The CEPS Color Party

Which color do you prefer?

“Caaaalah parteeey! Change direction right.  Riiiiiiiiiiight foooorrrm. Forward.  Caaaalah parteey! Change direction left.Left form, left form. Caaaalah parteeeeey! Halt! Caaaalah escorts! Preseeeeeent arms!.”

Those are samples of the commands I used to give as the senior ensign of the cadet corps of my hall at college. Those were memorable days where we try to enact similar army drills and formation. Every hall has a cadet corps and each one does its best to put up a good show on their respective hall weeks.

Among the cadet corps, the main “color” is the color party. They troop in with the colors of the hall and the national flag and it is such a joy to watch. Our cadet corps was an army cadet so I guess the army also does that on special parades such as the annual Queen’s Birthday Parade though ours is not as grand as that.

The uniforms of the color party is distinctly different from that of the whole contingent and what makes it sweeter is that the color party can only be called to march on and off by the CO and no one else [so imagine being a senior color ensign, ;)]. You take orders only from the top. We are the last to get onto the parade and the first to leave it. How sweet, less of the scorching sun either way.

Now not to deviate from what I want to talk about here. As I said earlier, the army generally have this tradition of showing on parade the color party and it is soooo nice with the over-stretched commands, but it only makes it nicer to look at. Due to this I was thinking if the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) by any chance have these practices.

During the undercover investigations of Anas at the Tema port, it dawned on me that CEPS also has a color party but it was in a different form altogether from that which I have experienced at school. Now instead of the army band and parades and marching orders, theirs got to do with the colors of the denominations they are taking as bribes.

The “secret filming” done by the investigative reporter at the port featured CEPS officials demanding specific colors in which they want their bribes. So depending on the amount of bribe you are paying, the official would as for blue[GHC5], green[GHC10], somewhat violet[GHC20] or brown[GHC50]. It looks like they were less willing to take the reds[GHC1] and the yellows[GHC2].

So depending on the amount of damage you are paying, the officials wouldn’t want to burden themselves with having to carry large amounts of smaller denominations so would prefer them in higher denominations. The impudence of bribe taker.

The level of corruption has been tolerated to the extent that the person extorting the money from you even has the nerve to demand the type of notes the bribe should come in. The police on the roads even do that. Prior to the introduction of the new cedi, they were content with taking the five thousand note but when the new cedi didn’t feature the now GHp50[which was the old 5000 cedi] they demanded the red GHC1. now that there has been an introduction of a GhC2, they tell the drivers  “me pε yellow.” How beautiful.

Some may argue that if the people are doing the right thing then there wouldn’t be any need to coerce them into giving bribes. That is mostly not the case. Time is a luxury most business people cannot afford so if you are ready to spend countless hours at government offices for a certain letter to be endorsed or a form filled without the usual facilitating fee then you better bring a mattress. Some officials deliberately delay you just because you have refused to grease their palms. No fault of yours so why not sacrifice a few cedis instead of wasting hours or even weeks [the usual “go and come back in two weeks” for a simple endorsement]. Those of us who refuse have so many stories to tell as this entrepreneur who refuses to bend to the dictates of the system. She has so many interesting stories to tell.

I guess one of the best ways to curb these practices, as the president said, would be to institute a regime for revenue authorities to declare their assets before employment since they seem to make more money than even the most dedicated corrupt politician.

I”ll l keep you posted.

First Lady Wears Broni Waawu

Broni Waawu in bales

Recent happenings in the Gold Coast should be putting people on their toes no matter how high you are on the pedestal of governance.  Well, given the evidence and information I extracted from the recent uncovering of the stinking level of corruption and bribery that has been going on at the Tema port, I have no option but pass my judgment and conclude that in spite of all the allowances and salaries that has been paid to the president, he could not afford to allocate enough shopping budget to his wife to buy one of those and that leaving his wife to import such and such things as “broni w’awu” underwear and clothing.

This is obviously not the case since I doubt if the First Family of the Gold Coast have any idea about what the heck was going on at the port. Now, Anas, the James Bond-styled reporter has once again uncovered the charlatans and thieves that are being virtually “paid” by the government to steal from itself [the government]. This is because after taking the bribes and allowing the importers to go, they [CEPS and import regulatory authorities] are still paid at the end of the month plus commission.

Among the many revelations that came about, it was realized that many imports have been entered into the computers of CEPS and other import regulation authorities under the name “Office of the President” (let me put in OotP). Now, under the items purported to be imported under the guise of the Office of the President are vehicle spare parts, building tiles and second hand “broni w’awu”(used clothing).

Now there was mention of used female underwear amongst the used clothing. So I a concluding that since these things are coming through under the directive of the OotP, then it should be for the first lady since I don’t see our president wearing those (but to just imagine it will be kinky, lol).

On a serious note, my people are known to be very kind and human when it comes to foreigners and stuff like that. But inwardly, I know us to be very wicked when it comes to social properties and work. “It belongs to the government so let’s use it as we like.” That is wickedness at it highest level.

Now that the cover has been blown off the bribery and corruption which has been instituted as corporation at the port, lets see what happens next.

Why is Africa Poor and under-developed?

I was rummaging through questions and answers on Yahoo! Answers about Africa in general when I came across this interesting question by a user:

While Europe has advanced greatly within the last 500 years, why is the continent of Africa continue to be poor and undeveloped? I know the Industrial Revolution began in Europe, but look at North America, technology certainly spread throughout there. When the Europeans began to first colonize North America, they brought the technology with them. Africa too, has been colonized by the Europeans, but the continent of Africa is far behind most other countries in the world. Now forget about the Europeans spreading their technology. Japan, having a history of being one of the most isolated countries, is far more advanced than Africa. Why is all this true? Will Africa ever catch up to the rest of the world?

I guess it was asked by someone who wanted the opinion of others to help him/her write a term paper or something. I was wondering what answer I was going to give when I realized that it was asked a couple of years ago(meaning the question has expired). My disappointment didn’t last because the best answer given was really good and far better than whatever answer I could have given. The answer that was given was quite interesting so I thought I should share it with you. Here goes:

By the time the Europeans brought that technology, it was advanced and needed African raw materials and markets. They never introduced the actual production technology to the continent, because the point was to increase employment in Europe, not Africa. African colonies deliberately limited African education and intentionally destroyed the local economies to force dependency upon the European economy. Extractive industries were the only sector of the economy which was developed, and post-independence leaders have continued this relationship because it is profitable for those leaders. The exception is South Africa, which only demonstrates the difference between NA (colonized in the 1600-1800s) and Africa – Europeans actually moving to the colony. This created an expectation of local industrialization and development of a European-style economy, which is why South Africa is fully developed today (as well as having ample capital in the gold mines).
Japan is a perfect counter-example for the reason you mentioned. After Commodore Perry’s little visit scared the crap out of the Shoguns, Japanese leaders made a conscious decision to end their isolation and develop their nation on a European model. This is the Meiji Restoration (modernization) of 1886, in which Japanese were sent to Europe to learn new technologies and help develop Japan. This happened in less than 20 years, so that by 1904 Japan’s modern navy defeated Russia.

Other Asian nations also did the same thing after WWII- investing in educating their populace and creating a manufacturing base to export finished goods in addition to raw materials.
No African nation has done this…even the relatively wealthy nations have wealth based upon the exportation of raw materials (oil, diamonds, etc.). Only Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa have a real industrial base, and this is because of European settlement and investment during the colonial period. Therefore even relatively successful African economies are completely dependent upon foreign markets and cannot control their prices.

There is also little domestic capital, and therefore little opportunity for domestic development. Since there is little opportunity, the few educated Africans who could possibly help build their nation’s economy (a la Japan in the 1880s), emigrate to South Africa, Europe, or North America.
When I lived in Africa, a good friend  stated that Africa was 400 years behind the rest of the world and would never catch up, because its political and economic leaders do what they can to enrich themselves instead of investing in the nation’s future, and it had always been that way. So in summary, there are African and European reasons for the persistence of poverty in Africa.

Another had this to say with regards to the question asked:

There are several causes: On one hand, the Africans are partly responsible themselves, because of this ‘tribalism’ thing going on (i.e. most of the leaders, presidents, heads of state whether elected or not, tended to favor their own ethnic group instead of the whole country, which lead to jealousy, resentment and anger amongst the other ethic groups who invariably tended to get revenge whenever one of their ethnic group became the big cheese…..) – secondly: the colonial powers neglected (on purpose, or not- depends on the case) to prepare the Africans to take matters into their own hands once they became independent (in my case – I’m Belgian – it was Congo….it was a Belgian colony until 1960, and at that time it was probably the most modern and best developed African country, with roads, hospitals, schools, mines, railroads etc…..and 50 years later there’s nothing left….nothing works anymore, and while Congo is potentially one of the richest countries in the world due to its natural riches (gold, cotton, diamonds, copper, etc….), the country has been going down the drain ever since….
Thirdly and most importantly: due to the continents’ natural riches, it has been preyed upon by most western countries, who find in their interests to sponsor war & rebellion and prevent stable, democratic rule, in order to plunder & steal those natural riches….that’s also the reason why the civil war in Congo seems to go on forever….

So that sums it up. What do you think has contributed to the extreme poverty in Africa? I know that the Belgians intentionally limited the education of the people of Congo so that they [Congolese] would continue to depend on them [Belgians] or be unable to run the country after they have gone. What else do you have or think? Please tell me.