New appointments to revive SADA?

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Folks, President Mahama has appointed a new team to superintend the affairs of SADA in the hope that what got botched by the previous team will be tackled and the agency used to solve pertinent problems up north.

(See: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=307835)

In principle, the SADA effort is laudable. But people living in narrow circumstances won’t eat principles, which is why President Mahama needs to exert much pressure for it to succeed. If for nothing at all, it will be a commendable legacy.

Changes at National Security Set-up; Why not at the Ministries too?

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

My good friends, the news is that National Security Coordinator, Colonel Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (retired), has been removed from office by President Mahama and replaced with Yaw Donkor, former Director of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI), effective May 12, 2014.

A statement signed by Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga  said Col. Gbevlo-Lartey is to be re-assigned to a yet-to-be named designation.

It said President Mahama commended the out-going Security Coordinator for his "loyalty and dedicated service to the state".

(Source: http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2014/april-29th/gbevlo-lartey-removed-as-national-security-coordinator.php)

Is the United States pushing itself too far into Ukraine?

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I have said several times already that Ukraine means more to Russia than it does the United States and its European allies, which is why the crisis unfolding in that country needs a level-headed approach than the militarism and empty threatening issuing forth from the quarters of the West.

Of course, only the Russians and Ukraine understand their own language (of diplomacy or coercion). Whatever happened to bring Ukraine under the flag of the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics can be better understood by Russia and Ukraine, not the West whose posturing gave credence to whatever made it possible for the USSR to emerge with its Warsaw partners.

Has Fear Gripped Akufo-Addo’s Camp Already?

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Even while vacationing in London for 6 months—allegedly seeking the face of God to tell him his future political direction—the NPP’s Akufo-Addo did not detach himself from Ghanaian politics or the NPP’s “book politics”. He said and did a lot to prove that he couldn’t do without partisan politics.

And when he returned to Ghana, he quickly indulged in acts that confirmed the impression that he won’t yield the flagbearer slot to anybody. He gamboled about, visiting Kumasi in the style of a head of state, relishing the open adulation given him, and declaring his intention after hob-nobbing with personalities that he interacted with.

Before the Tamale conference, he was really bubbling with everything to prove that he was the be-it-all-and-end-it-all for the NPP. Apparently, his henchmen in charge of the NPP had already declared him the de-facto flagbearer to boost his political posturing.

That was the gusto with which he entered Tamale for the national delegates’ conference—and he held himself up as such. No challenger!!

Come April 13 when the results showed that his henchmen had been jettisoned, the ominous suddenly took over. The Akufo-Addo camp knows the element of which Paul Afoko (NPP National Chairman) and Kwabena Agyepong (General Secretary) are made. Halt!!

Ghana’s economy in a steeplechase race with itself?

Friday, April 18, 2014

Folks, Ghana's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Seth Terkper, really has a tough skin. Never in our history have we had any government appointee of his calibre who could soak up so much pressure and still maintain his composure to do what he is in office to do and still be at post despite the onslaught of public criticism and intrigues from his own party.

How does President Mahama want his own people to remember him?

Thursday, April 17, 2014

My good friends, there is no gainsaying the fact that much water has passed under the bridge that President Mahama has erected for improving conditions in Northern Ghana (let alone the entire country).

His decision to establish the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) came across to us all as a laudable initiative to bridge the gap between the North and the South in terms of practical action to solve the problems that have forced our compatriots to migrate from the north to the south in chase of non-existent jobs.

Those of us who are familiar with the plight of those migrants can testify that their condition of existence in their communities is nothing to write home about.

Has Alan found his mojo while Akufo-Addo becomes a submarine?

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

My good friends, there is every indication that Alan Kyerematen has bounced into action, ratcheting up his political rhetoric to prove that he is on his feet to claim the slot as the NPP's flagbearer.

And he is doing so more robustly after the NPP's national delegates' conference. Any bolstering of his confidence now that Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey and Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (well-grounded Akufo-Addo supporters) have been kicked out?

Has Alan now found his mojo, especially knowing very well that his henchmen are now in charge of the NPP's bureaucracy?

The public to provide input into decision to sign EPA with EU?

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Folks, I have read on Peacefm a news report under this heading, and really laughed my head (heart?) out loud!!

Don't ask me why. Obviously, the government has been putting the cart before the horse all this while; and it must just have realized its waywardness to know that truth.

How can the government not know that such a damning and suicidal contract with the vampires banded into the European Union needed to be placed on the agenda for public discussion before moving ahead to commit itself to signing it?

Boko Haram is surely not Nigeria’s problem to solve alone!

Monday, April 14, 2014

My good friends, the security situation in Nigeria is seriously being threatened by the heightening of terrorism by the resident Boko Haram.

The latest act of carnage traceable to this terrorist group occurred today in the Nigerian capital city, Abuja, killing more than 70 and injuring about 120 commuters in a car bomb explosion on the outskirts of Abuja.

(Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27018751)

An eyewitness told the BBC: "I have never seen [anything] like that in my life. It was just terrible... We were just running helter-skelter. So somehow I think that they planted something inside one of the buses there.

"So there are many dead shot down at the scene of the accident. And as you can see now some of these casualties... we are hoping, we are praying they will be ok. We saw some ambulances bringing corpses to other hospitals."

Akufo Addo continues to be a major problem for the NPP

Friday, April 11, 2014

My good friends, the NPP is at the crossroads, even as it is all set for its national delegates conference tomorrow.

The party's constitution is being tested by Akufo-Addo whose stature as the flagbearer ended when he lost the elections on December 7 and 8, 2012. His dogged resistance and failure to come to terms with reality didn't change his status, as would be confirmed by the August 29 verdict of the Supreme Court.

But he seems not to know his bounds and is behaving like the potentate that he has constructed himself within the workings of the NPP.

Good suggestions to improve our democracy

Friday, April 11, 2014

The challenges facing our democracy are clear: governance has not improved to add value to the lives of the citizens. The status quo has been defended all these years, making it difficult for us to know whether this kind of democracy is really meant to serve the interests of the vast majority of Ghanaians or to perpetuate the ills that a warped political system entails.

Clearly, our kind of democracy has continued to serve the few privileged politicians walking the corridors of power while pushing the citizens further down the poverty line and provoking them to do acts that might eventually detract from the democracy itself.

As the NPP gathers steam and Tamale beckons...

Thursday, April 10, 2014

My good friends, even as we continue to acknowledge the enormity of the challenges facing the Mahama-led administration and why solving problems is taking too long, we can't lose sight of what is happening at the NPP front.

We will continue to monitor goings-on and comment on them with the view to raising pertinent perspectives to enrich the discourse on governance and Ghana's hope for the future.

I say so because of the impression already created by NPP leaders and followers that their party is the only hope for Ghana. This claim is all too pervasive, which is why we can't overlook happenings in the party, especially as it gathers steam for Saturday's national delegates conference in Tamale to elect national officers to manage the party's affairs for Election 2016 and beyond.

Stealing in the name of our democracy?

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Folks, it is no exaggeration to say that President Mahama and his NDC government are really pushed to the wall as far as solving Ghana's development problems is concerned. There is a lot happening to suggest that the going is really tough—and getting tougher every day as its governance style seems to be lagging behind the problems that either crop up every day or worsen.

So far, the depreciation of the Cedi hasn't been tackled to instill confidence in the business community. Neither have measures taken to tackle other challenges yielded any substantial dividend.