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!

 

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

 

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!!!