A-latiph-A

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The gods of our time!

By AlatiphA - November 16, 2013

In my land, Presidents, ministers, and all of the army of political apparatchiks are gods. Yes, they are. When they misbehave or commit unthinkable atrocities, they get away with it and are never brought to justice. To the people who voted them into power they are untouchable, unreachable, inaccessible, inexplicable, inscrutable, intricate, complex, very high-handed, overbearing, overreaching, over the top in their dealings, and ridiculously superfluous. They are gods. At least they think they are. When they travel, roads are shut down, when they fly out, the airports are cordoned off. They will never travel except in a motorcade and convoy, because they are gods who don’t travel solo. When they speak, it is loaded with haughtiness and pride, when they dress; it’s very far from being modest. Nobody works WITH them, people work FOR them, if you know what that means. When you work WITH them you are perceived a team member, when you work FOR them, you are a hungry slave. Ask...

The wrongly wired Ghanaian!

By AlatiphA - November 15, 2013

If you know better and you hit the airwaves and the public sphere with tales of alternatives, the wrongly wired Ghanaian could become your deadliest foe. He is going to come after you with all he’s got. He is going to defend with his last breath the same irresponsible government officials who are raping his present and mortgaging his future. If you look at things closely, this is to be expected. You are rocking the boat of the only world he knows. You are talking scornfully about the only experience of the world he can boast of. You are saying that his world is inadequate, corrupt, hopeless, unacceptable, and indefensible. You are saying that the only national space he knows is inferior to the paleolithic age. He will fight you. He will abuse you. This is what makes him the most reliable weapon in the hands all those who make a living by retailing lies, deceit, and illusion on behalf of Ghanaian's corruption and impunity. The wrongly wired Ghanaian is their greatest asset. H...

What are they going to do?

By AlatiphA - October 30, 2013

There is uncanny incarceration of the guy who stole a goat, while the “oga at the top”, the untouchable politician who scooped in millons is slumbering easy in his state- of-the-art mansion. Back in the day when you heard screams of “thieves” on any Ghanaian street, justice immediately rolled down like waters. Many of our leaders are THIEVES! Who said they are corrupt? Why are we not lynching these politicians (thieves) like we used to lynch the thieves? They are profusely profligate perfectionists of pilferage who persistently pound their chests in a disgraceful dare of the people. “What are they going to do ”? They seem to tell us. They are elite members of certified criminal country-clubs of the Mephistopheles. They control the levers of who-and-who gets immunity from the impunity. While the people are crying, they are laughing, while the people are agonizing, they are aggrandizing. While the people are in pain, they are painting the whole worl...

We need actions not apologies!

By AlatiphA - October 17, 2013

The perceived cluelessness of President John Mahama's administration is about as old news as Ex-President John Kuffuor assertion that corruption is as old as Adam. It was patently obvious that from the very first day JDM stood close enough to power, he lacked the very gusto and presence of mind to lead A nation this complex, complicated and tasking. Nevertheless, the people elected him. To millions, their vote for JM was an “aspirational” one; it was a statement of hope that things could be better. They wanted him to succeed; they hung on every one of his statements. He in turn promised to deliver; he promised transformation. Fast forward, 10 Months after his election Ghanaians are being paid back in, corruption scandals. In spite of the President’s monumental failure, his supporters continue to hold steadfast. They didn’t believe it when they got their man elected against all odds, and they are still not going to believe it when their man simply cannot ...

Burning fires in our backyard !

By AlatiphA - October 14, 2013

T uesday evening, I am sitting on the porch overlooking the Panbros salt pans from the hilltops of McCarthy Hill. There is a man across the opposite fence. I can see him from my lofty perch, dressed in a pair of baggy shorts, no shirt and carrying what looks like a kerosene lantern. He is walking across from my left to the edge of the open land space he inhabits and I decide to retire, not an interesting scene to keep my attention. Half hour later, just as I am nodding off, I hear the spat-spatting of what sounds like rainfall and I wonder when I missed the gathering clouds during the day and why is it still raining at this time of year? Thinking I could use the pattering rainfall to lull myself to sleep, I ignore the event and doze off. But later, a persistent crackling wakes me up and I sleep-stumble to the balcony to check things out. The smoke filled balcony and the raging fire beneath me, shocks me out of sleep and I reel from the gathering heat below. The man has set the whol...

The Charade of a failed President!

By AlatiphA - October 08, 2013

I’ve generally refrained from overtly criticizing this President and his predecessors, because I’ve always perceived them as very bad bill of goods. Hence, it was patently unfair to criticize a man whose maximum ambition was to become a member of parliament (MP), suddenly stumped into national limelight by head honcho Maximus. This was a bad dream. But that was then, and this is now. This clueless MP turned deputy minister, turned minister, turned vice president has now been President a year going. That is a lifetime in politics;and if he were learning on the job- he should be an expert now. Indeed, he is already showing the worst traits of a political operator. This man is playing hard. He has a new swagger in his steps, but they seem to be swagger of missteps – the worst lessons a student of politics can pick up in this school of hard knocks. Ghana definitely has never had it this bad. When in the history of Ghana, has our Government been so broke it cannot pay state allocations? ...

Transforming our sense of wrong and right!

By AlatiphA - September 18, 2013

We face a serious moral dilemma that pervades all sectors of our national life. It appears that our sense of wrong and right has blurred to the extent that we cannot differentiate between the two. We seem to have lost the basic ingredient that serves as a guide towards the creation of an egalitarian society. We live in a society that encourages and glorifies lawbreakers. In addition, the society encourages the wrong more than it praises the good. To some extent, we seem not to know the difference between the two. This is applicable in all segments of the society from the family to the national level. We encounter this moral burden in the following ways: A society where the family values no longer matters. A society that encourages and does not question the source of wealth of an individual but exults and worships the individual. A society that lives in and believes in falsehood and deception. A society that breeds individuals that have no conscious and only thinks of personal g...