Friday, February 24, 2012

Ghana's Day of Shame (#GDOS) in Tweets #Nkrumah #CIA

"46 years ago, Ghana's first President Dr.Kwame Nkrumah was deposed in a coup when away on a peace mission in Hanoi. May Nkrumah's selflessness for Africa, and Ghana permeate throughout the continent NOW and FOREVER."--Facebook status of Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr.

Below are tweets culled from the event, which I was unable to attend. It took place at Accra's International Conference Centre:

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The case against Foreign Coaches for Ghana

Daily Graphic's Kofi Akordor has written a profoundly-insightful piece on why we must intensify the search for local coaches. I do not think he could have put it better stating that the Ghana Black Stars went to AFCON 2012:

''...withou a strategy but to exhibit individual talents''.

We can easily speculate that there was no Team GHANA. We must and CAN do better!!

------------------Sent from ekbensah jr's nokia e63
*twitter.com/ekbensah
*www.ekbensah.net
*Contact me: +233.268.687.653// +233.243.111.789

Monday, February 13, 2012

Must Wear White Shirt!

I am reminded of the Zambian team coach Herve Renard, who said on BBC World Service radio last week that any time he wears a white shirt, he gets lucky with the goals.

Now, this was the last thing on my mind when I wore my white shirt this morning. But after feeling so good doing so, I must re-consider doing it more often.

First, as I was waiting to flag a taxi to get to work, a strikingly-attractive young woman driving a sedan car unexpectedly slowed down and offered to give me not just a lift to the nearest junction, but even one further in town! Never mind that she gave a lift to two of us guys, which she doesn't know!

Secondly, when I got to work, one of my personable colleagues immediately remarked with what sounded like a 'hum...' that I 'look good';-)

Am I on cloud nine? Whether it was just a lucky day or not, I am certainly smiling the whole day...as I prepare to catch the fight between monumental evil and heroic good on the series finale of the existentially heroic and qualitatively excellent 1999 supernatural drama 'Angel' which ended in 2004 with a lot of thought on how much we would sacrifice ourselves for the greater good...if we could. Looking fwd to Fox TV tonight!

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Vodafone

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Education minister Betty Mould-Iddrisu resigns...

...prompting speculation NDC government will not have it easy in run-up to elections in December.

______________________________________________
sent from my Samsung tablet. . .
*twitter.com/ekbensah
*www.ekbensah.net
*mob: +233.268.687.653/+233.243.111.789
____________________________________________________
Regional integration| Communications | Civil society
_____________________________________________________

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Glo Ghana may not have launched on 19th January but...

...it sure is reminding us that it has not forgotten the customer!

I would have thought, though, that the media would have been awash with this very important information.

Rush and reserve before someone gets your favourite number. You have maximum 5 numbers per each mobile number you own.

Good luck!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Going Higher in 2012 -- Even in Ghana!

There's no gainsaying Ghanaians are being sensitised increasingly to the need of improving their lifestyles, their health, their whole outlook on life every year. While it is habitual to take stock of the year and see what one can do better every year-end, I notice a positive trend expressed through radio shows which advocate healthier life-styles and healthier living. I was thoroughly pleased to hear stations like CITI97.3fm doing this the very first day of the year. There's a lot of it in the papers as well, and it can only be encouraging.

Bitten by the bug of self-improvement, I've resolved to adopt a more minimalist look and feel to my life of clutter. While there's still the proverbial room for improvement, I am finding peace and a degree of sanity in reading up on making oneself indispensable. There are a number of great sites out there, but one of those which outlined the simple points best can be found here:

================

from: http://mg.co.za/article/2012-01-17-africa-sees-positive-economic-growth-in-2011/

Make Yourself Indispensable

Even though the Great Recession is behind us and the economic recovery is (by most accounts) well underway, good jobs are hard to come by. So how can you be sure to keep yours once you’ve found it? Simple. By making yourself indispensable.

An example of indispensability

I was recently talking to a friend (let’s call him Steve) who related a story about one of his most valuable employees (let’s call him Mark). Times were tough, and Steve wasn’t actually hiring, but Mark showed up one day and got his foot in the door by offering to volunteer in return for the work experience. Steve checked out his resume and gave him a chance.

Over the next few months, Mark proved his worth – and then some. According to Steve, he made himself completely indispensable. Ultimately, Steve couldn’t help but hire him. And what a great decision that was. Mark has now become the “go to” guy for a number of things around the workplace, and Steve can hardly imagine how they got by without him. Do you think Mark has job security? You bet he does.

And… The exact opposite

At the same time, I’ve recently had the exact opposite experience with an employee. While I’ve generally been good at judging talent and character, I seriously mis-judged this guy. After a few decent months, his work ethic started to slip and we had all sort of problems. He was regularly late to work, he lacked initiative, and he had questionable judgment when he actually bothered to get things done.

In short, we just couldn’t rely on him to get the job done, so people end up working around him. He became little more than an obstacle – and an expensive one at that. We did what we could to get him back on track, but nothing worked. So… Do you think he has job security? Nope. In fact, he’s already gone.

Sure, he might have been having problems outside the workplace, but guess that’s no excuse. Everyone is dealing with a ton of stuff in the outside world. You’re not special, and your burdens aren’t any greater than those of the people around you. Life is hard, but you still need to show up and do your job. If you don’t, you might just find yourself living on unemployment.

Becoming a better employee

Let’s start with the basics. Don’t be late. Ever. Don’t fake sick days. Don’t make excuses when things go awry. Take responsibility for your actions. And don’t do busy work just to appear busy. Your boss isn’t stupid, so don’t try to pull the wool over their eyes. You’re just setting yourself up for failure if you do.
Now that you’ve covered the basics…

Spend the time and effort to do your job to the best of your abilities. You have to be at work all day, so why not make the most of it? Take initiative. Identify problems and solve them. Ask questions. Work quickly and efficiently. Help others when they need help – but don’t do their jobs for them. Become a resource. Make yourself the “go to” guy (or gal) at your workplace.

In short, make yourself indispensable.
If you do this, you’ll greatly increase your job security. I promise. And who knows… You might even get yourself a raise or – gasp! – a promotion along the way.

Friday, January 13, 2012

I love Ghana, but I have come to respect Nigerians!

Come on now, it's 2012. Although Ghanaians might know that GHANA is the gateway to West Africa while Nigerians believe their country to be the destination, I think it is only fair to doff
one's hat as a sign of respect to Ghana's sister country.

I think I can sum it all into a tweet I posted a few days ago, which stated:

"

In #Ghana, #lawyers pontificate and ruminate; in #Nigeria, they go on #strike #fuelsubsidyremoval ;-D "

I do not ever re-call having seen any Ghanaian lawyer demonstrating out on the streets; they're mostly always on radio indeed pontificating and arguing with political and non-political opponents over legalities...

Kudos to Nigeria! Long love people power;-D

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

To paraphrase the legendary Mark Twain, reports of my blog's death have been greatly exaggerated!

This blog--whether it is Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen...of Ghana; Accra Pictures by Day & Night; or Critiquing Regionalism; et al--are very much alive. The silence is attributed to the usual end-of-year pandemonium and cacophony.

No doubt, they shall all be back in full swing in 2012!

Suffice-to-say, as the sun sets on 2011, I sincerely hope however and whichever way you arrived at this blog entry, you'll be touched by the spirit of Christmas and goodness in the air and make sure you and your family HAVE YOURSELVES a great and scintillating Christmas break.

May it sound, peaceful and stress-free!

Have a supremely enjoyable and wonderful Christmas -- till we meet again in January 2012!;-D

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Mid-Week Madness:Making ECOBANK Work for the People!

As Africa Trade Ministers meet in Accra between for the 7th Ordinary Session from 29th Dec-3rd Dec, 2011, one of the recommendations they have made in their "ACTION PLAN FOR BOOSTING INTRA‐AFRICAN TRADE" is for banks like ECOBANK to do better in supporting intra-African trade. In paragraph 25, they write: "Given the greater perceived risks of intra‐ African trade, the credit squeeze has tended to be more for such trade. This calls for more efforts in the development and strengthening of African financial institutions and mechanisms that accord high priority to the promotion of intra‐African trade and investment. There are currently some examples of African institutions whose activities need to be strengthened and replicated for the boosting of intra‐African trade. They include the COMESA PTA Bank, ECOBANK, the East African Development Bank, the African Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM), and the African Trade Insurance Agency(ATI)"

We know as ECOBANK users that ECOBANK has far from lived up ideally to the name of the "Pan-African Bank" when it comes to the way it deals with its customers. Frequent ATM problems across the continent, including a lack of appreciation of the genesis of ECOBANK, means that we currently have an ECOBANK that is not delivering adequately to the little man in Africa.

ECOBANK remains the only bank on the continent that is backed explicitly by a regional economic community (ECOWAS). It therefore behooves it to go beyond the profit-motive and deliver more responsibly and efficiently to its customers all over Africa, with a special focus on facilitating banking for the African customer. If it is true that ECOWAS has a vision that by 2020, it should ensure a safe and sustainable West Africa, then it behooves it equally to monitor ECOBANK to deliver more adequately to its customers than it currently does.

This group seeks not just to complain about the ECOBANK group, but to facilitate a discussion about how we as citizens can bring pressure to bear on ECOBANK to live up to its claim of being a Pan-African bank by being more transparent and efficient in the way it delivers to customers.

Kindly join me as we collectively put pressure to create a people-centred ECOBANK working for intra-African trade and the dream of an Africa where financial transactions are easily made. Thank you!

Join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecobankgroupWatch/

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

You Wouldn't Think the Day Has Claimed...5 Lives because of Torrential Rain!

I woke up this morning around 5.30am to the news on one of Ghana's leading private, English radio stations -- CITI 97.3 fm -- that people coming from Central region into the capital Accra were stuck because water from a bridge around the area had caused significant damage, and made roads impassable. Then came more news that people were "missing". When I heard no less than the managing-director of CITI-fm Mr.Samuel Attah-Mensa giving updates, replacing the usual religious slot at that time, I knew this must be a serious matter. I want to first begin by saying "kudos" to CITI-fm's Richard Sky (apparently up at 1am monitoring the impacts of the rains), Bernard Avle, and the MD, and the collective effort for informing us on the rains so early.

Without a doubt, other radio stations have been doing a yeoman's job of reporting the floods.

I want to use today's entry to pay tribute to all those working hard, including Ghana's National Disaster Management Organisation, to ensure that lives are saved and a sense of normality is reached for citizens of Accra. In the meantime, let me leave you with pictures I culled from news websites in Ghana. I was unable to capture my own pictures as I am blessed to live, and have woken up in an area where the water drainage is considerably better-structured.

Ghana is no stranger to torrential rain, but one of this magnitude in October is odd. On my accradailyphoto blog, you can view other posts dealing with impacts of rain. Check the link out here: http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com/search/label/ghana%20rain

If you're in Ghana, and need help from National A Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), kindly call these numbers:

0302.772926, 0302.780541, 0202.019090, 0289.554160, 0299.350030

Thursday, October 20, 2011

A (Female) Co-Blogger was Physically-Assaulted this Morning...please Help!

A good friend and blogger Golda Addo was (unnecessarily) assaulted in traffic this morning. I am copying and pasting this in her own words. Please see below. Spread the word on this. Thanks!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: golda addo <gnaaddo AT yahoo.com>
Date: 2011/10/20
Subject: [GhanaBlogging] Assault this morning
To: Ghana Blogging <ghanablogging AT googlegroups.com>

This morning, at about 7.38 am, I was physically assaulted in my car, on the Mallam-Weija Highway by a man of about mid-thirties, about 5'11 tall, toughly built ... dressed in balck office shirt and tucked into black denim trousers, black belt, black office shoes, holding a black briefcase. I did not see his face very well though. It all happened in under 1 minute.

I was sending my son to school, and you all might know that there is major construction going on in that part of town (the highway).

Traffic was moving in short, fast spurts and normally, traffic wardens stop the vehicles to permit masses of people to cross at points in time.

This man was standing WITH a large mass of people all in SAME spot, and we were moving at about 30kmp/h, when just about 10 metres before I got to him, he dashed across my car. Nobody else made any move to cross.

Needless to say, I had to stop abruptly. He had looked at me before dashing across, and had expected me to have screeched to a halt, so took his time. By the time he realised that 10 metres was too short for this to be a safe calculation, he was left with no choice, but to hop and leap .... into the middle of the road, where the cars to my left were also passing by without stopping.

He was trapped in the middle, I has made a sharp brake, the car behind me was blowing his horn like crazy, and next thing I knew, this man swings in my direction and flies his hand in through my half-open window and strikes my face with what seemed like all his might! His parting words were "You fool!"

I was instantly down, my head was on the steering wheel, my son burst into tears in the back seat, and my face hurt like crazy. I could not see anything and there was blood in my mouth. The man was nowhere to be found, and cars just kept passing me by, especially the ones behind me who saw it all. Several passersby chased after the man though, and tried to catch him, but he was already over the other 4 lanes of the highway and in the tro-tro huddle.

I had to move off the road and park, but for 5 minutes I was unable to do this because my right eye was fairly swollen, and both eyes were tearing up. My mouth was like "tsofi" and bleeding. Cars honking like mad behind me, and my son wailing .... the passersby talkgin me through it all.

I decided to leave it be, and drive on slowly .... I did have to get my son to school on time after all.

The police team (of 4) standing about 20 metres fro the scene did not notice any of these in all the 5 minutes it happened, nor the traffic jam it caused.

I feel so safe in this country. This is not my first time of facing abuse and harrasmment as a woman, a woman who drives, and a woman who is perceived as successful and independent in this country ... from men. But this is my first physical abuse.

If anyone can spread this message, I will appreciate it. If you know of any friend, co-worker, acquaintance who fits this bill for today, was in the Mallam area this morning, seems a bit out of sorts this morning, etc ... find out for me. If you can, pass this on. If you know anyone on the social platforms .... do share to them. I'd like to meet this man and ask him why he did this, and if it felt good ... striking a woman in the face, and leaving her and her son in tears.

Thannk you all. My number is 0244 82 83 22

Golda.

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The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen...of Ghana