(nb: this article was written before the al qaeda murders in burkina faso occurred.) HAS MAHAMA BECOME ISOLATED WITHIN HIS OWN CABINET? By CAMERON DUODU We have the US to thank for some very good examples of incisive ”political shorthand”. Body language; damage limitation; eyeball to eyeball; plausible deniability. The expression to which I want …
Tag: Boko Haram
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Jul 19
HOW I WISH KROBO EDUSEI WERE ALIVE!
HOW I WISH KROBO EDUSEI WERE ALIVE! By CAMERON DUODU At the time Mr Krobo Edusei became Minister of the Interior in Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s Government in November 1957, the atmosphere in Ghana’s Parliament was one of the most pleasant in the world. Humour was one of the most appreciated contributions Members could make …
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Apr 25
TEARING THE MASK OFF THE UGLY FACE OF AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS
TEARING THE MASK OFF THE UGLY FACE OF AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS By CAMERON DUODU In what must count as one of my worst nightmares, a grandchild of mine calls me just after having watched the news on TV and says: “Grandpa, they say 800 people – many of them Africans – were drowned in the Mediterranean …
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Jan 21
A MEMO TO ECOWAS LEADERS ON THEIR INTENTION TO INTERVENE IN NIGERIA’S MILITARY CAMPAIGN AGAINST BOKO HARAM
However, Excellencies, your own external intelligence agencies operating in Nigeria will no doubt have briefed you on how difficult it is to assist the current Nigerian Government in this noble task of seeking to help it return the country into the safe place for ALL its citizens that its government is duty-bound to ensure. The reasons for this difficulty are complex, but the principal one is that Nigeria sees herself as not lacking in either manpower or fire-power when it comes to defending itself. So the country may actually resent assistance from abroad.
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I suggest to you, Excellencies, that it is because of such complexities that the United States and Great Britain, for instance, find themselves unable to render as much military assistance to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram as they would normally, be only too willing to provide. The London missions of Your Excellencies may have reported to you that there was a mini-debate, arising from a Question in the British House of Commons in London, on the Nigerian situation on 12 January 2015. I trust Your Excellencies will find time to acquaint yourselves with some of the things the British MPs had to say. The point was made again and again in the debate that no-one could assist a person who did not seem to want assistance.
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In other words, if you must go, do candidly make clear to President Goodluck Jonathan that – as a Ghanaian proverb has it – “it is only when you try to climb a tree with adequate proficiency that those on the ground may feel inspired enough to push you up it!”
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Jan 13
AN UNSURPASSED SUPER-FARCE IN FRANCE
The problem in France, as in many Western countries, is that the rulers do not ensure that their children are taught real world history in their schools, but a sanitised version that glosses over, if not totally ignores, the role played by their countries in the pauperisation of the peoples of so many countries in the world. Even worse, the people of these former colonising countries are never apprised of how disingenuous was the process whereby their countries transferred power from the traditional rulers of the colonies (who could at least be dealt with by the people themselves when they failed to perform) to an insensitive and unresponsive Western-educated elite that, once elected (through a vote that can be rigged) is empowered to swindle the state of its resources at will for four or five years at a time, and reduce the populace to penury, whilst indulging themselves in “conspicuous consumption”.
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Nov 19
AN EVENING AT BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, WITH LORD BOATENG “OF AKYEM AND WEMBLEY”
The “Akyem” in the title was a tribute to his late father, the Honourable Kwaku Boateng, MP, who served as Minister of the Interior as well as of Higher Education, in the Government of Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Mr Kwaku Boateng hailed from Akyem Abuakwa and his son, who was brought up in Ghana (his secondary school was Accra Academy) did not forget his ancestry in his hour of glory. It was an extremely courageous thing for Mr Boateng to choose such a title, for the British find it difficult to pronounce even “Boateng” (which some still mispronounce as “boating”, despite his having been in politics there for so long!) Adding Akyem (which they would no doubt pronounce as Ah-kyerm!) could have seemed a foolhardy thing to do: a double mispronunciation of the name of a single individual? But Paul Yaw Boateng is not the sort of man to be deterred by trifles like mispronunciations. He nonchalantly took that “cumbersome” nomenclature to the ”House of Ermine” and Lord Boateng of Akyem and Wembley he became. The title, of course, evokes a particular resonance in the bosoms of all Akyemkwaas – like yours truly!
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Jun 02
BOKO HARAM: UNRAVELLING AN ENIGMA by CAMERON DUODU
BOKO HARAM: UNRAVELLING AN ENIGMA WRAPPED INSIDE A PUZZLE By CAMERON DUODU Disintegration is the most important possibility that should be considered, when Nigeria’s future comes up for a prognosis. And yet, the rest of Africa cannot countenance that, as it would be an extremely grave development for the continent. A disintegrated Nigeria would …
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May 19
NIGERIA’S INCOMPETENCE IS PUTTING THE FUTURE OF AFRICA AT RISK
Daily Guide 17.05.2014 Home / Columnist / Nigeria’s Incompetence Is Putting The Future Of Africa At Risk Nigeria’s Incompetence Is Putting The Future Of Africa At Risk May 17, 2014 It Is a well-known precept in geopolitics that a country does not have “permanent friends”, but “permanent interests.” Nigeria may be neither a permanent friend …
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