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

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

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

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

To whom it might concern

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

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

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

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

Can digital age data protection be 100 percent foolproof?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guaranteeing state revenues in creative fashion

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

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

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

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

Answering Professor Kojo Yankah's latest concern about Ghana

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump will have his day in court

What many forget is that former President Trump was the first occupant of the Oval Office to be beholden to a foreign power - who also used the presidency to increase his net worth blatantly.

Some Americans have been executed for trading U.S. secrets for cash from foreign powers. We must never ignore that fact.

The United States of America is a great nation with a system underpinned by the rule of law and is a free society guided by its Constitution.

No American is above the law in what is the bastion of freedom in a world fraught with dangerous adversaries of liberty, both internally and externally. The rule of law matters in a democracy for a reason: to prevent tyrannical-rule. Full stop. Trump will have his day in court. That is as it should be. Case closed. Haaba.

What Mother Ghana needs is an NDC that fights for ordinary people

Now that our bankrupted  country sits atop a ticking social-time-bomb, what Mother Ghana desperately needs at the moment, is a National Democratic Congress (NDC), which fights for ordinary people. Full stop. Case closed. Hmmm, ey3nsem  piiii,  oooo,  Ghanafuor.

In that light, it is vital that instead of seeing the latest shenanigans in Parliament, as an egregious-betrayal, and an unpardonable-abomination,  it would rather help focus minds more sharply, if those who regard the National NDC, as a mass party inspired by Fl. Lt. J. J. Rawlings (as a vehicle to fight for Mother Ghana's best interests and ensure the welfare and well-being of ordinary Ghanaians), saw the astonishing results of the latest ministerial appointment vetting confirmation vote-casting, in Parliament, differently, and in creative fashion. Simple. Cool.

They must see what has happened in Parliament, as a fresh-start-opportunity for the NDC - to enable it give more brilliant young-achiever-types (in the mould of the Francis Xavvier Sosus and Zenator Agyeman-Rawlings), across Ghana, the opportunity to help repurpose the NDC: from being a party of gravy-train-fatcats, to one that rather seeks the national interest at all material times (which is whatever is in the best interests of ordinary people at any given point in time in our history), oooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

Feeling let down, and disappointed, by the treachery of those NDC MPs who voted with New Patriotic Party (NPP), parliamentarians, to approve the President's latest ministerial nominees, won't help the masses, koraaa, oooo, Ghanafuor. No. No. No.

What Mother Ghana needs, now that our country sits atop a ticking social-time-bomb, is an NDC that fights for the well-being of the masses - not one that when push comes to shove, constantly roots for the fatcats gang-raping Mother Ghana so brutally, ooooo, Ghanafuor. Enough is enough. Yoooooooo...

Why Ghana must not build a nuclear power plant

Ghana's hard-of-hearing, greed-filled elites want to foist a nuclear power plant, on Mother Ghana. Amazing. 

The question a wise and aspirational African people ought to ponder over is: If even super-wealthy and efficiently-run Japan, is still struggling and failing to deal with consequences of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, why should we think that we can handle a similar disaster, were one to occur here too, after an earthquake, I ask, dear critical-reader? Hmmm, ey3nsem piiiii, oooo. Yooooooo...

Nuclear waste remains radioactive and hence incredibly dangerous for thousands of years.

If as a society we can't even handle landfill sites for household and industrial waste, and are notorious for not having a world-class maintenance-culture (and we won't even mention how rampant high-level corruption results in the variation of designs for major public procurement infrastructure projects, to make up for fat-brown-envelope kickbacks), let us not saddle future generations with what is bound to end up as an unmitigated disaster of unimaginable proportions, ooooo, Ghanafuor.

We must not allow elite-nokofio-culture to lead us to this hellish-future, koraaaa, oooooo, Ghanafuor. Enough is enough. We must rather focus on incentivising private sector renewable energy players to power Ghana with 100 percent emission-free clean power - and stop the lunacy of planning to build a nuclear power plant in Ghana (a laughable elite-floated self-enrichment-idea if ever there was one, lol). Yooooooo...

Why Ghanaians must fight to protect press freedom and freedom of expression at all costs

We must fight to protect press freedom and our right to express ourselves freely, within reason, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooo. It is in that light that I am sharing this conversation with an old acquaintance of mine, about the Sikakrom Black Kettle Vs Black Cooking Pot case, dear critical-reader:

Old acquaintance to me: "Kofi, As we descend into the land of Kafka, on top of being bankrupt, the question to ponder over, as wise and aspirational Africans, is: Does Pepe Papanas' alleged investigative-terrorism pale into insignificance - when compared to the terrorism of the rent-seeking state-capture big-thieves-in-high-places participating in the brutal gang-rape of Mother Ghana, annaa?"

My response: Nothing, but nothing, can end undercover truth-seeking, in Sikakrom, oooo, Massa - for, truth's electric armoured-mobility-ride, can withstand even hydrogen bomb blasts, oooo, wai, lol. In any case, integrity can neither be bought nor intimidated, whatever the score. End of story. Full stop.

Finally, dear critical-reader, here is the summation of Sikakrom's bush-telegraph's consensus vox pop viewpoint:

Incredible end to the Sikakrom Black Kettle Vs Black Cooking Pot case - in which the defendant, an alleged serial molester of underage delectable-young-females, known to be forever breaking all the data protection laws on Sikakrom's Statue Book, on top of publicly admitting to paying for harming-harmful-information; setting up honey-traps for those he targets, and hacking phones for same, etc., etc., won (temporary?) vindication that ought to be appealed against by Pepe Papanas, sharpish, to ensure press freedom and freedom of expression in the fight against nation-wrecking high-level corruption in Sikakrom. We must fight to protect press freedom and the right to freedom of expression at all costs, oooo, Ghanafuor. Full stop. Case closed. Yoooooo...

The Electoral Commission must not attempt to rig the 2024 polls

Under no circumstances must Ghana's Electoral Commission attempt to rig the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, oooo, Ghanafuor. They will have the blood of hundreds of thousands on their hands, were they to attempt any rigging, in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.  Yooooooo...

For the sake of Mother Ghana, it is vital that the EC's current leadership, understand clearly, that at the end of the day, in the final analysis, the verdict of history can neither be procured through intimidation nor the distribution of fat-brown-envelopes full of dosh, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yooooooo...

Given the situation which the vast majority of Ghanaians are now grappling with (as they struggle to cope with, and survive galloping inflation), it would be most unfortunate, and unwise, for senior public servants appointed to supervise elections,to continue business as usual, and allow themselves to be manipulated by a government of the day, as has been the case since the inception of constitutional rule, in 1992, in Ghana's 4th Republic.
 
Surely, the current crop of the top brass of the EC, ought to know better (in a country reeling from an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis, which sits atop a ticking social time bomb), and ensure that their actions will place them firmly on the right side of history, by organising genuinely free and fair elections nationwide in December 2024: a moral imperative in a nation bankrupted by leaders ostensibly elected to transform the nation into a prosperous and equitable society, but who have ended up wrecking our national economy through excessive borrowing?

In that light, under no circumstances must the EC attempt to rig the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, oooo, Ghanafuor - as it would be tantamount to pouring kerosene on a smoldering fire. Enough really is enough, oooo. Full stop. Case closed. A word to the wise. Yooooooooo...

A quick note to Lauriana Leydet - co-founder Kunbis Social Impact

Hello Lauriana,

I am a writer, as well as an environmental and human rights activist, who speaks truth to power, in Ghana, through opinion pieces.

Research  by us for a book ("Moringa/B-BOVID: A Case Study In How Not To Do Social Impact Investing"), shows that your post-Moringa business track record is solid and impressive.  Bravo.

It might interest you to know that, as we speak,  virtually the whole of Moringa's C-suit executives have decamped to establish Shared Wood - after Issa Oueodrago exposed Moringa as  greenwashing-carpetbaggers from France, with an egregious company culture bedrocked on end-justifies-the-means corporate-criminality, using the reputation of the Rothschilds to cloak the dark ends they seek.

Lauriana, you could redeem what represents an unfortunate  blot on your otherwise stellar post-Moringa reputation, by telling Issa's lawyer, Thaddeus Sory,  how Moringa cheated Issa,  using the Director's account of 4.9 million cedis to represent the whole value of B-BOVID, thereby ignoring both the tangible & intangible values of B-BOVID, a unique profit-sharing organic agrisector  company empowering its value-chain's oil palm smallholder farmer-stakeholders to bootstrap their way to financial independence, worth far in excess of 15 -25  million cedis at the time.

That confession by you, will enable Issa to finally regain control of B-BOVID, and open the way for Kunbis to extend its Global South footprint, to Ghana, working in close collaboration with Issa. Above all, do remember that similar sharp-practice  creative-valuations triggered an investigation of the Trump Organisation, by prosecutors in New York City.  

Thanks.  

Kind regards,

Kofi.

WhatsApp number:+233576564600.

Tel: +233558852619 & +233277453109.

Is the COCOBOD unwittingly failing Mother Ghana?

Relax, Counsel. At age 70, Kofi Thompson knows by now that such projects take time - and don't always follow a straight line,  so to speak.  

What matters is that you are still committed to the project  -  and that Kofi Thompson  still thrives, healthwise,  lol. Do therefore take all the time you need - so that we get it right first time: when we finally make our move.

Hopefully,  you do see the point that by not aiming for, and planning for, an industry conversion that transforms Ghana into the world's biggest producer of organic cocoa, the COCOBOD is unwittingly  failing its value-chain's  smallholder farmer-stakeholders egregiously, and ought therefore to be prodded to act to protect the future of the cocoa industry. Now. Not tomorrow. Full stop.

Finally, to reiterate my main point: There is no question that the COCOBOD's current leadership need to understand clearly that  in a post-pandemic world, in which health-conscious consumers are opting, increasingly,  for organic cocoa products  -  instead of the cadmium-residue-laden ones coming out of producer-nations such as Ghana - by not planning for Ghana to become the world's biggest producer of traceable organic cocoa beans, they are unwittingly failing Mother Ghana.  Case closed. Full stop. Yooooooo...

Democracy better than military rule

President Akufo-Addo  leads  a government that many Ghanaians now regard as the most corrupt regime,  ever, thus far, in our country's chequered  history, since we gained our independence in 1957.

Be that as it may,  that is no reason for adventurers in our midst, to seek enforced regime-change in Ghana.

For their information, any such unconstitutional intervention, will be vigorously opposed, by those of us who believe that remaining a democratic society that elects its rulers every four years, is the best way to ensure a stable and free society for wise and aspirational Africans, such as Ghana's mostly peace-loving citizenry, oooo, Ghanafuor. Despite its many faults, democracy is a better system of government, than military rule, oooo, Ghanafuor. Yooooooo...

It doesn't make sense for the IMF to bail out debt-distressed nations like Ghana without demanding passage of anti-corruption legislation to protect public funds

It simply doesn't make sense for the IMF to continue bailing out debt-distressed nations, being bled dry by corrupt state-capture rent-seeking ruling-elites, without demanding anti-curruption legislation, being put into place to protect public funds.

Needed new legislation in debt-distressed nations such as Ghana include: Giving the Auditor-General prosecutorial powers; indemnifying whistleblowers from prosecution and rewarding them with 35 percent of recovered stolen public funds made possible by their whistleblowing; publicly publishing declaration of asset forms before assumption of office and immediately after the tenures of high public officials (such as government ministers), and their spouses, ends; and banning mining in forest reserves.

Ditto passage of new legislation banning payments of fees of any kind to sector regulatory bodies, by media houses, to protect the right of all Ghanaians to freely express their opinions, guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution. Non payment of fees to sector regulatory bodies have been used to ban anti-regime  media entities in the  past.
 
Ghana - where a sly and greed-filled powerful few, are robbing their country with total impunity, while a mostly-cowed population look on helplessly - is a case in point. For the IMF to bail Ghana out without the above-mentioned new legislation being passed under certificates of urgency, by Parliament, would be like fetching water in an expensive wicker basket, ooooo, Ghanafuor. Yoooooooo...

Father Joop Visser: Happy Independence Day anniversary to you and your Ghanaian kinsfolk of the Songhor Lagoon salt-winning communities

Happy Independence Day anniversary to you and your Ghanaian kinsfolk of the Songhor Lagoon salt-winning communities, Father Joop Visser. As we celebrate this auspicious day, it strikes  one that perhaps your hopes for a win-win ESG-bedrocked outcome, for your Ghanaian kinsfolk in the Ada Songhor Lagoon indigenous Ga Dangbe salt-winning communities, might now  be possible, oooo, Sage.

One has a strong feeling that if they were  to appeal to the dynamic minister for lands and natural resources, Hon.   Samuel Abu Jinapor, to  broker a new renegotiated win-win agreement with a now-chastened Daniel Makorley, they may actually finally get a new deal they can live peacefully with.

As it happens, Daniel Makorley   lost a case recently, which was heard at one of the Land Courts in Accra. After the judgment was pronounced, he told the media that losing the case had made him understand clearly now that no one is above the law in Ghana.

It's hard to to believe, but Makorley actually went on to inform the media that he saluted the judge who found for the plaintiff who sued him for encroaching on his building plot at East Legon (or thereabouts).

It is in light of that that one feels that perhaps Makorley might now be amenable to a win-win solution, along the very lines that former President  Rawlings always felt was the best option for all the Ada  Songhor Lagoon stakeholders, and for Mother Ghana's longterm benefit.

So, all things being equal, perhaps your long-held-dream of a just and equitable deal, bedrocked on ESG principles, for the indegenous Ga Dangbe of the Ada Songhor Lagoon salt-winning communities, will no longer be  an impossible dream, Sage. Happy Independence Day anniversary to you and your marvellous Ghanaian kinsfolk, of the Songhor Lagoon salt-winning communities, Father Joop Visser!

A no-brainer, not rocket science: world's lowest personal and business tax rates will transform Ghana into a prosperous and equitable society

Members of Ghana's political class need to understand clearly that it is private entrepreneurs who will transform Ghana into a prosperous and equitable society - not governments of the day - going forward into the future. Full stop.

All that our nation's current cohort of hardworking and innovative younger generation of green economy entrepreneurs need, and require, is a Ghana that has the world's lowest personal and business tax rates - and guarantees 100 percent repatriation of profits for the foreign investors who fund their projects. Simple. Case closed. Full stop.

Surely, that's not beyond the realms of possibility, anaaaa, Ghanafuo? Haaba.

Furthermore, why is such a policy not a no-brainer amongst our ruling-elites?

Surely, setting the world's lowest personal and business tax rates, ought to be doable in a society that is full of wise and aspirational Africans - lucky to live in a beautiful country, with an amazing talent-pool: which no one who sets foot in, will fail to be impressed by?

Let's make Ghana a welcoming African nation with the world's lowest personal and business tax rates - and release the boundless energies of the most talented and gifted amongst its younger generations: empowering them to transform our Motherland into one of the planet Earth's most prosperous and equitable societies, wai, Ghanafuo. That is a no-brainer, ooooo -  not rocket science, koraaaa. Yoooooooo...

It will be tragic for Ghana if the IMF fails to wring vital anti-corruption reforms out of our hard-of-hearing ruling-elites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is no question that high-level is impoverishing Ghana. Demanding an end to high-level corruption is the best way Ghana's creditors can help save her from ruination. It will be tragic for Ghana if the IMF and her other foreign creditors fail to wring vital anti-corruption reforms out of our greed-filled and hard-of-hearing ruling-elites. Enough is enough. Full stop. Case closed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Providing Ukraine with fighter jets is crucial towards that end.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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


```

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

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

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

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

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

Watch out mainstream Ghanaian media

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


                   - McKinsey & Company


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

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

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

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

ECG: Wake up, oooo. Yoooooo...

Yesterday evening, at around 18:40pm GMT, I saw a young man clambering up the electricity pole in front of where I live at the Gomoa Buduburam State Housing estate, with feet-clamps.

I immediately became suspicious, and ventured out to speak to the young chap who seemed to be the leader of the two-man gang.

I then asked him what it was that they were doing - whereupon he proceeded to implicate himself in an illegality that causes massive revenue-leakage to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), nationwide, and which severely affects its finances, a well as impairs its ability to provide a world-class service for consumers across Ghana.

The young men were apparently from Camp Liberia - part of which I happen to share a fence-wall with.

Like all slums in our country, the demand and supply of a modern-day essential, like electricity, in Camp Liberia, is enveloped in the foggy-miasma, of a thriving black market, which rips off the very poor, ruthlessly. That one can understand.

However, the ECG must ensure that formal settlements like the State Housing estate where one lives in, are monitored strictly, and on a regular basis.

The ECG can begin that new chapter by sending their Central Regional branch's loss control unit to check the lines from the ECG pole outside where one resides, as soon as is practicable. If fire occurs there (God forbid!) because of the activities of bold and hungry young criminals, such as the two aforementioned young men, we will sue the ECG for zillions, oooo. The ECG needs to wake up, oooo, Ghanafuo. Haaba. Yoooooooo...

MTN Ghana: Stop the cyber fraudsters stealing zillions from your customers through enforced-subscriptions

At 09:08am GMT, today, 27th January, 2023, I received a text message from MTN Ghana, wishing me a: "Happy Data Privacy Week!!".

It felt like a dreadful sick-joke  -  adding to the woes of the daily struggle to survive in a period in which stagflation has caused an unprecedented cost-of-living-crisis in Ghana  making it incredibly difficult for honest and law-abiding citizens to survive.

Surely, the time has now come to demand that the Ghanaian telco industry's well-funded lobbying-entity, the Telecoms Chamber, and the sector government ministry overseeing it, put their feet down, and demand that all the telcos take immediate steps to stop the lucrative enforced-subsription scams, in which relatively small sums (which add up to zillions, every month, it ought to be pointed out, dear critical-reader), are deducted by all manner of sly-chancers (such as those providing caller-tunes for example), from their customers' digital mobile money wallets, without their permission: because those schemes aren't lawfully-binding third-party opt-in schemes in data-privacy-terms?

Enough, really is enough in this matter, oooo, Ghanafuo. The time has now come for MTN Ghana, which has strangely turned a blind eye to this abomination for far too long, to stop the cyber fraudsters stealing zillions from its customers, through illegal third-party enforced-subscriptions, which in reality are grand online larceny schemes,  unlawfully enriching criminal 'service providers' engaged in racketeering and wire-fraud, oooo. Yooooooo...

The West must be resolute in confronting Putin

The West must be resolute in confronting Putin. Fear of escalation in the fight to defeat Putin, is tantamount to engaging in cowardly-appeasement of a murderous kleptocratic-dictator, committing genocide in the digital age, in a world that needs peace and stability, to enable it move forward, after a devastatng pandemic.

It is vital that  leaders of the West understand clearly, why  they must be resolute in confronting Putin: Victory for Ukraine will restore a great nation with a long and proud history, Russia's, place, in the comity of nations, as a global force for good.

Once defeated, the Russian military can then finally move to depose the man who prostituted its honour so egregiously, by ordering an invasion in which innocent civilians are targets, and routinely slaughtered, on a daily basis, and critical infrastructure deliberately destroyed in the most barbaric of fashions. That is totally unacceptable in this day and age - which is why the West must be resolute in confronting Putin: by providing  Ukraine with all the arms it needs (including its heaviest and best tanks), to enable it defeat Putin and end his reign of terror. Full stop. Case closed.

COCOBOD: Convert Ghana's cocoa sector to 100 percent organic production - and bedrock it with ESG, agroforestry and climate-smart farming

The time has now come for the leadership of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), to be held to account for their egregious short-sightedness, unwarranted  complacency and failure to move to convert to 100 percent  cocoa production, and  bedrock the  cocoa sector with ESG, agroforestry and climate-smart farming.
 
As many of the predictions we have made over the decades (about what will happen to our beloved nation, if our hard-of-hearing ruling-elites refuse to change course),  come to pass, we are confounded that greed still continues to drive those whom we elect to govern our nation. Hmmm, ey3nsem piiiii, oooo, Ghanafuo...

It is in that light that we now make bold to predict that, if we are unable to switch all food production to organic (by policy makers planning and executing such a health-boosting idea), and ensuring that the conversion to 100 percent organic production happens within the next five years, then the cocoa industry  will also experience the same shockwaves now  devastating the lives of the many investors, who bought government paper, because they believed it was risk-free investment, but now suddenly realise that that is no longer true.

Sadly, those investors now see clearly that  they have been made to bear the brunt of the wealth-destroying effects, of the reckless borrowing spree indulged in by feckless politicians - who when campaigning for power, promised to end borrowing: and usher the nation into a new nation-building age, beyond aid from foreign powers: but have failed miserably to fulfil that promise.

If the COCOBOD's leadership still don't see, and understand, that if they don't convert the industry to 100 percent organic production, a time will come when virtually all of Ghana's pesticide-residue-ridden cocoa, will be rejected by the foreign markets that used to pay a premium for what (before the vast majority of consumers worldwide adopted healthy lifestyles), used to be considered the world's finest cocoa, then they don't deserve to remain in their positions.

One says what follows humbly and only as  matter of fact, in order to stress a point: As someone whose family has farmed cocoa in Ghana's Eastern Region, since the 1920s (from the British colonial era to date), and who is also an Akyem  Osiem royal, who is co-steward of Akyem Abuakwa's biggest privately-owned freehold landholding portfolio, who  also happens to be a generational-thinker and environmental activist, one intends to do everything possible to force change on the COCOBOD's complacent and shortsighted leadership.

Ghanafuo, that campaign for change to 100 percent organic cocoa production,  will begin by one suing the COCOBOD's current leadership,  for not implementing fully,  all the terms and conditions they signed on to, which led to the African Development Bank (AfDB), giving them US$600 million. We shall demand full accountability from them of what has been  disbursed, thus far, from the US $600 million.

Ghana's  cocoa industry needs new leadership that is farsighted and committed fully  to 100 percent conversion to organic production,  and understand the need to bedrock the  cocoa sector with ESG, agroforestry and climate-smart farming.  Full stop.  Case closed. Yooooooo...

Ghanaians: act boldly to end high-level corruption - or high-level corruption will destroy Ghana and ruin the quality of life of all who live and work hard within its territorial borders

Current events have shown clearly that as wise and aspirational Africans, Ghanaians must act boldly to end high-level corruption - or high-level corruption will most definitely destroy their nation and ruin the quality of life of all who live and work hard within its territorial borders.

For most part of the period since the overthrow of President Nkrumah in 1966, regardless of the nation-building difficulties their country has been faced with, and has had to grapple with, middle-class Ghanaians have grown increasingly prosperous - and mostly tended to mind their own business: by fence-sitting and not involving themselves in what many have labelled the "dirty business of politics".

Unfortunately, that mind-your-own-business mindset, and unhelpful-attitude, has prevailed amongst middle-class Ghanaians, most especially during the 4th Republic  (a period which has been completely dominated by a hard-of-hearing duopoly made up of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), and today's largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), both beholden to faceless rent-seeking state-capture big-thieves-in-high-places), particularly because most of them have felt that somehow  they could insulate themselves from the negative effects of the high-level corruption slowly destroying Ghana: regardless of the ruling party elected to govern their country, at any given point in time.  

Now, as it becomes more and more obvious to the world at large, that their nation is bankrupt and debt-distressed, and is now unable to pay interest on its massive debt mountain, most middle-class Ghanaians have suddenly come to realise the danger and folly of not giving a toss about ruinous high-level corruption, and woken up to the fact that their personal well-being and accumulated wealth, can actually be destroyed by the egregious-actions, and abominable-inactions, of those elected to govern their homeland Ghana.

It is in that light that Ghanaians now need to understand clearly that as wise and aspirational Africans, they must act boldly to end high-level corruption - or high-level corruption will destroy their nation and ruin the quality of life of all who live and work hard within its territorial borders. Eiiiii, Oman Ghana - enti y3wiy3 paaa enie? Asem kesiy3 bi, ebeba debi ankasa, oooo. Yoooooooo...

End the dumping of counterfeit and unwholesome products at the Gomoa Budumburam Camp Liberia refugee settlement area now

The Gomoa Budumburam Camp Liberia refugee settlement area, has become the Central Region's dumping ground for counterfeit and unwholesome products, for sale to unsuspecting consumers.

It is not for nothing that the Gomoa Budumbuam Camp Liberia  refugee settlement area is also Ghana's price-gouging capital - where super-ruthless profiteering-traders routinely increase prices regularly to fleece the public, in the midst of an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. Abominable. Unpardonable. Monstrous. Shameful.

It is an untenable situation in an era of galloping-inflation that has affected the living standards of all honest and law-abiding individuals and families amongst Ghana's societal-demographics nationwide.

It is in that light that one appeals to all the regulatory bodies in Ghana, which are mandated by law to protect consumers nationwide, from selfish purveyors of unwholesome products, such as expensive packs of bottled mineral water, to make a beeline for the Gomoa Buduburam Camp Liberia refugee settlement area, as soon as operationally practicable.


There, in that unique melting-pot-community, full of amazing energy and creativity, and unlike any other peri-urban community anywhere else on the surface of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Ghana, they will come across shops, container retail outlets and arrogant mostly foreign table-top hustler-types, who have appropriated pavements to sell all manner of counterfeit products. 

Ghanaian officialdom must wake up from its inertia in this matter which has persisted for far too long - and they must do so immediately. Now. Not tomorrow, oooo, Ghanafuo.

The continued dumping of counterfeit and unwholesome products at the Gomoa Budumburam Camp Liberia refugee settlement area must be brought to a swift end, now, oooo, Ghanafuo. Not tomorrow. Yooooooo...

Has America's great GOP gone mad?

For a pro-American African who grew up in the 1960s, during the period when President Kennedy became the youthful new face of America  -  whose idealism produced the Peace Corps. -  it's hard to fathom how thoroughly selfish and dishonest politicians now dominate the greatest nation, ever, in human history.

It is a sign of the times that a rogue like Representative George Santos is a member of the U.S. Congress, when even the citizens of the world's worst banana republic, would have rejected him, because of his egregious  endless-phantasmagorical-fibbing.

Ditto that a cruel and vindictive wannabe-fascist-dictator, who is a ridiculous Russian puppet, pathological-liar-bar-none and con-man-supremo, who strikes what he thinks is a Churchillian-pose for cameras, complete with a scowl, and who wears a toupee, dominates the GOP, so completely. Yet Churchill would never have countenanced  hiding his baldness with a toupee, being a serious person and real. With respect, has America's great GOP gone quite mad? Haaba.

Food for thought for Ghanaians - whose country is now teetering on the edge of bankruptcy

 It is astonishing that amidst the gloom being spread by the visceral-reaction to the end-game national-ruination, caused primarily by the borrowing-spree that has led Mother Ghana into the deep-hellish-hole she now finds herself trapped in, there is still such a dearth of offered-solutions, to help get us out of the disaster some of us predicted, yonks ago, our country would end up in, if President Akufo-Addo did not have the courage to rid himself of Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta & his greed-filled big-theives-in-high-places, who have dominated his regime, and milked Mother Ghana dry, from the very beginning of his presidency.


Ghanafuo, truth be told, only innovative-thinking will save our nation, oooo. The endless complaining must cease, wai. They won't  help us now. Solutions. Solutions. Solutions. That's what we need now.


The question to ponder over is: Could one big new idea not suddenly open up the possibility of  injecting trillions of dollars into our national economy, if executed well, anaaa -  which is why we must back all our world-class inventors and their game-changing ideas: as a national priority? We are now teetering on the edge of bankruptcy wai, Ghanafuo - so instead of the endless complaints let us innovate our way out of this crushing-wahala,  oooo, wai. Yooooooo...

A quick note to Ronnie El Chieck - An Australian who is keen on finding green economy investment opportunities in Ghana

Try this for size,Yewura Ronnie:  Some bright spark in New York  City is suing Hershey  (hopes to make it a class action suit one gathers),  the eponymous chocolitier, because the company's Cadbury brand dark chocolate he bought and ingested, apparently contained cadmium and heavy metals.

A little lateral-thinking:  Might it not be the perfect moment to ask Hershey to set up and fund a Ghana branch of America's wealthiest endowed educational institution, the Hershey School, to teach organic climate smart cocoa farming, using  agroforestry principles, to rural youth across Ghana's forest belt - and source own-brand locally manufactured organic cocoa products from Ghana, for the North American market dominated by Hershey?

I am pretty sure that I could persuade  my family to make available 2.5 square miles,  out of our 14-square mile freehold upland evergreen rainforest property in the Akyem Juaso section of the Atewa Range that is part of a designated Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA), in what used to be the once heavily-wooded arboreal slopes off the Atewa Forest Reserve, for the proposed college's campus, as well as a research centre and demonstration climate-smart organic cocoa farm using agroforestry principles.

As it happens, 99.6 acres of our freehold rainfores land, in Akyem Juaso, actually lies inside the Atewa Forest Reserve that we have legal access to, and is referred to in Forestry Commission jargon, as an "admitted farm" -  which could be leveraged as a community carbon sequestration initiative, to sustainably fund any mooted Hershey School's Ghana branch. Doubt if you could find a more interesting place for such an agroforestry  project anywhere else in the areas of Ghana where fringe-forest cocoa-farming communities exist. Cool.

A quick note to Father Joop Visser - the Wandering-Priest, who loves his adopted country, Ghana, so passionately

Sage1, may 2023 be a good year for all who live across the entire landmass of Ghana. You really  are insightful, paaaa, oooo. Truth be told, it is hard  to avoid wondering whether  wanting to be the government-of-the-day (benefiting from  pork-barrel  politics delivering state-capture benefits to the established powerful rent-seekers who dominate our system and fund both the constituent parties that make up the New Patriotic Party (NPP)  National Democratic Congress (NDC) duopoly that dominate the 4th Republic so), isn't what actually drives the most vocal critics, of the current ruling party.

If that weren't so, for the NDC crowd, why do they not tell us precisely  how they will govern our debt-distressed country that risks ending up like Sri Lanka, and is likely to default on due interest payments for our massive foreign debt - without ruining living standards and stoking up inflation too, for example: so that voters can be confident that voting them into power again won't result in business as usual, for a greed-filled hard-of-hearing ruling-elite, which loves to party and drown in booze, even  in the face of a horrendous cost-of-living crisis, ruining millions of families simultaneously?

Have you seen or heard about any planned policy to use the Bank of Ghana's (BoG) Central Bank Digital Currency  (CBDC), for growth- boosting, levelling-up generational-empowerment-initiatives, such as giving all families and individuals that  request it, CBDC 1 million credited to them in BoG bank accounts opened for them to use to build new homes, in planned new climate-resilient green communities (to replace existing urban and peri-urban slums), and start new green economy businesses - all to be paid  back in 99 years:  with ultra-low installment payments that will provide assured-revenue for governments-of-the-day, from any government critic, yet, for example?

Furthermore, have you heard about any government critics talking about holding discussions with local private sector businesses to back them to find and partner global private sector  infrastructure providers, to self-finance the construction of 6-lane dualised tolled concrete motorways from Accra to all the regional capitals, own and maintain same, for 35 years, with the foreign partners guaranteed 100 percent profit repatriation, before the next presidential and parliamentary  elections, in 2024? Ditto a private sector funded and owned network of high-speed railway lines from Accra to all the regional capitals, on the same terms?

I don't know about you, Sage1, but I haven't heard any government critics in the NDC, promising, thus far,  to initiate new legislation that will give the Auditor General prosecutorial powers, when they come to  power in January 2025,  yet, oooo. Have you, by any chance?

Ditto get Parliament to pass new asset declaration laws making it mandatory for all political appointees (and top career  public servants), and their spouses,  to publicly publish their assets before assuming office,  and immediately after leaving office, should they win the presidential and parliamentary elections, and form the next administration in January 2025?

And, who takes seriously, amongst today's regime-critics, the idea of the passage of new legislation indemnifying all whistleblowers from prosecution, and guaranteeing them 35 percent of recovered stolen public funds, resulting from evidence they provide prosecutors, in  high-level-corruption recovery-trials, when the NDC returns to power again, Sage1?

Above all, should 16-year old Ghanaian citizens not be allowed to register to vote too  - as it is their future that they are watching being stolen from them in plain sight, in broad daylight, as things currently stand,  I ask,  in all humility? I stand to be corrected, on all the above,  naturally, Sage1, Father Joop Visser - you, the Wandering-Priest, who loves your adopted country, Ghana, so passionately. May 2023 be a good year for all who live in Ghana.

How should the Global North's younger generation Blacks deal with the harmful-stupidities of never-ending-racism?

Perhaps the key lesson that younger generation British Blacks ought to learn from the unfortunate lunacy of the racist broadcastor, Jeremy Clarkson's, widely-dessiminated latest uncouth-insults rained on the person of the Duchess of Sussex (whose only crime really for such idiots is that she is mixed-race and married into the British Royal Family), is that they must no longer tolerate being treated as if they are second class citizens who are half human - by making sure that at all material times, they excel in all their undertakings: in similar vein to the resolve of resolute Black boxers who let technical-knock-downs (of all their white opponents), do their refereeing and rounds-score-card-judging for them, in tournaments in boxing rings on British soil.

Same advice goes to younger generation Blacks across Europe, and to young African Americans, who must also abandon individual-snowflakery, and leadership-gaslighting that endless complaints against racism represent, and focus instead on excelling in all their lawful undertakings, ensuring, above all, that racist police officers looking to arrest them unjustly, can't successfuly harass them: because they are aware of, and conversant with, their  constitutional rights in what is supposed to be a democracy built on the bedrock of freedom. In one's humble view, that is how the Global North's  younger generation Blacks ought to deal with the harmful-stupidities of never-ending-racism. Enough, really is enough, now. Haaba. Case closed. Full stop.  Yooooooo...

We must not sit unconcerned while our rapacious rent-seeking state-capture big-thieves-in-high-places get away with murder

Ghana's 1992 Constitution enjoins leaders of sundry governments-of-the-day to refrain from sanctioning  secret clauses in all the agreements they sign on behalf of the good people of Ghana,  and the Ghanaian nation-state. Fellow Ghanaians, is the best way to ensure that,  not simply to have Parliament pass new asset declaration laws, that require all public office holders to publicly publish their assets -  and those of their spouses, anaaa? Yoooooooo...

The question that follows a priori, therefore,  is: When are we going to tear up all the oil and gas sector agreements signed since that with Kosmos Energy, during the Kufuor-era  - and institute production sharing agreements, to replace all such tainted oil and gas sector so-called hybrid oil agreements: that are one-sided and have resulted in Ghana being denied the US $120 billion,  minimum that would have been her due, had we had production sharing agreements, in place, from day one?

Furthermore, should we also not tear up the obnoxious SynoHydro agreement, apparently signed with secret clauses in them that are allegedly  detrimental to the overall interests of ordinary people and that of Mother Ghana, too, anaaaa? And, in light of all the above, when are we going to tear up all the agreements with the biggest private sector state-capture rent-seekers-extraordinaire,  the Jospong Group, Ghanafuo? Corruption has resulted in many Ghanaians losing their lives. It kills mercilessly. No question. That is why as a wise and aspirational African people, we must not sit unconcerned while our sodden big-thieves-in-high-places get away with murder.  Literally. Enough, really is enough, ooooo. Yoooooooo...

Ghanaians: Let us force our hard-of-hearing ruling-elites to step out of the shadow of conventional economic thinking

Now, more than ever, Ghana's ruling-elites must step out of the shadow of conventional economic thinking, if we are to rid ourselves of the massive debt mountain blocking the transformation of our homeland Ghana into a prosperous and equitable society.

Failure to do so, will lead inexorably to the chaos and destruction that Sri Lanka experienced when it defaulted on paying interest on its gargantuan external debt, here too, as sure as day follows night. No question. Yooooooo...  

Surely, as a wise and aspirational African people, we have the nous and gumption to think up creative and innovative ways, to help us reduce our external debt, without impoverishing ordinary people, in the process, do we not,  Ghanafuo? Haaba.

Why, for example, do we not leverage the value in our forests reserves (definitely more valuable than all the minerals underneath them,  combined), by leasing them to ESG-bedrocked carbon trading companies,  for 99 years, for US$60 billion, I ask, Ghanafuo? Was Twitter not purchased for US$44 billion, recently, anaaa, I ask?   Haaba.

And, were we to leverage the value in all the research institutes under the aegis of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), by repurposing them into cutting-edge commercial research entities, and invite genuine and reputable social impact investors to buy 70 percent for US$60 billion, would that not also reduce the huge debt mountain currently impeding our progress, one wonders?

Furthermore, to end corrosive high-level corruption, why do we also not get Parliament to pass new laws to incentivise whistleblowing - by indemnifying all whistleblowers from prosecution, and rewarding them with 30 percent of recovered purloined public funds, resulting from their exposure of high level corruption, by Ghana's rapacious greed-filled big-thieves-in-high-places? 

 

Finally,  why do we not get Parliament to pass new laws giving the Auditor General prosecutorial powers? Our ruling-elites  cannot go on as they have been carrying on,  any longer, ooooo, Ghanafuo. Enough is enough. The time for them to step out of the shadow of conventional economic thinking is now upon us - and we must force them to do so now as a wise and aspirational African people: not tomorrow. Yoooooooo...

A quick note to Vagdam's heroic Nitin Patel - On International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the beginning of 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based violence campaign

My dear Nitin,

This new opportunity for  Vagdam, through Nigel Guy Stonham's LearningStreet empowerment platform, has nothing to do with luck, at all. It results from your open-mindedness and refusal to allow stereotyping to stop you from interacting with people, regardless of gender,   nationality, skin hue and religious faith, which makes you such a special member of the human race, Nitin.

How else could our friendship, which began evolving as far back as 2008, on the now-defunct online volunteering website, Naabur.com, have been possible, in the first place, I ask?

Cross border wars and violent internal civil strife,  afflicting societies globally, will become tragedies-of-the-past, when people blessed with the virtues that guide you, in your daily interactions with others,  become the preponderant guiding-principles, for effective  servant-leadership, in societies worldwide.

Finally, as today is 25th November, the day set aside as International Day for the Elimination of  Violence against Women, and the beginning of the 16 days of Activism against Gender- Based Violence campaign, let us spare  a thought for women in all the seven continents of our imperilled biosphere - humankind's only home - who are victims of violence: and hope that their individual circumstances will improve dramatically, somehow, as a result of the work of activists worldwide, who daily fight their cause.

Should a wise and aspirational African people like Ghanaians press their leaders to make cybercrime punishable by mandatory death sentences?

So seriously-damaging, is cybercrime, in a world now virtually  dependent on digitisation for value-creation that we must make it a crime punishable by mandatory life sentences, without the possibility of parole for all categories of offenders, regardless of age.

If any one doubts the importance of digitisation in value-creation,  let him or her go the offices of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG),  and see the frustration of customers (who hitherto had been paying their bills from the comfort of their homes, offices and other remote locations, for example, using money stored in digital wallets on their smartphones), who have had to travel to those ECG offices to wait in longish-queues, to pay their bills.

The question to ponder over, dear critical-reader,  is: Would you invest in a company whose leadership had allowed  a situation in which a key revenue-assuarance  digital-payment-platform, had collapsed, to persist for so long, anaaa?  Haaba.

There are certain heinious crimes, such as treason, killing security agency personnel on duty carrying out national assignments and cybercrime,  for example, which our complacent and hard-of-hearing ruling-elites need to overcome their unwillingness to sanction the carrying out of death sentences, for, oooo, Ghanafuo. Yoooooo...

Mandatory death sentences, which is what all cyber criminals  deserve for their egregious nation-wrecking activities (in one's humble view), are a must:  because when they begin being carried out in vigorous-fashion, they  will swiftly end the prevalent view amongst cybercriminals from across West Africa,  that Ghana is soft-touch-haven for them. Simple. Case closed. Cool.

A quick note to Wilmot Dweh - a Gomoa Buduburam Camp Liberia media professional working to create a new green economic-pillar for Liberia

Good morning, Wilmot. It was nice seeing you again yesterday. I am praying that you and your Camp Liberia colleagues, who are attempting to set up a local branch of the  Congress for  Democratic Change (CDC), the ruling party in Liberia, here in Ghana, will be succesful in doing so.

Above all, one hopes that the idea that your branch of the CDC's contribution to the transformation of Liberia into a prosperous and equitable society, will be to help make the commercialisation of ecocoboard production, a new ESG-bedrocked green economic-pillar for Liberia, which will create wealth that remains locally, and generate  jobs galore: with a value-chain whose smallholder farmer-stakeholders are empowered to bootstrap their way to financial independence, through agroforestry.

As I intimated to you, on my part, as my humble contribution to ensuring your success, I am happy to place my personal network of global contacts at the disposal of you and your colleagues. My doors are also open to you whenever you want to meet with me.

Finally, do remember that is vital that your Gomoa Buduburam Camp Liberia refugee settlement area branch of the CDC, when it is established formally, collaborates with the Liberia Netherlands Business and Cultural Council (LNBCC) - as it is through them that the Dutch private sector partners needed to ensure funding for any successful ecocoboard production commercialisation-project-execution, across Liberia's coastline counties, will come on board, to create this much-needed new green economic-pillar for the good people of Liberia. I wish you all well in that noble endeavour. Peace and blessings to all you!

A quick note to Ohemaa Paaapabi Bertha Adu - explaining the import of a viral video recommending local lending markets instead foreign funding sources

Ohemaa Paaapabi Bertha Adu,  in short, what the gentleman in that viral video says,  is that in a COP-underpinned-era, in which lack of commitment to ESG-principles, can affect a nation's credit rating, negatively, it is much better for Ghana to rely on alternative sources of funding for projects, instead of foreign sources of funding projects.

Let moi give you an explanation in simple terms: For example,  if Issa Ouedraogo had taken his unique and highly successful  agrisector social-impact business, B-BOVID, to the Alternative Exchange of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GES), to raise capital for expansion, instead of accepting an approach from so-called foreign investors, Moringa, who turned out to be crooks fraudulently cloaking their unethical enterprise as a social impact agroforestry investor, to enable them use Ghana as a conduit for gargantuan-money-laundering, today, he wouldn't be fighting them to reclaim his life's work,  and legacy.

So, in short, Ohemaa Paaapabi Bertha, he is recommending that Ghana  looks to internal sources of funding  (such as our capital markets, including the Ghana Stock Exchange,  and the insurance sector, for example),  to the Ghana  government, if it needs  to borrow longterm funding for development projects, instead of using its awoof-route-of-choice: money from canny Chinese banks,  Eurobonds and the like -from which powerful and well-connected state-capture rent-seekers, make a killing, in small-percentage-commissions.

Unfortunately for  Ghanaians, issues, such as the opacity of public procurement contracts, big-fat-brown-envelope-lobbying that gives stakes in businesses set up by foreign crooks out to rip-off Mother Ghana, to the big-thieves-in-high-places who dominate our system, and are destroying our natural heritage to mine gold with total impunity,  contravene  the now fashionable required-commitment to  ESG principles  (profit, people and planet, basically), which, in today's COP-underpinned era for humankind's progress,  affect out national economy's  outlook, in the arcane-calculations of the all-powerful rating agencies, such as Moodys. Hope that all the above helps, somewhat, in giving you a much clearer big-picture of the import of that viral video  - although it comes from an ignoramus and uneducated old fool: moi, Kofi Thompson. Cool.

A quick note to Issa Ouedraogo - on exposing Moringa's egregious corporate-criminality

Good morning, kindred-spirit. Another day,  and yet another opportunity to make a difference.  It shall be well, in the fullness of time. Onyame entis3,  Alata ni,oooo, wai, Massa.

Today, let's focus on getting both your delivered-speeches ready, by mid-day, wai, Massa.

The idea is to use both events, as  opportunities empowering you to advocate for  Ghanaian farming to transition to ESG-bedrocked 100% organic farming  -  for you, a demonstrably easily achievable on-the-ground  practical-goal: if your unique, profitable and highly succesful  social-impact B-BOVID Farms Ltd's profit-sharing agrisector business model is replicated nationwide.

The radical thing to do, in terms of using both events to  expose Moringa and their super-expensive-to-acquire  Danduruwaka-lawyers, is simply to incorporate  your email response to Nanai Ace Ankomah's email to the chairperson of the Ghana Arbitration Centre panel constituted to hear the matter,  as the evidential-summation of the systemic-challenges you are currently grappling with fighting the racist greenwashing-carpetbaggers from France - who are here to engage in money-laundering, using earmarked agroforestry funds for Africa, to cloak their  mammoth-sized money-laundering scheme.

Make the point, forcefully, that it is an allegation you intend to prove in the law courts, backed by gathered-incontrovertible-evidence of Moringa's egregious corporate-criminalty -  and that you will do the exposure of Moringa's corporate-skullduggery, not before an arbitration panel that does not consider such corporate-criminalty, but in the appropriate fora for adjudicating issues of corporate criminality, in our system: the law courts.

Ditto that you are doing so because they are important food security issues which the authorities in Ghana  must ensure never occur again  -   if your proven and highly successful climate-smart agrisector social-impact business model, is to flourish: as a private sector  well-funded,  truly-transformational and fit-for-purpose 100% ESG-underpinned climate-resilient green economic-pillar, creating wealth that remains locally, and generating fulfilling-jobs galore, across a renewed and prosperous  rural Ghana, full of happy active-citizens, contributing their quota to the all-important  nation-building task we all face in a turbulent world in transition. Cool.

Please don't tag me into your Facebook page posts

One regrets to announce that henceforth, one will no longer share tagged Facebook  posts, on one's widely-read Facebook page, till further notice. Full stop. Hmmm, ey3nsem piiiiii, oooo, Ghanafuo...

Please note that as matters now stand,  for online-existential-reasons, and longterm-brand-resiliency pėurposes,  it matters not a whit to moi, who you are, or what your tagged  post  is about  -  just don't tag me,  wai. Full stop. Di wu lane  mu, wai, Massa. Period.

Since the geniuses into whose grubby hands our Motherland, Ghana,  has fallen, suddenly woke up to the threat to their egregious-dissimulation, posed online, by idiots like Kofi Thompson, on social media platforms, I have suddenly experienced a spike in  complaints to Facebook (as many as five now)  that "according to independent fact-checkers", I have shared false news  -  all of them genuine and innocent tagged-posts I shared, only because I wanted to publicise good causes. I have had enough.  I am human after all.  Haaba.

The question that a wise and aspirational African people like Ghanaians ought to ponder over is: Who are these faceles Kafkaesque "independent fact-checkers", who are now creating the online building-blocks for tomorrow's  tyranny,  in Ghana, koraaaa? Hmmm, eyeasem, ooooo...

That said, let the word go out loud and clear: Kofi Thompson will not be cowed. No. No. No. Case closed. One simply refuses to allow the hirelings of Ghana's  greed-filled  big-thieves-in-high-places,  to get yet more  opportunities, to negatively impact the global-reach, and influence-footprint, of one's widely-read social media platform pages, including one's Facebook pages.  Full stop.

So, dear critical-readers,   neither send any friend requests to moi, nor tag moi into your Facebook page posts, for now, ooooo, wai -  at least not until the metaphorical muddied-waters are clearer,  to moi.  Obiara endi ni lane mu, wai,  Massa. Kofi Thompson too knows how to read tea leaves, paaaa, oooo, wai, Massa. Sarjewah.   Cool.