Re: NDC, Free SHS Now, Not In 2032

Agriculture Is The Number One Choice of Voters, Or at least, it ought to be...

 - a rejoinder to: NDC, Free SHS Now, Not In 2032, Feature Article of Tuesday, 23 October 2012, by Sarpong, Justice. Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro You wrote: "Ghanaians are going to make it [Free SHS Education]their number one choice in deciding who to vote for and that is when NDC started to play catch up but the train has already left the station and left them behind and no amount of lies from NDC honchos will convince Ghanaians that they are sincere in their educational policies."

If we take electoral manifestos as exams that political parties write in order to be marked by their masters, who are the Ghanaian voters, Agriculture would carry 60% of the total grade. This is so, not only because, effectively moving Ghana forward crucially depend on our Agriculture and agro-industrial production policies, but over 60% of our population depend directly on it for their daily survival. It is the safety net for the poorest of the poor in our country. Agriculture singularly through the Cocoa Marketing Board, not only built all the hundreds of secondary schools, Universities, Teacher Training Colleges, Salaries and emoluments, CMB scholarships, and everything we know about free education. So it makes a lot of sense, that if you really want free education, the first thing you need to do is to take your agriculture seriously. The positive ramifications of its multiplier effects in every sector of the Ghanaian society cannot be overstated.

Thus for me, whilst I strongly support the Free Education policy enshrined in our constitution, governing a country takes more brains than brawn and empty sloganeering. What is the point in starving other crucial sectors of the economy from vital resources in the name of free education, when we can achieve this without effort when we push on Agriculture as the fulcrum? Akufo-Addo is seeing things upside down and has got his educational policy standing on the head with its feet up in the air! There is nothing to be proud of this mischief purely aimed at fooling those they can fool, including themselves!

The discerning electorate who are seeing through this empty charade which makes no economic sense in terms of what the consequences would be on the other sectors of an economy, with limited resources being pumped into free education, without any discussion of quality, content, and issues of accessibility. I have already had the occasion to write on Akufo-Addo's free education when he disgraced himself to the whole world, the kind of charlatan that he is:

Transcript of BBC's HARDtalk, by the Odikro: Nana Akufo Addo 05 March, 2012 from the 19.59th minute to 20.33:
PRESENTER: The greatest indictment, frankly, of your government, is the way in which you squandered money and left this huge hole in the budget deficit and I think you would now acknowledge that that was a profound problem the last time your party was in power?
NANA AKUFO-ADDO: No, I don't believe... I don't believe... I think that... No, I don't accept this proposition at all.
PRESENTER: I think what the Ghanaian people, it seems to me, from reading a lot of stuff from the Ghanaian press, want to know is, where exactly is the money going to come from next time around if you are in power, for some of the very extravagant promises you've made? You for example have offered free secondary schooling for all Ghanaians. A promise you say you would absolutely deliver in your four years in power?
NANA AKUFO-ADDO: Absolutely! Absolutely! Absolutely.
PRESENTER: So have you costed it? How much will it cost?
NANA AKUFO-ADDO: The costing... the costing... is being... is being done. I mean very very soon we will be in the position.
PRESENTER: No, you must have costed it! You can't make a promise like that without costing it? NANA AKUFO-ADDO: No, no, no, very, very soon we are going to be...
PRESENTER: How much?
NANA AKUFO-ADDO: Very, very soon, we are going to be... put it together. I prefer..." See: On Education, Is Akufo-Addo Doing A 419? Part One - ModernGhana.com http://www.modernghana.com/news/384819/1/on-education-is-akufo-addo-doing-a-419-part-one.html Up till now we are yet to hear an exact figure from the NPP! They have not figured it out, as per the correction recently posted by the Danquah Institute!

So, on Education, whatever weight one gives to it in terms of grading, from 10 - 60%, the NPP scores zero! On Agriculture, what the NPP really scores is worse than a mere zero! It is like a student writing his or her confessions of a crime. What the teacher needs to do is not to award a zero only, but a moral and legal obligation to call the police because of the gargantuan nature of the crime. One issue that they need to be taken on very strongly is the party's Manifesto 2012 and what it says about Agriculture. You do not need to read the entire manifesto to take a high profile action on this particular issue. There is a threat at this day and age by the NPP to inundate the four bread basket regions of Ghana with genetically modified crops. This is a clear sign that they are either "useful idiots" or they do not have the fate of Ghanaians at heart.

As a petition calling for the dismantling of Monsanto explains:

"Why this is important: Monsanto's pesticides kill bees, disrupt ecosystems, pollute rivers and groundwater and are the source of a number of cancers and malformations. It has been scientifically proven (see photo) that GMOs are responsible for the development of cancer." It has been proven time and again that agro-ecological methods of agriculture provide the appropriate tools to resist the climate change and the severe weather conditions associated with it. These methods require the use of manure and other readily available organic materials instead of dependence of imported fertilizers, improved seeds, pesticides, and other toxic compounds which are invariably capital intensive, socially exclusive, environmentally degrading, and corporate dominated model of agriculture.

The Petition is no doubt, referring to the recent publication of the first peer-reviewed long term study of the toxicity of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide and a Roundup tolerant genetically modified maize, which shows that corn from Monsanto's improved seeds causes tumours, organ damage, and pre-mature death! That is why this is a big deal! Naturally, we have already asked the NPP "to clarify the nature of the agricultural mandate they plan to execute, if voted into power, as stated in their Manifesto for Election 2012, Chapter Three: Section 7. Modernizing Our Agriculture and Ensuring Food Security." The claims in its 2012 Manifesto, as their plans for Ghana’s agriculture must ring alarm bells: NPP's "Improved seeds" allow neo-colonial takeover of Ghana's agriculture! Is the NPP asking for the mandate of Ghanaians to introduce Genetically Modified seeds into our food chain? That is the question!

Here is an excerpt from the relevant section in their Manifesto 2012, Chapter Three: Section 7. Modernizing Our Agriculture and Ensuring Food Security:

“Agriculture is considered to be an anchor of Ghana’s economy, and is estimated to creating value of approximately 14.2 billion dollars (roughly 23.9% of the 20141 GDP) and employs approximately, 4.6 million 56% of the workforce. However, the sector lacks sophistication and is dominated by subsistence farmers. Approximatively, three million small-holder farmers with average far sizes between 0,5-2 hectares currently produce 95% of the country's food crops. Further, as indicated by the Ministry of Agriculture and AGRA. Ghana faces increasing food security challenges in the near future. This is due to the pervasively fragmented value chain, inefficiency, and obsolete farming techniques and equipment in the sector.

Our total agricultural land is 13.6 million hectares, however only 7.3 million hectares are under cultivation with less than 35, 000 under irrigation as at 2010.

Modernizing agriculture is fundamental to our programme of transformation and Ghana needs a breakthrough in agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency in in our food supply, particularly in grains, fish, and meat. Currently, we are only achieving 30% of our rice needs for example, while we have the potential to be 75% self-sufficient. Our farmers are significantly strained by a number of transversal interventions such as expensive and unavailable inputs, poor infrastructure, expensive financing, obsolete techniques and equipment and poor policy support. For example fertilizer usage in Ghana is only eight kilograms per hectare as compared to 20 kilograms per hectare in Asia. Less than 50% of farmers use fertilizers and when available, it is at high cost. Improved seeds are generally not available and are also at a high cost. Farm roads are bad and credit is too expensive when available."

[See: Full Document]: NPP launches 2012 Manifesto | General News › 2012-08-29. For those unaware of the significance of the words “improved seeds” and “AGRA” on the same page talking about the “modernization of agriculture”, you could be excused if that does not raise an alarm.

AGRA means "Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)", - "a widely hailed U.S. philanthropic effort backed by major foundations, has pushed the promotion of a technology-based agricultural revolution to the forefront of policy debate for the continent. Launched in September 2006 as a joint initiative between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AGRA expands on the Rockefeller Foundation’s Green Revolution in Africa Initiative. Founded with an initial commitment of $100 million from the Gates Foundation and another $50 million from the Rockefeller Foundation, today AGRA is the biggest grantee of the Gates Foundation. With over $262 million committed, AGRA is poised to become one of the main institutional vehicles for changing African agriculture."

It has been noted that “The appointment of key staff at the Gates Foundation is also indicative of the direction that AGRA intends to steer agriculture in Africa. In 2006, the Gates Foundation appointed Dr. Robert Horsch as the Senior Program Officer in the Global Development Program, which directly supervises the AGRA initiative. Horsch came to the foundation after 25 years on the staff of the Monsanto Corporation, one of the world’s biggest biotechnology multinationals and one of the most aggressive promoters of GM crops. At Monsanto, Horsch was the Vice-President for Product and Technology Cooperation, later Vice-President for International Development Partnership, and also a member of the team that developed Monsanto’s YieldGard, Boll-Gard, and RoundUp Ready technologies." Furthermore, it has to be clear to all that we must not only depend upon the good reputation of Mr. Kofi Annan alone in making life and death decisions of far reaching consequences. Indeed, as commented upon at the time by Voices From Africa:

"The appointment of Kofi Annan as AGRA’s chairman was a strategic decision that the Gates Foundation made to silence criticisms that its agricultural development agenda was a “White Man’s Dream for Africa.” In fact, this more reeks of Monsanto’s campaign: “Let the Harvest Begin.” Launched in 1998 to gain acceptance of GE crops around the world by projecting the benefits of the Green Revolution in Asia and its potential in Africa, Monsanto’s campaign managed to draw several respected African leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, to speak for a new Green Revolution in Africa. In response, all of the African delegates (except South Africa) to the UN Food and Agriculture Negotiations on the International Undertaking for Plant Genetic Resources in June 1998 issued a counter statement, “Let Nature’s Harvest Continue.” The delegates clearly stated their objection to multinational companies’ use of the image of the poor and hungry from African countries to push technology that is not safe, environmentally friendly, or economically beneficial." Voices From Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa.

In "Why is Kofi Annan Fronting For Monsanto? The GMO Assault On Africa", Crossed Crocodiles writes: "Kofi Annan has joined with President Obama, Monsanto, AGRA, and the Gates foundation to promote and execute food aid that replaces bags of wheat, rice and corn (agricultural dumping) with bags of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers and genetically engineered seeds. The end result will be to starve people in Africa and feed corporations in the US and Europe." The NPP as a political party is vulnerable to all sorts of external influences which often do not coincide with our national interests as a people. Here, in our humble opinion, is the most serious threat they have ever posed to the good people of Ghana.

This is a matter that must concern everyone who eats food! This is an issue of life and death of Ghanaians in their thousands and millions from generation unto generation! If people are unaware, there is new evidence that so-called "improved seeds" or GM seeds from Monsanto "Cause Tumors, Organ Damage, and Premature Death in Rats"! Only a few weeks ago, on the 21st of September, 2012, the European Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Parma, Italy, to look into a study which found that corn from Monsanto's improved seeds causes tumors, organ damage, and premature death.

This is going on at a time the NPP is busily telling Ghanaians to embrace the so-called "improved seeds" from the Frankenstein food industry. Only yesterday, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced that the High Council for Biotechnology (HCB) and the Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety have been asked to look into the study, headed by Gilles-Eric Séralini of the University of Caen and published by Food and Chemical Toxicology this week. If the results are confirmed, Ayrault said at a meeting in Dijon, agriculture minister Stéphane Le Foll would defend France's right within the European Union to ban GM crops. Three committees in France's National Assembly will invite Séralini for hearings, Le Figaro reported recently. The news coming in says "Russia has temporarily suspended the import and sales of Monsanto Co. (MON)’s genetically-modified NK 603 corn until the country gets further information on the safety of the products, the consumer safety watchdog said.

The watchdog, known as Rospotrebnadzor, asked scientists at Russia’s Institute of Nutrition to review a French study, which raised questions about the long-term effect of St. Louis-based Monsanto’s NK 603 corn on rats, according to a statement on Rospotrebnadzor’s website yesterday. Please see: Russia Suspends Import of Monsanto Corn on Health Concerns. What do you say to the NPP which is seeking the mandate of Ghanaians to inundate our breadbaskets in all the four regions with GM crops and food? Please consult the New Patriotic Party NPP Manifesto for Election 2012, Chapter Three: Section 7. Modernizing Our Agriculture and Ensuring Food Security: [Full Document]: NPP launches 2012 Manifesto | General News › 2012-08-29.

What can explain this strange behaviour of the NPP? Has this got something to do with the secret meeting held at the at the Hotel Hyatt & Resorts, located on 24 M Streets, Nw, Washington, DC 20037 on Wednesday, June 4, 2008, arranged by The Whitaker Group, whilst Akufo-Addo was supposedly on a fund-raising tour in the United States? My suspicions that Monsanto, Du Pont, Star Bucks, and a host of multinational corporations, including all the ugly faces of American capitalism, were invited were confirmed by the denial statement by Dr. Arthur Kennedy the then Chairman of the Akufo-Addo Communications Committee, that no money had changed hands:

“Regarding the Whitaker Group event, no mention was made by either Nana Akufo-Addo or the organisers or any member of the delegation of finances for the campaign. Indeed the campaign is fully aware of the laws of Ghana regarding soliciting funds from non-Ghanaians for political purposes.

The group was made up of people with substantial investments in Ghana and also of others who have an interest in investing in Ghana. The meeting was therefore to afford Nana Akufo-Addo the opportunity to explain his vision of transforming the Ghanaian economy and creating a modern society. That was just what happened at the meeting.” 
See: General News of Sunday, 8 June 2008, Rejoinder to Enquirer Story On Akufo-Addo's Trip: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=145004 So why was the meeting a secret, if it was not meant to rip us off?

Is this manifesto a proof of the “mutually beneficial co-operation” between the NPP flag-bearer and Monsanto?

Forward Ever! Backwards Never! Long live Ghana!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro. Give me a follow on twitter: twitter.com/TheOdikro

TORONTOContact:  Chairman -MacDonald Agbenyo    416-720-4104

DATE	TIME	EVENT	VENUE
Thurs., May 29th	8.30 – 10.30 pm	Community Welcome Forum	Ghana Presby. Church, Hwy 400/ Finch Ave. Toronto, Canada
Fri., May 30th	8.30 –10.30 am	Meet-and-Greet Breakfast	Days Inn 1677 Wilson Avenue Toronto, Canada
Fri. May 30th	8.30pm –midnight	Community Event	Days Inn 1677 Wilson Avenue Toronto

  NEW YORKContact:  Deputy Chairman - Ben Kwasi Afrifa                646-302-4667

DATE	TIME	EVENT	VENUE
Sat., May 31st	8.00 pm – 1.00 am	Community Event	Hotel Pennsylvania 401 7th Ave. (@ 34th Ave, Opp. Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Sun., June 1st	12.00pm – 3.00pm	Meeting with NPP members	Call contact for details
Sun., June 1st	5.00pm – 9.00pm	Special Event	Call contact for details

 WASHINGTON, D.C.Contact:  Deputy Chairman -Nana Nti Yeboah                703-867-1915

DATE	TIME	EVENT	VENUE
Tues., June 3rd	6.00pm – 11.00pm	Special Dinner	Call contact for details
Wed., June 4th	6.00pm –9.00pm	Community Forum	Comfort Inn 6560 Loisdale Court Springfield, Virginia

 CHICAGOContact:   Chairman - Kofi Amoabin    630-805-4028

DATE	TIME	EVENT	VENUE
Thurs., June 5th	6.00pm to 9.00pm	Special Reception	Call contact for details
Fri., June 6th	12.00 pm –2.00 pm	Special Luncheon	Call contact for details
Fri., June 6th	7.00 pm –10.00pm	Community Forum	Four Point Sheraton 7353 S. Cicero Ave., Chicago, Illinois
Fri., June 6th	10.00 pm –2.00 am	Dance	Bolingbrook Golf Course 2001 Rodeo Drive Bolingbrook, Illinois

 LOS ANGELESContact:  Chairman -William Assibey                562-889-6613

DATE	TIME	EVENT	VENUE
Sat. June 7th	8.00 pm – Midnight	Community Event	Hilton, Los Angeles Airport 5711 W. Century Blvd. Los Angeles, California
Sun., June 8th	2.00 pm –5.00pm	Special Luncheon	Call contact for details
Mon., June 9th	12.00 pm –3.00 pm	Special Luncheon	Call contact for details

 

# # #

 

NPP-USA Media Committee

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413-300-4563

 

Please contact http://www.nppusa.org for updates and further details

Konadu Out! Drowning Akufo-Addo Clutches At Straws...

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Konadu Out! Drowning Akufo-Addo Clutches At Straws...

Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro

The news that Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings is no longer in the race must have come as a rude shock to the Akufo-Addo team, who were banking their hopes that they had finally found a solution to the “Volta Region Problem”. Is this also “Divine intervention”? What can I say? “Hard cheese!” This is why it does pay to play clean politics! In his desperate attempt to manoeuvre and take advantage of the divisions in the NDC, Akufo-Addo forgot most of his loyal supporters who have made a political career out of their systematic opposition to everything Rawlings and alienated many, who otherwise were with him.

This attempted deal, even though a fiasco, is not without a political cost. Of course, it would have even been more devastating if it had played out. People even began asking how Akufo-Addo, who is now claiming Rawlings as his “inspiration”, would be able to attend next year's Memorial Service for the three High Court judges, and a retired army officer, abducted and murdered in cold blood in a plot whose operational vehicle had its keys on the dinning table of the Rawlingses, and that, according to the official Special Investigations Report on the case, the keys were handed over to the murderers by the wife of the dictator himself, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings!

What kind of “inspiration” is that? The move to recruit Rawlings into his ailing campaign was riddled with opportunism, and was bound to fail, one way or the other. I remember a similar blunder occurred in 1992, when the Movement for Freedom and Justice came out to oppose the 1992 Referendum on the Constitution on principle, that the Transitional Provisions which entrench indemnity to the PNDC, and all their “agents” for “any acts or omissions”. I was elated when, one week-end, I met Mr. Kwesi Pratt, who broke the news that Akufo-Addo was also opposed to the Indemnity Clauses in the Transitional Provisions.

To my utter surprise, this same Akufo-Addo was to publicly identify with the ridiculous idea that people ought to vote “YES”, without any struggle for “Accountability and Probity” as the fundamental and systematic tenet of the constitution. The most opportunistic and legally dishonest argument were put forward by people who ought to know better, that by accepting the Constitution, as it was, they would speed up the removal of Rawlings from power, and change those provisions when they come into power.

Some of us did not have to wait for the NPP to come to power for eight good years in order to know that it was a most opportunistic talk. Then came the call to boycott the 1992 elections because Rawlings had not done away with several of the repressive laws the MFJ had been calling for repeal. Meanwhile Rawlings had started his campaign with Regional tours one year in advance, and only lifted the ban on party political activities during the raining season of 1992.

We called for the boycott because we realized the elections had been rigged in advance, in terms of freedom of expression, access to the media, criminal libel laws, preventive custody, egregious violations of human rights through their so-called Public Tribunals, and many other fundamental issues that bear directly on free and fair elections! Akufo-Addo and his people ignored this important call and went ahead to contest the elections only to cry foul afterwards.

They even wrote a book, “The Stolen Verdict”. They then boycotted Parliament, and became known as the “Opposition Outside Parliament”, for the entire duration of the First Session of the Parliament of the Fourth Republic! They are like children, “they build statues of snow and weep to see them melt”! One would have thought that Akufo-Addo has learnt his lessons. He has made it a point to present himself as the champion of human rights, the rule of law, anti-corruption, etc, and here we find him virtually attempting a deal, not to touch the Rawlingses, no matter what!

Well, The news in town is that Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, was on Thursday disqualified from running in presidential polls over problems with her nomination forms. That puts an end to any hopes of setting up Rawlings to “confuse” the “Volta vote”. In the process, Akufo-Addo lost any credibility of being a champion of human rights, and ready to prosecute corruption. It was so disgusting to see him trying to make deals. In other words, Akufo-Addo is back to square one! The only difference this time being that as the 7th December approaches, and his machinations unravel, he is even getting more desperate than what drove him to Rawlings in the first place!
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Rawlings Was a Goldman and Sachs Muppet! But...

Rawlings Was A Goldman Sachs Muppet! BUT...

Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah

I just checked the current price of gold per ounce before settling down to write this article. It is $1563.2 as of 2012-05-14 14:16:29 EST. In August 1999, it was a different story. The price of gold was deliberately engineered to fall to as low as $252/ounce. That was when they struck at us. This case is an additional reason why Mr. Jerry John Rawlings deserves a quiet life in prison, to meditate on his human qualities that led him to the foolishness of controlling key decisions on behalf of all Ghanaians, in a dictatorial fashion, on the basis of pure ignorance, or personal greed, and causing a gargantuan financial loss to the good people of Ghana.

It is impossible to compare this with any form of robbery in our recent history. It is a gigantic fraud orchestrated with Ghana as a sitting duck, whose principal beneficiaries appear to be working in concert, with the clueless Rawlings nodding like a muppet, as imperialists swindled us of our gold! I was especially grateful that a Ghanaweb NPP serial-commentator, who goes by the name, Justice Sarpong, brought this up. The other day, I was looking for the information to no avail, in order to support a comment, when 'Greg Smith, a London-based Goldman Sachs vice president, publicly resigned from the financial firm in a scathing New York Times op-ed piece published Wednesday, March 14, 2012. See: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs - NYTimes.com http://nyti.ms/zO9WWG,

“In the article, Smith lashed out against Goldman's "toxic" culture which, he feels, places profit above the best interests of clients.” NMAWorldEdition gives a summary. “Smith likened the business to an elephant hunt, where bankers push investors into deals that will make the most money for the firm. Adding insult to injury, Smith claimed clients were consistently referred to as "muppets" in internal emails.” And one only needs to read the case of Ashanti-Gold in order to grasp the magnitude of Greg Smith's statement. This is a story of how AngloGold, a British company, bought Ashanti Gold, which was the 3rd largest Gold Mining company in the world, for a song!

AngloGold is an important British company, and I wouldn't necessarily call this a conspiracy for the simple reason that I have no evidence. Also, as Crossed Crocodiles wisely puts it, “I don’t believe much in conspiracies, eventually people talk. The more people that know a secret, the less likely it is to stay a secret. Common interests are a different matter. Individuals and groups can organize and act as powerful forces to protect their own interests without the need to conspire.” [See: IMF’s Man Ouattara Now Head Of ECOWAS http://bit.ly/zy6Cfq.] We may have to keep that in mind if we want to understand how we were swindled of our gold.

Ghanaweb Business News of Wednesday, 21 April 2010, carried a story of “How Goldman Sachs Screwed Ghana”. See: Business News 2010-04-21 http://bit.ly/cZTuoQ. “In 1998,” the story begins, “Ashanti Gold was the 3rd largest Gold Mining company in the world. The first "black" company on the London Stock Exchange, Ashanti had just purchased the Geita mine in Tanzania, positioning Ashanti to become even larger. But in May 1999, the Treasury of the United Kingdom decided to sell off 415 tons of its gold reserves. With all that gold flooding the world market, the price of gold began to decline. By August 1999, the price of gold had fallen to $252/ounce, the lowest it had been in 20 years.”

Goldman Sachs, the global financial institution,”with fraud allegations levied against it has a long history of setting up its clients for a fall, and making handsome profits”, were not only in professional relationship with the 15 European Banks involved in this drama, most importantly, they were also the Financial Advisors to AngloGold, This is clearly a story that reeks with conflict of interest and end up with the hangman's noose around the neck of Ashanti Gold, which killed it off, and enabled its largest competitor in Africa, to buy it off for pennies! This fraud was carried out under the careful supervision of Rawlings, whose so-called “revolutionary vigilance” depended upon the advice from Goldman Sachs!

Goldman Sachs is a trader in gold as well as in Hedge contracts. To make maximum profits, it needs to buy cheap at the supply end, and sell high, at the selling end. In the case of Ashanti Gold, it did more than that. They were paid money for setting up Ashanti-Gold for an inevitable fall from which they directly stood to benefit. The Rawlings PNDC called them in as consultants, and Goldman Sachs simply walked in with their salesmen who sold their toxic products for a nice fee. “The muppets have swallowed the bait!” - they must have sent an e-mail back to headquarters, the day Ashanti Gold, decided upon their advice, to buy their Hedge contracts and bet low!

“Goldman Sachs recommended that Ashanti purchase enormous hedge contracts - "bets" on the price of gold. Simplifying this somewhat, it was similar to when a home-owner 'locks in' a price for heating oil months in advance. Goldman recommended that Ashanti enter agreements to sell gold at a 'locked-in' price, and suggested that the price of gold would continue to fall.” Then,  “In September 1999 (one month later), 15 European Banks with whom Goldman had professional relationships made a unanimous surprise announcement that all 15 would stop selling gold on world markets for 5 years. The announcement immediately drove up gold prices to $307/ounce, and by October 6, it had risen to $362/ounce.”

The noose was “locked-in” tight around the neck of Ashanti Gold. With the price of gold rising, Ashanti found themselves being forced to buy gold at high world prices and sell it at the low contract prices to make good on the contracts. In a few weeks time, Ashanti found itself with 570 million dollars worth of losses. It had to beg the 17 banks not to force the execution of the contracts. Who served as the negotiator for the 17 banks and Ashanti? Goldman Sachs. The same company that designed the contracts for Ashanti, making a profit in their sale.”

The basic bankruptcy of Ashanti drove its stock price from an all time high of $25 per share to a paltry $4.62 per share. AngloGold could pocket Ashanti Gold with ease, there and then the price of gold has seen nothing but rising! Goldman Sachs was, of course, paid by AngloGold for their “services”! There is no doubt, that both the British and US governments who facilitated the regime of financial derivatives that produced these toxic Hedge contracts, and creating the enabling environment through the manipulation of the price of gold, would consider such an assault on their own company of national importance like Ashanti Gold is to Ghana, as an act of war.

We have been made losers in a war we did not even know was going on. Led by a leader who did not have a clue, and would not let those who know, even dare to open their mouths! We even had to literally pay our enemies to come and shoot to kill us in this undeclared war for our gold! This is why, if for no other reason at all, it is very important for Rawlings to shut up in shame. I strongly recommend an investigation into the matter, and those responsible for the gargantuan loss punished according to law. I also call upon the Mills Administration to take steps to sue Goldman Sachs for professional misconduct and conflict of interest in their capacity as Financial Advisors to AngloGold, and to seek damages. One thing President Mills must make sure he follows religiously, is not to allow a reckless, dangerously ignorant person to have any say in how this country ought to be governed.

There is something I want to say about the integrity of President John Evans Atta-Mills, before I proceed. Reading Wikileaks on the Akufo-Addo wee saga, my attention was drawn to a completely unrelated but very interesting revelation. I remember that when Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., was first seen openly supporting the NDC candidate, many were those who accused him of inconsistency, because he used to support the late Professor Adu Boahene of the NPP against the NDC. How could the same person who had been jailed several times by the PNDC of Rawlings, who has been a vocal critic of the Rawlings' dictatorship, turn around and support a political party founded by the same Jerry John Rawlings? It was considered as an unpardonable blunder by the NPP and unthinkable.

Consequently, Mr. Pratt was given all sorts of names. Prominent among them was "opportunist", "a Rawlings spy", "stomach politician" "naive" and so on. Well, it turns out that the guy is far smarter than he looked to his critics! From the WikiLeaks accounts, Mr. Pratt displayed an extra-ordinary insight into the workings of Ghana's politics, and never gave up his struggle against the Rawlings dictatorship. We now understand why his support for President Mills was far from being inconsistent. Like the ancient Romans, Mr. Pratt's support for the NDC candidate was clearly the best way to kill fire with fire.

With brilliant analysis and a rare display of political insight, the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper correctly predicted the fall of Rawlings under an Atta-Mills Administration, and feared that the Rawlings dynasty could prosper better under an NPP win in the 2008 Presidential election. Thus by supporting the party founded by Rawlings, Mr. Pratt was actually helping in the political demise of Jerry John Rawlings! What is interesting is the fact that this was a time that most analysts were seeing a perpetuation of the Rawlings era under President Mills.

Kwesi was one of the few Ghanaians who saw through the lie that President Mills was a Rawlings Man and not "his own man". I am sure that at that time, even if President Mills had come out to say, in his characteristic manner, "My brothers and sisters, I am my own man!", few would have believed him! But Mr. Pratt knew it even then! A lot of attention is being paid to a very funny revelation in the same cable that “Nana used to smoke a lot of marijuana, and I'm telling you, a lot. Even in the morning, there used to be a cloud around him and you could see that he was high”. But just after that we have the following insight into the insightful politics of the Insight Managing Editor.

Kwesi Pratt is not just a principled, militant and courageous leader of enlightened public opinion, but an intelligent, clever and deeply insightful one! WikiLeaks, Reference id 08ACCRA1509, Subject: Ghana Elections: Political Pundit Predicts Ndc Win, Source: http://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/11/08ACCRA1509.htm:

¶ 3. (C) On the subject of the NDC, Pratt said that Atta-Mills was one of the most incorruptible politicians in Ghana. It is just not in his character to take bribes, and in fact that was why former president Jerry Rawlings chose him as his running mate in 1996. About a year before that  election, Pratt said, Rawlings had paid a visit on Atta-Mills, who at the time was the director of Ghana's Internal Revenue Service, to check on income figures he had been given by his finance minister, Kwesi Botchwey. When those tallies didn't add up, Rawlings lost faith in Botchwey (who resigned shortly afterwards, following 12 years in that position) and somewhat like Diogenes searching for an honest man, Rawlings chose the political neophyte Atta-Mills as his vice-presidential candidate. (NOTE: An interesting historical aside: Rawlings and his first-term vice president, Kow Arkaah, never got along well, but Arkaah's fate was sealed when Rawlings suddenly attacked him, punching and kicking him, at a cabinet meeting on December 28, 1995. Even after the beating, Arkaah stubbornly remained in his position, and one year later, while he was still sitting as vice president, John Kufuor, the opposition NPP flagbearer, chose him as his vice presidential candidate, giving Arkaah the strange  distinction of running against his own government while still in office for the same position he already held. END NOTE)  ACCRA 00001509 002 OF 002

¶4. (C) To prove his point about Atta-Mills' character, Pratt said that Rawlings had tried to extract a promise that Atta-Mills would allow him to name four key cabinet positions -- Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defense, and Finance -- in exchange for Rawlings and his wife actively campaigning on Atta-Mills' behalf. According to Pratt, Atta-Mills refused, and when Pratt asked him why, saying that he could have said yes and then reneged on the agreement after being elected, Atta-Mills reportedly said that he couldn't do that, because he is not a man who can go back on his word. In the end, both of the Rawlings have been campaigning vigorously for Atta-Mills because, Pratt said, Nana Agyemang Rawlings is convinced she will go to prison if the NPP is victorious.

¶5. (C) Repeating what the Embassy has been hearing from other sources, Pratt said that Rawlings has no real influence over Atta-Mills. The two men, whose personalities are diametrically opposed, have little in common, but have arranged a political marriage of convenience that will be annulled as soon as Atta-Mills is inaugurated. If the NDC wins, Pratt is convinced, Rawlings will no longer have a political voice that resonates with the people, and the victory "will put an end to the Rawlings factor forever." In the case of an NPP win, however, Pratt fears that Rawlings could gain a new lease on life in national politics, re-emerging as a redemptive figure hailed by an army of disillusioned and disenfranchised youth. They will lose faith in the political system as represented by moderates such as Atta-Mills, and more readily succumb to the spell of Rawlings-style demagoguery.”

In retrospect, we are all the wiser. The Rawlinges were cut down to size at the Sunyani Congress, where his wife was only able to garner a humiliating 3% vote challenge to the incumbent. Afterwards, it took their robbing shoulders with the NPP, to become “relevant” again as a political nuisance to the NDC. Such morally and ideologically bankrupt couple want to control a ruling party which did not vote for them, and by extension the destiny of all Ghanaians! It is such a pity that the NPP is not interested in the principles of democratic governance of this country but are rather foolishly latching on to the ridiculous claims of the Rawlingses to have intellectual property rights in the logo of a whole political party! They remind me of a pair of cockroaches with their backs on the floor, kicking in the air as if that is the only solution left to get up. Methinks it is time for the couple to quietly remove themselves and to move on into the dustbin of history.

Oh, how I wish the mere departure of Rawlings would signal the end of our woes! But it wouldn't! In fact, the news coming out from the Minister of Trade is equally alarming, if not more! The problem Ghana faces currently is that her position on the EPA, is not different from that of the NPP, so there is no strong opposition from anywhere. We have not even heard of the position of the CPP on the matter. This concerns an announcement by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, in an interview published in the Monday, 27th February 2012 edition of Business & Financial Times. The paper carried an interview with the Trade and Industry Minister, Ms Hannah Tetteh, on the Economic Partnership agreement (EPA) titled ‘The EPA debate”.

According to the interview, “the Minister is committed to the ECOWAS Platform for the full EPA with the European Union. However, failing that, in her view, then Ghana should fall back on the Interim EPA between Ghana and the European Union.” There has since been a lot of reactions with the Minister in question remaining tight-lipped. This is a matter that concerns not only our own lives, but the fate of our continent and the future of our children. If the Minister thinks we are going to keep quiet over this, she must be joking!

Someone needs to draw the President's attention to the fact that some of his friendly observers are worried. And we have reasons to be, owing to lack of assurances by the President himself on what direction Ghana ought to take. I repeat a part of an appeal by Sylvester W. Bagooro, Political Economy Unit of TWN-Africa, Email: politicaleconomy@twnafrica.org, and then rest my case. See: Rejoinder: The EPA Debate, sorry, Hannah Tetteh is wrong! http://bit.ly/JIafk2

“First of all, a most recent study (South Centre, November 2011), which updates the 2005 study undertaken by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA, April 2005) estimates that the cost, due to new duties under the EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) that Ghana will incur will be in the region of $52 million, whilst that of her current commensurate loss of tariff revenue from an EPA will be about $374 million.

It means that failure to sign the EPA the companies will lose $52 million (paid as duties to EU) whereas signing it will mean that Ghana government will lose $374 million as tariff revenue. The costs of signing an EPA far outweigh the benefits even from this narrow and limited criterion of net fiscal balance.

Secondly, Ghana will have to say goodbye to any industrialisation efforts if the EPA was signed with the EU. The EU’s position, as indicated in the interim EPA, on the elimination of tariffs for 80% of trade; restrictions on the use of export taxes and quantitative restrictions; the provisions on the bilateral, and the standstill clause; will undermine Ghana’s efforts to industrialize and its ability to move up the industrial value chain. As a result, Ghana will remain a perpetual supplier of raw materials, with all the adverse implications that this entails including worsening the unemployment situation in the country.

For industrial development, Ghana needs to ensure that the policy space is maintained for those industrial sectors which are being developed. Binding most tariffs at zero level under the EPA will disable Ghana’s ability to protect the sectors that are being developed to move up the industrial value chain. As acknowledged by many world renowned economists, no country, with the exception of Hong Kong (Province of China), has managed to industrialize without going through the infant industry protection phase.

Furthermore, Ghana, as a country, needs to take into consideration the long-term threat to its development. The EPA envisages going beyond trade in goods to trade in services as well as trade rules in areas such as Investment, Procurement and Intellectual property. Late last year the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) was reported to have raised the alarm about how Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is crowding out domestic enterprise. One of the causes of this is the devastating effects of the indiscriminate trade liberalisation that Ghana and other African countries have autonomously pursued for the last 25 years.

As of now, these autonomous measures can be reviewed and even strategically reversed. However, a binding free trade agreement like the EPA, complete with non-execution clauses and far-reaching sanctions regime, prohibits the positive interventions in support of domestic producers which are the tools of any meaningful industrial policy.

Finally, one of the main lessons of the global economic crisis that has cast its shadow since 2008 is that this is the time to be diversifying trade away from over-reliance on EU markets. It is clear to all observers that the economic chaos that has engulfed the EU in its Euro-zone shows no end in sight and the prospect of long- term stagnation is becoming ever more real. Why should Ghana hang its hope on a market that is in serious crisis?”

For the avoidance of any doubts, President John Evans Atta-Mills is the best man for the job, so far as I am concerned. The very fact that this matter about Rawlings came up from Mr. Justice Sarpong, an NPP busy-body, more-brawn-than-brains kind of person, released this in a forum specifically pointing out that Akufo-Addo is still the greatest threat to peace in Ghana in the year 2012, without commenting on the irritating facts, [See: Akufo-Addo Is His Own Straw Man! | Feature Article 2012-05-13 http://bit.ly/L4KxDQ] shows that the NPP is slowly developing a guilty conscience about the incessant ethnocentric calls for death and mayhem on other ethnic groups, led by Nana Akufo-Addo himself, with his “We Akans are not cowards” and “all lynch be die!” “We must take power at all cost”!

President Mills needs to know, as the front-runner in this race, that Ghanaians are counting on him to do the right thing. Akufo-Addo's Victory 2012 is sinking from internal sabotage and intrinsically stupid utterances by its leadership. The President needs to crack his whip and bring this Minister into order, otherwise the difference between his candidacy and that of the Akufo-Addo candidacy would narrow down so close that it might not even matter who would win! I hope this would not be the case, as the political energy behind the President could go dramatically down. I know for instance that the CJA is watching this with eyes wide open.

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

Give me a follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/TheOdikro

Akufo-Addo Is His Own Straw Man!

Akufo-Addo Is His Own Straw Man!

Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

"What has Akufo-Addo done, and why can't you understand Sarpong's piece! What you done here is a subtle construction of a straw man, in fact, a very weak one, and cutting him down. Grow up Akyea! You are old enough to be a great great grandfather!"

Author: Akadu Mensema, Date: 2012-05-11 00:37:14
See: Akufo-Addo Is Still The Greatest Threat To Peace In Ghana. | Feature Article 2012-05-11 http://bit.ly/J3AZyK.

Here is a supporter of Akufo-Addo who has seen the light without knowing! If I had been deliberately constructing my portrait, it would not have so surprised me. But the fact that I have been painstakingly putting facts together to arrive at a better appreciation of the danger lurking around, makes this observation very pertinent. Akadu Mansema, claims that "What you [I have] done here is a subtle construction of a straw man, in fact, a very weak one, and cutting him down". Whilst I readily agree with the opinion that I have successfully exposed "a straw man", I refuse and reject the insinuation that I have anything to do with it! Nana Akufo-Addo alone is responsible for his weaknesses and his downfall, not me!

I was not the one that asked him to go and utter those ethnocentric and highly stupid statement of “We Akans are not cowards...” I did not teach him to chant “All die be die!” I was equally not the person who reported to him of his impending defeat in the wake of an inevitable second round of voting for the 2008 Presidential elections! When in January 2009, the Akufo-Addo camp was experimenting with everything to subvert the will of Ghanaians, and refusing to gracefully concede to defeat, they were acutely aware of the fact that they had genuinely lost the elections. The fact that this nearly brought Ghana to the brink of a civil war makes it even all the more despicable.

I find it alarmingly significant that for the first time in the history of our country an individual has been identified by a report produced by group of experts commissioned by the US Africa Command as saying,
“The role of the NPP leader and expected presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, will be crucial, and early signals suggest reason for worry. Akufo-Addo is desperate to mobilize support, and he has played the ethnic card, referring to the NPP as “We the Akans,” urging his supporters to “all die be die”—that is, they should be willing to die to ensure the NPP’s victory…” from: Scenarios: A Contested Election Result, GHANA: Assessing Risks to Stability, By David W. Throup Contributor: Jennifer G. Cooke, Richard Downie, Jul 7, 2011.

What hope do we therefore have for peace in Ghana if it depends upon an individual we all know fully well is most unlikely to concede defeat, even where it is crystal clear that he had been fairly beaten. If he had done so in the past, what makes you think he is not going to do the same thing? To begin with, this report is not some NDC propaganda, but the basis of a professional assessment by security experts in the United States, good enough to be commissioned by the US Africa Command. The report states clearly, “a second, low-to-medium-probability but high-impact scenario would be a violently contested presidential election in December 2012, which would have the potential to produce chaos.”

This is death and mayhem for thousand of innocent Ghanaians we are talking about here. Since this is about Peace and War, it is very much worthy of the attention of those of us who want peace to prevail in our country. The report specifically pin-points Akufo-Addo's role in ensuring the peace to be “crucial”. But gives a very pessimistic account of the prospects. So, if the peace of our country depends upon a serial sore-loser to gracefully concede defeat when defeated, are we not already in trouble? Just as we all know, the report rightly points out that “The role of the NPP leader and expected presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, will be crucial, and early signals suggest reason for worry. Akufo-Addo is desperate to mobilize support, and he has played the ethnic card, referring to the NPP as “We the Akans,” urging his supporters to “all die be die” — that is, they should be willing to die to ensure the NPP’s victory…”

If the future of this country depends upon a serial sore-loser accepting defeat, are we not leisurely strolling into war if we do not challenge and expose this man? People like that should not even be allowed to contest. They should be automatically be disqualified from contesting, the moment the illegally take measures to undermine the integrity of the Electoral Commission. We all know what happened when Akufo-Addo contested with President Kufour in 2000 NPP Congress. Even at that time, Nana Akufo-Addo's reputation of being someone who loses in a fair competition but whines about it on a constant basis, blaming everyone around them for their loss except themselves.

Ghana was very lucky that in 2008, we had a President from his own party who knew him very well and was ready to put his big feet down. Akufo-Addo's political tautology of calling on the Kufour Administration to protect NPP supporters, could have been laughable, but for ominous warnings for the future. In his speech "acknowledging" the announcement of the Electoral Commissioner, he called on President J.A. Kufuor, the security forces and the law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety and security of the party’s supporters, because “I am concerned that if positive steps are not taken to protect and to reassure them, they will be compelled to defend themselves.”

If Akufo-Addo was already speaking like that, even under the NPP Administration, when his own bodyguards were doing most of the beatings in town,including beating the body guards of candidate Mills in public at Cape Coast during the Afahye, and in Kumasi, during the Odwira Festival, what is he not going to say next time around? Akufo-Addo was fully aware that he was bound to lose, as soon as the vote went up for a second round. That is what Dr. Arthur Kennedy tells us from his book, "Chasing the elephant into the bush". This has been unwittingly confirmed by people close to Akufo-Addo like Gabriel Asare Otchere-Darko, who claimed only five Ghanaians have set eyes on the report so far.

The first time we got a hint of the Larry Gibson prediction was from his book, “Chasing the elephant into the bush”. This is how Colin Essamuah put it in his book review:

“Dr. Kennedy makes clear, line after line in his book, that the NPP as a corporate body, then and now, suffered fatally from a delusional triumphalism that electoral defeat was impossible, and therefore, unthinkable. This illogical belief affected every political decision, and every propaganda step they took during the campaign. It is delusional triumphalism which produced 18 presidential aspirants, including ALL the senior ministers in the Kufuor cabinet, including his blood brother, Kwame Addo-Kufuor, plus three sojourners in Europe and America, Boakye Agyarko, Agyei-Barwuah and the author himself. It is the delusion of victory that produced the inherent belief in party ranks that the opposition NDC was no factor, even though as early as August, 2008, the NPP had been warned that the non-existent opposition NDC could force a second round, courtesy the advice of Professor Larry Gibson.” [Book Review: CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH: THE POLITICS OF COMPLACENCY – by Colin Essamuah, 5 January 2010, ModernGhana.com http://bit.ly/yB7sQq]

For Akufo-Addo to pretend that he lost the elections because his millions of supporters in the Volta Region were prevented from voting for him, is to take all of us for fools! Even in his contest with Alan Kyeremanten, the Volta Regional branch of the NPP gave 96% of their votes to Alan Kyeremanteng! Which votes was he talking about that he nearly led Ghana to the precipice of war as a result of such bêtise? Who in Ghana did not know that the Volta Region was an NDC "world bank"? The NPP was then in power, and in charge of law and order, yet these so-called "learned men" did not even know how to file a simple electoral complaint. They even confused Ghana's electoral laws with our criminal law! And they call themselves lawyers! Even though the Minister of the Interior was an NPP stalwart they chose to complain like children to the Electoral Commission instead of directing their criminal complaints to the police!

Even though his party boasts of brilliant lawyers, there was no one available to furnish the Electoral Commission following the laid down procedures of Ghana's Electoral law. As indicated by Dr Afari-Gyan, “In respect of the materials submitted by the NPP in the nature of evidence, the Commission found out that; some of the issues raised bothered on criminality and, therefore, fell outside the competence of the EC.” He went further to indicate, "In the purely electoral matters, the Commission did not find the evidence provided to be sufficient to invalidate the results. "In view of these findings about the complaints of the two parties, the results as previously tallied from the 229 constituencies remain unchanged. Accordingly the results of the runoff in the Tain constituency, which was held on January 2 2009, have been added to the national tally," Dr Afari-Gyan stated. [Prof. Mills wins Election 2008, General News of Saturday, 3 January 2009, GNA http://bit.ly/zKNpH3]

A further attempt to throw the entire electoral process out of gear was thrown out of court, when on January 1st, a Public Holiday, an ex-parte motion calling on an injunction on the Electoral Commission to provide the electoral results was dismissed because it was secretly served on the court, and on the blind side of the principal stake-holders, namely the Ghana Electoral Commission, and the New Democratic Party which won the elections. The court, instead, indicated that looking at the nature of the case and the exigencies, it was prudent for the interested parties, namely, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the NDC to be served on notice with the pleadings to enable them to react appropriately. Even though the NPP was in power, not even the President was informed about this dirty move against our democracy!

There was also a condemnation by the legal brain and a former National Chairman of the NPP, and a member of the Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party, the late Mr. B.J Da Rocha considered “the action taken by the party against the EC is neither in the interest of the nation nor the credibility of the NPP.” The Party Chairman Peter Mac Manu, and counsel Atta Akyia had earlier filed two writs to put an injunction on the Tain election and to stop the EC chairman from declaring the results of the December 28 runoff. Mr. Da Rocha said the "action is wrong and must be abandoned." He told Joy News on Friday, “the constitution must be allowed to play out without any interference.” He intimated “there are provisions within the constitution which allows for the party to seek redress of all their grievances, adding the process must be allowed to go on.”[Da Rocha: Leave the EC to do their job | Elections http://bit.ly/wgqCmZ]

Meanwhile, the Akufo-Addo camp, fully aware the end had come, refused to give up! A member of the Governing Body of his public relations outfit, The Danquah Institute, even wrote a complete feature article calling on the President-elect to hand over power to Akufo-Addo! [See: “Atta-Mills Must Concede Defeat!” By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., ModernGhana.com, Featured Articles, 31 December 2008] The refusal by Nana Akufo-Addo to concede defeat in the 2008 Presidential elections nearly plunged the country into a political turmoil. 

And political turmoil is exactly what the President warned about in his New Year message: “For many Ghanaians the joy of the New Year has been tampered to an extent by the intense anxiety and high tension arising out of the ongoing Presidential elections which is yet to throw up a clear winner, despite last week’s run-off. The two contesting parties have raised pertinent concerns which are being addressed by the Independent Electoral Commission, among others. It is important however that we meet the Constitutional time table for handing over on the January 7th. I therefore urge all stakeholders to yield to the authority of the Electoral Commissioner when he declares the results. Any outstanding issues may be settled later by due process.” [Ghana: President calls for calm - Posted on Friday 2 January 2009, Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana http://bit.ly/wGfhmj]


We never got much information from what was in the report until the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, and Akufo-Addo's right-hand man, felt compelled to react to the speculations raised by the Dr. Kennedy revelations. He began: “EVER SINCE Arthur Kennedy published his book, 'Chasing the Elephant into the Bush', and more so since the NPP presidential primaries got going, several commentators have used the analysis of Larry Gibson to score points against Nana Akufo-Addo.” Yet reading in-between the lines, it was clear that Larry Gibson has not predicted a win for Akufo-Addo.

Even though Otchere-Darko asserts that: “Larry Gibson's work was assisted by the Danquah Institute, and I can say that only five people, including me but excluding Dr Kennedy, have copies of the full details of his work which helped inform the 2008 campaign. Arthur K, like the candidate, only benefited from the briefings of the opinion polls and other analysis made by Larry.” Which by implication, gave him more authority to correct the impression given by Dr. Kennedy that Professor Gibson predicted the defeat of the NPP flag-bearer. He ends up confirming what Dr. Kennedy was claiming to be true, providing further damning details in the process.

For instance, Otchere-Darko states that: “Larry's first opinion poll was conducted in May 2008, five months after Nana Akufo-Addo was elected for the first time as flag-bearer. Prof Mills had been consistently on every NDC presidential ticket since 1996.” A statement that could only mean that the result of the Larry Gibson first opinion poll was negative to Akufo-Addo. He also asserted that: “There is a lot of talk these days that the NPP lost the 2008 elections because the party did not market well the achievements of President Kufuor. Yet, Larry Gibson's polls had shown that Ghanaians simply were not convinced about the NPP record on the economy – the most important indicator on all the electoral indices.”

If our peace of mind as a country depends upon such a person accepting defeat when he is defeated, don't you think we are already in trouble? Don't you think we need to talk to him not to cause trouble next time? Don't you think he needs to be exposed for what he is really is and starve him of any public support for his nefarious plans? I do! And that is exactly what Nana Akyea Mensa, The Odikro, has done here! We do not have to invent a straw man, all we need to do is to show who he is. And trust Ghanaians in their wisdom, to take care of the rest, and put the appropriate pressure on Akufo-Addo to do what is right and just.

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!

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