Comments on issues raised by BBC WHYS

Ghana must pride itself on becoming a stable and democratic country after years of instability. Like many developing countries, it has some of its best citizens living abroad because they can’t exploit their potentials at home. In an interview with the BBC HYS on the occasion of Ghana 50^th independence anniversary, President John Kufuor appealed to Ghanaian expatriates to return to their countries and work for its development.

Ghana has now the basis for progress as it has got rid of the spectre of military dictatorship. It has a democratic president who believes in the rotation of power through limiting the terms of presidency. I had the chance to put a question to his Excellency on BBC WHS. This is what he had to say about my question to him on this issue:

Ghana produced many outstanding figures; the best known is Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General. Ghana has major roles to play on international stage through its presiding over the African Union. With more hard work, African countries can become a leading example on how to rise from internal fighting and waste of golden opportunities to reasonably developed nations. While Europe is worried about its aging population, Africa has a largely young population. Investment in human resources through the good management of its natural and cultural riches will bring it to a safe shore.

Ghana for many is a country which has one of the best football players. If they can build strong football teams, they can also build a strong economy. It’s all about team spirit and fair play. Match fixing and inside dealing benefit just the corrupt few. People want what to cheer about and to have a good share of what is available in the spirit of cooperation, fraternity and equality.

Let’s hope that Ghana will continue on the right path and Africa will have more countries that set the example for good governance, instead of remaining like a patient needing different prescriptions from different foreign doctors like the World Bank and the IMF.

Here is part of the conversation on Ghanaian expatriates that was broadcast on BBC WHYS

It must be a hard experience for the family and friends of BBC Alan Johnston to mark his birthday without knowing much of his news. Nobody would have liked his birthday to be marked in such a way after it was a private occasion. What is more worrying about him is the current situation in Gaza. It’s the irony of fate that Alan Johnston was a reporter of the events there. Now he’s linked to them as whatever sort of violence taking place there must be of concern to his relatives and friends.

Nobody would want his birthday to be brought to notice in such a fashion. But it must be celebrated at least symbolically. It is the continuation of hope that Alan is safe and the certainty that he will have many happy returns, while his 45^th birthday will continue to be marked as an occasion for remembering that no one is immune from harm despite unlimited goodness. It will also be remembered that in a strange way, Alan has become the friends of many who used to follow his reports, wanting to know more about him than the events he has covered.

Alan will remain assured that as his reports reached all corners of the globe, what he has come to has resonated worldwide. It has made everyone of different creeds and nationalities concerned about him. We all wish you well. Your modesty will make you more humble about the support and sympathy you received from the thousands who know you personally or who got involved with you’ve come through without ever meeting you. We all hope to see you back as soon as possible and like other correspondents of the BBC, you will be presenting shows of BBC WHYS and I will have the opportunity to speak to you.

Once again happy birthday.

Nigeria is one of the outstanding countries in Africa. It has the potential to be a superpower in Western Africa as it is the case for South Africa which is the dominant force in Southern Africa. The bad image Nigeria has is that it is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, giving little confidence to international investors. Public money is burnt in the same way as oil wells are abandoned sending their fumes in the air, as well as the dripping oil pipes while the poor Nigerians are left to eke out a living from dismal sources.

Nigeria is the first exporter of oil in Africa. But the striking facts about Nigerians is that despite their problems, a survey has found out that they are the happiest people. Maybe they should export the secret of their happiness to the rest of the world, especially to affluent countries where the rate of happiness is very low.

I still remember a BBC WHYS show presented by Ros Atkins in a Nigerian restaurants in London. The Nigerian participants were audibly foaming with anger at one another. They left the listeners with the impressions that the Nigerians can’t live in peace as they can’t disagree without getting angry. The following day Ros announced that after the show the participants became jovial and shared a merry Nigerian meal. I wonder if the British can get angry at one another and in no time forget about it.

Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world, but it may also be the most populated with happy people. They surely joke at what looks distressful which drives serious pedantic thinkers mad with rage.

listen to part of the show on BBC WHYS

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has ordered the country’s cricket team to pull out of a scheduled tour of Zimbabwe in September. Should sport and politics be intertwined?

Sports should be used as a political weapon to isolate regimes that have no respect for human rights. As teams represent their countries, team from democratic ones shouldn’t play against those living in a dictatorship. Anything is good to put pressure on Mugabe to reform his regime. As economic sanctions failed to change his dictatorial approach, sport boycott will have a moral effect on the Zimbabwean public, which has been seeking a new political team to lead the country democratically.

Sport can be an effective means to isolate Mugabe. Any achievement will be wrongly attributed to him as he can use it to show Zimbabwe’s “great successes” in international sports under his leadership. It doesn’t make sense to hold a trophy or a medal from a dictator who has no team spirit. Sports will become a propaganda machine. It’s easier to form sport teams as a facade for his regime than to tackle the deep troubles of the millions of Zimbabweans living below poverty line.

At 06:10 PM on 26 Apr 2007,

QUESTIONS

Hi Ed,

What does coming to normal life mean to you?

1) How do you stand on controversial issues in UK like the wearing of the Niqab in schools and public places?

2)What advise do you give to young Muslims who are on the brink of becoming extremists?

3)How do you evaluate religious tolerance in UK, especially between the church and the Muslim communities?

4) Do you believe in religious freedom? If so do you think a Muslim has the right to change his/her religion?

5) Do you think your change of attitude towards extremism will serve as an example to radical Muslim, some of whose battles seem difficult to win?

ED HUSSAIN’S ANSWER

REACTION

At 07:15 PM on 26 Apr 2007,

I listened to Ed Husain account of his “epic “journey in Islam. He must have learnt how to take the right direction the hard way by living extremism and knowing what it means when tested it against reality.

What comes out of his conviction as he stated on WHYS was that religion shouldn’t be politicised. One can achieve religious enlightenment by embracing a religion for spiritual guidance and not seeing religion as a weapon to achieve political power. Before becoming religious, one should be a person with all what human values entails. As he said when one falls into extremism, nothing seems right but one’s own convictions. Those who embrace extremisms just shut themselves to the riches of humanity. They, out of ignorance, keep living prisoners of their narrow beliefs. The world is a wonderful place to live in because there are different types of believers.

The world will become more beautiful if faith is kept personal and if there is interfaith dialogue. In multi-faith countries like UK, it’s a must to be tolerant and open. Otherwise this leads to seclusion and vehement hate of the rest.

Ed Husain must have considered it as a sin, during his radical period, to sit and talk to a non-Muslim during his erroneous radicalism. What made it possible to him to speak on WHYS to Muslims and non-Muslims wearing a beard and a suit? Simply his return to normal life.

The kidnapping of Madeleine brought to notice the degree of protection children should have from their parents. The worst thing that can happen to parents is to have their children come to harm. Child kidnapping is stressful experience for the parents as a part of them is lost. Parents should be very attentive to their children. They should never leave them alone or with a person that can’t be trusted.

It is totally wrong to leave very young children alone unguarded. They can be attacked or kidnapped. There are cases in which infants were abducted by people wishing to have children as they can’t have their own. In some troubled countries, at least in the past years, children were abducted by armed groups to make of them child soldiers.

Even in normal societies, it can be difficult to offer total protection to children when they start going out unaccompanied as it may be the case when leaving home for school or for playing. Overprotecting children can be detrimental to their psychological make-up as they can’t grow easily to be independent adults. Children should be exposed to reality from young age to know how to cope later in life. They should also be taught how to avoid strangers. But the case of three-year-old Madeleine McCann shows even in supposedly secure places with CCTV and security guards, kidnapping can happen.

Perhaps the best thing to do is never to take one’s eyes off their children, one way or another. Children by nature can go where their curiosity leads them as they can be easily lured by strangers. Parents should foresee the consequences of leaving their children unattended.

Listen to part of the conversation on BBC WHYS

Sarkozy won the presidential elections to become France’s new president. It’s must be seen as a new era in French politics as Sarkozy is of the relatively young generation. With the departure of Jacques Chirac, France should be set for a new style of government. Sarkozy deserves his victory. Royal made many blunders in her campaigns. This must be seen as prelude to what president she would be if she had won. Because of his accumulated political responsibilities, Sarkozy has enough experience. This will allow him to deal with issues nationally and internationally.

Sarkozy’s victory shows politics in France is still a male domain. Royal failed to convince the majority because of her blunders. The voters must have made the right choice. Her party must have made the wrong one, first by thinking a female candidate can restore it to power and second by choosing Royal who seemed inexperienced about international politics. The lesson to learn from these elections is that experience and personality matter and not the ideological cliché of equality b/w sexes.

France regardless of who won should be an example for undemocratic countries where there are no change of president or the elections are carried under fraud and violence. If Royal had won, she would be the first female president. But Sarkozy will be known in history as the first French president of immigrant origin. Being so, he should solve the problems of the immigrants instead of resorting to harsh measures in response to their just demands for equal treatment socially and economically.

The story of the Charles Tombe who was forced to marry goat Rose shouldn’t come as a surprise to some. There are many who practise bestiality with their pets at least in secrecy. In Holland, The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party hit the headlines when one of its political principles was to legalise bestiality. (It was discussed on WHYS ).Now the goat is dead .On this sad occasion, it should send a letter of condolences to Mr Charles Tombe. It also should send him another goat after his bestial marriage was short and not rosy enough. It should help him to raise his “son-in-law”, now he’s a widower. And why not help the kid to come to Holland to be raised along its political principles.

One problem that could have risen is this. Had Mr Tombe been the first to die, would “Mrs” Rose be entitled to inherit him according to the local customs as they were married according to them?

With Tony Blair the Labour Party have never had it so good. T. Blair broke many records as the youngest prime minister in the 20th century, as the first Labour PM to win three successive general elections. As UK lived under the brand of the “New Labour”, now it needs a new PM that can correct T. Blair’s mistakes and refurbish the actions that put UK among the nations to contend with. Before T. Blair, the Labour Party was in a mess. He rejuvenated it. After him, it needs a new look to keep new before it has the fate of other parties that have never taken power for decades like the Liberal Democrats.

For many outside the UK, Tony Blair will be remembered as the one whose foreign policy towards Iraq made UK look just a like a close follower of the USA. On this he has sailed on the same boat as George Bush. It dominated political debates at home and abroad, triggering his unpopularity among many. Because of his foreign policy on Iraq, he made UK on the blacklist of Islamic terrorists. But his decision to reduce British troops from Iraq for a possible withdrawal can atone for having sent them in the first place.

Tony Blair will be probably be missed by Bush who may have difficult times with the new PM should he decide a 360° turn to distance himself from the legacy of Blair. Blair rejuvenated the Labour Party. Now he is going to step down before becoming too old to lead the country. Politics is like athleticism. You should retire before you’re too old. Blair leaves while he’s in good form.

Now he has left his footprint in UK and having in power long enough to fight opponents abroad at home, Tony Blair can be an adviser on international policy, especially at the United Nations. Flamboyant politician like him at a relatively young age, will find it difficult to be a spectator to sit behind. He can follow the lead of former politicians and publish his memoirs in Downing Street. Many will be curious to know more about him. He arrived to power in a spectacular way. Now he leaves it with flying colours as his popularity isn’t currently as low as that of his close friend George Bush.

It remains to see how the future Prime Minister will fair. One thing is sure UK is historically a close ally to the US under either Labour or Conservative governments. Tony Blair in his approach to foreign policy, especially Iraq, is just a continuation of what the relations between UK and USA should be. History will tell how Blair influenced George Bush. Now the prevailing view is that Blair has been just at his beck and call.

One of the other things that will be missed about him is his eloquence and sense of humour. He has all the chances to keep in stardom after leaving office. It is unlikely that he will easily fall in oblivion. UK now has three prominent prime ministers dating back from the Second World War: Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and the last but not the least: Tony Blair. Historians will keep talking about them.