THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. GABBAS AND MR. BUGGERY

Those who shrug off fictional literature may not have appreciated the fact that it is the produce of the human brain. They may not have realized that the most efficacious organ in our Adams body is the small, miraculous meat-like structure in our skulls. One of the most striking descriptions ever given to the brain was by Benjamin Carson, the famous Pediatric neurosurgeon who led the team of doctors who separated twins joined in the head successfully in 1986.

In an interview, he was asked why he wanted to be a neurosurgeon and he answered “the brain is a miracle……… Imagine Hendel! How could he compose something like The Messiah in three weeks”? Solid!

How could Chinua Achebe write from head ‘Things fall apart’ in response to a book cleverly written to conceal the inherent racism against Blacks in it, ‘In the Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad?   More surprisingly, how could Jules Verne produce from the same brain in the year 1865 the book ‘From the earth to the moon’ which was truly actualized in the year 1969 (a century and more later) by Neil Armstrong and his colleague Buzz Aldrin when they spent two hours, thirty one minutes exploring on lunar surface? That is the power of Jules Verne’s brain.

 Now to the crux of this piece, how on earth did the Scottish writer, Robert Louis Stevenson envisage that a medical doctor at Effia Nkwanta Hospital will be a reference point in diligence and philanthropy and simultaneously be a merciless sodomite and anal-consuming Homo sapien?

In 1886, the book ‘The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ was published. In the said book, a man who commanded much respect as a medical doctor in his town doubled as the most loathed harbinger of wickedness in that same town. The books highlight was its association with the mental imbalance that was rare, known as Split personality which psychiatrists term “dissociative identity disorder” which shows how a person can exhibit vastly different moral character from one situation to another. Dr.Sulley Ali-Gabbas seriously epitomizes this mental disorder.

 The Jekyll side of Dr. Sulley Ali Gabbas

When Saeed Jallo, the representative of the Muslim Community on the Western Regional Peace Council spoke to Accra-based Joy FM about Dr. Sulley Ali Gabbas, I nearly cried a gallon full of tears. He stated: “When you go to the Muslim communities, you will see that every place is quiet because Dr Sulley Gabbas is one person who has helped the religion of Islam. The youth and student body of Ghana Muslim Students Association have been supported by Dr Sulley Ali-Gabbas both physically and financially.”  The Staff at the Effia Nkwanta Hospital have also attested to the hardworking character of the man. He was a man who was far from being indolent. He was always diligent in his work.
Interestingly, when the Executive Secretary of Narcotics Control Board, Mr. Akrasi Sarpong earlier this year hinted that marijuana should be legalized, Dr.Sulley Ali-Gabbas spoke vehemently against it. He raised the fears that the youth will use the NACOB boss statement as a safe haven to smoke with untold impunity. He therefore appealed to the government not to legalize it since it is malignant to the human health. This was Dr.Sulley Ali Gabbas good side. Genteel, demure, calm, cool and collected man of repute and much reverence. No wonder mentorship was the bait he used in trapping the young victim when they struck an acquaintance on Facebook.

 The Hyde side of Sulley Ali-Gabbas 

On the flip-side, a sixteen year old boy finds himself despondent and forever adrift in pain in his anal cavity due to five painful, unlawful and inhuman bouts of sex with a sodomite called Dr.Sulley Ali-Gabbas as alleged. The boy is also suffering from the dreadful HIV/AIDS; a disease the doctor denied infecting him with. For the boy to look up to the Doctor for a mentor-mentee relationship only to end up being mentored in his anus shows how wicked, vicious and unforgiving Dr. Sulley could be. It was shocking to the marrow when he stated that it was the boy who pestered him. It was reported that he even refused to give the boy money to fend for himself when he started having complications in his anus. This action of Dr.Sulley Ali Gabbas is repugnant and condemnable by all standards. It is sour to taste and unpleasant to the ear.

 The nation must come out clear                                 

I read with disgust, the article written by Dr.Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey in the Daily Graphic of Saturday,25th October, 2014 titled “Sodomizing them young” about a young boy called Lexis who was also sodomized to despondency by his class teacher. With these actions occurring frequently, I believe the nation must come out clear on Homosexuality. The nation cannot continue to be ambivalent over its stance on this dreadful, barbaric sexual orientation. If the nation does not come out clear on this, we will continue to have more of such cases. Over the years, a lot of quack scientists have tempted to scientifically justify homosexuality but all fall flat like a pack of cards. No scientific theory can explain homosexuality. It is simply inexplicable! 

When Blakk Rasta of Hitz fm fame hinted that Sigmund Freud, the father of Psychoanalysis, had described homosexuality as a mental disorder, the ignoble proponents of this bad act came out to say it could be as a result of the genetic make-up. Blakk Rasta therefore couched it in a way I like the most:

“Homosexuality is therefore, a mental and genetic disorder.”

NB: The writer is a National Service Person at the Graphic Communications Group Ltd.

WHY GHANAIAN STUDENTS MUST READ EXTENSIVELY

The purpose of this piece is to tell the intellectually-stimulating, powerfully-inspiring and significantly-revealing rendezvous I had with Mr John N. Tagoe, the Strategy Manager of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL).

As a norm, new entrants in any organisation are oriented on the structure of the organisation. And on this particular day, we were taken round the company by Mr. Leonard of the HR department of GCGL as a form of Orientation till we got to the office of Mr. Albert Sam, the Corporate Communications Manager.

He gave us pieces of advice and took us through his experiences in life as a Media Practitioner. We then had to move to the office of Mr. John N. Tagoe, a man we were already told will check the efficacy of our skulls by asking us questions.

“What is a must-read story?” He quizzed the journalists among us.

“You read design. Tell me something about the front page of the day’s Daily Graphic.

“What are the four C’s of Marketing?” He asked me?

“What is the thrust of the Mirror Newspaper”?

The man then took us beyond our fields of study and started asking questions he felt everyone who passes through the University should know.

Our interaction with the man was intellectually stimulating because it made us realise how learning can be intensely enjoying and profoundly empowering.

Especially when he gave us a very powerful quotation from the one-time premier of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, to emphasise the need for us to nourish our brains and kindle our minds for the betterment of our lives.

Winston made this poignant statement in a speech at Harvard University on September 6th, 1943. He said “the empires of the future are the empires of the mind.”

The powerfully inspiring aspect of our interaction was the fact that we learned instantly how a spirited effort, determined spirit and persistent dedication to study can mould a person into a citadel of knowledge which is much needed in this ignorance-frowning world.

Finally, it was significantly revealing because it manifested the state of the Ghanaian student today. It is painful but must be stated. It is the truth and must be spoken even if the mouth shakes.

The truth is that the Ghanaian student now does not read! The Ghanaian student does not cherish books, the nutrients of a fertile brain. The Ghanaian student does not read beyond his notes. Creativity is stifled and innovation almost absent in the Ghanaian student due to the narrow dimensions of the mind of the Ghanaian student.

In his first place winning article in the International Essay Competition organised by the Center for International Private Enterprise (Enterpreneurship and Leadership Category) in 2009, Mahmoud Jajah registered this critical observation;

“Today in Ghana, most young graduates expect the government to employ them and in the absence of government employment, they cannot do anything for themselves ………….. The old concept of “go to school, get good grades, and you will get a good job” is still the order of the day. Students read only their course materials – nothing more – as they have no incentive to excel.” He further stated                       

“Most young entrepreneurs in Ghana lack the necessary knowledge and expertise to manage their businesses, especially knowing how to finance their endeavors.

Whilst there is information available to young people through books or business magazines, they do not seize these learning opportunities since many are trapped in the old linear mindset of education: good grades means a stable government job. Young people seem to start their business almost by accident without any clue as to how to manage it successfully.” Powerful!

That is the appalling situation today in Ghana. Sterile arguments, unproductive ventures, adventurous and unabated beach parties, amorous social trips inter alia, are the current fad on our campuses. The most disgusting aspect is how male students expose their bare buttocks with their genitals sometimes showing as a form of ‘jama singing’. 

No wonder we churn out a lot of graduates yet cannot manage our simple problems.

We still do not know how to manage waste in this seemingly accursed country of ours. In-depth study of courses is virtually-non-existent and literacy programmes on our campuses is a thing of the past.

The Students’ Week celebrations in our schools is always laden with beach parties almost all of the days of the week, no quiz-contests not to even talk about debate competition to whip up the spirit of research in students.

And we have a whole back-log of graduates who because of the constricted nature of their minds due to lack of extensive reading, cannot do anything for themselves and  do not even have the confidence a graduate is supposed to exhibit. The earlier we start to rewire our minds, the better.

When we always say Nkrumah was ahead of his time, he did not achieve that feat out of the blue or by simply going to school to pass exams. No! Far from that! Nkrumah married books, he cherished them, and he read voraciously and ravenously fed on any literature he came across.

This was how he captured what imbued in him the sense of organization which gave him the fillip to liberate Ghana and Africa from the clutches of colonialism.

 “My aim was to learn the technique of organisation. I knew that when I eventually returned to the Gold Coast I was going to be faced with this problem. I knew that whatever the programme for the solution of the colonial question might be, success would depend upon the organization adopted.

I concentrated on finding a formula by which the whole colonial question and the problem of imperialism could be solved. I read Hegel, Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mazzini.

The writings of these men did much to influence me in my revolutionary ideas and activities, and Karl Marx and Lenin particularly impressed me as I felt sure that their philosophy was capable of solving these problems. But I think that of all the literature that I studied, the book that did more than any other to fire my enthusiasm was Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey published in 1923. Garvey, with his philosophy of 'Africa for the Africans' and his 'Back to Africa' movement, did much to inspire the Negroes of America in the 1920's.”

That was Nkrumah, then an undergraduate. How many of us students can boast of reading anything of such nature? We must begin to revise our notes and pick up extensive reading habit. That is the salvation for this country.

On the morning of 20th July, 1948, Nkrumah spoke without notes for about ten minutes to a first batch of ten students when he founded the first Ghana National College. He told the students:

“'The African today is conscious of his capabilities. Educational and cultural backwardness is the result of historical conditions.”  He then urged all present and future students, both boys and girls to consider laziness as a crime.

“Think! Study hard! Work with sustained effort. As never before we want thinkers— thinkers of great thoughts. We want doers—doers of great deeds. Of what use is your education if you cannot help your country in her hour of need?

The writer is a National Service Person at the Graphic Communications Group Ltd.

TAQWA (PIETY), A POEM.

Left ajar, it gets rusted

Kept high, it becomes glinted.

Deep in the very cistern of the heart

Manifested by acts of the body, clear-cut

I long to have it running in my lungs.

Sparkling, dazzling, candling like brine.

Refinery for the soul, distillery for the faith and sublime

Uplifts a wretched soul to a level so benign

Not obtained by race, color, creed nor tribe

Rather bestowed unto a nafs by Al-Rahman the most high

He who has it is the greatest amongst you

As the Quran said “Inna Akramakum inda llaahi atkaaakum”

At-taqwa, the prophet said “fee suduurikum”

Further hinted by a hadith that is pabulum

That inna llaaha laaa yanzuru ilaa ajsaamikum

Neither suwarikum rather deep down the kullubikum

(Allah looks at the intent and not the form)

Without Taqwa, our Islam will fall and scatter

For the lack of it, Iman will sink into Nima gutter

Without Taqwa evil will enslave man

In its absence, our soul will be wan like grains of sand

Without Taqwa, the might of our deen will be undone

For its beauty Rabbi Zidnii

I crave for more laa tanqusnii

TAQWA, we need for Janna

For that is the absolute Ni’ma

Polished with Allah’s Rahma

Wa man yaqul inni swagiiru asbiruu

Hattaa akhaafu llaaha heena akbaruu

Fa inna zaaka garrahu ibleesu

Fa qalbuhu muugaffalun matmuusii

(He who says let me grow before I gain Taqwa,

has his soul taken by Shaitaan, the accursed animal)

Wa tub ilaa mawlaaka ya insaanu

Min qabli an yaa fuutaka zamaan.

(Repent unto your lord O’ slave before you are lowered into your grave

And have no one to blame on the blameless day)

NKRUMAH'S SPARKLE AFFECTED OTHER GREATS

                   NKRUMAH'S SPARKLE AFFECTED OTHER GREATS

The story is told of a poet who released an oft-repeated line in Arabic prophesying the impossibility of his name, actions and valor been forgotten by his people. The poet as reported was summoned by his people to lead them into war which he gladly accepted. As the war grew intense, his lieutenants began to flee from the battlefield. A flight faster than one from a menacing lion. He plunged into the battle alone and killed as many enemies as he could. He therefore released these poetic lines to signify how influential his singular act of bravery has been to his people:
            
              My people will mention my name when things harden up
             It is in the time of severe darkness, that a sparkle is sought after.

It is unusual for me to quote this Arab poet in relation to the subject matter of discussion. . However, I want to stress home a point into our skulls about how the machinations, covert and overt connivance and conspiracy can and will never extinguish the fire that Nkrumah lit  which sees his name mentioned whenever this noble country of ours is pummeled into the sinking sands of underdevelopment. No wonder he stated that the fire he lit “will be borne aloft, giving light and guidance to the people. Within and without Ghana or better still Africa, we find glowing, beaming and glittering light of Nkrumah’s unflinching influence. It is an undeniable fact that Africa today is still mirred in the myriad of problems more than it were a century ago as the continent continuous to wallow in the doldrums of absolute despondency  and jumps from one frying pan of problem to a fire of another. The continent has been submerged in natural as well as human-fuelled disasters. Civil wars taken over the warp and woof of the continent and hunger and destitution plunging the continent into the muck and mire of absolute penury.
The serious problem affecting Africans is the fragmented and disjointed state in which we find ourselves. And this is where Kwame Nkrumah is sought after like the sparkle in the poet’s darkness.
At the Baden Powell memorial Hall in Accra on July 18th, 1960. Nkrumah told a bevy of African ladies
“I think the solution is not difficult to find if African leaders have the will and the courage to face facts. The fact which faces us must be obvious to us all.  It is unity- a real political unity of African states. Any solution proffered other than unity can only serve to shelve the issue and can never solve this vital problem. We have the choice of three things: to unite, to stand separately and disintegrate, or sell ourselves to foreign powers. “He further stated, “ If Russia can unite sixteen states in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and America fifty states in the United States of America, no power on earth can prevent a similar Union of African States, provided the African leaders realize that this is their only salvation. If this is not done, I can see nothing that can save Africa.”  Such were the thoughts of a man who was much more concerned with the advancement of his people. Nkrumah is indeed a solitaire. And what is a solitaire? It is a jewel set by itself. Nkrumah is indeed a solitaire!
Lets put our observation caps on and critically observe this, the Pan-African congresses started from 1900 in London, 1919 in Paris, 1921 in London, 1923 in London, 1927 in New York and 1945 in Manchester. The fifth Pan-African congress which was held in Charlton Town Hall, Manchester, England from 15-21 October, 1945 was distinct and a complete departure from the other congresses held. This was so because a unique organizer was involved. Kwame Nkrumah organized that congress together with George Padmore, T.R Makonen and Peter Abrahams (a South African writer). The main reason this congress achieved a lot and stood unique in many ways was “because for the first time the delegates who attended it were practical men and men of action and not, as was the case of the four previous conferences, merely idealists contenting themselves with writing theses but quite unable to or unwilling to take part in dealing with the African problem” as Nkrumah stated in his autobiography. It is therefore not surprising that almost all the foremost Africans who partook in it made significant strides in their respective countries. Talking about Jomo Kenyatta, the Kenyan Independence leader, Hastings Kamuzu Banda who was the trailblazer of the fight against colonialism in Nyasaland (present day Malawi), one of Nigerians founding fathers Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (The sage). Jaja Anucha Wachuku (First speaker of the Nigerian House of representatives as well as first Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent representative to United Nations, Dudley Joseph Thompson (a Jamaican Pan-African who contributed to Jurisprudence and Politics in Caribbean Africa were part of the men that benefited from the radiance  of  Nkrumah which made them luminaries in their various  countries. This is truly the man we will eulogize every microsecond. No wonder C.L.R James described Nkrumah as the “Lenin of Africa” and Amilcar Cabral labeled him as “the strategist of genius in the struggle against classical colonialism.”
The light of Nkrumah did not only end there. Much is said about the extensive and panoramic view of how Nkrumah helped pulverized colonialism and imperialism to the extent of making Ghana the Mecca of international struggle to ensure dignity.  Nelson Mandela, (according to the West, the world’s most respected statesman) outlined how he also came to Ghana to seek support against the much dreaded Apartheid system from Kwame Nkrumah. Ahmed Sekou Toure, Patrice Lumumba, Robert Mugabe, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Samora Machel and other great African personalities sought and gained support here from Nkrumah. The radiation did not end there. It crossed the Mediterranean to affect others who today are hailed as among greatest of men.
Martin Luther King Jnr was so inspired by the spectacle of independence he witnessed such that he delivered the famous “The     birth of a new nation” speech when he went back home.  During a radio interview he granted while in Ghana at the time of independence, he stated “It renews my conviction in the ultimate triumph of justice. And it seems to me that this is fit testimony to the fact that eventually the forces of justice triumph in the universe, and somehow the universe itself is on the side of freedom and justice. So this gives new hope to me in the struggle for freedom.”
In 2012, specifically October 12, 2012, a book was published titled “A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable’s Malcolm X.” It is a collection of essays in response to a book written by Manning Marable also titled, “Malcolm X, a life of Reinvention”, a book that won the 2012 Pulitzer Price for History describing it as “ an exploration  of the legendary life and provocative views of one of the most significant African-Americans in U.S. history”.  This particular book written by Marable concluded that Malcolm X has been economical with the truth in his autobiography, another book that was named by Time magazine as “one of the ten required reading non-fiction books.”   All these literary controversies surrounded one man in question, Malcolm X, a man who stands tall in the struggle of Black America.  And this man described Ghana as the true representation of Africa and its culture. This made him come back to Ghana later again to gain massive inspiration, seek some goodies and African nuggets of wisdom from the unsinkable Nkrumah.
The man with the most popular photograph in the world, Ernesto Che Guevara, the Cuban Castro brothers and other great men gained massive inspiration from the African Man of the millennium.
The youth of today should learn from Nkrumah and make positive impact in the world. “We should not only teach our children the exploits of their forefathers, we should also teach them how they can make massive exploits.” A point hinted by Ahmed Sekou Toure. I therefore leave us with a gem of wisdom on how to do that from our first ever and real president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah:
“What are your standards? What do you believe in? Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it a noble and glorious challenge- a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve, to achieve the highest excellences and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life?”

NB: The writer is a student of Tafsiliyya School for Training and Education.

HAPPY PERSISTENCE EARTHDAY TO MUBARAK IDDRISU

Until we met that fateful Friday on the serene campus of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, I held the perception that he was one of the guys who never saw the value of schooling and by tether, education. Though our elders say “an inquisitive monkey always has a bullet on his face”, I decided to be inquisitive.

 “What are you doing here”? I asked

“I am here to pray and go back to class.” He responded confidently.

“Which class”? I added more inquisitively.

“Remedial class at Ideal College.” He responded again.

After that interlocution, I found out that he had moved from Nima to Madina estate so that he could escape the enticements from friends in order to fully concentrate on his academic studies. I then revised my notes on him since then. And he has moved on stealthily.

Mubarak Iddrisu is the subject matter of discussion today. He completed Mrs. Adu Sam’s New Nation School in Nima in 2007 and moved to O’ Reilly Senior High School that same year to study General Science. After a year of rigorous studies, he did not fare well in the science course and decided to move to Business. He therefore joined the new entrants thus repeating a year. Like many Nima guys presently, he lost his soul to worldly pursuits and started as Mr.Kwabla Kuwornu will say “showing himself randomly’” in school. In his own words, he had this to say “Maazi, there is no club in Accra that I have not frequented. Roxbury, Vienna, Glens, Aponkye, Container etc.” and other clubs that are not discoverable to my puritan mind. “Maazi, if even I went to school those days, it was due to the unwavering cajolements from my parents. My dad who is shy of me usually begs me to go to school. My weekends begin on Thursdays when together with friends, I go for rendezvous in one of the boiling points in Accra. I sometimes go to school red-eyed and full of sleep and wish a teacher will just query me on anything. That query alone gives me a ‘carte blanche’ to move away from school usually with friends to endless parties in my house, restaurants etc.” In the end, Mubarak failed terribly and miserably in his WASSSCE examinations. HE PERFORMED DISMALLY AND ABYSMALLY. 

That did not raise any hackle on his skin because after all he was rich and could afford anything he wanted. He therefore continued his Parisian life with untold impunity.

There is a particular Stamping ground in Nima called Los Angeles. That is where we usually sit together into the wee hours of the night ‘analyzing’ topics ranging from archaeology to zoology. These analyses usually end up in noisy, charged arguments with each party screaming his lungs out to have his point stated.  However, we had sane and most often intellectually-stimulating discussions.  The discussions sometimes required thorough research before we came to a conclusion. Through these numerous discussions, Mubarak popularly called Shushu, who is one of the strong discussants realized he has a natural predilection for learning that he dropped. He decided to go pick it up. That was the beginning of the volte face!

Mubarak enrolled at the Ideal College, hid his face from friends and in his own words “married his books profoundly.”  Days before the results came out; he told me he will never go back to school again if he fails this time around again. Never! He was never to fail again! Allah stated emphatically in the Holy book of Islam, specifically in Chapter 18:30 “…… Indeed, We will not allow to be lost, the reward of any who did well in deeds.”  Mubarak stamped his authority in the examinations by coming out with straight A’s with two B’s. As I put pen to paper, Mubarak is a student of the University of Cape Coast studying BSc. Mathematics with Business.  

Archbishop Desmond Tutu painted this picture well for us “There is no situation that is not transformable. There is no person who is hopeless. There is no set of circumstances that cannot be turned about by human beings and their natural capacity for the love of the deepest sort.”

To all Nima boys and girls, no one owes us a living. We make our own destinies. You make your own life. You can choose to waste it and you can choose to make the most out of it. I see great potentialities in us that we waste on frivolities, banalities and unproductive ventures. We must persevere. We must persist in the face of turbulences and pestilences. We must persist to put our heads above the troubling waters.  Persistence indeed conquers.

Calvin Coolidge should perhaps advise us:

“Nothing in this world will take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

NB: The writer is a student of Tafsiliyya School for Training and Education.

Mubarak celebrated his birthday on 16th September, 2014. A birthday is just the beginning of another 365-days journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip!