2012 Is Not A Contest Of Broken Promises But Performance

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Created on Friday, 24 June 2011 00:00

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2012 Is Not A Contest Of Broken Promises But Performance

{sidebar id=10 align=right}Since Nana Akufo-Addo accused President Mills and his government of creating a poverty-owning democracy and limping from one broken promise to the other, the preferred response of the ruling party is to engage forest of trees photocopying the 2000 manifesto of the New Patriotic Party to make the belated point that the NPP also broke promises in their first term.

It is as if election 2012 will be fought on which party broke more of its promises. So low have the standards of governance fallen in Ghana today that the NDC want to make it no longer a positive contest of records of performance but rather a negative contest on broken promises.

By choosing to focus on some of the itemised promises given by the opposition party in 2000 (12 years ago) which they may not have delivered by 2004, the NDC is saying effectively that promises are made to be broken; they broke theirs so why not us? This is not change; this is neutral progression at best but with disastrous consequences for the quality of governance.

This is 2011, not 2003. It is the NDC’s third term in office since the 1992 Constitution came into force. What have the 2000 manifesto promises of a party in opposition today got to do with the current price of kenkey and fish? What has it got to do with your own live promise to care for Ghanaians, create jobs and bring economic relief and prosperity?

As I said Wednesday morning on Metro TV, the NDC has become like a quack doctor. You go to him to fix your leg which is broken in two places; he turns to you to say don’t go back to those two places. No, doctor, I did not say I went to two Kaneshie and Dansoman and got my leg broken. I’m saying my leg has been broken in two places so fix it!

Quoting from the 11-year-old manifesto of your opponent would not hide your own incompetence at delivering on your own promises to the Ghanaian people. Kufuor won the 2004 presidential race. The 2004 general elections were about how Ghanaians felt about President Kufuor and his government, as compared to what they thought about the alternative then, Prof Mills and his party. Of course, the NDC at the time made a lot of legitimate political capital on certain specific campaign promises that were not fulfilled, like reducing the size of government, banning government officials going abroad for medical treatment and putting in place the constitutional rearrangement process to have District Chief Executives elected.

But, Ghanaians used their own commonsense yardstick to measure President Kufuor’s assessment. They did a checklist of Kufuor’s achievements against their personal expectations and opted to re-elect him. They knew that candidate Kufuor did not promise to declare Ghana highly indebted poor country (HIPC) by taking them through HIPC and back in a record time, but he did and they knew that without debt cancellation Kufuor’s government would have been hopelessly stranded and positive change would have turned very negative indeed. HALVING POVERTY Just this week it was announced in Washington that Messsrs Kufuor of Ghana and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil won the $250,000 World Food Prize for cutting hunger in half while serving as president of their nations.

Reuters reported that it was the first time the award, created 25 years ago by Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Bourlag, recognized the seminal role of national leaders in fighting hunger. "President Kufuor and President Lula da Silva have set a powerful example for other political leaders in the world," said Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize. The prize foundation said the proportion of hungry people in each nation had been cut in half under Kufuor and Lula. However, today, Kufuor’s achievement for making Ghana the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa to cut hunger in half is in jeopardy.

“In 2009 and 2010 income poverty could rise further, as per capita private consumption growth is expected to fall,” says a World Bank report on Ghana, which estimated that half a million more Ghanaians fell below the poverty line under the first two years of Mills. Explaining the cause of this trend-bucking rise to an increase in income poverty under Mills, the World Bank cited austere economic measures introduced by President Mills, including increased taxation, high utility prices, suppression of real income and a net freeze on public sector employment.

Yet, what Ghanaians have seen over the first 30 months of the Mills government is a reduction of the very measures that can be enhanced to tackle poverty. Every conceivable social intervention suffered real cuts this year. However, the President did not find it coy to say to his DCEs in Kumasi on Wednesday that his government was “grounded on social democratic principles and so it would keep to improving programmes such as the school feeding, the capitation grant and free uniforms and exercise books for schoolchildren.”

The Okudzeto Ablakwas have chosen to focus on a Gallup Poll that shows that while 20% Ghanaians said they were living comfortably in 2007, that figure had dropped to 11% in 2008, under Kufuor, a smaller fall than the 10% who said they were living comfortably in 2009 and the 4% who said same in 2010.

On the percentage of Ghanaians who were managing their income, Gallup put it 30% in 2007, dropped to 27% the following year and 15% in 2009 and further up to 20% in 2010. How could the Deputy Information Minister see these same figures as better under Mills?

The poll indicated that 31% of Ghanaians found it difficult to live on their income in 2007, 35% in 2008, shooting up by 9 percentage points to 44 percent in 2009 and a slight reduction to 41% in 2010.

Now, the most disturbing trend is on the percentage of Ghanaians that found it very difficult to live on their present income. The figures showed a comparatively mere 11% Ghanaians saying in 2007 that they were finding it extremely difficult to cope, going up to 18% in 2008, and further up to 29% in 2009 and a massive 34% in 2010, nearly double the number in 2008, ignoring 2007.

But at his propagandist best, Mr Ablakwa said President Mills was sworn into office on January 7, 2009, “So in actual fact, only one year of this poll refers to President Mills’ tenure that is from 2009 to 2010.” No, boss. The poll refers to the last two years of President Kufuor and the last two years of President Mills.

We should let our political leaders know that the focus is not really on the small privileged percentage of the population (whether 20% or 4%) who admit to living comfortably but those who say they cannot cope at all with the economic situation. The key issue is that Ghanaians, per that poll, have consistently gotten poorer since 2007.

But let’s shift from opinion polls and look at real figures. Knowing the negative impact of the global food crisis and record crude oil prices, President Kufuor introduced reliefs such as removing import duties on certain food items and introducing income benefit (LEAP) to the very poor. What has President Mills done to alleviate poverty?

SHRINKING OIL ECONOMY

Already, there are worrying signals that the Dutch Disease (the curse of oil) has already afflicted Ghana. The economy, according to the statistical service on June 22, has shrunk by 5 percentage points in the first quarter – the first full quarter of oil production of this year over the fourth quarter of 2010.

Agriculture, the mainstay of the economy, suffered a 35.7% decline over the same period. All its sub-sectors endured negative growth in output. Fishing by -19.5%, crops by -36.5%, livestock -31.7%, forestry and logging by -41.3%.

The service sector grew by a sector-relatively modest 5.3%. While manufacturing is still in the doldrums, overall, the industrial sector enjoyed a 21.4% growth, driven mainly by the oil industry. We risk losing jobs and deepening poverty, fooled by extraordinary oil-pumped growth figures if we do not use this new found wealth to transform the economy and leave it to grow as an enclave industry.

Yes, we have record sales in cocoa and gold, plus oil and yet, the economy is struggling. Inflation per consumer price index may be in single digits but the producer price index, the data that focuses on productivity, shows that the increasing cost of production (PPI), at over 25% last month, is nearly three times that of CPI.

This wide gap between production inflation and consumption inflation tells us that there is something fundamentally wrong about the balance of our economy. It means that producers are not passing on the increasing cost of their production on to the consumers. Why so? Are they not doing it because consumers simply cannot afford to pay more or is it out of some perverse self-hurting generosity on the part of producers?

Here is the underlining folly: the NDC said in 2009 that Ghana was broke because President Kufuor had left a huge fiscal deficit and it required fiscal discipline to tackle. This led to an austere stabilization programme being agreed with the Breton Wood institutions with a $900m for the Government. So Government proceeded to tighten the economy, impoverish Ghanaians for the sake of stabilizing the cedi and reducing inflation.

Yet, as we speak, the fiscal discipline that has been achieved at such a huge cost to the suffering masses is unraveling because it stood on artificial stilts. The Government achieved ‘stability’ through creative accounting and Houdini statistics that hid the truth… but only for a while.

For example, at the end of last year, there were delayed payment vouchers of GH?409m, on top of GH?69m from the previous year. What this means is that even though Government issues payment vouchers to contractors it chooses to delay passing that payment through the government accounts of a fiscal year, giving the impression that all is well and balanced.

So we entered 2011 already burdened with carryover payment vouchers of GH?478m to be paid, pushing the total envelop of payment arrears to GH?2.4bn and other hidden outstanding arrears, including statutory funds transfer, wages, State-owned Enterprise liabilities, etc, totalling GH?4.2bn.

You add it to the ballooned public debt of GH?18.3bn, it means Ghana ended 2010 with a total public debt of GH?22.5bn, nearly twice what President Kufuor left in January 2009! Na, where dey de money?

You can achieve deflation (lower rising cost of goods and services) when consumers just don’t have the money to buy. You can have a larger import cover of your foreign reserves from 2.3 months in 2008 to 4 months in 2011 if you are using less money to import crude oil and you have chosen not to spend your reserves on pressing needs. You can cosmetically reduce your deficit if you don’t pay contractors for them to fund more projects and employ people to undertake such projects. But, at the end of the day it would all come back to hurt you because the economy would contract, more people would lose their jobs, the banks would suffer, businesses would collapse and poverty would increase.

In 2012, the verdict will be first and foremost on the performance of President Mills plus the substance of his broken promises, measured against the programmes and leadership offer from Candidate Akufo-Addo.

The first important issue before the Ghanaian voter will be whether or not his or her quality of life has improved under President Mills (January 2009 to December 2012); not under President Kufuor between January 2001 to December 2005.

The second issue for the voter is the alternative programme and posture that will be presented by the alternative candidate, Nana Addo, and his party, the NPP.

The third issue to consider is whether or not the performance of the Mills government gives sufficient indication that things are likely to better improve under a re-elected NDC government or under an NPP government.

These measurement criteria are assessed not by a comparative yardstick of broken promises but by the performance records of the respective parties and the confidence that the Ghanaian voter is willing to invest in the two candidates, their parties and their programmes for the future which begins on January 7, 2013.

If the NDC wants to compare records then Ghanaians would be asked to look at 12 years of NDC as against 8 years of NPP. Is this a battle the NDC will relish?

The NDC should banish any delusionary thoughts that every President is entitled to eight years. Well, my little reading of the Fourth Republican Constitution tells me we vote for a president for a four-year term. 8 years is not an entitlement. The fact that Rawlings and Kufuor got two terms does not mean that you can sit at the Castle doing very little and expect a second term. The fact that a sitting president is being challenged by a member of his own party should tell us something.

When it comes to elections, promises fulfilled or broken are as important as their impact on the prevailing situation of the electorate. Having said that, it is important that politicians are not allowed to get away with making promises they have no idea how to deliver on them. That is why Nana Addo’s promise (!) to fight the next election with ‘programmes, not promises’ is the clearest admission so far that in the past parties have been promising paradise when the road to it was not even under construction . Let us do things differently this time.

Even if the road to a better Ghana was once paved with good intentions it is pretty obvious now that its intended construction has been starved of the necessary funds, competence, direction and conviction. But, I guess the NPP can be blamed for that, too. They should have left office leaving itemised dedicated funds for the Better Ghana Agenda, like was expected of the Achimota-Ofankor Road project.

It is like when we were in school, imagining going to the classroom one morning and you are asked by the teacher why didn’t you do your homework and you respond: ‘Sir, it is because I couldn’t find anyone to copy it from.”

Government appointees and propagandists tell us that the Better Ghana Agenda is on; that 2011 is still Action Year; that Ghanaians never had it so good. Amen! The NDC guys appear content being in bed, looking up and seeing the beautiful blue sky with the twinkling stars and a full moon to boot and wondering, what a pretty sight! Shouldn’t that be telling them something else? That their roof has been blown off? What in Millsian calculation happened to the ceiling, guys?



Source: Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko

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"Influx of untrained people into journalism worrying"-Omanhene

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Created on Thursday, 23 June 2011 00:00

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"Influx of untrained people into journalism worrying"-Omanhene

Okotwasuo Kantamanto Oworae Agyekum the third, Omanhene of the Akyem Bosome Traditional Area, had noted with concern the situation where all manner of

people without any training are practising as Journalists.

He said the situation if not checked, would destroy the image of journalism in the country.

Okotwasuo Oworae Agyekum has therefore called on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to build a media directory for the identification of all credible journalists, as a measure to protect the image of the profession, as well as the unsuspecting public from falling prey to the miscreants.

According to him, the media directory would have the information of all credible journalists in the nation and be made available to all institutions and organisations to guide them in their dealings with the media.

He noted that the media had been reduced to a money extortion avenue in recent years because people had broken into the circles of the real media practitioners and using their image to make money for themselves.

The Omanhene, who made the observation in an interview with GNA in Koforidua, said it was disheartening that such a noble profession had become a phenomenon, where anybody, including 93school dropouts" and others, who had no qualification to guarantee them any job now claim to be journalists.

This phenomenon, he stressed if not checked would in the nearest future create an identity crisis for who a real journalist is and the essence of the journalist in the socio-economic development of the nation.

He said it was regrettable that journalists, who society expected to inform and educate the people, had now become those, who knew nothing let alone to educate others.

The Omanhene questioned why people, who had no qualification, were all trooping into journalism and no other profession, adding that, the GJA must wake up and adopt a stringent measure to protect their profession.

For him, so far as there were other professional bodies that had been able to guard against people infiltrating them, the GJA can also adopt measures such as the building of a media directory to weed the bad ones out.

He said the public had become aware of the phenomenon and if care was not taken, they would rise against journalists in their quest to sanitise the system and urged the GJA to rise up to the occasion

Source: GNA

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Did Kufuor’s gov’t actually halve hunger? I doubt it! – NDC activist

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Created on Friday, 24 June 2011 00:00

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Did Kufuor’s gov’t actually halve hunger? I doubt it! – NDC activist

An activist of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Felix Ofosu Kwakye, says he has serious doubts that former President JA Kufuor actually played a role in halving hunger in Ghana as suggested by the awards committee of the World Food Prize.

Mr Kufuor and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva jointly won the $250,000 World Food Prize for cutting hunger in half while serving as president of their nations, the prize organizers announced on Tuesday.

The Organisers described them as powerful examples who have set the gold standard for presidential leadership in tackling poverty and former President Kufuor used public and private sector initiatives to improve food security and reduce poverty. Ghana, with about 25 million citizens, was the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa, to cut hunger in half.

But Ofosu Kwakye, a fierce critic of the NPP, said he doubts whether president Kufuor deserves the credentials conferred on him by the WFP “because this is a man who headed…a party in 2000 that told us that rice importation which stood around $25 million (a year) at the time was unacceptable and that they were going to reduce the trend by making the Afram plains the grain basket of this country. [They won the elections] and by the time they left office in 2008, rice importation had shot up to $600 million.”

On the basis of this, Mr Kwakye who was speaking on Thursday’s edition of MultiTV’s political discussion programme, Majority Caucus said it is difficult for anybody to convince him that the former president played any significant role in the alleviation of poverty and hunger in Ghana.

“This attempt to use this award to create the impression that president Kufuor did something unprecedented in this country is a bit mischievous. Set against the manifesto promises that they broke, one cannot necessarily exalt president Kufuor to that pedestal but I am willing to accept as a Ghanaian that it is always better that if a Ghanaian is in competition with any other national, he wins the award so I am all for it,” he stated.

Kufuor challenged

Host of the show, Mr Stan Dogbe challenged Mr Kufuor to follow the example of his predecessor, Jerry Rawlings who donated the $50,000 he won from the same Hunger Award to the University for Development Studies (UDS), and give up the money for a course.

“My challenge to president Kufuor is that, well, your colleague donated his towards the funding of a university for this country, what are you going to use yours for? That is the challenge that I throw to you now. What are you going to use your money for? Would you also use it to support some educational project? Your party’s presidential candidate is talking about a certain percentage of GDP which he can’t even tell us would go into education so this is a challenge. Let’s see…whether he will be willing to give (up) half of it for some project,” Mr Dogbe stated.

Continuing with Tuesday’s topic, Exposing the lies of the NPP; Another reason to choose the NDC, the discussants also tackled New Patriotic Party flag-bearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s suggestion that if he became president, junior high school will no longer be the termination point for basic education.

Mr Felix, who is an oil analyst, said he was not surprised by the wacky proposal by Nana Addo because the NPP is noted to be extremely deficient in proffering alternatives.

“What Nana Addo went to say in the UK left me more confused than enlightened about what the NPP intends to do exactly. What you got was a combination of plagiarism, platitudes and vagueness. Plagiarism because this thing about making the secondary school system a part of the JHS system was an idea propounded by the CPP (Convention People’s Party) – I think it is an unworkable, untenable idea but with respect to the fact that it was the CPP that came up with it first, Nana Addo ought to have credited them and made the point that he was borrowing a leaf from the CPP. I say there is platitudes because if you come and tell us that education ought to be linked to the transformation of the Ghanaian economy, everybody knows that – since 1960 people have been saying this. I say vagueness because if you say that you are going to commit a certain percentage of the national GDP to education, you ought to be specific,” he stressed.

He accused the NPP flagbearer of engaging in empty talk.

For him, Nana Addo’s promise was simply one of the utopian promises which the NPP has a reputation for. The NPP, in his view does not take the Ghanaian public seriously.

SADA argument risible

The Majority Caucus Thursday was also used to correct what the discussants called lies and misrepresentations by Deputy Minority Leader, Mr Ambrose Dery, on Minority Caucus regarding the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).

Mr Dery, who is the Member of Parliament for Lawra/Nandom, had argued that the government was owing the SADA account GH¢ 500 million because NDC had promised to start the SADA project with seed capital of GH¢ 200 million with an additional GH¢ 100 million to be generated “every year for the next 20 years; on that score alone, they owe the SADA account GH¢ 500 million.”

But host of Majority Caucus, who is a Presidential Aide, Mr Stan Dogbe, accused the MP of lying as part of efforts to gain some media presence with the hope to enhancing his chances of being selected as the running mate to the NPP flag-bearer, Nana Addo.

“It is shameful when I hear particularly people who should know better [say things like these]. He (Dery) sat in Parliament, when the SADA Bill was brought to that house; they went through the Bill and looked at how the Authority should be set up, how the funding is going to be done, et cetera, et cetera. Until that Bill was passed by Parliament we did not have a SADA. The promise that we made was never that when we come to office we were just going to carry SADA – SADA is not a football that we were going to carry from somewhere and come and put down there, (and say) this is SADA,” he said.

He said the SADA project was a process and would achieve its intended objectives.

The Presidential Aide said Lawra-Nandom MP needs some advice on how to improve on his public speaking prowess.


Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

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Akans, Christians, Cocoa Growers and Kumasi Residents Deserve Respect

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Created on Wednesday, 03 November 2010 00:00

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Akans, Christians, Cocoa Growers and Kumasi Residents Deserve Respect

For the nearly 40 years that the Almighty God has guided me to live on this earth, I am yet to be convinced to accept the reality of a particular quotation in the Holy Bible; That "God created man in His own image" as clearly written in Genesis 1:27.

I have also been pondering over the last few years on the Ghanaian educational system as regards what it has bequeathed to all those who have passed through the system. Indeed, if the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill or character of the individual so that he/she could fit well in a society, then I would suggest policy makers go back to the drawing board and consider the introduction of Natural/Traditional Wisdom as an examinable subject in the educational curriculum with immediate effect.

I say this because of the attitude of certain government officials. In fact, when then candidate Atta-Mills promised the so-called "Better Ghana Agenda" to the Ghanaian voter in 2008 and subsequently reiterated the message during the Swearing-in Ceremony in 2009, the thought of Ghanaians was that the country was charting a new political dispensation where everything that seemed bad in the previous administration was going to be made good whilst the good ones are made better.

For instance, where there were perceived arrogance, mediocrity, corruption, polarisation, tribalism and indiscipline, the expectation was that those negative things that retard progress were going to be things of the past. As Christians would say, when someone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old passes away and a new life begins.

In a nutshell, Ghanaians expected the wrongs in the previous administration to be put right and that people who were refined, honest, wise, forward looking, hard working, intellectuals etc would be appointed to steer the affairs of this country. But regrettably, the Professor-Do-Little could only manage to put such bootlickers as Asiedu-Nketia, Koku Anyidohu, Okudzeto Ablakwa, Kobby Acheampong, Kwesi Pratt, Ama Benyiwa-Doe, James Agyenim-Boateng, Nii Lamptey Vanderpuije, Kwabena Adjei, David Annan, Derrick Adjei, Fiifi Kwetey, Baba Jamal, Tony Aidoo, J.S. Annan and Allotey Jacobs into public places of importance.

Most of these guys have not even worked to earn salaries in public life and I wonder what their lives would have been if they hadn't been in politics. Are they God's own creatures? I have taken this stance not with any disrespect to the Holy Bible but readers would agree with me that the thoughts, behaviour, actions and even the outlook of these individuals go contrary to anything godly.
Fellow Ghanaians, permit me to list a few examples of some of the filthy words that have come from the mouths of those political animals under Mills' "Better Ghana Agenda" era.

• "I hate Kufuor's face, so I don't want to hear anything about him" - Koku Anyidohu, the Director of Communications at the Presidency on November 6, 2009.

"The NPP is going to congress to elect the chief thief out of the 17 thieves", declares Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the palm wine tapper cum truck pusher on December 11, 2007.

"Kufuor planted corruption tree in Ghana,“ Ama Benyiwa-Doe, Central Regional Minister on Radio Focus, UK.

"All Christians who speak in tongues are mad,“ Tony Aidoo, Head of Economic Monitoring Team at the presidency.

"If the Chief Justice does not clean the Judiciary, we will do it by ourselves. And let anybody criticise us, we will face him. There are so many ways to kill a cat “ Kwabena Agyei, NDC Cat Chairman.

"Don't mind the foolish people who call themselves junior nurses and midwives. Some of them are even yet to write their exams, they don't even have appointment letters and they say they are embarking on strike; I am ready for that political nonsense; stupid“ Rojo Mettle Nunoo, Dep. Minister of Health in reaction to the strike action embarked upon by a section of nurses and midwives in Kumasi on 04/10/10 on Hello FM, Kumasi.

"The re-run of the Akwatia constituency polls should be seen as a JIHAD (Holy War) and all Muslims should endeavour to join" – Baba Jamal, Dep. Eastern Regional Minister (10/08/09).
• "If any member of the opposition NPP criticises the Mills-led NDC administration, if you can slap him, do so“ Kofi Opoku-Manu, Ashanti Regional Minister (06/01/09).

"Sir John sometimes behaves like Kookooase kurase ni (a village cocoa farmer). He has lived in Kumasi for too long and now that he is in Accra, he should broaden his horizon" “ Kobby Acheampong, the deputy minister of Tourism.

Permit me to offer pieces of advice to four of the NDC members. To Koku Anyidohu, I will implore him to go back to the Slave Castle where John Mills and Tony Aidoo reside, and after that proceed to the headquarters of the NDC where Asiedu Nketia operates.

He should examine their faces very well before he comes out with such derogatory comment on Kufour. At least every Ghanaian can vouch that Kufour's face is far better than any Chimpanzian face.

To Asiedu Nketia, I'll urge him to question the integrity of Alhaji Kyinkyinka Pampers Muntaka, Carl Wilson, Alex Segbefia, Tsatsu Tsikata as well as those NDC thieves involved in the M & J bribery scandal, now that he is out of his palm wine tapping and truck pushing business before disgracing those 17 NPP members.

To Ama Benyiwa-Doe who could only identify the person who planted the corruption tree in Ghana yet failed to remember her own date of birth during her vetting. All that I can say is that, may be Kufuor might have planted the corruption tree as Ama naively stated, but who brought the corruption tree to Ghana in the first place, if I may ask?

Was it Victor Selormey, Abodakpi, Ibrahim Adam or J.J. Rawlings and which people have been watering the tree to ensure its proper growth? Is it the Muntakas, ‘Tractor’ Ayarigas or you Benyiwa-Doe who is putting up big mansions? Come on, Ama!

To Kobby Acheampong, I say ayekoo. It must however, be pointed out clearly that Kobby's statement corroborates the P/NDC's hatred for Akans in general and Asantes in particular. This is because Rawlings - an Ewe, jealously slaughtered (3) three Akan heads of state namely Okatakyie Afrifa, Gen. Acheampong and Gen. Akuffo and another three high court judges of Akan descent (Justices Koranteng-Addo, Agyepong and Sarkodie).

Again, for the past few years the P/NDC has gradually succeeded in disintegrating the Akan ethnic group by sowing seed of discord amongst them, especially between Asantes and their cousins, Akyems. They have even tagged the NPP as an Akan party as if the word Akan is evil. But as crafty as the NDC is, the leadership of that monstrous concert party is made up of Akans - the leader, 1st and 2nd vice chairpersons, general secretary and national organiser. Why are the fool soldiers pushing for Nana Konadu, another Akan to be their flag-bearer in 2012?

Fellow Ghanaians, is it a crime at all to be born an Asante, Fante, Bono, Akuapem, Akyem, Kwahu, Adansi, Akwamu, Ahafo, Agona, Denkyira, Ahanta, Sefwi, Assin, Nzema, Wassa, Evalue, or Aowin? Why this hatred by the NDC? Are we not Ghanaians after all? I think it is imperative I take this opportunity to educate those bigots that the word Akan is derived from the word KANN meaning patently clear and free from adulteration.

It also means light or free from darkness or simply first. It is in this view that the Akans feel that their social heritage is distinctive and think a charge to keep they have and the human race to glorify. Therefore, if Kobby ignorantly thinks the Asantes, together with other ethnic groups and foreigners, who have made Kumasi and Ashanti region their permanent place of abode should come to Accra to broaden their horizon, then God bless him. But Kobby, you claim to be an Asante by stating that your father is a native of Asante Mampong but you never disclosed your mother's identity.

I would like to point to you that we Mighty Asantes practise the matrilineal system of inheritance in line with all Akans and for that matter we follow our mother's lineage. Therefore you can't be an Asante by virtue of your dad being an Asante. Please, don't hide behind your dad's tribe and pretend to be an Asante else some of us will see it as a sign of inferiority complex on your part. The time to say I am half-half or 50-50 is old-fashioned because Hal-half or 50-50 is neither a tribe nor an ethnic group.

Secondly, we believe that Ashanti Region is not an island and thus accommodates all sorts of ethnic groups in our fold. In the region, one could attest to the fact that there are places like Anloga, Fante New Town, Alabar, Moshie Zongo, Aboabo, Asawase, Accra Town, which are located in the central part of Kumasi, and are basically occupied by the Ewes, the Fantes, the Northerners, and the Gas respectively. It is our belief that building a state or a nation requires the ingenuity of all and sundry.

As the Akans will say; "Y3 de ohohoo na 3kyekyere kuro". An interesting part of this cordial relationship is that, the above-mentioned ethnic groups have their leaders or chiefs who sit at the Manhyia Palace during deliberations of traditional issues by the Kumasi Traditional Council. In short, the Asantes have co-existed with their brothers and sisters from other tribes since time immemorial without any sign of tribal conflict.

As one of the industrious groups in the country, we have chosen to live in the forest area like most Akans and that your description of cocoa growers as Kookooase Nkurusefoo cannot put us off-the-track. Every objective-minded Ghanaian knows how the economy of Ghana has been sustained over the years. It has not been the fufuo, the tuozaafi, the kenkey, the akple or keta school boys that has made Ghana what it is. It's the cocoa and I am very sure you, Kobby have been a direct beneficiary of our toil and sweat.

Due to our hard work, Asantes could be found in all different kinds of job, from shoe-shining, entrepreneurship, sports, farming, medicine to politics. That is in consonance with the Asante philosophy which states that; "BY BEING BORN AN ASANTE, ONE HAS BEEN ORDAINED BY GOD TO BRING INTO WORLD ALL THAT IS BEST IN HUMAN RACE". This challenge has made us wealthy and you cannot run away from this fact if you were to find out the number of individual properties, especially the mansions in Accra.

Beside the cocoa and other agricultural wealth, the Ashanti region also boasts of mineral wealth and our gold deposit remains the 2nd largest in Africa. Again, we Asantes do not and must not have to come to Accra before our horizon is broadened. We have been able to produce three (3) Heads of State including Ghana's most successful president, His Excellency, J. A. Kufuor.

We have produced the first woman professor in the person of Prof. Abena Dolphyne of Achinakrom in the Ejisu-Juaben district and a former pro-vice chancellor of the University of Ghana. We have produced the first heart surgeon in the person of Prof. Kwabena Frimpong - Boateng. We also boast of a powerful football team with massive support across Africa.

Moreover, we have a powerful Kingdom governed by a powerful cum wise King who sits on a Golden Stool and not a wooden stool. His powers even transcends beyond the borders of the country due to the numerous paramountcies under his jurisdiction. When he was sworn in as the 16th occupant of the Golden Stool, he quickly established an

Education Fund to cater for the educational needs of not only Asantes but the generality of Ghanaians. This shining example was emulated by the Rawlings-led NDC administration which had then been in power for nearly two decades and never thought of the establishment of GETfund. Why does Kobby think the World Bank would donate $5m towards the Otumfuo Education Fund or why would Queen Elizabeth 11 give him a red-carpet treatment in London?

History also tells us that our forebears fought and conquered almost every single tribe in Ghana and this great feat was extended to the British colonist. Hence, our motto; "WO KUM APEM A, APEM B3BA" to wit; if you kill a 1000, another 1000 will be ready for the battle. Our rich culture is second to none, and no wonder it attracts dignitaries all over the world annually.

Furthermore, Ashanti Region remains the most populous region in Ghana and for that matter Asantes remain the most populous tribe, accounting for 19.1% of the Ghanaian population. The geographical location of the region is strategic and Kumasi, which acts as a nodal city, is well-noted for its commercial activities. The region has the highest number of educational institutions and boasts of the highest number of pupils/students population in Ghana.

It is sometimes disheartening to hear other ignorant people say that Asantes are only interested in business and not in education. But if we all believe that education improves people's lives and makes us better citizens, would any rational being make any dirty remark on Asantes with regard to their contribution to national development?
Kobby Acheampong also failed to explain the Kumasi thing to Ghanaians.

Kobby, what does that mean? Don't you know that our powerful language, "Asante Twi" and for that matter, Akan language is gradually becoming a national language and will one day become our lingua franca? If you doubt just tune your radio to any FM Radio station in Ghana or abroad now and you would understand this better. Does it make sense for those of you who have broadened their horizon to continue to use Akan language in their radio discussions and phone-in programmes?

That alone tells you something, isn't it? Great Britain is great all because of its powerful language, currency/wealth, culture and the people's intellectual capability. It was not for nothing that J. J. Rawlings - an Ewe and a former head of state declared unreservedly in the 1980s that, Mr. P.V. Obeng, an old boy of Opoku Ware School, is the most intelligent man in Ghana. Is P. V. Obeng from any other tribe barring an Asante?

It must also be made clear to all those illiterates who hide behind politics and heap insults on Asantes that, enough is enough! In fact, the difference between Mighty Asantes and others is that, whilst Asantes tell people in the face if they feel offended but others will use juju to kill or destroy. For your information, Asantes supported Prof. Busia to win the 1969 general elections although Busia was not an Asante.

We fought against Gen. I. K. Acheampong's UNIGOV even though he was one of our own. Recently, many Kumasi residents refused to vote for the NPP because they were not happy with some of Kufuor's policies until he sought for forgiveness during the run-off on December 2008. Again, Nana Akufo-Addo is not an Asante yet he received overwhelming votes in the Ashanti Region during the NPP congress to elect a flag-bearer.

Kufuor's first appointment in 2001 went to Elizabeth Ohene - an Ewe. Mr. Kwabena Agyepong - an Asante was replaced with Andrew Awuni - a northerner as Kufuor's spokesperson.

Volta Region received more support than Ashanti under Kufuor’s administration. Mills received nearly 500,000 votes (2nd highest) from the Ashanti Region although the region is the stronghold of the NPP. What else do people expect from us? As Prophet Bob Marley said; "we are what we are and that is the way life is going to be".

We Mighty Asantes are what we are and we will continue to pride ourselves forever. "Mpanin se, ahwenepa nkansa". "Wosene wo yonko nso a, otan wo". Let all Asantes take consolation of the fact that, upon all the insults they heap on us out of jealousy, none of them has belittled our God-given wisdom.

People can say we are arrogant, villagers, illiterates and sometimes they even say we don’t respect other tribes. We leave it to God. And as far as The Golden Stool, which symbolises our soul, power and unity remains in our possession, we will continue to be resolute in all our endeavours.

I therefore challenge Kobby Acheampong to make his way to Kumasi and other cocoa growing areas in Volta, Eastern, Brong-Ahafo, Central and Western regions quickly and see what is in store for him if indeed he is a man of himself. We Kumasi residents will also not hesitate to make our way to Accra if the sanitation of the beaches which Atta-Mills promised to improve within the first 100 days into his administration is improved. Kobby, are you aware that John Mills vowed to burn Ghana like Kenya if he was not declared a winner in the 2008 general elections?

Is it not better for the President to be insulted for making that statement? Are you also aware that Rawlings recently referred to Atta-Mills as ‘Konongo Kaya and your colleagues as greedy bastards? Where were you? Ladies and gentlemen, the NDC is now telling Ghanaians that if you are a cocoa farmer, a Kumasi resident, a nurse or midwife and a Christian who speaks in tongues, then you fall short of a human being.

They've also come to the point of believing that the only way they can win power or political debate is through unorthodox means like insults, fanning ethnic divisions and violence. They have forgotten to realise that a position is not a possession and that one day they will account for their stewardship.

Time will tell! The measure of a truly great man is the courtesy with which he treats lesser men and Kobby or whatever he calls himself should be cognisant of this fact. But until the philosophy that holds Asantes as illiterates, arrogant and Kookooase Nkurasefoo is thrown in the bin, the likes of Kobby will continue to live, die and be buried in their inferiority complexes. Kobby Acheampong is a total disgrace to our national cultural diversity!

God bless Ghana! God bless Kookooase Nkurasefoo!!!

Source: Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, 01 November 2010

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