The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Don’t you think we need to change ourselves for us to move forward or change, etc? Why do you vote for who you vote for? Are you happy with the disappearance of the Ghanaian flags on our streets? When was the last time you consciously bought a made-in-Ghana product over a foreign one? Which do you think will care more for you? NPP or NDC? Which government do you think will empower you more? NPP or NDC? Which government will control the constant migration into Accra which is choking our capital city? Which government will raise more money in Ghana through taxes for national development? Which leader is better equipped to get his opponents to listen to him and unite the nation? Why NPP or NDC? What are they doing right that the other political parties are not doing?

Many Ghanaians would not vote for the NDC simply because of J J Rawlings. How do you address them and this? The NDC has been calling for change. What kind of change are you calling for or bringing to Ghana? Even though Professor Atta Mills is called Asomdwoe hene, a lot of people don’t see the NDC as a peaceful political party. What do you have to say about this? Is Professor Atta Mills going to move to the Jubilee House if he wins the election or he’ll do what President Kuffour did? Fortify his house, etc In about how many years do you think we’ll have an Ashanti or Akyem presidential candidate in your party? Are you going to discontinue some of the contractual agreements the NPP had with some firms because those firms have mostly NPP card-bearing members? Many Ghanaians abroad were shocked when you pushed the election into a second round with 47% of the vote. Any idea why? For a long time, I didn’t know what the NDC platform was. Is most of your campaign propaganda? List some of the ...

Do you really believe you couldn’t win the first round of the Ghanaian elections because some of your supporters stayed at home? Is it true some people in the ruling government travel to funerals with 20 Pajeros? Who funds all that petrol? Why do we have to make way for NPP campaign vehicles to navigate through traffic? Would any of the NPP gurus send their house boy to a syto school? These schools do have free compulsory universal basic education right? Do we want quality education or just an increase in scholl-going children? When you champion the NHIS as an achievement, do you also tell Ghanaians many times costs over 6 GhC aka 60,000 cedis aka 6 dollars are not covered? What happened to Baah Wiredu and why couldn’t he get medical attention in a Ghanaian hospital? Why are we talking about closing the Togo border? What about the Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire borders? How much does one billboard cost? Humour us, how much did you spend on your campaign for the election? In about how ...

When I first heard about BarCamp from my GhanaThink buddy, I was apprehensive. What is this BarCamp that I have never heard of before? I still don’t know why it’s called BarCamp, even after helping organize BarCamp Ghana. What I do know is is that the concept of a BarCamp is excellent. It has almost everything I want in a gathering of minds, hands and people. BarCamp Ghana 08 came off yesterday, December 22nd at the Kofi Annan Center of Excellence for ICT – AITI. Ever since I arrived in Ghana on Tuesday the 16th, I’ve had many ideas of a blog and subject matters to write about, but the excitement that is BarCamp generated for me trumps all. My first real experience with BarCamps was BarCamp Africa. It was organized by a group of people, mostly non-African who were passionate about or had some interests in Africa. Google sponsored the BarCamp, giving us a whole building for free – an auditorium, a kitchen/bar with free food all day (yay!) and more than 10 rooms all with internet, power,...

My alter ago, from GhanaThink, just wrote another letter to Osagyefo. Enjoy! Greetings Osagyefo, I hope you are doing well and getting into another gear for the festive season. As for me, I'm following Kaakyire Kwame Appiah's 24 song to the tee, I'll be going to Sikakrom to spend Christmas. Even though there is a credit crunch, I still have some money to purchase a ticket from one continent to the other and buy Christmas gifts. It's called 'saving by being chisel and hustle' . I'll be going to meet a Ghana I haven't seen in awhile, a Ghana that is gearing up for an election. That should be interesting. Ghana's election is going to a second round. The NPP and NDC would be going at it. One person who will not be going against anything is sure to be Samia Nkrumah. She's the new member of parliament for Jomoro. Osagyefo, your daughter is a wonder o! Many people didn't give her a chance to wrest the parliamentary seat from Hon. Lee Ocran, and besi...

December 7th has come to pass. I was really hoping for the Convention People's Party to make an impact in this election. It was asking much to see Ghanaians give the CPP enough votes to win when they had such a poor showing in Election 2004. Well guess what? The CPP didn't do much better this year. It won just one parliamentary seat and won under 1.5% of the presidential vote. One poll had given the CPP 7% in the run-up to the election. What happened? Let's dissect it and see what the future holds for the CPP. This is only the beginning. The biggest reason why Ghanaians did not vote for the CPP was that a vote for the CPP was a waste. The ruling New Patriotic Party championed this message as well. Ghanaians want to vote for or support a winner. Ghana is an NPP-NDC nation. You'll have to ask yourselves why we support certain parties. The NDC has its world bank in the Volta region and that hasn't changed with Atta Mills at the helm. The NPP rules the Ashanti region ev...

More to come. Just a few Youtube videos I saved that I wanted to share. Anyone else interested in joining a project which highlights great achievement from young people, invention, entrepreneurship, social work in Ghana? Get in touch. The first one is a video about the popular "Africa Open for Business - Ghana" documentary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5l3bAj1h3k Another video is called "Think Big" - Think BIG showcases Ghanaians with big aspirations and big plans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl5Ss3MM57w The third video is not from Ghana, it's from Malawi. It's about the awesome William Kamkwamba. He's now a student at the equally awesome African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8yKFVPOD6o Here are a few websites to check out for similar features. http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/ http://whiteafrican.com/ http://appfrica.net/blog/ http://www.afrigadget.com/

The D-Day is Sunday and Ghanaians would be going to polls. We will be electing the 3rd president in this 4th Republic after Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor. I have seen both rule Ghana and they have done their parts in stabilizing and developing our beloved country. I believe Paa Kwesi Nduom should be the next president of Ghana. He is the agent of real active positive change. He is the best candidate and we deserve the best leader. Now, not in 4 years' time. He is ready. I am going to try and discuss why he should be voted for and why is the man for the job. This development is not four or eight years early. We have to change the way we do things now so that we can continue on this forward march to economic prosperity, citizenry satisfaction and national happiness. I supported the NPP during the 2000 election. I saw John Atta Mills as more of the same of JJ Rawlings and was alos worried that he would be heavily influenced by Rawlings as well. I was in secondary school ...

My alter ego, Maximus Ojah (Nwia) of GhanaThink fame, wrote a letter to his buddy Osagyefo concerning the Ghana elections. Here is the letter below. Dear Osagyefo, Forgive my insubordinate self for not keeping in touch. I know my letters have become occasional but it's not because you didn't send me that stimulus package. I will change. But as you can guess, there is an occasion. Coming up in two days is the election in Ghana. Ghana will be electing a new president as Traveller John steps down after two-terms. We know for sure there will be a change in who our first citizen is. Would there be a change in what our first citizen does? The world is looking at Ghana wondering if we'll pass another test in our democracy. We'll be praying for peace and a free and fair election. Kwame, people are saying Ghanaians are too 'chill' for post-election violence in case some group of people feel there is a stolen verdict. Kenya and Zimbabwe cannot happen in Ghana they say. So...

Last weekend, I went to a Zouk club for the first time. It was a Haitian event. Africans are not very different from Haitians if you've come across many of the latter. The whole experience was quite interesting. I needed all but 3 minutes of entering the club to decide that I would be blogging about it. The story is as follows, we'll pick it up from the first hint of attending the club. After we saw the movie, I was in the mood for some more enjoyment. She suggested the Zouk Club down the road. I had never been to a Zouk club before and the prospect of going to a club that would play some African music was too good to turn down. I had attended one the weekend before in New York , but this was Boston. She said she had to sleep early so she couldn't join me. I proceeded to make some phone calls to figure out which friend of mine will join me to go to this Zouk club. I thought of this girl who loved Kizomba and I had tried to reach all weekend. Perfect opportunity to meet....

A friend shared one video and I felt I should share with you all. See how people celebrated Obama's victory in some African cities. We were all very happy, but some people were happier than others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFPczM58G6w This video was made by Africanews.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSWz95ynwm4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpkvgG5HMTw

I've been wanting to write a poem recently. I have a lot to say but I can't seem to bring myself to write it and write it well. After my 'A call to make a difference' poem, I have written about 3 poems, 1 of which I can't even find. 'A call to make a difference' was so good that every time I write a new poem, if I can't outdo it, I give it up and stop writing. This thanksgiving trip I took was my make or break time for writing a new poem so I tried. I tried so hard. I came up with something. While on the train to Rhode Island from Massachusetts, I was thinking. I was thinking about how I am just one person. You know how we sometimes wish we have more hours in a day? Imagine if we were 'two or three' people. 'We' could do more in a day for 'ourselves' and have a few more hands to do plenty things. I was thinking about how I was just one person, with just one vote, one voice, and one vociferous message. Because you are not me, you d...

I was pretty excited to be in the Big Apple. I hadn't really been here in about two years. I made sure to spend a weekend here at the start of my Thanksgiving 'week-off' trip. I was disappointed enough to get into the city late on Friday evening so that I would miss the 'night activities'. No p. I moved on. I hoped for a Saturday to remember. I did get a Saturday to remember, and with this blog, a Saturday to be talked about for a while. I arrived at my friend's in Columbia and he and his friends were talking about women, black women, white women, relationships, etc. If I didn't address the topic in my last blog entry what makes you think I will share my opinions here. See me in chambers. So let's move on to Saturday, shall we? I watched the Manchester United-Aston Villa game at a bar near Columbia University with the news of Chelsea and Liverpool both involved in blank goalless draws earlier. I cheered the Red Devils on but they ended up drawing nil-ni...

Bond. James Bond. I have always been fascinated with Bond movies and the character and personality of Bond. He looks like a pretty cool guy. There's a new Bond movie out and I had the chance to see it yesterday for like 3 dollars. I shunned that opportunity to watch another movie/documentary. Why not? I was going to watch this documentary for free, and as some of you may know, I've been on a 'spending-nothing' spree for some time now. The documentary I ended up watching was called ' The Diary of a Tired Black Man '. Yes, it does sound like 'the Diary of a Mad Black Woman'. This film/documentary supposedly is an answer to its sister of a similar name. But what are Black men tired about? Why should we be tired? We just elected a Black man as president. Nothing should tire us out from achieving our goals, dreams, aspirations or desires. According to this documentary, some things that happen to Black men do tire them out. Let's find out. http://www.yout...

I wrote a new poem guys. Well, not quite. Truth is, I edited a poem I wrote about AIDS to reflect thoughts on Malaria (Anti-Malaria). After attending the Boston AIDS Walk in 2005, I got so inspired about fighting AIDS, which is probably the most deadly disease known to man. HIV-AIDS affects a lot of Africans and at one point, I heard it kills hundreds of Africans each year and the disease is getting deadlier in other parts of the world. Anyway, I was pumped to do something about the AIDS epidemic after I took part in the walk. So I wrote about how that enthusiasm could probably die slowly day after day. It's the same for a lot of things. You hear about something really bad, you got worked up, and more often than not, the next day you are not as enthused and couldn't really care. Sometime from now, maybe we may be able to do a great deal to stem the tide and control the spread of these diseases or ready ourselves to make great strides to solving problems that just don't seem...

More blog downtime, so here is another poem. Yes, Obama won the election and I am very very very happy. I walk around with my shoulders up these days and that sense that I 'own' the world is even more prominent within me now. I do want to take a moment to thank God for what I have and how He has blessed me. I thank Him for people like Barack Obama who can inspire us. I hope he ends these 'two wars' America is fighting soon and amicably. I am also praying for peace, let's believe that we will have that all around the world sooner than later. Here's another 'war-child' poem I wrote on the same day I wrote this one . Enjoy. Life has laid its burden on thee! Oh, innocent son of Junta, Longing to see a Santa What has thou to live for? Bread or blood For the love of life, And the death of hate, Thou have to fight. Clear your sore eyes, Thy strength shows in your tears. Wash your filthy hands, Thy blood is no different. Blow your hollow cheeks, Thou have never ...

November 4th, 2008 was a monumental day. A black man became the leader of the 'free world' and the president of arguably the most powerful nation on earth. I supported him, because he was the best candidate and I admired his vision, character, personality, ideas and ideals. As the results came in, I thanked God for the impending victory and the lack of 'surprises'. The last thing I could handle was to have the opinion polls heading into Nov 4th say one thing and provide a different end result, especially when it would be going against the outcome I so much wanted to happen. Obama said 'Yes, we can' and yes, 'we' have won the election. Barack made it clear though, that the change he'd preached for more than a year wasn't here yet and that we needed to work hard to see it come to fruition. Yes, we can but we are not done yet. I received a text from a friend saying: "Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King (MLK) could walk, MLK walked so Obama co...

I am praying for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo now and for peace before, during and after the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. Below is a poem I wrote with a cousin about peace in 2004. It's been a while, I have to write something new. He came mild Into the wild To be trained to be wild Oh, poor child Trekked here via Freetown and Monrovia But he ain’t free, you see Found and bound by refugee A child grows To star in fiery shows No room for a doze or pose As death comes as close The future has arrived It arrived too early The mantle is here alright To fight already Taken as freedom’s hire Shaken by gunfire Overtaken by rebels’ ire Making justice the desire Strong child of Adam The hurt hurts some And comes home to Buduburam Together with the same some We watch but we do not see We look but we do not see We stare as we drink tea While bread is not free He won it with a fight This song would not last long The child is at war with wrong And we fail to see...

I came up with this title in 2000 when I was submitting a bunch of 'chaas' for the Odadee Magazine. For those not familar with the word, chaa, 'to chaa' means to use puns in a sentence or use a bunch of words that rhyme together but don't make much sense. I remember how we used to belittle chaas in Presec. People who 'chaaed' were seen as unserious, jokers, etc. The funny thing was most of the people who 'chaaed' ended up becoming some of the most respected people in Presec, as prefects, SRC council members, club executives, editorial board members, etc. Of course, you had to control the amount of 'chaaing' you did. After I arrived in the US after Presec and spent some time here, I quickly realised how much 'chaaing' was going on in America. It was viewed in a good light too, it was heavily used in marketing campaigns. I felt good about all the 'chaarister' nicknames I got when I was in Presec. Before I realised, I was convert...

Champs, thanks for the encouragement. Y'all make me want to write more. I hadn't planned on writing tonight but I got inspired again. Shebi shebi, I am on fire. I am hot right now. Nah, there's no 'eye candy' or mishap in this story. I just attended an event at Stanford: An evening with (Skip) Henry Louis Gates, Jr, who was interviewed by Claude Steele. I remember Skip from an event I attended at Harvard when I was still at MIT, where he led a panel discussion celebrating Wole Soyinka's 70th birthday. I met both Skip and Uncle Wole that night, and that experience requires another blog. This conversation was very interesting; but this is what I remember - education, racial 'stuff', paradigm shifts in how black people are perceived and Barack Obama. They couldn't resist talking about Barack Hussein Obama, would you? I already spoke about him here but this is a follow-up. I am engulfed in Obamamania and I can't wait to see him win this election. Ho...