Dr. Percy’s proposal on national security is dangerous (Part II)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

We acknowledge the fact that as a human institution, the national security apparatus is not immune to manipulation. But why should we single out the President when there are various mechanisms of control? The security apparatus can be manipulated by not only the President but their own commanders as well.

The real issue to fear is any friction between the President and upper echelons of the security services, especially in a situation where any of them may flagrantly disobey the President’s order. It happens in other countries and causes much trouble. 

In our case, we haven’t had anything of the sort. It doesn’t mean that it can’t happen, but it hasn’t happened so far nor is there any inkling to alert us to its happening soon or later.

Dr. Percy’s proposal on national security is dangerous (Part I)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The proposal by Dr. David Percy, a leading member of the National Reform Party (NRP), that all Presidents refrain from directing national security during every election is unacceptable. In sum, it is not only absurd but dangerous and inadmissible for several reasons.

What is the rationale behind Dr. Percy’s proposal? He “believes such a move will be a major step in addressing transparency among security officials and insecurity of ballot boxes during elections” (Ghanaweb, October 28, 2012).

Transparency in national security matters and security for ballot boxes? Who says there is anything opaque going on that is a problem for a non-security expert like Dr. Percy to diagnose and prescribe this kind of solution on? I don’t see it.

Will Akufo-Addo listen to Dr. Mensa Otabil?

Monday, October 29, 2012

The General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, Dr. Mensa Otabil, deserves support in his singular effort to disabuse the minds of Ghanaians on a major political item. He has inserted himself into the controversy raised by the NPP’s Akufo-Addo and his promise of a fee-free SHS education.

Dr. Otabil has discounted such a promise and warned Ghanaians to be wary because there is no “free education” anywhere in the world. I wholeheartedly support him. He has spoken for many of us and given us a good cause to sustain our criticism of that promise.

This politics of killing and maiming won’t build Ghana…

Monday, October 29, 2012

As we prepare for the December elections, we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that intra-party or inter-party rivalry won’t be the solution to the country’s problems. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has already sounded the alarm bell to suggest that tension is rising in the country, which is disturbing.

All over the radio stations and public forums, hot exchanges between political rivals dominate interactions. The use of foul language is exacerbated by physical assaults on political opponents. Some may claim that they are fighting their parties’ cause by so doing; others may claim that silencing dissension will pave the way for them to win voter confidence to return to power or cling on to it. I mock them!!

When Ghanaians call themselves magicians…

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The zeal with which Ghanaians participate in the US Diversity Visa Lottery and the length to which some go to desert the country is amazing.

Some have fallen prey to visa racketeers and been duped of huge sums of money meant for visa arrangements yet remain undaunted in their determination to leave the country. Others have managed to pay their way out of the country only to regret later. They realize rather too late that they would have been better off staying in the frying pan than jumping right into the fire below.

No matter what it is, there is something to ponder. Is it not ironical or paradoxical that while Ghanaians are doing all they can to move out of the country in search of greener pastures elsewhere, other nationals are rushing into the country to set themselves up?

What is it that is driving Ghanaians out of their own country? What is it that is attracting those nationals but dispersing/repelling Ghanaians, forcing them into other countries where their conditions may not be any better?

Free senior high school: Too many red flags!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Some commentators responding to my opinion piece challenging the feasibility of Akufo-Addo’s promise on free Senior High School education have rightly explained the benefits of education and why they think that promise is laudable. I don't doubt the fact that formal education is a necessity.

To clarify my stance, let me say that I value education in all its forms and stages (from the informal to the formal one, low-level or higher) but not what Akufo-Addo is making noise about. I am guided in principle by some concerns, which Akufo-Addo’s pronouncements haven’t allayed so far:

·         What made him think that the country’s problems are caused by lack of free education at the senior secondary school level to produce the expertise needed for national development?

Kufuor is hurting, not helping Akufo-Addo

Friday, October 26, 2012

I have said it several times already that former President Kufuor will do himself a world of good if he zips his mouth instead of saying what hurts his image and detracts from the NPP’s political fortunes. He won’t listen and is now unwittingly eroding much of what Akufo-Addo needs to make any headway at the polls.

Kufuor is a problem for several reasons, especially the negative impact that his tenure had on the NPP’s public image, which was a major factor in the 2008 elections.

Akufo-Addo to build hostels for Kayaye too?

Thursday, October 25, 2012

In response to my opinion pieces challenging the string of Akufo-Addo’s “huhudious” promises, some NPP zealots took umbrage, forgetting that my objection to their sacred cow’s line of politicking is rooted more in reality than anything else.

Free education is good but it doesn’t have to be turned into a bombastic electioneering campaign promise for political expediency when there are more pressing sectors of national life to address. We want to take the country out of the woods but not the way Akufo-Addo is promising.

Nana Konadu dances to her own tune

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings is in tatters and is a sight for sore eyes.

She is vigorously dancing the Azonto dance on the political scene to the tune that she herself has called. We are enjoying the spectacle but hope that she won’t dance herself lame before the actual dancing begins.

Does she deserve anybody’s pity? No, at least, not mine. She will cry all she wants to, fume all she wants to, and parade the corridors of the judiciary all she has the nerves to; but the end will not be any better than the beginning or middle for her political career. Or for her standing in the estimation of the Ghanaian citizenry. For her, the end won’t justify the means.

Will Akufo-Addo bring down the moon too for Ghanaians?

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

We can now say with all certainty—and be brazen about it too—that the NPP’s Akufo-Addo is on an electioneering campaign of sorts to outrun himself. Or to outdo his running mate.

The promises are flying all over the place, making his campaign nothing but a Las Vegas type of casino game of chance. The game plan is simple: Keep promising Ghanaians everything in one breath, vigorously tossing the dice to see if Lady Luck will smile on him!

One promise here, another one there makes his campaign for the upcoming elections more ridiculous than the jamboree and kangaroo dance that precipitated his defeat in the 2008 polls.

It seems the NPP’s political campaign is based on nothing but mere promises, which isn’t inspiring enough. Too much of everything being promised Ghanaians is becoming really bad now as its flagbearer remains fixated on nothing but promise-making and hollow claims to outdo the incumbent. Akufo-Addo has indeed seen the moon and will soon offer it to Ghanaians.

If Akufo-Addo doesn’t win the elections…

Saturday, October 20, 2012

If the NPP’s Akufo-Addo doesn’t win the upcoming Presidential elections, it will not be because he hasn’t campaigned well enough or that he hasn’t projected the best of himself to the electorate. In truth, he has done his best so far, going to all lengths, selling himself under many guises, including embarking on nationwide tours to “listen to the people” and to “restore hope” whatever that may mean.

If he loses the elections again, it will be because of issues beyond the promises that he is gushing out. May be, because of unappealing personality traits or just that he is not the person that Ghanaians wish for a leader. It may have something to do with how he performed under Kufuor or the stated failures of that administration itself. Or simply because he is just not destined to be the President of Ghana. Or all combined!!

Let there be light… and there is no light!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Isn’t it troubling that Ghanaians continue to suffer from the curse of load shedding (power rationing) every year while those in authority look on unconcerned until election time approaches when they emerge on rooftops to project the Father Christmas in them?

The denial of electricity to the people traumatizes them in many ways but there is nothing on the horizon to suggest that the problem will be solved soon. It has been so for decades and won’t end soon, no matter what the politicians promise. In Ghanaian politics, the “promise-and-fail” norm is beyond debate.

Some things that hurt the NPP’s image

Friday, October 19, 2012

I am really skeptical about Ghanaian politicians, especially those who say too many conflicting or alarming things in one breath just for the sake of winning public goodwill.

The controversy generated by Akufo-Addo’s promise of free senior high school education and free health care for children under 18 years still rages. Although some (including chiefs and NPP hirelings parading as journalists) have tacitly accepted that promise of free SHS education as the solution to Ghana’s hydra-headed problems and are all over the place placarding it as the NPP’s flagship policy, some of us have quickly dismissed it as a mere political gimmick and remained dogged in our opposition to it.

We dispute the claims and self-serving arguments being bandied about by the NPP followers in support of the string of Akufo-Addo-generated promises. And we won’t change our stance.

The MIGHTY Rawlingses have fallen on their own swords…

Friday, October 19, 2012

Believe it or not, there is wailing, cursing, and gnashing of teeth in the household of the Rawlingses. Why? Because the Electoral Commission has decreed that they do so.

By exercising its mandate in the strongest vein so far, the EC has found fault with Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings’ nomination forms and resolutely disqualifying her from contesting the December Presidential elections.

And with this devastating blow, the EC has brought the black sheep of Ghana politics (Nana Konadu) face-to-face with reality. Will the black ram of Ghana politics (Jerry John Rawlings) join her to mourn the sudden end of her political ambitions—and the setting of his own political sun?

Where is the moral high ground for Rawlings?

Monday, October 15, 2012

The ugly noise that Rawlings continues to make about his so-called principles of “probity and accountability”—which is the motivation for his persistent undermining of his successors—is more than annoying.

According to him, everybody in Ghana is corrupt except him and his wife. As he continues to fight against the interests of the very party that he toiled to nurture into a formidable force in Ghanaian politics, Rawlings casts a huge doubt on his own integrity, more so as he bases all considerations on his claim of corruption.

And he worsens his credibility problem by constantly annoying Ghanaians with incessant references to the so-called principles of probity and accountability as the hallmark of his politicking—and the yardstick by which he has continued to judge all governments except his own.

Time to show Rawlings the door out of the NDC!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

It is no exaggeration to say that former President Rawlings and his wife have become political pests. They have nothing new to offer Ghanaians except those political rivals of the NDC who see them today as new-found allies.

As they continue to defy common sense and reason, they make a huge mockery of themselves and the legacy that they should have been working hard to defend, not destroy. Probably, they are themselves not proud of that legacy. I pity them as they stew in their foolhardiness.

Akufo-Addo to die in service to Ghana?

Tuesday, October 11, 2012

The NPP’s Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is daring the devil in Ghanaian voters. He is, indeed, fast working himself into a frenzy at every turn as he ratchets up his political campaign efforts and has now reached the point of pushing his neck into the noose.

He has asked Ghanaians to hang him if he fails to deliver on his promises, particularly, the fee-free second cycle education, should the voters give him the mandate to rule Ghana (The Ghanaian Chronicle, Oct. 11, 2012).

Let’s hear him as he spoke in Kumasi over the weekend: “I should be taken to the cleaners if I renege on my avowed promise of actualising the free SHS concept.”

The gathering might have applauded him, but I consider that outrageous challenge as the height of desperation and foolhardiness. Akufo-Addo comes across at this stage as really desperate for a political office that he seems not to know full well.

Who needs a “Sole Commissioner for Judgement Debts”?

Monday, October 8, 2012

President John Dramani Mahama on Monday swore into office Justice Yaw Appau, as the Sole Commissioner of Judgment debt. His main task is “to investigate the judgment debt cases the nation has been confronted with” (Myjoyonline, October 8, 2012).

This measure is in fulfillment of President Mahama’s pledge to Ghanaians in his broadcast to the nation to appoint an independent sole commissioner for this purpose.

Welcome to this onerous task, Justice Appau; but I have serious doubts whether this is how to solve the problem. I won’t hail it as a welcome relief because it is a mere face-saving move. It won’t end the judgement debt spree. For how long will Justice Appau do his assignment for government to act on his recommendations? We need action now, not any further complication of simple cases of thievery through an empty bureaucratic move!!

Woe betide the nay-sayers!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

At long last, political maturity has triumphed over parochialism and 45 constituencies created by the EC will have legal backing.

The NPP followers may be chafing for losing the gamble, but they have themselves to blame for not allowing common sense and good conscience to guide their political manouevres. If the EC could add 30 constituencies to the lot under Kufuor, why should it be prevented from exercising that same legitimate constitutional mandate this time?   

Who let the political dogs out to have a field day?

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Certainly, Ghanaian politics is known for its “nonsense.” Those who don’t have the stomach for that nonsense shouldn’t participate in it lest they either choke on it or vomit out what their squeamish stomachs can’t contain. We know those who have been choked out of contention and those who have had to vomit what they ingested the wrong way.

Today, a new twist has been added to this spectacle. The NPP leadership have not only vomited but they have done the unusual act of returning to their vomit to swallow as the last resort for political survival. Disgusting, one might say—and rightly so too!!