Is the African Union now waking up?

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Folks, the 24th Ordinary Session of the African Union  (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government currently going on Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has provided two interesting developments worthy of our attention. This year’s session is on the theme “2015: Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development Towards Africa’s Agenda 2063.”

1.      AU Chairman

The Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, was elected head of the continental to replace Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in the rotational position for one year. (See: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31057151).

2.      Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF)

The African Union backs plans for a West African task force of 7,500 troops to fight Boko Haram militants. Four of Nigeria's neighbours—Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger—have agreed to contribute troops to the task force.

Election 2016 in focus: It is not publicity that Akufo-Addo lacks

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Folks, I have continued to deride these NPP people for not being politically savvy enough to do productive politics. Their members rush to insult me for daring to question their political jingoism; and I laugh them to scorn.

As I said a few weeks ago, I am working on an opinion piece to explain what exactly lies beneath Akufo-Addo's desperate struggle to become Ghana's President. He has already thrown his weight about to say that he is not in politics to enrich himself or that he is neither corrupt nor corruptible. Hogwash!! Complete nonsense. Which Ghanaian politician will announce his intentions to the electorate and expect to be believed? Thieves, liars, and self-centred abusers of opportunity they all are!!

Does Akufo-Addo even have to declare his rationale for being in politics for us to place him where he rightfully belongs? As the MP for the Abuakwa area for 12 years, how did he perform? And as a Minister in the Kufuor regime, what lasting positive impact did he leave at the two Ministries (Justice/Attorney-General's Department and Foreign Affairs) to warrant his being elevated to the highest office of the land in the hope and expectation that he will uplift standards for the collective good?

These fire outbreaks need decisive action to tackle

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Folks, I am now more than persuaded that the spate of fire outbreaks at important state (not government) installations cannot be caused by faulty electricity cables, transformers, or air conditioners at offices. My hunch is that there is much instigation behind it to cause  havoc and undermine the government. In truth, then, my position must be clear: that the fire outbreaks are politically motivated.

Those hiding behind such a dastardly act to destroy state property and blame it on the government's incompetence or to create disaffection for the government thereby should bow their heads in shame.

I don't want to point any finger at any particular political camp but the persistent occurrence (recurrence) of these fire outbreaks throughout the country cannot just be happening on the spur of faulty equipment.

Polling Station Guards can’t win the elections for Akufo-Addo

Monday, January 26, 2015

Folks, you must have read the news report that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has inaugurated the DAZOTA youth group to protect all polling stations in the Upper East region during the 2016 general elections.

DAZOTA group secretary, Asukuga Adongo George, told Citi News that the group was formed to avert the occurrence of the alleged widespread irregularities that characterized the 2012 general elections.

He said the group will form an effective and efficient communication force and collaborate with existing youth groups in various constituencies in the region and will also adopt available campaign strategies to help the NPP win the 2016 elections. (See: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=343957)

I laughed out really loud when I read this news report. POLLING STATION GUARDS? What for, when the party would already have had its polling station agents in place? Complicating the situation for nothing? Surely, these NPP people have too much time ( and resources too) and too little to do. The real route to the presidency lies with the electorate. Go to them with good messages to win their minds and hearts, not forming any kind of group at all to display MILITANCY to scare the electorate instead.

This innovative approach toward “energy” generation is what Ghana needs

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Folks, how many of us have not complained about the energy crisis rocking our country, which has assumed so huge a political dimension as to create the unfortunate impression that political opponents of President Mahama are gloating over and gearing up to use against the NDC at Election 2016?

Yes, the energy crisis is disturbing, and the government’s inability to solve it is regrettable; but anybody who narrows it down to conclude that it is a confirmation of the incompetence of the Mahama-led administration will be going too far. No wonder that unrepentant critics of the government such as the NPP-oriented Sydney Casely-Hayford (a so-called financial analyst) are back-pedalling to admit that the “Dumsor… Dumsor” phenomenon is not the making of President Mahama. They will “talk true” under no compulsion.

Is DCOP Kofi Boakye pinching The NPP too much?

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Folks, we know that Ghanaian politicians love operating in darkness, where they scheme to reap where they haven't sown anything. If you doubt it, tell me which single Ghanaian politician can be described as selfless and so public-spirited as to use political power for the good of the citizens.

Operating in the dark to them is the surest way to survive. And they do so with unprecedented alacrity, driven by vindictiveness against anybody they consider as a threat.

We know of situations where public officials perceived as allies of political opponents are persecuted, hounded out of office, and punished in diverse ways. The see-saw situation that has characterized the exchanges between the NDC and NPP administrations that have ruled Ghana in this 4th Republic is dotted with vindictiveness. Don't ask for any elaboration.

Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings is crying out loud, indeed

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Folks, Nana Konadu is in flight. She is all over the place, making all kinds of noise that portray her as “haunted”. Such noises won’t salve her conscience or earn any credit for her husband and her family in any way. What they are is already known and nothing new will come from them to change the equation.

She has said a lot already to throw the searchlight on herself and her husband, not to bring in her parents. Here are some of the major aspects of her utterances:

Akufo-Addo still doesn't get it!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Folks, the NPP's Akufo-Addo is reported to have said that he has 'ener­gy' and 'commitment' to lead Ghana as president.

"I believe I have the energy; I also have the commitment, and those are the two things that are driving me," the experi­enced politician said on BBC's Democracy Day panel discussion in Lon­don yesterday. (See more at: http://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/2015/January-21st/i-have-energy-to-floor-mahama-in-2016-akufo-addo.php#sthash.UIGU1WNC.dpuf)

MY COMMENTS

It is not a matter of ENERGY (whatever it means to Akufo-Addo) of COMMITMENT (whatever it means to Akufo-Addo). It is a matter of APPEAL to the electorate, based on how they perceive the candidate bombarding them with calls to be elected into office.

Will this AFRILEAKS venture help solve governance problems in Africa?

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Folks, when it comes to bold initiatives to break the back of seemingly impenetrable, invincible, and overly self-confident systems, there is no doubt that Julian Assange and his Wikileaks have done a lot to excite interest in "hidden truths", especially what lies in the diplomatic cables (gathered by the United States' covert intelligence operations).

So also have the revelations of Edward Snowden stunned the almighty US and proved to it that, after all, its “fortress” of covert manouevres in intelligence work is nothing but a house of cards. At the poke of finger, it could collapse with damaging consequences.

"Militarizing" the Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict won't solve the fundamental problems

Monday, January 12, 2015

Folks, social unrests in Ghana can be traced to two major factors: chieftaincy and land disputes. We also have conflicts resulting from ethnic or tribal differences. Anything else sparking spontaneous unrests may include politically motivated disputes, breakdown of law and order, or any other spur-of-the-moment or flash-in-the-pan occurrence.

The perennial conflict between the people of Alavanyo and Nkonya, not to mention the Tsito and Awudome one) in the Volta Region has bothered the various governments and people, but no permanent solution has so far emerged to resolve that conflict.

Taking care of personal security at the Presidency

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Folks, the world today isn't as safe as it used to be, especially with the proliferation of all kinds of terrorist organizations and pockets of malcontents who snatch every opportunity to register and confirm their notoriety. Daily reports of the carnage wreaked on countries by terrorists and such malcontents are alarming.

We in Ghana can congratulate ourselves for not being caught up in such carnage, even if internecine ethnic conflicts—bordering mostly on land and chieftaincy disputes—have endangered limb and property. We are far better than countries that have been ravaged by home-grown terrorists and others operating under the banner of dissatisfied political camps.

This Rev. Owusu Bempah and his doomsday prophecies again?

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Folks, the madness called “prophecy” is in full flight, so early in this year. The first one came from an Odiyifuo Tawiah barely two weeks ago that we quickly dismissed as obnoxiously opportunistic.

As if not wanting to be overdone, none other but the Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah (Founder and Leader of the Glorious Word Ministry International), has sprung into action, gushing out a string of figments of an infested fertile imagination he labels as “prophecy”. He was speaking on OKAY FM’s Ade Akye Abia programme.

The fault is not within the Electoral Commission, Akufo-Addo and Co.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Folks, I have been wondering why all manner of people and so-called civil society groups, politically motivated ones, and the clergy cannot contribute anything useful to enhance Ghana’s democracy apart from targeting the Electoral Commission and making utterances to suggest that it is the cause of the woes that they alone have perceived as afflicting Ghana’s political system.

Our political developments over the years have attracted attention all over the world, and we have been commended for ensuring political stability and national cohesion, especially since the coming into being of this 4th Republic. No doubt, a lot has gone into creating that impression and proving to the world that despite the acrimony exhibited by malcontents who cannot accomplish their political ambitions, Ghanaians know and value peace, national integrity, and oneness as mechanisms for political stability. Ghana has remained an enviable oasis in the desert of instability, plain carnage, and brimstone and hell in our part of the world.

This “ghost names” problem: Withholding workers’ salaries won’t solve any problem

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Folks, the Controller and Accountant-General's Department is warning workers that if they don't update information on their employment status by a deadline to be given, their salaries will be withheld. According to the Department, the directive is in response to the problem being caused by the huge wage bill that is weighing heavily on the government's management of public funds.

Once again, a directive has been given, aimed at the wrong target. Workers don't employ themselves nor do they impose themselves on institutions in the public sector. They are employed after going through laid-down procedures, meaning that records on their employment status should be available and that anybody not in active service should be known. That is if the proper steps are being taken by the management of the various institutions.