The Bermuda Triangle, Black Holes & The Ghanaian Craze

There are few phenomena in the entire universe that defy scientific, spiritual or any perceptible explanation as the Bermuda triangle and the Black holes.
Thank goodness most of us are not, in the least, bothered by thoughts of ever getting zapped into their eternal labyrinths. They are nature's gates of no return, if you ask me.
But like you, I don't get bogged down by whatever is happening in the backwaters of the seas nor do I even contemplate the possibility of being vacuumed into a ravenous cauldron of cosmic annihilation.
The world will carry on as usual, Black holes or no Black holes.
I am yet to meet a normal bloke who sweats over such matters.

Currently in Ghana, though, there is a similar craze akin to the paranormal manifestations of nature. The political divide sees each other as a sort of black hole or a Bermuda triangle doing their best to vacuum away properties of state.
There is a savage fight for the plum benefits of public service.
But, gosh, why should the matter of cars become the preoccupation of some state officials as if the ex-officio ministers of the NPP government are operating a supermassive black hole where all the cars belonging to the state are being pulled into cosmic nothingness. (I keep blogging about this because I am really baffled by the astronomical importance our public servants attached to such trivialities as if they is nothing else for them to do!)
In the same breathe, the way some NPP guys are virtually holding unto cars and other items issued to them to serve in their various offices, makes it seem look they are wrestling against the sucking power of the Bermuda triangle.
If the new government in accordance with the laws of the land have uncovered illegalities in the way state properties have been passed unto former ministers and are calling for such properties to be handed over, then for goodness sake I am for that. Politicians should never, by their very actions, give credence to the perception that they are above the laws of the land.
Why should our politicians, by their infantile fight over material gain, portray Ghanaians as morons who are only interest in creature comforts and illegally stashing away what belongs to the state. I believe many Ghanaians want their leaders to live exemplary lives according to the laws of the land. Such a culture of greed, corruption and lawlessness is antithetical to the democratic order we are trying so hard to build.
Shush! The partisan accusations and counter-accusations are so retarded.
Let both sides of the political divide hold fire and think of Ghana for a change.

The Hide and Seek Has Begun

The speed with which our newly-crowned president has decided to dish all the pressing matters on his table in order to attend the extra-ordinary session of ECOWAS can not be simply explained by an agape love for the citizens of Guinea nor can it be explained by the dearth of suitable officials to represent him in Abuja. JAM had to be there because it was the only suitable way to get away from the pressure from the powers that be.
Me-thinks the dude used the ECOWAS meeting to dash away from the incessant calls coming from the generalissimo of his party's to come for the list of ministers he must appoint in the cabinet.
JAM has to devise a much more persuasive means of avoiding the inevitable arm-twisting than running to Nigeria. He simply must stand upon his two feet and make it clear to EVERYBODY that he is charge from now on. Perhaps he also wanted to meet the Man of God in Nigeria who, I am told, prayed him into Golden Jubilee House.[Read This]
Meanwhile did you hear that Victor Smith, the ex- charge d'affairs of JJ Rawlings, charged into Osu Castle like a hungry hippopotamus with a band of loyal soldiers to lay claim to all the keys of state vehicles?
Now look at where his priorities lie: cars!
It is time for them also to ride and ride they will big-time.
The gravy train is about to depart from the station.

We Have A Nerd In The Golden Jubilee House

Today, 7 January 2009, the presidency of the Republic of Ghana has changed hands, after a solemn and colourful ceremony, from J A Kuffour(JAK) to John Atta-Mills(JAM), the quiet, charisma-bypassed technocrat with a penchant for dogged inconspicuousness.
Unlike JJ Rawlings, who loved to have the headlights exclusively focused upon himself, John Atta-Mills by comparison likes to stay behind the scenes.
An almost avowed style of embellished silence coupled with a preference for invisibility defines this former Professor of law. A style that blends quintessentially Ghanaian humility with a streak of disguised discomfort for the limelight, JAM is first and foremost a nerd.
The average Ghanaians is used to the cowboy antics of JJ and JAK’s iffy “fa ma nyame” approach to dealing with difficult situations, however the uber-scholarly disposition of JAM has not been witnessed in Ghana’s realpolitik since the days of KA Busia, K Nkrumah, JB Danquah et al.
What are we to expect from The JAM presidency?
Is JAM a big-ideas person in the mould of K Nkrumah?
So far he has not manifested the characteristic traits of such a predisposition. Is he going to be a practitioner of classical social democratic ideology? I hope he does. However, in my opinion, he does not have the luxury of time and space to do so given the constraints of the Ghanaian economy and the unrealistic expectations of the masses.
Will he be able to bring about the socio-economic transformation of Ghana that he promised? A transformational leader he certainly is not, but if he is able to bring about some measure of positive change without destroying the foundations set by the outgoing administration I will be pleasantly surprised.
The restless wannabes in the NDC will try their damnedest to ride roughshod over everything JAK and the NPP stood for in the past eight years. Generalissimo is already waiting in the wings for the red carpet to be rolled out for him. Hopefully the true democrats within the JAM government will stand their ground from day one. The task ahead is to better the lot of Ghanaians and not the building of a platform to dramatise the hatred of JAK and the NPP.
To The Nerd-in-Chief Himself
The JAM presidency, I presume, will be characterised by a great deal of pragmatic equipoising. However as Ghanaians are not particularly known for tolerance for long-term economic policies, any attempt to employ long-tenured economic models, will be misconstrued as non-performance and the government may risk being voted out of office in the next election.
There is another lesson in the political history of Ghana that JAM needs to learn fast. And that is: every time a government had tried to implement an economic program that called for any measure of sacrifice on the part of the masses, they were voted out of office in the next election. We are allergic to all forms of sacrifice. The secret is that you must do the hard stuff whilst we enjoy the fruits of your labour with reckless abandon.
Mr president, don’t count on Ghanaians to tarry for you if you intend going for a long furlough on the mountain to workout the blueprints for our economic salvation.
We are simply a myopic and impatient bunch.
Whatever your plans, keep one thing in mind: the manna must start falling now!
Last lesson, JAM. Your tendency of overly relying on your NDC pals to take the initiative while you sneak out to cool off, as you did during the campaigns, could lead to a lapse of presidential oversight in your administration.
Hopefully you will stay at the helm of government now that you are the Head of state, Commander-in-Chief as well as Head of government.
In the final analysis, Ghanaians will be the arbiters of the JAM presidency in 2012.

I wish JAM, his government and Ghana the best of luck.
Bon Voyage Mr president!!!

What the Hell is Happening!

I had really hoped to catch the release of the final tally of the presidential election live on the web. Alas, my zeal is gradually turning into annoyance, thanks to Afari-Gyan and his team.
Having begun with the patience of Job, I must confess that the Electoral Commission of Ghana has single-handedly managed to turn the euphoria associated with the elections into one of total disenchantment. The silence from their quarters is stupefying.
It is simply not funny any more and the earlier the officials at the EC woke up from their provocative slumber the better it will be for everybody.
By their obfuscation, they are giving ample ammunition into the hands of those prone to bizarre utterances to unleash mayhem and anarchy.
For goodness sake release the results NOW!!

Ghana 2008 Elections: The Expected Outcome?

If everything goes according to the plans of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, as expected, the whole world will be celebrating with all peace-loving Ghanaians another milestone in our democratic system by Wednesday, 10 December 2008.

With the heightened preparedness of the security apparatchik , the appeal by most of the political parties to their supporters to conduct themselves honourably coupled with the acute awareness of most Ghanaians of the need to the keep the peace, I really see no reason for alarm bells as far as the legitimacy and fairness of the 7 December elections is concerned.

On the scale of probabilities, I perceive that the ALPHA SCENARIO in my earlier blogpost is the most plausible outcome after the elections albeit with some variations because of the on-going global economic recession. This notwithstanding my qualms about the absence of a transformational leader in the midst of the contenders for the post of CEO of Ghana Inc. as posted here.


While it is statistically possible to compute the expected outcome of any future event at any time before the actual event itself, the situation of predicting the outcome of the presidential election in Ghana is severely compromised by the dearth of reliable data on the ground.Another problem has been the subjective manner in which some of the polling of the 2008 elections has been carried out. Read this, this and this and also this.


Whispers from the ground reaching my wide-opened ears are( Caution: this has nothing to do with my personal preference ) that the presidential candidate of the incumbent party will be given the nod by Ghanaians to rule after the elections.
Whilst it is not yet conclusive whether there will be a re-run, it is believed by guys I talk to here that, Nana Akuffo Addo and the NPP have a few percentage points ahead of Prof. Atta Mills and NDC in the final home stretch of the political game. True/False? Anyhow, that is what I am hearing!
Wishing Ghanaians, home and away, and the friends of Ghana a free, fair, peaceful and memorable elections on 7 December 2008!

"A Better Ghana" vs " A New Ghana"

Having looked at the mutterings of the two main political parties in Ghana and the themes of their political campaigns, I am convinced that the essence of their messages is essentially similar.
The NPP chants "A New Ghana" and the NDC bellows "A Better Ghana".
While I believe that a new Ghana must lead to a better Ghana, I guess all of them are selling an agenda of change. I am at least encouraged by the fact that none of them is preaching a message of sankofa. Ghana cannot continue to be mired in the pit of poverty and underdevelopment. We need to keep on transforming for the better in order to generate a momentum of progress and modernisation across the entire Ghanaian society.
I suppose continuously pushing for change is our only escape velocity out of our present predicament.
Whilst there have been some oases of change in the landscape of the country, the much needed transformation of the human resources has been awfully slow. A Shopping Mall or two filled with imported products and the rise of a few rich individuals will not lift Ghana out of rank of the least developed countries. We need to develop an abrasive attitude towards becoming gernerators of wealth instead of importers and consumers of what other people have produced.

Having said that I believe each and every individual in their own small way need to work towards an agenda of personal transformation. Following the routine of the past will definitely not help us no matter who we elect to lead our beautiful nation.
Personally, I have vowed never to become a victim of routinism.
For me the busy-ness of a routine life is as suffocating as it can be. So I have devised ways of combating routinism without compromising my productivity and the quality of work I put in at the end of the day.
The three basic reforms I am choosing to adhere to are:

1. I will try to do something different every day. A non-reckless adventure is invigorating and has the capacity to unleash a great deal of positive vibe. ( Hopely this doesn't become a routine in itself)
2. I will take the responsibilty to get to know new people as often as is possible. This I believe will lead to a network of great friendships and create arenas of influence.
3. I will embrace change as it come or initiate change where necessary. I will take the needed steps to do whatever it takes to transform myself and positively affect those around me.