Features
Bailing Mali out of its economic challenges
The relationship between these three friendly nations, Ghana, Guinea and Mali, dated back to the 1950s during which their three leaders, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ahmed Sekou Toure and Modibo Keita, all of blessed memory, worked together and shared common ideology of promoting peace and unity towards the development of the African Continent.
The Union of African States, sometimes called the Ghana-Guinea-Mali, was formed in 1958, linking the two West African nations, Ghana and Guinea, as the Union of Independent African States. Mali later joined that union in 1960.
The classic popular Ghanaian musician, E.T. Mensah’s highlife song, captured the hope of the early 1960s, when the three Pan African leaders, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sekou Toure of Guinea and Modibo Keita of Mali, formed the Union of African States.
THE UNION OF AFRICAN STATES
The union which was disbanded in 1963, planned to develop a common currency and unified foreign policy among member countries. Unfortunately, none of those proposals were implemented. The union was the first organisation in Africa which brought together former British and French colonies. Though the union was opened to all independent African states, none of them joined. Its legacy was largely limited to the long standing relationships among the three heads of state, Kwame Nkrumah, Ahmed Sekou Toure and Modibo Keita.
The union again, came to the limelight when Nkrumah was named as the co-president of Guinea after he was deposed as president of Ghana by a military coup in 1966. Since that time, the three nations had been working together to promote peace and stability in their respective countries and the continent as a whole under successive governments.
MILITARY COUP IN GUINEA
On 23rd December, 2008, shortly after the death of the long-time president of Guinea,Lansana Conte, a junta called the National Council for Democracy and Development, headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, seized power in Guinea and announced that, it planned to rule the country for two years prior to a new presidential election. Captain Camara, indeed, abided by his promise and stepped down after Alpha Conte was elected president in the 2010 election.
Since then, Alpha Conte who was born on March 1938, continues to be the President of Guinea. He has a clean political record of spending decades in opposition to a succession of regimes in Guinea. When he took office in December, 2010, he became the first freely elected president in the country’s history. He was re-elected in 2015 with about 58 per cent of the votes and again in 2020, with 59.5 per cent votes.
CURRENT SITUATION IN MALI
It is now the turn of Mali, the landlocked country in a coup plot. The head of the former junta in that country, Col Asimi Goita, was reported to have declared himself the country’s transitional president, after he had stripped the country’s interim president and former prime minister of their powers. The current situation is said to be tense but calm.
President Bah Ndaw and the Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, who were placed under a military detention, had since been released.They were taken to a military base late on Monday, 24th May 2021, in what was seen as Mali’s second military coup in nine months. The move, followed a cabinet reshuffle in which two army officers involved in the previous coup lost their jobs. Colonel Goita complained that the ex-president failed to consult him about the composition of a new cabinet.
MILITARY TAKE-OVER IN MALI AND BREAK-DOWN OF MEASURES
It is recalled that on August 18, 2020, some military officers from the Malian Armed Forces, stormed the Sundiata military base in the town of Kati where gun fire was exchanged before weapons were distributed from the armoury and senior officers were arrested. Tanks and armoured vehicles were seen on the town’s streets, as well as military trucks heading for the capital, Bamako. The soldiers detained several government officials including President Ibrahim Boubacar Kaita, who resigned and dissolved the government. This has been the country’s second coup in less than 10 years, following that of 2012. Soon after the take-over, leaders of ECOWAS heads of state, convened an emergency meeting, chaired by the former Nigerian leader, Goodluck Jonathan, and introduced far-reaching measures which brought the situation under control.
There was a breakdown in the interim measures put in place and that necessitated the holding of another emergency extraordinary summit on the situation in Mali on Sunday, May 30, 2021, to find a lasting solution to the problem and to restore peace in that country.
SUSPENSION OF MALI FROM THE ECOWAS AND THE AU
The meeting, under the auspices of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana and the current ECOWAS Chairman, brought together leaders of the 15-member countries. The leaders agreed that with immediate effect, Mali should be suspended from the regional bloc until the deadline of the end of February 2022, when the country’s interim leaders are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government. They called for the immediate appointment of a new civilian prime minister and the formation of an all- inclusive government.
It affirmed 27th February, 2022, as the date for the presidential election, but indicated that the Head of the Transition Government, the Vice President, and the Prime Minister, should not under any circumstance, be candidates in the planned presidential election.
The 38-year old Special Forces Commander, Col Assimi Goita, was said to be one of the several colonels who overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last year.
Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) has also announced the suspension of Mali from the union.
HANDLING THE MALIAN ISSUE TACTFULLY
The situation in Mali needs to be handled tactfully and with all the seriousness it deserved, in order not to create an unnecessary upheavals and chaos in that country. If care is not taken to resolve this thorny issue fairly, it will escalate and affect other neighbouring countries in West Africa.
The leadership of ECOWAS, must ensure that the new interim administration in that country be well represented by all sections of the society, the military, chiefs, opinion leaders, the clergy among others and to ensure that decisions are taken collectively when it comes to governance.
Already, Mali is faced with a number of emerging difficulties, such as droughts and desertification. These problems have impacted so much on foodsecurity and nutrition, especially among children and the vulnerable groups. Poverty is on the high side. Displaced children don’t have access to healthcare and education. This terrible situation in this landlocked country, needs emergency solutions to put the country back on track. Already, the deadly corona virus pandemic has taken a major toll on the economy and the country is currently counting its losses.
BACKGROUND ABOUT MALI
Mali, which is the eighth largest country in Africa is confronted with violent crimes such as kidnapping and armed robbery. It is among the 10 poorest nations of the world and one of the 37 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The country is a major recipient of foreign aid from many international sources, including bilateral and multilateral organisations mostly, the World Bank, African Development Bank (ADB) and the Arab Fund. Conflicts in this landlocked country continue as frequent and severe droughts have added to the country’s challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on the nation’s poor healthcare system and worsened economic decline in the country.
Indeed, the prevailing difficult condition in Mali, has necessitated an urgent need for the African Union(AU) and ECOWAS to provide the needed support to that country to overcome the challenges, rather than imposing restrictions on that nation.
AV0IDANCE OF COUPS IN AFRICA
While steps are being taken by ECOWAS to restore peace in Mali and ensure that election is held to select a leader through democratic means, it is important to drum home to fellow African countries that using the military and for that matter the barrel of the gun to overthrow a constitutionally mandated government is criminal and, therefore, not in the best interest of any nation but rather causes misery and worsens the living conditions of the suffering masses. Let us, therefore, avoid these unnecessary coups which are not doing the continent any good but rather creating a lot of harm to African continent.
Contact email/WhatsApp of the author:
0277753946/0248933366
All over the world, it has been recognised that nations who have developed, paid attention to education and continue to do so. If we pay lip service to the development of our educational system, we might as well forget about our development in the foreseeable future.
In order for effective teaching and learning to happen, the teacher who is the centre of it all, must be well motivated. Every person working in an office, every parliamentarian, every minister or deputy minister, all the way up to the first gentleman of the land, owes his or her status to a teacher.
Unfortunately, for some strange reason, our leaders who are the decision makers, do not seem to care very much about the welfare of teachers. The leadership of the various teacher unions, also appear not to be doing their job as is expected of them, leaving the teacher who had worked for over a year without being paid, frustrated.
The lack of seriousness that is attached to teachers’ issues is very worrying. My parents were teachers so I am very passionate about teachers’ issues. Gone are the days that we used to say that teachers will get their reward in Heaven.
Now those in the teaching profession are mostly youthful and they have a different mindset from that of our parents. They do not want their reward in Heaven, they want it here on this very earth.
A teacher sees his colleague who he was academically better than in school, from the same background socially, becomes a Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), an Member of Parliament (MP) or a Government Appointee and overnight, this guy becomes wealthy and you say he the teacher, should wait for his reward in Heaven?
His going there is not guaranteed anyway, so if he or she does not make it to Heaven, then what? Promises of government after government to teachers, remain unfulfilled and so they become disillusioned and demotivated to ensure effective teaching and learning.
I read a story of a lady, who as a child was suffering from Dyslexia but her teacher gave her the needed attention to help her and this even led her teacher to run into problems with the school authorities, resulting in the loss of her job. This lady grew up and became a famous actress and won an Oscar.
She then gave the prize money attached to the award, which was three million dollars, to her teacher who put her career on the line to help her out of her dyslexia challenge as a child.
There are many such teachers in our educational system because teaching is a calling, like medicine, like nursing etc. and therefore teachers who are the first point of call before we can climb the ladder to become the engineers, the lawyers, accountants and the rest, deserve special attention.
What is even important is the crucial role they play in shaping the moral character of future leaders which is invaluable.
Let us all, especially our leaders, place a high premium on the teacher who is at the centre of our educational system and who can make or unmake our future as a nation. How do you ask a teacher to go to a place, far removed from his or her parents and for a year and above not pay any salary to him or her?
How is the teacher to survive? If the same thing was done to any of our leaders, especially the leaders of the various teacher unions, will they be happy? How do they expect the teachers to survive and also be motivated to deliver quality teaching? Funds must be found to immediately resolve their unpaid salaries do they can be in the right frame of mind to do their very precious job. The teaching profession, in my view, is number one, when ranking professions because as an advert displays “If you can read this, thank a teacher”. Let us give our teachers their due. God bless.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
GREETINGS from Korkorti and from Kofi Owuo, alias Death-By-Poverty. When this column took a short break, the two friends summoned me. They wanted to know whether the column had gone on pension or was just on strike. I explained that the column was not on retirement and neither was it on a hunger strike. Rather, the column was of the habit of falling into coma for four weeks or thereabout every year.
Kwame Korkorti and Kofi Owuo (who is addicted to poverty and has sworn not to prosper) are two of my former classmates I cherish so much. And it was great fun to be a Nino in those days. In fact, on the first day on campus, Korkorti was bold enough to bully his own mates who tragically mistook him for a senior.
In fact, when the first-years arrived, Korkorti was one of them but quickly pretended he was in Form 2. So he began pulling the noses of his mates and brushing their faces when the real seniors were not quite in sight. It was when classes began that his victims realised the so-called nose-pulling senior was in fact their own classmate.
So Korkorti got famous for that gimmick. But his English was poor.
The English master was a tall, bombastic young man who claimed he was a former soccer star. In fact, he swore he had a magical left foot that was comparable to that of the legendary Pele. And his grandiloquence par excellence clearly distinguished him from other members of staff.
He did not quite like Korkorti because although the boy was stubborn and his head did not have a nice shape, the girls adored him. Moreover he never did his English Language assignments.
Stand up, you tall fool, the English master often ordered. Korkorti wouldn’t stand up but would just smile broadly.
“I say stand up” the teacher would bark now like a dog suffering from rabies “Get up and let me measure your stupidity.”
Korkorti would stand up this time round and yawn.
Certainly, lunchtime has been long in coming and a good yawn often relieved the young student’s stomach of gastronomic stress.
Invariably, the English guru did not like it when Korkorti yawned. For one thing, the boy opened his mouth too widely. For another, he yawned a bit too audibly and that caused laughter among his mates.
Certainly, the master must have figured out that the boy’s height was proportional to his stupidity. But there were no school rules against yawning
Merari Alomele’s
• A female student walking away from some male students
or wide mouth. In fact, there was freedom of yawning and snoring and Korkorti exercised both freedoms judiciously and democratically.
“Do you know when you yawn you look like a hungry crocodile,” the master once asked him.
“Yes sir, I am aware sir,” Korkorti confirmed and yawned again. This time he nearly swallowed the whole class. There was an uproar and the whole class reverberated in good laughter.
The English master shook his head and then nodded it like an agama lizard. This Korkorti boy was a real character, a phenomenon, a one-man thousand. Meanwhile lessons had to continue.
It was in those days when school was exciting and we often gathered and talked about girls. I had often dreamt of having a girl from Holy Child School because I had heard very saintly and curious things about them, I had learnt from a guy from Saint Augustine’s College that Holy Child girls were of a special breed, in fact a hybrid between the cultured home-bred variety and those of inner holiness. They were born of the Holy Spirit. The only thing was that they didn’t suffer under Pontius Pilate.
In short, they were angels in human form, spoke in a special way, walked with a unique and danced with heavenly steps. They were taught by Holy Nuns and so were quite different from us who had no hope of making any spirito-culturo-scholastic progress.
I confessed to Korkorti that I wanted a girl from Holy Child, not for immoral purposes but to partake of their saintly ways so that when it was time for going to heaven, Kwame Alomele could also be considered.
During vacations we met girls from Mawuli, Ola, Accra Girls, St. Roses, Wesley Girls but none from Holy Child. Then one day, Kwame Korkorti whispered into my ear that a Holy Child babe was in town and that he was sure my dreams had come true.
Korkorti organised it and we positioned at a spot, knowing the girl would traverse en route to the library or the market. After a boring period of waiting, Korkorti suddenly espied the child coming. I looked at her face and saw of an angel. What! This was the kind I always wanted. God bless my soul! This was really my chance and Korkorti had prophesied it.
“Hello Sister,” Korkorti called her when about to leave us.
The girl slowed down and looked at us. My heartbeat increased in tempo. What really was I going to tell this angel? Wouldn’t she think Korkorti was Satan and me a common red-eyed demon? I gathered courage.
“What do you want?” she asked in a sweet voice. My heart melted instantly. Spotless beauty with voice that did something to me. Good gracious!
“Eh-h, my friend says he likes you,” Korkorti to her bluntly.
At that very moment I felt as if a sledge-hammer had hit my chest with the force of a dynamite. What a blunder! What a shock! I felt dizzy instantly. My bosom friend had balked the whole agenda. Before I could recover from the shock, the girl had walked away. From that day. I never met another holy child.
In January, this year, I miraculously received a letter from an 18-year old Holy Child student who said she was my fan.
It was a nicely written letter and I enjoyed reading it. I then relived the Korkorti incident and laughed aloud to myself.
So when Korkorti and Kofi Owuo summoned me, I reminded them of the day my heart melted at the sight of the angel; that angel which disappeared before my eyes and made me go back home not crying and yet not laughing.
Proofread
Searching for the Holy Child
GREETINGS from Korkorti and from Kofi Owuo, alias Death-By-Poverty. When this column took a short break, the two friends summoned me. They wanted to know whether the column had gone on pension or was just on strike.
I explained that the column was not on retirement and neither was it on a hunger strike. Rather, the column was of the habit of falling into coma for four weeks or thereabout every year.
Kwame Korkorti and Kofi Owuo (who is addicted to poverty and has sworn not to prosper) are two of my former classmates I cherish so much. And it was great fun to be a Nino in those days. In fact, on the first day on campus, Korkorti was bold enough to bully his own mates who tragically mistook him for a senior.
In fact, when the first-years arrived, Korkorti was one of them but quickly pretended he was in Form 2. So he began pulling the noses of his mates and brushing their faces when the real seniors were not quite in sight. It was when classes began that his victims realised the so-called nose-pulling senior was in fact their own classmate
So Korkorti got famous for that gimmick. But his English was poor.
The English master was a tall, bombastic young man who claimed he was a former soccer star. In fact, he swore he had a magical left foot that was comparable to that of the legendary Pele. And his grandiloquence par excellence clearly distinguished him from other members of staff.
He did not quite like Korkorti because although the boy was stubborn and his head did not have a nice shape, the girls adored him. Moreover he never did his English Language assignments.
Stand up, you tall fool, the English master often ordered. Korkorti wouldn’t stand up but would just smile broadly.
“I say stand up” the teacher would bark now like a dog suffering from rabies “Get up and let me measure your stupidity.”
Korkorti would stand up this time round and yawn.
Certainly, lunchtime has been long in coming and a good yawn often relieved the young student’s stomach of gastronomic stress.
Invariably, the English guru did not like it when Korkorti yawned. For one thing, the boy opened his mouth too widely. For another, he yawned a bit too audibly and that caused laughter among his mates.
Certainly, the master must have figured out that the boy’s height was proportional to his stupidity. But there were no school rules against yawning or wide mouth. In fact, there was freedom of yawning and snoring and Korkorti exercised both freedoms judiciously and democratically.
“Do you know when you yawn you look like a hungry crocodile,” the master once asked him.
“Yes sir, I am aware sir,” Korkorti confirmed and yawned again. This time he nearly swallowed the whole class. There was an uproar and the whole class reverberated in good laughter.
The English master shook his head and then nodded it like an agama lizard. This Korkorti boy was a real character, a phenomenon, a one-man-thousand. Meanwhile lessons had to continue.
It was in those days when school was exciting and we often gathered and talked about girls. I had often dreamt of having a girl from Holy Child School because I had heard very saintly and curious things about them,
I had learnt from a guy from Saint Augustine’s College that Holy Child girls were of a special breed, in fact a hybrid between the cultured home-bred variety and those of inner holiness. They were born of the Holy Spirit. The only thing was that they didn’t suffer under Pontius Pilate.
In short, they were angels in human form, spoke in a special way, walked with a unique and danced with heavenly steps. They were taught by Holy Nuns and so were quite different from us who had no hope of making any spirito-culturo-scholastic progress.
I confessed to Korkorti that I wanted a girl from Holy Child, not for immoral purposes but to partake of their saintly ways so that when it was time for going to heaven, Kwame Alomele could also be considered.
During vacations we met girls from Mawuli, Ola, Accra Girls, St. Roses, Wesley Girls but none from Holy Child. Then one day, Kwame Korkorti whispered into my ear that a Holy Child babe was in town and that he was sure my dreams had come true.
Korkorti organised it and we positioned at a spot, knowing the girl would traverse en route to the library or the market. After a boring period of waiting, Korkorti suddenly espied the child coming. I looked at her face and saw of an angel. What! This was the kind I always wanted. God bless my soul! This was really my chance and Korkorti had prophesied it.
“Hello Sister,” Korkorti called her when about to leave us.
The girl slowed down and looked at us. My heartbeat increased in tempo. What really was I going to tell this angel? Wouldn’t she think Korkorti was Satan and me a common red-eyed demon? I gathered courage.
“What do you want?” she asked in a sweet voice. My heart melted instantly. Spotless beauty with voice that did something to me. Good gracious!
“Eh-h, my friend says he likes you,” Korkorti to her bluntly.
At that very moment I felt as if a sledge-hammer had hit my chest with the force of a dynamite. What a blunder! What a shock! I felt dizzy instantly. My bosom friend had balked the whole agenda. Before I could recover from the shock, the girl had walked away. From that day. I never met another holy child.
In January, this year, I miraculously received a letter from an 18-year old Holy Child student who said she was my fan. It was a nicely written letter and I enjoyed reading it. I then relived the Korkorti incident and laughed aloud to myself.
So when Korkorti and Kofi Owuo summoned me, I reminded them of the day my heart melted at the sight of the angel; that angel which disappeared before my eyes and made me go back home not crying and yet not laughing.
This article was first published on Saturday, March 18, 1996
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
