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New Job for Ghana's Former President
Related to country: Ghana
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Ghana's former president John Agyekum Kufuor has been named a Global Ambassador Against Hunger for the UN's World Food Program.Great Job!So,even after stepping down as president for the best country in Africa,there would have still been another job awaiting Mr. Kufuor.

President Kufuor's role,according to WFP's Executive Director,will be to focus on the need to provide good nutrition for the sixty-six million children who daily go to school hungry.

"Ensuring that every child has proper nutrition has to be the goal of every world leader," said president Kufuor after his appointment on July 20th. "I intend to inspire them all to strive for this goal."

I was very delighted when I got this news from the United Nations News Service yesterday.Why was I so delighted for my "former" president?Well,there is no great reason to be elated about his appointment except for the fact that he has been my " former" president in Ghana( I lived there for six years).

Mr. Kufuor won the elections in Ghana in 2000 when I had just arrived in that country and began living at the refugee camp known as Buduburam.Some people sometimes erroneously call it Bujumbura, mistaking it for the capital city and main port city of the Republic of Burundi, a country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa.

When president Kufuor won the Ghanaian presidential election,there was a kind of uneasiness among Liberian refugees because Kufuor's political party's acronym was similar to Charles Taylor's party that won presidential election in 1997 in Liberia.

Kufuor's New Patriotic Party(NPP) was somehow wrongfully associated with Taylor's National Patriotic Party(NPP),such that many Liberian refugees thought the two presidents had some kind of "connections" or philosophies.

Therefore,unlike the NDC-led government of Jerry John Rawlings,Liberians did not have much liking for the NPP-led government of Kufuor.

In fact, some Liberians in Ghana at the time blamed Kufuor,South African president Thabo Mbeki,Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, and Burkina Fasoa's Blaise Campaore for refusing to arrest Charles Taylor when a Special Court for Sierra Leone issued an arrest warrant for him on June 4th,2003 while attending peace talks with Liberian rebel groups in Accra,Ghana.

Besides,many Liberians feel and think that the NDC-led government better handled refugee issues than did the NPP-led government.

But as an individual who also was a refugee and a journalist,there were more to critically think about than easily agree with what others were saying about the NPP.

Yes,there were more dramatic displays between Liberian refugees during the Kufuor administration than there were during the Rawlings administration.

However, it was during the Kufuor administration that Liberians finally saw peace.And I bet president Kufuor might have played a pivotal role in ensuring that Liberians return to a peaceful settlement.

But president Kufuor was appointed WFP ambassador not because of what I have just explained, but because,as in the words of WFP Director Sheeran,Ghana has been a leader in nourishing its children.

And Director Sheeran added that Mr. Kufuor not only talks the talk,but he walks the walk, and he can be a leader in getting other leaders to follow his good example.I hope our leaders will listen to Mr. Kufuor and help put food on the table for Liberian school kids who daily go to school hungry.

Ghana has koko yams,corns,rice and a variety of food that their school children eat before and even after going to school.Things may not also be easy on Ghanaian school-going children.However, their government and farmers do a great deal to help with hungry.

In Liberia, we have fertile and rich soil but most of what we produce is rice, and so no matter what you give Liberian kids to eat,if they do not eat rice,they have not eaten anything at all.Can our government encourage and support our farmers get involved in the production of multiple food-crops?

I wish those words could be said about any former Liberian leader.But the last time I checked,I found that Liberia does not even have a former elected leader who is alive today aside from Charles Taylor whose fate is in limbo in Europe.

Some Liberians may argue that Liberia has former presidents like Dr. Amos Sawyer,Bismarck Kuyon,Philip Banks,David Kpormakor,Wilton Sankawulo,Ruth Perry,and Charles Gyude Bryant.But those were not elected;they were interim leaders.

And what about Moses Blah, Some may ask? He was not elected either.He only completed Mr. Taylor's term from August to October 2003.

So, in Liberia's longest historic journey of being the first independent nation-state in Africa to electing the first female head of state,we can not account for any of our past presidents.

We have either been killing or eating them.Oh yeah,we eat our presidents.Ask Prince Johnson where the late Samuel Doe's body parts are.He will be the best person to tell you, and yet Liberians elected him honorable man to make laws.Any yet we keep bragging about making history.Oh yeah! That's history,too-the eating or killing of our past presidents.

Therefore,there is no way such a statement attributed to Ghana's former president,Kufuor can be attributed to any of our former presidents. Not yet.

Maybe we would be able to say that of our Iron lady if we don't kill or eat her,too.

But Kufuor is not the first and only former leader that will be serving a role of such nature.His predecessor,Mr.Rawlings, was a joint recipient of World Hunger Award in 1993.
Ghana may also have some of their presidents dead,but they still have two former ones living now that we know of.Can we show one that is living besides controversial Taylor?
I betcha!

August 11, 2009 | 5:39 PM Comments  0 comments


Is U.S President Promoting Smoking?
Related to country: United States
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I was seriously reading through many lenses to fully comprehend the meaning of what United States president Barack Obama meant when he said today that "Doctors Don't Get Paid If They Stopped Patients From Smoking".

The president made that statement in Raleigh,North Carolina during his Presidential Town Hall Health Care Reform discussions.

As I watched Cable News Network(CNN) this morning,I was asking myself many,many questions about the president's remark.And,as if to re-echo what Obama said,CNN repeatedly displayed excerpts of his remark on the bottom of the screen.

So,what did the president mean? Was(is) he saying that if people don't smoke,then doctors won't get paid? Should the president even make such a statement?

By the president's statement,it means that people should smoke daily so that if they get cancer(smokers' hearts would definitely be damaged due to smoke),they will have to seek medical attention which of course will not be free.

I am seriously disappointed in the president's statement.No matter his intents regarding the promotion of his radical health care reform in this country,it does not justify his making of that statement.

And what was also baffling me was that no media critics or members from "the other side" shun the president's remark.

To many who were also listening to the president this morning,it is clear to them that his statement can make a big difference between life and death.Although many people within and without the U.S admire his inspiring speeches,he has to really take some time to keenly think about some statements before he utters them.

There are thousands,if not millions of young people out there who look up to this young president as their role model.And it breaks my heart( and theirs) to also see that it's this same young president that is encouraging young people to smoke so that doctors will receive their salaries.

So,Mr. president,with all other health-related problems that lead to the hospital,doctors will be unable to get their pay if people don't smoke? How much of the smoking money actually goes to the State and Federal government and how much goes to the doctors?

With such a statement coming from my own president,I am just wondering what others will say about the president's smoking habit?

August 11, 2009 | 5:37 PM Comments  0 comments
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Prince Johnson's "Amazing Revelations":How Serious?
Related to country: Liberia
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Last week,The Reformer Newspaper in Monrovia reported that Nimba County Senior Senator,Prince Yomie Johnson,who also commandeered the defunct Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia(INPFL),shocked Liberians and the International Community again when he revealed that the United States and certain super powers provided American dollars $10 million to him and others,presumably Charles Taylor,to wage war on Liberians and Liberia.

The report says that Senator Johnson made the revelations when he addressed members of the Liberian Council of Churches(LCC), an interfaith Mediation Committee of Liberia.

The LCC also met with other former faction leaders and discussed matters regarding the Truth Commission's report during the week-end meeting in Monrovia.

Well,this is not news anyway.Mr. Taylor had already said that the U.S helped free him from jail in Massachusetts and also provided huge some of money to oust the late Samuel Doe regime.He made it clear when he took the stands for the first time to testify in his ongoing trial in The Hague,the Netherlands a few weeks ago.

Now,what makes this news and very damning, at least in the minds of some Liberians, is Mr. Johnson's accusation of the Chairman of Liberia's Truth Commission,Cllr. Jerome Verdier.

The honorable Senator claimed that Cllr. Verdier,including former Interim leader of Liberia,Dr. Amos Sawyer,was among a group of Liberians in the United States that allegedly negotiated and arranged for the $10 million dollars from the U.S.

Senator Johnson claimed this group was based in America, and it was named the Association of Constitutional Democracy in Liberia(ACDL).

What baffles me is that why the Honorable Senator did not say this long time ago,even before his name could be listed for prosecution as a war criminal or perpetrator? Is it because it has been proven beyond any reasonable doubts that he was involved in the indiscriminate killing of women,children and men during the Liberian civil war? Why should we believe him?

There are many more lingering questions about the Honorable man's "amazing revelations" than he can imagine, and if there is to be any substance in his claims, we need more information from him devoid of scapegoating,malice,jealousy, and hatred.

But in order to refute or corroborate Senator Johnson's claims,we contacted the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs of the District of Columbia(DC)in Washington,D.C on the phone today, and indeed,they confirmed that such association existed in DC.

They said it was registered as a domestic non-profit Corporation in the State of the DC on December 16,1988 with Ezekiel Pajibo as its registered agent.

The file number for ACDL was 884688, and its address was 1242 Newton St,N.E,Washington,DC 20017.Its status is now revoked,however.

With such information at our disposal,it seems what Senator Johnson has said might have some substance.However, we need more details than can meet the eye.

And if it is indeed true that Cllr. verdier was apart of and actively negotiated for the $10 Million dollars to wage war on Liberia, then the entire TRC report is indeed questionable and he,Cllr.Verdier, needs to tell us more about it in order to add him on the list of evil doers of Liberia.

Additionally,Ezekiel Pajibo,now executive director for the Center for Democratic Empowerment(CEDE), needs to come out and talk to the Liberian people about ACDL since he was the registered agent for the outfit.

Mr. Pajibo was a student leader in the 1980s who was even jailed and sentenced by the late Samuel Doe regime for daring to say what others could not say.He spent over a decade in exile and,like many other Liberians,returned home in 2003 when the civil war ended.

He has been the head of CEDE, a center for social and political advocacy and research which was founded by Dr.Sawyer.

Mr. Pajibo might have more details about ACDL and Cllr. Verdier than Senator Johnson, that is why he would do us more good if he could speak to the Liberian people now.There is no joke about such allegations.No! Not at this time when the country really needs healing.

When I read Mr. Johnson's allegations,I initially rebuked him.However,having talked to people here in the U.S about this Liberian Association,there is more to it than the Senator is saying, and we need to know everything about it.

We have also contacted officials at the U.S State Department in Washington,D.C,but it has been over two weeks since we communicated with them, and we are still waiting to hear from them.They said they will react to what Mr. Taylor has said.

But going back to Authoritarianism and U.S foreign Policy,it would be good that we examine the past.

During the Cold War, the U.S. frequently accused the Soviet Union of undermining anti-U.S terrorist groups around the world with money and arms.The Soviets responded that the U.S government did the same when it was in the U.S interests to do so.

Now,when World War II ended,the U.S found itself engaged in a Cold war with the Soviet Union.But what is amazing is that the Cold War was not a natural rivalry thing between two great powers.It was a struggle to death between two rival systems of capitalism for the United States and Communism for the Soviet Union.

At that time, and even until recently,the U.S pursued a Foreign Policy that was based on the theory that Communism would finally collapse while the Soviet Union drew upon Karl Marx's prediction that Capitalism would be in the "dustbin of History".

That is how the two parties divided the entire world into two halves:East and West,Communism and Capitalism, and Good and Evil.

But the two powers agreed on one thing:that the notion of neutrality was not possible.They said all nations on earth,only with few exceptions,would have to choose which side to align with.

While this was going on,many countries in the so-called Third World decided to remain nonaligned at all.Therefore,Egypt,India, and Indonesia tried to launch a nonaligned Movement in the 1950s.And it was beginning to get off the ground.

And as soon as it was about to get off the ground,the Cold War Power Fighters cajoled,pressured and enticed the leaders of the fledgling states,guess with what? Foreign aid,weapons transfer, and cash.

Yes! America used those things to get people on its side of the fighting divide.So, by the end of the mid 1960s,most governments in Africa(Possibly Liberia included),Asia and Latin America decided to choose sides.You can guess which side Liberia chose anyway.

In this rush to recruit Third World leaders who jumped on the anti-communism bandwagon for a price,the U.S frequently found itself using what Political Scientist,Thomas Magstadt calls "dollar diplomacy" and other inducements to prop up right-wing dictatorships at the same time looking the other way when "friendly" regimes committed gross violations of human rights.

Although the Cold War has since been over,the legacy of this policy lives on.

Let's look at Iraq.The United States secretly supported Saddam Hussein during the bloody Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s with weapons to battle Iran.

And after arming the tyrant,he ruled his people through a tightly controlled monolithic political organization known as the Ba'ath party,by turning Iraq into a vast prison.The same U.S that armed Saddam turned against him and invaded Iraq in 2003 under the pretext of raiding Saddam of Weapons of Mass Destruction(WMD).

Let's go to Afghanistan.That country was a monarchy from 1747 to 1973.But it soon fell into trouble when the many groups fought for political supremacy after 1973 until the Soviet Union intervened to back its favorite thug who was a Communist in 1979.

Consequently,a brutal and protracted war erupted but the Soviets eventually withdrew in defeat in 1989 after a decade of debilitating and humiliating warfare.

Now,remember that the U.S had secretly backed the Islamic Resistance Force called the Mujahideen by supplying weapons and other aid to the rebel forces.Note one thing here folks:at this time,amazingly,the U.S and Osama Bin Laden fought side by side to defeat the Soviets.

What resulted was that the oppositions overthrew the Communist regime and seized power in 1992.But the new strongman refused to give up power when his term officially ended.

That led the Talibans to assault the capital and ousted him in 1996.Here is what is also interesting:when the new Taliban regime took over,reports say it instituted a totalitarian system of rule fashioned after Islam but based on the perversions of the Qur'an and Sharia law.

Women and girls were forbidden to work outside the home,to go to school,or to express opinions at variance with the government.

The government banned television,movies,music,dancing and most other forms of entertainment.Children's games and activities were restricted.

When the U.S was attacked in 2001,the U.S invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban.Folks,how do you view the U.S foreign policy?

Should we begin to give credence to what Mr. Taylor and Senator Johnson are saying about the U.S giving them money to kill Liberians through a civil war,given the background that I have just mentioned? What does history tell us? How do we go about prosecuting those who committed diabolical crimes against us?

Mr. Taylor is in The Hague facing trial not for crimes he committed in Liberia,but the ones in nearby Sierra Leone.What about those who supported the civil war in Liberia? What about the presidents of Libya,Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso who directly aided Charles Taylor to kill Liberians? Why are they not on trial for supporting any and all faction leaders in Liberia.What about Guinea? In fact,given what we now know,what about the U.S?

When it comes to U.S foreign policy,the records of U.S relations with authoritarian states,including Liberia then,is replete with inconsistencies and contradictions.

These have weakened America's moral position in international politics,complicated its diplomatic efforts, and led many to charge America of hypocrisy.

August 11, 2009 | 5:26 PM Comments  0 comments
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Reconciling Liberians in Exile
Related to country: Liberia
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Last week, Commissioners of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) flew into the American midwestern state of Minnesota from Liberia to hold its first ever public hearings here in the diaspora Liberian community.

Fair enough.In fact,it made record by being the first and perhaps the only Commission to hold such hearings outside of its own country.South Africa had such a Commission but did not hold public hearings outside of its borders.

Liberians who were direct victims of Liberia's nearly fifteen year-blood battle came forward to testify, and it became news though when former United States under Secretary of State for African Affairs, Herman J.Cohen testified that the US had an understanding with defunct National Patroitic Front of Liberia(NPFL) rebel leader Charles Taylor to take power following the evacuation of President Samuel K. Doe of Liberia.

Cohen said due to the huge human sufferings in the Liberian capitol, Monrovia in 1990 the US initiated discussions with Doe through its Ambassador for the president to be evacuated.

The same US ensured that the dictator,Taylor became president at the displeasure of many Liberians,only for the US to turn their back on him when he was elected Liberian leader in 1997.Though the election was described by the International Community as free and fair,Taylor's administration did not get Washington's needed support.
Ironically,it was the same Washingtion that called for Taylor to resign so that Liberians both at home and in exile can have peace.Taylor was forced to flee Liberia,replaced through a democratic election,by one-time supporter Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Now,the Bush Administration is hugely giving financial and international support to the Sirleaf administration but while that support is manifested,it's not being translated into seeing better life conditions for Liberians.
Ellen enjoys travelling across the world like there is nothing bad home to pay attention to.Today she is in Washinton,D.C receiving honors and tomorrow she is in China attending summits and the day after,only God knows where she is going and what she would do.

Interestingly rnough,though,Cohen's revealation to the TRC,Liberians in America and Americans clearly shows how the Liberian civil war would have been short-lived had the US played a more vital role in seeing to it that the conflict did not get prolonged for that long.
Besides, his testimony is an example of how Washington deals and meddles into other country's personal problems sometimes without much regard for human interests,yet it talks about respect for human rights and role of law.
I would blame the US more so because had it had the common people of Liberia in mind it would very urgently had intervened into the Liberian civil war in the early 90s and save thousands of lives.
But such is life and while i am blaming America for not playing a very meaningful role in Liberia's civil war, i equally blame greedy Liberian politicians and leaders for being so insensitive to the plights of people.That's why leaders of this world need to be very mindful of how they intend to lead .
Liberians every where on this planet miss home, and would like to return to what they called home.But news emanating from the Liberian capital,Monrovia speaks volumes of the high rate of armed robbery,sufferings of common people,lack of basic social services, and even the relative peace is sometimes interrupted by demonstrations from dissatisfied former soldiers of Liberia's Armed Forces ,most of whom are now retired without benefits.

Much of the sufferings would have been minimized had the leaders themselves had passion and love for the people they claim to givern.But,like other politicians,political leaders are never trusted.they lie,steal and can do anything and everything to stay in power.

An example is what is unfolding now in Liberia.Ellen said during presidential campaigns that she would run for only one term.Now she is saying that people from some counties in Liberia are asking her to run again for the next elections.That's it!

Now that the hearings are over in the US,it remains to be seen or heard what's next.Of what benefit would all these testaments be for the poor people of Liberia?Most of those who caused Liberians much sufferings are in the current government enjoying constitutional protection.Even the president is accused of not coming forward to testify.Instead,she said she would testify through her book she would release next year.What if former rebel leader Prince Johnson says he would also testify through his book he would release by 2015? Well, that's Liberia. and I am watching and so is the world

June 22, 2008 | 1:50 AM Comments  0 comments
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