kriskotei

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.

a kid Chad beggar on the loose

I wiped the sweat with the already soaked handkerchief I had in my hand as I alighted from the ‘trosky’ I boarded from Accra Central Lorry Park to Nima, a suburb of the Capital City, Accra.
I was returning to my office after rushing to the offices of Electricity Company of Ghana to pay reconnection fee to have access to electricity power, else I would sleep in darkness.
Just as I crossed the streets, a young man between 30 and 40 years called me back, greeted me politely and said “you’re the only person I see God in, I’ll tell you the truth, I’m hungry and I don’t want to ask anybody for money but you to fill my empty stomach”.
I’ve vowed not to give out money to beggars that I meet the streets based on past experiences but I pondered on his words and made away with the few coins I had on me.
I took a little time to reflect on past encounters I had with beggars who pretended to be stranded, they always came with stories like, “I came looking for someone and I didn’t meet him”, “I’m from Cote d’Ivoire looking for job but no luck yet”, “someone has robbed me of my purse and I have no money to pick a car home”, just to mention a few.
On many occasions, I fell victim to these self-styled-professional beggars, but none pained me more than this guy I’m going to talk about.
I was a schoolboy when this guy approached me that he would be frank with me, saying, “I was just released from the prison. I’ve no money to board a vehicle to my hometown, Asamankese (a village in the Eastern Region)”.
Naive as I was, I gave him the little money I had for my lunch and transportation back home, only to hear later on radio that convicts were given money for transportation to their various homes upon their release.
With this mistake, I made it a point not to give monies to people I met on the streets who tell me one story or the other.
Nevertheless, there are people with genuine stories to tell, but with the works of these habitual beggars who do not work rather and rather exploited people through some of this pretences, it is difficult to tell who is really stranded and who is not.
A food for thought I once listened to made me understand that God at times uses some of these means (beggars) to bless his people. So how do we tell when God comes knocking for alms with these constant beggars on the loose?
There are blessings in giving than receiving, says the Bible, but how about giving to the professional beggars that do not work and rather beg? Will that also attract God’s blessings?
For your information, the gentleman who recited, “You’re the only person I see God in” is also one of the daily beggars on the streets. I have run into him several times and any time I see him, I help him to recite his well-rehearsed quote, “You’re the only person I see God in!”
Stay blessed!