Is Ghana in Search of Excellence?

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• Kweku Ananse 11 years ago

  Excellence comes from experience, and having high levels of self discipline, honesty, integrity, and high morals. Economic hardship and greed can make a people of low moral fibre forsake excellence, and go for the wide path w ...
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  Excellence comes from experience, and having high levels of self discipline, honesty, integrity, and high morals. Economic hardship and greed can make a people of low moral fibre forsake excellence, and go for the wide path which may lead to self destruction, such as trafficking cocaine, telling lies, etc

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• Open Skies Fro Back Of Beyond 11 years ago

  Massa, this is a well written article but some of them are just jumbled-up alphabet soup wanna be article.
  
  I enjoy every bit of reading it. Keep it up. I don't know why it resonate with me, but I conjecture it held no pris ...
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  Massa, this is a well written article but some of them are just jumbled-up alphabet soup wanna be article.
  
  I enjoy every bit of reading it. Keep it up. I don't know why it resonate with me, but I conjecture it held no prisoners in painting the real status quo picture on the ground as we speak.
  
  Bravo.

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• sammy 11 years ago

  "In conclusion, let us look for excellence in all we
  do. Let us look for excellent leaders, and let us be
  the change we want (Gandhi). Let us put an end
  to having charlatan and quack pastors, quack
  MPs, quack journalists, ...
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  "In conclusion, let us look for excellence in all we
  do. Let us look for excellent leaders, and let us be
  the change we want (Gandhi). Let us put an end
  to having charlatan and quack pastors, quack
  MPs, quack journalists, quack leaders, among
  others. We demand a reformed Ghana now, a
  Ghana where ethics are upheld and where peace
  reigns.." It was great reading your piece.
  You have made my day, fair friend. This excellent conclusion sums up all that Ghanaians need to do rise from their economic doldrums. I can only request more of such from you this way:"... much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow..." John Donne- Death, Be Not Proud.
  God bless you.

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• Kwesi Atta Sakyi 11 years ago

  I know Sammy on Ghanaweb as old-timer who read English at KNUST and who will always advise Francis Kwarteng to tone down his diction and abstruse circumlocutions, but Kwarteng has own vintage style and it takes a sage to unde ...
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  I know Sammy on Ghanaweb as old-timer who read English at KNUST and who will always advise Francis Kwarteng to tone down his diction and abstruse circumlocutions, but Kwarteng has own vintage style and it takes a sage to understand what he writes, yet one ADWOWA WANGARA has no patience with him, and comes bull-charging innocuous Kwarteng, goring him down like a matador from all angles. Sammy, you have also definitely made my day beyond imagination with your beautiful quote from John Donne. What a rejoinder that makes for cross fertilisation of ideas, intellectual intercourse, and elicitation of urbane manners or nettiquette on this forum. You a couple of times asked Kwarteng to criticise me and stop heaping praises on me. Well, if a learned critic has critiqued my work and given me this raving review, I must be on cloud cuckooland or cloud nine.

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• francis kwarteng 11 years ago

  Dear Brothers,
  
  I have enjoyed reading the excellent Prof. Sakyi's article and yours, Sammy's, comment as well.
  
  I enjoy reading both of you, my dear and humble professors.
  
  Thanks.

  Dear Brothers,
  
  I have enjoyed reading the excellent Prof. Sakyi's article and yours, Sammy's, comment as well.
  
  I enjoy reading both of you, my dear and humble professors.
  
  Thanks.

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• Kwesi Atta Sakyi 11 years ago

  Thanks KBK. Yes, I terribly miss my 'contreman', Paa Kwesi Mintah, who undoubtedly is a genius in his genre, with his witty and wicked criticisms. I am back as my humungous lecturing workload has subsided to my relief.

  Thanks KBK. Yes, I terribly miss my 'contreman', Paa Kwesi Mintah, who undoubtedly is a genius in his genre, with his witty and wicked criticisms. I am back as my humungous lecturing workload has subsided to my relief.

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• KBK 11 years ago

  Is the length to make up for your long absence?
  
  Anyway, welcome back, Kwesi. Fortunately (or unfortunately for some of us) Paa Kwesi Minta doesn't come here any more. Despite his "crooked" ways with his criticism, there ar ...
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  Is the length to make up for your long absence?
  
  Anyway, welcome back, Kwesi. Fortunately (or unfortunately for some of us) Paa Kwesi Minta doesn't come here any more. Despite his "crooked" ways with his criticism, there are those of us who miss him terribly. Your "contreman" is a brilliant chap, no two ways about that.
  
  Don't worry, I read your piece - all of it. Too bad you didn't concentrate on one theme even though the title indicated that you were going to do so. You ended up jumping from one topic to the other each of which could have made an article on its own.
  
  Just a few points
  
  - our oil is so little that it will be better for commentators to stop referring to it as something whose effect should be visible in the country after the few years we've been operating it. Our oil exports form a minimal portion of our total exports. We are no where in the league of Sudan (500,000 b/d), not to talk of Libya, Angola and Nigeria.
  
  - I wish to disagree with your take on education as a sine qua non of good leadership. In many of the advanced countries you may cite (Germany) the political leaders are not necessarily the most educated guys. The Scandinavian countries with their robust economies are even worst in this regard. The present Prime Minister of Sweden is a welder. Nobody in the cabinet has a PhD. The highly rated Finance Minister in the outgoing government didn't even finish his first degree in Economics. Go to Norway, Denmark, Finland and the story is similar. But these countries have strong party systems where the leaders are groomed from their youth to the positions they occupy later. It is almost like apprenticeship. The highly educated people are working behind the scenes.
  
  One of the things terribly wrong with Ghana today is the excessive reliance on paper qualifications. I have also just returned from Ghana where I saw many people trying to acquire second or third degrees in order to get promotions at work. IN GHANA WE BELIEVE THAT AN ADDITIONAL PAPER QUALIFICATION IS TANTAMOUNT TO AN INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY. THIS IS NOT OFTEN SO!
  
  There is no reason why someone in the civil service is given a pay increase simply because he has an additional paper qualification when he is still doing the same job!
  
  So it is not the paper qualification, per se, that is the vital thing. The Economist reported three weeks ago that the current Iranian cabinet has more PhD holders from US universities than Obama's cabinet. Yet which country is bullying which?
  
  Ok, I don't want to write another long essay. Perhaps I will come back to your other points.
  
  But, once more, welcome back to these pages.

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• Kwesi Atta Sakyi 11 years ago

  Even though Paa Kwesi Mintah has disappeared from our radar, we have a substitute in guys like Francis, Sammy, and C.K. Andy etc. Let us keep the web busy and buzzing.

  Even though Paa Kwesi Mintah has disappeared from our radar, we have a substitute in guys like Francis, Sammy, and C.K. Andy etc. Let us keep the web busy and buzzing.

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• C.Y. ANDY-K 11 years ago

  Ha! ha! ha! Just to let you know that,if that C.K. Andy is same as C.Y. Andy-K you have in mind, I see that as an honourable mention, puny me in such a big league?!
  
  You touched on so many things that I wasn't going to lea ...
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  Ha! ha! ha! Just to let you know that,if that C.K. Andy is same as C.Y. Andy-K you have in mind, I see that as an honourable mention, puny me in such a big league?!
  
  You touched on so many things that I wasn't going to leave any comment, since I might end up going on forever, and I am at work.
  
  Anyway, as D.K. Poison once said in Ho, "all I want to talk, my secretary has talked already, so thank you all!" And then sat down. I felt exactly like D.K. so I am standing down!
  
  Andy-K

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• YAW 11 years ago

  The real patriots and nationalists took the monumental steps to free us from the shackles of colonialism,successive generations/politicians have turned our beloved country into a toxic dump.These quack politicians have failed ...
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  The real patriots and nationalists took the monumental steps to free us from the shackles of colonialism,successive generations/politicians have turned our beloved country into a toxic dump.These quack politicians have failed to meet the highest standards of propriety.Brilliant food for thought!

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