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.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Ghana: What Are The Scenarios?
South Africa's Dinokeng Scenarios make for an interesting study into the role of citizens and NGOs in shaping the future direction of a nation. How do we as citizens influence the decision making processes in our countries in such a way that our politicians and leaders are exposed to as many plausible scenarios as possible before they arrive at the point of making those decisions that ultimately affect all of us?. Should citizenship in democratic governance be centred on the right to vote in an election? Should we sit back and give a carte blanche to the elected into office to do as they please or must we take responsibility and come together in one way or the other to explore alternative agenda for the development of our nations?
The Dinokeng group serves to bring into the mainstream arena of politics and national discourse the plausible scenarios which need to be looked at but more often are conveniently ignored by those entrusted with national leadership.
According to the group, there are three plausible scenarios that confront South Africa at this period in her development. There are: the Walk Apart, Walk Behind and Walk Together scenarios.
* Walk Apart: the state plays a role that is either weak and neglects to reverse its failings. The Walk Apart option posits the idea that the country limps along much in the same manner as it has up to now, beset with worsening poverty and unemployment. Coupled with this are growing insecurity and an ailing public health system which is unable to meet the needs of the poor. Crime becomes endemic and corruption is the order of the day.
* Walk Behind: the state becomes increasingly interventionist, crowds out private initiative and leads to unpopular and destabilising economic reform measures.
In Walk Behind we all sit back and wait for the strong and capable state to do everything, but that is unlikely to happen, because the state lacks the resources and expertise to be that capable, and the result of the heavy interventionism could be unsustainable public borrowing and an increasingly authoritarian state. This is the likely scenario should the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the left-leaning trade Union (COSATU) be allowed to take over the policy mechanism in the Jacob Zuma administration.
* Walk Together: in the third scenario, the state plays its most useful role when held to account and forced to respond to demands made on it by a newly resurgent activist society. An activism not against the government, but one that works with the government to build a better tomorrow.
These scenarios were presented yesterday at Johannesburg's Constitution Hill. According to the group, the three scenarios were a starting point for discussion at different levels of South African society about the direction the country should follow in this period of transition.
As a broad church pulled together by citizenship, scholarship, leadership and a desire to ensure that South Africa moves along a sustainable trajectory, the dinokeng group is a bold and commendable attempt to broaden debate and bring into existence a responsive and accountable government under pressure from ordinary people.
Looking at the dynamism of the dinokeng team under the felicitations of the convener/chair Dr Mamphela Ramphele I had to ask myself what Ghana's scenarios are? It seems to me that the three scenarios painted are as applicable to Ghana as they are to every country on the continent.
Ghana clearly cannot remain a state-centred society where we always look up to the government as our source of development. Nor can we build a viable state in an environment of weak institutions. Nepotism, tribalism and corruption must be tackled aggressively through a broad partnership between citizens and the state. The extreme partisanship being practised in Ghana can only lead us to a dead end. We need to team together in order to move forward.
I wish the conclusions of the dinokeng team would be preached throughout the continent of Africa and its plans of action replicated throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Check this.
The Dinokeng group serves to bring into the mainstream arena of politics and national discourse the plausible scenarios which need to be looked at but more often are conveniently ignored by those entrusted with national leadership.
According to the group, there are three plausible scenarios that confront South Africa at this period in her development. There are: the Walk Apart, Walk Behind and Walk Together scenarios.
* Walk Apart: the state plays a role that is either weak and neglects to reverse its failings. The Walk Apart option posits the idea that the country limps along much in the same manner as it has up to now, beset with worsening poverty and unemployment. Coupled with this are growing insecurity and an ailing public health system which is unable to meet the needs of the poor. Crime becomes endemic and corruption is the order of the day.
* Walk Behind: the state becomes increasingly interventionist, crowds out private initiative and leads to unpopular and destabilising economic reform measures.
In Walk Behind we all sit back and wait for the strong and capable state to do everything, but that is unlikely to happen, because the state lacks the resources and expertise to be that capable, and the result of the heavy interventionism could be unsustainable public borrowing and an increasingly authoritarian state. This is the likely scenario should the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the left-leaning trade Union (COSATU) be allowed to take over the policy mechanism in the Jacob Zuma administration.
* Walk Together: in the third scenario, the state plays its most useful role when held to account and forced to respond to demands made on it by a newly resurgent activist society. An activism not against the government, but one that works with the government to build a better tomorrow.
These scenarios were presented yesterday at Johannesburg's Constitution Hill. According to the group, the three scenarios were a starting point for discussion at different levels of South African society about the direction the country should follow in this period of transition.
As a broad church pulled together by citizenship, scholarship, leadership and a desire to ensure that South Africa moves along a sustainable trajectory, the dinokeng group is a bold and commendable attempt to broaden debate and bring into existence a responsive and accountable government under pressure from ordinary people.
Looking at the dynamism of the dinokeng team under the felicitations of the convener/chair Dr Mamphela Ramphele I had to ask myself what Ghana's scenarios are? It seems to me that the three scenarios painted are as applicable to Ghana as they are to every country on the continent.
Ghana clearly cannot remain a state-centred society where we always look up to the government as our source of development. Nor can we build a viable state in an environment of weak institutions. Nepotism, tribalism and corruption must be tackled aggressively through a broad partnership between citizens and the state. The extreme partisanship being practised in Ghana can only lead us to a dead end. We need to team together in order to move forward.
I wish the conclusions of the dinokeng team would be preached throughout the continent of Africa and its plans of action replicated throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Check this.
Monday, May 4, 2009
The Lilliputian Crew At The Helm
Geez. I admire Kenyans. I absolutely do!
Who would not love the unorthodox project by the fairer ones in Kenya to fix the political impasse in that beautiful corner of Africa. They have embarked on the first ever mass sex denial demonstration staged for political reasons. Lol.
The sisters are refusing their men, the political elite at that, the supreme conjugal right until they stop the bickering and fix the festering political mess.
Let us hope that Kibaki, Odinga and their colleagues come to their senses fast before they are driven bonkers by the stance of their women, the beautiful no-nonsense daughters of Kenya.
Anyway, as everybody now knows pigs indeed do fly as Mexico has been shown.
Nations are putting up measures to prevent the virus from invading their shores. Heat-sensing cameras to scan arriving passengers are in place at many airports.
The lazy and obviously incompetent officials of Ghana's ministry of health have decided that the way to deal with the problem is to suspend all imports of pig products into the country. The question is: are our politicians and health officials really abreast with the issues of the Swine flu?
The issue here is that we are dealing with a strain of influenza that has not even been isolated in pigs. The name 'swine flu' is actually an erroneous concept since it has nothing to do with swines. It is not caught by eating pork or any of the products. Read this. The documented way to get the infection is person to person. Period. We should rather focus our attention on making sure that those arriving at our ports of entry are properly assessed and if necessary quarantined in isolation wards, instead of rushing to ban imports that have nothing to do with the disease.
On another sad note team NDC under the tutelage of Atta Mills is hell-bent on taking us back into slavery. The Better Ghana chanters have once again, obviously without first applying their minds, resolved to place the economy of Ghana under the yoke of the IMF for another gruelling
healing seance.
Gone are all the promises to fix Ghana with ease. Now the baton has been placed in their hands but instead of cruising to the next stage in the game of progress, they are looking back asking what the race is all about. Here is a bunch who have not acquainted themselves with the issues of economic governance which has taken place over the last ten years. Whilst Ghanaians question why the team is not running the race ahead as expected, these men and women who are fluent in nothing but excuses have fallen back on their old tricks of blaming others for their
sordid incompetence.
They have realised that they cannot move according to the trajectory already attained, so what do they do? They revert all the way back to where they left in the year 2000 in order to find a semblance of familiarity. Playing by the menu of the Bretton Woods institutions is the only sense they make in the unfamiliar territory they find themselves.
It is said that if you do not know where you are going any road will take you there.
Our beloved Ghana is going nowhere slowly. After all what do you expect, the Lilliputians are at the helm at our own invitation.
The show must continue.
Who would not love the unorthodox project by the fairer ones in Kenya to fix the political impasse in that beautiful corner of Africa. They have embarked on the first ever mass sex denial demonstration staged for political reasons. Lol.
The sisters are refusing their men, the political elite at that, the supreme conjugal right until they stop the bickering and fix the festering political mess.
Let us hope that Kibaki, Odinga and their colleagues come to their senses fast before they are driven bonkers by the stance of their women, the beautiful no-nonsense daughters of Kenya.
Anyway, as everybody now knows pigs indeed do fly as Mexico has been shown.
Nations are putting up measures to prevent the virus from invading their shores. Heat-sensing cameras to scan arriving passengers are in place at many airports.
The lazy and obviously incompetent officials of Ghana's ministry of health have decided that the way to deal with the problem is to suspend all imports of pig products into the country. The question is: are our politicians and health officials really abreast with the issues of the Swine flu?
The issue here is that we are dealing with a strain of influenza that has not even been isolated in pigs. The name 'swine flu' is actually an erroneous concept since it has nothing to do with swines. It is not caught by eating pork or any of the products. Read this. The documented way to get the infection is person to person. Period. We should rather focus our attention on making sure that those arriving at our ports of entry are properly assessed and if necessary quarantined in isolation wards, instead of rushing to ban imports that have nothing to do with the disease.
On another sad note team NDC under the tutelage of Atta Mills is hell-bent on taking us back into slavery. The Better Ghana chanters have once again, obviously without first applying their minds, resolved to place the economy of Ghana under the yoke of the IMF for another gruelling
healing seance.
Gone are all the promises to fix Ghana with ease. Now the baton has been placed in their hands but instead of cruising to the next stage in the game of progress, they are looking back asking what the race is all about. Here is a bunch who have not acquainted themselves with the issues of economic governance which has taken place over the last ten years. Whilst Ghanaians question why the team is not running the race ahead as expected, these men and women who are fluent in nothing but excuses have fallen back on their old tricks of blaming others for their
sordid incompetence.
They have realised that they cannot move according to the trajectory already attained, so what do they do? They revert all the way back to where they left in the year 2000 in order to find a semblance of familiarity. Playing by the menu of the Bretton Woods institutions is the only sense they make in the unfamiliar territory they find themselves.
It is said that if you do not know where you are going any road will take you there.
Our beloved Ghana is going nowhere slowly. After all what do you expect, the Lilliputians are at the helm at our own invitation.
The show must continue.
As Blessed As We Are
See how blessed we are!
We elected a President but we, as blessed as we are, have managed to twist the hands of fate to throw in a spare, the President’s Supervisor
With an ego bigger than Mt. Everest, he goes around the land acting the Assessor.
See how blessed we are!
We have chosen neither a King nor a Chief and yet we, as blessed as we are, have furnished a table for the President’s Supremo
With a hunger for power that reaches the starry gates, he parades around the hood as Generalissimo
See how blessed we are!
We elevated a 'Mempe Meho Asem' to become president and now we, as blessed as we are, have gotten the President’s Controller
With a penchant for issuing out threats, he prowls on the horizon as a fire-breathing Rottweiler
We elected a President but we, as blessed as we are, have managed to twist the hands of fate to throw in a spare, the President’s Supervisor
With an ego bigger than Mt. Everest, he goes around the land acting the Assessor.
See how blessed we are!
We have chosen neither a King nor a Chief and yet we, as blessed as we are, have furnished a table for the President’s Supremo
With a hunger for power that reaches the starry gates, he parades around the hood as Generalissimo
See how blessed we are!
We elevated a 'Mempe Meho Asem' to become president and now we, as blessed as we are, have gotten the President’s Controller
With a penchant for issuing out threats, he prowls on the horizon as a fire-breathing Rottweiler
Monday, April 27, 2009
Africa: Changing In Order To Embrace Greatness
There are moments in life when the exposure to the story of a great man triggers an irresistible quest, an irrepressible realization that one has got to break out of the cocoon of personal comfort in order to reach for a much higher and loftier dream.Such a turning point in life is usually characterized by a season of dissatisfaction akin to deep displeasure with oneself on one hand and a great desire in one’s heart for change on the other.Sometimes we aspire for change but then we are not really ready to make the necessary amendments to bring about the change we dream about.The story of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. of blessed memory has had such a profound effect upon me lately. I am presently reading his biography and two days ago my admiration of him was reinforced by a programme on his short life on Oprah Winfrey’s show which was rebroadcasted on SABC 3.
He was and still remains one of the greatest and most transformational leaders in the history of the world. A man who believed in the right cause, stood for it and never shied away despite the dangers associated with the choices he made. At the end it did cost him his life. But the cause he gave his life to finally brought about the freedom of a people who had been under the yoke of oppression for so long. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. by the service he rendered became the midwife of the change in that generation.
<"Everyone has the power of greatness.
Not fame bot greatness.
Because greatness is determined by service.">
****Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
Yet again today, we are witnesses of the birth pangs of another historic era of change . I sincerely believe that another great change is inevitable in the face of the monumental 'evolution' taking place around us in the field of economics, technology, science, the environment and politics.
It seems to me as if the entire world is being primed for a shift of Gondwanaland-esque proportions in our lifetime. The entire global economic infrastructure is falling like dominoes all over the place. The only choice is to embrace the changing dynamics, since resisting it will lead to inevitable downfall.
It is my treasured opinion that had it not been the all-encompassing transformation taking place in the world today the 44th President of the United States of America would have been somebody other than Barack Hussein Obama. Change, I am certain, has its own way of unearthing the men and women who have been raised and prepared specifically to act as its architects and managers.
Africa as a matter of fact cannot afford to continue to do things the way she has done over the years. Her Nations and peoples must, as a matter of great importance, learn to embrace change in order to give birth to a new collective identity, our identity of greatness. The Renaissance of Africa will only come about through our preparedness to chart a new way for ourselves in the midst of the prevailing uncertainties and the unprecedented turmoil in the global economy.
It is the greatest battle Africa will ever fight and we dare not miss this opportunity being presented by the present global crisis.
As for me, I am off to compile a list of the changes I need to make.
Cheer!
South Africa's Freedom Day
Today, 27 April 2009, is Freedom Day in South Africa.
It is a public holiday of similar stature to Independence Day in Ghana and elsewhere.
Freedom Day is the commemoration of the first democratic elections that took place in 1994. There are celebrations taking place all over the country.
To celebrate the day, we are inviting friends to come over for braai and fellowship.
Cheers and enjoy your day!
It is a public holiday of similar stature to Independence Day in Ghana and elsewhere.
Freedom Day is the commemoration of the first democratic elections that took place in 1994. There are celebrations taking place all over the country.
To celebrate the day, we are inviting friends to come over for braai and fellowship.
Cheers and enjoy your day!
Nkandla: Jacob Zuma's Ancestral Home
Last year somewhere in April my wife, myself and two family friends went to Nkandla in northern KwaZulu-Natal for the funeral of a woman who died rather unexpectedly on a visit to her ancestral home. She was a good family friend and we were obliged to travel the five hours for the purpose of saying our final goodbyes to her . The two ladies that went with us also come from Zululand. One hails from the same village as the dead woman and the other from Durban. We were blessed to have them with us as they helped us to understand not only the cultural practices and traditions of the area but also the proceedings at the funeral itself as well as the burial. There is great similarities in the way the Ndaus in the Chipinge area of Zimbabwe and the Zulus, at least the ones in Nkandla, bury their dead.
As a first time visitor to that part of the Zulu Kingdom, I discovered the generality of African spirit and character, the similarities as well as the differences between the Ghanaian culture and the Zulu culture.
KwaZulu-Natal is a really beautiful part of South Africa and I will encourage everybody to visit there once in a lifetime should the opportunity presents itself. We really fell in love with the place and the inhabitants.
It was an occasion rich in memory and poignant experiences. The journey was in itself pleasantly eventful. From the treacherous twists and turns of the road through the Amajuba mountain range which for all intents and purposes was, for me, a rigorous examination in the art of advanced driving to the beautiful scenes of the little towns and villages on the way.
I have just discovered that Nkandla is also the ancestral home of the President-elect of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma.
With the tourism potential of the area as it is and the ascension of Msholozi to the presidency of South Africa, I am tempted to say that Nkandla in a few years time will never be the same as I saw it last year.
In a way it will be sad to see the essence of rural living in Nkandla give way to modernity but who can question the desires of the people of Nkandla for their share of the fruits of South Africa's prosperity. Long Live Nkandla! Long Live South Africa!
As a first time visitor to that part of the Zulu Kingdom, I discovered the generality of African spirit and character, the similarities as well as the differences between the Ghanaian culture and the Zulu culture.
KwaZulu-Natal is a really beautiful part of South Africa and I will encourage everybody to visit there once in a lifetime should the opportunity presents itself. We really fell in love with the place and the inhabitants.
It was an occasion rich in memory and poignant experiences. The journey was in itself pleasantly eventful. From the treacherous twists and turns of the road through the Amajuba mountain range which for all intents and purposes was, for me, a rigorous examination in the art of advanced driving to the beautiful scenes of the little towns and villages on the way.
I have just discovered that Nkandla is also the ancestral home of the President-elect of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma.
With the tourism potential of the area as it is and the ascension of Msholozi to the presidency of South Africa, I am tempted to say that Nkandla in a few years time will never be the same as I saw it last year.
In a way it will be sad to see the essence of rural living in Nkandla give way to modernity but who can question the desires of the people of Nkandla for their share of the fruits of South Africa's prosperity. Long Live Nkandla! Long Live South Africa!
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