Obama’s Visit: Is He Promoting Good Governance In Ghana?

It is well known that President Obama chose to visit Ghana because of its track record in governance and democracy. Not all of us who live here are convinced that we are such a good model for governance and democracy but that is a subject for another blog.

This morning Joy FM (Ghanaian local radio station) interviewed a journalist who had been assaulted by some staff of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) as he tried to report a demolition exercise that was being carried out by the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange in Accra (Ghana’s capital). The AMA officials were destroying the shacks and tables used by street hawkers. The AMA officials did not want this journalist to report the story. According to the journalist in question (Cyrus De-Graft Johnson, a Joy FM journalist) he was physically assaulted and robbed of his belongings including his mobile phone, recorder and a wallet. A fellow journalist who tried to come to his aid was also severely beaten up. All this was done whilst armed and unarmed policemen who were there to protect the task force watched on.

I initially heard this report at about 8.3oam, by midday Joy FM reported that President Mills had ordered an immediate investigation into the assault of the journalists and had personally spoken to the journalists. The head of the AMA, Mr Vanderpuye also said he had retrieved the personal effects taken from the journalists.

Is it a coincidence that President Mills rang the two journalists on the same day that President Obama is arriving in Accra or am I merely being a skeptic when I suspect a linkage? After all it will not do for there to be media reports about assaulted journalists on the same day that the 44th President of the United States of America visits Ghana, to hold the country up as “a model of good governance and democracy” in Africa.

Nana Sekyiamah
Programme Officer
Fundraising & Communication

P.S: I am a member of Ghana Blogging.com and this post is my contribution for our universal blogging day

YERESESAM AS WE MOVE FORWARD

Ghana’s political atmosphere is charged with a lot of slogans in the bid to choose the president of the nation. How exciting!

Ghanaians are very sharp and wide awake to the democratic dispensation prevailing in the country and elsewhere on the African continent now. Surely, we must continue to move our country forward, but we NEED TO CHANGE as we do that. WHY?

BECAUSE, we need to learn lessons from our sister nations. Keeping one party in government for more than two terms is a recipe for complacency, arrogance, perpetuation of selfishness, greed, corruption and what have you. We all can rightly guess the consequences of such behaviours all over Africa. It’s not wise to experience all situations before advising oneself. Sometimes, one needs to LEARN from other people’s experiences. We know of the Idi Amins, the Mobutu Seseseko’s of old and we are not mindless of the Mugabe’s of today. Ghanaians do not need to get there at all!

We are blessed with many great women and men in Ghana. The two contestants for the presidency, Professor Atta Mills and Nana Akuffo Addo Danquah are all great and illustrious sons of Ghana. They all merit the presidential position. But the thing is the National Patriotic Party (NPP) has reigned for two terms so that‘s ok for now. The CPP has proved to Ghanaians that they are not ready yet. May be they would by the year 2016 when we would change again (one term is reasonably too short). Otherwise we bring NPP back into governance. My people, lets CHANGE while we move forward.

To this end, I urge you all, VOTEZ Professor Mills!!!

Grace Amenyogbeli
Administration Manager