NGO donates towards 'Ghana Amputee Football League' slated for May 5

(R-L) Daniel Nii Mensah, Mavis Hyde & some footballers

Founder and Director of charity organisation Disability Equipment Sent Oversees (DESO), Mrs Mavis Hyde has donated 330 pieces of elbowed crutches to the Ghana Amputee Football League Board, in Tema, on Wednesday.

The donation was a generous support towards the preparations for the upcoming first ever Amputee Football League in Africa.

President of the Ghana Amputee Football League Board and chairman of Dan-Devan Group, Daniel Nii Mensah receiving the items commended DESO for the gesture and promised to put it to a good use.

Mr. Daniel Nii Mensah receives the items

"These equipment would be put to a good use as we earnestly prepare for the maiden Ghana Amputee Football League. We hope to see this project becoming so great that the world would travel far and near to come and watch our players play," he said.

Meanwhile, all eight teams are ready to battle for the trophy starting May 5, 2018 at the Wembley Park at Kotobabi in the Greater Accra region.

Below is the list of the teams.

Eefsa Amputee Football Club

Amugisco Amputee Football Club

Gye Nyame Amputee Football Club

Ayawaso Amputee Football Club

Global Amputee Football Club

Our Hope Africa Foundation Amputee Football Club

Asantaman Amputee Football Club

Maclamp Amputee Football Club

.

TALKING DRUM: Of Moesha Boduong & the lazy boss chicks!

Moesha Boduong

When I got to the reception hall, I saw not less than five beautiful ladies walk in and out in less than three minutes. Then, another lady– a bit slim, dark complexioned who wore an African print that matched her beautiful natural hair-do– also came in. She briefly spoke to the receptionist and went back into one of the offices. The latter really caught my attention.

“Hey man, I’m in your building for the interview,” I sent a message to a school mate back at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. That friend was Johnnie Hughes, host of TV3’s morning show New Day and Community Connect on 3FM.

I had had a call to attend an interview for the position of a broadcast journalist at Media General’s 3FM. When Johnnie Hughes came to see me at the radio station’s reception hall, I vividly described to him the young lady I had seen.

“She is Petra [Aba Asamoah],” said Johnnie.

“She is beautiful,” I replied.

Johnnie’s response that followed my remarks about Petra got me on my toes.

“Hɛɛ! Wobɛyɛ steady w’ate; [to wit ‘behave’]. She will be your boss should you successfully pass the interview,” he said.

Lo and behold, there sat Petra when my name was mentioned and I entered the room for the interview! She was with one gentleman and another woman. She had a pen in her left hand and kept putting down notes as I answered their questions.

My admiration for her grew as I later became her employee. She was my Head of Station [3FM] until she was recently appointed as the Head of Commercials and Marketing for Media General. This was a young lady making money through her academic pursuit.

The Petra example is one of hundreds of other ladies/women making it in life through hard work. So, when I watched actress Moesha Boduong’s interview with CNN’s Christine Amanpour, I shook my head in disgust.

In that CNN interview, the actress proudly says, “You cannot make enough money in Ghana as a woman to take care of yourself.”

So, how does Moesha intend to survive in Ghana as a woman when women here do not make enough money? Well, she has a strategy. A strategy she proudly explains to Christine Amanpour. Moesha trades sex for cash!

Moesha certainly has no time to think outside the box to brainstorm on what will decently put food on her table. I am sure her comments would not have generated the huge public backlash had she spoken for herself.  To generalize it to let it seem every Ghanaian woman trades sex for money is way unfortunate.

Before the cock crows to signify the birth of a new day, one sees head potters (Kayaye), mainly women, walk the streets of Accra and other parts of the country with heavy loads. At the end of the day, whatever money they have been able to gather is theirs. They live happily knowing that no condition/situation in life is permanent. Indeed, the charcoal seller’s son will also wear a white shirt one day.

He who thinks like Moesha, however, would certainly not be content with any amount he or she earns in any economy in this world. This is a lady who wants to drive the latest flashy car in town, sleep in a house that even the Bill Gates and Dangotes would dare not spend money on.

To put it succinctly, Ghana’s economy has and will not be that flourishing for people wake up with their bank accounts fattened. The narrative of Ghana’s economy from the days of musicians like Nana Kwame Ampadu to our current crop of artistes has always been same― life is hard. Lord Kenya sang is best in his “Sika Card.”

People have attained their level of success in this same economy through deliberate planning and hard work. Writing in his book The Seven Principles of Success & Wealth Creation, Michael Agyekum Addo recounts how he started his KAMA Pharmaceuticals.

“When I became a pharmacist, I was employed by someone who paid me a monthly salary of GHC0.60 (60Gp) in 1979. When I planned to start my own business in 1985, I decided to save GHC0.20 (20Gp) every month. By the tenth month, I had saved GHC2 and with that seed money, I started to manufacture my own medicines to sell,” he writes.

Today, Mr. Michael Agyekum Addo has a formidable tree of businesses bearing him varieties of fruits. If such a person is living lavishly, one can understand him. He has worked for it. A lot of Ghanaians, men and women alike, have similarly succeeded through this kind of diligence.

I am tempted to believe that Moesha Boduong and the other so-called “boss chicks” who have become preys sucking the ‘blood’ of other women’s husbands are just being plain lazy. Sadly, she is not even creative in her apparent sex trade.

Well, the Yoruba people of Nigeria admonish so well in a proverb which says the wealth which enslaves the owner is not wealth. Moesha says she can hardly say no to her sponsor whenever he comes in demanding for sex. Do you, then, call whatever he gives you wealth?

I think it will be in Moesha’s interest to get out there and work for that “enough money” she so craves for. It is highly possible to earn a decent living in this same economy!

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

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: When Lawrence Tetteh sung ‘Obiara Nnyɛ Obiara’

Dr. Lawrence Tetteh & Ebony Reigns

One thing was apparently clear among many of her fans and the general public that thronged the forecourt of the State House― they wanted to verify if, indeed, their one time celebrity was really dead and gone for good.

Of a truth, Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng who was famed and known in showbiz as Ebony Reigns was gone. The bespectacled corpse of the dancehall diva, draped in a white flowing gown with a touch of her Maame Hwɛ video looks of a scarf, laid still in a transparent glass enclosure.

Ebony Reigns in her Maame Hwɛ looks

Family members, friends, sympathizers and music lovers filed past the late songstress drowned in tears. The once vibrant young talent could not utter a word. That is how cruel death is when it lays its icy hands on one!

The tributes and speeches that poured in at the funeral were all very touchy. However, I must admit it was the sermon of Dr. Lawrence Tetteh, founder of World Miracle Outreach, which got me reflecting on what life really has for us as humans and how we must constantly remind ourselves that there is a God.

The preacher had said that his sermon was not directed at or for Ebony. He repeatedly reminded the thousands of mourners gathered at the forecourt of the State House and the million others who watched proceedings on television that one must seek God first above all things.

Indeed, Dr. Lawrence Tetteh had made use of many anecdotes and songs to buttress his point. His singing of Barima Sidney’s Obiara Nnyɛ Obiara, to wit, no individual is a cut above his fellow human, got me immersed in sober reflection.

The musician performs

“Ebony whose voice sounded better than that of birds is dead and gone? Former President John Evans Atta Mills who had an oversight of the whole nation was also gone for good? What about acclaimed mathematical physicist Professor Francis Kofi Ampenyi Allotey; a whole library gone!” I reflected.

Undoubtedly, many were also buried the very day Ebony was laid to rest. The world, perhaps, did not hear of their death and burial because they did not have the fame, influence and money like others. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, they all ended up shoved into the belly of mother earth. Indeed, Dr. Lawrence Tetteh was right; Obiara Nnyɛ Obiara!

We are all cut at par, no matter how gifted others may be. We are all equal in the sight of the Lord no matter how rich some are than others.

Back in my days in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region, I heard of musicians I never thought could meet… not to mention becoming a close friend. Then, in my first year at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, a lecturer gave us an assignment. My group was tasked to have a chat with a musician asking him/her about the assertion that musicians abuse drugs to perform well on stage.

We got in touch with Barima Sidney, arranged a day to meet him for an interview and that day came to pass. I have since 2012 been a very close friend of his. Years into our friendship, I realized he just did not sing Obiara Nnyɛ Obiara. He meant every bit of it.

No matter who you are, Barima Sidney finds room in his heart to accommodate you like a brother or sister. Today, before he releases a song he would send it to me to pass judgment on it. “Solo, listen to this single [song] to see if we are good to go,” he would send me a message.

Barima Sidney

I can say same about many other public figures’ good inter-personal relationship including FlowKing Stone. The question, therefore, is, why do other people at times feel bossy and better than others?

Ebony I never met or saw in person. However, one could tell from afar she was such a lively young girl; a musician sadly demonized by self-canonized saints who even passed judgment on her, right after her February 9, 2018 tragedy that she will go to hell. He who will go to heaven or hell is not in the hands of men… but God.

We are all not above criticism, hence, those who reprimanded her by drawing her attention to tone down on her apparel for her show business were not far from right. But for a fellow human being to proclaim outright hell on another, ‘I can’t think far!’ At least, students of the Bible know that a man condemned by the world was saved by Jesus Christ on the cross.

Dr. Lawrence Tetteh at Ebony’s funeral cautioned the world that watched and listened to him that his sermon was not for the girl who could no longer hear humans speak. It was directed at us; you and me. That, we must strive and find space in our hearts and serve the living God and as well as respect one another while we have breath.

Ebony was laid to rest at the Osu Cemetery in Accra. This cemetery has an inscription that reminds that the living shall one day return.

Sleep well, Nana Hemaa; the girl I dearly cherished from afar. May the Rock of Ages give us endurance to hold on to our faith and be humble.

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

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: The exam Nana Addo & his Minister failed!

President Akufo Addo

He was my classmate back at St. James Primary and JHS in Sunyani. For him, the fever that often characterized an impending examination was never his headache.

Thomas (not real name) always had a simple strategy. He went to the exams room with his prepared answers; his own answers. He did not care whether these “already-made” answers stood the probability of meeting the requirements of the unknown questions. His academic performance? Your guess is as good as mine!

Interestingly, this strategy that never saw my friend smile upon seeing his results has been adopted by many of our political leaders. Finding the simplest way of tackling filth in our country has become so hectic a task as civilians escaping war in Syria.

Former President John Dramani Mahama tried battling filth in our cities by introducing the National Sanitation Day (NSD). As I have written about earlier, the Mahama administration did Ghanaians a great disservice with the NSD. Why should you indirectly tell us to litter indiscriminately throughout the month and then use only the first Saturday of the following month to clean?

As of now, we still have not found the antidote to filth in our society. Can you imagine?

As it stands, President Akufo Addo and his Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Kofi Adda, have still not devised a strategy to tackle Accra’s filth and that of Ghana at large. Is getting our societies clean a hurdle too big for us? It is a very simple task, if you ask me!

Writing under the heading “The simplest question I would have asked Prez Akufo Addo” in June 2017, I reached out to the President by offering concrete ways of getting his dream of Accra becoming the cleanest city in Africa realized. Did he read? What about Mr. Kofi Adda?

“Mr. President, can you enforce a by-law that will get people who litter indiscriminately to pay a fine? Can you let people be responsible for their irresponsible behaviour?” I wrote in the said article. I still stand by this as the only way to see our dream materialized.

Mr. Kofi Adda, speaking in Kumasi in the Ashanti region recently, mentioned that chips are being installed on dustbins and other waste collection equipment in the country to track the disposal of waste. More so, he reiterated government’s efforts in getting huge sums of Ghana Cedis owned by waste collection agencies cleared.

The Sanitation Minister commended the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) registering all tricycles that are involved in waste collection in Kumasi. Indeed, the KMA’s approach is much commendable unlike Mr. Adda’s.

Making use of technology in every aspect of human’s endeavor is great. Mr. Kofi Adda’s chip-in-dustbins cannot be described as good considering our current situation. By all indications, Ghana does not need that approach yet in tackling filth. The greater portion of our attention should be on getting citizens and residents to stop littering. Imposing heavy fines on defaulters should be an order. When we have no waste generated, there will be no need to have chips installed in dustbins.

One question keeps lingering on my mind on government’s attempt at paying monies it owes the collection agencies. Would it ever happen that after we have paid these monies to waste collectors, our streets and communities will be free of filth? If you answered no, you are right.

There will be still heaps of garbage at Kaneshie, Lapaz, Adabraka, Madina, Teshie, Nungua, Mallam, and at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange among other places. The other nine regions would also have their own share of the mountains of garbage. Why? We have decided not to look at the source of filth; waste generation.

I was once asked if I had a personal score to settle with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) simply because I overly criticize it. The truth is that this body is not fulfilling its mandate, thus, my backlash. AMA’s Sanitation Office is situated at Kaneshie yet Kaneshie is one of the filthiest places in the Greater Accra region. Incompetence is the hallmark of the AMA.

Uncollected waste after it was scooped from the gutter at Bubiashie- Accra. Photo/Pious Addofo

Again, in my June 2017 article, I humbly advised President Akufo Addo on his dream of cleaning Accra. “Mr. President […] if you really have your promise of seeing Accra become a clean city at heart, please, let the AMA stay away from this,” I hinted.

Mr. President, I watched on television how some ministries here in Accra were cleaning their surroundings on Friday morning, March 16 2018. Reports indicated that you had instructed them. I did not get the import of the said news item so well but, Sir, did you really issue that order? Is it going to be every Friday affair? Why should adults who know right from wrong litter their work place?

If we want a clean city, we must begin to rigorously enforce sanitation by-laws. People must go to jail for littering anything. People must be given brooms to sweep from Danquah Circle to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, Lapaz to Mallam Junction and Madina to 37 to serve as deterrent to others.

According to Straitstimes.com, “authorities [in Singapore] meted out more than 31,000 fines last year [2016], a seven-year high. The figure was also more than thrice the 8,195 tickets issued in 2012.” Few people find themselves prosecuted on sanitation charges here in Ghana and the time to fill the courts is now.

Mr. President, it appears that you and your Sanitation Minister have woefully failed the examination you sat on getting us a clean city. Like my friend, Thomas, you have submitted ‘answers’ that are really not answers. The good thing, however, is that there is more room for improvement. There is the chance for a re-sit!

The writer is a broadcast journalist with 3FM 92.7. Views expressed here solely remain his and do not, in anyway, reflect his organisation’s editorial policy.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: George Ayisi Boateng is not a hypocrite!

Ghana's Commissioner to South Africa, George Ayisi Boateng

On Sunday evening, October 30, 2017, as of 7:36pm, I was roaming with a friend, Maxwell-Obiri Yeboah, and a room agent somewhere in the Greater Accra region in search of a room to rent.

When I called this agent, I told him what exactly I was looking for. I needed a single room self-contained at a neat, flood-free environment. Cunning as he was, however, he took us to a place exactly opposite my expectations. 

“This is the landlord and this is the room,” he said. 

All along, I thought he was only fetching something from the house he took us to… as he had said to us he was meeting a friend there. Noticing that was where he had supposedly searched for us, I told him right away without mincing words that that was not what I asked for. I don’t like the place!

Immediately, I had a notification on WhatsApp. It was my friend, Maxwell. It read: “Solo, you’re too plain oo. I can’t say that to him [the agent] directly.”

I told him I was not an angel but I disliked others who were clothed in pretense. Here was an agent who had told me of a room of my choice at Trade Fair only to attempt swindling me. He, at all cost, wanted to ‘chop’ my GHC50 as an agent fee. Was I not right to have told him the hard truth? Truth remains but one.

This is the reason I find it surprising and ridiculous in the midst of a pool of Facebook posts and radio and television commentaries by some people calling for Ghana’s Commissioner to South Africa, George Ayisi Boateng, to be sacked.

His crime? He had met a group of the New Patriotic Party’s student wing, the Tertiary Students’ Confederacy Network (TESCON), in Kumasi in the Ashanti region, and had told them he prioritizes members of his party ahead of any other Ghanaian.  

“This government is doing its best to create job opportunities and me, for instance, I told my people over there [that], it is because of NPP that I’m here so the NPP man is my priority. I told them when NDC was in power it was Kwesi Ahwoi who was there. Now we are in power so Ayisi-Boateng is here with you. My topmost priority is the problems of an NPP person before any other Ghanaian. Take it or leave it,” Mr. George Ayisi Boateng said.

Indeed, sounding convincing like Qatar Airways which boasts of going places together with its customers, Mr. Ayisi Boateng added that, “I’m not boasting [but] I’ve started meeting the NPP groups. Every weekend, I meet some group members and I tell you if I had my way, every job opportunity that will come will go to a TESCON member before any other person. And I know my colleague appointees also have the same feeling except that because of IMF, we cannot do anything now.”

I must say that I totally condemn these comments by the Commissioner to South Africa. It is obvious that these comments, indeed, do not match his age and the position he holds. 

However, I vehemently disagree with persons condemning him and calling for his dismissal. What at all did Mr. Ayisi Boateng say differently that we do not know about yet— the issues of favouritism and nepotism that exist in our NDC-NPP politics?

I will not equalize the Commissioner’s comments to what the National Democratic Congress has done in the past. However, if you follow politics in this country called Ghana, you do not need to be told that if you are “any other Ghanaian” as Mr. Ayisi puts it, your source of help comes from your object of worship. Ordinary persons must only depend on God as our hope. The political manna always falls at the feet of foot soldiers and cronies whose party is in power. 

I have confidentially been told by both members of the NDC and NPP who secured government scholarships to study abroad at the expense of ‘any other Ghanaian’ who also qualified for the same scholarship. We are not the same Ghanaians! 

What in this country is not given to members of NDC or NPP depending on whose political party is in power? From the toilets to the white collar jobs in the government sector, we see people pulling guns and knives for their political members to take over. 

So, what is the crime of Mr. Ayisi Boateng? For saying the obvious? The critics of the Commissioner say such comments ought not to have come out of the mouth of a person considered a diplomat. As I have already admitted, I agree with such. However, being given a responsible political position does not necessarily make one responsible. 

For most of these appointees and some Ghanaian politicians, their input and output are predetermined by the corrupt system of ‘M’aban na ɛwͻ so’ [My party is in power] syndrome. 

Instead of calling for the head of Mr. Ayisi Boateng, I would rather suggest we, as a people, call for a holistic national debate on how we can completely end this culture of party in power favouring its own. If we are bent on dismissing the Commissioner, however, it would be reasonable dismissing the government in power as well since they have supervised brutality of its members taking over jobs from the ordinary Ghanaian. 

As it stands now, I totally agree with the Commissioner to South Africa that there are others who are more Ghanaian than others. The sad truth.

The writer is a broadcast journalist with Media General (3FM & TV3). Views expressed here solely remain his and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba