2 Peter 2:1 – ‘But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction’ – King James version
In recent times, the Christian community all over the world is witnessing what I call increasing ‘scandalous’ scandals involving most people who choose to call themselves ‘men of God’. As to if they are truly men of GOD, the end will surely justify that. The Ghanaian Christian community is perhaps one of the hardest hit. This is causing a lot of uproars and people are trying to give all kinds of reasons and meanings to recent happenings. I also have my own reasons to whatever is happening to the church of God.
When you own a very good desktop computer or laptop and it starts to malfunction, one thing comes to mind first. There must have been some virus invasion to your computer’s system. In that case, the best action to take is get a good antivirus with its current update. You then carefully subject your whole system to a thorough scan. If your anti-virus is really a good one, it is likely to catch a lot of viruses with strange names and gives you details about the level of threat they pose to your computer. You are then given options as to what to do with them. Among the options are ‘quarantine’, ‘heal’, ‘delete’ among others. The best option is to delete all those worms that can cause great harm to your computer.
The church of God today faces the same predicament that any technological device faces today; viruses that pretend to be computer-friendly documents. You open them and your whole system is in a mess. Today many people parade themselves as men and women of God. In reality however, they just use the Holy name of God and His son Jesus Christ to pursue hidden agenda known only to them. They have succeeded in deceiving millions of people and have polluted thousands of otherwise genuine men of God. So typical of any virus in this computer age. The church of God is under immense attack and corruption from these viruses. Many people are beginning to lose faith altogether.
Just as any concerned owner of an expensive laptop computer will behave, God cannot look on as these so-called men of God destroy His church. HE cannot look on as many lives are corrupted by the activities of these ones. HE will definitely take an action. I see the scandals rocking churches in Ghana today from that angle. I see it as God’s antivirus performing a carefully calculated scan on the church. People who pretend to be what they are not are gradually being exposed. Not to behave in the ‘holier than thou’ manner’, let me say that most people who put on the white neck clerical today do not deserve them. Also not to sound judgmental, all I can say is, let us all look up to the author and finisher of the Christian faith; that is Jesus Christ. When you put your trust in a so-called man of God and you wake up to hear that he is a pedophile, it might just be disastrous for you.
The good Book says ‘by their fruits we shall know them’. If after the antivirus has exposed these viruses ‘eating’ all manner of files in the system of the church including innocent ladies especially singers; you still decide to seek the help of those people, it is up to you. All that is happening to some so-called men of God in Ghana today should be a wake up call to their colleagues still in the business of corrupting the church of God. The scan is on. The anti-false prophet scan is on. It will be your turn soon. Some viruses like obinime.exe, jesusonetouch.worm, love.exe/worm and the like seem to have been caught in the web. GOD’S ANTI-VIRUS IS AT WORK.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
KNUST SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME
KNUST SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME
… SRC BEST INNOVATION SO FAR?
This year’s SRC week celebrations saw a lot of innovations that still keep fascinating and at the same time irritating a number of level headed students around. It was the first time SRC Week was celebrated concurrently with a hall’s week celebration. It was the first time, a girlfriend of the SRC president was actively involved in the planning and execution of all activities embodied in the programme. I think an amendment should be made, so that our constitution will recognise the office of the first lady. One particular activity that has kept my mouth agape and my fingers still scratching my head is what our very smart SRC decided to name ‘SRC FOOD BAZAAR’.
According to the Encarta dictionary, ‘BAZAAR’ means sales of goods to raise money for charity, often held outdoors. So who was fooling who, when the SRC promised to organise a food bazaar and ended up organising a school feeding programme? Whose idea was it? What rationale was behind such an event? What if even half of the student populace had decided to attend that event? Was there any sinister motive behind the scenes? Until some of these questions are answered in good faith, some of us can only bow our heads in shame and disappointment as we take our last steps out of KNUST.
The Yaw Oduro led administration had all the power and the goodwill to organise a food bazaar, which could have even brought few coins into the SRC coffers. It is just a matter of inviting food vendors to converge at the Royal Parade grounds and selling their products at subsidised prices. People will still patronise it. Even if the people in charge did not have a fair idea of what a food bazaar is, they could have thought of other ways to feed students, not necessarily with physical foods. SOCIOSO’s ‘AFTER SCHOOL, WHAT NEXT’ program is a very good example the SRC could have copied. It would have even helped salvage the dwindling reputation of the SRC.
The idea itself was ill-conceived and the programme itself was bizarre. Was it a deliberate agenda to create the atmosphere for students to fight over the food provided so that the illicit dealings of the organisers will be covered? Was it some KNUST students who are still unrefined after spending some time in a university like ours? It is alleged that some ‘gentlemen’ of our noble institution were picking ‘kelewele’ right from the oil. Food was spilled on the floor and people kicked the butts of each other just to have sips of the soft drinks served around there. The undeniable truth about this shameful incident was that it was a deliberate plot by the student powers that be to cover up certain dishonest activities that will come up very soon. Secondly, some students still remain unrefined despite the numerous avenues that abound for the polishing of the brutish lives that we once lived.
Sadly enough, individuals and groups which are seen as watchdogs of students politics were either in full support or totally quiet over the whole debacle of a food bazaar. Was it that, their palms were greased or they were busily enjoying the huge consignments of food and drink that was smuggled glaringly to them. Are they now selling their reputation for pittance or they are now showing their long-hidden selfish desires?
If we want to rattle about these irrational decisions by some of our student leaders, we will grow grey hair without knowing it. However, let the younger generation learn from the folly of the older generation. Let upcoming leaders think outside the box and implement prudent and rational policies. Also, whoever the organisers of the SRC SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME were, they should with all the humility in them, go to the executives of the AGRIC STUDENTS ASSOCIATION. They organised a real food bazaar recently. It will help some of them pick few lessons so that they will not make laughing signposts of themselves when they move out of school.
Lastly, all these incidents we are witnessing just suggest to us that people should have some level of experience before been put in some positions. The truth is always painful but it must be said.
Courage Ahiati.
Couragesdiary.blogspot.com
courageislove@gmail.com
… SRC BEST INNOVATION SO FAR?
This year’s SRC week celebrations saw a lot of innovations that still keep fascinating and at the same time irritating a number of level headed students around. It was the first time SRC Week was celebrated concurrently with a hall’s week celebration. It was the first time, a girlfriend of the SRC president was actively involved in the planning and execution of all activities embodied in the programme. I think an amendment should be made, so that our constitution will recognise the office of the first lady. One particular activity that has kept my mouth agape and my fingers still scratching my head is what our very smart SRC decided to name ‘SRC FOOD BAZAAR’.
According to the Encarta dictionary, ‘BAZAAR’ means sales of goods to raise money for charity, often held outdoors. So who was fooling who, when the SRC promised to organise a food bazaar and ended up organising a school feeding programme? Whose idea was it? What rationale was behind such an event? What if even half of the student populace had decided to attend that event? Was there any sinister motive behind the scenes? Until some of these questions are answered in good faith, some of us can only bow our heads in shame and disappointment as we take our last steps out of KNUST.
The Yaw Oduro led administration had all the power and the goodwill to organise a food bazaar, which could have even brought few coins into the SRC coffers. It is just a matter of inviting food vendors to converge at the Royal Parade grounds and selling their products at subsidised prices. People will still patronise it. Even if the people in charge did not have a fair idea of what a food bazaar is, they could have thought of other ways to feed students, not necessarily with physical foods. SOCIOSO’s ‘AFTER SCHOOL, WHAT NEXT’ program is a very good example the SRC could have copied. It would have even helped salvage the dwindling reputation of the SRC.
The idea itself was ill-conceived and the programme itself was bizarre. Was it a deliberate agenda to create the atmosphere for students to fight over the food provided so that the illicit dealings of the organisers will be covered? Was it some KNUST students who are still unrefined after spending some time in a university like ours? It is alleged that some ‘gentlemen’ of our noble institution were picking ‘kelewele’ right from the oil. Food was spilled on the floor and people kicked the butts of each other just to have sips of the soft drinks served around there. The undeniable truth about this shameful incident was that it was a deliberate plot by the student powers that be to cover up certain dishonest activities that will come up very soon. Secondly, some students still remain unrefined despite the numerous avenues that abound for the polishing of the brutish lives that we once lived.
Sadly enough, individuals and groups which are seen as watchdogs of students politics were either in full support or totally quiet over the whole debacle of a food bazaar. Was it that, their palms were greased or they were busily enjoying the huge consignments of food and drink that was smuggled glaringly to them. Are they now selling their reputation for pittance or they are now showing their long-hidden selfish desires?
If we want to rattle about these irrational decisions by some of our student leaders, we will grow grey hair without knowing it. However, let the younger generation learn from the folly of the older generation. Let upcoming leaders think outside the box and implement prudent and rational policies. Also, whoever the organisers of the SRC SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME were, they should with all the humility in them, go to the executives of the AGRIC STUDENTS ASSOCIATION. They organised a real food bazaar recently. It will help some of them pick few lessons so that they will not make laughing signposts of themselves when they move out of school.
Lastly, all these incidents we are witnessing just suggest to us that people should have some level of experience before been put in some positions. The truth is always painful but it must be said.
Courage Ahiati.
Couragesdiary.blogspot.com
courageislove@gmail.com
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
FACELESS ATTACKS ON KNUST
FACELESS ATTACKS ON KNUST
…the nuisance of ‘Nana Abrokwa, ‘Victor Pul’ and their ‘Siblings’
In recent times, our noble institution, KNUST has enjoyed tremendous rise both in infrastructure and international reputation. We rose from being 20th in University world rankings to more respectable higher heights. One thing that adds up to these feat that keeps our competitors mute is the aesthetic nature of our campus. The well-kept lawns and nice landscaping just adds to our ‘swag’.
I am very sure the good reputation of the school currently will make any leader both at the staff and students level so proud and confident. In that same spirit, it will make leadership position more attractive to others than it used to. It is in the wake of this that I see a lot of ambitious young men and women girding their loins to take over the realms of leadership in the students political spheres. It is a positive signal when you see such enthusiasm and participatory spirit rising up on campus.
However good and positive the pictures might be showing, there is this worrying canker, which if not addressed quickly and substantially, will go a long way to cast a slur on both our aesthetic environment and our seemingly attractive leadership positions. This is the desperate, indiscriminate, unreasonable and unintellectual smearing of KNUST with all kinds of posters, papers and pamphlets bearing the names of students supposedly aspiring to various positions on campus. If these posters were just posted on provided notice boards and other convenient places intelligently, it would not have raised any eyebrows.
Sadly enough, when one takes a stroll through campus, one would witness a sudden surge of wall defacing revolutionists on our campus. The chief culprits of these deliberate and conscious and puerile behaviours are names like NANA ABROKWA and VICTOR PUL. There are numerous other culprits but these two names seem to be the superpowers of the game. Just take a walk from the Commercial area down through the Block A of Africa hall and take a cursory look at the back of that particular hall. It has been seriously defaced with the posters or teasers of a certain NANA ABROKWA. Signposts of different departments and bodies on campus, giving various vital information have been plastered with these same posters. The menace has spread all over campus that even the semi-literate photocopy guys around are becoming fed up with this nuisance.
What makes these unintelligent behaviours more worrying and dangerous is what they are aspiring for. If they were a group of anti- NICE KNUST crusaders, it would have been a bit understandable. However, these are people seeking high offices of students’ leadership. My understanding of leadership is the ability to guide, direct and influence people. So if those aspiring to these high offices are putting up such unruly behaviours, then the multi-million cedi question I ask is, is there a better future for KNUST and student leadership as a whole? If someone aspiring to be the next SRC president has the shameful gust and audacity to deface our only female hall in a desperate attempt to gain recognition, what information is he sending out to KNUST? Maybe he will deface our ladies on campus when he is made a leader or he will turn KNUST into some lawless jungle. Maybe that person will create a personality cult for himself by having a hall sprayed with his name all over it. Or yet still, they will endorse lawlessness on campus.
Sorry enough, this unruly behaviour has been tolerated for long and these culprits always manage to go through all the electoral vetting on campus without any scratch and go on to occupy undeserved positions on campus. it is hard time we speak against this nuisance and stand against it as well. My octogenarian grandmother who has never seen the inside of a classroom before will wail for KNUST, should she come here one day and see the mess created by these ‘enemies of the university’.
I think the office of the dean of students should take a cue from their counterparts in the University of Ghana, and start placing fines on such people. Other concrete and punitive measures should be put in place to deter others from joining these masquerades. The student bodies concerned should also take up arms against them. More so, departments and other bodies who have their sign posts and bill boards as victims of this politics of desperation should seek their pound of flesh.
I do not know if this NANA ABROKWA, VICTOR PUL and the like are pseudonyms, nicknames, pet names or real names. If they are real names, then students who will go to the polls and undertake other electoral processes should take a second and critical look at them. What is even more annoying is that habit of them writing the sayings of people and putting their names under it without appreciating the copyrights owners of those sayings. Plagiarism of the highest order, which every writer or creator will frown on.
It is very unfortunate that we want to inculcate this attitude into our students’ political culture. Let us renew the old things and be up to speed with the world. No one is a saint. We are all guilty in one way or the other. Let us not take bitterness out of this plea. Let us pick out the common sense in this piece and use it in building a better KNUST, with an aesthetic environment, devoid of lawless student leaders. Long live KNUST and short live the dreams of lawless people creating nuisance in order to become student leaders.
NB: the writer did not write in vacuum. He has travelled the path that these current ones are aspiring to tread and have a fair idea of the concerns he has raised.
Courage Ahiati
courageislove@gmail.com
couragesdiary.blogspot.com
…the nuisance of ‘Nana Abrokwa, ‘Victor Pul’ and their ‘Siblings’
In recent times, our noble institution, KNUST has enjoyed tremendous rise both in infrastructure and international reputation. We rose from being 20th in University world rankings to more respectable higher heights. One thing that adds up to these feat that keeps our competitors mute is the aesthetic nature of our campus. The well-kept lawns and nice landscaping just adds to our ‘swag’.
I am very sure the good reputation of the school currently will make any leader both at the staff and students level so proud and confident. In that same spirit, it will make leadership position more attractive to others than it used to. It is in the wake of this that I see a lot of ambitious young men and women girding their loins to take over the realms of leadership in the students political spheres. It is a positive signal when you see such enthusiasm and participatory spirit rising up on campus.
However good and positive the pictures might be showing, there is this worrying canker, which if not addressed quickly and substantially, will go a long way to cast a slur on both our aesthetic environment and our seemingly attractive leadership positions. This is the desperate, indiscriminate, unreasonable and unintellectual smearing of KNUST with all kinds of posters, papers and pamphlets bearing the names of students supposedly aspiring to various positions on campus. If these posters were just posted on provided notice boards and other convenient places intelligently, it would not have raised any eyebrows.
Sadly enough, when one takes a stroll through campus, one would witness a sudden surge of wall defacing revolutionists on our campus. The chief culprits of these deliberate and conscious and puerile behaviours are names like NANA ABROKWA and VICTOR PUL. There are numerous other culprits but these two names seem to be the superpowers of the game. Just take a walk from the Commercial area down through the Block A of Africa hall and take a cursory look at the back of that particular hall. It has been seriously defaced with the posters or teasers of a certain NANA ABROKWA. Signposts of different departments and bodies on campus, giving various vital information have been plastered with these same posters. The menace has spread all over campus that even the semi-literate photocopy guys around are becoming fed up with this nuisance.
What makes these unintelligent behaviours more worrying and dangerous is what they are aspiring for. If they were a group of anti- NICE KNUST crusaders, it would have been a bit understandable. However, these are people seeking high offices of students’ leadership. My understanding of leadership is the ability to guide, direct and influence people. So if those aspiring to these high offices are putting up such unruly behaviours, then the multi-million cedi question I ask is, is there a better future for KNUST and student leadership as a whole? If someone aspiring to be the next SRC president has the shameful gust and audacity to deface our only female hall in a desperate attempt to gain recognition, what information is he sending out to KNUST? Maybe he will deface our ladies on campus when he is made a leader or he will turn KNUST into some lawless jungle. Maybe that person will create a personality cult for himself by having a hall sprayed with his name all over it. Or yet still, they will endorse lawlessness on campus.
Sorry enough, this unruly behaviour has been tolerated for long and these culprits always manage to go through all the electoral vetting on campus without any scratch and go on to occupy undeserved positions on campus. it is hard time we speak against this nuisance and stand against it as well. My octogenarian grandmother who has never seen the inside of a classroom before will wail for KNUST, should she come here one day and see the mess created by these ‘enemies of the university’.
I think the office of the dean of students should take a cue from their counterparts in the University of Ghana, and start placing fines on such people. Other concrete and punitive measures should be put in place to deter others from joining these masquerades. The student bodies concerned should also take up arms against them. More so, departments and other bodies who have their sign posts and bill boards as victims of this politics of desperation should seek their pound of flesh.
I do not know if this NANA ABROKWA, VICTOR PUL and the like are pseudonyms, nicknames, pet names or real names. If they are real names, then students who will go to the polls and undertake other electoral processes should take a second and critical look at them. What is even more annoying is that habit of them writing the sayings of people and putting their names under it without appreciating the copyrights owners of those sayings. Plagiarism of the highest order, which every writer or creator will frown on.
It is very unfortunate that we want to inculcate this attitude into our students’ political culture. Let us renew the old things and be up to speed with the world. No one is a saint. We are all guilty in one way or the other. Let us not take bitterness out of this plea. Let us pick out the common sense in this piece and use it in building a better KNUST, with an aesthetic environment, devoid of lawless student leaders. Long live KNUST and short live the dreams of lawless people creating nuisance in order to become student leaders.
NB: the writer did not write in vacuum. He has travelled the path that these current ones are aspiring to tread and have a fair idea of the concerns he has raised.
Courage Ahiati
courageislove@gmail.com
couragesdiary.blogspot.com
Thursday, February 24, 2011
KNUST SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS
KNUST SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS.
…A CASE OF MISPLACED PRIORITY?
It is an undeniable fact that SRC week celebrations are very important. It is a time that the whole school is brought together for different purposes ranging from academic to entertainment. I always love to see the cadet corps of the various halls marching in unison. It’s always a lovely sight. It is also a time that the SRC gets closer to the student populace and amongst other things renders accounts of their mandate. One thing I loved about this year’s parade was the very supportive role played by the FIRST LADY of the students’ body. I doff my cup for her.
SRC week celebrations, despite its importance have always been bedevilled with all kinds of controversies, chief among them being the scary embezzlement rumours that always follow the celebrations. We have however never had the will-power to probe into those allegations to get the right things done. One thing that however raises eyebrows about the SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS this year is that, it was not celebrated in first semester, as is normally done.
SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS not carried out in first semester is not necessarily the news. What bothers my troublesome mind a lot is the logic in celebrating it in this particular period. It is an undeniable fact that the halls of residence and the colleges are what form up the SRC. It is also well known that second semester is fully packed with activities of almost all student groups on campus. We have five hall week celebrations on campus which can even take up the whole entertainment calendar. Colleges, faculties, departments and old school associations have all slated their programmes for the second semester.
In the university, we are taught to critically analyse situations, get the pros and cons, and put into action something that will really be of immense benefit. The questions I ask are: did the SRC take into consideration the packed up calendar for second semester? Is it compulsory to celebrate SRC Week at all cost? Is it a forum for someone or some people to recoup what they invested some time ago? Is there any logic in having SRC week in a period where we have six whole weeks of hall celebrations? Why should SRC week be celebrated in the same week that INDEPENDENCE HALL is having their hall week? Are they not part of the SRC? What crime have they committed to be given such a raw deal?
As a matter of fact, this particular SRC week celebrations should have been scraped off. Money being pumped into it could have been put into other worthwhile related projects. Unless those in charge do not want to do any critical thinking. It is so irrational for SRC week celebrations to run concurrently with a hall week celebration. I will pardon those in charge if they do not necessarily know the purpose behind SRC week celebrations. Is it not just a matter of collaborating with the various halls?
Another group that must bow its head in shame for its lack of decisions is the SRC Parliamentary council. I am very sure this issue popped up in the ‘very vibrant’ yet sleeping parliamentary council that we have. If the representatives of the halls on campus were united and bold, they should have withdrawn their cadets’ corps from the celebration or even block the whole celebrations, knowing evidently well that one of them was going to be used as a sacrificial lamb. Was it a decision they all supported? Did they really think through it before it was endorsed or the decision was just bulldozed through without their approval?
If one wants to go into the details of the irrelevance of this particular SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS, it would be a never ending story. However, let us not just throw our hands into the air and repeat the cliche that, the harm has already been caused. Let aspiring student leaders take cue from such illogical and unpardonable mistakes. The personal glory agenda will not help students and the society as a whole. Let’s make it a point to be generational thinkers rather than seekers of unnecessary glory. The SRC should also make sure they come out with the true accounts of what was used for what during the celebrations. Checks have already been made and the eyes and ears of students of our noble institution are waiting patiently.
COURAGE AHIATI
POLITICS IV
courageislove@gmail.com
…A CASE OF MISPLACED PRIORITY?
It is an undeniable fact that SRC week celebrations are very important. It is a time that the whole school is brought together for different purposes ranging from academic to entertainment. I always love to see the cadet corps of the various halls marching in unison. It’s always a lovely sight. It is also a time that the SRC gets closer to the student populace and amongst other things renders accounts of their mandate. One thing I loved about this year’s parade was the very supportive role played by the FIRST LADY of the students’ body. I doff my cup for her.
SRC week celebrations, despite its importance have always been bedevilled with all kinds of controversies, chief among them being the scary embezzlement rumours that always follow the celebrations. We have however never had the will-power to probe into those allegations to get the right things done. One thing that however raises eyebrows about the SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS this year is that, it was not celebrated in first semester, as is normally done.
SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS not carried out in first semester is not necessarily the news. What bothers my troublesome mind a lot is the logic in celebrating it in this particular period. It is an undeniable fact that the halls of residence and the colleges are what form up the SRC. It is also well known that second semester is fully packed with activities of almost all student groups on campus. We have five hall week celebrations on campus which can even take up the whole entertainment calendar. Colleges, faculties, departments and old school associations have all slated their programmes for the second semester.
In the university, we are taught to critically analyse situations, get the pros and cons, and put into action something that will really be of immense benefit. The questions I ask are: did the SRC take into consideration the packed up calendar for second semester? Is it compulsory to celebrate SRC Week at all cost? Is it a forum for someone or some people to recoup what they invested some time ago? Is there any logic in having SRC week in a period where we have six whole weeks of hall celebrations? Why should SRC week be celebrated in the same week that INDEPENDENCE HALL is having their hall week? Are they not part of the SRC? What crime have they committed to be given such a raw deal?
As a matter of fact, this particular SRC week celebrations should have been scraped off. Money being pumped into it could have been put into other worthwhile related projects. Unless those in charge do not want to do any critical thinking. It is so irrational for SRC week celebrations to run concurrently with a hall week celebration. I will pardon those in charge if they do not necessarily know the purpose behind SRC week celebrations. Is it not just a matter of collaborating with the various halls?
Another group that must bow its head in shame for its lack of decisions is the SRC Parliamentary council. I am very sure this issue popped up in the ‘very vibrant’ yet sleeping parliamentary council that we have. If the representatives of the halls on campus were united and bold, they should have withdrawn their cadets’ corps from the celebration or even block the whole celebrations, knowing evidently well that one of them was going to be used as a sacrificial lamb. Was it a decision they all supported? Did they really think through it before it was endorsed or the decision was just bulldozed through without their approval?
If one wants to go into the details of the irrelevance of this particular SRC WEEK CELEBRATIONS, it would be a never ending story. However, let us not just throw our hands into the air and repeat the cliche that, the harm has already been caused. Let aspiring student leaders take cue from such illogical and unpardonable mistakes. The personal glory agenda will not help students and the society as a whole. Let’s make it a point to be generational thinkers rather than seekers of unnecessary glory. The SRC should also make sure they come out with the true accounts of what was used for what during the celebrations. Checks have already been made and the eyes and ears of students of our noble institution are waiting patiently.
COURAGE AHIATI
POLITICS IV
courageislove@gmail.com
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
TOP TEN MOST FASCINATING PEOPLE ON KNUST CAMPUS
TEN MOST FASCINATING PEOPLE ON CAMPUS.
The aged normally say, ‘though the polygamous father might not know the names of all his children, he knows the character of them all’. I seem to know all people who walk the length and breadth of my Kingdom of NUST. As I promise you, today I bring you the list of the top ten most fascinating people in no definite order. They are fascinating in their own ways.
1. NANA ATEMUDA - Until recently, I did not know I had such a nice and robust gentleman in my kingdom. I guess this name is a household name here. His name booms across the airwaves almost every minute. When you listen to him most times on radio, he is fond of doing one thing. Describing how horrible a girl he met looks. He does so well that you might think he is an artist. I started wondering how he looks like himself that makes him grade my daughters like that. So I sent my palace messengers to go and look for him. When I saw him, I liked what I saw. He is a dark, well built gentleman with a fine face. He has this atta mills-styled eyes and nice flesh folding on each other. That is the perfect gentleman. Hey, when he speaks, he does it with some extra-ordinary confidence. He has his own way of doing things and it has made him a force to reckon with in my kingdom here. KNUST without ATEMUDA is no going!
2. EKPOR ANYIMAH – ACKAH. This guy just blows my mind. I heard he is the head of one of my provinces with much notoriety. He speaks in tongues like he is the second in command to Angel Gabriel. When he is talking, you would hear what we call Locally Acquired Foreign Accent. He does it so well that you would think he was born in the Buckingham palace. What makes him fascinating is that he likes POSITIONS more than the Russians like vodka. Eiiish! Unless he doesn’t hear there is a vacant position. I heard he has even applied for the vacant PRO VC position on campus KNUST. Please if you have heard of any vacant position, kindly inform him. He might be interested. I hear he is also a wayside comedian. That’s nice of him. The jack of all positions. What happened to his quest to bring honour to KATANGA by becoming the NUGS president? I need someone to exorcise this son of mine from the spirit of positions.
3. S.K OPPONG – he was the immediate past SRC president or whatever. When you meet him for the first time, you see a fine, down to earth, smart thinking leader. However, when you go through his daily stories when he was in office, I am sure the very people who admitted him into this school regretted doing that. My big mouth will pronounce him the worst thing that ever happened to SRC presidency. At a point in time he was accusing evil spirits of taking students money which he placed under his carpet. He looks so innocent but more dangerous than the threats coming from Iran. He ended firing almost everyone in his administration and the interesting part was that, they still stayed in office. He never graduated from school as well. So what does it benefit a man when you mess up student affairs and money and you don’t get your degree? That is ASEM SEBE! I think he will make a good president one day.
4. CEO of CYBERTEK - I hope you know that printing house that has branches all over campus. That man loves money. He never closes. He works all day and all night. He gets a lot of money from that business. I love him for his hard work and the very good services he offer students. But come to think of it, where do all those monies go. He is just like General Mosquito. I guess you know what I am talking about. At least he should let his chale-wate rest small. Even if he owed more than the Ghanaian government he would have paid off his debts by now.
5. ERNESTO – CEO of THINK TWICE FOUNDATION- if you don’t know him, just take the pain of walking down to Katanga. His biography is implanted in the courtyard. This guy has stay in school far more than the four year stipulated period. He however was not able to break the record of SADDAM, the longest serving student of our time. He is an anti-birth preacher and calls himself, the president of Apakye Students Union (ASU). Don’t ask me what it is. When he was a student, he slept in his green car and did almost everything there. This same car turned into a private taxi during day time. He managed this life till he completed school. One thing that fascinated all of us he never held a book or entered a classroom. If you are looking for him, watch out for the dark man holding a Castle milk stout bottle and limping on one leg and saying all kinds of unprintable words.
6. AFIA ANIMWAA – I heard she is the treasurer of NUGS. She is the sexiest lady on campus. You just cannot resist it when you see her pass by. She is so jovial and friendly. One fascinating thing about her is that votes never seem to like her. She stood for SRC treasurer twice and seven other positions and lost them all. During those elections, I heard they brought all the best Photoshop experts on campus to work on a winning picture for her. Stillllllllllllllllllllllllll. Even with her current position, I heard she won by just one vote. Lucky her. I think she should rather be going for beauty pageants rather than political positions. With that she can win hands down. If you want to test her hotness level, try her.
7. SAMUEL SAGOE- it has come to me that he is the heard of the manufacturers and users of all the sleep inducing pillows we have on campus. I don’t want to believe that though. He is extremely handsome with some smile that dazes ladies. When he was initially disqualified from the vetting of an election which he thought he had won already, hell broke loose and all kinds of political demons descended on people allegedly responsible for that action. I don’t know if those political demons are gone back yet. If they are not, hmmmnnn! He eventually won the election and became the president. One fascinating thing about him is that he makes more promises than the vice president of Ghana does. As to if he really delivers on them is a homework for all my students in LOUD MOUTH TECHNOLOGY. But I know he does two things so well. He dresses so well and knows how to place the picture of his concubine nicely on his office table. They call him SOCIO SAGOE.
8. ERNESTINA AND SISTER EGG FRYING COMPANY – just walk to the Queens hall market and ask of Ernestina and her sister. If you are not careful you would think Queens keeps organizing their own type of a night of thousand laughs. These two ladies who are supposed to be frying eggs have almost every trick on this planet under their skirts. They have married every guy who purchases any of their eggs. If you are newly grabbed and you don’t take care, your girlfriend will leave you for cheating on her with an egg seller. They are so fascinating that you can’t just pass by them to another place to get fried eggs. Another fascinating thing about them is that one of the two is so small yet has a million stretch marks all over her body. Hmmmnnn! This loud mouth of mine will push me into trouble one day.
9. GYAN- please I am not referring to the footballer turned dancer and singer. I am talking about the alleged 20 million bribe rejecter. Eeissh! Do we still have honest people in the world like that? If any police man sees this gentleman, he will either curse him or shoot him down. Huge money like that paaaa, and you blow alarm. They call it CHUKING OF THE CENTURY. If this thing is really true, I think this guy should be made a life SRC vice president of this kingdom. Who in today’s corrupt world full of thieves and kleptomaniac will reject such an offer? He needs to be made a saint of the holy order of my kingdom. I will recommend him to the papacy as well.
10. Hhmmmn, this guy perhaps is the most fascinating of them all. He always has a funny look and walk like those robots in the famous cartoon, Dexter’s laboratory. His nose looks like that of Shaggy of Scooby Doo fame. He is the Afari Gyan of Katanga. When you meet him anywhere around Africa hall, he is called CHARLES, with emphasis on the last syllabus. When you meet him on the campus of Kumasi polytechnic, where he is a regular customer, he is called Mr. Henderson. In the house, he is called Atta. When he is in class, they call him PINOCCHIO. The man of many names. I heard that in his own hall, they call him PORNOCHIO. That’s dangerous. It’s not only his name that makes him interesting. He is on record to be tearing his boxer shorts apart every night. As to what makes him do that, I have no fair idea, but the name PORNOCHIO may perhaps give us a clue.
These are the people who make my kingdom so lively and interesting. If you don’t like them, don’t speak badly about them, because I love them so much. It is their different traits mingled with ours that makes the world an interesting place to. Watch out next time as I bring to you, the top ten hostel in Kumasi. Till I see you when I see you, blow time as never before.
NANA PROF. ANOKESE ANOPEASEM
PhD. KONKONSALOGY.
MSc. ROYAL DISSING.
TEN MOST FASCINATING PEOPLE ON CAMPUS.
The aged normally say, ‘though the polygamous father might not know the names of all his children, he knows the character of them all’. I seem to know all people who walk the length and breadth of my Kingdom of NUST. As I promise you, today I bring you the list of the top ten most fascinating people in no definite order. They are fascinating in their own ways.
1. NANA ATEMUDA - Until recently, I did not know I had such a nice and robust gentleman in my kingdom. I guess this name is a household name here. His name booms across the airwaves almost every minute. When you listen to him most times on radio, he is fond of doing one thing. Describing how horrible a girl he met looks. He does so well that you might think he is an artist. I started wondering how he looks like himself that makes him grade my daughters like that. So I sent my palace messengers to go and look for him. When I saw him, I liked what I saw. He is a dark, well built gentleman with a fine face. He has this atta mills-styled eyes and nice flesh folding on each other. That is the perfect gentleman. Hey, when he speaks, he does it with some extra-ordinary confidence. He has his own way of doing things and it has made him a force to reckon with in my kingdom here. KNUST without ATEMUDA is no going!
2. EKPOR ANYIMAH – ACKAH. This guy just blows my mind. I heard he is the head of one of my provinces with much notoriety. He speaks in tongues like he is the second in command to Angel Gabriel. When he is talking, you would hear what we call Locally Acquired Foreign Accent. He does it so well that you would think he was born in the Buckingham palace. What makes him fascinating is that he likes POSITIONS more than the Russians like vodka. Eiiish! Unless he doesn’t hear there is a vacant position. I heard he has even applied for the vacant PRO VC position on campus KNUST. Please if you have heard of any vacant position, kindly inform him. He might be interested. I hear he is also a wayside comedian. That’s nice of him. The jack of all positions. What happened to his quest to bring honour to KATANGA by becoming the NUGS president? I need someone to exorcise this son of mine from the spirit of positions.
3. S.K OPPONG – he was the immediate past SRC president or whatever. When you meet him for the first time, you see a fine, down to earth, smart thinking leader. However, when you go through his daily stories when he was in office, I am sure the very people who admitted him into this school regretted doing that. My big mouth will pronounce him the worst thing that ever happened to SRC presidency. At a point in time he was accusing evil spirits of taking students money which he placed under his carpet. He looks so innocent but more dangerous than the threats coming from Iran. He ended firing almost everyone in his administration and the interesting part was that, they still stayed in office. He never graduated from school as well. So what does it benefit a man when you mess up student affairs and money and you don’t get your degree? That is ASEM SEBE! I think he will make a good president one day.
4. CEO of CYBERTEK - I hope you know that printing house that has branches all over campus. That man loves money. He never closes. He works all day and all night. He gets a lot of money from that business. I love him for his hard work and the very good services he offer students. But come to think of it, where do all those monies go. He is just like General Mosquito. I guess you know what I am talking about. At least he should let his chale-wate rest small. Even if he owed more than the Ghanaian government he would have paid off his debts by now.
5. ERNESTO – CEO of THINK TWICE FOUNDATION- if you don’t know him, just take the pain of walking down to Katanga. His biography is implanted in the courtyard. This guy has stay in school far more than the four year stipulated period. He however was not able to break the record of SADDAM, the longest serving student of our time. He is an anti-birth preacher and calls himself, the president of Apakye Students Union (ASU). Don’t ask me what it is. When he was a student, he slept in his green car and did almost everything there. This same car turned into a private taxi during day time. He managed this life till he completed school. One thing that fascinated all of us he never held a book or entered a classroom. If you are looking for him, watch out for the dark man holding a Castle milk stout bottle and limping on one leg and saying all kinds of unprintable words.
6. AFIA ANIMWAA – I heard she is the treasurer of NUGS. She is the sexiest lady on campus. You just cannot resist it when you see her pass by. She is so jovial and friendly. One fascinating thing about her is that votes never seem to like her. She stood for SRC treasurer twice and seven other positions and lost them all. During those elections, I heard they brought all the best Photoshop experts on campus to work on a winning picture for her. Stillllllllllllllllllllllllll. Even with her current position, I heard she won by just one vote. Lucky her. I think she should rather be going for beauty pageants rather than political positions. With that she can win hands down. If you want to test her hotness level, try her.
7. SAMUEL SAGOE- it has come to me that he is the heard of the manufacturers and users of all the sleep inducing pillows we have on campus. I don’t want to believe that though. He is extremely handsome with some smile that dazes ladies. When he was initially disqualified from the vetting of an election which he thought he had won already, hell broke loose and all kinds of political demons descended on people allegedly responsible for that action. I don’t know if those political demons are gone back yet. If they are not, hmmmnnn! He eventually won the election and became the president. One fascinating thing about him is that he makes more promises than the vice president of Ghana does. As to if he really delivers on them is a homework for all my students in LOUD MOUTH TECHNOLOGY. But I know he does two things so well. He dresses so well and knows how to place the picture of his concubine nicely on his office table. They call him SOCIO SAGOE.
8. ERNESTINA AND SISTER EGG FRYING COMPANY – just walk to the Queens hall market and ask of Ernestina and her sister. If you are not careful you would think Queens keeps organizing their own type of a night of thousand laughs. These two ladies who are supposed to be frying eggs have almost every trick on this planet under their skirts. They have married every guy who purchases any of their eggs. If you are newly grabbed and you don’t take care, your girlfriend will leave you for cheating on her with an egg seller. They are so fascinating that you can’t just pass by them to another place to get fried eggs. Another fascinating thing about them is that one of the two is so small yet has a million stretch marks all over her body. Hmmmnnn! This loud mouth of mine will push me into trouble one day.
9. GYAN- please I am not referring to the footballer turned dancer and singer. I am talking about the alleged 20 million bribe rejecter. Eeissh! Do we still have honest people in the world like that? If any police man sees this gentleman, he will either curse him or shoot him down. Huge money like that paaaa, and you blow alarm. They call it CHUKING OF THE CENTURY. If this thing is really true, I think this guy should be made a life SRC vice president of this kingdom. Who in today’s corrupt world full of thieves and kleptomaniac will reject such an offer? He needs to be made a saint of the holy order of my kingdom. I will recommend him to the papacy as well.
10. Hhmmmn, this guy perhaps is the most fascinating of them all. He always has a funny look and walk like those robots in the famous cartoon, Dexter’s laboratory. His nose looks like that of Shaggy of Scooby Doo fame. He is the Afari Gyan of Katanga. When you meet him anywhere around Africa hall, he is called CHARLES, with emphasis on the last syllabus. When you meet him on the campus of Kumasi polytechnic, where he is a regular customer, he is called Mr. Henderson. In the house, he is called Atta. When he is in class, they call him PINOCCHIO. The man of many names. I heard that in his own hall, they call him PORNOCHIO. That’s dangerous. It’s not only his name that makes him interesting. He is on record to be tearing his boxer shorts apart every night. As to what makes him do that, I have no fair idea, but the name PORNOCHIO may perhaps give us a clue.
These are the people who make my kingdom so lively and interesting. If you don’t like them, don’t speak badly about them, because I love them so much. It is their different traits mingled with ours that makes the world an interesting place to. Watch out next time as I bring to you, the top ten hostel in Kumasi. Till I see you when I see you, blow time as never before.
NANA PROF. ANOKESE ANOPEASEM
PhD. KONKONSALOGY.
MSc. ROYAL DISSING.
MY TIME WILL COME
MY TIME WILL COME.
It was a warm but solemn Saturday night. I was seated in the KNUST Law auditorium with a very elegant princess by my side. It was the stage performance of the BBC award-winning play, ‘IN THE CHEST OF A WOMAN’. The play in itself was another show of the beautiful but complex African heritage. However before the play itself, there was a soul inspiring musical performance by two gentlemen. These two gentlemen with appealing voices and thought provoking lyrics did a song titled “MY TIME WILL COME”. The song simply talks about the difficulties some guys face on campus in their quest to win the heart of a beautiful damsel, all because they do not have some of the luxurious luxuries of life like cars, flashy and sophisticated electronic gadgets and other stuffs. The song continues that those unfortunate gentlemen can only watch as their heart desires are thrown to the wind. However the determined ones will always declare that ‘my time will come’. His time will come when he will be a big man and be cruising in better cars and even yachts. His time will come when he can afford to spread ten ladies at the same time at McDonalds. His time will come that he can pay for a movie just for two people at Silverbird or even have a larger cinema in his own house.
In the old country tune “COWARD OF THE COUNTY”, Kenny Rogers reiterated that, there is someone for everyone. I used to believe in that a lot until I stepped foot on campus. I used to believe that once you were a good looking guy, it was very easy getting any lady at all into your fold. However different stories exist on campus. One of such stories is the ‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST’ story. It is not just an ancient fable. It is happening. It surprises me when I see a very beautiful lady jilt her equally good looking boyfriend for a not so pleasant looking guy who has a nice car. Normally because of their cars you wouldn’t see the full length of their unpleasant figures and features. Worse of all, they normally hide behind sunglasses of huge sizes. That is our rendition of the beauty and the beast.
Is it the fault of anyone that these things are happening? Can someone tell me why ladies prefer guys with cars and other goodies of life? Is it love or sheer gold-digging? So when all those goodies are no more, what happens? Is it not also surprising that guys also behave the same way? If all guys want to go after just the beautiful girls, who should go after the not so elegant ones? If all guys are running from the very fat ladies, who should go and suffer the fate of carrying such load?
A lot of questions run through my mind when I think about love and relationship. Is love just about going to the movies and eating the not so palatable popcorns? Is it just about buying “panther” and shaking the bed and body like never before? Is it just about doing ‘anadwo ye de’?Is love about a one-sided comfort? Should love not transcend some physical boundaries? Is love not more expensive than a C-class Mercedes? As the song rolled in the auditorium, I just stole a quick glance at this epitome of beauty who was seated right beside me. The question that I asked myself was that should have a genuine feeling for this lady, would she reciprocate it, if I had no car or at least 1000 cedis in my bank account? It’s a question for another day.
Do we really look into the future when we are taking such lifetime decisions? One marriage that fascinates me so much is that of the Rawlingses. A young lady, a university graduate from the royal family of the Asante kingdom getting married to anO’level stop-over graduate, a common soldier and poor Ewe young man with no inheritance or promising future? Did Nana Konadu ever dream that she was actually getting married to a future president of Ghana? Did Michelle Obama know she was getting married to the most powerful man on earth when she agreed to Barack Obama’s love proposal?
Love is still a mystery that has not been unraveled but has been adulterated. It is now so difficult to figure out exactly what it really means. However, what we should not forget is that we live in a world which does not believe in fair play. The only rule that still works in this world is ‘SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST’. So next time someone snatches your sweetheart from your very hands with some mechanical advantage, just withdraw and re-draw your battle plans. Do you know what sucks in this world the most? It is to see the one you love, love someone else. It is like someone pushing a sharp two-edged dagger through your heart.
However the case may be, the world does not always give us what we want and it will forever remain unfair. I strongly believe though that if you fight so well and gallantly, you might win the heart of that beautiful princess or that charming prince who always melt your heart. Next time you are turned down because you cannot afford a luxurious gadget that will draw your dream girl or dream boy to you, just pause and say ‘MY TIME WILL COME’. That draws my mind to Doris Day’s “QUE SERA SERA, whatever will be, will be. The future is not ours to see. Let’s just wait patiently and see the future unfold before us. WHAT WILL BE WILL BE!!!
THIS PIECE IS DEDICATED TO EMMANUELLA NAA BESA NUNOO, a new friend whose company I am beginning to enjoy so much.
Courage Ahiati
courageislove@gmail.com
It was a warm but solemn Saturday night. I was seated in the KNUST Law auditorium with a very elegant princess by my side. It was the stage performance of the BBC award-winning play, ‘IN THE CHEST OF A WOMAN’. The play in itself was another show of the beautiful but complex African heritage. However before the play itself, there was a soul inspiring musical performance by two gentlemen. These two gentlemen with appealing voices and thought provoking lyrics did a song titled “MY TIME WILL COME”. The song simply talks about the difficulties some guys face on campus in their quest to win the heart of a beautiful damsel, all because they do not have some of the luxurious luxuries of life like cars, flashy and sophisticated electronic gadgets and other stuffs. The song continues that those unfortunate gentlemen can only watch as their heart desires are thrown to the wind. However the determined ones will always declare that ‘my time will come’. His time will come when he will be a big man and be cruising in better cars and even yachts. His time will come when he can afford to spread ten ladies at the same time at McDonalds. His time will come that he can pay for a movie just for two people at Silverbird or even have a larger cinema in his own house.
In the old country tune “COWARD OF THE COUNTY”, Kenny Rogers reiterated that, there is someone for everyone. I used to believe in that a lot until I stepped foot on campus. I used to believe that once you were a good looking guy, it was very easy getting any lady at all into your fold. However different stories exist on campus. One of such stories is the ‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST’ story. It is not just an ancient fable. It is happening. It surprises me when I see a very beautiful lady jilt her equally good looking boyfriend for a not so pleasant looking guy who has a nice car. Normally because of their cars you wouldn’t see the full length of their unpleasant figures and features. Worse of all, they normally hide behind sunglasses of huge sizes. That is our rendition of the beauty and the beast.
Is it the fault of anyone that these things are happening? Can someone tell me why ladies prefer guys with cars and other goodies of life? Is it love or sheer gold-digging? So when all those goodies are no more, what happens? Is it not also surprising that guys also behave the same way? If all guys want to go after just the beautiful girls, who should go after the not so elegant ones? If all guys are running from the very fat ladies, who should go and suffer the fate of carrying such load?
A lot of questions run through my mind when I think about love and relationship. Is love just about going to the movies and eating the not so palatable popcorns? Is it just about buying “panther” and shaking the bed and body like never before? Is it just about doing ‘anadwo ye de’?Is love about a one-sided comfort? Should love not transcend some physical boundaries? Is love not more expensive than a C-class Mercedes? As the song rolled in the auditorium, I just stole a quick glance at this epitome of beauty who was seated right beside me. The question that I asked myself was that should have a genuine feeling for this lady, would she reciprocate it, if I had no car or at least 1000 cedis in my bank account? It’s a question for another day.
Do we really look into the future when we are taking such lifetime decisions? One marriage that fascinates me so much is that of the Rawlingses. A young lady, a university graduate from the royal family of the Asante kingdom getting married to anO’level stop-over graduate, a common soldier and poor Ewe young man with no inheritance or promising future? Did Nana Konadu ever dream that she was actually getting married to a future president of Ghana? Did Michelle Obama know she was getting married to the most powerful man on earth when she agreed to Barack Obama’s love proposal?
Love is still a mystery that has not been unraveled but has been adulterated. It is now so difficult to figure out exactly what it really means. However, what we should not forget is that we live in a world which does not believe in fair play. The only rule that still works in this world is ‘SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST’. So next time someone snatches your sweetheart from your very hands with some mechanical advantage, just withdraw and re-draw your battle plans. Do you know what sucks in this world the most? It is to see the one you love, love someone else. It is like someone pushing a sharp two-edged dagger through your heart.
However the case may be, the world does not always give us what we want and it will forever remain unfair. I strongly believe though that if you fight so well and gallantly, you might win the heart of that beautiful princess or that charming prince who always melt your heart. Next time you are turned down because you cannot afford a luxurious gadget that will draw your dream girl or dream boy to you, just pause and say ‘MY TIME WILL COME’. That draws my mind to Doris Day’s “QUE SERA SERA, whatever will be, will be. The future is not ours to see. Let’s just wait patiently and see the future unfold before us. WHAT WILL BE WILL BE!!!
THIS PIECE IS DEDICATED TO EMMANUELLA NAA BESA NUNOO, a new friend whose company I am beginning to enjoy so much.
Courage Ahiati
courageislove@gmail.com
LOVE RELOADED PART TWO
LOVE RELOADED – PART TWO. THE PROPOSAL.
Kwasi Brookman read through his latest love story and a fine line of joy drew on his face. He screams, ‘this is a hit’. He types the script and prints it out. He reads over again, and it looked like finally, he was getting closer to his source of internal peace and real satisfaction. Off went the beep tone of his phone, signalling he has a new text message. He picks his phone, opens his inbox and a smile cut across his face. It was from that young lady, who has become the newest sensation in his life. Miriam Ashorkor is her name. Whatever the content of that message was, it might be some good news of a sort.
How come he is always thinking about this daughter of grandmother Eve day in, day out? Her beauty has hypnotised him. Her voice is as soothing as the sound of river Jordan. The dark and long typical African hair that descended down her back looked like placing the Eiffel tower of Paris in the middle of New York City. Her lips were as inviting as strawberry and as nice and full as the best description that can ever be given. Her face spat more elegance than California’s Golden Bridge. Her fair, slim and tender body were like the glorious days of the Biblical lily flower. Miriam was beauty epitomised.
Why will he be thinking about her so much? What was about her that has made him so speechless? Why is he always talking about her nowadays? Is she the one to come? Or he should keep waiting for the right time and the right person. Won’t it be too late? Is he not gradually pushing his heart unto the chopping board of another love butcher? What happened to his new found love for writing love stories? What was happening to him? Is it lust? Oh no! Has he not seen ladies like that before? Is it the mere instinct to just be friends with her or it was his life-long weakness that was reactivating itself? It was then that it dawned on him that he was in love with Miriam. ‘Oh Holy Jesus!’ he shouted. ‘Why me again and why this time?’
Kwasi Brookman is in love again. This time it is not a fat lady, which has become his trademark, but a slim lady. What should he do? Should he wait for all the signals? Should he go ahead and propose to her? Will she accept his heart and pamper it for him? Is she single? What if she says no? Won’t it affect his project work? Kwasi is burning up. His heart is on fire and who will quench this fire for him. A fire that is threatening to consume his very existence on earth. Is Miriam the right person for him? Will she not be a good companion?
He quickly remembered the title of one love story that he wrote when that girl with the half way dimple broke his heart, ‘FAINT HEART NEVER WINS FAIR LADY’. Added to that, he is a Katangee and his motto tells him not to rest until he achieves what he desires. He resolved to take the bull by the horn and the heart. He decided to pour waters from his pot of love unto the feet of Miriam. As to if she will bend down and take a sip or will chuckle and muddy the water, he had no fair idea. He picked his phone and started to dial her number. He realised his hands were shaking. He called and asks if she could come over. As typical of the magic that is tied to this damsel, she said she was on her way.
His mind started racing. How was he going to start? What will he even say? Should he say God revealed it to him that they should be bonded in holy matrimony? What if she gets angry and storms out of the room. What if she says she is not interested? Will he be able to look at her again? What if she says yes? What will he do after that? Hug her and give her the most passionate kiss ever? Should he kneel in front of her or he should relax on his bed?
As he waited for one of the most important hours of his current life, he whiled the time away by writing another love story. As he was about to conclude the story, he heard a gentle knock on his door. His heart missed ten beats at once. He straightened up and opens the door. The figure at the gate blurred his vision. Her beauty was too bright. The hug that followed worsened his case. She just fitted perfectly into his missing rib gap. She sat down majestically beside him and smiled at him. That smile dazed Kwasi.
Kwasi mustered courage and poured out his heart out to her. He did it amidst double beating of his heart, sweats and stammers. Finally he managed to at least make his desires known to her. After those few minutes that looked like eternity, he wiped his sweats and waited for a response from her. His heart stopped beating and was now pounding at triple speed. She cleared her throat with a face that showed no expression as she prepares to give a response to Kwasi. As she does that, Kwasi quickly puts down the last sentence of his love story, ‘THE BEAUTY OF A WOMAN IS NOT A GIFT TO MAN, BUT ONLY A BRIBE.
Dedicated to whom to may concern. Watch out for PART III
By: Courage Ahiati
Courageislove@gmail.com
Kwasi Brookman read through his latest love story and a fine line of joy drew on his face. He screams, ‘this is a hit’. He types the script and prints it out. He reads over again, and it looked like finally, he was getting closer to his source of internal peace and real satisfaction. Off went the beep tone of his phone, signalling he has a new text message. He picks his phone, opens his inbox and a smile cut across his face. It was from that young lady, who has become the newest sensation in his life. Miriam Ashorkor is her name. Whatever the content of that message was, it might be some good news of a sort.
How come he is always thinking about this daughter of grandmother Eve day in, day out? Her beauty has hypnotised him. Her voice is as soothing as the sound of river Jordan. The dark and long typical African hair that descended down her back looked like placing the Eiffel tower of Paris in the middle of New York City. Her lips were as inviting as strawberry and as nice and full as the best description that can ever be given. Her face spat more elegance than California’s Golden Bridge. Her fair, slim and tender body were like the glorious days of the Biblical lily flower. Miriam was beauty epitomised.
Why will he be thinking about her so much? What was about her that has made him so speechless? Why is he always talking about her nowadays? Is she the one to come? Or he should keep waiting for the right time and the right person. Won’t it be too late? Is he not gradually pushing his heart unto the chopping board of another love butcher? What happened to his new found love for writing love stories? What was happening to him? Is it lust? Oh no! Has he not seen ladies like that before? Is it the mere instinct to just be friends with her or it was his life-long weakness that was reactivating itself? It was then that it dawned on him that he was in love with Miriam. ‘Oh Holy Jesus!’ he shouted. ‘Why me again and why this time?’
Kwasi Brookman is in love again. This time it is not a fat lady, which has become his trademark, but a slim lady. What should he do? Should he wait for all the signals? Should he go ahead and propose to her? Will she accept his heart and pamper it for him? Is she single? What if she says no? Won’t it affect his project work? Kwasi is burning up. His heart is on fire and who will quench this fire for him. A fire that is threatening to consume his very existence on earth. Is Miriam the right person for him? Will she not be a good companion?
He quickly remembered the title of one love story that he wrote when that girl with the half way dimple broke his heart, ‘FAINT HEART NEVER WINS FAIR LADY’. Added to that, he is a Katangee and his motto tells him not to rest until he achieves what he desires. He resolved to take the bull by the horn and the heart. He decided to pour waters from his pot of love unto the feet of Miriam. As to if she will bend down and take a sip or will chuckle and muddy the water, he had no fair idea. He picked his phone and started to dial her number. He realised his hands were shaking. He called and asks if she could come over. As typical of the magic that is tied to this damsel, she said she was on her way.
His mind started racing. How was he going to start? What will he even say? Should he say God revealed it to him that they should be bonded in holy matrimony? What if she gets angry and storms out of the room. What if she says she is not interested? Will he be able to look at her again? What if she says yes? What will he do after that? Hug her and give her the most passionate kiss ever? Should he kneel in front of her or he should relax on his bed?
As he waited for one of the most important hours of his current life, he whiled the time away by writing another love story. As he was about to conclude the story, he heard a gentle knock on his door. His heart missed ten beats at once. He straightened up and opens the door. The figure at the gate blurred his vision. Her beauty was too bright. The hug that followed worsened his case. She just fitted perfectly into his missing rib gap. She sat down majestically beside him and smiled at him. That smile dazed Kwasi.
Kwasi mustered courage and poured out his heart out to her. He did it amidst double beating of his heart, sweats and stammers. Finally he managed to at least make his desires known to her. After those few minutes that looked like eternity, he wiped his sweats and waited for a response from her. His heart stopped beating and was now pounding at triple speed. She cleared her throat with a face that showed no expression as she prepares to give a response to Kwasi. As she does that, Kwasi quickly puts down the last sentence of his love story, ‘THE BEAUTY OF A WOMAN IS NOT A GIFT TO MAN, BUT ONLY A BRIBE.
Dedicated to whom to may concern. Watch out for PART III
By: Courage Ahiati
Courageislove@gmail.com
LOVE RELOADED PART ONE
LOVE RELOADED; THE WOES OF A SUITOR.
Kwasi Brookman is his name. He is extremely handsome and has got the Midas touch. He has numerous female friends and is seen as a darling boy of ladies both on campus and outside. Unfortunately, he has not been able to win the heart of any of them. They are all his babies but he cannot make any of them his angel. Try as much as he had, none of them seemed to be prepared to give her heart to him. Yet still they all love him and always want to be around him.
The clock is ticking louder and much faster for Kwasi. He is in his final year and would be leaving the walls of the university very soon. Are all his toils going down the drains? He has carried chairs and buckets of water for three years for different kinds of ladies. He has made time for each of his female friends. He had provided a shoulder for them to cry on when they need arose. He had gone to the movies together with them and helped them with their assignments for three years. He has done almost what a perfect gentleman will do for a lady he loves. He has spent time making all these ladies happy to the extent of even them cracking their ribs.
Today, as Kwasi sits in the discomfort of his room, numerous unanswerable questions flood his mind. Where did he go wrong? Don’t ladies love good guys? Are they scared because of his numerous female friends? Is it his destiny that is playing pranks on him or it is life that is lashing him unduly? Will he ever get answers to these questions? Would someone pop out of the blue and sweep him off his feet? Will someone excite his heart and give him the opportunity to make her, his angel?
Annoyingly enough, all his female friends have got boyfriends. Anytime their boyfriends are around them, Kwasi is not relevant. They forget totally about him. When they coincidentally meet him on the way, they only wave him with their fragile left hands and with wicked smiles. When he calls their phones, their boyfriends pick it up and scare the hell out of him. The moment their boyfriends pull away for a minute, they put undue pressure on Kwasi to play that role of a perfect lover and fill the gap for the real owners. He has therefore become a stop-gap lover. If he fails to do that, hell will break loose on him. Surprisingly enough, a weakness in Kwasi makes it difficult for him to turn his back towards them. He seems to have an unflinching love for his female friends. Is it that Kwasi doesn’t know what he wants in life or destiny demands that Kwasi stays single.
All the sausages he had bought, the call cards he had purchased, the “anadwo ye ders” he had done. He recalls the night walks with some of them along the serene and lonely streets of campus. He remembers vividly how Akosua used to play with the hair on his chest. He reminisces those times he will share Nourisher fruit drink and ‘kelewele’ with Oforiwaa. Or is it because he is so much linked to Katanga? Is it the fear that he has a spiritual inclination towards a hall that has so many mysteries surrounding it that scares the ladies away? Is he not so hardworking and so friendly at church?
Kwasi is so heartbroken. He looks at his Facebook friendship list and it is full of ladies. A look at their various pages, and they all are in relationships. Gosh! He must not allow this to continue. He must stop this continues shredding apart of his heart. He must find a permanent solution to this problem. It is this that leads him to what he loves most. Something that will not break his heart. Something that gives him inner satisfaction and boost his ego. He decides to keep more to himself and write about utopia love stories. Writing brings much joy to his heart, joy that cannot be injured. The beauty of life comes smiling back as his ink transfers unto the sheets of paper. If he cannot live the love life that he dreams of, at least he can write about it.
Just as he had almost forgotten all about those girls who have brought more pain to his heart than joy, this angel of a human being appears on the scene. Her beauty has hypnotized him and her very presence has charmed him. Is this going to happen to him again? Is she real? Will she stay? Is she the one to come or he should wait for the Messiah? Is she single or she is engaged just like the others? Is she also a heart breaker or she has come to join the pieces of his heart together and give them a magic healing.
As he thinks about her, he hurriedly puts down the last sentence of his latest love story, ‘THE MOST PAINFUL THING IN LIFE IS TO SEE THE ONE YOU LOVE, LOVING SOMEONE ELSE’
NB: Dedicated to all who find a part of them in this story.
By: Courage Ahiati
courageislove@gmail.com
Kwasi Brookman is his name. He is extremely handsome and has got the Midas touch. He has numerous female friends and is seen as a darling boy of ladies both on campus and outside. Unfortunately, he has not been able to win the heart of any of them. They are all his babies but he cannot make any of them his angel. Try as much as he had, none of them seemed to be prepared to give her heart to him. Yet still they all love him and always want to be around him.
The clock is ticking louder and much faster for Kwasi. He is in his final year and would be leaving the walls of the university very soon. Are all his toils going down the drains? He has carried chairs and buckets of water for three years for different kinds of ladies. He has made time for each of his female friends. He had provided a shoulder for them to cry on when they need arose. He had gone to the movies together with them and helped them with their assignments for three years. He has done almost what a perfect gentleman will do for a lady he loves. He has spent time making all these ladies happy to the extent of even them cracking their ribs.
Today, as Kwasi sits in the discomfort of his room, numerous unanswerable questions flood his mind. Where did he go wrong? Don’t ladies love good guys? Are they scared because of his numerous female friends? Is it his destiny that is playing pranks on him or it is life that is lashing him unduly? Will he ever get answers to these questions? Would someone pop out of the blue and sweep him off his feet? Will someone excite his heart and give him the opportunity to make her, his angel?
Annoyingly enough, all his female friends have got boyfriends. Anytime their boyfriends are around them, Kwasi is not relevant. They forget totally about him. When they coincidentally meet him on the way, they only wave him with their fragile left hands and with wicked smiles. When he calls their phones, their boyfriends pick it up and scare the hell out of him. The moment their boyfriends pull away for a minute, they put undue pressure on Kwasi to play that role of a perfect lover and fill the gap for the real owners. He has therefore become a stop-gap lover. If he fails to do that, hell will break loose on him. Surprisingly enough, a weakness in Kwasi makes it difficult for him to turn his back towards them. He seems to have an unflinching love for his female friends. Is it that Kwasi doesn’t know what he wants in life or destiny demands that Kwasi stays single.
All the sausages he had bought, the call cards he had purchased, the “anadwo ye ders” he had done. He recalls the night walks with some of them along the serene and lonely streets of campus. He remembers vividly how Akosua used to play with the hair on his chest. He reminisces those times he will share Nourisher fruit drink and ‘kelewele’ with Oforiwaa. Or is it because he is so much linked to Katanga? Is it the fear that he has a spiritual inclination towards a hall that has so many mysteries surrounding it that scares the ladies away? Is he not so hardworking and so friendly at church?
Kwasi is so heartbroken. He looks at his Facebook friendship list and it is full of ladies. A look at their various pages, and they all are in relationships. Gosh! He must not allow this to continue. He must stop this continues shredding apart of his heart. He must find a permanent solution to this problem. It is this that leads him to what he loves most. Something that will not break his heart. Something that gives him inner satisfaction and boost his ego. He decides to keep more to himself and write about utopia love stories. Writing brings much joy to his heart, joy that cannot be injured. The beauty of life comes smiling back as his ink transfers unto the sheets of paper. If he cannot live the love life that he dreams of, at least he can write about it.
Just as he had almost forgotten all about those girls who have brought more pain to his heart than joy, this angel of a human being appears on the scene. Her beauty has hypnotized him and her very presence has charmed him. Is this going to happen to him again? Is she real? Will she stay? Is she the one to come or he should wait for the Messiah? Is she single or she is engaged just like the others? Is she also a heart breaker or she has come to join the pieces of his heart together and give them a magic healing.
As he thinks about her, he hurriedly puts down the last sentence of his latest love story, ‘THE MOST PAINFUL THING IN LIFE IS TO SEE THE ONE YOU LOVE, LOVING SOMEONE ELSE’
NB: Dedicated to all who find a part of them in this story.
By: Courage Ahiati
courageislove@gmail.com
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
THE PHENOMENON OF OUR MALE HALLS
THE PHENOMENON OF OUR MALE HALLS.
The university is undoubtedly every Ghanaian student’s dream destination. Over the years, a lot of private universities have sprung up to augment the effort of the few public ones across the country. One phenomenal characteristic of the public universities is the presence of all-male and all-female residential halls on their campuses. There are quite a number of mixed-sex halls but their significance or prominence compared to the single sex halls is quite negligible. Whilst famous female halls like VOLTA HALL and AFRICA HALL seek to support the fight for women empowerment, their male counterparts who prefer to be referred to as SUPERPOWERS seek to defend and protect the rights and interests of students. These male halls seem to have created territories for themselves where they rule supreme. UNIVERSITY HALL, popularly known as KATANGA has KNUST as their territory and they reign supreme. COMMONWEALTH HALL holds the reins in whole University of Ghana, whilst CASELY HAYFORD HALL (CASFORD) dictates the rules on UCC campus.
These three halls especially (VANDALS, KATANGA, and CASFORD) are always in the news. Unfortunately, they are hardly in the news for the good reasons. They have gone through almost all punitive measures that can be found under the strict laws of any tertiary institution but they seem to die hard. The question is why would the university authorities maintain these male halls if all they do is cause mayhem, vandalise properties, harass people and tarnish the hard won reputations of our public institutions as we are been forced to believe?
A careful and objective look into the activities of these male halls will let one know that they play very vital roles in the lives of students and the universities as a whole. It has become very evident over the years that our Students Representative Councils, the National Union of Ghana Students and its local peripherals and others of that caste have become avenues for grooming entrepreneurs, corrupt leaders and political sycophants of the highest order. The interests of students have been traded cheaply than a sachet of salt on a cheap tray. The only beam of hope for students nationwide over the years has been these SUPERPOWERS, as they choose to call themselves. Honestly, they have been able to hold the forts despite all the intimidations, victimization and all other kinds of power plays from the authorities that be.
Typical examples are the fight against the infamous residential policy in Legon, spearheaded by Commonwealth; the activities of Katanga leading to the establishment of a students clinic (the first of its kind) and the increase in the number of taxis on campus from 27 to almost 100 and a whole lot of other changes that the presence and long standing traditions of these halls have brought to bear on the university communities. To sum it up, they have upheld students’ activism. They have equally produced a lot of human resources for this country. If for nothing at all, we should appreciate KATANGA for giving us an IGP and VANDAL CITY for giving us a VICE PRESIDENT.
Despite the un-captured and unappreciated good deeds of the superpowers, their existence seems to face an all time risk in the wake of the COMMONWEALTH vrs LEGON saga. Should the authorities succeed, it will mean the collapse of a strong students’ front in our premier university. Prophetically speaking, should it be successful, the other universities will follow suit with supersonic speed and thread-sized excuses and reasons. Should such unfortunate action take place, it would not surprise me that exploitation and gross abuse of student rights and interest would become the order of the day. I pray that such a day never comes.
This is the more reason why students nationwide must come together to lend a hand of support to our brothers in their quest to make sure the truth stands. Despite all their excesses which I admit are unnecessary at times, their demise means the demise of a formidable students’ front. In these times when our SRCs have become political puppets and money-making ventures, we can not afford to see our only saviours crucified for very flimsy reasons. In as much as one would not condone indiscipline on our university campuses, we must not tolerate the incessant exploitation and frequent abuse of students’ rights.
However my advice to the superpowers is that they should be dynamic and change with time. It is very important that though we have long standing traditions, we polish them to suit accepted standards. It would be very prudent if we use more intellectual approaches when fighting for our rights. The most powerful people in this world are those who are able to operate within the confines of the law without breaking it. When wit and vision are used in the management of these halls which are very volatile, authorities will come to fear and respect students and will not have excuses to use against these halls and students in general. There are very obsolete practices of these halls that are not relevant in today’s world. Until we are ready to do away with some of these not so pleasant practices, we risk being extinguished from the surface of our tertiary institutions.
The case of COMMONWEALTH HALL should also be a well of lessons for all other student bodies that no one is above the law. Indiscipline should not be tolerated in any form. The perpetrators of that alleged disgraceful act should be smoked out and punished. To add to that, it is time we say goodbye to violent rivalries between student bodies. The grey hairs always say a house divided against itself can never stand. It is time we propagate intellectual rivalry and put a stop to nonsensical issues that will draw us to the stone-throwing battlefields. It does not augur well for education in tranquility.
All these happenings should be a wake up call to NUGS and our various SRCs to be up and doing. Students are tired of the boot lickers, the political puppets, the tribal parasites and the intellectual thieves who have invaded our leadership offices and never dream of the interests and grievances of those who put them there. VANDALS, as your motto says, arise and let TRUTH stand on your campus. CASFORDIANS, with truth and courage, defend the cause of students without getting weary or detracted. FELLOW KATANGEES, REST NOT in your quest to see the utopia you always dream of, where students’ right will be respected and not exploited. However, in the process of doing this, do not lose sight of the timeless Biblical counsel; be as gentle as the dove but as wise as the serpent.
NB: This article was originally published in the 22nd July edition of the Daily Graphic.
COURAGE AHIATI.
Courage354@yahoo.co.uk
Couragesdiary.blogspot.com
The writer is a former GENERAL SECRETARY of the JUNIOR COMMON ROOM of UNIVERSITY HALL (KATANGA) and a Political Science student of KNUST.
The university is undoubtedly every Ghanaian student’s dream destination. Over the years, a lot of private universities have sprung up to augment the effort of the few public ones across the country. One phenomenal characteristic of the public universities is the presence of all-male and all-female residential halls on their campuses. There are quite a number of mixed-sex halls but their significance or prominence compared to the single sex halls is quite negligible. Whilst famous female halls like VOLTA HALL and AFRICA HALL seek to support the fight for women empowerment, their male counterparts who prefer to be referred to as SUPERPOWERS seek to defend and protect the rights and interests of students. These male halls seem to have created territories for themselves where they rule supreme. UNIVERSITY HALL, popularly known as KATANGA has KNUST as their territory and they reign supreme. COMMONWEALTH HALL holds the reins in whole University of Ghana, whilst CASELY HAYFORD HALL (CASFORD) dictates the rules on UCC campus.
These three halls especially (VANDALS, KATANGA, and CASFORD) are always in the news. Unfortunately, they are hardly in the news for the good reasons. They have gone through almost all punitive measures that can be found under the strict laws of any tertiary institution but they seem to die hard. The question is why would the university authorities maintain these male halls if all they do is cause mayhem, vandalise properties, harass people and tarnish the hard won reputations of our public institutions as we are been forced to believe?
A careful and objective look into the activities of these male halls will let one know that they play very vital roles in the lives of students and the universities as a whole. It has become very evident over the years that our Students Representative Councils, the National Union of Ghana Students and its local peripherals and others of that caste have become avenues for grooming entrepreneurs, corrupt leaders and political sycophants of the highest order. The interests of students have been traded cheaply than a sachet of salt on a cheap tray. The only beam of hope for students nationwide over the years has been these SUPERPOWERS, as they choose to call themselves. Honestly, they have been able to hold the forts despite all the intimidations, victimization and all other kinds of power plays from the authorities that be.
Typical examples are the fight against the infamous residential policy in Legon, spearheaded by Commonwealth; the activities of Katanga leading to the establishment of a students clinic (the first of its kind) and the increase in the number of taxis on campus from 27 to almost 100 and a whole lot of other changes that the presence and long standing traditions of these halls have brought to bear on the university communities. To sum it up, they have upheld students’ activism. They have equally produced a lot of human resources for this country. If for nothing at all, we should appreciate KATANGA for giving us an IGP and VANDAL CITY for giving us a VICE PRESIDENT.
Despite the un-captured and unappreciated good deeds of the superpowers, their existence seems to face an all time risk in the wake of the COMMONWEALTH vrs LEGON saga. Should the authorities succeed, it will mean the collapse of a strong students’ front in our premier university. Prophetically speaking, should it be successful, the other universities will follow suit with supersonic speed and thread-sized excuses and reasons. Should such unfortunate action take place, it would not surprise me that exploitation and gross abuse of student rights and interest would become the order of the day. I pray that such a day never comes.
This is the more reason why students nationwide must come together to lend a hand of support to our brothers in their quest to make sure the truth stands. Despite all their excesses which I admit are unnecessary at times, their demise means the demise of a formidable students’ front. In these times when our SRCs have become political puppets and money-making ventures, we can not afford to see our only saviours crucified for very flimsy reasons. In as much as one would not condone indiscipline on our university campuses, we must not tolerate the incessant exploitation and frequent abuse of students’ rights.
However my advice to the superpowers is that they should be dynamic and change with time. It is very important that though we have long standing traditions, we polish them to suit accepted standards. It would be very prudent if we use more intellectual approaches when fighting for our rights. The most powerful people in this world are those who are able to operate within the confines of the law without breaking it. When wit and vision are used in the management of these halls which are very volatile, authorities will come to fear and respect students and will not have excuses to use against these halls and students in general. There are very obsolete practices of these halls that are not relevant in today’s world. Until we are ready to do away with some of these not so pleasant practices, we risk being extinguished from the surface of our tertiary institutions.
The case of COMMONWEALTH HALL should also be a well of lessons for all other student bodies that no one is above the law. Indiscipline should not be tolerated in any form. The perpetrators of that alleged disgraceful act should be smoked out and punished. To add to that, it is time we say goodbye to violent rivalries between student bodies. The grey hairs always say a house divided against itself can never stand. It is time we propagate intellectual rivalry and put a stop to nonsensical issues that will draw us to the stone-throwing battlefields. It does not augur well for education in tranquility.
All these happenings should be a wake up call to NUGS and our various SRCs to be up and doing. Students are tired of the boot lickers, the political puppets, the tribal parasites and the intellectual thieves who have invaded our leadership offices and never dream of the interests and grievances of those who put them there. VANDALS, as your motto says, arise and let TRUTH stand on your campus. CASFORDIANS, with truth and courage, defend the cause of students without getting weary or detracted. FELLOW KATANGEES, REST NOT in your quest to see the utopia you always dream of, where students’ right will be respected and not exploited. However, in the process of doing this, do not lose sight of the timeless Biblical counsel; be as gentle as the dove but as wise as the serpent.
NB: This article was originally published in the 22nd July edition of the Daily Graphic.
COURAGE AHIATI.
Courage354@yahoo.co.uk
Couragesdiary.blogspot.com
The writer is a former GENERAL SECRETARY of the JUNIOR COMMON ROOM of UNIVERSITY HALL (KATANGA) and a Political Science student of KNUST.
WAS METHUSELAH EVER WISER THAN SOLOMON?
WAS METHUSELAH EVER WISER THAN SOLOMON?
.... The “wait for your turn hymn”
Ghana is a country with very wonderful stories and captivating events. There is this unsubstantiated general perception that we are the second nation loved and blessed by God aside the state of Israel. As funny as it sounds, a lot of people have strong belief in that. It gets deeper in football seasons especially, when we manage a win through a last minute penalty. That is Ghana for you.
One recurring question I keep asking myself is, do we even pick some few lessons from the great Biblical stories of the nation that we compare ourselves to? Two people in the Bible who normally draw attention on the streets of Ghana are Methuselah and King Solomon. Methuselah is the oldest man to walk the surface of this earth. He lived on earth for almost one millennium (969 years). Surprisingly enough, a glance through the Holy book paints only a faint picture of him. His name was only mentioned in the genealogy from Adam to Noah. Not even a single story was written on any aspect of his life. The only honours he had was the mention of his name and his record-breaking age.
The other personality in perspective, King Solomon did not live up to even a quarter of the years of grandpapa Methuselah. However, Solomon had a number of Biblical chapters talking about him. His unprecedented wisdom, wealth, service to God, good governance and on a low key, love for women were written boldly in the Bible. The 969 years of Methuselah attracted only three sentences to his credit. The rather short stint of Solomon however was credited with several chapters of the Bible. Does this short analysis paint any picture in our minds?
There is this very worrying trend in this country and others where it is strongly believed that until someone spots grey hairs, he cannot and will not be capable of handling certain positions and making certain decisions. This anti-youth syndrome seems never to go away despite the popular saying that ‘the age of Methuselah has got nothing to do with the wisdom of Solomon’. One infamous saying today especially in our political circles is ‘wait for your turn’. As a young adult who believes in youth power, this entrenched stand of our older generation is quiet worrying and the earlier they come to the realisation that the world is changing with supersonic speed, the better it would be for us all.
A very evident generational gap which results from the struggle for power must be addressed as soon as applicable. I would however want to make a point for the younger generation. As biased as my views might be in favour of my generation, any one with objectivity would to a larger extent agree with my inclination.
Despite the conviction that the youth are predominantly reckless and exuberant, and are very naive to handle very vital roles in our society, the youth have proved otherwise. We still give the older generation the benefit to still occupy those positions. The multi-billion cedi question I ask is, have the older generation proved their worth?
Was the African leader of the millennium, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah not a youth when he took the whole world by storm? Are his dreams for a better Africa which was thought to be ambitious and full of youthfulness not the guiding principles of the European Union today? A jump outside the continent will land us perhaps on the famous Bernabue stadium of Real Madrid. Have you wandered where the new excitement in that football club is stemming from? It is just because a young gentleman decided to pitch his youthful exuberance against the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. Surprisingly enough he has succeeded and has therefore overshadowed the likes of them.
Another youth worth mentioning, is one man whose magic the whole world cannot resist. The mention of his name or just a slight presence of his face puts the world into a kind of excitement. Was Madiba, as he is popularly called in his hometown, not a young man when he spearheaded the fight against apartheid? Did his youthfulness or tender age prevent him from achieving that ambitious objective? The football legend, George Oppong Weah despite his lack of grey hairs then, was able to unite in his own way a country that has been through one of the worst human atrocities ever. He never won the presidency but he did more than many older people to bring back the people of Liberia together. He was a young man then. Have young people not proven themselves in the past with all these examples?
Currently the world is running at a supersonic speed and it seems our older folks cannot keep up with the race. That is why it is prudent to hand over the baton to the more energetic ones who can keep up with the speed of the world. Most developed nations have received this message already and are putting it into effect.
United States, the most powerful nation on earth with very complex governance system and an integral part of this world have placed their destinies into the hands of a young man who is not even up to fifty years yet. As if that is not enough, perhaps the most conservative country on earth, Britain, just elected an extremely young man to be their Prime Minister. Russia, another force to reckon with in world politics also has a young man for a president, totally deviating from the eras of Boris Yelstin and his contemporaries. Do these trends not ring a bell?
Barclays Bank Ghana has as its Managing Director, a young man who is determined to succeed. If a British originated bank can give a young Ghanaian that opportunity to prove the worth of the Ghanaian youth, which I think he has done, what in God’s kingdom are our own indigenous companies and agencies waiting for? During the 2008 elections, one would realise that the old guards of the political parties had little to do when the rather energetic and ambitious youths took over. Is it not evident even in our present government that the young ministers are performing marvellously well, whilst little is seen of the so-called old political gurus? Does the bell ring louder now?
It is time we give the Ghanaian youth the chance to prove his worth. There is a general attitude in our society, especially our workplaces which is very abhorring. This attitude normally puts its head up when university students are on internship or newly employed. They tend to face all kinds of hostile behaviours from older folks just because of the fear that, these guys might take over their positions. Another trend is how most of our public and civil servant alter their dates of births just to stay longer in their various workplaces, thereby blocking the chances of various graduates coming with fresh and updated ideas. How is it therefore not surprising that in this age of technological advancement, typewriters are still used in our big offices and our law courts?
It is not to say that our older folks have out-spent their usefulness. They form an integral part of the developmental agenda of Ghana. However if we are able to blend the experience of our fathers with the energy and updated knowledge of our sons, we will get a formidable force to propel this wonderful nation forward. In as much as I have touted a number of youthful leaders who made positive impacts, I am not oblivious of the likes of Adolf Hitler, Charles Taylor and the like who plunged the world into untold stories with unguided youthful exuberance. That is why we will need the older generation around to guide the younger ones to steer the ship to dock safely.
This is a clarion call to the youth of Ghana. Let us arise and take up our rightful positions in society. The rather apathetic stand we have taken is a dangerous weapon that will only ruin us. In our churches, educational institutions, companies, chieftaincy and other endeavours of life, let us take up the mantle. With wise counsel from the older generation and with a sense of purpose and determination, we shall live up to expectation. We must not wait for our turn any longer. The water might not be flowing by then. Let us not forget Apostle Paul’s advice to Timothy in the Bible, ‘let no one despise your youth’. IT IS OUR TIME!
By: COURAGE AHIATI
courageislove@gmail.com.
Courage354@yahoo.co.uk
Couragesdiary.blogspot.com
The writer is a Political Science student of KNUST
.... The “wait for your turn hymn”
Ghana is a country with very wonderful stories and captivating events. There is this unsubstantiated general perception that we are the second nation loved and blessed by God aside the state of Israel. As funny as it sounds, a lot of people have strong belief in that. It gets deeper in football seasons especially, when we manage a win through a last minute penalty. That is Ghana for you.
One recurring question I keep asking myself is, do we even pick some few lessons from the great Biblical stories of the nation that we compare ourselves to? Two people in the Bible who normally draw attention on the streets of Ghana are Methuselah and King Solomon. Methuselah is the oldest man to walk the surface of this earth. He lived on earth for almost one millennium (969 years). Surprisingly enough, a glance through the Holy book paints only a faint picture of him. His name was only mentioned in the genealogy from Adam to Noah. Not even a single story was written on any aspect of his life. The only honours he had was the mention of his name and his record-breaking age.
The other personality in perspective, King Solomon did not live up to even a quarter of the years of grandpapa Methuselah. However, Solomon had a number of Biblical chapters talking about him. His unprecedented wisdom, wealth, service to God, good governance and on a low key, love for women were written boldly in the Bible. The 969 years of Methuselah attracted only three sentences to his credit. The rather short stint of Solomon however was credited with several chapters of the Bible. Does this short analysis paint any picture in our minds?
There is this very worrying trend in this country and others where it is strongly believed that until someone spots grey hairs, he cannot and will not be capable of handling certain positions and making certain decisions. This anti-youth syndrome seems never to go away despite the popular saying that ‘the age of Methuselah has got nothing to do with the wisdom of Solomon’. One infamous saying today especially in our political circles is ‘wait for your turn’. As a young adult who believes in youth power, this entrenched stand of our older generation is quiet worrying and the earlier they come to the realisation that the world is changing with supersonic speed, the better it would be for us all.
A very evident generational gap which results from the struggle for power must be addressed as soon as applicable. I would however want to make a point for the younger generation. As biased as my views might be in favour of my generation, any one with objectivity would to a larger extent agree with my inclination.
Despite the conviction that the youth are predominantly reckless and exuberant, and are very naive to handle very vital roles in our society, the youth have proved otherwise. We still give the older generation the benefit to still occupy those positions. The multi-billion cedi question I ask is, have the older generation proved their worth?
Was the African leader of the millennium, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah not a youth when he took the whole world by storm? Are his dreams for a better Africa which was thought to be ambitious and full of youthfulness not the guiding principles of the European Union today? A jump outside the continent will land us perhaps on the famous Bernabue stadium of Real Madrid. Have you wandered where the new excitement in that football club is stemming from? It is just because a young gentleman decided to pitch his youthful exuberance against the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. Surprisingly enough he has succeeded and has therefore overshadowed the likes of them.
Another youth worth mentioning, is one man whose magic the whole world cannot resist. The mention of his name or just a slight presence of his face puts the world into a kind of excitement. Was Madiba, as he is popularly called in his hometown, not a young man when he spearheaded the fight against apartheid? Did his youthfulness or tender age prevent him from achieving that ambitious objective? The football legend, George Oppong Weah despite his lack of grey hairs then, was able to unite in his own way a country that has been through one of the worst human atrocities ever. He never won the presidency but he did more than many older people to bring back the people of Liberia together. He was a young man then. Have young people not proven themselves in the past with all these examples?
Currently the world is running at a supersonic speed and it seems our older folks cannot keep up with the race. That is why it is prudent to hand over the baton to the more energetic ones who can keep up with the speed of the world. Most developed nations have received this message already and are putting it into effect.
United States, the most powerful nation on earth with very complex governance system and an integral part of this world have placed their destinies into the hands of a young man who is not even up to fifty years yet. As if that is not enough, perhaps the most conservative country on earth, Britain, just elected an extremely young man to be their Prime Minister. Russia, another force to reckon with in world politics also has a young man for a president, totally deviating from the eras of Boris Yelstin and his contemporaries. Do these trends not ring a bell?
Barclays Bank Ghana has as its Managing Director, a young man who is determined to succeed. If a British originated bank can give a young Ghanaian that opportunity to prove the worth of the Ghanaian youth, which I think he has done, what in God’s kingdom are our own indigenous companies and agencies waiting for? During the 2008 elections, one would realise that the old guards of the political parties had little to do when the rather energetic and ambitious youths took over. Is it not evident even in our present government that the young ministers are performing marvellously well, whilst little is seen of the so-called old political gurus? Does the bell ring louder now?
It is time we give the Ghanaian youth the chance to prove his worth. There is a general attitude in our society, especially our workplaces which is very abhorring. This attitude normally puts its head up when university students are on internship or newly employed. They tend to face all kinds of hostile behaviours from older folks just because of the fear that, these guys might take over their positions. Another trend is how most of our public and civil servant alter their dates of births just to stay longer in their various workplaces, thereby blocking the chances of various graduates coming with fresh and updated ideas. How is it therefore not surprising that in this age of technological advancement, typewriters are still used in our big offices and our law courts?
It is not to say that our older folks have out-spent their usefulness. They form an integral part of the developmental agenda of Ghana. However if we are able to blend the experience of our fathers with the energy and updated knowledge of our sons, we will get a formidable force to propel this wonderful nation forward. In as much as I have touted a number of youthful leaders who made positive impacts, I am not oblivious of the likes of Adolf Hitler, Charles Taylor and the like who plunged the world into untold stories with unguided youthful exuberance. That is why we will need the older generation around to guide the younger ones to steer the ship to dock safely.
This is a clarion call to the youth of Ghana. Let us arise and take up our rightful positions in society. The rather apathetic stand we have taken is a dangerous weapon that will only ruin us. In our churches, educational institutions, companies, chieftaincy and other endeavours of life, let us take up the mantle. With wise counsel from the older generation and with a sense of purpose and determination, we shall live up to expectation. We must not wait for our turn any longer. The water might not be flowing by then. Let us not forget Apostle Paul’s advice to Timothy in the Bible, ‘let no one despise your youth’. IT IS OUR TIME!
By: COURAGE AHIATI
courageislove@gmail.com.
Courage354@yahoo.co.uk
Couragesdiary.blogspot.com
The writer is a Political Science student of KNUST
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