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20:15
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
This has been on my mind for some time now. Why do we in Ghana have a bad past of selling our home-grown companies to foreigners at all? I'm so irated so that I cannot do a full write-up on this topic.
We sell everything that we have not proved capable of managing. But is that the way to go about these things. Do we want to improve as a people, or employ consultants from overseas who only corrupt us the more, or sell half shares of our properties to other nationals who only shortchange us?
If there is anything to sell at all, we should sell the government of Ghana to the dogs!!
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12:00
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Why is it that we as a people know what is right and never do it? In this modern age, a teacher in Ghana receives One Ghana Cedis as a monthly salary. That very same teacher gets a meagre salary at the end of the month and gets poor conditions of service for teaching.
Why this is so, I'm sure it is a puzzle for us all. But it ceases to be a puzzle the moment we confront the issues and stop the excuses.
In Ghana, the teacher is expected to teach and raise the future leader. Nobody cares about the tools he or she needs to perform those tools. So what is the use of a farmer without her or his farming tools? In times past, parents sent gifts (including foodstuffs) to teachers in the schools. Today, we all see things differently and sadly so to our disadvantage.
The governments (I know Dr. Kwame Nkrumah did better with teachers and even went to the extent of establishing a university college just for the training of teachers) over the years have been disappointment in looking out for the teacher. Instead of things getting better, it is rather getting worse. Records available show that a large chunk of teachers who leave the classroom to go and further their education, say at the university, do not return to the service. Those teachers who take the study leave (this group receive some funds from the Education Service) return to the classroom only to leave again within 3 years never to return. What accounts for this?
Take a quick glance at the kind of service offered to teachers. It is simply poor and they have complained. We want teachers take up duties in rural Ghana, and yet there no package serving as an incentive. I had an interview with 4 teachers who are now studying for a degree at the University of Ghana. I asked them if they will return to the classroom after their studies. The response from one of the teachers was revealing "I graduated with colleagues who a year or two later have acquired a house or apartment and are leaving good. How am I supposed to stay teaching and remain poor? That my friend works in a bank and the other is an accountant!"
He has a point. All the teachers told me they will leave the teaching service after a year or two unless things improve.
Now the National Association of Graduate Teachers has proceeded on strike action. I support them in a way simply because it appears those government officials understand nothing aside strikes and suffering on a mass scale. They are so absurd. A bunch of western educated elite who cannot make a decision just because they are education. Their very education has become their misery. The Ghana Education Service, ministry of education and the executive should organise themselves and come up with solutions to solve the problem. One Ghana Cedi for an allowance indeed!!
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22:02
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Seriously speaking, should the New Patriotic Party be thinking it will return to power come 2010? Pal, I am not about to talk of a party with its own internal infernos. We all have our problems. Over the weekend, the party elected new national executives to lead the party and later nominations will be opened for those interested in leading the party in 2012 to file their candidacy. I still cannot put the thought away. Why don't Ghanaians allow the ruling National Democratic Congress 8 years?
The NDC may not be Ghana's best shot--it is needless to mention the pitfalls we have seen in just a little over a year of their governance. I do not even have to mention the already broken promises.
I mean I do not agree with the NDC and their mode of governance. But I believe they should be given the chance, the goodwill, just like president Kufuor received in 2001.
The NPP should work hard within its rank and develop good plans for this country instead of fighting among themselves.
I think we should give the NDC the chance to prove their point. 4 years is just not enough. And I still have my doubts about the premature abortion of policies in Ghana. 4 years is such a short time to determine if the current educational policies is the best or not. Therein my argument lies. Mine has nothing to do with political power. In 2001, Ghanaians experience sharp general hardships. fast-forward to 2009, a similar situation has reared its ugly head. I'm sure it will happen again in 2012 if a change should happen.
I am just one man. No one knows what will happen in 2012, but for now we must pressure government to intitutionalised some of these policies and save Ghanaians the usual dosage of the suffering pills they never bought.
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21:40
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
In Africa, when the woman is admired and her beauty is spoken of or written about, it is because she is beautiful really. If Europeans and their descendants think it is objectification when their men talk about it, so be it for them. Here in Africa we love our women and we have ways of showing this affection. One of these mediums is to talk about their body, their womanhood, their intelligence et cetera. It is Africa and we have our own ways of doing things. For far too long, so many things have been pushed down on us to swallow without mastication.
As for those African women who are pushing down our throat this damaging idea that is already choking us; as for those our sisters who are deceiving other African women into seeing things the Euro-American way, they must stop before it is too late. They must pause and think through our history—if they have an idea about what it is—whether telling African women they are beautiful, that they have nicely drawn buttocks and shape, turns them into objects. Why must it be so? As for those Europeans who propagate their ideas in Africa, I have no words for them. African women should see that African men them wholly, that they do not see women as object so whoever tries to make them think that only seeks the disintegration of African men and women.
Those Europeans and Americans who try to tell us what we should do in Africa or believe in do not have an idea of what this place is or which people live here. To them Africa is this land mass filled with nation-states,
the very nation-state their forefathers created at the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885.Now I feel like singing!!!
From the street corner to that shop on the high street in Ouagadougou, Dakar or Zimbabwe the “white Barbie doll” must be banished and the sale of it halted forever. The children in our villages and cities must be stopped from singing about snow and the Christmas tree. They hold nothing for us as Africans. And if those reverend fathers love this continent very much like I do, they will understand the psychological trauma they put these children through.
From the primary schools in Nairobi to the secondary schools in Ghana,
our young girls must be allowed to grow their hair. Mothers and fathers who pressure their children into weaving their hair with some horse tail from China or some jell cream from London should cease from committing this crime. They only kill our young girls, their confidence in themselves as Africans and anything African. And if those parents love their daughters and their future like I do, they will see wisdom and stop perpetuating the colonial madness meant to imprison African women psychologically, making them feel inferior of themselves that they need the hair of a European to augment their essence as African women.
From Kejetia in Kumasi to Makola in Accra, let the women feel proud of their body, big or small.
May they or their daughters never feel the pressure from the films they see on TV to reduce their size to the size of the sugarcane stick. Let the men continue to admire and to glorify the women for what and who they are, both physically and intellectually. If the women are clever like I think they are, they will know that their body is spoken of by African men not because they seek to objectify the women, but because they love and adore them the way they are.
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21:35
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
This month should be big. I plan to dedicate it all to Africa, the liberation that was halted and aborted after independence, and the fight that we must fight still. Please read on...
“The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos. Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say “Africa.” In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist.” Ryszard Kapuscinski in "The Shadow of the Sun"
So let’s get this done and over done with. We are not alone and neither have we been left alone by our uninvited Invaders and Destroyers. Whatever we have been up to, we have always had detractors, and guests who poke their noses into our porridge. With their physical gone, a dirty psychological game has been designed to entrap us, to link us continually with them. We as Africans are not so innocent of this; we are not just bystanders watching our house go up in flames. Our leaders (the caretakers of this grand system put in place by the colonisers) have connived with them.
The creativity of a people, an essential art we used to have, has been lost albeit not totally. However, the situation that the present African finds herself or himself in is a very conflicting one. Faced with the pressures of a system that is largely European, inhumane and non-African (most cannot even tell what is and what is not African), the young African can only be consumed by the system.
For those of you who are probably thinking now that this is a pan-African narrative you have heard over and over, check again. There is no doubt that the West seeks Africa’s failure. I do not have to mention it. Their grandparents did it with force, today their sons and daughters pull the mental strings put up their forefathers. And you ask “what about all those loans and grants?” Check again, they never benefitted the people of this continent; but, it rather served the destructive purposes of the same West. We have a bunch of Western-educated elite who have white European and American advisors on their throat spending the same loans and grants from these very European and American governments.
They never really help! And please do not worry yourself with too much thinking about why we do not stop this. I remember former president Kufuor saying Africa does not need the loans and grants; that if Europe and America want to extend a hand in good faith, they should share idea, share technology for development. The thing is that there is no reason why they should when Europe’s sustenance (the advantages of a good life and the feeding of their industries) depends on Africa’s failure (her inability to advance, remain impoverished and turn to Europe and America for help, chaos).
The solution lies here and we must do something with our intellectuals, our academics. A grand body of African researchers could be assembled for the common interest of this continent, our motherland. We must begin to do away with calling ourselves Angolans, Zimbabweans, Togolese, Egyptians, Nigerians or Ghanaians. We must begin to teach African history prior to the advent of Europeans and the beginning of our destruction. We must teach our children to think beyond their artificial borders.
In case you did not know, our governments have been compromised. We vote them, but they do not carry our wishes and purposes. The governance systems we run are not African, they are not democratic and that is why if anything substantial could be done in Africa for Africa, we must bypass the bed sharers of the Destroyers.
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5:16
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Just like any other good artist (and you can add the 'e' if you like) out there, I have the third eye of things. So one time, I considered the third eye of what educational policy has been in Ghana, and I decided to write this poem on it. Our politicians have become scientists in a lab testing policies on our children. Before the results of the test is out, they abort the test prematurely, then institute another test. What kind of life is this? But I promise to come back to this topic. Or, you just have to remind me of it.
"The Present"
Somebody is not thinking
Minds dislodged in heads
A fountain at Legon springs forth
A first year defecates on some dried faeces in the toilet
Wiping himself with leaves expunged
From the centre pages of his newly bought book
The best burning lights in the wind
Of mind domination has been lost.
Of doings bearing inedible fruits today
The fashioned streamlining of the thought process
Long buried in the trenches of doom in ancient days
Altered, altered, altered
Every imposed master pig-testing Minds
The openings of light on the hill
Has become refuge not to the knowledge seeking
Certainly not a hub for new things
Certainly not the Nation’s best hope
Legon, September 2008
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19:41
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The beauty of life, therein lies the worst ugliness. I read somewhere that beauty is sought in religion and love and if it is sought just for pleasure it degrades the seeker. I dare say that the seeking of beauty via love is so much of a powerful force so often underrated by us all. I recall Che Guevera of Cuba. It was pure love though some may disagree with his methods. Same goes for Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and of Africa and for all black conscious folks around this ugly yet beautiful planet.
The chaos has always been the method, not the love? But see, these men are driven by sheer passion, love for country and people. Regardless, of all the politics, Dr. Nkrumah stands tall today. Look around the globe and it is difficult to find a match. The man may have his faults just like anyone driven by love, by beauty, by passion. That is how the mistakes are made; but, in the end, victory is celebrated. What albeit is most important is what happens en route to that journey.
A man speaking ahead of his time, fraught with detractors from within and without, still forged ahead with his convictions about how a new people can develop themselves without patronage from destroyers anywhere. And once convictions are formed, they must defended or so says Gandhi.
On 24 February, a few soldiers out of sheer avarice with the aid of destroyers and haters of Africa's independence overthrew Dr. Nkrumah. The man held no beef against those poor souls. But what has happened since that singular incident remains for all Ghanaians (and the Africa Union) to see. A chequered past filled with bigots and comical military characters rolled our development further back. Progress stalled as we all watched. That day was Ghana's Day of Shame!!! And we are still suffering for it.
The debate of who is founder of this great nation is balderdash to me. It should be for any serious person wanting to see us improve us a people. I sense I am getting a little angry now. But one more word:
A pal told me that Kwame Nkrumah would not sit and watch Ghanaians sleep on the streets while he slept in a presidential palace. Indeed, he would be turning in his grave by now. His smile will only be that what he set out to achieve is still remembered by those few insightful ones.
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14:58
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
In class today, my English professor raised questions regarding the way Ghanaians living in Ghana use politeness when speaking English. What was her beef? You probably have not thought about this, but Ghanaians have a funny way of using 'please' for politeness. The point to note is that English as a language offers a variety of ways in which one can express politeness during speech.
Generally speaking, in Ghana this is chiefly done via the use of 'please.' And pal, if you speak any of the over 40 languages in Ghana, you would know why this is happening. So I kept laughing about this issue of 'please' replacing 'can/could,' 'will/would' cum other forms like 'I was wondering.'
In actual fact, it has caused problems for other people in this country so make the effort.
Ok I'm done with that one. This Sunday, Ghana's number literary show spearheaded by poetry live on Radio Univers 105.7 came off as always. But here is the news, you can now listen to the a recorded version of the show
here and
here also. It is 10 minutes each. More is to come so watch out.
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19:03
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I have written about this before. If I remember very well, it was when news broke of the foreign affairs building in Accra, and it was not the first then but the third in Accra alone. The fires has not stopped since then.
Following the earlier fire outbreaks has been that of the house of former President Rawlings and the ministry of information. Just this evening, news reports has it that the Ghana Broadcast Corporation has caught fire. Fortunately, the fire service have saved the situation.
We have poor knowledge of protection when it comes to fire. All of us! The national fire service has stepped up its own efforts to educate Ghanaians on fire fighting and prevention. It even has a website for this purpose and others. But it is a service with less resources. What it means is that they cannot respond as quickly and promptly as they are expected to.
And if there is something good at all in all this fires, it is that it should make us take the necessary steps we have yet to take. We should equip the fire service instead of signing away contracts that never get executed to expatriates and giving car loans to MPs who have several cars already!!! We are a nation on fire, yet we are sleeping through it.
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16:54
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The narrative goes like this: The Black man is corrupt by nature, corruption is indigenous to the African continent, to its people; the white European is incorruptible and also a righteous anti-corruption campaigner. But I tell you it is all a media dance, a perpetuation of the contamination of the psychology of a people to see themselves as evil, capable of evil only. Obama continued this malarkey when he came here July 2009. But that will come later; after all he is a brother of the land so we must be careful.
I remember while reading the New African magazine (NA Jan 2010), I came across minutes of meetings (Annex I of the Vodafone papers) of secret negotiations between former President Kufuor and Vodafone International Holding B.V cum British government team when the latter group wanted to acquire a stake in the state-owned Ghana Telecom. The secret meeting included British deputy commissioner in Accra, Menna Rawlings, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin and James Cribb, head of UK Trade and Investment at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
These meetings took place at a time when Vodafone’s bid for GT had been thrown out by the transaction advisors for government, Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC). So why was the UK government officials meeting former President Kufuor? Was it to bribe former president Kufuor and force their way in? Several of these meetings took place between Vodafone and former President Kufuor while the bidding process was still on-going and was officially under EDC. The Vodafone papers give dates: 9 November 2007, 13-14 November 2007 all in Accra and later 9 March 2008 in London.
Also note that Telkom SA had made an approved offer ‘based on the enterprise value of $1.65bn for 100% of GT representing a purchase price 947m for 66.67% equity stake.’ This offer exceeds any previous offer by any bidder. Yet former President Kufuor met with Vodafone and UK officials. Vodafone submitted a new offer of $900m representing 70% shares plus the Fire Optics Backbone. This was far lower than what Telkom SA had presenting properly to the transaction advisors. On the other hand, former President Kufuor negotiated and agreed on the price among other things. What happened after is a story we all know. The government terminated the contract of Ecobank Development Corporation of the Ecobank Group which it had appointed to strike a deal on behalf of government and the people of Ghana.
But the UK government had succeeded in sending our laws to the refuse dump and had helped in entrenching corruption one more time. Remember the Mabey and Johnson case where it was alleged that some government officials in Ghana and also in Jamaica had been bribed by the UK company?
Ghana is no stranger to such news of European powers helping to entrench corruption in Africa (through their home companies) while on the other hand these very European powers make corruption as African, and for Africans. These European governments are more corrupt, even in conscience. But let me come back to Mr. Craig Murray’s case because the Brit made some revealing statements. In his article, he said the UK government prohibited him from making any statements that will show any UK company as involved in corruption. Mr. Murray was told NEVER TO MENTION BRITISH CORRUPTION!
When it was discovered that UK MPs were stealing from public coffers and taking huge monies for buildings they never intended to occupy, the speaker of parliament resigned and nothing happened to the MPs themselves, the corrupt ones. But that wasn’t all; the story was reported never as corruption! I couldn’t help laughing at this people. Who are they kidding? That was a question Baffour Ankomah posed in his column in New African, Baffour’s Beefs when he wrote of how the West endorsed a sham election in Afghanistan and condemned one in Africa.
It is for the African to be aware of the sinister agenda of Western Europe and America. The thievery will not stop. Their companies will continue to show disrespect to our processes, to our laws, to our people. We are the only ones who can stop this devilish rundown. And if you have yet to hear, there are reported cases of misconduct by these oil companies presently in Ghana including EO.
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16:45
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
“I must never mention British company corruption.” Words of Mr. Craig Murray, making reference to the UK government attempt to shut him up.
He is a former British envoy (deputy commissioner) to Ghana, chairman of 3 companies (one of which is in the energy sector), frequent visitor to Ghana (he says he loves this country) and ultimately calls himself an “anti-corruption” campaigner.
The majority of Ghanaians until this Brit was given the space to make known his allegation, had no idea of the Mr. Craig Murray. Mr. Murray, earlier, published an article in which he made damning allegations against Zakhem International Construction Limited and Balkan also of bribing government officials et cetera involved in energy deals.
THE CONTRACT
Well over a 100 million Euros of contract sum was awarded, 39 million paid by the Ghana government paid up front to this energy company to work at Kpong. 3 years after the contract and payments, nothing has happened; not even a foundation has been laid yet at the Kpong power station. A reporter from Citi fm corroborated Mr. Murray’s statement.
According to Mr. Murray he approached former President Kufuor and his Chief of Staff Mr. Kojo Mpianim at the time indicating to them that no construction work is been done at the Kpong power station. He therefore requested Mr. Mpianim to go with him to the site who was disappointed that noi work has been done.
Some years later Mr. Murray writes about these issues espousing the corrupt acts of these European companies. He also added that he spoke to His Excellency the vice president of the Republic of Ghana cum the minister for Energy Dr. Oteng Adjei. It is worth noting that we are told investigations into the matter has commenced but NOT without the interference of the UK government; and there is the possibility of investigators inviting Mr. Murray to appear before it. Mr. Murray said on radio that he will be willing to fly into Ghana.
THE STRANGE HAPPENS
As Mr. Murray continued to spew smelly accusations in the Ghanaian and international media, another ugly monster reared its head. The former Chief of Staff of former President Kufuor while speaking on radio in reaction to Mr. Murray’s assertion said former president Kufuor’s administration had awarded a contract to Mr. Murray to help him out of his financial difficulties at the time.
The substance of Mr. Murray’s issue matters more than his motives. To make it short what was done wrong and by whom. If what the Chief of Staff was true, then there was a breach of the procurement law when Mr. Murray was given a contract out of favour. But see, if Mr. Murray had not asked the Chief of Staff or any other official for that matter, would the whole thing have taken place? By extension, it would have been difficult for Ghana to know the possibility of some UK companies taking Ghanaian tax payer monies and running off with it. It raises serious issues also about following up to inspect construction contracts awarded to companies to see if these companies are executing the projects they have been paid for to do.
Mr. Murray told Ghanaians that he got to know of the corrupt activities of these companies from the WEST because he was involved in the energy sector in Ghana (remember he is chairman of one company at that). Instead of addressing the issues, Mr. Mpianim decides to rubbish Mr. Murray’s allegations. In the process, he gulps up more than he should have thereby raising further questions.
A ranking member on the parliamentary committee on Energy, Moses Asaga said “we couldn’t see anything new they had done. I don’t think Balkan had added anything. The project manager who is an American was not transparent.” Now that is a serious statement.
Mr. Murray said himself that foreign powers are “diplomatically putting Ghana off.” Are these not the very governments that tell us in Africa that we must fight corruption? It is obvious that when corruption activities involve Europeans and Americans, it must not be mentioned or if mentioned it must not be corruption!
If what Mr. Craig Murray telling lies or simple truths, we should just disclose these things. May be Mr. Murray is one of those repented Europeans who are true than their governments. We should just investigate these allegations. Period!
myjoyonline.com
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16:39
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
THE MADNESS OF POWER
But then and again humanity want none of that really. We still want to exercise that independent right to show that we are humans, that we are powerful. The spokesman of former President Rawlings, Mr. Kofi Adams, says he reported to the police upon hearing on Radio Gold that a panellist has knowledge of who caused the fire at the former first family’s residence. He then proceeded to Top Radio apparently to secure a copy of the programme that morning while the programme was still airing. And guess what, a crowd gather at the radio station and the police appear there also. (Now that is pure balderdash because there was no way Mr. Adams could have secured a copy of the morning show while it was still running. And why the hell did the police follow him? The police said they received reports that a crowd had gathered at Radio Gold and that the crowd threatened the life of one of the panellists on the morning show. Utter absurdity!)
Pal, see I think Mr. Adams just like what the narrator of Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground says, wants to show he can exercise that power, the independent decision and justify it even if he was wrong. The charges proffered against Nana Darquah Baafi said something like publishing falsity with the intention of causing fear and panic. Damn it! Saying that the Rawlings’ burnt down their own home will not make my 9-year old brother panic! So damn it!!!
WHERE IT ALL COMES TO
If the police arrested Nana Darquah and prosecuted the case that same day (remember the attorney general is in charge of this), then all the many other cases should be prosecuted too. And before you oppose me by saying well no one reported any of those other cases, remember that it is the duty of the police service and the Attorney General and other investigative bodies to act before any case is brought before them granted the case merits their attention.
Mr. Rawlings has made several statements that merit his prosecution according to this new standard set by his own spokesman, Mr, Adams. He called former president Kufuor a thief and compared him to a convicted criminal called Ataa Ayi. He again said the executive of former president Kufuor’s administration were killers and said the New Patriotic Party was responsible for the murder of Mobilla. His almighty “boom” speech caused panic certainly. Nothing happened to him. You might want to think of selective justice, that this man Nana Darquah has suffered in jail for SPEAKING HIS MIND. But such is the foolishness of man.
The NPP MPs in parliament organised a press conference this morning and outlined some of these issues. For them, it is political persecution and vindictiveness, travesty of justice, interference of the executive in the judiciary; for me, it is public trust in the systems we have set for ourselves as a people. But human nature dictates that humanity would always want to go against rules she had set for herself. This is the pitfall we must guard against. Nana Darquah was released later this afternoon after the NPP MPs had boycotted parliamentary proceeding until further notice.
I remember the General Secretary of the now ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) referred to the 17 presidential aspirants of the New Patriotic Party as thieves gathering to elect a chief thief. Nothing happened to him.
More recently was that of the propaganda secretary of the NDC, Richard Quashigah who said the earthquake scare was started by opponents of his party. The earthquake scare caused panic, yet why wasn’t Mr. Quashigah arrested or invited by the police to substantiate his claims?
But then and again that is what happens when freedoms are protected by the dogs!
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16:00
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
On the morning of the 14th of February, upon hearing the news that the residence of the former first family has been burnt down to ashes, I turned to my roommates and said: “That is not all there is to it. I think it is possible for the Rawlings’ to have burnt down or be involved in burning down their home.” My roommates were of the same mind, burn down the house (chaos) then get a new one (solution). It all seems absolutely plausible within the dynamics and well within the grasp of any thinking mind devoid of the social filtering. I needn’t hear someone say it somewhere. I said it in my room, and like it or not, I have the right to say so wherever. If you say I’m irresponsible, then I tell you to tell the police service that as smart people, they should consider all possibilities; and, that includes the one I said in my room.
But pal oh pal; see I have been reading a lot of writers, of late, who engage with one of the basic questions of life: Meaning or Meaninglessness of this vast globe. From the journeys of Nikos Kazantzakis’ 'Report to Greco' through to Albert Camus’ third option of life in 'The Myth of Sisyphus'; John Milton’s 'Paradise Lost' to Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s brilliance and spiteful narrator in 'Notes from the Underground'.
One thing I have realised is that man is absurd. There is the alluring idea that humanity loves the normal, the order, the peace, the prosperity and the many advantages one can possibly list. That is only partially true when one considers what is supreme to all these advantages. In Dostoyevsky’s words “the advantageous of advantages.” That ultimate desire is for man to exercise his independent right to make a choice. He doesn’t need to resort to reason because in fact, his will for independent is almost always not in consonance with reason.
Now fast-forward to the 18th of February, a young man sits on radio, says the very same things my roommates and I said 4 days before, he is arrested from the radio station and presented before a circuit court that very day and is remanded in prison for 2 weeks by a judge who on two occasions while the defendants presented their case consulted his mobile phone. I do not need to say that the process is a mockery of our justice system. There are several people are in our prisons –guilty and innocent alike—who are as yet to see the face of a judge. It is not the first time an issue has been fast tracked once it involved any ‘high profile’ Ghanaian. I condemn what has happened in the past and what Mr. Adams and the Rawlings are doing today.
Several people in this country fought for the criminal libel law to be repealed and replaced with a civil one. The case of this young man should be an issue for all of us whether we sit on radio, tv or we write for the newspapers or to our blogs. If there is ever a time when one person feels the statements of another has caused or is likely to cause a defamation or anything like it, the offended person proceeds to file a law suit against the one who made the statement. In the process, we can all as a people say what we want without fear of arrest and still have a medium to address the concerns of those who feel they have not been treated right in the exercise thereof. That is civility, that is normal, and that is reason.
I continue this later!
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10:09
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
It is a done deal: Two wrong don't a right. And pal oh pal, I've been reading a lot of writers who contemplate the meaning of lifediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-3572450435661628618?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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12:16
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
So the Pentecost church has done what was so wonted of the Enlightenment Age. For the first time, something that can be termed progressive thinking on the side of the church has been put out, and well put out such that it has caused a stir.
In Ghana, if you want to see how we dress, wait till Sunday. The Pentecost church has finally come out to say that church members (the ladies specifically)can wear trousers contrary to what was the order. The College of Apostles, Prophets and Evangelists have also directed "that, the entire membership of the Church consider the issue of the covering of head by women in the spirit of [Christian maturity]..." (All marking my own).
So what does this mean? It is not the first time we have easily lifted a foreign practice and inserted it into our culture, without nativising it. We can be stupid when it comes to these things. Note that in that release, I marked "maturity." According to the College, what is contained in Corinthians 11:2-16 is not clearly put out by Paul.
I cannot help laughing. People of faith have put aside the head that God to them (or so they say) and have become just doctrinal, stuck to dogma no longer relevant in current dispensation. So the Church has seen light now?
AND SOMEONE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE uNITED sTATES EMBASSY IN GHANA? THE SITUATION IS SO HORRIBLE. WE DON NOT DO THAT TO THOSE OF THEM WHO WISH TO COME TO GHANA. SO BAD THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE A PLACE TO SIT BUT TO STAND AT THE ROADSIDE WHEN GOING FOR AN INTERVIEW.
AND ONE MORE THING, THEY TAKE TOO MUCH MONEY FROM GHANAIANS!!! HELP US!!!
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19:13
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
So I have a lot on my mind I need to get off my mind, else all I will find myself doing--as usual--will be talking out loud when I go about my duties.
I have plans to write on several issues: one is on valentine's day (first issue is why the English possessive form ['s] in there) and why we have lost our essence as a people, buying into any chaff too quickly too stupidly. Then I want to write about politics and how our first ex-president is still talking loud
February has been good so far except for the media noise and commercial nonsense. And people, I still cannot believe that after listening to an advertisement on Joy fm about valentine's day all I heard were commercial words. "Sales" "Purchase" and all the crap! Forgive me, I'm just too sad anytime I see our stupidity. We doing something without questioning any thing! So I pray St. Valentine kills me quickly before his death next year causes my death again. For now, I will drink my troubles.
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19:56
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I posted this to all those out there just so you know, in case you read somewhere that all there is to Ghana is dust, that you can get dirty if you want. I have lived my life here, and with all the problems, I can say personal cleanliness is cherished here. Now compare the images for yourself.
Someone must do this, and I have done it
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18:52
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
It is not the for the first time that Africa, or the regional block within the continent, have sat down at high level meetings to discuss trade. The problem has been how to forge ahead with intra-Africa trade.
The argument has been that most African economies are similar, they share similar characteristics and indeed most of them grow and manufacture similar products. The problem has also been churning out finished goods instead of exporting raw materials.
Most often, Africa exports more of its produce outside of the continent than within it. Some have linked this to the similar economies in Africa, but that is not the whole truth. In fact, intra-Africa trade is too possible for us to ignore. Other sectors exist other than the usual agrarian products most of us hear of.
The pharmaceutical industry is a thriving one. In Ghana alone, we can boast of huge pharmaceutical companies like Kinapharma, Ernest Chemist, Kama and many others which are not Ghanaian owned. What some of these companies have done is to penetrate their sub-regions. With the aid of their governments, they can negotiate with other governments within Africa, and it is a done deal. The Energy/Power sector is another huge area where numerous possibilities lie for African companies. And do not ignore our thriving BANKING industry. It continues to remain strong
For those who still doubt, this is what Ghana's Investment Promotion Centre is doing this year again in conjunction with ECOWAS. The Africa Investment Forum is coming up this year in Accra and investors all around the continent should look up for that. More powerful things are set to happen.
And just in case you didn't know, during the last quarter, South Africa was the most qualitative investor in Africa investing within Africa. China was the most quantitative investor. One more thing, EcoBank just opened up an office in South Africa. Now that is the African spirit.
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9:56
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The situation is gory, the future appears gloom. Young girls between the ages of 16 and 19 are getting pregnant in a small town in Ghana--New Adubeasi. The health personnel from the hospital in the area, who spoke to Joy News, said the girls do not see anything wrong with their action.
What is most shocking is that these girls were impregnated by their classmates. Apparently this is not happening for the first time. The hospital in the area has recorded several of similar cases. As if this was not enough, the abortion rate in the area is also very high. These young girls carry out the abortion themselves or with the aid of their friends. The result is that they end up in the hospital after bleeding profusely.
How this is going to change, one cannot tell. What is evident though is that sex education in the area must be increased among young people. In this effort, the parents must not be left out. A strong home can help avert such sad incidents. I just hope this does not become another morality discussion -- one that becomes religious too.
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10:12
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
When 2010 began, I had hopes just like many others who have their plates filled with events, work, lectures and people. I had personal commitments and the past 30 days has done just that for.
The love has been good although it is mostly through technology. My classes at the English department has proved as challenging as always--because reading 16 books just for one course is not cool. Radio Univers is still tapping my back, I know I'm still the best morning show host around n(I do not require synopsis from my producers; I just ask the first question and the interview is on).
So January 2010 has been successful. But as always it is not just the starting that matters. The finishing is equally important and I'm a damn good finisher.
A snapshot of of events relevant to the dying months run deep for me. The reshuffle by president Mills has attracted attention unnecessarily. Regardless of the bad publicity that characterised the start of the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, we have seen the surprises again--the Ghana Black Stars topping the list by making it to the final scoring one goal in each match. Poetry on radio has seen less this month at Radio Univers mainly because of the live broadcasts.
But 31 January will go down in great fashion. Ghana stands the chance of making history again if they beat the Pharaohs of Egypt; the Poetry Talk Party shows its head for the first time this year; the Australian tennis grand slam tournament is also knocking on my door today.
My Disappointment: Ghanaians will stupidly celebrate another white propaganda in Africa come 14 February.
My hopes: less rain on the university of Ghana campus so that I can play more tennis!
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7:33
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Culturally, there is a hurdle we must surmount as a people. A young boy or girl who asks questions is likely to be labelled. He or she is too inquisitive or more appropriately in Akan ')y3 mpenyin s3m' meaning the child is behaving like an adult. What is wrong with that, only those who say it can tell us.
Growing up as a child, i had a lot of that shoved down my throat. I spent most of my time sitting with these adults and when each time I open my little mouth to talk they say I'm 'too known.'
Believe it or not this is directly linked to the inability of the legislature to pass the bill for freedom to information. We've been told severally that there are problems with some of the instruments, but for heaven's sake, we will pass no laws if we want to clear all of that nonsense. And what are amendments for?
I'm not the only Ghanaian fed up with all the overtures parliament and the executive have displayed over the past few years. Yesterday, some well-meaning Ghanaians went on a march to express their displeasure and I wish I had joined them. This attitude must stop if we are to make progress. This bill was not tabled a year ago or during the Mills administration. The MPs are playing the same tune to this freedom to information bill as they have done to the Youth policy.
Somehow, for some reason, I have this eerie feeling that my clever 10-year old brother is been told by a by-passer, a teacher or by some older person at around Osu that he should shut his question asking mouth
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19:23
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
A team that Ghanaians, mostly football journalists, have tagged as team B—an apparent reference to the youthful nature of the players—have made their way into the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations’ in Angola beating the host nation on their way. Only few people saw the wisdom is using these young lads. The coach—who I congratulate for mastering his fears and having the effrontery to use the Nations’ Cup as preparatory grounds for the World Cup, later this year in South Africa—will obviously feel proud of his boys who he has imposed so much trust in to secure his future as coach of the Black Stars.
The team has obviously risen above the group stage errors have showed maturity in defence, and a win is all that is needed. How it arrives is not the issue. The Ghanaian media will always say one thing or the other. They are better coaches than the coach and most certainly know more about player selection. Ahead of the tournament in Angola, they rained in attacks on the coach for excluding our so-called stars. Many Ghanaians said the players were inexperienced. But ask anyone who passes such a comment about the team to point to any of the inexperienced players and they fail. All of them play high level football and most of them have, indeed, played at the world cup or a major tournament.
What was not said of Asamoah Gyan? He has been vehemently criticised by Ghanaians, but he has continued to score world class goals. He added one to those goals. One similar to the one he scored in the World Cup in Germany close to 4 years ago. Matthew Amoah faces similar criticisms, but he continues to score the most important of goals.
The point is this, since 2006—after the World Cup in Germany—the Black Stars have consistently made it into the semis of the Nations' Cup. It is a fact worth noting. We as a nation must rise above what we call “nice” football. It has not earned much for Cameroon as we have seen them struggling to go behind defences with those short passes. Results are more important. The English team is an example; from the time they brought in Fabio Capello, the Italian has emphasised on results.
But come Thursday be it against the Super “chickens” of Nigeria—whom we beat in Ghana 2008—or the “cheap-polopolo” of Zambia, we will progress with the young bloods.
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10:11
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Without doubt, I have the larger part of my life in Ghana. Aside this country of about 23 million human beings -- good people and those who for one unreasonable reason or the other do evil -- I have only dared to step out of the artificial boundaries in West Africa, Africa, for only once. My story is not special compared to the over 200 million people who occupy just Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Those who live close to the borders naturally have two nationalities -- not the paper document legitimising this -- but that they experience two or more cultures, without pausing to think of any shocks, shocks that anyone from without their sphere would experience.
In the differences lie the similarities. We complain of the same things, challenge the same things, hate and love the same things. Just as we sever, so does these similarities manifest in varied ways. I do not expect a Ghanaian to visit Nigeria and not complain of the frequent power outages or the long queues for fuel in Ibadan or the hard water that threatens to crack your lips. The people are different, yet they are the same in many ways to the people living in Ghana. I would not be doing anybody any good if I write about just these inconveniences, or mention them. I'd remember the beautiful faces that met me in that little restaurant. That woman inviting me to eat her fried plantain; it is forever imprinted, indelibly, on my mind.
It is a big country.
The time I spent in Nigeria is not a dream and coming back to Ghana is not coming back to REALITY. Nigeria was reality. I do not want to write about Nigeria or Benin and not write from their perspective. And they do have to be understood from their perspective. Just as it would seem unfair that A GHANAIAN WOULD THINK AMERICANS OR EUROPEANS RIGID, EMOTIONLESS, MACHINE-LIKE OR THINGS WHO ONLY CARE ABOUT TIME AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO BEAT TIME TO DO, it would also be unfair for an American or European to think Ghana or anywhere else on this huge continent inefficient, disorganised or any such words that seek to portray Ghana as just that.
Ghana is not only filled with terracotta and winds that blow dirt onto a clean skin. Indeed, a lot of places within the country have pavements which one can walk on and feel like a real person. The presence or absence of it takes nothing away.
They dress whichever way they want and seem to be surprised at the white lady who walks around with dirty feet. Yes, they do not have hot shower machines installed in their homes or apartments. They take bucket showers and have heaters to warm the water. They take hot showers when they want to. They will not believe anyone who tells them they do not do so. They know their trotros are not too comfortable, but that is what they have. Most of them cannot afford the taxis. But they get to their destinations safely.
The people are not fixated with THINGS. They know THINGS are important, but not the ultimate. They work to make themselves better and not measure their ways with others only to think themselves as not normal because they are not within their territory.
But one cannot understand why the peoples of the Americas and Europeans would still want to preach old messages. Why they would still think and still not think. Why they want to be understood from their perspective, but not from others. Why?
Click here
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16:46
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Good news such as the one I received from my good friend
Emmanuel Bensah gladdens my heart so much so that it overwhelms my very self. Africa has an air carrier officially. This will go a long way to solve the air transport problem when it comes to intra-Africa air travel.
I remember whenever the tennis team in Ghana had to go to Morocco or the Maghreb, they had to transit in Italy or some other European country. That is just an example what pertains in the air transport industry in Africa. This is a step a the right direction. Those who say the Union is only interested in meeting should be rewriting their notes, or they can choose to keep them till they turn yellow. But here is good news for the continent.
This new carrier called ASKY airlines is being supported by the Africa Union and the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS). It also came about a result of the corporate partnership between the new airline and Ethiopian Airlines with the latter owning 25 percent of ASKY; African banks and regional economic block the rest on their shoulders making sure there is a smooth flight for ASKY. More details
here.
Several of these lapses in corporation on the continent exist. The telecommunication is another gigantic where such challenges occur. In the southern, western and now central parts of Africa joining forces in the provision of telecommunication services, especially in mobile telephony. We have seen the likes of MTN and Globacom make strides across countries on the continent.
We must see more of such steps in other parts of the continent. At least when this happens, I could make calls at good prices--or at promotional prices--to my childhood friend in Morocco just like TiGo allows me to call my loved ones in the United States.
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16:17
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Money promises continues to be made to Haiti. European nations have pledged more than a half-billion dollars, with euro330 million ($474 million) in emergency and long-term aid coming from the European Union alone and $132 million) promised by member states according to yahoo news.
But Ghana awoke to an earthquake scare during the wee hours of the morning. Radio reports later had it that it was a nationwide wide rumour. As to who started it, I cannot tell at the moment. What is clear though is how it spread so rapidly. A next door neighbour on my floor pounced on our door, woke up my room mate who attempted waking me up. I responded with a question: Who said there's going to be an earthquake? The guy who had awoken us said everybody has gone outside because they heard there was going to be an earthquake. I said "Nonsense" and went back to sleep. My little knowledge about the geography of Africa had given an extra hour of good sleep while others worried outside praying to their god.
How a larger portion of nation could fall for this, I still cannot comprehend. I hear even in Cape Coast there were people who filled parks praying to Jehovah of the Jews.
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21:10
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
It's been 5 days since Haiti went down, creating one the worst humanitarian crisis the world has yet to see. A country that already suffers in many facet of its life, top of the list being extreme 'poverty,' an earthquake of such magnitude is the last thing one would wish to see.
I think a lot has been said about how the rest of the world must come to that country's aid. One thing that has occupied me mostly is how such a country could exist so close to what is arguably the richest nation in the world, and still experience abject 'poverty' is shockprising. It raises serious questions. With about 50,000 dead bodies recovered so far--including the body of that of a little child which has been underground for close to 3 days--the United States plans on sending 10,000 troops into Haiti. What to note is that Brazil has, already, about 17,000 troops in Haiti since 2002, their work being mainly peace-keeping. The United Nation will possibly allow the Brazilian contingent to lead it. Meanwhile the United States is asking for priority in Haiti.
Everything is political, self-seeking, as far as the US is concerned. Haitians have lived in the US for a longer time, sending home remittances that drive their home-country. Most of them are illegal. Following the disaster, the US has announced Special Status for them. In times when human lives are been lost the US is seeing a 'better' way to do politics in a sovereign nation. Sadly so it is happening. I do not think the US genuinely wants to help change Haiti--it would have done that a long time ago.
Water, food, medicine is going into Haiti, but not coordinated. Kids are running to airplanes as they land with food. There has been issues of food theft. Port-au-Prince is under US control and is running about 90 flights per day. In the midst of all this, the world must know that we are each others keeper. Haiti should serve as the reminder Rwanda has not been able to serve. We must not sit down for this to happen again.
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12:17
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Something really impressive is happening in Ghana's telecommunications industry. Yes it is an industry that is growing rapidly. As one would expect, the National Media Commission is not sitting and folding its arms without guiding the growth process.br /br /The National Media Commission, NCA,has requested GT-Vodafone to migrate all existing fixed line telephone users to a new numbering plan in order to complete the implementation of the National Numbering Plan.br /br /Now, information I have have received from the NCA suggests that one reason for the numbering plan is to create space within the system. The implications are that the numbers that are currently been used will be free therefore enabling the country get numbers for other services. These you suspect will include internet services. br /br /Another reason behind the Numbering Plan is to align the numbering system in Ghana with international standards: internationally normally there are 7 numbers plus the code totalling 10 digits. Currently Accra and Tema has 6 digits plus the code totalling 9. And so does many other regions which have 9 digits. What will happen then is that other regions which have 5 digits plus 3 code numbers will have to add 2 digits in order to make up the 10.br /br /Also regions which have more than one code will be synchronised. Tema and Accra is an example and many others exist in other parts of the country where there are up to about 10 area codes. Take The Eastern, Volta and the Brong Ahafo regions which have area codes totalling 26 codes. We therefore have the following codes for the 10 regions.br /br /Greater Accra 030br /Western 031br /Ashanti 032br /Central 033br /Eastern 034br /Brong Ahafo 035br /Volta 036br /Northern 037br /Upper East 038br /Upper West 039br /br /So the current 53 area codes will be reduced to 10 regional codesbr /The length of all regional codes will be the samebr /The Zain Fixed Line Network has been operating with the New Numbering Plan as I have listed already.br /Another thing to note is that this does not affect mobile numbers in the country.br /br /More power to them. Let's see the development actualised.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4786249149657836158?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:45
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I for some reason feel if I do not blog on the Africa Cup of Nations--the football and not the politics--I will have done some poor service somewhere. Flashback to 2008 when Ghana hosted the tournament, I suggested that the tournament was going to set goal records. I'm tempted to believe a similar thing is about to happen.br /br /One cannot say completely why the sea of goals during the tournament. Football pundits have tossed the idea around some points. While some think it is due to the attacking football on the continent--an idea I subscribe to--others think it is just poor defending. Currently, most national teams that appear at the Nations' Cup have a large chunk of their players plying their trade out of their home countries, most of them in Europe. So can we say the depth of talent that produces the goals is as a result of a better league in Europe? I doubt very much. The African game is different beyond doubt. The European Championship does not produce the number of goals that the Nations' Cup does. That is my point.br /br /In 2008, over a hundred goals were scored in Ghana. In Angola 2010, it has been 5 matches so far. And I'm not too surprised at the number of goals so far. A whopping 19 goals scored so far and Group D is as yet to kick a ball. Now apart from a disappointing Ivory Coast, which I suspected against popular thought (again football is proving to be a team sport rather than individual capabilities), the tournament should continue to spring forth more surprises. Malawi shocking Algeria, Mozambique doing the do against Benin and that tournament opener between Angola and Mali. br /br /Now who wants to bet?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-105910688068801272?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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19:36
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Deception point and interests are cousins. In Africa, we have continued to live as a people who do not bite--although in our collective effort we can more than any other grouping--not even when we are wronged. When we wrong others, we are quick to make things right, not for fear, but for peaceful co-existence. That has been our way, the way. br /Also, part of our way has been reciprocity. Along the line, we have let that essential component of our whole loose. So we now beg. Not the people, but the parasites, the rulers who drink tea with destroyers who once used our coast and predators across the desert. We the people do not hate anyone. But we must guard against those who throw up dust and seek our extermination utterly. We must seek ways to fight the destroyers. For now, those of the way must stay away from the destroyers and predators.br /br /As the years went by, so have many of these destroyers and predators adapted, coming in different forms, attacking our very soul, and threatening to improve our morality. Our spiritual self has been under attack, the very thing we may have in common with their damaged selves. A dead slaving god was sold to us, and grievously we bought it. All of this happened. We did not ask to trade. We were a sufficient people who bought into lies and destruction.br /br /In today's world, so much has not changed. New schemes have come to replace the old lies. And the rulers from these parts have not changed.br /br /It is my hope still that that larger portion of Africans will wake up to the call to look beyond food and things so material. We as a people cherish things more subliminal. There is a need to back to the way, our way of living. The way that does not worship Profit.br /br /br /There is the need to teach our people, those of today, those young ones, to look to the way we used to live. It should guard their ways. The perception that everything is profit must be approached carefully. For it is an ideology that threatens the fabric of our society and our way of living. It will not be easy. No good fight has been easy. Let those who choose to associate with the destroyers and predators do while we continue the creative work. We are a people who have inherited a lot of trash which parasites want us to belief are blessings. They are not.br /br /We were once told that our ways were heathen. Our ways were ways of a fictive devil. The preacher then was the devil he said our way was! The preacher, the destroyer, who came from the oceans was the devil he said our way was. He sold us a god who will come again. The predator from across the desert also brought us a slaving god. He said his god forces all others to join the worship. Those who refuse are not fit to live. We listened to all these stories that our children will laugh at. But they brought trash also. Shiny things, so superficial, yet the parasites among us will wish to have. So today, the way seems lost to us.br /The creative work must resume, it must go on regardless. We must see through the subterfuge, the deceit. We must restore the way. We must restore self-sufficiency and enforce reciprocity. That is the way.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-3859571267167320953?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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13:36
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
It is saddening to see Nigeria begging, quite frantically, the United States to take her off a watch list, which naturally translates into Nigerians within the country being subjected to additional vigorous security checks at airports if they ever wanted to travel to the U.S.br /br /I do not know how Nigerians feel about this, but isn’t it obvious how a whole people will feel they are been treated like criminals, terrorists while they work their lives just to make it better for themselves and their country. It is like been convicted for a crime you have not committed, or one which you are not likely to commit. In the attempt let the American public feel safe, to make them see that something is been done to make them more secure (as if they are the only people who face the threat of terrorism), another country is considered a potential threat. As to whether this is really the point, one cannot really tell. The U.S. we all know finds several ways and means to enter into other sovereign nations in the name of protecting Americans. br /br /What I can say is that the U.S. is rushing to conclusions, ignoring the facts of the Abdul Mutallab case as far as Nigeria is concerned and creating enemies unnecessarily. This is not something the U.S. needs at this point in time. If it is serious in fighting global terrorism, if it wants to win the people as it says, then it must guard against such actions like placing countries like Nigeria on watch lists. It must look at its actions overseas more. It is known that Abdul Mutallab did not get radicalised in Nigeria; that he got on the plane as a Nigerian and ECOWAS citizen who has rights; only that security agencies including those in the U.S. failed to act early enough. Here again we have the U.S. not looking at the core issues.br /br /When will others put the U.S. on a watch list? Iran and North Korea has already done that. What the U.S. government must know is that it is causing much damage to the loving people of that country, the very citizenry it professes that it is protecting.br /br /Somalia has already made its name with the terrorist group Al Shabaab’s presence in that country. Kenya is close by and already reports are rife that Kenya is serving as a financial transit point for Al Shabaab. The terrorist organisation, reportedly has assets in Kenya, reasons for which it cannot carry out attacks in Kenya is for fear that the Kenyan government might move in to confiscate these assets. It should not be strange therefore if the U.S. decides to focus on Kenya. The U.S. embassy bombings will serve as a quick point of reference and justification by the European and American media when the U.S finally makes the decision. Mali is also not far from the radar. The U.S. government has marked out Timbuktu. As such, U.S. citizens travelling within Mali are told to beware of the ancient city.br /br /As far as I am concerned, I know many other countries in Africa will make any list that the U.S. or Europe creates under whatever names. Our governments are parasites. But the people are getting clever. They are finding the way, the proper way of life. It is way dissimilar from the ways of the destroyers and Predators; a way that know not only of taking and taking, but also reciprocity.br /br /To my Nigerian friends I say sorry. There is not much you can do to change a destroyer’s mind. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian proverb which says “when your neighbours chin is on fire you fetch water and place it close by yours” stands as a stark reminder to be each other’s keeper.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4452431430496761576?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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13:24
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
It is not news anymore on the African continent to complain about the appalling reportage that Africa receives in the media in Europe and America. Most of these issues that are reported on are often inflated and spiced up. It is sad to note that on most occasions, the stories are made to seem characteristic of Africa—that it is a novelty in other parts of the world. The cliché is that Africa, every part of the large continent, is a warzone filled with human body part-slaughtering bastards who have no sense of humanity. Their actions cannot be equalled by the actions of separatists elsewhere in Ireland, Serbia, or any part of Europe. This is the kind of news that ‘innocent’ Europeans and Americans receive constantly. Sadly, all they know about Africa is what their media preaches to them: rebels and child soldiers, malnourished children and neglected bodies that houseflies have made their home, lions and a beautiful sunset, corrupt governments and ‘under-development.’br /br /Some days to the African Nations’ Cup in Angola, the BBC announced severally that it was going to give a considerable amount of coverage to what is the most important sports tournament on the continent, and possibly the largest that would be on-going by the time in the world. Feature stories (Africa Kicks for example) and live reports from within the southern African country were to come up on the BBC. I was disappointed in the end. Not that I expected anything better, but the reports focused less on the positive strides of a country that had just emerged from a period of over 20 years of turbulence. Whenever it did, there was always an excuse that would play down the efforts of Angola and its people.br /br /In a twist, several media reports started to focus on the appropriateness of the Angolan authority’s decision to spend about a million US Dollars on the tournament, most of the sum going into the building of roads, 4 new stadia and uplifting of infrastructure generally in the country. It is important to note that much of the country’s infrastructure had been damaged and lost to the past years of war. Part of the reason why Angola won the bid to host the Nations’ Cup was for it to serve as an opportunity for Angola to build its infrastructure.br /br /The BBC interviewed one campaigner in Angola who thought the money should have gone into other areas of development instead. As if that was not enough, the BBC reporter then paints a picture of huge construction work been done (he mentions specifically that the Chinese are involved) and he contrasts that with the poor housing close by. The reporter thus agrees with the campaigner that Angola as at the moment has a misplaced priority. This has been the rhetoric. But who should be telling Angolans what to do with their resources or who to employ? Did not many countries in Europe develop selective aspects of their society? Or did everything happen all at once? The media in the West never ceases to amaze me. And who are they to tell Africans what their priorities should be?br /br /World Cup coming to Africa for the first time. Since they could not site infrastructure in South Africa, they decided to drum the beat elsewhere, crime. Again, the issue gets domesticated and is made peculiar. Crime occurs only in Africa. I cannot say South Africa has a problem with crime. But name any country which is crime-free. The degree of crime in the United States of America, for example in a city like New York, is very high. People get shot at in Liverpool and London or Marseille is no stranger to crime or gang violence.br /br /However, soon after reports had it that the Togolese national football team was attacked by separatist fighters in Cabinda, the issue of security has been raised not in Cabinda or Angola alone, but South Africa and the continent as a whole. Gladly, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has not bought into the media hoopla. br /br /Meanwhile, I do understand the plight of the Togolese football team, but the Togolese government’s decision to pull its contingent out of the tournament may have handed a sort of victory to these hooligans. Regardless, I am still confident that Angola 2010 will be another great Africa Nations’ Cup in history like all the others. The opening ceremony was such a spectacular sight to see. And on the game itself, the first match has proved enough surprise. Angola is a country that will not allow anyone, much less Europe or America, steal the light from them. They are a team on the attack.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-2903045014811214111?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:51
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Few sitting presidents will allow journalists to take him/her on one-to-one question and answer. Therefore, seeing president Mills allow it and still keep his cool was very impressive. And much to the amazement of all; especially, those who have alleged that the president is ill and week, he stood on his feet taking all the questions for over 45 minutes. br /br /President Mills had invited journalists, mostly editors, to the Castle at Osu as the day marked exactly a year since he was sworn into office as president of the republic. The gathering also offered an opportunity for journalists to ask the president some questions. And they did exactly that. For the first time, I found president Mills a hilarious man not because of the lapses he so frequently makes on the pronunciation of words, but a conscious effort to poke fun. He, for the first time, replied the assertion by Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah that the current cabinet is a "Team B." The president said while laughing that he was proud to be captain and coach of an accomplishing "Team B." br /br /br /But I was not too happy about how president Mills answered the hottest questions. And the fact that those journalists present were editors gave the ceremony a certain twist.br /If one monitored the morning shows in the capital, almost all of them dedicated it to the assessment of the first year of the president. Down at the Castle, a similar thing was going down. br /br /It started when Raymond Acher of the Enquirer newspaper asked president Mills what economic intervention his government had put in place to better the lot of Ghanaians. The president coughed up the School Feeding Programme, the Capitation Grant and the provision of school uniforms to pupils. I choked with laughter. But it was not to be the last for the morning.br /The morning show host of Kokrooko (on Peace fm), Kwame Sefa Kayi, wanted the president to tell Ghanaians what his single most biggest policy was. How to improve the lot of Ghanaians was our concern, the president answered. br /br /Whether he ducked, misunderstood, did not understand, or simply had no single 'biggest' policy I cannot tell. But if president Mills did not know, this has been an issue in media circles and most politicians in opposition have lashed at his government for lack of direction. The ex-president Rawlings--the founder of president Mills' party--had run a similar commentary. I have heard many Ghanaians also expressed confusion about the direction of government policy(s) or if indeed there is a policy on anything at all. His large communication ammunition has failed to answer any question relating to government policy too.br /My thinking was that the president was going to shut this issue once and for all. Put it to sleep and let us all have some peace. All he could do was to list projects. What can we expect from the health sector, education, agriculture--it promises to be a great year if words coming from some government officials like Haruna Iddrisu is anything to go by--and the economy at large? The president did not say. Or shall I say he deviated?br /br /We then had another run of questions on the former minister of sports, Muntaka Muhammed, with the news editor of Joy fm Matilda Asante-Asiedu loading the weapon, Kwame Sefa Kayi exerting the effort and the news editor of Metro tv firing the shot. Even then, the editor-in-chief of the Insight newspaper ensured that the body rested in a coffin. They all thought the president had not acted well enough on the corruption charges brought against the former minister who was alleged, among other things, to have used state funds to support a lady, lied about the identity of the lady (that she worked at the sports ministry) and also bought 'pampers.' The president thought Muntaka had done enough by tendering in his resignation. br /br /However, Sefa Kayi added that the former minister's acts were criminal in a way given that he had indulged in the forgery of identity. The president lectured on what constituted forgery and what was misrepresentation. Then the news editor of Metro tv rained in on good governance. The whistle-blower of the Muntaka case was suspended from his post--apparently for telling on his boss--and the case in now in court while Muntaka walks freely. The president saw nothing wrong here too.br /So who was to put it straight to the president other than Kwesi Pratt, a vociferous journalist and editor of the Insight. He told the president that the minister's actions were criminal and that president Mills should do things differently the next time. The president nodded admirably in concurrence.br /br /POLITICIAN AGAIN THE PREZ WASbr /President Mills has been sounding like former president Kufuor when it comes to the economy and the fight against corruption.br /Recently, president Mills said Ghanaians should die a little for the country. I remember former president Kufuor echoing a similar statement when he said Ghanaians should tighten their belts. He and his government went on to loosen theirs. Today, another president is telling us the same thing in different words. This time, appealing to the patriotic sides of Ghanaians. We are not fools!br /One of the first things president Mills did was to approve 50,000 US Dollars for Members of Parliament to purchase cars. We are not FOOLS.br /br /Furthermore, president Mills has acquired a new English usage dictionary. He now thinks that corruption cases cannot be prosecuted without evidence. To make better light of this statement, let us remind the president was his predecessor said about "He who alleges must prove." Former president Kufuor said whoever thought that any of his officials were corrupt the person should bring the evidence. He will ensure that the case is prosecuted. Mills disagreed then when he was in opposition. Now, he is singing the same song.br /br /We will continue to welcome the opportunity to ask our Caretakers questions each time they have the time for those of us poor ones. But one issue that no question was not asked on concerns the oil find. Professor president please let there be transparency here also because so far, we here nothing of revenue coming to us the poor or it been used somewhere in the economy except that more drills are been done. Please tell us.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-6696406054754523168?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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22:50
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The irony of the African Sunbr /beautifully orange, sitting at Earth’s bottom.br /In her rests the power, witchcraftbr /not technology, to change her colour.br /The Californian Sunbr /it does not orbit—br /it is just red, less burning—br /neither does other objects so bright;br /the cosmic dance of the glorious Earthbr /is in Africa only, in the safari chestbr /where long-horned antelopes are watched.br /No, the Californian Sun sits inbr / solitary.br /It has no neighbours like Earth as Africabr /Those who watch the Californian Sun;br /they do not see the African Sunbr /Earth sees two Suns.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-569787373404613547?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:41
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
There is a good chance that every politician would like to deceive the people. I do not regret saying this. The cheating and deception comes in many forms--and degrees. I have made this point severally on this very blog. Most of our leaders are parasites, no doubt. Some just connive with Destroyers from without this country; others enter into bed with Predators across the desert. All this we know already. Those of us of the way, our way. The way of living. The way of reciprocity. Not destruction's way so white. br /br /So I am not surprised that the minister of education, Mr. Alex Tettey Enyo fell into a similar abyss today when he addressed the press earlier this morning. Speaking on the new education policy, which his government through some baby-games introduced, Mr. enyo said the essence of a policy is not to rush its implementation. He further stated that the government can choose the appropriate period to implement the policy. I do not dispute any of these things. br /The truth is that those student in Senior High at the moment are running the 2007 policy introduced by the previous government. Mr. Enyo validated this when he said that the new policy, which reduces the number of years students spend in High school, will come into effect later September this year.br /br /What the minister's statement means is that those students who are currently in their first year in High School (that includes my sister) will run under the previous policy; and, those who are in their second and third year will also follow suit. Impressive!br /br /The question which we must ask is this: Does the government and the schools have the capacity to run a 4-year Senior High School programme? It is relevant the answer to this question. Quite amazingly, the Mills administration argued, among many things, that most Senior High Schools lack facilities to run a 4-year programme. The policy must therefore be abolished and reverted to 3 years. While it may be true that most schools still need improvement in Ghana--even with a 3-year programme--to use this as a chief argument insults the intelligence of Ghanaians, when we continue to run the 4-year programme and change it down the line. It is sheer politics what the Mills administration have done with education. In one of my write-ups, I havce said that the education minister has denied that his government is playing partisan 'politics' with education. But here truth lies.br /br /So what does the government have to say about the capacity of Senior High schools to run a 4-year programme given that the programme is been run at the moment and will do on past this year? One journalist asked the education minister and guess what he did? Before answering all the questions queued before him, he said that he did not understand some of the questions and he will therefore try to answer them anyway. What!!!!br /The minister took Ghanaians for fools. He ended up not addressing the question till he ended the press briefing. Interesting. But those of us who know what he did, we will not stop at those small meetings of theirs. We will carry on to reveal the many other covered lies they tell Ghanaians.br /br /If schools do not have the capacity to run 4 years of Senior High school as the precious policy had proposed; and we must change the policy because of that, how come the same 4-year programme is been run?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4774965325126690121?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:46
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Some things never change. And it is said that old habits die hard. The media in the United States and Europe is has just turned on the turbines and is gradually moving its machinery to damage Africa's reputation the morebr /span style="font-weight:bold;"br /THE ABDULMUTALLIB BEGINNINGS/spanbr /A young man (Nigerian) of age 23 from the Kotoka International Airport in Accra on board a Virgin Nigeria flight that took him to Nigeria. He then boarded another flight that took him to Amsterdam and finally was on a Detroit-bound Delta Airlines flight.br /br /According to airport security both in Accra, Lagos and Amsterdam, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutalab went through normal security checks. The Airbus 330 which Umar attempted to blow up carried 278 passengers and 11 crew members.br /Prior to the Umar's travel, his father, Alhaji Mutallab who is a former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria, reported his son to US authority about his son's growing extreme religious views to the CIA officer on the 19 of November, 2009. Security cameras also showed that Umar carried only a backpack throughout his journey.br /br /span style="font-weight:bold;"THE ATTACKS ON NIGERIA AND AFRICA BY WESTERN MEDIA/spanbr /It is no new news when it comes to reportage on Africa done by Western media. Most people have tried to downplay this issue; others have said that Africa needs to tell its own story. The ramifications of this on people who receive news in these players are there for all to see. For example, most Europeans and Americans know less about the rest of the world, especially Africa, until they travel to these places. What this means is that all they know is what they see on ABC, CBS, CNN or the BBC. Therefore, the stories these media houses churn out, and how they do it, to listeners and viewers is very important.br /br /Following the outbreak of the story of Umar's attempted attack, the western media as usual threw the spotlight on Nigeria, then as more information started to come out, it turned to Ghana, Togo, Central Africa Republic, Somalia, and I suspect the list will continue.br /The Senior Editor of Veterans Today writes that Nigeria, Central Africa Republic and Ghana are rich grounds to plants the seeds of terrorism. How Gordon Duff came by this conclusion still amazes me still. Ghana is a fertile ground to grow terrorists? Domestically, security in Ghana is managed by the state. This has an added advantage unlike Mr. Duff's home country, the United States, where security is in the hands of private companies and that includes security at airports.br /What Mr. Duff should know is that the United States is also a potential hotbed for homegrown terrorism. Before Mr. Duff, and many other writers in the West like him, duff up Africa, they should peep their own backyard. They should look at how they are empowering terrorists and potentials terrorists to find cause and motivation in their evil acts.br /br /Mark Doyle of the BBC while interviewing the Nigerian minister of information appeared to have hinted that Abdul Mutallab was not properly screened at the airport in Lagos. Doyle also said the US thinks Nigeria a disorganised place. And in that same interview, Mark Doyle blamed the Nigerian security for lack of coordination.br /I feel sad for Mark Doyle and those who will receive such reports without thinking them through. br /Indeed, reports are rife that Abdul Mutallab did not go through passport checks at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam and that he probably was assisted. No Western media is looking at this issue. After all, it is only in Africa that inefficiency and discrepancy is genetic. It cannot happen anywhere in Europe or America.br /br /span style="font-weight:bold;"CREATING THE THREAT/spanbr /The problem with the US and Europe is with this monster called liberalisation. Everything now over-liberalised. This includes security, water and many other social services. The problem here is that these companies are profit-driven. If terrorist bodies manage to infiltrate such companies (by paying monies), the threat will be much serious and easier to carry out. Think of poisoning water supply. br /I hope African governments learn before it befalls us here.br /br /span style="font-weight:bold;"THE TRUTHS AND AFRICA'S EFFORTS/spanbr /The sudden shift to portray Nigeria and many other African countries as terror playgrounds isn't too surprising. In Ghana, the government is emphasising on electronic modes of payment. What this means is that, transactions become traceable. The E-zwich card is one step in this direction. In fact, Abdul Mutallab did the purchasing in cash. And KLM accepted this, of course.br /br /Also, there is good collaboration between the military high commands in Ghana and Nigeria. Stolen tankers on Nigerian waters has been spotted and arrested on Ghanaian territorial waters before. br /The ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework is one such modules that aim to foster collaboration and monitoring of security within the ECOWAS region. Africa responds.br /br /span style="font-weight:bold;"AFRICOM IS NOT THE ANSWER/spanbr /The US military machinery for Africa is not the answer to any of these security threats. It is time that the US regards the integrity and the sovereignty of other nations, especially in Africa before it tries to fashion out plans that must be implemented on this continent. The US must stop dictating. As far as AFRICOM was hatched somewhere only by US officials, Africa and the the AU will continue to meet it with suspicion and see it as a threat to peace and security on the continent. br /What the US must know is that Africa is not the Middle East.br /br /The right-wing Republican way of seeing the fight against terrorism, global terrorism for that matter, as a sole preserve of the US must see the myopic nature of their views. They must know that a unilateral approach, or coercing other country to kowtow to the wishes of the US when it comes to security will not work in Africa. It has not succeeded in Somalia, it wouldn't in Nigeria. br /Thankfully, president Obama thinks bigger than this. I hope his administration will bring more countries on board to fight global terrorism.br /br /span style="font-weight:bold;"THE UN AND THE VETO/spanbr /It is a shame that up until now, Africa has no permanent position on the United Nations Security Council. For Africa to perform a larger role, this must change soon. The AU must be granted such a position.br /br /Meanwhile, I expect the media in the United States and Europe to be filled with rot about Africa. They should continue to be what Opera Winfrey once described as the 'slumper-dinkers' in news, wearing the same old clothing, never changing their pyjamas.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-5734731735768344841?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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21:21
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
It is for the first time I begin a new year and I feel the burden of the previous year still lingers on. In many ways, I feel 2009 has been one of the toughest year. To a point, I do not feel like recapping it.br /br /Personally, i have had to come out great out of my comfort zone and approach things via the hardest, yet the most basic means of doing things and relating to people. Radio Univers was great this year. It was mixed with seeing new faces around the newsroom, the studio and most importantly, having many capable hands and minds working with you. It all started with the live broadcast of the Fresh men and women orientation; through to waking up too early while campus is still snoring—so that people could get the news, a good morning show and thus, a great day. But it was all fun.br /br /Once that was out of the way, academic work started. I have never missed classes in my entire university education than last semester. Coupled with other challenges, firstly emotional twitches that were so poignant I almost felt I had made decisions that could have waited; then to a sharp change to bright love that received self denial initially for fear of been exposed and disarmed, to a gradual release of the hidden self which launched itself unto a new plain breathing life into the body. The perleche that threatened my sweet life, which almost dominated my otherwise pleasurable that lay in the future, was cast into the trenches never to resurrect--thus, giving way to a whole new experience of love based on shared ideals.br /So academics was love once again, but never like before.br /br /While things turned well privately, the nation was witnessing a new difficulty, hardship of finding direction, or even following one from the new captain of the nation. br /The elections the previous year caused the nation to rethink, among other things, to review the parts of the constitution covering the period for election--because it was too short and does not allow enough time for transition of power. For me this was good. But given the fact that after the heated debates over this issue, everything has simmered--and it is most likely the issue will not come up until 2012--is a worrying one. It is as usual of us as a people. We talk too much, we write less. So, we forget a lot.br /The umbilical cord of 2009 which was never cut, and thus became a part of the New Year was the economy. The Mills administration oiled the propaganda machinery of blame. It said the government had inherited debt—huge debt such that those with an already lean stomach must tighten their belts. The whole year, the government spent time attacking the previous government. Coupled with its own internal diseases and wrangling, the party faithful asking for a 'fair' share of the booty (since the party is in power) and not getting instant response, these so-called foot-soldiers started to seize from supposed party members of the previous government facilities that included toilets (KVIPs specifically). On the official side, the Mills administration was busy seizing cars and houses from officials of the previous administration using the PNDC-style. It was bad. The result, the government did less in 2009.br /So, most Christians in Ghana--and most of them are the underprivileged--had a starved holiday season. The president wanted to join them so he refused all gifts from corporate bodies asking them to direct the gifts, which mostly included assorted drinks and cards, to the needy and the orphanages. br /br /In education, the fight was horrible as well. The education policy which had seen barley 2 years after the start of its implementation was aborted by the Mills administration (Read a href="http://sarpongobed.blogspot.com/2009/08/toying-with-little-minds-issue-with.html"here/a). Those of us who followed the campaign knew it was the agenda of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to discontinue the education policy then and implement its own as promised in its manifesto for the election 2008. br /The Mills administration came against a heavy opposition from academics, educationists and teachers. It brought together these professionals, in what is to be a put-your-thoughts-now conference, to decide on whether to stick to the then 4-year Senior High School or revert to 3 years of Senior High School. It was obvious, the governments agenda. Only a fool would think an agreement could be reached given the political element instilled prior to the conference. br /The Education minister, Alex Tettey Enyo, in an interview, denied that his government was politicising the issue. That was surprising given that his party had already in its manifesto proclaimed to change the number of years from 4 to 3 years. So I asked what the point was in organising the fora at all. br /It ended with a statement saying cabinet will make a decision. Some weeks later, the expected happened. The government announced that the education policy covering the number of years had been been reduced from 4 years to 3 years. Great! I was disappointed. And I'm sure many thinking others were; that, we have not been able to rise above cheap politics yet.br /br /Many Ghanaians are optimistic that 2010 will bring something better than 2009. I hope it does, although I do not harbour high hopes. I think much will not change in the economy and the financial sector. Those who wear the party colours of the current government will continue to increase the size of their belly and their bank accounts will double the figures. I hope these people are not let down again by politiciansbr /br /2010 still has surprising futuristically speaking. The Cup of Nations in Angola will kick-start it all. The World Cup in South Africa is still pregnant with hopes and regrets. I'll be watching out for Soderling and Andy Murray in tennis. I have a trip to Owerri University in Nigeria sometime in April with the University of Ghana tennis team. A dream trip to Sherman Oaks is highly possible after the semester. Making peace with all the people who feel wronged by me will happen. A new life after university still perches up on the mountain awaiting my climb.br /br /And when all is done, I'll sit and write of greater things come 2011.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8754665922547137797?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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21:21
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
span style="font-style:italic;"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity/span. Martin Luther King Jr.br /br /The Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times, the two national dailies, reported yesterday that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) chief and also Mayor of Accra, Alfred Vanderpuije, has been ordered by the president to halt a decongestion exercise the assembly was carrying out in the city. The news caused uproar from the public and the phone-in segments of the numerous radio stations in Accra were evident to that. The president reportedly told the mayor to halt the demolishing for the moment and do it [when?] in a harmonised and coordinated manner.br /br /We cannot question the sense that the decongestion should be done in an organised fashion. The AMA has been planning this exercise for more than 3 months. I remember when the Greater Accra regional minister attempted to stop the mayor from carrying out a form of decongestion just because he the regional minister did not consent to the exercise. The mayor looked helpless as he looks now. This raises fundamental questions pertaining to the powers of the mayor of Accra. What he can do and what he cannot do or what he will not be allowed to do when judged as politically exigent by the man who appointed him. br /br /One must question the intention of the directive from the presidency because the issue of decongesting Accra is not showing up its head for the first time. Indeed, Mr. Stanley Adjiri Blankson during the Kufuor administration attempted a similar decongestion exercise in Accra. What happened then remains for all Ghanaians to see. Some days into the demolishing exercise, we saw the political overture that was displayed by the presidency bringing to an end, quite prematurely, the decongestion exercise.br /br /Now, president Mills appears to have stepped into the same dirty soil. So what is it with Accra that it cannot be decongested? Or are we taking the wrong steps? It must be said that as a people and as a government, we have been too slow to act. No settlement appears suddenly nor do hawkers move en mass to one location or the other. Therefore if we allow any such thing to happen, then we proceed to demolish such settlements and people thinking we will not be accused of human rights abuses, we may be thinking wrongly. br /br /But did the president know about the ongoing exercise? Why would he want the exercise to stop, really? What are the repercussions of the president’s directive and what does it hold for future mayors and their policies?br /br /Many Ghanaians have called for the election of the mayor of the various cities within the country in the same way others wish that District Chief Executives (DCE’s) are elected. There are good reasons for such calls. What is the essence of power if one cannot utilise it? Presently, the mayor is appointed by the president; therefore, he is virtually at the beck and call of the president. He chooses to sack him or retain him. If a mayor is elected by the people, this may make him more independent and lead to a reduction in the influence that the president and his executive wield over him.br /br /It is not a healthy situation when political independence becomes an issue. Mayors in the past, especially those in major cities such as Accra and Kumasi have run into trouble with the executive who are mostly interested in retaining their seats come another electioneering year. The loser in the end is the mayor of my city who genuinely wants to make it better for us all, not the president or the Member of Parliament who lives at Cantonments in Osu.br /br /We have acted in the past as if these people we seek to sack from such illegal settlements are not Ghanaians; that they are not humans to say the least. We must not be seen to posit the argument that once people occupy places illegally, they cannot or should not be removed. If any such move is to be made, the right processes should be followed. We must always be reminded of the fact that we are dealing with humans, and our ultimate attempt should be the peace and prosperity of Accra and of Ghana.br /br /What is clear is that the mayor has ambitions for the city and we must all help him achieve it. Whether the Mills administration has the political clout to support the mayor, to rid the city of Accra of filth and the illegal structures mushroomed around the city, is something we must wait to see. br /br /Dr. Alfred Vanderpuije reacting to news reports in the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times said the president had called him twice to apologise for the reports. Speaking to the press, the Accra mayor added “I’m committed to seeing Accra become a millennium city.” Why should the president apologise at all? br /br /We talk too much and give too many excuses. Napoleon once said “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” When it comes to acting on our thinking we remain stuck singing songs that betray our intelligence. What we have is a “Redemptocracy” that hates people who act on what they believe in. But as I write this, I will forever be remembered by Benjamin Kent’s play No More Redemption Songs.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-448582181966648447?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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17:22
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I have my own issues with how the country observes the National Farmers' Day. I remember during the times of Nkrumah and Acheampong, concrete measures--not just "paper" policies--were put in place to uplift the levels of farming and farmers. br /For the past few years, the Day had always begun with the gathering of dignitaries, most of whom are politicians, speeches (no clear policy direction), presentation of awards in the form of equipment, a house or anything like it; and, we all go back to our homes. The past year well buried and forgotten.br /br /I listened to His Excellency deliver his speech (not a fun of his delivery though) today in Tamale to mark the National Farmers' Day. Most parts of the speech centred on what the president has seen on farms etc during his travels around the country and the level of work been done by these farmers.br /br /I cannot clearly state the problem with us. We use campaign platforms to announce policies instead of occasions where the announcement of such policies would be more relevant in terms of timing and audience. As a result, most people in these sectors of the economy, months into a government's term, do not have an idea of a policy guiding their field of operation. In other words, only cabinet and government officials and the sad pages on which these policies are written--indeed if there's one at all--know about the policy(s). It's a huge problembr /br /So Farmers' Day in 2009 during the tenure of a new government has suffered a similar fate. Talk. Nothing really concrete and definable. The president made mention of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB)--which is largely state-owned--as doing impressively well in helping farmers in the Afram plains. President Mills thought that ADB needs to be helped too. Several others were mentioned by the president. In all these naming, he said they needed more help. So who should help?br /br /Radio Univers this morning, to mark the Day, carried a feature story which zoomed in on one farmer at Dawhenya, a small farming town in Accra. The man and his family didn't complain much, but their demands were clear and specific enough. We need advice from an agric officer. We don't just need equipment, but timing is important.br /These farmers need subsidies that will get to them and stuck in the pocket of some pot-bellied politicians. These farmers do not need speeches.br /br /Some have said the young men of this country have been the bane of the agric sector, but these people must note that people make individual choices influenced by what they see. If we have a sector which we sing about only and at functions with suit-wearing politicians, the young would be smart enough to see through. If this very system kills initiatives, especially those coming from young people, these young men cannot be fooled. It isn't an argument to make if we do not create systems to absolve young people who graduate with agric and have no where to go. We cannot blame them when our governments sit and do nothing, but talk about how young men don't go into agric.br /I expected His Excellency to say something concrete in this regard instead of singing the old tune. But I guess it didn't happen and it probably wouldn't.br /br /And to those politicians who want us to believe agriculture has improved, they should don their expensive suits and go back to their air-conditioned offices and get back to work. Or they should leave our farmers alone, most of whom continue to wallow in poverty just to feed some avaricious few. When things don't change for the masses, we know full well what to do.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-1010626709943614169?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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19:04
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
You know, today being the day it is, I've decided to write on something I should have done a long time ago; something on the Ghana @50 inquiry committee set up by His Excellency Okunini and the many notorious--and famous at the same time--committees.br /br /During the celebrations, many Ghanaians spoke against the expenditure--most of which was just political. My take was that it's useless spending hard cash on a celebration (which by means is important) at a time when the people of this country faced hardships. The same line of argument came up when the Kuffuor administration decided to go ahead with the presidential palace now Jubilee House. I remember at the time there was shortage of water in and around the capital. The opposition came hard on the government. We can then mention the Ghana @40 celebration--which happened under the Rawlings government--as one of the many celebrations that have seen various governments, present and past, spend frivolously. It won't stop.br /br /The reason is a simple one: our governments prioritise in a silly way. The common strand that runs through all of them is that during the times of their mega spending, the masses face massive difficulties. I wasn't too surprised that when Hon. Nana Akomea was addressing the issue of the Ghana @50 spending, he made an allusion to that of the Ghana @40 spending under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and added that there was similar hardships then, but the NDC went ahead splashing cash. That's the mentality of two wrongs make a right. I was disappointed.br /br /So that raises questions of establishing systems; how we should go about organising similar state events. This then brings us to the terms of reference given the Ghana @50 committee of inquiry. I waqsn't that impressed with how the committee conducted the exercise. The committee chose the path of morality when before it started its work, several allegations of huge financial malfeasance has been laid out by the NDC.br /Take for instance, asking someone if there was no other alternative way of spending or selling a souvenir? What answer did they expect?br /br /In the end, the real essence for the probe did not really materialise. Speaking to Joy fm in an exclusive interview, the chairman of the committee, Justice Isaac Douse, said the committee could not gather any evidence that could suggest the financial malfeasance that was alleged. According to him, no one came forward to prevent any any evidence in that direction. A probable reason why the committee decided to probe the morality of the spending, I guess. At a point, the CEO of the Ghana @ 50 secretariat, Dr. Wereko Brobbey alias Tarzan, said the secretariat owed him 2 billion Ghana cedis. Funny!br /br /However, what gladdened my heart though was that the committee is set to recommend to president Mills how the state should go about such programmes as the Ghana @50 celebrations. As to whether something useful will be made of the committee's final report, it's uncertain.br /br /What is obvious though is that many committees set up in the past have had their reports benched and politicians have gone ahead to make decisions overlooking the work done by the very committee they set up. We've seen this happen in the education sector year after year. Something tells me nothing exceptional will happen to this one and the over 15 committees set up so far by the president.br /When I mentioned this to a good pla of mine, he thought that very soon a committee will be set up to supervise the committee. Strangely, most Ghanaians feel the same; that it's all about the committee themselves spending money.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4131043838760991568?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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13:22
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I wouldn’t be far from right if I say Ghana is in a state of confusion. In fact, it has been in that state since we decided to suspend all boards, sack every Kofi and Ama from their posts, dismiss District Chief Executives and many others like that. We had to struggle to supply the Tema Oil Refinery with crude and fuel prices have been increased this morning. Coming from a government that promised during the campaign trail to reduce fuel prices drastically, I think they must concentrate and fix things much quicker than they’re doing now. This attitude must stop. It amuses me as to why the country should come to a standstill for months because there’s a change in government. So let’s stop the twaddle for a moment.br /br /For those of us Ghanaians who live in this country we know how worse things have gone. It’s the only certain sentiment been expressed by every Ghanaian on every level of society. Thus, it came as no surprise when Spio Garbrah, the boss of the commonwealth communications and also National Democratic Congress (NDC) member, put up an article that formally broached the general opinion of Ghanaian which has been simmering for some time now.br /br /Indeed, it isn’t the first time the subject of the general hardship immanent in the country has been mentioned by a member of the ruling party NDC. Ex-president Rawlings is notorious for his attacks on the Mills-led administration although his has been mostly on how slow the government has been so far at tackling the economic difficulties and also putting former ministers of the Kuffuor administration behind bars. Mr. Rawlings for all the time he vented his spleen was never referred to as a traitor. Now Spio is in Mr. Rawlings’ camp. But he has received a different reception by his party folksbr /br /Immediately after Spio’s article appeared, given enough publicity by the media, his world spun around. The first blow was jabbed by Kwesi Ahwoi , the agric minister. As if that wasn’t enough, the director of communications at the presidency, Kwaku Anyidoho vilified Spio calling him a peacock obviously because Spio alluded to the issue of competence—saying the current team is a Team B and thus signalling the existence of a Team A which must be brought on board—on the part of President Mills’ cabinet. Others have also referred to Spio, since the publishing of his article and the subsequent press conference he held in Accra (after reading the comments made about his article), as a traitor. Regardless of the appropriateness of Spio’s statements, I think he doesn’t deserve what he’s getting. But one cannot really say when it’s a political party like the NDC. The man is obviously alone in the cold.br /br /Moreover, what is becoming like a trademark of the NDC is how soiled anyone becomes the moment you oppose His Excellency Okunini Mills. It happened to Kwesi Botwe when he dared to run against Mills in the party’s primaries when it was then obvious Mills had the blessing of ex-president Rawlings. Kwesi Botwe was never to return to any active politics. Spio is been met with the same CRUCI-FICTION I think albeit he’s proving tough.br /br /But of course, there’s the other line of argument as to whether the ruling NDC is assaulting itself to divert attention from serious issues like the one at the Tema Oil Refinery, the corruption allegations against its members in the MJ case, this morning’s fuel price increases and the general hardship. The Kuffuor administration was accused of this same act when it was in power. So did the NDC learn from the NPP the diversionary tactics?br /br /In the midst of things, we are all suffering. The NDC must stop composing the fiction it’s even grappling at. As to whether it’s the fault of the former administration, or the inability and incapability of the Mills administration, or it’s from the global crisis, all Ghanaians care about is that the government which we put in place must do its job.br /For now, Spio appears to be in deep waters and must comfort himself by himself with Mark Twain's letters that he must "Do something every day that [you] don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing [your] duty without pain."div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-1865163760495097374?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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13:22
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-2515493603035320178?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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19:35
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
We appear to know a lot out of the blue each time anything close to a crisis hit the nation. This has become worse in times where Morning Shows have been characterised by personal opinions—some of which are so politically twisted—of so-called social commentators.br /br /Thus in the wake of the fire outbreak at the Foreign Affairs ministry, I wasn’t really surprised when these know-all commentators started to call on government to step in and equip the fire services. But as a people, have we ever been proactive? Another setback also lies in our approach to crisis whenever they do occur. The government becomes the sole saviour.br /br /A little reference to Act 727 section 1831 of the Constitution spells out the way forward and allows the establishment of a Fire Maintenance Fund—how to equip the National Fire Service—and where to generate such funds. Part of this law requires that all commercial buildings be insured. The National Insurance Commission working with the insurance companies in Ghana should, then cut out a percentage of the funds and channel those funds to the fire service to purchase fire fighting equipment.br /br /Funny enough, after the passage of the bill into law, it has never been directly implemented. The National Insurance Commission (NIC) which one would think is responsible for this says it’s currently educating companies on the law and is waiting till the middle of 2010 to start the implementation of the law. So how do we equip the fire service before say July 2010? Indeed, if there should be widespread fire outbreak, there’s no need to exaggerate the extent of damage this may cause. The commissioner of the NIC while addressing this issue said it’s not sound to drag a company to court on the basis that such a company has no fire insurance (which means an ill-equipped fire service) when the company isn’t away of such a provision in the Constitution. I say this makes less sense.br /br /For a company to operate within a country, such a company must make itself aware of the legal framework governing that sector. Indeed, most companies have legal departments within their companies. This is more likely in the case of insurance companies. If the NIC is to work with insurance companies, then it should be easy for the NIC to do its sensitisation. Instead, the body has chosen the long path of sensitising a sector that involves buildings other than residential and governmental buildings. I’m tempted to think the commission doesn’t realise the enormity of the work it has taken upon its shoulders while stifling the fire service simultaneously. And why must the commission take it upon itself to publicise a law that companies within that sector are supposed to work with? Hasn’t it been said that ignorance of the law is no excuse?br /br /I think we’ve just set in motion wheels that will turn backward and help us on our attempt at solving little problems slowly. The National Insurance Commission should look at this issue of moving in later next year. It’s amazing how we come up with the solution so quickly. The Public Relations Officer of the fire service even called for a rewiring of buildings in the country. The question is: did we just realise this? And about the establishment of a disaster fund set aside that of NADMO, how long have we known this? We’re too slow at solving problems.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8329797056275313179?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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19:10
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Nothing changes your opinion of [a friend] so surely as success—yours and [his.] Franklin P. Jonesbr /br /Politicians adopt different means of communicating a message to the masses in a way closer to how advertisers place, carefully, messages in advertisements. Interpreting the code is then the sole responsibility of the receiver of the message. What this does is that, the receiver(s) could create meanings that sever. Politicians who are fully aware of this tool use it to their advantage. Their opponents sometimes refer to such tactics as populist ideas or politics. Indeed, Sinclair Lewis once noted that “advertising is a valuable [economic] factor because it is the cheapest way of selling [goods], particularly if the goods are [worthless].” (All brackets mine.)br /br /The deputy minister of transportation gleefully announced on the BBC this morning how they the ministers intend to mark the day; by parking their comfy air-conditioned Mercedes and Jaguars and hopping onto a trotro for a day. this they say is to make them (the ministers) have a feel of how commuters suffer each day trying to use the public transport system. br /br /But just like G.K. Chesterton observed, “A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” I was expecting something in the direction of the sector itself not a few exponents of a government telling us they want to experience our plight. I was obviously disappointed.br /br /The problems of the transport sector are well known. I heard a government minister, who boarded a trotro this morning with a journalist, mention that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) must put in place strict measures; they must check the vehicles thoroughly before registering such public transport vehicles. And he didn’t think the DVLA is fully aware of this? There’s a missing link. There’s a reason why such rickety vehicles get registered although such vehicles do not meet the requirements; that is what the government must address. How come these vehicle land on our roads?br /br /I remember two years ago, a mass transport project was instituted to revolutionise the transport industry. There was severe opposition from various segments of the transport sector, particularly the GPRTU, the union that has under its umbrella the operators of the trotros. The understanding is that this project will also lead to the creation of separate lanes for public transport vehicles. What have we done so far in this direction? The body in charge of the project is still consulting.br /br /So what one would like to see on such a day is a clear policy direction in the transport sector instead of the showmanship being put up by the ministers. We would like to see a Public Transport Day that spells out the problems—which we’re already aware of—and concrete plans to tackle the issues and the time limit for achieving the aim.br /br /But what do we see? We see government officials making public transportation an issue of hardship; something, which is peculiar only to those at the bottom of the ladder in society; in the end, making a mockery of the deprived. What annoys me most is the assertion that ministers and their like must sit in trotros to have a feel before they can draft solutions to problems that have existed since they themselves were born in this very country and sat in the very trotro they now couch in mystery. I begin to wonder if they were breastfed at all in Ghana...br /br /Contrary to what one might expect this gesture from government officials to achieve—as in encouraging Ghanaians to see public transport or trotros as preferred means of commuting—this truth already exist. In any case, the situation in Ghana isn't like that of the U.K or the U.S. where officials would take such a step to serve as an example to the general populace.br /br /So what is the purpose of this whole drama? The people of this country do not need to see politicians sit with them before their problems are solved. After all, aren’t they the very people who walked through the stench-filled gutters of Nima asking for votes? Politicians must save us all this theatrics and get to work. Or, they should leave us in peace with our dignity intact.br /br /Just as William Dement wrote some time that “Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives” our politicians have decided to have a filled trip into Wonderland in broad day light on the rickety vehicle called trotro.br /br /But the day goes down in history as one of those times when politicians get out visiting just to feel nostalgic. We saw it under the ex-president Rawlings when he was Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council and politicians have continued to take Ghanaians for granted. Show them you’re a man of the people. Just like in fiction.br /br /span style="font-style:italic;"trotro: the main means by which Ghanaian travel; some of them can be described as rickety./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8827568592456348503?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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11:33
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I really feel I have to let this go quickly; so, I couldn't wait to plan anything. br /Witch-hunting of journalists--or the press--isn't a new phenomenon in Ghana, Africa or the world. All across the globe, several cases can be cited. And mind you these are not isolated cases. From Russia to Iran; from Britain to the United States; from Libya to Zimbabwe; the story is always the same. The thing is, these persecutions manifest in various forms. br /br /Sometimes, a journalist who's critical of a government risks losing his job in the first place--that is, if his station or paper doesn't have a strong editorial policy following honesty regardless of who a story is about. The next thing is his own security and that of his family. What normally follows in extreme cases is for that writer to flee the country. much noise has been made about how the world has moved on in terms of press freedom and so on. The fact is no person wants the media on their doorstep, especially when their involved in some shady act.br /br /So I wasn't too surprised to hear that Justice Annan is been questioned by the Ghana police for allegedly making comments tantamount to treason. A brief search on Justice reveals that he's well noted for criticising the government. On several occasions, he's been threatened in different ways. He was even threatened by a minister of state...br /br /But it's really sad. The officer who spoke for the police in an interview on Peace fm, an Accra-based station--couldn't point to any statement made by Justice as treason saying the police is investigating.br /So the police has now made it its duty to scan through the media or swoop the whole of Ghana to protect the country against people who make supposedly treasonable statements. Or is it a case of targeting opponents of the government?br /I think the police has misplaced priorities. Several traffic offences are been committed each minute, criminals escape after committing crimes, and many other equally serious issues. Indeed, the image of the men in the force have been tainted and there's a need to reconstruct that. So why choose this particular supposed offence?br /br /I'll pause here...div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4198593295088979062?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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11:20
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I'm waking up to so many things I don't like. My weekend ended on a great note with poetry beginning at Open Air Theatre through to the Poetry Talk Party at the Nubuke foundation. I thought i'd totally moved away from happenings of the previous week: Talk about the Health minister Dr. Yankey and co being involved with Mabey and Johnson corruption case in the U.K. and how the president supposedly took it seriously by ordering the Attorney General and some SFO man to the U.K. in search of evidence and blah blah blahbr /br /Then this morning the radio shoots on some unfinished report of a committee commissioned by the president on the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone by the Kuffuor administration. My stand on this issue isn't new. We shouldn't have sold it. Simple!br /But a question refused to get out of my head: Why is the media choosing to zoom in on this at a point where 2 ministers have resigned because they were allegedly involved in the MJ bribery case?br /br /It isn't the first time the media had diverted from such issues. But back to this issue of Okunini professor Atta Mills sending his AG to the U.K; and, of course, why he did it. Some high profile government officials--obviously well place around radio stations--have been dancing to an old and funny tune with lyrics suggesting that the president is really committed to the fight against corruption. Not to say if the president is really fighting corruption it must not be said; but, here we see sheer propaganda and span style="font-style:italic;"discounted/span politics of what could obviously be a genuine attempt at fighting corruption. It mars every serious attempt. Why? The opposition will come hitting hard in the opposite direction joining the foolhardiness.br /br /Whatever the AG and her compatriot sort to achieve in the U.K.--I've heard from various quarters that it was to get the evidence from the U.K. court--it was a frivolous travel. These documents or evidence are already the possession of journalists in Ghana; thus, easily accessible. In the end, we've only paid air ticket, hotel bills etc in the attempt to make the masses see the government crushing corruption even among its own people.br /br /My advice to president Mills lies in the Akan adage that says "Adepa na eton ne ho" which translates directly as "It's a good product that sells itself." If there is some genuineness in the presidents acts (I've no cause to doubt him), we should see him recall cases involving the former minister of Youth and Sports (where he was only made to refund the monies he took and resign) and the current minister of foreign minister. I think it probably won't happen.br /For now, my ears should be saved from the rantings of government propagandists. There is more work to be donediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4433863880179503021?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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19:54
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
“We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Anais Nin.br /br /br /In Africa—and Ghana—there is no show of public affection. In fact, it loathed by some unliberated Africans. Lest I be misconstrued for peddling orchestration of public nuisance and for insulting African values—although I think individual freedom is fundamental for the collective purpose—which isn’t what I intend to do. I’m also African, and perhaps more radical than most of my contemporaries.br /br /We as a people have become too hypocritical in our approach to our own activities. This canker has sipped into our very nature and pervaded our very selves. The mention of personal space is immediately discarded and spat at as largely un-African; thus, a western influence, a colonial remnant on the mind of the freedom seeker. Yet we’re a people who not only profess our love for freedom, but have clearly demonstrated that through our entire past.br /br /I’ve never thought myself to be an exponent of Western ideals or philosophies. Once, Wole Soyinka was quoted as saying “A tiger must not shout its tigritude.” So, probably it would appear utterly unnecessary to try to exhume what makes me deeply African; and perhaps end up like the proverbial lizard. But common sense has it that no one human—thus uncorrupted by alien thought—is the perfect embodiment of ancestral wisdom.br /br /Take for example the usual Ghanaian, and perhaps African, reaction when a European or American behaves awkwardly from the African lenses. I can picture a white woman or man eating a piece of chicken with both hands while Ghanaians look on gleefully with admiration. I can see a white man kissing a fellow white woman at Makola while onlookers and passers-by smiled like they’ve just been blessed. A replication of these acts by a Ghanaian, man or woman, would receive a huge disapproval. The very people who admired the American and European quickly and surprisingly too discover their African instincts and become averse to their fellow Ghanaian’s actions. br /br /So what is causing the bad odour suddenly? A good friend once told me I couldn’t be seen kissing for a brief moment in public. He thought that kind of thing was not part of our culture as Africans and we must not copy what Westerners themselves are trying to fight. If two white people kiss each other in public, they perhaps cannot control their affection for each other. “For them it cannot wait. As an African you should be able to control yours.” So I said the African must be a magician, a super-being; or the white person is a special one, an extraordinary breed; or my friend, and others like him are just racists who have not survived their atavistic fears.br /br /But isn’t that the case we find our society in? If a people could do something at a particular place, why not another set of human beings? We behave as if we abhor one thing while accepting the same thing the moment the people involved change. It’s even worse if this sort of affection is between a white woman and a Ghanaian. The thought formed about this Ghanaian is enough to drive him to the asylum if he dares to strive to understand his fellow Ghanaians.br /br /But these attitudes raise more serious questions which most Ghanaians would rather wish away. John F. Kennedy once noted that “Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.” We as a people must begin to learn to respect individual space and freedom freely than we currently do. I say this fully aware of our very nature, that we believe in social check; that “no man is ever an island.” But we must swiftly move to understand that we cannot always have our views binding on every other soul in our communities. They’re wishes to live their lives must be respected; lest we drive them to the very grave we fight to save them from.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-3017823690261439700?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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18:48
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
"The majority never has right on its side....That is one of the lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against. Who makes up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a [terrible] overwhelming majority, all the wide world over. But, damn it, it can surely never be right that the [stupid] should rule over the world." Henrik Ibsen made that comment back in the 1820's or so and I found myself carrying around these letters in my bag, occasionally bringing it out to have a real look at it.br /br /Most of us living in African seem to be fascinated with the idea that the majority is always right. I've so often wondered as to whether this statement was ever true in its sense; then, a friend argued about how people make so much noise on the social networking site, Facebook. He had quit visiting the site because he thought he was in the class of the few who aren't the fools. Not to say that visitors to those sites are fools, but in the light of the majority, which he isn't or rejects to be part of.br /br /Then it occurred to me that this friend had just echoed another famous phrase that has to do with "following the crowd." It raises the question: Which people follow the crowd? Is it the fools or the wise? Words of another man resonated through my mind as to why there was no need to the join the majority, that the majority already has enough [fools] to do their bidding.br /br /It is daily occurrence to find the majority making the loud noise. They most often rely on their huge number to bulldoze their way through the mud which they have created. That is so typically true of the parliament in Ghana and by extension that of Africa. The Kuffuor administration was notorious for those majority move style of parliament. As a result, the minority had had to walk out of the House on several counts. A similar thing has been attempted by the current parliament already and I'm sick of it.br /Someway somehow the current MPs forming the majority is deceived into thinking that they should be in the lead; thus, the knowledge must reside in them, and perhaps them alone. A sad situation if we don't change those attitudes. To forestall such majority bullying, other parliaments or congresses have devised means of blocking such moves. The fillibusters of the U.S. is well-known. But as always, Africa copies and plays the catch-up to rescue its process from drowning.br /br /We are a people who are unwilling to delegate the little power we have. Therefore, it is common place to find--if you visit an office and you did not meet the boss--no one is around to discharge similar duties of behalf of that director or manager. It has creeped into our system. So without the minister, the director, manager, accountant and many others like that, the customer has to wait. I have experienced this before and it is so inconvenient. This is part of the root of our problems with the majority self-righteousness. br /This is because so often the the majority has been closely linked with wielding the BIG whip and the power.br /We must look at our systems over and over again for experience can never be wrong. And as Ibsen has shown, the wise are the few and the majority [never] has the right on its sidediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-5556359896865256815?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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14:35
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
In any case, how much budget allocation goes to education? That should tell us where our priority is. The member of parliament's pay and those of other government officials and their spending can provide those logistics if we want a better nation. We spend a larger chunk of our money on projects which remain in the pipeline and come out and say to the public that the education sector lacks logistics. What hypocrisy!!! What sort of a people are we at all?br /br /The National Maths and Science quiz received a setback in its operation when the government withdrew its sponsorship of the event forcing the organisers to reduced the cash-prize awarded to the winning schools. Radio Univers again called up the deputy minister of education, youth and sports. She said she had no idea such a decision had been made. A further investigation by us revealed that government allegedly is reviewing its sponsorship of the programme. br /My question was that what does that mean exactly? No good reply came. Shamefully, when the event was organised representatives from the ministry showed up. Anyone who has good knowledge in the education ministry knows how many time that ministry has trumpeted the importance of science and maths to the development of this nation.br /br /I conducted an interview with Professor Allotey, a seasoned mathematician by all standards--ever head of the Allotey Constant? That's the guy. An old man who is still involved with the development of maths and atomic physics for the forward match of this nation. I almost wept on the live interview when he lamented how no one had supported his initiative even though it yielded many benefits. According to him, he didn't understand why people who knew the importance of maths and science would not help. br /br /The man was obviously shockprised, almost dumbfounded. He never understood how such a mentality could exist in the society he grew up. I have a solution for Prof. allotey, he should ignore government forever because they have consistenly proved ineffectual in delivering.br /br /This has been what we the people must live with. Our politicians think we must beg and petition them for them to perform their responsibilities. No need to say they always lie. It wouldn'tstop. At least, they understand their common goal. As the people, we must also know what is we want. We must bring government to ourselves. Martin Luther King once said "Nobody would give you freedom...If you're a man you take it"div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-2686077186423328713?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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13:39
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Another sad event has occurred in our educational sector. Over the past years, this most important (my thinking) sector has been at the mercy of politicians who have persistently focused their attention on changing educational policy when such policies have had less time of implementation. br /It has gone to the extent that political parties have included this in their party manifesto. Not that it is something wrong , but i think an educatonal policy should be cast in a greater light and not submitted to the whims and caprices of politics and politicians.br /br /A broader consensus should be sort on the matter of a policy that covers the future of the country. I cannot help feeling that these younger ones are been experimented upon. We do not even give a chance for anything to develop before a it is interrupted. We as a people had less of a chance to develop on our own given our chequered past with Europeans. One cannot readily say it has had effect on the general psychology of our politicians of today.br /br /In September 2007, the Kuffour administration implemented a new educational policy after a 2 years work of research and consultation had been done by a committee headed and comprised of by seasoned academics and educationist (no need to go into the list). This report which was deposited with the government then suggested an upward review of the number of years students in the senior high schools spend in school from 3 to 4 years. This was based on several reason one of which is the most of these student graduate without the level of maturity one would expect (psychologically too). This report also brought to the fore a new syllabus to run the 4 year term giving students adequate time both for academic work and extra curricula activities.br /So for the first time I saw my 9-year-old brother taking a plywood, sand, some seed (God knows where he got it from) and glue to make a design to submit as assignment. I never did that while I was his age. At least not in the classroom.br /br /br /My focus isn't the merit of the reasons, but that some work was done which could be wrong or right; so, why don't we allow time to prove it wrong.br /br /But there comes a new government that promised in its manisfesto that it would reverse the 4 years of senior high school to 3 years. Now the NDC is well noted for favouring the 3-year system. It ignored a commision's report that asked for 4 years of senior high school in 1993 and also 1999. I think they might have good reasons. And I didn't expect anything less than a reversion of the policy instituted barely 2 years ago.br /But what amazed me was how they went about it. A 3 or so days interaction was organised by the ministry of education bringing together proponents of the 4-year syste and also some people who favoured the 3-year system. There was obviously no decisive action plan at the end. We all go to bed only for the government to tell us that we are back to 3 years.br /br /I did several reports on this issue for Radio Univers speaking with teachers including physical education instructors and most of those I spoke to thought that the students leave largely immature. Of course they did not bother about the number of years once they are able to complete the syllabus in time, something they've not been able to. br /The sector minister when interviewed by my station at the time when we heard rumours of a change in policy denied it. Now we have it. And I hear him say it isn't an issue of the numberof years. I don't care once these young ones develop enough to take up responsibilities and also enjoy their time in school. The minister said it was an issue of logistics. Fair enough. We all know there has been a problem in this regard. My question is why didn't they provide the logistics to cater for the four years?br /The answer is not fa-fetched; the Mills administration has promised to take us back and they merely did so in a comical FASHIONbr /br /But it is sad to see this happening to our children. All the same, we are back and so let's see if my old senior high school gets textbooks and a bus which will carry these lads to the inter college games.br /Not that I think things would be better; but, rather another government would reappear and change the policy again thus toying with these young maleable minds.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-1985249011840837225?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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12:06
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
With reference to the article “Obama’s test in Ghana” The International Herald Tribune (New York Times) (July 10): Africa’s future is up to Africans is a thought echoed explicitly by Barack Obama when he delivered that inspiring speech in Ghana.br /br /It was then obvious Obama wasn’t prepared to toe the previous western ways of approaching Africa as a manipulative patron uttering instructions. Indeed he plainly rejected that. It was therefore sad to read the piece by the good professor of history and education, Jonathan Zimmerman, which was filled with his biases and insults so noticeable to Africans.br /br /On the basic premise that Zimmerman is a professor of history, he should considered events preceding Mr. Bashir’s indictment, previous indictments (including ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor who is currently facing war crimes charges in the Hague) and why the African Union has chosen this new stance.br / But if Zimmerman did that, he would have perhaps noticed the timing of the indictment which clearly was meant to emasculate the ongoing peace processes at the time. Instead, he peddled the usual arm-chaired western approach of equating vengeance with justice; and thus chose to refer to all African leaders (except Botswana, a small powerless country) as despots. It is worth noting that the International Criminal Court’s indictment against Mr. Taylor and Mr. Bashir all came at a time when the African body was working on a peaceful resolution. Africans have a good reason to feel victimised by the ICC.br /Zimmerman did not stop at his bizarre game. Zimmerman, in his article, among other things sorts to undermine the political sense of the Ghanaian president Mills accusing him of slogan and image theft which to Zimmerman was “shameless.” I remember that that change slogan was first adopted by the Convention Peoples party before the National Democratic Congress leader, then candidate Mills bought into the idea with a slight twist. If anything at all, this happens in politics. For professor Zimmerman to suggest that president Mills cannot think for himself is disappointing. Indeed, it highlights the basic fact that Zimmerman did not do his work well.br /Sad enough, he even went ahead to suggest that African governments are not democracies. Why did he say that? “According to news reports, the debate over the Bashir warrant was vehement at the AU summit. Yet...only one country—Botswana—announced that it would not abide by it.” And what reason did Zimmerman give for Botswana’s solo action “That’s because Botswana is a democracy.” This is absolutely absurd. Botswana is a small country with barely 5 million people or so. It has never faced any real challenge to its democracy like Ghana did recently in the 2008 elections. But of course that little African country isn’t my focus. br /br /Zimmerman is a professor of history and education at New York University. I just can’t imagine what he’ll be dishing out to his white students. That Africa is filled with despots and power hungry leaders; that Europe and the United States is beyond prosecution of the countless crimes they’ve committed around the world; that the west has a god-given singular right to admonish Africans.br /br /I think Zimmerman should advocate prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Middle East by Israel, Britain and the United States which human rights organisations have gathered and tabled before the ICC. But the ICC was set up to prosecute and disgrace African leaders, which is why I find it hard to think Zimmerman would urge Obama not to understand the African situation, especially when Obama has said he has the “African blood.”br /br /Indeed, the US president decided to encourage Africans to pursue their course of destiny. If there is any test at all for Obama, it would be for transparency and justice in his own America and for those in Iraq, Afghanistan and many others like that. As for Africa, Africans will choose her future.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8826771768650275533?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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17:20
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_anhOf45KvaA/SljRS0f5tDI/AAAAAAAAAMY/CR-zh3s3Po4/s1600-h/11obama.1-600.jpg"img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 110px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_anhOf45KvaA/SljRS0f5tDI/AAAAAAAAAMY/CR-zh3s3Po4/s200/11obama.1-600.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357261878017504306" //abr /My Saturdays are usually quiet. I wake up late compared to the usual time i do during the week, considering that i work as a broadcast journalist. I did same today. I would follow that with a quick shower and then a light breakfast. If there is time or i'm off duty that Saturday, i'll play tennis for an hour or two then i get back home to prepare for my poetry show the following day. Then last week i registered for a a course which says i'll have to attend lecture on saturday at 11.30 in the morning. So that was how my routine acts changed today.br /I hate being late to places, so i did more regular ritual then set off. I usually walk for a maximum of 10 minutes to reach the bus station. However today was to be different.br /There were few buses at the lorry station and none of them would move. So what happened? The roads that would get me out of Osu, a suburb of Accra holding almost everything that has to do with governance, has been blocked for Barack Obama. I was already fuming. I considered alternative route. None was available. Now i felt quarantined in my own town without a virus in town. br /Something good came out of that. I called my editor and we turned that into a story; so i went ahead interviewing other angry Ghanaians. br /None of them hated the idea that Barack was around. They just felt some of the road blocks were unnecessary. For instance the one from Osu R.E. leading to the airport area could be opened to traffic while the American president was away dining at the castle. The cars could be lightly screened too.br /br /So I couldn't attend my classes neither was I able to get to work. I poured my frustration first on facebook. I kept posting on my status till i could do something else. I just hope all was worth it.br /br /span style="font-weight:bold;"BARACK TALKS TO US/spanbr /br /I loved one thing about Barack's speech. Before I even get to that, Obama speaks with less reference to a document on his hands. I love that. Now Barack said to the youth that we would have to fight for a new rekindling of the motherland. He said we must grab the opportunities. Before admonishing the youth, he made several references to the past; linked Dr. Nkrumah, Ghana's first president and supremo deliverer of this continent from white European colonialist, to Dr. King.br /Then he said: "Above all, it will be the young people — brimming with talent and energy and hope — who can claim the future that so many in my father's generation never found. "br /br /To me, that is a great challenge. It is one that is loaded and given the fact that the governments in Ghana have refused to pass the youth policy (the present administration talks of a review even when the bill worked on by the previous administration hasn't been passed) that would give a legal framework for more things to happen for the youth. br /For me, we're all too good at saying that the youth are the future leaders of this country. Without doing much to help realise this great statement, it's almost useless to mention this. Barack has seen it and he's a great man. We the youth have on several occasions demonstrated that we can make things happen for us by any means necessary. br /Barack says Africans must make things happen for Africa and he admits that blood runs within his vein. It's up to us.br /br /As for me, my day has already being messed up; but all that is behind me for ever. I may choose to rise midnight some other time a man of Obama's status steps into my backyard. Until then, my thanks to this man who speaks and we listen.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-7357239568634095370?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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19:22
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The International Criminal Court (ICC) some pan-Africanists have argued was set up for Africa, Africa and Africa. In its entire operations, it has charged two former heads of state; one from Europe and the other from Africa. Unlike Slobodan Milosevic’s indictment, the former Liberian leader Charles Taylor cannot be said to have directly orchestrated the supposed actions in the neighbouring country Sierra Leone. But of course the ICC’s charter has something that goes like if crimes are committed under a leader, the leader by extension, and ultimately is responsible.br /br /Now African has 30 of her 53 countries as signatories to the charter of the ICC. Countries have the option to send cases to the ICC if they think their local courts cannot handle such cases compromising war crimes even though the ICC can indict people alleged to have been involved with international crimes et cetera. br /When the former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan led the commissioning of the ICC, he thought he was instituting a court that would bring justice, indeed international justice. Kofi Annan, who is also an African of distinction, posted an article recently in the Daily Graphic, a Ghanaian national gazette which among other things sort to defend the ICC’s activities.br /br /I must indicate that I hold nothing against Mr. Annan and of course I do not want to sound as if I’m opposed to the mandate of the ICC. The ICC is a body to which nations may decide to join or not. The court has received over a hundred (100) prosecutable cases of war crimes in the past few years. These cases range from crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza and Rwanda. Of course the court has pressed the button on only a palm full of these cases. It is worth noting that most of the cases the ICC has or is closing on are in Africa. The question we must then ask is whether the ICC was set up for crimes committed in Africa by Africans.br /br /The United States isn’t a signatory to the ICC; and under no circumstances would it allow any American citizen to be dragged in front of the court. Indeed, statements have been made which suggests that the ICC was set up not for presidents of the United States or the prime ministers or Britain. Then who and what was the ICC set up for? The answer isn’t far to find. Just take a look the cases they’ve prosecuted so far.br /br /strongKILLING AFRICAN DIPLOMACY AND PEACE/strongbr /Charles Taylor was granted immunity, an action that led to the erstwhile Liberian leader relinquish power giving way for peace in the West African country. What is noteworthy here is the time at which the ICC indictment for Mr. Taylor came. The ICC was busy drafting an indictment that would obviously undermine the peace process initiated by ECOWAS at a time also when Mr. Taylor was in the Ghanaian capital in talks over the situation in his home country. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist’s mind to know what was at work. The pressure from the West; especially Britain and the United States (the later which isn’t even a signatory to the ICC) was enormous on Nigeria to give up Mr. Taylor to the Hague. Thus, a bad precedence was set.br /br /I’m not so surprised the African Union has put up such a position. There is an African proverb that says if there is fire on your neighbour’s chin, you fetch water and place it near yours. Africans now know it’ll be their turn soon if they don’t stand up for each other for what is plainly a well laid hatch for more such indictments while other leaders in the West are at large. In Bashir’s case, his government has argued that his prosecution was strictly political; sentiment Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations echoed the night the AU adopted the communiqué. Speaking to the BBC, the ICC prosecutor Okampo said the AU in itself isn’t a signatory to the ICC and that the individual African countries will decide to arrest Mr. Bashir or not. What sort of logic is this? The AU has the signatories of African countries and their mandate too.br /br /The Africa I see now is one that is eager to stand up to the colonisers and say “we’ll not do your bidding.” This isn’t just happening now. As a matter of fact, the undercurrents have been making the rounds among African leaders for some time. The African Union must push for more power for her executive arm. If possible, shun the ICC and set up its own court to deal with the injustices around the continent. br /br /strongWe don’t need a court that has its judges answering to the United States congress making statements that betray international justice. br /We don’t need judges who tell the world that the ICC is meant to disgrace African leaders. As for us Africans, our tradition is a forgiving one, not a revengeful ideology like the West. We must deal with our own in our own way./strongdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-664725741681994190?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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18:31
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
When you assure a people that you have the capability to change a current situation, you certainly must be aware of the events leading to the current situation; and thus your solution must come no matter what.br /br /When the National Democratic Party and its then candidate Mills campaigned vehemently on the fact that the Kuffuor administration is insensitive to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian by increasing fuel prices. They said many things, of course; and Ghanaians--obviously a few given the number of votes that decided the elections that ushered them into power--believed in the change agenda.br /At the time, i knew it was one of the political nonsense which is intended to trick the voter into thinking the current hard time is a punishment brought on them by the government.br /br /With the upsurge of groups like the CJA with boasted of members who're currently in the Mills administration, the group had a political power assumption agenda. Now they got it and things have not change for the better in the slightest idea.br /Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, Kwesi Pratt and their cohorts should now take to the streets and demonstrate to Ghanaians that their activities preceding the 2008 General Elections were not just a ploy to deceive the masses, that their move were genuine. I doubt very much if they would. At least not Okudjeto who is now minister of informationbr /br /So all of a sudden, the taxes the NDC said if slashed can reduce fuel prices can be done no more? And what do we receive in return? 30% increase in fuel prices.br /Not that i belong to the group who thinks government should subsidise everything. I believe the people must pay real prices and let government work hard to develop quality transportation, agric, industry, education and other sectors of this beautiful country.br /I just think that we have being lied to and we are not even told anything as to why? Instead, were being told a bunch of balderdash of past sins by the previous administration. So the cyclical madness does not stop.br /br /But isn't that how our politics has become?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-6975286516487422722?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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19:09
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I'm so so annoyed that i decide to just shoot these pointsbr /br /So today parliamentary business was stalled because Members of Parliament voted into office by the people of Ghana to do this business decided not to be in parliament possibly to celebrate June 4 and forsake their jobs. The house could not form a quorum. The minister of Energy and his deputy were absent. So it appears our lights will be flickering still for some more time without answersbr /br /Ghanaians were forced to alight from their buses. They had to trek kilometres from the 37 military hospital to Afrikiko in order to continue their journey because an event that occurred 30 years ago was been marked.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-1002774604918237546?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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18:19
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Joy fm has been playing and replaying the June 4 tapes--when former president and his junior officers stood up against senior officers and bla bla bla.br /The question has been whether it's necessary to celebrate the Uprising at all. Though the ideals that led to the Uprising may still be relevant in some sense ( cleansing the system and all), the 31 December movement has quashed this essence down the history lane of this nation.br /br /A colleague broadcast journalist at Radio Univers questioned whether we could refer to what happened on the 4th of June 1979 as a revolution? To him, revolutions around the world helped change things for good. The French Revolution and others that occurred in eastern Europe did change the systems and ideas, but can we say the same of the June 4 Uprising?br /br /I prefer the term "uprising" since it couches what happened better. Former president Rawlings is famous for yabbering about events that occurred on that day. In fact, proponents of this period have never ceased to argue that it happened for the best; but most (except of course Mr. Rawlings) have said that a later coup orchestrated by Mr. Rawlings in 1981, after the country had returned to constitutional rule, betrayed the June 4 Uprising. br /br /So Is June 4 Necessary?br /Events of today suggest that we have not moved on in any positive direction from the events that led to the Uprising. br /Probity and accountability were essential factors for the junior officers who led the Uprising. Corruption is rife still today.br /br /This morning, The Daily Graphic reported that the minister for Education, Youth and Sports, Hon. Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed, is involved in [misappropriation of funds and corruption] at his ministry just few months after taking office. br /br /Speaking to Joy fm in a radio interview, the government spokesperson Mahama Ayariga revealed that president Mills is reviewing the situation and would take a decision soon. Also, cabinet met today but the spokesperson refused to even say that the issue of the minister came up because some oath debars him from doing so.br /For me, this is president Mills' test of his commitment to fighting corruption.br /br /And if anything at all, Hon. Mubarak should resign to allow investigations into the matter. I don't think he would. This is a country and a government that does not believe in this sort of action. The foreign affairs minister never did even when public pressure was on him. I don't think he would.br /br /Quite fascinatingly, the former chief of staff of the Kuffuor administration, Kwame Mpianim, was interrogated by the Bureau of National Investigation on Tuesday. A large number of the opposition party trooped the BNI headquarters claiming Mr. Mpianim has been kept for far too long. br /That very night, almost the whole country experienced a total power outage. br /br /The National Security Advisor, Brigadier Nunoo Mensah said on Adom and Peace fm that his government would haul anybody in his government accused of corruption to face the law. Well, a case has presented itself just under 24 hours of his declaration.br /br /And so today, as the ruling party sits in the ruling chair driving these affairs,what can they do about all this?br /br /The nation is admittedly face serious challenges in every sector. Fuel prices may go up forcing more difficulties in the transportation sector, our energy security s threatened with power outages without proper schedule, severe water shortages in and around Accra, and the government is thinking of reversing the current policy in education relating to the number of years spent in high school from the current 4 years to 3 years. A move which obviously would require a change in syllabus too.br /It's important to note that the current policy was instituted after a committee headed by Prof. Anamoah Mensah recommended the move following 2 years of work. It took the then Kuffuor administration about 5 years to implement it. br /br /What sort of a people are we that we'll put together a two-day forum to arrive at a consensus on an issue that took months of research?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8029072394562671736?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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13:54
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Several things were promised to be done within the short period of 100 days. And I bet most people would agree that 100-Days thing is permanent. As to whether it's an effective practice, it still remains an opinion.br /br /President Mills believes he has lived up to his promise of maintaining a lean government. At a meeting at the Osu Castle which is supposed to create the platform for Prez Mills to address or discuss promises he made to achieve within the first 100 days of his presidency, the professor said his government is lean compared to ex-president Kufuor’s administration which had about 88 ministers including deputies. br /br /Now president Mills’ number of cabinet ministers hovers around 77. It’s important to note that ex-president Kufuor started his government in 2000 with less than that which president Mills has started with. The question therefore remains if President Mills will not increase the number of his ministers before the next general elections in 2012br /br /The Mills campaign to reduce fuel prices within the first 100 days of assuming the presidency remains a mirage. I think that campaign may have brought a lot of votes to the Mills camp; so, what did he have to say to that? Funny indeed. The good professor upon winning power has suddenly realised that there is first of all a statutory body that controls fuel pricing and secondly the government of Ghana does not control world prices. So why did he campaign on that? Hmmm...div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-2045073086452687383?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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19:14
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I've not kept my eyes off the vetting of minister designates et cetera. I just decided not to tread that path. The designates have come in different shapes and, of course, sizes. Impressive and impeccable persons to very questionable characters. Those who have problems with their academic records and did not bother to run through their CVs before submitting them to parliament (it isn't a new thing in Ghana) to those who have different names just by changing them and they cannot remember their birth-dates or days on which they were born. It goes on and on. I believe I can rap about it.br /br /The questions from the vetting committee members have also come in degrees. Some silly like asking a nominee to share her experience a parliamentarian (which wasn't the reason why the nominee was there and even if it was, are there no better questions?) to sheer provocation. For instance, Betty Mould was asked what the Mould meant. Some were just classy and showed their level of experience in the House. Take the minority leader for example.br /br /The nominees also showed what they were made of. Moses Asaga set the wrong tone early enough, then the Curious Case Iddrisu, then . . . But sure I was very pleased with Hannah Tetteh for her approach and substance. It was evident she knew public relations. The Betty-Mould was up. She reminded me of the times when some propagandists said ex-president Kufuor was a lawyer by degree and has never been to the courtroom. Well, our attorney general-minister of justice is in the same class which has president Mills saying like a school boy "Present Sir" already. br /br /Then there is this whole argument about tribalism and so on. I wonder when we'd push beyond such shallow and hollow way of seeing. I agree there are real issues, but. . .br /br /I guess more is to comediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-833864550029504249?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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22:52
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_anhOf45KvaA/SW5wl1mFCUI/AAAAAAAAAL4/_Vhy-KQ4ELM/s1600-h/Mills+small+portrait.jpg"img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 182px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_anhOf45KvaA/SW5wl1mFCUI/AAAAAAAAAL4/_Vhy-KQ4ELM/s200/Mills+small+portrait.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291290407551174978" //abr /I honestly do not feel like writing about this subject. First, it disinterests me from the onset; second, it's disgraceful to the land.br /The transitional sub-committees, reportedly, are making appointments, issuing directives and even sacking some public officials--civil servants. Quite amusing if you ask me. And that is why I didn't want to write. br /It was a song from Eminem (Haillie) that made me put this out.br /br /br /One of the caretaker ministers, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni--a clever man that is--to the Interior signed a letter a few days after taking over the position, asking an official to vacate his position. When questioned later, the HONOURABLE claimed he signed several letters and cannot remember the particular letter being referred to. How funny Ghana can be sometimes.br /br /And the sacking is still underway. 30 civil servants already axed out at the ministry of foreign affairs. The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) boss, DCOP Douglas Akrofi Asiedu, has been sacked by the Mills transitional team. And guess what, the former man during the NDC time in powe, Kofi Portuphy has been planted there.br /br /And just a reminder, I think I heard the presidential spokesman man, Mr. Ayariga asking all DCE's etc to remain at post until there are substantive appointees? Where is the constitution?br /br /Meanwhile, the fast-speaking Dramatic Mahama has been talking a lot on foreign affairs. The Gambia matter where some Ghanaians were reportedly slaughtered in the small west African country is the vice president's destination. I wonder. The Kufuor administration is claimed to have done less in helping those victims there, but I think it was an investigation sanctioned by that same government that revealed the verity of the case. So let's see how far we get. Isn't there more work here, as the the Mills administration has pointed out?br /br /And as I suspected, former president J.J. Rawlings has opened his bloodclot mouth wide again. This time, a caution to the Mills transitional team. The old boss said he'll (and he spoke on behalf of Ghanaians though I didn't ask him to) not tolerate anything 'povertic' in action. No, he said he'll not tolerate the 'poverty of inaction. Makes me laugh albeit.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-76576455417326805?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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10:00
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Ghana has a new president who has pledged to move this nation forward. And as lover of this country, i can only wish him well on his course. We all accept that this nation must move forward, and know it is moving forward. Nowadays, the 'moving forward' thing must be said cautiously so that one is not tagged as peddling an NPP slogan. Yet, none of the politician could help avoid the phrase on inauguration--although 'in the right direction' was added to show differentiation.br /br /But this isn't exactly what I intend to post. The speech by president Mills for me was largely uninspiring, but the end of that speech touched me. Not because I haven't heard it in any form before, but because he said it.br /br /“Let us do what is right: right by divine standards, right by human standards.” Prof. Mills on inauguration day.br /br /br /br /THis appointments stuff gets me straight each time the topic comes up. I wrote a note on Prof. Mills transitional team when its composition was made public barely 24 hours after he won the election. I put up that post on facebook too as I've done with this one. br /Brigadier Nunoo, who was banned from any military installations in the country, but he now heads president Mills' national security sub-committee. Funny. Do we joke with our national security.br /br /Parliamentary revo-evolution.br /I think parliament will be up to what is expected from that angle. My reason? They have no choice than to do exactly that. And the sign has been firmly sent to the entire nation that the law-making body is ready for business. I always thought of our parliament as a bunch of wags throwing jokes about. But they are serious now. A close look at proceedings reveals a change for progress.br /The new parliament has also gone bi-partisan--or is it multi-partisan? The erstwhile Kufuor administration had a similar thing in parliament. So I'm not all too surprised. br /br /But more seriously, I don't think president Mills will overlook his party too much. As I've already stated, the transitional team is a replica taste of the stew that is still on fire. Mills, i think will surprise us a little too. Quite an aside, I think his speech today at the Independence Square was largely uninspiring except to the last statement where he said “Let us do what is right: right by divine standards, right by human standards.” br /I'm still waiting for the full list and president Mills must not disappoint.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-424111824015980678?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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8:37
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
So barely 24 hours after being declared president-elect and successor-apparent to out-going president Kufuor, Prof. Mills has named a twelve-man transition team to handle the transition detail from the Kufuor administration. The 12-man, or woman, team is primarily handing issues ranging from socio-economic matters to national security. br /br /Now I'm not going to blubber about how soon the Prof. announced his transition team. There's not much time and the earlier the better. Considering the fact that the presidential election run-off and the subsequent duel at little Tain has eaten the already short transitional period, one cannot blame Prof. Mills too much.br /br / A quick glance at the team brings up a few waivers--I cannot say exactly if it raises questions. The team is primarily composed of members from the former NDC government (1996-2000) of which Prof. Mills was vice-president, contenders of the NDC presidential candidacy primaries and other persons who mooted for him to be elected into office or put out their hands to be his running mate on the campaign trail. I bet you have some names already flying around in your head. br /br /Yeah! The list vibrates names ranging from Spio-Garbrah to Betty Mould, Hannah Tetteh to Peprah and even Brigadier Nunoo. Man they all made the list. And what has that got to tell me? Well, at least I have a snapshot into what a Prof. Mills administration would be like. I'm not sure president Kufuor promised unifying this country--as if we were divided then or are now--but we saw a hand extended to other persons outside the NPP sphere. br /br /And Prof. Mills, I will not be too quick to pass judgement about his about-to-be-born administration. What I can say albeit is that, presently, the old NDC team has not changed much even though Prof. Mills rode to victory on the original blueprint of the Convention People's Party's slogan of "CHANGE." We wait what beholds us in some few months to come.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8156378812102117874?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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9:28
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Need I give some little reactions here and there. br /br /President, if you have not followed, for the past month or so has been going round the country. And Novisi is quite right to say that the president has been "beg[ging] for forgiveness." What he failed to mention though was [what] sort of forgiveness the president was asking from the people he spoke with.br /Just clear this, the president said he may have hurt people in the process of governing the country and that he was [human] and therefore fallible. He did not beg them to vote for [him] or Akufo Addo.br /br /And yes I remember Akufo Addo asking people to come out and vote for him. Atta Mills has followed suit since. br /br /It is true that it is our politics, or rather the word picture I presented, that were [ugly]. But that wasn't what I meant in the earlier post. Campaigning, which in essence, is convincing people you don't know to entrust with power over their lives and their activities is what is [ugly]. Probably you may the word choice may have resulted in the supposition that politics is a good thing and that I'm suggesting is bad.br /br /I think that the moment words are taken out of context, they can be misinterpreted, misrepresented and misconstrued. I wrote that the NDC who have accused the NPP of begging have themselves begged, that they even initiated it. Now, I wrote specifically why I said so and did not take the whole situation, which is how and when voting started in Ghana, into consideration. Thus, I did not expect to be held to that. I appreciate that logic by Novisi that A can imply B.br /As I have said, I have restricted the begging accusation or its off shoots to the 7 December polls prior to that date and its aftermath.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4580478027515815280?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:43
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
SHUN THE SMEAR CAMPAIGNSbr /br /I can confidently state that the NDC has run the dirtiest campaign of my time after the 28 December election re-run date was declared by the Electoral Commission. Most of these allegation filled campaigns directly attacked the NPP. A typical example is the overt averring of the NDC that the presidential candidate of the NPP if voted would cocaine more homes. Most of these sludge smeared assertions were run in the form of clips on specifically Metro tv.br / br /I don’t know how this negative campaign can help the NDC win votes, but this isn’t good for all of us. How many homes in Ghana deal drugs? How many of these homes have been helped directly by the NPP or Akufo to deal drugs. More specifically, how many of these homes have Nana Akufo Addo damaged if indeed he indulged in drugs? Practical question enough for anyone to shy away from the topic if the person wanted to argue on fact. Indeed, people have been dealing drugs for long in this country without being caught. So what has brought these cases before the courts? Better checking systems or just an increase?br /br /The NDC has also sown ethnic sentiments specifically among the Ga people of Accra. The NDC said the NPP believed in ‘property owning democracy’ and thus the NPP has acquired most if not all the Ga lands in the Greater Accra region. This senselessness by the NDC must be treated with the utmost contempt it deserves. Factually, most of the Ga lands under government ownership were acquired under the PNDC-NDC governments which spanned a period of 20 years.br / br /Under the NPP, these lands are been relinquished under review committees set up by the Kufuor administration. Hate Kufuor, but he did his bit for the Gas most of whom are not privy to the facts and cannot think for themselves other than feed on these ethnic-centred misinformation. My mother is pure Ga and I’ve spent all my life in Greater Accra and I sure understand the evil feeling being planted into Gas by the NDC that Akans want to take over their lands solely to win votes.br /br /Of course, I've not exposed the ills of the NDC to make the NPP appear right. The NPP has previously campaigned negatively and they must make sure those negativities are not replicated in the future. For now, it's the NDC and that is what we must address.br /br /UNREASONABLE REASONSbr /br /What baffles me most about this new formula NDC campaign is how all is purged on emotions. I ask myself why I would vote for someone because he offers a clean heart (which may not exist) or because he says he’s humble or because he would run to ‘apologise profusely.’ Some students (from the background of the footage on tv I could tell are from Accra Polytechnic and one also from my university of Ghana) declared their support for the NDC’s Prof. Mills because he’s humble, God-fearing and those lines of statements.br /br /That is sad because those qualities don’t propel a nation’s development. Contrary to these adverts are those of the NPP’s Nana Akufo Addo’s ‘what I would do if voted’ expressions. As an academic, or a thinking being, I’ll vote for someone who tells me concrete things about his vision. Take for instance, a fund for the development of the Northern part of the country, improvement of police service, improvement in teacher salary and training; free senior high school education( in addition to the already free-tuition junior high school system), improvement in health and the expansion of the health insurance scheme which almost all the presidential candidates offered to continue. I dare say compare those few policies to that of Prof. Mills' generalised shadow policies declared on his campaigns.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-7358174008733747990?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:25
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Some people (including my friend Novisi) have said that the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, is begging for votes. I don’t know what they mean by ‘begging’ or what in actual fact could constitute begging. I don’t even know when campaigning could be termed ‘begging’; so, when I read from Novisi and heard from people of the opposition NDC that the NPP is ‘begging,’ it beat my imagination.br /br /In the first place, campaigning in itself is an ugly act. Asking someone you don’t know from anywhere to vote for you because you promise to deliver ‘whatever’ when given that power could be quite an experience. But that is the trade of politicians; that is politics. Thus, inherent in campaigning is the supposed begging. In a nutshell, all politicians who solicit for vote are ‘begging’ for those votes.br /Now to the NPP’s ‘begging’ tactics which is being mooted like it’s the first time.br /br /Note that I’ve in no way concurred, whether implicitly or explicitly, that the NPP is begging. To make it clearer, I don’t think whatever they are saying amounts to begging. Immediately following the 7 December polls, both the NDC and NPP zoomed straight to campaigning. The NDC obviously made more use of the screens than the NPP. The predominant television campaign strategy of the NDC included well structured addresses by its presidential candidate, Professor J.E.A. Mills, carefully selected public figures of the NDC emphasising on the emotional aspects of their candidate and some students who obviously have no mind of their own.br /br /It was in one of these addresses that Professor Mills, in an attempt to con voters, said, that Ghanaians have given the NDC the legislature and they must add the presidency. I don’t know how such logical fallacy stands in the Prof’s head, especially when we know that no one has a majority (which is 115 seats) in parliament. The NDC is factually short of 2 seats make that majority and I’m sure the Professor is well aware of that and yet he lied.br /br /The popular idea that the NDC is leading is also a lie which we must all address. This is because closely tied to this blunder is the NDC’s assertion that ‘the wind of change is blowing’ and that Ghanaians must vote for its presidential candidate. As far as I know, my basic arithmetic informs me that 47.9% (Prof. Mills) is less than 49.13% (Akufo Addo). Consider what the media has termed previously as ‘a wind of change.’ They have all been sweeping changes which cannot be paralleled by what the NDC is claiming.br /br /If at all anyone is openly begging for votes, it would be the Prof. Mills and the NDC. Let’s not forget that the NDC claimed that its presidential candidate did a door-to-door campaign or was it house-to-house? Prof. Mills never visited Osu or the Korle-Klottey Contituency, one of the most important towns in Accra and yet it was door-to-door. Hypothetically speaking, if indeed Prof. Mills went from home to home like Obama started off his senate campaign in Illinois, United States, then what was he doing? I don’t think he went there to stare into their faces and smile, or put money in their pockets or elucidate on his unclear educational policy. He was there primarily asking them to vote for him.br /So who obviously begged? You tell me.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-2208536345693450408?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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18:00
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
So we'll go to the polls again on the 28 of December to elect a president in a run-off, the Electoral Commission has confirmed. Speaking to the media at the press centre in Accra, Dr. Afari Djan said none of the candidates hit the 50% plus one vote.br /Ghanaians have proved their understanding of democracy. We have shown that we choose who governs us and our system of voting only gets better and better. The patience we exercised and the role the media played in calming tensions wherever there was and calling on the police to swiftly move to areas where danger is smelled was absolutely phenomenal.br /But again the presidential election also proved a point to each and every politician that they cannot take the people's will for granted. Those who thought belonged to a certain political party but felt that party was unfit to rule stayed at home and never voted.br /br /Akufo Addo's vote percentage was 49.12% while Atta Mills was 47.92%. The other candidates swept the small percentages left. The NDC has made strides in this election that cannot be overlooked. Although their seats in parliament don't constitute a majority, they have the highest closely followed by the ruling NPP. br /An interesting development, albeit not far-fetched would be to have the NPP retain the presidency and the NDC with the highest number of MPs. It would teach us some good lessons, if you ask me, on how to cooperate with each other there and not show sheer disregard for other views in parliament when bills have to be passed. This is something both the NDC (1993-2000) and the NPP (2001-2008) have been guilty of.br /I think it will happen. NPP will retain the presidency and they would have to cooperate with the NDC, PNC, CPP and independent MPs.br /It's healthy for us to have such a situation for the next 4 years or so; but we must not lose sight of bad examples from other parts of the worl where a president's initiatives are stifled in parliament because he lacks the majority there. Canada and the United States come to mind.br /br /By far, the most disappointing performance in the election comes from the CPP with them obtaining just a seat and 'Edwumawra' crashing under 2 percent.. And who else better than Dr. Nkrumah's daughter, Samia Nkrumah. A very warm welcome to her to politics. I just hope she stays up long in the game. Dr. Nduom must come back big in 2012.br /br /I think we must revise the date for our handing over. I've always thought that 7 January is too short a time. Take for instance that we have to have a re-run of the 2008 presidential election on 28 December and the 7 January handover date. The period transition period is only about 8 days if the EC is granted 2 days within which it must declare the results.br /How would the next president organise? We must rethink this line of our electoral cum handing over process.br /I also know that it won't be long when we would have a near perfect electoral system--when we will digitalise our process with the inception of the National ID programme.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-6698700115709875047?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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7:48
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The counting of votes started about 26 hours ago and we are still counting. This election has had its fair share of surprises. Sitting MPs and ministers losing their seats in the incumbent NPP (Stephen Asamoah Boateng, minister of Information and National Orientation),the NDC (Hon. Ayariga) and the CPP (Hon. Freddie Blay, deputy speaker of parliament). The results also show the opposition NDC making inroads into NPP strongholds and winning NPP seat while the NPP has also won NDC seat. However, it's the NPP that has suffered a huge setback in the parliamentary seat losing out 9 of seat which they held before going into the election while the NDC has gained 7 additional seat. Two independent candidates have also won seats while the CPP has won only a seat at the time of this post.br /br /In the presidential votes collated from 179 constituencies out of the total 230, the NPP's Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo is leading with 49.88% with Prof. John Evans Atta Mills following with 46.4%. The NPP and the NDC are at par in terms of seatswon so far with 77 for NPP and 76 for NDC out of 158 constituencies counted so far.br /br /What is worth noting is the voting pattern of Ghanaians in recent elections. Results suggest that the electorate vote for a president of say NPP and vote for a parliamentarian of NDC. This seemingly sophisticated pattern of voting can be ascribed to reasons like the perceived under-performance of an MP in his or her constituency in terms of developments.br /br /Meanwhile, the EC has said it would release the results soon. I think most Ghanaians are not so anxious to hear results that if it doesn't come soon, we would fight. That wouldn't happen and we must congratulate each other for the peace we have kept so far. The EC must make it fast but carefully.br /br /The move by GJA to halt any press conference by the NDC and NPP is good. Not that the GJA has the power to stop the press conferences or the power to limit the freedom of these parties, but it would save us the nonsense of allegations and counter-allegations. At least, the GJA can advise its members to shun these gatherings or broadcast only what is necessary. It's this allegation that fuel conflicts and we must do whatever in our power to stop anything that will lead to violence, even if it would limit a few peoples freedom for the larger group to live peacefully.br /br /The security services ought to be congratulated for a good work done. The president-elect must see the necessity in boosting the police force. I remember very well when one presidential candidate mentioned increasing the numbers in the police, our cynical and devil's advocate ex-president alleged a sinister move by Akufo Addo to infiltrate and fill the police with "his people." But we have all seen how important that policy would prove to be when a mass exercise like elections needs to be conducted. Just so you know, the police had had to supplement its force with members from the immigration, military, customs services and the fire service.br /br /I hope a time would come when a decision or idea of a person would'nt be opposed hust because he's on the other side of the aisle. Ghana must be the winner in this elections.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-1442634524653917672?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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10:35
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I barely had slept last night. The web kept me awake as I surfed and listened to the results. It has been peaceful so far. Baba Jamal of the NDC alleged that there was foul play in Akwatia. He said one ballot box was sent to the house of the NPP constituency chairman. However, the Returning Officer could not corroborate this allegation saying that there has been some complex developments which he hopes to resolve soon.br /br /Early on, the police in Akwatia arrested some people who were reported to have stomped one of the centres and smashed ballot boxes. Radio reports from Akwatia this morning suggests that some NPP supporters are furious because the police have released these people. It must be recalled that the arrested people are, purportedly, from the NDC.br /br /The Greater Accra Regional minister, Sheikh I.C. Quaye received a shock when counted ballot papers place him in the losing end with a close margin in the Ayawaso area. He requested for a recount with the consent of the other candidates. The recount put him in the lead with about 800 votes separating him from the NDC candidate who came second.br /br /What has fascinated me so far in this election is the signal that Ghanaians are sending to politicians. I notice that in all areas where the NDC is in the lead that the NPP has lost votes compared to the 2004 election. The only constituency which showed an increase in NPP votes is in the Ejisu-Juaben constituency in the Ashanti region. If NPP should win at all, they would have to revise their strategy. It’s obvious that the erstwhile NPP parliamentary aspirants who went into the election as independent has swept votes from the NPP. br /br /Results collated so far by Adom fm, an Accra based radio station, puts NDC in the lead in terms of popular vote from 68 out of 230 constituencies nationwide. This is a breakdown of the results so far from 68 constituencies:br /CPP: 36,499 =1.39 percentbr /PNC: C 14,966 =0.57 percentbr /NPP: 1.256,000 =47.90 percentbr /NDC: 49.63 percentdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-5754298260754179662?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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21:03
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
So the voting has ended and anyone who thought ill would have to shame himself. We have shown to the rest of Africa how we must conduct elections. But most importantly, we have shown belief in ourselves and the systems we have set in motion.br /Counting has started at almost all polling stations and results are trickling in. The next hurdle is when the Electoral Commission declares the results. I tend to think that whoever loses with take defeat in himself and concede that defeat. The president-elect must be graceful and stretch a hand to all the other 7 candidates inviting them to help build a better and stronger Ghana.br /br /I returned to the my hostel at the University of Ghana after I voted at my constituency at Osu, Accra where I'm blogging from. The atmosphere I witnessed was more that peaceful. That was the case all around the country except for some few reported incidents. A man called Nuru, allegedly, rushed into a polling station along with some macho men and smashed the presidential and parliamentary ballot boxes there. Witnesses said Nuru is a well known figure in the said area and that he's an instrument of Baba Jamal, a member of the opposition NDC.br /What is important here though is that this bloke was apprehended by the police.br /br /Tuning in to BBC later this evening, the world service was running a documentary on Ghana's first president and events leading to the '66 coup and its aftermath. What struck me most is Dr. Nkrumah's inability to detach or dissociate himself from Ghana. His weekly address obviously had immense impact albeit Ghana was under military rule. Something else tickled my senses which I couldn't sew together: Why did the British Broadcasting Corporation choose to broadcast this tape on election day in Ghana?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-3298256449260597765?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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19:46
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I’ve often wondered how we’ve evolved—or rather revolved—as a people. We’ve always been clear about what we want albeit bewitched with vast methods of achieving those goals. We’ve a strong distaste for greedy fellows looking to entrench themselves. Most often our worries have been with understanding the core information as most of Ghanaians receive information which has been interpreted by other fallible so-called social commentators. Little of that exists today. br /br /You would agree with me that Ghana today, with a highly contestable estimate of illiteracy rate of about 55 percent, is better off. When we talk of illiteracy in Ghana, we usually mean illiteracy in English; but, anyone who has lived in Ghana knows that over 50 percents of our flow of information (news, discussions, announcements) in the electronic media is in the indigenous languages of Ghana, not English. Our media has witnessed a revolution that has drifted from the past when journalists who strongly criticised the government would have to flee for their lives to where governments now seek redress in the court of law. So we have come a long way indeed.br /br /I visited Nigeria in November of 2007; I was in University of Ibadan more specifically. My experience in that country was revealing. My preconception about how Nigerians in general respond when it comes to politics was mainly forged by what I heard as a child growing up in Accra. The students on the Ibadan campus were interested in politics in Ghana and how we handle our business compared to theirs—they were largely impressed with Ghanaians. They lamented the fact that most of their people don’t care to know the huge government spending once they get their pay or food to eat. Of course, the educated class do not fall into this huge group—most of these people are informed. This is where Ghana and Nigeria contrast. A Ghanaian “makola” woman, fishermen, carpenters etc all debate political issues. They think if government doesn’t spend too much on itself, their lives would improve too. br /Reasons like this make me wake up each morning and think that Ghana will not burn. The same reasons why Ghana can plunge into a Darfurian or Rwandan conflict are the very reasons why Ghana cannot be dragged into the abyss war with herself. We are too conscious of ourselves as one people with diversity. We tend to think that there is plenty in diversity, there is unity in diversity, and that diversity is what identifies us. We owe this line of thought partly to how we achieved independence of Britain in 1957 and partly to Dr. Nkrumah’s—our first president—very statements on this. Our founding fathers and mothers were of diverse backgrounds and still found the peace and never any ethnic group as inferior. Our very history teaches this success story.br /br /It’s becoming increasingly hard to find any Ghanaian family which is of only one ethnic group. Marriage across tribes and ethnic groups is the situation we find ourselves in. I remember my History tutor in High school when he asked me which part of the country I come from. He was in essentially asking for my ethnic group; whether I’m Akan, Ewe, Ga or Dagaare. Funny enough, I told him I’m an Akan and a Ga. My colleagues in the third year History class laughed; but, they understood what that means. This is the unity we find; it’s in blood.br /br /So if anyone casts his eyes across the West Africa region and any other part of Africa, that person would spot huge ethnic conflicts involving intent of mass killings and mass killings. Ghana has been saved some of that wroth. That doesn’t mean we’ve witnessed zero conflict based on ethnicity. A little of that has been experienced in the northern part of the country; but, we move on as a people looking for ways that unify us.br /br /Our media has come to realise the immense responsibility it bears on its shoulders. That most Ghanaians look to them for direction, that they must give out distorted information, that they must be responsible for their words. Therefore, one wouldn’t be far from right to say that the media can make this election end with less violence and they have started that already. We are one people and that we understand clearly than even any religion ever.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-6191452985833530076?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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11:43
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
My radio sounded very different today. Ghana is voting so all the midnight radio preachers have ended their sermons unusually early. I flicked through a few others: Hitz and Atlantis were playing music as always, the British accent on BBC was familiar which told that it wasn’t Focus on Africa, but The World Today; Peace and Adom were the real thing. With correspondents spotted all over the country, these radio stations are busily reporting. My own station, Radio Univers, is also dedicating the whole week to the electoral matters.br /br /Ghanaians will be voting to elect a president out of 8 presidential candidates 230 parliamentarians. Election 2008 proves to be a hard choice between 8 men who have tried to prove to Ghanaians that they are capable of steering the affairs of the nation. Of these 8 we can talk about Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo (NPP), Prof. John Evans Attah Mills (NDC), Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom (CPP) and Dr. Edward Mahama (PNC)in terms of popularity.br /There are 2100 polling stations countrywide, 1060 parliamentary candidates including 95 independent candidates and 103 of these candidates are women.br /br /Gradually, the election is becoming the most peaceful election ever. Images shot from voting centres so far suggests that all is going according to schedule except for areas like Kwabenya where the police moved in quell the chaos. Shockingly, some voters got to polling stations as early as 2 a.m. in the morning and at about 8 a.m. long queues have emerged. It was obvious from the campaign ahead of the polls that this election will witness an increase in the number of cast votes compared to previous years. In 2004, 85.1 percent of registered voters cast their votes.br /Reports coming in show that voting materials arrived late at some centres. Voting is supposed to start 7 a.m. but at about 10 a.m. some polling stations were still to start voting as they have not received voting materials. This is not even throughout the country though. Some votes were cast as early as 7.02 a.m. At Medina, votes were cast at about 7.20 in the morning.br /br /Here at the University of Ghana, students who transferred their votes have started voting while those who live in Accra have left campus for their various homes.br /There are no reports of violent incidents so far. Indeed, DSP Ofori, the Public Relations Officer of the police, has issued a press statement that the police are to be aided by other security services which includes the military, customs services, fire service and immigration. He said his outfit has received reports from voters that there are no police personnel at some polling stations, hence the press release to assure Ghanaians that these other security services are to perform the same function as the police.br /br /The presidential candidate for the Convention People’s Party, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom has cast his vote around 9 a.m. in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem (KEEA) constituency in the Central region; a constituency which he held until he entered the presidential race. Some few minutes later president Kufour, ex-president Rawlings, and other high profile figures were reported to have cast their vote. As a matter of coincidence, almost all of them voted between the hours of 9 and 10 this morning. I had the chance to see Akufo Addo vote and the massive crowd at the polling station which is a similar reflection at other centres where all these figures voted. br /Ghanaians must know that the election is being conducted by humans and therefore there are bound to be some hitches. What we must ensure is that no ballot papers are added and removed from the ballot boxes.br /br /Quite disappointingly, some churches are still in session at about 11 a.m. Reports coming out of KEEA is very interesting. A pastor, or rather a prophet, has purportedly restrained some of his members from leaving the church saying that some of these people are ill and need prayers before they can cast their vote. This got me laughing; how humorous we all are.br /br /One other thing worthy of note is the massive media coverage of the election. There’s a press centre where the collated election results are supposed to be beamed and as I’ve already mentioned, the electronic media is focusing on the election. The international media presence is overly colossal in the country. Notable amongst them is the BBC, ASBC, Reuters, Dutch tv etc.br /So, would we witness a massive voter turnout but peaceful Election 2008?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8655484532592585940?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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11:43
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
My radio sounded very different today. Ghana is voting so all the midnight radio preachers have ended their sermons unusually early. I flicked through a few others: Hitz and Atlantis were playing music as always, the British accent on BBC was familiar which told that it wasn’t Focus on Africa, but The World Today; Peace and Adom were the real thing. With correspondents spotted all over the country, these radio stations are busily reporting. My own station, Radio Univers, is also dedicating the whole week to the electoral matters.
Ghanaians will be voting to elect a president out of 8 presidential candidates 230 parliamentarians. Election 2008 proves to be a hard choice between 8 men who have tried to prove to Ghanaians that they are capable of steering the affairs of the nation. Of these 8 we can talk about Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo (NPP), Prof. John Evans Attah Mills (NDC), Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom (CPP) and Dr. Edward Mahama (PNC)in terms of popularity.
There are 2100 polling stations countrywide, 1060 parliamentary candidates including 95 independent candidates and 103 of these candidates are women.
Gradually, the election is becoming the most peaceful election ever. Images shot from voting centres so far suggests that all is going according to schedule except for areas like Kwabenya where the police moved in quell the chaos. Shockingly, some voters got to polling stations as early as 2 a.m. in the morning and at about 8 a.m. long queues have emerged. It was obvious from the campaign ahead of the polls that this election will witness an increase in the number of cast votes compared to previous years. In 2004, 85.1 percent of registered voters cast their votes.
Reports coming in show that voting materials arrived late at some centres. Voting is supposed to start 7 a.m. but at about 10 a.m. some polling stations were still to start voting as they have not received voting materials. This is not even throughout the country though. Some votes were cast as early as 7.02 a.m. At Medina, votes were cast at about 7.20 in the morning.
Here at the University of Ghana, students who transferred their votes have started voting while those who live in Accra have left campus for their various homes.
There are no reports of violent incidents so far. Indeed, DSP Ofori, the Public Relations Officer of the police, has issued a press statement that the police are to be aided by other security services which includes the military, customs services, fire service and immigration. He said his outfit has received reports from voters that there are no police personnel at some polling stations, hence the press release to assure Ghanaians that these other security services are to perform the same function as the police.
The presidential candidate for the Convention People’s Party, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom has cast his vote around 9 a.m. in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem (KEEA) constituency in the Central region; a constituency which he held until he entered the presidential race. Some few minutes later president Kufour, ex-president Rawlings, and other high profile figures were reported to have cast their vote. As a matter of coincidence, almost all of them voted between the hours of 9 and 10 this morning. I had the chance to see Akufo Addo vote and the massive crowd at the polling station which is a similar reflection at other centres where all these figures voted.
Ghanaians must know that the election is being conducted by humans and therefore there are bound to be some hitches. What we must ensure is that no ballot papers are added and removed from the ballot boxes.
Quite disappointingly, some churches are still in session at about 11 a.m. Reports coming out of KEEA is very interesting. A pastor, or rather a prophet, has purportedly restrained some of his members from leaving the church saying that some of these people are ill and need prayers before they can cast their vote. This got me laughing; how humorous we all are.
One other thing worthy of note is the massive media coverage of the election. There’s a press centre where the collated election results are supposed to be beamed and as I’ve already mentioned, the electronic media is focusing on the election. The international media presence is overly colossal in the country. Notable amongst them is the BBC, ASBC, Reuters, Dutch tv etc.
So, would we witness a massive voter turnout but peaceful Election 2008?
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8:42
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
So the Rwandan government had the balls to repatriate the German ambassador to his home country after Mrs. Rose was arrested by the German authorities for her alleged involvement in the attack on a flight that killed the former president of Rwanda Juvenal Habyarimana, some French pilots and believed to have helped trigger the Rwandan genocide? Man, I never thought Kagame could do such a thing while he was on an official visit in the man’s own country.br /br /The Rwandan government claims Mrs. Rose was on an official duty and she thus had diplomatic immunity, so the German government’s action was wrong. As I write, the lady has been extradited to France to face terrorism charges. BBC reports that the families of some of the victims who died in the crush would like to see justice done. What I still hovers over this puppetry is my wonder at what evidence the French authorities have gathered that is enough to prosecute this woman.br /br /In any case, is it just coincidence that Mrs. Rose should be arrested upon entry into a European territory? In other words, couldn’t the German or French governments have asked for the minister to be extradited or even face charges in Rwanda albeit that may be a little far-fetched? Indeed, I suspect they know for sure that it was going to be a long pull if the latter procedure is to be followed at all. So they waited and pull a smart one regardless of international law. The immediate action taken by the Rwandan government right after Mrs. Rose was arrested is evident of the hardnosed stance the rather small African nation is willing to take.br /br /In times like this, one can only watch and see what results in the end; whether a donor to a country would cut funds before the beneficiary has gone contrary to the wishes of the donor. I reckon that what Rwanda has done is a hard thing to do. Even the conception of the thought to send a German ambassador packing to Berlin is inconceivable. The recent Russian-British diplomatic row comes to mind immediately. Even in that case, the countries involved were powers of equal strength.br /br /The repercussions and ramifications for Rwandan contemporary politics and Africa in general are huge indeed. Rwanda has first of all set precedence for herself and Africa that an independent decision as serious as this can be taken by any African country regardless of size and power. An extended form of this should echo to other African countries that Europe isn’t a semi-god or untouchable as far as the security of the African peoples are concerned. After all, there’s been several cases of Africans been subjected to abuses by foreign government and our governments couldn’t act because their hands and mouths are tied to one European country or the other.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4834336718964283704?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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3:16
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I must render a huge, but passionate apology to all those who read this blog. Something big is happening in Ghana without me writing about it.br /We are just under 72 hours to the presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday. I'm presently at Radio Univers as we try to put some topic for discussion suiting the season. We are trying to conscientise the populace to keep the peace. The politician don't deserve us; so, no one must initiate violence--whether verbally or physically.br /br /I hope as we have done it on four ocassions--1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004--we'll do it again in 2008 when we need it more than ever. When a tennis player was asked to comment on a young pro who had just broke into the top 5 tennis world ranking, Nicolay Davydenko said breaking into the top 5 isn't the big deal. It is staying in the closed group for a long time that matters.br /We have to sustain the peace, our democracy, our conviction in the use of the ballot box as the only alternative to raising up leaders and changing governments.br /Those days of ignorance must be left alone. Buried deep in the shadows of places unseen.br /br /We may not have absolute violence-free election. I was asked on Radio Univers whether I supposed we can have elections free of violence in 2008, I said unless we could define what violence means for us, I cannot answer. If a slap can equal the definition of violence, then i'd say no.br /What I mean is, we may have some minor reports of struggles in some parts of the country, but i believe Ghana will come out VICTORIOUS. We love our country and that love for this land should be supreme.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-3290673082563566303?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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11:07
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
My time is spiraling out of control. Things seem to be moving faster than i estimate. Just this past week I was thinking about being in shape to play the Inter-Halls university games. As the university's tennis captain, i've the responsibility of organising the event and also mobilising my hall tennis players (I'm the captain here too).divbr //divdivThat wasn't all; Radio Univers is also on the agenda. News news news! I managed to do all that including lectures and also thinking about how to finalise my group project for English 345. That project is supposed to be powerpointed./divdivbr //divdivNow I'm writing a satiric poem on the presidency in Ghana. It's still unfinished, but i'll give you some lines from the piece. The poem is titled 'The Wardrobe.'/divdivbr //divdivp class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB"Few months for the presidento:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB"To leave the Caretaker’s deno:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB"He dreams of the Remy Martin and French winei style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"o:p/o:p/i/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB"Left in his wardrobe; his itinerary still infiniteo:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"br //pp class="MsoNormal"br //p/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-2901852395420352382?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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9:05
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I've not had any breathing space to communicate with my inner being. Busy here at the newsroom while my English and Linguistics assignments pile up.br /br /But there should be space for everything, don't you think? A colleague at radio univers here at the university of Ghana asked me to write a poem for her. I refrained from any element of emotional madness though. Here it isbr /br /Books cannot be loved for their self;br /It is the secret gratification therein that helpbr /Free you from the labyrinthsbr /That hovers over you like a ghostbr /br /Those countless pages whatever they hold,br /Is a journey worth onto the unknown;br /Like light propels you into things never seen,br /Though you are slow to disown the web stringsbr /Those dried bones, those dark thoughts, those beliefs.br /br /But the joys in new found knowledge breathesbr /Into your erstwhile dark shallow mindsetbr /That lay vast and barren like a desertbr /That only makes companion of a drifting windbr /br /So books become your oasis of thinking,br /Forever keeping fresh, forever oiling;br /Forever bringing life, forever making meaning;br /Forever making of you a human of understanding…div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-7616391184265430454?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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7:40
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Today is Homowo in Osu. A festival that hoots at hunger. The history of this festival runs deep and I've celebrated it as far as I can remember. Centuries ago, hunger hit the Ga people in the Greater Accra region. The unvailability of food drove these people to take several actions. Placating the gods and putting their hands to work on their lands were not the only thing they did.br /br /But as with all circumstances, the hunger ended. As a means of remembering this significant event, the Ga people instituted the festival to hoot at hunger for it never to return.br /br /The Ga people have lived in the Greater Accra region of Ghana and have a rich culture. Their encounter with Europeans is emanent in their town and they've witnessed drastic change in their lives as people from all around the country flock to the capital Accra.br /br /During the Homowo festival in August, any person is welcomed to any house to eat of the food being prepared there. Most often, the food you'd find is the traditional food for the celebration called 'kpo kpoi.' Those of you who have spoken English all your life and have no education in phonetics might suffer pronouncing the word because of the double articulation there. But whatever way you pronounce it, it doesn't change the nice taste of the food which is made from maize dough, red oil and eaten with palm nut soup.br /br /Even though I'm on campus and I'm scheduled for a lecture at 2, I'm rushing home for my 'kpo kpoi.' It comes once in a year you know and it's like our christmas here in Accra. We'll be jamming today!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-1201779068275222576?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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9:53
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
So the Olympics ends today. Man it's been some great fun and drama and I'm still reliving Usain Bolts' lightning 100 and 200 metre run in the tracks. He is the man to beat now and the world knows that.br /Disappointment for my Nigerian brothers though with the football silver they clinched instead of the gold. I watched that match they played in the final with Argentina. God, I think my west African brothers could've done better. Anyway, they were splendid; especially when a whole Argentina could kick ball around like academy players just wasting time. Such moments in football makes me vomit!br /It was obvious they were scared to play the Nigerians. Yes, my brothers have shown them once. It's such delay tactics that make me love my tennis the more. TENNIS IS A REAL GAME AND SPORT FOR PEOPLE WITH BALLS AND . . . for the women, well.br /br /BIG shame to Ghana. No medal from an olympics event? Damn. I'm even saying it like there was hope and expectation initially. Nothing of the sort to speak of. How does a nation expect to win medals with 9 athletes? Pure magic was what we expected to conjure in Beijin. the city of magic! We've been doing some magic with our own country so we thought we could extend it, globally.br /br /No football contingent so no interest in Olympics, i think. How foolish! How strategic is it when you take a football team to an Olympics? span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"No sense because you are bound to get only one medal/span, that is if you get it at all. That is why countries like the United States, Australia, Ethiopia, Kenya, China and Britain send in swimmers, track and field athletes and table tennis and tennis players (singles and doubles). span style="font-style: italic;"You know why? That is where the medals are. So that you don't end up using scarce national resource to fly people to far away China for them to bring empty hands like the South African almost did!br /br //spanYes, the South Africans took about 200 athletes--mind you minus officials--to Beijin and they brought back a medal or two and those medals were not gold. How disappointing for Ghana to think they could perform span style="font-style: italic;"Kwaku Ananse/span tricks with 6 amateur boxers and 3 athletes, one of the 3 just came back froma 2-year ban. So you see why i think we must be crazy?br /br /Something good though, for the first time the national anthem was played at an olympic event. It's still sad to think we could fly officials but not sportsmen and women. I remember at one time officials on a team were more than the team players themselves. Ha ha ha ha ha!br /span style="font-style: italic;"/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-7171156079851143858?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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4:19
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The presidential candidate of the ruling NPP, Nana Akufo Addo, last night officially introduced Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. The running mate, who until his name came up as candidate for the slot, was virtually unknown in political circles.br /br /Dr. Bawumia who is been tagged 'Bawumania' by NPP supporters is the second deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana.br /What this means is that the issue about competency in the selection of the running mate has been quenched. Most people who have been bloating on this issue would now be silent. At least Akufo Addo has displayed to Ghanaians that he's not just in for the politics, but to get the job done. My personal opinion about politicians in Ghana, and Africa in general, is that they talk more than they do what they talk. Most often they promise and don't deliver because those promise are not expressed with concrete plans--how they must carry that out.br /This time round, we're hearing plans as to how the lives of Ghanaians are going to be transformed.br /br /Akufo Addo's choice is right is many respects. Dr. Bawumia belongs to no group or faction within the NPP. That makes it difficult for any group to raise qualms over his candidature. It also means that instead of him working his way to people within his party, they would have to work their way up to him.br /br /But this is not the first time NPP has surprised Ghanaians with their choice of running mates. President Kufuor did it with the current vice president, Alhaji Aliu Mahama. And Akufo Addo has followed suit.br /br /For now, let's see how Dr. Bawumia copes with his new life outside the huge walls of the bank of Ghana.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-2604627379040321307?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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13:02
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
We are live on air on Radio Univers 105.7 fm as usual with young Ghanaian writers. The studio is already full including the guest room. Siiting behind the consul organising the proceedings in the studio. Kwesi Amoak is also here producing and behaving as if he is a guest. The themes are widely ranging from love and being accepted to challenges of gods, religion and modern doctrines of Christianity. Today we are running two short stories from Kwesi Asante with the title Dreams of Night; and Kojo Owusu's False Students and Imposters.br /br /Now have a glance at these titles of poems from young Ghanaian writers.br /br /Samuel Koranteng -'Ego Killer,' She Looks Away'br /Kojo Owusu -'Pot of Charm'br /Christine Ofosu-Ampadu 'What Happens in the End.' Motherless'br /Nana Yaa Owusua -'I think I Feel,' Gone for Good'br /Yesutor- 'Twitter Patter'br /Maximus- 'Jungle Culture,' 'Yesterday'br /Ellis Acquah-'For how Long,' 'Bleeding Heart'br /Ernest Ofosu Ampadu- 'Haven of Brotherhood'br /Eugene Aikens- 'My Toy My Joy'div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-6799699818030351747?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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15:22
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Shrinkingdivbr //divdivShrinking.../divdivshrinking to the core/divdivbr //divdivMan has lost reason/divdivbr //divdivMan has refused the light/divdivWhat Man has been longing for ages/divdivbr //divdivMan is shrinking/divdivShrinking his power of thought/divdivTo his vast stretch of rich unusable land/divdivbr //divdivHe must lose reason/divdivHis eyes set nowhere beyond his corridors/divdivShrinking, Shrinking, Shrinking/divdivFlipping his very self to hide in his ears/divdivbr //divdivMan cannot think the possible/divdivof the impossible/divdivHis firmer grip of the imagery of the impossible/divdivis first forged, then the possible/divdivmust be forced out of Man/divdivfor he has lost reason/divdivbr //divdivHis knowing of everything/divdivhas become his nothing/divdivSo all things held simple/divdivmust first be complex/divdivto be broken down to its core again/divdivThat is the unsung philosophy/divdivbr //divdivCyclical madness/divdivbr //divdivMan has lost reason/divdivSo we must go to his funeral/divdivIt is at the burial grounds Man must think/divdivwho next to follow/divdivin the journey of the burying of Minds/divdivbr //divdivMan has lost reason/divdivSo keep your beloved lads indoors/divdivHe is a thief of minds/divdivHe seeks such stuff to bury/divdivSo shut your future up--away from Man/divdivbr //divdivMan is you so shut yourself up/divdivlest you kill another Mind of tomorrow/divdivfor your tomorrow/divdivbr //divdivMan has lost reason/divdivSo he is shrinking, shrinking to the core/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-968512011445710475?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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10:49
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Men! I'm bouncing back after all following weeks of illness. Don't guess anything yet. I wasn't confined to any such building or four-walled room called ward or anything worse. Of course i think if a doctor admits you--or rather if a doctor incarcerates you--refusing you leave of his medical harbour is worse. Nothing could be worse off than a man who's unable to move about freely. And it's far worse if it's your fellow man doing it to you. Interpret it in whichever way you prefer--with whatever reason you may assign to it--it all boils down to one thing, just one situation: you cannot move.divbr //divdivI faced none of that so I thank my stars and my God. No pot-bellied or straight-faced lanky doctor wearing a well practiced smile he gives to everyone--except his wife and kids--kept me in his dome over my period of illness. I'd had to visit my doctor from time to time./divdivbr //divdivWell, at first i thought it was malaria, so I self medicated. The next morning, my whole skin was ransacked by something that looked like rashes. I rushed to the nearest community pharmacy around. I was glad to have met a pharmacist, not one 'understudying' a pharmacist. I was fine the next day, or so i thought. /divdivbr //divdivI started my routine work. Wake up at 5 in the morning, some usual press-ups, do some 10 minutes walk from my house to the bus stop to catch a bus; then, vroom to Radio Univers. At least i was able to hold out for the week. But on Friday, i felt the drain. As if the strength in my bones was been sucked away from me. Slowly it spread to other parts of my body. My impression was that i had overworked my body--which was true. But my health wasn't right somewhere else; not stress, not tiredness./divdivbr //divdivI couldn't sleep the whole night. I was in boiling water. I felt i was been baked. I only prayed watching the clock tick at its own pace slowly away as day breaks. I couldn't have a proper bath before hurrying off to the clinic. /divdivFirst, i didn't know which water to use. Whether to make hot water or to bath with the cold water. That was because i felt hot and cold almost at the concurrently. I know what you're thinking this guy has got. Fever. /divdivbr //divdivWell, my doctor had a look at me half naked. That was no problem for me. I just wanted to be diagnosed and get out of there. But the doctor made it nice. He asked what i was reading at the university of Ghana. He loved the fact that i was reading English as a major and Linguistics as a minor. He went on and on asking about literary texts that i used in Senior High School and what I'm reading now. Then he said he was putting up a library in his hometown somewhere in the forest belt of Ghana. 'Interesting' I said./divdivbr //divdivDr. Addae thought that pidgin English was damaging the level of academic writing being done by students. 'Yes, in some cases' I agreed. He said when he was a lecturer at the medical school, students would prefer objective type of question than be required to write six lines as an answer. When they do write, the situation was bizarre. So he encouraged everyone then to read a book of poem./divdivbr //divdivAs it happened, i felt quite better after taking the first dose of the drugs given me by the doctor. But something strange happened. I felt my eye itch slightly and I eye felt weird some 3 minutes later. I rushed to the washroom to look at myself. There i was with some swelling generating around my eyes. The speed at which the swelling took place was remarkable. I knew instantly what had caused it. The drugs./divdivbr //divdivI called up the doctor and he told me to relax. That I had only reacted to the drugs. I went to see him the next day and he examined me closely. 'Was the swelling was at your tongue and my lips too?'/divdiv' No' I said./divdivHe explained that during such time when drugs reacted because a patient is not 'too strong or the patients system couldn't match up the drug,' the swelling is most likely to occur at the soft parts of the body. In my case, around my eye first./divdivbr //divdivEnough of this though. I've bounced back like a wonder-kid ready for the fresh academic year and the challenges. A glance at the sports calender for the first semester tells me that I'm going to be less engaged in serious tennis apart from some Bilateral Games with our friends from the university of Ibadan in Nigeria. I was there last year for a week for the same purpose./divdivFor now, I've got to look for stories that make news for Radio Univers. /divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-8629387313535124235?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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9:22
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
When it rains it poursbr /when it rains it poursbr /man flees from the torrentsbr /the city is cheatedbr /br /The drainage cannot holdbr /so it vomits the passing waterbr /man is here, man is there,br /splish-splashing water everywherebr /br /Oh man! Where is your head?br /man is deaf, man is blindbr /Is your life like these two lines?br /br /So it rainsbr /and man flees to the treesbr /shade your precious shirtbr /save it from the rainbr /br /Your unwashed tie might smellbr /flee the rainbr /flee the rainbr /and let the tree save manbr /Your unwashed tie might smellbr /br /Man waits for the large dropsbr /to stop.br /the rain would teach you, manbr /the rain would teach youbr /the seethed rain vowsbr /in a thunderous voicebr /br /Yet man flees to the treesbr /on another rainy daydiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-4957183136382378165?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com'//div
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8:23
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Information available in the United States suggests that the big nation's once vibrant cities are deteriorated. Youngstown in Ohio, Cleveland, Detroit and Flint in Michigan, are experiencing huge migration of people to other town.br /br /br /br /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_anhOf45KvaA/SJxRljmwkcI/AAAAAAAAAKM/1I1opjZS1HQ/s1600-h/dyingcity_07.jpg"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232146572752490946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_anhOf45KvaA/SJxRljmwkcI/AAAAAAAAAKM/1I1opjZS1HQ/s200/dyingcity_07.jpg" border="0" //abr /div/divbr /divCleveland alone had about 115,000 people deserting the town and 30,000 have left Youngstown already. The sharp decline of these cities have been attributed to job losses. The downturn of automobile manufacturers, Ford and General Motors, accounted for almost 10% of job losses./divbr /div/divbr /divSo what is happening to the world's greatest nation? Or has it seized to be already?/divbr /div/divbr /div/divbr /div/divbr /div/divbr /divspan style="font-size:78%;"Credit: Yahoo, Forbes.com/span/div
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10:58
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I've observed with utter dismay how we've started our way to the December 2008 elections. The Electoral Commission, EC, after several delays of start of registrations. The EC initially stated September last year as commencement date for registration of first time voters and those who for whatever reasons have never registered. They later postponed it to May, then to 31 July.br /br /Another problem with the registrations is the reduction in the number of registration centres as compared to previous election years. The EC, by this directive, have complicated the process for potential voters.br /First, people wanting to register would have to comb their districts to register. By this, most eligible voters wanting to register would end up not registering on that day.br /Another issue arising from this directive from the EC is the unending queues present at all registration centres. This is particular has compounded the problem as more people get frustrated in the process and grow aggressive immediately any person tries to interfere with the smooth running of the queue.br /br /There are also reports of shortages of registration materials at centres. The EC has continually denied the issue of insufficient logistics, a matter the opposition National Democratic Congress raised months before the start of the registrations.br /br /Not to follow the blame dance we have seen political party display recently, the EC must show to all Ghanaians that they are indeed independent and capable of running the electioneering process. The EC must be seen to be responding to the trends the registration process has taken.br /br /There has been reports around the country, particularly in Tamale and in Ashongman--a suburb of Accra--of some registration malpractices. The reports suggests incidences where children of age 9 to 17 and the mass transportation of non-natives of electoral ares and non-Ghanaians around the border towns and in some cases, within the country.br /Such absurd reports are not just disheartening, but also shameful for a country like Ghana.br /Other sad events at registration centres include the beating of people attempting to register, but were perceived to be ineligible.br /There has also been some cases where people have been prevented from registering because agents of political parties, stationed at the centres, thought they were not 18 and above or they don't hail from those constituencies.br /So what do we do?br /br /span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"The BIG Question/spanbr /Are we a serious people at all? Do we take ourselves serious?br /I've always maintained that we have never taken things serious.Take for instance the reported cases of violence at registration centres , what have we done about them? Instead, more of such stories keep trickling in each day. The police has not been able to clip the situation and it appears it's out of their sphere. What we should be asking ourselves is how we can solve the situation as a people who don't want violence to characterise our elections?br /So, instead of blaming and bloating and bleating like starved goats, we should think about how to reinforce the police and giving the EC the necessary support in terms of logistics for registration among others.br /Talking about the police and security of voters, why can't we do a combined operation of the police service and the army. Every Ghanaian who has lived in the country for quite sometime knows how we refuse to carry out of silly acts once an army man is on site.br /But you see, we are not a thinking serious people; we don't like to see things done. We'd prefer to sit on tv and radio to talk our problems. This is the core attitude of our politicians and 'decision makers.'br /br /What this means is that, if ever we are to move forward as a country, it might be so slow until such habits are eschewed. Some have argued that we don't have time on our side to correct these deficiencies we've seen so far. Hell NO!br /Big lie. We have time on our side to correct these malpractices. We are lazy except when it comes to talking loud. We have people with the solution to all the madness. I've outlined some, but the people who have to take the decision, i must confess, are sleeping.
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12:53
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Writers in the studio contemplated about peace and inner peace. That we think we can't find peace and so we think we are evils in this world.
I thought peace is achieveable--just that external peace, world total peace is unachieveable. We can have individual peace which, by extension, can transform to world peace in the long run.
It's wonderful when you think about peace in our ever precarious world.
Tell me what you think about this.
I'm still behind the consul in the studio. We hope to have a great week. Koranteng's poem, 'Privatisation', has stirred up the studio and we are discussing why Ghana is privatising all government assets because we think those companies are inefficient and need capital and so and so . . .
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12:25
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
We are live again on radio univers 105.7 fm with young Ghanaian writers in the studio. Some interesting titles as well. Kwesi Amoak is holidaying in Winneba so he's not in with us. We'll still roll on though.
Today we also start the African Writer series featuring Mphahlele
Here are some titles for you:
Maximus--'Behind the Black Dot, The Hug of a Heart'
Mawuli Sikanku--'Nourished'
Hamid Seinu--'The Native Yokel, Destiny or Destiny Not, You are the One'
Koranteng Samuel--'Welcome to the World, Privatisation'
Aisha--'It's a Prayer, Be there when I don't miss you'
Novisi--'Flame, SPLIF'
Angelina-- 'A Necessary Evil'
I'll see if I could factor in a poem or two.
And my poem for the day came from Novisi's 'SPLIF' and Sikanku's 'Nourished'
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9:52
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I was raised by a Christian mother. My Presbyterian education was solid. I slowly rose from the kindergarten level of church children up to Junior High School, where i was supposed to have flowered. As far back as my eyes can see, i have never violated any of the principles thought me in those classrooms. My headmaster was strict and sometimes austere. He would always appear from any corner at all early at six in the morning, then shoot straight to his office. None would be seen of him till the bell for morning assembly clanged, awaking the neighbourhood to a new day of school life.
Names of a couple of stubborn kids would be mentioned with their offences closely perching next like heads of yam cling to the farmers inserted stick. The next fifteen minutes would be dedicated to straightening these crooked branches of the huge Presbyterian tree. We would all watch and recite one common prayer: Lord, may the long neck of that rod never lie on our shoulders.
Mr. Mensah was himself a Presbyterian and the reverends lauded his credentials: he never spared the rod and his produce after every yearly harvest was bountiful. Almost all pupils from my school made it to Senior High School. A feet that was hard to emulate by any school headmaster.
But I've become a church rebel albeit i boast of my love for God and his word. I somehow was appalled at church goers as i grew up through the system. I found out that none of those i meet in the church; the Sunday school teachers and youth leaders never practiced a fraction of what they spoke. My first lesson: Never trust men on mere stringed words.
I kept thinking about the reason why these people would lay the right path for me to follow why they didn't. That thought has stayed with me until today. No proper answer in God's name has been given.
One day, some evangelists crawled to our house at Osu. It was a Sunday afternoon and I've just returned to house after playing tennis. As it has been since leaving High School, I've never been to the old brick-built church.
'Good afternoon' One of the gentlemen spoke softly.
'Good afternoon'
'How are you doing, my dear?' the same man spoke, just that this time he was smiling. I was taking off my tennis shoes then. Clay was all over the shoes with some gold colour dust deposits on my thick legs.
'I'm fine. Thank you. Would you have a sit?' My head was still lowered as i spoke.
'Thanks.' The man said pulling the two Gye Nyame plastic chairs to the shade the setting sun has fashioned with the aid of the roofing of the house. Our house is not in itself huge. It fitted in with the general architecture of houses that lined up the roads at Osu to the castle. Compound houses with small paths licking everywhere.
'Yes. You're welcome. Sorry for the err... err... that little thing i was doing.'
'Oh it's alright.'
We talked about people's belief in ghosts and they thought that those were stories to scare children. They said ghosts don't exist and we shouldn't focus on such issues. I told them how my great grandmother had seen her mother just a week after her death. My grandmother was frying fish for the market the next day. They lost sight of time till it run so late into midnight. The shade under which they fried the fish was just four steps outside the house and since the house was located in a community of houses, one could approach it from three sides.
As my uncle fanned the fire, my grandma stirred the fish in the big pan. They all felt the heaviness around them grow so rapidly that my grandma knew something was wrong. Then she saw a female-like figure sitting a stretch of concrete blocks supporting a nearby house. She scanned the figure hard. That was when she realised it was her mother.
'Quaye!' my grandma whispered out to my uncle. He turned his head towards my grandma. 'Can't you see Adei sitting there?' My grandma pointed to the her mother distending her lips.
The moment Quaye saw the woman, he instantly fled into the house. My grandma slowly packed into the house.
They discarded the whole story saying it was a bedtime story my grandma had told me. That it wasn't real--it couldn't be real. I wondered how ghost stories could be a bedtime story. They asked if i go to church often. I laughed into their face the i said no. The routine question was expected. I'd heard it anytime i was asked that question and i said no.
'Why don't you go to church?'
'I don't think there's something there for me. Same old stories i was told since i crawled to my church. It has never changed, just recycling gone mad. Besides, what is the essence of been in church? Not to seek the face of God and salvation? No?' I stared into the gentleman's face expecting something that never came.
'In any case' I continued, 'none of them practice anything they say from the holy book.'
'My dear, why do you go to church?' The lady spoke for the first time since they stepped into our house. She wore a whig and her lips looked as if they've been applied with red paint. Her blouse was just wide enough to cover her breasts. Her gold colour necklace fitted her bright brown skin and her skirt extended to her knee. I wondered if she dressed in that often. When spoke to me for the first time, i lost count of the number of times she blinked.
'I already told you I don't go to church.' I said sinking into my lazy chair.
'Well, would you go to church because you think the pastor is a good man or not go to church because the pastor is reportedly bad? I think it doesn't really matter because it's for the kingdom of God that's why we go to church.' Her eyes were fixed on me. I traced its direction to my chest. She was looking at my chest.
'How would you feel receiving the word of God from a known man of God who has already had three divorces or is known to be hanging out with young girls or anything of this class? Is that the man you would listen to? It's all nice.' I voice had been constantly rising without notice.
'Brother, I think you've got a point there. But you see, the Bible teaches that the ways of man are not that of God. That is why must try to find God regardless of his servant whom the affairs of the flesh has eaten up.'
'You see, that is why I'm finding the almighty in my own way. I'm finding.'
My last comments ended everything that day. The two invited me to their church the next week. I needn't say no to that. After all, agreeing with someone does not bring about any battle.
So I always did something different with my Sunday.
My phone shook me up from sleep. I had gone to bed late the previous night. I opened my eye with much difficulty.
'Hello.' My voice was flat. I pushed myself up till my back touch the wall while still keeping the coverlet over my body. The felt air sneak through the louvres; the air was nippy. I turned to the digital time on the table next to my bed. The time displayed: 6:07.
'Good morning, Nana Yaw.' It was Uncle Prince. I could sense the gaiety in his voice.
'Good morning.' I replied.
'Would you be able to see the Director-General today at 3?'
To be continued. . .
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10:33
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Some few weeks ago, a friend at my tennis club gave me an unusual call. A friend? Yes. He is a man of about 55 years, i never handed out my cell number to him; so, when I heard him introduce himself, it was a stunner.
'This is Prince Addy. How are you?' his voice bellowed.
'I'm fine, Uncle Prince' I answered him with some hesitance in my voice.
'Will you be available to play this afternoon?' He asked again.
Meanwhile, I was still contemplating how he managed to chance upon my number. No friend at the club's name came up immediately.
'I already played this morning. But sure I'll be able play again.'
'Okay, erm erm . . .'
'What time do you think you can make it to the club?' I asked, saving the situation.
'4 will be fine' he said.
I took a shower, then made it to the club. It wasn't just tennis we were to play as we'd discussed on phone. He made me an offer. Uncle Prince asked me to be an assistant researcher for his eldest son in Canada.
'Take a look.' He said, just as I sat next to him under the large mango tree at the club. He handed some documents to me. The documents read:
Ghana Education System.
1. Parameters
-Finance
Government funding of education for the past 5 years
Aid vr government spending on education
Percent of GDP to eduction
The list was simply long. I skimmed through, flipping pages i my eye stayed focused on the document. After some minutes i told him i had read through it.
'I want you to seek some answers to those questions. I would introduce you to the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, then you should be able to pick up from there. I hope this doesn't disturb your normal day-to-day affairs. How long do you think it will take to finish this?'
I was quiet for some time, then I responded.
'About a month. It contains a lot.'
He promised to give me a copy before we see the the Director-General on Tuesday. Then we played double for the evening. I enjoyed the game. I hadn't played tennis doubles since my partner and i won gold at the west Africa university games for my university.
To be continued. . .
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9:05
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The government of Ghana obtained $30 million concessionary loan from the Chinese government to build GT's fibre optics network. According to reports, about $70 million more is needed to complete the second phase of the project, an amount which has been factored into the $900 million which Vodafone is offering for the 70 percent shares in GT.
A latest development of the GT-Vodafone deal which is currently before parliament is that the original 999 years which was to be the duration of the 70 percent shares ownership of Vodafone--that is if the deal goes through--has been scrapped. In its stead, a clause saying that Vodafone stays as long as the deal between them and the government of Ghana stays. In effect, the duration is open ended; unless one party decides not to continue with the contract.
Another problem with the deal too is that the GT fibre optics network has been added without any guarantee from the prospective buyer--in this case Vodafone--that they would contiunue to expand the fixed line and broadband services which GT runs currently.
It's worh stating that fixed lines are what businesses need most to run. At the moment, GT is the only company which runs such a service which it previously operated as a monopoly. Westel was to break that monopoly but they failed abysmally.
Recent statements from people within GT seem to suggest that they are happy with Vodafon coming into the fray. The Head of Communication and Customer Care of GT, Major (rtd) John Kyebi, said that they 'have always been looking for a strategic investor' and that 'since October 2007...meetings have been htaking place.' He said 17 companies have bidded but failed to meet the government and GT criteria until Vodafone came in.
Major (rtd) Kyebi said on Good Morning Ghana today that 'the workers are welcoming Vodafone with open arms.'
Mr. Frederick Opare Ansah, deputy minister of Information said the reason for the sale of the GT shares is to give GT an international leverage to compete with TiGo, Kasapa, MTN and the newcomer, Globacom.
The management of GT, aside the various reasons, have also ochoed a similar sentiment.
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8:45
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The row about the GT-Vodafon deal continues to dominate the media here in Ghana. Meanwhile, i take a look at some other side of communication in Ghana.
Currently, no law prohibits any telecom company from building its own fibre optic network. Indeed, TiGo and MTN-Ghana harbour plans to build a fibre optic network. Building this network is not an easy task considering the financial aspect of the whole project; but, it's certanly not beyond the reach of the mobile operating networks in Ghana.
MTN alone invested about $110million last year and so building a fibre optic network which is about the same amount should be a mountain for them to climb. But must all the networks build their own fibre when they can tap into an existing one?
Ghana Telecoms fibre in not completed and abbout $70 million is needed. After it's completed, GT cannot have monoply over the network. In fact it would be in their interest to let the other network operators tap into it.
But something funny is happening in the telecoms industry in Ghana. One would observe that ICT masts are all over the place in the country. An MTN mast sits some few dsistance away from a TiGo or Kasapa mast. What is the point?
The best option could have been that a TiGo mast should be able to host an MTN or Kasapa or Onetouch reception. Instead, these companies go building masts everywhere because they can afford it.
The long term effect on the people within the range of these masts is inestimable. The earlier we consider this the better for us all. The radiation effect are not fully understood by scientists and researchers are still on it. So, for now, we must play safe. The laws governing telecommunications must be strengthened.
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10:42
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The Aquatic Centre
Bird Nest stadium
International Broadcasting Centre
National Grand Theatre
A road in China
Credit: AP
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10:22
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
This building, supposed to be the headquarters of China Central Television is sitting in Beijing. China's contruction of huge edifices has attracted international attention, mostly on the pollution the country generates in the process. The Beijing Olympics hasn't helped either.
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8:00
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
Something special is happening in Ghana's telecom industry. Some few weeks after Globacom Nigeria was awarded a license by the NCA, the regulatory body in Ghana, another IT thing is brewing and the flames are already high.
Hey man, when i was in Ibadan in Nigeria for a week, i enjoyed the services of Glo (Globacom). I can say the phone operating firm is huge and they are already in Benin. What is most interesting is the fact Glo is headed by an ambitious Nigerian business tycoon who is arguably Africa's number 1 business man. Already the company is promising to build fibre optics stretching from the UK to Ghana's shores. And it is making the waves without advertising. A university colleague in Kumasi phoned me up and promised to flash down his MTN sim card in her toilet and grasp Glo quick. So i say Glo! Glo! Glo!
But to the real issue. The world's number one mobile phone operator, Vodafone Holdings, wants to purchase about 70 percent of Ghana's only national telecom company, Ghana Telecom. Ghana Telecom (GT) has monopoly in the operation of fixed line (a sector where Vodafon has nearly no experience, only shares in Europe's number 5 fixed line company). The company also owns a mobile phone service called Onetouch, broadband, controls the only fibre optic hub in Ghana and many other lucrative products.
In a nutshell, GT is a valuable assert in whatever shape it may come.
The sale of GT has obviously not gone down well with most Ghanaians. Although the proposed sale has not attracted a similar opposition like we saw in the Stanbic bank projected buyout of majority shares in the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), opposition MP's in parliament, social commentators and even presidential candidates have expressed their utmost dissatisfaction.
The most annoying part of the whole thing is the cash Vodafone want to use in buying the 70 percent shares--a sad 950 million dollars. Far too less for anybody to consider.
Parliament could not put its house in order; the house arose without agreeing on the deal. A good thing for now.
Some have also argued that Vodafone's acquisition of the major shares in GT is a national security threat. Yes in some respect. In that vein i argue against the whole thing. If a UK company is going to have access to the fibre optic in this country, thereby having data concerning Ghana and Ghanaians, then it's a serious breach of security.
If anything at all, the shares can be floated on the Ghana Stock Exchange for Ghanaians to buy. Let Vodafone buy less than 50 percent of the shares and let Ghanaians still own their company. GT is not a non-performing company, and if there are problems with management or workers, the issues can be looked at in a professional yet a brotherly way. Sit down the workers and the management, thrash out everything. Let the people speak! That's all.
What i think is good though is that we are currently moving away from the past when a few government officials would sign some papers without parliamentary scrutiny and approval. Talk of that, we once awoke in this country to find SSB sold out without public eye under the then Rawlings administration. Many similar errors have been committed in this respect.
We are a people with bad records and experiences with foreign acquisition of our domestic companies, divestitures and other sterner stuffs. So our reactions to recent foreign attempts on our firms are quite justified.
Information i have suggests that meetings are still been held between the ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Vodafone. A meeting was held this morning to that effect.
I hope that the Ghana's interest reigns supreme.
For now, till we have a better mobile phone company with better services, willing to register phones of its customers to block them if they are stolen--a disincentive to phone theft--i'll stick with TiGo. Let Glo come, let's check the GT-Vodafon deal well enough and let's have some peace.
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7:53
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
The PNC presidential hopeful, Dr. Edward Mahama, said that the NPP's presidential candidate's idea of establishing a Northern Development Authority when elected is a political gimmick. Speaking immediately after the launch of his party's manifesto, he said the crowd at NPP's rally to introduce their MPs and presidential candidate which happened at Kasoa was a 'bought crowd' and that Akufo Addo has no such plans to lift the Northern part of the country to come up to scratch with the far richer South.
What's sad for me is that Dr. Mahama should have just focused on the contents of his manifesto instead of commenting on a mammoth crowd at the ruling party's rally. It can be said that the crowd was expected though it was so large that it attracted a comment form the president. Dr. Mahama's comment on the crowd as 'bought' takes nothing out of what happened at Kasoa. The comment was unnecessary and uncalled for.
The repercussion was that instead of being questioned on what he's got for Ghanaians and having the time to talk us, he spent that time politicking on another party's non-issue.
Even what he said about Akufo Addo's proposed Northern Development Authority which according to Akufo Addo would have about $1 million focused just on development would have more appropriate, though he played politics with the idea. Indeed, a similar body exists, so if you tell Ghanaians that it is a sheer joke for a potential president to set up such a body, what do you seek to achieve? To undermine the intelligence of Ghanaians or downplay what can bring development to some Ghanaians who need it?
The comment is too cheap and i feel sad and i apologise for even doing a write-up on this. We hope for better things for this country.
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6:38
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
As CPP outdoors its manifesto at the Coconut Groove Regency Hotel in Accra today (matter of fact the launch started at 9.oo a.m local time), it becomes the second political party contesting the December elections here in Ghana. They follow the PNC; the other two major parties, the NDC and the ruling NPP are yet to lay down their policies if given power by Ghanaians at all. The NPP is scheduled to launch its manifesto in August, the same month its presidential candidate has chosen to name his running mate.
The CPP document contains a lot. They intend to improve on the NHIS, see that the National Identification System is a done deal and many other things i think are good stuff. But it remains a document.
My focus is actually on what the candidates themselves are saying on the various platforms offered them as they tour the country. For me, that is worth focusing on than reading through 80 pages or more. So the fuss about which party lays its political document first is just a 'much a-talk about nothing.'
Mahama against his Words
Now, while i watched the GTV late news, i heard John Mahama, the running mate of the NDC presidential candidate, Prof. Mills, talk to a gathering in the Northern Region about what the NDC have done for them in that area. That when the election day comes, they must vote on that. Though he arrived late at the venue, the people and chief in the area disobeyed their natural edge to sleep to keep awake for Mr. Mahama. The chief of the area then urged all political parties to make education their prime focus.
But one would recall that when Mr. Mahama was chosen by Prof. Mills and the issue of comparing records of parties arose, he strongly objected saying that doing such a thing is mediocrity. CONTRADICTORILY, he campaigned on the same comparison of records. A change in stance without him having to explicitly state it.
BUI DAM ON COURSE
Reports available suggests that the Bui dam is on course. Indeed that last batch of residents in within the area were blasting it taking place have been moved to another place. The sight engineer who spoke on tv3 said that the new homes for the people is comfortable. It includes toilet facilities and also a public toilet for the new locality.
Each family has been allocated land for farming. Also, the families are to be provided with 500 Ghana cedis spread over a period of one year to keep them on their feet, both financially and economically.
The Past
Dr. Limann was overthrowned by former president Rawlings some few months after Dr. Limann had been elected as president of the 3rd republic. The accusation leveled against him and the reason fore the coup was that his government was corrupt and also that he tried to put state companies which were running at a loss on divestiture. The same people who alleged this ended up putting more companies on divestiture and also selling it to themselves and friends. The result was that corruption ran on a highway.
A strange thing happened back then. How many of ex-president Limann's ministers were prosecuted for corruption as compared to the generals who were shot without any proper judicial process? WE MUST WATCH THESE THINGS LEST WE COMMIT SIMILAR ERRORS. HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT ITSELF, SILLY MISTAKES DO RECUR.
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11:13
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
I'm blogging from DataBank in Accra. A friend of mine ask me to meet him there, so i decided to take advantage of the wireless at the huge edifice in which I'm sitting now.
It's been a rather long day for me. I had to attend a press conference at Coconut Grove Regency hotel on the National Health Insurance scheme, then proceeded with a colleague journalist to two newspaper venues. But that wasn't to be the end for us. We got into a trotro to Circle. In broad day, we groped around the busy district spending most of our time scanning books on the floor, stands and newspaper and magazine stands.
One of the newspaper firms we visited, The Accra Daily Mail's editor was very revealing. He commented on the said contract being discussed in parliament about the 70% sale of Ghana Telecom shares to the mobile giant Vodacom. He resented the idea on many factual reasons.
I then noticed the headline on today's Accra Daily Mail. It was dedicated to the issue and the editor wrote that article. I understood why he was so passionate.
He also maintained that his news paper was only national agenda. Something he prided himself with given the current trend of the media in Ghana. I thought most of them were too partisan(I'm not sure what that word means in Ghana anymore).
"As for us, we would not bow or affiliate ourselves to any political party." I guess this statement gave me a succinct meaning to what "partisan" meant.
Quite regrettably, i would not be able to have time with my 14 year-old sister in Dansoman. I promised to be with her today after doing my rounding; only to notice that time would not allow.
I looked into my wallet after purchasing two books and a dictionary for my grade 3 brother. I was dried out. I reached for my mobile handset in my deep pocket. It was sunny as usual and i felt wet behind my neck. I brought out my handkerchief as well and wiped clean my neck and face.
"Excuse me" i said to Kapini, my friend. I dialled a line to my dad's office.
The heat has returned after a whole month of cool air and rain. The sand that has gathered at the edges of the Circle road was evidence to the rainy season and the precipitous switch to sunshine. I recalled a line from a song from deep down my memory.
"Ain't no sunshine in my. . . ."
My friend was picking sever books for children. There was one with daggers and guns drawn at the back. He dropped it abruptly.
"I won't let by daughter read such books."
I knew we would start a conversation on guns and gun violence. Kapini is a Northerner so he expressed thoughts about gun possession in his municipality. I thought exposure of children to guns may have untold effect on them in later life. They may have no problem saying "Hey you, hands up!"
My friend had to send a report to the paper he writes for in Nigeria, the Business Daily. I think he mentioned that to me. He used to write for the Stateman and the Accra Daily Mail. He's no longer with any of them, but keeps in touch albeit. He recalled the intermittent arguements he had with his then editor whenever he refused to do write-ups on other topics apart from business news. The editor knew Kapini was very political, but he had always refused--preferring to edit the business section of the paper.
Kapini confided in me and said he was not comfortable writing to please a political party. He felt his editor was asking him to do such.
"In High School, when i decided to be a journalist, it was the passion. The patriotism. That was what i was for. My colleagues chose to read law at the university of Ghana. I was clever, had good grades; i could have read anything. But i chose this grueling profession." he heaved heavily and continued. "I would not stand for anyone to prescribe to me what to write, especially when i know for fact that that is wrong. I would not."
I concurred.
We strolled towards the lorry stations. I was heading towards Ministries. Kapini needed a cafe badly. We parted ways agreeing to keep in touch. I hurried to the the taxi rank for one that was for Adabraka. I added to the 3 people already in the taxi. We were gone.
My friend at DataBank is back. I'll have to shut my laptop down.
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12:57
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
We are live on air on radio univers 105.7 fm. Poetry as usual and we're having some fiery stuff. Kwesi and Martin are not in the studio but it is still big.
The writers are making me sweat after each poem. I ask the questions, but cannot stand the answers that pour from the lips of these great writers. Angelina is comfortably helping me, but i still insist she's on the cool side of the air conditioned studio while i sweat
Here are a rundown of titles from the young writers in the studio.
Tahiru Hamid -- The Fallen Piece, Life is Here Again, To the One I Love.
Nii Lantey -- Full Stop!, Law and Love, Age
Angelina -- Betrayal, My Dream Man, A Kiss
Koranteng Samuel -- Boom Again, Mugabe, The Truth
Sikanku Mawuli -- Walk on the Path of the Master, Kings of the Land, This World is not my
Home.
Novisi did not appear here, just so you know.
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15:41
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Sarpong Obed-ready to chew
South Africa will host an ATP tennis tournament called South African Airways ATP Ranking. You can expect the best tennis players in the world to be present. Anyone with good memory would remember how the Golden Rackets have thrilled us all with great display at the Accra Sports stadium tennis courts. Names like Frank Ofori, Isaac Donkor and quite recently Henry Adjei-Darko were on the lips of every Ghanaian.
But a similar feet-dragging by the ministry of education, youth and sports has virtually killed the sports. It is this same attitude that drove Adjei-Darko out of the sport. Arguably, he is Ghana's brightest hope of having a Ghanaian play in the grand slams or the ATPs.
The Ghana Tennis Association is bereft of funds to run tennis programmes. In modern tennis, tournaments and tennis clinics are sponsored by corperate bodies and not governments; but if we are to make headway in the sport and if we are to revive that tennis spirit that put Ghana on the international scene, the administrators at the sports ministry must stop all the pulling down attitudes and their interests aside and help the game. Bribery It is difficult, but we can make this happen.
Tennis is a sport which is patronised and played by many wealthy people of this country and i can name a long list. These people must see to it that the sport does not die, at least, among the youth.
Take the Accra Lawn Tennis Club for and example. Young players troop to this local club at Osu everyday to play and ball boy for the wealthy members. There is no doubt of the capabilities of these lads whose age hover between 10 to 17 years. Their talent is enormous.
But what is happening to Ghana's tennis future stars? An occasional 3-day tournament for a whole 6 months or a match between two of the best for the members to enjoy is all that happens to these kids.
Contrarily, tennis is a sport that deserves attention and nurturing of the talent and blunt skill of the player by a good knowledgeable coach. And we do not have to bring a white man to perform this task. We have competent coaches in the country of proven worth. Coaches David Churcher, Noah Bagergaseh, Tony Dove, Isaac Lartey are all here and they are just a few of the best material we have got in tennis coaching.
So what are we waiting for? I believe if it were football, corporate bodies would beg to be listed as sponsors. And business wise, tennis gives huge proceeds after a company advertises.
A tennis centre court of about 20,000 capacity is all we need to set it rolling. And even that is not a prerequisite. We have left at the Accra sports stadium three or four hard courts under construction and nine clay courts at the Accra Lawn Tennis Club. Training programmes for these boys could be set in full speed. We must save this sport.
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