Osimi Diaries

A WHITE MAN'S TAKE ON OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY

2011-07-28T08:47:00.001-07:00

Arrogance of being President while being Black

I don't think anyone was under some real illusion that the election
of Barack Obama actually means the end of racism in America . I'm pretty
sure that the president-elect knew it better than anyone. After all, he
saw it every day, from the moment he announced his candidacy. To some
degree, he saw it within his own party during the primaries. And he saw it in all ugliness during the general election. For half of this country, he
was "That One". No matter how big and clear his victory was. No matter how
smart he is. No matter how decent he is. No matter what a true patriot he is. No matter how optimistic and positive his vision for America was. All
that didn't matter. Because at the end of the day, he was still black.

I'm quite old. I remember, vaguely, where my parents were on
November 22, 1963. I've seen so many presidents. Some were feared, some were hated, some were adored, some popular and some not. But all of them, without exception, were treated with the highest respect deserving the office of the president of the United States.

That is until a black man won the right to occupy this office. It's
been 13 months now, and in the eyes of so many, Barack Obama is still that
one. He is being disrespected and at the same time being held to the highest
standard of any president I've ever seen - and not just by the
Republican side! He has to perform three times better than any president in
history, and even that may not be enough.

For the media, he is many more times just "Obama" than "President
Obama". They create scandals out of nothing issues. It took them at least 6
years to start giving Bush a small part of the shit he deserved. It took them 6 months to begin crap all over Obama because he's yet to fix the
catastrophe that was left for him.

They use condescending tones when they talk about him, and only
mildly less condescending when they talk TO him. With anyone else, CNN wouldn't dare go to commercials every time the president speaks, like they did during that summit on Thursday. They wouldn't dare be counting how many minutes George Bush or Bill Clinton were talking. Chris Mathews wouldn't dare make an issue out of Ronald Reagan calling members of congress by their first name, like he is not actually the president. They fully cooperate with the Right-Wing smear machine when it comes to president Obama's national security performance - even if almost every independent and military expert actually thinks that he's a terrific Commander-in-Chief. You'll never see them on TV, and virtually no one from the Left, in congress and outside, defend the president on this matter.

I don't care about the Far-Right. They're just crazy ignorant
Neanderthals. It's the way the beltway and the mainstream treats this president that is shocking. On Thursday, almost every Republican had no trouble interrupting him in the middle of a sentence. They looked like they're going to vomit every time they had to say "Mr. President". They all had this Eric-Cantor-Smirk whenever he spoke. Then they went out and started to spit their stupid talking points, to the delight of the media. Sarah
Palin, a woman who can hardly read, thinks that he was "arrogant" towards John McCain, and somehow this is important news. Because you see,
"Obama's Arrogance" is the talking point of the day.

Oh, those talking points. He is arrogant (because he knows the facts
better than all of them combined). He is an elitist (because he uses big
words that they don't understand). He is weak on national security (because he actually thinks about the consequences). He divides the country (well, he did that the day he had the audacity to win the election). Worst of all, he
actually thinks that he's the president. He even dared to say so on Thursday. How arrogant of him. You'd think that previous presidents didn't have any ego. Somehow it turned out that the one president who treats even his biggest opponents with the utmost respect - is the arrogant one. I wonder why?

I expected that his winning the Presidency would bring out some
ugliness, but it's been far worse than I imagined. The racism coming from the Right is obviously clear and shameless, but there's also some hidden and maybe subconscious and disturbing underline tone behind some of the things
that I read here and throughout the Left blogosphere, even before the end of Obama's first year - 'He's weak, he's spineless, he's got no balls,
primary him in 2012'. It'll be dishonest to deny that.

The fact is that for millions in America , Barack Obama is this
uppity black man (Not even a "real" black), who received good education only
due to affirmative action, and has no right to litter the sacred Oval Office
with his skin color. They just can't accept the fact that the president is
a black man, who unlike his predecessor, was actually legally elected.
But what's really sad is that it's not just the fringe, its deep deep in
mainstream America.

Barack Obama's ability to remain above all this slob, to keep his
optimism and his strange and mostly unjustified faith in people, while
continuing to gracefully deal with an endless shitstorm - is one of the most
inspiring displays of human quality I have ever seen. And I can only hope that
the Cosmos is on his side because God is and He never makes a mistake.

Sometimes, they make me feel ashamed to be a white man!!

P/S: This article was written by a white man who feels disgusted with the manner in which President Obama has been and is being treated by segments of American society. It was sent to me by a friedn and I feel compelled to share it.

A Prayer For The President

2011-07-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

A Prayer for the President

O Yeshua Amashua!

Creator of Heaven and the Earth, Maker of Uncle Fiifi and Maame Konadu and the NDC, hallowed be thy name!

Yeshua, we bring up Uncle Fiifi unto your Holy Throne room. Lord, you know that he did not really ask for this but this contest in your divine wisdom has to take place in order to guarantee him the necessary peace to achieve his Better Ghana agenda.

Harden the heart of Maame Konadu, Lord. Please don’t make her change her mind at the last minute. Yeshua, please let her contest the flagbearership of the NDC, Lord. We cover her heart in holy concrete, Lord. Ogyakrom needs its peace to enable real governance to take place. We worship you for your wondrous ways. Lord, what we are seeing can only be the work of your Hands. Let there be peace in Sunyani. Lord, let the contest be peaceful. Yeshua, my Lord and Master, let the result be unambiguous. Protect Uncle Fiifi and Maame Konadu and let the people of Ogyakrom have a definitive mandate from the congress.

Yeshua, we commit anyone who intends to cause mayhem into your Hands. Please cause a change of heart in mischief-makers. But Lord, if they will not desist, Lord, empower the law enforcement agencies to protect all and sundry. Let Sunyani come and go, Lord, such that Maame Konadu will know that indeed, this is the work of your Hands. And Yeshua, immediately after the contest, soften her heart and open her eyes, so that she does not commit hari kiri by forming her own party.

And Lord, forgive me my trespasses. I have not been communicating with you as often as I should. Help me to repair all the links with you so You can direct the next phase. I am grateful for the bundle of joy you have brought me even through the turbulence. Glory Be To Thy Name!!!

This I pray through the precious blood that you shared on Calvary for all, including Ogyakromanians.

Amen!

Breda Osimi

Tinted Paradise

2009-08-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

“It is an offence to bribe a police officer” –
sign on a billboard at the Kasoa Police Barrier”.

Many months ago, I heard my dear friend and professional colleague ACP D.J. Avoga, head of the MTTU, declare on radio that the Police were going to wage war on vehicles with tinted windows. Do you remember? Oh my people? I know that we all have a 24-hour memory span but try and do remember a few things for me, wae. Do you remember the Venerable Begyina? What happened to his matter? Classic ‘ehuru a, ebe dwo’! Do you remember Agya Mpiani? When he toned down upon realising that the same manners he had warped in his prime may be applied to his case, have you seen or heard him take on ‘aban nipa’ again, except for the occasional Ghana@50 appearances? But I digress. Back to the wonderful ways of my people. Yes, I know the venerable D. J. well. Believe you me, he is not a disc jockey though I know he likes music. Knowing him, I can bet my bottom dollar that he meant business about this jihad (oh, Baba!!!) on tinted windows of cars. Indeed, he explained on some radio interviews that the Police could not sit idly by when there was an enforceable regulation that a driver should not obstruct his line of vision with any other objects. He was particularly concerned about the role of these tinted glasses in potential accidents arising from reversing vehicles or even trying to see through the rear-view mirror. ACP DJ asserted that though the regulation on tinted windows had been on the books for over thirty years, it had not been enforced and a lot of vehicles were now plying the roads wholly tinted from front to back.

I cringed a little because I was one of the people who had tinted vehicle.
A tinted jalopy!!! My first car, a 1986 Opel Kadett ‘has collected my love and feelings’ and has been sitting in my house ever since my manager decided she did not want it anymore. Somehow, I have grown to love driving that jalopy and I just couldn’t bring myself to offloading it. My abiding pain was that though E.G. knows all about gears and the fact that you should be in second and not fourth when traffic slows etc, he is still just a precocious 11 year old handsome boy. All he can do now is to race around courses with fast cars on a TV screen. My wahala is with game pads and play stations, a fad that started when his aunt brought him a game boy from Babylon. So my jalopy sits in the yard collecting dust day by day. One day, I get a brain wave and decide that I am going to give the old shaker an overhaul so I can use it around town. Guarantees anonymity. Enter Massa Kofi. Massa Kofi is an amazing mechanic based in Odawna who has been a permanent feature of my mechanical life ever since my Cedi House days. He is a guy that I can trust with everything bar my manager. We go back a long way and we have been through loads of vehicular mishaps together, from breakdowns on the way to the holy village to emergency operations through the phone along a highway. Massa Kofi takes a thorough assessment of the state of the jalopy and assures me the Opel is still very strong and just needs a little tweaking here and there to bring it into the 21st Century. So I find some money and release my bird to him. The car sits at Odawna for a while. They do a fine piece of work on it. The engine purrs beautifully. Seats are cleaned and new covers fitted. Body works completed. Believe you me, even the air-condition is rehabilitated. Oh, my Opel is back with a bang!!!

Then one of Massa Kofi’s boys suggests that I should tint the windows which will make the car a little funkier. That’s how my Opel is being threatened by Chief Avoga and his boys. I have only tinted the back windows and left the rear-screen free. I guess I won’t fall foul of the law team. But you consider how much a tinted window brings. To the policeman and to the vehicle user.

First to the policeman. Nice car approaching. Order to halt. Show licence. Shown. Where is your insurance and road worthy certificate. Shown. Where is your fire extinguisher? Shown. Where is your triangle? Shown. Avoga boy looks around and heaven came down in the form of a tinted window. Massa, why is your window tinted? Haven’t you heard about the law that says that no car should have tinted windows? Paradise has come for the policeman. If you are a Ghanaian, born and bred in these hereabouts, fully conscious of your 'Ghanaianness', then you begin evaluating how much your freedom will cost you in Ghana cedis. Tinted paradise for the Avoga boys.

Then to the driver of the tinted vehicle. You are cruising in the city and your windows are all up. I see you , you no see me’. What may be happening in that vehicle. There may be cocaine sniffing, armed robbers preparing for a raid and checking their weaponsa, girlfriends leaning over to plant wet kisses on a stupid driver’s lips whilst the vehicle is in motion. Come on. Use your imagination a bit. Just imagine the possibilities in a fully tinted vehicle. Everyone inside it gets ways literally with murder. Tinted paradise for the user.

So, DJ, what are you going to do about it. Are you going to insist on applying the law? I have seen loads of quality vehicles with tinted glasses from home. If you imagine that some of these palces are areas with limited sunshine and not out 12 hour free sunlight, you wonder whether everyone who brings a car into the country had it customized. Tinted paradise is there for both the policeman and the user. We could ban people like me who have used some dark foil to tint the windows. Get it off or you don’t access the jalopy. That I can understand. But if we insist on banning all tinted vehicles, you will have to contend with that British Embassy vehicle that is so seriously tinted you can only see the driver if you stand right in front of it. Guess even the venerable ACP’s colleagues have tinted vehicles. It’s practically a venture that is not worth fighting. The effort to ban the cars provides financial resource for most police personnel on the road. The typical ‘ehuru a, ebe dwo’ of the Ghanaian has won in the end. Now I see them all over the place. You only get into trouble with the law if business has not been good for the day and the men in black cannot arrest on any offence but the tint.

We trudge along, tinted paradise for both prosecutor and accused!!! It’s a win-win for all concerned. I am sorry if I woke up a sleeping monster. My tints are coming off this evening so I am not made a scapegoat. Respects, ACP D.J. Avoga, for all the effort you put in. I wish you all the best in your endeavours.

Breda Osimi

P/S: As this piece was being concluded, news filtered in that a new paradise was being created. Its motor-cycles after 8pm. This one, is a win-lose situation for prosecutor=rider respectively, So help them God!!!

The Lorgorligi Dance of Contemporary Ghanaian Politics

2009-08-06T08:29:00.001-07:00

“We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.”
- George Orwell

This is the time to be discerning. It’s a rather interesting time to be in Ghana. Every morning when I turn my radio on, its there. You just cant run away from it. People who should know better and who actually know better, just out of their beds, ranting and foaming at the mouth and articulating matters they don’t believe in for a moment. Disturbing public peace for private gain!!!

One day at Adoma, we had to argue about who really has his peace of mind these days in Ogyakrom. I managed to get the star players to agree that the man who sleeps and snores in these crazy times must be the truck pusher at Sodom and Gomorrah. No slight on anyone but if you don’t give a toss about who rules the land, about which party is in power, about whether there is an al-qaeda or "boko haram" which literally translates as “book-ye-haram”, whether there is light or water is flowing, then you have peace and have it abundantly. The man who wakes up and heads for the blue kiosk, whacks some 5 Ghana pesewas worth of aluku (ei, what’s the current world market price of ogoglo? ), heads for some banku spot and buys banku ke groundnut soup ke small fish ke nyadua ke nkruma for 10 or 20p. Let the sweat begin. He hits the road and goes looking for adwuma. In the evening, he attacks aluku again and settles for some fine ‘face the wall’ swimming in some potent soup. He doesn’t give a damn about PC Appiah Ofori and the 5000 dollars. He doesn’t care about Kojo Mpiani and Tarzan. Kojo hwan? He knows next to nothing about hotel waa-waa. Who the hell is Begyina? Is that a name? Where does he come from? That’s the guy whose blood pressure is normal. Not your average guy. Agreed. Not like you because I know my guy will never know about my blog, ghanaweb, myjoyonline, daily guide , informer etc, parliament, tagor etc. Life is what the Lord brings to him each day. What about you and me?

Yesterday the group called Alliance for Accountable Government (AFAG) hit the streets. I heard some of the heat on Nana Bobie’s show. It appeared very colourful. This morning I have seen pictures of canoes etc that went fishing yesterday on the streets of Accra. I have also heard Asabee, Kofi Jumah etc all pour some salt into whatever was being said. The songs as always were very innovative. Uncle Fiifi had his share. After all, he was the reason for the season. Ayariga, 'Munchinga', and many others had their fair share of the cake too. What a pleasant day it was for the kind of activity that they undertook. I hear Dr. Sipa-Yankey was also very happy for what they did. After all, he has been trying to get people to get out and exercise and if Owusu-Agyepong could stretch his bones a bit as an example to the youth, why not. By the way, did the Nearly Man show? Please if he did, then he understands what has to be done in opposition in Ghana. I hope he was exercising yesterday. If he didn’t, then he is missing out again and it may come back to bite him if he doesn’t join the next ones. Alan? Hope to God he was there. You see, Alan and the Nearly Man will be competing for AFAG’S affections. So each must monitor the movements of the other. The moment you hear that the other is heading for one of the numerous demonstrations that will be staged by AFAG during Uncle Fiifi’s tenure, the other must head there immediately and make sure that he is seen and heard.

Ebusuafo, what am I struggling to put across? AFAG is none other than the CJA of yore. AFAG is the new CJA. This is not a prophecy: WHATEVER CJA DID TO YEWURA, AFAG WILL DO TO UNCLE FIIFI!!! It’s that simple! I wrote a while ago that a certain metamorphosis will take place within the parties. Already, the NPP has become the NDC of yore. What with the whining, press conferences over irrelevant issues, walkouts from parliament, wide-wild allegations of no substance, threats of demonstrations and demonstrations properly so-called. The NPP has become the NDC. Will the NDC become the NPP? We live to see. Each passing day sees our politicians do and say exactly the same things the opponents were saying in another life. There’s a certain kind of talk that’s assigned to the opposition and another assigned to the government. If we had ability to store our files such that we could do a comparitive analysis, we will notice that some of the placards of AFAG may even bear the same inscriptions as that wielded by the CJA. So did we go or did we come? Is it because someone perceives us as so dumb that we cannot discern the issues anymore.

Is politics in Ghana just a matter of musical chairs? Where there was a Papa Jay, there was a K4 and there is a Prof. Where there was a Konadu, there was a Theresa, and there is a Naadu. Where there was a 31st , there was a Mother & Child. Where there was a Kume Preko, there was a Wahala and now there is ‘Atta adada yen’. Where there was an Alliance for Change, there was a Committee for Joint Action, and now there is An Alliance for Accountable Governance. Where there was a Vision 2020, there was a 2015 Strategy. Where there was an Asemfofro, there was a Stadium. Where there was a Group Chagnon there is a Zoomlion and now there is an EWS. Where there was a Vitol, there was a Sahara. Where there was an NDC, there was an NPP and now there is an NDC. The NPP was for primaries, then for consensus. The NDC was for consensus then for primaries. The NPP was for change, then was for Continuity and is now for Change. The NDC was for continuity then for Change and is now for Continuity. The NPP is the NDC is the NPP? The NDC is the NPP is the NDC?

So for all the people who were on the ‘Alaka-wo’ dance on the streets of Accra, gird up your loins because AFAG will call you out again. You need not be a soothsayer to know that by now an Oseikrom version is planned. Then they will step out into the other regional capitals with the same message. If that was a strategy that got Uncle Fiifi into the Castle, why re-invent the wheel? The same guys who rubbished house-to-house will be seen in hamlet- to-hamlet two clear years before the Electoral Commission blows the whistle for the start of the race. It’s rather interesting to hear Kofi Jumah and co say practically the same things Kwesi Pratt and Co said not too long ago on the same streets. Oh, Ghana politricks!!! The other day I met a senior lawyer in Court and I asked him whether he was defending the embattled rice importer who is facing charges of willfully causing financial loss to the State. He was shocked that I could suggest that he could be Counsel for the importer. But I argued that he will be a very critical resource to the importer’s legal team. You know why? He had a client who faced same charges in another life. All the arguments he made in defence of his client in the past regime and which the very same people rubbished, is desperately needed by them in their defence. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Is it the hand of God that Asabee will be asking for the support of the same law that he rubbished not too long ago. That if the law worked, he would have been cited for contempt ten times over re Hodari Okae? But hei, Jesus loves everyone. Ask the sisters who spent all their juicy years banging the Sons of Adam with careless abandon. When time comes to settle down and grab their own and no one is coming, what do they do? Yeshua Amashua is the Lover of Last Resort!!! ‘Come to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden’ and I, Yeshua, will give you maxi rest!!! Jesus never fails!!! So these sisters find solace in all sorts of ministries and evangelical activities. The Lord is good, all the time.

So my people, prepare for more AFAG demonstrations. The arguments may not cut ice with anyone but they will exercise their right to hit the streets for as long as the NPP is in opposition. Oh, I nearly forgot another feature of our politics. The party that won invariably has to compensate its foot soldiers. I wonder where that term came from. Every party that wins begins the dissemination and destruction of the very machinery that won power for them. All their generals are converted from the field into plum offices and positions. They feed fat and lose the zeal for leg work. The foot soldiers are left on their own and they begin to grumble. If you allow that to fester, then an elephant overhaul will happen to the umbrella. But back to AFAG. Most of the things they say may appear sincere but believe you me, they may not be as sincerely patriotic as it seems. The back-story to AFAG is that it is a vehicle for achieving power just like the CJA. If in the event, the government feels shaken enough to pay heed to some of the things that may be said, that’s when you and I as citizens benefit. But better believe that none of those guys will be out on the streets if they didn’t feel sufficiently threatened in their watering holes that they felt it necessary to step out and defend their acquisitions and carve a path right back to the gravy train.

Welcome, AFAG. You cut an impressive pose with your premier demo. See the CJA for a crash programme on how to influence government. Some of their placards could even come handy. As Ablakwa said, your demonstration is a testament to a better Ghana, just as the CJA’s was a testament to positive change. As for me Breda, I know you weren’t out there for my interest or that of my manger and the two musketeers or at all. “Se Atta adada yen a, mo nso mo re dada yen!!! Ne ho asem ara nyin!!!

Breda Osimi

The Price of Conscientious Stupidity... denominated in Vodafone Units

2009-08-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

“The majority never has right on its side. Never, I say! That is one of the social lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against. Who makes up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a terrible overwhelming majority, all the wide world over. But, damn it, it can surely never be right that the stupid should rule over the clever!” –Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright 1828-1906.

“I make no apologies for going to town today. After all, I have restrained myself for so long that I had to get someone to show me the way into town as I had completely lost my way. Am I stupid? Am I dumb? Are you?

Well, I can speak for myself and my manager and the two musketeers. We are neither stupid nor dumb. I know my people are also not stupid. But increasingly, I am asking myself whether those of us left on this continent somehow sold our consciences to someone who’s bolted from the market. We may have regretted the sale but we have not been able to trace to whom we sold out. Are we dumb?

Why cant the African stand up for what he believes in? Why? Is it because unlike the white man, we can’t blush? Have you calculated how much your ‘ball-lessness’ is costing your dear nation? Why is the African only strong and brave in front of his wife and his concubines? African women get battered for the most stupid of reasons just for perceptions of standing in the man’s way. Yet this same man may have just come from the office meeting where he knew that the subject of discussion was going to lead nowhere. Indeed, he was fully aware that the decisions taken could only lead to increased costs and will be ultimately unworkable. Yet, what did he say when he was asked his opinion? Yes, sir!!! This is the best idea!!! Sometimes I wonder what we will do if God did not bring you into this ministry, office, church, Castle or rock, he would add for emphasis!”

All the above was written more than two years ago in an article about the foolishness of the campaign to make Obasanjo run for a third term.

Once upon a time in my other life, Breda had a chance to tell some colleagues about an impending event. Nah, though I flow with a lot of prophecy, I am no prophet. It was also not a metaphysical event as any discerning mind could foretell it as a natural consequence of an earlier event. Once that event happens, the consequence, though it may tarry, will definitely come to pass. They, like some in the days of Agya Noah, did not believe me until “the rains came down!!!” OK, I admit that all of us in Ogyakrom have a 24 hour memory span. You don’t? OK, let me ask you a question. Do you remember a certain big man called Right Honourable Begyina Sekyi-Hughes and the hullaboutwhat? Aaha!!! We moved on, haven’t we? But I digress. That was just to buttress the point that out here in Ogyakrom, it’s only when the storm is brewing that it seems the whole world is collapsing on you. If you buckle up, and have a few friends in the right places, ready, willing and able to manipulate the ‘shitstem’, ehuru a, ebe dwo!!! So most Ogyakrom files do not date beyond 24 hours. They are deleted after 24 hours. But as Oscar and his people have done for me before, even lost files can be recovered. For a fee!!! So let’s try and recover some lost files here.

Remember some people who appeared on TV, holding placards and singing praises to Yeshua Amashua for the takeover of GT by Vodafone? At the time GT was being taken over, I wrote an article on the issues. A particular paragraph sticks out like a sore thumb and I just have to remind you. It reads “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!!!!

I believe that many other Ghanaians asked themselves the same questions. What’s wrong with those GT workers? Don’t they know that once the event occurs, there is a natural consequence that will happen as surely as night follows day? The event is called downsizing a.k.a. retrenchment a.k.a. compulsory redundancy a.k.a. ‘sack-sack’. Last week Vodafone decided that the workers were not disposing themselves off at the pace it anticipated and announced a compulsory redundancy to affect at least 950 workers across board. Enter the same workers and their union leaders: “We no go sit down”!!! So typically Ghanaian!!!

Fact: The workers at Vodafone Ghana are wasting their time fighting the redundancy.
Fact: The redundancy will take place.
Fact: Many workers will lose their jobs.
Fact: The compulsory redundancy is perfectly legit.
Fact: Neither the government nor the NPP nor the Labour Commission can stop the process, unless for a perfectly sound legal cause which is not on the horizon.
Fact: Redundancies or downsizing is a natural consequence of a takeover or acquisition. Ask my manager.
Fact: Pre-takeover corporate communication is fundamentally different from post-takeover communication. E.g., ‘there will be no loss of jobs’ is pre-takeover. ‘We need to downsize to remain competitive’ is post-takeover talk.
So, Vodafone workers who are within the Vodafone drop zone, if your Union executives ever promised that you will not haemorrhage jobs, start castrating some of them.

Here is some free Breda advice for all the drop zone candidates and others in Vodafone. Its time for your Union to spend its energies on negotiating a very good terminal package for all affected staff. Make sure you are adequately rewarded for the service you have rendered to Ghana Post and Telecommunications to Ghana Telecoms to Vodafone Ghana. Also try and see whether you can get Vodafone to fund some skills training in addition to your terminal benefits. Start letting the Union members be aware that what’s happening is inevitable. Yu must position them to appreciate that some jobs will definitely be lost. What the staff of GT did in openly demonstrating to welcome the takeover and calling on government not to intervene to halt it may have gotten some of them front page coverage in Daily Graphic. But it’s what Breda calls “conscientious stupidity, denominated in Vodafone units”. It comes with a price tag. It’s the kind of behaviour where an individual is fully aware that his actions will come back to haunt him or his community but he goes ahead anyway, regardless. The wholly unique historical act of workers demonstrating in support of the takeover of their own company suggests that all within that entity were ready for whatever adventure the new team was bringing including compulsory redundancies. So I laugh out loud when I hear the same people say that Vodafone never told them there will be compulsory redundancies. If even the mother of all ‘father Christmas employers’, the Government of Ama Ghana, was looking for profits in that entity, what did they think the abrofo’ were there for? A visit to the Cape Coast Castle? If Vodafone have to fire 1500 people to achieve their objective of making profits in Ghana, believe me they will walk the route. Vodafone aint no father Christmas o. They are here for the money and they will do what’s absolutely necessary to achieve their business objectives. This may include downsizing and sadly not even Uncle Fiifi can save you. And if you thought it was only Vodafone, think again. We all have a 30% stake in there and we share their vision. Only you will not get Haruna the Honourable to ever say any such thing.

Let me end with a message to my people: Conscientious stupidity will only come back to haunt you. Remember all the musicians who trooped to the Nearly Man’s house to pay homage during the race to the Castle 08. At the time, it made absolute sense because everyone who has sung a note was heading that way and refusing to go there meant immediate extinction of your voice. Oh, the perils my musicians face. Witness Jewel Ackah’s wahala during the years of the Elephant? Everyone who was anyone in the Ghanaian music industry crammed unto the Nearly Man’s train. It took the ‘suicidal’ actions of a few ‘mad’ men like Lucky Mensah to stick their necks for Uncle Fiifi. “Look, who’s dancing now”?

Breda won’t shed too many tears for Vodafone staff. If only you had bothered to ask the old Major, he would have surely told you that though it may tarry, a redundancy, in all its shapes and forms, would surely happen. As A. B. Crentsil (where is he?) said in one of his masterpieces, “me di wo be ko fie” which in Ohemaa language translates somehow like “I will take you home”. Believe it or yes, “ya ye mo sete waaaaa!!!!”

Breda Osimi
020809

BackStory - A Foray Into The Unknown-unknowns of Contemporary Ghanaian Politics

2009-07-20T17:10:00.001-07:00

“Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale”?
“No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country”.
- Edward Everett Hale, American clergyman 1822-1909

When was the last time you stood up for something you believed in? Own up! Yes, it is you I am talking to!!! Stop looking around as if it’s the guy next to you that I am referring to. Eye wo ara na me ne wo kasa yi!!! When was the last time you stood up for your principles? And I don’t mean the times when it was very convenient to do so because everyone around shared the same opinion. When you know your position is right but wholly politically incorrect, when you are flowing against the tide, what do you do abrantie? When you know that what you say will cost you brothers, sisters, lovers, friends and increase your stock of enemies, do you still stand by your principles?

I am falling in love with a programme on CNN called BackStory. It’s hosted by Michael Holmes. It’s a programme that takes you behind the news and attempts to give us a glimpse of what the journalists go through to get the sanitized stories they give to us during news time. It’s a kind of reality show where the reporters shows how they manoeuvred into position, the people they access before they go on air, a bit of the matters which would otherwise never be broadcast on TV by the network. It’s innovative, it’s insightful, it’s raw, it’s engaging, and IT’S TRUE. It shows that before Christiane Amanpour appears “live” to broadcast on the news, she may have been in a shouting match literally minutes before a live feed to get her position on that stretch of road to broadcast. It’s the story behind the story. Back Story is a recent addition to the CNN stable of programmes. Until it aired, we (don’t fret wae. “We” in all my pieces mean myself, my manager, the two musketeers and Nii Aryee if he is home) always thought that the news was the crisp, sharp and focused on air live reporting etc that the journalists made look so beautiful. Until Michael Holmes and his crew showed us there was always another side to the story, who imagined that anything happened behind the scenes before we got the news.

To every story, there is a backstory! Me re ndada wo!!!

So what is the backstory to PC’s amazing semi mea-culpa on the five thousand Ghana cedis which he alleges was honourably discharged. PC blew my mind when he said that he was making the claim because they did not give him his share. Don’t ask me what the backstory to his claim is. Is it whistle blowing or trumpet blowing? To every story, there is a backstory!!! This morning before I left home, I saw on TV an American soldier captured by the Taliban eating breakfast or his last supper and crying for his mama. That’s the story. The backstory to that may be that a gun may be pointing at his head out of camera shot. A white board may be in the same room with his statement written thereon for him to read to us. The Taliban do not have a teleprompter because that would have done the job superbly. One word out of line and he may not see his mama again. But unless Yeshua Amashua is kind enough to let us know, we probably will never know the real story behind his 28 minute video.

To every story, there is a backstory wae!!! In plain language, backstory equals ‘there is no smoke without fire’, period!!! Yeshua has been gracious to us and kept most of the back stories of our politics out of sight. We have seen many beautiful pictures of officials over the years signing all sorts of agreements on our behalf with all sorts of investors for our benefit. The smiles are broad. We are working for the common good. Backstory? 10% cash down or no signature, no project, no contract!!! In Ogyakrom, backstories are invariably historical in nature. Unless an Uncle Fiifi decides to go looking for witches, we mortals never get the backstory. What’s the backstory to all the smiles on the faces of some fine citizens on Ghana’s 50th anniversary? What’s the backstory to Esseku’s resignation as NPP Chairman? Whats the backstory to Asaga missing out on a cabinet position? What’s the backstory to Spio missing out on a seat close to heaven? What’s the backstory to Uncle Fiifi’s sitting down with a sleeping Yahya J to secure a deal re Ghanaians dead in the Gambia? What’s the backstory to Sefa-Kayi’s issue with Shaaba and Agyepong the Ken?

So until Yeshua Amashua is gracious to us and we get some sneak review of the back-story, expect PC to be shunned by his pack of elephants. His Honourable Colleagues will refuse to acknowledge his greetings. He may even be sacked from the elephant herd. But we mortals will never know the backstory!

Let me end with a story told by KooRey in our bad old days in Legon: “ Once upon a time, the ‘mboadoma 31st “ convened a meeting. It was chaired by Mrs. Osibo who was the wife of the King of the Jungle. It was a very fruitful meeting where a lot of matters affecting the welfare of the association were discussed. Just before the meeting ended, at the ‘any other business’ stage, up goes the hand of Mrs. Apatakura. Please don’t ask me what her Christian name is. I have asked James, Rachel and Cee and they don’t know. Uncle Ebow is also not here at the moment for me to ask. I will not speculate because I am not sure whether its one of two animal-names that popped into my head. It’s your test for the week. Ask your wife what the Christian name of Apatakura is. You can go to my blog: www.osimidiaries.blogspot.com and let me have your views. Ok, back to the story. ‘Yes, madam, what’s on your mind’, Chairperson Mrs. Osibo asks? Mrs. Apatakura clears her throat and says she has a suggestion for all the fine ladies. ‘I, Mrs. Apatakura, wish to table a motion that we should appoint a ‘konomtea’ to inspect the genitalia of all our men to establish which one is the leader of the pack!!! Pandemonium broke out at the meeting! Mrs. Osono in a fit of rage was stumping and stamping all over the meeting grounds trying to snuff the life out of Mrs. Apatakura. ‘How dare you, Apatakura, to disgrace me like this in public’, she fumed. No names were mentioned by Mrs. Apatakura. What’s the backstory to the suggested inspection of the cadres of the animal kingdom?

To every story, there is a backstory. So next time you wake up in the morning and you hear/see someone who should know better, foaming at the mouth on radio/TV over something to do with JJ, JEA, JAK, Nana, Alan, NPP, NDC or some other project or issue, remember there’s a backstory to it. When a serial caller is ranting on air, there is a backstory. When Asabee goes ballistic at the airport and his wife is charged, there may be a backstory. When a ‘konomtea’ is set up to investigate Ghana@50, there is a backstory. When Muntaka, a.k.a. Notorious, says he has resigned, there is a backstory. When Breda Osimi writes this piece, there is a backstory.

Here is my prayer: “Oh, Yeshua Amashua that you will not let Ogyakrom back stories be historical but that you will reveal them live as they happen. Grant this our prayer through the name of your only begotten Son, whom many of your ambassadors are abusing for value in Ogyakrom each and every day, and all sinners shall say….AMEN!!!”
Breda Osimi

Stand Down, Ken Korankye

2009-06-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

“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

2009-04-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

"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"

2009-04-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

““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

2009-04-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

“ 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

2009-04-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

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

CONTEMPT APPLICATION AGAINST GBA EXECUTIVES

2009-03-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

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 the following reliefs:

a. A declaration that the election of national officers of the Defendant on November 15, 2008 is in contravention of Article 26(3) of the Defendant’s Constitution and is therefore null and void and of no legal effect.

b. An order that the election of all national officers of the Defendant at the November 15, 2008 Conference is null and void.

c. An injunction against the Defendant restraining them from permitting, allowing, condoning or parading the said elected officials in any manner whatsoever and/or holding them out as elected national officers of the Defendant for the 2008/2009 legal year or acting as such pending the final determination of the suit.

4. That on December 2, 2008, the Defendant entered conditional appearance per its solicitors and have subsequently filed a Statement of Defence dated January 21, 2009.

5. That the Respondents were purportedly elected as National Secretary and National Treasurer of the Ghana Bar Association at the November 15, 2008 conference which election has been contested in the substantive suit in the High Court, Fast Track Division.

6. That despite the pendency of the action and despite having due notice of the action and the reliefs sought by the Plaintiff, particularly relief numbered (c) on the indorsement to the Writ, the Respondents have publicly held themselves out as National Officers of the Ghana Bar Association and will continue doing so in total disregard for the authority of this Honourable Court and the consequential damage to the integrity of the Honourable Court.

7. That the 1st Respondent is still communicating on the Association’s letterhead in his contested capacity as National Secretary as exemplified by exhibit ‘JD1’ annexed hereto.

8. That the 2nd Respondent per a public notice in the widest circulating daily newspaper in Ghana, the Daily Graphic of Thursday February 19, 2009 signed a demand notice in his contested capacity as the National Treasurer of the Ghana Bar Association to all lawyers who have not discharged their financial obligations to the Association to do so by end of April, 2009. A copy of the said demand notice is attached hereto as exhibit ‘JD2’.

9. That the Respondents and other holders of National positions which are the subject of the substantive writ have been attending meetings of the General Council of the Ghana Bar Association including a meeting held on January 29, 2009.

10. That all the holders of the contested national positions and all members of the Ghana Bar Association are officers of the Court and must act in a manner that does not impugn the integrity of the Courts or bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

11. That the conduct of the Respondents in continuing to hold themselves out as National Officers of the Ghana Bar Association despite the pendency of the substantive action is an unbelievably flagrant disregard and total disrespect for the authority of the Honourable Court and such conduct has become intolerable and they would not halt such impunity unless the Court grants an order of committal against them for their brazen disregard for law and order and the sanctity of the Honourable Court.

12. 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

THE PRICE OF CONSCIENTIOUS STUPIDITY...denominated in new Ghana cedis: Season 1

2009-01-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

“When you strike at a king, you must kill him”. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

BAWUMIA’ S CROSS

Afrihyia pa oo, ebusuafo. It’s been a while. I have been away in my holy village with the whole team and only got back into town last Sunday. Sometime ago I wrote an article with the above headline, in a desperate attempt to psychoanalyse our trait as people who for the sake of the “no ko fio” and yet to be defined reasons, conveniently trade our brains for the tummy. You can find it on my blog www.osimidiaries.blogspot.com. This phenomenon is doubly strange because invariably, it happens mostly with people who frankly ought to know better. The tummy rules in mother Ghana!!! The brain has exchanged places with the tummy for most people who have been equipped to be discerning but who for some rather strange reasons cannot and in most cases, will not discern! The motivations for conscientious stupidity vary. It’s largely “no ko fio”. But it can also be motivated by greed, fear and sycophancy. As and when my time will allow, I intend to analyse this phenomenon in a lot more detail especially as the phenomenon played itself out in the great battle for the house that Yewura built. I crave your indulgence to start with an issue that was gobbling up airtime all day Friday January 16, 2009. The cross being carried by that fine Youngman known and called Alhaji? Dr Mahamoud Bawumia. Forgive me if I got the first name spelt wrongly.

If you ask my manager, she will tell you that the first time the news broke that this fine young man has been selected by the Nearly Man as his running mate, I told her if I were him, I will decline the invitation. I told Gyekyewaa that if he accepts, he may be digging a hole for himself in his professional career down South. But Bawumia accepted! Enter his very potent madam. They made a striking couple. But think about it. If Bawumia had been invited by Uncle Fiifi to be his running mate, how many days do you think it would take for him to brood over it! 0.000003 days!!! Those were the days when the throne was a given! Heading in only one direction! Those were the days when some of the elephants would kill for positions before the elections because they thought Ogyakrom was one giant Bantama! But spare a thought for the fine Dr. When that call came for him to serve his nation, you bet he had to accept. At the time, it seemed like an easy ride into fame, riches, power and potentially, if the Nearly Man exited, who knows, they may not do an "Aliu" on him and he could also become the big man in Ogyakrom. So it did make a lot of sense to accept the nomination. I recall his first appearance on a platform at a rally in Sekondi. He looked like a rabbit in headlights. Even the kangaroo pump was so unlike the ones around him. It was obvious that this was a young man who had a lot to learn. But each and every Ghanaian including myself could not take away from the credentials of this fine find! Read his CV and turn green with envy. But why would he accept to be the number 2 to the Nearly Man unless he knew that it was one way traffic. Folks, I am harping about principle and standing up for your principles. I recall that a certain Kennedy Agyepong, Honourable, who had a penchant to make very unfortunate statements in the Presence of Yewura in broad daylight and in the world’s glare, declared immediately Bawumia was announced that there was no way he could be acceptable as a Vice Presidential candidate. He said a lot more but I cannot burden you with them at this moment. But indeed, some disparaging remarks about Bawumia’s ability to garner votes for the party and the fact that he was a rank outsider and people who had suffered for the party deserved a lot more than this young upstart. Then Assin Honourable threw down the gauntlet. If the party dared to go ahead with a proclamation that Bawumia had been accepted, he, Honourable Kennedy Agyepong and his army of party faithful will never accept it. Guess what we saw days later. This same Honourable, holding the hand of the self-same Bawumia, on a platform in Takoradi, proclaiming him as the heir apparent to the Nearly Man. Man, where art thy principles?

Accepting the position of running mate to the Nearly Man obviously came with risks. At the time, none evaluated the risks because there seemed to be no risks. But there were risks, but the Youngman may have considered and discarded them, or considered them and considered them so insignificant and improbable that they could not happen. Those were the times when no elephant, or at least the big fat ones upstream never considered this: WHAT IF UNCLE FIIFI WINS? Let me digress a little. Come clean. How many of you considered this possibility? When I kept firing this possibility back at my own peers and watering hole mates at Adomaa All Stars, everyone called me nuts. If only Bawumia had considered this possibility. Then the imponderable has happened. The Nearly Man lived up to his billing and the dream died a rather slow and tortuous death. Seems nobody explained the issues to His Near Excellency Bawumia. Contract or no contract, when you accept to be a running mate in a national election in Ogyakrom and you mount platforms articulating the dearth of ability of your opponents who are now running the country to run the economy AND YOU ARE DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF GHANA….. When you do it not once but on a daily basis throughout the campaign? You questioned the ability of Uncle Fiifi and John M to run the economy due to a lack of ideas and competence way below yours and that of the Nearly Man. YOUR NEAR EXCELLENCY BAWUMIA, THEN THE LEAST YOU CAN DO TO YOUR FINE SELF AND THAT OF YOUR VERY POTENT MADAM AND ALL WHO BELIEVED IN YOU IS NOT TO ATTEMPT TO GO BACK TO YOUR POSITION AS DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF GHANA. But Frankly, by your own actions, you have made your position untenable. When I heard the news that you had gone back into your office, I told myself that it was akin to Uncle Fiifi saying that if he were IRS boss and had lost the election as running mate to Papa Jay, he could go back to his job as Commissioner because he took a leave of absence to go play some games. Agya Bawumia, I am a lawyer and I can offer you free advice. Whatever contract you have can be terminated lawfully. Any government which is not abongo and you can bet your last Ghana cedis that Uncle Fiifi will not run an abongo government, just has to study the terms of your contract and ease you out of that position and no tears should be shed. You see, Uncle Fiifi has a lot on his plate in these few days since he became His Excellency. Please do not add your stale food to his plate. In the name of Chineke, please go! That will not only be the decent thing to do. That will be the right thing to do. On grounds of principle, you cannot continue to hold unto that office because of a claim that you have a contract. The elephant’s disregard for principle led it into the bush. This is one fight you will not win because your removal does not have to be political. It can be legal. So if you insist on being the first stubborn cat of the new dispensation, I will entreat Uncle Fiifi and his transition team to ease you out of that office in as political sweet and legal way as they can AND FAST!!! I wept for you because I told Gyekyewaa that it was a poisoned chalice you took. You have drunk it. Willingly. Now you have to go!!!, Please!!! You could be of immense assistance not only to the elephant but to mother Ghana in any other capacity bar the running mate. But that’s what you got though you may not have sought it. It’s the price of conscientious stupidity, denominated in new Ghana cedis. You have so much potential. Your life is ahead of you. Do not dream of a life in politics. Chase your career outside the Bank of Ghana. You will rise again. Uncle Fiifi is the Abraham Lincoln of Ghana politics. When you look at him now, all the picture does is to inspire you. “Anidaso wo ho ma obia!!! So just do not make them get you out. Walk out with your head high. If you don’t and they come and throw you out legally, you would have lost face twice in a very short time. Your contract has termination clauses. It will and should be activated. And if you ask those deceiving you that you may be able to carry this cross to Golgotha, know that recently Antie Iris delivered a judgment buttressing Ghanaian case law that employers do not need to assign reasons for termination. You bought wood, nails and hired a carpenter to mould a cross for you. Just bear it and spare us another hypocritical tirade that Osono would have allowed a Deputy Governor John Mahama back into Bank of Ghana after colouring yourself so nicely in elephant clothes. How can you be the manger of monetary policy for the same people whom you felt were incompetent to run Ghana’ economy? Whether weather, you have to go. Either you do it or they do it. But there must be a going AND FAST!!!

And oh, never forget that, “when you strike at a king, you must kill him”.
Gyekyewaa, myself and the two musketeers and Jerry ( I swear my akonta named his kid after you know who), their cousin who has joined the squad on holidays from Crawley all wish you well. Just before you leave, you can do the Terminator to your office pals and say….”I shall be back”. Chineke guide and guard you, whether weather!

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

P/S: Coming up, Yewura, the Nearly Man, Alan K, Police-Politicians, Agya Mac and the Destroyers and others whose ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory has been immortalized by Uncle Fiifi’s ascension to the house that Yewura built. Ghana is fascinating!!!

HAIL TO THE CHIEF!!!

2009-01-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

HAIL TO THE CHIEF!!!

I love my new President!!!!

I was in my holy village for the New Year and so was away from the city struggles during the Afare-Gyan wars. My biggest frustration was an inability to access quality radio from my place and also the fact that I did not have access to Uncle Fiifi’s numbers. Pato was so busy doing a mighty job for Uncle Fiifi that I could only sneak text messages to him. I was fortunate to get one call through for a brief chat. Papa Nii was completely unreachable. He could only be heard on some radio stations defending Uncle Fiifi with his last breath. These fine young men and Uncle Fiifi who believed in them, including the Ayarigas of this world pulled off a stunner to the elephant ostriches. Thanks for a good job done! Ghana wins!!!

As I was away and only got back into Ashongman on Monday, I was unable to grab a ticket. But the event was a memorable one. Uncle Fiifi has shown that if you believe, yes you can!

Akwaaba, Uncle Fiifi. I know you have an uphill task but you are very well equipped for the job. You will succeed! Change has come to Ghana. Real Change! For those of us who know your essence, we will continue to pray for you so that the Almighty, who has taught the entire nation a lesson we needed, will grant you long life, wisdom and strength to make your mark on the history of our nation.

And to those who still doubt, here’s a little story I received from my brother Yaw Berko who sojourns in Atlanta. It’s worth the lessons!!!

“A stranger was seated next to a little black girl on the airplane whenthe stranger turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights goquicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."The little girl, who had just opened her coloring book, closed itslowly and said to the stranger, "What would you like to talk about?""Oh, I don't know," said the stranger. "Since you are black, do you think that So-called President Elect Barak Obama is qualified for the job?"and he smiles. "OK", she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first.

A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff -grass -. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?"The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."
To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss President Barak Obama... when you don't know SHIT?"

My Fellow Citizens, let us all recognize that our new President is called John Evans Atta Mills. The ruling party is called the National Democratic Congress. The largest alternative party in the country is called the New Patriotic Party. The Speaker of Parliament is called Her Lordship Justice Bamford-Addo. The Chief Justice is called Her Lordship (Madam, why do you insist on Her Ladyship?) Justice Georgina Wood. The mandate of the new government is four years. Let us all with a good heart offer the new government our support so that Ghana will move forward.

Yasesamu! Mo ma yenko yenim!!!

As for me, Gyekyewaa and the two musketeers, we love our new President!!!

All Hail the new Commander-in-Chief!!!

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

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

ThinkGhana@Elections

2008-12-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

Where there was a Papa Jay
There is a K4.

Where there was a Konadu
There is a Theresa.

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

Where there was a Kume Preko
There is a Wahala.

Where there was an Alliance
There is a Committee.

Where there was a Vision
There is a Strategy.

Where there was an Asemfofro
There is a Stadium.

Where there was an NDC
There is an NPP.

The NDC was for consensus!
The NDC is for primaries!!

The NPP was for primaries!
The NPP is for consensus!!!

The NDC was for Continuity!
The NPP was for Change!!

The NDC is for Change!
The NPP is for Continuity!!

NDC-speak was NPP-speak.
NPP-speak was NDC-speak.

The NDC is the NPP is the NDC!
The NPP is the NDC is the NPP!

The wheels have turned
And still remain forever still!!!

Positive Change!
Positive Blues!!
Positive Déjà vu!!!

The colour of my flag @ elections?
Red, Gold, Green with the Black Star.

What is the colour of your flag?

God Bless Our Homeland, Ghana!

It Is Time to Think Ghana!!!

LAWSUIT AGAINST GHANA BAR ASSOCIATION

2008-12-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

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

Suit No.
JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH ]
F119B, Ashongman ]
Accra ] PLAINTIFF

VRS.

GHANA BAR ASSOCIATION ]
Hse. No. 5, 2 Ave. State House Rd.}
South-East Ridge, Accra } DEFENDANT

STATEMENT OF CLAIM

1. The Plaintiff is a lawyer based in Accra and a member of the Defendant Association.

2. The Defendant is an association with the object of concerning itself, inter alia with all matters affecting the legal profession in Ghana and is open to every lawyer enrolled as such in Ghana, subject to application and the payment of relevant fees.

3.The Defendant is governed by a Constitution duly passed into force on October 1, 1994.

4. The Plaintiff says that by the Defendant’s Constitution, an Annual General Conference took place in Kumasi from September 29, 2008 to October 2, 2008.

5. The Plaintiff avers that the agenda for the said Annual General Conference was distributed to all members at the said conference and included the election of national officers for the 2008/2009 legal year which was to be held on October 1, 2008.

6. The Plaintiff says that on the due date, the Conference was informed that due to non-compliance with relevant provisions of the Constitution, the elections had been cancelled.

7. The Plaintiff says that the Conference was informed that the Defendant did not comply with the period for opening of nominations and therefore all pending nominations for national executive office were accordingly null and void.

8. The Plaintiff says that the Defendant duly received all relevant nomination documentation from prospective candidates well before the Conference date but did not at any stage of the Conference communicate the alleged non-compliance with the Constitution until the third day of the Conference when the matter was due for discussion.

9. The Plaintiff says that the announcement followed in the wake of controversy at the Conference following the resignation of the then President and the fact that he remained the only candidate for the position of National President if the elections were to take place as originally scheduled.

10. The Plaintiff says that the Defendant’s actions surprised some of the candidates as they claimed they had met all the requirements for the elections.

11. The Plaintiff says that the Defendant admitted openly at the Conference that the error was not due to the prospective candidates but due to the Defendant’s own errors.

12. The Plaintiff says that the Defendant further announced at the Conference that nominations for national executive positions will be opened after the Conference and that all eligible members could file to contest for executive positions before the elections on November 15, 2008.

13. The Plaintiff says that the Defendant adjourned the Conference to November 15, 2008 at the same venue.

14. The Plaintiff says that on November 15, 2008, he raised the unconstitutionality of the proposed elections at the Conference but was defeated in a motion and the Conference voted to proceed with the elections as scheduled.

15. The Plaintiff says that the Defendant went through a process of elections and duly announced that the positions of national officers except that of the National President had been duly filled through the said elections.

16. The Plaintiff avers that the elections for national officers held on November 15, 2008 flies in the face of clear unambiguous provisions in Article 26(3) of the Defendant’s Constitution and are therefore null and void and of no legal effect whatsoever.

17. The Plaintiff says that the said elected national officers necessarily filed their nomination forms between October 2, 2008 and November 15, 2008 when nominations were opened after the first Conference ended on October 2, 2008.

18. The Plaintiff says that the General Council of the Defendant which is the governing body, has powers under the Constitution to appoint officers to fill casual vacancies but chose to act unconstitutionally through elections to fill the said positions.

19. The Plaintiff says that the so-called elected officers have begun acting as such and would not halt their actions unless through the injunctive powers of this Honourable Court.

20. The Plaintiff says that the Defendant must comply with its own Constitution in order to retain its high position in the eyes of the Ghanaian public as the voice and beacon of legality and constitutionalism in national affairs.

21. Wherefore the Plaintiff claims as per the indorsement to his writ of summons in the following terms:

a. A declaration that the election of national officers of the Defendant on November 15, 2008 is in contravention of Article 26(3) of the Defendant’s Constitution and is therefore null and void and of no legal effect.

b. An order that the election of all national officers of the Defendant at the November 15, 2008 Conference is null and void.

c. An injunction against the Defendant restraining them from permitting, allowing, condoning or parading the said elected officials in any manner whatsoever and/or holding them out as elected national officers of the Defendant for the 2008/2009 legal year or acting as such pending the final determination of the suit.

DATED AT 1ST LAW, ACCRA THIS 18th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2008

PLAINTIFF
THE REGISTRAR
HIGH COURT, FAST TRACK DIVISION
ACCRA

AND TO:

THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANT

OPEN LETTER TO NANA A. D. AKUFO-ADDO

2008-12-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

My Dear Nana,

I know you don’t want to be receiving letters from perceived pests like me at this time. But even you will admit that sometimes what I say makes sense. I am therefore taking the liberty of sending you this letter in the hope that you will read it or at least one of the boys will see this and bring it to your attention.

We met on the road to Agona Swedru on 13th December 2008. Indeed, I never realized it was your convoy until I got to Swedru where I made a stop at Teacher Ofori Boahene’s place. He was my Sunday School Teacher and he has a shop on the main road. It’s a religious duty to stop and pay homage to a man who used to beat me with a drum stick in Sunday School. I have a duty to point out that you were not in a 24-vehicle convoy or anything of the sort. I counted about six (6) SUVs and no real police escort. The lead car I suspect is a security detail and it was the only vehicle with some warning lights on. No sirens, no lead police bikes. If I had known that it was your convoy I would have handed over this letter there and then. As it happens, I could not and here we are!

Nana, you and I go back a long way. I have watched up close and personal, your contribution to the development of Ghana, our motherland. Since you unlawfully appropriated an asset of mine ages ago, my life has also moved on. It’s rather ironic that you, Uncle Fiifi and I have something in common. You will recall that our most recent encounter was in church, when you paid a visit, early in the campaign. Those were buoyant days. These are admittedly, unexpectedly tough times for you. We all understand and appreciate the really severe fright Uncle Fiifi has given you. But I don’t worry, because it’s all good.

I just wanted to offer a piece of unsolicited advice. You are in this mess for this simple reason: the party refused to live by the very principles it was founded upon and everyone abided it until the near disaster on December 7, 2008. For a party that campaigned on a platform that the NDC did not follow the rule of law and was prone to arbitrary and unlawful deeds, there was little reason to use the same NDC as your counterfoil. Why Jake for example will justify appropriating a ‘mercy shelter’ with an ‘Ebow Tawiah indemnity clause’ still baffles me. The NPP has been sloppy, real sloppy!!! I know you know it but in times like these, you have to keep gritting your teeth and hope to deal with all the people who have created this mess when you are in the house that Yewura built. There are bad nuts in the party. They look, act like politicians of yore. There are people who have turned the law on its head and acted brazenly without regard to law. There are people who have become so arrogant that they act as if they are super citizens. The people saw. The people kept quite. The people thumbed up all those issues on December 7, 2008!!!

You were a man who would not countenance such disregard for law. The NPP has now become like the NDC in many respects and that may be a logical reason for the way the party was unable to achieve its dreams at the polls December 7, 2008. I give you another example of the sore you carry. In the lead up to the December 7 polls, there were stories that an MCE who had a vested interest in a company that had won a contract to clamp, tow and fine offending vehicles in a city’s CBD had issued a fatwa to the effect that the CBD was a ‘no fly zone’. Unknown to the drivers, this company takes the bulk of fines and only a fraction goes to the Assembly. Nana, how can such a person retain the post and mount your platform. Some of the people who mounted the platform spoke as if ‘before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said”. A liability to your birthright!!!

You recall that Jake said on the platform at Kasoa when he was introducing you that you have never smoked or drank. Can you imagine what you will have done to your personal credibility if immediately you took the mike you admitted that you had smoked before and drank before but that was all in the past? You abided that statement. Contrast that with Obama in America. He admitted that he smoked but he was working on it. And everyone know how completely strong a man must be to let go of those little pleasures. It is those little things that may have snowballed into the gathering storm. When my people see that, will they come out to vote? Then another bad mix! Pre-mix fuel distribution was apparently given to party cronies who became middlemen and made their “dough” at the expense of the fisher folk. Will they come out and vote? No! Now the party has lost the entire coastline from Aflao to Shama! Yet another sore to buttress my point, Sir. A beautiful program like school feeding is left to the encircling vultures who so fleece the programme that by the time the caterer gets funds, only 10 % is available. Inevitability, the food is so bad that many don’t appreciate it. Even Courage and Peace think twice when Her Ladyship brings some of the school feeding diet home for them.

It is my humble view that you need to take personal charge of the campaign. Take a leaf from Uncle Fiifi’s house to house. Go to the people! Look them in the eye and admit to them “there’s been mess but I will clean it up even if it involves my people”. Please keep perceived sinners out of sight/sound. My only ‘niggly’ is that your present predicament bears an uncanny semblance to the last days of the NDC in 2000. The NPP’s claim to fame was its distinction from the NDC. God may be doing a “Nebuchadnezzar” on the NPP. In 2000, NPP came to power on the wings of Aseeho and a message of change. How ironic that on December 28, 2008, NDC will also be on a message of Aseeho and change. If Aseeho + change = power, then you have a right to your nightmares. The race now boils down to you and Uncle Fiifi. If you don’t convince people that you will not be like the party which has closed its eyes to blatant wrongdoing, you may miss out and then you will finally have to voice out your frustrations with Yewura, the man many suspect has done little for the party though that issue has become a veritable “ehye wo bo” as its stuck in over three (3) million throats, choking people who are unable to voice it out save a buffoon like me. Now you know that strategic mistakes have been made. Now you know that you will have to allow the law to work to get credibility, if you should win.

Some of the people around you are working flat out because they know that if this slips, by Yeshua Amashua, their bums are toast! Only Yewura and the Chief Apostle don’t seem to get this! Keep working hard. Many people may be holding you to ransom during this run-off period but I know that under your rule, the law will be applied fairly and equitably and you will not broach such brazen disregard for law.

Nana, God has worked a miracle in this election. Ghana needed it and He has delivered a parliament where impunity cannot reign. The NPP lost the road map. You have to assure people that you have the original! Work hard O, because I am looking forward to compensation for all the pain you caused me ages ago. I wish you well because Ghana is the ultimate winner, whether weather. The issue now is about strength of character. If you win, will you allow the wanton chop- chop? If Uncle Fiifi wins, can he deal with “Ambodzin” That’s the question!!!

Not too long ago, one of your close compatriots who holds a very senior position in government told me that I will never get a job in this country. I had not gone asking for a job. He must have been influenced by my forthrightness. I have now grown to know that the love of God abounds and He is the one who makes provision for us all. Integrity is priceless. I will continue to speak my mind as best and as civilly as possible. Please assure that when you win, you will make integrity fashionable again. For too long, instead of honouring the people of principle, we have collectively crippled them and broken their spirits, just for daring to do the right things. In my little corner, I will impact my land with the talents Chineke gave me. This is the only land we can walk about freely. If we keep doing what we are doing, we will get to the promised land in our life time!!! I believe. Make others believe!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and madam. I know this was not the Christmas you anticipated. But you are strong and equipped to deal with the situation. Nana, I wish to write more but I must end here. I have another letter to write to Uncle Fiifi too. Chineke be with you!!! Run a campaign of hope and you have a chance. Endorse the campaign of fear and you may lose your message and the Holy Grail!!!

Why is this gospel song ringing in my head ….“onyame ei, afei na mate wa'se…?”

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

OPEN LETTER TO UNCLE FIIFI

2008-12-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

Dear Uncle Fiifi,

Her Ladyship and the two musketeers send their greetings! She had warned me to stay off writing but you know its therapeutic effect is such that after being silent for a long while, my doctor advised me to start writing again.

It’s been quite a while since I last saw you. I have followed every move of yours on television and radio and read all angles of your amazing improbable journey in all the newspapers and online. When I kept telling people who had been blinded by propaganda that they write you off at their peril, they laughed. See who’s laughing now? They said you were weak, sick, dying, and dead! They said your house to house was useless. Today, it has been ‘blofolised’ into ‘hamlet to hamlet’.

I believe you have reached where you are primarily on your personal integrity. People look at you and who you are and are prepared to hear you out. The only abiding pain is you know who! If only you could tell Ghanaians that the only power that can counter that is state power. If you get to the house that Yewura built, I know you will be a fine president and the oldman power will not be an albatross. But many people are not convinced. I personally think that a lot of people underestimate the power in you. Please, say something to assure people. I have tried sometimes to tell people that African political history shows that in order to have any credibility as leader, you have no choice but to deal with the counter force which may be your mentor where necessary. I know the oldman will feel accomplished when you win and will now rest properly. However, if you win, and the old man interferes in a manner that impugns your credibility as the leader of the country, you have the balls to act. I know but you have to let others know. That is your biggest hurdle! Cross it and you will give a lot of Osono and false prophets a very unhappy New Year!

You have shown that integrity pays. You have shown that sincerity and stead fastness pays. You are a true patriot. If you win, Ghana is still the winner. Thanks for rocking the boat, big time! If Aseeho + change = power, then some people may have one heck of an adjustment to make, post December 28, 2008!

Gyekyewaa, myself and the boys wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Uncle Fiifi, wo ye bad paaaa!!! Wa ma amanfo ho hyehye won pa pa!!!

Yours faithfully

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

SILLY SEASON

2008-12-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

“Politicians are like monkeys. The higher they climb, the more revolting the parts they expose”. – Gwilyn Lloyd George (decd.), British Liberal Politician.

Fellow country men, lend me your ears. Silly season is here!!! It crept up on us after we absorbed the results of the December 7, 2008 presidential polls. Silly season, thankfully, is rather short. It is actually only about three weeks but most of the silliness takes root only by the beginning of the second week. When Agya Afare announced the results, I knew instinctively that a lot of weird stories would emerge between that date and December 28, 2008. Its happening thick and fast. I have always held the opinion that in Africa, the politician always does something silly when he realizes that power may be slipping away. Many people act rather weird during the silly season. It’s not worthwhile trying to rationalize most of the actions within the silly season. This applies across the board to most of the big men in the society. Silly season is a time when people who frankly ought to know better do not mind embarrassing themselves at all in a desperate bid to win the mandate of the people. My medical friends tell me that in the initial moments of shock, some people can act basabasa. They also say that certain levels of euphoria could also lead to the same weird behaviour.

We have been here before, haven’t we? In 2000 during the silly season, the NDC became unsure whether to hide Papa Jay and Maame Konadu or allow them on the campaign trail. These are critical decisions during the silly season. Unfortunately for the parties involved in the season’s activities, there is a very tight timeline, essentially only about 14 days to really act silly. Let me take you through a few that have popped out so far.

The Ashanti DCOP is more of a gangster than a policeman”. Ha ba! Why would you say that to a police boss? But it’s the silly season. Silliness begets more silliness which begets crass buffoonery among mpanyinfo! If a police man sees a man assaulted but rather arrests the assaulted man and grants him bail and then denies the assault, a silly return is the gangster rap that is flowing from Pap Jay’s camp. Then the champion of human rights Osagyefo Nana A.D. Akufo-Addo (remember the name is not spelt with a double f) is reported as having witnessed the assault on a photo journalist but did not intervene to save the poor guy. Can it be true? The Venerable Sir John has come out to say that they were nowhere near the fracas and it involved another person completely unconnected with the campaign team of Nana. A clear case of show me the evidence! Don’t expect Nana to say anything on this. There really isn’t time to waste on such little things as a small matter of some slaps and kicks. In the silly season, our credentials don’t matter when we have to go back to our strongholds to beg them to prevent the impending Armageddon.

Then there is the other matter of Pap Jay’s bodyguard or minder or bootlicker or macho man who chose to use a handkerchief as a holster in Manhyia. The story is that he pulled the gun in the presence of the Venerable Yewura. What was he thinking of? Then it gets really silly. Yewura’s men had AKs. Guess what would have happened if they had not acted professionally. And oh, Pap Jay says leave my man with me and am going to bring him to DCOP, Ashanti later. The same gangster? Then the national government says that no borders will be closed during the elections. It was a calculated lie by people tasked with the highest responsibility of governing the entire land. Boom! Two days before the elections, the border of Ewe-Togo land is clammed shut! Ebei, NPP, is that how you are? Now, all ewes as far as Timbuktu are reporting well before Christmas and they wont go anywhere till after they have cast their vote. The silliness unites a people who already don’t like you!

It can only get better! I hear Christine Churcher was on TV kneeling down fiili-fiili in Simpa, begging the people and the chiefs to vote for the Osono. Oh, me nkrofo Central Region, look at what you done to the holiest people in the land. Antie Christine, whom I needled a long time ago in the underground at St. Augustine’s by having the guts to tear into her girls verbally, on her knees? On national TV? Probably on ghanaweb? I hear Yewura himself was also pleading in Oseikrom that if the NDC comes to power, they will deal with certain people in the party. Ebei, is that the reason we should stand in the sun and vote? To prevent a government from dealing with people? I pray the people in Ashanti become contrite as fast as possible because at this rate, if by the final week it is perceived that they are still stubborn, oh, Yewura, his sons, the chief apostle, myself and all the others who are suddenly afraid of the same laws they have been superintending and applying liberally will have no choice but to call a nationally televised medias conference and weep till you are shamed to go and vote to prevent Armageddon.

But it is not over yet! The best one is the bit about the Attorney-General ordering prisoners out of jail. I hear the Deputy A-G said that he had no clue that courts were applying a non-law until a close relative was also jailed. I may be dumb but in all my years of curiosity, I have never come across such a move. If Efua Abakoma gets canned by a Judge who is asleep, fed by prosecutors who are all asleep, sadly joined by lawyers who ought to have known better but chose to sleep for some "no ko fio" and the Ministry of Justice who woke up after many people have been jailed, I can go to Nsawam, knock on the door of the prison executives and tell them that there was no legal basis for the jail terms so they should release her for me! That is the sure cream on the silly season so far. Ghana is a land of beauty! The Ghana Bar Association may be unaware of the silliness being perpetrated. Since when did an Attorney-General have the power to release persons who have been jailed by a court of competent jurisdiction, WHETHER LAWFULLY OR OTHERWISE? But if you do not do this within the silly season, when?

A word to the NDC. Stop being silly! You claim that you want to have power because you are ready to govern. Why all these explosive statements which just go to stoke the fire. No matter the issues you may have with persons or institutions in the governance structures, remember that if you win, you will inherit the self-same structures and indeed some of the same persons like the gangster in Kumasi. How can you work with a gangster? Please tone down the rhetoric and focus on your core message. Look for your votes without threatening fire and brimstone. Uncle Fiifi has already set fire among the Osono and her bum is burning. Please do not denigrate government so much that everyone begins to see government as really that bad. Remember the Osono is in this mess because of words not matching up to deeds.

To the Osono, words! I beg, you are embarrassing yourself. Nana, please get some ice cold water and wash your fine face. Get some of the really bad guys who have actually caused this debacle away from the limelight and market the essential you. Why are you abiding the destruction of the very principles of the party in your bid for power? Remember the NPP told the people that the NDC stole opipipipiii and they have no respect for fundamental rights. Your claim to fame is therefore a fundamental distinction from them. I cannot understand the panic. Speak your mind, remain true to yourself and let the silliness end. Going round the country begging people just debases everything you represent. It may be true that begging is an acknowledgement that you have goofed big time. It’s a risky strategy because Ghana is big and you will not have enough time to convince everyone. Some people who share your platform would be elsewhere if the law was applied fairly and equally. It was Walter Mondale, former Vice President of Obamaland who said “ political image is like mixing cement. When its wet, you can move it around and shape it, but at some point it hardens and there’s almost nothing you can do to reshape it”. Osono, just pray the cement has not hardened yet!!!

Before the silly season arrived, some folks spoke dismissively of the importance of Pap Jay accepting to hand over to Yewura. Now due to Osono silliness, we now see how painfully difficult it was for Papa Jay to hand over power to his arch-enemies. As avowed democrats, I expect the NPP to be better prepared to manage a handover than Papa Jay. So why the mad panic? Please chill! If you have not stolen any monies or messed yourself up such that Tsatsu becomes a nightmare scenario, you have no cause to act silly.

Before I sign out, I have heard the latest move in the silly season. If you are a public servant and the government inadvertently pushed some unearned millions your way, I hear all deductions have been halted. That’s not good enough. If you really want to earn a vote with that kind of silliness, you have to go the whole nine yards. Just say that we wont ask you to pay again. That’s your "chobo" for the eight years. If its not wiped off, this Ghanaian voter will be told by your arch-enemy that he should not smile because immediately they vote you back, you will come back for your money. The it really gets tricky because you may then not have the vote which may then mean you may not win which may them mean you will have to answer for all the …… which may then mean you will have to go to ,……….. and then all the silliness comes to naught! Please don’t give them the chance to say “me gyimi a, enka mo pe paaaaa!!!!

Fellow countrymen, enjoy the silly season while it lasts. It may be the lull before the perfect storm!!!

Relax, all! Go and vote on December 28, 2008! Protect the ballot! Remember silly season aint over yet! The fuel price will sink lower!

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

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.
www@osimidiaries.blogspot.com

STAY SANE, ELECTORAL COMMISSION

2008-12-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

“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.

This piece has been prompted in part by certain suggestions that have been made to the Electoral Commission in the wake of the first round of voting for possible amendments to the voting process before the second round of voting on December 28, 2008.

The first was by the headline in the Graphic Newspaper of Friday, December 12, 2008 captioned “Open More Polling Stations for Presidential Run-off, Elections Task Force Urges”. It was written by Albert Salia. The Graphic reported that the National Elections Security Task Force has suggested the opening of more polling stations to reduce the tension and conflict that are associated with elections in the country. It noted that whereas some polling stations had between 500 and 600 voters, others catered for more than 1000 voters. Such high numbers, the story continued, often contributed to anxiety among voters to vote early and also accounted for the late close of polls at those stations.

This call was made by the Venerable Patrick Acheampong Esq., who is the Chairman of the Task Force and the incumbent IGP when he addressed newsmen. The IGP was of the opinion that if more polling stations were opened to accommodate fewer voters, voting would end early and the counting of votes would be made easier.

Lately, another suggestion has also been made that the indelible ink must be applied after voting has been completed and not prior to voting!

I beg to differ!

I must, however, first of all use the opportunity to congratulate the National Elections Security Task Force for the exhibition of supreme competence at the just ended first round of elections. Having been on the ground in one of the rural constituencies during the period, I bear testimony to the work that the security services have done. The nation salutes you, all!

It is understandable that in the period before the second round, a lot of opinions will be bandied about. I also do not dispute that these suggestions may be informed by the desire to improve the process and further assure transparency and efficiency in the electoral process. I am however calling on the Electoral Commission not to change the procedures on voting prior to December 28, 2008. The suggestion by the National Electoral Task Force seems fraught with the very dangers it seeks to avoid. Having voted at particular polling stations, every citizen who participated in the process will not wake up on December 28, 2008 unaware of which poling station he should go to. The second round is where all the suppressed bad traits are going to show. Establishing more polling stations will lead to chaos because there will be no time to exhibit the changed Register so that eligible voters can ascertain where their polling stations are before the election date. It will throw up the possible scenario of citizens scurrying around on Election Day determining where they have been assigned to. It is a recipe for the same disaster that the Task Force has been assigned to prevent and-or manage. The Electoral Commission should keep the polling stations as they are. After we have cast our vote on December 28, 2008, they should seriously consider the suggestion by the Venerable Patrick Acheampong Esq. and reduce the numbers at polling stations by creating more polling stations to cater for them. Agya Afare, after the elections but NEVER before the second round!!!

On the issue of marking the finger with indelible ink after voting and not prior to, the least said about it the better. It is a rather strange way to resolve a non-issue. I fully agree with Dr. Akweetey of IDEG, I believe, whom I heard this morning on Joy FM make the arguments rather forcefully that it is near impossible to enforce and will also lead to more chaos. If implemented, it also has a very high potential to disrupt the elections. In the first round, macho men were brazen enough to attempt snatching ballot boxes in Akwatia, Eastern Region. After an individual has voted, he has very little incentive to hang around for the finger to be marked. Further, it will give an unnecessary incentive to people who have made up their minds to engage in double voting. Agya Afare, please ignore this suggestion completely. Please tell them, tofiakwa!!!

The Electoral Commission should remember that at this time when both candidates are so jittery and re-strategising, it should not do anything to provide fodder for fertile minds to begin imagining all sorts of nefarious thoughts and use that to justify any attempts at impugning the integrity of the impending vote. There are still trying times ahead for the Electoral Commission but I have a strong belief that you are equipped to deal with them.

To the Electoral Commission, I say ayekoo! You have made us all proud. However your work is cut out for you. On December 28, 2008, remain impartial and let a fair process determine who our next leader should be. Around the world, Ghana is challenging perceptions of the African. Yes we can. Yes we have! Yes, we would!

To the National Elections Security Task Force, I say your work is cut out for you. The real work will be done on December 28, 2008. In Africa, when push comes to shove, some one always does something pretty silly. You are the professionals. You have already demonstrated your abilities. I have an abiding belief in your ability to remain as professional as possible in these trying circumstances. As indicated in an earlier piece, God has given us the best Christmas package this nation could ever ask for. Our Parliament which was a source of bitter disappointment to some of us has been given a lifeline to act like a real parliament. All we therefore need is for our citizens to exercise their franchise in a free, fair and transparent manner to assure us an executive that will have to contend with a real House which has lost all its rubber stamps. I do not envy you in your rather tasking job but I do wish you well on December 28, 2008 and beyond.

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

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.
Accra

ELEPHANT OSTRICHES: THE REVISED STANDARD VERSION

2008-12-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

“These are the days when men of all social disciplines and
all political faiths seek the comfortable and the accepted;
when the man of controversy is looked upon as
a disturbing influence; when originality is taken to be
a mark of instability; and when, in minor modification of
the scriptural parable, the bland lead the bland.”

- John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born American Economist.

Have you ever seen an elephant digging a hole in order to bury its head? Guess you have not. Okay, let’s try again. Can you imagine an elephant digging a hole to bury its head in? Can u imagine the size of that hole? Well, look no further. A mighty hole is being dug right close to you, right now, as you read this! My manager, being the typical Ghanaian wife that she is, has issued a fatwa that having lost my faith completely, it was enough to nurse my wounds at home and keep my thoughts to myself, especially on the state of Ogyakrom’s elephantiasis. The fatwa only allowed for public musings on her and the two musketeers. I could even define my daily struggles with old men who ought to know better but show nothing of that. But I was not to muse about the creeping pandemic. I am therefore pleading that on one tells her I have breached her fatwa. The ‘net is not her friend and she won’t know unless you become an okro-mouth!!! I am compelled to ventilate due to the impending Armageddon that’s about to engulf a certain domesticated elephant and to which none but the elephant is oblivious to. How can an elephant survive in the forest after being domesticated?

Compare the sizes of the heads of the ostrich and that of the Osono. The ostrich proverbially digs a hole and buries its head in times of wahala and chooses to show its bottom. Picture the elephant trying to dig a hole to bury its head in the sand. To my messed up mind, it will be near impossible. My prognosis is that the elephant by definition will have to stare issues in the face and basically face up to it. In Ogyakrom today, what’s happening?

‘Asonomma’ are so busy doing deeds that they don’t seem to know or care about the sentiments of the very same hot men who carried them on the back of ‘opipipiipi’ to the Castle. People are so busy trying to be Presidents that they don’t even see that gradually, the NPP is becoming like the NDC in its last days. Everyone, including the venerable Ben Ephson knows that the NPP won the elections because of the votes of the floaters. Foot soldiers of the Osono deferred their pay in order to bring the Osono from the bush. They worked for the NPP for the love of party and country, hooked on the intoxicating fumes of the promises of positive change, dished amidst the melodies of awurade kasa. Under the umbrella at the time, their people had also decided that “le hwua de kwasia, Ce nest pas tia so deux, cest tia so une” (forgive my French). To them, their big people had so enjoyed the booty and promptly forgotten them that they would demand all their back pay and take front pay, side pay and kickbacks. In long, their message was simple: “unless you cough up some of the money lodged in your throat, no footwork, period”! If you call them soldiers, you got to pay them! That’s what caused the umbrella the throne in 2000! The reverse is playing itself out in the NPP now now now!!!

Almighty Yeshua Amashua (respect to the Archbishop!) has a very sophisticated way of playing all of us, when we begin to think that we have arrived! “He makes all things beautiful in His Time”. Today, NPP foot soldiers are also demanding their pound of flesh. Unless you drop some dough, none is prepared to move. While you slept over the past Osono years, a quiet evolution has taken place in Ghanaian politics. The NPP has become the NDC!? And instead of that waking up the gamekeepers to the realities on the ground that people are getting increasingly disillusioned, Osono has ordered fresh excavation equipment and promptly begun digging one giant hole for the elephant to bury its head! Ebei, is this love that am feeling? And by the way, who chose the word “kukrudu” as a slogan? Do they know that it may come back to haunt them? Kukrudu means an earthquake or earth tremor. Over the past few months, with the tectonic plates sifting all over the place, we have heard and seen reports of kukrudu in disparate places such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Solomon Islands, Japan etc. We sit in an earthquake zone and the gamekeepers’ slogan is “kukrudu”. No wonder the prayer warriors of the NDC have been imploring Yeshua Amashua to send us, not an earthquake, but a small tremor bii. Just to show the commentariat and the masses that “kukrudu, enye adepa!”. Where was I?

Yes, the NPP rode on the back of perceptions to the Castle. The Osono encouraged perceptions at the time in order to score political points. Having been assured that the Ghanaian has a 24-hour memory span and generally does not recollect anything beyond the previous 24 hours, the Osono proceeded to promise paradise in Ogyakrom. I have always maintained that we have a paradox on our hands. The Osono without the promises and declarations could make a fine argument as being one of the best governments in Ogyakrom. Sadly, that’s without the promises and if the manifesto is hidden. Matched against the manifesto and the promises and the long talk, ouch, that’s where the pains of positive change are felt, Frankly, a feature of life in Ogyakrom now, and I don’t know whether you have also noticed same, is that, when you step out, you cant help but notice that apart from people who may have their fingers in the pot, its becoming very rare to find people ready, willing and able to defend the Osono and its policies. I dare say that it is only the elephant ostriches that don’t see what’s happening. Out there in the field, where elections are won, the Osono is fast losing the battle for the hearts and minds. Osono’s claim to fame was its distinction from the Umbrella in all respects. Toady, Ogyakromanians increasingly find it difficult to make that distinction. When the distinction is fudged, the NDC will be the net gainer. Positive change means that the things we used to see or hear, we’d see and hear them no more. Listen to the news. Don’t you have a sense of déjà vu? Sometimes you feel like you have heard the news before. If you have ever felt that way, you aint wrong. You may have indeed heard it before , just that where there was a papa jay, there is a K4 and where there was a Konadu, there is a Theresa. Positive change means a 180 degree turn, not a 360 degree turn.

Yet, my people call this phenomenon a perception. I say they are all ELEPHANT OSTRICHES! The love of the people is fickle. Now the Osono seems to be supplying on a daily basis, ample reasons why they ought not to love you anymore. The earlier you stop digging in, the better for you. The energy crisis, the Ghana@ 50 hullaboutwho, nepotism and corruption in high places and that phrase that’s evaporated from presidential lexicons… “zero tolerance for corruption” etc are but a few of the “perceptions” that may send the Osono back to the bush. By the way, Mr. President should fire whoever put that phrase “zero tolerance for corruption” in his inaugural speech. I wonder why they keep doing that to him. Recently they slotted in the fact that the energy crisis would be tackled by defined actions within a fortnight. The damage control ops are still on-going on that score. The ugly beauty contest is another turnoff for the floaters but a cocoa season for the parasites. Why the President would allow people we have tasked with responsibilities to walk around with state assets on presidential campaigns beats my imagination. For a party that used to whine that the NDC was using state assets to campaign, what do we see today? Not a single person has lost his job as a result of the energy crisis. Out there, the “perception” is that its chop time. Have you seen that advert in the newspapers on drug trafficking? Well, still stealing our money? Good luck!

Perceptions as the Osono should know, hurt politically and the perception now is that the NPP is a promise and fail party. Every leader of a household who has fundamental financial problems in his house but goes out on a spending binge can’t say he’s an agya pa! Never forget that Uncle Fiifi is a formidable personality. The NDC also doesn’t seem to have internal problems to the degree of the NPP. To the NDC, their problem is external, that is the floating voters. If only they can get their act together and exorcise the ghosts, what a season Ogyakrom will witness. The NDC never thought losing was a possibility until it was sprung on them. The Osono is doing the self-same things. These days we hear language used by the dying NDC: “we can’t lose”. We are on the ground”. Ostrich talk, that!!! The typical Ghanaian is an “afraid man”. He will look left and right and weigh the implications of his actions before he does them. If he has to express his mind publicly and that will cost him or his family, he will smile a Pentecostal smile and tell you exactly what you want to hear. You have to create an enabling environment for the Ghanaian to really express what he feels. The ballot box creates that environment perfectly. In there, no one will destroy his business or mark him down for destruction. No one will walk to the Police and demand his arrest for daring to speak. Ghanaians have shown they aint no dumbos. They are the smartest politically minded Africans you would ever find. The NDC lived to tell the tale of the mulling they received at the hands of these seeming docile people. What about you?

The possibility that the NPP will lose the election is very real. And it grows by the day! Instead of letting that possibility focus minds, energies are rather being expended on pedicures and manicures for the beauty contest. How come the tummy always wins in Africa? The NPP has deep internal problems which will be exacerbated by the beauty contest. Then the party has to deal with the externals who are already disillusioned. Teachers… gone. Health workers… gone. The people… going? Most of even the discerning that I have come across are sending signals that they may stay at home during the 2008 elections. After, all the value is the same! I have labeled that psychological feeling that someone has shortchanged us as “positive blues”. We took a wrong junction on the road to positive change. The earlier the lost road map is found, the better. Otherwise JAK may have to see JJ for lessons in insomnia-management, ex-post Castle. If you think its impossible, think again. Uncle Fiifi may become the next President and then the pain becomes just unbearable for you because you cant sleep again. If you say am making noise, wait till you hear the latest release from A-plus. “Asem kese eba a, na franka si so!!!! But again, why do I bother myself so? People are so busy eating that they don’t hear anymore.

“Healey’s first law of politics: when you’re in a hole, stop digging”.
- Denis Healey, British Labour politician

P/S: I never knew I had the spirit of prophecy until earlier this morning when I was checking my folder and saw this piece. I wrote and posted this article on April 3, 2007. Yewura, if only you had listened. I told you Uncle Fiifi is formidable. The man who was said to be on his death bed is now giving the mighty elephant sleepless nights? I am indeed grateful that God had given Ghana the best Christmas gift in years. A parliament where agreements will not be stampeded through passage in a manner where even the so-called parties to the agreement dispute their status. A parliament where the other side will be consulted and their views taken on board before decisions are made. An end to rubber stamping by parliament. An end to the opposition having their say and the government having its way. An end to certificate of urgency where there were no emergencies. An end to impunity on all fronts. A little breathing space for state institutions to function properly as they can be defended strongly by the other side. A chance for the law to assure equality. A chance for the Parliament to wake up and live!!!

So please go to church or the mosque next time round and say a prayer of thanks to God for His boundless mercies. And don’t be bothered by any talk that Uncle Fiifi’s ascension to the Presidency means scary times for you and me. Remember, if Nana wins, we will be okay. If Uncle Fiifi wins, I bet my bottom dollar that we will be okay too. Thank God for Ghana!

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana
And make our Nation Great and Strong!!!

JOE ABOAGYE Debrah Esq.
www.osimidiaries.blogspot.com

Run, Baby, Run...: Musings of a Mortal on the Elephants Race to Heaven

2007-11-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

“In corrupted governments,
the place is given for the sake of the man;
In good ones,
the man is chosen for the sake of the place”
- Lord Halifax, late

What will make a man, apparently sane and in control of all his faculties, take two hundred and fifty million ‘unGhanaian’ cedis (¢250,000,000.00) and with a smile on his face, promptly flush it down the toilet? Pause, reflect, and ask again?

What will make reasonable men, turned elephants, spend loads of time, energy, money, goods, and more money on an event, fully cognizant that it will bear no apparent fruit? To the mortal mind like yours and mine, this is tomfoolery bordering on buffoonery straddling insanity. That is to the mortal mind. If you thought so, you are in good company. But please do think again!!! To the racing elephants, things are not as fuzzy as your mind makes it appear to be.

It is a race to heaven! At the last count, I believe there were 19 elephants in the race. Let us hazard a list of these elephants, not necessarily in order of proximity to heaven: Ocquaye, Nana Addo, Yaw Sarfo, Kennedy, Apraku, Jake, Hackman, Agyepong the Elder, Agyepong the Younger, Alan the Cash, Dan the Botwe, Agyarko. Who else? OK, let me count how many elephants I have so far. 12! Who is missing? Yes, my man from Tokyo…the elephant who entered the race at the last turn and says he has more energy than all the rest…Adjei-Barwuah! Oh, Captain, forgive me. I nearly forgot you. Yes, there is the tuobodom General himself, the captain whose nkrabea is the palace! But some elephants are still missing! I confess that I cannot readily get all the names but I promise to drop them in as soon as any pops into my head in the course of this piece.

Lets ask again, what will make all these men, leave their juicy…aah, another name just dropped. This exercise is recommended for everyone interested in heavenly races. Just take a piece of paper, give yourself five minutes and try to write down all the names of the elephants in the race. Don’t cheat. I am ready to wager. You will miss out on a few like am doing right now. K4 the Younger! With Christina sweeping the vote in a landslide, albeit faraway, I bet your campaign has got itself a very welcome boost. Yes, the President’s brother who wants to be king. That’s elephant #15 and counting! What will make these elephants leave their plump ministerial and other jobs (don’t believe anything they say about the government jobs being thankless and sacrificial) and go in search of the Holy Grail? I will try and psychoanalyze from a mortal’s perspective, some of the arguments and motivations for running the race to heaven. No one has sent me. I have sent myself on this mission possible!!! But another name just dropped again. It would have been hari kiri if I had forgotten what with the hounds out for reasons to hate an elephant. It’s the near –man who wants to be king. H.E. Aliu Mahama, Veep, Republic of Ghana 2001-2009. That doesn’t look and sound elegant enough so we better stake for the ultimate: H.E. Aliu Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, 2009-2013; President of the United States of West Africa 2013-2015. I hope you appreciate by now the difficulty in getting all the names at a go. I only remembered because I write my pieces over a period when I can make time for it and since I begun days ago, there’s been brouhaha about the Veep and the Elephant Gamekeepers. It’s only then that his name dropped. I therefore decided to solicit the help of my manager so we can get all the names down once and for all. I sat her down and called them out, one by one. My manager popped out Dr. Afro himself. Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng!!! So what will make a very high achieving, world renowned cardiologist and head of Ogyakrom’s best teaching hospital drop his executive position and wade into the muddy political waters in which these elephants are running the race to heaven? Lets do the elephant roll call again: Yaw Sarfo, Nana, Kennedy (not American), Apraku, Jake, Ocquaye, Hackman, Agyepong the Younger, Agyepong the Elder, Alan Cash, Kwaku Botwe, Boakye Agyarko, Agyei-Barwuah, Nkrabea (has he filed), K4 the Younger, Aliu, Dr. Afro. Phew! My count reveals 17 names. I still can’t place who am missing because I know there are 19 pretenders to the throne of the Elephant. I give up!!! Readers may help me out!

So I pose the question for the last time. What will make all these fine elephants of positive change chase the Golden Fleece to the Palace of Dreams? These represent my hallucinations about the motivations behind the race:

Motivations

a. Divine Apportionment

This can apply to all. Now is the season where the pastors who no longer fear or ‘shy’ Yeshua Amashua, will pick and choose which of the elephants has a marginal propensity to drop cash for prophetic unction. I have heard on radio that the prophecies have begun already. Yeshua Amashua has revealed to me alone, that you, Ogyakrom Osagyefo has been ordained by the Almighty to rule. I saw God put a red seal on your forehead, plant a red, gold, green, black-starred flag in your right hand and cause a bright light to envelope your head. Then I saw 2008 on a poster with your picture on it. Then I saw 18 elephants all roll down and bow before you. You are king indeed! Some of the elephants will believe these African movies and dole out some cash. After all, Yeshua has so many embassies in Ogaykrom, each manned by ambassadors many of whom have not presented their credentials to anyone. Until that day when the trumpet sounds in that auditorium, what shall it profit you to antagonize any of these ambassadors when you know that one of the fastest-easiest ways to access the hearts and minds of the mortals is to go through Yeshua’s ambassadors? Truth be told, none of the elephants can annex this claim to divine calling as the Lord of the Palace 2008. How can Yeshua Amashua confuse us all by anointing 19 elephants to occupy a single palace?

b. Heaven is a Palace; or vice-versa

If you did not know, now you know. The Presidency is sweeter than anything on this earth. Add the White House, No 10 Downing Street and the Elysee, in terms of raw, pure, real ‘enjoyment’, none compares! If you were in the shoes of these elephants, you will also make a run for the Palace. If you enter the palace, your tears are over, PERIOD!!! There shall be no want for you, your wife, your concubines, your small girls, your children, your relatives, their friends and relatives and … Of course Ogyakrom has a constitution, separation of powers, judicial independence etc. If you are as smart as these elephants, you will reign as a monarch, i.e. a presidential king!!! We mortals have been primed to accept that, especially if you don’t rock the boat too much and allow a 'live and let live’ environment. Back in those days in Legon, there was a DJ in town we loved to hate. I believe he was called KKD. He used to say: “KKD is here, happiness is near”. I say, “the race is here, heaven is near”. All the King’s men are deeply motivated and salivating at the prospect of heaven on earth. That prospect should make a man do what an elephant will do in the same circumstances…make a run for it!!! Even Yeshua did not have the privilege of tasting heaven on earth!!!

c. Love for Ghana

This motivation must by definition apply to all of them simply because you are disqualified otherwise. How can you want to go to heaven when you don’t love Ghana more than 19,999,999 other citizens? All these elephants will therefore harp ad nauseam about their inordinate love for mother Ghana. Greater love hath no man than this, that he will lay down a fortune in resources to chase what for many of them, is essentially a mirage. But I go ahead of myself. I am told on authority that in Osagyefo’s days, when our big men met to think Ghana, you could bet your bottom dollar that about 90% of the resources ended up where they had earmarked it. In Ogyakrom of today, that may not be the case. Believe it if you may but none of the King’s men has an upper hand in this love business. All of us love Ghana. In fact I love Ghana so much that I have done a few things in the name of love for Ama Ghana for which the lashes are still raining down. All the elephants love Ghana. But it’s a moot point and should not be flagged too much or you’d risk a knock like K4 the Younger has been getting for daring to ask that someone shine a torch on the King’s men. He had completely forgotten that some of the elephants are virtually running naked and the only conducive environment is a bit of darkness. All of them are patriotic. All of us are patriotic. Patriotism won’t fly much!!!

d. The K4 Factor

Have you heard the one that says that K4 himself is the reason all these elephants have escaped the herd and are running ahead of the pack to the Palace? They say he has made the seat so desirable that all of them want to… Don’t blame them much. For some of these elephants who knew the Big Elephant in toto before coronation, they cannot help but feel that this race must be run at all costs. In fact, some may feel that if they knew that the journey will be this sweet, they would have jumped in the last time round and tried harder. Admittedly, His Excellency, K4 the Elder has made the throne very ‘palatably deliciously appetizing! K4 is the quintessential epitome of ‘ehia wo anwu’. He is also a concrete example of a man who never says die until the bones are rotten. If he didn’t have the guts, he would not be where he is. Imagine if he’d lost 2000. His life would have been caput. Chief may probably be paying pensions to him by now. Some of the elephants who fawn over him wouldn’t be that close. It was a do or die back then. Indeed, his situation then looked exactly like some of the elephants in the race today. But then see Yeshua Amashua’s Mighty Hand at work. At 63 thereabouts, Yeshua changes his destiny FOREVER. From left to right, PERIOD!!! Globe-trotting! All things at your beck and call! I mean ALL things!!! Old age recedes! Money flows waa, waa, waa!!! Diaspora family regroups at home in Ogyakrom to recoup! God is good, all the time!!! So some elephants look at K4 and feel, if Yeshua did it for him, He will do it for me too. If the Big Elephant made it from beyond zero, then I can make it from 4. But is it that simple? The factors that have made K4 and his era so juicy may not necessarily be the same for his successor. Some of the elephants have also tasted the crumbs and their chains have fallen. If crumbs can feel this good, what about the full meal? The K4 attraction may be contributing to the huge field but though it may motivate, it may have taken H.E. K4 the Elder loads more than just showing up and putting on the kente to take the Oath of Office. There must be something about the man that has made his office look so appetizing. The magnetism of the office has increased and that contributes to all elephants trying their luck.

e. Sunshine

If you want to have your bit of sunshine before it gets cloudy, step up now. Just declare that you are standing as a candidate. You don’t even have to be an elephant as they may have priced you out of the market and your neighbours will leak information that you are not serious. You may fly the cockerel, climb a coconut or even walk the tip of an umbrella. You are guaranteed front page coverage in the newspapers. You will get radio and TV interviews. Best of all, your face, warts and all, will be plastered around the country. A website guarantees visibility around the world. The real ambassadors (not yeshua’s) will get to know you. Some doors will have to open. You and your children may secure visas when it would have been otherwise. Doors open for aspirants. Ask them! During the race, for a few dollars more, you’d get a presidential feel. Bodyguards, bodygirls, cars, drivers, lackeys, drummers, chiefs, yeshua ambassadors, fetish priests, all hailing! Even state protocol may begin to invite you to state functions. Ask Grandpa. Check the grin on his face at a national function when the cameras come close. You can buy big man status in these hereabouts. This race guarantees all the king’s men that status, at least within the elephant herd. Remember some guy who declared, only to be declared nuts? At least he got to keep that morning’s edition of Daily Graphic for the next generation.

f. Insurance Policy

Are you still wondering why all the king’s men are still going for it? Well, the post K4 era bodes loads of uncertainty for some of these elephants. You can’t be too sure where your bread will be buttered in the next world. If you hang on quietly with K4 till his last day, you may be signaling your own desire to retire. In order to secure a small assurance about your post K4 scenarios, you ought to bring your constituency to the table. Most of these men seem to have no chance whatsoever. However, if the race could guarantee a place at the table on d-day, they could be at the table when chow time arrives in the new heaven. The present public nature of the race means that some of the elephants are only running to show their clout in the party. That may be the price of a ticket to an invitation-only meal in the post K4 heaven. They are just paying the premium for the insurance policy.

g. Old Men Cant Jump

I admit. I am young, brash and sometimes abrasive. I am restless about old men who just can’t make law work in Ogyakrom. I have not been able to understand why an old big man who has made his money and his fame already and is waiting to meet his maker cannot stand up for truth and principle. ‘Old men can’t jump’ goes to the younger breed of the elephants in the race. Some have been around the older bigger elephants and know (but they’d never admit it in public) that some elephants we fawn over are near basket cases. Some policy that may have killed the elephant at the polls never saw the light of day because some young elephant stampeded it out. In the quiet of some lovely bosom, he can’t help but wonder, is this it? The job must be easy and within reach then, abii? If these old elephants, whether under the influence or not, at close quarters don’t have the juice but still manage to run Gh. Inc. so well, then why not me? I wish all the young elephants in the race good luck. Please don’t listen to the venerable J.H. when he says it’s not a beauty contest. IT’S A BEAUTY CONTEST FOR ALL OF YOU. If you watch the Ms. Ghana show, you will be pardoned for thinking that it’s only the winner who won. She may be the one to get the TV, car, tickets, furniture and cash on TV but the losers are all winners too. A wily cash man comes to the event interested only in positions 4-7. If you are a visionary, you will know that sometimes number 4 gets more than Ms. Ghana herself. Car, house, TV, stereo, furniture and yeshua granting, wedding bells!!! You have nothing to lose by taking part in the beauty contest.

h. Na Money

For mortals like me, ¢250 million unGhanaian cedis or thanks to the trillion-shaving technology, GH¢25,000, is a princely sum. But that payment is a one-off cost. Now consider other expenditure on the race to heaven. Fuel, cars, bikes, TVs, T-shirts, drinks, goats and sheep x 230 constituencies x number of days on the road. Why will any man decide to make that spend with a smile? This race is not a win-lose situation for majority of the elephants. Assuming you manage to get a lot of money into your campaign kitty, you must by definition run. You have to run even if your own mama says you should not. This is a beautiful marathon where none of the racers will be tested for steroids. No one will ask you where, who, what, whom, which or when you got your money. There shall be no audit or accountability to anyone. The real job is to make sure the money has come in, whichever way. Then enter the race. When you lose, who would come to you to show your profit and loss account? So mortals go to sleep wondering about elephants and how they are only big but sometimes act in a manner not discernible to them. The racing elephants go to sleep knowing the race makes loads of sense. This is not a loss –making venture at all and will assure attractive returns on investments. Yeshua willing, even the ultimate may drop on your lap. You are investing in the most lucrative business south of the Sahara. Politics is the most rewarding venture at the moment, especially when you are in the governing party. On behalf of Uncle Mac-Manu, I thank you all for your generosity, especially those of you who know, even in your sleep that the ¢250 million is a gift to the party!

Osimi’s Quick Guide to the Elephant Racers

I have to apologise again. I have done a re-count of the names and I missed the gentleman lawyer of Esikado, Paa Owusu-Ankomah. I only remembered because since I begun drafting this piece bit by bit, I have been in Tadi and that’s when I realized his name had escaped me. However, I still can’t shake the feeling that despite all my efforts someone is missing.

Here’s my quick guide to the race to heaven. It’s my personal view and I will take on anyone who takes me on for expressing them. They are mine and mine alone and don’t even represent the opinions of the only people I can speak for without taking instructions, my manager and the two musketeers. The names appear randomly. Let’s start with H.E. Aliu:

Aliu

Even if he didn’t stand, he would have to stand. 8 years as an apprentice, nice image. Redemptive figure for the elephant. Yes, NPP has always been perceived as an Akan (graciously) or Asante (ungraciously) party. It’s a perception that won’t go away despite that the party’s antecedents show some of the Veep’s ilk in the thick of affairs. Here comes a golden chance to kill that perception for a century and two years. Will they take it? Aliu. Capable! Able! Mainstream! Moslem! Trained! I knew the man was serious when I saw his poster. He is the only elephant in batakari and kente on the same poster! But the Veep rides against the establishment. There are forces that’d be very jittery if he wins. The other elephants won’t admit it but they keep an eye on him. The Veep can win. He will give some people a good run for their money. His fate, like all the other elephants, will be decided when the trumpet sounds on that day. As a black man born in Africa, my mortal mind perfectly understand why he’s in the race. If not now, when? Mortals can understand!!!

Nana o, Nana

Suave! Been there, done that! Rumbled in the jungle and lived to fight another day! Strong personality! Very high profile figure! Known in Ghana and abroad! Top gun! Unfortunately lives in an environment where self-assurance is taken as cockiness or arrogance. Ghana needs a self-assured man as leader. Even a self-assured cockerel will suffice but self-assured he has to be. He makes the establishment-elephants and some say, K4 himself jittery. Why? I don’t know! Cannot possibly be due to the rumble in the jungle with K4. He has always been his own man but his track record has also shown that he is a team player. I have however been unable to visualize a K4 overhang on a Nana govt. That may be making some people in the inner chamber uneasy. He seems to be strong on the ground. I haven’t been able though to appreciate all those billboards all over the city and him holding his jaw, what with the wahala over the dentures and all. Mortals can understand!!!

Dan Kwaku Botwe

Kwaku Botwe seems to represent the purity of the elephant pre-adolescence. Is he the hope of the masses to get a ‘roots’ man into the palace? Admittedly has grassroots support but will only impact if the selection process is above board so that ‘rootsy’ folk can travel to the City for the bronya selection. Whether he can assure or ensure his grassroots men get appointed, selected or elected as delegates in this river of cash is another issue. Kwaku Botwe will represent a revolutionary choice against a perception of money bags warping and adulterating the minds of otherwise decent folk to do as money bids. Increasingly looks like an Nkrumah amongst UGCC bigwigs. The December beauty contest will be a battle for the soul of the party. Only discerning people may vote for him. The Botwe seems to represent the purity and virginity of the elephant. Whether the Virgins Club upsets the Old Whores is another matter. Has loads of street credibility but street credibility wins the main election but doesn’t guarantee you the party nomination. Perception is that he has insulated himself from the influences of Establishment and may not be a favourite of the Castle goons. Tremendous goodwill from the people is a credit balance in the account but unsure whether that will help clear the ultimate hurdle. May have been fired by H.E. K4 the Elder because he would not 'yessa' enough. Very bright hope for Ogyakrom whichever way you look at him. Will be back for another dance even if he gets stampeded by the other elephants. There is a hunger for clean government and he assures. Mortals can understand!!!

Alan Kyeremanteng

Poster boy of the campaign. Overheard two women in Tadi last weekend who had paused at an Alan poster: “papa yi nso no ho ye fewo ae”. I cannot remember how he came to be tagged as the moneybag of the race but that must be quite an achievement, granted that all elephants are spending like mad on this ‘brake-free/steroid-fuelled’ race to heaven. Good personality! Articulate! Must work harder to shake perception of being the Castle man. If delegates perceive the race as a battle for the soul of the party, he may lose out. At the moment, very visible campaign. Promises galore. Well oiled campaign which turns out people at every stop for their share. Few hiccups with the steering committee notwithstanding, he’s in a race of his life. Dodgy record on achievements. Even if doesn’t win, will live to fight another day. Just leave some of the cash for another day. And oh, beware of the 'Ntim kukrudu' as in earthquake. Everyone who wants to slap the president but cant even dream about it will use you as a convenient counterfoil. Slap Alan, slap K4!!! Mortals can understand!!!

Yaw Sarfo

Oyeadieyie! Oseeadeyo! Roots man! Some scary posters but can live with that because achievements overshadow everything else. Huge stature and an achiever. Proven himself in capacities held in the elephant govt. Also took fair share of the Rawlings lashes back then. Has paid dues to the party. Behind his back, the old whores complain doesn’t allow the juice to trickle down. Slight murmurings about the Macmillan saga but nothing has stuck so far. In the early days of the race, seemed to have bigger profile but appears to have lost juice lately. May be a strategy as the volume may be directed at the delegates and not the public. May also not be the choice of the establishment because he cannot be pushed around easily. Very shrewd character. May be deemed by the jittery bunch as a little too independent to be crowned “the Protector of the Spoils” in the new heaven. Its unclear whether can assure protection for the jittery bunch in the event of a hoopla post k4. Write him off at your peril because he is a roots man and can be adopted easily by mortals. At least his run makes Oda very interesting for 2008. Yaw Sarfo is my MP. The folks back home aren’t as complimentary as the early days but guess he is not bothered much as he’s playing for bigger stakes now. Yaw Sarfo can be President! Mortals can understand!!!

Hackman

An achiever. Major bulwark of the party. Has paid more than his dues. Also took fair share of the Jerry lashes. Lots of credibility with the masses. An acknowledged party bigwig. Accomplished enough for the job. Must be in the race or standing diminishes. Unable to place a finger on his chances. If he wins, no one must panic because he is capable. Hope he does not blow too much money on the race, though. Mortals appreciate his run!!!

Jake

Done his part for the party. His race a little puzzling, though but he is a strategist so all other elephants beware of Otanka. You write him off at your peril. Strong party man who managed two successful campaigns and efficiently. A fair chance in the race but seems to be a waste of money, time, money, space, petrol, t-shirts and more money. Smart Alec and may have his own reasons for joining the beauty contest. If he could, why not Jake? Mortals puzzled!!!

Frimpong-Boateng

Mortals scratching heads why he is in the race. Does not seem to have any apparent chance of winning but who told you he was in it to win? Seems to be enjoying the race, though. May be good for his heart. So serious that put his face round buses and vans. Give him a chance. After all, he has had his hair trimmed and looking presidential. Mortals definitely cannot understand why he is in the race to heaven!!!

Agyepong the Elder

Originally perceived as the joker in the pack, thrown in by the big man to test the waters for the establishment. Speaks very well from an assured position of no-contest. One of the saner heads in the race. I don’t know what he has done but his own constituents may have uncomplimentary things to say about his tenure as their watchman in Accra. His run may help ease x'mas woes for some party faithful but has always appeared very crafty and wise and doesn’t look like wasting his ‘acquired-immunity’ on a lost cause. Can be President but his era is gone with the wind. Adviser material for post k4 heaven. Mortals cannot understand!!!

Agyepong the Younger

For some of the reasons adduced earlier, can appreciate why he is racing. Only that he will never tell us the true reasons he is there. Been around the big guns who may have been firing gunpowder all along. If he felt completely overwhelmed by this big post, would he dare? Agyepong the Younger knows that the job aren’t scary and that he can do it. He has nothing to lose and may actually be enjoying himself. Will live to fight again another day, ‘whether weather’. This race is not a financial loss-maker for him o. An establishment turn-off but a straight talker. The kind we need as a people but may never have until they have been bitten by the bug and have forgotten their first love. Hope for years to come. Mortals puzzled!!!

Boakye Agyarko/Arthur Kennedy

Sorry guys, had to lump you together because you represent the same values for me. Good men may never win elections in Ghana! At least until we the people change, your kindred will suffer to ascend to heaven. Very fine materials but how can they wrap their American minds around the deal making and the back-scratching that steals the souls of all our leaders and make them lose the roadmap to heaven? How can these Americanos manage a zero to fifty percent tolerance scenario? It’s a bit like asking Bosummuru to be President of Ogyakrom. If we don’t kill him, he would kill himself! Sorry, folks, the party accepts your gifts this Xmas. The people appreciate your message but you come years ahead of your time. Your kind of presidential fodder is what we need as a people but the establishment wont let you anywhere near the throne. You know it. Come on and admit it! Maybe in another era when the old whores have been satisfied and can leave us alone, then we can rebuild governance on principles of law and justice and love for Ama Ghana and not the stomach. Certainly a lost cause for you guys. If you win, Ghana wins. But we mortals know that Gh. matters very little in this race. Thanks for keeping the smiles on your faces despite being aware that it’s a lost cause. You may all live to fight another day. You guys may be one of the few elephants, burning biodiesels in the race. Mortals will be praying for you. Mortals wish!!!

Mike Ocquaye

Lost cause. Baffling racer. May probably lose Dome if stood again. Has also been in the thick of affairs of the party from the beginning and may deserve his dance on the floor. Only upside may be a glance into the post K4 era and an acute awareness to re-position strategically to guarantee a foothold at the table. Hard worker in all respects. Just does not have that sparkle for a campaign. A proven survivor though. Also took his fair share of the Jerry lashes. Will not win and he knows it. If he wins, I will relocate to Odorkor!!!

K4 the Younger

An achiever. Nice poster. Only problem for him is that here in Ogyakrom, races have never been about issues. Its about personalities and when they are about personalities, big brother clouds the issues. The feeling is that all elephants chasing one illusive answer to hunger. You have got it in your backyard for 8 years. Mortals are aware leaders chop. You face a big hurdle to explain why the chopping bowl should continue to sit on that dining table. That’s the long and short of all your racing problems. Big brother has inadvertently caused you the job. You live in climes where the people cannot appreciate that your move aint a dynastic exercise but a genuine desire to do something for your motherland. A friend who should know better keeps saying that out here, we inherit our brothers so big brother has worked on your behalf too. We accordingly award you with half of his goodies, I mean good deeds. Will that suffice, opanyin? K4 the Younger has performed well in his role in government. He is not tainted, yet. Makes people uneasy when he calls for light. Why would you call for light when some people around you are naked? Doesn’t seem to fear lights as seems to have no skeletons. The only problem is his link to K4 the Elder. People, come on. In Argentina, the President’s wife has won. The eating bowl didn’t as much as leave the kitchen table there. However, there may be deeper Freudian motivations for running. Very good material but wont win. Dynastic claims and unease of the establishment about the “ I am clean” claims not helping the cause. One of the better people who may never be king. Worth the run, though. Mortals appreciate his race. Never stop talking about the light, Sir!

Adjei-Barwuah

Guess you did not know there was a Japanese elephant until recently. He says he’d win, one touch. This is the most baffling racer after Nkrabea (has he filed?). Seems to be well known to the core NPP bigwigs. Very nice man. Yes, can say so because sat in his office in Tokyo this summer and never let on that he was coming down to waste his yen. Not much known about him but his posters all over town. Will spice people’s soups this x’mas but still unclear the motivation for the race. He will not win and he knows it. Wipe that grin off your face. You will be dumb if you think him dumb!!! This race makes loads of sense to him or he would not come all the way from Tokyo for it. Mortals have tried but still cannot understand!!!

The Captain

For the sake of yeshua amashua, PLEASE DON’T FILE! IF YOU HAVE, ITS NOT TOO LATE. GO FOR YOUR MONEY. THEY WILL UNDERSTAND AND HAND IT BACK. You have already run your race. Save the money for x’mas at Tuobodom!!! Mortals have not tried to understand because it cannot be understood!!!

Conclusion

So there you have it. For the discerning, you can see art even in insanity. My problem with the elephants is that the campaign has lost its indoors look and is now very public. If a candidate goes out and spends and draws loads of people and then later comes to Accra only for some cash-infested delegates to tell him that he could not run, what should he do? That will be the dilemma for a few of these elephants during x’mas 2007. The abiding issue for the elephants is how the old whores react when they perceive a winner as not fit to be crowned “Protector of the Spoils”. The old whores are the biggest threat to the racing elephants. But to all racers, thanks for spicing the tables of constituency chairmen and executives all over the country. Your largesse is deeply appreciated. You know you have made a positive change when you have lost but your t-shirt is someone’s Xmas wear to a convention hosted by an uncertified ambassador of yeshua amashua.

For the delegates, my simple message is this:

“ Vote for the man who promises least; he’d be the least disappointing!!!

And don’t forget Uncle Fiifi is waiting for you.

THE NEW DIRECTIVES ON PROCESS FILING AND JUSTICE ADMNISTRATION IN GHANA - A QUERY

2007-10-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

THE NEW DIRECTIVES ON PROCESS FILING AND
JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION IN GHANA – A QUERY

It was my former tutor in Top Ridge Preparatory School in Takoradi along the West Coast of beautiful Ghana many years ago who first gave me an insight into the concept of “justice in erehwon”. Mr. Jonah was my teacher in stage five and as an impressionable kid, one of the things that has stuck with me throughout my life was a piece he delivered in class one afternoon. I believe it was a poem. I believe it was titled “Justice in Erehwon”. Mr. Jonah and the venerable Kwabena Krakye of Akyem Oda in the Eastern forests of Ghana may have contributed to my inability to halt my forays into matters Ghana. The real reason, however, why I have had this flashback to my young school days in Takoradi is that in the past week, there has a been a development in the administration of justice, particularly regarding accessibility to justice, which may have fundamental implications for the rights of all Ghanaians and indeed all persons who come within the jurisdiction of Ghanaian courts in the activation and defence of their rights under law before Ghanaian courts. This development may not have been on the public networks yet but has become the talk of most of my colleague lawyers at the Bar. The discussions have focused essentially on the propriety or otherwise of an administrative decision by the Judicial Service of Ghana on the filing of court processes and the system of payment for the filing of processes in the various courts in Ghana.

Under the old system, every court, including even District Courts, had in place, administrative processes which enabled every person seeking justice before our law courts to be able to file any relevant processes in the Registry of that particular court. Suddenly, and without as much as a notice to the Bar, an edict was given to the effect that no payments for filing processes could be made at the Courts in question but were to be done in designated places like the Supreme Court buildings or the Cocoa Affairs Courts in a defined manner. I have seen a copy of the edict in the window of one of the Registries. It says that “all offenders shall be prosecuted”! Instructively, such payments can only be done at specially designated payment points like the HFC Bank Limited outlet within the Supreme Court buildings. The week in which the original edict was implemented was to say the least chaotic for us as lawyers and for our clients and for the smooth administration of justice. Once again, the judicial service seems to have killed a bug with a bazooka!!! We have gradually settled to the new process filing procedure which seems to have worked for the High Courts and other superior courts in Accra. Indeed, with centralized locations for the courts such as Cocoa Affairs and the Supreme Court area, there were not as many problems as originally anticipated. Things seems to have calmed down now and that may be informing the latest attempt to resurrect the abandoned idea of implementing the directive to all courts within Accra and indeed in some of the major litigation centres like Kumasi and Koforidua.

What are the implications of the new system for the administration of justice in Ghana? As a lawyer myself, I cannot dispute that the Judicial Service may have legitimate reasons for taking such a decision. The fact of non-communication of this defining change in process filing to members of the Bar is no news because we are used to that. The Judicial Service and indeed our own Bar Association, seems to find no merit whatsoever in informing lawyers of such changes in advance. Its common practice to arrive at the law courts in Accra, for example, only to find that Judges are on a 3-day seminar that had been planned six months previously. Typically, all one gets often is lawyers fuming and stranded at the court premises, frustrated. But I digress! On the core issue at hand, it is my humble submission that the proposed solution that the Judicial Service intends to adopt may achieve only the purpose of securing the funds of the Judicial Service but end up with major headaches for poor citizens who need a cost efficient access to justice. When problems do arise with a system, it is all stakeholders who consider it and find solutions that will stand the test of time. These attempts at resolution must help resolve the problems identified but not seek to compound the very problem it seeks to resolve or rather open new vistas for the very problem it sought to tackle to re-emerge. In this matter therefore, it is my expectation that the GBA would act promptly to request a re-think and to tell whoever initiated what may turn out to deny access to justice that they may have made a mistake, not in seeking to tackle an as yet undefined problem but putting in place mechanisms that may defeat the purpose of seeking justice in Ghanaian law courts.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Already, a lot has been made of the delays in the Ghanaian judicial system. Commendable efforts have been made to tackle these problems. Some of these include the establishment of defined divisions of the High Court including the Fast Track and the Commercial Courts. Another example is the promulgation of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C. I. 47). It is therefore baffling to me that after all these commendable efforts at tackling such fundamental problems in the administration of justice, anyone will dream up such a potentially chaotic process at this time in the legal year. I will attempt to illustrate the consequential pains of the proposed system by using the analogy of a citizen who lives in Amasaman who wants to initiate action in the Amasaman District Court.

Ordinarily, when a person resident in Amasaman for example had a problem with someone that required redress in that District Court, that person could walk to the Registry of the District Court in Amasaman or even the nearest Commissioner of Oaths in that community and explain the problem. An affidavit will be duly drawn up for the person to sign and the relevant application for a writ filed on his or her behalf in that Registry. The person would pay the relevant filing fees at the Registry at Amasaman and get relevant receipts at the same time and place from the Judicial Service officials who work in that Registry. The matter may delay but at least the process would have been filed and the person gets his or her day in Court. However, due to this new policy of the Judicial Service, this is what the same person would be confronted with. That person will have to go to the Registry at the Amasaman Court to tell his or her story. An affidavit may be drawn up but instead of paying the relevant filing fees at Amasaman, all the Registry at Amasaman can do now is to asses the fees payable. A form detailing the assessment would be given to the person to take all the way to the Supreme Court buildings in Accra or to the Cocoa Affairs (which is worse in terms of accessibility) to join a queue and fill out pay-in slips. If the person does not have the benefit of education, assistance will be required to fill out those pay-in slips. The person will then make payment at the designated payment point which invariably is a branch of HFC Bank. The person is given a duplicate of the pay-in slip duly stamped after making the payment. That individual will have to return to Amasaman and go back to the Registry of the District Court with the process he or she sought to file in the first place. The duplicate pay-in slip is offered to the cashier of the Court in Amasaman who then has to issue a receipt. The cashier at Amasaman sees no cash but only issues a receipt based on the slip offered by the person. Then and only then, would the processes be accepted for filing by the Amasaman Court. What happens if the person loses the slip on the way back to Amasaman? Will the Amasaman Court accept a photocopy of the slip? Will that person have to go back to the HFC Bank or the Judicial Service for proof of payment? How could any court official possibly determine whether the slips they are receiving are legitimate? How are the reconciliations to be done between the receipts issued by the Court officials and that of HFC Bank sitting in the holy places? Kindly note that this analogy concerns a route that does not make use of legal counsel as is the case in most instances.

Let us try another analogy. If a spouse has an obligation to make payments to an estranged spouse for the maintenance of their children and they live in Amasaman, he will have to do same. He has to cross over to Accra and go through the same process. Does he have to go back to Amasaman to show the slip in order to get receipts showing he has complied with a court order to pay maintenance fees? How does the poor woman access her funds which may be her only means of sustenance for her children? Can the Amasaman Court for example make payment to her when they have received no money? This may be an individual who already is unwilling to make the payments for the upkeep of the children and only the intervention of the law secures the funds for the daily upkeep of the poor kids. Without apologies to anyone, this may be a recipe for chaos! This is what will confront any citizen who wants to access the District Courts in Accra and other defined areas in the wake of the new directive on process filing, whether you live in Osu or Labadi.

I have been involved in discussions at the Bar on the rather vexed issue of delays in trials. Numerous seminars and discussions have been held in an attempt to find lasting solutions to the problem. Indeed, the culmination of these efforts was the revision of the civil procedure rules for the High Courts, leading to the promulgation of C. I. 47. Order 1, rule 1(2) states as follows: “These Rules shall be interpreted and applied so as to achieve speedy and effective justice, avoid delays and unnecessary expense and ensure that as far as possible, all matters in dispute between parties may be completely, effectively and finally determined and multiplicity of proceedings concerning any of such matters avoided”. Instructively, the same rules also made provisions to the effect that non-compliance with the Rules may not at all times, render proceedings void. Order 81, rule 1(1) states that “where, in beginning or purporting to begin any proceedings or at any stage in the course of or in connection with any proceedings, there has, by reason of anything done or left undone, been a failure to comply with the requirements of these Rules, whether in respect of time, place, manner, form or content or in any other respect, the failure shall not be treated as an irregularity and shall not nullify the proceedings, any step taken in the proceedings, or any document, judgment or order in it”. To my small mind, the framers of the Rules agreed that justice delayed is justice denied. All judges have therefore been empowered by the new Rules to facilitate a speedy yet fair determination of all matters pending before it. Those ‘directive principles of judicial policy’ encompass our drive for fair, equitable and cheaper access to justice in Ghana. It is therefore unsettling to say the least that at this stage when all efforts are geared towards removing bottlenecks in the administration of justice, the Judicial Service will seek to introduce larger-sized bottles in the way of poor Ghanaians seeking justice. Does the judicial Service want people to find alternative dispute resolution mechanisms by making it increasingly difficult to use the conventional dispute resolution options offered by the Courts? One has to bear in mind that even where citizens want to utilize the very laudable Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) options available, they will be compelled by this new fiat, to walk the gauntlet of the new process filing directives. How many people in Accra and its outlying areas have the financial resources and the time to travel to a central location in Accra seeking pay-in slips to be returned to the original Court where they seek justice? Why would anyone seek to retain staff that only make assessments and issue receipts but at the same time engage a bank on defined terms and pay fees or commissions? Is the Judicial Service saving money by this process? Is the Judicial Service saving jobs by this process? If there are administrative issues regarding monies collected at the Registries of our courts, they certainly have to be resolved but not at the expense of citizens’ access to justice.

It is my humble submission that in the event that the Judicial Service has its own difficulties with the previous system of process filing, the newly introduced system may only compound the problem for everyone involved, particularly the little guys who seek justice at such small claims courts. The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) may do well to request a rethink of the implementation of this system at the District Courts until adequate consultations have been held to define what particular demon is to be exorcised this time and appropriate solutions defined and implemented without sacrificing all the efforts so far made towards expediting trials in our courts. Certainly, no one can claim that the personnel of the Judicial Service are so bad that a bank has to be given a commission to collect monies on behalf of the Service? Or are they?

One will presume that this is a new process which necessarily would be replicated in all of Ghana. What happens in places which have no banks or Judicial Service-friendly banks?. Is the Judicial Service going to draft rural banks into this exercise?

In my estimation, the new system is increasingly impracticable as I seek to replicate it in my mind around Ghana. If it is not to be replicated throughout the country, then it is even worse. Who decided that the people of Accra, Koforidua or Kumasi deserved this kind of discrimination in our access to justice? Or is it a pilot project? It is a rather sad testament to our approach to problem-solving when one considers that these actions that may deny access to justice and also discriminate in the access to justice nationwide must have necessarily been sanctioned by administrators, financial experts, lawyers and judges. As a young professional, I have always wondered why the typical Ghanaian including lawyers may never express their real opinions in critical issues and allow such measures to be foisted on all of us only to come and sit at the Bar to lament.

I was informed that after the policy was mooted last year and communicated to all the relevant Registries, it was later deemed as impracticable especially in its application to ‘decentralised’ courts. A decision was later taken to exempt outlying courts in Accra from such a process. Why it is being resurrected at this material time is as yet unclear. The seeming success of its application at the already centralized courts like the Cocoa Affairs and the Supreme Court buildings may have led to its resurrection. I wish to implore the Ghana Bar Association to call on the Judicial Service to halt the implementation of this new system at the District Courts until relevant solutions have been found to whatever problem may have motivated this effort in the first place. If not, all the Judicial Service will be doing is affording lawyers another very convenient excuse, to explain away delays in trials which may not even necessarily have emanated from this new “Frankenstein”. It will also deny access to justice to many people, defeating the very legacy that the Judicial Service itself is trying to establish. I therefore call for a re-think in the application of the directive to the District Courts particularly having due regard to its potential for discrimination in the access to justice in Ghana and effects on the costs of litigation.

The Price of Conscientious Stupidity... denominated in naira and cedis

2007-04-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” – Martin Luther King Jr.

I make no apologies for going to town today. After all, I have restrained myself for so long that I had to get someone to show me the way into town as I had completely lost my way. Am I stupid? Am I dumb? Are you?

Well, I can speak for myself and my manager and the two musketeers. We are neither stupid nor dumb. I know my people are also not stupid. But increasingly, I am asking myself whether those of us left on this continent somehow sold our consciences to someone who’s bolted from the market. We may have regretted the sale but we have not been able to trace to whom we sold out. Are we dumb?

Why cant the African stand up for what he believes in? Why? Is it because unlike the white man, we cant blush? Have you calculated how much your ‘ball-lessness’ is costing your dear nation? Why is the African only strong and brave in front of his wife and his concubines? African women get battered for the most stupid of reasons just for perceptions of standing in the man’s way. Yet this same man may have just come from the office meeting where he knew that the subject of discussion was going to lead nowhere. Indeed, he was fully aware that the decisions taken could only lead to increased costs and will be ultimately unworkable. Yet, what did he say when he was asked his opinion? Yes, sir!!! This is the best idea!!! Sometimes I wonder what we will do if God did not bring you into this ministry, office, church, Castle or rock, he would add for emphasis!

Am spilling because I cannot hold it inside anymore. It was reported yesterday that the Nigerian Supreme Court had ruled that His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, the Vice-President of Nigeria, could not be excluded from the ballot in Nigeria’s Presidential elections by the Independent? National Electoral Commission (INEC). This was after so may wasted years of battle with His Excellency, the venerable Olusegun Obasanjo (hereinafter referred to as OBJ) over his eligibility to stand in that elections. Over the past month, especially after the two Superior Courts had given contrasting rulings on the matter, I had listened to high officials from Aso Rock and the INEC defending why Atiku could not be on the ballot box. Indeed, when last Thursday and Friday were declared national holidays by H.E. Obasanjo, it was interpreted as a move to truncate the Supreme Court’s initial plan to rule on the matter during that period. So who’s laughing now?

So I asked myself, didn’t anyone in INEC have the balls to tell Mr. President that the country was not a fiefdom and that the law will prevail? Why would reasonable men, educated in high places, holding responsible positions, be so petrified by one man that they just couldn’t help but try to discern where the old man was leaning so that they could do his bidding? I am not aware whether Anago has the same law on causing financial loss like we do here. If this stupidity was denominated in cedis, there would have been howls of derision for the old man and his accomplices to be prosecuted for causing financial loss. The cost to Nigeria of printing new ballot papers to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court decision is incalculable. Incalculable because the stupidity is not only denominated in naira. Lives will be lost as a result. People will be dislocated as a result. Just because we have some spineless people in high places who have no balls between their legs and will do everything the President tells them including killing their own mamas! How many big people in Nigeria were brave enough to look OBJ in the eye and tell him that he was wrong? Am still trawling for names of Bishops, Cardinals, Sheiks, Chiefs etc who spoke out then when it wasn’t fashionable. Not at this time that the Supreme Court has exposed the stupidity of the whole exercise. One of the matters that continue to elude my grasp is how we have nations which call themselves democracies in Africa and yet we still have one man calling all the shots. A colleague explained to me that when the INEC insisted on adding the word “Independent” to their name, he knew that it was a façade. His arergument is that throughout the world, history has shown that nations and organizations would always add something to their names just to remind people that they had that tendency when the reverse, to discerning people, was the case. Witness the Democartic Republic of Korea, the Peoples Daily Graphic!!!

At this juncture, I will doff my hat to the judiciary in Nigeria. You are men, with balls! Even if you have some women, they are also men, with balls, hidden, of course!!! I WISH, I WISH, I WISH!!! In our quest for development, one of the constants will be the law. Even that one changes but not at the same rapidity. The law is the constant; The big men will always change. If we continue to look at the big man for instructions without regard to the law, it will have to take men with balls of steel, like Atiku Abubakar and the Learned Justices of the Nigeria Supreme Court, to throw light unto maximum bunkum and declare it as such. If the President’s wish is lawful, so be it. But if it has no basis in law, why the hell are we paying people who ought to know better to just gape at the old man and tell him what he wants to hear? The Policeman arrests not because he deems a crime has been committed but some big man has made an express directive that someone ought to be picked up. That fine youngman is fired by the Human Resources Manager fully aware that the Managing Director has no legal basis to demand his removal and also fully aware that he is superb material for the benefit of the company. The Board approves of expenditure because some octogenarian Director is hanging at the second-tier of that procurement process to pick up his opipipipii. I am begging you to calculate the cost of this phenomenon which I term as “conscientious stupidity”! Denominate it in naira or cedis and make your own deductions. We are the losers, if we continue to be this docile. Let me give you an example of how docile we can get as a people. It’s only in Africa that a President can go into a factory or other business enterprise which is wholly private-owned and dismiss the owner of the business. Guess what happens next? The owner of the business is kneeling and all wails. His workers and all, wives and concubines and all, pleading for mercy from the President.

May God forbid the stupidity in Anago from engulfing us in 2008. May we as a nation realize that power rests with the people and the best service we can render to our nation is to speak conscientiously, truthfully, respectfully, our opinions on issues. May Chineke God remove all the sycophants around our President before 2008. May they never graduate to the Palace!!! Otherwise, we will be faced with the same situation in Nigeria when the old man also attempts to ordain the future. If you think that my people can contemplate a loss to Kwashivi’s people, think again. Imagine the count going on and my people losing…. Something will give because something will have to give! It’s high time we all realize that we have a duty to ourselves and to the nation to contribute our quota to the development of our dear nation. Contribution can mean that you, an osofo, who has preached ad nauseam that when one dies he will go to heaven, will have the guts to speak frankly about national issues …and go to heaven! My government is a beautiful government that has not and will not put anyone in the cooler for speaking their mind. Yet for some unspoken, dark, (historical?) reasons, everyone is petrified in speaking the truth and standing up for the truth in this land. By so doing, the people messing themselves up are the winners when that should not be so. Yet the power rests with us the people. If we do not learn to believe in our collective ability to stand up for what’s just and true, the motto on our Coat of Arms will mean nothing to us in our lifetime. Freedom and Justice. God Bless Our Home land Ghana. Yen ara ye asaase nii.

Like Kwame Sefa-Kayi says most mornings, when you say a prayer, say one for Nigeria. Then say another one for Ghana. Then say another one for Yewura Kuffuor. Then say another one for yourself. Then Chineke will put some fire in your balls, not to torment the fairer sex but to act strong, believing in the constitution which guarantees your rights, because God did not make you stupid. Your conscientious stupidity is too costly for mother Ghana. Wake Up and Live …… or forever remain stupid!!!

"Let no one be discouraged by the belief that there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence... Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation... It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man (or a woman) stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he (or she) sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." - Robert Francis Kennedy, speech at Day of Affirmation, University of Capetown, South Africa

Elephant Ostriches

2007-04-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

ELEPHANT OSTRICHES

“These are the days when men of all social disciplines and
all political faiths seek the comfortable and the accepted;
when the man of controversy is looked upon as
a disturbing influence; when originality is taken to be
a mark of instability; and when, in minor modification of
the scriptural parable, the bland lead the bland.”

- John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born American Economist.

Have you ever seen an elephant digging a hole in order to bury its head? Guess you have not. Okay, lets try again. Can you imagine an elephant digging a hole to bury its head in? Can u imagine the size of that hole? Well, look no further. A mighty hole is being dug right close to you, right now, as you read this! My manager, being the typical Ghanaian wife that she is, has issued a fatwa that having lost my faith completely, it was enough to nurse my wounds at home and keep my thoughts to myself, especially on the state of Ogyakrom’s elephantiasis. The fatwa only allowed for public musings on her and the two musketeers. I could even define my daily struggles with old men who ought to know better but show nothing of that. But I was not to muse about the creeping pandemic. I am therefore pleading that on one tells her I have breached her fatwa. The ‘net is not her friend and she won’t know unless you become an okro-mouth!!! I am compelled to ventilate due to the impending Armageddon that’s about to engulf a certain domesticated elephant and to which none but the elephant is oblivious to. How can an elephant survive in the forest after being domesticated?

Compare the sizes of the heads of the ostrich and that of the Osono. The ostrich proverbially digs a hole and buries its head in times of wahala and chooses to show its bottom. Picture the elephant trying to dig a hole to bury its head in the sand. To my messed up mind, it will be near impossible. My prognosis is that the elephant by definition will have to stare issues in the face and basically face up to it. In Ogyakrom today, what’s happening?

‘Asonomma’ are so busy doing deeds that they don’t seem to know or care about the sentiments of the very same hot men who carried them on the back of ‘opipipiipi’ to the Castle. People are so busy trying to be Presidents that they don’t even see that gradually, the NPP is becoming like the NDC in its last days. Everyone, including the venerable Ben Ephson knows that the NPP won the elections because of the votes of the floaters. Foot soldiers of the Osono deferred their pay in order to bring the Osono from the bush. They worked for the NPP for the love of party and country, hooked on the intoxicating fumes of the promises of positive change, dished amidst the melodies of awurade kasa. Under the umbrella at the time, their people had also decided that “le hwua de kwasia, Ce nest pas tia so deux, cest tia so une” (forgive my French). To them, their big people had so enjoyed the booty and promptly forgotten them that they would demand all their back pay and take front pay, side pay and kickbacks. In long, their message was simple: “unless you cough up some of the money lodged in your throat, no footwork, period”! If you call them soldiers, you got to pay them! That’s what caused the umbrella the throne in 2000! The reverse is playing itself out in the NPP now now now!!!

Almighty Yeshua Amashua (respect to the Archbishop!) has a very sophisticated way of playing all of us, when we begin to think that we have arrived! “He makes all things beautiful in His Time”. Today, NPP foot soldiers are also demanding their pound of flesh. Unless you drop some dough, none is prepared to move. While you slept over the past Osono years, a quiet evolution has taken place in Ghanaian politics. The NPP has become the NDC!? And instead of that waking up the gamekeepers to the realities on the ground that people are getting increasingly disillusioned, Osono has ordered fresh excavation equipment and promptly begun digging one giant hole for the elephant to bury its head! Ebei, is this love that am feeling? And by the way, who chose the word “kukrudu” as a slogan? Do they know that it may come back to haunt them? Kukrudu means an earthquake or earth tremor. Over the past few months, with the tectonic plates sifting all over the place, we have heard and seen reports of kukrudu in disparate places such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Solomon Islands, Japan etc. We sit in an earthquake zone and the gamekeepers’ slogan is “kukrudu”. No wonder the prayer warriors of the NDC have been imploring Yeshua Amashua to send us, not an earthquake, but a small tremor bii. Just to show the commentariat and the masses that “kukrudu, enye adepa!”. Where was I?

Yes, the NPP rode on the back of perceptions to the Castle. The Osono encouraged perceptions at the time in order to score political points. Having been assured that the Ghanaian has a 24-hour memory span and generally does not recollect anything beyond the previous 24 hours, the Osono proceeded to promise paradise in Ogyakrom. I have always maintained that we have a paradox on our hands. The Osono without the promises and declarations could make a fine argument as being one of the best governments in Ogyakrom. Sadly, that’s without the promises and if the manifesto is hidden. Matched against the manifesto and the promises and the long talk, ouch, that’s where the pains of positive change are felt, Frankly, a feature of life in Ogyakrom now, and I don’t know whether you have also noticed same, is that, when you step out, you cant help but notice that apart from people who may have their fingers in the pot, its becoming very rare to find people ready, willing and able to defend the Osono and its policies. I dare say that it is only the elephant ostriches that don’t see what’s happening. Out there in the field, where elections are won, the Osono is fast losing the battle for the hearts and minds. Osono’s claim to fame was its distinction from the Umbrella in all respects. Toady, Ogyakromanians increasingly find it difficult to make that distinction. When the distinction is fudged, the NDC will be the net gainer. Positive change means that the things we used to see or hear, we’d see and hear them no more. Listen to the news. Don’t you have a sense of déjà vu? Sometimes you feel like you have heard the news before. If you have ever felt that way, you aint wrong. You may have indeed heard it before , just that where there was a papa jay, there is a K4 and where there was a Konadu, there is a Theresa. Positive change means a 180 degree turn, not a 360 degree turn.

Yet, my people call this phenomenon a perception. I say they are all ELEPHANT OSTRICHES! The love of the people is fickle. Now the Osono seems to be supplying on a daily basis, ample reasons why they ought not to love you anymore. The earlier you stop digging in, the better for you. The energy crisis, the Ghana@ 50 hullaboutwho, nepotism and corruption in high places and that phrase that’s evaporated from presidential lexicons… “zero tolerance for corruption” etc are but a few of the “perceptions” that may send the Osono back to the bush. By the way, Mr. President should fire whoever put that phrase “zero tolerance for corruption” in his inaugural speech. I wonder why they keep doing that to him. Recently they slotted in the fact that the energy crisis would be tackled by defined actions within a fortnight. The damage control ops are still on-going on that score. The ugly beauty contest is another turnoff for the floaters but a cocoa season for the parasites. Why the President would allow people we have tasked with responsibilities to walk around with state assets on presidential campaigns beats my imagination. For a party that used to whine that the NDC was using state assets to campaign, what do we see today? Not a single person has lost his job as a result of the energy crisis. Out there, the “perception” is that its chop time. Have you seen that advert in the newspapers on drug trafficking? Well, still stealing our money? Good luck!

Perceptions as the Osono should know, hurt politically and the perception now is that the NPP is a promise and fail party. Every leader of a household who has fundamental financial problems in his house but goes out on a spending binge can’t say he’s an agya pa! Never forget that Uncle Fiifi is a formidable personality. The NDC also doesn’t seem to have internal problems to the degree of the NPP. To the NDC, their problem is external, that is the floating voters. If only they can get their act together and exorcise the ghosts, what a season Ogyakrom will witness. The NDC never thought losing was a possibility until it was sprung on them. The Osono is doing the self-same things. These days we hear language used by the dying NDC: “we can’t lose”. We are on the ground”. Ostrich talk, that!!! The typical Ghanaian is an “afraid man”. He will look left and right and weigh the implications of his actions before he does them. If he has to express his mind publicly and that will cost him or his family, he will smile a Pentecostal smile and tell you exactly what you want to hear. You have to create an enabling environment for the Ghanaian to really express what he feels. The ballot box creates that environment perfectly. In there, no one will destroy his business or mark him down for destruction. No one will walk to the Police and demand his arrest for daring to speak. Ghanaians have shown they aint no dumbos. They are the smartest politically minded Africans you would ever find. The NDC lived to tell the tale of the mulling they received at the hands of these seeming docile people. What about you?

The possibility that the NPP will lose the election is very real. And it grows by the day! Instead of letting that possibility focus minds, energies are rather being expended on pedicures and manicures for the beauty contest. How come the tummy always wins in Africa? The NPP has deep internal problems which will be exacerbated by the beauty contest. Then the party has to deal with the externals who are already disillusioned. Teachers… gone. Health workers… gone. The people… going? Most of even the discerning that I have come across are sending signals that they may stay at home during the 2008 elections. After, all the value is the same! I have labeled that psychological feeling that someone has shortchanged us as “positive blues”. We took a wrong junction on the road to positive change. The earlier the lost road map is found, the better. Otherwise JAK may have to see JJ for lessons in insomnia-management, ex-post Castle. If you think its impossible, think again. Uncle Fiifi may become the next President and then the pain becomes just unbearable for you because you cant sleep again. If you say am making noise, wait till you hear the latest release from A-plus. “Asem kese eba a, na franka si so!!!! But again, why do I bother myself so? People are so busy eating that they don’t hear anymore.

“Healey’s first law of politics: when you’re in a hole, stop digging”.
- Denis Healey, British Labour politician

P/S: While I am at it, I might as well say it and be free. Abedi Pele has broken my heart. If you want to know how rotten our nation has become, let your Ghana Barometer be measured by what the GFA’s ruling would be in the matter of those absurd matches. Instead of Pele hiding in Togo till the storm blows over, the man goes on radio to defend 31-0? Ghana is sick @ 50!!! If the GFA says nothing untoward happened, start packing your bags. However, if they can withstand all those people who have lost their sense of right and wrong and now only defend their tummies, and rule that an absurdity took place and that the maximum sanctions are applicable, I would begin to have faith that all may not be lost. When the old man says show me or shut up, why wouldn’t Abedi and his ilk also conjure something and dare you to bring evidence to the contrary. Innocent until proven guilty my foot!!! Sick @ 50!!!!

POSITIVE BLUES

2007-01-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

POSITIVE BLUES

Where there was a Papa Jay
There is a K4.

Where there was a Konadu
There is a Theresa.

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

Where there was a Kume Preko
There is a Wahala.

Where there was an Alliance
There is a Committee.

Where there was a Vision
There is a Strategy.

Where there was an Asemfofro
There is a Stadium.

Where there was an NDC
There is an NPP.

The NDC was for Continuity!
The NPP was for Change!!

The NDC is for Change!
The NPP is for Continuity!!

NDC-speak was NPP-speak.
NPP-speak was NDC-speak.

The NDC is the NPP is the NDC!
The NPP is the NDC is the NPP!

The wheels have turned
And still remain forever still!!!

Positive Change!
Positive Blues!!
Positive Déjà vu!!!

The colour of my flag @ 50
Red, Gold, Green with the Black Star.

God Bless Our Homeland, Ghana
And save us from the NPPism and the NDCism!!!

Yen Ara Asaase Ni!
@ 50, It Is Time to Think Ghana!!!

GHANA TELECOMS: THE NEXT STOP ON THE GRAVY TRAIN?

2006-12-13T03:16:00.000-08:00

“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.

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: The report you have just read
Is a news parody.
The reporter is not a journalist.
The story is not fact-checked.
The opinions are not fully thought through.

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.
Accra.

The GWood Movies, Part 1:"Robocops and the Unknown Knowns

2006-11-30T05:20:00.000-08:00

'So justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
For brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
Like the blind we grope along the wall,
Feeling our way like men without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;
Among the strong, we are like the dead.
We all growl like bears;
We moan mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but find none;
For deliverance, but it is far away.

For our offences are many in your sight,
And our sins testify against us.
Our offences are ever with us,
And we acknowledge our iniquities:
Rebellion and treachery against the Lord,
Turning our backs on our God,
Formenting oppression and revolt,
Uttering lies our hearts have conceived.

So justice is driven back,
And righteousness stands at a distance;
Truth has stumbled in the streets,
Honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
And whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.’

Isaiah 59:9-15
Holy Bible, New International Version.

I am writing this piece only because of some communication that I have come across in last Saturday’s newspapers on the position of the Police Council on the recommendations of the Georgina Wood Committee as espoused in their Report which was presented to the government. More importantly, this piece had been conceived in my head but may never have been written but for the challenge that was posed by one of the people I respect very much in this land of ours, Pastor Mensah Otabil. Last Sunday, I listened to his message on JoyFM and felt challenged enough to find inner peace by asking a question that has agitated my mind since the Wood Committee Report was released on September 22, 2006 and the subsequent consequential developments that have taken place.

In writing this article, I also want to acknowledge all the people who in their good hearts, felt compelled to tell me to keep my thoughts to myself because I risked my life and that of my family, my profession and indeed all my associates if I dared exercised my right to free speech in today’s Ghana. To all of you, I say thank you. My only apologies go to my manager and my two boys, who through my desire to be as principled as I can in my professional life, have had to endure needlessly, such pain and hurt. Yet we still believe. If there’s anyone to blame, it has to be Kobina Krakye, who imbibed in me the will to stand up for the truth and for my rights as a citizen of this beautiful land of ours. It is this same desire to make standing up for this nation and for truth and principle fashionable again that led me to seek the support of some friends to set up ThinkGhana. The dream is to build up a credible organisation that will uphold corporate governance principles and also stand up for the ordinary Ghanaian who is “stupid’ enough to do right by our dear nation and seek to do the right thing. It is a long, lonely, stressful road to travel. We in ThinkGhana however believe that if we do not travel that road, our nation will be the loser ultimately. Now before I commence my main piece, I want to –re-state that throughout my 4th Republican life, I have been riding the elephant. I still believe in the elephant. But especially as we get into 50, I would wear my red, gold and green, with my black star. In these days when ‘fashion designers’ will sew an apparel and clothe you appropriately as soon as you express an opinion, I am ready for the apparel that will be designed for me. Just don’t sew it tight. I prefer loose clothes!!! But I digress!

On Saturday, November 25, 2006, almost the entire Ghanaian media carried a statement by the Minister of Interior to the effect that the government has decided not to sanction the Inspector-General of Police, in relation to comments in the report of the Justice Georgina Wood Committee which probed the recent cocaine scandal.According to news reports, the Police Council had advised government that in their opinion the IGP had not done anything to show that he acted wrongly or was at fault and, therefore, was unable to recommend the application of any sanctions to the IGP.
It will be recalled that the Minister of Interior had indicated on September 22, 2006 that although there were no adverse findings or recommendations against the IGP, the Ministry decided to refer to government, comments contained in the report about the police boss.In the light of the foregoing, “government has carefully considered the committee’s report and the advice to the Police Service council and has decided to accept the recommendations of the council.”It is instructive to note the opinion of the Police Council on the matter. According to the Minister, the Council had advised that “jumping into conclusion, without evidence that the IGP is at fault reflects seriously not only on the personality of the incumbent IGP but also on the integrity of the Ghana Police Service as a whole.” The Council had found no evidence that the IGP’s associations had brought his office into disrepute. On the Asibi case, the Council felt that anyone who called on the IGP could be a potential ally or informant. “The IGP’s advice to Asibi that she could go to court through a lawyer was probably the most classic response from a seasoned officer and the Council was therefore of the view that the IGP did not err in that regard”.

Now get up and give the Police Council a big salute! It is one of the few institutions that refuses to be cowed by public opinion and kowtows to such opinion without much thought to the implications for our national growth and development. I have recently come to know that the Council is headed by my former lecturer, Justice Sam Baddoo. Although I do not know the composition of the Council, I believe that the members are of equally high standing. The Council based its advice on the same Report that the Wood Committee had submitted to the government. On the evidence in the Report, was it necessary to even make those comments about the IGP? What if the Police Council had also bowed to the public pressure and decided that the IGP had to leave his office based on what? Having a friend called Alhaji Issah and also allowing Sister Asibi to visit him in his house during the pendency of an investigation into criminal activities of her boyfriend should not be enough to make any IGP to lose his office. The Council had advised that jumping to conclusions without evidence that the IGP was at fault, reflected seriously not only on the personality of the incumbent IGP but also on the integrity of the Ghana Police Service as a whole. “For this reason, a comment like that should only be made when adequate grounds have been established. According to the statement of the Minister, the government had therefore decided to accept the recommendations of the Police Council. Thank God, IG, for the Police Council!!! The Council is dead right on the evidence available to it, which is the Georgina Wood Report. You are a fine policeman and you deserve to keep your job.

But therein lies the catch! The Georgina Wood Report does not reflect accurately the evidence that was adduced before the Committee. I have personally read the Report and I have marvelled at portions of it. I dare say that anyone who reads the Report alone will not be able to make a fair, accurate determination of the facts that came before the Committee. I am particularly baffled about the essence of taking an oath and the evidence that is led further to the said oath. What is an oath? Are oaths necessary at all? The President takes an oath. The Speaker of Parliament takes an oath. The Chief Justice takes an oath. My colleagues and I take an oath when being called to the Bar. Every witness that appears in any matter before our law courts takes an oath. Does it matter that a witness takes an oath before testifying?

Which factors did the Committee consider before determining one’s credibility as a witness? What if a witness said something in his evidence in chief and was forced by the fire of cross-examination to make a 180 degree turn and contradict earlier testimony. Is it a matter of fact that the IGP gave evidence that he did not know Sister Asibi in his evidence in chief and under cross-examination had to admit both the fact of Asibi’s visit and knowledge of her. Or is it an inconsequential matter, indeed, so inconsequential that the Report makes no mention whatsoever of the fact? What happened to principles? As a young professional, these are matters that have been agitating my mind for a long time and I would welcome some answers.

It is an acknowledged fact that the Wood Committee had a herculean task which they discharged to the best of their abilities. However, the Georgina Wood Report can only be best appreciated in the light of the Record of Proceedings!!! There are unknown-knowns!!!

Where critical sections of the proceedings have not been reflected in the Report itself and the Record of Proceedings has not been made public, all other institutions should make bold like the Police Council and do right by all citizens of this land as the Report reflects. Recently, there was the rather unfortunate event of a member of the Committee going on radio to make assertions that were essentially untrue. I am still at a loss as to why that effort. As a nation, all of us have to admit that everyone involved in the process may have tried to do their best. However, on matters of fact, there can be no compromises (emphasis mine). Anyone reading the Georgina Wood Report will not be able to fully appreciate the facts that were adduced before the Committee. I therefore encourage the Minister to cause the publication of the Record of Proceedings. Indeed, by the Attorney-General deciding to prosecute based on the tape recording, it is only a matter of time before these matters become public knowledge. Publication of the Record of Proceedings will also help all institutions which are being pressured to make decisions based on only the Report, without more, to be better informed about the issues such that we do not sacrifice any more of our citizens on the altar of political expediency. In my personal opinion, “my government” took a very brave political decision, in the midst of the terribly polarised politics of today, to institute a public probe into the cocaine saga. The Georgina Wood Committee, despite all the reservations, tried to do its best. Their Report epitomises their work though in my opinion was not wholly true to the facts. My government should be able to say, like the Police Council have made bold to state, that some critical evidence has been received but that evidence may not stand in a court of competent jurisdiction. Georgina Wood is an inherently flawed process at law which in my opinion need not be taken into a court of law. Putting the Georgina Wood process under the scrutiny of law has the potential to undo the very good work that the government and indeed the Committee tried to do. It is absolutely unnecessary if it is meant as a sign that my government is serious about fighting the drug menace. The actions of my government clearly show that it is serious about tackling the drug menace. My government must be wary of populist moves aimed at scoring political points but which essentially may be hurting the fundamental human rights of citizens of this country. Otherwise, what will happen to the new converts at the Pentecost rallies? When we were kids, I recall that at such rallies, after an “altar call” had been made, you could get some sinner who would come forward and give his life to “Yeshua Amashua” (copyright Archbishop Duncan-Williams). Overcome by the redemptive power of the blood, the sinner states before the congregation “me Kwasi Mensah, me kum nyimpa ebasa nanso sisia dze, me de me kra ama onyame” to wit, “I, Kwasi Mensah, I have killed three people but I have now given my life to Christ”. Conventional wisdom in Ghana now is that if a police man was also seeking Amashua’s face there and he did not cause the arrest of this convert or report him immediately, he ought to lose his job. The arrest is the simplest cog in the wheel. There must be evidence linking him to the alleged murders outside of his statement to convince me on the necessity for any trial. Bodies must be found etc. In the absence of all that, why waste State resources on such a person just to assuage “Salem”? We must all work to prevent justice from being driven back, truth stumbling in the streets, righteousness standing at a distance and honesty too afraid to enter. Standing up for truth and principle is too costly in Ghana. Whoever shuns evil, must not become a prey. Ghana Deserves Better!!!

Finally, I wish to recommend that all who can should try and read Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”. It will definitely put the Georgina Wood Movies into perspective.

"I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong upon this occasion, to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the daily praise of all the papers which come from the press. I will not avoid doing what I think is right; though it should draw upon me the whole artillery of libels, all that falsehood and malice can invent”.

- Lord Mansfield, in re John Wilkes, 1763.

Conclusion

“I, Joe Aboagye Debrah
Do hereby swear
That the evidence I have given
Was the truth
The whole truth
And nothing but the truth
So help me God”

S.O.B. in English!

Final Submission of ACP Kofi Boakye's Counsel To Wood Committee

2006-09-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

Sept. 2, 2006
The Georgina Wood C’ttee on Narcotics
C/o Ministry of Interior
Accra.

Attn: Justice Georgina Wood (Mrs.), Chairperson

Dear Madam,

RE: ACP KOFI BOAKYE – FINAL SUBMISSION

We act for ACP Kofi Boakye. We wish to present hereinbelow, our final submissions on the evidence before the Committee in respect of our client. We do so, fully aware of the fact that the Committee has ended its hearings.

Written Statement
Our client submitted a written statement dated July 6, 2006 to the Committee. In the said statement, our client stated that he had information that Alhaji Issah Abbas had gone into MV Benjamin “with some policemen from headquarters to remove 77 parcels…” The said statement explained that he confronted the said Alhaji Issah who denied the allegation but stated that it was rather Kwabena Amaning, a.k.a. Taagor who was peddling information that Issah and ACP Kofi Boakye had used his outfit at the Police Headquarters and undertaken the operation. Our client further stated that he tried to get to Taagor through Alhaji Issah’s phone but Taagor switched off. Instructively, our client’s statement furthers avers that he instructed the Panthers Unit to arrest Taagor at his residence but he run away to Kumasi. It was in Kumasi that Taagor made contact with Alhaji Moro and other influential personalities in Kumasi to intervene on his behalf. Taagor reported to the Police Headquarters days later and gave a conflicting statement. Our client’s statement further avers that due to the compact nature of his office on the third floor of the Police Headquarters building, his superiors were duly informed and the meeting held in his residence.
Our client further states that after the meeting, he again informed his superiors. Our client further made additions to the type-written statement in pen to the effect that Taagor’s real name was Kwabena Amaning and that Kwadwo Nsumankwaa should be arrested as he had a lot of information.

A Tape? What tape?
We acknowledge receipt from the Committee, a tape recording of the meeting that was convened by our client to secure information on the missing cocaine. For ease of reference, we will refer to that tape as” the Committee tape”. We have posed the question to the Committee itself where it procured the said tape from. The Committee’s response has been that it was received anonymously. We have also followed the evidence of Mr. Agyarko who testified that he had received a tape recording from Mr. Ben Ndego, which was in respect of the meeting in our client’s house. For ease of reference, we will hereinafter refer to this tape as “the Agyarko tape”. As yet the duration of that tape has not been established. As yet, it has also not been established whether it was the same tape that was handed over to Col. (Rtd.) Akuoko. Col. (Rtd.) Akuoko has also testified to the Committee that he received a tape from Mr. Ben Ndego. That tape will hereinafter be referred as “the Ndego Tape”. Strangely, Messrs Ndego and Akuoko have both testified that they listened separately to the Ndego tape for only a few minutes. The evidence led by both witnesses is to the effect that they have not as yet had the opportunity to listen to the entirety of the Ndego tape. Mr. Agyarko has also testified that he also only listened to the Agyarko tape for only about 5 minutes and made a decision that it was so critical that it had to be passed on to the President. The totality of the evidence of Messrs Ndego and Akuoko is to the effect that before the Ndego tape or a copy thereof reached Mr. Agyarko, Mr. Agyarko had been briefed about the contents and the probable implications of the conversation on the said tape. Yet, Mr. Agyarko’s testimony was that he only listened for a few minutes and tried to get the tape to the President but was unable to. He has told the Committee that he gave the tape to a trusted security operative.

Who is that operative? Did that tape get to the President and when did it get to the Head of State? In the light of the evidence of the National Security Minister(NSM) that they are in possession of a seven minute tape of inconsequential chatter, (hereinafter referred to as “the NSM tape”) can it be said that the Agyarko tape is only seven minutes? If the tape with the NSM is not the Agyarko tape or a variant thereof, then where did that tape which went to the security operative get to? Is the NSM tape the Agyarko tape? Does the President have a tape which has not been divulged to the Committee? Did the National Security receive another tape from another anonymous source? Is the Committee tape the same as the Ndego tape which is the same as the Agyarko tape which is the same as the NSM tape which may be the same tape which was to be passed on to the President? What is the nexus between the Ndego tape, Agyarko tape, the NSM tape, the President’s tape and the Committee’s tape?

Source of the Tape
Fundamental questions as to the source of the tape have been left unanswered. Mr. Ndego has stated categorically to the Committee that he cannot divulge the name of the person who gave him the tape. Mr. Agyarko would not divulge which security operative he gave the Agyarko tape to and when. The Committee itself is in no mood to divulge how it came by its tape.

“The question now is who recorded the conversation and for what purpose. The obvious fact is that the meeting was scheduled to unravel the missing drugs but not for extortion so why should people arrange to record. It is clear that whoever recorded it has an interest in the missing drugs and wanted to know what I know. The key to the missing drugs is who recorded it”. (Emphasis ours)

The above is the concluding paragraph of our client’s statement dated July 6, 2006. We have also stated right from the commencement of our oral evidence before the Committee that we sincerely believe that the Committee should unravel the mystery of the source of the tape to help it unravel where the missing cocaine is. The fact-finding Committee has found as a fact that nobody has owned up as recording the said meeting. Witnesses who have critical information that may help the Committee follow the trail and secure the identity of the person or persons who taped the said meeting have also refused to make the disclosure before the Committee. We are surprised that the person or persons who undertook such an exercise, will not disclose their identities if there was no malice in their action and their objective at all times, was to help our dear nation fight the scourge of narcotics.

Credibility of the Committee Tape
To the best of our knowledge and further to evidence adduced before the Committee, the Committee tape does not have an owner, yet. The fact-finding Committee has found as a fact through evidence adduced before the Committee that there is an Agyarko tape, an NSM tape, a President’s tape, an Ndego tape and the Committee tape.
There are also numerous tapes of the meeting apparently ‘dropped’ at media houses in the country. We are not privy to any fact to establish that the Committee tape is the original tape of the recording of the said meeting or a copy of the original tape or indeed a copy of the copy of the original tape?

We have also contested that the Committee tape does not represent the entirety of the duration of the meeting that was convened by our client to elicit information from the named individuals. We have also shown that the Committee tape has been doctored for effect by editing out portions of the said tape. The Committee has not heard any evidence to contest our assertions. Indeed, our client has given evidence to the effect that the duration of the meeting was about one hour and thirty minutes. We have also pointed out portions of the tape that have been edited. As yet, no other person present at the said meeting has contested our assertions. None of the witnesses who have come into contact with the different versions of the tape have also led any evidence to contradict this assertion of our client.

It is our humble submission therefore that the Committee tape is so inherently flawed that its evidentiary value is at best, minimal. The ‘dropped’ tape of the Committee should therefore not be relied on as a credible piece of evidence.

Contents of “the Committee tape”
We refer the Committee to the comments contained in our correspondence dated August 14, 2006 on the transcript of the Committee tape. As indicated therein, the transcript that we received cannot be deemed as an accurate reflection of the tape recording submitted to us by the Committee.

We are strongly of the opinion that a transcript of the said tape should necessarily include our comments as the draft received by the legal team was essentially flawed.

Having established that the Committee tape is inherently flawed as a piece of evidence before the Committee, we wish to submit that there is nothing on the Committee tape that suggests the commission of an offence by our client. There is also nothing on the Committee tape that suggests that our client was attempting to extort money from any of the persons present at the meeting. Indeed, on the copy of the Committee tape made available to us, our client can be clearly heard stating that he knows nothing about the matter and that he was investigating because his name had been brought into the matter. Throughout the discourse on the Committee tape, our client seeks answers to the very issues that have necessitated the establishment of the Committee.

Further, having had the opportunity of listening to the Committee tape and also perusing the transcript of the said tape, even on the presumption that the Committee tape was not as inherently flawed, we wish to request the Committee to ask this fundamental question: ‘WHAT OFFENCE HAS ACP KOFI BOAKYE COMMITTED?

If the Committee can sincerely answer that question, it should define the offence to enable the law deal with our client. This has been a very trying time for a very distinguished serving officer whose only crime was to try and save the image of his boss and the Police Service to which he had dedicated his entire life. Our client’s statement was to the effect that all he was trying to do was to elicit information from the persons on whom he had had information regarding the missing cocaine. At the time our client was holding the meeting, he was essentially, a “one-man Georgina Wood Committee”!

The Evidence before the Committee
Our client has testified that he sent policemen to try and arrest Kwabena Amaning when he would not respond to the calls on Alhaji Issah’s phone to report himself. If he was minded to do a deal with drug barons, why would he send a police contingent to effect Kwabena Amaning’s arrest? The said Kwabena Amaning fled to Kumasi where he sought the assistance of very influential personalities to intervene on his behalf. We have also testified that we saw the said Kwabena Amaning in the company of a Secretary at the Manhyia Palace in the secretariat of the IGP at the Police Headquarters. That evidence has also not been controverted at the Committee. Indeed, the evidence of Kwabena Amaning and Alhaji Abbas, including his comments on the Committee tape, indicate that the said Amaning and the said Secretary were at Alhaji Abbas’ house in Tema on a certain mission. It is our considered opinion that the Secretary at the Manhyia Palace, if afforded the opportunity, would have corroborated our evidence. The Committee’s hearings have ended, yet till date, the Secretary has not been summoned before the Committee either to controvert the evidence adduced or to corroborate same.

Further, we have testified that Alhaji Moro was at the said meeting on Taagor’s behalf. Alhaji Moro’s evidence was that when he called our client from Kumasi, our client informed him that the matter was too serious to be discussed on phone so he should come to Accra. Alhaji Moro further testified that ACP Kofi Boakye told him on arrival in Accra that before the issues will be discussed, his superiors ought to be informed “before we sit on the matter”. According to Alhaji Moro’s testimony, he went with our client into the office of Mr. Adu-Gyimah and our client told Mr. Adu-Gyimah about the meeting. Alhaji Moro stated that “ACP mentioned Abass too, so I pleaded that the matter be dealt with in the house”. Yet, the evidence of the IGP on oath was that he did not have a clue about these events until after he received a call in June 2006 from our client who was in Germany at the time. The Committee has till date, not called Mr. Adu-Gyimah to establish this fact.

Kwabena Amaning also testified that he picked Alhaji Moro up at TV3 and brought him to the meeting. This sharply contrasts with the evidence of Kwabena Acheampong who was on the evidence of the self-same Kwabena Amaning, supposed to be riding in the same car as himself and Moro to the meeting. Kwabena Acheampong testified that when they arrived at the meeting, Moro was already there. Alhaji Moro himself has also testified to the Committee that Kwabena Amaning came to plead with him to intervene on his behalf with the Asantehene but upon hearing his case, he, Moro, unilaterally decided that it will be suicidal to bring such a matter to the attention of the Otumfuo as the Asantehene would have caused their arrest immediately. Alhaji Moro further testified that this was the reason why he personally intervened in the matter. This evidence contrasts sharply with the evidence of Kwabena Amaning who virtually disowned Alhaji Moro in respect of most of the evidence he had given. Alhaji Moro’s evidence also contradicts Taagor’s in respect of how he got to the meeting in the first place.

Till date, the Committee has not been able to allow these individuals who have given conflicting testimonies to cross-examine themselves to ascertain the facts. As a fact-finding Committee, incapacitated by its own inability to facilitate a process that will help it elicit facts, we find it difficult to appreciate that the Committee has ability to make a clear determination on the facts pertaining to the evidence adduced by these individuals who were present at the said meeting, particularly in respect of matters that concern our client and which necessitated our presence at the Committee.

THE IGP’s Evidence
Our client had testified that he had informed his superiors about the meeting. He further testified that he also reported the outcome of the meeting to his superiors, the National Security Minister and the Minister of Interior. The National Security Minister has testified to the Committee that he was indeed informed by our client after the meeting.

Was the IGP informed or not? Was he aware of the meeting and the antecedents to the said meeting?

The IGP testified on August 14, 2006 that the first time he heard about the meeting was somewhere in June 2006, when our client was in Germany for the World Cup. He further stated that he was not informed by our client either before or after the said meeting. What might possibly make the IGP make such a statement, especially in view of the fact that the Committee tape itself has our client stating “ I WANT TO ALWAYS PROTECT THE IGP”?(Emphasis ours).

It is instructive to note from the evidence of the IGP on the said date that he referred to Alhaji Issah as “Issa” but to Kwabena Amaning as “one Taagor”. This immediately suggests that the IGP has no knowledge whatsoever of the said Taagor. The IGP however in his evidence-in-chief accepted that he was informed about 5-6 days after he returned from the Western Region, some time after the World Cup. Indeed he categorically stated that our client also informed him that he had reported the matter to the NSM and the Minister for the Interior for investigation.

Would a man who is in league with suspected cocaine dealers go to such lengths apparently to incriminate himself?

The IGP on August 14, 2006 was asked some pointed questions by the Committee as follows:

Q. Are you saying that no one warned you about Issa’s dubious
character?
A. Nobody
Q. ACP Boakye never warned you about his dubious character?
A. No.
Q. Do you know that Issah has had a brush with the law?
A. I am not aware.
(Emphasis ours)

It is instructive to note that we were not present at the IGP’s evidence-in- chief on August 14, 2006.

The above evidence, which came out on August 14, 2006 should be contrasted with the evidence of the same IGP under cross-examination on August 15, 2006:

Q. I told you that some of the people around you like Issah and Joe Donkor are people of questionable character who have the potential of bringing your name and the name of the Police into disrepute.
Yes, you told me
I promised you I would arrest any of them caught in any criminal deals, just to prove to you what they can do.
I told you I have cut them off since the earlier warning and that you may go ahead and arrest them if you find them in any criminal activities.
(Emphasis ours).

You will recall that our client had testified that a certain Joe Donkor and the same Alhaji Issah Abbas had used the name of the IGP to dupe someone of two million dollars in a ‘419’ deal out of which one hundred thousand dollars had been given to the IGP as “security money”. The IGP admitted that our client told him about the information he had gathered but did not admit in his evidence to receiving any such money from the said Joe Donkor and Alhaji Issah’s fraudulent activities. Our client further testified that barely a week later, he had information that the same Alhaji Issah had gone on the boat with policemen to raid the ship. He also informed the IGP about this. The IGP denied on oath that he had been told by our client about his information on the activities of the bosom pal of the highest police officer of our dear country. Our client further testified that he had cause to arrest Taagor over an assault matter and he also reported this to the IGP. This assertion was admitted by the IGP.

The big question that must be answered by the Committee is why the IGP would deny only the assertion that he was fully informed about the allegations of Alhaji Issah’s involvement in the missing cocaine?

The IGP further admitted that our client had put up a notice on his office that no mobile phones were to be allowed into his office prior to his departure to Germany. The evidence was to the effect that even the IGP commended him for that action and recommended that other top personnel of the Police emulate our client’s example. Our client testified that he had informed the IGP that he only did that because he had heard that the meeting he held in his house had been recorded and that all senior police officers ought to exercise caution in the course of their duties. The IGP testified that he was duly informed but it was only in respect of a taping by a lady who came to our client’s office and not due to the meeting held in our client’s house. Till date, no lady has come out with any recording in our client’s office, neither has any media house published any such recording neither has a copy thereof been “dropped” either at the Committee, with the IGP himself, Messrs. Ndego, Akuoko, Agyarko or even a trusted, faceless security operative for onward dispatch to the President of the Republic. The credibility of the evidence by the IGP would have to be determined by the Committee itself.

We wish to submit that as the Director-General of Operations of Ghana Police, ACP Kofi Boakye had a duty to determine who had undertaken that operation especially when he did not have any knowledge of it and policemen had been mentioned. His evidence also clearly laid the antecedents to the said meeting. He was partly motivated by his declared intention to ensure that people close to his boss, the top Police Capo in Ghana, would not engage in crimes either using the name of the IGP or smear him by virtue of their links to him and thus affect the entire Police Service. “At the moment, with my position, I want to always protect the IGP. The truth will surely come out. You know that in spite of our differences in the past, even when I’m angry with him I call you (referring to Alhaji Issah Abbas) and I call him”. If the Director of Police Operations has to speak to Alhaji Issah Abbas in respect of matters affecting his work in order to make his work place environmentally-friendly, Alhaji Issah Abbas cannot be made to look like an acquaintance as the IGP would have the Committee believe. It is in the light of the 419 incident involving the same individual, the information on the MV Benjamin involving the same individual and the mention of Taagor in the matter that informed the meeting that was held in our client’s house. There was therefore nothing secret about that meeting as our evidence and that of Alhaji Moro attests to. On the Committee tape, one can clearly hear workmen at work in the house. Our client has also testified that the meeting was held in the open, which has been corroborated by the other witnesses.

Prior Permission Necessary?
The IGP himself testified that ACP Kofi Boakye did not need his permission to hold the said meeting. It is uncontested evidence that the IGP was informed after the meeting. It is also in evidence that the NSM was informed after the meeting. It has not been contested that the Minister of Interior was informed after the meeting. In cross-examination, the relevant evidence was as follows:

Q: You know as a fact that as Director General of Police, I could have met them first before reporting to you.
A: Yes, there is nothing wrong if as Director, you hear something and carry out a preliminary investigation and inform me later…

Q: You agree I do not need to bring your name in for cover

A: You do not need my permission to investigate certain aspects of certain cases. You do not necessarily have to investigate aspects of the case in your office.

BY COMMITTEE:
Q: In other words, he could investigate outside his office?
A: Yes, that is so.

Why would the IGP deny that he was informed before the meeting?

The IGP testified that the first time he knew of the meeting was when our client called him from Germany in June 2006. However under cross-examination, he admitted that Alhaji Issah had told him about the meeting before our client called him from Germany. Indeed, the fact of the IGP’s meeting with Issah was also elicited under cross-examination as the IGP sought to portray that he had not seen or met Alhaji Issah since he was warned by our client to stay off him. However, under cross-examination, the IGP admitted that he met Alhaji Issah at the Spintex Mobil. The IGP sought to explain this inconsistency by saying it was a chance meeting. If the meeting at the Spintex Road Mobil Station between the two bosom friends, living as wide apart as Cantonments and Tema was coincidental, why did it have to be elicited under fierce cross-examination and was not proffered by the IGP and especially when it did contradict his earlier evidence?

The lack of credibility of the IGP’s testimony is also evident from the following:

Q: I put it to you that it is incorrect that the first time you heard about
the tape is when I rang you from Germany. I came to tell you in your office that I had been taped by NACOB in connection with the meeting I had in my house with Taagor, Issah and myself over the raid of the ship carrying cocaine.
A: No, this is not true.
Q: It was because of this taping that you accepted my suggestion that mobile phones should not be carried into offices.
A: I disagree
Q: There is no lady or man who has come into my office to tape me and that is the basis upon which I make the suggestion.
A: I do not know about Taagor or Issah having taped you at any meeting in your house.
Q: You remember you informed me you had met Issah who told you Taagor recorded me
A: I met Issah at the Mobil Station on the Spintex Road. At the time, ACP was in Germany and Issah came and said” Master, we had some small meeting and Kofi says someone has recorded the meeting and he called me from Germany and accused me of the recording”. Issah denied that he did, but never said it was Taagor who did the recording.

The heat of cross-examination had let the cat out of the bag! It was at this juncture that the IGP was asked pointedly as follows:

Q: So you knew of the tape before I called you from Germany.
A. Yes, Issah told me they have had a small meeting and
someone had recorded them. At the time, I had no conversation with ACP Boakye.

Later in the same cross-examination, the Committee itself asked the IGP the following:
Q: Are you sure you did not authorize ACP to investigate the allegation
of police raid?
A: No, I did not authorize him to carry out the investigations.
Q: Did he report the result to you?
A: No, he did not.
Q: ACP reported Issah’s fraudulent 419 activities?
A: Yes.
(Emphasis ours).

This was the evidence of a man who had under the heat of the cross-examination, obviously forgotten his earlier testimony to this effect:

“At the time, I also did not know about the meeting. ACP did not at any time even when he spoke to me on the phone, tell me about the details or the contents of that meeting. When he returned from Germany I did not see him until I left for the Western Region. On my return after about 5-6 days, ACP reported to me that the discussions he had with the people at the meeting was only for about 5-10 minutes and that he had realized that what they were talking about was the NACOBOD case. He also told me that he had reported the matter to the Minister for Interior and the Minister for National Security for investigation”.

Further evidence adduced at the Committee in respect of the Grace Asibi case shows that the IGP, though he averred on oath in his evidence-in-chief that he did not know Grace Asibi, admitted under cross-examination by Asibi’s Counsel that Asibi and another man came to his residence to discuss a pending cocaine investigation. The IGP is still at post! Apparently there is nothing wrong with holding meetings in your residence to discuss pending Police cases. How does that reconcile with the same man authorizing a colleague senior officer to proceed on leave in respect of matters that he himself has testified as not against any code of conduct of the Ghana Police?

In the light of the foregoing, It is our submission that the IGP’s evidence cannot be taken as credible by the Committee. It has been established by the evidence adduced before the Committee that the IGP was fully aware of the antecedents to the meeting and the meeting itself. The totality of the evidence of the IGP should be looked at in determining which witness is credible.

It is also clear from the evidence that even in the unlikely assumption that the IGP was not informed before the meeting, he has categorically stated that no such permission was necessary. The fact of the meeting therefore does not breach any code of the Police Service or constitute any offence.

The Evidence? Mind The Gaps

Alhaji Issah testified that he knew the IGP very well. The IGP’s evidence sought to show that he did not know him that intimately and that he had cut him off after our client’s admonishing. Issah has also testified to the Committee that the IGP stayed in his London residence. This conflicting evidence has not been resolved between the two parties through cross-examination. What fact does the Committee glean from this?

Our client testified that he saw a Secretary at the Manhyia Palace and Taagor at the IGP’s Secretariat at the Police Headquarters on a specified date. The IGP denies that he knows Taagor. The IGP also denies that he ever met them in his office. As noted earlier, the said Secretary was never called to establish whether he has been to the IGP’s office with Taagor and on what date and for what purpose. Taagor himself has not been cross-examined in respect of these matters neither have the concerned parties been made to cross-examine themselves on the subject.

Our client testified that Alhaji Issah had impounded a police car to his house because he claimed the Police owed him. The IGP testified that he knew nothing about it. The true fact was never established.

The IGP further stated on oath that he does not know that Issah had a brush with the law. That fact can only be established if Issah’s records are ascertained to establish if he has indeed had a brush with the law and when. We are reliably informed that prior to his appearance before the Committee, Alhaji Issah had been detained by the BNI for five days before being granted bail. We know. The IGP doesn’t?

We also wish to strongly reiterate our formal comments dated August 14, 2006 on the transcript of the Committee tape. We have pointed out that aspects of the transcript ascribe statements not made by our client to him. We have also pointed that in certain portions where even his voice was audible, it was not captured in the transcript submitted to us for comments. We have further pointed portions where he has been completely misquoted. We have also pointed out the selected portions on the ‘dropped’ Committee tape had been edited out. We have also pointed out defined areas in the said transcript where the context of statements not even made by our client was transcribed to imply possible wrongdoing by ACP Kofi Boakye. We therefore strongly stand by our comments in our letter dated August 14, 2006 in respect of the transcript.
We have categorically stated and we hereby reiterate that the transcript we received cannot be deemed as an accurate reflection of the contents of the Committee tape.

Alhaji Abbas categorically states on the Committee tape that “Ben is my brother”. This was a statement made in 2006. The Committee has made no effort to determine whether the “Ben” Alhaji Issah mentions on the tape is the same Mr. Ben Ndego who appeared before the Committee. Now that the hearings have closed, how can that fact be established? We are of the considered opinion that the Committee should have established whether the reference is to Mr. Ben Ndego. If Alhaji Issah’s “Ben” is the same Mr. Ben Ndego, we find it mildly interesting that whilst Alhaji Issah claims the other as a brother in 2006, Mr. Ndego testified that he had not laid eyes on a dear brother since 1998, though they are all resident in Ghana and indeed live in Accra and Tema. We are disturbed that in view of the comments made by Alhaji Issah on the Committee tape which showed that he was privy to national security information, the Committee should have found it prudent to take steps to elicit the necessary information from either Mr. Ndego or Alhaji Issah Abbas. How did Alhaji Issah Abbas get all the information he stated on the flawed Committee tape?

The Man ACP Kofi Boakye and the Issues
Our client is the Director General of the Ghana Police Service. His brief includes gathering information, analysis and passing this on to the appropriate authorities. In gathering information, his mode of operation involves cooperation, collaboration, promise, intimidation, arm twisting, accommodation, coaxing, coercing and at worse feigning direct interest.

Our instructions are that in this particular instance, as he always did even at the peak of the armed robbery incidents, he called those whose names came to his notice individually i.e. (Issah and Tagor) and they gave conflicting reports as to the whereabouts of the missing cocaine and why our client’s name as the Director General of Operations should come into the matter at all. Secondly when he called Targor to his office, he was very evasive. Our client therefore decided to relax the atmosphere for him in order to get the maximum information. In all this, Alhaji Issah was supposed to be helping the police to get the truth from Taagor. It is important to point out to the Committee that the information that our client released at the meeting was the information he gathered when he met them individually.

It is also clear from our client’s statement to the Committee that he was first trying to absolve the Police from any involvement and at the same time gather enough information for the National Security as to the mystery surrounding the missing cocaine.

We wish to place on record that our client informed the IGP before and after the meeting and the cross-examination of the IGP clearly shows that the IGP was economical with the truth as to when he was informed. We further wish to place on record that having had the opportunity of participating in the cross-examination of the IGP and from the totality of his evidence under cross-examination, it is our submission that the IGP was not truthful under oath. As already pointed out, the Committee asked him whether our client had advised him against his association with Issah but he denied with a categorical NO. Under cross examination however, he admitted that due to ACP Kofi Boakye’s advice, he severed links with Issah.

Further, the evidence from the cross-examination was clearly that the IGP was aware that our client had told him that because of the way Issah and Tagor were misusing his name, he was going to arrest them. Indeed, the evidence is that our client arrested Tagor on a threatening case on the 28/4/06 and informed the IGP on 28/5/06 at the Police Depot and he even asked our client to send Taagor to court. From the totality of the evidence, it is highly inconceivable that our client could have informed the IGP about the arrest but will refuse to tell him about the meeting.

We wish to reiterate that the source of the recording of the meeting could be a vital link between the missing cocaine and those who hijacked it. Our client still stands by that assertion.

We further wish to emphasise that as somebody who has been the Commander of the Striking Force Commander, Accra Regional and Director General, Operations, our client has vast information on suspected drug dealers, armed robbers and other persons involved in organized crime in the country and he uses all that he knows to get the information he needs to adequately perform his functions as such. The evidence before the Committee clearly shows that our client at no point did ask for money or drug from those he met.

We wish to point out to the Committee that the cases mentioned on the “Committee tape” such as the 2 million dollar Joe Donkoh case and the arrest of Yaw Billa were not connected to drugs at all, as stated on the tape. The Joe Donkoh case, for example, was one involving alleged fraud, as reflected in IGP’s cross-examination. The reference to the arrest of the Venezuelan lady was also done by the Togolese authorities. Our client read this matter in the Ghanaian Times sometime last year. All those statements were made for effect, to help elicit the information sought. This was the same modus operandi employed to such stunning effect in the arrest of the top armed robbers in the country. Whether our client has arrested any drug dealer or not during his term at Accra Regional and Striking Force will be borne out by the actual records. That, respectfully, will be an act of fact-finding! A check of the records of our client clearly shows that he busted a lot of drug dealers during the said period. In a meeting such as he had convened, it was important to state those untruths for the benefit of the people at the meeting to enable them offer the information he needed, information which was duly passed on to the IGP and the other relevant security chiefs. Further more, our client could not have the information he needed by threatening the people with arrest. To the best of his knowledge and ability, feigning interest and convincing them that he had enough knowledge about the issues could enable them give him more information and this he achieved.

At the peak of the armed robbery in Accra, our client had numerous meetings with ex-convicts and even people whom he suspected to be armed robbers and through their instrumentality and with critical information from them, the Police were able to crack all the known gangsters. Our client still holds the professional opinion that except high level infiltration, all the security agencies can do with the mundane activities is to arrest the addicts and leave the barons.

We dare say that there must be an admission that there was a systemic failure of the security system regarding the operations to arrest and recover the missing cocaine rather than trying to make a scapegoat of what our client has been doing all his ‘police life’ to arrest criminals. Our client is of the considered opinion that the conventional methods of policing crime has outlived its’ usefulness and it is high time the nation put cynicism aside and developed modern methods of crime fighting. Ghanaians should not frustrate the security agencies and doubt their integrity because some drug barons and politically motivated interests want to destroy them.

Our client wishes to assure the Committee that he is ready at all times to assist either directly or indirectly in the fight against drugs in the country since in his estimation and knowledge, what is happening is just the tip of the iceberg and the earlier all security agencies work together devoid of blackmail, jealousy, betrayal, back-stabbing etc, to save the country from this menace the better.

It must also be stated that apart from the misrepresentation made by the IGP, our client’s written statement and his evidence is corroborated even by a flawed piece of evidence as the Committee tape.

Conclusion
Finally, we wish to submit that:
1. ACP Kofi Boakye was only doing his job as Director-General, Operations, Ghana Police Service in convening the meeting to elicit information from Alhaji Issah Abbas and Taagor.

2. The source of the Committee tape still remains a mystery.

3. The source of the Ndego tape still remains a mystery.

4. The Committee tape cannot be deemed as a true representation of the said meeting.

5. The evidence of our client is corroborated by even the flawed Committee tape and the evidence adduced before the Committee.

6. The information received by ACP Kofi Boakye at the said meeting has been duly passed on to the relevant security operatives.

7. It is still unclear whether the Committee tape is the original recording or a copy of the original recording or a copy of a copy of the original recording.

8. The Committee has been unable to establish any nexus between the Ndego tape, Agyarko tape, NSM tape, media tapes and the Committee tape.

9. Mr. Ndego knows who gave him the tape but has refused to divulge same to the Committee and the Committee blinked first.

10. Mr. Agyarko knows the name of the trusted security operative who received the Agyarko tape from him but has refused to divulge same to the Committee. Again, the Committee blinked first.

11. The issues raised in our letter dated August 22, 2006 as a public duty remain largely unanswered by the Committee.

12. The IGP’s testimony in respect of the matters concerning our client is not credible as he lied under oath and/or at best was economical with the truth in his testimony.

13. The evidence of our client has been consistent and corroborated by other witnesses before the Committee.

14. Certain facts cannot be established by the Committee by its failure to either call relevant witnesses or recall witnesses so that conflicting pieces of evidence could be resolved by the Committee.

15. In respect of the mandate of the Committee to help unravel the mystery of the missing 77 parcels of cocaine, it has been established beyond doubt by the evidence adduced before the Committee that the name of ACP Kofi Boakye and that of the unit he commands cannot by any stretch of the imagination be associated therewith.

16. In respect of the mandate to advise the government on the menace that narcotics pose to the Ghanaian society, our client has offered useful advice to the Committee in addition to demonstrating through his work as a police officer, his ability and willingness at all times, to tackle the menace. This trait is what has caused him so much pain as a result of this process.

In the light of the foregoing, we expect the Committee to make findings of fact which must necessarily be based on the evidence adduced before it and available to it. Having been part of the process particularly as they relate to our client, we make bold to state categorically that the entire nation has been taken on a wild goose chase after a very convenient red herring called ACP Kofi Boakye. In building our nation, we are of the considered opinion that all efforts be made to protect and defend the integrity and reputation of personalities who have dedicated their lives to public service rather than the treatment our client has received in the wake of his appearance at the Committee.

A fact-finding Committee must necessarily find the facts. The evidence before the Committee clearly shows that our client has no hand in either the missing cocaine nor has he engaged in any unprofessional conduct in the course of his functions as Director-General, Operations of the Ghana Police Service. Any contrary finding cannot be based on the facts. We hope we have played our part in helping you arrive at the facts.

“Where law ends, tyranny begins” – William Pitt.

Submitted,

1stLaw, Accra

THE PAINS OF POSITIVE CHANGE, CHAPTER 2 - OPEN LETTER TO MY PRESIDENT

2006-08-24T04:43:00.000-07:00

Dear My President,

I must apologise for intruding’ with this letter of mine. In the not too distant past, I know you would have approved of my writing to you in this manner but these days, I am not really sure anymore. Indeed, that partly informs my decision to write to you because it’s been quite a while and everyday I postpone this communication, you seem to get further and further away from me. I hope you are well. From my small corner, I can imagine that it’s not been easy being omanpanyin. It’s taken all your waking hours and some of your sleep too, I guess. Even those of us managing small fiefdoms of 100 feet by 80 feet have not had it easy at all. You therefore have my full understanding, Sir. I hope you do not mind the fact that I have copied Mr. Mac Manu too. I feel my message may even be more inclined towards Kokomlemle rather than Osu.

Mr. President, I have chosen this ‘logorligi’ path to you because all other roads seem to be blocked by people who now survive on their ability to facilitate access to purgatory. There may now be people who are close to you and seek to interprete the happenings in Ghana to you. I hope you do appreciate that some of the interpretations may emanate from the tummy and not necessarily from the head. Down South, the stomach is everything! I recall an earlier meeting with you when you were candidate Kuffuor. I believe it was at the residence of the British High Commissioner or some other top official of the High Commission before the 2000 elections. We had an extensive chat with other Chevening scholars on matters Ghana. I have never been a card-carrying member of the NPP but I have been a believer and have exercised my belief on all occasions when I have been called upon to do so. My beliefs made me pack my car on two occasions to drive to Akim Oda to queue and vote for you and Yewura Safo. My votes and that of my two brothers and my wife were premised on a belief in the mantra of positive change, in my life, in the life my manager and our two boys and in the life of all Ghanaians. Those were the days! Our latest meeting was on the Achimota-St. John’s Road on a sultry June Sunday morning. My manager and the boys were in the car on our way back from church. Then we saw the motor-riders coming at us with such speed and noise. The sirens etc signaled immediately that some Oga kwatakwata was on the road. We duly parked. Then the ‘flotilla’ cruised by, one after wonderful one. E.G. Jnr., my numero uno, 8, who asks 1.5 million questions a day, went “Daddy Joe, who’s that?” I had to explain that it was a former friend of mine whose circumstances had so changed that it wouldn’t be possible to access him again, until he descended from the heavens. Indeed, your convoy left a lot of dust in our car and I had to work on my boys to let them know that you did not do it intentionally. But Sir, what an impressive convoy! That was our last ‘near’ meeting. I mused on positive change and its impact on my life on the drive home. I believe the seeds for this communication were sown that day.

I am therefore writing this letter not as an advocate of the people of Ghana. I make no pretences or presumptions on that score. I only speak for myself, my manager and our two boys aged 8 and 5, for whom I am personally responsible and on whose behalf I can speak at any given time. I further speak as a believer in positive change who is just about to backslide because I am not too sure whether what I was promised has been delivered. I also write to you because I know what it means to have a broken heart and I don’t want to go through that again. I write to you, Sir, in the absolute belief that someone has to point out some pressing ‘perceptions’ to you and perchance, if you are gracious enough, you will relay them to the other foot-soldiers that “ye wo asem bo no por” in 2008. It is my wish that this small letter will wake people in the party to the fact that there is developing a herculean task that will necessarily confront the mighty Osono come 2008.

Dear My President, as earlier indicated, I write this letter with my own life as a litmus test on the viability of positive change as a commodity purchased in 2000. As yet, I am not too sure whether positive change came with “caveat emptor”? I have seen things in my young professional life. I therefore no longer consider myself a virgin. I have seen role models look truth in the face and blink. I have seen old men who have had it all but just can’t tell the truth and stand up for principle. I have encountered Ghanaian role models who are prepared to sell their conscience and their fellow citizens for a quarter of the value. I am young but I have seen enough to be nurtured into being cynical about some of the statements that we have collectively put out in the public domain regarding our commitment to development in freedom. When I left the law school, I bought into the fiction that the only way to redeem the country was to get it back from Mr. Rawlings and plant it on higher, firmer ground. The irony was that throughout that period, Uncle Fiifi was my ‘father’ and indeed, still is, though I haven’t been able to see him for sometime now. I must confess that Uncle Fiifi is the only politician I know who is willing to accept the fact that someone so close to him would hold differing political opinions. Opanyin, please don’t throw my letter into the bin now just because I mentioned Uncle Fiifi. You see, out there in Legon in the bad old days, I was an agyaba and he was my lecturer. He did not know me but he adopted me. Till date, he has not told me why. But Uncle Fiifi has been a father to me since. Indeed, some very interesting phases of the development of my emotional intelligence were crossed under his guidance. When one of your people broke my heart ages ago, he was the man who taught me that it was part of life’s lessons. When my manager and I left for the UK for a year of further studies and returned to find Uncle Fiifi metamorphosed into an ‘abodi fofro’ and ensconced in the same building you occupy today, he had a way of beginning our numerous political discourses by showing me a newspaper and saying, “Joe, be hwe adze a wo nkrofo no wo reka”, to wit, “Joe, come and see what your people are saying”. ‘My people”, according to Uncle Fiifi, meant the Osono fraternity, of which you were a prominent member. I therefore do not need to be a card carrying member of the NPP but I have plunked for the party for a long time and at every opportunity. I have come to know that it is people like me who make the difference in an election. But increasingly, among colleagues, friends and enemies in Accra and every time I go to Kumasi and Oda, I get to hear lots of people who feel just like I do. People who believed and who are just about to backslide because of broken heart! That, Sir, is where my jitters come from and that informs my unsolicited communication to you.

Cynical by Nurture
My President, recently you had occasion to wonder why Ghanaians were that cynical about their leaders. I have also had cause to ponder over that too. Well, with the greatest respect, Sir, I am also Ghanaian. I have been an NPP sympathizer throughout my electoral life. I am cynical too. Not by choice. I have been nurtured into being cynical. My manager is also cynical, not of my doing or in solidarity with me. She is a teacher and she has also been nurtured into being cynical. Every time I go to Praso-Kuma, the holiest of my villages, I have to explain to the old folks why all the things I promised them have not been delivered by the government and why kerosene is so expensive. I have tried all the reasons you have given so far. They just don’t believe whatever I say anymore. They are cynical about me and my so called Osono. The venerable Kwabena Debrah of Oda-Aboabo, a.k.a, Kwabena Krakye, taught us from childhood to “trust and obey”. And we have…. Until now! I grew up in the Rawlings euphoria. We all believed. Then we later got to know that sadly, Jesus had become Judas on the road to Damascus! The stoicism of the makola woman in the heat of the revolution is only now being appreciated by me. They survived on “ehuru a, ebe dwo”, a.k.a, ‘all shall pass’. We have lived to see Dr. Rawlings send his kids to schools abroad and enjoy the same quality of life that was a death sentence for some of our kith and kin. In my candid opinion, Ghana lost one of her finest opportunities at development with Dr. Rawlings. One nation, one people, one destiny, one driver, just that our driver was not licensed and drove us into a ditch. I also recall the politics of yore when every fuel price increase, power outage, water shortage, shoddy roads etc was laid at the doorsteps of Dr. Rawlings. It may be a perception but we all believed it and based on that, we voted in positive change. My manager and I also believed. I had to drive to Oda on two consecutive national election days to vote for you and Yewura Safo. I have since not accessed Yewura Safo though I have tried mightily to draw his attention to issues that confront me as a constituent. Busy man, that!

As a young professional in my early working life, I was naïve enough to point out wrongdoing at the Ghana Stock Exchange. I lost my job as a direct result. I walked the corridors of some of the role models of corporate Ghana. None had the courage of their convictions to stand up for a patent truth and assure my rights. I wrote a passionate letter to Yewura Safo in his capacity as my MP, to draw his attention to the gross abuse of my rights. I should have known that I become useful in four-year cycles. I received no response whatsoever. Alhaji Siddique of Radio Universe waded into the matter by reading a letter I had done to you, Mr. President on the self-same issues. He was nearly ‘lynched’. These were the heady days of positive change and I should have learnt. But I was blinded by my unadulterated love for the Osono! Those were the days when the Council of the Ghana Stock Exchange could write to the Securities Commission that the only duty of a Council member was in respect of disclosures of dealings in listed securities. Therefore, all other transactions, including establishing an investment consultancy and diverting business from brokers to that entity was perfectly legitimate. The SEC accepted that and Ghana moved on. I still should have known but was still so much in love that I carried on. I was once again too dumb to realize that in Ghana one of the fastest ways to achievement is to be a sycophant. By doing my job professionally and letting my former employer know what Ghanaian law was in respect of a major transaction and refusing to be a Whiteman’s poodle, I was clobbered a second time under positive change. This time too, I tried to get to the venerable Yewura Safo whom I had stood in the sun for. I forgot it was sometime away from the four-year cycle. I wrote twice. Till date, no response. I am in Court still awaiting justice on a very simple issue more than one and a half years after the fact. I also belong to an organization that wrote to the Minister of Finance on certain corporate governance issues. Busy man, too, that! Our organization has also now ended up in court and awaiting justice. The point, Sir, is that, positive change meant that those we had tasked with doing jobs on behalf of the nation will have the courage to do their jobs and do right by all. Sadly, its life as usual. I was a believer in positive change. I looked for it and can’t seem to find it, let alone a positive one in that regard. It took my Lord above and my lady below to help me appreciate the times. Positive change seemed to exist only in the figment of my imagination.

Yet I still believed. At every opportunity, I stood up for the beliefs of the party and did my advocacy. I stood in the sun again and gave you the mandate for Chapter 2. But that’s when the scales begun to fall from my eyes and I started losing my faith. Mr. President, in all truth, “wa yer wa fa mu die!” You have done your part for Ghana. Yet you have done very little in dispelling the growing perception that you have lost your way and this country is basically on auto-pilot. Continually, incidents seem to remind us of the NDC days. These days I wonder whether my advocacy skills have been dented. No matter how you see it, Sir, there is a lot of disillusionment in the country and the sentiment seems to be growing. Last week, I took a cab home and I firmed my decision to write to you after the driver said without any prompting that: “boss, yenfa ma omo biom o”! Mr. President, he is not the only one who says that. I have heard very informed people also make the same statement. In Kumasi!!! Their abiding dilemma is who/what is the alternative? But we cannot bank our hopes on fears that there may be no credible alternative. I am aware that you have said that it is only a perception. Mr. President, I dare say that we won the elections on the previous occasions based also in a large measure on perceptions. We rode on the back of “opipipiipi” to the Castle. We have not nailed anyone yet for the “opipipiipi”. To my mind therefore, respectfully, it means that in an environment where the majority of our people will not check for the facts, it’s crucial to work on the perceptions especially if its sum total is negative. Consistently, too many people I come into contact with in all shades of life are ready to protest by staying at home during election 2008. The NDC will have an incentive to turn out because they want to return. Unless the Osono begins to work on this perception of “chop time no friend”, the party may have a major difficulty in 2008. Winston Churchill once said that ‘no part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections”. Let’s not wait to be educated at the elections, please. I humbly suggest that we watch the turnout for the impending local elections closely. Though it’s conventionally low, if the turnout is considerably lower than the norm, we ought to be concerned. More importantly, we ought to take the Offinso South bye-election critically. We must retain the seat otherwise we hand a propaganda coup to the opposition. If the Osono loses, tofiakwa, lets declare an emergency in the party and start working on the perceptions immediately.

Mr. President, you will notice that though I acknowledged that you have done your bit in moving this nation forward, I have not dwelt on that. In my candid opinion, if you had not promised positive change and zero tolerance, your achievements would have been more marketable. However, the achievements pale significantly in the shadows of the promises made to the tunes of awurade kasa! I am concerned about perceptions and their potential pain come 2008. I hear questions about what happened to the young people who were registered for jobs. I hear comments that you are detached and no longer empathetic. Even Oseikrom seems to be tottering and needs to be wooed back to the fold. This is worrying especially in these times of debt forgiveness, MCA, Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme, NHIS and many others. “Political image is like mixing cement. When it’s wet, you can move it around and shape it, but at some point it hardens and there’s nothing you can do to reshape it”. It is my sincere belief, Omanpanyin, that the cement is about to harden and we all have to move quickly to mold opinions and perceptions before they harden beyond redemption and lead to wailing and gnashing of teeth in 2008. You may not be in the Castle but if we lose, “ebi ber ka wo, perrrr”!

So Mr. President, it may be a perception. But it is a perception that has the potential to haemorrhage the party’s votes and unless steps are taken to first of all recognize the problem and begin tackling it, we will be undone by perceptions! Perceptions are important in Ghanaian politics. My feel on matters Ghana is that you seem a little detached now. My manager and I have paid our NHIS dues but after more than a year, we still have not received our cards. I live in a community where we have been compelled to pay young men in the area to patrol in the night so we can sleep a little. I live in a community where water flows once every three months, in the best of times. I have driven over roads that have been washed away with the rains. Our rubbish goes uncollected sometimes for two weeks, not for being in arrears to the Assembly. Remember these matters and even the murder of women became political issues that we laid squarely at the doorsteps of the venerable Dr. Dr. Rawlings. Things have changed. So why do things increasingly look the same? Gradually, I am beginning to feel that Positive Change came with a sign which read ‘Caveat Emptor” but I just didn’t see it. The NPP needs to wake up to the fact that gradually it’s becoming just like the NDC in outlook. The NPP says what the NDC used to say in government whilst the NDC sings the songs of the NPP in opposition. How then can we seriously argue that we delivered positive change? Sadly, one of the ways out is for us to campaign on the premise that we are the lesser of two evils. How heartbreaking will it be to find that we had bought into evil eight years ago without knowing. Somehow I have a feeling we may be celebrating the day DFP was born. NPP’s saviour in 2008?

Omanpanyin, I apologise for the length of my letter. I wanted to end here but another matter vexes me much and I feel I should let you know about it or I might never get the chance again. The presence of Tarzan in the Castle!!! Mr. President, we spent hours on the road and then in the sun to vote for you and the party. At the same material time, this man was engaged in an act of treason against the party by setting up a rival political party, the UGM, whose sole objective was to deny the NPP access to power. Omanpanyin, the man set up a political party to contest the NPP! If he had succeeded, with respect, Sir, you will not be living in that property at the moment. Unless there was a secret pact between you which would have guaranteed you access to the Castle even if Tarzan had won, I still struggle with this issue. The same man who committed the highest offence against the party somehow gets an appointment as VRA boss. Even when it was proven that things were not working out, you seemed to have a major difficulty firing him. After that debacle, he gets another job in the seat of power and has your ear? Now I hear he is the supervisor of the Jubilee millions? Just a perception?

Your Excellency, once again, sorry for butting into your joyride but “ asem yi di ka!” There is a lot of work to be done and the earlier we get to it, the better for you and all of us. It seems the entire cabinet wants your job now. But we have to make sure that people do their jobs and don’t spend precious time and resources of the State on frolics of their own in pursuit of the golden fleece. Otherwise, if the enjoyment continues and we lose, you may very well find yourself being accompanied by Antie Theresa to Court to explain how Hotel K4 was acquired. That is the nature of Ghanaian politics. Ask Dr. Rawlings. Opanyin, if that doesn’t wake you up, then it means you are indeed very far gone. Beware the ides of December!

“For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor power of speech,
To stir men’s blood; I only speak right on;
I tell you that which you yourselves do know”

- William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”.

God Save the King!!!

Your Disillusioned Sympathiser,

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.
For and on behalf of self, my manager Adwoa Gyekyewaa and our two boys E.G. Jnr. And the Little Bishop.

Cc: Opanyin Mac-Manu
Chairman, NPP
Accra.

P/S: Dear Sir, I just heard that you have waded into the cocaine controversy. How I wish you hadn’t! Its so Rawlingsque!!!

RESPONSE TO COMPLAINT BY MD OF GUINNESS GHANA TO THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL

2006-07-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH LLM (Lond.)
BARRISTER-AT-LAW
1st Law Tel: 00-233-21-253751
#28/1 Castle Rd., Adabraka 00-233-20-8157566
P. O. Box AD233 00-233-24-4293270
Adabraka, Accra E-mail: joe_debrah@yahoo.co.uk
March 20, 2006
The Chairman
General Legal Council
Accra.

Attn: Mr. E. Bart-Plange Brew, Secretary

Dear Sir,

RE: COMPLAINT OF DEVLIN HAINSWORTH (GHANA BREWERIES LIMITED) AGAINST JOSEPH ABOAGYE DEBRAH – COMMENTS

Further to your letter dated March 15, 2006 in respect of the above-captioned matter, please find my comments as follows:

1. The matters complained of are sub judice, being matters that are currently pending before the High Courts in the cases of John Ofori vrs. Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (Suit No. AC16/2006), The Republic vrs. Ghana Breweries Limited, ex parte National Labour Commission (Joe Aboagye Debrah, Interested Party), (Suit No. AP3/2006) and the Republic vrs. The Securities and Exchange Commission, ex parte ThinkGhana (Suit No. AP22/2006).

2. Being matters that are pending before the courts, I wish to stress that the response herein is given out of respect to the General Legal Council (GLC), such that the GLC will be in a better position to fully appreciate the issues and to dismiss the complaint accordingly as being without any merit, unproven and tainted with falsehood and also a matter that the GLC cannot lawfully intervene until the Courts have fully dealt with the issues.

3. The petition does not state what confidential information is being complained of. This must be clearly elaborated to enable me respond appropriately.

4. It is also unclear from the petition on behalf of what entity the complaint is being filed. The Complainant claims to be the Managing Director of Guinness Ghana Breweries Group (GGBG), an entity which does not exist in law and was not even registered in compliance with the Registration of Business Names Act, 1962 (Act 151). Mr. Hainsworth is also the Managing Director of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL). Interestingly, he still styles himself as the Managing Director of Ghana Breweries Limited, an entity that would have been moribund if the complainant’s own public statements that GGL and GBL have merged were true, the subject matter of the application before the High Court on breaches of securities laws.

5. The GLC would have to distinguish between GGBG, GGBL, GGL and GBL in order to fully comprehend the matters raised herein.

6. That I have never worked with nor been employed by GGBL. I was the Legal Adviser of GBL until June 30, 2005.

7. Together with other young professionals who are passionate about making a change in our dear nation, I established ThinkGhana, which is a company limited by guarantee established and dedicated to inter alia, upholding the best practices and principles of corporate governance and securities regulation in Ghana.

8. That ThinkGhana filed a complaint against GGBL for breaches of Ghana’s securities laws with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which has chosen to abdicate its legal duty by refusing to investigate the complaint as provided by law.

9. ThinkGhana has therefore filed an application before the High Court for an order of mandamus to issue against the SEC in respect of the matters raised in our complaint.

10. I am solicitor for a client in a pending matter against GGBL in the High Court, to wit, John Ofori vrs. GGBL.

11. That GGBL and GBL are different and separate legal entities and the complaint of the petitioner has rather strengthened the case of ThinkGhana that there is a concerted attempt by the regulatory authorities to abide breaches and continuing breaches of Ghana’s securities laws, which situation an august body like the GLC should insulate itself from.

12. That the issues raised in the complaint form the subject matter of actions pending before the High Courts and the petitioner has ample opportunity to argue its case before the law courts.

13. That I have taken a solemn oath as a barrister to uphold the law and the interests of my clients at all times, which I have endeavoured to and will continue to do.

14. That the exhibits tendered by the petitioner are irrelevant to the issues raised and indicate matters concerning GGBL and not GBL. I encourage the GLC to request the petitioner to tender all the memoranda I sent to the MD of GBL after the takeover from December 10, 2004 till I exited the company on June 30, 2005 which will afford the GLC a more objective analysis of the activities of the petitioner pertaining to the systematic and deliberate abuse of Ghanaian workers rights.

15. That even if I were involved in suits involving GBL, I would be within my rights as Counsel so long as I am not using confidential information or acting against them in matters in which I had already appeared as Counsel.

16. That the case referred to is a matter in which Bentsi-Enchill & Co acted as solicitors for GBL and I appeared in court in my capacity as the Legal Adviser of GBL and the petitioner has not shown anywhere in his petition that I have appeared in any matter against GBL in respect of the same matters. It is obvious from the provisions of rules 5(3) and (10) of LI 613 that it is not applicable to me and I have not breached any of its provisions.

17. After 49 years of independence, in a world where development-oriented nations are making strides in securities regulation and sanctions are being applied to breaches of law, it is utterly baffling that in Ghana, it seems that there is no law and that anyone with the right connections or enough influence cannot only break the law but also seek to annex national institutions and hold them to ransom and make them do their bidding, when in their own countries, the law will take its course regardless of personality or clout.

18. The complainant heads GGBL which is in serious breach of Ghana’s securities laws and its hands are so unclean that to say the least, it is a brazen effort to seek equity at the highest disciplinary body of the legal profession in respect of undefined offences and unsubstantiated allegations against a barrister who has had the nerve to stand up to a multinational that is in breach of Ghana’s laws.

19. Rules 5(3) and 5(10) of LI 613 are inapplicable to the matter as the petitioner has not shown which client he refers to. If it is GBL, in respect of which matter(s) is he complaining? If it is in respect of GGBL, why is he making the complaint on GBL letterhead? Which case (s) and which confidential information is being referred to?

20. Rule 42 of the Code of Ethics of the Bar is also totally inapplicable to the issues raised as I have never acted against GBL in the same matter or in any matter related thereto.

21. Assuming without admitting that the matters complained of even affected and concerned GBL as an entity, public policy demands that where crimes have been committed, or are reasonably suspected to have been committed as in the present matter before the High Court, the fact or probability of wrongdoing will at law, negative any argument of confidentiality that is raised. The GLC cannot be seen as a body that encourages lawyers to condone securities crimes on the unsubstantiated allegation of confidentiality. What confidential information has been breached and what confidentiality agreement has also been breached?

22. Lawyers in Ghana, including myself, have to make the solemn oaths we have taken as professionals enure to the benefit of this country and our clients and make truth and standing up for law and order fashionable again in Ghana.

23. The GLC should respectfully, throw out this matter as being completely unmeritorious and an attempt to find a ‘soft forum’ to articulate matters that are pending in court.

24. That the petition is an attempt to intimidate me and also to set a cloud on my hard-earned achievements and reputation as a lawyer and that those who breach Ghana’s laws should not under any circumstances be allowed to use an august body such as the GLC to achieve their own selfish, illegal ends, something that can never happen in their own home countries, which effort, falls flat on its face.

As a lawyer, I fully appreciate and respect the role of the GLC. However, as a young professional, I am amazed at the inability of people in high places who are fully aware that wrongs have been done, to completely look the other way and rather lend credence to wrongdoers in the course of their unlawful activities. The GLC should therefore not entertain this matter at all as it is sub judice and also completely unmeritorious. I therefore submit that in the light of the foregoing, the GLC should reflect soberly on the provisions of section 18 of the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32) and make a determination that this is a matter where it should not appear to the Disciplinary Committee that an inquiry ought to be held into the complaint and so should not proceed to hold any such inquiry.

Please be advised accordingly.

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.
1stLaw, Accra

GGBG=GGL=GGBL=GBL? Business Names and Ghana's Corporate Laws; An Insight

2006-07-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Introduction

I will attempt in this article to tackle the issue of Ghanaian corporate law regarding the registration of business names and the use thereof in Ghana with particular emphasis on Guinness Ghana Breweries Group (GGBG) and the other corporate names it has sought to operate under since the takeover of Ghana Breweries Limited (GBL). This issue which has been raised before is highlighted by an article that appeared in the business columns of the authoritative Daily Graphic newspaper of Ghana on July 6, 2006 captioned “ GGBL unveils new outlook for Star Beer”. It is particularly interesting when the article gets mixed up in the distinctions between the named corporate entities in the same article, Guinness Ghana Breweries Group (GGBG) and Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL). The opening paragraph reads “Guinness Ghana Breweries Group (GGBL), the nations leading brewer, has unveiled a new advertising campaign and outlook for its leading lager brand, Star Beer”. So what is in a name? GGBG? GGBL? GGL? GBL? GGB? Are they the same? Does GGBG exist at all or is it a very convenient creature in an environment of lax laws and regulation? I would attempt to look at the position of Ghanaian law on business names and related matters. I would also review some corporate actions of the entities involved viewed against the position of the law on the matter. Particular consideration would also be given to corporate actions undertaken in the past and present. Finally, it is hoped that a better understanding of the state of Ghana’s business laws vis-à-vis the issues would be reached ultimately.

The entities that would be focused on are the following:
a. Guinness Ghana Breweries Group (GGBG)
b. Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL)
c. Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL)
d. Ghana Breweries Limited (GBL) and
e. Guinness Ghana Breweries (GGB)

The rather vexed issues of what entity actually represents the Guinness empire in Ghana after the controversial takeover in 2004 of Ghana Breweries Limited by the then Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL) refuses to go away. Major issues of corporate law and securities regulation have been raised in respect of actions that were undertaken then by major actors in the securities regulatory framework of Ghana. Presently, Ghanaian lawyers and other securities law practitioners around the globe are eagerly anticipating the ruling of the Ghanaian courts in respect of an application for mandamus, filed by ThinkGhana, a not-for-profit organisation engaged in corporate governance and securities regulatory and related human rights issues in Ghana. The determination of the issues raised in the application by ThinkGhana to compel the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Ghana to act as any other securities regulator would do in any other jurisdiction should be a defining moment in securities regulation in Ghana. Ghanaian courts have never been confronted with the issues that have been raised in the application but which in many other jurisdictions have become the subject matter of cases pending before law courts. The Economist magazine recently carried an interesting article on the conclusion of the Mittal Steel takeover of Arcelor in Europe. It has been a process that I have keenly followed. Ultimately, shareholders’ interests have prevailed and the Arcelor Board has recognised that in a deal such as was offered by Mittal Steel, the Board of a company can only do as much as they did but can never thwart the legitimate interests of shareholders. But a caveat! That can only happen in an environment where the shareholders are discerning enough and are prepared to stand up for their interests. In Ghana, where the majority of our shareholders seem to have no clue as to what pertains in the company let alone appreciate a sophisticated process such as a takeover, and the few discerning shareholders refuse to act, it is expected that the securities regulator will act to protect shareholder interests. It is anticipated therefore that a definitive ruling by the High Court of Ghana will finally bring Ghana into the comity of nations where securities regulation is upheld and corporate governance is central to the economies of those nations concerned. We will keep the world posted on developments.

The Facts
In December 2004, an announcement was issued through the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to the effect that Diageo Plc and Heineken International, the parent companies of GGL and GBL respectively were in negotiations with a view to a takeover of GBL by GGL. Diageo and Heineken are major multinational breweries based in London and Amsterdam respectively. The takeover arrangement was to the effect that after completion, GGL will proceed to merge its assets with GBL and then form an entity to be called Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL). However, before the process of takeover had been completed, GGL changed its name into that of the intended merged entity, GGBL. Thus ultimately, GGBL acquired 99.7% of GBL and in December 2004, assumed control of the company. A lot of corporate communication then followed, some to the GSE itself and a lot in newspapers which seemed to portray GGBL as the merged entity. No efforts were made to disabuse the minds of investors and Ghanaians that GGBL was just the old GGL which had changed its name and was not the merged entity. Indeed, at all times, GBL still existed but had conveniently been lost in the scheme of things. The corporate law issues became a lot more interesting when GGBL launched a new corporate logo and name of a new entity, GGBG and marketed it again as if it was the merged entity arising out of a merger of GBL and GGBL. The defining moment came when the entity GGBG was used to convene GGBL’s Annual General Meeting scheduled for December 12, 2005 as being in breach of the statutory provisions of the Companies Code, 1963, (Act 179). On the Annual Report issued for the Annual General Meeting of GGBL for year 2005, GGBG described itself as “Ghana’s most celebrated company”. Could this be legitimately done under Ghanaian law? The writer of this article was privileged to have been counsel for a shareholder of GGBL who challenged the actions of the directors and sought to restrain them from proceeding with the AGM from continuing to use the business name Guinness Ghana Breweries Group without registration as being in breach of Act 179 and the Registration of Business Names Act, 1962 (Act 151). The application was dismissed because the High Court was of the opinion that on a balance of convenience, the AGM ought to go ahead. Having carefully reviewed the entire matter, I am of the humble opinion that the Court erred. However, we are disabled from proceeding with an appeal as the client is not interested in pursuing the particular matter especially as the AGM has taken place. This exercise is to put the issues across and to invite opinions on the subject to enable us all help develop Ghana’s jurisprudence a little more.

It was the Applicant’s case that the Annual Report and the subsequent communication received by the shareholders of GGBL did not fulfil the requirements of the Ghanaian Companies Code as it was from an entity unknown to the shareholders of GGBL and was also not known to law in Ghana. It was further contended that the said Annual Report and subsequent communication received as purported notice of the Annual General Meeting of GGBL could not be deemed as proper in law as it emanated from an unregistered entity, GGBG and not GGBL.

A writ was issued against GGBL on October 28, 2005 further to which an application for interim injunction against an Annual General Meeting to be held in Kumasi on November 8, 2005 on the basis that that the notices were in breach of the statutory provisions of the Companies Code, 1963, (Act 179) was also filed. This was because though notices had been placed in the Ghanaian national dailies to the effect that GGBL was to hold its AGM on the declared date, the requisite documents under law were still not forthcoming. When a check at the Registrars of GGBL revealed that the Annual Reports were being packaged at a date much later than stipulated in Act 179, an application was filed to halt the said meeting. The High Court on November 4, 2005 refused the application but awarded costs because GGBL had two days prior to the hearing, placed adverts in the national newspapers postponing the Annual General Meeting. At all material times, the Applicant had still not received his copy of the Annual Report.

Much later, a package postmarked October 28, 2005 containing an Annual Report and an Admission card was received from an entity known as Guinness Ghana Breweries Group, referred to as “Ghana’s most celebrated company”. The reference on the said Annual Report was to “Ghana’s most celebrated company”. Later, another mail was delivered containing a letter purporting to be from GGBG containing an amended notice and admission card. Both documents emanated from a company unknown to the Applicant and all shareholders of GGBL except the majority shareholders and the directors. This new entity was also unknown to the Registrar of Companies in Ghana and virtually non-existent under Ghanaian law. Searches at the Registrar of Companies conducted by this writer revealed that GGBG was an unregistered entity at all material times when these actions complained of were being undertaken.

The caption “Guinness Ghana Breweries Group, Ghana’s most celebrated company” had been used in the media and on all the publications of GGBL nationwide when the directors were fully aware that no such entity existed in law and in fact. Intriguingly, the annual report itself also read the same: “GGBG, Ghana’s most celebrated company”! For this writer, one of the more intriguing features of the particular issue under discussion was when after service of the writ and having belatedly realized their mistake, the Directors of GGBL changed the caption from “Guinness Ghana Breweries Group, Ghana’s most celebrated company” to “Guinness Ghana Breweries Group, Ghana’s most celebrated business”. Is that an admission that no such company called GGBG existed?

The Law, (As I see It):

Is GGBG a company in the eyes of the law? Could it legitimately be called the parent company of GGBL? Is it a holding company? Is GGBL a subsidiary of GGBG? Can the Directors of GGBL summon a shareholders meeting of GGBL on the letterheads of GGBG with a different logo and named directors, events which are completely unknown and unapproved, by shareholders? What is the position of the law in Ghana on these matters?

It is instructive to determine the structure of the entities in play. As alluded to earlier, in December 2003, the parent companies of Ghana Breweries Limited (GBL) and Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL), Heineken International of Holland and Diageo Plc of Great Britain respectively, announced through the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) that they were in talks to merge the two businesses with the approval of both parents. The very next day, another announcement was made through the GSE to the effect that the talks had been successful and that an offer would be made by GGL to acquire GBL. The objective was to form a new merged entity to be called Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited. However, before the merger could be consummated, Guinness Ghana Limited changed its name into the intended merged entity and became GGBL. Instead of the directors communicating that GGBL was in fact the old GGL without more, for reasons best known to the directors, it has consistently put out in the media, information to the effect that there had been a merger and that GGBL represented the new merged entity.

It is my humble submission that the original holders of GBL shares, who accepted GGBL shares as part of the takeover deal, exchanged their shares for GGBL shares based on commitments in the circulars underpinning the acquisition that the objective was to merge the two entities. The press releases issued through the GSE and sanctioned by the SEC were all to the effect that the objective was to merge the two entities. Those shareholders to all intents and purposes, therefore invested in the entity called GGBL, which has a defined mark, the harp, with a defined board of directors.

It is my contention that due to difficulties being encountered by GGBL in turning GBL into a 100% owned subsidiary, it has adopted a business approach that flies in the face of law and its commitments to securities regulators concerning the proposed merger of GBL and GGL to form GGBL. The parent company of GBL is therefore GGBL. GGBL, by owning 99.7% of GBL is its holding company. It is further submitted that the entity, GGBG, which the directors have promoted as if it was the holding company of both GGBL and GBL is a non-existent creature of the Board and cannot be allowed by law to be used to perpetuate an illegality on shareholders of GGBL. The continued use of the entity GGBG, is to signal the perpetuation of a situation where there has been a merger in fact but not in law, seemingly endorsed by the securities regulator and the GSE, which situation avoids all the undertakings in the communication to the investing public in the lead up to the takeover and may also have major tax implications for the Republic of Ghana.

Section 1 of the Registration of Business Names Act, 1962 (Act 151) reads in part as follows:
(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, there shall be registered in accordance with the provisions of this Act the following persons, that is to say
(b) every company carrying on business in Ghana under a business name which does not consist of its corporate name without any addition.

(2) Registration shall not be necessary
(a) where the addition referred to in subsection (1) of this section merely indicates that the business is carried on in succession to a former owner of the business;
(b) where the business is carried on by a receiver or manager appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Act 151 defines “business name” as “the name or style under which any business is carried on whether in partnership or otherwise”.

GGBL has always contended that GGBG is a business name but it is only generic. The fundamental question therefore is whether GGBG is just a phantom creation or it is a company? Can there be a concept of generic name under Ghana’s business laws?

It is respectfully submitted that Ghana’s Companies Code of 1963, (Act 179) would have to be complied with in order for a company to be incorporated. According to section 8 of Act 179, “any one or more persons may form an incorporated company by complying with the provisions of in respect of registration”. The manner of formation is provided in section 14 where proposed regulations satisfactory to the Registrar of Companies must be provided and approved. The Registrar then certifies under his seal that the company is registered. Instructively, section 14 (c) provides that “from the date of registration mentioned in the certificate of incorporation, the company shall be a body corporate by the name contained in the Regulations” and subject to receipt of the certificate to commence business, “be capable forthwith of exercising all the functions of an incorporated company”.

However, it is submitted that GGBG clearly does not exist!

The First Schedule to Act 179 defines “subsidiary” and holding company” as follows:
“A body corporate shall be the subsidiary of another and that other shall be its holding company if,
(a) that other body corporate by the exercise of some power directly or indirectly vested in it, whether by virtue of the beneficial ownership of shares or otherwise, can appoint or remove or procure the appointment or removal of all or not less than half of its directors for the time being or can prevent the appointment or removal of all or not less than half of its directors:
Provided that,
(i) a power exercisable in a fiduciary capacity for another person shall be treated as exercisable by that other and not by the fiduciary;
(ii) a power exercisable by virtue of shares held by way of security only for the
purpose of a transaction entered into in the ordinary course of business of that other body corporate shall be disregarded;
(iii) a body corporate shall be deemed to have power to appoint a director or
another body corporate if any person’s appointment as director of that other body corporate necessarily follows from his appointment as director or other officer of that first named body corporate; or
(b) it is a subsidiary of any body corporate which is that other’s subsidiary”.

Under Ghanaian law therefore, GGBL is the holding company of GBL, and not GGBG.

The Group Enterprise

It is respectfully submitted, that the relevant section for a determination as to whether directors of a company can unilaterally use another name and another mark and create a mirror image of a holding company and hold itself out as such for the purposes of marketing itself, to the extent of calling AGMs in the name of the new entity can be determined under section 127 of Act 179. Group Accounts!

I wish to set out the relevant provisions in extenso:

Section 127 (1) of the Ghana’s Companies Code states that “the provisions of this section shall apply where at the end of the company’s financial year, a company has subsidiaries.

(2)Accounts and statements dealing, as hereinafter mentioned, with the profit or
loss and the state of affairs of the company and the subsidiaries, in this Code called
group accounts, shall … be sent to the members and debenture holders of the
company with the company’s own profit and loss account and balance sheet
pursuant to section 124 of this Code”.

(4) Subject to subsection 5 of this section, the group accounts shall be consolidated accounts comprising
(a) a consolidated profit and loss account dealing with the profit or loss of the company and all subsidiaries to be dealt with in the group accounts;
(b) a consolidated balance sheet dealing with the state of the affairs of the company and those subsidiaries

(5) If the company’s directors are of the opinion that it is better for the purposes of presenting the same or equivalent information in a form which may be more readily appreciated by the members and debenture holders, the group accounts may be prepared in a form other than that required by subsection (4) of this section and in particular, may consist of more than one set of consolidated accounts dealing respectively with the company and various groups of subsidiaries or of separate accounts, dealing with each of the subsidiaries, attached to the company’s accounts of statements expanding the information about the subsidiaries in the company’s own accounts or any combination of those forms.

(6) The group profit and loss account may be wholly or partly incorporated in the company’s own profit and loss account and a consolidated profit and loss account dealing with the company and all or any of its subsidiaries shall be deemed to be a profit and loss account of the company… so long as it complies with the requirements of this section and shows how much of the consolidated profit or loss for the financial year is dealt with in the accounts of the company.

(7) The group accounts shall give a true and fair view of the profit or loss and of the state of affairs of the company and the subsidiaries dealt with thereby as a whole, so far as concerns the interests of the company.”

It is obvious from section 127 of Act 179 that the provision is strictly an accounting-purpose only provision. It is important to note that the obligations under section 127 financial reporting regimes are placed firmly on the holding company itself. In this case, GGBL. Nowhere in the legislation does it state nor imply that a commensurate right arises to use a new name and a new logo to take care of the business of the entity as if a holding company has been established for the purpose.

Indeed, Prof. Gower, in the “Final Report of the Commission of Enquiry Into The Working And Administration of the Present Company Law of Ghana” (popularly called the Gower Report), states that the relationship between a holding company (GGBL) and subsidiary (GBL) is defined in the First Schedule to the Code. According to Prof. Gower, “it is universally recognized that, where this relationship is established, the accounts of the holding company alone may give a misleading impression if those of the subsidiaries are ignored. The best way of avoiding this possibility is to provide for group accounts, normally in consolidated form…” (Emphasis mine). It is therefore obvious that it is the entity GGBL, which further to the acquisition of GBL, in presenting its financial statements, ought to provide a consolidated account to reflect the group earnings. The law does not give the holding company any inherent right to establish a new entity with a defined corporate logo and to the effect that it is the holding company of the holding company, without complying with Act 151!

Again, Farrar’s Company Law, 3rd Edition (published by Butterworths) illustrates the manner in which groups may occur. According to Prof. John Farrar, groups arise in different ways. Firstly, they may be founded as such. A company is incorporated to carry on business as a holding company and then proceeds to incorporate trading subsidiaries. Secondly, a company which is a trading company may grow and convert itself into a holding company, later hiving down its trading activities into subsidiaries. Finally, according to Prof. John Farrar, a group relationship may arise as a result of a takeover. One company takes over another which then becomes its subsidiary when its shares have been acquired by the first company.

It is respectfully submitted that the third model of Prof. John Farrar represents the present case under discussion. GGL took over GBL and renamed itself GGBL. That’s how GBL becomes its subsidiary. Indeed, Prof. Farrar states succinctly that” there are various reasons why the subsidiaries are kept in business. The bidder will wish to preserve the goodwill of the business. There are costs involved in transferring the actual business. The subsidiary may constitute a convenient unit of management or accounting within the group”.

What therefore may motivate a major subsidiary of a multinational, having committed to a merger based on which investments decisions had been made by Ghanaian citizens, to decide to create a mirage for the purposes of keeping a subsidiary in business? Is it the costs of transferring the business?

GGBG, fact or fiction?
Is GGBG really a company properly so-called? What is a company supposed to do under Ghanaian law to be properly so-called? I submit that under Ghanaian law, it must have a name. GGBG is a name! It must have a registered address and office. Under law, a company must also have a board of directors. A close check of the latest Annual Report of GGBG and the list of directors displayed therein make interesting reading. Originally also, official communication from GGBG displayed a list of directors at the bottom as warranted of all companies. That is until it was realized that continuing to issue those letterheads will give the story away. A company must also have a management. Official communication seems to imply that GGBG has a management. Finally, a company properly so-called must also have a letterhead with directors displayed which it uses to communicate officially. GGBG has that. Where it so desires, a company must also have a mark to identify itself. It must be noted that GGBL’s corporate logo is the harp, ably defended by Mr. Michael Power, as against two interlocking Gs which is the supposed corporate logo of GGBG.

All communication so far accessed by this writer as emanating from GGBG has clearly stated office address. The only distinction is that whilst at first, no effort was made at distinguishing between the two entities supposedly now under the umbrella of GGBG, the new letterheads of GGBG seem to show that. There is now in circulation in Ghana, letters emanating from GGBG without more. This letterhead shows no directors and gives no fixed address yet corporate actions have been taken based on such communication. Then there is a letterhead boldly showing GGBG but with an address showing that of GGBL. This letterhead shows a list of distinguished personalities as the directors. It is as yet unclear whether they hold themselves out as directors of GGBG or GGBL. The said letterhead with the GGBL sub-address has at the bottom this statement: “Ghana Breweries Limited and Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited are members of the Guinness Ghana Group of Companies”. This writer is yet to see the same type of letterhead by GGBG but this time showing an address of GBL. Perhaps it exists. Perhaps not. If another letterhead exists showing GBL’s address, it may signal an admission that GGBG does not exist. Interestingly, at the same time all these new letterheads had been designed and were being used for corporate actions, GBL was also communicating on its old letterhead with its own logo. The fact of the newly designed letterheads of GGBG with a GGBL address and directors listed and the statement thereon is a reflection of the sensibilities after issues had been raised about the legality or otherwise of those actions. The situation therefore warranted the same efforts that moved GGBG from a celebrated company to a celebrated business.

GGBG=GGBL? The matrix unravelled
Is GGBG therefore just a mere generic name as claimed by GGBL? The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 9th Edition defines generic as follows: “characteristic of or relating to a class; general, not specific or special; (of goods, esp. a drug) having no brand name; not protected by a registered trade mark”. The Annual Report that was allegedly forwarded by GGBL for 2005 has emblazoned on it “Guinness Ghana Breweries Group”. There is also prominently displayed, the new logo of the new company. Such a smokescreen deliberately created by directors cannot be allowed to stand under Ghana law. GGBG has clearly marketed itself as “Ghana’s most celebrated company”. There is a list of members of a board of directors not under GGBL’s logo or name but clearly under that of GGBG! Is that also generic? Certainly not! The belated attempt to re-brand GGBG as “Ghana’s most celebrated business” after attention has been drawn to the breaches of law does not cure the illegality and the willful mis-information being undertaken by the Directors of GGBL.

It is respectfully submitted that under Ghanaian corporate law, business names and names of any corporate entities must be registered, irrespective of whether it is holding company or group name or generic name. The concept of a generic name is alien and unknown to Ghanaian law and has great potential to create chaos on the Ghanaian corporate scene. The only instance where registration does not become an issue is when the holding company itself, in its accounts, shows the group accounts.

The entire “GGBG Project” is a calculated attempt by a very respectable firm to bamboozle its shareholders, GBL shareholders, GBL employees, the securities regulators, the investing public and indeed the entire nation. It is a matter of record that during the acquisition of GBL in December 2004, a shareholder of GBL sued the company for inter alia, the production of a valuation report to determine the fairness or otherwise of the offer price of the deal. As soon as the ruling was made by the High Court for the production of the valuation report, GGBL quickly reached a settlement with the said shareholder and the matter was withdrawn from the Courts. The valuation report underpinning the said acquisition project which led to the present structure where GGBL has become the holding company of GBL was therefore never disclosed, even in the face of securities regulations which warranted such disclosures. The securities regulators despite provisions to the contrary, neither demanded nor were they given a copy of the valuation report underpinning the offer.

In the event that the merger must proceed pursuant to the commitments in the offer circulars, GGBL would have to value the assets of GBL again in order to determine a fair value for the rest of the shareholders. However in the event that the valuation report discloses a far higher value than that given to shareholders of GBL under the acquisition deal, GGBL may have to pay all the rest of GBL shareholders a top-up. In the circumstances, it may be understandable that a an artificial situation has been created to give a semblance of a merger having taken place when in fact nothing of the sort has occurred in order to delay the process for as long as possible.
In the intervening period, the majority shareholder alone, GGBL has moved and against all legal norms, physically taken over the assets of GBL and benefits alone from sweating the subsidiary’s assets to the detriment of the remaining shareholders of GBL. With the assets of GBL completely fudged, the possibility of major litigation from GGBL’s actions is very real and high. It also becomes near impossible to make a fair determination of GBL’s assets and that is critical for tax purposes. The present artificial situation also jeopardizes the legal rights of all employees of GBL. Due to the arrangements, GBL employees have been unilaterally transferred to GGBL. Their service contracts have also been altered. Poor Ghanaian workers who would have been entitled to redundancy pay under Ghanaian law if regulators were awake are now losing their jobs, having been fired by an entity that did not employ them in the first place. There are therefore major legal implications of the present artificial maze created for the State, securities regulators, GBL employees, labour regulators and the tax authorities. GGBL must therefore be encouraged to do the right thing in order to protect the investment of all GBL shareholders and the reputation of the company. As so succinctly put by Prof. John Farrar in his book, quoted hereinbefore, “ a holding company, while the owner of whole or part of the share capital of a subsidiary, is not regarded as the owner of the assets of the subsidiary in the absence of an express agency or trust relationship”.

The actions of the directors of GGBL may not be without precedent. In 1987, during the takeover of Distillers Plc, a company in the United Kingdom by Guinness Plc, the Chairman of Guinness, Ernest Saunders and 3 others executives were jailed for various infractions of the law which only came to light only after the acquisition. Diageo Plc, being the parent company of GGBL, is fully aware that in its home country, an investigation would have been launched into the circumstances of the acquisition and the actions of the directors following the acquisition. In the light of the Enron, WorldCom and other recent corporate scandals, and the fact that corporate governance is absolutely critical to assuring value for all shareholders, the directors ought to be made to abide by Ghanaian law to ensure that the interests of the shareholders and indeed all Ghanaians, particularly the poor employees of GBL who keep inundating the writer with their problems but are sadly too petrified in their own homeland to speak for their rights when it is been infringed by an entity that would not be able to do the same things in its home country.

Can GGBG therefore do acts in the name of GGBL? It is my contention that an Annual Report for the purposes of an AGM must come directly from the company concerned. The Annual Report and notices for the AGM of GGBL for 2005 ought therefore to have come from GGBL and not GGBG, especially when checks at the Registrar-General’s Dept. showed that GGBG was an unregistered entity. Ghana’s Company Code provisions that allow a company with subsidiaries to provide in its financial reporting, consolidated accounts cannot by any stretch of the imagination be interpreted as tantamount to a fiat to use an unregistered business name and a logo in order to summon a general meeting. GGBL is fully aware of all these actions and yet has taken a very unprincipled stand in achieving its corporate objectives at the risk of endangering the investments of poor Ghanaians in the entity. These concerns are heightened by the manner in which the resolutions to approve the merger were rammed past shareholders in 2004 to benefit the majority shareholder, Diageo Plc, at the expense of ordinary Ghanaian shareholders. Diageo Plc benefited from a placement of shares solely to itself at a whopping 136% discount but managed to get gullible Ghanaian shareholders to waive their rights to same. This was done in order to assure Diageo Plc, a continued majority stake in GGBL. However the “control premium” which it would have paid to the company in any other jurisdiction including its home country was conveniently lost. Meanwhile as disclosed by GGBL itself in the circulars, the acquisition of GBL itself was not done through foreign inflows. GBL was bought by GGBL through loans sourced from local banks. That means that all investors in GGBL would share the burden of that investment but the primary beneficiary at all times may be Diageo Plc, Heineken International B.V. and a few other institutional investors. Whilst dividends are being declared for GGBL, none has so far been declared for GBL. Indeed, GBL had always been conveniently buried until it became increasingly untenable to continue along that line and therefore AGMs for GBL were finally held in the past few months. Interestingly, two AGMs were held at the same time in another flagrant abuse of Ghanaian corporate law. All these actions were taken after articles had appeared in Ghanaian newspapers authored by as yet unidentified people to the effect that GBL and GGL had merged to form GGBL, a basic untruth and falsehood. Interestingly, neither GGBL itself nor the SEC of Ghana nor indeed the GSE have found it necessary to correct that falsehood. Under Ghana’s securities ;laws, an immediate duty arose firstly on the writer, and on GGBL, GSE and the SEC itself to make a statement to the effect that it was incorrect to state that GBL and GGL have merged to form GGBL. It is a very sad testament to the state of Ghana’s securities regulation when the securities regulator itself, also peddles this basic untruth, which is a breach of Ghana’s securities laws, in official communication.

An interesting example of what seems to be a campaign of misinformation is a press release by GGBL through the Ghana Stock Exchange. It is the unaudited results for the nine months ended March 31, 2005. In spite of the oath sworn by the directors of the company, they proceeded to mis-inform the investing public by stating as follows:

“1. Merger
The performance of “GGBL Group” includes four months profit of Ghana Breweries Ltd., following the merger between the two companies on December 1, 2004”. (Emphasis mine).

This statement is false in material particular! There has been no merger between the two companies yet! It is also instructive to note that in this reporting to the regulator, it is coming from GGBL and not GGBG. GGBL’s mark is therefore prominently displayed as the HARP. The name of the company is also displayed. The entity in question at all times is GGBL. From whence cometh the GGBG? It is therefore submitted that the said GSE press release, apart from the false information therein displayed, is the more accurate format for GGBL to make its financial report.

The Daily Graphic newspaper, respected as it is, may have also been an unwitting purveyor of the GGBG falsehood sometime last year. At the launch of this phantom creation called GGBG, the entire Ghanaian public was hoodwinked into believing that they were seeing the parent company of GBL or at best that of the two entities. In fact, it was categorically stated that the actions in structuring the new company was further to the merger of GBL and GGBL. Juxtaposed against the printed statement of the Chairman of the Board of GGBG to the effect that they are still working on achieving a merger, investors are left wondering what the directors are communicating. Indeed, Mr. Nicholas Bodo Blazquez is described as Chairman of the Board of GGBG in the Annual Report issued for the AGM 2005! How can a generic name have a board? That would seem to suggest that all the persons listed thereunder are also members of the said Board. Unless GGBG is an incorporated entity, it is absolutely unclear what the intention is. The Chairman of GBL is Mr. Devlin Hainsworth. The Chairman of GGBL is Mr. Blasquez. The Chairman of GBL is the Vice- Chairman of GGBL but he is the MD of the two entities. Mr. Devlin Hainsworth was duly appointed at different times by the separate boards of the two entities as provided under law. Has GGBL changed its name into GGBG? Why then has the said change of name not been registered with the Registrar of Companies? Can a harp and a name be automatically exchanged at will by directors for two interlocking Gs and a different name? Is your head swimming? I hope not as we all need to clear our heads in order to appreciate what is happening in today’s Corporate Ghana.

Conclusion

Indeed, to my mind, the situation is very simple. What should happen under Ghanaian corporate law is that when GGBL is to have its AGM, it should forward all legitimate documents to its shareholders. This cannot be legitimately done by GGBG, an unregistered, uncertificated, unlicensed, creation of the directors for an as yet undisclosed purpose. In the event that it is the case, notices must be sent to GGBG shareholders of whom the writer is unaware. In the real world, GGBL has only one subsidiary, GBL. With GGBL’s vast resources and excellent corporate secretarial and legal support services, the rationale for the artificial legal maze being created is to say the least baffling. The fact of GBL as the sole subsidiary is even meant to be transitional. All communication during the acquisition to the investing public and to the securities regulators was to the effect that there will be a merger with GBL. The creation of this white elephant, GGBG, is therefore in my opinion after having carefully considered the law on the subject, illegal and potentially litigious and if the Ghanaian stock market was efficient, could potentially lead to unpleasant situations for all concerned.

Respectfully, if any corporate entity in Ghana, with a single subsidiary, reserved the
right to use a “generic name” with a logo in Ghana without registration, and proceed to
issue corporate communication using that name and logo, it is an invitation to chaos.
The directors of GGBL should be called to order such that general meetings and other
corporate events are summoned by GGBL itself, not GGBG, styling themselves under a
different name and logo, unknown to law and to shareholders. It is also respectfully
submitted that even in the United Kingdom itself where Diageo Plc is based, it will be
held to account as the DTI showed in the Distillers Plc Case. The directors of GGBL
should refrain from using the business name, GGBG, pending confirmation of fulfillment
of the due legal processes by registration. Further, Annual Reports and the notices of
GGBL cannot purport to emanate from GGBG and therefore cannot be claimed as
satisfying relevant Code provisions on AGMs. Finally, GBL employees are not obliged to
accept service contracts offered by GGBL as it is an entirely separate legal entity and
effectively truncates the old service contract with GBL. Ghanaian law makes it amply
clear that there are costs to acquisition. Where an entity is not ready to pay the costs,
our citizens should not lose their benefits through a very clever scheme that seeks to
avoid the making of a “redundancy payment” to citizens who have toiled from the days
of the late Siaw till date. It is proposed that the present government ought to show a
little interest in the rights of our citizens especially in matters such as these. When GBL
workers are coerced to make the transition to GGBL, and then they are likely to be
terminated with GGBL seeking to rely on notice to avoid its duties under law. For the
workers of GBL, if any do exist by now, remember, “vigilantibus non dormientibus
servient leges” . This means that laws serve those who are vigilant, not those who
sleep!

It is only then that the long-suffering Ghanaian shareholders, employees and other trade partners of GGBL and GBL would be saved from deciphering the legal nexus between Guinness Ghana Breweries Group, (GGBG, Ghana’s most celebrated company) and lately, Ghana’s most celebrated business; Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, (GGBL), Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited Group (GGBL Group), Guinness Ghana Breweries (GGB) and Ghana Breweries Limited (GBL).

“Quid faciat leges, ubi sola pecunia regnat” - Petronius.
“What may laws do where only money reigns”.

God Bless Our Homeland, Ghana!

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.

P/S: The writer is the former Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of GBL. The article has been inspired by the numerous pleas for help being received from employees of GBL, past and present, arising from breaches of undertakings by both Heineken International, the former majority shareholder of GBL and the former Board and management of GBL to defend the interests of their employees. It has also been inspired by the writer’s own personal experiences, particularly since he exited GBL in June 2005. This piece is also dedicated to my manager, Adwoa Gyekyewaa, who makes it possible to live with my boys through a period when real character has shown through brightly, and cowards have fled yonder.

It is indeed a sad thing when we say in Ghana that we are independent and indeed have been for 50 years and yet, in the land of our birth, where our umbilical cords are buried, foreigners can abuse the rights of Ghanaians with impunity and the Ghanaian is either too afraid to stand up, or too impoverished to fight or too discouraged to fight or just too timid to stand up and be counted in his own land or the protective arms have been appropriated by non-nationals. The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of all Ghanaian citizens in the land of their birth!!!

So Help Me God!!!

Letter To Van Boxmeer, Executive Chairman of Heineken International

2006-07-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH LLM (Lond.)
BARRISTER-AT-LAW
1ST Law Tel: 00-233-21-253751
#28/1 Castle Rd., Adabraka 00-233-20-8157566
P. O. Box GP115 00-233-24-4293270
Accra E-mail: joe_debrah@yahoo.co.uk

October 5, 2005

Mr. Jean-Francois van Boxmeer
Chairman
Executive Board
Heineken International
Amsterdam.

Dear Mr. van Boxmeer,

TREATMENT OF MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL OF GHANA BREWERIES LIMITED (GBL) FOLLOWING ACQUISITION BY GUINNESS GHANA BREWERIES LIMITED (GGBL) –OPEN LETTER TO HEINEKEN

I take the opportunity to draw your attention to certain events that have occurred in your former OpCo in Ghana, GBL, following Heineken’s sale of its interests to Diageo Plc’s subsidiary in Ghana, GGBL in 2004.

I do so fully cognizant of your new role as the Chairman of the Executive Board of Heineken International. I wish to extend my congratulations. I have elected to write to you and make same available to all the relevant people involved in this matter primarily due to the fact that you have a personal responsibility to ensure that justice is done to all the personnel of GBL in the wake of the takeover. This communication is also premised on the fact that I had a personal encounter with you during my tenure as Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of GBL. You will recall your trip to Ghana to assure all the employees of GBL that the capital restructuring project that GBL was undertaking would resolved all the long-term problems of the Company and assure growth and profitability. This letter is therefore informed in part by the statements that you personally made to us in Ghana juxtaposed with the events that unfolded soon thereafter culminating in the takeover by GGBL.

I have elected also to forward a copy of this communication to the former/present members of the Board of GBL and Mr. Nick Blazquez, Africa Director of Diageo Plc. Let the records show therefore that everyone listed on this communication is privy to all the facts and has elected not to do the right thing by myself and my other management colleagues who have served GBL and Heineken so diligently in their careers but have been abandoned to their fate in the wake of the divestment of Heineken’s interests in GBL.

I wish to take the opportunity to inform you that the National Labour Commission per the attached letter dated October 3, 2005, ruled that my terminal benefits must be paid latest by 0ctober 17, 2005. Critically, it held that my terminal benefits “must be informed by the said agreement of June 9, 2005 which includes gratuity payments to the petitioner”.

Until June 30, 2005, I was the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of GBL. Further to the divestment of the Heineken stake in GBL, my position was declared redundant. Consequently, together with 9other management personnel, we negotiated an exit package which was duly set down and executed on June 9, 2005. The new management of GBL deliberately chose to interprete the said agreement to the detriment of myself and my management colleagues by deying me the agreed gratuity payments and also miscalculating our pension entitlements. More importantly, someone within the organization decided not to disclose the fact that the yield on our pensions for April, May and June were outstanding. This was never disclosed as part of the package and only acknowledged after the management had been challenged. As a fully qualified Ghanaian barrister, I have been at a loss why two major multinationals, Diageo Plc and Heineken International, would behave in such a manner to infringe the rights of workers when they know they cannot do any of those things in Europe. Is it because in Africa there are no laws to guide corporate actions? I was therefore compelled to file a petition before the legally mandated body in Ghana for the purpose, the National Labour Commission in July 2005. I also decided to hold my official car as a lien against the payment of my entitlements. Most of my colleagues, knowing fully well that their entitlements have been deliberately miscalculated, decided on a safety first approach by taking the offer and suing later for their money. As a lawyer, I could not accept a situation where my employer is fully aware of mistakes and yet openly dares everyone and say, you can decide to go to court if you wish. I could therefore not take any money purporting to be in full settlement of my terminal benefits when in fact it was not. I have therefore not been paid one dime since I exited GBL on June 30, 2005. Having sat in the Boardroom for 4 years and having played a major role in the successful completion of the acquisition process, I am baffled that anyone would elect to treat me this way. Project Marina was marketed to our people as a merger, knowing fully well that this was an acquisition so that the ground would be smoothened for the takeover. The records would clearly show that oat approximately 11 p.m. on June 30, 2005, I was handed a letter signed by Mr. Devlin Hainsworth purporting to detail my entitlements. The said letter was not on a corporate letterhead and contained lots of errors. On July 2, 2005, I wrote to GBL pointing out the errors. About a month later, I received an undated letter which stated inter alia, that I was not entitled to gratuity payments. Strangely, GBL’s answer to my petition attached a letter dated July 4, 2005 also detailing a different amount as my benefits. Characteristically and quite unworthy of a corporate entity of the caliber of Guinness, Mr. Devlin Hainsworth did not sign that letter. The official copy of what the business offered as my terminal benefits was unsigned! I have also till date not received a copy of that letter except the copy I received from the NLC which was the first time I even knew of the existence of another letter on my benefits.

As the custodian of GBL rules and regulations, I would not waste my energies if I was not so entitled under law. I have consequently tried to draw the attention of Mr. Tom de Man who incidentally is a member of the GBL Board and also the GGBL Board and whom I have personally served as Board Secretary to the issues. Till date, none of my communication has ever been acknowledged though I know as a fact that they were received. With all due respect, Sir, I therefore do not expect any response to this. I am too insignificant to Heineken after the disposal of its stake to interest anyone out there. But the records will show that you are fully ware of the facts of this matter. The records will show that Mr. de Man is ware of this. The records will definitely show that the Board of GBL, both pre-acquisition and post-acquisition is fully aware of the facts. Let none therefore plead ignorance. As indicated in an earlier communication to Mr. de Man, the motive underlying a decision for the new owners of GBL to antagonize senior Ghanaian professionals in the land of their birth after such dedicated service, defies my understanding. As always, the so-called advisors, who are laughing all the way to the bank, are the only beneficiaries. He principle of "pacta sunt servanda” means that when an agreement is executed, one is obligated to abide by it. The events of the night of June 30, 2005, when senior managers were hounded out of the business and told to their face to go to court if they wished is the lowest point any entity would sink to. Managers who had dedicated their lives to the business did not even have a handshake as acknowledgement of their role. Rather they were treated worse than criminals. There is therefore a groundswell of ill-will engendered. The mindset of the new owners of the business would definitely cost the business in the long run. What happened to the senior managers could never happen in a place like Nigeria. They would never take such treatment. However the perception that Ghanaians are docile and therefore the Miten Dutias of this world would be brought down from London solely to make savings on the provisions for the redundancy exercise without recourse to their rights would have to be discarded. As a lawyer, living in the land of my birth, with inalienable rights under the Ghanaian Constitution, I am sure you would agree that I would defend my interests. Workers have been offered lower jobs and told to either take them or leave, in contravention of Ghanaian law. The fact that an avalanche of issues has not emanated does not mean that senior personnel like your good self should not be concerned about what’s going on in Ghana and the potential it has to soil the good corporate image of Heineken.

With the ruling of the National Labour Commission, I wish to restate my entitlements as follows, pursuant to the June 9, 2005 agreement:

a. 2 months salary in lieu of notice being ¢15,880,906.63 x 2 = ¢31,761,813.26
b. Full pension payments being ¢40,555,415.81 (contribution) + ¢65,366,056.21 (employer contribution) + ¢78,585,690.95 (yield as at March, 2005) = ¢189,507,163
c. Yield for April, May and June 2005 = to be disclosed and paid
d. Full gratuity @ 12% of annual basic salary being ¢22,868,505.55 x 3.8 = ¢86,900,321.08
e. Outstanding Leave = ¢18,046,485
f. Repatriation Cost = ¢5,000,000
g. 3 months salary for each year served being ¢15,880,906.63 x 3 x 3.8 = ¢181,042,335.6
h. Total = ¢512,258,117.9 + outstanding yield for April-June 2005

Less

i. Total debt to company = ¢177,727,250
j. Net benefit = ¢334,530,867.9 + yield for April-June 2005

It is my expectation that my terminal benefits would be paid fully by Monday October 17, 2005 as directed by the Labour Commission.

Respectfully, Sir, everyone who is privy to this communication cannot allege ignorance. Having rendered dedicated service, the least anyone can do is also to do the right thing by paying what is legitimately due to us under law in Ghana. In the mean time, I shall continue to fight to assure justice for myself and for my colleagues. Indeed, we are establishing a not-for-profit solely dedicated to preventing such hardships befalling our citizens in the land of their birth. We shall employ all legal means necessary to ensure that our rights are not trampled upon in the land where our umbilical cords are buried. I have been to Holland and also lived in the United Kingdom. You have no qualms out there that you are a stranger and you ought to abide by the law. As a lawyer, I wonder why certain personnel posted to Africa believe that the laws have been made for only locals and that they and the entities they run are above the law.

In the light of the foregoing, in the event that my entitlements remain unpaid even after the National Labour Commission’s ruling, I reserve the right to do what is legitimately possible to assure my rights under Ghanaian law.

“If you didn’t know, now you know!” – Reggie Rockstone, a local hiplife artiste.

Yours sincerely,

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.

Cc:
1. Mr. Nick Blazquez 2. GBL Board Members
2. Former GBL Board members
3. Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, MP, Akim Oda

Letter To Tom De Man, Africa Director, Heineken

2006-07-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Tom de Man,

I write this as a matter of record only.

This communication is further to my previous mails, the first being on the problems arising from the pension scheme since the acquisition of GBL and the second, being communication on what was happening to me and indeed all the direct reports to the former MD of GBL and other defined management personnel who formed part of the first tranche of redundant employees who exited GBL on June 30, 2005. I write this on behalf of all the team of managers who constitute that group and who may not be as privileged as I am either to have the ability to seek that rights under Ghanaian law be respected or even have access to you to send you communication on what is happening to them and their families following the acquisition. Finally, I write this on behalf of myself and my young family and my dear wife who is struggling to come to terms with the fact that I used to come home very late at night from the Golden Tulips of this world during Project Marina and this seems to be my reward. Finally, I have endeavoured to find the emails of as many of the former Board as I can who would receive copies of this mail.

Dear Sir, I do appreciate the fact that you hold a very important position in Heineken International and thus keep a very busy schedule. But I also do know that if you wanted to at the very least acknowledge my communication, you could have done so by now. None of my communication has been acknowledged. I therefore do not expect a response to this. Indeed, as indicated earlier, I am only writing out of a promise I made to my wife on Saturday August 27, 2005 at about 4.45 a.m., when we were on the way to the hospital with my 4 year old boy.

Mr. de Man, I am grieved that I have to once again draw your attention to apparent infringements of the rights of Ghanaian employees since the acquisition of GBL in the new management’s efforts to implement the intended merger of GBL and GGBL. As the former Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, I am privy to information to the fact that some personnel who attended interviews and scored high marks and therefore qualified to be retained (based on the declared policy of ‘best fit’) have not been offered jobs whilst those who did not do too well at the interviews have been given jobs. Further, I have evidence that some senior personnel involved in the selection process had openly declared to defined employees that they could go to court if they were dissatisfied with the jobs they had been offered. Needless to say, the statement to employees to the effect that they could either accept the positions offered or could resign flies in the face of the PTP and communication both from Heineken and GBL’s former Board and Management and even the present Management. More importantly, it flies in the face of Ghanaian legislation. Under the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), there are three discernible scenarios in the event of an acquisition:
- retain the jobs
- offer commensurate jobs or higher
- make ‘redundancy pay’.
Impliedly, under Ghanaian law, employees cannot be worse off in a new dispensation unless they elect so to be. Therefore for the new management to invite employees to either take jobs at lower grades or resign or worse, dare people to sue, is to say the least an invitation to assault on the corporate image and integrity of all the corporate entities involved in this matter. In moments like that, it is understanding and empathy that should be shown to employees. In effect, I am alerting you to the fact that the manner in which this exercise has been carried out has the potential to implode on the business.

I wish to point out that as the former Legal Adviser, I was not part of any of the actions undertaken by the new Management. Indeed, since the acquisition on December 10, 2004, the only major function I undertook was to conduct the AGM. I was never invited to nor participated in nor was my opinion sought in any Management issue concerning GBL since December 10, 2004. As a professional, I am fully cognisant of the company’s right to determine who remained in the business. That is why I have never contested the company’s right to declare my position redundant. Indeed, as a professional, I knew as far back as late 2003 when the deal was announced, that in diligently doing my job, I was in the process going to lose my position. Yet I took a conscious decision to do what is professionally expected of me to ensure the success of the acquisition. However, as you may recognise, every acquisition involves assets and liabilities. Employers/employees all have rights and duties. To the best of my abilities therefore, I fulfilled my duties both to GBL under Heineken’s control and under GGBL’s control. I fully recall that at the last Board meeting under Heineken’s control on December 10, 2004, most Board members expressed concerns about the treatment that will be meted out to GBL personnel, especially the senior management team. Assurances were given by the Board and personally by you, Mr. De Man, that the interests of all employees would be protected. Such aspirations informed the decision to allow Mr. Klompenburg and Mrs. Plantenga-Hogewoning to remain on the GBL Board to assure employees. All those assurances run very hollow now compared to what has happened to the senior management personnel of GBL and the fact that these very same people, including myself, are now being compelled to resort to legal means in order to receive what is lawfully ours.

So I take the opportunity to –restate the issues. Agreement was reached with defined managers on June 9, 2005 on exit terms. It was set down in writing and duly executed. Between June 9 and June 30, no communication is forthcoming form management on fine details of the package. Consequently more than three memoranda is forwarded by me to the MD and FD expressing my concerns at the apparent lack of communication on the details of the package and the implications for all. Fortunately, on June 27, 2005, we receive from HRD a detailed breakdown of entitlements based on the June 9, 2005 agreement. By 4. 30 pm on the final day of exit, still n o information is forthcoming. Following persistent calls on me from the other affected managers, I was compelled to see the MD and point out the intolerable unfairness that the situation had generated. Finally, after a heated meeting in the night of June 30, 2005 when the negotiator had disputed the interpretation of “full gratuity payments” despite the word of 10 managers and the witness to the said agreement, we were handed letters on plain sheets and not corporate letter heads purporting to detail terminal benefits. That night, every manager in that room realised that we had been pawns in a master game all along. The motives underlying the decision for the business to antagonise senior professionals who were exiting a company situate in the land of their birth, still defies my understanding. For a business that I have so diligently worked for and supported in a major acquisition project to report me to the Police like a common criminal, that I have stolen a car, when they are fully aware that that is not the case and that my amounts outstanding to be paid as terminal benefits far outweigh the value of the said car is definitive. As the Legal Adviser, we had all participated in marketing the acquisition as a merger and not a takeover in order to soften the ground for the new owners to take over. We are now confronted by a potential legal conundrum where there has been an acquisition but there has not been a merger as anticipated yet. But in the interim, GGBL has moved its personnel and workforce onto the Achimota site. As you are aware, 99.7% means that there is a .3% who still have an interest in the company. They can only be bought out pursuant to a resolution to that effect at an GM called for the purpose. But that’s where the catch is. The potential for Ofori II is real. All it takes is for a shareholder to demand that an independent valuation be done to ascertain their interests. How can that be done when assets have been fudged? We will probably replay all the Ofori scenario again if caution is not exercised.

I can discern that some of the actions undertaken by the new management may be premised on the presumption that it is doing all redundant managers or employees a favour by paying the agreed exit packages. That mindset would inevitably cost the business more in the long-run. Lawyers would smile all the way to the bank. What the new management is being called upon to do is to abide by its legal obligations under Ghanaian law. Management was fully cognisant of the Conditions of Service when it entered into negotiations with the defined group of managers leading to the June 9, 2005 agreement. Under Ghanaian law, where an entity has a legal duty but elects not to fulfil that duty, every Ghanaian citizen has a constitutionally guaranteed right to compel compliance with the obligations. That is what has compelled me to resort to legal means to recover what is lawfully due me as my terminal benefits. And that informs why almost all the managers who were parties to the June 9, 2005 agreement have either filed suits or petitions or are preparing to do so.

But must it come to that when I have sat through Management/Board meetings where assurances had been given that the interests of employees would be protected? The perception of the senior team involved in this matter is that Heineken, having successfully offloaded GBL to Diageo through GGBL is not interested anymore. That position is understandable. Indeed, that may be informing the very loud silence that is coming from Amsterdam on this matter. But for me personally, I feel abused. Used and discarded. But fortunately, I live in the land of my birth. I have lived in foreign lands before. When I travel, I know that I am a foreigner and I do behave as such. I can therefore not accept the fact that in the land of my birth, after having offered dedicated service to the company, someone can decide that your former lawyer and his senior management colleagues deserve to be treated in such a manner, including stooping so low as to issue written directives just a day after June 30, 2005, that defined management personnel should not be allowed to enter GBL premises any longer.

For the past two months, we have toiled to keep the family going. We would continue to do so until justice is done. As a lawyer, I will continue to do what is lawful to assure myself and my colleagues of justice. If Heineken makes a conscious decision that we are pariah at this time, so be it. But I want to assure you that I do not and indeed have encouraged all my colleagues not to hold it against Heineken or the former Board or management of GBL. We will continue to live in this land of our birth. We will continue to take care of our families as long as we have life. We will continue to strive for justice in this matter and justice, though it may tarry, would be done.

I have fulfilled my promise to my dear wife. I just had to let you know that since before June 30, 2005, I have communicated to you on these matters and till date, not even a single note of acknowledgement has been forthcoming. THIS IS FOR THE RECORD ONLY!

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

JOE ABOAGYE DEBRAH Esq.
Accra.

The Pains of Positive Change - Wo Nkye Ndzi Brass Band

2006-07-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

The Pains of Positive Change (Vol. I)
“Wo Nkye Ndzi Brass Band?”

I am amazed at the furore being raised at the news that MPs are going to benefit, nay, are to be bequeathed, nearly 25,000 United States Dollars to buy themselves a nice metallic something, hereinafter referred to as “asetena pa”, otherwise known as a car!

The air is thick with the storm of dust kicked up both in celebration and in protest. Haven’t you heard the news! Well, if you just woke up from a coma, let me refresh your memory.

Whilst you were in your beauty sleep, a new government took over the reigns of power in 2001. We were promised Positive Change. The whole environment was full of optimism. Optimism on the wings of positive change. What else could one ask for? Finally, we were going to have people in government who identified with us, the ‘mmobrowa’. Yes, whilst you were asleep, they looked into the storeroom and recoiled in shock. Ye wu! There was nothing in there! This was the time when the previous people in government had taken beautiful and heavy-laden cargoes at ‘donkomi’ rates. Another uproar! The present people-in-government had (or so they said) no option but to learn to love Oburoni’s World Bank. We were told that we had to make a statutory declaration to change our name. We were told that if we wanted more money when we owed up to our necks, then we had to shout from the mountain tops that we were broke. We must add a name to the one we have or we starve to death! Enter HIPC!

So whilst you were beautifully semi-dead, we voluntarily described ourselves, without fear or favour, as highly indebted and poor. We had tightened our belts aaa for the past ‘kojohoho’ years and the waist was thinner that a pencil. Another tightening? We all agreed that (or so we were? /have been made to believe) all claims legitimate or otherwise, should be put on hold to give our new people in government time enough to settle down and tackle our problems. All for the sake of Ama Ghana!

So all the noise you hear today is not kwaa oo. Omanba has just been informed, (or so we hear) that some of the people in government have, with alacrity and without recourse to past statements, decided that each one of them was entitled to … and this is what I love about it… about 25,000 United States Dollars! Ha ba, where was Dr. Acquah, the Head of State of the Bank of Ghana? Haven’t his people put up that notice everyone from the Oga kwatakwata down to the dog-chain seller ignores? I mean the ‘thou shall not deal in the dollar’ commandment! Have you listened to radio lately? Brilliant arguments by the people in government. Rare occasion to savor bipartisanship on an issue as critical as… cars! Check this out… the only time we see bipartisanship at work is not for the sake of Ama Ghana, but when them brethren and 'sisthren' needed ‘asetena pa’!!! Hear them: ‘don’t you know we need to get in touch with our constituents. Eh, how can I go to my village, to my own constituency to perform the task you have assigned me if you don’t give me a car (ei, did I say a car?) nay, an air-conditioned car (oh no! haa, not only that). As a matter of fact, I need, want, desire, wish, command, should and will get a four-wheeler. That is the only way I can adequately serve my country. After all, I never dreamt …’.

Where’s my MP? Has any one sat down to ask what tools paa our people in government need to perform their functions? In these HIPC times! I was disappointed that Efo ‘Kwabena Dwemoh’ would get them there for questioning and expect them to say…’fa ma nyame! ‘Massa, eye wo aa, nka wo be ka sen? Ei, sika oooo sika! So they argued for their toys! But they forgot that in insisting that they needed that type of ride, they were fundamentally undermining the oga of the Company. Does he also need a fine piece of metal in order to do his job? Spare a thought for the oga kwata wae! The big man has been travelling the world in passenger planes. In these days when a 'panfool' can use his mother’s bread knife to hijack a plane and send it tumbling into someone’s bedroom, do you think its safe for the oga kwata kwata to sit on a passenger plane like that? Imagine what we would be going through if the Oga had entered a Tube Station and boarded some train bound for King’s Cross when he went to UK for the G-8 Summit recently. Tofiakwa! I hear you say! Walahi, if some small fishes need those metals, then the oga deserves better treatment.

Why is anyone surprised that a man will fight for a car so passionately when he doesn’t have a meeting place or an office or research assistants? Hey, atongo, I can work better in space! Why not get them all up there so they can work closer to heaven? Is it a matter of seek ye first the car?

But amanfo, as Antie Efua of ‘Peace Emfem’ would ask, ‘mo haw ne sen? All the noise would end up as nothing. The cars will be bought and the loans taken. At the end of four years, the only people entitled to ESBs in this land will try to … pay? ‘My friend, take it. Don’t you know that it is written at the end of four years, all shall pass… for free?’. Are we a nation they just recycles people who play tunes according to their stations in life? The people shouting no, no, no will do the same when they get to ‘Heaven’.

I pity the oga kwata kwata. How can one bring positive change, (hereinafter referred to as PC)? Now lets talk TOOLS! If we talk tools, Oga will need more fleets of Wabenzis. Oga would need a ship, nay, a submarine. Yea, I like that. A submarine for the Oga! Lets get it for him. You see, he may have to move from Aflao to Axim, calling on all the chiefs along the shores. Oga would need the plane(s) now. He has to go visit our cousins in America, ‘Gyaman’, Japan, Singapore, Libya, Tamale and yes …Yendi! He may even need to attend an independence bash in Sydney with lost brethren. You see Oga needs so many tools ooo! But ask yourself, has he demanded them? If Oga himself has found the political waters not calm enough to demand all the toys that he needs to properly serve his people, then why can’t others realize that it may be a political faux-pas, to come out at this time, to argue so strongly, so passionately for a twenty- five thousand united states dollar ride! No one should belabour the point that the MPs need cars. Oh yes, they do! But you and I need one too! Tools? Remember the doctor in the North who is crying for a 100-dollar equipment in order to save lives? How he has to forgo that tool which is an ‘essenco’. Remember the illustrious sons of the land who recently lost their lives as they all crammed into one vehicle and did not insist on different big rides for each of them or even plane tickets? Remember how we introduce our children into Ogyakrom. If you are lucky, you get to sleep on the floor of the maternity ward of Korle-Bu’ on your first day in this world!!!

So why are you mad? I am smiling all the way home, chuckling to myself! Democracy is good! Pluralism is good! Open/free media is good! Open government is good! In fact PC is the best thing to happen down south since ‘ebunebun and nwa’.

Want to know the PC in this wahala? Gradually our people will get to know, that the only way to get out of these situations when omanba feels a deep sense of … oh come on, admit it .…’skin pain’ is that, collectively as a nation, we’d decide to get out of the mess we are in. Believe me, the ‘hullaboutwho’ is because we know (or so we have been told) that there is nothing in our coffers. And that explains why the poor worker who needs tools to perform has decided not to demand his pound of … tools!. Imagine the chaos if the TUC also says the workers’ tools are the better pay and the ESB. “Without that, we cannot perform”. What a Ghana that will be! So amanfo, take my advice and don’t get worked up too much on this. In fact, listening to Prof. Akosa, you may be harming your already weak body getting worked up unless one of the metallic stuff is ending your way. Just make sure you place yourself in a position to get there too, because until we ain’t HIPC’d, this is a ritual we’d perform every four years. Newsflash! Now even land is to be added!!!!

So MPs, buy your cars. I beg, get the four-wheelers, eh! The big ones! After all what! In fact your job demands that you get the best cars! If there is no money, you obviously wouldn’t ask for the new toy! There’s money”! As for HIPC, it’s all in the mind! Where there’s a will, there is a way!. If you doubted the will of MPs to get the car, it surely should wilt when you hear bipartisan arguments on the issue of cars. But after you get it, just brace yourself. Because if you don’t…. Well, I think you know but you don’t give a damn! “Oman no enye obiara dia! Pandora’s Box? We live to see! All shall come and All shall not be prepared to listen to all that jabass about HIPC, no money, twen kakra etc.

In the mean, ‘akpe’ for showing that in the midst of HIPC, we are strong enough to get these fine beauties for you guys. I leave for home, humming coolly to myself. Thanks for a welcome diversion from the Osama and al-qaeda nonsense bombs!

Hei, keep the faith! PC is here to stay! The longer we do this, the better we would all be in the years to come. Tighten the belt and keep praying that either you or a close relative becomes an MP soon. The beautiful ones are not yet born! Good times are yet to come. Who knows, next time we may be doling out private jets. Have you so soon forgotten that ‘ade pa nyinaa hye….aseeho?

Me ma mo akwaaba! Welcome to the real world.

Postscript:

This piece was written in the wake of the news that cars were to be bought for the MPs but was not published due to other engagements. The archives were searched and the piece resurrected after I encountered two recent events: watching on TV, Ghana conducting an induction ceremony for new-born babies through the floor of the Korle Bu Maternity wards and listening to another consensus developing on radio in respecting of Ghana’s land and money which is to be offered to….yea, you guessed right! Politricians!!!. This is published for what’s its worth!

I have since heard some say they would not vote again. Ha ba, this small thing! This is the beauty of PC. Right now the PC is our ability to mouth our protestations. As we keep developing, the PC will be our MPs and other politicians prepared to sacrifice small bii for the sake of mother Ghana. Why do we always have to fill our belly before we can show our patriotism? I would rest easy only when the national coffers are so full that when we hear such news, we can ask, ‘aaa, na ketewa wei nkoa na omu tumi di ma won? Yen fa epo nso nka won ho!!!!

PC is real! There is so much to say. But there just ain’t enough to get one’s thought on paper. Like Okomfo, the rap singer in his hit Kwadee, ‘mer toa so!

Joe Aboagye Debrah Esq.
Legal Practitioner
Accra
JD210905

Oye Nonsense

2006-07-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

OYÉ NONSENSE!!!

Every day, these days, I dread my early morning hours. I dread what my radio will throw at me as soon as I open it. I dread what the newspapers will deliver as fodder for my brains in the morning. Why the dread? You can bet your last bottom dollar that it is almost always a cacophony of ‘nonsense things’ multiplied by scale factor hundred! Stuff that we could very well do without but which all of us as a nation are gradually being weaned on. We have become addicted to the nonsense-things’ or what? By the way, who sets the agenda for us? Government? NDC? Radio journalists? Print media?

Admit it. Consciously or unconsciously, we are gradually as a nation, settling for the mediocre and accepting things that ought not to be accepted. Or is that to credit the Ghanaian with too much? Okay, at the very least, lets question before we accept all the things that are being poured down our throats. After all, swallowing hook, line and sinker does not do even a fish any good! Here are a few ‘nonsense-things’ to discuss this week. I am sure you may have loads of them. I do too. But we have to start from somewhere so here goes:

Nonsense Things 1:

Parent-Teacher Associations:

Do you have a kid in school? Ever wondered what this animal really is and in whose interests it exists? Well, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has become a perennial feature of almost all pre-tertiary educational institutions. The institution may either be private or public. It may even be a public=private sector participation. The PTA is omnipresent! It is essentially almost invariably for good causes. Apart from a few which may have a governing document such as a constitution, majority just exist. They have no constitutional document and most parents are not even aware of how the executives were appointed in the first place.

But PTAs have now become an essential commodity for all educational institutions. With the declaration of FCUBE leading to the capitation of most of the avenues for raising funds through the ready-made vehicle, the role of PTAs have become very critical. This term and subsequent terms to come, parents would no longer receive huhudious bills directly from schools. These bills would rather make a very short transit journey from the school bill and arrive safely on the PTA bill. Get the drift? What Yaw Safo has forbidden, the PTA would sanction! The school would be abiding by the GES edict not to charge any unauthorized fees but the money would get in anyway through the Trojan horse, PTA! Parents may even find that they would be levied exactly the same fees they have been paying. The only difference now is that it would be coming from the PTA, not the school!!! How many parents are prepared to challenge this phenomenon?

What is consistently conveniently forgotten is that no parent can be compelled to join the PTA. PTAs are essentially voluntary organizations. They therefore do not have any authority or power to compel parents to pay levies they have not agreed to. Worse, and that’s the most important issue in all of this discourse, no child can lawfully be sent home from school or indeed, suffer any kind of punishment or harassment no matter how subtle, as a result of the non-payment of PTA dues. More often than not, it is argued that PTAs are essentially to the benefit of the children in the school. That is a very compelling argument. I share that sentiment too. But someone has to ask how come my MP rides in the best car, how come the Minister goes to Parliament to make all those fine submissions on FCUBE etc, and it has to take parents to buy furniture before the children can go to school? Heads of public institutions are put in an impossible situation as they government grants etc are not paid in time , if at all paid yet the schools must be run. What kind of nation is this when we have to literally pay for everything ourselves and yet we say we have a government? I just don’t get it! So there is a very compelling argument for the role of the PTAs. But if records be checked and audits conducted, it may be noticed that a computer laboratory for example, may have been planned by the PTA ages before and the children of that generation duly mulcted with levies of all colours. Those amounts may have been paid by kids who have gone through the whole school, from class 1 and stayed till exiting JSS 3 without seeing even a photo exhibition of the said computer laboratory. I am alumnus of that great school by the sea, St. Augustine’s College. In 1981 when we entered, there was an edifice by the road side in its foundation stage. It was the proposed school chapel. We were levied as students with chapel project fees until we exited in 1988. You can imagine how impressed I was to learn only last week that the kids are still being billed with chapel project levy and the chapel, ancient of days, still sits on its foundations!

So if you are a parent and suddenly you begin to see new bills coming at you not from the school but from the PTA, you have a few options. You may elect to clam up and make the payment. Majority Ghanaians! Or you may elect not to pay. Insignificant number. Or you may act like I am doing. The bill motivates me to go to the school and make my position on issues clear to the head of the institution. Admittedly, it means they may have genuine needs which for the sake of the kids have to be resolved. Point noted. I therefore make a promise, that every time I make a windfall, I will make a personal donation to the School, to be used for whatever purposes they deem fit. I would however continue to exercise my constitutional right not to belong to any PTA and would thus ignore all bills coming from them. There is one thing that the ‘heady’ and the PTA EXECUTIVES WOULD NOT TELL YOU POUTRIGHT. No one, yes, no one, not even Yewura Kuffuor can compel you to make that payment. If it has to take you as a parent to buy a desk before your child sits in a classroom in this age of positive blues, you have no business sitting at home and moaning. You got to get off your butt and ask your DCE, District Assembly, MP, the GES, Yewura Osafo and indeed Yewura Kuffuor, WHAT THE HECK DO THEY MEAN BY FCUBE?

Oyé Nonsense!!!

Nonsense-Things 2

Ghana World Cup Free Zones Board

Anyone of my fellow country people would not be surprised at the sheer strength of the World Cup hysteria that has gripped this nation. No one can blame us. Indeed, yours truly got into a bind with his manager the day we qualified. Our lights went off and thinking that it was only us being punished, I got into my car and drove into town because I couldn’t let such a day pass me by just like that. I wanted to see a little action as my side of town is completely immune to displays of euphoria. So the euphoria is natural and is to be expected. But you would be naïve if you also didn’t expect all sorts of latter day saints to surface after the deal had been done to claim a piece of the pie for themselves.

It begun with the sponsors. Once upon a time, the GFA would struggle to find sponsors for the Black Stars. Nyame nkye ade, Guinness decided to come to the aid of the Black Stars. But they offered a paltry ¢100m and some products per game. That deal obviously inured to the benefit of Guinness but was doing practically nothing to either guarantee the success of the team or motivate the team to achieve the ultimate dream. That sponsorship in Ghanaian lenses was great but it was obvious that we had worn Ghanaian lenses in all the previous campaigns and had not made it. We therefore needed a sponsor who could match international standards and who genuinely wanted to spend in order that the dream was achieved. Guinness was essentially offering the Black Stars peanuts but we had to take it as we had no one else. That deal, I submit, did nothing to show that it was committed to the dream. The company was losing nothing but only riding on the publicity. If it happened, it happened. Enter Goldfields Ghana Limited. Indeed the World cup dream was salvaged by this hitherto unknown corporate entity who decided to dig deep and make a BIG commitment to the dream. $3 million package!!! The potential shame accompanying that deal for all the others who had previously been just riding on the back of the team and the obvious fact that Ghanaians would wake up to realize that the Guinness deal was actually nothing to write home about compelled Guinness to finally wake up to the undoubted potential that they had wisely bottled up until then. Suddenly Guinness realized that it could put up $160,000 in order to become the “official beverage sponsor” of the Black Stars. Thanks to Goldfields Ghana Limited of Damang, Guinness was compelled to make a “Guinness” contribution to the dream. Better late than never. Omu ani ase awai do do!!!

Then the GFA people decided to test the waters. If the road to Germany was clear, why not make a pitch for the high office. AFTER ALL, PER DIEMS, NICE HOTELS AND NICE WHITE PROSTITUTES TO BOOT MAY BE IN ABUNDANCE COME THE REAL DEAL NEXT YEAR. Fortunately, we have not had meltdown yet at the FA but do not rule it out. Some people would not give up trying to get on the bus even when the doors are shut and the driver is in 3rd gear!!!

Then the supporters got in on the act. Suddenly, many people swore oaths and changed their names to Abraham Boakye, Two man supporter! Under the constitution, there is freedom of association. So we would associate!! By the time we form the queues at the German Embassy, we would have the Black Stars Supporters Union, Ghana Black Stars Supporters Union, National Black Stars Supporters Association, Ghana Union of Supporters of Black Stars, Jesus Incorporated Supporters Union of Ghana Black Stars. Onipa Nye Aboa!!! It had to take the National Supporters Union to issue a cautionary statement on the matter. But who cares? More would be formed in an attempt to reach heaven!

But what really gets under my skin is the recent craze of bank accounts that are being opened everywhere in the name of the Black Stars. Ghanaians are being asked to contribute into those accounts, Contributions are good. Ask your pastor! Indeed, most Ghanaians would have contributed both in kind and in cash without any prompting whatsoever from any quarters. But that’s exactly what some people want to exploit. Why would anyone in his right senses, want to put money in an account when you have no idea who the signatories to that account are. All that we have been told is a promise that it’s to be used for the World Cup. But if man could survive on promises, Ghana would have been a middle-income country by the year 2000. Are those monies to pay the bonuses of the team or per diem for the ministerial team that would inevitably be there to interfere with the team? Do you know? Does someone know? I don’t! Remember account #48?

We have qualified, yes. But that does not mean that we have should be taken for a ride in the name of the World Cup. My advice to all Ghanaians is simple: DO NOT PAY A DIME INTO ANY OF THOSE ACCOUNTS UNTIL WE HAVE ESTABLISHED THE ALIASES OF WHOEVER/WHICHEVER IS BEHIND THEM. We need to establish a trust fund with duly appointed trustees with defined responsibilities and a clear agenda for how the funds generated would be utilized. Otherwise, my fellow country people, what we’d be doing is lining up the pockets of other people who would laugh all the way to the bank at our collective expense!

Oyé Nonsense proper!!!

Joe Aboagye Debrah Esq.
Legal Practitioner, Accra