"In Britain, for instance, only those with economic interests (e.g. land owners) were first given the right to vote when democracy began. Universal suffrage was introduced gradually over time. Is there a case therefore for Gh ... read full comment
"In Britain, for instance, only those with economic interests (e.g. land owners) were first given the right to vote when democracy began. Universal suffrage was introduced gradually over time. Is there a case therefore for Ghana to consider restricting the right to vote to certain categories of society actors instead of the current stipulation where all Ghanaian citizens, above age 18, of sound mind, qualify to vote?"
I find it mind-boggling for anyone to put forward such a proposition in the world we live in today!
Folks, this is nothing but a disguised form of the so-called 'property-owning democracy' that was been soundly rejected by the good people of Ghana in two election contests. But do not be surprised because the author of this very confusing and contracdictory piece is an individual who vociferously canvassed the notion that 4 million votes freely cast be annulled to enable a paerticular candidate win the presidency of this country.
forget about this subtle attempt to put words into the mouth of Romano Prodi whose genuine concern concern for Africa is borne out his personal experience with the 'fragile'Italian political system that has produced govts of all shapes and forms in his country. And btw, has our most recent political experience(of the last twenty years)showed any evidence for a yearning for "the return of dictatorships and socialism cloaked in ‘African democracy’" in this country?
Let us deal with the 'facts on the ground',address the intransigence of those who want the oppotuinty to lord over the easily guillible in our society If the revelations we are being treated to lately in the press are anything to go by,then we should all be suspicious of those who create the impression that they seek power just to serve the ordinary people of this country!
Sunkwa 10 years ago
Thanks to you Mr. Prodi for your view point.I have always wondered what the term democracy meant. Truly, Africans have a system for managing their own affairs prior to this word called Democracy. I am only hoping that African ... read full comment
Thanks to you Mr. Prodi for your view point.I have always wondered what the term democracy meant. Truly, Africans have a system for managing their own affairs prior to this word called Democracy. I am only hoping that African leaders will pay attention to your candid observation and to do something about it. Thanks Dr.Yaw Ohemeng for the article.
mother'schild 10 years ago
I think the current issue of New Africa may be of interest and for us to see the intellectual failure of the continent throwing away her traditions to pick up the traditions of her enemies and hence create a dysfunctional sta ... read full comment
I think the current issue of New Africa may be of interest and for us to see the intellectual failure of the continent throwing away her traditions to pick up the traditions of her enemies and hence create a dysfunctional state
mother'schild 10 years ago
Further, in reflecting on Sunkwa one would see that we have created elite groups either partisan, ethnic, military, judicial etc. whose primary interest is the maintenance of their privileges and power. Its not about Africa. ... read full comment
Further, in reflecting on Sunkwa one would see that we have created elite groups either partisan, ethnic, military, judicial etc. whose primary interest is the maintenance of their privileges and power. Its not about Africa. Therefore, their thinking isn't about Africa and Africans. Its about themselves. these are the new colonialists. Listen those in "governance" speak and the subtle message is there for those who have ears to hear
Tufuoantie 10 years ago
Because many of our cultural values fron on this "ME" mentality that our current crop of political leaders have used to 'rob' their citizens of a decent way of life! Forget this nonsense about the "‘Africanisation’ of Dem ... read full comment
Because many of our cultural values fron on this "ME" mentality that our current crop of political leaders have used to 'rob' their citizens of a decent way of life! Forget this nonsense about the "‘Africanisation’ of Democracy" being peddled by Yaw Ohemeng on this forum.
Who actually believed Chuck Kofi Wayo, when gave us a vivid account about characters like Jake and others he had rubbed shoulders with, when they were in the opposition ranks together?
Hop to Naija where a minister of state is currently under fire fire for spending several millions of dollars on a fleet of luxury bullet-proof cars for her use. Is this Aviation Minister the most-targeted politician(federal minister) in that country?
Yaw Ohemeng 10 years ago
Did you read the piece or that you do not like the writer? I am trying to promote a debate here and you are dealing in personalities.
You have hounded me on this forum, using various guises, because you disagree with me on ... read full comment
Did you read the piece or that you do not like the writer? I am trying to promote a debate here and you are dealing in personalities.
You have hounded me on this forum, using various guises, because you disagree with me on issues. Why not spend the time to put your alternative across?
Yaw Ohemeng is a bona fide Ghanaian. He has an upbringing and experiences that may differ from yours and hence is entitled to hold contrary views.
I am not an active political party member and I have never voted in Ghana. I have written on several subjects on this forum - from nuclear power to Melcom building collapse to Fire safety to POlitical and constitutional issues. I take that as my civic duty to the country of my birth. It is gratifying to note that a recent CEO forum, organised by Graphic Corporation, attended my State Ministers, the Chief Fire Officer distributed an article I wrote as pointing to how the spate of fire outbreaks can be prevented. It was not a report by so called American Experts!
I have never insulted anyone on this forum even though I put my convinctions forcefully across. I am no one's poodle and I approach issues based on concrete 'evidence' out there and not based on rumours or political colourations or emotions. If that is hard for you to fathom, it is your problem.
I have posed questions here and not imposed. I am inviting contributions as to how we construct a governance system that delivers for us. If we succeed, those ills you are alluding to may be eliminated. If you have problems with whoever politician, say so and take them to task. Do not bring me into your squabbles!
Tufuoantie 10 years ago
You can generate a 'productive and meaningful' debate on such a tangent?
Far from houding you, and attacking your person,I have simply provided forumers with my "take" on comments or full-blown articles you have posted on Gh ... read full comment
You can generate a 'productive and meaningful' debate on such a tangent?
Far from houding you, and attacking your person,I have simply provided forumers with my "take" on comments or full-blown articles you have posted on Ghanaweb.
Perhaps you ought to read some of the categorical statements you are fond of making which invariably elicit some of the 'harsh'responses you interpret as personal attacks against you! I have no bones to pick with anybody,including you,but I believe as true patriots,we should not masquerade our intentions under the guise of promoting free debate!
If you believe that a certain class of citizens are not desrving of the the right to vote,say so and don`t take us on a merry-go-round about what you think an Italian politician is telling Africans about democracy.
Let me be blunt and tell you straight up that,any governnace system that seeks to exclude any segement of the society,save minors of course,will not deliver anything useful for any political entity! Thus, my 'beef' with you has to do with some of the 'strange' positions you take on issues;nothing personal Amigos!
Kwame 10 years ago
Yaw Ohemeng when some of you refer to the U.S. as being the most democratic country in the world some of us feel like throwing out. A reference to Abraham Lincoln's definition of democracy of being a government of the people ... read full comment
Yaw Ohemeng when some of you refer to the U.S. as being the most democratic country in the world some of us feel like throwing out. A reference to Abraham Lincoln's definition of democracy of being a government of the people by the people also brings to the fore then none sincerity of the political class in the United States of America. Some of you also wittingly forget that the electoral college in the U.S. which you people refer to as the home of democracy is made up of 300 individuals representing American monopoly capital.
Abraham Lincoln's own democracy deprived women, the poor and Negroes of votes because to him they are not people. Abraham Lincoln did not stop there he went further to state that "There is physical difference between white and black races, which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot live together, while they do remain together there must as any other man I am in favour of having the superior position Mr. Yaw Ohemeng the socioeconomic conditions that Lincoln created at the time of U.S. independence and the saying above make it clear that U.S. democracy is just a ruse and platitude of words only. The other irony is that a country that is supposed to epitomize democracy constitutionally bare the communists and socialists from all aspect of the political system in that country.
U.S. has made democracy a myth.
Today BBC announced that scores of Negroes from West Africa perished in the Sahara Desert. We are told that most of them are suspected to come from Niger. Niger is a country that supply France and some European nations with uranium but does not have a single nuclear reactor to generate electricity for her people. That is an example of how Africa is bared from using both her natural and human resources in her interest and for her people.
The west talk about democracy to mean only the casting of ballots and electing rich representatives who go to parliament to seek the interest of its western doll master as congressmen and parliamentarians in the west go to parliament to seek the interest of monopoly capital.
Democracy is about first the biological rights of people, the right to air, food, clothing, shelter and health. Then come the social needs as work, shelter, industry, agriculture, schools and hospitals.
Dr. Yaw Ohemeng it is a fact that all states are the dictatorship of one country over the other. It is coming from the mouth of an European that the capitalist system of government that we practiced since 1966 to date has made the African hewers of wood and fetchers of water for other nations.
The truth about capitalism is that no capitalist country progress without exploiting weak countries, their people and in the case of the U.S. Negroes who are forced by the constitution of that country to give cheap labour which was not enough for the U.S. and it has to create instability in some countries steal their natural resources and sell opium to them or on the other hand ruled by a military junta which use the geopolitical position of its country to industrialize, as the case is with South Korea. However the fact remains that other nations that made it or are making it has a one party state for a long time, the majority of them socialist ones.
A constitution per see does not give people true freedom. It is the socioeconomic conditions that uplift people and socialism has lifted the people of Russia, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, Vet Nam and Burma. It means that countries that does not have colonial people or races to exploit use socialism to their advantage. Let just compare socialist China to capitalist India and socialist Cuba to Jamaica. It it clear as water that socialism has truelly uplifted people of poverty and as I am writing now Cuba a small socialist country in the Caribbean is training for the U.S. post graduate medical students.
Your capitalist democratic platitude lost its meaning as Abraham Lincoln government for the people even before those words were heard by others because to date those words are just words and not facts. The U.S. is still chasing leaders of the African liberation struggle including Nelson Mandela for arrest whiles her terrorist Islamic Tallibans, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram enjoy themselves in the hotel in Washington, London and Paris. It is a crime for a woman to drive or walk alone in Saudi Arabia which is the friend of U.S. and her NATO allies and a monarch. It is also on record that the best friends the U.S. are were opium if cultivated and used.
At independence Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his granted universal adult suffrage to all Ghanaians from the age of 21 without reference to race or sex. We also abolished racial segregation which to some aspect exists in U.K. and mostly in the U.S. So decolonialization of Africa has been unique, by passing the political traps that other nations set for themselves and it is what they tried many times to trap us into.
Kwame 10 years ago
.. assigned to the white race."
.. assigned to the white race."
Yaw Ohemeng 10 years ago
Kwame, you are ascribing things to me which I did not say in this article.
I only brought in Abraham Lincoln to show how democracy had been inadequately defined. I then gave the essentials of a democracy.
I went on to ... read full comment
Kwame, you are ascribing things to me which I did not say in this article.
I only brought in Abraham Lincoln to show how democracy had been inadequately defined. I then gave the essentials of a democracy.
I went on to suggest how we may adapt institutions that are not delivering to suit our special circumstances but also thought that we have only just began the democratic journey and that so we may have to fine-tune gradually.
I, honestly do not see what you are claiming I wrote. I never even mentioned the USA!
Kwame 10 years ago
Dr. Yaw Ohemeng it seems that you did not understand yourself. You mention Abraham Lincoln and define with his words what he meant by democracy. What we did is only to expose the ruse of that socalled democracy.
To put it s ... read full comment
Dr. Yaw Ohemeng it seems that you did not understand yourself. You mention Abraham Lincoln and define with his words what he meant by democracy. What we did is only to expose the ruse of that socalled democracy.
To put it straight you may want us to believe that the African has no right to even create his own god.
Time is not allowing me to take a walk through what you wrote, but let me quote your last paragraph in which you clearly stated your world outlook.
"In the search for answers, through, we also need to be wary of Africans, parading the corridors of power, who are harking back to the old debate of African developing its own democracy. Some may only be yearning for the 'bad old days' of dictatorship so that they would not have to justify their actions their people. Some may be seeking a 'free hand' to practice the self-adulation, cronyism and political patronage that used to and still characterise a number of African leaders. Another observation is that among the most vocal Africans calling for the 'africanisation' of democracy ar those who find democracy, as currently practiced on the continent, a stumbling block to bringing back the failed socialist ideologies of the 1960s".
We stated that every state is a dictatorship of one class of people over another. It looks from your perspective that only the African who is a doll for another country is a true president. It is not only African leaders who are dictators, since the state is a dictatorship, thus all presidents are dictators, self-adulation, cronyism and political patronage is not characteristic of only African leaders, since political parties are formed and based on partisanship all over the world, that is why they are called parties, partisan. You targeted socialism of the 1960s which in the case of Ghana, counties of Eastern Europe and some developing countries in Asia made them make leaps, bypassing the capitalist experiment. It is not scientific socialism that is our bane, but the capitalist experiment that turned Ghana today to only a market that does not make even tooth picks.
You unfortunately sound like Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia who told the British that their capitalist experiment is not over, thus they should not give us independence. Unfortunately, here your democracy means that the economy of Africa should still remain in the hands of the former colonial masters, with the African being the hewer of wood and fetcher of water as it is today. Dr. Yaw Ohemeng, it is not the socialist that brought us the Boko Harams and Al Shabab, but your doll masters who intend to return Africa to the stone age, rather leave her alone to develop through her own choice of a socioeconomic system, through universal adult suffrage which the capitalist world aborted.
It looks like Abraham Lincoln is and African?
We wrote why they will not allow us to build even a nuclear power station because to you and them we have not evolved to that stage to live like others.
Your philosophy is full of poverty. Come again.
Yaw Ohemeng 10 years ago
History teaches us a lot so if you see dictatorship as the forward, go on and propose it. I do not share that view.
If you have followed my debating points, I have argued that we need to state moral values that are unique ... read full comment
History teaches us a lot so if you see dictatorship as the forward, go on and propose it. I do not share that view.
If you have followed my debating points, I have argued that we need to state moral values that are uniquely African even before we start to talk about African systems of government. Our cultural heritage is not uniform so whose cultural system are you going to harness?
Socialism itself is a borrowed concept and does not originate from Africa. It was used to decimate Eastern Europe until recently. If you thought Eastern Europe progressed in leaps and bounds that Ghana should copy, you might be in the minority. Their scramble after 1989 to join the EU puts paid to your argument.
We can lament all we can about colonisation - the clock will never be turned back. We have what we have now. What is the best way to evolve a system that is uniquely ours? We may have to adapt systems of other cultures to blend them with ours (which unfortunately have been decimated with the remnants fragmented). That does not mean that we have to choose between capitalism and socialism. However, if the choice is given me, I know which one I will choose for I want to be rewarded and recognised for my efforts. Furthermore the African in me informs me that I owe a certain responsibility to my community. I do not see the two as conflicting.
The biggest compliment you have paid me today is that I sound like Dr Kofi Busia; I adore him!
Nii Ashitey 10 years ago
Sovereignty was defined after the 30 years war which led to the peace of Westphalia in 1648. The colonialist carved Africa in the scramble for Africa after the Berlin conference which gave Europe the right to partition Africa ... read full comment
Sovereignty was defined after the 30 years war which led to the peace of Westphalia in 1648. The colonialist carved Africa in the scramble for Africa after the Berlin conference which gave Europe the right to partition Africa to suit their designs and long term goals. In their quest to have absolute control and make us subservient,they impose their values and concepts and their culture on us. But the argument today is that before the arrival of the colonizers Africa had its own system of government unique to its culture based on communality and social concepts where the unit rather than the individual operate.
African scholars conceptually understand the structures of African states and societies in two different ways. One is the traditional communalistic social structures, values, and ethos that existed before colonialism. The second is the colonial social structures, that is, the values, cultures, and principles that emerged from Africa’s colonial experience. Modern African states are artificially created structures of ’s imperialism and colonialism, which were forcibly imposed on African peoples and their traditional structures and ethos.
The argument therefore is that if Africa had been allowed to evolve their own concept based on our African experience,the conflicts planted as a result of colonialism would not have been there and Ghana and for that matter Africa would have a system of government acceptable to our culture and values and hence for an accelerated developmental goals . Our Children will be trained as African Children with respect for their parents other than accepting foreign values which are alien to our culture.
The 1992 Constitution which the writer harps on is a mirror image of the American system of government and more of the American values than our own and the mere fact that we have nice words in the constitution to meet the writers definition of democracy doesn't mean our constitution reflects our experience as noted correctly by professor Prody who read it before making his observations. Until we recognize western democracy and the universal values they are imposing through globalization are all efforts at consolidating their values and hence perpetuate their civilisation on us,we will continue to play a second fiddle in the global race.
African leaders noticeably rightly have not been able to use the structures imposed by colonialism as a foundation for a workable liberal democratic government. In order to make liberal democracy relevant to different cultural contexts such as ours , we must come up with different theories to make them sensitive to our contexts. These theories must incorporate elements that will allow liberal democracy to be applicable and adaptable to the unique circumstances of emerging democracy. Any attempt to export wholesale, the current theories or views of liberal democracy to other cultures, is bound to be futile.
Reading through Dr Ohemeng's write up it seem to me that his argument is mainly against socialism and strong leadership but this is exactly what we need at this stage of our development. Europe went through that to consolidate the foundation for their development. So what is wrong if it is in our interest to do same.
mother'schild 10 years ago
The kind of discussion on this article brings some health and hope to the future of this European-created space. A side of this discussion should like at the fact that the culture that defines a space controls the space and t ... read full comment
The kind of discussion on this article brings some health and hope to the future of this European-created space. A side of this discussion should like at the fact that the culture that defines a space controls the space and therefore ideologies, philosophies emanating from a cultural experience may end up or continue to work against Africa aa it continues the hegemony of European thoughts
Kwame 10 years ago
Dr. Yaw Ohemeng, I lived in the Soviet Union in the late 70s and early 80s I spent sometime in Cuba. I also witnessed how Kwame Nkrumah stated his state capitalism with social welfare systems taken whole from China and India. ... read full comment
Dr. Yaw Ohemeng, I lived in the Soviet Union in the late 70s and early 80s I spent sometime in Cuba. I also witnessed how Kwame Nkrumah stated his state capitalism with social welfare systems taken whole from China and India. I have traveled Europe and made comparison. The majority of citizens of former socialist countries can not find work to do as a result of the collapse of their economy due to the imposition of capitalism. There are towns which currently do not have an adult population because they can not find jobs in their own countries. The imposition of capitalism has impoverished the majority of the people. I have relatives in both Russia and Poland and can tell the story of the imposition of capitalism and its negative effects as it is.
"In Britain, for instance, only those with economic interests (e.g. land owners) were first given the right to vote when democracy began. Universal suffrage was introduced gradually over time. Is there a case therefore for Gh ...
read full comment
Thanks to you Mr. Prodi for your view point.I have always wondered what the term democracy meant. Truly, Africans have a system for managing their own affairs prior to this word called Democracy. I am only hoping that African ...
read full comment
I think the current issue of New Africa may be of interest and for us to see the intellectual failure of the continent throwing away her traditions to pick up the traditions of her enemies and hence create a dysfunctional sta ...
read full comment
Further, in reflecting on Sunkwa one would see that we have created elite groups either partisan, ethnic, military, judicial etc. whose primary interest is the maintenance of their privileges and power. Its not about Africa. ...
read full comment
Because many of our cultural values fron on this "ME" mentality that our current crop of political leaders have used to 'rob' their citizens of a decent way of life! Forget this nonsense about the "‘Africanisation’ of Dem ...
read full comment
Did you read the piece or that you do not like the writer? I am trying to promote a debate here and you are dealing in personalities.
You have hounded me on this forum, using various guises, because you disagree with me on ...
read full comment
You can generate a 'productive and meaningful' debate on such a tangent?
Far from houding you, and attacking your person,I have simply provided forumers with my "take" on comments or full-blown articles you have posted on Gh ...
read full comment
Yaw Ohemeng when some of you refer to the U.S. as being the most democratic country in the world some of us feel like throwing out. A reference to Abraham Lincoln's definition of democracy of being a government of the people ...
read full comment
.. assigned to the white race."
Kwame, you are ascribing things to me which I did not say in this article.
I only brought in Abraham Lincoln to show how democracy had been inadequately defined. I then gave the essentials of a democracy.
I went on to ...
read full comment
Dr. Yaw Ohemeng it seems that you did not understand yourself. You mention Abraham Lincoln and define with his words what he meant by democracy. What we did is only to expose the ruse of that socalled democracy.
To put it s ...
read full comment
History teaches us a lot so if you see dictatorship as the forward, go on and propose it. I do not share that view.
If you have followed my debating points, I have argued that we need to state moral values that are unique ...
read full comment
Sovereignty was defined after the 30 years war which led to the peace of Westphalia in 1648. The colonialist carved Africa in the scramble for Africa after the Berlin conference which gave Europe the right to partition Africa ...
read full comment
The kind of discussion on this article brings some health and hope to the future of this European-created space. A side of this discussion should like at the fact that the culture that defines a space controls the space and t ...
read full comment
Dr. Yaw Ohemeng, I lived in the Soviet Union in the late 70s and early 80s I spent sometime in Cuba. I also witnessed how Kwame Nkrumah stated his state capitalism with social welfare systems taken whole from China and India. ...
read full comment