The “Kwaku Ananse” in Kufuor is still active

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Folks, former President John Agyekum Kufuor says that if he had had his way, he would have decorated his wife Theresa with “State honours.”  I won’t go any further but refer you to the real stuff coming from him:  “According to the ex-president, his “veteran” wife has been helpful in maintaining a decent marital home for the many years they have lived together…

“…We’ve been married for 51 years, so she is a veteran, a real veteran and sometimes I just say if I got the opportunity again I would decorate her with some State honours,” Kufuor said when a former Nigerian leader General Abdul Salami Abubakar paid a courtesy call on him at his Airport residence. “She is my landlady. Now I think there is some understanding, she says I should behave and she would allow me to be”. (See: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=320965).

I am tempted to throw the searchlight on Kufuor within this context because “he has brought himself” (as our Ghanaian soldiers will say). When he was in power, we heard rumours about his incontinence in matters concerning the “sweetness of the flesh” (outside what Theresa could offer him) but didn’t get that much hooked on them because of our feeling that it is the usual Ghanaian thing, where polygamy opens many doors to conjugal infidelity. Power corrupts in every way possible; and absolute power will definitely corrupt absolutely the powers between the men’s thighs too. Hurray to those with such powers!!

The government continues to harm itself

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Folks, those who are quick to label me as an unrepentant supporter of the Mahama-led administration who will not see anything wrong with it make me laugh a lot. I have no doubt that in doing my yeoman’s job of writing on pertinent issues to feed public discourse on our country’s challenges of development, I have covered the terrain, regardless of whose ox I gore in the process. If it has to do with the NPP, I go all out to say it as I deem fit; and for the incumbent administration, I mince no word. Those who think otherwise can please themselves. I write as I like.

I am out to stick my neck out this time in saying that the Mahama-led administration continues to make that hit it hard in the face with huge boomerang effects. Simply put, the government doesn’t seem to be learning any lesson from its numerous failed initiatives that have earned it public scorn. If it does, it will hasten slowly.

Why am I saying so?

The POTAG strike exposes flaws in our democracy

Monday, August 11, 2014

My good friends, in the light of the perennial industrial actions by organized labour (and considering the implications of the one by the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana, POTAG, and the University teachers Association of Ghana, UTAG, in respect of non-payment of book and research allowance), I have been brooding over some issues concerning how our democracy is being run (or how it is not being used to solve existential problems and why the politicians are jostling for attention mostly because of the high stakes that they alone think they have in it).

First, let's take the spate of industrial actions to comment on. It is unfortunate that organized labour has to perennially lay down tools or take to the streets to protest against their conditions of service. What has happened over the past few weeks or months is a clear indication that this ritual of strikes and street demonstrations has been accepted as a necessary "evil" or the only language that employers, particular the government, understand. And that language really hurts productivity when used.

Take the POTAG strike action, for instance. Then, add the UTAG one to it while looking over your shoulders to feel the hot air that the Ghana Medical Association is breathing. Others are also not deterred by anything and will lay down their tools at will just because they feel unfulfilled at their workplaces.

Does Jerry Rawlings own a private plane?

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Folks, former President JJ Rawlings said something about two days ago that seems to be raising a pertinent question as to whether he owns a private plane; and if he does, how he acquired it, when, and why Ghanaians haven't discovered so till now that he would be baring it all himself (whether inadvertently or caught up in a web and compelled by forces beyond his control to say so)!!

Here is the lead that Rawlings seemed to have given to give rise to such a question (in the news report attr9ibuted to Ernest Dela Aglanu and published by Myjoyonline.com under the heading "Stevie Wonder flew and landed my plane safely" at: http://www.myjoyonline.com/entertainment/2014/august-8th/stevie-wonder-flew-and-landed-my-plane-safely-rawlings-reveals.php):

"Former president Jerry John Rawlings has revealed that Grammy award winning musician, Stevie Wonder, who is visually impaired has successfully flown a plane.

Does Ebola discriminate on the basis of race?

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Folks, I will ask a simple question: Why are the United States victims of Ebola still alive but not the African victims?

I have a few concerns about this Ebola epidemic that has put West Africa under the spotlight for the wrong reason. The first case in this barrage of Ebola attacks was reported to have occurred in Guinea and quickly spread to neighbouring countries (Sierra Leone and Liberia). Like a wild brushfire, Ebola reportedly spread to other areas (Nigeria (where the victim died) and caused a scare in Ghana (where a United States citizen was said to have died at the Nyaho Clinic in Accra).

Since then, Ebola as a health disaster has become synonymous with West Africa, ringing alarm bells in far-away countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. The health authorities in the UK are confident that their system can counteract Ebola. So does the United States too, even when a suspected case was reported from the Sinai hospital in New York only to be quickly declared as manageable and not alarming.

As Ghana re-enters the belly of the vampire (IMF)…

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Folks, the latest development in the government’s search for solutions to the country's ailing economy is to enter the corridors of the International Monetary Fund for “reprieve”. And this “reprieve” will definitely be bound to conditionalities. It is a reprieve designed to come at a huge cost for people already languishing in narrow circumstances. The IMF has no “sympathy” or “empathy” running through its veins, and will always go for the jugular when it comes to imposing conditionalities on those knocking on its door for reprieve.

We are all too familiar with how the IMF and its affiliate (the World Bank) function, especially when dealing with countries in dire economic straits. But if care is taken, some kind of “reprieve” may be forthcoming, granted that those implementing those conditionalities and the citizens can endure the belt-tightening.

Being whip-sawed, the government has no option but to dash to the IMF, some may say. But is the IMF our true ally? Or should the government have done otherwise, depending on home-grown economic measures to solve the problems? Where are own economists and financial experts? Mere empty braggarts parading the political landscape? Or real problem-solvers with reliable acumen?

Ghana to offer arable lands to PUNJABI farmers?

Friday, Aug. 1, 2014

Folks, how many of you know what Punjab is or where it is located in the world? What will come to your mind when “Punjab” or “Punjabi” is mentioned? I don’t know, but I am more than angry at news reports about what the Ghanaian government wants to do to bring Punjab on board.

For the records, the term “Punjab” comprises two words: “punj”, meaning “five”, and “ab”, meaning “water”; thus, “the land of five rivers.” Punjab is the only state in India with a majority Sikh population.  

You may wonder why I should be bothering you with the name “Punjab”. A very simple response. I have been scouting around to find something interesting to comment on as part of my yeoman’s job to feed public discourse on our country’s development challenges. It didn’t take me long to stumble upon this news report carried by the Hindustan Times  Chandigarh news medium on July 31, 2014, that Ghana will offer (or has offered) lands to Punjabi farmers. I immediately got scared by the report. 

Read it here for yourselves: http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/chandigarh/ghana-offers-land-to-punjabi-farmers/article1-1246835.aspx