Pal,
It should be jazzing to your ears by now when I say the IEA is a bogus platform. But I'd start from this point just because Dr. Nduom and his PPP are protesting why they were left out of the debate.
Dr. Nduom as then CPP prez candidate in 2008 partook in the then debate based on same criteria (for parties with MPs only) as is being applied today, but he did not find it prudent to protest for those left out to be included. See pal, this Dr. Nduom guy is a kweku ananse politician. when it's convenient for him and in his favour he shuts up and enjoys himself. Else he makes noise. And he makes this his protest without regard to the fact that the IEA does not owe him inclusion because the IEA is an NGO and not a state institution. Anyway, Nduom and his kantata for you!
Introduction:
The condidates were asked to introduce themselves. Something I found irrelevant. I think the a moderator could have read out simple introductions for all of them. Meanwhile, Nana Addo spent too much time thanking people and saying Baraka da sala to moslems instead of simply introducing himself. He got belled out and so didn't conclude.
Summary First:
I wish to present a sum of all the presentations by the candidates as follows before delving into specifics:
Mahama the teacher:
It was a debate, but you could be mistaken for assuming Mahama was in to teach instead of debating. Pal, Mahama is not like me who relishes provoking nonsense out of people. He's a gentleman. Ok. So instead of jabbing, left-hooking and upper-cutting Nana Addo the main opponent and also the most dumbest of all the candidates, he relaxed and rather resorted to what I'd best describe as teaching. He was the teacher of the night with facts and on-the-ground substance and logic to show and I no objective rating would rate him second to any of the candidates.
Abu Sakara the dreamer:
Good measure for a dreamland rhetoric, a day dream of a dark-skinned lady with the sun in her eyes charming the loins of men! That was what Abu was like. And Pal, you can call me a discoverer of Abu for this sort of measure. Way back in 2008 when he was veep candidate partnering the kweku ananse Nduom on CPP ticket I blogged and stated he was the kind of leader Ghana needs in terms of how he speaks to issues. Then of course I did not analyze his policy positions critically but now that I do I just he's ok for challenging ideas but on substance he confuses his own positions and I'd show soon. Some say he was rather the winner, I think those are either dissappointed Nana Addo's apologists or just people who did not pay critical attention.
Hassan Ayariga the entertainer:
Forget those staged comedy shows. This was pure comedy borne out of frankness and guts. He certainly had a problem communicating in English, something he's not shy to admit with the challenge that he's a German trained and hence could dare anyone to speaking German. In any case he has subsequently argued that if English was what was needed for leadership then we're better off bringing back the 'whitemen' to govern us. language difficulty aside, Ayariga spoke to core common sense on the subjects discussed.
Nana Addo the mentioner of English words:
He was the talkative who got belled out on the very first attempt: his mere introduction and he was the talkative who got belled out of his closing remarks despite asking for an additional 1 minute for closing remark to add to the initial 2 mins given. In-between, he was just a mess complainant of problems some or most of which do not even exist or at best exist in his head as his claims were just bogus. And he even needed help from Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, one of the moderators, with a leading question (something the others didn't get) to attempt finish answering a simple question asked. In the end, even with the help he failed to answer.
NOW THE DEBATE:
a) Broad Vision For Ghana (under theme 'economy'):
They all did ok on this. Except that Nana Addo had his presentation interrupted by some wrong timing by the timer and when asked to continue he requested to be allowed to start from the beginning. So he got and 3 full minutes again to repeat part of the stuff he said. A lot of the things he said were just words.
b) views on National Development Planning Commission based on 1992 constitution and how to make it more effective:
-Dr. Abu Sakara argues that there should be a national policy entrenched in constitution. But Dr. Abu cannot be taken seriously on this because the regime we have is a multi-party democracy and not a one-party state. That is point number one. Point number two is found in the prez answer below. So Sakara was just off. He got put a square peg in a round hole.
-Ayariga argues that all stake holders should be brought on-board to put a national policy together so that it would not be said that only one party did it and hence condition for rejection. In essence this is what the current state is. Then he talks about separating political power from economic power. He didn't say exactly how to do this.
-Nana Addo makes a bombastic claim that they'd not wait but move straight to implement their manifesto and that He'd put his veep as head of NDPC. That is his idea of making it effective and he claims it is backed by the constitution. Just hogwash! It is not the NDPC that implements policies. So the veep being head there is neither here nor there. The veep can be there and the executive would still decide not to follow NDPC plans. So Nana's claim is just, I repeat, hogwash!
-Prez Mahama quickly shoots down Nana Addo's claim that he'd not wait to implement his manifesto and that the veep being in-charge of NDPC clearly shows confusiong in Nana's head. He pointed out that his govt waited to run GPRS2. Again he pointed out that putting veep as head of NDPC only compounds the problem of continuity with succeeding govt. Indeed, the NDPC is an advisory body and hence how Nana expects his govt to be advised by it's own veep is clear confusion. Again, in responding to the question on entrenchment, the prez made it clear that doing so would mean after every period of a plan the constitution would need amendment and that makes it an excessive exercise. The prez was on point.
c) How to maximize tax for implementing policies:
-Ayariga argued about broadenning the tax network. The argued for proper national identification system and a decentralization of the system for effective monitoring. He added generally that people who offend the should be taxed instead of imprisonning them. That's very general. Surely not all categories of law offenders should be taxed instead of imprisonment but it's not a bad idea. It's something that could be distilled and targetted at people who commit minor offenses.
-Nana Addo talked about reforms under Kufour. Then he said point number 1 is simplifying our tax laws. Yet he didn't show about our tax laws are complex that need simplification. His said his second measure would be reducing corruption in the system and for that he claimed he'd apply what he calls Anas-principle, based on the under-cover work of journalist Anas. Why this man is claiming he'd use this crude method in our formal system leaves much to be desired. Anas-principle indeed! Meanwhile we know how cases from Anas have not been suscessfully prosecuted in court for lack of evidence. So what again? And we know that even after Anas exposed some people with his money making videos corruption is still going on *feverishly*. So what's it with Nana's fixation on Anas principle since this guy got national recognition? He's been all around singing Anas principle...Anas principle.
-Prez Mahama argued about his party's record being for tax reforms and pointed out how some people who built reputation fight tax reforms (Nana Addo protested against introductio of VAT). He then talked about ongoing reforms that has resulted in creaation of National revenue Authority to replace old system. Then he talked about application of technology to eliminate human discretion in the system. That's a scientific thing and provides preventive measures. Compare that to Nana's crude so called Anas-principle. The prez then added that tax evaders should be punished with prison terms for example instead of just paying fines.
-Dr. Sarkara argued that the economy first needs to be grown so to make tax collection meaningful becase as he puts it (you can't collect what is not there). He also argued for expansion of tax net, saying that people in the informal sector should be taxed in 'small amounts over a period' instead of big sums that could threaten their businesses. He also called for the completion of the National ID system for efective monitoring.
Pal, let us pause. The debate was a long one, so I'd only hence pick and choose some areas to focus on.
d) EDUCATION: candidates asked to show how they plan to fill funding gaps at all leves (primary, secondary and tertiary) while implementing their individual proposals for education alongside:
-Dr. Sakara claimed dealing with wastage in the system and using a percentage of oil funds
-Ayariga, argues that if even with fee-paying currently we have problem with quality then it rather makes sense to focus on investing in quality. He says that in any case those talking about free have left out university and so who would take care of building universities for shs graduates to be absorbed into. As he puts it we should produce 'absorbable graduates and not avoidable graduates'.
-Nana Addo claimed that school blocks cost more today than in Kufour's time and that it is due to waste. So he claimed we should restrain the 'padded' developments. He did not say he'd make sure there's no padded development in his govt.Also he said we need to pay attention to timeous releasing of funds for schools. He claimed the gaps talked about would be filled by our oil revenue. He did not say the oil funds are finite and would run out at some time but educatio would continue to be in need of funds. He did not even respect the fact that allocation of oil money has already been made by parliament. When asked how his free education solves the problem of people who have qualified and can afford but don't have access, his answer to Kojo was that he wasn't sure who Kojo was listening to and that the din from people he met on his tour is free shs. Such a crass level of stupidity! This guy has no respect for available data on education. Has he checked the latest admission figures across the country? sheer foolishness.
-Prez Mahama makes the point that priority must mean providing access to more people in terms of building infrastructure and not declaring education free because that would not cover all the students. He referenced the constitutional provision that places demand on govt to implement free compulsory, universal basic education. These provision he pointed has not been achieved and that's where attention should be focused.
--Ayariga called for a rebuttal and stated that we should be serious when it comes to economic and national issues. He argued along the same king of line that Mahama did. He challenged all to a simple maths of 200 cedis x 1,000,000 student polution for a term and check where would get that kind of money to fund free education.
--Nana Addo obviously felt the heat and called for a rebuttal too. He was given the opportunity and what did he say? bla bla bla... we can no longer wait... bla bla bla... that once you make it a priority, whatever the amount is (seriously, whatever the amount is?) you'd find the money to do it. And that we should understand for him it's a national crusade. Pal, if this is not sheer lunacy then I wonder what we're about.
--Prez Mahama also called for a rebuttal and summed up that the needed infrastructure for the kind of thing Nana Addo was talking about was non-existent and so his claims were just mis-placed priority.
Pal, me, Nana was lucky to have Mahama who was ready to give him lessons. If I were the one debating him I'd have pointed out his clear lunacy and fraud. Enough of this crusader of lunacy in that name of the people.
e)Candidates asked to give 3 top challenges of heal care delivery and what they'd do about them:
-Nana Addo, started and he just went on and on and on about NHIS and you couldn't tell which part of the question he was answering. NHIS this and NHIS that. He claimed the NPP admin left the NHIS with surplus funds. hallelujah! surplus funds? Was everyting about the NHIS achieved by the time NPP was leaving office? Clearly Nana Addo does not understand what surplus means. lunacy! And he was belled out. The man did not answer the question. Yet, Kojo somehow claimed he had provided one and so he should give the other two, and Kojo helped him with the leading question: what about access and infrastructure? And even with that leading question, Nana still went back to NHIS. He claimed the NHIS funds were to cater for access and infrastructure. Meanwhile, before being aided with this leading question he had claimed that the NHIS fund was meant for the NHIS development! Pal, if you try to mary the contradiction you'd go mad. Nana's lunacy is severe.
-Prez Mahama responded to Nana's NHIS ringtone and pointed out that Nana was wrong about the current state of the NHIS and that the scheme had improved contrary to what Nana was saying. He provided some datat to back his point. He then 1. Access and of this he talked about invesment in infrastructure like hospitals etc. 2. Human Resource, about which he said midwifery institutions and universities have been setup to address this. 3. Affordability, which he says the NHIS was setup to deal with, etc. (remember Nana said NHIS is responsible for infrastructure).
So you see a clear sound minded answer to the question asked by the prez compared to the lunacy of an answer from Nana Addo. Pal, it's not a joking matter! Nana Addo is not correct! plain and simple.
-Dr. Sakakar talked of 1. Prevention (of diseases). 2.Access 3. Adequacy of health care. He also explained his areas somehow.
-Ayariga 1. Acess. 2. Family planning (contraceptives). 3.Personnel training (doctors, nurses, etc) and provision of equipment. He also talked about sanitation and infrastructure (private centres, ambulances).
--Nana Addo asked to make a rebuttal, and what did he say? He claimed the fact that more people visit hospitals mean that more people are getting sick. So in the world of Nana Addo folks don't go to do check-ups. Folks don't do medical exams for travel, etc. For Nana Addo once you visit the hospital it means you are sick. My God! the man is sick. Then he put out some figure as cost for training doctors.
--The prez too asked for rebuttal and pointed out that Nana's figure for the Cuba training of doctors was not correct and instead of Nana Addo keeping quiet since it wasn't his turn to speak he interjected and claimed the source of his figure was the Internet! Christo! This is some man who has got some young guys around him working stuff for him on the Internet which he launched in his usual flamboyant manner and does not even know that the Internes is a place for different things and hence making it a reference for a platform like that amounted to nothing but stupidity. Which part of the Internet? sheer lunacy from Nana Addo again.
Pal, I'd end here, the rest of the debate followed similar fashion with Nana Addo blowing senseless Jazzzzzzzzz while even Ayariga who was laughed at for his use of English even made more substantial sense than him.
Pal, for me this who thing proves my long standing point on Nana Addo that he does not speak sense. The man is just full of nonsense and must not be allowed near the presidency of Ghana!
Later!
It should be jazzing to your ears by now when I say the IEA is a bogus platform. But I'd start from this point just because Dr. Nduom and his PPP are protesting why they were left out of the debate.
Dr. Nduom as then CPP prez candidate in 2008 partook in the then debate based on same criteria (for parties with MPs only) as is being applied today, but he did not find it prudent to protest for those left out to be included. See pal, this Dr. Nduom guy is a kweku ananse politician. when it's convenient for him and in his favour he shuts up and enjoys himself. Else he makes noise. And he makes this his protest without regard to the fact that the IEA does not owe him inclusion because the IEA is an NGO and not a state institution. Anyway, Nduom and his kantata for you!
Introduction:
The condidates were asked to introduce themselves. Something I found irrelevant. I think the a moderator could have read out simple introductions for all of them. Meanwhile, Nana Addo spent too much time thanking people and saying Baraka da sala to moslems instead of simply introducing himself. He got belled out and so didn't conclude.
Summary First:
I wish to present a sum of all the presentations by the candidates as follows before delving into specifics:
Mahama the teacher:
It was a debate, but you could be mistaken for assuming Mahama was in to teach instead of debating. Pal, Mahama is not like me who relishes provoking nonsense out of people. He's a gentleman. Ok. So instead of jabbing, left-hooking and upper-cutting Nana Addo the main opponent and also the most dumbest of all the candidates, he relaxed and rather resorted to what I'd best describe as teaching. He was the teacher of the night with facts and on-the-ground substance and logic to show and I no objective rating would rate him second to any of the candidates.
Abu Sakara the dreamer:
Good measure for a dreamland rhetoric, a day dream of a dark-skinned lady with the sun in her eyes charming the loins of men! That was what Abu was like. And Pal, you can call me a discoverer of Abu for this sort of measure. Way back in 2008 when he was veep candidate partnering the kweku ananse Nduom on CPP ticket I blogged and stated he was the kind of leader Ghana needs in terms of how he speaks to issues. Then of course I did not analyze his policy positions critically but now that I do I just he's ok for challenging ideas but on substance he confuses his own positions and I'd show soon. Some say he was rather the winner, I think those are either dissappointed Nana Addo's apologists or just people who did not pay critical attention.
Hassan Ayariga the entertainer:
Forget those staged comedy shows. This was pure comedy borne out of frankness and guts. He certainly had a problem communicating in English, something he's not shy to admit with the challenge that he's a German trained and hence could dare anyone to speaking German. In any case he has subsequently argued that if English was what was needed for leadership then we're better off bringing back the 'whitemen' to govern us. language difficulty aside, Ayariga spoke to core common sense on the subjects discussed.
Nana Addo the mentioner of English words:
He was the talkative who got belled out on the very first attempt: his mere introduction and he was the talkative who got belled out of his closing remarks despite asking for an additional 1 minute for closing remark to add to the initial 2 mins given. In-between, he was just a mess complainant of problems some or most of which do not even exist or at best exist in his head as his claims were just bogus. And he even needed help from Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, one of the moderators, with a leading question (something the others didn't get) to attempt finish answering a simple question asked. In the end, even with the help he failed to answer.
NOW THE DEBATE:
a) Broad Vision For Ghana (under theme 'economy'):
They all did ok on this. Except that Nana Addo had his presentation interrupted by some wrong timing by the timer and when asked to continue he requested to be allowed to start from the beginning. So he got and 3 full minutes again to repeat part of the stuff he said. A lot of the things he said were just words.
b) views on National Development Planning Commission based on 1992 constitution and how to make it more effective:
-Dr. Abu Sakara argues that there should be a national policy entrenched in constitution. But Dr. Abu cannot be taken seriously on this because the regime we have is a multi-party democracy and not a one-party state. That is point number one. Point number two is found in the prez answer below. So Sakara was just off. He got put a square peg in a round hole.
-Ayariga argues that all stake holders should be brought on-board to put a national policy together so that it would not be said that only one party did it and hence condition for rejection. In essence this is what the current state is. Then he talks about separating political power from economic power. He didn't say exactly how to do this.
-Nana Addo makes a bombastic claim that they'd not wait but move straight to implement their manifesto and that He'd put his veep as head of NDPC. That is his idea of making it effective and he claims it is backed by the constitution. Just hogwash! It is not the NDPC that implements policies. So the veep being head there is neither here nor there. The veep can be there and the executive would still decide not to follow NDPC plans. So Nana's claim is just, I repeat, hogwash!
-Prez Mahama quickly shoots down Nana Addo's claim that he'd not wait to implement his manifesto and that the veep being in-charge of NDPC clearly shows confusiong in Nana's head. He pointed out that his govt waited to run GPRS2. Again he pointed out that putting veep as head of NDPC only compounds the problem of continuity with succeeding govt. Indeed, the NDPC is an advisory body and hence how Nana expects his govt to be advised by it's own veep is clear confusion. Again, in responding to the question on entrenchment, the prez made it clear that doing so would mean after every period of a plan the constitution would need amendment and that makes it an excessive exercise. The prez was on point.
c) How to maximize tax for implementing policies:
-Ayariga argued about broadenning the tax network. The argued for proper national identification system and a decentralization of the system for effective monitoring. He added generally that people who offend the should be taxed instead of imprisonning them. That's very general. Surely not all categories of law offenders should be taxed instead of imprisonment but it's not a bad idea. It's something that could be distilled and targetted at people who commit minor offenses.
-Nana Addo talked about reforms under Kufour. Then he said point number 1 is simplifying our tax laws. Yet he didn't show about our tax laws are complex that need simplification. His said his second measure would be reducing corruption in the system and for that he claimed he'd apply what he calls Anas-principle, based on the under-cover work of journalist Anas. Why this man is claiming he'd use this crude method in our formal system leaves much to be desired. Anas-principle indeed! Meanwhile we know how cases from Anas have not been suscessfully prosecuted in court for lack of evidence. So what again? And we know that even after Anas exposed some people with his money making videos corruption is still going on *feverishly*. So what's it with Nana's fixation on Anas principle since this guy got national recognition? He's been all around singing Anas principle...Anas principle.
-Prez Mahama argued about his party's record being for tax reforms and pointed out how some people who built reputation fight tax reforms (Nana Addo protested against introductio of VAT). He then talked about ongoing reforms that has resulted in creaation of National revenue Authority to replace old system. Then he talked about application of technology to eliminate human discretion in the system. That's a scientific thing and provides preventive measures. Compare that to Nana's crude so called Anas-principle. The prez then added that tax evaders should be punished with prison terms for example instead of just paying fines.
-Dr. Sarkara argued that the economy first needs to be grown so to make tax collection meaningful becase as he puts it (you can't collect what is not there). He also argued for expansion of tax net, saying that people in the informal sector should be taxed in 'small amounts over a period' instead of big sums that could threaten their businesses. He also called for the completion of the National ID system for efective monitoring.
Pal, let us pause. The debate was a long one, so I'd only hence pick and choose some areas to focus on.
d) EDUCATION: candidates asked to show how they plan to fill funding gaps at all leves (primary, secondary and tertiary) while implementing their individual proposals for education alongside:
-Dr. Sakara claimed dealing with wastage in the system and using a percentage of oil funds
-Ayariga, argues that if even with fee-paying currently we have problem with quality then it rather makes sense to focus on investing in quality. He says that in any case those talking about free have left out university and so who would take care of building universities for shs graduates to be absorbed into. As he puts it we should produce 'absorbable graduates and not avoidable graduates'.
-Nana Addo claimed that school blocks cost more today than in Kufour's time and that it is due to waste. So he claimed we should restrain the 'padded' developments. He did not say he'd make sure there's no padded development in his govt.Also he said we need to pay attention to timeous releasing of funds for schools. He claimed the gaps talked about would be filled by our oil revenue. He did not say the oil funds are finite and would run out at some time but educatio would continue to be in need of funds. He did not even respect the fact that allocation of oil money has already been made by parliament. When asked how his free education solves the problem of people who have qualified and can afford but don't have access, his answer to Kojo was that he wasn't sure who Kojo was listening to and that the din from people he met on his tour is free shs. Such a crass level of stupidity! This guy has no respect for available data on education. Has he checked the latest admission figures across the country? sheer foolishness.
-Prez Mahama makes the point that priority must mean providing access to more people in terms of building infrastructure and not declaring education free because that would not cover all the students. He referenced the constitutional provision that places demand on govt to implement free compulsory, universal basic education. These provision he pointed has not been achieved and that's where attention should be focused.
--Ayariga called for a rebuttal and stated that we should be serious when it comes to economic and national issues. He argued along the same king of line that Mahama did. He challenged all to a simple maths of 200 cedis x 1,000,000 student polution for a term and check where would get that kind of money to fund free education.
--Nana Addo obviously felt the heat and called for a rebuttal too. He was given the opportunity and what did he say? bla bla bla... we can no longer wait... bla bla bla... that once you make it a priority, whatever the amount is (seriously, whatever the amount is?) you'd find the money to do it. And that we should understand for him it's a national crusade. Pal, if this is not sheer lunacy then I wonder what we're about.
--Prez Mahama also called for a rebuttal and summed up that the needed infrastructure for the kind of thing Nana Addo was talking about was non-existent and so his claims were just mis-placed priority.
Pal, me, Nana was lucky to have Mahama who was ready to give him lessons. If I were the one debating him I'd have pointed out his clear lunacy and fraud. Enough of this crusader of lunacy in that name of the people.
e)Candidates asked to give 3 top challenges of heal care delivery and what they'd do about them:
-Nana Addo, started and he just went on and on and on about NHIS and you couldn't tell which part of the question he was answering. NHIS this and NHIS that. He claimed the NPP admin left the NHIS with surplus funds. hallelujah! surplus funds? Was everyting about the NHIS achieved by the time NPP was leaving office? Clearly Nana Addo does not understand what surplus means. lunacy! And he was belled out. The man did not answer the question. Yet, Kojo somehow claimed he had provided one and so he should give the other two, and Kojo helped him with the leading question: what about access and infrastructure? And even with that leading question, Nana still went back to NHIS. He claimed the NHIS funds were to cater for access and infrastructure. Meanwhile, before being aided with this leading question he had claimed that the NHIS fund was meant for the NHIS development! Pal, if you try to mary the contradiction you'd go mad. Nana's lunacy is severe.
-Prez Mahama responded to Nana's NHIS ringtone and pointed out that Nana was wrong about the current state of the NHIS and that the scheme had improved contrary to what Nana was saying. He provided some datat to back his point. He then 1. Access and of this he talked about invesment in infrastructure like hospitals etc. 2. Human Resource, about which he said midwifery institutions and universities have been setup to address this. 3. Affordability, which he says the NHIS was setup to deal with, etc. (remember Nana said NHIS is responsible for infrastructure).
So you see a clear sound minded answer to the question asked by the prez compared to the lunacy of an answer from Nana Addo. Pal, it's not a joking matter! Nana Addo is not correct! plain and simple.
-Dr. Sakakar talked of 1. Prevention (of diseases). 2.Access 3. Adequacy of health care. He also explained his areas somehow.
-Ayariga 1. Acess. 2. Family planning (contraceptives). 3.Personnel training (doctors, nurses, etc) and provision of equipment. He also talked about sanitation and infrastructure (private centres, ambulances).
--Nana Addo asked to make a rebuttal, and what did he say? He claimed the fact that more people visit hospitals mean that more people are getting sick. So in the world of Nana Addo folks don't go to do check-ups. Folks don't do medical exams for travel, etc. For Nana Addo once you visit the hospital it means you are sick. My God! the man is sick. Then he put out some figure as cost for training doctors.
--The prez too asked for rebuttal and pointed out that Nana's figure for the Cuba training of doctors was not correct and instead of Nana Addo keeping quiet since it wasn't his turn to speak he interjected and claimed the source of his figure was the Internet! Christo! This is some man who has got some young guys around him working stuff for him on the Internet which he launched in his usual flamboyant manner and does not even know that the Internes is a place for different things and hence making it a reference for a platform like that amounted to nothing but stupidity. Which part of the Internet? sheer lunacy from Nana Addo again.
Pal, I'd end here, the rest of the debate followed similar fashion with Nana Addo blowing senseless Jazzzzzzzzz while even Ayariga who was laughed at for his use of English even made more substantial sense than him.
Pal, for me this who thing proves my long standing point on Nana Addo that he does not speak sense. The man is just full of nonsense and must not be allowed near the presidency of Ghana!
Later!
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