Availability Of Treated Water Vital In Halting Spread Of Ebola

There needs to be a sustained  effort to educate the general public about the nature of the Ebola virus - and how those living in Ghana can prevent themselves from becoming infected by it.

Widespread ignorance in the population at large, about the symptoms and causes of Ebola,  will lead to the virus spreading quickly in Ghana.

A key factor  in stopping the Ebola virus from spreading in Ghana, should it reach our shores, is to build the capacity of the authorities responsible for public health in our country: to enable them isolate those who contract  it (and speedily trace all those who come into contact with them) and offer them  treatment quickly.

 And, above all, essential to the maintenance of  public health in our country, as we prepare to contain any outbreak of Ebola, is the ready availability of treated water, in both rural and urban Ghana.

That is how as a people  we must approach the issue of the provision of treated drinking-water: as part of the fight against the spread of infectious diseases.

It is time our ruling elites understood clearly that the unavailability of treated drinking-water impacts negatively on public health in Ghana.

Personal hygiene is a key factor in preventing debilitating and potentially fatal water-borne bacterial infections such as cholera and dysentery - which thrive in areas that lack treated water and in which insanitary conditions exist.

Alas, personal hygiene is virtually impossible to maintain, without treated water. Water indeed is life - and must be made available everywhere in Ghana.

 How can there be frequent hand-washing to prevent infectious disease, for example, when treated water neither flows through taps in homes, restaurants, hospitals, schools, nor in other public places such as  entertainment establishments and stadia?

It is not surprising that there are frequent outbreaks of cholera in many parts of our country - because treated water is often not available in so many areas. That must change. And that change must come quickly: At a time when Ebola could potentially  kill thousands in west Africa, including Ghana.

The time has now come for the government to look to the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE),  as a platform to enable it raise interest-free funds, for the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).

That, not never-ending tariff increases,  is the best way to raise funds for the company. Frequent tariff increases in a nation in which millions struggle daily to survive, can never be a sustainable policy.

 The government ought to float at least 45 percent of its shares in the GWCL on the GSE. That will enable the company to fund the entirety of its modernisation and expansion programme itself  - and enable it widen its service-footprint across the country.

That will contribute to the eventual elimination of diseases that spread quickly in Ghana, because of the insanitary conditions that prevail  in many areas,  and the attendant poor personal hygiene forced on many, as a result of the unavailability of treated water in many parts of the country.

The GWCL also needs to be creative. For example, it can quickly increase its production of treated water across the country, by increasing the capacity of its filtration plants - simply by reprocessing settled backwash through the Aquavert system  employed in places like Kenya.

It could also deploy the nano-tech filtration system of SafeWater Systems of the UK - which have the capacity to produce pure and safe water directly from even dirty water polluted by the heavy metals used by illegal gold miners. Malaysia uses SafeWater Systems' kits to produce water for its rural communities.

We will not be able to stop the spread of Ebola in Ghana, were it to appear here,  if the irregular supply of  treated water across our country, persists. We must fix Ghana's treated water supply problem quickly. Simply put, the availability of treated water, is vital, in halting the spread of Ebola in Ghana. A word to the wise...

Ghana's Parliament Must Reject Fiscal Provisions in The Draft Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill

That there has been a sea-change in our country's politics and a profound shift in the national mood is beyond doubt. The many demonstrations across the nation, against the harsh economic conditions prevailing in the country today,  attest to that. Clearly, politicians in Ghana are drinking in the Last Chance Saloon: for Ghanaians will no longer tolerate the selling short of  Ghana by our nation's rulng elites.

That is why  as they consider the draft Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill, Ghana's parliamentarians must put the national interest ahead of the selfish ambitions of the powerful vested interests that have hijacked Ghana's oil deposits - and want to continue holding on to what actually are depleting assets. The MPs must reject the fiscal provisions contained in the draft bill now before Parliament.

 It is time they understood that it is no accident that Ghana signed on to some of  the worst petroleum agreements in the world - which gave away oil deposits worth some U.S.$160 billions to foreign oil companies. Incredibly, under those agreements, over a 20-year period, Ghana will receive only U.S.$20 billions - whiles the foreign oil companies, investing no more than U.S.$15 billions at the most, will walk away with some  U.S.$140 billions. How can that be, I ask?

Ghana's parliamentarians now have an opportunity to right that egregious wrong, and  take back assets worth U.S.$160 billions for the people of Ghana,  from the foreign oil companies operating here - and they can do so by first rejecting the fiscal provisions in the draft Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill, now before Parliament.

As we are all aware, it is an open secret that those one-sided agreements were obtained as a result of high-level corruption. They cannot therefore remain sacrosanct. They must be revisited for sure. And the right thing ought to be done about them now. Not tomorrow.

It is instructive that in one of the diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassy in Ghana to the State Department in Washington,  revealed by Wikileaks,  the late President Mills is said to have complained bitterly to the then American ambassador here, about foreign oil company executives attempting to bribe him, when they called on him at the Osu Castle.

They were treading along a  path they had traversed before - and were no doubt expecting the same end-result to their journey: which they previously obtained, when they embarked on a similar journey, in the period before President Mills came to power in January 2009. And we can all draw our own conclusions, too, incidentally.

For the information of Ghana's parliamentarians, Tullow Oil was happy to sign a production-sharing agreement with the Canadian oil company, Africa Oil - in which it agreed to entirely fund the production of the oil in an oil bloc owned by Africa Oil in Kenya: and share the proceeds on a 40-60% basis (if I remember correctltly) in favour of Africa Oil, which did not invest even a pesewa of its own money.

Tullow Oil and all the other foreign oil companies operating in Ghana can do the same thing here too - and sign fair production-sharing agreements with our country. Ghana's parliamentarians must understand clearly that  Ghanaian democracy will not survive if poverty and hardship continue to be the lot of the masses of the Ghanaian populace. It is in the long-term interest of the foreign oil companies to agree to fairer oil  agreements going forward -  for the anger of ordinary  Ghanaians is an existential threat to them and to Ghanaian democracy in equal measure.

The nationwide demonstrations against the harsh economic climate in Ghana is the writing on the wall for our educated urban elites. If they do what is right, Ghana can self-finance many development projects, as well as  expand and modernise our nation's infrastructure,  from revenues from the oil sector.  They must ensure that Ghana adopts a production-sharing  agreement regime that gives Ghana a fairer share of the oil produced on its territory and in its territorial waters (at the barest minimum on a 60-40% basis in Ghana's favour).

Times are hard for the vast majority of Ghanaians. That is why  Ghana's MPs must not fail our nation and its people at such a critical juncture  in our country's history. Parliament must heed the expert advice of the Ghana Institute of Governance and Security. Our nation's MPs must ensure that ownership of  our oil deposits is returned to the sovereign people of Ghana - and they can start the process by rejecting the fiscal  provisions of the draft Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill now before Parliament.

Ghana's MP's must not act as the agents and lackeys of foreign carpetbaggers. History will not judge them kindly if  they fail Mother Ghana and ordinary Ghanaians in our country's hour of need.  Our nation's MPs must ensure that henceforth Ghana adopts 'pure' production-sharing agreements in all oil-sector contracts that public officials sign on our nation's behalf. Above all, the MPs must reject the fiscal provisions contained in the draft Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill now before Parliament.  As patriots and sincere Ghanaian  nationalists they have no choice but to do so. A word to the wise...

Why Not Merge TOR, GNPC & GOIL?

What disaster could possibly befall our nation, were the Tema Oil Refinery Limited (TOR), the Ghana National Petroleum Company Limited (GNPC) and the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) to merge -  creating a vertically integrated oil industry behemoth in West Africa?
 
(We could then transfer all the assets and nationwide infrastructure of the Bulk Oil Storage & Tranportation Company Limited (BOST) - now more or less a financial basket case -  to the newly merged entity. That will make that new company a real force to be reckoned with in West Africa. But I digress.)

 Existing shareholders in the  partially-privatised GOIL could be given shares in the new entity created by the merger - 40 percent of which ought to be floated on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). It will raise interest-free funds to pay for the restructuring and streamlining costs of the new entity - and help us create a share-owning democracy in our country too: finally giving middle class Ghanaians an opportunity to acquire a stake in their country's oil industry.

There is considerable synergy between the three companies - and by working together they will eliminate their individual weaknesses: and profit from the relationship. TOR needs some of the oil that the GNPC lifts regularly from the Jubilee oilfield. By supplying TOR with crude oil and thus enabling it to produce at full capacity, the GNPC will have a direct impact on the real economy in a very positive manner.

And GOIL could leverage the considerable goodwill that Ghana enjoys in the sub-region  - as a result of the strong ties between many of the nations in West Africa and Ghana: established during the tenure of President Nkrumah - to build petrol filling stations selling TOR's petroleum products right across the sub-region. And exporting refined petroleum products across West Africa will create a new hard currency revenue stream  for Ghana.

Above all, aside from the many jobs that will be created for younger generation Ghanaians, the national  economy will benefit from the assured availability of fuel nationwide that will result from the merger of the three entities. A good enough reason for such a merger in my humble opinion.

However, some will also say it is an impractical and outlandish idea.  But we should think the impossible if we want to transform our nation into a prosperous society. If we are creative in our thinking, perhaps it  might lead us to pose the question: Why not merge TOR, the GNPC and GOIL - and add yet more value to our nation's oil deposits?

Ghana Must Never Build A Nuclear Power Plant

The nuclear lobby in Ghana seems to be making considerable headway. It appears that Ghana may seek funding to build a nuclear power plant in the not too distant future. Rusatom, the corrupt state-owned Russian nuclear power plant builder - notorious for its shoddy work -  might probably end up being selected to build Ghana's proposed nuclear power plant, one gathers.

There is no question that choosing to trod on what is a path-of-no-return, in deciding to build a nuclear power plant, is an irreversible decision that must not be taken lightly in a nation like ours - one with a corrupt and byzantine system, and in which the vast majority of ordinary citizens are oblivious of the fact that radioactive waste from nuclear power plants remain dangerous for thousands of years, and must be safely and securely stored, as well as closely guarded round the clock,  till the very end of time.

 Should our mostly-corrupt educated urban elites - not previously known for  religiously ensuring regular maintenance of our nation's infrastructure  and infamous for their lack of foresight and poor planning - have the right to condemn present and future generations of our people to an existence in which they have to face the possibility of  being exposed to the terrifying effects of radiation poisoning from nuclear accidents without consulting them, and seeking their approval, first,  I ask?

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Perhaps those who make up the nuclear lobby in Ghana are all sincere and altruistic individuals - and genuinely see nuclear power as a perfect solution to our nation's ever-growing energy needs. Let us grant them that - and accept that they act for patriotic reasons only, too.

However, the question they must answer is: What will happen to Ghanaians were an accident on the scale of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster to occur in Ghana  as a result of a major earthquake - if the monstrosity and abomination they seek is eventually built in our country?

 What is our nation's record in dealing with disasters of lesser magnitude  - such as the little local difficulty we have been  grappling with over the years without success: in the shape of our failure to prevent the annual floods we experience and which cause such misery across vast swathes of our country? The plain truth is that we are overwhelmed by the flooding  on each occassion, year in, year out.

And have we also not  failed at the relatively simple task of dealing with the disposal of household and industrial waste efficiently - largely  because local authorities cannot pay (the mostly-not-fit-for-purpose) waste-collection contractors on a regular basis? Alas, as a result of that failure, our towns and cities are now engulfed in filth.

For the information of the nuclear lobby in Ghana, the clean-up at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,  has reportedly cost the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO),  some US$58 billion thus far - and is projected to cost it anywhere between US$250 and US$500 billion eventually when completed and the plant is finally decommissioned.

Where will that kind of money come from, in this hard-up nation that  is perpetually broke, because it is full of thieving politicians and coniving public officials - who, when oil was discovered, chose to sign agreements that gave away a valuable but depleting natural resource, which ought to benefit Ghana and its people in the same manner that Norway's oil deposits benefit Norwegians (because Norway, not the oil companies,  own those deposits) to foreign oil companies: simply because it benefitted them personally and enabled them send their net worth to stratospheric heights?

Who is to tell whether it is not that selfsame self-interest that is also driving this dangerous idea too? Meanwhile, today, as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, even wealthy and disciplined nations like Germany,  are moving away from relying on nuclear power plants, and focusing instead on renewable energy projects - because of the terrible societal consequences (in public health terms),  and the need to commit to  providing open-ended funding for  clean-up costs, after major accidents at nuclear power plants.

With respect, were he to be alive today, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah - the polymath  whose vision the nuclear lobby keeps referring to in its campaign for the building of a nuclear power plant in Ghana - would have abandoned nuclear energy:  because he cared about the welfare of ordinary people and the well-being of our nation.

He would probably be searching for new ideas in the renewable energy sector if he was in power at this point in time: and would no doubt have opted  to  settle on giant wind-power plants on floating offshore platforms anchored to the seabed, which leverage the proven design metrics of oil rigs, to enable Ghana produce inexpensive renewable energy - from massive wind-power farms he would be  building  off our shores.

 A nation in which corruption is rife, and in which newly-built infrastructure is invariably left to decay, instead of being regularly maintained  - because those paid to ensure that they are well-maintained fail to do so - should never contemplate venturing to build nuclear power plants  under any circumstances.

For the sake of present and future generations of our people, one hopes that common sense will eventually prevail in this matter - and that the proposed madness it represents will never see the light of day. Ghana must never build a nuclear power plant anywhere on its territory. Ever. It will be a ghastly mistake with unbearable consequences that will last for generations to come. Why take such a risk? We must not permit nuclear power plants to be built  in Ghana.  Period. A word to the wise...

What The NPP Ought To Do About The US$300 Million VTB Capital Loan

The response of the minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) side to the majority National Democratic Congress (NDC) side's insistence that they intend voting for Parliament to approve the US$300 million loan from VTB Capital - the UK investment banking arm of the Russian bank, JSC VTB Bank - is most unfortunate.

To say that they are washing their hands of a loan they believe to be fraudulent, is tantamount to betraying Ghana and its people - particularly at a time of extreme hardship: when high-level corruption ought to be fought by all patriotic citizens. Alas, their response illustrates perfectly the lack of creative thinking amongst a large section of  our nation's political class.

 In principle it is a good idea to borrow money to equip our UN  peacekeeping forces, and lease the equipment  out to the UN at a profit (US$100 million in this instance, apparently) - and be given back that selfsame equipment at the end of their peacekeeping mission.

It was Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere who first alerted Ghana to a similar  opportunity when he was Ghana's high commissioner to Sierra Leone during the Kufuor-era. The important thing is to ensure that no fraud is involved in  the VTB Capital loan.

For some pundits,  Russia is a byword for corruption, but fortunately for Ghana, the UK has strict laws against fraud and corruption - particularly in the financial services sector: whose reputation matters a great deal to the UK  authorities because of its contribution to the British economy.

As it happens, the Bank of England (BoE) recently had issues with JSC VTB Bank, the Russian bank that owns VTB Capital - and in April 2014  demanded  an increase in its reserves. It  also ordered JST VTB Bank to undergo additional stress tests.

In complaining about what he said was BoE meddling for political reasons (to do with the West's imposition of sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the Crimea),  VTB Capital's chief executive, Andrei Kostin, threatened to close down the London operation of VTB Capital.

Indeed JSC VTB Bank has reduced the size of VTB Capital's London operation - to focus on retail banking, it says. One wonders what will happen if VTB Capital actually leaves the jurisdiction of the UK. So the NPP is right to urge caution in this matter - especially when the government's own law officers have asked the finance ministry to consult its debt department on aspects of the loan.

The question is: Since Britain isn't a banana republic, why does the leadership of the NPP's parliamentary caucus not write directly to the regulatory bodies for the financial services sector in the UK - and lodge an official complaint with the Economic Crime Command of the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), about their suspicions that Ghana is being ripped off in a loan deal they believe is fraudulent?

That would ensure that if any Ghanaian officials have indeed pocketed money in exchange for agreeing to those outrageous terms VTB Capital is insisting on, they will be exposed to the world. The NPP MPs need to be a tad more creative in such instances - if they are to be successful in protecting the public purse when such loan agreements are laid before Parliament for approval. A word to the wise...

Bringing Affordable Solar Power Systems To Ghanaian Homes

Madam Sohua Alhassan, the CEO of WEPIS Solar Company Limited, which is based in Tamale, is reported to have appealed to the government to help solar power companies in Ghana.

But in a society that now pays obeisance to market-forces, is it wise, one wonders,  for a private-sector company to rely on a cash-strapped government with a long list of projects that need financing - in a country full of tax-evaders, and which is  lumbered with a near-empty national treasury?

 Perhaps the question we should ask is: Instead of waiting for government help that might never come, why does the  WEPIS Solar Company Limited  not find a pay-as-you-go solar power business model, which leverages the experience of successful solar power systems financing companies elsewhere in Africa,  itself?

To help it do so, and as my widow's mite contribution to the nation-building effort,  here is some free consultancy for WEPIS Solar Company Limited.

My humble advice to Madam Sohua Alhassan, is that she would be far better off contacting M-KOPA's  Jesse Moore and his  partner, Nick Hughes - and invite them to collaborate with her company in Ghana, to exploit the market here.

 The two gentlemen have used the M-PESA mobile payments platform of Vodafone's partly-owned Kenyan telecom company, Safaricom, to succcessfully finance the purchase of solar power home systems by ordinary Kenyans.

 WEPIS Solar Company Limited and M-KOPA could work together with Vodafone Ghana to replicate their successful Kenyan  M-PESA pay-as-you-go solar home systems financing business model  in Ghana too.

 A word of caution, however:  As she seeks to reach out to potential  overseas partners, Madam Sohua Alhassan should avoid getting entwined  with Ghanaian public-sector  bureaucratic red-tape -  by dealing directly with the minister of communications, the Hon. Dr. Omane- Boamah, and  the  trade and industry minister, the Hon. Haruna Iddrisu for recommendation letters from Ghanaian  officialdom,  instead of the top civil servants who advise them.

One can't help but wish Madam Sohua Alhassan every success.  And in an era of never-ending power outages, in the event she takes one's humble  advice, may her company thrive - as she, Jesse Moore and Nick Hughes collaborate  to replicate the M-KOPA affordable pay-as-you-go solar power systems financing business model  in our country: to bring solar power systems to Ghanaian homes nationwide.

And, finally: I'd be happy to point WEPIS Solar Company Limited in other directions too, should the need arise. For free - and with pleasure.

Ignoring #OccupyFlagStaffHouse Protesters In Ghana Could Be Politically Disastrous

When  I asked an old acquaintance of mine what he made of the demonstrators who said they wanted to occupy the front lawn of the Flagstaff House, to show their concern for what they say are deteriorating conditions in the country, I was astonished by his response.

 He responded derisively: "Many of them are hypocrites who grew super-rich during the golden age of business for Kufuor & Co and their  favourites. At that time, they chose to close their eyes firmly to the selfsame conditions that they are now complaining about. They are only complaining now because opportunities to make easy money at Ghana's expense through their political connections have dried up."

Amazing. Did he miss that toxic "The King is naked" placard, one wonders? Those in power need to take #OccupyFlagStaffHouse more seriously. They, not the loud Antwi Boasiakos, have the potential to start a Ghanaian equivalent of the Arab Spring. When middle-class Ghanaian fence-sitters get off the fence, those in power in our country, had better sit up and take notice.

 I am not so sure that my old acquaintance is right about the motives of many of those who defied the rains to join the Republic Day demonstration by the #OccupyFlagStaffHouse protesters.

 The question is, what if they represent a siesmic shift in Ghanaian  politics? In any case the publicity they generate redounds to the benefit of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) - so ought to be of concern to the current regime. Hopefully the Mahama administration will see the writing on the wall that  the protesters represent.

My humble view, is that instead of scoffing at them,  the president and senior members of his administration would be wise to find time in their busy schedules to have lunch or dinner with the leaders of #OccupyFlagStaffHouse one weekend - and engage them in a conversation about the need for Ghanaians to unite to move the country forward. The Peduase Lodge would be a perfect place for such a meeting.

 The president and his administration must find out from the leadership of #OccupyFlagStaffHouse what their ideas for resolving our nation's many problems are. They might learn a thing or two from them. After all, more than most in Ghana, they are keenly aware that zero-taxes-collected, equals zero development - and thus perhaps are patriots who are ardent taxpayers for that reason.

And for all we know, perhaps many of them actually care about our nation and its fate - and care about the welfare of the masses of the Ghanaian people too. At the very least, perhaps they could be persuaded to collaborate with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA),   to start a joint-campaign to get private-sector businesses to pay all their taxes - as their contribution to the nation-building effort.

It is a far better way to proceed, strategically, than to dismiss all of them as self-seekers who are bitter about no longer being politically well-connected enough to  enable them prosper from crony capitalism - as my old acquaintance did.

 One doubts if there is any objective and patriotic Ghanaian who does not feel concerned about the fate of Ghana, when he or she hears media reports of state-owned entities  paying astronomical sums to private  landlords as rent for office accommodation. Ditto public officials dishing out blocks in oilfields off our shores like confetti in opaque deals.  Accountability is lacking in most of officialdom, it would appear -  and most Ghanaians resent that.

And who in Ghana isn't inconvenienced by the frequent power outages and lack of  treated drinking-water for lengthy periods - basics of modern life which should not be lacking in a nation such as ours? Those are quality-of-life issues that are of importance to all who live and work in Ghana.

Those of us who called on President Mahama to publicly publish his  assets, as well as those of his wife, feel so sad that that advice was ignored. Alas, we are now witnessing what some of us feared would occur, if he failed to heed that advice, at the beginning of his tenure after the 2012 presidential election: Today, instead of occupying the moral high ground, he is seen by many Ghanaians as the leader of a very corrupt regime.

Yet he is doing a lot to fight corruption.  For example, as a result of measures taken by his administration,  no future president of Ghana will be able to asset-strip Ghana, the way President Kufuor did - and in such egregious fashion too.  In the end, those who benefitted from that outrage were: members of Kufuor's own  extended family-clan; sundry cronies like his oil-sector smoke-and-mirriors-frontsmen behind the E.O Group; close party colleagues such as the Jake Obestebi-Lampteys; and a bevy of fetching "bottom-power" ladies. They all prospered mightily - but it was at the expense of our nation, unfortunately.

And despite the many wealthy and powerful individuals involved in it, the Mahama administration is tackling the scourge of illegal gold mining (and the  illegal logging that funds most of it), which is poisoning soils, the underground water table  and rivers - as well as destroying ecosystems across vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside. Before President Mahama, no previous president in the 4th Republic had been able to take active steps to halt illegal gold mining across the country - because the powerful and influential criminal-minds behind it successfully lobbied against any such measures.

 Finally, one hopes that President Mahama's hard-of-hearing adminstration  will not make the same tactical error it made when it first came into office - in ignoring advice to publicly publish the assets of government appointees at the beginning of their regime's tenure - in its response to the #OccupyFlagStaffHouse protesters, by choosing to ignore them too. His beleaguered administration must engage with them directly - and the sooner the better. The blowback from ignoring their concerns could be politically disastrous in 2016.  A word to the wise...

Stopping The Forces Of Darkness In Ghana From Exploiting The 2014 FIFA World Cup Debacle In Brazil

It is not surprising that controversy has errupted in Ghana, over the inability of the senior male national soccer team, the Black Stars,  to progress from the group stage of the 2014 Federation of International Football Associations' (FIFA) World Cup tournament,  in Brazil.

As a result of the national soccer team's failure in Brazil, the forces of darkness in Ghana are cock-a-hoop.

They have latched on to what is a national humiliation - and  believe that they finally have the adminstration of President Mahama on the ropes: reeling  from delivered-blow after delivered-blow,  as the country experiences one strike after another and public demonstration after public demonstration,  by sundry groups.

Naturally, the lackeys of the forces of darkness in Ghana's print and electronic media are also in heaven. They are ecstatic. Their joy at the discomfiture of the Mahama administration is palpable - and can be gleaned from the sarcasm in the voices of a number journalists who broadcast on the airwaves of radio stations like Peace FM and Joy FM.

One hopes that those who currently lead our nation,  have now cottoned on to the fact that the forces of darkness in Ghanaian society are hard at work sabotaging their regime - as they have done every progressive regime that has ruled Ghana since March 6,  1957.

If the intentions of the forces of darkness towards our homeland Ghana were honourable and benign, they would not be seeking to create conditions similar to those that prevailed during the  winter of discontent in the UK, between 1978-1979 - which led to the defeat of the then British Prime Minister,  Jim Callaghan,  in the general elections of 1979.

What is currently  happening in the Ghana of today, is akin to the Labour government's  disarray resulting from the endless strikes by trade unions in the UK, during the aforementioned period -  and public anger  with the Labour Party arising from that, which led to its defeat by the Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher,  in the 1979 general elections.

If they loved Mother Ghana, instead of formenting trouble across the country, the forces of darkness would rather be advocating for a new kind of politics in Ghana - to demonstrate that they cared about the plight of ordinary people, and the well-being of our country.

If they cared about Mother Ghana, the forces of darkness would be demanding a new kind of politics in which individual politicians publicly published their personal net worth (as well as the assets of their spouses), and political parties published the sources of party funds utilized for election campaigns, and used for  running them in periods  between elections. That would help limit high-level corruption, would it not?

The truth of the matter, is that such is the perfidy of the forces of darkness that they would  malign even a regime led by God Almighty - regardless of the fact that it had Jesus Christ, the Prophet Mohammed, the Buddha, the Dalai Lama, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Angel Gabriel serving in it as cabinet ministers.

And were God to be elected as Ghana's president and make the mistake of bearing the name John Adam Musa-Wangara, and informing the world  that he hailed from Gusheigu in the north of Ghana, they would resist his regime - because to them it is an abomination to be ruled by someone from the north of Ghana. Incredible.

Alas, the contumely of the forces of darkness did not start today. It was on display during the fight for independence, before Kwame Nkrumah was invited to the Gold Coast colony in 1947, by the quislings who made up the  leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).

The main goal of the progeny of the pre-colonial ruling elites who made up  the UGCC's leadership, was to dominate the independent nation that they wanted to see succeeding the British colonial government. To enable them do so,  they planned to limit the franchise to property owners and those who earned a high wage.

Their hope was that access to power in a nation-state in which only property owners (and high wage-earners) had the vote,  would be limited mainly to the elite in society - giving that stratum of society the dominant role they previously had in the  pre-colonial era.

It is that disgraceful attempt to prevent the adoption of universal adult suffrage, which Kwame Nkrumah demanded for the masses that today's progeny of the forces of darkness have sought to hide, by deploying the clever and innocuous-sounding phrase, "a property-owning democracy".

The fact of the matter is that the forces of darkness in our country have always believed that they have a devine right to rule our people - which is what motivates the ruthless and sly Bernard Antwi Boasiakos in our midst (they of the gold-at-any-cost-and-damn-the-environmental-consequences Weltanschauung).

It is also the reason  why as early as 1958 they plotted to overthrow the Convention People's Party (CPP) regime of Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah in a military coup - even though Ghana was a  multiparty democracy: and despite the fact that the CPP had won all the elections held in 1951, 1954 and 1956.

Today, those forces of darkness  are busy sabotaging the nation-building effort, in order to destabilise the Mahama adminstration. Sabotage has replaced the bomb-throwing-terrorism of the Nkrumah-era:  because they know that they will quickly become global-pariahs were they to resort to bomb-throwing in their bid to supplant the Mahama regime.

 Paradoxically, the debacle in Brazil that has made our nation the laughing stock of the world, is an opportunity for President Mahama's regime to hit back hard,  at the forces of darkness.  If the Mahama admistration were wise, it would carry out a thorough investigation,  into the events in Brazil, which led to the disarray in the camp of the Black Stars.

Above all, they must find out from journalists working for the UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph, who accused the president of Ghana's Football Association (GFA), and others, of agreeing to participate in match-fixing, what exactly is the relationship between the government of Britain and the English Football Association, as regards payment (if any) of winning bonuses and appearance fees to officials and players of their national soccer team.

It will enable us all discover why the GFA, which says that FIFA rules frown on state inteferance in its affairs when it suits it, still insists on  relying on Ghanaian taxpayers to bankroll the Black Stars, when they play in international matches, such as those they played during the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil.  And, best of all, it will stop the forces of darkness from  exploiting the debacle in Brazil for political gain, at our homeland Ghana's expense.  A word to the wise...

May The Late Ameer Maulvi Dr. Wahab Adam Rest In Peace

Ghana has lost an illustrious son, in the passing away of the Ameer of the Ahmadiya Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Dr. Wahab Adam, who died on Sunday, 22nd June, 2014, and was  buried at Kasoa earlier today.

Maulvi Dr. Adam was an extraordinary religious leader - who sought to bring together the different strands of Islam in Ghana so that they could co-exist peacefully.

He reached out to other religious faiths too - and was keen to see Christians and Muslims living peacefully together throughout Ghana.

A man of great learning, who had a gentle disposition, he championed girl-child education throughout the country - in the many educational institutions, which the Ahmadiya Mission in Ghana established nationwide, under his able leadership.

He was also a dedicated peace advocate who worked with other religious leaders to help keep Ghana peaceful and stable. It was not surprising that he was appointed to serve on the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), set up by President Kufuor,  in January 2003.

Maulvi Dr. Adam personified goodness in his interactions with others, and, uniquely, like the Dalai Lama, had a holy aura around him.  He was a truly good human being - and one  saw it immediately when one met him.

Generous-spirited and humble, he treated people from every stratum of  society with respect, and was kind to all he came across.

 It is a tribute to him, and an illustration of the positive impact he had  on our national life that members from  all sides in Parliament, paid such glowing tributes to him, when his death was officially announced. Ghanaians of goodwill throughout the nation commiserate with his family.  May his soul rest in peace.

Ghana's Economy Will Emerge Stronger From Its Present Difficulties

If those who lead our country want an example of a nation that has gone through the kind of economic difficulties Ghana  is currently experiencing, but which is now making considerable progress  economically, let them look no further than Greece.

 At the height of its troubles,  the Greek government had to impose sundry taxes on a people famous for their dedication to evading taxes, cut public-sector spending - including the slashing of public-sector employees' salaries across board - amongst other austerity measures designed  to rebalance public finances,  to enable Greece  qualify for  a bailout from  EU governments, the  European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

 Today Greece's economy is recovering -  and it is also  attracting foreign investment. If Ghana is forced by circumstances to dispose of state assets, our leaders would be wise to study the acquisition of management rights to run half of the port of Piraeus, by the giant Chinese carrier Cosco - and use it as yet another privatisation model.

According to the UK newspaper,  the Guardian, Cosco paid €500 million to run part of the port of Piraeus for 35 years. It is a far better way for Ghana to unlock some of the value in its state-owned enterprises (SOE) - than allowing greedy and dishonest public officials to strike opaque deals with foreign carpetbaggers that sell our nation short.

Apparently Cosco intends to buy a majority stake in that part of the port of Piraeus still in state hands. It also wants to buy the port of Thessaloniki when the sale of  that port, and Greece's railway network, as well as  a number of airports are put out to international tender. Why do we not opt for that transparent asset-disposal model too more frequently than is currently the case?

It is an outrage that blocks in oilfields off Ghana's shores are being
disposed off in secret deals brokered by public officials. Why not auction them in  public auctions  to the highest bidders - so that Ghana gets the best prices for oil and gas deposits that after all are diminishing assets?

If we put state asset-disposals out to international tender, is it not likely that we will see situations in which some of the best-resourced state-owned Chinese companies in the energy sector, and Japanese power companies, for example, compete to acquire management rights to run  the Volta River Authority (VRA), Ghana Grid Company Limited (Gridco), Bui Power Authority (BPA), for extended periods?

 If that were to happen, it will end up  turning all those public-sector power companies  into efficient and profitable entities - and, eventually, they will all be modernised without a pesewa of taxpayers' cash being spent on them.

 The key is for our leaders  to study privatisation models like Cosco's deal with Greece to manage half of the port of Piraeus - for inspiration. Today, Cosco has modernised the piers in its section of the port of Piraeus,  and handles 6000 containers daily efficiently.

Perhaps that privatisation model  could fetch the nation about US$1billion in restructuring the ports of Tema and Takoradi.  Deals of that nature, and floating part of the government's stake in SOE's on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), will generate much-needed funds for the national treasury.

Let us take a leaf from recession-defeating Greece's book.  Let us be inspired by the tenacity of the Greek people, who went through hell-on-earth conditions, to get where they are today. Although things look bleak at the moment, Ghana's economy  will definitely emerge stronger from its present difficulties.

Ghana Must Alleviate Extreme Poverty To keep Terrorist Organisations At Bay

It was recently reported  in sections of the Ghanaian media that gunmen had attacked a bullion van in the north of the country, and killed two policemen and two bank employees in cold blood. They made away with the guns of the policemen - who were protecting the cash in the bullion van, as well as the two bank employees accompanying it. Apparently, the gunmen did not touch any of the cash the van was carrying.

Clearly, their main motive must have been to lay their hands on the guns and ammunition carried by the two policemen. It is a worrying development. The brutal murder of police officers and soldiers in order to acquire arms, has been a tactic frequently used by Boko Haram in Nigeria. Boko Haram  has also been recruiting gangs of young men in neighbouring Niger - whom it pays to carry out acts of terrorism on Nigerian soil.

Over the years, countless young men from Niger have travelled to find work and economic  opportunities in Ghana. We cannot rule out the fact that some of those who have come to Ghana in search of work in the recent past,  might have worked for Boko Haram on occasion. They must not be allowed to operate freely on Ghanaian soil robbing and killing people with impunity.

 It is important that members of all the  security agencies in Ghana are made aware of the threat that terrorist organisations operating in the west African sub-region pose to the stability of Ghana. In an era of terrorism, taking a bribe at the borders of Ghana in order to turn a blind eye to the activities of foreigners entering our country,  is tantamount to aiding terrorists to slip into Ghanaiank'm territory to harm our nation and its people.

 Ghana's security agencies  must be sufficiently resourced to strengthen their intelligence-gathering capabilities. We must not allow terrorist organisations to take root anywhere in Ghana.

We have the terrible  example of the harm now being caused to Nigeria and its citizens by Boko Haram to remind us of the importance of protecting our nation and its people from terrorist organisations operating in the west African sub-region. Boko Haram has taken root in northern Nigeria precisely because of the widespread  poverty in that part of the country.

One hopes our leaders will be proactive in that regard. Something drastic needs to be done to alleviate extreme poverty in the north and in the slums of  urban Ghana - so that they do not become recruiting grounds for terrorist organisations targetting our country. Ghana needs to alleviate extreme poverty if it is to keep terrorist organisations at bay. A word to the wise...

Good Luck To Ghana's Black Stars In Brazil

Most Ghanaians dream of seeing their nation's national soccer team, the Black Stars, returning home from the 2014 Federation of International Football Associations' (FIFA) World Cup soccer tournament currently underway in Brazil, with the soccer world's ultimate trophy, the FIFA World Cup.

 Naturally, there are spoilsport  soccer  pundits who will  say that the Black Stars have their work cut out for them - and that winning the FIFA  World Cup will be an impossible task for the team.

However, one lives in hope - and with a team full of world-class players, one's prayer is that the Black Stars will, at the very least, go further than they did at the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament in South Africa.

 On a good day, the Black Stars are capable of matching any of the teams that qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil. What they need is mental strength and the determination to win - and they have both in abundance, luckily.

If they perform well in Brazil,  the Black Stars will enhance Ghana's image globally - and perhaps attract yet more Africa-bound overseas tourists,  and long-term international investors interested in emerging markets, to Ghana.

Above all, it will cheer up a  hard-up and mostly-morose populace,  and perhaps also bring a much-polarised society together again.

(Alas, our homeland Ghana has been divided by ruthless and self-seeking politicians -  power-hungry and power-drunk party-hardliners from across the spectrum: who only think of party advantage, and increasing their personal net worth, at Mother Ghana's expense. But I digress.)

Patriotic citizens up and down our country, and nationalistic Ghanaians across the globe, wish the Black Stars the very best of luck,  in the team's opening match today, against the national soccer team of the United States of America, the Stars and Stripes. May all their efforts in Brazil be crowned with glory - and if Providence so wishes, we do hope they will return home to Ghana,  with the FIFA World Cup. Amen.

Let Us Celebrate The Quincy Sintim-Aboagyes of Ghana

In any other nation, successful entrepreneurs like Mr. Quincy Sintim-Aboagye, the CEO of Saltpond Offshore Production Company Limited (SOPCL), would be celebrated.

 Yet,  he is constantly being hounded and pilloried in Ghana - despite the fact that against great odds he has kept the offshore oil wells off the coast of Saltpond in production for so many years now.

Japan and South Korea became successful nations, even though their economies were devastated by wars fought on their territories, precisely because they nurtured and championed a select group of local entrepreneurs. 

The Quincy Sintim-Aboagyes in our midst create jobs, provide valuable skills for young Ghanaians, and, as role models, inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Their businesses contribute to Ghana's GDP - and above all they create wealth that remains in Ghana.

 Unlike so many foreign oil companies (and multinationals in other sectors of the economy), Quincy Sintim-Aboagye's oil company has not set up subsidiary companies for the sole purpose of engaging in activities that enable it successfully rip Ghana off - through incestous offshore trading relationships whose hallmark is the over-invoicing and under-invoicing of  transactions: designed to enable them siphon money out of our national economy.

On the contrary, SOPCL is a good corporate citizen of Ghana, which  meets all its tax obligations  - and Quincy Sintim-Aboagye is a patriotic Ghanaian who chose to invest in Ghana, rather than remain in the USA: and live out the rest of his life there  in considerable  comfort.

It is the ingenuity of such dynamic and  innovative entrepreneurs, whose activities at the micro-level,  transform nations,  and turn them into prosperous societies. At the micro-level, 100,000 of such entrepreneurs employing100 workers each, will resolve Ghana's youth unemployment problem.

If an entrepreneurial culture is to take seed in Ghana and thrive, it will be the example of such brilliant entrepreneurs that will make it happen.

 Rather than constantly denigrating their businesses, let us celebrate the Quincy Sintim-Aboagyes in our midst. The very future of our nation depends on them. A word to the wise...

Wishing Mother Nature Well On World Environment Day

On what is World Environment Day, one cannot but  wonder at what lies in stock, for future generations, in quality-of-life terms -  as we trash both the natural and built environment across the length and breadth of  Ghana with careless abandon.

 Everywhere one looks, in both the countryside and urban Ghana, egregious harm is being done to the earth that  sustains us - and we are seeing ecosystems being destroyed in vast swathes of the Ghanaian landmass.

Wildlife habit loss is occuring at a frightening pace  - as  biodiversity hotspots disappear. And in many towns and cities across the nation, Ghanaians are gradually being engulfed by unimaginable filth. Is it not time we banned the main culprit, non-biodegradable plastic, from Ghana?

 Ruthless and amoral individuals,  driven by unfathomable greed, are putting our collective future in jeopardy as they poison soils,  surface water bodies and the underground watertable with impunity  - in ther single-minded quest for gold.

 As my widow's mite contribution to the fight to keep Ghana clean,  I am offering Zoomlion land either to build a campus for an environmental university, or  to build a landfill site - but on condition that  any structures built will be world-class, well-engineered and  built to the highest environmental standards: and will not affect neighbours in the area negatively in any way.

What is sad in all this, is that in  all parts of Ghana, traditionally, we are a people who for centuries have always valued our natural heritage. In the past, we protected our forests, revered our rivers and kept our villages and homes clean at all material times. What a sorry pass we have come to, alas.

One hopes that  the nationwide furore generated by the destruction of part of an old forest near the public areas of the  Aburi Botanical Gardens - allegedly  by a district chief executive  -  will be a watershed moment that will lead to renewed commitment by officialdom to the protection of  the remainder of Ghana's forests.

 Many rivers across Ghana could eventually disappear if there is no change of heart by officials responsible for the protection of Ghana's forests. What quality of life will Ghanaians have then?

 In the long-term Mother Nature will survive and regenerate itself - it is humankind that risks  disappearing off the face of the planet Earth by making our biosphere uninhabitable. That cold  fact of life ought to serve as a warning to present-day Ghanaians.

If environmental  degradation on the scale we are currently witnessing is not halted, we may end up  having to spend all the wealth generated in Ghana,  on a plethora of  projects, dedicated to  the restoration of  the health of the natural environment  -  just to ensure that our country continues to remain habitable at a  time when global climate change is impacting Ghana negatively.

One wishes Mother Nature well on World Environment Day - ditto all members of the one-human-race dedicated to protecting her around the world.

Addressing Cocoa Processing Companies' U.S.$250 Million Indebtedness To COCOBOD

To ensure the  repayment of the U.S.$250 millions owed the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD),  by a number of cocoa processing companies in Ghana,  the COCOBOD needs to be proactive - and take active steps to help those cocoa processing companies find new markets for their products.

In a conversation with H.E. Victor Smith, before he left Ghana to take up his new appointment as Ghana's high commissioner to the United Kingdom, I recall him  promising to contact the leading supermarkets in the UK, with a view to encouraging them source their own-brand cocoa products from Ghana, when I mooted the idea to him.

Perhaps the COCOBOD's head of marketing, Mr. Edem Amegashie, could work with H.E. Victor Smith, to  organise a trip to Ghana, for the leading UK  supermarkets' buyers of cocoa products  - to enable them  inspect the modern and hygenic factories of the processing companies that are said to be indebted to the COCOBOD: to the tune of some U.S.$250 millions.

The COCOBOD's senior management should also work with the ministry of foreign affairs and regional integration,  to get the heads of Ghana's diplomatic missions, to talk to the CEO's of leading supermarkets  in other wealthy nations, in which cocoa products are popular - and encourage them to source their own-brand cocoa products from the cocoa processing companies indebted to it.

Nations like the U.S., the UK, Holland, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Japan, China, India and Iran readily come to mind.

 The production in Ghana of own-brand cocoa products for leading supermarkets in those nations, will save the over 6,000 jobs that are threatened,  if those cocoa processing companies indebted to the COCOBOD,   are forced to close down - meaning that they can be sold to consumers there  as fairtrade cocoa products: the production of which saves existing jobs, creates new jobs, and thus  alleviates poverty  in Ghana.

That will be a win-win outcome for the COCOBOD and the  processing companies indebted to it - all of which which will finally be in a position to resume earning the needed revenues to start paying  back what they owe the COCOBOD.

Hopefully, COCOBOD will take this up, and by so doing, prevent  the processing companies from folding up. Amongst the local processors said to be indebted to COCOBOD are: Plot Enterprises Limited; Afro Tropical Limited; Real Commodities Limited; West African Mills Limited; and Cocoa Processing Company Limited.

Doubtless the rest of society will also take note of the fact that  in seeking to address the thorny issue of the processing companies indebtedness to it, rather than acting in peremptory fashion,  COCOBOD chose instead to be bold and creative  - in bringing closure to a difficult situation that threatened its finances and put  the future of a number of  local  cocoa processors in doubt (ditto thousands of hard-to-find jobs). A word to the wise...

Resolving Ghana's Scrap Metal Export Ban's Associated Problems Creatively

A creative solution needs to be found to resolve the problems now faced by scrap metal merchants,  as a result of  the ban on the export from Ghana, of  types of scrap metal used by local steel manufacturing companies. The ban has apparently negatively impacted the businesses of many scrap metal merchants in the country.

A nation with a weak currency that is constantly depreciating, needs to export as many goods and services as it possibly can, in order to improve  its balance of payments,  and,  ultimately, help strengthen and  stabilise its currency, in so doing.

There are Ghanaians in the diaspora,  who could be persuaded to supply the steel manufacturing companies in Ghana, with the type of scrap metal they require - if they could be guaranteed payment in Ghana cedis, for deliveries of scrap metal they make  to the steel manufacturing companies here.

Return Tema To Its Nkrumah-Era Glory

Whilst being driven around Tema yesterday, I could not help but notice some of the factory buildings from the Nkrumah-era.  The  scale of Nkrumah's work for our nation is truly impressive  - and astounding: even by 21st century standards.

 No wonder the imperialists and neo-colonialists would stop at nothing in their quest to remove Nkrumah from power - and finally succeeded in doing so in February 1966.

They believed that such a visionary and  transformative African leader would end up making Africans politically aware - and eventually make it impossible for outsiders  to  exploit the continent's natural resources.

 The modern port city of Tema was a well-planned industrial city built from scratch. The filthy, kiosk-filled partial-slum that is the Tema of today, contrasts sharply with the clean, well-maintained built-environment, of the  Nkrumah-era industrial city.

It illustrates perfectly, the difference between President Nkrumah,  and  his successors in office. Nkrumah was a polymath who wrote books, and whose dream for Ghana, was encapsulated in the five and seven-year development plans of his government.

The many sly, selfish and callous pygmies-with-provincial-minds,  who stepped into the cosmopolitan Nkrumah's giant-sized shoes after his overthrow in 1966, often failed to build on his legacy.

That failure shows in the steady deterioration of many public buildings, and the nation's infrastructure, soon after they have been built -  invariably because of poor project execution and lack of  maintenance. Pity.

Sadly, self-interest, as opposed to serving the people of Ghana, and protecting the national interest at all material times, appears to be the motivating factor that has driven many of Nkrumah's successors.

That is why since the discovery of large deposits of oil off our shores, our leaders have  deliberately opted for  the worst types of oil agreements.

 Ghana sits atop of oil and gas deposits worth some U.S.$160 billions, but over a 30-year period,  will only earn some U.S.$20 billions - whiles foreign oil companies investing less than U.S.$15 billions will walk away with a U.S.$140 billions jackpot.

And this is a lower middle-income nation desperate to self-finance its transformation into a prosperous society for all its people. Amazing.

 The selfishhness of most of our post-Nkrumah leaders also shows itself  in the shoddy infrastructure projects undertaken by so many of his successors - who in exchange for kickbacks have allowed project specifications to be varied to the nation's disadvantage.

The plethora of roads across the country that cost the earth, and which deteriorate after heavy rains,  is yet more evidence of their greed and failure as leaders.

It is unforvigable and intolerable that not too long ago, it was reported that raw sewerage  had apparently been leaking from Tema's underground sewerage pipeline network.

President Nkrumah must be turning in his grave. All those who over the years have allowed standards to slip to such levels in Tema, must bow their heads in shame.

Those in charge of today's Tema must wake up - and ensure that the port city is cleaned up. They must ensure that Tema's  built-environment is kept clean at all material times. Tema must be restored to its Nkrumah-era glory. A word to the wise...

P. V. Obeng Served Ghana Well

Mr. Paul Victor Obeng, who passed away yesterday (17/05/2014),  died in harness. He served Ghana deligently till the very end of his life. Indeed, he participated in the recent national economic forum held at Akosombo -  which ended only a few days ago.

 A pragmatist, and an unfailingly courteous gentleman, he was a wise advisor who helped keep Ghana stable,  during the turbulent early years of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), the military regime that came to power after the overthrow of the People's National Party (PNP) administration of President Hilla Limman,  in December 1981.

 He was also a key member of President Rawlings' National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, which held power for two consecutive four-year  terms, from 7th  January 1993 to 7th January 2001.

At the time of his death, he was the chairperson of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). He was also on the boards of a number of private and public-sector entities.

He was a member of the board of Guinness Ghana Limited and chaired the board of Ghana Agro Food Company Limited (GAFCO). And he was also the chairperson of the university council of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

P. V. Obeng's pragmatism and sense of humour enabled him to work well with all manner of persons, regardless of their political background. His calming influence  will be sorely missed by the Mahama administration. He was a steady and safe pair of hands.

The torch of leadership is passing from the generation of leaders whom he served with to the next generation of leaders in the NDC. For the sake of our nation, one hopes that there will be pragmatic and wise ones, in the  P. V. Obeng-mould, within that generation too.

We must all be grateful for the stewardship of wise and able political leaders like Mr. P. V. Obeng.

 It is their nonpartisan and commonsense approach that help lessen tensions and enables us maintain our nation's stability, whenever it is brought to the brink by ruthless and selfish politicians - either plotting their way to power, or seeking to hang on to it, regardless of the egregious nature of the effect their machinations have on the well-being of our nation and the welfare of its people.

One's  thoughts are with his family and close friends - who must be inconsolable at this tragic time. We all share in  their sense of loss - ocassioned by the sad passing away of Mr. P. V Obeng: their reported sufferings and lamentations since that sad news broke, wrought upon our feelings, too.

 Opanin P.V.,  dua eni amanihunu - you served Mother Ghana well indeed.  Rest in peace!

The Polarisation Of Ghana Must Not Persist Beyond 2016

 The polarised nature of present-day Ghanaian society must not be allowed to persist beyond 2016. Our nation needs to elect a new leader in 2016 - someone who is a unifying force and whose competent leadership will enable our country to prosper.

That unfortunate polarisation is a major stumbling block holding back the transformation of our country. It results from the intense rivalry between the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Alas, it also holds the seeds for the destruction of our homeland Ghana - if allowed to continue. For that reason,  the sooner the ordinary people of Ghana freed their country from the iron grip of those two polarising and corrupt political parties, the better it will be for them.

Ghana will never move ahead if those two parties continue to dominate our nation's politics. Until they reform themselves and become transparent entities, they must never be allowed to lead our nation again.

Hardline cliques dominate both parties. They are made up of ruthless and powerful individuals,  whose only goal is to win and hold on to power - to enable them  enjoy the spoils of office: as opposed to serving the ordinary people of Ghana and protecting the national interest at all material times.

 Those selfish politicians are the main drivers of the never-ending negativity that is slowly driving a wedge between the ordinary people who support the two parties - and is gradually destroying Ghanaian democracy.

Since the 4th Republic came into being, many independent-minded Ghanaians, have gained the impression that the main wish  of the hardliners who dominate the political parties opposed to each government of the day,  is  that the nation's economy will experience a downturn: and that there will be widespread misery in the country, to ensure that the opposition wins power at the next presidential and parliamentary elections.

Such is the intensity of the  rivalry between the two major parties, and the egregious nature of its overall effect on society that many independent-minded Ghanaians,  now accuse them of regularly resorting to sabotage on a grand scale, when not in office.

The conspiracy theorists in our midst constantly point to today's many  strikes by public-sector employees and the steady deterioration in the quality of services provided by public-sector entities,  as evidence of this destructive behaviour.

 Clearly, we need a new type of politics in Ghana - one in which individuals go into politics to serve their country and ordinary people: not to enrich themselves at the expense of our nation and its people.

 Some of  us are now thoroughly fed up with, and  tired of, the nation-wrecking antics of the greedy-asset-strippers party,  the NPP,  and the create-loot-and-share party, the NDC.

The fact of the matter is that Ghana must become a united and disciplined nation, free of high-level corrution,  if it is to succeed. We have no choice.

The Hon. Kennedy Adjapong MP, is reported to have stated recently  that we need to elect individuals of substance who have achieved success in their own  lives to lead our country. He is right - but they must also be individuals of  unquestioned integrity.

Such an individual could lead a government of national unity after the December 2016 elections - and tap the best talents in the land, irrespective of their party backgrounds, to move Ghana forward.

 Better still, such a leader ought to be a politician prepared to  publicly publish his or her assets (and that of his or her spouse), and publish his or her filed tax returns, as well as  publicly publish the sources of funding  for the party he or she leads.

And he or she must be able to demonstrate the ability to create jobs and successful  private-sector businesses - by pointing to their own existing  successful businesses.

 Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom is just such a politician. He has demonstrated an adherance to good governance principles, in the management of the party he founded a little over two years ago, the Progressive People's Party (PPP) - the only political party in Ghana that is underpinned by an ethos of transparency.

We cannot continue to allow our nation to be held back by polarising and Machiavellian politicians, like those who dominate the NDC and NPP.  A divided nation can never grow and prosper.  That is why we must have a government of national unity after the 2016 elections.

It is time we elected a competent and successful businessperson to lead our nation and ensure that the transformation of the national economy begins. Ghana PLC must succeed - and thrive.

 In terms of personal achievement, few politicians in the Ghana of today, can equal the achievements of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom. He has demonstrated that he can create tens of thousands of meaningful jobs and create substantial wealth that actually remains in Ghana.

 A politician who publishes his or her personal net worth, as well as  the source of funding for the party he or she  leads, is the perfect leader to reform our corrupt and byzantine system - especially when that politician's motto is: "Biakoye. Mpuntudjuma. Oman nnokodo". 

 As president, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom could very well end the polarisation of Ghanaian society. Let us try him in 2016. It is a view I have now come round to after much introspection - and for patriotic reasons.

 For the sake of present and future generations,  the polarisation of Ghanaian society must not be allowed to continue beyond 2016. Let us rid Ghana of the baleful influence of the NDC-NPP mafioso slowly destroying Ghana with their selfishness and corrupt ways.

Above all, before all our nation's oil wealth is dissipated by those corrupt and polarising NDC-NPP politicians,  let us elect Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom as President,  in 2016,  for real change -  and for the transformation of Ghana into a prosperous society in which important decisions are arrived at by consensus to begin in earnest. A word to the wise...

Why Alleviating Poverty In The North of Ghana Is Important

It is said that the devil finds work for idle hands. The lack of employment opportunities in the three northern regions of Ghana is at the heart of the frequent acts of violence there.

Every single case in which gunmen attack a rural community,  in any of the three northern regions, which is reported in the Ghanaian media, ought to be a matter of grave  concern to all Ghanaians.

 A recent example,  was a murderous raid on smallholder farmers in Babimsurugu, a village near Nakapanduri, in the Northern Region. They were attacked by gunmen - who dismembered the body of  one of the farmers, Mr. Sagark Danaaba, shortly after shooting him.

 What should be of concern to all Ghanaians,  is that it is  but a small step from the barbarity of attacking defenceless smallholder farmers with impunity, in the north of our country, to participating in random acts of terrorism across Ghana, at the behest of a Boko Haram-style terrorist organisation out to destabalise our country  for its own ends.

The virus-of-madness driving Boko Haram's senseless killings in Nigeria must be prevented from infecting desperate people in Ghana at all costs. That is why something must be done about alleviating poverty in the three northern regions.

Perhaps reputable NGO's with a track record of working hard  to alleviate poverty in the three northern regions,  could partner the Savanna Accelerated Development Authourity (SADA), which could  fund some of their ongoing community-based poverty alleviation projects.

Each time those who participate in the senseless killings in the north get away with their crimes, it emboldens others elsewhere to settle disputes in similar fashion. We must rethink the gun licensing laws in Ghana. It is obvious that there are far too many people with access to firearms in the north.  Stiffer sentences for the illegal possession of guns need to be enacted into law.

Above all, something concrete needs to be done to relieve the sense of hopelessness felt by so many young people in the three northern regions, as a result of the endemic poverty there. It is in the interest of society generally that that is done quickly.

 Perhaps instead of relying solely on SADA to fight poverty in the north,  private-sector entities too could  use innovative schemes to help alleviate poverty in the three northern regions.

Ghana's banking industry, for example, could come together and contribute their quota - through the  creation of annual CSR funding opportunities for the brightest  entrepreneurial types in communities across the three northern regions, by holding business proposal writing competitions with prize-money that can be invested in start-ups, and mentoring by successful entrepreneurs made available to the winners for a specified period.

 We have the terrible example  of how Boko Haram has exploited the poverty in northern Nigeria to gain a foothold there to learn from. We owe it to ourselves as a people to prevent that from happening here too - by alleviating the shocking poverty in the three northern regions of our homeland Ghana.  A word to the wise...

List All Of Ghana's Banking Industry's Non-Core Services

If ever there was a stage in Ghana's history, thus far, when it needed to mobilise savings for national development, this must be it. Alas,  as a lower middle-income nation, Ghana no longer qualifies for concessionary loans.

 We therefore need to become a nation of regular savers - whose aggregated savings can be harnessed by banks for onward lending to businesses and individual entrepreneurs. It would be disastrous for our national economy, were  potential savers to elect to stash their cash under mattresses - and in safes at home and inside their business premises.

That is why nothing must be done to erode public confidence in banks in Ghana. Yet,   there are many ordinary people in Ghana, who use banks,  who  are now confused about what precisely constitutes non-core services rendered by banks, and which will now attract a value added tax (VAT) rate of 17.5%.

If that confusion is allowed to persist, it will eventually  lead to the closure of many savings accounts  in banks across the country - by savers scandalised that  profligate politicians now propose to tax hard-earned cash in personal savings accounts, put aside by thrifty folk, for a rainy day: as well as tax funds in current accounts and bank loans.

To prevent such a run on banks from occuring in widespread fashion,  the authorities must list (item by item) all the VAT-rated non-core services delivered by banks in Ghana, without exception - and ensure that that information is disseminated nationwide by the press and electronic media.

It is unfortunate that a measure that was never meant to be applied to savings accounts, current accounts and bank loans, was not explained properly to the general public - and apparently not even to the banks: if what some of them say is to be believed.

To ensure that there is no confusion when the measure finally takes effect, a list of every non-core service performed by banks in Ghana, which will now attract 17.5% VAT, must be displayed prominently in all branches of banks,  savings and loans companies and other micro-credit firms in Ghana.

And to avoid any ambiguities,  a separate list of the zero-rated core-services performed by banks, which will not attract any VAT, must also be displayed in those selfsame branches. Banks play an important role in our economy,  by mobilising savings for the financing of projects - and for that reason it is  vital that  nothing is done to erode public confidence in them. A word to the wise.

Xi Xiahai's Sunon Asogli Power Company's Coal-Fired Power Plant Will Not Be Good For Ghana

It is a measure of the calibre of some of the geniuses who run our country that at a time when  global climate change is impacting Ghana negatively, the Sunon Asogli Power Company's Chinese board chairperson, Mr. Xi Xiahai, can confidently state that his company will be permitted to build a coal-fired power plant in Ghana. Incredible.

 How can that be? And how can the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) justify this outrage? How foolish and  ignorant Mr. Xi Xiahai and his ilk  must think Ghanaians are. Pity.

 No doubt he will dangle the fool's-gold-carrot of "sophisticated filtration systems" to trap particulants and other pollutants in the smoke belching out from the cone towers of his coal-fired power stations,  in front of  the too-clever-by-half, self-seeking senior public servants and see-no-evil-hear-no-evil  politicians (both in the executive and the legislature), who profit mightily from selliing Ghana short.

Well, those so-called sophisticated filtration systems have not made the slightest bit of  difference to the air-quality in Beijing and the many Chinese cities whose hapless  inhabitants are forced to put up with very poor air quality - that is health-damaging in the extreme - on a daily basis. That is why China is spending billions of dollars increasing its renewable power generating capacity.

It  is time those who currently lead our country understood that they ought to  be extremely wary of the senior public servants whose  job it is to advise them -  if they want to be returned to power again in 2016. There is absolutely no sense in allowing the  Sunon Asogli Power Company and the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) - or any other company for that matter -  to build coal-fired power plants in Ghana.

The government of President Mahama was not elected to sanction the building of health-destroying dirty power plants anywhere in our country. To do so would be a grave error of judgement that they will come to rue one day - as sure as day follows night.

 When the effects of the pollution caused by such a power plant begins to affect the quality of  the air around the area it is located in, and residents begin to protest loudly that it is damaging their health, it will be pointed to by their political opponents,  as yet another example of poor  judgement, by an incompetent regime.

 The  energy ministry's  ministerial team ought to  ask their  advisors to tell them precisely how the air in  Beijing and so many other major Chinese cities ended up becoming so badly polluted - to the extent that it is now destroying the health of millions of their inhabitants, as well as lowering the quality of life in cities across a vast swathe of the landmass of China.

 Some of us are getting tired of being led by provincial-minded  politicians (from across the spectrum: egregious examples being the Allottey Jacobs of the National Democratic Congress, and the Antwi Bosiako Wuntumis and Sammy Awukus, of the New Patriotic Party) whom  it appears  haven't the foggiest idea about the dangers inherent in the phenomenon of global climate change - and the threat it  poses to the well-being of Mother Ghana and the Ghanaian people.

 This is an existential matter that  concerns  present  and future generations of the Ghanaian people - in case that has not yet dawned on those geniuses. Our ruling elites  are relatively  well-compensated for a reason:  so that they will take well-thought-through decisions that redound to the benefit of  our nation and all its people, at all material times.

With respect, we demand that the ministerial team at the energy ministry,  requests that  Ghana's ambassador to Belgium invites GDF SUEZ Trading (+32567321) and Geldof (+32567321) to visit Ghana, as soon as practicable - to make a presentation to the government: about the Electrabel Rodenhuise 100℅ biomass power plant.

Mr. Xi Xiahai and his  Ghanaian partners should be invited to sit in on that presentation too. Ditto the Volta River Authority and the other independent power producers in Ghana. It will be an eye-opener for all of them.

 For their information, the Electrabel Rodenhuise biomass plant was converted from burning coal to wood pellets - and now  produces renewable energy from wood fuel. The conversion from coal to biomass means avoiding 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. And the power it generates is cheaper than it previously was when the plant used coal. Food for thought - in a nation whose hard-done-by and overtaxed citizens are desperate for not-so-expensive  electricity.

 The government of Ghana ought to ask the Sunon Asogli Power Company to collaborate with Geldof and GDF SUEZ Trading to build a 100% biomass power plant in Ghana. Mr. Xi Xiahai's confounded coal-fired power plants are not good for Ghana. Period. And no power company must be allowed to build coal-fired power plants anywhere in Ghana.

The energy ministry's ministerial team must ask the Sunon Asogli Power Company's chairperson, Mr. Xi Xiahai,  and his Ghanaian partners to study the Green Max European project to convert fossil-fueled thermal power plants to 100℅ biomass. The  Sunon Asogli Power Company can save itself the hundreds of millions of dollars it proposes  to invest in  building  a dedicated port to handle imported coal -  were  it to adopt the Green Max biomass business model.

If they do so, instead of bringing a dirty power plant to pollute Ghana, they will produce renewable power with a green supply chain based on  community agro-forestry  plantations of fast-growing trees countrywide, which will create wealth for rural Ghana and enable District Assemblies across Ghana to have a reliable revenue stream based on job-creating  sustainable development throughout rural Ghana.

If they are not yet aware of it, the  energy ministry's ministerial team is becoming notorious for daft decisions that are not in the long-term interest of Ghana and its people - and the blame can be laid firmly at the doorstep of the senior public servants who advise them. Their dealings with the corrupt  and opaque Rusatom is a classic example. Mt. Xi Xiahai's Sunon  Asogli  Power Company must not be allowed to build coal-fired power plants anywhere  in Ghana. It will not be in the long-term interest of our homeland Ghana and its people. A word to the wise...

Ghana Is An African Paradise

Our nation's many problems notwithstanding,  compared to many nations in Africa, Ghana is a real paradise. It is a veritable beacon of hope in the continent.

Caught in a  massive traffic jam on Easter Monday that stretched all the way from White Cross - three minutes by car along the Mallam-Kasoa highway after crossing  the bridge over the River Densu - to the Bortianor junction traffic lights near the old police barrier, I was struck by the many happy young people singing and clapping their hands exuberantly, in jam-packed minibus, after jam-packed minibus. Ditto jam-packed  taxi,  after jam-packed  taxi.

Most of them  were on their way to the beach resorts at Bortianor. Their zest for life was palpable. Their happiness, infectious. Your average Ghanaian works hard and plays hard. This is an aspirational society in which citizens constantly seek to better their lot. Long may it remain so.

And the fact that in the African context, this is a relatively prosperous country, despite its many difficulties, was evidenced by the many new saloon cars and SUV's  inching their way forward, after every few minutes of waiting, in the heavy traffic - their occupants cocooned in air-conditioned comfort.

As in other parts of Accra, many  new buildings have sprung up in the area - including a privately-owned  specialist hospital,  a plethora of banks, a pizza restaurant and  a Silverbird cinema complex.

 A  €256,885 Ghanaian private-sector credit facility from the Italian government has given a new lease of life to the refurbished Phastor concrete products factory at the entrance to Sampah Valley, near the turning I took to get me back home to McCarthy Hill again -  just before the Bortianor junction traffic lights.

Yet,  anyone who has ever watched and listened  to the endless negativity that is standard fare for current affairs discussion programmes  on television and the many FM radio stations in Ghana, would find it hard to believe that the doom-filled talking-heads who take part in those programmes, actually live in the same country with those  fun-loving young merrymakers on their way to the seaside on Easter Monday.

Watching those happy younger generation Ghanaians - lucky to  have been born, and to have grown up, in a free and peaceful society in Africa - enjoying themselves, I could not help but think of the senseless killings in strife-torn places like the Central African Republic, South Sudan and areas in Nigeria that have suffered from the unspeakable cruelty of Boko Haram,  and contrasting that with the high-spirited young fellow citizens enjoying their Easter Monday holiday trip to the beach in our stable multi-party democracy.

We tend to take a lot for granted in Ghana. It is true that many families are going through hard times.  That unfortunate situation results partly from the effects of the  cyclical nature of trade between interdependent national economies in an era of globalisation. The optimism and good-natured  fun-seeking of the  younger generations shows their confidence in Ghana's future.

 The nation's long-suffering middle-classes, keen to protect the value of their expensive homes and sheltered lifestyles in gated communities, act as ballast. Their moderating influence (vital to protecting their diversified investment portfolios) will contine to keep the country stable.

 Members of our political class (from across the spectrum) would be wise to end their negativity and focus their energies instead on working hard to create the conditions that will  ensure a prosperous future for our homeland Ghana.

A little less high-level corruption amongst our ruling elites would also be welcomed by all Ghanaians. Ditto less pointless ruling-regime propaganda and more attention paid to the task of  fixing the hobbled economy - brought low by reckless government spending during the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections, and the 70% of total tax revenues paid to a mostly-unproductive public-sector workforce.

Above all, Ghanaians expect those in  leadership positions in  their country,  to commit themselves to ensuring that Ghana continues to be peaceful  and remains an  African paradise. They must not fail us in that regard. A word to the wise...

Build High-Capacity Wood Pellet Biomass Power Plants In Ghana

It has become increasingly difficult for ordinary households  to put up  with the never-ending power outages and escalating electricity prices in Ghana. The people of Ghana definitely  deserve better. Their patience is wearing thin by the day. Literally.

 Whether the problems  are systemic,  or result from sabotage by anti-regime elements working in the power sector - who are apparently doing the bidding of their political paymasters: according to the conspiracy theorists in our midst - the power sector's deficiencies need tackling. This is the 21st century, is it not?

Ghana cannot grow its economy and create jobs without reliable and sufficient electricity. That is why our ruling elites need to be a tad more imaginative in their approach to resolving the problem of inefficient electricity provision  for domestic and industrial usage in our country.

Faced with the spiralling cost of oil to fire its power plants - and in the  absence of a  more reliable source of natural gas - one wonders why the geniuses who manage the  Volta River Authority (VRA) are  not following the example of those who manage  the Drax coal-fired power plant near the UK town of  Selby.

 In April 2013, one of the Drax power plant's generating units,  was converted to biomass. Wood pellets are shipped across the Atlantic from the U.S. as feedstock for the converted biomass unit. That is an example wood pellet exporters from Ghana could emulate right across Europe - and help strengthen our currency in the process.

By 2016 the Drax power station will have a total of three units  running exclusively on  biomass. The coal-fired Drax plant supplies 7 percent of the UK's electricity. When it converts the total of 3 biomass plants by 2016, the Drax plant will burn 7 million tonnes of wood pellets a year.

If the VRA also had biomass power plants using wood pellets, could  plantations of fast-growing trees like teak not be planted up and down Ghana,  by District Assemblies, in partnership with private-sector entities,  to supply pellets to those  biomass power plants - creating a valuable supply-chain footprint  over much of  rural Ghana?

And would that not create worthwhile jobs for tens of thousands of  unemployed young people across the Ghanaian  countryside: who could drive trucks; legally fell trees with chainsaws in plantation thinning exercises; operate mobile wood pellet machines onsite in tree  plantations; sun-dry wood pellets; etc.  - and also  generate funds for development projects in cash-strapped district assemblies up and down Ghana?

The governent ought to float part of its 100 percent shareholding in the VRA on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) - and use the interest-free cash raised in the IPO to build biomass power plants.

That will be a more sustainable business model for the public-sector power generating utilities in an age of high oil prices and unreliable natural gas supply sources.

And at a time when hard-pressed electricity users in Ghana are fed up with ever-increasing power tariffs, it will lead to lower electricity prices and more reliable power generation by the VRA.

We need to start planning for the construction of  high-capacity wood pellet biomass power plants in Ghana. Today, not tomorrow. It is a perfect type of renewable energy for Ghana.

And now that  global climate change is negatively impacting our country, it is a low-carbon, clean-development power-sector  business model, which makes a great deal of sense for a largely agricultural country such as ours. One hopes our hard-of-hearing ruling elites  will listen to good advice,  offered freely,  for patriotic reasons, for once. A word to the wise...

Let Us Save Remainder Of Akyem Abuakwa's Natural Heritage

One of the tragedies of our time,  is the destruction of so much of the natural heritage, of Akyem Abuakwa,  in Ghana's Eastern Region.

 Much of that destruction,  has occurred as a result of an unholy alliance, between a syndicate of wealthy rogues engaged in illegal gold mining (galamsey) and illegal logging, and a number of hypocritcal individuals amongst the progeny of the pre-colonial traditional ruling elites in the area.

 President Mahama surveyed the area from the air recently, when he flew from the Afram plains to Akyem Abuakwa,  in a Ghana Air Force helicopter. So shocked was the President,  by the environmental degradation he witnessed that he later told a public gathering at Kyebi that the area he saw from the air, had to be the galamsey capital of Ghana.

 Instead of being offended by the verbal description of  an unpleasant reality that confronts visitors to Akyem Abuakwa daily, today, those of us who love the upland evergreen rainforest in the Atewa Range, must accept that there has been massive degradation of the natural environment in Akyem Abuakwa - and that we must take active steps to repair that damage.

 We must also not forget that we are ranged against  powerful, cunning  and ruthless adversaries. An example of what we face is the outrageous story of how the clever  and dissembling promoters of Solar Mining Company bought respectability, and got away with the company's illegal mining activities, by reversing into a then bankrupt
Kibi Goldfields.

Kibi Goldfields is apparently owned by Ambassador Budu Saaka - who was  appointed as an ambassador by the late President Mills. 10 percent of its shareholding is said to be in the hands of the traditional authorities of Akyem Abuakwa. Such is the incestous nature of our byzantine system.

The question is: how did a bankrupt gold mining company hold on to its concession for so many years without it ever being cancelled and withdrawn - and has Kibi Goldfields paid its reclamation bond upfront since Solar Mining Company became a "co-operator" and revived it phoenix-like: and in such  carpetbagger fashion?

Kibi Goldfields' environmental impact assessment document, which Solar Mining Company submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the co-operating conspirators' behalf, is a study in garnished-mendacity and barefaced cheek, cooked up by gifted Kweku Ananse storytellers.

They presented its readers with a falsehood:  an airbrushed  picture of an  environment consisting largely of marginal land and badly degraded forests in which gold mining could be carried out in good conscience. Yet, the reality is that Kibi Goldfields is actually engaged in the rape of valuable  land in the forest-belt providing  vital ecosystem services for most of southern urban Ghana.

 And the destruction even extends to ecologically sensitive areas, with the designation Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GBSA) -  which hold the headwaters of three major river systems: the Birim, the Ayensu and the Densu. Those three important rivers provide the drinking water supply of many towns and cities across southern Ghana, including Accra, the nation's  capital.

Today, as we speak, Solar Mining Company's wealthy owners, who grew wings when the price of gold spiked to dizzying heights, are busy terrorising poor cocoa farmers in Saamang and its environs, who refuse to allow their farmlands to be taken over for gold mining - allegedly with the active connivance of district-level officialdom: threatening withdrawal of funding for local development projects if  they don't relent.

Luckily, their cause is being championed by the anti-mining NGO, WACAM, which has taken Solar Mining Company to court on their behalf, with legal assistance  from the Centre for Public Interest Law (CPIL).

Few in Ghana know the area as well as some of us do. And as someone whose family has owned a total of 14 square miles of a freehold parcel of upland evergreen forestland in the Atewa Range since 1921,  I do know for a fact that in as far as areas around the world that have the  designation Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) are concerned, parts of Akyem Abuakwa could actually be described as global ecological-blackspots of wanton environmental degradation.  And it is of apocalyptic proportions, if truth be told.

 It is a pity that it never once occurred to the genuises in charge of media relations at the presidency, to organise a helicopter trip around Akyem Abuakwa for the Ghanaian  media, to enable them take aerial photographs and record video footage of the destruction wrought by the unfathomable greed that drives the selfish individuals whose ruthless  quest for gold has caused so much harm to Akyem Abuakwa's natural heritage.

It is only when that is done that Ghanaians will be able to decide the truth for themselves - after viewing the shocking aerial  photographs and video footage - about  the exact scale and egregious nature of the destruction caused by illegal  gold mining and illegal logging in Akyem Abuakwa.

 It is still not too late for that to be done, incidentally. The world must know the truth about the brutal gang-rape of Mother Nature in Akyem Abuakwa. It is only such openess that will shame the hypocrites profiting from what is an unspeakable and abominable  crime against humanity.

What those who object to the description of the area as the galamsey capital of Ghana need to understand, is that it is simply a call for action from all those who want to use the natural heritage of Akyem  Abuakwa to develop and grow a sustainable green economic alternative to the illegal gold mining and illegal logging that goes on daily in Akyem Abuakwa.

The Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest could become a national park and world-class eco-tourism destination providing valuable jobs and micro-entrepreneurial opportunities for thousands of local people - and serve as an important living laboratory for field-study trips by academic researchers from around the globe.

Let us focus on that goal - and at a time when global climate change is impacting our country negatively, work hard to save the remainder of Akyem Abuakwa's natural heritage. The Dutch government has promised to provide US$2 million to help turn the Atewa Forest Reserve and the slopes around it into a national park - if all mining is banned from the area.

The time to act is now. This is no time to be engaging in pointless shouting matches about the scale of the destruction wrought by illegal gold miners  and illegal loggers in Akyem  Abuakwa. The truth of the matter, is that the widespread environmental degradation caused by those funding the  galamsey operations  and illegal logging,  can be seen by all who visit the area - with the exception of the visually challenged. It is time we united to  save what is left of Akyem Abuakwa's natural heritage. A word to the wise...