WHAT IS IT?

So what is it that makes

You find one of them more

Appealing than the other?

When they both suffered the

Same end of assassination.

 

What is it that makes you

celebrate one as a national hero?

When they both stood and fought

For the same cause of black rights and freedom.

 

What is it that makes you

Happily glorify and recognise

one more than the other?

Oh! Is it because one is a Christian

And the other a Moslem.

 

I don’t care about your excuses

But when mention Martin Luther King jnr.

Don’t forget to also praise Malcolm X, Kwame Ture

And all those who resisted your shameful violence.

 

What ever it is that makes you put up a statue

Of Nelson Mandela infront of your parliament

Should also make you feel humbly ashamed to put

Up one inside the same parliament.

Because your EU’s ideas are originally his.

Excuse my ignorance! What is it at all?

 

The Bretton Woods Institutions and Africa

African Leaders should ignore them; after all they seem not to be serving our interests; rather confusing us.

To understand the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund) with regards to the roles they play and in whose interests they preserve in world affairs; one must first ask the question; who set them up?

It is best to go back to history. Rewind to 1944, the 2^nd World War was coming nearer to an end; the allies were determined not to have the war finished and end up in the mess of the 1930’s. At Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, delegates from 44 allied and associate countries arrive for the opening of the United Nations monetary and financial conference.

The key institution that was set up was the International Monetary Fund and the purpose of the fund was to have a bank they could turn to for short term borrowing, and to serve the short term trading interests of the winners of the war. The United States treasury secretary, Morgan Thaw, was the head of the American delegation, in his submission he discussed the plan of the U.S for a stabilization of world currency.

At the same time, the World Bank was set up to provide capital for the rebuilding of Europe; unfortunately its original name-International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is rarely used. It is quite instructive to know that at the time, what we now know as the third world did not exist. There were a few major powers, each of which had a large empire. Most African countries, including Ghana, were simply without structures of their own. African countries were just part of the power structures of Britain, France etc.

After independence, African and Caribbean countries found it overwhelmingly daunting and challenging building their own economies. This was made possible by the neo-colonial agenda and arrangements which seem almost impossible to extricate ourselves from.

Clearly, the lines had been long drawn and the seeds of debts had already been sown which we cannot even attribute to the oil shock of 1973-74 as some western propagandists have made us to believe. But that can be a subject for another discussion later.

The debt problems that Africa faces today also arise from the notions that the third world must naturally import capital; and that private capital can, and should handle the major part of capital flows to the third world. These I think the IMF and the World Bank have carefully managed and designed draconian short term policies and programmes for third and developing countries to adopt.

Even in the long term, the negative effects take a multiplying toll on our economies, because we are always ready to heed to conditions opposite of what is practised in the West.

In the 1980’s it was said that it was imperative for Ghana to adopt the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) and the subsequent Structural Adjustment Programme I & II (SAP I and SAP II) in the early 1990’s rolled out by the IMF as a panacea to economic woes at the time.

After religiously going through the three programmes, the World Bank Representative in Ghana, Seung H. Choi, in an interview to THE POST on 17Feb.1987 said,

“I think these adjustment programmes are really protecting the interest of the producers and farmers and interest of the people at the grassroots level…the whole essence of the recovery programme is to shift the emphasis from people who are not producing but are merely trading and consuming to those who are really producing and creating national wealth, like toiling cocoa farmers and factory workers, etc.”

In 2001, there was a totally different picture of Ghana’s economy; I suppose it was a gloomy one as the economists conjectured to make us believe. We were told by the same Bretton Woods establishment how it was urgent to declare the country HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Country) to garner some social benefits for the masses. As usual it was another tailored-facility which also came with its strait-jacket conditions.

There was also the need for the government at the time to implement the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) document, which took the nation through three stages in the attempt to alleviate poverty from the Ghanaian society. Let me spare you the boring details, we made it through HIPC.

So what went wrong after 1987 when we were following the handbook hook-line and sinker? Quickly the next question to ask is whether the HIPC initiative solved our problems?

Here we are in 2009, there’s a shift in power once again. A party is about to hand over to another democratically elected one. On the eve of the hand over and the inauguration of a new president, the World Bank country Director, Ishac Diwan, signs and releases a report to the incoming administration.

The report has been infamously described in the media as “the love letter from the world bank”, in which the Country Director emphasised that the “the macro-economic situation in the country was extremely worrisome.”

What again has gone wrong? Is it a matter of the World Bank and the IMF just finding favour with every new administration when there’s a change of power? Or perhaps I should ask what the real deal is?

This has no doubt triggered debates and counter-debates between the now majority and the out-gone administration, now minority. The question has been who inherited or who left what economy back in 2001 and now. In the confusion, the Graphic Business’ Tuesday 20^th Jan. put out boldly on its front page headline asking, “Is Ghana broke?”

This posturing by the World Bank and their agents are clearly unacceptable. They proffer to us policies and programmes that send our economies awry while singing praises to incumbents and looking on as we sign unfair trade agreements with their masters in the west.

The IMF/World Bank set conditions that African governments cannot meet, and when the governments fail to meet them, they are forced to go back to renegotiate new loans with tighter conditions, for instance dictating how much to specifically spend on health and education which will sometimes compel governments to cut certain programmes which were hitherto beneficial to the masses.

They ask governments to devalue their currencies, essentially to make the currency cheaper, by expanding exports and diminishing imports to make foreign currencies expensive.

And since our economies have become hugely dependent on imported food, oil, medicine etc, the cost of all these products and others we import go up again just after devaluation. Therefore the economy becomes controlled by foreigners’ not through direct ownership but through the mechanism debt.

We end up accumulating more debts by this arrangement and as the debts keep rising, the capacity to produce and export also become less.

Maybe HIPC was necessary then, as it was been touted by the just out-gone administration. For the past two years, they consistently drummed home how the economy was robust and resilient, with the cedi also being stable. But I asked some simple questions, those of a lay man perhaps.

“For what reason and purpose do you re-denominate the stable currency of a resilient and robust economy?”

“For what same reason again do you introduce the LEAP (Lively-hood Empowerment Against Poverty) programme when you’ve come out HIPC through the GPRS?”

Obviously, there are even more questions than answers. And the more you raise the questions, the more you wonder about the agenda of the IMF/World Bank and whether their intentions for African and Caribbean countries are genuine.

Its time Africa takes a paradigm shift from the status quo, the old ways of subjecting our economies to the dictates of the west and the Bretton Woods institutions must come to end now. For me, there’s no even one success story on the African continent that can be attributed to IMF/World Bank. Their economic hitmen have always succeeded in helping to dislodge our economies to the advantage of Western economies, read John Perkins-The confessions of an Economic Hitman.

Merry "election-mas" and a happy new president!

It’s been quite a short and an interesting year for me and the crew at NewsAfrican and the Gazette in Accra. The year has been fraught with interesting issues and events. Reeling the past 11months with a retrospective look will bring smiles and pain to many. Everything has happened so fast to my admiration and at the same time to my disappointed because I couldn’t hit my targets for year ’08. Must have to do better or perhaps strive hard to overcome my challenges next year. Agreed! It’s non-negotiable.

Generally there have been issues in mainland Ghana and issues of global concerns. It’s been a mixed bag of apples and oranges; as a matter of fact one cannot always expect to have a good taste of the old lady’s soup. I’ll attempt to go through some events that I deem to be significant and also share a few thoughts.

CAN 2008
The First thing that pops out is CAN 2008 which we hosted and could not win. It was such an emotional disappointment to Ghanaians considering the calibre of players that made up the BLACK STARS. Looking back, I strongly believe that we missed an opportunity that was clearly ours; we should’ve won. I cannot also forget the disaster that was made out of the accreditation process for journalists.

The artificial shortage of tickets for matches that involved team Ghana and the realisation that the Ohene Djan stadium was not filled to capacity anytime the Stars played. “So where were the tickets?” ask again my brother. Ha! The match against Naija (Nigeria) was a well-deserved victory for Ghanaians, the final before the final. We could’ve lost to any team but not to the Super Eagles, on the day they were like chickens before us; they simply could not soar. Yeah, it was a good tournament that exceeded its expectation, superb goals and good performances from 16teams that featured. An Impressive tournament it was, it will be remembered in the annals of African soccer.

world food crisis
Then the world was faced with food crisis; Ghana was not left out of the trouble, there was a rising cost of foodstuffs as fuel prices persistently increased on the world market. This phenomenon was oft-attributed to the war in Iraq. And as usual the margin of increase was quickly added on to transportation fares; but today we are witnessing an all-time incessant fall of fuel prices on the same world market.

Then again we remember the famous presidential economic intervention that was announced to mitigate the crisis here. Unfortunately elsewhere, the multinational neo-con capitalists decided to use thousands of acres of food land to grow ethanol, absurd huh? They say it’s a free world; hence the free market ideology rules. In the West, it takes $2 to feed a full cow whilst majority of Africans live on less than $1 per day. That’s some food for thought for you.

credit crunch
The credit crunch has been described by Moneyfacts (UK based financial analysts) as a ‘snowball effect’ that financial institutions are currently experiencing due to a lack of available money across the market.

The recession that has presently gripped the United States has been so close to the average American. It has been said that 760,000 jobs has disappeared over just the past nine months in addition to the loss of sub prime mortgaged properties being held by under and middle class Americans through no fault of theirs. Liquidity has dried up and the banks are no more in a position to lend to each other creating a freeze up in the global economy. This has led to stock markets becoming so unstable and people’s credit lifestyle has come to a halt. It’s so strange that Corporate America could call for insolvency after paying huge bonuses to management and over-investing in unprofitable stakes.

At this stage the same taxpayers’ money of $700b would have to be used to bail them out. It’s so unbelievable that this is happening in free market America, where market forces are supposed to be left to determine and to decide. Now public monies are being diverted to save private businesses without any compensation to the family that lost its property through this organised corporate fraud. Away in Europe, Russia has gone to the rescue of 11 Icelandic banks.

This is unprecedented and it is even more shocking that Gordon Brown went looking for money from the Saudis to prop up the British economy. We are living in interesting times, but for continent like Africa that is hugely dependent on foreign-aids, grants, loans and remittances from relatives abroad, we’re likely to be hit too. I can conjecture a fall in the stipend our governments receive. We’re all going to feel the pinch, first world, developing world and everyone in between.

The chairman of the African Union (AU) and President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, has already urged donor countries now going through this stiff credit crunch not to cut aid to Africa as the global financial crisis deepens. In fact experiences from earlier crises show his concerns are well founded.


Obama
Barack Obama’s famous presidential campaign on the DP (Democratic Party) ticket and the subsequent victory and the frenzy that has caught up with the globe and especially in Africa can also not be side stepped. An African-American has been elected as president of the USA since slavery was abolished 201years ago and 400 years after the first black slave set foot on the American soil. He has undoubtedly brought hope to many Blacks with his “Yes we can” refrain. History found no other person than Obama, to smile upon.

The struggle for Black civil rights and liberty has been long in coming since the days of Jim Crow through to the turbulent 60’s when the movements were at their peak, some how some where, Obama was born within this period to a Kenyan Lou dad and a white American mom. In his father’s land today, babies are been named after him to signify this historic feat in our lifetime.

Many stayed up all night watching CNN announce the November 4, poll results and the declaration of Obama as winner of the mother of all elections. In the morning the jubilations in the streets were ecstatic. We saw the victory coming after Hilary Clinton was made toast. McCain was just a formality, a loose string. Indeed, this is a time to be proud being Black.

the speaker and the finance minister
We cannot also forget the deaths of the former speaker of parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey and the finance minister, Kwadjo Baah-Wiredu, who saw the end of the road in far away South Africa.

The former speaker of parliament was a venerated fount of wisdom during his period of office from 2001-2004. The old man had been taken ill for sometime, only to pass away a few moments upon reaching the hospital. He spoke with so much confidence and power anytime he called for “order” on the floor of the house and very much respected by both the opposing minority and ruling majority party. It is so sad that Ghana has lost such an experienced mind.

The meek and gentle finance minister bowed out a couple of months ago too when he had gone for a medical examination in SA. Unlike Peter, nobody knew that Baah-Wiredu was getting frail and nearing his end. The announcement of his death was undeniably a real shocker to everyone. The local airwaves were filled with condolences and tributes from people of diverse persuasions. He was also loved by all. Posthumously he was awarded for being the best finance minister in Africa for his reforms and the stabilisation of the Ghanaian economy.

May their souls and others’ who have passed away rest in peace.

run-off
Now I wonder why we chose to organise this so called universal adult suffrage in December every four years without regard to its implication on business and festive activities during this period. When we must be winding down the tension we’ve been through during the year and getting refreshed to start another year with vigour.

Christmas is here with us and all we can afford to do is to celebrate an “election-mas.” Ouch! You have to paint a finger more during the run-off. The election has been keenly contested by the big boys leaving the small boys to fall side. Now the small boys’ matter so much that they have to be wooed like ladies before the Rubicon is crossed by whoever is holding the umbrella or dancing the kangaroo.

As a commoner, I do not envy them at all. One can imagine the level of their pulse, being old boys as they are. Even I, my heart skip anytime I get to watch an episode of Prison Break and 24. In fact you need your own heart and a standby life-support gadget to withstand the pressure. How tiring it was staying up all night listening to the boring song of numbers being sung by correspondents and reporters through the wire. Unfortunately we have to do it again.

In the up coming run-off, the contenders have so much to gain and perhaps too much to loose. It’s a win-or-go-into-retirement affair.

Ghanaians would have to put every jolly activity on hold as they prepare to elect a new leader on the 28th of Dec. They are also key stakeholders in this game. The message has been clearly sent out to Santa on behalf of the young ones, “please postpone your visit for now, our thumbs are busy.” The cookies, chicken, drinks and everything can wait; they can make up for the after party. But mind you, it’s likely you’ll not recover from the shock until March in case your man looses steam to get to the new presidential palace.

For me these are interesting and boring times. My ears are tired of hearing words being used repeatedly on local television and radio. There they’ll go again,
electorates, constituencies, recounting, polling stations, polling agents, returning officers, collation centres, rejected ballots and them terminologies but the phrase I cannot hate which has also become rife is “the sophistication of the Ghanaian voter”.

Whatever that means I can’t clearly tell, I’ve been hearing it since last week being used by political analysts and I think I love it somehow, anyways it’s supposed to describe voting pattern in the December 7 election. But I’m also exhausted of our version of Rovian Politics (courtesy the GOP-Republican Party) of smearing negative propaganda and vile invectives against political opponents. The “cockerel man” says he is worried too. I do hope that gradually our politics would be devoid of foul-language and name-calling.

The campaign for peace during the last few weeks has almost paid off and there’s another line to cross. I believe civil societies can also do same for a clean and healthy politics in Ghana. Metropolitan television has been magnanimous to the two contending parties in the run-off, a whopping GHC250, 000 of free airtime has been allocated for their access. Whatever they plan doing with it, I say, “issues and nothing else.” Thumbs up to Metropolitan TV, this is an example of corporate social responsibility (CSR). But hey! Let’s face it, they’ve made enough of the “big six” notes prior to the main election on December 7th.

I’m planning of starting a campaign on clean politics, when I do please be the first to join. I believe in people’s power, there’s nothing you can’t do with it. Yes, we have the power and we must call them to order.

Let me leave you with this latest gag from Yankee; Michelle Obama has been going through Barack Obama’s nomination list for his administration and she’s worried about the same crew from the Clinton administration. She couldn’t help but to storm into her husband and President-elect’s office to seek explanation.

Well, she left the office with a simple and an almost threatening advice to Mr. Obama, “please be careful you don’t bring Monica Lewinsky back into the Whitehouse”. Oops! Imagine the expression on Obama’s face.

Just like Barack Obama, Ghana’s new President-to be carries the hope of the masses who will vote him into power. He shouldn’t be too happy with himself; he should be worried about our welfare. To whom much 50%+1 vote is given, much more economic prosperity for all and not corruption is required.

No matter what happens or wherever the pendulum sways in the next fortnight, we must still chart and sustain this peaceful trajectory we have exhibited so far, on behalf of the entire team at Newsafrican and the Gazette, we wish you a merry "election-mas" and a happy new president!

OJ’S WEDDING FORMULA

The wedding bells rang over the weekend and Jeffrey softly exchanged nuptial vows with Josephine at the ever-magnificent LCI (light House Chapel International) edifice with the exotic QODESH tag of touch and style. I was there; go check the qodesh out one of these days at North Kay and you’ll be impressed by its architecture. No doubt I’ve labelled it as “a-one-stop-all-you-need-in-the-ministry-church”. Excuse my ignorance! that building is likely to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Elmina Castle! Take a full tour and you wouldn’t be out in 1hour. The contrast is just to help you dig up a mental appreciation of the building. You dig?

The groom, Jeffrey Ocran (OJ) my basic and junior high school colleague, who later became my brother when we were on the campus together at one of the world’s rare ocean-view universities, the University of Cape Coast, got married to Josephine Boahen, also my one-time course mate on the same campus. If you care to know, both the groom and bride undertook the same degree programme, (Bsc.) Biological Science, not that alone, these folks were also fasting and praying together as members of the LCI campus ministry. The best man couldn’t have conjectured a better biblical parody to express on the occasion, “Jeffrey was watching and praying”.-the formula revealed.

I’ll rewind quickly to mine first year-first semester days on campus. I had registered to read “Slave Trade and Colonialism” as my compulsory African Studies course for the 1^st semester, interestingly enough in the 2^nd Sem as if it was premeditated, Jeffrey, Josephine and Julius (as am popularly known) happened to enlist for the same African Studies course, this time it was “Comparative Analysis of Economic Development in Africa & the Caribbean”.

In fact, as of the time, a lot of students chose these two courses because it was widely believed that it was easier for one to make an “A” in both. For the first time, I met Josephine at about the third lecture or so of the “Slave Trade” course. I was late for the lecture that day. Beautiful and cute Josephine was sitting behind, guessed she was late too, so I chose to slide up next to her on the same bench. Those days it was my ritual to strike acquaintances by introducing myself to anybody I found myself sitting next to.

I asked for her name after I had been generous to say mine, she wasn’t amused at all upon hearing it, she might have said in her mind, “Julius! and so what?” But her reply came, it shocked and embarrassed me (I didn’t show it), it was the famous line of ladies on campus, “why do you want know, please you’re disturbing me” (the lecture was in progress all this while). I didn’t give up there because it wasn’t strong enough to put me off. Apparently, I was interested in dubbing her notes, the part which I missed for turning up late. I made a few remarks to her regarding explanations by the lecturer; this was just to draw her response. She wouldn’t budge, after all she was right, and I was disturbing her by being garrulous. The lecture ended and before I could say, “jack”, she had packed and was long gone.

During that same week, providence made sure our paths crossed again “vis-a vis” at another location on campus, she was heading towards me from the opposite end of the street. When she came within close range, I quickly made an overture to apologise for the other day. Here again, she wasn’t ready to exchange pleasantries. As if that wasn’t enough; I had decided to pass by OJ’s hostel that weekend, we were living a few metres apart in the “Diaspora” (a term used to describe the surrounding environs of the university) and I wanted to grab something to eat at his end. We did that quite often.

Here was Josephine again! She had also come to pay OJ a visit too. “So all this while we were connected and we all did not know”, that was the first thing I said after OJ had done the introduction, but she was also quick to report me to OJ, “your friend has been worrying me-oo, please warn him”.

“Don’t mind Julie, that’s the way he is, always getting on people’s nerves” OJ responded to calm her. Now she was beaming with smiles and excitement to hear that a guy could be called by a lady’s name. “Julie! How come?” she remarked with alacrity to know how I became knighted by that name. This name had been conferred on me long ago at the Basic school where OJ and I had known each other, apparently my colleagues had decided to shorten “JULIUS” to “JULIE”, for them it was easier and funny for a smallish boy. I’ve never objected to it even till this day, it has come to stay.

One time Eric Sackey came over apparently to look for me at home, my mother attended to him at the door, and he went like, “please am looking for Julie”, Eric was in a state of oblivion, he quickly regain his consciousness in split seconds to rephrase, “eh sorry Julius”. Mummy couldn’t help bursting out with laughter; she was hearing it too for the first time and actually, up till now she’s remained a fan of the name too.

I realised she wasn’t the kind of lady one could joke with. You see, she’s a straight forward and a very principled person. Trust me; she’s capable of taking control over matters and getting things done the right way. Inward, she’s a nice person to be with, if you get closer. I would never forget how she once asked OJ to bring me along to her room at “ADEHYE HALL” (a campus residence for ladies) to take some soup. I had been sick; lost appetite and looking pale. It was her attempt to get me up and going. Indeed she kept her word with a nice treat, occasionally within the 4yrs on the campus; I had the opportunity to taste more delicacies she prepared for OJ. On some occasions the food was brought to my room and I dictated the pace. I recall OJ’s own bad attempt at cooking, in many instances the all-tin tomato gravy, sometimes resembling a soup, got burnt. As for the rice, its destiny was to get burnt always; this was because the landlady of the hostel had banned the use of rice cookers to avoid high electricity bills.

When I was cash strapped he was there like George Bush to bail me out and I did same for him as a brother when I was also in the position to. We shared some secrets too, like my interest in Priscilla, the lady who gave the vote of thanks at the wedding refreshment. He always vouched for her as a suitable partner for me whenever the issue of pairing me up was raised. He noticed that my gnashing situation was just too much. He was kind enough to make some recommendations and introductions. Unfortunately, I failed to pursue the struggle.

All in all I can confidently say that this union is a good one for him, and I’m most optimistic that his beloved is going to keep the family together as they prepare to go and sojourn in The Gambia. Yep! That’s the destination for Pastor Jeffrey’s missions, he’s been away a couple of months ago already, but this time the Pastor is going back with his newly wedded wife to prop him up. Beautiful beginnings!

He has the honour of being the very first guy to get married out of his junior high school mates, many of them have stayed by him through out all these years. They were around to see their friend and brother become a man. I tried to sample a couple of views at the wedding ceremony from them. I did that because the attendance was very youthful and I wanted to find out whether getting married was a difficult decision to take being young men and ladies. All they did was to throw that “responsibility” at each other. Everybody thought it was rather the other’s turn to get married other than them. They want to take their time to tread cautiously until they were certain and ready to go before the altar.

It cannot be overlooked; OJ has also had his bad times and has paid his due from Basic through junior to senior high school. Now that he has taken up the challenge of the ministry to share the gospel, he is the best man to tell his story and experiences. We used to say that OJ was capable of doing anything as a bad boy; but yes I will say again that “he is capable of doing anything good as a changed man.” We’ve all been once mischievous and naughty as teenagers, running away from the boarding house and all.

I have no doubts about what Jeffrey can achieve together with Josephine; I can only congratulate and wish them well as I support with a prayer too. Once OJ resolves to do something, take his word for it.

.

OBAMA’S VICTORY-MATTERS ARISING (from my reflections)

There is no real difference between the Democratic “fox” and the Republican “wolf.” One is prepared to frighten the people so badly that they will wholeheartedly embrace the sly fox to escape the fangs of the wolf. In short, this does not avoid the fact that one will be eaten. - MALCOLM X

All over the world and especially in Africa, people are excited over the victory of Barack Obama in United States presidential polls. This excitement began during the head to head race between the African-American Senator for Illinois and the former first lady, Hilary Clinton also Senator for New York for the presidential ticket of the Democratic party. Barack Obama happens to be one of the three Black Senators that America has today.

Today, Barack Obama has made history! For 232years in the history of the United States, he is the first African-American to become president of this powerful nation.

Indeed this is the time to be proud being Black. For a lot of young people including myself, we’ve witnessed an historic act in our lifetime. Many will live to tell their children’s children about this accomplishment; the achievement of a Kenyan-born called Barack Obama. It will be told and told all over again even long after those who witnessed it have passed on. His speeches will be read, meditated and reflected upon, for it brings hope where there’s none. The refrain I’ve been hearing about this meteoric rise suggests that many are going to draw inspiration from his success to overcome their own challenges to reach great heights. It’ll only be possible if they walk the talk and see no limits to which they can soar above.

ORGANISATION

One of the greatest lessons to be learnt from this historic feat, especially for people who have political ambitions, is ORGANISATION.

“We must get ORGANIZED” just like Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael) used to say. It’s important to build a true and an appealing mass organisation for the people and by the people, an organisation that can force a power shift to ultimately overturn the undesirable status quo. History is replete with examples, for instance Kwame Nkrumah’s formation of the C.Y.O (Committee on Youth Organisation).

There was a painstaking exercise of exertion at the grassroots level with the masses that he identified with. The strong organisation made it possible to pursue an agenda; this agenda was SELF-GOVERNMENT NOW (SGN) contrary to the gradualists’ approach of “Independence within the shortest possible time”. They wanted to wait for things to work.

“There’s no point in waiting we have to act now.” There was no way independence could’ve been won in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa. Indeed Ghana’s struggle to independence opened the floodgates for our oppressed brothers on the continent to follow suit. It was a wind of change that swept across the Africa. Many years down the line, Africa cannot be too boastful; the neo-colonial strings have not been entirely severed. The neo-cons are still lurking in our shadows having a field day, leadership has failed and many Africans are still living in abject poverty; hewers of wood and drawers of water.

Is it not also significant that even with the struggles of the freedom movements in apartheid South Africa, Chief Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party and the oldest liberation movement on the Africa continent-ANC, independence became a reality as recently as 1994?

Undoubtedly, it wouldn’t have been attainable on a silver platter without an organisation in motion. The oppressor minority does not care to exploit all manner of tactics to keep the oppressed majority down at all times. The subjected people met them not with flowers in the countenance of violence.

Barack Obama has been able to establish a networking body on low profile to fraternise with the American people through the internet, at Obama organizing meetings and events, volunteers collect information on where the participants live, their phone numbers, e-mail addresses and their text addresses. A virtual organisation, but it was worth it After his selection to speak at that Democratic Party’s congress; which apparently initialled his bid for the presidency, he’s been able to appeal to the majority of Americans with his confidence cum inspirational tough talking posture. You can google his views on Cuba, Jerusalem and Iran.

More to the point, his ground roots alliances reflected in the financial support he garnered through the paltry contributions from people of diverse persuasions. In the end the modest donations added up to an all-time record-breaking political fundraising campaign in the United States. Back home in Ghana, folks want to don and flash free party paraphernalia without making a single donation. I have no doubts that this support can be whipped up here on the motherland with the spot on message of truth.

IRAQ WAR

President-elect Barack Obama ascends to the presidency on a huge pedestal of goodwill emanating from the recklessness and misfortune of the illuminati agent, George W. Bush jnr, it appears that majority of Americans want a new face. It’s trite knowledge, the latter came into power to execute his old man’s agenda. George Bush snr turned the late Sadam Hussein against Kuwait; apparently he fell out with the Yankees who also set out for him in the infamous Gulf War.

Fast forward to the year 2000, junior Bush becomes president and in 3yrs we witnessed the downfall of Sadam Hussein. America under Bush junior was able to enter Iraq defying UN’s resolution that there was no WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in the Arab State.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under Hans Blix and Moammed El-Baradei had gone to quarantine Iraq for WMD. There was no single evidence in sight. Today Colin Powell, who has expressed his support for Obama, then US Secretary of State, has confessed they were deceived into believing that Iraq possessed WMD. The war in Iraq has made America unpopular. Insurgency is on the rise day in day out; death toll of their troops is pegging at 5000 and counting. Families want back home their husbands, fathers, uncles, sons and daughters.

The war has not been won. It’s now clear; Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L) was an economic adventure for the just mentioned abbreviation, the black gold. It had been carefully planned and well-thought out to work in the interest of the powers that be. These neo-con capitalists are very smart. This unnecessary intervention in Iraq has been dollar-sapping; millions and billions of the “dead presidents” has been pumped to finance the war.

FINANCIAL TURMOIL

Fate will have it that the war will take a negative toll on the economy, apparently corporate America has been massaging the balance sheets to show virtual profits at the same time paying huge bonuses to management. In effect middle class Americans have lost their mortgaged properties as the banks file for bankruptcy.

Credit crunch is what you get when you run the whole economy on credit capitalism and inequality. What is bailout if it’s also not your much hated Marxist-Leninist ideals of Socialism? The consecutives have always refrained that there should be no state interference in the free market, which has never been free and fair, today they are clutching at straw in the face of reality. With their profits, all they had to do was to skip the tax ropes.

Obama claims to offer hope with change to do things differently. The mantra has been “yes we can”, “change we can believe in”. His victory is a loud statement from the masses that the G.O.P (Grand Old Party) cannot be tolerated in power for the next four years. They’ve caused too much trouble, its enough.

Within this hope and goodwill lies another likely misfortune which can befall Mr. Obama’s presidency. It’ll be suicidal to overlook or pretend it wouldn’t happen. I’ll play the devil’s sponsored advocate; there’s the possibility of Obama not being able to position the economy back on its feet satisfactorily as well as curb insurgency and the purported terrorist threats (which America with Bush is no different) that they claim to face. This is where questions and doubts will be raised about the Blackman’s capability and inferiority when he was given the opportunity to carve a deep niche for himself in history. The confidence and pride gathered over this period face setback of being thwarted again.

The World Bank has in fact projected a possible 5yr span of this crisis. I would also want to think that if all ends well happily ever after in the evening of Obama’s reign, due praise and recognition will be accorded to him as leader of the regime that salvaged the nose-diving economy.

The Kenyan-born quick rise to fame has been well over two years as a member of the Senate. In forums and discussions in both the electronic and the print media, there’s been much talk by analysts about Obama’s political experience and whether he has the wherewithal to lead his charges to a well-deserved recovery, economic salvation if you like.

FOREIGN POLICY

The oft-repeated catch phrase for the past week has been “policy-shift”, with reference to the America’s foreign policies. Will the world see a different approach being undertaken by the USA? Will things change considering the make-up of the new cabinet, with men who’ve been in the corridors of power with known stance? Same faces? Most people are sceptical, especially with the naming of the feared Zionist, Rahm Emmanuel as Chief of Staff, who has a strong pro-Israel leaning.

A couple of days ago, Rahm had to apologise for his father’s blatant admission that his son’s inclusion in the cabinet clearly emphasizes Obama’s posture towards Israel. This angered the Arab Committee in America to cry foul. This puts me within a certain imbalance. Will Obama deny, expose or maintain the agenda of the Establishment? Is Obama inheriting an unchanged system of power?

Like an albatross, Israel will be hanging around Obama’s neck in the Middle East. Obama has been daring enough to say Jerusalem would remain the undivided capital of Israel and that no body should question his support for the Jewish state because he is the best person when it comes to their security. I can’t wait to see how he will manage to balance safely on the tight rope with his tough talk. Certainly, the Arabs will not be excited over this comment.

Already Iran’s Ahmadinejad has sharply responded to his call against their nuclear initiative. He says “I do everything in my power to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.” Why should Obama be bothered? They are also a sovereign nation.

THE ESTABLISHMENT VRS PAN-AFRICANISM & CIVIL RIGHTS

In Black Africa, people have tried to link Obama’s triumph to Pan-Africanism. This is not true and accurate! Personally, I don’t even perceive it to be the culmination of Civil Rights Activism for people of colour. This false impression seeks to establish that the Blackman taking up the reins of command in America is what Pan-Africanist proponents like Nkrumah, Padmore, Dubois and others were struggling for.

Throughout Barack Obama’s campaign, he never mentioned what his plans for Africa were. But one can understand, he’s going to be the president of America not Africa, period! Africans have been exceptionally overwhelmed to see a fellow kinsman enter the Oval Office “to call the shots”. He does not extend his much talked about hope to Africa, perhaps only recognising his roots (which I admire) and paying his Kenyan grandmother a visit.

Beyond his colour, I’ve not heard any cogent argument on why he draws the support of many Africans. We’ve been simply racist in this regard. “He is a fellow brother”, is all I hear.

Obama’s victory would’ve been meaningful to the Pan-Africanist cause if he had sought to promote and called for unitary government for Africa. An Africa that is free from the machinations of the West and not a playing ground for supporting local agents and cronies to act in a certain interest that is detrimental to Africa’s development. Am talking about Africa taking her rightful place in the world given the undisputable natural resources she feeds to the world. Not to even talk of reparations for our looted resources including the “human gold”.

I’m not enthused about Obama’s US-Africa relations and policies to be. Trust me; the arrangements which ensure that our resources are looted away under unfair trade agreements will be unwavering. Those arrangements cannot change overnight against the interests of huge multi-national corporations. I have no doubts; it’s not going to be about Africa. The American presidency as it stands today is about the protection of the dwindling fortunes of the Establishment. When Obama visited the White House sometime last week, Bush made it clear at the Oval office “the election of Barack Obama is good for our country”. The fortification of the Establishment is extremely crucial; Africans must wake up to this reality.

There’s nothing in Africa to boast of in attribution to Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice in their tenure of office as Secretaries of state. Is there any? Tell me. Our own brother and a sister! Do not forget.

I feel so emaciated that even Turkey (a single country that can be a small fraction of Africa) can organise a summit on their land for all African leaders “to strengthen ties”, as they put it (see New African magazine-November ’08).

The civil rights struggles in the United States have been fought hard with brazen resistance. Many lost their lives in violent apprehensions whilst others too were assassinated. It was all in the attempt to end segregation and have a free society of equal rights and justice, equal opportunities and peaceful co-habitation between people of colour and whites. Is that the situation today? Can America confidently beat her chest to have dealt with injustice against coloured people? That just by the colour of your skin you’re more likely to face an unwarranted arrest or get shot by the “popo” (police as referred to as by black Americans). Innocent Guinean immigrant, Amadou Diallo, who was shot 41times by the police on February 4, 1999 in a multi-racial city like New York and many others, has not been forgotten. The culprits have always been left free.

Is not worth noting that even with the claim that Obama’s vote represents those from the middle class, the statistics of coloured people within this group is nothing to at all to write home about?

Obama’s utterances has been loudly silent on these matters even to the extent of denouncing his own pastor, Jeremy Wright, for what has been labelled as incendiary comments (that America has been paid up for injustice) after the 9/11 attacks whiles his allegiance to his Hawaii resident grandmother has been firm and unflinching till her death on the eve of the elections. Many have remarked that such distancing act is only strategic for him not face the wrath of white supremacists else he sees his end just like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jnr. He’s chosen his words carefully not clearly align himself with the civil rights movements, on whose efforts and struggles he’s been able to aspire to become president-elect.

When Obama was born between the 1960’s, civil rights struggles were at a peak. How come he has failed to give them an overt acknowledgment? But while the State itself projects the Baptist Reverend from Georgia (MLK Jnr) as a national hero and getting mentioned in this light, nothing much absolutely is been said of Malcolm X. He is considered as an extremist, or is it because he was a Moslem? Were these two men not fighting for the same cause only to suffer the same aggression and end? How come again that one has become more acceptable than the other?

For me, anybody outside the United States, who accepts Barack Obama as the man to give America a clean face (without any animosity for him) is indirectly endorsing America’s hegemony in world affairs to be unshakable by China, that they should continue to be a super-power as they intervene in areas where they are not welcomed.

YOUR DANCE IS NOT YOUR VOTE!

The date has always been fixed; electorates have been registered, positions on the ballot paper have been sorted, the debates have started and there’s one more showdown ahead. After the last showdown, all one has to do on 7^th December is to thumbprint his preferred column on that paper which has been showing up consistently every four years for the past sixteen years. Well, some faces have become regulars on this paper; they never seem to go away, that’s the power of determination, right?

 

It’s time for deep reflection and sound judgement for decision making, the other day somebody was dazzled into disillusionment to make a choice, he saw them-folks try to do what I call, the-elephant-copying-the kangaroo-boogie. I don’t think I should also roll my hands in fast small circles in favour of the change trumpeters, for vegetarians do not taste cockerels and neither do I also like using the umbrella. In the unlikely event that you spot see me do the victory sign, don’t go telling your no-good gossip-filled trusted disciples am “too sure and two direct.” You better excuse my ignorance!

 

The point is that this whole process of showing support and solidarity for political parties should not be reduced to the level of dancing and gestures. In my opinion it’s becoming just too much, I’m getting bored with this manner of campaign. All I see on television is fake smiles of politicians trying to impress and persuade whoever that they are angelic beings. This alone should not be anyone’s standard of a competent leader or a party deserving our powerful thumb in the booth.

 

On the campaign trails and at the rally grounds, it’s becoming evident that we are not demanding much from those who want take political power. We are not subjecting them to enough succession of questions and constructive criticisms. They are running the show all alone while we look and gesture along with them. There’s so much to be demanded from the people who are interested in taking control of the national kitty. At the last presidential debate, the aspirants showed a bit of a good grasp of what the problems are, unfortunately the solutions that were proffered, excuse me to say, were incoherent. On countless occasions, they kept telling us what pertains in America and Europe.

 

Meanwhile we all do know that western economies are plummeting and home-brewed solutions are being dispensed to forestall any further downward trend. We need Ghanaian solutions to match Ghanaian problems. They are not thinking within the box. Cuba has been under U.S blockade for about 50yrs yet they’ve been able to build a resilient economy to withstand the aggression.

 

Interestingly, they are able to export about 200 medical doctors to Ghana to prop up our health sector, without which health delivery in Ghana would have collapsed. Pragmatic and purpose-driven ideas should inspire us before we decide whom to cast our votes for. As for populist mannerisms we must shun them at once because they offer no hope to salvage us from our troubles and foibles.

 

I cringe when I see the elites and party bigwigs in this country filling up spaces available at forums organised to expose presidential aspirants to all and sundry. One gets the impression that these selected few, who are only a small fraction of the total population, have more votes than the rest of us. The would-be president is going to be accountable to everyone therefore it’s important to have a fair turnout of groups from diverse persuasions. This is discriminatory just as last week’s presidential debate, where four aspirants were denied the opportunity to participate. Never again should this happen. The argument that those four aspirants do not have representation in parliament does not wash at all; it’s backward, divisive and gives an unfair advantage to those who participated as well as deny the swing voters an array of alternatives. This cannot be democracy.

 

The electoral process should have meaning to the electorates. It ought to be premised on sound judgement; it shouldn’t be on ethnic lines, religious affiliations, class or race etc. The student’s vote should mean to him/her access to affordable education and accommodation, and an expansion of facilities. To the man who’s about going on pension, his gratuity should be ready before he retires, why retire the man if his take-home is not standing by complete. To the public servant, his or her vote represents affordable housing, low transportation costs etc. The farmer cannot be ignored; his vote should send out a loud message, that subsidy plays an important role when it comes to food security, that farm inputs and machinery must be reasonably priced.

 

There are a lot of factors that should interest us to vote. We must also not go to sleep after electing our leader. We need to demand what’s due us, that it-will-be–well kind of mentality which debars us from making legitimate claims must be conquered. I always say that your lack of interest will come back to haunt you when fuel prices are increased. Have an interest today, nothing short of that is negotiable.

Speaking and writing English.

Very often we hear a lot of hue and cry about the fallen standards of the English language among the youth in today's Ghana. A lot of blame has been attributed to the fact that most young people speak Pidgin English with impunity wherever they find themselves be it in the home or in formal organizations.

Unfortunately our tertiary institutions and high schools provide an enabling environment where Pidgin English is habituated. It seems that nothing could be done to truncate this worrying trend among young people. One cannot begrudge them of the slang which they are so comfortable with, not been oblivious of the fact that Pidgin English provides a platform for the youth to fraternize quickly within the immediate society. By this time am quite sure that readers would be wondering whether I am a pro-pidgin advocate, wrong, I am not. My concern is to find out how that pidgin-speaking weakness can be turned into strength for the larger majority of Ghanaians that are illiterate. Definitely one cannot write good English if he does not make a conscious effort to speak it. Obviously the point I want to emphasize is simply this;

That, it is better to speak some substantial amount of quasi-English than not being able to write and speak good English at all. Indeed statistics show that an overwhelming majority of our country folk are illiterate and this should be of great concern to the privileged minority, most especially our national policy formulators, there should be a painstaking effort be it a national program agenda or machinery to reverse the status quo.

For those who can speak and write at least some good English, yours truly was inspired to pen this article for them. to draw our attention to a lesser known truth that, technological advancements with regards to the internet and mobile phones is gradually corrupting the English we write through the electronic mail and text messages we send .Due to the limited number of characters one can send in a text message, “texters” have resulted to writing abbreviated words leading to bad spellings, weird tenses and poor semantics.

The utmost reason being that the current generation spend more time texting short messages on their mobile phones and the internet through instant electronic mail messaging It is therefore becoming rampant to receive emails and text messages with very bad spelling which cannot make meaningful reading. Regrettably the same can be said of the text messages people send to television networks, which are screened to viewers without any editing. This habit of bad spelling comes to bare in educational institutions, workplaces and other formal organizations where people are subjected to the task of writing assignments, long essays, reports, applications and memos etc. In this regard most people find it tedious and boring organizing their thoughts on paper. Indeed it is quite easier to speak than to write because writing requires the organization of content points and expressions that are mechanically accurate.

Quickly I will mention that it is not good to write with poor spellings and irregular grammatical constructions whiles we speak fluently and eloquently. Writing and speaking good English must be encouraged among the youth. Forming of debating and creative writers clubs as well as reading/book clubs should be promoted in schools and communities, dying ones must be revived and supported with resources. They are much more profitable to an individual's self development and the entire nation than allowing ethnic groupings on our university campuses.

Analogically, good writing comes after reading and speaking good English.