CORRUPTION: The Socialist Forum of Ghana Speaks Out

Georgina Wood, Chief Justice of Ghana

The Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) has joined the current debate on corruption in a statement issued in Accra yesterday.

It called on the working people of Ghana to intensify the fight against privilege and elitism and to dismantle the neo-colonial order of lop sided power relations.

According to the SFG “in the end only a truly democratic, decentralised and egalitarian society can fight corruption in all its manifestations”

The full text of the statement is published below;

The Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) has noted that over the last few months the middle class and especially right wing establishment that dominates the corporate media has made political corruption a central issue.  This is not difficult given the truly shocking revelations concerning GYEEDA, NSS, SADA, Auditor-General's reports, Judgement Debts and Black Stars' Commissions of Enquiry. Pro-NPP forces seek to convince the public that not only are all our woes the result of political corruption but further that there has been a sudden surge in corrupt practices under the current national leadership. Pro-NDC forces are fighting back with their own allegations of sordid conduct by their opponents when they were last in power.  Generally, the public is increasingly disgusted with our middle class and our public leadership.

Corruption is an important issue that working people and all those struggling for a more just and productive society must pay attention to.  The truth is that the scandals that have surfaced in the media represent only the tip of the iceberg. A proper investigation into state management of public resources would lead to massive civil unrest.  Workers and the marginalised in society must struggle to understand this phenomenon scientifically in order to end corruption and all other forms of exploitation decisively and to build the just, productive and free society we want.  

Corruption is the abuse of a public power or privilege for personal gain. Corruption is by definition a perversion of the privileged – those who have power.  It is not just a moral aberration. In Ghana, corruption is an organic and integral part of the neo-colonial state whose sole agenda is to facilitate the exploitation of our labour and resources by transnational capital. Corruption is a time-honoured method through which members of the middle classes attempt to ascend into the ruling capitalist class. Of course, as socio-political conditions deteriorate and as the conduct of the elite becomes more and more apparent the practice spread down so that even the lower echelons of the bureaucracy are immersed in corruption.  From a social perspective however the entire bureaucracy still represents a tiny minority in society. For the most part the capitalist class tolerates, encourages and drives official corruption as a means of lowering the cost to them of social exploitation.  However, as exploitation intensifies and the masses become restless big business leaders, donor agencies, international NGOs and other agents of transnational capitalism quickly mount hypocritical high moral horses and seek to claim leadership of the fight against corruption.

Corruption’s true victims are the working poor who depend on public services to maintain the most basic standards of living.   The absence of social housing, the poor state of public health and education services the massive, destruction of our youth through unemployment, and the growing depravity of our society evident in increasing incidents of child abuse can all be at least partially traced to corruption in so far as it diverts vital resources from economically and socially beneficial projects.  Again, as the level of intensity of exploitation grows larger sections of the middle class find their living standards threatened and questioning practices that have founded their class privilege.

The loud indignant moralization about political corruption obscures the problem and its roots. In reducing corruption to either a “moral” or “partisan” issue these forces are consciously or unconsciously engaged in diversionary tactics.  They are diverting working peoples’ focus away from the exploitation and repression of the working poor by the capitalist class.  They are channeling working peoples’ righteous anger at our increasingly brutal living circumstances against their middle class rivals for power.   The truth is that all Ghana’s political parties represent the same class interests.  All of them in office promote the same policies and programmes and conduct themselves in the exact same disrespectful and corrupt manner.  And when it comes to opportunities to enrich themselves as individuals they are absolutely united.

SFG supports the calls for greater transparency and accountability.  We demand that State institutions and political leadership go beyond the charade that currently takes place around corruption.  We demand the establishment of the Financial Tribunal to deal with issues arising out of the deliberations of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.

Ultimately however, SFG believes that nothing short of a full-blown attack on privilege and elitism and the neo-colonial political system that sustains them can uproot corruption and restore integrity to public life.   This requires that working people organise to defend their interests.  Working people must abandon their allegiance to pro-capitalist parties and build their own political parties to fight for a society that protects and promotes working class interests. In the end only a truly democratic, decentralized and egalitarian society can fight corruption in all its manifestations.

..................................

Duke Tagoe

For Convener.

Editorial

POWER TO CHECK MEDIA

The speaker of parliament, Mr. Edward Doe Adjaho has called for the reconsideration of the law establishing the National Media Commission to give it more powers to deal with irresponsible speech by the media. He asked “ If a person or political actor makes an irresponsible or potentially explosive statement should the media report or publish it in the raw form “. Mr. Speaker why not? The media is responsible for the implementation of freedom of expression and it is to inform truthfully, factually and accurately. It is said ‘comments are free and facts are sacred’. It is up to the media to point out and expose the irresponsible or responsible members of society be they individuals or institutions, Politicians or Pastors , ordinary persons or very important persons in their deeds and speeches for the citizenry to know what they do and stand for. It is not the duty of media to cover up the truth or put out false hood or burnish the image of the people in the public space. As for the National Media Commission, it is our considered view that it more or less is a governing board of state owned institutions with some regulatory power, but it cannot be the media policeman or the regulator of free speech. Free speech is enshrined in the constitution and it is an individual right of the citizens to engage in it in order to safe guard freedom, liberty, and equality. Free speech has been fought for at the expense of people’s lives and the NMC comprising members who are the political face of political factions in this country cannot be given broad powers and a platform to wage any form of vendetta against perceived political opponents. Mr. Speaker, the judiciary exists to bring to book errant media practitioners and the citizens who go against the laws of free speech. This right cannot be given to the NMC. The NMC does not need any teeth to bite, it should rather concentrate on mobilizing resources and building capacity to enhance the work of journalists and develop the media industry.

Catholic Bishops worried about Ghana’s economy

Most Rev, Joseph Osei Bonsu

The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) has expressed concern about the country’s economy fast becoming one of “buying and selling” where Ghanaians are witnessing a constant high cost of living and hyper-inflation.

The Bishops conference also spoke about the unbearably high taxes that are causing many nascent private businesses to fold up and the inability of governments to set up more industries to take care of rising youth unemployment and low levels of development.

Most Reverend Joseph Osei-Bonsu, President of GCBC said this when he presented a communiqué at the end of the 2014 Plenary Assembly of the Conference in Accra from November 4 to November 15 to deliberate on the welfare of the Church over the past years and plan for the future.

The conference was on the theme: “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelisation.”

Most Rev Osei-Bonsu said the Church’s perennial and unchanging teaching on the family is based on the nature of man but especially on scripture and sacred tradition which says that “God ordained marriage to be between man and woman’ and further determined marriage to be indissoluble as Jesus  affirmed ‘ What therefore God has put together, let no man put asunder”.

Most Rev Osei-Bonsu, who is also the Bishop of the Konongo-Mampong Diocese in the Ashanti Region, said the media has become a major source of influence in the way young people conceive marriage.

“The media amplify failing and failed relationships between males and females and further celebrate their separation. Ghanaian young people keep themselves updated on the marital mishaps of celebrities, get exposed to explicit immoral scenes in movies and the internet and come to associate human sexuality with a certain casualness and irresponsible experimentation,” the communiqué added.

Most Rev Osei-Bonsu said the situation where couples are regularly absent from the marital home due to work and education does not help in the stability of the marriage since children become the ultimate victims in the event of divorce.

The communiqué expressed worry about the practices of domestic violence leading to some wives being battered into silence and live in perpetual fear of their husbands while some husbands are unable to go home after work for fear of their lives.

The Catholic Church bemoaned the practice of cohabitation in which couples that have performed the customary marriage see no need to go ahead to regularise their marriages since such practice prevent couples from receiving the Eucharist which is the source of their spiritual sustenance.

The communiqué called on government and organised labour to always use dialogue and negotiations in dealing with labour disputes and agitations and that the Catholic Church is prepared to play a mediation role in the resolution of the ongoing impasse among the parties.

“The church will continue to proclaim the unwavering truth that monogamy is what God has ordained and that polygamy is contrary to conjugal love and incompatible with the unity of marriage”.

The communiqué noted that the church would continue to teach that divorce from a living and lawful spouse is not permitted because it separates what God has joined together and assures all families of its encouragement and prayers in the face of these challenges.

credit: GNA

Burkina Faso: the West's armed puppets broken by the masses

Thomas Sankara

By Explo Nani-Kofi

The uprising of the masses in Burkina Faso proves western arms and support doesn't guarantee unrestrained tyrannical control writes Explo Nani-Kofi

'While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.'

Thomas Sankara

The recent uprising of the masses in Burkina Faso should be a lesson for those who think that being armed to teeth and supported by the western military powers means unrestrained tyrannical control of their countries.

Despite French military presence and political intolerance of opposition, the myth surrounding one of Africa’s long serving tyrants has been broken by the masses of working people showing what people’s power is.

France launched its supposed anti-terrorist programme making Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, one of its bases just in August 2014.

In 1976, Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, Henri Zongo, Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaore formed the “Communist Officers’ Group” within the armed forces in Burkina Faso.

One of their members, Thomas Sankara, was appointed Secretary of State for Information in a military government in 1981 but resigned in 1982 for what he saw as the government’s anti-labour drift.

Sankara was again appointed Prime Minister in another military in January 1983 but dismissed in May 1983 because of revolutionary rhetoric which the French were uncomfortable with.

He was placed under house arrest together with Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and Henri Zongo whilst Blaise Compaore was not touched.

There was an uprising which led to their release and a coup d’etat on 4 August 1983 and Thomas Sankara became the President changing the country’s name from Haute Volta to Burkina Faso which means “Land of Incorruptible People”.

During the rule of Thomas Sankara, he led the country with a revolutionary orientation of self-reliance. He championed the campaign for the cancellation of the odious debt of developing nations, emphasised the enslavement character of foreign aid and the relationship with the International Monetary Fund as well as the World Bank.

He was an admirer of Fidel Castro-led revolution in Cuba. The government actively promoted land reform and agrarian self-sufficiency, prioritised education with a nation-wide literacy campaign and promoted public health. Sankara's commitment to women’s rights led to the government abolishing female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy. Corrupt officials were tried and punished.

In 1987 Sankara fell out with trade unionists who had been his allies in the past.

On 15 October 1987, Thomas Sankara, together with twelve other colleagues of his were killed in a coup d’etat led by his former colleague, Blaise Compaore.

After the coup, Blaise Compaore appeared to be heading a triumvirate with his two other colleagues of the “Communist Officers’ Group” – Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and Henri Zongo.

On 18 September 1989, Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, Henri Zongo and two other officers were arrested, alleged to be plotting to overthrow the regime, and were executed.

It is worth pointing out that when members of the “Communist Officers’ Group” were placed under house arrest in 1983, Compaore was the only one among them who was free and now he has killed all his friends who were out under house arrest earlier.

When Sankara was overthrown, the usurpers tried to placate all forces alleging the breaking of relations with those who not long ago were friends and in this case they listed trade unionists and militant workers as well as relations with neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire and former colonial power – France.

Gradually, Compaore reversed all the pro-people policies which were developed during the Thomas Sankara era.

Blaise Compaore became a major ally of USA and France in the West African sub-region.

He became a peace broker and facilitated peace, being the mediator in the Inter-Togolese Dialogue in 2006, in the crisis of Cote d’Ivoire in 2007 and between representatives of Malian coup d’etat and other regional leaders in 2012.

He is also known to have had a hand in the brutal wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone as such being like a double edged knife.

Compaore won elections in 1991 boycotted by the main opposition and in 1998 with a pitifully poor turn out at the polls.

In 2000, there was a constitutional amendment which reduced the term of office from 7 years to 5 years and also that the President could not serve more than two terms. Although, Compaore had served two terms the amendment did not apply retroactively so he stood for elections in 2005 and 2010 and was re-elected as President.

An attempt to amend the constitution to allow him to contest election for a fifth term has provoked the present uprising.

The masses' uprising started on 29th October 2014. On 30 October, tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets and burnt government buildings, including the city hall, the ruling Congress of Democracy and Progress (CDP) party headquarters, and parts of the National Assembly. The state radio and television station was also stormed. A number of people died in the violence as police and soldiers tried to stop the uprising.

Violent protest occurred in the second largest city Bobo Dioulasso and in the northern city of Ouahigouya.

The constitutional proposals were withdrawn, but Compaore declaring a state of emergency declared that he was going to stay in office and have a year transition in which he was prepared to consult with the opposition which he didn’t find necessary to do for 27 years. He might not have seen that it was too little and too late.

By 31 October, Compaore finally resigned and fled the country. Later, General Honore Traore, the army chief, declared that he was heading the transitional government but a counter announcement came from Lt Col Isaac Yacouba Zida, the second-in-command of the presidential guard, that instead he was the one heading the transitional government.

About 1,000 people gathered on Sunday 2nd November to demand a civilian and democratic transition a day after the military announced that the lieutenant colonel is in charge.

It is interesting to note that the French troops made no attempt to protect Compaore reinforcing the known reality that the west has permanent interests and not permanent friends.

The African Union chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has also called for a civilian-led transition.

There is the danger of the military hijacking the struggle for which the masses have fought and even died for. To prevent this will not depend on just Burkinabes but all progressive Africans and the masses as well as all internationalists.

Let us mobilise in solidarity with the masses in Burkina Faso so that they wouldn’t have toiled for the same forces who misruled the country together with Compaore to take over.

Explo Nani-Kofi

Explo Nani-Kofi is Societal Affairs Analyst and Social Justice Practitioner. He was born in Ghana where he started his activist as a grass root organizer for popular democracy. He coordinated the Campaign Against Proxy War in Africa and the IMF-World Bank Wanted For Fraud Campaign. He is a member of Counterfire (www.counterfire.org) and Director of the Kilombo Centre for Civil Society and African Self-Determination, in Peki, Ghana and London, UK (www.kilomboeducation.org).

Cuba calls for sustained development support in Africa

Cuban President Raul Castro

On November 13, before the UN General Assembly, Cuba stated that in addition to aid to combat the Ebola epidemic, Africa needs systematic developmental support.

According to PL, Rodolfo Reyes, Cuban ambassador to the UN, stated before the global organization, "It is important to act against Ebola, but equally necessary is designating, in a sustainable and timely manner, human resources, materials and finance for the development of Africa."

During the encounter dedicated to updating the 193 UN member states on the Ebola situation, the diplomat commented that Cuba feels united with the Africa given the unbreakable ties between both the Caribbean island and the continent.

Reyes stated that solidarity has characterized Cuba’s relations with Africa over 55 years, with more than 76,000 collaborators who have offered their services in 39 African countries, he stated during the session, in which both David Nabarro UN special envoy on Ebola, and head of the Ebola Emergency Response mission (Unmeer), Anthony Banbury, spoke.

According to Reyes, the same spirit of solidarity manifested over decades drives Cuban aid efforts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea-Conakry, nations hit by the outbreak which has to date, resulted in almost 5,200 deaths and 14,000 cases, 60% of which have been confirmed by laboratory tests.

Cuba has sent three brigades to these countries, trained 256 professionals from the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specializing in Disasters and Large-Scale Epidemics, the ambassador recalled.

Reyes, added that in response to the call for help to combat the epidemic made by the UN, the thousands of Cuban health collaborators stationed across 32 African countries have, in their locations, taken action to prevent the spread of the virus.

Reyes described the outbreak as a global problem, the solution to which "must include efforts by all nations, rich and poor. But above all it constitutes a moral imperative."

Credit: www.granma.cu

Nutrition: The ticking human neutron bomb

Dr Kweku Agyemang Mensah, Health Minister

By Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Two point eight billion people do not eat well, or worse, do not get enough nutrients, meaning they are under-nourished; in some parts of the world, up to half the population is obese or overweight, or over-nourished. The bottom line is that the human being does not even know how to eat.

The Old Testament starts with the story, or the parable, of the forbidden fruit, which as it happens is an apple, perhaps the healthiest of fruits; the Jewish dietary law, or Kashrut, dictates that blood must be removed from meat before it is eaten and that certain foodstuffs are prohibited: pigs, rabbits, lobster, shrimps and clams.

The New Testament is fraught with contradictory passages about eating meat or abstaining; the Qu'ran states clearly that eating meat from a dead animal is forbidden and the animal providing the meat must be slaughtered in a ritual by a human, setting out clearly the Haram, or meats which cannot be consumed, such as pork and birds of prey and questioning other sources of nutrition, the Mashbooh. In the Orthodox religion, the Great Lenten Fast is an important part of the religious custom practiced by the faithful, while Hindus, Buddhists and Rastafarians practice a vegetarian diet.

The point is that nutrition and diet - what we eat - has been under discussion since the very beginning of human civilization, so much so that it is a fundamental part of scripture, religious law and popular lore. So where did we go wrong? Since 1980, obesity rates have doubled worldwide. 35% of adults aged 20 and over are overweight, 11% are obese. In 2013, 42 million children under five years of age were obese or overweight. Around three and a half million people die each and every year due to being overweight or obese.

Excess weight and obesity and the ensuing lifestyle accounts for 44 per cent of diabetes cases, 23 per cent of ischaemic heart disease and a substantial number of cancer cases (the statistics range from between as low as 7 per cent and as high as 41 per cent).

And why? Because families these days are fuelled by two breadwinners, because the lady of the house is no longer the housewife with time to shop and cook, and because more and more, the labor and human rights gains of yesteryear have been swept off the table by Fascist policymakers. More and more, and increasingly in western/industrialized countries, the family meal is a thing of the past: in some countries it is estimated that 80% of families do not have a family meal at the table, but rather, each one comes home with a different packet of frozen fast food to throw in the microwave and consume in front of a computer screen, each one in a different room.

No wonder society is breaking down. And it is a vicious circle. Needless to say, among the lobbies pulling political strings are the weapons lobby, the energy lobby, the banking lobby and the pharmaceutical lobby. The one nobody hears about is the meat/nutrition lobby and the closer you get to animal-based protein, the more powerful the lobby becomes.

Fast food outlets are the visible tip of this iceberg, the bottom of the same is coffins and graves and the situation has the tendency to skyrocket, meaning that while everyone understands that we are what we eat, few put the pieces of the puzzle together and comprehend that if we continue on this path, each and every family is at risk of a human health catastrophe.

What we are sold is, in some cases, an outrage, or in other words, a crime. Some packets of processed food should carry a public health warning like packs of cigarettes. True, consuming one packet of processed soup, for instance, is not dangerous, but what happens if a person drinks an instant soup daily? Or eats processed meat over a period of twenty years?

The bottom line is the human being eats far too much animal protein and if we research further, we see the human being does not need to eat animal protein at all (especially not if we see the deplorable conditions of cruelty animals are kept in before being murdered in slaughterhouses).

The calories, vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and fats that people need can easily be obtained from vegetable sources. These tend to be more devoid of harmful chemicals, growth hormones and other unnatural substances, and the more so, the more natural and biological they are. And as a consequence, less harmful for the health.

The conclusion is the closer to Veganism the Human being becomes, the more likely (s)he is to have a long life, a happy life and a productive one. Eating animal protein today is in many cases paramount to filling the body with unwanted and dangerous chemicals. Obviously, the "meat lobby" is all about controlling us by conditioning what we eat and telling us that Veganism is dangerous.

How many Vegans die of obesity?

Credit: www.english.pravda.ru