Tuesday, March 30, 2010

BREAKING NEWS: AN OPEN INVITATION TO KWAME OKOAMPA AHOOFE JR.!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

BREAKING NEWS: AN OPEN INVITATION TO KWAME OKOAMPA AHOOFE JR.!

BREAKING NEWS! OKOAMPA INVITED TO DEFEND HIMSELF!

Kwame Okoampa has been invited into a forum discussing why disciplinary action should not be taken against him. By the powers bestowed upon me as the self-appointed moderator of this forum, I hereby order the callow professor of yellow journalism to appear before the Council of Elders here in the forum discussing:

"Is It Not Time For Akuffo Addo To Distance Himself From The Danquah Institute", Feature Article of Tuesday, 30 March 2010. Columnist: Mensah, Nana Akyea, The Odikro.

It would be recalled that in a feature article, "Who Are These “Parliamentarian Drivers”? By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article of Tuesday, 16 March 2010, the author made very disparaging remarks against Ghanaians and stated:

"I am glad that, finally, the Ivorians are beginning to assert their right of access and enjoyment of Ghana’s purportedly new-found oil wealth... It also didn’t quite make a lot of sense to me that an oil find that lay so dangerously close to Ghana’s border with Côte d’Ivoire would also have been so godlessly uncharitable as to neatly parcel itself out for the exclusive benefit and enjoyment of Ghanaians while the war-seasoned Ivorians continued to languish in penury." - "Who Are These “Parliamentarian Drivers”? By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article of Tuesday, 16 March 2010.

He went further to add:

"What is also wickedly fascinating is the sudden fit of alarm that seems to have gripped the hitherto light-headed Ghanaians. All of an auspicious sudden, it is beginning to home-in to these soft-headed, happy-go-lucky and good-natured “Niggers” that premature gloating over a pure gift of nature may yet turn out to be too good to be true. It was also rather fitfully amusing that some Ghanaians should already begin to be angrily chary of the Ivorians; and, indeed, the irony of it all is that these “Angernistas” are largely what one may aptly term as diehard “Nkrumacrats,” the fanatical disciples of modern Ghana’s first postcolonial premier. Dear reader, by now, it ought to be obvious to you what “Sremu Sei Nana” (The King of the Savannah’s Grandson) is getting at. And, of course, it is the stark fact that where “Black Gold” is concerned, pan-Africanism is only the dream of a hopeless lunatic."

Nana Akyea Mensah has taken a very strong objection to that and is asking for his removal from the Governing Board of the Danquah Institute, an Accra-based political think tank closely associated with the NPP Presidential front-runner, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo. The action is also intended to put pressure on Akuffo Addo to distance himself from his insolent cousin if he wants to survive with Ghana and not the Ivoery Coast! We need a president who surrounds himself with the "right type of Ghanaians"! This invitation is to enable Okoampa to give reasons, if any, why disciplianary action should not be taken against him! I am proposing a political quarantine if he fails to apologize. I am suggesting the same measures against all those seen to be openly associated with him!

In the aftermath of the defeat of the NPP flag bearer by the NDC candidate, Professor Atta-Mills, Gabby Ochere-Darko tried to put some spin on it:

"The political opponents of the Danquah-Dombo-Busiasts have always been better at saying, “Ghanaians don't need a president who is arrogant and looks down on them. They need a president who stands up for them. One who feels their pain.” These words were successfully used against a man who for more than 30 years (more than any of his rivals in the 2008 contest) dedicated his time, money, energy and intellect to fighting for the cause of the masses – Nana Akufo-Addo, an Akyem aristocrat." (See: "Are Danquah-Busiasts Really Elitist?", by danquahinstitute.org, Wednesday, 18 November 2009.)

Next time around, we shall be attributing the reasons for the defeat of Ghana's next serial loser in town, Nana Akuffo Addo, to an old Apedwa proverb: "Certain 'Akyem aristocrats' of the same political feathers, flock together too much!"

"A word to the wise can never be enough; else there would be no fools, to begin with!"
- By: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr. More Quotes | Submit a Quote

As I promised to Okoampa, here is the letter:

Author: Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
Date: 2010-03-30 06:39:03

Thank you. Page has been successfully sent to Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe, Jr..
Send the page: Is It Not Time For Akuffo Addo To Distance Himself From The Danquah Institute?

Friend's name: Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe, Jr.
Friend's email: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net.
Your name: Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
Your email: nanaakyeamensah@gmail.com
Message:

Hi grandson,

Your absence is being conspiciously felt in this forum! Why don't you come and explain why disciplinary action must not be taken against you by the black and proud, Pan-Africanists currently in session here?

Don't be afraid, we shall not eat you! Or is it to do with your sense of shame? That would be understandable! Trouble is if you shit on your neighbour's yard, you should put your shame aside and go and clean your shit! This is what I am asking you to do by appearing before the Sanhedrin! Is this too much to ask after calling us "Niggers"?

Cheers! Have a nice day, as you compose your resignation from the Danquah Institute. Do it before you are forced to go, if you want to save your face! I shall be looking forward to that! If you are too ashamed to appear in your name, you may use one of your usual monikers!

Please note that I shall be posting a copy of this invitation in the forum under my name!

Forward Ever! Backward Never!!!

Enjoy your day!

Cheers!


Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
E-mail: nanaakyeamensah@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Nana-Akyea-Mensah
Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro
Blogs:
Feature Articles: nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com
Comments: theodikro.blogspot.com Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!
Cheers!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Is It Not Time For Akuffo Addo To Distance Himself From The Danquah Institute Altogether?

Ghanaweb Feature Article of Tuesday, 30 March 2010



Is It Not Time For Akuffo Addo To Distance Himself From The Danquah Institute Altogether?

A Rejoinder to : "Who Are These “Parliamentarian Drivers”? By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article of Tuesday, 16 March 2010


Okoampa begins an article surreptitiously titled "Who Are These “Parliamentarian Drivers”? with a shocker: 
"I am glad that, finally, the Ivorians are beginning to assert their right of access and enjoyment of Ghana’s purportedly new-found oil wealth... It also didn’t quite make a lot of sense to me that an oil find that lay so dangerously close to Ghana’s border with Côte d’Ivoire would also have been so godlessly uncharitable as to neatly parcel itself out for the exclusive benefit and enjoyment of Ghanaians while the war-seasoned Ivorians continued to languish in penury." - "Who Are These “Parliamentarian Drivers”? By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article of Tuesday, 16 March 2010.

Ghana’s Western neighbor Ivory Coast is reportedly laying claims to portions of the huge oil wealth in the deep waters of the Western Region.

There is no panic in Ghana! See map with Dzata oil field and Jubilee field off Cape Three Points Ghana (click to enlarge)

COMMENT:
Fellow Ghanaians, Our Ivorian brothers and sisters, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, and other imperialist stooges at the Danquah Institute, fellow Africans, and friends of Africa, lend me your ears! What does this really mean? Is Okoampa trying to tell us that " Because Ghanaians did not vote the NPP to "manage" the oil, Ghanaians have lost their right to their own natural resource?  That we can have that oil only when we vote the NPP into power?  Will they then take the oil profits for themselves stashed in their offshore accounts? Is this the kind of democracy he thinks the NPP is offering? Is this why "NPP is the only Ghanaian Beacon of Democracy"? (See Ghanaweb archives, Feature Article of Monday, 8 March 2010, Columnist Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame )

Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe Jr., has won the notoriety of making the most nonsensical utterances which border on what may be called "suicidal stupidity", in "Kwame Okoampa Is A Charlatan!", (Feature Article | Wed, 15 Oct 2008, by Ali-Masmadi JEHU-APPIAH). This is not very new in itself. What is new is that this one stands out as a monumental piece of idiocy churned out by this political vulture and his squatter-owners! If I were Nana Akuffo Addo, I would quickly distance myself from this kind of monumental nonsense, which even by Okoampa's own standards, stands out as an eloquent anti-Ghanaian diatribe against the sovereign will of the people, a furious and unmerited savage blow against the respect for democratic governance and constitutional rule of a government elected by popular mandate.

Okoampa continues: 

"What is also wickedly fascinating is the sudden fit of alarm that seems to have gripped the hitherto light-headed Ghanaians. All of an auspicious sudden, it is beginning to home-in to these soft-headed, happy-go-lucky and good-natured “Niggers” that premature gloating over a pure gift of nature may yet turn out to be too good to be true. It was also rather fitfully amusing that some Ghanaians should already begin to be angrily chary of the Ivorians; and, indeed, the irony of it all is that these “Angernistas” are largely what one may aptly term as diehard “Nkrumacrats,” the fanatical disciples of modern Ghana’s first postcolonial premier. Dear reader, by now, it ought to be obvious to you what “Sremu Sei Nana” (The King of the Savannah’s Grandson) is getting at. And, of course, it is the stark fact that where “Black Gold” is concerned, pan-Africanism is only the dream of a hopeless lunatic."

Okoampa continues by making demeaning remarks about his fellow countrymen.  To use such language indicates comtempt for Ghanaian men and women. Why would any Ghanaian who consider his country's vital interests so dispensable, still present himself as a member of a "Think Tank" and expect respect from his fellow Ghanaians? What does it mean if this man presents Nana Akufo Addo as his favourite candidate, and Akufo Addo approves of this association with him? Is Akuffo Addo telling us that the Danquah Institute "think tank" is fast becoming nothing but a nest of politically virulent and toxic ideas contempt for the Ghanaian people?

I want to appeal to all Ghanaians from across the political spectrum to denounce this deeply insulting article. I specifically call upon Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo to consider these comments serious enough and accord the same attention and time for condemnation as he did to the recent assault by his body guards against the supporters of his political opponents at the party's headquarters! This political contagion can and must be contained immediately. Okoampa must be isolated politically. We should erect a political cordon sanitaire against him, strictly and voluntarily imposed by all proud and peace-loving Ghanaians. "The only place available for the purveyors of doom and damnation of Ghanaians is political quarantine. All those found to be associated with such an idiot, do so at their own political risk and peril!

It is time for all right-thinking Ghanaians irrespective of political hue, to distance themselves from the greed driven gamblers with our future and our destiny as a nation. Okoampa has already pointed out that Nana Akuffo Addo is his main man for the 2012 elections (see: "NPP Flagbearership: My Choice for Election 2012", by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article,  Wed, 03 Mar 2010. The question Nana Akuffo Addo needs to answer is, is Okoampa his man? I am sure it is not too much to ask of our potential future presidents< the simple question of how close  they themselves stand in relation to extraordinarily toxic opinions of their very close associates, particularly one who expresses su flagrant and self-confessing hatred for a country we call home?

I was taken aback that I forgot aboot put the author and began to wonder about what would make a fellow human being hate his own people so much that he imagines a scenario of war with what he calls "the war-seasoned Ivorians"? This is a thinly-veiled wish for a war over oil between Ghana and the Ivory Coast. I could nut my finger at the source of his anger and hatred. Out of frustration, I turned to his main US collaborator, a self-appointed voice of "Black Conservatives" who faithfully transmits nonsense from Okoampa on his blog for Americans to consume, to see if he offered any explanations to this strange behaviour. I was not disappointed. The answer was in the introductory sentence:

"Oil Reserves Have Been Discovered Offshore In Ghana. What Next? Bookerista Perspectives 
The Ivory Coast is claiming a portion of Ghana's offshore oil region. The center-right board member of the Danquah Institute (Ghana) and English professor in USA is glad that the Ivory Coast is making a claim because it undermines the Ghanaian center-left's claims of Pan-Africanism: "I am glad that, finally, the Ivorians are beginning to assert their right of access and enjoyment of Ghana's purportedly new-found oil wealth.  (Source: see: Bookerising.net, news site for black moderates and black conservatives.

Okoampa's problem with Ghana owning its own oil in peace is the presence of pan-Africanists in Ghana! What Pan-Africanism got to do with our precious oil? The objective of Pan-Africanism is to unite Africans and wean ourselves away from the neocolonialist cannons of conduct and behave as a free and independent people, consolidating our independence against imperialist sabotage such as the one he is scheming! Which normal African today can be angry with the noble intentions of great pan-Africanist leaders like Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to such an extent that this should cost Ghana's precious oil find? What is wrong with the intentions of the Pan-Africanists? Listen to Nkrumah here and judge for yourself, dear reader: 

“We in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning to colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels of life which will compare with those in the most advanced countries” - Kwame Nkrumah, "Africa Must Unite!", 1960.

I am even sure that Okoampa himself does not expect to treat Ghanaians this way and get away with it! He has already been dismissed before by the New York branch of the NPP for similar outrageous declarations calling for war in Ghana, in the lead up to the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. He is used to being attacked for his aggressively stupid opinions even within his own party. The attempt by the Danquah Institute to bring Okoampa back from political ostracism begun by the New York branch of the NPP is a disservice to the good people of Ghana.

Ladies and gentlemen, we need a clear apology from Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., the author of these abominations! It is time Ghanaians of all walks of life put maximum pressure on Nana Akuffo Addo to come out once more to condemn the work of his notorious henchman or go down with him! I call on ordinary Ghanaians, especially the rank and file of the NPP to join me in this condemnation and show the way Akuffo Addo to follow and condemn Okoampa's ill-considered words!

For further information and follow-ups, I invite the interested reader to my blog. I tweet some of my comments on facebook and on twitter. If you agree or disagree with me, you may follow my thinking and reactions in a more comprehensive manner by coming to theodikro.blogspot.com. I keep most of my comments in one place. You may leave comments directly at:
theodikro.blogspot.com

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!
Cheers!


Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Nana-Akyea-Mensah
Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro
Blogs:
   Feature Articles: nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com
   Comments:  theodikro.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., And The Asanteman Council, What Did He Say Wrong?

Tuesday, March 23, 2010


Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., And The Asanteman Council, What Did He Say Wrong?

"We Are Fed Up With Our Chiefs" - Kwesi Pratt

Date: 19-Mar-2010   

Audio Attachment: Listen to the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper,Kwesi Pratt Jnr. stating that it is high time we stopped glorifying our Chieftancy institutions, during a panel discussion on Peace Fm's "kokrokoo" programme
Newspaper reports indicate that "The Chief of Nsima in the Ashanti Region, Nana Nkansah Boadum Ayeboafo, has replied Kwesi Pratt Jnr., on some unsavoury remarks he made against the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu last week on a number of radio stations in Accra." (See: peacefmonline.com/ Asante Chief Descends on Kwesi Pratt, Date: 23-Mar-2010    

The reports continue that in an interaction with a cross-section of journalists in Kumasi, Nana Nkansah Boadum noted that "the attitude of Kwesi Pratt shows how disrespectful he is to the elderly in society adding that 'if that Pratt does not respect his chiefs, we respect our king and will not sit unconcerned for people like him to show disrespect to our King'”

The story says "He expressed the willingness and readiness of Asantes to defend the dignity of Asanteman and the occupant of the Golden Stool and would never allow Mr. Pratt to continue making such statements about their king."

Apparently, if the chief really wants the chieftaincy institution to be respected, he would need to listen to what Kwesi Pratt is saying, if they are against running away and leaving their sandals behind!
 
"The Today newspaper is reliably informed that although the overlord of the Asante is not too keen on taking issues with Pratt and his ilk, others from his chieftain have sworn not to let the issue die. It is envisaged that the Asanteman council would be meeting this week to review the Tuobodom-Techiman chieftaincy issue and from very reliable sources, Kwesi Pratt’s insulting behavior will be one of the issue that will engage the attention of the council."


What is wrong with what Kwesi is saying here below? Here is an attempt to translate the said radio discussion which appears in the Audio Attachment: "Listen to the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. stating that it is high time we stopped glorifying our Chieftancy institutions, during a panel discussion on Peace Fm's "kokrokoo" programme" for all to see and hear what it is exactly Kwesi was talking about! I wish someone would ne kind enough to send a copy to to Nana Nkansah Boadum, for onward transmission to the Asanteman council in helping them in their deliberations over:

"Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr., who is the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper and a known social commentator, has been vilifying the Asante King any time an issue comes in relation to Asantes and their chiefs and warned that this time round they were prepared to take up issues with the anti-Asante journalist..."

What exactly did Kwesi say? Dear reader, read on and judge for yourself! Kwesi Pratt's point is that no one is above the law. It seems through these veiled threats, someone is thinking of confirming the exasperation of not only Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., but an overwhelming number of Ghanaians from all the four corners of the country!

BEGIN QUOTE

KWWESI PRATT, JNR.: "If you go into history, the war between the Asantes and Techiman was due to the lies of someone. Someone, who was sent by the people of Techiman to carry gold and other precious stones to the King of Asante, went away and replaced the gold on the way. So, when they opened the sack, it was filled with worthless things. This brought that particular war about. It was due to their intermediary. The one who was sent to deliver the goods to Asanteman and rather changed the gift on the way, this is the one who brought that war about. Right now, the Tuobodom and Asante case that we are talking about, what is the main point in all this? The main point is that the chief of Tuobodom claims he has been kidnapped, he been made naked, and tortured and asked to swear he is not under the Asante King. In any case, the is this the truth? For all you know, these are not all the facts. It may be the facts, but for all you know, it may not turn out to be the facts. So, until investigations and fact-finding and something concrete to stand upon, can we stand on this and do what we are doing? Is this right?

The history itself does not guide us in this particular instant. So for me, this aspect disturbs me a lot. What is the principal issue of this case? The main issue is that some people decided to kill the chief of Techiman and actually fired shots which hit and wounded some of the members of his entourage, who are up till now, unable to walk. This is already pending as a case. You see what I mean? So, if you look at the case from the beginning to the end, it seems as though each and every protagonist in the case appears to have broken the law. I am intentionally choosing my words very carefully: "appears to have broken the law" because those who made the attempt to kill the chief of Techiman, who went to shoot, what has been said so far about that? What punishment has been meted against them? Those who, if true, broke the law and kidnapped the chief of Tuobodom to do wicked things to him, if true, that also is against the law.

Finally, finally, Master, what I am saying here is a bit heavy for my mouth, but I have to speak the truth. Finally, finally, the Otumfuo who organised a durbar into which he sat and proclaimed he would also kidnap the chief of Techiman, is this also according to the law? Is this a proper thing to do? That the Otumfuo claims to be giving the government an ultimatum, and that if the government fails to follow his ultimatum, and the chief of Techiman is found on within his territory, he would organise his kidnapping and be sent to his palace and so on, is this also good? In my opinion this is also not good! Some people are saying he spoke out of anger. Master, it behoves on our elders not to speak in anger! That is the difference between "elders" and the ordinary people. You simply do not speak in anger! Anyone who speaks out of anger does not speak well. So the fact that he spoke out of anger is no excuse to the kind of things he said.

Meanwhile, it is written in the 1992 Constitution that the chiefs must not interfere in politics. Otumfuo says the government has to choose between him and Tachiman. What is the basis of that? Why should any government choose between any people? Why should any government choose between the people of Apam and the people of Winneba? What is the basis of that choice? Why should any government choose between Tamale and Bolgatanga? Why? Where is this also from? I am disgusted by what is happ...! Because, as we all discuss this matter, before the last word is said, if we do not take care, as Master Kofi Juamah said, if care is not taken, it is a very big trouble that is coming. And this big trouble, the elders who are speaking in the way which could cause trouble, when the trouble comes, it does not touch them. When some youth of Kumasi picked up sticks and descended on the Tachiman station, no chief was injured, no child of a chief was affected. When the Techiman people got angry and retaliated, no chief sustained any injury, no child of any cheif was hurt. So in the long run, it is the ordinary people who suffer for nothing. They are just going to suffer for nothing because of the irresponsibility of some of our elders. In any case, Master, these chieftaincy affairs, we are tired of chieftaincy affairs! Why? March 2010, March, 2010, we are still glorifying the chieftaincy institution, what is that institution? The most undemocratic institution, how does one become a chief? It is based on blood relations. One's ancestor's went to conquer this one and conquered that one. They were slave-raiders and so on, and therefore one is a chief. That is the basis of selecting chiefs. No democracy in it at all!

All over the country, our chiefs, lands that our "Nananom" (ancestors) have left behind for us are being sold in order for them to indulge in frivolities! They sell them "by heart" (by rote, i.e "without thinking"), no accountability, ... then afterwards, they open their mouths, not to say things that even lead to peace and prosperity, they open their mouths and it is "War!" Go to Bawku today and see for yourself. Go to Yendi and see. There is fire everywhere why? If this is how they are going to behave, then as Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said, "A time would come when the chiefs would run away and leave their sandals behind"! We are fed up with all of this, how....?"

END QUOTE

Transcript certified by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro. Please help with translations! Send comments to my blog! I tweet some of my comments on facebook and on twitter. If you agree or disagree with me, you may follow my thinking and reactions in a more comprehensive manner by coming to theodikro.blogspot.com. I keep most of my comments in one place. You may leave comments directly at: theodikro.blogspot.com

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!

Cheers!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Nana-Akyea-Mensah
Blog: /nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/
Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro


This article has also appeared in:

Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., And The Asanteman Council, What Did He Say Wrong?
24 Mar 2010 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version Feature Article ...
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Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., And The Asanteman Council, What Did He Say Wrong? Date: 19-Mar-2010. Newspaper reports indicate that "The Chief of Nsima in the Ashanti ... 
www.ghanaweb.com/

Latest News in Ghana | Peace FM Online | Ghanaian News
Mar-24: Features: Feature: Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., And The Asanteman Council, What Did He Say Wrong?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Akuffo Addo And The USAfriCom Saga: Matters Arising, Part One

Akuffo Addo-USAfriCom Saga: Part One

Comment: Re: Akufo Addo Must Come Out Clear On USAfricom:

"Look at the other side of the argument like job creation that American military base in Ghana will bring to the teeming unemployed youth. If the youth have jobs, the raging arm robbery may be reduced to the barest minimum. Why have you preoccupied yourself with this issue? Will it be alright if the Russians or the Chinese establish a military base here in Ghana? Has it ever occured to you that a great number of Ghanaians will be too happy to have jobs that cannot be taken away from them whenever there is a change of Government? It is a shame that you and Kwesi Prat still live in the past. CPP is dead just as Nkrumaism."

- ALEX AMOAKO-ATTAH

Date: 2010-03-02 08:19:15, Comment to: Akufo Addo Must Come Out Clear On USAfricom, Feature Article of Tuesday, 2 March 2010.


I know how close you are to Nana Akufo Addo that is why I am singling out your comment for a special treatment, in order to provide clear and correct information to the public, and help to counter disinformation.

You asked two main questions:

1. "Look at the other side of the argument like job creation that American military base in Ghana will bring to the teeming unemployed youth. If the youth have jobs, the raging arm robbery may be reduced to the barest minimum. Why have you preoccupied yourself with this issue?"

2. "Will it be alright if the Russians or the Chinese establish a military base here in Ghana? Has it ever occurred to you that a great number of Ghanaians will be too happy to have jobs that cannot be taken away from them whenever there is a change of Government?"

In order to keep this short. I shall answer the first question in part one and the second in part two respectively.

Answer To The First Question:


1. "Look at the other side of the argument like job creation that American military base in Ghana will bring to the teeming unemployed youth. If the youth have jobs, the raging arm robbery may be reduced to the barest minimum. Why have you preoccupied yourself with this issue?"

I wonder why you are asking me to look at a side of an argument that does not stand on its feet! "Look at the other side of the argument like job creation that American military base in Ghana will bring to the teeming unemployed youth." You should not have bothered to preach to Ghanaians the virtues and pleasures of employment such as "If the youth have jobs, the raging arm robbery may be reduced to the barest minimum." We all know this. The central question is does the mere establishment of military bases create "jobs that cannot be taken away from them whenever there is a change of Government"? Yes or No?

There is no doubt in my mind that this whole vague idea that somehow the establishment of military bases would have any economic benefits must really be based simply on the silly suspicions of a few ill-informed individuals. All we need to do is to look around us and find out what is really going on.

Describing the scale of their operations, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! says: "It sounds like a fast-food franchise—hundreds of locations spanning some 130 countries across the globe—but in fact, it’s perhaps the ultimate face of US hegemony: military bases. There are more than 700 US military bases worldwide, used for launching wars, holding prisoners, testing weapons.
One could be closing down in Ecuador, where lawmakers recently approved a ban on foreign bases. The Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has famously quipped that he’ll let the US military remain if the US agrees to an Ecuadorian military base in Miami." Thus the United States has over 700 hundred military bases across the globe, so this should not be hard to check and report.

What I notice, when I "look at the other side of the argument" as directed by Alex Amoako-Atta, is that, in the first place, the deployment of US forces across the globe is not done in a homogeneous manner. So it does not even make any sense to talk about the economic benefits when you do not know what type of base it is going to be. There are remarkable differences and practices of the US military around the world. It has been noted for example that marine bases are relatively less likely to create more criminal behaviour than Air Force bases, whilst naval bases are notorious for the regular visitations by rude, arrogant, and sexually aroused young men and women often in their thousands, looking for sex and alcohol. With this business profile the only sections of the economy that stand to benefit from this would be the drinking bars and the prostitution and beer industries.

Military bases are “installations routinely used by military forces.” If they are soldiers from one's own country, the chances are that in a democracy the citizens can control their excesses through their governments. However, the confluence of labor (soldiers, paramilitary workers, and civilians), land, and capital in the form of static facilities, supplies, and equipment belonging to a foreign army is a different matter. "Bases are just the most visible part of the larger picture of U.S. military presence overseas. This picture of military access includes U.S. military training of foreign forces, often in conjunction with the provision of U.S. weaponry, joint exercises meant to enhance U.S. soldiers' exposure to a variety of operating environments from jungle to desert to urban terrain and interoperability across national militaries, and legal arrangements made to gain overflight rights and other forms of ad hoc use of others' territory as well as to preposition military equipment there."

When the US Military has personnel in a country they operate under a SOFA, a status of forces agreement with that country. These agreement generally put US personnel beyond the legal reach of their host country. The SOFAs also apply to contractors. Increasingly, both the US State Department and the Pentagon use contractors for military activities outside the United States. Most of these contractors operate beyond the reach of any law. Theoretically they are controlled by US law, or US military justice. In practice it is almost never applied, in US courts it is frequently too difficult to prove cases that happened in other countries, in part because it is difficult get witnesses for those trials.
Military bases, even within the US are the sources of devastating environmental pollution, toxic chemicals, heavy metals, contaminated land and groundwater. They make little effort to clean up within the United States. In other countries they just leave the pollution for the people to suffer.
Before we come to that, here are a few interesting cases that show the impact of the US bases on the local populations:

Case Number One: the removal of the U.S. Navy from Vieques, Puerto Rico in 2003

Since these troubling events, the number of countries into which the U.S. slowly but surely seeking to establish bases in are expanding rapidly. We see them particularly in Africa, Central Asia, and Latin America. In spite of the overwhelming sympathy that greeted the US after the attacks of the 9/11,sustained campaigns of direct action and political lobbying resulted in the removal of the U.S. Navy from Vieques, Puerto Rico in 2003. "The success of this anti-base campaign, where others had failed, was due in part to the use of arguments about the deleterious environmental and health effects of military activities on the island. This argument also remains the centerpiece of resistance to military activities on and around domestic U.S. bases." (Catherine Lutz, Bases, Empire, and Global Response. www.forusa.org)

Case Number Two: Voices from Chamoru
In the summer of 2007, Two Chamoru representatives from Guam visited Australia for a month-long international awareness campaign and accused the United States of glaring human rights violations of the indigenous Chamoru people. It is an interesting case because if there are any economic impact to be expected per ratio of local population, in Guam the ratio was one is to one. The island's entire indigenous Chomoru population stands at 55,000. The Americans are seeking to base 55.000 troops there. Asking the people of Guam the benefits of a military base is like asking a rape victim the benefits of being raped!

'“The new wave of U.S. militarization of Guam means to be decisive,” said Chamoru writer Julian Aguon in Sydney today. “It is not simply more of the same. Part of the U.S. military realignment in the Asia-Pacific region includes the controversial relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa, Japan to Guam. The move will have devastating consequences for the indigenous Chamoru people, who have been struggling for decolonization of their island home.

“The situation of Guam serves as one of the greatest indictments of U.S. democratic legitimacy, as Guam remains one of only 16 non-self-governing territories in the modern world. The military build-up now underway in Guam, which will include an influx of a military personnel population comparable in size to the entire indigenous population (55,000), is being done entirely without the input or consultation of the indigenous people and over their deepening dissent.”

Dr. Lisa Natividad, a professor at the University of Guam, stated that the new wave of military buildup will only worsen the well being of the Chamoru people, who already suffer from the classic symptoms of a colonial condition such as dramatic health disparities. “For example, rates of nasopharyngeal cancer among my people are 2,000% higher than in the United States, and the rate of diabetes is five times the national U.S. average,” Dr Natividad said.

“Although Guam is only 30 miles long, it contains 19 sites designated by the US Environmental Protection Agency as the most highly contaminated and toxic sites in the entire United States.” Dr. Natividad said. These toxins include radioactive and carcinogenic materials, dioxins, etc.

“We come to Australia in the hope of raising awareness about the human rights deprivations of the Chamoru people by the U.S, to build solidarity among the peace and justice groups here and throughout the Asia-Pacific region, who are all endangered by current U.S. militarization of the region,” she said.' (Source: US ACCUSED OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, http://www.anti-bases.org/)

Case Number Three: The Italians have had enough

In methods of social research, I don't know what to make of it, but if I see tens of thousands of people marching as they did in the north-eastern Italian city of Vicenza against a planned extension of the US army base there, I know from this that the much vaunted economic impact has not tipped the scale. This demonstration was organised because the majority of local people are opposed to US plans for expansion. They said the then Prime Minister Romano Prodi had ignored strong local objections. Mr Prodi was going ahead with a plan agreed by his pro-US predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi.

Case Number Four: The Okinawans flex their muscle and win

The United States was forced to back down over its plan to build a large offshore military base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa after local protests stalled construction. Reports said "Washington and Tokyo had wanted to build a heliport and 1.5-mile runway over pristine coral reef more than a mile offshore, near Heneko village. But the plan enraged many locals on the small island, which already hosts around half of the 37,000 American troops stationed in Japan."

Environmentalists joined the opposition to the planned base, saying it would destroy the reef, which is home to the dugong, an endangered species of sea mammal. (Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news, US military retreats over Japanese base after protests by islanders, by David McNeill in Tokyo, Thursday, 27 October 2005)

It is clear in all these cases that the local people are not happy with the establishment of bases in their territories. You can say the same of South Korea to Saudi Arabia, in Germany and and even within the US there are local communities complaining about the installation of US military bases with a long list of grievances. Prominent among them are the environmental impacts which include "effects on air quality, fire potential, noise pollution, waste disposal and spills and erosion from amphibian craft landings and weapon target zones, collisions with marine mammals, and contamination from toxic chemicals including red and white phosphorus and perchlorate."

As they work around the clock to establish their bases, obviously ignoring whatever our sentiments might be on the matter, they would still find some appropriate words to explain why those of us complaining against this mind-boggling swindling of a whole country, the bad guys. Those who are looking for local impact must find out from the Okinawans, they must know after all these decades, yet even there we see that most polls show 70 to 80% of the island's people want the bases to removed. Most of them value the economic benefits of the land on which the bases are based than the bases themselves.

Another complain that they find unbearable is the constant risk of aviation crashes as well as higher rates of prostitution, drug trafficking, and sexual assault and other crimes by U.S. soldiers. "For years," writes Catherine Lutz, "Okinawans have staged large protests, linking hands and encircling large bases in their entirety, and sitting-in for months at the site of proposed new military construction. One family built a large peace museum right up against the edge of the fence to Futenma Air Base there, with a stairway to the roof which allows busloads of schoolchildren and other visitors to view the sprawling base after looking at art depicting the horrors of war."

As I said earlier, there are over seven hundred bases, and we do not have enough space and time to list all the cases that these represent. This is just to provide an idea of what I have come across in my research on the subject and the direction it points: "my side of the argument" is the correct one. The whole idea of military bases creating jobs is a hoax. I am challenging Alex Amoako-Atta to provide a single case where a US military base has led to any significant job creation which brought employment to any "teeming unemployed youth" anywhere is the world.
There is a huge movement throughout the world to close down US military bases.


Please watch this video:

April 18, 2008





No Bases for Empire: International Activists Organize Against US Foreign Bases in Their Backyards
Foreign Bases in Their Backyards
Diego_garciaweb

The United States maintains over 700 military bases in dozens of countries across the globe. We speak with two international activists who are in the US for a speaking tour as part of a campaign called “No Bases for Empire.” Jan Tamas, from the Czech Republic, is the founder of the No Bases Initiative, a coalition against the proposed US missile system in Eastern Europe. Olivier Bancoult is with the Chagos Refugee Group. He was expelled from his native Diego Garcia when he was four years old. The US has operated a military base there since British forces expelled native islanders in the early 1970s. [includes rush transcript] - Demoracy Now!

I would like to rest my case with the following comment on the same article by Xcroc:

"... The US is not in Africa to do good unto others. Presently the US does not do good to or even take care of its own people. It has failed for decades to invest adequately in its own education, infrastructure, and health. The results are now beginning to show, but that has not caused the US to turn around and take care of its own people. The health care crisis in the US is but one example. The likelihood that the US is in anyone elses country to help them is remote. It is there to help itself.

The reasons for the Africa Command given within the United States are repeatedly stated as OIL, TERRORISM, and CHINA:

"...protecting “the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market” was one of Africom’s “guiding principles” and specifically cited “oil disruption,” “terrorism,” and the “growing influence” of China as major “challenges” to U.S. interests in Africa." (from a presentation by AFRICOM deputy commander, Vice Admiral Robert Moeller in an Africom conference held at Fort McNair on February 18, 2008)

This month AFRICOM has been feteing Ghanaian journalists in Stuttgart. And earlier this month Ambassador Yates met with Ghanaian journalists in Takoradi. They asked about help and equipment for fighting illegal fishing and drug smuggling. The answers they got were vague and noncommittal. What was not mentioned is that the money for such equipment help was cut from the US budget several years ago, and has not been restored since. That would be the:

AFRICAN COASTAL AND BORDER SECURITY PROGRAM (ACBS) – provides specialized equipment (such as patrol vessels and vehicles, communications equipment, night vision devices, and electronic monitors and sensors) to African countries to improve their ability to patrol and defend their own coastal waters and borders from terrorist operations, smuggling, and other illicit activities.

The ACBS is supposed to be part of the Africa Command budget, but is not currently funded by the US." ( Xcroc, Date: 2010-03-01 10:00:41, Comment to: Akufo Addo Must Come Out Clear On USAfricom)

NOTES:

This article is also published: http://www.modernghana.com
Akuffo Addo And The USAfriCom Saga: Matters Arising, Part One, By Nana Akyea Mensah, Feature Article | 2 hours ago

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Akufo Addo Must Come Out Clear On USAfricom NOW!

I was having a little conversation with Mr. Justice Sarpong of Texas on the arrest of Nana Darkwa on Ghanaweb the night of the 15th Delegates Conference of the New Patriotic Party at Kumasi on Satuarday, 27th February, 2010. As I had not heard the news about the results of the vote, I asked him if he could confirm my suspicions:

"Do you know the results of the vote? I suspect Jake won but just like Nana Darkwa, I have no proof! Hahahaha!"

Sarpong was kind enough to confirm as follows:

"YES, JAKE WON AND YOUR PART-TIME PARTY NDC WOULD BE VOTED OUT IN 2012. HAVE A GOOD WEEK END."

Even though the style of this article is a reply to Justice Sarpong in order to stimulate a debate on this very important issue directly on the Ghanaweb forum, the contents are a matter of urgent concern for all Ghanaians, Africans and all the peoples of the world who support peace and justice on our one and only planet.

My response to Sarpong at the news of the election of Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey as the Chairman of the NPP was thus:

"Thanks Mr. Sarpong!

I am going to write an article immediately! Can you guess what it is going to be about?

Guess Number One:
It is about his acquisition of state property as personal property being the central tenet of his personal contribution to the property owning democracy of the NPP!
Answer: WRONG!

Guess Number Two:
I suppose he is going to drive and have a peep at the coveted house to see if it may require some maintenance services, and how much the renovations would cost, etc., etc., ...
Answer: WRONG!

Guess Number Three:
There is no doubt he would be hinting his contractor to get ready for the works....
Answer: WRONG!

Guess Number Four:
It is about the Ga lands, and how Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey is going to hide behind the Bible to dupe his own people, "It is written in the Bible", I can almost hear him say: "that, 'Even the little that you have shall be taken away from you!'"..... Hahaha hahahaha! This is also wrong!

I am going to do none of those! I am sure to hell people are going to write better on these subjects than I possibly can! One issue which is of extreme national importance, which the Akufo Addo team must be forced to come out clean with Ghanaians is their position on US Africa Command. For reasons of national security, it is not important whether the US states they want to establish bases in Ghana or not. If they have reasons not to let us know, they will not let us know. What is important is what our own elected leaders' position on the matter. This is an area where some of us want to see more transparency from the NPP, rather than the opaque manner ex-President Kufour was dealing in. There shall be no escape, as we are going to insist upon it until we get the answers. If he fails to respond, we shall accompany him with the issue right up to December 2012. It is therefore in the interest of Nana Akufo Addo must come out very clearly on this, in order not to look funny.

With the election of Jake Obetsebi Lamptey as the Chairman the issue even becomes more than urgent. I met Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. in London during the last Presidential campaigns. As usual, we were very worried about the way President Bush was able to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians with his Baloney!" speech, and how all of a sudden, the talk of Africom became what Asare-Ochere Darko of the Danquah Institute calls "high-powered secret meetings with the President, Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff" with the Ghanaian public completely left in the dark!

I asked Kwesi if he had managed to ask Akufo Addo to commit himself, and he told me he had been looking for the opportunity but he had not yet succeeded. The he recounted to me when he had the chance he asked Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. And his response was something to this effect: "Well, you know, America is a very big and powerful country, so if they want to establish a base here we can do virtually nothing about it!"

I have been trying to get the Akufo Addo team to respond to these alarming declarations by one of his closest of allies and propagandist-in-chief, Asare Ochere Darko. He has kept an extraordinary silence on the matter. Mr. Gabby Asare Ochere-Darko tells us: 'in August 2007 Major-General Ward, who was later confirmed as AFRICOM’s first commander, visited Accra. He held discussions with President Kufuor on “ways of strengthening military cooperation.” His high-powered secret meetings with the President, Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff triggered huge speculation. Much was made of Maj Gen J B Danquah’s public statement about the visit when he said Maj Gen Ward had ‘done enough to resolve’ Ghana’s concerns about AFRICOM, adding, “I have had the chance to hear [Ward] explain what is the reasoning behind the command, and it’s all about partnership.”'

What was after former US President George W. Bush had declared publicly in Accra on the 20th of February 2007, that "Some people say I am here to kind of looking for bases. That is baloney!" President Kufour was happy that the declaration by the visiting US President "would pay put to the speculation, and enable the US-Ghana relations to flourish." Upon second thoughts, I suspect they did not find it a very brilliant idea to go into elections with such a sell-out hanging on their necks. Thus they cleverly made public pronouncements to fool the population whilst they clandestinely continued what Maj Gen J B Danquah vaguely tells us: "it’s all about partnership.”

Ochere Darko explains the nature of the "partnership". He says exactly the same thing we hear from the US Africa Command:

"At the moment the Americans say they are happy to keep the U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Germany, to coordinate all U.S. military and security interests throughout the African continent. But any reasonable assessment must conclude that this can be nothing but a temporary address and arrangement."

What I find even more alarming is this attempt by the Akufo Addo chief propagandist to sell the idea of Africom to Ghanaians:

"Ghana is now the subject of strategic U.S. energy and military interests which, as far as the Obama administration is concerned, has raised the stakes considerably in Ghana–United States relations. As the potential gem in the crown of what Washington terms Africa's ‘New Gulf’, the article highlights how Ghana’s pending oil-rich status will shift the terms of negotiation during the trip. Furthermore, America’s preference for Ghana as the physical location for the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) headquarters, and its concern not to cede strategic ground to China in this region, mean that in 2009 Ghana has an unprecedented hand of cards to play in this game of international diplomacy. Our task as a nation – and the Government’s task as our representatives - is to make the strategic decisions to ensure that we aren’t simply the honoured recipients of President Obama’s first visit to Africa, but that we come away with more concrete deliverables to help us meet our own strategic goals."

Ochere Darko, the Executive Director of the Akyem Mafia neocolonialist think-tank known as the Danquah Institute now shows us how they hope to move Ghana forward:

"The way forward is a pro-active policy to build a new Gulf of energy security and prosperity in a part of the world that is relatively receptive to American presence. With significant discoveries being made in the Gulf of Guinea oil basin, off the coast of Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Congo and Cote d’Ivoire, according to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States will be importing in the year 2020 over 770 million barrels of African oil a year. And Ghana with its stability, notable responsiveness to America, deepening multiparty democracy and promising investment climate is seen as the perfect epicentre for the growth and fulfilment of this interest. In the eyes of America, geography, geology and ideology all favour Ghana as the gem in the crown of this new policy."

I am sure it shall not harm our democratic process if Nana Akufo Addo would come out clearly to distance himself with the position of his right hand man or be honest enough to tell us BEFORE he is elected, whether or not he endorses the "brilliant ideas" of the Danquah Institute neocolonialist think-tank.

They seem to know more than the average Ghanaian concerning the goings-on:

"Furthermore, the U.S. is, understandably, bent on establishing a regional command for Africa, similar to U.S. Forces Korea, with a homeport situated on the African continent to protect their interests. West Africa is its natural home, given the need to protect energy interests in the Gulf of Guinea. Liberia has offered but simply cannot match the kind of convenience available in Ghana. It can be a win-win situation."

Is Nana Akufo Addo saying that his boys know more than he does? Is he cleverly keeping that up his sleeves only to spring the surprise once elected into office? I think that it is about time that he came out clean and state his policy on Ghana as the headquarters of the US Africa Command NOW! I know not what course my countrymen and women may take, but as for me, I want to hear a clear "NO TO AFRICOM" from him! If he intends to go ahead with the Kufour-Bush plans, he has to make it clear before the elections, for Ghanaians to decide whether or not such a human being is fit to be a president. I have every reason not to trust him one bit!


PLEASE READ ASARE OCHERE-DARKO'S ARTICLE HERE:
Source: See Ghanaweb Archives, Feature Article of Monday, 25 May 2009
"Obama’s Visit – What’s In It For Us And U.S.?" Columnist: Otchere-Darko, Asara


This article has just nee published on www.modernghana.com/

Comment repeated  under: General News of Sunday, 28 February 2010, Source: GNA
Northern Region marks Veterans Day here Comment: Akufo Addo Must Come Out On USAfriCom