The Hopelessness of the African Union

It all started with the Ivorian crisis where Gbagbo refused to cede power to his rival who Ouattara who is purported to have won the recent elections in the Ivory Coast in December or so last year. Then when we entered 2011, the Tunisians told their president [for 23 years] that it they’ve had enough and showed him the exit. He left.

Not long after, the Egyptians took to the streets chanting at the top of their voices hoping to get their president [for three decades] to also flee the country.  He is still clinging onto power so far. Even though he has made many changes and reforms and has even promised not to stand for the forthcoming elections in September with the hope of appeasing the anger of the populace, it looks like the Egyptians want him out totally.

Now, such actions and comes with their individual attentions and interests parties. Lets take it one by one. We must however, note that the three countries stated here are all in Africa and as such are under the jurisdiction of the AU:

Ivory Coast

The Ivory Coast crisis started somewhere in 1999 after the coup d’etat. After many the civil war and a long list of history, there was an election in December 2010 to elect a new president. Gbagbo acted as a bad loser he is by refusing to give up power to the Ouattara who was said to have won the election.

When this happened, the Western media echoed the respective voices of their countries by “condemning in serious terms” the refusal of Gbagbo to concede defeat and had over power to his rival. Among the jury were France and the US. Coming Africa you would find the likes of the ECOWAS, AU and on the world stage, the UN. Manny sanctions were carried out against Ivory Coast from the African squad and the foreign players as well.

Now let me make something clear: Gbagbo has been in power for 10 years. Five of those years has been as a result of democratic election in which he legitimately won. The other five was accorded him under two one-year extensions by the AU and the United Nations Security Council  in October, 2005 and November, 2006 bringing his tenure to 2007 where  a peace accord was signed between the government and the rebel forces in March, 2007 extending the tenure of Gbagbo till 2010 when there would be fresh presidential elections. So it can be clearly seen that until the elections on 2010, Gbagbo had not been in power through force or dictatorship.The 10 years he had spent in power were legitimate.

Tunisia and Egypt

I will discuss both Tunisia and Egypt together since they seem to have a peculiar problem together. Ben Ali has spent about 23 years in power he came to after a bloodless coup  d’etat in 1987. He followed this up by insurmountable oppression and jailing of his opponents and anyone who dares criticize him or his government. He did not give level playing ground to his political opponents in elections no wonder he won all elections in landslide styles.  He is one who preaches virtue and practices vice. No wonder Amnesty International said that

“the Tunisian government is misleading the world as it conveys a positive image of the human rights situation in the country while abuses by its security forces continue unabated and are committed with impunity”

This plus many others were the practices of the Tunisian government until its leader was chased out of office by the people in January.
The case in Egypt is not much different just that I can’t understand how a state of emergency can be in place for 30 years. This dictator [Mubarak] has been in power for the three decades without even a vice president.  Now that the people want him out, he tries to fool them by appointing one plus other flimsy reforms. This came after the use of his usual brutal force [the police and presidential thugs] didn’t work.

My Argument

During the course of the chaos in Tunisia and Egypt, it looked as if the juries in the world have been muted by some unknown force. Very few bodies were able to outright condemn the leaders in this two Arab countries. Most especially were the AU and UN. President Obama was at a loss as to what to say regarding Mubarak and was seen carefully picking his words when he was eventually forced to comment on the Egyptian crisis. All he was able to say was a string a intellectual gibberish. May be it was so because of other interests and considerations which are “classified” and to which I’m not privy to.

So what is the excuse of the AU for being quiet all these while about these two recent crisis? The chairman of the AU commission, Jean Ping gave the lame excuse for not putting the Tunisian and Egyptian crisis on the agenda for the recent 16th AU summit that he had already published his reports. Check it out here.

For reason’s sake, the countries are burning and people are dying. What the hell has the publication of reports got to do with the discussion at the summit? Or maybe it was in the best interest of the other dictators such as the al-Qathafis and al-Bashiers  to ignore the crisis in these two countries fearing that their unwanted attentions may be drawn to them. After all how can you condemn another for a crime you are openly known to be committing. So the AU chose to cowardly dilly dally around the Ivorian crisis and Sudan,  Somalia plus others.

I am in no way condoning what Gbagbo is doing but I think that he is least of the evil persons if compared to Ben Ali and Mubarak but the AU has laid out sanctions upon freezes on Gbagbo with the intention to force him out of power even before the AU summit. So what is the AU doing about the Egyptian crisis. I am yet to hear of any sanctions.

Or could it be that the AU has been told to leave it to the powers that be to talk about what is going on in Egypt. Since it looks like that West are working overtime to bring the situation under control.

May I also ask, what is the AU doing about the other dictators on the continent? There seem to be a lot of them so what is the AU doing about it or do we have to chase them out ourselves as Tunisia has done?

Well until I hear something, even the sheep must eat.

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.

All This Noise About Women’s Right!

In Africa and most other countries, men are expected not to show emotions most especially fear and pain. So no matter what happens, the man is expected to just shut up and take it ‘like a man’. This notion translates itself into so many spheres of our lives…work, relationship and so on. There are so many things that happen and the woman finds one way or the other to blame it on the man.

When a man shows excessive interest in a woman, it is labeled as sexual harassment but never the other way round.  It is okay for the woman to express her anger with a ‘bitch slap’ but the man would find himself behind bars before the slap even lands. The stupid argument is that the man is physically stronger than the woman and that it is common sense for the man to hold it inside. Wow!

I sometimes watch with amusement whenever an infidelity case is filed in a divorce case where the man  almost always is rich and powerful and the bitch at the other end is always demanding the most outrageous sums for what? Lying around and going expensive holidays and shopping for useless but expensive  clothing which all comes from the pocket of the man. I’m in no way condoning cheating by men but I think that it is not fair because what happens to the man when the woman cheats? Is the man given the same treatment and given the same settlement?

Yesterday, I saw a news report in which a political leader in Germany was trying to get a bill passed to make it mandatory for firms to reserve 30% of top management positions for women. Why the hell should that be? The women have been noising around for decades saying that they can better whatever the man does so why the need for the preferential treatment? Why not just join the competition and work your way upstairs?

In Ghana, the guy is mostly expected to take care of the family….. agreed. But is it the duty of the man to take care of the family of his wife? Even more, does it fall on the man to provide for the girl before marriage just to prove a point that he can take care of her when married? Most girls go into premarital relationships with the mind set that the guy must provide for them-clothes, money and shit like that. For Christ’s sake, I’m not married to you! The stupid excuse a lady friend gave me for demanding money is she allows the guy to go to third base. That is prostitution at another level, I’ll say Disguised Whoring. It is not okay because both parties in the relationship enjoy a consensual intimate activity. So why the hell should one party pay for it?

I am not against giving of gifts and money to partners in a relationship but I don’t think it is the obligation of the man to shoulder that responsibility. All over the world, men are on the providing side in relationships and families. Why then should the feminists and so called women activists be creating  a din about equality and level playing ground? In my opinion, I believe women are their own enemies. What is this bullshit about they being exploited? You an blame someone for knocking you down but you can’t blame him for keeping you there. Now a days, women are used as garnishing to sell virtually everything from automobiles to stationary. Why won’t you be seen as a disposable object and respected less? Most guys on the other hand know that they’ve got nothing to bargain with except their cognitive  and physical abilities.

I love women but I hate their hypocrisy.

Tweet

The Failure of Good Leadership in Ghana

Gold is a mineral among many others that is mined in Ghana. Ghana happens to be the second largest miner of gold in Africa and in all , Ghana is said to have about 7o% of the West Africa’s mineral reserve and that about one sixth of Ghana contains extractable gold(can you imagine?). Ghana is also the second largest producer of cocoa in the whole world after La Cote d’Ivoire with the two countries supplying more than half of the world’s supply of cocoa. Other minerals include diamond, manganese, silver and bauxite for aluminum.

The Portuguese came to Ghana about 600 years ago and it was not based on humanitarian grounds but because of the overwhelming aroma of the minerals especially gold. Ghana was Gold Coast in pre-independence era. The white man came to Africa and said to himself

‘Wow, this place really reeks of money. There’s gold everywhere I think it is fine if we name this joint Gold Coast.’

So the broni has been mining our gold for the past 600 plus years and what the fuck do we have to show for it except that Britain has developed into a world power (yeah! the Portuguese sold the rights of exploitation to the Danes then it went to the Brits and they stayed the longest) by virtue of the minerals taken out of the country.

Now it has been some 5o years after independence and all we have to show for the past 600 years of mineral exploitation coupled with cocoa production and export (mind you, Ghana has a unique cocoa flavor due to its high quality cocoa beans. This is sold at a premium on the world market)is second country in the world with most guinea worm infections, low standard and quality of living and the list goes on.

I believe that had these resources been managed well, Ghana wouldn’t have been just any Sub-Saharan nation with the set of stock problems of hunger, disease and over dependence on donor aids and grants. If we have natural resources that are in high demand in other parts of the world and we are not able to take advantage of these resources to maximize the standard of living of the people, then the government can be said to be a useless non-entity.

Why should a corporation from somewhere come help me discover a natural resource in my land and then I sit down and sign a contract form with the corporation that I am taking only 10% of the discovered resource because I am eager to score a political point. How can it be that the government has only about 6% equity in the largest gold mining company in Ghana? Yes, it is true that they pay taxes and royalties and shit like that but how come that these payments are not seen in the development of the areas and localities where the mining activities take place? Now, I would get to that in another post.

From a personal point of view, I don’t see why my resources be mined and then I am given a paltry measure because the explorer claims he used his own resources in the exploration. State the damned cost and I will pay you. I don’t see what kind of negotiations that our leaders sit down with these foreign corporations to draft. Is it because we the populace don’t make the effort to ask for details of contract negotiations or is it because our leaders are too greedy to see beyond their pockets so all that they can say  is ‘yeah, yeah’ so long as the money is coming their way.

Now some may say that not all leaders are corrupt and that there are leaders out there who are sweating their asses out to serve their countries. However, if we assume that all leaders in Ghana as well as Africa are honest civil servants who have their countries at heart, then I can say without doubt that our leaders are just plain stupid. If you have not been able to turn things around in 53 years of independence and you say you are not corrupt then it means that you are just not bright enough but a moron who fell on his head at birth. You are just and an unplanned idiotic effluent from your mother who was lucky enough to convince people who are more stupid than you to either vote you into power or appoint you into a position.

This is so because Ghana always boasts of being the first black African country to gain independence. It has been a fucking 53 years for God’s sake. Malaysia started off with us on the same page.  We have never had a civil war or unrest before. The only thing close to that may be the several coups we experienced but Cambodia and Vietnam have come out from long years of civil wars to claim glories. There are European and Asian countries that have come out of the World Wars and their local feuds to embrace developments. They are being driven the desire to drive their country towards global recognition. This cannot be done without the right leaders.

So what I’m I saying? Either Ghanaian leaders (over the past decades) are unredeemably corrupt or they are just plain stupid. Simple.