THE MAN RULING MY DEAR GHANA& HOW HE RUN MY COUNTRY DOWN AS VICE-PRESIDENT

Shocking Revelations From Rice Scandal – Mills Was Dribbled
It is now been made clear that after Mrs. Juliet R. Cotton complained that she was having difficulty in carrying out the Aveyime rice project, a committee was set up to investigate her claims and also to make sure that Ghana’s investment in the Quality Grain Company did not go to waste.

Following this, then vice president Professor John Evans Atta Mills who had oversight responsibilities for the Quality Grain Company project in Ghana, ruled that unless those claims were established, there should be no more cash advances to Mrs. Juliet Cotton and her Quality Grain Company.

In spite of that fiat, then finance minister, Mrs. Richard Kwame Peprah and the Head of Legal services at the Ministry of Finance Dr. George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, “suroyad” Prof. Atta Mills, to wit, dribbled him by advancing a further loan of $2,000,000 to the Quality Grain Company Ltd.

This is because Mrs Cotton had said she had lost about US$5.5 million in the investments she had made on the Aveyime rice project. She therefore submitted a bill for US$5.5 million and asked that the Ghana Government reimbursed, her for the loss, since the delay had raised her total investments from US$21 million to US$27 million. But then vice president Professor Atta Mills ruled that this request should be ignored, however his order was disregarded.

In his landmark 95-page judgement on the $22 million Quality Grain case, Justice Dixen Kwame Afreh, a justice of the Supreme Court, who presided over the Quality Grain case at the Fast Trace High Court, reprimanded then vice president Professor John Evans Atta Mills for sitting down, while the 3rd and 4th accused person, Mr Kwame Peprah and Dr George Yankey, did things by disregarding his directives, although he was the “shadow Director” of the Quality Grain! Project.

Contrary to decisions taken to cut Ghana’s losses in the Quality Grain Project on January 29, 1999, i.e. only nine days after a meeting where a decision was taken that no further cash should be advance Mrs. Juliet Cotton, 3rd accused person, (Mr Richard Kwame Peprah), and Mrs. Cotton signed a loan Agreement between the Government of Ghana (GoG) and Quality Grain Company (Ghana) Limited, under which the Government of Ghana “lent” the company US$2,000,000.00.

Source: Ghanaweb, General News of Monday, 19 May 2003 (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=36607)

Yes, the report is very interesting and unfortunately we have the man, Prof. Mills as our President today. Is it any wonder that he keeps reminding himself and all of us that he is in charge and on top of the situation? Is it any wonder that he is appointed mediocre ministers? Is it any wonder that his government has been described by one of his own as Team B?

Unfortunately for Ghanaians we have elected a President who through his negligence Ghana lost $22 million; vital state resource which could have been used to put up schools for those still schooling under trees or used to put up clinics for the people of Babile who have to move for over 20 miles to reach the nearest health post.

Today this man has the effontery to accuse prople of running this country down! What hypocrisy! To Be Continued. This is just the BEGINNING

The Poor Black Stars

I have been prompted to write this article after Sundays disastrous performance of the Black Stars against Mali. Indeed these thoughts have occupied me for some time now. I seriously believe that Ghanaians are under a strong delusion that we have a good team that is capable of winning the African Cup of Nations in Angola and even the World Cup.
Well my opinion is that this is a big lie we continue to tell ourselves; we have a poor team and the earlier we get serious on working the team the better for all of us. The team from Goalkeeping to Attack lacks quality at the moment and even our midfield which was touted as one of the best midfields in the world prior to the 2006 World Cup has lost its quality i.e if we continue the midfield partnership of Stephen Appiah,Michael Essien, Laryea Kingston and Sulley Muntari.
Our team has no one who can hold on to the ball and beat 1,2 or 3 players at a time and who can turn a game around at any moment; till date we do not know how to effect freekicks, corners, throwins or even penalties, no player in our team knows how to do these things;again, we have no clinical finisher cast in the mould of even a Salomon Kalou or even a Berbatov not to talk of a Didier Drogba,Samuel Eto'o or a Fernando Torres. It is hard to see how such a team lacking all these qualities and essentials can perform at high level.
In Goalkeeping, we all know that Richard Kingston is growing, yet till date we have not been able to find any credible replacement for him or even a credible competitor. Maybe this is because we have not had the patience to groom such goalkeepers as Owu,Sammy Adjei and lately William Amamoo. Again as we are all aware of, Olele is not getting match time in Wigan. Since he moved there he has been third Goalkeeper at best and unless we want to prove nature wrong, this would ineveitably mean a loss of form. We cant afford to have a No.1 Goalkeeper who is always on the bench and dream of winning any credible trophy.

In the defence, I find no problem with our right full back apart from the fact that Paintsil seems to have taken that position as his property because even though we have quality players like Incoom, Aziz Ansah etc. who can play there, paintsil plays as long as he is around. Apart from the right however, the rest of the defence is poor and cannot stand the test of time. In the left full back position, Harrison Afful seems to be the only credible potential we have. Even with Afful, we have had numerous occassions to question his overlaps and his recovery rate while his size does not also help. In the Centre I am saddened by the fact that though we have quality Central defenders we seem to have forgotten about all of them and stuck to a lucklustre partnership of John Mensah and Eric Addo. Eric Addo at the moment should not even have a place on the bench of the Black Star but because some people are determined to give him a place and because he cannot fit anywhere in the midfield, we have found a place for him in our defence a situation which is very dangerous. Addo has not got a single quality of a good defender and I struggle to find any reason why he should be constantly in the centre of our defence. John Mensah has not been so reliable recently and he struggles when he meets a skillful player. As we are all aware of again, he found it hard to find his mettle at the top of the French League with Lyon and this says a lot about his play.

Stephen Appiah whose real age I put at over 40 is someone who at most should play for 30 minutes. He has done great things for the team but the truth we cant hide is that he has aged and has been affected by his 2year lay off from regular soccer. Simply put, the team has to move on. People are very sentimental when Appiah is mentioned but the question is would Appiah still play for us even after he turns 90? If it is about what he has done for us in the past then I suggest we start calling people like Mohammed Polo, Osei Kofi, Tony Yeboah and Opoku Afriyie who all did greater things for us.
Our central Midfield pair of Michael Essien and Anthony Annan are great but we have huge huge problems with our wings in the players of Sulley Muntari and Laryea Kingston. Sulley is also one person I believe should not be part of the Team not just because he is indisciplined but because he is an on and off player and gives off his best for only 20 or 30 minutes in any game.Sulley is out of the game for most parts of the game, sometimes he is a non-entity for a whole game. Indeed in recent times, Ghana has done great when Sulley is not in the game as he lacks a total sense of urgency in any game he plays for Ghana.
Laryea Kingston is a great player, he is about our only player who can hold on to the ball in our team at the moment but Laryea's over exuberance and disciplinary issues seems to worry us at critial periods in our matches.
As for our Attack, I wont even talk about it because it is disgraceful, lacks any potential though Matthew Amoah sometimes offers few glimpses of hope.

However, I disagree with anyone who says Ghana lacks a quality bench. Indeed, it is my believe that Ghana has quality players who when given the opportunity can perform and perform to the admiration of the whole world.
In Goalkeeping, I struggle again to understand why we are not trying Goalkeepers like Philemon McCarthy of Hearts of Oak,Stephen Ahulu of Hearts of Lions and Isaac Amoako of Kotoko. These Goalkeepers in my honest view are better than any Goalkeeper we have with the possible exception of Richard Kingston. They are all better than George Owu, William Amamoo and Daniel Adjei. They are great Goalkeepers who I have seen make great saves. Indeed, there are more, Goalkeepers like Laud Quartey of Hearts of Oak and Mohammed Alhassan of Eleven Wise are equally capable of keeping the Black Star Post.

In defence we equally have good potentials like Issah Ahmed who continues to play excellently in Denmark, Shilla Illiasu, isaac Vorsah who all have the capability of starting in our first team.

Perhaps our midfield offers the greatest hope with players like Kwadwo Asamoah, Opoku Agyeman, Dede Ayew, Agyeman Badu, Derick Boateng, Moussa Nari etc. offering great hope. Together with Anthony Annan, these players can anytime be in our midfield and perform better than the partnership of Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari and Laryea Kingston. More hope is offered by the likely inclusion of Kelvin Prince Boateng who played for Germany as a teen and jeffrey Sarpong who did same for the Netherlands. They are great players who would transform our team anytime they join.

In attack we dont seem to have great potentials but I believe that players like Eric Bekoe, Papa Arko, Adiyiah and Ransford Osei would on any day perform better than Asamoah Gyan, Prince Tagoe or Agogo. Asamoah Gyan for me is the most useless striker we have ever fielded except Alex Takyi Menson and Pimpong. He doesnt even deserve to play for our under-15 as a striker. The best we can for him is to transform him into a midfielder.

AM DONE.

FROM BAWKU TO JUBILEE HOUSE;AS ACCRA GETS TOO HOT

So the week began with Bawku in flames. The Militants and Insurgents in Bawku by this week had grown stronger and better than even the ones found in Iraq and Afganistan. The Presidents facade of forceful handshakes between the rival heads has collapsed and fallen flat. Another populist gimmick has failed and the President's silence is louder than ever. He is in Ghana but this same man who criticised President Kuffuor for not going to Bawku is still enjoying his cozy time at the Castle as if he has not heard of whatever is happening in the hometown of his Press Secreatry. Another case of Atta Adaadaa yen.

Ghanaians also began the week on the back of another increase in fuel Prices. In just 10 months, Uncle Atta has increased fuel prices for 3 times. On the average this is once every 3months so in 4years I expect that he would have increased it by 16times. This time around they invented another joke that it was just 5%so it wouldnt affect Ghanaians. I heard it and wondered if these people had their heads screwed on properly. You increase Fuel prices against your own promises and you dont even have shame to accept this.Today the driver who spends 1000 Ghana cedis on fuel a week would have to cough out 500,000 more and if this would not affect him then I dont know what would affect him. For me it has become obvious that the President and his people while encouraging us to tighten our belts have themselves removed even the belt holes on their trousers. What a Shame. Enkoyie!

Gbagbo the Illegal President of Cote D' Ivoire also came to Ghana amidst special documentaries by GTV. The President agreed to help them organize credible elections. I wonder if he is not going to advise him to threaten Ivorians that if he (Gbagbo) doesnt win there would be chaos; just like the Good Prof did in Ghana.
The Madrid Club also were in Ghana. However Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr. Fl. Lt. Jerry John Mediocre Rawlings was not invited to the conference though Mo Ibrahim finalist Kuffuor was invited. They paid a visit to President Mills and come and see how the Anyidoho's and Segbefia's were strugling and falling over each other to snap photographs with President Kufuor-the face they hate so much. Hypocrites Indeed.

Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr. Fl. Lt. Jerry John Mediocre Rawlings was at his best again; this time he told Asomdwee Hene to becareful of the numerous sycophants who tell him that within 10months Ghana has been transformed into heaven. I even hear one of them informed the President that the Colo Colo he said was right and that Coca Cola had officially changed their name-Oh!

On Wednesday, it was Confirmed that the Jubilee House was nolonger going to be used as Poultry Farm or Pig Farm as the NDC had promised. Instead they have started to use it as the Foreign Ministry. For me I believe that the NDC has by this turned people like Mohammed Mumuni and all the other appointees at the Foreign Ministry into Fowls, because it is only fowls who are kept in Poultry Farm. Atta is eating all his words back and for me it is a disgrace for our Politics and nation that someone like Mills is our President because he has no sense of shame! As for the suspicions behind the fire at the Foreign Ministry, I would leave everyone to his/her own believes but for me there could be more than meets the eye.

The Government this week also shamefully admitted that the whole Vodafone hulabaloo was a wild Goose chase and that again they had wasted the contry's resources on yet another useless Committee and very deceptive campaign promise. In the end to save their faces, they coined a term like RE-ENGAGEMENT to describe the shameful 'merry go round' they continue to ride. The numerous allegations of Kufuor bribery etc. could not be proved. But this issue koraa, I dont understand. How can anyone think that in divesting Shares in such a huge National asset, the President shouldnot be involved? Indeed if the President is not going to be involved in such serious national issues like this then Atta Mills has no business being President and it makes me quite understand why he is forming so much committees-this man simply is afraid of responsibilty! Simple and Short.

Finally, the President handed over Toyota Corolla Cars to the Black Satellite players after Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivorian President announced that he was going to give National Honors to the Satellites for honoring Africa. Ghana took a trophy historically and it had to take a foreigner to announce first that he was going to honour our gallant heroes. Atta is sending this country back and this is not in doubt.As has come to be associated with everything they do, they lied again even in presenting this award. Nii Oko Djani, the chairman of the 7 member committee tasked to decide on the awards came out openly to say that- the cars were chosen by the Satellites and the GFA;a very big LIE as I had heard some players saying that they thought houses for them would be the best presents. Again one wonders if a Toyota Corolla is the lasting and monumental gift the President talked about?

So after all this , Accra became too hot for the President and he had to bolt to the Ashanti Region (probally his 10th home according to his own analogy). But as I always say he can run but he cannot hide. He would surely return and if he continues this way Accra would continue to heat up for him. Am out!

I AM SCARED OF 2012

When I blogged on September 2 about hidden Militias in Bawku, some thought'oh yes there he goes again-the NPP boy raising alarm where there is none'. Today we are all witnesses to what is happening in Bawku.
I would be the last to even pretend that the Bawku crisis was caused by the Atta Mills led government but for me the truth we can also not run away from is that in 10 months the crisis in bawku has worsened rather than improved. In ten months the number of people killed in Bawku outnumbers 20 and yet those behind the violence and the killings have not been found and continue to act with impunity.

Our President tried to deceive all of us including himself by forcing the rival regents in Bawku to shake eachother earlier in the year; an act which was followed by a massive publication on the Front page of the Daily Graphic Titled-Peace My People. But I do know that the President is fully aware that until he deals with the real culprits behind the Bawku mayhem, this crisis would continue. Indeed if he does not know that then Ghanaians should start wailing.

Though I am concerned about the Bawku crisis, its implications coupled with other violent incidents witnessed this year give me more cause to be worried and scared. It tells me that there is fire on the mountain sometime soon.
We all were here when in Akwatia, a Deputy Minister of state declared a Jihad over an election everyone knew he had lost. The incidents in Bawku were dangerous, in broad day light top officials of the Opposition including the Chairman and General secretary were attacked in the full glare of the Police. When confronted about the apparent inaction of the Police, the Police complained and responded that they did not have orders to intervene.

Following that 3 people were mercilessly and brutally butchered in front of the Police Station right in the centre of Accra, and the Police did not respond again. Here I should commend the President for not setting up a committee to investigate even though it would have been better to do so in this case than the many other useless committees he has set up.

In Sankore, the NPP supporters have been victimised and taunted and some have even been killed allegedly on the orders of the Deputy Brong Ahafo Minister; indeed the suspect was found hiding under his bed at his Sakumono residence. This and many other general security issues like the seizure of a Military Vehicle by a couple Armed Robbers give me cause to be scared to heel.

Why? Because anytime I remember of these security issues I have outlined or hear of a new one, my mind quickly fastforwards to 2012. Imagine Akwatia expanded to a National scale but this time with the NPP also fully armed to protect themselves and attack NDC folks as well and you would understand me.
It is very clear that the NPP readily handed over power in December because they didnot want the country to break up on their heads as the NDC were bent on winning power by hook or crook as they indicated over and over.
In 2012 however, the NPP would not be in power and with the disastrous rule and victimization been witnessed would also be bent on winning Power. Knowing the NDC and how they have 'loved power in this short time' they would also not want to relinquish power especially as they know that an equal measure of the treatment so far given to the NPP would also be given to them.

The biggest incentive to the 2012 winner is that, that government would have over $500million added revenue from the oil industry and should the NDC lose might potentially mean that they would not be in power for a long long time to come.
The stage is set; lets all pray to survive these hard times and also survive after 2012.
Just for your usage please read the full text of a Press Statement issued by Prof. Mills on July 11 2007 on the Cold Blooded killings of Ghanaians.

PROF. MILLS ON THE COLD-BLOODED KILLINGS OF GHANAINS
The recent slaying of Mr. Rokko Frimpong, Deputy Managing Director of the Ghana Commercial Bank, has
undoubtedly accentuated the belief that we are now in an era where people are engaging the services of
Contract Killers, to either settle scores or for the pursuit of their very selfish interests.
Before the cold blooded murder of Mr. Frimpong, a prominent Corporate Executive, Mr. Awuah Boateng,
and an accomplished journalist, Mr. Samuel Ennin, were all murdered in cold blood by heartless assassins
who killed not because they wanted to steal property or wealth, but killed because the mission was to wipe
out their victims.
Apart from the very professional manner in which the assassins carry out their assignments, a very worrying
trend that is being established, is, the hit men have exhibited brazen bravado which reeks of a “we fear
nothing” attitude as they execute their jobs without masking themselves.
It is this “we fear nothing” attitude that Ghanaians must be extremely worried about since the message that
the assassins and their bosses are sending is that they either don’t care if they are caught, or know that they
are so well connected and protected that they cannot be caught.
As scary as the current phenomenon of Contract Killing is, it is not difficult to draw a link between what is
happening and Ghana having become a key hub and major transit point for the illicit drug trade.
Ghana has become a principal corridor through which transnational drug trafficking groups operate and
incontrovertible evidence abounds to that effect.
The magnitude of ill-gotten wealth that the drug trade makes available to the barons, allows them to use
money to buy almost anything – including buying the services of hit men.
It cannot be ruled out that contract killers also tend to be users of drugs hence the barefaced boldness we
are witnessing as in the three cases in question, the hit men have operated without masks.
Ghana is no longer the safe country and investment destination that it used to be and I am calling on
President Kufuor, his Interior Minister, and the Inspector General of Police, to not only find the assassins and
brains behind these heinous crimes, but also restore hope in Ghanaians that we can operate within a safe
environment and not live in constant fear not knowing who would fall victim next to the bullets of the contract
killers.
John Evans Atta Mills
NDC Presidential Candidate)

The security issues in Ghana seem to take a new twist each and every day. With all that is going I can only say that God is the only one protecting my dear country from any ills. I choose to write about these issues because I believe the world has pampered Ghana into complacency and its voices like the one am raising that would help the world take a second look at the country. I strongly believe that this second look would awwaken my country and bring us back to the highs we all wish we would have.


A shocking intelligence report published by the Ghanaian Observer, one of the leading Newspapers in Ghana indicates that both children and adults are being trained as guerrillas in the conflict prone Northern Ghana town of Bawku. The implications of such activities cannot be overstated. The town is a hotbed of conflicts and has seen a lot of bloody, violent conflicts in the Past and as recent as this year.

The implications of the report are worsened by the fact that the training is being done with arms and armunitions belonging to the Military while the Military seems unaware of this situation. It would be recalled that in one of my recent postings I did indicate that the Spokesperson of the President Mahama Ayariga had abandoned his post and was campaigning seriously for the Bawku Constituency seat which had yet to be declared vacant.

Maybe one would not understand, let me explain, the Presidencial spokesperson occupied the Bawku Central Parliamentary seat until the last elections in December 2008 when he was defeated seriously by one Daraman Sakonde of the now opposition NPP. However, the new MP has been sent to court by one acquaintance of the Presidential Spokesperson over his citizenship, the case is still pending in Court.

The Spokesperson is believed believes strongly that the seat would at all cost be declared vacant so has started campaigning, in the wake of his campaigns two people have been killed and now appears this secret intelligence report of militias in the same town.

A WORD TO THE WISE IS ENOUNGH

news.peacefmonline.com/social/200909/25753.php

the mayhem in Ghana

The latest incidents of Agborbloshie a settlement in the centre of Accra, for me underlines the growing insecurity and the total breakdown of law in Ghana. President Mills, while being sworn in promised clearly that he was going to tackle the security challenges of the country and ensure that the rule of law was upheld. Since then what has happened? Armed robbery has seen dramatic increase, including the murder of the vice-chairman of the opposition NPP in one of the constituencies together with the maiming of a German visitor who was in the house of the Vice-Chairman; two people in february were killed at agborbloshie following attempts by supporters of the ruling NDC to eject forcefully settlers of the area who belong to the opposition. Sadly, since then nothing has happened to anyone, and just two days ago four people were killed under the same circumstances in the same area. indeed to say killed is a wicked understatement, these people were brutally butchered. Very interestingly, the scene of these two incidents (the one in february and the latest one) is directly opposite a Police Post. Again, this incident follows violent clashes in the Akwatia Constituency where a bi election triggered severe maltreatment and violence on opposition leaders. In the end over 10 cars belonging to officials of the New Patriotic Party were smashed, again till date no one has been arrested. The Presidential spokesperson has been out of the capital for weeks and is in his native Bawku causing trouble. Last week, he was allegedly implicated in the death of two sympathizers of the NPP. Sadly, in all these events the President who claims to be a peace loving personality is silent and has not commented on any of these issues. Probably the outside world needs to revise its thought on Ghana.

the atrocities in darfur african leaders condone

Looking at the pictures from Darfur, I was disappointed that my President and indeed the one before him (who became African Union Chairman), all decided to remain mute on this criminal act. What more the Al-Bashir the big criminal is in the same AU club with them. Who speaks for the innocent African?