Suicide At Ridge

Posted: Daily Guide |Saturday, 24 July 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Barely 48 hours after a nine-year-old boy was reported to have hanged himself at Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, a man in his late 30s, has also committed suicide in another bizarre circumstance.

This time around, the body was discovered by some workers who were working at a fill-in project site in one of the colonial buildings at North Ridge in Accra, around 4.00pm on Thursday and they reported it to the Nima police.

At the time the police got to the scene, the body of the victim, which was hanging loosely on a shredded polo shirt tied to an iron rod in the uncompleted building, had started decomposing, with the deceased person’s tongue sticking out of his mouth.

The victim, who spotted a pair of tight black jeans, had clenched his fists.

Residents of the area who had gathered there could hardly stand the terrible stench emanating from the decomposing body.
The police, led by Chief Inspector A.B. Appau, head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Nima District Police, did not find it easy cutting the rope on which the body was hanging since they could equally not stand the stench, considering the fact that they were working with no protective gear.

They however managed to cut the rope and conveyed the body to the mortuary.

This virtually summed up the strain and hazards that the country’s ill-equipped police personnel have to go through each passing day in the line of duty.

What seemed to have baffled the minds of all around and even the police team was the sighting of two pairs of slippers at the scene of the incident.

It raised questions as to what those two pairs of slippers were for, since the victim could possibly be the owner of one of them.
It was therefore not clear what a man who was going to commit suicide would be doing with two pairs of slippers.

This remains a puzzle yet to be unraveled by the police in their investigations.

The workers at the site, including one Stephen AcheampongArhin, Manager of Sasco Properties, which is developing the site, have denied knowing the victim.

They believe he may have scaled the wall to commit suicide- that is if he indeed hanged himself- since the place is not only gated but also locked, with people living there.

In the other incident, Gideon Owusu, a nine-year-old pupil had taken the Amoamo community in the Bekwai Municipality of the Ashanti region by surprise and hit his mother like a punch with a suicide at a nearby bush.

The class-two pupil of Amoamo R/C Primary School, on the afternoon of last Thursday, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself with a small piece of cloth after the school’s break time.

The police are investigating the two incidents.

Samia Weeps For Sekou

Posted: Daily Guide |Saturday, 24 July 2010

The only daughter of Ghana’s first President, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah has expressed worry about the strained relations between her brother, Sekou Nkrumah and President John Evans Atta Mills.

Breaking her silence on Sekou’s dismissal, Samia, who is also the Convention People’s Party (CPP) Member of Parliament for Jomoro in the Western Region, thought it was an unpleasant experience for her brother to be thrown out of his job.

Much as she respected Sekou’s personal views and the fact that they belonged to two different political parties, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the CPP, Samia stressed the hope that her brother would find a way to make amends with the President.

Sekou was recently sacked as Coordinator of the National Youth Council after he made critical comments about President Mills and his leadership style in an interview he granted to AfricaWatch magazine.

Though government and the Council Board, chaired by Esther Cobbah, said his dismissal had nothing to do with his comments about the President and attributed it to unsatisfactory performance, Sekou thought he was victimized.

“Sekou is an adult and he has his views…his personal views and his independent views and I cannot impose my thinking on him,” Samia told Joy FM.

That notwithstanding, she felt it was her responsibility to protect Sekou as a junior brother.

She said Sekou, who dissuaded her from contesting the Jomoro seat on CPP ticket, made a choice to join the NDC which should be respected. The legislator noted: “He makes a choice with his political views or his statements.”

Asked whether she felt disappointed by Sekou’s criticism of the President, Samia had this to say: “I cannot judge him…err Sekou opposed my standing on CPP ticket and I did not, lets say retaliate. I think people are free to hold their own views.”

Just as she could not judge her brother’s comments, Samia stated she could also not judge the decision of the President to relieve him of his appointment, saying, “I always believe there is solution to every problem. That every mistake, every error can be rectified.”

She expressed the hope that Sekou and President Mills would find an amicable solution to the rift between them.

Sekou’s dismissal as Coordinator of the National Youth Council, only days after he criticised the leadership style of President Mills, took effect on Thursday July 22, according to the deputy Sports Minister, Nii Nortey Duah, who signed the dismissal letter.

Dr Sekou Nkrumah, Kwame Nkrumah’s third son and a member of the National Democratic Congress, predicted his own dismissal.

In his frank interview in the July edition of the AfricaWatch magazine, Sekou said the President was out of touch with happenings on the ground and things were not on course; but that those who knew this were afraid to speak, out for fear of losing their jobs.

"It looks like we now have a situation where people are appointed to positions, whether big or small, and they don't serve the nation but rather the party or the people who put them there. They are gagged because they are afraid to speak their minds or say things as they really are, lest they are removed from those positions," he pointed out.

Sekou said President Mills lacked the charisma, dynamism and strong will to lead Ghana.

In the brutally frank interview, he said the National Democratic Congress government has so far failed Ghanaians.

“A lot of people see Mills as an academic and a gentleman. But, in the political arena, you need to be strong-minded, and it looks like this leadership quality is missing in Mills.

“So I guess we need a more strong-willed, dynamic personality, a charismatic person to inspire national confidence, and also to let the population see the national agenda and feel part of it.”

Sekou said more about the President of Ghana: “There is the impression that he is not able to make decisions. But again if you do not go through the democratic process, you are not strong enough to handle such a situation because those small battles that take you to the top shape you, they make you strong, and give you the courage to face the challenges that come your way in office.”

He blamed the founder of the NDC, former President Jerry John Rawlings, for imposing Mills on his party.

“I think, to a large extent, [Rawlings] is to blame for the situation because really, he put Mills in the leadership position of the NDC, and it was not done through a proper internal democratic process.”

Dr Nkrumah continued, “In leadership, you need to struggle to emerge, anything in life you need to struggle for it. So in a sense Mills did not struggle for the leadership, and you can see that right from 2004 when Kwesi Botchwey stood against him, the latter flopped miserably; and in 2006 Spio Garbrah also flopped miserably against Mills.”

He added, “So nobody could stand against Mills because he was Rawlings’ man. Rawlings created that situation. If he had allowed somebody to succeed him democratically in the NDC, it would have been different. I mean Mills as vice president was fine but to lead, the person must, on his own, struggle to emerge as a leader, sometimes based on what he or she has done; but Rawlings did not give this process a chance at all.”

In the interview, Dr Nkrumah supported calls that a new candidate within the NDC must challenge Mills in 2012.

Ghana Is Collapsing

Posted: Daily Guide |Friday, 23 July 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The 2008 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and a leading contender in the party’s flagbearership race, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo believes Professor John Evans Atta Mills and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration have mismanaged the economy of Ghana to the extent that it is heading for collapse.

He therefore charged the good people of Ghana to show them the exit, come December 2012, since according to him, the NDC as a party and government does not have the slightest idea about how to manage and run a country.

Addressing party delegates at the Tip Toe Lane in Accra on Wednesday, as part of his campaign in the Ayawaso Central Constituency, Nana Addo said, “The NPP must come back in 2012 to inject fresh energy into the Ghanaian economy, which is now crawling under the Mills administration; and this will surely happen if we elect the most popular and experienced candidate to lead the party into that fight.”

For this reason, he tasked delegates who would be voting in the forthcoming party primary to work harder after the NPP congress to help the party win the votes of the majority of Ghanaians in the 2012 elections.

Over the years, Nana Addo noted, the NDC as a party has proven not to be straight in their ways, and for that matter it would be important for the NPP to strengthen its grassroots to ensure that victory is not stolen from them in the 2012 elections.

Nana Addo said he is optimistic that when presented once more as the presidential candidate of the NPP, the party will recapture power in 2012.

“I am confident that by the grace of God, and with unity within our ranks, if you elect me as flag-bearer into the 2012 general elections, victory will come our way as a party,” he intimated.

With him were Sheik I.C Quaye, MP for Ayawaso Central; Prof. Mike Oquaye, MP for Dome Kwabenya and Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament; Madam Frema Akosua Osei-Opare, MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon; Shirley Ayokor Botchway, MP for Weija; Elizabeth Sackey, MP for Okaikoi North; Alhaji M.N.D. Jawula, former chief Director at the Ministry of Health; and Lord Commey, the immediate past National Organiser of the NPP, as well as his ‘Victory 2012’ campaign team.

Nana Addo appealed to them to consider a candidate who the general public and the majority of NPP delegates all over the country are calling for, saying:

“Put your ears down and choose a candidate whom the majority of Ghanaians are calling for to lead our great party once again in the upcoming election and vote him as flag-bearer of our party, so that our work in 2012 would be easier.”

That notwithstanding, he stressed the need for unity in the NPP, advising delegates and supporters of the party to rally behind any candidate who emerges the flagbearer, since he believes the NPP is larger than any individual seeking to lead the party.

To this end, he indicated that the results of the upcoming NPP flagbearership contest on August 7, 2010 “would determine the fate of our dear nation in the upcoming years”, believing that a successful primary by the NPP, with the most experienced and popular candidate elected as flagbearer, would increase the party’s chances and promote unity for the party to wrestle power from the ruling NDC in the 2012 general elections.

“It is important for the NPP to win back power from the NDC in 2012 because Ghana must move forward,” he said.

Later at the Apostolic Church in Nima, where Nana Akufo-Addo and his team met with delegates of the Ayawaso East Constituency, there was near-stampede due to the fact that the majority of residents consider him one of his their own- a ‘Nima Boy’.

Hundreds of party faithful clad in NPP colours and dozens on motorbikes escorted him as he walked from Nima Roundabout through to the Apostolic Church where he and his team met with the delegates.