Come On, "Soli" Is Bold-Faced Bribery!

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• Ghanaman 11 years ago

  Don't use all your money for dog meat.

  Don't use all your money for dog meat.

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• NPP FANATIC 11 years ago

  OKO DOES NOT OWN A BRAIN....

  OKO DOES NOT OWN A BRAIN....

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• Beggars Galore 11 years ago

  So shameful that many Ghanaians think they should use the cover of thei work to beg. As soon as one arrives at the airport, this tendency shamelessly welcomes the person into the country, and it's same story in many places in ...
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  So shameful that many Ghanaians think they should use the cover of thei work to beg. As soon as one arrives at the airport, this tendency shamelessly welcomes the person into the country, and it's same story in many places in the country, even to the point of departure when returning. Shame on an editor to stoop so low.

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• Dogie Kwesi Owusu 11 years ago

  Come on, Ahoofe, I need the help. Editors abre! Please allow me to beg small. After all, why should you be the exception? See, I have to beg for the pen I use in the office. I have to beg to replace my worn-out shoes. I have ...
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  Come on, Ahoofe, I need the help. Editors abre! Please allow me to beg small. After all, why should you be the exception? See, I have to beg for the pen I use in the office. I have to beg to replace my worn-out shoes. I have to beg for my office chair. I beg from all contributors to my online paper and they are happy to pay soli. Why should I treat you differently? Don't you see that most people in Ghana are begging? have you been to Ghana at all? You stay abroad and write all you want. Come and see here. If you don't pay, nobody will do any work for you, especially in public service. We are a nation of beggars. I must be in solidarity with all the other beggars, hence, soli. Soli means solidarity. Please, allow.

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• ObjectiveMan 11 years ago

  yes!The substance in this case matters but not who is carrying it.
  Please we need to address this now and get our Journalist up the stand we need.

  yes!The substance in this case matters but not who is carrying it.
  Please we need to address this now and get our Journalist up the stand we need.

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• Ashifo (Uncertified Security Expert) 11 years ago

  Shorn of all the silly and unnecessary verbose, what this typical misrepresentation of truth by one of the most odious and disliked contributors on this platform aims to say is that, we must conform to the ways of our oppress ...
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  Shorn of all the silly and unnecessary verbose, what this typical misrepresentation of truth by one of the most odious and disliked contributors on this platform aims to say is that, we must conform to the ways of our oppressors devoid of the terrible circumstances they left us in after several centuries of merciless looting of our resources, which ostensibly, has made them 'superior and honest beings' and left us poor, in a groveling and corrupt state.
  
  I have not seen or read what the said Agbenu, the Secretary of the journalists association has had to say on the subject but I however blame the GJA for not being objective enough on the matter of this 'soli' issue.
  
  I must also admit that I have never considered the GJA to be a serious enough organization. They have not done enough for the ordinary journalists of their fold who continue to be mercilessly exploited by the greedy and insensitive capitalists who own or run media organizations in this country. This is what has evidently led to the taking of soli by journalists. In the best of situations, their pay - to be modest, is bad and their working conditions worse. I can say with a certain amount of certainty that the management of our media organizations throw these poor hapless journalists out onto the streets to source for news at any cost with the concealed encouragement to them to beg news-makers for 'assistance' to get back to the work-place or some 'small motivation' to get their articles published.
  
  In Western Europe or the US, journalists, thanks to slavery, the looting of other peoples natural resources all over the world and colonial dictatorship, journalists are well paid. Lobbyists also undertake to do the same thing as soli in a much more organized and on a much grander scale and which albeit, is considered as legitimate. Even then, we all hear of intrigues in the massive machine of the western media where favors and benefits are traded in favour of or against a prominent public figure.
  
  This is where I fault the GJA. Instead of publicly coming out in a posture which apparently is to discourage and demean soli-taking and then, privately encouraging their reporters to accept or demand it when on the beat, they should have openly made it known to the public that any such charitable gestures are welcome - not required or demanded, to assist their badly paid member-journalists. This would have demystified the act of soli-taking as an act of corruption and removed the stain of dishonor that goes along with it.
  
  It is a well-known fact that when one goes to eat in a restaurant, waiters are tipped for a good service if the client so wishes. This act is not considered or tainted to be an act of corruption because it has been demystified as such. Why cant the media fraternity follow that example? On this score, I wonder if the British High Commissioner tips waiters after eating in local restaurants? With a Jewish name I would have strong doubts about this (lol). By the way, Im not racist, my best friends are Jews (lol).
  
  Other than this, media organizations should just simply make it a point that journalists are well paid to avoid the generally shameful practice where journalists besiege organizers at the end of an event - sometimes in a vicious uncompromising manner, to demand soli as if it were a God-given right. This shames not only the journalists involved, but their organizations as well as the very profession itself.
  
  The taking of soli has also tended to fuel serious corruption in the sense that it normally comes in the form of an unaccounted and a hidden budget which some describe as, or is ludicrously labeled as, 'ways and means'.
  
  Usually those who are in charge of media affairs in political parties are known to have been able to build houses at the end of every election year from proceeds of exaggerated and unaccountable details of soli expenditure. Even then, the poor journalist is again and still left in the lurch as the loser - as the political functionaries give them far less than they claim to give them.
  
  It is very unlikely that this culture of soli-taking will end anytime soon. In the same way that thousands of poor African people in their simple bid to travel, pay good money every month to acquire visas to certain European countries, which are not given to them in return, the equally strange phenomenon of 'soli', will continue as long as employers do not pay their staff well enough.

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• Yeboa Papa 11 years ago

  Ashifo I really don't get the point you are making. First, let me say that giving tip after a meal is not bribery because it's not paid before the meal is served. In the same way, tipping someone who helps me carry my luggage ...
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  Ashifo I really don't get the point you are making. First, let me say that giving tip after a meal is not bribery because it's not paid before the meal is served. In the same way, tipping someone who helps me carry my luggage at the airport is not bribery. Second, for how can we blame the Ghanaian's thievery on the richness of the capitalist nations or justify the armed robber's crime on the richness of his neighbour? I agree that the employer organization has the responsibility to pay appropriate salaries to its workers. However, if it doesn't, it doesn't justify the begging of the employee, unless the person is as shameless as most 'uncertified' security personnel.

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• Ashifo (Uncertified Security Expert) 11 years ago

  Yeboa Papa, I suggest that you read my contribution again because I believe you are not only linguistically challenged but that you also lack basic logical reasoning and knowledge.
  
  If a journalist covers an event for you ...
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  Yeboa Papa, I suggest that you read my contribution again because I believe you are not only linguistically challenged but that you also lack basic logical reasoning and knowledge.
  
  If a journalist covers an event for you and you give him a tip after, how does it differ from you giving a tip to a waiter after he has served you in a restaurant? If you want to say that you cant be sure if your event will see print, how can you also be sure that the food you had been served will not give you food poisoning a day later?
  
  "For how (long) can we blame the Ghanaian's thievery on the richness of the capitalist nations or justify the armed robber's crime on the richness of his neighbour?" Well Mr Yeboa Papa, I do not know if you know the difference between the words 'blame' and 'cause' but the truth of the matter is that 500 years of the most terrible kind of suppression on a vast section of humanity cannot be reversed or undone by only a few years of independence or the wave of a magic wand. So yes, this is the 'cause' and effect of the many strains and symptoms of our backwardness as a people.
  
  If truly, you are indeed worried about crime in this world, my brother you havent seen anything yet until someday you wake up to the massive criminal exploitation of our part of the world today, by the same people who have reduced your thinking capacity to that of a mere tinned sardine.
  
  Thinking the way you do, by the substance and tone of your illogical contribution, clearly suggests that you yourself, like most other Africans, are still victims of that terrible era of world history. Seeing that as a result of this trauma, you are more than content being subservient and living under the menial shadow and as a grateful beneficiary of the crumbs and hand-outs of others, it would take more than a tit-for-tat argument to conscientize the likes of you and Okoampa to become a self-respecting confident human being who can stand on his own to determine his destiny through thick and thin.
  
  For now, I will leave you to your wiles and dim understanding of your own historical circumstances with some counsel for you to consider where you stand in the affairs of the world today. Perhaps that will stimulate you a little to understand the evil and unfortunate ways of the world we live in.

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• G. K. Berko 11 years ago

  You bet your bottom dollar that 'Soli' is bribery. But so also is the paying of voters in any capacity to vote for a particular candidate in an Election.
  
  I wish you would have written so eloquently on that, too, in refer ...
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  You bet your bottom dollar that 'Soli' is bribery. But so also is the paying of voters in any capacity to vote for a particular candidate in an Election.
  
  I wish you would have written so eloquently on that, too, in reference to the amounts Akufo-Addo was said to have paid the 140,000 plus delegates to the NPP Primaries with a note requesting them to vote for him.
  
  Honesty and integrity cannot be espoused 'with one eye closed', Sir.
  
  Long Live Ghana!!!

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• S>L>Y> 11 years ago

  different categories of bribery and corruption, this one is blue color corruption. journalist please contribute is what they are saying true?

  different categories of bribery and corruption, this one is blue color corruption. journalist please contribute is what they are saying true?

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• Kojo Billy Duncan 11 years ago

  It is obvious that corruption is pervasive in all aspects of life in Ghana.

  It is obvious that corruption is pervasive in all aspects of life in Ghana.

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• Dogie Kwesi Owusu 11 years ago

  Come on, Ahoofe, why should you be the exception? See, one writer who submits articles for me to publish, buys me the shirt I wear to work and the other buys me shoes. I also get contributers paying for the soap I must wash w ...
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  Come on, Ahoofe, why should you be the exception? See, one writer who submits articles for me to publish, buys me the shirt I wear to work and the other buys me shoes. I also get contributers paying for the soap I must wash with to come to work as soli. Look, I like to beg. I shall beg today, I shall beg tomorrow and if you refuse to pay, I shall not publish your article and won't attend your events. Tweaa! If I don't beg, how can I survive?

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• sam 11 years ago

  who cares what this useless tribal bigot thinks-go to joy fm where you belong and write your stupid ARTICLES. SO CALLED PROFESSOR WITH A PEA BRAIN

  who cares what this useless tribal bigot thinks-go to joy fm where you belong and write your stupid ARTICLES. SO CALLED PROFESSOR WITH A PEA BRAIN

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• NOBODY 11 years ago

  Ahoofe, you not only personally witnessed several instances of "soli" payments but also you were deeply involved in its practice before fleeing to the USA. Ever wonder why your daily gibberish articles are published for free ...
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  Ahoofe, you not only personally witnessed several instances of "soli" payments but also you were deeply involved in its practice before fleeing to the USA. Ever wonder why your daily gibberish articles are published for free on various websites, Ahoofe? They certainly are not worth a dime. These writings of yours that you call "articles" are nothing but demented rantings put out daily by a psychotic one-way academic called Okoampa-Afoolfe.

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• kwaku 11 years ago

  Soli means 'solidarity'. Supposedly to enable the news source n the journalist have same viewpoint or n

  Soli means 'solidarity'. Supposedly to enable the news source n the journalist have same viewpoint or n

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