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South African Airways 'to cut 1,000 jobs'

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Cash-strapped South African Airways (SAA) is set to make dramatic cuts in order to get its house back in order, news agency Reuters reports.

Chief executive Vuyani Jarana – who has been in the job just six months – told the agency "there cannot be sacred cows" when it comes to South Africa's flag carrier.

"My view is that the starting point to getting out of the hole is to stop digging, you stop doing the things that sink you deeper into trouble," he added.

Mr Jarana would not be drawn on exactly how many jobs would be lost, but sources told Reuters it was somewhere in the region of 1,000 to 1,500.

The airline will also reduce its twice-daily flight to London to just one a day.

SAA – which used to be Africa's biggest airline – has been bailed out by the South African taxpayer to the tune of 30 billion rand ($2.3bn; £1.7bn) over the course of the last six years.

It has struggled to keep up with its cheaper rivals, with its employee-per-plane ratio – 160 – far higher than the just more than 130 employees-per-plane ratio of Africa's current biggest airline, Ethiopian.

BBC

Superstition: Director abandons ‘new’ gov’t bungalow for hotel

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The fear of death has driven the current Ada East District Coordinating Director (DCD to lodge at a hotel instead of the virtually new bungalow occupied by his predecessors.

Saka Dramani has refused to occupy the bungalow due to the mysterious deaths of two of his predecessors. 

The director has been operating from the MAKs Hotel at Solikorpe in Big-Ada since November 2017 at a cost of GHC100 Cedis a day at the expense of the taxpayer, leaving the official residence, which was renovated and well-furnished two years ago fallow. 

His immediate predecessor, Charles Dzani now at Madina Municipal Assembly also lived in the hotel in question for 180 days at the same price a day. 

Atinka News checks revealed that one of the deceased DCDs, G.Y Gadzekpo was transferred to the Brong Ahafo Region six months later before he died whilst Modesta Bukuma also fell sick and was admitted to the Ada East District Hospital where she passed away. Therefore, the claim that the two died in the apartment is unfounded.

The development has become a worry to the assembly workers and concerned citizens of the area, especially at a time, their office complex project had been stalled since 2007 due to financial constraints. 

As a result, the Concerned Citizens of Ada, have petitioned the Regional Coordinating Council and copied EOCO and the Special Prosecutor's office to investigate both directors for what they call “perforation of the public purse.” 

Atinka News has, however, gathered that Saka Dramani checked out of the hotel Monday, after realizing that the issue was gaining media attention.

He has, so far refused to talk to the media.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Edward Sebbie
 

Ackah-Miezah Does Not Speak for Akufo-Addo

Daniel Opare
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Going by the sort of stereotypical bromide that litter his desultory propaganda piece titled “Why Akufo-Addo Does Not Support Freddie Blay” , I could swear that the name David Ackah-Miezah is uncontestably that of a diehard Nkrumaist.

But, curiously, the author of the afore-referenced article claims to be a New Patriotic Party (NPP) activist. And his unabashedly trenchant thesis is that the man who actually practicalized – I, of course, prefer the more rhetorically mellifluous version of “pragmatized” – the quintessential “UP Traditional Values,” namely, Mr. Freddie Blay, by ensuring that Nana Akufo-Addo realized his long-held ambition of succeeded to the Presidency, does not really belong in or to the mainstream membership of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo-inspired New Patriotic Party but, rather, it is Mr. Stephen Ntim, the perennial contender for the national chairmanship position of the New Patriotic Party, who deserves to be elected, hands-down, as it were, as the National Chairman of the NPP come the party's Delegates' Congress this coming July in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional Capital.

The agitprop writer's one salient, albeit pedestrian, argument against the Acting Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party is that Mr. Blay was once a front-row stalwart of the Greenstreet-led rump-Convention People's Party (r-CPP) before crossing ideological divides into the New Patriotic Party. The fact of the matter is that Freddie Blay did not only cross over from the rump-CPP into the NPP, he did precisely that when it mattered the most.

And he did not become just another ordinary member of the NPP. Rather, the former Second-Speaker of Ghana's Parliament joined the vanguard ranks of the leadership of the NPP by quickly becoming the First-Vice Chairman of the then-opposition New Patriotic Party, and then involuntarily but boldly and studiously stepping up to the proverbial plate when the infamous Afoko Gang of diehard UP Traditionalists dastardly attempted to railroad the hard-fought and won Presidential ambitions and the glorious realization of the same of then-Candidate Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

As for the choice of Prof. Michael Aaron Oquaye as Speaker of Parliament over Mr. Freddie Blay, who had allegedly expressed a strong interest in the same, by President Akufo-Addo, even a clinical idiot knows that it was squarely based on merit. The agitprop writer of the afore-referenced article only needs to read the academic and professional biographies of the two men in order to draw the most obvious conclusions.

Needless to say, it is purely on the basis of his creditably distinguished performance as Acting National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party who delivered victory to the now-President Akufo-Addo, on which Mr. Blay can and ought to be fairly judged, and not on the patently irrelevant question of who was the first among the present crop of contenders for the anchor's position of NPP's National Chairman to have joined the party, or who has spent more money ingratiating themselves with party stalwarts and movers-and-shakers or represented the party in several supposedly significant positions.

I choose not to invest much cranial capital in the downright nonsensical rhetoric about “Regional Balance,” when it comes to a discussion of the National Chairman's position in the New Patriotic Party; and so I shall gladly defer any major discussion of this subject to those better qualified to do the same.

Suffice it, however, for me to observe, at least in passing, that at the end of the day, what matters most is demonstrable competence and not sheer theory or non-merit-based Affirmative Action. In other words, selecting a candidate for the cardinal post of NPP's National Chairman must be coupled with proven merit or administrative competence on the part of the concerned candidate, and not merely because a candidate is an indigene or native of Region A or Region B.

As well, if Mr. Ackah-Miezah had conducted a modicum of decent background research on his subject of obloquy or abuse, he would have learned to his surprise, pleasantly or unpleasantly, that there was a Lawyer Blay in the twin-cities of Sekondi-Takoradi, together with Dr. J. B. Danquah and Mr. George Alfred “Paa” Grant, when the seminal sparks of what led to the establishment of the celebrated United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the first modern political party in the erstwhile Gold Coast, was struck.

That was long before the Nkrumah-instigated United Party (UP), an exigent agglomeration of splinter opposition political parties forced to come together when then-Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah caused the legal proscription of political parties created or founded along ethnic or tribal lines, came into existence. Of course, it bears emphatically pointing out that the Nkrumah-led Convention People's Party was also the offspring of the UGCC, whose first paid General-Secretary Nkrumah had been.

And the Lawyer Blay that we are talking about here, if memory serves me accurately, was either the uncle or granduncle of Mr. Freddie Blay. I bet the political pedigree or genealogy of Mr. Stephen Ntim, so far as the New Patriotic Party is concerned, is not as deeply rooted as that of the Editor-Publisher of the Daily Guide.

We need to also significantly and indelibly underscore the fact that it was dyed-in-the-wool UP Traditionalists and founding members of the New Patriotic Party that pulled tooth and nail to try to prevent Nana Akufo-Addo from ever becoming President of the Democratic Republic of Ghana. And so this arrant nonsense about Freddie Blay's heart and mind not being in synch with the mainstream spirit of the movers-and-shakers of the New Patriotic Party is unpardonably asinine and sheer poppycock. It is hogwash. Swill!

I am also not wading into the question of whether the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei-Tutu, II, had anything to do with the Atuguba-presided panel of Supreme Court jurists who adjudicated the 2012 Presidential Election Petition or not. I was not in Ghana then and have been out of the country for decades to be privy to any first-hand information pertaining to the issue raised. Likewise, how Freddie Blay and his wife, Gina, Ghana's current Ambassador to Germany, run their newspaper is the couple's own business. I have expressed my opinions to them in several of my columns in the past when I felt the need to do so. The preceding notwithstanding, irrationally and irresponsibly attempting to disparage the yeomanly contributions of Mr.

Blay, in favor of the candidacy of either Mr. Stephen Ntim or any other preferred candidate of any particular critic or personality over Mr. Blay will not was. The sort of criminally minded politics of personal destruction being indulged by Mr. Ackah-Miezah must promptly cease and cease forthwith.

 

 

by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Associate Professor at Nassau Community College

Why Akufo-Addo does not support Freddie Blay

Daniel Opare
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His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s choice of Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye, a long-serving and dyed-in-the-wool Danquah-Busia-Dombo person, over Mr Freddie Blay for the position of the Speaker of Parliament should inform New Patriotic Party (NPP) delegates that the party needs thoroughbred NPP members who can project, promote and protect the values and ideology of the UP tradition to occupy certain sensitive positions in the party.

That explains why despite the fact that Mr Blay expressed interest and campaigned for the position, hoping to be appointed as the Speaker of Parliament, the president and the Council of Elders of the NPP did not consider him ideal to represent the NPP at that level.

As the NPP soon gathers in the Eastern regional capital of Koforidua for its national elective congress, the most important position delegates will be required to vote for is the National Chairmanship.

The chairmanship position of the NPP – like any other party – is the soul of the party. It is a job that defines the party’s ideology and its strategy for the next election. Therefore, anyone elected to hold that position must be a dyed-in-the-wool UP person who is the exact embodiment of the ideals, philosophy and values of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition who is in touch with the base of the party and possess a set of skills that could rally the grassroots members of the party in unison towards winning election 2020.

Three people are running for such important position. They are Mr Stephen Ntim, Dr Richard Amoako Baah and Mr Freddie Blay.

The NPP has a long proud history of electing national chairmen who are strong adherents and true examples of the UP tradition and uphold it with pride. These include Messrs B. J. da Rocha, Peter Ala Adjatey, Samuel Odoi-Sykes, Harouna Esseku, Peter MacManu, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey etc.

It would, therefore, be a grand betrayal of the founders of the NPP if the current generation of the party deviates from the examples bequeathed to the party. The tradition must be kept intact and unadulterated. The NPP must elect Mr Stephen Ayensu Ntim, a founding member of the NPP and a dyed-in-the-wool UP person over Mr Freddy Blay, a former Convention People’s Party (CPP) Member of Parliament and Nkrumaist.

Why Stephen Ntim Is The Perfect Fit To Lead The NPP

Mr Stephen Ntim is a long-standing member and national patron of the NPP and has gone through the mill of the party. He is a true grassroots person who has risen through the ranks of the NPP.

Mr Stephen Ntim has been a member of the Brong Ahafo Patriotic Caucus (BAPAC) since 1995. He is also a member of the National Communications Committee Council from 2011 to 2014. He was a member of both the 2004 and 2008 National Election Campaign teams of the NPP. He also served as a member of the 2012 and the 2016 National Campaign Teams.

Mr Ntim represented the NPP at the International Democratic Union (IDU) conference in 2002 in Dresden, Germany and delivered a paper on behalf of the party leading to its admission into the IDU. He also represented the NPP in Maputo, Mozambique during the Democratic Union of Africa conference.

Mr Ntim is a former 1st Vice Chairman of the NPP, and during his tenure he donated fourteen (14) vehicles to all the regions and some constituencies. He has been acting National Chairman for the NPP on many occasions.

In the 2012 electioneering campaigns, he was the co-ordinator for Traditional Rulers Project together with Mr S. K. Boafo. In that same period, Mr Ntim additionally served as the Brong Ahafo region Conflict Resolution Committee chairman. He was also a campaign member for that election while serving as the Brong Ahafo region Finance Committee chairman.

In 2014, during Nana Akufo-Addo’s flagbearership campaign, Mr Stephen Ntim was his campaign coordinator for the Middle-belt sector.

Mr Stephen Ntim was the Fundraising Committee chairman raising funds for the NPP campaign from 2014 to the 2016 elections.

Again, in the 2016 campaigns, Mr Ntim was the coordinator of the Settler Communities Project. He served as NPP’s polling agent in the 2016 election at the Methodist School Pooling Station, Wamfie, Dormaa East Constituency, Brong Ahafo region.

Mr Stephen Ntim has consistently been resourcing the NPP from his own pocket.  He has been providing personalized letterheads to all constituency and regional offices every four years at no cost to the party.

Today the NPP has majority MPs in Parliament because Mr Stephen Ntim assisted a lot of them with T-shirts, posters, sample ballot papers and other logistics.

Mr Ntim once adopted all the constituencies in the Volta region and gave them seed money for the building of party offices.

Mr Stephen Ntim’s steadfastness, commitment and loyalty to the NPP supersede any in the race for the chairmanship. These virtues were extolled by Asantehene Otumfuor Osei Tutu II, who described Mr Ntim as dedicated, hardworking and loyal deserving the NPP chairmanship position.

Why Freddie Blay Is Not Fit To Lead NPP

Many die-hard NPP members have questioned Mr Freddie Blay’s loyalty and commitment to the NPP.

During the 2016 electioneering campaign, whilst Mr Stephen Ntim was leading the fundraising committee to raise funds to execute Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign, Mr Blay was promoting president John Mahama through his newspaper, the Daily Guide, which was running adverts for president John Mahama and promoting his re-election bid. He put his personal interest above the NPP interest. Despite the anger expressed by many NPP members, Mr Blay insisted that despite the newspaper being a pro-NPP, the company must also look at the business side and also make money, asking, “How can the paper survive without John Mahama’s adverts?”

Again, many people believe that the acting chairman’s ownership of the Daily Guide is not doing the NPP any good and often gives the NDC ammunitions to attack the NPP because of stories they believe Mr Blay had planted in the paper. An example is the allegations published by the Daily Guide that the Asantehene bribed Supreme Court Judges in the Election Petition case to rule against the NPP. The NDC and some loyalists of Asantehene keep accusing the NPP and the acting NPP chairman of planting that story just to denigrate the Asantehene. This creates disaffection for the NPP. It is therefore only appropriate to separate the NPP from the paper’s owner by changing Mr Freddie Blay as chairman of the NPP.

Going into the 2020 election with the party chairman in such conflict of interest position could prove costly for the NPP’s fortunes.

Mr Blay is also considered unworthy to hold the position as the NPP chairman because of his alleged involvement in diverting party funds into a private Ecobank account. Many party members are unsatisfied with the way the issue was handled by his administration.

Lessons From The NDC And ANC

The NPP has become so attractive and appealing so much so that people are leaving their parties to join thus making the NPP the largest political party in Ghana today. This has become possible due largely to the party’s strict adherence to its well-known core values of rewarding long service, dedication, steadfastness and loyalty to the party.

Deviating from that value system is repeating the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC’s) mistakes which cost them so much. 

It is public knowledge that one of the main factors that caused the NDC to lose the 2000 and the 2004 elections was because of the breaking away of the likes of Mr Goosie Tandoh to form the National Reform Party (NRP) and Dr Obed Asamoah and others’ breakaway to form the National Democratic Party (NDP).

These breakaways were as a result of the fact that founding and long-serving members of the NDC and its PNDC antecedent who had remained loyal and committed to the party were bypassed and an outsider, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, brought in to succeed Flt. Lt Jerry Rawlings after his constitutionally mandated tenure had ended.

This created apathy and division in the NDC leading to their loss. The NPP must not do that mistake.

Conversely, in South Africa, when President Nelson Mandela was leaving the presidency, his choice of replacement was Mr Cyril Ramaphosa. But when his party, the African National Congress (ANC), went to congress, they elected Mr Thabo Mbeki, who was Mr Mandela’s Deputy President.

When Mr Mbeki was leaving the scene and the ANC wanted his replacement, they elected his Deputy President, Mr Jacob Zuma. Just recently when the ANC wanted President Zuma’s replacement, the party has elected Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, who was the Deputy President of President Zuma.

After 19 years of rejection, the ANC has rewarded Mr Ramaphosa for his dedication, steadfastness and loyalty to the ANC. That’s what progressive parties do. That’s what parties that want to inspire their members to give their best do. That’s what parties that want to keep winning elections do.

Regional Balance

In order to build a very strong case for itself and become continuously attractive to all and sundry, the NPP needs to seize every opportunity to be regionally balanced in nature.

In the past, the NPP has had national chairmen from four regions made up of:

B. J. da Rocha – Central Region

Peter Ala Adjetey – Grater-Accra region

Samuel Odoi-Sykes – Greater-Accra region

Harouna Esseku – Central Region

Peter MacManu – Western region

Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey – Greater-Accra region

Paul Afoko – Northern region

Freddie Blay – Western region

The Brong Ahafo, Volta, Ashanti, Eastern, Upper East and West have not been given the opportunity yet. Mr Stephen Ntim is not only from the Brong Ahafo region, but also a very competent, credible and formidable candidate for the post.

Over the years, others have tried to sweep under the carpet the important role of the UP Tradition in Ghana’s nationhood. The UGCC-UP Tradition needs to forcefully tell its story of its instrumental role in Ghana’s Independence. President Akufo-Addo wants the UP Tradition to be protected and entrenched. The Council of Elders of the NPP wants to deepen the UP Tradition in the annals of Ghana’s politics. Delegates of the NPP must do same to uphold the UP Tradition in high esteem and deepen its influence in Ghana’s politics.

The best way to achieve this goal is to elect a strong adherent of the UP Tradition to lead the NPP so that he will facilitate the UP Tradition Project.

Think a true UP national chairman, think Stephen Ntim

Think accessible NPP national chairman, think Stephen Ntim

Think grassroots members’ development, think Stephen Ntim

Think resourcefulness, think Stephen Ntim

Think victory 2020, think Stephen Ntim

Long live UP Tradition

Long live NPP

Long live Ghana.

 

 

By David Ackah-Miezah

The writer is an NPP activist.

 

 

 

Akufo-Addo swears-in Development Authority and Zongo Development Fund Boards

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The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has, in accordance with applicable laws, sworn into office the governing Boards of the Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern Development Authorities, and the Board of the Zongo Development Fund.

At a brief ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of the Jubilee House, on Monday, 11th June, 2018, President Akufo-Addo explained that the need for the establishment of the development authorities, as promised in the run-up to the 2016 elections, was based on the determination to begin a new paradigm of development in Ghana.

According to the President, the manner in which development has proceeded so far in the country has not addressed the fundamental problems of development that confronts our country.

“We had a lot to do with the profile that the development process has been under taken up till now. We made therefore the commitment that we will attempt a new paradigm, a bottom-up approach to the development of our nation,” the President said.

He continued, “It will be required that the manner in which the capital expenditure of our various budgets have, hitherto, been spent, will be done in a different way. We will appropriate from the capital budgets of our country a certain amount of money that will go the Development Authorities to enable them to tackle the issues of development at the grassroots.”

The President noted that, fortunately, the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives has already done a lot of work in conducting a needs assessment survey across the 275 constituencies, and the same issues of road infrastructure, sanitation, and educational infrastructure, remain the basic issues that confront the various localities in our nation.  

“We are doing this because we believe that if these authorities succeed in their task, it will enable us to have a much more evenly balanced development of Ghana,” he said.         
He explained that, the pledge of the equivalent of “one million dollars per constituency” will be the funds “that will be at your disposal, to be able to meet the objectives of the development authorities.”

On the rationale for the establishment of the Zongo Development Fund, the President explained that the need to make a special intervention in inner cities and zongos was as a result of the “manner in which the development of our nation had been organized”.

This, he said, necessitated the establishment of Zongo Development Fund, “that will also have as its targets the addressing of the specific needs of the community.”
He was confident expressed confidence at the quality of the expertise that have been appointed to form the boards of the authorities and the ZDF, and charged them to work together in undertaking their tasks.  
 
On behalf of the Members of the Boards, the Chairperson of the Coastal Development Authority Board, Mr. Edmund Annan, assured the President of their commitment to the task as members of the board.

He said, “We accept that we cannot expect to do the wrong things over again and expect different results,” and called for the support of all towards the realization of the desired goals for the development authorities.

9 surprising physical traits men subconsciously look for in a woman

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If you ask a guy what he finds attractive in a woman, the answer will probably be something between ‘nice butt’ and ‘pretty face’. Although not many are so direct, most of them still believe that all these things are among the most important in a girl. It will come as a huge surprise to both men and women that things work differently on a subconscious level. While all the above-mentioned traits do draw guys to certain types of women, there’s a bunch of other characteristics that play a much more important role. Subconsciously, guys are all about childbearing abilities! Yes, you heard that right. The study at the University of Newcastle in England also revealed that such traits as kindness and agreeability play an important role as well because back in the day women were relied upon in forming various social alliances. So, here are 10 surprising physical traits guys look for in women.

High – pitched voices

It may shock many women that guys find high-pitched voices more attractive than deep husky ones. It happens so because high-pitched voices are associated with youth and high energy levels and are generally perceived as more feminine. Studies support that idea! It’s different for women who usually like men with deeper voices, which suggest bigger bodies and more strength.

Smile

Not only does smiling improve your mood, it also makes you look good. Men find smiling incredibly attractive on a subconscious level and are drawn to women who are not afraid to show that they are friendly and approachable. Smiling also indicates friendliness and agreeability, which is also attractive to men according to studies.

Less makeup

Makeup gurus will be sad to hear this one. It appears that guys find makeup-less ladies much more attractive than those who are clad in makeup armor. A study from the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology revealed that both men and women find faces with less makeup more attractive. Women shouldn’t focus on makeup so much – they can let their true beauty shine as it is!

Huge eyes

Girls with big eyes apparently look more feminine and gentle than the rest of them women. Bigger eyes are also linked to longevity, health and reproductive potential. How, you might wonder? Bigger eyes signal of higher estrogen levels, which means that it’s easier for such women to conceive than for those with lower estrogen levels.

Symmetry

Symmetrical faces may not be very common, but guys find them more appealing than others. It has to do with beauty and good genes. And the better genes women have, the healthier babies they will have. It works as simple as that! Lopsidedness is associated with bad genes and poor health, which is not so attractive for men.

It’s not about the butts

We all know that guys prefer big butts, but what we don’t know is that it’s not big fat bottoms they find so attractive, but butts created by spinal curve instead of fat. Turkey’s Bilkent University has conducted an experiment during which men had to select from women with different spine curvature. It turned out that the most attractive females were those with a curvature of 45.5 degrees, which did make their butts appear bigger. Guys who think they like big bottoms may actually be into spines!

Average looks

It turns out that guys find ‘average-looking’ girls more attractive than the super gorgeous ones. Why that happens? The answer lies in evolutionary biology. Scientists have determined that average-looking women have a more diverse set of genes, which is a good thing when it comes to reproduction. Men feel this on a subconscious level and get drawn to average looks.

Scent

We’ve all heard about pheromones, but what we don’t know is how much they affect our choice of partner. Men basically ‘sniff out’ the most genetically compatible mate that can give them healthy babies. Apparently, pheromones give out all kind of information about us, including the state of out immune system and the fertility levels.

Red color

Not only animals use color red as a marker for mating – it appears humans do too! Guys are biologically wired to react to red color in a specific way, so if women want to draw guys’ attention, they should just wear red dresses (or lipstick, or shoes). Studies show that most men have no idea about this effect and that color red doesn’t affect women as it does men.

 

herbeauty.co

Why we all need to be tribeless!

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Life is variety and variety is the spice of life. What makes life all spicy is how different each of us is. We all can’t think same just like we can’t belong to the same place. The beauty of life is in its diversity. Earth would have been such a boring place to live if we all were same!

We are first of all human before any other trait divides us into races, ethnic groups and what have you. We may not be related by blood but being human defines relationship better than any other. As long as we all fall under the big umbrella of humanity, it is very unfair to disregard others because their ethnic belonging differs from ours.

In the difference of others is variety. How unique others are from us is what makes life exciting. Variety will always spice up life. Diversity is the new cool!

No one determines where they are born. No one chooses which skin color they are born with. It is, hence, utterly petty to discriminate against another man because his mother tongue is different from yours. If you can’t stand the smell of racism, don’t dish out morsels of tribalism to another!

You stereotype others who don’t belong where you do. You cringe when others treat you less of a human because of your skin color but you despise others because of their tribes. You hoot at racists… but you’re darn tribalistic. Clap for yourself!

Shoving others aside because of their tribe should remain in the Stone Age, not this modern technological era. If all you can see about another human is their ethnic belonging, you’re overly petty indeed. Another’s tribe should not be the reason they’re favored or disfavored. Where someone comes from should not be the reason they are denied any opportunity.

It is only in this part of the world that we allow ethnicity to tear us apart. As if politics hasn’t done worse, we form skewed thoughts about others because their ethnic divide… and allow such divide us. Tribalism is a nation killer!

We hold ourselves back because of some petty social division we call tribe. We overlook skills and focus instead on the tribes of others. We excuse character and pettily pay attention to where others come from. Many have walked past people who were carrying the keys to their breakthroughs because they were busily paying attention to their tribe.

Thing is, we prevent our sons and daughters from having the free will of choosing their partners because of our tribalistic ego. We stand in the way of their happiness because all we think about is ourselves. If you despise someone’s tribe, don’t expect others to tag along. People choose their spouses because they need life partners… not tribal partners!

We deny others life-changing opportunities just because they don’t belong where we do. We reserve the choicest places for others just for their ethnic belonging sake.

Don’t be blinded by your tribal sentiments. There’s more to life than it. Those who may give you a life-saving hand when you badly need it may not necessarily belong where you do. Those who may lend you a shoulder to stand on to reach your destination may even be strangers. In life, we respect people today because we never know when and where we may need them tomorrow.

You may belong to a tribe but, first of all, remember you belong to a bigger divide called humanity. If we want others to treat us as humans, we ought not to treat others any less human. It’s inhumane to treat another human any less just because they uniquely belong elsewhere.

Every man is a stranger. It depends on where they find themselves. Every man will someday belong to a minority depending on where he finds himself. Every man will someday need an opportunity elsewhere where little may be known about him. If we never would want to be discriminated against, we should not discriminate against others. We shouldn’t pass silly comments about where they belong. As we do unto others, so will others do unto us.

Tribalism is suicidal. It slaughters dreams. It tears nations apart. It sets an unending tug of war among people. Remember how thousands of Tutsis were slaughtered by Hutus during the 1994 Rwandan genocide? Tribalism makes man an enemy of man instead of attacking the enemy called poverty!

I have met elites who have an inexplicable bitterness for others because someone from their tribe treated them badly in the past. They would do everything to get even with anyone who bears a name from such a tribe. You see, it’s absolutely harsh for someone to pay for the sins of others they may not even know.    

Respect the variety of others because they are, first of all, as human as you are. If you wouldn’t smile at another despising you because of how different you are from them, respect others for where they belong. Respect lies in doing for others what we expect them to do for us. 

If you assume your tribe to be superior to others, Earth is not where you belong. Here, all humans are same regardless where they come from. All humans matter; none inferior, none superior. We have the same red blood running through our skins of different colors. This is what makes the diversity of life a beauty to behold.

Give me an opportunity because I deserve it not because of my tribal identity. Allow me access into your space because I have the qualification to. Don’t do me a favor because of my tribe. I am human. That’s all I know. I know of no tribe because I am “tribeless”!

The writer is a playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com), a writing company based in Accra. His play, TRIBELESS, is on Saturday, June 16th, 2018 at National Theatre.

 

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com

 

Reinstate sacked BOST MD now –Akufo-Addo, ‘Akyem mafia’ warned (Audio)

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The Nzemaland Development Association is calling on President Nana Akufo-Addo and the so-called ‘Akyem Mafia’ at the presidency to reinstate the sacked Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Ltd  (BOST), Alfred Obeng.

The Director of the group, Ama Nyokopa, says the president and the NPP will face a very tough time in the Western Region if they do not reinstate the man who doled out “ GHC7 million to support the party in the 2016 election.”

Mr. Alfred Obeng and other CEOs of four state institutions were sacked last Wednesday via letters signed by the Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo. No reasons were given for their dismissal, but the numerous scandals that have rocked BOST in recent times could be responsible for Mr. Obeng’s sacking.

However, speaking with Ekourba Gyasi on Atinka AM Drive Monday, Madam Nyokopa, dismissed the claims, saying a committee set up by the government to investigate the so-called scandals, cleared her kinsman.

“If he was cleared by the committee several months ago, why are they sacking him now?” she angrily quizzed.

According to her, Obeng’s dismissal was instigated by Gaby Otchere-Darko, Nephew to the president and the so-called Akeym Mafia.

She, therefore, called on the president to reinstate the sacked MD to avoid “humiliation and alienation” in the Western Region.

The Nzemaland Director rallied all top government officials in the Western Region including Joe Ghartey, Catherine Afeku to rise up and support her call warning, “You could be next, so speak up now.”  

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Isaac Nuamah Yeboah 
 

Photos: Hundreds of cyclists bare it all at World Naked Bike ride

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A wave of naked cyclists biked through the streets of Brighton on Sunday – but it was for a good cause.

More than 550 cyclists ditched their clothes to take part in the 13th annual World Naked Bike Ride on Sunday.

Every year since 2006, Brighton's bravest have taken part in the 'protestival' to demonstrate the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and protest car culture.

Some sported glitter boobs, body paint and creative costumes while others went fully nude for the ride.

They made their way through Brighton town centre, along the seafront to Hove before heading back to Brighton naturist reach for a picnic and swim in the sea.


Since 2007, Sussex Police have permitted full nudity at the event following negotiations.

The Brighton event is one of a number happening in the UK and around the world at the same time, including in nearby Portsmouth. 

Daily Mail  

Kwabena Yeboah not interested in FA job; says Hebert Mensah, others can do it

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Veteran sports journalist, Kwabena Yeboah, has rejected claims he has been appointed new president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) following the resignation of Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Some online portals over the weekend reported that the GTV “Sports Highlights” anchor had been nominated to replace Kwesi Nyantakyi who was forced to resign following his alleged corrupt deals captured by Anas Aremeyaw Anas new investigative piece, “Number 12.” 

Speaking on Accra based Eassy FM, Mr Yeboah, who is also the president of the Ghana Sports Writers Association (SWAG) said, “I have heard news going round that I’ve been appointed the new FA President. I have had lots of calls in that regard.”

“It’s not something I want to do, he said, adding “You do not necessarily have to be the FA President to serve your nation within the footballing context”

According to him, personalities like Herbert Mensah, Kudjoe Fianoo, George Afriyie and others can easily do the job.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com 
 

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