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Ghana is Most Religious Nations on Earth

A new survey conducted by the Gallup International Association has ranked citizens of 57 countries by their religiosity.

Overall, 59% of those surveyed described themselves as religious, 23% said they are not religious, and 13% said they are convinced atheists.

The nations with the highest percentages of self-described religious persons are Ghana, Nigeria, Armenia, Fiji, Macedonia, Romania, Iraq, Kenya, Peru, and Brazil.

The nations with the highest percentages of self-described “convinced atheists” are China, Japan, the Czech Republic, France, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, Australia, and Ireland.

Ghanaweb

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Ghana President John Atta Mills is Dead

ACCRA, July 24 (Reuters) – Ghana’s President John Atta Mills has died unexpectedly, a presidential statement said, and an aide said his death occurred on Tuesday after he took ill on Monday night.

The death of the president of the world’s No. 2 cocoa grower comes months before Mills was due to stand for re-election at the helm of the West African country that posted double-digit growth in 2011 and has been praised for its strong democracy in a turbulent region.

“It is with a heavy heart…that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the president of the Republic of Ghana,” a statement sent to Reuters by the president’s office said.

It said that Mills, 68, died a few hours after being taken ill but no further details were given. Continue reading “Ghana President John Atta Mills is Dead”

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The 2012 Elections: The Juju-Marabou Games Gegin

Commentary/Ghana/Africa

It doesn’t matter if Ghana’s 2012 general elections is a year away; campaigning of some sorts is underway. Democracy-crazy, everyday appears to be campaigning day. The mass media is charged. Character, development issues, policies and programmes jumble easily with foul language and the irrational juju-marabou spiritual predictions. The past veers into the present and the present into the past.

While the unfolding political drama can be entertaining, it is sometimes awkward. The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) touts its incumbent President John Atta Mills as honest, and accuses the main opposition National Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate Nana Akufo Addo as once dabbling in marijuana. The NPP sells Nana Akufo Addo as having big development ideas, and charges Atta Mills as visionless.

Despite the universality of all this, it is the peculiar Ghanaian/African cultural sensibilities that disturb the infant democratic process: the appropriation of traditional spiritualists into the democratic politics that is expected to generate development thoughts.

A non-Ghanaian may find it weird to read headlines like “MOCTAR BAMBA: NANA ADDO’S ADVISOR ON JUJU AFFAIRS …Yes, I consult spiritualists in Mali, Nigeria and Benin” or “A Kumasi-based Spiritualist Predicts Atta Mills Will Win the 2012 Elections.” “Sheikh Mallam Musah had prophesized that the current leader of the opposition NPP Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has not been spiritually chosen to lead this nation after the 2012 elections … According to the renowned spiritualist the NPP will again suffer a painful defeat from the hands of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) come 2012 because the flag bearer is not spiritually ordained to rule the country,” the Accra-based The Al-Hajj newspaper reported.

As expected, the NPP responded, pandering for metaphysical attention. Its national organizer, Moctar Bamba, repudiated Sheik Mallam Musa’s prophesy. Moctar said he has been undertaking “spiritual consultations on behalf of Nana Akufo Addo which shows that Nana Akufo- Addo will win 2012 elections.” The spiritual consultations, Moctar disclosed to shocked Ghanaians, took him to some West African states such as Nigeria, Mali and Benin.

The leaks may seem like some sort of spiritual playact to score political mileage in a vastly superstitious society but some members of the political parties do consult and spend large amount of money on traditional spiritualists and prophets to determine whether they will win elections or not. And where appropriate, elaborate spiritual rituals are undertaken to turn predicted lose into win.

Whether false or not, both the NDC and the NPP are deliberately tapping into the mind-set of gullible Ghanaians, who are stuck with the spiritualists, and, like their politicians, find it difficult to extricate themselves from such absurd believes. The political spiritual battle between the NDC and the NPP is seen in the spiritual imageries that have quietly been projected by the Atta Mills presidency over the past three years. The effects are dramatic and intoxicating. The NPP occasionally counter it but the game rolls on, fast heating up as the 2012 general elections approach.

Dominic Nitiwul, the NPP Member of Parliament for Bimbilla, created a row recently when he alleged that “President John Evans Atta Mills was helped spiritually to win the presidency by a “magic ring” he wore during the 2008 elections.” Since becoming President, Atta Mills’ obsession with spiritualists is an open secret. Despite Dominic Nitiwul, with MBA and LLM degrees, expected to be exceptionally rational in dealing with juju-marabou spiritual issues, plays-on, pandering to the irrational juju-marabou spiritual sports. The popular Nigerian spiritualist, Temitope Balogun (TB) Joshua, founder of the Lagos, Nigeria-based The Synagogue, Church of All Nations, plays the spiritual game well with President Atta Mills.

Like Sheikh Mallam Musah, TB Joshua is alleged to have prophesized that candidate Atta Mills would be President of Ghana during the 2008 presidential election. Superstitiously, candidate Atta Mills visited TB Joshua before the 2008 presidential elections in Lagos. Like Grigori Rasputin, the Russian mystic who had immense influence on the Russian Emperor Nicholas 11, TB Joshua is said to have powerful control over Atta Mills, helping him participate in the political spiritual sports.

The NPP, bent on wrestling power from Atta Mills and his NDC, isn’t joking. In Moctar Bamba, the NPP is playing the political spiritual games with the NDC. Such excessive concentrations on the spiritual games have made scientific opinion polls less listened to. Few scientific opinion polls are independent; most are conducted by the political parties. Like the spiritual predictions, each poll appears coloured by where the polling organization is coming from. Each political party disagrees with any poll that doesn’t favour their forecasts.

The juju-marabou spiritual games undeservedly dominate the democratic space. Hardcore development issues, policies, programmes and intellectual discourse are supposed to dictate the democratic process and push the excessive irrational juju-marabou spiritual debates out of the democratic practices. The democratic process appears impotent in the face of the juju-marabou mediums, who still direct the politics of ideas, thus undermining wobbly development issues.

As an African development watcher, the preposterous Ghanaian political spiritual bickering, short of higher debates on development from the political class for Ghana’s progress, leaves me concerned.

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Botswana in the Mind of Ghana

Commentary/Ghana/Botswana

The August 17 meeting between Ghana’s President John Atta Mills and Botswana’s Ian Khama goes between the normal symbolic bilateral sweet talks. In contemporary African thinking, the core issue between Ghana and Botswana is how their respective democracies are harbingers of progress for the entire African democratic and development growth.

Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama of Botswana (left) and President John Evans Atta Mills of Ghana (right)

The Botswana-Ghana meeting also comes at a time when development economists are changing their focus away from cross-country empirical studies towards case studies and “analytic narratives.” “Instead of trying to explain all of sub-Saharan Africa’s problems in one grand sweep, economists are engaging in more focused studies of particular nations.  Their hope is that by clearly understanding the particulars, broader conclusions can be drawn,” explains Scott A. Beaulier, an economist at Troy University, USA.

The two countries democracies are trendsetters in Africa but Botswana is the better of the two. While Ghana, a coastal nation, is loud-mouthed, Botswana, landlocked, is quiet and much more levelheaded.  Botswana is a top African example of how democracy, of the African extraction, can be used to solve most of Africa’s complicated development challenges.

Botswana’s development indicators top Sub-Sahara African countries. This is despite the fact that 84 percent of Botswana’s land mass is largely the uninhabitable Kalahari Desert and 80 percent of Botswana’s people live along the fertile eastern stripe of the state. Like Israel, the future is how Botswana transforms its inhabitable Kalahari Desert into habitable land for greater development.

Since independence in 1966 from Britain, Botswana, unlike Ghana which gain independence from Britain in 1957, has consistently held unfettered multi-party democratic elections, Ghana hasn’t, maked by military coups and executions. Like Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Botswana was blessed with a fine founding President, Sir Seretse Khama, devoid of Nkrumah’s egomaniac tendencies. But unlike Ghana where Nkrumah later became a dictator and Ghana over the years expereinced some bad leaderships, Botswana is blessed with three decent leaders who succedded Seretse, the present one being Ian, the son of Seretse.

Unlike Ghana, Botswana, from 1966, driven by immense wisdom, has been able to integrate its traditional institions into its British colonial heritage in its development process. Seretse’s wife was a British woman, making Ian, like ex-Ghana President Jerry Rawlings, half-cast.. This makes Botswana indigenous institutions and values central part of its democracy, with its indigenous institutions as key accountability watcher. For instance, despite his immense political power, the traditional chief is regarded as an equal to Botswana people.

As Newsweek pointed out in 1990 in a piece entitled “Longing for Liberty,” “Botswana built a working democracy on an aboriginal tradition of local gatherings called kgotlas that resemble New England town meetings.” That explains not only Botswana’s democratic evolution but its dececentralization exercises that flow from its traditional values.

Botswana has an abundance of diamonds and successive governments have brilliantly husbanded it wisely for proper development of Botswanans. Ghana was formerly the world’s number one cocoa producer (it is now in number two), long-running political instabilities affected its development. Botswana doesn’t have such problems and coupled with its good governance, this has made Botswana Sub-Sahara Africa’s best developed and best run country. In the UN Human Development Index, Botswana ranks 98th and Ghana  130th out of 169 countries ranked in 2010.

In either Ghana or Botswana, world slumps in cocoa or diamonds, respectively, has affected Gross Domestic Product over the years. In Botswana, the average income has tripled in real terms in two decades, putting Botswana on a par with Mexico. While average income of a Ghanaian is 1.60 Ghanaian cedis (€0.74) a day, in Botswana it is 3.8 Botswana pula (€1.94) an hour for most full-time labor in the private sector.

At the same time as Ghana’s population is over 24 million and heavily heterogeneous and Botswana’s is 2 million and is almost homogenous, at issue aren’t size but the quality of governance. Size or no size, Botswana virtually escaped what most African countries have to confront – how to contain a far headier concoction of disparaging ethnic groups within boundaries unrealistically drawn by ignorant colonial map-makers. Ethnically, Botswana’s foremost test is how to deal with its anti-modern Bushmen minority. Ghana has tribalism problems, with some of its 56 ethnic groups as backward as the anti-modern Bushmen.

Unlike Ghana’s highly competitive democracy, Botswana leaders are yet to be challenged by a strong opposition; a single party has ruled since independence in 1966. That makes Botswana almost a one-party system. That is one reason why it was Ghana, with only 19 years of democratic practices, a recent African success story in democratic development, that made analysts to argue for US President Barack Obama to make his first visit to a sub-Saharan African country. Ghana’s 2008 presidential elections was neck-to-neck and the then governing National Patriotic Party (NPP) maturely accepted defeat by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the polls.

However, in Ghana and Botswana democracy is fairly well established and independent institutions just evolving (Botswana has fairly  better developed democratic institutions than Ghana). In Botswana, the   Botswana People Party has been in power for 44 years. The opposition parties, especially the main Botswana Movement for Democracy, are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power.

On the other hand, in Ghana, political power has been changing hands between the ruling National Democratic Congress and the main opposition National Patiotic Party. But in Botswana voters happily vote the ruling Botswana People’s Party into power for the past 44 years. Yet Botswanans do not feel disenfranchised. Despite this, over the years, Botswana has proved as an example of good governance in Africa. The lesson from Botswana isn’t how often political power changes hands but how political power is used for good governance and development.

Despite some democratic hurdles in both Botswana and Ghana, the African experiences points to democracy and political leadership, more of the Botswanan variety, where African values are deliberately and proportionally mixed with the Western liberal ones, as the best strategy to solve most of Africa’s development challenges.

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THE DEATH-TRAP CALLED PEHN-PEHN

The two-wheeler motor commonly called ‘Okada’ in Ghana, Benin and some parts of Nigeria, Pehn-pehn in Liberia, has become a veritable means of transportation in major cities of most West African countries. Its presence in the roads of these nations’ cities has been more of a problem than a solution to the ailing transportation problems.

Many have argued that Okada or Pehn-pehn business has provide jobs in large measure to most of the teeming once jobless youths, it has make ease the accessibility of some of the areas that have bad roads as the deplorable state of roads is a recurrent feature of these countries; it has aid fast and quick movement during chaotic traffic situation, it creates good access to health-care and market where cars are in short supply and majority could not afford the cost of renting a car for such emergency etc. These are some of the reasons, major portion of the population in these countries strongly believe that the two-wheeler taxi is unavoidable and must remain in our cities to ease the excruciating pain people go through for hours waiting for taxi and buses that are few.

Contrastingly, the two-wheeler taxi irrespective of the above plausible reasons why we need it on our roads, it has become ready-made two-wheeler coffin that convey people to their early grave almost every second in these cities. No day passes by that this mode of transportation does not send someone to the orthopedic ward of a hospital. For instance, in Igbobi hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, accident cases involving motor-bike are too overwhelming. The case is not different in John F. Kennedy memorial hospital in Monrovia Liberia, the case is not opposite for major hospitals in Togo,Cameroun,Benin  among others. Meanwhile, the presence of motor-bike has cascaded the spate of crime in all of these cities. Bike riders have constituted  themselves into hoodlums who terrorize their innocent victims as they snatch hand-bags, that contained valuable items, jerk cell phones while they speed past their unsuspecting victims; they are well-known for stealing car battery/sound-system. They are also notorious for car-jacking and many more deadly criminal activities. Yet, governments in these countries have allowed the dangerous trade to flourish.

In Ghana for instance, the heat has been on that motor-bike cannot ply the country’s major cities partly because the National Road Safety Commission act do not make provision for the commercialization of motor-bike. Besides, in Abuja Nigeria, since 2007, the commercial use of ‘Okada’ has been prohibited. Other states in this category are Port-Harcourt, Owerri and recently Maiduguri (due to the activities of the Islamic sect insurgent group ‘Boko Haram’). The reason is not only to reduce crime and accident, but also for free flow of traffic. Most of these riders do not obey traffic signs and rules; they meander and wander at neck-breaking speed, from the right side of the road to the wrong without recourse to other roads users. They are known for over-taking from the driver’s blind-spot thus causing avoiding collision. They hit their fellow riders and cars from all sides, they smack your break-light and they will beg and say ‘sorry’. More dangerously, they relish in drinking local gin than eating food before they enter road to pick passengers.

Studies have shown repeatedly that motor-bike passengers are 36 times more likely to get involved in an accident and die or injured than those in a car. This is because nothing protects them and their passengers while they ride in deadly speed. Moreover, they are always in a hurry to God knows destination. In the mind of bike-riders, the passengers’ seat on the bike would have been fitted for five or six passengers instead of one, as they overload the bike from the tank up to the iron-tail-guard. Sometimes, some people crammed the whole family members- mother, father, and their children in on motor-bike.  Sordid enough, bike men often time ignore safety measures such as the wearing of crash-helmet to protect their head and that of the passengers. Even at the peak of rainy season in West African region, very few of them go about their business with rain-coats for themselves and their passengers- there is health hazard someone may say! Further, research conducted by the International Journal of Impotence Research, has also demonstrated that vibrations from motor-bike engine have damaging effect on the nerves of the penis. Do they have enough education on this in order to take precaution?

Mean time, we may find it difficult to do without motor-bikes in our roads in major cities, but does it worth the prize our people pay daily with their lives, or say, some become physically challenged over-night from motor-bike crashes? The proliferation of motor-bikes in these countries clearly showcases random government failure to address transportation problems facing them, as well as the chronic unemployment imbroglio. Weak transport infrastructure in the guise of inefficient management that characterized the public sphere is what gives teeth to these bike riders. May be is because they have formed a formidable mass, as they are used by political leaders for election to augment votes or use them to stall elections or hijack ballot boxes. The examples of France, US and the UK, have shown that restricting motor-bike to private use or courier services and investing heavily in the transport sector would provide more employment opportunities than risking people’s lives. Will it be bad if governments in these countries   put money into a body that would buy taxis and give them out to these same bike riders, give them proper orientation in recognized driving schools and they pay back on installment basis and remove these death-traps from our major roads?

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Our Political Leaders Must Seek ‘Intellectual Wisdom’ from the Electorate

Since time immemorial, Ghanaians hav e been spea king with their chests out to portray to the whole world, especially their counterparts in the sub-regi on that they are indeed unique creatures. They base their pride on the rich human resource, abundant natural reserves, cultural heritage, religious tolerance and even the democratic environment that they have nurtured. Before 1957, the country was called the Gold Coast (Land of God) in apparent reference to the abundance of gold deposits along her coast. Currently, Ghana ranks second to South Africa in gold production in Africa. Talk about politics and the proud Ghanaian will boast that Ghana was the first to win political independence in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Whilst we play second fiddle to Cote D’Ivoire in terms of cocoa production in the world, agriculture has proven to be the mainstay of the economy. Ghana’s total land area has beautiful touristy attractions, such as beautiful parks, mountains, rivers and waterfalls and the fertility of the land is the envy of all. Out of these rivers, Ghana has been able to build the largest man-made lake in the world and through this; hydro-electric power is generated for local consumption and for exports. The sea with its beaches, acts as place for domestic and international holiday makers. The climatic condition is so favourable that if the academic wisdom from the so-called elites were applied to maximise our resources, poverty would definitely be a thing of the past.

Our religious inclination is so strong that if religion were to be a criterion to judge a country as a developed nation, Ghana would be among the G-8 nations. This is because Ghanaians pray and worship God 24/7 sometimes with the wrong notion that all their socio-economic, spiritual and political problems could and should be solved by God. It was therefore not surprising to hear the sitting president unilaterally ‘electing’ God as the president of Ghana. Sometimes one would even fault God for putting brains in our heads. In the field of sports, Ghana has not been found wanting at all because the junior national teams – the Black Starlets, the Black Satellites and the Black Meteors have taken the world by storm by winning gold, silver and bronze medals at different stages of the world football competitions. The splendid performance of the senior national team – the Black Stars at the recently held World Cup in South Africa is a clear testimony of our God-given talent in sports.

In the fields of medicine, education, engineering etc, the expertise of Ghanaians is phenomenal both in abroad and at home thus giving meaning to our rich human resource. Our cultural heritage, with its well-established chieftaincy institution remains one of the best in the world. Ghana even boasts of the Africa personality of the millelium in the person of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana. It is refreshing to note that our country is among the only three African countries – South Africa and Nigeria that had their sitting presidents represent all G-8 Summits between 2001 and 2009. The Ghanaian hospitability is second to none and in spite of our tribal and religious differences, the people co-exist with each other, a feat which has ensured relative stability in our motherland. It is also interesting to note that Ghana remains the only African country to have paid host to three different sitting US Presidents – Clinton, Bush and Obama. Currently, our beloved country is among the oil producing countries in the world – many thanks to His Excellency, J.A. Kufuor and his NPP administration.

However, the above notwithstanding, preventable diseases and poverty are gradually killing many innocent Ghanaians. Whilst many of our natural resources remain untapped, Ghana is still a net-importer of food and raw materials. Currently, our political dispensation has become the arena for political insults, especially by ministers of state who are required to provide quality leadership for the tax-payer. Our young democracy has been characterised by ‘foot soldierism’, corruption and vindictiveness, putting the unity of the country under serious threat. Ghana has been divided into two political lines (teams) and the players within the teams seem to play ‘Kokofu Ball’. Consequently, national interest and consensus building have given way to mediocrity and nepotism. Even members of the same political group have been sidelined for sharing dissenting views whilst others have lost their jobs (Dr. Sekou Nkrumah and Brogya Gyemfi of NDC). If the NDC could do this to its own members, what would be the fate of other political opponents who work in the various state institutions?

Fellow Ghanaians, why would a religious country like Ghana become a home of armed robbers? Can we say that religion has had a negative impact on our lives and can anybody convince me that the practitioners of these ‘social crimes’ are atheists? It is so disheartening to see mother Ghana plagued with corruption in all facets of the economy – politics, judiciary, executive, legislature, chieftaincy, religion, educational and health institutions, among others. What religious sense does it make for Alhaji Muntaka, who happens to be a Minister of State, a Member of Parliament and a devout Muslim to spend the tax payers’ money on his girl friend and ‘kyinkyinka’ whilst his wife and children are left at home?

As I write today, the Akosombo dam with its hydro-electric power cannot even produce electricity for the entire country after 50 years in existence. Apart from about 72% of the populace who enjoy power rationing, the remaining 28% still live in total darkness. Ghana’s infrastructure – roads, rail network, school buildings, hospitals etc is an eyesore. It is often said that water is life but how far do our leaders value our lives? Just last week the sector minister revealed that only 62% of Ghanaians have access to quality drinking water yet he failed to come out with a strategic plan to improve water supply in the country. The other time it was the President, John Mills who had to close his eyes before he could pass through the Accra-Ofankor road because of its bad nature. In fact, our roads are so bad that motor accidents continue to claim precious lives on a daily basis. And when the Executive President was tasked to put in measures to curtail the rate of motor accidents, he sought for God’s intervention as if his sense of direction was completely lost. Why can’t our president appeal to reason in relation to rampant road accidents? Typically, Ghanaians are quick to identify the causes and solutions to almost all the problems we face in the country – sanitation, power failure, motor accidents, falling standards of education, armed robbery, indiscipline, low agricultural output etc. A typical Ghanaian can lecture you from morning to evening on how and who caused this and that problem yet when it comes to the practical implementation of programmes and policies to ameliorate them, the competency and the organisational charisma needed to execute the rhetoric are lost.

As a patriotic Ghanaian, I have been so disappointed with the attitude of some Ghanaians who have had the opportunity to acquire formal education at the expense of the poor tax-payer. The other time, I heard Hannah Bissiw, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing speak on top of her voice all because she wasn’t addressed by her title on a political debate. She even vowed not to make further submissions until her co-panellist addressed her properly. And this is the woman who spent millions of the tax payers’ money to be trained in Cuba just to specialise in ants, dogs, cockroaches and mosquitoes. What have these titles – Professor, ‘Asomdweehene’, learned friend, General, Flt. Lieutenant, Doctor, Osagyefo, Daasebre etc done for the ordinary Ghanaian apart from using them to oppress the people and steal from the national coffers?

I would like to sound a word of caution to our political leaders that they should never underrate the intellectual capability of the electorate. We may be poor but we have not lost our senses. We are religiously observing and following their actions and inactions and very soon we will treat their so-called academic wisdom with contempt because we cannot fathom some of the actions they take. Just imagine how a visionary president like Kwame Nkrumah misapplied the £200 million left in the national coffers by the British government? With a population of only 6.5m, the PhD holder thought it wise to build a mansion for his Egyptian wife. Besides, Nkrumah gave whopping £10m to Guinea towards her developmental efforts at a time when the northern part of Ghana remained a desert and with all these, the defunct CPP members continue to disturb our ears that Nkrumah was selfless. Their reason being that Dr. Nkrumah never built a single house for himself. So what did Nkrumah do with his salary for all the six years that he spent at the presidency and what do his disciples take Ghanaians for? ‘Fools’ isn’t it?

Between 1979 and 2001, J.J. Rawlings – also a Flight Lieutenant, could not understand why a Ghanaian should own two toilets in one house. To him, there should be financial equality between the rich and the poor. He changed our educational system without any adequate preparation. He killed many Ghanaians including three former heads of state. In the end, not only did he educate his kids in a foreign country, but also many private enterprises became insolvent. Apart from leaving the country in a Heavily Indebted and Poor Country (HIPC) status, Rawlings is seriously pushing for his wife – Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings to become the president of Ghana. Hmmm!

I cannot recount the failures of our political leaders without mentioning the inadequacies of my role model, Mr. J.A. Kufuor, the man whose administration brought positive change in our lives. As a human, President Kufuor also committed a blunder by awarding himself with a gold medal meant for past presidents.

There was a sigh of relief on the part of NDC supporters when the so-called ‘Asomdweehene’ – John Atta Mills became the president. This is the man who led a demonstration to kick against, among others; the purchase of a Presidential Jet, the $20,000 car loan to MPs, the celebration of national anniversaries and more importantly the increase in fuel prices at a time the price stood at $147 per barrel. But what has happened under his Better Ghana administration? In his ‘professorial wisdom’, Ghana is spending a whopping $250 million to acquire five military jets. My questions are; is Ghana planning to go to war with any of our neighbouring countries or is Ghana being attacked by our enemies? Is the purchase of the five military aircrafts a national priority? Has President Mills gotten enough money to complete the Accra-Ofankor road? What about the children who attend classes under trees, the SADA and the two new universities he cut sods for construction? What happened to the Ghana International Airlines? Is Ghana a rich country now and has the government purchased a new flow meter to measure our oil?

Unfortunately, the philosophy of the NDC under its own ‘Better Ghana’ agenda is that the erstwhile NPP, for instance, ‘killed’ 20,000 people so the NDC will not be wrong for ‘killing’ 40,000 people. An NPP member ‘slapped’ two NDC members in 2008 so an NDC member should ‘slap’ four NPP members now. Oh Mother Ghana! Do you think Ghanaians would be wrong to describe the NDC members as true economic saboteurs? If you doubt, just assess the two and half years of John Atta Mills – the ‘I care for you’ president and you will understand me better. Apart from doubling poverty levels and car loans of MPs to $50,000, the law professor wisely thinks that the late Kwame Nkrumah deserves some honour from Ghanaians and therefore 48million old cedis should be spent on his birthday. As an academic, President Mills argues that putting money in the pockets of Ghanaians entails doubling fuel prices, doubling and introducing new taxes and banning graduates of tertiary institutions from accessing public sector employment. And this is the party that claims to be a social democratic and brags to have the welfare of the people at heart.

So my dear readers, are we advancing or reversing as nation? Your guess should be as good as mine. I strongly believe that our political leaders need lectures on nationalism, patriotism and intellectual honesty to build the nation for posterity. We cannot remain poor in the face of oil find, agricultural wealth, mineral wealth and all the big loan facility from donor countries. Ghanaians deserve better! Our collective failure to maximise these resources to relieve us out of abject poverty is giving credence to Prophet Bob Marley’s assertion that; “in the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”.  As we have decided to choose democracy over other systems of government, I will appeal to the electorate to see and treat all selfish politicians as baby diapers and change them as regularly as possible, until a charismatic leader, who will combine competency with selflessness, courage, honesty and above all, the fear of God, is elected.

God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!

Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Hull. UK.

Official blog (www.katakyie.com) katakyienpp@yahoo.co.uk 07944309859

“Vision, coupled with persistency, results in true success”

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Forbes Ranks Ghana Eleventh Friendliest Nation in The World

Ghana has been adjudged the eleventh friendliest country in the world, making it one of the most preferred tourism destinations around the globe. Ghana was the only African country that was ranked high in a survey undertaken by Forbes, a reputable international magazine.

The survey which was done in consultation with a cross-section of world travelers in 2010, found that Ghana is one of the “most welcome nations.” Thailand came first, followed by Columbia, which was said to have very pleasant citizens and was a preferred destination, in spite of the perception of a centre of drug cartel operations.

Australia took the third place, while Costa Rica, Canada, Greece and India, captured the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh spots respectively. The United States was adjudged the eighth friendliest nation, followed by Turkey in the ninth position, new Zealand, tenth, Ghana eleventh, Fiji twelfth and Vietnam in 13th position. Reasons attributed to Ghana’s ranking include the fact that tourism in Ghana is “driven by natural history, colourful festivals, historic sites and the hospitable people”.

Unlike in many other African countries, Ghana’s different ethnic groups live side by side in relative harmony. “This sub-Saharan African county is renowned for its hospitability, friendliness, tolerance and patience,” the Forbes survey said of Ghana.

The survey, which was published early this month, said the achievement of Columbia was as a result of a national drive to promote its tourism potentials towards increasing tourist inflows. By so doing, the survey said, the nation desired to do change world’s own perception of itself.

The Ministry of Tourism, reacting to the outcome of the survey, said government was excited. “We are excited but government will not be carried away by our ranking,” James Agyenim Boateng, Deputy Minister of Tourism told the Times in Accra. Meanwhile, Ghana has improved in the latest rankings of the world’s favourite tourism destinations, moving two places up.

According to the latest travel and tourism index of the World Economic Forum, the country moved from 110 in 2009 to 108 in 2010 among the 139 countries surveyed. The movement is an endorsement of efforts by government to improve the sector, currently the fourth highest earner of foreign exchange.

The ranking was based on three main indicators, the regulatory framework covering the travel and tourism industry, business environment and infrastructure, and human, cultural and natural resources. In Africa, Ghana was ranked 10th after countries like South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya, Rwanda and Cape Verde.

Ghana performed a little better in the various sub-categories. Of the 139 countries, its regulatory framework was ranked 108th, the business environment and infrastructure was ranked105th whilst its’ human, cultural and natural resources was ranked 104th. Switzerland remains the most favoured tourism destination in the world.

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Ghana: Eastern Region takes steps to reduce HIV/AIDS prevalence rate

Koforidua, Feb. 27, GNA – The Eastern Regional AIDs Committee is to organize HIV Counseling and Testing on May Day at the Jacksons Park to enable workers to know their statuses.

This is to help to reduce the HIV prevalence rate in the region of about 4.2 per cent, the highest in the country.

This came to light at a review and planning meeting by the Committee at Koforidua on Friday to strategize on the measures to take to help to further reduce the rate.

The region used to have a prevalence of over six per cent.

The Committee also planned to reorganize the quarterly review meeting with the district focal persons.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, the Regional HIV/AIDs Focal Person, Mr Kwame Oppong-Ntim, said during the year, the Committee would also hold meetings with organizations running various HIV/AIDs programmes in the region to monitor what they were doing.

He said, the members of the Committee would also visit institutions such as the prisons and orphanages in the region to find out what measures were being taken to help to reduce the HIV infections.

GNA

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