So much is happening, and this is seriously challenging my resolve to focus on school work and stay away from social commentaries. The Makola fire … raises questions about urban planning, public education, occupational safety, literacy, etc etc….. Somewhere during the week, I was listening to some Vandals (Commonwealth Hall) guys who were campaigning for Hall positions. Ei! May God have mercy on us. I tell you – I listen to the basic English even at the university level, and it’s appalling to say the least. Okay, there’s more exciting stuff going on, so lemme get to it … …
Alright, regarding the presidential accident - so after all our motorcade ‘libi-libi’ and African entourage ‘laba-laba’ (remember Brother Qaddafi’s 100+ entourage to the AU Summit?), and the efforts we make to pave the way for the president and his men to sail through traffic, why this nearly tragic event? Ei! Hmm. The witches are alive and active, I tell you, but some people's prayers are covering the father of the nation. He’s blessed paa oh. It really raises many issues – as for the conspiracy theories, e no be easy oh. I guess the way in which it happened was … … mysterious. How come all cars stopped except for this one? How come this car seemed to find its way through all the traffic to get to the prez? How come it was no other car in the motorcade, but that of the prez? How come the prez walked out alive and smiling, when it was expected that he’d be hurt in the car that lay on its side? How come the prez is called Kuffour, whose car runs over another car whose owner is called Pastor Kuffour, and has a judge presiding over the case called ‘Diwuoh’? Heheheh. Africans are interesting paa oh! With all these questions, you bet there’ll be attempted answers; indeed, many of them have made their way around …
… the NDC ‘croos’ are trying to finish him off; it’s the doing of Aliu Mahama, so that he can slither into office before the elections, and use incumbency to gain political favor and visibility and ease his way calmly into office; the witches’ conference that was supposedly held last month or so arranged to take the grand papa out; the Anlo chiefs and deities are showing mr prez. ‘where the power lies’; Rawlings must have just paid another visit to Antoa Nyama or whatever deity he allegedly bows to; it’s punishment for all the corruption after the revelations of the Public Accounts Committee, it’s a ploy by the incumbents to divert attention from the PAC; it’s an inside-job; it’s an outside-job, it’s everything and anything and nothing about assassination. Go figure – African remote control at work. Apparently Alan ‘Cash’ also had a near miss recently in B.A. or somewhere up there. They say the prez and his alleged ‘protégé’ are under attack. Ei, nnyen no hon enyiwa aber paa oh. Nana Akuffo Addo and vice prez Aliu Mahama all had some kind of vehicular brushes with death – encounters arranged by ofienipas all in a short period. MUSIGA folks returning from Sunyani also had their share of road trauma. ei! hmm. Oh, and of course since we live in a country where everyone has a strong opinion about anything, everything and nothing, many are the opinions about this event – it was a security breach; heads must roll; the powers-that-be must start prosecuting DUI cases more closely (apparently, the dude who hit mr. prez had a li’l som’n som’n in his blood; well, if our traffic lights were working properly, we wouldn’t have to struggle to control traffic when the prez is moving through etc etc…
On a more serious note – it’s quite serious that the prez has an accident, and his security entourage is following normal procedures and flowing with traffic and don’t realize what’s happened, and civilians are the ones who have to come and turn the car back on its wheels and drag him out. What if one of these witches had been planted at the ‘jonction’ to oversee the project? He/she could have taken the opportunity to finish him off. Ei. Seriously though … it means the folks in charge of his security detailing etc have to review and revise their protocol. I’m thankful that he walked out in a full piece, and as resilient as he is, he moved right along with his agenda. He did give me something to laugh about though, when they interviewed him – he said “… I felt myself and didn’t feel anything.” Hehehe.
Okay, so why are some of the CPP aspirants and some party folks trying to discredit Nduom and Akosa as traitors who worked with/for another political party? That’s just pure political immaturity. I actually consider it a strength that these men were able to take up roles as senior public servants in the interest of this ‘beloved kentry’ outside of their party. With mindsets that are so partisan, you bet we’ll see a winner-takes-all and highly partisan approach to politics, regardless of who comes to power. Leave these leaders alone. I actually pay a lot of attention to PKN, ‘cos I do agree with a lot of what he says (even though I do get distracted by his moustache). I just saw him on KSM’s show – TGIF, and I’m excited to know (according to KSM), that he agreed to appear on the show without pre-screening of questions, like other candidates asked for. The brave and the bold. Ready in and out of season. You know, it’s time to grow out of partisanship, leave the party politricks alone and start focusing on the nation – Ghana, and not some political party. If we’re to approach politics with this ‘beloved kentry’ in mind and in focus, I tell you, we shall surely go places! God bless the mothaland! Ça c’est l’histoire de l’Afrique. L’Afrique que j’adore. Mercy!
Oh … the budget… hmm… bright future and agbedefu. I actually agree and disagree with both the incumbents and the minority. Haruna Iddrisu, controversial as he is, did raise some good points re: the budget – concerns about allocations and misallocations. I don’t want to go into budget conversations. I’m trying to keep this short. If I had my way, the top 3 budgetary priorities would be manufacturing and processing – providing tax breaks and incentives for local producers, so that we can stop being a retail nation that produces nothing and just buys and sells just about anything. There’s much talk about the agric sector and mechanized farming etc; well, I’d like to see cooperatives being encouraged, and I’d like to see farmers being guided into processing their produce – the tomato factory in Pualugu can be revived; pineapple, groundnuts, pepper, palm oil, etc etc … all these can be processed locally. I’ve spoken about all this in previous blog entries, so I won’t go there. It’s crucial to our development though, so we really need to head down that road. Pay attention to some of the approaches used in the East – manufacture and market your stuff like China; seal off your markets as much as possible and engender support for locally-produced goods before opening the market up to foreign goods like Japan (unfortunately, this cannot be done because we’re subject to all sorts of international trade agreements that work against us – force our markets open. It not only supports made-in-Ghana products, but it creates jobs, it integrates the agric sector into the economy, it reduces our dependency on foreign goods etc etc. you know, with the kind of problems we have on this continent, we definitely need more comprehensive, long-term resolutions to our problems. Did you hear of the traders’ strike at Abossey Okai? I hear them. This takes me back to the issue of R&D and how we can investigate new, creative and innovative ways of growing our economy, improving living conditions and just building our own ‘utopia’.
Two other priorities – urban planning and Research and Development. I’ve already said so much about these in previous blogs, so will leave the issues alone.
Oh boy, lots to say, but gotta leave this alone for now. Enjoy your weekend, and stay blessed. Stay covered, and may the protection showered on Mr. Prez be your portion!
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