Hopes for the New Year

I don't think there will be much change in Ghana in the new year. After five years of Kufuor's leadership it will take some kind of gene therapy before we will see any groundbreaking or epoch-making development in Ghana. I don't see any fresh winds blowing but all the same I am thankful that we have enjoyed relative peace and no gun-totting adventurer has decided to force a change of government.

The proliferation of media houses and the large number of radio stations and newspapers coupled with the free press is certainly a big plus for democracy and I commend the Kuffuor government for maintaining this environment which I have to admit started in the last days of the P(NDC). The more people talk and write, the more clued up we get about the comings and goings.

It is true that a lot of our newspapers push their own political agenda, some more than others. It happens all over the world and even then, we are getting accustomed to their colours and can therefore take what they say and write knowing where they are coming from. In this regard Palaver, Daily Guide and Crusading Guide can share the 2005 award for jaundiced journalism.

My hopes for the year? I am not asking for much.

1. May the rule of law be strenghthened so that innocent Ghanaians can sleep in their beds at night and not have to barricade their walls and front doors like prisons for fear of menacing armed robbers.

2. May a miracle happen to sort out corruption and bring sanity to the Customs and Excise Department so that we can clear our hard earned property from the harbour after paying fair taxes and fees, which will go towards our collective development and not the pockets of CEPS employees.

3. May President Kufuor travel only four times out of Ghana this year and may ministers and others in authority stop giving us unnecesary advice in their speeches "read on their behalf" and above all may they stop using the term "stakeholder"

4. May I attract visionary and selfless Ghanaians to this blog so that together we can provoke each other to good deeds and see progress in the Gold Coast.

5. May parliament pass a law to revoke the licences of any mining company which disses either the environment or the local population or both

6. May Dr. Arthur Kennedy abandon his plans to run on the ticket of the NPP and instead start a new political party, run for parliament in 2008 and then for president in 2012

7. May Agotime-Kpetoe become the capital of outsourcing in Africa

welcome

welcome to the newest blog on the westcoast of Africa (- that is until the nextblog). I look forward to harnessing the beautiful minds of the Gold Coast diaspora towards making our country a better place.

freedom and justice-
one nation, one people, one destiny!