kriskotei

Ghana Black Stars Supporters

We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure. -Cesar Chavez

On Sunday, January 24, 2010, many Ghanaians including me, myself and I jumped for joy when we scored an early goal against Angola haven ruled out the National Black Star Team of Ghana from moving beyond the group stages of the on-going African Cup of Nations in Angola.

For many people like me, going into a tournament of this caliber without our key players due to injuries they had sustain through various means gave room for me to doubt how we can survive the likes of Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso to progress to the next stage.

Lo and behold, we came face-to-face with the host nation in no stage than a quarter finals. Believe it or not, in cases like this, the host gains the advantage of playing with fifteen men against eleven men of that of the opponent.

They have the three referees, the supporters and their eleven FIFA mandated players to power them to victory.

As if that is not enough, we are playing with what many described as a ‘Team B’ list of the Black Stars.

Before I forget, could you believe that the mother of Sulley Munatri (he did not get injured but was dropped from the team because he refused to say simple ‘sorry’ to GFA, an act described as rude, uncouth, primitive etc.) came out to say that, Black Stars cannot survive without his son. Thank God, the creator of the universe did not leave this for her to decide. We are doing just fine without the ‘almighty’ Sulley Muntari.

Asamoah Gyan’s goal in the fifteenth minute send a thunderous and deafening shout all over Ghana as the folks I was watching the game with had to chorus Gyan’s nickname “baby Jet”, “baby Jet”, “baby Jet”, “baby Jet”. The insults heaped on him earlier on for falling onto the ground at the least contact were instantly erased and replaced with praise names.

We worn the last game, but with the over twenty two million coaches of our motherland watching the game closely, ‘the coach of the Stars must answer why he kept favorites like Addiyiah , Ransford and Anthony Anang on the bench for all this while’. As I listen in to radio stations in the capital, I asked myself ‘is it not these same Ghanaians that chastised the coach for fielding ‘Junior High School (JHS) players’ in such a high profile game with the likes of Didier Drogba, Eto O Phils, Yaya Toure, Rigobert Song, Kanoute, Zidane etc.

On a more serious note, after watching Ghana play Angola against all the odds and beaten them in their own backyard, in front of their President, his ever-jubilating wife and the massive crowd, I could only say that indeed, God is a Ghanaian.

As the professor of boxing will say, ‘this is like father and son”!

Haiti suffered an earthquake recently of magnitude 7 on the radial scale

Take all the fools out of this world and

there wouldn’t be any fun living in it, or profit.

— Josh Billings

April fools’ day comes once in a year on April 1, but 18^th January, 2010 will forever be remembered as the day majority of Ghanaians were ‘fooled’.

On this day, witches and wizards called off their dawn trips, public toilets were filled with people and unusual long queues than normal days, ‘koko’ sellers were contemplating whether to set their porridge on fire or not due to a hoax of an imminent earthquake.

I had a rude awakening from an unexpected phone call in the middle of a very goodnight sleep filled with very pleasant scenes in my dreams only to be informed about this ‘earthquake’.

I was very surprised to hear that people abandoned their sleep and kept vigil to await this so called earthquake. Come to think of it, ‘Kufuor’ eclipse was predicted and it came to pass and the recent earthquakes in Haiti and China had put a ‘little’ fear in Ghanaians making them fall for this prank.

An advance country like China cannot tell an impending earthquake let alone Ghana’s Geological or Meteorology Department that cannot tell of a simple thing like Harmattan let alone an earthquake.

Could you believe that, a chief went out at dawn with his linguist and gong-gong beater to call people out of their rooms and assemble on the town’s football field to await the earthquake that never was.

Radio stations had their phones ringing on-end with callers all over Ghana wanting to know which way to turn as some are gathered on the beach, in mosque, at church buildings, football fields etc, etc.

A pastor on one FM station was asking people to come to his church for ‘special prayers’ at that dawn to seek the face of God, and guess what, there will be offering at the end of the prayers.

And what is this thing I am hearing? A newly elected Propaganda Secretary of a political party is trying very hard to convince Ghanaians that, the hoax was an initiative of an opposition party. What a myopic mind of full bearded man. In fact, we are tired if these politicians who try to make politics out of anything they set eyes on.

I am throwing a challenge to the Bureau of National Investigation of my dear country to get the perpetrators of this ‘earthquake’ hoax. They should prove to the whole of Ghana that, they are not only good in grabbing ex-ministers’ cars and seizing their passport from them, but they have the nation’s security firm in their grips.

By the way, a friend of mine said, my brothers and sisters along the coast of Ghana climbed onto cocoa nut trees saying that it is the best place to be when earthquake strikes, the roots are deep down the earth so you cannot sink.

Oh Ghana, whoever created this expensive joke, has managed to ‘fool’ a lot of people.

Ghana Black Satellites celebrating the sweet victory over their Brazilian counterpart

“Focused will is incredible. If you have a dream and you don’t give up no matter what obstacles come up, then life’s problems will fall away and you will get what you want. It happens. It works.” —Yanni

Ghanaians in particular, Africans for that matter and the whole black race in general, had a course to smile, after the Black Satellites of Ghana defied all odds and beat the Brazilians in the finals of the Under 20 World Cup in Egypt.

Just some few minutes into a game that Ghana already looked very vulnerable and not finding the rhythm, Daniel Addo was shown the exit for tackling a Brazilian in a manner the referee saw as ‘bad’ and thus gave him (Addo) a red card, reducing the Ghanaian side by one.

How possible can anybody stand before a team like Brazil with a numerical disadvantage?

I felt more depressed than anything, knowing what the Brazilians are capable of doing even when one is playing with all eleven men.

As I sat behind my black and white, 14” television set to see the ‘lads’ of Ghana battle it out with their Brazilian counterparts, I could only see God doing one of His wonderful miracles again and again.

By the way, a friend argued that God does not watch football and thus cannot decide on who wins at the end, because He is father of all and can not see one team being happy and the other sad.

He said this because, on one of the local FM stations in Accra, some pastors had gathered to offer prayers, and instead of the Black Satellites, they were calling God to help the Black Stars to beat the Brazilians. What an irony!

On a more serious note, on Friday, October 16, 2009, I said to my self that God is indeed a Ghanaian. If not for anything at all, both Ghana and God have something in common: the letter ‘G’.

I saw God’s favour at work as we battled the soccer nation with ten-men for the full ninety minutes and an additional thirty minutes and going ahead to beat them on penalty shoots out.

Ghana once again became the first nation in Africa to achieve the enviable, adding to our tall list of records and I would not be surprise, should we win the World Cup for the first time as an African nation in South Africa.

Many lessons have I learnt in life, but the zeal of the Black Satellites has made me know that a disadvantage can be turned into an advantage if you put in mind, where you want to go and not what you have.

Goliath of the Philistine was not an easy task for David. He (Goliath) was physically big (giant) and experienced in the war front; compared to David, a lad who still ate from the mother’s cooking pot. Yet David managed to kill Goliath.

His stature gave room for a small stone to hit him on the forehead, making him fall down like a pile of cards. His gigantic stature became a disadvantage to him and an advantage for David to hit.

To the Black Satellites, I say kudos. ‘Mawu na yra mi!’

Patrick Ken Larbash - the alleged paedophilia

I don’t ever have any trouble in regulating my own conduct, but to keep other folks straight is what bothers me. - Josh Billings

On Thursday, September 10 2009, a private newspaper (Daily Guide) in Accra published a story on a 65-year-old ‘white’ American paedophile, Patrick Ken Larbash, alleged to have taken advantage of the poor plight of the children of Adjomanikope near Sege in the Dangme East District, making them suck his penis for food, toffees and movies.

To bring the whole story to bare, as it is, for the general public to be aware of the inhuman treatment this ‘lunatic’ paedophile has been putting these children who are as young as 3-years through for the sake of food, the paper decided to publish scenes from the video in that very edition.

The video from this horrific act brought tears to my eyes as I watched these toddlers put the near dead-nerved penis in their small mouths and suck for the three minutes the video was shot.

The kids alleged that they were made to swallow the semen that this ‘sickler’ discharged into their mouths.

I could not help but think about my little girls (thank God they are safe), and I only conclude that should any man do this to them, Lord have mercy, I will blow his head off with a locally manufactured double-barrel gun used in killing grass cutter (bush meat), for that is what he deserves. Why must such a person, in the first place, be allowed to go in for a lawyer just because he can afford one to defend his ‘stupid’ act?

On the day this story broke out on the front page of Daily Guide, all hell broke loose as adult hypocrites called for Daily Guide’s ‘head’.

University dons, Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), National Media Commission (NMC), radio presenters, serial callers (hoping to be given cars and cash for their calls), and enemies of the newspaper that happened to be in the same profession were seeking that publisher’s head be sent to the slaughter house, neglecting the plight of the innocent kids in the middle of the unfortunate incident.

I at times wonder why some of these ‘intellectuals’ have ‘myopic’ judgement pushing aside the impetus of the situation. In their rush to crucify the newspaper, they made the accused person in the controversy a ‘saint’, painting Daily Guide ‘black’ with all sorts of unfriendly words. To them, the paper is being racist. But can you believe that the video has an accompanying text such as: ‘an 11-Year-Old Black Cocksucker, filmed location in Dawa, Ghana’, and another reads: ‘A Six-Year-Old Cocksucker. She loves the taste of cock’.

Disgusting! Purely ‘animal’ and not fit to live in society. How possible that a 6-year-old girl will love the taste of a cock. For crying out loud, when did she finish sucking the breast milk of the mother to love the taste of a cock? And the ‘intellectuals’ say Daily Guide erred? Oh my God!

These children, between 3 and 13 years will have this trauma imprinted in their minds for God knows how long, not forgetting all these sexually transmitted diseases knocking on our doors.

To all parents, do not allow your financial difficulties to make you neglect your little children because there are thousand-and-one characters that are lurking around for prey to devour, and when they do the ‘intellectuals’ will call the reporters ‘satan’ for exposing the wrong deeds of a pervert destroying the lives of little children.

God help us!

what makes a man raise a cutlass to chop a fellow human to pieces just because there is a diverse opinion on an issue?

A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it’s the stupid ones who need the advice. —Bill Cosby

I was once listening to a news bulletin on one of the local FM stations, and the newscaster was trying to let us understand a situation in Iran in which a suicide bomber had managed to blow-up himself, killing other dozens.

Permit me to do a literal translation. “You all know that a day does not pass without the people of Iran hearing the sound of bomb. A day without the sound of a bomb makes them feel like they are living in a different country.”

I laughed over it and said to my self that, these guys always try to make a gag over serious situations, especially where precious lives have been lost through some senseless means.

But later on I thought over the news and came to the conclusion that bombings in that part of the world is no more news, because it has become part and parcel of them.

Ghanaians woke up to the news that the people of northern part of Ghana are at it again, this time, six precious lives were lost. Like the situation in the Middle East, I said this is no news.

My brothers and sisters in the upper part of Ghana have been at it since 1980 (Konkombas against Nanumbas) and in 1994 when it was rumoured that they are fighting over a guinea fowl in a market, it generated what we termed: the Guinea Fowl War (between the Konkombas on one hand and Nanumbas, Dagombas and Gonjas on the other).

The most recent of these clashes were those between the Andanis and the Abudus at Yendi in 2002 in which the head of a chief was cut off.

Come to think of it, what makes a man raise a cutlass to chop a fellow human to pieces just because there is a diverse opinion on an issue?

Reports monitored from various radio stations indicate that yesterday’s disturbances arose when armed robbers allegedly killed an Opel Kadet taxi driver and injured the other occupants. Since the victims are from one tribe, then it is the other rival tribe that has committed the heinous attack.

At least, 500,000 people were killed between April and July 1994 when Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda one day decided not to live with each other again. The little I read and watched from the Internet, documentaries, movies (Hotel Rwanda and Sometime In April) sent chills down my spine and I only pray that we never experience any of these in Ghana.

But events in the northern part of Ghana make me wonder if they ever know the repercussions of their ‘stupidity’. It is said, “an eye for an eye makes the world go blind”.

There has been 24-hour curfew, bilateral talks by opinion leaders, chiefs, kings, presidents, etc, but after the (unwilling) handshake and photo sessions, they turn away and pick up their guns and machetes killing whoever crosses their path.

A friend said (jokingly), “if the Northerners will not stop the fight, that part of Ghana should be cut off and given to the people of Burkina Faso”. He burst out because he thought the people are not willing to give peace a chance and it is stalling development in the region. No proper drinking water, bad school structures (if there is any), guinea worm infections, bad roads, no better medical facilities just to mention a few, yet they never fight for improvement of any of those things that they need badly.

The wise need no advise!

Wise up!

wondering what the future (if there is any) holds for these young lads. only time will tell

I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep. ~Charles Maurice

ABOUT A week ago it was reported in a national daily, Daily Graphic, that 50% of the students that sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in Ghana had failed, or better still, they did not make the pass mark to enter into Senior ‘something… something’ School.

I am confused as to whether to call it a Senior High School or Senior Secondary School just because every government that takes over the mandate to rule the people of Ghana come in with their own ideas.

First, it was Sixth Form, Ordinary Level (O-Level) and Advanced Level (A-Level), and then it was reduced to Junior Secondary School and Senior Secondary School with a three-year each study programme which was later reduced to two and a half years for each stage.

This programme was also revised by another government to Junior High School and Senior High School with a four-year programme of study.

Thinking that this new programme will do ‘magic’ in the educational system of Ghana, a new directive has been issued to change that programme back to its previous three-year duration, all because a new government is in the driving seat.

Hope you are not surprised by all these ‘gutter-to-gutter’ games our leaders are playing with the educational system. Guess what, none of their children go to schools in Ghana so they have every right to toy with the lives of the poor ones who cannot afford even the visa fee let alone pay for plane tickets for their wards to go to school off the shores of Ghana.

What else do you expect the end result of this forth and back in the educational system to be, failure! And guess what, BECE graduates do not have a second chance. Once you fail, you are not permitted to re-sit the papers that you might have failed.

So, I sat down to ask myself, “what are all these boys and girls going to do?’ It is said that “to be a rich man, University is not the answer”, and that is my greatest worry because these lads might venture into other activities to enable them fit into society.

Prostitution, robbery and the latest craze among the youth, ‘sakawa’ are some of the vices that we will reap from failing to do that which is right for the society instead of playing politics with the mandate given them by the people to come out with pragmatic reforms to our problems.

Come to think of it, I find it absurd that the authorities are shocked about a school that is training kids in the art of armed robbery at Tema. What else do they expect? You reap what you sow.

If pastors are washing ladies' vagina for miracles, i wonder what will happen if the miracle does not work

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”   —Matthew 7:1-3

With the above quote in mind, I have come not to judge the ‘men of God’, rather to chastise them because some have decided to thwart the good works of the genuine men of God.
The Bible says in 1 John 4:1 that, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”. This must tell you that I am not far from right if I say some fake ones are out to destroy the good work of the genuine ones.
In less than a week, a series of bad reports have been in the media about pastors washing women’s vaginas with salt and water in the name of making them marriage material (come to think of it, why should some women make marriage the ultimate goal in life, that until a man puts a ring on their finger, they will do whatever it takes to grab one?), caning supposed witches in the name of exorcising them, inserting ‘things’ in their vaginas to make them fertile and so on. Note that all these happened to women. Is it because they are more concerned when it comes to spiritual matters?
One thing I have come to realise is that, our mothers, sisters, aunties, wives (Makosas included) and grandmothers dominate any church at all that one enters, be it Orthodox, Charismatic, Spiritual or Pentecostal and for your information, they always have a message from God when it gets to worship time at church services.
In Mark 13:22 the Good Book says, “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect”, with this in mind, I always wonder why people always run after these so-called Evangelists, Prophets, Bishops, Reverend Doctors, Archbishops, etc. etc. for miracles.
It does no harm to ask a man of God to assist you in prayer for it is said that if two shall agree on something on earth so shall it be in heaven. So, must the quack men of God take advantage of their flock and humiliate them with all sorts of antics just because they needed a ‘powerful’ man to stand by them in prayers? No! This should not be the case.
The Christians Association of Ghana and what have you must “get up, stand up” and defend the good name of the mission in which they have been called to lead before it gets too bad if not worse. The bad plant must be nipped in the bud before it grows and become a gigantic tree.
To my dear ones I say unto you “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” — (Matthew 7:7,8) and “When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” — (Matthew 6:5, 6).
Thank You!

Daily Guide’s CEO, Mrs Gina Blay displaying the award and certificate. With her are Fortune Alimi (Editor), Henrietta Abayie and Halifax Ansah-Addo

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.” —Author Unknown

Most often, we hear people say, “This is not how we do it here, or this is not the house style” when one tries to bring a form of variety (change) in the way things are being done at where he or she finds him/herself.
I was once watching a cartoon series on television and one of the characters that wanted to jump over a very big valley, seeing how wide the gap was, got a little scared but said, “There is nothing like impossible if you do not give it a try”.
On Saturday, 15th August 2009, the Ghana Journalists Association held its 14th Awards Ceremony that also marked the Diamond Jubilee Anniversary of the association.
Among the many awards that were dished out, Daily Guide was unanimously adjudged Best layout and design (newspaper) for the year 2008.
You could imagine the grin I had on my face even as I lay on my bed, forcing myself to sleep. I felt more like my one and a half-year-old daughter with a glass of ‘Vitamilk’ in hand; she will not let go until the whole quantity is gulped down her throat.
So, at least someone is watching. The GJA Awards has made me, my department and the whole of Daily Guide feel very special among all the papers that are trying so hard to match us, as far as designing is concern.
Daily Guide has done her best to break away from the traditional way of doing things and today, a lot of newspapers a forcing so hard to look like us. They might do their best but who ever picks their newspapers will say, “Your design looks like that of Daily Guide’s” simply because we have set the pace and they are following.
We never saw an impossibility on our way, but with encouragement, determination and prayer to seek God’s knowledge, wisdom, understanding and the spirit of creativity, we have come this far. Do not feel too comfortable where you find yourself, break out of that comfort zone and you will one day look back and realise that it is for the good of it.
Kudos to all “Wemblians”!

Dinah Tetteh LADY

“I am a simple and beautiful person (especially inwardly). I try to accept people for who they are and so forgive them for certain mistakes. I preach forgiveness; that is the way to go, forgive and move on”
– Dinah Tetteh (LADY)

I once wrote on FACEBOOK that, “appreciate me now that I am alive. Don’t wait till I am put in a suit and placed in a coffin else…!” and my friends that I share messages with asked me to stop threatening them.
Today, I write to dedicate this article to a colleague of mine who has left to the United States of America. I affectionately call her ‘My Lady’.
I have not come to present to you a tribute in memory of anybody but to appreciate the life of someone that I will be missing for at least the next two years.
Lady is not a very ‘close’ friend of mine but someone we all related to in our department and when it came to deciding on who qualified to go to heaven, we all decided on her.
Her morale behaviour made people like Nash (another colleague) wish to have her as wife. Very calm, intelligent, obedient and when she heard of people being paid GH¢3,000 a month she would exclaim, “Ah! That is too much”.
Lady’s cushy nature makes me wonder if there still exist ladies who will refuse honey being poured into their mouth. A colleague decided to give her a lift home one day since it had been raining, she simply refused with the excuse that, “you can’t waste all that fuel just for one person”.
God being so good, Lady has gained admission to pursue higher studies all the way in USA and I know her good deeds will always bring favours her way.
The preceding quote of my article is from Lady’s FACEBOOK profile, and believe you me, she did not put it there for the sake of filling in the blanks but she meant every word of it.
To you who are reading this article now, I say I appreciate you for the fact that you have decided to make a little time to read the little things I have been putting on my BLOG, I really do and thank you for that.
To Lady, I say thank you for not making me walk to the market to buy those liquid soaps you have been bringing to the office for my little girls to bath with. (Hope this tells you how much I will be missing you).
Appreciate somebody today for you don’t know what tomorrow holds.
Stay blessed!

Johan-Allan Namu,

I won’t be bothered if you decide not to be worried about that which is bothering me. It is my headache, and it is in my head.
Does the name Johan-Allan Namu ring a bell?
He is the CNN Multi-Choice African Journalist of the year 2009. He is a reporter from Kenya Television Network. He beat 1665 entries from 38 nations including Ghana’s seasoned investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, to win the title.
If you care to know, the first African American President to ascend to the highest office in the world; President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, singled him out on his visit to Ghana.
Anas is the only journalist in Ghana that I admire so much, and to be recognised by no other person than Obama gladdens my heart.
Though I am not too old to know much, I have come to know names like Kofi Coomson, Malik Kwaku Baako, Kwesi Pratt, Haruna Attah, Kwaku Sekyi Addo, just to mention a few, contributed immensely to help uplift the image of journalism in Ghana, but recent events makes me wonder if the profession has not been reduced to “chop-chop” or better still “soli” job.
I was not too surprised when Obama singled out Anas and said, “We see that spirit in courageous journalists like Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who risked his life to report the truth”. I was embarrassed and wondered what might be going on in the minds of the rest of the journalists we have in Ghana.
Most of them (journalists), if not all, have been reduced to stomach journalists; they only dance to the tunes of people who can enrich their purses or wallets, forgetting that God cannot be mocked.
All things and their seasons; a time to be born and a time to die, a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to sow and a time to reap.
Posterity will one day judge all of us, especially when we appear before God Almighty to account for what we use our talent for. Just like the servants who hid his under the ground, he was cast into eternal condemnation where there was gnashing of teeth, and don’t tell me you have no teeth. God is watching.
To Anas, I say better luck next time only if there is life. By the way, it is being rumoured that the award was given to the Kenyan to compensate him and his country for the fact that Obama chose not to visit the land of his fathers and rather decided to come to Ghana.
To all other journalists in Ghana, please report the truth, nothing else but the truth and quality human centred stories. Who knows, should you miss Obama’s standing ovation at all, at least CNN might recognise your efforts and contribution to human race.
Kudos to Anas Aremeyaw Anas. Keep on doing the good things you have been doing.