Sodom & Gomorrah Is Finally Gone!

As a poor man, I TOTALLY and UTTERLY empathise with poor people. However, I know the pervasive poverty in this country goes beyond a handful of squatters on the outskirts of Accra. Therefore, I wish to disregard the populist argument about poverty as an excuse to break laws.

I also know that when poor people get displaced, their poverty accelerates. So if i were a populist, I will jump on to the bandwagon and criticise the AMA for demolition sodom and gomorrah and creating a semblance of a refugee situation in Ghana.

But I am not a populist. I am a realist. And realism tells me that, even if demolition is not TOTALLY and UTTERLY the solution to flooding in Accra, at least, it forms part of the TOTAL SOLUTION. A problem partly solved is better than a problem left untouched.

In my books, this sort of courage displayed by the AMA is the sort crucially required by our leaders to tackle difficult national issues - it doesn't matter how many electoral votes it will cost. Afterall, leadership is not about winning elections. It is about solving problems after winning elections. If President Kufuor and the NPP had half the courage several years ago to take the necessary action on sodom and gomorrah, today's debate would have been non-existent.

The AMA must however go beyond demolition of known and popular squatter communities and demolish even the most fanciful buildings that have been put illegally on waterways by well - to - do people in well - to - do communities in the capital.

It will be TOTALLY and UTTERLY unjust to ignore illegal structures that belong to people in power and opulence whiles concentrating the demolition on poor squatters. Ghana must move forward!!!

Dear Hon. Atta Akyea

Dear Hon Samuel Atta Akyea,

Greetings from my corner of the world. I can see that you take the title "honorable" very seriously and very personally - almost like a bonafide title, to the extent that it even forms part of your Facebook name. That's great! You deserve it. After all, you worked hard and paid hard to get to parliament in the name of the people.

My only problem with some of you so called "honorables" is the way that you have taken this privilege to serve the people in parliament as a personal opportunity to do business with anybody from anywhere for personal gain instead of focusing on the public good - which is the primary reason why we-the-people sent you there in the first place.
Honourable, it has become very clear to some of us that you people in parliament have become rentable at a good price, not only to engage in lobbying, but to pursue the parochial agendas of individuals and organisations in this country at the expense of the public good - just for your personal gain.

Mr. MP, I don't think I am the only one who is aware of your dishourable behavior. Indeed, the public knows - thanks to one of you - Hon. Majority leader Alban Bagbin, who not too long ago acused all of you - including himself by the way - of taking bribes from individuals and organisation to work for their interests in parliament. Even before Hon. Bagbin let out this open secret, Hon. PC Appiah Ofori of the NPP made similar revelations of how you people took bribes to facilitate the sale of state assets to foreigners etc.

Hon, if there were still some lingering doubts in the public's mind about thèse damning révélations coming from within your own house, thèse doubts have now been sufficiently cleared by your own déshonorable behavior in récent times.

Does anybody have to think deep to know that some of you, including Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, have been privately rented by the some characters within the destination inspection companies (DICs) to do thier bidding for them against the Trade and industry minister Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah or rather the people of Ghana? The only thing one cannot be exact about - for now - is how much your illégal spinning services are Worth.

Otherwise, how on earth can so-called honorable members of parliament claim that the Trade Minister's creative efforts at paying a judgment debt awarded to Bankswitch by an international tribunal amount to soliciting bribes from the DICs? Where on this plannet Will a minister of state write an official letter with government of Ghana letterhead to solicit bribe?

Or is It that in your indécent haste to fill your pockets and serve your Private masters as well as score your cheap pilitical points, you refused to think before speaking out? Perhaps, you wrongly assume that we-the-people Will be cajoled into this your petty scheme Just because of your empty title honorable? If that is the case, you Will have to think again because we-the-people know that your titles have been rented out for crumbs.

These are the FACTS - in case you care to know.
The judgment debt was for the termination by the Prof Mills administration of a contract awarded under President Kufuor for services in the trade facilitation arena.

The Mills administration thought that the contract was improperly awarded and that Bankswitch did not perform the services for which the Kufuor government contracted it to perform.

Bankswitch then sued the Government of Ghana in international courts and won a judgment debt amounting to approximately GHC 197 million. The payment of this judgment debt has not only delayed, but It Is also accumulating to colossal sums.

Since the Government of Ghana has not been able to pay this judgment debt yet, Bankswitch has been engaged in négociation with Government on alternative payment arrangements.

Bankswitch even recently sought to have the Government of Ghana pay the entire judgment debt over a 5-year period, and in addition for Government to award Bankswitch 0.35% of the FOB values of all Ghana's imports over five years.
This supplementary award of 0.35% of FOB imports over 5 years, was not accepted by the NDC Government of Ghana because that would meak going into a contract with Bankswitch that would be worth more than GHC One billion cedis over five years.

This additional over payment to Bankswitch would be over and above the full settlement by the Government of Ghana of the GHC 197 million debt, whether paid in one lump sum or over a number of years.
It is this 0.35% of Ghana's import trade bill that Bankswitch would wish to be awarded that the Ministry of Trade has invited Destination Inspection Companies interested in paying off the Bankswich debt to present expressions of interest so as to prevent the people of Ghana from being milked an extra GHC One billion for no work done.

The Trade minister's transparent invitation on official Government of Ghana letterhead to five destination inspection companies to treat in pre-paying the GHC 197 million was motivated by the national interest in saving the country more than GHC One billion in overpayments that Bankswitch is seeking from the people of Ghana.
Honorable, it was Members of your NPP government who negotiated and signed the Bankswitch contract, and which includes some of you NPP MPs, your associates in civil society like IMANI GH and your rented press who are today running riot without doing the least due diligence checks. Indeed, hon. Anthony Osei Akoto of the NPP went to testify at the international tribunal to make government of Ghana loose the case against Bankswitch. What is your own rôle in all of this?

something i don't understand is what You people want from the people of Ghana after taking huge house rents, loaned cars, huge salaries etc whiles your ex gratia await you - which you people décide for yourselves without consultation from the people anyways.
The only reason i can attribute to your déshonorable behavior is avarice. Your desire for money and fame and vain glory is so insatiable, you Will go down even to hades, if need be, to have It.

What we-the-people want is Financial prudence on the part of Our governing officials. What we want is to have no illégal and improper contracts signed between government and private companies in the first place.

It is obvious to some of us, honorable, That you people in the NPP only want a delay in the Settlement Which will inevitably lead to paying perhaps more than double the amount in the near future which May then lead to "willfully causing Financial loss" to the state.

As a lawyer, you should know better than to suggest that the Trades minister who Is trying to avoid causing Financial loss to the state in the future is acting illegally. Acting illegally is when members of parliament rent out their public Platform to private individuels for personal gain. Check It!

The destination inspection companies already have contracts with ministry of Trade. Indeed, they are direct stake holders of the ministry of Trade. And the letter written by minister, as we have all Read, is not compelling the DICs into any agreement.

What is the NPP's problem with the people of Ghana? And what is your problem with the minister of Trade?

yours constituent

Amenga-Etego SaCut
(Journalist& Ghost Writer

WAEC!!WAEC!! WHO IS WAEC?

WAEC!! WAEC!! WHO IS WAEC?


Yes, it is very traumatic to have your examination paper or papers cancelled. And this is more especially when one is convinced that one has excelled in that first sitting.
I know this because in 1996, in Notre Dame Sem. Sec. Sch. I, and others suffered a similar fate when we wrote our final WAEC examinations. We had to resit English language and other papers. It was nation-wide cancellation - like this one.
It traumatized us, our mothers, sisters, fathers and brothers. Yes, It traumatized our friends.
At that time, again, I, and my friends naively blamed WAEC for their "insensitivity". But now it is very clear to some of us that blaming and getting outraged towards the exams council for these leakages is very unreflective behavior. Our outrage towards WAEC is indeed misguided because we are the exam council.
Why, isn't it our same fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who themselves go as low as Hades, if need be, to get these so-called "Apor" for the students? The people at WAEC - our brothers, sisters, mothers,fathers etc - sell these questions on the secret market every year to make ends meet because after all, everyone else in other organizations, even at the level of the presidency, has some plan B of some sort to make extra money from their work side - damn integrity. And we, who are outside of WAEC buy these leaked questions Just so that our relatives can "excel" unmeritoriously to boost our egos among our peers in society. So that we'll get "flying colors".
Isn't it true that students will rather risk the cancellation of their papers by cheating rather than be honest even if they have to resit after failing? Yes we think that if we fail and have to resit, we'll be stigmatized by our supposedly more intelligent peers. As a people, we honor those who dishonestly excel and we stigmatize those who honestly fail. So we prefer to cheat and pass - Damn the consequences.
Cheating is in our DNA Or do people think that the people at WAEC are citizens of Jupiter? We should never ask again why the educated people at the top are mostly cheats and thieves because it is obvious this has formed part of our nurture to the extent that it is almost our nature. Those guys in government who inflate contract sums, they started their thievery at WAEC exams. Check it!
Let us admit - WAEC is us. We begin our lives with short cuts from WAEC exams. No wonder we end up as thieves in public office as a shortcut to riches so as to impress the same society for which reason we cheated in our exams. We have now placed "integrity" on cheating, looting and sharing as a people. The ends justifies the means, in other words, is now our motto. Even at the university level, it is more shameful because many students at the universities go in to write common end of semester exams with back up "apor" in their pockets. So you sometimes know straight away that some university students clearly passed their SSS examinations by cheating which is why they come into the Uni. With same attitude only to graduate into greater shame.
Let's stop behaving as if we are a confused people - even though we are indeed confused. Let us blame ourselves for our bad nurture as a people and our get -success-quick&easy attitude. After all we want flying colors!!! And we have it! The flying colors are RED, GOLD &GREEN!

Ghana's MPs - Our Servants or Our Lords?

Ghana's MPs - Our servants or Our Lords?



..Are they ignorant? May be..are they philosophers? NO sir!

If you demonstrate true ignorance on a subject matter (don't forget ignorance of the people's representatives in parliament can be dangerous to the people's wellbeing) - and then, I - one of the people - have the specialised knowledge and courage to tell you that you are indeed ignorant on the subject matter - have I insulted you? How? What has Prof. Doodo than wrong to our representatives in parliament for them to wake up with their arms against we-the-people? I don't get it!

Or have our "legislooters" forgotten that we-the-people put them in there and reserve the right to question their competence or incompetence any time?

Are they better than the President and his team who are placed on the chopping board daily by we-the same-people? What ever they are thinking, they should think again!

Their posture is simply not that of "servants of the people"..as it is supposed to be in a so-called Democracy. And We-the-people will not be cowed by thier wrong posturing into deluding ourselves that our parliamentarians are "philosophers", because they"re simply not!!!

Amenga- Etego SaCut
(Journalist & Ghost writer)

It is neither in my nature nor nurture to flatter men - don't expect it

Open Letter To Ato Kwamena Dadzie

Ope

n letter To Ato Kwamena Dadzie
Massa,
Long time no see. How have you been since returning from your over two years sojourn in Canada? I hear you went to study. And many people have been asking me about what you may have probably studied abroad. Some are doubting that you actually went to study. Others are convinced you went to hustle in the kitchens and washrooms of Toronto. Did you study? Did you hustle? Or you did a bit of both? I hope you will clear the air and set the records straight.
The last time I wrote something about you - not that you are important to be written about - you went to blast me on your defunct blog. That was over three years ago. I Ignored you at that time because you were not worth my time.
Ato, I hope you know why people don't believe that you went for further studies. It is possible you don't know. I know you don't care. I will tell you anyways.
Although I hardly listen to radio, especially "rented airwaves" like yours, I have been told you came back to a lower seat at that discredited multi-media house. I also hear you are still doing the same old sarcastic news paper reviews every morning- the same childishness that you displayed for several years before fleeing to Canada. Is that true? I can't believe it!
Is that why you now call yourself "senior journalist"? Don't you think it is more appropriate to rather call yourself "senior news paper reviewer"? Because that is what you are. Or does it take a diploma in journalism from GIJ to review stories in newspapers and put your arrogant opinions before your listeners? I double doubt it.
First of all, there is nothing like a senior journalist. It is about the content of your work. But even if we admit that people with long practice are seniors in journalism, we will also expect such long term practioners to have worked for various media houses - print, electronic, broadcast etc - and may even own their own media houses. Massa, you have done the same thing on same station for several years, you cannot even run your own blog constantly and you have the audacity to call yourself a senior journalist? Senior journalist my foot!!!
Anyways Ato, what have you been yapping about since your return on the airwaves? Did I hear you have been pontificating and trying to act sanctimoniously as if you were a clean journalist with integrity? I heard you now even call "soli" a bribe. Since when? How about the "soli" that you and your ilk from Joy FM used to take from Kojo Mpian in President Kufuor's reign? Or is it because of the small Canadian Nokofio dollars you got from your Toronto hustle, you now see "soli" as a bribe?
Well, if you now see "soli" as a bribe, then that must be the first glimpse of noticeable change since your return. Some of us only wonder why your change has not occurred in your thinking and reasoning. Even your lyrics are the same stinking water-cooler gibberish.
Massa, I hear even your logic has not improved. Foresooth, it has gotten worse. And that is why you fail to understand a simple analogy of the dead goat syndrome by his excellency the President.
Let me explain in simple class one English so that even the "dullest school kid who is always last in class" can understand. The consolidated fund is the goat.The single spine salaries of workers is the goat meat. The workers of Ghana have taken over 70% of the goat parts. That includes the liver and the heart of the goat etc. And that makes the goat DEAD. If workers now threaten to go on strike, so as to get more salary(more goat meat), those workers are demanding what does not exist - a dead goat. And there is nothing more the dead goat can offer.
Ato, it is either you understand this simple analogy - which means you have more than two brain cells - or you misunderstand it - which means you have less than two brain cells. And so if your so-called further studies in Canada cannot help you understand this simple analogy, then I double doubt if your diploma in journalism from GIJ can help you.
There is little wonder that you now call the president a Dead Goat just because he used this analogy to drive home a point to the discerning people of Ghana about austerity times.
After all, I hear that the reason why your contrastingly beautiful Ex-wife divorced you, and from which ignominy you run away from Ghana to escape, is that, apart from your nerdy behavior, you used your stinking lyrics on her at home too.
And could it be as a result of your lack of reasoning improvement that you returned to the now deserted Joy FM not as a news editor like before but now as what? Do you even have a designation at Joy FM now? A senior newspaper reviewer? What an ignominious stagnation!
It is only at your radio station that people go for further studies and return to a lower position. You should probably call yourselves a topsy-turvy radio station.
And, Ato, what makes you guys think you can single-handedly change a governing regime in Ghana by sitting on your microphones? Do you guys realize the increasing numbers of microphones in town?
So that when you say that President Mahama is gonna be a first term President, do you mean to say that you are speaking for the people of Ghana? Have the people of Ghana spoken into your "chosen" ears? Since when you were abroad? And can you honestly say, with your hand on your heart, that you believe what you are saying?
By the way, Ato, if you really believe in Ghana why did you run away for over two years? And what did you come back with? More vitriolic talks?
massa, you cannot be taken seriously - not by your discerning listeners - unless you think your listeners are namby-pambies. Are they?
not exactly your friend
SaCut Amenga- Etego

NPP Murdered Yaa Naa To Fulfill Campaign Promise

NPP murdered Yaa Naa to fulfill Campaign Promise

Some of us were old enough in 1992 when the ban on partisan party politics was lifted in Ghana.

It was a crazy period. Crazy because many young people in Ghana heard the phrase "political party" for the first time. Many were confused about the meaning of the concept.

Until then, all some of us ever heard about a "party" was an event where one went to gather with other people in public to eat rice and soup and drink Fanta.

PNDC was in power with chairman Rawlings large and in-charge. When the ban was lifted, the PNDC was no more provisional. It metamorphosed into a national democratic congress NDC. The structures of the NDC were already on the ground for nineteen years during PNDC.

The National Patriotic Party which later became New Patriotic Party(NPP) however, had to create entirely new structures from the bottom up..they had to be wickedly creative.

Having been in opposition since the 70's, the elements who came together to form the NPP chose to adopt an incendiary tactic for mass organization and mobilization. This method had implications for our national security then, and still persist today.

The primary tactic adopted by the NPP in 1992 was to "touch base" with "aggrieved gates" or "minority factions" in every local traditional area. In other words, where ever the NPP found out that there was a power struggle in any local community - be it over chieftaincy, land, etc - what they did was to align themselves with the weaker party in the power struggle.

They didn't only align themselves with these minority aggrieved groups, they also mobilized and organized them along their common interests.

Throughout Ghana, from Bawku to Yendi, from Ga Mantse to Alavanyo and Nkonya, from Wa to Bimbila, the NPP cultivated and motivated aggrieved and minority groups to join their ranks with the promise of turning the "tables of power" of the various communities in favor of the aggrieved gates should NPP be voted into power.

This incendiary tactic largely worked for the NPP. Though in the minority from 1992, they succeeded in sustaining that "aggrieved base" for eight years until year 2000 when the tables of power turned in favor of the NPP and their various "aggrieved allies" throughout the nation.

And what did we see beginning in 2002? There was suddenly a resurgence of conflicts spearheaded by emboldened minority groups within various local communities throughout Ghana with the tacit endorsement of state machinery under President J.A Kufour.

Check it. The 2002 Yaa Naa's murder in broad day light in Yendi was supervised by Military officers under the command of President Kufour. His interior minister Alhassan Malik Yakubu is a native of Yendi and a member of the minority aggrieved gate in the Yendi chieftaincy conflict.

For eight years, the NPP and President Kufour could not find the Yaa Naa murderers. Of course, NPP could not find them. NPP are the murderers. In my books, if a crime of such a gargantuan magnitude is committed next to a military barracks, and the state is unable to arrest the culprits within the shortest possible time, it goes without saying that the state itself is the culprit.

In a word, the murder of Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II was the fulfillment of a campaign promise of the NPP to murder him and instal a new overload from the "aggrieved rival gate". The murdered Dagbon King has still not been buried 'up till tomorrow'!


The people of Bawku lived peacefully under one overlord until the NPP took power. They turned the town into a war zone. They armed the aggrieved gate in the town and endorsed their impunity. They failed to arrest people who were riding motorbikes in town with guns hanging on their shoulders and shooting as and when they felt like. Today, natives of Bawku cannot even go home because of insecurity.

Men, for several years, can no longer ride motor bikes in Bawku town. Their freedom has been taken away for political expediency. Business has come to a halt in that commercial and border town.Thanks to the NPP, President Kufour and their incendiary tactics.

The NPP are pure machiavellian. For them, the ends justifies the means. If they have to murder to capture and maintain power, they will always do it. That's why they now say "all die be die".

It is little wonder, that the NPP now want to lie their way into power. Character assassinations is now their modus operandi. If the NPP wins power again, they will not assassinate characters, they will assassinate people.

All peace loving Ghanaians must think twice about ever allowing the NPP back to power. For if a so-called "gentle giant" had the temerity to murder for power, can we imagine what a war mongering desperado like Nana Akuffo Addo will do to capture and maintain power? His may be "ethnic cleansing" or "Genucide".

Amenga -Etego Akaabitono SaCut - The writer is a Ghanaian political journalist, political activist and ghost writer

Who is dividing? And who is ruling NDC?

Who is dividing? And who is ruling NDC?



Are we not in deep trouble when our party General secretary Asiedu Nketia aka General Mosquito begin to tell us, that our party the NDC was founded on the basis of 'divide and rule'?
Is this history or "mis - history"?
...and that due to his adroit leadership, such a 'bad foundation' has been uprooted?
Having scored such a cheap political point, our beloved general secretary proceeds to accuse some contestants of the National executive positions of making attempts to reintroduce 'divide and rule' into the party..
Self - conceited about his own powers and level of control within the NDC, our general secretary went on to literally threaten we - the - party - people - and our delegates - to not attempt to vote in 'useless people' to work with him as GS at NEC or else, despite being unopposed, he will not "waste his time" working for the party.
Very interesting! Let's clap hands for general Mosquito. And whiles clapping for him, let us remind him that we are not in a Mosquito Republic!
Please allow our honorable delegates who voted you into power, again, on their own free will, and in their own wisdom, choose the leaders for the NDC this time round without your "undue influence" which you are trying very had to impose on the delegates with this "emotional blackmail".
Mr. Asiedu Nketiah! please be a domocrat. If the NDC delegates choses our new leaders, those leaders will not be 'useless people' just because you say so.
We respect you as our general secretary but we reject your 'divide and rule' tactics which you falsely claim that you have eliminated from the NDC.