JJ & MAHAMA DARES NPP

…To prove allegations
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: The Chronicle. Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The office of former President Jerry John Rawlings has dared the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its assigns to provide adequate evidence to support claims that he is plotting to assassinate pastors who oppose the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Spokesman for the former President, Kofi Adams who spoke to The Chronicle in reaction to an earlier press conference organised by the Youth Activist Forum (YAF), an off-shoot of the NPP described the allegations as “an amateurish part of an NPP design to create disaffection between the NDC that is going to form next government and the people of this country.”
He however said the NPP would not succeed with this vile and cheap propaganda because it lacked merit.
The NPP Youth Activist Forum had alleged among other things “we are reliably informed that a twelve man contingent of assassins has been smuggled into the country through the Elubo border from Sierra Leone to amongst other things execute this heinous plot put together by some key people in the NDC.”

The supposed hit list is said to include names such as Rev. Dr. Mensah Otabil of the Intentional Central Gospel Church, Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson of the Catholic Church, Rt. Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong Manso, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and Apostle Dr. Micheal Ntumi, the immediate past Chairman of the church of Pentecost.

Adams indicated that the former President and the NDC have no time for any such thing but thinking of how to win power and solve the numerous challenges confronting the nation.
He therefore asked Ghanaians to treat the allegation with the contempt that it deserves since according to him, it does not contain an iota of truth.
According to him, this alone tells of the level of desperation in the NPP since he could not fathom why a government would sit in laxity for assassins to come into the country without any precautionary measures in place to detect their arrival.
He wondered why the NPP has decided to make such allegations at this point in time if not for the sake of vile propaganda to create disaffection for the NDC and win votes in the upcoming Presidential run-off.
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Earlier at the press conference, spokesman for the Youth Activist Forum, Kofi Boateng flanked by other members like Pius Enam Hadzide, Harry Afrim, Emmanuel Attafuah-Danso and Anold Boateng alleged that they had credible information which suggested that the supposed 12 assassins and former members of a rebel group now turned political party in Sierra Leone were being hosted by one Corporal Sharp and Captain Sowu at a hideout in Sogakope in the Volta region.
The group alleged among other things that the monies were being laundered into the country by the NDC at an alarming rate to fund their campaign.
“We are aware that under the cover of the recently held All African Students Union (AASU) awards, a Nigerian oil mafia descended in this country via a chartered flight and met the NDCs Running Mate at the La Palm hotel.”
At this meeting, it was alleged that Hon. John Mahama was given a huge amount to help the NDCs campaign efforts.
The NPP youth activists further alleged that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had also through illegal channels given the NDC a whopping $15million and in return the NDC had pledged Ghana’s oil find as a collateral, stressing “ two prominent members of the NDC left for Saudi Arabia incognito through Togo to bring in $2million.
Meanwhile, the NDC Running Mate has denied knowing and meeting any such person as a Nigerian oil mafia at the La Palm hotel let alone received an amount from him.
Whilst admitting that he had friends including Nigerian politicians some of whom have often lodged at the said hotel, he said he never received money from any of them to help fund the NDCs campaign.
He could not but laugh over the issue of the Venezuelan leader funding the NDC with a whopping $15million, stressing that, in its entire campaign process, the NDC has not spent over $4million.
Hon. Mahama thus described the allegations as a clear indication of desperation on the NPP to retain power and dared them to come out and substantiate the allegations with concrete evidence.

MILLS DRAWS BATTLE-LINE

…between him and Nana Addo
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor John Evans Atta Mills has drawn the line between him and the Presidential Candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
For him, the second round of the Presidential elections is a contest between himself and Akufo-Addo and not a contest between the NDC and the NPP, stressing “the NDC and NPP contest is over. It is now about John Evans Atta Mills and Akufo-Addo and I want the people of Ghana to judge us by what we stand for.”
Prof. Mills believes there is a big difference between him and NPPs candidate, stressing “I am the leader of a party that has welfarism and people-centered approach to managing the affairs of state as its core values. Compare that to Akufo-Addo who is leading a party that believes in property-owning democracy and holds on to the maxim that the rich must get richer whiles the poor get poorer.”
He has thus asked the teeming Ghanaian populace to vote for a President they can trust.
Mills, who happens to be the former Vice President made the comparison during his campaign tour of the Western
Whilst appreciating the fact that the region is blessed with rich natural resources, he emphasised “with the oil find, you a need a President who will not enrich himself and his cronies with your resources whiles you the people who should benefit from the resources wallow in abject poverty.” In line with his pledge to present a bill to Parliament in the first 100 days upon assumption of office to review downwards tariffs and taxes, Professor Mills promised the NDC government will bring relief to Ghanaians.

On the issue of the high customs duty importers pay at the ports, Prof. Mills promised a government under his administration will reduce the cost.
“I am a tax expert and I know it for a fact that it is not about the quantum of revenue that is generated; it is about how efficiently the revenue is managed that is why I will not hesitate to bring relief to Ghanaians by reviewing downwards taxes and tariffs”, he emphasised.
Professor Mills has also pledged to make sure that private lotto operators stay in business.
He said it was during the time of President Rawlings that private lotto operators were licensed and promised to give them back their legal freedom to operate.
According to Professor Mills, the lame and desperate attempt by the NPP to create the impression that private lotto operators will be given back their license is nothing but an attempt to score cheap political points.
“Is it not the NPP that has destroyed the private lotto business? So if Akufo-Addo says that he is going to move in the same direction as President Kufuor, why should anybody take the NPP serious when it is now paying lip service to private lotto operators?”, he asked rhetorically and stressed “the NDC has done it before, and we will do it again by allowing private lotto operators to function within the ambit of the law.”

NDC, NPP Desperate for Power

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: The Chronicle. Tuesday, December 23, 2008.
Unfolding events after the December 7 elections which ended up in a deadlock between the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has shown how both sides of the political divide have become desperate to win power in the upcoming Presidential run-off.
Over the last couple of days, the two political parties have employed both fair and foul tactics which can best be likened to sheer propaganda in their campaigns, contrary to an earlier promise of strictly focusing their campaign messages on issues and policies.
Whilst the ruling NPP is strenuously trying to consolidate the gains it made in the December 7 elections to retain power, the opposition NDC is also doing all it can to return to the reins of government after losing out in the 2000 elections which ushered the NPP to power.
Among the series of propaganda messages being employed by both parties include the NPP accusing the NDC and its founder, Jerry John Rawlings of having prepared a supposed 'hit list' to eliminate certain outspoken Pastors who are alleged not to be supporting the NDC.
On the other hand, the NDC is also circulating documents with huge sums of monies running into several billions of cedis, showing the account numbers and names of certain Ministers and members of the ruling NPP on a supposed Prudential Bank letterhead to create the impression that those monies had been siphoned from state coffers by those whose names were given.
Though these strategies are meant to win the votes and sympathies of Ghanaians, they appear to be causing much disaffection for both political parties.
However, a Political Science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Mr. Kwasi Amakye-Boateng is not the least surprised about unfolding events and developments which has taken place in the country over the last couple of days or probably weeks. He believes that both the NDC and NPP have lost their calm and are acting out of nervousness or in panic reaction gear.
In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, he noted that both parties seem to have hit their wits end in issue-based campaigns, and are rather churning out propaganda messages to unmake their opponents, in order to win the confidence of Ghanaian voters, especially those who are yet to decide on who to vote for (floating voters).
He, however, noted that the misinformation being employed by the NDC and NPP would not necessarily influence the decision of the floating voters, since they are not based on issues, policies and programmes and how they affect their livelihood. To him, they would rather excite members and supporters of the parties.
In the end, he said it would do more harm than good to the country since it will divide the Ghanaian society along various ethnic and political lines, instead of uniting them as one people and one nation after the elections.
He therefore, expressed grave doubts as to whether the propaganda messages would influence the decisions of the teeming floating voters who are yet to make their minds on which of the two candidates, the NDC's Professor John Evans Atta Mills and the NPP's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to vote for.
At the end of day, he noted that the party which is able to give hope to the people will win their confidence and thus urged both the NDC and NPP to keep their calm and campaign on issues instead of vile propaganda.
The NPP's Kwabena Agyapong and the NDC's Seth Ofori yesterday accused each other's political party of employing black propaganda in their campaign to woo voters.
However, they both tried to distance their political parties from any of the propaganda messages making the rounds in sections of the media.
Propaganda is defined as the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartiality in providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience.
It often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the targeted audience to further a political agenda.
That notwithstanding, it generally appeals to emotion, contrasted to an appeal to intellect generated, usually by governments and political parties, since it shares techniques with advertising and public relations.
Propaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches in the olden days.

PNC MPs, REGIONAL CHAIRMEN BACK NANA

After nail biting 19-19 vote of NEC with Edward Mahama abstaining
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Posted: The Chronicle. Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The National Executive of the People’s National Convention (PNC) yesterday held a meeting to decide which of the two leading parties to support, but it ended dramatically with a nail biter when the event ended in a tie with the national leader opting to abstain.
At the end of a long meeting to deliberate on whether to support the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the National Democratic Congress (NDC),19 members of the national executive opted for the NPP and another 19 went for the NDC, with the leader of the PNC refusing to break the tie by abstaining from voting.
But in a follow up interview with Hon. Haruna Bayirga, MP for Sissala West, he noted that on their individual and collective convictions, all the incumbent and newly elected PNC Members of Parliament and virtually all the Regional Chairmen of the party opted to throw their weight behind the NPP and its Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo.
He thus urged the party’s supporters and members to go out in their numbers to vote for the NPP and its Presidential Candidate come December 28 during the run-off to consolidate the gains made by the party.
Chronicle could not establish which of the pro-NPP members of the NEC voted for the accord with Nana Addo, but it is believed that the party’s National chairman, Alhaji Ramadan may have been among the pro NPP voters, since his daughter is married to the NPP candidate’s running mate, Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia.
In a radio interview, some of the members of the pro-NPP faction said that they experienced terrible times under the PNDC when the regime overthrew the Government of the party’s founder, Dr. Hilla Limann, an event which was echoed by national chairman of the NPP, Mr. Peter Mac Manu.
Dr. Hilla Limann was virtually penniless in his estate house in his modest Teshie Nungua house, where he taught privately to subsidise his income, while his wife Fulera also traded in tie and die.
His friend, the late Chronicle columnist Professor Paul Ansah, who was a source of refuge in those trying times in the early and late 1980’s and early 1990’s, even though Paul refused to serve in his Government, but later remained a constant critic of the PNDC which overthrew his friend’s Government.
It is those sentiments that influenced Hon. Bayirga and the other MPs to vote for the NPP because they saw in Nana Addo, the exact opposite of the NDC on account of their track record in human rights violations.
A leading member of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), Mr. Eghan, popularly known as Abaatan, also said on radio in Takoradi that his own wife suffered harassment under the PNDC, but diluted the compliment with a remark that NPP is not necessarily a haven of angels because they are guilty of human rights violations as well.
Abaatan noted on Kyzz FM yesterday that PNC’s endorsement of the NPP could impact the second round of voting because in politics, numbers was everything and nobody should discount the support of the PNC.

PRESIDENT KUFUOR, NPP ARE HOT

…Desperate for party to retain power

…Amidst fuel price reduction, decisive war on pair trawling

By Katakyie Okofotakyi - Ghanaian Chronicle Opinion Tue, 16 Dec 2008

The aftermath of the just-ended Presidential and Parliamentary elections, which virtually ended up in a deadlock, has sent shivers down the spines of President Kufuor and his government. This has left the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to be doing a lot of thinking through or better still mental gymnastics on some of its decisions and inactions in order to make amends by reverting some of its decisions in order to whisk more votes in the upcoming run-off. Events leading to polls day December 28, 2008 have given a clear indication of how desperate the NPP wants to win and retain power. Over the last couple of days, the government has made a lot of political somersaults, taken certain decisive measures which otherwise would not have been taken if not for political expediency. These include the sudden reduction of fuel prices and the decision to combat the ever-increasing spate of pair trawling by foreign nationals on Ghana's territorial waters, coupled with the supposed release of some 5,000 commercial drivers who were committed to various jail terms by the courts for traffic offences. Prior to the first round of the elections, NPP had hoped to win power by one-touch based on its programmes, policies and achievements. However, that appeared not to have worked the magic. Immediately the election results was announced, Nana Addo had cause to change his campaign team and strategy upon realising that the polls was heading for a run-off. He quickly marshalled forces and launched an intensive campaign to woo more votes. Just as the campaign was gaining momentum in the villages, President Kufuor decided to do what some have labelled as the 'unthinkable' by announcing a reduction in fuel prices. Good as it may be, political pundits and discerning Ghanaians read meanings into it, with the belief that it was meant to canvass for votes. A day or two after the announcement of the reduction in fuel prices; a release was issued indicating government's preparedness to combat the high incidence of pair trawling fishing on our seas. Meanwhile, sources have it that a couple of months before the elections, President Kufuor and his government was advised by political pundits to reduce the prices of petrol in order to reduce the harsh economic conditions which has not been created by the NPP government but the result of the global economic recession. On the contrary, President Kufuor and his government turned a deaf ear on the advice considering the debt government would have incurred as a result of the reduction. Ironically, the results of the December 7, 2008 polls left the President and his government with no other option than to accept the earlier proposal by making a sudden u-turn. This has generated heated debates across the length and breadth of the country. Whilst some especially the opposition National Democratic Congress have likened the reduction to a deceptive ploy by the NPP to win votes after the NDCs Presidential Candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills promised to reduce the price of petrol to ¢GH 25.00 if voted into power, the NPP has ridiculed the assertion and defended the reduction as a prudent economic measure which came as a result of the reduction in fuel prices globally. It is however not clear whether the reduction in the prices of fuel would have any effect on the run-off of the Presidential elections which is barely two weeks from now. Tangible as the earlier reason for not reducing fuel prices may be, the controversy surrounding the sudden and rather belated decision to reduce fuel prices and how the NDC is capitalising on it for its campaign has compelled some NPP supporters to raise questions about the credibility of President Kufuor and his advisers considering the timing of the announcement. Some have even gone to the extent of speculating that this has the tendency of affecting the chances of Nana Addo since it is considered to be a temporary measure to influence voters to vote for the NPP. This has made some party faithfuls to blame the President Kufuor for the NPPs performance in the first round of elections. One of the accusations has been that at the time the NDC launched a three-pronged approach with its Presidential Candidate, Prof. Mills, Running Mate, John Mahama and the founder, Jerry John Rawlings busily campaigning in different parts of the country, he (President Kufuor) was seriously jockeying for awards, hopping from one country to the other in search of personal glory and leaving Nana Addo to his fate only to join the NPP campaign just about two weeks to the elections. What seems to bore most party members and baffle the imaginations of party stalwarts was the fact that President Kufuor had time to organise a party to celebrate his 70th birthday anniversary at a time vote counting was ongoing when the party was sitting on tenterhooks. Though Nana Addo was present at the function, his face seemed to tell it all that all was not well. But he had no option than to make an appearance to grace the occasion. In spite of all these, it is the results of the upcoming Presidential run-off which will determine which of the two leading political parties in the country, the NDC and the NPP will have the nod to administer the people. Meanwhile, the NDC promises to give the NPP a good run for its money since it is hell-bent on annexing the governance of the country. Until that decision day, all other things and opinion polls remain nothing but mere speculations because they will not necessary reflect the individual and collective minds of Ghanaian voters.

India student journalists hit the streets

…amidst wild protestation
Charles Takyi-Boadu reports from New-Delhi, India
The killing of a 25year old television journalist in India, Soumya Vishwanathan has sparked a demonstration in the capital, New Delhi.
Students of the premier journalism school, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) yesterday took to the street following her death to protest against the perpertrators of this dastardly act.
They also urged the state police and the authorities concerned to step-up their efforts in bringing to book the faceless people behind killing.
The protest, which started around 12:30pm, saw the students blocking access to the main Aruna Asaf Ali Marg road for close to 30minutes amidst the chanting of “we want justice.”
Their message was simple; the police must do everything possible to bring the perpetrators of this act to book.
Soumya who worked with ‘Headlines Today’, a television channel in the capital was shot dead in her car on her way home (Vasant Kunj) on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 after a late night shift around 3:00am at dawn.
She was rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where she was pronounced dead. But police sources say that a post-mortem released on Tuesday morning revealed that “a bullet was lodged below her right earlobe,” said a senior police officer.
Local newspapers including the ‘Hindustan Times’ reports that Police said they got a call from an auto-rickshaw (Tuktuk) driver about the incident at 3:41 am.
“Her Maruti Zen had hit the divider of the road. The front wheel on the right side was punctured. The windowpane had shattered,” said a senior officer.
Forensic teams were called in to examine the car. A case of murder has been registered against unknown assailants at the Vasant Kunj Police Station.
DCP Southwest Shalini Singh said, “We have registered a case of murder and conducting further investigations into the matter.”
Initially the death looked like an accident, but further investigations led to the discovery of a piece of her scalp and hair which were found on the back seat of the car.
However, the police remain tightlipped on the motive behind the incident and say it is investigating every possible angle. Soumya had been working as a journalist for the last five years.
Her father M.K Vishwanathan is employed with a multinational company and mother Madhvi works with a public sector undertaking.

RAJASTAN NGO PUTS DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRE-STAGE

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
JAIPUR: For the people of Jaipur and its surrounding areas in the vastly populated state of Rajastan who have been struggling with multiple problems of acute water shortage, poverty, child labour and increasing spate of abortion for an extensive number of years, it is extremely difficult to underestimate the relevance of an organisation as the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society (CECOEDECON).
At a time when the activities and operations of many Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) has raised eyebrows over the effective utilisation of funds for their intended purposes, the organisation has risen to the occasion. In effect, it has been able to transform the lives of several individuals and group of persons who otherwise would have been languishing in quagmire.
With a core aim of facilitating the processes of empowerment of partner communities- indigenous people, the landless, small and marginal farmers, deprived women and children-through both direct and indirect interventions to enable them take action independently and effectively to secure their rights and long-term well-being, the organisation has lived up to its expectations. The testimonies of individuals and corporate entities which in a way or the other have had stint working relations with the NGO speaks volumes of the significant feat and the niche the organisation has carved for itself in the speck of time. Born in aftermath of the devastating flood that hit parts of India in 1982 under the Rajastan Societies Registration Act 1958, CECOEDECON as is affectionately called has made significant impact on the government and people of this area.
Within time, the organisation has managed to provide skilled/vocational training to lots of individuals in villages areas, working in partnership with various Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and NGOs to assist them to build their capacity to carry out grassroots and advocacy work more effectively through the provision of training and organisational development support.
The organisation does this by initiating and strengthening public advocacy efforts throughout the state, whilst building coalitions groups to work on common issues involving those related to livelihood rights, social security, in addition to natural resources. In recognition of the gravity of arguably the world’s most dreaded enemy, HIV/AIDS virus, it has outlined a number of strategies to mainstream the issue in order to reduce its spread, with an intensive campaign in toe. Considering the immense role-played by the youth in the progress of a nation, and cognisant of the fact that they are the agents of change, the organisation has also drawn a programme, which enables them to catalyse the development process and provide them with avenues for contemporary traditional change in society. At the community level, it has devoted itself to give higher concentration and preference to underprivileged and marginalized groups including children, women, and landless agricultural labourers whilst at the state, national and international level it engages various operational, organisational, public advocacy and networking activities with key institutions and groups to champion the course of the poor and the vulnerable in society.
Whilst admitting that it is totally impossible to eliminate the obviously high incidence of poverty in Jaipur, let alone the state of Rajastan and India in entirety, CECOEDECON has however managed to reduce its prevalence.
This, it does through community mobilisation, civil society groups, capacity building, advocacy for policy reforms etc. Presently, the organisation is working with various youth groups, ordinary peasant farmers, and unemployed to run health programmes, water-harvesting projects, and drought mitigation measures to help their communities as well as to enable these individuals to earn a living. For some who could afford three square meals a day, CECOEDECON is a ‘messiah’ in disguise, since it has lifted them from their woes.
In its resolve to increase assistance to especially the rural poor, it is currently making conscious efforts to move from its project-based approach to a more comprehensible and flexible approach with the view of achieving greater effectiveness and efficiency. This is intended to integrate various components of rural development and further build the process of community empowerment. Now operating in 10 districts and 855 villages for marginalized people in the areas of health, natural resource management, child development programmes, institutional development, capacity building among a host of other equally important areas, this Non Government Organisation (NGO) has adopted a multi-faceted approach to curb the basic challenges confronting humanity and life.
Like other NGOs in the developing world, CECOEDECON, largely depends on the support of multi-lateral donor organisations and institutions for funds to sustain its programmes and activities. Among the stream of donors that support its activities include the World Bank, Oxfam, UNDP, Indian government, DFID, UNICEF and a host of others.
Unlike most NGOs in developing countries who line their individual pockets with donor monies meant for intended projects, CECOEDECON has put in place an internal self-correctional mechanism to monitor and evaluate how these monies are utilised or to see if the funds are being used to help those they intended for. For the management and staff of the organisation, the issue of monitoring and evaluation is not a one-time activity but something that takes place on a continuous basis whilst keeping a close-eye on the financial expenditures of each and every intervention to be in line with provisions of budget allocations.
It therefore comes as no surprise that CECOEDECON brands itself as organisation “where action speaks louder than words.”

Ghanaians must ignore Rawlings

…he is a spent force
Charles Takyi-Boadu writes from New-Delhi, India
myjoyonline.com Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 2:26 GMT
Several years after handing over power, it appears former President Rawlings has still not come to terms with the basic tenets of the theory and practice of democracy.This is evident in some of the utterances he has been making in-time-between-time.Sometimes I cannot fathom the outrageous statements he has been making since he claimed to be to speaking for the masses.At other times, you see him venting his personal frustrations and presenting them as though they were those of the ordinary Ghanaian.But after analysing some of his utterances, I have come to appreciate and understand who the man Jerry John Rawlings really is-a spent force.Forget about the occasion or forum; Rawlings will launch an unprecedented and blistering attack on not only the personality of the incumbent President but also his government.As a man of his stature in society, one would have expected that he will back these claims with facts, but that happens not to be the case with Rawlings. In most or virtually all instances that I know of, he has traded in what can best be described as unsubstantiated allegations.Unfortunately for him, he happens to be the only person in Ghana who the media has never gotten right after all these years in government and out of power. It has now become a common practice for his spokesmen to clarify each and every statement he makes since they have always had double meanings. In not one, two or three but almost all instances, his spokesmen, from the days of Victor Smith to Kofi Adams have always sought to deny media reports on statements he makes in public, claiming that he has been quoted out of context.I recall with nostalgic memory the controversy Rawlings generated when he once said he was a passionate democrat but believed in ‘positive defiance’, seeking to incite members of the public on government.If my memory serves me right, I’m not too sure I have ever heard Rawlings making a speech befitting a statement. He has always treaded a treacherous path, which has the tendency of plunging the entire nation into chaos. What I have observed about Rawlings over years is that he either feels he is the only brave-heart in the country or has no sense of remorse after bequeathing Ghana with a bloody history.I have barely come to terms with how a former President like Rawlings, with all his record in coup will decide to hold a meeting at his private residence with none but former heads of the military under the pretext of discussing the level of insecurity in the country at a time when the country was less than three months away from elections, also not forgetting the fact that there was and is indeed a sitting government and security agencies tasked with this responsibility.Human as I am, I sometimes find it extremely difficult to understand his followers and praise-singers, most of who seek to justify his actions.This is a man I use to like and respect very much for his charisma but developed a strong aversion for him for his divisive tendencies.For me, Rawlings is none but a spent force in the Ghana’s politics, considering the fact that his opinions do not carry the weight befitting not just a statesman but a former President in that regard. This is a man who at a point in time wanted to super-impose his fleeting personal interest on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to select his choices as Presidential Candidate and Running Mate respectively because he considered himself to be the man who must be obeyed.Strong as the leadership of the party was, they did not bow to his whims and caprices, thereby making Rawlings become hesitant in joining the campaign of the very party he formed and nurtured.When he finally decided to join the campaign trail, whether by fault or default, the former President shifted the entire campaign machinery of the NDC out of gear, going contrary to the game plan not to trade in unnecessary attacks but issues.I was therefore not surprised that the leadership of the party had no option but to somewhat distance themselves from his utterances.Mills and Mahama should blame no other person than Rawlings if they don’t get to see the Flagstaff house because Rawlings is inflaming passions and scuttling their tireless efforts.Now that we are close to the elections, he has started making certain treacherous statements which smacks off fear of insecurity, thinking that Ghanaians will pay heed to his quest for chaos. I think one thing he has forgotten is that Ghanaians have learnt more than enough from the lessons he thought us during his days and will not allow our emotions and personal beliefs to override the interest of the nation. Therefore my advice to all Ghanaians is to ignore the Rawlings and let him live with his fate since we are fed up of his tantrums.

Lets pray against ‘Sometimes in April’

…as Ghana goes to the polls
Charles Takyi-Boadu writes from New Delhi-India
Posted: myjoyonline.com, Monday, October 6, 2008;
'The Chronicle, Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Come December 7, 2008, millions of Ghanaians will again go to the polls to choose among the candidates presented by the various political parties, whom they deem fit to serve and not to rule them as a people.
Under normal circumstance, one would expect this to be a simple task for any well-meaning Ghanaian to perform.
However, unfolding events in these few months to the elections raise a lot of questions as to whether or not Ghanaians will become more united or divided after the elections due to the uneasy calm hovering across the length and breadth of the country.
Various media reports of violent clashes among supporters of the various political parties and beating of war drums by some politicians seems to be giving some level of room for this speculation.
I am therefore writing this article of emotions to let all Ghanaians know how much we cherish with no mean our small country of diverse cultures and different people, with specific reference to the breath-taking HBO movie titled ‘Sometimes in April’.
The very day I watched that movie, I wept and prayed that ‘God forbid’ the ugly horrific scenes I saw should never find space and time in Ghana.
I therefore fervently pray that each and every Ghanaian, no matter one’s position should grab a copy of this movie to come to terms with the message I’m trying to send across.
It will thus not be too much of a demand to ask those beating war drums to be cautious of their activities since ‘God forbid’ they could plunge the entire nation into chaos.
Probably, they might have forgotten that we have only one Ghana and nothing else and for that matter we can’t risk our lives for ‘mere’ intellectual exercise.
No! That will obviously be a big shame for Ghana, a country that so-much pride itself as a beacon of democracy in not only the West-African sub-region but the entire Africa, a continent struggling to make amends with its past.
For me, the experience of Rwanda alone and not to even talk about the equally dreadful and sorrowful experience of neighbouring Ivory Coast, Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan is enough for Ghanaians to learn from in order not to chart that tortuous course of grieve and pain.
That nerve-racking experience of Rwanda evokes passion and emotions considering the innocent lives it claimed and I do know for sure that the always peaceful and fun-loving Ghanaians will not want to go that way.
I even doubt how many Ghanaians have a passport, let alone can afford to purchase an airline ticket to travel outside the country ‘God forbid’ if there is an outbreak of violence after the declaration of the election results.
My piece of advice to every Ghanaian, especially followers of these political parties is that most or virtually all the politicians they claim to be fighting for can afford to fly their families outside the Ghana, leaving the rest of us to battle our fates out.
Therefore, as the Akans will say ‘se wonim owuo hwe nna’, literally meaning, if you have not seen a dead person before, just take a look at a man sleeping.
This should tell each and every Ghanaian on whose backs these politicians rise to power that when trouble is looming, it is never heralded by a flag, probably that of Ghana.
I take solace in a statement once made by Martin Luther King Jnr “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
In April 1994, one of the most heinous genocides in world history began in the African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of 100 days, close to one million people were killed in a terrifying purge by Hutu nationalists against their Tutsi countrymen. This harrowing HBO Films drama focuses on the almost indescribable human atrocities that took place a decade ago through the story of two Hutu brothers - one in the military, one a radio personality - whose relationship and private lives were forever changed in the midst of the genocide. Written and directed by Raoul Peck (HBO Films’ “Lumumba”), the movie is the first large-scale film about the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to be shot in Rwanda, in the locations where the real-life events transpired.
HBO describes the movie as both “an edge-of-the-seat thriller and a chilling reminder of man’s incomprehensible capacity for cruelty”.
‘Sometimes in April’ is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West’s inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority (who had ruled Rwanda since 1959) and the Tutsi minority who had received favored treatment when the country was ruled by Belgium. The protagonists (both Hutus) are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda.
The drama is set in two periods, which unfold concurrently: In April 1994, after the Hutu Army begins a systematic slaughter of Tutsis and more moderate Hutus, Augustin and a fellow Army officer named Xavier, defying their leadership, attempt to get their wives and children to safety. Separated from his wife Jeanne and their two sons (whom he entrusts to the care of his reluctant brother), Augustin gets caught in a desperate struggle to survive. Barely escaping the purge, he’s haunted by questions about what happened to his wife, sons and daughter (who was a student at a local boarding school). In 2004, looking for closure and hoping to start a new life with his girlfriend Martine (who taught at his daughter’s school), Augustin visits the United Nations Tribunal in Arusha, where Honoré awaits trial for the incendiary role he and other journalists played in the genocide. In the end, through an emotional meeting with Honoré, Augustin learns the details of his family’s fate, giving him closure and, perhaps, hope for happiness in the future.
Below is a run-down of the turn of events at the time which has a lot of lessons in stock for Ghanaians to learn from: April 6, 1994 President Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira are killed when the Rwandan leader’s plane is shot down as it is about to land at Kigali Airport. Hutu extremists opposed to the Arusha Peace Accords are believed to be behind the attack.
Day 1-estimated death toll 8,000
April 7, 1994
The Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and Hutu militia (the Interahamwe) set up roadblocks and go from house-to-house killing Tutsis and moderate Hutu politicians. 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers are killed. UN forces, unwilling to breach their mandate, fail to intervene.
April 8, 1994 The Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launches a major offensive to end the killings and rescue 600 of its troops based in Kigali under the Arusha Accords.
Day 4, estimated death toll, 32,000
April 9-10, 1994 French, Belgian and American civilians are rescued by their governments. No Rwandans are rescued.
April 11, 1994 At the Don Bosco school, protected by Belgian UNAMIR soldiers, the number of civilians seeking refuge reaches 2,000. That afternoon, the U.N. soldiers are ordered to withdraw to the airport. Most refugees are killed after their departure.
April 15, 1994 Belgium withdraws its troops from the U.N. force after ten Belgian soldiers are slain. Embarrassed to be withdrawing alone, Belgium asks the U.S. to support a full pullout. Secretary of State Christopher agrees and tells Madeleine Albright, America’s U.N. ambassador, to demand complete withdrawal. She is opposed, as are some African nations. She pushes for a compromise: a dramatic cutback that would leave a token force in place.
Day 8, estimated death toll: 64,000
April 16, 1994 The New York Times reports the shooting and hacking to death of some 1000 men, women and children in a church where they sought refuge.
April 19, 1994 Human Rights Watch estimates the number of dead at 100,000 and calls on the U.N. Security Council to use the word “genocide.” Belgian troops leave Rwanda; Gen. Dallaire leader of the ill-fated U.N. Security Council is down to a force of 2,100. He will soon lose communication lines to outlying areas and will have only a satellite link to the outside world.
April 21, 1994 The UN cuts the level of its forces in Rwanda by 90% to just 270 troops. Day 18, estimated death toll: 144,000
April 30, 1994 The U.N. Security Council passes a resolution condemning the killing, but omits the word “genocide.” Had the term been used, the U.N. would have been legally obliged to act to “prevent and punish” the perpetrators. In one day, 250,000 Rwandans, mainly Hutus fleeing the advance of the Tutsi RPF, cross the border into Tanzania.
Day 21, estimated death toll: 168,000
May 17, 1994 The UN Security Council issues a fresh resolution saying that ‘acts of genocide may have been committed’. It also agrees to send 5,500 troops with new powers to defend civilians, however deployment is delayed by disagreements between the US and UN over the financing of the operation.
Day 41, estimated death toll: 328,000
May 22, 1994 RPF forces gain control of Kigali airport and Kanombe barracks, and extend their control over the northern and eastern parts of Rwanda.
Day 49, estimated death toll: 392,000 June 22, 1994 With arguments over the deployment still continuing, the Security Council authorizes the deployment of French forces in southwest Rwanda—”Operation Turquoise.” They create a “safe area” in territory controlled by the government. However, killings of Tutsis continue in the safe area.
Day 77, estimated death toll: 616,000
July 4, 1994 The RPF takes control of Kigali and the southern town of Butare. Its leadership claims it will form a government on the basis of the Arusha Accords.
July 13-14, 1994 Refugees fleeing the RPF advance in northwestern Rwanda flood into Zaire. Approximately 10,000-12,000 refugees per hour cross the border into the town of Goma. The massive influx creates a severe humanitarian crisis, as there is an acute lack of shelter, food and water.
July 18, 1994 The RPF announces that the war is over, declares a cease-fire and names Pastor Bizimungu as president with Faustin Twagiramungu as prime minister.
Day 100, estimated death toll: 800,000

Fare thee well `Man of the people`

By Charles Takyi-Boadu, New Delhi-India Posted: Friday, September 26, 2008
The Late Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister for Finance for Economic PlanningNot all men die and people shed tears, but there is one truth in life, which is, the fact that when all men die, good things are said about them.
The news and sudden death of Honourable Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Ghana’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning is one that evokes emotions and passions.
With time, he proved to be a capable pair of hands in the financial goal post of Ghana, distinguishing himself as a humble servant of the people he served both in his constituency and the entire nation.
One thing Ghanaians will forever remember him for was his ability to cope with dissenting views, especially those from his political opponents.
Baah Wiredu has such a strong character that I find it extremely difficult to describe this efficient and noble son of Ghana in simpler terms than to borrow a tribute by Robert Green Inersoll, an American political leader and orator during the Golden Age of Freethoughts, noted for his broad-range of culture and his defense of agnosticism to Courtlandt Palmer, a fictional character on the long-running ABC soap opera ‘All My Chrildren’, when the later passed away.
A thinker of pure thoughts, a speaker of brave words, a doer of generous deeds has reached the silent haven that all the dead have reached, and where the voyage of every life must end; and we, his friends, who even now are hastening after him, are met to do the last kind acts that man may do for man — to tell his virtues and to lay with tenderness and tears his ashes in the sacred place of rest and peace.
Someone has said that in the open hands of death we find only what they gave away.
Let us believe that pure thoughts, brave words and generous deeds can never die. Let us believe that they bear fruit and add forever to the well-being of the human race. Let us believe that a noble, self-denying life increases the moral wealth of man, and gives assurance that the future will be grander than the past.
In the monotony of subservience, in the multitude of blind followers, nothing is more inspiring than a free and independent man — one who gives and asks reasons; one who demands freedom and gives what he demands; one who refuses to be slave or master. Such a man was Courtlandt Palmer, to whom we pay the tribute of respect and love.
He was an honest man — he gave the rights he claimed. This was the foundation on which he built. To think for himself – to give his thought to others; this was to him not only a privilege, not only a right, but a duty.
He believed in self-preservation — in personal independence — that is to say, in manhood.
He preserved the realm of mind from the invasion of brute force, and protected the children of the brain from the Herod of authority.
He investigated for himself the questions, the problems and the mysteries of life. Majorities were nothing to him. No error could be old enough — popular, plausible or profitable enough — to bribe his judgment or to keep his conscience still.
He knew that, next to finding truth, the greatest joy is honest search.
He was a believer in intellectual hospitality, in the fair exchange of thought, in good mental manners, in the amenities of the soul, in the chivalry of discussion.
He insisted that those who speak should hear; that those who question should answer; that each should strive not for a victory over others, but for the discovery of truth, and that truth when found should be welcomed by every human soul.
He knew that truth has no fear of investigation — of being understood. He knew that truth loves the day — that its enemies are ignorance, prejudice, egotism, bigotry, hypocrisy, fear and darkness, and that intelligence, candor, honesty, love and light are its eternal friends.
He believed in the morality of the useful — that the virtues are the friends of man — the seeds of joy.
He knew that consequences determine the quality of actions, and “that whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.”
In the positive philosophy of Augusts Comte he found the framework of his creed. In the conclusions of that great, sublime and tender soul he found the rest, the serenity and the certainty he sought.
The clouds had fallen from his life. He saw that the old faiths were but phases in the growth of man — that out from the darkness, up from the depths, the human race through countless ages and in every land had struggled toward the ever-growing light.
He felt that the living are indebted to the noble dead, and that each should pay his debt; that he should pay it by preserving to the extent of his power the good he has, by destroying the hurtful, by adding to the knowledge of the world, by giving better than he had received; and that each should be the bearer of a torch, a giver of light for all that is, for all to be.
This was the religion of duty perceived, of duty within the reach of man, within the circumference of the known — a religion without mystery, with experience for the foundation of belief – a religion understood by the head and approved by the heart – a religion that appealed to reason with a definite end in view – the civilization and development of the human race by legitimate, adequate and natural means — that is to say, by ascertaining the conditions of progress and by teaching each to be noble enough to live for all.

No Cocaine in Ghana

Posted to the web 21 September 2007
Charles Takyi-Boadu
Though Ghana has in recent times gained notoriety in the drug trade, it is not considered to be among the major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries in the world.
Latest reports from the Whitehouse, the seat of the United States government provides the list of countries noted to be leading in the transit and production of illicit drugs. Ghana's name did not however pop up in the list of 20 of the worlds major drug trafficking and production countries.
The report which was released on September 17, 2007 identified the likes of Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela as major drug trafficking and producing countries in the world.
This was contained in a memorandum signed by U.S. President, George W. Bush in which he has authorized and directed the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice to submit the report to Congress and publish it in the Federal Register.
A country's presence on the Majors List is not necessarily an adverse reflection of its government's counter narcotics efforts or level of cooperation with the United States.
Consistent with the statutory definition of a major drug transit or drug producing country set forth in section 481(e) (2) and (5) of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961, as amended, one of the reasons that major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries are placed on the list is a combination of geographical, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to be transited or produced despite the concerned government's most assiduous enforcement measures.
That notwithstanding, the U.S. government has designated Burma and Venezuela as countries that have failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counter narcotics agreements and take the measures set forth in section 489(a)(1) of the FAA.
Attached to this report are justifications for the determinations on Burma and Venezuela, as required by section 706(2) (B).
In accordance with the provisions of section 706(3)(A) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act (FRAA), President Bush has also determined that support for programs to aid Venezuela's democratic institutions is vital to the national interests of the United States. Below is the unedited report on individual countries:-
NIGERIA
Nigeria has made progress on many narcotics control and anti-money laundering benchmarks. There is reason to be hopeful. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized millions in the proceeds of crime, anti-money laundering efforts have been successful, and Nigeria is cooperating with the international community to improve its efforts against money laundering even more. Still necessary are procedural reforms to streamline extradition procedures. For many narcotics criminals no sanction is more effective than the fear that they could face a court and jail time in the countries to which they have trafficked narcotics. Nigeria should also re-double its efforts to use its frequent apprehension of street criminals and couriers to identify and prosecute major drug traffickers.
AFGANISTAN
Although President Karzai has strongly attacked narcotic trafficking as the greatest threat to Afghanistan, one third of the Afghan economy remains opium-based, which contributes to widespread public corruption, damage to elicit economic growth, and the strengthening of the insurgency.
The government at all levels must be held accountable to deter and eradicate poppy cultivation, remove and prosecute corrupt officials, and investigate and prosecute or extradite narcotic traffickers and those financing their activities. We are concerned that failure to act decisively now could undermine security, compromise democratic legitimacy, and imperil international support for vital assistance.
In Afghanistan, one model for success can be drawn by comparing the marked differences in cultivation between the northern and southern provinces. Several Northern provinces contributed to a decline in poppy cultivation resulting from a mixture of political will and incentives and disincentives, such as public information, alternative development, and eradication. Furthermore, several Northern provinces with very low amounts of poppy are well on their way to becoming poppy free.Despite the significant progress made in Afghanistan since 2001, the country continues to face tremendous challenges. Our struggle to win hearts and minds, while confronting the insurgency, continues to directly hinge on our ability to help the Afghan government produce visible results. We need to encourage a firm belief among the Afghan people that their national government is capable of delivering an alternative to the preceding decades of conflict. Our reconstruction assistance is an essential instrument to achieve that goal.

MY MOST DIFFICULT MOMENT

…choosing between joining the army, journalism
Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Thursday, August 14, 2008
Life presents several opportunities, but the choice of making the right decision has always been a problem for man. This is the very situation in which I found myself after completing secondary education in the year 1999. I was thorn between the decision of joining the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and pursuing a career in journalism, a profession that has severally been described as ‘noble’.
It took me almost two years to finally weigh the options at my disposal since I had a difficult time trying to decipher the wisdom in the advice of my parents and my personal instincts.
Considering the fact that I did not qualify for the university, my father had given indications of his preparedness to sponsor my education only if heeded to his advice and pursue a course at the polytechnic since it was the easiest way by which I could secure a job.
Apart from the polytechnic, the ‘old boy’ was not prepared to do anything else, let alone talk about journalism.
Though I fairly understood him, taking into consideration, the fact that his earnings was nothing worth writing home about and the fact that he had to equally take care of my other siblings; I defied his advice and went for the broke.
Determined as I was to pursue journalism, I was compelled by prevailing circumstances at the time to start trading in wears.
At a point, I realised most of my colleagues, with whom I completed school were all moving on, so I opted to pursue a course in journalism.
After a short while, I went into discussions with my mother, who bought into the idea of pursuing journalism. However, this, offer came with a conditional clause since ‘there is no free lunch anywhere’.
I was made to pledge that I was going to take my studies serious and stay away from bad company and the influences of peer pressure.
Under the circumstance, I was left with little or virtually no option than to promise to be of good behaviour and take my studies serious.
All this while, I was contemplating whether or not I will be admitted to the traditional journalism training institute, the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), considering the number of applications received each year.
I thus opted to purchase an admission form at one of the few private institutions which was producing equally good journalists, Manifold Tutorial College (MTC).
Lo and behold, I was offered admission to pursue journalism, with the option of public relations.
Matters got worse, after my first semester, when my father was transferred from the national capital, Accra to Kumasi in the Ashanti region.
Though my father now offered to pay my fees upon seeing the potential in me and thus ask me to obtain a transfer to a sister school in the region, I declined. He thus left me to my fate.
I however became stranded in life when my senior sister who was by then in Israel and thought could help me pay my fees failed to assist me.
Left without an option, I obtained a transfer from management of school and packed bag and baggage’s to continue the school at the Institute of Business Management and Journalism (IBM & J).
I took just a day for me to change my decision to start the new school as a continuing student after realising from the first lecture that all I learnt at my former school was junk.
I started all over again as a fresher.
My first week on campus was just like been to hell and back since each and every one of the students who set eyes on me had something to say about my stature.
I did not only become the centre of attraction but virtually became a laughing stock. Whilst some of the students described me as a boxer, others said I was wrestler.
Some even went to the extent of asking me to quit journalism to pursue a career in boxing, calling me ‘macho journalist’.
In fact, ‘macho journalist’ became my name until the saying that ‘to everything, there is season’ became evident in my life when my passion for students politics made me contest and won the positions of Vice President of both the Students Representative Council (SRC) and the Association of Student Journalists (ASJ) in the school.
I thus propounded a theory for myself, that ‘there is no option to life but there are several options in life’.

Nude pictures, video emerge from Legon

… student poses for boyfriend to take snap shots
…lesbians caught in the act
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Thursday, August 14, 2008
Ghana’s premier university, the University of Ghana, Legon is fast becoming a breeding ground for berserk sexual practices especially involving female students on campus and surrounding hostels.
Latest developments reveal some of these students in nude video footages and still pictures some of which are often captured with sophisticated mobile phones that make easy dissemination from phone to phone via Bluetooth.
The situation has become a matter of great worry to many parents and guardians who have their wards enrolled in the institution of high repute and the earlier authorities curb this threat, the earlier it would safeguard the image of the institution.
Presently, fresh photos have started emerging from one of the private hostel facilities in which a female student posed for her unscrupulous boyfriend to take snap shots of her nudity.
The shots, which according to credible sources were taken with a mobile phone makes a mockery of university education since it leaves much to be desired from a student of the premier university.
The pictures show an innocent-looking girl between the ages of 23-26 years posed for the camera, beaming with smiles for a person credible sources say is her boyfriend to take shots of her vital parts such as her buttocks, breast and vagina.
Obviously happy with what she was doing, she occasionally changed clothes, locations and posture for the shots to be taken.
From all indications, the boyfriend took the photographs with the due consent of the girl in question however for his exclusive viewing.
The Chronicle’s investigations on campus and the hostel where the girl resides disclosed that a friend of the girl’s boyfriend saw the nude pictures when he lent him the phone and upon seeing the nude pictures, he decided to send it via Bluetooth to his phone and later have a cursory look.
After viewing it, he also sent it to other colleagues on campus and then the circulation of the pictures started and spreading like wild fire to anyone desired to a look.
Another video which is also in the possession of this paper shows two female students, this time round in one of the traditional halls on the University’s main campus, one in brassier and ‘G string’ underwear and the other wearing shorts, fondling each other and groaning as though having real sexual intercourse.
The two girls, who also appear to be in their mid twenties and believed to be lesbians, are said to have filmed the act themselves either using a camcorder or a high powered mobile phone.
Anyone, especially parents who have their wards in the university and has had the opportunity of viewing the nude pictures and the video footage could not comprehend the creeping insanity prevailing on the campuses of the various universities especially at Ghana’s premier university.
It is believed that these practices are rife on campuses of the various universities in the country but students of the University of Ghana appear to be the worst culprits.
Over the last couple years, similar nude pictures and video footages have emerged from Legon, thereby making especially parents and various Legon Alumini to express concern about these despicable practices which by all standards is untertiary.

GHANA IS POLARISED

…On political, ethnic lines
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: Friday, July 25, 2008
Years after the Justice Amoah-Sekyi-led National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) submitted its report findings and recommendations, the Ghana National Party (GNP) believes the country is still polarised on political and ethnic lines.
GNP believes that the rational behind the recent national awards by President Kufuor has been defeated by the very fact that it failed to reconcile the nation.
“Ghana National Party views the aftermath of the whole award process as unhealthy and very divisive”, it said.
This was contained in a statement signed by the party’s Deputy General Secretary, Eric Sarpong.
Though Ghana has sunk huge sums of money into the process of national reconciliation, he thinks “The political climate is still volatile and polarised.”
There are also strong indications that the country is polarised along ethnic lines.
This, he said was evident in the fact that the likes of former President Jerry John Rawlings, Professor John Evans Atta Mills and other members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), refused to go for the award.
Whilst admitting that no one could fault them for their individual or collective decision not to go for the awards, the GNP also condemned inferences drawn by the NDC over their protestation of the prosecution of former boss of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata. The Party holds the view that those who have embezzled state funds should be made to pay for their crimes.
The GNP is alos of the view that the development of the nation has greatly retrogressed as a result of bribery, corruption, stealing and wilful misappropriation of public funds, stressing that “holding people accountable for their selfish misdeeds should not stop attempts at national reconciliation.”
In any event, the party holds the belief that “political opponents are not enemies and must therefore be fairly treated under the norms of the judicial.”
The Ghana National Party considers the amount of US$ 1.5million spent on the purchase of medals for the national awards as not only colossal, but another irresponsible application of state funds that could have otherwise gone into providing the basic necessities of life, like water for the people of Ghana.
It cited the front page story of Friday, July 18, 2008, edition of the ‘Ghanaian Times’ newspaper in which the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr Nicholas Westcott was reported to have presented a cocaine expelling machine to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) at a estimated cost of 15,000 pounds sterling, as an example of prudent management of funds, emphasising that “this is an example of civilised application of resources.”
Though the GNP finds nothing wrong with awarding medallions to deserving citizens who have excelled in national development efforts in science and technology, research and other disciplines of exceptional marks of service to the nation, it noted that the selection of recipients for the awards could have been limited to a few deserving ones, since in its own words “that could have made the whole exercise more meaningful and competitive, instead of blanket awards.”
It thus stressed the belief that the amount of money used for the exercise would not have risen to the level that created uproar among some Ghanaians, noting that Ghana as a country is well resourced.
“Therefore, we believe that the basics, classified under human survival needs of our people must be a priority. We have failed to establish the infrastructure to provide jobs for our people because governments for the past four decades failed to prioritise the needs of the country. We buy a Presidential plane when we feel like it. We decide to implement an idea as long as a development partner decides to grant us loans”, it emphasised.
Though, there is intense political bickering and animosity between the two major political parties in the country, as a result of some burning issues, including the sale of Ghana Telecom, the Ghana National Party has advised all political parties contesting the 2008 elections to organise a clean and violent-free campaign.
It has further asked the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to assure the people of Ghana that there will be no incumbent manipulation throughout the campaign stage, voting time and the post election period, stressing “let the winner emerge fairly and whoever losses must accept defeat peacefully.”

Journalist bemoans level of politics in Ghana

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: Thusday, July 24, 2008
Veteran journalist and former Public Relations Officer of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Mr. G. B. K. Owusu has complained about the level of political development in the country.
He believed Ghana’s political atmosphere continues to be polarised by mediocrity, instead of the proper intellectual exercise.
This, he said, run counter-productive to the basic tenets of democracy, since it made politics unproductive and retroactive.
Addressing members of the Young Adult Fellowship (YAF), of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Faith Congregation at Madina Estates, on the topic ‘Christian perspective of politics’, Mr. Owusu, who is currently a media consultant, lamented that after 51 years of independence, and 48 years of attaining Republican status, Ghana’s political seed has not germinated to bear mature fruits.
He has thus charged Ghanaians, to move away from the usual politics of insults, personal attacks and vindictiveness, since it had the tendency of affecting the gains made so far.
He attributed this to selfishness, greed, graft, acrimony, dishonesty, avarice, envy, corruption and tribalism.
This, according to him, was evident in the fact that “matured politicians always buried their differences to move the nation ahead, instead of subverting and condemning every good decision.”
In furtherance of his speech, G.B.K, as he is fondly called, noted that “politics is a science of good governance, and its practitioners must put the nation first, before themselves. It is through this unity of purpose, loyalty, devotion and dedication that our dreams can be translated into reality, and make Ghana a better nation.”
He thus had cause to remind politicians that “so far as they cherished their parties more than the country’s progress, it would not be easy to place the nation forward.”
With its ethical practices and manifestos, he stressed that politics could be likened to the Ten Commandments, given by God to the Israelites.
These practices, according to Mr. Owusu, must aim at righteousness, unity, love, patriotism, respect for authority, compassion, peace and humility.
In effect, he asked politicians to be faithful to the national call, and desist from any dubious acts that would deny the electorate their needs - schools, water, roads, security, hospitals and shelter - advising them to learn from what Jesus Christ told His followers, that He came to give abundant life to all, as stated in John 10:10.
Mr. Owusu deplored the low spirit of patriotism in the country, emphasising that “if we are Ghanaians, and are concerned about development of our nation, then we must emulate what Prophet Nehemiah did, when he sought permission from the King of Susa to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.”
With determination, backed by God’s direction, he noted that Prophet Nehemiah succeeded in mobilizing the Jews to accomplish his mission.
“We need more Nehemiah’s to move the country forward,” he charged.
That notwithstanding, he stated that Ghana’s rich human resources, could be harnessed by all political parties, and not by any single party, saying “sharing of ideas, suggestions and decisions, provides a healthy platform to national growth and progress.”
He exhorted Christians, who have registered, to endeavour to vote on December 7, this year, adding “your vote is your power, but before you do that, listen to aspirants who base their campaign massages on issues, and not personalities and insults. Be mindful of those who engage in mudslinging and threats. Vote for God-fearing people who are matured, honest and respectful.”
Mr. Owusu also advised Christians not to carry politics to the church, by wearing political paraphernalia.
“You can conduct your campaign outside the church, but not inside. Pastors and church agents must also not use the pulpit to promote one political party against another. It is the duty of Christian politicians to always pray fervently for peace, unity, harmony, love and stability,” he noted with caution.
In the final analysis, he expressed hope that one day, all political leaders would meet to pray together, and share a common meal at the Castle, or the Conference Centre.

Ababba walks to Ethiopia

...to raise funds for malaria control
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Tuesday, July 22, 2008
41year old Richard Mosiah Ababba Allen has opted to walk from Ghana to Ethiopia to raise funds to save the lives of Africa’s children.
The walk which covers a distance of 5,400 kilometres begins in August.
It is intended to raise funds to provide affordable homes, orphanages, malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention, schools, hospitals and a host of other beneficial projects.
Dubbed ‘Africa millennium health and peace walk’, the walk which is being organised by a Non Governmental Organisation, Africa’s Welfare and Peace Foundation will take Ababba through several African countries including the war ravaged Sudan to raise a targeted amount of US$1million for its intended purpose.
He will walk through Sudan with a White Flag for his own safety and people's awareness of Unity, for all Africans.The walker man considers this as an opportunity to emphasize his health and peace mission.
Barring any unforeseen circumstance, Ababba, who has been doing these brisk and extensive walks for the past 20years, hopes to complete the walk within two months.
On a good day, Ababba walks 7 kilometres per hour or more.
“As you can see on the above, there is a lot we have to do, to make the lives of thousands of people more desirable, nobody should live in poverty anymore, we living in 2008” Ababba emphasized.As humans, he believes each and everyone can make the difference, with a little contribution to promote this course.
At a press briefing in Accra, President of the Foundation, Jacob Holslag made a passionate appeal to individuals and corporate institutions to help this course to salvage the future of the continent by contributing monies towards the project at the Trade Fair branch of Barclays bank.
“Any donation or help is welcome, donations in the form of the above items or money.We really count on you, without your help we can't do this. Please give what you can so that Africa and her people can show the world that we can do it and claim unity and prosperity for everyone”, he said.
Our aim is to get funding for several projects in Africa for the unfortunate people in the African Countries.The walk is also for promotion of peace, love, stability, unity and awareness for malaria and HIV/AIDS.

NPP is making vain promises

...free secondary education is not achievable
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Saturday, July 18, 2008
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has advised Ghanaians to be weary of the promises of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The party believes the era of vague promises by politicians was outmoded at birth and for that matter Ghanaians should not allow any individual or group of politician to give them vague promises, stressing that “it must be frowned upon by all Ghanaians.”
This was contained in a statement written and signed by the Eastern Regional Chairman of the party, Julius Debrah.
“I wish to advise Ghanaians to be weary of NPP/Nana Akufo Addo’s sweet promises.”
Mr. Debrah said it became necessary for him to send out this word of advise to Ghanaians because at the recent NPP rally at Kasoa, he heard Nana Addo promising that when elected as President of Ghana, he will make Secondary or High School education in the country absolutely free of charge amongst many other promises.
“Therefore if Nana Addo is promising Ghanaians heaven on earth, I wish to advise Ghanaians not to take such promises at the face value, but rather ask the pertinent questions of how he is going to fund such projects and schemes”, he emphasised.
In making these promises, he noted that what Nana Addo failed to add was “at least a single sentence explaining how he was going to fund such a project.”
According to the Regional Chairman, the answer given by Nana Addo at the recent forum organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to a questioner who asked him to explain why the NPP promised to make the position of District Chief Executives (DCEs) and Municipal Chief Executives (MCEs) an elective one, but have not been able to implement that policy was an indication that he could not proffer any tangible solution to the country’s teething problems.
Nana Addo’s answer was essentially to the effect that when they got into office, the NPP government realised that it was not feasible to implement it.
For him, the list of such examples are endless, making specific reference to President Kufour’s assertion that he could not reduced the number of his Ministers as promised during his campaign for the 2000 elections.
“A physician who does not diagnose his patient well before prescribing medication can at best be described as a quark doctor-and that is NPP for you”, he emphasised.
At the just ended NPP mammoth rally held at the Kasoa old market, at which it’s Presidential Candidate was outdoored alongside several other Parliamentary Candidates, Nana Akufo-Addo among other things promised to make Secondary or High school education free to complement the efforts of President Kufuor who has managed to make basic education free.
This is what have caught the attention of the members of the NDC who believes Nana Addo’s promises were nothing but mere rhetoric and cheap political talk.

NPP is making vain promises

LEGON IN TURMOIL

...as former students demand removal of VC
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: Friday, July 18, 2008
Some former students of the University of Ghana, Legon, led by the former President of the Junior Common Room (JCR) of the Commonwealth Hall, Benjamin Akyena Brantuo has called for the removal of the university’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, on multiple allegations of incompetence.
They alleged among other things that the University of Ghana is currently not only bedevilled with deep-seated corruption but also bedevilled with financial mal-administration that does not only sin against the public good, but stifles academic work.
Speaking at a Press Conference in Accra yesterday, Akyena Brantuo, who was last Friday, July 11, discharged by an Accra Circuit for want of prosecution on allegations of death threats, alleged that University was being ran in a manner he described as dictatorial and reckless, equating how Prof. Tagoe was running the University to mere Boy’s Brigade.
This, he said, was evident in a report commissioned by a Visitation Panel on the finances of the University, which according to him “is at best a disgrace to anybody who has anything to do with the Institution.”
Flanked by Messrs Ebenezer Hutornu and Akuban Amponsah Mensah, all products of the University, Akyena Brantuo quoted portions of the said Report of the Panel which was chaired by Sir Charles Daniels, to support his claims.
Part of the Report noted, “The investigation uncovered little positive to be said about the finance administrative system of the University. The team’s (visitation Panel) view is that the financial administrative system at the University of Ghana is in a very bad state and is not providing anything approaching the services needed by the University, which needs radical change.
Again, the financial administration of the University is a serious hindrance to the work of many of the Departments, Faculties and other units of the University, damaging its teaching, research and the students’ experience, through inappropriate procedures and controls. It is widely seen as secretive, unhelpful and damaging to the University”.
Despite the outward beautification of the Legon campus, he emphasised that conditions within Residential Halls threaten life. He noted that non-Residents as well as Residents pay Hall attachment fees which are increased annually, whilst Residential students pay residential fees as well as advances against anticipated damage to University property, in the sum of about GH¢30 per student.
Though students pay these monies religiously, he stressed that “they always get a raw deal and live in conditions that are not fit for human habitation.”
For these and other reasons, Akyena Brantuo said he was not the least surprised that part of the Panel Report read, “Some members of the committee visited Commonwealth Hall and found it to be in a very poor state .Student numbers were about four times the number that the Hall was designed to accommodate. Hygienic conditions were bad, indeed the toilets were locked up during our visit because of their horrible state and lack of water.
All the students in this overcrowded Hall have to use the surrounding bushes as their toilet. Every available space was utilised for sleeping. These conditions were impacting the students psychologically and some of them were vociferous in their protest.
Lighting in the Hall was inadequate and lights in the corridors were not working. The Dining facility had been converted to reading space. The Panel was told that the other Halls were in a similar shape. The Committee therefore recommended that “the Halls, particularly Commonwealth Hall, should be evacuated and rehabilitated”.
The report further noted, “students are not well represented on the governance of the University…they are not satisfied with the Constitutional role of the Dean of students, and wish to represent themselves in discussions with the University authorities...’ We recommend ‘that the university introduces students’ representation on the council, the academic board, the faculty boards and committees of these bodies as appropriate.”
To say the least, Brantuo noted that “academic content and infrastructure for academic work are the worse victims of these administrative lapses and incompetence of the Tagoe-led administration.”
He buttressed his claim in part of the visitation Panel’s Report which said, “The Panel found during its visits to the Departments and Faculties that there was inadequate classroom and laboratory space for the large number of students. Several Departments complained of decaying lecture halls and teaching facilities and particularly of overcrowding. Faculty members wanted urgent steps to be taken to rehabilitate their facilities...lack of facilities for effective teaching, especially audio-visual aids and public address systems.”
The introduction of the much talked-about ‘in-out-out-out’ Residential policy by the Tagoe-led administration as the panacea to the challenges posed by inadequate accommodation, according to Benjamin Akyena Brantuo, was one which surprised all progressive thinkers, because of the short sightedness of the proposal and the exposure of administrative incompetence in dealing with the challenges of inadequate accommodation and other related issues pose to education. He emphasised that “the level of public support and the massive crowd that demonstrated against the policy amidst police brutalities, clearly indicates what should be expected in the coming days.”
Though the thousands of students who marched to the Vice-Chancellors office and the Castle cross roads, really shook the foundations of the Country, he however, noted that it was the threat to boycott the Semester’s exams that got the University to wake up to the real challenges. That notwithstanding, the former JCR President of Commonwealth Hall said the massive public outcry and rejection of the ‘in-out-out-out’ Residential policy waned and focus on the debate for appropriate accommodation got shifted when Prof Tagoe told the press that he and his Lecturers have been threatened with death.
In what he described as Prof Tagoe’s quest to gag students and impose his will on everybody, Akyena Brantuo noted that “he had prohibited all forms of student gatherings except those of them for which he approves of the agenda. As if that was not enough, his introduction of ‘in-out-out-out’ Residential policy has reduced the campus to only freshmen and women, who know too little to question the system, and a few final year students who are very busy with their academic projects and perhaps are too scared to be in the bad books of the Vice-Chancellor.”
“Students live in fear on the University of Ghana campus and student leaders dare not talk, or they risk their positions in the University. My predicament serves as a great lesson to them”, he stressed.
He thus noted that his subsequent planned arrest and detention effectively alleviated the anxieties and worries of Prof. Tagoe, resulting from student’s protestations against his policies, stressing that “my arrest was also a form of vengeance for being his long standing critic and was done in order to greatly embarrass me and deny me the opportunity to complete my University education.”
Meanwhile, strenous efforts to get Prof. Nii Boi Tagoe’s input into the story proved futile as his ‘Onetouch’ mobile network was said to have been switched off.
There was also no answer to similar calls put to the University’s land lines for possible comments from the Director of Public Affairs.

NDC HAS NO CHANCE IN DECEMBER ELECTIONS

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Director of Campaign for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku has called the bluff of the largest opposition party in the country, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which claimed it would win the upcoming Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
To him, the NDC’s claim is a mere political rhetoric because the party stands no chance in the upcoming elections, let alone steering the affairs of Ghana.
This, he said, was evident in the massive turnout at the party’s rally at Kasoa over the weekend.
For him, the numbers that poured onto the rally grounds gave nothing but a firm indication of the belief reposed in NPP and its Flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Dr. Apraku, who happens to be the incumbent Member of Parliament for the Offinso North constituency made these comments in an interview with sections of the press, shortly after the Kasoa rally, at which Nana Addo and several other NPP Parliamentary Candidates were outdoored.
In his opinion, there was no alternative government to the NPP.
He considered the NDC as a big threat to the increasing fortunes of the country's economy, hence Ghanaians will rather desire to retain the NPP in power. “That is why Kasoa was crowded,” he added
According to him, NDC mismanaged the economy when it was in power, a situation that compelled the NPP government to join the Highly Indebted and Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) in 2001, when it assumed the reigns of government.
Since assuming power in 2001, Dr. Apraku said the NPP had demonstrated beyond all doubts that it is the best manager of the country's economy.
“When we talk about the ability to manage the economy of this country, NDC has no chance", he said.
With the current hikes in crude oil and food prices on the global market, Dr. Apraku emphasised that NDC could not have managed the situation and that this would have forced most Ghanaians to starve on the streets.
For him, part of the reasons why many Ghanaians trooped to Kasoa to join the rally was out of their belief for democracy and a government that would allow them to speak their minds,
For this reason, Dr. Apraku reaffirmed his party’s commitment to deliver prosperity in freedom and create a united and respectable society for all.
“Ghana has gained international respect under the NPP government and Nana Akufo-Addo is the man to continue that good work initiated by President Kufuor”, he said.
He enumerated some of the achievements of the of the NPP government which include the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), a programme which he said over 9 million Ghanaians were now benefiting from, the Capitation Grant, the Metro bus system, among a wide range of others.
Considering the fact that education is key to the development of any country, Dr. Apraku said this was what led to the introduction of the Capitation Grant and School Feeding Programmes, which were aimed at enrolling more children of school-going age.
He, however, admonished members and supporters of the party to do their homework well so that the party could diffuse the threats being posed by the NDC.

Africa’s human tragedy reaches cresendo

… Says Togolese Ambassador
… As gov’ts prove incapable of solving poverty equation
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps, who is also the Togolese Ambassador to Ghana, Jean-Pierre Gbikpi-Benissan, has made one of the most astounding statements in recent years.
He strongly holds the conviction that the African human tragedy, which appears to be characterised by poverty and misery, has reached a crucial juncture.
This, according to him, was evident in the fact that individual governments have simply proven incapable of solving the poverty equation on the continent.
He has thus stressed the urgent need, for collaboration between people from all social strata, to fight poverty and misery in all forms in Africa.
Mr. Gbikpi-Benissan made these comments, at a press soiree organised by the International Action Service (IAS), a Pan-African Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), committed to fighting economic and social misery among the youth, promote tourism and the development of rural areas.
“Recognising that the African youth have been the worst victims of this tragedy, and that they stand in danger of unprecedented pessimism, we do hereby resolve to invite the media, to develop a strategy for collaboration with the IAS, in order to save Africa from this cataclysm,” he emphasised.
Indeed, he said the entire diplomatic corps was struck by the desire of the IAS, to restore confidence in the youth for the future, and helping them to succeed in life, in order for them to contribute to the development of the human race, with particular reference to the people on the African continent.
According to him, the African Diplomatic Corps was further moved to throw their weight behind the activities of the IAS, upon realising that it had the tendency of bringing the youth together, with their counterparts in other continents, in a combined effort to improve human conditions generally.
He identified these as the basic elements associated with any reliable, honest and efficient NGO.
For this reason, the Dean proclaimed the IAS as a Pan-African humanitarian organisation for development.
Meanwhile, the organisation has engaged in an initiative, to construct a youth training and job creation centre, with special focus on the rehabilitation and provision of shelter to underaged head porters, popularly referred to as ‘Kayayei’.
The five-year project, which started in the year 2006, is scheduled for completion somewhere in the year 2010.
The youth training job creation centre, to be built in Accra, inclusive of dormitories, at an estimated cost of US$18 million, will be accompanied by extensive training programmes for unemployed youth, in employable skills.
It is also expected to open workshops, and counselling centres in the three northern regions, to stem the exodus of rural-urban drift.
The project has emanated out of series of studies, sponsored by the IAS, which revealed the deplorable conditions in which these teenage, and under-age girl-porters ‘Kayayei’, unemployed and streetchildren live in.
The study revealed that most of these people, who are largely concentrated in Accra and Kumasi, live under very deplorable conditions.
The entire project, which has three components, principally deals with the ‘Kayayoo’ (the female porter) phenomena.
Phase One seeks to provide training, shelter and jobs for the ‘Kayayei’, with Phase Two geared towards constructing youth training centres, where destitute and unemployed youth, will be taken through training in relevant technical and vocational skills, whilst the Third Phase involves intervention procedures in the three northern regions, to halt the obviously high incidence of rural-urban drift.
Already, studies have been conducted to identify the material, and emotional needs of the ‘Kayayei’, unemployed persons and streetchildren, to provide an appropriate response to those needs, whilst counsellors have been consulted to assist in orienting them.
Meanwhile, a 50-acre land has been acquired for the construction of the youth training and job creation centre in Accra, with accents spent in all regional capitals, to facilitate the mobilisation of funds.
The IAS, which has its headquarters in Accra-Ghan,a was founded in the year 2001, by Professor Anthony Ewoc, who doubles as its Executive President, with nationals from seven African countries, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Libya, Cote d’ Ivoire and South Africa.
Among its core aims, it also seeks to undertake rescue activities, for victims of natural and social tragedies, and the recognition and rewarding of deserving leaders, individuals, corporate bodies and countries, who play exemplary roles as models for the youth.