Are Our Leaders Fighting The Causes Or The Symptoms Of Our Economic Crises?

It is interesting these days to wake up and all you hear on our media airwaves is either embezzlement of public funds, corruption, mismanagement of public funds, sales and auction of government properties, causing financial loss to the state, judgement debts and setting up of committees among others. When will this old vicious cycle thing stop? I have tried as much as I can to go parellel with my thoughts of some of these issues (for fear of being tagged as a politician) parading their dirty wings in our political jungle but in as much as I try, my conscience haunts me for being mute and voiceless. Just as we all have the constitutional right to exercise our franchise to elect political leaders, we equally have the right to comment on any issue of national interest and criticise constructively when the need arise. I have said it time without number that it's time the youth of this country rise up and hold the bull by the horn against the corrupt leaders in this country without fear or favour. The youths must always remember that the future of this country belong to them and for how long shall we hide our emotions under the darkness of politics whiles our politicians trample upon our faiths in the rhythm of politics. I am tempted at times to consort with those calling for a military rule, for it seems to be the ONLY tool that can truncate if not expunging the perennial corruption bedeviling our country Ghana. We ought to take a firm stance and mince no words or sentence in telling our unscrupulous leaders to put the tax payers' monies into developing the country rather than their selfish interest and personal gains.

My good friends, its clear from all indications that our leaders are not poised to fighting corruption in this country and it is you and I who suffer at the end of the day as tax payers. Instead of tackling the causes of the economic woes and removing the causative agent, they jump to battle with the effects and in no time the problems resurface. Corruption is looming in almost every public office in this country and it's a spine-chilling phenomenon. It is one of the major setbacks hindering the development of Ghana since independence. People dip their long hands into government coffers for their personal interest and when they are caught in day light, the best the government of 'Nkrumah Ghana' can do is only to set up commitees and that ends it, period! The culprits are left to gloat about and saunter with shoulder high leaving the poor farmers and the tax payers in the villages in abject poverty; no portable water, no goods roads, no health care centers and the rest. At the expense of these, we are faced with the pathetic irony of the villagers lining up to hail these nabobs in the country who only come to give lip service development. Are we not dwindling the spirit of our indefatigable journalists who risk their lives to investigate some of these unwholesome practices in the system? Manessah Azure Awuni's (a journalist at Joy fm) case about GYEEDA and others are worth mentioning here.

What happened? Ghana and Malaysia are both former British colonies that gained independence the same year with similar economic conditions and Ghana was even rated as a potential fast growing economy because of its huge natural resources, but today the story is the reverse. Today Malaysia makes its own cars and boasts skyscrapers that rival anything in New York or London (BBC). It imported its first palm oil from Ghana and managed to improve its cultivation process thus turning the country into one of the largest palm oil producer in the world and developing chemicals such as bio diesel for industries and food addictives from the raw nuts. One may say Ghana was plagued by coups shortly after independence, but what were the causes?

Ghana on the other hand had a stable economy when the British handed power over to Nkrumah but he was influenced by socialist ideologies. Shortly after taking over Nkrumah started to lean more toward socialism
by calling for greater state participation in the economy. His CPP government had greater authority over the economy which eventually led to massive corruptions. Nkrumah wanted Ghana to play a commanding role in Africa's liberation from colonialism and was a strong supporter of a united African state. A mixture of economic
mismanagement, corruption and rising inflation due in part to Nkrumah being a devotee of revolutionary movements and spending a lot of Ghana's resources and money on this “Pan-African cause”. This led to a draining of the country's foreign reserve forcing him to resort to deficit financing and foreign borrowing. Over 50 years of Ghana's independence, we are still faced with similar problems which ignited the coups in Nkrumah era.

The solutions to the country's economic crises are not just imposing new taxes without sealing the holes where the monies leak in the system. Freezing salaries of public sector workers in 214, scrubbing off teacher trainees and student nurses allowances, imposing taxes on condoms and the poor farmers cutlasses will not solve the problem.

It is about removing the causative agents - the corrupt officials who are milking the country's monies and making them face the full rigours of the law to serve as a deterrent to others. Untill our leaders make full commitment by action to fighting corruption, I am afraid this country will remain as it is.

MY TRIBUTE TO NELSON MANDELA (II)

MY TRIBUTE TO NELSON MANDELA (II)

I thought the tears in my eyes have dried. I thought the rain of pebbles will never fall again. I thought death has granted some respite to the wise man on whose words and actions the generations walk. I thought death has pull back its icy hands from him until at least after our centenary birthday. But I woke up at dawn and realised my eyes were oozing with tears, my pillow soaked in tears, not tears of joy, but tears of sorrow. Nightmare again? No. My wife whispered into my ears "the hero and the great African leader has fallen".

From birth, you were given the name Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term loosely translated as 'pulling the branch of a tree' or euphemism for a "troublemaker". You joined the ANC in 1944 as a young anti-apartheid revolutionist, which was later declared as a terrorist organisation and was banned from operation but that never dampened your spirit to wage the crusade against the apartheid. You were born as a leader and you ended up as a hero.

'Umkhonto we Sizwe' translated as "Spear of the Nation" was the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) which you co-founded and fought against the South African government. You were destined to liberate the people of South Africa (blacks) from the hands of the wicked white man. You are revered and respected all over the world as one of the few greatest African leaders who ever lived. You fought a life battle against oppression and injustice and served ONLY one term as president of South Africa, you emerged without stealing your country’s money into foreign accounts to developing the west. Africa needs leaders like you to build the continent and make it a better place to be.

You went through so many challenges; from exile to imprisonment, but you never succumbed even at the glare of the gun. You were prepared to sacrifice your life to liberate the 'black man' from the hands of the oppressors. As a renowned lawyer, you were banned from active practice and treated like a lost orphan in the wilderness, you were repeatedly arrested on false charges, tortured and imprisoned but again that never quenched your burning spirit to fight for freedom. You were banned from public appearances, from belonging to any organisation and attending meeting and delivering speeches but as a smart thinker you always had your way out; You walked in incognito and barefooted, organising secret meetings and awakening the spirit of the youth to stand up for their rights. You were a true patriotic and incorruptible African leader.

You saved the future of South Africans from impending doom when the 'Bantu Education' was introduced by the whites to give inferior education to the 'blacks'. You quickly came out with the "m plan" and used every household as an educational center and taught Africans the right education. You made the whole world to understand that Africans are not inferior before the Europeans and that we (African) must resist their supremacy and racial discrimination.

"Father of the nation", "Black pimpernel", as you were affectionately called, you have left a huge vacuum that will be difficult to replace by any of our current leaders. Our eyes are moving around the continent searching for that leader who is nearest in meaning to your calibre. But until we spot that person, we shall continue to wail in sorrow. Like great writers, great leaders are not buried in tombs, they are buried in libraries. We shall visit there and read your legacies. Rest in peace, father of Africa.

MY TRIBUTE TO NELSON MANDELA (I)

You were the only dry leaf
Known to have remained on the oak tree for very long time
Even the most terrible cyclones and storms
Could not bring you down
We least expected your departure at this time
We least expected that
The wind that couldn't drive the dancing mosquitoes away
Will be able to remove the giant tree
That cast its warm shadow on the continent

Though you were old and weak
The mere fact that we say "he is alive"
Was enough to drive away
The western media and their talking pens and cameras
They peeped through the windows
Hoping to take home bad news
But they retreated when death departed you at the crossroad

They came back shortly and knocked at the door
The frowned and saddened face of the gate man
Was enough for them to announce your departure
Before the native doctor could certified your demise
They are making the news;
They are making monies
This morning, when I googled "mandela"
I had 21,000,000 search results
But they denied you the microphone at the time you needed it most
They denied you their cameras when you needed the coverage
They turned deaf ears to your cry
When you wanted the world to hear
Nonetheless you still led the people to the promise land
But when a single tree faces the storm
It eventually falls
You have fallen on your knees but not dead

Like great writers,
Great leaders are not buried in tombs
They are buried in libraries
We shall visit there and read your legacies
RIP Nelson Mandela.

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THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

I woke up sunday morning
My eyes still heavy
And begging for sleep
Memories of nightmare
Kept me mourning
For death has laid
Its icy hands on my soul
But
Faces were taken aback at the cemetery
When the coffin was uncovered empty
Behind them I stood in tears
And wailing in sorrow
Suddenly
They disappeared into thin air
Before the pseudo dirge
Could be sang

The wind was running faster
Than before
Trees and branches
Dance to endless beats
Birds hardly perch
And flying helter-skelter
And the weak ones flopping
It was an ambiance of uncertainty
And not ailing friendly
So I coiled back onto my mat
In my cubicle like an orphan
Behind my shack
I heard my neighbors whispering
Then I started shevering
And groping for the blanket

Before sleep could visit me
The village gong came crying
And the message was already flying:
The clash of the titans
Of two giant celestial bodies:
The sun and the moon
Then follows the warning:
No man witness this clash
Except with a second eye
Or go permanent blindness
Without special eye glasses
Not ordinary sunglasses
And the clash will be in the sky
Then I can not spy
For I have no special eye glasses
In no time
The sound of the gong
Had been swallowed by distance

Then the old man's words
Took seat in my mind:
The sun is bigger than the moon
And the moon has no light
And the former is hotter than the latter
But at a crossroad
The moon swallows the sunlight
Forcing night to come
But night came and left shortly
For it did not inform earth
And day had already visited earth

I was filled with delight
As I laid sallow on my mat
Meditating this wonders
I regained strength
And was up again
The mirth of
"The Eclipse Of The Sun"
Has awaken me from death's door
And resurrected my spirit



The New Mental Health Law, A Hoax Or Reality?

I lumbered from the taxicab at the junction on Sunday morning and accelerated my strides in order to catch up with time at work since the morning was getting older. I was moved by an irresistible urge of sympathy and a little curiosity to assist this young woman and a boy who were struggling with a middle-aged man by the road side. The man demanded he be chauffeured home rather than in a passenger car because he claims he is a minister and must be given special treatment. I succeeded in establishing rapport and calmed this agitated man down but unbeknown to me, he had clenched his fist and hid them at his back as if an obedient child before his father, just waiting for me to move a step towards him to hit, but he was unfortunately sent down by the weight of his own blow after punching the air as I managed to swiftly dodge him. He bellowed from the ground upwards, cursing me of aiding his discharge in his previous admission on the ward. The woman told him I wasn't the one but he insisted that I was wearing a white shirt and
wearing same today too... I finally advised them to go home and come the following day.

In another scene, Mr. x came crying, toting with his bag and baggage and complained bitterly of how he is being maltreated, insulted and discriminated in all things ever since he was discharged home and pleaded that he wants to stay on the ward and wouldn't go home again. Though his speech wasn't all that coherent, one could deduce from a professional observation that there was an iota of truth in what he was saying because there has been similar cases. How would you feel if you spot the patient you once cared for, took his mental status examination (MSE) and realized he exhibits no more psychotic symptoms, have good judgement and memory, orientated in all spheres and thought it wise that he or she could be managed at home on O.P.D bases and went forth to recommend his discharge, now feeding on garbage in a Zoomlion refuse container at the Agbogbloshie market or has erected his tent in the middle of N1 highway road, distracting vehicular movements or displaying some antics in the middle of Kwame Nkrumah Circle Roundabout. Do you feel self stigmatized as a psychiatric nurse? Do you even see the profession as a rightfully chosen one? Yes, I guess so, because "nursing is a call".

The passage of the Mental Health Act 2012 by parliament on the 2nd of March 2012 did not only register smiles on the faces of sympathizers and aficionados of psychiatric nursing in Ghana, but also an earnest expectation of a new face of nursing in the sector within the shortest possible time as far as the care of people living with mental illness are concern. The enthusiasm that greeted mental health practitioners across the country upon the passage of the law created an ambiance of hope that the new law will prim mental health care in Ghana. It is the hope of all that the new law will address the perennial challenges bedeviling the sector since it contains some antidote in its provisions capable of mitigating those challenges including the protection of the fundamental human right of people with mental disorders in Ghana. The new law demanded that within a six month period of its passage certain structures be operationalized to give it full steam. Which means that the Mental Health Board would have been established within that time frame with the key function of overseeing the drafting of a legislative instrument to operationalize the new law. But nineteen months down the lane since its passage, has anything changed? Or maybe the good news is in the pipeline. Thanks to the late president, Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills for appending his signature on the Mental Health law 2012 on the 31st of May 2012, just within two months of its passage.

Why the Mental Health Act 2012? (Act 846).
According to the Mental Health Memorandum, the Bill has become necessary because the 1972 legislation is out of date and does not accord with the World Health Organisation best practice standard for mental health legislation. The WHO World Report of 2001 which concentrated on mental health, exposed the weaknesses in mental health care delivery in developing countries. The modern trend of mental health legislation is to protect, promote and improve the lives and well being of citizens with mental disorder. People with mental disorder are or can be vulnerable to abuse and violation of their rights. Progressive legislation which acknowledges the modern trend on human rights can be an effective tool to promote access to mental health care as well as to promote and protect the rights of people with mental disorder. The Bill adopts a human rights based approach in accordance with the objective of the U.N. charter and international agreements for the health care needs of a person with mental disorder. These are to prevent discrimination in all its forms and offer equal opportunities to people with mental disorder. Many human rights violations occur in private facilities, the new Bill includes the private sector in mental health as a novelty. Formerly, there were only state run institutions but that position has changed. Furthermore, the  Mental Health Decree 1972, (NRCD 30) excluded traditional and spiritual mental health care. There has been a proliferation of charismatic churches since the early 1980s some of which specialize in the healing of mental disorder and there is a need to regulate these establishments by law. The Bill ensures that standard conditions and rights are relevant for all facilities in order to prevent the abuse of people with mental disorder including physical and sexual abuse.

As it has been the policy of the Ministry of Health Ghana, mental health treatment under the new legislation will be shifted from the only three state recognized psychiatric hospitals to the community level where persons with mental disorders will be readily identified and given prompt treatment to reduce the stigma attached in attending psychiatric hospital.This approach also reduces the cost of patient care and prevents the influx of persons to the three state run psychiatric institutions. To accomplish this provision under the new law, it will ensure the establishment of a 50-bed psychiatric hospital in each region across the country; provide four Drug Rehabilitation Centers and 20 bed psychiatric wards in each of Regional hospital. (see http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2012/6/journalists- schooled-on-new-mental-health-law).

Experts and analysts have outlined some challenges that are likely to impede the smooth implemention

of this new law, these include: health system organisational challenge, mental health human resource challenge, social services challenge, legal and judicial challenge, mental health information system challenge and financial challenge. With these possible challenges, how prepared and willing are
the institutions concern in meeting these challenges? The Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Akwesi Osei in an interview with Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey in 2012, seems to have answers to the Mental Health Human Resource challenge: “We have 14 psychiatrists now. In 5-10 years, we hope to train 80-100. We have eight Medical Assistants inPsychiatry now. We hope to train 50-80 in 5-10 years. We have three clinical psychologists in
 public health service now. We hope to train 50-80 in 5-10 years. We have no occupational therapists now. We hope to train 20 in 5-10 years. We have 600 psychiatric nurses now. We hope to train more than 4000 in 5-10 years. We will do this either through expanding existing facilities or establishing more or both.”

The introductory scenes among others are clear caricatures of the status quo in various situations of the plight of mental patients across the country and the new law is the only apparatus that can salvage this situation. Ghanaians are therefore waiting patiently to see the full implementation of this "new dawn" and hope and pray that it will not be left fallow as it betided its previous laws.

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Day Break Africa

Night throws its darkness apart
Like things fall apart
Leaving no stars in the sky
Cocks crow down and high
Calling dawn to bright
Birds flap their wings in style
Ready to kick and dig
For their daily bread

Wake up from the slumber
And go forth
For your bread and butter
Child of African soil
Shake off that numbness of sleep
Do not slack
In the shadow of your dreams
Chase the fantasies of your dreams
For time waits for no man
Your land has many things
Including honey and milk
Hovered across the continent
So don't go to french cap in hand
Nor dream of overnight richness
Toil and gain
Don't coil and loose
You may labour in pain
But will not be in vain

You can now see from faraway
So you must get on the way
See no obstacle on your pathway
For God is behind you
In all your ways
Shake off your fears
And clean your tears
And be ready to steer

The genesis of your toil
Began in the Garden of Eden
So worry not
About life' nemesis
Don't be pessimist
Think about the benefits
And be your own pharmacist
Oh child of Africa
Son of black skin
Step out of that goomy bed
Work for Mother Africa
Goodness and mercy
Shall follow you
In all your endeavours
Day break African!

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My First Day In The Psychiatric Ward

Having been nurtured, groomed and certified by Nurses' and Midvives Council of Ghana as a staff nurse, after undergoing a programme in tropical health nursing for three consecutive years, plus one controversial year called internship or national service, I was unquiet to enter the ward and see for myself once again the usual bizarre behavior associated with the patients in the acute wards in a psychiatric hospital. It was common at first to see patients in the acute wards prowling within the inner parameters of the ward and some welcoming you in a deja vu manner. The grandiose delusion patients are often seen hitching their shoulders as if they are trying to shift the weight of the world to a more manageable position. In the female wards, you are likely to be welcomed with a gleeful smile by those with "de Clerambault's syndrome" (erotomanic delusion) as if their dreams have finally been realised. I was expecting to see most of the countless signs and symptoms that I have imbibed over the years in the classroom and put into practice the theory-based learning that is typical of African educational systems.

As I strode towards the ward on the day of reporting, I met many faces with strange behaviors, upon approaching the security gate, one hefty man shabbily dressed in traditional colours approached me with a rueful expression on his face and told me he was once a patient in this hospital, before I could ask any question, he wended his way through the bush like a palm wine tapper, I noticed all wasn't well with him. In the hospital premises I spotted 2 of them on the road, one holding bible vigorously preaching in a trancelike state and the other one whining in tears while peeping through the windows of the ward dormitory (perhaps missing his psychotropic drugs or favourite delicious meals). Little did I know that those patients have managed to escape the eyes of the security men at the gate into the hospital premises.

On the ward, I saw 3 patients in the midst of 27 affilliates and 4 rotational nurses at the TV parlour, all I thought was may be the rest of the patients have been treated and discharge home in good faith. That would have been a good news, because it is the dream of every sound minded health worker to see their patient/ client treated and discharge home to continue his or her occupational functions without any psychological or physiological challenges. As I was taken round the ward for orientation I saw seven patients taking a cosy rest on their beds, so I asked to find out the total number of patients in the ward, and there I was told the unfortunate news; the rest of the patients have all been discharged home last year and the hospitals are no more admitting patients because they are not receiving enough funds from the government to cater for their feedings. The ward used to admit over 100 patients but as at the time of writing this material it has only 10 patients. All my hope as a health worker ebbed, and dwindle suddenly like a punctured balloon in the sky, then the questions kept boggling and flooding my mind like an angry labour union threatening a general strike: what if in the next one or two years, this problem is still not addressed, the fews patients left have also been discharged home leaving the wards empty and the mental health bill also not implemented by then? what will happen to the psychiatric nurses on the wards? are they going to be incorperated into the general health care settings or the already congested OPD's? why should the sector even be experiencing this at a time when the mental health bill has been passed into law with provissions to shift the focus of mental health treatment from institutionalised care to the development of community services with the care of persons with mental disorder in general health care settings. Could the ideology behind the mental health bill be the reason for the current malady afflicting the sector or a real financial problem? If that is the case, then the government should expedite action on the formation of the mental health board so that psychiatric nursing will for once see the light of the day. This is how the Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Akwesi Osei described the situation; "Already Ankaful and Pantang have stopped admissions and Ankaful, for instance, has less than 50 patients on the wards which earlier had 300 patients. The rest of the patients, as may be expected, are on the streets in their homes or in chains in the prayer camps, further worsening our human rights record."

There is now pressure on the few psychiatric units in our hospitals across the country and many have found their way onto the streets and some at the prayer camps where they are being subjected to inhumane treatments; chained under the sun and rains, forced to drink concoctions and beating in all forms of exorcisms, further abusing their human rights. It is time the government and other corporate agencies turn their attention to the sector because the image of psychiatric nursing in Ghana seems to have been dragging through the mud for far too long. Mental illness is no respector of persons, today it's somebody tomorrow it could be you! May God bless all nurses in Ghana.

The Ghanaian Nurse

Nursing is a call (vocation) to serve. It is an art of utilizing the environment of a patient so as to assist him in his recovery. This includes care of the whole patient, his mind and body, the care of the patient's environment and to provide health education and other health services to the individual, family and society for the prevention of disease and promotion of good health.
The International Council of Nurses (I.C.N) accepted the defination of nursing as "the unique function of the nurse, that is to assist the individual (sick or well) in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery that he could perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge". "Service" to the mankind is the primary function of the nurses and the reason for the existence of nursing profession. To be a nurse is like being a mother; like a nursing mother who loves, cares and protects her baby from injury and sickness, like the hen that shields its chicks from it's predators, the Ghanaian nurse in the hospital protects his or her patient/client from sickness and our greatest enemy - death, by rendering the best of basic nursing care within their means to bring back life to dying souls. The Ghanaian nurse rehabilitate and restore normal function to patients who have either been physically or psychologically incapacitated to reintegrate them into the society. If one's death is destined, the nurse nurses him to a peaceful death (dying without pain or distress). I once withnessed an old man in his late 80's who in the process of dying was smiling at the nurses because of the good nursing care the nurses rendered to him. The nurse receive the sick and the wounded with open arms, sooth their pain, comfort them and nurse them back to life. Nurses in Ghana love their profession no matter the odds, they make effort to put aside the frustrations they encounter as nurses and perform perfectly for the sake of mankind. Such are epitomised characteristics of the good nurses in Ghana who are always working around the clock to save life.

On the other side of the coin are the few bad ones. Those who are constantly dragging the image of the profession into the mud and as the saying goes in Akan, in every house there is "Mensah", they are those who fell into the profession by accident and some too by the "stepping stone phenomema." They roar at the sick at the least provocation as if they have land dispute problems with them. They either do not understand the nurses' pledge or attach any significance to it which states in stanza three " I promise to respect at all times the dignity of the patient in my charge". The Ghanaian nurse since time immemorial have worked tremendously for the sake of mankind. Their work deserve better remuneration, better condition of service, respect and publicity. When their two sisters in the health sector embarked on strike demanding what others described as "avaricious demand", the Ghanaian nurse for the sake of mankind was in the ward attending to that unconscious patient who have soiled himself from head to toe with vomitus, urine and faecal matter, dressing that stinky gangrenous wound, carrying bedpan and what have you. Those in the psychiatric wards are sometimes physically attacked by restless, anxious and deluded patients. Some staffs have even lost their eyes, teeth, others with broken limbs some of which eventually led to their deaths, without any insurance cover nor “risk allowance”. As for the rotation nurses, the little you talk of them the better. Ghanaian nurses need a sturdy associatin with leaders who can always mount the negotiation table and hold the bull by the horns for the betterment of their condition of service than the status quo May God bless all nurses in Ghana and the hand that cares for the sick. Ghanaian nurses, AYEKOO, your reward is in heaven.

Always Aim High in Life

Never consider yourself as an average person, an average learner or performer in life. What you think for yourself is what you strive to achieve in life. People who considered themselves as average learners in institutions of high learning can only tell their bitter stories today. Always aim high no matter your result so that if you fall by mistake you can land on a better ground than to aim low and fall at the bottom. Dream big and let the sky be your limit.

The Al-shabaab, A Political Organisation or A Religion?

I have read a lot of articles and comments on the internet as well as the social media concerning the barbaric and grotesque attack at the Kenyan West gate shopping mall on Saturday, 21 September, 2013, which has claimed at least 62 lives and counting as at Tuesday morning according to the guardian report: "Kenya's interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku said that it was unlikely that any more hostages were being held in the mall where the attack killed at least 62 people, including at least six Britons". Victims came from many countries including Britain, Australia, Canada, France, China, India, Ghana and the Netherlands. For Ghana, we have lost an illustrious son Kofi Awoonor Williams; a poet, an author, diplomat, academic and a former chairman of council of state. May his untimely soul rest in peace and for the mind that masterminded the mysterious gun never have peace on this earth and the hand that pulled the trigger be torn to shreds. Those addlebrainds who clandestine their acts under the umbrella of religion know nothing but misconstrue the scriptures.

The more I read them the more I become sad and sad. Then I begin to think and ask God a simple question: when is the judgement day? Why is God not giving instant judgement and to punish those who takes the lives of their fellow innocent human beings? Are we safe in this world of ours? I had a heated argument with some of my colleages the other day concerning wrong doers and the judgement day. My point was that God should have made heaven and hell visible to mankind for at least it will instill much fear into the hearts of men when they think evil. Their point was also that no matter how horrible hell will look like if it is visible, some people will still opt to go there (hell) and will therefore do evil. God has actually hidden something from us I concluded. Man does not believes God's word, it is a fact, not even the religious leaders, some of them rattled the scriptures with their tongue not in their hearts and when they retire to bed they think differently. Some of the comments or reactions that at times we hear from our religious leaders on sensitive religious issues only add more confusion to our already bloggled mind on religion, disgusting and leaves much to be desired. So the question again is, are we being deceived or misled? It is a fact again that majority of people in the world (with the exception of Africans because we believe in the goodness of everything the Whites brought) believes that the scriptures were written by men and they were NOT even inspired by God to write it but something to deceive. Yes, you can call me a shallow thinker, an atheist or whatever for I will not take a religious stance here but as a social commentator, I free my mind of all impurities with impunity. Just like my friend's article on ghanaweb yesterday, The Al-shabaab, the ugly side of religion, he was attacked from all corners from both muslims and christians, chided and some calling him names just because he expressed his opinion on religion. Why are we so fixated on religion like that? Isn't it a delusion that we believe.....? I concur with my friend's words "... none of the founders of these so-called religions ever preached based on religious followership. They all preached on the love for one’s neighbor, tolerance, and peace". So where is the love? Where is the peace of your religion? The scriptures can not walk and talk peace, it is you who have to practise what you preach! - peace. Whether the scriptures were written by man or not, has religion not done more good than harm?

Is Al-shabaab a religion or a political organisation? When the name "Al-shabaab" is mention, what readily comes to mind in sequence is Arabic language - Islam - Muslims -suicide bombers and terrorists. Is everything in Arabic Islamic? and therefore must be perpetuated by muslims? I do not want to defend any religion but help me destressed my boggled mind, where do rebels get their funds from? There must be someone facilitating their activities. Is it from the politician or from a religious body? It is an undeniable fact that both the Quran and the Bible have verses or chapters that if we want to follow them or put them into practise we will only end up harming ourselves and denying peace in our existence, nonetheless there are avalanche of chapters and verses in our scriptures that speak and teaches love, peace, unity and forgiveness among mankind. Why chose to practise the few ambiguous ones that never makes the world a better place to be?

I came across a farcical article purported to have been reported by one Elijah Lamau to the BBC on the shooting inciddence inside the mall, that the gunmen had told Muslims to leave and said non-Muslims would be targeted and that the gunmen further said, “If you are a Muslim, stand up. We’ve come to rescue you.” “The Muslims left with their hands up.” Why did the others also not stand up and raise their hands and left free since proclaiming as a muslim by standing up and raising your hand could set you free? Or they wanted to defend their religion? This is not convincing in all human senses. It is sensational journalism and nothing else. I was expecting to read something like they (the gunmen) inspected their ID cards to confirm their muslim names before letting them go. Gruesome attacks likes this and the like of the activities Boko haram should be condemned in totality rather than attributing it to the believes of a religion, but for me it is more political than religious.

The Story Of A Failure

He was born in February 12, 1809.
In 1816, his family was forced out of their home.
He had to work to support them.
His mother died when he was only 9 years.
In 1831, he failed in business.
In 1832, he ran for state legislature and lost totally.
In 1832, he also lost his job and wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.
In 1833, he borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.
In 1834, he ran for state legislature again and won.
In 1835, he had a broken heart when his engaged sweatheart died.
In 1836, he had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.
In 1838, Sought to become speaker of the state legislature and was defeated.
In 1840, sought to become elector but was defeated.
In 1843, he ran for Congress and lost.
In 1846, he ran for Congress again and this time he won and went to Washington and did a good job.
In 1848, ran for re-election to Congress but lost.
In 1849, sought the job of land officer in his home state but was rejected.
In 1854, he ran for Senate of the United States and lost.
In 1856, sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention and got less than 100 votes.
In 1858, ran for U.S. Senate again and again he lost. But in 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th elected president of the United States after losing eight (8) elections.

Unplugged: The Obama Illusions

Barak Obama entered office in 2009 on the shoulders of the masses in the aftermath of an era of war ushered in by G.W. Bush. The slogans of ‘Yes, We Can’ carried with it not only support but hope that the world will witness a change in US foreign policy which had turned so many against it. Promises of closing the notorious torture facility of Guantanamo Bay that held prisoners as young as 13 and some as old as 98. A facility that revealed the most despicable face of society that turned a blind eye to Bush’s torture, kidnapping and even murder of men and boys; which we now know a majority of whom to be innocent. Promises of extending a hand to the Muslim world that was ripped apart by two wars -Iraq and Afghanistan. Promises of democracy and transparency.
We were all deceived and many remain deceived. During the first year of the Obama administration, Obama personally authorised a Tomahawk Cruise Missile Strike on a tiny village in rural Yemen called al-Majalah, killing 21 children and 14 women. Silence… the world knew nothing because that was part of the deception. When Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye investigated the one sided attack on the civilian village, the story recounted was horrific. Village elders spoke of how they had to pick up parts of bodies because they were torn to shreds. When Shaye revealed the US strike he was imprisoned by the US backed Dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. After tremendous outrage, Saleh pardoned Shaye, only to receive a call from Obama himself to keep the whistle-blower journalist in prison. To date, he remains imprisoned. Yet Obama’s bloody trail doesn’t stop there. Under the Obama administration, drones have become the weapon of choice. Remote controlled planes piloted from Nevada flying in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. In Pakistan alone, 474 to 881 civilians including 176 children have been snuffed out with no reasons, no answers and no accountability. These deaths are 'justified' by a drone policy that classifies all males of “fighting age” killed in drone attacks as “militants.” Drones are being actively flown over Africa from bases in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Niger and Seychelles. Under Obama, the US has effectively declared the world a battlefield authorizing the use of drone strike decided during ‘terror Tuesday’ meetings in which Obama plays the prosecutor, judge and executioner. Guantanamo remains open and the 103 inmates are currently on hunger strike in order to secure basic human rights. Majority have been cleared of all charges yet the Obama administration states that 48 detainees can neither be released nor tried, but should be held in indefinite. As he promises again and again to close down this detention facility, he seems insincere. In Somalia, the US under the Obama administration has set up what is known to the locals as the ‘Guantanamo’ of Africa. A facility which holds the horrors of torture in its basements under the CIA and other intelligence outfits supervision.
Let us not forget the Abu Ghraib tragedy, where men were humiliated by being stacked in human pyramids naked, sexually abused, tortured, forced to eat their own faeces, ravaged by dogs to be stitched up by ‘chicken surgeons’ only for the torture to be repeated. Hundreds of these photos and videos existed and revealed an institutionalized policy of torture of this nature. Obama intervened, denying justice not only to the victims and their families, but to the global collective by refusing to release the evidence stating that it would flame anti-US sentiment. Yet, Obama never addressed the problem, and only prosecute low level officers. Perhaps the PRISM scandal which was broken by Edward Snowden which revealed how the US NSA intercepted all communications with the assistance of Google, Facebook, Skype and Microsoft to name a few. The invasion of privacy from recording the content of every call, text, online message even old and edited documents. Interception that spans the world including myself and you the reader. This application by the MLA is not about race, religion or agenda. It is about the facts. Some may argue that he is the most ‘powerful man’ in the world. He remains a man, subject to the law. As a child of the new South Africa, I was taught that race is not your defining factor. Therefore I judge Obama on his actions and policies.
By: Zaakir Ahmed Mayet.

The Greatest African Leader

The greatest African leader today lives in a bungalow in a south African suburb respected all over the world because he fought a life battle against oppression and injustice, served one term as his country’s president, emerged without stealing his country’s money into foreign accounts to developing the west.

He was born in 18 July 1918. His childhood name was Rolihlahla, which is loosely translated as "pulling the branch of a tree", or a euphemism for "troublemaker". In later years he became known by his clan name Mandiba. He said "No one in my family had ever attended school. On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name I have no idea." Hence the name Nelson Mandila.

In 1961, he was convicted for inciting people to strike and leaving the country without a passport and sentenced to five years imprisonment and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage in what was known as the "Rivonia Trial".

He was released on 11 February 1990 after serving 27 years in prison. He has received over 250 awards including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Soviet Order of Lenin.

His father, though died of an undiagnosed disease he believes he died of lung disease. Today, the greatest African leader lies at death's door with lung infection whiles the world prematurely announces his death. His legacies will live forever whether dead or alive!

There Is No Hurry In Life

There is no hurry in life for God has a plan for everyone. Be content with what you have, remain resolute and be progressively minded, your time shall surely come. Do not envy others for all fingers are not equal in life and will never be equal. Envy and jeolousy are the root cause of hatred in life and might compel you to use every possible means to become who you think you want to be in life. What will you gain if you possesses the whole world and loses your own soul? Life is how you use what you have and not how you use what others have. Whenever you perceive people are richer than you or ahead of you in life, don't tell yourself you are lacking behind but rather look back and you will realise that you are far richer than others too. Remember to continue your goodness and pray for the poor and the displaced and leave the rest to God. Whenever the beggar tells you "thank you and God bless you", it has a positive impact on your in life.
May God answer our prayers.