MORE MONEY TO GO AROUND........But only for NPP delegates

As the money race (aka NPP Presidential Contest) hottens up the competition for the copious amont of money that the aspirants are prepared to cough up fpr the delegates multiplies byb the day. There are rumours that some aspirants have intensified theur efforts to get hold of the list of the true delegates so that they could better target thier palm-greasing. In the mist of the nummerous suffering of the ordinary Ghanain these people are clearly telling us that they are prepared to spend money to run fro president.

BATTLE FOR THE SOUL

The Religionist Lobby in Ghana Extend Their War Into the Classroom The Bishops, Reverends, Pastors, Evangelists, Apostles, Prophets, Prophetesses Prayer Warriors etc in the church crazy nation of Ghana are on the warpath. They are cross at what they describe as “the Godless nature of the new Educational Reform” Apparently the new Education Reform had deleted the ‘Religious and Moral Education’ (RME) course from the Elementary school syllabi. The Catholic bishop Conference of Ghana issued a strongly worded statement condemning the omission. Furthermore they instructed the heads of all catholic sponsored but government assisted schools to implement a strict daily regime of religious teaching. The powerful Christian council of Ghana -which is a pressure group comprising all the churches on Ghana (and is an awful lot of them) - has joined the fray and has demanded the reinstitution of the RME without delay. My opinion on this issue is that the battle is really one to convert young impressionable minds into Christianity. At such a young age it is pretty easy to pump religious dogmas into the heads of people and you’re sure it will stick for a lifetime. I quite remember that my brush with RME during my school days was a dominated by passages from the bible and overt Christian proselytizing. The burgeoning church industry sees it survival in the young ones coming through and it is desperate to lock a steady stream of followers for the future. However what the Religious Zealots forget is that Ghana is a Secular Constitutional entity than guarantees the religious freedoms of all manners of persons with any form religious believe whilst the state maintains a neutral religious posture .However the reality of RME is that it teaches Christianity to young impressionable minds using the platform provided by a supposedly religious-neutral state. Again the threat by the catholic Bishops to compel head teachers to enforce catholic values is taking it too far.

A FURTHER TIGHTENING OF THE NOOSE

..........As Another round of Petroleum price increases is announced. In the mist of the unbearable hardship that Ghanaians are forced to endure, there has been another surge in the price of the all important petroleum products. This is the third increment since October.This time around theres is up to 7% increase in the price of premium petrol raising the price to nearly $5 per gallon. This makes petroleum product the priciest in the west African Region. This increment comes on the heels of a 40% increment in the tariff of water and electricity. Our insensitive government is pursuing a so-called policy of total cost recovery.This policy is bereft of any welfare considerations in a country with an absolute poverty level of 42%. Ghanaians are really going to suffer to make any meaningful stride towards prosperity with a government like the one we have now. The pass- through effect of a petroleum price increase is well documented in Ghana with food prices the most impacted .It will definitely not going to be aMerry Christmas for the average Ghana in.(Excluding the filthy rich politicians)

Bright Future Budget

Last week the minister of Finance presented his 2008 budget to parliament amid the razzmataz taht this government has come to be associated with any ordinary event that they ussually consider as success. The budget, deceptively dubbed "A Brightre Future Budget" has anything but a bright for the suffering mases of Ghanaians.with the swagger of a confident thief this governmant is slowing crating a shiny veneer of success under whiich there is a rottne mess of mediocrity at best and failure at wosrt. The highlights of the budget reads like a hanging noose for ghanaians to commit siucide with. One of the pillars of the Brightre Future Budget is the impending imposition of an xcise tax on mobile talk time . In a country where thtre are no fixed-lines this is a misplaced attempt to milk the only fat cow inthe stable.It will affect businesses to a large extent in thier cost of communication. There is also a proposal to sell some state oned enterprises including profitable ones.Policy on Agriculture is the same old terse paragraph that recognises the importance of th sector to the longterm viability of our economy but without any substance as hw to fix the crunching problems. This , inpite of the fact that we are facing a deteriorating food security situation over the next few months as a rsult of the global situation and the flood the food bank of the country (Northern and upper regions). Thre was no major poicy announcement on indutrialisation and trde policy. The only highlight that has any semblance of 'brightness' is the setting up of a Northern Ghana Development Fund.

PUBLIC ORDER VERSUS FREEDOM TO DEMONSTRATE

Police service hiding behind law to curtail civil freedoms The Committee forJoint Action (CJA) has given hint of their intention to organiza a massive demonstration at beggining of next months aginst the policies of the NPP government, whic the CJA claim is working aginst the general welfare of the citezenry. The CJA has been one of the civil society institutions that has been speaking up on policies and general issues that affect the voiceless Ghanaian.

Conspiracy against The vice President

How the NPP Swerved the Second most Powerful Man in the Land If you think things are smooth and straight i the Npp as they have been claiming ,revise your notes because events over the last couple of days has clearly betrayed how stormy the ride is going to be for the accolade of representing the NPP in 2008 for the presidential elections. The vice President has just found out that he needs not only to spend money and make more use of of the privileges of his high office but to use the raw power of his office. The vice president was invited to attend his vetting at the party office on Wednesday. The honourable Veep duly got there five minutes to the appointed time ( a rare occurrence) only to be kept waiting for over 30 Min's before being finally told that the vetting was not coming on after all. This led the visibly shaken and shocked Aliu to profusely declare his undying love for his party and Ghana (a strange response given the circumstances) . Now the whole situation has been made worse by the fact that 8 hours before the vetting a newspaper owned by one of the competing aspirants to the Npp presidential slot had published a story alleging that the vices president does not own a valid party card. Looking at the people making up the vetting committee you really wonder if such an embarrassment is simply an oversight or there is more to it that appears. People like Prof.Adjei Becquine who is the chairman of the council of state are supposed to kw and do better. I relay think the Veep must realised that the chickens have come home to roost. First of all he is not considered as a true party man and that the only reason why he became the vice president only on the fact that he is a northerner. Again there is a groundswell of bitterness among the other contestants over the fact that most of them have had to resign from their positions in order to contests while the vice president still enjoys all the benefits of his office and indeed use state accessories and logistics in his campaign. A lot is brewing in the belly of the elephant and watch out when it explodes....because it will surely be messy.