A Monument and TV3..................

The Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt: Black Africa's genius in stone

Monuments have fascinated human beings since antiquity. Civilizations attempt to immortalizetheir achievements and contributions in bricks, mortar, stone, iron and any material that can encapsulate stories worth telling to generations yet to come. The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt show to the world Black Africa’s unrivalled genius in classical antiquity. Africa owes an eternal debt to the intellectual exertions of Senegalese thinker Cheik Anta Diop(one of my best scholars of all time) for exposing Black Africa’s centrality to that civilization through rigorous scientific research. The Great Wall of China recounts vividly the restless creative force of the Asian mind. And our monument of the “Big Six” at a key portal of our Republic tells the story of the centuries old struggle against colonialists who repossessed our land by the sheer force of guns and the treachery of guile.

For those who have lost me I am talking about the busts of the “Big Six” at the roundabout you cannot miss when you headed in or out of Accra via Kotoka International Airport (curiously you cannot find the name Kotoka International Airport on the websites of most airlines; what you find is Accra Airport). In a fit of nationalist fervor- triggered in no small measure by the fifty year birthday of our Republic- we mounted this monument; but it seems the tender care for it dissipated with the furling of the last commemorative buntings of the Golden Jubilee. I found it both ghastly and thoroughly anguishing any time I drove past the representations of these patriots- who sacrificed so much for our Republic- and looked upon the defacement that sat impishly and mockingly on their foreheads, cheeks and hair. Ghastly because it was a very public aesthetic monstrosity. Anguishing because it reflected the slobby sloppiness and the self induced bat-like blindness to things that matter which seem to have become part of contemporary Ghana’s national character.

 After about two years (by my own reckoning) some cleaning has been effected of these busts. And it took TV3’s probing lenses. This is a good thing and which I applaud very energetically. But while doing such a very good job I must confess that watching their 19:00hrs GMT news has become a pain in my bum. The pairing of the newscasters seemed a refreshingly good idea. And I like the ying-yang like pairing of lady and gentleman. What irks me about this pairing are the comments that are passed after a news item. Such comments are supposed to be wise cracks; a very delicate art that a lack of mastery of completely fouls the air. And here we are night after night having to endure TV3 newscasters trying to be wits and failing. The result is laughter and giggles after a very somber news item and totally useless chatter and the frittering of valuable time when viewers are waiting for the news to roll. Do the TV3 news editors review their telecast at all? TV3: direct your searching lenses in house!!!!!

The Christian Council of Ghana, Rev.Dr. Deegbe and Homosexuality

The clergy missing the point so publicly

The purported morbidly virulent spread of homosexuality(and lesbianism) in contemporary Ghana seems to have generated so much tension under the cassock and the clerical collar that needed an outlet if our ecclesiastical class was to maintain their sanity and sanctimoniousness. A press confab helmed by the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) last week provided the very welcome escape vent. In a rather terse almost coarsely worded statement read by Rev. Dr. Deegbe(a nice gentleman on any day it must be said) our clergy excoriated homosexuality and painted in vivid strokes the hell fire the Christian God will visit on our already burning Republic if this sexual aberration(by their lights) was allowed protection under Ghana’s laws. As if to underscore their seriousness and flaunt their power our prelates then left their sacerdotal enclaves and ventured into the very choppy political waters: “Christians reject any presidential candidate who shows any tolerance for gays.”

It is proper that Ghana’s clergy and the CCG for that matter show concern for the weighty challenges confronting our Republic. And to be sure it has an enviable record of doing so. On this matter however I argue that the CCG went on an emotional rollercoaster and vacated its long storied very cerebral approaches to national questions. The first victim of all this was the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. In its letter and spirit our constitution guarantees the running of a secular (not a theocratic) state in which the rights of saints, buffoons, shysters, drifters, punks and even Lucifer are protected so long as the legitimate interests of others are not interfered with by the exercise of these rights. And such rights include the choice (or not) of one’s preferred sexual orientation. Of course this position collides with Section 104(1) (b) of the Criminal Code and its criminalization of unnatural carnal knowledge which itself raises a plethora of definitional and constitutional issues. The reality however is clear: Ghana is a secular state in which citizens have their legitimate rights (including sexual rights) protected by law. At a deeper level what the CCG may be grappling with is Ghana’s choice of Western liberal democracy as a system of government and its implications and tensions vis-à-vis Africa’s cosmogony and ontology. If this is the case then it is fair to say that CCG created a straw man and bayoneted it.

The second point for me is that as it engaged in this pontification the CCG exposed metaphorically the rear of the church itself. What can be more worrying lately than the rise of charlatans in sacerdotal vestments who: prey gleefully on the pudenda of married women and minors; engage in open adultery; manufacture miracles that exist in their minds only and which they conjure by sleight of hand; preach day and night a materialist dogma that has come to supplant the Gospel and luxuriate in wealth and splendor from money extorted from their emaciated and captive flock; have morphed into an untouchable caste with a phalanx of body guards who are making claims on our elected officials and those who are aspiring to be elected? The CCG must find the unity and intensity (and publicly so and with clear sanctions as it has done with the homosexuality issue) to show its ire on these issues and indeed deal decisively with these contradictions within her fold if it is to be taken seriously. To my mind God’s wrath may rain down quicker on Ghana in copious doses of hot, sulphuric bursts of hell fire if such Bible wielding mountebanks are not dealt with quickly as opposed to the CCG losing hair over what two consenting adults do with their lower extremities in their private quarters. As the Nazrene will say : those who have ears let them hear. In the long run it is about choice is it not?    

Round table 7 - ECAS Uppsala - Picasa Web Albums

Round table 7 - ECAS Uppsala - Picasa Web Albums

LETTER TO A COLUMNIST!!!

Dear Sir,

I have read your column piece on AVRL and the GWCL saga. Useful commentary on a topical public policy matter I must say but I am worried by some of the claims you make. You assert that " human resource is the least" of the problems GWCL faced because it has some of the best engineers. But the question we must ask without sullying the image of the engineers there is how come GWSL needed AVRL in the first place? You defense is that politics is to blame. If that is so how then do you blame AVRL for all the woes of GWCL? 

I find your claim that Ghana has no problem with human resource quite puzzling. Do we even have data on the professionals we have in various professions? How many Ph.Ds does Ghana have and medical doctors and computers scientists and mathematicians etc? The minister of employment and social welfare just recently bemoaned the absence of labour statistics; that should tell you something about the gaps in this seductive claim that all is well with Ghana's human resource base. I mean look at our roads and other infrastructure. They tell a story of the challenges we face with manpower.I think that the excoriation of AVRL(which I humbly think your piece reflects) has taken a certain nationalistic tone bordering on the jingoistic. That will not serve Ghana well. Again you mention "wheel barrow and shovels" and the management contract that Ghana entered into with AVRL; does management involve such tools? Please tell me. Does President Atta Mills need such tools to run Ghana?

The great Nkrumah did not shy away from using foreign minds as and when necessary. His economic policy advisers for example included Europeans(see Tony Killick's latest work on Ghana). The Chinese have used foreign expertise as and when necessary( the Shanghai skyline for example has the stamp of Western architects; and note that the West has been China's arch enemy historically). Again in the run up to the Beijing Olympics Steven Spielberg was hired to advise on the choreography for the opening ceremony. Indeed a lily white man Shapiro is one of the core members of the Chinese Communist Party. Indeed to be able to tap into expertise wherever it comes from intelligently shows confidence in oneself instead of a cringing capitulation and loss of national honour as you suggest.

I think that sobriety is needed to interrogate this AVRL matter. I recently used the AVRL(after they left; or their "demise" -to borrow your words)  sms code 1700 to report a fault: I drew a blank. I called the Operations Room of the GWCL; the reaction was hostile. I was simply calling to report a burst pipe in my area and was led on a merry go round using my units to call area managers. The AVRL customer system worked; at least in my experience. AVRL might not have met all its targets; the key question is why and the answer does lie in the retort that the problems arose because non-Ghanaians were involved. Nationalism is important and I support you on that; but when it enforces blindness to our weaknesses that becomes debilitating hubris.

Fokofi please come again o this one.

Best wishes

lloyd 

NO BRAINER: IF YOU ALLEGE CORRUPTION PROVIDE PROOF!!!!

I have been pondering this maxim which seems to have taken root in our polity in contemporary times. Monitoring the news today it has been repeated ad nauseam that if Yaw, Ayisi or Rawlings alleges corruption they are talking nonsense unless they can offer proof. I mean the corrupt first and foremost will hide their booty and cover their tracks with all the subterfuge they can muster. If ordinary folks make the case about corruption it is in my view the duty of the state machinery to set the processes in motion to investigate. Kwame becomes a minister and then over night has four mansions in Accra and 6 four wheel drives sitting in his compound; people see this transformation and ask questions; should they offer proof before they are taken serious?

 In the first place a serious government intent on dealing with theft of public resources will ensure that government appointees do not live above their means and will take allegations of corruption serious enough to do their own checks( do an Anas if need be). It is lazy politicos who see power as a sure route to  ill gotten wealth who when confronted with corruption will respond as though we are in a court of law and say " where is your proof?": for me that is complete hogwash!!!! Any serious government will subject its ministers and appointees  to almost hellish standards of public morality; that is the sure route to the TRANSFORMATION we seek!!!!

Stars and a pitch!!!

Laryea Kingson (in black pants) and Stephen Appiah(in white trunks) leave the pitch.

I recently joined a crowd that had gathered to watch an informal training session of some of Ghana's very recent former soccer stars. A grass-less, red earth, almost obscure field hosted legs that had made Ghana so proud on countless occasions and graced some of the leading leagues on the globe. For me it was a moment to extend a very personal thanks to Stephen Appiah the only and first captain to have led the Black Stars to the world cup. Appiah's selfless devotion to country marks him out. I shook his hand; small talk followed; I could feel the steely resolve and charisma with which he led Ghanaian colours on countless battles on the football pitch. He still looks great; in evidence was that great physical presence: a cross between a rhino and an ox. Any smart government must give him the Order of the Star of the Volta. He more than deserves it.  On his right sat Laryea Kingson. In Ga I told him some of us were waiting for the moment he would play for the Black Stars at the world cup; it is now just a dream; maybe. Awudu Issaka(him of the Starlets fame) was on the pitch too and Matthew Amoah.  As I watched them tango with the red earth I wondered why Accra has no fields(grassed; organized; even humane) in a nation completely gobsmacked by this game?   

Minds on the Ghanaian Media

Great minds: Kwaku Sakyi-Addo(right) and Harruna Attah(left) 

On the podium

Professor Gyimah-Boadi holding forth

It was quite a night of satiny thinkery at the very well appointed Citizen Kofi last friday. Facing the burning singe of cerebral matter was Ghana's mediascape in the last twenty odd years and whether potentially mortal threats were lurking at the door.  Kwaku Sakyi-Addo was mortified by the emergence of religious charlatans  (who under the spell of phallic restlessness seem to have found voyeuristic escape in pudenda violations) and their seemingly unbridled access to the Ghanaian media. For Harruna Attah the  evils of pornagraphic licentiousness, dour reportage and worrying absence of communication finese among others could be cured by the emergence of a new breed of well educated journalists. The professorial input of Gyimah-Boadi capped it for me: the nebulous term national security needed clarification if it was not to become a bogey once again for the media. I stormed the Accra night thereafter musing: did Ghana's media get ahead of itself seduced by the promise of nirvana post liberalization?