if so, why did Ghana end up having to pay the carpetbaggers Bankswitch was fronting for, a judgement debt awarded against our nation?
Naturally, what the super-clever Dr. Anthony Akoto Oseis will not divulge to Ghanaians, is who exactly were the powerful and well-connected individuals who profited from the abrogation of the contract with GCnet - and probably engineered its award to Bankswitch.
Those who profited from Bankswitch replacing GCnet, were probably the same crooks, who gave away Ghana's oil deposits - whiles dancing exuberantly to their favourite song: "1 percent of billions of dollars is better than 100 percent of peanuts".
That selfsame group of selfish and ruthless individuals, once tried to sell Valco, to a nonexistent International Aluminium Partners (IAP) - and succeeded in having that fraud railroaded through Parliament: despite the loud protestations and denials by Norske Hydro and VALE, the purported joint-venture partners in IAP, said to be seeking to 'purchase' Valco. No doubt they will also be profiting from Bankswift's judgement-debt jackpot.
Another question that needs answering is: why, in light of all the above, are members of the same ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) - who felt a sense of outrage that Bankswitch was proposing to charge Ghana for a service GCnet could provide free of charge - now seeking to award a contract for an electronic equivalent of a one-stop-shop for data on the import/export trade's shipping documentation, which is already in existence, and provided by GCnet (the National Single Window And Risk Management System project), to West Blue Ghana Limited to develop?
Far too many Ghanaian politicians fail to learn from past mistakes, alas - and in the long run it is our nation and its hard-pressed people who suffer from that particular failing of our leaders.
Why, for example, when Ghana desperately needs to increase its tax revenues, to finance development projects across the nation, are our ruling elites awarding single-sourced contracts to private entities for services that the Customs, Excise and Preventative Service of the Ghana Revenue Authority, can perform efficiently for Ghana, if given the opportunity - and end what amounts to foreigners siphoning off taxes earned from the ports of Ghana, with the blessing of our leaders?
And, it now emerges that GCnet too, is apparently subtly hinting that it will have to sue Ghana - if its contract is abrogated in favour of West Blue Ghana Limited. God give some of us patience in our old age.
For such ingratitude, Ghana must end its contract with GCnet, whenever it is legally possible to do so, without any repercussions. The Customs, Excise and Preventative Service of the Ghana Revenue Authority ought to take over that service when that particular contract ends. It is time such milking-Mother-Ghana-dry revenue-siphoning-off sole-sourced contracts ended.
Perhaps the lesson we must learn from this controversy, is that as things currently stand, vested interests actually control the destiny of our homeland Ghana, whenever the two largest political parties govern Ghana. That cannot be good for our nation and its people in the long-term. It is intolerable and totally unacceptable.
That is why Ghanaians must vote for the Nkrumahist alliance's presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election - to take Ghana along a path of self-reliance, import-substitution-industrialisation and the promotion of Ghanaian businesses using the purchasing power of the state.
(Hopefully, Paa Kwesi Nduom will be selectd as the Nkrumahist alliance's presidential candidate, with Samia Yaaba Nkrumah as his running mate. But I digress.)
Finally, perhaps one needs to make the point that, if this scandal were to have occurred in China, it will not be the Hannah Tettehs and the Spio Garbrahs who would be executed after a quick trial for this particular Bankswitch judgement debt.
On the contrary, it will be the sly and wily Dr. Anthony Akoto Oseis - who signed that agreement in which Ghana was to pay for a service that could be provided free of charge by other IT companies.
Are we therefore not right in saying that the real scandal, is that Bankswitch was to be paid for a service that other IT companies, at one stage, offered to provide for free? Only asking - not making any accusations. No nation-wrecking politics-of-equalisation here, thank you.
Incredibly, just before Bankswitch had its contract with Ghana abrogated by the regime of President Mills, the company that eventually replaced it, Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCnet), actually offered to provide a service that Bankswitch had been contracted for, and was to recieve payment for, from the Kufuor regime, for free. Imagine that.
Clearly, being informed that a service for which Bankswitch was to recieve payment from the predecessor regime to theirs, was actually a service that GCnet was proposing to provide Ghana free of charge, must have provoked a sense of outrage amongst many senior members of President Mills' government.
Consequently, many of them must have felt that to protect Ghana from such fraud, it was their patriotic duty to do everything possible, to end the Bankswitch contract with Ghana - especially when the Kufuor regime ended a contract that Ghana had with GCnet when it came to power: and decided to replace it with one with Bankswitch instead.
Alas, it is that good intention that has now led to the hellish nightmare of our nation having to find GHC197 million or thereabouts, to pay for what is so clearly an unjust judgement debt awarded against it, by the International Court of Permanent Arbitration at The Hague. That judgement was unfair and unjust - and is disgraceful.
Any fair-minded Ghanaian, upon discovering that a service, which Bankswitch was contracted to perform for Ghana by the Kufuor regime, for handsome compensation, could actually have been performed free of charge, by GCnet, would equally feel outraged by such perfidy - especially when Bankswitch is now going to be paid so much money as judgement debt for doing zilch for Ghana.
In a nation whose people have such short memories, we must point out the fact that GCnet was actually the rival company that Bankswitch replaced - after the Kufuor regime abrogated GCnet's contract with Ghana on a technicality: in the halcyon days of the golden age of business for the greed-filled Kufuor & Co.
If Professor Mills had had the political nous that President Rawlings had, Bankswitch would never have had the gall to take Ghana to the International Court of Permanent Arbitration at The Hague - as the deal that Hon. Anthony Akoto Osei signed with Bankswitch would have been investigated, and he would have had to provide an answer to the simple question: "Why was Ghana to pay vast sums to Bankswitch for a service that some IT companies could have provided Ghana free of charge, during the tenure of President Kufuor?"
Rawlings would have had the hypocritical Anthony Akoto Osei prosecuted for conspiring to cause financial loss to Ghana.
President Mills did a great disservice to Ghana by allowing the crooks of the Kufuor-era who gang-raped Mother Ghana to get away with their many crimes. Now Ghana is paying a price for that misplaced kindness on Mills' part.
But to be fair, should we not also ask who the attorney general was at the time the Bankswitch contract with Ghana was abrogated by the Mills regime - and what role he or she played in this sorry saga?
And who represented Ghana at the International Court of Permanent Arbitration at The Hague? Did he or she do a good job - and if so, why did Ghana end up having to pay the carpetbaggers Bankswitch was fronting for, a judgement debt awarded against our nation?
Naturally, what the super-clever Dr. Anthony Akoto Oseis will not divulge to Ghanaians, is who exactly were the powerful and well-connected individuals who profited from the abrogation of the contract with GCnet - and probably engineered its award to Bankswitch.
Those who profited from Bankswitch replacing GCnet, were probably the same crooks, who gave away Ghana's oil deposits - whiles dancing exuberantly to their favourite song: "1 percent of billions of dollars is better than 100 percent of peanuts".
That selfsame group of selfish and ruthless individuals, once tried to sell Valco, to a nonexistent International Aluminium Partners (IAP) - and succeeded in having that fraud railroaded through Parliament: despite the loud protestations and denials by Norske Hydro and VALE, the purported joint-venture partners in IAP, said to be seeking to 'purchase' Valco. No doubt they will also be profiting from Bankswift's judgement-debt jackpot.
Another question that needs answering is: why, in light of all the above, are members of the same ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) - who felt a sense of outrage that Bankswitch was proposing to charge Ghana for a service GCnet could provide free of charge - now seeking to award a contract for an electronic equivalent of a one-stop-shop for data on the import/export trade's shipping documentation, which is already in existence, and provided by GCnet (the National Single Window And Risk Management System project), to West Blue Ghana Limited to develop?
Far too many Ghanaian politicians fail to learn from past mistakes, alas - and in the long run it is our nation and its hard-pressed people who suffer from that particular failing of our leaders.
Why, for example, when Ghana desperately needs to increase its tax revenues, to finance development projects across the nation, are our ruling elites awarding single-sourced contracts to private entities for services that the Customs, Excise and Preventative Service of the Ghana Revenue Authority, can perform efficiently for Ghana, if given the opportunity - and end what amounts to foreigners siphoning off taxes earned from the ports of Ghana, with the blessing of our leaders?
And, it now emerges that GCnet too, is apparently subtly hinting that it will have to sue Ghana - if its contract is abrogated in favour of West Blue Ghana Limited. God give some of us patience in our old age.
For such ingratitude, Ghana must end its contract with GCnet, whenever it is legally possible to do so, without any repercussions. The Customs, Excise and Preventative Service of the Ghana Revenue Authority ought to take over that service when that particular contract ends. It is time such milking-Mother-Ghana-dry revenue-siphoning-off sole-sourced contracts ended.
Perhaps the lesson we must learn from this controversy, is that as things currently stand, vested interests actually control the destiny of our homeland Ghana, whenever the two largest political parties govern Ghana. That cannot be good for our nation and its people in the long-term. It is intolerable and totally unacceptable.
That is why Ghanaians must vote for the Nkrumahist alliance's presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election - to take Ghana along a path of self-reliance, import-substitution-industrialisation and the promotion of Ghanaian businesses using the purchasing power of the state.
(Hopefully, Paa Kwesi Nduom will be selectd as the Nkrumahist alliance's presidential candidate, with Samia Yaaba Nkrumah as his running mate. But I digress.)
Finally, perhaps one needs to make the point that, if this scandal were to have occurred in China, it will not be the Hannah Tettehs and the Spio Garbrahs who would be executed after a quick trial for this particular Bankswitch judgement debt.
On the contrary, it will be the sly and wily Dr. Anthony Akoto Oseis - who signed that agreement in which Ghana was to pay for a service that could be provided free of charge by other IT companies.
Are we therefore not right in saying that the real scandal, is that Bankswitch was to be paid for a service that other IT companies, at one stage, offered to provide for free? Only asking - not making any accusations. No nation-wrecking politics-of-equalisation here, thank you.
Old Fadama Residents Have No Excuse For Damaging State Property And Attacking The Police
It is a matter of regret that as a result of the recent floods in Accra, the city authorities have had to finally take steps to remove the illegal settlement, at Old Fadama.
Sadly, however, if we are to reduce the damage caused by flooding in Accra, it is necessary to remove that illegal settlement that is a hotbed of carcinogenicity, toxicity and egregious environmental pollution - in order to comprehensively dredge that section of the Odaw River that runs through it.
The point also needs to be made that no matter how much one sympathises with the unfortunate plight of the residents of Old Fadama, nothing can justify the resort to violence by those of them who marched to the State House and rioted there, a few days ago.
There can be no excuse for such mindless and needless violence in our democracy. Ours is a nation of laws.
Clearly, as a people, we need to find a solution to the increasing number of slums in urban Ghana - an unfortunate consequence of the growing disparities in wealth in our country. But slum dwellers must be law abiding - and politicians must refrain from turning slum-clearance into a political football.
The police must study video footage shown on television news reports, of those who rioted, destroyed public property and attacked the police, frame by frame - and ask the media to publish photographs of the perpetrators: as a means of identifying and subsequently arresting them. They must all be prosecuted and jailed.
There is no question that for the greater good, the Old Fadama settlement must be removed, as a necessary flood-control measure.
The time to do so has now come. What needs to be done is to ensure that it is done as humanely as possible. Those who live there are our fellow humans - most of them forced by circumstances to live and work at Old Fadama.
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), must be tasked to provide the Old Fadama residents with emergency shelter, and provide them with relief items for their sustenance for a reasonable period, whiles the rainy season lasts.
It is important, however, that those who rioted and damaged government property, when they converged at the State House a few days ago, and attacked the police, are not allowed to get away with their outrageous and disgraceful behaviour.
They must all be apprehended, prosecuted and jailed for their totally unacceptable and inexcusable behavior. There can be no excuse for such abominable and unspeakable acts of violence - resulting in the destruction of public property and the wounding of police officers maintaining law and order in our homeland Ghana.
Sadly, however, if we are to reduce the damage caused by flooding in Accra, it is necessary to remove that illegal settlement that is a hotbed of carcinogenicity, toxicity and egregious environmental pollution - in order to comprehensively dredge that section of the Odaw River that runs through it.
The point also needs to be made that no matter how much one sympathises with the unfortunate plight of the residents of Old Fadama, nothing can justify the resort to violence by those of them who marched to the State House and rioted there, a few days ago.
There can be no excuse for such mindless and needless violence in our democracy. Ours is a nation of laws.
Clearly, as a people, we need to find a solution to the increasing number of slums in urban Ghana - an unfortunate consequence of the growing disparities in wealth in our country. But slum dwellers must be law abiding - and politicians must refrain from turning slum-clearance into a political football.
The police must study video footage shown on television news reports, of those who rioted, destroyed public property and attacked the police, frame by frame - and ask the media to publish photographs of the perpetrators: as a means of identifying and subsequently arresting them. They must all be prosecuted and jailed.
There is no question that for the greater good, the Old Fadama settlement must be removed, as a necessary flood-control measure.
The time to do so has now come. What needs to be done is to ensure that it is done as humanely as possible. Those who live there are our fellow humans - most of them forced by circumstances to live and work at Old Fadama.
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), must be tasked to provide the Old Fadama residents with emergency shelter, and provide them with relief items for their sustenance for a reasonable period, whiles the rainy season lasts.
It is important, however, that those who rioted and damaged government property, when they converged at the State House a few days ago, and attacked the police, are not allowed to get away with their outrageous and disgraceful behaviour.
They must all be apprehended, prosecuted and jailed for their totally unacceptable and inexcusable behavior. There can be no excuse for such abominable and unspeakable acts of violence - resulting in the destruction of public property and the wounding of police officers maintaining law and order in our homeland Ghana.
Saturday, 20 June 2015
They Can Ignore All One's Ideas - But President Mahama's Regime Must Ensure That All Cocoa Area Roads Are Climate-Change-Proofed
For any patriot and nationalist, who cares about the enterprise Ghana, nothing can be more frustrating than offering sound advice freely to those in power - who ignore it: simply because those whose job it is to bring such ideas to the attention of the government of the day, are incompetent and clueless square-pegs-in-round-holes.
(Where in the world but Ghana, can geniuses like the Stan Dogbes, control access to the nation's President, I ask? And, who knows, were he to become president, perhaps Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo too will also bring his own geniuses in tow - in the shape of the garrullous Sammy Awukus and the narcissistic Asare Otchere-Darkos, who think they are God's gift to our nation. Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o. But I digress.)
Whenever such free nation-building advice is ignored, an opportunity to move Ghana forward, is then lost. Unfortunately, it appears that if the personal interests of the powerful aren't served by an idea, no matter how innovative that idea might be, it will simply not get any traction in Ghana.
Perhaps that is why so many daft ideas that are not beneficial to our nation in the long-term - described by an old acquintance of mine as "Alice-in-wonderland fantasies" - are championed by some of those in power.
Examples include the US$40 billion project to build a bullet train railway line from Accra to Kumasi, and the proposed project to build a light rail line to the Accra international airport. Critics say they are nothing more than sleight-of-hand schemes by a well-connected and greedy few to grab valuable land in Accra and Kumasi for development.
Sadly, what happens, whiles we waste precious time and valuable resources on such pipe dreams, is that other more serious nations in the West African sub-region, in the meantime busy themselves with implementing vital infrastructural projects. Yet we boast of being the gateway to West Africa.
And we are saddling future generations with debt needlessly - whiles allowing ruthless destination inspection companies with good political connections, for example, to siphon off billions of dollars in precious taxes: doing work that can and should be done by the Customs, Excise and Preventative Service of the Ghana Revenue Authority. Mad.
As we speak, for instance, the French logistics company, Bollore, is financing a railway line from Parakou (which already has a rail line to Cotonou that will be rehabilitated) to Niamey, for €1.07 billion, mostly from its own resources.
The railway line will be extended from Niamey to Ouagadougou. Bollore will own 40 percent of the rail operator, BENI Rail, whiles Benin and Niger own 10 percent each. The rest of the 40 percent shares will be sold to private investors.
Our ruling elites must stop sole-sourcing important projects. Why do they not ask for proposals from around the world, for a modern drainage system for Accra, for example - instead of giving it out to Conti of the US on a silver platter so to speak?
If they invite proposals from around the world for large infrastructure projects, they will get deals as good as Bollore's BENI Rail project.
After all, there are many good and reputable infrastructure companies capable of executing the Accra drainage project for far less than the US$600 million it will apparently cost. Spain is a leader in the field of delivering large infrastructural projects, incidentally.
Alas, a few ideas of mine too, have been ignored over the years. They include an idea, which if adopted, will ensure that never again will our country be held to ransom by so-called "bulk oil distribution companies" (BDC).
Some of them are dodgy entities which import substandard petrol and diesel from the Trafiguras of this world - which defend themselves by saying they produce petrol and diesel that meet the quality standards set for the Ghanaian market for sale here.
Many BDC's use creative accounting to enable them rip-off our nation - in the mother of all create-loot-and-share scams labelled "under-recovery" and "forex losses". Hmm, Ghana - asem ebeba debi ankasa.
On Wednesday, 23 July, 2014, I wrote and posted an article entitled: "Why Not Merge TOR, GNPC & GOIL?", on this blog.
In that article, I outlined how, by merging the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), and transferring the assets of that state-owned financial basket-case, known as the Bulk Oil Storage and Distribution Company (BOST), to the newly-merged entity, we could create an energy industry behemoth in West Africa.
The new entity could earn our country substantial sums of hard currency annually in the process - selling millions of dollars worth of finished petroleum products in GOIL petrol filling stations across West Africa. That will help improve our balance of trade - and strengthen our currency, will it not?
I am glad that finally, someone far more important than little old me, the Hon. Cletus Avoka, has now come round to the same view - and thinks that upstream and downstream state-owned entities ought to be merged. (Incidentally, I do hope the Hon. Avoka accepts my condolences on the tragic death of his son Maxwell. May his soul rest in peace.)
Hopefully, wearing his hat as chairperson of Parliament's Select Committee on Mines and Energy, the Hon. Avoka will point out the advantages of such a merger of state-owned upstream and downstream petroleum sector entities to President Mahama's administration.
However, his suggestion that the merged entity should also be allowed to regulate the oil and gas industry, is asking for trouble.
If such a regulator will never replicate the technical services agreement covering Iraq's Rumaila oilfield in Ghana - and get international oil companies to foot the bill for exploration and production activities off Ghana's shores, and be paid not with loaned money, but with barrels of oil at a discount - what hope is there that it will regulate the oil and gas industry in the national interest, ever?
Knowing how greedy so many members of our ruling elites are, as a regulator, will the merged entity not probably end up colluding with companies with cultures that permit them to put making money at the expense of their fellow humans, and therefore don't care if they rip-off Ghana through transfer pricing, to siphon off oil and gas revenues due Ghana?
If, as regulator, the merged entity opted for technical services agreements such as that governing Iraq's Rumaila oilfield, with international oil companies, there would be absolutely no need, ever, for the GNPC to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars "for exploration"- not if those who run it were guided solely by national interest considerations.
Finally, speaking as someone whose family grows cocoa in Ghana's Eastern Region (and has done since 1921 from the days of the British occupation of our country), my prayer is that the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board will talk to the Indian conglomerate, Tata, and ask it to train all the road contractors selected for the cocoa roads programme, to use the simple technology of melting plastic waste and mixing it with bitumen to construct plastic roads.
Plastic roads bear much heavier loads than normal roads, last much much longer than ordinary roads, remain pothole-free throughout their lifespan, and, because plastic is impermeable to water, plastic roads aren't washed away by flash floods.
In short, Ghana will be climate-change-proofing the new cocoa roads, at virtually no extra cost - and they will last for yonks into the bargain too. Well, they can ignore all one's ideas, but this is the one idea that one hopes that President Mahama's administration will adopt this year: climate-change-proof all the new cocoa roads by using the simple technology of mixing melted plastic waste with bitumen to construct plastic roads.
(Where in the world but Ghana, can geniuses like the Stan Dogbes, control access to the nation's President, I ask? And, who knows, were he to become president, perhaps Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo too will also bring his own geniuses in tow - in the shape of the garrullous Sammy Awukus and the narcissistic Asare Otchere-Darkos, who think they are God's gift to our nation. Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o. But I digress.)
Whenever such free nation-building advice is ignored, an opportunity to move Ghana forward, is then lost. Unfortunately, it appears that if the personal interests of the powerful aren't served by an idea, no matter how innovative that idea might be, it will simply not get any traction in Ghana.
Perhaps that is why so many daft ideas that are not beneficial to our nation in the long-term - described by an old acquintance of mine as "Alice-in-wonderland fantasies" - are championed by some of those in power.
Examples include the US$40 billion project to build a bullet train railway line from Accra to Kumasi, and the proposed project to build a light rail line to the Accra international airport. Critics say they are nothing more than sleight-of-hand schemes by a well-connected and greedy few to grab valuable land in Accra and Kumasi for development.
Sadly, what happens, whiles we waste precious time and valuable resources on such pipe dreams, is that other more serious nations in the West African sub-region, in the meantime busy themselves with implementing vital infrastructural projects. Yet we boast of being the gateway to West Africa.
And we are saddling future generations with debt needlessly - whiles allowing ruthless destination inspection companies with good political connections, for example, to siphon off billions of dollars in precious taxes: doing work that can and should be done by the Customs, Excise and Preventative Service of the Ghana Revenue Authority. Mad.
As we speak, for instance, the French logistics company, Bollore, is financing a railway line from Parakou (which already has a rail line to Cotonou that will be rehabilitated) to Niamey, for €1.07 billion, mostly from its own resources.
The railway line will be extended from Niamey to Ouagadougou. Bollore will own 40 percent of the rail operator, BENI Rail, whiles Benin and Niger own 10 percent each. The rest of the 40 percent shares will be sold to private investors.
Our ruling elites must stop sole-sourcing important projects. Why do they not ask for proposals from around the world, for a modern drainage system for Accra, for example - instead of giving it out to Conti of the US on a silver platter so to speak?
If they invite proposals from around the world for large infrastructure projects, they will get deals as good as Bollore's BENI Rail project.
After all, there are many good and reputable infrastructure companies capable of executing the Accra drainage project for far less than the US$600 million it will apparently cost. Spain is a leader in the field of delivering large infrastructural projects, incidentally.
Alas, a few ideas of mine too, have been ignored over the years. They include an idea, which if adopted, will ensure that never again will our country be held to ransom by so-called "bulk oil distribution companies" (BDC).
Some of them are dodgy entities which import substandard petrol and diesel from the Trafiguras of this world - which defend themselves by saying they produce petrol and diesel that meet the quality standards set for the Ghanaian market for sale here.
Many BDC's use creative accounting to enable them rip-off our nation - in the mother of all create-loot-and-share scams labelled "under-recovery" and "forex losses". Hmm, Ghana - asem ebeba debi ankasa.
On Wednesday, 23 July, 2014, I wrote and posted an article entitled: "Why Not Merge TOR, GNPC & GOIL?", on this blog.
In that article, I outlined how, by merging the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), and transferring the assets of that state-owned financial basket-case, known as the Bulk Oil Storage and Distribution Company (BOST), to the newly-merged entity, we could create an energy industry behemoth in West Africa.
The new entity could earn our country substantial sums of hard currency annually in the process - selling millions of dollars worth of finished petroleum products in GOIL petrol filling stations across West Africa. That will help improve our balance of trade - and strengthen our currency, will it not?
I am glad that finally, someone far more important than little old me, the Hon. Cletus Avoka, has now come round to the same view - and thinks that upstream and downstream state-owned entities ought to be merged. (Incidentally, I do hope the Hon. Avoka accepts my condolences on the tragic death of his son Maxwell. May his soul rest in peace.)
Hopefully, wearing his hat as chairperson of Parliament's Select Committee on Mines and Energy, the Hon. Avoka will point out the advantages of such a merger of state-owned upstream and downstream petroleum sector entities to President Mahama's administration.
However, his suggestion that the merged entity should also be allowed to regulate the oil and gas industry, is asking for trouble.
If such a regulator will never replicate the technical services agreement covering Iraq's Rumaila oilfield in Ghana - and get international oil companies to foot the bill for exploration and production activities off Ghana's shores, and be paid not with loaned money, but with barrels of oil at a discount - what hope is there that it will regulate the oil and gas industry in the national interest, ever?
Knowing how greedy so many members of our ruling elites are, as a regulator, will the merged entity not probably end up colluding with companies with cultures that permit them to put making money at the expense of their fellow humans, and therefore don't care if they rip-off Ghana through transfer pricing, to siphon off oil and gas revenues due Ghana?
If, as regulator, the merged entity opted for technical services agreements such as that governing Iraq's Rumaila oilfield, with international oil companies, there would be absolutely no need, ever, for the GNPC to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars "for exploration"- not if those who run it were guided solely by national interest considerations.
Finally, speaking as someone whose family grows cocoa in Ghana's Eastern Region (and has done since 1921 from the days of the British occupation of our country), my prayer is that the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board will talk to the Indian conglomerate, Tata, and ask it to train all the road contractors selected for the cocoa roads programme, to use the simple technology of melting plastic waste and mixing it with bitumen to construct plastic roads.
Plastic roads bear much heavier loads than normal roads, last much much longer than ordinary roads, remain pothole-free throughout their lifespan, and, because plastic is impermeable to water, plastic roads aren't washed away by flash floods.
In short, Ghana will be climate-change-proofing the new cocoa roads, at virtually no extra cost - and they will last for yonks into the bargain too. Well, they can ignore all one's ideas, but this is the one idea that one hopes that President Mahama's administration will adopt this year: climate-change-proof all the new cocoa roads by using the simple technology of mixing melted plastic waste with bitumen to construct plastic roads.
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Should Parliament Allow Well-Meaning Medical Researchers To Put Ghana At Risk From The Ebola Fever Virus?
Throughout history, medical researchers have constantly pushed the frontiers of knowledge in medical science, further forward.
It is the results of such cutting-edge research that has led to the improvement in the health of billions of people around the world over the decades.
Many alive today, might suffer premature deaths, were it not for access to doctors in public healthcare facilities - who offer them the latest treatment and prescribe safe and well-tested drugs for them.
It is therefore not surprising that medical doctors interested in research into the Ebola haemorrhagic fever virus are keen to have an Ebola vaccine tested in Ghana.
It is also understandable that members of Parliament, some of whose constituents could be selected to take part in any Ebola vaccine trials here, should seek further information from those who are conducting the trials in Ghana - to have an insight into just how safe the vaccines actually are.
Perhaps members of our political class should listen to those in our midst, who say that it is at precisely such moments, that our parliamentarians would be wise to turn to the conspiracy theorists, who publish articles in alternative online media outlets - and some of whom often accuse bioweapons researchers of the military forces of the big powers, of deliberately infecting unsuspecting populations of poor nations, with dangerous viruses.
The information our parliamentarians garner from such unorthodox sources online will help them protect ordinary Ghanaians - from a fate similar to that which befell some inhabitants of northern Nigeria in 1996: when Pfizer tested its drug trovaflaxacin during a meningitis epidemic in that part of Nigeria.
In 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, allowed the families of 11 children who died during the outbreak of the Kano meningitis epidemic, to sue Pfizer in the US under the Alien Torts Statute. Pfizer settled with them out of court - and paid Nigeria some US$72 millions as compensation.
We must not forget that there are some Ghanaians who argue that we have, as a people, paid our dues, in combatting the west African Ebola fever epidemic.
They point to the fact that our nation agreed - at a time when many nations around the world closed their airspace to airlines flying from the three worst Ebola affected nations - to have Ghana serve as a logistics hub for the global effort to contain the Ebola fever epidemic that spread from Guinea to Liberia and Sierra Leone last year. Do they have a point, one wonders?
In any case, it is important that parliamentarians, and the media, in Ghana, demand an urgent answer from the medical doctors responsible for the GSK Ebola vaccine trials here, to a simple question.
With respect, can they tell the good people of Ghana, why, in the midst of a move by the British government to make public, all UK-funded vaccine trial data, Prime Minister David Cameron, has excluded data from Ebola vaccine trials - on national security grounds? Food for thought.
A people who shake hands routinely many times daily, bathe and handle the dead out of respect for the traditional rituals and practices governing burial of the departed, across the nation, and who sweat freely in the humid climate we experience here yearly, after the dry harmattan season, will definitely die in their tens of thousands, were there to be an outbreak of Ebola fever in Ghana.
Who will travel by tro-tro to work if the Ebola fever virus comes to Ghana, for example, I ask? The economic cost of such an outbreak will be incalculable - and our struggling economy might never recover from such a blow for many years. It just doesn't bear thinking.
One's humble advice (unsolicited and offered freely) to the overworked and underpaid members of Ghana's Parliament, is to google and read about Ebola vaccine trials from just the following two websites: Jon Rappoport's website and the Eugenics and Pandemics website.
Parliament should not allow President Mahama's beseiged administration to cave in to any behind-the-scenes pressure from foreign governments in this matter.
This is a better-safe-than-sorry situation for Ghana. Let our parliamentarians ask their counterparts in Sierra Leone, why their ministry of health and sanitation brought Ebola diagnostic kit tests, and virus research being carried out by Tulane University and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Kanema, to an abrupt halt, in July 2014.
Surely, our nation actually contributed to the global fight against the west African Ebola fever epidemic - when Ghana sent volunteer healthcare professionals to parts of the affected area in 2014?
Above all, Parliament must be careful not to allow the desperation for funding, for their under-resourced labs, on the part of well-meaning but naive medical researchers in Ghana, to put our nation at risk from the Ebola fever virus.
If it is true that the combination of Ebola and cold viruses can cause Ebola fever, then is the GSK Ebola vaccine trial not clearly an unacceptable risk for our nation to take - especially when nothing stops brilliant Ghanaian researchers from travelling to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to undertake such Ebola vaccine trials, if they so desire? Just enquiring - not condemning anyone. I shall rest my case, for now. Hmm, Ghana - enti omanyi ebeyeyie anaa?
It is the results of such cutting-edge research that has led to the improvement in the health of billions of people around the world over the decades.
Many alive today, might suffer premature deaths, were it not for access to doctors in public healthcare facilities - who offer them the latest treatment and prescribe safe and well-tested drugs for them.
It is therefore not surprising that medical doctors interested in research into the Ebola haemorrhagic fever virus are keen to have an Ebola vaccine tested in Ghana.
It is also understandable that members of Parliament, some of whose constituents could be selected to take part in any Ebola vaccine trials here, should seek further information from those who are conducting the trials in Ghana - to have an insight into just how safe the vaccines actually are.
Perhaps members of our political class should listen to those in our midst, who say that it is at precisely such moments, that our parliamentarians would be wise to turn to the conspiracy theorists, who publish articles in alternative online media outlets - and some of whom often accuse bioweapons researchers of the military forces of the big powers, of deliberately infecting unsuspecting populations of poor nations, with dangerous viruses.
The information our parliamentarians garner from such unorthodox sources online will help them protect ordinary Ghanaians - from a fate similar to that which befell some inhabitants of northern Nigeria in 1996: when Pfizer tested its drug trovaflaxacin during a meningitis epidemic in that part of Nigeria.
In 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, allowed the families of 11 children who died during the outbreak of the Kano meningitis epidemic, to sue Pfizer in the US under the Alien Torts Statute. Pfizer settled with them out of court - and paid Nigeria some US$72 millions as compensation.
We must not forget that there are some Ghanaians who argue that we have, as a people, paid our dues, in combatting the west African Ebola fever epidemic.
They point to the fact that our nation agreed - at a time when many nations around the world closed their airspace to airlines flying from the three worst Ebola affected nations - to have Ghana serve as a logistics hub for the global effort to contain the Ebola fever epidemic that spread from Guinea to Liberia and Sierra Leone last year. Do they have a point, one wonders?
In any case, it is important that parliamentarians, and the media, in Ghana, demand an urgent answer from the medical doctors responsible for the GSK Ebola vaccine trials here, to a simple question.
With respect, can they tell the good people of Ghana, why, in the midst of a move by the British government to make public, all UK-funded vaccine trial data, Prime Minister David Cameron, has excluded data from Ebola vaccine trials - on national security grounds? Food for thought.
A people who shake hands routinely many times daily, bathe and handle the dead out of respect for the traditional rituals and practices governing burial of the departed, across the nation, and who sweat freely in the humid climate we experience here yearly, after the dry harmattan season, will definitely die in their tens of thousands, were there to be an outbreak of Ebola fever in Ghana.
Who will travel by tro-tro to work if the Ebola fever virus comes to Ghana, for example, I ask? The economic cost of such an outbreak will be incalculable - and our struggling economy might never recover from such a blow for many years. It just doesn't bear thinking.
One's humble advice (unsolicited and offered freely) to the overworked and underpaid members of Ghana's Parliament, is to google and read about Ebola vaccine trials from just the following two websites: Jon Rappoport's website and the Eugenics and Pandemics website.
Parliament should not allow President Mahama's beseiged administration to cave in to any behind-the-scenes pressure from foreign governments in this matter.
This is a better-safe-than-sorry situation for Ghana. Let our parliamentarians ask their counterparts in Sierra Leone, why their ministry of health and sanitation brought Ebola diagnostic kit tests, and virus research being carried out by Tulane University and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Kanema, to an abrupt halt, in July 2014.
Surely, our nation actually contributed to the global fight against the west African Ebola fever epidemic - when Ghana sent volunteer healthcare professionals to parts of the affected area in 2014?
Above all, Parliament must be careful not to allow the desperation for funding, for their under-resourced labs, on the part of well-meaning but naive medical researchers in Ghana, to put our nation at risk from the Ebola fever virus.
If it is true that the combination of Ebola and cold viruses can cause Ebola fever, then is the GSK Ebola vaccine trial not clearly an unacceptable risk for our nation to take - especially when nothing stops brilliant Ghanaian researchers from travelling to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to undertake such Ebola vaccine trials, if they so desire? Just enquiring - not condemning anyone. I shall rest my case, for now. Hmm, Ghana - enti omanyi ebeyeyie anaa?
Friday, 12 June 2015
Ghana's Military's Special Forces Must Be Deployed To Halt Illegal Logging In The Atewa Range Upland Evergreen Rainforest
If, as a people, we adopt the same only-going-through-the-motions approach to preserving the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest, which we have adopted, in supposedly instituting effective flood-control measures to save life and property in urban Ghana during the rainy season, then a very bleak future awaits coming generations.
If illegal logging syndicates are allowed to denude the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest to produce chainsaw lumber, future generations will not have sufficient water from the three river systems that southern urban Ghana relies on for its drinking-water supply - as the headwaters for the Densu, Ayensu and Birim lie in that part of our country.
Sadly, even as Ghana celebrated its fourth Forestry Week - between May 23-29, 2015 - a ruthless illegal logging syndicate fronted by a businesswoman, one Obaa Yaa, was busy at work cutting trees in the area in the Atewa Range in which the Atewa Forest Reserve lies.
The said syndicate operates in the area covering forest reserve boundary pillars (FRBP) 92, 93, 94 and 95, which local people in Akyem Saamang and Akyem Juaso refer to as "Thompson" and "François".
That a criminal syndicate can cut trees from dusk to dawn on a regular basis in the Atewa Range with impunity, and succeed in carting chainsaw lumber from there to Ofankor Muss, Taifa junction, on the Accra-Kumasi highway, to sell without any hindrance, is astonishing. What exactly do our nation's secret services do, one wonders?
It shows just how daunting the task faced by Ghana's Forestry Commission is - as it tries, against great odds, to preserve the remainder of our nation's forests.
Incidentally, I called the Ghana Police headquarters telephone line (0302773900 on 4/6/2015 at 22:02 GMT) when I was tipped off by an informant, on the evening of June 4, 2015, that chainsaw operators were illegally felling trees in the Thompson and François properties.
I had hoped to get the police headquarters switchboard operators to alert the Anyinam District Police Command to intercept the chainsaw lumber - as it was being evacuated from the forest at Akyem Juaso that night. Alas, it was an exercise in futility - as no one answered my phone call.
In the end, I called the Weija District Police Command (0302850023 on 4/6/2015 at 22:05 GMT) - and spoke to a policeman who said his name was Corporal Awuku. Unfortunately, there has been no feedback since then. Hmm, Ghana - enti omanyi ebeyeyie anaa?
I subsequently emailed the headquarters of the Forestry Commission (info.hq@fcghana.org on 5/6/2015) - but as is usual with officialdom in Ghana in such matters, it has not been acknowledged to date: and probably never will either. Pity.
I also went as far as giving out the telephone numbers of Obaa Yaa, her chainsaw gang leader, Kwesi, and her local Mr-Fix-It, Yaw Obeng, to info@peacefmonline.com - which did not even have the courtesy to acknowledge receipt of my message. Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o.
From my personal knowledge of the scale of the illegal logging now going on in the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest at Akyem Juaso, I can boldly predict that if it is not halted in time, 20 years hence, there will be a significant reduction in the quantity of water from the Densu, Ayensu and Birim river systems, which will negatively impact the quality of life of Accra's residents then.
That 20-year time-frame might seem like an eternity to some - but it will come in the twinkling of an eye: if you are a 6 or 10-year old primary schoolchild attending school in Accra, today.
Clearly, an under-resourced Forestry Commission, cannot possibly be expected to deal effectively with the illegal logging syndicates, which are destroying the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest, all on its own.
That is unfair and unrealistic - if we are actually serious about halting illegal logging in Ghana.
The criminal syndicates engaged in illegal logging, illegal gold mining and illegal sand-winning, operate with the same degree of ruthlessness, with which the rebel groups that destroyed Liberia and Sierra Leone, used to carry out their military operations - to enable them to plunder gold, diamonds and timber during the civil wars in those two nations.
Many Forestry Service guards have been murdered by illegal chainsaw gangs across the forest-belt in Ghana.
The task of halting the gang-rape of the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest at the Akyem Juaso section, must be handed over to a combined task force made up of Forestry Service guards, men from the Ghana Army's Special Forces Unit and the Special Forces Unit of the Ghana Air Force.
Daytime surveillance of the area using aerial drones with high resolution cameras, as well as by helicopter, and analysing satellite images of the area from the Urthecast satellite video streaming service, will provide the intelligence needed to pinpoint the areas where the illegal chainsaw gangs operate in, and arrest them.
About 20 years ago, some of us used to regularly risk our lives confronting the illegal chainsaw gangs which then operated in the area. At the time, we warned in our writing, that if urgent steps were not taken to halt their activities, Ghana would have to import timber from elsewhere in the not too distant future. That has now come to pass, unfortunately.
Sadly, now that we are in our sixties, and no longer as physically strong as we once were, alas, we can no longer physically confront the illegal loggers who operate in the area.
However, we can, and will, predict through our writing, that if drastic measures are not taken immediately to deal with the criminal syndicates engaged in illegal logging, illegal gold mining and illegal sand-winning across the country, we will wake up to find one day that they have all been transformed into powerful rebel groups.
That could happen as early as next year - should law and order break down after the 2016 elections. Judging by the intensity of the rivalry between Ghana's two major political parties, we cannot rule out the possibility that there could, for example, be post-election violence in areas where the results are disputed.
And post-election fighting could also break out between members of the small groups of violence-prone and amoral hardliners in the National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party - the corrupt duopoly that has ruled Ghana since 1992 - if the presidential election's results are disputed. But I digress.
Parliament needs to pass tough new laws that will make it mandatory for illegal loggers to be tried and imprisoned for at least 10 years with hard labour if found guilty of felling trees unlawfully by the law courts.
Those new laws must also stipulate that all vehicles, chainsaws and other accoutrements used by illegal loggers should be seized and forfeited to the state - which should auction them to the highest bidders: in transparent auctions that are widely publicised.
As an emergency measure, the present government must get the Special Forces units of our military's three armed services, to tackle the menace of illegal logging in the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest - and it must do so now. Not tomorrow - when it will be way too late to save an important ecosystem services provider, and globally significant biodiversity area, from total destruction by nation-wrecking criminal syndicates.
If illegal logging syndicates are allowed to denude the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest to produce chainsaw lumber, future generations will not have sufficient water from the three river systems that southern urban Ghana relies on for its drinking-water supply - as the headwaters for the Densu, Ayensu and Birim lie in that part of our country.
Sadly, even as Ghana celebrated its fourth Forestry Week - between May 23-29, 2015 - a ruthless illegal logging syndicate fronted by a businesswoman, one Obaa Yaa, was busy at work cutting trees in the area in the Atewa Range in which the Atewa Forest Reserve lies.
The said syndicate operates in the area covering forest reserve boundary pillars (FRBP) 92, 93, 94 and 95, which local people in Akyem Saamang and Akyem Juaso refer to as "Thompson" and "François".
That a criminal syndicate can cut trees from dusk to dawn on a regular basis in the Atewa Range with impunity, and succeed in carting chainsaw lumber from there to Ofankor Muss, Taifa junction, on the Accra-Kumasi highway, to sell without any hindrance, is astonishing. What exactly do our nation's secret services do, one wonders?
It shows just how daunting the task faced by Ghana's Forestry Commission is - as it tries, against great odds, to preserve the remainder of our nation's forests.
Incidentally, I called the Ghana Police headquarters telephone line (0302773900 on 4/6/2015 at 22:02 GMT) when I was tipped off by an informant, on the evening of June 4, 2015, that chainsaw operators were illegally felling trees in the Thompson and François properties.
I had hoped to get the police headquarters switchboard operators to alert the Anyinam District Police Command to intercept the chainsaw lumber - as it was being evacuated from the forest at Akyem Juaso that night. Alas, it was an exercise in futility - as no one answered my phone call.
In the end, I called the Weija District Police Command (0302850023 on 4/6/2015 at 22:05 GMT) - and spoke to a policeman who said his name was Corporal Awuku. Unfortunately, there has been no feedback since then. Hmm, Ghana - enti omanyi ebeyeyie anaa?
I subsequently emailed the headquarters of the Forestry Commission (info.hq@fcghana.org on 5/6/2015) - but as is usual with officialdom in Ghana in such matters, it has not been acknowledged to date: and probably never will either. Pity.
I also went as far as giving out the telephone numbers of Obaa Yaa, her chainsaw gang leader, Kwesi, and her local Mr-Fix-It, Yaw Obeng, to info@peacefmonline.com - which did not even have the courtesy to acknowledge receipt of my message. Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o.
From my personal knowledge of the scale of the illegal logging now going on in the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest at Akyem Juaso, I can boldly predict that if it is not halted in time, 20 years hence, there will be a significant reduction in the quantity of water from the Densu, Ayensu and Birim river systems, which will negatively impact the quality of life of Accra's residents then.
That 20-year time-frame might seem like an eternity to some - but it will come in the twinkling of an eye: if you are a 6 or 10-year old primary schoolchild attending school in Accra, today.
Clearly, an under-resourced Forestry Commission, cannot possibly be expected to deal effectively with the illegal logging syndicates, which are destroying the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest, all on its own.
That is unfair and unrealistic - if we are actually serious about halting illegal logging in Ghana.
The criminal syndicates engaged in illegal logging, illegal gold mining and illegal sand-winning, operate with the same degree of ruthlessness, with which the rebel groups that destroyed Liberia and Sierra Leone, used to carry out their military operations - to enable them to plunder gold, diamonds and timber during the civil wars in those two nations.
Many Forestry Service guards have been murdered by illegal chainsaw gangs across the forest-belt in Ghana.
The task of halting the gang-rape of the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest at the Akyem Juaso section, must be handed over to a combined task force made up of Forestry Service guards, men from the Ghana Army's Special Forces Unit and the Special Forces Unit of the Ghana Air Force.
Daytime surveillance of the area using aerial drones with high resolution cameras, as well as by helicopter, and analysing satellite images of the area from the Urthecast satellite video streaming service, will provide the intelligence needed to pinpoint the areas where the illegal chainsaw gangs operate in, and arrest them.
About 20 years ago, some of us used to regularly risk our lives confronting the illegal chainsaw gangs which then operated in the area. At the time, we warned in our writing, that if urgent steps were not taken to halt their activities, Ghana would have to import timber from elsewhere in the not too distant future. That has now come to pass, unfortunately.
Sadly, now that we are in our sixties, and no longer as physically strong as we once were, alas, we can no longer physically confront the illegal loggers who operate in the area.
However, we can, and will, predict through our writing, that if drastic measures are not taken immediately to deal with the criminal syndicates engaged in illegal logging, illegal gold mining and illegal sand-winning across the country, we will wake up to find one day that they have all been transformed into powerful rebel groups.
That could happen as early as next year - should law and order break down after the 2016 elections. Judging by the intensity of the rivalry between Ghana's two major political parties, we cannot rule out the possibility that there could, for example, be post-election violence in areas where the results are disputed.
And post-election fighting could also break out between members of the small groups of violence-prone and amoral hardliners in the National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party - the corrupt duopoly that has ruled Ghana since 1992 - if the presidential election's results are disputed. But I digress.
Parliament needs to pass tough new laws that will make it mandatory for illegal loggers to be tried and imprisoned for at least 10 years with hard labour if found guilty of felling trees unlawfully by the law courts.
Those new laws must also stipulate that all vehicles, chainsaws and other accoutrements used by illegal loggers should be seized and forfeited to the state - which should auction them to the highest bidders: in transparent auctions that are widely publicised.
As an emergency measure, the present government must get the Special Forces units of our military's three armed services, to tackle the menace of illegal logging in the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest - and it must do so now. Not tomorrow - when it will be way too late to save an important ecosystem services provider, and globally significant biodiversity area, from total destruction by nation-wrecking criminal syndicates.
Thursday, 11 June 2015
Is A 'Legal Permit' To Build Within A Waterway Not A Contradiction In Terms?
The recent demolition of two structures in the jurisdiction of the Ga East Municipal Assembly, following the June 3, 2015, floods in Accra, raises a number of issues.
For example, the difference in the way the Ga East Municipal Assembly dealt with a vehicle washing business owned by an ordinary citizen, and a petrol filling station owned by the member of Parliament for Ayawaso East, the Hon. Nasser Mahama Toure, speaks volumes about the way ordinary people in Ghana are often marginalised by some public officials.
Why were all the structures at the petrol filling station not demolished - just as those at the vehicle washing business were?
Both businesses are said to have been built within a waterway in the Mile 7 area - yet still the owners of both businesses apparently possess permits from the Ga East Municipal Assembly.
It is important that all illegally sited structures earmarked for demolition in Ghana are dealt with in exactly the same fashion by District and Municipal Assembly planning officials - whether they belong to ordinary people or to members of our ruling elites.
No one in our democracy is above the law. Not even the President of the Republic of Ghana is above the law. That is why the social standing of the owners of structures earmarked for demolition should not influence the actions of District and Municipal Assembly officials.
Another issue the said recent demolitions carried out by the Ga East Municipal Assembly raises, is the question of the legality of issuing permits tp build in unapproved places in Ghana.
In light of the widespread destruction and tragic loss of life caused by the recent floods in Accra, and elsewhere in the country, perhaps the question we ought to pose is: can a permit be lawfully issued to build within a waterway in Ghana - particularly in an area where the location of such structures will lead to flooding of other properties after prolonged rainfall?
In a nation in which there is widespread public-sector corruption, should the assumption not always be that permits to build in unapproved places, such as within waterways, are obtained only by bribing planning officials in District and Municipal Assemblies - and therefore cannot possibly have been lawfully obtained?
The time has come for all sides in Parliament to come together, to pass a new law to ensure that building permits to build within waterways, are never issued by planning officials in municipal and district assemblies anywhere in Ghana - and that when that happens all such permits are regarded as having been unlawfully obtained.
Whenever flood-control measures are being discussed, there ought to be a national consensus that the safety and well-being of the majority will always override the self-interest of the well-connected and selfish few, who build within waterways in Ghana - and put so many innocent lives at risk during the rainy season.
In any case, even as things currently stand, surely, referring to a 'legal permit' to build within a waterway, anywhere in Ghana, is a contradiction in terms, is it not?
For example, the difference in the way the Ga East Municipal Assembly dealt with a vehicle washing business owned by an ordinary citizen, and a petrol filling station owned by the member of Parliament for Ayawaso East, the Hon. Nasser Mahama Toure, speaks volumes about the way ordinary people in Ghana are often marginalised by some public officials.
Why were all the structures at the petrol filling station not demolished - just as those at the vehicle washing business were?
Both businesses are said to have been built within a waterway in the Mile 7 area - yet still the owners of both businesses apparently possess permits from the Ga East Municipal Assembly.
It is important that all illegally sited structures earmarked for demolition in Ghana are dealt with in exactly the same fashion by District and Municipal Assembly planning officials - whether they belong to ordinary people or to members of our ruling elites.
No one in our democracy is above the law. Not even the President of the Republic of Ghana is above the law. That is why the social standing of the owners of structures earmarked for demolition should not influence the actions of District and Municipal Assembly officials.
Another issue the said recent demolitions carried out by the Ga East Municipal Assembly raises, is the question of the legality of issuing permits tp build in unapproved places in Ghana.
In light of the widespread destruction and tragic loss of life caused by the recent floods in Accra, and elsewhere in the country, perhaps the question we ought to pose is: can a permit be lawfully issued to build within a waterway in Ghana - particularly in an area where the location of such structures will lead to flooding of other properties after prolonged rainfall?
In a nation in which there is widespread public-sector corruption, should the assumption not always be that permits to build in unapproved places, such as within waterways, are obtained only by bribing planning officials in District and Municipal Assemblies - and therefore cannot possibly have been lawfully obtained?
The time has come for all sides in Parliament to come together, to pass a new law to ensure that building permits to build within waterways, are never issued by planning officials in municipal and district assemblies anywhere in Ghana - and that when that happens all such permits are regarded as having been unlawfully obtained.
Whenever flood-control measures are being discussed, there ought to be a national consensus that the safety and well-being of the majority will always override the self-interest of the well-connected and selfish few, who build within waterways in Ghana - and put so many innocent lives at risk during the rainy season.
In any case, even as things currently stand, surely, referring to a 'legal permit' to build within a waterway, anywhere in Ghana, is a contradiction in terms, is it not?
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Those Who Died In Accra's Floods Yesterday Must Not Die In Vain
It is hard to find words to describe the feelings evoked in one, by some of the harrowing eyewitness accounts, of the horrific events that occurred during the flash floods in Accra yesterday, broadcast by Peace FM early today.
Those flash floods show how vulnerable our country has become in an era of extreme weather occasioned by global climate change. It also shows how fragile human existence actually is.
What cruel fate led so many innocent people to take shelter from the rains, at the GOIL petrol filling station adjacent to the GCB Towers building near the Kwame Nkrumah circle, only to end up being engulfed and burnt alive by a raging inferno - when the petrol filling station apparently caught fire after an explosion?
It is a fate one would not wish to befall even one's worst enemy. With the proliferation of petrol and LPG gas filling stations in residential areas in towns and cities across Ghana, should we not be questioning the wisdom of regulatory bodies issuing permits for building petrol and LPG gas filling stations in such areas?
If eyewitnesses spoke of smelling petrol in the flood waters before the explosion at that GOIL petrol station, where so many people lost their lives so tragically, the possibility that underground tanks in some of the many petrol filling stations in that part of Accra could be leaching petrol into the underground water table, cannot be ruled out.
In addition to any investigations carried out by the Ghana National Fire Service, at the very least - and in memory of all those who lost their lives so tragically in the fire after the explosion - there ought to be thorough inspections of all the petrol and LPG gas filling stations sited in residential areas in towns and cities countrywide.
They must all be made to strictly conform with required standards. Perhaps a law ought to be passed to make it mandatory for underground tanks in all petrol filling stations in Ghana to be double-hulled - and coated with paint, which will ensure that they neither rust nor corrode.
The time has also come for the professionals whose job it is to ensure that people do not build on watercourses in towns and cities, to be sanctioned when they allow that to happen. Parliament must pass draconian laws to make that possible now.
The suffering caused to many families and individuals whose lives are disrupted by flooding is unbearable and everything possible must be done to prevent it.
Above all, politicians must stop playing politics with the issue of demolishing buildings blocking watercourses in our major cities. Such demolitions of unlawfully sited buildings are flood-control measures necessary to prevent future loss of lives and destruction of properties during heavy downpours.
We mourn all those who lost their lives as a result of the flooding in Accra and elsewhere in the country yesterday, and pray for their souls.
We share the grief of their loved ones left so painfully behind - and our hearts and prayers go out to all of them. The deaths of our departed compatriots who died in the flash floods in Accra (and elsewhere in Ghana) must not be in vain. We must all learn lessons from this painful national tragedy.
Those flash floods show how vulnerable our country has become in an era of extreme weather occasioned by global climate change. It also shows how fragile human existence actually is.
What cruel fate led so many innocent people to take shelter from the rains, at the GOIL petrol filling station adjacent to the GCB Towers building near the Kwame Nkrumah circle, only to end up being engulfed and burnt alive by a raging inferno - when the petrol filling station apparently caught fire after an explosion?
It is a fate one would not wish to befall even one's worst enemy. With the proliferation of petrol and LPG gas filling stations in residential areas in towns and cities across Ghana, should we not be questioning the wisdom of regulatory bodies issuing permits for building petrol and LPG gas filling stations in such areas?
If eyewitnesses spoke of smelling petrol in the flood waters before the explosion at that GOIL petrol station, where so many people lost their lives so tragically, the possibility that underground tanks in some of the many petrol filling stations in that part of Accra could be leaching petrol into the underground water table, cannot be ruled out.
In addition to any investigations carried out by the Ghana National Fire Service, at the very least - and in memory of all those who lost their lives so tragically in the fire after the explosion - there ought to be thorough inspections of all the petrol and LPG gas filling stations sited in residential areas in towns and cities countrywide.
They must all be made to strictly conform with required standards. Perhaps a law ought to be passed to make it mandatory for underground tanks in all petrol filling stations in Ghana to be double-hulled - and coated with paint, which will ensure that they neither rust nor corrode.
The time has also come for the professionals whose job it is to ensure that people do not build on watercourses in towns and cities, to be sanctioned when they allow that to happen. Parliament must pass draconian laws to make that possible now.
The suffering caused to many families and individuals whose lives are disrupted by flooding is unbearable and everything possible must be done to prevent it.
Above all, politicians must stop playing politics with the issue of demolishing buildings blocking watercourses in our major cities. Such demolitions of unlawfully sited buildings are flood-control measures necessary to prevent future loss of lives and destruction of properties during heavy downpours.
We mourn all those who lost their lives as a result of the flooding in Accra and elsewhere in the country yesterday, and pray for their souls.
We share the grief of their loved ones left so painfully behind - and our hearts and prayers go out to all of them. The deaths of our departed compatriots who died in the flash floods in Accra (and elsewhere in Ghana) must not be in vain. We must all learn lessons from this painful national tragedy.
Tuesday, 2 June 2015
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.
Sunday, 31 May 2015
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.
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.
Thursday, 28 May 2015
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 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.
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
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.
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.
Friday, 15 May 2015
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.
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.
Thursday, 14 May 2015
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.
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.
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
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.
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.
Monday, 11 May 2015
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!
Friday, 8 May 2015
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.
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.
Tuesday, 5 May 2015
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.
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.
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