It's not every day that yours truly reads something on the Internet that brings broad smiles to my handsome face. But the recent arrest of world-renowned Harvard University scholar and anti-African hatchet filmic documentarian, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., made me titter uncontrollably.
Sorry, the spectacle of a bespectacled near-sexagenarian having a fracas with law enforcement officers should evoke emotions of sympathy from us, but Professor Henry Gates is no ordinary mortal and he truly deserved what he got, as I shall soon explain.
Before I delve into that, some things are worth considering first. The arrest and the engulfing scandal is unfathomable to my (feeble) African mind. What type of society is America where neighbors do not know one another sufficiently enough to distinguish between a burglar and a long-resident neighbor?
In Africa, we make it our sacred duty to know our neighbors whether or not they like it. Even though many of my neighbors consider me to be a "hard-hat," we still know each other sufficiently enough to exchange not only pleasantries but also fruits and vegetables and foods on occasions. I have heard stories of how people die in their homes in the West without anyone noticing anything amiss until the odor from the rotten corpse starts assailing neighbors' noses. I pray that I do not live long enough to witness such scenes in my part of the world. Amen, amen!
And what type of society is America where a man like Professor Gates would be called a BLACK MAN? In Eastern Africa, the learned scholar would be greeted with shouts of "Jambo, Bwana!" (Greetings, white man). In Nigeria, children will call him "Oyinbo," and in Ghana, no one will mistake him for anything but "Obroni."
And what type of society is America where the over-hyped ARTICULATOR will speak so stupidly out of tune? In Africa a chief is expected to keep his head when others are losing theirs. That may explain why in many traditional societies of Africa, the chief hardly ever make public proclamations; he speaks through his linguist. President Obama brandishes considerable oratory skill and uncanny calmness. Why then did he so unnecessarily decide to stupidly jump into the dim-witted fray so much so that he committed a faux pas that called for his recant a few hours later?
And again what type of society is America where a young police officer will clamp handcuffs on a near-sexagenarian -- obviously the father and grandfather of someone? It is true that the law is no respecter of anybody, but then... Age, no matter one's station in life, is still very much revered in Africa, thank you very much. Very few police officers in Ghana or even in Nigeria will subject an elderly man to such public ridicule!
But that's American and Western civilization for you!
Back to our story proper.
As the story goes, Professor Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct after a neighbor called the police when they saw him and a black taxi driver attempting to force the jammed front door of his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
An elderly white woman was said to have espied the professor and a taxi driver struggling with the door and had, logically, concluded that a burglary was taking place and had, also very logically and very responsibly, called the police. We do not know whether or not the elderly woman was brought up on diet of racism, but her action was very commonsensical; I'd do the same thing. We live in a dangerous world and Cambridge, I'm informed, is among the most exclusive (read WHITE) of exclusive (read very upper-class WHITE) neighborhoods in America.
What transpired is disputed but after producing identification to show that he was at his own house, a row ensued in which Gates demanded the officer's name and badge number and accused him of racial profiling. The police sergeant then arrested him for disorderly conduct.
Professor Gates cocooned himself in an exclusive patch of white America and believes that it was the reality of modern America. From his elite perch he occasionally lobbed lethal scholarly assaults on fellow scholars, most especially black scholars, who try to point out the inadequacies of the American society. He and other so-called black conservatives specialized in assailing other black scholars, especially black historians. According to Gates and Co. these black scholars are nothing but bunch of ignoramuses who are bent on rewriting history according to their shallow afro-centric view. According to them, black people never contributed anything to human civilization and progress. Gates presented a very silly BBC hatchet of a docudrama that sought to absolve Europe and America from the African Holocaust euphemistically called the Slave Trade (I dealt with this in my article, "ON SLAVERY," - http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/013.html) Pardon my shameless plug).
On Monday, July 20, 1992, Professor Gates Jr. wrote an Op Ed in The New York Times titled, "Black Demagogues and Pseudo-Scholars." The article was so vehement in his castigation of fellow black scholars and it irked the late great historian and Egyptologist, Professor Henrik Clarke, so much that he wrote a rebuttal that began like this:
I am raising the following questions: At once, I questioned the title of Professor Gates's article. He should never refer to anyone as a demagogue unless he's ready to call the names of the demagogues, singular or plural, and point out the nature of their demagoguery. He should never refer to any scholar as being pseudo, unless he is ready to name the scholar and prove the pseudo nature of his or her work. To disagree with a scholar does not make the scholar a demagogue.
The spectacle of Professor Henry Gates, an avid black-basher and an unrepentant apologist of white racism, bellowing angrily at the arresting white officer is very hilarious indeed. Gates was said to have yelled to a crowd outside his house as he was handcuffed, "This is what happens to black men in America!" Ouch! When did our erudite professor finally realize this?
It's also funny that Gates was quoted as saying that the arrest made him aware of how minorities are vulnerable "to capricious forces like a rogue policeman."
"I thought the whole idea that America was post-racial and post-black was laughable from the beginning. There is no more important event in the history of black people in America than the election of Barack Obama ... but that does not change the percentage of black men in prison, the percentage of black men harassed by racial profiling," he reportedly told the New America Foundation.
So, the chicken has finally come home to roost. Professor Gates spent the better part of his productive years living an illusion. He spent his industrious years supporting the system and the establishment that consciously sought to keep its minority in ignorance and poverty. It is sad, very sad, that the blinders were finally and very rudely removed from professor Gates's face at the twilight of his years. And that is his greatest tragedy for which he earns zero sympathy from me.
And for the man who was the symbol of black conservative, who was the toast of the establishment and its fawning media, to be reduced to crying that: "There haven't been fundamental structural changes in America. There's been a very important symbolic change and that is the election of Barack Obama. But the only black people who truly live in a post-racial world in America all live in a very nice house on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue [the White House]," is a tragedy of epic proportions. It is lamentable.
readmore.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Ghana Politics: It's Our Turn To Eat
For this piece I am borrowing the title of the book by British Journalist, Michela Wrong, It's our turn to eat. The Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower.
Seven months into regaining the reins of government, it looks like some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are out to tarnish the image of the president and that of their party.
First was the call by the majority leader of Parliament, Mr. Alban Bagbin, that MPs should be given free car. I know that our elites operate from a different financial space than the rest of us, but I see Mr. Alban Bagbin's call as totally heartless, unconscionable, and very obscene, especially at these trying times when the cost of living is, literally, killing many Ghanaians.
He stated that although the new government had not come up with any clear policy on the issue, "we will this time round insist that MPs are provided with vehicles that will help them to discharge their duties, instead of going in for loans to purchase such vehicles to generate furore from the public."
The twisted argument of the long-serving MP was that MPs perform a lot of services for their communities that the car loan they are given presently should be replaced by an outright gift. I say, how dare you, Mr. Bagbin? Yours is like Oliver Twist who kept asking for more. In many of my writings, I have said time without count that until we Africans can compel our leaders to live on the same poverty level they set for the rest of us, we shall continue to wallow at our current level of underdevelopment.
Sadly, President Mills acceded to the criminal request of our Legislooters (Nigerians parlance for legislators) and granted each MP US$50,000 as a car loan! US$50,000 would go a long way to install bore holes in several communities. It would also put roofs over the shacks under which our children are forced to receive their education. US$50,000 multiplied by the two hundred and thirty MPs represents more than one percent of our nation's total GDP. It's clearly amoral for 0.001 percent of our population to collared one percent of the resources.
Unfortunately, those governing us continue to look at our national treasury as war booty to be plundered with haste. Ghana performs abysmally low on the indices of development, yet we continue to pay fantastic salaries and emoluments to our public officials. All our 230 MPs get, in addition to their salaries, car loans, free lodgings, and other allowances. Yet, they always clamor for more. Our ministers get a long list of freebies, yet that does not appear to have dampened their enthusiasm to loot us blind as evidenced by reports of shenanigans that are being uncovered daily.
What exactly was Mr. Bagbin talking about? How many people in his constituency have a bicycle to their names? How many of them are sleeping rough in roach- and jigger-infested mud houses? How many of them do not have access to health care centers? How many children in his constituency are suffering from kwashiorkor? How many schools in his constituency are holding classes under trees? How many people are drinking untreated, dirty water from brownish streams? How many children in his constituency are scampering around naked and barefooted and how many of the women there are still cladding themselves (including underwear) in throwaways from Europe and America? And the major concern of Mr. Bagbin is a free four-wheel-drive jeep! And Mr. Bagbin is an HONOURABLE man!
Mr. Bagbin would have made better sense had he been seen or heard to be vigorously campaigning to bring his constituency and the rest of Northern Ghana to the 21st century. He would have earned my praise were he to be seen agitating with gusto to bring Ghana to the industrial age whereby we can start producing some of the products on which we are WASTING our hard-earned money to import. I still do not fathom why our leaders do not see anything ironic in their positions. They love all the best luxurious items that money can buy, yet it never enters into their heads to start producing anything. There is virtually no industrial production in the country, yet our elites continue to tool around in the most expensive cars that money can buy.
I often give an example of the kingdom of the Netherlands, which is one of the countries supporting Ghana financially. No Dutch MP collects a car loan from the state and none of them are accommodated at state expense. In Holland, a car loan or mortgage is strictly business between an MP and her bank manager. And unlike here, where everyone wants to tool around in the biggest and baddest four-wheel-drive jeep, many top Dutch politicians, including prime ministers, joyfully ride bicycles.
We were just recovering from the car loan palaver, when the news hit us that the newly-minted minister for sport has been caught dipping his hands into his ministry's tills. I have no idea if the guy just got carried away by youthful exuberance or he just was promoted way, way beyond his level of competence. Among other charges, the minister was accused of saddling his ministry with bills for taking his girlfriend to watch a football match. That was after he had collected US$2,000 as per diem -- aside from flight and hotel bills. Among the items listed was US$1,000 for the services of a Voodoo priest to ensure the success of the national football team! There were also ridiculous items like a huge bill for pampers and an outlandish bill for kebab.
The minister claimed that he was a victim of a mafia that operates within his ministry. I do not know whether or not that's true. What is certain is that he's not a very bright fellow. Any bright person would have done his best to avoid his enemies' trap. And any bright person should have realized the anger currently sizzling among the citizens. Any bright person would have known that it is difficult to continue "business as usual," especially in the corruption department. A bright fellow would have known that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), still licking its wounds, would pounce on any opportunity to embarrass the government. Any bright person with the inclination to steal would have had the patience to wait a little longer. After all, the minister, once confirmed, can stay with the president for the four-year duration.
Why the haste?
readmore.
Seven months into regaining the reins of government, it looks like some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are out to tarnish the image of the president and that of their party.
First was the call by the majority leader of Parliament, Mr. Alban Bagbin, that MPs should be given free car. I know that our elites operate from a different financial space than the rest of us, but I see Mr. Alban Bagbin's call as totally heartless, unconscionable, and very obscene, especially at these trying times when the cost of living is, literally, killing many Ghanaians.
He stated that although the new government had not come up with any clear policy on the issue, "we will this time round insist that MPs are provided with vehicles that will help them to discharge their duties, instead of going in for loans to purchase such vehicles to generate furore from the public."
The twisted argument of the long-serving MP was that MPs perform a lot of services for their communities that the car loan they are given presently should be replaced by an outright gift. I say, how dare you, Mr. Bagbin? Yours is like Oliver Twist who kept asking for more. In many of my writings, I have said time without count that until we Africans can compel our leaders to live on the same poverty level they set for the rest of us, we shall continue to wallow at our current level of underdevelopment.
Sadly, President Mills acceded to the criminal request of our Legislooters (Nigerians parlance for legislators) and granted each MP US$50,000 as a car loan! US$50,000 would go a long way to install bore holes in several communities. It would also put roofs over the shacks under which our children are forced to receive their education. US$50,000 multiplied by the two hundred and thirty MPs represents more than one percent of our nation's total GDP. It's clearly amoral for 0.001 percent of our population to collared one percent of the resources.
Unfortunately, those governing us continue to look at our national treasury as war booty to be plundered with haste. Ghana performs abysmally low on the indices of development, yet we continue to pay fantastic salaries and emoluments to our public officials. All our 230 MPs get, in addition to their salaries, car loans, free lodgings, and other allowances. Yet, they always clamor for more. Our ministers get a long list of freebies, yet that does not appear to have dampened their enthusiasm to loot us blind as evidenced by reports of shenanigans that are being uncovered daily.
What exactly was Mr. Bagbin talking about? How many people in his constituency have a bicycle to their names? How many of them are sleeping rough in roach- and jigger-infested mud houses? How many of them do not have access to health care centers? How many children in his constituency are suffering from kwashiorkor? How many schools in his constituency are holding classes under trees? How many people are drinking untreated, dirty water from brownish streams? How many children in his constituency are scampering around naked and barefooted and how many of the women there are still cladding themselves (including underwear) in throwaways from Europe and America? And the major concern of Mr. Bagbin is a free four-wheel-drive jeep! And Mr. Bagbin is an HONOURABLE man!
Mr. Bagbin would have made better sense had he been seen or heard to be vigorously campaigning to bring his constituency and the rest of Northern Ghana to the 21st century. He would have earned my praise were he to be seen agitating with gusto to bring Ghana to the industrial age whereby we can start producing some of the products on which we are WASTING our hard-earned money to import. I still do not fathom why our leaders do not see anything ironic in their positions. They love all the best luxurious items that money can buy, yet it never enters into their heads to start producing anything. There is virtually no industrial production in the country, yet our elites continue to tool around in the most expensive cars that money can buy.
I often give an example of the kingdom of the Netherlands, which is one of the countries supporting Ghana financially. No Dutch MP collects a car loan from the state and none of them are accommodated at state expense. In Holland, a car loan or mortgage is strictly business between an MP and her bank manager. And unlike here, where everyone wants to tool around in the biggest and baddest four-wheel-drive jeep, many top Dutch politicians, including prime ministers, joyfully ride bicycles.
We were just recovering from the car loan palaver, when the news hit us that the newly-minted minister for sport has been caught dipping his hands into his ministry's tills. I have no idea if the guy just got carried away by youthful exuberance or he just was promoted way, way beyond his level of competence. Among other charges, the minister was accused of saddling his ministry with bills for taking his girlfriend to watch a football match. That was after he had collected US$2,000 as per diem -- aside from flight and hotel bills. Among the items listed was US$1,000 for the services of a Voodoo priest to ensure the success of the national football team! There were also ridiculous items like a huge bill for pampers and an outlandish bill for kebab.
The minister claimed that he was a victim of a mafia that operates within his ministry. I do not know whether or not that's true. What is certain is that he's not a very bright fellow. Any bright person would have done his best to avoid his enemies' trap. And any bright person should have realized the anger currently sizzling among the citizens. Any bright person would have known that it is difficult to continue "business as usual," especially in the corruption department. A bright fellow would have known that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), still licking its wounds, would pounce on any opportunity to embarrass the government. Any bright person with the inclination to steal would have had the patience to wait a little longer. After all, the minister, once confirmed, can stay with the president for the four-year duration.
Why the haste?
readmore.
The Fountain Of Knowledge - Nigerian Election Fraud, Charms, and Amulets
It was recently announced that Nigeria's film industry (Nollywood) has become the second biggest in the world after India's Bollywood. The reasons shouldn't surprise anyone who has had even the briefest encounter with that unlucky land of my birth. Nigeria is a place where art does not simply imitate life; it's a place where the distinction between the artistic and reality is just indistinguishable.
Nothing about Nigeria makes any sense whatsoever. It's a place where the simplest of life's basics has been turned into major productions. It is a place where citizens believe that laws, rules, and regulations are mere suggestions. Nigerian governments throughout the ages have set up myriad agencies to enforce its laws, all to no avail. In Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, for example, there are four or five agencies set up to ensure the free flow of traffic, but citizens still spend inordinate hours at the famous Lagos gridlocks.
There were lots of sniggers when a few years ago a poll declared Nigerians as the world's happiest people. How on earth could that be, other people wondered. But Nigerians knew better. The late Nigeria's Afro-beat music giant Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, dubbed the Nigerian system "Suffering and Smiling."
It's probably a psychological phenomenon afflicting only the nationals of that unfortunate country. Nigerians are inured to all forms of indignities and sufferings. They don't go out to protest the lack of water in their residences. They dance for joy when the electricity company doles out its pitiable dose of electricity. Armed robbers sometimes lay siege to whole neighborhoods without Nigerians ever thinking of forming neighborhood committees to protect themselves. There is a constant lack of petrol in this OPEC-member nation ranked sixth or seventh among the world's oil producers. Nigerians tend to make light of the most harrowing situation. Nigerians will simply laugh and shrug off circumstances that would send other folks to go nuclear. And Nigerians are people who have absolutely no concept of irony; they're simply beyond it.
A sad parade of military adventurers ruled the country for a long stretch of time. They so thoroughly bastardized the body polity that today the country easily qualifies as a "failed state." Such is the depth of corruption in the Nigerian system that gaining access to public offices has become a do or die affair. So massive is corruption that people today see public office as the safest and fastest avenue to instant wealth.
Yet most Nigerians refuse to see anything wrong with their dysfunctional nation. They continue to wallow in old glories of yesteryears when Nigeria was a continent power with global pretensions. Take this for example: some years back, some smart fellows thought having a state motto was the "inthing." And before long all the thirty-six states of the federal republic of Nigeria were spouting one. Sokoto, the semi-arid state in northwestern Nigeria and home of the powerful Islamic Caliphate, which happens to have produced some of Nigeria's inept leaders, arrogantly boasts in its motto: "Born to Rule."
Lagos, the former political capital and the nation's commercial capital, chose "Center of Excellence." Now, now. Take even a blind, deaf and dumb person to Lagos and let him spend a whole year there. Excellence will never come into the vocabulary he'll use to describe the gigantic unplanned ghetto that remains Nigeria's premier city. There is simply nothing excellent about Lagos unless we are talking about rowdy, uncontrolled mayhem. Lagos is such bedlam that it remains a source of constant bafflement to yours truly how any human being can survive a day there and still retain a semblance of sanity. Although some houses in Lagos are opulent beyond belief, the lackadaisical manner in which they are thrown together totally destroys whatever architectural delights they might possess. Some houses in Lagos have not seen a new coat of paint since the day of independence in 1960. One will still find in Lagos ghettoes of such primitive nature that they would have found a place in a Charles Dickens novel.
Ekiti, one of the thirty-six states, chose "Fountain of Knowledge," as its motto. Okay, given the fact that almost every family from this state, where education is much beloved, has a PhD degree holder, the state rightfully can lay claim to being knowledgeable. But then recent happenings in the electoral department have cast that claim in serious doubt.
For those who have not followed the shenanigans that pass for elections in Nigeria, a little information should come in handy. Since the 1970s, when Nigeria stopped being an agricultural nation, it has relied almost exclusively on easy petro wealth. The oil comes from the southern delta part of the country. Nigeria is a federation of thirty-six states with a very strong federal government that controls the nation's revenue. Controlling the nation's purse gives the central government the power to play Father Christmas. For instance, the federal government determines the formula it uses to allocate resources to the other two tiers of government -- the states and the local governments. Since, as mentioned supra, the bulk of Nigeria's income comes from easy petrol dollars, there's little or no incentive for anyone to be productive. The state governors travel monthly to Abuja (the capital), collect their state's allocation, and proceed to lodge large chunks of it in overseas bank accounts.
It should now begin to make sense why politics remains the most lucrative profession in Nigeria and why control of the federal government is so vital that it has led to a civil war.
readmore.
Nothing about Nigeria makes any sense whatsoever. It's a place where the simplest of life's basics has been turned into major productions. It is a place where citizens believe that laws, rules, and regulations are mere suggestions. Nigerian governments throughout the ages have set up myriad agencies to enforce its laws, all to no avail. In Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, for example, there are four or five agencies set up to ensure the free flow of traffic, but citizens still spend inordinate hours at the famous Lagos gridlocks.
There were lots of sniggers when a few years ago a poll declared Nigerians as the world's happiest people. How on earth could that be, other people wondered. But Nigerians knew better. The late Nigeria's Afro-beat music giant Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, dubbed the Nigerian system "Suffering and Smiling."
It's probably a psychological phenomenon afflicting only the nationals of that unfortunate country. Nigerians are inured to all forms of indignities and sufferings. They don't go out to protest the lack of water in their residences. They dance for joy when the electricity company doles out its pitiable dose of electricity. Armed robbers sometimes lay siege to whole neighborhoods without Nigerians ever thinking of forming neighborhood committees to protect themselves. There is a constant lack of petrol in this OPEC-member nation ranked sixth or seventh among the world's oil producers. Nigerians tend to make light of the most harrowing situation. Nigerians will simply laugh and shrug off circumstances that would send other folks to go nuclear. And Nigerians are people who have absolutely no concept of irony; they're simply beyond it.
A sad parade of military adventurers ruled the country for a long stretch of time. They so thoroughly bastardized the body polity that today the country easily qualifies as a "failed state." Such is the depth of corruption in the Nigerian system that gaining access to public offices has become a do or die affair. So massive is corruption that people today see public office as the safest and fastest avenue to instant wealth.
Yet most Nigerians refuse to see anything wrong with their dysfunctional nation. They continue to wallow in old glories of yesteryears when Nigeria was a continent power with global pretensions. Take this for example: some years back, some smart fellows thought having a state motto was the "inthing." And before long all the thirty-six states of the federal republic of Nigeria were spouting one. Sokoto, the semi-arid state in northwestern Nigeria and home of the powerful Islamic Caliphate, which happens to have produced some of Nigeria's inept leaders, arrogantly boasts in its motto: "Born to Rule."
Lagos, the former political capital and the nation's commercial capital, chose "Center of Excellence." Now, now. Take even a blind, deaf and dumb person to Lagos and let him spend a whole year there. Excellence will never come into the vocabulary he'll use to describe the gigantic unplanned ghetto that remains Nigeria's premier city. There is simply nothing excellent about Lagos unless we are talking about rowdy, uncontrolled mayhem. Lagos is such bedlam that it remains a source of constant bafflement to yours truly how any human being can survive a day there and still retain a semblance of sanity. Although some houses in Lagos are opulent beyond belief, the lackadaisical manner in which they are thrown together totally destroys whatever architectural delights they might possess. Some houses in Lagos have not seen a new coat of paint since the day of independence in 1960. One will still find in Lagos ghettoes of such primitive nature that they would have found a place in a Charles Dickens novel.
Ekiti, one of the thirty-six states, chose "Fountain of Knowledge," as its motto. Okay, given the fact that almost every family from this state, where education is much beloved, has a PhD degree holder, the state rightfully can lay claim to being knowledgeable. But then recent happenings in the electoral department have cast that claim in serious doubt.
For those who have not followed the shenanigans that pass for elections in Nigeria, a little information should come in handy. Since the 1970s, when Nigeria stopped being an agricultural nation, it has relied almost exclusively on easy petro wealth. The oil comes from the southern delta part of the country. Nigeria is a federation of thirty-six states with a very strong federal government that controls the nation's revenue. Controlling the nation's purse gives the central government the power to play Father Christmas. For instance, the federal government determines the formula it uses to allocate resources to the other two tiers of government -- the states and the local governments. Since, as mentioned supra, the bulk of Nigeria's income comes from easy petrol dollars, there's little or no incentive for anyone to be productive. The state governors travel monthly to Abuja (the capital), collect their state's allocation, and proceed to lodge large chunks of it in overseas bank accounts.
It should now begin to make sense why politics remains the most lucrative profession in Nigeria and why control of the federal government is so vital that it has led to a civil war.
readmore.
Welcome Emperor Obama
Empire: "lands ruled by single authority: a group of nations, territories, or peoples ruled by a single authority, especially an emperor or empress."
Although Americans are loathe to admit it, their country is a classical example of an empire. With US military bases dotted all around the world and with American corporations operating in virtually every nation on earth, the American Empire is probably the largest empire in the history of the world.
Former President Kufuor firmly took Ghana, the birth land of Nkrumah, into the orbit of the American Empire. It was during his rule that the presence of American marines became commonplace in Ghana, especially in the port city of Takoradi. Kufuor was the one that signed the notorious "Non Surrender Agreement" with the U.S. He also gave tacit approval to American militarization of West Africa by signing up to the new American Military Command for Africa, AFRICOM. It was under Kufuor's rule that the U.S. built a gigantic, totally out of place and proportion embassy close to the headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces. The edifice is whispered to be the headquarters of the CIA in Africa. Today, Ghana is a vassal state of the American Empire.
With huge hype, President Bill Clinton's visit to Ghana in 2001 was presented as that of a Father Christmas bringing all the goodies that would banish all of Ghana's economic woes. He was presented as the best friend of Africa ever to occupy the White House. A frenzied crowd welcomed him to Accra like a Messiah. It was this friend of Africa who was later to order the bombing of Sudan's only pharmaceutical factory. Clinton revealed his bigoted self during last year's battle for the nomination of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. In 2007, the imbecilic and brain-challenged George W. Bush also came for a visit. And the press also hyped him to high heavens. He was said to be bringing with him enough money to banish hunger and diseases from our land. Songs were composed and sang in his name. The same baloney is being sold to us by the recent visit of Barack Obama. Are we ever going to learn that American leaders come only to promote American interests?
As our elite jostle for position near the Emperor grinning like village idiots, methinks that they should bury their collective heads in shame. Their lack of vision and ideas is largely responsible for why the vast majority of our people keep looking up to foreigners for salvation. Their ineptitude and total lack of capacity to think is what made Ghanaians believe that a visiting US Emperor is the answer to their problems.
The truth of the matter is that the West needs Africa more than Africa needs the West. The West needs our natural resources but is unwilling to pay fair prices for them. Their industrial plants were designed and built to process Africa's mineral resources. It is the West that has developed an insatiable appetite for our oil, gas, manganese, gold, copper, diamond, uranium, cobalt, and coltan, to name a few of Africa's mineral wealth the West (led by the U.S.) continues to take away from Africa at thieving prices.
readmore.
Although Americans are loathe to admit it, their country is a classical example of an empire. With US military bases dotted all around the world and with American corporations operating in virtually every nation on earth, the American Empire is probably the largest empire in the history of the world.
Former President Kufuor firmly took Ghana, the birth land of Nkrumah, into the orbit of the American Empire. It was during his rule that the presence of American marines became commonplace in Ghana, especially in the port city of Takoradi. Kufuor was the one that signed the notorious "Non Surrender Agreement" with the U.S. He also gave tacit approval to American militarization of West Africa by signing up to the new American Military Command for Africa, AFRICOM. It was under Kufuor's rule that the U.S. built a gigantic, totally out of place and proportion embassy close to the headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces. The edifice is whispered to be the headquarters of the CIA in Africa. Today, Ghana is a vassal state of the American Empire.
With huge hype, President Bill Clinton's visit to Ghana in 2001 was presented as that of a Father Christmas bringing all the goodies that would banish all of Ghana's economic woes. He was presented as the best friend of Africa ever to occupy the White House. A frenzied crowd welcomed him to Accra like a Messiah. It was this friend of Africa who was later to order the bombing of Sudan's only pharmaceutical factory. Clinton revealed his bigoted self during last year's battle for the nomination of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. In 2007, the imbecilic and brain-challenged George W. Bush also came for a visit. And the press also hyped him to high heavens. He was said to be bringing with him enough money to banish hunger and diseases from our land. Songs were composed and sang in his name. The same baloney is being sold to us by the recent visit of Barack Obama. Are we ever going to learn that American leaders come only to promote American interests?
As our elite jostle for position near the Emperor grinning like village idiots, methinks that they should bury their collective heads in shame. Their lack of vision and ideas is largely responsible for why the vast majority of our people keep looking up to foreigners for salvation. Their ineptitude and total lack of capacity to think is what made Ghanaians believe that a visiting US Emperor is the answer to their problems.
The truth of the matter is that the West needs Africa more than Africa needs the West. The West needs our natural resources but is unwilling to pay fair prices for them. Their industrial plants were designed and built to process Africa's mineral resources. It is the West that has developed an insatiable appetite for our oil, gas, manganese, gold, copper, diamond, uranium, cobalt, and coltan, to name a few of Africa's mineral wealth the West (led by the U.S.) continues to take away from Africa at thieving prices.
readmore.
Brother Obama's Visit To Ghana - The Nigerian Perspectives
Good people, Great Nation
Good listeners, welcome back to Nigerian Television NewsFile. I am Iyiola Oba, your moderator today. Today's programme will be dominated by the upcoming visit of the president of the United States, Brother Barack Obama, to Africa. The US State Department has released the information that he will be visiting Africa in the month of July in the year of our Lord 2009. Specifically, President, Brother Obama will be going to Ghana. Our neighbor and rival for influence in the West African sub-region. To African watchers, this is regarded as a big snub to Nigeria. Coming a few months after the G20 meeting in which our nation was also excluded, many analysts are of the opinion that the fortunes of Nigeria are waning in the international fora. President Yar'dua expressed his disappointment at the non-invitation of Nigeria to the G20 meeting. The latest diplomatic snub will surely upset the Nigerian government. To help us unravel why our country, the so-called Giant of Africa, is being ignored -- to use a mild phrase -- by the international community, we have two accomplished Nigerians in our studio. First, we have Chief Alhaji Dr. Professor Engineer Deacon Architect Senator Ambassador Bello Akanni. An accomplished diplomat and a very versatile professional, he was our ambassador to the U.S. in the 1980s. We also have Comrade Chuks Anyaoli, a trade unionist and leader of the Nigeria Road Sanitation Technologists (NRST). Comrade Anyaoli is a well travelled Civil Rights and Environmental Activist. Welcome, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ambassador, if we may begin with you. Why do you think that the international community is ignoring us?
Thank you, Mr. Moderator. First, I must take serious exception to your categorization of our great and highly esteemed nation as the so-called Giant of Africa. We are not so called. We evidently are the giant of Africa. Ordained by God and attested to by the global inference of our unique pre-eminence on the continent. Our superior population figure, the ponderous continental leadership credentials garnered over the years by our nation's totally selfless contribution to the continent. The unstinting help and solace bestowed by our nation on Africa over the years...
Mr. Moderator, can you ask the man to get straight to the point?
Look, young man, such rascality is totally out of place. We are not here discussing how to clean streets and de-silt gutters.
I thought that we were invited to talk about why President Obama refused to come to Nigeria.
Yes, Mr. Ambassador, if you can give us your insight...
I was coming to that before I was so peremptorily, so recklessly, so rudely and so rascally interrupted by a loutish, common, garden-variety of the human specie...
Na me you dey call rascal, you this thick-necked obese son of mammy-water? Barawo bansa! Corrupt man like! You chop government, look at his belly... (Nigerian curse-fest)
Gentlemen, please, let's keep things in order. Please listeners, bear with us. Gentlemen, we are here to discuss the very important issue of our nation's standing in the comity of nations. Comrade Anyaoli, kindly let the ambassador give us his views. You shall have the opportunity to have your say. Senator Ambassador, please.
Thank you. In analyzing the global and continental ramifications of the visit of a US president to any part of the words, we have to be very mindful of some very pertinent geopolitical as well as the geostrategic considerations that informed such visits. We ought also to be mindful of the fact that the U.S. remains the world's only superpower whose decisions, actions, or non-actions consequently directly impact on our lives where ever we are on this earth. It is in light of such superior inter-global thinking that we should posit such visit and our nation's international obligations within the framework of globalization and continental imperatives...
Hmm, thank you Professor Ambassador for those very insightful analyses. But why is the American president going to Ghana instead of coming to Nigeria?
Yes, I was coming to that...
Mr. Moderator, won't you allow me also to talk or is he the only one you invited?
Sorry, Comrade Anyaoli, what is your take on why the American president is not coming to Nigeria?
Mr. Moderator, why should the American president come to this yeye (Nigerian slang for nonsense or rubbish) country? You think sey the Americans dey craze? Master, where do we even begin to talk about this thing? Can his plane land at our airports that lack the most basic of navigational equipment and where there are no lights? Do you want Mr. Obama to come and sleep in darkness or do you expect him to bring his own generators and water treatment plant? Since we have no fuel, do you expect him to bring his own refinery? My brother, don't talk. Do you want him to be waylaid by armed robbers or have his life snuffed out by the trigger-happy brigands we call police around here? Or do you want him to come and be kidnapped for ransom by the Delta militants? Do you want him to come to a country where our famous 419 guys will happily separate him from his hard-earned income? Or do you want him to come and be swindled by the thieves we call legislators at the National Assembly? Or do you think that he should come and waste his time visiting our comatose president? My brother, I will not even advise my dog to visit Nigeria not to mention the whole president of the United States of America. Allah Kiaye (God forbid)!
Thank you, Mr. Anyaoli for giving us your own perspectives. If we may return to you Engineer Senator Ambassador, what do you think of the reasons adduced by Mr. Anyaoli?
Come on, now! You do not expect me to dignify such verbal ejaculations with comments, do you? What arrant nonsense! That type of gutter-snipish verbal diarrhea belongs in side-street ogogoro (Nigerian gin) bar and not in a dignified studio. Be that as it may, as to the question as to why President Obama refuses to include our country on his itinerary, we can surmise and situate it in the global strategic extenuations informed by American national security deliberations and considerations. Since we are not privy to the innards of the Obama administration, we can merely conjecturise the hypothesis that the over-riding and aver-arching global American interests informed the choice of Ghana over Nigeria.
readmore.
Good listeners, welcome back to Nigerian Television NewsFile. I am Iyiola Oba, your moderator today. Today's programme will be dominated by the upcoming visit of the president of the United States, Brother Barack Obama, to Africa. The US State Department has released the information that he will be visiting Africa in the month of July in the year of our Lord 2009. Specifically, President, Brother Obama will be going to Ghana. Our neighbor and rival for influence in the West African sub-region. To African watchers, this is regarded as a big snub to Nigeria. Coming a few months after the G20 meeting in which our nation was also excluded, many analysts are of the opinion that the fortunes of Nigeria are waning in the international fora. President Yar'dua expressed his disappointment at the non-invitation of Nigeria to the G20 meeting. The latest diplomatic snub will surely upset the Nigerian government. To help us unravel why our country, the so-called Giant of Africa, is being ignored -- to use a mild phrase -- by the international community, we have two accomplished Nigerians in our studio. First, we have Chief Alhaji Dr. Professor Engineer Deacon Architect Senator Ambassador Bello Akanni. An accomplished diplomat and a very versatile professional, he was our ambassador to the U.S. in the 1980s. We also have Comrade Chuks Anyaoli, a trade unionist and leader of the Nigeria Road Sanitation Technologists (NRST). Comrade Anyaoli is a well travelled Civil Rights and Environmental Activist. Welcome, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ambassador, if we may begin with you. Why do you think that the international community is ignoring us?
Thank you, Mr. Moderator. First, I must take serious exception to your categorization of our great and highly esteemed nation as the so-called Giant of Africa. We are not so called. We evidently are the giant of Africa. Ordained by God and attested to by the global inference of our unique pre-eminence on the continent. Our superior population figure, the ponderous continental leadership credentials garnered over the years by our nation's totally selfless contribution to the continent. The unstinting help and solace bestowed by our nation on Africa over the years...
Mr. Moderator, can you ask the man to get straight to the point?
Look, young man, such rascality is totally out of place. We are not here discussing how to clean streets and de-silt gutters.
I thought that we were invited to talk about why President Obama refused to come to Nigeria.
Yes, Mr. Ambassador, if you can give us your insight...
I was coming to that before I was so peremptorily, so recklessly, so rudely and so rascally interrupted by a loutish, common, garden-variety of the human specie...
Na me you dey call rascal, you this thick-necked obese son of mammy-water? Barawo bansa! Corrupt man like! You chop government, look at his belly... (Nigerian curse-fest)
Gentlemen, please, let's keep things in order. Please listeners, bear with us. Gentlemen, we are here to discuss the very important issue of our nation's standing in the comity of nations. Comrade Anyaoli, kindly let the ambassador give us his views. You shall have the opportunity to have your say. Senator Ambassador, please.
Thank you. In analyzing the global and continental ramifications of the visit of a US president to any part of the words, we have to be very mindful of some very pertinent geopolitical as well as the geostrategic considerations that informed such visits. We ought also to be mindful of the fact that the U.S. remains the world's only superpower whose decisions, actions, or non-actions consequently directly impact on our lives where ever we are on this earth. It is in light of such superior inter-global thinking that we should posit such visit and our nation's international obligations within the framework of globalization and continental imperatives...
Hmm, thank you Professor Ambassador for those very insightful analyses. But why is the American president going to Ghana instead of coming to Nigeria?
Yes, I was coming to that...
Mr. Moderator, won't you allow me also to talk or is he the only one you invited?
Sorry, Comrade Anyaoli, what is your take on why the American president is not coming to Nigeria?
Mr. Moderator, why should the American president come to this yeye (Nigerian slang for nonsense or rubbish) country? You think sey the Americans dey craze? Master, where do we even begin to talk about this thing? Can his plane land at our airports that lack the most basic of navigational equipment and where there are no lights? Do you want Mr. Obama to come and sleep in darkness or do you expect him to bring his own generators and water treatment plant? Since we have no fuel, do you expect him to bring his own refinery? My brother, don't talk. Do you want him to be waylaid by armed robbers or have his life snuffed out by the trigger-happy brigands we call police around here? Or do you want him to come and be kidnapped for ransom by the Delta militants? Do you want him to come to a country where our famous 419 guys will happily separate him from his hard-earned income? Or do you want him to come and be swindled by the thieves we call legislators at the National Assembly? Or do you think that he should come and waste his time visiting our comatose president? My brother, I will not even advise my dog to visit Nigeria not to mention the whole president of the United States of America. Allah Kiaye (God forbid)!
Thank you, Mr. Anyaoli for giving us your own perspectives. If we may return to you Engineer Senator Ambassador, what do you think of the reasons adduced by Mr. Anyaoli?
Come on, now! You do not expect me to dignify such verbal ejaculations with comments, do you? What arrant nonsense! That type of gutter-snipish verbal diarrhea belongs in side-street ogogoro (Nigerian gin) bar and not in a dignified studio. Be that as it may, as to the question as to why President Obama refuses to include our country on his itinerary, we can surmise and situate it in the global strategic extenuations informed by American national security deliberations and considerations. Since we are not privy to the innards of the Obama administration, we can merely conjecturise the hypothesis that the over-riding and aver-arching global American interests informed the choice of Ghana over Nigeria.
readmore.
Ghana: The Audacity Of Looting - Update
In "Ghana: The Audacity Of Looting" (Swans, March 9, 2009), I wrote about how Ghanaians were "sufficiently discombobulated when it emerged that, a day before the hand over to the new government on January 7, 2009, a mind-bending and super-extravagant presidential and parliamentarians' retirement package had been approved by the outgoing parliament. The package was so excessive in its generosity that it left Ghanaians totally flabberwhelmed (a contraption of flabbergasted and overwhelmed)."
Thankfully, the hoopla surrounding the mind-bending ex-gratia are gradually simmering down, but it was not without serious confusion. It took about three months of acrimonious debates and angry ripostes, but the new government can now begin to tackle the problem it was elected to do: offer an alternative to the excesses of the past eight years when those in power got totally carried away.
The officials of the former government boasted that theirs was a property-owning democracy and they ensured that they lived up to their slogan. They did not only acquire all acquirables (sic), they decided to sell their official cars and houses to themselves. The poor nation of Ghana must (once again) go around the world with a begging bowl to get money to build new houses for her ministers and also to get them new cars. It's shameful really.
Mercifully, the new president, Professor Atta Mills, suspended the scandalous ex-gratia award and charged a committee to oversee its review. Ghanaians see it for what it is: a bureaucratic ploy to take it out of the public domain to allow simmering emotions to calm down.
In the meantime it has emerged that ex-president John Kuffuor, the man with the boundless ego and insatiable greediness, has taken away eleven of the cars he was using while in office including two BMW cars custom-built for the presidency. This act considerably raised the ire of some powerful people in the new government. National Security Advisor Lt. Col Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd), vowed that the ex-president would not be allowed to keep the cars because they were specifically imported for the protection of the president. The new government gave a deadline for the BMW cars to be returned to the state in exchange for Chryslers. Friends of the ex-president saw persecution and they cried foul.
But Mr. Frank Agyekum, spokesperson for the former president, begged to differ. He considered the government's action unconstitutional because according to him, it amounted to varying the terms of the conditions spelt out in chapter 8, article 68 of the 1992 Constitution. Mr. Agyekum maintained that said cars were part of his boss' fleet while in office and so changing them at this time will be detrimental to his comfort and at variance with the tenets of the Constitution. The Chryslers, with which the government seeks to replace the luxury BMWs, according to Mr. Frank Agyekum, are of a lesser value than the German-made cars.
The saga dragged on for weeks with constitutional lawyers firing salvoes after salvoes of lethal legal projectiles. The whole country was engulfed in the ensuing saga. A totally peeved ex-President Kufuor finally rejected the state's offer of Chryslers as replacements for his beloved BMWs. He, however, made himself scarce when state security operatives went to retrieve the vehicles.
Then a group calling itself the Concerned Friends of Kufuor came out to pledge a brand new, custom-made BMW 7 Series as gift to the former president. The gift, they say, is to put an end to the protracted controversy over state vehicles allocated to the ex-president.
The issues of cars and ex-gratia succeeded in polarizing the country. It also exposed the ethnic fissures in the land. Much so when it emerged that the ex-president has also taken over a state bungalow in Accra to use as his office. This did not go down well with the Gas, the tribe where Accra (the capital of Ghana) is located. They felt cheated that their lands, acquired ostensibly for state use, are been parceled out to individuals. A Ga youth association threatened to forcibly remove the ex-president from the bungalow. This caused a lot of ethnic stir as the Asantes, ex-president Kufuor's ethnic group, believed that he's being unjustly persecuted and vowed to "advise themselves."
It has since emerged that ex-president Kufuor was not the only one with a huge proclivity for grabbing state assets. On vacating his official residence, the former Speaker of Parliament Ebenezer B. Sakyi-Hughes literally and figuratively cleaned the place! He stripped the official residence of the Speaker of Parliament of all furnishings.
What's most baffling about these greedy politicians is that they are rich, very rich by anyone's standards. Before he became Speaker of Parliament, Ebenezer B. Sakyi-Hughes had a successful law practice in Takoradi -- the beautiful and picturesque twin-city capital of the western region of Ghana where he's one of the wealthiest people. He's said to own one of the plushiest houses in town. He has been in law practice since 1966 and was a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court. His family was not starving either, as they own chains of very successful businesses including fuel stations across the land.
No one can remember what Mr. Sakyi-Hughes's greatest contribution was to the parliament. He was a lackluster performer with eyes only for the good things of life. On leaving office, this stupendously rich man stole every damn thing he could carry away from his official residence. From the kitchen, napkins, cutlery, and cooking utensils were carted away. The bedrooms were equally ransacked. The curtains, the bed sheets, the washing machines, the flower pots were not spared. Even the soap dishes were stolen. According to the Majority Leader of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, the stolen items amount to over four billion old cedis -- about US$350,000.
And this is in a poor country groaning under a heavy debt burden and one that relies on "donor support" for more than half its entire budget!
Ghanaians were not amused to learn of this gigantic theft. They continue to be baffled by the propensity of their moneyed leaders to want to steal the little that's left in the national kitty. The ex-speaker refused to speak out but those close to him gave the totally unconvincing explanation that he was under the impression that a proposal before the Parliamentary Service Board (of which he was chairperson) about the speaker's retirement package had been approved and so in his mind everything in the official residence became his when his tenure came to an end.
So in Ghana, we have President Kufuor sitting down with an advisor, Chinery-Hesse, to discuss awarding himself a truly fantabulous ex-gratia package. And we have Speaker of Parliament Sakyi-Hughes sitting down with his pals in a Board to decide how he could loot his official residence.
readmore.
Thankfully, the hoopla surrounding the mind-bending ex-gratia are gradually simmering down, but it was not without serious confusion. It took about three months of acrimonious debates and angry ripostes, but the new government can now begin to tackle the problem it was elected to do: offer an alternative to the excesses of the past eight years when those in power got totally carried away.
The officials of the former government boasted that theirs was a property-owning democracy and they ensured that they lived up to their slogan. They did not only acquire all acquirables (sic), they decided to sell their official cars and houses to themselves. The poor nation of Ghana must (once again) go around the world with a begging bowl to get money to build new houses for her ministers and also to get them new cars. It's shameful really.
Mercifully, the new president, Professor Atta Mills, suspended the scandalous ex-gratia award and charged a committee to oversee its review. Ghanaians see it for what it is: a bureaucratic ploy to take it out of the public domain to allow simmering emotions to calm down.
In the meantime it has emerged that ex-president John Kuffuor, the man with the boundless ego and insatiable greediness, has taken away eleven of the cars he was using while in office including two BMW cars custom-built for the presidency. This act considerably raised the ire of some powerful people in the new government. National Security Advisor Lt. Col Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd), vowed that the ex-president would not be allowed to keep the cars because they were specifically imported for the protection of the president. The new government gave a deadline for the BMW cars to be returned to the state in exchange for Chryslers. Friends of the ex-president saw persecution and they cried foul.
But Mr. Frank Agyekum, spokesperson for the former president, begged to differ. He considered the government's action unconstitutional because according to him, it amounted to varying the terms of the conditions spelt out in chapter 8, article 68 of the 1992 Constitution. Mr. Agyekum maintained that said cars were part of his boss' fleet while in office and so changing them at this time will be detrimental to his comfort and at variance with the tenets of the Constitution. The Chryslers, with which the government seeks to replace the luxury BMWs, according to Mr. Frank Agyekum, are of a lesser value than the German-made cars.
The saga dragged on for weeks with constitutional lawyers firing salvoes after salvoes of lethal legal projectiles. The whole country was engulfed in the ensuing saga. A totally peeved ex-President Kufuor finally rejected the state's offer of Chryslers as replacements for his beloved BMWs. He, however, made himself scarce when state security operatives went to retrieve the vehicles.
Then a group calling itself the Concerned Friends of Kufuor came out to pledge a brand new, custom-made BMW 7 Series as gift to the former president. The gift, they say, is to put an end to the protracted controversy over state vehicles allocated to the ex-president.
The issues of cars and ex-gratia succeeded in polarizing the country. It also exposed the ethnic fissures in the land. Much so when it emerged that the ex-president has also taken over a state bungalow in Accra to use as his office. This did not go down well with the Gas, the tribe where Accra (the capital of Ghana) is located. They felt cheated that their lands, acquired ostensibly for state use, are been parceled out to individuals. A Ga youth association threatened to forcibly remove the ex-president from the bungalow. This caused a lot of ethnic stir as the Asantes, ex-president Kufuor's ethnic group, believed that he's being unjustly persecuted and vowed to "advise themselves."
It has since emerged that ex-president Kufuor was not the only one with a huge proclivity for grabbing state assets. On vacating his official residence, the former Speaker of Parliament Ebenezer B. Sakyi-Hughes literally and figuratively cleaned the place! He stripped the official residence of the Speaker of Parliament of all furnishings.
What's most baffling about these greedy politicians is that they are rich, very rich by anyone's standards. Before he became Speaker of Parliament, Ebenezer B. Sakyi-Hughes had a successful law practice in Takoradi -- the beautiful and picturesque twin-city capital of the western region of Ghana where he's one of the wealthiest people. He's said to own one of the plushiest houses in town. He has been in law practice since 1966 and was a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court. His family was not starving either, as they own chains of very successful businesses including fuel stations across the land.
No one can remember what Mr. Sakyi-Hughes's greatest contribution was to the parliament. He was a lackluster performer with eyes only for the good things of life. On leaving office, this stupendously rich man stole every damn thing he could carry away from his official residence. From the kitchen, napkins, cutlery, and cooking utensils were carted away. The bedrooms were equally ransacked. The curtains, the bed sheets, the washing machines, the flower pots were not spared. Even the soap dishes were stolen. According to the Majority Leader of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, the stolen items amount to over four billion old cedis -- about US$350,000.
And this is in a poor country groaning under a heavy debt burden and one that relies on "donor support" for more than half its entire budget!
Ghanaians were not amused to learn of this gigantic theft. They continue to be baffled by the propensity of their moneyed leaders to want to steal the little that's left in the national kitty. The ex-speaker refused to speak out but those close to him gave the totally unconvincing explanation that he was under the impression that a proposal before the Parliamentary Service Board (of which he was chairperson) about the speaker's retirement package had been approved and so in his mind everything in the official residence became his when his tenure came to an end.
So in Ghana, we have President Kufuor sitting down with an advisor, Chinery-Hesse, to discuss awarding himself a truly fantabulous ex-gratia package. And we have Speaker of Parliament Sakyi-Hughes sitting down with his pals in a Board to decide how he could loot his official residence.
readmore.
Rebranding Nigeria: An Exercise In Futility
"DAILY, Nigerians groan under the most inexcusable hardship as the government of President Yar'Adua appears not only unprepared to do something about the grotesque suffering, but more important, also lacks the orientation that confronts social crises. In the context of this, any "rebranding" project will be a total waste of resources by a dull, dour and uninspiring government, lacking not in agenda, but totally deficient in the quality of mind that accomplishes set agenda. It is an embarrassment that such a government would seek this gratuitous wastage of public resources as Akunyili's pet-project."
—Nigerian Tribune, March 11, 2009.
On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, Nigeria's Ministry of Information and Communication unveiled the logo and slogan for a project dubbed "Rebranding Nigeria." A nation-wide competition organized for both the slogan and the logo was won by a 30-year-old engineer with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Chike Obika. The slogan was: "Good People, Great Nation." The great irony here is that PHCN is the behemoth electricity company that cannot generate and distribute enough power for the nation.
Like most things Nigerian, the occasion was full of excessive pomp and pageantry. The president, Yar'Adua, was represented by his deputy who delivered a rousing speech exhorting his compatriots: "There is no doubt that suffocating negative attitudes constitute a grave obstacle to the attainment of our developmental objectives. It is therefore vital that we frontally, and in a structured manner, face up to the challenge of negative attitudes and negative perception to our national regeneration efforts. We need to present an optimistic outlook, renew the national spirit, and reinvigorate our faith in Nigeria and this is the essence of this campaign."
Yar'Adua frowned at those who perceived the "Nigerian Brand" as being synonymous with all things negative, "with the result that some people have come to believe that it is impossible to reverse this mindset. As a people, we cannot, and we must not allow this perception to persist unchecked and un-addressed."
At the end of the event I met and chatted with the director at the Ministry of Information and Communication.
What a flawlessly delivered great speech! And what a nice slogan: "Good people, great nation," very catchy.
Ah, my brother, I'm glad that you liked it. Unlike many of our people who cannot see a good thing even when it hits them in the face.
And the logo, my God! The panel really had good eyes for the best. It was a graphic design triumph!
Yeah, that was part of the totality of the objectives. We have to position the country in a perfectly holistic framework devoid of the extant cynicism and prejudices.
Ummh. Big grammar! Director, you go kill man with these your big, big grammar! [a Nigerian expression]
Seriously, my brother, it's time we Nigerians wean ourselves from all those self-destructive negativisms. We are certainly no angels, but we can hold ourselves against anybody. You see, part of the problem is that our people have become so cynical that they no longer appreciate anything the government is doing for them.
Oh, what has the government been doing for them?
What do you mean? Take this rebranding for example. Why should it be only government that's concerned about the image of the country? It should be the collective responsibility of every Nigerian to defend the integrity of the nation.
Integrity, umh! Is that not too heavy a word to use in the context of Nigeria?
What do you mean?
I mean that the words Nigeria and integrity are not something people will use in the same context. No one I know thinks of Nigeria and thinks integrity.
You see, that exactly is part of the problem. Government is doing its best to refurbish the image of the country and we have killjoys like you pouring scorn on our efforts. Why are you rubbishing something you've just so effusively praised?
Director, I am sorry that you feel that way. I just happen to think that no amount of refurbishing will make a heap of rubbish look attractive...
Are you calling Nigeria a heap of rubbish?
readmore.
—Nigerian Tribune, March 11, 2009.
On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, Nigeria's Ministry of Information and Communication unveiled the logo and slogan for a project dubbed "Rebranding Nigeria." A nation-wide competition organized for both the slogan and the logo was won by a 30-year-old engineer with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Chike Obika. The slogan was: "Good People, Great Nation." The great irony here is that PHCN is the behemoth electricity company that cannot generate and distribute enough power for the nation.
Like most things Nigerian, the occasion was full of excessive pomp and pageantry. The president, Yar'Adua, was represented by his deputy who delivered a rousing speech exhorting his compatriots: "There is no doubt that suffocating negative attitudes constitute a grave obstacle to the attainment of our developmental objectives. It is therefore vital that we frontally, and in a structured manner, face up to the challenge of negative attitudes and negative perception to our national regeneration efforts. We need to present an optimistic outlook, renew the national spirit, and reinvigorate our faith in Nigeria and this is the essence of this campaign."
Yar'Adua frowned at those who perceived the "Nigerian Brand" as being synonymous with all things negative, "with the result that some people have come to believe that it is impossible to reverse this mindset. As a people, we cannot, and we must not allow this perception to persist unchecked and un-addressed."
At the end of the event I met and chatted with the director at the Ministry of Information and Communication.
What a flawlessly delivered great speech! And what a nice slogan: "Good people, great nation," very catchy.
Ah, my brother, I'm glad that you liked it. Unlike many of our people who cannot see a good thing even when it hits them in the face.
And the logo, my God! The panel really had good eyes for the best. It was a graphic design triumph!
Yeah, that was part of the totality of the objectives. We have to position the country in a perfectly holistic framework devoid of the extant cynicism and prejudices.
Ummh. Big grammar! Director, you go kill man with these your big, big grammar! [a Nigerian expression]
Seriously, my brother, it's time we Nigerians wean ourselves from all those self-destructive negativisms. We are certainly no angels, but we can hold ourselves against anybody. You see, part of the problem is that our people have become so cynical that they no longer appreciate anything the government is doing for them.
Oh, what has the government been doing for them?
What do you mean? Take this rebranding for example. Why should it be only government that's concerned about the image of the country? It should be the collective responsibility of every Nigerian to defend the integrity of the nation.
Integrity, umh! Is that not too heavy a word to use in the context of Nigeria?
What do you mean?
I mean that the words Nigeria and integrity are not something people will use in the same context. No one I know thinks of Nigeria and thinks integrity.
You see, that exactly is part of the problem. Government is doing its best to refurbish the image of the country and we have killjoys like you pouring scorn on our efforts. Why are you rubbishing something you've just so effusively praised?
Director, I am sorry that you feel that way. I just happen to think that no amount of refurbishing will make a heap of rubbish look attractive...
Are you calling Nigeria a heap of rubbish?
readmore.
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