My understanding of a leader with vision is one who knows what he plans to achieve and knows how to get there. It is usually a strategic plans and long term. President Nkrumah on education set up training colleges and seconda ... read full comment
My understanding of a leader with vision is one who knows what he plans to achieve and knows how to get there. It is usually a strategic plans and long term. President Nkrumah on education set up training colleges and secondary schools to build an educated youth. On industry, his plan for Tema involved the port, houses for workers, electricity and lands for expansion. What we expect is for our leaders to take into consideration our present circumstances, our resources and what they plan to achieve in say four years and tell us how they plan to do so. It can even be one significant thing that others can build on. This current FREE FALL kind of development will not help. This is my understanding. The well educated can teach me. God bless Ghana.
Oddikro 10 years ago
A very brilliant article---can your team come together to force Dr Ampaw to name the lawyers involved in bribing judges? This will make what you have written be achieved for we need action as well as beautiful articles. Good ... read full comment
A very brilliant article---can your team come together to force Dr Ampaw to name the lawyers involved in bribing judges? This will make what you have written be achieved for we need action as well as beautiful articles. Good work done
Nframa Boni 10 years ago
Put your thoughts in order and write simple, clear, understandable prose. No need to try and show off your knowledge, research and readings. Tardy effort and a missed opportunity to make a great case.
Put your thoughts in order and write simple, clear, understandable prose. No need to try and show off your knowledge, research and readings. Tardy effort and a missed opportunity to make a great case.
francis kwarteng 10 years ago
Hello reader,
It's as simple as you think.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and understanding same the article. Both the prose and ideas are as simple as ABC.
Look closely at yourself if you can loc ... read full comment
Hello reader,
It's as simple as you think.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and understanding same the article. Both the prose and ideas are as simple as ABC.
Look closely at yourself if you can locate the source of your problem.
I don't know anybody personally on Ghanaweb to impress with my pedestrian prose and ideas.
What do I get in return for impressing anyone, if your distorted claim is even remotely right, my friend? Nothing.
I don't do shadow boxing with myself. Besides, I don't have the luxury of time and psychological resources to do such. Please I am not Narcissus. I am not obsessed with myself.
Do I probably know you? Further, nobody pays me to write these articles or grades me for them.
Finally, nobody who has read the same article on modernghana, spyghana, vibeghana (and even myjoyonline), has complained. Most of the constructive criticism of my articles have come from them, not Ghanaweb.
Thanks.
francis kwarteng 10 years ago
Hello Nframa Boni,
It's as simple as you think. Anyway, Mansong, I am Yaw too. I am sorry. This response is not for you, Nana yaw Manson. It's for Nframa Boni.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and under ... read full comment
Hello Nframa Boni,
It's as simple as you think. Anyway, Mansong, I am Yaw too. I am sorry. This response is not for you, Nana yaw Manson. It's for Nframa Boni.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and understanding same the article. Both the prose and ideas are as simple as ABC.
Look closely at yourself if you can locate the source of your problem.
I don't know anybody personally on Ghanaweb to impress with my pedestrian prose and ideas.
What do I get in return for impressing anyone, if your distorted claim is even remotely right, my friend? Nothing.
I don't do shadow boxing with myself. Besides, I don't have the luxury of time and psychological resources to do such. Please I am not Narcissus. I am not obsessed with myself.
Do I probably know you? Further, nobody pays me to write these articles or grades me for them.
Finally, nobody who has read the same article on modernghana, spyghana, vibeghana (and even myjoyonline), has complained.
Most of the constructive criticism of my articles have come from them, not Ghanaweb.
Nanayaw Mansong 10 years ago
Nice piece. Now, let's just overthrow the 4th republic and rewrite the new constitution, duly incorporating lessons from the 4th . . .
Nice piece. Now, let's just overthrow the 4th republic and rewrite the new constitution, duly incorporating lessons from the 4th . . .
francis kwarteng 10 years ago
Hello reader,
It's as simple as you think. Anyway I am Yaw too.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and understanding same the article. Both the prose and ideas are as simple as ABC.
Look closely at you ... read full comment
Hello reader,
It's as simple as you think. Anyway I am Yaw too.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and understanding same the article. Both the prose and ideas are as simple as ABC.
Look closely at yourself if you can locate the source of your problem.
I don't know anybody personally on Ghanaweb to impress with my pedestrian prose and ideas.
What do I get in return for impressing anyone, if your distorted claim is even remotely right, my friend? Nothing.
I don't do shadow boxing with myself. Besides, I don't have the luxury of time and psychological resources to do such. Please I am not Narcissus. I am not obsessed with myself.
Do I probably know you? Further, nobody pays me to write these articles or grades me for them.
Finally, nobody who has read the same article on modernghana, spyghana, vibeghana (and even myjoyonline), has complained. Most of the constructive criticism of my articles have come from them, not Ghanaweb.
Thanks.
OKOE 10 years ago
IN YOUR PREVIOUS ARTICLE, YOU PRAISED ONE VICTOR LAWRENCE, IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN, AND THEREFORE ATTEMPTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM THROUGH WIKIPEDIA BUT STRANGELY, NOTHING IS MENTIONED ABOUT HIM. WHY IS THAT IF HE IS THAT BRILLI ... read full comment
IN YOUR PREVIOUS ARTICLE, YOU PRAISED ONE VICTOR LAWRENCE, IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN, AND THEREFORE ATTEMPTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM THROUGH WIKIPEDIA BUT STRANGELY, NOTHING IS MENTIONED ABOUT HIM. WHY IS THAT IF HE IS THAT BRILLIANT?
francis kwarteng 10 years ago
Hello friend,
I forgot to include this little piece of information on Dr. Victor Lawrence.
Watch Dr. Victor Lawrence's interview on American television (Cablevision).
This is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMCd1 ... read full comment
Hello friend,
I forgot to include this little piece of information on Dr. Victor Lawrence.
Watch Dr. Victor Lawrence's interview on American television (Cablevision).
This is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMCd1EGrHJ4.
You might as well Google "Stevens Institute of Technology: Cablevision Features Prof. Lawrence."
Please let me know if helps.
Thanks.
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago
My broda. now it appears we are name sakes too, Yaw (Yao, me).:-)
Well, here is one man who didn't have any problem understanding. In many ways, you sounds like my echo from the 90s!
Was handicapped from commenting on P ... read full comment
My broda. now it appears we are name sakes too, Yaw (Yao, me).:-)
Well, here is one man who didn't have any problem understanding. In many ways, you sounds like my echo from the 90s!
Was handicapped from commenting on Part 1. Tired right now but let me hazard a few words.
You oozed practically lyrically about the virtues of pristine women waiting out there to be tapped to salvage menfolk and humanity but yet, my own perspective on that front had shifted since 1993 when I returned from data collection for my M.Phil laden with evidence indicting women as having a stranglehold on the marketing sector and abusing it very badly for their benefits. Reminds me of the hey days of kalabule and Bottom Power of the 1970s. And yet, some of the evidence date back to the early 1980s during the throes of the so-called revolution. Whether it is the marketing of agric products or fish, the men (husbands and others alike) are at their mercy. If they want your tomatoes to rot on the farm in order to beat up prices, rot they would!
Incidentally, 2 other persons doing PhD (one in Canada and the other in Norway) had returned with similar data. Dr Irene Odotei was in a seminar with us in Bergen, Norway when the issue got raised by the guy from Canada who was late coming while I, presenting a paper, raised it but pleaded that it should not be discuss due to the emotive nature of the topic and the divided opinions. Come see wahala when he raised it inadvertently! Eventually, another seminar was held devoted only to the women question. It is my opinion that we must correctly begin to see women as part of the problem, not some weak, beaten victims of men but rather active participants in the brutal system of abuse of all nature.
Yes, the corruptive influence of women, from Eve in the Fall of Adam to Helen of Troy to Lady Macbeth and to Mrs Marcos, etc., has been enshrined in history.
It is interesting that corruption in Ghana has become a major topical issue again. My Part 2 on the subject is yet to be completed, having been delayed by a mate, friend and relation who suggested that I collaborate with him to write a paper for his PhD on the topic. I think the Part 1 is worth reading [again], as I believe it goes to the gist of the problem.
I am therefore pasting it below as my main contribution to the debate.
Andy-K
Feature Article of Monday, 19 November 2012
Columnist: Kwawukume, Andy C. Y.
Conmen, Crooks, Charlatans, Usurpers And Impostors
Rulers And The Ruled: Conmen, Crooks, Charlatans, Usurpers And Impostors In Post-Colonial Ghana.
PART 1
This is a nagging and an all-embracive topic which needed to be properly addressed, as I believe it spells out what ails Ghana since her flag independence. Unravelling the complex phenomena and tendency of Ghanaians to embrace and tolerate corruption and lawless behaviour to anomic proportions will be a major contribution to understanding the Ghanaian psyche which underpins the problems of bribery and corruption and inability to conform to laws and regulations in all their ramifications. Even though the title indicates treatment from the post-independence period, to understand the issues very well requires that we delve into our pre-colonial and colonial past for clues as to the origins of the post-colonial era issues at stake. This is because those of us with the benefit of hindsight into our historical past see a continuum, some of which make the presence pale into insignificance. The mythology of some African writers who paint pristine images of an African past, in which all was fine and dandy, regulated by time tested customs and traditions collapses like a pack of cards. I have the opportunity to accuse one of such writers, Prof George Ayittey, of indulging in “false empiricism”: skewed or wrong presentation of some empirical events to fit certain claims, empirical or subjective. So what are the gory, bloodstained details without the whitewash like the slave castles which still dominate our shores?
The treatment I intended is by no means exhaustive, as it is exploratory, the main objective being to broach some new dimensions not looked at before and, hopefully, those with more resources shall deal with them indepth. Of course, some studies by mainly white scholars already exist touching on the issues raised but in this write-up, despite the temptation, I shall keep mention of them to the minimum, as this is not intended for a peer reviewed journal but the popular media.
Illustrations or brief case studies shall be made with examples of known characters guilty of the negative traits, nation wrecking and lawless behaviour under discussion.
To make myself clear to readers, I’d like to offer, within context. some brief explanations of and forays into some of the key terms referring to the protagonists or actors.
CONMEN: The word “conmen,” derived from “confidence men,” is used to refer to confidence tricksters, charlatans or quacks who profess to be what they are not in order to win our trust or confidence in order to offer something gainful or beneficial to us. In the process, we are invariably duped, swindled, scammed and short-changed, often losing money to the conmen or swindlers. Hmm! I can hear someone mumbling that we can put almost all our politicians under this category! But let us include those charlatans selling to the public all kinds of cures for our ailments at the lorry stations; the horde of self-proclaimed prophets and prophetesses, pastors, bishops, alufas, and seers that offer salvation to Ghanaians not only in the after-life but from all kinds of imaginable problems from financial woes, imagined generational curses, love pangs to menstrual pains but are often reported in the press for all kinds of criminal conduct. They are the new snake oil sellers and magicians from our colonial and pre-colonial past. The psyche and cosmology of the mass of Ghanaians - even the most educated - steeped in their peasant, artisanal fishing, small time craftsman and illiterate origins, dominated by the Weberian primitive, substantive rationality, makes them receptive to their wiles. And it shall be so for a while still, as the world of Ghanaians is yet to experience the Enlightenment based on rational and scientific thought.
Of course, the mid-1970s was the height of the conmen’s reign, when the phenomenon known as “kalabule” reached its apogee. The whole population was touched one way or the other, for better or for worse, depending on who has the greater opportunity to swindle or scam others most! With the resurgence of scamming on an international scale under the known names of 419 or Sakawa, the members of the civilian population being the main culprits, one cannot only continue to point fingers at the corrupt politicians and public officials in all the three arms of government who supervise the whole citadel of corruption and official protection racketeering that goes under the name of government in Ghana. For, indeed, for the minimum protection and services that the State provides, those in control of the state machinery arrogate to themselves the right to plunder public resources and wantonly extort money from the population for their own gain on a scale unimaginable in the civilised world of today. One would have to go back to the C19th to see something similar in the West but was, of course, the order of day with our plundering and slave raiding ancestors.
USURPERS: “Usurpers” refer to those who illegally seize the right to govern or rule, as in a coup d’état; or claimed a chieftaincy stool or skin whilst one is not qualified to do so. All the coup makers in Ghana since 1966 fall under this category. Likewise, are a number of claimants to stools they are not entitled to, thus giving raise to intractable disputes in the courts and conflicts in all the regions of Ghana. The question arises about the origins of these usurpers; by that, I mean their social or family origins which predispose them to such illegalities. Not much is written about the family or social origins of Ghana’s military and police usurpers. However, the available evidence shows that the Ghana Army and Police originally comprised mainly people of slave and lower social status origins. This, for a long time after independence made enrolment into those two institutions a thing of low esteem to those who see themselves as of higher social status. In the case of usurpers to chieftaincy stools, who are they indeed? Since succession is hereditary, who in his right mind who is not a bona fide descendant from the rightful bloodline would dare to push himself forward into such a position? Could the dispute be arising from the descendants of those born of slave “wives” and servants of royal households who are not recognised as heirs? Or, those who have suffered “social death” and really do not know their true origins, as the assimilation process of such “Outsiders” entailed suppression of their origins?
IMPOSTOR: “Impostor” refer to a charlatan or conman who assumed a FALSE IDENTITY, thus making the person an impersonator, in order to deceive and/or swindle us for a purpose. Often, the persons may change their names to make the deceit successful but in many cases, they simply assume false credentials they do not have. John Ackah Blay-Miezah readily comes to mind as one supremo in this category but he was not alone, as we have recent examples making waves such as the Egyptian Onsy Nkrumah claiming to be the son of Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Prosper Tao Tsikata (to be distinguished from Prosper Yao Tsikata, the beleaguered victim of his name theft). Many false claimants to chieftaincy stools, past and present, fall under this category too. Mr Lumorvi Atitsogbi, aka Nyonyo Agboada (many other names), and Mr Patrick Agboba, pretenders to the Anlo Awoamefia throne, and Dr Joe Blankson, claimant to the Ga Mantse throne, are recent examples. These grown ups who should have known better have caused so much discord and grief in their communities. What motivates them? We just have to take a look at our colonial past, with the colonialists creating warrant chiefs by heart, and pre-colonial past when even people from different ethnic groups freely imposed themselves upon others through wars and conquest to appreciate the phenomena of usurpers and impostors!
Today, conmen and impostors are criminals, mere unconscionable crooks, rogues and rascals that prey upon the ignorance, goodwill and trust of the citizenry. They deserve to be exposed, arrested, prosecuted and penalised but, unfortunately, they are often idolised in the Ghanaian society when successful in their pursuits of unlawful gains. In many cases, they are accorded official recognition and rub shoulders with officialdom. One may say birds of the same feather flock together, and so it is not unusual to see the government leaders behaving as they do, harbouring and promoting the fortunes of one of their own, despite irrevocable and clear evidence against them. If the evidence does not readily exist, it can be readily found in most cases by proper investigation, So, Onsy Nkrumah could be charged with impersonation and samples taken from him for a DNA test, but none in the corrupt government circles will do no such thing in order to protect public sanctity; not to mention the image of our revered or much reviled Founding Father, depending on which side of the turf you are!
Perhaps, the Ghanaian psyche, primed up by the spider (“ananse” or “ayiyi”) folktales, in which the trickster spider always prevailed, has indeed conditioned Ghanaians to accept and hail such criminals as achievers, as suggested by a Japanese anthropologist looking at the corruption scene in Africa - amidst wild outcry from African counterparts. The absence of a whistleblower legislation, which the ethically challenged conmen in Parliaments have refused to pass, is not enough to explain the protection and accolade these criminals enjoy at the moment.
RULERS: “Rulers” here refers to the heirs to and the operators of the colonial state of Ghana comprising its coercive apparatuses, the executive, the judiciary and legislative arms, whether in civilian clothes or military garbs, and their counterparts, the traditional chiefs who partnered the colonialists under the system of Indirect Rule and still preside over the traditional authorities the length and breadth of Ghana. They are the supervisors and hirelings of the corruption and lawlessness in post-independent Ghana. What are their class or social origins that predispose their psyche to this particularly vicious form of primitive accumulation or just plain thievery, callousness, normlessness and lack of empathy for the weak? What acculturation processes did they undergo during the colonial era, as practically all of them were born during that era? Yet again, the available evidence shows that Ghana’s so-called elite are mainly drawn from people of slave origins and some scions of the royal houses. What is, in book-long terminology, the complex articulation of interests at work? Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in the first Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures at the University of Cape Coast in 1977, spoke of the warped mentality that the slave trade left as a legacy in Africa. Franz Fanon wrote of the Psychology of the Oppressed to highlight the ravages of colonialism to the minds of Africans. Not much has been said then. What are the ramifications of all this? I am aware of Dr Irene Odotei collecting empirical data in the 1990s touching on the subject but have not seen outcomes of her analyses.
THE RULED: The “ruled”, of course, refers to the rest of us civilians, from the rich, wheeling dealing business tycoons who bribe, wine and dine with the rulers; the drivers who tip off the Police constables on a daily basis to the rural rustics who are supposedly the much oppressed and bamboozled subjects. However, the ruled, by no means, are not averse to, or not adept at adopting the same means the conmen, impostors, the crooked businesspeople and rulers employ to perpetuate their swindle on the whole population. They are therefore not entirely passive victims of the protection racketeers manning the state apparatus, as they are masters of the game themselves, employing all kinds of survival and coping mechanisms on a daily basis to survive. This irony, of course, has been commented upon by scholars. Just take the number of young, rootless and wayward people getting involved in “sakawa” - all kinds of 419 scams - to defraud people both in Ghana and abroad, and the faked “political refugees” of yesteryears with tall tales of persecution, to appreciate what I mean. The prisons are filled full with convicts from the ruled class. The ruled, in short, are just as compromised in this saga as the rest of them, as in the era of civilian rule, the ruled indeed supply the rulers. Psychologists tell us that abused persons often grow up to become abusers, and the ruled are definitely part of the induced warped mentality of the past. Together with the rulers, they all play cops and robbers in the drama that underpins the canker of bribery and corruption, plain thievery, rogue behaviour and lawlessness that unfold daily in Ghana. Any talk of a principled and conscionable civil society in Ghana working for good governance is therefore largely bogus, as we just have compromised partisan groupings that support their side of the hood. The vocal exceptions are few and are seen as oddities or odd balls swimming against the tide.
With this prelude to the subject, I’d like to dwell in Part 2 on the advent of the immediate post-colonial era to 1972, which marked the return of military rule to Ghana after the overthrow of the Progress Party government of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia by Col. Ignatius Acheampong’s NRC.
francis kwarteng 10 years ago
Dear C.Y.ANDY-K,
Good afternoon, Andy. How are doing?
I just finished your piece. Informative. I am very familaier with Prof. George Ayittey and his work (since the late 90s).
I think he has worked with the American ... read full comment
Dear C.Y.ANDY-K,
Good afternoon, Andy. How are doing?
I just finished your piece. Informative. I am very familaier with Prof. George Ayittey and his work (since the late 90s).
I think he has worked with the American conservative institutions--The Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution.
I have some reservations about his scholarship on Africa in general. I shall take this up later in the future.
Regarding this articles, you have a point there about corruption and gender poltics.
But the examples I see in your response are disaapointingly isolated, in the sense that they not as historically, statistically, economically, and anthropologically extesnive as the data on men.
I am not too sure if the isolated corruption data on women have econometric significance at all. Just look around you! Women and children are always the victims of war, for instance.
Please take a closer look at the entire evolutionary history of man. The 1917 war in Russia, Mao Tse-Tung's cultural war, Hitler's Holocaust, Aparthied, political Zionism and the suffering of Palestinains, the Crusades, the wars Prophet Muhammed waged to spread Islam, the 8-year between Irag/Iran, the Arab Spring,Mau Mau Uprising, the Algerian Revolution, etc., are all connected mostly with men.
That said, but you should realize that the statistics of corruptility weighs disprotionately in men's favor, both in historial time right via modern times.
Also, look at the prison populations around the world! Don't we see more men imprisoned than women?On the average, don't more men commit violent crimes than women? And how about the international drug trade? Do you recall Pablo Escobar?
Take Europe, America, Asia, as well as Africa. Men have completely taken over the United Nations, the US Congress,presidencies ,parliaments,etc
More examples: Wall Street is controlled by men, White males. Nearly all inisder trading crimes on Wall Street have involved White males.
Nearly all the financial controversies associated with Swiss banks have involved men.
99% of the major financial scandals in history (even today) have involved men.Almost all the financial scandals in Africa, from Mobuto Sese Seko, Teodoro Nguema, the Duvaliers, etc., who have stolen money stashed away in the West are all men.
For instance, how many African women (and women, in general)do we of who have stolen their countries' monies and hidden them in Swiss Banks (or Western banks)?
Let me go over this once more: All the wars in history--the 100-year war btn Britain/France; first and second world wars, colonization of America, Africa, and the rest of the world; have involved mostly men.
The 150-year long warring confrontation between the Asante Empire and the British involved mostly men, as well as those between Zulu's army and the West...
Also, the transatlantic/arab transsaharan slave trades, pre-colonial and colonial wars in Africa have all involved mostly men. Look at Genghis Khan and his wars of conquest (it's known that he probably created the greatest empire, by landmass, in world history)...look at all the religious wars...
Islamic terrorists are made up of mostly men. Al-Queda was founded by men. Most violent gangs in the world are mostly constituted by men. Please look at the 10,000-year history of man.
Bottomline: Throughout history (even today), women have not been in powerful positions to make decisions which have tended to affect men and their world.
This explains why I said we should tap into our women. Why? Beacuse most of the laws made to protect socities and human beings are made by men.
Again, many of these laws are designed by the powerful in any given society, and the powerful have mostly been men. This partly explains why men get away with crimes all the time.
How many women have we had in the US Congress, Ghana's parliament, and elsewhere in the world? Theocracies like Suadi Arabia are even worse.
In the end, we can forget the isolated Makola Market, Greek, and Bible examples examples, and look hard at history in its entirety.
Look, again, Andy, at Greek, Roman, and the entire Biblical dispensation, and what do you see? The evil manipulations attributed to women are isolated.
Further, men fell for some of these manipulations because of their stupidity (Sampson's case with Delilah is a typical example. Why did God create the Devil if he knew the Devil's manipulations were going to cause man to fall? Ley's not blame Eve. She had nothing to do with the fall of man.
Men are the cause of the world's probles.
Thanks.
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago
Yes, the faces of men appear on all those corruption lists and war fronts but what I am trying to point out is that, "behind all those 'successful' men there are women"! So there are women who support and complement the corru ... read full comment
Yes, the faces of men appear on all those corruption lists and war fronts but what I am trying to point out is that, "behind all those 'successful' men there are women"! So there are women who support and complement the corrupt men. In fact, some will say the greed of the women, etc., force their partners to engage in corrupt practices in order to satisfy them.
We have to note that only a few of the men lead the rest in leadership positions. The rest of the men are just exploited and used as women.
Looking at the Ghanaian scene at present, we have to query the roles of women in economic crimes, bribery, corruption and exploitation. Are they just passive victims or active actors in perpetrating those crimes? The overwhelming evidence is that they are active actors. but like the men too, we have to know that only a small minority of women are in that privileged position in the pack of the crooks and charlatans. Accordingly, both the exploited majority men and women must come together to face of the minority crooks in both sexes.
Andy-K
francis kwarteng 10 years ago
Hello Andy Yaw,
Thanks for your prompt response.
But I have a couple of questions: If one adult, let's say a women, tells another adult, let's say a man, to steal a loaf of bread and the man obeys, are we saying that ... read full comment
Hello Andy Yaw,
Thanks for your prompt response.
But I have a couple of questions: If one adult, let's say a women, tells another adult, let's say a man, to steal a loaf of bread and the man obeys, are we saying that the man stole because the woman asked him to?
What if the man had his own plans to steal the laof of bread and therefore the woman's urging had merely been a coincidence?
Does the adult male have complete control over his decision-making processes or will? Except probably at gunpoint or at the point of death where one has no choice, can a woman really push a man to commit a crime?
What I mean to say is this: I don't think one adult can convince another adult to commit a crime if the latter is not willing to commit the said crime.
Therefore, I find it difficullt, in fact, impossible, to accept the fact that some women push their men to commit crimes.
It's because the men are willing to commit the said crimes to satisfy the needs of their woman.
And therefore such men don't have to blame those women for their moral weaknesses.
This is not to say that there are not hardcore women criminals. They are all over the place but a tiny minority.
Probably, except for prostitution (and a couple of criminal activities), men top every single bit of crime I am aware of, at the level or seriousness of criminality, number, globality, etc. (A few countries have even made prostitution legal, yet men control pimping). Statiscally (globally), there are more men who abuse women than the other way around.
This partly explains why feminism gained traction in the 20th century, all because of the criminal nature of masculinity.
In summary, a man commits crimes because he wants to. A woman commits crimes because she wants to. Neither has the power to convince the other. If a man allows a woman to bend his will, then it's because he allows it or he gives his consent. The same is true of the oppoiste.
Eleanor Roosvelt once said that you a slave because you connived with the slave master to make you a slave. Her statement summarises my arguments.
My understanding of a leader with vision is one who knows what he plans to achieve and knows how to get there. It is usually a strategic plans and long term. President Nkrumah on education set up training colleges and seconda ...
read full comment
A very brilliant article---can your team come together to force Dr Ampaw to name the lawyers involved in bribing judges? This will make what you have written be achieved for we need action as well as beautiful articles. Good ...
read full comment
Put your thoughts in order and write simple, clear, understandable prose. No need to try and show off your knowledge, research and readings. Tardy effort and a missed opportunity to make a great case.
Hello reader,
It's as simple as you think.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and understanding same the article. Both the prose and ideas are as simple as ABC.
Look closely at yourself if you can loc ...
read full comment
Hello Nframa Boni,
It's as simple as you think. Anyway, Mansong, I am Yaw too. I am sorry. This response is not for you, Nana yaw Manson. It's for Nframa Boni.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and under ...
read full comment
Nice piece. Now, let's just overthrow the 4th republic and rewrite the new constitution, duly incorporating lessons from the 4th . . .
Hello reader,
It's as simple as you think. Anyway I am Yaw too.
Your co-readers did not have any problems reading and understanding same the article. Both the prose and ideas are as simple as ABC.
Look closely at you ...
read full comment
IN YOUR PREVIOUS ARTICLE, YOU PRAISED ONE VICTOR LAWRENCE, IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN, AND THEREFORE ATTEMPTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM THROUGH WIKIPEDIA BUT STRANGELY, NOTHING IS MENTIONED ABOUT HIM. WHY IS THAT IF HE IS THAT BRILLI ...
read full comment
Hello friend,
I forgot to include this little piece of information on Dr. Victor Lawrence.
Watch Dr. Victor Lawrence's interview on American television (Cablevision).
This is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMCd1 ...
read full comment
My broda. now it appears we are name sakes too, Yaw (Yao, me).:-)
Well, here is one man who didn't have any problem understanding. In many ways, you sounds like my echo from the 90s!
Was handicapped from commenting on P ...
read full comment
Dear C.Y.ANDY-K,
Good afternoon, Andy. How are doing?
I just finished your piece. Informative. I am very familaier with Prof. George Ayittey and his work (since the late 90s).
I think he has worked with the American ...
read full comment
Yes, the faces of men appear on all those corruption lists and war fronts but what I am trying to point out is that, "behind all those 'successful' men there are women"! So there are women who support and complement the corru ...
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Hello Andy Yaw,
Thanks for your prompt response.
But I have a couple of questions: If one adult, let's say a women, tells another adult, let's say a man, to steal a loaf of bread and the man obeys, are we saying that ...
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