INT’L DIALOGUE: Are we watching Jammeh’s lion cubs in Gambia?

President of Gambia Adama Barrow. Photo Source: Culled from the internet

“When a handshake goes beyond the elbow,” our elders say, “it ceases to be a friendly gesture.” And so, when Gambia’s former President Yahya Jammeh— after all his atrocities in his tenure as the leader of the West African state— made a U-turn in not accepting the results of the 2016 general elections, almost everybody bared teeth at him.

Jammeh’s ‘handshake’ that he forced down our throats to believe was a friendly gesture had gone beyond our ‘elbows’. The world rallied behind his opponent, Adama Barrow, who had emerged winner in the polls.

In Abuja at the 50^th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Governments of ECOWAS held on 17^th December, 2016, The Gambia was one prominent agenda on the table for discussion. Indeed, ECOWAS was that concerned about the political situation in that country.

At the said Abuja meeting, the ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia [ECOMIG] had agreed that Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria contribute troops to pressure Mr. Jammeh to step down.

“On Thursday, 19^th January, 2017, the day President Adama Barrow was to take over, at least, a battalion each of ECOMIG Forces crossed the international boundary into Gambia from the North and South,” said Ghana’s Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, to his Parliament.

He was briefing the House on Ghana’s participation in the ECOWAS Mission.

ECOMIG [troops] after entering Gambia had secured key and vulnerable points in Banjul and without resistance or whatsoever from the Gambian Armed Forces (GAMAF), Mr. Barrow was later sworn in as President of Gambia. As we witnessed, the ‘messiah’ hastily took the oath of office at Gambia's embassy in Dakar; Senegalese capital.

Mr. Adama Barrow being sworn into office in Senegal. Photo Source: Culled from the internet

It is only important we remind ourselves of this history. In that, almost three years now after Adama Barrow came into office, he seems to have so soon forgotten all this important historical narrative as he blatantly breaks promises he made himself. Nonetheless, some of us would painstakingly remind him of such.

Mr. President, when most Gambians marched through the streets of the capital, Banjul, and other cities amidst singing, drumming and dancing defying the ‘régime fort’ of Yahya Jammeh, they had an avalanche of hope in you to make things better. These Gambians believed that under your watch, democracy would be given its needed respect as you promised stepping down after three years in office for fresh elections to be organized.

“We have our country back,” shouted Modu Ceesay, a taxi driver who took his shirt off and waved it furiously over his head. This was captured by DW TV. “This is our country and now we have it,” he added. But really, do Gambians have their country back [now]?

Prior to Adama Barrow’s ascension to the highest office of the land, he promised his coalition of opposition parties and the people of Gambia that he will serve only three years in office as a transitional president.

He also promised to transform the economy, promote good governance and ensure freedom of expression. Though Mr. Barrow has made steady progress with regards to certain promises like the release of political prisoners and the setting up of The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, his critics continue to express disappointment and resentment.

The Gambian President’s apparent unwillingness to relinquish power after his three years agreement with the coalition of opposition parties and for that matter a promise to his people— at large— have raised suspicions. The formation of youth movements and his own political party, National People’s Party [NPP], for instance, are indications of his unpreparedness to hand over power as promised. The feeling among most Gambians is that Adama Barrow is adopting the same cling-onto-power antics Mr. Jammeh used in his 22 years rule.

Delivering his New Year message to the people of Gambia, Mr. Barrow made it explicitly clear that it is constitutionally unconstitutional to resign after the said three years agreement. He indicated that his promise to the people of Gambia elapses on 19^th January, 2020 but he will not step down as promised.

That, he will complete his mandate as stipulated by the Gambian constitution and ensure that the needed electoral reforms and processes are comprehensively executed to ensure free and fair elections in the 2021 general elections.

Typical of African politicians, Mr. Barrow explained that the institutional failures in the country affect every fabric of Gambia’s society and, as such, needs an extensive examination which goes beyond a transitional government. Did he know of the existence of Gambia’s constitution and the country’s ‘institutional failures’ when he himself promised relinquishing power?

Clearly, the Gambian leader will contest the 2021 elections. So, really, is it wrong for Adama Barrow to complete his term of office? Constitutionally, Mr. Barrow has every right to complete such. However, morally, rationally and logically, it does not make sense for him to stay in power. He has a huge task capping his hand around the flickering hope of Gambians so no wind, ever again, quenches their quest for a taste of a true democracy where leaders abide by their own words.

If for any reason we are told that Gambians do not trust their President, then it will be the doing of Adama Barrow himself. There is nothing disgusting as spitting on the floor and picking it back with your own tongue and when this happens, people around tend to look at you with great suspicion.

President Adama Barrow has every opportunity to write his name in the history books of African politics as one of the few leaders who never compromised on his integrity. If Mr. Barrow will stop buying water cannons aimed at dispersing potential protesters and rather invest such monies in the human security of the very people he governs, Gambia will be a better place to live.  

The danger here is that the scars of Mr. Jammeh’s long reign still have fresh imprint in the hearts and minds of Gambians. The little pricking of these scars could spark fire. Can we Africans, for once, realize that politics must not be reduced to a dishonest venture where electorates are promised heaven but in the end find themselves in hell?

The steps taken by the Three-Year Jotna, a pro-democracy movement, to demand Adama Barrow to resign through organizing demonstrations and sending of petitions to the presidency, are not out of place. To say it succinctly, more of these protests are needed for Gambians to register their displeasure of the president’s actions.

Exiled former president of Gambia Yahya Jammeh. Photo Source: Culled from the internet

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies,” Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “but the silence of our friends.” If ECOWAS became friends with Gambians and through its ECOMIG helped chase Jammeh into exile, then it must equally show this friendship in calling Adama Barrow to order before things probably go worse in the near future. It will be but a useless venture to have ECOWAS going to Gambia again on a similar mission.

Here, no foreseeable justification by ECOWAS that it has no direct mandate or whatsoever to meddle in the political affairs of a member state would be tolerated. If the regional bloc is that interested in peacekeeping, then it must, in the first place, run checks on member states to help curb and prune the greenhorns of problems that could spark political upheavals.

As it stands, Africa can only be told to watch the lion cubs in Gambia that appear to have been left there by Yahya Jammeh.

The writers, Solomon Annan & Solomon Mensah, are Ghanaian journalists who have interest in the world’s politics with an unflinching eye mainly on what pertains in Africa. Views expressed here are solely theirs and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of this media organisation.

Email: internationaldialogue2@gmail.com

Twitter: @abisolo7 & @aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: One reason my School Prefect must be a Member of Parliament

 

Solomon Kyere-Boadu

A day before the district level elections which was held in December last year, I wrote on Facebook praising one man. He had stood for reelection as the Assemblyman for the Atoase Electoral Area in Sunyani in the Bono Region. Isaac Yaw Brenya, affectionately known by many as Koo Zee, was again vying for the seat he had ‘sat on’ for years.

“Koo Zee would even use his own money to purchase streetlights if government does not provide such. And, here is a man who could turn himself into a watchman at night to face thieves,” I wrote. Then, as a freelance journalist, I had done a story on him on his planting of over 12,000 trees in the Sunyani Municipality and parts of the Central Region. Do not hold your breath yet. This is but a fraction of the good works this man has done even beyond his constituency. 

So, I was certain he will be voted again into power as the Assemblyman of the Atoase Electoral Area. However, that did not happen this time round. Now that Koo Zee has been ousted from the assembly post certainly because he had outgrown that, one would think he will delve deeper into politics. Nonetheless, knowing him so well as he taught me Asante Twi at SUSEC (Sunyani Senior High School), it is unlikely he will take up such a challenge. 

In my said Facebook post, I had indicated that the good folks in our society are running away from mainstream politics leaving many bad nuts corrupting the system. I believe if we had one Koo Zee each in the 16 regions, Ghana would have been a better place by now. 

Reflecting on this, however, comes to mind yet another fantastic [young] man I know.

On January 9^th, 1988, Madam Dora Kyere Amanoa put smiles on the face of her husband, Mr. Stephen Yaw Boadu. She had been delivered of a baby boy in Berekum in the Bono Region who would later be named Solomon Kyere-Boadu. The joy that followed the announcement of the birth of the boy transcended the very home of the couple. At Kato and Biadan, the hometowns of the couple, respectively, well-wishers prayed Boadu Jr. became useful to his community and Ghana at large. And, as fate would have it, this prayer appears perfectly been answered by God.

As a true indigene who grew up in Berekum until he completed his basic and junior high schools in 2002 all at the AKAB Complex School in the area, Solomon Kyere-Boadu, also called King Solomon, gained admission to SUSEC. That was in 2003 and he completed in 2006. Here, he became my School Prefect!

For his love for humanity, he abandoned his university admission in 2007 with the hope of gaining admission into the Nursing Training College where he could directly care for people. This, however, could not materialize. The Principal at the college where he attended interview refused King Solomon admission by ‘prophetically’ insisting that his grades and demeanor portrayed that of a good leader and even future president. But, can we not have a nurse ascending to the seat of government? Well, ‘I can’t keel myself over this principal.’ 

My former School Prefect would the following year enroll at the University of Ghana where he studied for his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) in Political Science and Linguistics. He completed in 2012. 

He studied for other academic certificates from the BT Group International’s Corporate Executive Management Training Programme in Accounting and Financial Management as well as Human Resource Management, all in 2009. 

Mr. Kyere-Boadu undertook his one year mandatory national service at the Army Headquarters at Burma Camp under the Ministry of Defence, specifically at the Directorate of Military Records, from September 2012 to August 2013. Immediately after the mandatory service, he gained employment as a Community Development Officer of the Department of Community Development under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Greater Accra Region. 

Due to his hard work and dedication to work, he was later seconded to the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) where he worked as a data entry officer for Hedge Pensions Trust (Fund Managers of CLOGSAG) and also assisted the public relations officer in the discharge of his duties.

In March 2015, he got an appointment as a Special Services Officer at the Cocoa Marketing Company (GH) Limited, a subsidiary of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), at the Takoradi Take-Over Center and subsequently transferred to the Kumasi Take-Over Center of the same company where he currently works. 

Mr. Boadu later on enrolled as a student of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) where he read an MSc in Defence and International Politics (MDIP) and completed in August 2017. His research thesis looked into a very important aspect of our development and general security as a nation and was selected as one of the best five (5) theses for the academic year. He wrote on the topic, “The Role of Civil Society in the Formulation of a National Security Policy: A Case Study of Ghana”.

 

Solomon Kyere-Boadu aspires for greatness

Aside these enviable academic laurels chalked by this young man, he has as well served in many capacities of student leadership and volunteerism, winning him several recognitions and awards. 

In 2005, he became the Speaker of the Sunyani Senior High School’s Debating Club. They emerged national champions in that year. Still a student at SUSEC, Kyere-Boadu ascended the seat of the most covetous office at the students’ level as the School/Senior Prefect. His administration was the 2005/2006 academic year and he handled himself and his office so well that nobody till date could point to a single blot on his sleeves.

Many years after completing SUSEC, the young man has been at the forefront of further serving society wherever he finds himself. In 2009/2010 academic year, he was the Secretary of the Sunyani Senior High Old Students Association at the University of Ghana, Vice President of Berekum Tertiary Students Association from May 2009 to 2010 and Second Deputy Minority Whip of the University of Ghana Parliament House in the 2010/2011 academic year.

From May to August 2011, he volunteered and taught as the “Government” teacher at his alma mater – SUSEC – where he handled students of Form ones and twos. During the 2011/2012 academic year, Mr. Kyere-Boadu became the Vice President of the University of Ghana’s Students Representative Council (SRC).

It is not surprising that on 20^th April, 2012, he was awarded as the Most Composed Student Leader of the 2011/2012 academic year by the Excellent Leadership Awards Group (ExLA Group).

Mr. Kyere-Boadu believes in giving back to society and from time to time, he partners with the Keruso Foundation [Berekum] in supporting brilliant but needy students through various levels of their education. Through the Foundation, he has given scholarships to about eight (8) students of various levels in the Berekum Municipality to be able to go to school. 

He sometimes supports individuals and groups in providing exercise books and drinking water to the students and natives of the villages in the Berekum Municipality. The interesting part of this narrative is that he does these donations without taking to social media to tell the whole world that he has assisted someone.

Not long ago when I had a chat with him on such, he said to me something that really got me thinking. “Solo, I do these giving anonymously through the Keruso Foundation. And as a Christian, my values teach me not to show what I do for the needy, especially when most people take to social media on that for self-aggrandizement,” he said.

Mr. Solomon Kyere-Boadu believes ardently in the power of the youth as the engine of growth to bring the kind of change we want in the country, therefore, encourages them to be the best that they can be in whichever capacity they find themselves. 

He who has ever read my opinion pieces on Ghana’s political sphere would attest that I am very critical on most of our greedy politicians. I do not hate their profession but how many of them have those they serve at heart? So, when today you read from me introducing to you someone I think should be not just in mainstream politics but must stand to be elected as a Member of Parliament for Berekum East, then it tells you that indeed this person has something to offer Ghanaians at large. 

The man I have personally known for 17 years undoubtedly hopes to rise to the highest level of leadership where he can affect not only the lives of Ghanaians but the world. 

Yesterday, January 9, 2020, was his birthday. Silver and gold I have not. What I rather have is to spur him for greatness. I want to see and hear him loudly proclaim that he is contesting the seat of the Berekum East Constituency to serve the people of Berekum and Ghana as a whole.

I think that I need not tell you my one reason why I want Mr. Solomon Kyere-Boadu become a Member of Parliament, right? Reading through his profile, what readily comes to mind is his selfless leadership— that which Ghana really needs! 

I attended Berekum College of Education [in Berekum] and as a native of the area, I want to see Berekum’s long lost accolade The Golden City restored. And, I also want to see Members of Parliament enacting proper laws and promoting good course in this country so Ghanaians do not get to cross the Mediterranean for greener pastures. 

Mr. Kyere-Boadu, like Koo Zee my Asante Twi teacher, is one of the patriots that can get us to our dreamland!

The writer, Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: Of grounded ambulances, a bewitched president & the 37 masquerades

Grounded ambulances at the forecourt of Parliament/Sate House

August 31^st, 2019 marked my fourth year since I relocated from Spintex to somewhere in the Ga South Municipality in the Greater Accra Region. For these past years, I have observed one worrying trend on the Mallam-Odorkor Highway and George Walker Bush Highway [also known as the N1].

Almost every day, I see, at least, two taxis with their drivers crazily honking at others. Drivers of these taxis are themselves not crazy. They honk at their fellow drivers because at that material moment, their cars are not mere vehicles for carrying ‘ordinary’ passengers. They are ambulances!

At the back seats of these taxis, always stretching my neck to see when possible, is a pregnant woman— ostensibly in labor— sandwiched by two men,. Then, there would be another person at the front seat

The front-seat-sitting passenger’s role is to stretch his/her hand signaling other drivers to give way. The saddest part of the narrative is that, usually, such taxi-turned-ambulances honk in vain. They meet stagnant vehicular traffic that makes me cry and cringe within.

Yet, when they gradually make it to hospitals such as Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the taxi-tuned-ambulance is greeted with an inscription at the health facilities’ entrances— “Taxis Are Not Allowed!” Is this not sickening?

Having narrated all the above, what makes the ambulance debate in our country utterly sickening is the reason behind the Nana Akufo Addo-led government grounding 96 out of the 275 ambulances procured for all the constituencies in the country.

In a Neat FM interview, Minister for Special Development Initiative, Mavis Hawa Koomson, fully-filled with arrogance and power like that of a tethered he-goat, spewed some indescribable words in her analysis on these ambulances that have become an albatross on our necks.

When I saw a YouTube link of the said interview, I quickly downloaded it and watched the whole of the 19 minute 5 second long video. Although the link was shared by – I think – Peace FM’s Facebook account, I could not believe it at first.

Madam Koomson’s comments were so harsh, cruel and insensitive that I doubted she could have said that. Whoever has listened to the said tape would attest that the comments do not match our minister’s age as a grownup adult.

“[…] I know people are dying. But, did people start dying today?” Mavis Hawa Koomson proudly said. If these words were to be bottled, I am over confidently certain that its pungent smell could kill an elephant when sprayed on it.

You have ambulances parked at the forecourt of the Parliament House while some of our pregnant women and other patients alike go through the hell of being transported in taxis to hospitals and is this the best response you could give?

Then, when on Friday, December 13, 2019, President Akufo Addo had an encounter with the media, it came to light that he had ordered Madam Hawa not to distribute the ambulances.

For the fear of being tagged a pioneer in favoritism, Nana Akufo Addo said his government would rather wait for the other remaining ambulances to be shipped down to Ghana before their overall distribution. I must say that his government’s reason is somewhat understandable. If we take a look at the brouhaha that surrounded the Finance Ministry’s ‘genuine error’ in the omission of Volta roads from the 2020 budget, for instance, one is tempted to side with the reason given for grounding the 96 ambulances.

Nonetheless, to a large extent, it does not in any way make sense to look on unconcerned while women in labor and the sick – in both the cities and villages – struggle for taxis and tricycles as ambulances just because you [the president] want to be liked by all. Is that how to govern a developing country?

Mr. President, as you are so determined to be liked by all, I guess you are in a wrong position as the country’s leader. To be liked by all, I think you need to rather venture into the sale of ice-creams!

On three consecutive Sundays now, I would see on my way to work some young men dressed as masquerades. They stand on the roads just by the 37 Military Hospital, dance and solicit for alms. Here, I have rather observed that these masquerades end up not getting anything from drivers who ply the roads there and the reason is simple.

These 37 [Military Hospital] masquerades instead of dancing to entertain a few of the drivers at a time to catch their attention properly, rather try pleasing every driver whose car waits in traffic. And, this is exactly the failed strategy our president hinges his hopes on that at the end of the day, all the 29 million or so Ghanaians would call him Father Christmas.

Looking at the caliber of person that we saw in the then presidential candidate, Akufo Addo, and what he has ‘grown into’ now in relation with his decisions as the president of the country, I cannot but believe those who claim that he has been bewitched.

I certainly believe that, perhaps, there is an enchantment at the Jubilee House that blinds its occupants. When they leave power – as John Mahama did – they regain their consciousness.

Today, Mr. Mahama pleads with Ghanaians to give him another chance because he has realized his mistakes. And, I can bet with my lens that Nana Akufo Addo will say same should he lose the 2020 elections.

It is 2:14am on Thursday as I write this piece. I need to now go to bed as work awaits me early in the morning. I can’t kill myself. However, let me just draw your attention – if you did not know – that in most of the developed countries including Sweden and America, there are ambulances for animals. If you critically study how pets/animals are treated so well elsewhere, one is tempted to say that most Ghanaians would never have this level of pet-treatment in their own country, considering how successive governments here think and play politics with our healthcare.

I am getting so much annoyed reflecting on this and I do not want to continue spewing fire. If you have time, please listen to the song titled 52 Ambulances by Knii Lante featuring Blakk Rasta. It sums up my thoughts.

The writer. Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: Nana Addo, his colonial citizens & the ‘buy Ghana rice’ nonsense!

A photo of locally produced rice. Source: Culled from the internet.

I have always feared for patients— the sick I mean— who find time to listen to or watch news about Ghana or follow the country’s politics. I consider their plight as a suffering soul being hit with coup de grâce. Indeed, it is only he who wishes for a quick death that passionately follows these events with all their hearts.

It is not the case that we do not have qualified journalists to do a good job here in Ghana. Far from that. If I am not exaggerating, Ghana has great journalists that could compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world. The issue, rather, is that often these journalists’ stories reveal that the single scarcest commodity in the country is common sense. Yes, a revelation of lack of common sense mainly on the part of some of our leaders. That, which makes the listening to or watching of such news depressing!

Few weeks ago, TV3’s Peter Quao Adattor travelled to the Upper East Region of Ghana. He came back to Accra with a story that got almost everybody in the TV3 newsroom standing on their feet to express dismay.

The day we watched Mr. Adattor’s story as aired on Midday Live was on a Sunday afternoon. Rice farmers, especially in the valleys of Fumbisi and Gbedembilisi in the Builsa South District, had bountifully produced bags of rice. However, these farmers did not have [ready] market for their produce.

One farmer who spoke in the ‘Rice Glut’ story said that in order not to look on for their hundreds of bags to go waste, they were selling on promotional basis. When the market women buy two bags of the rice, they are given an extra bag each free of charge. Can you imagine!? As if that was not enough, even before the farmers could get these traders to do the buying, in the first place, they [farmers] would have to lure them by giving them one full guinea fowl also for free. Certainly, this is financially a dangerous time to be a rice farmer.

Then, the National Buffer Stock Company moved in to assess the situation on the back of the reported glut of rice. As predictable as the daily chaos at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, the Chief Executive Officer of the Buffer Stock Company, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, promised these farmers of a ready market. That promise was actually to come into fruition in two weeks’ time from the day of the visit by the hypocrite fact-finding politicians.

As to whether this promise has been fulfilled or not is not really my source of worry. The farmers themselves did not believe that promise. What gets my head spinning is the apparent mindless game we— as a nation— proudly play. I have neither attended the University of Ghana Business School nor the London School of Economics. Nonetheless, there are some problems that do not require one to hold a certificate in a particular field before proffering a concrete solution to avert its occurrence in the first place.

From the days of Diego de Azambuja to the subsequent colonization of Africa by the greedy bustards, the plight of the continent’s farmers has been the same. There are deplorable roads linking farms to the cities and the preference of citizens going for foreign products over same produced locally have remained unchanged.

You ask yourself why we are so comfortable with this monumental failure and the answer is found right in the bosom of the greedy politicians. They would quickly choose their comfort over the plight of the masses. If not, why did they not find sense in proposing that the millions of dollars that they had wanted to use to construct that needless new chamber/parliament be used to, at least, give feeder roads to places where we get our foods from?

Why did they not, again, propose that such an amount be used to rigorously start a campaign to cut Ghana’s umbilical cord of overdependence? Would that not have weaned majority of our citizens off foreign goods? A lifestyle that only reflects what pertained in the colonial days.

The underlying argument here is that access to our farms and our preference for foreign goods hugely contribute to the losses we see our farmers suffer. And, to curb this trend goes beyond merely urging citizens to patronize locally produced rice [or any of such].

Speaking in Ho, the Volta Regional capital, to mark this year’s National Farmers’ Day, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo repeated a mistake he keeps committing. He urged Ghanaians to buy locally-grown rice.

Mr. President, because of you I am likely to write a book that would probably be dubbed ‘How To Govern A Developing Nation’. The truth is, we do not govern a developing nation by merely urging citizens to do the right thing. You impose! Impose hefty tariffs on imported rice/foods and other goods that our own people produce here. Why do we, for instance, allow an overflow of importation of poultry products while poultry farmers in Dormaa in the Bono Region alone could— to a large extent— feed the country?

And, should you think of the ripple effect of these measures to break the shackles of our underdevelopment, the formula to counter such [effect] is to let the nation endure whatever hardships that would come with it. If it so happens that even half of the state’s population would have to die of hunger, so be it. Those who would survive would live a better life thereafter and learn sense that overdependence on another state— especially on agriculture and health— is dangerous.

This is exactly what Richard Wright wrote to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in a letter as captured in the latter’s book, Dark Days In Ghana, that, “I say to you publicly and frankly: The burden of suffering that must be borne, impose it upon one generation! … Be merciful by being stern!”

Hello, Mr. President. I guess I have given you a clue on how to effectively run your government. There is no need telling Ghanaians that you and your wife cook local rice. How many bags of local rice do you buy in a year as a family? Borrowing the book title of the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, ‘With All Due Respect’, the next time you speak on this local rice, you must sound as a benevolent dictator in telling your citizens to purchase such.

If I were you, when citizens prove adamant buying, I would bill every public servant and SSNIT contributors a bag of the rice say, every three months, by deducting them from the source of their income. Even if everybody gets a cup of the rice, that will be fine. The soldiers at the various barracks are tasked to ensure that households get their deliveries and if they [citizens] will not eat it, they are at liberty to donate to the orphanages.

Until the day I hear of crazy measures as these to ensure we bridge the gap between the cities and villages and get Ghanaians to eat what they grow and grow what they eat, the so-called campaign on the purchase of local rice sounds but nonsense to my ears. It will only yield marginal results!

What have Emelia Arthur and Okyeame Kwame not done as ambassadors of the Made-In-Ghana campaign proper? You think about it and you ask yourself the question posed by the name of a show on Asԑmpa FM, Ԑkↄsii Sԑn? To wit, ‘How did it end?’

The writer, Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @aniwaba