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The President’s decision to pardon the Montie 3 is in bad faith and will remain a scar on our democratic credentials. The President has proven weak amidst pressure from party members whose intentions are based on sentiments and emotions without looking at the interest of the state. By exercising his powers per article 72 to pardon the three contemnors, the President has rendered the Judicial services toothless and ineffective.

The Deputy Gen. Sec. of the NDC, Koku Anyidoho, the loud mouth cholesterol- filled butterball, at a press conference in Ho last week, made very serious and provocative ethnocentric statements which baffled my thinking. I think he should be challenged. His basis was that, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP VEEP- hopeful submitted names of 76,000 supposed 'foreign voters' to the Electoral Commission for deletion on the grounds that their names appeared in the Togolese register and that they did not therefore qualify to remain in Ghana's Voters' register. Aggressive and wildish Anyidoho then made some serious contentions:- 1. that, that action exposes NPP's hatred for Voltarians. 2. NPP look down upon Voltarians and treat them with disdain. 3. Voltarians must reject the NPP in the upcoming December polls. 4. NPP look down and treat Voltarians with disdain.

Let's quote some of the effusions of Anyidoho –''Have we ever sat down to plot evil against the Ashanti region because it is the stronghold of the NPP, certainly not...it is now clear as daylight that Dr. Bawumia's evil agenda of presenting fake voters' register from Togo and making a false claim that thousands of Togolese have their names on Ghana's register (specifically from the Volta region) feeds into the UP tradition's sick thinking that the Volta region is not part of Ghana. They insult us, they spit on us, they consider us to be Togolese ........ and when we refuse to vote for them, they say we are inward looking. Why shouldn't we look inward .....UP tradition agenda against Voltarians and Volta region." He challenged Akufo Ado the NPP Presidential candidate, that there is no Ewe of repute in his inner circle. From all intents and purposes, Anyidoho used the occasion to bare his mind on his hidden deeper inner ethnocentric feelings.

I think Anyidoho did not act well. His tribal outbursts were unjustified and he should have been more cautious and diplomatic as an intellectual, to reduce tribal tensions especially when his bases were spurious and bogus.

I have lived many years as a Voltarian in Asante and I want to point out to Anyidoho as an individual that if he has reasons to believe NPP hate Ewes and Voltarians, any Asante individual can also cite several reasons to believe NDC hate Asantes. If Ewes collectively have reasons that NPP hate them, then Asantes collectively and equally can advance reasons that NDC hate Asantes. That's the bitter truth and the unending cycle of charges can be advanced by both sides at all times. Anyidoho , an experienced politician should know this and therefore should have been more cautious and diplomatic as an intellectual, to speak to reduce tribal tensions especially when his basis was spurious and bogus.

Now, common sense should have informed NDC, Anyidoho and Asiedu 'Fur coat' Nketsia ( tell Asiedu that winter beckons) that, once the EC rejected the first batch of names Bawumia presented, it was a waste of time and resources if Bawumia had engaged further on other alleged false names in other places with the same methodology. For what? At whose expense? I dare say that Anyidoho's repeated charge on Bawumia and wanting to take him to court on the matter does not make sense. The press conference was therefore a complete declaration of tomfoolery and a clowning moment in his life.

I will point out to Anyidoho why Asantes too can say NDC and their stock hate them and treat them with disdain. In 2008, late Prof Ata Mills, as NDC Presidential candidate, insisted aggressively that, the National Voters register should be changed because Asante Register was over bloated by more than 200,000. He did not talk of any other region. What did Mills mean by saying 'The great Asante Project?

NDC have plotted against NPP in their secret meetings with media men and their communicators held constantly to strategize operations against NPP that, they should continue to present Akufo Ado/NPP as hating people of Volta, create more hatred by using false monikers of Akan names to run derogatory comments against Voltarians in writing and radio call-ins with a view to generate more dissatisfaction amongst Voltarians about NPP. NDC are taught to use ethnocentric politics to play strategic games against Asantis to confuse the other tribes that Asantis don't like them and it won't be in their interest to vote for a party where Asantis predominate;-such that a greater number of Asantis are kept out of central power. Even they are denied scholarships.

For instance, out or 250 Ghana medical students in Cuba, there are only 4 indigenous Asantes.. The rest of the Asante Region representation are the Adamus's, Issaka's, Dogbe's, Dzobenuku's, Fuseinis's etc who live in the region.

Anyidoho dwelt on, an individual, late Victor Owusu who in the 2nd parliament in 1971, described Voltarians as 'inward looking'. Anyidoho as mischievous as ever failed to tell Ghanaians what late Dr Agama said in the same parliament before Victor Owusu's retort. In any case, Victor Owusu apologised profusely for that, yet for that, Anyidoho still harbour animosity towards the Ashantis.

But it is recalled from history that in the 1970's, an individual, the late Prof Kofi Awoonor, published his theses about suppressing a so-called Ashanti hegemony in Ghana:- that efforts must be pursued to keep Asantis out of central power at all costs to perpetuate a perennial Volta domination of the central government, Civil service, military, police, parastatals etc to serve to balance the forces in the country. Asantis have taken this in their strides and lived peacefully with this dangerous ethnic-laden statement up to today. It was an evil plot against Asantes which Awoonor never apologized. Why Koku Anyidoho still harbor animosity, I don't understand.

Koku asks how many Ewes are in Akufo Ado inner circle. I ask Koku, how many Asantes are in Mahama/NDC inner cabinet? There is a certain Dr Agyemang Mensah in the Mahama cabinet of 19, a token for Asantes. The man has no mouth. I think Koku Anyidoho must shut up and apologise for giving Voltarians a bad name in his useless press conference. Koku Anyidoho is desperate. We will never allow Anyidoho/NDC to fool us to vote for Mahama again in the face of these unprecedented, mismanagement, miseries and sufferings . I am a detribalized Ghanaian and will never be moved by the Anyidoho desperate tribal tantrums. A lot of Voltarians will similarly remain unmoved.

So I declare that NDC hate and look down upon Asantes so Asantes should reject NDC in the December elections.

 

 

A centrally planned economy with a ‘patriotic’ citizen like John Mahama or any other person solely in charge of the distribution of “caring” and “compassion” is a bad idea that should be rejected by all peace loving people in this country, who want to see this nation developed and prosper.

Once again, Team Ghana has returned from yet another Olympics (Rio) woefully empty-handed and sadly; as usual, this failure could only be attributed to poor planning and lack of visionary leadership.

For decades after attaining independence, the aspiration of freedom and self-governance of most African countries including Ghana has suffered the plaque of political instability, impoverishment, massive corruption, and under-performed socio-economic development.

In the midst of this struggle to create a sustainable democratic government and economic development, the integration of Election Monitoring Intelligence Systems (EMIS) into the existing election infrastructure could help promote peace in various African countries with free and fair elections results; a sign of new beginning of trust integrity, and honesty for the purpose of national building.

The concept of Election Intelligence(EI) has been used for decades in advanced countries like United States to help provide reliable credible elections results and to predict the probability for a candidate to win a given election. Political leaders and campaign organizers also use data from EI to develop new strategies to help their candidates be ahead of the game to win elections.

The political analysts using the data from gallop polls, opinion polls, past elections, and from exist poll can predict accurately with a margin of error the presumptive winner of a given election. This process helps build trust and confidence among the citizens to accept the outcome of the elections to move forward to contribute meaningful to the socioeconomic advancement of their country.

Conversely, elections characterized with fear, tension, and lack of transparency is a recipe for political instability and anarchy. Political elections outcomes are vital for any given country to come together as a nation to confront the global challenges.

This was obvious for the 2015 elections in Nigeria, the whole world was watching with keen interest waiting for one of the biggest economy in Africa to fall into total destruction due to elections irregularities and fraud but they came out victorious with the helped of Advanced technology in the form of Election Intelligence(EI) and the use of Artificial Intelligence for Monitoring Elections (AIME) an experimental open source social media analytic platform that synchronizes tweets and other social media data with regards to instances of violence, election rigging, and voter issues.

Furthermore, the difference between the Arab Spring of 2010 and the Revolutions of 1848, also known as the "Springtime of Nations", and the Prague Spring in 1968 is the power of the internet. Most governments in power in Arab regions tried to circumvent the access to the internet but they fail miserably.

The fact is that global media makes huge profit depending on chaotic situations, state of anarchy, and political instability around the globe especially in Africa. Facebook, Twitter, and other global media outlets were able to reroute the internet assess which created more sensation and to attract more global attention.

Another alternative of blocking internet access, is to create a national social media interface like the one President Obama has for his selfies as a hub of reliable firsthand information based on facts and imperial evidence.

Libraries make important contributions to national development. The significance of this article is to assess the roles libraries play in national development and support the advocacy for the inclusion of libraries and access to information in national development plans that will contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (“UN 2030 Agenda”) and the Africa we want (“AU 2063 Agenda”).

Libraries have shown that they can drive meaningful progress across agendas. The SDGs are universal, each country is responsible for the development and implementation of national strategies to achieve the SDGs, as well as monitor and evaluate the progress of achievement of these SDGs. The inclusion of library communities in the development of national strategies will offer them the opportunity to contribute towards the advancement of development priorities. Advocacy is an essential tool used by libraries to justify their role as engines of local development, and ensure that they are resourced adequately to contribute towards national development by standing as a pillar in educating and repackaging information for better consumption and understanding by a targeted populace.

In August, 2015, 

The Cape Town declaration was inspired by the principles enshrined in the charter for African Cultural Renaissance, the global sustainable development agenda and the level of commitment to prioritise and resource libraries as part of Africa agenda 2063. Hence, the deliberation, on the status of libraries in the continent and the progress required to meet the global sustainable development goal. 

Among the objectives (only four are listed here) to improve African libraries with the aim of contributing to national development. . 

? Provide the necessary resources for the development of African Libraries to respond to modern day challenges and provide access to merging technologies.

? Fast track the implementation of continental innovation strategies to improve ICT and knowledge management.

? Encourage the sharing of skills, collection and preservation of African stories from our own communities 

To encourage the development and promotion of local content libraries in Africa as part of the promotion of the African Renaissance and Pan Africanism. The Ghana Library Association (GLA) was founded in 1962 and is registered under the professional body decree NRCD 143 of the 1973 with a registration number PB 21. The GLA has the mandate to;Unite all librarians and institutions in Ghana interested in library and librarianship

• To be instrumental in promoting the establishment and development of library and information services, bibliographical work and library co-operation

• To promote and safeguard the professional interest of librarians

In effect the GLA is the overall head of all libraries in Ghana, be it public, academic or special libraries. One would ask, is the GLA still functional? If yes, how effective, organized or united is it? As stated in the constitution of the association “to unite all librarians and institutions in library and “librarianship”.

Can Ghana really realize the UN agenda 2030 and the AU agenda 2063?

The success or failure of Ghana in the achievement of the targets set by both agendas is dependent on two main factors. 

1. The recognition of Libraries and librarians as an engine of access to information (timely, well packaged, targeted and readily available and less expensive)

2. The Advocacy and strategies adopted by the GLA should be in partnership with government and all stakeholders.

Libraries are proven to be cost-effective partners for advancing development priorities. Many countries have designated libraries to be repositories for vital information and knowledge. This makes libraries an important venue for information about personal development, hence; national development. Libraries are already supporting progress towards access to information and national building. 

In goal 2 of the UN agenda and aspiration 1 of the AU agenda 2063, the objective is to eradicate poverty at all levels, in all walks of life. Other countries have relied on libraries to pass on valuable information to the prospective targets, example, in the attempt to increase the production and income for small-scale food producers or farmers in Romania, public library staff trained under the Biblionet programme worked with other partners including the Association of Libraries of Romani (ANBPR), the ministry of Culture, local and national government and public libraries across the country, Biblionet helped libraries to breathe new life into Romanian communities by helping 100,000 farmers use new ICT. Could the Ghana Library Association and Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders learn something? Is there no such thing in Ghana? Are both the ministry of agriculture and the GLA slumbering or is it a case of lack of creativity/innovation? If efforts are already made by the GLA to play a key role in information dissemination, then it must be carried out as a matter of urgency. The cocoa and other cash crop production can gain an immense growth and advancement when such innovative ways are employed.

Promoting lifelong learning opportunities without limitations towards religion, gender and age. The UN agenda goal 4 and goal 5 and the AU agenda aspiration 6, targets the development of people by ensuring quality equitable education among all ages. These targets seek to achieve the enhancement of the potentials in women and the youth not leaving out anyone. This is an education that would be sustainable and a lifelong journey. People will know where, how, when to find information, preserve and disseminate it without distortion. Public libraries in Botswana, have taken large strides towards supporting government objectives under its National Vision 2016, which includes introducing ICT access, improving the computer skills of library users, and enabling users to be successful in business, education, and employment. With this vision people trained in ICT can develop in so many ways in the their diverse professions with access to readily available information.

When government equips the GLA properly, providing enough budgetary support and infrastructures, libraries across the nation stand as a meaningful tool to effect a long lasting change. All over the world, there has been practical success stories about library playing a key role in poverty alleviation, education, better well packaged information for farmers, improve the quality of lives and encouraging lifelong learning. 

In Sri Lanka, the government and its partners initiated a program called the Nenasala program. This initiative is run to increase digital literacy and access to information among the nations’ remote and poorest areas. 

Nenasala (Wisdom Outlet) is a telecentre project by the Government of Sri Lanka. Developed under the e-Sri Lanka Initiative, which is implemented by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka. Communication centers are continuously built by the government in rural areas to fight poverty, develop culture and commerce, and sustain peace. There are 751 such centers in the country.

In Mongolia, about 15000 persons either with poor vision or blind are employed. . In the year 2010, Ulaanbaatar Public Library (UPL) and the Mongolia National Association of the Blind built two recording studios to create talking books in a digital DAISY format that has increased the amount of accessible materials, and opened up new worlds of learning for the visually impaired people.

In conclusion, the significant contributions and usefulness of Libraries and Librarians cannot be over emphasized. In the attempt to achieve these goals and aspirations, policy makers, Government and GLA should come together to form a formidable force with a core-defined path to follow to make our world better.

 

1) During the election petition case at the Supreme Court in 2013, Sammy Awuku was charged with contempt of court. He showed remorse and was pardoned.

2) Ken Kuranchie and Atubiga were also charged with similar case some days later. According to the Judges, Atubiga showed remorse but Ken Kuranchie didn’t show any remorse. They were both imprisoned for 10 days.

3) The next contemnors were Sir John (who was then the sitting general secretary of the NPP and a Lawyer by profession) and Hopeson Adorye. Sir John was quoted as saying the families of the Supreme Court judges should prepare to organized their (The S.C. Judges) funeral should the verdict didn’t favour the NPP.

They both showed remorse and were fined GHc 5,000 and 2000 respectively after signing a bond of good behavior for six months.

4) The “Montie 3” threatened the S.C. Judges with death (similar to what Sir John said). They showed remorse. But the Judges charged them with contempt of court, were each fined GHc 10,000 to be paid within 24 hours and were made to serve a prison term of 4 Months each.

The President of the Republic, exercise the constitutional provision of article 72 yesterday and granted them pardon.

Readers, serving a prison term for 1Month (27th July to 26 August) after paying a fine of GHc 10,000 within 24 hours, isn’t it enough punishment for this “Montie 3” guys?

 

He is doing quite a lot of constructive social service in Ghana, especially in the area of corruption and outmoded cultural practices. But when it comes to the traditional belief in witchcraft, particularly where it pertains to the sexist application of such obsolescent belief, there is more that needs to be done besides the closure of all witch camps around the country (See “Close Down All Witch Camps – Jon Benjamin” Heritage / Ghanaweb.com 8/19/16). 

The 1992 Constitution is clear. Framers of the laws that have steered our constitutional democracy over the past 24 years; and their wisdom carefully included Chapters and Clauses on Separation of Powers to ensure checks and balances as well as to prevent abuse.

“When you think is peace and safety: a sudden destruction…Oh, it’s a disgrace to see the human race in a rat-race…You got the horse-race; you got the dog-race; you got the human-race; but this is a rat-race!” (Bob Marley, “Rat Race”).

A few months ago, I attended a seminar in Washington, D.C. designed to improve police-public relations. Several police executives and academics presented papers on how best to reduce clashes between the police and community members (think: young Black males). One particular comment that resonated with me was why some young Black males tended to not back down from law enforcement.

President John Mahama has scandalized the nation since the national error that saw this man of sufficient height display of mediocrity, gross disrespect to elders, ingratitude towards the persons that fed him as a young adult, diabolism, and evil of a more complex manner than the devil can be comfortable with.

I wished I'd never have to do this, but the truth must be said, and the President must be exposed.

In a few hours to come, the Montie trio will be out to a rousing welcome. People will obviously troop to the premises of Montie FM and probably to gather at the party’s headquarters to celebrate those 3. They are heroes now.

It is heart breaking to see one’s brethren relying heavily on doubtful individuals parading as pastors/men of God, instead of working hard to attain success in life.

They have been scheming for him for quite a while now; and even once while on the hustings in the Volta Region, President Mahama had the temerity to taunt the New Patriotic Party (NPP) leadership as follows: “Where is your Chairman?” And so it comes as all too logical for Mr. Abraham Amaliba, the member of the so-called NDC Legal Team, to be throwing an open public invitation to the indefinitely suspended New Patriotic Party’s National Chairman, Mr. Paul Afoko, to cross ideological lines into the fold and membership of the National Democratic Congress (See “Afoko Should Defect to NDC – Amaliba” Classfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 8/20/16).

Folks, I want to be very forthright and stubborn upfront (if even considered as disrespectful at this point) to caution President Mahama against falling into the gutter to fight with his political opponents known for mudslinging. If he does so, he will expose his underbelly for a murderous attack to doom him at Election 2016.

This is a retrospective commentary of the remedial history tutorials I gave to my nephew, and I would like to share with my dearest readers. 

It is prodigious how the definition of virginity varies from one person to the other. However, irrespective of our different perspectives and views on virginity, we all remain accountable to one judge; our Maker.