My article on July 14th has generated a firestorm of debate about me being ethnocentric, with one Abudlai, a nurse from Tamale writing a rejoinder with a lava flow of invectives and juvenile sophomoric diatribes.Calling me either a dead body washer or a street sweeper in Texas as this madam Theresa wants the world to know would not soothe his frailed nerves of being called a watchman.As a so called nurse, Hanna Abudlai or Hanan Confidence should accord deadbody washers the respect they deserve . My mistake is that, I should have called Mr Salifu, a Kussasi SECURITY CONSULTANT, it's the watchman lexicon that is sending some people to pick up their bows and arrows ready to do battle.

First and foremost, let me repeat this as I did earlier when that article was published in the forum, I do apologise to everyone whose sensibility was insulted by that Kusasi watchman dictum. Mr Salifu is really a watchman and a Kussasi and I never thought such a dry sardonic sense of humor would cause this furor. This is a forum where contributors like KOLA, LONDON, TERRIBLE-SPECIFIC and host of others call Asantis shoeshineboys and girls, but that, according to our forum moralists is not ethnocentricism because it is directed at Asantis, so how can calling EWES carpenters, Kussasis as Watchmen be considered as Ethnocentricism? GO FIGURE

We Ghanaisns need to get off our high horse and address this tribal issue with all the seriousness it deserves because as a country, we've closed our eyes to this serious issue whereby I as a person usually try to stay away from issues relating to EWES and NORTHERNERS because any Akan is perceived to be anti EWE or Northerner the moment you disagree with them and vice versa. This is a forum where Asantis are called DWARFS and MONKEYS, but that, people, is not considered as ethnocentricism because it is directed to Asantes and Akyems,but call somebody a watchman, and hell breaks loose.

As Winston Churchill said; "Jaw-jaw is better than war-war" and all well meaning Ghanaians in this forum should realise that, when one criticises a policy or anything that seems to be in favor of one tribe or another, we should not jump into conclusion that one is against that that tribe. We need to have an open mind and be strong enough to laugh at ourselves. I for instance always laugh at some of KOLA,LONDON shoeshineboy nonsense as him being funny, but you better not call another tribe any name associated with the kind of job they do.

A case in point is the Policy whereby free secondary school education for the North has been in existence for 52 years, do we need this policy in its present form? Woe to anyone who disagrees with this policy especially if you are an AKAN, you are immediately perceived as anti NORTH. Do we need this policy to make the playing field of education levelled? DEFINITELY, but it should be geared towars the poor in society whether they are in Sadema , Navrongo, Hohoe, Akatsi, Prampram, Buoyam, Buoho Techimantia or anywhere in Ghana. Is it right for Daavi selling Gari and beans, or Akua Afririyie selling 'KALAWALE' to educate her children in HO or Kumasi to struggle to pay their children school fees while a rich Doctor or a Lawyer from Tamale gets a free education for his children? This is one of the issues that needs to be addressed. This policy even if changed to cover the poor in society would still benefit the NORTHERNERS more since we have a lot of the poor in society coming from the three NORTHERN REGIONS.(I hope this is not perceived too as anti North)

The truth is like a good medicine, it tastes bad but its potency is not in doubt though hard to swallow. Our Politicians, religious leaders, Chiefs and elders in society are impotent to tackle these hard issues because of the fear of being tagged with negative connotations like ethnocentrics and other negative connotations.

There is a lot of statement bloviates that goes on in this forum that need the attention of the powers that be but we have paralysed ideas in this forum and any innovative ideas to improve the lives of the People are always seen in the tribal lenses and unless we allow our conscience to be our secret Police in administeraing what is right in society, the arrested development in society is going to persist with our intransigence. Let's be pragmatics instead of ideologues, let's craft ideas that is workable in our Ghanain society instead of this Capitalism or socialist nonsense that might not be working for us.

We have a society where ignorance has been accepted for moral and rational thinking, my Kussasi staqtement has rankled a lot of feathers and I do apologise for that, but in life, one is bound to make a mistake that was not initially seen as such but if you haven't made anybody mad in life, you probably might not have done anything worth recounting.

I will end this apologetic piece with two philosophical quotes.

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of men to elevate his life by conscious endevour"--------HENRY DAVID THOREAU--

AND

"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect."--RALPH WALDO EMERSON--

This forum is a rat hole and if I have to live here, growing a few whiskers to ward off a few miscreants might not be a bad idea, PEACE.

Sarpong Justice

Dallas, Texas.