What are Bagbin, Agbesi and Nyaunu Saying to Mills?

By Lord Aikins Adusei

I cannot laugh listening to Majority Leader in Parliament Alban Bagbin, and his fellow MPs criticising President Mills for failing to salvage the economy and delivering on his campaign promises. What were the NDC top brass thinking when they spent almost 6 months chasing vehicles and toilets that they thought had been stolen by Kuffour and his ministers? Weren’t Alban Bagbin and his cohort in Parliament cheer-leading the seizure while the economy was left to rot? Did they expect the economy to be fixed when they devoted their time and energy on matters of less significance? We all know how Mills spent his first seven months in office. Despite inheriting relatively sound economy, the NDC led by Atta Mills has done nothing to maintain the condition the economy was in before they took office let alone improve upon it.

Readers should not get me wrong, I am not saying if anyone in the previous administration has done anything wrong against our state he or she should not be investigated and put before a court of competent juridiction and dealt with, what I am concerned is how the whole machinery of government was thrown into the process thereby ignoring vital issues such as the economy, job creation, and putting money in people’s pocket as promised by the President in 2008.

Almost a year after taking office the economy is falling off the cliff, unemployment is souring, there is no money in people’s pocket, inflation hovers between 18 and 25 percent, food and other essential commodities are out of the reach of the ordinary Ghanaian, fuel shortages are wide spread, cost of borrowing has skyrocketed, national youth employment programme is in limbo, the school feeding programme has been poisoned with NDC politics, the general security situation in the country and especially in the northern and upper regions has been worsened and there is no sector of the economy that has not been hit by the monumental failures of the Mills administration. The economy is deteriorating faster than otherwise thought whilst Mills and his ministers engage in propaganda politics, forgetting the pledge they made to Ghanaians during the campaigns.

For the better part of this year Mills and his henchmen at the BNI decided to pursue a policy of vindictiveness, witch hunting, lie peddling, unfounded accusations all to the neglect of the economy which is now in bad shape than had been imagined.

Mills and his ministers were busy arresting and detaining those who do not share their political ideologies instead of focussing on the business of government which is to make the nation more secure, more peaceful, more united and more developed including improving the living standard of the people, which is the sole duty of government.

While the top brass in the NDC led by Betty Mould and the security operatives were busy with arrests and detentions, the NDC thugs were also busy seizing toilets, locking up National Health Insurance Offices, sacking officials alleged to be sympathizers of opposition parties, demanded the blood of opposition members, while Mills kept silence and acted as if he was not aware of what was going on.

Then all of a sudden we have Alban Bagbin, Agbesi and Teye Nyaunu criticising the Mills administration for failing Ghanaians. Haven’t they been approving every Bill the president had sent to Parliament? Didn’t they approve the ‘Team B’ ministers nominated by the President who are nothing more than square pegs in round holes? What effort was really made to ensure that these ministers were really qualified and had the capacity to handle ministries and departments? Did they expect roads to be constructed, or schools to be built, or the perennial energy problem in the country to be solved when the ministers do not know what to do? Did they expect jobs to be created when valuable time was wasted on seizing toilets, passports, sacking workers and engaging in politics of no results and solutions? I know the only thing which is saving President Mills and the NDC majority in Parliament is our constitution which has prescribed a presidential system of government for us thereby making it possible for these incompetent ministers to have a field day. If it were Parliamentary system of government I know a vote of no confidence would have been passed a long time ago.

Now the NDC headed by the same Mills (who promised to be father for all but who has turned out to be father for NDC executives) have seen that they are about to be punished by Ghanaians for taking them for granted and these MPs are desperately calling for action to implement their manifesto. Did I say a manifesto, do they have one at all? I don’t think so other wise we would have seen some real changes in the country. The call for action by these MPs is nothing but a desperate attempt to distance themselves from the mess they have helped created since the beginning of this year.

Is it too late for Mills and is it the end of his political career? Yes I think so because if the NDC executives, MPs and ministers who have access to power and money are complaining and are declaring a vote of no confidence in the government then how much more the poor Ghanaian who cannot afford to buy a cup of rice? All of them have already declared a vote of no confidence except perhaps those who want to polish the shoes of the President. The monumental failure of the Mills administration cannot be defended anywhere, not even by Mills himself. Can Mills eat his cake and have it again? I don’t think so and that is why I think it is too late.

As the father for all mantra was replaced with the father for only NDC executives (not helping even the NDC foot soldiers), the economy was badly ignored to suffer without any proper attention.

Christmas is just around the corner and definitely President Mills and his ministers are going to enjoy themselves with champagnes but how many Ghanaians will be able to afford even a bottle of Coca-Cola? The NDC MPs are talking as if they were not aware of the problem from the beginning.

I cannot understand Alban Bagbin. Is he not the Majority Leader in Parliament? What initiative has Alban Bagbin and his cohort in Parliament taken to salvage the economy from total collapse? Or does it mean that our parliament cannot do anything without being told by Mills? Is Bagbin aware of what Senate Majority Leader in US (Senator Harry Reid) is doing to help Obama fix the US economy? Is the speaker of Ghana’s Parliament aware of what Nancy Pelosi is doing to help Obama fix the broken US health system? I mean what are our MPs doing to help fix the economy and other problems confronting the nation?

The MPs criticising Mills will never solve the problems. I will like to see some initiatives on the part of the MPs themselves, and not always waiting for Mills to bring Bills just for the sake of debate and approval. The mess we are witnessing throughout the country is not the fault of Mills alone, it is the fault and failures of all the three arms of government and the institutions entrusted with powers and functions to help develop the country and that includes Parliament in which Alban Bagbin is an MP and majority leader. I will like to see our MPs stop taking the back seat while the economy is being badly managed and taking hit after hit.

Who doesn’t know Mills and his team of ministers are a failure? The signs of their failure is written everywhere in the country. How many months did it take for Mills to secure oil for the nation? How many months did fishermen have to wait for premix fuel? How many months did he take to decide what should be done about the school feeding programme? Mills and his ministers dithered while the economy was left without a driver. Mills failure to reshuffle his cabinet despite the signs of monumental incompetence and failures on the part of his cabinet ministers is part of the reason why nothing seems to be working in the country.

Mills has finished squandering all his political capital and is now largely seen as a liability by majority of NDC functionaries including Rawlings, the so called founder of NDC. And that is why there is a talk of finding an alternative candidate for the 2012 general elections.

Mills should have hit the ground running immediately he took office knowing the challenges and tasks that were before him, instead he squandered the little credibility that was left for him when Muntaka was allowed to go unpunished and now there is no ground to hit. The blame must be put squarely at the door steps of Betty Mould Iddrisu and the so called security experts at the BNI who sowed the seed of insecurity immediately Obama left the country thereby scaring investors away from the country. What became the excitement that greeted Obama’s visit? Didn’t the BNI blow it away with the arrest of former ministers and seizure of cars and passports? For the information of Mills no investor will like to put his money in a place where there seems to be insecurity and corruption and bribery. The Muntaka saga, which was quickly followed by the Mabey and Johnson, did send a wrong signal to investors and that is one of the reason why our economy is still bleeding and poverty is rising.

So Alban Bagbin, Alfred Agbesi and Teye Nyaunu should not waste their time thinking that by criticising Mills Ghanaians will forgive them for failing once again.

There is no doubt Mills has failed as the head of the executive branch of government, but Bagbin too is the Majority leader in Parliament and Ghanaians will want to know what Parliament too has done to help arrest the situation in the country. I mean what policy alternatives have these men offered the President? My point is that both the executive headed by Mills and legislature in which Alban Bagbin is a key player have failed Ghanaians and Bagbin should not play a smart card. He and his team in Parliament must also take part of the blame for the meltdown in the country.

As for Mills and his ministers I hope they take the advice I offered them when they first took office.

African Leaders are saboteurs of development

By Lord Aikins Adusei

It is a waste of time to argue that there is anything remarkable or worth emulating about the brand of leadership that is seen in Africa. Throughout Africa not a single country has been able to deliver its people from poverty, malnutrition and diseases. Almost all countries in Africa South of the Sahara are facing deep poverty and that includes resource rich counties like Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, and even South Africa.

Everywhere in the world whenever the word Africa is mentioned four words come to mind: poverty, hunger, wars and diseases. Apart from Botswana where the leaders have relatively been able to use their resources to advance the development of their people, the rest of Africa is nothing but misery. Misery in sense that the average African is hardly able to live one-third of the comfort that a citizen of the global north (US, Canada and Europe) is able to enjoy in his/her lifetime. Apart from the corrupt politicians, dictators and their cronies who live in luxury, the rest of the population have to survive the harsh realities of the African economy on less than two dollars a day.

Why is black Africa so different? Any time the question of poverty is raised black African leaders are quick to point to colonialism and slavery. But it is a fact that the era in which everything is blamed on colonialism and slavery is past and gone. India, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong were all colonised yet they have been able to shake themselves of what Damisa Moyo terms the 'four apocalypse of hunger, disease, war and poverty'.

A visit to rural parts of Ghana shows that very little has changed economically since independence more than 50 years ago. In spite of the availablity of tractors and other advanced farming technologies that can be employed to increase productivity, farmers in Ghana still cultivate and harvest their crops with cutlasses and hoes, tools their forefathers used before they were colonised. The situation in Niger, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Togo, Benin is not different from that of Ghana. The extreme poverty and deprivation in countries in the Horn of Africa region and Ethiopia in particular continue to baffle economists and development thinkers after so much aid money has been poured into that region to no avail as politicians divert aid money into their own private bank accounts.

Any major study about why Africa is so different from the rest of the world points to the kind of leadership that exist in Africa. The leaders in Africa love power and will do anything to get it: rigging elections, organizing thugs to cause mayhem and violence, refusing to step down when their term of office end. The likes are Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who employed violence and intimidation against members of opposition parties after loosing elections.

The leaders love to be worshipped and served as kings even though they claim to be servants of the people. They love to live in fine palaces, drive in convoys, attend state functions, deliver long speeches yet do not raise a finger to fight poverty and deprivation that are so common in their countries.

African politicians and traditional leaders and those in control of economic and political affairs are always interested in titles and the financial rewards that go with their office not the responsibilities attached to the office. Ghana's current President is a Law Professor but he seems to have no clue on how to move his country forward. He is surrounded by others with academic titles similar to his but the ministries, departments and the sectors they head have not changed since they took office earliear this year.

Malawi's president holds a doctorate degree but his country is no different from that of Togo, DRC or Gabon which are all being governed poorly by children of former dictators and thieves who took decades to mismanage their countries' economies and resources. Nigeria's current president has been titled "the first graduate president of Nigeria" but Nigeria with all its oil revenue and human resource is still steep in poverty, sometimes not even finding enough petrol to feed her economy despite being the biggest oil producer in Africa.

This contrasts the president of Brazil, Lula Da Silva who used to be a shoe shine boy and street vendor but is increasingly turning his country into economic power house thereby steering his country into economic independence and freedom . Where did Yar' Dua leave his thinking cap when he became president or what did he graduated from? I want to know because I still wonder why they are not applying what they learnt in school to free their countries from the international disgrace and weakness that have come to be associated with the continent. A poor Cuban seeking to leave her communist country said she "would be prepared to go anywhere except Africa". When asked why she said "how can I jump out of a frying pan into fire?". Meaning she cannot leave a bad situation in Cuba and get into a worse one in Africa.

In a conversation with a female Professor in Stockholm, Sweden about the poverty situation in Africa she asked angrily "well the leadership in Gabon claim to have used the huge oil revenue for infrastructure investment but is that the reality on the ground?" She continued, "Democratic Republic of Congo is a mess, Angola, Congo and Equatorial Guinea are an eyesore and as for Nigeria well I reserve my comment".

The monumental failures on the part of African leaders has given birth to the phrase 'Africa South of the Sahara' and the leaders seem to be happy with that phrase. Black African leaders have accepted the phrase with all the negative connotations it carries without reacting to challenge it. The phrase in its proper sense refers to a part of Africa which does not count in global politics; a toddler in everything important in the world, a backward part of the continent that continues to stand still while the rest of humanity is moving forward both technologically and scientifically.Africa whose people live in darkness despite 365 days of sunshine and availability of solar technology to convert the sunshine into solar energy.

It means Africa which is so poor in economic, social and political sense despite being rich in natural resources and hard working people: an Africa which is so poorly governed, whose leaders are corrupt and lack the capacity to plan and to initiate any programme of development on their own without being told to do so or helped by outsiders.

Africa where infrastructure decay is a norm, where rural life is nothing but a condemnation to abject poverty, hopelessness, misery and frustration.

Africa where ethnicity and tribalism are exploited by corrupt dictators and opportunists bringing a wave of negative tendencies of cronyism, nepotism, corruption and conflicts in its trail. Africa where politicians are happy to exploit the ignorance and illiteracy that have enslaved and prevented its people from taking their rightful place in the world community of continents.

Africa that has not learnt anything from its colonial experience and whose leaders continue to dance to the tune of Western and Chinese rhythm to their own peril; Africa which can be and is being recolonised by China and its rival competitors in Europe and North America through their multinational corporations. (Have you heard of Africom)? Africa whose leaders can be bought by multinational corporations with some few thousand dollars and allow multinational corporations to plunder their resources without any accountability.

Africa which is both economically and politically fragmented, have no common foreign policy, and no economic, immigration and agricultural policies and whose leaders see no wisdom in unity and are without a mouth in world affairs.

Africa which is so militarily weak and technologically paralysed to defend itself against external forces, their ideologies, philosophies and cultural pollution.

Africa whose leadership are morally bankrupt to criticise one another. Africa whose leaders have great ideas about how to rig and win elections, kill journalists, stifle press freedom, freedom of speech and association but have not the slightest idea as to how to fight chronic poverty. Africa whose leaders prefer to steal from their countries and bank their loot in foreign countries instead of using the money to build roads, hospitals, railway tracks, irrigation facilities, schools, electricity, housing and other social and economic infrastructures for the development and benefit of their own people. Africa where natural resources are a curse rather than a blessing.

Africa where an illiterate soldier with a gun in hand can easily become a president of a country tomorrow. Examples are Yahyah Jammeh of Gambia, Moussa Camara of Guinea, Gaddafi of Libya, Joseph Kabila of DRC, Mamadou Tandja of Niger, Museveni of Uganda, Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz of Mauritania, Al Bashir of Sudan,Francois Bozize of Central African Republic, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Valentine Strasser of Sierra Leone, Sergeant Doe of Liberia, and Kolingba and Jean-Bedel Bokasa of Central African Republic.

Egypt a purely desert country and a member of 'Africa north of the Sahara' recently sent food aid to Uganda, a country rich in minerals, soil, natural lakes, rivers but whose leaders see no wisdom in employing irrigation technology that could be used to increase food production to reduce hunger.

Africa which continues to beg for and depend on foreign aid despite sitting on huge natural wealth an act that defies any economic wisdom. Africa which continues to depend heavily on natural resource exploitation as the main economic activity without diversification despite the dangers of such economic approach to development.

Africa where women are treated as second class citizens, denied political representation and are coerced and used as sex objects and commodities by those in power. Africa where child bearing is a matter of life and death, where pregnant mothers die of preventable causes of deaths; where so many children die before they reach the age of five; where child labour and child poverty are the norm, and where both rural and urban children grow without proper education, healthcare, food, shelter, clothing and without future or hope.

Africa where economic hardship put people on death roll and cut short young bright lives. Africa where there is no mortgage, safety net for the poor and the aged and where owning a house or a car can be as daunting as climbing Everest. That is the true meaning of 'Africa South of the Sahara' which the leaders have accepted without a fight.

Most of these leaders make annual pilgrimage to London, Washington, Tokyo, Berlin, Beijing and see the infrastructures and the living standards of the people in these countries yet nothing pricks them to help their countries to do the same. When they are sick they are quick to take the next available plane to America, Europe or north Africa for treatment but forget to build the same hospitals and other institutions and infrastructures for the good of their countries. After blaming their monumental failures on colonialism and slavery they have now found a new scape goat: climate change and with it they can continue with their decades of inaction without having to lose anything.

Yoweri Museveni seems to be okay living in his palace enjoying almost three decades of his loot of Ugandan resources with his family and cronies. Obiang Nguema and his circle of friends live in their mansions surrounded by bodyguards yet the only 600, 000 people in his oil rich country live in 18th century conditions and likewise Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville and Dos Santos of Angola .

The black African leader will accept bribe from companies and interest groups to stop implementing policies, programmes and projects that could help alleviate poverty in his country. the failure of Omar Bongo of Gabon to make his country the Switzerland of Africa can largely be linked to the hundreds of millions of dollars he received as bribe from Elf which allowed the company to loot Gabon's oil proceeds.

It is sad despite being the continent's biggest oil exporter Nigeria does not have a well developed petro-chemical industry and has to import most of her oil products abroad. How come Cameroon is so poor when the country exports oil every day? How come Equatorial Guinea is so poor when it is the third biggest oil exporting nation in Africa?

How come Angola is mired in deep poverty when oil revenues bring the country billions of dollars annually? How come Nigerians live in 18th century environment when oil proceeds flow into the country every day? The answer is the leaders. They are corrupt, power hungry, arrogant, ignorant, illiterate and visionless buffoons, who can neither think out of the box or understand what it means to be president, prime minister, senator, MP, councillor, Assemblyman, or a chief and who prey on the ignorance and powerlessness of their people to stay in power while amassing wealth at the expense of their countries. Chief among them is Yahyah Jammeh a murderer, blood sucker, sometimes a president, sometimes HIV/AIDS healer who makes a mockery of himself and the seat of the presidency in The Gambia and who like the rest of his colleagues in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, CAR, Ethiopia, Burkina Fasso, Niger, Mauritania and Ivory Coast cannot devise plans to steer their countries out of economic predicament.

They are what Ghanaians call 'Konongo kaya' which literally means saboteurs who will not raise a finger to do anything to help their countries and yet will not allow others to do it. Saboteurs whose continuous stay in power is the cause of Africa's woes and underdevelopment.If you happen to be in economic or business class and economic or development regions is discussed you will be surprised to know how Africa is bypassed several times even though it is strategically located at the centre of the globe. The discussion moves from North America to Europe to South East Asia then back to Latin America and to the Middle East without the mention of Africa. All these the leaders do not seem to worry about it. They are not bothered because they no know they are the cause, the saboteurs and enimies of Africa's development.

Black African leaders must put on their thinking caps. It is very disheartening to see women, and children die of starvation in many parts of Africa. At least we know these leaders don't care but at least they should give the people the chance they need to initiate their own development. I hope that some of the many advice I have offered will be adhered to by the leaders so that Africa can also take her rightful position in the world community of nations.

Mr. President It is time to reshuffle

Mr. President knowing how to read and write alone does not make a minister qualified to end poverty in a poverty stricken nation like Ghana. It is time to reshuffle and bring in people who can think outside the box and change the situation in the ministries and across the country for the better.

Think carefully about Agriculture. Our farmers do not have the necessary accoutrements to produce to feed the nation let alone export to bring in the needed revenue to finance infrastructure and development programmes. What is the role of the Minister of Food and Agriculture and what policy or policies is he implementing to make Ghana a food sufficient nation? Our farmers are still using cutlasses and hoes to farm in this 21^st century and do you think giving the size of our population cutlasses and hoes can help us to feed ourselves? We need robust agricultural policies and if all that the minister can do is to sit in his office while millions are on the verge of starvation then you know that it is better to allow one person to go hungry than the whole nation.

Think about education? Can you say for sure that performance at both the basic and high school level is any better? Again what role is the minister of education playing to make our educational system the envy of Africa? What is the minister doing to make sure we are not producing half-baked students who cannot even write their own names? Ghana deserve excellent educational policies that address many of the problems facing our teachers, students and the schools in general such as classrooms, accommodations for teachers and students, transport, libraries, computers, internet facilities, laboratories and what have you. If all that the minister can do is to sit in his air-condition office without thinking about how to improve the situation on the ground then it is better for him to be sacked than the whole nation going to suffer from manpower deficiency.

Minister of employment is a disappointment. He has no idea how to coordinate with the various institutions in the country to create jobs. That is why unemployment is rising. That is why people are agitating against your government. Sack the minister and bring in someone who can think and I mean can use his brain to change the unemployment situation in the country. The era of non-performing ministers running around and failing our nation must be over. Ghana is not going to make it if all that you can do as President is to appoint someone who can only read and write but cannot apply or use his or her brain to think to change the poverty in the country.

The minister of Environment, Science and Technology is there to solve environmental and technological problems: waste generation, pollution and many more. Residents of Accra, Kumasi, Ho, Tamale, Takoradi, Cape Coast, Koforidua, Wa, and those in the rural areas cannot live in filth when a minister and her deputies are being paid huge salaries and bonuses. Sack them for non-performance. If you think there is anyone in the country who can help your administration to achieve real results forget about party politics and use him or her. Nations are built through the contribution of all its citizens.

Your administration is constantly being referred to as ‘Team B’ because of non-performance of your ministers. Every minister must show real talent and demonstrate that he or she has the talent and brain capacity to move his or her ministry from the doldrums. Otherwise sack him or her. Ghana does not have time for experimentation. We cannot experiment with our development. It is not enough to appoint someone as minister because he or she campaigned for you. No it is not enough. You must demand daily briefing from your ministers. Let them go out and see what is being done on the ground. The poverty situation in the country and the climate of economic down-sidedness warrant a different and sharp approach.

Never tolerate corruption in your administration. It is a cancer that can bring down your government. Make sure if anyone has anything to do with corruption do not hesitate to fire him or her and call for his or her prosecution. As a Professor of Taxation you know how difficult it is to raise taxes on people who are already suffering. That is why every effort must be made to ensure that every penny earmarked for the ministries and departments is spent well for the benefit of the country. The corruption allegation involving Northern Regional Minister and the NDC regional chairman must be investigated if you want your government to be seen as credible. Do not behave like the rest of your colleagues in Africa who give no ears to good advice, complaints and constructive criticisms. Save the next government that will take over from you the task of having to set up so many committees to investigate corruption allegations against members of your government by dealing with corruption issues as expeditiously as possible.

And finally put your council of economic advisers to work. They must be made to figure out what needs to be done to salvage the rapidly deteriorating economy from final collapse. You know very well that Ghanaians are really suffering. They need food on the table. They need jobs. They need roof on their heads. They cannot continue to live in poverty. Gather the engineers, architects, and planners in the country to figure out how we can build our cities, build affordable houses, build bridges, and improve rail lines, roads and the general infrastructure in the country. This is the path Malaysia took by mobilising the people and the internal resources to build infrastructures that finally propelled her to stardom.

You cannot fail Ghana and Ghanaians. No not this time when so much is as take. Remember the joy and happiness that the Satellites brought the whole nation when they won the under 20 World Cup. They worked as a team and their determination paid off. All Ghanaians irrespective of political, tribal and ethnic affiliation celebrated their victory. You and your team of ministers have the same mandate and responsibility to bring joy and gladness to the millions who live in abject poverty both in the cities and the countryside. With Jehovah God on your side you can win the battle but you must be bold, you must be brave to take on the challenges and stop blaming Kuffour and his administration for the woes the country is in now.

By Lord Aikins Adusei

What is wrong with African leaders?

By Lord Aikins Adusei

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The whole of Africa South of the Sahara is rife with poverty. What makes the leaders in the continent to have a negative attitude towards development and poverty eradication but a positive attitude towards corruption and embezzlement? When they travel to Europe, America, Korea and Canada don’t they see the roads and the airports? When they visit their children in these countries don’t they see the infrastructures there and what prevents them from doing the same in their countries?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So what is wrong with the leaders at all? I mean what makes African leaders intellectually blind, morally bankrupt, and ethically diseased? Why are they so different from all the leaders in the world? Of the over 50 presidents and prime ministers in Africa not a single one of them has been able to build an economy comparable to that of Korea despite some of them staying in power for more than forty years. You want to know why Mo Ibrahim refused to give the five million dollar award to the nominated leaders? Don't you think the corruption and embezzlement that took place under their administrations as well as their indifference towards eradicating poverty might be a factor?

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

Please don’t blame colonialism because Korea, Malaysia and India were also colonised but they have shaken themselves off the shackles of colonialism.

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

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

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

Political Corruption in Ghana: Who is Who?

When they were in opposition the National Democratic Congress [NDC] constantly accused the New Patriotic Party [NPP] of being corrupt and the accusation continued when President Mills government took office. Recently in Germany the founder of NDC in the person of Jerry John Rawlings is alleged to have called Kuffour a thieve in the presence of other African former heads of state. The NPP has been accused by the NDC for appropriating millions of dollars during the celebration of Ghana@50. The NPP has also been accused by its rival for making "profits" from the building of the Jubilee House built to house the presidency. The allegation has forced President Mills to delay moving into House.

The allegations against the NPP seem to go on by the day with P.C. Appiah Ofori a member of the NPP going public to accuse Members of Parliament belonging to the NPP. He accused them of receiving $5000 each during the sale of Ghana Telecom in which they were asked to vote to support the motion.

NDC also points out the loan secured by the son of former president Chief Kuffour could only have been granted due to his relationship with the father.

Again the NDC members say Dr. Richard Anane's corruption saga in which he was investigated and exonerated points to a deep seated corruption practices in the NPP.

NDC officials further stress that the investigation of Asamoah Boateng over award of contracts in his ministry is a clear manisfestation of what the NPP is best noted for. The arrest of former foreign minister Kwasi Osei-Adjei is another attestation of deep seated corruption in the former ruling party, NDC gurus claim.

Pointing to the 25,000 dollars registration fee paid by each of the 17 presidential candidates who contested for the flagbearership of the party as nothing more than looted public money, NDC officials say the $25,000 could only have come from illegal source and probably from the state coffers.

The NPP on the other hand has hit back and countered the NDC's accusations by pointing to the massive corruption scandals that marked the 11 years of PNDC and 8 years of NDC rule. They point to recent revelations that suggest the NDC transition team spent a whopping 3.61 billion cedis on tea and water within just two months after taking office. In I told you so style members of the NPP say NDC is only a reflection of an advanced cancer that cannot be cured. They point to recent media report that the NDC spent one million new Ghana cedis (about 10 billion old Ghana cedis) during President Obama's visit and questioned how the NDC could spend such amount in just under 24 hours.

The NPP spokespersons further point to a court ruling in Southwark Crown Court, London, United Kingdom in which a family company called Mabey & Johnson of UK admitted paying over four hundred and seventy thousand pounds in bribes to NDC officials in exchange for bridge contracts. It was revealed that the said corruption took place between 1994 and 1999 at a time when the current President of the Republic of Ghana President John Atta Mills was vice the president with Rawlings as president. They claim that the ruling is not only embarassing to the ruling government but also a dent on the image of Ghana as country. Kingpins of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government including Dr Sipa Yankey, Mr Kwame Peprah, Amadu Seidu and Dr Ato Quarshie were mentioned as having received bribes from the company.

The sum of money they received are as follows:
Ato Qarshie (former roads minister) £55,000
Amadu Seidu [former deputy roads minister £10,000
Edward Lord-Attivor (chairman inter-city transport corp) £10,000
Dr George Sepah-Yankey (health minister) £15,000

Boniface Sadique 40 thousand pounds

The NPP kinpins say the ruling proofs that the Fast Track High Court was right in jailing Dr Yankey and Mr Kwame Peprah who were convicted in the Quality Grain scandal, in which over $20million was paid to an American lady for the cultivation of rice at Aveyime in the Volta region. One NPP guru quoting from the Statesman said: "Former President Rawlings has always used the slightest opportunity to preach the virtues of instilling probity, accountability, integrity and ethics into Ghanaian politics. But this case of a British Company A little-known family who became one of the richest in Britain - accused of making excessive profits, by building what their critics call "bridges to nowhere", charged with corruptly influencing Ghanaian politicians and officials between 1994 and 1999 to gain bridge building contracts in Ghana, is a sudden twist of events". The NPP guru concludes that the case has destroyed the little political capital that the NDC had.

Another NPP activist also quoted from another paper saying: "The history of bribery among NDC officials is legendary. In 2002, the former Managing Director of Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL), Mr. Etienne Arthur Marie Popeler told an Accra Fast Track Court that he gave monies to Dan Abodakpi, the former Minister of Trade and Industry, Sherry Ayittey, Treasurer of the 31st December Women’s Movement and Mr. Emmanuel A. Agbodo, (former Executive Secretary) of the Divesture Implementation Committee (DIC) under the previous NDC Administration to influence the divestiture of GREL". The 51-year old Belgian said he paid $1 million bribe to the 31st December Women’s Movement (31st DWM), an NGO run by Rawlings’ wife, for his French company SIPH to secure GREL. Sherry Ayitey is back under the Mills-administration as Minister for Environment and Science.

NPP officials also point to revelations in Nigeria and Ghanaian newspapers that the Governor of Rivers State of Nigeria Mr. Rotimi Amaechi paid $3.5 million to ex-President Rawlings which was used to bankroll NDC's 2008 election campaign that brought them victory.

NPP supporters and officials contend that the NDC especially Rawlings and Asiedu Nketia are like a pot calling the kettle black and point to recent information in public domain that Mahama Ayariga the spokesperson for President Mills has illegally acquired five tractors meant for poor Ghanaian farmers. NPP officials say Ayariga took five tractors meant for underprivileged farmers and paid for only one whose price was further reduced for him.

The NPP officials say the NDC top brass should shut their buccal cavity because they have no moral right to accuse its members of corruption. Members of NPP claim that NDC shady deals are everywhere for all Ghanaians to see and say the trial of Scancem officials in Norway in 2007 in which they revealed that they paid millions of dollars to Jerry Rawlings and his wife through Unibank account in Luxemburg and Barclays bank account in Geneva, Switzerland show the extent in which corruption has become part and parcel of NDC leadership.

Some NPP bigwigs claim corruption is really in the DNA of NDC and they point to the revealation by the former director of Biwater Company in the UK that he paid 7000 pounds per child per term for Rawlings' children who went to study in the UK.

NPP members have further accused Muntaka of using his office as a charity home for his family buying pampas, khebab and travelling around with his girl friend at the cost of the Ghanaian tax payer. They point to Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak as the living proof and the real embodiment of NDC corruption in the current Mills administration.

NPP diehards further point to the bribery and corruption scandal hit the Rawlings administration in 1995/96 when CHRAJ conducted investigations into allegations of corruption and illegal acquisition of assets made against four ministers of state and some senior government officials. The case involved Col E.M Osei-Owusu (Rtd), a former Minister of the Interior; P.V. Obeng, Presidential Staffer, Ibrahim Adam, Minister for Agriculture and two others from the Agriculture Ministry and Adjei Marfo, Chief executive officer of a state owned company. NPP continues that the adverse findings made by the Commission against three of the officials and the infamous white issued by the Rawlings administration to cover up the malfeasance can only happen within the NDC and nowhere else.

NPP says corruption allegation levelled at current Foreign Minister Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni is only a tip of a herculian problem and a practice which is so common in the NDC that no one in the party has the moral courage to speak against it. NPP says an audit report from the Auditor General's office implicating Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni in financial malfeasance and wrong-doing makes the NDC and the government of Fiifi Mills a laughing stock in the international community especially when it comes to negotiations in financial matters.

The party says a speech by the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka during the second anniversary lecture in memory of the late nationalist, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin in Akure, Ondo State, in which he said: "I challenge President Olusegun Obasanjo to use his anti-corruption crusade in repatriating our monies looted by the military regimes and the $5 million money given to President Rawlings who joined hands with General Abacha in embracing the culture of corruption which has tainted Nigeria as a nation" is not only an indictment on the persoanlity, integrity and everything Rawlings and the NDC stand for or have stood for but is also an indelible mark that can never be erased and will go down in history as one of the most bastardly and disgraceful act ever committed by a sitting head of state of the Republic of Ghana.
NPP says the sudden and unexplained sacking of Victor Smith by Rawlings using a text message can only be explained by money that Smith did not allow Rawlings to receive from a Nigerian financier. During the last Ghana election, Rawlings got upset because Victor Smith directed a Nigeria financier who wanted to give money to Rawlings for NDC campaigns, but Victor Smith told the Nigerian to give it to the Mills campaign team. This made Rawlings to fire Smith by text message, telling him to seek employment at the Mills campaign team.

NPP says the millions of cedis that were found in the bedroom of former Attorney General and Minister of Justice of NDC in the person of Dr. Obed Asamoah only point to "the help yourself" government that existed before the NPP took over in 2000.

And as if that all these were not enough Nana Ohene-Ntow, the General Secretary of the NPP in a hot exchange with Kofi Adams has called on Jerry Rawlings t(he founder and a key member of NDC), to come clean if he is not corrupt. Nana Ohene-Ntow told Adams who doubles as the spokesperson for Rawlings and NDC Deputy Youth Organiser, "he [Rawlings] should tell Ghanaians how he got money to build his mansion at Agyirigannon, how he financed his children's fees abroad, and those who provided him the 4 wheel drive vehicles.If he fails to provide the hard facts, he should desist from disturbing the peace of this country".

With no ending sight to accusations and counter accusations of corruption in Ghana it is only Ghanaians who can say which party is the most corrupt in Ghana. Have your say.

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Guinean Women raped by the army

...ECOWAS, AU and UN must prosecute Guinea Junta leaders

...A woman being stripped naked by a member of the Guinean army

West African leaders must take swift action against the junta leaders in Guinea for the massacre of innocent civilians and the raping of women by the Guinean army. There are horrific account of women being raped, stripped naked and shot dead by the ruthless Guinean army as indicated by the picture above where a woman has been stripped naked by a soldier. There are eyewitness account that claim soldiers inserted guns into the private parts of women and then shot them dead.

How long must such unprovoked attacks and unwarranted human rights violations continue in Africa? Are African leaders going to stand aloof while unarmed civilians are being murdered? Is ECOWAS and the AU going to keep quite again while another power hungry soldier slowly becomes a dictator as we have seen in Gambia, Central Africa Republic, Burkina Fasso, Niger, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Mauritania?

Is it not time for the rest of the world to demand that the days of impunity and human rights violations cannot continue any longer? West African leaders must send a strong message to the junta leaders that such violation of people's right cannot go unpunished. They must send a team of investigators into Guinea immediately to investigate and bring those who committed the atrocities to justice.

Therefore the leadership in West Africa must demand that the perpetrators of the carnage be brought to book immediately. The junta leaders must be forced to relinquish power and not seek for election. They must organize free and fair election and then return to the barracks. If they fail to do it then they must all be referred to the International Criminal Court for action to be taken against these them. What happened in Mauritania a couple of months ago must not be allowed in Guinea. I call on ECOWAS and its military wing the ECOMOG to act now and send a strong message to the Moussa Camara and his team of barbarians that they are not safe anywhere. I call on Kofi Annan and the eminent leaders in Africa to step in and speak for the victims. For now they can do as they pleased but the long arm of international justice will get them one day.

Below is the sadistic murder of a man by a soldier.

by Lord A. Adusei