Ghana’s Opposition MP Kennedy Agyepong Likely To Face Treason Charges

On Saturday I wrote an article about Mr Kennedy Agyepong against the backdrop of comments he made on his own radio station Oman fm. In the article I argued that such treasonable comments have the capability of endangering the peace and stability of Ghana, especially coming from an influential person of the biggest opposition party and an MP.

His subsequent  invitation by the CID and the likelihood that he would be charged of treason is a strong indication that no one is above the law no matter how rich, influential and powerful you maybe.

The police, CID etc, must ensure that they exercise their constitutional mandate to ensure peace and stability in the country by applying the same rules to everyone irrespective of their political, economic or religious status. The security service must be proactive and swiftly arrest and prosecute people who take the law into their own hands, especially as the campaigns heat up in the coming weeks and months.

However, any attempt to have people from the government side go free after making similar comments will taint the image and credibility of the security apparatus. Such acts,clearly, would be more dangerous than the comments made by the MP and other cohorts.

Politicians must note that in the face of instability and chaos, they can’t ”think big” and a “better Ghana Agenda” will be inconsequential. Therefore, their actions and inactions should be towards safeguarding the peace and tranquility of the nation.

We want from our politicians policies and ideas that will break the chains of poverty from our people; ideas that will create jobs and inspire the youth; and ideas that will give hope in the face of despair. Anything opposite this must be fiercely resisted by all.

For all Ghanaians, we must either be on the side of peace, tranquility and stability or choose the path of a total systematic collapse, a collapse that will have significant consequence on the countries forward march and prosperity. And for the youth, we must understand that Our destinies are not implanted in the hands of any politician, but our own. Our allegiances to politicians should not be fixed on the basis of  how powerful and loud they are in the media, but the sincerity and will to carry through progressive, innovative ideas..

God Bless Our homeland Ghana!

 

Kennedy Agyepong’s Political Rhetoric Is Perilous to Ghana’s Peace And Stability!!

He has threatened to kill a journalist(Editor of The Al-hajj newspaper), called the President of Ghana a thief, asked that Police officers be lynched;declared that Ghana would be like Rwanda and in a very treasonable fashion said that Voltarians( an ethnic group predominantly in the Volta region of Ghana) should be attacked. As if this is not enough, the MP goes on to say that he has declared war on his opponents-daring the IGP and the National Security Coordinator to arrest him. These are facts, simple and verifiable facts!

Kennedy Ohene Agyepong is the New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Assin-north and is a self-acclaimed millionnaire with an hegemonic hold on some media outlets in the country. As an honourable member of the an august house like parliament, MP’s should be guided by decorum and civility in their public discourse. This is not the case with Mr. Kennedy Agyepong who verbally abuses anyone who crosses his way. As a politician with ownership of various media houses, Kennedy Agyepong has repeatedly boasted that if other media houses would not give him the platform, he has his own platforms to spew dangerous rhetorics. This is a very disturbing development, especially coming from an MP

On Ghana becoming like Rwanda, one would have thought that  Mr. Kennedy Agyepong as a Member of Parliament would rather express empathy and sympathies with the innocent men, women and children who were killed in Rwanda, infact, show regret that it happened. This is would have been most honourable. But to declare that Ghana would be like Rwanda amounts to gross insensitivity to the plights of those who were victims of this genocidal event! and it shows a man clearly rooting for the wrong side of history

Yes, it is an election year in Ghana and the campaigns are being fought  by political parties with all the ”brutal tenacity”, arson, threats and gimmicks one can think about. This phenomenon cuts across the political divide with party communicators spewing unrelenting streams of propaganda to the electorate.

It is important to point to Mr. Kennedy Agyepong that  being a man of properties and standing in a country where the majority is poor should not be a yardstick to instigate, insight, and forment trouble in our peaceful and stable country. What Ghana needs is not strong men who would plunge our nation into any precarious endeavour, Ghana needs men who will generate excitement, hope, prosperity, a sense of purpose and dignity; men who would serve as the beacon of decency and decorum for the youth of this country.

recklessness, mediocrity and irresponsibility should not become the ideology of our body politics. But these have being exhibited by Mr. Kennedy Agyepong, an MP who his constituents and the youth of this country looks up to.

Our politician in general should desist from engaging in acrimonious and abusive languages with the tendency to derail the peace and stability Ghanaians are enjoying at the moment.

We have witnessed situations where reckless and uncouth statements on radio have led to tragedies of monumental proportion.These tragidies are mostly based on the premise of exploiting ethnic loyalties. Mr Kennedy should therefore be guided by this historical antecedents and reduce his rhetoric or risk bringing Ghana on its Knees.

We must remember that Ghana comes first and foremost before any other parochial interest and political ambitions. Kennedy Agyepong is playing on people’s emotions and sensibilities, and it is time that his political party bring him to order. He has the right to express his views, but these views should not undermine Ghana’s values, culture and social cohesion.

God bless our homeland Ghana, and make our national great and STRONG!

 

Social Media Is Playing A Role In Ghana’s Election 2012

I have no doubt that social media would play and is playing a significant role in Ghana’s Election 2012. As a keen follower of political debates and analysis on  various social media platforms, my conviction of the role of social media in this years election is deep-seated, positive and insurmountable.

I believe that social media has opened a new wave of opportunity for citiziens, politicians and civil society organisations to engage in an open, transparent and dialogical discussions that are relevant to the entrenchment of our democratic values and aspirations.

Particularly, I would like to share some insight about Facebook and how it is becoming an inevitable tool in our public debate and discourses in Ghana. Socialbaker, a social media analytic company estimates that Ghana’s Facebook user base is reaching 1,211,760 and grew by 92,300 in the last six months.This means that there is a slight increase of over 150,000 users each month with a penetration rate of about 5%. Recalling how election ’08 was close to call and the difference of 40,586 votes between the candidates, politicians should not underestimate the power of Facebook to galvanise, canvass and rake-in floating voters and keep their loyal supporters up-to-date with information and news. Perhaps it is also interesting  to share this point; 32% of the total number of Facebook users are between the ages of 25-35, but the largest group of 41% is between 18-24 years of age. The impact of Facebook cannot therefore be brushed away in this election year. News now flies like wild-fire, and I stay updated about political happenings in Ghana through Facebook. I know I am not alone.

Interestingly, no stone is being left unturned. Political parties and their representatives in Ghana are now very active on Facebook. Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, the presidential candidate for the PPP( Progressive People’s Party) has more than 10,551 subscriptions on his Facebook page. He seems to have grabbed the real essence of this tool very well. On 7th April 2012 he requested his followers to participate in an online chat with him, an opportunity to relate to his supporters on a one-one basis while giving them the chance to ask questions and make comments. Who would have thought about this a decade ago?

Meanwhile, even before campaigning in Ghana kick-starts officially, the debate has long started on Facebook. Many of the youth in Ghana are using this medium to express support and opposing views about issues of national character and importance, though emotional, sentimental, naked insults and inconsequential at times. Nevertheless, this is somewhat a strong indication that there is a greater desire for greater political transparency and public inclusion. For example, the state of the nation address; the mob attack on a radio station by thugs of the opposition party; the wrangling within the ruling party;the Woyome judgement debt scandal where a financier of the ruling government is “purported” to have been paid an amount of 52 million dollars as judgement debt and recently issues arising from Ghana’s mundane biometric registration exercise gained lots of commentary. Just today, the topic dominating is the beating of ”loud-mouthed” Ursula Owusu of the opposition party who has gain notoriety for her insulting behaviour; not even the president is spared at times.

Some parliamentary candidates are also communicating and disseminating information to heterogeneous audiences using Facebook. Ras Mubarak, one of the youngest Parliamentary candidate in this years election is an ardent user of Facebook. He connects with the over 2,000 public subscriptions on his Facebook page and constantly updates this with his campaign activities.This young politician is definitely pushing the frontiers and is reaching out to lots of people, affording them the opportunity to make informed decision, like his ideas, and express their views by way of commenting. It will be fair to say that there are many other Parliamentary candidates doing same.

This trend is not only limited to politicians, other concerned civil groups such as Ghana Decides and Ghana elections are sensitising and educating people about the biometric registration  and other related election issues. You may want to visit their websites here http://ghanadecides.com/ and http://www.africanelections.org/.

With an increase in internet penetration and 3G, the expectation is that many people would turn to social media to be informed, share and disclose their affiliation to political parties. luckily enough, internet is readily available on  mobile phones thanks to the numerous telecommunication companies avaliable.This is a greater height for our democracy and very potent omen.

Using Facebook to connect with otherwise inaccessible groups and capture new members  by distributing  public information would probably influence the outcome of this years election. Perhaps there are politicians who are adamant to use this new development. Well, this could only be to their own peril. For them I say, this is a bandwagon you should roll along with.

 

Crowdsourcing-The Way Forward?

Estelles and Gonzales have defined crowdsourcing as “a type of participative online activity in which an individual, institution, non-profit organisation or company proposes to a group of individuals of varying knowledge, heterogeneity,and a number, via a flexible open number, the voluntary undertaking of a task”.

Crowdsourcing has become relevant in recent times and it is being pursued rigorously alongside social media tools. One way to effectively harness the power of crowdsourcing is by taking advantage of social media. By initiating dialogue, interactivity, and two-way communication other than the traditional asymmetric form of engagement, organisations are able to build communities online based on mutual interest and benefits. Being able to do this means you are ready to go with crowdsourcing, that is not to say organisations can not undertake crowdsourcing using offline activities.You can!

Organisations that will adopt crowdsourcing stands to gain in many ways. With crowdsourcing, organisations give their audiences the chance to be inclusive in decision-making, share ideas, and feel part of the organisation. During the process of sharing and engagement a real dialogue ensues which leads to the achievement collective interests.

Furthermore, crowdsourcing helps you saves on your dollars and make people fight “tooth and nail” to provide your organisation with the best ideas and skills for free. And if you were thinking about ROI, never mind! because you are provided with the value of every penny you spent as there is a pool of GREAT ideas to choose from.

Another interesting thing about crowdsourcing is that it exposes your organisation to floods of talent, all rushing to your organisation to contribute their creative ideas. With this kind of problem solving, you and your organisation will ultimately reduce the amount of cash spent head-hunting for talents to undertake a particular task. Though this may sound opportunistic, it is, nevertheless, the norm nowadays. Because people have believes, and this is just one way to contribute towards those believes and ideas they stand for.

This phenomenon (crowdsourcing) is a great addition to businesses, but even more relevant is how this powerful social model of problem solving can be greatly essential to non-profit organisation.

For organisation/institutions operating on tight and smaller budgets, and for organisations active in the realm of social and political activism, crowdsourcing is a perfect opportunity.It may just be appropriate to explore this opportunity!

 

Child Labour In The Cocoa Industry Is Real.

Children are being exploited everyday, every hour, every minute. Even as i write this article, there are children being trafficked and forced into hazardous labour across the world. This is reprehensible at best and inhumane at worse.

To understand what child labour means, The International Labour Organisation defines child labour as ”work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development”.

Work here refers to activities that are ”mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful to children; interferes with their schooling; depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;obliging them to leave school prematurely or requiring them to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work”.

In the cocoa industry for instance children work for long unrelenting hours, using heavy equipments and receiving just a penny, or at times nothing at all. In Ivory Coast, a country that produces 40% of the world’s cocoa; more than half a million children work in extreme exploitative situations in cocoa farms.

To give you an idea, any time you stick a piece of chocolate in your mouth, remember that you are not only enjoying sweet chocolate. You are actually enjoying the bitter sweat and toil of 1.8 million vulnerable children engaged in various hash working conditions; children whose right to education has being truncated, children whose hope for a better future are being worked away in circumstances synonymous to slavery. Some of the children are involved in applying chemicals such as pesticide and fungicides and do this without the necessary protective gears.

Again statistical figures show that 64% of children working in these cocoa farms are younger than 14 years with 40% of these children being girls. These children grow with emotional, physical and psychological scars that may be beyond remedy during their adult lives.

Many attempts have being made by several NGO’s, some institutions and governments; but much of the onus lies with the chocolate producing companies and their suppliers to curtail these modern-day slavery being perpetuated on innocent children. These companies need to master the moral courage and implement drastic changes that will have far-reaching consequences in the use of children labour in the industry. Commitment and will must be augmented by unflinching actions

Perhaps establishing effective community watchdog and task forces to monitor and report farmers who indulge in child labour may be just one way to annihilate this disturbing situation.Otherwise, simply issuing white papers and protocols may not be a panacea.

As the 35th President of the U.S.A John Fitzgerald Kennedy puts it ”children are the world’s most valuable resource and it’s best hope for future”. It is therefore imperative that we all contribute to protecting them and giving them the development necessary to live better and fulfilling lives. The children working in these cocoa farms could have being any of us, it could have being you or me; it could even be your son or daughter. Lest spread the message and create awareness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Africa Is Not A Country!!

Africa is not a country, it is a continent. If Africa was a country it would have been wiped out by now. For centuries some western media and pseudo-African experts have sort to create the impression that Africa is a country.The continent has perpetually being associated with diseases, hunger, poverty,famine, aids,   slavery, genocide, corruption, etc. It is not just this negative connotations which is synonymous to Africa, it is also common to hear questions like: are you from Africa? What kind of food do you eat in Africa? Is it true that you live on trees in Africa?………..Even at a point someone asked me if there were windows in African houses.

In a heated debate, a friend made an attempt to explain a point to buttress a certain argument but ended up explaining that India, China and Africa are developing countries. I told him his argument could not have being true because Africa is not a country like China and India.

This phenomenon is not just with ordinary people. Sarah Palin, the 2008 running mate to John McCain also thought Africa was a country. And former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, one of the candidates for the republican presidential slot said during a debate that Africa was ”a country on the brink”. If people at this level of their political careers still see Africa as a country, then there is something fundamentally wrong.

All the myths, tales, and fictitious negative associations are perpetuated mostly on the premise of ignorance. If people slept on trees where did Obama, Clinton, Tony Blair, and many European leaders sleep when they visit countries in Africa?

Why Africa is not a country!. The continent Africa has 54 sovereign states/countries with over 1 billion people and growing; it is the second largest populated continent in the world after Asia. Africa is also the second largest continent in the world with over 2,000 languages and dialects. In fact, Nigeria alone is more than twice the size of American, hence Africa can not be a country.

There are different cultures in different African countries with unique traditions and value systems. Just as there is West, East, and Central Europe. Africa is also divided into North, South, East, West and even Central regions. There is more than 100 ethnic groups in Africa numbering about 10 million people spread across the continent.

Yes, some countries in Africa have experienced tumultuous changes both past and present, yet, that is not a yardstick to cluster all African countries into the same category and used that as a benchmark to evaluate all African countries . There are colossal economic, social and political changes taking place in most countries in Africa. Certainly, there have being challenges just as there are everywhere in the world. And not recognising these is tantamount to saying the past does not matter. It does. What countries in Africa ought to do now is undertake serious nation branding efforts to distinguish and position themselves strategical, and stress the strengths and opportunities that exist in each of these countries.

It is important to point out even further economic reasons that exposes people who think that just because the economic indicators of a certain African country is toxic, it is the same with the rest of the continent. That can not be true. Many countries in Africa has undergone tremendous transformations and this successes need to be touted to the outside world.

At a time the world is experiencing volatile economic crisis and credit squeeze, most African countries are actually growing. Economy Watch projected that Ghana was the fastest growing economy in the first half of 2011 with other African countries such as Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola. This economic growth coupled with an upsurge of infrastructural development in the telecommunication sector are but a few positives. In Countries like Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa giant strides have being made in this sector. Though people maybe invariably poor in some African countries, yet the telecommunication industry is a huge investment opportunity in most African countries because there is a demand for it. Therefore, for people willing to invest, there are many opportunities. Africa is not a COUNTRY! The investment opportunities are in the 54 different African countries.

Most African countries have also received credit ratings which shows their ability and willingness to pay back debts. This ratings are used as tools by investors to evaluate the credit worthiness of a country. There are about 16 African countries with these credit ratings. The only country that has not got a credit rating is the COUNTRY AFRICA, because it does not exist.

It is time to change the paradigm and tell our own stories. The stories of some African countries are uniquely painful, and not synonymous with the rest of Africa. The time to act is now; there are so many good things about many African countries, yet there seem to be no voice to tell them. We must stand up for our interests, we must shake-off the upheavals and portray Africa as a continent surging with opportunities, great energy and a strategic partner in world affairs. The time is now!

Kamara2002gh@yahoo.com

 

”They Have To Come Back Home and Register”?

The Electoral Commission of Ghana for the first time is compiling a biometric register to be used for the 2012 december polls. The exercise which begun on Saturday, March 24, 2012 will see people registering in 7,000 polling stations. The EC has so far deployed 45,000 officers to undertake this exercise.

Fundamentally, this biometric registration exercise is being undertaken to curb multiple registration and voting, as well as compile a credible voters register to replace the old one which many have argued was over-bloated.

One would have thought that the Electoral Commission will ensure that each Ghanaian get registered so that they can participate in making electoral decisions in Ghana.But obviously, the Commission has decided to disenfranchise well-meaning Ghanaians living abroad to partake in the democratic processes in Ghana.

The acting director of the Electoral Commission,Christian Owusu Parry has said that Ghanaians living abroad can only get themselves registered by travelling down to Ghana.This means they have to also go back to vote. It is most unfortunate and utterly shocking, that the Electoral Commission did not take into considering Ghanaians abroad while budgeting for this exercise. In fact, the world Bank estimates that there are 900,000 Ghanaians abroad; meanwhile data from Ghanaian embassies even put the figure around 1.5 million. This is astronomical a number to ignore at a time the country is consolidating its democratic credentials, and therefore need the human capital to push the developmental agenda of the country forward.The economic and political gains Ghana has achieved is partly due to the contribution and participation of her children abroad, why should they be disenfranchised?. This action would only serve to demoralise people.

I am not sure the electoral Commission expect Ghanaian students and professionals who are on government scholarships just for short periods of time to come back and register; they can barely survive, they have just enough to survive. How do these people pay plane tickets to come only for registration? Isn’t this matured absurdity?

The Constitutional Review Commission recognised the views and inputs of Ghanaians in the diaspora, why can’t the Electoral Commission do same?

Passport holding Ghanaians Abroad could easily get themselves registered at the various embassies and consulates across the globe. When the provision had being made and people fail to register, it would have been clear that efforts were made to get Diaspora Ghanaians registered. Otherwise, as it stands now, the Electoral Commission and Government have failed to live up to their mandate of ensuring all Ghanaians 18 years and above cast their votes come december 2012 no matter where you live or reside.

It is not too late, If it is the matter of not being able to provide the machines and logistics at the same time to register Ghanaians abroad. There is a way out!. The Electoral Commission should set a new date and transfer for registration to be carried out abroad after the 30 days deadline in Ghana. The equipments being used in Ghana can be used again to register people!!!

As it stands now, the rights of Ghanaian citizens abroad to vote and take part in our electoral democracy has being sidelined and intentionally ignored.

 

Something to Make You Smile

Nigeria Govt recently announced   to pay men with 5 children   1million Naira monthly salary. A   man heard the news and said to   his wife, Eunice! I have a kid with my girlfriend, I am going to bring him so we add him to our 4 kids to make 5. When he came back, he saw only one of his kids remaining. He asked where are the others? His wife replied, u are not the only one who heard the news! THEIR FATHERS HAD COME FOR THEM!!!