Monday, September 21, 2009
Forget Conventional 401(k)s; Think Goat Cheese and Fennel
By STEPHANIE SIMON
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Woody Tasch wants to rewrite the gospel of financial growth.
A former venture capitalist, Mr. Tasch now travels the country warning that money moves too fast. Billions zip through global markets each day, bundled into financial packages so complex that it is hard to know what you own.
His antidote: A fundamental shift in our attitude toward investing. Taking a page from the Slow Food movement, which calls on consumers to take the time to savor home-cooked meals, Mr. Tasch dubbed his philosophy Slow Money.
Slow Cheese
Steven St. John for The Wall Street Journal
Ed Lobaugh fed his herd of 65 Nubian goats Thursday morning at the Old Windmill Dairy.
* More photos and interactive graphics
The crux of the movement is persuading investors to put some of their assets into businesses they can see, smell and even taste -- to measure growth not by the flashing numbers on a stock ticker, but by the slow ripening of a tomato.
That isn't dramatic. But Mr. Tasch argues that investing in sustainable local agriculture will yield an enviable return -- just not the type of return many are used to.
Nana Akyea Mensah
follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Inside The Great American Bubble Machine
Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression
MATT TAIBBIPosted Jul 02, 2009 8:38 AM
In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on "the Wall Street Bubble Mafia" — investment bank Goldman Sachs (click here to read the whole story). The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories" and a spokesman adding, "We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good." Taibbi shot back: "Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it." Here, now, are excerpts from Matt Taibbi's piece and video of Taibbi exploring the key issues.
Matt Taibbi On Goldman Sachs' Big Scam
From Matt Taibbi's "The Great American Bubble Machine" in Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83.
The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.
Any attempt to construct a narrative around all the former Goldmanites in influential positions quickly becomes an absurd and pointless exercise, like trying to make a list of everything. What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain — an extremely unfortunate loophole in the system of Western democratic capitalism, which never foresaw that in a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.
They achieve this using the same playbook over and over again. The formula is relatively simple: Goldman positions itself in the middle of a speculative bubble, selling investments they know are crap. Then they hoover up vast sums from the middle and lower floors of society with the aid of a crippled and corrupt state that allows it to rewrite the rules in exchange for the relative pennies the bank throws at political patronage. Finally, when it all goes bust, leaving millions of ordinary citizens broke and starving, they begin the entire process over again, riding in to rescue us all by lending us back our own money at interest, selling themselves as men above greed, just a bunch of really smart guys keeping the wheels greased. They've been pulling this same stunt over and over since the 1920s — and now they're preparing to do it again, creating what may be the biggest and most audacious bubble yet.
See Taibbi discuss Goldman Sachs' big scam.
NEXT: Goldman Sachs' Role in the Housing and Internet Busts
The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America
3:35:19 - 2 years ago
Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery to a privately-owned "central" bank was first forced upon the backs of an entire nation, not removed but only made heavier with the passing of the three centuries to our day. Nation after nation, including America, has fallen prey to this cabal of international central bankers. Segments: The Problem; The Money Changers; Roman Empire; The Goldsmiths of Medieval England; Tally Sticks; The Bank of England; The Rise of the Rothschilds; The American Revolution; The Bank of North America; The Constitutional Convention; First Bank of the U.S.; Napoleon's Rise to Power; Death of the First Bank of the U.S. / War of 1812; Waterloo; Second Bank of the U.S.; Andrew Jackson; Fort Knox; World Central Bank; Loose Change 911 truth police state globalists NWO New World Order Federal Reserve Alex Jones Aaron Russo America From Freedom To Fascism zionist IMF BIS John Perkins 911 911 Globalism bilderberg Rothschild Rockefeller Schiff Warburg illuminati bohemian grove idi amin freemason Also recommended: "Firewall: In Defense of Nation State" http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8415519765816415310 Video news on "Federal Reserve": http://newstree.org/search.jsp?query=Federal+Reserve&hp=10&s=Video&vx=1 Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery t...all »
Click here to read Matt Taibbi's entire piece, "The Great American Bubble Machine."
MATT TAIBBIPosted Jul 02, 2009 8:38 AM
In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on "the Wall Street Bubble Mafia" — investment bank Goldman Sachs (click here to read the whole story). The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories" and a spokesman adding, "We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good." Taibbi shot back: "Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it." Here, now, are excerpts from Matt Taibbi's piece and video of Taibbi exploring the key issues.
Matt Taibbi On Goldman Sachs' Big Scam
From Matt Taibbi's "The Great American Bubble Machine" in Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83.
The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.
Any attempt to construct a narrative around all the former Goldmanites in influential positions quickly becomes an absurd and pointless exercise, like trying to make a list of everything. What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain — an extremely unfortunate loophole in the system of Western democratic capitalism, which never foresaw that in a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.
They achieve this using the same playbook over and over again. The formula is relatively simple: Goldman positions itself in the middle of a speculative bubble, selling investments they know are crap. Then they hoover up vast sums from the middle and lower floors of society with the aid of a crippled and corrupt state that allows it to rewrite the rules in exchange for the relative pennies the bank throws at political patronage. Finally, when it all goes bust, leaving millions of ordinary citizens broke and starving, they begin the entire process over again, riding in to rescue us all by lending us back our own money at interest, selling themselves as men above greed, just a bunch of really smart guys keeping the wheels greased. They've been pulling this same stunt over and over since the 1920s — and now they're preparing to do it again, creating what may be the biggest and most audacious bubble yet.
See Taibbi discuss Goldman Sachs' big scam.
NEXT: Goldman Sachs' Role in the Housing and Internet Busts
The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America
3:35:19 - 2 years ago
Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery to a privately-owned "central" bank was first forced upon the backs of an entire nation, not removed but only made heavier with the passing of the three centuries to our day. Nation after nation, including America, has fallen prey to this cabal of international central bankers. Segments: The Problem; The Money Changers; Roman Empire; The Goldsmiths of Medieval England; Tally Sticks; The Bank of England; The Rise of the Rothschilds; The American Revolution; The Bank of North America; The Constitutional Convention; First Bank of the U.S.; Napoleon's Rise to Power; Death of the First Bank of the U.S. / War of 1812; Waterloo; Second Bank of the U.S.; Andrew Jackson; Fort Knox; World Central Bank; Loose Change 911 truth police state globalists NWO New World Order Federal Reserve Alex Jones Aaron Russo America From Freedom To Fascism zionist IMF BIS John Perkins 911 911 Globalism bilderberg Rothschild Rockefeller Schiff Warburg illuminati bohemian grove idi amin freemason Also recommended: "Firewall: In Defense of Nation State" http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8415519765816415310 Video news on "Federal Reserve": http://newstree.org/search.jsp?query=Federal+Reserve&hp=10&s=Video&vx=1 Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery t...all »
Click here to read Matt Taibbi's entire piece, "The Great American Bubble Machine."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sodom And Gomorrah Versus A Fencepost Turtle!
by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
A rejoinder to: "Sodom And Gommorah – Our Collective Shame", by Appiah-Danquah Kufuor, Ghanaweb, Feature Article of Wednesday, 16 September 2009.
I was engaged with my friend Tunk in a conversation over Sodom and Gomorrah, under my article "Kwsesi Pratt is no Mystery" Ghanaweb, Feature Article of Tuesday, 15 September 2009:
Tunkumuruu adopted the position that what Mr Pratt had done on Vibe FM amounted to "malicious propaganda" against the Mayor of Accra, Mr. Alfred Vanderpuije, because Kwesi is saying: "You don't throw 55,000 people out of their settlement without thinking about the social consequences and planning for them."!
Here is the relevant report he quoted:
Mayor, Minister At War Over Sodom And Gomorrah
By Daily Guide
Mon, 14 Sep 2009 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version
Regional News
Alfred Vanderpuije and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
A silent war appears to be raging over Accra's most notorious slum; Sodom and Gomorrah, as opposing signals are being sent to Ghanaians over the fate of the location by officialdom.
Even before the bulldozers move in, the Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has suggested that the slum would remain untouched, in opposition to the position of the Mayor of Accra, Alfred Vanderpuije.
Kwesi Pratt Jnr. was reported to have condemned the planned movement when he said that the decision by the Mayor to demolish the slum was an aberration, saying that he was out of tune with reality.
Kwesi questioned the rationale behind the appointment of Mr. Vanderpuije as Accra Mayor, pointing out that whoever appointed him had done a great disservice to Ghana. “Where is this man coming from? Who appointed him as Mayor,” Mr. Pratt yelled on Vibe FM on Thursday night."
I checked with Kwesi yesterday and finally replied to my friend Tunkumuruu:
"My friend, I hope you did not find the joke offensive! There is a minimum of standards even in decorum when the fate of 55,000 poor Ghanaians are at stake!
I just got a quote from Kwesi on this matter. I have not been in touch for some time and I did not want to discuss this article before publication for obvious reasons. I have not even had the time to ask him if he had seen and read the article, but I sent an SMS for his quote on the Sodom and Gomorrah issue and here is his reply:
"My position on Sodom and Gomorrah is simple. You don't throw 55,000 people out of their settlement without thinking about the social consequences and planning for them. Very best wishes - kwesi"
Sender: Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
My own answer to that was:
If Kwesi is questioning the guy like that then he is probably a "fencepost turtle". I received an e-mail once that explained to me what a "fencepost title" was.
It was about Kufour at the G8 meeting but it applies to many incompetent people as well!
“While stitching up the hand of an 80-year-old farmer, who got cut while
fencing on his property, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to President Kufour at a G8 meeting.
“Well, ya know,” drawled the farmer, “this Kufour fella at the G8 is what they call a fencepost turtle..”
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a fencepost turtle was.
The old farmer said, “When you’re driving along a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s called a fencepost turtle.”
The old farmer saw a puzzled look on the doctor’s face, so he continued to explain,
“You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he definitely doesn’t belong up there, he doesn’t know what to do while he is up there, and you just gotta wonder what kind of fool put him up there in the first place!"
I think Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., is asking the right question! There are people like that!
I am very happy that for once, I am writing a rejoinder, not to attack the writer but to praise him! Particularly the appeal to Ghanaians to put themselves in the shoes of Ama on whose haed lurks a fencepost turtle!
"If you were a young girl (Ama) growing up in an isolated village, without any basic infrastructure, no education, no job, no t a glimpse of any life-chances – what are your options? You may end up in one of the slums of Accra, hoping against all hope that your fortunes may change. But will it change?"
--
Nana Akyea Mensah
http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/
tweetmeme
follow me on Twitterhttp://twitter.com/TheOdikro
* Kwesi Pratt is no Mystery! By Nana Akyea Mensah,
* African Unity needs tender loving care! Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/ 3 days ago
* Take that Dick! http://bit.ly/3Qnj4c 8 days ago
* Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism http://sfgacc.com/node/81 9 days ago
* Climate change funding talks stall at G20 http://bit.ly/2HdO2Z 10 days ago
A rejoinder to: "Sodom And Gommorah – Our Collective Shame", by Appiah-Danquah Kufuor, Ghanaweb, Feature Article of Wednesday, 16 September 2009.
I was engaged with my friend Tunk in a conversation over Sodom and Gomorrah, under my article "Kwsesi Pratt is no Mystery" Ghanaweb, Feature Article of Tuesday, 15 September 2009:
Tunkumuruu adopted the position that what Mr Pratt had done on Vibe FM amounted to "malicious propaganda" against the Mayor of Accra, Mr. Alfred Vanderpuije, because Kwesi is saying: "You don't throw 55,000 people out of their settlement without thinking about the social consequences and planning for them."!
Here is the relevant report he quoted:
Mayor, Minister At War Over Sodom And Gomorrah
By Daily Guide
Mon, 14 Sep 2009 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version
Regional News
Alfred Vanderpuije and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
A silent war appears to be raging over Accra's most notorious slum; Sodom and Gomorrah, as opposing signals are being sent to Ghanaians over the fate of the location by officialdom.
Even before the bulldozers move in, the Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has suggested that the slum would remain untouched, in opposition to the position of the Mayor of Accra, Alfred Vanderpuije.
Kwesi Pratt Jnr. was reported to have condemned the planned movement when he said that the decision by the Mayor to demolish the slum was an aberration, saying that he was out of tune with reality.
Kwesi questioned the rationale behind the appointment of Mr. Vanderpuije as Accra Mayor, pointing out that whoever appointed him had done a great disservice to Ghana. “Where is this man coming from? Who appointed him as Mayor,” Mr. Pratt yelled on Vibe FM on Thursday night."
I checked with Kwesi yesterday and finally replied to my friend Tunkumuruu:
"My friend, I hope you did not find the joke offensive! There is a minimum of standards even in decorum when the fate of 55,000 poor Ghanaians are at stake!
I just got a quote from Kwesi on this matter. I have not been in touch for some time and I did not want to discuss this article before publication for obvious reasons. I have not even had the time to ask him if he had seen and read the article, but I sent an SMS for his quote on the Sodom and Gomorrah issue and here is his reply:
"My position on Sodom and Gomorrah is simple. You don't throw 55,000 people out of their settlement without thinking about the social consequences and planning for them. Very best wishes - kwesi"
Sender: Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
My own answer to that was:
If Kwesi is questioning the guy like that then he is probably a "fencepost turtle". I received an e-mail once that explained to me what a "fencepost title" was.
It was about Kufour at the G8 meeting but it applies to many incompetent people as well!
“While stitching up the hand of an 80-year-old farmer, who got cut while
fencing on his property, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to President Kufour at a G8 meeting.
“Well, ya know,” drawled the farmer, “this Kufour fella at the G8 is what they call a fencepost turtle..”
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a fencepost turtle was.
The old farmer said, “When you’re driving along a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s called a fencepost turtle.”
The old farmer saw a puzzled look on the doctor’s face, so he continued to explain,
“You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he definitely doesn’t belong up there, he doesn’t know what to do while he is up there, and you just gotta wonder what kind of fool put him up there in the first place!"
I think Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., is asking the right question! There are people like that!
I am very happy that for once, I am writing a rejoinder, not to attack the writer but to praise him! Particularly the appeal to Ghanaians to put themselves in the shoes of Ama on whose haed lurks a fencepost turtle!
"If you were a young girl (Ama) growing up in an isolated village, without any basic infrastructure, no education, no job, no t a glimpse of any life-chances – what are your options? You may end up in one of the slums of Accra, hoping against all hope that your fortunes may change. But will it change?"
--
Nana Akyea Mensah
http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/
tweetmeme
follow me on Twitterhttp://twitter.com/TheOdikro
* Kwesi Pratt is no Mystery! By Nana Akyea Mensah,
* African Unity needs tender loving care! Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/ 3 days ago
* Take that Dick! http://bit.ly/3Qnj4c 8 days ago
* Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism http://sfgacc.com/node/81 9 days ago
* Climate change funding talks stall at G20 http://bit.ly/2HdO2Z 10 days ago
Sunday, September 13, 2009
KWESI PRATT, JNR. IS NO MYSTERY!
A rejoinder to: “Demystifying” “Hon.” Kwesi Pratt, by Yaw Opare-Asamoa, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 September 2009.
By:
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
"So is Kwesi Pratt a traitor as Alhaji Bature wants us to believe? Maybe or maybe not, depending on where you stand... Let’s just say that the evidence used against Kwame Pianim, many years ago, was not manufactured... There was this other journalist who went into ‘exile’, supposedly, in a neighbouring country. He was later to come home and be part of the then ‘newly-formed’ NDC. High-level intelligence reports indicate that he played the role of a ‘mole’ for the PNDC. He relayed vital information from Ghanaian ‘dissidents’ in exile back to the PNDC government. Remember Halidu Giwa and his failed attempted coup?...
Years ago, the country was the ‘loser’ when the much anticipated confrontation between Kwesi Pratt and Kwaku Baako was called off at the last minute. I do not know which of them balked away but a lot would have been revealed from that encounter. Revelations that would have shocked many in the country. Kwesi Pratt talks like a socialist but does he back his words with deeds? Does his lifestyle match his ‘rhetoric’? He has successfully positioned himself as a ‘defender’ of the masses but is that really the case?"
Yaw Opare-Asamoa, “Demystifying” “Hon.” Kwesi Pratt, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 September 2009.
COMMENT:
"Years ago, the country was the ‘loser’ when the much anticipated confrontation between Kwesi Pratt and Kwaku Baako was called off at the last minute." "Those who know what really and truly happened owe it to the next generation to ‘release’ the information. Ghanaians need to know the truth of what has happened in this country in order to avoid the mistakes of the past and plan for a better future." "I am not ready to drop names here but I know Kwesi Pratt himself knows what the truth is regarding this matter. Let’s just say that the evidence used against Kwame Pianim, many years ago, was not manufactured." - Yaw Opare-Asamoa, “Demystifying” “Hon.” Kwesi Pratt, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 September 2009.
DON'T GHANAIANS NEED TO KNOW THIS FROM YOU, MR. YAW OPARE-ASAMOA?
WHY DON'T YOU DROP THE NAMES HERE?
IF IT IS BETWEEN ONLY YOU AND KWESI WHY ARE YOU DOING ON GHANAWEB?
One thing I like about contemporary history is that there are living witnesses to the stories WE TELL. Secondly, the monopolization of the truth by any one faction is virtually impossible. Neither can the obvious be mystified by political vultures like the author of the silly article in question, particularly, in this case involving no less a person than Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
Every honest historian knows that history is always a point of view. That is why the real historians begin their accounts with "a history" of say, the Gold Coast, or the slave trade or the pyramids etc. The non historians are noticeable with their tittles "The History of ..."
Other non-historians are subtle. They give no historical accounts at all. The just do neocolonialist propaganda by desperately trying to look objective, whilst all the time aiming to do maximum damage to the target without ever suggesting any material fact that would put him in trouble with a court of law, because in order to substatiate the allegations he may have to manufacture lies that he himself can not defend in a court of law.
Thus for me the reason why Yaw Opare-Asamoa is "not ready to drop names here" is obvious: the author of the forgery stands to face serious consequences if found out, and since the only way to nail Kwesi is to come out with facts and statements that make full meaning, Mr. Yaw Opare-Asamoa "does not want to say the important something", even though he himself pleads for information, he is not ready to release what he has on his chest! "Those who know what really and truly happened owe it to the next generation to ‘release’ the information. Ghanaians need to know the truth of what has happened in this country in order to avoid the mistakes of the past and plan for a better future." What a clown!
" I am not ready to drop names here but I know Kwesi Pratt himself knows what the truth is regarding this matter. Let’s just say that the evidence used against Kwame Pianim, many years ago, was not manufactured. It had to have come from somewhere and I believe someday, we will all have the privilege of knowing where."
Meanwhile the same character who claims to have the truth appeals to Ghanaians to come forth with it:
"Ghanaians need to know the truth of what has happened in this country in order to avoid the mistakes of the past and plan for a better future. Years ago, the country was the ‘loser’ when the much anticipated confrontation between Kwesi Pratt and Kwaku Baako was called off at the last minute. I do not know which of them balked away but a lot would have been revealed from that encounter. Revelations that would have shocked many in the country. Kwesi Pratt talks like a socialist but does he back his words with deeds? Does his lifestyle match his ‘rhetoric’? He has successfully positioned himself as a ‘defender’ of the masses but is that really the case?"
Once again, I remember what was going on. It was at a time Freddie Blay still had some semblance of dignity and respectability. No one knew he was prepared to sell his own mother for power yet. He had not said that then. Of course, it was the time he was the Speaker of Parliament. It was at the crucial time that the NPP desperately wanted the CPP in the pocket as a banker against an effective NDC challenge. Kweku Baako was in the plot. Freddie Blay was in it. Paa Kwesi Ndoum too was part of it, together with Kofi Coomson, Kwasi Agbley.
To carry this through with the approval of Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., as the Publicity Officer of the CPP is just like expecting Mrs. Konadu Agyemang Rawlings to vote for Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, especially after the Akyem dwarf intensified his teasing of her husband with the "Yor ke Gari" "problem". No way! Over his or her dead body, as the case may be, for I am sure neither would cede!
Every one knows who killed Kwame Adjimah. It was Warrant Officer Class One, Joseph Kwabena Adjei Boadi, former Member of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. published these events as long as 1992. Around the same time, I was shocked that Adjei Boadi who would sue for defamation involving 250.000 cedis would did nothing to defend himself all those years! On the contrary I saw him once greeting Kwesi politely at a funeral. The man who never stopped accusing him of murder!
When it suited them, it was evidently clear that Adjei Boadi would have an axe or two to grind with Kwesi for pestering his life with the murder of Kwame Adjimah. Like a Hollywood movie, Adjei Boadi, a notorious murderer accuses an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, ace human rights activist of international repute, of an involvement in his nefarious activities and you want to take a known and culpable murderer's word against Kwesi? This only bears testimony to the nature of some of the politicians we have in Ghana today. The disgraceful manner people who were vying for public office decided to base their campaign strangely on lies and how to bring down the man they all saw as their OBSTACLE NUMBER ONE.
In the early days of 2001, just after the NPP victory, Kofi Coomson, who was the secretly plotting to be an NPP parliamentary candidate, attacked Kwesi Pratt in "a ferocious debate" on radio over Dr Kwesi Nduom. Reports said "The debate later turned nasty off air when Coomson challenged Kwesi, calling him a traitor and revealed that he knew that he grassed on Kweku Baako, Kwasi Agbley and Freddie Blay, all three very close personal friends of both Kofi Coomson and Pratt."
The Chronicle, which Kofi Coomson founded featured an article which stated "Since the stunning revelation by the former PNDC hatchet man, WOI Adjei Boadi, at the ongoing NRC sittings, that Kwesi Pratt operated as a double agent who caused the arrest of his friend, Kweku Baako, and but for his timely intervention, Kweku Baako would have summarily been executed, the question of the credibility of the named parties involved has agitated the minds of many observers of the unfolding drama."
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since these allegations. Ndoum failed to become President, Kofi Coomson could not even go past the NPP primaries. and Kweku Baako is now well known for being an absolute opportunist. All those who tried to discredit Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. have been discredited. This attempt to hint at discredited facts without stating them clearly is no attempt to enlighten the public but to throw dust into their vigilant eyes!
I am challenging the writer of these stupid insinuations in the name of public interest to substantiate the allegations or else withdraw them. If we have any sense of decency, before this man dies, Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. must be credited as one of the most important architects of the democratic dispensation that we are all enjoying today under the Fourth Republic of Ghana. It was Akoto Ampaw and Kwesi Pratt, Jnr who following the mandates of the KNRG, NDM and URF went to see Professor Adu Boahene to discuss the formation of the Movement for Freedom and Justice in order to form a Kwame Nkrumah-Busia-Danquah coalition across the political spectrum, against the dictatorship of the PNDC!
But even if History is a matter of point of view, no matter where you are standing, no one individual from the people now attacking Kwesi as if there is no tomorrow can claim half of what people like Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. have personally done to bring us all where we are today. Nana Akufo Addo publicly acknowledged this role and mentioned Kwesi by name,at the press conference announcing his candiature for the presidency. Rawlings has already acknowledged this fact. President Kufour did. And so has President Atta-Mills!
I must be able to properly honour and show respect to those in the NPP who gave the call from Nkrumahists like Kwesi, a positive response, particularly Mr. Ray Kakraba Quarshie, and the late Mr. Kwesi Lamptey. I also know what happened when people like B. J. da Rocha were approached, and why apart from Adu Boahene none of the NPP presidential aspirants wanted to work directly with the MFJ and preferred not to sit in a meeting to save Ghana from the military dictatorship because it was chaired by an internal political rival!
Professor Adu Boahene was the second Busia-Danquah person to join the MFJ but he did not join without conditions. His only condition was that he would never join it if he was not made the chairman of the new movement! Kwesi's reaction was very funny. "Take it, we give it to you!" He thought he had just made a breakthrough! Being the Chairman was the thought farthest from his mind. His was complete dedication, not hunting for posts like some people from the party with a thousand and one presidential aspirants.
Any one who says that the overthrow of the PNDC was the work of just one individual must belong to bedlam. In the final analysis it is the collective efforts of all Ghanaians occasioned by increasing international pressure to stop bullying the population and allow government by universal suffrage that did the trick.
Yet history would not be complete if we forget the self-sacrifices and courage of men like Kwesi Pratt in those crucial moments. People would not even dare compare Rawlings with Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. He has no blood on his hands to begin with, whilst Jerry Rawlings needs to account for the whereabouts of 246 Ghanaians who disappeared or were extra-judicially murdered under his military junta.
I have always known that truth never hides. After the 1966 CIA-inspired coup d'etat, we were all here when the use of the name, photo and image was banned and possession of them was made a criminal offence by those who claim to be following a tradition that promotes democracy and freedom of speech. Desîte the bombs, the coups, the bannings today, we have the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, and next week on the 21st of September, 2009, Ghana and the rest of Africa shall be observing a special national holiday in his honour of the cetenary anniversary of his BIRTHDAY.
To the chagrin of his traducers Nkrumah is being taught to a new generation of Ghanaians in eloquent and practical ways. One such self-sacrificing apostle of the Osagyefo is the fearless Comrade Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. The one thing some people can not stand about Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., is the kind of things he says about Kwame Nkrumah:
"Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was not just the first President of Ghana but a very extraordinary man whose life and works contributed significantly to changing the world." He recently wrote, "He grew from a little village boy in Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana to a world leader fully devoted to the struggle to free all black people from all forms of racism.
He was also against everything which kept people irrespective of their colour in conditions of slavery. He opposed oppression and exploitation in all its forms.
Many historians including Basil Davidson and F. K. Buah credit Nkrumah with the leadership of the struggle which led to granting independence to many African countries under various forms of colonialism. Indeed Nkrumah is placed in the same category as Einstein, Karl Marx, V. I. Lenin, Toussant L'Ouverture and Mahatma Gandhi whose ideas and actions helped to make the world a better place."
Certainly not the kind of language that those Busia-Danquah elements that the CIA referred to as "pathetically pro-Western" would take kindly to!
For the economy of time, and without affecting simplicity at the cost of accuracy, I want to launch an open challenge to the senseless attempts to undermine the integrity of one of easily the cream of the cream of Ghanaians who toiled day, and deep into the night, woke up with insufficient sleep in the eyes to go to demonstrations, tired before it begins because he was constantly a centre of action!
If today, Ghanaians are enjoying the praises being heaped on us by the international community and expecting to reap the fruits of peace, political stability, and God-willing economic prosperity with our soon to be out-doored credentials as an "Oil exporting country", in dignity and in peace, it is squarely thanks to the yeoman and gargantuan efforts by people like Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
The recruitment of the NPP leadership into the MFJ must not be under-estimated, because like the open letter of Dr. Hilla Liman that broke the culture of silence, the formation of the MFJ is what marked the begining of the end of the PNDC dictatorship. It was an initiative between the NDM and the KNRG. The URF and the AYC joined later. The AYC pulled out as they refused the admission of Adu Boahene on the basis of chairman. They would have preferred one of the original brains to head. Translated into everyday language, it means Nkrumahist because all the founding groups were Nkrumahist groups.
The attempts to smear Kwesi, ridding on the waves of the current uproar shall not work. And no one can deny the noble role he has played and continues to play in our nation's history. Certainly Kwesi alone did not make everything happen, but Kwesi was certainly a medium when he was sent by his colleagues to see Adu Boahene about the MFJ. Because Kwesi readily agreed with him to chair the movement the MFJ was able to put to sleep the Nkrumahist tag and assumed a truely national character. Because Johnny Hansen was the Vice Chairman, Kwesi Pratt, Jnr as Secretary, it was also not a purely Busia-Danquah affair. The fact that Prof. Adu Boahene himself testified several times that this unity was thanks to a great extend the personal chemistry (I'm sorry, Kwesi, but for the lack of a better word!) was fundamental in creating the united front. The trials of Kwesi and Adu Boahene was also another way of looking at the sights and sounds of the heroes of the 4th republic.
The MFJ was the first national political opposition to the PNDC. It was the first national political front to ask for the 4th Republic. It became the midwife that saw the birth of the 4th republic. The chairman of this movement was recruited by Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
Now, Mr. Yaw Opare-Asamoa, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE IMPORT OF WHAT YOU HAVE JUST READ?
One comment made under the article is worthy of everyone' notice;
"It is obvious to any discerning reader that the author is someone who rates Kwaku Baaku over and above Kwesi Pratt. However, the evidence on the ground proves the contrary. Both of them say they are Nkrumaist but whilst Pratt will defend Nkrumaism at any cost, Baako will defend Nkrumaism as long as it will be convenient or expedient to do so. Thus when President Kuffour tried to woo both of them in 2001, it did not take long for Pratt to fall out with Kuffuor because of Kuffuor's anti-Nkrumah rhetoric and acts but Baako stuck to Kuffuor and almost became the propaganda secretary of the NPP on National T.V. seeing nothing wrong with anything done by the Kuffuor Government since the largess of Kuffuor was too irresistible for Baako. And no one should attribute this prostitute behaviour of Baako to his personal hatred for the NDC because the reasons adduced by him for hating the NDC are equally applicable to Pratt - both were imprisoned by Rawlings and badly treated by the PNDC government. However, Pratt has clearly risen above these personal feelings and considerations whilst Baako uses them conveniently to his own ends. With this irrefutable evidence, I don't need any nasty and uncivilised confrontation between these two old journalists to be able to tell which of them has integrity or true character. The good old people say true character cannot be hidden for long. Please forget what they each did in the past for people can make mistakes and can change over time so concentrate on what and who they are today!!!" - J. P. TERIWAJAH, THIS ARTICLE LACKS LOGIC, Comment, 2009-09-13 12:59:39 on “Demystifying” “Hon.” Kwesi Pratt, Ghanaweb, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 September 2009.
In other words, according to Calculus, at 2009-0913 11: 55:01, and I am sure he has not changed his mind, Yaw Opare Asamoah article was simply, BALDERDASH!
--
Nana Akyea Mensah
follow me on Twitter;
http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
e-mail: nanakyeamensah@gmail.com
Blog: http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/
follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America
3:35:19 - 2 years ago
Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery to a privately-owned "central" bank was first forced upon the backs of an entire nation, not removed but only made heavier with the passing of the three centuries to our day. Nation after nation, including America, has fallen prey to this cabal of international central bankers. Segments: The Problem; The Money Changers; Roman Empire; The Goldsmiths of Medieval England; Tally Sticks; The Bank of England; The Rise of the Rothschilds; The American Revolution; The Bank of North America; The Constitutional Convention; First Bank of the U.S.; Napoleon's Rise to Power; Death of the First Bank of the U.S. / War of 1812; Waterloo; Second Bank of the U.S.; Andrew Jackson; Fort Knox; World Central Bank; Loose Change 911 truth police state globalists NWO New World Order Federal Reserve Alex Jones Aaron Russo America From Freedom To Fascism zionist IMF BIS John Perkins 911 911 Globalism bilderberg Rothschild Rockefeller Schiff Warburg illuminati bohemian grove idi amin freemason Also recommended: "Firewall: In Defense of Nation State" http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8415519765816415310 Video news on "Federal Reserve": http://newstree.org/search.jsp?query=Federal+Reserve&hp=10&s=Video&vx=1 Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery t...all »
By:
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
"So is Kwesi Pratt a traitor as Alhaji Bature wants us to believe? Maybe or maybe not, depending on where you stand... Let’s just say that the evidence used against Kwame Pianim, many years ago, was not manufactured... There was this other journalist who went into ‘exile’, supposedly, in a neighbouring country. He was later to come home and be part of the then ‘newly-formed’ NDC. High-level intelligence reports indicate that he played the role of a ‘mole’ for the PNDC. He relayed vital information from Ghanaian ‘dissidents’ in exile back to the PNDC government. Remember Halidu Giwa and his failed attempted coup?...
Years ago, the country was the ‘loser’ when the much anticipated confrontation between Kwesi Pratt and Kwaku Baako was called off at the last minute. I do not know which of them balked away but a lot would have been revealed from that encounter. Revelations that would have shocked many in the country. Kwesi Pratt talks like a socialist but does he back his words with deeds? Does his lifestyle match his ‘rhetoric’? He has successfully positioned himself as a ‘defender’ of the masses but is that really the case?"
Yaw Opare-Asamoa, “Demystifying” “Hon.” Kwesi Pratt, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 September 2009.
COMMENT:
"Years ago, the country was the ‘loser’ when the much anticipated confrontation between Kwesi Pratt and Kwaku Baako was called off at the last minute." "Those who know what really and truly happened owe it to the next generation to ‘release’ the information. Ghanaians need to know the truth of what has happened in this country in order to avoid the mistakes of the past and plan for a better future." "I am not ready to drop names here but I know Kwesi Pratt himself knows what the truth is regarding this matter. Let’s just say that the evidence used against Kwame Pianim, many years ago, was not manufactured." - Yaw Opare-Asamoa, “Demystifying” “Hon.” Kwesi Pratt, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 September 2009.
DON'T GHANAIANS NEED TO KNOW THIS FROM YOU, MR. YAW OPARE-ASAMOA?
WHY DON'T YOU DROP THE NAMES HERE?
IF IT IS BETWEEN ONLY YOU AND KWESI WHY ARE YOU DOING ON GHANAWEB?
One thing I like about contemporary history is that there are living witnesses to the stories WE TELL. Secondly, the monopolization of the truth by any one faction is virtually impossible. Neither can the obvious be mystified by political vultures like the author of the silly article in question, particularly, in this case involving no less a person than Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
Every honest historian knows that history is always a point of view. That is why the real historians begin their accounts with "a history" of say, the Gold Coast, or the slave trade or the pyramids etc. The non historians are noticeable with their tittles "The History of ..."
Other non-historians are subtle. They give no historical accounts at all. The just do neocolonialist propaganda by desperately trying to look objective, whilst all the time aiming to do maximum damage to the target without ever suggesting any material fact that would put him in trouble with a court of law, because in order to substatiate the allegations he may have to manufacture lies that he himself can not defend in a court of law.
Thus for me the reason why Yaw Opare-Asamoa is "not ready to drop names here" is obvious: the author of the forgery stands to face serious consequences if found out, and since the only way to nail Kwesi is to come out with facts and statements that make full meaning, Mr. Yaw Opare-Asamoa "does not want to say the important something", even though he himself pleads for information, he is not ready to release what he has on his chest! "Those who know what really and truly happened owe it to the next generation to ‘release’ the information. Ghanaians need to know the truth of what has happened in this country in order to avoid the mistakes of the past and plan for a better future." What a clown!
" I am not ready to drop names here but I know Kwesi Pratt himself knows what the truth is regarding this matter. Let’s just say that the evidence used against Kwame Pianim, many years ago, was not manufactured. It had to have come from somewhere and I believe someday, we will all have the privilege of knowing where."
Meanwhile the same character who claims to have the truth appeals to Ghanaians to come forth with it:
"Ghanaians need to know the truth of what has happened in this country in order to avoid the mistakes of the past and plan for a better future. Years ago, the country was the ‘loser’ when the much anticipated confrontation between Kwesi Pratt and Kwaku Baako was called off at the last minute. I do not know which of them balked away but a lot would have been revealed from that encounter. Revelations that would have shocked many in the country. Kwesi Pratt talks like a socialist but does he back his words with deeds? Does his lifestyle match his ‘rhetoric’? He has successfully positioned himself as a ‘defender’ of the masses but is that really the case?"
Once again, I remember what was going on. It was at a time Freddie Blay still had some semblance of dignity and respectability. No one knew he was prepared to sell his own mother for power yet. He had not said that then. Of course, it was the time he was the Speaker of Parliament. It was at the crucial time that the NPP desperately wanted the CPP in the pocket as a banker against an effective NDC challenge. Kweku Baako was in the plot. Freddie Blay was in it. Paa Kwesi Ndoum too was part of it, together with Kofi Coomson, Kwasi Agbley.
To carry this through with the approval of Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., as the Publicity Officer of the CPP is just like expecting Mrs. Konadu Agyemang Rawlings to vote for Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, especially after the Akyem dwarf intensified his teasing of her husband with the "Yor ke Gari" "problem". No way! Over his or her dead body, as the case may be, for I am sure neither would cede!
Every one knows who killed Kwame Adjimah. It was Warrant Officer Class One, Joseph Kwabena Adjei Boadi, former Member of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. published these events as long as 1992. Around the same time, I was shocked that Adjei Boadi who would sue for defamation involving 250.000 cedis would did nothing to defend himself all those years! On the contrary I saw him once greeting Kwesi politely at a funeral. The man who never stopped accusing him of murder!
When it suited them, it was evidently clear that Adjei Boadi would have an axe or two to grind with Kwesi for pestering his life with the murder of Kwame Adjimah. Like a Hollywood movie, Adjei Boadi, a notorious murderer accuses an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, ace human rights activist of international repute, of an involvement in his nefarious activities and you want to take a known and culpable murderer's word against Kwesi? This only bears testimony to the nature of some of the politicians we have in Ghana today. The disgraceful manner people who were vying for public office decided to base their campaign strangely on lies and how to bring down the man they all saw as their OBSTACLE NUMBER ONE.
In the early days of 2001, just after the NPP victory, Kofi Coomson, who was the secretly plotting to be an NPP parliamentary candidate, attacked Kwesi Pratt in "a ferocious debate" on radio over Dr Kwesi Nduom. Reports said "The debate later turned nasty off air when Coomson challenged Kwesi, calling him a traitor and revealed that he knew that he grassed on Kweku Baako, Kwasi Agbley and Freddie Blay, all three very close personal friends of both Kofi Coomson and Pratt."
The Chronicle, which Kofi Coomson founded featured an article which stated "Since the stunning revelation by the former PNDC hatchet man, WOI Adjei Boadi, at the ongoing NRC sittings, that Kwesi Pratt operated as a double agent who caused the arrest of his friend, Kweku Baako, and but for his timely intervention, Kweku Baako would have summarily been executed, the question of the credibility of the named parties involved has agitated the minds of many observers of the unfolding drama."
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since these allegations. Ndoum failed to become President, Kofi Coomson could not even go past the NPP primaries. and Kweku Baako is now well known for being an absolute opportunist. All those who tried to discredit Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. have been discredited. This attempt to hint at discredited facts without stating them clearly is no attempt to enlighten the public but to throw dust into their vigilant eyes!
I am challenging the writer of these stupid insinuations in the name of public interest to substantiate the allegations or else withdraw them. If we have any sense of decency, before this man dies, Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. must be credited as one of the most important architects of the democratic dispensation that we are all enjoying today under the Fourth Republic of Ghana. It was Akoto Ampaw and Kwesi Pratt, Jnr who following the mandates of the KNRG, NDM and URF went to see Professor Adu Boahene to discuss the formation of the Movement for Freedom and Justice in order to form a Kwame Nkrumah-Busia-Danquah coalition across the political spectrum, against the dictatorship of the PNDC!
But even if History is a matter of point of view, no matter where you are standing, no one individual from the people now attacking Kwesi as if there is no tomorrow can claim half of what people like Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. have personally done to bring us all where we are today. Nana Akufo Addo publicly acknowledged this role and mentioned Kwesi by name,at the press conference announcing his candiature for the presidency. Rawlings has already acknowledged this fact. President Kufour did. And so has President Atta-Mills!
I must be able to properly honour and show respect to those in the NPP who gave the call from Nkrumahists like Kwesi, a positive response, particularly Mr. Ray Kakraba Quarshie, and the late Mr. Kwesi Lamptey. I also know what happened when people like B. J. da Rocha were approached, and why apart from Adu Boahene none of the NPP presidential aspirants wanted to work directly with the MFJ and preferred not to sit in a meeting to save Ghana from the military dictatorship because it was chaired by an internal political rival!
Professor Adu Boahene was the second Busia-Danquah person to join the MFJ but he did not join without conditions. His only condition was that he would never join it if he was not made the chairman of the new movement! Kwesi's reaction was very funny. "Take it, we give it to you!" He thought he had just made a breakthrough! Being the Chairman was the thought farthest from his mind. His was complete dedication, not hunting for posts like some people from the party with a thousand and one presidential aspirants.
Any one who says that the overthrow of the PNDC was the work of just one individual must belong to bedlam. In the final analysis it is the collective efforts of all Ghanaians occasioned by increasing international pressure to stop bullying the population and allow government by universal suffrage that did the trick.
Yet history would not be complete if we forget the self-sacrifices and courage of men like Kwesi Pratt in those crucial moments. People would not even dare compare Rawlings with Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. He has no blood on his hands to begin with, whilst Jerry Rawlings needs to account for the whereabouts of 246 Ghanaians who disappeared or were extra-judicially murdered under his military junta.
I have always known that truth never hides. After the 1966 CIA-inspired coup d'etat, we were all here when the use of the name, photo and image was banned and possession of them was made a criminal offence by those who claim to be following a tradition that promotes democracy and freedom of speech. Desîte the bombs, the coups, the bannings today, we have the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, and next week on the 21st of September, 2009, Ghana and the rest of Africa shall be observing a special national holiday in his honour of the cetenary anniversary of his BIRTHDAY.
To the chagrin of his traducers Nkrumah is being taught to a new generation of Ghanaians in eloquent and practical ways. One such self-sacrificing apostle of the Osagyefo is the fearless Comrade Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. The one thing some people can not stand about Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., is the kind of things he says about Kwame Nkrumah:
"Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was not just the first President of Ghana but a very extraordinary man whose life and works contributed significantly to changing the world." He recently wrote, "He grew from a little village boy in Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana to a world leader fully devoted to the struggle to free all black people from all forms of racism.
He was also against everything which kept people irrespective of their colour in conditions of slavery. He opposed oppression and exploitation in all its forms.
Many historians including Basil Davidson and F. K. Buah credit Nkrumah with the leadership of the struggle which led to granting independence to many African countries under various forms of colonialism. Indeed Nkrumah is placed in the same category as Einstein, Karl Marx, V. I. Lenin, Toussant L'Ouverture and Mahatma Gandhi whose ideas and actions helped to make the world a better place."
Certainly not the kind of language that those Busia-Danquah elements that the CIA referred to as "pathetically pro-Western" would take kindly to!
For the economy of time, and without affecting simplicity at the cost of accuracy, I want to launch an open challenge to the senseless attempts to undermine the integrity of one of easily the cream of the cream of Ghanaians who toiled day, and deep into the night, woke up with insufficient sleep in the eyes to go to demonstrations, tired before it begins because he was constantly a centre of action!
If today, Ghanaians are enjoying the praises being heaped on us by the international community and expecting to reap the fruits of peace, political stability, and God-willing economic prosperity with our soon to be out-doored credentials as an "Oil exporting country", in dignity and in peace, it is squarely thanks to the yeoman and gargantuan efforts by people like Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
The recruitment of the NPP leadership into the MFJ must not be under-estimated, because like the open letter of Dr. Hilla Liman that broke the culture of silence, the formation of the MFJ is what marked the begining of the end of the PNDC dictatorship. It was an initiative between the NDM and the KNRG. The URF and the AYC joined later. The AYC pulled out as they refused the admission of Adu Boahene on the basis of chairman. They would have preferred one of the original brains to head. Translated into everyday language, it means Nkrumahist because all the founding groups were Nkrumahist groups.
The attempts to smear Kwesi, ridding on the waves of the current uproar shall not work. And no one can deny the noble role he has played and continues to play in our nation's history. Certainly Kwesi alone did not make everything happen, but Kwesi was certainly a medium when he was sent by his colleagues to see Adu Boahene about the MFJ. Because Kwesi readily agreed with him to chair the movement the MFJ was able to put to sleep the Nkrumahist tag and assumed a truely national character. Because Johnny Hansen was the Vice Chairman, Kwesi Pratt, Jnr as Secretary, it was also not a purely Busia-Danquah affair. The fact that Prof. Adu Boahene himself testified several times that this unity was thanks to a great extend the personal chemistry (I'm sorry, Kwesi, but for the lack of a better word!) was fundamental in creating the united front. The trials of Kwesi and Adu Boahene was also another way of looking at the sights and sounds of the heroes of the 4th republic.
The MFJ was the first national political opposition to the PNDC. It was the first national political front to ask for the 4th Republic. It became the midwife that saw the birth of the 4th republic. The chairman of this movement was recruited by Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
Now, Mr. Yaw Opare-Asamoa, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE IMPORT OF WHAT YOU HAVE JUST READ?
One comment made under the article is worthy of everyone' notice;
"It is obvious to any discerning reader that the author is someone who rates Kwaku Baaku over and above Kwesi Pratt. However, the evidence on the ground proves the contrary. Both of them say they are Nkrumaist but whilst Pratt will defend Nkrumaism at any cost, Baako will defend Nkrumaism as long as it will be convenient or expedient to do so. Thus when President Kuffour tried to woo both of them in 2001, it did not take long for Pratt to fall out with Kuffuor because of Kuffuor's anti-Nkrumah rhetoric and acts but Baako stuck to Kuffuor and almost became the propaganda secretary of the NPP on National T.V. seeing nothing wrong with anything done by the Kuffuor Government since the largess of Kuffuor was too irresistible for Baako. And no one should attribute this prostitute behaviour of Baako to his personal hatred for the NDC because the reasons adduced by him for hating the NDC are equally applicable to Pratt - both were imprisoned by Rawlings and badly treated by the PNDC government. However, Pratt has clearly risen above these personal feelings and considerations whilst Baako uses them conveniently to his own ends. With this irrefutable evidence, I don't need any nasty and uncivilised confrontation between these two old journalists to be able to tell which of them has integrity or true character. The good old people say true character cannot be hidden for long. Please forget what they each did in the past for people can make mistakes and can change over time so concentrate on what and who they are today!!!" - J. P. TERIWAJAH, THIS ARTICLE LACKS LOGIC, Comment, 2009-09-13 12:59:39 on “Demystifying” “Hon.” Kwesi Pratt, Ghanaweb, Feature Article of Sunday, 13 September 2009.
In other words, according to Calculus, at 2009-0913 11: 55:01, and I am sure he has not changed his mind, Yaw Opare Asamoah article was simply, BALDERDASH!
--
Nana Akyea Mensah
follow me on Twitter;
http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
e-mail: nanakyeamensah@gmail.com
Blog: http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/
follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America
3:35:19 - 2 years ago
Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery to a privately-owned "central" bank was first forced upon the backs of an entire nation, not removed but only made heavier with the passing of the three centuries to our day. Nation after nation, including America, has fallen prey to this cabal of international central bankers. Segments: The Problem; The Money Changers; Roman Empire; The Goldsmiths of Medieval England; Tally Sticks; The Bank of England; The Rise of the Rothschilds; The American Revolution; The Bank of North America; The Constitutional Convention; First Bank of the U.S.; Napoleon's Rise to Power; Death of the First Bank of the U.S. / War of 1812; Waterloo; Second Bank of the U.S.; Andrew Jackson; Fort Knox; World Central Bank; Loose Change 911 truth police state globalists NWO New World Order Federal Reserve Alex Jones Aaron Russo America From Freedom To Fascism zionist IMF BIS John Perkins 911 911 Globalism bilderberg Rothschild Rockefeller Schiff Warburg illuminati bohemian grove idi amin freemason Also recommended: "Firewall: In Defense of Nation State" http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8415519765816415310 Video news on "Federal Reserve": http://newstree.org/search.jsp?query=Federal+Reserve&hp=10&s=Video&vx=1 Also watch FIREWALL: (http://newsbrowser.org/firewall/) "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery t...all »
Saturday, September 12, 2009
African Unity needs tender loving care. A reaction to N. K. W - HM PRISONS, UK
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
I was on the Ghanaweb forum doing regular interactions with people who also feel highly concerned about what is going on between our two sister nations, Ghana and Nigeria, (in alphabetical order!). I had spent all my ten posts so I did not have the chance to post a rather painstaking work! Well, I post it here below because it helps to raise the debate to a new level.
A Ghanaian Forum On How to Stop the Ghana Bashing
AKYEA MENSAH, HOW STUPID???
N. K. W - HM PRISONS, UK 09-11 07:36
GHANAIAN PRISONER, UK
HARD-TALK, UK 09-11 14:04
IT MUST BE THE PRISON'S FOOD!
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro. 09-11 14:42
Akyeaa Mensah u make me laugh
N. K. W - HM PRISONS, UK 09-11 19:13
This person needs to be encouraged not attacked. He is improving! He used to make worse statements, that is why sometimes you give the benefit of the doubt. We do not all express ourselves very well in English and sometimes we can make killer-mistakes without intending to. If we make such attacks systematic and people do not even understand why they are under attack, we might run the risk of rather than being an inclusive forum we shall become exclusive. I think the language is bad but like Socrates, that was not his intention.
I also think I do owe you an apology specifically as pertains to the issue of why the Nigerian ministers quoted were feeling that irksome. I think this is important because it is a crucial part of the positive solution we would all want to see to come out of this diplomatic impasse between the two nations. I reacted to your post without reading everything you had written first. I do apologize for the prejudice, and obviously regret it! My only excuse is that I wanted to evaluate all the numerous comments in the forum and see how the prospects are for a peaceful co-existence between the two federal states of Africa. After reading the first two sentences, I thought I had a pretty idea of where you were coming from because I had already read some long and insufferable passages from you being currently quoted in Nigerian Forums.
I shall quote extensively to support my point and to let you know that in this information age, the seeds of discord we sew each day do germinate and grow! Are you proud of this:
"Is There Rivalry Between Nigeria And Ghana?
Nairaland Forum« on: September 09, 2009, 10:37 PM »
I was on Ghanaian forum [ghanaweb.com] with forum users commenting on 'a letter from the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria to a Nigerian newspaper, appealing to Nigerian government officials to refrain from spreading falsehood about '.
I have been to Ghana several times. I have had several Ghanaian friends. I was a member of a Ghanaian church in London sometime in the past. I thought Ghanaian people are very warm and friendly. I also thought there was some mutual respect between Nigerians and Ghanaians. I was very shocked about some of the comments made about Nigeria on the forum. Most of those comments were so bad that they are unprintable. I have quoted some of the comments at the end of this post.
My questions are:
1. Are these comments representative of the generally held impressions about Nigerians by Ghanaians all over the world or just the opinion of a minority?
2. Is there some kind of rivalry between Nigerians and Ghanaians?
3. If there is rivalry, is such rivalry healthy?
Quote
Author: Okyeame Sogbladzah
Date: 2009-09-09 05:59:00
na so so jealousy go kill them!
nigeria @ a glance;
dirty eba-eting yorubas,
aproka egusi-soup-eating igbos,
tight & juicy female orifice akwa iboms,
illiterate buga buga militant hausas,
419 infested govt officials,
so so oil, no fuel,
yes o yes nigeria, na we own; we must to do better for am!
Quote
Author: Pronto
Date: 2009-09-09 04:59:16
If such stupid people are ministers in Nigeria, how do you expect the country to progress!!! Lots of gas and NO ELECTRICITY!! NO, they are not jealous becos of Obama, But because we lead better and civilised life !!!!!!!!!!
Quote
Author: N. K. W - HM PRISONS, UK
Date: 2009-09-09 09:23:10
I could not just hide my anger and further guffaw when a PIG calling himself HARD-TALK uk and his bunch of useless Morons and HIV infested minsiters of state sling mud at Ghanaians. Now check these facts:
1) It is not true that Wole Soyinka is the first African Laureate to recieve a NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE. The first African to recieve a NOBEL PEACE Prize in Literature was ALBERT LUTULI of South Africa in 1960, at a timne Soyinka DID NOT HAVE PANTS under HIS TROUSERS. ASSS HOLE!!!! U see u are not even schooled enough to attract commonse sense in your dealings.
2) Which Africa country emits bad odour even if the whole Atlantic Ocean is turned into a mouth wash for them and will still emit bad odour from ther MOUTHS?
Answer - NIGERIANS
3)Which is the only country in Africa to have the FBI and CIA storm their country to arrest and investigate Cyber CRIMES and money laundering as well as COCAINE TRAFICKING?
Answer: NIGERIA
4)Which African Country has the HIGHEST number of foreign Prisoners in the UK?
Answer: Nigeria. 932, with 409 of them hardened CRIMINALS and out of this number 119 use Ghanaian PASSPORTS, who have been found not even having a relative of them being a Ghanaian. 197 of these use South African Passports and 28 have UK Nationality status, thus those with British Passports.
5) Which Africa country have the highest number of women in British jails?
Answer: NIGERIANS
45 in HM Holloway Prisons, 23 in HM Belmarsh Prisons, with 31 of the total number, using Ghanaian passports parading as Ghanaians, who cannot even speak a single Ghanaian Language. They have Nigerian passports but use Ghanaian passports to travel only to Ghana. THIEVES, OLE. BALAWU.
COME on, COme again, Want more THRUTHS? NOT Facts but TRUTHS?HuhHuh BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Meanwhile, there was something in your message that could have bonded our two people together! You must be really ashamed of yourself! What makes this stupidity painful to bear is the lost opportunity to hit the nail on the head! Secondly therefore, Hard Talk was not only familiar but the very foundation of this article. I am quoting hard talk as the courageous Nigerian mentioned so naturally I paid much attention to what he was saying. From the first impression you had made of me, and knowing where Hard Talk is coming from, I naturally warmed up to him! However, I did not want to hurt your feelings, but I wanted to show my personal disapproval of your language in reference of my person.
"I have never in my life doubted that there are some Ghanaians who will do anything even if it means killing their fellow countrymen for a piece of EBA, OGBONNU and OIL to save a Nigerian...
Examples of the above a too legion for me to jot down here.
One such idiot and nincompoon is NANA AKYEA MENSAH. I do not know where on the planet this ingominous, rapacious HOODLUM lives but i am sure it is not with HUMANS cos the very substance of your article beggars believe and has all the rhetorics of a demented soul. You never ever in your sordid write up tackle the issue that has sparked all these but rather went at length to explain why A NIGERIAN, under the pseudonym KARD-TALK, UK was rather angry at Ghanaians for mudsling his country and went even at lenght to cull some of his cancerous jibes in your write up....
I think the comments by Nigerians on their forum Niaraland.com will be enough signpost to aid you stupidity.
You must be ashamed of your cursed self. Read on SUCKER: " That was when I remembered I was a very busy person and realised it was time to move on!
I only came back to check what you meant by I was "unable to unable to get to the substance of my write-up which in all purposes suggests to me that u are just a noisy cymbal." With me there are always consequences, even though I sincerely do not want such things go get in the way of friendship and international solidarity. I strongly resent to the language you use in addressing people. It is not clear whether you have an interesting angle on the subject that were are unable to see or you simply have some personal axe to grind and in that case one's opinions do not even matter:
"U ar today preaching peace on this forum forgetting the countless number of women you have by your indiscretion and shameful acts caused them pain.
I would spare you this time but i can assure you u am ready for your lifeless attitude and self aggrandised stance.
Come again SUCKER!!!!!!"
Thanks for reminding me of that! Indeed, I have very completely forgotten about "the countless number of women you have by your [indiscretion] and shameful acts caused them pain."! Can you please refresh my memory for me? Are you my son? How can I help you? What exactly is your problem? Is it a matter of having a hammer in your hand and seeing everything turning into nails all of a sudden? Or there are some burning issues of public interest? We are all ears! Try to go to the point, the protocols of parliamentary decorum is also designed in such a manner that you may not under-represent your brilliant ideas by clothing them in a manifestly repugnant manner! For the avoidance of any doubts, I order you to take a very careful notice of the fact that Nana Akyea Mensah takes no shit, and shall never be forced to swallow any material he does not digest!
To prove my point, you just brought up something I nearly missed because of your bad language. Half of your post was very brilliant but too tedious to reach because half of it is nothing but boring insults. I am sure you will help all of us if you would stop that type of behaviour. There is no doubt you have a sense of injury, we all do, but these are times that call for grace under pressure, otherwise "I'd rather be a pair of rugged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas"!
I decided to check out if the only reason why you seek to attack my integrity is simply because I am preaching peace between our two nations or there was something to it. I discovered, to my surprise, a very interesting insight into what some Nigerians are saying themselves about this problem and it made a lot of sense also. I suppose this is what you meant in your previous post as "the substance of [your] write-up". Thanks to your loud and undiplomatic mouth for bringing my attention to it. You did not have to, if you had been polite in the first instance.
I have decided to respond to this because I think it is a very important angle for looking at what is really going on. The incompetent ministers must have found it hard to look themselves in their mirrors to feel so devalued by the smell of their stinking opulence and radical corruption, as well as embarrassment of being on the spotlight for the wrong reasons, with all fingers pointing at them with scorn, even from important citizens like Wole Soyinka. Obviously, people behave differently under pressure. Whilst Hemingway may do it with grace, the Nigerian ministers do it in disgrace.
What Nigerians need to do if they are not happy with their government is to insist on accountability from their government and to ask the ministers whose inferiority complex leads them to make such self-assuring statements to know that what is stake is not the size of any member of the federating parties to the United States of Africa which matters, it is the rule of law, respect for human rights, transparency and accountability that the people to whom they are talking that nonsense to want to hear about! The ordinary people of Ghana must revenge such attacks by calling on the people of Nigeria to demand greater accountability from their ministers who are responsible for these utterances! It is not by insulting Nigerians that they would feel the heat. It is by joining the people of Nigeria in demanding accountability from them!
This will make other corrupt African politicians think twice or more, before they open their mouths to criticise our achievements as a people. Nigerians are more angry and frustrated by their own government's incompetence and pervasive corruption than investigating a case in which a Ghanaian was caught red-handed having sex with a pig! It is in our interest to encourage them. Transporting our democratic gains to a neighbouring state can only boomerang and help re-enforce our own very fragile democracy. It is a just cause that would help bring our two peoples closer.
These are no times to begin to fret around with jingoism and mafficking throwing our weight about inviting needless animosities. All the powers today, China, EU, Japan, USA, prefer to deal with us as divided entities and even avoid issues with our continental body when they are of a continental dimension. The EU developed this into an art form when their representative would not meet with Ecowas members but would "call upon President Kufour"! Obama would not address the AU but directly to Africa through Ghana's parliament, with very honourable "official reasons".
In my humble estimation there is no need to pour petrol on fire with the Obama visit angle. The problem is that rather than Ghanaians stupidly and self-gloriously feeling special because of a one night visit by a US President, we must begin to question why the US is ignoring the AU in major issues such as US Africa Command AFRICOM, The AU meeting took place barely around the same time, is Africa so bad and such a disgraceful continent that the only piece of the territory worthy of Obama's feet must be Ghana? Who is trying to divide and rule us here? What is wrong with a direct address to the African Union Summit? They would have unanimously endorsed it too? It is only the fool that claims to be putting on weight when indeed, he is getting swollen. We must insist on regional peace and friendship at all cost because we are all one people with one imperialist threat, and one common destiny! If you fell special feel it in your bones and justify it to sister countries with some elegance and a sense of dignity.
We are the masters of our own fate and the captains of our souls and God is on our side! So is History! I shall not say much. After all, in the final analysis, is it not up to each individual to choose to be a part of the solution rather than the problem? Is it not us to choose to be spectators of our own history rather than active participants in turning it into a happy ending?
Post Scriptum:
I liked your post on Africom. Actually, I did write an article on it so my position on the matter is very clear. I had never heard of the "The Worldwide Matrix Attack" in the specific terms you were quoting so I checked it out. Wow! This is mind boggling! I have already heard bits and pieces of the story, particularly in connection with Mr. Dick Cheney's involvement in the "running of an assassination ring".
The story on Democracy.Now.Org was that:
"The investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed the Bush administration ran an “executive assassination ring” that reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney. Hersh says US operatives have secretly gone into countries and executed suspects on a target list. The operation was apparently run under the extra-legal Joint Special Operations Command, overseen only by the White House. Hersh made the disclosure while speaking Tuesday at the University of Minnesota."
WOLF BLITZER: And so, this would be, and from your perspective—and you worked in the Bush administration for many years—it would be totally constitutional, totally legal, to go out and find these guys and to whack ’em.
JOHN HANNAH: There’s no question that in a theater of war, when we are at war, and we know—there’s no doubt, we are still at war against al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and on that Pakistani border, that our troops have the authority to go after and capture and kill the enemy, including the leadership of the enemy.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s John Hannah, Dick Cheney’s former national security adviser. Seymour Hersh joins me now here in Washington, D.C., staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. His latest article appears in the current issue, called “Syria Calling: The Obama Administration’s Chance to Engage in a Middle East Peace.”
OK, welcome to Democracy Now!, Sy Hersh. It was good to see you last night at Georgetown. Talk about, first, these comments you made at the University of Minnesota.
SEYMOUR HERSH: Well, it was sort of stupid of me to start talking about stuff I haven’t written. I always kick myself when I do it. But I was with Walter Mondale, the former vice president, who was being amazingly open and sort of, for him—he had come a long way in—since I knew him as a senator who was reluctant to oppose the Vietnam War. And so, I was asked about future things, and I just—I am looking into stuff. I’ve done—there’s really nothing I said at Minnesota I haven’t written in the New York Times. Last summer, I wrote a long article about the Joint Special Operations Command.
And just to go back to what John Hannah, who is—was—I think ended up being the senior national security adviser, almost—if not the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff for Dick Cheney in the last three or four years, what he said is simply that, yes, we go after people suspected—that was the word he used—of crimes against America. And I have to tell you that there’s an executive order, signed by Jerry Ford, President Ford, in the ’70s, forbidding such action. It’s not only contrary—it’s illegal, it’s immoral, it’s counterproductive.
The evidence—the problem with having military go kill people when they’re not directly in combat, these are asking American troops to go out and find people and, as you said earlier, in one of the statements I made that you played, they go into countries without telling any of the authorities, the American ambassador, the CIA chief, certainly nobody in the government that we’re going into, and it’s far more than just in combat areas. There’s more—at least a dozen countries and perhaps more. The President has authorized these kinds of actions in the Middle East and also in Latin America, I will tell you, Central America, some countries. They’ve been—our boys have been told they can go and take the kind of executive action they need, and that’s simply—there’s no legal basis for it.
And not only that, if you look at Guantanamo, the American government knew by—well, let’s see, Guantanamo opened in early 2002. “Gitmo,” they call it, the base down in Cuba for alleged al-Qaeda terrorists. An internal report that I wrote about in a book I did years ago, an internal report made by the summer of 2002, estimated that at least half and possibly more of those people had nothing to do with actions against America. The intelligence we have is often very fragmentary, not very good. And the idea that the American president would think he has the constitutional power or the legal right to tell soldiers not engaged in immediate combat to go out and find people based on lists and execute them is just amazing to me. It’s amazing to me.
And not only that, Amy, the thing about George Bush is, everything’s sort of done in plain sight. In his State of the Union address, I think January the 28th, 2003, about a month and a half before we went into Iraq, Bush was describing the progress in the war, and he said—I’m paraphrasing, but this is pretty close—he said that we’ve captured more than 3,000 members of al-Qaeda and suspected members, people suspected of operations against us. And then he added with that little smile he has, “And let me tell you, some of those people will not be able to ever operate again. I can assure you that. They will not be in a position.” He’s clearly talking about killing people, and to applause.
Your post:
"As a matter of Fact former CIA Direcror George Tenet has penned what he called "The Worldwide Matrix Attack" which is morte deadly than the Hydrogen an Atomic bomb put together.
And there is also AFRICOM which OBASANJO sensibly rejected but was accepted by J.A KUFFOUR all for an exchange of the USAID $20million and the Millinium Challenge Account.
Africom is just the doomsday for Africa which countries like Nigeria, South Africa an Zambia rejected even before they made it public. "
I think you can be great when you choose to. I would prefer working with you if you could argue more constructively and also refrain from puerile pranks! However, I must confess that I just read the following after a short search on the : "The Worldwide Matrix Attack":
"This Memorandum trumped previous mechanisms by which the President would authorize intelligence actions (but not assassinations) through individual Presidential Findings. The fail safe mechanisms established under the administrations of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton were simply erased at the urging of Tenent. In light of these revelations, what was authorized by the President may have led to the assassinations of a umber of human rights and ethnic leaders not connected in any way with Al Qaeda but did represent bothersome roadblocks to a number of U.S. military and corporate interests."
"... 4. Chief Bola Ige. On December 23, 2001, Chief Bola Ige, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Nigeria, was assassinated in the bedroom of his home in Ibadan by unknown gunmen. Ige was a leader of the Yorubas, a largely Christian ethnic group that has championed the cause of southern Nigerian Christian tribes like the Igbo, Ogoni, and Yoruba that maintain grievances against exploitative Western oil companies that have spoiled their lands with pollution and pocketed most of the oil revenues for themselves and corrupt Nigerian politicians. Ige was the presidential candidate of the pan-Yoruba Alliance for Democracy but lost to the current President Olusegum Obasanjo, a former general who is thought by many Nigerians to be in the hip pocket of western oil companies, including Chevron and ExxonMobil. A lucrative CIA and Pentagon front operation, the private military contractor MPRI, has been training special units of the Nigerian armed forces. These forces have been active in putting down anti-oil industry protests by Igbo, Ogoni, and Yoruba tribal peoples along the Nigerian coast. Michael J. Boskin, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bush I is a member of the Exxon Mobil board, while current National Security Adviser Condolleezza Rice served on the board of Chevron. Currently serving on Chevron's Board is Bush I trade representative Carla Hills and former Louisiana Senator Johnston, who also serves on the board of Freeport McMoran.
In all likelihood all of these assassinations were likely known to the CIA and allowed to take place unhindered. The killings all directly benefitted the interests of the US military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower so poignantly warned us about some 40 years ago."
"THERE IS NO TIME TO WAIT! AFRICA MUST UNITE!"
Kwame Nkrumah, 1958
The autumn whether here is nothing to write home about. Have a nice day!
--
Nana Akyea Mensah
I was on the Ghanaweb forum doing regular interactions with people who also feel highly concerned about what is going on between our two sister nations, Ghana and Nigeria, (in alphabetical order!). I had spent all my ten posts so I did not have the chance to post a rather painstaking work! Well, I post it here below because it helps to raise the debate to a new level.
A Ghanaian Forum On How to Stop the Ghana Bashing
AKYEA MENSAH, HOW STUPID???
N. K. W - HM PRISONS, UK 09-11 07:36
GHANAIAN PRISONER, UK
HARD-TALK, UK 09-11 14:04
IT MUST BE THE PRISON'S FOOD!
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro. 09-11 14:42
Akyeaa Mensah u make me laugh
N. K. W - HM PRISONS, UK 09-11 19:13
This person needs to be encouraged not attacked. He is improving! He used to make worse statements, that is why sometimes you give the benefit of the doubt. We do not all express ourselves very well in English and sometimes we can make killer-mistakes without intending to. If we make such attacks systematic and people do not even understand why they are under attack, we might run the risk of rather than being an inclusive forum we shall become exclusive. I think the language is bad but like Socrates, that was not his intention.
I also think I do owe you an apology specifically as pertains to the issue of why the Nigerian ministers quoted were feeling that irksome. I think this is important because it is a crucial part of the positive solution we would all want to see to come out of this diplomatic impasse between the two nations. I reacted to your post without reading everything you had written first. I do apologize for the prejudice, and obviously regret it! My only excuse is that I wanted to evaluate all the numerous comments in the forum and see how the prospects are for a peaceful co-existence between the two federal states of Africa. After reading the first two sentences, I thought I had a pretty idea of where you were coming from because I had already read some long and insufferable passages from you being currently quoted in Nigerian Forums.
I shall quote extensively to support my point and to let you know that in this information age, the seeds of discord we sew each day do germinate and grow! Are you proud of this:
"Is There Rivalry Between Nigeria And Ghana?
Nairaland Forum« on: September 09, 2009, 10:37 PM »
I was on Ghanaian forum [ghanaweb.com] with forum users commenting on 'a letter from the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria to a Nigerian newspaper, appealing to Nigerian government officials to refrain from spreading falsehood about '.
I have been to Ghana several times. I have had several Ghanaian friends. I was a member of a Ghanaian church in London sometime in the past. I thought Ghanaian people are very warm and friendly. I also thought there was some mutual respect between Nigerians and Ghanaians. I was very shocked about some of the comments made about Nigeria on the forum. Most of those comments were so bad that they are unprintable. I have quoted some of the comments at the end of this post.
My questions are:
1. Are these comments representative of the generally held impressions about Nigerians by Ghanaians all over the world or just the opinion of a minority?
2. Is there some kind of rivalry between Nigerians and Ghanaians?
3. If there is rivalry, is such rivalry healthy?
Quote
Author: Okyeame Sogbladzah
Date: 2009-09-09 05:59:00
na so so jealousy go kill them!
nigeria @ a glance;
dirty eba-eting yorubas,
aproka egusi-soup-eating igbos,
tight & juicy female orifice akwa iboms,
illiterate buga buga militant hausas,
419 infested govt officials,
so so oil, no fuel,
yes o yes nigeria, na we own; we must to do better for am!
Quote
Author: Pronto
Date: 2009-09-09 04:59:16
If such stupid people are ministers in Nigeria, how do you expect the country to progress!!! Lots of gas and NO ELECTRICITY!! NO, they are not jealous becos of Obama, But because we lead better and civilised life !!!!!!!!!!
Quote
Author: N. K. W - HM PRISONS, UK
Date: 2009-09-09 09:23:10
I could not just hide my anger and further guffaw when a PIG calling himself HARD-TALK uk and his bunch of useless Morons and HIV infested minsiters of state sling mud at Ghanaians. Now check these facts:
1) It is not true that Wole Soyinka is the first African Laureate to recieve a NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE. The first African to recieve a NOBEL PEACE Prize in Literature was ALBERT LUTULI of South Africa in 1960, at a timne Soyinka DID NOT HAVE PANTS under HIS TROUSERS. ASSS HOLE!!!! U see u are not even schooled enough to attract commonse sense in your dealings.
2) Which Africa country emits bad odour even if the whole Atlantic Ocean is turned into a mouth wash for them and will still emit bad odour from ther MOUTHS?
Answer - NIGERIANS
3)Which is the only country in Africa to have the FBI and CIA storm their country to arrest and investigate Cyber CRIMES and money laundering as well as COCAINE TRAFICKING?
Answer: NIGERIA
4)Which African Country has the HIGHEST number of foreign Prisoners in the UK?
Answer: Nigeria. 932, with 409 of them hardened CRIMINALS and out of this number 119 use Ghanaian PASSPORTS, who have been found not even having a relative of them being a Ghanaian. 197 of these use South African Passports and 28 have UK Nationality status, thus those with British Passports.
5) Which Africa country have the highest number of women in British jails?
Answer: NIGERIANS
45 in HM Holloway Prisons, 23 in HM Belmarsh Prisons, with 31 of the total number, using Ghanaian passports parading as Ghanaians, who cannot even speak a single Ghanaian Language. They have Nigerian passports but use Ghanaian passports to travel only to Ghana. THIEVES, OLE. BALAWU.
COME on, COme again, Want more THRUTHS? NOT Facts but TRUTHS?HuhHuh BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Meanwhile, there was something in your message that could have bonded our two people together! You must be really ashamed of yourself! What makes this stupidity painful to bear is the lost opportunity to hit the nail on the head! Secondly therefore, Hard Talk was not only familiar but the very foundation of this article. I am quoting hard talk as the courageous Nigerian mentioned so naturally I paid much attention to what he was saying. From the first impression you had made of me, and knowing where Hard Talk is coming from, I naturally warmed up to him! However, I did not want to hurt your feelings, but I wanted to show my personal disapproval of your language in reference of my person.
"I have never in my life doubted that there are some Ghanaians who will do anything even if it means killing their fellow countrymen for a piece of EBA, OGBONNU and OIL to save a Nigerian...
Examples of the above a too legion for me to jot down here.
One such idiot and nincompoon is NANA AKYEA MENSAH. I do not know where on the planet this ingominous, rapacious HOODLUM lives but i am sure it is not with HUMANS cos the very substance of your article beggars believe and has all the rhetorics of a demented soul. You never ever in your sordid write up tackle the issue that has sparked all these but rather went at length to explain why A NIGERIAN, under the pseudonym KARD-TALK, UK was rather angry at Ghanaians for mudsling his country and went even at lenght to cull some of his cancerous jibes in your write up....
I think the comments by Nigerians on their forum Niaraland.com will be enough signpost to aid you stupidity.
You must be ashamed of your cursed self. Read on SUCKER: " That was when I remembered I was a very busy person and realised it was time to move on!
I only came back to check what you meant by I was "unable to unable to get to the substance of my write-up which in all purposes suggests to me that u are just a noisy cymbal." With me there are always consequences, even though I sincerely do not want such things go get in the way of friendship and international solidarity. I strongly resent to the language you use in addressing people. It is not clear whether you have an interesting angle on the subject that were are unable to see or you simply have some personal axe to grind and in that case one's opinions do not even matter:
"U ar today preaching peace on this forum forgetting the countless number of women you have by your indiscretion and shameful acts caused them pain.
I would spare you this time but i can assure you u am ready for your lifeless attitude and self aggrandised stance.
Come again SUCKER!!!!!!"
Thanks for reminding me of that! Indeed, I have very completely forgotten about "the countless number of women you have by your [indiscretion] and shameful acts caused them pain."! Can you please refresh my memory for me? Are you my son? How can I help you? What exactly is your problem? Is it a matter of having a hammer in your hand and seeing everything turning into nails all of a sudden? Or there are some burning issues of public interest? We are all ears! Try to go to the point, the protocols of parliamentary decorum is also designed in such a manner that you may not under-represent your brilliant ideas by clothing them in a manifestly repugnant manner! For the avoidance of any doubts, I order you to take a very careful notice of the fact that Nana Akyea Mensah takes no shit, and shall never be forced to swallow any material he does not digest!
To prove my point, you just brought up something I nearly missed because of your bad language. Half of your post was very brilliant but too tedious to reach because half of it is nothing but boring insults. I am sure you will help all of us if you would stop that type of behaviour. There is no doubt you have a sense of injury, we all do, but these are times that call for grace under pressure, otherwise "I'd rather be a pair of rugged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas"!
I decided to check out if the only reason why you seek to attack my integrity is simply because I am preaching peace between our two nations or there was something to it. I discovered, to my surprise, a very interesting insight into what some Nigerians are saying themselves about this problem and it made a lot of sense also. I suppose this is what you meant in your previous post as "the substance of [your] write-up". Thanks to your loud and undiplomatic mouth for bringing my attention to it. You did not have to, if you had been polite in the first instance.
I have decided to respond to this because I think it is a very important angle for looking at what is really going on. The incompetent ministers must have found it hard to look themselves in their mirrors to feel so devalued by the smell of their stinking opulence and radical corruption, as well as embarrassment of being on the spotlight for the wrong reasons, with all fingers pointing at them with scorn, even from important citizens like Wole Soyinka. Obviously, people behave differently under pressure. Whilst Hemingway may do it with grace, the Nigerian ministers do it in disgrace.
What Nigerians need to do if they are not happy with their government is to insist on accountability from their government and to ask the ministers whose inferiority complex leads them to make such self-assuring statements to know that what is stake is not the size of any member of the federating parties to the United States of Africa which matters, it is the rule of law, respect for human rights, transparency and accountability that the people to whom they are talking that nonsense to want to hear about! The ordinary people of Ghana must revenge such attacks by calling on the people of Nigeria to demand greater accountability from their ministers who are responsible for these utterances! It is not by insulting Nigerians that they would feel the heat. It is by joining the people of Nigeria in demanding accountability from them!
This will make other corrupt African politicians think twice or more, before they open their mouths to criticise our achievements as a people. Nigerians are more angry and frustrated by their own government's incompetence and pervasive corruption than investigating a case in which a Ghanaian was caught red-handed having sex with a pig! It is in our interest to encourage them. Transporting our democratic gains to a neighbouring state can only boomerang and help re-enforce our own very fragile democracy. It is a just cause that would help bring our two peoples closer.
These are no times to begin to fret around with jingoism and mafficking throwing our weight about inviting needless animosities. All the powers today, China, EU, Japan, USA, prefer to deal with us as divided entities and even avoid issues with our continental body when they are of a continental dimension. The EU developed this into an art form when their representative would not meet with Ecowas members but would "call upon President Kufour"! Obama would not address the AU but directly to Africa through Ghana's parliament, with very honourable "official reasons".
In my humble estimation there is no need to pour petrol on fire with the Obama visit angle. The problem is that rather than Ghanaians stupidly and self-gloriously feeling special because of a one night visit by a US President, we must begin to question why the US is ignoring the AU in major issues such as US Africa Command AFRICOM, The AU meeting took place barely around the same time, is Africa so bad and such a disgraceful continent that the only piece of the territory worthy of Obama's feet must be Ghana? Who is trying to divide and rule us here? What is wrong with a direct address to the African Union Summit? They would have unanimously endorsed it too? It is only the fool that claims to be putting on weight when indeed, he is getting swollen. We must insist on regional peace and friendship at all cost because we are all one people with one imperialist threat, and one common destiny! If you fell special feel it in your bones and justify it to sister countries with some elegance and a sense of dignity.
We are the masters of our own fate and the captains of our souls and God is on our side! So is History! I shall not say much. After all, in the final analysis, is it not up to each individual to choose to be a part of the solution rather than the problem? Is it not us to choose to be spectators of our own history rather than active participants in turning it into a happy ending?
Post Scriptum:
I liked your post on Africom. Actually, I did write an article on it so my position on the matter is very clear. I had never heard of the "The Worldwide Matrix Attack" in the specific terms you were quoting so I checked it out. Wow! This is mind boggling! I have already heard bits and pieces of the story, particularly in connection with Mr. Dick Cheney's involvement in the "running of an assassination ring".
The story on Democracy.Now.Org was that:
"The investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed the Bush administration ran an “executive assassination ring” that reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney. Hersh says US operatives have secretly gone into countries and executed suspects on a target list. The operation was apparently run under the extra-legal Joint Special Operations Command, overseen only by the White House. Hersh made the disclosure while speaking Tuesday at the University of Minnesota."
WOLF BLITZER: And so, this would be, and from your perspective—and you worked in the Bush administration for many years—it would be totally constitutional, totally legal, to go out and find these guys and to whack ’em.
JOHN HANNAH: There’s no question that in a theater of war, when we are at war, and we know—there’s no doubt, we are still at war against al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and on that Pakistani border, that our troops have the authority to go after and capture and kill the enemy, including the leadership of the enemy.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s John Hannah, Dick Cheney’s former national security adviser. Seymour Hersh joins me now here in Washington, D.C., staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. His latest article appears in the current issue, called “Syria Calling: The Obama Administration’s Chance to Engage in a Middle East Peace.”
OK, welcome to Democracy Now!, Sy Hersh. It was good to see you last night at Georgetown. Talk about, first, these comments you made at the University of Minnesota.
SEYMOUR HERSH: Well, it was sort of stupid of me to start talking about stuff I haven’t written. I always kick myself when I do it. But I was with Walter Mondale, the former vice president, who was being amazingly open and sort of, for him—he had come a long way in—since I knew him as a senator who was reluctant to oppose the Vietnam War. And so, I was asked about future things, and I just—I am looking into stuff. I’ve done—there’s really nothing I said at Minnesota I haven’t written in the New York Times. Last summer, I wrote a long article about the Joint Special Operations Command.
And just to go back to what John Hannah, who is—was—I think ended up being the senior national security adviser, almost—if not the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff for Dick Cheney in the last three or four years, what he said is simply that, yes, we go after people suspected—that was the word he used—of crimes against America. And I have to tell you that there’s an executive order, signed by Jerry Ford, President Ford, in the ’70s, forbidding such action. It’s not only contrary—it’s illegal, it’s immoral, it’s counterproductive.
The evidence—the problem with having military go kill people when they’re not directly in combat, these are asking American troops to go out and find people and, as you said earlier, in one of the statements I made that you played, they go into countries without telling any of the authorities, the American ambassador, the CIA chief, certainly nobody in the government that we’re going into, and it’s far more than just in combat areas. There’s more—at least a dozen countries and perhaps more. The President has authorized these kinds of actions in the Middle East and also in Latin America, I will tell you, Central America, some countries. They’ve been—our boys have been told they can go and take the kind of executive action they need, and that’s simply—there’s no legal basis for it.
And not only that, if you look at Guantanamo, the American government knew by—well, let’s see, Guantanamo opened in early 2002. “Gitmo,” they call it, the base down in Cuba for alleged al-Qaeda terrorists. An internal report that I wrote about in a book I did years ago, an internal report made by the summer of 2002, estimated that at least half and possibly more of those people had nothing to do with actions against America. The intelligence we have is often very fragmentary, not very good. And the idea that the American president would think he has the constitutional power or the legal right to tell soldiers not engaged in immediate combat to go out and find people based on lists and execute them is just amazing to me. It’s amazing to me.
And not only that, Amy, the thing about George Bush is, everything’s sort of done in plain sight. In his State of the Union address, I think January the 28th, 2003, about a month and a half before we went into Iraq, Bush was describing the progress in the war, and he said—I’m paraphrasing, but this is pretty close—he said that we’ve captured more than 3,000 members of al-Qaeda and suspected members, people suspected of operations against us. And then he added with that little smile he has, “And let me tell you, some of those people will not be able to ever operate again. I can assure you that. They will not be in a position.” He’s clearly talking about killing people, and to applause.
Your post:
"As a matter of Fact former CIA Direcror George Tenet has penned what he called "The Worldwide Matrix Attack" which is morte deadly than the Hydrogen an Atomic bomb put together.
And there is also AFRICOM which OBASANJO sensibly rejected but was accepted by J.A KUFFOUR all for an exchange of the USAID $20million and the Millinium Challenge Account.
Africom is just the doomsday for Africa which countries like Nigeria, South Africa an Zambia rejected even before they made it public. "
I think you can be great when you choose to. I would prefer working with you if you could argue more constructively and also refrain from puerile pranks! However, I must confess that I just read the following after a short search on the : "The Worldwide Matrix Attack":
"This Memorandum trumped previous mechanisms by which the President would authorize intelligence actions (but not assassinations) through individual Presidential Findings. The fail safe mechanisms established under the administrations of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton were simply erased at the urging of Tenent. In light of these revelations, what was authorized by the President may have led to the assassinations of a umber of human rights and ethnic leaders not connected in any way with Al Qaeda but did represent bothersome roadblocks to a number of U.S. military and corporate interests."
"... 4. Chief Bola Ige. On December 23, 2001, Chief Bola Ige, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Nigeria, was assassinated in the bedroom of his home in Ibadan by unknown gunmen. Ige was a leader of the Yorubas, a largely Christian ethnic group that has championed the cause of southern Nigerian Christian tribes like the Igbo, Ogoni, and Yoruba that maintain grievances against exploitative Western oil companies that have spoiled their lands with pollution and pocketed most of the oil revenues for themselves and corrupt Nigerian politicians. Ige was the presidential candidate of the pan-Yoruba Alliance for Democracy but lost to the current President Olusegum Obasanjo, a former general who is thought by many Nigerians to be in the hip pocket of western oil companies, including Chevron and ExxonMobil. A lucrative CIA and Pentagon front operation, the private military contractor MPRI, has been training special units of the Nigerian armed forces. These forces have been active in putting down anti-oil industry protests by Igbo, Ogoni, and Yoruba tribal peoples along the Nigerian coast. Michael J. Boskin, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bush I is a member of the Exxon Mobil board, while current National Security Adviser Condolleezza Rice served on the board of Chevron. Currently serving on Chevron's Board is Bush I trade representative Carla Hills and former Louisiana Senator Johnston, who also serves on the board of Freeport McMoran.
In all likelihood all of these assassinations were likely known to the CIA and allowed to take place unhindered. The killings all directly benefitted the interests of the US military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower so poignantly warned us about some 40 years ago."
"THERE IS NO TIME TO WAIT! AFRICA MUST UNITE!"
Kwame Nkrumah, 1958
The autumn whether here is nothing to write home about. Have a nice day!
--
Nana Akyea Mensah
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
How to Stop the Ghana bashing
ARTICLE REFERTS TO; GHANAWEB General News of Wednesday, 9 September 2009 Next Article
Stop the Ghana bashing -Ghana's Envoy
This article has been provoked by a sudden surge in Nigeria bashing in the media as a result of a letter sent to a Nigerian newspaper, appealing to Nigerian government officials to refrain from spreading falsehood about Ghana.
In the first place, I am no where near a diplomat but the phrase "diplomatic channels" is a very familiar one. Secretly, one may even share such sentiments, but I would plead with a Nigerian super star to help me draw attention to this rather than go directly to the media and as it were speaking to the bearer of your letters of credentials through the media in an obviously angry tone that expresses no assurances of our highest consideration?
For one, it would have prevented a backlash. For two, the message would have gone down better. For three, we would not be having a situation where rather than enhancing and helping to deepen mutual respect and friendship the letter seems to have the opposite effect. I am sure the extenuating circumstances considered, we do not speak out of anger as Ambassadors but in the defence of foreign policy priorities, and a million diplomatic ways to do that could be an interesting exercise in a kindergarten ! There might certainly be a million diplomatic ways, but I would not like the ambassador of my country to put it that way and end it that way and send the message through that way.
"Our concern really is that such reckless and unguarded comments could have grave implications for bilateral relations and derail efforts by leaders of the two countries to forge strong bilateral ties. We think President Umaru Yar'Adua should call his ministers to order. The Ghana bashing must stop! Ghana is a well-respected member of the international community, and deserves respect from Nigerians, particularly top government officials."
Nana Yaw Aboagye, Ghana High Commission, Abuja, FCT Tools
Before you could say "Jack!", there was a courageous Nigerian in the forum to set his records straight:
"Oh yes, we eat eba and egusi soup in Nigeria.
But we don't FUCK PIGS in Nigeria, like you SHAMELESS GHANAIANS.
Was it your 'KENKE' OR the 'SMELLY BANKU' that is responsible for the acts of 'ABOMINATIONS' IN YOUR 'BARBARIC BABOONS REPUBLIC' GHANA?"
--------------------------------------------------
BOY HAVE SEX WITH PIG
AN ABOMINATION was recorded on Monday June 8 at Ahwerem-Domeabra in the Ahafo-Ano South district of the Ashanti region when a 16-year-old boy was caught red-handed having sex with a pig..."
The story went on. I invited my Nigerian friend to a truce saying: "Hey guy, I like your courage and style but I shall plead with yo to do a far better job than Ghana's diplomat in Nigeria and take a broader view and look at the face of Mother Africa and have mercy on these poor and sinful mortals. I'd like you to read my comments above : THAT'S A GOOD ONE! and would be pleased if you would be kind enough to let me know what you think! Have a nice day! God bless! Long live Ghana-Nigeria friendship! Long live the Pan-Africanist cause! Long live the CPP!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I was pleased with his response. This proves my point about diplomacy. We need to know that it is not all right to bash Nigerians and expect Nigerians not to retaliate!
HERE IS THE RESPONSE I GOT:
"I sincerely apologize to you 'Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro' and some other right thinking Ghanaians, for my HARD comments on this board.
If you notice from my threads, I did not start the negative stereotypes. (I ONLY RESPONDED TO SOME OF THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS AGAINST NIGERIANS).
I am very PROUD TO BE A NIGERIAN, and no one can take that away from me. I AM ALSO BLACK AND PROUD!!
I do NOT hate Ghanaians, and I WILL NEVER, hate my fellow black Africans, but there is a limit to human endurance.
Every comment on this board is being read worldwide, and it is very painful for some section of black community, i.e. (Ghanaians), to use the medium to paint the NEGATIVE PICTURE of fellow African countries like Nigeria, as if everything is 'hunky dorry' in Ghana.
I shall tone down my rhetoric, but please tell your people to STOP THEIR INCESSANT NIGERIA BASHING.
Thank you and God bless Mother Africa."
A DANGEROUS POWDER KEG
I would like to share my thoughts on this very dangerous powder keg awaiting for fire!
My intervention is intended to diffuse a very stupid bomb that can spoil the relations between Ghana and Nigeria, fellow English-speaking and internationally and economically significant members of the regions humble efforts to integrate into an economically self-sustaining and viable zone. We have much to gain as friends than as enemies. We have much to lose as enemies than as friends!
What are we waiting for? Are Ghanaians shocked at the attitude of Nigerian ministers? I should be able to tolerate "surprise" as an answer rather than "shock", because, let's face it, we do our own good bit of Nigeria bashing in this part of town too! It is a collective shame for both Ghanaians and Nigerians that at a time the European Union is plotting a grotesque 419 under the nice name of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), at a time when our continent finds itself within the cross-hairs of the Pentagon because of our oil and other mineral resources. As is testified here in an old plan started by Donald Rumsfield: read the following excerpt from an article seems to indicate:
"The U.S. military is increasingly being converted into a global oil protection service. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld has a "strategy guy" whose job is to teach this new way of warfare to high-level military officers from all branches of services and to top level CIA operatives. Thomas Barnett is a professor at the Navy War College in Rhode Island. He is author of the controversial book The Pentagon's New Map that identifies a "non-integrating gap" in the world that is resisting corporate globalization. Barnett defines the gap as parts of Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Central Asia all of which are key oil-producing regions of the world.
In what Barnett calls a "Grand March of History" he claims that the U.S. military must be transformed in order to preemptively take control of the gap, so the U.S. can "manage" the global distribution of resources, people, energy, and money. [...]
Barnett predicts that U.S. unilateralism will lead to the "inevitability of war." Referring to Hitler in a recent presentation, Barnett reminded his military audience that the Nazi leader never asked for permission before invading other countries. Thus, the end to multi-lateralism. Barnett argues that the days of arms talks and international treaties are over. "There is no secret where we are going," he says as he calls for a "new ordering principle" at the Department of Defense (DoD). Barnett maintains that as jobs move out of the U.S. the primary export product of the nation will be "security." Global energy demand will necessitate U.S. control of the oil producing regions. "We will be fighting in Central Africa in 20 years," Barnett predicts. " Source: Alternative Press Review. see pastpeak.com
We have Climate Change and specific challenges to our continent and the sub-region. We have the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) a vital key to the livelihoods of easily 60% of our peoples, it is still in the balance and we are here trading insults about an individual's orgasm with a pig!
What is going to be the next? War? I call on all Ghanaians indulged in this Nigeria bashing to bow down their heads in shame! Do not forget that Nkrumah rightly told us that our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total emancipation of Africa! There is a purpose for that!
“We in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning to colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels of life which will compare with those in the most advanced countries” - Kwame Nkrumah, Africa Must Unite
Stop the Ghana bashing -Ghana's Envoy
This article has been provoked by a sudden surge in Nigeria bashing in the media as a result of a letter sent to a Nigerian newspaper, appealing to Nigerian government officials to refrain from spreading falsehood about Ghana.
In the first place, I am no where near a diplomat but the phrase "diplomatic channels" is a very familiar one. Secretly, one may even share such sentiments, but I would plead with a Nigerian super star to help me draw attention to this rather than go directly to the media and as it were speaking to the bearer of your letters of credentials through the media in an obviously angry tone that expresses no assurances of our highest consideration?
For one, it would have prevented a backlash. For two, the message would have gone down better. For three, we would not be having a situation where rather than enhancing and helping to deepen mutual respect and friendship the letter seems to have the opposite effect. I am sure the extenuating circumstances considered, we do not speak out of anger as Ambassadors but in the defence of foreign policy priorities, and a million diplomatic ways to do that could be an interesting exercise in a kindergarten ! There might certainly be a million diplomatic ways, but I would not like the ambassador of my country to put it that way and end it that way and send the message through that way.
"Our concern really is that such reckless and unguarded comments could have grave implications for bilateral relations and derail efforts by leaders of the two countries to forge strong bilateral ties. We think President Umaru Yar'Adua should call his ministers to order. The Ghana bashing must stop! Ghana is a well-respected member of the international community, and deserves respect from Nigerians, particularly top government officials."
Nana Yaw Aboagye, Ghana High Commission, Abuja, FCT Tools
Before you could say "Jack!", there was a courageous Nigerian in the forum to set his records straight:
"Oh yes, we eat eba and egusi soup in Nigeria.
But we don't FUCK PIGS in Nigeria, like you SHAMELESS GHANAIANS.
Was it your 'KENKE' OR the 'SMELLY BANKU' that is responsible for the acts of 'ABOMINATIONS' IN YOUR 'BARBARIC BABOONS REPUBLIC' GHANA?"
--------------------------------------------------
BOY HAVE SEX WITH PIG
AN ABOMINATION was recorded on Monday June 8 at Ahwerem-Domeabra in the Ahafo-Ano South district of the Ashanti region when a 16-year-old boy was caught red-handed having sex with a pig..."
The story went on. I invited my Nigerian friend to a truce saying: "Hey guy, I like your courage and style but I shall plead with yo to do a far better job than Ghana's diplomat in Nigeria and take a broader view and look at the face of Mother Africa and have mercy on these poor and sinful mortals. I'd like you to read my comments above : THAT'S A GOOD ONE! and would be pleased if you would be kind enough to let me know what you think! Have a nice day! God bless! Long live Ghana-Nigeria friendship! Long live the Pan-Africanist cause! Long live the CPP!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I was pleased with his response. This proves my point about diplomacy. We need to know that it is not all right to bash Nigerians and expect Nigerians not to retaliate!
HERE IS THE RESPONSE I GOT:
"I sincerely apologize to you 'Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro' and some other right thinking Ghanaians, for my HARD comments on this board.
If you notice from my threads, I did not start the negative stereotypes. (I ONLY RESPONDED TO SOME OF THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS AGAINST NIGERIANS).
I am very PROUD TO BE A NIGERIAN, and no one can take that away from me. I AM ALSO BLACK AND PROUD!!
I do NOT hate Ghanaians, and I WILL NEVER, hate my fellow black Africans, but there is a limit to human endurance.
Every comment on this board is being read worldwide, and it is very painful for some section of black community, i.e. (Ghanaians), to use the medium to paint the NEGATIVE PICTURE of fellow African countries like Nigeria, as if everything is 'hunky dorry' in Ghana.
I shall tone down my rhetoric, but please tell your people to STOP THEIR INCESSANT NIGERIA BASHING.
Thank you and God bless Mother Africa."
A DANGEROUS POWDER KEG
I would like to share my thoughts on this very dangerous powder keg awaiting for fire!
My intervention is intended to diffuse a very stupid bomb that can spoil the relations between Ghana and Nigeria, fellow English-speaking and internationally and economically significant members of the regions humble efforts to integrate into an economically self-sustaining and viable zone. We have much to gain as friends than as enemies. We have much to lose as enemies than as friends!
What are we waiting for? Are Ghanaians shocked at the attitude of Nigerian ministers? I should be able to tolerate "surprise" as an answer rather than "shock", because, let's face it, we do our own good bit of Nigeria bashing in this part of town too! It is a collective shame for both Ghanaians and Nigerians that at a time the European Union is plotting a grotesque 419 under the nice name of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), at a time when our continent finds itself within the cross-hairs of the Pentagon because of our oil and other mineral resources. As is testified here in an old plan started by Donald Rumsfield: read the following excerpt from an article seems to indicate:
"The U.S. military is increasingly being converted into a global oil protection service. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld has a "strategy guy" whose job is to teach this new way of warfare to high-level military officers from all branches of services and to top level CIA operatives. Thomas Barnett is a professor at the Navy War College in Rhode Island. He is author of the controversial book The Pentagon's New Map that identifies a "non-integrating gap" in the world that is resisting corporate globalization. Barnett defines the gap as parts of Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Central Asia all of which are key oil-producing regions of the world.
In what Barnett calls a "Grand March of History" he claims that the U.S. military must be transformed in order to preemptively take control of the gap, so the U.S. can "manage" the global distribution of resources, people, energy, and money. [...]
Barnett predicts that U.S. unilateralism will lead to the "inevitability of war." Referring to Hitler in a recent presentation, Barnett reminded his military audience that the Nazi leader never asked for permission before invading other countries. Thus, the end to multi-lateralism. Barnett argues that the days of arms talks and international treaties are over. "There is no secret where we are going," he says as he calls for a "new ordering principle" at the Department of Defense (DoD). Barnett maintains that as jobs move out of the U.S. the primary export product of the nation will be "security." Global energy demand will necessitate U.S. control of the oil producing regions. "We will be fighting in Central Africa in 20 years," Barnett predicts. " Source: Alternative Press Review. see pastpeak.com
We have Climate Change and specific challenges to our continent and the sub-region. We have the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) a vital key to the livelihoods of easily 60% of our peoples, it is still in the balance and we are here trading insults about an individual's orgasm with a pig!
What is going to be the next? War? I call on all Ghanaians indulged in this Nigeria bashing to bow down their heads in shame! Do not forget that Nkrumah rightly told us that our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total emancipation of Africa! There is a purpose for that!
“We in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning to colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels of life which will compare with those in the most advanced countries” - Kwame Nkrumah, Africa Must Unite
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism
By Kwesi Pratt,Jnr
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was not just the first President of Ghana but a very extraordinary man whose life and works contributed significantly to changing the world. He grew from a little village boy in Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana to a world leader fully devoted to the struggle to free all black people from all forms of racism.
He was also against everything which kept people irrespective of their colour in conditions of slavery. He opposed oppression and exploitation in all its forms.
Many historians including Basil Davidson and F. K. Buah credit Nkrumah with the leadership of the struggle which led to granting independence to many African countries under various forms of colonialism. Indeed Nkrumah is placed in the same category as Einstien, Karl Marx, V. I. Lenin, Tousant O’Liverture and Mahatama Ghandi whose ideas and actions helped to make the world a better place.
Amongst the many things which make Nkrumah stand out as an extraordinary personality was his realization that Africans everywhere ought to unite in common effort to assert their dignity and use their resources for meeting their needs and realizing their aspirations. His ideas for the unity of all Africans has come to be known as Pan-Africanism and they have their roots in his experiences as a colonial subject, his sojourn in the United States of America and the racist experience he suffered there and his association with Pan-Africanist thinkers of the time including W. E. B. Dubious, Marcus Garvey, George Padmore and Makonnen.
After completing his elementary school education, Nkrumah went to Achimota School from where he graduated as a teacher. He was still burning with ambition to excel academically and in 1935, he left for the United States of America where he enrolled at the Lincoln University, first obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree and later doing a masters course at the Philadelphia University.
Given the fact that Nkrumah came from a poor background, he had to work to pay for his education. He worked as a waiter and sometimes as a dish washer. He did anything which would put a few dollars in his pocket and help him fend for himself in a land which was obviously strange to a village boy from Nkroful.
Nkrumah experienced racism at first hand. He saw that Africans were all victims of racism no matter where they came from. In searching for to questions about racism Nkrumah joined black students organizations and became acquainted with the ideas of such activists as Marcus Garvey. He read widely and was transformed into an activist.
When Nkrumah moved to London in 1945, he joined other Africans and persons of African decent in implementing the ideas he had formed. They worked in the West African students Union and the West African National Secretarial for the sole purpose of accelerating the independence process in West Africa as part of the general struggle of emancipating the African wherever he may be.
Nkrumah had established contact with George Padmore one of the key organizers of the 5th Pan African Congress before he arrived in the United Kingdom and it was indeed Padmore who found accommodation for him at the West African Students Union’s hostel. Padmore guided Nkrumah in his early days in London and together they plunged into work for the 5th Pan African Congress held in Manchester in October 1945.
According to June Milne, a biographer of Nkrumah, the 5th Pan African Congress was a departure from earlier ones to the extent that there was a strong participation from the youth and students of Africa. In her book “Kwame Nkrumah, A Biography” she asserts that earlier Pan African Congresses were dominated professionals and members of the intellectual class.
It is widely held that Nkrumah’s own involvement with the West African students Union and Associations of African students in the United States of America contributed largely to this departure. The strong participation of youth and students in this congress was also a clear manifestation of Nkrumah’s organizational ability.
The 5th Pan African Congress was particularly important because it defined and clarified the ideology of Pan-Africanism. It defined Pan Africanism as an anti-imperialist concept and saw its prime movers as workers and the underprivileged. Pan Africanism was also seen as an enterprise at building socialism.
A resolution which was drafted by Nkrumah and adopted by the Congress read as follows;
“We believe in the rights of all peoples to govern themselves. We affirm the rights of all colonial peoples to control their own destiny. All colonies must be free from foreign imperialist control, whether political or economic. The peoples of the colonies must have the right to elect their own government; a government without restrictions from a foreign power. We say to the peoples of the colonies that they must strive for these goals by all means at their disposal.
“The object of imperialist powers is to exploit. By granting the right to the colonial peoples to govern themselves, they are defeating that objective. Therefore, the struggle for political power by the colonial and subject peoples is a first step towards, and the necessary pre-requisite to complete social, economic and political emancipation.
“The fifth Pan-African Congress, therefore, calls on the workers and farmers of the colonies to organize effectively, Colonial workers must be in the frontlines of the battle against imperialism……”
Nkrumah’s success in helping to organize the 5th Pan African Congress and his activities in the West African Union spread way beyond England to all corners of the African world. The leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) heard of the exploits of this man at a time when their own organization needed rejuvenation. They quickly invited Nkrumah to take up the full time position of General Secretary of the Convention.
By accepting to become the General Secretary of the UGCC, Nkrumah did not abandon the Pan African ideal. As a matter of fact when he returned to the Gold Coast in 1947, he recognized that he was only taking one step towards the unification of the African continent as a home for Africans everywhere.
He kept his contacts with Padmore, Mahonnen, and all the others with whom he had worked on the Pan African project.
It is significant that on the eve of Ghana’s independence on 6th march 1957, he declared loudly that “the independence of Ghana is meaningless until it is linked to the total liberation of the African continent” The organization of the All African People’s Conference in Accra only one year after the declaration of independence attest to the Pan-African Agenda of Dr Kwame Nkrumah. This conference brought together the newly independent states in Africa and the national liberation movement to strategize on how to speed up the decolonization process. It was also the beginnings of what became known as the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
One year after Ghana’s independence, Nkrumah pushed for the Ghana-Guinea Union as the nucleus of the continental Union Government of Africa. In 1961, Mali was drawn into the Union which became the spearhead of the agitation for a continental government. The OAU was eventually formed in 1963.
Whiles desperately forging the unity of the states in Africa, Nkrumah maintained his contacts with Africans everywhere in the world. He spoke out for the civil rights movement in the USA and met with Malcom X on more than one occasion. Malcom was even invited to visit Ghana and to hold discussions with the Ghanaian authorities on the links that existed between the struggle of African-Americans and developments on the continent. Nkrumah was also a keen inspiration for the Black Panther movement.
He was also the most strident advocate of Pan Africanism in his days. Many of the books he authored advocated the unity of Africans from all over the world. Some of these books were “Africa Must Unite’ “Neo-Colonialism, the last Stage of Imperialism” and “Class Struggle in Africa”
Nkrumah’s strongest arguments for African Unity are made in his book “Africa Must Unite”. He writes “we in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning to colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels of life which will compare with those in the most advanced countries”
For Nkrumah the situation in which Africa remains the richest continent on the globe whiles its people are counted amongst the poorest is untenable. He saw Pan-Africanism defined loosely as the ideology and activism of Africans everywhere united in the battle against their under development as a redeeming force. Pan Africanism was not just an intellectual exercise, for Nkrumah it was the ideology for the liberation of the African from the clutches of oppression and exploitation.
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was not just the first President of Ghana but a very extraordinary man whose life and works contributed significantly to changing the world. He grew from a little village boy in Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana to a world leader fully devoted to the struggle to free all black people from all forms of racism.
He was also against everything which kept people irrespective of their colour in conditions of slavery. He opposed oppression and exploitation in all its forms.
Many historians including Basil Davidson and F. K. Buah credit Nkrumah with the leadership of the struggle which led to granting independence to many African countries under various forms of colonialism. Indeed Nkrumah is placed in the same category as Einstien, Karl Marx, V. I. Lenin, Tousant O’Liverture and Mahatama Ghandi whose ideas and actions helped to make the world a better place.
Amongst the many things which make Nkrumah stand out as an extraordinary personality was his realization that Africans everywhere ought to unite in common effort to assert their dignity and use their resources for meeting their needs and realizing their aspirations. His ideas for the unity of all Africans has come to be known as Pan-Africanism and they have their roots in his experiences as a colonial subject, his sojourn in the United States of America and the racist experience he suffered there and his association with Pan-Africanist thinkers of the time including W. E. B. Dubious, Marcus Garvey, George Padmore and Makonnen.
After completing his elementary school education, Nkrumah went to Achimota School from where he graduated as a teacher. He was still burning with ambition to excel academically and in 1935, he left for the United States of America where he enrolled at the Lincoln University, first obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree and later doing a masters course at the Philadelphia University.
Given the fact that Nkrumah came from a poor background, he had to work to pay for his education. He worked as a waiter and sometimes as a dish washer. He did anything which would put a few dollars in his pocket and help him fend for himself in a land which was obviously strange to a village boy from Nkroful.
Nkrumah experienced racism at first hand. He saw that Africans were all victims of racism no matter where they came from. In searching for to questions about racism Nkrumah joined black students organizations and became acquainted with the ideas of such activists as Marcus Garvey. He read widely and was transformed into an activist.
When Nkrumah moved to London in 1945, he joined other Africans and persons of African decent in implementing the ideas he had formed. They worked in the West African students Union and the West African National Secretarial for the sole purpose of accelerating the independence process in West Africa as part of the general struggle of emancipating the African wherever he may be.
Nkrumah had established contact with George Padmore one of the key organizers of the 5th Pan African Congress before he arrived in the United Kingdom and it was indeed Padmore who found accommodation for him at the West African Students Union’s hostel. Padmore guided Nkrumah in his early days in London and together they plunged into work for the 5th Pan African Congress held in Manchester in October 1945.
According to June Milne, a biographer of Nkrumah, the 5th Pan African Congress was a departure from earlier ones to the extent that there was a strong participation from the youth and students of Africa. In her book “Kwame Nkrumah, A Biography” she asserts that earlier Pan African Congresses were dominated professionals and members of the intellectual class.
It is widely held that Nkrumah’s own involvement with the West African students Union and Associations of African students in the United States of America contributed largely to this departure. The strong participation of youth and students in this congress was also a clear manifestation of Nkrumah’s organizational ability.
The 5th Pan African Congress was particularly important because it defined and clarified the ideology of Pan-Africanism. It defined Pan Africanism as an anti-imperialist concept and saw its prime movers as workers and the underprivileged. Pan Africanism was also seen as an enterprise at building socialism.
A resolution which was drafted by Nkrumah and adopted by the Congress read as follows;
“We believe in the rights of all peoples to govern themselves. We affirm the rights of all colonial peoples to control their own destiny. All colonies must be free from foreign imperialist control, whether political or economic. The peoples of the colonies must have the right to elect their own government; a government without restrictions from a foreign power. We say to the peoples of the colonies that they must strive for these goals by all means at their disposal.
“The object of imperialist powers is to exploit. By granting the right to the colonial peoples to govern themselves, they are defeating that objective. Therefore, the struggle for political power by the colonial and subject peoples is a first step towards, and the necessary pre-requisite to complete social, economic and political emancipation.
“The fifth Pan-African Congress, therefore, calls on the workers and farmers of the colonies to organize effectively, Colonial workers must be in the frontlines of the battle against imperialism……”
Nkrumah’s success in helping to organize the 5th Pan African Congress and his activities in the West African Union spread way beyond England to all corners of the African world. The leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) heard of the exploits of this man at a time when their own organization needed rejuvenation. They quickly invited Nkrumah to take up the full time position of General Secretary of the Convention.
By accepting to become the General Secretary of the UGCC, Nkrumah did not abandon the Pan African ideal. As a matter of fact when he returned to the Gold Coast in 1947, he recognized that he was only taking one step towards the unification of the African continent as a home for Africans everywhere.
He kept his contacts with Padmore, Mahonnen, and all the others with whom he had worked on the Pan African project.
It is significant that on the eve of Ghana’s independence on 6th march 1957, he declared loudly that “the independence of Ghana is meaningless until it is linked to the total liberation of the African continent” The organization of the All African People’s Conference in Accra only one year after the declaration of independence attest to the Pan-African Agenda of Dr Kwame Nkrumah. This conference brought together the newly independent states in Africa and the national liberation movement to strategize on how to speed up the decolonization process. It was also the beginnings of what became known as the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
One year after Ghana’s independence, Nkrumah pushed for the Ghana-Guinea Union as the nucleus of the continental Union Government of Africa. In 1961, Mali was drawn into the Union which became the spearhead of the agitation for a continental government. The OAU was eventually formed in 1963.
Whiles desperately forging the unity of the states in Africa, Nkrumah maintained his contacts with Africans everywhere in the world. He spoke out for the civil rights movement in the USA and met with Malcom X on more than one occasion. Malcom was even invited to visit Ghana and to hold discussions with the Ghanaian authorities on the links that existed between the struggle of African-Americans and developments on the continent. Nkrumah was also a keen inspiration for the Black Panther movement.
He was also the most strident advocate of Pan Africanism in his days. Many of the books he authored advocated the unity of Africans from all over the world. Some of these books were “Africa Must Unite’ “Neo-Colonialism, the last Stage of Imperialism” and “Class Struggle in Africa”
Nkrumah’s strongest arguments for African Unity are made in his book “Africa Must Unite”. He writes “we in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning to colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels of life which will compare with those in the most advanced countries”
For Nkrumah the situation in which Africa remains the richest continent on the globe whiles its people are counted amongst the poorest is untenable. He saw Pan-Africanism defined loosely as the ideology and activism of Africans everywhere united in the battle against their under development as a redeeming force. Pan Africanism was not just an intellectual exercise, for Nkrumah it was the ideology for the liberation of the African from the clutches of oppression and exploitation.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
This Land is your land! Nana Akyea Mensah & Jean sing to welcome President Obama to Africa!
AFRICAN UNITY, SOLIDARITY, INDEPENDENCE, AND FREEDOM IS OUR GOAL! NOT VICTIMS OF AFRICOM!
YES WE CAN!
President Obama Heads to Ghana On First Official Trip to Sub-Saharan Africa
Written by JUAN GONZALEZ, AMY GOODMAN
Posted: 16 July 2009 00:00
President Obama arrives in Ghana today on his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming President. He is expected to meet Ghana"s President John Atta-Mill today and speak to the country"s parliament on Saturday in what is expected to be a major policy address outlining US policy on Africa. Why Ghana? Some say it has to do the recent discovery of oil in Ghana. A quarter of US oil imports are expected to come from West Africa by 2015, according to estimates by National Intelligence Council.[includes rush transcript]
Guests:
Kwesi Pratt, Editor of "The Insight", a newspaper based in Accra, Ghana.
Nii Akuetteh, Independent Africa policy analyst and researcher. He is the former executive director of the Washington DC-based group, Africa Action.
Rush Transcript
JUAN GONZALEZ: President Obama arrives in Ghana today on his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming president. He is expected to meet Ghana's president John Atta-Mill today and to speak to the country's Parliament on Saturday in what is expected to be a major policy address outlining U.S. policy on Africa. As thousands in Ghana prepare for the arrival of the first African- American president of the United States, people across the continent are asking why Obama chose to visit Ghana and not, for example, his father's homeland of Kenya. When the trip was announced in May, the White House described Ghana as "trusted partner" and praised its sound governance and lasting development. Some commentators concur, pointing to Ghana's relative stability and democratic development. Others say it has more to do with the recent discovery of oil in Ghana and note that a quarter of U.S. oil exports [sic} {imports] are expected to come from west Africa by 2015, according to estimates by the National Intelligence Council.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, today we host a discussion on President Obama's visit to Ghana and his administration's Africa policy with two leading analysts. Kwesi Pratt is a veteran Ghanaian journalist, editor of Insight newspaper, joining us on the line from the capital city of Accra in Ghana. And from Washington, D.C., we're joined by independent African policy analyst and former executive director of Africa Action, Nii Akuetteh, who also hails from Ghana. We welcome you both to "Democracy Now!" Let's begin with Kwesi Pratt in Accra. Can you talk about the preparations for and the expectations for the Obama family's visit to Ghana?
KWESI PRATT:First of all, the expectations are very high. There are many people on the streets who believe that the Obama visit will resolve all the colonization and political problems of Ghana. The preparation is quite intense. Ten thousand police men and women have been mobilized to provide protection to Obama. And many of these [unintelligible] have lined the route from the airport to where he's likely to stay and the sole functions have been closed down until Sunday. So there's a lot of enthusiasm and the expectations are very high and the security preparations are unprecedented.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think, and why are people saying in Ghana, that President Obama chose Ghana as the first sub-Saharan African nation to visit as the first African- American president?
KWESI PRATT: The official reason has been given of Ghana's fledgling democracy, that the United States of America has a lot of confidence in Ghana's fledgling democracy. But all of us know that the main interest is oil. If you read the Cheney report, the Cheney report states very clearly that by 2015 American oil imports will move from 11% to 25%. The Cheney report also makes a recommendation for the establishment of military bases in order to protect American interests and American oil. For me these are the two key reasons why the United States and Obama are interested in this. It has nothing to do with democracy, but the preservation of American interests.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Kwesi Pratt, just before President Obama was elected in November, the Bush administration finally created or established AFRICOM, the military command center for African of the United States military. But most of the countries in Africa refused to allow the U.S. to set it up in Africa itself. Only Liberia indicated a willingness to do so. Could you talk about what has been the reaction to the United States government, especially during the Bush administration, beginning to establish a military command in the continent?
KWESI PRATT: I think the reaction has been largely negative. In Ghana, [unintelligible] against the establishment of any U.S. facility in Ghana, in any parts of Ghana. We do know that the Nigerian government has said it will not allow the establishment of any U.S. military facility in Nigeria or anywhere in west Africa. I think that as a result of this agitation, the U.S. administrations, including the Bush administration, have had to go easy on the drive to establish some military presence in Africa. In Ghana, I do not think there's any possibility of establishing such a presence, because it will be resisted and the resistance will be [unintelligible].
AMY GOODMAN: And Nii Akuetteh, I wanted to get your response to President Obama's choice as Ghana. You have lived in the United States for decades, but you were born and Ghana.
NII AKUETTEH: Yes, thank you very much for inviting me. Kwesi, it's good to hear you. I think that President Obama, it seems to me, picked Ghana for a number of different motives. I take Kwesi's point that the oil that has been discovered in Ghana is an attraction and the fact that the U.S. will be importing a lot more oil from west Africa within the next few years, that there are any number of studies saying that the United States should make sure that it protects that oil. Currently, a lot of the oil comes from Nigeria and we know that in southeastern Nigeria, where the oil is, there is a lot of agitation, even including some violence because oil companies from Shell to Chevron have been behaving in a predatory manner. Therefore, the oil is an issue, and the establishment of AFRICOM, where twisting arms of African governments to agree to host AFRICOM, has also been going on. I do support Kwesi. He's been leading the fight in Ghana to make sure that it doesn't come. But I will say that the democracy issue was also part of the calculation. Given my particular bias as an activist in Washington trying to make sure that the United States does the right thing in Africa, I mean, of course we need a lot of allies including media outlets like "Democracy Now!" So I think the democracy factor is one small factor and it is up to us in Washington and around the United States to make sure that it becomes bigger in the calculations of Mr. Obama. So it is up to us to push him. And because he himself has said it, and his staff in the White House also did say that democracy and governance in Ghana is the reason they chose Ghana, our strategy here in Washington is, okay, we will hold them to their words. We will make sure that any agreement they sign, U.S. policy, U.S. aid projects, put the priority on democracy and strengthening civil society. The president gave a very good speech, I thought, in Moscow a couple of days ago and talked about democracy as an instrument whereby countries commit progress, whereby they can admit their imperfections and work on those. He pointed out in the United States itself, when it was started, black people did not have any rights. He could not have been elected, but democracy made it easier for him to have been elected. We are going to hold him to his words. We are going to push him. As much as we think he has potential as an American president, it is our job, it is civil society's job, to make sure that his policies on Africa are driven by democratic ideals and not the long U.S. habit of supporting dictatorships across Africa, that he would not do that.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Nii Akuetteh, what you think are the prospects for Ghana being able to avoid the worst aspects of what happened with the oil boom in Nigeria? The huge disparities in wealth? The endemic corruption that Nigeria is so noted for? Do you see the current government in Ghana making any steps to avoid those kinds of problems?
NII AKUETTEH: I do see a few signs, but it is nowhere near what we need. You are right, that is such a grave danger. I have friends, Kwesi among them, and others, that point out the problem with Nigeria is not so much that Nigerians are a lot different from Ghanaians, but the fact that when there is a lot of wealth, then you get greed surfacing. Ghana compared to Nigeria has been relatively poor. Now that we are told that we have oil, our hope is that civil society will hold the government accountable. The fact that Ghana has begun a tradition of peaceful, democratic transition, is a good sign, but it is not sufficient. We have to work to strengthen civil society, to strengthen democracy because a number of experts keep saying that when third-world countries find oil and other natural resources, it is a resource case. I don't buy it. I think that is bunk. The problem is, if the country has strong democracy, you can have all the wealth it has and still be able to handle. I mean, the United States is fantastically endowed with a lot of resources, from gold to oil, you name it. But because the democracy here, while not perfect, it is pretty strong and there is strong civil society in the U.S. They make sure that the abuses connected with resource extraction are held down. So the problem is not that the resources occur, the problem is that we need to strengthen democracy and politicians do not want to strengthen democracy because they like the power they enjoy. It is up to journalists, it is up to civil society, it is up to activists to strengthen it. And frankly, the fact that you have courageous people, no matter how they are abused, like Kwesi, who will keep fighting the good fight. For me, it's a good sign, but we need more of them. Of course, the African diaspora here in the U.S., in the west and in Europe, also have a big responsibility to make sure that their governments and corporations that are based in the west do not behave badly in Africa. It is our job to make sure oil does not become a curse in Ghana.
AMY GOODMAN: We're going to break and then come back. We want to get the full schedule of President Obama in Ghana. He'll be addressing the Ghanaian Parliament tomorrow. And also, talk about U.S.'s rival for African natural resources. Number 2 France has been replaced by China. We'll talk about Beijing's expansion in Africa. Stay with us.
[music break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is "Democracy Now!," democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Kwesi Pratt, speaking to you in the capital of Ghana, which is preparing for the first African- American President of the United States in his first trip to Sub-Saharan Africa, what is the schedule for this weekend?
KWESI PRATT: He will be arriving today in the evening. He will be a having a short discussion with the president of Ghana[unintelligible]. Tomorrow morning, he will have breakfast with the president of Ghana and three former presidents and vice presidents in the castle [unintelligible]. And from there, he will go to a local clinic for an inspection. He will then fly to the central capital and with meet with the chiefs and people [unintelligible]. Then he will spend some inspecting [unintelligible]. He is also scheduled to deliver an important foreign-policy speech [unintelligible] in an international conference. Basically these are the things he'll be doing.
JUAN GONAZALEZ: Kwesi Pratt, on another matter, in the G-8 summit, one of the things President Obama was able to get the European leaders to agree on was increasing sharply agricultural aid to less-developed countries. Any sense on your part whether this will have any major impact on Ghana or other countries in Africa?
KWESI PRATT: [unintelligible] What we need in the developing world, is not gifts and not aid. What we need must be fair trade. If we could get equitable prices for our products and so on, we could make it on our own. In fact if the World Bank and [unintelligible] stop insisting on the subsidies of agriculture, we could then make it. The problem with African agriculture, and agriculture generally in the third world, is while the developing countries through the execution insist that [unintelligible] they keep subsidizing the products. The end result is that are products are priced much higher than products from Europe and North America and so on. So, what I think we need to look at is institutional changes to change the global trading system to remove the conditions that are imposed by the World Bank and the IMF and if that is done we can stand on their own. There is no reason for the poverty we receive in Africa. Africa is one of the most resourceful countries on the continent. [unintelligible] Some estimates say, Africa has about forty percent of the world's resources. And therefore there's no reason why Africa should continue to be poor.
AMY GOODMAN: Nii Akuetteh, lets put the question of the G8 summit to you, particularly the leaders pledging twelve billions of dollars for the food initiative?
NII AKUETTEH: I think this is the case where the cliché, "where the devil is in the details" is really important. Agricultural trade, as Kwesi hinted, has been really detrimental for Africa. We know that the western countries subsidize their agriculture and dump on the price resources in Africa under the guise of food aid. So, whenever we hear food aid, our ears should peck up, we should become more vigilant. So we have to read very carefully what it is that is in this package, what it is that is being promised. The other problem with any promises from the G-8 is that there are all kinds of shenanigans. Sometimes the repackage old money include new money. Whether it is old or new, they hardly deliver what it is they promise. They just read out fancy announcements for the sake of, Amy, people like you, the press, to say, we are doing so much to help Africa. When it comes to actually delivering what they promise, that's a problem. The third problem is that there's the problem, the question of genetically modified food. And whether multinational corporations are going to s control going things like seeds that African farmers plant. So, I think it is important to take that agreement from the G-8 to put it under the microscope to examine it very, very carefully, and to have a lot of strong dialogue about changes that it would need. And finally, I also understand what they promised is less than what Africa needs and I understand their $3 billion short. What we have there, you really cannot pronounce on it until you look at all the details. If the details are not right, it could do more harm than good.
AMY GOODMAN: Kwesi Pratt, we want to thank you for joining us from Akra. We will continue to cover the president's trip next week on "democracy now!" Kwesi Pratt, editor of "The Insight" newspaper in Akra Ghana" and, Nii, we'd like you to stay with us as we turn to the issue of China's economic expansion across Africa
July 10, 2009
Source: http://www.democracynow.org
This Land Is Your Land!
On this special occasion of the vist to Ghana by the first black president of USA, this song is dedicated to the audacity of hope that catapulted him to power. I dedicate it also to honour the late Nana Akyea Mensah of Apedwa, and all the victims of human sacrifice, ritual murder, extra-judicial killings and political disappearances, water-boarding, torture, our young people who perish on the Mediterranean seas in search of imaginary El Doradoes, those who could not make it because of death by thirst on the Sahara, those who end up detention centres for illegal immigrants, and children who die starving; may the gods forgive me if I forgot the slaves! In the desperate hope that we can make some difference for tomorrows victims!
Please join me in singing to welcome our brother!
Nana Akyea Mensah Sings
This land is your land.mp3
2840K Play Download
This Land Is Your Land!
As I go walking on that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me an endless sky way,
I saw below me that golden valley,
This land was made for you and me!
This land is your land, This land is my land,
STOP AFRICOM!
"Power concedes nothing without a demand."
By ruby, June 17 at 10:12 am #(Unregistered commenter)
Great thoughts on Obama Visit.
Dear Friends,
I am compliling some of the best quotes by Africans and friends of Africa on the visit. Please feel free to send me quotes you find worjth noting!
Thanks again! Your usually warm cooperation, for which I am always grateful, is anticipated.
Sincerely,
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro,
http://nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/
|Facebook | Nana Akyea Mensah
https://twitter.com/TheOdikro
nanaakyeamensah@gmail.com
Dear Friends,
I am compliling some of the best quotes by Africans and friends of Africa on the visit. Please feel free to send me quotes you find worjth noting!
Thanks again! Your usually warm cooperation, for which I am always grateful, is anticipated.
Sincerely,
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro,
http://nanaakyeamensah.
|Facebook | Nana Akyea Mensah
https://twitter.com/TheOdikro
nanaakyeamensah@gmail.com
GREAT QUOTES:
Kwesi Pratt was one of the first to raise the alarm about oil and US military bases in Africa. In a 2007 interview he said:
"Kwesi Pratt: I am very alarmed after reading what is called the Cheney Report. When Bush came to power, he set up a committee chaired by Dick Cheney his Vice President to assess America’s energy requirements up to the year 2015. The Cheney Report actually says that by the year 2015, twenty percent of American oil requirements will be supplied by West Africa and therefore it is important to maintain a foothold in West Africa in order to ensure that oil supplies from West Africa to the United States of America will not be interrupted.
Consequently, the United States is planning to establish military bases across West Africa including Ghana. And I am very worried that at a time when we are celebrating our national independence we are going to tolerate the establishment of foreign military bases, especially American military bases on our soil. The great Osageyfo Dr. Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, and all of them emphasized that Africa ought to be free from foreign military bases and weapons of mass destruction. We cannot allow that dream to die.
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."
Kwesi Pratt, Jnr
"And so far, in terms of policies, Obama has shown himself to be a willing and enthusiastic supporter of the entrenced elites, what Kwesi Pratt calls the tiny minority that controls the wealth of the American people. Obama has allowed a certain amount of democracy theater in his political manueverings so far. But he has carefully closed off any areas of debate he does not wish to entertain. And President Obama seems to be continuing all the same military imperialist programs initiated by Mr. Bush.
I have been an enthusiastic supporter of President Obama. I made my own small contributions to his campaign. He is wildly and justifiably popular in Ghana and Africa. This should not blind us to what is going on. And it should not stop us from exercising our democratic responsibility to speak out and say what we see."
Xcroc, June 3, 2009.
http://crossedcrocodiles.
President Obama Heads to Ghana On First Official Trip to Sub-Saharan Africa
Written by JUAN GONZALEZ, AMY GOODMAN
Posted: 16 July 2009 00:00
President Obama arrives in Ghana today on his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming President. He is expected to meet Ghana"s President John Atta-Mill today and speak to the country"s parliament on Saturday in what is expected to be a major policy address outlining US policy on Africa. Why Ghana? Some say it has to do the recent discovery of oil in Ghana. A quarter of US oil imports are expected to come from West Africa by 2015, according to estimates by National Intelligence Council.[includes rush transcript]
Guests:
Kwesi Pratt, Editor of "The Insight", a newspaper based in Accra, Ghana.
Nii Akuetteh, Independent Africa policy analyst and researcher. He is the former executive director of the Washington DC-based group, Africa Action.
Rush Transcript
JUAN GONZALEZ: President Obama arrives in Ghana today on his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming president. He is expected to meet Ghana's president John Atta-Mill today and to speak to the country's Parliament on Saturday in what is expected to be a major policy address outlining U.S. policy on Africa. As thousands in Ghana prepare for the arrival of the first African- American president of the United States, people across the continent are asking why Obama chose to visit Ghana and not, for example, his father's homeland of Kenya. When the trip was announced in May, the White House described Ghana as "trusted partner" and praised its sound governance and lasting development. Some commentators concur, pointing to Ghana's relative stability and democratic development. Others say it has more to do with the recent discovery of oil in Ghana and note that a quarter of U.S. oil exports [sic} {imports] are expected to come from west Africa by 2015, according to estimates by the National Intelligence Council.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, today we host a discussion on President Obama's visit to Ghana and his administration's Africa policy with two leading analysts. Kwesi Pratt is a veteran Ghanaian journalist, editor of Insight newspaper, joining us on the line from the capital city of Accra in Ghana. And from Washington, D.C., we're joined by independent African policy analyst and former executive director of Africa Action, Nii Akuetteh, who also hails from Ghana. We welcome you both to "Democracy Now!" Let's begin with Kwesi Pratt in Accra. Can you talk about the preparations for and the expectations for the Obama family's visit to Ghana?
KWESI PRATT:First of all, the expectations are very high. There are many people on the streets who believe that the Obama visit will resolve all the colonization and political problems of Ghana. The preparation is quite intense. Ten thousand police men and women have been mobilized to provide protection to Obama. And many of these [unintelligible] have lined the route from the airport to where he's likely to stay and the sole functions have been closed down until Sunday. So there's a lot of enthusiasm and the expectations are very high and the security preparations are unprecedented.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think, and why are people saying in Ghana, that President Obama chose Ghana as the first sub-Saharan African nation to visit as the first African- American president?
KWESI PRATT: The official reason has been given of Ghana's fledgling democracy, that the United States of America has a lot of confidence in Ghana's fledgling democracy. But all of us know that the main interest is oil. If you read the Cheney report, the Cheney report states very clearly that by 2015 American oil imports will move from 11% to 25%. The Cheney report also makes a recommendation for the establishment of military bases in order to protect American interests and American oil. For me these are the two key reasons why the United States and Obama are interested in this. It has nothing to do with democracy, but the preservation of American interests.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Kwesi Pratt, just before President Obama was elected in November, the Bush administration finally created or established AFRICOM, the military command center for African of the United States military. But most of the countries in Africa refused to allow the U.S. to set it up in Africa itself. Only Liberia indicated a willingness to do so. Could you talk about what has been the reaction to the United States government, especially during the Bush administration, beginning to establish a military command in the continent?
KWESI PRATT: I think the reaction has been largely negative. In Ghana, [unintelligible] against the establishment of any U.S. facility in Ghana, in any parts of Ghana. We do know that the Nigerian government has said it will not allow the establishment of any U.S. military facility in Nigeria or anywhere in west Africa. I think that as a result of this agitation, the U.S. administrations, including the Bush administration, have had to go easy on the drive to establish some military presence in Africa. In Ghana, I do not think there's any possibility of establishing such a presence, because it will be resisted and the resistance will be [unintelligible].
AMY GOODMAN: And Nii Akuetteh, I wanted to get your response to President Obama's choice as Ghana. You have lived in the United States for decades, but you were born and Ghana.
NII AKUETTEH: Yes, thank you very much for inviting me. Kwesi, it's good to hear you. I think that President Obama, it seems to me, picked Ghana for a number of different motives. I take Kwesi's point that the oil that has been discovered in Ghana is an attraction and the fact that the U.S. will be importing a lot more oil from west Africa within the next few years, that there are any number of studies saying that the United States should make sure that it protects that oil. Currently, a lot of the oil comes from Nigeria and we know that in southeastern Nigeria, where the oil is, there is a lot of agitation, even including some violence because oil companies from Shell to Chevron have been behaving in a predatory manner. Therefore, the oil is an issue, and the establishment of AFRICOM, where twisting arms of African governments to agree to host AFRICOM, has also been going on. I do support Kwesi. He's been leading the fight in Ghana to make sure that it doesn't come. But I will say that the democracy issue was also part of the calculation. Given my particular bias as an activist in Washington trying to make sure that the United States does the right thing in Africa, I mean, of course we need a lot of allies including media outlets like "Democracy Now!" So I think the democracy factor is one small factor and it is up to us in Washington and around the United States to make sure that it becomes bigger in the calculations of Mr. Obama. So it is up to us to push him. And because he himself has said it, and his staff in the White House also did say that democracy and governance in Ghana is the reason they chose Ghana, our strategy here in Washington is, okay, we will hold them to their words. We will make sure that any agreement they sign, U.S. policy, U.S. aid projects, put the priority on democracy and strengthening civil society. The president gave a very good speech, I thought, in Moscow a couple of days ago and talked about democracy as an instrument whereby countries commit progress, whereby they can admit their imperfections and work on those. He pointed out in the United States itself, when it was started, black people did not have any rights. He could not have been elected, but democracy made it easier for him to have been elected. We are going to hold him to his words. We are going to push him. As much as we think he has potential as an American president, it is our job, it is civil society's job, to make sure that his policies on Africa are driven by democratic ideals and not the long U.S. habit of supporting dictatorships across Africa, that he would not do that.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Nii Akuetteh, what you think are the prospects for Ghana being able to avoid the worst aspects of what happened with the oil boom in Nigeria? The huge disparities in wealth? The endemic corruption that Nigeria is so noted for? Do you see the current government in Ghana making any steps to avoid those kinds of problems?
NII AKUETTEH: I do see a few signs, but it is nowhere near what we need. You are right, that is such a grave danger. I have friends, Kwesi among them, and others, that point out the problem with Nigeria is not so much that Nigerians are a lot different from Ghanaians, but the fact that when there is a lot of wealth, then you get greed surfacing. Ghana compared to Nigeria has been relatively poor. Now that we are told that we have oil, our hope is that civil society will hold the government accountable. The fact that Ghana has begun a tradition of peaceful, democratic transition, is a good sign, but it is not sufficient. We have to work to strengthen civil society, to strengthen democracy because a number of experts keep saying that when third-world countries find oil and other natural resources, it is a resource case. I don't buy it. I think that is bunk. The problem is, if the country has strong democracy, you can have all the wealth it has and still be able to handle. I mean, the United States is fantastically endowed with a lot of resources, from gold to oil, you name it. But because the democracy here, while not perfect, it is pretty strong and there is strong civil society in the U.S. They make sure that the abuses connected with resource extraction are held down. So the problem is not that the resources occur, the problem is that we need to strengthen democracy and politicians do not want to strengthen democracy because they like the power they enjoy. It is up to journalists, it is up to civil society, it is up to activists to strengthen it. And frankly, the fact that you have courageous people, no matter how they are abused, like Kwesi, who will keep fighting the good fight. For me, it's a good sign, but we need more of them. Of course, the African diaspora here in the U.S., in the west and in Europe, also have a big responsibility to make sure that their governments and corporations that are based in the west do not behave badly in Africa. It is our job to make sure oil does not become a curse in Ghana.
AMY GOODMAN: We're going to break and then come back. We want to get the full schedule of President Obama in Ghana. He'll be addressing the Ghanaian Parliament tomorrow. And also, talk about U.S.'s rival for African natural resources. Number 2 France has been replaced by China. We'll talk about Beijing's expansion in Africa. Stay with us.
[music break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is "Democracy Now!," democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Kwesi Pratt, speaking to you in the capital of Ghana, which is preparing for the first African- American President of the United States in his first trip to Sub-Saharan Africa, what is the schedule for this weekend?
KWESI PRATT: He will be arriving today in the evening. He will be a having a short discussion with the president of Ghana[unintelligible]. Tomorrow morning, he will have breakfast with the president of Ghana and three former presidents and vice presidents in the castle [unintelligible]. And from there, he will go to a local clinic for an inspection. He will then fly to the central capital and with meet with the chiefs and people [unintelligible]. Then he will spend some inspecting [unintelligible]. He is also scheduled to deliver an important foreign-policy speech [unintelligible] in an international conference. Basically these are the things he'll be doing.
JUAN GONAZALEZ: Kwesi Pratt, on another matter, in the G-8 summit, one of the things President Obama was able to get the European leaders to agree on was increasing sharply agricultural aid to less-developed countries. Any sense on your part whether this will have any major impact on Ghana or other countries in Africa?
KWESI PRATT: [unintelligible] What we need in the developing world, is not gifts and not aid. What we need must be fair trade. If we could get equitable prices for our products and so on, we could make it on our own. In fact if the World Bank and [unintelligible] stop insisting on the subsidies of agriculture, we could then make it. The problem with African agriculture, and agriculture generally in the third world, is while the developing countries through the execution insist that [unintelligible] they keep subsidizing the products. The end result is that are products are priced much higher than products from Europe and North America and so on. So, what I think we need to look at is institutional changes to change the global trading system to remove the conditions that are imposed by the World Bank and the IMF and if that is done we can stand on their own. There is no reason for the poverty we receive in Africa. Africa is one of the most resourceful countries on the continent. [unintelligible] Some estimates say, Africa has about forty percent of the world's resources. And therefore there's no reason why Africa should continue to be poor.
AMY GOODMAN: Nii Akuetteh, lets put the question of the G8 summit to you, particularly the leaders pledging twelve billions of dollars for the food initiative?
NII AKUETTEH: I think this is the case where the cliché, "where the devil is in the details" is really important. Agricultural trade, as Kwesi hinted, has been really detrimental for Africa. We know that the western countries subsidize their agriculture and dump on the price resources in Africa under the guise of food aid. So, whenever we hear food aid, our ears should peck up, we should become more vigilant. So we have to read very carefully what it is that is in this package, what it is that is being promised. The other problem with any promises from the G-8 is that there are all kinds of shenanigans. Sometimes the repackage old money include new money. Whether it is old or new, they hardly deliver what it is they promise. They just read out fancy announcements for the sake of, Amy, people like you, the press, to say, we are doing so much to help Africa. When it comes to actually delivering what they promise, that's a problem. The third problem is that there's the problem, the question of genetically modified food. And whether multinational corporations are going to s control going things like seeds that African farmers plant. So, I think it is important to take that agreement from the G-8 to put it under the microscope to examine it very, very carefully, and to have a lot of strong dialogue about changes that it would need. And finally, I also understand what they promised is less than what Africa needs and I understand their $3 billion short. What we have there, you really cannot pronounce on it until you look at all the details. If the details are not right, it could do more harm than good.
AMY GOODMAN: Kwesi Pratt, we want to thank you for joining us from Akra. We will continue to cover the president's trip next week on "democracy now!" Kwesi Pratt, editor of "The Insight" newspaper in Akra Ghana" and, Nii, we'd like you to stay with us as we turn to the issue of China's economic expansion across Africa
July 10, 2009
Source: http://www.democracynow.org
WE ARE ALL EARS AND EYES,
AKWAABA, BROTHER OBAMA!
| Well, I'll hear it, sir: yet you must not think to - First Citizen, "Coriolanus" I,1,85 |
On this special occasion of the vist to Ghana by the first black president of USA, this song is dedicated to the audacity of hope that catapulted him to power. I dedicate it also to honour the late Nana Akyea Mensah of Apedwa, and all the victims of human sacrifice, ritual murder, extra-judicial killings and political disappearances, water-boarding, torture, our young people who perish on the Mediterranean seas in search of imaginary El Doradoes, those who could not make it because of death by thirst on the Sahara, those who end up detention centres for illegal immigrants, and children who die starving; may the gods forgive me if I forgot the slaves! In the desperate hope that we can make some difference for tomorrows victims!
Please join me in singing to welcome our brother!
Nana Akyea Mensah Sings
This land is your land.mp3
2840K Play Download
This Land Is Your Land!
As I go walking on that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me an endless sky way,
I saw below me that golden valley,
This land was made for you and me!
This land is your land, This land is my land,
From Sharm el-Sheikh to the Atlantic Ocean,
From Madagascar to the Straight of Gibraltar,
This land was made for you and me!
I have roamed and rambled,
And I followed my footsteps,
Through the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
And all around me, a voice was sounding,
This land was made for you and me!
In the squares of the city, under the shadows of the steeple,
At the relief office, I saw my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there whistling.
This land was made for you and me!
A great high wall there tried to stop me,
A great big sign there said private property,
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!
That side was made for you and me!
Nobody living can ever stop me!
As I go walking on freedom's high way,
Nobody living can make me turn back!
This land was made for you and me!
This land is my land this land is your land!
From California to the New York island,
From Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters,
This land was made for you and me!
As I go walking on freedom's high way,
Nobody living can make me turn back!
This land was made for you and me!
This land is my land this land is your land!
From California to the New York island,
From Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters,
This land was made for you and me!
STOP AFRICOM!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
