The Christmas Hamper the President Cannot Despise

The president of Ogyakrom Professor Evans Atta Mills has asked all presidential hamper wielding Ghanaians to look for other destinations apart from the castle to deliver their goodies. He simply doesn't want to be indebted to anybody because of a hamper. Unlike Cain, he is not selling his birth right for a meal. He needs a free conscience to crack the whip when he has to, not even the celebration of the good news of the birth of Christ will take that away from him. In the coming year, I expect him to Fast Track a couple of Kuffuor's appointees either to Nsawam or Freedom Square, fire a few of his predecessor's appointees and replace them with loyal but hungry NDC faithfuls and maybe throw a few of his own ministers out of job. It is all part of his calling, some decisions are not nice but they must be taken.

I believe that if we are to tackle corruption in Africa, we must deal with gifts in very unconventional terms. I do not believe that ordinarily a Christmas hamper will corrupt a president, but with the disingenuous use of gifts to oil the wheels of the corruption train in Africa, only God knows what people have done in the past and were preparing to do with Christmas hampers. For that reason, I congratulate Uncle Fiifii for derailing the Africa Gift Train this Christmas. Unlike his predecessors he has rejected any ride on the train. Rejecting Christmas hampers resonates loudly in a country like Ghana where it is considered rude to reject a gift. If you lose track of time, three signs appearing at the same time can tell you that Christmas is near; decorations including the Christmas tree which doesn't grow in Ghana, Christmas carols some of which are meaningless in our context talking about snow fall and white Christmas at a time that we are experiencing dry harmattan winds, and of course the hampers. The gifts always cause the greatest controversies. My Jehovah's Witness colleague, Santa Rob had a problem with the Christmas prefix, so he had to rechristen many items to ensure he doesn't miss out of what we have all toiled for. He will say end of year party instead of Christmas party, hamper instead of Christmas hamper. If Christmas hampers and gifts are given in the spirit of Christmas, how come they are mostly given to those who do not need them? If you take a tally in any office, the people lower down the ladder like the messenger hardly receive any hamper from suppliers, they are mostly delivered to people of influence like the CEO and other managers who have the power to switch suppliers. For the receptionist, being female, young and beautiful enhances your hamper receiving status. The driver who is always in the view of the so called business partners throughout the year is totally forgotten at Christmas. There must be more to this hamper business, Mr. President is right! If you think God has touched your heart this Christmas, please send your gifts and hampers to the Osu children's home, they really need them.

Regardless of these controversies associated with gifts, I am proposing a gift to the president that he cannot refuse. My vote come 2012. I will present this gift on one condition- Sack the Hawkers!

It has become an urban myth that if you clear our streets of hawkers, you will lose an election. I haven't yet seen any poll backing that claim, but it is one that politicians hold dear and hate to love. I suspect it has to do with the numbers that brandish all manner of goods at you on the streets and pavements. If all those numbers are converted to votes, either for or against, what a difference it will make at the polls. But the politicians seem to forget the other critical mass that drives on the streets of major towns and cities and is tired of having to dodge hawkers every day of the week. There is also another group who just wishes the pavements will be used for what they were built for- pedestrian walk. The good news is that they all have votes. The day the NPP government stopped Adjiri Blankson from clearing hawkers off the streets of Accra , I made two decisions; to stop shopping in the central business district until we learn to be civilized, and to withhold my votes from the short sighted politicians who couldn't see beyond cheap popularity. I have since carried out those decisions but unfortunately for Professor Mills, he didn't benefit from the second decision because I blamed his party for some irresponsible campaigning leading to the election. But I am assuring the president of my vote if he takes the tough decision of making the streets of Ghana look like it is part of civilization.

Sincerely, I appreciate the dilemma Politicians face when the issue of hawkers and our streets rear its head. It sounds like common sense, the market is created for shopping, the streets for driving and the pavement for walking. Why should the shops move to take over the streets and the pavements? The answer though simple, raises difficult problems. This is the result of decades of poor governance. We have an educational system that creates armies of youth mostly from rural Ghana who are only equipped to buy and sell. Sacking them from the streets means you must find alternate employment for them. Employment for unemployable youth is a promise every government has made but failed to deliver. That is the real headache for politicians when they hear "drive the hawkers away". The easiest solution is the ostrich approach; turn a blind eye to the problem on our streets. But politicians must balance this headache with my right to walk on pavements constructed with my tax money without being harassed and pushed by people who think it is their right to sell and my right to drive safely on streets constructed for that purpose. I don't want to add to my stress level dodging running hawkers on the streets after a stressful day in the office. There is only one way a politician can win this battle; satisfy the ever growing army of youth and satisfy me. The solution will require short, medium and long term measures that have been carefully thought of and crafted. Providing such solutions is the reason we elect leaders and we must task them to provide the answers. Politics is not just another avenue for employment; it is the embodiment for our hopes and aspirations as a people. For us in Ghana and Africa, we have a long way to go to actualize those dreams. Therefore ostrich solutions will not suffice.

Mr. President, I want my street back and I want my pavement back. You may have ordered Mayor Vandapuije to stop decongesting Accra , but please note that he has my support and the support of many road users who will not necessarily congregate to show our support. Also note that we also have votes. I will consign my vote to you as a Pre-Christmas present in 2012 if you deliver the streets back to us, and I suspect many other people will do same. This is one hamper you can't ignore.



PS: Is the President, through State Protocol, giving out hampers this Christmas?

The Kinapharma Raid: Just Another Assault on Rights in Ghana

The Ghanaian pharmaceutical company KinaPharma found itself at the end of a practical joke when the might of the Ghana police force descended on it to kick some pharma(medicine) out of their Kingdom because the police had "reasonable suspicion" that the company was dealing in banned narcotics. With adrenalin pumping, the law enforcers did not only move drugs that had supposedly tested partially for cocaine out of the company premise for further testing, but also arrested some of the company's managers for "possessing substances prohibited under Ghana's Narcotic Control Law" even before test results were ready. Almost a week after test results proved that neither the company nor its directors did anything of that sort, they were still struggling to get the police to say three words- "We are sorry". Instead, the police through the director of CID, DCOP Frank Adu Poku, justified their raid on one of Ghana's success stories as far as indigenous businesses are concerned, emphatically stating that they owe the company no apology. It doesn't seem to matter that their 'reasonable' action and the indiscreet manner it was carried out, needlessly almost destroyed a company's reputation and impugned the reputation of its directors and officials some of whom were arrested when we were not even sure a crime had been committed. In another country, beyond rendering an apology, the police will re-examine its intelligence and other processes to avoid repeating the KinaPharma fiasco. But that is not the Macho Ghana Police Force, they are without regret.

What befell Kinapharma brings to fore a worrying truth that confronts every civilized society. The processes that ensure law and order are susceptible to both institutional and individual errors, and sometimes abuses. When the institutions that dispense justice are faced with such failings, they easily choose the path of bullishness and lies to hide the truth. In so doing, our attempts to seek justice end up perpetrating injustice on many citizens. For countries like Ghana, the situation is further blighted by the indifference of citizens towards such abuses. These institutions are therefore under little pressure to improve the processes to minimize such frailties. In fact, compared to others without the wherewithal to garner public interest in their cause or to hire the best lawyers and experts to prove their innocence, KinaPharma had it lightly. The police raids a neighborhood arrests the homeless, parades them as armed robbers, they are remanded in prisons around the country and forgotten- no prosecution. The police guns down ten young men and presents them as armed robbers, the dead stay dumb. This sad narration does not only indict our security system but also underscores the attitude of our society to the rights of people.

Seventeen years ago, I learnt that, when the police are involved, it is important to apply Jesus' admonishing in Matt 5:25 (Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison), if you value your freedom. It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong. On that day, somebody pulled my wallet from my back pocket while we were struggling to get into a "tro-tro" at a bus terminal close to a police station in Accra. I got down from the bus shouting for my wallet to be returned. Then I saw this giant of a man walking away from the bus holding a polythene bag. His demeanor appeared suspicious and his huge frame scary. I mustered courage and asked him to return my wallet. He swore that he hadn't taken my wallet, but I convinced him to walk to the police station for a search to prove his innocence. He grudgingly followed me to the station. That is when the show began. Before I could finish narrating my story to the police officer at the counter, another officer approached from behind and gave this guy a good slap, even I was taken aback. Of course, the thick tall man returned the favour after which three or four police men pounced on him, subdued him and threw him in the police cells. I was totally stunned. Is that how easy it is to get somebody locked up? The man stayed locked overnight without admitting to the theft, neither was my wallet found on him. Somebody claiming to be his brother visited the station and paid the amount of money that was in the wallet, the police advised me to take the money since there is little evidence to tie him to the crime in a court. However, they were sure the guy was an accomplice to the theft, because they found out that he had a previous record. Whoever stole my wallet dumped it somewhere near the station without the money but with my id card, a biker found it and dropped it in my hall of residence. The scar of that incidence remains on my conscience till today. What if the guy was innocent? Maybe he is a jailbird but does that mean he took my money?

We have handed over authority to institutions like the police that allow them to curtail our individual freedoms for the common good of society. How do we ensure that these powers are not exercised for the wrong reasons? Yes, the police have the power to detain me for 48 hours but at what point do we know when the power has been exercised recklessly? I was once stopped by a policeman who I had always admired from a distance because of the enthusiasm with which he directed traffic. He accused me of jumping a red light, and I knew I hadn't, and if I had, from where he was standing, it would be difficult for him to swear to it. His point was that another car in the dual lane stopped whiles I didn't. I explained that that car was well behind me. The policeman gave me a simple advice, if I continue challenging him, he will waste my time. He was right. The traffic lights had no cameras to prove who was telling the truth. He will ask me to sit at the police station for hours before he takes my details. I will spend more hours at a court over a traffic incidence. The judge will believe him because of who he is and impose a fine after all the hours spent trying to prove my innocence. Time was one commodity I didn't have, so I took his advice, I stopped challenging him, but he lost my respect that day.

In more serious cases, limbs and lives are lost as a result of "reasonable actions" by law enforcement agencies. In 2006 policemen shot and killed four people they mistook for armed robbers. In another incident a 26 year old man was mistaken for a robber and killed by the police. In both cases the police had initially insisted that they killed armed robbers until loud noises in the media forced them to back track. The fact that even with the most noble of intentions, law enforcers may end up injuring innocent citizens makes it imperative for our police to exercise circumspection especially in the use of lethal force. The only way to ensure that the police get into the habit of exercising such care is to inspect what they do. Humans will only do what you inspect and not what you expect. Any police action that results in the death of any human being must be examined by an independent body. Those found to have acted recklessly or criminally leading to the loss of human life must be withdrawn from the force and other sanctions applied as stipulated by law.

The expression of machismo by the police will never stop until the covert and overt endorsement of such acts cease. Human rights activists are subjected to all manner of vituperations, especially on radio call-in programs, when they raise issues with the number of people killed in police operations. The impression is created that human rights activists love 'criminals' more than they love the police, but that is not true. I am an advocate for the respect of everybody's right including armed robbers' but I detest armed robbers especially those who maim and kill innocent people whose property they have no right to take. In fact, I am not against the death penalty for willful murderers in principle, but I am more scared of an imperfect judicial system that wrongly tags innocent citizens found at the wrong place at the wrong time as killers, and committing murder by putting them to death in an attempt to seek justice. For this reason, I will drop my support for the death penalty. A black American has just been released from jail in the USA after spending over thirty years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. If the death penalty had been applied, restitution would have been impossible for this man wronged by the society. This is what many Ghanaians including law enforcement officers lose sight of- not everybody who looks like the culprit really committed the crime. If we exact our own kind of justice before the truth emerges, we may end up with blood on our hands.

I sympathize with the management of KinaPharma, but they will be lucky to get an apology from the Ghana police force because to our macho police, their pain is business as usual. DCOP Frank Adu Poku couldn't have delivered the message better.

Contempt of Toilet in Ghana

Some subjects cannot be broached without profuse apologies. As we say in Ghana Taflatse seven times for my Sakalogue on something so smelly.

I was driving on the motorway one morning when a woman declared on Joy FM in impeccable fante inter-laced with the queen's English, "yede contempt atu tiefi nudu" to wit she has placed contempt on toilet. I received half a dozen calls from friends in the next couple of minutes asking if I was listening to Joy FM. Truth be told, the government and the people of Ghana have been treating this important byproduct of the digestive system with great contempt . We understand that to keep the body alive we need to expel the stuff (it will come out any way if you refuse to), and when out, storage is very important if we want to avoid an over-charitable distribution of disease causing parasites in our society. However, symptomatic of our failure in resolving our problem as a nation, we have done a bad job of collecting and storing away those lumps from the stomach.

Huge deposits of the substance have been scattered in all manner of places that have nothing to do with the stuff. The gods of the sea have not signed a toilet pact with Ogyakromians but the beaches are popular with people seeking quick stomach downloads. Open gutters, rivers, forest reserves, backyards ('efitsire') are popular with many stomach surfers in Ogyakrom. The men, women and children who desecrate the beautiful beaches are not savages- simply put, there are no decent toilets at their places of abode. Where available, they're either over-used or not worth the name, or both. District and metropolitan assemblies have failed to enforce their own laws that make it mandatory for landlords to provide toilets in their houses. In certain parts of the capital, Accra, many landlords converted their pan-latrine toilets into extra rooms and asked the tenants to use public places of convenience. To live successfully in one of these houses, you must have total control of your bowels under the most turbulent stomach conditions. If you don't, your opprobrium is beyond salvage. Apart from having to hold it in until you get to the public toilet that can be any distance away from your house, you have to contend with a long queue of surfers, some holding soap dishes half filled with enema in one hand and enema syringe ("bentua") in the other, all waiting their turn to download. Unfortunately for you, there are no emergency procedures to take care of your circumstances. Under such circumstances, your best bet is to look for any place more convenient than this place of convenience, this could be anywhere- the beach, the bush, behind that house, a carrier bag in your bedroom if you live alone- alas, you've joined the savages.

Why do we call these public toilets places of convenience? You can actually walk in with your father-in-law-in-waiting and finish negotiating the bride price for your fiancée, whiles at it. The stench emanating from the place can have devastating consequences on the nerves that control smell if exposure is not minimized. In fact, a couple of these toilets imploded under its own methane (or whatever gas it is) a decade or so ago. Some chaps in Kumasi attempted to improve these toilets by inventing the KVIP- Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine. I never understood why these chaps invented the KVIP at a time we had been used to WCs for decades. I was even more baffled by the way politicians loved to inaugurate these toilets. If you have ever used the so called improved pit latrine you realize it is no technology at all. However, after an encounter with a mobile toilet in the middle of London, I revised my notes on the technology.

Whiles shopping on the high streets in London in February 1998, I felt a strong call of nature. Incidentally it was on that trip that I adopted the name Ogyakromian. Luckily I located a mobile toilet right there in the middle of everywhere. As soon as the door moved to close position and Ogyakromian prepared to dialogue with nature, I saw a note on the closed door advising users of the system that the door is programmed to open AUTOMATICALLY after 15 minutes. What? "What if the system mistimed my session and flings open after 2 minutes?" "I wasn't wearing a watch, what if I misjudge 15 minutes?" As these thoughts flushed through my mind, I decided that was it, I wasn't going expose myself to an opprobrium of this magnitude, I was out of the place before you could cross the last 't' in the word toilet. I don't know who put an upper limit of 15 minutes on a session with nature, but with the KVIP system, the owners of the toilet didn't have to worry about such issues, you will only stay in that room if you have to be there, the stench will kick you out, no electronics required.

Sometimes I do wonder why people in certain areas in Accra queue to vote for politicians who cannot even guarantee them a decent place to exercise one of the most private rights of a citizen. The approach to solving this problem has always been half-hearted. For instance, in the heat of Rawlings' revolution, he is reported to have said that people with two WCs in their homes must transfer one to the people of Nima. Brilliant Solution: It is more difficult to bring dignity to the millions who need it by providing them with toilets, why not strip dignity off the few who have it by taking toilets away from them to create equality at the baseline. Other solutions have been capitalist in nature. Long before the Internet was invented, toilet hotspots were
created in
densely populated areas to serve the needs of the populace. This approach has served politicians in more ways than one. Some of these toilets are out sourced to party faithful who have been promised jobs. This is so important that daggers are drawn when governments are changed without change in the management of the toilets. It is one of such incidents that prompted the woman to call for "contempt on the toilet". Secondly, with the pressure for politicians to show evidence of development, why not keep building these public KVIPs? A toilet here, a toilet there, and your votes are banked! If every home has its own toilet, what will the politician do for development? Roads? That is hellishly expensive.

Dr. Charles Wereko Brobbey and his Ghana at 50 attempted to solve some of our toilet worries. Though good intentioned, the celebration ended with no visible toilets on our highways, what a shame. Even if it had been successful, his project will not solve the real problem with our toilet or lack of it. Our people really understand the importance of toilets in the affairs of men but we simply have failed to address the matters arising. In the Anlo tribe for example, a man on the way to visit the toilet is exempted from greeting anyone along the way. Of course, with the greetings are exchanged, asking after every object in the house in turn, if you insist on greeting, there shall be a performance. So we recognize the fact that toilets must be accessible without impedance, not even cultural impedance is good enough. So why have we for many years watched queues buildup at these toilet hotspots that have become business ventures and have refused to insist on a simple rule- every house and its own toilet(s)?

Let's face it; in the court of the toilet judge, we're in Contempt!

Bayie Kɔɔɔɔɔ (II) - The Witches Congregate

"The witch cried yesterday and the child died today, who does not know that it was the witch that cried yesterday that killed the child who died today" Yoruba proverb. (http://www.iheu.org/node/2856)



Brutus, My brother from another mother, what will you do if you see a temple in the middle of the forest, and you are told that it is hosting the annual conference of global witches at that moment? Coming from Europe, you may be tempted to draw near the building to see for yourself. But if this happens anywhere in Africa, don't attempt to access anything from that temple using any of your five senses, flee immediately. In my earlier Sakalogue on the activities of the witches of Ghana, I told you these chaps are not friendly, they are deadly. The people of Hyiawu-Besease in the Bosomtwe Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana are dead worried because the Association of Witches in West Africa (AWWA) has scheduled its annual conference for the town. The chief and people of the town are doing everything under the sun to scuttle these eerie creatures even before the meeting begins.



Dormant prayer warriors have suddenly found the fuel to energize their wheels. A day of prayer and fasting was declared at which the people came together and called on Jehovah to send down warrior angels to scatter the heretic breed. Some intellectuals in the adjoining towns have contacted celebrated mathematicians to calculate the "gyratik radius" – the furthest distance at which you can feel the influence of a gyrating witch. They plan to be outside the "africamotive field" of influence (determined by the gyratic radius) of the conference as a safety measure. Dan Blocker, the chairman of Hyiawu Besease Macho Men (HBMM) has organized his boys to show courage in a way that has annoyed many animal rights activists. The Macho men will take turns in keeping vigil in the forests of the town. Any owl that is seen in the forest must be kicked, crashed, shot or stoned to death. Conspicuously missing in these activities is a libation ceremony to invoke the protection of the ancestors. Our elders are very smart people in Africa. Why invoke the spirit of the ancestors against the witches when every ancestor including my 79 year old grandfather was killed by a witch? They will be no match for the witches.



As I mentioned in my first Sakalogue on witches, the easiest way to identify a witch in a village is to look for a defenseless woman whose face is battered by want, leaving little beauty to be cherished. It is believed that a witches spiritually fly out of their body frames taking the form of  owls as they hounds their prey. They leave their human body in a coma-like state without the ability to respond to stimulus. Based on this knowledge, witch-hunters all over Ghana will pay nocturnal visits to identified suspected witches, whoever fails to respond to loud bangs on the door will be moved from the suspect-list to a list of certified witches and will be dealt with according to the law of the village.



The question on the lips of the people of Hyiawu Besease is "why this town?" In fact, this is the second time in two years that a conference of witches has been scheduled for a town in the Ashanti region. Nobody really knows what happened to the first conference. There is a deity in the Ashanti region called Antoa Nyama, I'm surprised nobody has asked it to make the conference 'nyamaaa'. The problem is we can't tell if the meetings happen or not because nobody knows the form the meetings will take- Physical or spiritual. More interesting is the fact that seemingly, this organization has neither a spokesman nor any identifiable human executive. Their address, both globally and locally, remains unknown, yet their meeting and the agenda has been widely circulated beyond the wildest dreams of any advertising organization for nothing- such a feat can only be chalked by principalities and powers beyond this realm- these must be witches of Africa for sure.



Brutus, you can feel the trepidation in the air. The people of Hyiawu-Besease have already seen some signs. A middle aged woman died shortly after brushing her teeth. A seven bedroom house collapsed and burnt to ashes- I know what you're thinking, shouldn't we withdraw the license of the contractor that put up the building for doing a shoddy job? Hmmm, you see, this one, it is not his fault. It can't be. At a time that witches of unknown origin and indeterminate address have promised the loss of almost a million lives in an operation dubbed "blood galore", every death must be consigned to their account.



I have some personal challenges in my family and some colleagues have advised that it could be attributed to the things I say and write about these awe inspiring creatures but "tofiakwa" with a finger-snap over my head. As Balaam said of Israel to Balak, Numbers 23:23; "There is no enchantment against Ogyakromian, neither is there divination against my family".



Sometimes my bones quiver with great trepidation at these things. No, not of the witches or what they do or do not do, but of the thousands of Ghanaians who do what they shouldn't do, and do not do what they should because of such unsubstantiated stories- opportunities lost!



Yours truly,



Ogyakromian

WHY PRESIDENT MILLS MUST FIRE THE UPPER EAST REGIONAL MINISTER

If I had the President’s ear, I will advise him to fire Mr. Mark Wayongo the Upper East Regional Minister with immediate effect. This gentleman has proven, by comments he made after video evidence emerged showing the extent to which military offices tortured and dehumanized suspects in Bawku, that he is not cut for that important position. In an earlier article, I criticized the action of the soldiers who stripped two suspects naked and paraded them in the street of Bawku. At the time, the soldiers had attempted to rationalize their action in a most uncanny way, albeit unsuccessfully. The video provided proof that the soldiers lied through their teeth when they claimed they didn’t molest anybody. Faced with this evidence, the President’s representative in the region, Mark Wayongo  is asking Ghanaians not to “over-flog” the issue for the following reasons:

i.              The soldiers will feel unwanted and disillusioned. They will take a back stage when things are going wrong leading to serious consequences.

ii.            Stripping the men  naked is “better” than attempting to kill people (the crime the two men have been accused of)

iii.           The treatment is justified in Bawku because of the “abnormal” situation in the town. It would have been un acceptable in Accra

iv.           Criticizing the soldiers will prolong the conflict.

Mr. Wayongo has demonstrated that he doesn’t understand what constitutional rule is about. Perhaps he was one of the people who enjoyed the “good old days” under military rule and is relishing the prospects of a return to the lawlessness that characterized those periods of our history. 

It may be pardonable if ordinary citizens call into radio stations and suggest that it is ok to abuse the rights of people in conflict zones, but it is totally unacceptable when a minister of state tows that line. Mr . Wayongo and anybody else who thinks like him must understand that you cannot teach the soldiers one way to behave in Bawku and another way to behave in Accra, no matter the circumstances. Perhaps he will understand my point if he pictures a hypothetical scenario where soldiers take up arms and usurp political power (as they did in 1981) and they decide that that parading ministers of state like Mark Wayongo naked on the streets will restore discipline in the country. He should just picture himself being paraded naked in his home town for whatever reason, and rethink his stance. I do not have to remind him that the soldiers actually stripped women naked in Accra during the so called revolution.

I will be quick to stress that like any decent Ghanaian, I want the Bawku crisis solved pronto. In fact I made the point strongly in an earlier article, Bawku’s Bunkers and Baulkers. But in our attempt to get rid of impunity up north, it makes no sense to encourage a more dangerous kind of impunity in which the military are made to feel they can take the law into their own hands when they deem fit and get away with it.

Mr. Wayongo should also understand that a suspect is not a criminal. What will he say if a court of competent jurisdiction looks into this case and realizes that the suspects have had been wrongfully accused? Does he know of any way to restore their dignity in Bawku?

 Mr. Wayongo asserts that soldiers will get disillusioned if we insist they behave right in a conflict zone. I wish to remind him that it is such trail of thought that has kept the murderers of Issah Mobilla out of jail till this time, a situation the minister’s party made campaign capital out of. Let me also remind him that American servicemen in Iraq haven’t remained aloof because some of their colleagues are serving time for abusing prisoners’ rights in Abu Ghraib prison. When we deploy our soldiers anywhere, the least we expect of them is professionalism and discipline that upholds our constitution and international law. The soldiers only abdicate these values because they know their commanders and politicians like Mark Wayongo will come to their rescue. If the message is sent throughout our society that we abhor such barbarism as took place in Bawku, the soldiers will behave. Why do you think our soldiers earn all those accolades when working under UN instructions on peace keeping duties? They only follow the standards. Do our soldiers live up to their international reputation when working in Ghana? I think no. And this is because our society makes apologies for unprofessionalism of the kind exhibited by the soldiers in this instant.

Does the regional minister actually believe that the impunity in Bawku will be curtailed by further impunity? Sending soldiers and policemen to Bawku to “discipline” suspects before a competent court of law has an opportunity to assess their guilt will only draw the military into the fracas in the north. They will lose support of innocent citizens who should be strong allies in stopping the conflict. Winning hearts and minds is key to the to a resolution. Encouraging military brutality will only entrench the conflict. If President Mills wants to solve the protracted conflict in Bawku, he must get rid of this man, he lacks the skills to bring peace to the town.

I am not a fan of Spio Gabrah, but he was spot on when he said some of these ministers should never have made it to the substitute bench.  Mr. Mark Wayongo has demonstrated that he is one of such. He has flaunted the opportunity to prove that he is belongs to Team A.

The military is a very important institution in Ghana’s development. We love them and we want to be proud of them at all times. Therefore when such infractions occur, we expect the leadership to come out and assure us that as an institution, they haven’t given up our shared values, and that they will rein in the deviants in their fold

The ilk of Wayongo must understand that human rights are universal non-negotiable rights that differentiate us from animals. That is what guarantees each of us the sanity we enjoy in Ghana. If we contrive to give it away as we have done in the past, we will live to regret it. For a minister of State, he must understand the constitutional position on such things. That is why Mr. President must get rid of Mark Wayongo from his government to show that we care about our own rights.

Chukwudi, How old are you?

"Cast your years on the coaster that rolls behind you and after many football seasons they will overtake you" - Ogyakromian

One of the questions we are taught to answer very early in life is “How old are you?” Therefore when you see an adult struggling to answer this simple question then you know that “matter don come”.  This was the situation Fortune Chukwudi , the captain of the Nigerian under 17 team, found himself in when a journalist asked him, Chukwudi How old are you? A brief background will be helpful.

A few weeks to the commencement of the 2009 edition of FIFA’s under 17 world cup  competition,  Team Nigeria had been thrown into confusion when they were forced to drop fifteen players after MRI scans indicated they were over-aged . In a move reminiscent of what happened to team Ghana before Korea 2007 when Ghana dropped six players after FIFA promised scans to weed out age cheats, Nigeria preempted FIFA’s big stick by carrying out its own scans. This action notwithstanding, during the tournament itself,  Adokiye Amiesimaka, a nations cup winner with Nigeria in 1980 and lawyer decided to use his column in the Guardian to attack the age cheats when all eyes were on Nigeria.  According to Adokiye Amiesimaka, he once ran a football club somewhere in Nigeria and he recruited a footballer who claimed he was eighteen years in the year 2002. Today in 2009, this young man by name Fortune Chukwudi  is the captain of Nigeria’s under 17 team . Assuming he used his correct age in 2002, Chukwudi must be twenty-five now. How did he make it into the under-seventeen team that had been pruned by Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) . In the storm that followed his publication, Adokiye Amiesimaka the man who stood for truth was subjected to all kind of vilifications for being ‘too-known’. This is the bane of Africa’s under development.  But let’s leave that for another day.

After Nigeria deservedly lost the final match to Switzerland, a team that really looked under 17, the captain of the Nigerian team was asked a simple question by curious journalists - Chukwudi, How old are you? The young man’s answer was, “I have put all these issues behind me”.  Many people missed the revelation in Chukwudi’s answer. Remember when Christ was tempted by the devil three times? He told the devil after the third attempt, “get thee behind me Satan”.  The sermon is clear - when you face obstacles in your path to stardom, put the obstacle behind you. Like many more before him, Chukwudi had the opportunity to play for a national team, get a contract in Europe and bye-bye poverty. But one thing stood against him- Age. What did he do? He took the extra eight years or so that ensnared him and put them behind him, only then did he become 17.  If the journalist had asked “how many years are behind you?”  Maybe he would have told us.

Fortune Chukwudi is not the only player with a few years behind him.  I lost interest in FIFA’s aged competitions years ago when I came to the conclusion that the competition has been over-abused particularly by countries in Africa led by Ghana and Nigeria.   As far back as the eighties I wrote a letter, that wasn’t published, to the editor of Graphic Sports , a Ghanaian sports weekly on this subject . My letter said Ghana was cheating and I cited examples of some players. I have since decided not to celebrate any star from these tournaments; I’d rather wait and celebrate them when they become real stars at the senior level. For these players, excelling in these tournaments is a once in a life time opportunity to be seen by scouts of European teams. A contract in Europe translates many from the dominion of poverty to the glory of riches. The stakes are therefore very high for them; it doesn’t matter if they have to cheat to be in a squad. But for sports officials who condone and connive with these guys to put as many as eight to ten years behind them, I don’t know what motivates them. It is no secret that ages on passports and birth certificates in Africa are what we say they are, but we all know what a 16 year old looks like in our community and it is very easy to verify these ages if we want to. Most of these players would have played for various teams from the colt (real under 17) league to the premier division. The football associations have these records and can easily make a good guess of a player’s age from his history. Most of them were once enrolled in schools where age records are kept.  Getting such data on 98% of these footballers is a no brainer, therefore for an FA official to suggest that we go ask the parents of these footballers to confirm their ages , is to say the least , ridiculous.

 In my early teens, Yaw Preko was my favourite player in the colt league in Accra. He played for Kotobabi Power lines. At the time (Around ’84), some competing teams felt he was above the 16 year limit for the league.  In 1991, Yaw Preko played for the Ghana under-17 team for the second time at age 16. After giving a good account of themselves at their maiden world cup appearance, the senior national team of Ghana will be carrying the expectations of Ghanaians into another world cup in South Africa. Judging from their ages in 2006, the Black stars team is expected to peak around 2010. However, the high expectations of Ghanaians is being tempered by one difficult question- How many years do they have behind them?  Recurring injuries to any of our heroes is viewed with suspicion in Ghana- Could that be the sign that the years have overtaken him from behind?  The fitness of Laryea Kingston, John Mensah, and Stephen Appiah still gives me the shivers. I made a sign of the cross when Michael  Essien recovered from that knee injury in less than six months and came back firing on all cylinders. I don’t believe he is 26 years but he must be close to that (less than four years from the fact).  I still pray that Asamoah Gyan’s current form continues and the injuries that plagued his career last year remain behind him too. Is he 24?

When I realized that Julius Agahowa’s back flicks that characterized his goal celebrations have abandoned him at age 24, I knew the pace forward have finally been out paced by those years behind him.  Does anybody in Nigeria remember Nwanko Kanu’s  educational history? When measured against his football age of 33 what does it say? That Kanu  was 2 years old in what class? I hear his team mate David James, the England goal keeper, has challenged the assertion that at 37, he is the oldest player in the team. He reserves that honour for 33 year old Kanu. His former coach Harry Rednapp thinks Kanu is 47.

If the age cheating phenomenon was bringing benefits to Africa, few people will lose sleep over it. But apart from making a few players and their families rich, it has no other benefit. If winning under 17 trophies does not translate to winning the real world cup, of what benefit is it? However, if we feature true under-17s and true under-20s in these age competitions, the scouts will still find the talents from Africa. These true youths will benefit from the youth training system in the European clubs, they become better players, our chances of winning the senior world cup are brighter and guess what, they will earn lots of money for many years to come and lift the family yoke of poverty. Every age cheat just steals the opportunity of this true talent. Africa is the loser.

Chukwudi, whose place did you steal in the national under 17 team? Chukwudi, How many years did you cast behind you? Chukwudi , How old are you?

WHEN THE LIES FALL FLAT

"Truth is the safest Lie"

There are times when lies are simply not helpful and insisting on your lines make you look silly. Many a time, governments’ PR machines get chided for doing a bad job of defending their government when in reality, the actions taken by their employers are simply indefensible. In such circumstances, intelligent men and women are made to look like over-indulged adolescents who are just oblivious to reason. Our security institutions get caught up in this situation a lot when they exceed their powers. They claw at any scrap they can find, for example, to explain why a suspect in police custody is swollen-eyed even though he was not manhandled.


The military detachment in Bawku took custody of two guys, teachers by profession, for allegedly shooting indiscriminately in the highly charged town. The veracity of this allegation will soon be determined in a competent court of law. However, reports that the soldiers stripped the teachers to their birthday suite and paraded them stark naked in the Bawku Township, totally demystifying all trajectories protruding from the groins, cannot be taken lightly. Thanks to the actions of these soldiers, the mother-in-laws of these two chaps do not have to imagine the measure of trauma their daughters bear in carrying out wifely duties; they have seen it ‘fiili fiili’, they can even make comparisons to their own crosses. If these two guys ever make it back to the classroom, they will not dare ask the pupils to write an essay describing their teacher. In these days of technological proliferations, these guys could one day walk into an adult theatre and get shocked to the realization that they are the key actors in the latest porn movie .

Of course, the military has vehemently denied stripping the guys and parading them in the streets. According to Captain Frank Abrokwa, the commander of the military detachmentt, one guy was already half naked (without a shirt) when they attempted to arrest him, and in his attempt to resist arrest the trousers shriveled into nothingness. When asked what happened to the suspect’s under wear, he struggled to suggest that the suspect, who had just returned from a shooting spree, was walking around “anti-pe” (no under pants). He further explained that they had to walk the naked suspect from his home to the waiting military vehicle which was some distance away creating the impression that the suspect was paraded naked.

I believe that in typical Ghanaian military style, the soldiers stripped the guys naked and paraded them in the streets of Bawku to serve as a deterrent. I also believe that Captain Abrokwa’s version of what took place is far from the truth, in fact he is a bad liar . The Captain’s story falls out in the face of two facts:

i. It doesn’t convincingly explain how the second suspect also got naked.
ii. Being that they arrested one suspect in his own home, they could have clothed him before walking 10 km to their car if they did not intend to parade him naked.

I have heard many people call into radio programs to support the action of the military in Bawku because they believe such high handedness is required to stop the people of Bawku from annihilating each other in a stupid ethnic conflict. I have similarly heard many Ghanaians castigate human rights activists for speaking for the rights of armed robbery suspects. Such people speak out of ignorance. When people demand rights for suspects, they do so to protect innocent citizens who will be caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time, not criminals. The human rights groups are fighting for the rights of the people who ignorantly castigate them on air. If any of these guys find themselves at the other end of the stick, they will learn the hard way to appreciate what the concept of human rights is all about.

Growing up in Rawlings’ Ghana in the eighties, I saw and heard enough of military style justice in this country to say that no civilized nation needs it. Through fear, it chalks some successes in instilling discipline, but the excesses far outweigh any benefit. Women stripped naked, loss of innocent life, torture of ordinary citizens, arbitrary justice is too high a price to pay for discipline. We have cheaper options in staying loyal to the rule of law.

It is important to note that even prisoners of war are entitled to rights. When some American soldiers conscripted prisoners in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to act porn movies similar to what Captain Abrokwa and his men produced, it generated uproar in the world. Some soldiers were discharged from the army and others are currently serving jail sentences for those actions. We appreciate the sacrifices of our Men in uniform, but they must understand the times. The days of the banana republic are gone. In this dispensation, there is a soldier and his role, and there is a judge and his role, let none usurp the role of the other.

Bawku’s Bunkers and Baulkers

Dedicated to The Innocent Victims of Unchecked Criminality in Bawku. The State must silence the guns up north!

In the early part of 2008 as the then Senators, Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton tried to outshine each other to get the nomination of the Democratic Party as its presidential candidate, the latter landed in hot waters when she made the infamous claims about sniper fire in Bosnia. The former first lady of the United States of America said of an earlier trip she had made to Bosnia, "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." She was forced to beat an embarrassing retreat as she downgraded her heroic Bosnia tale to a “misspeak”.

 

The Upper East regional minister Mr. Mark Wayongo will have no such problems if he makes the big decision to succeed the asomdwehene as the next NDC president. His account of what happened to him in Bawku, as he narrated on the Joy FM’s Super morning Show, hasn’t been challenged so it must be the truth. He has seen enough on the battle field to describe the guns used in battle and give an estimate of the number of enemy combatants. There is enough material in the story to spawn a movie, maybe his strategists can take that up. The movie can end with Mr. Wayongo advocating for a Presidential Special Initiative (PSI) to build bunkers in Bawku since it has become apparent that Ghanaians are not interested in ending these conflicts up north. The bunkers will be dotted around the Bawku Township providing politicians with immediate refuge when their political tours are interrupted by gun fire.

It begs saying that, the recurring war of attrition between ethnic groups in Bawku and other parts of the northern region, is fast becoming a big embarrassment to this nation. Sometimes, those of us far from the conflict zones struggle to understand the reason for these battles and I sometimes wonder if the combatants do. Millions of Ghana cedis that could be channelled into development are spent to protect people from their kith and kin, while the real enemies- poverty and under-development – cool off in the stands. I seek a soothsayer that shall declare how much greatness shall emanate from the North of Ghana; if peace replaces war, if opportunity replaces poverty, if tractors replace the guns, if compromise replaces contest and dialogue replaces distrust? Surely, my folks up north recognize this truth better than I do. So who stokes the flame?

When the guns that had been silent over Bawku for sometime went blazing over the weekend of 30^th October, I asked myself

Who is the peace baulker in Bawku?

a.      The People

b.      The Politicians

c.       The Police (Security)

d.      All the above  

Who gets my ‘vote’?

Surely, the people of Bawku must have a say in the battles. Who burns the houses? Who pulls the trigger? Who hides the combatants? Certainly, there is a beast within. The art of war, especially in a functioning state like ours, must be difficult to plan and execute. Raising the funds to buy the armour, doing the actual purchase, smuggling ammunition to the right destination, organizing the clan to fight and other tactics of war require a man or woman with great influence in our society. I dare say this war lord is a citizen of Bawku. Who can name him? It is my belief that one word from somebody in Bawku will collapse the world of these war lords. Who wants to bell the cat?

It is a sad commentary that there are few good things happening around us that we can attribute to our politics. But Ogyakrom politics never fails to provide the spark to create controversy and sometimes notoriety. Such cynicism stems from the mediocre treat dished to us year after year by our elected officers. It is just not possible to extricate our politicians from the troubles up north.

It is no secret that warring factions have aligned themselves to the two major political parties in the country. There is the growing perception that factions aligned to a ruling party at any time get audacious in their attacks for obvious reasons. Recently, in an extension of the battles up north, some men were butchered in cold blood at the Agbogbloshie market in Accra. They were NPP sympathizers who had lost control of the market because NDC had regained power. The culprits are still at large.   Which party do they belong to? 

During the eight years of Kuffuor’s government, there were many infractions up north, where NPP sympathizers were fingered as culpable. Is it for lack of evidence that we didn’t see a single successful prosecution, or the guys were just untouchable? For some reason, sitting governments tend to exhibit great inertia in prosecuting their own.  Signals that one can get away with impunity if he is properly connected cannot augur well for fighting crime and lawlessness anywhere.

Former president Rawlings made several statements on the northern conflicts that perhaps got NDC some votes but did little to stem the tide of the wars up north. Is politics all about power and all other things secondary?

The police force has a lot to prove that they are on top of security issues in this country. I do admit that they share responsibility for fighting the crimes up north with the military, but responsibility of internal peace lies with the ministry of interior rather than the ministry of defence. The Bawku crisis has spanned the tenure of a number of IGPs. It will be of interest to see what these police chiefs record on their CVs and auto biographies regarding what they did in Bawku. It is a shame that the whole State apparatus hasn’t been able to get big convictions to halt these small intra ethnic battles. There have been tough talks warning people to surrender arms- how many did we collect? Why can’t we craft an intelligence network to unravel the source and paths traversed by sophisticated armour to get to Bawku? When institutions like the BNI and National Security are in the news, I’d rather it is about such exploits than bravado against wives of former ministers at the airport. Sometimes I do wonder if political powers prevent the police from doing their lawful duty. If it is so, what does a police chief worth his title do? Kowtow to the dogs of war or remain professional and earn his medals? I hope none of these police chiefs was mis-decorated with Kuffuor’s medals. The blood of the innocent from Bawku shall stand in their faces if they don’t return them.

So, is it the People, the Politician or the Police? Who is your choice?

If we find the baulker , lock him in Wayongo’s bunker, Bawku may never brawl again.

The African Gift Train

In a chat with some colleagues in the office last week I cited a bribery allegation brought against Ghana and Nigeria by Liberia in 2001 and the defense put up by Nigeria, to illustrate a point about corruption apologists. Events in Senegal over the week resonate with what happened in the run up to qualification for the FIFA 2002 world cup.

Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia among other countries had to fight for one of Africa’s five slots in the FIFA 2002 world cup. After the penultimate matches in the group, it became clear that even though Ghana’s chances of representing Africa were gone, it would act as the king maker in the group to determine whether Liberia or Nigeria qualifies. If Ghana gets a draw against Nigeria in the last match, Liberia goes through to represent Africa from their group. In the match itself, Ghana fielded a weakened team and lost their goal keeper through a needless act that attracted the red card from the referee. Ghana lost the match by three goals to nil (Nigeria 3: Ghana 0), and Nigeria qualified from the group. After the match, a Nigerian governor from Rivers state presented a gift of $25 000 to the Ghanaian team at reception he held for both teams.   Liberia reported this incident to FIFA’s disciplinary committee. In its defense to the disciplinary committee, Nigeria explained that it is a local tradition to give out gifts to visiting teams; FIFA accepted the explanation , case close. How did I miss that tradition in Africa?

Last week in Senegal, the Government was forced, after initial denials, to admit that it gave a gift of two hundred thousand US dollars ($200,000.00) to Alex Segura, an IMF official, after his tour of duty had come to an end. .  According to the Prime Minister, Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye, the money represented a goodbye present - part of an African tradition. He said, "We in Africa have a tradition - when someone visits you, you give him a gift at departure".  The tradition again!  It is just not fair that some of us have lived in Africa for so long but have managed to miss out on the most lucrative African tradition.  On a continent that conjures memories of hunger, famine and extreme poverty, a tradition of dollar denominated gifts is a powerful tool to restore humanity to many. But somehow, our society has contrived to conceal this great tradition from the people who need it most.

I have realized that the ubiquitous African gift train travels with engines powered by tradition or friendship. When the history of Ghana’s 4^th republican adventure gets chronicled for posterity, I am sure there are many who will want the former president, J²R, credited as the greatest Apostle of Probity and Accountability.  It is worth noting that this gentleman, whose supporters claim made no fortunes for himself when he superintended the affairs of Ogyakrom for almost two decades, took a coach on the gift train. When Ogyakromians wanted to know how the former first family managed to educate their kids abroad, they were told that the expensive educational bills were funded by friends. As if on cue, a former minister in that government who was convicted before the fast track high court for causing financial loss to Ghana also claimed to have benefited from a gift train powered by friends when he had to educate his kids abroad. A couple of years later, it was the turn of a health minister in K4’s government to announce that the gods of Africa have blessed him with a ride on the golden rails. This gentleman had misplaced a condom whiles attending a conference on AIDS,  resulting in a bouncy baby boy.  He was asked to justify how he raised over ninety thousand US dollars for the upkeep of his son, you guessed right, from friends.

I am particularly upset at the gods for denying me a ride on the train. But I have planned my revenge. If any young man mistakes my head for ‘Odomankoma’s’ wisdom pot, and he asks me, “Ogyakromian, what can I do to be rich?” My answer shall be  

“Find the African Gift train. Get on board. The engine driving it may be tradition or it may be friends, it makes rich anyway. The consequences are yours”. If he understands my wisdom and asks    “How do we make Africa rich in the midst of Africa’s riches?” There I have my revenge. My answer shall be “Derail the African gift train!”.

Combating the Invading Army of Charlatans

But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. -Jude 10-11

They may not lay claim to the swiftness of Julius Caesar’s marauding battalions nor the coordination of the allied forces but they are as tenacious in their campaign as any purposeful army. Except that their goals are not ideological, they are materialistic. Through the magic of radio and TV, propelled by microwaves, they invade the sanctity of our living rooms. Not only do we have to protect our children from violent and lewd movies, but also some supposed Christian services. But for the grave consequences their actions have on ordinary Ghanaians, we would have consigned them to the world of comedy and allowed them to jostle for space with the likes of Agya Koo.

They masquerade as anything that is noble in scripture, Prophets, Bishops, Reverends, and more. They murder the scriptures without mercy, shock our sensibilities, and pollute the atmosphere with profane insults that I don’t hear anymore in the streets of Accra, yet they still command large followings. Out of the abundance of their hearts flow curses that even though of no effect, will not be acceptable in any heathen shrine. Yet they lay claims to the only Lord that is Sovereign. If this is not the abomination that causes desolation (Mat 24:15, Dan 11:31) then what is?

That our society tolerates these charlatans is ample evidence of the fine balance we have to tread between personal liberties and public order. But I believe these guys have done enough to at least attract a caution from a court of competent jurisdiction. Since Joy FM aired some of the ludicrous outbursts of these characters, there have been calls to restrict religious liberties because of these bandits, but it is my opinion that we should jealously guard the freedom given to us by our constitution to worship freely. We cannot throw out the baby with the bath water. We can weed out the chaff through other freedoms guaranteed by the constitution.

It is important we recognize the fact that religion by its very nature is amenable to such grave abuses. Because God has no physical address accessible to mortals to go and clarify arguments about divinity and divine instructions, he has become subject to human interpretations of a myriad of scriptures and revelations purported to have been seen over the centuries. Out of this deep valley of confusion, has sprung various religious sects and denominations. Unfortunately, some scoundrels have identified Man’s inclination to seek his Maker as fertile ground to ply their scams and have decided to take advantage of our deep religious bearings. The mass following Christianity enjoys in Ghana makes it most vulnerable to such abuses. It is therefore no surprise that most of these unbelieving villains who have no respect for God or his son Jesus Christ confer holy titles onto themselves and parade the corridors of spiritual notoriety incognito. Through unsubstantiated miracles, they amass a following of gullible Ghanaians who throng their services by day and night. They get away with their nefarious acts because many Ghanaians refuse to question anything that purports spirituality. How many people can attest that the deaf man who was healed was deaf before the church service? I have always argued that the rate at which we hear reports of miracles, it should be easy to find Ghanaians who actually know a cripple, who lived among them, that was healed in a crusade or service. It should be easy to find a community in Ghana who lived with a man born blind, who went to a crusade one day and the next day he could see. Try looking for any of these and you will be better off finding a hawk that has a chicken for a girlfriend. Simply put, most of these miracles are faked! Hardly a day passes without hearing strange things from these scam artists; “A man of God sells canes to whip the devil”, “A pastor washes genitals of a woman at the beach” , “One prophet sleeps on a woman on TV to heal her”, “A preacher inserts his fingers in a woman’s private part whiles her husband stands next to her, in the name of healing a barren womb”, Aba! Can’t they even fake the decency that the office they usurp deserves?

I think identifying a fake man of God should not be difficult. I propose three simple rules.

i. Character before charisma
ii. Common Sense (Yes Common sense)
iii. Congruence

Charisma refers to spiritual gifts and powers, more importantly, it can be faked. People fake healing, tongues, prophecies etc. Character however, is more difficult to fake over the long term. The bible is clear about what constitutes the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22 - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It Goes further in verse 26 to state what they are not - Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. How can we then ignore the characters openly exhibited by these men as they curse, boast, fight and openly challenge each other? They even go about threatening to change people into vultures. My proposition- Character first, charisma next. Identify them by their fruits not by their gifts.

Many people believe common sense cannot be applied to spiritual things, but I beg to differ. Many preachers encourage that train of thought because they know that with your thinking caps on you can easily decipher between a miracle and a ruse. When Moses saw the bush on fire yet not consumed, it was common sense that made him take notice. When Jesus Christ healed blind people and lepers, there were always people who attested to the fact that the people had been blind from childhood. There were times Christ asked them to show themselves to the priests. If a “preacher” asks your wife to strip naked and asks you to look away, please listen, your common sense is right, this is supposed to be spiritual healing not a medical examination. Clothes are no barriers to the spirit. If a preacher appears on TV to say he has raised the dead, please remember, the stage was set by him, take it with a pinch of salt until you have reason not to. If we do not exact the highest level of proof from miracle workers, we will remain pawns in their carefully hatched schemes. God gave you the brains and the senses for a single purpose- to use them, please do so without feeling guilty.

My last anti-Charlatan dose is Congruence with scripture. If the man appears and says he is working miracles based on the Christian bible; then use the bible as a meter rule to measure his deeds. The bible describes the people of Berea as having greater nobility because among other things, they used the scriptures to authenticate the message they received (Acts 17:11). The bible explicitly warns Israel against Necromancy (inquiring of the dead), yet one of these “Men of God” appeared on TV and claimed he was speaking to a woman’s dead husband. The fact that he still has a congregation says a lot about the scriptural foundations of the people who sit at his feet.

Religious pretenders have led many to their deaths in tragic circumstances; some of them have destroyed families and many lives. The fact remains that you are the only one who can save yourself from these charlatans. The law is inadequate.

Combat the Charlatans with Character, Common Sense and Congruence.

How Much is Your Blessing?

Dear Brutus,

Did you watch Adebayor against Arsenal in the English Premier league? He picked his spot, delivered a stunning header that beat Almunia who was manning the posts for Arsenal, It was a goal!. He took off like a cheetah that has spotted a prey in the forests of the Kalahari. I don’t know if anybody timed the run but I suspect it will be the envy of many world class sprinters. He had one aim, to present himself to the arsenal fans who have thrown unprintable insults at him before and during the game. They wished for his downfall but “tofiakwa”, his God is a God of judgment. He has promised in his word “My head will be lifted up above my enemies around me”. He ended the run with a skid in front of the agitated fans from London, he didn’t utter a word but his posture said it all- enemy shame! See what has become of me. Many from his homeland in West Africa praised God for their beloved, but that is when they were thrown into stupor. It must be a culture shock. All the press in England went crazy. Senseless, Silly, and nonsensical were some of the adjectives used to describe his 90 yard dash celebration. What has he done wrong? He just celebrated a goal.

Brutus, some background will be helpful. In this part of Africa, governments provide us with nothing, so we learn to depend on God so much. Things you take for granted in Europe are miracles in our world. To hold a simple election in Ogyakrom for instance, we have to start fasting one year before the election so that only a few people will be killed in isolated incidence of madness. Malaria is a well known disease with a well defined cure yet thousands die of malaria. Through the hard way we have learnt to depend on God. That is why we don’t play with our religion. Majority of Ogyakromians believe an ensemble of witches have been assigned to orchestrate nothing but destruction against them. These witches are usually unassuming people during the day but suddenly metamorphose into powerful owls that sore to heights that confound the eagle. It is therefore very important that all Ogyakromians keep a diary of people who “look at them in some way”. They will be the subject of their prayer topic during the next retreat.

So when it comes to dealing with enemies, we don’t spare a prayer against them. It is common to see phrases “like let my enemy live long and see what I will be in future” boldly inscribed on vehicles. We love to “pepper” our enemies with our success no matter how small. When a woman gets a new cloth from her daughter, it is not only flaunted in the face of other contenders in the village, but the message is made complete through lyrical finesse laden with innuendos. Simply put, our success is incomplete if our enemies don’t see what has become of us.

In this light, when we saw Adebayor’s celebration, we knew his blessing was complete. In fact Pastors wrote new blessings for their congregations.
“Your feet shall be anointed as Adebayor’s and you will run before the enemy and you will not faint”.
“May the blessings of Adebayor over take you.”

But alas, before they could deliver these great blessings to their congregations everybody went hey wire in England. And the biggest shock, Adebayor has been fined £25 000 for his celebration! Is that the cost of a blessing? Even the bible agrees that we celebrate before our enemies. Do you remember the very popular Psalm 23:5? “Thou prepared a table before me, in the presence of my enemies”. So why are the guys who showed us the direction to the bible putting such a high cost to a blessing?

The English FA has caused a lot of commotion in Ogyakrom. My bosom friend called ‘Thy Will Be Done’ came home downcast the other day. He was just returning from a Pastor who has been praying with him to find a beautiful wife. The pastor has got a new revelation. Every Blessing has a cost, and the Pastor has published the price list for various blessings.
A blessing to overcome your enemies: ¢25 000
A blessing to buy a new car ¢1000
A blessing to Pass Exams ¢2500
A blessing for a wife: ¢10 000

At that point he stopped reading. His whole world collapsed instantly, he will never be able to afford a wife. Brutus what consolation could I offer him? I could only say, “Oh God! Thy Will be Done, it is well”. And I hope it doesn’t come with a cost.

Sincerely yours

Ogyakromian!!!

Building Bridges, Our Core Business- Mabey & Johnson

This is a statement from the management of Mabey & Johnson to explain events leading to criminal conviction of the company in Southwark Crown Court in London on 25^th September 2009. We wish to submit that we were put under pressure to plead guilty to charges of paying bribes in Ghana by an English court that used Anglo-Saxon definition of bribery with little understanding of the culture and norm of the West African country.

We wish to state without equivocation that our core business is to build bridges and that is the exact mission we pursued in Ghana. We arrived in Ghana at the early stages of the country’s adventure into republic hood for the fourth time. At the time, the country was led by fiery former revolutionary who was having a hard time adjusting to the pace and beat of democratic governance. The then president, who felt let down by the British crown for teaming up with other western powers to lure him into a political process totally out of pace with his training and genetic makeup, loathed everything British. It was believed that this country which had been selected by the Western powers and Breton Woods institutions as a model state was in danger of falling back into the hands of the friends of the defeated communist regime. The likes of Gathaffi and Castro were trying hard to convince him that he made a mistake by rejecting their philosophy of the State. Against this backdrop and the fact that many British company’s were in dire need of new markets to sustain economic growth, the lot fell on Mabey and Johnson, to get into Ghana, you guessed right, to build bridges between the two economies.

This is a concept well understood and practiced by communities in Africa for centuries. To build bridges to the King, you enter his gates not only with thanks giving and praises but with a gift of hard liqueur under your armpit. As you pass on the bottle to the King through his advisers, and once the content of the bottle goes round the palace, your connection is established – a firm bridge is built to carry your message to officialdom. This is exactly what we did in Ghana.

We wish to put it on record that the actions of Mabey and Johnson were in the interest of North – South cooperation, a relationship which is well understood and eloquently espoused by Tony Blair the British PM at the time who actually christened it NEPAD. The fact that Ghana stands to benefit over two billion pounds sterling attests to the strength of that relationship.

We are in no way endorsing the actions of the people who took the money, in fact we don’t know what they did to the money, but we believe that we did no wrong we merely executed our mission in Africa- Building Bridges.

PS:

Maybe Mabey and Johnson gives us the opportunity to examine our public procurement system. I do not believe that the canker of bribery that underlines most procurement decisions was touched by the so called procurement law. Speak to any business man who participates in a government contract and he will tell you “the ways and means” that fraught the process of selecting suppliers. The situation is such that companies that win tenders fairly (I dare say it will be easier to clean the filth in the Korle lagoon than find one) are under pressure to say “thank you” even when they haven’t been asked to. We need radical solutions to uproot corruption. What about banning the giving and taking of gifts in any form? It’s a thought.