ANYONE WHO LACKS MOMENTUM EVENTUALLY BECOMES A MONUMENT

‘Never leave till tomorrow that you can do today’- Benjamin Franklin. Indeed it is better to die for an idea that will live, than live for an idea that would die. You have the capacity to lead your generation. You were designed to be at the forefront of your generation. The Bible says that you are fearfully and wonderfully crafted (Psalm 139:14). This means you are distinguished and to be revered. You are a royalty and belong to the prestige class with great potential for great achievement you should therefore not demean yourself by all standards. As a young person, there is a great momentum in your life even though most people remain in a dormant mode for a great momentum for a greater part of their lives. Therefore, activate every atom of power in your life and live your dream for greater achievement. For anyone who lacks momentum eventually becomes a monument. In other not to become a laugher and a walking monument, you have to make time your best confederate. Time does not classify, and it does not favour anybody. You either work with time or it works against you. Time is essentially middle-of-the-road. It is distributed equitably to all. The opulent are not more privileged than pitiable as far as time is controlling affairs. Everybody has 24 hours. The rich have 24 hours a day and so is the poor. The Public Relation Personnel has 24 hours a day and so is the Journalist. No one has more time and opportunities than the other. Let us be guided by the fact that those we meet when ascending in life are the very ones you meet when plunging. And that what goes round comes round. The bygone is a period that will never be available to you again. It is beyond your management now. The former is history and therefore, you must learn the lessons of it. How long can you travel in reverse gear? The reverse is meant to help you adjust, turn and maneuver but ultimately you have to move forward. The past provides us with experience for present and future. The present is what really have total control over how the future you now desire is fashioned and formed. The present is a good opportunity to build a desirable future. Some have tried to jump into the future and have been frustrated by their lack of direction and focus. The future presents itself in the form of vision, goals, objectives, desires and ambitions. The future is always kneaded and baked in the present. The future is therefore not created in vacuum. It is imperative however, to note that time cannot be stored in a silo, refrigerator or room to use at some future date. Time unlike Tertially Education cannot be deferred. It expires moments after you have deferred it. This moment of time on GIJ Campus (i.e. Year, month, day, hours, minute and second will never ever be repeated in your life). And like it is said literally. ‘If you refused to be crowned a chief, be assured never to become a town crier’ ‘Opportunity comes but once’ I am of the opinion that every day presents us with great and marvelous opportunities it is what you choose to believe that will become the reality in your life. You need an eye in your mind to be able to imagine and determine whether something is a resource or not. Two people can be looking at the same thing but interpreted differently. Many of us fall into needless situations because we are not independent minded. Politicians and peers sometimes place unnecessary pressures on us to do things that will meet their aspirations and agenda. You are not a tool for any person(s) to just use to achieve their own objectives. Do not allowed yourself to be remote controlled. If an older person wants you to swallow some bitter pellets of drugs, ask why he or she is not carrying it himself. People may prophesize negatively about you and sometimes into your future. Some may come from your teachers, classmates and peers. But be resolute and determined to prove them wrong by being a leading light and achiever. You cannot be a mistake in creation and you were not born carbon copied so why die as such? Prove doom prophets wrong if you are decisive, and have something in life to die for. It is important to note that the success of every journey with good intension and energy plus the wrong direction will not lead you to your destination. Another important gem is focus which is also provided through mentoring. Great enthusiasm and ambitions can blind young people into wanting to conquer the world. They then bite more than they could chew. They’ve indeed beaten more than they can chew. Because we of Ghana Institute of Journalism were inundated with series of articles, some of which sort to educate us on SRC, its mandate and limitations. I can recall vividly in one of those fine write-ups entitled ‘NUGS IS DEAD’ calling on us not vote for the affluence and that SRC is not to be sold. Credit to the essayist (Philip Atawura). My worry however is about the sudden and abrupt U-turn? What about our vision and missions? The least said about the unsavory, slanderous and venomous attacks on their perceive contenders the better. Is this the way we have to go as up and coming leaders of our nation? Must we in pursuit of our selfish interest rundown the reputation others have built over time? Certainly not, and for that matter culprits must atone for their actions and inactions. It is a wakeup call on us as who are studying to becoming members of the fourth estate of the realm to scrutinize and reject any person(s) who per our view lack direction and focus, for those men and women it cannot be said of them of their independent mindedness and for that matter will only live to pursue their selfish ambitions and not the general interest and welfare of GIJ students and mother Ghana.

‘AYAWASO CENTRAL IS NOT A SAFE SEAT FOR THE NPP’-WILLIAM AFUM ANI-AGYEI

The Ayawaso Central Constituency’s Parliamentary Candidate of the National Democratic Congress, William Afum Ani Agyei affectionately called ‘Obama’told Peace news yesterday that Ayawaso Central Constituency is not and has never been a safe seat for the opposition New Patriotic Party. He said the NDC after 1992 have never gone into any election with a common front, and that their disgruntle members are those who have been voting for the NPP.He said the good will of IC Quaye coupled with acrimonies in the NDC is what accounted for the success of the NPP in the past. ‘Obama’, was however happy that I.C Quaye was out of the race, since his main contender is a non residence. He said unfortunately for the NPP when I, C Quaye decided not to contest, he left the constituency to Spintex Road to go and import someone to come and contest on the ticket of the NPP. A situation which he said is playing to his advantage because he was born in the constituency. On his achievement, he said though he is not in parliament on his own he has been able to create jobs such as dress making, floral decoration, hairdressing etc. He made the disclosure after he launched his nine member campaign team to spearhead and champion his parliamentary aspirations. He bemoans the deplorable state of Alajo and the constituency as a whole. He said though they are in Accra the capital of Ghana, he sometimes wonders if indeed their constituency is part of Ghana. He called on all to vote for him and the NDC to bring to the constituency the kind of change and development the constituency need.

WILLIAM AFUM ANIAGYEI PROMISES TO BRING PARLIAMENT TO HIS CONSTITUENTS .

The Parliamentary aspirant of Ayawaso Central Constituency of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has over the weekend lunch his campaign for the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections slated for December, 7 at the Kotobabi Swag Park. Speaking at lunch, the parliamentary candidate, William Afum Ani agyei said he is into the race for five thematic reasons: namely infrastructure development, youth development, Women development and empowerment, sanitation matters and above all bringing parliament to the people. He said out of the five thematic, the fifth one which is bringing parliament to the people is very dear to his heart and that when he says bringing parliament to the people he meant going to parliament for the sake of his constituent and not for his personal gains. He said his interest is not to go to parliament to better him and cronies rather for the majority. He assured the irate crowed that he was not going to represent himself and his family, and so he will ensure day to day interactions with them so as to be able to articulate their concerns well on the floor of parliament. On his part, the country’s ambassador to Egypt Ambassador Saed Sinare and one of the numerous vice-chairmen of the ruling National Democratic Congress told the gathering disregard the NPP’S campaign message. He said the NPP is anti Muslims and that until the New Patriotic Party elect a flag bearer from the origin of Islam, the Muslims should never take them serious. He said the NDC government gave Muslims holiday. He queried what have the NPP done for the Muslim community?

Why you have to join me vote Nutsugah.

This is an intensely personal article. According to the Roman thinker, Plotinus (AD 204-274), “Knowledge has three degrees, opinion, science, illumination. The means of the instrument of the first is sense, of the second dialectics, of the third intuition.” I believed in the power of knowledge, both its acquisition and strict application. He is both a thinker and developmental pragmatist. I am at LEAST as patriotic and nationalistic as you are! I am sacrificing my resources to bring these humble contributions to the powers that be for possible consideration when queuing to choose the next leader, in exercising my fundamental human right inherent in the universal freedom of speech that can also be expressed in writing, as guaranteed in our constitution and UN charter to which Ghana and for that matter is a signatory G.I.J. Till date, I do NOT belong to any camp! I am for a free, united, prosperous and democratic G.I.J with a level playing ground for everyone to grow according to his/her talents and potentials without god-fatherism/motherism having any hold. My messages nay suggestions (called it epistles if you like), in form of questions and answers, are the conclusion of a prolonged analysis of the problems that have been hindering rapid and massive development all over G.I.J in our quest and desire to catch up with the modern world of communication. Development! First of all, we need to identify our ultimate institutional educational goal that need to be achieved very URGENTLY. To me, it is development that we badly need at this moment of our history. As a premier university that we claimed to be, we are too far behind in terms of development which can only be achieved through good leadership. In enumerating the candidate’s actions, I am not going to go by anything he has told me, or by anything I have read. I would like to use the personal experiences of myself and others who have talked to me about him, as I feel this is more authentic. The name Noel Nutsugah began to mean more to me at a General Assembly Meeting, when through sheer happenstance I had lunch with colleagues who happened to be members of his sports committee. This gentlemen displayed such a depth of knowledge about the problems facing their constituency that I was astounded. We were specifically discussing how they were able to revive and secure football jersey for the school team. The gentlemen pointed out that “They remember his constancy in every act which was conformable to reason, his evenness in all things, his piety, the serenity of his countenance, his sweetness, his disregard of empty fame and his efforts to understand things; how he would never let anything pass without having first most carefully examined it; how he bore with those who blamed him unjustly without blaming them in return; how he did nothing in a hurry, how he listened not to calamities and how exact an examiner of matters and actions he was; not given to reproaching people, nor timid, nor suspicious, nor a sophist; with how little he was satisfied, how laborious and patient; how sparing he was in his choice of words; his firmness and uniformity in his friendship; how he tolerated freedom of speech in those who opposed his opinions; the pleasure he had when anyone showed him anything better; and how pious he was without superstition. – ‘Carlos Slim’. Folks, I implore you not to take this as a mudslinging affair, but rather as an attempt to convey the honest opinion of GA members lead by 'Flavio Armando'. The fact is, this is not about the demigods and demagogues that have so far run this School. Rather, it’s about the student, the dues payers and owners that make the vehicle of SRC run. Their health, their comfort and welfare and educational opportunities for me matter above all else. Ask me not how? For you are not for a moment pretending to be blind about our predicaments. Oh yes! have forgotten about the unelectromotive fans hanging in the lecture hall?, what about the furniture?, Do not remind me of the evacuated ‘bush canteen’, because I may strangulate for the reason (s) for the sack. And who cares if you are in level 400 and still cannot access your level 200 result?. Please do me a great deal of favour by holding on to your answers. That reminds me of an article published by a prolific writer already endorsing candidate(s) when the ban on campaign is not yet lifted. What baffles me is the fact that those the article sort to endorse and project are the men and women of some General Assemble repute, who knows the inside- out of the SRC Constitution. Lets I forget, they are indeed the custodians of our laws. Not to re-emphasized the fact that my dearest Nana Achiaa of Diploma 2A tried to remind the student populace of the fact that those we often consider to be closer to administration and lecturers and the fact that they could capitalized on their personal rapport for the entire benefit of students has over the periods proven to be most ineffective, puddle sort of leaders in the annals of G.I.J characterized with parochialism. I know she did not mean any harm to have mentioned that her favourite is an appendage of lecturers and administration alike.Then all those tea party activists, some of which, in combating ‘who is Nutsugah, thought nothing of holding up tribal signs depicting the SRC President to be as an‘Ewe’ witch doctor. I have seen and read articles on open Salon covertly tearing down Nutsugah, SRC Presidential hopeful. He has been demonized because of his religion, his business record, his political record, his wealth of student activism. And I begin to get the impression that Nutsugah is the focus because supporters of other competitors can’t think of anything favorable to say about their own candidate. Come on, ‘Solidarity’; tell me something good about solidarity’s handling of the GA as commander in chief, his achievements as a great unifier of our divided Executive Committee and society, his shining record of candor as a SRC presidential candidate. I know you have been so busy knocking Nutsugah that you have simply forgotten to tell us what is good about solidarity or perhaps you have run out of paper space. Well, here's your chance. Use the space on my paper. Do it on my blog. Tell me something positive about solidarity; tell me some reason to vote for him/her that doesn't include the name solidarity or keteke. And spare me the accolades in your write-up. Because at the end of the day, labels like "hardworking”, ‘humble’ diligent, accessible, and God-fearing and "having first degrees" don't mean much. After all human beings are all the same. Some are raised to be tolerant of different points of view, others not so much. The more secure you are in what you believe, the less likely you are to attack someone for believing something else. Meanwhile, in this institute, You are either a racist; tribalist, if you support your tribesman or woman, his/her opponents will call you names leaving the germaine issues confronting us as a school. But it's all part of where we've arrived, and how we've changed. We wear our ideologies on our sleeves. We keep our political views, and presidential choices, close to our hearts. And so when they're challenged, we feel personally wounded. So we get angry. These days, if you challenge someone's point of view or disagree with their choice in candidates, it's as if you're directly attacking them. It used to be that GIJ Politicians could disagree over politics and still go out to the canteen and sit over a bottle cold ‘Burkina’.or coca-cola, sometimes hand in hand they walk to ‘Asibi’ for some banana and grand nuts. Not anymore. Nowadays, if you disagree, one of you isn't just wrong. One of you is a bad person. And who wants to go drinking with a bad person? Now, almost everything about politics seems less cerebral and more emotional. The business is no longer about compromising with your opponent; it's about conquering him. We don't just disagree; we're out to destroy. We don't settle for half a loaf; it's all or nothing. The goal isn't to find solutions; the objective is simply to win at all costs. We don’t need any Prophet Isaac Owusu Bempah to know that this Nutsugah method will ginger up massive and rapid development across the school within the shortest time. Nutsugah will provide direction and action plan and above all he will be accountable. In a deliberate attempt to package Noel by some GIJ writers for being too combative has backfired judging from the views of the king makers, some are delighted with Noel’s aggressive stance, and they want more of the same in the political activism of GIJ, for they have experienced one too many non-aggressive metamorphosis to non-performing,demagogues and tie- wearing Presidents.’ Enough of the diplomatic and appendage leadership’. Let me enjoined every student of this Institute to write some few honest, heartfelt words about their preferred Presidential candidate. I mean Heartfelt words. Objective words. un-tribal words.

Hi tech begging

How does one begin to understand the psyche of beggars? Not your usual street beggars who due to no fault of theirs have to brave the elements in search of their daily bread. I’m talking about your uniformed or corporate beggars, who have been hired to protect life and property or to man the front office of organisations either as security or customer service officers. I have been having a good time lately arm twisting these emergency beggars and always chuckle anytime I take them down in their own game. Now, don’t you go calling me Mr. Stingy for refusing to be shaken down by these guys because I won’t have none of it, it’s just that I have sworn that I won’t be taken for a sucker anymore. Or perhaps we shouldn’t blame them too much since Ghana at 55 is still a beggar nation or how else will you describe a country that one would have thought has learnt a lesson or two from past debt experiences, but one that still goes ahead borrowing despite the respite granted from the HIPC debt pardon and partial write-off by the Money Bag owners. Unless we all have not been reading the same papers but I still catch news stories of a loan here, and another there being taken by state governments and even the MMDA. I shudder to think what such little loan trickles will amount to in the coming years. Anyway, back to the issue of uniformed corporate beggars. I had a good laugh the other day at an ATM machine along Tesano Achimota road. By the time I arrived to pick up some cash, there were already 2 ladies and a man hovering over the cash machine. I had noticed the 6 roving eyes trailing me from the time I parked my car and alighted. On getting nearer to the cash machine, I was greeted with a disarming smile and chorus of “Boss, good afternoon sir”. I looked up in surprise and acknowledged the greeting. Next was the interrogation: “Boss, have you come to collect money?” I wondered what else I had come to do in broad daylight on the streets of Accra, rob the bank? But by the time any answer could come out of my mouth, my battle ready mindset had already triggered into action. I knew immediately the game my new found friends were playing, they were softening me up for the strike. As I eagerly waited to use the ATM machine, one of the ladies now volunteered to tell me what all three of them where actually doing peering into the ATM screen together. “Boss, we came to check and collect our salaries”. What this piece of information had to do with me was better left to the imagination. I did not utter another word, sensing that the lead was about to dry up, the leading lady now became more boisterous. “Boss, happy weekend o!”. Now irritated, I politely asked her not to call me Boss anymore, and that I was in a hurry; could she please conclude her transaction with her crew so I can do mine. Perhaps I should have kept quite, in unison, all three volunteered to interrupt their salary checking and collection transaction to make way for me. “Boss, please come and collect, anything for your children?” asked the leading lady. That was a new one. I had been used to hearing “Anything for the boys”, but children? I was almost struggling to hold back the laughter. As if on cue, and not wanting to be left or rather edged out of any potential spoils from the begging scam, the lone male in the trio quipped: “Boss, your boy dey here o”. Just as I was about to punch in my password, I felt an urge to look through my shoulders, just incase my new found friends were not what they claimed. They met my suspicious eyes with a reassuring look. As I counted my money, I was already calculating how I will make a dash for the car but I was beaten to it. How the leading lady managed to race to my car door is still a mystery to me till this day. When I saw her outstretched right hand waiting to pull open the door for me, I broke her rhythm and did not unlock the door, pretending as if the car remote control had malfunctioned. I found the whole episode amusing, I couldn’t help thinking that the art of begging has now entered another level by what I had just experienced. I used to think that if I could beat the security guards at Chicken Republic, , or even some of the guys at my office, that I was safe, I was wrong. The battle for our money has now been taken to the cash dispensing point, where it matters most. This time there won’t be any excuse anymore not to part with your cash. You can’t claim not to have any on you after being ‘caught in the act’ withdrawing your own cash. Unless the heavens favour you by rigging the ATM machine to be out of cash or to breakdown. My failure to unlock the car caught the leading lady unawares, and within that small window of lull and inactivity, as she was obviously calculating her next move, I unlocked, dived in and locked myself in, just in case she attempted to force open the door. By the time she could recover, I was already tearing into the newly laid N1 high way leaving behind the disappointed trio to re-tool their skills for the next ‘mugu’. I almost laughed myself silly on the way but still wondered why I should be the one running away. I can not say that I have not fallen at times to the many tricks of corporate and uniformed beggars, but I like to pride myself that I only fall at my own terms. Give me a good service and a smile, don’t arm twist me, just maybe and you have my tip.

MAN (31) FINED GH 10,000 FOR EXPORTING CHEMICAL

A 31-year old man has been fined in connection with the exporting of substance. The Principal State Attorney Asiama-Sampong told the Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday, that the accuse on the 4th day of January, 2013 at the Kotoka International Airport, the accuse was arrested in an attempt to export from Ghana to Thailand substance later tested to be methamphetamine without registration contrary to section 18(1) and 26 of the Food and Drug Board Act 1992 (PNDCL305 B). Asiama-Sampong said the sum of the 4,948 grams of the substance is worth six thousand Ghana Cadis. He said it was offence under our laws to export chemicals from the country without first registering with Food and Drug Board for clearance, and therefore prayed the court to surcharge the accuse person. The accuse Sandeep Grover a Turkish pleaded guilty to the charges a proffered against him. His Lordship CTS Charles Quist, in his ruling fine Sandeep Grover an amount of ten thousand Ghana Cedis and six months in prison for default The defense counsel Addo Ettuah prayed the court to hold on to the passport of the accuse until he had fully pay the amount.

FOUR HELD 3 MONTHS OVER PHONE THEFT

The Accra High Court yesterday remanded four men in prison custody for a smart phone theft.

Prosecution lawyer Winifred Sarpong told the court how had terrorised customers in Adenta on January 9, 2013 and brutally beaten a security guard, before getting away with a Samsung Galaxy 3 and unestimated amount of money purported to be the daily sales.

‘He said the four men acted with a common purpose to commit robbery contrary to section 23(1) and 149 of the criminal offences Act 1960, Act 29 as amended by criminal code 2003, Act 646’.

Before the court was Felix Congo aka red eye, aged 28, Nathaniel Addo, 25, Shaibu Haadi 23, and Lucas Anum Tawiah,19 all of whom are an unemployed from Kpeve in the Volta Region but living at Madina in the Abokobi Madina District,They denied the charge of armed robbery.

Winifred Sarpong prayed the court that he intended to call witnesses to prove that accuse were the four men involved in the armed hold-up, outside Heal the World Enterprise.

He said  they had driven a stolen Mazda 626 along the Dodowa road to the ‘Akatsi aboi’, where the gang had abandoned the car and driven away in a waiting Toyota Corola S. They were the same four men who had returned later that same day to Madina, where they had publicly boasted of what they had done and hosted a big party, he added.

Winifred Sarpong told the court that the accuse were the same four men who tried to avoid arrest by driving through a police road block and shooting at the police, although it was not suggested that who amongst them actually fired any shots at the police.

Mr Prince Kofi Frimpong, representing Red Eye and co, said that he would prove that his client were nowhere near Adenta Streets at the time of the robbery, and he would also show that the prosecution's identification of  His clients as the gang depended on an eye witness accounts.

"We shall show that this person's evidence is not reliable, because he has a grudge against the defendant," said Mr Frimpong. "We shall show that the police have been sadly deceived, and that the defendants  are  the victims of a terrible plot to have them punished for a crime which they did not commit."

The case is being heard by His Lordship Justice Alex Abban. Justice Abban in his ruling remanded the four accuse persons 3 months in prison custody to enable the prosecuting counsel to investigate and put together his evidence before the court. The court was adjourned to 17^th day of April,2013.