NPP On Cocaine: Obetsebi-Lamptey Is Pathetic!

There is a popular Ghanaian joke that almost every Ghanaian born in Ghana and growing up in Ghana is  likely to come across before the teenage ends. It is about three people who went to steal a goat. The story goes this way: Three friends conspired to steal a goat. They were able to capture it undetected, killed it, cooked it, and ate it with fufu and light soup. This was done secretly in the bush, so by the time the cooking was over, there was hardly any water left to drink after the meal.

Thus upon arrival into the village, the first thing that they were looking for was some water to drink. They thus went straight to the first hut. It was a neighbour's home, who, in their absence, had been alerted by an alarm that a goat had gone missing. Unknown to the thieves, everyone in the village was on the alert.

"Can I please have some water to drink onto something good in my stomach?" The first thief asked politely.

"My friend! Did we not agree that we are not going to say anything about it?" The second thief asked the first thief.

"Stop that immediately! Did you hear him mention any goat?" The third thief scolded the second thief.
Thus it was, that as this neighbour enter his kitchen to fetch some water, he whispered into his wife's ears:

"Go and tell the chief that I have got some suspects in my house!"

Pretending not to have followed the conversation, he served them one after the other with water, which they thirstily drank. The second round of cups were deliberately delayed to facilitate their impending arrest. End of story, funny or not.

Indeed, Obetsebi Lamptey is not addressing his fellow NPP thieves, he is addressing the Executive Secretary of the Narcotic Control Board, Mr. Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, so instead of asking "Did you hear him mention the word 'goat'?" Here we see him asking the NACOP boss to mention the goat or goats involved in the narcotic business.

A news story which first appeared on Joy Online and reported in the General News of Monday, 27 June 2011, on Ghanaweb, Name and shame politicians who use narcotic money - Dr. Aning, Dr. Aning, who is the Director of Research at the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Centre says, the call by the Director of NACOB, Mr. Akrasi Sarpong, who in an interview with told Joy FM’s Sammy Darko  said that "if any politician dares us (NACOB) and uses narcotics money for politics, that person will be sorry. Whether you are an NDC or NPP or CPP or whatever, you will be sorry," is timely.

Dr. Anning appeared to be confirming what Mr. Akrasi Sarpong said. He was reported as saying "There is a long lasting relationship between narcotic money and the funding of political party activities in Ghana."

Dr. Aning said “Narcotics, whether it is Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin, Ephedrine, Methamphetamine or [others] is beginning to pose both a political and security threat to this country. We are now internationally known not only as a traffic country or a transit country but as a country where the impact of these narcotics are beginning to have a cumulative negative impact.”

A narco-state is a clear nightmare. Apart from the direct devastations by the drug on families, they come in with guns. Mexico is as dangerous as Afghanistan, even though the war there is different. It is a war of drug cartels. There is not a single Ghanaian who will not be negatively impacted by a full-blown narco-state.

First, it will drive away good business. This simply means more and more mouths to feed and less and less food to put into those mouths. As our population increases, job opportunities would be decreasing. Furthermore, this would also mean that Ghanaians would no longer be able to travel freely. The few who manage to get visas shall be subjected to some of the most humiliating searches, such as peeps into the anus by Customs officials, at international airports, simply because they are carrying Ghanaian passports! This is what happens to citizens of countries which are designated as transit points for illicit drugs. Who wants this to happen to this country?

And the threat is growing. According to Dr. Aning, "the trade is growing as it has been discovered that between eight and fifteen percent of the narcotics entering main land Europe come through Ghana." Clearly, something correct needs to be done. and every peace-loving Ghanaian must support the initiatives to get on top on the fight by drug barons to steal our sovereignty and peace from us.

I was therefore extremely surprised that instead of lending the necessary moral support and the boost that is needed to make Ghana clean, the Chairman of the NPP is the only  leader of a political party in Ghana not to take kindly to the words of the NOCOB capo. What even makes this extremely strange and unnecessary was the fact that the NACOB boss was absolutely non-partisan in his warning: he mentioned all the political parties:

"if any politician dares us (NACOB) and uses narcotics money for politics, that person will be sorry. Whether you are an NDC or NPP or CPP or whatever, you will be sorry!" He did not mention any goat. All he said was that "his outfit has information that some politicians are heavily funded by drug barons adding that NACOB will deal with any politician caught to be using proceeds from the illicit trade notwithstanding the party that the person belongs to."

Of course, he added that "as the 2012 general elections approaches, NACOB will be very vigilant and monitor the situation carefully to bring to book any culprit found."

Why should any one who has nothing to do with drugs have an issue with this? Instead of welcoming and declaring his support, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, reacting to the comments by the NACOB Boss on the Citi Eyewitness News, on Monday June 27,  pleaded with Mr Akrasi Sarpong to "provide evidence to his claims and avoid speaking loosely."

Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey complained:

“This is why people who are put in positions like this should not speak loosely, if things that you say, without providing any supporting evidence has the capacity to taint a person or a group of persons then you should avoid making certain comments at all."

This is in spite of the glaring fact that no goat has so far been mentioned! A fact which normally should make all goats comfortable, seems to irk some:

"If you really have any evidence that political parties are being financed by illicit drug whether from barons or not from barons then come out with evidence. But to come out to say generally that you are not going to allow political parities to be funded by drug money then straight away you are turning round to say that this is happening." Obetsebi-Lamptey is reported to have stated.

Indeed, the information concerning the names of the goats that the chairman of the NPP, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey is publicly seeking from the NACOB boss, is the kind of information that any drug-pusher would pay huge sums of money to obtain: questions like, what kind of leads do they have on me? I was therefore amused to read Obetsebi Lamptey asking the NACOB boss to name politicians on the NACOB's list.

I was equally satisfied with the response from the NACOB boss to the NPP Chairman's call for the name of suspected politicians to be released, see: General News of Tuesday, 28 June 2011, NACOB boss refuses to name politicians on narcotic money list:

"The Executive Secretary of the Narcotic Control Board, Yaw Akrasi Sarpong has said he cannot be forced to disclose identities of suspected drug dealers on his watch list.

Defending his reason to issue the warning, Mr Sarpong said there are various ways to fight crime and the people who are involved need to know that they are being watched so that they can stay away from it."

Which makes complete nonsense of Obetsebi-Lamptey's rantings:

“If it is happening and you are in charge to make sure that it doesn’t happen then you should make sure that it doesn’t happen and not to generally castigate people in that light”.

And more so, when cast against a background where leading members of the party such as Dr. Arthur Kennedy, who is reported to have been shocked with the amount of money Nana Akufo-Addo and Alan were pumping into their primary campaign, that he said:

"If we do not take our time, one cocaine dealer would just take his money and buy this country and put our lives in danger." - Dr. Arthur Kennedy. "Dr Kwabena Arthur Kennedy also cautioned NPP delegates who would be voting to elect their presidential candidate to be mindful of some of the aspirants who have been going round splashing money on them because the source of the money could be a questionable one."

Indeed, if Obetsebi-Lamptey had not asked the NACOB boss to mention the goats, we would have missed the best part of the story. After declaring that he is keeping the names closely to his chest, Mr. Akrasi Sarpong further expressed disappointment in the manner in which the case involving the missing parcels of cocaine was handled in the past.

“In the past the police did a beautiful work. That work that was done by the police was not backed by the hierarchy of the police. It was done by officers who were down the line. Look we know what happened,” he said.

Security analyst, Dr. Kwesi Aning concurs:

"There is a long lasting relationship between narcotic money and the funding of political party activities in Ghana."

The clearest sign yet, that the NPP is connected to drug barons is coming from the NPP chairman himself.
I have never liked the NPP, even though, somehow, I thought they have had very reasonably intelligent people to lead the party, perhaps simply because I was younger and they looked wise and educated, like Kofi Busia. The late B.J. Da Rocha, with all his human frailties, was a big brain that I met a few times at the Ringway Hotel and other places during the joint struggle against the PNDC. Comparatively, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey is pathetic, to say the least!

Nothing surprising at all in this, and we shall be seeing more of this. I know the man. That is why I was glad he was elected as NPP chairman. He has a reputation for causing electorally damaging blunders without even knowing what he had done, several weeks later. So far, only one political party has complained, even though Mr. Akrasi Sarpong mentioned all the political parties. Others have even praised the NACOB Executive Secretary. This is why I think Jake has used the "G-word", because the "g" is for the goats in the NPP whose names he wants to hear from the NACOB boss. Akrasi Sarpong did not mention any goat. Why should he?

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!

Cheers!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro

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"JJ Rawlings, We are back! You can piss for trouser!"

"JJ Rawlings, We are back! You can piss for trouser!"

Feature Article
by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

Is Rawlings now complaining Nkrumahists want to take his NDC from under his feet? Who took what from under whose feet? The struggle Ghanaians and the rest of Africa are engaged in today is not about personalities nor any body's feet for that matter! This is a struggle which involve ideas, concepts and strategies that help us to identify, defend and advance our interests as a people. Among the babel of ideas for the emancipation of Africans from the stranglehold of imperialism and their local compradore bourgeoisie, Nkrumah's about this struggle is a 'nonpariel'! Nkrumah was by quantum levels a far-sighted leader in a class of his own. And I feel angry at the insulting self-comparison Rawlings has been making with himself and Kwame Nkrumah.

An admirable thing about Nkrumah was that he was always learning. Nkrumah even learned from his own mistakes and took the trouble to write extensively in exile to pass on the lessons from the experience of struggle. It takes a buffoon of the likes of Rawlings even to think about comparing himself with Kwame Nkrumah. So, for me, it is therefore good news that Rawlings is complaining. It is about time the chickens come back home to roost. Rawlings has sponged upon Nkrumahism for far too long! It is also about time someone gave him a little talk on this subject. I immensely enjoyed reading Comrade Kwesi Adu's recent article on the same subject: "Rawlings: In Search Of Enemies And Traitors, The Roll Call"

Here is another take on that same utterly exasperating subject matter. I hope this would not be the end. And that Ghanaians would once again rise up to oppose him in even greater numbers than when they hailed him on June 4, 1979. Has this man, all of a sudden, noticed that there are Nkrumahists in the NDC? If Rawlings wants to reduce the struggle between him and his wife, against President Mills as a choice between Nkrumahists and Rawlingstas, I thank God I supported President Mills against Akufo-Addo! I thank God that those Nkrumahists that Rawlings have been fooling all along, can now say, "We are Back!"


"I am back! I am back! I am back! I am back!!!" - Rawlings, Friday, 12 December 12, 2008.

In fact, this happened publicly in the presence of the diplomatic community. At a function organised by the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, attended by several diplomats and Ghanaian dignitaries. The NDC had not even won the elections yet. I was very surprised to read on ModernGhana: "I am back!!! Rawlings says to Diplomats, as he anticipates Mills victory", Source: The Statesman - The Statesman, Ghana Elections | Mon, 15 Dec 2008. The source is dubious, admitted with much pleasure, but the information appears verifiable and credible enough to me. This was even before the December 28 presidential run-off. The excitement of Rawlings was as palpable as it was unusual. "I am back! I am back!" he boomed into the hall upon his arrival, seeking maximum attention to himself. And he never stopped until he was gone, interrupting decent conversations with "I am back! I am back!" It always came in pairs or more. He never said it once. He had to repeat it ad nausaem. "I am back! I am back!" until he barked off.

Of course, Rawlings could be forgiven if he was drunk. Considering the mood of festivity in the air at the time, that the mere glimpse of returning to power gave, especially after eight good years on the hard "Opposition bench", it was even normal and expected that his excellency would be full of wine or something more potent. However, it looks like Rawlings was in for a very rude shock if those were his dreams. The contradiction was there right from the beginning, based upon his own personal expectations and the reasons why he was so excitedly screaming into the ears of the diplomats, "I am back! I am back! I am back!"

Rawlings said nothing intelligible or anything newsworthy, other than "I am back! I am back!" And so it was, that on the next day, quite naturally, this was his only quote in the news. To be frank, I found that odd and vicariously embarrassing not just for our democracy and its image, but at how petty this Rawlings could be! Why particularly "I am back! I am back!"? This is, without a doubt, a  pre-occupation that speaks volumes, most especially  at the time of celebrating an imminent victory of a Presidential race in which he was no longer the flag-bearer!




So, why "I am back! I am back!"?

I like this question. I think the answer to that might explain the reason why we see Rawlings besides himself with excitement and joy, and how quickly this transformed into bitterness. Apparently infallible and all-knowing Rawlings had realized a deeply grievous mistake on his part! So much for Rawlings' own sense of judgement after single-handedly "imposing" Atta-Mills as the NDC Presidential candidate! Now, we know he was fooling nobody other than himself! What does that tell us of Rawlings' own sense of judgement, if after two decades in power, he booms with such joy and relish only to scream like a baby, within a fortnight, and then turn around to come and tell us that he actually got his most important political appointment decision wrong?

The question to answer first though remains why "I am back! I am back I am back! I am back!!"? I think this is important because it is only through this approach that we could gain some insight into how and why Mr. Rawlings has become such a fierce and ferocious adversary of the President, and just how his own wife, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings fits into what, for the want of a better word, I simply call 'the "I am back! I am back!!" syndrome.'

Let's even assume that he was very drunk when he was making those statements, or much more probably, high on marijuana. I do not believe in the rumours that he sniffs coke, so let's rule that out. This leaves us with alcohol and his favourite leaves. But even assuming that he was drunk or stone high, why "I am back! I am back!" and not "We are back" for example? After all it is his party which was winning but the President was clearly a different person!

As a party chairman, Rawlings could have done better, and it would have been more fitting and appropriate to rally the party on with a good bellow:  "We are back!' That slip of tongue, if ever it was one, irrespective of the inducing agent, was very revealing. And I think it holds the key to the psychological framework that has triggered his insane and intense hatred of President Mills. In the next part of this article, I want to explain why I think that President Mills has got nothing to do with it. Rawlings hates him simply because he is on the way to his quest for power, all he wanted was a pawn, not a President who thinks and has a conscience of his own. And that complement my answer to the question.




"Hand over to whom?"

In 1982, during the heat of the so-called 31st December Revolution, Rawlings made his first appearance at the Great Hall of the University of Science and Technology, now correctly called the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. It was to be a memorable occasion. After rumbling and making no sense for about an hour, came question time. A good friend of mine during the students "forced task" period, and a personal hero, now Dr. Joe Atta-Mensah, then a young student in his twenties, mounted the podium to pose the famous question:

"Mr. Chairman, I want to know, and please, let me know, one, when are you going to lift the curfew? And two, when are you going to hand over?" Atta-Mensah does not even smile at his own jokes, so you could imagine his serious face as he asked his question.

All hell broke loose! The question immediately wiped off the silly grin loitering on Rawlings face, as Atta-Mensah mounted the podium to ask his question. The PDC cadres moved quickly to restrain young Atta-Mensah from asking a third one, whilst others tried to prevent Rawlings and pleaded with him not to answer the question.  But the harm had been done to what was billed to be a "conscientization" rally, for Mr Atta-Mensah got a standing ovation from the student body.

Finally, after some calm had been restored and Joe Atta-Mensah had managed to take to his heels to avoid instant lynching, by the PDC and security details, Rawlings cleared his throat to answer the question:

"Hand over to whom? That would be the return of the devil himself!"

Only the PDC cadres cheered whilst the general student body booed, and Joe Atta-Mensah became immortalised as a national hero for democracy, even though he had to flee the country immediately for his life, for just asking that question, and to complete his education in Canada. At least, it was thanks to this question that we got the early warning signals about the kind of beast we have in town.

And so it was, that throughout the rule of the PNDC, anyone who would call for the return to constitutional rule would be tagged "enemy of the revolution" with dire consequences to their persons. So, it is a little bit of an under-statement to simply state that Rawlings had no intention of handing over power and cede to a democratic form of governance. He had to be ejected from office under intense national and international pressure. Little wonder that he is scheming to come back! He is still not convinced that it is game-over.

It was not an easy struggle to get Rawlings to cede to the demands of Ghana's pro-democracy forces and to return the country to constitutional rule. It was equally not easy to get Rawlings to concede defeat to the NPP, had it not been the fact that his own flag-bearer was a gracious gentleman who would prefer to be known as "Asomdweehene". NDC Presidential candidate, Professor John Evans Atta-Mills conceded defeat to the chagrin of Mr. Jerry John Rawlings! It is thus against such a background that one should understand the basis of the "I am back! I am back!" syndrome, as nothing other than an inordinate and utterly disgusting lust for power.



"Traitor!", "Team B!", and "Go slow!"

Now, let's fast-forward to January 2011. A few weeks after the famous "I am back! I am back!" outbursts, President Atta-Mills did something that literally tingled violently in Rawlings' tympanic membranes. President Mills had wasted no time at all in making it clear to Rawlings that he was his own man, and would not be pushed around by anybody, not even Rawlings! The first issue on the table was about ministerial appointments. President Mills clearly had some ideas of his own but preferred to follow the laid down procedure. Rawlings did not only have a definitive list, but a comprehensive list of the entire cabinet to be appointed for the newly-elected Mills Administration. And contrary to his expectations, Atta-Mills, following the laid down procedure, would only pick and choose from the Rawlings list and not accept it hook, line, and sinker!

For the Rawlingses that was an unpardonable hubris. Thus an understandable reading into the "I am back! I am back" declarations of Rawlings translates into an expectation on his part to run the country by remote control. Indeed, there were rumours that he expected to literally make political appointments with simple SMS text messages to the President on his mobile phone! Thus for Rawlings, who left power reluctantly as a dictator, "I am back! I am back!" takes an ominous and familiar meaning. And the democratically elected Professor of law did very well to put this ignorant upstart who could not even pass his General Certificate of Examination, "O" Level, in his proper place!

If you want to see how an empty head that is full of himself looks like, never miss the opportunity to observe this man carefully whenever the occasion presents itself. Attention, if you are the expressive type, I recommend that you do so safely from a television screen. He can read your thoughts from the way you smile at him and react impulsively. And this could be dangerous. He once threw a heavy ashtray which narrowly missed the head of Professor Mawusi Dake, simply because he did not like the smile on his face!

So you can imagine the level of punishment Rawlings would have reserved for "the mortuary man", if he could have his way! That simply reminds me of the Ayatollah Khomeni fatwa on Salmon Rushdie: "He deserves, at the very minimum, a sentence of death"! It gives me shivers in the spine as my mind feebly wonders what the maximum sentence would look like. Rawlings, of course, did not use so many words. He used the code word: "traitor"! That was sufficient. Very few people lived to see the light of day with such a label, when Rawlings was the "monarch" of all he could survey in the heydays of the PNDC.

 As for the ministers, as soon as the official list was published, Rawlings simply cross-checked with his own list, the "Team A", so those on the official list automatically became "Team B"! It is actually amazing how the Rawlingses replaced the opposition NPP to become the principal adversaries of the President at the very beginning of the Mills Administration over the issue of appointments. Even Akufo-Addo publicly chose not to criticize the President during his first hundred days in office. This would not be the case with the Rawlingses, who wanted the immediate imprisonment of all NPP officials for corruption, never mind the evidence!

Mills only fault was that he needed the evidence to prove the case in a court of law. Sooner than later, he would be nicknamed "Go slow" for not moving fast enough to jail those "corrupt politicians" in the NPP. To my eternal shock and amazement, I saw NPP supporters applauding Rawlings for calling President Mills "Go slow" because the President was insisting on the rule of the law and would not wrongfully jail them! It was a form of suicidal stupidity that made me feel very sad indeed for the future of our democracy, and the quality of the grey matter in the heads of some of these NPP supporters!



Now, Listen, You "Greedy Bastard", "We are back"!!!

There is something about "greedy bastards" that I find very curious, especially coming from the lips Rawlings. This is because in several interviews, Rawlings himself had made it clear that he is indeed a bastard whose Scottish father, Mr. John, did not even want to see for just an instant. He did not even want telephone calls from him! He says so himself, so we all know he is a bastard in the most classical sense of the word.

As for being greedy, what do you say of a poor Flight Lieutenant, who drinks "apio" on credit, eats "yore ke gari" on credit, smokes marijuana on credit, who suddenly finds himself with a free house, free booze, free Koforidua weeds (and sometimes from Tudu), free 555 State Express cigarettes, free car, free petrol, free driver, free eggs, and free akple and free okro soup with goat or cat meat as an option? And at the end of the month, a very fat salary on top of all that? if such a person does not want to relinquish power after misruling the country for nineteen good years, who do you think is the greedy bastard here? After killing people far less corrupt than himself, for being corrupt? How would you call such a genuine bastard, if not "a minimum" appellation of  "a very greedy bastard indeed"?

The strange thing about all this insatiable desire for power is that the struggle is always about Rawlings. It is not that he has anything special to offer the nation. Rawlings is ever ready to try anything to get to power, or to stay in power, just for the sake of power. He could not even be bothered about an ideological orientation. Rawlings was ready to try everything from the most rabid of neo-liberal economic policies such as structural adjustment and deregulation to undigested revanchist revolutionary rhetoric.

Rawlings is a corrupt person who never stops complaining about corruption, a vote rigger who never stops complaining about vote rigging, a coup plotter who never stops complaining of coup plotters, a dictator who never stops complaining of dictatorship, a greedy bastard who never stops complaining of greedy bastards, and a murderer who never stops complaining of murderers! He is the only known Ghanaian with the greatest amount of Ghanaian blood on his hands than any individual in the entire history of the Ghanaian people! He has more blood of innocent Ghanaians on his hands than the average armed-robber! He surpasses the atrocities of slave traders centuries before! Yet, after a brutal misrule over this country for nineteen years, he wants his wife to be our President, and roam around again, throwing his pompous weight about, half stoned, half sane, as Ghana's First Gentleman, instead of spending time in prison for his heinous crimes!

I remember meeting one of the soldiers who took part in the operation to free Rawlings from the MI guardroom in the early hours of Monday, June 4, 1979 and transported him to the Achimota Forest where they had established a Command Post. It was at the Passport Office which had just then been moved to the Airport Residential Area, as a result of a fire outbreak in the old passport office. I met a fellow student-leader there, who was with him and he recognized me. This colleague introduced to him as a student leader fiercely opposed to the PNDC dictatorship. He gave me a hug and gave his name orally as "Bezenkyi". It was and not spelt to me, nor written down, so I wonder if I have the spelling right. He added however, that "Bezenkyi" means "black blood" in Hausa. (I wish a Hausa-speaking reader would be kind enough to correct the spelling for me!) I also learnt that he had just been released from prison where he underwent severe torture.

Bezenkyi told me he had been tortured in prison and he had his fingers and his skin to prove it. His skin was peeling off, and his fingers had been broken. He could not move them. He told me they did that to him because they wanted to make sure he could not handle a gun and shoot with it any more. But with a swing of his arm, with his broken fingers cupped together like a claw, he said to me, "I can still throw grenades!" That was the only time he smiled. One thing he told me, that made me chuckle, was that Rawlings did not know those who were sent to liberate him beforehand, they arrived unexpectedly and so it must have taken him by surprise and he mistook them for the authorities who had ordered for his execution, so early in the morning.

It should not be forgotten that Rawlings' revendez-vous with death had been poignantly brought home to him by no other person than General Ollesegun Obassanjo, who on a state visit to Ghana, had asked to see him on Friday, 1st June 1979, three days before the June 4 operation. Obassanjo had reportedly told Rawlings upon seeing him, in the pidgin English, "Ibi [Is it] you this fiangle [tiny] boy who dey cause trouble for your contrey [country]? Like you dey for my contrey, Satorday, [Saturday] Satorday self, no go reach you!"  [you would be dead before Saturday!] Thus it was that when his liberators broke into the guardroom, a surprised and scared Rawlings clutched to the bars of the guardroom and would not allow himself to be taken away!

"I want to see my mother before I die!" Rawlings screamed. "I want to see my mother before I die!" He was crying hysterically like a baby, and actually pissed in his trousers like a baby. The noise he was making could have jeopardized the entire operation and endangered the lives of his liberators, so he was given some dirty slaps to shut up, as it was calmly explained to him that they were there to liberate him. The part of the piss in the trousers and the courage in the eyes of Bezenkyi was very contrasting. He was talking freely knowing very well that he was being followed by the BNI. He said when they even went to liberate Rawlings, he had been so scared that Rawlings pissed in his trousers. In fact, I still remember the way Bezenkyi narrated this part of the story:

 "He even piss for trouser!", he said, still with an angry face.

It was just too difficult for me to keep myself from laughing as a sign of respect for his feelings, but I could not help laughing. I honestly did not want to laugh, at least, not at that time, but it was far too much more than my endurance level! I do regret that and I feel sorry about that. Please forgive my sinful sense of humour! I perfectly sympathize with Bezenkyi and the other Nkrumahists who freed Rawlings from the guardroom, most of whom were later intimidated to flee the land and go into exile, imprisoned, tortured, or simply killed.

The events that political analysts and historians refer to as the June 4 Uprising is a culmination of several historical processes which even pre-date Kwame Nkrumah and Wallace Johnson, even though these have been very instrumental in the development of working class consciousness among the mass of our population and mass agitations and popular struggle already had their symbols such as the Sekondi Railway workers' "Bottom Tree". Rawlings hi-jacked this struggle and bastardised it just for his own personal aggrandisement. This is my thesis.

This is not to say that I did not support Rawlings on June 4. I did. I would have been happy to have been a part of the team to liberate a man who is also fighting against military corruption which had become so obvious. I would not have risked my life just for Rawlings, but help to end the suffering of an overwhelming majority of Ghanaians, under an unelected, corrupt, and irresponsible military dictatorship, who cared less about the future of the country and the conditions under which people were living. I therefore salute all those who went and liberated him from prison. How could they have possibly known that they were making a mistake?

Rawlings is a political mistake that only Nkrumahists who helped him to power can correct, and I am happy that it is no person than Rawlings himself who is blaming Nkrumahists for trying to correct their own mistake! After so many years of betrayal, what does he expect? I salute all those Nkrumahists within the NDC who are keen on correcting this mistake! It makes the NDC very attractive and tempting to join; because of Rawlings, I have never found the NDC to be an option for me. He once angrily removed a badge with Nkrumah's head embossed on it, from the chest of Mr. Kojo Eshun, who used to run the Nsamankow Press, at North Kaneshi, Accra, and that was the last straw for me, even though he was no such great fan even much earlier than that for other mischiefs.

Nkrumahists in the NDC must tell the Rawlingstas that “Nkrumahists can also be Ababio! You are not the only Ababio in town. We are asking you to go and come no more!” If President Mills wins this contest, I might officially join NDC myself. And I wish someone would tell Bezenkyi to do the same if he is still alive, so that together, we can go and tell Rawlings: "JJ, We are back! You can piss for trouser"!

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!
Cheers!
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
E-Mail: nanaakyeamensah@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
Blog: http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/
 





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Akufo-Addo, Mind The Gap! It is A Trap! Part 3

Akufo-Addo, Mind The Gap! It is A Trap! Part 3 (Final) 

by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

I read to my very profound amusement, the news caption, "Nana Addo hugs Mills as preacher man inspires", Ghanaweb General News of Monday, 14 March 2011. The story began with, "President John Evans Atta Mills and his political rival, Nana Akufo-Addo were on Sunday March 13, moved by a preacher man’s sermon to shake hands and hug each other to end what appears to be a frosty relationship between the two in the last few months."

There is a Akan proverb, which says, "When you see a frog hoping out of its hole on a sunny afternoon, you have to know immediately he is running away from something"! I knew Akufo-Addo was going to mellow down his "All-Die-Be-Die!" nonsense because it was politically toxic and extremely suicidal to launch a campaign platform in 2011 Ghana! They have insisted he would never apologize for the inward-looking, ethnocentric, and intellectually bankrupt slogan. We have been offered suggestions that by saying "We Akans are not cowards", Mr. Akufo-Addo was referring to the NPP, which is national in character and not necessarily a tribal Akan party!

In other words, the want to tell us that the "Akan" nature of the NPP is national in character! There is no way Akufo-Addo is going to get out of this hole without the ladder of "Excuse me, fellow countrymen, I was wrong to use the words "We Akans are not cowards... 2012 is going to be All die be die!"  There is no amount of hugging that can doctor the image of a tribal warlord beating war drums even before the vote! Considering the fact that Akufo-Addo's own body guards have been very notorious in violently beating up the body guards of his principal opponent at Cape Coast in the last elections, the camera man of the ex-President Rawlings in Kumasi, he sounds like a mad person complaining about himself!

I was speaking to a friend six months before the elections, and I was told that the NDC was being increasingly perceived as aggressive, violent, and too-much warlike, and so they are not liked by many people. Then six months later, the same person told me the situation had changed and that the NDC's Presidential candidate has managed to keep his title of "Asomdweehene", the "King of Peace", and the NPP was losing because they have become too aggressive and some of them are even looking for a civil war.

This was not music only to my ears, it was a confirmation of my own thoughts. I knew instinctively when I heard Akufo-Addo on the radio, not even bothering to say "We NPP" but "We Akans are not cowards... All die be die!" , that he was finished, caput! Yes the Kapwewe is caput without the saving grace of opening his toothless mouth to say "I am sorry for threatening you with a tribal war instead of a right-wing political one from the NPP. I meant to say the NPP and not Akans who are the cowards! The error is deeply regretted!" Is this too much to ask?

This is the first sign that Akufo-Addo is feeling the heat of his pugilistic, ethnocentric and extremely stupid comments. I saw it coming. He now wants to present himself as a peaceful and reconciliatory individual by pretending to hug the President. This is the nearest any one can squeeze out of an arrogant individual of that calibre. It is comforting to note that not even the arrogant aristocratic and self-appointed elites can feel the heat of public disapproval. This is good news. How can any political leader in Ghana be able identity publicly with one ethnic group and threaten death and destruction to non-Akans, and get away with it?

As usual, he has shown no intention of rendering his unqualified apologies for this unqualified nonsense! The Akan-tribalist presidential candidate of the NPP is clearly retreating from the aggressive and warmongering image he has cut for himself. Like a beast that defecates in public places, and fails even to clean its own anus, Akufo-Addo fails to render apologies and resorts to hugging!  Is this man too short to say "I am sorry"? Is it because of his arrogance that he is not able to come out to publicly say "I am sorry, what I said was a slip of the tongue, or in a bad taste!"?

Even if he had said, "We members of the NPP are not cowards", it would still have been a very low point in his political career! But coming out to say that "We Akans are not cowards" and promising hell fire and brimstones on innocent Ghanaians simply because it is his last chance at the presidential race is extremely disgusting!  He should stop the hugging and apologize for the nonsense! Hugging President Mills shall never help, even though we know he is trying to beat a retreat!


Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!

Sincerely,
The Odikro, Nana Akyea Mensah

Twitter: / twitter.com/TheOdikro,
Blogs: Feature Articles: nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com,
Comments: theodikro.blogspot.com) 

See also; 

Akufo-Addo, Mind The Gap! It is A Trap! Part 1

Akufo-Addo, Mind The Gap! It is A Trap! Part 2

Akufo-Addo, Mind The Gap! It is A Trap! Part 2

By Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.


A Rejoinder to: '“All-Die-Be-Die” Clarion Bests Mills’ State-of-the-Nation Address' Part 2, by Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame.

The more Okoampa writes on this subject, the angrier I become. I already feel angrier than the reader is going to discern from this article. This is because I am deliberately controlling myself. I just want to make it clear that where there are issues that involve the life and death of innocent people, I am in no mood to play ball! I have therefore decided to issue a very stern warning that Okoampa to end immediately the serialization of the current series of nonsense emanating from him, otherwise he and Akufo-Addo shall see the temperature rise in corresponding rejoinders to each article he writes on this subject.

I don't mind if Okoampa heeds this warning or not. It would be a pleasure to deal with both Akufo-Addo and Okoampa at the same time. This is going to be like killing two birds with a stone, or killing two goats with one kick! By this, I don't mean physically. I mean it politically. Akufo-Addo is going to remain alive but politically impotent because of his own stupid utterances, silly spin-doctors like Okoampa, coupled with the arrogance of the Akyem dwarf!

Since this is the first time I am issuing such a warning, I shall control myself with grace under pressure. But I do not warn people like Okoampa twice! I shall begin hostilities in the very next article. Suffice it to state once more that yet again Okoampa has left a hiatus between his topic and the content. I wonder if he has managed even to convince himself that the "all did be die" nonsense of Akufo-Addo "Bests Mills’ State-of-the-Nation Address'"!

In his latest article under review, here is one example Okoampa gives to show that Akufo-Addo's "We Akans are not cowards, ....Ghanaians want us to be in power, so all die be die! All die be die!" Okoampa writes:

“The Ministry of Education will be working in conjunction with the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture[,] as well as the relevant State and private entities[,] to reinforce Arts and Culture Festivals in second[-]cycle institutions.” If the preceding is not an epic disappointment of apocalyptic proportions, then we don't know what else it is!

If reinforcing "Arts and Culture Festivals in second[-]cycle institutions”, is an "an epic disappointment of apocalyptic proportions", then what about the spectre of an Akyem dwarf inciting his tribesmen to wage a tribal war in modern day Ghana?

Here is another gap Akufo-Addo has to mind. Okoampa sets out to correct the English of the President, even though I am yet to see him correct "All die be die", which is certainly not in regular English usage. Here is the correction he made to the President's speech:

“Madam Speaker, we are going to make an effort to reorient the psyche [sic] of our youth[s] towards what we consider to be Ghanaian values – especially on the issue of moral consciousness.”

Funny thing is that just in the next paragraph we see Okoampa himself using the same word he has corrected! Okoampa writes:

"Needless to say, we had anticipated the President to highlight the training of more indigenous language and culture teachers, such as has been done at the Ajumako School of Ghanaian Languages, in order to enhance the inculcation of positive Ghanaian/African cultural values into our youths." Please note his use of the word "our youths" and compare this with what he he highlighted as a mistake in the President's speech: "our youth[s]". Is this an English professor or just an ordinary idiot?

In all fairness, this article is a little bit better than the part one, for the simple reason that it attempts to raise some issues of relevance to the title. Okoampa writes:

'Ultimately, what was also interesting about President Mills' third “State-of-the-Nation Address” was the shockingly, albeit predictably, infantile manner in which Ghana's Chief-of-State attempted to impugn Nana Akufo-Addo's incontrovertibly apt call for members of the main opposition New Patriotic Party to vigorously defend themselves against executive-condoned, seasonal NDC assaults on Danquah-Busia-Dombo partisans. Once again, “take a reading”.

Here Okoampa is already rewriting a history that is less than two weeks old! Had Akufo Addo said "We the members of the NPP" instead of saying "We Akans", what Okoampa is writing would have held water. I would have been worried, but not horrified and shocked in this way. Akufo-Addo said "we Akans", not "we NPP", and that is specifically the reason why he owes Ghanaians an apology.

On the contrary, the text Okoampa cites to be worse than the "all die be die" nonsense is not very much different from the kind of sense I am busy pumping into his head:

“And let no one think that inciting or priming others for violence is the way to determine the outcome of elections.” And still further: “We will not sit idly by and allow some persons to throw this country into a state of chaos just to satisfy their self-centered and inordinate political desires.”'

In what way does "We Akans are not cowards" and we are ready to fight our way to power, "all die be die" bests the State of the Nation Address delivered by the President in Parliament recently? Ha? Did you hear the President uttering anything remotely resembling this nonsense?

In the first place, who told you that all die be die? You cannot compare the death of Jesus who was an innocent person, with the death of the two other murderers who accompanied him on his left and right on the cross! You cannot say that when someone dies from malaria it is the same as the ritual murder of Nana Akyea Mensah, the Odikro of Apedwa, whom the uncle of Akufo-Addo, Dr. J.B. Danquah, and his own father, Edward Akufo-Addo were fully apprised of the details and probably involved in the conspiracy to commit such a heinous human sacrifice!

There is a proverb which says, "a snake shall always give birth to something long!" And I suppose that in the case of dwarfs, a dwarf shall always give birth to something short! Ritual murderers like that! All die no be die! Walahi!

I end here because I do not want to lose my temper yet! Let me see a part three of the same nonsense from Kwame Okoampa, and he will begin to regret the day on which he was born! Who born dwarf? Sorry, who born dog?

Over to you Kwame Okoampa!

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!

Cheers!
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro

Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro,
Blogs: Feature Articles: nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com,
Comments: theodikro.blogspot.com)

Akufo-Addo, Mind The Gap! It is A Trap! Part 1

Akufo-Addo, Mind The Gap! It is A Trap! Part 1

A Rejoinder to: '“All-Die-Be-Die” Clarion Bests Mills’ State-of-the-Nation Address', by Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame, Feature Article of Sunday, 27 February 2011.

I suppose that Okoampa would argue that he writes out of his own volition and that Akufo Addo has nothing to do with it. I don't mind believing that. Trouble is, Okoampa writes for his cousin. He sits on his board as a governor of the Danquah Institute. So the association is there. Secondly, if Akufo-Addo does not agree with what his cousin writes, he should be able to tell him to cool it. Unfortunately anyone expecting Akufo-Addo to pump some sense into the head of Okoampa must be disappointed by the fact that Akufo-Addo himself is even talking more nonsense of late than Kwame Okoampa himself!

What we rather see Okoampa attempting to do is the political damage control of the stupid utterances made by Mr. Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, the blood-thirsty presidential candidate of the NPP who is crying for the blood of non-Akans in Ghana! The only problem with this latest attempt at damage control lies in the fact that there is a wide dichotomy between what the title promised to deliver in the article and what the content of the article was about. It reminds me of London Underground Railway system and the constant admonishment to passengers to "Mind the Gap!"

Okoampa wrote an article which purportedly announces '"All-Die-Be-Die” Clarion Bests Mills’ State-of-the-Nation Address'. It was therefore not my fault that I was expecting to read a genuine comparative analysis of the two speeches which show which one of them was better and why. The essential elements in the Akufo-Addo's infamous "All die be die" slogan and speech was the simple fact that as a national leader leader of a political party in today's Ghana, he was caught on camera identifying himself with a particular ethnic group and asking them to wage war with other non-Akans, and is therefore unfit to be offered the job as the President of Ghana.

It is ethnocentrism in his speech which is unacceptable and completely repugnant. Contrary to the stated objective of President Mills to be a "father to all" Ghanaians, here, we have a political leader presenting himself as a tribal leader beating war drums mobilizing Akans against their imagined enemies:

"They have made up their minds that they are going to intimidate us in 2012." Akufo-Addo was caught on the microphone, speaking in Twi, an Akan language, 'I sometimes explain this as the claim that we Akans are cowards. They argue that if one is able wound one or two of us, then all the rest of us remaining take to our heels! Is that so? Well, We shall see! Atiwa for example, was a little illustration of this. During the by-elections at Atiwa we did "something small" that showed a little bit of this. And so we have to understand that this party was formed by brave men. Our elders who formed this party which is now the biggest political party in Ghana, were not people who were hiding under beds! The courage that is needed now to face the 2012 elections is 'All die be die! All die be die!' Nobody is a man more than his fellow! Nobody more manly than the other. No matter how tall you are, no matter how small you are in size, by God's plan, all of us are endowed with exactly the same thing. You cannot tell us that you have three inside yours. All of us have how many? Two! Ha! ha! ha! So we are going to pick up courage. Ghanaians need us to come back to power. Whatever courage we need to stand firmly and to ensure that we come back to power in 2012, we are going to have to do it!" (Transcription by the Office of the Odikro, from audio, source: @joyonlinenews: Listen to key voices on Nana Akufo-Addo's 'all die be die' http://dlvr.it/Gb2v7)

I have never heard of a divisive political speech in the history of the entire country by a leading political leader and aspirant that is so divisive, and so disgustingly ethnocentric! It is very obvious that Akufo-Addo has spoken absolute nonsense. I have seen attempts to beat around the bush and make this absolute bunkum look a bit presentable. A lot of spin has passed under the bridge since this nonsense was uttered. I particularly found the efforts of Justice Sarpong and Arthur Kennedy rather pathetic apologies which did nothing to help the Akyem dwarf out of his political predicament.

It is normal to see Justice Sarpong, a staunch supporter of Akufo-Addo, after two years of "treatment" by the Odikro in the forums of Ghanaweb.com, to be able to point out on his own what was exactly wrong with the speech and to distance himself accordingly:

"Let me make it crystal clear here that, I do not agree with the part of Nana's speech talking about the bravery of Akans and making it seem like NPP is an Akan party at war with the Ewe dominated NDC Party. Ghanaians are not going to war war with each other, we have come a long way in our democratic rebirth we will not resort to the Kenya or Ivory Coast examples but we will not allow any Party, either NPP or NDC to hijack any election in Ghana, that NDC should not try to rig the 2012 election." (See: 'NDC Dunderheads, Atta Mess "Threatened" Kenya On Ghana', by Sarpong, Justice, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 February 2011).

Quite unlike Sarpong who wanted to make it "crystal clear" that, "the part of Nana's speech talking about the bravery of Akans and making it seem like NPP is an Akan party at war with the Ewe dominated NDC Party" is wrong, Okoampa has always believed that the NPP is not just an Akan Party, but Christian. Advancing his reasons why the NPP should reject the candidacy of Hajia Alima Mahama, who was then the Kufour Administration's Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Okoampa vehemently expressed his disagreement with Mr. Akilu Salisu, of the Nasara Club, who proposed Hajia Mahama as Akufo-Addo's running mate. First he stated the offence:

"Mr. Akilu Salisu, of the Nasara Club, stakes the unpardonably preposterous claim that “giving the position [of Vice-Presidential Candidate] to a Muslim woman would help remove the perception that NPP is an Akan party as well as help to promote gender balance” (see “FOMWAG ROOTS FOR ALIMA” Modernghana.com 7/10/08)."

The Okomapa passed his judgement:

"Indeed, as this writer stated quite awhile ago, in one of his columns, to describe the New Patriotic Party as an Akan party ought to give absolutely no occasion to invidious charges of ethnocentrism. For one, to be an Akan party simply means that democracy is active an alive in Fourth-Republican Ghana – for Akans, indisputably, constitute at least 50-percent of Ghana's electorate and citizenry. This means that no political party could be accorded an electoral mandate without having carried a sizable portion of the majority Akan vote; and so disingenuous and hollow attempts by the likes of Nasara Club's Mr. Akilu Salisu to politically malign the NPP are just that, totally hollow, disingenuous and practically unsound."

And as though that was not enough, Okoampa added:

"This writer personally believes that, indeed, Hajia Alima Mahama, given the chance, could well become one of Ghana's best Vice-Presidents. But this writer is also wary of the fact that Ghana and the NPP have just had a Muslim Vice-President for nearly 8 years now. And, indeed, it is an unprecedented and, perhaps, also an unbested first in Ghana's history, since no ruling party before the emergence of the New Patriotic Party had a publicly professing Muslim as Vice-President. Even more significant is the imperative need for Ghanaians to guard against the eerie possibility of setting an unsavory and morally unsound precedent of making a habit, or culture, of permanently reserving the Vice-Presidential spot in the NPP for Muslims and Northerners; for political entitlement, of the sort foolhardily championed by the likes of Mrs. Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has absolutely no place in a constitutional democracy. What must be done is to strongly encourage, as well as actively support, qualified Ghanaian women to enter mainstream politics, not create an unsavory political ghetto – or “tokenistic” entitlement institutions – such as the reservation of a certain number of parliamentary seats for women, as was wildly and vehemently advocated in the recent past."

(See: "Mr. Akilu Salisu Should Argue Sensibly", by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Feature Article | Sat, 19 Jul 2008).

Of course, I don't expect Okoampa who has already characterised the NPP as an "Akan Christian Party" to be bothered with, or see anything wrong with this declaration which sounds more of a tribal warlord than a decent political party candidate contesting for the high office of the President of the country! for a Presidential elections! There is no amount of comparisons with speeches made by President Mills that can wash away the spectre of a presidential candidate telling his tribesmen and women, 'I sometimes explain this as the claim that we Akans are cowards"! And calling for blood, anybody's blood, for the simple reason that according to him every death is the same!

Okoampa then raves and rants about the MV Benjamin cocaine episode, the President's "promise to round up, vigorously prosecute and severely punish the alleged killers of the Ya-Na",  and "his strongman-mentor and his politically ambitious, erratic and ever-scheming wife". How any of these answer the silly tribal nonsense uttered by Akufo-Addo baffles me! The trouble is if you can not deal with your cousin's problem, you don't have to make it worse by thinking you can insult the intelligence of Ghanaians and get away with it. Perhaps if Akufo-Addo has been stupid enough to make the utterances, he would be stupid enough to believe that what Okoampa is doing would do the trick instead of coming out like a gentleman to apologize and promise to turn a new leaf.

There are gaping holes in the damage control articles being churned out in the support of Akufo-Addo. Those gaps represent insults to our intelligence. It can never produce anything positive in the long run. Indeed, what it can do, if this continues, in the absence of a clear apology, people are rather going to be infuriated, including myself, because we want peace in Ghana, and we are in no mood to countenance irresponsible statements that do nothing to promote peace and stability of the nation. You may not be able to stop Okoampa from writing. He seems to have a compulsive urge to write even when his head is empty, so no point to stop him. Just tell him to mind the gap!

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!

Cheers!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro

E-Mail: nanaakyeamensah@gmail.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheOdikro

Blogs: http://panafricanistgrammar.blogspot.com/

Feature Articles: http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/

An Exposure Of The Danquah Institute And Their So-Called “Chocolate Revolution”.

By Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

A Rejoinder: Cote d’Ivoire needs a chocolate revolution, by Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Ghanaian Chronicle, Opinion | Fri, 04 Feb 2011

"The world can take a firmer decision on cocoa exports to gradually but speedily deny Gbagbo the oxygen of remuneration for the institutions that keep his intransigence fuelled. But, the people of Cote d’Ivoire should also be proactive in demonstrating their protests publicly like we have seen further north. This current situation of no war, no peace, no government is too dangerous and may end up costing more lives than a short, sharp, shock of public revolt. I call it a Chocolate Revolution. La Cote d’Ivoire needs it. Africa needs it. The Ivorians should not fail us. The UN, AU and ECOWAS can play their part by increasing the number of peace-keepers/makers in the country to enhance the public sense of security. Let the international peacekeepers offer the striking masses protection and let us see how many pro-Gbagbo civilians will come out with a counter demonstration. How I pray that the Molotovs of Mubarak’s violent counter demonstration burn him out of office. For this strategy of his to succeed would be highly counterproductive for Africa; only useful to the Gbagbos of a discredited status quo. Chocolate Revolution it must be. The author is the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, a policy think tank."

- Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, "Cote d’ivoire needs a chocolate revolution", Ghanaian Chronicle, Opinion | Fri, 04 Feb 2011

Introduction: A “Chocolate Revolution” Indeed!

For me, this is all about connecting the dots. Let's begin from the autumn of 1999, Cheney's speech at the London Petroleum Institute. In his first known comment on the subject of the “peak of petrol”, here is how Dick Cheney distinguished petrol from the ranks of products such as chocolates:

“Oil is unique in that it is so strategic in nature. We are not talking about soapflakes or leisurewear here. Energy is truly fundamental to the world's economy. The Gulf War was a reflection of that reality.”

Often, I am amazed at the paucity of references to Oil in the news stories covering the Ivorian crisis. I can understand that as the world's leading producer of cocoa, the story of La Cote d'Ivoire cannot be fully and completely be told without references to cocoa. I can understand a story which begins thus: “The world's top cocoa exporter is locked in a deadly presidential power struggle...“
The real danger here is that cocoa is not the only export commodity from La Cote d'Ivoire. And what is more, the key commodity that has energized all these frenetic diplomatic shenanigans, military preparations, and the beating of the drums of war, including the current Danquah Institutes's propaganda piece under discussion, is about the OIL. The very attempt to get the UN to authorize military action against Gbagbo, as well as the readiness of Russia to veto such a resolution, is all about the oil.
In what I can describe with ineffable sincerity as “the most brilliant work on the Ivorian Crisis to date and a must-read for all Peace Activists around the world, particularly West Africans”, is the latest work by Crossed Crocodiles. Here is his quote on the subject of oil and chocolates:
“In the western media you will not see much about oil being an issue in Ivory Coast. The news stories all talk about cocoa. But if you look at the map above you can see the significance. And no doubt the prospect of oil money makes the Ivorian presidential contenders more contentious. Oil is most certainly the reason AFRICOM’s General Hogg was seeking troop commitments in January for military intervention.” (See: Côte d’Ivoire – Military Intervention Vs Constitutional Legitimacy, by Crossed Crocodiles, February 22, 2011. http://crossedcrocodiles.wordpress.com/)
They do not fail to mention cocoa and chocolates, but inexplicably fail to mention oil and petrol. I believe that is an omission which speaks volumes. The strategic geopolitical decisions being made around the globe in respect of the Ivorian crisis is fundamentally over oil and not chocolates. It almost seems as though they want us to see what they want us to see, not necessarily what is there to be seen.

Ochere-Darko opportunistically dresses his pro-imperialist bait with the smells of the Jasmine Revolution of Algeria, and what the Egyptians stood for at Tahrir Square. By hailing the Egyptian revolution he cleverly tries to distance himself from what the Egyptians are opposed to: Young and old dictatorships, stooges of imperialism who cannot flourish under a democracy because of their anti-people policies.

Most knowledgeable Africans, including Ochere-Darko, know very well that the establishment of the US Africom was a part of what Dick Cheney's wrote in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Energy Policy Development Group, in the preface to his report that was handed to President Bush in May 2001:

“As you directed us at the outset of your Administration, we have developed a national energy policy designed to help bring together business, government, local communities and citizens to promote dependable, affordable and environmentally sound energy for the future.”

Indeed, it has been noted by Ochere-Darko himself that:

"The United States, in typical Dick Cheneyic oilthink, sees the Gulf of Guinea as offering the opportunity to break with the old politics which saw the U.S. at the mercy of the geostrategic pressure of unstable or unfriendly oil-producing states in the ‘old’ Gulf (Persian Gulf) and Venezuela."

Incidentally, there is one thing that Dick Cheney, J.B. Danquah, Houphet Boigny, K.A. Busia, and perhaps, Gabriel Ochere-Darko himself, share in common: they all actively supported the racist Apartheid regime of South Africa! Are these the kind of people to look up to for the well-being of the ordinary African? “Cheneyic oilthink” indeed! Cheney never even offered a single apology for his anti-African voting record in the Senate!

Here is an account of the last time someone tried to get him to retract:

'Dick Cheney was willing to negotiate with the Apartheid leadership that stole 83% of all the lands of South Africa, and unleashed a fascist and racist dictatorship which turned its thugs loose on the citizens who protested. He was one of the "big men" who tried to give legitimacy to a thoroughly illegitimate regime.

In an interview on Meet the Press on July 30, 2000, Cheney was asked about his vote in opposition to releasing Nelson Mandela from prison. Cheney answered, "Well, certainly I would have loved to have Nelson Mandela released. I don't know anybody who was for keeping him in prison. Again, this was a resolution of the U.S. Congress, so it wasn't as though if we passed it, he was going to be let out of prison."'

We also know that:

'In May 2001 the Cheney report warned that the U.S. would grow increasingly dependent upon foreign oil in the years to come and recommended that as a matter of policy the Bush Administration work to increase production and export of oil from regions other than the Middle East, noting that Latin America and West Africa were likely to be the fastest growing sources of future U.S. oil imports. ... Three months later, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner declared that African oil "has become a national strategic interest." This statement is particularly noteworthy in that it uses the language of the Carter Doctrine in the Middle East, in which President Carter went on to declare that the U.S. would intervene by any means necessary to protect its national interest in Middle Eastern oil. In April 2002, Donald Norland, former U.S. Ambassador to Chad told a Congressional subcommittee: "It's been reliably reported that, for the first time, the two concepts -- 'Africa' and 'U.S. National security' -- have been used in the same sentence in Pentagon documents." '

Letitia Lawson, "U.S. Africa Policy Since the Cold War", Strategic Insights, Volume VI, Issue 1

(January 2007),

We also know that:

“Few figures in American politics maintain a world view that is so consistently apocalyptic as does Cheney. Fewer still have allowed petty fears and profound ignorance to so dramatically warp their actions and public pronouncements.

Cheney's Cold War obsessions have frequently placed him on the wrong side of history, causing him to misread the geopolitical realities of regions around the world -- and of the key players within them. This is the man who was so certain that the African National Congress was a dangerous group that he regularly voted, as a member of Congress in the 1980s, against House resolutions calling for the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners in South Africa. While leading conservative Republicans such as Jack Kemp were hailing Mandela as an iconic fighter for freedom and racial justice, Cheney continued to decry the ANC as "a terrorist organization" and to dismiss its leaders as threatening radicals.
During the same period that Cheney was championing the imprisonment of Mandela, the Republican representative from Wyoming was one of the most prominent Congressional advocates for the Reagan administration's illegal war making in Central America. When the administration's crimes were exposed as the Iran-Contra scandal, former White House counsel John Dean notes, "Cheney became President Reagan's principle defender in Congress." Cheney argued that those who sought to hold the Reagan administration accountable for illegal acts in Latin America were "prepared to undermine the presidency" and the ability of future presidents to defend the United States. “

Ochere-Darko himself boasts on facebook, how close the Danquah Institute is with the most conservative of American “think-tanks”. It is the only think-tank in Africa I know, that ever accepted the establishment of US Africa Command on African soil, together with naval and air-force bases. We also know that in the case of war, it would be US Africom which would be running the show. We also know that since their complete and total rejection by African countries, they seem to have taken a low profile, preferring to use their local puppets to do their biddig on their behalf. Here is an abstract written by Ochere-Darko on the subject of establishing US military bases in Ghana, including the Headquarters of the US Africa Command or USAfricom:

"This article argues that in the excitement surrounding President Obama’s July visit to Ghana, what has been missing is an analysis of what is in it for the United States, an understanding of which is crucial for Ghana if it is to capitalise on the immense opportunity provided by this trip. Highlighting the significance of the deepwater oil find in 2007, the article sets out why 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."
The call for war is at the same time an acceptance of the essential traps behind the US Africa Command, which Africa has so roundly refused. It is against a background such as this one, that the artistic beauty of the propaganda by the Danquah Institute which is still instigating war for oil in the name of a “Chocolate Revolution” emerges. This is what some of the “other ranks” in the Ghanaian army may aptly refer to as “camouflage and total concealiament.” I guessed automatically, the first time I heard this, that “concealiament” was perhaps a military way of saying “concealment”.

Secret Report Ordered by Obama Identified Potential Uprisings

Ochere-Darko begins his article with the following:

“U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, gave a prophetic advice to Middle East leaders gathered in Qatar for the Forum of the Future on January 12 that their regimes should adapt or die. Reform or deform. A few days later, Ben Ali fell and, and scents from the Jasmine Revolution filling the air of Egypt, with Hosni Mubarak, misreading the mood and sacking his government and promising to step down at a future date when the demand of the masses are simply: ‘go and go now!’.”

Speaking at the "Forum for the Future: Partnership Dialogue" panel session today in Doha, Qatar, Secretary Clinton said:

"This is the last stop on a trip that has brought me from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Yemen, Oman, and now to Doha. On this short, but intense journey, I saw many signs of the potential for a new and innovative Middle East: a solar-powered city rising from the sands of the UAE; civil society leaders in Oman partnering with their government to improve education and create economic opportunities; a young Yemeni woman and a young Yemeni man, both of whom studied abroad and then returned to work for progress in Yemen. And of course, here in Qatar, the home of the 2022 World Cup, we see many examples of a commitment to innovation. Last year I visited Education City, which is connecting Qatar's young people to the global economy.

"...We all know this region faces serious challenges, even beyond the conflicts that dominate the headlines of the day.  And we have a lot of work to do. This forum was designed to be not just an annual meeting where we talk with and at each other, but a launching pad for some of the institutional changes that will deal with the challenges that we all know are present. “

Perhaps Ochere-Darko, in his zeal to extricate himself and his owners from the potential blow-back from the 30 years of imperialist support genuinely confused science with prophecy. The impression he is giving that all of a sudden, the Americans realized that they have been dealing with dictators does not wash with the facts. A news story of the same title, published as recently as February 16, 2011 throws some light on this enigma. MarK Landler, writing in the New York Times, begins this way:

“WASHINGTON — President Obama ordered his advisers last August to produce a secret report on unrest in the Arab world, which concluded that without sweeping political changes, countries from Bahrain to Yemen were ripe for popular revolt, administration officials said Wednesday.

Mr. Obama’s order, known as a Presidential Study Directive, identified likely flashpoints, most notably Egypt, and solicited proposals for how the administration could push for political change in countries with autocratic rulers who are also valuable allies of the United States, these officials said.

The 18-page classified report, they said, grapples with a problem that has bedeviled the White House’s approach toward Egypt and other countries in recent days: how to balance American strategic interests and the desire to avert broader instability against the democratic demands of the protesters.”

Somewhere down the line we also read:

“By issuing a directive, Mr. Obama was also pulling the topic of political change out of regular meetings on diplomatic, commercial or military relations with Arab states. In those meetings, one official said, the strategic interests loom so large that it is almost impossible to discuss reform efforts. The study has helped shape other messages, like a speech Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave in Qatar in January, in which she criticized Arab leaders for resisting change.”

Thus, it is clear that Ochere-Darko is simply doing his job by putting a spin on it to look as if the Americans were really in the front-seat in the ongoing struggle in the Middle East and North Africa. Nothing could be further than the truth.

In a recent interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! Professor Emeritus, Noam Chomsky debunked such propaganda is his comments on one of the White House declarations calling for an orderly transition in Egypt:

“Well, Obama very carefully didn’t say anything. Mubarak would agree that there should be an orderly transition, but to what? A new cabinet, some minor rearrangement of the constitutional order—it’s empty. So he’s doing what U.S. leaders regularly do. As I said, there is a playbook: whenever a favored dictator is in trouble, try to sustain him, hold on; if at some point it becomes impossible, switch sides.

The U.S. has an overwhelmingly powerful role there. Egypt is the second-largest recipient over a long period of U.S. military and economic aid. Israel is first. Obama himself has been highly supportive of Mubarak. It’s worth remembering that on his way to that famous speech in Cairo, which was supposed to be a conciliatory speech towards the Arab world, he was asked by the press—I think it was the BBC—whether he was going to say anything about what they called Mubarak’s authoritarian government. And Obama said, no, he wouldn’t. He said, "I don’t like to use labels for folks. Mubarak is a good man. He has done good things. He has maintained stability. We will continue to support him. He is a friend." And so on. This is one of the most brutal dictators of the region, and how anyone could have taken Obama’s comments about human rights seriously after that is a bit of a mystery. But the support has been very powerful in diplomatic dimensions. Military—the planes flying over Tahrir Square are, of course, U.S. planes. The U.S. is the—has been the strongest, most solid, most important supporter of the regime. It’s not like Tunisia, where the main supporter was France. They’re the primary guilty party there. But in Egypt, it’s clearly the United States, and of course Israel. Israel is—of all the countries in the region, Israel, and I suppose Saudi Arabia, have been the most outspoken and supportive of the Mubarak regime. In fact, Israeli leaders were angry, at least expressed anger, that Obama hadn’t taken a stronger stand in support of their friend Mubarak."

The claim that the US played any role worth writing home about is therefore extremely ridiculous. Indeed, it is as ridiculous as the claim by another member of the Governing Board of the Danquah Institute, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr. who argues that far from thanking Kwame Nkrumah for our independence, we need to thank President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill for signing the Atlantic Charter which called for the independence of colonized peoples!

Several of the NPP spin doctors who understand the import of this great sack of Arab dictators who have been in bed with the Americans, are trying to de-link the NPP as much as possible from the fall-out. They even admonish us to study Black History in order to understand what is going on. I think a recent comment I made on this issue shall be sufficient to “make my circle just”:

“We hear from our MOVE friends in the United States that the reason why February was chosen as the Black History Month in the United States is because it is the shortest month in the year! Perhaps this explains why people like you have so much undigested chunks of our history in your alimentary canals The people in the streets who are chasing away these bloody dictators and stooges of imperialism, know fully well what they are doing! If anything at all, what is happening is a threat to all those African leaders whose list of opinions are e-mailed to them from London, Paris and Washington!

We are getting rid of leaders who have systematically sided with the imperialists against the people, such as Nana Addo-Danquah Akufo-Addo and Alassane Ouattara who are known to ask "How high?" whenever their imperialist owners ask them to jump! Forget about your ridiculous spin and silly attempts to throw dust into our eyes! We see clearly what is going on! Thank you very much for the feedback that you are desperately trying to control the impending and inevitable damage coming your way by the current Peoples' Power Demonstrations!”

A War For Oil Or A Chocolate Revolution?

Estimated undiscovered and recoverable oil and natural gas off the coast of Ivory Coast, extending through Ghana, Togo, Benin, and the western edge of Nigeria.: 4,071 MMBO, million barrels of oil, 34,451 BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas, and 1,145 MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids, for the Coastal Plain and Offshore AU in the Gulf of Guinea Province, outlined in red. This does not include current existing discoveries, or fields already in production. Note that it extends along the entire coast of Ivory Coast.

Ochere-Darko writes:

“How does this apply to Laurent Gbagbo and the Ivorian crisis? If a solution is not found quickly enough for Cote d'Ivoire the rebels would strike and the consequences could be worse than the application of a surgical legitimate force by international forces.”

A friend of mine, commenting on Ochere-Darko's call for a “Chocolate Revolution” in La Cote d'Ivoire, was very laconic:

'Ochere-Darko lives in a fantasy land: "application of a surgical legitimate force by international forces"! Not legitimate, and there is no such thing as a surgical use of force.  That is just a myth used by people trying to sell war.' I think he meant Ochere-Darko is being ridiculous if he thinks anyone is going to take him seriously, because this same friend once commented:

'The problem for Africa is the same as it was in the first waves of colonialism.  Africa has too much that other people want.  The western industrial world was built on wealth taken from Africa.   Henry Stanley probably offered the best short explanation of the origins of the Anglo-Ashanti war, and this remains metaphorically true today. “King Coffee”, (Asantahene Kofi Kakari) he said, “is too rich a neighbour to be left alone with his riches.” 

And that remains the problem for Africa, it is too rich in resources, and it has been carefully encouraged to remain politically poor and divided, the Cold War, the IMF, World Bank, structural adjustments,  foreign aid, diplomatic advice, military assistance, etc., so that outsiders can continue to plunder the wealth.  What I don't like about Mr. Ochere Darko is that he appears to recognize this, but seems perfectly willing to sell out his own people.'

And this is exactly Ochere-Darko and the Akufo-Addo's Danquah Institute is about. Here is how Ochere-Darko argued for the establishment of US military bases in Africa:

"Top on the list is the United States’ military and energy security agenda. Before the 9/11 bombing in 2001, conventional thinking in Washington perceived no vital strategic interests for the U.S. in sub-Saharan Africa. But this has changed. Today we can see a significant shift away from America’s traditional geopolitical calculations regarding oil production and supply. The U.S.’s National Intelligence Council (NIC) estimates that by 2015, 25 percent of American oil imports will come from West Africa, compared to 16% today – an estimate even considered as too conservative in some quarters. Already West Africa supplies as much oil to the U.S. as Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, our oil is light and sweet, making it easier and cheaper to refine than Persian oil. Plus its offshore location reduces transportation costs and minimises risk of political violence and terrorist attacks."

He therefore recommends:

"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."

Mr Ochere Darko argues that:

"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.”

One trick Ochere-Darko used which I have never forgiven was to make it look as though allowing our lands to be occupied by a foreign military power is a from of liberation! Here is what he wrote:

“Obama’s chief policy adviser assured Africans two months before the 2008 presidential race, “Barack Obama understands Africa, and understands its importance to the United States. Today, in this new century, he understands that to strengthen our common security, we must invest in our common humanity and, in this way, restore American leadership in the world.” Now is the chance for him to seek and effect the real change that will finally show the world that Africans are capable of more than managing their own affairs – but, crucially, Ghana must take up the opportunity provided by the state visit and the U.S.’s burgeoning strategic interest in us, to be the nation that demonstrates this. - Gabriel Asare Ochere-Darko, " (Obama’s Visit – What’s In It For Us And U.S.?",  Feature Article of Monday, 25 May 2009. "The author of the article is the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, a think tank based in Accra.”)

“Now is the chance for him to seek and effect the real change that will finally show the world that Africans are capable of more than managing their own affairs"? Does that sound familiar? It is obviously a sacrilegious reference to the Independence Eve declaration by the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah:

“And as I pointed out, I made it quite clear that from now on, today, we must change our attitudes, our minds! We must realize that from now on, we are no more a colonial people but a free and independent people! But also, as I pointed out, that also entails hard work!

That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs! We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our own foundation! Our own African identity!”

I do remember very vividly a fellow Board Member of the Danquah Institutes's take on this speech:

“At best, it is a pleonastic declaration that Ghanaians would rather do without; for, ever since those of us who are about Mr. Mahama's age can recall, including the vice-president himself, March 6 has always been an invariably monotonous celebration of Kwame Nkrumah, almost as if the Nzema-Nkroful native was the only Ghanaian citizen who significantly contributed to both our beloved country's attainment of sovereignty from Britain and the massive decolonization of the African continent which latter landmark, by the way, had far more to do with U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's “Atlantic Charter” than any single or even group of African leaders.” (See: March 6 has always been a one-man show, anyway, by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Feature Article, Monday, 15 February 2010). I just wondered why Ochere-Darko did not allude to Roosevelt instead!

There is an African proverb which simply says, “a snake shall always give birth to something long!” This homage that we see the Vices of Danquah paying to the Virtues of Nkrumah, reminded me of Antonio's warning to Bassanio in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. You see, in the Holy Bible, it is written that the devil tempted Jesus by quoting from the Holy Scriptures!  "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" ( Matthew 4:6).  The King James Bible is what most of us are very familiar with. The response of Jesus must ring a bell:

"Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

 Matthew 4:7

Which brings us to Shakespeare's warning about people like Ochere-Darko who is doing the dirty and stinking job for Akufo-Addo and his imperialist owners:

“ANTONIO: Mark you this, Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart...”!


The Danquah Institute Is A Neocolonialist Institute!

John Nichols rightly asks:

“But why would anyone else treat Cheney seriously? Why would the press repeat his over-the-top charges without noting that Dick Cheney has a track record of reading the world wrong, imagining threats where they do not exist and neglecting real dangers? Why would it go unmentioned that the man who is questioning John Kerry's judgement thought Nelson Mandela was a terrorist?” (See: Dick Cheney: Vice President of the Apocalypse, by John Nichols).

I have always loved this comment on Cheney:

“Well, the Cheneys of the world are just going to have to take stock of the new progressive tsunami in the making. There is no white, non-white divide. The divide is progressive, non-progressive. And Cheney and the likes of him are on the wrong side of the fence.”

The Danquah Institute is clearly an apparatus of the Cheneys of this world, and it is one of those intitutions whose propaganda must be thoroughly resisted. The reason has been eloquently given by Mr. Kwesi Pratt as: “That is why, it is important for us to resist all attempts to establish foreign military bases on African soil especially forces of the United States, must be prevented from establishing on African soil. Clearly because they are not on African soil to protect our interests, they are on African soil to facilitate the exploitation of our resources for the benefit of the tiny minority that controls the wealth of the American people and who are sitting on top of this world exploiting the Chicanos, exploiting the African Americans and exploiting all of the other independent and healthy forces in the United States on America. We have to resist all attempts to build U.S. military bases in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.

Nkrumah has taught us:

"IN order to halt foreign interference in the affairs of developing countries it is necessary to study, understand, expose and actively combat neo-colonialism in whatever guise it may appear. For the methods of neo-colonialists are subtle and varied. They operate not only in the economic field, but also in the political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres.

Faced with the militant peoples of the ex-colonial territories in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, imperialism simply switches tactics. Without a qualm it dispenses with its flags, and even with certain of its more hated expatriate officials. This means, so it claims, that it is ‘giving’ independence to its former subjects, to be followed by ‘aid’ for their development. Under cover of such phrases, however, it devises innumerable ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism. It is this sum total of these modern attempts to perpetuate colonialism while at the same time talking about ‘freedom’, which has come to be known as neo-colonialism."

Kwame Nkrumah, On The Mechanisms of Neocolonialism.

International Solidarity Committee
Pan-Africanist International
http://www.panafricanistinternational.org/

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