Nominating Late President John Atta Mills Of Ghana For the Mo Ibrahim Prize

This post serves to nominate the late Ghanaian president, John Atta Mills, for the lucrative Mo Ibrahim Prize for excellent leadership demonstrated by an African head of state. Such excellence is defined in terms of the promotion of democratic values and the improvement of the standard of living of the people. John Atta Mills is an excellent candidate to receive the prize posthumously.

John Atta Mills Was A Good President

Dr. John Atta Mills, the former president of Ghana, was a good leader. He was not only one of the very few fairly elected leaders in Africa, the economy of Ghana also began to see significant improvement under his leadership. I do not want to make him a saint but he was a good example in an African context where other leaders impose themselves on their people and could care less for the well-being of their people. Dr. Atta Mills should have a dignified place in the story of contemporary African politics.

Dr. John Atta Mills (1944-2012)

What Killed President John Atta Mills Of Ghana?

It is being reported that President John Atta Mills of Ghana is dead. Details of what killed him are not yet known. Contribute if you have more information.

A Scary Clock: World Population Growth

You can see a clock of how world population is growing here. It is just like the clock of how America's debt is growing. It seems scary.

Michaela DePrince: A Ballerina From Sierra Leone

A teenage Sierra Leonean ballerina is making waves. Watch her story below:

Britain and the Mau Mau in Kenya

Lagos Government Should Be More Humane

The government of Lagos, Nigeria, is currently tearing down a slum built on water in which people have been living for over one hundred years now. While clearing slums to make way for more decent accommodation is apposite, the manner in which the government in Lagos seems to be going about the matter is inhumane and cruel. It is not clear that the government is helping the people to find alternative accommodation. The people were simply given 72 hours to vacate the area. Then people were sent to demolish the area. A government that does not want to be portrayed negatively needs to make sure it caters for the well-being of its people, that is, treat people humanely. Right now this is not being seen in the destruction of the slum in Lagos.

The Nigerian Fuel Tanker Tragedy That Keeps On Giving

In the last ten years or so, at least three ghastly accidents involving tankers and petrol have happened in Nigeria. In each of the cases, the tragedy has been augmented by the fact that people have gathered at the accident site, attempting to scoop petrol from the fallen tanker. The first time I heard of this kind of tragedy was in the late 1990s. Perhaps many others had happened before. Now, the first time I heard of the tragedy I thought that one of the lessons that may be taken from it is that people should not go scooping petrol from fallen tankers because the whole thing might ignite. In the first case, over a hundred people died. Not long after that, it happened again, with the same costly price in human life. The latest one was just last week. It would seem that such constant mishap in which so many lives are lost will be taken as a national emergency. Perhaps the Nigerian government may want to sensitize people about the dangers of scooping fuel from a fallen tanker. Perhaps, again, people keep falling for the same mistake because their desperate conditions always make the risk attractive. Consider the many Africans who keep drowning in the Mediterranean Sea as they try to cross to Europe. However, something needs to be done to sensitize and empower people so that they do not expose themselves to such risk. Where people generally have the means to make decent livelihood, they generally do not place themselves in position of such dangerous risk. I will, however, not be surprised if an intelligent preacher in Nigeria is attributing the whole thing to witchcraft. That is how they, too, make their money.

WANTED!!! - TEODORIN OBIANG NGUEMA

A French judge has issued an international arrest warrant for money-laundering against Teodorin Obiang Nguema, son of the current dictator of Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Nguema. The charge of grand larceny needs to be included in the warrant. It would have been better if he were arrested and imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea but none of the judges there would dare make such charges against him. The French arrest warrant is the next best thing. Find the portrait of the accused below.

Melinda Gates And Contraception In Africa

India in Africa

An African People In India

Muslims To Guard Churches In Kenya

The recent spate of church bombings in Nigeria and Kenya has led Muslim leaders in Kenya to pledge to form groups to guard churches against their wayward coreligionists. This is a very healthy step in the right direction and worthy of emulation by Muslim leaders in Nigeria. In fact, this is a lesson that should be emulated by Islamic leaders in countries where Islamic fundamentalists are visiting violence against their fellow compatriots. It is a lesson that people of different religious convictions can live side-by-side without killing each other. In fact, it is a lesson that religionists should actively be involved in protecting each other against those who would want to see one group of religious people disappear from the face of the earth.