The African had his way of teaching morality and practicing democracy. Destroying fruit trees and paving the earth for aesthetic reasons is not the solution. We are rapidly depleting the earth's resources in the name of devel ... read full comment
The African had his way of teaching morality and practicing democracy. Destroying fruit trees and paving the earth for aesthetic reasons is not the solution. We are rapidly depleting the earth's resources in the name of development. Are we hoping that they will be replenished? We are all magicians!
Ada Boy 10 years ago
Our African intellectuals are pre-occupied with cutural matters when clearly, our most single pressing problem is economic assimilation with the rest of the world. Our culture will be celebrated and respected like any other w ... read full comment
Our African intellectuals are pre-occupied with cutural matters when clearly, our most single pressing problem is economic assimilation with the rest of the world. Our culture will be celebrated and respected like any other when we become competitive and give up the panhandler mentality. Africa must earn it's respect!
insight to the bone 10 years ago
mahama is just a poser with nothing good in his head ,even our archenemy jj is telling him to reshuffle his useless ministers out but forgets the essence of leadership . if the president already doesn't have a plan of develo ... read full comment
mahama is just a poser with nothing good in his head ,even our archenemy jj is telling him to reshuffle his useless ministers out but forgets the essence of leadership . if the president already doesn't have a plan of development then he cant expect not to be overwhelmed by events . mahama has been plagued by one pestilence of woe after another because of the evil deeds he has committed such as the murder of mills and his proactive tribalism of the northerners. you can not fit 3 pints of water in a pot that only holds a pint , we can not fit the nation of Akan in this confinement called Ghana as the potential is far greater . Ghana limits our diaspora to those who left after 1957 , the nation of Akan recognizes those in Brazil , Caribbean ,USA etc centuries ago as all children of Akan and most welcome home just as the Israelis also are not limited by time . yes even Michelle Obama is a child of the Akan nation like it or not . We can not talk of the unification of the African continent if the true identities and real stakeholders remain imprisoned in their own countries. we have govts who only wish to retain power but ask the Berbers Yoruba , igbo or whoever individually if they want African unity today like the European union and they will confirm. its their govts who pay lip service but in reality are all against . everywhere we have vultures of corruption perched at the highest offices of the land bleeding the people of their lifeblood dry like the evil vampires they are . yes the uprising of the Akan we have global ramifications and a new breeze of justice will flow throughout the world . long live the republic of Akan
Afrocentric Culture 10 years ago
Dr. you sound confused.
Dr. you sound confused.
mky 10 years ago
Wow, this is a precedent....a first....a pacesetter.....and a complete distraction.....to claim that there is no African culture or Ghanaian culture for that matter is preposterous and self loathing at its worst. Nowhere in S ... read full comment
Wow, this is a precedent....a first....a pacesetter.....and a complete distraction.....to claim that there is no African culture or Ghanaian culture for that matter is preposterous and self loathing at its worst. Nowhere in Sarfo's tortured narrative does he berate Western European culture, an influence that has permeated our culture with predictable harsh ramifications. Of course, there is an African culture, a set of values, norms and rules that define us a people, a culture that continues to act as a defensive firewall against the influences of foreign cultures that apparently have held sway over Sarfo.....
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 10 years ago
You state, " Of course, there is an African culture,a set of values, norms and rules that define us a people." Mention any three of them, and if they are worthwhile, you will find that the same set of values, norms and rules ... read full comment
You state, " Of course, there is an African culture,a set of values, norms and rules that define us a people." Mention any three of them, and if they are worthwhile, you will find that the same set of values, norms and rules apply everywhere else and are not unique to Africa...
Unless you are referring to deer chasing or breast display or fetish dance, nothing you say of value will be uniquely African. Every norm and rule, if they make sense, have global applicability and universal recognition.
Re-read what I have written and ponder the matter further, instead of falling into a tantrum and calling me names!
K. K. Mensah 10 years ago
"Dr." Sarfo, your hypothesis "that there is nothing like African culture or Ghanaian culture" is highly questionable. You've stated: "If you come to customs of the people, like naming ceremony, puberty rites, marriage rites, ... read full comment
"Dr." Sarfo, your hypothesis "that there is nothing like African culture or Ghanaian culture" is highly questionable. You've stated: "If you come to customs of the people, like naming ceremony, puberty rites, marriage rites, death rites etc., every small society in Africa has its own, which may comprise female/male circumcision, half-naked breast display dances, obnoxious bride price (ranging from western drinks to herds of cattle), storage of dead bodies for days in search of human heads to bury them with and so on….." Is it not a fact that these customs are peculiar to Africans, and Ghanaians, for that matter, and are differnet from other customs anywhere else and so have set them apart, and for which reason they're called African or Ghanaian culture?
Again, you've asserted: "The way forward for us is to regard the world’s cultural corpus as the universal property of all the world’s citizens to be appropriated for our benefit without being concerned about its origins. This is because cultural norms as we know them today are the eclectic creation of all humankind, not only of the Asian or Western or European world; they are actually the distillation, not the obnubilation or abnegation, of history’s norms and mores, and a conservation in human knowledge in which the societies of the world are joint creators and shareholders. Thus they belong in usufruct to all humanity, and the separatists should not hold sway over its appropriation or control its direction and focus." Unfortunately, you sound too simplistic and naive here. Do Asians and Westerners also see "the world’s cultural corpus as the universal property of all the world’s citizens to be appropriated for our benefit without being concerned about its origins"? What about the religio-cultural superiority attitudes Westerners adopted especially during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th against Africans, delcaring that Africans had no culture, history, religion, and that they didn't even have a concept of God and that therefore their backgrounds must be completely obliterated (the tabula rasa--clean slate--doctrine) before the Christian faith and morals must be presented to them? Did the Westerners not make strenuous attempts to impose their culture on Africans? Also, are you aware of the strong opposition by some white elements in America against the introduction of multi-culturalism into their school curriculum?
You've adopted the practice of referring to yourself as "Dr. of Law". Well, so far as I know, those holding Juris Doctor degrees in America don't call themselves "Dr." The J. D. degree in America is the first law degree, even though it's called Juris Doctor. It's equivalent to the B. L. degree in Ghana or in Britain.
In spite of a J. D. degree, its holder who wants an advanced degree goes in for a Master's or a Ph.D., or its equivalent. Thus holders of J. Ds. don't call themselves doctors.
mky 10 years ago
Sarfo, don't portray my response as a tantrum...far from it...rather, it is a repudiation of your inexplicable assertions.....and an indictment of your inferiority complex...to maintain that our cultural values aren't unique ... read full comment
Sarfo, don't portray my response as a tantrum...far from it...rather, it is a repudiation of your inexplicable assertions.....and an indictment of your inferiority complex...to maintain that our cultural values aren't unique is shameless posturing....even within our society each culture is unique with its own set of values and norms....the Akan culture is vastly different from the Dagomba culture....so tell me and other consumers of your narrative, Mr. Sarfo, the correlation between our African culture and the dominant cultures of the western world....what is the commonality?....admit it, you are being intellectually dishonest.
By all indications, you are contemptible of your own culture and trying to foist on readers your acquired set of values...
KB 10 years ago
"Every norm and rule,if they make sense,have global applicabilty and universal recognition".Really,Doc.?
This assertion is so brazenly fallacious,words fail me to respond.As a matter of fact you impress me as having done ver ... read full comment
"Every norm and rule,if they make sense,have global applicabilty and universal recognition".Really,Doc.?
This assertion is so brazenly fallacious,words fail me to respond.As a matter of fact you impress me as having done very little research about culture/cultures,otherwise you would not make such presumptous assertion.
Just you research into Japanese culture and compare it to that of any one afarican country.Then come again.
Moses 10 years ago
SAS is certainly up to something but perhaps he has not exactly expressed (or described) it well. For one thing, he says there is nothing that can really be pinpointed at and called "African culture". He is right in so far th ... read full comment
SAS is certainly up to something but perhaps he has not exactly expressed (or described) it well. For one thing, he says there is nothing that can really be pinpointed at and called "African culture". He is right in so far the different peoples of Africa have so many diverse ways and beliefs that it's useless to describe anything as "African culture".
If I understand SAS right, he is saying whatever knowledge system we have in Africa must be considered as part of human knowledge. One cannot, therefore, talk fruitfully of an African epistemology that is opposed to, or different from other systems of knowledge belonging to “other” people. It is on this ground that he challenges the Afrocentric enterprise especially as we have come to understand it from the writings of Kwarteng and Molefi that have inundated these pages of late. Perhaps these two guys have not been able to convince us (SAS in particular) that there is a knowledge system (Afrocentrism) which we Africans can take refuge in to assert and improve ourselves.
But, actually, SAS seems to have a far bigger project which, perhaps, is making it difficult for him to explain himself adequately here. SAS has, in all his articles for this site, fought assiduously against all ethnic dogmatism, sexual/gender discrimination, racial superiority and any other system that puts one set of people above the other. He has always called for unity of our peoples (in Ghana especially) and I see that it is to this extent that he is also calling for a one world where all human knowledge is put into one pot that belongs to the human race. Even if this is not so now, we should be pursuing that goal, rather than cutting ourselves away from the rest of humanity and creating a corner for ourselves.
I think he is right in many ways. It doesn't mean we should do away with whatever we may consider as our culture but rather to consider it as part of the culture of humanity. Globalisation, which is increasingly integrating the world, seems to be bearing him out.
I was just wondering if SAS also thinks that once we start talking of Afrocentricism as “our” way, “our” approach, the next step will be saying “our” way is better than “your” way, resulting in the divisionism that he so much hates…
Let us see if the Afrocentrists can make a better case for themselves.
Other issues to take up but this is getting too long...
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 10 years ago
You are now my lawyer!
You are now my lawyer!
Terry 10 years ago
You will probably feel at home with Lord Lugard if you think the way you do.
Lord Lugard, the former governor-general of Nigeria, in 1926, wrote his unfiltered thought about Nigerians. From his book, The Dual Mandates, com ... read full comment
You will probably feel at home with Lord Lugard if you think the way you do.
Lord Lugard, the former governor-general of Nigeria, in 1926, wrote his unfiltered thought about Nigerians. From his book, The Dual Mandates, come these excerpts: "In character and temperament, the typical African of this race-type is a happy, thriftless, excitable person, lacking in self-control, discipline, and foresight. Naturally courageous, and naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, with little sense of veracity, fond of music and loving weapons as an oriental loves jewellery. His thoughts are concentrated on the events and feelings of the moment, and he suffers little from the apprehension for the future or grief for the past. His mind is far nearer to the animal world than that of the European or Asiatic, and exhibits something of the animals' placidity and want of desire to rise beyond the state he has reached.
"Through the ages, the African appears to have evolved no organised religious creed, and though some tribes appear to believe in a deity, the religious sense seldom rises above pantheistic animalism and seems more often to take the form of a vague dread of the supernatural. He lacks the power of organisation, and is conspicuously deficient in the management and control alike of men or business. He loves the display of power, but fails to realize its responsibility - he will work hard with a less incentive than most races. He has the courage of the fighting animal, an instinct rather than a moral virtue. In brief, the virtues and defects of his race -type are those of attractive children, whose confidence when it is won is given ungrudgingly as to an older and wiser superior and without envy. Perhaps, the two traits which have impressed me as those most characteristic of the African native are his lack of apprehension and his lack of ability to visualize the future"
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 10 years ago
Lord Lugard was describing you and your family!
Lord Lugard was describing you and your family!
KB 10 years ago
What about "our way is different from your ways", because it is impacted by different geographical environment vis a vis weather patterns etc,etc.?
Do not think for Sas,Moses.A 'Kumbaya'
outlook to life does not necessarily ... read full comment
What about "our way is different from your ways", because it is impacted by different geographical environment vis a vis weather patterns etc,etc.?
Do not think for Sas,Moses.A 'Kumbaya'
outlook to life does not necessarily mean there cannot be differences in outlook.
Moses 10 years ago
I don't think I am thinking for SAS. I only just feel he is up to something that he has not put up clearly - if I understand him rightly. I don't think he's arguing that there are no differences in outlook or that we may not ... read full comment
I don't think I am thinking for SAS. I only just feel he is up to something that he has not put up clearly - if I understand him rightly. I don't think he's arguing that there are no differences in outlook or that we may not be different in Africa. Remember he talks about African culture comprising so many different things. There ARE differences but in the end, how much importance do we attach to those differences when we confront our common human problems (in their different varieties)? In short, how much do we want to emphasise those differences?
kosoko 10 years ago
The Afrocentrists (in your case Kwarteng and Asante)have indeed made themselves very clear and I do not personally see your difficulty except that you may be up to some mischievous or you might be planted in a 'White man's ga ... read full comment
The Afrocentrists (in your case Kwarteng and Asante)have indeed made themselves very clear and I do not personally see your difficulty except that you may be up to some mischievous or you might be planted in a 'White man's game.
First, there is no such thing as 'universal culture' or concept. No sociologist or cultural anthropologist maintains that proposition. "Knowledge, belief, and behavior that ... positively impact ethics and character or proper human behavior and conduct" which SOS asserts as the standard definition of "culture" indeed differ from one ethnic group to another. Some happen to be the same but it does not in any stretch of imagination make it the same.
The idea of 'universal culture' is a Western (European)political project that drive the their intellectual front to this end.
Afrocentrism (in your case Kwarteng and Asante)as an intellectual tradition comes in to oppose this project from the intellectual front. Kwarteng and Asante Afrocentric works we have seen on this platform have never in any where suggested that African culture is one or the same. But the fact that they are not the same does not mean we cannot put them together and called 'African culture'. The closeness of the cultures in Africa as maintain by authorities of all repute indeed defines them in one pot as African culture. These authorities who have studied the cultures closely do not throw them in isolation and in a vacuum and later turn round to labeled them as be part of the so called "universal culture" as European Scholars have tried so hard to do. The universality of concepts or cultures as known today is nothing but European intellectual thought, "an imposition of their particular reasoning [on the world] as if is universal"; Afrocentrism argues. The Afrocentric intellectual thought further reminds us that, the purpose of this cultural imposition has not been and/or is not for the harmonization of the common good of the world but purely to dominant in order to exploit other people ruthlessly--regardless of the cost as long the 'European' material gratification is maintained.
To confront this challenge that threatens our very existence of life as African people, the theses of Afrocentric scholarship only call for grounds in our various African cultures-- an agency that will help us to understand our existence in the world rather than so the called "universal concepts" that see us in the margins of the world. Afrocentrism in this sense, is not calling for "ethnic dogmatism" as you wanted us to believe.
RastafaraI 10 years ago
America does not call JD holders doctors....
America does not call JD holders doctors....
Nii Ashitey 10 years ago
One of the strategies of intellectual dishonesty is to use definitions in its narrow context to make a broader point. SAS has used contextomy selectively excerpting words from their original linguistic context in a way that ... read full comment
One of the strategies of intellectual dishonesty is to use definitions in its narrow context to make a broader point. SAS has used contextomy selectively excerpting words from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts the intended meaning. Using a narrow definition of Culture,he went on to give the impression that culture had evolved into a universal concept where western custom, beliefs and value system prevail and therefore we must get along with it. Whilst he happily denigrates our culture in a language and description unfaltering of a people.
He went on to questions the concept of Afrocentrism which is merely a call to focus on the need for Africans to rediscover who they are independent of their assimilated western values and ways of thinking and behaving. Unfortunately some African elites like SAS have adopted and assimilated wholesale whatever the west has to offer. The end result is not just a cultural betrayal but a serious case of self-dehumanization and outright self-subversion both in terms of dignity and self-esteem.
What his adopted culture think of him is that his race can only succeed and realize its potential and destiny by being controlled,policed,nursed and guided by westerners. This is the universal culture you are routing for. Sometimes when we leave our villages for foreign “civilized” land, we are overwhelmed and stupified. This is a culture that helps generate and perpetuate an inferiority complex in Africans, fosters individualism amongst Africans, disrupts organisation and unity in the African community because there is inherent fear of a united, organised Afrocentric community.
No wonder that he sees great men Like Dr Nkrumah and Mugabe from the picture painted by his adopted culture. Maybe he is now a white man in black skin.
mky 10 years ago
Nii Ashitey, you hit the nail right on its head to use a tired cliche....
Nii Ashitey, you hit the nail right on its head to use a tired cliche....
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 10 years ago
1. I am using the definition of culture in its broader context by applying it in a global sense. You are the one with the restricted view.
2. There is nothing wrong with an evolved culture which has universal applicability ... read full comment
1. I am using the definition of culture in its broader context by applying it in a global sense. You are the one with the restricted view.
2. There is nothing wrong with an evolved culture which has universal applicability. It will be dangerous for our people’s minds to be ossified by adherence to archaic notions and practices being bandied about by idealistic intellectuals who have no clue about the cultures they praise.
3. I never said Western beliefs and values should remain unquestioned. I said that whatever beliefs and values we cherish in the world have evolved with our full participation. In other words, we are also also the makers of the world’s civilization.
4. The danger in the aim you assign to Afrocentrism-merely a call to focus on the need for Africans to rediscover who they are independent of their assimilated western values and ways of thinking and behaving- although innocuous in its face, puts everybody in a box, effectively excluding the wealth of knowledge which we can freely access from the outside world. I want to be seen as a human being with the corpus of world knowledge and technology available to me, not as a Ghanaian or African singing the swan song of moribund cultural practices, and stupid superstitions.
5. I am surprised at your insult to my dignity and self esteem. I was born and raised in Effiduase Koforidua. Everyday, I stand in American courts here, both state and federal, to defend the poor and the needy, many of whom are our brothers and sisters being oppressed by the American system. I am also the leader of all the Ghanaians in Austin, Texas, daily attending to my people's needs. I am contributing my small part to the collective struggle of our people, and I will not allow you to describe me;let me describe myself! I am tired of the insults you pour on people that question your abstract philosophy.
6. If you consider the twin dictators, Nkrumah and Mugabe, as your idols, then I am not surprised that you follow an abstract concept such as Afrocentrism which you cannot even define, let alone describe. Those two dictators are also ideological demagogues!
7. And by the way, if you think so-called African studies and epistemology serve any intellectual purpose, consider that both Akadu Mensema and Okoampa-Ahoofe have Ph.Ds in the area, and yet are the most intellectually bankrupt bigots here! So the question is, what purpose is served by imbibing theories that produce failed scholars like Akadu Mansema and Okoampa-Ahoofe?
Kosoko 10 years ago
I am beginning to think that you have misunderstood the whole Afrocentric concept' be something its not. The term was coined by Dr. Asante. Please try to read the works of Asante. He is saying exactly what you just said here ... read full comment
I am beginning to think that you have misunderstood the whole Afrocentric concept' be something its not. The term was coined by Dr. Asante. Please try to read the works of Asante. He is saying exactly what you just said here that "we are also the makers of the world’s civilization" and in fact we were the pioneers who gave the world civilization itself in the very beginning. We are not without civilization as Europeans has succeeded to colour the mind of the world with. In fact, the Afrocentrists not just claiming that. All the historical facts attest to that truth. What the Afrocentrists are proposing therefore stems from the same oppression you claim you are fighting against in the US. Afrocentrists argue that what you want to called universal culture or concepts today are indeed not universal but Eurocentric notion of the world-- an imposition of their particular reasoning on the world. Their aim is not about the harmonization of the world but to hide underneath it to exploit other people as their action have proved around the world. From this angle, I don't personally see your difficulty with Afrocentrism.
Regarding the subject "Nkrumah" you must treat it dispassionately from the local political lens in Ghana. He was no Angel but he wasn't the devil neither and so is Robert Mugabe today.
Scratchie 10 years ago
Before reading this posting of yours, I held you in high esteem and thought you had appreciable ideas. No more, no longer. Your current reasoning leads to a conclusion that you are one of those Africans who hold the view th ... read full comment
Before reading this posting of yours, I held you in high esteem and thought you had appreciable ideas. No more, no longer. Your current reasoning leads to a conclusion that you are one of those Africans who hold the view that they are now too educated to be associated with their own heritage.
mky 10 years ago
Scratchie, look, most of us are highly educated, but are still humble enough to stay tethered to our heritage......
Scratchie, look, most of us are highly educated, but are still humble enough to stay tethered to our heritage......
MINOR CASE 10 years ago
This SAS again ? He says he is Asante . Check his background .especially his grandparents and you will know where his inferiority complex streak comes from.
This SAS again ? He says he is Asante . Check his background .especially his grandparents and you will know where his inferiority complex streak comes from.
KB 10 years ago
The doctor is very confused,so confused,it's funny!!
The doctor is very confused,so confused,it's funny!!
OKATAKYIE 10 years ago
I'm sure Dr.SAS is a very nice bloke. However, I can't help but thinking that he has no pride in being Ghanaian/African/Black. His narrative, analysis and concept of "African Culture" is the product of ignorance and his adopt ... read full comment
I'm sure Dr.SAS is a very nice bloke. However, I can't help but thinking that he has no pride in being Ghanaian/African/Black. His narrative, analysis and concept of "African Culture" is the product of ignorance and his adopted mentality.
KB 10 years ago
Wow,I didn't know there were so many
'soldiers of Afrocentrism' out there,big and ready to defend it at all times and everywhere.!!I'm proud of y'all!
Wow,I didn't know there were so many
'soldiers of Afrocentrism' out there,big and ready to defend it at all times and everywhere.!!I'm proud of y'all!
Ghanaman 10 years ago
Dr SAS,be since and don't be blinded by false pride.Lord Lugard painted a true picture of Black Africans.In fact,the MINDSET of African politicians is a glowing testimony of what Lord Lugard wrote almost hundred years ago.I b ... read full comment
Dr SAS,be since and don't be blinded by false pride.Lord Lugard painted a true picture of Black Africans.In fact,the MINDSET of African politicians is a glowing testimony of what Lord Lugard wrote almost hundred years ago.I believe there is really,really something wrong with the BLACKMAN.
Barima 10 years ago
Lord Lugard description fit Ashante people, these people who are uneducated and educated kokoase tribe people in the bush! Go to school.
You are why Lord Lugard make this comment.
Oh how happy I am.
Lord Lugard description fit Ashante people, these people who are uneducated and educated kokoase tribe people in the bush! Go to school.
You are why Lord Lugard make this comment.
Oh how happy I am.
Mark Osei 10 years ago
Nobody should pretend that we are the same as WHITES.The BLACKMAN is the most idiotic creature to walk the face of the earth.I agree with Ghanaman.The attitude of African politicians is a true testimony.The gross mismanagemen ... read full comment
Nobody should pretend that we are the same as WHITES.The BLACKMAN is the most idiotic creature to walk the face of the earth.I agree with Ghanaman.The attitude of African politicians is a true testimony.The gross mismanagement,embezzlement of state funds,reckless dissipation of public funds,love of political power,lack of accountability etc. of African politicians today has confirmed what Lord Lugard wrote almost hundred years ago.
kosoko 10 years ago
Osei, are u also a Blackman? I could clearly see you are not idiot at all but your name suggest that you are indeed an African who the European prefer to called "Black". You are only a frustrated person. What you find in thes ... read full comment
Osei, are u also a Blackman? I could clearly see you are not idiot at all but your name suggest that you are indeed an African who the European prefer to called "Black". You are only a frustrated person. What you find in these African leaders are not things inherent in the nature of the African but the symptoms or the scars of what the European did and continues to do in our encounter with them. It's fight or struggle we must not give up.
Saint James 10 years ago
Kosoko,you must be honest.There is overwhelming evidence that MISMANAGMENT and LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY are some of the characteristics of educated Black Africans and this has been demonstrated clearly in African Politics.We ca ... read full comment
Kosoko,you must be honest.There is overwhelming evidence that MISMANAGMENT and LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY are some of the characteristics of educated Black Africans and this has been demonstrated clearly in African Politics.We can't blame the Whiteman fifty seven years after independence.There is definitely something wrong with the Blackman.Is it it genetic ? We need answers.
tom boy 10 years ago
Mismanagement and lack of Accountability is a problem everywhere. It happens in America, Asia, and the rest of the non-African world almost everyday.
Read Noam Chomsky and opinions conducted in America to see how Americans ... read full comment
Mismanagement and lack of Accountability is a problem everywhere. It happens in America, Asia, and the rest of the non-African world almost everyday.
Read Noam Chomsky and opinions conducted in America to see how Americans have lost hope in the American system. Lack of accountability and mismanagement are factors. Did you read about Bernard Maddoff (who squandered nearly 60 billion US dollars of investors' money) and several other Americans (like Jack Abramoff) stole other people's money?
Abramoff went to prison for five years or less while the people he duped still don't have their money. You think it's the Black Man who has problems with lack of accountability and mismanagement.
Respond to this and I shall send you tons of video titles, book references, journal essays, polls, etc., on how Americans generally believe lack of accountability and mismanagement are destroying America. Remember that under President George America has not been able to account for billions of US dollars he claimed he spent on Irag.
Ex-President Clinton failed to acccount for 1 billion US dollars he claimed to have given Haiti. There simply were no records to back Clinton. Congress investigated this but nothing came out of it.
The Haitians, however, were vindicated. That inferentially means Clinton lied. Read about how Rev. Pat Robertson, a conservative Republican, used his private plane to carry diamonds from Zaire (under Mobuto Sese Seko; he was one of Mobuto's closest friends and lobbied for Charles Taylor and Mobuto in the US Congress) in violation of US laws. He used some of the profits to support Republican politicians. Have you read Senate report on this? Yet these are all educated whites!
Do you read how American companies, like Macy's and Wall Mart, going around the world bribing everyone for contracts? Go to the Justice Department website where these outrageous corruptive activities, mostly associated with White males and white comapnies, are recorded.
Have you read seen the Justice Department's indictment of companies, mostly White companies, which duped mostly non-White American citizens into buying sham sub-prime policies? This led to the sub-prime crisis.
Have you read about insider trading on Wall Street? Do you know Whites control Wall Street? That sad fact is, usually some of these white educated crooks are made to pay a token of their stolen monet and set free.
Have you read about the "Libor Controversy" where British financial institutions manipulate inetersts in order to generate illegal profits for their companies. Do yoou know how this contribued to global financial crisis? Ask me how many non-Whites are among those elite which made the decision as to how to implememnt the "Libor Crisis?"
Do you know how Swiss and American banks help thieves from around the world hide their monies in their banks? How many of these thievibg banks are owned by Black People?
Do know how much the American IRS paid an informant, a banking official, who exposed Americans (more than 4000) who have stolen money hidden in Swiss banks? More than 100 million US dollars. Challenge me and I shall send you all the information about the IRS and the banking official in question. This is even public knowledge. How many of these American thieves do you think are Black?
In the wake of America's financial metldown, do you know how many Americans banks relied on drug money from South America to support its investment activities? Challenge me again and I hall send you all the details you need.
Let me say one thing, the White Man is more corrupt than non-Whites. Go back to 500 years of human history. I hate it when I see ignorant Black educated men and women. This is just a summary. Respond to these and I shall give the evidence (references) from the US State Department, FBI, etc. Please don't be ignorant.
99% of thieves in all these examples are educated white men (mostly).
Saint James 10 years ago
What you are implying is that Mismanagement and lack of accountability is a global problem,so Ghanaians have to accept it as the norm and tolerate it.Don't be naïve.Isn't it too laughable to draw a comparison with United Sta ... read full comment
What you are implying is that Mismanagement and lack of accountability is a global problem,so Ghanaians have to accept it as the norm and tolerate it.Don't be naïve.Isn't it too laughable to draw a comparison with United States,the nation with the largest economy and a population of 350 million people with a small "lawless" nation like Ghana,with regard to Mismanagement and accountability? Ghana is a nation in which accountability is zero.It is a nation in which politicians embezzle state funds with impunity and go scot free.You can't say the same about United States.Are you living on another planet?
Frank Okine 10 years ago
This Tom Boy must be either stupid by birth or is mentally sick to compare accountability in the Whiteman's country and Black African nations,and defend the gross mismanagement of African politicians.I wonder if he has ever l ... read full comment
This Tom Boy must be either stupid by birth or is mentally sick to compare accountability in the Whiteman's country and Black African nations,and defend the gross mismanagement of African politicians.I wonder if he has ever lived in Europe,United States,Canada or Australia.
tom boy 10 years ago
Can you think at all?
Did I say anywhere that we should not do anything about corruption in Ghana or Africa? I never said or implied so.
What I wanted to say is that corruption (lack of accountability and mismanagement ... read full comment
Can you think at all?
Did I say anywhere that we should not do anything about corruption in Ghana or Africa? I never said or implied so.
What I wanted to say is that corruption (lack of accountability and mismanagement) is more entrenched in the Western world that, say, Asia or Africa?
I am surprised you did not say anything about the little, just a LITTLE, of America's crimes as far as mismanagement and lack of accountability is concerned.
I repeat: Corruption in the Western world is more extrenched and expansive than you can imagine in Asia or Africa?
What I gave you about the West is a tip of the iceberg? Do you want us to talk about evidence or what? Tell me you want the evidence.
I will send them to you and we can go beyond the tip of the iceberg. Have you had the chance to go back 500 years of human history like I told you? Go back to 500 years of the human history and you will know that 57 years of Ghana's history is a piece of cake (though I am not saying we should not make things better). The problem is, the white man is the worst God created!
Which planet do you live on? Should we go into the evidence on the evil nature of the white man and talk about mismanagement and lack of accountability in both the West and Africa?
It seems to me you have never lived in the West (like America) where corruption, mismanagement, and lack of accountability rock the nation on daily basis? America politicians and corporate managers steal millions/billions and are sent to prisons where swimming pools, etc., are provided. They come out of prison in a couple of years, asked to pay a fraction of what they stole, and they ised the rest to open businesses for families and political friends.
American minorities, likeAfrican Americans and Latinos, steal packets of cigarretes and they go to prison for many years. And guess what? They pay for the rest of their lives! Are millions/billions of US dolars the same as packet of cigarrets?
Let's start with the late US Judge Bruce Wright's book "Black Robe, White Justice: Why Our Legal System Doesn't Work for Blacks." This book won an "American Book Award," a prestigious award. Let me see if you relate Black People to "mismanagament and lack of accountability" after reading this book. This book deals with a little piece of America's corruption. Most of my white friends are scared to read this little.
Read it. Once you are done let me know and I shall send you more damaging facts in the Western world. What you see in Africa is a joke compared to what happens in the West. I have tons of resources for you (rom the US Justice Department, declassified FBI records, etc). Please do go to the Justice Department website and read Judge Bruce Wright's book before asking me to go forward, Tell me what you see in the book, Justice Department website, etc. We can go from there.
Saint James 10 years ago
Thanks for you response.I am too curios.I awant to know how LACK OF ACCOUNTABIITY and MISMANAGEMENT has made United States the greatest nation on earth.
Thanks for you response.I am too curios.I awant to know how LACK OF ACCOUNTABIITY and MISMANAGEMENT has made United States the greatest nation on earth.
(Whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld Rewarded Record $104M for Exposing How UBS Helped Rich Evade Taxes). This will tell how American banks, like their Swiss counterparts, train thieves to steal money from America and hide them in places like Swizerlad. Listen to the entire piece.
(As Madoff Scandal Wipes Out Charities and Foundations, SEC Admits it Missed Repeated Warnings on Historic $50B Financial Fraud): This should tell you how one man and his family duped people for almost 65 billion dollars and how federal authorities failed to know what was going. He and his family squandered all all the money. He's serving 150 years in prison. Investors did not get their back.
(The Biggest Congressional Scandal in Over a Century? GOP Lobbyist Jack Abramoff Pleads Guilty to Three Felony Counts). This tells you how one man, Jack Abramoff, had nearly hald of the US Senate in his pocket. In a related incident, he duped a Native American group (70 million US dolars) in exchange for lobbying the US Senate to provide them with a casino. Lie. He went to prison for 5 years or less. None of the money he stole from people was returned. His canse, that is, briding US policy makers to enact laws to favor his clients is the biggest in US history.
(Report: Subprime Mortgage Crisis Causing African Americans to Experience Greatest Loss of Wealth in Modern U.S. History). This tells how mostly white financial instututes deceived minories, esp African Americans, into buying insurance for their homes. White employees for these banks directed White applicants with bad credit histories to departments that secretly helped them secure better insurance policities for their homes, while directing African Americans and Latinos, to departments which gave them bad insurance policies. These helped precipitate the crisis in American policities because these Latinos and African Americans got laid off as the American economy began getting bad. Americam minorities, even when qualified than whites, get laid off first when the American economy began getting bad.
(Matt Taibbi on the Unfolding Libor Scandal and What Sen. DeMint’s Departure Means for Fractured GOP). This tells you how British banks secretly manipulate intrest rates and raked in tens of billions of dollars for their banks.
Let's start from here. These are just the tip of the iceber. Did you read Justice Bruce Wright's "Black Robe, White Justice"?
Anyway, when you are done watching these and reading the transcripts that accompany, we shall go to high-profile cases, mostly commited by educated white americans, and prosecuted by the Justice Department.
We shall also go heinous crimes educated white americans commit on Wall Street everyday and how many of such case have been prosecuted and the funny punishments these white educated crooks get as opposed to blacks or lanitos who commit minor crimes. Have you hear of the "Rockefeler Laws"? New York has banned it but most US states still have them on their books and enforce them.
Lest I forget, we shall also go into facts dealing with how American pharceutical companies bride doctors across the country to recommend drugs for patients (though these drugs have been rejected by the FDA). And we shall discuss the token amount the Justice Department asked them to pay as opposed to the billions they made out of these shams project. Do you knwo how many people died as a result?
Then we shall also talk about how the FDA rejects drugs only for these pharmaceutical companies go to Asia, for instance, carry out fake clinical trials, doctor results, and bring them here for approval. It's only when the fake drugs begin creating problems for patients in America and killing some that the FDA knows the results are fake (after the companies have already made billions).
You know what? All these serious crimes are committed by mostly educated white men. The managers of most of these pharmaceutical companies go scot-free because their lobbying money put politicians in office.
And you think the US is the greatest country in the world, right? Ask American minorities like Latinos and African Americans if America is the greatest country on earth.
(As U.S. Inequality Widens, Scholar Cornel West and Broadcaster Tavis Smiley Launch Poverty Tour 2.0). This tells how poverty is entrenched in American society. Read the book "The Rich and the Rest of Us."
My friend, like I said before, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Remember I have only listed one serious crime in Europe, the Libor Scandal.
Let me when you are done. I have hundreds of examples. I will demonstarte to you that the corruption you see in Africa is a joke.
Watch and read the trascripts.
Kwesi 10 years ago
Before European conquests, Unity in Diversity was the motto. Even in large empire composed of many ethnic groups, languages, culture, ancestors, name for god, etc. There's no need to go Hitler and go fascist on us (homogeni ... read full comment
Before European conquests, Unity in Diversity was the motto. Even in large empire composed of many ethnic groups, languages, culture, ancestors, name for god, etc. There's no need to go Hitler and go fascist on us (homogenic, uniformity, intolerance of diversity of culture, religion, languages, ethic groups, etc).
African culture is about the diversity of culture, ethnic groups, languages. This is one of the richness of Africa. But most importantly, it is what it is. It was designed that way by African people because of our culture.
The same can be said about humanity as a whole. We are all composed of a variety of nationality, ethnic groups, culture, languages, religion, personality, family ancestors, etc. This diversity is part of humanity. Language problem is solved by multilingualism (while still using our languages like Swedish, German, Russian, Japanese, Finnish, Hebrew, Twi, Asante, etc). For example, many countries learn english as their *second* language. The rest is about appreciating the diversity of the human culture.
The African had his way of teaching morality and practicing democracy. Destroying fruit trees and paving the earth for aesthetic reasons is not the solution. We are rapidly depleting the earth's resources in the name of devel ...
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Our African intellectuals are pre-occupied with cutural matters when clearly, our most single pressing problem is economic assimilation with the rest of the world. Our culture will be celebrated and respected like any other w ...
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mahama is just a poser with nothing good in his head ,even our archenemy jj is telling him to reshuffle his useless ministers out but forgets the essence of leadership . if the president already doesn't have a plan of develo ...
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Dr. you sound confused.
Wow, this is a precedent....a first....a pacesetter.....and a complete distraction.....to claim that there is no African culture or Ghanaian culture for that matter is preposterous and self loathing at its worst. Nowhere in S ...
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You state, " Of course, there is an African culture,a set of values, norms and rules that define us a people." Mention any three of them, and if they are worthwhile, you will find that the same set of values, norms and rules ...
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"Dr." Sarfo, your hypothesis "that there is nothing like African culture or Ghanaian culture" is highly questionable. You've stated: "If you come to customs of the people, like naming ceremony, puberty rites, marriage rites, ...
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Sarfo, don't portray my response as a tantrum...far from it...rather, it is a repudiation of your inexplicable assertions.....and an indictment of your inferiority complex...to maintain that our cultural values aren't unique ...
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"Every norm and rule,if they make sense,have global applicabilty and universal recognition".Really,Doc.?
This assertion is so brazenly fallacious,words fail me to respond.As a matter of fact you impress me as having done ver ...
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SAS is certainly up to something but perhaps he has not exactly expressed (or described) it well. For one thing, he says there is nothing that can really be pinpointed at and called "African culture". He is right in so far th ...
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You are now my lawyer!
You will probably feel at home with Lord Lugard if you think the way you do.
Lord Lugard, the former governor-general of Nigeria, in 1926, wrote his unfiltered thought about Nigerians. From his book, The Dual Mandates, com ...
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Lord Lugard was describing you and your family!
What about "our way is different from your ways", because it is impacted by different geographical environment vis a vis weather patterns etc,etc.?
Do not think for Sas,Moses.A 'Kumbaya'
outlook to life does not necessarily ...
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I don't think I am thinking for SAS. I only just feel he is up to something that he has not put up clearly - if I understand him rightly. I don't think he's arguing that there are no differences in outlook or that we may not ...
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The Afrocentrists (in your case Kwarteng and Asante)have indeed made themselves very clear and I do not personally see your difficulty except that you may be up to some mischievous or you might be planted in a 'White man's ga ...
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America does not call JD holders doctors....
One of the strategies of intellectual dishonesty is to use definitions in its narrow context to make a broader point. SAS has used contextomy selectively excerpting words from their original linguistic context in a way that ...
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Nii Ashitey, you hit the nail right on its head to use a tired cliche....
1. I am using the definition of culture in its broader context by applying it in a global sense. You are the one with the restricted view.
2. There is nothing wrong with an evolved culture which has universal applicability ...
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I am beginning to think that you have misunderstood the whole Afrocentric concept' be something its not. The term was coined by Dr. Asante. Please try to read the works of Asante. He is saying exactly what you just said here ...
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Before reading this posting of yours, I held you in high esteem and thought you had appreciable ideas. No more, no longer. Your current reasoning leads to a conclusion that you are one of those Africans who hold the view th ...
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Scratchie, look, most of us are highly educated, but are still humble enough to stay tethered to our heritage......
This SAS again ? He says he is Asante . Check his background .especially his grandparents and you will know where his inferiority complex streak comes from.
The doctor is very confused,so confused,it's funny!!
I'm sure Dr.SAS is a very nice bloke. However, I can't help but thinking that he has no pride in being Ghanaian/African/Black. His narrative, analysis and concept of "African Culture" is the product of ignorance and his adopt ...
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Wow,I didn't know there were so many
'soldiers of Afrocentrism' out there,big and ready to defend it at all times and everywhere.!!I'm proud of y'all!
Dr SAS,be since and don't be blinded by false pride.Lord Lugard painted a true picture of Black Africans.In fact,the MINDSET of African politicians is a glowing testimony of what Lord Lugard wrote almost hundred years ago.I b ...
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Lord Lugard description fit Ashante people, these people who are uneducated and educated kokoase tribe people in the bush! Go to school.
You are why Lord Lugard make this comment.
Oh how happy I am.
Nobody should pretend that we are the same as WHITES.The BLACKMAN is the most idiotic creature to walk the face of the earth.I agree with Ghanaman.The attitude of African politicians is a true testimony.The gross mismanagemen ...
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Osei, are u also a Blackman? I could clearly see you are not idiot at all but your name suggest that you are indeed an African who the European prefer to called "Black". You are only a frustrated person. What you find in thes ...
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Kosoko,you must be honest.There is overwhelming evidence that MISMANAGMENT and LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY are some of the characteristics of educated Black Africans and this has been demonstrated clearly in African Politics.We ca ...
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Mismanagement and lack of Accountability is a problem everywhere. It happens in America, Asia, and the rest of the non-African world almost everyday.
Read Noam Chomsky and opinions conducted in America to see how Americans ...
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What you are implying is that Mismanagement and lack of accountability is a global problem,so Ghanaians have to accept it as the norm and tolerate it.Don't be naïve.Isn't it too laughable to draw a comparison with United Sta ...
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This Tom Boy must be either stupid by birth or is mentally sick to compare accountability in the Whiteman's country and Black African nations,and defend the gross mismanagement of African politicians.I wonder if he has ever l ...
read full comment
Can you think at all?
Did I say anywhere that we should not do anything about corruption in Ghana or Africa? I never said or implied so.
What I wanted to say is that corruption (lack of accountability and mismanagement ...
read full comment
Thanks for you response.I am too curios.I awant to know how LACK OF ACCOUNTABIITY and MISMANAGEMENT has made United States the greatest nation on earth.
Typo error-ACCOUNTABILITY
Watch the following:
1). www.democracynow.org/2012/9/12/whistleblower_brad_birkenfeld_rewarded_record_104m
(Whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld Rewarded Record $104M for Exposing How UBS Helped Rich Evade Taxes). This will t ...
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Before European conquests, Unity in Diversity was the motto. Even in large empire composed of many ethnic groups, languages, culture, ancestors, name for god, etc. There's no need to go Hitler and go fascist on us (homogeni ...
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Typo error- CURIOUS not curios