Why must “Biggest opposition leader be part of Gov’t”?

Tuesday, February 28, 2014

My good friends, I will say it loud and clear here that Ghana does not need any "Shadow President".

Folks, throughout my many years on this earth, I haven't ever come across any suggestion regarding governance as idiotic as this one put forward by Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa:

"We propose that the leader of the opposition must have a decent role in the governance of this country and must be accorded a status befitting of shadow President. The position must come with a home as elegant as the Australian House and provided a staff strength of between 20 and 40." 

Why making all kinds of promises is bad for governance

Thursday, February 27, 2014

My good friends, we have been quick to condemn our politicians for basing their political stunts on nothing beyond the making of all kinds of promises just to be voted into office.

We have been particularly unhappy that these promises are often made without any due consideration being given to existing economic realities but are bandied about just for political expediency in the hope that the unwitting segments of the electorate will buy into them and grant the politicians their wish.

Indeed, all politicians operating in Ghana in our time are guilty of making such “huhudious” promises. Some have been lucky to be given the nod while others have been spurned but are not yet tired of playing that trump-card.

Matters Arising: President Mahama’s “State of the Nation Address”

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Folks, President John Mahama has given his second “State of the Nation Address” to Parliament and assured Ghanaians of “better days ahead in spite of the current socio-economic challenges facing the country”.

According to him, pragmatic measures being taken by government will soon yield fruitful results.

Hurrah to the President for being so optimistic even when his opponents are on rooftops undercutting him and dismissing his address a re-hashed version of the one he had presented last year. Or that it is full of promises that are likely not to be fulfilled and will add to the lot for which he is being ridiculed.

The Ghanaian sphinx, one might be tempted to label it. Better late than never!!

The real lesson that Komla Dumor's death teaches

Monday, February 24, 2014

Folks, our beloved brother, Komla Afeke Dumor, is gone—and gone forever! We have mourned him to the best of abilities and listened to praise-singers eulogize him for all that he stood for. He will be sorely missed.

Whether from Ghanaians of all shades (as usual, the politicians hogging the limelight just to make room for their hot-headed but beguiling rhetoric), the British Broadcasting Corporation that profited from his talents, or the international community that his "dexterity" as a TV broadcaster appealed to, we have heard eulogies that will forever remain as an appropriate reminder of what he stood for and why his death touched us deeply.

The real lesson that Komla Dumor's death teaches

Monday, February 24, 2014

Folks, our beloved brother, Komla Afeke Dumor, is gone—and gone forever! We have mourned him to the best of abilities and listened to praise-singers eulogize him for all that he stood for. He will be sorely missed.

Whether from Ghanaians of all shades (as usual, the politicians hogging the limelight just to make room for their hot-headed but beguiling rhetoric), the British Broadcasting Corporation that profited from his talents, or the international community that his "dexterity" as a TV broadcaster appealed to, we have heard eulogies that will forever remain as an appropriate reminder of what he stood for and why his death touched us deeply.

Who says Akufo-Addo can quit politics?

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Those of us who have been ahead of the curb regarding Akufo-Addo have outsmarted him all this while to predict his political manouevres. We have exposed him for what he is. We have been smart enough to say that he is not going to succeed in Ghanaian politics by choosing to be ahead of himself.

We have confidently told him and his followers that all that he has been saying and doing ever since the Supreme Court confirmed his sorry fate at Election 2012—through a porous petition designed only to save his face by sending him on a mission of self-discovery—will bounce back to hit him hard in the face as the murkiness thickens in the NPP circles!!

Has the NPP’s Disciplinary Committee tamed Kennedy Agyapong?

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Folks, there is no dispute about the fact that the NPP has many gasbags in it whose utterances have caused much harm to its interests than can be contained or repaired. A quick rundown:

Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, the MP for Assin Central, is known for his empty bravado and utterances verging on insanity, especially his threat to physically beat ex-President Rawlings and his instigation of Asantes to kill Ewes and Gas. He generated a lot of animosity for the NPP, which no one needs dismiss as one of the factors that crippled Akufo-Addo as Election 2012.

He is known for bragging about his wealth and damning politicians who have ever been supported by him (I remember his taunting of the NDC's Mrs. Ama Benyiwa-Doe that he would take her on if she didn't make good the loan that she had taken from him)!

Demolishing University of Ghana’s toll booth is proper

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Folks, we woke up this morning to be told that operatives of National Security Secretariat demolished the toll booth constructed at the Okponglo entry point of the University of Ghana from where the University of Ghana's designated collectors charged motorists fees for plying that route.

The National Security Coordinator Larry Gbevlo Lartey has justified the demolishing of a toll booth; and I wholeheartedly support him and the action taken by the security operatives.

Let me state Col. Gbevlo Lartey's justification before adding my own voice to the matter.

The NPP's "IF-CLAUSE" against Dr. Bawumiah confirms it all

Monday, February 17, 2014

Folks, the NPP's General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie is out again, confirming what some of us have long held as the fait accompli that guides the NPP's politics---that non-Akans won't easily get the chance to be the party's flagbearer anytime soon (Read:http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=300959).

He is reported to have said that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumiah, twice running mate to the defeated Akufo-Addo, will be supported by the NPP to lead the party to Election 2016 only if Akufo-Addo decides not to contest.

And the truth is that Akufo-Addo will definitely contest. So, for the third time, Dr. Bawumiah will remain where he has been since Fate puked on him and Akufo-Addo at Election 2008.

If Sekou Nkrumah doesn’t know his limits, he will soon be shown them

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Folks, I am more than angry at how this Dr. Sekou Nkrumah is abusing the traditional Ghanaian hospitality to behave as if he is a force to reckon with in Ghanaian politics. I have had the occasion to take him on and will continue to do so as long as he fails to realize that by his own miscalculation, he is a complete wash-out in contemporary Ghanaian politics. By failing to know his bearings, he is neither worth being accorded respect as an Nkrumahist or anything else nor given any room to register his notoriety as a political bat.

He has flirted with all the political fronts and established himself in the end as a nonentity. He is confused, unaccomplished, unfulfilled, and a complete nuisance!! It is all the more annoying when one considers the fact that his return to the NDC fold hasn’t even been acknowledged or endorsed by anybody. So, what does he think of himself to warrant this high degree of nuisance that he exhibits all over the place?

The Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah bounces back but…

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Folks, as I said in my earlier post on the conflict between Rev. Isaac Owusu-Bempah (Founder and Leader of the Glorious Word Power Ministries International, who is well-known for his doomsday prophecy) and the Asanteman Council, the stage has been set for what is likely to be the most interesting contest between Owusu-Bempah’s “Christian faith” and the wrath of his traditional African roots.

Underlying truth: Before the advent of Christianity and the Bible into the Gold Coast after the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the indigenes had known of and had their own religion and practised their faith in diverse ways. But the traditional religious beliefs and practices were systematically undermined by the so-called Missionaries as “heathen” and adroit means found to denigrate the African as a pagan, which paved the way for the mushrooming of what will today become the forte of the likes of Rev. Owusu-Bempah.

Taming the doomsday shrew, Rev. Isaac Owusu-Bempah

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

This spiritual shrew-mouse called Rev. Isaac Owusu-Bempah, Founder and Leader of the Glorious Word Power Ministries International, is notorious as a prophet of doom. He is no stranger to us, even as he continues to worsen his public perception.

He is out today, saying that he has a prophecy that there would be a coup d’état in Ghana and emphasizing the role of the mass media in it. As is characteristic of him, he claims to have prayed with only one consequence—to forestall it.

He has made such outrageous claims; but the one concerning the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has landed him on the ropes for tons of devastating punches. It is only he who can save himself.

What the Christian Council cannot do, the Asanteman Council can to tame this spiritual wild horse, Rev. Owusu-Bempah. 

Can Ghana be developed without a consistent plan of action?

Saturday, January 8, 2014

My good friends, we have been disturbed for many years that despite its enormous natural and human resources, Ghana (our beloved country) is still in the doldrums. We have poured out our hearts to Nature and to all powers-that-be but the situation is worsening with no clear indication that it will change for the better.

Considering the tempo of agitations at all fronts in and outside the country, it is evident that things have long fallen apart and there is no centre to hold. Pathetic!! An irony of fate that such a well-endowed country should be so lost as to lose its glory.

Ask anybody today what Ghana means to him or her and you will be referred to the country’s past glory, not what it holds for itself and the world in the future. Forget about the present because there is nothing to enthuse over.

Rev. Owusu Bempah and the rumours about the Asantehene’s death

Friday, February 7, 2014

Folks, the challenges facing our country at several fronts are characteristic of a society in transition; but they have to be confronted and tackled so they don't derail our democracy.

True, the government is indeed pushed to the wall and is fighting its way out to have a handle on the situation.

On the sidelines, though, certain pronouncements, claims, and activities by some clergymen give very serious cause for concern. We have taken up some of those issues to discuss, but more still keep cropping up. Here is one.

The recent rumours that the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, had died in South Africa were very vicious and deserved outright condemnation. Thus, every reasonable person who is alarmed by such rumours will expect action to be taken to deal with the sources of such rumours.

Lack of public education hurts Mahama-led administration

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Folks, I will bluntly say upfront that the Mahama-led government has lost the communication and information sector as a potent force in good governance. And it will continue to suffer the negative backlash.

The main problem facing this administration is its inability to sell itself to prevent its opponents from poisoning the minds of Ghanaians (home and abroad) about its accomplishments, failures, and strategies to advance good governance. Whenever I read anything complaining about the damaging of its interests by political opponents, I laugh out loud. 

And I turn to blame the government itself, not those propagating the damaging half-truths or plain lies about it. Don’t ask me why; but it should be clear to you that the government isn’t adept at using the opportunities at its disposal to sell itself.

As Ghana returns to a two-party political stream…

Tuesday, February 5, 2014

Folks, Ghana is on course to return to a two-party political stream. There is no hope for any third force under the guise of the pro-Nkrumahist family. Sooner than later, pro-Nkrumahism will be no more.

A viable political party that wants to remain so does things to grow, not to disintegrate or give politics a bad name. Or create fertile conditions for its members to be poached by rival political parties. Unfortunately, the pro-Nkrumahist political parties aren’t functioning this way.

I have a big issue with them because they are more invested in tearing their own house apart than building it to face the challenges imposed on partisan politics by our democracy.

No Spiritual Power Can Stop the Depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Folks, let's be blunt upfront to say that the extent to which the so-called Men-of-God in Ghana are carrying their obsession with "spirituality" is more than annoying.

All over the country, they are up on their feet, delivering "prosperity messages" and hiding behind them to exploit their gullible followers; giving useless prophecies (such as the one by Owusu-Bempah that President Mahama would die last year. Or that Akufo-Addo was to win the 2012 elections hands-down short of which there would be disaster in Ghana); doing partisan politics under the guise of religion and fanning the flame of ethnicity and division in the country; and many more.

Their activities are troubling. Now, they seem to have seen beyond such perspectives to wrap everything around dangerous speculation.