Stand Down, Ken Korankye

It’s the folly of too many, to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom” – Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.

Ken Korankye? The name should ring a bell to all discerning minds in the country. Oh, please don’t say you have not heard the name. These days, they tell me one of the hottest raps in town is…haven’t you heard me on Bobie’s programme? You still don’t remember that name? The name Ken Korankye also should ring a bell to all readers of Ghanaian newspapers, especially my brothers and sisters who hang around news vending spots on days when the newspapers are in overdrive. The name Ken Korankye should also ring a bell with all listeners of radio particularly Peace FM’s flagship Kokrokooo morning programme. Then if you are addicted to Kwabena Bobie’s programme on weekday late noons on Asempa FM, you would have heard from the gentleman known and called Ken Korankye. I guess he appears on other mass media but these are the ones on which I hear him most of the time. He may probably be on some TV programme somewhere but due to my schedules, I am getting increasingly infrequent TV time and I have not been able to locate him on any channel yet. If you know where he surfaces, kindly let me know so I can put face to the name. Its obvious then. If I ever sit on the Metro with the said Ken Korankye, I would not be able to make him out. If I met him on the pavement, he might probably elicit a greeting from me because Afua taught me to greet people when I met them. But in all sincerity, I would not be doing that because he is Ken Korankye. For the purveyors of the newspapers, the man I am compelled to write about is also the editor of a newspaper called “The Daily Searchlight”. It is a newspaper that appears on most weekdays and which is gaining a lot of notoriety as a fastidious anti-NDC paper and by definition a dyed-in-the wool critic of Uncle Fiifi.

Ken Korankye has a caustic mouth!!! I am not one to fuss about freedom of speech. As Uncle Bob said, every man’s got the right to decide his own destiny, for on the judgment day, there will be no partiality. I have enjoyed some of the discourse Ken has got into particularly with Alhaji Bature sometimes on Bobie’s show. He seems articulate and works hard at getting his point across. But Ken Korankye has a caustic mouth!!! And he does not seem to distinguish which personalities are at the end of his vitriol. This piece was triggered by one of such vitriol that he spewed on Bobie’s programme some time ago and after several headlines in his newspaper that sought to attack the very integrity and personality of His Excellency, The President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof. John Evan Atta Mills. Ebei, wo nua no sen na anbin? In a reference to the President during one of the Bobie programmes, Mr. Ken Korankye referred to the President in these terms “… that nation wrecker”. I flipped. I hope all listeners to the programme who have not been blinded by the visceral battle between the elephant and the umbrella also did. How can anyone with access to public radio and a journalist at that, call the First Gentleman of the land a nation wrecker?

In these times when every issue is viewed either through elephant glasses or umbrella lenses, it should not be surprising that the ones who have sworn to their positions come out with increasingly amazing feats of intellectually implausible propositions on who and what their perceived enemies stand for and even lie down for. When was the last time a radio or TV news analysis panel was announced and you were not spot on where the panelists stood on the issues. Sometimes, its uncanny when you can even anticipate the words they will use. You look at them in the face, particularly the TV programmes and you want to weep for some of them. People have virtually sold their souls and come on air to say with all their might, what they don’t know and have not seen. JOY FM would not miss a moment to let all listeners know that the vitriol that’s about to be unleashed is not of their doing or their making or of their volition. The commentariat are lucky that Ghanaian journalism has not developed the ability to pull out what has been said in the past and match that against the present. So you can get someone, and I don’t mean Ken Korankye, who used to sing the praises of the NDC who due to no ko fio syndrome jumped unto the elephant gravy train having been assured that the chop-chop will be paradisoic, still in shock from what Uncle Fiifi has done. Stroller, Saratoga, Jerry, Baba and Publus all have assured me that when a man is in shock, he may do many things and say loads of stuff without necessarily meaning to. Shock does a lot to the mind which does a lot to the body which does a lot to the stomach which does a lot to the mind which does loads to the body. Shock makes many a person call people all sorts of names. But there is a limit to what vitriol a man is entitled to and more importantly, at whom it is thrown. Since Uncle Fiifi assumed the Presidency, check out Ken Korankye's headlines. Here are samples:
Monday, June 29, 2009: “A Govt of 419 People”.
Monday June 29, 2009: “The Muntaka Cover-up”
Monday June 29, 2009 Editorial: “Mills’ advisors Must Do Better”.
Friday June 26, 2009: “Mills, A Man Who is Anti-Peace”
Friday June 29, 2009: “Soldiers Shocked by Mills Double Convoy”.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009: “Chasing Damoah Out of the Army”.

Mr. Ken Korankye is unabashedly anti-government and anti-Mills. If you were waiting for a headline that is remotely favourable to the government and to the President, well, go to NADMO and take camping equipment because you will wait till Yeshua Amashua lands from the clouds. It just wont happen. As night follows day, you can be sure that on any and every issue, his twist will be stridently anti-government. But don’t begrudge him that. Mr. Ken Korankye has every right to his opinions. I will support his right to speak them any day. Its how he does them and the manner in which he seems to have fixated on Uncle Fiifi that makes me wade into this matter. What’s drives a man to such desperate measures? Ken, me ni sa ne? Look at Bombay. The man staked himself to the elephant “till death do us part”. In the lead up to the elections, you could hear him say on authority that the elephant will trample on umbrellas into the Palace that Yewura built. He was one of the staunchest defenders of the Nearly Man. Can you imagine what he may have gone through during those agonizing weeks when the dream was fizzling away? Do you? Can you conjure the images of potential pain that will be clashing in the brain as the events unfolded? The spectre of the Umbrella back in power. The spectre of Papa Jay straddling the news again and having a direct line to the Power Source? Can you? Such stress can easily throw the mind awry but Bombay still is standing. Not spewing vitriol as expected but yes, even having the decency to admit on occasion that the Umbrella aint broken as much as he thought. Bombay made my day in the discussion on that raid on the BNI by the Old Elephants Tuesday Club in support of their Honorary President Agya Kodwo who was having difficulty accessing his favorite mail from behind those tall walls. Bombay said point blank that the rush to the walls of the House of Exile was absolutely wrong looking at the quality of the persons involved and the vitriol from them caught on tape. That’s a man with balls. A man who knows that he may not have another birthday bash in a swanky Tokyo Hotel with an Excellency in tow. Even he does not call Uncle Fiifi a nation wrecker!!! He talks about Uncle Fiifi with the necessary decorum. Why cant you do same, Ken? Sometimes your language suggests that of someone who has a personal axe to grind. But for the life of me, I have not been able to contemplate what paaa Uncle Fiifi may have done to you personally for you to be so visceral with your caustic tongue every time you open your mouth about national issues? You really don’t have to do that to make your point. Uncle Fiifi does not deserve any of that. You know that, don’t you? But you think that out here in Ogaykrom, every one can say anything and not be responsible for the comments. Reminds me of the Tony Aidoo thunderbolt on Omari Wadie or some other young elephant in Bobie’s studio. Or is it the akom that infects people when they come close to him? If the Okomfo Bobie himself has his wits about him, how come the people who come close to him in the studio sometimes lose their marbles and spew stuff they should keep in their minds and release only to the madams or at the Coffee shop.

So Ken, I hope I see you one of these days. Stand down wae! Wont serve any purpose to continue walking your route. Learn from all the other senior journalists who make their case in a manner that does not seek to tear down any personalities. You will lose nothing in the process. You will gain something though. You may have had plans. Uncle Fiifi may have put paid to them for the time being. But, embre da ni. Enti gye ahom kakra wae. “Don’t wound yourself” in the process of such a virtually fruitless journey. Uncle Fiifi is for the next four years, our President. A president for all Ghanaians, including a certain Mr. Ken Korankye. Breda Osimi leaves you with an unsolicited advice: “Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator”. You may have an opinion, but how you fashion that opinion and how you articulate that opinion may be fundamental to your cause. Just do that and you will stop getting under the skin of Alhaji Bature. May chineke grant you peace in your heart so that the headlines of the Daily Searchlight will be more reflective of the times. Stay safe and chineke keep you till we meet.
Breda Osimi

PLAYING DUMB ON THE ROAD TO UTOPIA

Court: “How do you plead? Are you guilty or not guilty?
Accused: “ I plead my party”!!!
- Coming to a court near you this season of madness.

Okay, its official: The NPP has become the NDC!!!
While you slept, former ministers of the Kuffour government had organised themselves and marched en masse, cars, girlsfriends, brothers and sisters, well-wishers and even enemies to the House of Exile, or the Headquarters of the BNI, properly so-called. The reasons for the action were that they were going there to ask of the whereabouts of the Honourable Kojo Mpiani. I was in my office but I listened to the running commentary on JOY FM. I heard Dan Botwe speak. I heard Asabee speak later in the night. I also heard Kwabena Agyepong speak.

Oh, me nkrofo, aba asem koraa nyi? The actions of the former government officials and their supporters in organizing a siege at the BNI Head Office were to say the least unfortunate. It’s a low point, whichever you look at it, if former leaders and potential leaders besiege a state institution to demand the release of Mr. Mpiani. In the opinion of Breda Osimi, it another example of the brazen, shameless, typically-Ghanaian-politically induced move by people who frankly ought to know better. That is what makes the NPP the same as the NDC of yore.

Now let me pose a few questions? How different is that from the gang that followed the Venerable Papa Jay to the same place many years ago. Note that the then incumbent NPP extended the invitation. How different is the NPP mob of ex-ministers and former government functionaries and elephant sympathizers from the NDC yobs that followed the Hon. E. T. Mensah to the same House of Exile following his arrest and interrogation in the same House of Exile? How different is the NPP from the NDC yobs who followed Auntie Nana Konadu to the Courts singing and drumming their way into pumping fear in the hearts of the judges in the case? What moral compass does the NPP hold when people like Nana Ato Dadzie and many other functionaries of NDC I found themselves walking the same path as that threaded by Kojo Mpiani on the 02/26/09. Has the BNI been overhauled? Has Uncle Fiifi changed all the personnel there in the past 5 months such that they are applying new water boarding techniques learnt from the Venerable Gbevlo Lartey and Soja Panyin Nunoo-Mensah? How can the people who besieged the BNI office call themselves leaders? Are these the people to whom I entrusted my life and that of my manager and the two musketeers over all these years? Champions of the rule of law?

To all the people who besieged the House of Exile, I say you are potential nation-wreckers and hypocrites. You are no different from the guys up North who take up arms at the slightest provocation to resolve their issues. You are attacking government and governance the same way the NDC did to win power. In effect, you have now shown that you are officially in the opposition. You have just become the NDC of yore and its a crying shame. I could hardly bear listening to discerning minds among them and indeed some elder statesmen inciting the good people of Ogyakrom to breach the peace. How can you govern when all you do is to bastardise government and government agencies for selfish political ends? When will you start behavioring like leaders? I have previously commented that some of our leaders must go to church and mosques to thank Yeshua and Allah as appropriate for the country they find themselves in. Because if you were in other climes where they are discerning, you would not even qualify as a council member. One of them was even brazen enough to say that Mr. Mpiani may have been killed. What crash buffoonery is this from people who frankly ought to know better? The same thing happened during the elections. The NDC called out its people and they responded, en masse, sticks, cutlasses, 'bodanbo', 'buta', 'apio', 'ntampi' and all. The NPP did same. All in a bid to intimidate the EC? Leaders of today incorporating leaders of tomorrow? Weep for Ama Ghana!!!

For the records, the BNI did nothing illegal or unlawful re Kojo Mpiani’s invitation for questioning. This fact is known to most of the former government officials who converged at the House of Exile. Under the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, 1996 (Act 526), the mandate of the BNI is so widely defined under section 12 (e) that the President or the National Security Counsel may direct them to perform any defined function which they deem as falling within national security. That’s broad, way too broad. That’s prone to abuse. Abuse is not specific to the NDC. It applies equally to the NPP too.

I fully agree with Counsel for Mr. Mpiani when he argues that it is critical that we all work at changing our ways in such matters. How can lawyers be disabled from being of service to their clients at such a critical time? Mpiani’s lawyer is absolutely spot-on that Mr. Mpiani’s right has been infringed.

But who’d bell the cat? These matters aren’t new. They existed in the NPP era and were duly utilized for selfish political gains. The same personnel are now employing the same tactics on their former masters. The abiding pain is that the NPP has no moral right to make such calls against such behaviour. You feel like crying for Opanyin Kojo but truth be told, the tears are hard to come by. People who are passionate about Ghana and who are discerning can and indeed should make the calls against such behaviour. It cannot be right when a senior policeman at a station where a client has been arrested tells the lawyer that their time had not come because they should go and wait for the case in court and have no business at a police station when a client has been arrested. That’s of course, bunkum. But that’s the life in Ogyakrom. Opanyin Kojo, warts and all, has a right under the constitution to legal counsel. If he does not get it, he can refuse to talk until his lawyers are by his side. But the dilemma for Opanyin Kojo may be this: “in a land where it’s the victor’s law that applies, what do I do? If I don’t cooperate and they get angry, they may “finger” me bad”. Ask yourself, why are the Tony Blairs and Dubya’s walking free in the land of their birth? It’s because the law is no respector of person. It’s because of equality before the law. It’s because out there, no politician can manipulate the system. If you have manipulated the system before, knowing that the pains of Tsatsu were contrived in some room before being played out in public, then you have earned the right to your nightmares! May you never sleep easy!!!. If you have stolen money, done illegal and unlawful things in our collective names, you have earned the right to your nightmares! God is doing a wonderful thing. Teaching politicians that it is about service to the people and not to self!!!

Mr. Politician, you have been given a golden chance to fleece a nation of forgivers. You can do a little good for great personal gain. But please, Papa Politricks, stop bastardizing the government or government agencies. Now you have the street hawkers saying that they would not leave the pavements. Are we cursed to remain in the jungle forever? All of us, discerning or not, have a duty to give government time and space to work. The law, as the breachers are already aware, makes provision for redress even if the BNI messes one up. If Gushiegu, Tamale and Bawku are deemed lawless because of the tendency for self-help, then our so-called leaders have the same genes. That should set you running to the nearest temple for some fasting and prayers. For people who aspire to govern and the people who are in government, you act to impugn government at your peril. Those actions will not stop the state agencies from doing their work. If anyone perceives an infringement of their right, the law is available.

So what has changed?

Where there was a Papa Jay
There was a K4.

Where there was a Konadu
There was a Theresa.

Where there was a 31st
There was a Mother & Child.

Where there was a Kume Preko
There was a Wahala.

Where there was an Alliance
There was a Committee.

Where there was a Vision
There was a Strategy.

Where there was an Asemfofro
There was a Stadium.

Where there was a Chagnon
There is a Lion.

Where there was a Vitol
There is a Sahara.

Where there was an NPP
There is an NDC.

The NPP was for primaries
The NDC was for consensus.

The NPP was for consensus
The NDC was for primaries.

The NPP was for Change
The NDC was for Continuity.

The NPP was for Continuity
The NDC was for Change.

The NPP is the NDC is the NPP?

So if you didn’t know, now you know. The wheels have turned and still remain forever still. The politicians are the same? Is life only about tummies? You and I may not matter much in that equation. The NPP has become the NDC! Will the NDC become the NPP? When you say a prayer, say one for Uncle Fiifi. Uncle Fiifi, wowo asem bo no por!!!

Mr. Politrician, stop driving us to utopia just because we are all dumb!!!

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana
And Make Our Nation Great and Strong!!!

Vodafone Blues

“Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens” – William Henry Beveridge (Late British Economist)

Throughout last week, one of the major developing stories was that my government had terminated the management contract it had with the Norwegians at Ghana Telecoms (GT) and appointed our own kith and kin to run the company. The Board announced a new management for GT, effectively saying goodbye to Telecom Management Partners (TMP) of cold, icy Norway.

On Monday, Dec. 11, 2006, the Daily Graphic newspaper, ‘Ghana’s biggest-selling newspaper since 1950’, reported that the workers of GT had declared their support for the decision of the government not to renew TMP’s contract. In the opinion of the workers, Ghanaians could manage GT better than any foreigner, considering the performance of expatriates who had managed it. According to the report, the workers stated that TMP for instance had promised to provide 300 to 400 lines since they took over the company but failed to achieve that. Further, in spite of the unsatisfactory performance of the TMP officials, they were paid better than their Ghanaian counterparts. For instance, a minimum of $8000 a month was paid as salary to a Telenor official in addition to free fuel, electricity and accommodation while their Ghanaian counterparts on the same level did not enjoy such salary and benefits. The workers therefore called on the government to create the necessary environment for the staff of GT to work effectively and efficiently. Well said, if you ask me! Typically Ghanaian!! Always after the fact!!!

Enter my government! The Minister of Communications is reported to have confirmed government’s decision to terminate the management contract with TMP. More importantly, Mr. Minister reiterated that my government believed absolutely in the competence and capability of the Ghanaian, as confirmed by the decision not to renew the contract with TMP. Notably, he announced that my government was seriously working on privatising GT, by offloading a percentage of its shares to ‘Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere’. As part of the policy of privatization, a strategic investor was being sought to take a majority stake in the company. He said that my government was aiming at achieving this sometime in the next year.

Enter the praise singers! They seem to be everywhere these days as it may be the most lucrative local business. According to the commentariat, this was a very solid decision by my government. My government’s refusal to renew the management contract with TMP showed that my government believed in the efficiency and work ethos of the Ghanaian. It was also a realization that Ghana could not continue to spend huge sums of money on the few expatriate staff and on the management fees of TMP when essentially, the job was being done by Ghanaians. The commentariat has generally hailed the move as a master stroke by my government. Foreigners have been bleeding us dry and we just could not afford to let that continue. Especially when we are just about to celebrate 50 years of life in the desert, having lost the map to Canaan!!! According to my government, the decision to terminate the Icemen laid somewhere between patriotism and costs.

Now, let us pause for reflections! Why has the Ghanaian become so predictable? Is it a good decision that the management contract will not be renewed? I hope you will give thought to the reasons that have been assigned so far for the decision because that is what tickled me in the first place. A sudden belief in the Ghanaian just when a major entity such as GT was to be privatized? According to my government, one major plank of the entire corporate strategy for GT is to raise additional equity by the government offloading its stake to private investors. This will include you and me as ordinary citizens. Privatisation by definition also makes no distinction between the colours of the money. There will therefore be no distinction between Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian in our bid for investors in GT. My government itself has stated unambiguously that it will look for a strategic investor to take a stake in GT. Can anyone help me out here? A Ghanaian strategic investor? A Ghanaian consortium, again? Or an established international player in the Telecoms industry? Let’s try and trawl through the maze a little. In my imagination, I have dismissed the notion of a Ghanaian strategic investor. There are Ghanaians with the wherewithal, financially to take the stake but I am not sure whether they will have the technological savvy to manage GT by themselves. It can be done but it is just not feasible and so far, has not happened with any of the major privatizations of public utilities that I know of on this continent. Moreover, unless you are a Ghanaian with a British or American citizenship, you will be courting a dance with wolves if you decide to flex your financial muscle by wading into these waters. Down South, wealth, even when it’s within the party, is always looked upon with suspicion and you may wake up one day to find that what you considered yours had never in fact been yours. You were holding it in trust for the people!

What about the Ghanaian consortium? That is also very feasible. Indeed, it has been shown in this country that with the requisite brains and financial skills and the right ‘buoyancy’, you don’t even need to have the dough. It can be generated by a beautiful business plan. So a Ghanaian consortium may very well be able to get this strategic stake in GT and then run same on Ghanaian lines. It’s a possibility but not a probability. The real probability, from conventional wisdom and historical antecedents is that the strategic investor in GT will definitely be another foreign entity. So I wonder why my government is going to town about its belief in Ghanaman’s ability to deliver as ultimate Manager of GT. A foreign strategic investor may bring a lot more to the table and may actually be what my government is looking for. Now get this: No strategic investor, be it a Ghanaian consortium or foreign investor, will cede control over the management of GT! Period! Chuku chaka, chuku chaka… the gravy train has left the station oooo!

If, as my confused mind tells me, a foreign investor is the most probable option, then all this talk about delivering GT into Ghanaian hands as result of our conversion to belief in self is all…”camouflage and concealment”. I know we are expected to have only 24 hour memory span but do you remember the genesis of the GIA journey to The Hague? Do you remember board meetings being convened and held in the Castle by persons who were neither directors nor members of management? If white men could be summoned, do you think that a Ghanaman would have the nerve to say nay to requests for appointments to offices and contracts? Any foreign entity that buys a strategic stake in GT will bring its management team or at worst, determine who runs GT. Any attempt by my government to dictate who manages GT after privatization will not work and will also make any beneficial deals highly improbable. No government anywhere on the surface of this earth can seek to transfer a strategic stake in a public institution to a private foreign entity for value and still demand that you leave the old management team in place. Not even Putin’s Russia! So where from all this talk of a sudden belief in the Ghanaian management?

So here’s how the gravy train works. Get the foreigners who don’t understand that we are lords of all we survey out. We may not be too sure about their ‘marginal propensity to play ball’ at such a strategic time. We just cannot afford any battles at this time as to how we manage the privatization process. After all, we are spending so much money on them and it’s an easier spin than most. As for my people, they know who gave them the job so we will have a relatively smooth playing field to manage the process. We have no time for silly questions from these foreigners that will and may very well poke their noses into matters that don’t concern them. In any case, it is fairly easier to get a local consortium to take this ‘juicy juice’, all in the name of ‘Ghanaianisation’. We can also get our people positioned for take-off in the company. Its time to get busy, stupid! This a property-owning era and we must help make loads of property for those who believe! If we can get a foothold into this communication giant, ourselves, our children and our ‘grandchildren-children’ would have been guaranteed passports to eternal bliss. Even if we have a difficulty swinging a consortium in these muddy media waters, we can still be positioned for take-off in this period so that before the strategic investor lands, we may have linked up already and taken our cut or we can be safely embedded within the organization to take the undoubted benefits of our ‘property-owning’ policies.

So my people, dream on. Most Ghanaians have a 24 hour memory span. I demand that you forget all that you have heard in the past 24 hours. I expect you will not remember a thing about my government swearing an oath of belief in the Ghanaian as a reason for sacking the foreign contingent from GT when 6 months or so from today, another batch of foreigners take over GT. I expect you to applaud everything that my government will do in its avowed bid to create wealth for you and for your children. Where’s the gravy train? Jump on before it makes the next stop at GT. “Chuku chaka, chuku chaka, chioooooooooo!!!

P/S: My people, I need some land around Accra to start my church. I am a prophet. Unordained! Self-Anointed! Rev. Dr. Prophet Onyameneba Breda Osimi!!! The piece you have just read was first written in late 2006. How pathetically prophetic! Oh, me nkrofo! The people who rule always package a message for the now. They know that you and I are more concerned about the bread and butter issues. They know that you will never remember anything they said a year before an event. They know that only the commentariat on the other side of the fence will make a passing comment on things said in the past but they do so on a whim and a prayer. The stubborn "aban nipa" will contest any negative reference and the opponent will back off because he has done no research and cannot defend himself. When I follow the facts now, that Ghana Telecom has indeed been given to oburoni and is now Vodafone Ghana and match that against what the same government said when it begun its move to carry this 'agyapadie’ to some oburoni, then I know that upon that rock, I will build my church!

Accra Breweries Ltd. runs some adverts which show what they call distinctively Ghanaian moments. Let me jig your memory a bit about one such moment. Remember the red-shirted workers of Ghana Telecom who went on a wild jubilation that their company had been sold to Vodafone? The same workers who issued a statement supporting the government in sacking TMP and asserting the ability of the Blackman to manage his own affairs? It was the Ghanaian version of a kamikaze dance. Workers jubilating over what amounts to no less than constructive dismissals? As the Learned Judge once told me, “ma gyimi a, enka wope paaa!!!!

Watch this space: The grand opening of the Church of Osimi will be announced soon on this network. When I read all my pieces of yesteryears, during the time of the elephant-domesticated, a voice crying in the wilderness, I know I have the anointing. We have been on a ride. Bump ahead. Wake up or forever remain asleep!!!

Breda Osimi
www.osimidiaries.blogspot.com

DUMB ELEPHANTS

DUMB ELEPHANTS

“In Africa, you don’t dare the incumbent government” .
– Joe Aboagye Debrah Esq.

It’s the day before the May Day. It’s a slow client day. The previous night has been my most traumatic in years. I wish I could tell you my ordeal last night. I thank God for the life of Antie Maggie, Tobash, Kofi, Adwoa, Kwasi Pee and Stroller. It was a hell of a bad night but we all survived. Jah be praised! May Yeshua Amashua Himself, grant the strength to go on. Amen!!!

So I am back in the office. We have squeezed and staff have been paid. The traffic looks frightening so I shut my door at 5.24pm and spread out on the green carpet. I am seriously tired from yester night’s traumatic events and need a little nap to rejuvenate. Why did I keep my radio on? Locked onto 94.7, Asempa FM. There was Okomfo Bobie at it again. Kobby is battling an elephant called Omane Wadie (hope I got the name right). Just as I am drifting off, enter Tony Aidoo! He calls into the program and takes on this elephant that had entered the china shop and was basically knocking all the fine china into bits. Tony Aidoo simply tells this elephant that he has been libeling him for sometime on air and he was just calling to advise him to desist from that action. The elephant is subdued but tries a last effort to stake his case. The elephant is hit with a tranquiliser from Tony Aidoo and is deflated. "Osono ada ayaya!". “One more word on the libel from you and I will meet you in court”, booms Tony. Who says all elephants are dumb? This elephant in the studio gets the drift and diverts from a head on collision. Libel case avoided! Tony 1, Elephant Wadie 0!

How can I continue my beauty sleep after this. Am laughing my head off. If all Ghanaians, on the entire political divide, are like Tony Aidoo in terms of defending their integrity, we will save ourselves a little of the shameless infringement of the rights of others on radio each and every time elephants and umbrellas gather. And these days, it begins in the morning and ends late at night, every day of the week!!!

So who would tell my people that in Africa, you do not dare the incumbent government and live to tell the tale. The elephant is playing dumb and I cannot understand the rationale. The manner in which the elephant has handled its return to the bush leaves a lot to be desired particularly having regard to its own interests. I have told everyone who would listen that the elephant should convene another service at the Independence Square to thank Yeshua Amashua for Uncle Fiifi. After eight years of domestication, life in the bush certainly cannot be easy. However, whoever is telling the elephant to continue to say all those deeply uncomplimentary things about the Umbrella and especially Uncle Fiifi and his government at this time and in such a brazen manner is simply put, playing dumb. Truth be told, some elephants have sinned and will fall short. The earlier the elephant stops trying to use its bulky bum to shield all the sinners, the better for them. If you have a policy that clearly states that cars not older than two years cannot be sold, then when a less than two year old car is sold to anyone on tenuous valuations, it is near impossible to defend. Worse, it is dumb to dare the government on such an issue. Please, my people, 100 days of mourning is enough. All elephants should get used to the fact that power has shifted from the elephant to the Umbrella. Uncle Fiifi lives in the Castle. Uncle Fiifi is President of Ghana. Uncle Fiifi is His Excellency!!! The Nearly Man is not!

The irony of the whole situation is that I have a feeling the Nearly Man would have fixed his own people too. I know him enough to state that he will not suffer such brazen breaches of the law. That’s the difference with Yewura. Yewura knew, methinks. If he did not, Agya Mpiani knew. Was a nice plan. But it was a plan that could only work if the Nearly Man won. If you ask me, I think some of them deserve the sleepless nights defending vehicles. Yeshua is punishing them for the half-hearted efforts at getting the post for the Nearly Man. Sins have been committed. Lawyers, bankers, economists, architects, valuers, et al. To the last man, all the elephants knew the law was being breached but this is Africa. When you are as clean as snow and such gravy is being shared, it takes Yeshua Amashua to retain your integrity. Sometimes we should not blame them too much. How do you come home to tell your manager that Agya Mpiani offered me a 2008 model Peugeot 607 for the price of a 1986 Opel Kadett and for the love of Ama Ghana, I refused. You would be roasted. Okay, so you bought into the booty. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned. As soon as Uncle Fiifi won, you should have known that these things will unravel. What you do is to send a high powered team to Uncle Fiifi and beg indoors, but negotiate outdoors, that you should be allowed to take some of them away. What do you expect Uncle Fiifi to do. The very same people who have breached basic principles set by them, walk away with assets. Then they call press conference s to call you King of Gangsters etc. They will say that you cannot even make provision for persons in government. Where is the money in these crunchy times to get new cars for Pato & Co.? It’s just a dumb thing to pick a fight with the government over this BECAUSE YOU CANNOT WIN, PERIOD!!! Thank God for the Ghanaian. The elephant said it had all the money in the world, had its own houses and cars. Why the same elephants will be fighting over cars in 2009 baffles me. To the extent that people are ready to go live on radio to the world that they will shoot anyone who dares come for … a car?

A word to the elephant! Stop playing dumb! Accept the fact that Uncle Fiifi reigns. Criticise but please choose your fights. Never turn Uncle Fiifi into your enemy. If you do, I will consider you dumber than me. If Uncle Fiifi perceives you as enemies of progress and that all you are up to is mischief, you are toast. You know why? Loads of sins have been committed. If Uncle Fiifi gets fixated on you, he will be worse than Papa Jay for you. Wake up and know that your worst nightmares have come true. The Umbrella rules. Stop being petty. Support Uncle Fiifi when you can. Criticise when you must. That’s when you build credibility with the people of this country. Start working on making the people think well of you. So that when they come for you as they would, we will think about putting in a word for you. “Bo ne nsuma”! If you burn all the goodwill now, who would demonstrate for you when you heading to the Fast Track Courts?

Me nkrofo, think about this: Put all the so-called leaders of this country on a plane and send them to the UK or US or any other such country where every son of man has real rights. Take them to court. Charge them with all the crimes we want to charge them with but are impotent to do here in Ogyakrom. Apply not UK or US Law. Apply Ghanaian law. How many of them will come back to tell us the tale on Bobie’s show?

We are playing dumb on the road to Utopia!

Breda Osimi
www.osimidiaries.blogspot.com

FAKE FAIRIES

"No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions,
it will not look ugly." (Oscar Wilde)

What you are about to read may irritate you. It may inspire you. It may lead to the collapse of your relationship. It may enhance your love life. It may lose you business. Your '‘‘girlsfriends’ will never forgive you if you repeat such stuff around them. However the fact is that this is a matter that is so dear to my heart and which I have voiced out so many times to my pals. My manager is fully aware of where I stand on the matter. Somehow, she seemed to appreciate my position until last Christmas when she decided to scare the living daylights out of me my doing exactly what my system can’t take. I promise to tell you about my nightmares later, if Ben the Terrible and his people will suffer me that long.

There is a story that one of my mates in Babylon used to tell ad nauseam. It involved a Nigerian man or so he says. Don’t ask me why it’s always a Nigerian and not a Ghanaian. The story goes that this young Nigerian guy comes to school like we all did and decides that he is not going to let Babylon pass by without impacting it. He becomes a party boy. All clubs and pubs welcome!!! One day, nice young man goes to a club and meets this stunning lady. Full proportioned. Long legs. Nice boobs. Flowing hair. AND WHITE!!! For many young African men, hanging out with white girls is time for revenge for the ancestors. Even if you are even ‘dead’, the fact of linking up with white lass, no matter how ugly, is so ‘viagrating’ that no black man has so far disgraced the race in any such encounter. So youngman hits off with these nice white lass. Had a swell time in the club and then late in the night, lady says, suggestively, ‘come on, let’s go home’. Sometimes, young African men forget that oburoni’s rules are not like back home. Youngman follows nice white lady to her home. Free advice from Breda Osimi: NEVER FOLLOW ANYONE, NOT MALE OR FEMALE TO HIS/HER PLACE IN BABYLON. NEVER! But young blood is thick and hot and rushing all over his brains and the youngman follows this brunette home. Her home. When they get home, the lady convinces him to tie him to the bed for some crazy games to begin. Youngman gets tied all right. Crazy games begun alright. But instead of being the giver, he became the receiver. The lady pulls a smile and promptly pulls her long beautiful hair off. Auch. It was wig!!! Do you know who a drag queen is? Well, you just met one!!! I hear that youngman woke up in T. B. Joshua’s camp because he was so done that he became dumb. I have always wondered, why this thing about wigs, especially when worn by young, already nice ladies. Let me re-phrase. Why would a young already pretty young lady wear a wig or loads of fake hair to enter a competition for beauties? Student cannot understand! How does a wig let you know the real person you are engaged to? A wig distorts personality. It’s actually a case of ‘ma tricky wo’. A wig or loads of hair on a woman distorts. You will never get to know the real person you are with until the wig falls off in the middle of some frenzied nocturnal activities and then the screaming starts! Where will your mama be?

This piece is not attempting to engage in a fight with all you ladies wearing a toupee right now as you read this. “Every man’s got the right to decide his own destiny’, so says Uncle Bob. Guess that goes for every woman too. A lady can wear a wig for all the days of her life. I will not quarrel with that as it is an individual decision and a personal right under law. The Constitution of the Republic of Ghana guarantees the right to wear a wig. In fact, even a man has the right to wear a wig all the days of his life under the constitution. So this is not a fight with all those ladies who have chosen to wear wigs and long fake hairs. If your man/boy/husband/father does not disapprove, well, keep on wearing it. But my article is inspired by the fraud that has been perpetrated on all of us by the beauty pageants in Ogyakrom when they choose beauty queens. If it was a matter of artificial beauty, I am ever prepared to sponsor a male to participate in one of those events. All we need is a nice body suit and a nice wig to boot. As for the ‘takunta’ that’s liberally applied to the lips, we can procure that without sweat. Akua Korankyewaa, may her sweet soul rest in perfect peace, referred to lipstick as takunta’, better known as turpentine. What’s a Ms. Ghana who wears fake hair? What’s a Ms. Malaika who wears fake hair? What’s a Ms. Ghana Most Beautiful who wears fake hair? What’s a Ms. World or Ms. Universe who wears all that fake hair? The last time I checked, and I encourage you to check the old issues of newspapers like Graphic Showbiz, The Mirror, Spectator and other entertainment papers, you will be amazed to find a bevy of “beauties” posing as contestants for beauty pageants and ALL OF THEM, BAR NONE, ARE FAKE FAIRIES! Not a single one of them is wearing her own hair. All the ladies are grinning at us beneath tons of horse hair and dead Indian virgin hair. Why should any such person be considered a beauty queen?

All beauty pageants must consider banning contestants who are wearing fake hair because they are not genuine. You may go to the house of a Ms. Ghana the day after the event and she will open the gate for you only for you to ask her where Ms. Ghana is. The wig may be off. For everyday life, it’s a personal choice and I really do not begrudge any lady who decides to wear wigs and all that load of horse hair. However, such persons must be disqualified from any beauty competitions because the lady in front of you , posing with all that hair, may actually not have that hair at all. She may be 'sakora'. She ought to believe in herself to take her own assets to a competitive event. One of the pageants I really love is the “Face of Africa”. Have you ever seen a fake fairy win that event before? Nah! They go for African sisters who will wear their own hair. Sisters who are so confident that they will even lose some hair in a close crop and still appear in public and compete in a beauty show. That’s my kind of girl! The ladies who have won all the beauty competitions wearing fake hair are like athletes on steroids. A genomed version of Ben Johnson!!! They are like a 30-year old guy competing for the Starlets as an under 17. You may go and win a cup in a far way land but you do not impress me much. How can you be younger than your younger brother? If we really wanted to do the right things and really pick a true beauty, we would have banned all the fake fairies because frankly, you aint that beautiful. Truth be told, you won because you look artificial and so unlike you. You are a certified fake fairy!!! Breda Osimi won’t have anything to do with you and your crown. You won the beauty contest alright but you did so with the aid of “performance-enhancing” instruments, chief of which is the virgin forest on your head!

Come and get me! Ma ka a, ma ka!!!

Breda Osimi
www.osimidiaries.blogspot.com

1ST ARTICLE IN "THE INFORMER"

““The show you are about to watch
Is a news parody.
Its reporters are not journalists.
Its stories are not fact-checked.
Its opinions are not fully thought through.”

- Intro, "The Daily Show, Global Edition” on CNN.

I was out in Legon, enjoying meeting a lot of old friends and lecturers, mentors and godfathers, 'girls-friends' and 'boys-friends'. Then my phone rang. It was Obaa Yaa. Obaa Yaa is my mother but not my mother. Don’t ask me to explain. In our culture, when you trace your family tree properly, you will realize that though an Efua Abakoma may have borne the pains, you have a lot of mothers, culturally and socially. Obaa Yaa is stock from Kwabena Krakye’s side, through Akokoaso via Hwiakwae in the forests of Eastern Region. Obaa Yaa is my mother, too, period! Obaa Yaa was a little agitated. “Ei, Joe, na wo ka NDC paper bii ho anaa? Of course, I was intrigued because I do not belong to any editorial board of any newspaper or the board of directors of any media entity. Obaa Yaa says goes again… “ oh, paper na opese osei Colonel Damoah no de wo din ato anim se wo nso wo ka ho! Literally, the paper that wants to destroy Colonel Damoah has your name on the front page saying that you are part of them… Na true? How do you handle an agitated mum in the middle of a very open function at the law faculty. I had to buy time. So I told Obaa Yaa that anyone who told her that I was part of anything had got it all wrong. That Uncle Fiifi was about to speak and that I will get back to her. I gently explained to Obaa Yaa that I have no clue what comes into a newspaper. I have been bothering the venerable Ebow Aikins Esq. with my thoughts over a long period until he could not stand me any more and ordered me to write my thoughts and publish on a blog. That is what led to osimidairies.blogspot.com. I have explained that once in a while, I put my thoughts down and ship them over to my blog and to ghanaweb. Sometimes, Magas gets a piece of the action too. It was a difficult ‘sell’ though to get her to appreciate that Ben the Terrible, has apparently been reading my pieces and gave me an offer of a column in their new newspaper. I could not refuse. Obaa Yaa says she understands, but it is not convincing. I know this weekend I have to go home and do a little bit more work on her. All because of Kwadwo Damoah and Ben the Terrible. Obaa Yaa may have been doubly agitated by my description as a controversial lawyer. For the records, I am not. I just try to do things as best as I can with God and my nation in mind. If that is the notion of controversial in today’s terms, man can do very little about it!

How do you explain to people that the fact that your column is in a newspaper does not mean that you are privy to nor can explain any other news items that appears in the same newspaper. Kwadwo Damoah is a personal friend. I have experienced some of what he may be going through at this moment. I have also followed his story through the media like most Ghanaians. I have not seen him in a long while. I may not know the issues too much on what is happening with or to him. I do not know anything about his soldier work. But I know him as a gentleman. I had not seen him in a long while before his story broke. Whether Damoah destroyed the army or the army destroyed him is not going to engage my attention today. Wherever he is, I wish him strength because I know times like these are very lonely stressful times.

My drift is that even Ben the Terrible is aware that this column will retain its sanity at all times. Breda Osimi is neither going to be pro-NDC or anti-NPP. Breda Osimi is not going to be pro-NPP or anti-NDC. Osimi Diaries is my personal journey through life. It is seen through my eyes and a revelation of my personal experiences in Ogyakrom. I have been through a little bit out here in Ogyakrom. Those experiences are my diaries. So Damoah may be on the front pages being bashed and Breda Osimi may be in the middle pages praising him. The Nearly Man may be running another sideshow and be receiving my review in the middle pages (why does he keep popping up in my pieces? Need to see Ama about this!). My manager may feature a lot. The two musketeers will also feature. They are my life. All the bre' is because of them. I will share with you my tears for fears. I will share with you my joys and my pain. I will share with you what nonsense OP told me over the weekend. I will share with you the sheer frustrations of having KooRey as your best buddy. I will share with you Aso’s laughter and sweetness of heart (Manager, you know her o, let not this one bring wahala!). I will share with you Sharlotte’s attempts to sanitise all of us impossible brethren she has. I will share with you Uncle Ebow’s antics, advice and sheer brotherly affection that have been my strength through the many lows we have shared together. I will share with you what the Bishop has told me, in our numerous sessions of soul-searching God’s word for solutions to man’s problems. Osimi Diaries will be the window into my world into Ogyakrom into the future SO HELP ME GOD!

So just as Jon Stewart says in his intro on my favourite show on CNN, the show you are about to watch is a news parody. The reporter is not a journalist. Its stories are not fact-checked. Its opinions are not fully thought through.

You have been warned!!! You fret at your peril! My doctor recommended writing. When I look at agya Sydney, who writes serious letters to Jomo every week, I wonder how they are able to do it. May Chineke give me some of Agya Sydney’s wit and Opanyin Gyasi’s depth. Osimi Diaries is here. Hope Obaa Yaa can be convinced. Hope my manager does not read the column. Hope the Bishop does not read the column, though I know he will. Hope someone tells Aso, Sharlotte and KooRey that I may wash dirty linen and be shaken by what they think at all.

Stay safe, me nkrofo. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. It may be turbulent!!!

Breda Osimi
Accra, 200409

MEETING H.E. AFTER 100 DAYS

IN THE BEGINNING…

“Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.


Finally, I have seen him. Mano a mano! I can tell you the true tale. After 100 days of trying, I finally saw him and shook his hand. A hand that has been metamorphosed into an “Excellent Hand”. He basically looked the same to me. Amazingly, he still acts the same way. I have always known him as a father figure. A man who took me in when I was a student and who showed interest in me and what I was doing with my life. A man to whom I run with my myriad problems of growing up. A man who accepted me for who and what I was and helped shaped my views on life. A man who made me believe again. There he was, in all his glory but amazingly still the same man I had known. Yes, I met him. His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof. John Evan Atta Mills.

I was not alone. There were loads of other distinguished persons in the place. It was the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Law, Legon. There were many others in the crowd that day who may have felt the same way. Uncle Fiifi is President but I can bet my bottom dollar that he has not been fazed by the office at all. How he does it, I can’t tell. I wish that I could emulate him. I wish we could emulate him. I am happy for the young people who have been given responsibilities in his government. There was Pato, sitting close and exchanging banter as of yore. Metres way, Ayariga, also exchanging pleasantries. These guys are perfectly normal! I knew them before the ‘castled’ themselves. They are doing their bit to help mother Ghana and I know that they will succeed. If only they stay focused on Uncle Fiifi and with the divine help of Chineke God, they will succeed and they will offer a new corps of young dedicated people for the development of mother Ghana.

The Mills Administration is a refreshing breath of fresh air blowing into our politics. Some fret, some may sweat. Some may rejoice. But Ghana will be the better for Uncle Fiifi. Love him or loath him, Uncle Fiifi is bringing something very different to governance in Ghana. “Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.”

I am glad I met him again. He is passionate in his quest to make this land a better Ghana, So Help Him God!!!

Breda Osimi
Accra 200409

A PRAYER FOR JOHN KUMA

“ A Prayer For John Kuma”

“There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people”. – Anthony Trollope, English novelist 1815-82

Like Kwame Sefa-Kayi says most mornings: “when you say a prayer, say one for…” John Kuma!!!

A member of the opposition New Patriotic Party, John Kuma says the leadership of the party must call the Nearly Man and his supporters to order. As reported by one of the local sources of fiction, John Kuma was apparently unhappy that party supporters were organized to welcome the Nearly Man from abroad recently. John Kuma as a loyal party man, was of the opinion that the actions of some party supporters and executive created the impression that the Nearly Man was still the elephant’s pole-bearer. Such actions, he said, did not allow for grassroots mobilisation of the party’s support base, as they bred disunity. In his own words “I think that this is the time for us to put individual ambitions aside. The party (leadership) should be looking at how we can re-energize the party at the polling station level.”

John Kuma apparently being fully aware that he could face a stampede from some of the elephants, in the same breath, tried to persuade people that he was not making the statements because he was a thoroughbred Kyeremanteng ‘akola’, no bend no curve. Hear him again, “This has got nothing to do with personalities. I am looking at the constitution of our party and the wisdom the framers of the constitution put in it that when we go into an election and we lose it is the national chairman who must take over as the leader of the party,” .

I was in Accra when his original sentiments were expressed. I heard it live on radio. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that a stampede of elephants was about to begin. Though I know not Mr. Kuma, I have listened to him on a few occasions on Asempa FM. Okay, I admit. Bobie has made that station a very interesting one most afternoons for me. I first encountered John Kuma, I believe on Asempa FM. He is an elephant alright but he appears to be a domesticated elephant. What Mr. Kuma did not anticipate may have been the heavy stampede of elephants that went berserk and trooped his way. I was in P. C. territory when I heard that he had been trampled by the elephants. Apparently he lived to tell his tale because I heard him only last week or so on Asempa FM. I had gone to the Holy Village to see Kwabena Krakye and Afua Abakoma and was on a road to Omanmu, through PC Appiah-Ofori’s territory when I heard the news. I stopped by the roadside to imbibe it. The stampede of the elephants was so wild that John Kuma, who had sounded so defiant on air barely a day earlier and was ready to defend his position, had…, oh, yes, … apologized to the Nearly Man and to all Elephants, dead and alive! “ I John Kuma, do hereby swear, that I did not mean any harm at all to you, Sir! In fact, Alan also did not send me. I was on a frolic of my own. I apologise most sincerely, for stating the obvious and standing up for what I know you know and all elephants know to be right. Its just ‘ambodzin’!

These are times when you must weigh all your options before coming out to say what may even be obvious to everyone. Its becoming increasingly difficult in Ogyakrom to state an opinion and stand by that opinion if that opinion is contrary to popular opinion. John Kuma stated the obvious. But in Ghana, you must be dumb to state the obvious especially if it involves some major movers and shakers. A STAMPEDE OF ELEPHANTS WILL DESCEND YOUR WAY IF YOU ARE AN ELEPHANT, ESPECIALLY A BABY ELEPHANT. UMBRELLA TIPS, SHARPENED FOR EFFECT, WILL FLY YOUR WAY IF YOU ARE AN AKATAMANSO. Over time, you learn that if you want to survive in these parts, you have to clam up and seek to ventilate on your loo or in your bedroom or into green or black bottles as appropriate. We have made it an art in making fine people feel bad about doing good!

So tonight, before you turn in, when you say a prayer, say one for John Kuma. A lot more of that elephant trampling and he metamorphoses into the Ghanaian nightmare. An intellectual, who does not believe one word of what he says but says it anyway because it flows with the tide and also guarantees his place at the 'no ko fio' jamboree, if and/or when it comes! And oh, while you are still on your knees, say one too for Alhaji Haruna Attah of the “New Daily Accra Mail Guide”. He is another who has opened his mouth to say the ambodzin on the ‘elephantiasis’ and he’s had his fair share. He appears to have a thick skin. And finally say one for me too. Its time to feel good, about doing good. ThinkGhana. Make Integrity fashionable again!!!

A.S.E.M, Asem!!!

P/S: Please elephants, don’t stampede my way for describing my own nemesis as the Nearly Man. I have said, and I say so again, that Uncle Fiifi should give comfort to him that if you bide your time and stay true to the people, your time will come. Uncle Fiifi was a Nearly Man for half a century. But now " hwe adze onyame wa ye!!! Opanyin, gye ahom, na eyi oye agora a!!!

Joe Aboagye Debrah Esq.
www.osimidiaries.blogspot.com

DISCONTINUANCE OF CONTEMPT APPLICATION AGAINST GHANA BAR EXECUTIVES

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
FAST TRACK DIVISION, ACCRA

SUIT NO.AP50/09
THE REPUBLIC

-VRS-

1. PETER R. ZWENNES )
c/o 2nd Floor, Carlton House ) 1st RESPONDENT
Opp. Beijing Clinic, Anumansa Street)
Osu Re, Accra )

2. FRANK W. K. BEECHAM ) 2nd RESPONDENT
C/o Bram-Larbi, Beecham & Co. )
E127/2, Kojo Thompson Rd. )
Adabraka, Accra )

EX PARTE JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH ) APPLICANT
#82/1, CASTLE ROAD, ADABRAKA )
ACCRA


MOTION ON NOTICE FOR LEAVE TO DISCONTINUE
ORDER 17 rule 2, sub rule 3

TAKE NOTICE that this Honourable Court will be moved by JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq., the Applicant herein praying for leave to discontinue his action for an order of committal against the Respondents herein upon the grounds stated in the accompanying supporting affidavit

And for such further or other orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit.

Court to be moved on Wednesday the 8th day of April. 2009 at 9 0’clock in the forenoon or any other time thereafter as the Applicant may be heard.

DATED AT 1ST LAW, ACCRA THIS 30th DAY OF MARCH, 2009



APPLICANT
THE REGISTRAR
HIGH COURT, FAST TRACK DIVISION
ACCRA.

AND TO THE ABOVE NAMED RESPONDENTS

































IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
FAST TRACK DIVISION, ACCRA

SUIT NO.AP50/09
THE REPUBLIC

-VRS-

1. PETER R. ZWENNES )
c/o 2nd Floor, Carlton House ) 1st RESPONDENT
Opp. Beijing Clinic, Anumansa Street)
Osu Re, Accra )

2. FRANK W. K. BEECHAM ) 2nd RESPONDENT
C/o Bram-Larbi, Beecham & Co. )
E127/2, Kojo Thompson Rd. )
Adabraka, Accra )

EX PARTE JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH ) APPLICANT
#82/1, CASTLE ROAD, ADABRAKA )
ACCRA

AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT

I, Joe Aboagye Debrah of F119B, Ashongman Estates, Accra, do make oath and say as follows:

1. That I am a partner of 1stLaw, a firm of legal practitioners based in Accra and the deponent/Applicant herein and a fully paid up member of the Ghana Bar Association.

2. That at the hearing of this application, I shall seek leave of the Court to make reference to material averments in the processes filed so far in the substantive suit as if same have been deposed to in this affidavit and sworn hereto.


3. That I issued a writ of summons dated November 24, 2008 against the Ghana Bar Association claiming defined reliefs further which I applied for an order of committal against the above-named Respondents on March 3, 2009 which is pending before this Honourable Court.

4. That I have been entreated by several members of the Ghana Bar Association and other respectable members of the legal fraternity to discontinue my action against the Ghana Bar Association in the substantive suit and against the Respondents in the present action.

5. That out of respect for the highly placed members of the legal fraternity and out of a desire to find an amicable resolution of the issues raised in my action, I pray accordingly for leave to discontinue the present action against the named Respondents herein in order to afford the Association an opportunity to deal with the many issues that have confronted it in the wake of the National Conference held in Kumasi on November 15, 2008.

6. Wherefore I swear to this affidavit in support.

SWORN AT ACCRA THIS }
Day of March, 2009 } ………………………..
DEPONENT
BEFORE ME



COMMISSIONER OF OATHS


AND TO: THE ABOVE NAMED RESPONDENTS

1. CHARLES ZWENNES, C/o 2nd Floor, Carlton House, Opp. Beijing Clinic, Anumansa Street, Osu Re, Accra

2. FRANK W. K. BEECHAM c/o Bram-Larbi, Beecham & Co., E127/2, Kojo Thompson Rd., Adabraka, Accra