TODAY, I AM 36

Yes, I am 36. And yes, I have little means. But I know the ends. I mean, I know exactly what I want from life. I am not confused - not even for a second. I am working at getting it and I have health and talent with God as my guide to do so. Everybody has been through a unique life experience. The difference here however is that I am one of those keen observers of one’s own life experience. I am a student of myself. I engage in self study and self education. I am a forever student of life. I don’t know how come, but I guess that’s why I am a writer. I am able to recollect and narrate the fine details of every practical experience that I go through in life. If you sit down with me for a drink, I can narrate the details, even the dialogue of the moment in twenty years to come with clarity. Reminiscing for me is a hobby and photography a passion – I like capturing the moment and locking it up in my sub – conscious mind. My philosophy? I am an extreme liberal on social affairs. I am mostly misunderstood not only by those who remotely know me but also by those who have been intimate with me. I am a student of goal setting. I don’t subscribe to using every ways and any means to achieve my goals. I believe in the ‘right means’- if there is anything like that. I am a student of great people. I want to be great with my works and that’s why I study great people. I am a believer in myself as an image of God the creator. I try to create every day. I have come to know that integrity, honesty and truth coupled with a positive and progressive attitude towards humanity will always bring a man honors and glory at the end. I thrive towards it. I have embraced it. In tandem, the greatest virtue for me is self – restraint which comes from conquering oneself. Controlling what one’s body desires, one’s mind under his control, taming the tongue, assuming calmness from lack of temper, focusing on the good with the eyes on the price, shaking off the canal knowledge. This is a great moral dilemma for me. I strive every day to achieve the virtue of self – restraint. As for justice, and the prudence of it, I am still contemplating it. I know how much injustice pays on the real side of the world. At 36 I am only realizing the truths of life. I am ready to shake off the escapades of youth, focusing on the end goals. I am consecratedly committed to my plans. And here, I have learned from great guys that one’s plans must always come in duplicates if they are to succeed. Always have plan A –Z. Whenever plan A is about to fail, apply plan B and when plan B is about to fail, apply plan C. etc etc. A man with just a plan A is a man without a plan for plan A is almost always 99.5 % guaranteed to fail. And a man without a plan has nothing to achieve. Since it is pretty obvious that one cannot achieve any goal in the real world without allies (people who share common interests and values and philosophies etc etc.), I am building alliances towards the attainment of the goals on my mind. And in making allies, I am willing to dine with the devil, not to become the devil or his advocate but as a means to study his ways and devise tactics to conquer him. But I believe sincerely that, of all the allies I need for the attainment of my goals, and the good life, my woman – I mean the one – is the most important to me. Everyone else come second. I have been accused of being egocentric by some of the closest people to me. If that were true - and I don't know if it is - but I take criticism from those who love me as truth - at 36, I am ready to lose my ego. It is not worth it. When I was growing up in KANDIGA, they used to say if God is the King, then, everything you want, you will get it. Gracefully, God is the King. Which means whatever I can behold is mine. I behold my greatest heart desires!!! I thank God for my life and the life of all the people who have affected my life one way or the other. May God accept the meditations of our hearts and the positive words of our mouths flowing from positive thoughts. Amen!!!

Defaming Our political Leaders with False images – And with Aid of Technology

Our body politic in recent times seems to have reached a new crescendo. It is a stage that cannot be reasonably considered as an advanced stage in our politicking. Indeed, it has been debasing – to say the least. At best, we can say that, we have reached a point of lazy politicking with the aid of computer applications and the easy access to available new social media– taking advantage of the ignorance of the masses to spread falsehood. People now have no need to investigate issues or even be interested in it. No gate keeping mechanisms before going to the media simply because people have access to personal space and networks of friends, acquaintances, family etc on new social media - facebook, twitter, whatsAPP etc. etc. and can publish instantly with viral and maximum effect. Our politics has now been reduced to defaming our leaders very cheaply by use of false images. It has become a competition among young political activists with access to social media tools. Everybody is now a specialized propagandist with no regard for decent political discourse but an insatiable quest to defame the opponent without apology – and by any means necessary. The latest method is with pictures. As they say, one picture speaks a thousand words. With the aid of Photoshop – a computer application that is capable of manipulating pictures and altering images - some uncouth and desperate elements within the political group (NPP) have gone ballistic – almost acidic with false images of our President, thereby misleading the majority of our people who do not appreciate information technology. There are also ramifications for our international image as a nation etc. Since then, similar characters within the ruling NDC or in support of it have retaliated in equal viral and acidic measure. With this APP, anyone’s head in a digital photograph can be replaced within seconds with another’s or any other image thereby maliciously creating false images to further create false impressions and notions. In the past week, the victim has been our president H.E John Dramani Mahama. A member of the opposition NPP Michael Omarie Wadie led a social media assault on his image when he 'photoshoped' our president into a porn star. It is such a disgusting image which caught some of us completely stupefied. This distasteful image went viral around the world via social media to be viewed by an under - estimated twenty (20) million people in less than two (2) days. If you think that creating and distributing this false image of our president around the world was condemnable, hear something else. The creators of this new trend have been on the defense. They are irrevocably committed to their course of action. And they argue, that yes, they created and/or distributed the false images. And yes, it was in retaliation for similar false images that had been created of ‘their leader’ Nana Akufo Addo in the past. Isn’t this amazing? Last time I checked we had only one leader of Ghana – and that is H.E President J.D. Mahama. So: now you know the people behind this latest defamation agenda - Some disgruntled NPP elements hell bent on sabotaging and undermining the government of President John Mahama. Michael Omarie Wadie who has been running away from responsibility is an acquaintance of mine. He wants everybody to believe that elements within the NDC party could be spreading the false images of the president. I dismiss that assertion as a discredited divide and rule tactic. We in the NDC can bitterly disagree but with don’t employ such debasing tactics against ourselves. Nobody will buy it. However, I strongly and personally think Michael Wadie has demonstrated a low opinion of himself with what he did to our president including his attempt to justify his action. He and his friends obviously and falsely believe that Nana Akufo Addo is at par with our President. They know that they cannot deal with the issues, and so have resorted to defamation. The NPP is losing credibility in the SC every day. They now want to drag all of us into the doldrums. They are fully engaged in equalization though there is nothing to equalize. Power can only be compared to itself. President John Mahama is wielding ultimate or if you like sovereign power in the nation – state of Ghana. Any other person or supporters of such persons attempting to equalize the president’s power can only be considered subversive. And subversive elements should be treated as such. There is rumors of a recent arrest of Omarie Wadie by the security agencies, I don’t know if for subversion or for defamation - or perhaps just interrogation and debriefing. If we are going to arrest and treat Omarie Wadie like John Kumah, Kennedy Agyapong, Owusu Bempah and so on, then better we allow him to remain in obscurity rather than giving him that self - promotion – which is really what I think my friend Omarie Wadie is looking for. We must not fall for the bait but go for the kill. I am for open and consistent divergence in opinions with our leaders. But some of us cannot endorse this abhorrent and progressively destructive use of computer applications to defame our leaders. I consider it an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians who unsuspectingly see these images on the front pages of our news papers and consider them to be true and are completely shortchanged in the event. I agree that elsewhere in the great democracies of America, computer APPS have been used to manipulate President Barack Obama’s images into Osama Bin – Lardin and so on. Creating caricatures of our leaders for the purpose of humor and political propaganda is a more acceptable category. To be just, I have seen in the past where some other unknown or unnamed people have used similar computer applications and created false images of opposition leader Nana Akuffo Addo where a roll of marijuana is transposed on his lips to try to dramatize and add effects to the rumors that he may be a user of that narcotic. Some news papers have carried these images on their front and back pages in the past unashamedly. Social media has been virally replete with such and such completely false images. Let truth be told. But is this a good reason to falsely portray our president as a porn star or someone engaged in office romantic escapades? Does Nana Akufo Addo represent Ghana as a sovereign state on the world stage? Absolutely not! And this is the reason why anybody comparing and trying to equalize Nana Addo with President Mahama is foolhardily mistaken. Notwithstanding, we must collectively condemn the use of the false images for political purposes whether it affects President Mahama or Nana Akufo Addo. Equalization will not move us forward as a nation as two wrongs don’t make a right. To be just again – arresting those who have openly admitted to creating/or distributing the latest false image of the President will be such a majestic egalitarianism of the law. If the law must be just, it must apply to all without discrimination. Besides, arrests without sufficient evidence to prosecute those involved, in my books, will only create heroes out of their folly. If there is evidence to prosecute in court, so be it. Let’s set an example in our quest to arrest this horrible behavior. Amenga –Etego ‘Commandante’ SaCut – the writer is a multi – media journalist, broadcaster, political activist & ghost writer.

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA

Dear President Mahama, Let me do the first thing first. Congratulations on your victory as President – elect of the republic of Ghana. You fought hard for this victory. It is not a fluke. I know that there were many who would rather die than see you become president of Ghana. There were those within your own party who even worked actively against your victory. They tried hard to sabotage your efforts. I am sure you know them for yourself. Within five months you managed enigmatically and charmingly to get more than half of the Ghanaian voting population rooting behind you for victory. One is left with no choice than to admire the ease with which you have become elected president of the republic of Ghana. I want to believe that your victory has nothing to do with your ethnicity. It is a fact that more non- northerners voted for you to become president of Ghana. You even captured more votes in Ashanti – region – the opposition strong hold – than your predecessors ever got. You have been given the blessing of all Ghanaians. Therefore, I am hopeful that you will eschew tribal politics during your reign as president since tribalism is a major bane for our country’s development. I will never support you just because you come from northern Ghana. That will be ‘primitive loyalty’. I will only support you for your show of commitment to fighting corruption, ensuring probity and accountability in public office, demonstrating that you are clearly in – charge of your government among other things. I am sure that one of your strongest attributes which brought you victory is your ability to reach across to others who may even openly disagree with you. You did it within the NDC after the demise of late president Mills. You can do it again now that you are fully in –charge. There are also many who voted for you because they believe you are very competent. Now you have the task to prove that competence. Mr. President, your victory is a new day not only for your supporters but also for many of those who had hitherto lost confidence in the NDC leadership. You represent new hope for those of us who almost lost hope in the essence and relevance of the fundamental values of the NDC. I have heard your spokespersons say that you are taking this electoral victory with humility. I hope so. I know for a fact that the task ahead of you is a daunting one. You cannot afford to fail where President Mills did - Unless you want to end where he did. There used to be a lot of vindictiveness within the NDC. There also was exclusiveness. There was divisiveness and ingratitude. Flatterers ruled the presidency in the past and intolerance of divergent views reached such intolerable levels. And regrettably, truth was buried and the speakers of truth publicly crucified. You may disagree with me on my judgment of the last NDC government, Mr. President. We are allowed to agree to disagree in a democracy. However, we have a new day to begin to make amends. Some of us are progressives and will give full support to a new, genuinely inclusive government – inclusive of divergent ideas, inclusive of genuine competition, and a tolerance for truth. In my books, the only way to be different from the last NDC government is to get rid of all the people who have out –lived their usefulness in government. I don’t need to name them. There are young ones who must go out of government to give way for a new day. There are equally the old guards who must be retired for good if there is to be any real progress. The opposition to your government will be strong and vicious. The NPP with over 47% of the voter population behind them do not believe that your victory is genuine and without manipulation. Indeed, the NPP have accused you of conniving with the electoral commission to rig the 2012 elections. They obviously feel embittered and may not be cheerful losers. I hope you can contain an embittered opposition, and keep them also loyal. It is important to rally the opposition behind you. Inclusiveness should be your hall mark. Mr. President, You don’t need another opposition within your own ruling NDC party. If that is allowed to happen this time round, you may have too many enemies to deal with – a situation that will destruct you from succeeding as president. Learn from the mistakes of the Late President Mills. Don’t fall into the same traps as he did. Remember those who helped you win power. Don’t say it was the work of God because God works through men. Remember your promises to the people of Ghana too. Don’t tell us they were just promises to win elections. We would hold you accountable to your words – and we will do it without apology. I wish you good luck as President of Ghana. As a young person considered as a global being by many, you must raise the bar and galvanize young talents from within and outside Ghana to move Ghana forward to a competitive stage in the global village of international trade and commerce, cultural integration, international relations and diplomacy as well as research and development that will make Ghana technologically competitive around the world. It is my hope that some of us will not become compelled to be an opposition in your government on the basis of principle in the near future. That can only happen if you refuse to show true leadership – a new leadership that gives all of us hope. I really look forward to a new day in governance in our dear nation. Please don’t disappoint young people of Ghana. Sincerely yours, Amenga – Etego SaCut Political youth activist & columnist

Are we all just inherently hypocritical in Ghana?

Who in this country with the ability and opportunity to surf the internet did not first read from the BBC website that the late Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills died of throat cancer? Did we ask the BBC if they were pathologists? Why has there not been a denial of that BBC story? And why are we now pretending that it was the former president and NDC founder who first mentioned cancer as cause of death? Or do we have selective memories to the extent that we forget this man was answering questions from the same BBC? And if JJR said that the Prez Mills could have lived 6-7 months longer with the wisest of advise, what is wrong? After all, in 6-7 months, the NDC would probably have won power again, and if at all he died after that, power will remain in our hands for the next four years. What will be more prudent than that for the NDC? Are all these noise makers inciting the public against the former president simpletons? if not, what is difficult to understand in all this? Is it the 6-7 months (until after election) that is a big deal or the throat cancer that was first known and reported by the BBC? In any case, when BABA JAMAL, a deputy minister in this same government went to tell foreign diplomats that the ex president Mills was suffering from Throat cancer, nobody denied it from the wikileaks reports. He was not even removed from office by the same living president. So why try to crucify someone else who is not even the primary source of that same information after his death? This is why Some of us cannot understand what all this loud noise about the comments of former President Rawlings after the death of ex president Mills is all about? Government has even made further effort to manipulate and mislead the family of the late president for cheap political gain-all in a bid to cover up their own 'crimes' against the late President Mills. Anyways, Ghanaians are anxiously waiting for the autopsy report. And don't let them tell us they want to bury the man without telling Ghanaians what killed him since government spokespersons have already denied reports of throat cancer. In America, JFK was shot by a gun-man. everybody saw it but there was still an autopsy report to confirm it. Ghanaians need to know now - even before he is buried- what killed our dear president Mills!!!.?

LET'S SET SOME RECORDS STRAIGHT!!!

There is a bogus and a porous argument in town. It is coming from people within the NDC. These people either have rickets of the mind or they suffer from historical amnesia and they need to deal with it with a sense of urgency.

Here is a remedy for that malady.

What is their argument? That the NDC founder and former President H.E Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings did campaign for candidate Mills in the year 2000 and 2004, and yet, the man lost. Therefore, it goes without saying from that warped logic that with or without President J.J Sitting president Mills will win 2012 elections.

First of all, in the year 2000 the loss was caused by the recalcitrance of Prof. Mills himself. Over 60 constituencies fielded candidates that were unpopular not because the party didn't know but because candidate Mills himself had chosen against the wise counsel of President Rawlings- who was so sure that if these candidates were not replaced, the NDC will lose both parliament and the presidency- to keep these 'unwinnable' candidates in place just to prove that he was 'in-charge'. This is on record- documented or not.

So if ultimately, the NDC and Prof. Mills lost the elections in the year 2000, it was his decision to loose and president Rawlings who is on record to have been unwell at the time didn't even campaign much for him once Prof. Mills had chosen to lose!

In the year 2004, the NDC did not loose the presidential elections. The election went into a run-off and everybody with a half-brain cell know about this. President Kufuor got 48 % against Prof. Mills who got 46%...Prof. Mills chose to give up the presidency against the very will of the people of Ghana. The EC never declared J.A Kufuor a winner in 2004. It was Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and his cohorts of the NPP.

And When Prof. Mills decided to timidly accept defeat instead of allowing for a second round, he consulted no one- at least not president Rawlings who was away in CONGO at the time and who has continued to insists that the NDC did not lose that election.

Prof. Mills gave up a second round in 2004 ostensibly because Kofi Annan and co. gave him pressure to allow President Kufuor a second term in office even though Kofi Annan did not campaign for him. One wonders what Mills may have benefited personally from such a cowardly decision.

So: the effort of president Rawlings in the year 2000 campaign was rendered useless by a self-seeking decision by Prof. Mills to maintain Parliamentary candidates that were bound to bring down the NDC..

And in 2004, President Rawlings' campaign efforts sent the elections into second round- and we know that no incumbent ever wins a second round- and yet, Prof. Mills gave it up on a silver platter.

Therefore those who remain wise in the NDC must use their good sense toward the founder and stop the ignoramuses from continuing to derail any chance of having the founder near the 2012 campaign on the bases of this bogus, porous and uninformed argument!!!

SaCut Amenga-Etego

Ghanapolitics: SHOULD ELECTION VIOLENCE BREAK OUT IN DECEMBER 2012: THE NEXT FLT. LT. RAWLINGS MUST STRIKE - & HOUSE-CLEAN GHANA THOROUGHLY!

Ghanapolitics: SHOULD ELECTION VIOLENCE BREAK OUT IN DECEMBER 2012: THE NEXT FLT. LT. RAWLINGS MUST STRIKE - & HOUSE-CLEAN GHANA THOROUGHLY!

FALL -OUTS FROM NDC PARLIAMENTARY PRIMARIES- A WARNING SIGNAL TO THE ‘GREEDY BASTARDS’

The past weekend has been an interesting one for all political watchers in Ghana and elsewhere. For some of us in the NDC, it was more than just interesting- it was vindicating and demystifying. For sure the Ahwoi name was the BUZZ WORD. An Ahwoi fell, and it had such a boomerang effect.


No one- at least no NDC member – is left with any doubt that the power of the people still reign over money lure and sheer intimidation. The weekend’s fall- outs also leave one clear message on our minds as NDC members and Ghanaians in general- there are still some people in Ghanaian politics whose conscience just simply cannot be compromised with money- and these people remain the real king makers.


It started with the northern sector primaries, which saw several district chief executives loosing the contest to ordinary party faithful. From Ashnati, tonorthern region right through the upper regions, many known appointees or government sponsored candidates lost miserably or narrowly after spending so much money in campaigning and luring delegates.

When the Sunyani congress took place, we heard apologists of President Mills conclude very conveniently that that verdict was a positive judgment of his government- a 96.9% overwhelming vote of confidence by the NDC delegates. And that it was a signal to a victory awaiting Mills and the NDC in 2012. Some of us argued that the national delegates submitted to money lure and intimidation in a manipulative environment. At the end, some of us concluded that the outcome was an apology of a democratic congress because we believed absolutely that the delegates did not decide based on the general will of the mass voters in the grass roots of the NDC but based on their own personal motivations and parochial interests. Those who rubbished our arguments then will now have to write new notes. Nevertheless, results were accepted and a new chapter began.

If indeed the president was re-endorsed based on his policies and popularity, then there must be a good explanation for the rejection of the president’s own appointee for food and agriculture- the backbone of our economy. This, despite the fact that the same government machinery that was deployed in Sunyani was replicated in Agona east constituency just to ensure the victory of Kwasi Ahwoi. And I have been reliably informed that Ato Ahwoi the de-facto prime minister of Ghana had to be aided before he could depart from the venue of the vote count resulting from the shock of his brother’s loss.

But I’m shocked to hear that Ato Ahwoi was shocked at his brother’s loss. What was he shocked about? After all, this is the first time any Ahwoi has ever run for an election in Ghana- and it was a false start. Yet, these are the people leading the campaign for the alienation and exclusion of the NDC founder Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings from the party- a man who hasn’t only won elections as president of this country twice, but has also been the key instrument in the political fortunes and careers of all these manipulating elements now championing a malicious agenda against the founder. And to think that these people- unelectable as they are, even at the lowest level- want to convince the rest of us that they can win the next general election for the NDC without the founder. Only those who want to loose power will follow an unelectable bunch like the Ahwois- and Mills is following them.

Considering that five (5) out of ten (10) DCE’s who went into the contest in Ashanti region alone lost to ordinary party members after fierce contest is such a damning outcome for president Mills and his government that appointed these people into office plus, former ministers of state and even serving ministers in government blatantly rejected by the grassroots in loud protest and contrary to claims that the entire grassroots are united behind Mills and his appointees without J. J Rawlings.

And if a people reject a man as parliamentary candidate- a man maintained by the president as a minister of state or DCE- does it not suggest that such a man is an imposition on the people? What moral mandate do these rejected appointees have to continue to occupy such offices?

Or do some one wish to convince me that a man who is unfit to represent the people of his constituency in parliament have any justification in a democratic congress to represent the entire people of Ghana as a minister for Agriculture in a country where Agric is the backbone of the economy.

If the NDC were still a political party with men of integrity in public office, Kwasi Ahwoi, minister for Agriculture would resign for lack of credibility and to save his honour. Unfortunately, we’re not likely to see that voluntary action from him- and that’s why president Mills must rise to the occasion – for once- and sack Kwasi Ahwoi – unless that decision lies in the hands of Ato Ahwoi in which case the Agric minister will remain in office despite his loosing credibility- and that will speak so much of a so-called democratic congress.

For what is worth it, the disapprovals from the grassroots of the NDC of ministers and DCE’s are a clear indication of the gulf that exists between the popular vote- the people’s power- and the manipulative power of the so-called national delegate. In Sunyani, the delegates succumbed to manipulation whereas in the current situation the branches and ward levels are resisting imposition from the powers that be. This is where some of us have argued that unless and until the ordinary party members of the NDC emerge from the current state of apathy and disillusionment- a situation that can only be brought about by the party founder- there are no real chances for this party retaining power in the next general election legitimately.

We the grassroots supporters of the NDC don’t want any more promises from the leadership neither do we want assurances. The last time President Mills the leader of the NDC made a promise to us, it was in Sunyani immediately after he won 96.9 % of the delegate vote to remain flag bearer for the next general elections. I stood right in front of him in that coronation park and heard him loud and clear admit that without UNITY of purpose in the NDC, and without the active contribution of everyone one- big or small- the ultimate goal of retaining power will elude the party. He then promised to ensure a building of bridges and to converge the divergent opinions of the various groups and schools of thought that have emerged to propose different approaches to sustaining power for the NDC.

Not surprisingly, that promise has remained empty words, and the cracks within the party may have even deepened further. Undoubtedly, president Mills must take ultimate responsibility, and this is something that the mass and disillusioned supporters are very much aware of, and have begun to seize the opportunity to register their disdain for this deliberate attempt to take the NDC back into opposition after holding power for only one-term. This is just the beginning of the grassroots protests, and it may just be a warning signal to the ‘greedy bastards’ who may not have much time to take the right decisions to avert an eminent defeat in the next general elections.

Make no mistake, what ever decision president Mills and his team may take regarding the way forward for this party, the outcome of such a decision is solely the responsibility of the president and his team of current leaders of the NDC and the youth of this party will not forgive them for wrong decisions and undesirable outcomes.


SaCut Amenga-Etego

NDC youth activist