The tragic death of a young and hardworking journalist, who died on 20th September, 2015, in a motor accident whiles returning to base in Accra, to file his news story, after an assigmnent covering a presidential visit to Ho, the capital of the Volta Region, stunned many in the Ghanaian media world.
Samuel Naumah's untimely death has deeply affected his colleagues at the Ghanaian Times - and saddened journalists across the nation. May he rest in peace.
The death of the offspring of elderly parents, who, in the ordinary course of events, expect to be buried by their children, who then suddenly predecease them, is always a harrowing experience and traumatic life-event, for such bereaved parents.
That is why many Ghanaians feel the pain of Samuel Nuamah's parents and family - and commiserate with them over their tragic loss of Samuel.
Speaking personally, now aged 62, with adult children and grandchildren, of my own, in Japan and the UK, his death hit me hard. I shed tears that someone so young and hardworking, with his whole life in front of him - and blessed with a loving young wife, and child, who live overseas - had had his life cut short so tragically.
To ensure that Samuel's death is not in vain, the unanswered questions surrounding the events leading to his death, must be answered by the presidency. Truthfully.
The presidency needs to understand that if there actually is any blame to be apportioned in this matter, no amount of cover-up will stop those culpable from being exposed.
No one's official position at the presidency is worth such egregiuos face-saving chicanery for. President Mahama must spell that out to all of them.
It must be understood clearly by all at the presidency, that the media will not spare anyone who is directly or indirectly responsible for diverting the bus that took Samuel Nuamah and his colleagues to Ho from Accra - particularly if it emerges that it was diverted for frivolous reasons: such as carrying party supporters to meet the president.
That is why the nation must be told the truth about how it came about that the official bus allocated to the media, when they set off from Accra for the journey to Ho, with the president, was not made available to those selfsame journalists returning to Accra in advance of the president's entourage, to file their news stories.
Where exactly did the official bus allocated to the presidential press corps, have to be taken to, which necessitated the presidency hiring a replacement bus for the journey back to Accra by Samuel and his colleagues?
That information cannot be treated as a state secret by the presidency - and if anyone in the presidency tries to treat it as such, it will be hard for even fair-minded Ghanaians not to feel that he or she has something to hide.
The nation also needs to know who (individual or corporate) actually owns the rented minibus that killed Samuel Nuamah. How much did they charge the presidency for hiring out the bus for the journey to Accra from Ho?
Was the rate charged fair - or, as is often the case with many businesses providing goods and services to the state, super-rip-off rates were charged: hence the need for a cover-up to hide that fact?
Furthermore, will the presidency ensure that the insurers of the rented minibus pay out compensation for medical treatment that the passengers of the bus they rented out to the presidency, are entitled to, by law?
The insurers of the rented bus should be made to fulfill their legal obligation to do so. If Samuel Naumah's wife and child have to be compensated by being paid a substantial lump sum, let them not wait to be sued in the law courts, before they do so.
And the media ought to let Ghanaians know that passengers traveling on tro-tros and other public-service buses that are involved in accidents, are each entitled to a certain amount of money, to enable them pay their medical bills.
The media must ensure that the insurance industry informs the travelling public about the availability of such compensation - since premiums are paid on each seat for precisely that purpose.
The general public need to know too, through the media, that if they are involved in an accident, and it turns out the vehicle does not have insurance cover, they should approach the National Insurance Commission, with a police report, for compensation.
Ghanaians must also be told the actual condition that the tyre that burst - and caused the rented minibus to somersault a few times, and eventually end up in a swampy area, and killing Samuel Nuamah - was in.
They must also be shown documentary evidence of the results of any tests carried out to ascertain the actual condition of the burst tyre at the material moment it burst. There should be no dissembling over that.
No one at the presidency must be heard repeating that pure-nonsense-on-bamboo-stilts suggestion, that a driver said to be driving in reckless fashion at breakneck speed, was a good driver. Was that said to prevent the car hire company he worked for, from being sued, on Samuel Nuamah's behalf?
As a symbolic gesture, to show the importance the nation attaches to the media, as the fourth arm of government, in our democracy, Samuel Nuamah ought to be given a state funeral. That is a must. The Ghanaian media expect nothing less for their fallen colleague - who died in harness serving his nation.
Finally, since many media houses in Ghana are unable to pay the journalists they employ well - as they neither generate sufficient revenues, nor make decent profits - the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), ought to collaborate with Ghana's print and electronic media owners, to hold discussions with the Dutch media paywall provider, Blendle, so that they work together to replicate the metered paywall for the Dutch media, for the Ghanaian media.
Perhaps if approached, the Dutch government would be happy to pay for such a metered paywall - as its contribution to strengthening the finances of media houses in Ghana and thus assure their independence: and help deepen the roots of Ghanaian democracy, yet further, that way.
A metered paywall will ensure that anyone wanting to access the Ghanaian media online, pays only for each specific article he or she reads. Perhaps if asked to do so, the mobile phone companies could also find a way for users to make payments for specific articles on their mobile money platforms, to enable Ghanaians pay for accessing Ghanaian media stories online?
Many Ghanaian content providers (such as myself) are fed up with websites that focus on Ghana, and which earn substantial sums from advertising, but refuse to pay for articles that are authors' intellectual properties, that they publish. Was the slave trade not abolished centuries ago, I ask?
Samuel Nuamah's death sparked introspection in journalists in Ghana, about the risks they face, in their role as the fourth arm of government, as they work hard on a daily basis, to keep the nation informed, educated and entertained.
Will it not be a fitting way to honour Samuel's memory, were a metered paywall to lead to an improvement in the revenues and profits of Ghanaian media houses - and better pay for the journalists they employ?
And if all of us always referred to it, as the Samuel Nuamah paywall (SNpaywall), in our writing, when such a paywall comes into being, will we not be honouring his memory in creative fashion? Samuel, duea, eni amanehunu. May your gentle soul rest in eternal peace.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Friday, 28 August 2015
A Vertically Integrated GNPC Will Dominate West Africa's Oil Industry's Downstream Sector
Some of those who seek the transfer of national assets into private hands, for ideological reasons, have started a subtle campaign, in the Ghanaian media - to enable them acquire shares in the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) through an IPO.
The ADB IPO is said to be their torch-of-convenience. It is testing the waters for the neo-liberals who are neocolonialism's fifth-columnists in our homeland Ghana.
If Ghanaians accept the ADB IPO wholeheartedly, it will empower yet another group of well-connected self-seekers - who, like the scoundrels allegedly guilty of looting the ADB, by asset-stripping it - have also been entrusted with a state-owned company, built with the blood, sweat and tears of Ghanaian workers: the GNPC.
Like the politically well-connected rogues at the ADB, they too see their appointments as opportunities to enrich themselves - by engaging in, and benefitting personally, from the nation-wrecking phenomenon of asset-stripping state-owned companies, during their tenures.
Their aim, according to some of the GNPC's critcs, is to get the government to sell shares in the company on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) - ostensibly as a means of raising funds for the company: but in reality to help its management get round the strict controls imposed on the company by law, by getting their foreign collaboraters to buy a 25% stake in it.
In principle, selling some of the government's shares in state-owned entities, whiles the state still retains significant stakes in them, makes perfect sense in today's Ghana - as it enables them raise interest-free funds to expand their operations. Those shares must be sold to only Ghanaian citizens and wholly-owned Ghanaian companies.
However, the GNPC is different. Ghana's oil and gas deposits, should be regarded literally as depleting assets that ought to belong to all Ghanaians, and seen as gifts from Providence, to enable our nation to have the wherewithal to develop and modernise its infrastructure at a faster rate - and provide cash for a portfolio of investments by a sovereign wealth fund for Ghana that will also benefit future generations of our people.
If that collective viewpoint works for Norway, it should work for Ghana too - which is why that particular state-owned entity cannot be transferred into private hands.
What the GNPC actually needs, is vertical integration, not private ownership. That will make it an attractive proposition for companies willing to sign technical services contracts to participate in its projects as its technical services partners who fund exploration and production activities.
From the position of strength, as a vertically integrated oil company, could the GNPC not enable Ghana to replicate its own versions of the technical services agreements governing Iraq's giant Rumaila oilfields here too, I ask?
We can then end for good, signing what are said to be some of the world's worst oil agreements - and finally get better value from our oil and gas deposits.
The GNPC is a truly vital strategic national asset, which should not be privatised, under any circumstances.
And if only the best qualified Ghanaians - instead of the ethically-challenged cronies of the political party in power at any given point in time - are chosen to manage it, that will ensure that corporate good governance principles underpin the entirety of the company's operations.
As benchmark crude oil prices continue to remain low - and are forecast to remain low for some time, as China's economy slows down, as does the US economy - would it not benefit our nation, and help it generate more foreign currency, if the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), become subsidiaries of the GNPC? Naturally, GOIL shares in private hands will be bought back by the company.
If that were to happen, would the prices at which the GNPC's refined products, produced by TOR, are sold across West Africa, in GOIL petrol filling stations in sister nations across the subregion, not help it boost its profits - and enable Ghana to enhance the value of its oil and gas deposits yet further?
Is vertical integration not therefore a creative form of hedging, for the GNPC, in an era of low oil prices - since the prices of refined petroleum products have been holding their own since the oil price collapsed?
And if it focuses on gas production during the downturn, it will be able to ride out the period of low oil prices, and still emerge in robust form when prices pick up again - since the power sector has a voracious appetite for the gas the Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGC) produces.
What should concern us, above all, is to ensure that what happened to Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, does not happen to the GNPC too. We must prevent a culture of high-level corruption from destroying the company.
Petrobras was consistently and systematically looted over the years by Brazil's largest engineering companies - which bribed Petrobras executives and Brazilian politicians to enable them overcharge Petrobras in inflated contracts.
Whiles some of Brazil's wealthiest and most powerful businessmen have been prosecuted and jailed for overcharging Petrobras, and bribing some of its executives, others are still in the process of being prosecuted too.
We should discourage the GNPC from engaging in activities such as its sponsorship of the Black Stars, Ghana's senior national soccer team - because they breed corruption.
An example being the opaque Tanink Motors 30 Jeep 4x4 SUV deal for the Black Stars - which many in Ghana want an official denial to be issued by the GNPC to assure Ghanaians that no GNPC cash - not even a pesewa - was used to pay Tanink Motors for: as 'sponsorship' money for vehicles that Tanink Motors itself had promised the Black Stars, in any case.
The GNPC should restrict itself to sponsoring only exceptionally brilliant students and Chairs of science and technology faculties in Ghana's tertiary institutions as its CSR projects - and leave sponsorship of the Black Stars to private companies that have money to burn: and feel they need brand enhancement.
Since Kasepreko desires to turn itself into a globally recognised brand, would it not benefit from sponsoring the Black Stars, one wonders? And because it is a company underpinned by corporate good governance principles, Kasepreko would ensure that its sponsorship money actually benefits Ghanaian soccer - not the greedy and sly folk who now run soccer in Ghana,
The GNPC does not need brand enhancement - the madness that leads to the renting of expensive office and residential accommodation, by loss-making state-owned entities, to impress the world, and enrich the cronies of their executives.
Does Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc not operate from a modest suit of offices as its headquarters in an unremarkable building, Kiewit Tower? But does Buffet still not impress the world with his astuteness and sagacity?
The GNPC must remain focused on its core activities and plan for vertical integration - as a hedge against low oil prices and to enable it expand its business (with the help of Ecobank) by selling refined products across West Africa in GOIL petrol stations.
Will that not help Ghana to improve its balance of trade - and help strengthen its much-weakened currency too?
If Chevron's bottom line is benefitting from vertical integration that generates profits from its downstream businesses, in an era of low oil prices, so will it be the case, for a vertically integrated GNPC, too.
Alas, unfortunately, however, such a bold move is unlikely to happen under either a National Democratic Congress or New Patriotic Party government - as they are both beholden to the very vested interests (both local and foreign) that hold our nation back through shady deals that are detrimental to the national interest and the welfare of the Ghanaian people.
However, since Nkrumahists believe passionately in promoting Ghanaian businesses across Africa (be they publicly-owned or privately-owned), God willing, under a CPP government, led by a President Paa Kwesi Nduom and Vice President Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, a vertically integrated GNPC will become a reality - and come to dominate the oil and gas industry's downstream sector across the West African common market. Amen.
The ADB IPO is said to be their torch-of-convenience. It is testing the waters for the neo-liberals who are neocolonialism's fifth-columnists in our homeland Ghana.
If Ghanaians accept the ADB IPO wholeheartedly, it will empower yet another group of well-connected self-seekers - who, like the scoundrels allegedly guilty of looting the ADB, by asset-stripping it - have also been entrusted with a state-owned company, built with the blood, sweat and tears of Ghanaian workers: the GNPC.
Like the politically well-connected rogues at the ADB, they too see their appointments as opportunities to enrich themselves - by engaging in, and benefitting personally, from the nation-wrecking phenomenon of asset-stripping state-owned companies, during their tenures.
Their aim, according to some of the GNPC's critcs, is to get the government to sell shares in the company on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) - ostensibly as a means of raising funds for the company: but in reality to help its management get round the strict controls imposed on the company by law, by getting their foreign collaboraters to buy a 25% stake in it.
In principle, selling some of the government's shares in state-owned entities, whiles the state still retains significant stakes in them, makes perfect sense in today's Ghana - as it enables them raise interest-free funds to expand their operations. Those shares must be sold to only Ghanaian citizens and wholly-owned Ghanaian companies.
However, the GNPC is different. Ghana's oil and gas deposits, should be regarded literally as depleting assets that ought to belong to all Ghanaians, and seen as gifts from Providence, to enable our nation to have the wherewithal to develop and modernise its infrastructure at a faster rate - and provide cash for a portfolio of investments by a sovereign wealth fund for Ghana that will also benefit future generations of our people.
If that collective viewpoint works for Norway, it should work for Ghana too - which is why that particular state-owned entity cannot be transferred into private hands.
What the GNPC actually needs, is vertical integration, not private ownership. That will make it an attractive proposition for companies willing to sign technical services contracts to participate in its projects as its technical services partners who fund exploration and production activities.
From the position of strength, as a vertically integrated oil company, could the GNPC not enable Ghana to replicate its own versions of the technical services agreements governing Iraq's giant Rumaila oilfields here too, I ask?
We can then end for good, signing what are said to be some of the world's worst oil agreements - and finally get better value from our oil and gas deposits.
The GNPC is a truly vital strategic national asset, which should not be privatised, under any circumstances.
And if only the best qualified Ghanaians - instead of the ethically-challenged cronies of the political party in power at any given point in time - are chosen to manage it, that will ensure that corporate good governance principles underpin the entirety of the company's operations.
As benchmark crude oil prices continue to remain low - and are forecast to remain low for some time, as China's economy slows down, as does the US economy - would it not benefit our nation, and help it generate more foreign currency, if the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) and the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), become subsidiaries of the GNPC? Naturally, GOIL shares in private hands will be bought back by the company.
If that were to happen, would the prices at which the GNPC's refined products, produced by TOR, are sold across West Africa, in GOIL petrol filling stations in sister nations across the subregion, not help it boost its profits - and enable Ghana to enhance the value of its oil and gas deposits yet further?
Is vertical integration not therefore a creative form of hedging, for the GNPC, in an era of low oil prices - since the prices of refined petroleum products have been holding their own since the oil price collapsed?
And if it focuses on gas production during the downturn, it will be able to ride out the period of low oil prices, and still emerge in robust form when prices pick up again - since the power sector has a voracious appetite for the gas the Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGC) produces.
What should concern us, above all, is to ensure that what happened to Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, does not happen to the GNPC too. We must prevent a culture of high-level corruption from destroying the company.
Petrobras was consistently and systematically looted over the years by Brazil's largest engineering companies - which bribed Petrobras executives and Brazilian politicians to enable them overcharge Petrobras in inflated contracts.
Whiles some of Brazil's wealthiest and most powerful businessmen have been prosecuted and jailed for overcharging Petrobras, and bribing some of its executives, others are still in the process of being prosecuted too.
We should discourage the GNPC from engaging in activities such as its sponsorship of the Black Stars, Ghana's senior national soccer team - because they breed corruption.
An example being the opaque Tanink Motors 30 Jeep 4x4 SUV deal for the Black Stars - which many in Ghana want an official denial to be issued by the GNPC to assure Ghanaians that no GNPC cash - not even a pesewa - was used to pay Tanink Motors for: as 'sponsorship' money for vehicles that Tanink Motors itself had promised the Black Stars, in any case.
The GNPC should restrict itself to sponsoring only exceptionally brilliant students and Chairs of science and technology faculties in Ghana's tertiary institutions as its CSR projects - and leave sponsorship of the Black Stars to private companies that have money to burn: and feel they need brand enhancement.
Since Kasepreko desires to turn itself into a globally recognised brand, would it not benefit from sponsoring the Black Stars, one wonders? And because it is a company underpinned by corporate good governance principles, Kasepreko would ensure that its sponsorship money actually benefits Ghanaian soccer - not the greedy and sly folk who now run soccer in Ghana,
The GNPC does not need brand enhancement - the madness that leads to the renting of expensive office and residential accommodation, by loss-making state-owned entities, to impress the world, and enrich the cronies of their executives.
Does Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc not operate from a modest suit of offices as its headquarters in an unremarkable building, Kiewit Tower? But does Buffet still not impress the world with his astuteness and sagacity?
The GNPC must remain focused on its core activities and plan for vertical integration - as a hedge against low oil prices and to enable it expand its business (with the help of Ecobank) by selling refined products across West Africa in GOIL petrol stations.
Will that not help Ghana to improve its balance of trade - and help strengthen its much-weakened currency too?
If Chevron's bottom line is benefitting from vertical integration that generates profits from its downstream businesses, in an era of low oil prices, so will it be the case, for a vertically integrated GNPC, too.
Alas, unfortunately, however, such a bold move is unlikely to happen under either a National Democratic Congress or New Patriotic Party government - as they are both beholden to the very vested interests (both local and foreign) that hold our nation back through shady deals that are detrimental to the national interest and the welfare of the Ghanaian people.
However, since Nkrumahists believe passionately in promoting Ghanaian businesses across Africa (be they publicly-owned or privately-owned), God willing, under a CPP government, led by a President Paa Kwesi Nduom and Vice President Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, a vertically integrated GNPC will become a reality - and come to dominate the oil and gas industry's downstream sector across the West African common market. Amen.
The GhanaVeg Initiative Should Increase The Availability Of Organic Vegetables In Ghana
How safe is food sold in Ghana? Healthwise, how well does our system protect consumers of agricultural produce, grown here, from ingesting pesticide residue? And how can we increase the availability of organically produced fruits and vegetables in Ghana?
In May this year, the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA), gave Barnet Council officials permission to destroy 70 bottles of contaminated palm oil, imported into Britain from Ghana, which were discovered in a shop in Watling Avenue, Burnt Oak.
The question is: Who in Ghana is looking out for the interests of consumers here - to stop them being sold such contaminated agro-industry sector products in markets and shops across the country?
The poorly-resourced Ghana Food and Drugs Authority needs to be better resourced. If it was, those 70 bottles of Ghanaian palm oil, which were seized in the UK, would have been seized and destroyed here, before they got to the UK.
When tested, the 70 bottles of Ghanaian palm oil seized in Burn Oak, contained high levels of the red dye, SudanIV, which is used in polishes, waxes and petrol - and is carcinogenic when used in cooking food.
Alas, those 70 bottles of contaminated Ghanaian palm oil seized in Burnt Oak, in the UK, represent the tip of the iceberg, in a huge food contamination scandal here - that over the long-term will probably end up resulting in the deaths of thousands in Ghana, if not tackled robustly.
The quest for healthy food has led to an increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Ghana.
That is a good development that helps improve public health in Ghana. However, the dilemma for many, is the risk to health posed by high levels of pesticide residue and other contaminants, such as carbide, found on many fruits and vegetables in markets across Ghana.
It is for that reason that one welcomes and supports the GhanaVeg initiative - which seeks to professionalise the entire value chain of the vegetable sector in Ghana: and make it world-class.
Hopefully, that will lead to an increase in organic vegetable farms in Ghana - and create thousands of greenhouse vegetable farming jobs for young people in rural Ghana: as the production of high-value vegetables for both local and export markets increases in leaps and bounds.
GhanaVeg also links Ghanaian vegetable farmers with Dutch vegetable growers and importers, for business partnerships, at matchmaking events that it organises from time to time, in Ghana.
The next two such matchmaking events, will take place at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi, on the 7th of September, 2015, and on the 10th of September, 2015, at La Palm Royal Hotel in Labadi, Accra.
Hopefully, it will lead to win-win partnerships, between those Ghanaian vegetable farmers who for ethical reasons are against GMO's - but want to produce export-grade vegetables and are therefore interested in converting to organic vegetable farming - and organic Dutch vegetable famers, who share the same ethical code and business goals.
That should eventually lead, one hopes, to an increase in the availability of pesticide-free vegetables in markets across Ghana. And that cannot come soon enough for many vegetarians (including me!) in Ghana.
In May this year, the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA), gave Barnet Council officials permission to destroy 70 bottles of contaminated palm oil, imported into Britain from Ghana, which were discovered in a shop in Watling Avenue, Burnt Oak.
The question is: Who in Ghana is looking out for the interests of consumers here - to stop them being sold such contaminated agro-industry sector products in markets and shops across the country?
The poorly-resourced Ghana Food and Drugs Authority needs to be better resourced. If it was, those 70 bottles of Ghanaian palm oil, which were seized in the UK, would have been seized and destroyed here, before they got to the UK.
When tested, the 70 bottles of Ghanaian palm oil seized in Burn Oak, contained high levels of the red dye, SudanIV, which is used in polishes, waxes and petrol - and is carcinogenic when used in cooking food.
Alas, those 70 bottles of contaminated Ghanaian palm oil seized in Burnt Oak, in the UK, represent the tip of the iceberg, in a huge food contamination scandal here - that over the long-term will probably end up resulting in the deaths of thousands in Ghana, if not tackled robustly.
The quest for healthy food has led to an increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Ghana.
That is a good development that helps improve public health in Ghana. However, the dilemma for many, is the risk to health posed by high levels of pesticide residue and other contaminants, such as carbide, found on many fruits and vegetables in markets across Ghana.
It is for that reason that one welcomes and supports the GhanaVeg initiative - which seeks to professionalise the entire value chain of the vegetable sector in Ghana: and make it world-class.
Hopefully, that will lead to an increase in organic vegetable farms in Ghana - and create thousands of greenhouse vegetable farming jobs for young people in rural Ghana: as the production of high-value vegetables for both local and export markets increases in leaps and bounds.
GhanaVeg also links Ghanaian vegetable farmers with Dutch vegetable growers and importers, for business partnerships, at matchmaking events that it organises from time to time, in Ghana.
The next two such matchmaking events, will take place at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi, on the 7th of September, 2015, and on the 10th of September, 2015, at La Palm Royal Hotel in Labadi, Accra.
Hopefully, it will lead to win-win partnerships, between those Ghanaian vegetable farmers who for ethical reasons are against GMO's - but want to produce export-grade vegetables and are therefore interested in converting to organic vegetable farming - and organic Dutch vegetable famers, who share the same ethical code and business goals.
That should eventually lead, one hopes, to an increase in the availability of pesticide-free vegetables in markets across Ghana. And that cannot come soon enough for many vegetarians (including me!) in Ghana.
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Ghana's Politicians And Political Parties Are Failing Mother Ghana And Ordinary Ghanaians Terribly
Both President Mahama's National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), are failing ordinary Ghanaians, by not working together to get their parliamentarians to rush a bill through Parliament, which bans all public-sector employees from embarking on strike action, which denies the general public, the goods and services that public-sector entities provide the nation with.
If that is done, would it not stop public-sector employees from holding our nation to ransom, and making the lives of the very taxpayers whose taxes are used to pay them, such a complete misery?
Why should ordinary people die because public-sector medical doctors, who are relatively better off than most Ghanaians, want more pay and the value of sundry allowances given them increased? Do such preventable deaths not constitute crimes against humanity, I ask?
We must bring such abominations to an end in Ghana. Now, not tomorrow.
Is it also not the height of irresponsibility, for politicians and political parties in a highly-indebted developing nation that uses a huge chunk of its tax revenues to pay about 600,000 public-sector employees, to pretend that the state can continue increasing compensation packages of public-sector employees, without cutting down their numbers significantly - and demanding increased productivity levels from the remaining public-sector employees in return?
The question we must ask is: Why have both President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo (and the leaders of the other political parties in our country) not been honest and bold enough, to tell public-sector medical doctors (and other public-sector professionals demanding more pay), that they must be reasonable - because they are better off than most ordinary Ghanaians (who struggle daily to survive), as it is: and that their demands for increased pay, simply cannot be met, any time soon?
Furthermore, most Ghanaian politicians are aware of the fact that medical doctors in Greece, for example, had as much as 40% slashed from their salaries in 2013, because of the need to cut Greece's public expenditure levels; and that junior doctors in Ireland too, had as much as €10,000 cut from their €60,000 annual salaries in 2014, because of the Irish government's efforts at rebalancing Ireland's public finances.
Has that painful but necessary policy of cuts in public spending not yielded results in both nations - enabling them to resume growing economically again? Should we not be following the example of nations that got themselves into massive debt, and cut public spending in order to resume economic growth and the creation of jobs by resurgent private businesses - such as Ireland, Iceland, Poland and the UK?
Instead of destroying private-sector businesses, by overburdening them with tax upon tax, is it not much more sensible to encourage growth in the economy, by sacking the legions of bribe-taking lazybones who work in government offices across Ghana; and that small army of parasitic square-pegs-in-round-holes at the presidency (starting with Stan Dogbe); and prevent greedy, arrogant and callous public-sector doctors-without-conscience, and other public-sector professionals, from bankrupting Ghana - by refusing to pay them the money they are demanding from taxpayers: at a time of severe economic difficulties for our country?
So why have members of our political class not asked Ghana's public-sector employees to face facts: and accept that Ghana is currently broke and struggling to stay afloat, and therefore simply cannot afford an increased public-sector wage bill?
Is this not a time in our history that demands that all Ghanaians make the much-needed sacrifices that will enable our country to begin growing significantly again? Is it therefore not curious that our nation's politicians and political parties are failing to tell Ghanaians that they ought to make the needed sacrifices if they want their country's GDP to grow again - and create jobs for young people in the process?
And worst of all, why, when both the NDC and NPP, are aware of the fact that they will have an opportunity to help clean the voters register, when it is exhibited publicly for that purpose, are they creating unnecessary tension amongst Ghanaians - by accusing each other of bloating the voters register: by their past rigging activities during the registration of voters in the Volta Region and the Ashanti Region to compile the register for the 2012 elections?
Whiles President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo are doubtless both decent and honourable men, who will never do anything to intentionally harm our nation, it is obvious that small ruthless cabals exist within their parties, which wield tremendous power and influence, and are dedicated to scorched-earth politics - and thus are prepared to sabotage the nation-building effort whenever their parties are in the political wilderness.
The tragedy for our nation is that those ruthless politicians are prepared to see our nation destroyed if need be - if that will enable them either hold on to power or win it. Unspeakable - and such abominable callousness.
The Bernard Antwi-Boasiakos are classic examples of this breed of politician - and the fact that they are influential in the NPP speaks volumes. Verbally-aggressive individuals like that would never be allowed into any political party in the civilised world.
Ghanaians who can think for themselves, and are discerning enough, can see clearly the writing on the wall for the December 2016 elections, in the current jousting over the electoral process, between the NDC and NPP.
Clearly, whichever of the two parties loses the December 2016 presidential election, will resort to violence, on a scale never seen before, in our history.
However, Providence, will ensure, that they both fail to win the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2016 - so that Ghana continues to remain a peaceful and stable African nation.
The question is: To save Ghana from such a dreadful fate in December 2016, should the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the People's National Convention (PNC), and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), not be dissolved now - by reversing into the Convention People's Party (CPP), and unite to fight the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections?
Nkrumahists of today ought to unite, to form a new Convention People's Party, to offer Ghanaians a chance to unite again as a people - and work together, irrespective of party affiliation, to transform Ghanaian society into an African equivalent, of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
Ghana definitely needs a new kind of politics, and a new breed of politician, if our nation is to become a meritocracy, in which only the best-qualified individuals are appointed to positions in the public-sector - whatever their political affiliation is and irresective of their ethnic heritage as Ghanaians.
It is instructive that spokespersons for the NPP - a political party unable to manage its own finances (being indebted to banks and unable and unwilling to repay those debts), but which wants to be given the opportunity to manage our nation's finances nonetheless - never once tell Ghanaians what alternative policies their party will use to resolve the economic difficulties that they criticise the current NDC government for. Talk about taking a whole nation for granted.
Yet, despite that deplorable failing, the NPP's leading lights still expect their party to be voted into power in the December 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections - no doubt for their government to spend its energies heaping the blame for the plight of ordinary people, on the NDC, when Ghanaians still continue to struggle to survive under an NPP regime too, after January 7th, 2017. And struggle they will - as sure as day follows night, if the NPP comes to power again, after December 2016.
Finally, those blinkered souls in Ghana, who continue to support the NDC and NPP blindly, must pause to ponder why those two parties, are so secretive about their sources of funding - and why their leading lights are so reluctant to publicly publish their assets, and those of their spouses, before assuming office, and immediately after leaving office. Food for thought, indeed.
Ghanaians must take note of the fact that Freddie Blay, a vice-chairperson of the NPP, has made it absolutely clear that publicly publishing the assets of NPP appointees, will never happen when the party comes to power again, after the December 2016 presidential election. Discerning Ghanaians should draw their own conclusions from his frankness on the subject - and revise their notes accordingly.
Clearly, the NPP is as beholden to the vested interests slowly destroying our country by corrupting politicians and public servants, as the NDC is - and will be equally corrupt when in power: regardless of what its leaders say to the contrary.
Alas, as things currently stand, Ghana's politicians and political parties, are failing Mother Ghana and ordinary Ghanaians, terribly. Ghana certainly deserves better.
If that is done, would it not stop public-sector employees from holding our nation to ransom, and making the lives of the very taxpayers whose taxes are used to pay them, such a complete misery?
Why should ordinary people die because public-sector medical doctors, who are relatively better off than most Ghanaians, want more pay and the value of sundry allowances given them increased? Do such preventable deaths not constitute crimes against humanity, I ask?
We must bring such abominations to an end in Ghana. Now, not tomorrow.
Is it also not the height of irresponsibility, for politicians and political parties in a highly-indebted developing nation that uses a huge chunk of its tax revenues to pay about 600,000 public-sector employees, to pretend that the state can continue increasing compensation packages of public-sector employees, without cutting down their numbers significantly - and demanding increased productivity levels from the remaining public-sector employees in return?
The question we must ask is: Why have both President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo (and the leaders of the other political parties in our country) not been honest and bold enough, to tell public-sector medical doctors (and other public-sector professionals demanding more pay), that they must be reasonable - because they are better off than most ordinary Ghanaians (who struggle daily to survive), as it is: and that their demands for increased pay, simply cannot be met, any time soon?
Furthermore, most Ghanaian politicians are aware of the fact that medical doctors in Greece, for example, had as much as 40% slashed from their salaries in 2013, because of the need to cut Greece's public expenditure levels; and that junior doctors in Ireland too, had as much as €10,000 cut from their €60,000 annual salaries in 2014, because of the Irish government's efforts at rebalancing Ireland's public finances.
Has that painful but necessary policy of cuts in public spending not yielded results in both nations - enabling them to resume growing economically again? Should we not be following the example of nations that got themselves into massive debt, and cut public spending in order to resume economic growth and the creation of jobs by resurgent private businesses - such as Ireland, Iceland, Poland and the UK?
Instead of destroying private-sector businesses, by overburdening them with tax upon tax, is it not much more sensible to encourage growth in the economy, by sacking the legions of bribe-taking lazybones who work in government offices across Ghana; and that small army of parasitic square-pegs-in-round-holes at the presidency (starting with Stan Dogbe); and prevent greedy, arrogant and callous public-sector doctors-without-conscience, and other public-sector professionals, from bankrupting Ghana - by refusing to pay them the money they are demanding from taxpayers: at a time of severe economic difficulties for our country?
So why have members of our political class not asked Ghana's public-sector employees to face facts: and accept that Ghana is currently broke and struggling to stay afloat, and therefore simply cannot afford an increased public-sector wage bill?
Is this not a time in our history that demands that all Ghanaians make the much-needed sacrifices that will enable our country to begin growing significantly again? Is it therefore not curious that our nation's politicians and political parties are failing to tell Ghanaians that they ought to make the needed sacrifices if they want their country's GDP to grow again - and create jobs for young people in the process?
And worst of all, why, when both the NDC and NPP, are aware of the fact that they will have an opportunity to help clean the voters register, when it is exhibited publicly for that purpose, are they creating unnecessary tension amongst Ghanaians - by accusing each other of bloating the voters register: by their past rigging activities during the registration of voters in the Volta Region and the Ashanti Region to compile the register for the 2012 elections?
Whiles President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo are doubtless both decent and honourable men, who will never do anything to intentionally harm our nation, it is obvious that small ruthless cabals exist within their parties, which wield tremendous power and influence, and are dedicated to scorched-earth politics - and thus are prepared to sabotage the nation-building effort whenever their parties are in the political wilderness.
The tragedy for our nation is that those ruthless politicians are prepared to see our nation destroyed if need be - if that will enable them either hold on to power or win it. Unspeakable - and such abominable callousness.
The Bernard Antwi-Boasiakos are classic examples of this breed of politician - and the fact that they are influential in the NPP speaks volumes. Verbally-aggressive individuals like that would never be allowed into any political party in the civilised world.
Ghanaians who can think for themselves, and are discerning enough, can see clearly the writing on the wall for the December 2016 elections, in the current jousting over the electoral process, between the NDC and NPP.
Clearly, whichever of the two parties loses the December 2016 presidential election, will resort to violence, on a scale never seen before, in our history.
However, Providence, will ensure, that they both fail to win the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2016 - so that Ghana continues to remain a peaceful and stable African nation.
The question is: To save Ghana from such a dreadful fate in December 2016, should the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the People's National Convention (PNC), and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), not be dissolved now - by reversing into the Convention People's Party (CPP), and unite to fight the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections?
Nkrumahists of today ought to unite, to form a new Convention People's Party, to offer Ghanaians a chance to unite again as a people - and work together, irrespective of party affiliation, to transform Ghanaian society into an African equivalent, of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
Ghana definitely needs a new kind of politics, and a new breed of politician, if our nation is to become a meritocracy, in which only the best-qualified individuals are appointed to positions in the public-sector - whatever their political affiliation is and irresective of their ethnic heritage as Ghanaians.
It is instructive that spokespersons for the NPP - a political party unable to manage its own finances (being indebted to banks and unable and unwilling to repay those debts), but which wants to be given the opportunity to manage our nation's finances nonetheless - never once tell Ghanaians what alternative policies their party will use to resolve the economic difficulties that they criticise the current NDC government for. Talk about taking a whole nation for granted.
Yet, despite that deplorable failing, the NPP's leading lights still expect their party to be voted into power in the December 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections - no doubt for their government to spend its energies heaping the blame for the plight of ordinary people, on the NDC, when Ghanaians still continue to struggle to survive under an NPP regime too, after January 7th, 2017. And struggle they will - as sure as day follows night, if the NPP comes to power again, after December 2016.
Finally, those blinkered souls in Ghana, who continue to support the NDC and NPP blindly, must pause to ponder why those two parties, are so secretive about their sources of funding - and why their leading lights are so reluctant to publicly publish their assets, and those of their spouses, before assuming office, and immediately after leaving office. Food for thought, indeed.
Ghanaians must take note of the fact that Freddie Blay, a vice-chairperson of the NPP, has made it absolutely clear that publicly publishing the assets of NPP appointees, will never happen when the party comes to power again, after the December 2016 presidential election. Discerning Ghanaians should draw their own conclusions from his frankness on the subject - and revise their notes accordingly.
Clearly, the NPP is as beholden to the vested interests slowly destroying our country by corrupting politicians and public servants, as the NDC is - and will be equally corrupt when in power: regardless of what its leaders say to the contrary.
Alas, as things currently stand, Ghana's politicians and political parties, are failing Mother Ghana and ordinary Ghanaians, terribly. Ghana certainly deserves better.
Monday, 17 August 2015
Let Us Protect Vulnerable Women In Ghana From Well-Connected Predatory Males
I was saddened to learn a few days ago, that Mr. Ernest Frimpong-Manso, who is a popular broadcast journalist in Ghana, had inferred that those who had not been supportive of a fellow Ghanaian journalist, when he faced trial for alleged rape, were somehow envious of a man once described by a wag I know, as a narcissistic dandy, obsessed with his appearance.
Some call such characters egoistic. And for the information of the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos, the origin of that species of African dandy, is the two Congos: the Sapeurs. There is nothing original about their friend - who dazzles many here because garishness is mistaken for good taste, by some Ghanaians. Chi-chi, good taste? Please.
I humbly suggest that Mr. Frimpong-Manso looks up the 28 May 2014 online edition of the UK newspaper, the Daily Mail - which reported that publicist Max Clifford had been found guilty of 8 counts of indecent assault.
There was a copy of a painting in the style of Banksy, on the wall of a building on York Road, Battersea, in that particular edition of the Daily Mail, which depicts Max Clifford with his pants down - with the caption: "I Can Make You Famous". It sums up his friend, perfectly.
Perhaps one also ought to point out to the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos, the similarities between the way the BBC's unspeakable and abominable Jimmy Saville (said to have indecently assualted or raped up to as many as 1000 boys and girls), exploited his demi-god status in the UK throughout his career, and how their hypocritical friend also exploits his celebrity status to prey on young women.
If any journalist in Ghana, other than Mr. Frimpong-Manso, had been reported as implying envy in those who felt that a journalist described by some as a sexual predator (who allegedly preyed on young females, serially), who should not be allowed to get away with what are very serious crimes, one would have been predisposed to overlook their ignorance. And one would have pitied the unfortunate lack of a moral compass, in them, too.
However, it is inexcusable for Ernest Frimpong- Manso, who is a highly-intelligent gentleman, who has also lived in the UK before, and is said to have even trained as a lawyer there, to disparage those who are against women in Ghana, being disrespected by predatory males.
We must never forget that this a nation full of misogynists, in which philandering men in high places, in society, frequently harrass and assault women sexually - and invariably get away with their crimes.
That impunity must be brought to an end - and responsible journalists of both sexes must help secure the human rights of all women who face such situations in Ghana: who have a right to their dignity and a right not to have their bodies violated by evil men against their will.
One hopes that instead of merely expressing their disappointment, when the trials of predatory and well-connected males, who are accused of indecently assaulting or raping women, are halted, the Honourable Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the member of Parliament for Ablekuma, and other female parliamentarians, will take practical steps to ensure that the impunity enjoyed by such philandering males finally ends in Ghana.
The Ursula Owusus, can, for instance, lobby the British high commissioner to Ghana, and seek his help in obtaining Metropolitan Police trainers, who are experts in the investigation and prosecution of cases of historic allegations of rape and indecent assault, to come to Ghana, to train officers of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit, of the Ghana Police Service.
The Ernest Frimpong-Mansos know perfectly well that the halting of the prosecution of their friend, was for the selfsame reason that the prosecutions of Nayele Ametefeh's accomplices here were dropped: the manipulation of a corrupt system to protect well-connected individuals who would definitely have been tried and jailed, if the offences they had been accused of, here, had been committed in the UK.
The Ernest Frimping-Mansos also know perfectly well that if media celebreties in the UK, such as David Lee Travis (convicted of indecent assault on 23 September, 2014), Rolf Harris (convicted of indecent assault on January 30 2014) and Max Clifford (convicted of indecent assault on May 2 2014), who were investigated during the Metropolitan Police's Operation Yewtree, and tried and jailed, had faced trial here, those charges would have been dropped, and their prosecutions halted, by a corrupt system.
But since the UK isn't Ghana, the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos must pray hard, that none of the female victims of their friend, currently lives in the UK - lest she gathers courage one day and suddenly surfaces to accuse him openly of an alleged incident of historic rape or indecent assault.
And who knows when a #SisterReportRapeBySoAndSo will trend on twitter?
The Ernest Frimpong-Mansos must not think that having a Machiavellian philosophy in life, provides an invincible protective shield that enables one escape the reach of the long arm of the law - and prevents those whom one has indecently assaulted in the past from seeking justice in the law courts.
The question the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos must ponder over is: If even the legendary Max Clifford, could not organise an assault on the reputations of those he abused, in the UK media, what chance does their hypocritical friend have, in the UK, of successfully repeating the disgraceful media manipulation organised in Ghana on his behalf, to trash his alleged Ghanaian victim's reputation, if faced with a trending #SisterReportRapeBySoAndSo, emanating from the UK, from a past victim?
For the information of the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos, the truth, has a nasty habit of popping up when least expectd, in such cases.
Speaking of which, one ought to make the point that there was nothing sinister, in what is said to have taken place, at the Police Station where the matter was initially reported to the police. Their clever friend cannot seek solace in that.
It was entirely consistent with the mental state and behaviour of many traumatised rape victims in the immediate aftermath of a rape - who sometimes confide in their closest friends, but are averse to their 'secret' getting out, into the open.
That is why the victim would have insisted - if the reported events there were true - that nothing untoward had occurred, and apparently asked why her friends were forcing her to report the matter.
Her friends, on the other hand, were obviously determined to seek justice for her, because they cared about her welfare, and were rightly outraged that someone rich and famous, had violated their friend.
It was, and is, abominable, to assign base motives to the victim's friends, for their reporting the rape of someone they cared about - and then proceed to ridicule a close male friend of the victim in the media, to intimidate him and shut him up.
Finally, in light of all the above, has the time not now come for the media in Ghana (of which Ernest Frimpong-Manso is such an important member), to use its undoubted power in Ghanaian society, to mount a campaign to protect vulnerable females in Ghana, from predatory-males-in-high-places, across our nation - by exposing them?
Some call such characters egoistic. And for the information of the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos, the origin of that species of African dandy, is the two Congos: the Sapeurs. There is nothing original about their friend - who dazzles many here because garishness is mistaken for good taste, by some Ghanaians. Chi-chi, good taste? Please.
I humbly suggest that Mr. Frimpong-Manso looks up the 28 May 2014 online edition of the UK newspaper, the Daily Mail - which reported that publicist Max Clifford had been found guilty of 8 counts of indecent assault.
There was a copy of a painting in the style of Banksy, on the wall of a building on York Road, Battersea, in that particular edition of the Daily Mail, which depicts Max Clifford with his pants down - with the caption: "I Can Make You Famous". It sums up his friend, perfectly.
Perhaps one also ought to point out to the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos, the similarities between the way the BBC's unspeakable and abominable Jimmy Saville (said to have indecently assualted or raped up to as many as 1000 boys and girls), exploited his demi-god status in the UK throughout his career, and how their hypocritical friend also exploits his celebrity status to prey on young women.
If any journalist in Ghana, other than Mr. Frimpong-Manso, had been reported as implying envy in those who felt that a journalist described by some as a sexual predator (who allegedly preyed on young females, serially), who should not be allowed to get away with what are very serious crimes, one would have been predisposed to overlook their ignorance. And one would have pitied the unfortunate lack of a moral compass, in them, too.
However, it is inexcusable for Ernest Frimpong- Manso, who is a highly-intelligent gentleman, who has also lived in the UK before, and is said to have even trained as a lawyer there, to disparage those who are against women in Ghana, being disrespected by predatory males.
We must never forget that this a nation full of misogynists, in which philandering men in high places, in society, frequently harrass and assault women sexually - and invariably get away with their crimes.
That impunity must be brought to an end - and responsible journalists of both sexes must help secure the human rights of all women who face such situations in Ghana: who have a right to their dignity and a right not to have their bodies violated by evil men against their will.
One hopes that instead of merely expressing their disappointment, when the trials of predatory and well-connected males, who are accused of indecently assaulting or raping women, are halted, the Honourable Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the member of Parliament for Ablekuma, and other female parliamentarians, will take practical steps to ensure that the impunity enjoyed by such philandering males finally ends in Ghana.
The Ursula Owusus, can, for instance, lobby the British high commissioner to Ghana, and seek his help in obtaining Metropolitan Police trainers, who are experts in the investigation and prosecution of cases of historic allegations of rape and indecent assault, to come to Ghana, to train officers of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit, of the Ghana Police Service.
The Ernest Frimpong-Mansos know perfectly well that the halting of the prosecution of their friend, was for the selfsame reason that the prosecutions of Nayele Ametefeh's accomplices here were dropped: the manipulation of a corrupt system to protect well-connected individuals who would definitely have been tried and jailed, if the offences they had been accused of, here, had been committed in the UK.
The Ernest Frimping-Mansos also know perfectly well that if media celebreties in the UK, such as David Lee Travis (convicted of indecent assault on 23 September, 2014), Rolf Harris (convicted of indecent assault on January 30 2014) and Max Clifford (convicted of indecent assault on May 2 2014), who were investigated during the Metropolitan Police's Operation Yewtree, and tried and jailed, had faced trial here, those charges would have been dropped, and their prosecutions halted, by a corrupt system.
But since the UK isn't Ghana, the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos must pray hard, that none of the female victims of their friend, currently lives in the UK - lest she gathers courage one day and suddenly surfaces to accuse him openly of an alleged incident of historic rape or indecent assault.
And who knows when a #SisterReportRapeBySoAndSo will trend on twitter?
The Ernest Frimpong-Mansos must not think that having a Machiavellian philosophy in life, provides an invincible protective shield that enables one escape the reach of the long arm of the law - and prevents those whom one has indecently assaulted in the past from seeking justice in the law courts.
The question the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos must ponder over is: If even the legendary Max Clifford, could not organise an assault on the reputations of those he abused, in the UK media, what chance does their hypocritical friend have, in the UK, of successfully repeating the disgraceful media manipulation organised in Ghana on his behalf, to trash his alleged Ghanaian victim's reputation, if faced with a trending #SisterReportRapeBySoAndSo, emanating from the UK, from a past victim?
For the information of the Ernest Frimpong-Mansos, the truth, has a nasty habit of popping up when least expectd, in such cases.
Speaking of which, one ought to make the point that there was nothing sinister, in what is said to have taken place, at the Police Station where the matter was initially reported to the police. Their clever friend cannot seek solace in that.
It was entirely consistent with the mental state and behaviour of many traumatised rape victims in the immediate aftermath of a rape - who sometimes confide in their closest friends, but are averse to their 'secret' getting out, into the open.
That is why the victim would have insisted - if the reported events there were true - that nothing untoward had occurred, and apparently asked why her friends were forcing her to report the matter.
Her friends, on the other hand, were obviously determined to seek justice for her, because they cared about her welfare, and were rightly outraged that someone rich and famous, had violated their friend.
It was, and is, abominable, to assign base motives to the victim's friends, for their reporting the rape of someone they cared about - and then proceed to ridicule a close male friend of the victim in the media, to intimidate him and shut him up.
Finally, in light of all the above, has the time not now come for the media in Ghana (of which Ernest Frimpong-Manso is such an important member), to use its undoubted power in Ghanaian society, to mount a campaign to protect vulnerable females in Ghana, from predatory-males-in-high-places, across our nation - by exposing them?
Sunday, 16 August 2015
Should Ghanaians Not Voluntarily Contribute To A Special Fund For Public-Sector Healthcare Professionals - To Prevent Them From Embarking On Future Strike Action?
Creative and original thinking, will always enable our homeland Ghana to forge ahead, after every crisis it experiences.
How, for example, can our nation and its people, turn the crisis caused by the strike embarked on by public-sector medical doctors, into an opportunity to improve the lot of all public-sector healthcare professionals: without burdening the state in so doing?
Despite the insufferable arrogance displayed by some of the leadership of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), over the last few days - and in spite of the fact that in pursuit of their demands they have made it abundantly clear that they are prepared to abandon the sick and dying, in government hospitals and polyclinics, to their fate - should ordinary people in Ghana not create a fund which will be used to pay for the upkeep of public-sector healthcare professionals, who contract life-threatening infections, from the patients they treat?
Surely, as a people, if we sacrificed some of the billions of cedis we waste on funerals in this country, and some of the vast sums we also spend entertaining ourselves (with most of us overeating and drinking alcohol excessively to the detriment of our health) during weekends, and paid such monies into a special fund for the upkeep of public-sector healthcare professionals, who contract dangerous infections from patients attending government hospitals, would we not be contributing to their welfare?
If such a special fund existed, what healthcare professional in Ghana, would ever think of embarking on strike action, which denies treatment to innocent people who fall ill and risk dying if left unattended by medical doctors, and other public-sector healthcare professionals, I ask?
For the common weal, should entities in the Ghanaian business world, their employees, market women, artisans, students and Ghanaians in the Diaspora, etc., etc., all not contribute their widow's mite to such a special fund for public-sector healthcare professionals?
And as their contribution, could the best companies in Ghana's financial services sector, not work together to handle the investnent of some of the cash from the fund pro bono - as a joint CSR project: so that it will grow steadily over time?
And instead of pocketing the cash held in dormant accounts that have remained unclaimed for decades, what stops all the banks in Ghana from transferring those monies to such a fund, I ask?
Since they already have a track record of receiving and dispensing public donations into a special fund, in transparent fashion, perhaps Osei Kwame Despite and his Best Point Savings and Loans Company Limited, could handle the creation of such a fund?
Will such a gesture from ordinary Ghanaians not earn the eternal gratitude of public-sector healthcare professionals?
And will it not make them abandon the use of strike action - that ends up making victims of innocent people in Ghana, who need treatment when they fall ill, and those who risk dying in medical emergencies - in fighting for better compensation packages from their employer, the Ghana Health Service? Food for thought.
Post Script
In light of the untold suffering caused to sick people, by the callous refusal of striking public-sector medical doctors to treat the sick and dying, would it not be wise for all Ghanaians to also agree to contribute 5 cedis, to grow the internally generated funds of government hospitals and clinics across Ghana, each time they access such public-sector healthcare facilities?
Would that not help improve conditions in government hospitals and clinics across Ghana - a nation with a cash-strapped government that is also indebted to the tune of tens of billions of cedis?
In so doing would ordinary people not be helping to improve the various local government hospitals and clinics that they attend when they fall ill - without having to rely on a government that seldom has the money to improve such healthcare facilities, in the first place, to do so?
How, for example, can our nation and its people, turn the crisis caused by the strike embarked on by public-sector medical doctors, into an opportunity to improve the lot of all public-sector healthcare professionals: without burdening the state in so doing?
Despite the insufferable arrogance displayed by some of the leadership of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), over the last few days - and in spite of the fact that in pursuit of their demands they have made it abundantly clear that they are prepared to abandon the sick and dying, in government hospitals and polyclinics, to their fate - should ordinary people in Ghana not create a fund which will be used to pay for the upkeep of public-sector healthcare professionals, who contract life-threatening infections, from the patients they treat?
Surely, as a people, if we sacrificed some of the billions of cedis we waste on funerals in this country, and some of the vast sums we also spend entertaining ourselves (with most of us overeating and drinking alcohol excessively to the detriment of our health) during weekends, and paid such monies into a special fund for the upkeep of public-sector healthcare professionals, who contract dangerous infections from patients attending government hospitals, would we not be contributing to their welfare?
If such a special fund existed, what healthcare professional in Ghana, would ever think of embarking on strike action, which denies treatment to innocent people who fall ill and risk dying if left unattended by medical doctors, and other public-sector healthcare professionals, I ask?
For the common weal, should entities in the Ghanaian business world, their employees, market women, artisans, students and Ghanaians in the Diaspora, etc., etc., all not contribute their widow's mite to such a special fund for public-sector healthcare professionals?
And as their contribution, could the best companies in Ghana's financial services sector, not work together to handle the investnent of some of the cash from the fund pro bono - as a joint CSR project: so that it will grow steadily over time?
And instead of pocketing the cash held in dormant accounts that have remained unclaimed for decades, what stops all the banks in Ghana from transferring those monies to such a fund, I ask?
Since they already have a track record of receiving and dispensing public donations into a special fund, in transparent fashion, perhaps Osei Kwame Despite and his Best Point Savings and Loans Company Limited, could handle the creation of such a fund?
Will such a gesture from ordinary Ghanaians not earn the eternal gratitude of public-sector healthcare professionals?
And will it not make them abandon the use of strike action - that ends up making victims of innocent people in Ghana, who need treatment when they fall ill, and those who risk dying in medical emergencies - in fighting for better compensation packages from their employer, the Ghana Health Service? Food for thought.
Post Script
In light of the untold suffering caused to sick people, by the callous refusal of striking public-sector medical doctors to treat the sick and dying, would it not be wise for all Ghanaians to also agree to contribute 5 cedis, to grow the internally generated funds of government hospitals and clinics across Ghana, each time they access such public-sector healthcare facilities?
Would that not help improve conditions in government hospitals and clinics across Ghana - a nation with a cash-strapped government that is also indebted to the tune of tens of billions of cedis?
In so doing would ordinary people not be helping to improve the various local government hospitals and clinics that they attend when they fall ill - without having to rely on a government that seldom has the money to improve such healthcare facilities, in the first place, to do so?
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
Should Callous, Unreasonable And Disrespectful Doctors Be Working In Government Hospitals In Ghana?
It is unfortunate that many members of the leadership of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), are becoming increasingly strident in their public utterances.
They are also flailing and striking out in all directions against those they think are somehow unsupportive of the strike action they have embarked upon - because such individuals and organisations, either speak out against it, or urge the GMA to call it off.
The GMA's leadership's disrespectful attitude towards their critics, is most unfortunate - and smacks of arrogance of the worst sort: in a society that accords medical doctors such great respect. Why attack the National Peace Council's chairperson, for example? Monstrous.
What do they gain by insulting the Catholic Health Service - and by extension the Catholic Church: which are of the view that human life is sacrosant, and that the needy must be helped, and suffering in society, abated?
The question discerning minds ought to ponder over is: Will the sharp tongues of the current leadership of the GMA be able to stop posterity from judging them? Definitely not - and history will find them wanting for abandoning sick people to die. Doctors trading insults with the public, really is sickening.
The GMA cannot hold our nation to ransom - and must not be allowed to do so.
Having said that, it is also important to make the point that it is wrong for anyone to say that the GMA's leadership, is being manipulated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP). That is patently slanderous - and we must condemn all those who make such statements. It insults the intelligence of the GMA's leadership - and that cannot be right.
They are very clever people - and dangerous because they are prepared to allow innocent people to die: in order to achieve the ends they seek. No one should underrate them.
That is why we must not dismiss out of hand, the suggestion by some that the intransigence of the GMA's leadership, is political zealotry dressed up as concern for the future of young doctors - by jaundiced and highly-politicised medical doctors who are fanatical supporters of the NPP: obsessed with helping to remove the current government from power.
Furthermore, neither should we be skeptical of those who insist that the GMA's leadership are pursuing a hidden agenda: helping to create a Ghanaian equivalent of Britain's winter of discontent, in which endless public-sector strikes by labour unions, led to the defeat of Prime Minister James Callaghan's Labour government in the 1979 election - and the election of Margaret Thatcher as the UK's first woman prime minister: by a weary and much-traumatised electorate in Britain.
If that is true, then it behoves the government of the day, to act to protect those Ghanaians who are too poor, to afford to attend hospitals in the private healthcare sector, when they fall ill - and could die if left unattended by public-sector doctors.
For that reason, the government has a moral obligation, to take the GMA on - in order to save the lives of those too poor to access hospitals in the private healthcare sector.
Since it is now obvious that the GMA's leadership is not prepared to compromise, the time has now come for the government to act swiftly, to end the impasse - by giving striking public-sector doctors an altimatum: to either return to work or be sacked from their jobs.
The government can then set its own conditions for employing those of them who want to reapply to work in government hospitals again - and it should include an undertaking never to embark on strike action: if it will deny patients from receiving treatment in government hospitals.
The government must take a cue from the Catholic Health Service - and take steps to protect the human rights of innocent people in Ghana who become sick and could die if left unattended by doctors. All human life is of equal value. Like the rich in society who fall ill, poor sick people too, have a right to life.
The government must act to protect the lives of all such Ghanaians across the nation - by ensuring that doctors in the public-sector can never again embark on strike action that endangers lives and denies the sick treatment.
Enough is enough. No one in this country must be allowed to toy with the lives of Ghanaians. Callous, unreasonable and disrespectful medical doctors (with overblown ideas about themserlves, and playing party politics, under cover), should not be working in government hospitals, anywhere in Ghana. Some of us have had enough of this egregious and abominable callousness, and the insufferable arrogance, being displyed by doctors paid from a much-shrunken public purse. Period.
They are also flailing and striking out in all directions against those they think are somehow unsupportive of the strike action they have embarked upon - because such individuals and organisations, either speak out against it, or urge the GMA to call it off.
The GMA's leadership's disrespectful attitude towards their critics, is most unfortunate - and smacks of arrogance of the worst sort: in a society that accords medical doctors such great respect. Why attack the National Peace Council's chairperson, for example? Monstrous.
What do they gain by insulting the Catholic Health Service - and by extension the Catholic Church: which are of the view that human life is sacrosant, and that the needy must be helped, and suffering in society, abated?
The question discerning minds ought to ponder over is: Will the sharp tongues of the current leadership of the GMA be able to stop posterity from judging them? Definitely not - and history will find them wanting for abandoning sick people to die. Doctors trading insults with the public, really is sickening.
The GMA cannot hold our nation to ransom - and must not be allowed to do so.
Having said that, it is also important to make the point that it is wrong for anyone to say that the GMA's leadership, is being manipulated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP). That is patently slanderous - and we must condemn all those who make such statements. It insults the intelligence of the GMA's leadership - and that cannot be right.
They are very clever people - and dangerous because they are prepared to allow innocent people to die: in order to achieve the ends they seek. No one should underrate them.
That is why we must not dismiss out of hand, the suggestion by some that the intransigence of the GMA's leadership, is political zealotry dressed up as concern for the future of young doctors - by jaundiced and highly-politicised medical doctors who are fanatical supporters of the NPP: obsessed with helping to remove the current government from power.
Furthermore, neither should we be skeptical of those who insist that the GMA's leadership are pursuing a hidden agenda: helping to create a Ghanaian equivalent of Britain's winter of discontent, in which endless public-sector strikes by labour unions, led to the defeat of Prime Minister James Callaghan's Labour government in the 1979 election - and the election of Margaret Thatcher as the UK's first woman prime minister: by a weary and much-traumatised electorate in Britain.
If that is true, then it behoves the government of the day, to act to protect those Ghanaians who are too poor, to afford to attend hospitals in the private healthcare sector, when they fall ill - and could die if left unattended by public-sector doctors.
For that reason, the government has a moral obligation, to take the GMA on - in order to save the lives of those too poor to access hospitals in the private healthcare sector.
Since it is now obvious that the GMA's leadership is not prepared to compromise, the time has now come for the government to act swiftly, to end the impasse - by giving striking public-sector doctors an altimatum: to either return to work or be sacked from their jobs.
The government can then set its own conditions for employing those of them who want to reapply to work in government hospitals again - and it should include an undertaking never to embark on strike action: if it will deny patients from receiving treatment in government hospitals.
The government must take a cue from the Catholic Health Service - and take steps to protect the human rights of innocent people in Ghana who become sick and could die if left unattended by doctors. All human life is of equal value. Like the rich in society who fall ill, poor sick people too, have a right to life.
The government must act to protect the lives of all such Ghanaians across the nation - by ensuring that doctors in the public-sector can never again embark on strike action that endangers lives and denies the sick treatment.
Enough is enough. No one in this country must be allowed to toy with the lives of Ghanaians. Callous, unreasonable and disrespectful medical doctors (with overblown ideas about themserlves, and playing party politics, under cover), should not be working in government hospitals, anywhere in Ghana. Some of us have had enough of this egregious and abominable callousness, and the insufferable arrogance, being displyed by doctors paid from a much-shrunken public purse. Period.
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Ghana's Educated Urban Elites Must Also Make Sacrifices For The Common Weal
Dr. Justice Yankson, is reported to have said a few days ago, that he did not take a vow of poverty or servitude - in response to those who say that the Hippocratic Oath medical doctors take, should have precluded strike action, in their fight to improve their remuneration and obtain better conditions of service, from the Ghana Health Service, their employer.
The many strikes by professionals employed in the public-sector, for better pay and more suitable conditions of service, and that flippant statement by the deputy general secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Justice Yankson, illustrate perfectly, just how so many of the members of Ghana's educated urban elite seem to live in a world of their own.
Many of them are completely out of touch with the realities of the current situation in our homeland Ghana. The plain truth, is that Mother Ghana, is flat broke.
When it comes to the pay, allowances and perks, that go with their public-sector jobs, it appears that they want to be as well paid, and live as comfortably, as their counterparts in the developed world.
How can that be, when our homeland Ghana, is in such dire straits?
This is still a very poor developing country - despite what members of our nation's political class say to the contrary.
A trip to the Ghanaian countryside will soon disabuse the minds of those who only see the poshest parts of urban Ghana - and therefore think that we have become a prosperous society.
To become a prosperous society, we must be a more disciplined people - and be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices needed to ensure a better tomorrow for all Ghanaians.
Our educated urban elites need to understand that they too must make sacrifices for the common weal - for a better tomorrow for our nation and all its people.
President Mahama must set the example - by sacking that small army of so-called "presidential staffers" at the Flagstaff House. There are far too many square-pegs-in-round-holes amongst them, for comfort.
What value do geniuses like the Stan Dogbes bring to our national life, in an era of austerity, I ask?
Let them publicly publish their pay, the value and nature of allowances they receive, and the perks they enjoy - and then resign and go and find proper work in the real world, for a change. At least, they will then be contributing to the growth of Ghana's GDP, too. But I digress.
If our educated urban elites continue to insist on always taking the biggest share of the national cake - in overly-generous pay rates, ever-bountiful allowances, and sundry perks - in a poor nation in which there is such poverty, and in which huge disparities in wealth exist, they should not be surprised if marginalised people in the bottom strata of society, finally snap, and rebel.
Should that come to pass (God forbid), it is the flippant Dr. Justice Yanksons, and the smug Stan Dogbes, of our country, who will inevitably suffer terribly - in the chaos and violence that will follow such a rebellion: as sure as day follows night.
The signs are there, all over the nation, for those with eyes to see, to take note of - and moderate their demands on the public purse.
Poor people aren't stupid - they realise that the dog-eat-dog society, which we have ended up with, under both National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party regimes, mostly benefits those on whose shoulders the burden of making sacrifices in the national interest, falls the lightest.
The lot of the poor in Ghana is a life of utter misery that consists of never-ending belt-tightening, a struggle to survive that is unending, and untold suffering for families.
The plain truth is that the huge disparities in wealth in Ghana, actually poses a threat to the stability of our nation. Poor people cannot be expected to willingly continue paying taxes that benefit only a few public-sector employees - whiles the funding of other societal needs that will help improve their lot, is done in piecemeal fashion.
What is needed in Ghana is a more equitable distribution of the national cake.
The Dr. Justice Yanksons, and other professional people employed in the public-sector, who have gone on strike for more pay and better conditions of service, must look at the difference in living standards between themselves and the less well-off in society - who pay most of the taxes they are paid with: yet are now being victimised by unwarranted strike action.
The Dr. Justice Yanksons need to be told plainly that it is amoral and unjustifiable to deny ordinary people treatment when they fall ill or face imminent death if left untreated by medical doctors.
What harm have ordinary Ghanaians done to public-sector health professionals - such that medical doctors are refusing them treatment: in order to pressurise government negotiators?
Are those patients in hospitals across the country, whose conditions are worsening, and those who face imminent death, if left untreated, not the very taxpayers who pay the taxes public-sector doctors are paid from?
Let no Ghanaian medical doctor seek to justify such egregious callousness and unreasonableness - that uses ordinary people who become sick and face possible death as pawns in a game they are not players in by any stretch of the imagination.
In the same vein, the Stan Dogbes need to be told to the face, that they are a massive drain on the public purse. Let them keep their traps shut - and not further aggravate the crisis situation our nation faces.
Above all, the Dr. Justice Yanksons must understand that they, like other professional people employed in the public-sector, who are members of Ghana's educated urban elite, must also learn to make sacrifices for the common weal: Indeed, it is in their own interest to do so - which is why they must be moderate in the demands they make on the public purse.
The many strikes by professionals employed in the public-sector, for better pay and more suitable conditions of service, and that flippant statement by the deputy general secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Justice Yankson, illustrate perfectly, just how so many of the members of Ghana's educated urban elite seem to live in a world of their own.
Many of them are completely out of touch with the realities of the current situation in our homeland Ghana. The plain truth, is that Mother Ghana, is flat broke.
When it comes to the pay, allowances and perks, that go with their public-sector jobs, it appears that they want to be as well paid, and live as comfortably, as their counterparts in the developed world.
How can that be, when our homeland Ghana, is in such dire straits?
This is still a very poor developing country - despite what members of our nation's political class say to the contrary.
A trip to the Ghanaian countryside will soon disabuse the minds of those who only see the poshest parts of urban Ghana - and therefore think that we have become a prosperous society.
To become a prosperous society, we must be a more disciplined people - and be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices needed to ensure a better tomorrow for all Ghanaians.
Our educated urban elites need to understand that they too must make sacrifices for the common weal - for a better tomorrow for our nation and all its people.
President Mahama must set the example - by sacking that small army of so-called "presidential staffers" at the Flagstaff House. There are far too many square-pegs-in-round-holes amongst them, for comfort.
What value do geniuses like the Stan Dogbes bring to our national life, in an era of austerity, I ask?
Let them publicly publish their pay, the value and nature of allowances they receive, and the perks they enjoy - and then resign and go and find proper work in the real world, for a change. At least, they will then be contributing to the growth of Ghana's GDP, too. But I digress.
If our educated urban elites continue to insist on always taking the biggest share of the national cake - in overly-generous pay rates, ever-bountiful allowances, and sundry perks - in a poor nation in which there is such poverty, and in which huge disparities in wealth exist, they should not be surprised if marginalised people in the bottom strata of society, finally snap, and rebel.
Should that come to pass (God forbid), it is the flippant Dr. Justice Yanksons, and the smug Stan Dogbes, of our country, who will inevitably suffer terribly - in the chaos and violence that will follow such a rebellion: as sure as day follows night.
The signs are there, all over the nation, for those with eyes to see, to take note of - and moderate their demands on the public purse.
Poor people aren't stupid - they realise that the dog-eat-dog society, which we have ended up with, under both National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party regimes, mostly benefits those on whose shoulders the burden of making sacrifices in the national interest, falls the lightest.
The lot of the poor in Ghana is a life of utter misery that consists of never-ending belt-tightening, a struggle to survive that is unending, and untold suffering for families.
The plain truth is that the huge disparities in wealth in Ghana, actually poses a threat to the stability of our nation. Poor people cannot be expected to willingly continue paying taxes that benefit only a few public-sector employees - whiles the funding of other societal needs that will help improve their lot, is done in piecemeal fashion.
What is needed in Ghana is a more equitable distribution of the national cake.
The Dr. Justice Yanksons, and other professional people employed in the public-sector, who have gone on strike for more pay and better conditions of service, must look at the difference in living standards between themselves and the less well-off in society - who pay most of the taxes they are paid with: yet are now being victimised by unwarranted strike action.
The Dr. Justice Yanksons need to be told plainly that it is amoral and unjustifiable to deny ordinary people treatment when they fall ill or face imminent death if left untreated by medical doctors.
What harm have ordinary Ghanaians done to public-sector health professionals - such that medical doctors are refusing them treatment: in order to pressurise government negotiators?
Are those patients in hospitals across the country, whose conditions are worsening, and those who face imminent death, if left untreated, not the very taxpayers who pay the taxes public-sector doctors are paid from?
Let no Ghanaian medical doctor seek to justify such egregious callousness and unreasonableness - that uses ordinary people who become sick and face possible death as pawns in a game they are not players in by any stretch of the imagination.
In the same vein, the Stan Dogbes need to be told to the face, that they are a massive drain on the public purse. Let them keep their traps shut - and not further aggravate the crisis situation our nation faces.
Above all, the Dr. Justice Yanksons must understand that they, like other professional people employed in the public-sector, who are members of Ghana's educated urban elite, must also learn to make sacrifices for the common weal: Indeed, it is in their own interest to do so - which is why they must be moderate in the demands they make on the public purse.
Thursday, 6 August 2015
Should Forests In Ghana Not Be Handed Over To Fringe Forest Communities To Protect?
It never ceases to amaze me that members of our political class have not yet realised the security implications of the impunity with which the wealthy criminal syndicates behind illegal logging in our forests, and illegal gold mining in sites across the country, continue to operate.
Have Ghanaian politicians forgotten so soon that the civil wars in DR Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, were a perfect cover to enable greedy warlords loot diamonds, gold and timber in those three nations, with impunity?
The same thing could easily happen here too - given the power and influence of the super-ruthless criminal syndicates behind illegal logging and illegal gold mining in Ghana.
Perhaps the question we ought to ask is: Has the time not now come to hand over forests in Ghana to fringe forest communities - if the long-term survival of Ghana's remaining forest cover is to be guaranteed?
The Forestry Commission could partner such communities - by putting its expertise at their disposal.
Speaking as someone whose family owns 14 square miles of upland evergreen rainforest, on a freehold basis, in the Atewa upland evergreen rainforest, I can see the effect of the powerlessness of the poorly-resourced Forestry Commission to halt illegal logging in our country.
(Incidentally, we have owned land at Akyem Juaso since 1921. 99.6 acres of our land actually lies inside the Atewa Forest Reserve. We see ourselves as mere stewards of some of the most beautiful forestland in the world - and want an area designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) preserved for humankind. For decades now, some of us have risked our lives fighting the wealthy criminals engaged in illegal logging and illegal gold mining, in the area. At age 62, we now want to make sure the authorities deal effectively with the illegal loggers and illegal gold miners destroying the Atewa forest, before we die. But I digress.)
One can also see clearly, how the wealthy criminals who sponsor the production of illegal chainsaw lumber, are corrupting some of the poorly-paid Forestry Commission officials sent to arrest chainsaw operators felling trees illegally - who apparently alert chainsaw operators of planned raids before they are carried out.
Naturally, those Forestry Commission officials, are keenly aware that they could easily be murdered by those they are sent to arrest - so think it prudent to accept such inducements to avoid raising their ire.
In light of that debilitating institutional paralysis, should the job of halting the rape of our remaining forests, therefore not be given to the Ghana Armed Foreces' Army and Air Force Special Forces units?
If the two armed services' special forces regularly patrol the Atewa upland evergreen rainforest by helicopter - accompanied by the relevant Forestry Commission officials - during daylight hours, for example, they could then take on the illegal chainsaw gangs that operate at night, using night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment. They could do same for other forest reserves in Ghana, too.
If that is too expensive to be done on a regular basis, the government could approach the satellite video streaming company, Urthecast, to provide streaming video of forests in Ghana - so that those who engage in illegal logging and illegally mine gold in forests in Ghana can be identified, arrested, prosecuted and jailed.
The question the minister of lands and natural resources, and the top brass of the Forestry Commission, should ponder, is: How is it possible for illegal chainsaw lumber to be transported from Akyem Juaso, and other areas in the forest belt, to Accra and other urban centres, on a regular basis?
Yet, if the protection of the Atewa upland evergreen rainforest - and other forests in Ghana - is put into the hands of fringe forest communities, such as Akyem Juaso, and a deal is struck with the government of Norway, to pay them the same millions of dollars it has paid to the government of Guyana over the years, to protect Guyana's forests, why would fringe forest communities in Ghana also not ensure the protection of the Atewa forest and other forests in our country?
The time has come to hand over forests in Ghana to fringe forest communities to protect those forests - and strike low carbon development deals with nations like Norway to pay money directly to such communities for protecting the forests they border.
And the job of halting the activities of illegal loggers and illegal gold miners, should be handed over to the Ghana Armed Forces' Army and Air Force special forces - if the criminal syndicates that sponsor illegal logging and illegal gold mining are not to evolve into terrorist organisations fueling rebellions across Ghana.
Finally, as punishment for their crimes against humanity, which organising the egregious gang-rape of the Atewa forest amounts to, the military authorities can start their work protecting forests in Ghana, by getting the Military Police to monitor, arrest, and hand over to the Ghana Police Service - for their prosecution and jailing - Obaa Yaa (Tel: 0231743659) and Kwesi/Kweku (Tel: 0272267763 & 0244802763), the leader of her chainsaw gang (whose name I am not too sure of).
They operate with unprecedented ruthlessness, in the area within the Atewa forest's forestry boundary pillars 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 and 98, at Akyem Juaso, known locally as "Thompson" and "François".
Have Ghanaian politicians forgotten so soon that the civil wars in DR Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, were a perfect cover to enable greedy warlords loot diamonds, gold and timber in those three nations, with impunity?
The same thing could easily happen here too - given the power and influence of the super-ruthless criminal syndicates behind illegal logging and illegal gold mining in Ghana.
Perhaps the question we ought to ask is: Has the time not now come to hand over forests in Ghana to fringe forest communities - if the long-term survival of Ghana's remaining forest cover is to be guaranteed?
The Forestry Commission could partner such communities - by putting its expertise at their disposal.
Speaking as someone whose family owns 14 square miles of upland evergreen rainforest, on a freehold basis, in the Atewa upland evergreen rainforest, I can see the effect of the powerlessness of the poorly-resourced Forestry Commission to halt illegal logging in our country.
(Incidentally, we have owned land at Akyem Juaso since 1921. 99.6 acres of our land actually lies inside the Atewa Forest Reserve. We see ourselves as mere stewards of some of the most beautiful forestland in the world - and want an area designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) preserved for humankind. For decades now, some of us have risked our lives fighting the wealthy criminals engaged in illegal logging and illegal gold mining, in the area. At age 62, we now want to make sure the authorities deal effectively with the illegal loggers and illegal gold miners destroying the Atewa forest, before we die. But I digress.)
One can also see clearly, how the wealthy criminals who sponsor the production of illegal chainsaw lumber, are corrupting some of the poorly-paid Forestry Commission officials sent to arrest chainsaw operators felling trees illegally - who apparently alert chainsaw operators of planned raids before they are carried out.
Naturally, those Forestry Commission officials, are keenly aware that they could easily be murdered by those they are sent to arrest - so think it prudent to accept such inducements to avoid raising their ire.
In light of that debilitating institutional paralysis, should the job of halting the rape of our remaining forests, therefore not be given to the Ghana Armed Foreces' Army and Air Force Special Forces units?
If the two armed services' special forces regularly patrol the Atewa upland evergreen rainforest by helicopter - accompanied by the relevant Forestry Commission officials - during daylight hours, for example, they could then take on the illegal chainsaw gangs that operate at night, using night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment. They could do same for other forest reserves in Ghana, too.
If that is too expensive to be done on a regular basis, the government could approach the satellite video streaming company, Urthecast, to provide streaming video of forests in Ghana - so that those who engage in illegal logging and illegally mine gold in forests in Ghana can be identified, arrested, prosecuted and jailed.
The question the minister of lands and natural resources, and the top brass of the Forestry Commission, should ponder, is: How is it possible for illegal chainsaw lumber to be transported from Akyem Juaso, and other areas in the forest belt, to Accra and other urban centres, on a regular basis?
Yet, if the protection of the Atewa upland evergreen rainforest - and other forests in Ghana - is put into the hands of fringe forest communities, such as Akyem Juaso, and a deal is struck with the government of Norway, to pay them the same millions of dollars it has paid to the government of Guyana over the years, to protect Guyana's forests, why would fringe forest communities in Ghana also not ensure the protection of the Atewa forest and other forests in our country?
The time has come to hand over forests in Ghana to fringe forest communities to protect those forests - and strike low carbon development deals with nations like Norway to pay money directly to such communities for protecting the forests they border.
And the job of halting the activities of illegal loggers and illegal gold miners, should be handed over to the Ghana Armed Forces' Army and Air Force special forces - if the criminal syndicates that sponsor illegal logging and illegal gold mining are not to evolve into terrorist organisations fueling rebellions across Ghana.
Finally, as punishment for their crimes against humanity, which organising the egregious gang-rape of the Atewa forest amounts to, the military authorities can start their work protecting forests in Ghana, by getting the Military Police to monitor, arrest, and hand over to the Ghana Police Service - for their prosecution and jailing - Obaa Yaa (Tel: 0231743659) and Kwesi/Kweku (Tel: 0272267763 & 0244802763), the leader of her chainsaw gang (whose name I am not too sure of).
They operate with unprecedented ruthlessness, in the area within the Atewa forest's forestry boundary pillars 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 and 98, at Akyem Juaso, known locally as "Thompson" and "François".
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
A few Things President Mahama's Regime Could Do Before December 2016 - That Could Also Be Continued After January 2017 By Its Successor-Regime
I have often wondered why it never occurs to our present rulers to issue long-term government paper, to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) - to which government bodies owe nearly some US$1.2 billion or thereabouts - to settle government's indebtedness to the state-owned power distributor.
Since there are boutique firms in Ghana's financial services sector, which can buy the long-term government paper from the ECG, at a discount, for cash, surely, that is a creative way for the present government to resolve the ECG's major problem: lack of cash to modernise its creaky infrastructure?
Another problem that the government of President Mahama could help resolve, is ending the havoc caused by potholes in many of the roads in Ghana's road network - which have caused countless fatal accidents, as the drivers of vehicles have manoeuvred to avoid them, and have ruined, and continue to ruin, the shock absorbers of millions of vehicles plying roads in the country - by promoting the simple technology of mixing melted plastic waste with bitumen to build plastic roads.
Plastic roads last longer than ordinary roads, carry heavier loads, remain pothole-free throughout their lifespan, and, because plastic is impermeable to water, won't get washed away by flash floods, during the rainy season. We could also climate-change-proof roads in Ghana by using that simple and cost-effective technology.
For that reason, why does the government of President Mahama not dispatch scientists from the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to India, to inspect plastic roads built by Jusco, a Tata subsidiary in the Tata steel city of Jamshedpur, and bring the technology to Ghana - so that road contractors can leverage it and build plastic roads throughout Ghana?
The BRRI could also collaborate with the Dutch company, VolkerWessel's road building subsidiary, KWS Infra, which is focusing on developing a hollow type of plastic road for the city of Rotterdam - and adopt it for constructing pavements and urban roads in Ghana. Because they are hollow and come in sections, that will enable utility companies to lay their cables and pipes, without ruining pavements.
And why does President Mahama's government not ask the State Housing Company (SHC), to collaborate with the UK company, Precast Concrete Products Limited - to build well-designed prefabricated concrete classroom blocks, dormitories and staff housing for public-sector educational institutions, in record numbers and in record time, before December 2016, as legacy projects?
Could truly affordable housing not also be provided for ordinary people throughout Ghana using prefabricated building engineering systems?
And instead of allowing Indians and other nationals to come here to buy gold directly from illegal gold miners across the country, without paying any taxes to the government, why does Parliament not pass new draconian laws preventing that nation-wrecking pratice?
Instead of complaining about those Indian gold buyers breaking the law by buying gold from the countryside, could the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) not set up a website to sell gold online directly to buyers from around the globe - who would pay for any gold bought online from the PMMC to be sent to them by courier firms such as DHL?
Foreign buyers purchasing gold directly from the PMMC could also visit Ghana personally to collect their gold.
And one envisions wealthy Chinese and other Asian nationals coming to visit Ghana to buy and take away gold - meaning that tour companies here could develop a lucrative niche serving high-spending tourists from Asia: who could combine gold purchasing trips to Ghana, with elephant-watching safari trips to Mole National Park, traversing the forest canopy walkways in Kakuum and Bunso, and sitting atop crocodiles at Paga.
And come to think of it, the Bank of Ghana could make billions of cedis selling gold coins with Adinkra symbols online, too - as well off Ghanaians pile into them as a hedge against inflation and as a veritable store of value in a nation with a pepertually weakening currency.
The Bank of Ghana and the PMMC can take inspiration from websites such as BullionVault.com and GoldSilver.com.
There is no reason why when the gold refinery starts operating, Ghana cannot become a global centre, for purchasing credit-card-sized gold bars. The sale of Adinkra gold coins and gold bars to foreign buyers will also help improve our balance of trade considerably - and help strengthen our weak currency more sustainably.
We will then end an iniquitous and monstrous system - in which foreign gold companies come to Ghana to mine gold, take away vast profits, and leave society to deal with degraded forests, poisoned soils and rivers.
And what stops the Volta River Authority (VRA) from collaborating with PracticalAction, the UK non-profit that builds mini and micro hydro power plants - to ensure that the mini hydro power projects Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's Convention People's Party government planned to build before it was overthrown in the 1966 military coup, are finally built?
Finally, at a time when global warming is impacting our country negatively, should Ghana not be establishing industrial hemp (not to be confused with Cannibis Sativa, marijuana) plantations on marginal land, and on land reclaimed by small-scale gold miners? Industrial hemp can provide raw material for textile factories, produce biofuels, and be used as feedstock for biomass power plants, to mention just three of the many uses to which industrial hemp can be put. Incidentally, as many as 25,000 products are said to be made from industrial hemp.
Over time, it may very well be that dividends from the PMMC, reinvigorated by its online gold selling business, could pay for some of the projects above.
Since there are boutique firms in Ghana's financial services sector, which can buy the long-term government paper from the ECG, at a discount, for cash, surely, that is a creative way for the present government to resolve the ECG's major problem: lack of cash to modernise its creaky infrastructure?
Another problem that the government of President Mahama could help resolve, is ending the havoc caused by potholes in many of the roads in Ghana's road network - which have caused countless fatal accidents, as the drivers of vehicles have manoeuvred to avoid them, and have ruined, and continue to ruin, the shock absorbers of millions of vehicles plying roads in the country - by promoting the simple technology of mixing melted plastic waste with bitumen to build plastic roads.
Plastic roads last longer than ordinary roads, carry heavier loads, remain pothole-free throughout their lifespan, and, because plastic is impermeable to water, won't get washed away by flash floods, during the rainy season. We could also climate-change-proof roads in Ghana by using that simple and cost-effective technology.
For that reason, why does the government of President Mahama not dispatch scientists from the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to India, to inspect plastic roads built by Jusco, a Tata subsidiary in the Tata steel city of Jamshedpur, and bring the technology to Ghana - so that road contractors can leverage it and build plastic roads throughout Ghana?
The BRRI could also collaborate with the Dutch company, VolkerWessel's road building subsidiary, KWS Infra, which is focusing on developing a hollow type of plastic road for the city of Rotterdam - and adopt it for constructing pavements and urban roads in Ghana. Because they are hollow and come in sections, that will enable utility companies to lay their cables and pipes, without ruining pavements.
And why does President Mahama's government not ask the State Housing Company (SHC), to collaborate with the UK company, Precast Concrete Products Limited - to build well-designed prefabricated concrete classroom blocks, dormitories and staff housing for public-sector educational institutions, in record numbers and in record time, before December 2016, as legacy projects?
Could truly affordable housing not also be provided for ordinary people throughout Ghana using prefabricated building engineering systems?
And instead of allowing Indians and other nationals to come here to buy gold directly from illegal gold miners across the country, without paying any taxes to the government, why does Parliament not pass new draconian laws preventing that nation-wrecking pratice?
Instead of complaining about those Indian gold buyers breaking the law by buying gold from the countryside, could the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) not set up a website to sell gold online directly to buyers from around the globe - who would pay for any gold bought online from the PMMC to be sent to them by courier firms such as DHL?
Foreign buyers purchasing gold directly from the PMMC could also visit Ghana personally to collect their gold.
And one envisions wealthy Chinese and other Asian nationals coming to visit Ghana to buy and take away gold - meaning that tour companies here could develop a lucrative niche serving high-spending tourists from Asia: who could combine gold purchasing trips to Ghana, with elephant-watching safari trips to Mole National Park, traversing the forest canopy walkways in Kakuum and Bunso, and sitting atop crocodiles at Paga.
And come to think of it, the Bank of Ghana could make billions of cedis selling gold coins with Adinkra symbols online, too - as well off Ghanaians pile into them as a hedge against inflation and as a veritable store of value in a nation with a pepertually weakening currency.
The Bank of Ghana and the PMMC can take inspiration from websites such as BullionVault.com and GoldSilver.com.
There is no reason why when the gold refinery starts operating, Ghana cannot become a global centre, for purchasing credit-card-sized gold bars. The sale of Adinkra gold coins and gold bars to foreign buyers will also help improve our balance of trade considerably - and help strengthen our weak currency more sustainably.
We will then end an iniquitous and monstrous system - in which foreign gold companies come to Ghana to mine gold, take away vast profits, and leave society to deal with degraded forests, poisoned soils and rivers.
And what stops the Volta River Authority (VRA) from collaborating with PracticalAction, the UK non-profit that builds mini and micro hydro power plants - to ensure that the mini hydro power projects Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's Convention People's Party government planned to build before it was overthrown in the 1966 military coup, are finally built?
Finally, at a time when global warming is impacting our country negatively, should Ghana not be establishing industrial hemp (not to be confused with Cannibis Sativa, marijuana) plantations on marginal land, and on land reclaimed by small-scale gold miners? Industrial hemp can provide raw material for textile factories, produce biofuels, and be used as feedstock for biomass power plants, to mention just three of the many uses to which industrial hemp can be put. Incidentally, as many as 25,000 products are said to be made from industrial hemp.
Over time, it may very well be that dividends from the PMMC, reinvigorated by its online gold selling business, could pay for some of the projects above.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Does The Hippocratic Oath Still Hold Any Meaning For The Medical Profession In Ghana?
It is unlikely to become superannuated. It serves as a powerful reminder and declaration that we are all a part of something infinitely larger, older, and more important than a particular specialty or institution....The need for physicians to make a formal warrant of diligent, moral, and ethical conduct in the service of their patients may be stronger than ever.
- Dr. Howard Markel.
The quotation above is Dr. Howard Markel's viewpoint on the relevance of the Hippocratic Oath. He is a George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of The History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and Director of the University of Michigan's Centre for the History of Medicine. He is also professor of Psychiatry, Health Management, History, and Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases.
As is commonly known, it takes years of study and training, to become a medical doctor. And when they finally graduate from medical school, and start work, a medical doctor's working day, seeing and treating patients, is often full of stress.
It is also a fact that medical doctors all over the world are highly-respected members of society. And quite right too - for healthcare professionals ensure the health of the citizens of nations the world over. And health, it is said, is wealth.
That is why all Ghanaians ought to be concerned when there is agitation by healthcare professionals over pay and working conditions.
It is a pity that 91 medical doctors - who had apparently not been paid for as long as 11 months - had to besiege the head office building of the Controller and Accountant General's Department, in Accra, before they were paid. Why were they not paid all those months?
The government ought to ensure that it provides doctors (and other healthcare professionals) in government hospitals with conditions of service that are fair and take account of the peculiar and demanding nature of their work - as demanded by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA).
Having said that, it is also important to make the point that the medical profession is not one for mercenary individuals. Those of them who want to live the lifestyles of tycoons, at taxpayers' expense, should set up their own hospitals - and resign from the employment of the Ghana Health Service.
Doctors employed in government hospitals must be reasonable in the demands they make on the public purse. Despite what members of our political class say, Ghana is still a poor developing nation - one only has to travel around the countryside to realise that.
Perhaps to set the right tone, the government itself must get rid of the small army of "special assistants" and "presidential aides" at the presidency - to send a clear message to all public-sector workers that we are indeed in austere times.
Doctors and other public-sector healthcare professionals in Ghana must understand that their salaries are paid from the taxes collected from hardpressed Ghanaians, such as truck-pushers, watchmen, market women and kayayie - who have to struggle daily to survive. Why deny such vulnerable people medical care when they need it? That is intolerable.
The public purse in Ghana is not a bottomless one. Elsewhere, doctors have had to take pay cuts. Junior doctors in Ireland, for example, had their annual salaries cut from €60,000 to €50,000 last year, because of the difficulties faced by the Irish economy. The same goes for doctors in Greece - some of whom have had as much as 40% slashed from their salaries.
Relatively speaking, Ghanaian doctors are better paid than many professionals, in the public-sector.
Whatever be the case, no one in Ghana should seek to justify strike action by public-sector medical doctors. We must never forget that strike action by doctors always results in avoidable and preventable deaths.
And when the Dr. Frank Serebours of the GMA speak in public, they must remember that no matter the provocation, as medical doctors, they must always be measured in what they say to their critics. Why call someone an "idiot" whiles speaking on live radio, when "genius" would be a far better word to express their feelings towards those critics?
It is morally untenable for doctors to deny treatment to those who go to government healthcare facilities when they fall sick - because professionals who took a solemn oath to treat the sick at all material times have chosen to ignore that solemn oath and gone on strike. That is totally unacceptable. Public-sector doctors owe it to ordinary Ghanaians never to go on strike.
The question is: How can those who take the Hippocratic Oath in good conscience refuse to serve those whose taxes pay their salaries and allowances?
Does the Hippocratic Oath no longer hold any meaning for public-sector medical doctors in Ghana? It would be shameful if that indeed were the case.
The Professor Easmons, Professor Dodus, Professor Laings, Professor Quarteys, Professor Oduros, Professor Baidoes, Professor Bensti-Enchills, and the rest of that generation of exceptional Ghanaian medical doctors, must be turning in their graves. Pity.
Public-sector workers of all categories and grades are employed to serve the ordinary people of Ghana. A law should be passed to ban all public-sector employees from ever going on strike. The work they do, and the services they render the general public, are essential prerequisites for life as we know it, in today's Ghana. Period.
Above all, the Hippocratic Oath ought to have some meaning for medical doctors employed in Ghana's public-sector healthcare facilities. Food for thought for the hardliners amongst the GMA's leadership - who appear hell-bent on embarking on strikes at every opportunity that comes their way. Unspeakable and abominable behaviour, for medical doctors.
- Dr. Howard Markel.
The quotation above is Dr. Howard Markel's viewpoint on the relevance of the Hippocratic Oath. He is a George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of The History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and Director of the University of Michigan's Centre for the History of Medicine. He is also professor of Psychiatry, Health Management, History, and Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases.
As is commonly known, it takes years of study and training, to become a medical doctor. And when they finally graduate from medical school, and start work, a medical doctor's working day, seeing and treating patients, is often full of stress.
It is also a fact that medical doctors all over the world are highly-respected members of society. And quite right too - for healthcare professionals ensure the health of the citizens of nations the world over. And health, it is said, is wealth.
That is why all Ghanaians ought to be concerned when there is agitation by healthcare professionals over pay and working conditions.
It is a pity that 91 medical doctors - who had apparently not been paid for as long as 11 months - had to besiege the head office building of the Controller and Accountant General's Department, in Accra, before they were paid. Why were they not paid all those months?
The government ought to ensure that it provides doctors (and other healthcare professionals) in government hospitals with conditions of service that are fair and take account of the peculiar and demanding nature of their work - as demanded by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA).
Having said that, it is also important to make the point that the medical profession is not one for mercenary individuals. Those of them who want to live the lifestyles of tycoons, at taxpayers' expense, should set up their own hospitals - and resign from the employment of the Ghana Health Service.
Doctors employed in government hospitals must be reasonable in the demands they make on the public purse. Despite what members of our political class say, Ghana is still a poor developing nation - one only has to travel around the countryside to realise that.
Perhaps to set the right tone, the government itself must get rid of the small army of "special assistants" and "presidential aides" at the presidency - to send a clear message to all public-sector workers that we are indeed in austere times.
Doctors and other public-sector healthcare professionals in Ghana must understand that their salaries are paid from the taxes collected from hardpressed Ghanaians, such as truck-pushers, watchmen, market women and kayayie - who have to struggle daily to survive. Why deny such vulnerable people medical care when they need it? That is intolerable.
The public purse in Ghana is not a bottomless one. Elsewhere, doctors have had to take pay cuts. Junior doctors in Ireland, for example, had their annual salaries cut from €60,000 to €50,000 last year, because of the difficulties faced by the Irish economy. The same goes for doctors in Greece - some of whom have had as much as 40% slashed from their salaries.
Relatively speaking, Ghanaian doctors are better paid than many professionals, in the public-sector.
Whatever be the case, no one in Ghana should seek to justify strike action by public-sector medical doctors. We must never forget that strike action by doctors always results in avoidable and preventable deaths.
And when the Dr. Frank Serebours of the GMA speak in public, they must remember that no matter the provocation, as medical doctors, they must always be measured in what they say to their critics. Why call someone an "idiot" whiles speaking on live radio, when "genius" would be a far better word to express their feelings towards those critics?
It is morally untenable for doctors to deny treatment to those who go to government healthcare facilities when they fall sick - because professionals who took a solemn oath to treat the sick at all material times have chosen to ignore that solemn oath and gone on strike. That is totally unacceptable. Public-sector doctors owe it to ordinary Ghanaians never to go on strike.
The question is: How can those who take the Hippocratic Oath in good conscience refuse to serve those whose taxes pay their salaries and allowances?
Does the Hippocratic Oath no longer hold any meaning for public-sector medical doctors in Ghana? It would be shameful if that indeed were the case.
The Professor Easmons, Professor Dodus, Professor Laings, Professor Quarteys, Professor Oduros, Professor Baidoes, Professor Bensti-Enchills, and the rest of that generation of exceptional Ghanaian medical doctors, must be turning in their graves. Pity.
Public-sector workers of all categories and grades are employed to serve the ordinary people of Ghana. A law should be passed to ban all public-sector employees from ever going on strike. The work they do, and the services they render the general public, are essential prerequisites for life as we know it, in today's Ghana. Period.
Above all, the Hippocratic Oath ought to have some meaning for medical doctors employed in Ghana's public-sector healthcare facilities. Food for thought for the hardliners amongst the GMA's leadership - who appear hell-bent on embarking on strikes at every opportunity that comes their way. Unspeakable and abominable behaviour, for medical doctors.
Thursday, 30 July 2015
Have We Entered A New And Dangerous Phase In Ghanaian Politics?
Does the aborted attempt to assassinate President Mahama, mark a new and dangerous phase, in our nation's politics?
Perchance, has the demonisation of leading political figures that results from the intense rivalry between the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the biggest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), created a miasma that is now enveloping Ghanaian society - in a massive and toxic fog-of-pure-hatred?
Not too long ago, that massive and toxic fog-of-pure-hatred, killed the NPP's Upper East regional chairperson, Alhaji Adams Mahama - and it now seeks to forcibly end the political careers of that selfsame party's national chairperson, Paul Afoko, and its general secretary, Kwabena Adjapong.
The question that patriotic and independent-minded Ghanaians (particularly the younger generation) ought to pose is: Would ordinary Ghanaians not be better off rejecting candidates of both the NDC and NPP, in the December 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections - to prevent their rivalry from eventually destroying Ghana?
Perhaps we must not be surprised that the scorched-earth-politics practised by the small cabals - made up of violence-prone and amoral party hardliners - that dominate the NDC and NPP, from the shadows, has created the atmosphere of intolerance that has resulted in an apparently deranged man undertaking a solo mission to assassinate President Mahama.
Today, it is Charles Antwi seeking to kill Ghana's President. Tomorrow, it might be the NDC's Azorka Boys, and the NPP's Action Troopers, as well as its Invisible Forces and Bolga Bulldogs, devouring their own paymasters - at the behest of terrorist groups: such as the Boko Harams of this world.
What ends do those funding some of the many strikes and public demonstrations across the country seek, one wonders?
Why destabilise a nation you want to govern one day, if you claim to believe in constitutional democracy, one wonders? And why is a political party that says it is a bastion of individual liberty and free speech, seeking to sideline its duly-elected party chairperson and its general secretary?
For years, some of us have repeatedly said that the silent majority of decent and fair-minded party members in Ghana's two biggest political parties, need to stop looking the other way - as a violent few ride roughshod over dissenters.
We have also said that if the silent majority in the two parties fail to drive out members of the cabals-of-violence that do their parties' dirty work for them, from their midst, their parties will eventually be devoured by the Frankenstein monsters they have allowed to amass such power within their ranks.
Fair-minded and nationalistic party members and supporters, who make up a silent majority in all the political parties in our country, need to understand that the cabals-of-violence in Ghana's two biggest political parties, actually pose a long-term threat to Ghana's stability.
That is why it is vital that our nation's security agencies, carry out a thorough investigation into the failed attempt to assassinate President Mahama, by Charles Antwi - to establish that it was not a conspiracy by shadowy figures in our nation's politics.
We must not dismiss out of hand, the suspicions of those who say that perhaps Charles Antwi was used by conspirators as a perfect patsy, to enable them physically eliminate President Mahama by remote control - and get away with it successfully.
Was the firearm Charles Antwi was arrested with registered in his name? If not, whose name was it registered in - and who gave it to him? And when exactly did he receive it - and precisely what purpose was it intended to be used for by Charles Antwi?
The authorities must ensure that Charles Antwi does not end up being murdered to silence him - like Lee Harvey Oswald, US President Kennedy's alleged assassin was, by Jack Ruby.
Perhaps it would be prudent to hold him in the cells at the Bureau of National Investigations' (BNI) headquarters building whiles investigations are carried out to ascertain whether or not there was a conspiracy by persons unkown to kill President Mahama.
Perhaps those veritable cowards, having realised just how delusional Charles Antwi was, simply used him - in order to enable them escape detection. Charles Antwi can have all the psychiatric care he needs whiles in protective custody at the BNI headquarters.
Clearly, the personal safety of our nation's present crop of politicians (from across the spectrum) must no longer be taken for granted. Neither must we take the stability of the Republic for granted.
The security agencies must now routinely offer round-the-clock protection for all the leading political figures (including all parliamentarians) in Ghana - both in the governing party and the opposition parties.
And they must be more professional in their intelligence-gathering activities. It must be devoid of partisanship going forward into the distant future.
Alas, the age of innocence in our national life, is gone for good. Henceforth, Ghanaians must be vigilant at all material times - lest violent individuals destroy the peace and stability our nation enjoys. We have now entered a new and dangerous phase in Ghanaian politics.
Perchance, has the demonisation of leading political figures that results from the intense rivalry between the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the biggest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), created a miasma that is now enveloping Ghanaian society - in a massive and toxic fog-of-pure-hatred?
Not too long ago, that massive and toxic fog-of-pure-hatred, killed the NPP's Upper East regional chairperson, Alhaji Adams Mahama - and it now seeks to forcibly end the political careers of that selfsame party's national chairperson, Paul Afoko, and its general secretary, Kwabena Adjapong.
The question that patriotic and independent-minded Ghanaians (particularly the younger generation) ought to pose is: Would ordinary Ghanaians not be better off rejecting candidates of both the NDC and NPP, in the December 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections - to prevent their rivalry from eventually destroying Ghana?
Perhaps we must not be surprised that the scorched-earth-politics practised by the small cabals - made up of violence-prone and amoral party hardliners - that dominate the NDC and NPP, from the shadows, has created the atmosphere of intolerance that has resulted in an apparently deranged man undertaking a solo mission to assassinate President Mahama.
Today, it is Charles Antwi seeking to kill Ghana's President. Tomorrow, it might be the NDC's Azorka Boys, and the NPP's Action Troopers, as well as its Invisible Forces and Bolga Bulldogs, devouring their own paymasters - at the behest of terrorist groups: such as the Boko Harams of this world.
What ends do those funding some of the many strikes and public demonstrations across the country seek, one wonders?
Why destabilise a nation you want to govern one day, if you claim to believe in constitutional democracy, one wonders? And why is a political party that says it is a bastion of individual liberty and free speech, seeking to sideline its duly-elected party chairperson and its general secretary?
For years, some of us have repeatedly said that the silent majority of decent and fair-minded party members in Ghana's two biggest political parties, need to stop looking the other way - as a violent few ride roughshod over dissenters.
We have also said that if the silent majority in the two parties fail to drive out members of the cabals-of-violence that do their parties' dirty work for them, from their midst, their parties will eventually be devoured by the Frankenstein monsters they have allowed to amass such power within their ranks.
Fair-minded and nationalistic party members and supporters, who make up a silent majority in all the political parties in our country, need to understand that the cabals-of-violence in Ghana's two biggest political parties, actually pose a long-term threat to Ghana's stability.
That is why it is vital that our nation's security agencies, carry out a thorough investigation into the failed attempt to assassinate President Mahama, by Charles Antwi - to establish that it was not a conspiracy by shadowy figures in our nation's politics.
We must not dismiss out of hand, the suspicions of those who say that perhaps Charles Antwi was used by conspirators as a perfect patsy, to enable them physically eliminate President Mahama by remote control - and get away with it successfully.
Was the firearm Charles Antwi was arrested with registered in his name? If not, whose name was it registered in - and who gave it to him? And when exactly did he receive it - and precisely what purpose was it intended to be used for by Charles Antwi?
The authorities must ensure that Charles Antwi does not end up being murdered to silence him - like Lee Harvey Oswald, US President Kennedy's alleged assassin was, by Jack Ruby.
Perhaps it would be prudent to hold him in the cells at the Bureau of National Investigations' (BNI) headquarters building whiles investigations are carried out to ascertain whether or not there was a conspiracy by persons unkown to kill President Mahama.
Perhaps those veritable cowards, having realised just how delusional Charles Antwi was, simply used him - in order to enable them escape detection. Charles Antwi can have all the psychiatric care he needs whiles in protective custody at the BNI headquarters.
Clearly, the personal safety of our nation's present crop of politicians (from across the spectrum) must no longer be taken for granted. Neither must we take the stability of the Republic for granted.
The security agencies must now routinely offer round-the-clock protection for all the leading political figures (including all parliamentarians) in Ghana - both in the governing party and the opposition parties.
And they must be more professional in their intelligence-gathering activities. It must be devoid of partisanship going forward into the distant future.
Alas, the age of innocence in our national life, is gone for good. Henceforth, Ghanaians must be vigilant at all material times - lest violent individuals destroy the peace and stability our nation enjoys. We have now entered a new and dangerous phase in Ghanaian politics.
Thursday, 23 July 2015
Ghana Needs Honest Leaders With Business Nous - A Prime Example Being Paa Kwesi Nduom
For over twenty years now, some of us have advocated for Ghanaian politicians to publicly publish their assets, as well as those of their spouses, before assuming office, and immediately after their tenures end.
We have done so consistently for so long because publicly publishing the assets of our leaders is a powerful antidote against high-level corruption. The present asset delaration law is clearly not fit for purpose - which is why our nation's politics attracts so many undesirable types presently.
It was with that in mind that when a young university student, whom I engaged in a conversation with, recently, asked me which politician I thought it would best serve the interests of young Ghanaians, to vote for to become president in 2016, I mentioned Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom and made a number of observations.
I told my young student friend that in my view, any politician who could win the fight against high-level corruption, would make an excellent president for Ghana - as it would result in the release of hundreds of millions of cedis annually, into the system, which could be used to modernise and expand Ghana's infrastructure, support agriculture, as well as fund public housing, education and healthcare in Ghana.
He also agreed with me that any Ghanaian politician who commits to publicly publishing his or her assets (as well as that of their spouse), before assuming office, and immediately after his or her tenure ends, as well as publicly publishing the sources of funding for the party he or she leads, is more likely to have the political will to fight high-level corruption, when in power.
It is unfortunate that it seems to escape many Ghanaians that Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom actually publicly published his filed tax returns, and publicly published the sources of funding for his party, the Progressive People's Party (PPP), during the campaign for the 2012 elections.
Neither President Mahama nor Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo did so in 2012, and one doubts very much - given the opaque natures of the corruption-riddled parties they lead - that they will follow Nduom's example during the campaign for the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
If they both fail that litmus test of transparency, in the run-up to the 2016 elections, then clearly, neither of them deserves to be elected to serve as President of the Republic of Ghana.
To illustrate why Nduom is tailor-made for leading a modern 21st century Ghana, I gave that young university student I had the conversation with, examples of how as a result of his business accumen, Nduom was likely to deal with the multinational companies that rip Ghana off so callously.
A world-class entrepreneur, as president, Nduom is unlikely to exhibit President Mahama's helplessness, conveyed in a speech he once gave at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, during which he complained that multinational gold mining companies in Ghana were refusing to agree to pay taxes on the windfall profits they made in 2010, when gold prices reached historic heights.
I also pointed out that Nduom, unlike Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, would never have caved in to Societe General in 2001, when it was obvious to many discerning minds who knew the facts of the matter, that Ghana stood a very good chance of winning the case the French bank brought against the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), in a London law court.
Traditionally, Ghanaian politicians, such as President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, have always accepted perfidious behavior by powerful multinational companies, as facts of life, which emerging nations like Ghana must learn to live with, if we want to attract investors.
In both instances mentioned above, involving President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, Nduom, because of his business nous, would have taken a creative approach to protecting the national interest - by getting on the phone to BlackRock's head of global corporate governance, Ms. Michelle Edkins, for example, and persuading her to demand that the mining companies pay up.
Knowing the power and influence BlackRock wields, the multinational gold mining companies would have rushed to pay those windfall taxes pronto.
With the exception of Nduom, one doubts very much if making that move would have ever occured to any of those seeking the presidency, in the 2012 election.
Yet, BlackRock, which manages funds worth $4.8 trillion, is a global power in asset management - and owns significant stakes in virtually all the biggest listed companies in stock markets in the national economies of the West.
Ghana needs honest and incorruptible leaders, who are world-class individuals that can deal with the complexities of a globalised world, and successfully navigate the choppy waters of the world's economy.
Simply put, Ghana needs honest leaders with business nous. Paa Kwesi Nduom is a prime example.
One hopes that when it is finally formed, a New Convention People's Party (New CPP) - in light of the inability of any of the Nkrumahist parties to win the Talensi constituency by-election - will unite the old CPP, the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the People's National Convention (PNC), and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), will select Nduom as its presidential candidate for the 2016 election, with Samia Yaaba Nkrumah as his running mate.
We have done so consistently for so long because publicly publishing the assets of our leaders is a powerful antidote against high-level corruption. The present asset delaration law is clearly not fit for purpose - which is why our nation's politics attracts so many undesirable types presently.
It was with that in mind that when a young university student, whom I engaged in a conversation with, recently, asked me which politician I thought it would best serve the interests of young Ghanaians, to vote for to become president in 2016, I mentioned Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom and made a number of observations.
I told my young student friend that in my view, any politician who could win the fight against high-level corruption, would make an excellent president for Ghana - as it would result in the release of hundreds of millions of cedis annually, into the system, which could be used to modernise and expand Ghana's infrastructure, support agriculture, as well as fund public housing, education and healthcare in Ghana.
He also agreed with me that any Ghanaian politician who commits to publicly publishing his or her assets (as well as that of their spouse), before assuming office, and immediately after his or her tenure ends, as well as publicly publishing the sources of funding for the party he or she leads, is more likely to have the political will to fight high-level corruption, when in power.
It is unfortunate that it seems to escape many Ghanaians that Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom actually publicly published his filed tax returns, and publicly published the sources of funding for his party, the Progressive People's Party (PPP), during the campaign for the 2012 elections.
Neither President Mahama nor Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo did so in 2012, and one doubts very much - given the opaque natures of the corruption-riddled parties they lead - that they will follow Nduom's example during the campaign for the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
If they both fail that litmus test of transparency, in the run-up to the 2016 elections, then clearly, neither of them deserves to be elected to serve as President of the Republic of Ghana.
To illustrate why Nduom is tailor-made for leading a modern 21st century Ghana, I gave that young university student I had the conversation with, examples of how as a result of his business accumen, Nduom was likely to deal with the multinational companies that rip Ghana off so callously.
A world-class entrepreneur, as president, Nduom is unlikely to exhibit President Mahama's helplessness, conveyed in a speech he once gave at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, during which he complained that multinational gold mining companies in Ghana were refusing to agree to pay taxes on the windfall profits they made in 2010, when gold prices reached historic heights.
I also pointed out that Nduom, unlike Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, would never have caved in to Societe General in 2001, when it was obvious to many discerning minds who knew the facts of the matter, that Ghana stood a very good chance of winning the case the French bank brought against the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), in a London law court.
Traditionally, Ghanaian politicians, such as President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, have always accepted perfidious behavior by powerful multinational companies, as facts of life, which emerging nations like Ghana must learn to live with, if we want to attract investors.
In both instances mentioned above, involving President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, Nduom, because of his business nous, would have taken a creative approach to protecting the national interest - by getting on the phone to BlackRock's head of global corporate governance, Ms. Michelle Edkins, for example, and persuading her to demand that the mining companies pay up.
Knowing the power and influence BlackRock wields, the multinational gold mining companies would have rushed to pay those windfall taxes pronto.
With the exception of Nduom, one doubts very much if making that move would have ever occured to any of those seeking the presidency, in the 2012 election.
Yet, BlackRock, which manages funds worth $4.8 trillion, is a global power in asset management - and owns significant stakes in virtually all the biggest listed companies in stock markets in the national economies of the West.
Ghana needs honest and incorruptible leaders, who are world-class individuals that can deal with the complexities of a globalised world, and successfully navigate the choppy waters of the world's economy.
Simply put, Ghana needs honest leaders with business nous. Paa Kwesi Nduom is a prime example.
One hopes that when it is finally formed, a New Convention People's Party (New CPP) - in light of the inability of any of the Nkrumahist parties to win the Talensi constituency by-election - will unite the old CPP, the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the People's National Convention (PNC), and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), will select Nduom as its presidential candidate for the 2016 election, with Samia Yaaba Nkrumah as his running mate.
Friday, 17 July 2015
It Is Ridiculous For MPs To Call For Ghana's Interior Minister To be Sacked - For Using The Phrase "Violence Begets Violence"
I was saddened to hear that Major Derrick Oduro, a member of the Committee on Defence and Interior, of Ghana's Parliament, has asked President Mahama to sack the minister of the interior, the Hon. Mark Woyongo - over remarks the minister made during the recent (7th July, 2015) Talensi constituency by-election.
The Hon. Derrick Oduro, a retired military officer, knows perfectly well that Mark Woyongo was briefed by those in charge of security for that by-election - and reacted to questions from the media about violent clashes between youths from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on the basis of what he knew from intelligence reports that day.
One can understand, and forgive, the inability of journalists who have failed to master the basic tool of their profession, the English language, to comprehend the meaning of the phrase "violence begets violence", which was used by Mark Woyongo during his interview with a Kumasi-based reporter, for that city's Ultimate FM radio station - who unfortunately read his own meaning into the phrase.
(A typical example of the affectatious English language broadcast journalists in Ghana, who affect foreign accents - his being a mish-mash of accents of indeterminate provenance - my humble advice to him is to read more widely, and always be himself. Over time, perhaps it will help him avoid hurrying to read his own meaning into what he hears when conducting interviews - and avoid lines of questioning that could trigger unhelpful controversies: such as the Mark Wayongo "violence begets violence" controversy. But I digress.)
Whiles one can forgive ignorant media types, it is unpardonable for members of Parliament to misconstrue the fact that in using that phrase on the day of the Talensi constituency by-election, Mark Woyongo was simply admonishing violence-prone youths in society, to desist from acts of violence - as it only leads to a never-ending spiral of revenge attacks. What is wrong with that, one wonders?
It is unfortunate that a simple biblical phrase used by responsible leaders from around the globe - including the late Martin Luther King, who used it frequently, to appeal for tolerance between the races in America - to admonish the violence-prone in society, to desist from acts of violence, should cause such widespread consternation in Ghana.
Perhaps an old acquintance of mine is right, in saying that it speaks volumes about the abysmal depths, to which the standard of English has sunk in Ghana, that Mark Woyongo is being pilloried for using a phrase used to admonish violence-prone individuals, not to resort to acts of voilence, by responsible people in societies around the world.
It is a pity that it was amplified by the FM radio stations that replayed the tape-recording of the interview in which Mark Woyongo used that particular phrase.
Incidentally, I listened carefully to the entirety of that interview, when it was replayed by Peace FM, and can say with confidence that (speaking hypothetically, that is), if there had been violent clashes between extreme right-wing English youths, and young Britons of Asian and Afro-Caribbean heritage, during a by-election in a constituency in the northern English city of Bradford, and the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, had repeated the entirety of Mark Woyongo's response in that interview, word for word, no one in the UK would have condemned her response - because it would have been understood by all that she was merely admonishing violence-prone youths to desist from acts of violence.
It is ridiculous for MPs in Ghana, who make laws that require precision of language, and therefore ought to know better, to demand the sacking of Mark Woyongo for using the phrase "violence begets violence".
With respect, Ghana's MPs must spend their precious time, on more important matters of state. President Mahama would be wise to ignore calls for Mark Woyongo's dismissal for using the phrase "violence begets violence".
Violence does indeed beget violence - which is why all Ghanaians must eschew acts of violence: if we want our nation to remain stable and become prosperous.
Given the chaotic and violent circumstances prevailing on the ground, in parts of the Talensi constituency that day, it is unreasonable and unfair for anyone to demand that President Mahama should sack Mark Woyongo, for using the phrase "violence begets violence" to admonish young people from engaging in acts of violence.
Those hypocritical politicians (such as the Major Derrick Oduros), seeking to put a positive spin, on the appalling and unjustifiable behaviour of a number of their own party's youthful supporters up north, during the Talensi constituency by-election, must bow their heads in shame for their double standards.
The Hon. Derrick Oduro, a retired military officer, knows perfectly well that Mark Woyongo was briefed by those in charge of security for that by-election - and reacted to questions from the media about violent clashes between youths from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on the basis of what he knew from intelligence reports that day.
One can understand, and forgive, the inability of journalists who have failed to master the basic tool of their profession, the English language, to comprehend the meaning of the phrase "violence begets violence", which was used by Mark Woyongo during his interview with a Kumasi-based reporter, for that city's Ultimate FM radio station - who unfortunately read his own meaning into the phrase.
(A typical example of the affectatious English language broadcast journalists in Ghana, who affect foreign accents - his being a mish-mash of accents of indeterminate provenance - my humble advice to him is to read more widely, and always be himself. Over time, perhaps it will help him avoid hurrying to read his own meaning into what he hears when conducting interviews - and avoid lines of questioning that could trigger unhelpful controversies: such as the Mark Wayongo "violence begets violence" controversy. But I digress.)
Whiles one can forgive ignorant media types, it is unpardonable for members of Parliament to misconstrue the fact that in using that phrase on the day of the Talensi constituency by-election, Mark Woyongo was simply admonishing violence-prone youths in society, to desist from acts of violence - as it only leads to a never-ending spiral of revenge attacks. What is wrong with that, one wonders?
It is unfortunate that a simple biblical phrase used by responsible leaders from around the globe - including the late Martin Luther King, who used it frequently, to appeal for tolerance between the races in America - to admonish the violence-prone in society, to desist from acts of violence, should cause such widespread consternation in Ghana.
Perhaps an old acquintance of mine is right, in saying that it speaks volumes about the abysmal depths, to which the standard of English has sunk in Ghana, that Mark Woyongo is being pilloried for using a phrase used to admonish violence-prone individuals, not to resort to acts of voilence, by responsible people in societies around the world.
It is a pity that it was amplified by the FM radio stations that replayed the tape-recording of the interview in which Mark Woyongo used that particular phrase.
Incidentally, I listened carefully to the entirety of that interview, when it was replayed by Peace FM, and can say with confidence that (speaking hypothetically, that is), if there had been violent clashes between extreme right-wing English youths, and young Britons of Asian and Afro-Caribbean heritage, during a by-election in a constituency in the northern English city of Bradford, and the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, had repeated the entirety of Mark Woyongo's response in that interview, word for word, no one in the UK would have condemned her response - because it would have been understood by all that she was merely admonishing violence-prone youths to desist from acts of violence.
It is ridiculous for MPs in Ghana, who make laws that require precision of language, and therefore ought to know better, to demand the sacking of Mark Woyongo for using the phrase "violence begets violence".
With respect, Ghana's MPs must spend their precious time, on more important matters of state. President Mahama would be wise to ignore calls for Mark Woyongo's dismissal for using the phrase "violence begets violence".
Violence does indeed beget violence - which is why all Ghanaians must eschew acts of violence: if we want our nation to remain stable and become prosperous.
Given the chaotic and violent circumstances prevailing on the ground, in parts of the Talensi constituency that day, it is unreasonable and unfair for anyone to demand that President Mahama should sack Mark Woyongo, for using the phrase "violence begets violence" to admonish young people from engaging in acts of violence.
Those hypocritical politicians (such as the Major Derrick Oduros), seeking to put a positive spin, on the appalling and unjustifiable behaviour of a number of their own party's youthful supporters up north, during the Talensi constituency by-election, must bow their heads in shame for their double standards.
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Lessons For Nkrumahists From Yesterday's Talensi Constituency By-Election
Both the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the biggest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), made it plain to Ghanaians that they regarded yesterday's Talensi constituency by-election, as a dry run, for the 2016 elections.
In a sense they were both right to hold that conviction.
Alas, the violence perpetrated by rival gangs of thugish youths from the NDC and NPP, at Talensi yesterday, is a harbinger of possible widespread violence to come, whichever of those two parties emerges victorious in the 2016 presidential election.
That is why ordinary Ghanaians must reject both parties in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections - and avoid the violence and chaos associated with those two bitter political rivals during elections in our country.
The sad and painful truth, is that both the NDC and the NPP, are controlled from the shadows, by powerful and violence-prone cabals - whose Machiavellian political philosophy is to sell Ghana to the highest bidder: to enable them bankroll party activities across the country, when in power.
Judging by their respective records whiles in power, Ghana will never be transformed, if either of those two opaque parties wins the 2016 presidential election - as the vested interests to which they are both beholden are only interested in milking Mother Ghana dry: not improving the quality of life of ordinary people in our country.
Egregious examples of the rip-off of Mother Ghana under both NDC and NPP regimes, include: tolerating the creative accounting used by the so-called bulk oil distributing companies, which import dodgy finished petroleum products into a nation blessed with large deposits of oil and gas that also has an oil refinery; and the persistence of the super-ruthless destination inspection companies that do work that can and should be done by the Customs, Excise and Preventative Service, of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
And this outrage, goes on daily in a nation, which is desperate to harness taxes to fund infrastructural projects - but whose selfish leaders prefer instead to (to paraphrase an old acquaintance) fritter taxes away on dissembling bulk oil distributing companies and parasitical destination inspection companies: in return for kickbacks to fund party activities when in power, in order to perpetuate themselves in office.
The question patriotic and nationalistic Ghanaians must pose is: how can Nkrumahists end the continued dominance of the two largest political parties in Ghana, the ruling NDC, and the biggest of the opposition parties, the NPP, in our nation's politics?
Ghana today desperately needs transparent and accountable leaders - dedicated to transforming Ghana for the benefit of all its people.
Unfortunately, it is obvious that most ordinary people still don't see any of the Nkrumahist parties as credible alternatives, to the NDC/NPP duopoly - which have ruled Ghana in turns since the 4th Republic came into being.
That must change if Nkrumahists are to capture the presidency in the 2016 election.
How then can Nkrumaists change that negative perception about their parties amongst ordinary people in Ghana - and gain their trust sufficiently to win their votes in the numbers needed to enable Nkrumahist candidates emerge victorious in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections?
From yesterday's Talensi constituency by-election results, it is now clear that nothing short of a full merger of all the Nkrumahist parties, will change the negative perception amongst ordinary people that the Nkrumahist parties, are not credible alternatives to the NDC/NPP duopoly.
In light of that reality, clearly, there is only one course of action left for today's political progeny of Ghana's first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, to take now.
If the Nkrumahist parties really care about the plight of ordinary people in Ghana - and feel scandalised by the fact that under the NDC/NPP duopoly, we have become a dog-eat-dog society, in which the national interest is permanently subsumed under that of vested interests - then they must put aside petty parochialism, and end the pipe-dream that any of the small Nkrumahist parties can ever win a presidential election on its own: and, drawing lessons from the result of the Talensi constituency by-election, move swiftly to unite under the banner of the original party of Nkrumah, the Convention People's Party (CPP).
After the Talensi by-election, the idea of an Nkrumahist alliance-of-equals, in which each Nkrumahist party keeps its identity, but joins a coalition that selects a common presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election, is no longer a viable option. It must now be discarded.
It is only a New CPP that unites the present CPP, the People's National Convention, the Great Consolidated Popular Party and the Progressive People's Party, which can legitimately campaign on Nkrumah's record of achievements - and use his transformational Ghana-first-agenda that focuses on import-substitution-industrialisation, for the development of the national economy, to transform our nation into west Africa's manufacturing powerhouse.
This is the time for all the leading Nkrumahist politicians to be selfless, and demonstrate their unalloyed love for Mother Ghana - by merging all the Nkrumahist political parties into a New CPP. Now. Not tomorrow. That is the biggest lesson the Nkrumahist parties must learn from the results of yesterday's Talensi constituency by-election.
In a sense they were both right to hold that conviction.
Alas, the violence perpetrated by rival gangs of thugish youths from the NDC and NPP, at Talensi yesterday, is a harbinger of possible widespread violence to come, whichever of those two parties emerges victorious in the 2016 presidential election.
That is why ordinary Ghanaians must reject both parties in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections - and avoid the violence and chaos associated with those two bitter political rivals during elections in our country.
The sad and painful truth, is that both the NDC and the NPP, are controlled from the shadows, by powerful and violence-prone cabals - whose Machiavellian political philosophy is to sell Ghana to the highest bidder: to enable them bankroll party activities across the country, when in power.
Judging by their respective records whiles in power, Ghana will never be transformed, if either of those two opaque parties wins the 2016 presidential election - as the vested interests to which they are both beholden are only interested in milking Mother Ghana dry: not improving the quality of life of ordinary people in our country.
Egregious examples of the rip-off of Mother Ghana under both NDC and NPP regimes, include: tolerating the creative accounting used by the so-called bulk oil distributing companies, which import dodgy finished petroleum products into a nation blessed with large deposits of oil and gas that also has an oil refinery; and the persistence of the super-ruthless destination inspection companies that do work that can and should be done by the Customs, Excise and Preventative Service, of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
And this outrage, goes on daily in a nation, which is desperate to harness taxes to fund infrastructural projects - but whose selfish leaders prefer instead to (to paraphrase an old acquaintance) fritter taxes away on dissembling bulk oil distributing companies and parasitical destination inspection companies: in return for kickbacks to fund party activities when in power, in order to perpetuate themselves in office.
The question patriotic and nationalistic Ghanaians must pose is: how can Nkrumahists end the continued dominance of the two largest political parties in Ghana, the ruling NDC, and the biggest of the opposition parties, the NPP, in our nation's politics?
Ghana today desperately needs transparent and accountable leaders - dedicated to transforming Ghana for the benefit of all its people.
Unfortunately, it is obvious that most ordinary people still don't see any of the Nkrumahist parties as credible alternatives, to the NDC/NPP duopoly - which have ruled Ghana in turns since the 4th Republic came into being.
That must change if Nkrumahists are to capture the presidency in the 2016 election.
How then can Nkrumaists change that negative perception about their parties amongst ordinary people in Ghana - and gain their trust sufficiently to win their votes in the numbers needed to enable Nkrumahist candidates emerge victorious in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections?
From yesterday's Talensi constituency by-election results, it is now clear that nothing short of a full merger of all the Nkrumahist parties, will change the negative perception amongst ordinary people that the Nkrumahist parties, are not credible alternatives to the NDC/NPP duopoly.
In light of that reality, clearly, there is only one course of action left for today's political progeny of Ghana's first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, to take now.
If the Nkrumahist parties really care about the plight of ordinary people in Ghana - and feel scandalised by the fact that under the NDC/NPP duopoly, we have become a dog-eat-dog society, in which the national interest is permanently subsumed under that of vested interests - then they must put aside petty parochialism, and end the pipe-dream that any of the small Nkrumahist parties can ever win a presidential election on its own: and, drawing lessons from the result of the Talensi constituency by-election, move swiftly to unite under the banner of the original party of Nkrumah, the Convention People's Party (CPP).
After the Talensi by-election, the idea of an Nkrumahist alliance-of-equals, in which each Nkrumahist party keeps its identity, but joins a coalition that selects a common presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election, is no longer a viable option. It must now be discarded.
It is only a New CPP that unites the present CPP, the People's National Convention, the Great Consolidated Popular Party and the Progressive People's Party, which can legitimately campaign on Nkrumah's record of achievements - and use his transformational Ghana-first-agenda that focuses on import-substitution-industrialisation, for the development of the national economy, to transform our nation into west Africa's manufacturing powerhouse.
This is the time for all the leading Nkrumahist politicians to be selfless, and demonstrate their unalloyed love for Mother Ghana - by merging all the Nkrumahist political parties into a New CPP. Now. Not tomorrow. That is the biggest lesson the Nkrumahist parties must learn from the results of yesterday's Talensi constituency by-election.
Thursday, 2 July 2015
A Ministerial Committee Must Investigate Cause Of Partial Collapse Of The Bunso Arboretum's Forest Canopy Walkway
It is important that the ministry of tourism, culture and creative arts sets up a committee, to investigate the 1st July, 2016, Republic Day holiday accident, which occured at the Bunso arboretum - when part of the forest canopy walkway there apparently collapsed.
It is said to have led to a number of visitors being injured. We must be thankful that no fatalities were recorded at the arboretum that day.
From reports in the media, it appears that over-exuberant visitors rocking it whiles traversing the canopy walkway, might have had a bearing on that unfortunate accident.
It is important, from a public safety standpoint, that the committee establishes the actual cause of the partial collapse of the Bunso canopy walkway.
Most of all, the ministerial committee should make recommendations, which will prevent such a tragedy from recurring anywhere in Ghana, again.
As someone who is personally involved in a planned project to build the world's longest forest canopy walkway, at Akyem Juaso, one would welcome such a public enquiry.
Forest canopy walkways are a vital in-situ logistics resource providing a unique living laboratory platform for biodiversity researchers - and are an important educational tool for inculcating a love of nature amongst young people.
Private individuals who invest in them ought to be encouraged - and supported financially. One way to do so, will be to grant them exemption from paying duty and taxes, on all the imported materials needed for constructing forest canopy walkways.
Preserving what remains of our nation's natural heritage will succeed only when young people treasure our forests - and actively seek to conserve them. Traversing forest canopy walkways develops a lifelong love of nature amongst many young people.
The Bunso arboretum's forest canopy walkway has definitely had a positive impact on many - who have come to appreciate the importance of preserving Ghana's forests: as a result of visiting the arboretum to traverse the Bunso canopy walkway.
This, no doubt, is a trying time for the Bunso arboretum's canopy walkway's owners - but they must not be discouraged: as out of this tragedy will no doubt emerge a unique eco-tourism attraction, whose entire operations will be underpinned by an ethos of professionalism - and guided at all material times by the highest global safety standards.
That is why a ministerial committee to establish the cause of the partial collapse of the Bunso forest canopy walkway is a must - as the committee's report is bound to include recommendations on ensuring the safety of all forest canopy walkaways in Ghana.
Above all, from the perspective of visitors, they must all be adequately insured. Since no insurance company will insure a canopy walkway that is not properly maintained, and safe, that can only be good for the general public who traverse Ghana's forest canopy walkways.
That will help restore public confidence in a niche market in Ghana's eco-tourism industry that is beginning to attract private investors. We must not forget that tourism makes a significant contribution to Ghana's GDP.
And, in an age of global climate change, Ghana' forest canopy walkways are important conservation-through-ecotourism attractions, which help conserve our forests. They ought to be safe for visitors - and setting up a ministerial committee to investigate what caused the partial collapse of the Bunso arboretum's canopy walkway will help ensure that.
It is said to have led to a number of visitors being injured. We must be thankful that no fatalities were recorded at the arboretum that day.
From reports in the media, it appears that over-exuberant visitors rocking it whiles traversing the canopy walkway, might have had a bearing on that unfortunate accident.
It is important, from a public safety standpoint, that the committee establishes the actual cause of the partial collapse of the Bunso canopy walkway.
Most of all, the ministerial committee should make recommendations, which will prevent such a tragedy from recurring anywhere in Ghana, again.
As someone who is personally involved in a planned project to build the world's longest forest canopy walkway, at Akyem Juaso, one would welcome such a public enquiry.
Forest canopy walkways are a vital in-situ logistics resource providing a unique living laboratory platform for biodiversity researchers - and are an important educational tool for inculcating a love of nature amongst young people.
Private individuals who invest in them ought to be encouraged - and supported financially. One way to do so, will be to grant them exemption from paying duty and taxes, on all the imported materials needed for constructing forest canopy walkways.
Preserving what remains of our nation's natural heritage will succeed only when young people treasure our forests - and actively seek to conserve them. Traversing forest canopy walkways develops a lifelong love of nature amongst many young people.
The Bunso arboretum's forest canopy walkway has definitely had a positive impact on many - who have come to appreciate the importance of preserving Ghana's forests: as a result of visiting the arboretum to traverse the Bunso canopy walkway.
This, no doubt, is a trying time for the Bunso arboretum's canopy walkway's owners - but they must not be discouraged: as out of this tragedy will no doubt emerge a unique eco-tourism attraction, whose entire operations will be underpinned by an ethos of professionalism - and guided at all material times by the highest global safety standards.
That is why a ministerial committee to establish the cause of the partial collapse of the Bunso forest canopy walkway is a must - as the committee's report is bound to include recommendations on ensuring the safety of all forest canopy walkaways in Ghana.
Above all, from the perspective of visitors, they must all be adequately insured. Since no insurance company will insure a canopy walkway that is not properly maintained, and safe, that can only be good for the general public who traverse Ghana's forest canopy walkways.
That will help restore public confidence in a niche market in Ghana's eco-tourism industry that is beginning to attract private investors. We must not forget that tourism makes a significant contribution to Ghana's GDP.
And, in an age of global climate change, Ghana' forest canopy walkways are important conservation-through-ecotourism attractions, which help conserve our forests. They ought to be safe for visitors - and setting up a ministerial committee to investigate what caused the partial collapse of the Bunso arboretum's canopy walkway will help ensure that.
Friday, 26 June 2015
Why Ms. Samia Nkrumah And Dr. Edward Mahama Must Work Together To Get Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom Selected As The Nkrumahist Alliance's 2016 Presidential Candidate
We have arrived at a juncture in our history, when a confluence of events from across the country, has led to the realisation amongst many ordinary Ghanaians, that their nation needs a new kind of politics - one free of elite-self-interest and nation-wrecking corruption.
Tired of the polarised nature of Ghanaian society, today, and outraged by the unfathomable greed that fuels high-level corruption, many ordinary people yearn to live in a nation in which there is unity of purpose amongst the country's ruling elites - all of whom Ghanaians want to be honest individuals, who show a commitment to protecting the national interest and promoting the welfare of ordinary people, at all material times.
Many people sense that whichever of the candidates of the two biggest political parties in Ghana, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the largest of the opposition parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), wins the 2016 presidential election, the kind of violence seen at the grounds of State House, when a rampaging mob from Old Fadama invaded that part of Ridge last weekend, will be repeated across the country - as hardliners from both parties instigate fighting at polling stations across the country.
It is that fear, which many have, of violence erupting in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, which makes many ordinary people in Ghana yearn for a credible third force in our nation's politics - one whose presidential candidate will unite the country, and run a meritocratic and transparent system, as President.
It presents Nkrumahists with a rare opportunity to return to power again.
That is why it is so important that the major figures amongst the followers of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, put aside ego and personal ambition, and work together to offer Ghanaians a government of national unity - in which individuals are appointed to positions in the public sector strictly on merit: not because they belong to the president's party.
If they fail to form an alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties soon, the vacuum in the centre of Ghanaian politics will be filled by fledgling parties, such as Kofi Akpaloo's newly-formed Independent People's Party (IPP).
They must also resolve the issue of selecting the candidate who will represent the Nkrumahist alliance, in the 2016 presidential election, quickly.
Although probably too late to do so, they must use the by-election for the Talensi constituency, as a testbed for trying out the Nkrumahist alliance's strategy for victory in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
A key point is to hammer home the commitment of Nkrumahists to making it possible for grassroots people to elect district chief executives of their choice, when their candidate wins the 2016 presidential election - and that electing an Nkrumahist alliance candidate as the member of Parliament for the Talensi constituency is the first step to that end.
Picking a candidate who can win the 2016 presidential election is crucial for the Nkrumahist alliance.
There was a time in the past, when some of us used to say that Dr. Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC), was the best candidate to stand for president, for a new Convention People's Party (CPP): made up of all the Nkrumahist parties.
However, Nduom's sterling record as a job creator, and highly successful career as a world-class entrepreneur, with a far-flung business empire, make him the best presidential candidate by far, for an Nkrumahist alliance today.
Politically, he has built up momentum nationally, and has the resources to turn any alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties into a solid third force - able to take on and defeat the candidates of the NDC and NPP.
No Ghanaian politician since Ghana gained its independence in 1957, has been more forthcoming about his or her own personal finances, than Nduom has been.
And no politician has also been as transparent about the sources of funding for the party he or she leads, as Nduom has been. That is just the kind of transparent leader Ghana needs today.
We must force our leaders to follow Nigerian President Buhari's example - and publicly publish their assets (as well as that of their spouses) before assuming office: and immediately after their tenure ends.
Nduom is committed to that - which is why he was the only candidate who published his filed tax returns during the campaign for the 2012 presidential election. He also publicly published the sources of funding, for the party he founded and leads, the Progressive People's Party.
For the sake of Mother Ghana, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama, must rebuff attempts by some of their supporters to get them to run for president in 2016.
It will only divide Nkrumahists yet further if they vie for the presidency - and thereby prevent an Nkrumahist alliance from sweeping to victory in the 2016 presidential election. The plain truth, is that none of them stands a chance of pulling off a surprise win, in that election.
To honour Nkrumah's memory, and ensure that Ghana develops into an industrial powerhouse for West Africa, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama must work together, to get Nduom selected as the Nkrumahist alliance's 2016 presidential candidate.
That will enable a Paa Kwesi Nduom-Samia Yaaba Nkrumah ticket to start working early to win that all-important election - and lead a government of national unity: which will transform our country into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
We need to tap Ghana's best brains to transform our country - irrespective of the party affiliation and the ethnic background of such individuals.
That is an Nkrumahist nation-building philosophy that is still relevant today - and will underpin the administration of the next Nkrumahist president for our homeland Ghana.
As president, Nduom (who, like Nelson Mandela, should only serve one term and hand over the baton of leadership to Samia Nkrumah to head the next generation of Ghanaian leaders) will ensure that that philosophy guides our nation's development. So, as we say in local parlance: "Samia Nkrumah and Edward Mahama, over to you, Joe Lartey!".
Tired of the polarised nature of Ghanaian society, today, and outraged by the unfathomable greed that fuels high-level corruption, many ordinary people yearn to live in a nation in which there is unity of purpose amongst the country's ruling elites - all of whom Ghanaians want to be honest individuals, who show a commitment to protecting the national interest and promoting the welfare of ordinary people, at all material times.
Many people sense that whichever of the candidates of the two biggest political parties in Ghana, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the largest of the opposition parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), wins the 2016 presidential election, the kind of violence seen at the grounds of State House, when a rampaging mob from Old Fadama invaded that part of Ridge last weekend, will be repeated across the country - as hardliners from both parties instigate fighting at polling stations across the country.
It is that fear, which many have, of violence erupting in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, which makes many ordinary people in Ghana yearn for a credible third force in our nation's politics - one whose presidential candidate will unite the country, and run a meritocratic and transparent system, as President.
It presents Nkrumahists with a rare opportunity to return to power again.
That is why it is so important that the major figures amongst the followers of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, put aside ego and personal ambition, and work together to offer Ghanaians a government of national unity - in which individuals are appointed to positions in the public sector strictly on merit: not because they belong to the president's party.
If they fail to form an alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties soon, the vacuum in the centre of Ghanaian politics will be filled by fledgling parties, such as Kofi Akpaloo's newly-formed Independent People's Party (IPP).
They must also resolve the issue of selecting the candidate who will represent the Nkrumahist alliance, in the 2016 presidential election, quickly.
Although probably too late to do so, they must use the by-election for the Talensi constituency, as a testbed for trying out the Nkrumahist alliance's strategy for victory in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
A key point is to hammer home the commitment of Nkrumahists to making it possible for grassroots people to elect district chief executives of their choice, when their candidate wins the 2016 presidential election - and that electing an Nkrumahist alliance candidate as the member of Parliament for the Talensi constituency is the first step to that end.
Picking a candidate who can win the 2016 presidential election is crucial for the Nkrumahist alliance.
There was a time in the past, when some of us used to say that Dr. Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC), was the best candidate to stand for president, for a new Convention People's Party (CPP): made up of all the Nkrumahist parties.
However, Nduom's sterling record as a job creator, and highly successful career as a world-class entrepreneur, with a far-flung business empire, make him the best presidential candidate by far, for an Nkrumahist alliance today.
Politically, he has built up momentum nationally, and has the resources to turn any alliance of all the Nkrumahist parties into a solid third force - able to take on and defeat the candidates of the NDC and NPP.
No Ghanaian politician since Ghana gained its independence in 1957, has been more forthcoming about his or her own personal finances, than Nduom has been.
And no politician has also been as transparent about the sources of funding for the party he or she leads, as Nduom has been. That is just the kind of transparent leader Ghana needs today.
We must force our leaders to follow Nigerian President Buhari's example - and publicly publish their assets (as well as that of their spouses) before assuming office: and immediately after their tenure ends.
Nduom is committed to that - which is why he was the only candidate who published his filed tax returns during the campaign for the 2012 presidential election. He also publicly published the sources of funding, for the party he founded and leads, the Progressive People's Party.
For the sake of Mother Ghana, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama, must rebuff attempts by some of their supporters to get them to run for president in 2016.
It will only divide Nkrumahists yet further if they vie for the presidency - and thereby prevent an Nkrumahist alliance from sweeping to victory in the 2016 presidential election. The plain truth, is that none of them stands a chance of pulling off a surprise win, in that election.
To honour Nkrumah's memory, and ensure that Ghana develops into an industrial powerhouse for West Africa, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah and Dr. Edward Mahama must work together, to get Nduom selected as the Nkrumahist alliance's 2016 presidential candidate.
That will enable a Paa Kwesi Nduom-Samia Yaaba Nkrumah ticket to start working early to win that all-important election - and lead a government of national unity: which will transform our country into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia.
We need to tap Ghana's best brains to transform our country - irrespective of the party affiliation and the ethnic background of such individuals.
That is an Nkrumahist nation-building philosophy that is still relevant today - and will underpin the administration of the next Nkrumahist president for our homeland Ghana.
As president, Nduom (who, like Nelson Mandela, should only serve one term and hand over the baton of leadership to Samia Nkrumah to head the next generation of Ghanaian leaders) will ensure that that philosophy guides our nation's development. So, as we say in local parlance: "Samia Nkrumah and Edward Mahama, over to you, Joe Lartey!".
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