CARTE BLANCHE: EPISODE 24

“O Lord our Heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, who hast brought us safely to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that today we fall into no sin; neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered in Thy governance, to do always that is righteous in Thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”.

With that I welcome you to yet another edition of Carte Blanche.

This week has been fairly eventful; a ‘demo’ by Prison Officers in Kumasi, the Parliamentary ‘gay list’ that never was, the competition in the telecom industry cum George Andah’s move to Zain, Craig Murray’s revelations about the 2000 general elections, Champions League, Europa League, the Pope’s visit to London, the latest FIFA rankings, Obama’s new book , basically ‘nsem pii’ but I’ll like us to focus our attention on these stories…..

THE BLURB

• Single Spine Salary Scheme; matters arising
• Derrick Adjei and his “Gay” List
• Craig Murray’s book
• “Talk is cheap”

In Sports, we’ll look at Asamoah Gyan’s Sunderland debut, the opening matches of this year’s Champions League season, the GFA’s search for a new Black Stars coach plus this week’s matches among others.

<S.S.S.S; Matters Arising>

As the saying goes one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Whiles the Policemen are singing ‘bebie wo’ the Prison Officers and Immigration Officers are singing ‘Awurade kasa’. Apparently the Single Spine-as it’s popularly known-isn’t holding the backs of our Prison officers/Immigration Officers adequately. Some public sector workers are crying because their spines are now double instead of single-whatever that means.

Some prison officers went on demonstration in Kumasi on Wednesday to register their dissatisfaction with the Fair Wages Commission for what in their opinion is the “unfair wages” they are receiving.  Their beef is that even the ‘abongos’ aka new recruits in the Police Service are better paid as than they the ‘old gees’ in the Prison Service.

The single spine salary scheme, which is supposed to promote fairness and equity in public sector salary administration is now under threat because of complains from the wardens and the immigration officers. But the other ‘public workers’ haven’t been left out of all this.

News trickling in from Kumasi suggests that some Ghanaian ‘ashawo’ or sex workers are calling on the government to implement the single spine salary scheme in their industry because the foreign ‘ashawo’ in Kumasi are taking more money than they are, for the same work done. But never mind all that.

More importantly, if this trend continues in the public sector then very soon people will start running away from Prisons and Immigration into Police and other attractive areas. You don’t expect them to stay on as Prison officers if their ‘condition of service’ is not as juicy as that of the ‘coties’.  We can’t blame them even if they choose to run away, for “if a soup is sweet, it is money that cooks it”.

<Derrick Adjei’s Gay list>

(Clears his throat)……Such issues shouldn’t be given national attention but how can we ignore the lunatic utterances of the Deputy Coordinator of the National Youth Council? At one point he was bent on publishing the list of (sic) homosexual members of Ghana’s parliament and others he claimed were people who have held NPP executive positions. Then on Wednesday he was like he was no longer publishing the list …”out of respect for all the different people from different walks of life who have been calling since whenever,”

Seriously I don’t think we should be discussing this at all but then again for someone who is supposed to be a Deputy Coordinator of the National Youth Council I wasn’t expecting him to stoop this low cos clearly there are other pressing issues to be discussed. Massa my point is even if they are gays in the legislative of what use is that piece of information to us?? Maybe the police and even that is debatable. In fact he doesn’t end there, according to him they are gays at Joy FM and other media houses who are on the payroll of the gay MPs.

I won’t pretend that I detest ‘gays’ and in this age of Human Right advocates that’s a very contentious thing to say but do I care??? Massa, I detest gays and everything they represent however I think it’s not in my place to be pointing fingers which is something Derrick Adjei fails to recognize. If they are gay, leave them eh. Mtsew!!!

For what it’s worth, I hear Derrick Adjei is also a “bati boi”-he looks it-so what’s his freaking problem. Unless there’s more he’s not telling us, I think we should just close the chapter on this issue. Why should we waste our time discussing who is and who is not gay? This Derrick Adjei guy should be sacked for gross incompetence. He should know better, you just can’t sit on radio and talk anyhow all in the name of freedom of speech whiles our pupils are still studying under trees.

<Talk is cheap>

Or I should say talk is becoming cheap. Lately the competition in the telecommunication industry is getting keener and keener by the day. It’s exciting cos at the end of the day it’s the consumer that ultimately stands to benefit.

In an unprecedented move, Vodafone reduced call rates from I-can’t-remember to 8p per minute but not without the usual ‘terms and conditions apply’ thing (call 8080 to activate the service), in response Zain also reduced their call rates to 8p. GHp 8 per minute to all networks, charley e dey bee pass. Coupled with the fact that they’ve signed MTN’s star player George Andah as the new Marketing Manager, it’s really a wonderful time to be a Zain subscriber I guess.

It remains to be seen whether Andah’s transfer would cause any after shocks in the MTN dressing room but we can’t discount the fact that George Andah was an MTN brand icon through and through. He represented the MTN brand in ways that not many of the top-level managers did and in my opinion his move to Zain might affect MTN in many ways than one. Like Tevez to Man City. But to be fair to MTN they have the necessary human resource to replace Mr. Andah. A certain Clement Asante has now taken over as the new Marketing Manager at MTN. Lets see what he’s got to offer.

But at the end of it all what I want to see from all this marketing gymnastics from the telecom operators is a genuine improvement in their services. Talk is getting cheap but I’m convinced it can get cheaper.  They should work at it. That notwithstanding we are grateful for what they’ve given us but like the fabled Oliver Twist we won’t stop asking for more or like the girl in that milk commercial “we want more”.

<Craig Murray’s book>

Funny enough I don’t even know the title of Craig Murray’s book and uncharacteristically I haven’t bothered to find out. Then again I’ve read excerpts from that book and I must say it makes interesting read. From the excerpts I’ve read, I think the book basically chronicles events leading to, during and after the 2000 general elections which John Agyekum Kufuor won after a keenly contested run-off.

In his book, the former British Diplomat “recalls how he and two British MPs stopped Joy FM from being closed down by armed soldiers!… and drops bombshell of armed soldiers storming Afari-Gyan’s house to take his wife and children hostage! From his story I get the impression that he was directly involved in ‘running’ the electoral process. I don’t exactly believe some of his claims but it’s hardly surprising given the way we like to open our doors to any and every “whiteman”.

Again I have my doubts about the veracity of some of his stories but well I guess it’s only right for me to get the book, finish reading it before giving a commentary on his anecdotes.

NEWS FLASH

• The dream of a 28-year-old man to make money by peddling Indian hemp has landed him in trouble, as he will spend the next 10 years of his life in jail. The convict, Kwame Frimpong, alias Akiss, claimed to be a tanker wielder, but he abandoned his profession and decided to deal in Indian hemp to enable him to generate adequate resources to enhance his self-esteem.
• Ghana appears to be losing out on its competitiveness as a conducive environment for people wanting to do business according to the latest Investment Climate Survey by the World Economic Forum.
• The Propaganda Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress, Richard Quashigah says the opposition New Patriotic Party has succeeded in brainwashing most Ghanaian journalists, the church and civil society groups to fight their course.

HEALTH TIP

To stop snoring try sleeping on your side with a firmer pillow instead of sleeping on your back.

FSU-of-the-week

This week’s FSU is more like a Public Service Announcement and a call to action.

Akwasi A Afrifa Akoto…Folks, if you are educated and currently live in Accra but hail from the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern region or the Northern Region in general, please pack your bags and head home….They have no teachers there. JSS dropouts are currently teaching the kids there. Kindly do the right thing, go home and help these children get a better schooling. Thank you.

The situation in Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo (easy, easy) is a classic case of the blind leading the blind. We’ve left the education of our younger siblings in the hands of JSS dropouts?? But who cares?? No one I guess not even the Ghana Education Service but for a country keen on achieving the Millennium Development Goals-which has “education for all” as a key component- we should know that we are just joking. But it doesn’t end there. That brings us to the bigger issue of volunteerism in Ghana. There are many who may want to volunteer to help these deprived kids but trust me it’s not as straightforward as that. In fact where do you go if you want to volunteer for community service? (long pause). Where?

Cos if we have a well structured volunteer system like Peace Corps and the likes at least we can get a people to dedicate some the time they spend in watching Mexican soap operas to teaching these kids. Think about it.

MOVIE LOUNGE

Chris Brown, Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen, Steve Harris, T.I, Zoe Saldana (taste), Matt Dillon and you know I’m talking about TAKERS. I haven’t seen it though but I hear it’s a good movie-according to my Box Office correspondent. After “The Expendables” I don’t want to see any wack heist movie so it better be good “Mr movie-correspondent” or else your job will be on the line.

But quite frankly I think the lineup inspires this “you must watch it” feeling in me. Come on who wouldn’t want to see Zoe Saldana in action-unless you are a “Derrick Adjei”. A Derrick Adjei, *smh and rolling my eyes*. Anyways when is it coming to our very own “Silverbird Cinemas” or come to think of it when is it coming to a ‘pen drive’ near me?? Oh why am I alone in this whole piracy business?? Anyways, shout outs to all the copyright advocates out there. Bite me, bite me. haha

TAKERS: PLOT SUMMARY

A seasoned team of bank robbers, including Gordon Jennings (Idris Elba), John Rahway (Paul Walker), A.J. (Hayden Christensen), and brothers Jake (Michael Ealy) and Jesse Attica (Chris Brown) successfully complete their latest heist and lead a life of luxury while planning their next job. When Ghost (Tip T.I. Harris), a former member of their team, is released from prison he convinces the group to strike an armored car carrying $20 million. As the “takers” carefully plot out their strategy and draw nearer to exacting the grand heist, a reckless police officer (Matt Dillon) inches closer to apprehending the criminals.

Written by The Massie Twins

SPORTS WORLD

Nothing excites me in football than when my sworn rivals drop points-whether it’s 1 or 3-I just love it when they lose/draw. What do they call it eeerm “schadenfreude” *said with a German accent for extra effect*gloating at somebody else’s bad luck. Last week I predicted the Red Devils were going to drop points but as you would expect of them they doubted me. Well the footballing gods can be cruel sometimes you know. Drawing a game which was 3-1 as at the 90^th minute is a very mean way to drop points. Then what happens to them in midweek?? They go on to draw goalless with Rangers. It doesn’t end there though, I hear bad luck comes in three folds and from what I see on my crystal ball they are in for more disaster on Sunday at 12:30 GMT. Yeah, yeah the game is at Old Trafford but with Wayne Rooney scoring more points away from home (excuse the pun) I expect United to struggle. Who are you, a prophet?? You can call me that. Hohohoho!!!

Asamoah Gyan marked his presence on the big stage with a well taken volley but that wasn’t enough to secure maximum points for Sunderland, a certain Alcaraz had other plans. Wigan’s equalizer took a bit of gloss off Baby Jet’s debut but overall I think he had an impressive game. Need I say that he celebrated his goal with one of his trademark dance moves.  Asamoah is not a 20-goal-a –season goal scorer but my gut feeling is that we are in for more of his dance moves in the Premiership. Baby Jet is off to a flying start and I pray that he maintains his goal scoring form especially against Arsenal on Saturday 16:30 GMT at Stadium of Light.

Chelsea; what’s more to say. We are scoring for fun and we are only in first gear. Dude don’t hate, appreciate. If Essien continues his impressive form then things can only get better for the Roman Army especially in the Champions League. The 4-1 win against Zilina is only the beginning of our march to Wembley and come May 2011 I see Chelsea laying their hands on the trophy with the big ears.

Not much to say about the other results in the Champions League and the Europa League. Arsenal won, Barcelona won, Bayern, Lyon, AC, Real,….all the big clubs except Man United. Don’t you get, I’m provoking you. Haha.

Black Star coaching job. We’ve had this discussion over and over again and I still maintain my position that the Black Star job is not one for a local coach. I don’t want us to go round in circles cos at this point in time we can ill-afford to experiment with this Black Star team. We need a top class coach to handle the 20^th best team in the world and in my sincere opinion our local coaches are not ready for that role as yet. I have nothing against local coaches and but if precedents are anything to go by then I beg of the GFA to look elsewhere other than home. In fact as it stands I have doubts about Marcel Desailly’s competence. The argument is that he hasn’t coached any team before and I think I’m inclined to agree with that assertion. We’ve come too far to turn back. But if he gets the jobs then he should be ready to work his ass off especially in the technical aspect of our game.

I’m looking forward to two big games this weekend. Atletico Madrid versus Barcelona and Manchester United versus Liverpool. That should be all for now.

I leave you with this Nigerian Proverb: “We live by hope, but a reed never becomes an Iroko tree by dreaming”.

Enjoy your weekend.

Peace out

THE GENERAL