HERE COMES VIRGO.BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!!!

This is just to all my pals out there.Before the end of August you should be expecting my magazines on the news stands: VIRGO HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE. this is going out as a reminder and to solicit for your support when this finally comes out. Its basically going to be a magazine edited by a host of medical students and some medical doctors as well.
This will serve as a platform for one of the main stakeholders in healthcare to voice out their takes on disease transmission and prevention in our indigenous context. issues to be tackled would also involve general healthcare policies and lifestyle modifications as well.

This is going to be this is going to be a very indispensible piece of work which i envisage will go a long way to contribute a lot to health care in our motherland

I would therefore hereby ask that anyone who is interested in investing in this through any means whatsoever should contact me.

TEL NO: +233242244592
carlnyc2@hotmail.com

HOPE

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

BARCAMP 2009

It's just halfway and am enjoying it already

AFRICANS MAKING IT BIG ELSEWHERE.......

Dr Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu a Ghanaian engineer with the US space agency, NASA, has been awarded the prestigious NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal in 2008.

The NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal is awarded for significant engineering contributions towards the achievement of the NASA mission. This award may be given for individual efforts or applications of engineering principles or methods that have resulted in a contribution of fundamental importance in this field or have significantly enhanced understanding of this fiel

Dr Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu is a Fellow of the IEE (U.K. ) and a Senior Member of the IEEE (USA ). He was born in Accra,Ghana . He currently works on the Mars Exploration Rover Operations Team. He is a Member of the Integrated Sequencing Team (IST) as a Rover Planner (Rover Driver) responsible for Surface Mobility/Navigation Planning, IDD Planning, and Command Generation , and Member of the Spacecraft Rover Engineering Team (SRET), Mobility/IDD Subsystem (Both Spirit and Opportunity ). Pre-launch he worked as Flight Systems Test Engineer were he performed V&V on major functional capabilities of Mars Exploration Rover. These include Impact To Egress, Instrument Deployment Device (5 DOF robotic arm), Surface Operations Processes for driving the rover and operating the robotic arm, and Ground Data Tools used for traverse and robotic arm planning.

VIRGO INITIATIVES: AFTER THE OBAMA DUST SETTLED II: A contradictory message from OBAMA.

VIRGO INITIATIVES: AFTER THE OBAMA DUST SETTLED II: A contradictory message from OBAMA.

AFTER THE OBAMA DUST SETTLED II: A contradictory message from OBAMA.

Barack Obama, the charismatic US president, whom I like and much respect, came to Africa bearing a message and a gift. Both spoke of Africa's need for self-determination.

This was part of his message: "Governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable and more successful than governments that do not ... This is about more than holding elections - it's also about what happens between them.

"Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery.

"That is not democracy, it is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end."

But it is the second offering - the gift that Obama brought to Ghana - which I take great exception to, because it casts a shadow over, in fact paralyses, talk of self-determination.

People cannot achieve self-determination, if their most basic human right – food - is controlled and determined by others.

Obama's gift was the $20 billion agreed last week for financing food security at the G8 L'Aquila meeting.

No more handouts?

This marks a pronounced shift in policy toward food and Africa. Africans, we are told, will now be helped to farm their way out of hunger, rather than rely on handouts from overseas.

And Obama's message underscored this: "I have pledged substantial increases in our foreign assistance, which is in Africa's interest and America's. But the true sign of success is not whether we are a source of aid that helps people scrape by - it is whether we are partners in building the capacity for transformational change."

This is where I think Obama got his wires crossed or confused. Not because I think his message is wrong; I think the message is to be lauded.

The problem is how he aims to achieve Africa's "transformational" change which, if anything, is contradictory to his spoken intentions.

agree with Obama that governance, democracy and good policies are crucial for Africa's renaissance. But unless America, and in particular northern countries, change their policies toward African agriculture, then the continent will always just get by, if that!

"Food security" will never lead to African food sovereignty and independence until Europe and America do something about their own agricultural subsidies, which they pour on their own farmers.

These subsidies out-compete and ravage Africa's agriculture.

Ghana was single-handedly picked out by Obama as being a shining light of "good governance" in Africa. It's a shame he never mentioned what American farm subsidies did to Ghana's farmers.

DECENTRALISATION: Where our chiefs stand

The idea of decentralisation is to serve as a catalyst for individuals and communities to emphasize the values of social cohesion and as such take the big burden off the shoulders of the central government.It should not be seen as a centrifugal endeavour but as a binding venture which is necessary in galvanizing the ideals of any nation

On one of those days when i feel like discussing a national issue with someone, a very important topic came along. It was actually very handy because its been on my mind for a long time.

I asked my friend what he thinks about the whole democratic structure of ghana when it comes to the critical issue of decentralisation. Frankly, I dont know of any other country that use our district assembly structure but that is not to say its not good. What i feel is that we need a little bit more of transformation down there

After quite some time with this firm friend of mine, I retired to my closest and truly amorous friend i call Asiwome, a true African indeed.

We however did conclude on some points which we feel when considered would transform our district assemblies into the true tool of decentralisation we need.

Both of us agreed that to succeed at the grassroots, there is the need to include actively into that structure the chief(s) of the traditional areas. Currently chiefs are involved somewhere in the structure, but until we involve them an active basis our quest to achieve nation building from this venture would be woefully thwarted

Chiefs,unfortunately, are underrated powerhouses in our society now.Many people could be justified by doing so in the past because most of these chiefs were either not really educated or individuals of very liitle educational backgrounds but only chosen on royalty basis. But now the trend is cheeringly positive. Traditional areas have opted for more educated and enlightened members of the royal families or close associates.These modern day chiefs and even those of the past have been very influential persons than a lot of the politically appointed district chief executives(DCEs). It can be ascertained that projects which have had direct involvement of chiefs in an area have been far successful than that of DCEs.

I must say i am looking forward to a structure in the near future where the chiefs would be at the top or thereabouts.

This issue is really a critical one and as such watch out for more in my next post.I plan to showcase how some chiefs are making it big, why others should put them at the helm including the district assemblies.