Save The Rohingya Now

The world is just mute about all that is happening to the Rohingya Muslims in Burma/ Myanmar. What baffles me is the attitude and behavior of the Burmese Leader, Aung San Suu Kyii. She is very quiet about what is happening in her country. Has she forgotten that the whole world rallied to her defence when she was being abused and harassed by the then military junta in Burma? She must return her Nobel Peace Prize if she fails to stop the ethnic cleansing going on in the countries.
The Rohingya Muslims are also human beings and they deserve to be protected. Their rights have been trampled upon for far too long. The world must not just sit down and and issue statements without any action. Their children are dying and they have no place to live. It seems the world has forgotten about the Rohingya Muslims. Let's all come together and stop this ethnic cleansing going on in Burma. World leaders must act now and save the Rohingya from being wiped out from the earth. Save the Rohingya Muslims now.

Stoking The Fires In The Middle East (Is Saudi Arabia Bullying Qatar?)

Once again the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf area is boiling as usual and several countries are involved in the proxy wars going on in the region. The Syrian civil war has been dragging on for about six years with no signs of an end to the conflict. Thousands of innocent civilians both women and children have been killed as a result of the various factions inability to resolve their differences. Then to add more fuel to the tension in the Middle East and the Gulf region, the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Bahrainis are accusing Qatar of sponsoring terrorism in the region. Most of the trumped up charges against Qatar are either demonstrably thin, false or totally fake.

Are the Americans not aware they asked the Qataris to open an office for the Taliban in Doha so as to facilitate peace talks? Qatar has also been accused of supporting some of the rebel groups in Syria, but a number of the Gulf States are equally guilty of this. Qatar is also being accused of allowing Hamas a political presence in the capital, Doha. Qatar is also being accused of punching above her weight, that’s politically. The last accusation is that, Qatar has been financing the Aljazeera News network and providing platforms for persons and groups hostile to the US and Israel, and at the same time hosting the biggest US military base in the region. All these allegations being leveled against Qatar are the most ridiculous allegations being leveled against another sovereign country by a group of so called spotless countries. The most interesting thing about this whole saga is that, these allegations surfaced just after the visit of the US President, Donald John Trump to the region. I hope you are reading some meanings into this. Was he bribed by the Saudis with the billions of dollars which were exchanged for arms and military hardware? Who does not know that Saudi Arabia is one of the worst abusers of human rights in the Middle East and the world? The world is mute about that, and have even allowed the Saudis to chair the Human Rights Council at the United Nations.

The whole world knows that the Egyptians clandestinely supported Hamas, but Israel did nothing to counter that. Saudi Arabia has also been supporting so called moderate opposition elements in the Syrian civil war and have also been conducting a series of bombings in Yemen against the Houthi rebels and this has led to the death of many innocent civilians with women and children being the worst affected. As usual, the Qataris have refused to kowtow to the demands of the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia. Turkey has deployed thousands of troops and military hardware in Qatar to shore up the confidence and the strength of the Qataris. The Iranians are also sending food supplies and military hardware to support Doha. The Qataris have been given an ultimatum to stop supporting terrorists, to shut down the AlJazeera News network, close down the Turkish military base and other demands from Saudi Arabia and her allies made up of Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE. We all know that it is just a matter of time for the Russians and the Chinese to jump in. Saudi Arabia and her allies should not think of attacking Qatar, because they will forever regret doing that. There is too much hypocrisy being perpetuated in the region. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.”  

Fantastically Corrupt: An International Perspective

We were all baffled and surprised to hear an off the record statement made by the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron in a conversation with the Queen, described Nigeria and Afghanistan as the two most fantastically corrupt countries in the world. Little did he know that he was being recorded. The Nigerian Government swiftly responded and told the world media that it was embarrassed by that statement made by the British PM. The Afghan Government also responded. But, the British PM ironically had invited several leaders, including the Nigerian leader, President Buhari to an anti-corruption summit in London. I kept on asking myself, what at all were they going to talk about corruption that we don’t already know? We all accept the fact that Nigeria has been bedeviled with the issue of corruption and the current President was trying his best to curb the menace. President Buhari told the British PM that Nigeria does not need an apology from him but the British Government should make sure to return all assets and monies stolen by Nigerians which are being kept in Britain. This statement by the Nigerian President made my day. In the first place the British PM is behaving like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. He is indirectly “fantastically corrupt”.

His father owns an offshore account in one of the tax havens, according to the #PanamaPapers and he benefited from it. What is the British Government doing about that? When Libya was invaded and their president was murdered, this same British PM told his fellow countrymen to move into Libya and secure all the oil contracts. Definitely some percentage will trickle down to and his close associates will get their cut from the numerous oil deals. Are they not the same people who come down to Africa, bribe our public officials to loot our natural resources, dodge taxes, repatriate their income back to their countries leaving their host countries in an economic quagmire? Have they returned all the artifacts they forcibly took away from Africa?  Someone who is fantastically corrupt is able to identify others who are fantastically corrupt.

The World In Crisis

As i sit down and write this piece, i realized how fast the year 2014 has gone by, and we are left with only four more days for the year to end and we will be ushering in the year 2015. A lot has happened on the international scene and for that matter the global arena with all sorts of power play going on. But the highlights of 2014 to me will be the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 with almost 239 passengers on board, Russia's annexation of Crimea, the Ukrainian crisis and the alleged shooting down of another Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine also killing almost 300 innocent passengers. The shooting of unarmed blacks in the US could also be something worth mentioning as protests are seriously going on in some of the US cities to bring to the fore the senseless killings. The US Senate also released the much dreaded CIA Torture Report and the world was taken aback by the details of the report with some people calling for the officials in charge of such gross human rights abuses to be brought to book, but hey, who cares? Its the US the so called bastion of Western Democracy and they do as they please, so we just shut up and watch as the report gathers dust on the shelves.

In my opinion, coupled with other major events that took place in the year 2014, like the imposition of sanctions on Russia by the EU and the US the world is seriously in crisis. The reduction of the price of crude oil  on the world market is having far more repercussions  than it was imagined. The economies of some of the major OPEC countries is suffering as a result of this reduction. The Russian currency, the Rouble is in a serious decline and Nigeria's Naira is facing the same problem as the government had to devalue the currency. The sanctions imposed on Russia is also affecting the EU countries badly and it seems they do not want to admit it.

the year 2015 will definitely be a challenging year and we must all avoid plunging the world into a major crisis. Dialogue must be used to settle conflicts, human rights of people must be respected and the hypocrisy must end on the international scene. The world is truly and really is in a crisis judging by what went on during the year 2014.

Fare Thee Well, Madiba

Africa and the world was hit with the sad news of the passing of one of the world's most revered and illustrious sons. he whole world was filled with so much grief and sorrow as the news started to spread. Many people thought this was one of the usual hoaxes that the media used to peddle so as to increase their customer base.

But this time the news was true and within some few minutes of Nelson Mandela's passing, the tributes started pouring in. The social media sites such as facebook, twitter, google plus, linkedin etc etc have been awash with tributes from all corners of the earth. These tributes were coming from world leaders, politicians and the ordinary men and women on the streets from Accra to Cape Town and from Moscow to Tehran, etc etc. 

Nelson Mandela indeed lived a life of forgiveness, reconciliation and in fact he had forgiveness in his blood. He had to endure torture and humiliation from his captors who did all things possible in their powers to break him down, but Madiba never broke down and also never gave up.

Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on Robben Island for 18 of his 27 years in prison. During this time, he contracted tuberculosis and, as a black political prisoner, received the lowest level of treatment from prison workers. However, while incarcerated, Mandela was able to earn a Bachelor of Law degree through a University of London correspondence program.

A 1981 memoir by South African intelligence agent Gordon Winter described a plot by the South African government to arrange for Mandela's escape so as to shoot him during the recapture; the plot was foiled by British intelligence. Mandela continued to be such a potent symbol of black resistance that a coordinated international campaign for his release was launched, and this international groundswell of support exemplified the power and esteem that Mandela had in the global political community.

In 1982, Mandela and other ANC leaders were moved to Pollsmoor Prison, allegedly to enable contact between them and the South African government. In 1985, President P. W. Botha offered Mandela's release in exchange for renouncing armed struggle; the prisoner flatly rejected the offer. With increasing local and international pressure for his release, the government participated in several talks with Mandela over the ensuing years, but no deal was made. It wasn't until Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced by Frederik Willem de Klerk that Mandela's release was finally announced—on February 11, 1990. De Klerk also unbanned the ANC, removed restrictions on political groups and suspended executions.

This is the man we are all celebrating and not mourning for Madiba has lived a well fulfilled life. Will our African leaders be ready and willing to live by the ideals of this great man? Posterity will judge us all if we dont honor this great man by emulating his examples and walking in his footsteps. Madiba fare thee well and may our ancestors  give you a rousing welcome as you join them, and may God Almighty grant you a resting place in His bosom. The lion of Africa sleeps tonight, God bless Africa.

Remembering 9/11

It all started as a normal day for me on September 11, 2001 which was a Tuesday. I had gone to talk to my dad about an important issue concerning my tertiary education. I was in Koforidua in the Eastern Region of Ghana. I came back to my Aunty's place which was in the same area as my parents residence. i decided to take a nap. Deep into my sleep i heard the house phone ringing, i picked it up and it was my Aunty's husband who was telling me to switch on the television for something tragic had happened in the US and it was being shown live by most of the major news networks all over the world. I did just that and i realized that the US was under attack by some cowards. I became glued to the television set as i watched the events unfold on CNN via our national television station, GTV.  I could not move out of the room as i did not want to miss any second of what was happening in the US. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were burning as two commercial domestic airplanes had crashed into them. The Pentagon had also been attacked as a plane also crashed into a part of it killing some of the staff. Another plane was also brought down as it was trying to make its way to another target.  By the close of the day, the whole world was waiting for any news on the perpetrators of such an atrocity. In all about 3000 people both on the four commercial planes and on the ground in the Twin Towers and scores of Fire Service and Security agents were killed. This tragic incident in my opinion could be said to be second to what happened at Pearl Habour on December 7, 1941 which also killed about 3000 soldiers when the Japanese launched a kamikazi attack on the American Naval fleet in the South Pacific. May the souls of all the victims of these cowardly acts rest in perfect peace as we remember the September 11 attacks on the US. Though so many conspiracy theories abound about who actually orchestrated this dastardly act, i hope those mistakes that made the perpetrators take advantage would not be committed again. God bless us all.

Is Ghana A High Risk Country?

We now live in an “Animal Farm” world indeed. Ghana, Nigeria and India have been tagged as high risk countries by the UK Government. Therefore, any one from the aforementioned countries planning to visit the UK should be prepared to cough out an amount of  3000 pounds as deposit to serve as a bond to prevent such a person from overstaying his visit. If he overstays the amount will be used to defray the cost of overstaying in the UK. The UK Government is simply telling us that we are not welcome anymore in their country. If it is a matter of the UK Government needing money to shore up the economy, they should not be shy to let us know so that we contribute generously, for even the Holy Bible says that “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). What goes into the term “High Risk Countries”? The UK Government should give us a vivid explanation of how they came by that term. They colonized us, exploited us, sold our ancestors into slavery and made us producers of raw materials and we have remained like that ever since they set foot on African soil. They used our resources to build their country and now that they have seen that Africa is rising up, they want to find all means possible to take the little money that we have from us. This immigration policy must be reviewed as all the countries targeted are likely to respond appropriately. When did Ghana become a high risk country all of a sudden? Our government should review her foreign policy  relations with the UK Government and make sure the interests of her citizens are fully protected. All the countries targeted by the UK in their new immigration law are countries that had been exploited by the UK in the past, Ghana, Nigeria and India. They exploited, impoverished us and now they say we can’t even visit what was built by our resources!!!!!! What a world?