Let Us Get Serious About Fighting Crime Nationwide - By Putting It On A War-Footing

Our leaders need to take the vital-task of fighting crime more seriously. It ought to be put on a war-footing. Full stop. Case closed. Sadly, we still don't get it. What we now need to fight the criminal-types terrorising Ghanaians, is the creation of a fourth armed service, to add to the existing three armed services of the Ghana Armed Forces  (GAF), to be known as the Ghana Homeland Force.

The Ghana Homeland Force ought to be created by merging the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prison Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Immigration Service, as well as all  former and present-day NYE  Community Police Assistants (who in fairness deserve to gain automatic entrance  regardless of age), who must be retrained, to gain entry into the Ghana Homeland Force.

The money saved by such a merger, will make more resources available to the GHF - and enable it to make use of the latest cutting-edge technologies: to underpin its operations nationwide, with a national Command Centre, Regional and District Command Centres.

Their personnel will have the same pay and conditions of service currently enjoyed by their counterparts in the GAF. Making extensive use of drones is a must. Ditto troop-carrying helicopters to enable the quick  deployment of units to trouble spots and locations where reported ongoing crimes have come from, 24/7.

 

Above all, since many criminals now routinely  execute those they attack, by shooting them dead, with the powerful weapons most now carry,  because they are often high on drugs, the time has now come for Parliament to do the right thing, if Ghana is to remain a mostly peaceful and safe country,  for the law-abiding.

 

We must now ensure that the right to life, of law-abiding-folk, nationwide, is put  ahead of all the rights of criminals, who carry guns, by the passage of new laws that will indemnify all GHF personnel, when formed, who kill criminals, who threaten their lives, while carrying out their operational duties.

We must end the molly-coddling of hardened criminals that is resulting in the callous murder of ordinary people, across our homeland Ghana, and endangering the lives of personnel of today's Ghana Police Service, on a daily basis. Enough is enough. We must take the fight against crime more seriously  -  by putting it on a war-footing. Full stop. Haaba.

 

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An Open Letter To Sam Hanson And His Fellow Liberian Refugees Who Opted For Integration Into Ghanaian Society

My dear Sam,

I am aghast at the insouciance still being shown by some of those in the Camp Liberia  Liberian refugee community, who opted for integration into Ghanaian society, as the UNHCR formally ends the role it has played in protecting and promoting their welfare, since they first set foot on Ghanaian soil.  

Sam, what is the role of Noble Symbols Welfare Council, in averting the looming disaster, which the category of individuals amongst the Liberian refugee community, who opted for integration into Ghanaian society,  face,  as we speak  - and why should Kofi Thompson be the one to reach out to their chairperson, at what is the eleventh-hour, for your community that faces the threat of having its refugee settlement area demolished?

With the greatest respect, I no longer chase disadvantaged-people who need help - so I can  help them, ooooo. That was then. 

 

I am now fed up to the backteeth, with  people in trouble, who insult one in their being  suspicious of one's motives, and doubting one's integrity - simply because one happens to enjoy helping those with resolvable-challenges. Sadly,  such people invariably think one seeks to exploit their situation,  somehow, for personal advantage, I have now come to realise. I don't need their wahala, and egregious-negativity, at this stage of my life, koraaaaa. I turn 70 next year, Sam. 

Yes, I am still willing to play a part in making available, the ideas and resource-persons,  needed, to empower that base-of-the-pyramid demographic to bootstrap their own success - but it is they who should reach out to Kofi Thompson: not the other way round, wai, Massa. To use a popular Ghanaian pidgin English phrase: Make you people do something, quick, oooo - otherwise it go be too late.  Yooooooo...

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Entrepreneurship: Are Our Leaders Abandoning Micro And Small Businesspeople?

On the subject of  entrepreneurship, perhaps the question we ought to ponder over is: Eeiiii, Oman Ghana - enti yewieye paaaa enei, anaaaa - and,  why, pray, are our leaders abandoning micro and small entrepreneurs in droves? (By the way,  lovely photograph. Thanks for sharing, Ohemaa Paaapabi Mary). Cool.

Ohemaa Paaapabi Mary, it is dedicated private-sector players, such as you, in the garment industry, who need to be resourced to provide our younger generations with the skills-training, needed to empower them, to successfully bootstrap their way out of the poverty-trap, themselves, ooooo, not sodden governments of the day, which are always dominated by greed-filled and super-ruthless ace-hypocrites, whose respectable miens,  belie their amoral-thieving-natures. 

Ohemaa, in my humble opinion, and, with the greatest respect, it is nonsensical for  sane-folk to think that any government-of-the-day, can provide fulfilling jobs for young people across Ghana. 

You and your dear husband,  gave up a good life in Holland, to come and help help build the Ghana you both love so much. I am so ashamed  that the two of you, are obviously frustrated, by the calcified-system, which the big-thieves-in-high-places, amongst our current ruling-élites, are exploiting so ruthlessly, to enrich themselves, at the expense of Mother Ghana, and the masses of the Ghanaian people. 

The question we must all ponder over is: Are we sitting on a densely-packed keg-of-high-explosives, anaaa  - and is it the case that a ruinous  social explosion cannot be ruled out, koraaaa, anaaaa?  Eeiiii, Oman Ghana  - enti yewieye paaaaa, enei, anaaaa? Hmmmm, eyeasem, oooooo...

Will Nkrumah's Ghana Survive The Myraid Of Challenges It Currently Faces?

• As a committed Nkrumahist and pan-Africanist, I am firm in my belief that no matter what is thrown, at it,  Nkrumah's Ghana will survive and thrive - regardless of the myraid of challenges it faces currently. No question. Ghana is the Black race's  best hope for restoring our true place in the world - as an example of  a peace-loving and welcoming melting-pot society: full of happy and aspirational people blessed with endless creative-energy. Cool.
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• Do we not have some of the world's best green entrepreneurs, such as the Eugene Kofi Boakye-Yiadoms of Legon Botanical Gardens fame,  I  ask - and is it not the case that virtually all of them have been creating wealth, which remains locally, as well as generating fulfilling and sustainable jobs, over the years (and still are, incidentally, even as we speak), without any creative-interventionist-support, from governments-of-the-day,  for decades?

  
  

  
  

  As someone who is never dispirited - and constantly seeks opportunities, from what others regard as disasters, one is fed up to the backteeth, with the confidence-destroying  negativity, of those who think that our still-beautiful country, is doomed. That negative-belief is utter rubbish. Ghana has a very bright future ahead of it, indeed.

  
  

  
  

  With the greatest respect, we must discourage the gloom-riddled discouragers-in-our-midst, at home and abroad, from infecting Mother Ghana's beautiful African-soul, with their endless-negativity.  Such clever folk must be told to the face that Ghana is not an African nation jam-packed with lazy, corrupt and dishonest lying-thieves.

  
  
  Furthermore, despite its many challenges,  our nation is neither a basket-case, nor is it a banana republic. Haaba. In any case, speaking personally, knowing what I know, for example, I am 100 percent certain that Ghana will be eventually successfully transformed. That dramatic societal-sea-change, will occur, within the next decade. For sure. Full stop.
  
  And, wonder of wonders, it will turn our homeland Ghana, into a wealthy African global-economic-superpower - in which the citizenry live extremely well - by all global quality-of-life metrics. It will all be fully-funded from the  unimaginable  wealth generated by the clean power invention, of a Ghanaian engineering genius, I happen to be friends with. 

  
  

  
  

  Finally,  as a patriot who passionately loves his still-very-beautiful nation, I shall end this piece,  by saying this:  May God Almighty bless, protect and guide Mother Ghana: and may all the doom-mongers, amongst us,  at home and abroad, be shamed  -  for wallowing in  their never-ending dispiriting-negativity. Some of us refuse to join them in their constant-mud-bathing. Enough is enough. Nkrumah's famed-Ghana will survive and thrive. Full stop. Haaba.

Steaman Group: The Ever-So-Respectable New-Face Of The Old-Criminality In Ghana's Land-Grabbing-Sector?

I had a jolly good laugh,  when I listened to a voice-recording, which the eldest of the younger generation that now controls our family's extensive all-freehold landholding portfolio, in the Eastern Region, forwarded to me yesterday. We have owned Thompsonakura, Kyekyewre,  since 1933, when it was purchased, surveyed and registered as a freehold property, at the Deeds Registry, Christiansburg, by my late grandfather,  P. E. Thompson Esq. 

We are major stakeholders in Akyem Abuakwa - because we are the largest freehold landowners in all of Akyem Abuakwa: with an Osiem-royal-heritage, on top too.

Furtheremore, we have been in unbroken-occupation, since Thompsonakura was purchased in 1933, and, above all,  it has never been sold before - yet, today, the arrogant-rogues who own the  Steaman Group, claim their company  owns our registered freehold property, and are warning us to stop our project there. Meanwhile we are talking to overseas investors, as it happens. Monstrous. 

Those arrogant morons don't know it yet - but they have bitten on more than they can chew. The thieving-sods. It would appear that today, the smartest land guards, and other menacing-type-demographics, which  rob with violence, in broad daylight, across our homeland  Ghana, are now going digital.

Hitherto, they used brute force to take over targeted-registered-lands, which they zeroed in, on, with near-total-impunity,  because they felt that  they could take them over, successfully, without much resistance from their scared legitimate owners. Today, they are deluding themselves into thinking that going digital, with fancy websites, is the smart way to enable them get around the stiff-penalties, outlined in the new Land Act 2020 (Act 1036). Fools.

That delusional rep of the Steaman Group's voice, in the said recording, sounded very much like that of a brutish myrmidon-thug-employee, of the murderous-gangsters, who run super-ruthless criminal syndicates,  which specialise in  stealing privately-owned registered  lands, with the help of bribed  public  officials. They are in for a rude shock. We will expose them - together with all the corrupt publice officials they have bribed to steal lands belonging to law-abiding folk, for yonks. Soon. Sarjewah.

In the aforementioned recording, that sodden uncouth-semi-literate's voice,  oozed controlled-malevolence, and, doubtless, isn't the kind of chap one would want to meet, at night, if one is a landowner, whom his bosses want eliminated, physically, to gain control of his or her registered land.  No.  No. No. Not under any circumstances. Cool.

Finally, perhaps the question we must ponder over is: Is the Steaman Group, the ever-so-respectable new-face, of the old-criminality, in Ghana's fast-growing land-grabbing-sector? Judge for yourself, dear reader. This is the link to  the Steaman Group's smoke-and-mirrors website: http://steamangroup.com/steamangroup.php?section=team.

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Is Our Homeland Ghana A Global Power In The Art And Science Of Egregious-Hypocrisy?

It will not come as a surprise, to some of us, entirely, were  our homeland Ghana to emerge as the world's most hypocritical-society, after the world's best leading-researchers, in comparative social analysis, published the findings of research carried out globally, on the subject of hypocritical-cultures. From north to south, and east to west, of the total landmass of our beautiful but beleaguered country, the cultural underpinnings of all Ghana's ethnic groups, are anchored on solid-bedrocks of fossilised-egregious-hypocrisy. Cool.

The trouble about our nation, dear reader,  is that it is dominated mostly by philandering-males, who lack moral compasses, and are consumed with endless-skirt-chasing. They focus mainly on amoral slay-queens, who are obsessed with posh houses, expensive top-range 4x4s (with all the bells and whistles), whose main occupation, is serious-gossiping,  constantly running others down and travelling abroad, for chilling-holidays, who daily take selfies, to post on their precious social media platform pages. Get the picture, dear reader? Hmmmm, eyeasem, ooooo. Msssa, to think that such a society will be successfully transformed, by any elected leader, by the end of his or her 8-year tenure, as Ghana Omanpanin, is unrealistic. Totally. 

Perhaps the question we must all ponder over is: How possibly can any social transformation take place, when  those selfsame ruling-élites, are also beholden to cash-loving religious-charlatans, who specialise in fear-and-panic-causing prophesies, designed to entrap the unwary, and successfully take over their thought-processes - so as to ensure that their  hoodwinked-high-level-charges, are bamboozled regularly with a steady stream of cash-inducing prophetic-directions, to make possible the  averting of dreamt-of-future-disasters, in the spiritual-realm: where neither empirical-evidence nor further-and-better-particulars,  are required of them? Think Reverend Owusu-Bempah? Just asking,  oooo. Yooooooo. Checkmate, wai, mate. Sarjewah.   

Dear reader, it is againat that background, for example, that we must therefore situate the  sad spectacle, of a senior cabinet minister, consciously making a sad-spectacle of himself, spinning a Kweku-Ananse-web-of-fibs, to  try and hide the identities, of those amongst today's greed-filled-cohort of big-thieves-in-high-places, who conspired to rip-off Mother Ghana, in a deal in which they were going to make a killing, of  90 pecent profiteering-profit, to secure Russian made Sputnik5  COVID-19 vaccines, from a venomous-snake-like super-clever Arab Sheik, when the said senior cabinet minister, appeared recently,  before a fact-finding Sealect Committee of Parliament. Hmmm, eyeasem, ooooo...

It would appear that in Ghana, unlike India, our caste-of-untouchables,  are self-acclaimed aristos-who-serve-Mother-Ghana, diligently,  and work without pay, and, spurn sundry-ministerial-allowances -  allegedly because they make zillions on tbe side, moonlighting, at society's expense, on the golden-alter-of-unfathomable-greed, according to bush-telegraph sources,  oooo. Massa, today's cohorts of greedy-bastards, who are busy milking Mother Ghana dry, are known to all of us,  yet the Ghanaian media, strangely  continues to refuse to allow those of us minded to do so, to call those Shylock-spades,  spades,  publicly -  because the language we deploy to expose those sodden  thieves-in-high-places, isn't "decorous". Imagine that. In light of all the above, dear reader, one can confidently say that  Ghana is definitely a global power, in egregious--hypocrisy. Y3n Omaan, yi, enniii size, biaara, 3woor 3wiasesiyi emu, koraaaa, 3wor egregious-hyocrisy, 3mu, oooo,  Massa. Case closed. 

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Today's Regime-Fatcats Are Only Chopping-Ghana-Small

Ahhhhh, Ghanafuo paaaa. Ghanafuo, 3kasaa paaa, ooooo.  Today's lucky big-thieves-in-high-places, spot an opportunity to make a quick buck, and all of a sudden, all hell breaks lose? Ebeiiiii. How? Haaba. Small boys are young ampaaaa. Imagine that. 

Out of the goodness of their solid-gold hearts, the ruling party's well-heeled big-thieves-in-high-places,  suddenly decide that, to ensure the creature-comforts of our indefatigable, hardworking and honest leader  (who doesn't even take his salary, please note,  dear reader), they will charter a big-jetplane-with-a-shower, in which he can have a quick shower, just before he lands in all the foreign nations he is taking our begging-bowl-diplomacy to (Ghana is a gobal-power in begging-bowl-diplomacy, incidentally, dear reader, in case you didn't know that), and envious, good-for-nothing Ghanaians are complaining, nationwide. Why? Incredible.

Some of those useless-whingers, even  have the audacity to  demand that our angelic finance minister  (who also doesn't take his salary, because his arms-length-businesses, earn trillions of Ghana cedis,  each time Ghana borrows money, by the way, dear reader), goes to give Parliament  -  apparently a useless branch of government, in his view, some allege, according to bush-telegraph sources - insider information, in his possession about the public procurement contract handled by National Security to shield far-cats making  a killing. How daft can some people be. Hmmm, eyeasem  ooooo... 

Is it not amazing, dear reader, that the Ghanaian media, still don't get it  -  that that noble-born honourable finance minister might be disdainful of Parliament: because it is full of inquisitive-ignoramuses, who should know their place, but don't,  annoyingly? Why should he provide MPs with  secret national-security-procurement-details, about how much commissions, were earned by the big-thieves-in-high-places, who got that big-jetplane-with-a-shower deal? How? Hmmmm, eyeasem, ooooo...

The question is: Why should a noble-born finance minister, go to Parliament, to answer urgent-questions, from  sodden-plebians  -  who have the gall to make  nonsense-on-stilts-demands, such as which of the regime's crony-tycoons, in the family-and-friends category,  got the contract to charter the big-jetplane-with-a-shower, for our noble-born President  Akufo-Addo?

Furthermore, why should a noble-born finance minister, answer them  -  when  they are mostly envious  and lazy people, who are forever  complaining: who really must learn to keep their big-fat-traps shut?  Are they not aware that this is an imperial-presidency? Massa, they really are fools, ooooo - if they still haven't cottoned on to that on-the-ground-reality, yet, wai. Bloody-morons. Enough is enough. They are chopping-Ghana-small, too, some, wai. Haaba. Cool,  la...

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Should Parliament Pass New Laws Empowering Security Agency Personnel To Shoot To Kill Armed Robbers?

How best can the  Ghanaian authorities curb the growing menace of armed robbers across the country?  Being attacked by armed robbers is a traumatic experience that one wouldn't wish upon even one's worst enemies. That is why it is vital that an effective solution is found to halt that growing societal-menace, as quickly as is practicable.

Having said that, the point also needs to be made, however, that registering even a personal arsenal, consisting of the world's most powerful automatic weapons, will not  secure the lives of law-abiding citizens, and their loved ones, who share the same roof over their heads, in today's Ghana. No question.


Unfortunately, from day one, today's big-thieves-in-high-places, who now dominate our greed-filled and effete ruling-élites, deliberately focused on packing our national security apparatus, with ill-disciplined myrmidon-thugs, previously employed by pro-New Party Party (NPP) militia's, owned privately, by a few party bigwigs, after January 2017. That egregious-aberation, has weakened Ghana's law enforcement agencies, considerably. 


Incredibly, it was part of a grand-strategy, planned to enable them dominate the Ghanaian nation-state, for the next thirty years - to facilitate the looting of Mother Ghana, by stealth, with total impunity: to enable them to recoup personal funds expended to finance  their party's three presidential and parliamentary election campaigns (of December 2008, December 2012 and December 2016), and successfully implement their top-secret agenda, of turning Nkrumah's Ghana, into an Akan-dominated society (as it happens, I am Akan myself, and know what I am talking about).

Alas, it has ended up turning our mostly peaceful nation, into a sometimes  volatile African country, with a growing army of desperate youth, from some of the member-nations of the Economic Community of West African States  (ECOWAS), freely roaming across Ghana, seeking dreamt-of-vast-fortunes, as scrap dealers, galamsayers and illegal sandwinners. 

When business slows down, naturally (coming mostly from violence-prone backgrounds),  they take to  moonlighting as drug-crazed dare-devil armed robbers, terrorising innocent law-abiding folk.

The only lasting-solution, in my humble opinion, to curbing the growing lawlessness,  is the passage of new legislation, by Parliament, under a certificate of urgency, granting immunity from prosecution, to personnel of the law enforcement agencies, which empowers them to automatically adopt a shoot-to-kill-stance, when confronting armed robbers. Simple. Cased closed. Enough is enough. Haaba.

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#FixTheCountry: How Best Can The Ghanaian Nation-State Be Fixed?

https://www.facebook.com/100001502750256/posts/4365084083551640/?app=fbl

Police Corruption: Will Constable Prince Fordwuor Rise Rapidly To Root It Out As A Future IGP?

In honouring Constable Prince Fordwuor, on Friday 16th July, 2021, for his honesty in reporting to his commander, cash from a Stanbic Bank ATM that he found,  the current Inspector General of Police, Mr. James Opong-Boanuh,  was in effect, perhaps honouring a future Inspector General of Police. Bravo to Constable Prince Fordwuor.

In sharp contrast, shame on the many crooks in the Ghana Police Service, busy giving honest police officers such a bad name, across our homeland Ghana, with their never-ending bribe-taking. Disgraceful. 

Even as we speak, a case of illegal tree felling for bush-cut chainsaw lumber production, on a massive scale, inside the freehold 14-square mile upland evergreen rainforest property of the late P. E.  Thompson Esq., at Akyem Juaso, has allegedly been reported to the Anyinham District Police Command, and to the Technical Officer, of the Anyinham District Office, of the Forestry Service of the Forestry Commission,  Mr. Kofi Sarpong. 

 

We await the denouement of that particular egregious story/case of illegal tree-felling for bush-cut chainsaw lumber production, reported to Investigators.

The Anyinham District Police Command, must arrest and prosecute the Thompson family member, a lady, who is  said to be living in Jumapo (which is not so far from the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, incidentally), and who allegedly ordered the felling of so many trees.

Ditto, also arrest investigate and prosecute, all the police officers, and  Forestry Service personnel, who are said to be demanding secret-payments, to allow the stealth-evacuation of the said bushcut chainsaw lumber. Too dreadful for words. 

Finally, in light of all the above, perhaps the question we must all ponder over is: Has a  future IGP just been honoured, by the current IGP, James Opong-Boanuh - and will Constable Prince  Fordwuor rise rapidly to the top of the hierarchy, of the Ghana Police Service, and eventually succeed in rooting out police corruption as IGP?

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Will The Apocalyptic Effects Of Extreme Weather Finally Lead To A Global Environmental Marshall Plan?

As we speak, untold misery is being caused by extreme weather, worldwide, as flash floods, wildfires and searing-heat, affect tens of millions, in all the seven continents of our environmentally-beleagured biosphere. The financial cost of such natural disasters is incalculable. 

As the egregious-existential-dangers of a warming biosphere  (extremes in weather) are properly understood, by ordinary people,  globally,  finally, one hopes that a positive outcome from  the worldwide apocalyptic natural disasters, currently being experienced, will be the losening of the iron-grip of the climate-change-denying hardliner-Conservatives' hold, on electorates, in the wealthy OECD nations.

 

A well-funded environmental equivalent, of the Marshall Plan, which enabled the U.S. to fund a devastated Europe's economic recovery, after the Second World War,  for the whole world, today, is a must - for all of humanity clearly is at risk, from extreme weather, whether we hail from rich or poor societies. No question.

Battered worldwide by extreme weather, perhaps the question we must all ponder over is: By simply slashing the budgets of militaries, worldwide, can humankind not properly fund a green-funding initiative, which will support climate-change resiliency-planning, and rebuilding-efforts, globally, to help the world cope better with the horrific effects of  extreme weather? 

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Has The Time Now Come For Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo And Mrs. Samira Bawumia To Start Condemning The High-Level Corruption Strangling Mother Ghana?

Ideally, as a people, we ought to ensure that those who run our system, are well compensated, for rendered-service, to Mother Ghana. However,  it is vital that our ruling-élites also understand clearly, that until prosperity becomes more widespread, and ours becomes an equitable African society, in which the vast majority of the citizenry live well, it is in their own self-interest, to make needed-sacrifices too, when times are hard.

The roles of the positions of modern-day First Lady, and Second Lady,   are onerous ones. No question. If they are to be supported by taxpayers, for what they do, by way of sundry empowerment initiatives, for the upliftment of base-of-the-pyramid demographics, nationwide, it is crucial that systems are put in place, to ensure the probity and accountability demanded of all public officials, in the budgets of their respective offices.

Above all, if they want the public behind them, and win the eternal battle for hearts and minds, the present holders of the two positions, First Lady, Mrs.Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Second Lady, Mrs. Samira Bawumia, must be vocal in denouncing the egregious corruption, which is slowly strangling Mother Ghana - and condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the big-thieves-in-high-places, who are ruining the legacies of their hardworking husbands, President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia. Yooooooo...

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An Open Letter To The Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin

Nana Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin,

We shall go straight to the point, since you are an honourable and very sincere traditional  leader, who prefers plainspeaking. Sir, with the greatest respect, we cannot, and must not, allow, the priceless treasure of Okyenman, Kwaebibirim, to be destroyed, because of bauxite mining. No. No. No. It must never happen. Full stop. 

Nana, the time has now come for the Atewa Forest Reserve, to be turned into a protected national park. Those clever-folk, who went to China to trade it off as part of the collateral for a loan of some U.S. $2.5 billion, had no right, whatsoever, to sell the birthright of Akyems, without first consulting us. Nana, Okyenman di3, y3n enma ensei, da, oooo.

Sir, in so doing, the clever politicians who went to China to trade off Kwaebibirim,  disrespected us, the people of Akyem Abuakwa - they also disrespected you, our current traditional leaders, too,  and, worst of all, comitted sacrilege, by insulting our ancestors in daring to trade off priceless Kwaebibirim, for a Chinese loan deal. Monstrous, if truth be told. Abominable. Unpardonable. Unspeakable.

Nana, those of us who have personal contacts,  and global networks that include some of the world's best ecotourism-as-conservation brains, which can be placed at disposal of the Akyem Abuakwa State Council, applaud and salute you, for making the irrefutable-and-indisputable point, that Kwaebibirim's  wondrous flora, and fauna, make it one of the world's most important outdoor-living-aboratories, for biodiversity research - and that as a protected national park in which all mining is banned, can most definitely unlock precious value, as natural capital, to fund the development of Ghana, as a world-class ecotourism destination: serving as a solid green economic-pillar for Akyem Abuakwa, creating wealth that remains locally,  and generating  jobs galore, for our younger generations.

Thanks.

Kind regards,

Your humble servant, 

Kofi.

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Why Are Some People So Obviously Driven By Unfathomable Greed?

Why are some people so obviously driven by unfathomable greed? Today, I got a Facebook notification, informing me that a Facebok page I follow, had undergone a name-change. I was horrified by the new name, and the digital-image, of the person now apparently owning it. I immediately unfollowed the 'new' page. 

It so happens  that I used to follow the said Facebook page, simply  because its dynamic, hardworking and empathic female owner,  empowers young base-of-the-pyramid demographics, to bootstrap their way out of the poverty-trap, by teaching them valuable bootstrapping-skills, to enable them gain financial independence. Mystified by the sudden name-change, I immediately called the said lady, for an explanation.  

Long story short: I was dumfounded by the horror story,  of egregious callous-exploitation-of-innocents,  which I heard from her. Talk about self-seeking-at-the expense-of-others gone dosh-loopy. The question is: Is he not yet aware of how COVID-19, has taught creative entrepreneurs, the world over, the societal-value of human kindness - and its brand-burnishing powers for businesses underpinned by that desirable-virtue, in the new era of serial-pandemics? Haaba.

Speaking as someone, who for over two decades has done unpaid  pro-bono consulting work, for social impact entrepreneurs helping base-of-the-pyramid demographics, to bootstrap their way to financial independence, I find hardnosed-business people,  who so obviously care more about money, than their fellow humans, pretty hard to understand.  

 That fleecing-monster ought to bow his head in shame. What he has been doing to that hardworking female social-entrepreneur, helping disadvantaged youth, is vile and wicked. Unpardonable. Unspeakable. Abominable. Disgraceful. Shame on him. Monster. Perhaps, the question we all ought to ponder over,  dear reader, is: Why are some people so driven by unfathomable greed? 

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Can The Department Of Parks And Gardens Be Transformed Through PPPs?

Can the Department of Parks and Gardens be transformed, into a valuable and profitable state asset, through private public partnerships  (PPPs), with reputable Ghanaian green entrepreneurs, with solid track-records, of creating wealth and fulfilling green jobs galore, in Ghana's nascent green economy?

 At a recent tree-planting event, Ghana's former First Lady,  Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, bless her, asked that the Department of Parks and Gardens, be made independent of Zoomlion. That was rather odd, for an ignoramus like moi. The question is: Is the Department of Parks and Gardens now controlled by Zoomlion?

Whatever be the case, under no circumstances, should the Department of Parks and Gardens, be made subservient  to Zoomlion, in any shape or form. Full stop. Case closed.

On the surface, on paper, Zoomlion is a great Ghanaian  company. But to its discerning-critics, it is a classic example, of a teflon-type Ghanaian private sector entity, which is scandal-proof, mainly because its tentacles  touch many sectors of our national economy, and has thus become too-big-to-fall, so to speak, regardless of the number of scandals alleged against it. 

 

Ideally, what ought to be done, is to transform the Department of Parks and Gardens,  through public private partnerships (PPPs), with other Ghanaian private sector entities, which have a solid track-record of delivering profitable adventure  parks, which generate fresh oxygen-laden air - vital at a time when air-quality in urban Ghana is deteriorating at an alarming rate (leading to a nationwide spike in respiratory diseases). Above all, let us never forget that public parks help preserve priceless green capital, for Mother Ghana, and for future generations  of our people.

 

A shinning example, is the Legon Botanical Gardens, transformed by Ghana foremost green entrepreneur, Mr. Eugene Kofi Boakye-Yiadom, through a PPP agreement, into a veritable haven-of-nature, in a rapidly expanding capital city, which is now a concrete-jungle, more or less, sadly.  

Committed and successful green entrepreneurs, like that, will never secretly dispose of publicly-owned lands, which are designated as green spaces, to property developers, ever. In light of all the above, should the Departmentof Parks and Gardens, not be transformed into a profitable state entity, benefitting the finances of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies  (MMDAs), nationwide.  Ditto producing private-sector wealth that remains locally, and, generating fulfilling-green-jobs galore,  across Ghana, through PPPs?

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The Lives Of All Ghanaians Matter - The Heads Of Ghana's Security Agencies Must Therefore Protect Them

In a metaphorical sense, tolerance was recently murdered, in cold blood, at Ejura.  The question is: Was the tragedy at Ejura avoidable? Was it inevitable? Did it occur, as some critics posit, because of the consistent-reluctance of the upper echelons of our nation's security agencies, to stand up to the few but powerful  hardliner-extremists, who dominate today's ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and have done so, from the very day it won power, in 2017? What happened at Ejura is intolerable and unacceptable - and all those who whose egregious lack of judgement, caused it, must be prosecuted, after investigations.

That egregious failure, by the top brass of our nation's security agencies, over the years since the NPP came to power, in January 2017, to demand a halt to the NPP's hardliner-extremists' treasonable insistence, on packing our national security apparatus with ill-disciplined myrmidon-thugs, from the privately-owned pro-NPP militias, the Delta Force and Invincible Forces, and kitting them out in police, and military uniforms, for specific operations,  when it suits the ends they seek, has now given the world the rather  unfortunate impression, that there is a woeful lack of professionalism, in our security agencies.

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. In the main, the hardworking career professionals,  in the security agencies of our country, are well-trained and truly world-class. It is not for nothing, dear reader, that they have gained a global reputation, for being one of the world's  best ever peacekeeping forces, which a grateful  United Nations Organisation, has always known,  it can rely on,  for its global peacekeeping operations, in the world's trouble spots.

The profession of arms is a noble one - for it is based on the willingness of brave men and women, to sacrifice their lives,  for their nation, whenever it is imperilled, and they are called upon to fight to save it from annihilation. That is why no one in this country must be allowed to prostitute the collective-honour of Ghana's security agencies. No. No. No. 

For the sake of our beloved Mother Ghana, the heads of all our nation's security agencies, must now step up to the plate, so to speak - and demand that all the myrmidon-thug-employees, of the privately-owned pro-NPP militias, the Delta Force and Invincible Forces, be purged from Ghana's national security apparatus, forthwith. Their barbarism, callous-actions, and criminal-inactions, could, one fine day, land  the top hierarchy of our security agencies, in the dock, at the International Criminal Court (ICC), at The Hague.  Enough is enough. Ghanaian democracy  matters - as do the lives of all its law-abiding citizens: which is why the heads of Ghana's security agencies must protect them at all material times.

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The Asantehene Neither Needs The Validation Of Bishop Dag Heward-Mills - Nor That Of The Asante Youth Association

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, is a committed Christian, who like other such Christians,  attends Church services, whenever he is able to do so. On such occasions,  prayers are offered on his behalf, to ask for God Almighty's blessing, to ensure his well-being, and to promote his welfare - to enable him tackle the onerous responsibilities placed on his shoulders, as one of our homeland Ghana's preeminent traditional rulers.

In return, the Asantehene pays homage to his Maker, the Lord God Almighty, and expresses his gratitude to Him, for the  munificence that has resulted in the many blessings, showered on him, since his enstoolment as the 16th Asantehene. 

There is no question that the Asantehene  has earned the respect of the whole nation, for the many behind-the-scenes interventions, in which he  has played the role of honest-broker, accepted by all parties - all of which have contributed to the continued stability of our homeland Ghana, over the decades since his enstoolment. There is, his contribution to the peaceful resolution of the Yaa Naa dispute, for example. For that, and all the other interventions, we salute him. The Asantehene of today, is most certainly not the untested neophyte,  of yesteryear,  koraaaa. Full stop.

That is why it is so sad that such a devout Christian, who is a peacemaker-bar-none, will have his name bismirched, by lawless thugs, who think they are more Catholic than the Pope himself, so to speak - and, apparently, operating on the absurd Dark-Ages notion, that the Kumasihene is their god, had the temerity to attack a Kumasi Lighthouse Chapel, in which congregants were said to be worshipping, driving them out eventually, and locking it up afterwards,  allegedly. Monstrous.

It is intolerable that in a Republic, in which the rule of law prevails, those barbarians threatened to physically assault the worshippers inside the Lighthouse Church building, as a reprisal for sentiments apparently expressed some 20  odd years ago, by Bishop Dag Heward-Mills,  in what it turns out, was a private meeting amongst Lighthouse  Church pastors, who were discussing pertinent issues of that particular period in time, with their Bishop, which had been recorded.

Let there be no doubt about it, but this is a matter that if wrongly handled, by those in Manyia Palace,  whose job is to protect the image of the Asantehene, could end up resurrecting longstanding demands by some Ghanaian nationalists, calling for the abolishment of the  traditional system, dominated by Chiefs  -  so that Ghana could focus on  becoming an African meritocracy,  successfully transformed through the efforts of its many world-class  young-solid-achievers. Yooooooo...

In light of that, and given the unreserved public apology, graciously issued by Bishop Heward-Mills, it is vital that those whose responsibility it is to protect the image of Manyia Palace, understand clearly,  just how crucial it is that this matter is de-escalated swiftly. Sycophany never built anything of value anywhere in the world - and it never will.  Yooooooo...

Let them begin the process, by issuing a public statement, condemning, in no uncertain terms,  the lawless and unacceptable  actions, of the arrogant and verbally-violent-extremists, whose backwardness is such that, incredibly (in what is a new-digital-era),  they think that somehow, the Kumasihene is a god.  Amazing.  Unbelievable.  Abominable. Haaba.

With the greatest respect, those whose job it is to protect the image of Manyia Palace, ought to accept, and understand, clearly, that the matter of the positions and societal-roles, of the progeny of the ruling-élites of the precolonial tribal entities, as sovereign rulers, in an independent Ghana, was settled in the elections of 195l, 1954 and 1956. Case closed. Full stop. Yooooooo...

We must also never forget, that  in all of those free and fair elections, organised by the British occupiers of our beloved country,  at the time, the deep-thinking and clear-minded-masses, voted overwhelmingly, in favour of Nkrumah's vision of an independent Ghana, which was a meritocracy,  in which there was social-mobility, through personal endeavour - not societal-advancement through entitlement-dreams, sponsored by vile-nepotism and inherited privilege. Haaba.  

Finally, for the avoidance of doubt, in a strictly legal sense,  there are no Kingdoms, anywhere, in our Republic - in which sovereignty resides in the citizenry. Full stop. This is a storm in a calabash. The Asantehene neither needs the validation of Bishop  Dag Heward-Mills   -  nor that of the vile myrmidon-thugs, amongst the  mostly-decent-minded, but musguided membership, of the Asante Youth Association.  Enough is enough, ooooooo, Amanfuo. Yoooooooo... 

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What Kind Of New Leadership Does The GJA Need Today?

Never in the annals of the history of Ghanaian journalism, have the elections to select the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), been so crucial, than is the case today. Freedom of expression, in our homeland Ghana,  is under siege - as media houses, and media professionals, are regularly assaulted (both physically and metaphorically), by their many  illiberal-enemies in our corruption-riddled society. 

What Mother Ghana desperately needs, today, are a GJA leadership made of principled media professionals, who will seek to expand the frontiers of freedom in our country, yet further - by seeking a reinterpretation of the constrictive aspects of the constitutional roles of the National Media Commission (NMC), and the National Communications Authority (NCA),  for example.

The Ghanaian media landscape, most certainly does not need a GJA made up of mercenary-and-cynical-hacks, who will  work secretly, in tandemn with our would-be oppressors, to constrict freedom of expression in our dear Motherland.

The next leadership of the GJA must be world-class individuals, who will have the integrity, quickness-of-mind,  creativity  and independent-mindedness,  needed to enable them outmanoeuvre the dark forces ranged against the work of Ghana's media professionals, who constitute the fourth pillar of our democracy, and serve as accountability-watchdogs, in an African  democracy that is imperilled by the unfathomable-greed slowly destroying it. 

In light of that, it would therefore be disastrous, for Mother Ghana, were the wrong type of media professionals (lackeys and highlings of today's dominant-dark-forces - the big-thieves-in-high-places - who secretly wish to impose a tyranny on Ghanaians to enable them perpetuate their rule), to be selected to run the GJA.

Let it not be said of us that when freedom of expression was under siege, and 

and the dark clouds of tyranny loomed over our country (whose very existence as a free society in which the rule of law prevails was threatened by powerful and greed-filled elites), regime-cronies, and sycophantic praise-singers, were elected to lead the GJA. No. No. No.

Media professionals in Ghana must never lose sight of the fact that a key feature of the 4th Republic, thus far, has been the evolution of a self-serving political-duopoly, made up of the two largest political parties, in Ghana, the ruling New Patriotic Party  (NPP), and the biggest of the opposition parties, the National Democratic Congress  (NDC).

When in opposition,  they are both  sanctimonious, and give the world the false  impression that they are fighting for common-good-causes, critical for the overall well being of ordinary people,  and working hard to protect the national interest, at all material times. Nothing could be further from the reality actually motivating most opposition politicians, however. And it is important that the new GJA leaders instinctively understand that motivation underpinning life in the political wilderness in Ghanaian politics. 

Alas, the grandstanding and playing-to-the-gallery tactics, whiles in opposition, are merely meant to entice the electorate  to vote for opposition politicians, and enable them to successfully  emerge from the  political wilderness, which all the NPP/NDC duopoly's members, dread to be banished.

Conversely, when in power, the need for ruling party's to fund their operations, nationwide, and thus make it easy for them to retain power, when election time comes round, simply means entering into alliances with Ghanaian society's big-thieves-in-high-places, whose sole aim in entering politics, is to create wealth for themselves, their family-favourites and dark-money-specialist  regime-crony-tycoons. 

Alas, only a new GJA leadership, made up of bold, fearless, imaginative and independent-minded  media professionals,  who are accutately aware  of the machinations of the party-hardliners that collaborate with the perfidious thieves-in-high-places, who dominate both the NPP, and, the NDC, when in power, can protect freedom of expression in today's Ghana. To elect lackeys and sycophants of the current govenment,  to lead the GJA, would be tragic.

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U.S. $170 Million Ghana Power Generation Company Judgement-Debt Saga - Both NPP And NDC Failed Mother Ghana Terribly

According to its website, the UN Commission On International Trade Law (UNCITRAL),  supports the Sustainable Development  Goals (UN SDGs), including ending poverty everywhere. It is a pity that that did not occur to the UNCITRAL tribunal panel members, who sat in London, when they ordered Ghana to pay US $170 million, as judgement debt, to the Ghana Power Generation Company  (GPGC).

Was it not obvious to them that the poor citizenry of  a highly indebted African nation, would ultimately suffer further deprivation, if their government had to pay judgement debt? Surely, that should have made them  bend over backwards, to prevent ordinary Ghanaians, from becoming the victims, yet again, of elite-perfidy, by granting the extended  period Ghana's tardy lawyers pleaded for, to enable them put in an appearance to fight the case?


There is no question that bribery must have secured that contested power purchase agreement. How else could that obviously inimical-to-the-common-good power purchase agreement, have been procured, by the Ghana Power Generation Company GPGC), other than by egregious-inducement -  of public officials whose fiduciary duty, it was,  to protect the national interest, at all material times, in the first place? Those who signed that bloodsucking-abomination of an agreement, during the Mahama-era, may have to go to jail, one fine day, oooo. Yooooooo...

Furtheremore, how possibly can those whose job it was, in the  Akufo-Addo  administration, to protect Mother Ghana, justify not acting with patriotic-dispatch, in ensuring that a matter in which Mother Ghana could  be forced to pay as much as some U.S.$170 million, in judgement debt, if it didn't secure well-intentioned legal representation (and thus lose  a winnable  clearcut-case, of an egregiously-induced power purchase agreement), was ably defended  -  regardless of their personal challenges to do with the December 2020 election campaigning and dealing with the dangers of the coronavirus, I ask?

They too, deserve to be investigated, and sanctioned, for causing financial loss, to the Ghanaian nation-state. In the matter of the UNCITRAL tribunal U.S.$170 million judgement debt awarded to GPGC, in London,  both the ruling New Patriotic Party  (NPP), and the National Democratic Congress  (NDC), regime of former President Mahama, let Mother Ghana down terribly. Pity.

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The Government Must Listen To Abdul Malik Kweku Baako - And Cancel The AMERI Sputnik5 COVID-19 Procurement Deal

Africa's secret-enemies, desperately  want the tragedy that has befallen India (which, sadly, has been overwhelmed by the Delta variant of  COVID-19), to occur in Africa too - but Insha Allah, that will not come to pass. However, it is crucial that  Ghanaians unite, and force the greedy self-seekers, amongst our ruling-élites, from taking advantage of the temporary supply chain challenges, in procuring COVID-19 vaccines, to line their pockets, yet again, at the expense of the masses. Yabr3, ooooo. Yooooooo...

The recent Sputnik5 COVID-19 procurement deal, with the Dubai-based AMERI,  must be cancelled swiftly. It is hypocritical and nonsensical for any public official to use the lame excuse that diplomacy, thus far, has failed to make COVID-19 vaccines available to Ghana - when there has not been a direct call, to either Russian President Putin,  or U.S. President Biden,  by President Akufo-Addo: appealing to them to help a longstanding African ally, of both those two great world powers, to make vaccines available to Ghana, on an emergency basis. 

Furtheremore, both sides in Parliament, ought to come together, to pass a new law, under a certificate of urgency,  banning the procurement of vaccines for all global pandemics, from sources, other than the manufacturers, directly, and, or, global multilateral vaccine alliances, such as the Gavi COVAX AMC, making vaccines available to financially-challenged, but relatively well-managed  emerging nations, such as our homeland Ghana. 

The ruling New Patriotic Party's leaders would be wise to heed the advice of their own very good media friend, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako,  and cancel the price-gouging AMERI COVID-19 procurement agreement.  Enough is enough. Haaba. That kind of big-thieves-in-high-places self-seeking,  will definitely lead to a loss of  public confidence, in the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. That, God forbid, will be disastrous for Mother Ghana, oooo. Yaaanomuaa, Ghanafuo,  abr3 mu, ooooo. Yooooooo...

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How The IGP Can Turn Ghana Into A Heaven-On-Earth For The Law-Abiding Nationwide

Ghana's Inspector General of Police (IGP), can turn Ghana into a heaven-on-earth, for the law-abiding, simply by turning our beautiful country, into a hell-on-earth, for all criminally-minded individuals. Full stop. No libilaba.

And, if the IGP, and the top brass of the Ghana Police Service, finally ditch the calcified colonial-mentality-ethos, currently underpinning the institutional-culture of law-enforcement agencies in Ghana, our nation will then become a paradise for honest people nationwide. 

That is because the new no-one-is-above-the-law-mentality, replacing the old colonial- mentality that made them kow-tow, in knee-jerk-fashion, to our ruling-élites (which will then permeate the Ghana Police Service),  will make them carry out their duties, just  like their British counterparts, do, daily -  ensuring that the law in our democracy,  is truly  no respector of persons, finally. Case closed. 

The newly-confident Ghana Police Service,  will thus focus, on,  and, target, the biggest crooks of all, in Ghana, proactively  - regularly arresting the big-thieves-in-high-places,  who dominate our country, regardless of whichever ruling political party happens to be in power, at any given point in time, in our 4th Republic. That will be heavenly, paaa, ankasa, ooooooo, Ghanafuo. Wow. Nice. Cool.

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We Must Stop Thieves-In-High-Places From Targeting Ghana's COVID-19 Vaccine Procurement Programme

At all costs, we must stop our nation's thieves-in-high-places, from targetting Ghana's COVID-19 vaccine procurement programme. What is wrong is wrong: Our leaders must not compound the abomination that big-thieves-in-high-places seeking to profit from the shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, represents, by making excuses for the price-gouging that took place, in the shabby story of the purchase from dubious characters in Dubai, of the Russian manufactured Sputnik5 vaccines, at U.S.$19 instead of U.S.$10 per vaccine.

 

Humanity now faces a new era of serial pandemics as zoonotic diseases increase with the destruction of forests globally. President Akufo-Addo has rightly stressed the importance of having our own vaccine manufacturing plants to produce safe vaccines year round. Speaking personally, I have now lost faith in the Sputnik5 vaccine, and even if it is the only one Ghana can procure, going forward,  I will do without it, and rather focus instead  on staying safe in disciplined-proactive-fashion.

I am pretty sure that there are many other Ghanaians, too, who have also lost faith in our nation's coronavirus vaccine programme, which has now been targeted by the greed-filled big-thieves-in-high-places, amongst our mostly shortsighted ruling-élites. Ey3 ensem piiiiiii...

As a wise and aspirational people, before Ghana starts producing vaccines locally, we must ensure that our ruling-élites stick to the agreed national plan, to procure vaccines mostly from the Gavi COVAX AMC,  if we are to prevent them from playing Russian roulette with our lives, in the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, nationwide. At all costs, Ghanaians must stop the greed-filled and powerful thieves-in-high-places, in the current administration, from targetting our nation's COVID-19 vaccine procurement programme. Full stop. Enough is enough. Haaba. Ghanafuo abr3, oooo. Yooooooo... 

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Let Thy Will Be Done Lord God Almighty - Make Ghana's President Akufo-Addo Declare The Atewa Forest Reserve A National Park

 Dear God Almighty,

As an act of atonement, Ghanaians  planted countless  trees, on 11th June, 2021 -  and will now make it an annual event, to be known as Greening Ghana Day. 

Lord God Almighty, please let President Akufo-Addo take to the skies, with the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia 11, and fly over the whole of Akyem Abuakwa, in one of the Ghana Air Force's  helicopters, to survey the damage done to our natural heritage, Kwaebibirim,  by greedy gold miners.

As soon as they touch down again, please touch their hearts - and let President Akufo-Addo ignore the advice of all his technocrats, and declare the Atewa Forest Reserve, a national park, from which all mining will be banned. 

It will save what is a declared Globally Significant Biodiversity Area  (GSBA), which is also the watershed for three major river systems, the Densu, Ayensu and Birim rivers, from which treated water is sourced, treated and dustributed, to over 5 million people across southern Ghana, from destruction. Awurade Nyankupon Tw3diepong, Okyenman, di3,  y3n enma, enseii, da.   Let thy will be done, O Lord God Almighty.  Amen!

We Must Unite And Work For The Common Good Of the Generality Of Ghanaian Society

Ghanaians need to unite to work for vital common-good causes. Sadly, most of the members of our nation's  political class, although pretty close to each other  (albeit in scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours fashion),  delight in giving the world  the false impression that  they  dislike each other intensely. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth.

In that respect, they are doing enormous harm to Mother Ghana, and abnegating their leadership-responsibilities to  the masses of the  Ghanaian populace - for the Covid-era challenges we currently face,  as an aspirational African people,  are enormous. We must unite to confront those challenges - all of which could destabilise our very beautiful and relatively peaceful country.  

What we need to focus on - instead of the never-ending-bickering - is the creation of a truly enabling environment, which empowers Ghana's private sector's  young entrepreneurs, to successfully develop new start-up businesses, which  can create wealth that remains in Ghana, and generate jobs galore, nationwide.

Above all, the more responsible sections of the Ghanaian media, ought to demand that all our nation's  politicians (who, in any case, across the spectrum,  constanty insist that the private sector is the engine of growth for Ghana's real economy, in their view),  must now unite and support the  government's 5-year Greening Ghana initiative, designed to create new green capital for a new national green economy, tomorrow, and the World Bank-backed  Ghana Economic Transformation Project's Ghana Enterprise Agency's (GEA) Grant Support for SMEs initiative, to ensure the  success of both those laudable longterm  initiatives: for the common-good of  the generality of Ghanaian society.

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Western Democracies Must Not Aid And Abet Crimes Of Africa's Ruling-Elites' Ruthless And Murderous Big-Thieves-In-High-Places

Terrorist groups, people-smuggling syndicates, human traffickers, ransomware criminals, cyber-fraudsters and armed robbers are amongst the biggest global security threats, worldwide.  That is where bilateral security collaboration between Western democracies and emerging nations ought to be focused on. 

In the COVID-19 era, activists speaking truth to power, to protect their countries from the big-thieves-in-high-places amongst ruling-élites across Africa, are heroes deserving of praise. They are not definitely not criminals.

That is why  Britain's (and the EU's) secret services, should not aid corrupt African politicians, to harass the continent's activists  -  using phising-strategies to disrupt  and fake their online posting on big-tech's  social media platforms. 

That is a crime against humanity deserving of prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Western democracies should never aid and abet the crimes of emerging nations' ruling-élites - who properly defined, are ruthless and murderous criminals,  robbing their countries blind in broad daylight. 

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Is Ghanaian Democracy Now Being Undermined By Judicial-High-Handedness?

"Would-be authoritarians at times seek to capture courts and deploy them in

abusive ways as part of a broader project of democratic erosion, because
courts often enjoy legitimacy advantages that make their antidemocratic
moves harder to detect and respond to both domestically and
internationally."

      

      - David Landau and Rosalind Dixon (Abusive Judicial Review:

Courts Against Democracy)

Is Ghanaian democracy  being undermined by judicial-high-handedness? Were that so, it would be ironical - for the Martyrs to the rule of law monument, stands at the  entrance to Ghana's Supreme Court building.

As it happens, that monument is dedicated to the memory of three High Court judges (Justices Kwadwo Adjetey Agyepong, Poku Sarkodie and Mrs. Cecelia Korangteng-Addo), callously murdered, in 1982, during the brutal military dictatorship of the Provisional National Defence Council  (PNDC).

Subsequent Investigations into their murder,  revealed that they were taken from their homes at night, and taken to the Bundase Military Training Camp,  where they were murdered - and set alight, to burn, on the 30th of June, 1982. As a result of a downpour of rain that day, their bodies weren't burnt beyond recognition, aiding their identification when the gruesome crime was discovered.

The monument dedicated to their memory (which displays the sculptured-busts of the three high court judges),  is known as the Martrys to the rule of law. Unfortunately, a bust of Major Acquah was not added to that of the three high court judges. Pity.

It is important to point out that there were other heroes, such the media's P. V. Ansah andTommy Thompson,  who also lost their lives, in the fight to restore Ghanaian democracy and establish a new system, anchored on the rule of law  - a development that was made possible,  when the 1992 Constitution was promulgated, and presidential and parliamentary elections held to usher in civilian rule, and mark the end of the military-dominated dictatorship of the PNDC. 

It is therefore ironic, that today,  somehow the impression is fast-gaining ground (perhaps unfairly, since for all we know,  perhaps  in reality, they might be saintly individuals, who mean well for our homeland  Ghana, in their own unique-ways), that a gentleman whose  critics insist is the most partisan Attorney General, ever, in Ghana's history, thus far, Hon. Godfrey Dame, is allegedly working in tandem with the current Chief Justice, using fear (of being charged with contempt), to cow regime-critics, who resent the idea that judges in a democracy are beyond criticism, and that critiquing them openly,  undermines our  democratic system. 

With the greatest respect, judges are public servants, who, like other public servants (compensated amply with taxpayers' cash, let us not forget),  are accountable to the citizenry - and thus can be freely criticised when the need to do so arises, in the supreme national interest: because no one in our democratic  system of  governance,  including even the President of the Republic of Ghana, is above criticism. Full stop. 

To say otherwise,  is self-serving nonsense - by stealth-hardline-plutocrats masquerading as democrats, seeking to use fear, to prolong and perpetuate, the domination of Ghana, by the greedy and clever big-thieves-in-high-places, amongst our mostly self-serving ruling-élites. With respect, it is thus not unfair for any patriotic Ghanaian, to say, today, that Ghanaian democracy is now being undermined by judicial-high-handedness. Cool.

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Is Hon. Dominic Ayine Being Persecuted?

 "At the heart of the First Amendment is the freedom to engage in vigorous public debate, and the Constitution guarantees that citizens, including lawyers, have the right to criticize public officials, including judges."

 -  Nokofiooo,  from the U.S., Ghanafuo.

Has the time now come for judges in Ghana to be made to understand clearly that they are definitely not above criticism, anaaa? And does the latest move against Hon. Ayine by the Chief Justice  amounts to witch-hunting, anaaaa? Pure and simple? Some people don't know when to let sleeping dogs lie, koraaaa.   Hmmm, eyeasem, ooooo...

The judiciary in this country still doesn't get it: Ghana is neither a dictatorship, nor the personal fiefdom, of a privileged few - whose wish is that we are cowed: to allow their dream-kleptocracy to evolve into a banana  republic sans dissenting voices: so that judgement-debts will become the new way to create, loot and share.

This is a liberal democracy, ooooo, surprising though it might be to some   -  and Ghanaians are free citizens with constitutionally  guaranteed rights: not the serfs of our ruling elites. Sod off, wai, Massa. Who born dog?  My name is Kofi Thompson  - and I fear nobody in Ghana. Let them come and  pick me up.  Yabr3 wu! Haaba.

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Speaking Truth To Power Is Neither A Crime In Ghana - Nor Is It In The UK Either

 One hopes that the UK's visiting Home Secretary, Priti Patel, will use her favourite Parliamentary  cop-out-phrase, "I can't comment on individual cases", to deter the nosey-parkers here, who think they can use Britain's Home Secretary, to collar some of  us. It won't work, wai. No way. Full stop.

She knows perfectly well that there will be hell-to-pay big-trouble for her, if the UK media gets wind of such an egregious data-privacy-invasion-fishing-expedition,  wai. Clueless sods.

 

Wherever in the world we go to, we will continue to criticise Ghana's big-thieves-in-high-places, and their gormless regime-lackeys, saaaaa,  till Truth-Kingdom cometh, ooooo. We are fearless, wai. Full stop.

Ghana aban, Kofi Thompson is not a criminal, wai - and speaking truth to power is not a crime, koraaaa,  oooo. Yooooooo...

Massa, stop wasting scarce state resources  on someone harmless, who is a patriot who loves Mother Ghana passionately - and still supports President President Akufo-Addo 100 percent: but loathes his party that has now evolved into a criminal organisation in all but name, in order to obtain party-funding. Repeat: Speaking truth to power isn't a crime in Ghana - and neither is it one in the UK,  either.   Who born dog? Haaba.

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To Whom The Cap Fits...

Human nature can be very complex. When Captain Smart, the famed broadcast journalist,  stated recently, that he was shown begging-text-messages from journalists by two politicians, I smiled ruefully to myself - and wondered if he was referring to me. That would be slander, oooo, Massa. Yooooooo...

Once upon a time, I was in the office of a very good personal friend of mine, who also happened to be a senior cabinet minister, at the time, when he called Captain Smart. My relationship with that particular politician, was well known by a few 'senior journalists'.

Our relationship  was based on the understanding that if he messed up, I would not spare him, if it was in the national interest, to either expose or criticise him. And it was the same for him too,  if I also messed up ethically as a journalist: he would never intervene to rescue me from my own foolishness.  Case closed.

It  was an understanding that worked well for both of us. Today, as it happens, he is in a very powerful position - but I keep my distance from him. That day he called Captain Smart, in my presence, I gave him the title deed to a large parcel of land (containing over 200 plots)  as repayment-assurance for some emergency cash I needed quickly. As it happens that land still belongs to my family - I am not a lazy chap and my brain  works paaaaa . That wasn't begging, ooooo, Amanfuo. Yooooooo...

The second politician, was someone whom I once risked my life, for, by informing him of top secret plot, by the Bureau of National Investigations  (BNI), to frame him up, try him in court, and then jail him. I gave a written statement, of that top secret BNI plot to frame him up, to the  law court, where he was being prosecuted, through his lawyer. When his then boss heard what I had done, he marvelled that a Ghanaian journalist could  do such a thing.  Such is life.

To thank me, that framed-up politician,  offered me a large wad of big-denomination-cash.  I refused it outright,  and told him that I wasn't that kind of person - and that in any case, I would do same for anyone else,  who was being persecuted, by the system, to please the  powers that be. Simple.

I would therefore be surprised,  if such a person showed my text message (sent to him last year), to anyone else - for I approached him during a crisis, which can befall anyone, and which virtually any honest person in a crisis situation, would also not hesitate to do same, and approach a supposed  friend, whom he or she had once risked life and limb for. I have  always thought of him as a real gentleman. Hmmm, eyeasem, oooo...

Finally, I am also disappointed in my young green-causes  friend,  who since he went to Ofori Panin Fie, at Kyebi, not too long ago, now ignores me completely. Eeiiii, nipa eny3, oooooo. Wonders.

Massa, the question to ponder over is: Where were those arrogant sods at Ofori Panyin Fie (who today think that they have a legitimate  right to takeover my family's freehold  lands,  in Akyem Abuakwa, as if Ghana were their personal fiefdom), when my late Grandpa, P. E. Thompson Esq, was forking out thousands of pounds to acquire those lands, between 1921 and 1933 - and going to the added  expense of having them all surveyed, and registered, at the Deeds Registry, at Christiansburg, in Accra?  Massa, Kofi Thompson eny3, easy-walkover, saaaa, koraaa,  ooooo. Yoooooooo... 

Finally, I have kept the title National Review  managing editor, on my LinkedIn profile, as a  virtual-till-the-end-of-time-protest, in condemnation of an alleged collaborative-plot between the BNI, and a pro-NPP media professional - executed when they got wind of the fact that I was planning to establish a newspaper of my own, to be known as The National Review: and promptly published a  fake-edition of the yet-to-be published newspaper  that distastefully caricatured the late  President John Atta Mills, of blessed memory. Hmmm, eyeasem,  oooo...

That pure nonsense-on-bamboo-stilts, eventually ended up at the then Kabral Blay-Amiher-led National Media Commission (NMC),  with me successfully refuting outright,  that monstrous  made-up-stealth-shebang. So, when you come across that LinkedIn  profile, dear reader, it is a perpetual-virtual-protest, with a diabolical-story behind it, wai.  Small boys are young, ampaaa!

Sent from Samsung tablet.