ARTICLE 71 - A DRAIN ON GHANA'S RESOURCES.

Article 71 is a provision of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana that deals with

emoluments and salaries of certain public officers. This category of office holders comprises the top brass - the "pseudo" servants class of the country. It includes, the three arms of government, ie, the executive (the president, vice-president, ministers etc), the legislature (the speaker of parliament, deputy speakers of parliament, members of parliament and/or members of parliament with ministerial portfolios) and the judiciary (the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court).

There have been numerous committees for article 71 office holders in the fourth Republic. These committees are set to look into their welfare as they are considered to be selfless servants of the state. The ones I can readily mention are the Chinery Hesse committee set up by president John Agyekum Kuffour, the Ewurama Addy committee by Prof. John Evans Ata Mills and most recently, the Prof. Francisca Dora Edu-Buandoh committee by president John Dramani Mahama. This particular committee's report was ready in September, 2016, but, because of the political heat of that moment, it did not receive attention in the media and hence, most members of the public were unaware of its content.

It is interesting to note that, none of these committees has ever recommended a reduction in the emoluments, salaries and retirement packages of these article 71 office holders. They have always recommended upwards adjustments of their end of service benefits. This has necessitated a lot of concerned citizens of Ghana to wade in the discussion of this issue. The echoing voices on this topic have been that of resentment, repulsion and remonstration. 

In my mushroom mind, I think, most of the pegs that come with the retirement packages are clear wanton dissipation of the nation's resources, complete extravagance and a cheat against the poor tax payer. In this write-up, I intend to zero in on, the president's retirement benefits and find out, with all humility and reflection, whether the demands of our immediate past president, is in good faith, whether his request to have the official residence of our vice-presidents is indeed, a need, or a perfect case of greed. 

Even though, the several committees have always increased the emoluments and salaries of these public office holders, members of parliament have at all times disagreed and rejected their recommendations, especially when they feel that, these recommendations do not meet their expectations. They have on several occasions, forced incumbent presidents to yield to their whim, caprice and avarice. For example, when Prof. Atta Mills rejected the Ewurama Addy report on emoluments and salaries of article 71 public office holders, because, Ghana's economy did not have the wherewithal, parliament forced him to implement it, though, not to the latter. For instance, up to date, former president Kuffour is yet to be given, after eight years, the two houses - one in Accra and another in a place of his choice outside the capital. Not withstanding the above, some of these office holders bagged home colossal ex-gratia packages and in the case of the speaker of parliament - Hon. Begyina Sakyi Hughes, ripped off and emptied his office and residence including even the flower pots. Hmmm! Was this action a complete loss of sanity or humanity?

Similar thing happened when the Prof. Dora Edu-Buandoh's committee 's report was sent to parliament. Though, the government accepted the report, members of parliament rejected portions of the committee's report. Especially, recommendations that had direct bearing on their benefits, such as, the percentage increments, salary relativity, ex-gratia and provision of residence for the president. Instead of parliamentarians to receive 60% of the president's salary, they pushed for 78% of the president's. Again, instead of the 10% backdated  increase in the president's salary and 40% of his salary to be used to carter his rent bills, parliament amended it or reversed it to the Chinery Hesse's recommendations of 2005. Among other benefits the Prof. Edu-Buandoh's report mentioned as part of the former President's retirement package are, a state-provided staff not exceeding four and a furnished office with communications equipment and house helps consisting of a cook, steward and gardener. It was not mentioned in anywhere as part of the committee's recommendations that, the former president should be given two houses. One in Accra and another in a location of his choice. But parliament, for whatever purpose reverted the committee's report for end of service benefits (ex-gratia) of the president to what the Chinery Hesse committee's report recommended in 2005 as reported below by Jonas Nyabor of Citi fm.

The Chinery-Hesse Committee Report (2001-2005) which said, "former Presidents should receive “one fully furnished residence in the national capital and one out-of-capital residence at a location of the former President’s choice; all of which should not revert to the state in the event of the demise of the former President.” In the area of security, “the state will provide two security persons to be chosen by the former President from state security. Two vehicles for security.”

For transport, President Mahama will be given two vehicles, a chauffeur, maintained and comprehensively insured by the State and changed every four years for life.

For overseas official travel, the state will fully pay for all such trips with his spouse and two security persons.

The state will however, sponsor only two of such travels per year and those not exceeding two weeks in duration. President Mahama and his wife will also be entitled to free healthcare. Other benefits include, the payment of utilities at his residence." Wow!

Questions! Is the economy of Ghana strong enough to take care of these arrangements? Do the countries we go to beg for economic assistance have same or similar retirement benefit arrangements for their presidents? Does the work of the president commensurate these packages? Is it fair and equitable to incur these humongous costly expenses for our former presidents? Do they actually, if not deserve, but need these benefits? Are these ostentatious largesse out of their means or reach? Indeed there are more questions than answers! But, if all of the above questions are in the negative, then where lies the integrity of our leaders specifically, the article 71 office holders?

For God sake, president John Agyekum Kuffour was living in his private house before his ascension to the highest office of our beloved country - Ghana. I believe the same applied to president John Evans Atta Mills. But for president John Dramani Mahama, minds cannot "think far". 

Prior to him becoming the president, he was a member of parliament for three consecutive terms, that is, twelve solid good years. He doubled as a deputy minister and later a substantive minister, and for that matter, a cabinet minister. He also headed various committees in parliament. He was the vice-president of Ghana for more than three and half years. So, in effect, out of his fifty-eight years, president John Dramani Mahama lived in a state funded residence for twenty years. One is forced to ask questions, in the wake of the former president's demands to keep for himself and forever, an official residence that is allocated to vice-presidents of the Republic of Ghana. What has he been doing with his salary and the uncountable ex-gratia for all those years he has been in public office. Does he not have a house that he could move in to? If he does not have a place of abode of himself, why was he allegedly, indulged in a free spree of dashing out houses at prime areas in the city and expensive vehicles to people including madam Akua Donkor. He could have done himself, the public and the state a lot of good, if he should have kept those houses to himself. 

Another possible question is that, can't the president buy or build for himself a decent and befitting house from his ex-gratia? President John Dramani Mahama is supposed to be taking Ghc30,359.43 per month. This is a non-taxable salary, backdated to 2013. A poor civil servant who struggles to make far less this amount in a year, still makes ends meet, able to save and build a house for him/herself how more a president? It will take almost five years for an average civil servant on the single spine salary structure to earn what president John Dramani Mahama will earn a month as a former president. The least paid civil servant on the single spine salary structure, who still renders service to develop the country, takes a gross salary of Ghc 600:00 a month. The disparity and unfairness in this instance are crystal clear for us all to see.

I think as a president, despite the opportunity, to rip off the citizenry you should be rather grateful for their magnanimity, and live a life of austerity, so that you could be judged favourably by posterity.

President Mahama's request to have our vice-presidents' official residence for keeps is hard for me to understand. It is like a bitter pill for me to swallow or better still, a huge bill to settle. Why do I say so? If the whole country should yield to his demands and permit him take the house, fifty years to come, how many official bungalows would have been relinquished to former presidents? Especially, if we want to use president John Mahama's one term presidency as a yardstick. That will be like thirteen bungalows plus one. This will be like creating an estate of elite class of bourgeoisie. So, you can see the level of poverty, in the argument of the proponents for dashing out state property. The rest of us who would not have the sheer opportunity to be president one day can never have the chance to live in such an area even if we have the means financially.

In any case, if the state is willing to dash houses to former presidents, then I think it should be for accommodation purpose and not for keeps. So that, after the demise of the former president, that asset is reverted to the state. 

The president and his advisers or spokespersons did not do a thorough retrospection, good reflection and convincing engagement on this issue when it came to the attention of the public. Due to the immediate public lash out and resistance, the former president's office put out a very lame argument, which in my view, was a statement of shame. Dr. Omane Boamah was heard apparently trying hard to put up a defence for this palpable ignominy. That it was an agreement reached between the transition team of the then out and incoming governments. See who is talking about agreements! Why didn't the both sides of the transition teams agree or consult each other on the last minute appointments made by president John Mahama? Because this one is about your fiendish ends you speak of agreement right? The people of Ghana are neither naive nor zombies!

The Presidential Transition Act, 2012 is the eight hundred and fourty-fifth act of Parliament of the Republic of Ghana. It is an act of parliament that establishes or spells out explicitly the arrangements for a smooth political transfer of one administration to another. It also carters for the transfer of political power and its related matters. Section 10(1) of this act which is sub captioned "Vacation of Official Residence" states that "The incumbent president and the incumbent vice-president shall each vacate the official residence before the day of the swearing-in of the person elected as president, and, if either of them so desires, move into an alternate official residence". The operative or controlling word for me, in this section, is "shall". I am not a lawyer, but the education in legal realm is that, "shall" means mandatory, the president should have compulsorily vacated his residence at midnight of the 6th January, 2017. But, he acted contrary to the laws of the country. The truth is that, he should have vacated this bungalow on the very day he seized to be the vice-president of Ghana. This law - The Presidential Transitional Act was only passed by parliament in October, 2016, only to be broken by president John Mahama in January, 2017. What kind of country are we? A country of lawless presidents? And, they talk of bad faith on the side of the NPP transition team. Who is acting badly? How do you have a deal, outside the confines of our laws and expect us to seal it? 

Let me spare readers the rhetoric

. But, if only they would pay heed, the sentiments of the people should sow a seed, of advice to the article 71 office holders especially, the executive and the legislative arms of government that, the ordinary citizen is losing faith and trust in them because of the profligacy and redundancy associated with the manner and way they manage public funds. And, if they think, this  is nothing to go by, then they should remind themselves, the massive low return outs of electorates in the just ended general elections. This is a significant signal. We would not be worried when the country goes back to the era of military rule. They always deceive us to being our servants. After they receive our mandates they become tyrants. We are watching! 

Thnx! 

Naa Gbewaah Sidiq's folder.

Nana Addo's Inaugural Speech and Its Concomitants.

A lot of people believe that, right from the onset of the electioneering campaigns till the swearing-in, a large section of the Ghanaian mainstream media hatched a grand scheme to helping President Nana Addo and the NPP to win power. If it was so, I think much of this was done by ordinary Ghanaian individuals like me on the social media. We all yearned and called for a regime change so, credit cannot be claimed by anyone except president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his vice-president - Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and most especially the NPP party. 

The NPP went into the election with determination and a winning mentality. They were poised for action and ever battle ready to win the elections from the word go, so no stone was left unturned. Some of us believed very strongly that Nana Addo was going to win especially, looking at the inspirational, thought provoking and lofty speeches he made at the NPP's 2016 manifesto launch and its last national rally at the Trade Fair Centre.  One could see nothing but victory in Nana Addo and his running-mate's demeanour.  "The how or by what margin" was the question we did not have answers to. At this event, we saw Nana Addo and Dr. Bawumia dance to several tunes of praises and thanks. All this was not an illusion but an indication of massive trust and good will they received from electorates across the country during their pre-campaign trail. How do you go into a battle with white apparels all over if you do not anticipate yourself a victor? We all saw the numbers except the hypocrites, the ostriches and boot lickers who refused to tell president Mahama the truth. Though, he sensed the looming and his possible defeat especially, when the 'kalypo craze' caught and swiftly spread like a wild fire in the harmattan among Ghanaians on social media. The 'kalypo thing' had an original intent to mock president Nana Addo. But, this inured to a political mileage for the NPP and the backlash was devastatingly disastrous on the part of the NDC.

The former president could not practically do anything to preclude his eminent lost of power and has to accept it and actually confessed in their last Greater Accra regional rally at the Accra Sports Stadium "We have fought this election as if we are in opposition.” Why should an incumbent government with everything at its disposal campaign for elections as though, it was in opposition? The one simple answer to this is, you did not work for the people who gave you the mandate, and to have it again, you must campaign like an opposition party.

With this, one could confidently say, without any fear of contradictions, whatsoever that, Nana Addo's victory in the 2016 general elections was inevitable. My conviction about Nana Addo's victory dated back to the 2012 election petition, when a lot of people thought that he was going to appeal for a review of the Supreme Court verdict, but to the chagrin of everyone, he did the unthinkable which was the noblest.

 "I have called President John Dramani Mahama and I have now congratulated him on being elected the fourth president of the Fourth Republic of our country.

The Supreme Court of our nation has spoken and the result of the December 2012 presidential election has been confirmed as having been won by the candidate of the NDC, President Mahama.

As I said earlier, whilst I disagree with the Court’s decision, I accept it. I accept that what the Court says brings finality to the election dispute. We shall not be asking for a review of the verdict so we can all move on in the interest of our nation. Everything in my bones, in my upbringing and in what I have done with my life thus far makes it imperative that I accept a decision made by the highest court of the land, however much I dislike or disagree with it. 

I am saddened by the verdict and I know that many of our supporters are saddened too. However, for the sake and love of our country, we must embark on a path that builds, rather than destroys, to deal with our disappointment.

I appeal to all members and supporters of our party, the NPP in particular to accept the verdict of the court. Even in our disappointment we can take pride in the way we have conducted ourselves. Even in our disappointment we can take pride that the NPP has again led the way in deepening Ghana’s democracy. To quote one of the Supreme court judges, “After this case, elections in Ghana will not be the same.” In other words, we might not have been given the ruling we sought, but thanks to our efforts, we can hopefully look forward to an improved electoral process in our country." 

This speech touched every soul to the marrow. Brought sense of positivism to the personality of the so-called 'devil' and broadened the 'mind-narrow'. And, many were those who vowed to give him their mandates if he came to them tomorrow. 

There have never been euphoria and public gaiety that greeted any election victory like Nana Addo's. This was spontaneous and unprecedented. Those who took part in the election victory jubilation were even more than Nana Addo's total number of valid votes. Literally, the whole country including the NDCs celebrated this long awaited victory.

These sincere happiness and genuine admiration of Ghanaians were even more pronounced and hypnotic on the swearing-in day. This occasion was exceptionally excellent, superb and phantasmagorical. Attendance was extremely at the highest and it would not be hyperbolic to say, the whole world was in attendance to witness and share our felicitation. The inaugural speech was simply the best, as far as swearing-ins in the fourth republic are concerned. But, this was not devoid of low moments and some embarrassing flaws which could have been avoid(ed). 

It must be put on records that, our national events have never been without hitches or glitches no matter how trivial they might seem. I remember faintly that, during former president Agyekum Kuffour's swearing-in, he read the oath of office ahead of the Chief Justice instead of following his lead. President Atta Mills of blessed memory, could not see well and so did not quite follow the Chief Justice's lead so, he ate some of the words. President John Mahama, in his quest to appear modern and trendy, read his inaugural speech from an iPad which he held with his both hands. This was unprofessional and a smack of lack of protocol. A podium or stand was provided for that purpose but he refused to place his scripts on the podium for comfortable reading of his speech. One can also mention the 59th sixth March brochure brouhaha, but the least said about this the best. Nana Addo's inaugural speech was diluted with coughs and chokes in breath, probably, precipitated by the hazy harmattan weather. Nonetheless, this unfortunate natural occurrence did not take away the beauty and shine from his speech. The message was loud and clear to all. 

Another serious fallout, which without; any doubt, marred Nana Addo's speech to some extent, is the issue of plagiarism. Ie, "I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities and our nation." Some individuals have tried so hard to make us believe that, this was not a plagiarised sentence and even if it were, the patent infringement has since long expired and there was no need to acknowledge either the originator or the source. Whilst some people said it was not an academic piece, he could  use it without citing his source, others argued that, there was nothing new under the sun and therefore, language could not be created or invented. I concur with the  later view, that, nothing exists in isolation. Everything exists in relation to everything else. So, there is nothing new under the sun. But I believe with all certitude that, old things can be done differently in order to show creativity and ingenuity if not originality. That is why existing languages have been used to create new languages. For instance, Jamaican language (Patua), Swahili, pigeon English and 'Frafra' are creations. Even the formal English language of today is not the same as yesteryears. The bit about it not being an academic work is true, so there was no need to acknowledge the source. Fantastic! What about those who will be using this inaugural speech for academic work in the future? It is even not enough to say it is not an academic work so he needn't quote. Then why did he change the last word of that sentence? The original reading is "I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation character" Was this to make it his or he wanted the speech to resonate with Ghanaians? I think the attempts by people to defend this is in itself defeatist and they should desist from this 'resist'ence.

My conservative advice to these individuals is , they should thread on the side of apology rather than defending the indefensible. Right from the word go, they should put this at the back of their minds that, power belongs to the people and not any group of individuals. Individuals only form groups or parties to exercise mandates on behalf of the citizenry. The people are original owners of political power. Remember this was one of the numerous reasons why the NDC lost the 2016 general elections. Defending the indefensible and window dressing could best be described as arrogance and impudence which Nana Addo's administration should do its utmost to avoid.

As President Nana Addo abundantly made it clear in the same inaugural speech, that, he has three former presidents from whom he will always seek consultations if the needs arise, one would to ask, what prevented Mr. Eugene Arhin - the acting press secretary of the president to do so, especially when the NPP has, arguably, the best three former press secretaries in the history of the fourth republic in the persons of Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, Mr. Andrews Awuni and Mr. Frank Agyekum. What prevented Mr. Eugene Arhin from acknowledging the owner of this statement if he was able to generously and duly attributed quotes to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. J. B. Danquah, Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia and even in the same paragraph - the Holy Bible. I think he erred.

However, my solace about this, is that, the acting press secretary for the president has since come out to apologise to the public and if it is so, we should put this behind and forge ahead as a nation to helping our new president solve the myriad of problems that confront us as a country. It should be an agenda for us all, to make sure that our new president does not fall. And, those of us who are fervently fishing for faults, in the incoming administration just for insults, should revise our notes. A Nana Addo led government would not leave a lean mean for mistakes of previous administrations to occur in his government.

I am not sure that, this 'plagiarism thing' was instigated by NDC as a political party. It was a spontaneous reaction or better still, mischief from the social media. But, the NDC sheepishly latched onto it to make political capital from it. Which miserably backfired, because they are equally guilty of similar offence. 

The former president, John Dramani Mahama is also said to have plagiarised the inaugural speech of John F. Kennedy in his 2013 swearing-in. "In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine will rest the final success or failure of our course". What is more dangerous about plagiarism is not just the sheer inability to acknowledge the source, but the deliberate attempt to manipulate or adulterate the original in order to make it your bona fide. And, this was exactly the situation in the case of president John Dramani Mahama. "We all, each and every one of us, have a role to play in the growth and development of our beloved mother Ghana. In our hands - yours as well as mine - rests the success or failure of Ghana's future." Aside this being a serious case of plagiarism, the topic sentence of that paragraph suffers a serious grammatical poverty. And as we say, "to err is human".

To me, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuf-Addo is not a person of 'crass' to class. But one thing I have learnt from his swearing-in and inauguration is that, with resilience persistence and perseverance one can always over come the insurmountable and achieve higher heights.

As we will all agree, after our consecutive successful seventh general elections, Ghana; our beloved country has won. So whether Ghana is the best among the worst or the best among the rest, we are deemed as the beacon of hope in Africa in terms of democratic practices. We are used as a yardstick to measure democratic and political processes in Africa. 

We have witnessed some African countries that went down the drain after elections such as Kenya, Ivory Coast and quite recently The Gambia. We should not allow triviality and pettiness to take centre stage in our body-politic and rob us the success we have chalked in the democratic exercise.

Thnx! 

Naa Gbewaah Sidiq folder. 

THE SEVENTH GENERAL ELECTIONS OF THE FOURTH REPUBLIC

The fourth republic has some many interesting computations in terms of political electioneering. Many elections cognoscente have always predicted winners, especially the presidential election based on certain factors. But this time round a lot of them woefully failed in their projections or opinion surveys. Individuals and institutions such as Ben Ephson, the BNI,Synovate Ghana, Restart International, Centre for Policy Analysis and Governance Research, etc all predicted a high score of 53 or more percentage victory in favour of President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC but, these figures were thrown back at them in the face by Ghanaian electorates.The most hilarious of all is the public declaration or better still, challenge by the Gbese Mantse to freely and willingly abdicate his stool if the NDC does not win the 7th December polls. These numerous surveys could not even tell us that, we were going to experience a widespread voter apathy and despondency especially in the Volta Region for the NDC or there was going to, at least, be a history by the NPP in the Upper Manya Krobo constituency. The so-called pollsters could not read in between the lines and tell us that, there will be a break in chain of names that are usually associated with the presidency of Ghana. This shows that, Ghanaian electorates can “think far” and are unwavering by any mental manipulation, pre-conditioning or spin doctoring by political parties and their allies. On the other hand, some individuals and media houses called the 2016 elections and it came to pass. For instance, on the night of election, whiles results were being counted at polling stations and coalition being done across all the constituency centres, Joy FM and Joy News TV started to project Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP for the December 7, 2016 general elections. This was done by the indefatigable and most oratorical Evans Mensah. Most interestingly, he did so with a caveat and with certitude, and to paraphrase him, he says give me results from the Central region, Greater Accra and Brong Ahafo and I will tell you who wins the elections. In supposition, his election call was so, not based on any opinion poll story but based on Ghana’s electoral history. And, he had everything right days before the official declaration by the EC chairperson – Madam Charlotte Osei.

The seventh general elections of the fourth Republic is replete with a lot of historical antecedents which have become pointers or directional indicators for, fore-telling winners of our general elections. Going by these historical indicators, these have become foreshadows for winning political power. Some of these are scientific whilst others are casual and have invariably, favoured the two political gladiators in Ghana, ie, the NDC and NPP.

First of all, most election predictors take lead from the three swing regions. These three swing regions – Central, Greater Accra and Brong Ahafo have always dictated political space as to which party wins the majority seats in parliament and the penultimate and this is underpinned in Evans Mensah’s certitude in calling the December 7, 2016 election in favour of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP way ahead of time.

Again, the issue of who is the speaker of parliament of the ruling government has also come up and that indicator has been accepted by many Ghanaians, at least for now as a determinant. This is most intriguing and fascinating situation in the political history of Ghana's constitutional governance as a republic. As posited by Paul Adom Otchere of Good Evening fame – an astute journalist with profundity. From Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist (1951 – 1957), Hon. Justice Nii Amaa Ollenu (1969 – 1971), Hon. Justice J. Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph (1979 – 1981), Rt. Hon. Justice D. F. Annan (1993 – 2001) and Rt. Hon. Peter Ala Adjetey (2001 – 2005) to Rt. Hon. Begyina Sakyi Hughes  Hughes (2005 – 2009) "Up until Begyina Sakyi Hughes, all the speakers of parliament had been Gas from Accra. That had been the cultural tradition. Because, somehow, Dr. Nkrumah felt that, because the House of Parliament sits in Accra, the glorious seat of parliament must be allowed to be given to the Gas”. This means, anytime there is a non-Ga as the speaker of parliament, the governing party loses the next general elections.Though, some political observers are a bit skeptical of the veracity of this argument,this however, is been proven to be the case, at least, since the fourth parliament of the fourth republic.

Furthermore, one palpable and perhaps the most widely accepted determinant, is the issue of the need for change. Ghanaian electorates have charted a voting pattern which has become a tradition. This, prior to the December 7, 2016 general elections I constantly mentioned to people that, forget about any pollster whether scientific or not, I will be on the spot, to call any election after every eight years. Based on this, I always said “The NPP was going to win the December 7, 2016 general elections”. I remember mentioning this to lawyer Yaw Buabeng Asamoah – the Hon. MP-elect for Adenta Constituency. He asked, whether I was sure. I answered in the affirmative and told him that, Ghana has an electoral history. From 1992 till date, the Ghanaian electorates have generously given to both NDC and NPP eight years each in alternation. And, we are yet to go beyond the two term or eight year political mantra where the political cycle reads a 360 degree for the incumbent. This “need for change mantra” will only be broken by a government that can keep to its promises and even go the extra mile for Ghanaians in terms of creating jobs for the teeming youth, infrastructural development, solving basic needs such as portable water, agriculture, education, health, poor roads, managing the economy very well at the macro level and also putting stringent measures to curb corruption at the base. I also said that, “every third timer from either of the two big parties surely wins the general elections, so, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was going to win”. Aside the above mentioned indicators that have always predicted winners of Ghana’s general elections, there are many more factors, which political analysts can better elucidate as it might be the case for this NPP candidate.

Perhaps or certainly, there is one seemingly peculiar incidence, either by providence or coincidence, that I want to bring to the notice of political observers in Ghana.“It is about a man I dedicate, this write up to because his victory can educate”. This is a man who has made history in the fourth republic on a subtle note. He switched his political career from his mother’s home constituency to his constituency of residency. This is not to say, he is the only person who has done so. At least mention can be made about Ras Mubaraq of the NDC, but the two instances are vastly different and are in sharp reverse to each other. In the case of this man, he won his first election to parliament as an independent candidate after defecting from his mother party – the NDC after a contestable primaries. He stood on the ticket of NPP in the next general elections which he won but lost in his third and fourth bids to enter parliament on the NPP ticket in the same constituency. When he said enough to his mother’s constituency and bided it farewell, his constituency of residence welcomed him. The interesting aspect about him is that, in his two terms in parliament, he won with the presidential candidate of the NPP party, for the two times he lost, he went down with the NPP presidential candidate. Isn’t this interesting! The most baffling and intriguing of all is that, he mentioned it to us that he was going to win the December 7, 2016 parliamentary election and he would come up with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – the NPP presidential candidate. Allah being so good, answered his prayer and his prediction came to pass. Not only did Nana Akufo-Addo win the presidential election but also, wins this man’s constituency for the first time ever in the history of the fourth republican dispensation. With this history, I can confidently say, this man is one of the determinants of elections in the fourth republic.

As I dedicate this piece to him it would not be out of place to 'educate' about him. He whipped out the incumbent Member of Parliament in a very convincing manner, at a bizarre, disgraceful and humiliating fashion. Most interestingly, for the first time in the annals of the NPP and Ghana’s political stage as far as this constituency is concerned, he redeemed and salvaged the image of the NPP party which culminated in the overwhelming and historic victory of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The NPP has always earned almost absurd vote figures from this particular constituency since the coming into been, the fourth republic. But, this man won the incumbent NDC candidate with a whopping difference of 8,633 which is 27.3(%) percent of the incumbent candidate’s total valid votes and almost seven times of the total valid votes cast for the other candidates put together. He also appreciated Nana Addo’s total valid votes by 2,943 which is 8.5 in percentage terms. This is no means, a resounding victory for him and the NPP party. The messiah has arrived for the NPP with regards to this constituency and I hope he will survive it. With the aura of love and likeness surrounding his persona, he was greeted with welcomes in his campaigns throughout the length and breadth of the constituency publicly and more on the quiet. After his primary’s victory, he immediately won the hearts of prospective electorates and his constituents. He came into the contest with a purpose of character and determination. He put a psyche of attitude, issue based arguments and human face to his campaign strategy, whilst his closest contender was in a comfortable lead in discussing telenovelas on TV. These afforded him the opportunity to make huge in-roads into places that were considered, hitherto, “a no go area” for the NPP. The massive affinity he created among average voters in the constituency made him an instant cynosure and political face of the constituency. People were just patiently waiting for the date of ballots to generously dish out their mandate to this amiable and affable gentleman.

Words cannot adequately describe my feeling for this man but at least, I am much elated to have this man – Hon. Boniface Abubakar Saddique as my Member of Parliament – Elect.

The people of Madina are so fortunate and highly favoured by the almighty Allah to have bestowed upon them a gift such as Boniface as their Member of Parliament. His is an intellectual gem, intelligently genius, smart and has a lot of entrepreneurial acumen. I think strongly that, it will be inappropriate and uncouth for me to sing his appellation when his records as both a sector and regional minister and for that matter, a cabinet minister, speak for themselves. I believe he is going to be one of the finest personalities in the incoming government and people should watch out for him. Following his campaign, he has demonstrably fashioned out very comprehensive programmes, policies and workable solutions to tackling debilitating problems that have bedeviled the people of Madina and the constituency. He will be putting in place policies and programmmes to harness and enhance especially, the ability and talent of the youth in their various endeavours and by and large, empower them to be self-reliant. He will again, ensure infrastructural development such as hospital and retooling of existing poly clinics and health facilities in the constituency. Above all, he will work with or alongside the proposed programmes of the incoming government to bring relief to the suffering masses of Ghana. May the almighty Allah help this fine and God-fearing gentleman, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP administration to succeed ‘elephantinely’.

Thnx!

Naa Gbewaah Sidiq's Folder.

GFA Announces Black Stars Pre-tournament Camp To Be Pitched In Dubai.

The senior national football team of Ghana - the Black Stars, is believed to have been handed a tougher group in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations which is slated  in Gabon, from January 15 to February 5, 2017. Ghana is grouped with Egypt, Mali and Uganda in group D. The rest of the groups are, Group A: Gabon, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea Bissau
Group B: Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Zimbabwe and
Group C: Ivory coast, DRC, Morocco, Togo.

The Black Stars of Ghana has been on a major competitive tournament winning drought especially, the Africa cup. The last glory of the Black Stars is as far back as 1982 when it won the most coveted trophy on the African football stage in Libya. Since then, the Black Stars has struggled on many occasions to come up tops in its AFCON campaigns.

Though, the Black Stars has chalked quite enviable successes in its recent appearances  in the FIFA World Cup finals. The closest it has come in the Africa Cup of Nations after 1982, is the first runner-up position in Senegal 92, Angola 2010 and Equatorial Guinea 2015.

But, Ghanaian football enthusiasts are unsatisfied with the empty records of the senior national team and want it bring the jinx or better still, the thirty-four year old trophy-less virginity to an end. The cabinets of the GFA have been starved of trophies for far too long!

The Black Stars has suffered widespread lack of interest and confidence by Ghanaian supporters. This is as a result of the 2014 World Cup brouhaha and the issues that emanated from that fiasco. Nonetheless, members of the playing body, the technical men and fans of the Black Stars are upbeat about the upcoming football festival in Gabon. Without key players like Kwadwo Asamoah and others, the rest of the players should work hard and give out their utmost best for success in Gabon. If they are able to do so, they will immediately win back their respects, especially, when Ghana has just come out of general elections where many hearts were wrecked. At least, if not a trophy, but good and entertaining games by the Black Stars will give some solace or consolation to this section of Ghanaians.

Despite the above hopes, some Ghanaians have expressed worries of varying degrees about the reason in a season like this, for the management of the Black Stars to pitch camp for pre-training and trial matches in UAE. Some Ghanaians believe that, the Black Stars is not going to engage in any serious camp training exercises when they leave Ghana for Dubai, after January 1, 2017. While, their contenders in group D will be camping on the continent, they will be "chilling off" far away in the Middle East of Arab Gulf. This is evident in the pronouncements of the GFA spokesman's media briefing yesterday. That, whilst in Dubai, they will not engage in high profile friendly matches, for possible fears of injuries and exhaustion. If what Mr. Sani Diara said is to be believed, then, I think the Black Stars has no business for camping in Dubai. And, again, Ghanaians should demand answers to the budget of their pre-tournament camping in Dubai. Especially, when Uganda, one of the group members who are said to also, pitch camp in UAE and have submitted a whopping sum of $ 1 million to cater for their hotel bills and expenses in the tournament.

On the other hand, Mali is said to be setting camp in Casablanca, Morocco and in line for pre-tournament friendlies, is Burkina Faso - a participant for AFCON 2017. Egypt Football Association also says, they will camp in Egypt play friendly matches with other participating countries and leave for Gabon three days to the tournament. So, what prevents the Black Stars from taking same or similar austerity measures most essentially, after the GFA was rocked with 2014 World Cup $ 5 million scandal. I am just thinking aloud!

So far, if history is anything to go by, the Black Stars has the least records for the last encounters amongst the group D competitors. In not less than four months ago, the Black Stars hosted Uganda for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Tamale and performed abysmally disgracefully. Days afterward, traveled to Cairo for a trashing 2:0 defeat in the hands of the Pharaohs. Remember the Black Stars camped in Dubai before that match. For Mali, the last time the Black Stars came face-to-face with them was the 2013 AFCON, where they beat Ghana 3:1 to pick up the second runner-up position in that tournament. So, what at all is the motivation for Black Stars' camping in Dubai? Is it to acclimatise themselves with the weather conditions in Gabon or the sheer luxury of it. I do not understand this! If it is for acclimatisation purposes, then, they are equally less expensive cities or countries in Africa where the Black Stars can have its pre-tournament preparation, training and trials. Why do we want wanton dissipation of the poor tax payer's money like me?

With the hazy harmattan weather conditions in Ghana, one is unsure about the weather conditions in Gabon. But a quick search on the internet reveals that, around this time, "Gabon has the moist, hot climate typical of tropical regions. The hottest month is January, with an average high at Libreville of 31 °C and an average low of 23 °C". This meteorological information is in sharp contrast to the weather conditions in Dubai within the period of the tournament.
"Throughout November and December, Dubai experiences an autumn of sorts when the rainfall vastly increases. This is massively enhanced come January and February, which are the wettest months of the year".

With the above history, is the GFA ready to write a better story for itself? Well, let's wait and watch, your supposition will be as good as mine.
Thnx!!!

Naa Gbewaah Sidiq's folder.

Viasat1's Jigwe Award To Rasheeda "Black Beauty"

In the wake of this "Rasheeda episode", I would want to sincerely register my displeasure and utmost disgust on our parenting and educational  systems and the Ghanaian media.

I think some Ghanaian parents and guardians have miserably failed in bringing up their children and wards in a way that is acceptable and conforms with the norms and culture of our society.

Taking Rasheeda's Facebook video as a case in study, one would like to find out the kind of parenting or guardianship given to our future leaders by parents. As a case in study, was Rasheeda reared or nurtured? I believe the former is the answer. If that's the situation, then I think the parents did not have any business in bringing forth a child onto this earth. Through their irresponsibility, this girl has become a laughing stock, a menace and a subnormal intelligence individual in the society, and if I were they, I would bow down my head in shame. Gone are the days when children were deemed property of the society. Issues like these were nipped at the bud. But, today, some people will jump to the defence of a rot such as this. Some people might argue that, she did this with an ignorant mind. But, this will be misplaced because, she deliberately recorded the video clips in several multitude and posted the best ones on Facebook.

Not to hold brief for the parents and this imbecile, but on a more serious note, our educational system has not helped us in any way in terms of morality. To under score this drift, a subject such as Religious and Moral Education (R.M.E), that has been designed to secure issues of moral aptitude and imbue in the youth good teachings if not religious faith, has in each year, except other subjects, leaked during the B.E.C.E examinations. So, if all this goes on in our educational set up, how can we begrudge a girl who completes J.H.S and can not construct a single sentence in English, not even a simple pronunciation of these two word slang which are associated with lower class native speakers of English and are considered offensive ie, mother and f***er. But, can boast of her prowess in sexual escapades, her mastering and acumen in that act publicly, as a matter of fact, to the whole wide world. If these kinds of products are churned out from our educational system, then it is a serious indictment.

Again, the mainstream media should be blamed squarely for glorifying issues that are unworthy, immoral and acts that have the tendency to corrupt the minds of people especially, the young ones. Look at the kind of programmes that are aired on both public and private TV stations. Programmes that are not in tandem with our traditions. These programmes defile our sense of morality as a people. Telenovelas and movie series that do not represent our culture but consume productive and precious working and learning hours. These outrageous fairy tales are outright snare, subterfuge and grandiosity. These contents do not meet standards elsewhere but they immediately gain currency here. What is wrong with us? From soft pornographic materials to hard core sexual intercourse without editing such scenes. Even on the radio, we have lost our sense of cultural proverbs that are used to cover up explicit statements or sexually suggestive comments. And, these are often done without any cautionary discretion. These have indeed affected our society negatively. Morality is the fabric with which our culture and societal aspirations and inspirations clothes. But, today, can we count the number of sex leaked videos, in circulation, of Ghanaian youth and the so-called celebrities? I believe some names ring bell in your ears.

Social media is not absolutely absorbed from this condemnation in all this. But I think Viasat1 is the worst culprit in relation to this Rasheeda thing and this television station should be condemned in no uncertain terms. They should render unqualified apologies to all Ghanaians, especially, the parents of this girl. How do you award and idolise a useless and senseless Facebook video clip of a hopeless girl such as Rasheeda a.k.a "Black Beauty" adjudged it as "The Most Viral Video of The Year" and even played the said video on a national television and gave her air time to repeat this stupidity. What garbage is this? What message are you sending out to the youth who are very gullible and vulnerable? Do you have this country at heart? Would you have done that if she were your daughter, sister or relation? What a great shame! When human beings are served with dung as dinner, what will the dogs eat? You do this in the name of content and not taking into account the poison you are feeding into the minds of the young ones. I will not be surprised due to your ignominious foolhardiness, if tomorrow this girl is seen as a heroine by her contemporaries and begin to take selfies of themselves and circulating them in social media as she has done. What is the motive behind Viasat1's award to Rasheeda? Making celebrity out of idiocy and mediocrity. Is that what we want? I cannot gather my head around this! You want the youth to take the easy, lazy and crazy way of immorality to fame right! Come to think of it, raining insults and casting aspersions on albinism and you (Viasat1) do not condemn this but rather, condone and celebrate this, then what else do you stand for, as a media house? What a mockery of media practice. You brought this girl all the way from Brong Ahofo to Accra just to grant her interview and give her Ghc 2000.00 at your "Jigwe" awards night for what? For insulting her  ex-boyfriend in a way that brings shame to albinism? Get this right, sensationalism is not journalism. It is outright mendacity, mediocrity and lowering of journalistic standards. I have seen this nauseating video but I vowed not to share or forward it because it does not merit any attention. I understand that business investment is driven by profit as audienceship is driven by content. But, the two are not same. It is not true that audience determines content. If you have a good product/programme market it and it will become the toast of audience and favourite of many. This is better than jumping onto the bandwagon.

I have heard some people make reference to portions of the said video ostensibly to make fun of each other. But I will entreat well meaning people not to share or forward this video or associate themselves with it in anyway so that it will not gain currency. And, to Viasat1 I hope and pray that you will come out and immediately render an unqualified apology to Ghanaians, rescind the award and disassociate yourself with this girl and her video. Thanks!

Naa Gbewaah Sidiq's folder.