Sill in the Central Valley.

May 10th, 2010

A Message to the President of Ghana and Ghanaians

Your Excellency,

My promise, in September last year, that I will be back with you and all legitimate Ghanaians no sooner than later, has taken too long to fulfill. I am sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused to you and all Ghanaians. I am doing pretty well, though. I read and hear about you and legitimate Ghanaians; particularly our children, by the mercy of the media. The scams that started in September last year are all known; I know that God is with us. You are safe in His name. I have repeatedly read your address delivered at the Independence Day celebration and I am impressed, but with reservations. I know that you are a team worker, therefore, we shall overcome. God is king.

It appears that, at this time, the police are doing better than previously with regard to children’s issues in spite of their shortfalls. We congratulate them, particularly A.S.P. Adu Boahen of Tepa Police Station, and Ghanaians who are keenly working toward helping to rescue our children from despotic environments. Please, sir, it is a crime to prosecute a suspect without a reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Therefore, I am strongly advising you that don’t do anything that you don’t feel like doing to make it a part of your leadership and life histories. Death is inevitable. History will always remain, however. It is better for a man to create a good name for himself than to tarnish his image. It is said that good name is better than riches. Continue to commit yourself to be afraid of God, not mankind. The world is behind you.

Sir, I was impressed about your speech, but there were certain things I was expecting to hear you talk about, but you did not. They are the factors set forth here. First, I was expecting you to declare “a state of emergency” in Ghana. The buildings burnt and those the suspects attempted to burn are all strategic buildings in the State. It simply means that there is a conspiracy behind the burning of the buildings. The conspirator is against the state, your administration, and individual personalities in the country. S/he is planning to kill many, including you. The final trick is obvious. Church goers and Christians are not the same, but we humans cannot differentiate between church goers and Christians. It is only God who can differentiate the two. If a suspect under investigation attends a church service to give thanks to God to declare his innocence of the crime, police investigators must not allow the church service to influence the investigation process. Innocence or quilt is established by facts and figures – evidence, not by attending church service.

Secondly, the bomb that blasted at the military training jungle was under the conspiracy of a person or family living in the country. It was a trial bomb. (I don’t know how the investigation was conducted and what the outcome is, but, sir, I am telling you that it was a trial bomb.) It was tried to determine the time it will take to blast after setting it, and the extent of damage it will cause. The experiment was to determine “effectiveness”. If you don’t try as many NPP members as possible, and if the trial outcomes do not satisfy the conspirator(s) or perpetrator(s), the next approach is, “using bombs to blast buildings and high profile areas”. The conspirator(s) is the same person behind the arsons. S/he is the same person behind the killings of women in Accra since President J.A. Kuffour’s regime. The person conducted it to tarnish the image of Kuffour’s administration. The bombs are most likely locally manufactured.

Third, the incident that occurred to passengers who were on board a vehicle from Mampong Ashanti to Accra last year, where armed robbers (Fulanis) intercepted the vehicle and forced on the passengers to have sex with the opposite gender was revenge against Asantes. This happened shortly after Asantehene had given awards and appropriate titles to the most deserving people living in the country. The suspects themselves may never know who the real sponsor of the dastardly act is. They only know the intermediary. I learned they are dead, but I doubt if they are all dead. S/he sought the services of the Fulani people because Fulanis are notoriously committing crimes in the country. That way, s/he thought no one would know that that was a sponsored crime.

Those who have set up their own justice system in Ghana contrary to the justice system of our fatherland and their own fatherland are now about to face The Hague. We cannot live in one country with two justice systems, one for a family and cronies, and the other for the majority true citizens. The former is a crime against the latter. The former is the use of violence to seek their selfish interest. This illegal and unconstitutional justice system started in Ghana during my boyhood. The latter is the due process accepted by the domestic majority and the international society. Members of the former are terrorists and we shall in the future explain our situation very clearly to the international community and punish him/them very severely to surprise everyone. Our country is under attack.

Fourth, I cannot describe and overemphasize the rate at which children, youth, and adults are being raped in the country. It is a shame on all Ghanaians and foreigners living in Ghana. The rapes are not under the auspices of anyone. It is just the behavior of the abnormal in the system and we will fight them until we win. Again, our country is under attack.

Fifth, you did not lament on how you are working on creating the strong institutions our lovely and educated son President Barack Hussein Obama talked about when he was in the country last year. He stressed the need for us to establish strong institutions against having strong men. The strong man or men is burning all state buildings; we will get him/them at the appropriate time if we Ghanaians work in unison... God is the king of kings. I liked the statement you made at the closing of the National Prayers and Thanksgiving Service, “Heaven helps those who help themselves”. It was admirable indeed. Please, Sir, help to unite Ghanaians so that God can bring to light the evil people causing serious crimes in our own fatherland. Unity, without doubt, will also facilitate our fight for economic development. I became extremely proud of our nation when Mr. J.A. Kuffour applauded you for the youth program initiative proposed to embark on. It is an extension of his. It is an expression of unity. Unity is strong.

Lastly, you have done extremely well for the Constitutional amendment task you have started. I think that, it is one major achievement Ghanaian historians of different backgrounds will never grade you down, though they may have their own reservations. Its success will substantially help the future generation. But, there is one more item I thought you would mention in your speech. That is, we need a comprehensive development plan to last for 20 years. It should be the teamwork and collaboration of all constituents/stakeholders, so that under parliamentary endorsement, successive governments will be required to follow through to its entire duration.

Mr. President, please, based on the serious crimes I have enumerated above – arson, bomb threat, and rape, I expect that you declare “a state of emergency” in Ghana. Effective immediately, Mr. President, please, I urge you to declare “a state of emergency” in Ghana, and instruct the security personnel to design, develop, and implement a new security procedure in the country. They should particularly take into consideration strategic buildings, points of entry and exit, schools, hospitals, and check points. All visitors and workers entering the aforementioned areas must be thoroughly checked. Passenger luggage must be thoroughly checked before allowing them on board passenger cars. Perpetrators can plant bombs in vehicles and time the bombs to a time that the perpetrators will alight before the bomb blasts. Stadia, ministerial buildings and the Golden Jubilee building must all be completely protected. A special person to protect is the Attorney-General. The first lady’s protection must be highly taken into consideration without debate. Take the case of the prime minister of Zimbabwe’s late wife as an example. Palaces in the country must be taken care of as well. At night, all those strategic points must be watched to avoid criminals planting bombs for blasting during the day. The perpetrator doesn’t care destroying anything s/he can lay his/her hands on, if s/he cannot meet his main or immediate target. The target is to kill specific people. Paper bags must all be checked, suspected items in and outside of strategic buildings must be quickly checked day and night. If all his/her attempts fail, the perpetrator will resort to killing women and/or children again. Therefore, community policing in strategic areas – stations, bus stops, marketplaces, etc. must be carefully and closely done day and night.

Presidents Nana Jerry John Rawlings and Mr. J.A. Kuffour’s homes, places of interest, must be completely protected. Ministers must be escorted by the police from home to work and from work to home. Anyone who is against escorting of ministers by the police is only looking for an avenue to kill them at the convenient time. Our fathers are tax payers; we will spend our tax money to protect our true citizens and residents. We cannot sit down unconcerned for our former president Nana Jerry John Rawlings’ home to arson. Nana Jerry John Rawlings was coroneted a chief in the Volta Region late last year. Whoever burned the building where he used to live did so to tarnish the image of the king who enstooled Nana Jerry John Rawlings a chief. How did the building get burned? We are still waiting for the outcome of the investigations from the Fire and Police departments. There should be no reasons for them to hide the outcome from the general public. I hope also that the police and the fire personnel professionally interrogated and investigated Nana Jerry John Rawlings’ family.

Finally, the police should use radio and TV stations as well as community policing techniques to educate the public on the state of affairs of our nation – security.

By Mr. A. P. Gyimah, education expert, based in The State of California, U.S.A. Interest areas: education administration – secondary and post secondary, comparative education –Ghana and the U.S., human rights education, public safety education, and adult education. This author does not take children’s issues for granted at all. Contact address:Email: kwaku_poku@yahoo.com