at large

I saw a GTV news item in which a woman who was arrested for openly defecating behind the Cape Coast Castle some time last year, looked (and sounded) offended.

A bit late in the day, I accept, but I am increasingly having to ask over and over again, if there is a generally accepted understanding of what constitutes Ghanaian culture, what is Ghanaian and what is un-Ghanaian?

There are two subjects guaranteed to make headlines: children attending classes in unsuitable structures, and old players of Black Stars who have fallen on hard times.

“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because its accepted by a majority” - Booker Washington

I know of a Minister of State whose daughter lost her voter ID after the last election and has vowed not to renew it. Reason? She politely asked the dad: “What’s there to vote for?”

I have been amused and intrigued at the same time by ongoing developments since the President spoke about the need to end vigilante activity in our politics in the State of the Nation Address delivered to Parliament on February 21 and carried live in the media.

In Ghana today, no matter what my crimes are, I cannot be prosecuted; nay, even be invited to answer questions.

Who has, since September 2019, been in any doubt about the final outcome of what William Shakespeare would have described in 1599 as Much Ado About?

Below, I am going to commit a sin in mass communication – the production of mass of text in a single sentence or paragraph. They call it semantic noise. Here we go.

It is 1991 and I am in Bloemfontein, capital of the Free State province of South Africa.

In August this year, Nigeria shut its borders with all its neighbours, Republic of Benin, Niger and Cameroun. This is not the first time an African country is closing its borders to their neighbours.

Last year, lots of Ghanaians appear to have visited Kigali, the Rwanda capital. I assume this is so because of the number of times I got photos of the streets of Kigali from Ghanaian visitors.

The announcement that the former chair of our Electoral Commission (EC) has been given a United Nations assignment in Afghanistan to, with other nationals, observe for the UN, the upcoming presidential elections in that country has caused a lot of waves among the chattering classes in Ghana.

Do you seem, over the last few months, unable to fight off a certain fear that violence is about to break out before this year’s elections and that the situation might degenerate into civil war after December 7?

The Asaasegps Prophecy.

When a whole Vice-President of a country puts his reputation on the line and declares a Ghanaian product the best in the world, that can be pretty dicey; but that is what Dr Bawumia did. In 2017, when so-called experts and NGOs swooped down on Vokacom Ghana Limited like vultures upon a hapless prey, it was his voice that caused many Ghanaians to sit up.

I return to a subject that seems not to interest many people in this country.

One thing does lead to another.

The words of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, on bank restructuring and the executive moves to get Menzgold boss are really descriptive of happenings since I last appeared here

In Ghana, 19 per cent of girls marry before their 18th birthday, one in three girls aged 15 to 19, that is 39 per cent in Ghana, has experienced sexual violence at some point in their lives and 22 per cent of girls aged 15 to 19 years do not go to school, or work or engage in social activities during menstruation.

I have been struggling for a word for the events in Parliament on January 6 and 7. It was not merely a lack of leadership; it was a display of leaderlessness. The former is failure of leaders to show leadership; the latter is absence of leaders. I didn’t see leaders in Parliament.

Something extraordinary happened last Monday which captures our collective mental state with reference to the issue of corruption in public affairs.

In the last quarter of 2017, the Registrar Generals Department (RGD) through a local IT firm launched its Digital Portal. I think it’s a Laudable idea for ONE fundamental reason – if citizens and foreign investors can’t register a business quickly, there is no way we can do any business and grow the economy quickly. Business grows economies – that’s how desperately fundamental the mechanism for company registration is.

Ghana exists in a global World, the world does not exist in Ghana. It means even though Ghana can POSITIVELY influence components of the world’s way of doing things, it must largely also accept to follow certain ways the world generally does business.

This popular American expression came forcefully to mind as I surveyed the past week in the polity. Several things leap to the political eye as I write this prior to the public showing of yet another explosive Anas tape which in itself deserves some importance as death now stalks the exposés and threatens all journalists as they go about their work.

In April 2017, I wrote in the Daily Graphic, inter alia: “Long before the rest of Ghana knew Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, I knew him. Years before the business community named him Ghana’s Most Respected CEO, I had, in an article in the Weekly Spectator, put him forth as a businessman who wore his integrity on his chest, like a badge, in a marketplace populated by the corrupt and the crooked.”

Last year, I wrote a column about Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and think tanks. I am revisiting the subject and I crave your indulgence if there is a lot of repetition.

I stopped worrying long ago about whether you can celebrate the anniversary of an unpleasant event or not. I no longer even agonise about whether I mark or celebrate an anniversary. Everything becomes a celebration in the end.

In the BBC's series of letters from African writers, journalist and former Ghana government minister Elizabeth Ohene writes about how the prospect of living abroad has lost its attraction in the time of coronavirus.

The human race, I understand, is made up of morning people and night people. There are those who are at their best and most productive in the early morning hours and then there are the night owls, who really only come into their own during the night.

In the BBC's series of letters from African writers, Ghana's Elizabeth Ohene writes that George Floyd, whose killing has sparked a global debate about race relations, has been immortalised in the West African state that was central to the transatlantic slave trade.

It felt personal. As I watched the breath ebb out of George Floyd under the deliberate weight of the knee of the uniformed white police officer on his neck, I felt the asphyxia myself.

At the beginning of the year, I was having a conversation with a friend about what Ghana and Africa should do to enable us to make this elusive breakthrough to economic success.

I am probably being melodramatic here, but I can’t think of a better way of putting this. My birth was political.

In our series of letters from African writers, journalist and former Ghana government minister Elizabeth Ohene writes about the new normal - from how to hold a socially distant election to attending online funerals.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we have come to accept that our lives have been turned upside down.

A week ago, the former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi was laid to rest at his Kabarak home. Many things came to mind when the news came that the 95-year-old had died.

I sing when I am happy. I sing when I am sad. I sing alone, I sing in choirs, at least I used to and I sing along to songs and music generally.

I am not quite sure I had considered what the effect would be if I went public with the story of my having been sexually molested.

We have a crisis on our hands. If you start thinking of all the problems this coronavirus has thrown up, you might go mad. I am, therefore, limiting myself to little things that we can do something about.

We see them as too loud, and abrasive and chaotic and we believe they think they can outsmart everybody, especially Ghanaians.

When your personal interest happens to coincide with the general interests of the community, it is very easy to do the right thing.

I have been trying to find something, anything, to like about masks. Now that a mask has become an obligatory part of the attire that I have to wear once I step outside my home, I realise I better find some reason to like it.

The Americans, I believe, have a name for what they all agree is good for America; they call it motherhood and apple pie.

Thirty years ago, on June 3, 1991, my father, Stephen Kwasi Ohene, died. I am writing about him because I believe he typifies the many people who built Ghana by simply doing what they knew to be right and their stories hardly ever get told.

Who owns the public universities? I know this seems like a strange question to ask. But I have been grappling with this question since last week’s outburst by Mr Henry Ametefe, the Volta Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

There are new terms that have entered our everyday language with the advent of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

In the Ohene household when we were growing up, there was a scientific explanation for everything, especially anything to do with health. If you complained of a headache, there were a number of questions that you would be asked: have you moved your bowels today? how much water have you drunk and did you sleep well?

Last week, I included in my examples of visionary projects (as opposed to a 450-seater Parliament Complex) the first Central Sewerage System being built in Kigali, Rwanda, at a cost of 96 million euros.

 Written By Enimil Ashon - In the film world, there are gods/goddesses and there are icons. In this industry, things operate contrariwise; so you find that the gods die but the icons don’t. While as many as 90 per cent of the film gods/goddesses last only as long as fads, the works of the icons are eternal references.

Washington DC - May 1, 2017: The 115th Congress of the United States of America passes a Resolution (‘HR 1242’) establishing the “400 Years African American History Commission” to carry out activities to commemorate the anniversary.

If all goes according to plan, the President of the Republic will be in Tamale this morning, Wednesday, to cut the sod for the construction of an interchange in that city.

For years we have behaved as though we dwell in the realms of stress and darkness. In our world we have learnt to identify the questions which are unanswerable knowing perfectly well we have no plans of answering them. Some may find this view of mine outlandish and strange but are they really?

In the course of the past four weeks, there have been two occasions that have opened my eyes to witness why God is quoted to have said that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?” John Lennon.

Has anyone seen the United States Olympics Women Gymnastic team? If you haven’t, please go and take a look. It wasn’t that long ago when specialist writers were telling us that gymnastics was beyond Black people. It was a sport for white people and that was it. Just take a look at the USA team. It looks pretty Black to me.

I will begin this week with the question I posed in my last paragraph last week: Can we seriously conclude, looking at ourselves, so far, that the Black man is capable of solving his own problems?

In our series of letters from African writers, Ghanaian journalist and former government minister Elizabeth Ohene explains the politics - and grammar - behind a new public holiday.

I hesitate about joining in discussions on finance and monetary issues because I know my limitations. When the conversation turns to quantitative easing, my voice goes down and I leave it to those who know about these things.

I have been wondering about how we celebrate our Independence Day anniversary. I have a problem with our public functions in general, which I feel drag on for too long. But it is not just the length of time the celebration takes that irks me, I feel that the Independence Day celebration in particular is an event that is not certain about its identity.

It has taken me weeks to understand what is expected of me in the polling booth on December 17.
Now that I understand it, my mind is made up.

Words can kill. Listening to predictions by some of my most trusted radio commentators in the last two weeks, Christmas 2018 died in me.

As I wrote last week, I am not against a replacement of the register; if it is not changed today, it would eventually have to be changed, anyway, after the December elections.

I was really dumbfounded by the content of a speech delivered by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, on the propriety and public usage of honorary degrees early this week in spite of all the problems facing the university and Ghana as a whole.

I tell a story about a friend of mine who became a First Lady. I am not sure I should mention her name, so, let’s say she was a First Lady in an African country. A week after the inauguration ceremony at which she became First Lady, she went to her village to have a meeting with the group of women she had been helping for much of her life.

Last week I appeared to have touched some raw nerves with the piece I named Maybe we want them to steal.

On Sunday evening, I began to pen an open letter to the President through this column.

I note that advertising is in the news. The dreadful event at Kasoa, in which two teenage boys reportedly murdered an 11-year-old boy, is being blamed on the unrestrained advertising on our television channels by fetish priests and occultists which are influencing innocent minds.

This year, Ghana is leading the world to remember the 400th anniversary of what history describes as the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.

Can somebody tell me why it has become so imperative for the Bank of Ghana to spend money to advertise the features of the two cedi coin? I am not convinced that this is profitable use of the taxpayer’s money. Such prodigality! I could cry.

President Akufo-Addo has added another chapter to Ghana’s Book of Lamentations.

A few days ago, I watched a video clip of an angry young woman threatening hell and damnation against the President of the Republic.

In the 1952 film, ‘Ten Commandments’, by Cecil de Mille, there is a scene where Moses wants the truth about his true identity. His real mother, Yoshebel, afraid for her life In the presence of the dreaded Egyptian queen who had raised Moses from infancy, has just told him, “I am not your mother”.

I accept that medical doctors are special. I have a medical doctor brother who is special and I shall write about him one of these days.

With all that we have gone through since the return to constitutional rule in 1993, I have been wondering whether the widely assumed conflict between these three lofty ideals are not the root cause of our problems today.

I present today, a man who was, and is, a rarity in African politics. On the occasion of our Independence anniversary, as Ghanaians struggle to come to terms with how one politician and his brother applied Kweku Ananse wisdom to make themselves €3 million richer a lá Airbus bribery scandal, I celebrate Kwabena Gyima Osei Bonsu (‘C.K.’), 83-year-old former MP, former Minister in two regimes, lawyer and chief.

I have it on good authority that the biggest number of people arriving at Accident and Emergency departments in all hospitals and clinics in the country are motorbike riders and those they have been in contact with.

 The self-acclaimed prophet, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, ought to be told in no uncertain terms that he is a false prophet, who triumphs on the cowardice of a section of the public. Every soul is certain to taste death, so one does not require any special powers to foretell this.

Are you not frightened that as a country, it is becoming increasingly evident that altruism and pride in public service are virtues that are in short supply?

I am not sharing fear and panic if I state that we haven’t yet seen the worst of the current trouble we are in. You only need to see the figures and the graph of the rise and rise of the coronavirus in Ghana to realise that more infections of COVID-19 will be discovered.

Sixteen years is a very long time. I have living proof of what 16 years looks like in my house. My favourite niece Akua of Dwaben and Abutia was born 16 years ago, she is taller than me and a fully grownup young lady.

There is a saying in my language which translates literally as, “The monkey says it isn’t the man who has perched him on his shoulders and is parading him around that annoys him so much as the man who shouts: ‘heh, look at that monkey’.”

This is just a brief comparison of Intercity State Transport Company Ltd (STC), and the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL).

Today’s column is a response to popular requests from two categories of Daily Graphic readers.

On Sunday the 7th of January 2018 at about 6.45pm, one of the paid and struggling coward writers of the interdicted VC unveiled himself by the Might of Allah, and sent me some bullshit on WhatsApp, explaining why he writes those stupid stuff. They haven't seen anything yet. The worst is yet to descend on whoever insulted my late dad. Allah knows best!

The journey from Accra to Ho, the Volta regional capital, is about 150 or so kilometres long. Once upon a time, it took me an hour and a half, driving my tomato red Austin Mini Cooper from my gate at North Labone in Accra to my parents’ home on Mawuli School campus in Ho.

I am not quite sure at which stage we, as a people, started thinking it was a bad idea to admit that something was good if it was.

One of the reasons cited for the entrenchment of corruption in Ghana has been that “they-who-pay-the piper”, that is party bankrollers, must be facilitated to recoup their investment before the end of four years.

I have been in Japan. I had quite forgotten just how enchanted I was with Japan the first time I visited.

In this 21st century, we still have people who do not appreciate that this land mass is now Ghana, not Akyem, Asante, Mfantse or Ga-Dangbe.

I was all set to write on two or three of our daily living problems such as ‘dumsor’, cleanliness and waste disposal last Wednesday morning when my memory pricked me that was exactly the time Vice-President Bawumia had planned to hold his town hall meeting in Accra.

After Ghana’s impressive, if delirious, tourism performance in 2018/2019 that has earned us a pat by the global community, I feel duty bound to remind us that having climbed up this high, we must purpose in our hearts to stay there.
Staying on top only means doing things right.

I read that the Ghanaian passport is ranked 78th by something called the 2020 Henley Passport Index. According to this index, our passport provides visa-free/visa on arrival access to 65 destinations, while we need visas to get to 161 destinations.

I am following the uproar generated by the special audit on the GETFund with a lot of interest. No prizes for guessing the source of my interest. I served for six years as a Minister of State at the Ministry of Education, and the GETFund was therefore very much part of my daily life during the period.

This article is caught between two schools. As a nation hanging by our fingernails and looking up to World Bank/IMF to prop us up through the COVID-19 nightmare, is it out of turn for a writer to start raising issues beyond bread and butter?

Nigeria, our big and powerful neighbour, never ceases to amaze me. Just when you think they cannot possibly do anything that can surprise, they find something to outdo themselves.

I don’t quite remember when the concept of the information overload came into use.

I suspect I have to declare an interest.

There are two kinds of talk. One is social media talk, the type so base even the talkers themselves strain to go anonymous; of course, with the exception of those who have convinced themselves that noise is equal to wisdom or that popularity is fame.

I am in the Western Region on duties, not usually associated with my everyday activities.

Only two things seized my attention at the end of the past year, giving full flavour to the whole year of politics, economics, society and religion, the entire fabric of our lives as Ghanaians.

On March 4, 2019, two days after the latest earth tremors that rocked parts of Accra, President Akufo-Addo tasked the National Security and the Ministry of the Interior to prepare a national earthquake emergency plan.

For two reasons, I envy winners of beauty pageants and TV reality shows.

There was one key aspect of Ghanaian life which the President missed in his State of the Nation Address – national values. In the ensuing parliamentary debate, no MP wondered about the President’s silence on the state of the nation’s morality.

On November 18, 2018, MyNewsGh.com reported that the government had begun demolishing bungalows housing Court of Appeal Judges to make way for the construction of a National Cathedral.

In the BBC's series of letters from African writers, journalist and former Ghana government minister Elizabeth Ohene writes about why she avoided New Year celebrations.

In Ghana, the masses have ceased grumbling. They’ve decided, rather, to return, in equal dosage, the ruling classes’ selfish greed and corruption. In times like this, a columnist’s mind needs extra fortification. The evil that men do sieges the mind.

History tells us that in slave days in America, white women would often shave off the hair of their enslaved female servants because it supposedly “confused white men”.