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10 YEARS OF SERVING THE COMMUNITY (2001 - 2011) VOLUME 12 NO. 4 - APRIL 21 - MAY 20, 2012 FREE
Stolen Cars Shipped To West Africa For Resale
Kevin Demetri Britton of Washington, D.C., age 19, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles. The guilty plea was announced by the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agentin-Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s(ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; Colonel Marcus
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There Is A Huge Opportunity In Ghana
Mark Mobius, Investment Adventures In Emerging Markets
This year could prove an interesting one for Africa’s west coastal country, Ghana. Presidential and parliamentary elections are slated to be held by year-end, the results of which are almost sure to impact the shape of the country’s future. President John Atta Mills has stated in the press that he will “take all necessary constitutional steps to ensure the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections.”
I certainly hope he’s successful in his efforts, because after a recent investment opportunity exploration trip to Ghana, I’m encouraged by the economy’s 14% growth in 2011 (that’s faster than China!), and would be pleased to see evidence of more positive momentum. Ghana Grows Ghana has abundant natural resources, including timber, oil, silver and manganese, but Cont’d on page 28
First Group of West African Troops Arrives in GuineaBissau
About 70 soldiers have arrived in Guinea-Bissau as part of a West African contingent sent to restore order after last month's coup. The Economic C o m m u n i t y o f We s t African States (ECOWAS) says it will send about 600 troops in all to GuineaBissau over the coming days. The first troops from Burkina Faso flew into the capital, Bissau, on T h u r s d a y. M o r e a r e expected from Nigeria,
Senegal and Togo. The troops are coming with the assent of coup leader s, who reached agreement with ECOWAS last week to install parliamentary speaker Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo as leader of a transitional government. The military grabbed power on April 12, when soldiers seized power and arrested interim President Raimundo Pereira and Prime Minister Carlos Cont’d on page 18
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Cont’d from 1
L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department. According to his plea
agreement, Britton was an active participant in a conspiracy to ship stolen cars from the United States to countries in West Africa for resale between 2010 and April 2011. Members of the conspiracy in the United States hired others to steal late model
vehicles – with the keys – so that the vehicles could be more easily sold. The vehicles were stolen as follows: The conspirators broke into car dealerships, stole the keys to new cars, and drove the cars off the lot.
The conspirators paid employees of dealerships to leave keys to vehicles in the vehicles or in an otherwise accessible area, and the cars were driven off the lots when the dealership was closed; Vehicles were stolen from
victims who walked away from their vehicle, leaving their keys inside the vehicle. The conspirators paid others to rent vehicles from rental agencies, file false reports with Cont’d on page 8
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HEALTH WATCH
Op-Editorial
If President Mills must go ... by Michael JK Bokor
Coffee Drinking Linked To Longer Life (Health.com) -Drinking a daily cup of coffee -- or even several cups -- isn’t likely to harm your health, and it may even lower your risk of dying from chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests. The relationship between coffee drinking and health has been a hot topic in recent years, but research has produced mixed results. Some studies have linked coffee consumption to better health and a lower risk of premature death, while others suggest that coffee -- or rather caffeine -- might contribute to heart disease through negative effects on blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart rate. T h e n e w s t u dy i s by far the largest of its kind to date. As part of a joint project with the AARP, researchers from the National Institutes of Health followed more than 400,000 healthy men and women between the ages of 50 and 71 for up to 13 years, during which 13% of the participants died. Health.com: Big perks -- coffee’s health benefits Overall, coffee drinkers were less likely than their peers to die during the study, and the more coffee they drank, the lower their mortality risk tended to be. Compared with people who drank no coffee at all, men and women who drank six or more cups per day were 10% and 15% less likely, respectively, to die during the study. This pattern held when the researchers broke out the data by specific causes of death, including heart disease, lung disease, pneumonia,stroke, diabetes, infections,
and even injuries and accidents. Cancer was the only major cause of death not associated with coffee consumption. “There has been some concern that coffee might increase the risk of death, and this provides some reassurance against that worry,” says Neal D. Freedman, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an investigator with the division of cancer epidemiology and genetics at the National Cancer Institute, in Rockville, Maryland. Health.com: Trying to cut back on coffee? Here’s how Even moderate coffee consumption was linked to better survival odds. Drinking a single cup per day -- which was much more common than a sixcup-a-day habit -- was associated with a 6% lower risk of dying among men and a 5% lower risk among women. Although these reductions in risk might seem modest, they could have potentially dramatic implications for public health if spread out over the tens of millions of coffee drinkers in the United States, says Susan Fisher, Ph.D., chair of community and preventive medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York. “Even a small decrease, when you’re talking about a [behavior] that is so ubiquitous across the human population, could mean many, many lives saved,” Fisher says. Health.com: Is coffee healthier than you think? The findings, however, stop short of saying that coffee drinking directly lowers the risk of chronic disease. Like much of
the previous research on coffee, the study was based on survey data -- in this case, a single questionnaire distributed in the mid1990s -- that may provide an incomplete picture of the participants’ overall health and lifestyle. Although the researchers took into account a wide range of extenuating factors, including diet and exercise regimens, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, and marital status, it’s possible that people who drink coffee differ from the rest of the population in as-yet unidentified ways that make them less vulnerable to disease and early death. The explanation for the study findings “might not specifically be the coffee,” Fisher says. “It might be some characteristic of the coffee drinker.” Health.com: Surprising sources of caffeine Still, it’s plausible that coffee drinking actually improves health. Coffee contains some 1,000 compounds, many of which are healthpromoting antioxidants, Freedman says. “There’s some data showing that some of these components may prevent insulin resistance and have a role in diabetes,” he says. In the study, both regular and decaf were associated with a lower risk of dying, which suggests that these and other substances in coffee might be more important than caffeine. But even decaf contains trace amounts of caffeine, so the authors can’t entirely rule out the possibility that caffeine has an effect on health, Freedman says. By Amanda Gardner, Health.com Cop yright Health Magazine 2011
Let’s be serious in any discussion of our leadership problems. Here is something to start with: The story goes that a flock of birds once set out to find a king. And they climbed a high mountain if only they could find him there. And they climbed and climbed until they scaled the topmost peak, and there they did find him. But—he was only a bird!!! (from the great J.E. Casely Hayford’s propositions on Leadership in West Africa) The lesson is clear: the king of a bird is no different from the birds that set out to find him. Disgust, disillusionment, d i s ap p o i n t m e n t , a n d regret? Your guess is as right as mine. Ghanaians may be looking for a leader of a different kind but are those parading themselves all over the political landscape any different from those we already have? We want to be sure that they are different before we commit ourselves into their hands. Our democratization demands that if one leader proves to be incompetent, he must be voted down; but the decision must be carefully made in order not to bring in the worse of the two devils. So far, the NPP’s Akufo-Addo is the most vociferous in the appeal for voter attention; the PPP’s Paa Kwesi Nduom is no newcomer, but he seems to be re-echoing much of the NPP’s cries and portraying a mirror image that doesn’t tur n my crank. He is running a one-man show, which isn’t the way forward. Only three distinct traits characterize AkufoAddo’s politicking: “huhudious” promisemaking, a frontal attack on President Mills’ personality and leadership style, and a looming threat of "All-die-be-die." Take these three traits out of the equation and he stands exposed as lacking anything to suggest that he has the acumen that Ghanaians are looking for to help solve the country’s problems of under-development.
It is no secret that President Mills’s leadership style is problematic at s eve r a l l eve l s — h e i s too laid back and by allowing a laissez-faire approach to governance to create the impression that his government isn’t well organized. Many happenings confirm it as not being an organic whole. There are too many fault lines that have developed because he seems not to be exerting his powers to rein in the ambitions and over z ealousness of his appointees. This laissez-faire attitude is the cause of the Woyome scandal and many others that have manifested as the gross indiscipline that motivated the so-called NDC foot-soldiers to visit mayhem on the system (forcibly taking over lorry parks and public toilets and chasing public officers out of their offices, among other acts of outright hooliganism). The President’s seemingly laid-back approach to governance has also had a negative effect at other levels, especially the political v i o l e n c e p e r p e t r at e d by N D C a c t iv i s t s i n Odododiodio and other parts of the country. Additionally, the fracas in the NDC could have been managed better had the President been more
proactive and committed. He has a big price to pay. He seems not to see the urgency of the situation, allowing his so-called “pacifist element” to cloud his sense of judgement, which will cost him dearly. It is now clear that he is bearing the flag of a party that is fractured. How does he hope to win the elections convincingly with such a run-down political edifice? Given this state of affairs, one might think that Akufo-Addo will adopt better strategies to turn the table against the incumbent. His “Listening to the people” tour ended a br upt ly, ap pa r en t ly because he seems not to have it properly laid o u t a n d c o o r d i n at e d enough to be sustained for long. Or is it because he has gathered enough complaints from those he has already interacted with to conclude that his kitty is too full to take in more? Or that he wants to use a better approach? (Like what, though?) Of course, we know that after the NPP had launched its campaign for Election 2012 with a non-denominational church service at Essipon, the stage was set to go all out on all fronts in rolling out its alternative development strategies to Cont’d on page 12
PUBLISHER: Joseph “Sonny” Vanderpuye MANAGING EDITOR: Emmanuel A. Gamor SENIOR STAFF WRITER: EDWIN JANNEY CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Muriel Vanderpuye Eddie Ekuban (FASHION) CONTRIBUTORS: Rev. C. John Thompson-Quartey, Jemila Abdulai, Etse Sikanku, Nii Ayertey Aryeh, Edwin Janney, Oral Ofori, Edwin K. Otabil , GRAPHIC DESIGNING: Sonny Vanderpuye The New Ghanaian is a monthly publication of MEDIA AFRIKA, LLC, 5515 CHEROKEE AVENUE SUITE 100, ALEXANDRIA, VA. 22312 www.mytngonline.com or www.thenewghanaian.org To advertise or for more info call: 703.901.4277 | 571.435.4576 or send your emails to: tngeditor@gmail.com
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Faith
Resurrection: From Fear to New Life!!! “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him’. Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first…But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look* into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,* ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.” John 20: 1-4; 11-18 Mary Magdalene had to be the luckiest woman in the whole world. What an awesome place to be: the first witness of the empty tomb! Yet, according to the Bible, she originally missed the whole point! She went there looking for a dead body, and she was given a new lease on life! She became the first Apostle (one who is sent). The story of Mary Magdalene is our story. When the chips are down, we fall back on what is familiar to us. Sometimes, we are so certain about things that we make no room for God to point us in a new direction. But our God is patient, always pointing us to the place where He would have us go, and then leading the way in order to dispel our fears. And even when God has led the way and
wants us to follow, we are often hesitant, because we are entering uncharted territory. N o t i c e h ow M a r y Magdalene made a quick assumption about the empty tomb. Right away, she ran back to Peter and “the other disciple whom Jesus loved”. It is very common in the Scriptures that whenever a character is not given a name, we assume that that character is us. So Mary Magdalene, who was the fir st to witness the power of God in action, did not take it all in, but ran to Peter and US, to talk about her assumptions. And after r unning with Peter to the tomb and finding it really empty, what did we do? We go right back to the comfor table place we have always known as if
transport the container to a por t for expor t. the police claiming the Additionally, members vehicle had been stolen, of the conspiracy hired and to turn the vehicle international shipping over to the members of the companies to ar range for the containers to be conspiracy;and I n d i v i d u a l s w e r e shipped overseas. In order robbed of their vehicles to ship vehicles overseas, at gunpoint by assailants shipping companies are who were stealing the required to have valid vehicles for members of titles for the vehicles. As part of the scheme, the conspiracy. M e m b e r s o f t h e members of conspiracy conspiracy purchased the used fraudulent title stolen vehicles from the information in an effort thieves or an intermediary, to conceal that the cars a n d t h e n s t o r e d t h e they sought to ship had vehicles at a parking lot been stolen. The containers were or other location, known a s “ c o o l i n g s p o t s . ” transported to various Often, members of the ports, including the Port conspiracy hired others Newark (New Jersey), to find and remove G.P.S. the Port of Baltimore devices from the vehicle (Maryland), and the Port to avoid detection by of Norfolk (Virginia). law enforcement. After The containers were then three or four vehicles shipped, or intended to be were accumulated, the shipped, to destinations vehicles would be towed in West Africa, including or driven to a location to Nigeria and Ghana. Britton’s role in the be loaded into a shipping container. Thereafter, scheme varied. He acted as a tractor trailer would an intermediary between Cont’d from 5
nothing has happened. We just didn’t get it! Not Mary Magdalene. S h e r e m a i n e d at t h e tomb, still grieving. What exactly is Mary Magdalene grieving for? We learn that she was still looking for a dead body. Now, to the twelve A p o s t l e s o f Je s u s , something went terribly wrong on Good Friday, and the entire ministry of Jesus proved to be a total failure. They had walked with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem; they had watched Jesus heal the sick, give sight to the blind and speech to the mute. Indeed they had seen Jesus raise people from the dead and give them life. They had very high hopes for this Rabbi from Nazareth, who showed up in their native Galilee and called them to come build
a new community for the Kingdom of God. B u t G o o d Fr i d a y h ap p e n e d , a n d t h e i r dreams about the kingdom of God were dashed! They had a rude awakening: they felt the full brunt of the cruelty of human beings as they witnessed their Rabbi being humiliated a n d g ive n t h e d e at h penalty, and carried out by crucifixion, something reserved for criminals. However, on the first Easter morning, they had witnessed the greatest miracle of all, and they still went back to their familiar surroundings. Like Mary Magdalene, they expected to see a dead body in the tomb, and when their expectations p r ove d t o b e w r o n g, they didn’t even stick around to process what had just happened. Mary
Magdalene stuck around. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she wanted to rescue the body of her beloved teacher from those who moved Him. Mary was still looking for a dead body! Staring at the greatest miracle before her, she still thought she was speaking with a gardener! It wasn’t until she heard her name that the scales fell from her eyes, and saw who it was she was speaking with. She was jolted out of her familiar space, and into a new reality. The empty tomb is God’s way of jolting us out of our comfort zones and into the reality of new and abundant life. Perhaps like Mar y Magdalene, many of us go through life holding on to dead bodies. This means we have surrounded
the car thieves/carjackers. In the fall of 2010, Britton met Solomon Asare and learned that Asare would give him cash for late model stolen cars. Britton also learned that Asare shipped the stolen cars to Africa for resale. From the fall of 2010 through April 2011, Britton obtained at least 9 stolen cars and sold them to Asare, or someone acting on Asare’s behalf. For example, on March 17, 2011, members of the conspiracy carjacked a silver 2009 Toyota Camry from a victim in Landover, Maryland. Later that evening, Britton delivered the silver 2009 Toyota Camry to Gabriel Awuzie and Solomon Asare. Asare paid Britton for the stolen 2009 Toyota Camry. On March 31, 2011, Asare a n d Aw u z i e h a d t h e silver 2009 Toyota Camry delivered to the shipping company, then entered the vehicle, removed items and wrote down the vehicle identification number.
At all times during his involvement in the scheme, Britton knew that the vehicles he provided were stolen, and he knew that the vehicles were being shipped across state and national borders. The loss associated with vehicles that Britton personally participated in the shipment of was more than $120,000. Awuzie, age 35, of Adelphi, Maryland and Asare, age 36, formerly of Laurel, Mar yland, previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme. According to his plea agreement, Aw u z i e d r ove s t o l e n vehicles within Maryland and across state lines to ports for international shipment, assisted in the storing and “hanging” of stolen cars into shipping containers, purchased stolen vehicles from the car thieves or intermediaries, hired individuals to steal cars, and arranged for the theft and international
shipment of vehicles. Aw u z i e s o m e t i m e s assisted others in the scheme, and at other times Awuzie orchestrated the transaction from its inception to its end. Asare admitted that he took orders from “buyers” in Africa, purchasing the stolen vehicles from intermediaries, arranging to “cool” the vehicles, load the vehicles into containers and ship the containers to the buyers in Africa. Asare paid the par ticipants along the way, including the intermediaries, drivers of the stolen vehicles, tow truck drivers, tractortrailer drivers and shipping companies. All payments were in cash. On April 6 and April 7, 2011, Awuzie, Asare and other conspirators loaded three of the stolen vehicles sold to them by Britton, as well as a fourth stolen vehicle, into a shipping container at a shipping company in Beltsville, Maryland. A
Reverend Father C. John Thompson-Quartey ourselves with certain realities, and we do not make room for God’s miracles to penetrate our self-awareness. We walk around carrying a lot of anger, frustration, disappointment, selfloathing, and shame. The Good News of Jesus Christ is about bringing sight to the blind, that they may see the hand of God at work in their lives. It is also about letting the oppressed go free, and bringing release to those who are held captive by society’s unrelenting burdens. The truth is none of us go to church on Sunday mornings with the hope of Cont’d on page 12
few days later, Awuzie and Asare caused the shipping container to be transported to Elkridge, Maryland and to another location in Maryland, en route to Lagos, Nigeria, via the Por t NewarkElizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey. On April 13, 2011, law enforcement stopped the tractor trailer transporting the shipping container in Baltimore. The container was searched and the four stolen vehicles were discovered. Additionally, in 2011, Asare applied for a U.S. passpor t in the name of another individual containing the personal i n fo r m a t i o n o f t h a t individual and bearing a photograph of Asare. Asare paid the individual to assist in filing the false passport application. Britton and Asare both face a maximum penalty of five years in prison Cont’d on page 28
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More Than You’ll Ever Know
As a child, Easter was my absolute favorite holiday. There was nothing better than packing up the family suitcases and retreating to a hotel for three days of fun. It was as close to a vacation our family ever took and I didn’t mind. The camaraderie and connections made at Ghanaian Easter Conventions are truly one of a kind. The music, the activities, the passion was all something to look forward to. Celebrating the death of Jesus Christ was the moment to wear the best lace, take professional pictures, doze off during sermons, stay up late in hotel lounges, and reconnect with old family friends…. But with time, I came to learn that was not what Easter was about. I would say my faith was highly influenced by my parents, which is obviously natural. I grew up in various Ghanaian Pentecostal churches where tongue-speaking, loud prayer and music was the norm. Being raised in the church both helped and hurt me as I matured into a God-fearing woman. For the most part, understanding the routine of Sunday fellowship has put me into a habit that I could never break. I also learned how to respect the church and its statutes and have felt comfortable enough to welcome close friends to fellowship at my rather “different” church. But I recall as I began to build my faith in God, my idea of Him was a bit skewed. All I knew about God was what was taught in my Sunday school class, and to be honest, it wasn’t much. Our teachings were sporadic and not in depth. There was a layer of truth that we were avoiding to address given the sensitive nature of the topics we really wanted to talk about. You see, g rowing up in America as a Ghanaian child poses a variety of different issues that you don’t know how to address or you don’t know whether to believe. Going to school with unbelievers, being exposed to freedom of dress and speech, trying to develop your own personality and values, all comes difficult when you were raised to be the obedient, never-questioning, Christian/ African child. The conflicting views that we are given at home, school, and church all relate to how we think of ourselves and possibly result to a rebellious nature. I believe many young people raised in the church are at a crossroad of confusion concerning their identity and ultimately their faith because they have never been allowed to address these concer ns
openly, and in turn, the church doesn’t allow free grounds to address their concerns. I see this changing more and more for our Ghanaian churches and I am most grateful for that. As for myself, I was too compliant of a child to speak my mind, so when I turned to God, I tried. And it was quite the shock. I was torn in whether I believed in God because all my peers were catching the Holy Ghost, or if I believed in God because my mother imposed it on my siblings and me. I found myself doing a good job in praying and singing like I was a child of God, but I struggled in knowing for myself. I struggled in knowing if I honestly had a relationship with God or if I was putting up a front because that was all I was raised to know… and that was all what was expected of me. You are Christian by default. My tumultuous relationship with God set me on a path of spiritual revelation and insight that I think was most necessary to build my faith. I fought with God. Oh yes, I was mean and did hurtful things to Him. I didn’t talk to Him for months—on purpose! I wanted to know if I could do without Him, most of all, if He could do without me. Could He possibly love me, knowing that I had issues loving myself ? Could He truly care even though I couldn’t tell if I truly cared for Him? My worship was inconsistent; I barely knew where to begin when it came to reading the Bible on my own. I did a good job at inviting friends to church but couldn’t confidently talk about my faith. I spent more time picking out ntoma for church than I did in my quiet time. How could this be for the acquiescent child raised in the church? Are our children being taught to have a relationship with God? Are they being taught about who He really is to us? Or are they being raised to have a relationship with God that should be similar to their relationship with their parents? I think the bulk of my troubles in trusting God was based on how I viewed him. He, in essence, was the bigger parent. Respect Him, love Him, do what He says. That was the notion I had of Him. Similar to the relationship I had with my parents. But understanding His love for me was the hardest part. Especially when I tentatively questioned the love my parents had for me. It may sound shallow-minded but think about it. Young people desire the care and assurance that in spite of their flaws and insecurities, they are worth the attention and love that they
crave for. If their parents are not genuinely feeding these needs everyday with a sensitive and non-judgmental relationship, how else are they to get it? Is that how our children turn “wayward”? Especially the ones who were raised in the church? It could be that these children are subconsciously conditioned to fear their parents to a fault, and as a result, their fear of the Lord is not what He talks about in 1 Samuel 12:24. Instead, it is along the lines of what is stated in 1 John 4:17-18. I cannot say I was ever a wayward child, but in my heart, I struggled with staying on course with God. To this day, I struggle to stay on course. But I have grown to not be so hard on myself because I now know that the way I measure my faith is not on the church’s expectations, my parent’s strong faith, or what I see with my spiritual peers. My faith is now built on the Word of God that I pushed myself to learn and believe. I would say to all young people who desire an open and honest relationship with God, especially if you feel you have fallen short in spite of your upbringing in the house of God: push through it, and do not give up. I know I am nowhere near where I need to be, but I’ve come a long way from my past. Sometimes, my conversations with God still sound like this: Me: Jesus….? Jesus: Hmmm…? Me: Oh my goodness, You’re mad at me! Jesus: Why would I be mad at you Mabel? Me: I promised to call on You last week and I never did. I forgot to thank You today and I barely talk to You anymore! I even skipped church to work on an assignment! Jesus: Okay. Me: Jesus, do You still like
me? Jesus: How could you ask this question after all this time? I’m talking to you now, ain’t I!?!? Me: I know but I wish that we were cool like how we were in 2006. Remember the summer of 2006 and how I actually felt You? Sensed You? Oh my goodness, it was amazing, (enter rambling) Jesus: Why are you dwelling on that past? Don’t you know you can have those amazing moments every day? It does not have to be fireworks in your brain to know that My love for you is amazing… Gee, who told you that? Me: I know but, how would I know if You are there? If You, like, You are there-there? Jesus: With every breath and
every step you take Mabel, I am here with you. I am always with you as you are always with Me. I think about you constantly, I love you unconditionally. I have been waiting for you with open arms before you even formed arms. Can’t you trust Me? Trust Me when I say, I want to be your best friend. I will do more than just “have your back”. Me: Oh, my God…. Jesus: Don’t beat yourself up. Just get it together and stick with me. I ain’t going nowhere. Me: You know I love You though. Jesus: Just show me. Every day. In any way. You write all the time to other folks, shoot, send me an email if you must! There’s Cont’d on page 23
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Faith & Community
THE NEW GHANAIAN | 11 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012 Leon Mensah, Earns Certificate In Retirement Planning
Leon Mensah, a financial professional with AXA Advisors, LLC in the Washington, DC branch has earned a Certificate in Retirement Planning from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of a select group of financial professionals nationwide to complete this retirement planning education program. The Wharton program commenced with 50 hours of intensive study taught by 10 Wharton School faculty members over a weeklong period. It was led by Dr. Olivia Mitchell, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at The Wharton School. Topics covered included: • Understanding the Retirement Marketplace • Identifying, Mitigating and Insuring Retirement Risks • Qualified and NonQualified Plans and their Ro l e s i n Re t i r e m e n t Planning • Medicare and Social Security – Dealing with Institutional Risk • Asset Allocation and Diversification • Real Estate in the Retirement Portfolio • Estate Planning and Tax Issues in Retirement “A X A E q u i t a b l e and The Wharton School have developed an extraordinary prog ram focused on concepts and issues for t h e A t Re t i r e m e n t ® marketplace,” said Dr. Mitchell, the academic director for the program. Mr. Mensah works with individuals and business owners to help them define their retirement goals and create strategies to help meet their objectives. Mr. Mensah can be reached at 703-205-0358.
How Congress’ Help Saves Children’s Lives By Ambassador Daniel Ohene Agyekum
ACCRA, GHANA – I am currently on an official assignment back home in Ghana from my position as my country’s ambassador to the United States. Here, everyone wants to know about the relationship between the two countries. I tell them that the relationship is strong and has remained vibrant and productive in the past few years. They ask for examples. Out of the many, the one that immediately comes to mind is the introduction of two new life-saving vaccines across my country just last week. Ghana became the first African country to introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines at the same time, simultaneously tackling the leading causes of the world’s two biggest childhood killers – pneumonia and diarrhea. In Ghana, these two d i s e a s e s a c c o u n t fo r roughly 20 percent of deaths in children under the age of five. For the va c c i n a t i o n a g a i n s t
pneumococcal disease alone, some 400,000 children in our country will be immunized and protected for life. The events that led to this simultaneous launch of both vaccines were not easy. The work by our top health officials all the way to community health workers was astounding to watch. It is incredibly difficult to roll out one new vaccine, much less two. Ghana has a population about 25 million people who live in an area the size of the state of Oregon, with multiple languages and tribes. We have both dense urban communities and rural villages that are connected to the rest of the world by mobile phones and dirt paths. With all these challenges, I am proud to say that we have done it. We have done it first and foremost because of the political commitment, the technical expertise, and the sheer willpower of Ghanaians. Most importantly, we have had invaluable help
from our key partners, such as the GAVI Alliance, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization. T h e G AV I M a t c h i n g Fund produced a total contribution of £3 million, which included a £1.5 million contribution by JP Morgan. Another essential partner, I am proud to say, has been the United States Government. When people ask about Ghana’s relationship with the United States, I tell them about this recent vaccination campaign because of the generous contributions from the American people. The United States is an essential contributor to making sure millions of children receive the protection they need from vaccines. The American Government has made a generous three-year pledge to GAVI, despite the country’s economic hard times. While that may seem like an abstract notion Cont’d on page 26
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Call of Esther Ministries Empowerment Conference Springfield Hilton, Alexandria, VA.; March 31, 2012 Guest Speaker: Rev. Dr. Wanda Sisco; Host: Muriel Vanderpuye
Dr. Wanda Sisco preaching
Muriel Vanderpuye
Pastor Edward Ofori
Ministration time
Ministration time
Ministration time
Singing praises led by Pastor Nab
Bishop Paul Kotei Cont’d from 8
finding a dead body in the tomb. We go because we believe God is doing something radically new in our lives. On the cross, God has transformed the symbol of shame into an instrument of LOVE! The outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross has become
Kojjo Mime Ministry - for me and you - God’s saving embrace. We have heard that God has conquered death by destroying the power of death and unleashing NEW LIFE, eternal life to the entire world, and that is what brings us back to church every Sunday. Mary Magdalene may have been stuck in her own reality until she met the risen Lord, but
one thing we can learn from her is that she is a fearless woman. Notice that she came to the tomb of Jesus “by herself ” when it was still dark. When she was jolted out of her familiar state into a new reality, she became an Apostle, and she wasn’t afraid to tell those men who were still in hiding what she had seen and heard. She delivered the
famous words which changed the world forever: “I have seen the LORD!” I wonder what kind of witness we will be. Can we boldly tell others that we have seen the risen Lord? I pray we have the courage to do so, and let our new lives be a reflection of this Good News!
Cont’d from 7
woo the electorate. There has been nothing, so far, to write home about except promises and the lambasting of President Mills. Flogging a dead horse won’t win votes!! This is where the problem thic kens for Akufo-Addo. Having been taken to the cleaners over dirty allegations over the years, he already has a huge credibility problem. The fact that nobody is openly revisiting those allegations doesn’t mean that they have fallen into oblivion. Instead of expending energy to prove that he is more endowed with the requisite leadership skills, he is fixated on condemning President Mills as if that will “open sesame” for him. Having already labeled President Mills as “Professor Do-Little,” and going ahead to say that the Woyome scandal couldn’t have happened under the watch of a government headed by him, he opened himself to many probing questions, all related to his own shoddy performance as Minister of Justice/AttorneyGeneral and that of Foreign Affairs. Did I hear that some diplomatic passports being kept in the vault of his office when he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs vanished? Or that some drug barons ……? These allegations are equally damaging, right? Certainly, Akufo-Addo is throwing stones and acting as if he is not living in a glass house. Now, let’s bring the matter closer home. Akufo-Addo has just been reported as asking President Mills to “sit up” and “to act as a responsible leader in the run-up to the December general elections.” If President Mills sits up, will there be any need for AkufoAddo to contest the elections at all and hope to unseat him? He has already reduced to absurdity his own political ambitions. This person is not a politician who knows how to do politics to win elections. Where does he place his own belligerence, couched as “All-die-be-die”? Or Kennedy Agyapong’s “madness,” which he has refused to condemn? In fact, he may be best qualified as a political activist and praised for leading street demonstrations (especially the “Kume Preko,” “Wie Me Preko,” and “Sie Me Preko” demonstrations organized by the defunct Alliance for Change) or being active in political organizations fighting Rawlings’ military dictatorship. I doff my hat off for him on that score. A political activist he still remains. Cont’d on page 19
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THE NEW GHANAIAN | 15 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012 Interior Minister asks GIS to tighten immigration laws
Ghana
Mr William Kwasi Aboah, Minister of the Interior, has called on the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), to ensure that laws to regulate the movement of people in and out of the country were applied to the letter. “There is a growing p e r c e p t i o n , t h at t h e country is being flooded with illegal immigrants. Some manage to acquire working permits through the back door, and others s t ay i n t h e c o u n t r y illegally.” The Interior Minister made the call during his maiden familiarization tour of the GIS in Accra on Wednesday. He said during the last few months, the Ministry had received reports of ille gal immig rants in the small scale mining sector, which was raising “serious” security and environmental issues. “Illegal immigrants h av e b e e n a r r e s t e d with weapons and investigations have shown that most of them did not have the required work and residence permits, while others possessed forged or wrongly issued ones,” he said. Mr Aboah said it appeared most of these illegal immigrants entered the country through the visa on arrival facility, and challenged the GIS to “review the visa issuing procedures, ensure a tighter work per mit adjudicating process, and put in place a more robust enforcement system.” The Sector Minister commended the GIS for its “Four Year Strategic Plan” launched in September 2011 saying, “I have read the document and appreciate your efforts to address the challenges of the Service.” He said government was aware of the huge shortfalls of logistics and financial requirements of the Service, including acute shortage of office and residential accommodation, vehicles, weapons for the Border Patrol Unit, and communication equipment. Mr Aboah said it was the avowed commitment
of government to equip the GIS and other security services “to enable you perform effectively and efficiently”. Commissioner of Police Dr Peter Wiredu, Acting Director General of GIS, said Mr Aboah, had played a great part in the institutional development of the GIS, during his four-year period as the Director of the Service, from 1994 to 2001. “Records available speak volumes of relentless efforts Mr Aboah put in, during the formative years of the newly established Ghana Immigration Service, a legal creature of PNDC Law 226, in 1989. The GIS Director General said presently, the Service faced dire logistical constraints, which hampered its operations saying “naturally, the rapid growth and expansion of the GIS over the past 23 years have brought in its trail, challenges, particularly in the areas of institutional funding and essential logistics, which continues to hamper the administrative and operational effectiveness of the service in many ways”. He said the Service faced a huge deficit in its office and residential accommodation for its estimated 4,000 personnel and that less than 10 per cent of the personnel w e r e p r ov i d e d w i t h accommodation facilities, mostly from private rented premises. He said inadequate s u p p l y o f ve h i c l e s , communication and other operational facilities, g reatly hampered the duties of personnel saying “most Regional Commanders do not have de pendable means of transport as command vehicles and officers and men have resorted to the purchase of uniforms, materials and other accessories from shops on their own volition. Dr Wiredu said GIS would mainly need funding from government, to achieve it’s four-year strategic plan adding that GIS would ensure, that it lived up to its mandate and contributed to ensuring the total security and stability of the nation. Source: GNA
Gyedu Blay Ambolley sends strong warning
to politicians The king of Simigwadu music, Gyedu Blay Ambuley has sounded a strong note of warning to politicians from all sides of the political divide that if they did not get their act right in this year’s elections Ghanaians would drive them all out, take over the country and move it forward. He told Adom News the manner in which some politicians stimulated tribal sentiments, insulted each other and instigate violence was unacceptable, adding that Ghanaians had outgrown that kind of infantile behavior. “We have had enough of that – this country must move forward – if the politicians don’t get their act right in this election we will drive them all out and move Ghana forward if we have to,” he said. His statement came in the wake of recent incidents of politicians fomenting tribal sentiments, political insults and electoral violence ahead of the general elections in December this year. Ambolley, who is also a Glo Ghana Ambassador noted that politicians were supposed to be intelligent people who knew how to lead Ghanaians to celebrate their diversity and marshal the different energies across the various ethnic groups to move the country forward, but it seemed they were rather using it to divide the country for their selfish purposes. He said it did not matter which ethnic group one came from; Ga, Akan, Ewe, Hausa, Dagomba or what-have-you, “we all depart this country and return through only one airport, so that should remind us that we are one no matter what the politicians say,” he said. Ambolley said Ghanaians were tired of the accusations and counter accusations among politicians all day on radio stations, saying that the blame game should stop because Ghanaians were too intelligent for that. Some of the other Glo Ghana Ambassadors also expressed concern about the way politicians kept promoting sentiments that could mar the forthcoming e l e c t i o n s . H i p l i f e
Grandpapa Re ggie Rockstone noted that God had blessed Ghana with gold, cocoa, oil and many more but nothing in Ghana was more important that the people of Ghana, who he described as the treasure of the country. He said Ghana was not going to the go on CNN because of electoral violence and post-election genocide due to the selfish cravings of some greedy politicians, but “Ghana will be popular on CNN through hip-life.” Efya said she loved living in Ghana and nowhere else and would love to continue living here and making good music that could be identified with Ghana so the politicians needed to stop their selfish crave and control themselves as the election drew near. Asem, who is also a trained media practitioner, was worried about the way the media kept giving millage to the intemperate political sound bites by playing them repetitively after they have been made. He therefore called on his colleagues in the media to avoid the foul-mouthed politicians in the interest of the country. Kwabena Kwabena reminded Ghanaian politicians to be statesmen, who would think about building this country to be a better place for children yet to be born in the next 50 years and stop seeking their most present selfish interests. Sharifa Gunu urged the youth particularly, to limit their support for politicians to voting for them and not to sacrifice their lives for politicians who often ke pt their families out of harm’s way, while endangering the lives of other young people for their selfish wants. “The is nothing unwise than to see death and run into it particularly for people who use you as a shield – I will not do that and I expect the youth of this country not to do that either,” she said. Tinny simply called on all to allow brotherliness, unity and peace to prevail before, during and after the elections, while Irene Logan said she believed Ghanaians were beautiful and peaceful and they would remain just that no matter what politicians did. Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Ghana
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WASHINGTON REGION CHURCH OF PENTECOST U.S.A. INC., HOLDS EASTER CONVENTION
Pastors & Elders
Rev. David B. Ntiamoah, Maryland District Pastor
Deaconesses
Pastors & Elders
Rev. Dr. Peter Ohene Kyei The Church of Pentecost U.S.A. INC ., Was h i n gt on Region, held this year’s Easter Convention at the Turf Valley Resort Hotel in Ellicott City, Maryland form April 6th 2012 to April 8th 2012. T he convention was convened and chaired by the Regional Head, Pastor Maxwell
Prayer time K. Kusi and was under the College, Rev. Dr. Peter Ohene theme “The Supremacy of Jesus Kyei charged members to live Christ” Philippians 2:9. The lives worthy of emulation to the gathering brought together glory of God. He also stressed on hundreds of worshipers from the importance of setting good Richmond, Northern Virginia examples for our families and and Maryland. communities. Other speakers Speaking on the last day who also expounded on the of the Convention, The Rector theme included Rev. David B. of the Pentecost University Ntiamoah, Maryland District
The Pentecostal dance Pastor and Host Pastor for rededicated their lives to Jesus 2012 Easter convention; Rev. Christ. John Kudolf Ansah, Richmond If you want to be part of us District Pastor; Rev. Kwame and worship with us please feel Ofori Amanfo, Virginia District free to call us at Pastor and other anointed 952-594-4986 (Maryland); ministers of the gospel. Many 917-569-1277 (Richmond) and were healed, delivered and 718-864-4404 (Virginia) restored by the power of the Holy Spirit, and others also
THE NEW GHANAIAN | 17 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012
Regional Head, Pastor Maxwell K. Kusi
Deaconesses & First Ladies
Rev. Kwame Ofori Amanfo, Virginia District Pastor
Elders
The Maryland Choir
THE NEW GHANAIAN | 18 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012
JNS Launches Ghana International Money Transfer In Ghana
The remittance arm of the Jamaican National Building Society, JN Money Services (JNMS), today made another strategic move in its investment across the world with the launch of Ghana International Money Transfer Service in Ghana. The company launched the Service in Accra to concretize its partnership with the Merchant Bank and the Agricultural Development Bank, both of Ghana, to provide Ghanaians and other residents,
reliable, affordable and timely delivery money transfer services. The company has chosen Ghana’s international top striker Asamoah Gyan, as the brand ambassador to be the face of Ghana International Money Transfer. The Project Coordinator of the Ghana International Money Transfer, Ms Ama Baah told journalists that the new face of the remittance service by JNMS represents the next plank in the bridge to connect Jamaica, the UK, US,
Canada and Ghana and by extension, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa to facilitate delivery of its services. “Today we are also on the path to establish and solidify sustainable ties which are focused on achieving outcomes for our people who share common development objectives and goal,” she said. With its reputation and expertise in international money transmission dating since 1988, JNMS, Ms Baah said, recognises opportunity in which it could assist persons in Ghana to maintain contact with an estimated four million Ghanaian nationals in the Diaspora and increase their participation in nation building. She described the partnership with the two banks as having proven to be beneficial and sustainable alliance, which had started to accrue benefits to the people of Ghana. She said currently the Service through the partnership with the banks had more than 100 locations across all regions of Ghana ready to offer reliable and timely service. “...we fully intend to broaden our remittances service beyond basic money transfers which we intend to roll out in the medium term.” The company is currently studying the nuances of
Ghanaian communities in order to enable it roll out its unique corporate social responsibility programme, especially in the area of education in the country. “The new partnership with Merchant Bank coupled with the innovation being brought on board by Ghana International Money Transfer Service, will in no doubt ensure total quality remittance services to Ghanaians, both home and abroad. We also hope to inject some more competition into the sector,” Merchant Bank Head of Consumer Banking, Mr Henry Baye said. Source: GNA Cont’d from 1
Gomes Junior. Both men later fled the country. Before the coup, Gomes was the frontrunner in a presidential run-off election to replace late President Malam Bacai Sanha. The new transitional government is expected to be installed next week, with ECOWAS's backing. The regional bloc has indicated the transition will last about a year. Guinea-Bissau has endured numerous coups and attempted coups in the past 30 years. It has also become a key transit point for international drug traffickers. VOA NEWS
THE NEW GHANAIAN | 19 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012
Liberian Verdict Validates Bush Strategy Fo r m e r L i b e r i a n President Charles Taylor’s conviction for war crimes in Sierra Leone represents another milestone in a long journey toward peace, freedom and justice for residents of both African nations. A p ivo t a l m a r k e r on the road to progress was President George W. Bush’s call in June 2003 for Taylor to “step down so that his country could be spared further bloodshed.” The timing of Bush’s words was amplified as he prepared to depart on his first multi-country trip as president to Africa and was on the verge of sending U.S. Marines to Liberia. The United States was widely viewed as key in stopping Liberia’s brutal 14-year civil war, which Taylor funded by plundering Sierra Leone’s conflict diamonds with the help of that country’s Revolutionary United Front rebels. U.S. leadership and diplomacy shaped the
events that culminated in Taylor’s conviction on April 26. Looking back on the United States’ role in Liberia offers lessons on the use of American power to end tyranny and make way for justice to prevail. First, sustained presidential leadership and engagement was necessary to build the coalition and consensus among African leaders that led to Taylor’s resignation and exile to Nigeria in August 2003. Three years later, after attempting to flee Nigeria, Taylor was turned over as an indicted war criminal for trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. President Bush and Ghanaian President John Kufuor, then chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and mediator of the Liberia peace talks, spoke often to develop the strategy for ending the regional war. Bush also used his first trip to Senegal to build consensus with West African leaders.
Cont’d from 12
His meetings with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria were crucial for gaining African Union buy-in. In Nigeria, Bush and President Olusegun Obasanjo conferred to coordinate the diplomatic and military intervention of both their countries. Seven weeks after Bush demanded that Taylor step down, he did. Taylor left Monrovia on a Nigerian plane, and Nigerian forces were the first on the ground in Liberia, followed by U.S. Marines deployed to secure Liberia’s Roberts International Airport so that food replaced weapons entering the country. Second, Bush smartly used limited American military power to bring an end to Liberia’s war. He made Taylor’s exit a condition for deploying U.S. Marines to Liberia and defined a discrete humanitarian mission and, over the horizon, an
But to regard him as a future President for Ghana is out of the equation for me. I don’t see what he has to be so. He isn’t coming with anything different except the mentality of a hur t ele phant—the only animal which, once hurt, neither forgives nor forgets!! My hunch is that he is just the déjà vu type that will not make any marked difference in our national life. I have good cause to say so because he hasn’t provided anything to persuade me that he is of a different calibre than those we have already written off as bad debts. I am dead serious about my concerns and challenge anybody who thinks otherwise to list Akufo-Addo’s leadership qualities to change my perception of him. Until then he remains to me the same side of the political coin that has lost its lustre. He is nothing more than a fiery, fast-talking, conservative democrat.
Cont’d on page 26
Cont’d on page 27
GHANA QUEENS, The Embassy Of Ghana’s Team For The Susan G. Komen Global Race For The Cure, Cordially Invites You To A PINK SOIRÉE FUNDRAISER
Venue: Embassy of Ghana, 3512 International Dr., NW, Washington, DC 20008
Africa
Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012 Time: 6.00 pm - 10.00 pm Advance Ticket: $15.00 Fundraiser Entrance Fee: $20.00 For advance tickets please call Araba at (202) 686-4520 x 246 Cash bar and hors d’oeuvres Come and learn about how we could all make an impact in the fight against breast cancer in Ghana. Side attraction: Fashion Show by Ekuwa Dadson DJ: Fisho
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Letter From Ghana
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Remarks At World Press Freedom Day
By Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, Chairman Of National Media Commission
The Ghana Press Must Get Its Act Together Or... It is proper as we celebrate this day to remember the hundreds of journalists whose sacrifices paved the way for the establishment of press freedom as a fundamental bedrock for democracy and development. One such fallen hero is our own Dr. Niyi Alabi who passed away exactly a week ago. A vintage journalist who sought the best for his profession, some of us who were privileged to work with him in the Ghana Journalists’ Association, the West A f r i c a n Jo u r n a l i s t s ’ Association, and the Media For Democracy Project o f t h e I n t e r n at i o n a l Federation of Journalists will forever remember him for the role he played in strengthening media freedoms and democracy in the sub-region. What we can do best, as homage to all the many fine journalists who belong to the ages is to uphold the highest journalistic standards, and use the media to promote peace, development and democracy. The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day-MEDIA FREEDOM HAS THE POWER TO TRANSFORM SOCIETY is apt to some extent. We s a y s o f o r a simple reason. Whilst constitutional guarantees for freedom as enshrined in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution create the best enabling environment to transform society through the media, even an oppressed press can still change society for the better as we have experienced in our history through colonial rule, one-party state, military dictatorships and even under democratic rule.
To those much is given, much is equally expected from, and so today’s generation of journalists and the general citizenry who have been granted unfettered boundaries for free speech and free press should be leading lights in responsible use of media freedoms. This year’s World Press Freedom is taking place against a backg round of heightened concerns about the emergence of inflammatory speech, insults and abuse in a section of the Ghanaian media. Everybody is naturally alert because of the high stakes raised during this election year. But long before today, many concerned Ghanaians and organizations including the National Media Commission and the Ghana Journalists’ Association had warned us all about the dangers of a poisoned media. I have in my capacity as Chairman of the NMC in various speeches alerted journalists and other users of media platforms about the destabilizing effect of irresponsible journalism and the coming of a day when society would roll back media freedoms. Signs that the media could become a land mine for our democracy have been made clear yesterday and today. I invite you to ponder ove r t h e w o r d s o f a concerned Ghanaian, Dr. Mensa Otabil, spoken exactly a year ago, when he delivered a lecture at the William Ofori Atta Memorial Lectures: “Today, our media landscape has the appearance of a war zone. In the media, anonymous snipers callously shoot
down their human targets. Character assassins take on contracts to eliminate opponents with innuendos, rumors and outright lies. Rapid rounds of insults are fired across political lines without care for the youth caught in the crossfire. Profanity drops like bombs on us, without any prior warning. There are no shelters of refuge from this national fratricide. Our national life has degenerated into a freefor-all fist fight with no holds barred. We have abandoned all restraint as we keep pushing the limits of decency with every statement we make. We have held ourselves to ransom without any hope of redemption. It is time to stop this self-imposed insanity. Let us call a timeout, take a deep breath and think. Can’t we see the damage we are doing to ourselves?” I quote Otabil to make the point, but many Ghanaians including the Head of State, Professor Atta Mills were about the same time raising the same concern. This is the time to call a time-out. T his means all of us who use the media - politicians, political parties and their spokespersons, talk-show hosts and presenters, serial callers and editors - whose role or association with the media can push the media and society into an abyss. The NMC must rise up to the occasion to fulfil its constitutional mandate, which we intend to the best of our capacity to do. As for the will we have that in abundance, but in capacity, woefully no. The charge is going to be made that our NMC should have been biting and not just be barking.
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you can. You are some of My best work, girl. I hope you can see that for yourself. I love you more than you will ever know. Yo u f a i t h i s n o t established on whether
your father is an elder in the church or if your mother is a tonguespeaking, prayer warrior. It is not relied on how
no wrong way to getting close to me. Just do it. Me: *tear y-eyed grin* I can do that. Jesus: I know. I know
Cont’d on page 26
The NMC in my view has done much in its 19 years to protect media freedoms and promote media standards given its limited capacity. And if it has not bitten, if it has not flexed its muscles it is because under Ghana’s chosen path of rule of law every institution must act or can act according to what the constitution says it can do. We no longer live in that era when anybody could c lose down a media house or media publication; and since the existing framework under which the NMC operates has not granted the NMC macho muscles to flex, it has operated fully under the parameters of the law. After 19 years of the Constitution, what is clear to me is that the same
society that gave media freedom is g radually calling for restrictions if that is the only language that media people understand. The NMC will in the coming months - subject to availability of funds - start the process of legislative reforms and the adoption of “all appropriate measures” as it is enjoined by Article 167(b) to ensure high professional standards. There are many things that the 6th Commission of the NMC like previous ones have sought out in order to fulfil its mandate. One such crucial area has been the monitoring and evaluation of over 240 FM stations, hundreds of newspapers, and a dozen or more television stations. Hopefully with the support
from the European Union, a monitoring project will take off sometime this year. But, during the first 19 years the state has not provided the logistics for this scheme which is necessary for any regulatory body. The NMC needs to be empowered, if it is to fulfil societal expectations. And since this is the time for action if we are to safeguard our liberties through responsible and accountable journalism, we repeat our call f o r t h e G ove r n m e n t a n d Pa r l i a m e n t t o hasten the passage of the Broadcasting Bill, which can then provide the best oppor tunity and framework for re gulating the media landscape, particularly the broadcasting sector.
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MARKETING DEMOCRACY The Shifting American Influence
Cephas Haywood Amartey (Rev.), Accra
In every sense of the word, America will remain the greatest nation here on Earth for a long time to come. But in more recent times, the denting of the greatness of America will rest in the way they have continued to wholesale THEIR STYLE of democracy with all its gross failings and frustrations. Spreading the principles of democracy worldwide is welcome but trying to prematurely shove it down the throats of quasihelmeted democracies with very little regard for the consequences and repercussions has left a sour taste in the mouths of some of America’s favoured allies. Yet they are the self-styled “Big Brothers” of the world and once you take a different tone to their Victorian style of doing things, you are immediately branded a heretic or a possible extremist gone amok. Still, those who wish America well in
the long term, must be bold to take her back to basics. L eft t o r u n a m o k a n d unguarded in their arrogant ways, what comes as a social curse is a fast-growing number of sons and daughters of Yahweh who are very silent about the ways of America but gloat within and with glee anytime something untoward happens to the great USA. Coming To Baghdad In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, George W. Bush (Ghana is VERY grateful for your assistance in building our super highway - we now cross Mallam Junction with little prayers) decided to punish one of the enemies of the US, and when he and his Joint Chiefs cast lots, the curse fell on unredeemed Saddam Hussein. When it became clear that he will escape the wrath of George Bush and the sword of America, Agyapa Muammar Gaddafi accelerated his restoration to political and international normalcy with the speed of light. And indeed Gaddaffi was virtually home and dry if it had not been for the Arab Spring
that unseated his satisfied life under the African skies. Confident that his country was greater now than ever and he can ride roughshod over another as his ancestors had done crossing and taming the Wild West, he rallied other nations and embarked on his God-given mission to unseat moustached Saddam. Within weeks America and the world had declared victor y, but Saddam was still at large and that kept everyone on tender toes. Among the men and women who walk the corridors of power, Saddam was better and safest ranting in front of TV cameras and before the world press. But a Saddam who couldnot be located was simply bad news waiting to happen. So it was with great joy that the news of the sudden capture of a moustached Saddam set the world dancing. When he was caught inside the belly of the Earth, the only thing Saddam had that outnumbered his moustache was US dollars. Incidentally, one of the stories relating to his capture was that
he thought the arresting officers were some of the mercenaries who came to his rescue, so he even offered them a fistful of dollars which they allegedly refused. Democracy According To George Bush President George W. Bush was the happiest kid on the block when Saddam was caught and Bush expressing to the world through the media said, “We got him, he was hiding down a hole but we got him!” But that was about as far as the celebration got because they disbanded the last thing that could have helped America and her allies continue a semblance of order in a rapidly disintegrating nation - the Iraq army. Instead of disbanding ONLY the Republican Guard and working with the regular ar my, the whole security agencies were shut out. Thus it came to pass that hell was unleashed through the cities and towns of Iraq as never before. And Baghdad, once a haven for the favoured lovers of Saddam, was leaderless and party-blind as week after week, rising insurgent fanatics
detonated bomb-vests and blew themselves and thousands of victims up. A Soul-Searching Nation Democracy according to President Bush had skidded off the tracks of Iraq and plunged Baghdad and her neighbours s eve r a l ye a r s b a c k . T h e foundations intended to market democracy had backfired and rather had become a springboard for a ruthless insurgency that was soon to send Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda leaders back to the drawing board. From then till now, even though the admissions have not been made public, America has learned, and is learning painfully and grudgingly that they must find new and better ways of marketing democracy and do them that way. And the flagship message to the world was the overwhelming election of Barack Hussein Obama to the White House as America’s first ever black president. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Barack Hussein Obama and I am the President of the United States!” Time catch for Ohia Monkey to chop small, so Onua Baboon ibi your turn to work. Herr Von Buckunstein has just two words to describe such whimsical scenarios: nice one!
GROWING UP ACROSS RACIAL & CULTURAL DIVIDES Life as an Alien
(Part 2) Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
At the time of my immigration, the early 1970s, Washington, a predominantly black city, was awash in a wave of Afrocentricity. Dashikis draped brown shoulders, and the black-fisted handle of an Afro pick proudly stuck out of many a back pants pocket. H ow eve r, d e s p i t e a l l t h e romanticizing and rhetoric about unity and brotherhood, there was a curtain of sheer hostility hanging between black Americans and black Africans. The black kids I encountered, in and out of school, were the cruelest to me. While other children who were being picked on for whatever trivial or arbitrary reason were called a host of names tailored to their individual inadequacies -- Frog Lips, Peanut Head, Four-Eyes, Brace-Face -- there was no need to create a name for me. You -- you -- you African! Go back to Africa! Who I was seemed to be insult enough; where I was from, a horrific place to which
one could be banished as a form of punishment. The white Americans -children and adults -- I met at t a c ke d m e w i t h ve r b a l “kindness,” not verbal cruelty. But it was no less hurtful or damaging. Their branding came in the form of adjectives, not nouns -- special, exceptional, different, exotic. These words, which flowed so freely from the lips of teachers, parents and fellow students, were intended to excuse me from my race, to cage me like some zoo animal being domesticated; these words, I realized years later, were intended to absolve those white people from their own racism. I was among the black people to whom many white people were referring when they said, “Some of my best friends . . .” I was complimented for not talking like “them,” not acting like “them,” not looking like “them” -- “them” being black Americans, the only other physical reflections I had of myself besides my family. But, of course, that wasn’t acceptance; it was tolerance. The one place where I found acceptance was in the company
of other immigrants. Together, we concentrated on our similarities, not our differences, because our differences were our similarities. Still, I secretly envied the other foreign kids because I believed that their immig rant experience was somehow more authentic than mine. Unlike me, they were not caught in the racial battlefield of black and white, their ethnicity was visible. Mine invariably faded to black. They spoke languages that were identifiable. Everybody’s heard of Spanish, Korean, Chinese, even Arabic. The few people who had heard of Ga and Twi colonially labeled them dialects, not languages. Of all the other immigrants, I got along best with my Spanishspeaking friends. For me, they were the middle ground between America and Africa. So when I grew tired of being pendulous, of going to and fro, I entered their culture and it became my home away from home. In the second grade, I started taking Spanish lessons at my school, and the connection I already felt to that culture was quickly validated. One morning we were learning the
Spanish words for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the foods usually served during those meals. The teacher, a heavyhipped Nicaraguan woman with arms that looked like rolling pins, held up a card with a picture of a hazel-colored loaf of bread on it. When she flipped the card over to show us its name in Spanish, the word pan was written there in big, bold letters. My jaw dropped in amazement. Pan also meant bread in Twi. One by one, I discovered other words, found other sources of affirmation, the biggest being the fact that I had the best of approvals, parental permission, to assimilate into that world. My mum was no stranger to it herself. She did the bulk of her shopping at bodegas, rummaging the shelves for suitable replacements for ingredients needed to prepare customary Ghanaian dishes. Often enough, she would take me along when she went to these stores, where stodgy men in blood-smeared aprons would greet us from behind their butcher blocks with smiles and deep-diaphragmed laughter. I felt a sense of freedom in the
narrow aisles of those stores, with the tickling smells of hot peppers and the loud chorus of tongues that were kin to my own. I was both outside and inside the split, the distance between home and here. But it was not a steady resting place. The Latino kids were also in motion, also trying to reach beyond themselves, searching for their own middle ground. And when I traced the pattern of their movements, it led me right back into my skin. Their middle ground, en route to whiteness -- the ultimate immigrant assimilation goal -- was black America. So I followed them there. By then, I had befriended two black American siblings, Karen and Allen, who lived with their mother in an apartment upstairs from mine. Allen (who is now married to a Ghanaian woman) and I were the same age, but I was closer to Karen, who was a year older. She taught me how to jump double Dutch and “snap” back when kids teased me. “Tell ‘em, ‘Yo’ momma,’ “ she’d advise. Cont’d on page 26
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THE NEW GHANAIAN | 26 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012 President Bush and his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice made Liberia a priority. For eight year s the Bush administration invested the necessary attention, energy and diplomatic and financial resources to implement a comprehensive strategy in Liberia and the region. Justice and State Department lawyers advised the U.N. and the government of Sierra Leone on the design of the Special Court, an innovative hybrid international court established in 2002. U.S. diplomats led the charge at the U.N. to place comprehensive sanctions on Liberia, including an arms embargo, a ban on timber and diamonds and travel restrictions on senior Liberian officials. Bush and Rice also shut down Taylor’s resource spigot from Qaddafi in 2003 by linking L i bya ’s c o m p l i a n c e w i t h U.N. sanctions on Liberia to the progress of U.S., United Kingdom and Libya talks on nonproliferation. The U.S. ambassador and the Embassy staff stood their ground, even under heavy shelling by rebel forces, rather than evacuate the
mission and abandon Liberians, as had been done 13 times by previous administrations. Bush and his national security team used all elements of U.S. power to steer Liberia toward peace when it reached a tipping point of escalated violence in 2003. The investment in freedom was reinforced in 2006 when, after the election of Liberia’s democratic government, Taylor was transferred for trial at The Hague to protect regional stability. The Special Court of Sierra Leone delivered justice to the region last week by convicting Taylor of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Achieving the region’s next milestones -- broad-based reconciliation and prosperity -- will require sustained American leadership. Jendayi Frazer served under President George W. Bush as the special assistant and senior director for Africa from 2001 to 2004. In 2004 she became the first American female ambassador to South Africa, and from 2005 to 2009 she was the assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
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many church positions you hold, how many church activities you attend, how many worship songs you can conjure. It is not based on the fact alone that you were raised in _________ Church for __________ years. It is not even based on the fact if you have caught the Holy Ghost. Your faith is within you. His love lies within you. He wants you to draw near and He wants to be
your dearest friend. He is not your “Big Daddy”. He is not someone in which you say what you think He wants to hear. He knows what’s up. Continue to build your relationship by just thinking about Him. Everyday. Start with meditating on His goodness, then dig deeper by selecting a Bible chapter to read. Youtube some gospel music at work. Just ramble your “thank Yous” to Him as you sit on the bus. Just do what you can for
Him everyday—with effort. And be grateful that you have a head start in your walk with Him; many people come to know God without any knowledge of Him from their childhood. At least you have your swarm of Sunday School songs to refer to if you ever get stuck. B u t r e m e m b e r, i t i s a relationship. And it will be the best relationship you have. Regardless of how far removed you feel from your parents,
friends, or peers, the love of Jesus Christ sur passes all worldly things and in Him you shall surely come into your own identity. Be blessed and be happy.
the first time, to accept myself, my history of traversal. I began to create a context for the crosscultural life that I have led. For whatever reason, in the course of one of Korama’s kindergarten conversations, she let it be known that my favorite television program is “The X-Files.” That afternoon when I picked her up from school, she told me about the disclosure. “Oh. Okay, Korama,” I said, releasing a slight breath of relief. I was happy to know that she and her friends were now exchanging what I believed was less personal information about their parents. Just a few days before, she had spurted out, in a fountain of giggles, that her classmate’s mother wore G-strings; and the day before that I learned of another mother’s recent miscarriage. “Mo-o-m,” she whined, “it’s not okay. They said you like that show because you’re an alien. I tried to tell them that you weren’t, but Hugo said I was wrong. He said that you’re not from America, and that everyone
who’s not from here is an alien. Is that true? Are you an alien?” She stared at my head as if antennae would pop out at any time. I wasn’t sure how to reply, but with the shrewdness that parenthood teaches you, I tried to figure out a way to answer her question without volunteering too much information that might, ultimately, confuse her. While I was mulling it over, she and I walked side by side in silence. With each step, I felt a distance growing between us. It was a distance much wider than the gap of generations that eventually settles between parents and children. And it was haunting. For a moment, her stare was as disempowering as those of the American children whom I had encountered as a child, her questions as offensive. I wanted to arm myself against the pain of being reminded that I was “other.” I wanted to beg that little girl before me to try, to just try to accept -- if not love -- me for who I was, the way I was, no matter how different
that seemed from the way she was. But I knew I didn’t have to, because she already did. “Yes,” I finally said to Korama, “I am.” I explained to her that in addition to creatures from outer space, the word “alien” was used to refer to human beings from other countries. I expected her to be a bit confused, but she didn’t appear to be. She nodded, reached out for my hand as we approached the street we had to cross to get to our apartment, and the distance disappeared. When I tucked her into bed that evening, she raised the subject again. “Mom, will you always be an alien?” she asked. And, again, I tried to find a straightforward, uncomplicated response, this time to a question I had been trying unsuccessfully to answer for over 20 years. “No,” I told her. “Not if I become an American.” Up until the second I said that, I had never so much as considered becoming a United States citizen. In the belief that I would one day return to the country of my birth, I had never made a commitment to
being in the country where I have spent the better part of my life. I had always thought of naturalization as nothing more than a piece of paper one received after passing a test, a series of questions designed to assess one’s technical knowledge of the country and the laws by which it is governed. If that’s the case, I could live or die without that slip of paper, that change of nationality. It wouldn’t make a difference one way or the other. I have lived my life as an alien, an outsider trying to find a way and a place to fit in. And it is only through that experience that I have come to think of myself not as a citizen of one country or another but, rather, of the entire world.. Meri Nana-Ama Danquah is the author of “Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression.” This article is excerpted from Half and Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural, to be published this summer by Pantheon Books. © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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Cont’d from 19
“Your mama,” I’d repeat, rolling my eyes and sucking my teeth the same as she had done. Allen would always barge into Karen’s room when she was in the midst of schooling me and poke fun. “You sound like a ole white girl,” he’d say. And, at that time, that’s the last thing I wanted, to “sound” white. I wanted to sound like Karen and Allen and all the other black kids at school. Every day when I left their place and went back to my apartment, I would stand in front of the bathroom mirror and practice speaking like them. I practiced and practiced until, finally, when I listened to the sound of my voice, I could no longer hear an accent. By then, I was in fourth grade. When I rid myself of my accent, I suddenly internalized the divide, blurred the lines between continents and allegiances. There was no middle ground anymore, no threshold, no point of distinction between one reality and another. I had strayed so far away from the place I called my home that I could not find my way back. From that point on, every culture I made contact with seeped in to create one fluid geography within me. Yet as much as I imagined that I could claim them all, I still belonged to none of them. I didn’t even belong to the one in which my family resided, the one that had once provided me the safety of a home base. As with everywhere else, I became the “other” there, unable to fully expand and unfold the many selves I now had, unable to ever again feel completely whole. It seems fitting that, of all the cities I could have chosen to live in when I moved from the city where I grew up, I found myself in Los Angeles. This place is the most accurate external portrait of my internal existence. It is a place where everything is subject to change, where even the land is not stable. It is a city of illusions; what you see is not necessarily what is. People come to Los Angeles in search of their future, in spite of their past. Identities and images are created, killed or altered here on a daily basis. Over a hundred languages are spoken; cultures overlap, blend and produce hybrids. There are African American street vendors selling teriyaki burritos, and Mexican cocks in the kitchens of Jamaican restaurants. Far from being idyllic, it is a city at war with itself, a place where xenophobia and self-hatred run rampant. And I have never felt more at peace anywhere else. As the result of a recent incident with my 6-year-old daughter, Korama, I began, for
in extremis role for the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Using international pressure to “do something” about escalating violence, President Bush and Secretary of State C o l i n Pow e l l s u c c e s s f u l ly l e v e r a g e d U. S . m i l i t a r y engagement to push for fast United Nations action. Just one month after Taylor’s departure, U.N. peacekeepers arrived in Liberia. The U.S. government also trained and financed ECOWAS troops from Nigeria, Mali and Senegal to deploy to Liberia, until they were quickly converted into a U.N. peacekeeping force with a mandate to protect c iv i l i a n s a n d s e c u r e t h e countryside. Ultimately, up to 15,000 multinational U.N. peacekeepers were critical for the success of Liberia’s peace process and democratic elections that ushered into office Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in January 2006. Finally, and most important, Cont’d from 23
to Americans and to members of Congress, I wish it weren’t so. I wish, in fact, that many Americans and members of Congress could now be in Ghana to watch the outcome of this incredible good deed, the miracle of this vaccination campaign. It is a miracle because this effort by Ghanaians and by our friends is saving the lives of children all around me now. To n i g h t , at 6 . 3 0 p m at our Embassy in Washington D.C., we will celebrate this accomplishment. We will host a panel of experts which will be moderated by VOA journalist Linord Moudou, who attended the launch of both vaccines in Ghana this week. Please come and learn more about why this was such an important moment for all of us-both Ghanaians and Americans. Daniel Ohene Agyekum has been Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States of America since September 2009.
Mabel Obinim is a guest contributor to The New Ghanaian. She is currently teaching in Abetifi, Kwahu. Keep up with her experience and thoughts at mebolife.blogspot.com
THE NEW GHANAIAN | 27 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012 PRESS RELEASE
Sports & Leisure
“Mr. Double Double” In Town
The wait is finally over, you are cordially invited to unite with us for our Gospel Explosion Night. This inspirational and uplifting event will take place at Crossover Christian Church on June 23, 2012 at 6:00p.m. This phenomenal event will liberate and uplift your spirit with music from recording artist Pastor Uche Agu, also known as” Mr. Double Double” and the Crossover Gospel Choir. The Gospel Explosion will feature other talented musicians who alike have incredible ability and expertise in music. The Gospel Explosion is a well thought out night which was inspired by the youth ministry at Crossover and the power of unity through music. The purpose of the Music Ministry is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ through song, encourage believers in their walk with Christ, lead the multitude in worship and provide an avenue through which individuals may share their gift and be an integral part of the worship. The Music Ministry spreads the Word of God through music experiences. We are pleased to welcome you, family and friends to join in us we celebrate, sing and dance in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. You do not want to miss this miraculous night, be a witness and receive your blessing It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the ... instruments of music, ... that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God." II Chronicles 5:13, 14
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Ghana deserves better. He may be vocal, theatrical, and insistent on airing his contempt for the Mills government, but he hasn’t given me the faintest urge to be optimistic that he will move Ghana forward. At 69 years, I daresay that he has seen better days. Only one thing is motivating his struggle to be in power: he sees the Presidency as an entitlement and must do all he can to wrest it from the incumbent. As far back as 1996 when he stood against Kufuor at the NPP’s Sunyani congress for the flagbearership, Akufo-Addo hasn’t ceased nur sing that urge of regarding the Presidency as his entitlement. From his political rhetoric and the zeal with which he has institutionalized the “Alldie-be-die” craze among his party’s followers, one is not in the least mistaken that he wants to realize his ambition at all costs. He might have said that he won’t shed a single Ghanaian’s blood to be in power; but it is all an unconvincing damage control measure that has backfired already in the face of current
happenings. His refusal to comment on the Kennedy Agyapong hate speech betrays him. If he were an astute politician, he would make his personal voice heard on the matter and use it to reinforce his claim not to shed or cause to be shed a single Ghanaian’s blood in the pursuit of his deep-seated political ambitions. But he hasn’t done so, which clearly sets him up as a double-faced modernday Ghanaian version of the Roman god, Janus. He is looking both ways simultaneously: seeing defeat staring at him if he fails to outmatch the incumbent (hence, his insistence on the inspiration-inducing “Alldie-be-die” war cry), and buoyed up with some hope that for as long as he leads the NPP’s frontal attack on President Mills, he will prevail over the electorate, on the other side. That is why we see much ado about nothing in his politicking. The real issues that we need to be sure that he is a better quality material are missing. They are just not there for us to see. Why should we then go for him? As far as I am concerned,
our democratization efforts should not just be directed at replacing one government with another just for its own sake. We must do so only to assure ourselves that those we kick out have failed to prop up the democracy in ways other than what we already detest as incapable of solving our problems. T hose we bring in m u s t c e r t a i n l y h ave better means to solve those problems. If we allow mere sentiments to determine our electoral decisions, we can’t move our democracy beyond this “procedural” stage (characterized by mere political rituals of holding elections and putting new wine in an old fermented wine bottle). We a s p i r e t o t h e “substantive” stage of democracy where “equity, justice, civil liberties, and human rights prevail; where citizens enjoy freedom, interests are represented via elected public fora and group participation, and all citizens have equal access to governmental process and have a say in collective decisionCont’d on page 28
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THE NEW GHANAIAN | 28 | FOCUSING MORE ON THE COMMUNITY - APRIL 2012 Cont’d from 1
perhaps most important are cocoa and gold, two prized commodities for which Ghana is a key producer. What is generally considered the most important gold mining company in the country is listed on a number of stock exchanges around the world. In the Western world, chocolate is ubiquitous, showing up in everything from instant hot chocolate powder to artisan truffles. In India, gold glitters just about everywhere and the wedding season is fully festooned with it. The global consumer market for these commodities is evident. As important as cocoa is to Ghana’s export business, the country also grows rice, cassava, peanuts, corn and bananas in significant quantities, so its agricultural assets are reasonably well diversified. Doing Business in Ghana As a former British colony, Ghana’s legal system is based on English law and uses the English language, both of which make doing business there easier for English-speaking foreigners. Ghana’s stock exchange benefits from Cont’d from 8
for the conspiracy and Asare also faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft consecutive to any other sentence. U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar has scheduled sentencing for Asare on July 17, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. and for Britton on August 28, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. On April 5, 2012, Judge Bredar
its proximity to Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, which simplifies cooperation between the exchanges and helps improve liquidity. The exchange is not new; it was founded 21 years ago. From what I observed, it has about 20 to 30 brokers trading both stocks and bonds via a fully electronic trading clearance and settlement system which enables them to trade from their offices and homes. Of course, not all that glitters is gold, and Ghana faces its own set of challenges. In the banking sector, the rate of nonperforming loans (NPLs) is quite high, though it is expected to decline in a more stable macroeconomic environment. It’s certainly something to keep an eye on. From what I understand, not many Ghanians have a bank account, so I think the prospects for growth are good in the banking sector. At the nation’s Central Bank, we met a group of executives eager to promote Ghana as an investment destination. Their focus was on trying to contain inflation and create a stable environment for business. Foreign reserves have been increasing and have doubled since 2008
to $5.6 billion as of December 31, 2011, while inflation has fallen to current single-digit levels.4 It appears to us that the government has fostered a tight fiscal policy and budget discipline which, combined with high cocoa prices, have made a positive impact on the economy. Relationship with China Ghana’s link with China is particularly interesting. The two countries have had close ties since the 1960s, when thenpresident Kwame Nkrumah lobbied for the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) reinstatement in the United Nations. Evidence of their ongoing relationship is abundant. In 1992, a joint venture including the Chinese government, Ghanian gover nment, and private Ghanian and Hong Kong investors was reportedly established to mine for gold. Also, though Ghana’s credit in recent years has been tight, the Chinese government has continued to provide loans. In fact, China recently extended Ghana US$3 billion for infrastructure projects. All of these linkages may explain why, since 2007, that all university and college institutions in Ghana provide
Chinese language courses. Black Gold Given growing power demands and the big payments needed to import oil, probably the most exciting news for Ghanahas been the discovery of commercial quantities of offshore oil reserves. In 1983, the government established t h e G h a n a N a t i o n a l Pe t r o l e u m Cor poration (GNPC) to promote exploration and production. In 2007, it discovered an oilfield which the GNPC hopes will create the needed environment to meet the target of Ghana producing 200,000 barrels of oil by this year.5 The country also has natural gas, which can be used to power turbines for electricity production that the country needs so badly. GNPC is using offshore gas to run gas-turbine electricity generation to feed into the national and regional grid. All in all, Ghana looks to be a country my investment team and I will continue to watch in our constant lookout for undervalued companies and bargain opportunities in frontier markets.
sentenced Gabriel Awuzie to 30 months in prison and ordered Awuzie to pay restitution of $120,000, for his role in the conspiracy. United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended HSI Baltimore, Baltimore County Police Department, Montgomery County Police Department; Maryland State Police and Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr.
Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Paul Budlow, who is prosecuting the case. Baynet.com
If President Mills’ leadership style is problematic (as his critics believe), then, we need a better one, not what Akufo-Addo represents. Otherwise, we will continue to run around in circles until we drop down dead in the midst of over-abundant national resources. What is wrong with us in Ghana, the first country to gain independence south of the Sahara? E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
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making [regarding the national cake]” (Jonathan Haynes, Democracy and Civil Society in the Third World. Cambridge, England: Polity Press, 1997, p. 85.) Our democratization calls for the kind of leadership that will make the difference.
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