How Mills outmanoeuvred John Rawlings

President Atta Mills I have had to detour from my many commitments in order to return to this network for two reasons. Firstly, some utterances from John Rawlings in the past few months have further cemented my indubitable view that Chairman Rawlings is well and truly debauched. The legerdemain and ardour with which the man concocts allegations composed a complex mix of truth, half-truths and falsehood never cease to amaze me. In that regard the man is truly a genius! Secondly I have been following the goings on within Ghanaian political circles with increasing hilarity since the P (NDC) took power in the motherland. The latter, being the main thrust of this article, will be discussed at length in due course. But in the meantime permit me to indulge you with some vintage Rawlings inconsistency. For starters, an article entitled rather tantalisingly “JJ Welcomes Arrest” [Ghanaweb, 23/11/07]flooded me with shock and intrigue as I wrongly assumed that the quondam P(NDC) strong man had finally welcomed his own arrest as a final act of penance for his many sins. But after reading the full article, alas my excitement waned into perplexity, consternation and then finally settled on amusement. That John Rawlings, a man who ordered the murder of three judges, supervised and perpetrated crimes against countless Ghanaians including Miss Enamel Sadick – a respectable trader in Cape Coast who was publicly stripped, placed on a table and whipped at Chapel Square by a bunch of ganja- puffing, cocaine-sniffing, dog meat-munching, bootlicking and kerb-crawling zombies- had the guts to welcome “the arrest of five soldiers allegedly implicated in the murder of former Ghana Commercial Bank Deputy Managing Director, Roko Frimpong” was nauseating indeed. This cold-hearted thug [so-labelled because he chose to shamelessly wrestle Kow Nkensen Arkaah to the ground rather than engage in intellectual discourse] is also of the view that “serious crimes had been perpetrated for political expediency over the past eight years and these had to be exposed quickly to avoid cover-ups”. Talk about déjà vu! The Chairman is also concerned with the fact that some “criminals [are] walking about freely, some of whom were pushed into uniformed institutions. These people have been used as agents of sabotage, some used to assassinate fellow soldiers and made to look like suicide, a police officer shot in the back in the Volta Regional Minister’s residence, arson and a host of other crimes”. That “some criminals are walking about freely… and have been the agents of sabotage, assassinations and a host of other crimes” is indeed indisputable. But for the chief architect and perpetrator of these crimes who so blatantly wove a myriad of indemnity and exclusion clauses into the furniture of the Ghanaian constitution (in a dastardly attempt to save his skin) only to turn around and cast the proverbial first stone is, at the very least, disgraceful. Perhaps it is time the chickens were allowed to return to the roost and for this raw-boned ogre of a man to face the long-winding vagaries of both Ghanaian and international criminal justice. Perhaps it is for this reason that John Mills has found it prudent and politically expedient to marginalize the Chairman since taking office. Clearly the man has no sense of fairness and equity and his rather vulgar mannerism and reputation for being a ‘loose cannon’ if unchecked is apt to damage the carefully crafted and much-ballyhooed image of Koo Mfantse; the messianic Asomdwe Hen. Far from being the ‘poodle’ that he is so infamously quoted as having sworn to be Mills appears to have gone off a completely new trajectory to the stupefaction and disappointment of the Chairman. I must confess that to the extent that Koo Mfantse Mills has been able to be his own man and refused to be shaken and stirred by the frequent outbursts and vulgarity of the Chairman, I congratulate him. But the Chairman is not taking it lying down! To the contrary he has vented his frustration with the Mills administration at every opportunity. Only recently he is reported to have threatened thusly: "If we do not wake up to correct the mistakes, I will not have anything to do with the party. I have died so many times for the party, been humiliated both locally and internationally. I cannot die for the greedy bastards who have wormed their way into government." What the Chairman fails to appreciate is that John Mills is the president and he is free to appoint who he deems fit to work for him. Period! Far from being the Rawlings ‘poodle’ that many speculated that he would be (mainly because he so recklessly alluded to that in order to win his favour in years past), Mills appears to have dexterously finessed his way into the top echelons of the P(NDC), managed to win potentate Rawlings’ support and approval by being his ‘poodle’ (albeit for a while) and then, after winning the elections, put as much distance between himself and the Chairman as possible, lest he be contaminated with the opiate and the vulgar image of the Chairman. Great manoeuvring indeed! In the face of vintage Rawlings ranting and scathing public vitriol Mills has displayed stark contrast by keeping his cool and in most cases keeping a remarkably loud silence. Clearly the president has found the antidote to the Rawlings menace: ignore the ogre and confine his moribund personality to history; contrast his vulgar, uncouth and uneducated outbursts with persistent admonishing of peace, reconciliation and a higher intellectual level of politics and forever condemn the Chairman to the outback of civilised politics where brawn and not brain is the modus operandi. In that endeavour, I must say more grease to his overly pampered elbows. Way to go Mr. President. Credit:Bernard Asher Lecturer of Business & Economics England, UK. E-mail: basher@guildford.ac.uk.

What is wrong with our African leaders?

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Corrupt and power hungry with no agenda to end poverty?

There are only two truly infinite things, the universe and stupidity. And I am unsure about the universe. - By:Albert Einstein More Quotes | Submit a Quote

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Corruption and embezzlement are a way of life for African leaders. From South Africa to Egypt there is no country where corruption is not endemic.

In Equatorial Guinea where oil export has earned the country billions of dollars, the 600,000 people living in the country continue to live in poverty while Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies continue to siphon the oil revenue with no accountability.

Nigeria, Gabon, Congo and Angola all of them Oil exporting countries are noted for high level of corruption among the ruling class. All four countries are ruled by a cabal of corrupt leaders and their associates who masquerade as the representative of the people: presidents, senators, MPs, ministers, government officials and the list go on and on... In fact, the type of government in all four countries can best be described as Kleptocracy.

In East Africa Kenya is ranked the most corrupt country in that region. Many MPs, ministers and their associates in Kenya stand accused of accepting bribes and allowing companies to do as they pleased.

Since oil was first discovered in Nigeria about 50 years ago, several billions of dollars have been realised from its sale but today the whole population continue to live in abject poverty and the country has nothing to show for it.

Between 2005 and 2007 several state governors and their immediate families were arrested by Scotlandyard in London on corruption and money laundering charges. Among them are James Ibori of oil rich Delta State and his wife Theresa who had their 35 million dollar asset frozen by the English court.

Mr. Ibori earns about a thousand dollars a month but during his eight years as a state governor he managed to acquire wealth to the tune of $35m and was a key financial contributor to the campaign of the current president Yar'Dua. He owns a private jet and lavish London home.

Another corrupt governor is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governor of oil-rich state of Bayelsa who was also arrested in London for money laundering charges. Mr. Alamieyeseigha broke his bail conditions and evaded capture in Britain by dressing up as a woman. When Police conducted a search in his London home they discovered one million pounds worth of cash in his home.

In Ghana over four ministers and government appointed officials have been implicated in a corruption scandal involving the British bridge construction firm Mabey and Johnston.

In countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sudan, Uganda, Libya, Zimbawe, Tunisia a Kleptocracy class of people have replaced anything democracy. In these countries very few people continue to remain in power and the people have no say in the way their country is governed or run.

According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by its leaders and civil servants.

Now think about this. What do you think will happen if instead of stealing the money and banking it in Switzerland, Monaco, France, Britain, Cayman Island and the rest as the governors in Nigeria and the leaders in Africa have been doing, the money is invested in training teachers, doctors, engineers, invested in infrastructure-roads, telecommunication, harbours, hospitals, schools, research institutions? What do you think will happen if every school has library with the right kind of books that will enable students to get the knowledge and skills they need? What do you think will happen if the money is invested in generating electricity for those living in the villages, towns and cities?

What about if the money is used to build water treatment plants to supply the people with potable water?

What do you think will happen to standard of living if the money is invested in agriculture, build canals, irrigation and storage facilities, buy tractors for farmers so they can produce to feed the nations?

Are African leaders happy when every negative thing in the world is associated with their countries: poverty, wars, corruption, AIDS/HIV, illiteracy and starvation? Are they happy when children die of diseases that can be eradicated?

What effort are the leaders making to eradicate poverty apart from just stealing monies that could help develop the countries?

Why don't they use the money generated from the sale of oil, gold, diamond to invest in education, fast and efficient transportation systems that could help increase business activities, create jobs and raise the standard of living of their peoples? Is it because they do not care? Is it because they not know what development is about? Is it because their only aim of seeking power is to steal and mismanage what remains of their loot?

The whole of Africa South of the Sahara is rife with poverty. What makes the leaders in the continent to have a negative attitude towards development and poverty eradication but love to accept bribe and engage in corruption and embezzlement? When they travel to Europe, America, Korea and Canada don't they see the roads and the airports?

So what is wrong with the leaders at all? I mean what makes African leaders intellectually blind, morally bankrupt, and ethically diseased? Why are they so different from all the leaders in the world? Of the over 50 presidents and prime ministers in Africa not a single one of them has been able to build an economy comparable to that of Korea despite some of them staying in power for more than forty years.

Why do they fail to react against challenges such as HIV/AIDS, food shortages, malnutrition, hunger, homelessness, wars, climate change and the cancer of corruption? Are they all sleeping behind the wheel?

When will they wake up from their slumber to address the major challenges facing the continent? Africa, South of the Sahara is blessed with rich soil, rivers and lakes all ingredients needed to produce food yet the continent is starving why?

Why do they continue to fail in every aspect of human endeavour? Please don't blame colonialism because Korea, Malaysia and India were also colonised but they have shaken themselves off the shackles of colonialism.

When will Africa leaders ever shake themselves from the colonial mentality that makes them subservient? When will Africa leaders ever shake themselves from the colonial mentality that makes them to think that they cannot do anything without France and Britain? Will Africa leaders ever grow up, pull themselves together to end the one-sided relationship that allow French, British and American Companies to have control over the resources of their countries, destroy agricultural lands, pollute rivers and put millions of Africans at risk? When will Africa leaders dismantle the corruption and bribery infrastructures that allow multinational corporations to pay bribes and then rape and loot African countries of their resources? When will African leaders put the corrupt multinational corporations in the dock for the pollution, bribery that continue to fuel corruption and poverty throughout the continent? When will Africa leaders stop conniving with multinational corporations to steal from their countries and deposit their loots in the banks of their former colonial masters especially France, Britain and Spain?

Can't Ghana do with the huge gold, diamond and other mineral deposits without going begging in foreign countries for loans that have done the country no good? Can't African leaders find ways to raise revenue without incurring heavy debts that continue to be a yoke for all the people?

When they visit their children in these countries don't they see the infrastructures that make it easier to do business and what prevents them from doing the same in their home countries? As am writing John Mahama, the vice president of Ghana has just returned from the US, didn't he see anything good that can be replicated in his country?

What makes Yahyah Jammeh of Gambia an expert in killing journalists but not the slightest idea on how to end poverty in his poverty stricken country? What makes Nigeria Senators and Governors so corrupt as to even steal money meant for the development of their own country? What makes the Bongo family in Gabon so stubbornly corrupt? What makes Dos Santos and his cronies to fail to use the oil money to build schools and houses for the poor in that country? What makes Denis Sassou Nguesso so corrupt as to have 112 bank accounts in France alone? What makes them enemies of progress and development? Is it lack of patriotism or is plain selfishness? Is it a genetic problem or is lack of vision and foresight? Is our politics that breed nepotism, cronyism and blind patronage to blame? What makes the leaders in Africa not to think beyond corruption and embezzlement? Why do they always take away poverty eradication from the equation? Why do they substitute development with corruption? Why do they ignore investment in agriculture, sanitation, water, health, education, roads and energy? Why do they refuse to take advantage of solar technology to supply electricity to millions of people who live in rural areas? Do they get satisfaction in seeing millions die of hunger, if no then why do they steal the very money that could end the misery, hopelessness and desperation among the people?

What is Ghana's Professor Atta Mills doing to end poverty and raise the living standard in his relatively peaceful country?

Is something wrong with our leaders and do they suffer from some genetic deficiency that make them power drunk, corrupt but less interested in fighting to end diseases, wars, hunger, starvation and poverty? What makes Gaddafi so power drunk as to rule his country for 40 years? What makes Dos Santos, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Yoweri Museveni, Hosni Mubarak, Obiang Nguema, Robert Mugabe, Mamadou Tandja and their cohorts to be interested in power and financial benefits that go with the office that they occupy and not the building of institutions and economies that will make their countries and people to be recognised as civilised members of the world community of nations?

What makes African leaders to get it so wrong everyday, every week, every month and every year and every decade? What makes African leaders to have gotten it so wrong in every aspect of human endeavour? What makes it so hard for Nigeria and Ghanaian leaders to use their huge natural resources to build successful economies like those of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong? What makes it so difficult for Somalia and DR Congo leaders to end the wars that have devastated their countries and driven millions into poverty, starvation and death?

Why are the leaders in Africa only interested in exporting raw materials like cocoa beans, coffee, cotton and uncut diamond and gold and not process them to add value to them before export: a process that could create millions of jobs and fetch the countries billions of dollars?

Why do African leaders shun investment in science and technology and yet would want to use mobile phones, laptop computers and the latest sport utility vehicles?

What makes the leaders to avoid investment in education? Why do African leaders find it difficult to have economic and social policies that will make them self sufficient and less dependent on foreign aid?

Of the over fifteen countries in West Africa not a single one of them has efficient, modern train network or system, not even Nigeria the so called super power in West Africa. The situation in Central and East Africa is not different from the one in West Africa.

Will African leaders for once put on their thinking cap, build strong institutions, build infrastructures, develop local talents, local businesses, end poverty, wars, starvation, forge unity and stop depending on foreign aid, and allow democracy and rule of law to work?

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Source: Modernghana.com

Why Are We Still Poor?

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Look at the woman in the photograph on the left and her surrounding carefully. Does she look like someone who has been given help by aid agencies like United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Oxfam, Action Aid, Christian Aid, World Vision, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and JICA?

Does she look like someone whose government has received billions of dollars in loans and grants from the World Bank or the IMF? Does she look like someone who has received financial or material help from US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France or Italy? Does she look like someone whose government receives billions of dollars in revenue from gold, oil, gas, coltan, diamond, timber, cocoa, cotton, tea, coffee, bauxite and uranium every year? Does she look like someone whose country has political and economic sovereignty or independence? And finally does she look like someone who has been liberated from colonialism?

What has happened to all the aid money or the IMF and World Bank loans or aid and grants from US, Japan, European Union and the revenue from the natural resources? In short why are the people so poor when Aid Agencies are helping them every day; when the World Bank and IMF give them loans every day; and US, Japan, Britain, Germany and others give aid and grants to the people every year? Who has benefited from all these monies? Could it be the donors and aid agencies themselves or the politicians who sometimes receive the money on behalf of the people? Could it be that nothing at all is received?

Why are we still poor? This is a troubling question. I cannot understand why after so many years of aid and big loans Africa still sits at the bottom of the world's progressive continents.

The World Bank and IMF claim to provide vital financial support to poor countries to help them alleviate poverty but more than fifty years of loans to these poor countries, poverty is still decimating them. So what happened to all the billions of dollars that the World Bank and IMF have provided to the world's poor? Could it be that the Bank and IMF give the loans and then turn round to force these poor countries to use it to service old and illegitimate debts?

Private banks

Could it be that the Bank and IMF give the loans to corrupt regimes who then deposit the money in their private banks in Europe and then ask the poor people who never benefited from the loans to use the little resources they have to service the odious debts? Could it be that the policies and solutions often prescribed by the Bank and IMF are toxic to the economies of these poor countries? Could it be that the loans are used to pay the so called technical experts that the Bank and IMF often send to the poor countries as advisers?

Could it be that the loans are given with conditions that benefit the creditors and not the countries who borrow the money? Can the World Bank and IMF explain to the World why so many poor countries remain poor after they had received tens of billions of dollars from them?

How do multinational corporations doing business in Africa pay for the resources that they exploit? Do they pay the governments with arms and military machines for use to oppress the people? Shell has been sued in the US for complicity in the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other environmentalist in Nigeria. Could it be that such complicities by multinational corporations, IMF, World Bank and Western governments are the result of the chronic poverty in the resource rich countries of Africa?

Who has received the money the multinational corporations pay? Or they don´t pay anything at all because they often pay bribes to politicians to look elsewhere why they plunder the resources, destroy and pollute the environment, rivers, wells, creeks, soil, lakes and fish stocks which are the livelihoods of most communities in mining and oil exploitation areas? Could it be that the destruction of their livelihoods by the multinationals are the result f the poverty and malnutrition we see in the continent?

Do multinational corporations declare all the profits they make in the African countries where they operate or they declare just pay a little and then hide the rest in their save haven accounts in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jersey and Caymans Island and the rest? And what role have they played to reduce poverty in the areas that they operate? How much of the billions of dollars of profits that Shell, BP, Chevron and Total make in Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea is used to correct the lasting environmental damage done to the communities where the resources are extracted? Is there anything called corporate social responsibility and how has the poor in Africa benefited from such responsibility?

Every year African leaders receive tens of billions of dollars from the sale of oil, gas, diamond, gold, bauxite, coltan, timber, cocoa, tea, coffee, cotton and many others. What has happen to all the money? Could it be that the money has been wasted on white elephant projects? Could it be that the money is stolen out right by corrupt politicians, the business elite and their cronies? If so could it be that Switzerland, France, Britain may be having a clue as to what has happened to all the money?

I have mentioned Switzerland and Britain because their banks have had direct links with all the corrupt regimes that Africa has ever produced from Mobutu, Sani Abacha, Lansana Conte, Eduardo dos Santos, Bakili Muluzi, Paul Biya and Blaise Campore to Ibrahim Babangida. Switzerland has so far returned $1.6-billions dollars to the poor countries where it was stolen, could it be that Switzerland and Britain are still hiding billions of dollars that could be used to improve the lives of Africans?

I mentioned France because Omar Bongo of Gabon and his family are known to have 70 banks accounts plus 59 luxury properties and 8 luxury cars in France alone and Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo and his family also have 122 bank accounts, 24 luxury properties and a number of luxury cars in France alone not to mention those in Switzerland and other save haven centres. Could it be that the money meant for the development of the people like the woman in the above photograph is sitting in these 200 bank accounts in France? It is only God who knows how much money is contained in 70 and 122 accounts.

Abject poverty

There are so many Aid and Humanitarian Agencies in Africa claiming to be helping the people to alleviate poverty but fifty years on majority Africans still wallow in abject poverty with millions of children being left orphans due to diseases such HIV/AIDS and Ebola. Why?

Could it be that the Aid Agencies are not doing any work and claim to be working? Could it be that the Aid Agencies only cry for attention without necessarily doing anything to help the poor? Or could it be that they use the plight of the people to raise money and then use the money to pay fat salaries and bonuses to their staff and hold big parties without necessarily using the money to help the poor?

Every year United States, Japan, the European Union, Germany, Britain, France and Italy claim to give millions of dollars to the poor countries in the form of loans, grants and what have you. But we still have not seen poverty going down or stabilising. What has been happening to the aid money that US, Japan and Europe claim to have been given to third world countries? Who receives those monies and what do they use the money for? How has the ordinary people benefited from the grants and aid? If so much has been received then so much should have been done to reduce poverty isn't it? Why are we still poor despite years of development assistance?

If indeed the Aid Agencies, World Bank, IMF, US, Japan, European Union, Britain, Germany, France have given so much then why are we poor? Is it lack of luck or what? I really don't know can someone please help me?

*The Author is a Political Activist and Anti-Corruption Campaigner

Do we have to die for NDC and NPP?

NPP and NDC are fooling Ghanaians, our economy and the lives of our future leaders? Finally the NPP's Dr. Kofi Asare has been declared winner of the Akwatia Parliamentary election, but does someone have to die? Do we have to fight, destroy lives and property in order to vote for a candidate? Why should the entire residents of Akwatia have to suffer curfew because of NDC and NPP? Why should Salifu Maikankan has to die for NPP and why should Danny Ofori Atta has to die for NDC? It still beats my imagination that someone will die for politicians who have kept them poor, uneducated and unskilled and who do nothing to help them. You may be mad about NDC or NPP and will go heaven and earth to defend them but do you think these parties care about the plights of Ghanaians? NDC ruled Ghana for 8 years and NPP has also done the same but did any of them help to make Ghana a developed country? Did any of them solve the unemployment problem in Ghana? How about electricity, education and health? Look at the poor nature of roads in Ghana. Do we deserve that? Can Ghanaians recall anything extraordinary that the NDC did before it was replaced by the NPP in 2000? Or anything remarkable that the NPP did before it was replaced by the NDC in 2008? And since taking office 7 months ago has the NDC done anything tangible to alleviate the suffering of Ghanaians? Any person who has been to Europe, Asia or America can say for sure that both major parties have not done much for Ghanaians. Look at the state of Ghana's manufacturing sector. What do we produce? Close to nothing. What do we do with the cocoa that we produce? Don't we export the raw beans for peanuts? How about the gold and the diamond and the many minerals we mine? Aren't they exported to Switzerland and Dubai before Ghanaians go there to buy the wedding rings and bracelets to sell to us? Computers, cars, mobile phones, fridges are made in Europe, Japan and the US and they are affordable there but Ghanaians cannot buy common chocolate even though the vital raw material which is cocoa is produced here. And the same is true about gold and diamond. We cannot buy products made from them even though they are mined right here. Look around yourself and see if any of the goods you see are made in Ghana. I mean the mobile phones, computers, televisions, cars and all the flashy things that Ghanaians are crazing for. It is sad to note that almost all the raw materials needed to build these phones, cars, plasma TVs, camcoders, satellite dishes are obtained from Ghana and other African countries. Has the NDC or the NPP helped us to build any of these things? No. The reason why we are unable to convert these rich natural resources into finish goods to benefit ourselves is the poor manner in which the NPP and NDC have managed our country. Don't forget it is government that must take the initiative, provide the necessary environment and policy direction and resources for a strong manufacturing sector to take root. Look at the policies of both major parties and see if they can even put Ghana on the level of Korea, Taiwan or Hong Kong in the next 20 years. Ghanaian business men and women are frequenting Dubai and China importing every good you can think of. Investigate to find out how the Chinese and the Koreans did it and whether any of the parties can help Ghana do the same. Didn't the NPP throw the NDC Vision 2020 Document that was supposed to make Ghana a middle income country into a dust bin? And do you think the NDC is going to implement Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) prepared by the NPP? This is the politics that has brought us no development but unemployment, poverty, hunger, misery and hopelessness and divisions. So do they care, I mean NPP and NDC? Look at the state of Ghana's infrastructure: energy, roads, harbours, telecommunication, health, education, rail system, market and airport. What are the records of the two major parties on infrastructure? Have they been able to add anything to what Dr. Nkrumah built? Haven't they even neglected the few that Nkrumah built to decay? If you think I am not making any point just look at the state of our railway sector. Most of the tracks have been left to rot to the extent that there are no train services in many parts of the country which once relied on that vital important means of transport. For decades that sector received no investments and no modernisation to the extent that it now takes about 10 hours to travel by train from Kumasi to Accra, a mere 200km. Compare that with a train service in Japan where it takes one hour to cover more than 270km. Despite having the advantage of being cost effective, cheap, reliable and business friendly 11 years of PNDC rule plus 8 years of NDC and another 8 years of NPP did not help the rail sector and our country except turning former poor soldiers and politicians into billionaires at the expense of our nation. After 52 years of independence and more than 27 years of (P)NDC and NPP rule our trains still run on engines that are 50 years old. NDC and NPP have neglected Ghana's infrastructure needs for years, yet we have forgotten that no nation can develop without investing in infrastructure and technology. That is why Democratic Republic of Congo has every mineral you can think of yet it is one of the poorest in the world. That is why Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong have developed and that is why President Obama is talking about building US infrastructures because they are the engines that run the economy. You cannot export if you do not have harbours and airports to support it. You cannot attract tourists if you do not have airport, hotels, well developed roads and other infrastructures that support it. You cannot move goods from centres of production to centres of consumption if you do not have roads, rail lines and inland water infrastructures to deliver it. You cannot supply the industries with doctors, architects, bankers, lawyers, planners, engineers, teachers, nurses if you do not have the educational infrastructure to deliver it. And you cannot run an efficient and vibrant economy if you do not have the energy and telecommunication infrastructures in place. Look at the state of Akosombo dam. Ghana is shut off anytime it refuses to rain yet we have had parties and their political leaders who have promised us so much yet have delivered so little. Ghana has been experiencing serious disruptions in the energy sector for years and no political party has seen any wisdom to solve it. As a result factories are folding up and are laying off workers and we are waiting for nature to help fill Akosombo Dam before we rectify the problem. Will this do nothing approach to problem solving help our nation? What are we doing with the abundance of sunshine in the country? We have not taken advantage of it, have we? We have sunshine 365 days and we have not tap into solar energy which is cheap and more reliable than hydro. In a situation that mimic problem facing the entire African region, the Finnish president on a visit to Nigeria in March 2009 asked, “Nigerian people have so much sun and wind, why don’t they use it for the generation of light for cooking and every other thing”? She queried, and added that “we do it in Finland for our renewable energy”. Source: www.dailytrust.com, 12 March 2009. The sad story is that Finland and most of the nations in Europe are locked up for most of the year by cold winter but take advantage of the short summer to convert the little sunshine they receive into solar energy while here in Ghana we have sunshine most of the year but do nothing with it. Dwindling rainfall has limited the ability of Akosombo dam to produce the needed energy to support the economy. It is another indication of the useless institutions that we have and lip service paid by the various political parties and their leaders to Ghana's development. Look at the state of the agricultural sector. How many of our farmers have their own tractors and farming equipments to produce beyond the level of subsistence? Virtually all the important equipments needed to make the agric sector viable and productive have to be imported and how many of our farmers have their own resources to buy even the basic machinery to expand their farms? Today after 52 years of independence our farmers still depend on nature for water for their economic activities despite the availability of irrigation technology and what has the NDC and NPP done so far to help them? Aren't they still using cutlasses and hoes to plant and harvest their crops, technology our forefathers were used before they were colonised. Aren't they still relying on nature to plant their crops in this 21st Century? Aren't we still importing rice from India and China after 52 years of self governance? We cannot even feed ourselves after 16 years of NDC and NPP rule. Where are the food sufficiency policies of the two major parties then? What are the many directors at the ministry of Agriculture who enjoy fat salaries and bonuses doing? Although we are in the 21st Century yet our farming practices indicate that we have still not moved beyond the 19th century. Fishermen are always faced with the constant shortage of premix fuel despite the pledge by both parties to help them. This is the more reason why we continue to hunger even though rich soils abound in Ghana. We under utilise our land for lack of political commitment. It is common to hear Ghanaians say that 'Malaysians got their palm fruit seed from Ghana'. Well Malaysians use the oil they get from the palm fruit as fuel for a number of engines including cars, something they accomplished through research and we what do we use the oil for? It is sad to say that Malaysia got independence about the same time as Ghana but they have made great strides economically, while we have been marking time curtesy NDC and NPP. While the rest of the world is moving forward scientifically and technologically we are still marking time because of corruption, poor leadership, poor governance, bogus agricultural and economic policies, politicisation of every national issue, tribalism, ethnicity and military incursions into our social, economic and political life. If Agriculture which provides us about 35% of our GDP is bad, then can our educational sector upon which the development of the nation rest be any better? Aren't the NDC and NPP toying and playing politics with our secondary school system. The SSS (now SHS) was a three year programme when it first started. When the NPP replaced the NDC in 2001 they changed it to four years and now the NDC is considering reversing it to three years. Who are they fooling? Is it not Ghanaians, our economy and the lives of our future leaders? Is the entire educational system anything to be proud of? Just look at the world ranking of Universities and see where the first university falls. Of the about 9,760 Accredited universities in the World, Ghana's prominent universities including University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology only managed to place 5,702 and 6,703 positions respectively in the World University Ranking. Even in Africa, our own backyard they only managed to secure 43rd and 63rd positions respectively. (Source: topuniversities.com/2008) Can we afford to develop the nation with ill-prepared graduates not to mention the millions of illiterates and semi-literates who roam around the cities and countryside? Dr. Ave Kludze, the top Ghanaian born NASA Scientist in a rebuke of our leaders and our education system said in an interview with the CNN "no empire has ever achieved greatness without technology and the earlier the leaders realise this the better". He later told BBC that, "But where African schools have a problem, is that they focus heavily on theory, whereas [universities in the west] focus on the practical - solving real world problems.” Source:bbc.co.uk, Thursady, 12 February 2009. It is abundantly clear that our education system is not producing the architects, engineers, planners, bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, social workers, nurses and the scientists that we need in the 21st Century. That is why every major architectural and engineering activity in Ghana is undertaken by foreigners and foreign companies especially from USA, Japan, China, India and the European Union. The Universities lack well trained lecturers. They lack modern facilities such as state of the art libraries, laboratory simulation facilities, studios, computers, and books. They lack them because we cannot build them; we cannot build them because the curricula have not prepared our students to build them. As a result we have to import the equipments and books from countries that have done their home work well and have invested heavily in education notably in science and technology. In many of our universities, Polytechnics and secondary schools lecturers/teachers are still teaching students the same way the 19th century academic institutions taught forgetting that we are in the 21st century. The same notes given a final year student four years ago are still being given to first year students with no addition or subtraction. Lecturers cannot write books for students because they do not have the resources to carry out research that form the basis of any academic material. Whereas students in advanced countries get their hands on books immediately they are released those in Ghana have to wait 4 years or even more to get the same books. What is more the academic facilities including libraries are in a state too appalling to describe. Not a single of our universities can boast of a million volumes of books in their libraries. Even the few text books that they have are so old that information contained in them are useless. Very few books have been published by Ghanaians. Due to this most students have to rely on the notes that lecturers give them. This is state of our universities and the little I say about our Polytechnics and secondary schools the better. The streets of Accra, Kumasi and other major cities in the country are swarmed with children selling ice water, bread, chewing gums and anything that can be hawked. Children head potters are visible every where in Kumasi, Accra, Tema and Koforidua, a clear manifestation of the misery and hopelessness that the NDC and NPP have brought to Ghanaians. These are the children who are supposed to be in the classroom and be trained as future leaders but have to abandon the classroom and scavenge for food because the NPP and NDC do not care about them. When they drive in their expensive tax-payers' Land Cruisers do the NPP and NDC MPs, ministers, Vice Presidents, the Presidents and their advisors see the children who live, sell, and are taught by the street in Accra, Kumasi, Tema, Takoradi and Koforidua? Do you know why NDC and NPP keep toying with Ghana's education? Because they want to keep the people in darkness like poorly cooked rice, so no one will rise up to challenge their corrupt and useless administrations. Ask your President or his vice or their ministers where their children are schooling now and you will understand why they don't give a damn about SHS, Poly or University education. Their children are schooling in expensive universities in Europe and North America. And as to how they pay for those expensive fees your guess will be as good as mine. When their children finish their education overseas they stay there and work. They only return to Ghana when there are big contracts where they would make millions of dollars for staying away and doing nothing for the nation, and what do the poor Ghanaians who could not travel to study outside and had to pass through God knows what get? Nothing - no contract, no retirement packages, just poverty. Our research institutions have achieved very little because they are underfunded and the researchers do not have the expertise and the facilities to carry out any meaningful research. A case in point is Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) located at New Tafo in the Eastern Region. Despite decades of its existence we still export raw cocoa beans for peanuts. No value has been added to the cocoa. CRIG has not been able to come up with other ways in which to use the beans to benefit Ghanaians despite the mounting evidence that the beans have several potential uses. Have you visited Korle Bu or Komfo Anokye or any of our hospitals lately? Didn't you see patients lying on the floor even though they are sick and are suppose to be receiving care? If Korle Bu and Komfo Anokye hospitals are crying for resources then you can imagine the situation at Donkokrom. And where is the NDC and NPP that you want to die for or support so blindly? Where in Ghana are mosquitoes not widespread? Are we not still dying from mosquito bites and other minor and preventable diseases? Despite NDC and NPP pledges, our hospitals are without the basic essentials needed to run a hospital not to mention the advanced technologies that save millions of lives in Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Europe, Japan and America. And NDC and NPP what are they doing? According to peacefmonline "888 out of every 100,000 pregnant women in Ghana who visit the hospital, end up dying. Another expert, whose statistics were even more frightening said, out of every 1,000 pregnant women about 451 die". Source: peacefmonline.com, Thursday, 23 July 2009. How about the state of the housing infrastructure? A visit to any village or town gives the same picture of poor housing and poor quality of public service. People are living in mud/thatched houses with bamboo/raffia leafs as roofing sheet with no electricity, potable water and clinics. They live in a subsistence environment without social security, health insurance and are condemned to poverty, desperation and hopelessness. Those living in urban areas are without jobs, without mortgage, and face high utility bills with poor public services. They face constant barrage of water and energy disruptions everyday. In every region the situation is not different. Go to Nima, Agbogloshie, New Town, James Town, Sodom & Gomorrah and see the kind of living conditions and environment in which fellow Ghanaians are living in this 21st Century. People are living in squalid conditions not even fit for animals yet we have NDC and NPP always promising to build us castles, swimming pools and what have you. Majority of the people in Teshie and Nungua have no access to toilet facilities and have to use the coast as places of convenience and even in those places where there are few toilet facilities you could hardly stand the stench. Please you can verify this by going to where Dutch Hotel is situated at Nungua and witness how people troop to the coast in the morning to attend nature's call. On the other hand our MPs, ministers, vice president, the president, their cronies and families live in total luxury with mansions, sport utility vehicles, bodyguards, fat salaries, fat bonuses, house servants and they have all the resources of the state at their disposal. When they leave office they propose special emolument packages for themselves yet they claim to be serving the poor. How can it be? I can continue all day but it is a fact that both the NDC and NPP are a bunch of hungry politicians with no concrete economic and social agenda to move Ghana beyond the level of importing used computers, used cars, used televisions, used underwear and any used thing you can think of. What are all these telling you about Ghana, the NPP, and the NDC? Do we have any option not to vote for them? Why should Ghanaians continue to die and suffer for such people who only think about their stomach? These leaders and their parties always play on the ignorance of the people promising them heaven but failing to even provide them earth. Until we have leaders who have vision like Dr. Nkrumah and are committed to industrialise Ghana beyond agro raw material production and export, Ghana will continue to be classified as a developing and poor country and even though we will continue to vote we will continue to wallow in abject poverty as we have always done. I want to urge every Ghanaian to seek education and knowledge which I believe will help us to question our leaders and demand accountability from them. I also want to challenge the various TV and radio stations to devote money and resources to embark on documentaries on what it really means to live in poverty in Ghana under the NPP and NDC, documentaries and programmes that will show Ghanaians the living conditions of the people in rural areas and expose the lies of the NDC and NPP. And to the parasitic NDC and NPP I say 52 years is enough for us to see real development in the country. Credit: Lord Aikins Adusei (Email: politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

Swiss court approves African kleptocracy: Mobutu’s loot to go to his family

BY KONYE OBAJI ORI Chairman of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, Mark Pieth raised an appeal against a Swiss bank to release $6million in assets belonging to former DR Congo’s dictator, Mobutu Sese Sisoko, to DR Congo, but the court rather ruled the looted money to the late dictator’s family. The Swiss government had repeatedly blocked the release of the embezzled funds to DR Congo, and the Swiss bank appealed to continually freeze the loot. However, Mobutu’s family stands to gain. Mr. Pieth who is also a professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of Basel, a member of Swiss Federal Gaming Commission, Chairman of the Board of the Basel Institute on Governance, and a UN Intergovernmental Expert Group Commission to determine the extent of illicit trafficking in drugs, has described the court’s decision as a harsh setback for DR Congo. According to a Ghanaian political activist, anti-corruption campaigner, and blogger: Lord Aikins Adusei, Switzerland has built a reputation as the world´s center for tax evasion, fraud accounting, money laundering, racketeering, save haven and above all a staunch ally of corrupt third world leaders and a great beneficiary of third world corruption. In the last decade the banking secrecy laws of Swiss banks have been accused of accepting money from dictators and leaders like Nigeria’s Ibrahim Babangida, and late Sani Abacha, Guniea’s Lansana Conte, Togo’s Gnassingbe Eyadema, Gabon’s Omar Bongo, Equatorial Guniea’s Obiang Nguema, Burkina Faso’s Blaise Campore, Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso, Libya’s Gaddafi, DR Congo’s Mobutu, etcetera, without questioning the source of their wealth. Mobutu seized power in Congo in 1965 and ruled the country for nearly 32 years, living in extreme luxury. He is reported to have blended together Belgium’s, King Leopold’s dictatorship with institutionalized corruption based on systematic political and financial patronage - a system that became known as kleptocracy. Before he was overthrown in 1997, Mobutu amassed a personal fortune estimated to be as much as $5bn. The surviving family members of Mobutu are not fondly remembered in DR Congo, because Mobutu bankrupted the country, using its enormous wealth to buy political loyalties, mansions, and brutally suppressed political enemies with the support of Western Cold War sponsors.