Spot on! IMANI your reaction? I bet you have none. You make too much noise and achieve so very little. You are even suspected of veering into politics. Shut up!
Spot on! IMANI your reaction? I bet you have none. You make too much noise and achieve so very little. You are even suspected of veering into politics. Shut up!
Karaka Pentoa 10 years ago
IMANI does a lot of critical analyses and thinking. You don't see it because of your colored and tinted lenses. It is very obvious to everyone that you are living in a fools heaven with your reference to Nkrumah who was overt ... read full comment
IMANI does a lot of critical analyses and thinking. You don't see it because of your colored and tinted lenses. It is very obvious to everyone that you are living in a fools heaven with your reference to Nkrumah who was overthrown almost a half century ago. Boy have things changed, but you Kofi of nowhere hasn't.
You are like your hero JJ, who now goes to elementary schools to tell them about his inability to sleep. IMANI doesn't do that. They talk in the mainstream media. That is why Great Universities such as PENN get to hear of them. And that is why Murtala of the Propaganda Ministry get to hear of them.
Kponyo 10 years ago
For the first time a crucial and potent article on Ghanaweb on the fast waning state of the nation. Needless to say, the title was apt and the criticism in the substance of the article spot-on.
I myself have had a few disc ... read full comment
For the first time a crucial and potent article on Ghanaweb on the fast waning state of the nation. Needless to say, the title was apt and the criticism in the substance of the article spot-on.
I myself have had a few discussions with some of these pimps of imperialism (they call themselves NGOs) and almost to a man, they are anti-Nkrumaist, subservient to imperialist incursions and definitely not nationalist inclined.
It becomes even more interesting and understandable why many nationalist govts all over the world now demand to know the sources of funding of NGOs and why increasingly they are being thrown out of many countries.
Their fraudulent assumptions of neutrality are a sham, contrived only to deceive, prepare and sell their sovereignty for a mess of potage.
Several decades ago, the slave raiders and colonialists employed military force to oppress vulnerable countries around the world. Today, so as not to unduly irritate local natives, the imperialists employ pampered natives to do their dirty work for them.
NGOs - particularly the kind such as IMANI, are like those Africans who actively assisted white slave raiders to locate, catch and enslave Africans in the heinous slave holocaust of Africa.
At best, NGOs in Ghana are like JB Danquahs dreams come true. NGOs have simply assumed the posture and the role of former white colonial govts to carry out their unfulfilled aspirations after they have left, to make sure that, in their absence, the neo-colony is efficiently run as a viable plantation for imperialist interests only.
princewilly@ymail.com 10 years ago
One day, this young boy and his Grandfather were fishing in a boat out on a lake. The Grandfather pulls out a beer from his cooler and starts drinking it. The boy asks “Grandpa, can I have one of those?” Grandpa replies, ... read full comment
One day, this young boy and his Grandfather were fishing in a boat out on a lake. The Grandfather pulls out a beer from his cooler and starts drinking it. The boy asks “Grandpa, can I have one of those?” Grandpa replies, “When your penis is long enough to touch your ass, then you’ll be old enough and I will give you one.”
A little later the Grandfather pulls out a long cigar. The boy asks “Grandpa, can I have one of those?” He replies ” If your penis can touch your ass, then you can have one.”
Later that day the boy pulls out a snack pack and starts eating it. The Grandfather asks, “Grandson, can I get one of those?”
The boy asks, “Can your penis touch your ass?”
The Grandfather says “Yes it can.”
The boy says, “Then go screw yourself.”
Tweaa 10 years ago
This article has no head or tail. the writer obviously is struggling for a non-existent recognition. infact this article makes no sense at all. speculations galore. copy and paste article. is it the responsibility of govt to ... read full comment
This article has no head or tail. the writer obviously is struggling for a non-existent recognition. infact this article makes no sense at all. speculations galore. copy and paste article. is it the responsibility of govt to alleviate poverty or IMANI? to me IMANI is an institution of courageous people who are doing massively well. cut the crap ignorant writer. nansis.
KIA 10 years ago
"Is it the responsibility of govt to alleviate poverty or IMANI?"
That's a very important question you've asked, one that all of us, including the civil society oragisations (CSO), must ponder over. But to answer your ques ... read full comment
"Is it the responsibility of govt to alleviate poverty or IMANI?"
That's a very important question you've asked, one that all of us, including the civil society oragisations (CSO), must ponder over. But to answer your question, I'd like to pose another: why did CSOs emerge in the development agenda first place?
From the early 1990s, Western donors and international development agencies began to channel substantial amounts of aid through non-state actors (NGOs/CSOs). The rationale was simple. The state in most developing countries was failing to promote socio-economic development. Therefore, aid could be channelled through NGOs and other CSOs, which can better use aid to promote the socio-economic development of communities.
Unfortunately, by the end of the 1990s, it became evident that this strategy too had failed. Yet, only the state was blamed. Donors not only intensified aid to NGOs ostensibly to promote socio-economic development, but also started funding the growth of CSOs as a means to promoting good governance, which is said to be a pre-requisite for socio-economic development.
So yes, promoting socio-economic development of communities is the very reason why these NGOs have been receiving funding. Even the good governance CSOs must contribute to this because good governance simply means the effectiveness with which we deliver public services, including for the poor. However, the definition of good governance itself has been expanded to accommodate the geopolitical interests of donors, including democracy and free market promotion.
Of course, there is a problem with this silly notion that NGOs and other CSOs can drive socio-economic development. It has never happened anywhere in the world. But to the extent that the NGOs/CSOs are receiving funding for that purpose, we should be concerned that they're using most of the aid rents to make some contribution to general socio-economic development, instead of using most of the money to alleviate their personal poverty. Mind you, the NGOs/CSOs compete with the state for scarce foreign resources for development.
Joe 10 years ago
Its only a fool who will think that its only government who is responsible to alleviate poverty.
KIA, u are a stupid fool to have that thinking.
Its only a fool who will think that its only government who is responsible to alleviate poverty.
KIA, u are a stupid fool to have that thinking.
KIA 10 years ago
Sadly, the ignorant are often the first to hurl insults in a debate. As to whose brain is dead, I leave readers to judge!
Given that I wrote in very simple English, I suspect you have a problem with logic. I stated that t ... read full comment
Sadly, the ignorant are often the first to hurl insults in a debate. As to whose brain is dead, I leave readers to judge!
Given that I wrote in very simple English, I suspect you have a problem with logic. I stated that the recent notion that NGOs/CSOs can be the driver of socio-economic development is silly and that it has never happened anywhere in the world. The driver role belongs to the state to which we pay taxes to solve problems that as individuals we are not able to solve. In that sense, governments have a bigger responsibility than even international development agencies. Now, that's not only an empirical fact, it is also common sense.
I suspect you take the above statement to mean that only the government has a role to alleviate poverty. But this doesn't logically follow from my statement. Moreover, I also urged NGOs/CSOs to use the resources given them to contribute toward socio-economic development, not least because, albeit wrongly, they've been assigned a MAJOR role in poverty alleviation in post-Cold War international development practice. Please, read well before you start insulting others. It's becoming very annoying.
LONTO-BOY 10 years ago
KIA, it's a shame Joe didn't see the sense in your commentary.
KIA, it's a shame Joe didn't see the sense in your commentary.
STEVOOO 10 years ago
what at all is wrong with this animal called joe....govt controls taxes etc to run the nation which includes job creation and also includes creating the enabling environment for business growth...so stupid joe, tell me in whi ... read full comment
what at all is wrong with this animal called joe....govt controls taxes etc to run the nation which includes job creation and also includes creating the enabling environment for business growth...so stupid joe, tell me in which way gyeeda, subah, sada, etc help in this regard...kwasiiiiiiaaaaa joe.
Kponyo 10 years ago
NGOs are simply akin to the Free Syrian Army or the Libyan rebel Army/Govt.
From nowhere and with dubious qualifications and experience, they are massively funded by global imperialism to subvert the nationalist agenda of ... read full comment
NGOs are simply akin to the Free Syrian Army or the Libyan rebel Army/Govt.
From nowhere and with dubious qualifications and experience, they are massively funded by global imperialism to subvert the nationalist agenda of other countries to make such countries fall in line with the dictatorial globalization scheme hatched by western imperialism to create a unipolar govt in which only they call the shots.
Some NGOs due to their massive funding which sometimes equal that of govts, have become parallel govts. Again due to their strong links to global imperialism they have become virtually untouchable. They thus confront govts who tend to drift away from under-development towards meaningful development policies which favour the neocolonialist or imperialist agenda.
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
kia,
My point is imani and other NGOs have not analysed properly the fundamental causes of Ghana's social, cultural, economic and political failures.
That this is because they will not bite the foreign hands that feed ... read full comment
kia,
My point is imani and other NGOs have not analysed properly the fundamental causes of Ghana's social, cultural, economic and political failures.
That this is because they will not bite the foreign hands that feed them. That it is not good enough calling for cosmetic changes. You make this same point:
'Of course, there is a problem with this silly notion that NGOs and other CSOs can drive socio-economic development. It has never happened anywhere in the world.'
The solution lies in Ghana's lack of a clear structure for a self-reliant development. We must launch a science and technology-led Development and Modernisation Programme.
I think we are agreed on the coherent and cogent reasons I give for my criticisms.
Regards,
Kofi of Africa
Joe 10 years ago
Stupid Fool. What do u mean by courageous ppl whilst they can't use their heads to contribute to the development of the nation?
Stupid fools like u should shut up and not be commenting on issues in the public domain. Asshole ... read full comment
Stupid Fool. What do u mean by courageous ppl whilst they can't use their heads to contribute to the development of the nation?
Stupid fools like u should shut up and not be commenting on issues in the public domain. Asshole.
Samson 10 years ago
Bravo. Kofi, you have hit the nail right on the head. We as a country are not going anywhere so long as we continue on the path of the IMF-SAP modules, closely monitored by the likes of IMANI.
Bravo. Kofi, you have hit the nail right on the head. We as a country are not going anywhere so long as we continue on the path of the IMF-SAP modules, closely monitored by the likes of IMANI.
STEVOOO 10 years ago
massa, common sense is common sense and it does not matter whether it came from imani, ndc, npp, ngo, or xyz.....what imani puts out there analytically is very commonsensical and i dont need what motivated them to put it out ... read full comment
massa, common sense is common sense and it does not matter whether it came from imani, ndc, npp, ngo, or xyz.....what imani puts out there analytically is very commonsensical and i dont need what motivated them to put it out there before i believe them,,,,,we blacks and ghanaians in particular are too busy destroying our country with massive corruption and thieving and dont want others to comment about us bcos we are to callous and shallow and narrow minded......truth is truth and imani has put a lot of truths out there....so praise the personnel of imani and whoever their financiers are for fighting a good fight.
Joe 10 years ago
Hear this fool who call himself Stevoo making mockery of himself. Shut up with your poor English,and learn.
What do u know about the operations of think tanks and ngo's?
Hear this fool who call himself Stevoo making mockery of himself. Shut up with your poor English,and learn.
What do u know about the operations of think tanks and ngo's?
STEVOOO 10 years ago
foolish joe, english isnt my language but common sense tells me that common sense isnt common to stupid fools like u who cant stand the truth....ngo or no ngo, common sense is common sense...if a ruling govt messes up big tim ... read full comment
foolish joe, english isnt my language but common sense tells me that common sense isnt common to stupid fools like u who cant stand the truth....ngo or no ngo, common sense is common sense...if a ruling govt messes up big time and the nation suffer needlessly for that, u dont need an ngo to tell u about this.....so why attack ngo's for doing their work which seeks to foster nation building...kwasiaaaaaaa joe.
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
STEVOOD,
I have not said IMANI has not spoken some truths. My point is they have not analysed properly the fundamental causes of Ghana's social, cultural, economic and political failures.
That this is because they will ... read full comment
STEVOOD,
I have not said IMANI has not spoken some truths. My point is they have not analysed properly the fundamental causes of Ghana's social, cultural, economic and political failures.
That this is because they will not bite the foreign hands that feed them. That it is not good enough calling for cosmetic changes.
The solution lies in Ghana's lack of a clear structure for a self-reliant development. We must launch a science and technology-led Development and Modernisation Programme.
I have given coherent and cogent reasons for my criticisms. I hope you do the same.
Regards,
Kofi of Africa
Asuo-Amponsah 10 years ago
Client as well- the NPP! And that Cudjoe,the outfit`s founder, has really hurt the group.
Client as well- the NPP! And that Cudjoe,the outfit`s founder, has really hurt the group.
EMMA 10 years ago
IMANI, led by their extra large mouth Cudjoe, is an affilliate group of the NPP. Everyone knows about that in Ghana, so nobody should decieve us. Those who are sponsoring this Cudjoe and his group are only throwing their mone ... read full comment
IMANI, led by their extra large mouth Cudjoe, is an affilliate group of the NPP. Everyone knows about that in Ghana, so nobody should decieve us. Those who are sponsoring this Cudjoe and his group are only throwing their money away. I advise them to channel that money somewhere else where it would serve a good purpose than giving it to a group alligned to a political party like the NPP. Cudjoe and his alles have never seen anything wrong with Kufour´s led NPP, for the 8 good years that they have systematically plundered this country and looted it dried. The most serious being the percentage of our oil money Kufour and his cronies alloted to themselves. Cudjoe and his group are blind and do not know about it. Are these things people to take serious?
Kponyo 10 years ago
To say that IMANI is an NPP affiliate is over-simplifying the matter. I really do not think that they are necessarily of NPP stock. They surely think alike but they are both playing their own separate games in the 'Boys Quart ... read full comment
To say that IMANI is an NPP affiliate is over-simplifying the matter. I really do not think that they are necessarily of NPP stock. They surely think alike but they are both playing their own separate games in the 'Boys Quarters' of global imperialism.
The simple truth is that they both share or are conduits/errand boys to the grand neocolonial agenda for Africa. This is not very different from the role that the NDC itself is currently inclined towards. For the lack of any palpable ideology, the NDC has also been sucked into the morass.
You Emma obviously are still living under the pathetic illusion that NGOs are funded by our slave and colonial 'masters' to help us improve our conditions of life. If that is what you think, then you might still have to go back to school. Assuming however that this were to be the case, why have they (NGOs) not succeeded in achieving anything significant in Ghana in over 50 years of active operation?
If you ask me, like our politicians, they are the only ones who personally benefit from the attention and money given to them, at the end of the day.
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
Kponyo,
You have made the most coherent contribution to this debate so far.
You most profound quote is, 'pathetic illusion that NGOs are funded by our slave and colonial 'masters' to help us improve our conditions of li ... read full comment
Kponyo,
You have made the most coherent contribution to this debate so far.
You most profound quote is, 'pathetic illusion that NGOs are funded by our slave and colonial 'masters' to help us improve our conditions of life.'
The masses of people in Ghana and Africa must consciously develop a culture of proper critical national/continental discourse.
GHANAIANS AND AFRICANS MUST UNITE!
Regards.
KIA 10 years ago
Kofi, I hope you have a thick skin. Prepare for insults and accusations of enviousness from the acolytes and assigns of some of these civil society groups.
However, even for someone who is equally critical of what I call ... read full comment
Kofi, I hope you have a thick skin. Prepare for insults and accusations of enviousness from the acolytes and assigns of some of these civil society groups.
However, even for someone who is equally critical of what I call rentier Civil Society groups, I also found your thinking a little fuzzy and impractical on some issues.
1. There is nothing wrong with foreign capital or participation in international trade. This is the mistake our socialist-leaning thinkers make. In modern history, there has been only one major nation (Meiji Japan) that industrialised without foreign investment and this was done at such an enormous social cost as to make that strategy a non-starter in a democratic society. We know what happened when the Chinese tried it in their search for Communist utopia! We also know how China has benefited from opening up its economy to foreign capital and trade.
2. However, our right-wing and libertarian thinkers also make the mistake of accepting the free market ideology of leading industrial powers. What they fail to realise is that these same nations rejected the same ideology when they themselves were developing and playing catch-up. E.g. US and German thinkers were united in their opposition to British thought on free trade. Yet, as soon as the US became the dominant industrial power, it too adopted the British ideological position. Recently, China is emerging as the new champion of free trade, although it too has for a long time opposed unbridled free trade.
3. What does all this mean? It's in the interest of the leading industrialising powers to favour open trade policies, while it's in the interest of those trying to start industrialisation, catching up or even declining to favour discriminatory trade policies which allow them to protect and grow selected industries until they're ready to compete on the world stage.
We need a pragmatic and flexible economic strategy that addresses our own circumstances at any given time. Rejecting foreign capital and trade outright is just ideological foolishness. But going to the other extreme and buying into, or promoting, some so-called libertarian notions of economy and trade when we haven't developed competitive industries is equally wrong-headed. Interestingly, when China began to out-compete the US, libertarian thinkers in the US suddenly started talking about "libertarian paternalism", a new position that accepts an economic role for the state, if this role helps to build the capacity and competitiveness of individuals and private enterprise.
In other words, American libertarians are shifting their positions in order to accommodate new circumstances. We too must do the same. What we need to do, and what all serious nations have done, is to introduce regulatory policies to subordinate foreign trade and capital to the national interest. That is for our state elites to do.
But our civil society elite also have a role. They must also focus on productive activities, e.g. advisory and capacity building services for our farmers and SMEs, health and educational initiatives, serious research on economic and political phenomena with the capacity to generate ideas for national policy. There are several civil society groups in Ghana making such contributions. We often don't hear of them because they work quietly. But there are which make noise just to attract grants. It's worse if this noise-making ostensibly promotes foreign interests. We should make a distinction between productive and rentier civil society.
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
KIA,
I suggest you post on Ghanaweb and ModernGhana. Ghana/Africa needs courageous, youthful, refreshing, effervescent, clinical social critics like you.
Apparently the most well-viewed social-political programme is JO ... read full comment
KIA,
I suggest you post on Ghanaweb and ModernGhana. Ghana/Africa needs courageous, youthful, refreshing, effervescent, clinical social critics like you.
Apparently the most well-viewed social-political programme is JOY TV Newsfile. No wonder Ghana is in such economic doldrums.
I can honestly count only a handful of competent personnel on this programme, which only seem animated when issues of law are debated - as incestuously, the host and most of his friends are lawyers!
Beside legal rantings, this bunch of people are not the brightest pebbles at the! Examples:
Host, Samson Lardy Ayenini - is obviously politically tendentious - fixated on granting, gabbing Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko - the former, insincere, Slim-shady head of the Danquah Institute, who often guffaws uncontrollably while irritatingly discovering how his new android phone (or whatever) works under the table.
Kweku Baako - can't seem to 'think' without boy-school-cramming a pile of ill-gotten top secrete government documents. That no one has arrested him as yet, is reflective of the NDC government's emasculation in political power. It indicates the lack of government structures and their enforcement! Favorite saying, 'I know I'm not a lawyer' - so predictably boring!).
Abraham Amaliba - NDC lawyer and ideologue, who nearly always defends his party no matter the issue. I like his combative interventions, But he sometimes put's his foot in it - gaffs.
NPP's Nii Ayikoi Otoo, a former Attorney General whose often jingoistic utterances reminds one of how Obetsebi-Lamptey would have been like in the 1960s, as terrorist Supreme exploding IEDs at children and Dr. Nkrumah. Appears level headed on legal matters, but intellectually and emotionally suspect. Etc...
They are all the similar - politically adversarial, uni-direction (one-way) on most issues, first-year-university-ish, elitist in manner and delivery.
They are all extremely incapable, or afraid to tackle the real causes of Ghana's social, political, economic and cultural issues.
Example: none of them has ever raised the crucial question of the need for Ghana to debate the nationalisation of the excellently capitalised state sector commodities and industrial sectors. that Dr. Nkrumah bequeathed Ghana (gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, State Farms, and lately oil; Ghana Telecom, GIHOC state Industries, Ghana Airways, Black Star Line Shipping Co.)etc.
Our economy has been asininely sold by our 'leaders', WHOLESALE, under so-called IMF-SAP 'conditionalities (even dictionaries reject this damn word!).
No intelligent consideration has been given by any of them about nationalising our key economic sectors to fund the launch of a 10-15 year comprehensive, Development and Modernisation Programme, which could have transformed Ghana into a science and technology-led, industrialised, manufacturing, exporting country.
No one has given the thought that this would have solved our current Cedi exchange rate and material crisis, stopped our economist and policy makers from chasing after their tails economically; afforded Ghanaians full employment; universal free education; affordable housing, health, transportation, public amenities - and raised our standards of living!
These are the intelligent reasons why I think all Ghana's so-called 'intellectuals' are bankrupt - a bunch of court jesters!
I am now ready for intelligent discourse on what i have said here.
Regards.
Whatever 10 years ago
Rao concludes, ‘In the long run, NGOs are accountable to their funders, not to the people they work among.’ It has everything in it
Rao concludes, ‘In the long run, NGOs are accountable to their funders, not to the people they work among.’ It has everything in it
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
YES.
YES.
Kwame 10 years ago
The problem with Africa/Ghana arises because of corruption, greed and arrogance of the few, along with being academically educated to a state where reality doesn't exist, plus people in general are not honest with themselves ... read full comment
The problem with Africa/Ghana arises because of corruption, greed and arrogance of the few, along with being academically educated to a state where reality doesn't exist, plus people in general are not honest with themselves let alone with other.
You want to be like the West, but where would the West be if it hadn't had for slave trade.
I mentioned Education, we get pieces of pay saying we are Ph.d ect. ect. yet its only theory, they don't have any practical experience. To resolve 75% of the transportation problems in Ghana, would take about 5 years. To resolve other issues 5 - 10 years. common sense and a practical approach must be use, with people who have hands-on-experience guiding them.
It will only work if the People of Ghana themselves want it to work, everybody knows someone who knows someone who can get them off, or money talks.
Like the rubbish situation, who's to blame? Govn't because they cannot manage it themselves, ZL they are under funded not paid by govn't, Joe public don't care just through rubbish anywhere. Out of the ooo's of tonnes of rubbish how much could be recycled and reused here in Ghana?
If those who lived outside came back (they wont)put that knowledge into sorting the countries problems out
The world would look up to Africa. We all forget we cannot take any of this with us into the next life>
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
Kwame,
I agree with everything you have written here.
I suggest if both the NDC-NPP have been given 2 terms of office and have nothing to show for it - except selling everything Dr. Nkrumah's CPP bequeathed Ghana - sure ... read full comment
Kwame,
I agree with everything you have written here.
I suggest if both the NDC-NPP have been given 2 terms of office and have nothing to show for it - except selling everything Dr. Nkrumah's CPP bequeathed Ghana - sure we must vote in the CPP and other smaller parties in to see what they can do?
Regards.
Azaato 10 years ago
How can an organisation that receives funding from the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute and host of other several right wing foundations, afford to critise, its benefactors? Indeed, IMANI has ... read full comment
How can an organisation that receives funding from the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute and host of other several right wing foundations, afford to critise, its benefactors? Indeed, IMANI has decidedly declared itself a think tank seeking "market solutions to problems". Is there wonder that all the its praise-singers are from these foundations?
Kponyo 10 years ago
Azaato, how can a country that has been consistently undermined into a state of dysfunction and that subsists on foreign charity, succeed on what some of you call 'market solutions'?
A pauper who attempts to do business wi ... read full comment
Azaato, how can a country that has been consistently undermined into a state of dysfunction and that subsists on foreign charity, succeed on what some of you call 'market solutions'?
A pauper who attempts to do business without a penny to his name only ends up as an errand boy of his competitors. That in sum, is what our country Ghana has become. Today, almost all our vital resources are in the hands of our historical oppressors. They are in the hands of means that they are creaming all the potential benefits of those resources, just like it was, or even worse than it was during the colonial era.
For instance, we go about proudly proclaiming, "our oil, our oil". We dont have any oil. What was supposed to be our oil is in fact now somebody's oil and they are giving us only a paltry 12.5% of the total revenue thereof. You see the picture? We have become a neocolony all over again. Thats what it is about.
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
EXCELLENT QUESTION.
EXCELLENT QUESTION.
LONTO-BOY 10 years ago
Well, it's where IMANI, NGOs and other Think Tanks obtain their source of funding which determine their agenda. This sometimes undermine their credibility. In most cases, such think tanks are ideologically driven or are propa ... read full comment
Well, it's where IMANI, NGOs and other Think Tanks obtain their source of funding which determine their agenda. This sometimes undermine their credibility. In most cases, such think tanks are ideologically driven or are propaganda outfits than genuine policy institutes.
KOFI OF AFRICA 10 years ago
HOW GHANA'S INTELLECTUALS ARE BANKRUPT
Compatriots,
I think Ghana's 'intellectuals' are largely bankrupt in ideas for these reasons:
Apparently the most well-viewed social-political programme is JOY TV Newsfile. N ... read full comment
HOW GHANA'S INTELLECTUALS ARE BANKRUPT
Compatriots,
I think Ghana's 'intellectuals' are largely bankrupt in ideas for these reasons:
Apparently the most well-viewed social-political programme is JOY TV Newsfile. No wonder Ghana is in such social, cultural, economic and political doldrums.
I can honestly count only a handful of competent personnel on this programme, which only seem animated when issues of law are debated - as incestuously, the host and most of his friends are lawyers!
Beside legal rantings, this bunch of people are not the brightest pebbles at the! Examples:
Host, Samson Lardy Ayenini - is obviously politically tendentious - fixated on granting, gabbing Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko - the former, insincere, Slim-shady head of the Danquah Institute, who often guffaws uncontrollably while irritatingly discovering how his new android phone (or whatever) works under the table.
Kweku Baako - can't seem to 'think' without boy-school-cramming a pile of ill-gotten top secrete government documents. That no one has arrested him as yet, is reflective of the NDC government's emasculation in political power. It indicates the lack of government structures and their enforcement! Favorite saying, 'I know I'm not a lawyer' - so predictably boring!).
Abraham Amaliba - NDC lawyer and ideologue, who nearly always defends his party no matter the issue. I like his combative interventions, But he sometimes put's his foot in it - gaffs.
NPP's Nii Ayikoi Otoo, a former Attorney General whose often jingoistic utterances reminds one of how Obetsebi-Lamptey would have been like in the 1960s, as terrorist Supreme exploding IEDs at children and Dr. Nkrumah. Appears level headed on legal matters, but intellectually and emotionally suspect. Etc...
They are all the similar - politically adversarial, uni-direction (one-way) on most issues, first-year-university-ish, elitist in manner and delivery.
They are all extremely incapable, or afraid to tackle the real causes of Ghana's social, political, economic and cultural issues.
Example: none of them has ever raised the crucial question of the need for Ghana to debate the nationalisation of the excellently capitalised state sector commodities and industrial sectors. that Dr. Nkrumah bequeathed Ghana (gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, State Farms, and lately oil; Ghana Telecom, GIHOC state Industries, Ghana Airways, Black Star Line Shipping Co.)etc.
Our economy has been asininely sold by our 'leaders', WHOLESALE, under so-called IMF-SAP 'conditionalities (even dictionaries reject this damn word!).
No intelligent consideration has been given by any of them about nationalising our key economic sectors to fund the launch of a 10-15 year comprehensive, Development and Modernisation Programme, which could have transformed Ghana into a science and technology-led, industrialised, manufacturing, exporting country.
No one has given the thought that this would have solved our current Cedi exchange rate and material crisis, stopped our economist and policy makers from chasing after their tails economically; afforded Ghanaians full employment; universal free education; affordable housing, health, transportation, public amenities - and raised our standards of living!
These are the intelligent reasons why I think all Ghana's so-called 'intellectuals' are bankrupt - a bunch of court jesters!
I am now ready for intelligent discourse on what i have said here.
Spot on! IMANI your reaction? I bet you have none. You make too much noise and achieve so very little. You are even suspected of veering into politics. Shut up!
IMANI does a lot of critical analyses and thinking. You don't see it because of your colored and tinted lenses. It is very obvious to everyone that you are living in a fools heaven with your reference to Nkrumah who was overt ...
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For the first time a crucial and potent article on Ghanaweb on the fast waning state of the nation. Needless to say, the title was apt and the criticism in the substance of the article spot-on.
I myself have had a few disc ...
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One day, this young boy and his Grandfather were fishing in a boat out on a lake. The Grandfather pulls out a beer from his cooler and starts drinking it. The boy asks “Grandpa, can I have one of those?” Grandpa replies, ...
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This article has no head or tail. the writer obviously is struggling for a non-existent recognition. infact this article makes no sense at all. speculations galore. copy and paste article. is it the responsibility of govt to ...
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"Is it the responsibility of govt to alleviate poverty or IMANI?"
That's a very important question you've asked, one that all of us, including the civil society oragisations (CSO), must ponder over. But to answer your ques ...
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Its only a fool who will think that its only government who is responsible to alleviate poverty.
KIA, u are a stupid fool to have that thinking.
Sadly, the ignorant are often the first to hurl insults in a debate. As to whose brain is dead, I leave readers to judge!
Given that I wrote in very simple English, I suspect you have a problem with logic. I stated that t ...
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KIA, it's a shame Joe didn't see the sense in your commentary.
what at all is wrong with this animal called joe....govt controls taxes etc to run the nation which includes job creation and also includes creating the enabling environment for business growth...so stupid joe, tell me in whi ...
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NGOs are simply akin to the Free Syrian Army or the Libyan rebel Army/Govt.
From nowhere and with dubious qualifications and experience, they are massively funded by global imperialism to subvert the nationalist agenda of ...
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kia,
My point is imani and other NGOs have not analysed properly the fundamental causes of Ghana's social, cultural, economic and political failures.
That this is because they will not bite the foreign hands that feed ...
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Stupid Fool. What do u mean by courageous ppl whilst they can't use their heads to contribute to the development of the nation?
Stupid fools like u should shut up and not be commenting on issues in the public domain. Asshole ...
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Bravo. Kofi, you have hit the nail right on the head. We as a country are not going anywhere so long as we continue on the path of the IMF-SAP modules, closely monitored by the likes of IMANI.
massa, common sense is common sense and it does not matter whether it came from imani, ndc, npp, ngo, or xyz.....what imani puts out there analytically is very commonsensical and i dont need what motivated them to put it out ...
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Hear this fool who call himself Stevoo making mockery of himself. Shut up with your poor English,and learn.
What do u know about the operations of think tanks and ngo's?
foolish joe, english isnt my language but common sense tells me that common sense isnt common to stupid fools like u who cant stand the truth....ngo or no ngo, common sense is common sense...if a ruling govt messes up big tim ...
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STEVOOD,
I have not said IMANI has not spoken some truths. My point is they have not analysed properly the fundamental causes of Ghana's social, cultural, economic and political failures.
That this is because they will ...
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Client as well- the NPP! And that Cudjoe,the outfit`s founder, has really hurt the group.
IMANI, led by their extra large mouth Cudjoe, is an affilliate group of the NPP. Everyone knows about that in Ghana, so nobody should decieve us. Those who are sponsoring this Cudjoe and his group are only throwing their mone ...
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To say that IMANI is an NPP affiliate is over-simplifying the matter. I really do not think that they are necessarily of NPP stock. They surely think alike but they are both playing their own separate games in the 'Boys Quart ...
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Kponyo,
You have made the most coherent contribution to this debate so far.
You most profound quote is, 'pathetic illusion that NGOs are funded by our slave and colonial 'masters' to help us improve our conditions of li ...
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Kofi, I hope you have a thick skin. Prepare for insults and accusations of enviousness from the acolytes and assigns of some of these civil society groups.
However, even for someone who is equally critical of what I call ...
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KIA,
I suggest you post on Ghanaweb and ModernGhana. Ghana/Africa needs courageous, youthful, refreshing, effervescent, clinical social critics like you.
Apparently the most well-viewed social-political programme is JO ...
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Rao concludes, ‘In the long run, NGOs are accountable to their funders, not to the people they work among.’ It has everything in it
YES.
The problem with Africa/Ghana arises because of corruption, greed and arrogance of the few, along with being academically educated to a state where reality doesn't exist, plus people in general are not honest with themselves ...
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Kwame,
I agree with everything you have written here.
I suggest if both the NDC-NPP have been given 2 terms of office and have nothing to show for it - except selling everything Dr. Nkrumah's CPP bequeathed Ghana - sure ...
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How can an organisation that receives funding from the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute and host of other several right wing foundations, afford to critise, its benefactors? Indeed, IMANI has ...
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Azaato, how can a country that has been consistently undermined into a state of dysfunction and that subsists on foreign charity, succeed on what some of you call 'market solutions'?
A pauper who attempts to do business wi ...
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EXCELLENT QUESTION.
Well, it's where IMANI, NGOs and other Think Tanks obtain their source of funding which determine their agenda. This sometimes undermine their credibility. In most cases, such think tanks are ideologically driven or are propa ...
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HOW GHANA'S INTELLECTUALS ARE BANKRUPT
Compatriots,
I think Ghana's 'intellectuals' are largely bankrupt in ideas for these reasons:
Apparently the most well-viewed social-political programme is JOY TV Newsfile. N ...
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