Thanks for your objective analyses our current negative situation mixed with lots of blind partisan side lining due to our poor education that makes an ignorant lots of our society. Thanks for the courage of posting your phot ... read full comment
Thanks for your objective analyses our current negative situation mixed with lots of blind partisan side lining due to our poor education that makes an ignorant lots of our society. Thanks for the courage of posting your photo with the comments.VIVE LA LIBRE PENSÉE. Merci and bravo!!!
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago
Since your intention was to write about the current electoral dispute, you should have chosen an appropriate heading, thereby alerting some of us who have no time to read such things.
I struggled to find the tortuous links ... read full comment
Since your intention was to write about the current electoral dispute, you should have chosen an appropriate heading, thereby alerting some of us who have no time to read such things.
I struggled to find the tortuous links you tried to draw b/n the dispute and or failing educational system, not only because of your own struggles with the English language [which clearly shows that you yourself is a product of the failed system], but also because the logic doesn't stick. You seem to forget that it wasn't Kweku Broni, Kpakpo Shitor and Kwame Atia, the local pito and brukutu drinking gang, who took the case to the SC. Or they who ran the supposedly botched and flawed elections. People who had the best of education when Ghana was at the top in Africa and in universities in the West did!
Don't want to waste more of my time on your bungled article. I hardly read articles on the election dispute and the ongoing circus in the SC!
Andy-K
JDM 10 years ago
THIS MAN HEADS NYEP THAT TRANSFORM INTO GYEEDA AND STEALS OUR MONEY AND HE SAYS WHAT? WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY GIVEN TO ROLAND AGAMBILA? MR. PELE SHOULD WASTE OUR TIME WITH HIS POORLY WRITTEN ARTICLE THAT LACKS LOGIC.
THIS MAN HEADS NYEP THAT TRANSFORM INTO GYEEDA AND STEALS OUR MONEY AND HE SAYS WHAT? WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY GIVEN TO ROLAND AGAMBILA? MR. PELE SHOULD WASTE OUR TIME WITH HIS POORLY WRITTEN ARTICLE THAT LACKS LOGIC.
Osagefo 10 years ago
‘Well-behaved’ African leaders rewarded by President Obama
BY JEHRON MUHAMMAD | LAST UPDATED: MAY 10, 2013 - 1:08:07 PM
What's your opinion on this article?
Printer Friendly Page
(FinalCall.com) - Osagyefo K ... read full comment
‘Well-behaved’ African leaders rewarded by President Obama
BY JEHRON MUHAMMAD | LAST UPDATED: MAY 10, 2013 - 1:08:07 PM
What's your opinion on this article?
Printer Friendly Page
(FinalCall.com) - Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president after independence and the person most identified with the creation of the Organization of African Unity, came to disapprove of the way that certain African leaders had abandoned the African revolution. His concern was that they were failing their people by initially “checking with Washington, London and Paris before making decisions,” reported the Daily Mail.
In March “well-behaved African heads of state ... (were) rewarded by Barack Obama with a chance to meet with him in groups of four and have their picture taken with him,” reported Africasacountry.com. “It’s like meeting Beyonce, but you get to call it a state visit.”
And what made matters worse is that they just sat there with folded hands like American subjects, beaming as the president read their accomplishments. “The wider symbolism was unmistakable,” wrote Elliot Ross, “These guys, Obama is saying, work for me. African visitors (unlike other heads of state) can be received in groups, as, they’re all Africans, don’t need to be spoken to individually. Politics? Negotiations? They’re just happy to be here.”
“The essence of neo-colonialism is that the state which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality, its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.”
—Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah,
The Brookings Institute says these selective meetings with African leaders “not only served to advance American interests in Africa, but also to tacitly communicate the administration’s expectations.”
The president said during the photo-op that the presidents of Senegal, Malawi, Sierra Leone and the prime minister from Cape Verde “exemplify the progress that we’re seeing in Africa.”
Secretary of State John Kerry revealed in April that President Obama is going to Africa. The Obama administration’s position on Africa might be a reaction to this year’s OAU/AU 50th Anniversary celebration, or better yet China’s increasingly large African footprint. No clear Africa policy has emerged during Obama’s second term.
Kerry recently let it be known that in May he plans on attending this year’s AU Summit in Addis Ababa. He also said, without giving details, that Obama also plans to go to Africa.
What is revealing is four months into Kerry’s tenure the State Department, especially its Africa Bureau, appears to still be trying to find its legs.
A large number of senior State Department positions remain vacant, including the Obama administration’s top envoy to Africa post. Ambassador Johnny Carson, assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, retired in March. The post is currently being run by Acting Assistant Secretary Don Yamamoto, a Foreign Service officer. National Security Counsel Senior Director Gayle Smith is rumored to be in the running for the top Africa post. In addition other Africa posts, including the special envoy for Sudan, remain vacant.
ForeignPolicy.com believes Obama and his team “are determined to control it all.” He’s obviously not going to give Kerry the same controls over the State Department that he succumbed to giving Hillary Clinton. “The Cable” blog, which appears on ForeignPolicy.com, included a piece titled “Nobody home at the State Department,” which suggests the “process to fill (senior State Dept. positions) seems indefinitely stalled.”
Whatever this means it doesn’t bode well for developing a cohesive African policy. In March Obama excluded Nigeria, one of Africa’s most influential nation states—also the continent’s most populous—from attending the White House summit. The slight was Obama’s way of registering his displeasure over the recent pardon granted embattled former Bayelsa State Governor D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha.
This was done in face of the fact that, not only does Section 175 of Nigeria’s constitution allow a presidential pardon, but the Council of State advised the president “to grant him (a pardon).” Alamieyeseigha was convicted of stealing and laundering public funds. Not only did he return the stolen funds, according to the Nigerian Vanguard, he also “pleaded guilty and served out his eight year (prison) term.”
Obama’s slight to Nigeria and African leaders falling over themselves for a White House invitation speaks to a divided Africa and to an Africa unwilling or unable to police its own affairs.
Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan addressing 19 African heads of state at the 1993 African African-American Summit in Gabon stated, “We don’t think like free men.” “We go to the capitals of America and Europe, like paupers, (too) weak to demand or ask for what unjust regimes will never give,” he said.
Nkrumah, in his seminal work “Neo-colonialism the last stage of imperialism,” explained how so-called independent states are controlled by outside powers. “The essence of neo-colonialism is that the state which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality, its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.”
Unless Africa develops its potential power through a unified continent, as advocated by Nkrumah, and gains control of its natural resources, Min. Farrakhan warned, “We will never achieve what we desire for our people … We have the pomp and circumstances of real power, but beneath it there is no real substance.”
Jehron Muhammad, who writes from Philadelphia, can be reached at Jehronn@msn.com.
Paul Amuna 10 years ago
I agree with your sentiments on working together o build the nation and this is the second article I have rad from you on the subject. The problem is, your use of the English language leaves much to be desired and this to me ... read full comment
I agree with your sentiments on working together o build the nation and this is the second article I have rad from you on the subject. The problem is, your use of the English language leaves much to be desired and this to me is rather disappointing. This includes your misuse of terms or their use out of context as well as grammar and syntax.
Perhaps you would care to get someone to edit your articles before posting them on the forum or in a newspaper. At your level of leadership, one would expect much better from you Pele.
Paul Amuna 10 years ago
I agree with your sentiments on working together to build the nation and this is the second article I have read from you on the subject. The problem is, your use of the English language leaves much to be desired and this to m ... read full comment
I agree with your sentiments on working together to build the nation and this is the second article I have read from you on the subject. The problem is, your use of the English language leaves much to be desired and this to me is rather disappointing. This includes your misuse of terms or their use out of context as well as grammar and syntax.
Perhaps you would care to get someone to edit your articles before posting them on the forum or in a newspaper. At your level of leadership, one would expect much better from you Pele.
Abuga 10 years ago
Thanks for sharing your views on this. I mistakenly posted the unedited version of the story. As humans, it thus happen. I will get this removed and get the well edited one online. All the mistakes are well noted. This is my ... read full comment
Thanks for sharing your views on this. I mistakenly posted the unedited version of the story. As humans, it thus happen. I will get this removed and get the well edited one online. All the mistakes are well noted. This is my forth article on this site, may be you may look up the previous ones. This is the first time my grammar has been a cause for concern.
Alorvi 10 years ago
I would like to congratulate you for being bold enough to post an article like this on a network. I'm not going to write on how you constructed this message but as an MP could you please find some interns in your constituency ... read full comment
I would like to congratulate you for being bold enough to post an article like this on a network. I'm not going to write on how you constructed this message but as an MP could you please find some interns in your constituency to help proof- read whatever post since you are an ambassador to our country which you so love.
In a multi-party democracy, every action by an incumbent government is REQUIRED to be scrutinize, criticized or commended by the opposition and other social and political commentators. This must be done in other not to whittle down our press freedom. Even if we all agree to common objectives in Education and Foreign policies, which ever government implements these polices should be scrutinized because of the routes that would be taken to implement such policies. For me I doubt if there could be national consensus on ANY policy in Ghana because we have allowed selfish interests to permeate our political discourse. For the past 30 yrs, tribal and ethnic sentiments have been upped by politicians to win political power and enjoy the life and even though Mr. Pele, you may have a point, our country is a failed state. As for the Electoral Commissioner, the least talked about him the better. How could he even justify his decision not to allow special voting for all journalists? If another party wins power and this party decides to imprison and torture him (Afari Djan) without recourse to his fundamental basic human rights, which journalist would come to his aid. We are all IDIOTS in Ghana. The journalists that were suppressed by PNDC are the ones that are protecting the former President and his cronies.
Papa 2 10 years ago
What is this? This man was an MP? No wonder we have problems!
What is this? This man was an MP? No wonder we have problems!
Prof Lungu 10 years ago
Mr. Abuga Pele,
We commend you for providing these thoughts on a governing strategy that emphasizes a Ghana national perspective and interest.
We agree on the basic premise.
W'ed like to add that nationalism ought ... read full comment
Mr. Abuga Pele,
We commend you for providing these thoughts on a governing strategy that emphasizes a Ghana national perspective and interest.
We agree on the basic premise.
W'ed like to add that nationalism ought to be balanced by critical thinking and self-reflection, before action.
There are many lessons in history where hyper-nationalism resulted in totalitarian regimes for any number of "mother-lands." In fact, a lot of the discourse in Ghana is healthy for the body politic, even the once we may deem abusive and disrespectful of "elders," politicians, etc.
Please read several of our essays on this and other subjects on Ghanaweb, and also on www.Ghanahero.com.
Support the Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB) and help lead the effort to enact the law for the People of Ghana. The FOIB provides a medium and process for resolving some of the difficulties you identify in your essay.
Thanks for your objective analyses our current negative situation mixed with lots of blind partisan side lining due to our poor education that makes an ignorant lots of our society. Thanks for the courage of posting your phot ...
read full comment
Since your intention was to write about the current electoral dispute, you should have chosen an appropriate heading, thereby alerting some of us who have no time to read such things.
I struggled to find the tortuous links ...
read full comment
THIS MAN HEADS NYEP THAT TRANSFORM INTO GYEEDA AND STEALS OUR MONEY AND HE SAYS WHAT? WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY GIVEN TO ROLAND AGAMBILA? MR. PELE SHOULD WASTE OUR TIME WITH HIS POORLY WRITTEN ARTICLE THAT LACKS LOGIC.
‘Well-behaved’ African leaders rewarded by President Obama
BY JEHRON MUHAMMAD | LAST UPDATED: MAY 10, 2013 - 1:08:07 PM
What's your opinion on this article?
Printer Friendly Page
(FinalCall.com) - Osagyefo K ...
read full comment
I agree with your sentiments on working together o build the nation and this is the second article I have rad from you on the subject. The problem is, your use of the English language leaves much to be desired and this to me ...
read full comment
I agree with your sentiments on working together to build the nation and this is the second article I have read from you on the subject. The problem is, your use of the English language leaves much to be desired and this to m ...
read full comment
Thanks for sharing your views on this. I mistakenly posted the unedited version of the story. As humans, it thus happen. I will get this removed and get the well edited one online. All the mistakes are well noted. This is my ...
read full comment
I would like to congratulate you for being bold enough to post an article like this on a network. I'm not going to write on how you constructed this message but as an MP could you please find some interns in your constituency ...
read full comment
What is this? This man was an MP? No wonder we have problems!
Mr. Abuga Pele,
We commend you for providing these thoughts on a governing strategy that emphasizes a Ghana national perspective and interest.
We agree on the basic premise.
W'ed like to add that nationalism ought ...
read full comment