It is this childish behaviour on the part of traditional and political leaders that has made central region one of the poorest in the country despite all the good schools in that region. Is Osabarima Kwesi Atta really Osabarima? I doubt it. If he is why did he have to pretend as if he is not a man for all his people but only for NDC?
As for Mills I am beginning to doubt his ability to take decisions not based on the crazy and childish NDC ideas. What did Mills gain personally and politically for sidelining the opposition? Did it put money in the pockets of Ghanaians? Did it supply water and electricity to the impoverish people of the central region? Did it reduce the high cost of energy and fuel prices or improve the shortage of gas in the country? The behaviour of Mills and his lieutenants show that they have still not grown up so far as politics, national unity and national development are concerned.
I wish Mills could put his professorial skills into use and refuse to dance to the tune of the little minds that surround him.
The decision of Osabarima Kwesi Atta and Mills to sideline the opposition was very immature.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Ghana:24th February--A Dark Day In Our National History
February is here hence it is not surprising that important news items of our historical past have started dominating the news items both at home and on the web. First this month is declared across the globe as African heritage month, it is the month in which a holiday in memory of Martin Luther king is observed, it is the month in which the death of J. B Danquah is commemorated but sad of all it is the month in which Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in the first coup d' tat in our country.
Since the Overthrow of Kwame, we have been treated with various theories to justify his removal from office; Kwame was accused of abusing human rights and undermining civil liberties of every Ghanaian. His economic and social policies were undoubtedly the best our country ever had yet every effort is made to discredit the man whose fame and popularity grows with every generation of Africans.
Ironically, the more Kwame opponents dead and alive try to discredit him, the more they endear him to young and growing Africans. For those of us who knew not this world at the times of Nkrumah but have come to admire him, it is because we have gone beyond the conspiracy theories in Ghana crafted purposely to undermine him in history, to search for alternative answers. Thankfully the real truth is now emerging. Gradually American declassification secret documents would lead to names being mentioned for our objective judgement.
Given that abuse of civil liberties is often cited as the main reason for the overthrow of Nkrumah as seen in among other documents, General Ankrah?s declassified letter to Lyndon Johnson, it is proper to ask, why is Kwame Nkrumah who began as a democrat took such draconic measures to silence opposition to his government? To begin, we must acknowledge that abuse of civil liberties in whatever form is wrong and condemnable, however, it is equally important to understand the events in Ghana at the time, against the background that several attempts were made at Kwame Nkrumah's life by some power hungry individuals who eventually became the beneficiaries of his downfall. It cannot be denied that bombs were thrown at Nkrumah on more than one occasion, and there were both covert and overt plans to undermine his regime and national stability by forces within aided by forces without from the very moment Richard Nixon asked the famous question 'will it work'. Those who cherish their civil liberties as granted by the state, must know that national leaders who protect ours, also deserve to have their rights and liberties, which when threatened, the response could be catastrophic; this fact is often forgotten when the story of Kwame is told.
One is yet to see any government who failed to responds in like manner or who acted differently, when threatened. In the world today, George Bush who prides himself as the leader of the free world is going down in history as the American President who presided over the worse human right and civil liberty abuses in the world. Thousands of human beings are being held in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guatanamo bay near Cuba and in fact in the US itself, without any lawful trial as a response to the threats posed by Osama Bin Ladin and his cohorts. The patriot Act passed in the US in response to 9/11 is more draconic and dangerous than Kwame Nkrumah?s Preventive Detention Act (PDA); both are simply unacceptable and inhuman.
The Americans who masterminded the overthrow of Nkrumah certainly had motives other that Nkrumah?s perceived or real dictatorship. Their motive was to destroy our young and industrialising nation, as well as demoralise the visions of all independent African states. This they succeeded in doing with the assistance of what Kwame himself called ?certain unpatriotic sons of Africa.? Reading the declassified letter General Ankrah wrote to Lyndon Johnson, one cannot help but bow his head in shame. In fact 24th February is our national day of shame. In the face of other declassified documents, it is apparent now that, that letter was written by CIA agent-- Howard Banes in Ghana for General Ankrah to sign in order to insulate America against future consequences of the coup.
In view of the publication of Ankrah?s letter; president John Kufour's second inaugural comments on Richard Nixon?s question to his British counterpart; continuing attempts to vilify Nkrumah by certain individuals and groups for political reasons; and calculated steps to project his opponents to near sainthood, it is proper that Ghanaians and Africans are told what other US declassified documents about the overthrow of Nkrumah contained. Much of this is published by the New African** which posited that ?Ghana's attempt to lift itself from agrarian poverty to a shinning example of African industrialisation was frustrated and finally killed off. Nkrumah inaugurated the Akosombo Dam on 26 January 1966. A month later 'on 24 February 1966' he was overthrown in a military coup masterminded by America in collaboration with Britain and France (according to former CIA officers who have written books about it, and recent declassified American government documents). The documents, declassified at the end of 1999 but recently made public, show that the American government started talking about Nkrumah's overthrow as far back as 6 February 1964 ' two full years before the actual event' when the then secretary of state Dean Rusk and the CIA Director John McCone met and picked the Ghanaian general, J.A. Ankrah, as the man to take over from Nkrumah.
From that meeting, the action snowballed into America recruiting Britain and France to help break the back of Ghana's economy by manipulating it from afar, in order to create disaffection among the Ghanaian people and hasten Nkrumah's downfall. The declassified American documents show that on 6 February 1964, William C. Trimble, the then director of the State Department's West African desk, wrote a memo entitled 'Proposed Action Programme for Ghana' to the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, G. Mennen Williams, saying: Although Nkrumah's leftward progress cannot be checked or reversed, it could be slowed down by a well conceived and executed action programme. Measures which we might take against Nkrumah would have to be carefully selected in order not to weaken pro-Western elements in Ghana or adversely affect our prestige and influence elsewhere on the continent.' Trimble continued: 'US pressure, if appropriately applied, could induce a chain reaction, eventually leading to Nkrumah's downfall. Chances of success would be greatly enhanced if the British could be induced to act in concert with us.
?Intensive efforts should be made through psychological warfare and other means to diminish support for Nkrumah within Ghana and nurture the conviction among the Ghanaian people that their country's welfare and independence necessitate his removal.' On 12 February 1964, a high-powered American-British meeting on Nkrumah was held at the White House, attended by (on the American side) President Lynden Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Under-Secretary of State Harriman, and Special Assistant to the President on National Security Affairs, McGeorge Bundy. On the British side were Prime Minister Douglas-Home and Foreign Secretary Butler. 'One could not be sure how long Nkrumah would last,' Butler said at the meeting, according to the minutes recently released with the declassified American documents. On 26 February 1964, another meeting on Nkrumah was held at the White House. Present this time were the CIA director McCone, his close friend Edgar Kaiser (the same man working with Nkrumah on the Volta River Project), and William P. Mahoney, the US ambassador in Accra. The declassified documents record McCone as saying at the meeting: ?I asked Ambassador Mahoney if he felt that the CIA was operating independently of his office [in Accra]? Mahoney answered absolutely and positively no.'
Mahoney returned to Accra after the meeting and went to see Nkrumah on 2 March 1964. According to the declassified documents, he reported back to Washington, thus: 'I said [told Nkrumah] that I am in full control of all US government activities in Ghana. I could assure him without hesitation that during my incumbency absolutely nothing has been done by any US agency, which could be construed in any way as being directed against him or his government. Nkrumah replied with words to the effect: 'I will take your word for it' Mahoney continued: 'I repeated that there had been no conceivable activity on our part to subvert or overthrow him. I pointed out how inconsistent our entire aid effort, aimed at assisting and strengthening his government is, with wild accusations in [the] Ghanaian press that the US [is] acting against him. 'I added that, speaking frankly, our main intelligence effort is to keep an eye on his Soviet and Chinese friends, whose activities are really large scale? [Al beginning has been made in effort to dispel some of Nkrumah's misconstructions on [the] role of CIA, [but] pressure should be kept up.? On 23 March 1964, Mahoney again sent a telegram to Washington, saying: 'I believe someone has to keep hammering him [meaning Nkrumah].? On 9 April 1964, acting on Mahoney's advice, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, G. Mennem Williams, wrote an action memo to the under-secretary of state, Harriman, saying the US should ?keep continuing pressure on [Nkrumah] to maintain his relations with the US on a tolerable basis' We shall consult with the British in the next few days to discuss what contribution they may be able to make in this area.'
On 11 March 1965, the CIA director McCone and others, including Ambassador Mahoney met in McCone's office to take the 'Nkrumah project' a step further. According to the declassified documents, the topic was: ?Coup d'etat plot, Ghana?. The minutes of that meeting show Mahoney telling McCone that Western pressure was working against Nkrumah. 'Popular opinion was running strongly against Nkrumah,' Mahoney said, ?and the economy of the country was in a precarious state.' However, Mahoney was ?not convinced that the coup d'?tat now being planned by Acting Police Commissioner J.W.K. Harlley, and Generals Otu and Ankrah would necessarily take place?. Yet, he (Mahoney) was sure that 'one way or another, Nkrumah would be out within a year'. According to the minutes, McCone asked Mahoney: 'Who would most likely succeed Nkrumah in the event of a coup?? The answer: ?Ambassador Mahoney stated that initially, at least, a military junta would take over.'
Mahoney was supported by Robert W. Komer who had replaced McGeorge Bundy as President Johnson's assistant for national security affairs. An old CIA hand, Komer, according to the declassified documents, advised his bosses, thus: ?We may have a pro-Western coup in Ghana soon. Certain key military and police figures have been planning one for some time, and Ghana's deteriorating economic condition may provide the spark. ?The plotters are keeping us briefed, and State [Department] thinks we're more on the inside than the British. While we're not directly involved, (I'm told) we and other Western countries (including France) have been helping to set up the situation by ignoring Nkrumah's pleas for economic aid' All in all, looks good.' Soon after the New Year 1966, having finished his job of softening the ground, Ambassador William Mahoney was recalled home. In his place, Washington sent an African-American: Ambassador Franklin H. Williams, who was Nkrumah's mate at Lincoln University (the Class of 1941).
Williams was barely two months in Accra when the coup happened, on 24 February 1966 while Nkrumah was en route to Hanoi via Beijing on a peace mission (sanctioned by President Lynden Johnson himself) to stop the Vietnam War. Nkrumah never forgave Ambassador Williams ? his mate at university and a fellow black man. In his book, Dark Days In Ghana, Nkrumah said Ambassador Williams' ?treachery provides a sharp reminder of the insidious ways in which the enemies of Africa can operate. In the US, the ?Uncle Tom? figure is well known. We have mercifully seen less of him in Africa.' On 21 July 1969, Dr Marvin Wachmann who was about to leave as president of Lincoln University, wrote to Nkrumah then in exile in Guinea, saying: ?As I prepare to leave, I would like to write a word on behalf of Franklin H. Williams of the Class of 1941? Mr Williams is a very bouncy and vigorous individual, and I have never seen him so crushed as he has been, concerning your feelings that he was involved in some way in the episodes in Ghana. He has assured me, personally, that he had no knowledge of the coup.' Not very amused, Nkrumah told June Milne, his research assistant for 15 years and later publisher: 'It is extremely unlikely that Williams did not know what was going on in the embassy with CIA officers operating from there.'
Nkrumah's viewpoint was supported by the former Ivorian president, Felix Houphouet Boigny, in an interview with Paris-based magazine, Jeune Afrique, published on 4 February 1981. He told the magazine: ?Destablisation is not a new thing. Did you know why Idi Amin made his coup in 1972? It was not he who did it, but the British. He did not even know what he wanted himself. It was the same in Ghana when the military overthrew Nkrumah. They [the Ghanaian coupmakers] came to see me. I asked them why. They replied: ?All is not well any more.? Is that all? [I asked them]. I also asked them what they were going to do; they did not know. People outside knew it for them.? On 12 March 1966, less then three weeks after the Ghana coup, Robert W. Komer, the then special assistant to President Johnson on national security, wrote a congratulatory assessment to the president, saying: 'The coup in Ghana is another example of a fortuitous windfall. Nkrumah was doing more to undermine our interests than any other black African. In reaction to his strongly pro-Communist leanings, the new military regime [in Accra] is almost pathetically pro-Western.'
After the coup, Western journalists descended on Accra to mock Nkrumah. The BBC 'Black Power' documentary picks up the story from here? Howard Banes who was the CIA station chief in Accra engineered the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah. Now, obviously, you can look at it in different ways. A Ghanaian might say I thought we did it. Inside the CIA, though, it was quite clear. Howard Banes had a double promotion and an Intelligence Star for having overthrown Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana. The magic of it, what made it so exciting for the CIA, was that Howard Banes had had enough imagination and drive to run the operation without ever documenting what he was doing, and to sweep along his bosses in such a way, that they never knew what he was doing, tacitly they approved, but there wasn't one shred of paper that he generated that would nail the CIA hierarchy as being responsible. In the late 1960s, Western journalists travelled to Ghana to pick up the bones of Nkrumah's industrial experiment. Their contentious reports seemed to confirm to the West a new myth of Africa, a continent unable to handle the complex pressures of industrialisation. Immediately following the coup both western journalist and their local agents treated Ghanaians and the world to various theories explaining the Nkrumah?s overthrow. Ghanaians and the world was made to understand that the Kwame wasted our national resources and money on irrelevant national projects like the 12 miles Accra-Tema motorway, the Black Star Square, the Akosombo Dam and the State House among others. Unfortunately, many Ghanaians including our own president, J A. Kufour bought into this theory.
It is ironic and sad to see President Kufour stand on the grounds of the very Black Star Square considered as one of Nkrumah?s waste projects, and repeat his adherence to the Nkrumah-Waste Theory; when he claimed Ghana was rich at independence but all the money was wasted. Mr. President, I beg to defer, as New African** puts it, ?even the most strident opponent of Nkrumah agrees that the Tema Motorway, the State House (or Job 600), and the Black Star Square were no 'white elephants'. They were a necessary part of the national infrastructure that had to be built at one point or another. Today, all parades, big national events and presidential inaugurations, including those of Presidents Hilla Limann (1979), Jerry Rawlings (1992 & 1996), and John Kufuor (2001), are held at the Black Star Square. The Tema Motorway, serving the country's main in-bound port, is still the best piece of road in the country. Without it, the Tema port will be useless. Today, Kaiser's smelter at Tema still operates on cheap electricity from the Akosombo Dam. Almost all the 68 state-owned factories in existence at Nkrumah's overthrow have now been sold off to private operators, mostly Westerners and Asians from the Far-East, as part of the IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programme. And the country has been declared an HIPC ' Highly Indebted Poor Country' Perhaps Nkrumah would also divest these state-owned institutions to private hands under today's circumstances but certainly not to foreign hands. His believe in the Ghanaian and African people; would have given our privatization an indigenous outlook.
Ankrah sounded in his letter dated 24 March 1966, (exactly one month after the Kotoka Coup) to Lynden Johnson, as if Johnson knew nothing about Ghana?s coup. As you can deduce from this piece, Ankrah is not only a hypocrite here, but was also used to serve American interest. In any case why did Ankrah find it necessary to write and explain the circumstances to Johnson? Who do they think they were fooling? But Ankrah is only a small fish among bigger ones. With time, the names of those individuals who were on the CIA payroll to subvert our national pride, would all be made public, then we shall examine the sincerity of all those who claim to be acting on our behalf when they helped throw bombs at Kwame. It was naive for General Ankrah and his men to think that US was helping them fight a just cause when at the time the US itself was paying lip-services to the civil liberties and rights of African-Americans, segregating against blacks in public places. When shall we learn? When shall we allow the common good of all to supersede individual interest? Didn't the US assassinate or if you like stage a coup to topple John F. Kennedy (JFK) for his overt desire to grant civil liberties to African-Americans? It is not surprising that Lynden Johnson, who succeeded JFK, after the American coup, presided over the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah as can be deduced from Ankrah?s letter published earlier by Ghanaweb: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=74716
It is already established that nothing can erase the memory of Kwame Nkrumah from the annals of Ghana and Africa. At the close of last millennium, then almost 30 years after his death, he was voted the greatest African of the melinninum by a BBC survey and opinon poll. At the moment he is not surpassed as the most prolific writer and author of all African leaders past and present. In addition, no African leader has as yet matched the continuing research and publications devoted to studying the visions, ideas and philosophy of Nkrumah. There are thousands of websites devoted to studying and spreading the ideals of Nkrumah by scholars and students of various persuasions cross the globe. It is about time Ghanaians are treated with the truth about Nkrumah; for the more remnants of his detractors try to vilify him, the more he is deified by present generations of Africa. If Kwame Nkrumah continues to receive such great admiration and reverence from people of all walks of life against the background that when he was overthrown, his statues were demolished, his party was banned, and his books and other publications were removed from shelves in libraries and bookstores and destroyed, then, we must ask; what has endeared him to growing generations of Ghanaians like myself and other Africans? We must acknowledge Kwame as our hero, and the symbol of our national unity and nationhood. Many colleague African students I have met in North America have always wished that Kwame was of their nationality. Jama Mohamed Ghalib, a Kenyan commenting on Kwame Nkrumah as the greatest son of Africa in September 2004 No. 19 edition of the New African had this to say ?most Africans acknowledged Nkrumah as unequalled inspiring genius and political thinker. He deserves to be remembered as the true son of Africa?the only country where opinion may still be divided about him is Ghana itself.'*** Isn't it sad that others perceive us this way'
Certainly not every Ghanaian would have the opportunity to do as much as Nkrumah did for our part of the world. By the dictates of our democratic system, only few will chance upon that moment. Currently president Kufour has that opportunity to prove to all Ghanaians that given eight years, he can do more than Kwame did in nine years. Instead of spending your good time on casting insinuation at Nkrumah, Mr. President, focus on what is most important to the Ghanaian people and never forget that history will also judge you. If you have any concerns about Nkrumah, it must be how to surpass his great achievements and not casting slur on his personality and period. Irrespective of what you think of Kwame, you cannot change his place is history. And please be remaindered that those who live in glass houses must not through stones. If you are happy to be the Ghanaian president that will preside over the 50 years independence celebrations in Ghana, you must be thankful to Kwame. Mr. President, your comments in more recent times at certain public gatherings are unlike you. Power could sometimes make you forget your true self and the principles you aspire to in life. Just never lose your consciousness and sense of good judgment. In additional you must learn a few lessons from events of the 1966 coup and let your actions, and particularly your dealing with the Americans be guided by the interest of Ghanaians. America is capable of undermining your good intentions and influencing your government even against our national interest. Above all, know that thirty years from now, America will declassify all your communications and dealing with them, then we and our children and their children will pass a historical judgment of your government. You have a lot to learn from the on-going declassification of secret American documents on events relating to our country's past. Now that Eyadema is also dead, let us hope France will begin to declassify, then we shall put all the pieces together to form the whole. Ankrah?s hypocrisy, Kotoka?s naivety are stabs in our hearts; let us resolve never again to allow deceit, lies and self interest override our collective good.
Since the Overthrow of Kwame, we have been treated with various theories to justify his removal from office; Kwame was accused of abusing human rights and undermining civil liberties of every Ghanaian. His economic and social policies were undoubtedly the best our country ever had yet every effort is made to discredit the man whose fame and popularity grows with every generation of Africans.
Ironically, the more Kwame opponents dead and alive try to discredit him, the more they endear him to young and growing Africans. For those of us who knew not this world at the times of Nkrumah but have come to admire him, it is because we have gone beyond the conspiracy theories in Ghana crafted purposely to undermine him in history, to search for alternative answers. Thankfully the real truth is now emerging. Gradually American declassification secret documents would lead to names being mentioned for our objective judgement.
Given that abuse of civil liberties is often cited as the main reason for the overthrow of Nkrumah as seen in among other documents, General Ankrah?s declassified letter to Lyndon Johnson, it is proper to ask, why is Kwame Nkrumah who began as a democrat took such draconic measures to silence opposition to his government? To begin, we must acknowledge that abuse of civil liberties in whatever form is wrong and condemnable, however, it is equally important to understand the events in Ghana at the time, against the background that several attempts were made at Kwame Nkrumah's life by some power hungry individuals who eventually became the beneficiaries of his downfall. It cannot be denied that bombs were thrown at Nkrumah on more than one occasion, and there were both covert and overt plans to undermine his regime and national stability by forces within aided by forces without from the very moment Richard Nixon asked the famous question 'will it work'. Those who cherish their civil liberties as granted by the state, must know that national leaders who protect ours, also deserve to have their rights and liberties, which when threatened, the response could be catastrophic; this fact is often forgotten when the story of Kwame is told.
One is yet to see any government who failed to responds in like manner or who acted differently, when threatened. In the world today, George Bush who prides himself as the leader of the free world is going down in history as the American President who presided over the worse human right and civil liberty abuses in the world. Thousands of human beings are being held in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guatanamo bay near Cuba and in fact in the US itself, without any lawful trial as a response to the threats posed by Osama Bin Ladin and his cohorts. The patriot Act passed in the US in response to 9/11 is more draconic and dangerous than Kwame Nkrumah?s Preventive Detention Act (PDA); both are simply unacceptable and inhuman.
The Americans who masterminded the overthrow of Nkrumah certainly had motives other that Nkrumah?s perceived or real dictatorship. Their motive was to destroy our young and industrialising nation, as well as demoralise the visions of all independent African states. This they succeeded in doing with the assistance of what Kwame himself called ?certain unpatriotic sons of Africa.? Reading the declassified letter General Ankrah wrote to Lyndon Johnson, one cannot help but bow his head in shame. In fact 24th February is our national day of shame. In the face of other declassified documents, it is apparent now that, that letter was written by CIA agent-- Howard Banes in Ghana for General Ankrah to sign in order to insulate America against future consequences of the coup.
In view of the publication of Ankrah?s letter; president John Kufour's second inaugural comments on Richard Nixon?s question to his British counterpart; continuing attempts to vilify Nkrumah by certain individuals and groups for political reasons; and calculated steps to project his opponents to near sainthood, it is proper that Ghanaians and Africans are told what other US declassified documents about the overthrow of Nkrumah contained. Much of this is published by the New African** which posited that ?Ghana's attempt to lift itself from agrarian poverty to a shinning example of African industrialisation was frustrated and finally killed off. Nkrumah inaugurated the Akosombo Dam on 26 January 1966. A month later 'on 24 February 1966' he was overthrown in a military coup masterminded by America in collaboration with Britain and France (according to former CIA officers who have written books about it, and recent declassified American government documents). The documents, declassified at the end of 1999 but recently made public, show that the American government started talking about Nkrumah's overthrow as far back as 6 February 1964 ' two full years before the actual event' when the then secretary of state Dean Rusk and the CIA Director John McCone met and picked the Ghanaian general, J.A. Ankrah, as the man to take over from Nkrumah.
From that meeting, the action snowballed into America recruiting Britain and France to help break the back of Ghana's economy by manipulating it from afar, in order to create disaffection among the Ghanaian people and hasten Nkrumah's downfall. The declassified American documents show that on 6 February 1964, William C. Trimble, the then director of the State Department's West African desk, wrote a memo entitled 'Proposed Action Programme for Ghana' to the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, G. Mennen Williams, saying: Although Nkrumah's leftward progress cannot be checked or reversed, it could be slowed down by a well conceived and executed action programme. Measures which we might take against Nkrumah would have to be carefully selected in order not to weaken pro-Western elements in Ghana or adversely affect our prestige and influence elsewhere on the continent.' Trimble continued: 'US pressure, if appropriately applied, could induce a chain reaction, eventually leading to Nkrumah's downfall. Chances of success would be greatly enhanced if the British could be induced to act in concert with us.
?Intensive efforts should be made through psychological warfare and other means to diminish support for Nkrumah within Ghana and nurture the conviction among the Ghanaian people that their country's welfare and independence necessitate his removal.' On 12 February 1964, a high-powered American-British meeting on Nkrumah was held at the White House, attended by (on the American side) President Lynden Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Under-Secretary of State Harriman, and Special Assistant to the President on National Security Affairs, McGeorge Bundy. On the British side were Prime Minister Douglas-Home and Foreign Secretary Butler. 'One could not be sure how long Nkrumah would last,' Butler said at the meeting, according to the minutes recently released with the declassified American documents. On 26 February 1964, another meeting on Nkrumah was held at the White House. Present this time were the CIA director McCone, his close friend Edgar Kaiser (the same man working with Nkrumah on the Volta River Project), and William P. Mahoney, the US ambassador in Accra. The declassified documents record McCone as saying at the meeting: ?I asked Ambassador Mahoney if he felt that the CIA was operating independently of his office [in Accra]? Mahoney answered absolutely and positively no.'
Mahoney returned to Accra after the meeting and went to see Nkrumah on 2 March 1964. According to the declassified documents, he reported back to Washington, thus: 'I said [told Nkrumah] that I am in full control of all US government activities in Ghana. I could assure him without hesitation that during my incumbency absolutely nothing has been done by any US agency, which could be construed in any way as being directed against him or his government. Nkrumah replied with words to the effect: 'I will take your word for it' Mahoney continued: 'I repeated that there had been no conceivable activity on our part to subvert or overthrow him. I pointed out how inconsistent our entire aid effort, aimed at assisting and strengthening his government is, with wild accusations in [the] Ghanaian press that the US [is] acting against him. 'I added that, speaking frankly, our main intelligence effort is to keep an eye on his Soviet and Chinese friends, whose activities are really large scale? [Al beginning has been made in effort to dispel some of Nkrumah's misconstructions on [the] role of CIA, [but] pressure should be kept up.? On 23 March 1964, Mahoney again sent a telegram to Washington, saying: 'I believe someone has to keep hammering him [meaning Nkrumah].? On 9 April 1964, acting on Mahoney's advice, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, G. Mennem Williams, wrote an action memo to the under-secretary of state, Harriman, saying the US should ?keep continuing pressure on [Nkrumah] to maintain his relations with the US on a tolerable basis' We shall consult with the British in the next few days to discuss what contribution they may be able to make in this area.'
On 11 March 1965, the CIA director McCone and others, including Ambassador Mahoney met in McCone's office to take the 'Nkrumah project' a step further. According to the declassified documents, the topic was: ?Coup d'etat plot, Ghana?. The minutes of that meeting show Mahoney telling McCone that Western pressure was working against Nkrumah. 'Popular opinion was running strongly against Nkrumah,' Mahoney said, ?and the economy of the country was in a precarious state.' However, Mahoney was ?not convinced that the coup d'?tat now being planned by Acting Police Commissioner J.W.K. Harlley, and Generals Otu and Ankrah would necessarily take place?. Yet, he (Mahoney) was sure that 'one way or another, Nkrumah would be out within a year'. According to the minutes, McCone asked Mahoney: 'Who would most likely succeed Nkrumah in the event of a coup?? The answer: ?Ambassador Mahoney stated that initially, at least, a military junta would take over.'
Mahoney was supported by Robert W. Komer who had replaced McGeorge Bundy as President Johnson's assistant for national security affairs. An old CIA hand, Komer, according to the declassified documents, advised his bosses, thus: ?We may have a pro-Western coup in Ghana soon. Certain key military and police figures have been planning one for some time, and Ghana's deteriorating economic condition may provide the spark. ?The plotters are keeping us briefed, and State [Department] thinks we're more on the inside than the British. While we're not directly involved, (I'm told) we and other Western countries (including France) have been helping to set up the situation by ignoring Nkrumah's pleas for economic aid' All in all, looks good.' Soon after the New Year 1966, having finished his job of softening the ground, Ambassador William Mahoney was recalled home. In his place, Washington sent an African-American: Ambassador Franklin H. Williams, who was Nkrumah's mate at Lincoln University (the Class of 1941).
Williams was barely two months in Accra when the coup happened, on 24 February 1966 while Nkrumah was en route to Hanoi via Beijing on a peace mission (sanctioned by President Lynden Johnson himself) to stop the Vietnam War. Nkrumah never forgave Ambassador Williams ? his mate at university and a fellow black man. In his book, Dark Days In Ghana, Nkrumah said Ambassador Williams' ?treachery provides a sharp reminder of the insidious ways in which the enemies of Africa can operate. In the US, the ?Uncle Tom? figure is well known. We have mercifully seen less of him in Africa.' On 21 July 1969, Dr Marvin Wachmann who was about to leave as president of Lincoln University, wrote to Nkrumah then in exile in Guinea, saying: ?As I prepare to leave, I would like to write a word on behalf of Franklin H. Williams of the Class of 1941? Mr Williams is a very bouncy and vigorous individual, and I have never seen him so crushed as he has been, concerning your feelings that he was involved in some way in the episodes in Ghana. He has assured me, personally, that he had no knowledge of the coup.' Not very amused, Nkrumah told June Milne, his research assistant for 15 years and later publisher: 'It is extremely unlikely that Williams did not know what was going on in the embassy with CIA officers operating from there.'
Nkrumah's viewpoint was supported by the former Ivorian president, Felix Houphouet Boigny, in an interview with Paris-based magazine, Jeune Afrique, published on 4 February 1981. He told the magazine: ?Destablisation is not a new thing. Did you know why Idi Amin made his coup in 1972? It was not he who did it, but the British. He did not even know what he wanted himself. It was the same in Ghana when the military overthrew Nkrumah. They [the Ghanaian coupmakers] came to see me. I asked them why. They replied: ?All is not well any more.? Is that all? [I asked them]. I also asked them what they were going to do; they did not know. People outside knew it for them.? On 12 March 1966, less then three weeks after the Ghana coup, Robert W. Komer, the then special assistant to President Johnson on national security, wrote a congratulatory assessment to the president, saying: 'The coup in Ghana is another example of a fortuitous windfall. Nkrumah was doing more to undermine our interests than any other black African. In reaction to his strongly pro-Communist leanings, the new military regime [in Accra] is almost pathetically pro-Western.'
After the coup, Western journalists descended on Accra to mock Nkrumah. The BBC 'Black Power' documentary picks up the story from here? Howard Banes who was the CIA station chief in Accra engineered the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah. Now, obviously, you can look at it in different ways. A Ghanaian might say I thought we did it. Inside the CIA, though, it was quite clear. Howard Banes had a double promotion and an Intelligence Star for having overthrown Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana. The magic of it, what made it so exciting for the CIA, was that Howard Banes had had enough imagination and drive to run the operation without ever documenting what he was doing, and to sweep along his bosses in such a way, that they never knew what he was doing, tacitly they approved, but there wasn't one shred of paper that he generated that would nail the CIA hierarchy as being responsible. In the late 1960s, Western journalists travelled to Ghana to pick up the bones of Nkrumah's industrial experiment. Their contentious reports seemed to confirm to the West a new myth of Africa, a continent unable to handle the complex pressures of industrialisation. Immediately following the coup both western journalist and their local agents treated Ghanaians and the world to various theories explaining the Nkrumah?s overthrow. Ghanaians and the world was made to understand that the Kwame wasted our national resources and money on irrelevant national projects like the 12 miles Accra-Tema motorway, the Black Star Square, the Akosombo Dam and the State House among others. Unfortunately, many Ghanaians including our own president, J A. Kufour bought into this theory.
It is ironic and sad to see President Kufour stand on the grounds of the very Black Star Square considered as one of Nkrumah?s waste projects, and repeat his adherence to the Nkrumah-Waste Theory; when he claimed Ghana was rich at independence but all the money was wasted. Mr. President, I beg to defer, as New African** puts it, ?even the most strident opponent of Nkrumah agrees that the Tema Motorway, the State House (or Job 600), and the Black Star Square were no 'white elephants'. They were a necessary part of the national infrastructure that had to be built at one point or another. Today, all parades, big national events and presidential inaugurations, including those of Presidents Hilla Limann (1979), Jerry Rawlings (1992 & 1996), and John Kufuor (2001), are held at the Black Star Square. The Tema Motorway, serving the country's main in-bound port, is still the best piece of road in the country. Without it, the Tema port will be useless. Today, Kaiser's smelter at Tema still operates on cheap electricity from the Akosombo Dam. Almost all the 68 state-owned factories in existence at Nkrumah's overthrow have now been sold off to private operators, mostly Westerners and Asians from the Far-East, as part of the IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programme. And the country has been declared an HIPC ' Highly Indebted Poor Country' Perhaps Nkrumah would also divest these state-owned institutions to private hands under today's circumstances but certainly not to foreign hands. His believe in the Ghanaian and African people; would have given our privatization an indigenous outlook.
Ankrah sounded in his letter dated 24 March 1966, (exactly one month after the Kotoka Coup) to Lynden Johnson, as if Johnson knew nothing about Ghana?s coup. As you can deduce from this piece, Ankrah is not only a hypocrite here, but was also used to serve American interest. In any case why did Ankrah find it necessary to write and explain the circumstances to Johnson? Who do they think they were fooling? But Ankrah is only a small fish among bigger ones. With time, the names of those individuals who were on the CIA payroll to subvert our national pride, would all be made public, then we shall examine the sincerity of all those who claim to be acting on our behalf when they helped throw bombs at Kwame. It was naive for General Ankrah and his men to think that US was helping them fight a just cause when at the time the US itself was paying lip-services to the civil liberties and rights of African-Americans, segregating against blacks in public places. When shall we learn? When shall we allow the common good of all to supersede individual interest? Didn't the US assassinate or if you like stage a coup to topple John F. Kennedy (JFK) for his overt desire to grant civil liberties to African-Americans? It is not surprising that Lynden Johnson, who succeeded JFK, after the American coup, presided over the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah as can be deduced from Ankrah?s letter published earlier by Ghanaweb: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=74716
It is already established that nothing can erase the memory of Kwame Nkrumah from the annals of Ghana and Africa. At the close of last millennium, then almost 30 years after his death, he was voted the greatest African of the melinninum by a BBC survey and opinon poll. At the moment he is not surpassed as the most prolific writer and author of all African leaders past and present. In addition, no African leader has as yet matched the continuing research and publications devoted to studying the visions, ideas and philosophy of Nkrumah. There are thousands of websites devoted to studying and spreading the ideals of Nkrumah by scholars and students of various persuasions cross the globe. It is about time Ghanaians are treated with the truth about Nkrumah; for the more remnants of his detractors try to vilify him, the more he is deified by present generations of Africa. If Kwame Nkrumah continues to receive such great admiration and reverence from people of all walks of life against the background that when he was overthrown, his statues were demolished, his party was banned, and his books and other publications were removed from shelves in libraries and bookstores and destroyed, then, we must ask; what has endeared him to growing generations of Ghanaians like myself and other Africans? We must acknowledge Kwame as our hero, and the symbol of our national unity and nationhood. Many colleague African students I have met in North America have always wished that Kwame was of their nationality. Jama Mohamed Ghalib, a Kenyan commenting on Kwame Nkrumah as the greatest son of Africa in September 2004 No. 19 edition of the New African had this to say ?most Africans acknowledged Nkrumah as unequalled inspiring genius and political thinker. He deserves to be remembered as the true son of Africa?the only country where opinion may still be divided about him is Ghana itself.'*** Isn't it sad that others perceive us this way'
Certainly not every Ghanaian would have the opportunity to do as much as Nkrumah did for our part of the world. By the dictates of our democratic system, only few will chance upon that moment. Currently president Kufour has that opportunity to prove to all Ghanaians that given eight years, he can do more than Kwame did in nine years. Instead of spending your good time on casting insinuation at Nkrumah, Mr. President, focus on what is most important to the Ghanaian people and never forget that history will also judge you. If you have any concerns about Nkrumah, it must be how to surpass his great achievements and not casting slur on his personality and period. Irrespective of what you think of Kwame, you cannot change his place is history. And please be remaindered that those who live in glass houses must not through stones. If you are happy to be the Ghanaian president that will preside over the 50 years independence celebrations in Ghana, you must be thankful to Kwame. Mr. President, your comments in more recent times at certain public gatherings are unlike you. Power could sometimes make you forget your true self and the principles you aspire to in life. Just never lose your consciousness and sense of good judgment. In additional you must learn a few lessons from events of the 1966 coup and let your actions, and particularly your dealing with the Americans be guided by the interest of Ghanaians. America is capable of undermining your good intentions and influencing your government even against our national interest. Above all, know that thirty years from now, America will declassify all your communications and dealing with them, then we and our children and their children will pass a historical judgment of your government. You have a lot to learn from the on-going declassification of secret American documents on events relating to our country's past. Now that Eyadema is also dead, let us hope France will begin to declassify, then we shall put all the pieces together to form the whole. Ankrah?s hypocrisy, Kotoka?s naivety are stabs in our hearts; let us resolve never again to allow deceit, lies and self interest override our collective good.
** New African, Feb2002 Issue 404, p20, 6p, 5bw
*** New African, September 2004 No. 19
*** New African, September 2004 No. 19
Friday, August 6, 2010
Ghana: Making Sense of our Democracy
The status of Ghana Ghana as the pacesetter of Africa politics. It is fair to say that Ghana ’s current democracy which begun in 1992 has come with peace and stability that has made Ghana South Africa has added momentum to the worldwide view that Ghana
The essence of democracy is to elect leaders who will manage the country to provide security, energy, housing, education, transport, health and telecommunication infrastructures that the citizens can take advantage of to improve their living conditions. Many who have engaged in the democratic process in Ghana Ghana
More than seventeen years since the first ballot was cast and 53 years after independence the life of many Ghanaians has stagnated if not retrogressed to pre-independence levels. A critical look at the economic situation of the people suggests that the stability and peace that democracy has brought the nation has not translated into economic and social development. The various governments that have governed Ghana since 1992 have not been able to take advantage of the peace and stability to formulate and implement the necessary policies needed to transform Ghana
The CIA’s 2010 world ranking of countries with higher life expectancy puts Ghana
The only people who seem to have benefited from our democracy are the politicians who go home every four years with fat ex-gratia payments while majority of the people live in squalid conditions. Take E. T. Mensah for example. Since 1992 he has been representing Ningo Prampram as an MP and going home with ex-gratia every four years while many people in his constituency can neither read nor write and lack the basic necessities of life including water, electricity and housing.
The only people who seem to have benefited from our democracy are the politicians who go home every four years with fat ex-gratia payments while majority of the people live in squalid conditions. Take E. T. Mensah for example. Since 1992 he has been representing Ningo Prampram as an MP and going home with ex-gratia every four years while many people in his constituency can neither read nor write and lack the basic necessities of life including water, electricity and housing.
The expensive and cosy sport utility vehicles (Land Cruisers etc) that has come to represent the taste of NDC and NPP politicians do not reflect the harsh economic life being experienced by majority of the people especially those in the rural areas who live in mud houses roofed with raffia and bamboo leafs and without water and electricity. This is unacceptable and is very dangerous for the continuous existence of democracy itself. People cannot continue to cast their votes every four years and continue to live in the same pre-independence conditions without jobs, proper housing, electricity, roads, farming equipments and access to water and sanitation. People cannot vote every four years while they continue to live on two dollars a day. That is slavery, not democracy. Democracy must come with liberty, economic empowerment, social development and improvement in the overall quality of life of the people. This has not happened in Ghana
Slowly we are missing the opportunity to develop as a nation and to add quality and value to the lives of our people. Despite promises of a better Ghana
The people who vote must have something to live up to if they can continue to support the democratic efforts of the state. Therefore, the promises and pledges that characterise our elections must be transformed into actions and deeds. The broken promises and the politics of the same on the part of those who govern must stop before apathy sets in. Those who rule Ghana
In light of the abysmal economic performance of the nation and her inability to reduce poverty, I strongly believe Ghana
First of all, Ghanaians need strategic leaders with the ability to vision and ability to bring the vision into reality; leaders who can turn aspiration into reality and inspire the people to great heights and help build a new Ghana
Secondly, evidence from Korea , Taiwan , Singapore , Malaysia , Japan and China
Added to the above point is the fact that Ghana Ghana Ghana
Lastly, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must be told in plain language that lowering inflation alone will not meet the aspirations of unemployed Ghanaians who are looking for jobs. The National Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must live up to their names and build some credibility for themselves as institutions tasked with planning the nation’s development. Ghana
I want to conclude by saying that if Ghanaians are to make sense of democracy, cherish its values and ideals; if indeed democracy is to thrive in Ghana, and if Ghana is to continue to serve as the guiding light for the rest of Africa, then more must be done to improve the economic well-being of the people, for democracy without economic and social development is a catalyst for chaos.
By Lord Aikins Adusei*
*The author is a political activist and anti corruption campaigner. His e-mail is politicalthinker1@yahoo.com
GIVE THE STX HOUSING CONTRACT TO THE ARMED FORCES
The recent report that the ruling NDC government is seeking to build houses for the country's security forces has got everybody talking. The government according to media reports is contracting STX, a Korean firm, to build 200,000 housing units at the cost of ten billion dollars. While the government is claiming the contract represents value for money, the opposition parties, think tanks, GREDA (Ghana Real Estate Development Agency) and many Ghanaians believe it is not value for money. GREDA has argued that it could produce the 200,000 housing units at a cheaper price. Many have also argued that incurring ten billion dollars debt will amount to mortgaging the nation and sink her into perpetual debt crisis. But the ruling government is not budging insisting that Ghanaians in general and the security forces in particular will benefit.
Nobody is saying Ghanaians will not benefit when 200, 000 housing units are built, the issue is about the cost of the contract, the terms of the contract and the fact that the government is sidelining local companies in favour of Koreans. First of all, there seems to be serious anomalies which I believe the opposition parties and Dankwa Institute have done well to point out, forcing government to withdraw it from parliament. But while listening to Joy FM's Newsfile on Saturday 31/07/2010 hosted by Kwaku Sakyi Addo, I was shocked when Mr Edem Asimeh, Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Water Resources, Works and Housing could not mention just one change that has occurred in the new document that he and Bagbin want to present to parliament.
There is nothing in the contract that points to the fact that government is putting the interest of Ghanaian businesses, the nation and the people first. Nobody knows why President Mills and his lieutenants are hell bent on giving the contract to the Koreans. Analyses of the government's argument suggest that some individuals within the government and the NDC have personal interest in the contract hence their insistence that it should go to the Koreans at all cost. Why is President Mills and the NDC leadership putting their interest above the interest of Ghana and Ghanaians?
I am of the opinion that government should give the 1.5 billion dollars contract to the army. Throughout the world the armed forces are engaging in direct business as way to generate funds to help strengthen their tactical and strategic capabilities. Evidence of armed forces directly engaging in direct businesses abound in China, the US and Britain. For example the Defense & Foreign Affairs Journal reported in 1997 that “China's top 100 military enterprises reported profit growth for 1996 of 9.2 percent. Their output value grew by 8.2 percent while turnover rose by 10.9 percent. Chinese figures in 1993 show that the declared profit of the People's Liberation Army (China's Armed Forces) was $ 1-billion on turnover of $ 6.9-billion, but military analysts believe its real profits were at least double that”.
The advantages of the Ghana Armed Forces building its own houses are many fold. One is that any profit that STX Korea is intended to make could go to the Armed Forces which could be used to support the funds provided to them by the government through the budget. Again the armed forces know their housing problems far better than anyone else and therefore it will in order if they are allowed to design and build the houses themselves. I am sure that the Engineering Unit of the Ghana Armed Forces has the engineering capability and technical know-how to adequately and efficiently execute the housing project if given the opportunity.
Myjoyonline.com on Tuesday, 27 July 2010, reported that Ghana's Navy has acquired two second-hand navy ships from Germany at the cost of 37 million dollars. I strongly believe that profit from the $1.5 billion housing contract could go a long way to provide the Armed Forces with the needed funds to develop or buy new equipments to better provide security for our country.
I am of the opinion that the government should reconsider its decision to award the contract to STX. Government should listen to GREDA and the people of Ghana who have made their voices heard through radio discussions and phone ins. Government must do what is best for us and not serving the interest of foreign corporations. Whatever happens it is Ghanaians who are going to pay for the cost of the contract and it will be inappropriate for government to refuse to listen to the people and other views in the country.
We need to support and sustain our military and awarding them this lucrative contract could be a gesture in the right direction.
Author: Lord Aikins Adusei
E-mail:politicalthinker1@yahoo.com
Nobody is saying Ghanaians will not benefit when 200, 000 housing units are built, the issue is about the cost of the contract, the terms of the contract and the fact that the government is sidelining local companies in favour of Koreans. First of all, there seems to be serious anomalies which I believe the opposition parties and Dankwa Institute have done well to point out, forcing government to withdraw it from parliament. But while listening to Joy FM's Newsfile on Saturday 31/07/2010 hosted by Kwaku Sakyi Addo, I was shocked when Mr Edem Asimeh, Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Water Resources, Works and Housing could not mention just one change that has occurred in the new document that he and Bagbin want to present to parliament.
There is nothing in the contract that points to the fact that government is putting the interest of Ghanaian businesses, the nation and the people first. Nobody knows why President Mills and his lieutenants are hell bent on giving the contract to the Koreans. Analyses of the government's argument suggest that some individuals within the government and the NDC have personal interest in the contract hence their insistence that it should go to the Koreans at all cost. Why is President Mills and the NDC leadership putting their interest above the interest of Ghana and Ghanaians?
I am of the opinion that government should give the 1.5 billion dollars contract to the army. Throughout the world the armed forces are engaging in direct business as way to generate funds to help strengthen their tactical and strategic capabilities. Evidence of armed forces directly engaging in direct businesses abound in China, the US and Britain. For example the Defense & Foreign Affairs Journal reported in 1997 that “China's top 100 military enterprises reported profit growth for 1996 of 9.2 percent. Their output value grew by 8.2 percent while turnover rose by 10.9 percent. Chinese figures in 1993 show that the declared profit of the People's Liberation Army (China's Armed Forces) was $ 1-billion on turnover of $ 6.9-billion, but military analysts believe its real profits were at least double that”.
The advantages of the Ghana Armed Forces building its own houses are many fold. One is that any profit that STX Korea is intended to make could go to the Armed Forces which could be used to support the funds provided to them by the government through the budget. Again the armed forces know their housing problems far better than anyone else and therefore it will in order if they are allowed to design and build the houses themselves. I am sure that the Engineering Unit of the Ghana Armed Forces has the engineering capability and technical know-how to adequately and efficiently execute the housing project if given the opportunity.
Myjoyonline.com on Tuesday, 27 July 2010, reported that Ghana's Navy has acquired two second-hand navy ships from Germany at the cost of 37 million dollars. I strongly believe that profit from the $1.5 billion housing contract could go a long way to provide the Armed Forces with the needed funds to develop or buy new equipments to better provide security for our country.
I am of the opinion that the government should reconsider its decision to award the contract to STX. Government should listen to GREDA and the people of Ghana who have made their voices heard through radio discussions and phone ins. Government must do what is best for us and not serving the interest of foreign corporations. Whatever happens it is Ghanaians who are going to pay for the cost of the contract and it will be inappropriate for government to refuse to listen to the people and other views in the country.
We need to support and sustain our military and awarding them this lucrative contract could be a gesture in the right direction.
Author: Lord Aikins Adusei
E-mail:politicalthinker1@yahoo.com
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
NDC power struggle: President Mills should have acted better
There are reports that some leading members within the ruling National Democratic Congress are gearing to unseat President Mills as the flag bearer of the party come the NDC primaries. The circulation of such information confirms what some analysts have said regarding President Mills’ style of governance. The president is recently quoted in some section of the media as saying the nation’s energy providers cannot guarantee uninterrupted energy supply to the public during the upcoming Fifa World Cup tournament despite increase in energy tariff. Such a frantic statement coming from the president solidifies his personality as an honest man, but it also confirms him as someone who is incapable of helping the nation out of its troubles.
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Friday, February 26, 2010
Do we have to vote for NDC and NPP in 2012?
Previous presidential and parliamentary elections had always been a contest between the ruling National Democratic Congress and the opposition New Patriotic Party with minor parties such as Convention People’s Party and PNC playing the role of king makers. There is no doubt that the 2012 elections will be a contest between NDC and NPP and many in the country who are very passionate of NDC and NPP will go heaven and earth to defend them even to death whether or not they have access to water, electricity, jobs or not. However it is abundantly clear that these two major parties which have ruled Ghana for most of her 52 years of independence have woefully underperformed and have failed to deliver Ghanaians from the tentacles of poverty. In short these parties have shown beyond all reasonable doubt that they do not care about the plights of Ghanaians.
NDC ruled Ghana for 8 years and NPP has also done the same but did any of them help to make Ghana a developed country? Did any of them solve the unemployment and housing problems in Ghana? How about electricity, education and health? Look at the poor nature of roads in Ghana. Do we deserve that? Can Ghanaians recall anything extraordinary that the NDC did before it was replaced by the NPP in 2000? Or anything remarkable that the NPP did before it was replaced by the NDC in 2008? And since taking office more than one year ago has the NDC done anything tangible to alleviate the suffering of Ghanaians? Any person who has been to Europe, Asia or America can say for sure that both major parties have not done much for Ghanaians.
Look at the state of Ghana's manufacturing sector. What do we produce? Close to nothing. What do we do with the cocoa that we produce? Don't we export the raw beans for peanuts? How about the gold and the diamond and the many minerals we mine? Aren't they exported to Switzerland and Dubai before Ghanaians go there to buy the wedding rings and bracelets to sell to us? Computers, cars, mobile phones, fridges are made in Europe, Japan and the US and they are affordable there but Ghanaians cannot buy common chocolate even though the vital raw material which is cocoa is produced here. And the same is true about gold and diamond. We cannot buy products made from them even though they are mined right here.
Look around yourself and see if any of the goods you see are made in Ghana. I mean the mobile phones, computers, televisions, cars and all the flashy things that Ghanaians are crazing for. It is sad to note that almost all the raw materials needed to build these phones, cars, plasma TVs, camcoders, satellite dishes are obtained from Ghana and other African countries. Has the NDC or the NPP helped us to build any of these things? No.
The reason why we are unable to convert these rich natural resources into finish goods to benefit ourselves is the poor manner in which the NPP and NDC have managed our country. Don't forget it is government that must take the initiative, provide the necessary environment and policy direction and resources for a strong manufacturing sector to take root. Look at the policies of both major parties and see if they can even put Ghana on the level of Korea, Taiwan or Hong Kong in the next 20 years. Ghanaian business men and women are frequenting Dubai and China importing every good you can think of. Investigate to find out how the Chinese and the Koreans did it and whether any of the parties can help Ghana do the same. Didn't the NPP throw the NDC Vision 2020 Document that was supposed to make Ghana a middle income country into a dust bin? And do you think the NDC is going to implement Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) prepared by the NPP? This is the politics that has brought us no development but unemployment, poverty, hunger, misery and hopelessness and divisions.
So do they care, I mean NPP and NDC and do we have to vote them in 2012? Look at the state of Ghana's infrastructure: energy, roads, harbours, telecommunication, health, education, rail system, market and airport. What are the records of the two major parties on infrastructure? Have they been able to add anything to what Dr. Nkrumah built? Haven't they even neglected the few that Nkrumah built to decay? If you think I am not making any point just look at the state of our railway sector. Most of the tracks have been left to rot to the extent that there are no train services in many parts of the country which once relied on that vital means of transport. For decades that sector received no investments and no modernisation to the extent that it now takes about 10 hours to travel by train from Kumasi to Accra, a mere 200km. Compare that with a train service in Japan where it takes one hour to cover more than 270km. Despite having the advantage of being cost effective, cheap, reliable and business friendly 11 years of PNDC rule plus 8 years of NDC and another 8 years of NPP did not help the rail sector and our country except turning former poor soldiers and politicians into billionaires at the expense of our nation. After 52 years of independence and more than 28 years of (P)NDC and NPP rule our trains still run on engines that are 50 years old.
NDC and NPP have neglected Ghana's infrastructure needs for years, yet we have forgotten that no nation can develop without investing in infrastructure and technology. That is why Democratic Republic of Congo has every mineral you can think of yet it is one of the poorest in the world. That is why Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong have developed and that is why President Obama is talking about building US infrastructures because they are the engines that run the economy. You cannot export if you do not have harbours and airports to support it. You cannot attract tourists if you do not have airport, hotels, well developed roads and other infrastructures that support it. You cannot move goods from centres of production to centres of consumption if you do not have roads, rail lines and inland water infrastructures to deliver it. You cannot supply the industries with doctors, architects, bankers, lawyers, planners, engineers, teachers, nurses if you do not have the educational infrastructure to deliver it. And you cannot run an efficient and vibrant economy if you do not have the energy and telecommunication infrastructures in place.
Look at the state of Akosombo dam. Ghana is shut off anytime it refuses to rain yet we have had parties and their political leaders who have promised us so much yet have delivered so little. Ghana has been experiencing serious disruptions in the energy sector for years and no political party has seen any wisdom to solve it. As a result factories are folding up and are laying off workers and we are waiting for nature to help fill Akosombo Dam before we rectify the problem. Will these do nothing approaches to problem solving help our nation? What are we doing with the abundance of sunshine in the country? We have not taken advantage of it, have we? We have sunshine 365 days and we have not tap into solar energy which is cheap and more reliable than hydro.
In a situation that mimic problem facing the entire African region, the Finnish president on a visit to Nigeria in March 2009 asked, “Nigerian people have so much sun and wind, why don’t they use it for the generation of light for cooking and every other thing”? She queried, and added that “we do it in Finland for our renewable energy”. Source: www.dailytrust.com, 12 March 2009. The sad story is that Finland and most of the nations in Europe are locked up for most of the year by cold winter but take advantage of the short summer to convert the little sunshine they receive into solar energy while here in Ghana we have sunshine most of the year but do nothing with it. Dwindling rainfall has limited the ability of Akosombo dam to produce the needed energy to support the economy. It is another indication of the useless institutions that we have and lip service paid by the various political parties and their leaders to Ghana's development.
There is entropy of organised traffic disorder and inefficient transport management system, poor public transport service in Accra, Kumasi, Tema, Koforidua and many major cities in the country. Road transport in the country is dominated by rickety trotro and accident prone taxis and buses. Many travellers travelling in our cities have to endure huge delays due to traffic congestion. In the evening between 5pm and 8pm travellers from Accra to Teshie-Nungua spend not less than three hours in traffic in a journey that should take them less than one hour and in the morning suffer the same fate. Those going from Accra-Circle to Achimota and Ofanko, and Accra-Circle to Legon and Adenta undergo similar traumatic experience. But the NDC and NPP governments that have ruled Ghana for most of her 52 years existence as an independent nation have done very little to ease the situation despite persistence protest by the people. The NDC and NPP and their so called policy makers have refused to solve the traffic problems in the country because they drive in and around the country in four wheel drives assisted by dispatch riders and sirens and therefore do not experience the difficulties that ordinary Ghanaians go through daily.
Look at the state of the agricultural sector. How many of our farmers have their own tractors and farming equipments to produce beyond the level of subsistence? Virtually all the important equipments needed to make the agric sector viable and productive have to be imported and how many of our farmers have their own resources to buy even the basic machinery to expand their farms? Today after 52 years of independence our farmers still depend on nature for water for their economic activities despite the availability of irrigation technology and what has the NDC and NPP done so far to help them? Aren't they still using cutlasses and hoes to plant and harvest their crops, technology our forefathers used before they were enslaved and colonised? Aren't they still relying on nature to plant their crops in this 21st Century? Aren't we still importing rice from India and China after nearly 53 years of self governance? We cannot even feed ourselves after 17 years of NDC and NPP rule. Where are the food sufficiency policies of the two major parties then? What are the many directors at the ministry of Agriculture who enjoy fat salaries and bonuses doing? Although we are in the 21st Century yet our farming practices indicate that we have still not moved beyond the 19th century. Fishermen are always faced with the constant shortage of premix fuel despite the pledge by both parties to help them. This is the more reason why we continue to hunger even though rich soils abound in Ghana.
It is common to hear Ghanaians say that 'Malaysians got their palm fruit seed from Ghana'. Well Malaysians use the oil they get from the palm fruit as fuel for a number of engines including cars, something they accomplished through research and we what do we use the oil for? It is sad to say that Malaysia got independence about the same time as Ghana but they have made great strides economically, while we have been marking time courtesy NDC and NPP. While the rest of the world is moving forward scientifically and technologically we are still marking time because of corruption, poor leadership, poor governance, and bogus agricultural and economic policies, politicisation of every national issue, tribalism, ethnicity and military incursions into our social, economic and political life.
If Agriculture which provides us about 35% of our GDP is bad, then can our educational sector upon which the development of the nation rest be any better? Aren't the NDC and NPP toying and playing politics with our secondary school system. The SSS (now SHS) was a three year programme when it first started. When the NPP replaced the NDC in 2001 they changed it to four years and now the NDC is considering reversing it to three years. Who are they fooling? Is it not Ghanaians, our economy and the future well-being of students who are going through these ill conceived education policies of NDC and NPP?
Is the entire educational system anything to be proud of? Just look at the world ranking of Universities and see where the first university falls. Of the about 9,760 Accredited universities in the World, Ghana's prominent universities including University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology only managed to place 5,702 and 6,703 positions respectively in the World University Ranking. Even in Africa, our own backyard they only managed to secure 43rd and 63rd positions respectively. (Source: topuniversities.com/2008) Can we afford to develop the nation with ill-prepared graduates not to mention the millions of illiterates and semi-literates who roam around the cities and countryside?
Dr. Ave Kludze, a Ghanaian born top NASA Scientist in a rebuke of our leaders and our education system said in an interview with the CNN "no empire has ever achieved greatness without technology and the earlier the leaders realise this the better". He later told BBC that, "But where African schools have a problem, is that they focus heavily on theory, whereas [universities in the west] focus on the practical - solving real world problems.” Source: bbc.co.uk, Thursady, 12 February 2009.
It is abundantly clear that our education system is not producing the architects, engineers, planners, bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, social workers, nurses and the scientists that we need in the 21st Century. That is why every major architectural and engineering activity in Ghana is undertaken by foreigners and foreign companies especially from USA, Japan, China, India and the European Union.
An illustration of how bad the situation is was captured in a news report by Ghanaian Times headlined:
"Water Shortage: Experts Coming From S. Africa" which reported that "Experts from Ballest-Nedam, the Dutch company that installed the control panel at the intake pump station of the Weija Headworks are expected in Ghana on Thursday morning from South Africa to help repair the machine. This follows the inability of local experts to get the damaged electronic equipment fixed for the pump to function again. Mr Stanley Martey, Communication Manager of Aqua Viters Rand Limited, disclosing this to the ‘Times’ yesterday said AVRL was in touch with other experts in London and Holland for support in getting the engine to operate”, Source: Ghanaian Times, 09-Feb-2010.
Another news item reads: "Straight-talking Charles Kofi Wayo has poured scorn on engineers working at the gutted Tema Oil Refinery, asking if they qualify to even be called engineers when they cannot manufacture common bolts and have to wait for three months for foreign expertise to fix the minutest of problems. "If you have engineers there why is it that one small bolt you have to wait for a white man two, three months. You can’t even make your own bolts…You can’t even tool anything down there, even gasket - common gasket when it blows, you shut down the RFCC and stuff like that so where are the engineers? Where are the engineers? Source: www.myjoyonline.com, Thursday, 21 January 2010.
The simple truth is that our students are not able to invent neither do our experts able to repair even broken machines and experts have to be brought from elsewhere. We cannot blame our universities for failing to produce high quality graduates and experts because they have mounting resource problems. The Universities lack well trained lecturers. They lack modern facilities such as state of the art libraries, laboratory simulation facilities, studios, computers, projectors, internet facilities, constant energy supply and books. They lack them because we the NPP and NDC governments have failed to invest and build them; we cannot build them because the curricula have not prepared our students to build them. As a result we have to import the equipments and books from countries that have done their home work well and have invested heavily in education notably in science and technology.
In many of our universities, Polytechnics and secondary schools lecturers/teachers are still teaching students the same way the 19th century academic institutions taught forgetting that we are in the 21st century. The same notes given a final year student four years ago are still being given to first year students with no addition or subtraction. Lecturers cannot write books for students because they do not have the resources to carry out research that form the basis of any academic material.
Whereas students in advanced countries get their hands on books immediately they are released those in Ghana have to wait 4 years or even more to get the same books. What is more the academic facilities including libraries are in a state too appalling to describe. Not a single of our universities can boast of a million volumes of books in their libraries. Even the few text books that they have are so old that information contained in them are useless. Very few books have been published by Ghanaians. Due to this most students have to rely on the notes that lecturers give them. In Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology as it is in many of our higher institutions of learning students do not have access to proper accommodation, food and shelter. Room which once housed one student at KNUST officially houses four students and that is when a student is lucky to have his name shortlisted by the authorities.
This is state of our universities and the little I say about our Polytechnics and secondary schools the better.
And who do we blame other than NDC and NPP governments that have received billions of dollars in loans, grants and taxes and yet cannot invest some of it to develop and transform it into our education sector. Nothing get discussed in the country without NPP and NDC die-hards injecting politics into it and Ghana has paid a huge price as a result of that. Our higher institutions found themselves in this bad situation because for decades the NDC and NPP have been talking left while walking right playing politics with anything that matter to the nation.
The streets of Accra, Kumasi and other major cities in the country are swarmed with children selling ice water, bread, chewing gums and anything that can be hawked. Children head potters are visible every where in Kumasi, Accra, Tema and Koforidua, a clear manifestation of the misery and hopelessness that the NDC and NPP have brought to Ghanaians. These are the children who are supposed to be in the classroom and be trained as future leaders but have to abandon the classroom and scavenge for food because the NPP and NDC do not care about them.
When they drive in their expensive tax-payers' Land Cruisers do the NPP and NDC MPs, ministers, Vice Presidents, the Presidents and their advisors see the children who live, sell, and are taught by the street in Accra, Kumasi, Tema, Takoradi and Koforidua?
Do you know why NDC and NPP keep toying with Ghana's education? Because they want to keep the people in darkness so no one will rise up to challenge their corrupt and useless administrations. Ask the President or his vice or their ministers where their children are schooling now and you will understand why they don't give a damn about SHS, Poly or University education. Their children are schooling in expensive universities in Europe and North America. And as to how they pay for those expensive fees your guess will be as good as mine.
When their children finish their education overseas they stay there and work. They only return to Ghana when there are big contracts where they would make millions of dollars for staying away and doing nothing for the nation, and what do the poor Ghanaians who could not travel to study outside and had to pass through God knows what get? Nothing - no contract, no retirement packages, just poverty.
Our research institutions have achieved very little because they are underfunded and the researchers do not have the expertise and the facilities to carry out any meaningful research. A case in point is Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) located at New Tafo in the Eastern Region. Despite decades of its existence we still export raw cocoa beans for peanuts. No value has been added to the cocoa. CRIG has not been able to come up with other ways in which to use the beans to benefit Ghanaians despite the mounting evidence that the beans have several potential uses.
Have you visited Korle Bu or Komfo Anokye or any of our hospitals lately? Didn't you see patients lying on the floor even though they are sick and are suppose to be receiving care? If Korle Bu and Komfo Anokye hospitals are crying for resources then you can imagine the situation at Donkokrom. And where is the NDC and NPP that you want to die for or support so blindly? Where in Ghana are mosquitoes not widespread? Are we not still dying from mosquito bites and other minor and preventable diseases? Despite NDC and NPP pledges, our hospitals are without the basic essentials needed to run a hospital not to mention the advanced technologies that save millions of lives in Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Europe, Japan and America. And NDC and NPP what are they doing? According to peacefmonline "888 out of every 100,000 pregnant women in Ghana who visit the hospital, end up dying. Another expert, whose statistics were even more frightening said, out of every 1,000 pregnant women about 451 die". Source: peacefmonline.com, Thursday, 23 July 2009.
How about the state of the housing infrastructure? A visit to any village or town gives the same picture of poor housing and poor quality of public service. People are living in mud/thatched houses with bamboo/raffia leafs as roofing sheet with no electricity, potable water and clinics. They live in a subsistence environment without social security, health insurance and are condemned to poverty, desperation and hopelessness. Those living in urban areas are without jobs, without mortgage, and face high utility bills with poor public services. They face constant barrage of water and energy disruptions everyday. In every region the situation is not different. Go to Nima, Agbogloshie, New Town, James Town, Sodom & Gomorrah and see the kind of living conditions and environment in which fellow Ghanaians are living in this 21st Century. People are living in squalid conditions not even fit for animals yet we have NDC and NPP always promising to build us castles, swimming pools and what have you.
The problems of waste management in the cities and the associated health effect on the people need no telling. Accra and Kumasi Metropolitan authorities and other city authorities are struggling with waste management issues due to lack of vehicles, waste treatment plants and inadequate personnel capacity. Sewerage in the country is almost non-existent, with only a portion of Accra, Tema, Kumasi and few regional capitals enjoying piped sewerage services. There is no centralized wastewater treatment system in most of the cities and households and commercial premises generally have no onsite flush latrines. Within Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tema and most of the cities and towns solid waste is unhygienically burned, disposed; and indiscriminate dumping of waste is creating health problems. There are few cities and towns with reliable piped water supply. Many residence of Accra do not have access to good drinking water and many households have to resort to extreme measures to be able to cope. In short the infrastructures to deliver water to the people do not exist courtesy NPP and NDC.
Majority of the people in Teshie and Nungua have no access to toilet facilities and have to use the coast as places of convenience and even in those places where there are few toilet facilities you could hardly stand the stench. Please you can verify this by going to where Dutch Hotel is situated at Nungua and witness how people troop to the coast in the morning to attend nature's call. On the other hand the NDC and NPP MPs, ministers, vice president, the president, their cronies and families live in total luxury with mansions, sport utility vehicles, bodyguards, fat salaries, fat bonuses, house servants and they have all the resources of the state at their disposal. When they leave office they propose special emolument packages for themselves yet they claim to be serving the poor. How can it be?
I can continue all day but it is a fact that both the NDC and NPP are bunches of hungry politicians with no concrete economic and social agenda to move Ghana beyond the level of importing used computers, used cars, used televisions, used underwear and any used thing you can think of. What are all these telling you about Ghana, the NPP, and the NDC? Do we have any option not to vote for them in 2012? Why should Ghanaians continue to die and suffer for such people who only think about their stomach? These leaders and their parties always play on the ignorance of the people promising them heaven but failing to even provide them earth. Until we have leaders who have vision like Dr. Nkrumah and are committed to industrialise Ghana beyond agro raw material production and export, Ghana will continue to be classified as a developing and poor country and even though we will continue to vote we will continue to wallow in abject poverty as we have always done.
I want to urge every Ghanaian to seek education and knowledge which I believe will help us to question our leaders and demand accountability from them. I also want to challenge the various TV and radio stations to devote money and resources to embark on documentaries on what it really means to live in poverty in Ghana under the NPP and NDC, documentaries and programmes that will show Ghanaians the living conditions of the people in rural areas and expose the lies of the NDC and NPP. And to the parasitic NDC and NPP I say 52 years is enough for us to see real development in the country.
By Lord Aikins Adusei
Friday, February 5, 2010
Ghana must avoid the resource curse
By Lord Aikins Adusei
The phrase ‘resource curse’ has come to represent a great majority of African states where years of oil, timber and mineral exploitation has not trickled down to people in these countries except few people who control the machinery of government and the corporations that are involved in the resource exploitation.
There has been many discussions regarding how
We know how millions of our youth have been unemployed for years. We know how children are dropping out of school to act as bread winners. We know the dysfunctional nature of our rail sector and how that vital sector cannot deliver because of lack of resources.
We know the traffic congestions in our cities and how commuters spend hours in traffic. We know the lack of paved roads in our cities and rural areas and how many of our rural areas are shut off during the rainy season because of lack of good roads and bridges preventing food and other goods from reaching needed areas. We know how the poor nature of our major highways has contributed to increased road accidents. We know the problem with our energy sector and how unreliable Akosombo dam is.
I cannot write without mentioning the telecommunication infrastructure and how landline telephone service is almost absent in the entire country. Internet service in the cities is slow and people living in the rural areas still do not have access to telephone, internet and broadband infrastructures.
Farmers in the country continue to farm with cutlasses and hoes and they lack access to tractors, irrigation, storage facilities and other modern farming technologies that could help increase yield and cut the nation’s dependence on food import from
The universities, polytechnics and secondary schools lack modern facilities to produce high quality graduates: they lack classrooms, lecture halls, laboratory simulation facilities, books, vehicles access to the internet and visual communication infrastructures including computers. The universities’ halls of residence are overcrowded and four students have had to occupy rooms meant for one student. In this age of technology the institutions of learning deliver education by means of chalk and blackboard. It is a fact that only 54% of Ghanaians can read and write and the nation can never develop without educating the remaining 44%.
The poor state of hospitals, clinics and health centres; the lack of essential medicines and equipments for doctors to conduct simple operations in the country continue to make the news. In many of the hospitals patients who are supposed to be receiving care sleep on hospital floors due to lack of beds and other accoutrements. These problems coupled with low number of health workers is sending many of the people who should be living to their graves at very young age.
People in rural areas and villages live in substandard houses, in mud houses roofed with raffia leaves without running water, electricity, adequate sanitation facilities and social security. Those living in urban areas do not have access to water and face constant barrage of power cut despite being bombarded with high utility bills.
The problems of waste management in the cities and the associated health effect on the people need no telling.
There are few cities and towns with reliable piped water supply. Many residence of
The recent report by the International Migration has said
We definitely need to have a comprehensive development plan that will guide us to modernise our country and make it the envy of the rest of the continent. We must use the money to create wealth that will enable
There are two critical examples for
The leaders in the country know the oil revenue will not last forever and have taken measures to ensure that the country will not return to her poverty situation when the oil resource runs out. Through these measures the country has built excess reserve to the tune of US$700bn and has been taking advantage of the current global crisis to buy some strategic assets throughout the world.
All this has happened through planning and policy implementation strategies put in place through the collective effort of government, opposition parties and civil society which has ensured that there is a very tight control system regarding the utilisation of the oil proceeds.
and the executive always has to seek approval from Parliament on what percentage of the oil money should be used annually in short there is accountability and there are institutions who make sure monies allocated for projects do not go to line the pockets of few individuals. Profligacy
Nigeria and the Price she is Paying and its lessons for Ghana
We can also learn from the experiences of
In Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri and major cities in the north of the country abandoned children with plates in their hands going from house to house begging for food are visible everywhere. Fuel shortages and drivers queuing for oil are frequent in the country even though it is
Infrastructure decay is everywhere. Graduate unemployment is skyrocketing. Illiteracy is widespread. The educational system which produced Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, and Wolen Soyinka and which was once the jewel of the nation is nothing to write home about and those who can afford are now sending their children abroad to be educated.
Nigerian cities are full of unmanaged waste, filth and diseases are rampant as municipalities and health officials struggle to do their best with the near absence of resources.
Even
“From
And it is all of them who are paying for the disgrace that has come to be associated with that country today. The politicians are not safe anywhere in the country. Top civil servants in the country are not safe too. The bank officials and the business men who continue to rape the country are not safe. The multinational corporations who have over the years being dishonestly obtaining contracts in the country and colluding with the corrupt officials are not safe either. They have had to erect high walls and built gated houses with advanced security systems just to protect themselves from the society they have helped created. In effect all of them live in fear. The high level of corruption and the associated dilapidation and poverty have created an unstable and lawless environment where people are kidnapped and robbed on a daily basis in broad day light and in
Faced with hopelessness and frustration in the mist of oil wealth the youth in Niger Delta region where most of the oil is taken have resorted to arms to make their voices heard, an act that has worsened the already bad security situation in that part of the country. Oil pipelines have been sabotaged and oil corporations have had to move their operations further into the sea to avoid confrontations with disgruntled communities; further increasing their cost of operations. In 2008 total oil output was cut by twenty-five percent due to the growing security threat.
Environmentally, decades of oil spills, flaring, and other oil polluting activities have resulted in the contamination of soil, water, wells and creeks and most farmers and fishermen have been put out of business adding to the dire unemployment situation in the country.
The fact is that with over 600 billion dollars of oil revenue, Nigeria could easily have become the United States of Africa but the leaders chose the path of profligacy and waste; exploiting the economy to enrich themselves at the expense of the nation and its people as senators, governors, police and military generals, judges, civil servants, state and federal officials and assemblymen and women, all took turn to loot the money meant for the development of their own country and mismanaged what remained of their loot.
The cost Nigerian leaders are paying in terms of security is enormous. They cannot travel in the country without police protection and have to barricade themselves in their securitised houses for fear of being kidnapped, robbed or assassinated. Everyone is a target the politicians themselves, their children and family members. The rich and famous in the country are at the mercy of criminals. Besides every Nigerian travelling in Europe or
Although
Julius Nyerere the former president of
“We can try to carve for ourselves an unfair share of the wealth of the society. But the cost to us, as well as to our fellow citizens, will be very high. It will be high not only in terms of satisfactions forgone, but also in terms of our own security and well-being.” Julius Nyerere, from his book ‘Uhuru na Maendeleo’ (Freedom and Development), 1973.
Coming to
The high levels of poverty and the associated misery, frustration, hopelessness written in the faces of Ghanaians today despite decades of gold, diamond and cocoa export is the culmination of rampant corruption that our politicians engaged in the beginning of the 1960s. Their corrupt activities paved the way for the many coups that we saw in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and we know how the army used corruption involving the politicians as an excuse to intervene in political system and milked the nation themselves.
The recent case in Britain in which some Ghanaian politicians were named as having collaborated with Mabey and Johnson to dupe the nation is an eye opener and points to the fact that there are some people who call themselves Ghanaians who will exchange the wellbeing of their country and its citizens for few thousand pound sterling and there is no doubt that there are many today who see the oil find as an opportunity to get rich quick and are strategising to loot the country ones again.
Ghanaians must prevent this from happening at all cost. They cannot allow the previous corrupt practices to go on as they prepare to receive the oil revenue. This is why I call for all people seeking any political office to declare their assets the very day they submit themselves for vetting. Asset declaration must be made part of the resume of all those seeking political office. Ghanaians cannot wait two years for politicians to tell them what properties they have. Failure to declare ones asset during vetting must be seen as an attempt to hide something from the people and all those in that category must be prevented at all cost from holding any public office. The recent news that only 37 out 200 government officials have declared their assets one year after taking office is totally unacceptable and is a recipe for corruption to breed. All political office holders must declare their past activities, the interest they have had, companies they have worked for whether local or foreign. All political parties must have rules that compel their office holders to have their assets declared before taking office. Politicians must know that politics is not a trade that should make them rich in a year or two. Service to ones nation must be seen as a duty not as a means to acquiring wealth. If they go the path of corruption as happened in previous decades regarding the sale of gold and other resources then they must know that we cannot prevent another revolution and another Rawlings from coming to power to demand their head.
Obama declared “No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt”. Source:www.ghanapundit.blogspot.com, 11 of July 2009.
Obama hit the nail right on the head because corruption in Ghana Ghana
The paper quoted officials of Anadarko International Oil Company that “We were informed that if we made such a strong bid, it would overcome a previous demand by then Chairman of GNPC, Stephen Abankwa, that we carry an unknown Ghanaian party for five percent (5%) something neither Hess nor Anadarko can do, given that we are both subject to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other related US legislation,” According to Anadarko, together with Hess, they subsequently submitted a combined bid, “but were shortly thereafter informed by Chairman Abankwa that if we did not accept the third-party carry of five percent (5%) another company, the Norwegian company Aker, had already agreed to do so and would be awarded the block” Source:
The corruption in Police Service is beyond measure. Currently four MTTU Officers working at the Achimota Overhead have been charged for extorting money from drivers but such extortion is considered normal practice in the Police administration. Top Cop Officers have been embroiled in allegation of aiding drug barons. There are allegations of corrupt practices at
The Mabey and Johnson trial has shown that there are Ghanaians who are acting as agents to lobby government to award contracts to certain companies through corrupt and dubious means. These people are using every means to get rich quick at the expense of the nation and as Obama said we can never develop if these agents are allowed to buy government.
The state has a duty to make sure revenue from the oil will not go to line up the pocket of few NDC and NPP members. If
Parliament as the body representing the people has a duty to ensure that the people are not cheated again. Parliament must enact special laws to protect our nation from corrupt politicians in the NDC and NPP, businessmen and their associates. The laws must seek to ensure that oil money will not line up the pockets of the elite to the detriment of the people and the economy. The law must take care of how the oil should be managed; how contracts should be awarded; how the proceeds should be utilised; and how the environment should be protected.
A fund must be created where all proceeds from the oil would go into with parliament given the sole power to determine and certify how money could be drawn from the fund. Therefore the proceeds should be removed at all cost from the control of the executive branch of government.
Every ministry or department which receives oil money for project must publish in detail how it utilises it. The law must propose for stiffer penalties for officials and companies who will misconduct themselves.
Therefore, the utilisation of the proceeds must be transparent and democratic. The best way to do this is to actively involve all stakeholders including the people, the government, opposition parties, NGOs, CBOs, Church and all interest groups. Record must be kept by every institution that receives oil money and the release of those records to anyone with a genuine interest must be made mandatory.
To detect and punish corruption we need strong independent institutions which are equipped with the necessary powers, personnel and resources to detect and punish corruption.
The media has a serious role to play to ensure that people entrusted with public money do not enrich themselves over night at the expense of the nation and its people. The media has a duty to hold public officials to account; the media has a duty to inform the people what their money is being used for; who is getting contract; and on what basis are contracts awarded. The people of
Therefore media practioners must stop being defenders, mouthpiece and unofficial spokespersons for political parties and concentrate on their job as the fourth organ of government. The sophisticated nature of modern day corruption requires expert training, retraining and the use of cutting edge technologies to be able uncover corrupt practices. More investigative journalists should be employed by the media houses and their capacities build up to reflect the challenges of the upcoming battle. As
Judiciary is one of the few institutions in
The position of independent democratic and anti-corruption watchdogs such as Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) should be strengthened and provided with all the resources they need to function effectively.
The Police Service as an institution has a major role to play in combating financial crime. The Service must be independent and resist any attempt by the Executive arm of government to use it to achieve selfish propaganda. A special financial crime unit must be established within the Service to investigate and financial issues; and must share information with SFO and CHRAJ. But the Police Service must rid itself of corrupt officers. The Service will not be able to combat financial crime unless the corrupt miscreants who extort money from members of the public (i.e. taxi drivers) in broad day light are weeded out of its rank.
Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) and other non-governmental organisations must continue to educate the people, demand explanation from government regarding utilisation of oil revenue, bring poor environmental and financial practices to the notice of the people; mobilise the people to challenge unpopular government decisions especially in the award of contracts and use of revenue. However AFAG and others must remain apolitical if they want to enjoy the support of all Ghanaians.
The people must be active and begin to ask questions regarding how oil revenue is disbursed. The people should not sit down when things are going wrong. They must use their constitutionally mandated rights to effect actions; force politicians to rescind unfavourable decisions; engage in peaceful demonstrations and protests to register their displeasure of government decisions. Ghanaians must eschew politics from the use of oil revenue. Politicians may try to politicise issues regarding the oil revenue but the people must recognise that it is a national asset that must be protected and used to benefit all not just few individuals. The people must know that like majority of Nigerians they stand to loose if they allow politics to overshadow their conscience. Ghanaians must resist all attempts by politicians to play games with the oil money. They must be ready to vote corrupt governments out of office and force the powers that be to take action when one of their own is found to be corrupt.
However,
It is no secret that Royal Dutch Shell, the big oil company colluded with
The fact is that Shell, in addition to stealing
It is no secrete that the French Oil Company Elf Aquitaine (now merged with Total) operated as an arm of the French state supporting dictators (Omar Bongo, Paul Biya, Denis Sassou Nguesso), and looting resources and establishing flush funds used to bribe African leaders to look the other way while the corporation looted Africa’s oil and gas. The author of ‘Poisoned Wells’ Nicholas Shaxson wrote of the subject: “Magistrates discovered the money from Elf’s African operations supplied bribes to support French commercial, military and diplomatic goals around the world. In exchange, French troops protected compliant African dictators.” In the Elf corruption case André Tarallo, the real boss of Elf-Afrique, 'told the court in June 2003 that annual cash transfers totalling about £10m were made to Omar Bongo, Gabon's president, while other huge sums were paid to leaders in Angola, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville. The multi-million dollar payments were partly paid to ensure the African leaders' continued allegiance to
The real deal is that Elf, Shell, British Petroleum BP, Chevron,
“The International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF) has requested a jury trial of ExxonMobil and subsidiaries ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc., Mobil Corporation, Mobil Oil Corporation and PT Arun LNG Company. The suit alleges that Indonesian soldiers hired by Exxon Mobil "committed murder, torture, sexual assault ... genocide and crimes against humanity.” ILRF is seeking substantial damages from the companies for the atrocities committed. The fund claims that murders carried out have been “part of a systematic campaign of extermination of the people of Aceh by ExxonMobil and TNI security forces and, therefore, constitute ethnic genocide”. The companies have also “paid mercenaries to provide advice, training, intelligence and equipment to the TNI military in the project area”. “Numerous human rights groups, including several based in Aceh with current information on the genocide of the people of Aceh, specifically requested that the Mobil companies and, since November 30, 1999 ... Exxon Mobil, cease its operations in Aceh until it could make arrangements to operate without using the murderous TNI for security”. Source: http://www.greenleft.org.au, 15 August, 2001.
These Corporations have been accused of declaring about 40 per cent of their profits in the African countries where they operate, while siphoning the rest into their safe-haven accounts in order to avoid paying taxes which could be used to eradicate poverty. In short these corporations who are lining up to exploit
Government must hire experienced tax experts and fraud detectives to scrutinise activities of the multinational corporations who may want to import their shady deals of theft, tax evasion, bribery and false accounting into the country. Government must do this as a necessity even if that means hiring foreign experts.
Both
Ghanaians are poor today but if the leaders (politicians, civil servants, MPs, president & his vice, ministers, assemblymen and women, district and municipal chief executives, party officials, business leaders, church leaders, members of the judiciary) and in deed all Ghanaians act honestly and put the interest of the nation first they can avoid the tragedy in the Niger Delta, they can avoid the civil wars in Chad, Sudan, Angola and Congo, and they can become the Norway of Africa.
With this
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