Renowned Reggae Musician Blakk Rasta Releases New Album " Kuchoko in US

By: Ruth Abla Adjorlolo

Renowned Ghanaian reggae musican, Abubakar Ahmed popularly called Blakk Rasta, has launched his new album, "Kuchoko Revolution" under the international records label, VP at the University of Central Missouri in the United States of America, USA.

The launch, which was attended by a good number of people including Faculty Deans, Heads of Department and students of the University of Central Missouri, also witnessed an amazing stagecraft with the artist selling Ghana and its rich culture via his apparel on stage.

The artist also exhibited his creative acumen when he performed most of his popular tunes and songs on his latest album with an all-white student band except one black person, who was picked randomly from the audience.

Blakk Rasta, who is the first African to be signed to the internationally-acclaimed VP Records, with Stonebwoy and Black Prophet – is gunning for consideration and possible nomination at the Grammys.

The artist is also planning to hold another album launch in Ghana, somewhere in April.

Blakk Rasta has been in the USA for the past weeks, lecturing at the University of Central Missouri, where he is tutoring students on various subjects such as World Religions, Afrikana Studies and Environmental Sciences.

His lectures got the schools talking as the administration and students expressed appreciation and admired his prowess and articulation in such a wide range of subjects. 

The musician's lecturing skills even got the University to nick-name him the ‘walking encyclopedia’ due to the fact that, he is the only lecturer who does not use a power point setup in his presentations and lectures without looking into books or prepared material.

It has been quite awhile since the award-winning radio personality and musician, was heard on radio.

Although his legion of radio followers may not be amused about his absence on radio, the artist is utilizing the time off to make some remarkable moves to his already illustrious music career.

Meanwhile, whilst in the US, Blakk had a call that his mother had passed.

May Her Soul Rest In Peace.

TOGBUI ACOLATSE V OUTDOORED

The chiefs and people of Keta have outdoored a new chief at a mini ceremony at Kedzi in the Keta district of the Volta region.

Togbui Acolatse V was outdoored with his "agbotadu", who, for the first time, the Agbotadu is a twin.

Togbui Acolatse V succeeded the late Togbui Acolatse IV who was buried some two years ago...

He was introduced to the family and the people of Kedzi and Keta.

The main outdooring will come off later this year

Splendour Of Rich Asanteman Cultural Heritage On Display As Manhyia Mourns Queen Mother (PHOTOS)

The late Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem was the mother of Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu.

May Her Soul Rest In Peace.

POST-ELECTION LAWLESSNESS

Photo: The Toll Booth which was set ablaze at Sunyani West

"History has a way of repeating itself. Then also those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past. Two wrongs also don’t make a right.” Yet once again, post successful Election Ghana is plagued again by hooliganism perpetrated mostly by alleged foot-soldiers of the winning Party.

This has happened after each Election that the Party in power loses.

Many young men and women of the victorious party feel so powerful that they think they think they can get away with taking matters into their hands and seizing or destroying government properties.

In some instances, some officials of the losing Party are subjected to all kinds of indignities and attacks.

Cars are seized or damaged, offices are taken over, even toll booth operators are manhandled and “toilet guards” are not even spared in the hooliganism.

In spite of the fact that it has occurred in the past and was condemned by well meaning Ghanaians, the incident appears to be recurring any time power changes hands democratically.

There is a strong belief that it is the outcome of the “Winner Takes All”nature of our governance getting out of hand.

Our system creates the impression of a military government that has all the power to do anything it chooses to do and that has eaten into some supporters who want to express that absolute power by taking over state-owned institutions like it happened at the Tema Port and the Passport Office.

The danger in the phenomenon is the apparent helplessness of the Police Service who are mandated to ensure the safety of human beings and property. In the cases that happened a week ago, the police were conspicuously missing on action as the rampaging party supporters besieged the port and other places.

The inability of the police to act decisively and promptly in such cases could be explained in the fear of the hierarchy to fall victim to the political leadership of the party in power.

They wouldn't want to go against the supporters who voted the politicians to power, therefore, staying off the heat. Though this may sound as allegation against the Police, it looks like the most probable reason or explanation for their seemingly lackadaisical attitude towards this life- threatening behavior.

This recurrent transitional ritual must be stopped before it becomes a major blot in our democratic practice and the steps to ending it start with no other than the politician.

When the politicians promise the youth and errand boys jobs and other privileges, they forget to educate the fans on how such promises were going to be delivered.

They secretly tell them about jobs in institutions such as the police service, ports and passport office, thereby encouraging such acts of impunity. Until they stop making such promises to their boys we are likely to be having such vandalism for a long time to come.

For our democracy to thrive, supporters of all the Parties have to be educated to know that transition from one Party to another does not call for lawlessness; neither does it mean everything belonging to the state becomes party property. The laws do not cease to work after transition.

During the “Coup Days” of the 60’s-80’s, such acts may have been encouraged but in a wonderful democratic stage that we are now, hooliganism after elections are unacceptable and to say the least, primitive and outmoded.

State properties and workers have to be respected and protected by all. They are Ghanaians just like any other person.

Also, to stop these acts, politicians should put an end to the backdoor employment of unqualified party foot soldiers, who even undermine their legitimate employed counterparts.

These and other measures must be put in place to save the nation of the disgraceful behavior of criminals who operate under the cloak of partisanship to perpetrate violence. Time is up for this criminality.

GAS EXPLOSION AT TRADE FAIR CENTRE AND THE CRAZE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA BROADCASTING OF VICTIM’S PICTURES AND VIDEOS

WRITTEN BY RUTH ABLA ADJORLOLO

Ghana once again faced a tragic moment in its history when gas exploded at a filling station near the Trade Fair Centre, leaving scores of persons dead and others with degrees of burns.

Reports have it that there were six dead and about twelve injured in the accident that took place around 6 p.m. on Thursday at Louis Gas Station at Labadi in Accra. Property running into thousands of cedis have been lost to the fire.

It is unfortunate that, with just a couple of days to Christmas and the relief from election tension that engulfed the nation during the election period, the nation has to go through such an agonizing moment. 

Messages of condolence and sympathy have come from the President, President-elect, other personalities and identifiable groups to the families and victims of the incident.

The incident once again brings to the fore the amount of precautionary measures put in place to forestall the occurrence of such incidents. 

The nation has laws that govern the siting of fuel and gas stations to ensure safety of workers and customers of such companies. 

There are regulations and people put in authority to ensure that prospective businesses in that sector are well positioned to insulate innocent people from being exposed to such dangers.

As we all lament over the deaths and injuries and sympathize with those affected, it remains to know if someone failed to carry out their duties well, leading to what has been experienced. As time passes, so is it likely that this incident would pass without any punitive or preemptive action being taken. This is very pathetic.

On the other hand, whilst pondering over the painful loss, something amazing happened that depicts a negative attitude some Ghanaians have developed in the wake of the social media craze that has become a canker to be checked.

Whilst people were busily making efforts to save victims from the inferno, there were some callous persons around the area, taking pictures and posting them on social media such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, among others to the admiration of their followers and friends.

Though there was nothing wrong with sharing pictures of accidents and other tragic events on social media, the sheer lack of respect for victims of such incidents and the nature of some of the pictures splashed on these media call for some attention.

Many Ghanaians were horrified at the nature of the pictures splashed motionlessly on such platforms without caution or discretionary notice to viewers and wondered if those behind such acts truly understand what it means. Some people had to chase agonizing victims to get shots of them going through the traumatizing experience.

In some of the instances, videos of people going through very traumatic experiences during the fire outbreak were posted shamelessly on such media, leaving decent Ghanaians in utmost awe.

This is not the first time such a thing is happening, as numerous cases abound of people posting pictures and videos of victims who deserve no publicity whatsoever of their state but rather sympathy and getting sympathy for them could be done without necessarily showing gory pictures of their state.

Recently, there was a picture of a bleeding accident victim taking a picture of himself (selfie) at the accident spot to be posted on social media. In such a situation one wonders what could have motivated the victim to take such a picture when he should be considering how to get out of the problem to even help others.

What makes it even more annoying is the way such videos and pictures are liked and commented on by those who should be condemning them; the liking and comments serve as a booster to the perpetrators, hence the propensity to do it.

This incident is bringing to the fore the issue of social media regulation and its effect on the security of the nation following the debate over whether to ban it on election day or not.

In this regard, it has moved from the regulatory realm to its effects on our time-tested morals and values that frown on some of the things being flagrantly done on social media platforms.

Some years back, nudity was considered a taboo among the youth and those found exposing or being exposed to nude pictures were drastically dealt with by the elderly ones. 

Our traditional media never allowed their platforms to be used in any way to propagate such morally-unacceptable pictures.

Today, the trend has changed and the things considered taboo have become so fashionable that, those who don’t follow such fashions are considered outmoded. 

This is compelling the youth to devise some means to belong so they are not left out or behind by their peers.

Contents exposed on social media these days leave the youth at high risk of being corrupted and pushed into some social vices with serious repercussions for the nation. Our future is at risk.

Ghanaians are well known for their hospitable nature and disposition to sympathize with people in trauma of some pains. 

This is seen in the way we all rally to the aid of those mourning or suffering from sickness. 

That social sympathy is a quality that distinguishes us from many other people or cultures.

When accidents occur on our roads, Ghanaians can be trusted to quickly get the victim into a vehicle to be transported to the hospital for immediate care. It is after the condition of the victim is stabilized that their relatives are contacted to continue with the healing process.

Why has this value disappeared all of a sudden? Why has social media taken away the sense of sympathy and respect for privacy of people in pain? Have we lost our morals and values to technology?

These questions would continue to linger in the minds and on the lips of the older generations, who still hold on to the same old values that made Ghana a place to be.

This has nothing to do with whether they were Born Before Computer (BBC) as the younger generations prefer calling the older generations who migrated into the technological age, as against those known as Technological natives.

Enforcing morality and values on social media is a herculean task for the authorities and parents, some of who do not have knowledge of or access to such mediums to be able to monitor what their wards are exposed to.

However, constant training at home and practical demonstration of such morals and values, would in no small way, instill them in this generation.

Exposing people in pain in order to win the accolade of being the first to have seen it or to have the footage is neither here nor there.

There was a case of the paparazzi who happened to arrive on the scene of the accident that killed the Princess Diana, former Princess of Wales in 1997. 

The cameramen decided to film the incident instead of taking part in the rescue process.

They were severely condemned for failing to go to the aid of a dying victim but rather choosing to take exclusive shots. 

The police had to push the paparazzi away to be able to carry out their duty and all these happened at a time Princess Diana was still alive. If they had been morally humane at that time, they might have saved a precious life. That was the level of insensitivity of the paparazzi at that time.

Today our craze for exclusivity on social media is blinding us to time-tested and highly-respected values that sustained the older generations and gave them hope and security.

Today, the trend has changed and it wouldn’t be long when people would rush to look for the camera phone to snap a drowning person instead of a rope.

This attitude must change now before it becomes a norm among the youth of today. Social media is for socialization; it is to keep us connected to help each other but not a tool to steal our morality and values.

We all need to grow from this anti-social behavior on social media to make our platforms more profitable.

STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS AND THE NEED TO CONTINUE PROJECTS OF FORMER GOVERNMENT

BY RUTH ADJORLOLO, A JOURNALIST

Once again the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama, has delivered the annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) at a colorful ceremony in Parliament.

This year’s ceremony, the final one by President Mahama, shall go down in history as a significant one for many reasons. It comes at the end of one of the smoothest transitions in recent times after one round of voting determined the winner of the polls that paved the way for change in government.

The transition period being lengthier, it is believed that handing over of notes from the outgoing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the incoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) went on successfully.

In another vein, President Mahama made some important statements on continuity in change of government that should catch the attention of many an observer of the political happenings in our country over some decades now.

President Mahama urged his successor, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo, to endeavor to continue with all uncompleted projects initiated by his government in line with the true principles of governance across the globe.

This call means a lot to Ghanaians, in view of what has prevailed for some time now. Since the overthrow of Ghana’s first President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, there has been a negative culture of abandoning projects initiated by earlier governments in a bid to discredit it.

This culture saw the neglect of many projects undertaken with the hard-earned tax payer’s money. Scattered across Ghana today are several silos constructed by Dr Nkrumah meant to store enough food to ensure sufficiency and fight hunger in the country.

The silos have been abandoned by succeeding governments, without consideration for the huge amounts of money invested into them.

One may say that that particular case was the result of a military intervention so could be justified since military governments are virtually unaccountable to anybody per their status.

However, a careful observation of our political scenes in this fourth republican constitutional era shows the ugly surge of that culture with very dire consequences to the tax payer.

At a time resources are scarce and governments across the world are doing their best to maximize the use of everything at the disposal of the state, we have cases of projects being abandoned or neglected in the name of political expediency, to discredit one’s opponent and win cheap political points.

It is unfortunate that, in doing so, politicians fail to take into cognizance the wastefulness of the practice and the harm they are doing to the people who spend precious time to queue to vote them into power.

Perhaps when a system is developed to hold them accountable over how they treated previous government’s projects, these politicians would sit up and spare the nation the waste in the name of cheap political points.

It is about time that politicians understood the principles of accountability and probity and more importantly continuity of whatever one inherited from their predecessors.

Governance is about the people and those whose resources are being managed by leaders given the privilege of enjoying the largess of leadership.

No leader owns the nation to waste its resources with abandon and the earlier they realized this the better for the future of this country.

This nation has bled for too long in the hands of those who have been misled into thinking they can get away with whatever they do in government.

The President’s message to his successor is very relevant at this time of economic challenges where resources are badly needed to save the people from poverty.

The incoming President, therefore, has a moral duty to ensure that political sentiments do not override the moral responsibility towards the people who have voted him to power.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is expedient at this time to insert into the transitional provisions, a clause that mandates incoming governments to complete every project initiated by their predecessors.

The clause should be made so binding on office holders so as to prevent them from finding any excuses. That would ensure that they carry out their duty of protecting scarce state resources for the benefit of the people, Ghanaians have suffered for too long and this is the time for things to change.