(I refer to the 12th October 2008 www.ghanaweb.com general news web page article entitled "Tsatsu Tsikata is no Ghanaian Albatross" written by Kwame Okaompa-Ahoofe. (www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151226.)
Not only does that dreadful fellow attempt to re-write history, but sadly for a man who apparently teaches English, no native speaker of English, can possibly understand the gibberish that he writes - and thinks impresses Ghanaians, so.
He also looks up other people's work - and tries to copy their style: because he is not an original thinker. What positive idea has that shallow-minded man ever contributed to the task of nation-building, in any of his posting here?
This semi-literate, with a tribalistc mindset (firmly rooted in the milieu of our pre-colonial feudal past), is a pitiful fellow indeed - and clearly without an ounce of pity in him: and full of hatred. A true misanthrope!
He hardly ever says anything positive that will help the future of our nation in his tiresome and boring tirades.
Whatever we might think of Tsatsu Tsikata, at least he worked hard for Ghana - and did not enrich himself or his family, at our nation's expense - something one can hardly say for some of the sly and greedy individuals, amongst those who now rule our nation.
For an educated Ghanaian, Nii Osa Mills did something that many in Ghana's largely cowardly and sycophantic middle class never do - speak the truth as he sees it, publicly. As usual he is now being victimised. Yet, that is how we will build a true democracy - not the mouthing of endless platitudes by hypocritical politicians, about their belief in the rule of law.
The sycophants and cowards amongst the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), think they can help hide the truth about the true nature of some of those who rule our nation: but in the age of the world wide web, that is a folly that educated minds must never embroil themselves in.
The truth of the matter, is that if you aren't one of those "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who wear blinkers permanently (and never see anything wrong with what their political party does), it is clear that in many ways, this regime acts in the most dictatorial of ways, possible, in many instances.
One has only to look at the way they have constantly undermined the integrity of our legislature - by the way they are forever railroading laws through parliament: and forcing their party members with a conscience, to act against their conscience, by passing laws that aren't actually in the national interest: but serve the purposes of the powerful few tribal supremacists who dominate the ruling party so completely. Pity.
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Re: "Veep calls for affordable tractors to boost farming"
At a time of global climate change, the ordinary Ghanaian farmer ought to be encouraged to take up organic, no-till/permaculture type of agriculture - and made aware of the many soil-enhancing qualities of biochar. (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151432)
Yet, the clueless masters of the universe in charge of our country, talk glibly about tractors for farmers (a mostly disadvantaged section of Ghanaian society, without even the money to purchase the darn things, let alone run and maintain them) - and all because they probably want their offshore companies to make money as sole and exclusive agents of desperate American tractor manufacturers. Typical.
Well, speaking as someone who desires rural Ghana to realise its potential and improve the quality of life of ordinary farmers, our country, in my humble view, ought rather to be actively working with people like the American Ken Hargesheimer's MiniFarms organisation (http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development company, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe (http://biocharfund.com/index.php.), to leverage their environmentally-friendly and sustainable development models for rural development.
Awurade Nyame, I am just so fed up with our well-educated and clueless political class. Do they not know just what dangers global climate change portends for Ghanaian agriculture? Rather than go into debt to purchase tractors, why aren't they funding the critical state research institutions, which will guide Ghanaian agriculture to take the right measures to improve productivity of the sector, in the face of the great challenges of global climate change?
Perhaps, as usual, they are probably too busy dreaming up schemes to "chop Ghana small". Imbeciles - the lot of them. This Ghanaian farmer and patriot, is totally fed up with his country's political class. How can we continue like this, I ask?
In this mood, dear reader, I certainly don't want any lip from the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who cram www.ghanaweb.com with their gross ignorance, and whose blinkered support for the brain-dead politicians (whom we elect every four years, only to end up ruining our country, whiles enriching themselves and their family clans at our expense), is encouraging those imbeciles to destroy our country! They are also part of mother Ghana's problem: that partisan and arrogant blinkered-crowd.
Don't these people know when to stop? At a time of global climate change, tractors - when ordinary farmers can't even afford kerosene, let alone diesel?
Do they think that all of us simple farmers, have the "awuf" billions of cedis they can command from the banks and venture capital funds, which fund and take up stakes in the undertakings of only the politically well-connected, and the regime-crony high net worth oligarchs, in this country? Awurade Nyame, this is the limit. I am simply thoroughly fed up with the status quo in the Ghana of today.
Hmmmm, Ghana, ayeasem oo - asem ebeba debi ankasa. May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Yet, the clueless masters of the universe in charge of our country, talk glibly about tractors for farmers (a mostly disadvantaged section of Ghanaian society, without even the money to purchase the darn things, let alone run and maintain them) - and all because they probably want their offshore companies to make money as sole and exclusive agents of desperate American tractor manufacturers. Typical.
Well, speaking as someone who desires rural Ghana to realise its potential and improve the quality of life of ordinary farmers, our country, in my humble view, ought rather to be actively working with people like the American Ken Hargesheimer's MiniFarms organisation (http://www.minifarms.com/.), the South African sustainable development company, Sustainable Villages Africa [SVA] (http://www.sva.co.za/.), and the Biochar Fund organisation in Europe (http://biocharfund.com/index.php.), to leverage their environmentally-friendly and sustainable development models for rural development.
Awurade Nyame, I am just so fed up with our well-educated and clueless political class. Do they not know just what dangers global climate change portends for Ghanaian agriculture? Rather than go into debt to purchase tractors, why aren't they funding the critical state research institutions, which will guide Ghanaian agriculture to take the right measures to improve productivity of the sector, in the face of the great challenges of global climate change?
Perhaps, as usual, they are probably too busy dreaming up schemes to "chop Ghana small". Imbeciles - the lot of them. This Ghanaian farmer and patriot, is totally fed up with his country's political class. How can we continue like this, I ask?
In this mood, dear reader, I certainly don't want any lip from the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who cram www.ghanaweb.com with their gross ignorance, and whose blinkered support for the brain-dead politicians (whom we elect every four years, only to end up ruining our country, whiles enriching themselves and their family clans at our expense), is encouraging those imbeciles to destroy our country! They are also part of mother Ghana's problem: that partisan and arrogant blinkered-crowd.
Don't these people know when to stop? At a time of global climate change, tractors - when ordinary farmers can't even afford kerosene, let alone diesel?
Do they think that all of us simple farmers, have the "awuf" billions of cedis they can command from the banks and venture capital funds, which fund and take up stakes in the undertakings of only the politically well-connected, and the regime-crony high net worth oligarchs, in this country? Awurade Nyame, this is the limit. I am simply thoroughly fed up with the status quo in the Ghana of today.
Hmmmm, Ghana, ayeasem oo - asem ebeba debi ankasa. May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
WHEN IS DR. BAWUMIA FINALLY GOING TO REMOVE HIS BLINKERS, ONE WONDERS?
With respect, this is pure nonsense on bamboo stilts! Just why do perfectly decent and well-educated people like Dr. Bawumia, continue insulting discerning Ghanaians, like this? (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151395)
Why, does he think all Ghanaians are like the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who our political parties pay and bus to their rallies? Perhaps it is time Ghanaian patriots insisted on society forcing our politicians to be more honest? Haba!
If truth be told, there is absolutely no difference between the economic policies of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and that pursued by the previous regime of the New Democratic Congress (NDC), during its tenure.
Unfortunately, both parties handed over the direction of our country to self-serving foreigners: with an ideological (neo-conservative!) agenda, of their own - those infernal men in dark suits from the IMF and the World Bank. Ditto the so-called "development partners" ("crucifiers-of-our-people" would probably describe those ruthless neo-colonialists better, perhaps!).
The question we must ask that genius, Dr. Bawumia, is: Are we not now seeing the end-game of those Western free-marketeers: the greed-filled and smooth-talking fat cats from the neo-liberal crowd in the Western world, unfolding before our very eyes - as the world's major capital markets experience rapid meltdown, in all the wealthy nations of the world?
So what is Dr. Bawumia blathering on about - did they not swallow the free-market-lunacy hook, line and sinker, too? Was he himself not instrumental in the pursuit of that expensive lunacy and grand-folly - which our forays into the piranha-infested waters of the capital markets of the West represents? Does it take a PhD in rocket science to realise that that is responsible for our economy finally being brought to its knees, today?
The outrage in all this, is that Dr. Bawumia's party, which neither had the nous or the gumption to campaign for debt relief during the 1990's, when some of us were doing so, has ended up piling up yet more debt: which has now finally brought our country to its knees again.
Perhaps this financial genius has not yet heard that there are some patriotic Ghanaians and ultra-nationalists, who feel that he and his ilk in our Byzantine financial services sector (swarming with sundry white collar criminals in designer suits, incidentally!) who benefited from the massive fees, which they and their foreign carpetbagger collaborators have earned thus far, ought to be prosecuted for wilfully causing financial loss to the Ghanaian nation-state?
They have finally brought our country to its knees: and succeeded in bringing us back to square one. Today, our country is currently experiencing "debt distress" (the IMF and the World Bank's euphemistic phrase for "country, broke!") - after eight years of their greed-driven economic policies.
Those policies have largely benefited only a few regime-cronies in our financial services sector and the few greedy, dishonest and powerful tribal supremacists, who now dominate his party. What perfidy!
Has this financial wizard forgotten that in the pre-HIPC days, it was precisely our unsustainable debt, which was squeezing the very lifeblood out of our country?
Looking back, is it not a wonder that the previous NDC regime was able to manage to engender any economic growth rates at all - given the fact that they regularly had to divert precious resources to pay interest on our external debt? So how can this well-educated imbecile say such things, I ask, dear reader?
Dr. Bawumia must be honest enough to admit that what happened ( when things were going well for them for a short while!), under the incompetent regime he is now a part of, is precisely what those of us who campaigned for debt relief in the 1990's said would happen if the West wrote off our debt: that our economy would finally have room to experience sustained economic growth rates.
The outrage, is that having graduated from seeking money and kickbacks from Chinese hairdressing salons in the seedy backstreets of London to develop Ghana with (and enable the few greedy crooks who dominate this regime, benefit personally from: by way of kickbacks - laundered through their opaque offshore companies, specifically set up to milk Ghana dry!), Dr. Bawumia and his party have brought us to the economic equivalent of a particularly insalubrious cul de sac. Shame on them!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo. Asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Why, does he think all Ghanaians are like the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, who our political parties pay and bus to their rallies? Perhaps it is time Ghanaian patriots insisted on society forcing our politicians to be more honest? Haba!
If truth be told, there is absolutely no difference between the economic policies of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and that pursued by the previous regime of the New Democratic Congress (NDC), during its tenure.
Unfortunately, both parties handed over the direction of our country to self-serving foreigners: with an ideological (neo-conservative!) agenda, of their own - those infernal men in dark suits from the IMF and the World Bank. Ditto the so-called "development partners" ("crucifiers-of-our-people" would probably describe those ruthless neo-colonialists better, perhaps!).
The question we must ask that genius, Dr. Bawumia, is: Are we not now seeing the end-game of those Western free-marketeers: the greed-filled and smooth-talking fat cats from the neo-liberal crowd in the Western world, unfolding before our very eyes - as the world's major capital markets experience rapid meltdown, in all the wealthy nations of the world?
So what is Dr. Bawumia blathering on about - did they not swallow the free-market-lunacy hook, line and sinker, too? Was he himself not instrumental in the pursuit of that expensive lunacy and grand-folly - which our forays into the piranha-infested waters of the capital markets of the West represents? Does it take a PhD in rocket science to realise that that is responsible for our economy finally being brought to its knees, today?
The outrage in all this, is that Dr. Bawumia's party, which neither had the nous or the gumption to campaign for debt relief during the 1990's, when some of us were doing so, has ended up piling up yet more debt: which has now finally brought our country to its knees again.
Perhaps this financial genius has not yet heard that there are some patriotic Ghanaians and ultra-nationalists, who feel that he and his ilk in our Byzantine financial services sector (swarming with sundry white collar criminals in designer suits, incidentally!) who benefited from the massive fees, which they and their foreign carpetbagger collaborators have earned thus far, ought to be prosecuted for wilfully causing financial loss to the Ghanaian nation-state?
They have finally brought our country to its knees: and succeeded in bringing us back to square one. Today, our country is currently experiencing "debt distress" (the IMF and the World Bank's euphemistic phrase for "country, broke!") - after eight years of their greed-driven economic policies.
Those policies have largely benefited only a few regime-cronies in our financial services sector and the few greedy, dishonest and powerful tribal supremacists, who now dominate his party. What perfidy!
Has this financial wizard forgotten that in the pre-HIPC days, it was precisely our unsustainable debt, which was squeezing the very lifeblood out of our country?
Looking back, is it not a wonder that the previous NDC regime was able to manage to engender any economic growth rates at all - given the fact that they regularly had to divert precious resources to pay interest on our external debt? So how can this well-educated imbecile say such things, I ask, dear reader?
Dr. Bawumia must be honest enough to admit that what happened ( when things were going well for them for a short while!), under the incompetent regime he is now a part of, is precisely what those of us who campaigned for debt relief in the 1990's said would happen if the West wrote off our debt: that our economy would finally have room to experience sustained economic growth rates.
The outrage, is that having graduated from seeking money and kickbacks from Chinese hairdressing salons in the seedy backstreets of London to develop Ghana with (and enable the few greedy crooks who dominate this regime, benefit personally from: by way of kickbacks - laundered through their opaque offshore companies, specifically set up to milk Ghana dry!), Dr. Bawumia and his party have brought us to the economic equivalent of a particularly insalubrious cul de sac. Shame on them!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo. Asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Re: "The Original Credit Goes to J B Danquah, and then Busia!"
Typical - a semi-literate tribal supremacist reads something he does not quiet understand: and quickly jumps to all the wrong conclusions! Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! One wonders if this poor fellow actually understands sarcasm when he comes across it - since he seems to be oblivious of Harold Macmillan's wry sense of humour? (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151381.)
Perhaps, as usual, this ill-informed man, wants to rush where angels fear to tread? Harold Macmillan was merely observing, from the behaviour of the quislings Dr. J.B. Danquah and Dr. K. A. Busia (who were forever petitioning the colonial office not to grant us independence because we were not "ready"), that we were a divided people.
Yes, we were a divided people - divided by tribal supremacists like Danquah and Busia: who simply felt that the Akan pre-colonial feudal ruling elites had to replace the British colonialists at all costs: because they were born to rule their fellow human beings, till kingdom come, and went to great lengths to achieve their goal.
Perhaps this ill-informed buffoon does not understand that the Western powers saw Nkrumah as the greatest threat to their continuing plunder of Africa - because he was raising the consciousness of Africans and therefore had to be removed (to paraphrase the then British High Commissioner to Ghana, A.W. Snelling, in a dispatch to the British secret services, on 16th September, 1961)?
Just why did he think they worked so hard, using traitors to Africa, like Danguah and Busia, to achieve their ends?
Let him actually read the declassified C.I.A., US State Department and British secret services documents, detailing the events in our country, from that period, to understand precisely what Macmillan and Co. actually thought of Nkrumah (whose intellect their admired and also feared!) and those dispicable pro-Western quislings (whom they despised for their "pathetic" pro-Western views!) he so worships.
No amount of re-writing of our history by this semi-literate misanthrope will change Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's place in the Pantheon of the greatest figures of 20th century history.
He will be remembered by future generations of Africans, long after Danquah and Busia have sunk into oblivion and been forgotten - and the reason is simple: he championed the cause of ordinary people: who are are always on the right side of history!
Has it ever struck this "re-writer" of history that the Sir Alan Lennox Boyds of this world had good reason to despise Danquah? The reason lies in his championing the cause of the murderers of Odikro Akyea Mensah - who was murdered to provide the departed tribal supremacist and tyrant Ofori Atta 1, with company: in his final to journey to meet with his ancestors.
Finally, if he really wants classic examples of those Africans who toadied to the British, let him look at the relationship between district commissioner Jones and Danquah and Co, for a study in the abuse of the British indirect rule colonial system, by ruthless self-seekers!
Hmmm, Ghana - eayeasem oo. Onipayi, wu enti brofu - ensu wu enmua wa nu. Haba! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Perhaps, as usual, this ill-informed man, wants to rush where angels fear to tread? Harold Macmillan was merely observing, from the behaviour of the quislings Dr. J.B. Danquah and Dr. K. A. Busia (who were forever petitioning the colonial office not to grant us independence because we were not "ready"), that we were a divided people.
Yes, we were a divided people - divided by tribal supremacists like Danquah and Busia: who simply felt that the Akan pre-colonial feudal ruling elites had to replace the British colonialists at all costs: because they were born to rule their fellow human beings, till kingdom come, and went to great lengths to achieve their goal.
Perhaps this ill-informed buffoon does not understand that the Western powers saw Nkrumah as the greatest threat to their continuing plunder of Africa - because he was raising the consciousness of Africans and therefore had to be removed (to paraphrase the then British High Commissioner to Ghana, A.W. Snelling, in a dispatch to the British secret services, on 16th September, 1961)?
Just why did he think they worked so hard, using traitors to Africa, like Danguah and Busia, to achieve their ends?
Let him actually read the declassified C.I.A., US State Department and British secret services documents, detailing the events in our country, from that period, to understand precisely what Macmillan and Co. actually thought of Nkrumah (whose intellect their admired and also feared!) and those dispicable pro-Western quislings (whom they despised for their "pathetic" pro-Western views!) he so worships.
No amount of re-writing of our history by this semi-literate misanthrope will change Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's place in the Pantheon of the greatest figures of 20th century history.
He will be remembered by future generations of Africans, long after Danquah and Busia have sunk into oblivion and been forgotten - and the reason is simple: he championed the cause of ordinary people: who are are always on the right side of history!
Has it ever struck this "re-writer" of history that the Sir Alan Lennox Boyds of this world had good reason to despise Danquah? The reason lies in his championing the cause of the murderers of Odikro Akyea Mensah - who was murdered to provide the departed tribal supremacist and tyrant Ofori Atta 1, with company: in his final to journey to meet with his ancestors.
Finally, if he really wants classic examples of those Africans who toadied to the British, let him look at the relationship between district commissioner Jones and Danquah and Co, for a study in the abuse of the British indirect rule colonial system, by ruthless self-seekers!
Hmmm, Ghana - eayeasem oo. Onipayi, wu enti brofu - ensu wu enmua wa nu. Haba! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Friday, 10 October 2008
Re: "The NPP Worth Dying For?"
Opanin, I refer to your article entitled: "The NPP Worth Dying For?" which appeared in the www.ghanaweb.com general news web page of 10 October, 2008 (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151265.)
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! Opanin, whiles one must be sympathetic in all cases of human suffering, we must never encourage nepotism - if we wish to progress as a people. That is why there are so many square pegs in round holes in our country - and we are going nowhere fast: as evidenced by our slowly being engulfed by filth.
Your story is a perfect illustration of the mindset of the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, whose blind support of political parties is ruining our nation.
The position of district chief executive (DCE), is pivotal in the scheme of things in our country - yet political parties refuse to let grassroots people elect them: and on a party political basis.
As things stand, instead of working for grassroots people, their role is to promote the political agenda of the Ghanaian president of the day. Yet, we say we are a democracy: although grassroots people are not allowed to choose local leaders!
You, like all those who only think of the spoils of power, want it to be a reward for party work - yet DCE's can make a real difference in the quality of life of the people they are meant to serve: if they were responsive to their needs. Incredible!
Massa, have you never heard of the words "sacrifice" and "patriotism" before? Those who support political parties must not think they are making investments for future gain - in anticipation of being rewarded with cushy sinecures such as the position of DCE.
There are many Ghanaians who suffer materially, because they refuse to become praise-singers of politicians and political parties - and close their eyes to wrong-doing in our nation. Some, are even hounded for serving their country - and many have even languished in prison for serving Ghana faithfully.
Massa, in case it has not dawned on you yet, we are actually building a nation - not setting ourselves up to participate in the gang rape of mother Ghana.
Make personal appeals to those whom you serve - but never make such outrageous statements asking to be favoured for serving a political party. Never expect a reward for serving your own people - for that is what politics ought to be about: not personal gain, at the expense of society, Opanin.
Finally, here is some food for thought for you: Has it ever occurred to you that if Alhaji Alihu Mahama, the current vice president had been a man who hailed from Kokofu and was called Nana Kywediampong Ababio, his party would have found a way for him to succeed President Kufuor, and made him their presidential candidate?
Dr Danquah, once dismissed Nkrumah's government as a regime with (taflatse, please, Opanin) "Ntafuo" in it. Massa, nothing has changed - you and your family had better revise your notes.
May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! Opanin, whiles one must be sympathetic in all cases of human suffering, we must never encourage nepotism - if we wish to progress as a people. That is why there are so many square pegs in round holes in our country - and we are going nowhere fast: as evidenced by our slowly being engulfed by filth.
Your story is a perfect illustration of the mindset of the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, whose blind support of political parties is ruining our nation.
The position of district chief executive (DCE), is pivotal in the scheme of things in our country - yet political parties refuse to let grassroots people elect them: and on a party political basis.
As things stand, instead of working for grassroots people, their role is to promote the political agenda of the Ghanaian president of the day. Yet, we say we are a democracy: although grassroots people are not allowed to choose local leaders!
You, like all those who only think of the spoils of power, want it to be a reward for party work - yet DCE's can make a real difference in the quality of life of the people they are meant to serve: if they were responsive to their needs. Incredible!
Massa, have you never heard of the words "sacrifice" and "patriotism" before? Those who support political parties must not think they are making investments for future gain - in anticipation of being rewarded with cushy sinecures such as the position of DCE.
There are many Ghanaians who suffer materially, because they refuse to become praise-singers of politicians and political parties - and close their eyes to wrong-doing in our nation. Some, are even hounded for serving their country - and many have even languished in prison for serving Ghana faithfully.
Massa, in case it has not dawned on you yet, we are actually building a nation - not setting ourselves up to participate in the gang rape of mother Ghana.
Make personal appeals to those whom you serve - but never make such outrageous statements asking to be favoured for serving a political party. Never expect a reward for serving your own people - for that is what politics ought to be about: not personal gain, at the expense of society, Opanin.
Finally, here is some food for thought for you: Has it ever occurred to you that if Alhaji Alihu Mahama, the current vice president had been a man who hailed from Kokofu and was called Nana Kywediampong Ababio, his party would have found a way for him to succeed President Kufuor, and made him their presidential candidate?
Dr Danquah, once dismissed Nkrumah's government as a regime with (taflatse, please, Opanin) "Ntafuo" in it. Massa, nothing has changed - you and your family had better revise your notes.
May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Thursday, 9 October 2008
MR. PETER MAC MANU: IS GHANA'S RULING PARTY MERELY WHISTLING IN THE DARK?
Hmmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! How very typical - a political party, dominated by a few powerful and greedy tribal supremacists, and completely bereft of original thinkers, has wasted the eight years they were voted into office for: to change our country for the better.
(Incidentally, I refer, dear reader, to the statement attributed to the chairperson of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Mr. Peter Mac Manu: www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151323&comment=0#com.)
Not satisfied, he and his party still want an extension to their tainted tenure. Perhaps they forget that not all Ghanaians have a personal philosophy similar to that of the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who support their party, regardless?
For the independent-minded Ghanaians, whose votes will make the difference between victory and defeat for his party, in this December's elections, the question simply is: Just where does Mr. Peter Mac Manu's party propose to raise money to develop our country with, in the present global economic climate?
Yes, we all know that his party quickly graduated from seeking funding for Ghana's development from Chinese hairdressing salons in the seedy back streets of London, to the piranha-infested waters of the capital markets of the West (now melting down at the speed of lightning - just as some of us warned them could happen!).
From what we gather (if the bush telegraph is to be believed!) they ventured there on the advice of the clever and greedy high net worth rogues swarming our financial services sector - who saw a golden opportunity in their ignorance and the unfathomable greed that drives the few powerful crooks, who dominate his party, to earn millions of dollars in easy fees.
Now that the opportunity to milk Ghana dry, from the fees earned from the zillions of dollars in debt-stock that they have piled up, no longer exists, can he tell us just how they propose to develop our homeland Ghana, going forward?
Perhaps they have the financial equivalent of a sleight of hand they propose to employ to prise money from those aforementioned previously-lucrative sources, which have dried up so suddenly, as the masters of the universe in those Western capital markets, whose greed they shared, have been emasculated financially: and are very frightened individuals now?
Hmmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! Well, clearly, for some of the crooks amongst his party's top brass, Ghana's forays into the capital markets of the West were very lucrative occasions, indeed.
They were apparently able to earn yet more "dosh" for the offshore companies, which their more uncharitable critics say they set up purposefully, to launder the profits from their systematic plundering, of our nation's wealth.
In their determination to take their personal net worth into stratospheric heights, by stealth, and in record time, they are said by their critics to have struck deals that gave them foreign currency kickbacks from the regime-cronies in the financial services sector, and their foreign carpetbagger-collaborators in the capital markets of the West, who issued bonds on our nation's behalf, and "arranged" loans too, for our country.
Those deals emanated from the massive fees their cronies in our Byzantine financial services sector earned from Ghana's gargantuan foreign currency borrowing, in the capital markets overseas.
Let this quintessence of a square peg in a round hole tell the good people of Nkrumah's Ghana, just where are they going to get money from to develop our nation with, now that that once-lucrative avenue, is no longer available to the masters of the universe in charge of our nation.
At any rate, can Mr. Peter Mac Manu tell the independent-minded Ghanaians who will decide who wins the December elections - not the many who wear blinkers and blindly support his party no matter how abysmally they perform - where they are going to find the US$388 millions that they say are needed to pay for Ghana Telecom's debt - and out of which, according to that other genius, Dr. Akoto, as much as US$72 millions will be used to pay for "other costs"?
Whiles he is at it, can Mr. Mac Manu also tell us, item by item, what those "other costs" Dr. Akoto mentions, are? Hmmm, Dr. Asemfofro ba ni abahe ote, oo! Perhaps they should have had the good sense to listen to those of us who told them to strike deals instead with the Chinese to build our infrastructure, by nationalising our oil and natural gas industries, and exploiting those finite resources with joint-venture business models, when they were busy crowing over the US$750 million sovereign bond issue.
If they had listened to us, today, we would all be sitting pretty as the global financial contagion spreads.
For, if, instead of going to borrow expensive money from the capital markets of the West, they had talked the Chinese into accepting Ghana's sovereign bonds at minuscle rates of interest and long grace periods to repay same, to finance our country's development (in collaboration with the state-owned Chinese companies that are world class entities in their individual areas of competence), today, we would truly be creating real wealth in the real economy for all Ghanaians - not just a ruthless and powerful few, with greedy ambitions, growing rich, from leveraged "funny money".
Now they are frightened men and women, wondering aimlessly in the corridors of power, whistling in the dark - and hoping against hope that Ghanaians won't notice that they aren't actually wearing fancy designer clothing, after all - but are stark naked (figuratively speaking, i.e.!).
The more uncharitable and cynical amongst their critics would probably say that it serves them right for allowing their party to be so completely dominated, by a few greedy and powerful tribal supremacists. They are being hoisted on their own petard, for their hubris!
May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
(Incidentally, I refer, dear reader, to the statement attributed to the chairperson of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Mr. Peter Mac Manu: www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151323&comment=0#com.)
Not satisfied, he and his party still want an extension to their tainted tenure. Perhaps they forget that not all Ghanaians have a personal philosophy similar to that of the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who support their party, regardless?
For the independent-minded Ghanaians, whose votes will make the difference between victory and defeat for his party, in this December's elections, the question simply is: Just where does Mr. Peter Mac Manu's party propose to raise money to develop our country with, in the present global economic climate?
Yes, we all know that his party quickly graduated from seeking funding for Ghana's development from Chinese hairdressing salons in the seedy back streets of London, to the piranha-infested waters of the capital markets of the West (now melting down at the speed of lightning - just as some of us warned them could happen!).
From what we gather (if the bush telegraph is to be believed!) they ventured there on the advice of the clever and greedy high net worth rogues swarming our financial services sector - who saw a golden opportunity in their ignorance and the unfathomable greed that drives the few powerful crooks, who dominate his party, to earn millions of dollars in easy fees.
Now that the opportunity to milk Ghana dry, from the fees earned from the zillions of dollars in debt-stock that they have piled up, no longer exists, can he tell us just how they propose to develop our homeland Ghana, going forward?
Perhaps they have the financial equivalent of a sleight of hand they propose to employ to prise money from those aforementioned previously-lucrative sources, which have dried up so suddenly, as the masters of the universe in those Western capital markets, whose greed they shared, have been emasculated financially: and are very frightened individuals now?
Hmmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! Well, clearly, for some of the crooks amongst his party's top brass, Ghana's forays into the capital markets of the West were very lucrative occasions, indeed.
They were apparently able to earn yet more "dosh" for the offshore companies, which their more uncharitable critics say they set up purposefully, to launder the profits from their systematic plundering, of our nation's wealth.
In their determination to take their personal net worth into stratospheric heights, by stealth, and in record time, they are said by their critics to have struck deals that gave them foreign currency kickbacks from the regime-cronies in the financial services sector, and their foreign carpetbagger-collaborators in the capital markets of the West, who issued bonds on our nation's behalf, and "arranged" loans too, for our country.
Those deals emanated from the massive fees their cronies in our Byzantine financial services sector earned from Ghana's gargantuan foreign currency borrowing, in the capital markets overseas.
Let this quintessence of a square peg in a round hole tell the good people of Nkrumah's Ghana, just where are they going to get money from to develop our nation with, now that that once-lucrative avenue, is no longer available to the masters of the universe in charge of our nation.
At any rate, can Mr. Peter Mac Manu tell the independent-minded Ghanaians who will decide who wins the December elections - not the many who wear blinkers and blindly support his party no matter how abysmally they perform - where they are going to find the US$388 millions that they say are needed to pay for Ghana Telecom's debt - and out of which, according to that other genius, Dr. Akoto, as much as US$72 millions will be used to pay for "other costs"?
Whiles he is at it, can Mr. Mac Manu also tell us, item by item, what those "other costs" Dr. Akoto mentions, are? Hmmm, Dr. Asemfofro ba ni abahe ote, oo! Perhaps they should have had the good sense to listen to those of us who told them to strike deals instead with the Chinese to build our infrastructure, by nationalising our oil and natural gas industries, and exploiting those finite resources with joint-venture business models, when they were busy crowing over the US$750 million sovereign bond issue.
If they had listened to us, today, we would all be sitting pretty as the global financial contagion spreads.
For, if, instead of going to borrow expensive money from the capital markets of the West, they had talked the Chinese into accepting Ghana's sovereign bonds at minuscle rates of interest and long grace periods to repay same, to finance our country's development (in collaboration with the state-owned Chinese companies that are world class entities in their individual areas of competence), today, we would truly be creating real wealth in the real economy for all Ghanaians - not just a ruthless and powerful few, with greedy ambitions, growing rich, from leveraged "funny money".
Now they are frightened men and women, wondering aimlessly in the corridors of power, whistling in the dark - and hoping against hope that Ghanaians won't notice that they aren't actually wearing fancy designer clothing, after all - but are stark naked (figuratively speaking, i.e.!).
The more uncharitable and cynical amongst their critics would probably say that it serves them right for allowing their party to be so completely dominated, by a few greedy and powerful tribal supremacists. They are being hoisted on their own petard, for their hubris!
May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Prestea: Why we should not tolerate surface gold mining in Ghana
In June 2003, I wrote an article entitled: "Prestea: Why we should not tolerate surface gold mining in Ghana". In that article, I was very critical of the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime.
Since the intervenening five years between the publication of the article and now, nothing much has changed. If anything, the situation has gone from bad to worse - and illustrates perfectly, how our political class, merely competes for power as an end in itself. For, at the end of the day, they simply enjoy the spoils of office - whiles going through the motions of administering our country. I reproduce that 2003 article of mine, below. Please read on!
Ghana is a nation that has declared that it is committed to sustainable development. It is therefore essential (for the long-term future of the nation), that Ghanaians ensure that economic development today, does not compromise the ability of future generations of Ghanaians, to (at the very least) enjoy the same standard of living, as present day Ghanaians.
Globalization (which is the rise of market capitalism around the world) has brought many benefits to the citizens of countless nations around the world. Once moribund economies have been given a new lease of life, and in nation after nation foreign direct investment, is resulting in the creation of new and better-paid jobs.
An example here in Ghana is the growing industry of off-shore data processing. Companies from the US, have set up here in Ghana, to process data for transmission to the US. US firms like ACS are providing well-paid employment for a growing number of Ghanaians. It is an industry that is set to expand and grow very quickly in Ghana.
Unfortunately, there is also a downside to globalization. In poor nations that have weak and corrupt governments, there are horrific examples of environmental degradation and pollution that is destroying the lives of countless numbers of people. Surface mining has been banned in many nations, because of the toll it wreaks on the natural environment, and on human health.
One of the worst decisions ever made by a government of Ghana, was the decision of the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on the recommendation o the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to permit surface mining of gold in Ghana. The cost, in terms of the destruction of the natural environment, in vast swathes of pristine countryside, has been intolerably (and unacceptably) high.
In vast swathes of our countryside, streams, rivers and the topsoil, have been poisoned by chemicals that will continue to harm the natural environment, human beings and other living creatures, for years to come. The only ones who have benefited from this disaster, are some selfish members of our political class (who no doubt took their usual 10 per cent) and the perfidious foreigners who do not give a damn anyway - because we are black Africans.
A number of the companies engaged in surface mining have come from Australia. Yet, Australia herself does not permit surface mining. Why should we allow such companies to come into our country to pollute and degrade our natural environment, and destroy the health and livelihood of ordinary Ghanaians in surface gold mining operations, when they are not allowed to do so in their own home countries?
No amount of foreign exchange earned from the pollution and destruction of our natural environment, that is a direct result of surface mining, can justify this criminal failure to protect our natural environment by officialdom. Clearly, capitalism in Ghana is at the robber baron stage. In the capitalist West, a raft of legislation has been passed over the year, to protect the natural environment, protect individual consumers and society as a whole, from rapacious corporate entities.
In such nations, legislation to protect the natural environment, protect labour from exploitation and to protect consumers are in place and enforced with vigour. Yet, in Ghana, a foreign mining company, Bogoso Gold Limited (BGL), is receiving the backing of the state (in the shape of armed security personnel) to perpetrate what is in effect a crime against humanity.
Incredibly, BGL is proposing to carry out surface mining in the Prestea township (perhaps because it is cost effective!). It is one of the more egregious examples of the negative aspects of globalization. A peaceful people, desirous of being left alone to live their lives in peace, are being bludgeoned into accepting to have their lives ruined by the pollution that will definitely follow in the wake of the proposed surface mining operations by BGL, in Prestea township.
And, who dear reader, do you think will profit from the hell on earth that BGL proposes to create for the inhabitants of Prestea? The monstrosity that is proposed for Prestea is designed to simply enable greedy and unfeeling foreigners ( and their local collaborators), to grow rich - at the expense of the health and peace of mind of the inhabitants of Prestea.
Yet, nowhere in the developed world would such an outrage be tolerated. Why do our political leaders sometimes give the impression that African lives are less valuable than the lives of Westerners? The time has come for Ghanaian politicians to understand that the lives of ordinary Ghanaians cannot be sacrificed simply to enable foreign companies to profit from conditions here that would never be tolerated in their countries of origin.
There can be no justification for permitting surface mining of gold in any part of Ghana. It is simply too destructive. We can ( and are mercifully acting to do so) replace the foreign exchange earned from surface gold mining, with foreign exchange from salt exports. That is the best way of proceeding, if we are to save our natural environment from predatory foreigners and their local collaborators.
We must not permit the destruction of even a square centimeter of the land mass of Ghana, to enable foreigners and their local lackeys, who do not care one jot about the effect of their actions on the natural environment and on the health of human beings, to enrich themselves at the expense of the health of present-day and future generations of Ghanaians.
The monstrosity that is proposed for Prestea is an indictment of our political class. The power of the nation-state that is Ghana, must never be put to such shameful and inhuman ends, simply to enable unfeeling and uncaring foreigners and their Ghanaian associates to grow rich, whiles the lives of ordinary Ghanaians at places like Prestea, is turned upside down, by the pollution and the degradation of their natural environment, that results from surface gold mining operations.
Nothing can justify this outrage. All those officials and politicians who are proposing to permit this outrage to occur, will be condemned by future generations of Ghanaians, who, one hopes, will live in times when Ghanaians as a people, will appreciate the importance of protecting their natural environment - unlike today's generation of Ghanaians, who in the main, are completely unaware of the harm that is being done to the natural environment by surface gold mining companies in pursuit of profits.
Not since the Swiss banks closed their eyes to the inhuman crimes being committed by Hitler's Germany, in order to benefit from the gold that Hitler's Germany stole from Jewish holocaust victims, has such corporate callousness in pursuit of profits been experienced anywhere on earth - for that is the scale of the crime against humanity that surface mining in Ghana, represents.
There is no such thing as "environmentally-friendly" surface gold mining - it is just as fallacious as saying there is such a thing as a "virtuous prostitute". No such thing exists. Period.
May God bless our homeland Ghana always. Long live freedom. Long live Ghana.
Since the intervenening five years between the publication of the article and now, nothing much has changed. If anything, the situation has gone from bad to worse - and illustrates perfectly, how our political class, merely competes for power as an end in itself. For, at the end of the day, they simply enjoy the spoils of office - whiles going through the motions of administering our country. I reproduce that 2003 article of mine, below. Please read on!
Ghana is a nation that has declared that it is committed to sustainable development. It is therefore essential (for the long-term future of the nation), that Ghanaians ensure that economic development today, does not compromise the ability of future generations of Ghanaians, to (at the very least) enjoy the same standard of living, as present day Ghanaians.
Globalization (which is the rise of market capitalism around the world) has brought many benefits to the citizens of countless nations around the world. Once moribund economies have been given a new lease of life, and in nation after nation foreign direct investment, is resulting in the creation of new and better-paid jobs.
An example here in Ghana is the growing industry of off-shore data processing. Companies from the US, have set up here in Ghana, to process data for transmission to the US. US firms like ACS are providing well-paid employment for a growing number of Ghanaians. It is an industry that is set to expand and grow very quickly in Ghana.
Unfortunately, there is also a downside to globalization. In poor nations that have weak and corrupt governments, there are horrific examples of environmental degradation and pollution that is destroying the lives of countless numbers of people. Surface mining has been banned in many nations, because of the toll it wreaks on the natural environment, and on human health.
One of the worst decisions ever made by a government of Ghana, was the decision of the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on the recommendation o the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to permit surface mining of gold in Ghana. The cost, in terms of the destruction of the natural environment, in vast swathes of pristine countryside, has been intolerably (and unacceptably) high.
In vast swathes of our countryside, streams, rivers and the topsoil, have been poisoned by chemicals that will continue to harm the natural environment, human beings and other living creatures, for years to come. The only ones who have benefited from this disaster, are some selfish members of our political class (who no doubt took their usual 10 per cent) and the perfidious foreigners who do not give a damn anyway - because we are black Africans.
A number of the companies engaged in surface mining have come from Australia. Yet, Australia herself does not permit surface mining. Why should we allow such companies to come into our country to pollute and degrade our natural environment, and destroy the health and livelihood of ordinary Ghanaians in surface gold mining operations, when they are not allowed to do so in their own home countries?
No amount of foreign exchange earned from the pollution and destruction of our natural environment, that is a direct result of surface mining, can justify this criminal failure to protect our natural environment by officialdom. Clearly, capitalism in Ghana is at the robber baron stage. In the capitalist West, a raft of legislation has been passed over the year, to protect the natural environment, protect individual consumers and society as a whole, from rapacious corporate entities.
In such nations, legislation to protect the natural environment, protect labour from exploitation and to protect consumers are in place and enforced with vigour. Yet, in Ghana, a foreign mining company, Bogoso Gold Limited (BGL), is receiving the backing of the state (in the shape of armed security personnel) to perpetrate what is in effect a crime against humanity.
Incredibly, BGL is proposing to carry out surface mining in the Prestea township (perhaps because it is cost effective!). It is one of the more egregious examples of the negative aspects of globalization. A peaceful people, desirous of being left alone to live their lives in peace, are being bludgeoned into accepting to have their lives ruined by the pollution that will definitely follow in the wake of the proposed surface mining operations by BGL, in Prestea township.
And, who dear reader, do you think will profit from the hell on earth that BGL proposes to create for the inhabitants of Prestea? The monstrosity that is proposed for Prestea is designed to simply enable greedy and unfeeling foreigners ( and their local collaborators), to grow rich - at the expense of the health and peace of mind of the inhabitants of Prestea.
Yet, nowhere in the developed world would such an outrage be tolerated. Why do our political leaders sometimes give the impression that African lives are less valuable than the lives of Westerners? The time has come for Ghanaian politicians to understand that the lives of ordinary Ghanaians cannot be sacrificed simply to enable foreign companies to profit from conditions here that would never be tolerated in their countries of origin.
There can be no justification for permitting surface mining of gold in any part of Ghana. It is simply too destructive. We can ( and are mercifully acting to do so) replace the foreign exchange earned from surface gold mining, with foreign exchange from salt exports. That is the best way of proceeding, if we are to save our natural environment from predatory foreigners and their local collaborators.
We must not permit the destruction of even a square centimeter of the land mass of Ghana, to enable foreigners and their local lackeys, who do not care one jot about the effect of their actions on the natural environment and on the health of human beings, to enrich themselves at the expense of the health of present-day and future generations of Ghanaians.
The monstrosity that is proposed for Prestea is an indictment of our political class. The power of the nation-state that is Ghana, must never be put to such shameful and inhuman ends, simply to enable unfeeling and uncaring foreigners and their Ghanaian associates to grow rich, whiles the lives of ordinary Ghanaians at places like Prestea, is turned upside down, by the pollution and the degradation of their natural environment, that results from surface gold mining operations.
Nothing can justify this outrage. All those officials and politicians who are proposing to permit this outrage to occur, will be condemned by future generations of Ghanaians, who, one hopes, will live in times when Ghanaians as a people, will appreciate the importance of protecting their natural environment - unlike today's generation of Ghanaians, who in the main, are completely unaware of the harm that is being done to the natural environment by surface gold mining companies in pursuit of profits.
Not since the Swiss banks closed their eyes to the inhuman crimes being committed by Hitler's Germany, in order to benefit from the gold that Hitler's Germany stole from Jewish holocaust victims, has such corporate callousness in pursuit of profits been experienced anywhere on earth - for that is the scale of the crime against humanity that surface mining in Ghana, represents.
There is no such thing as "environmentally-friendly" surface gold mining - it is just as fallacious as saying there is such a thing as a "virtuous prostitute". No such thing exists. Period.
May God bless our homeland Ghana always. Long live freedom. Long live Ghana.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Re: Board Chairman advocates decentralization of GNA
Re: Board Chairman advocates decentralization of GNA
I refer to your www.ghanaweb.com general news web page article of 6th October, 2008 entitled: “Board Chairman advocates decentralization of GNA".
(http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151187&comment=0#com.)
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! Talk about a square peg in a round hole. By definition a news agency gathers news from many sources, in its niche market - and makes that available to the world. Does this digital-age media Neanderthal not understand that he will be destroying a business model particularly suited to news gathering in a world made small by ICT?
This genius, who is yet another beneficiary of the unbridled nepotism of our "hypocrite-in-chief", is a typical example of the insular and narrow-minded masters of the universe, into whose hands Nkrumah's Ghana has fallen - and who worship daily at the cult of the mediocre.
Precisely what does he seek to do - destroy yet another legacy of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah? Have they not done enough harm to mother Ghana, already, as it is? Do they not know when to stop? Talk about a narrow worldview!
Perhaps, he foresees a golden future when the Ashanti regional office, transformed into a global titan, if his madcap idea is approved, will become a powerhouse of news gathering in Africa, whiles actively competing with a newly-independent Juaso branch office, for business from CNN editors: seeking news about the relics of our pre-colonial feudal past - to see if they still keep slaves and engage in human sacrifice? Pure nonsense on bamboo stilts!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
I refer to your www.ghanaweb.com general news web page article of 6th October, 2008 entitled: “Board Chairman advocates decentralization of GNA".
(http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=151187&comment=0#com.)
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! Talk about a square peg in a round hole. By definition a news agency gathers news from many sources, in its niche market - and makes that available to the world. Does this digital-age media Neanderthal not understand that he will be destroying a business model particularly suited to news gathering in a world made small by ICT?
This genius, who is yet another beneficiary of the unbridled nepotism of our "hypocrite-in-chief", is a typical example of the insular and narrow-minded masters of the universe, into whose hands Nkrumah's Ghana has fallen - and who worship daily at the cult of the mediocre.
Precisely what does he seek to do - destroy yet another legacy of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah? Have they not done enough harm to mother Ghana, already, as it is? Do they not know when to stop? Talk about a narrow worldview!
Perhaps, he foresees a golden future when the Ashanti regional office, transformed into a global titan, if his madcap idea is approved, will become a powerhouse of news gathering in Africa, whiles actively competing with a newly-independent Juaso branch office, for business from CNN editors: seeking news about the relics of our pre-colonial feudal past - to see if they still keep slaves and engage in human sacrifice? Pure nonsense on bamboo stilts!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
ASHANTI REGIONAL MINISTER, KUMASI METROPOLITAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE - "OVER TO YOU, MPANINFUO!"
Dear Hon. Minister, KMA Chief Eexecutive,
I reproduce a series of emails I exchanged with a number of research scientists from abroad, which might be of interest to you. It is possible that you could produce electric power from the sawdust at Anloga, for the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH)!
Yours in the service of Ghana,
Kofi Thompson.
"Flag this message RE: [biochar] biochar from microwavesMonday, 6 October, 2008 2:53 AM
From: "kofi thompson"View contact details To: biochar@yahoogroups.com
Many thanks MFH - will have to find someone to get this to the Kumasi Metropolitan chief to work on. Bless you.
It's so interesting how people here are always suspicious of one in such situations - they simply refuse to believe that a fellow human being could act for altruistic reasons.
The mindset here generally is that one has an "angle" or a "hidden agenda". Such a bore, when you simply enjoy helping others and promoting the "common weal". Hmmm, life.
Peace and blessings!
Kofi.
--- On Sun, 5/10/08, MFH wrote:
From: MFH
Subject: RE: [biochar] biochar from microwaves
To: biochar@yahoogroups .com
Date: Sunday, 5 October, 2008, 9:05 PM
There are a number of designs for simple stoves that burn sawdust with a very high efficiency. Generally made from a 20-litre drum and some concrete. If there are mountains of sawdust available it would be more beneficial to use this as stove fuel than to cut forest to make char.
Max H
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: biochar@yahoogroups .com [mailto: biochar@yahoogroups .com ] On Behalf Of AJH
Sent: Sunday, 5 October 2008 11:29 PM
To: biochar@yahoogroups .com
Subject: Re: [biochar] biochar from microwaves
On Sat, 4 Oct 2008 06:02:43 +0000 (GMT), kofi thompson wrote:
>Could smallish plants be designed to produce power for the teaching hospital in Kumasi , for example?
I'm not familiar with large scale projects. One has to ask why are the
piles of sawdust not currently used, is it because fossil fuel is
still relatively cheap? Producing power leads to waste heat, producing
power from biomass tends to make more waste heat than from fossil
fuels. In principle if a steam power plant were viable to burn this
sawdust to produce power then a combustion system for it that co
produced chardust is a relatively small step.
Unless Lewis Smith knows different the cheapest "off the shelf" steam
plants in the ~5MW region seem to be based on 1950s era ships steam
turbines.
IIRC a pyrolyser co producing chardust and electricity by direct
combustion at the 300kW scale was unlikely to convert more than 20% of
the heat value of the offgas into electricity and I think that is
optimistic.
AJH
Flag this messageRe: [biochar] biochar from microwavesSaturday, 4 October, 2008 7:02 AM
From: "kofi thompson"View contact details To: biochar@yahoogroups.com
My brain ceases to function the moment I see technical stuff, AJH! Could smallish plants be designed to produce power for the teaching hospital in Kumasi, for example?
That would mean that the money they now spend to purchase electric power, could be used to improve patient care - and perhaps provide free critical surgical operations (such as repairing holes in hearts, e.g!.) for the very poor.
Although we are yet to benefit from the massive oil and natural gas deposits ( hmmm, the potential harm to the environment from future oil spills, just doesn't bear thinking!), Ghana could buy such plants for all its major hospitals. Doable?
Peace and blessings! Kofi.
--- On Sat, 4/10/08, AJH wrote:
From: AJH
Subject: Re: [biochar] biochar from microwaves
To: biochar@yahoogroups .com
Date: Saturday, 4 October, 2008, 12:58 AM
On Fri, 3 Oct 2008 00:02:29 +0000 (GMT), kofi thompson wrote:
>Thanks, Andrew. That's good to know. There are huge mountains of the stuff in parts of our second city, Kumasi, where carpenters work. During the CAF football tournament, the smoke from sections of it torched by the carpenters, made it difficult for people to breath, apparently.
>
>The city authorities would welcome technology that could resolve this problem for it - and perhaps produce power in addition to that, Andrew?.
This message finally arrived!
Firstly a chap in Kenya made chardust from sawdust using a downdraught
method, until he found piles of waste charcoal to use instead, have a
search on that term.
Secondly the technology is straightforward, the issue is how you pay
for it even if the rawstock is free. The process produces waste heat
and char, who pays what for which parts?
Pyrolysis offgas is a decent fuel "gas" but it cannot be stored, it's
probably better than the producer gas from a wood gasifier, we
actually ran a gas turbine with it, very briefly, this gas turbine was
itself first adapted to run directly with sawdust, I still think the
idea has legs but if you want large scale a steam boiler is probably
still the best bet at the MW scale. That's 2 tonnes of dry biomass per
hour.
AJH"
I reproduce a series of emails I exchanged with a number of research scientists from abroad, which might be of interest to you. It is possible that you could produce electric power from the sawdust at Anloga, for the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH)!
Yours in the service of Ghana,
Kofi Thompson.
"Flag this message RE: [biochar] biochar from microwavesMonday, 6 October, 2008 2:53 AM
From: "kofi thompson"
Many thanks MFH - will have to find someone to get this to the Kumasi Metropolitan chief to work on. Bless you.
It's so interesting how people here are always suspicious of one in such situations - they simply refuse to believe that a fellow human being could act for altruistic reasons.
The mindset here generally is that one has an "angle" or a "hidden agenda". Such a bore, when you simply enjoy helping others and promoting the "common weal". Hmmm, life.
Peace and blessings!
Kofi.
--- On Sun, 5/10/08, MFH
From: MFH
Subject: RE: [biochar] biochar from microwaves
To: biochar@yahoogroups .com
Date: Sunday, 5 October, 2008, 9:05 PM
There are a number of designs for simple stoves that burn sawdust with a very high efficiency. Generally made from a 20-litre drum and some concrete. If there are mountains of sawdust available it would be more beneficial to use this as stove fuel than to cut forest to make char.
Max H
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: biochar@yahoogroups .com [mailto: biochar@yahoogroups .com ] On Behalf Of AJH
Sent: Sunday, 5 October 2008 11:29 PM
To: biochar@yahoogroups .com
Subject: Re: [biochar] biochar from microwaves
On Sat, 4 Oct 2008 06:02:43 +0000 (GMT), kofi thompson wrote:
>Could smallish plants be designed to produce power for the teaching hospital in Kumasi , for example?
I'm not familiar with large scale projects. One has to ask why are the
piles of sawdust not currently used, is it because fossil fuel is
still relatively cheap? Producing power leads to waste heat, producing
power from biomass tends to make more waste heat than from fossil
fuels. In principle if a steam power plant were viable to burn this
sawdust to produce power then a combustion system for it that co
produced chardust is a relatively small step.
Unless Lewis Smith knows different the cheapest "off the shelf" steam
plants in the ~5MW region seem to be based on 1950s era ships steam
turbines.
IIRC a pyrolyser co producing chardust and electricity by direct
combustion at the 300kW scale was unlikely to convert more than 20% of
the heat value of the offgas into electricity and I think that is
optimistic.
AJH
Flag this messageRe: [biochar] biochar from microwavesSaturday, 4 October, 2008 7:02 AM
From: "kofi thompson"
My brain ceases to function the moment I see technical stuff, AJH! Could smallish plants be designed to produce power for the teaching hospital in Kumasi, for example?
That would mean that the money they now spend to purchase electric power, could be used to improve patient care - and perhaps provide free critical surgical operations (such as repairing holes in hearts, e.g!.) for the very poor.
Although we are yet to benefit from the massive oil and natural gas deposits ( hmmm, the potential harm to the environment from future oil spills, just doesn't bear thinking!), Ghana could buy such plants for all its major hospitals. Doable?
Peace and blessings! Kofi.
--- On Sat, 4/10/08, AJH
From: AJH
Subject: Re: [biochar] biochar from microwaves
To: biochar@yahoogroups .com
Date: Saturday, 4 October, 2008, 12:58 AM
On Fri, 3 Oct 2008 00:02:29 +0000 (GMT), kofi thompson wrote:
>Thanks, Andrew. That's good to know. There are huge mountains of the stuff in parts of our second city, Kumasi, where carpenters work. During the CAF football tournament, the smoke from sections of it torched by the carpenters, made it difficult for people to breath, apparently.
>
>The city authorities would welcome technology that could resolve this problem for it - and perhaps produce power in addition to that, Andrew?.
This message finally arrived!
Firstly a chap in Kenya made chardust from sawdust using a downdraught
method, until he found piles of waste charcoal to use instead, have a
search on that term.
Secondly the technology is straightforward, the issue is how you pay
for it even if the rawstock is free. The process produces waste heat
and char, who pays what for which parts?
Pyrolysis offgas is a decent fuel "gas" but it cannot be stored, it's
probably better than the producer gas from a wood gasifier, we
actually ran a gas turbine with it, very briefly, this gas turbine was
itself first adapted to run directly with sawdust, I still think the
idea has legs but if you want large scale a steam boiler is probably
still the best bet at the MW scale. That's 2 tonnes of dry biomass per
hour.
AJH"
Saturday, 4 October 2008
ACP LEADERS: SHAME ON YOU!
“In a declaration, the Heads of State condemned what they described as the use of unilateral coercive measures such as illegal sanction against certain countries with a view to preventing these countries from the exercise of their right to determine their own political, economic and social system.”
Pure nonsense on bamboo stilts! That puerile statement is one of the most outrageous and self-serving conference communiqués, I have ever come across. It is an insult to the people of Darfur, who are being raped, maimed, terrorized and murdered on a daily basis - with total impunity by the government led by President Omar Bashir and its agents of mass murder: the Janjaweed.
With respect, if the rest of Europe had made such asinine comments during WW2 when Adolf Hitler was busy murdering millions of unfortunate souls (whom he considered inferior beings) as his Nazi troops swept across Europe, where would humankind be today?
Appeasement then did not save those millions whom Hitler's army murdered - and it will not save the people of Darfur and Southern Sudan today, either: and this is appeasement, pure and simple.
President Omar Bashir is carrying out a pogrom, not conducting a mass "love-in", in Darfur - where his military forces and the special-purpose vehicle they have created and armed, the Janjaweed, are engaged in ethnic cleansing, no less: even as those supine ACP leaders make their shameful and self-serving statement.
President Omar Bashir and the criminals, who make up his regime, consider themselves to be superior beings - and look down on those they are trying to wipe off the face of the earth, as sub-human.
For years, the world has sat on its hands and watched as this tragedy against an oppressed African people has unfolded – their only crime being that they are darker-skinned than that racist Omar Bashir: who regards himself as an "Arab", not an African.
That monster, who leads Sudan, regards dark-skinned Africans as inferior beings - and thus can be killed like vermin. He is literally getting away with murder in Darfur. Why should those ACP leaders compound the misery and tragedy of the people of Darfur so callously by making such statements?
If the leaders of the ACP are unwilling or unable to go to the aid of those poor souls in Darfur, let them not add insult to their injury by making such outrageous statements. International conventions demand that President Omar Bashir's regime protects its citizens - not slaughter part of Sudan's population: simply because they are of a darker hue than Omar Bashir and the criminals who make up his regime.
It is just so shameful that black African leaders, who themselves would be at the receiving end of Omar Bashir's evil and sadistic nature, if they lived in Sudan, on account of their dark skins, give succour to this monster: a latter-day Adolf Hitler, no less. Shame on them!
Pure nonsense on bamboo stilts! That puerile statement is one of the most outrageous and self-serving conference communiqués, I have ever come across. It is an insult to the people of Darfur, who are being raped, maimed, terrorized and murdered on a daily basis - with total impunity by the government led by President Omar Bashir and its agents of mass murder: the Janjaweed.
With respect, if the rest of Europe had made such asinine comments during WW2 when Adolf Hitler was busy murdering millions of unfortunate souls (whom he considered inferior beings) as his Nazi troops swept across Europe, where would humankind be today?
Appeasement then did not save those millions whom Hitler's army murdered - and it will not save the people of Darfur and Southern Sudan today, either: and this is appeasement, pure and simple.
President Omar Bashir is carrying out a pogrom, not conducting a mass "love-in", in Darfur - where his military forces and the special-purpose vehicle they have created and armed, the Janjaweed, are engaged in ethnic cleansing, no less: even as those supine ACP leaders make their shameful and self-serving statement.
President Omar Bashir and the criminals, who make up his regime, consider themselves to be superior beings - and look down on those they are trying to wipe off the face of the earth, as sub-human.
For years, the world has sat on its hands and watched as this tragedy against an oppressed African people has unfolded – their only crime being that they are darker-skinned than that racist Omar Bashir: who regards himself as an "Arab", not an African.
That monster, who leads Sudan, regards dark-skinned Africans as inferior beings - and thus can be killed like vermin. He is literally getting away with murder in Darfur. Why should those ACP leaders compound the misery and tragedy of the people of Darfur so callously by making such statements?
If the leaders of the ACP are unwilling or unable to go to the aid of those poor souls in Darfur, let them not add insult to their injury by making such outrageous statements. International conventions demand that President Omar Bashir's regime protects its citizens - not slaughter part of Sudan's population: simply because they are of a darker hue than Omar Bashir and the criminals who make up his regime.
It is just so shameful that black African leaders, who themselves would be at the receiving end of Omar Bashir's evil and sadistic nature, if they lived in Sudan, on account of their dark skins, give succour to this monster: a latter-day Adolf Hitler, no less. Shame on them!
Friday, 3 October 2008
JUST HOW MUCH IS THE U.S. AFRICA COMMAND’S “MEDIA-SPEND” IN GHANA , IF ANY?
U.S.Army General William “Kip” Ward is a noble-looking and highly intelligent man. He is just the sort of leader any African who cares about the progress of the continent, would love to see attending an African Union heads of state summit meeting - as his or her nation’s leader.
He is more like a diplomat than a military man - and speaks like one, too. On October 1, 2007, he made history by becoming the first commander of the US Africa Command - a sub-unified command under the US European Command. On October 1, 2008 it finally became an independent unified command, responsible for US Department of Defense operations in the continent.
General Ward was commissioned as an infantry officer in June 1971, according to his biography posted at Africom’s website:
http://www.africom.mil/ward.asp.
He has had a long and distinguished military career: “His military education includes the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, US Army Command and General Staff College, and US Army War College. He holds a Masters of Arts Degree in Political Science from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelors of Art Degree in Political Science from Morgan State University. His military service has included overseas tours in Korea, Egypt, Somalia, Bosnia, Israel, two tours in Germany, and a wide variety of assignments in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.”
A world away, thousands of miles from our continent, in Afghanistan , his brother officer, General David H. Petraeus, leads America ’s fight against Al Qaeda and their Afghan allies the resurgent Taliban.
A little-known fact is that part of the funding for the US military’s “surge” in Iraq was devoted to “information warfare.” For those interested in perusing it further, this is the link to Africom’s splendid website: http://www.africom.mil/index.asp.
Writing in the Friday, October 3, 2008; edition of the Washington Post, staff writers Karen De Young and Walter Pincus said: “The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government. The new contracts -- awarded last week to four companies -- will expand and consolidate what the U.S. military calls "information/psychological operations" in Iraq far into the future, even as violence appears to be abating and U.S. troops have begun drawing down.”
Readers can look up the rest of this fascinating article online, by following this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/02/AR2008100204223.html?wpisrc=newsletter&sub=AR.
A thorough search at Africom’s own website, failed to reveal any such budget for its operations in Africa. Perhaps the question an Nrumaist and ultra-nationalist like me ought to ask is: is Africom engaged in the same kind of operations reported in The Washington Post article and paying huge sums to sections of the Ghanaian media for the same ends the US military seeks in Iraq in the war it is fighting in Iraq to protect US interests in the Middle East region?
Would that I was a fly on the wall at some of the meetings General Ward has held in Ghana with our political leaders and our security chiefs. I wonder too, whether the many newspapers sponsored by our own secret services have been beneficiaries of the munificence of the U.S. Defense Department – as they seem to have a bottomless pit to draw their propaganda budget from!
Naturally, in a few decades hence, patriotic and discerning Ghanaians alive then will get to read the declassified US State Department and Defense Department documents on the subject. If I am in heaven by then, I’ll read them avidly - to know whom amongst our media sold their consciences: and worked for a foreign power against the national interest of our homeland Ghana.
Hmmm Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana !
He is more like a diplomat than a military man - and speaks like one, too. On October 1, 2007, he made history by becoming the first commander of the US Africa Command - a sub-unified command under the US European Command. On October 1, 2008 it finally became an independent unified command, responsible for US Department of Defense operations in the continent.
General Ward was commissioned as an infantry officer in June 1971, according to his biography posted at Africom’s website:
http://www.africom.mil/ward.asp.
He has had a long and distinguished military career: “His military education includes the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, US Army Command and General Staff College, and US Army War College. He holds a Masters of Arts Degree in Political Science from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelors of Art Degree in Political Science from Morgan State University. His military service has included overseas tours in Korea, Egypt, Somalia, Bosnia, Israel, two tours in Germany, and a wide variety of assignments in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.”
A world away, thousands of miles from our continent, in Afghanistan , his brother officer, General David H. Petraeus, leads America ’s fight against Al Qaeda and their Afghan allies the resurgent Taliban.
A little-known fact is that part of the funding for the US military’s “surge” in Iraq was devoted to “information warfare.” For those interested in perusing it further, this is the link to Africom’s splendid website: http://www.africom.mil/index.asp.
Writing in the Friday, October 3, 2008; edition of the Washington Post, staff writers Karen De Young and Walter Pincus said: “The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government. The new contracts -- awarded last week to four companies -- will expand and consolidate what the U.S. military calls "information/psychological operations" in Iraq far into the future, even as violence appears to be abating and U.S. troops have begun drawing down.”
Readers can look up the rest of this fascinating article online, by following this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/02/AR2008100204223.html?wpisrc=newsletter&sub=AR.
A thorough search at Africom’s own website, failed to reveal any such budget for its operations in Africa. Perhaps the question an Nrumaist and ultra-nationalist like me ought to ask is: is Africom engaged in the same kind of operations reported in The Washington Post article and paying huge sums to sections of the Ghanaian media for the same ends the US military seeks in Iraq in the war it is fighting in Iraq to protect US interests in the Middle East region?
Would that I was a fly on the wall at some of the meetings General Ward has held in Ghana with our political leaders and our security chiefs. I wonder too, whether the many newspapers sponsored by our own secret services have been beneficiaries of the munificence of the U.S. Defense Department – as they seem to have a bottomless pit to draw their propaganda budget from!
Naturally, in a few decades hence, patriotic and discerning Ghanaians alive then will get to read the declassified US State Department and Defense Department documents on the subject. If I am in heaven by then, I’ll read them avidly - to know whom amongst our media sold their consciences: and worked for a foreign power against the national interest of our homeland Ghana.
Hmmm Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana !
TIME TO CREATE SPECIAL FUND TO APPREHEND MURDEROUS AFRICAN DICTATORS & THEIR EVIL ACOLYTES?
Perhaps the time has now come for those Western celebrities who are campaigning to stop the pogrom being carried out by Omar Bashir and Co. in Darfur, to stage Live Aid-style worldwide pop concerts, to raise money to set up a special fund.
The scorched-earth terror tactics employed by Omar Bashir and the murderous regime he leads in Sudan, to ethnically cleanse Darfur (through the agency of the Janjaweed), has turned the western part of Sudan into a version of hell on earth. It is time humanity took effective action to halt this African Holocaust once and for all.
If there existed a special fund to reward those who arrest persons indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for committing crimes against humanity, Africa will quickly see the end of such atrocities, throughout the continent.
For example, if the fund could put up a bounty of say US$5 million to reward anyone who arrests and delivers persons, such as Omar Bashir, indicted by the ICC, to the court's jurisdiction, we will soon see a rapid end to the abominable and unspeakable acts of savagery being carried out by the government of Sudan and its well-armed agents, in Darfur.
If such a fund existed, Omar Bashir would not dare cock a snook at humankind, by continuing to bomb villages in Darfur; make it virtually impossible for the AU/UN peacekeeping force to function properly; and recruit, train, arm and deploy its military's special-purpose vehicle for ethnic cleansing, the Janjaweed.
If such a fund existed, mass-murderers and those committing crimes against humanity in Africa will be swiftly arrested.
Notorious individuals on the continent pursuing blood-thirsty careers such as: the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kone; the rebel Tutsi Congolese leader General Enkunda; Rwanda's leader General Kagame, who is the main sponsor of General Enkunda and thus indirectly responsible for the atrocities committed by Enkunda's army in eastern DR Congo, will all be brought to justice, finally - thank goodness!
The scorched-earth terror tactics employed by Omar Bashir and the murderous regime he leads in Sudan, to ethnically cleanse Darfur (through the agency of the Janjaweed), has turned the western part of Sudan into a version of hell on earth. It is time humanity took effective action to halt this African Holocaust once and for all.
If there existed a special fund to reward those who arrest persons indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for committing crimes against humanity, Africa will quickly see the end of such atrocities, throughout the continent.
For example, if the fund could put up a bounty of say US$5 million to reward anyone who arrests and delivers persons, such as Omar Bashir, indicted by the ICC, to the court's jurisdiction, we will soon see a rapid end to the abominable and unspeakable acts of savagery being carried out by the government of Sudan and its well-armed agents, in Darfur.
If such a fund existed, Omar Bashir would not dare cock a snook at humankind, by continuing to bomb villages in Darfur; make it virtually impossible for the AU/UN peacekeeping force to function properly; and recruit, train, arm and deploy its military's special-purpose vehicle for ethnic cleansing, the Janjaweed.
If such a fund existed, mass-murderers and those committing crimes against humanity in Africa will be swiftly arrested.
Notorious individuals on the continent pursuing blood-thirsty careers such as: the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kone; the rebel Tutsi Congolese leader General Enkunda; Rwanda's leader General Kagame, who is the main sponsor of General Enkunda and thus indirectly responsible for the atrocities committed by Enkunda's army in eastern DR Congo, will all be brought to justice, finally - thank goodness!
Will Professor John Attah Mills Bring Ghanaians Real Change?
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo! What short memories the members of our political class have.
Yes, we all know that our current "hypocrite-in-chief" leads the most profligate and tribalistic regime we have ever had the misfortune of electing into office, in our country.
However, Ghanaians aren't fools - the day of reckoning will come for all those who have participated in the gang-rape of Mother Ghana.
Professor Mills had better make it clear to the discerning Ghanaians whose votes will make the difference between victory and defeat for him and his party on the day of the presidential elections, that his government will not turn out to be a regime of clever crooks, too. He has his work cut out.
Frankly, the signs aren't very good. Like the ruling party, his party has the same kind of intolerant and arrogant "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who wear blinkers permanently, and who also never see anything wrong with his party and its policies.
Well, listening to those brain-dead party fanatics 24/7 will not help him beat the ruling party's candidate for president, in the coming elections this December. If he wants my vote, and the votes of those who also think about the well-being of our nation and its people, as opposed to those whose blinkers blind them to the many ills of our society, he had better tell us more plausible things than he has done, thus far.
To start with, if he wants my vote, he ought to be telling me that he and his better half will publicly declare and publish their assets before the day of the presidential and parliamentary elections - and that they will do same when he comes to the end of his tenure.
I also want him to tell me that he will demand same from all the members of his government - and their spouses, too.
I would like him to tell me that one of the first things his regime will do, will be to take Ghana Telecom back - because the transaction flouted the constitutional provision that enjoins all Ghanaians to fight corruption: the moment they railroaded a law through Parliament indemnifying those involved in the negotiations for the deal from prosecution for criminal actions associated with the takeover by Vodafone.
It is a law that will not be accepted by the Europen Union - and neither should his regime tolerate it.
He must also make it plain to the many party hangers-on who were not public officials but were allocated government properties to live in free of charge and were paid for no work done in places like the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), when his party last ruled our country, that there will be no spongers under his tenure.
They must all look for work like everybody else in our country - not be given cushy sinecures at mother Ghana's expense: for party political ends.
If he wants me to believe that he will create an enterprise culture in Ghana, then let him tell me that he will abolish personal income tax - and bring down Ghana's corporate tax rate to just 9 per cent: and make this an attractive place for those doing business on the continent to locate their company headquarters here, that way.
He must also promise to get parliament to pass draconian laws which will make those found guilty of dodging those very low corporate tax rates, receive mandatory lengthy jail sentences - to protect Ghana's tax revenues from the many tax-dodging crooks in the private sector.
Above all, he must tell me that they will take a leaf from the book of Russia and Venezuela - and engage in "resource nationalism": by seizing control of all our oilfields and natural gas deposits from those currently controlling those resources, without any real oversight by present-day authorities - who only toady to Western interests instead of protecting the national interest: and are the lackeys of Western capitalism in our country. Bottom line!
Under no circumstance must he tolerate any international intervention or calls for arbitration, when that happens - for, the revenues from those finite resources, ought to be used for the sole purpose of transforming Ghanaian society into Africa's equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia - not line the pockets of high net worth, fat-cat Western oil company shareholders. Period.
Yes, as an honourable people we must pay them fair compensation - by issuing them with Ghana's sovereign bonds, not cash: to show the ordinary people of Ghana that they are ruled by politicians who aren't as clueless as the present incompetent regime.
He must also promise to stop piling up yet more hard currency debt to lumber future generations of Ghanaian with - just to line the pockets of crooks in his regime: who might want to increase their net worth to stratospheric levels, by stealth: laundering hard currency kickbacks through opaque offshore shell companies fronted by paid Western fronts.
If he wants to be president, then let him think of creative solutions to the many problems our nation faces. For example, instead of the idiocy of extending the national grid to rural Ghana using present methods, let his regime work in partnership with the Biochar Fund, to use their sustainable rural development model, which focuses on the production of biochar and the free power produced in the process.
It is the perfect sustainable model for providing free renewable off-grid electricity for rural Ghana.
His government must also work with Sustainable Villages Africa, for the same ends, in a private public partnership (PPP) that involves local communities, district assemblies and the two organizations, as partners in sustainable development in rural Ghana.
Naturally, as a firm believer in devolving power from central government to the districts, I expect Professor Mills to assure local grassroots people throughout Ghana, that his regime will give them the power to elect district chief executives (DCE) - for, that is the best way of ensuring that the well-being of grassroots people, rather than the self-interest of the president and his party, dominates the thinking of DCEs
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Yes, we all know that our current "hypocrite-in-chief" leads the most profligate and tribalistic regime we have ever had the misfortune of electing into office, in our country.
However, Ghanaians aren't fools - the day of reckoning will come for all those who have participated in the gang-rape of Mother Ghana.
Professor Mills had better make it clear to the discerning Ghanaians whose votes will make the difference between victory and defeat for him and his party on the day of the presidential elections, that his government will not turn out to be a regime of clever crooks, too. He has his work cut out.
Frankly, the signs aren't very good. Like the ruling party, his party has the same kind of intolerant and arrogant "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who wear blinkers permanently, and who also never see anything wrong with his party and its policies.
Well, listening to those brain-dead party fanatics 24/7 will not help him beat the ruling party's candidate for president, in the coming elections this December. If he wants my vote, and the votes of those who also think about the well-being of our nation and its people, as opposed to those whose blinkers blind them to the many ills of our society, he had better tell us more plausible things than he has done, thus far.
To start with, if he wants my vote, he ought to be telling me that he and his better half will publicly declare and publish their assets before the day of the presidential and parliamentary elections - and that they will do same when he comes to the end of his tenure.
I also want him to tell me that he will demand same from all the members of his government - and their spouses, too.
I would like him to tell me that one of the first things his regime will do, will be to take Ghana Telecom back - because the transaction flouted the constitutional provision that enjoins all Ghanaians to fight corruption: the moment they railroaded a law through Parliament indemnifying those involved in the negotiations for the deal from prosecution for criminal actions associated with the takeover by Vodafone.
It is a law that will not be accepted by the Europen Union - and neither should his regime tolerate it.
He must also make it plain to the many party hangers-on who were not public officials but were allocated government properties to live in free of charge and were paid for no work done in places like the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), when his party last ruled our country, that there will be no spongers under his tenure.
They must all look for work like everybody else in our country - not be given cushy sinecures at mother Ghana's expense: for party political ends.
If he wants me to believe that he will create an enterprise culture in Ghana, then let him tell me that he will abolish personal income tax - and bring down Ghana's corporate tax rate to just 9 per cent: and make this an attractive place for those doing business on the continent to locate their company headquarters here, that way.
He must also promise to get parliament to pass draconian laws which will make those found guilty of dodging those very low corporate tax rates, receive mandatory lengthy jail sentences - to protect Ghana's tax revenues from the many tax-dodging crooks in the private sector.
Above all, he must tell me that they will take a leaf from the book of Russia and Venezuela - and engage in "resource nationalism": by seizing control of all our oilfields and natural gas deposits from those currently controlling those resources, without any real oversight by present-day authorities - who only toady to Western interests instead of protecting the national interest: and are the lackeys of Western capitalism in our country. Bottom line!
Under no circumstance must he tolerate any international intervention or calls for arbitration, when that happens - for, the revenues from those finite resources, ought to be used for the sole purpose of transforming Ghanaian society into Africa's equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia - not line the pockets of high net worth, fat-cat Western oil company shareholders. Period.
Yes, as an honourable people we must pay them fair compensation - by issuing them with Ghana's sovereign bonds, not cash: to show the ordinary people of Ghana that they are ruled by politicians who aren't as clueless as the present incompetent regime.
He must also promise to stop piling up yet more hard currency debt to lumber future generations of Ghanaian with - just to line the pockets of crooks in his regime: who might want to increase their net worth to stratospheric levels, by stealth: laundering hard currency kickbacks through opaque offshore shell companies fronted by paid Western fronts.
If he wants to be president, then let him think of creative solutions to the many problems our nation faces. For example, instead of the idiocy of extending the national grid to rural Ghana using present methods, let his regime work in partnership with the Biochar Fund, to use their sustainable rural development model, which focuses on the production of biochar and the free power produced in the process.
It is the perfect sustainable model for providing free renewable off-grid electricity for rural Ghana.
His government must also work with Sustainable Villages Africa, for the same ends, in a private public partnership (PPP) that involves local communities, district assemblies and the two organizations, as partners in sustainable development in rural Ghana.
Naturally, as a firm believer in devolving power from central government to the districts, I expect Professor Mills to assure local grassroots people throughout Ghana, that his regime will give them the power to elect district chief executives (DCE) - for, that is the best way of ensuring that the well-being of grassroots people, rather than the self-interest of the president and his party, dominates the thinking of DCEs
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Thursday, 2 October 2008
NO ELECTED REGIME IN THE GHANA OF TODAY, CAN FOOL ALL GHANAIANS PERMANENTLY!
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! I refer to your comment on the 1st October, 2008 www.ghanaweb.com general news web page article entitled: "Ghana’s Gold Reserves Unsold" (www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=150974&comment=4070042#com). Please ignore that ignoramus, Opanin.
It is an outrageous and shameful propaganda piece, which clearly shows the total contempt that the greediest of the crooks amongst those, whom ordinary people elect to serve mother Ghana every four years, hold our nation and its people in.
For, how else can one explain this outrageous attempt to fool Ghanaians, Massa? Our country may be full of "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, but this really is the limit.
That shameful piece of sophistry, is a classic example of, and illustrates perfectly, why 99 per cent of Ghanaian journalists will never find employment in the Western media - unlike other Ghanaian professionals who go abroad to work (in their particular areas of competence, i.e.!).
How can any serious journalist, presumably a specialist writing in the pages of a section of his or her newspaper, which apparently focuses on business and finance, not know the difference between the official reserves of gold (bullion: gold bars kept by central banks as a store of value - and in the past used to back the currency of some nation-states: as in convertible currency!), and the mineral reserves of the deposits of gold in the ground: as estimated by geologists who have carried out surveys around our nation, for that purpose?
Is it any wonder then that so many Ghanaians worship daily at the cult of the mediocre - when those who seek to bury truth in our nation, can even get certain media houses and some journalists (who have sold their conscience!), to write such pure nonsense on bamboo stilts: and in such brazen fashion?
It might very well be fashionable in the circles of those who think they are going to rule our nation till kingdom come, to believe in their own propaganda; but ordinary Ghanaians aren't fools - as those who once held sway before June 4th 1979 eventually found out to their cost, alas.
Opanin, the Ghana of today is not a nation whose rulers can rip their country off and get away with, successfully, on a permanent basis. It might be prudent for the few dishonest and powerful tribal supremacists, who have dominated the ruling party so completely, thus far, to constantly remember that old Ghanaian saying: "No condition is permanent."
Let them ask Mr. Rawlings and Co. if they ever thought that Ghanaians, a people whom they once so clearly thought they could fool permanently, would ever throw them out of office - and strip them of power, totally. A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect out homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
It is an outrageous and shameful propaganda piece, which clearly shows the total contempt that the greediest of the crooks amongst those, whom ordinary people elect to serve mother Ghana every four years, hold our nation and its people in.
For, how else can one explain this outrageous attempt to fool Ghanaians, Massa? Our country may be full of "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons, but this really is the limit.
That shameful piece of sophistry, is a classic example of, and illustrates perfectly, why 99 per cent of Ghanaian journalists will never find employment in the Western media - unlike other Ghanaian professionals who go abroad to work (in their particular areas of competence, i.e.!).
How can any serious journalist, presumably a specialist writing in the pages of a section of his or her newspaper, which apparently focuses on business and finance, not know the difference between the official reserves of gold (bullion: gold bars kept by central banks as a store of value - and in the past used to back the currency of some nation-states: as in convertible currency!), and the mineral reserves of the deposits of gold in the ground: as estimated by geologists who have carried out surveys around our nation, for that purpose?
Is it any wonder then that so many Ghanaians worship daily at the cult of the mediocre - when those who seek to bury truth in our nation, can even get certain media houses and some journalists (who have sold their conscience!), to write such pure nonsense on bamboo stilts: and in such brazen fashion?
It might very well be fashionable in the circles of those who think they are going to rule our nation till kingdom come, to believe in their own propaganda; but ordinary Ghanaians aren't fools - as those who once held sway before June 4th 1979 eventually found out to their cost, alas.
Opanin, the Ghana of today is not a nation whose rulers can rip their country off and get away with, successfully, on a permanent basis. It might be prudent for the few dishonest and powerful tribal supremacists, who have dominated the ruling party so completely, thus far, to constantly remember that old Ghanaian saying: "No condition is permanent."
Let them ask Mr. Rawlings and Co. if they ever thought that Ghanaians, a people whom they once so clearly thought they could fool permanently, would ever throw them out of office - and strip them of power, totally. A word to the wise...
Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect out homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
ANDREW AWUNI: HONEST ANSWERS, PLEASE!
Opanin, this being Ghana, let me get your title right, to start with. I gather you are a: "presidential spokesman and press secretary to the president" - to quote a news reader from Metro TV, recently.
Let me also begin by saying that being a villager and a semi-literate farmer who can barely write and speak English, it is always with great trepidation that I write publicly about important personages such as your good self.
However, villagers, as you probably have heard, have a great sense of family - and are wont to make a fuss, when the well being of their family is threatened. It is precisely because of the welfare of future generations of my family that I write to you.
Opanin, my ears pricked up, when you mentioned the not inconsequential matter of the US$350 millions you said your government had "secured" from the US government, for electrification of rural areas in our country
Massa, we cannot pay for electricity in my village, even though there are frequent power outages - yet, your government of geniuses proposes to lumber future generations of my family with yet more debt to "electrify" villages in the rural areas.
For a fraction of that sum, your regime can get Mr Graham Knight's DIY Solar to provide every household in all the villages and hamlets in Ghana with at least 10 solar lanterns (converted by the villagers themselves from ordinary, cheap Chinese kerosene lanterns!), a solar mobile phone battery charger, and convert their dry-cell battery-powered radio sets into solar-powered radios. Ditto convert the smokey oil lamps used by kenkey and other food sellers at night, into solar lamps.
For good measure, you can also get Clive Norton's sustainable villages Africa (SVA), to develop one good sustainable community social enterprise in every village and hamlet in Ghana, so as to provide wealth for all villagers in Ghana - and turn our villages into model sustainable villages, to boot.
You could also approach the luminaries at "Biochar yahoogroups" to help SVA transform rural Ghana into centres for small-scale biochar production to enrich our soils to boost agricultural production, using the Swedish sustainability guru, Folke Gunther's mini-biochar oven.
Massa, if your government borrowed all that money for such ends, I wouldn't mind one bit - for, it would lead to an almost instantaneous improvement in the quality of life of every single inhabitant in rural Ghana.
Opanin, just what is it about the figure 300 that so fascinates your regime? Only yesterday, you were going to issue US$388 million (if my memory serves me right!) Ghanaian sovereign bonds to pay for GT's debt - until the Wall Street debacle, put paid to that expensive bit of financial lunacy.
If I remember correctly, out of that princely sum, we were also apparently going to pay US$72 millions "in other costs" - to quote that master of the universe, deputy finance minister, Dr. Akoto. Hmmm, Ghana, ayeasem oo - what other costs, I ask, Opanin? Can you break that down item by item, for the good people of Ghana?
Incidentally, why haven't Ghanaians been told which particular GT debt we are so eager to repay? Is it the Iroko-issued US$200 million corporate bond? If yes, did GT not have a repayment plan in place before it was inveigled by Iroko into issuing those corporate bonds in London? Would that not make it a case of criminal negligence on Iroko's part? Ditto the square pegs in round holes your government appointed to run the hapless GT - and to sit on its board?
Massa, how can the US, a nation teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, possibly find as much as US$ 350 millions of its rebellious taxpayers' money at this particular point in time, to lend to a profligate African dictatorship (albeit elected!), such as your government?
Well, the whole thing began to make sense to me, when you said that although the money had been "secured" from the US government, it would be coming from JP Morgan Chase: The selfsame bank that was accused by Enron shareholders of participating in the accounting scandal that led to Enron's collapse - and rushed, at the eleventh hour, to pay the shareholders US$2.2 billion on 14th June 2005, to avoid a court case, commencing the very next day.
It is also instructive that two years prior to the above-mentioned Enron shareholders' case (2003), J. P. Morgan Chase stood accused of financing and putting together a broad range of partnerships and transactions that contributed to Enron's collapse - and which hid debt from Enron's shareholders. In an out of court settlement, it agreed to pay US$162.5 million - so that criminal and regulatory investigations into its dealings with Enron, could be dropped.
Massa, even villagers like me constantly hear bush telegraph "stuff" that talks about a few powerful, dishonest and greedy crooks in your regime, who have set up opaque offshore companies in tax havens, with foreign fronts, to hide their ownership of those entities.
Apparently, that is where they hide their ill-gotten wealth. One gathers that foreign currency kickbacks (being their share of the gargantuan fees earned by regime-cronies in our Byzantine financial services industry!), from the many loans Ghana has been piling up under your regime, are laundered through those offshore companies. Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo!
Massa, was it not just such offshore companies, which were the special-purpose vehicles used for the fraud and rip-offs perpetrated by Enron, with an assist from J.P. Morgan Chase - and for which they were indicted by prosecutors and condemned by regulators?
Incidentally, it is often said that nowhere else in world (apart from Ghana!), do so many incestuous relationships exist, between regulators and industry players. There are said to be more ex-central bank governors, who either own banks, or sit on their boards, here, than in any other nation on the planet Earth, apparently!
Massa, I know that (taflatse!) our "hypocrite-in-chief" will probably dismiss this as "rumours by lazy people who are envious of hardworking people." Well, since I have no "evidence" for the "rumours" let us leave all that aside.
You will also probably say that all the shenanigans at J.P. Morgan Chase that I have mentioned, took place before Jamie Dimon took over the bank. True - but just how much in fees is the bank charging Ghana for this EXIM Bank-guaranteed loan, if any, Opanin? Just what is the rate of interest they are charging us, too? Any grace period before we start repayments - and if yes, how long for?
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Let me also begin by saying that being a villager and a semi-literate farmer who can barely write and speak English, it is always with great trepidation that I write publicly about important personages such as your good self.
However, villagers, as you probably have heard, have a great sense of family - and are wont to make a fuss, when the well being of their family is threatened. It is precisely because of the welfare of future generations of my family that I write to you.
Opanin, my ears pricked up, when you mentioned the not inconsequential matter of the US$350 millions you said your government had "secured" from the US government, for electrification of rural areas in our country
Massa, we cannot pay for electricity in my village, even though there are frequent power outages - yet, your government of geniuses proposes to lumber future generations of my family with yet more debt to "electrify" villages in the rural areas.
For a fraction of that sum, your regime can get Mr Graham Knight's DIY Solar to provide every household in all the villages and hamlets in Ghana with at least 10 solar lanterns (converted by the villagers themselves from ordinary, cheap Chinese kerosene lanterns!), a solar mobile phone battery charger, and convert their dry-cell battery-powered radio sets into solar-powered radios. Ditto convert the smokey oil lamps used by kenkey and other food sellers at night, into solar lamps.
For good measure, you can also get Clive Norton's sustainable villages Africa (SVA), to develop one good sustainable community social enterprise in every village and hamlet in Ghana, so as to provide wealth for all villagers in Ghana - and turn our villages into model sustainable villages, to boot.
You could also approach the luminaries at "Biochar yahoogroups" to help SVA transform rural Ghana into centres for small-scale biochar production to enrich our soils to boost agricultural production, using the Swedish sustainability guru, Folke Gunther's mini-biochar oven.
Massa, if your government borrowed all that money for such ends, I wouldn't mind one bit - for, it would lead to an almost instantaneous improvement in the quality of life of every single inhabitant in rural Ghana.
Opanin, just what is it about the figure 300 that so fascinates your regime? Only yesterday, you were going to issue US$388 million (if my memory serves me right!) Ghanaian sovereign bonds to pay for GT's debt - until the Wall Street debacle, put paid to that expensive bit of financial lunacy.
If I remember correctly, out of that princely sum, we were also apparently going to pay US$72 millions "in other costs" - to quote that master of the universe, deputy finance minister, Dr. Akoto. Hmmm, Ghana, ayeasem oo - what other costs, I ask, Opanin? Can you break that down item by item, for the good people of Ghana?
Incidentally, why haven't Ghanaians been told which particular GT debt we are so eager to repay? Is it the Iroko-issued US$200 million corporate bond? If yes, did GT not have a repayment plan in place before it was inveigled by Iroko into issuing those corporate bonds in London? Would that not make it a case of criminal negligence on Iroko's part? Ditto the square pegs in round holes your government appointed to run the hapless GT - and to sit on its board?
Massa, how can the US, a nation teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, possibly find as much as US$ 350 millions of its rebellious taxpayers' money at this particular point in time, to lend to a profligate African dictatorship (albeit elected!), such as your government?
Well, the whole thing began to make sense to me, when you said that although the money had been "secured" from the US government, it would be coming from JP Morgan Chase: The selfsame bank that was accused by Enron shareholders of participating in the accounting scandal that led to Enron's collapse - and rushed, at the eleventh hour, to pay the shareholders US$2.2 billion on 14th June 2005, to avoid a court case, commencing the very next day.
It is also instructive that two years prior to the above-mentioned Enron shareholders' case (2003), J. P. Morgan Chase stood accused of financing and putting together a broad range of partnerships and transactions that contributed to Enron's collapse - and which hid debt from Enron's shareholders. In an out of court settlement, it agreed to pay US$162.5 million - so that criminal and regulatory investigations into its dealings with Enron, could be dropped.
Massa, even villagers like me constantly hear bush telegraph "stuff" that talks about a few powerful, dishonest and greedy crooks in your regime, who have set up opaque offshore companies in tax havens, with foreign fronts, to hide their ownership of those entities.
Apparently, that is where they hide their ill-gotten wealth. One gathers that foreign currency kickbacks (being their share of the gargantuan fees earned by regime-cronies in our Byzantine financial services industry!), from the many loans Ghana has been piling up under your regime, are laundered through those offshore companies. Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo!
Massa, was it not just such offshore companies, which were the special-purpose vehicles used for the fraud and rip-offs perpetrated by Enron, with an assist from J.P. Morgan Chase - and for which they were indicted by prosecutors and condemned by regulators?
Incidentally, it is often said that nowhere else in world (apart from Ghana!), do so many incestuous relationships exist, between regulators and industry players. There are said to be more ex-central bank governors, who either own banks, or sit on their boards, here, than in any other nation on the planet Earth, apparently!
Massa, I know that (taflatse!) our "hypocrite-in-chief" will probably dismiss this as "rumours by lazy people who are envious of hardworking people." Well, since I have no "evidence" for the "rumours" let us leave all that aside.
You will also probably say that all the shenanigans at J.P. Morgan Chase that I have mentioned, took place before Jamie Dimon took over the bank. True - but just how much in fees is the bank charging Ghana for this EXIM Bank-guaranteed loan, if any, Opanin? Just what is the rate of interest they are charging us, too? Any grace period before we start repayments - and if yes, how long for?
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Saturday, 27 September 2008
SENATOR McCAIN: OLD, SMUG AND ARROGANT?
The trouble about good and decent people like Senator McCain, is that they do not seem to understand the new global reality - they are content to live happily in a world that has long disappeared!
The United States no longer has the wealth to allow it to fund prolonged foreign adventures like Iraq - and must seek to influence nations through peaceful means, not dictate to them by military force.
Gun-boat diplomacy will not work in today's new realities. One of today's realities is that that "crazy" Ahmadenejad is the elected leader of Iran - a nation assisting its Shia allies in Iraq to fight US troops with the deadliest of weapons.
The president of the United States ought to talk to him directly - if that will make it possible for the US to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions: and halt its military supplies to Iraqi insurgents.
For Senator McCain to airily dismiss Senator Obama's good sense (and straightforwardness!)during their first debate, even as his boss President Bush sends envoys to talk directly to Iran, is downright silly, hypocritical and shortsighted.
Iran is the source of supply of the deadliest IED's to insurgents in Iraq - a terrible weapon that has killed and maimed many Americans and Iraqis.
If it takes the direct intervention of the United States president to halt the supply line to militant Iraqi Shias, by directly speaking to President Ahmadenejad, so be it: for, the lives of America's soldiers in Iraq is far more important than the posturing of the pride-filled members of its political class.
Ultimately, America can never win its present war in Iraq - simply because in the end, the Iraqi people will demand that the US withdraws all its troops from their country, without exception.
Which nation in today's world wants its territory occupied by a foreign power? Does Senator McCain seriously think those stooges for Dick Chenney and Co. now running Iraq, will be in power there forever? Some judgement!
It is a shame that American politicians like Senator McCain do not have the foresight to understand that bald fact - and continue to back that deadly folly, which the Iraqi war represents.
Does it not make sense to talk to Iran's leaders in the meantime, rather than continue to see more maimed and dead US soldiers (and Iraqi citizens): casualties from roadside bombs and other weapons supplied by Iran to Iraqi Shia dissidents?
What practical sense is there in allowing the silly pride of US politicians like yesterday's man, Senator McCain to prevail - a man who thinks that talking directly to an elected leader sending such weapons into Iraq without any preconditions is "dangerous"?
The United States no longer has the wealth to allow it to fund prolonged foreign adventures like Iraq - and must seek to influence nations through peaceful means, not dictate to them by military force.
Gun-boat diplomacy will not work in today's new realities. One of today's realities is that that "crazy" Ahmadenejad is the elected leader of Iran - a nation assisting its Shia allies in Iraq to fight US troops with the deadliest of weapons.
The president of the United States ought to talk to him directly - if that will make it possible for the US to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions: and halt its military supplies to Iraqi insurgents.
For Senator McCain to airily dismiss Senator Obama's good sense (and straightforwardness!)during their first debate, even as his boss President Bush sends envoys to talk directly to Iran, is downright silly, hypocritical and shortsighted.
Iran is the source of supply of the deadliest IED's to insurgents in Iraq - a terrible weapon that has killed and maimed many Americans and Iraqis.
If it takes the direct intervention of the United States president to halt the supply line to militant Iraqi Shias, by directly speaking to President Ahmadenejad, so be it: for, the lives of America's soldiers in Iraq is far more important than the posturing of the pride-filled members of its political class.
Ultimately, America can never win its present war in Iraq - simply because in the end, the Iraqi people will demand that the US withdraws all its troops from their country, without exception.
Which nation in today's world wants its territory occupied by a foreign power? Does Senator McCain seriously think those stooges for Dick Chenney and Co. now running Iraq, will be in power there forever? Some judgement!
It is a shame that American politicians like Senator McCain do not have the foresight to understand that bald fact - and continue to back that deadly folly, which the Iraqi war represents.
Does it not make sense to talk to Iran's leaders in the meantime, rather than continue to see more maimed and dead US soldiers (and Iraqi citizens): casualties from roadside bombs and other weapons supplied by Iran to Iraqi Shia dissidents?
What practical sense is there in allowing the silly pride of US politicians like yesterday's man, Senator McCain to prevail - a man who thinks that talking directly to an elected leader sending such weapons into Iraq without any preconditions is "dangerous"?
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Remember The Genesis Of The Rwandan Genocide
Opanin, I refer to your www.ghanaweb.com general news web page comment (www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=150462&comment=4055344#com)
Opanin, yes, perhaps you may very well have important questions to ask Mr. Kweku Baako and Co. when they return to Ghana, eventually - but please leave out the insults to Asantes. For, that is totally unjustified. Massa, always remember how such hatred ended up spawning the pogrom in Rwanda.
You must always make a distinction between ordinary Asantes and the few greedy and powerful tribal supremacists from that part of our country, who exploit the pride ordinary Asantes justly have in their unique culture and their history.
There are tribal supremacists in all the ethnic groups in Ghana, without exception. However, thankfully for the rest of us, those narrow-minded and misguided individuals, always form only a tiny minority amongst their own tribes men and women.
Opanin, ordinary Asantes, like ordinary Ghanaians from other ethnic groups, do not care one jot about the ethnic extraction of their fellow citizens of the Ghanaian nation-state, whom they interact with on a daily basis. What they care about is the personal integrity of their fellow citizens - whom they have to deal with on a daily basis, at any point in time, in their lives.
Personally, for example, I do not care how many Asantes the current president appoints into official positions in the public sector of our country: as long as they are qualified - because in my view they are all Ghanaian citizens, too.
What you and I, as well as all decent and fair-minded Ghanaians, ought to condemn, is when those who rule us, favour their own tribal chiefs at the expense of other chiefs in our country - and abuse their power by using the state machinery to promote the selfish ambitions of those tribal chiefs: feeding and humouring their tiresome and absurd megalomania and carrying on as if there were no other tribal chiefs in Ghana, apart from those ridiculous and pride-filled personages.
In that sense, our current president is the worst Ghanaian leader we have ever had the misfortune to have elected into office in our country.
He has literally helped the treasonable ambitions of some of his tribal chiefs, in their absurd desire to revive the feudal entities their predecessors once ruled over, in the pre-colonial era, by stealth.
Our current president's unholy alliance with some of his tribal chiefs, is treasonable and as inimical to our country's interests, as any plot to overthrow the constitutional order. Period.
Opanin, please do not insult any ethnic group in Ghana, ever again - for, we are all one people with a common destiny.
Presumably you live in the UK - surely, you do not welcome the insults and prejudice of the British National Party (BNP) white supremacists in the UK who look down on people of colour: and sometimes murder them for that reason? So please do not do fall into the same narrow-minded trap too, in your dealings with your fellow human beings.
As for Mr. Kweku Baako and his friends they are only doing their job, in accompanying our "hypocrite-in-chief" to the USA.
What we must all condem is the insensitivity of the regime which only a few weeks ago was telling Ghanaians that it needed to sell Ghana Telecom because we were on the brink of a financial catastrophe - for, it is their profigacy that is responsible for the outrage. In the fullness of time, I am sure Mr. Baako and Co. will make full disclosure of the per diem each one of them received.
In any case, this is not a nation in which any secrets can be hidden from Ghanaians. Have we not just 'discovered' that the entirety of our gold reserves have secretly been sold off (if the bush telegraph is to be believed, i.e.!)?
That is a serious matter - and we shall demand full disclosure, item by item, of precisely what the proceeds were used for, if the story turns out to be true. Rest assured that any individual who has participated in the on-going gang rape of mother Ghana, will pay a heavy price for it, some day.
No one can recklessly cause financial loss to the Ghanaian nation-state today, and get away with it, Opanin. Ghanaians aren't fools - and no one should underestimate them: especially those whom they elect every four years to serve them!
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa. May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Opanin, yes, perhaps you may very well have important questions to ask Mr. Kweku Baako and Co. when they return to Ghana, eventually - but please leave out the insults to Asantes. For, that is totally unjustified. Massa, always remember how such hatred ended up spawning the pogrom in Rwanda.
You must always make a distinction between ordinary Asantes and the few greedy and powerful tribal supremacists from that part of our country, who exploit the pride ordinary Asantes justly have in their unique culture and their history.
There are tribal supremacists in all the ethnic groups in Ghana, without exception. However, thankfully for the rest of us, those narrow-minded and misguided individuals, always form only a tiny minority amongst their own tribes men and women.
Opanin, ordinary Asantes, like ordinary Ghanaians from other ethnic groups, do not care one jot about the ethnic extraction of their fellow citizens of the Ghanaian nation-state, whom they interact with on a daily basis. What they care about is the personal integrity of their fellow citizens - whom they have to deal with on a daily basis, at any point in time, in their lives.
Personally, for example, I do not care how many Asantes the current president appoints into official positions in the public sector of our country: as long as they are qualified - because in my view they are all Ghanaian citizens, too.
What you and I, as well as all decent and fair-minded Ghanaians, ought to condemn, is when those who rule us, favour their own tribal chiefs at the expense of other chiefs in our country - and abuse their power by using the state machinery to promote the selfish ambitions of those tribal chiefs: feeding and humouring their tiresome and absurd megalomania and carrying on as if there were no other tribal chiefs in Ghana, apart from those ridiculous and pride-filled personages.
In that sense, our current president is the worst Ghanaian leader we have ever had the misfortune to have elected into office in our country.
He has literally helped the treasonable ambitions of some of his tribal chiefs, in their absurd desire to revive the feudal entities their predecessors once ruled over, in the pre-colonial era, by stealth.
Our current president's unholy alliance with some of his tribal chiefs, is treasonable and as inimical to our country's interests, as any plot to overthrow the constitutional order. Period.
Opanin, please do not insult any ethnic group in Ghana, ever again - for, we are all one people with a common destiny.
Presumably you live in the UK - surely, you do not welcome the insults and prejudice of the British National Party (BNP) white supremacists in the UK who look down on people of colour: and sometimes murder them for that reason? So please do not do fall into the same narrow-minded trap too, in your dealings with your fellow human beings.
As for Mr. Kweku Baako and his friends they are only doing their job, in accompanying our "hypocrite-in-chief" to the USA.
What we must all condem is the insensitivity of the regime which only a few weeks ago was telling Ghanaians that it needed to sell Ghana Telecom because we were on the brink of a financial catastrophe - for, it is their profigacy that is responsible for the outrage. In the fullness of time, I am sure Mr. Baako and Co. will make full disclosure of the per diem each one of them received.
In any case, this is not a nation in which any secrets can be hidden from Ghanaians. Have we not just 'discovered' that the entirety of our gold reserves have secretly been sold off (if the bush telegraph is to be believed, i.e.!)?
That is a serious matter - and we shall demand full disclosure, item by item, of precisely what the proceeds were used for, if the story turns out to be true. Rest assured that any individual who has participated in the on-going gang rape of mother Ghana, will pay a heavy price for it, some day.
No one can recklessly cause financial loss to the Ghanaian nation-state today, and get away with it, Opanin. Ghanaians aren't fools - and no one should underestimate them: especially those whom they elect every four years to serve them!
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa. May God bless our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. PAA KWESI NDUOM!
Opanin, I refer to your latest campaign email (Thu, 25/9/08, Papa Kwesi Nduom, MP From: Papa Kwesi Nduom, MP Subject: My Running Mate)
I am humbly making a few suggestions that I hope you and your team will consider, going forward. I do so publicly so that the other political parties will act on same - as we all want mother Ghana's prosperity, at the end of the day.
Naturally, for a patriot and ultra-nationalist like my humble self, there is also the small matter of the Byzantine workings of the inner circles of Ghanaian presidential candidates - which one simply has no interest in engaging!
They (my suggested ideas, i.e.!) all refer to areas of our national life that your vice presidential candidate could competently handle as part of his duties - were you to win the December 2008 presidential elections.
Opanin, may I suggest that your party looks immediately at the sustainable rural development model championed by the South African sustainable livehoods entity, Sustainable Villages Africa?
I really do believe that if your party worked closely with Clive Norton, SVA's managing director, our great party could change rural Ghana for the better, within our lifetime.
I also suggest that you contact Folke Gunther, the Swedish sustainable development expert who has developed a simple biochar processing plant for use by even the smallest hamlet homesteaders, in the developing world.
If your party champions biochar, we could dramatically improve crop yields in rural Ghana, literally in months - and help contribute significantly to the fight against global climate change, too.
You should also contact Pro Natura, who have set up a plant in Senegal to make "green charcoal". Green charcoal can help save our forests and make rural Ghana prosper.
They would be perfect PPP projects that all our district assemblies could partner farmers' cooperatives to set up and run with SVA, as joint-venture partnerships. Funding for such projects can be obtained under Ghana's clean development mechanism (CDM), under the Kyoto Treaty.
The "green charcoal" plant in Senegal gets paid by Air France - who neutralise some of their carbon footprint that way, as its carbon offset initiative.
If you contact Sustainable Travel International's (STI) Brian Mullis, he will find you companies committed to "greening" their businesses by funding small hydroelectric projects in the developing world.
Can you imagine how beneficial it would be for our nation, if we were able to fund all the small hydroelectric power projects Nkrumah had plans for, in such a creative, "thinking-outside-the-box" fashion?
And if you contacted that brilliant young Ghanaian architect, Kojo Derban, he will show you his breathtaking plans for an ethnographic museum in Tamale, using traditional northern architecture.
Opanin, such an important arts and cultural institution could make eco-tourism in the north (a niche the north has comparative advantage over other areas of our country), grow even faster.
During your first term, you must also build an international airport in Tamale to serve as a Sahelian West African hub for traffic from the landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - and boost eco-tourism in the north, yet further.
If you worked closely with Graham Knight of DIY Solar, we could help disadvantaged youth in rural Ghana, as well as the poorer parts of urban Ghana, make simple solar products such as: solar lamps; convert ordinary lanterns into solar lanterns; convert the oil lamps used by kenkey sellers and food sellers at night, into solar lamps; as well as make solar mobile phone battery chargers!
All those micro-entrepreneurial opportunities could make young people independent - not dependent on the state: as is currently the situation with large parts of the national youth employment programme - an idea that isn't sustainable in the long term: as has become glaringly obvious to all discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians.
Good luck in December, Opanin. May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
I am humbly making a few suggestions that I hope you and your team will consider, going forward. I do so publicly so that the other political parties will act on same - as we all want mother Ghana's prosperity, at the end of the day.
Naturally, for a patriot and ultra-nationalist like my humble self, there is also the small matter of the Byzantine workings of the inner circles of Ghanaian presidential candidates - which one simply has no interest in engaging!
They (my suggested ideas, i.e.!) all refer to areas of our national life that your vice presidential candidate could competently handle as part of his duties - were you to win the December 2008 presidential elections.
Opanin, may I suggest that your party looks immediately at the sustainable rural development model championed by the South African sustainable livehoods entity, Sustainable Villages Africa?
I really do believe that if your party worked closely with Clive Norton, SVA's managing director, our great party could change rural Ghana for the better, within our lifetime.
I also suggest that you contact Folke Gunther, the Swedish sustainable development expert who has developed a simple biochar processing plant for use by even the smallest hamlet homesteaders, in the developing world.
If your party champions biochar, we could dramatically improve crop yields in rural Ghana, literally in months - and help contribute significantly to the fight against global climate change, too.
You should also contact Pro Natura, who have set up a plant in Senegal to make "green charcoal". Green charcoal can help save our forests and make rural Ghana prosper.
They would be perfect PPP projects that all our district assemblies could partner farmers' cooperatives to set up and run with SVA, as joint-venture partnerships. Funding for such projects can be obtained under Ghana's clean development mechanism (CDM), under the Kyoto Treaty.
The "green charcoal" plant in Senegal gets paid by Air France - who neutralise some of their carbon footprint that way, as its carbon offset initiative.
If you contact Sustainable Travel International's (STI) Brian Mullis, he will find you companies committed to "greening" their businesses by funding small hydroelectric projects in the developing world.
Can you imagine how beneficial it would be for our nation, if we were able to fund all the small hydroelectric power projects Nkrumah had plans for, in such a creative, "thinking-outside-the-box" fashion?
And if you contacted that brilliant young Ghanaian architect, Kojo Derban, he will show you his breathtaking plans for an ethnographic museum in Tamale, using traditional northern architecture.
Opanin, such an important arts and cultural institution could make eco-tourism in the north (a niche the north has comparative advantage over other areas of our country), grow even faster.
During your first term, you must also build an international airport in Tamale to serve as a Sahelian West African hub for traffic from the landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - and boost eco-tourism in the north, yet further.
If you worked closely with Graham Knight of DIY Solar, we could help disadvantaged youth in rural Ghana, as well as the poorer parts of urban Ghana, make simple solar products such as: solar lamps; convert ordinary lanterns into solar lanterns; convert the oil lamps used by kenkey sellers and food sellers at night, into solar lamps; as well as make solar mobile phone battery chargers!
All those micro-entrepreneurial opportunities could make young people independent - not dependent on the state: as is currently the situation with large parts of the national youth employment programme - an idea that isn't sustainable in the long term: as has become glaringly obvious to all discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians.
Good luck in December, Opanin. May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
GHANA: WHY ENTERTAIN PRESIDENT OMAR BASHIR OF SUDAN?
Opanin, Omar Bashir and the murderous regime he leads, are engaged in ethnic cleansing in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan. With respect, Mr. Rawlings, despite all his many sins, never engaged in ethnic cleansing in our country.
In any case even Mr. Rawlings knows (deep down in him!) that one day he may very well be tried for the 1981 military coup - so do not compare him to the mass murderer Omar Bashir.
As it happens, Mr. Rawlings married a black African woman - and his own mother is a black African woman. Omar Bashir, on the other hand, is busy superintending the mass murder of Sudanese citizens: for the sole reason that they are of a darker hue than his - an affront to all black Africans.
The crafty Omar Bashir and Co., who are only slightly lighter-skinned than most black Africans, think black Africans are sub-human. Omar Bashir and his ilk despise black Africans - and want to wipe them off the face of the earth, with impunity.
They regard themselves as "Arabs" not Africans - although most white Arabs of the Arab world, regard the "Arabs" of Sudan as second class humans: fit only to be their slaves.
Why should a decent nation like ours entertain this criminal, who is committing crimes against humanity on a daily basis in Darfur - and has gotten away with it, thus far?
The annoying thing about Omar Bashir and Co. is that they are getting away with mass murder - and are clever enough to get the rest of black Africa's clueless leaders to support them in resisting international pressure to end the pogrom they are busy carrying out in Darfur. This is being done through the agency of the Janjaweed - whom they train, arm and supply regularly, for that end.
The irony in all this, is that were the leaders of black Africa to have had the misfortune of being born in Darfur or Southern Sudan, Omar Bashir and Co. would be killing them like flies, even as we speak. Yet, those supposedly intelligent leaders of the continent embrace that evil monster.
We should not entertain this black racist and mass murderer in our country - for his presence in our country is an affront to Ghanaians: a dignified and civilised people who are proud to be black Africans.
Black Africa's leaders must not give succour to this African version of Adolf Hitler - a true monster and an evil ruler indeed! Ghana ought to arrest him and hand him over to the ICC the moment he lands on Ghanaian soil. If the government cannot or is unwilling to do so, then they must not allow him into our country. Period.
Common decency demands that if the government of Ghana (and that of the other member-nations of the African Union!) has no intention of lifting a finger in defence of the black African population of Darfur, then at the very least, let them not give succour to their oppressor: who is busy plotting their end and terrorises them daily!
In any case even Mr. Rawlings knows (deep down in him!) that one day he may very well be tried for the 1981 military coup - so do not compare him to the mass murderer Omar Bashir.
As it happens, Mr. Rawlings married a black African woman - and his own mother is a black African woman. Omar Bashir, on the other hand, is busy superintending the mass murder of Sudanese citizens: for the sole reason that they are of a darker hue than his - an affront to all black Africans.
The crafty Omar Bashir and Co., who are only slightly lighter-skinned than most black Africans, think black Africans are sub-human. Omar Bashir and his ilk despise black Africans - and want to wipe them off the face of the earth, with impunity.
They regard themselves as "Arabs" not Africans - although most white Arabs of the Arab world, regard the "Arabs" of Sudan as second class humans: fit only to be their slaves.
Why should a decent nation like ours entertain this criminal, who is committing crimes against humanity on a daily basis in Darfur - and has gotten away with it, thus far?
The annoying thing about Omar Bashir and Co. is that they are getting away with mass murder - and are clever enough to get the rest of black Africa's clueless leaders to support them in resisting international pressure to end the pogrom they are busy carrying out in Darfur. This is being done through the agency of the Janjaweed - whom they train, arm and supply regularly, for that end.
The irony in all this, is that were the leaders of black Africa to have had the misfortune of being born in Darfur or Southern Sudan, Omar Bashir and Co. would be killing them like flies, even as we speak. Yet, those supposedly intelligent leaders of the continent embrace that evil monster.
We should not entertain this black racist and mass murderer in our country - for his presence in our country is an affront to Ghanaians: a dignified and civilised people who are proud to be black Africans.
Black Africa's leaders must not give succour to this African version of Adolf Hitler - a true monster and an evil ruler indeed! Ghana ought to arrest him and hand him over to the ICC the moment he lands on Ghanaian soil. If the government cannot or is unwilling to do so, then they must not allow him into our country. Period.
Common decency demands that if the government of Ghana (and that of the other member-nations of the African Union!) has no intention of lifting a finger in defence of the black African population of Darfur, then at the very least, let them not give succour to their oppressor: who is busy plotting their end and terrorises them daily!
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
GHANA'S TRIBAL SUPREMACISTS WILL NEVER SUCCEED!
Ohemaaa, so many people reveal a great deal about themselves - through their uncouth utterances in cyberspace. What is Okaompah-Awhofe's drivel about this time?
It is yet another tribalistic diatribe - full of illogical statements. Ohemaa, every little school child in our country knows that inherited privilege is the greatest enemy of any meritocracy.
They see it in the many incompetent square pegs in round holes, up and down our country - living off the fat of the land in their cushy gilded sinecures: the result of nepotism gone mad.
Secondly, those selfsame schoolchildren know that when God created humankind, he did not create a special race of humans called "royals". Throughout history, it has been the most bloodthirsty and the most cunning who made themselves into "royals".
The last one we had in Africa was His Imperial Majesty Bokassa 1 of the Central African Empire, was it not? If you go to Swaziland today, you will see why we are lucky that no kingdoms actually exist in our country, in a strictly legal sense - this being a Republic (thank goodness)!
Every progressive society has abolished feudalism. It is not an accident that we still lag far behind every one of those nations that did so. The modern-day monarchs of the developed world, wield no executive power - having been stripped of power by their people: in their march towards progress and the creation of prosperous and egalitarian societies.
Is it not sad that a man who uses language like that, prides himself on being "royal" - and an ill-mannered fellow like that presumably thinks that makes him superior to his fellow human beings?
Yet, those who suffer from a "superiority complex" suffer from the same mental illness that those who suffer from an "inferiority" complex do - both make unrealistic assumptions about those they interact with and know next to nothing about: as either being better than they are or inferior to them!
Ohemaa, tribal supremacists must always be separated from the rest of the members of their ethnic group - for, they are extremists of the worst kind: totally different from their more sane fellow tribesmen and women.
You will find them in all the ethnic groups in our country, without exception. They are our equivalent of the odious white supremacists of the Western world - who ignorantly think they are superior to people of colour: whom they regard as sub-human.
Luckily for our country, however, people of Okaompa-Awhofe's ilk are a tiny minority in all our ethnic groups. We are very fortunate to have a younger generation that thinks of itself as Ghanaian rather than Dagomba, Kusasi, Frafra, Ga Dangbe, Ewe, Akyem, Asante; Krobo, Gonja, Nzema, etc. etc.
Ask the next group of young Ghanaians you encounter, where they are from. The answer they give you, will most probably be a version of one a young man gave me once, when posed a similar question, by me: " My father is Asante and my mother is from Awutu. But I have never been to the birthplace of both parents. We have always lived in Accra, where I was born." He has spent all his young life in the airport residential area!
Ohemaa, I always use my own extended family as an example of the typical extended Ghanaian family. I have cousins (all of them blood relations!) whose parents are Asante; Akyem; Ewe; Krobo; Dagomba;Fante; and Ga Dangbe.
I myself was born in Kwadaso, Kumasi - and regard Otumfuo Opoku-Ware 11 as the greatest of the modern-day Asantehenes: because he understood that in the national interest he had to keep a low public profile.
Many Ghanaians genuinely mourned that great man, when he died - because they understood the immense role he had played in keeping our country united and strife-free with his humility, during his lifetime. I can say without fear of contradiction that there was not a single area in our country, where he was not respected.
The real solution to the menace to the cohesion of our country posed by the lunacy of the Okaompah-Awhofes, is to make our presidents our elected Omanpanins - the world's first elected monarchs!
We can do same with our district chief executives (whom we ought to elect on a party political basis, if we really want to make our rural areas progress and prosper!) - and call them paramount chiefs of their districts.
Naturally, we will operate on the assumption that all Ghanaian citizens are "royals" and can be elected to be King of Queen of the Royal Kingdom of Ghana, or elected as a paramount chief of one of our districts.
We will then get those surviving relics of our feudal past, to pay allegiance to our Omanpanin! Like the Maharajahs of the Republic of India, they will play no formal role at any state function - and be ordinary (but important - if they earn our respect by their deeds, i.e.!) citizens and perhaps find a new role for themselves as the "custodians" of our rich and diverse culture!
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: easem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
It is yet another tribalistic diatribe - full of illogical statements. Ohemaa, every little school child in our country knows that inherited privilege is the greatest enemy of any meritocracy.
They see it in the many incompetent square pegs in round holes, up and down our country - living off the fat of the land in their cushy gilded sinecures: the result of nepotism gone mad.
Secondly, those selfsame schoolchildren know that when God created humankind, he did not create a special race of humans called "royals". Throughout history, it has been the most bloodthirsty and the most cunning who made themselves into "royals".
The last one we had in Africa was His Imperial Majesty Bokassa 1 of the Central African Empire, was it not? If you go to Swaziland today, you will see why we are lucky that no kingdoms actually exist in our country, in a strictly legal sense - this being a Republic (thank goodness)!
Every progressive society has abolished feudalism. It is not an accident that we still lag far behind every one of those nations that did so. The modern-day monarchs of the developed world, wield no executive power - having been stripped of power by their people: in their march towards progress and the creation of prosperous and egalitarian societies.
Is it not sad that a man who uses language like that, prides himself on being "royal" - and an ill-mannered fellow like that presumably thinks that makes him superior to his fellow human beings?
Yet, those who suffer from a "superiority complex" suffer from the same mental illness that those who suffer from an "inferiority" complex do - both make unrealistic assumptions about those they interact with and know next to nothing about: as either being better than they are or inferior to them!
Ohemaa, tribal supremacists must always be separated from the rest of the members of their ethnic group - for, they are extremists of the worst kind: totally different from their more sane fellow tribesmen and women.
You will find them in all the ethnic groups in our country, without exception. They are our equivalent of the odious white supremacists of the Western world - who ignorantly think they are superior to people of colour: whom they regard as sub-human.
Luckily for our country, however, people of Okaompa-Awhofe's ilk are a tiny minority in all our ethnic groups. We are very fortunate to have a younger generation that thinks of itself as Ghanaian rather than Dagomba, Kusasi, Frafra, Ga Dangbe, Ewe, Akyem, Asante; Krobo, Gonja, Nzema, etc. etc.
Ask the next group of young Ghanaians you encounter, where they are from. The answer they give you, will most probably be a version of one a young man gave me once, when posed a similar question, by me: " My father is Asante and my mother is from Awutu. But I have never been to the birthplace of both parents. We have always lived in Accra, where I was born." He has spent all his young life in the airport residential area!
Ohemaa, I always use my own extended family as an example of the typical extended Ghanaian family. I have cousins (all of them blood relations!) whose parents are Asante; Akyem; Ewe; Krobo; Dagomba;Fante; and Ga Dangbe.
I myself was born in Kwadaso, Kumasi - and regard Otumfuo Opoku-Ware 11 as the greatest of the modern-day Asantehenes: because he understood that in the national interest he had to keep a low public profile.
Many Ghanaians genuinely mourned that great man, when he died - because they understood the immense role he had played in keeping our country united and strife-free with his humility, during his lifetime. I can say without fear of contradiction that there was not a single area in our country, where he was not respected.
The real solution to the menace to the cohesion of our country posed by the lunacy of the Okaompah-Awhofes, is to make our presidents our elected Omanpanins - the world's first elected monarchs!
We can do same with our district chief executives (whom we ought to elect on a party political basis, if we really want to make our rural areas progress and prosper!) - and call them paramount chiefs of their districts.
Naturally, we will operate on the assumption that all Ghanaian citizens are "royals" and can be elected to be King of Queen of the Royal Kingdom of Ghana, or elected as a paramount chief of one of our districts.
We will then get those surviving relics of our feudal past, to pay allegiance to our Omanpanin! Like the Maharajahs of the Republic of India, they will play no formal role at any state function - and be ordinary (but important - if they earn our respect by their deeds, i.e.!) citizens and perhaps find a new role for themselves as the "custodians" of our rich and diverse culture!
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: easem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
DOES GHANA HAVE A COWARDLY MIDDLE CLASS?
How refreshing to find a well-meaning and patriotic middle class Ghanaian who is unafraid to speak the truth, when our nation is imperilled. Bravo, Professor Kwame Karikari! (www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=150479)
One of the curses of our country is that the vast majority of good and decent-minded people prefer to remain silent - whiles the unprincipled "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons go about their sycophantic and blinkered verbal and moral contortions, subjecting truth to the most brutal of onslaughts, on a daily basis.
Ghana's middle classes are the most cowardly middle class anywhere on the planet Earth - and right from Nkrumah's time, they have watched silently as the unprincipled and power-hungry politicians amongst the various post-independence regimes have behaved with impunity. Shame on them!
Let them redeem themselves for once - by speaking up against the perfidy of the few ruthless and powerful tribal supremacists who unfortunately now dominate today's ruling party so completely: those amoral, shameless and lying thieves, whose greed knows no bounds.
They are a ruthless lot who are even prepared to see our country burn, rather than lose power in an election: and be held accountable for their abuse of power and illegal acquisition of wealth - through the numerous opaque offshore entities they have set up to hide their "kickback-loot".
Some of them even have the effrontery to say that Ghana has not signed up to the OECD convention: and will not do so under this regime - because it is against our culture. What barefaced cheek!
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
One of the curses of our country is that the vast majority of good and decent-minded people prefer to remain silent - whiles the unprincipled "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons go about their sycophantic and blinkered verbal and moral contortions, subjecting truth to the most brutal of onslaughts, on a daily basis.
Ghana's middle classes are the most cowardly middle class anywhere on the planet Earth - and right from Nkrumah's time, they have watched silently as the unprincipled and power-hungry politicians amongst the various post-independence regimes have behaved with impunity. Shame on them!
Let them redeem themselves for once - by speaking up against the perfidy of the few ruthless and powerful tribal supremacists who unfortunately now dominate today's ruling party so completely: those amoral, shameless and lying thieves, whose greed knows no bounds.
They are a ruthless lot who are even prepared to see our country burn, rather than lose power in an election: and be held accountable for their abuse of power and illegal acquisition of wealth - through the numerous opaque offshore entities they have set up to hide their "kickback-loot".
Some of them even have the effrontery to say that Ghana has not signed up to the OECD convention: and will not do so under this regime - because it is against our culture. What barefaced cheek!
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
GANG RAPE OF MOTHER GHANA: WILL THEY GET AWAY WITH IT?
I refer to your comment: www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=150420
What is your problem, Opanin? Relax - perhaps the masters of the universe now in charge of Nkrumah's Ghana may have forgotten it; but there is a wise Ghanaian saying: "No condition is permanent."
The Ghana of today is not a nation anyone can govern with a "chopping-Ghana-small" agenda and get away with, under any circumstances, Opanin.
Perhaps you are too young to remember, but what is going on in our country today, bears a striking resemblance to the days before June 4th 1979.
Then, as now, state resources had been hijacked by a ruthless and amoral few, who dominated the military regime.
They amassed great wealth through dubious means and led a hedonistic lifestyle - keeping a string of bright young things as girlfriends, on whom they showered expensive gifts, such as cars and houses: and who travelled abroad frequently, as if they were merely making trips to Makola/Asafo markets and back.
Those in power then, like today's crowd in power in our homeland Ghana, thought they were invincible - and that they would be in power forever.
Well, they woke up to a rude shock one fine day on June 4th 1979 - when their life of Riley and their luxury world suddenly came to a crashing and brutal end.
Let the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who flood the comment web pages of www.ghanweb.com
Opanin, all is not lost: I boldly predict that anyone who has participated in the on-going gang rape of mother Ghana, will end up in the Nsawam prison one day - as sure as day follows night.
Opanin, Ghanaians aren't fools - although many of their leaders constantly underrate them! Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
What is your problem, Opanin? Relax - perhaps the masters of the universe now in charge of Nkrumah's Ghana may have forgotten it; but there is a wise Ghanaian saying: "No condition is permanent."
The Ghana of today is not a nation anyone can govern with a "chopping-Ghana-small" agenda and get away with, under any circumstances, Opanin.
Perhaps you are too young to remember, but what is going on in our country today, bears a striking resemblance to the days before June 4th 1979.
Then, as now, state resources had been hijacked by a ruthless and amoral few, who dominated the military regime.
They amassed great wealth through dubious means and led a hedonistic lifestyle - keeping a string of bright young things as girlfriends, on whom they showered expensive gifts, such as cars and houses: and who travelled abroad frequently, as if they were merely making trips to Makola/Asafo markets and back.
Those in power then, like today's crowd in power in our homeland Ghana, thought they were invincible - and that they would be in power forever.
Well, they woke up to a rude shock one fine day on June 4th 1979 - when their life of Riley and their luxury world suddenly came to a crashing and brutal end.
Let the many "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who flood the comment web pages of www.ghanweb.com
Opanin, all is not lost: I boldly predict that anyone who has participated in the on-going gang rape of mother Ghana, will end up in the Nsawam prison one day - as sure as day follows night.
Opanin, Ghanaians aren't fools - although many of their leaders constantly underrate them! Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa!
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Monday, 22 September 2008
MR. J.H. MENSAH - WHY THE CYNICISM?
I gasped recently when I read news reports of a statement said to have been made by Mr. J.H. Mensah. Unquestionably, Mr. J.H. Mensah is one of the most intelligent members of our political class - and possesses a rare and powerful intellect.
Yet, astonishingly, Mr. Mensah is reported to have said that US$7millions had apparently vanished into thin air during the tenure of the previous regime - for which reason, he felt that the former president had no moral right to accuse the present regime of being corrupt.
What precisely was he seeking to justify in making that odd statement - and in saying the former president had no moral right to criticise the present regime? Are we to conclude therefore, that it follows a priori, that millions of dollars of taxpayers' money still vanishes into thin air today, too?
Was he implying that corruption under this regime, could be justified - because it had occurred during the tenure of the last regime?
Mr. Mensah ought to remember that it was precisely because Ghanaians wanted better government, that they voted the previous government out of power. We did not vote his party into power, in order to carry on in exactly the same fashion as those who made US$7 millions vanish into thin air, did we?
My neighbour's precocious eleven-year old son's derisive riposte to Mr. Mensah was: "Uncle Kofi, why do our political leaders make such asinine statements?" Fancy that - just why did Mr. Mensah think Ghanaians voted the present regime into power?
It was certainly not to entertain them carrying on in the same fashion as yesterday's crowd in power did, was it?" That, remember, dear reader, is a mere child of eleven.
Mr. Mensah and his crowd must not think that the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who wear blinkers 24/7 and are as narrow-minded as they are unprincipled, whose unthinking support they rely on and exploit so, is what will save their party on election day.
The independent-minded and discerning Ghanaians who will be deciding who wins the most votes on election day, do not want to hear such cynicism from those whom we thought were going to set new standards of morality and accountability in our public life; but have disappointed us so much, in the nearly eight years they have held power. A word to the wise...
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Yet, astonishingly, Mr. Mensah is reported to have said that US$7millions had apparently vanished into thin air during the tenure of the previous regime - for which reason, he felt that the former president had no moral right to accuse the present regime of being corrupt.
What precisely was he seeking to justify in making that odd statement - and in saying the former president had no moral right to criticise the present regime? Are we to conclude therefore, that it follows a priori, that millions of dollars of taxpayers' money still vanishes into thin air today, too?
Was he implying that corruption under this regime, could be justified - because it had occurred during the tenure of the last regime?
Mr. Mensah ought to remember that it was precisely because Ghanaians wanted better government, that they voted the previous government out of power. We did not vote his party into power, in order to carry on in exactly the same fashion as those who made US$7 millions vanish into thin air, did we?
My neighbour's precocious eleven-year old son's derisive riposte to Mr. Mensah was: "Uncle Kofi, why do our political leaders make such asinine statements?" Fancy that - just why did Mr. Mensah think Ghanaians voted the present regime into power?
It was certainly not to entertain them carrying on in the same fashion as yesterday's crowd in power did, was it?" That, remember, dear reader, is a mere child of eleven.
Mr. Mensah and his crowd must not think that the "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidons who wear blinkers 24/7 and are as narrow-minded as they are unprincipled, whose unthinking support they rely on and exploit so, is what will save their party on election day.
The independent-minded and discerning Ghanaians who will be deciding who wins the most votes on election day, do not want to hear such cynicism from those whom we thought were going to set new standards of morality and accountability in our public life; but have disappointed us so much, in the nearly eight years they have held power. A word to the wise...
May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Friday, 19 September 2008
Railway Maintenance Equipment: Buy Directly From Manufacturers!
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo! Angelique International is an Indian construction and procurement company, not a manufacturer of "railway maintenance equipment" (whatever that means!).
Why can't we simply get our commercial attache and his staff in the Ghana High Commission in New Delhi, to contact the manufacturers of the said "railway maintenance equipment" directly - and save us the money going to these clever Indian middlemen?
Why, have the staff in our mission in India forgotten that once upon a time, the president did say that "economic diplomacy" would be the ethos underpinning the work of all our diplomatic missions abroad?
So why can't the Ghana High Commission in India work with the Ghana Supply Company Limited to purchase the said equipment directly from the Indian manufacturers, for Ghana?
As for the Germans, Opanin, no doubt the hope of the few powerful (and greedy!) crooks amongst our rulers, is that Ghana will be taking a loan from them to build our railway line.
That, Opanin, will be yet another golden opportunity for the clever and dishonest ones amongst our rulers to get hard currency kickbacks.
The kickbacks will doubtless be deposited in the bank accounts of the opaque offshore companies they have set up with foreign nominees as fronts, for just such purposes.
To that end, they will quickly appoint their favourite cronies who own corporate law firms and entities in the financial services sector of our economy, to act as professional advisers to the government in the "transaction".
Those powerful and well-connected oligarchs, will then team up with their German counterparts to offer their professional services to Ghana: for "arranging" the syndicated loan for the project - for which they will be paid super-generous fees in foreign currency!
It is the kickbacks some of our rulers receive from such fat fees Ghana pays to those Titans in the financial services sector, which is driving the virulent form of that dreaded disease caused by the "foreign-loan-mania" virus, which has sadly infected so many in this regime!
Hmmm Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Why can't we simply get our commercial attache and his staff in the Ghana High Commission in New Delhi, to contact the manufacturers of the said "railway maintenance equipment" directly - and save us the money going to these clever Indian middlemen?
Why, have the staff in our mission in India forgotten that once upon a time, the president did say that "economic diplomacy" would be the ethos underpinning the work of all our diplomatic missions abroad?
So why can't the Ghana High Commission in India work with the Ghana Supply Company Limited to purchase the said equipment directly from the Indian manufacturers, for Ghana?
As for the Germans, Opanin, no doubt the hope of the few powerful (and greedy!) crooks amongst our rulers, is that Ghana will be taking a loan from them to build our railway line.
That, Opanin, will be yet another golden opportunity for the clever and dishonest ones amongst our rulers to get hard currency kickbacks.
The kickbacks will doubtless be deposited in the bank accounts of the opaque offshore companies they have set up with foreign nominees as fronts, for just such purposes.
To that end, they will quickly appoint their favourite cronies who own corporate law firms and entities in the financial services sector of our economy, to act as professional advisers to the government in the "transaction".
Those powerful and well-connected oligarchs, will then team up with their German counterparts to offer their professional services to Ghana: for "arranging" the syndicated loan for the project - for which they will be paid super-generous fees in foreign currency!
It is the kickbacks some of our rulers receive from such fat fees Ghana pays to those Titans in the financial services sector, which is driving the virulent form of that dreaded disease caused by the "foreign-loan-mania" virus, which has sadly infected so many in this regime!
Hmmm Ghana - ayeasem oo: asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
NATIONAL SECURITY: ARE WE SERIOUS?
Hmmm, Ghana - ayeasem oo! At a time when improved explosive devices (IED) and car bombers are killing scores of people round the trouble spots of the world, there is only one way to keep any ruling regime safe and secure in power, in Ghana.
A nation is secure and stable if a majority of its people have a good quality of life and live in a fair and just society, in which all are equal before the law.
The tenure of our leaders will continue to be safe and secure, only if they continue to provide our nation with imaginative, competent, honest and patriotic leadership.
The recent banning of a number of former service and security chiefs from visiting military installations in Ghana, illustrates perfectly the incompetence and bankruptcy of thought of our political class, generally.
Today, a few rockets fired from miles away, can destroy parliament and the Osu Castle in a few minutes - reducing them to rubble and killing hundreds in the process. A crude rocket fired at the presidential plane could achieve the same results as a military coup, could it not?
The earlier our leaders wake up to the threat their insensitivity and greed for money poses to their hold on power and to the stability of our nation, the better it will be for them.
As a society, if we continue to allow an underclass that feels hopeless and despised because life is passing them by, to grow, as a result of their not being able to continue with their education (because their families were too poor to be able to afford paying for their school fees), we ought not to be surprised at all to start seeing suicide bombers striking in Ghana too, at some point, going forward.
Have those in charge of national security ever thought, for example, of the potential threat to society posed by those hordes of scruffy scrap metal "truck pushers" who now roam virtually all our cities and towns nationwide?
They have taken over bus shelters and pavements nationwide, which they have turned into scrap metal exchanges - without a care as to the inconvenience they cause to pedestrians: in a country with one of the highest vehicular accident rates in the world?
Well, those in charge of national security had better get cracking and make sure that all the metropolitan assemblies and other urban local council authorities across our country act to remove those potential armed robbers and rebel fighters from the public spaces they have turned into scrap exchanges, with such impunity and total disregard for the by-laws of local authorities.
Opanin, can you imagine what will happen when the demand for scrap metal falls in China - and the market for scrap metal in Ghana collapses?
Well, your guess is as good as mine how those ruthless and disrespectful fellows, used to earning lots of cash on a daily basis, will quickly diversify into other income-generating activities for that daily income they have become accustomed to earning.
Have the masters of the universe now running Nkrumah's Ghana, thought of such potential threats, too? There is virtually no corner of any urban conurbation that those cheeky chaps don't know.
They could be constituted into a formidable guerrilla group, in the hands of a ruthless warlord seeking to use a civil war here, s a route to power and to Ghana's oil and natural gas revenues - a la Liberian Charles Taylor-style.
If our leaders want to be safe from the wrath of the people, let them govern our nation fairly and ensure that the quality of life of all Ghanaians (not just a privileged and powerful few!) steadily improves.
Hmmm, Ghana - asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
A nation is secure and stable if a majority of its people have a good quality of life and live in a fair and just society, in which all are equal before the law.
The tenure of our leaders will continue to be safe and secure, only if they continue to provide our nation with imaginative, competent, honest and patriotic leadership.
The recent banning of a number of former service and security chiefs from visiting military installations in Ghana, illustrates perfectly the incompetence and bankruptcy of thought of our political class, generally.
Today, a few rockets fired from miles away, can destroy parliament and the Osu Castle in a few minutes - reducing them to rubble and killing hundreds in the process. A crude rocket fired at the presidential plane could achieve the same results as a military coup, could it not?
The earlier our leaders wake up to the threat their insensitivity and greed for money poses to their hold on power and to the stability of our nation, the better it will be for them.
As a society, if we continue to allow an underclass that feels hopeless and despised because life is passing them by, to grow, as a result of their not being able to continue with their education (because their families were too poor to be able to afford paying for their school fees), we ought not to be surprised at all to start seeing suicide bombers striking in Ghana too, at some point, going forward.
Have those in charge of national security ever thought, for example, of the potential threat to society posed by those hordes of scruffy scrap metal "truck pushers" who now roam virtually all our cities and towns nationwide?
They have taken over bus shelters and pavements nationwide, which they have turned into scrap metal exchanges - without a care as to the inconvenience they cause to pedestrians: in a country with one of the highest vehicular accident rates in the world?
Well, those in charge of national security had better get cracking and make sure that all the metropolitan assemblies and other urban local council authorities across our country act to remove those potential armed robbers and rebel fighters from the public spaces they have turned into scrap exchanges, with such impunity and total disregard for the by-laws of local authorities.
Opanin, can you imagine what will happen when the demand for scrap metal falls in China - and the market for scrap metal in Ghana collapses?
Well, your guess is as good as mine how those ruthless and disrespectful fellows, used to earning lots of cash on a daily basis, will quickly diversify into other income-generating activities for that daily income they have become accustomed to earning.
Have the masters of the universe now running Nkrumah's Ghana, thought of such potential threats, too? There is virtually no corner of any urban conurbation that those cheeky chaps don't know.
They could be constituted into a formidable guerrilla group, in the hands of a ruthless warlord seeking to use a civil war here, s a route to power and to Ghana's oil and natural gas revenues - a la Liberian Charles Taylor-style.
If our leaders want to be safe from the wrath of the people, let them govern our nation fairly and ensure that the quality of life of all Ghanaians (not just a privileged and powerful few!) steadily improves.
Hmmm, Ghana - asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
SUREFIRE ROUTE TO SUPER-WEALTH IN GHANA: THE SOCIALISATION OF PRIVATE RISK!
Absolutely brilliant, Opanin! Perhaps you would like a "neat" one-line summary of the philosophy of greed of those who are wont to use the cloak of fantasies and sophistries such as "free markets" and "private sector-led growth" to hide their perfidy: which the continuing gang-rape of mother Ghana, represents?
Well, how about this: "The socialisation of private risk"? The Vodafones of this world come to our country and end up with a debt-free and grossly under-valued telecoms company, whiles those elected to protect the national interest lumber taxpayers with the company's liabilities.
To add insult to the injury thus caused us, the masters of the universe running our country then issue US$300 millions of sovereign bonds to pay for those liabilities - and brazenly tell discerning Ghanaians that as much as US$72 millions will be used to pay "other costs" - without telling us, item by item, precisely what those "other costs" are.
Opanin, do not be surprised if the "other costs" turned out largely to be the fat fees of the regime-crony Titans in the financial services industry of our economy, as well as the other well-connected professional advisers paid a small fortune for their self-serving advice to our country's rulers. These uber-wealthy whiz-kids now constitute the single largest source of hard currency kickbacks for the greediest amongst our rulers.
You describe the financial equivalent of the sleight of hand employed in Ghana, by the dishonest and greedy hypocrites amongst our present rulers, to take their already high personal net worth into stratospheric heights, perfectly (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=150026).
Incredibly, and to add insult to injury, they are now even empowering pretty young things in uber-short skirts - and showering their harems of those bright young things, with luxury compact four-wheel drive vehicles; Hollywood-style mansions in Cantonments, Ridge and East Legon; fat bank balances; as well as endless trips overseas!
According to the "bush telegraph" those of the greedy rogues who can keep it up for lengthy periods, apparently even spend some of their working hours "servicing" as many as three of the delectable bright young things a day, sometimes: when they wake up on the right side of their pillows!
My, and how they have prospered mightily using their political influence to leverage state-owned financial institutions such as: the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SNNIT); the State Insurance Company Limited (SIC); National Investment Bank (NIB); Agricultural Development Bank (ABD); etc., etc., to fund their private projects.
Having done so, they then turn round and insult the rest of us by calling us names and accusing us of envying them too, when we condemn their greed. What effrontery.
Do they think that we are all so desperate to become uber-rich that we are prepared to rip our people and our nation off, for that dishonourable end? No, no, no!
Opanin, the fact of the matter, is that many of the people they are now calling names (because those honest souls have now become financially-challenged, in the society with such huge disparities in wealth, in it - which they have succeeded in creating in eight short years, in our homeland Ghana, today), are far from being work-shy.
Many either have no jobs at all, because our industrial landscape has been allowed to be decimated by dangerous and toxic products dumped on our markets from China and elsewhere, or they simply don't have jobs that pay decent living wages.
In the hell-hole that they have succeeded in turning our country into, ordinary Ghanaians struggle to survive, even as their quality of life steadily deteriorates.
In spite of all their hard work many are growing poorer - in inverse proportion to the unimaginable wealth being piled up by the many politically well-connected "workaholics" running Nkrumah's Ghana, today! Hmmm, Ghana - ayeaesm oo!
Many ordinary Ghanaians are poor now Opanin, simply because they are too honest to resort to taking kickbacks and bribes: their good name being far more important to them than the acquisition of tainted super-wealth, at all costs.
Perhaps that is what escapes our "hypocrite-in-chief" and his acolytes - as he, his cronies and the scions of the family clans of the greediest and the most dishonest of our rulers, and their siblings, slowly inch towards their goal: of amassing a collective fortune valued in billions of US dollars - by stealth and at the expense of our nation and its people?
Hmmm, Ghana - asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
Well, how about this: "The socialisation of private risk"? The Vodafones of this world come to our country and end up with a debt-free and grossly under-valued telecoms company, whiles those elected to protect the national interest lumber taxpayers with the company's liabilities.
To add insult to the injury thus caused us, the masters of the universe running our country then issue US$300 millions of sovereign bonds to pay for those liabilities - and brazenly tell discerning Ghanaians that as much as US$72 millions will be used to pay "other costs" - without telling us, item by item, precisely what those "other costs" are.
Opanin, do not be surprised if the "other costs" turned out largely to be the fat fees of the regime-crony Titans in the financial services industry of our economy, as well as the other well-connected professional advisers paid a small fortune for their self-serving advice to our country's rulers. These uber-wealthy whiz-kids now constitute the single largest source of hard currency kickbacks for the greediest amongst our rulers.
You describe the financial equivalent of the sleight of hand employed in Ghana, by the dishonest and greedy hypocrites amongst our present rulers, to take their already high personal net worth into stratospheric heights, perfectly (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=150026).
Incredibly, and to add insult to injury, they are now even empowering pretty young things in uber-short skirts - and showering their harems of those bright young things, with luxury compact four-wheel drive vehicles; Hollywood-style mansions in Cantonments, Ridge and East Legon; fat bank balances; as well as endless trips overseas!
According to the "bush telegraph" those of the greedy rogues who can keep it up for lengthy periods, apparently even spend some of their working hours "servicing" as many as three of the delectable bright young things a day, sometimes: when they wake up on the right side of their pillows!
My, and how they have prospered mightily using their political influence to leverage state-owned financial institutions such as: the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SNNIT); the State Insurance Company Limited (SIC); National Investment Bank (NIB); Agricultural Development Bank (ABD); etc., etc., to fund their private projects.
Having done so, they then turn round and insult the rest of us by calling us names and accusing us of envying them too, when we condemn their greed. What effrontery.
Do they think that we are all so desperate to become uber-rich that we are prepared to rip our people and our nation off, for that dishonourable end? No, no, no!
Opanin, the fact of the matter, is that many of the people they are now calling names (because those honest souls have now become financially-challenged, in the society with such huge disparities in wealth, in it - which they have succeeded in creating in eight short years, in our homeland Ghana, today), are far from being work-shy.
Many either have no jobs at all, because our industrial landscape has been allowed to be decimated by dangerous and toxic products dumped on our markets from China and elsewhere, or they simply don't have jobs that pay decent living wages.
In the hell-hole that they have succeeded in turning our country into, ordinary Ghanaians struggle to survive, even as their quality of life steadily deteriorates.
In spite of all their hard work many are growing poorer - in inverse proportion to the unimaginable wealth being piled up by the many politically well-connected "workaholics" running Nkrumah's Ghana, today! Hmmm, Ghana - ayeaesm oo!
Many ordinary Ghanaians are poor now Opanin, simply because they are too honest to resort to taking kickbacks and bribes: their good name being far more important to them than the acquisition of tainted super-wealth, at all costs.
Perhaps that is what escapes our "hypocrite-in-chief" and his acolytes - as he, his cronies and the scions of the family clans of the greediest and the most dishonest of our rulers, and their siblings, slowly inch towards their goal: of amassing a collective fortune valued in billions of US dollars - by stealth and at the expense of our nation and its people?
Hmmm, Ghana - asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!
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