IT IS SCANDALOUS THAT JUDGES IN GHANA STILL RECORD COURT PROCEEDINGS BY LONGHAND!

I was discharged from the Nsawam Circuit Court just this morning – after the prosecution finally dropped its case against me. That Kafkaesque case, The Republic Vs Kofi Thompson, should never have been brought to trial in the first place – as it was in effect a complete waste of the court’s time. Amazingly, I was charged with causing criminal damage to my own farmland – my crime being that I had acted with resolve to rid myself of a recalcitrant trespasser: who repeatedly refused to abate his trespass and leave our land. Yet, the land in question has been in my family since 1933 – and it was the trespasser who caused criminal damage to our organic farm: by spraying papaya that he had illegally planted on a portion of the land, with synthetic pesticides, and making a complete nonsense of our business-model.

Still, I am looking at the whole thing in a positive light – I learnt a great deal about the nature of Ghanaian society, during that trial. It really is scandalous that the profligate President Kufour, chose to spend over US$150 millions building a presidential palace complex, during his tenure – when that sum could probably have provided modern recording equipment for all the law courts in our country. Why, in the 21st century ICT age, should we ask our judges to record court proceedings in longhand, I ask, dear reader? Would it not have benefited our nation a great deal more, if President Kufuor had spent the zillions he wasted on the so-called Golden Jubilee House (Flagstaff House to most Ghanaian nationalists and Nkrumaists!) buying our law courts recording equipment, instead?

Incidentally, I have often wondered, if any of those shortsighted individuals, who seek to justify that folly of President Kufuor’s at the Flagstaff House, have ever considered the fact that rather than spending zillions building a chi-chi presidential palace (probably riddled with listening-bugs – placed there by the secret services of those who loaned his regime the money to build it!), offered a choice in the matter, a more visionary and prudent leader, would have simply opted to acquire a blueprint for a new capital for Ghana, and invited Ghanaian city-planners to design a modern and green capital city (to be built in the centre of Ghana, by a future successor-regime: at a point in time when our country can easily afford it!): and chosen, instead, to spend the Indian loan buying our law courts recording equipment – and left that as one of his legacies. Would that not have helped entrench the rule of law yet further, in our country?

But I digress. Needless to say, the police summons for the case I was being prosecuted for, was issued in October 2007 – during the perfidious New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) tenure in office. The plaintiff was a retired Ghana Armed Forces warrant officer. Apparently, he had also once been a National Democratic Congress (NDC) big-wig in Nsawam. Sadly, he was bitten by a snake at home – and thus died midstream during the trial. It so happened that his lawyer was a former NPP member of parliament for the Akuapim South constituency. That well-educated buffoon was a quintessential NPP-type: an insufferable, arrogant, and pride-filled, individual – a Mr. Wiafe. The question, dear reader, is: What was that staunch NPP politician doing representing an NDC man, who once upon a time, must have worked pretty hard, to stop him from being elected to parliament – during the particular election campaign that sent him to parliament as the NPP Member of Parliament for the Akuapim South constituency? It was one of the many odd things about that travesty of justice, which that most egregious of malicious prosecutions, represented.

Incredibly, the police investigator (who did not even interview me!) rushed the case to court, with such undue haste – in a time-frame that must rate as the quickest in the annals of the Ghana Police Service: from the date of the reporting of the case by the complainant, and the issuing of the police summons for me, the ‘suspect,’ to appear before Nsawam Circuit Court, presided over, initially, by Mrs. Justice Ankumah. She was transferred to Accra during the case – and replaced by Her Honour, Justice Ms. Myers. I am so relieved that that dreadful matter is now behind me – and that those in the previous regime who thought they could use it to silence me, failed so miserably in their aim. It is outrageous that whiles many corrupt officials regularly go unpunished for their crimes against our country and its people, so many underprivileged Ghanaians pay daily in the law courts, for the crimes they commit – crimes that often pale into insignificant when compared to the zillions of Ghana cedis that the crooks amongst our political class, for example, purloin from our national treasury, with such impunity. If we are serious about entrenching democracy in our homeland Ghana, we must ensure that the judiciary is given all the resources it needs (including paying our judges well!) to enable it fulfill its role in our constitutional democracy. Those who now rule our nation must act quickly to make the recording of court proceedings in longhand by Ghana’s judges a thing of the past. A word to the wise…

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COCOA PROCESSING COMPANY LIMITED – PLEASE STICK TO GHANA’S PREMIUM COCOA BEANS!

The Ghanaian subsidiary of the US food giant, Cargil, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, took out a full-page advert in the Thursday, September 10, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic newspaper, to help publicize the new chocolate milk drink it is producing in Ghana. The bottle has the advertising slogan “The good taste of Ghana” blazoned on it. The clever marketing team at Cargil, is obviously leveraging Ghana’s good image in the international community as a haven of peace and stability, in choosing that slogan.

One wishes that those in charge of the cocoa processing plant that Nkrumah built at Tema, would also be so positive in their outlook! Speaking as someone who farms cocoa organically at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, I was alarmed, when I heard one of the gentleman in charge of the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), incredibly telling the world, during an interview with one of Accra’s many FM radio stations (incidentally, I forget precisely which one it was – but I have a feeling it might have been in one of Joy FM’s business news bulletins), that the company had imported (or was going to import!) about 5,000 metric tonnes of cocoa from a neighbouring country: because Ghana’s cocoa beans command a “premium price.” Apparently, that shortsighted move will save the CPC money – and it said that the company will still produce chocolate of “acceptable quality.” He topped that inanity by adding that chocolate manufacturers elsewhere blend various grades of cocoa to produce chocolate.

It obviously escapes the geniuses who run the CPC that those manufacturers in Europe and elsewhere, are not in the lucky and happy position, of being able to manufacture their products in Ghana – which produces the world’s best quality cocoa beans. Incredible. Why, do those who are going to ruin the hard-won reputation of the CPC’s famous dark chocolate, not realize that the “premium quality” cocoa beans from Ghana make their products occupy a niche in the global market for dark chocolate? Perhaps it will interest them to know that a dear friend from Pennsylvania in the US, who loves chocolates and speaks highly of the CPC’s range of dark chocolates, will be horrified to hear that the chocolate she thinks is one of the best in the world, is now about to take the slippery slope to ruination – because of the shortsightedness of those who run the factory that produces it.

On behalf of Ghana’s many long-suffering cocoa farmers, I humbly appeal to the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board and the minister for trade and industry, to order the CPC to stop importing any more cocoa beans from outside Ghana, henceforth. Surely, in the internet age, it is not asking too much, for even the most unimaginative of Ghanaian corporate leadership, to strike a partnership with the Ghana Post – so that the CPC can sell its marvelous dark chocolate worldwide online, using their EMS global parcel delivery sevice? Has it ever occurred to the denizens of the corridors of corporate power at the CPC that they can sell their dark chocolate and other products as niche products, which should be bought at a premium: precisely because they are made from the best cocoa beans in the world? Let them rescind that shortsighted decision immediately. The leadership of the COCBOD and the ministerial team in charge of the ministry of trade and industry must step in to halt this pure nonsense on bamboo stilts – and do so now! A word to the wise…

AN OLD MAN’S REFLECTIONS!

I had always been under the misguided impression, that somehow, I had succeeded in developing my mind to a level, which was sufficient to give me a high pain threshold. However, when I was laid low by a bout of illness recently, it quickly became clear to me that one can never really become inured to pain, as long as one is a conscious being – and that at some point, one will doubtless feel some pain, whiles alive. Faced with evidence of my own mortality, during my illness, I spent some time reflecting on my life thus far – and vowed to spend the rest of my life, concentrating on doing all I can, to ensure that a planned forest canopy footbridge (similar to the one in the Kakum National Park), is eventually built in the Akim Abuakwa Juaso section, of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest.

The idea is to use the forest canopy footbridge, as the centerpiece, of a community-based eco-tourism project, which will enable the village of Akim Abuakwa Juaso , to become a leading community-based eco-tourism destination – and at a time of global climate change, help us conserve the P. E. Thompson Nature Resource Reserve (PETNRR) for posterity. When the project comes into fruition, it will be a fine example of a win-win private-public-partnership (PPP) between a local fringe-forest community, and the owners of a large and pristine privately-owned rain forest, which is part of an area of outstanding natural beauty, which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA).

I came to the conclusion, in one of the periods of introspection I had, during my illness, that that kind of “green” project was precisely what I want to be remembered for, when I finally die. In a nation full of hard-of-hearing politicians, who are avid adherents of the “Cult-of-the-mediocre,” why waste one’s energies thinking up creative ideas, as one’s contribution to nation-building, when they will only fall on the deaf ears of our ruling elite, dear reader? I have simply had enough of Ghana’s Byzantine political world. I am sick and tired of a political class that seems impervious to reason – and appears bent on pursing its own hidden agenda: the handing over, for self-serving reasons, of the bulk of the wealth of our nation to foreigners and their greedy local lackeys.

Whiles the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah believed that it was possible for us to build a caring-and-sharing society, in which all Ghanaians could lead decent lives, in a modern African nation that gave them access to good quality and affordable housing (provided naturally by the Ghanaian nation-state), as well as provided them ample opportunities for meaningful employment; free education, and health care, his puny successors continuously toy with the lives of ordinary Ghanaians – as they compete amongst themselves for the opportunity to serve in regimes, whose sole purpose, appear to be the wholesale transfer of the wealth of our nation, to perfidious foreigners.

I have simply had enough – and will henceforth concentrate on my environmental activism. The last straw for me, was listening to the lamentations of an erstwhile acting chief internal auditor of the defunct omnibus services authority (OSA), now retired, who revealed, during an interview with Adakabre Frimpong-Manso, broadcast recently by Hot FM, that some cynical big-shot, determined to profit from his position in society, once posed this question, to a fellow politician (which I will paraphrase) "Enti yerbetor Leyaland bus yiaa erhu eyedini sei, na debani yator fofro, ebiom?” (Its English translation fom the Twi language: “When will we ever have the opportunity to profit from buying a new fleet of buses for the omnibus services authority, if the government of Ghana were to decide to purchase those well-built and durable Leyland buses: which take forever to wear out, before having to be replaced?” ). The question I ask, dear reader, is: Just where will that kind of dishonest, selfish, and self-seeking leadership take our country? Hmmm, Ghana, eyeasem oo – asem ebeba debi ankasa!

In response to Livingstone Pay Charlie of The Insight’s article entitled “Deception At TOR” that appeared in the Saturday , 10th October 2009, general news web-page of www.ghanaweb.com, may I humbly point it out to him that the rot at TOR is a veritable case-study-example of how not to run an emerging economy with aspirations ? It is an egregious example of Kufuor's crony-capitalism: the result of an economic policy that was our local version of the ruthless "Robber Baron" capitalism of late 19th and early 20th century American capitalism!

Massa, Kufuor & Co. came to power with one big-idea agenda in mind, which they skillfully hid from all of us: the ruthless use of political power to enable them exploit our national economy for themselves; their family clans; and their cronies. What happened at TOR is a classic example of the socialization of private risk, which was so rampant during Kufour & Co's golden age of business – in which the Ghanaian nation-state and state-owned entities were made to bear the risk, in transaction after transaction: so that well-connected oligarchs of that era, could regularly make vast profits, at the expense of Ghana's hapless taxpayers.

It was in the nature of the beast, that under such a kleptocratic system, the offspring of our rulers, using insider-knowledge, could set up countless special purpose vehicles (some offshore), to use to obtain contracts from state entities. In one such infamous case, the Energy Commission, gave a contract (for the supply of electricity meters to the Electricity Company of Ghana, ECG), to one of the princes of the crafty and greedy Kufuor's golden age of business: a son of the serving president of Ghana, no less. That well-connected gentleman made a cool US$2 million profit – in what clearly amounted to a case of profiteering! Massa, TOR was simply seen as a means of creating regime-crony tycoons, from whom kickbacks could be obtained on a regular basis – by letting them obtain endless credit at no risk to themselves: because TOR bore was made to bear the risk (sanctioned by the arrogant "I-am-the-monkey-in-the-chair” rogue, appointed as managing director, for the purpose), harming and endangering the very existence of the state-owned Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB): which it was leveraged to, to gargantuan levels, in the process.

Naturally, all that massive debt was counted as part of Ghana's GDP, by the greedy rogues into whose incompetent hands, out country had fallen – which is why we had the Kweku-Ananse smoke-and-mirrors booming economy, which did not deliver a good quality of life (and decent living standards!), for the vast majority of Ghanaian, but enabled the few powerful crooks in the Kufuor regime and their regime-crony capitalists, to send their individual net-worth into the stratosphere. That is why we had the amazing situation in which whiles ordinary people were being impoverished by the looting of our national treasury, some of their leaders had the effrontery to insult Ghanaians (on top of their many woes): by labeling a hardworking people, who did not have the opportunities the truly-lazy people in power had, "lazy". Even the Hypocrite-in-Chief himself, had the temerity to sing that monstrous and discordant tune-of-contempt for ordinary people: on top of his booming voice, too. Hmm, Ghana- eyeasem!

So, today, dear reader, we have arrived at the sad situation, in which, like a clever and desperate con-man, fully aware that his many awful secrets are about to be exposed, Crook-Number-One is lobbying furiously, to get as many grand-sounding but useless international appointments, as it is possible for him to dupe innocents abroad into giving him – so as to continue impressing the many gullible Ghanaians he relies on to protect him, now (those brain-dead “My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong” myrmidon-types, whose endless praise-singing, funds were procured from “National Security”, and paid to, regularly: to keep in fine fettle for their endless serial-calling in the electronic media!), and who incredibly think he came to save our homeland Ghana, just because they got a few crumbs thrown their way: whiles Mother Ghana was being brutally gang-raped by the perfidious Kufuor and his many partners-in-crime. Sadly, many discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians now insist that he is the most dishonest leader, ever elected to lead our nation, thus far, in its entire post-independence history. Pity – especially as he had a historic opportunity to set high standards of morality in our public life, when he first came to power. Hmmm Ghana, eyeasem oo - esem ebaba debi ankasa!

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The frustrations we have had to endure, in my family's attempt to have a forest canopy footbridge (similar to the one at the Kakum National Park) built in our largely-pristine private forestland, in the Akim Abuakwa Juaso section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest, has been a real eye-opener, for me. It has shown me just how important it is to have a national climate change commission set up, as soon as it is practicable to do so, to coordinate the work of the various organs of state that are involved in our national effort to fight the negative effects of global climate change. There is no doubt that a majority of the public officials whose organizations deal with climate change issues, are very knowledgeable about the subject – and are aware of the danger climate change poses to the long-term well-being and survival of our country and all the people who live in Ghana.

If such a national climate change commission existed, I doubt very much that the massive illegal logging that goes on in what is left of our nation’s forest cover, would be allowed to continue, at a time of global climate change. Sadly, as we speak, officials of the Forestry Service of the Forestry Commission, appear to be completely unaware of the rampant illegal logging going on in the Akim Abuakwa Juaso section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest. If that outrage is not checked immediately, the result will be that that important rain forest, will soon be denuded of trees – in what has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA). Yet, the Atiwa Range evergreen upland rain forest contains the headwaters of the three major river systems on which pretty much of urban Ghana depends on for its drinking water supply – and heaven knows how many trillions of dollars worth of yet-to-be-discovered medicinal plants. There are times when one gets the distinct impression that for most of the officials of the Forestry Service of the Forestry Commission, working in that organization is just a nine-to-five job, from which they simply earn their living. There appears to be scant passion in the institutional culture of that vital state organization, for environmental activism – and even less so amongst most of its well-educated staff, for the very important work they are paid to do for our nation and its people.

It is for that reason that most of the members of my family who are passionate environmental activists have restricted our dealings with them, as we strive to use community-based eco-tourism, as a tool for the conservation of our Akim Abuakwa property: so as to secure the long-term future of our privately-owned freehold forestland, for the next generation of our family (and that of the inhabitants of Akim Abuakwa Juaso – with whom our destines are forever intertwined! ), and have opted to deal mainly instead with reputable NGO’s, such as the World Wildlife Fund for Nature – Ghana (WWF - Ghana), Ghana and the Rain Forest Alliance – Ghana. Both organizations have not hesitated in giving us advice and expert guidance, whenever we have approached them for assistance: although they have not budgeted for such advice, and we have not offered those who work for them any cash-inducements. Indeed, there was even an occasion when Dr. Kwame Adam of the WWF – Ghana, agreed to come and inspect our forestland, on his way back to Accra from a working trip to Kumasi: on a Saturday! Rain Forest Alliance – Ghana, has actually recommended a young forester to us to work with on a formal basis: so that we can have in-house expertise available to us round the clock.

In an era of global climate change, speaking as someone at the sharp end, whose family owns a significant part of the landmass of rural Ghana, in an area that lies in the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest, I humbly suggest to the government of President Mills, that it must, as a matter of urgency, set up a national commission on climate change, to coordinate our national effort at fighting its negative impact on our homeland Ghana, and on Ghanaian ciitizens and other nationals resident here. Such a body will make it possible for our nation’s crop of brilliant research scientists, who are employed by all the critical state research institutions, whose work has a bearing on the subject, to offer our leaders unbiased scientific advice, which will guide the government of Ghana, in taking the necessary climate-change mitigation measures that will ensure the well-being of our country and its people: as the planet Earth continues to warm up, as a result of the high and dangerous emission-levels of greenhouse gases, that continues to be released into the atmosphere by humankind. A word to the wise…

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Years ago, I remember laughing heartily, when I learnt of The Jam’s Paul Weller’s contemptuous reply, when he heard that his group’s song “Eton Rifles” was one of British Tory Leader David Cameron’s favourite tunes: "Is he thick? He probably thinks 'Eton Rifles' is a song about him and his mates." That was years ago. Today, it does appear that David Cameron might eventually become Britain’s next prime minister – if the opinion polls in the UK media are to be believed. Amongst the many things he has said the Tories will do when they form the next government, is that they will cut British aid to Russia and China – and give more to poor developing nations.

Although I might risk being called presumptuous (not that I care particularly: having become inured to insults for my bluntness – in a nation full of fence-sitting moral cowards!) I certainly do hope that the well-heeled Mr. Cameron, will demand, when his party comes to power, that UK companies investing in Africa are underpinned by the same corporate good governance principles expected of them in the UK. Above all, he must never do what Prime Minister Gordon Brown did – when he dragged our president to London to plead on behalf of the perfidious Vodafone. That company corrupted some of our leaders when it took over the state-owned Ghana Telecom – acting in much the same crooked fashion it did when it took over the state-owned Kenya Telecom: and corrupted some of Kenya’s greedy elite in the process.

Perhaps the Tories should ask the UK’s secret services (MI6) to take a close look at the antics of Vodafone’s expatriate staff in Ghana when they win power in the next UK general elections – and when he next speaks at any Institute of Director’s (IOD) meeting as British premier, make them an example of how expatriate staff of UK companies’ investing in Africa ought not to behave, when abroad. He must plead with corporate Britain that UK companies operating in developing nations such as Ghana, be mindful of how their expatriate staff are compensated, above all. He will be horrified to learn that whiles he and other British politicians are expressing their disgust at the obscene compensation levels corporate Britain (particularly the financial services sector!) insists on paying its top brass, Vodafone’s expatriate staff in Ghana are living like Arabian oil sheiks: at our expense.

He must also not be so naive and say that UK taxpayers are under pressure and that British aid will only go to poor developing nations. Does he not know that most of the leaders of poor developing nations are clever rogues who invariably set up special purpose offshore vehicles so as to enable them siphon donated aid money deposited in the treasuries of the nations they lead: in one crooked transaction after another? Ordinary Africans across the continent plead with him (and other British politicians!) to make sure that British aid goes to only nations in the continent whose leaders publicly publish their assets and that of their spouses (before and after their tenure!). Most of Africa’s leaders are simply not to be trusted – and if he can help it, he must please make sure that all UK and EU aid for climate change mitigation projects in the forestry sector of the Ghanaian economy go directly to NGO’s such as Rain Forest Alliance - Ghana and the World Wildlife for Nature - Ghana (WWF- Ghana), and not to the Forestry Service of the Forestry Commission of Ghana? He can ask the German development organization GTZ to give him their dossier on that sector of our economy.

To understand why I say so, I plead with him to send MI6 officers to the Ghanaian village of Akim Abaukwa Juaso in Ghana’s Eastern Region – straight to the P. E. Thompson family’s 14 square mile property in the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest (both inside the official government reserve and the off-reserve forest). There, they will see the horrific sight of illegal chainsaw lumber being carted away in frightening quantities on the heads of scores of porters, and at a rate that will soon decimate what has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) at a time of global climate change, if nothing is done by the authorities to halt that outrage. Sadly, the forest there has been left by the Forestry Service of the Forestry Commission of Ghana, to the mercy of criminal syndicates controlled by wealthy, powerful, and well-connected individuals: who do not give a toss about the laws of the Ghanaian nation-state, and do not care one jot about the harm their activities cause the natural environment or their fellow human beings.

Finally, to see an egregious example of how British taxpayers’ money went down the financial equivalent of a black hole in Ghana, let him ask the Ghanaian authorities, to get the Department of Parks and Gardens, to show the MI6 officers he sends here, the results of the zillions of pounds sterling that was poured into a medicinal plants project (which the Royal Botanic Gardens and Ghana’s Department of Parks and Gardens collaborated to implement in the 1990’s). It is a classic example of how not to use hard-pressed British taxpayers’ money overseas, in poor developing nations, worldwide. Will he also get the UK, the EU, the US, and the other major wealthy developed nations, to make sure that no tax haven accepts money from African leaders and their families, under any circumstances? That is one of the most effect ways of halting corruption in the continent - and making sure that British aid money does not end up in the offshore bank accounts of the crooks amongst those who rule Africa! A word to the wise…

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Tel: (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109 & the not-so-hot and clueless Vodafone wireless smartphone: + 233 (0) 21 976238.