BOOK REVIEW: Title: Reforming Leadership in Africa

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BOOK REVIEW

Title: Reforming Leadership in Africa

Author: J. William Addai

Publisher: Publishers Graphics Indiana, USA, 2009

Price: US$24.99 plus shipping

Reviewer: Kofi Akosah-Sarpong

Increasingly, leadership has emerged as a key factor in Africa’s progress. Bewildered leadership schemes have seen a good part of post-independent Africa sinking, some leading to horrible civil wars and state paralysis. Africa’s leadership jam reveals that African elites have not understood their environment in relation to Africa’s progress, especially how to draw leadership materials from within their raw cultural values. Nigerians, Kenyans, Guineans and Central Africans will tell you they have everything but leadership.

This acknowledgement was revived when I read Reforming Leadership in Africa, a contribution to the on-going discussions continent-wide for the need to appropriate Africa’s cultural values and institutions into Africa’s progress, as a matter of psychology, confidence, dignity and logic. Such appropriation will help the continent’s progress by fostering the required self-assurance considered necessary for progress. The schism in Africa’s leadership organization has come about because the ex-colonial structures have not been harmonized skillfully enough with Africa’s indigenous ones, especially in the on-going decentralization exercises and the talk of developing new leaders for tomorrow’s Africa.

The propaganda have been that the ex-colonial structures are generally thought to be superior (though wrongly) to that of Africa’s, not only by the ex-colonialists of yesteryears but also Africa’s elites of today. Visit African bureaucracies and you will shocked whether they operate on African soil ? the leadership organizational values (the nuances, for instance) are heavily non-African. The trick in resolving these contentious African leadership issues, argues the author, is to develop skills to appropriate the differences to bring out the best in Africa’s leadership potential. The author, an Ashanti himself, draws heavily from Ashanti traditional leadership values and institutions, which he describes as his ?research test tube,? to explain the leadership reforms Africa feverishly needs to drive its progress.

In his bold attempts to locate where the African leadership-progress inadequacies come from (that’s lack of Africa’s cultural inputs), it is easy to see where Africa’s developmental troubles come from ? leadership mired in the notorious authoritarian, individualistic Big Man Syndrome cooked in ex-colonial European systems against Africa’s traditional consensus building systems. If Africa’s development challenges are first and foremost leadership, then what value of leadership? Leadership that for historical and cultural reasons, flow from Africa’s innate traditional values, and simultaneously balanced with Africa’s ex-colonial heritage. The question is how African elites, as directors of progress, can draw from Africa’s cultural values to reform their trembling leadership tests today. And short of that; continue to suffer, as African leaders repeat the old mistakes that have disturbed them and their people’s progress.

Against the backdrop of global intercultural leadership studies, Joseph William Addai, an administrator, a religious and international development scholar, puts in extensive scholarly and practical work to provide matter-of-factly answers to Africa’s leadership predicament. These are enriched by his participation in diverse programs in North America, Papua New Guinea, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Of particular note is his drawing from the Ashanti Kingdom’s Manhyia Palace and the late heavyweight Ghanaian neo-liberal conservative political leader William Ofori-Atta (Paa Willie).

It is clear from Addai’s work that from scratch African states were in leadership dilemma ? that’s if they are aware of that and that it is a pressing development issue, and how to reconcile ex-colonial Europe’s individualist-oriented leadership organization with Africa’s traditional group-oriented system. Underpinning all these systems are the foundational values of each society as drivers for effective leadership organization for progress. Africa has leadership difficulty at the moment because its foundational cultural values do not flow dexterously into its modern state organization, as the Japanese have successfully done.

In dealing with both inadequacies of the European leadership system imposed on Africa and the shortfalls of Africa’s traditional leadership organization, Addai compellingly discusses various leadership theories and practices (as an opener to Africa’s) and come out refreshingly with the view that some sort of hybridization of the European and the African systems is needed to make progress.

Perhaps, Addai’s thesis, with the prominent argument that an understanding of African cultural values is indispensable to Africa’s leadership organization and progress, will be of help to attempts to review Ghana’s on-going 20-year old decentralization exercises, which have been more about the ?political and fiscal? without weaving into it Ghana’s cultural receptivity as an organizational necessity and progress mechanism.

Development / Ghana / Africa / modernghana.com

Book Review. Rhapsidies On ‘Kindness’

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The sacred and profane of state power in the black star of Africa: By Kwesi Yeboah. Rhapsodies On Kindness is a literary and historical work that addresses problems facing contemporary Ghana. This book is very readable, erudite, and engaging. It is anchored on theoretical musings, solid empiricism, and the political economy of the very recent Ghanaian past. Although Ghana is the focal point of analysis, the thematic preoccupations of this book are applicable to Africa as a whole and other regions impacted by the virus of neo-colonialism, dependency, and hegemonic control.

The author, Kwesi Yeboah, a native of Ghana and a product of Achimota College, Achimota, Ghana, has an unusual gift as an activist, public intellectual. He trained at the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana, as a Classicist and an Historian, and studied Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics, and the Physical Sciences at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, and McMaster University, Hamilton both in Canada. This academic cross-breeding underscores his ability to move from the precincts of superb, intellectualized rhapsodizing to the grounds of sound scientific analyses and theoretical meditations. True to his craft, Yeboah pays flawless attention to detail and seeks coherence and wholeness in satire, caricaturization, theory, and empiricism.

Yeboah is clear about his intention ?to shock, to vigorously jolt the memories and minds of Ghanaians into re-examining that which we have always taken for granted, our attitudes, accepted practices and prevalent mentalities…? (P. xi). These objectives are amply attained throughout this book. Yeboah besmears the noses of his readers with vast metaphorical stretches of excrement, putrefaction, decay, and social flatulence, all symbolizing what has gone wrong in Ghana. On the whole, this book is a theater where Ghanaians are summoned to see the dramatization of the follies and foibles of the Ghanaian past, transposed onto the current political precipice of uncertainty.

Domiciled overseas, Yeboah owes a debt of gratitude to the Ghanaian media forms: they provide a substantial number of the topical news items that inform this book. But it is also obvious that Yeboah makes use of overseas sources that deal with Ghanaian and African affairs, for example, he makes reference to Daily Telegraph’s articles, BBC articles on Africa and African news sites on the world wide web. It must be said that Yeboah’s work is not an intelligent culling of journalistic reminiscences, nor is it based on sympathetic quarrying of topical media news. Rather with remarkable breadth and perceptive synthesis, he brings fresh empirical reflections to illuminate essential historical and contemporary processes.

Rhapsodies is arranged in three parts and each is divided into verses that are not periodized and also do not follow any precise thematic format. Part One is entitled ?The Shock?, Part Two is called ?The Awe?, and Part Three is ?The Sacred and the Profane?. There are forty-five verses and each has notes and references. Simply the structure of this book, essentially the verses, mirror daily topical issues on recent developments. Using the most recent social, political, and economic developments as his scale-pan, Yeboah pries back and forth into the history of Ghana, drawing on various historical incidents and political milestones. Hence, he is able to appraise specific issues while caricaturizing specific historical actors. Overall, a thread of consistency conjoins the varying parts o! f the book and enables him to grapple with various topical issues without straying from his stated objectives

The richness of this book is derived from its subject matter and the stylistic approaches employed by the author. Yeboah employs history as a vehicle of literary deployment. For instance, by echoing the sycophantic accolades of Ghanaian heads of states, he is able to bring readers to the frontiers of history, while at the same time conveying his message of power-drunk leaders. The solid scholarship that undergirds this book is demonstrated, for example, by Yeboah’s references to Milton’s epic, The Paradise Lost; the American War of Independence and the American Civil War; Nkrumah’s ideological construction of Neocolonialism; IMF policies and their implications for development/underdevelopment; and the policies of African leaders, including Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Thabo Mbeki o! f South Africa, and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. Similarly, his literary allusions range from the Classics through Shakespeare and Dickens and Conrad to Achebe and Ayikwei Armah

The joy of reading this book also comes from Yeboah’s assiduous use of satire, humor, self-invented phrases, childhood reminiscences, comparative perspectives, caricaturization, allusions, and derisive songs. As a Ghanaian writing this ? Foreword?, I must say that my ears have enjoyed the derisive songs the most. For example, Part 1, Verse 19, entitled, ?The Epiphany of Jurassic Joseph Henry ? is not only a mockery of time-worn, dinosaured public officials, but also provides some insights into the failure of the state to disengage from antiquated practices seeded in the heyday of colonial rule and at the dawn of neocolonialism. In the end, such derisive songs provide an ample relief that is at once joyous and compelling.

Rhapsodies is not all about the hopelessness of the Ghanaian situation. Interspersed with the dredges of pessimism are embers of hope and optimism for the future. Indeed, this book is not only about mountains of overt criticism of the Ghanaian political debacle. It contains oases of hope and inspiration as well as practical solutions regarding, for instance, the cassava industry, road-building, the application of science and technology to better everyday life, education, governance, and democracy. It is a book for Ghanaians who care about where they had been, where they are going, and how they plan to get there; and certainly, public officials and the elites, those indicted the most in this book, can benefit from Yeboah’s practical solutions.

Several interesting topical issues are discussed in this book. It is obvious, in some cases, that Ghanaians would rather Yeboah had not washed their dirty communal linen in public. For example, Part 1, Verse 1, entitled ?Of Underdevelopment and Human Excrement? Yeboah rubs the noses of Ghanaians in their own collective excrement. Among others, Yeboah states that ?Take the bucket latrine for instance. In this day and age, this twenty-first century of unbelievable technological wonders, and still in Ghana, people, are paid by the state to carry other people’s excrements in buckets, and on their heads.? (P. 8). Although, it is the state that is blamed here and certainly fingers can be pointed at those who are responsible, this is not a story that Ghanaians would like to tell the whole world.

But there are other verses whose filth does not besmear every Ghanaian. Yeboah’s presentation of corruption, graft, theft, and ethnicized nepotistic brokerage of national resources and wealth singles out public officials. Thus, the citizenry is granted the comfort of blaming the elites in high places for the problems facing Ghana today. Indeed, Ghanaians who read this book would not need to cover their nostrils or shift a little in their chairs of passivity all the time because elsewhere Yeboah places the problem of underdevelopment at the doors of others. In Part 1, Verse 3, entitled ?In Search of Heroes,? for instance Yeboah points to neocolonialism and dependency as the causes of Ghana’s endemic problems. But it should stressed th! at he does not belabor the forces of neocolonialism and dependency, perhaps doing so would undermine his avowed theme of jolting Ghanaians to the reality of their own engineered underdevelopment.

Although Rhapsodies may appear to the untutored eye as a shopping list of the political economy of everything Ghanaian, there are specific major themes that ring out in the verses. These include Yeboah’s favorite topics: federation versus regionalism, dependency and underdevelopment, corruption and elitism, problems of chieftaincy, education and social change, and governance and democracy. These and other topics inform the verses and provide for their composite wholeness. The thrust of this book is political. Yeboah has critically dissected the public lives of numerous Ghanaians, including heads of state from Kwame Nkrumah to J. A. Kufour. But Yeboah does! not single out any one leader for praise or vitriolic attack. Rather, he points to their respective strengths and weaknesses, hence is able to provide a superstructure of balance and objectivity for this book.

Yeboah has dealt with controversial, sacred-cow topics in an engaging way. Crisp phrases, textual brevity, and hilarity, anchored on theoretical brilliance and empirical insights would push readers toward a higher level of analytical and conceptual thinking. His epistemological insights are interesting and generous, though we cannot say that for his treatment of most of the personalities that inhabit this book. If Ayi Kwei Armah’s literary capital jolted Ghanaians to the perils of the immediate postcolonial era, Kwesi Yeboah’s work would jolt Ghanaians to move beyond passive acceptance to active evaluation in their search for the seeds of success. I have read Rhapsodies with profit and strongly believe that even those who are caricaturized and satirized within the pages of this promising book would find it intellectually stimul! ating and morally engaging. I venture to say that Yeboah has more crusading epistles for Ghanaians, therefore, we should continue to nurse our backsides in anticipation of more laughter even as we scratch our heads for answers.

PS: The book can be previewed at akoben publishing

Kwabena Akurang-Parry, Ph. D.

Department of History & Philosophy

Shippensburg University

F.L. Bartels of Mfantsipim celebrates 99 years -Book Review

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was depressed by the sombre fate?.

There’s a sorrowful satisfaction in knowing that one is not alone in these thoughts. With a maverick lending his credence, posterity might develop a thick skin to avoid a future mishap. Let’s follow Mr Bartels’s strategic sense (as a member of an initial committee of four charged to shape the new university):

?I did my best to persuade [Commissioner Hagan] to consider building the new university on, and among, the hills of Cape Coast [to] function as an enabling institution [to] give as well as take, grow and become a part of the town and learn to assist it in solving its problems. The project’s possibilities were vast. Mount Hope could be a strategic point [to] begin and mesh with the slum clearance envisaged for the town? making it imperative for university personnel [to use] local amenities [and] in their own interest demand efficient management.

?The Cape Coast Castle could be converted into a research library and flats to promote academic tourism and a university extramural programme, [to] ultimately extend to the other castles and forts along the coast. The Cape Coast churches could be university chapels. Lastly, the Victoria Park ?might be turned into an open-air theatre to promote drama and other cultural activities for town and gown?.

The Plan

The plan implied a re-invention of higher education for ?hands-on? social and economic good. It was a masterpiece, and was sold in a way in which it had to be bought. But, the Commissioner was not moved; he craved ?another Legon?a self-contained showpiece [with] a separate existence?.

To Mr Bartels, ?Another Legon, Accra, was the last thing Nkrumah fancied. But he got it.? The Commissioner’s thinking was like that of David Balme, a classics scholar of repute, the founding principal of Legon, who admitted: ?You’ve asked me to establish a university. The university I know is Cambridge.?

Mr Bartels envisaged the thrust of the sciences ?to direct the thinking of students to education for work, using the environmental resources of the area, [for example] the fishery industry that was being developed at Elmina [and] the support it would require from the interdisciplinary research in Geography, Meteorology and Refrigeration Engineering?.

The plan was ignored. A later report from an ?International Commission [with] Geoffrey Bing? came out, placing reliance on prospects ?no different basically from Legon?.

In seeking a new deal for education in Cape Coast, Mr Bartels’s ideas, perhaps, created a discomfort, or worse, fear. The colonial mindset was shaken. The new thinking implied a shift from the obsolete lecturing-and-copying format, to a preference for a purposeful re-design of teaching and learning in the wider context of a hands-on urban renewal. Without an assertive, practical access to freedom of judgement and imagination, education itself is stale.

Cape Coast, as an education capital, stood to generate a livelier, intellectual, research, and superior tourist industry, with leverage for clusters of jobs. The intellectual, the economic and the social go together. With a better quality of life, professional people who deliver important services would stay. An urban renaissance created a dynamic and capacity strengthening a wider area.

A vision-gap is a costly thing. Many university towns have blazed that trail and flourished in the midst (not on the periphery) of urban renewals; for example, the connection between the University of California, Los Angeles and the city of Westwood (in the U.S.), and the penchant of that union for creating employment, and student jobs.

Mr Bartels’s vision, alas, shunned the habit of skimping on the maintenance of existing national assets, pouring good money into newish things, and setting in train a cycle of neglect. Possibly, the disregard for the plan mirrored two puzzles: one, the na?ve assumption that, somehow, distribution of benefits is a zero-sum game; and two, the elitists’ phobia for the teeming masses, and preference for the suburban nest and rest.

For a new, independent nation, the opportunity loss was worse than a study of reflexes in the aristocratic psyche. It was hard to escape the suspicion that what was bliss for Cambridge turned out to be bale to Cape Coast. As between liberation and servitude, Mr Bartels drew the line between visions of national self-assertion and timid copies of the archaic.

The past is all very well. But why misjudge the echoes of the times? The outdated wisdom that tertiary education has to be packaged, somehow, within enclosed quarters has become as insidious as the insistence that every phone has to have wires attached. Now the times give the proof that functional illiteracy is the virus to dismantle, and purge.

The Persistence of Paradox is a must read. As a biography, the canvas is full with the texture and colour of a life spanning almost a century. It draws seamlessly on a vast repertoire with anecdotes, some highlighted with fun (and slaps) in Akan (Fanti): (Nkye mobobo n’asowa mu ma w’atse). Mr Bartels’s other books include, the 2007 latest, ?Journey out of the African Maze: Indigenous and Higher Education in Tandem? (www.lulu.com); and ?Roots of Ghana Methodism? (Cambridge University Press, 1965).

In talking with Mr Bartels, his personal takes on key historic events and people, and the details in the making of those experiences, held one glued like a bond. More grease to his years. Mfantsipimfo, the Methodist Church, and the nation at large should be geared, properly, for Mr Bartels’s 100 years anniversary, 13th March 2010. He gave so much to broaden and elevate the nation’s collective thought. [This piece, published in a different form in 2004, is revisited for the anniversary].

[Anis Haffar, the author, is the founder of Gate Institute, a consulting service for continuous teacher education in English Language skills, and Methodologies for Leadership-centred teaching for primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.gate.ghanaschoolsonline.com]

Do you have an article for publication? Please email it to [email protected](‘/ghanahome/includes/home/pics.asp?id=1′,’xphotos’);

BOOK REVIEW: Harmattan Rain

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“Harmattan Rain, Ayesha Harruna Attah’s first novel is set in The Gold Coast/Ghana in 1954, and tells the story of three generations of women. Lizzie-Achiaa runs away from her home in Adukrom No.2 to escape her father, Papa Yaw’s crude attempts to marry her off to any old suitor, but more urgently, to find her lover, Bador Samed who had disappeared after their first love encounter. She eventually arrives in Accra where she becomes Mrs. Mensah. Her first daughter, Akua Afriyie, walks out of Kingsley House, Achimota School just before her A-level Examinations to have her daughter Sugri, the result of a girlish escapade. Sugri, a brilliant student wins a scholarship to study Medicine at Columbia University in New York. Alone in that big, impersonal city she learns about life and grows up.

The story spans the period, 1954 to 1999, the beginning of which era the people of this country became ‘politically active’. Politics is the backdrop of Ayesha’s novel and she uses it with historical accuracy and her consummate skill as a story teller. Everyone talks politics. Even the Irish nun, Mother Constance expresses her doubts about this country’s readiness for independence.Lizzie-Achiaa visits Kumasi in the midst of an NLM rally and has a taste of the determined opposition to Nkrumah’s CPP, and throughout the novel comments and opinions on each head of state from Nkrumah through Busia, Archeampong to Rawlings are freely and, sometimes, brutally expressed wherever people gather. Ayesha’s judicious use of contemporary views and attitudes to politics and politicians greatly enhances the value and appeal of this outstanding novel.

Harmattan Rain is skillfully structured, making it very ‘reader-friendly’. In addition to the age-old style of giving each chapter a title, we are given dates to mark the passage of time, and snippets of news from the radio and newspapers to update us on events. The epilogue which is dominated by Papa Yaw mellowed by age and telling us what had happened ?back in the early fifties,? is a particularly skillful device which is both poignant and beautiful.

One of the many outstanding qualities of Harmattan Rain is Ayesha’s talent for observation. She literally ‘never misses a thing’ and this, together with her remarkable insight into the Ghanaian psyche, makes her description of real places, people and events, recognizable and unforgettable. We are compelled to be more than onlookers. We become participants. We were with the silent ring of spectators when Papa Yaw, exuding palm wine fumes and armed with a neem branch, mercilessly beats his rebellious daughter. Ayesha takes us along as Lizzie runs away from home stumbling through forest and farm, plunging into the River Nsu to get as far away from Adukrom No2 as possible. We watch helplessly as soldiers ransack Asantewa’s store, destroying valuable goods in their search for hoarded goods. We recognize the fop in the tan suit and pressed hair in the nightclub, and enjoy Ayesha’s satirical account of his crude advances to Lizzie.

Women Empowerment

Click for Full Size Ayesha Harruna Attah, author of the Harmattan Rain pix:Sefa Nkansa

I am persuaded that Harmattan Rain is really about the empowerment of women, but with a difference. This is not the empowerment that comes as a special favour from others to be dispensed in gender-sensitive morsels but the strength that comes from within each woman who has the character and intelligence to grasp each opportunity as Lizzie does, or cut their losses and move on as her daughter Afriyie succeeds in doing. A single mother at sixteen and estranged from her mother she brings up her daughter Sugri with determined dedication, sacrifice and friendship. Ayesha’s portrayal of mother, daughter and granddaughter is masterly.They have the same determined spirit and often disagree but their bonding is very clearly and delicately drawn.

The men in Harmattan Rain are somewhat diminished in stature by the women. Mr. Mensah is kind but colourless, John Barnor Afriyie’s boss, bumbles. Pastor Edem Adomza is deceitfully self-righteous and Rashid, Sugri’s errant father, belongs to a line of heartless seducers of young girls. Many years later his victim, Afriyie, dismisses him with the delightful irony, ?Have you seen that pot belly?? Bador Samed stalks the pages of the novel like a lost soul. A heroic figure, he finds his loved one never to be parted from her. This, the only real tragedy in the novel is unexpected and with a beauty that haunts.

Ama Ata Aidoo in launching Harmattan Rain called it ?a coming ?of ?age novel? And so it is, for this is Ayesha Harruna Attah’s first novel and written at twenty five. It is a novel of remarkable maturity, written in lucid and succinct prose and full of imagination, boldness and humour. We expect that these and other excellent qualities will grow and endure.”

Credit: Frances Ademola, reviewed in the Daily Graphic

Book Review: CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH

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The cover of Dr. Arthur Kennedy's book CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH: THE POLITICS OF COMPLACENCY The cover of Dr. Arthur Kennedy’s book CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH: THE POLITICS OF COMPLACENCY

Title: CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH: THE POLITICS OF COMPLACENCY

Author: DR. ARTHUR KENNEDY
Publishers: AUTHORHOUSE, Bloomington, Indiana, United States

Price: $24.99 from Amazon.com
xvi, 173 pp, Introduction, Acknowledgements and Foreword.

?There are just not enough of us? — Arthur Kennedy book review.

By COLIN ESSAMUAH
Dr. Arthur Kennedy, the director of communications in the presidential campaign of the NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the 2008 elections has done his party and this nation a world of good by providing us with his narrative of the most-expensive, media-heavy campaign in the history of electoral politics in Ghana. I say his party would benefit from sober reflection on the matters disclosed in this short book, although to a man, and woman, he has attracted universal condemnation from his party colleagues for his effort.

Members of the party that authored THE STOLEN VERDICT have displayed a degree of intolerance and disgust for Arthur Kennedy that is breathtaking in its viciousness. The only person who has welcomed the book publicly, did so in terms which were no less damning. Mr. Daniel Botwe who must know the author far better than the several others who have reacted to the book, praised him, but condemned the choice of title and the publication which he felt should have been kept within party ranks. Obviously, to the NPP, the rights of free expression and intellectual freedom, which they claim to have championed since 1992, are inapplicable in this instance, even to a fellow party stalwart.

Comprising twenty short chapters with a perceptive but sad foreword by Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, General Manager of the Daily Graphic, this is a crisp, extremely reader-friendly work that will enlighten, educate, shock and entertain its readers. It is also likely to sadden a large number with its open yet careful assessment of the failings of individuals in the campaign, and the determined but enthusiastic wrongheadedness which drove many decisions. Dr. Kennedy joins a large and growing number of people and local and foreign scholars who have written on elections in Ghana since 1992. The unique perspective he offers from his participation in the NPP presidential primaries in December 2007, and his service as the communications guru of the NPP presidential campaign is his claim to fame, or notoriety, in the estimation of Ghanaians. For instance, the hagiographic work of Mr. Fred Asante, ex-Member of the Council of State, titled THE KUFUOR LEGACY, on the 1996, 2000 and 2004 elections did not attract a fraction of the interest that Dr. Kennedy has aroused in and outside his party with his far shorter narrative on the 2008 elections. The NPP must move away from demonizing party members who have different opinions from those held by the power centres in its ranks.

However, if one is not careful, one may be misled into accepting what Dr. Kennedy says as conclusive of the factors which caused the defeat of the NPP in the December 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections, even though these factors have been cited and accepted by others before him. This is another way of answering the oft-asked question about what caused the defeat of the NPP in the 2008 elections. The contribution of Dr. Kennedy to the several answers out there is that his work reflects the triumphalist mood which drove the campaign, and in so doing, enables us to deepen our understanding of the three whys in this campaign, the defeat itself, the narrowness of defeat, and the painful reception of defeat by party members.

The author lists nine reasons at the end of the book which led to defeat. They are all valid, just as the positive factors listed at the beginning of the book which should have guaranteed the so-called One-Touch victory for the NPP. What caused the defeat therefore cannot be a mere recitation of events, policies, behaviour patterns and propaganda as we all have tended to accept, but rather a massive misunderstanding of the Ghanaian electorate which, given the positive factors also engendered by the same delusions, may be forgiveable. This is the charitable position to take on the matter.

Dr. Kennedy makes clear, line after line in his book, that the NPP as a corporate body, then and now, suffered fatally from a delusional triumphalism that electoral defeat was impossible, and therefore, unthinkable. This illogical belief affected every political decision, and every propaganda step they took during the campaign. It is delusional triumphalism which produced 18 presidential aspirants, including ALL the senior ministers in the Kufuor cabinet, including his blood brother, Kwame Addo-Kufuor, plus three sojourners in Europe and America, Boakye Agyarko, Agyei-Barwuah and the author himself. It is the delusion of victory that produced the inherent belief in party ranks that the opposition NDC was no factor, even though as early as August, 2008, the NPP had been warned that the non-existent opposition NDC could force a second round, courtesy the advice of Professor Larry Gibson. I must add here rather quickly, that the figures Professor Gibson worked with were crude concoctions emanating from the same delusions of triumph that drove everything else in the NPP.

The most serious and in the end, most fatal delusion that seized and gripped the NPP was the belief that the electorate did not exist. ‘Agbenaa’ was the Ga version of that particular delusion. Hitching a tro-tro ride from Abossey Okai to Korle Bu was a farcical epiphany of the Palm Sunday procession. The campaign was not seen as a contest between the party and the unbowed NDC, but as a coronation, where the only requirement was for the crown prince to be present at the enthronement ceremony. Dr. Kennedy asserts the same when he calls into question who the target audiences were for the various campaign initiatives. Pollster Ben Ephson’s just-published work on the election reports the stunning fact that of the 500 young men and women who were polled after the Labadi Beach musical concert staged as part of the campaign, only 9 said they would vote for the NPP presidential candidate in the December 2008 polls. Ephson reports again that only 90 out of 1000 respondents said they would vote for Nana Akufo-Addo at the Believe in Ghana bash. For the lack of understanding, empathy and concern for the Ghanaian voter, Dr. Kennedy fell victim to the giddiness in the NPP campaign train when he employs the word complacency.

The truth of the matter, however, is that the NPP 2008 campaign was the most comprehensive, thorough, well-funded, staffed and motivated effort in the history of electioneering in Ghana. Let me give two pedestrian examples. How many of us can remember any NDC campaign song, but the sarcastic Lumba lyrics still gets airtime a year after the elections? I personally counted five huge Nana Akuffo Addo hoardings at the Liberation Circle alone in Accra, and wondered who were the intended audience for this advertising overkill. The NPP carpet-bombed the country with adverts, songs, rallies, concerts, and media endorsements. The problem of explaining defeat can be likened to the Rope-a-Dope strategy of Muhammad Ali in the October, 1974 Rumble in the Jungle fight in Kinshasa in which he defeated the overmighty and deadly George Foreman by systematically sapping the latter’s overwhelming strength.

But the delusions of inevitable triumph still persist even as the author joins the chorus in the party that 2012 would see the NPP back in power. The general contempt for the ability of the NDC to recapture power after two harrowing terms in opposition marked by the reckless, careless and dangerous abuse of the judicial process to jail their leading members, damnation to perpetual opposition with the pointless national reconciliation project, and a vicious, unchristian and ungentlemanly attack on their candidate, Professor Mills, should have abated by now. In the higher circles of the NPP, the repeated forays of President Mills into the Central Region were seen as proof positive of his failing health, and not of his single-minded determination to persuade his kinsmen to vote for him.

Dr. Kennedy is simply being the uncharitable NPP politician who refuses to appreciate that the present constitution and the structure of our politics, are the products of the PNDC from which the NDC was begotten, and the very least one can do as a patriot of the land, is to respect if not love them, like the converted Saul, for finally coming round to accepting civilian, democratic and constitutional rule, and not to continually mock them. Fortunately, the people of this country know better.

Dr. Kennedy rightly questions the lack of active employment of President Kufuor in the campaign, but he declines to tell us really why since his answer would be self-incriminating. The leadership of President Kufuor was never respected in the ranks of the party, and in defiance of party esprit d’corps, leading members of the party delighted in ridiculing and defying the judgement and direction of a man they had freely chosen and campaigned for, and happily accepted positions from, to run this country. But President Kufuor himself did not help matters when for the position of national chairman for the party in 2005, he backed an obvious Johnny-come-lately Stephen Ntim. Ntim who was completely apolitical during our Legon days in 1980 was an attempted imposition whose audacity eclipses the so-called Swedru declaration of President Rawlings. But in refusing to endorse Vice-President Aliu Mahama to replace him as the NPP nominee, and backing his kinsman, Allan Kyeremateng, President Kufuor was following in the footsteps of his mentor Victor Owusu, who also chose Kufuor.

It is clear therefore, that both President Kufuor and his party were embarking on a disastrous journey where the former’s choices were indefensible, and the latters’ disrespect untenable. Seen in this light, the violent disagreements and opposition to a retiring president endorsing anybody in the 2007 NPP primaries marks the party as incapable of strategizing. The other way of looking at this is that the NPP is an ethnic cult. This is one aspect of the defeat that Dr.. Kennedy declines to address, only stating the patently foolish appeal of the late Hawa Yakubu to President Kufuor not to support anyone for the top prize in the party. I fail to see the wisdom in denying President Kufuor the privileges of leadership. That the privilege was exercised wrongly is another matter. When President Reagan was asked by pressmen what advice he would give to his Vice-President George Bush, Snr, as the latter sought the Republican nomination in 1988, he replied ‘Take no prisoners.’ No one questioned or doubted Reagan’s right to back someone to replace him. It is worth attempting an answer to how the NPP came to this sorry pass.

The NPP traces its direct roots not to the genteel, aristocratic UGCC of 1947, but to the rough and tumble band of discontents of the NLM of 1954, whose politics were marked first and foremost by ethnic supremacy and the sanctification of chiefly rule in the Forest Akan areas of Ghana. The relevance of this is that the position of vice-president is seen as a token sop to the other ethnic groups in Ghana, and not as a practical stepping-stone to the presidency, as it is designed to be everywhere except in Obasanjo’s PDP in Nigeria. Nowhere in the book, or elsewhere in the public debate at the time, is the concern expressed about the suitability of any of the running mate aspirants for the ultimate job, the presidency.

Dr. Kennedy misses the point therefore when he asserts that the NPP ticket has been more inclusive than that of the NDC since 1992. Does he believe that Mills, Amidu, Mumuni and Mahama are not fit to be presidents of this country? What about Kow Arkaah who performed the political hat trick of being the running mate of two opposing parties? If the NPP ticket is more inclusive, why did Dr. Kennedy not spend his energies to persuade President Kufuor and his party to do the natural and proper thing by endorsing Vice-President Aliu Mahama?

The delusion is further illustrated when NPP members and their backers in the chattering classes cite the narrowness of defeat as evidence of the inevitable return to power in 2012. Dr. Kennedy is a passionate believer in this numbers nonsense emanating from our collective acceptance of election polls and figures which make no statistical or political sense. We have had elections in this country since 1951, and we thus have a fair idea of the shape and contours of victory, permitting us to live with the figures produced. Incidentally, it is a study of these figures which have informed my position that the NDC has taken over the CPP pattern of electoral support in this country. But the election figures of 2008, and to a lesser extent, that of 2004, seem extremely suspicious. For the author to take psychic comfort in 205,000 spoilt ballots in NPP strongholds which robbed the party of deserved victory and the fallacious reversion to ethnocentric politics where the Volta vote is condemned is regrettable, and unworthy of his fine mind. I will counsel him to read carefully the meticulously researched article on the 2008 elections by Jockers, Kohnert and Nugent, which laid the blame squarely for malfeasance in this election at the doorsteps of the ruling NPP.

The internal NPP polls which gave an 8-10% margin of victory over the NDC were all concocted from whole cloth, and designed to give evidential support to self-generated positive propaganda. Is it not striking that Larry Gibson working with these fantastic numbers, still gave victory to the NDC, albeit by a whisker? It is this particular delusion that has made defeat extremely painful for the rank and file of the NPP to bear.

The title of this essay was chosen from page 91 of the book where Dr. Kennedy lays his finger, rather unintentionally, on the structural deformity in the support base of the NPP. The party has a base in the Forest Akan areas of Ghana, but that base is not homogenous in voting patterns, or even in ethnic purity. That is why people are still rightly puzzled by the immoral fight of the party to claim victory when it won only two regions in the run-off, a move which also sought to deny that coat tail voting is the norm in this country. The problem of the NPP in confecting a durable national spread can only be addressed by following the constitutional requirement for regional balance in political leadership in this country. To Ursula Owusu, an NPP stalwart who asserted in a radio programme recently that ‘we have the numbers’, Dr. Kennedy rightly replies that ‘there are just not enough of us’ in the base of the party.

There are other juicy plums in this book which have seized our attention. The book reminds us that the NPP candidate is yet to concede defeat in this election, even after the Electoral Commission had declared President Atta Mills the victor. Professor Gibson’s recommendation to the campaign to abandon attacking the genuinely popular President Rawlings was ignored. Dr. Kennedy asserts that Nana Addo had ‘more legitimate populist credentials’ than any Ghanaian politician since Nkrumah, when the two of us in a conversation three years ago, had likened the political credentials of Nana Addo to that of the populist Mexican politician Cuanhtemoc Cardenas, who was born in the presidential palace in Mexico City when his father was president! Cardenas never became Mexican president! The reference to the Akyem Mafia reflects the disgust in party ranks and in the country at large, with the large number of family members and Kumasi hangers-on in the Kufuor presidency, which Nana Akufo-Addo seemed willing to continue with his own cabal if he had won. Their presence and access to the candidate is the problem, not the gifts and talents of some of them which Dr. Kennedy rightly argues made them an asset. In a democracy, people are right to resent the ennoblement and empowerment of family which is the norm in a monarchy.

When Kweku Baako and Gabby Otchere Darko were condemning the work, they had obviously not read the book, because the references to them were kind and generous. Gabby, in particular, seems set on a campaign to prove that indeed, he has the capacity to ‘casually offend.’ What is wrong with ‘outing’ Professor Badoe, Edward Boateng and Ahomka-Lindsay as NPP stalwarts? Preservation of the fiction of their objectivity in partisan politics is not a national good. Again, if the book contains nothing unknown to the public, why spend so much energy in attacking Dr. Kennedy? Their efforts are unlikely to disturb the confident, even-tempered and calm doctor who fought the Rawlings regime when some of them were in their diapers. The critics betray a collective low self-esteem that may mask envy of the attention that this unsuccessful presidential aspirant is getting. They predict that he has no future in the NPP, a level of vindictiveness and viciousness that does not surprise me. I have been there before, when I roundly criticized the NPP for indulging in alliance politics in the 1996 elections. Dr. Kennedy needs neither his party nor friends to be relevant in this country’s politics. He has his God, his conscience and his countrymen as his surest compass to relevance.

The delusion continues when President Kufuor seeks to correct the record on the Tain fiasco. Dr. Kennedy’s version accords with the public record. Both the president and the author would want us to believe Tain was an inevitable part of the election when we know it was called into play by the humiliated NPP after the run-off when President Mills had won with 23,000 votes. The party then briefly embraced disintegration and oblivion when it chose to go to court to estop the EC. President Kufuor and B.J. da Rocha, in public rebuttals, saved the party to enable it fight another day. What Dr. Kennedy has done is to show the NPP the mistakes to avoid in that future fight, and for that, the party ought to be deeply grateful to him.

Returnee Moses Asaga: Hard work pays

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The Minister-designate for Employment and Social Welfare, Moses Asaga, has told Citi News that it was as a result of hard work that the President of Ghana John Evans Atta Mills gave him a ministerial appointment.

An elated Asaga said on Citi Eyewitness News hours after the news broke on Wednesday that he had always wanted to serve in the Prof. Mills-led administration and feels the time has come for him to unleash what is under his sleeves for the good people of Ghana.

Hon. Asaga, who until his appointment was the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy, Oil and Gas, sees his new designation as a reward from the President after having worked selflessly ever since the National Democratic Congress (NDC) assumed office in 2009.

“I’m happy because I have joined the squad,” he said. “I’m committed to work for development and Ghana as a whole. I really wanted to serve government and this is another stage. I know that hard work to mother Ghana will always be rewarded. ”

Asaga, who is the MP for Nabdam, said he will aim at establishing a good rapport between his office and the leadership of labour unions in order to keep peace on the labour front.

In 2009, Asaga was withdrawn as water resources, works and housing minister-designate for ordering the payment of the controversial ex-gratia awards without recourse to his colleagues in Parliament or the transition team of the new government then led by President Mills.

He has been a Member of Parliament since 1997.

Source: citifmonline

BOOK REVIEW: Yendi Chieftaincy Trials Of 1987

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Title: YENDI CHIEFTAINCY TRIALS OF 1987 Author: George AGYEKUM Pages: 595 The book covers two trials held in Tamale in 1987 concerning two violent incidents in Yendi and Linbunga in December 1986 and January 1987 on the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision on the Yendi Skin Affairs. The book illustrates a vivid account of events during the trial. Even though a criminal trial the cultural and traditional practices were quite eminent as if it was a trial of what were the right customary laws and usage. The introduction to the book takes the reader through a vivid simulation of what took place and causes of the conflicts and possible solutions. The revelation of the role govt played in releasing Salifu Amankwah and the intrigue and scheming is worth noting in this line the govt statement published in the Daily Graphic at page 508 is worth scrutiny. In the glossary of has several explanations of traditional titles and positions. There are several news paper cuttings in the book and what really catches the eye of the reader is on page 522 has important historical coincidences. The late Gen. F.W.K. Akuffo as a Commander is seen visiting his troops in 1969 at the conflict area. There is a group picture of Gen A.A. Afrifa, then Chairman Presidential Commission and Dr. Busia then Prime Minister at page 518, meeting some of the Chiefs and leaders of the Abudu and Andani gates in Accra. The writer of the story captioned ‘Yendi A Mini War’ was no one other than Boakye Djan then not as a soldier but a Journalist. (The historical evolution is revealing, between 1969-1979 and their new roles i.e. Akuffo and Boakye Djan. Just within 10 years) The book also has the Dagbon Constitution incorporated in full. Until I read the book little did I know that the Dagamba people had a comprehensive constitution helped to compile by the British in 193O. It traces the ancestral history of the Dagamba people and the role the drummers and drums play in the history and culture of the people. This explains the reason also why some of the conflicts arose out of festivals and drumming centred gatherings and issues. The sub title ‘Conflict Resolution Through Judicial Action’ still illustrates the challenges to the judiciary in a modern state. But is the statement correct? The decision of the Supreme Court ignited the riots as both parties asserted themselves in victory and defeat. It ended as a lose, lose situation. But the other sub title ‘A Clash between State and Traditional Norms’ sums up the basis of the whole conflict. As the facts in the book reveals it is up to opinion leaders, The National House of Chiefs and the Eminent Chiefs, who are acting as mediators to find a way of resolving the Conflict between State and Traditional Norms. The Yendi conflict is an old one but in bridging the gap between the state and traditional norms, without undermining the rich culture and historic traditions is a challenging task. For the researcher/ sociologist an even NGO operating in the Dagbon area. Knowledge of facts from the book as a background information is recommended. Schools if it could be afforded should be explored so that the youth can see the

Book Review: TREASURY OF MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES

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Treasury of Motivational Quotes, [French and English versions] by a Ghanaian journalist chronicles Ghana’s historical landscape and jubilee story in vivid colours through an array of distinguished voices.

African Statesmen, World leaders and other international dignitaries of divergent
callings, comment candidly on African unity and Globalisation.

This impressive anthology of Quotes, put together by J. Kofi Yeboah Tuafo, is richly historical, immensely relevant and places deep focus on the African condition.

As Nelson Mandela states in this densely researched collection, ‘After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are more hills to climb’. But victory and success are inevitable.

?TREASURY OF MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES? IS A MUST READ FOR THE CREATIVE MIND AND BELIEVERS IN
UNFETTERED FREEDOM AND HIGHEST DEMOCRATIC VALUES.

Medical waste scandal at 37 Hospital

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Investigations by The Globe newspaper have uncovered at the 37 Military Hospital near the Flagstaff House in Accra a massive medical waste scandal, the type of which has led to health authorities losing their jobs in other countries, with others serving severe jail terms for endangering public health.

For more than a year now, highly infectious liquid medical waste from 37 Military Hospital has been flowing freely into Accra’s main gutters, with authorities at the hospital making no attempts to reverse the trend.

Residents who live around the immediate surroundings behind the Hospital— who are at risk of contracting HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis and from the liquid medical waste — say they have been getting ill often these days and blamed “the hazardous medical waste from the Hospital”.

The free online dictionary defines medical waste to mean, “Any discarded biologic product such as blood or tissue removed from operating rooms, morgues, laboratories, or other medical facilities. The term may also be applied to bedding, bandages, syringes, and similar materials that have been used in treating patients and to animal carcasses or body parts used in research. Medical waste is regulated at the state and local levels. ” There are different types of medical waste management systems in countries around the world. Even though, medical waste disposal systems are not completely risk-free, the dangers can be drastically reduced with care, using treatment plants.

Experts say improper disposal of medical waste may result in damage to humans by sharp instruments, deadly diseases transmitted to humans by infectious agents, and contamination of the environment by venomous and perilous chemicals.

International standards therefore require proper management of medical waste to reduce the environmental and public health risk such wastes pose.

But The Globe’s investigations found that the main pipeline that transports liquid medical waste from the 37 Military Hospital got damaged over the year ago during what one insider called “a site clearing exercise by contractors who have been engaged to develop a huge parcel of land lying between the hospital and the only treatment plant serving the facility. ” “Since then, we have not been able to restore the pipeline. What it means is that liquid waste from mortuary, the hospital’s theatres, maternity ward and many more have been moving freely into the capital’s main drains,” an official of the hospital — who blew the lid on the scandal to this reporter — said on condition of anonymity.

“In fact Management of the hospital is aware of the problem but they have either pretended not to know or are doing very little or nothing at all to address it,” the source said.

“Again, what this situation means is that people who eat fresh vegetables like garbage, carrots, tomatoes, onions, etc produced along the main drains in Accra using water from those drains are in danger of contracting all kinds of deadly diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis. The reason is that the water the vegetable growers use has millions of very deadly gems in there,” another source added. As at the time of going to press, the Public Affairs Unit of the 37 Military Hospital said it was investigating the matter and could therefore not immediately comment. This reporter had previously placed a series of calls and text messages to the unit, but got no response.

This reporter’s investigation revealed that the only treatment plant that serves the hospital is in perfect working condition. However, it has been lying idle for more than a year now. Damage to the pipeline that transports waste water from the hospital to the plant for treatment means the treatment plant can no longer process perilous liquid waste from the hospital before they are released into the nation’s drains.

When The Globe visited the site, our reporter saw a wide expanse of stagnant water sitting on the large track of land cleared for a major construction project the hospital intends to put up behind the long line of bungalows that house workers and soldiers of the hospital. The water, some of which flow strait into the capital’s main drains, is from the hospital mortuary, theatres and the hospital’s labour wards.

Apart from the liquid waste, The Globe saw other forms of general waste, including used medical gloves, syringes and blood samples blood stained bandages in drains around the area. Alhassan Iddi, 35, an unemployed man from Nima, who regularly scavenges for metal and plastic objects at the site, told The Globe “the problem has persisted for more than a year now. ”

“I am a scrap dealer. I often come here looking for metal and rubber objects discarded by the hospital because I am unemployed,” he told The Globe.

“At times I find objects such as discarded syringes in the drains,” he said, adding “Sometimes you see children running after each other with these needles. On Many occasions, I sacked them from here buy they mostly come back to play with these used syringes”.

Speaking to The Globe, US trained Medical Practitioner and Lecturer, Dr Kwabena Arthur Kennedy, said “if it is true that liquid medical waste from the hospital is being discharged directly into Accra’s drains without treatment, then we have a looming heath disaster”.

“People are in danger of contracting Hepatitis A, Cholera and other serious diseases because the waste cater we are talking about is loaded with pathogens and disease causing gems and when recycled into the water we drink can be very lethal,” he said.

In September 2011, a human rights investigator for the United Nations said nearly to a quarter of the world’s garbage from hospitals, clinics, labs, blood banks and mortuaries is hazardous and called for a lot more international effort to regulate it.

Calin Georgescu, a U. N. special rapporteur, said few countries are developing the rules needed to cope with the growing mountains of medical waste that pose a hidden risk of infection and could expose people to low levels of radioactivity and needle-stick injuries. In a report to the U. N. Human Rights Council, he said nations pay “too little attention” to their tons of waste each year — waste that contains pathogens, blood, low levels of radioactivity, discarded needles, syringes, scalpels, expired drugs and vaccines. In many poorer nations, unwanted chemicals and pharmaceutical wastes go straight to city dumps, down hospital toilets into water systems, or are burned in cement kilns that just add to dioxide emissions.

Advanced countries typically generate some 6 kilograms of hazardous medical wastes per person a year, according to the World Health Organization, whereas lower-income countries make up to 3 kilograms.

According to the WHO millions of cases of hepatitis and tens of thousands of HIV infections could be prevented each year if syringe needles were disposed of safely instead of getting reused without sterilization.

1998 radioactive medical waste killed four people in Brazil in 1988, and similar accidents occurred before then in Algeria, Mexico and Morocco.

Source: The Globe

Book Review: ‘Fourth Phase of Enslavement’

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In his new book, ‘Fourth Phase of Enslavement: Unveiling the plight of African immigrants in the West’, the generalist, Emmanuel Sarpong Owusu-Ansah (aka Black Power) conscientizes and enlightens the world particularly Africans about the realities of life in Europe and other industrialized countries as an African immigrant, and provides a foundation for further informed engagement with Africans’ mass migration to the developed world and its consequences.

He argues that ‘one of the major elements that distinguish humans from animals especially mammals apart from the former’s ability to think and reason, is their right to live their lives as free beings.’ These in other words, are the key components that ‘make humankind superior to any other form of creature existing on the surface of the earth’. Sadly however, Black Africans have constantly been subjected to ‘terrible enslavement perpetrated initially by foreign powers and currently by their own leaders and the West combined; and their plight does not seem to end anytime soon’.

He maintains that the enslavement of Africans by the West commenced around the mid 15th century; a couple of decades after the arrival of the first Europeans on the shores of the continent many of whom claimed to be missionaries. By the close of the 20th century, the people of Africa had already endured at least three different eras and forms of enslavement, orchestrated mainly by Western Europe. Lamentably, the enslavement of Africans continues unabated as they come face to face with yet another form of this injustice, born out of incompetence on the part of leaders of the continent and neo-colonialism. This new form of slavery which he calls the ‘fourth phase of enslavement ? has put on a brightly coloured garment, delightful to the eyes of the African, and enticing him to get closer only to be trapped in a world of pain, depression, stress and almost unbearable discomfort.’ He contends that this most contemporary form of enslavement ‘relies heavily on mass migration to the industrialized world, and hence seemingly self-imposed.’

Drawing on volumes of relevant literature, media reports, personal experience and observation, eye witness accounts and other authentic sources, the first part of the book does not only establish the meanings of freedom and enslavement, but also touchingly reflects on the first three eras of the enslavement of Africans which he identifies as: the transatlantic slave trade era, the era of colonialism (colonial rule or imperialism), and the age of neo-colonialism referred to by Dr Kwame Nkrumah as ‘the worst form of imperialism’. The issue of mass migration to the West and the possible causes of this ?scourge? are also explored. It retraces the African migrants’ perilous journeys to the industrialized world making very shocking and extraordinary revelations about the journey ? revelations capable of turning the driest eye into a mighty waterfall. It vividly describes with tear-jerking examples the three main illegal means of migrating to western countries, namely: aircraft stow-away, ship stow-away, and the Sahara-Mediterranean journey. It draws attention to milliards of Africans who meet their untimely death in their desperate attempt to reach ?Canaan? (the Whiteman’s land). He does not spare pastors many of whom he claims serve as promoters of the emigration of Africans. He criticizes some materialistic pastors who quite ridiculously gladly offer to pray for the fulfilment of the dreams of someone planning to go to a place as dangerous as the Kosovo of old, Afghanistan, or Iraq.

The part two which is perhaps the most important and exciting aspect of the book describes and discusses the colossal tribulation and ordeal that many Black Africans go through in the western world. It touches on the difficulty in getting a job and treatment at the workplace, accommodation problems, access to health facilities, socio-cultural life of Black African immigrants, abuse from fellow Africans, racism and discrimination, and several other injustices. It however attempts to justify why many suffering immigrants are still in what he calls ‘the Lion’s Den’ and are not returning home despite the hardship.

He proclaims that the dreadful belief among some Whites that Black Africans are semi-human, irrational, dregs of society, etc, are formed thanks to corrupt African leaders, as well as the western media who persistently portray only a very negative image of the African continent and its people. He supports his proposition with a number of factual examples including a narration of an extraordinary encounter with and the shocking confession of a Swiss lady who right from infancy had been deceived by the media and her family into believing that Black Africans are probably nothing more than evolving apes.

The prolific and indomitable writer, Owusu-Ansah, also identifies and critically analyses some of the possible causes of Africa’s economic woes. The continent’s economic misery according to him has been blamed by different people on different factors. For some, colonialism and/or neo-colonialism are the chief culprits; for others, all citizens of African nations are guilty (call it collective culpability); some people also maintain that no one has done anything wrong ? the continent is just destined to remain in economic predicament ? massa damnata; and there are those who believe that corrupt leaders are the cardinal offenders. He vehemently discredits the first theory; he questions the second proposition; he ferociously challenges the third school of thought; and holding them firmly by their tails, he identifies political leaders and people in positions of authority as the chief culprits.

He cautions that until a positive change is made and the broken African economy is mended, defeating the fourth phase of enslavement by controlling mass migration of Africans to the industrialized world will be a fruitless endeavour; and the colonial representation of the continent’s sons and daughters as irrational, barbarians, and inferior, will continue to remain.

The book concludes that through the intensification of formal education; determination; the exhibition of the spirit of integrity, transparency and accountability; the employment of suitable economic and trading models; the demonstration of considerable respect for democratic governance and the principle of the rule of law; the avoidance of nepotism and ethnocentrism; and the preservation of indigenous culture while welcoming relevant external ones, African countries will achieve politico-socio-economic success. It expresses optimism that the chain of enslavement being suffered by Africans will be a thing of the past when the handsome ones do surface.

The author is noted for coining or constructing rich and thought provoking phrases in his written works, and this book is no exception. One never gets bored reading the works of authors like the invincible Black Power.

The xiv + 186 paged book, Fourth Phase of Enslavement (ISBN: 978-0-9568296-0-3) is available in a number of bookshops the world over. It could also be ordered online via Amazon, WHSmith, Ebay, Nielsen Books, and all major online bookshops.

By: Kennedy Opoku-Yeboah is a lecturer and the project director of the soon to be published work, TRAVEL AFRICA: DESTINATION GHANA. ([email protected])

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