A single day will not pass in Ghana without the authorities recording accidents on our roads. These are not just simple accidents. At least six deaths would be recorded and several people would be left with severe injuries.
I get scared when traveling. Not traveling alone, the truth is that, as soon as I sit in a vehicle going to work, I realize all my intestines have been taken away from my abdomen – I get scare seriously.
The police say about 80 percent of the accidents in the country is caused by human error – wrong overtaking, over loading, disregard for road regulations and signs, drunkenness and tiredness among others.
Simply put, this is sheer indiscipline exhibit by drivers on the roads. Also the authorities must be blamed for failing to execute the law.
We can’t go on this way without somebody taking responsibility for this or that thing. It seems we are in an animal kingdom – I learnt there is even some order there of late – were nobody is ready to take instruction from the other. The authorities are well known for shunning their responsibilities; the drivers take advantage to do their own thing.
When they decide to be a little bit responsible, they get corrupted by this and that tips. I am been kind here even. They take bribes and allow the culprit to go free.
Yes. They go free, but not to go and sin no more....
Until our drivers learn to be careful and the authorities becoming more responsible, we shall continue dying on the roads!!!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
General Anyidoho Should Shut Up.
His son studied Drama and Theatre at Legon and is the author of ‘Thoughts of Uncle JB and Okyeame on the Beat’ in two toilet newspapers aligned to the NDC and comes on this forum as Nana Biakoye.
He is a glutton, stole ration especially tubers of yams and fouls to feed his family and fought Other Ranks (ORs) over food. He was the most tribalistic Officer in the Ghana Armed Forces at that time and was ‘kokofully’ promoted by Jerry Rawlings to the rank of Major General when he did not deserve.
He actively participated in NDC campaigning at a point in time in the Northern sector of the country. Indeed he stood on several political platforms with Rawlings and Atta Mills.
He had been promised that he would be made the Army Commander if the then NDC Presidential Candidate; John Atta Mills had won the 2000 Presidential Elections.
Based on the promise of being elevated from the appointment of General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Command of the Ghana Army to Army Commander, he set out to rain mayhem in Kumasi in particular and Ashanti Region in general in the 2000 General Elections.
With the support, in terms of personnel and equipment, of the 64 Infantry Regiment, then commanded by Lt. Col Gbevlo- Lartey, he conducted all sorts of operations, clandestine and overt, to reduce NPP votes in Ashanti Region, Brong Ahafo and the three regions up north to ensure victory for the NDC.
He and General Smith, who was also Army Commander at the time, teamed up to terrorize, intimidate and brutalized NPP supporters especially in the Ashanti region to minimize NPP votes hoping to ensure NDC victory but they failed.
When Kufuor won, he wished to be the Army Commander but that was not to be, hence his son’s distaste for Kufuor.
This shameless and unprofessional officer mounts a platform in our country and says that the army should not sit down for politicians to destroy it, ridiculous isn’t it?
This shameless fat clown with no gumption like his son is Major-General Henry Kwami Anyidoho.
Gen Anyidoho would have done Ghana’s military history a lot of good had he been blunt and honest in his discourse.
To put it bluntly, the one-time overseer of the Northern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces was in the boat of the military when it started heading for the rocks as he held his command, pretending that nothing was amiss.
Today, the recklessness of those days and thereafter have left us with a polarized Armed Forces and Gen Anyidoho opens his mouth widely to tell us that the situation is bad as though he has no hands in the genesis of the mature challenge.
He should not waste our time with such cheap and infantile discourses because we have outgrown them.
I rest my case!
He is a glutton, stole ration especially tubers of yams and fouls to feed his family and fought Other Ranks (ORs) over food. He was the most tribalistic Officer in the Ghana Armed Forces at that time and was ‘kokofully’ promoted by Jerry Rawlings to the rank of Major General when he did not deserve.
He actively participated in NDC campaigning at a point in time in the Northern sector of the country. Indeed he stood on several political platforms with Rawlings and Atta Mills.
He had been promised that he would be made the Army Commander if the then NDC Presidential Candidate; John Atta Mills had won the 2000 Presidential Elections.
Based on the promise of being elevated from the appointment of General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Command of the Ghana Army to Army Commander, he set out to rain mayhem in Kumasi in particular and Ashanti Region in general in the 2000 General Elections.
With the support, in terms of personnel and equipment, of the 64 Infantry Regiment, then commanded by Lt. Col Gbevlo- Lartey, he conducted all sorts of operations, clandestine and overt, to reduce NPP votes in Ashanti Region, Brong Ahafo and the three regions up north to ensure victory for the NDC.
He and General Smith, who was also Army Commander at the time, teamed up to terrorize, intimidate and brutalized NPP supporters especially in the Ashanti region to minimize NPP votes hoping to ensure NDC victory but they failed.
When Kufuor won, he wished to be the Army Commander but that was not to be, hence his son’s distaste for Kufuor.
This shameless and unprofessional officer mounts a platform in our country and says that the army should not sit down for politicians to destroy it, ridiculous isn’t it?
This shameless fat clown with no gumption like his son is Major-General Henry Kwami Anyidoho.
Gen Anyidoho would have done Ghana’s military history a lot of good had he been blunt and honest in his discourse.
To put it bluntly, the one-time overseer of the Northern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces was in the boat of the military when it started heading for the rocks as he held his command, pretending that nothing was amiss.
Today, the recklessness of those days and thereafter have left us with a polarized Armed Forces and Gen Anyidoho opens his mouth widely to tell us that the situation is bad as though he has no hands in the genesis of the mature challenge.
He should not waste our time with such cheap and infantile discourses because we have outgrown them.
I rest my case!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Massive Fraud In Military Recruitment (Part 2)
The allegation of massive fraud in the 2010 military recruitment must be enquired into without any further delay as evidence in various forms is available and will manifest between now and July 2010 when the first batch of Army recruits will commence training.
There is already sufficient, credible and admissible evidence to call for a probe, enquiry or Presidential Commission. If the opposition parties, especially the NPP, do not call for and insist on such a probe or Presidential Commission, they will live to regret their action or inaction in the 2012 general elections. The massive fraud in the 2010 military recruitment exercise is one of the ‘Fair or Foul means’ that Mr. Nii Lante Vanderpuije said at Metro TV a few days ago in the presence of and to the hearing of Madam Ursula Owusu.
As a matter of fact, this blog can say authoritatively that what Mr. Nii Lante Vanderpuije said had been allegedly revealed and is being re-echoed in various military circles by high ranking military officers especially at Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), KAIPTC and Burma Camp at Service and General Headquarters.
These officers are mostly from the Volta and Northern Regions and have allegedly maintained that the NDC will not hand over power to the NPP and will use the Security Services, especially the military, to perpetuate itself into power during the 2012 general elections.
There are witnesses-military and civilians- to these utterances and the concrete steps being taken to realize this goal.
Surely, one of the ‘Fair or Foul means’ is the alleged massive fraud in the 2010 general recruitment and subsequent ones in 2011 and 2012. This blog has closely been monitoring the current recruitment exercise and can say without any contradiction that the allegation of massive fraud is not a figment of imagination but real and worrying.
The Central Screening Stage of the 2010 recruitment exercise at El- Wak Stadium and Burma Hall has seen and continues to see the worst form of fraud in the annals of the GAF manpower development. Several forms of ‘delete’ and ‘insert’ have allegedly taken place and continue to take place at the four major centers namely the Army Headquarters, the Navy Headquarters, the Airforce Headquarters, and the Medical Directorate of the General Headquarters. The alleged fraud took place before and during the Central Screenings in Accra after the regional screenings in all the ten regional capitals. The fraud is allegedly continuing before the final results are announced for successful candidates to commence medical examinations soon.
The dates for the Central Screening as announced for the various regions at all the ten regional capitals in March 2010 are as follows;
Upper East and Upper West-------29th March, 2010
Northern Region -------30th March 2010
Brong Ahafo Region-------31st March 2010
Central Region --------1st April 2010
Volta Region-------6th April 2010
Eastern Region --------7th April 2010
Western Region---------9th April 2010
Ashanti Region--------12th April 2010
Greater Accra-------14th April 2010
It will shock well- meaning and peace-loving Ghanaians to read and hear that apart from the numerous “deletion” and “insertion” that allegedly took place on the above stipulated dates numbering over 500, a total fraud was committed on Friday 16th April 2010 at Burma Hall when from nowhere over 300 potential recruits were assembled at Burma Hall to write a test to join the selection process. This was a strange and fraudulent activity in the 2010 general recruitment exercise. This blog sent scouts to all the ten regional capitals and their recruitment centers and can report authoritatively that Friday 16th April 2010 was not one of the days announced for Central Screening in Accra. The 9 days starting from 29th March and ending 14th April 2010 with candidates from the Greater Accra Region were the only days announced to the hearing of all and sundry.
Therefore, 16th April 2010 was not and did not feature on the calendar of the recruitment exercise. Yet, it was on that day that the Military High Command allegedly perpetrated the greatest number of fraud in a single day at a single central (Burma Hall) in the 2010 recruitment exercise.
This blog interviewed several candidates, successful and unsuccessful, at all the stages of the 2010 recruitment exercise and has the names and index numbers to buttress all the assertions made. Again, several serving military personnel who are worried about the current state of affairs have been interviewed and have corroborated most of the allegations made by the candidates and our special scouts.
We can reveal that some candidates who were unsuccessful in earlier exercise took advantage of the “illegal” screening on 16th April 2010 to rejoin the process. The grapevine has it that all that the candidates who took part in the screening exercise on 16th April 2010 are NDC sponsored candidates. These candidates were not short-listed at all at the initial stages and therefore do not have invitation letters.
They did not take part in the regional screening exercise. Consequently, their documents (i.e. educational certificate and birth/ baptismal certificates) were not examined. Neither were they taken through the initial or preliminary medical examination involving body examination and height determination. Yet, all these people were allowed to join the process while those who genuinely qualified by all standards are being drop to make way for these “NDC foot-soldiers” who are to become real national soldiers to terrorize, intimidate and harass the NPP and it’s supporters in 2012 and beyond.
This blog can also reveal that another group of NDC sponsored candidates are to join the process at the medical examinations stage starting on 4th May 2010. This group will not have taken part in any of the recruitment exercises and yet will be amongst the first batch of Army recruits to be trained in July 2010 or the Navy and Airforce recruits to be trained in January 2011.
As part of the massive fraud, the dates for the medical examinations at 37 Military Hospital to start are only four namely 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th May 2010.
Specially selected doctors mostly trained in Cuba and North Africa and members of the NDC (names withheld for now) and medical teams of NDC persuasion only are to conduct the medical examinations with alacrity.
Currently, the Director Manpower Planning at the General Headquarters has been completely sidelined and eclipsed in the Scheme of events because he refused to be part of the fraud.
A directive from the Chief of Defence Staff has stripped him of all his powers, as per the charter of his office, and the three Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate are in full charge. The examinations conducted by the office of the Director Manpower Planning are now completely useless. All the test papers, scores and relevant information have been taken to these “four important recruitment centers” to the Chagrin, disappointment and dissatisfaction of all well- meaning officers and men of the GAF.
All the checks and balances in the recruitment process have been thrown to the dogs. A few officers and men are the referees, judges and lawyers of the whole recruitment exercise. The most powerful Visible officers and men of the NDC persuasion in the GAF charged with the latest stages of the fraudulent recruitment exercise are alleged to be Colonel Kwashie at the Medical Directorate, two Lieutenant- Colonels of the Army, one from the Signal Regiment and the other from Army Hq, a Major from the Military Police, Warrant Officers Class one Kabu and Baka from Army Hq; Lt Cdr Kpetigo and a Lieutenant from Navy Hq; Wing Commander Fianya and a 2IC from Airforce Hq.
It was revealed to this blog that Wg Cdr Fianya who voluntarily asked for his release and was on Terminal Leave in 2009 was reinstated by the NDC Administration to assist in the “ways and means” in the recruitment exercise.
The teams selected for the vital stages of the recruitment are to facilitate the NDC agenda.
For instance, it is alleged that some candidates who were sacked from writing exams were escorted back to the exam hall by the Forces Sergeant Major on the orders of the Chief of the Defence Staff. On another occasion, it was alleged that the CDS himself walked into the exam hall to give verbal directives to ensure that the ‘fraud agenda’ was on course.
“Why won’t the CDS personally ensure that the fraud agenda was on course?” a concerned officer questioned.
It is alleged that the CDS alone brought in over 30 candidates from one region at a go to be passed at all cost.
After this blog’s publication on the massive fraud in the 2010 recruitment, attempts are being made by senior military officers to sue the writer who writes for the Daily Searchlight newspaper for damages and more importantly to restrain him from publishing further the malpractices taking place.
This attempt has failed and will fail as we have all the necessary evidence to support our allegations.
We are calling for an urgent probe, enquiry or Presidential Commission into the 2010 military recruitment especially when Gen. JH Smith said recently at the ‘Meet the Press Series’ that throughout his 42 years Service, it was never possible to hold people’s hands into the service without their passing through all selection processes.
All patriotic Ghanaians and Parliament in particular should investigate these allegations.
There is already sufficient, credible and admissible evidence to call for a probe, enquiry or Presidential Commission. If the opposition parties, especially the NPP, do not call for and insist on such a probe or Presidential Commission, they will live to regret their action or inaction in the 2012 general elections. The massive fraud in the 2010 military recruitment exercise is one of the ‘Fair or Foul means’ that Mr. Nii Lante Vanderpuije said at Metro TV a few days ago in the presence of and to the hearing of Madam Ursula Owusu.
As a matter of fact, this blog can say authoritatively that what Mr. Nii Lante Vanderpuije said had been allegedly revealed and is being re-echoed in various military circles by high ranking military officers especially at Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), KAIPTC and Burma Camp at Service and General Headquarters.
These officers are mostly from the Volta and Northern Regions and have allegedly maintained that the NDC will not hand over power to the NPP and will use the Security Services, especially the military, to perpetuate itself into power during the 2012 general elections.
There are witnesses-military and civilians- to these utterances and the concrete steps being taken to realize this goal.
Surely, one of the ‘Fair or Foul means’ is the alleged massive fraud in the 2010 general recruitment and subsequent ones in 2011 and 2012. This blog has closely been monitoring the current recruitment exercise and can say without any contradiction that the allegation of massive fraud is not a figment of imagination but real and worrying.
The Central Screening Stage of the 2010 recruitment exercise at El- Wak Stadium and Burma Hall has seen and continues to see the worst form of fraud in the annals of the GAF manpower development. Several forms of ‘delete’ and ‘insert’ have allegedly taken place and continue to take place at the four major centers namely the Army Headquarters, the Navy Headquarters, the Airforce Headquarters, and the Medical Directorate of the General Headquarters. The alleged fraud took place before and during the Central Screenings in Accra after the regional screenings in all the ten regional capitals. The fraud is allegedly continuing before the final results are announced for successful candidates to commence medical examinations soon.
The dates for the Central Screening as announced for the various regions at all the ten regional capitals in March 2010 are as follows;
Upper East and Upper West-------29th March, 2010
Northern Region -------30th March 2010
Brong Ahafo Region-------31st March 2010
Central Region --------1st April 2010
Volta Region-------6th April 2010
Eastern Region --------7th April 2010
Western Region---------9th April 2010
Ashanti Region--------12th April 2010
Greater Accra-------14th April 2010
It will shock well- meaning and peace-loving Ghanaians to read and hear that apart from the numerous “deletion” and “insertion” that allegedly took place on the above stipulated dates numbering over 500, a total fraud was committed on Friday 16th April 2010 at Burma Hall when from nowhere over 300 potential recruits were assembled at Burma Hall to write a test to join the selection process. This was a strange and fraudulent activity in the 2010 general recruitment exercise. This blog sent scouts to all the ten regional capitals and their recruitment centers and can report authoritatively that Friday 16th April 2010 was not one of the days announced for Central Screening in Accra. The 9 days starting from 29th March and ending 14th April 2010 with candidates from the Greater Accra Region were the only days announced to the hearing of all and sundry.
Therefore, 16th April 2010 was not and did not feature on the calendar of the recruitment exercise. Yet, it was on that day that the Military High Command allegedly perpetrated the greatest number of fraud in a single day at a single central (Burma Hall) in the 2010 recruitment exercise.
This blog interviewed several candidates, successful and unsuccessful, at all the stages of the 2010 recruitment exercise and has the names and index numbers to buttress all the assertions made. Again, several serving military personnel who are worried about the current state of affairs have been interviewed and have corroborated most of the allegations made by the candidates and our special scouts.
We can reveal that some candidates who were unsuccessful in earlier exercise took advantage of the “illegal” screening on 16th April 2010 to rejoin the process. The grapevine has it that all that the candidates who took part in the screening exercise on 16th April 2010 are NDC sponsored candidates. These candidates were not short-listed at all at the initial stages and therefore do not have invitation letters.
They did not take part in the regional screening exercise. Consequently, their documents (i.e. educational certificate and birth/ baptismal certificates) were not examined. Neither were they taken through the initial or preliminary medical examination involving body examination and height determination. Yet, all these people were allowed to join the process while those who genuinely qualified by all standards are being drop to make way for these “NDC foot-soldiers” who are to become real national soldiers to terrorize, intimidate and harass the NPP and it’s supporters in 2012 and beyond.
This blog can also reveal that another group of NDC sponsored candidates are to join the process at the medical examinations stage starting on 4th May 2010. This group will not have taken part in any of the recruitment exercises and yet will be amongst the first batch of Army recruits to be trained in July 2010 or the Navy and Airforce recruits to be trained in January 2011.
As part of the massive fraud, the dates for the medical examinations at 37 Military Hospital to start are only four namely 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th May 2010.
Specially selected doctors mostly trained in Cuba and North Africa and members of the NDC (names withheld for now) and medical teams of NDC persuasion only are to conduct the medical examinations with alacrity.
Currently, the Director Manpower Planning at the General Headquarters has been completely sidelined and eclipsed in the Scheme of events because he refused to be part of the fraud.
A directive from the Chief of Defence Staff has stripped him of all his powers, as per the charter of his office, and the three Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate are in full charge. The examinations conducted by the office of the Director Manpower Planning are now completely useless. All the test papers, scores and relevant information have been taken to these “four important recruitment centers” to the Chagrin, disappointment and dissatisfaction of all well- meaning officers and men of the GAF.
All the checks and balances in the recruitment process have been thrown to the dogs. A few officers and men are the referees, judges and lawyers of the whole recruitment exercise. The most powerful Visible officers and men of the NDC persuasion in the GAF charged with the latest stages of the fraudulent recruitment exercise are alleged to be Colonel Kwashie at the Medical Directorate, two Lieutenant- Colonels of the Army, one from the Signal Regiment and the other from Army Hq, a Major from the Military Police, Warrant Officers Class one Kabu and Baka from Army Hq; Lt Cdr Kpetigo and a Lieutenant from Navy Hq; Wing Commander Fianya and a 2IC from Airforce Hq.
It was revealed to this blog that Wg Cdr Fianya who voluntarily asked for his release and was on Terminal Leave in 2009 was reinstated by the NDC Administration to assist in the “ways and means” in the recruitment exercise.
The teams selected for the vital stages of the recruitment are to facilitate the NDC agenda.
For instance, it is alleged that some candidates who were sacked from writing exams were escorted back to the exam hall by the Forces Sergeant Major on the orders of the Chief of the Defence Staff. On another occasion, it was alleged that the CDS himself walked into the exam hall to give verbal directives to ensure that the ‘fraud agenda’ was on course.
“Why won’t the CDS personally ensure that the fraud agenda was on course?” a concerned officer questioned.
It is alleged that the CDS alone brought in over 30 candidates from one region at a go to be passed at all cost.
After this blog’s publication on the massive fraud in the 2010 recruitment, attempts are being made by senior military officers to sue the writer who writes for the Daily Searchlight newspaper for damages and more importantly to restrain him from publishing further the malpractices taking place.
This attempt has failed and will fail as we have all the necessary evidence to support our allegations.
We are calling for an urgent probe, enquiry or Presidential Commission into the 2010 military recruitment especially when Gen. JH Smith said recently at the ‘Meet the Press Series’ that throughout his 42 years Service, it was never possible to hold people’s hands into the service without their passing through all selection processes.
All patriotic Ghanaians and Parliament in particular should investigate these allegations.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Chopping Without The Small Boys
Hah! These are interesting times, as I keep on saying. Some days ago, a group of people, all members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), took it into their heads to storm the toll booth on the Adomi Bridge to take it over, because in their opinion, it was not being properly managed. For me, once again, this act is a direct attack on the state of Ghana by people who ought to have known better, and it is all too good that the police went in there to arrest them.
Ideally, they should be prosecuted to serve as an example to others who would behave in such reprehensible manner in future.
In defending this matter, Ahmed Baba Jamal popularly known as Baba Bin Jahadist Jamal who is the Deputy Eastern Region Minister, said that most of the activists of his party were feeling left out in the scheme of things, hence the agitations across the country by activists of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
I can understand their woes; they see the people they were in the trenches with bettering their lot as if there is no tomorrow. They can see the new cars, new mansions, and luxuriant new women being enjoyed by some of their leaders, and they wonder why they are not getting their share. They feel denied, and they think that they must go out to grab their own.
One such party official who feels bitterly betrayed in the NDC is Mordecai Ofosu Mensah, popularly known as Mordecai, a serial caller of the NDC.
Mordecai feels betrayed. A couple of days ago he walked into our offices with his woes and I personally spoke with him, among them the fact that even though he is very sick, he does not even have money to go to hospital.
This is a man who sacrificed his all to bring the NDC to power. Today, he has been declared as a persona non-grata within the NDC.
The leaders of the NDC are chopping as if there is no tomorrow and greedy bastards as they are, they do not realize that they are sowing the seeds of their own political undoing.
I rest my case.
Ideally, they should be prosecuted to serve as an example to others who would behave in such reprehensible manner in future.
In defending this matter, Ahmed Baba Jamal popularly known as Baba Bin Jahadist Jamal who is the Deputy Eastern Region Minister, said that most of the activists of his party were feeling left out in the scheme of things, hence the agitations across the country by activists of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
I can understand their woes; they see the people they were in the trenches with bettering their lot as if there is no tomorrow. They can see the new cars, new mansions, and luxuriant new women being enjoyed by some of their leaders, and they wonder why they are not getting their share. They feel denied, and they think that they must go out to grab their own.
One such party official who feels bitterly betrayed in the NDC is Mordecai Ofosu Mensah, popularly known as Mordecai, a serial caller of the NDC.
Mordecai feels betrayed. A couple of days ago he walked into our offices with his woes and I personally spoke with him, among them the fact that even though he is very sick, he does not even have money to go to hospital.
This is a man who sacrificed his all to bring the NDC to power. Today, he has been declared as a persona non-grata within the NDC.
The leaders of the NDC are chopping as if there is no tomorrow and greedy bastards as they are, they do not realize that they are sowing the seeds of their own political undoing.
I rest my case.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Massive Fraud In Recruitment!
True to predictions by military experts and analysts on military and security matters in Ghana and especially on P/NDC tactics, there has been a massive fraud in the 2010 recruitment exercise. The Ghana Armed Forces General Recruitment Exercise in 2010 has been bedeviled with fraud right from the beginning of the process to date.
The fraud started from the short-listing of the qualified candidates to appear at the ten regional capitals for the screening phase. The fraud was planned at the highest government level with the consent, concurrence, cooperation and support of the Castle, the National Security Coordinator, the Minister of Defence, the Military High Command and the teams that were sent to the ten regional capitals of Ghana.
Instructions were issued from Castle and the office of the National Security Coordinator to NDC Ministers, MPs, MCEs/DCEs, National, Regional and District NDC Headquarters to forward the names and documents of the NDC activists, sympathizers and members who are to be recruited into the Ghana Armed Forces to the authorities concerned. This directive was part of the grand strategy to recruit only NDC members and sympathizers into the GAF for Agenda 2012. When the names were forwarded to the castle and office of the National Security Coordinator, a list was prepared to be given to the Director Manpower Planning, Colonel T. N. Ba-Taa-Banah at the General Headquarters (Personal Administration) in Burma Camp.
The no-nonsense Colonel Tom Ba-Taa-Banah politely refused to be part of that fraudulent practice and maintained his stand that he would work as a professional military officer and not as a politician since he is not a politician. In fact, he was very harsh on some of the politicians and military personnel who approached him or tried to give him directives on the massive fraud that was to be initiated. As an antidote to the intransigence of Colonel T. N. Ba-Taa-Banah, the short-listing phase of the General Recruitment Exercise in 2010 was for the first time in recent times decentralized.
Instead of allowing the Director Manpower Planning and his staff (mostly National Service Personnel) to do the short-listing, the politicians (NDC government) used the Military High Command to direct the Director Manpower Planning to hand over all application forms to the three Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate namely Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Airforce Headquarters and General Headquarters (Medical) respectively to do the short-listing. The massive fraud started this stage.
The three Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate were staffed with NDC officers and men to ensure that all the personnel elected by the NDC machinery were short-listed. The lists from the Service Headquarters and Medical Directorate comprising mainly NDC foot-soldiers, activists, sympathizers, members and their children /Wards were then sent to the Director Manpower Planning to issue them with individual letters.
The Director Manpower Planning did not have the documents of the applicants to verify their eligibility or otherwise and yet was obliged to invite them for the regional screening. Thus, a lot of NDC sympathizers and wards who did not qualify were given invitation letters to appear at the regional screening phase while most of the applicants who genuinely qualified were rejected at the short-listing phase. That explains why the Minister of Defence said on the floor of Parliament in February 2010 that out of over 46,000 applicants only about 7,000 were short-listed by the GAF for further screening.
The next major fraud occurred at the regional screening. The letters of the few non-NDC sympathizers who were short-listed were collected from them under the pretext that they did not qualify but were given letters of invitation inadvertently. Those affected were driven away by the Military Police and members of the selection teams. Another group of applicants who were allowed to write the examinations but were found to be non-NDC sympathizers were also sacked when the results were announced. The letters of this group of candidates were also collected from them before they were dismissed.
In lace of these two categories of applicants, who were sacked either before or after the examinations, were inserted names of NDC sympathizers who did not pass the examination at the regional screening. The letters of the affected persons were collected from them to ensure that they would have no documents to show as evidence in case of any investigations. What the teams did was to camp all the applicants at the respective stadia (centers) from the beginning of a day’s proceedings to the end without allowing anybody to go out at any stage.
It was only after letters had been retrieved and names of the successful applicants had been announced that all the candidates were escorted out of the stadia.
The worst form of the recruitment fraud was to happen in Accra after the regional selection teams had submitted their reports.
Instead of submitting reports directly to the Director Manpower Planning and giving copies to the respective Service Headquarters as had been the normal practice, the teams sent to the regions were directed to send their reports to the Service Headquarters and General Headquarters (Medical Directorate) only without copies being sent to the Director Manpower Planning.
The Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate sent only lists of the short-listed persons from the regions to the El-Wak stadium on the stipulated dates. The Director Manpower Planning and his team were to act only on the lists of names submitted by the Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate.
This strategy made it possible for the NDC to do yet another type of “delete” and “insert” all that stage.
Applicants whose names were mentioned at the regional centers to come to Accra for medical examinations were shocked at the El-Wak stadium when they realized that their names had been deleted and replaced with persons whose names were not mentioned at the regional centers.
Again, those affected had their letters confiscated from them and were made to wait until the end of the day’s proceedings before they were allowed to leave the El-Wak Stadium. While some of them were not allowed to write the examinations in Accra, a few were allowed to write the examinations but were all failed and driven away. Their letters were also retrieved leaving them hopelessly devastated.
As at date, it is only candidates from the greater Accra region who are yet to appear at El-Wak stadium as part of the Army first Batch, Naval and Airforce Groups on Wednesday, 14th April 2010 to do the final screening before proceeding to undertake medical examinations at the 37 military hospitals.
The number involved in the Greater Accra region is over 700. It is feared and anticipated that the mother and father of the massive fraud in the GAF 2010 General Recruitments Exercise would occur when this group reports at the El-Wak stadium.
Ghanaians would be shocked to realize that several hundreds of eligible Ghanaians who took part in the GAF 2010 general recruitments exercise and were short-listed in January 2010 at the national level initially and later at the regional level in February 2010 have dropped unjustifiably and wrongly and their places taken by unqualified NDC sympathize who failed during the selection process at the regional centers or at the El-Wak stadium. So far, the break-down of those affected persons who have been wrongly dismissed and their placed taken by NDC sympathizers are as follows:
A. Volta region: Army 15, Airforce 18
B. Western region: Army 19
C. Eastern region: Army 38
D. Northern region: Army 17
E. Upper East region: Army 10
F. Upper West region: Army 8
G. Brong Ahafo region: Army 30
H. Ashanti region: Army 60
Certainly, the massive fraud perpetrated by the Military High Command in the 2010 GAF General Recruitment Exercise calls for a Presidential Commission of inquiry. This call is made against the background that in 2009 the NDC government cancelled the recruit training of 1200 Ghanaians for no apparent reason. The Minister of Defence, General JH Smith, tried in vain to justify the cancellation of the initial 420 Army Potential Recruits and finally the entire 1200 Potential Recruits for the Army, Navy and Airforce in February and June 2009 when he appeared before Parliament.
This is a real test case for the NDC government. The Index Numbers and names of the applicants and candidates who have been robbed in this massive fraud are being kept for now and would be published later.
Parliament must also protect the current Director Manpower Planning, current TN Ba-Taa-Banah whose appointment career and life are being threatened. Already, Air Vice Marshal Dovlo former Director General (Personnel Administration) and Brigadier General Quist, the current Director General (Personnel Administration) are alleged to have sounded that warning of getting Colonel TN Ba-Taa-Banah removed from the appointment of Director Manpower Planning for his uncooperative for attitude towards the NDC machinery. So far they have succeeded in by-passing Colonel TN Ba-Taa-Banah in the massive recruitment fraud of the GAF in 2010.
They are however afraid of Colonel TN Ba-Taa-Banah’s insistence on conducting further examinations at the El-Wak stadium which have revealed a lot of anomalies in the selection process.
A Parliamentary Enquiry or a Presidential Commission is urgently required to trace the GAF 2010 General Recruitment Selection Process from the beginning to the end before eligible candidates are allowed to undertake military training.
The Enquiry or Commission must also check the regional balance and the gender balance as required by the Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 35 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana
The fraud started from the short-listing of the qualified candidates to appear at the ten regional capitals for the screening phase. The fraud was planned at the highest government level with the consent, concurrence, cooperation and support of the Castle, the National Security Coordinator, the Minister of Defence, the Military High Command and the teams that were sent to the ten regional capitals of Ghana.
Instructions were issued from Castle and the office of the National Security Coordinator to NDC Ministers, MPs, MCEs/DCEs, National, Regional and District NDC Headquarters to forward the names and documents of the NDC activists, sympathizers and members who are to be recruited into the Ghana Armed Forces to the authorities concerned. This directive was part of the grand strategy to recruit only NDC members and sympathizers into the GAF for Agenda 2012. When the names were forwarded to the castle and office of the National Security Coordinator, a list was prepared to be given to the Director Manpower Planning, Colonel T. N. Ba-Taa-Banah at the General Headquarters (Personal Administration) in Burma Camp.
The no-nonsense Colonel Tom Ba-Taa-Banah politely refused to be part of that fraudulent practice and maintained his stand that he would work as a professional military officer and not as a politician since he is not a politician. In fact, he was very harsh on some of the politicians and military personnel who approached him or tried to give him directives on the massive fraud that was to be initiated. As an antidote to the intransigence of Colonel T. N. Ba-Taa-Banah, the short-listing phase of the General Recruitment Exercise in 2010 was for the first time in recent times decentralized.
Instead of allowing the Director Manpower Planning and his staff (mostly National Service Personnel) to do the short-listing, the politicians (NDC government) used the Military High Command to direct the Director Manpower Planning to hand over all application forms to the three Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate namely Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Airforce Headquarters and General Headquarters (Medical) respectively to do the short-listing. The massive fraud started this stage.
The three Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate were staffed with NDC officers and men to ensure that all the personnel elected by the NDC machinery were short-listed. The lists from the Service Headquarters and Medical Directorate comprising mainly NDC foot-soldiers, activists, sympathizers, members and their children /Wards were then sent to the Director Manpower Planning to issue them with individual letters.
The Director Manpower Planning did not have the documents of the applicants to verify their eligibility or otherwise and yet was obliged to invite them for the regional screening. Thus, a lot of NDC sympathizers and wards who did not qualify were given invitation letters to appear at the regional screening phase while most of the applicants who genuinely qualified were rejected at the short-listing phase. That explains why the Minister of Defence said on the floor of Parliament in February 2010 that out of over 46,000 applicants only about 7,000 were short-listed by the GAF for further screening.
The next major fraud occurred at the regional screening. The letters of the few non-NDC sympathizers who were short-listed were collected from them under the pretext that they did not qualify but were given letters of invitation inadvertently. Those affected were driven away by the Military Police and members of the selection teams. Another group of applicants who were allowed to write the examinations but were found to be non-NDC sympathizers were also sacked when the results were announced. The letters of this group of candidates were also collected from them before they were dismissed.
In lace of these two categories of applicants, who were sacked either before or after the examinations, were inserted names of NDC sympathizers who did not pass the examination at the regional screening. The letters of the affected persons were collected from them to ensure that they would have no documents to show as evidence in case of any investigations. What the teams did was to camp all the applicants at the respective stadia (centers) from the beginning of a day’s proceedings to the end without allowing anybody to go out at any stage.
It was only after letters had been retrieved and names of the successful applicants had been announced that all the candidates were escorted out of the stadia.
The worst form of the recruitment fraud was to happen in Accra after the regional selection teams had submitted their reports.
Instead of submitting reports directly to the Director Manpower Planning and giving copies to the respective Service Headquarters as had been the normal practice, the teams sent to the regions were directed to send their reports to the Service Headquarters and General Headquarters (Medical Directorate) only without copies being sent to the Director Manpower Planning.
The Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate sent only lists of the short-listed persons from the regions to the El-Wak stadium on the stipulated dates. The Director Manpower Planning and his team were to act only on the lists of names submitted by the Service Headquarters and the Medical Directorate.
This strategy made it possible for the NDC to do yet another type of “delete” and “insert” all that stage.
Applicants whose names were mentioned at the regional centers to come to Accra for medical examinations were shocked at the El-Wak stadium when they realized that their names had been deleted and replaced with persons whose names were not mentioned at the regional centers.
Again, those affected had their letters confiscated from them and were made to wait until the end of the day’s proceedings before they were allowed to leave the El-Wak Stadium. While some of them were not allowed to write the examinations in Accra, a few were allowed to write the examinations but were all failed and driven away. Their letters were also retrieved leaving them hopelessly devastated.
As at date, it is only candidates from the greater Accra region who are yet to appear at El-Wak stadium as part of the Army first Batch, Naval and Airforce Groups on Wednesday, 14th April 2010 to do the final screening before proceeding to undertake medical examinations at the 37 military hospitals.
The number involved in the Greater Accra region is over 700. It is feared and anticipated that the mother and father of the massive fraud in the GAF 2010 General Recruitments Exercise would occur when this group reports at the El-Wak stadium.
Ghanaians would be shocked to realize that several hundreds of eligible Ghanaians who took part in the GAF 2010 general recruitments exercise and were short-listed in January 2010 at the national level initially and later at the regional level in February 2010 have dropped unjustifiably and wrongly and their places taken by unqualified NDC sympathize who failed during the selection process at the regional centers or at the El-Wak stadium. So far, the break-down of those affected persons who have been wrongly dismissed and their placed taken by NDC sympathizers are as follows:
A. Volta region: Army 15, Airforce 18
B. Western region: Army 19
C. Eastern region: Army 38
D. Northern region: Army 17
E. Upper East region: Army 10
F. Upper West region: Army 8
G. Brong Ahafo region: Army 30
H. Ashanti region: Army 60
Certainly, the massive fraud perpetrated by the Military High Command in the 2010 GAF General Recruitment Exercise calls for a Presidential Commission of inquiry. This call is made against the background that in 2009 the NDC government cancelled the recruit training of 1200 Ghanaians for no apparent reason. The Minister of Defence, General JH Smith, tried in vain to justify the cancellation of the initial 420 Army Potential Recruits and finally the entire 1200 Potential Recruits for the Army, Navy and Airforce in February and June 2009 when he appeared before Parliament.
This is a real test case for the NDC government. The Index Numbers and names of the applicants and candidates who have been robbed in this massive fraud are being kept for now and would be published later.
Parliament must also protect the current Director Manpower Planning, current TN Ba-Taa-Banah whose appointment career and life are being threatened. Already, Air Vice Marshal Dovlo former Director General (Personnel Administration) and Brigadier General Quist, the current Director General (Personnel Administration) are alleged to have sounded that warning of getting Colonel TN Ba-Taa-Banah removed from the appointment of Director Manpower Planning for his uncooperative for attitude towards the NDC machinery. So far they have succeeded in by-passing Colonel TN Ba-Taa-Banah in the massive recruitment fraud of the GAF in 2010.
They are however afraid of Colonel TN Ba-Taa-Banah’s insistence on conducting further examinations at the El-Wak stadium which have revealed a lot of anomalies in the selection process.
A Parliamentary Enquiry or a Presidential Commission is urgently required to trace the GAF 2010 General Recruitment Selection Process from the beginning to the end before eligible candidates are allowed to undertake military training.
The Enquiry or Commission must also check the regional balance and the gender balance as required by the Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 35 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Alan: The Loose Cannon
“Is it because he has been a member of the Young Executives for a long time? Or because he has been a Minister before, or is it because he had 700 votes? Would the delegates who voted for him follow him?”- Egbert Faibille on Joy Fm’s news file on 26 April 2008.
“I think Alan Kyeremanteng is bluffing the party. The party should not tolerate such bluff”- the late Mr. Da Rocha
“We must also not lose sight of the fact that national interest is superior to the interest of any single party. In this regard, I will soon give a firm indication about the role that I expect to play on the political landscape in the country. This, I believe, will bring hope and confidence to all Ghanaians irrespective of the political or religious affiliations or ethnic background”- Alan Kyeremanteng.
“I suggested to him that many within the party would interpret his action as lack of loyalty and commitment to the party. His response was that, if anybody thought so, so be it”- the late Mr. Da Rocha
“I wish to state categorically that I have not rescind my decision to resign from the party”- Alan Kyeremanteng.
From the above quotes especially paragraphs 3, the clear import of what Alan said was that he has in mind, a national interest superior to the interest of the NPP.
This is unequivocal declaration that he (Alan) has thought for himself a future role in politics outside the NPP. It is obvious that he has no deep- rooted commitment or loyalty to the party.
Am not a member of the NPP but to me Alan should not be made the touch bearer of the NPP and just to remind you (Alan) and your followers and aware of the monies you are sharing on your tour in Greater Accra.
“I think Alan Kyeremanteng is bluffing the party. The party should not tolerate such bluff”- the late Mr. Da Rocha
“We must also not lose sight of the fact that national interest is superior to the interest of any single party. In this regard, I will soon give a firm indication about the role that I expect to play on the political landscape in the country. This, I believe, will bring hope and confidence to all Ghanaians irrespective of the political or religious affiliations or ethnic background”- Alan Kyeremanteng.
“I suggested to him that many within the party would interpret his action as lack of loyalty and commitment to the party. His response was that, if anybody thought so, so be it”- the late Mr. Da Rocha
“I wish to state categorically that I have not rescind my decision to resign from the party”- Alan Kyeremanteng.
From the above quotes especially paragraphs 3, the clear import of what Alan said was that he has in mind, a national interest superior to the interest of the NPP.
This is unequivocal declaration that he (Alan) has thought for himself a future role in politics outside the NPP. It is obvious that he has no deep- rooted commitment or loyalty to the party.
Am not a member of the NPP but to me Alan should not be made the touch bearer of the NPP and just to remind you (Alan) and your followers and aware of the monies you are sharing on your tour in Greater Accra.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Ewe Dominated Armed Forces!
The chickens are home to rest! The facts and figures on the ground suggest that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is gradually turning into the Ewe Armed Forces (EAF).
The data on the composition of the Ghana Armed Forces as at date are as follows:
Officers
Ashanti Region has 115 for Army, 17 for Navy, 16 for Airforce bringing the total to 148 representing 11.50%.
Brong Ahafo has 27 for Army, 7 for Navy, 10 for Airforce bringing the total to 44 representing 3.4%
Central Region has 100 for Army, 27 for Navy, 16 for Airforce bringing the total to 143 representing 11.11%.
Eastern Region has 143 for Army, 29 for Navy, 33 for Airforce bringing the total to 205 representing 15.93%.
Greater Accra has 105 for Army, 15 for Navy, 27 for Airforce bringing the total to 147 representing 11.42%.
Northern Region has 62 for Army, 8 for Navy, 10 for Airforce bringing the total to 80 representing 6.22%.
Upper East Region has 75 for Army, 7 for Navy, 9 for Airforce bringing the total to 91 representing 7.07%.
Upper West Region has 52 for Army, 11 for Navy, 8 for Airforce bringing the total to 71 representing 5.52%.
Volta Region has 228 for Army, 39 for Navy, 50 for Airforce bringing the total to 317 representing 24.63%.
Western Region has 31 for Army, 5 for Navy, 5 for Airforce bringing the total to 41 representing 3.18%.
Other Ranks
Ashanti Region has 1055 for Army, 136 for Navy, 174 for Airforce bringing the total to 1365 representing 10.34%.
Brong Ahafo has 518 for Army, 75 for Navy, 70 for Airforce bringing the total to 663 representing 5.0%
Central Region has 954 for Army, 256 for Navy, 194 for Airforce bringing the total to 1404 representing 10.64%.
Eastern Region has 1868 for Army, 321 for Navy, 360 for Airforce bringing the total to 2539 representing 19.32%.
Greater Accra has 619 for Army, 174 for Navy, 104 for Airforce bringing the total to 897 representing 6.80%.
Northern Region has 582 for Army, 77 for Navy, 70 for Airforce bringing the total to 729 representing 5.52%.
Upper East Region has 795 for Army, 120 for Navy, 98 for Airforce bringing the total to 1013 representing 7.68%.
Upper West Region has 380 for Army, 52 for Navy, 73 for Airforce bringing the total to 505 representing 3.83%.
Volta Region has 2646 for Army, 458 for Navy, 534 for Airforce bringing the total to 3638 representing 27.57%.
Western Region has 311 for Army, 73 for Navy, 49 for Airforce bringing the total to 433 representing 3.28%.
With this representation in the Ghana Armed Forces, the question now is “why were officers and men from the Volta Region against the policy of Regional Balance?”
The data on the composition of the Ghana Armed Forces as at date are as follows:
Officers
Ashanti Region has 115 for Army, 17 for Navy, 16 for Airforce bringing the total to 148 representing 11.50%.
Brong Ahafo has 27 for Army, 7 for Navy, 10 for Airforce bringing the total to 44 representing 3.4%
Central Region has 100 for Army, 27 for Navy, 16 for Airforce bringing the total to 143 representing 11.11%.
Eastern Region has 143 for Army, 29 for Navy, 33 for Airforce bringing the total to 205 representing 15.93%.
Greater Accra has 105 for Army, 15 for Navy, 27 for Airforce bringing the total to 147 representing 11.42%.
Northern Region has 62 for Army, 8 for Navy, 10 for Airforce bringing the total to 80 representing 6.22%.
Upper East Region has 75 for Army, 7 for Navy, 9 for Airforce bringing the total to 91 representing 7.07%.
Upper West Region has 52 for Army, 11 for Navy, 8 for Airforce bringing the total to 71 representing 5.52%.
Volta Region has 228 for Army, 39 for Navy, 50 for Airforce bringing the total to 317 representing 24.63%.
Western Region has 31 for Army, 5 for Navy, 5 for Airforce bringing the total to 41 representing 3.18%.
Other Ranks
Ashanti Region has 1055 for Army, 136 for Navy, 174 for Airforce bringing the total to 1365 representing 10.34%.
Brong Ahafo has 518 for Army, 75 for Navy, 70 for Airforce bringing the total to 663 representing 5.0%
Central Region has 954 for Army, 256 for Navy, 194 for Airforce bringing the total to 1404 representing 10.64%.
Eastern Region has 1868 for Army, 321 for Navy, 360 for Airforce bringing the total to 2539 representing 19.32%.
Greater Accra has 619 for Army, 174 for Navy, 104 for Airforce bringing the total to 897 representing 6.80%.
Northern Region has 582 for Army, 77 for Navy, 70 for Airforce bringing the total to 729 representing 5.52%.
Upper East Region has 795 for Army, 120 for Navy, 98 for Airforce bringing the total to 1013 representing 7.68%.
Upper West Region has 380 for Army, 52 for Navy, 73 for Airforce bringing the total to 505 representing 3.83%.
Volta Region has 2646 for Army, 458 for Navy, 534 for Airforce bringing the total to 3638 representing 27.57%.
Western Region has 311 for Army, 73 for Navy, 49 for Airforce bringing the total to 433 representing 3.28%.
With this representation in the Ghana Armed Forces, the question now is “why were officers and men from the Volta Region against the policy of Regional Balance?”