The Asantehene's Saga - Does It Produce Food ...

... For The Asante Youth Selling Dog Chains In Traffic?

I have not commented on the saga of the Asantehene and the Police Cocaine saga in Ghana, not because I am afraid of controversy. No. A publisher of a newspaper in the US wrote to me:

From: xxxxx
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 12:22 PM
To: 'K.Danso'
Subject: Asantehen

Is he above the law? You are uncharacteristically silent on the issue.

Here’s my response to him if anybody cares to know my views:

Folks, I can write an article every single day if I have to, and so there is no problem from me on that score.

Sydney, let me assure you that the case of Asantehene is only good for the news media, but it does not bring food to the table of the average Asante youth or Ghanaian who is educated by unemployed, who has a business but cannot get stable electricity, who is trying to feed his or her family through indigenous productivity but denied good access roads and transportation systems, communication systems, and infrastructures that only government has the mandate to create for the people. Asantehene can help, but cannot and is not chartered to provide classrooms for all the Asante region whiles we have a people who should be managed and be paying taxes and building their towns and districts, and not relying on the whims and generosity of one King or ruler or President as we have been doing for over 700 years!!!

Our central government system has failed, just as our centralized Kingship systems failed in ancient Ghana and our people run away south when the going was tough, or joined together with slave traders to raid other ethnic groups! A shame for our history! It was a more shame for the Asantehene to even refer to the past and that Asante was great before Ghana was born. What relevance was that statement, if indeed the King said that? [You know you in the news media sometimes report wrong]. It is the responsibility of us who claim to love Ghana to strategize and find the means to manage the modern nation and lift it from the bankruptcy gutter of HIPC ourselves, instead of relying on others [World Bank, IMF, UNDP, etc]. Men and women of Asante, as also other ethnic groups, have had enough education to be able to build their cities and districts and towns using local resources, resources from their sons and children in the Diaspora in terms of venture capital fund VCF [please see our Manifesto of the Ghana National Party on our website www.natlparty.com] , and a share of the national revenue collected. Instead we rely on foreign funds and or external props like drugs if that is what some people feel is the quickest way of generating funds. It is silly indeed to see societies destroyed with drugs and still some selfish people condone this. The Asantehene’s name being mentioned in the saga, to me, is a cheap shot. If there was proof of his involvement, the Commission should call him to testify, even though we know the forces of cultures and tradition that will weigh against such a testimony. However, remember that even in the most powerful nation on earth, a powerful Head of State, the US President Ronald Reagan was asked to testify during the Iran Contra investigations. President Bill Clinton was also asked to testify during an ethical case involving his own personal morality. The case of Asantehene’s name being mentioned in the drug scandal would tend to make some people take their eyes off the ball - the main goal of building our nation through discipline and effective management and leadership!

The Ghana Police:

Let me share my personal views with you on the Ghana police system and national security in Ghana. If we want the best security, we must pay for it! Period! Police officers are so tempted because they are under- paid and expected by default to collect bribes and supplement their incomes. This has been the obvious system in Ghana since time immemorial. If our leaders were effective and had concern for the people, they would examine the cost of living and pay police officials well and provide them with decent housing for them to provide the society with security that we need. Anybody who has been to any police barracks, as I was only in July 2006, will understand what I mean. It is not too surprising they will engage in unethical conduct to supplement their income. People in Ghana do not respect the police as they are respected in say America. Also, perhaps because of that the police do not respect themselves. They will resort to illegal beating of anybody arrested, without any proof of their guilt or innocence, in addition to their obvious solicitations of bribes in the open. This backwards behavior should stop. Let us remember that even in America, reports documented by CBS News 60 Minutes Program has shown that cities like New Orleans and States like Louisiana where police are not paid well, are known to have a higher percentage of bribery, corruption and other unethical conduct among officers.

As you may know we have formed a new political party in Ghana, GHANA NATIONAL PARTY, WWW.NATLPARTY.COM and the EC actually gave us our certificate only on Thursday October 19, 2006. We want to do a tour of the US and Canada and other countries where we have serious Ghanaians.

There has been a lot of work on the ground floor in Ghana to galvanize people in the 138 districts in order to work to form the party. It is indeed a tough task – I was in Ghana on short notice in July and traveled around some small towns and places like Nima and Kaasoa, Ejisu, Mankesim, Ada as well as Kumasi and Accra. We need to focus our minds on what it will take to redeem our country and hence my focus is now shifted a little – instead of commenting on articles and reading and debating on Ghanaweb, I am trying to build the core group of people in the Diaspora who have sincere love for their country and can help with material resources and sacrifice a little – not just TALK!

We have had enough TALK! And some of us are interested in working with the people who are serious in the Diaspora and at home to rebuild where we were interrupted by the many coups in Ghana, and whiles nations like Singapore and Taiwan were able to take off in modern development in the 1980s. During that time some of us were even Engineering Managers and our skills could have been utilized by our government.

If your paper will have an audience who are sincere about Ghana, of course I will write – but not for mere controversy. You may publish this since I am not afraid of my opinions, be they on Asantehene or the Police. I know where I stand on issues, and I know our people are hungry and getting poorer every day, as our nation is being sold at pennies on the dollar through poor governmental policies! That is why we are trying to help our nation with the skills we have and let those whose vision do not go beyond cassava plantations (smile) retire. Together we shall overcome to REDEEM GHANA NOW!

Cheers,