I WEEP FOR SETH KWAME BOATENG, MANASSEH AZURE AND ANAS

Ghana is undoubtedly one of the most peaceful countries in Africa in terms of war and crimes. But Ghana is not free from corruption and injustice which makes the country unpleasant for its citizens especially the poor who turns to suffer at the detriment of their supervisors and officials. Right from the District Assembly level to the Presidency alongside public and private institutions, there have been several instances of alleged and proven corruption and injustice.

This menace keeps going on for so many reasons. Among them is that most of these officials who are found guilty of squandering state monies or indulging in acts of injustice are not prosecuted. In most cases, they are suspended, transferred or sacked. In few cases where they are taken to the law court, they are fined lesser than the amount stolen. The lack of no severe punishment for perpetrators somewhat encourage other state and private officials to find dubious means of defrauding the state or their institutions.

Another reason why this menace still lives with us is because greater percentage of Ghanaians are timid, thus unable to agitate or make strong calls for accountability and justice. The far a corruption or an injustice issue can go is its discussion in the media where panellists express their displeasure. Even during such times, there is someone who will be defending the culprit. Social media is the next place where such issues are discussed where the ordinary Ghanaian also expresses their displeasure or in a way lambaste the fellow in question. It is so rare to see a pressure group or the ordinary Ghanaian calling for the prosecution of someone or accountability to the extent that it will yield results.

One of its kind where Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson called on Ghanaians to assist her hold a vigil in the wake of severe power outages across the country, though successful, a section of the public and officials labelled her as a member of the opposition, disrespectful among others. Some people went to the extent of abusing her personally with phone calls and on social media. Lack of proper supervision is also one reason why corruption and injustice still stares us in the face as Ghanaians. It's as if those who are tasked to supervise rather team up with those working to dupe the nation and their various institutions. I could go on and on to give simple reasons why corruption is still alive so glare in Ghana.

But in the midst of all these, some selfless journalists have dedicated their work to unravel some of these corruptions and injustice acts going on in the various institutions. Example of such revelations brought into the lime light by the award winning investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas are Inside Ghana's Madhouse (January 2010), In the interest of the State (April 2010), Orphans Home of Hell-Osu (September 2010), Enemies of the Nation (February 2011), Ghana's Gold (December 2011), Presidential Assignment-Stealing the People's Power (January 2012), Dons of the Forest (June 2012), Deadly Gold (July 2012), Wild Ghana Project (September 2012), Spirit Child (January 2013), The Messiah of Mentukwa (May 2013), Ghana Sex Mafia and Ghana's Soul Takers (April 2014) and Ghana's Food for Thought (December 2014). 

Another hard working award winning journalist who have been putting in much efforts to unravel corruption and injustice in Ghana is Manasseh Azure Awuni ; an investigative journalist presently working with Joy FM. Notable among them was The GYEEDA Rot (2013), The SADA Rot (2014), The World Cup Kickback Scandal (2014) and the Gay Doctor (2014).

The list cannot be ended without mentioning another hardworking journalist also working with Joy FM; Seth Kwame Boateng. He has been in the new lately for his ground breaking documentary Locked and Forgotten which even won him a citation from President John Dramani Mahama and adjudged overall Best Journalist in 2014 by the Ghana Journalist Association. He also produced documentaries like Buying Life (2014), Pain from Cursed Cell (2014) among others. 

In life, the goal of every worker is to finish whatever project it is and then see results or make the solution work. The same applies to these assets of ours. Am not sure Anas, Manasseh and Seth are just so passionate about journalism that they pick up their equipment and go out there to investigate corrupt and injustice issues in the society. All of them have on several platforms shared how far they go and how dangerous the work gets sometimes to the extent of nearing their graves. Thus the utmost goal of these journalists is to see that desired change that triggered them from the onset to take on a particular project. So the question is, do changes and justice come to the projects they embark on?

I have not gone back after a project carried out by these gentlemen to see whether change and justice is carried out as expected but looking from afar, everyone can attest that the desired end result do not happen. 

In the wake of the revelations, authorities who were supposed to be working but sleep on the job for such corruption and injustice to be happening stand on their feet to get the mess cleaned up but after the heat is gone and another topical issue comes into the limelight, most of the happenings continue. Due to this, the mess does not get cleaned up entirely but rather give culprits the awareness on how to restructure and divert their dubious acts. 

Let me take Enemies of the Nation as an example. This was a documentary filmed by Anas Aremeyaw Anas on the fraud and corruption that goes on at Tema Habor. It showed how officials of CEPS who are supposed to be taking tax for the state team up with importers, receive bribe from them and allow them to transact business at the loss of the state. It is no news that many of these happening revealed by Anas still goes on at the Tema Habor. 

Another is the SADA Rot, a mystery unravelled by Manasseh Azure. This documentary revealed the fraud and corruption going on at the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority. How SADA lied about growing trees in the Northern Region, how SADA claimed of investing in a Guniea Fowl project but had no evidence to show for it but rather gave an excuse that all the Guinea Fowl had flown to Burkina Faso (the lamest excuse I have ever heard in my life), etc. The CEO of SADA at the time Alhadji Iddi was in a way found to be the main culprit together with other staff. But the worse was to sack the CEO, change members of the Board and work goes on. Virtually no one was seriously prosecuted for the huge amount that was cited to go into personal pockets.

One documentary that made the biggest waves and took even the President to the prisons is Locked and Forgotten by Seth Kwame Boateng. Locked and Forgotten reveals how some citizens are taken into prison for remand but never get their cases to be investigated. And in many of such cases, the people are somewhat innocent. Ghana's prisons is said to be over populated which gives way for disease outbreak, hardship, etc. but everyday, our judges sentence and remand people. Some of these sentencing are said to be outrageous because a man who stole cassava or mobile phone can be jailed 10 years. A boy arrested for smoking marijuana can be jailed 15 years. Others are in remand for over 5 years where their cases never get back to the law court or investigated.

In the wake of this documentary, about 100 remand prisoners were released doubled with the call by several social groups for a bill to be passed which will see less or no jail sentence for minor crimes whiles others will see only fines. As at now, it is not news that a lot of people are still locked up and forgotten whiles others will still be locked and forgotten. This bill could take a long time to get passed by parliament because as soon as the heat of the issue goes down, even the parliamentarians will seem to forget. 

Some judges will as well forget or ignore and continue to sentence even minor offenders to many years in prison forgetting that there ever existed a documentary revealing the injustice caused by their actions. 

In conclusion, I think it is unfair to these hardworking journalists that after going the extra mile to unravel such corruption and injustice in our society, justice and changes are not ensured well. I don't think the award or citation they mostly get is their dream but rather solution to the problems since the solutions will make that better Ghana they always desire and want to live in.
Also, we have to be bold enough as citizens to support such selfless and hard working fellows who are putting their lives at risk for the betterment of us all.
I will also urge our beloved fellows to conduct a cross check after sometime and ascertain the level of change where the findings will be made known to the public.
LET'S RALLY BEHIND THE BOLD!!!
God Bless Our Homeland Ghana and put the corrupt to shame.

Another #Reality from my Medulla Oblogata.

Thanks for reading! Please don't hesitate to spend a few minutes to post your comments, criticisms and contributions.

THE HYPOCRISY OF SOME GHANAIANS – HATING RACISM BUT PRACTISING TRIBALISM

There is one aspect about life which is having effect on the Ghanaian populace but everyone seems to be silent on it. In this piece, I will love to address the issue of tribalism but in the relationship or marriage perspective. It might seem insignificant but bad relationship or marriage has effect on the economy and if not dealt with, we might end up building a generation of people who do not have love in them. So many a times in this part of the world, family contribution or opinion is key in the process of marriage to the extent that parents or family members can deny their son or daughter the right and privilege to marry someone they have loved over a long period of time.

One basis on which most of the denial is centred on is the tribal root of the person. For instance, the family of Yaa Asantewaa could deny her marriage to Nii Kpakpo because Nii is from the Ga tribe without considering their personal feeling, the love they share or how long they've known each other. This menace have brought a lot of confusion to families such as parents denouncing their children, parents not showing up at their ward’s wedding, breaking a relationship that took so many years to be built and so on.

Several reasons are given especially by parents for their refusal of certain marriages or relationships. Some of which are; people from the tribe they do not like have certain character traits, someone from that tribe have wronged them in a way and other excuses. Some parents also claim that they've stayed in the particular area or worked in the same office with people from where your spouse hails and do not like their attitude, thus will not agree to a marriage relating someone from there.

Such comments finds its way down the heart of many young ones who in their quest or journey in life about relationship or marriage try to avoid some persons from the tribe their parents seem to hate. It happens even at the cooperate level where owners of some companies refuse to employ people of certain tribes just because of the mentality.

Funny enough, there have been several divorces, quarrels and bad relationship as a result of such mentality which is having a negative effect on our beloved country such that if it is not addressed in a proper way, the consequences will be nothing good to write home about.

From the reality point of view, approximately 70% of one’s attitude or character results from the society he or she grew up or stayed over a long period of time, thus tribal character traits does not constitute a greater percentage of how someone acts. From a typical Ghanaian perspective, people from a particular tribe act in a certain way so as soon as your identity is revealed, many people around begins to perceive that you are of a certain character which from a factual ground has less truth. Yes one might act in a certain way that depicts where he or she comes from but more of that person’s actions or reactions depend on where he or she was brought up. Even in that case, it’s a bit relative because some people stay in an area but act differently from how may be a typical person from that area will act so one might conclude that it’s a matter of the mindset. For instance Nii Kpakpo is Ga man but might not in any way act like a Ga man because he stayed Kumasi thus greater part of his attitude will show traits of someone who lived in Kumasi or the kind of home he was brought up in. So in what capacity should someone judge that if Nii Kpakpo gets married to Yaa Asantewaa, he will do something that is common with Ga men?

One typical example I hear people say is if a non-Ewe lady marries an Ewe man, no matter how long the marriage lasts, the man will go and marry another lady from his home town or a lady who is also an Ewe thus some parents refrain their daughters from marrying Ewe men. Others say if you marry an Asante lady, she will be arrogant and also demand you to serve her an ‘elephant head’ as dinner when you actually do not have because may be the uncle is a rich man. It sounds funny but this is happening in almost every home in Ghana. Dissecting the above example, I have seen several Ewe men who marry ladies from another tribe but do not go out to marry another because the second lady is from his tribe likewise I have seen Ashanti women who are not arrogant to their husbands.

So many a times I ask myself where these mentalities emanate from or was it something that used to happen often among the earlier generations.

From the religious point of view, many people who claim to be religious but still hold these beliefs are lying to themselves. I will relate this to Christianity and Islam because they are the two most common religions in Ghana. Christians and Muslims believe that most occurrences including marriage comes from God thus the one you marry is given by God. This refusal of marriage and relationships based on tribal grounds occur mostly in the religious homes. And am not sure God created tribes like we see in today’s world so in what capacity should worshippers of that God be discriminatory since they believe everything that happens is God’s decision? If God is the giver of everything including marriage, then I don't think its appropriate to reject someone on tribal grounds.

Notwithstanding, there is a saying in Ghana that, we do not marry people but family which means family of both spouse have their ‘nose’ peeping into the marriage affairs every now and then. That’s where our parents have their strong hold because they claim that definitely, an issue will come up in the marriage that needs both families’ presence to solve it so in the situation where both families or tribes don’t like each other, how will that particular issue be resolved.

This issue is a bit sceptical but I am personally against this tribal doctrine that keeps breaking God given and strong relationships and marriages, thus all of us must endeavour to change because everyone is a victim. Am not sure anyone will be happy if he or she or a family member is denied what he or she truly loves.

But shockingly, many of the people who engage in this form of tribalism do not hesitate to receive an offer, a gift or assistance from persons of these tribes they clam to hate.

Its another reality from my medulla oblogata so please do not hesitate to write down your sincere comments or contributions.

Thank you for reading!

THE DUMSOR DIARIES...WHY PREZ. MAHAMA DESERVES THE PRESSURE

In my previous piece on The Dumsor Diaries, I addressed how we the people of Ghana shot ourselves in the foot or ate our cake and asking to have it back pertaining to the current power crisis in the country. In this piece, I want to address why President Mahama deserves the pressure that he is getting now. In reality, President Mahama is not to be blamed entirely for the current power outages, rather all successive Head of States and Presidents must share the blame. Because when Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah thought it wise that Ghana's population will increase as the years go by, he began building the Bui Dam but just after he was overthrown in 1966, none of his successors gave a deserving attention to the continuation and completion of the Bui Dam or plan to build other smaller dams which can supply Ghana electricity. It was so until 2007/2008 that authorities realised the need for more power, thus plans to continue the construction of the Bui Dam. It was said that by 2013, the dam would be ready for full operation but that never happened. 
This current power crisis is not the first of its kind. Ghana had power crisis in 1982-1985, 1998-2000, 2006-2007 and this current one which began from August 2012. So in all, Ghana has witnessed 4 major power crisis. I will not want to bother you with much details for the causes of these crisis but the bottom line is that Ghana depends mainly on the Akosombo Dam for power so any time rainfall pattern reduces or a major machine gets damaged, Ghana feels the heat. Quite recently, we have had the Aboadze and Asogli Termal plants assisting in giving power to a fast economy growing Ghana. At first, not much rainfall was needed but after Valco was established and it began working with so much power plus the emergence of several production companies, the Akosombo Dam needed to increase its power supply.
Talking about the current crisis which began in August 2012, the crisis was attributed to several told and untold factors. Among them was when a fault was detected on the West African Gas Pipeline which halted natural gas flowing from Nigeria to the thermal power plants in Ghana. Poor rainfall into the Akosombo Dam, lack of financing for fuel procurement, lack of proper maintenance on the thermal plants, delay of Jubilee gas were also among reasons for the current power crisis. 
Though President John Dramani Mahama is not to be blamed entirely for this current power crisis since it is somewhat a creeping problem, I think he deserves the pressure. As a President, though you might not be the cause to some problems affecting your country, your ability to be very proactive in curbing or saving the situation proves your potentiality. President Mahama claims to be working hard in saving the situation which I trust he is doing but I think the help should be forth coming better than what is happening now. 
One most important factor in all these to and fro about the power crisis is financing or money to help solve the problem. Government needs money to complete the Kpone thermal power plant, the T2 plant expansion, payment of its debt to ECG, acquire fuel for TT1PP and CENIT Power plants among others. All these boils down to how government can generate and manage its money so that enough will be channelled through funding for the power sector. And this is where the problem lies.
Government is unable to manage it funds as expected. We've had several issues pertaining corruption such as ghost names in the government pay roll, corruption by Ministers of State, corruption at GYEEDA, NADMO, NSS, SADA and co among others. The monies being lost in these instances are huge sums of money that when recouped or prevented can pay for the problems facing the power sector. Government is not being hard on its officials who have through several dubious means committed these crimes. And in cases where government claims to be working at it, not much is seen. Ghanaians as a people do the talking when issues come up and after one or two weeks, very few people remember those issues, thus our call for accountability is nothing to write home about. In some of these cases, several evidences show that indeed the officials accused are somewhat guilty but government either takes no action or less action to recoup the money and prosecute these officials. 
Government's inability to punish corrupt officials gives the way for others to also engage in corruption because many in their minds will believe that much will not be done to them even if they get caught.
Furthermore, I think it was not that much of a necessity for government to establish the Power Ministry. Am not sure the power crisis was lack of human resource so what difference will the Power Ministry make in a country who is already suffering from financial difficulties. Because workers of that Ministry will get paid, cars will be bought and many other procurements will be made to keep the Ministry running. Ghana needed an emergency and am not sure the establishment of the Power Ministry can contribute effectively to solving the problem since we already have the Energy Ministry, VRA, GRIDCo, ECG and co managing power. Even if human resource was needed, a desk or an office with few intelligent personnels could have helped in contributing than establishing a whole Ministry which might not generate money but rather spend money. 
The communication aspect of this whole power crisis is also one of the reasons why President Mahama is receiving pressure from many Ghanaians. The promise and fail factor which raises the hope of the people but later results in disappointment is part of why many keep calling for the President's head. The truth about the issue must be told so that every Ghanaian knows when the problem will be solved. Some Ghanaians know that President Mahama is not to be entirely blamed for the crisis but when the solution that comes out goes contrary to what is being promised, then the people feel they are being lied to. On several platforms, the President and his Ministers claimed that the solution is near but as soon as the time is approaching, they make a U turn to say something else. Notwithstanding issues to do with the purchasing or renting of power badges, etc. 
In conclusion, President Mahama must find a way to solve the problem because the pressure will keep coming. There is a saying that if you tell a lie, you have to continue backing that lie with another lie till the end so it makes everything you say a lie. Am sure if monies that goes down to the throat of corrupt officials (both government officials and officials of the various institutions), money for managing the Power Ministry and so on are safe in government coffers, we might not be where we are now, thus President Mahama should punish corrupt officials without fear or favour. It is until then that Ghana will be a bit sufficient with money to solve its power problems because borrowing to solve the problem is like selling your colour TV to purchase a black and white TV. Ghana is capable of managing its own affairs so President Mahama should prove we can otherwise the NDC government will continue to be unpopular which might affect them in the 2016 general election.

THE 'DUMSOR' DIARIES...HOW GHANAIANS SHOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT

From all the to and fro about the recent power outages in Ghana nicknamed 'Dumsor' (off/on), I have gathered that there are several causes to this huge national problem. Decrease in the water level that power's the Akosombo Dam, lack of natural gas, the inactive Bui Dam, damage of several power machines at the Asogli Power Plant, indebtedness of Electricity Company of Ghana among others have said to be causes of the current power crisis. As a result, Ghana is undergoing the load shedding exercise which allows some people to enjoy power for only 6 hours and others, 12 hours in a day.
Like most Ghanaian people will always nickname almost everything whether its a serious issue at stake or not, Dumsor has just found its way into Wikipedia and Google  Play Store. The whole world seem to be informed about the situation in Ghana and its nickname, thus calling for the international media to have keen interest in every step that is taken by government, opposition parties and Ghanaians in general.
As for the problems Dumsor is causing, it can be compared to that of what the several coups after independence have caused this country. Companies are experiencing low productivity thus laying workers off, the small printing and photocopy shop across the street is unable to work smoothly thus a drastic reduction in profit, the cold store woman at Madina market is in debt because all her frozen fish and meat is spoilt. These and other numerous problems is what Dumsor is causing to businesses and individuals across the length and breadth of Ghana.
In this piece, I will like to share my idea on an aspect of why Ghana is having Dumsor which is as a result of the hypocrisy and attitude of the Ghanaian people. The situation can be compared  to the saying, 'you cannot eat your cake and have it'. Ghanaians have within a very long time taken time to eat their cake without thinking about its consequences and now have grown so wild searching for it. Out of all the reasons why Ghana is having power crisis, the indebtedness of ECG is one of the main causes. So one will ask, why is ECG owing? ECG is owing because Ghanaians are owing ECG. From my point of view, one of the most lawless countries in the world is Ghana. Ghana and its people find it so difficult to abide by even the most simplest laws, rules and regulations. Yes, it is somewhat true that human beings in general are not good at abiding by laws but that of Ghana is just way above the bar. The worse of it is those who are suppose to see to it that people abide or do what is expected of them. They are either bribed off or are not doing the job at all. Out of the total power usage in Ghana, commercial usage consisting of companies, public and private institution constitute about 20% whiles individual Ghanaians usage constitute the rest 80%.
From reports coming from ECG, both commercial and individual users are owing them huge sums of money. So the question is how can ECG pay its debts when the same people demanding for power are owing them? ECG claims almost all the ministries, government departments and agencies have refused to pay their electricity bills appropriately. Also, individuals who uses electricity in their various homes are refusing to pay their electricity bills well. A lot of activities are constituting to this and typical among them is illegal electricity connections especially in very congested communities like Ashaiman, Nima, Newtown, Alajo, Kotobabi, Kokomba market, etc. I have personally been to these areas and the level at which illegal electricity are connected is just way too inappropriate. If one person gets the opportunity to legally acquire electricity connection from the ECG, 1001 neighbours around will tap the power. These people have ways of manipulating the system to the extent that their connections cannot be documented in the machines of the ECG. These people use fridges, tv sets and several equipment that adds to the debts of ECG. One funny occurrence is that no ECG official dares to go into these areas to demand for the right thing to be done. Anyone who dares will be beaten like a criminal so for such fear, officials of the ECG turn to ignore these activities though knowing.
Other individuals who are legally connected to electricity too refuse to pay their electricity bills. Those who try to pay too do so at their own time and when the ECG comes to disconnect the lights, as soon as they step their foot away, re-connection is done by the people themselves. Then again ECG does not have a machines that detects self re-connections so it takes time for them to realize what has been done in their absence.
The claim by the ECG that government institutions are owing them is also a huge problem. Looking at the bureaucratic nature of Ghana's system, ECG have little or no action to take against government institutions owing them because when they try to effect disconnection, officials who work there will not allow but rather suggest to talk to ECG on the grounds that they are all working for the same government. This then makes it difficult for ECG to take the necessary action that will enable them retrieve monies owed them.
I may not be able to tell how much money ECG is loosing in this menace but deducing from all these inappropriate activity by the individual Ghanaian, we can all testify that the ECG is loosing much money which is not enabling them to pay their debts for electricity to be sold to them, thus sell to Ghanaians as well.
Yes indeed, we have eaten our cake and cannot have it. So in as much as we demand for power, blame government and all that, we should not forget that we are part of the problem.

Thanks for reading. Its another Reality from my Medulla Oblogata. Your sincere comments, contributions and criticisms are warmly welcomed. Don't forget no one can build Ghana except us!!!