Mr Mnangagwa, 75, had displayed “traits of disloyalty”, Information Minister Simon Khaya Moyo said.

His removal makes it more likely that President Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace will follow in her husband’s footsteps as leader of Zimbabwe.

She had earlier called on her husband to remove his vice-president.

“Mr Mnangagwa’s conduct in discharge of his duties is inconsistent with the responsibilities,” the information minister said.

“The vice-president has exhibited traits of disloyalty.”

Mr Mnangagwa, a former intelligence chief, had been a leading candidate to succeed President Mugabe, 93.

His sacking means Grace Mugabe is expected to be appointed vice-president at a special congress of the ruling Zanu-PF party next month.

Mrs Mugabe had earlier called for the party to expel Mr Mnangagwa, according to the state-run Herald newspaper.

Addressing members of indigenous church groups at a rally in the capital, Harare, on Sunday, Mrs Mugabe said: “The snake must be hit on the head.

“We must deal with the real snake behind the factions and discord in the party. We are going for the congress as a united party.”

Last month, she warned of plans to stage a coup, hinting that supporters of Mr Mnangagwa were behind the alleged plot.

Mrs Mugabe, the head of the Zanu-PF women’s league, and Mr Mnangagwa have been seen as the front-runners in the battle to succeed Mr Mugabe when he dies or steps down.

Mr Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe since 1980. He was elected president in 1987, having previously served as the country’s prime minister. He is planning to contest next year’s elections.

Earlier, the youth league of the Zanu-PF party called on President Mugabe to sack Mr Mnangagwa, and to replace him with the first lady. They accused Mr Mnangagwa’s supporters of heckling Mrs Mugabe at a rally in the second city, Bulawayo, and denounced them as “rebels”.

Mrs Mugabe, the head of the Zanu-PF women’s league, and Mr Mnangagwa have been seen as the front-runners in the battle to succeed Mr Mugabe when he dies or steps down.

Mr Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe since 1980. He was elected president in 1987, having previously served as the country’s prime minister. He is planning to contest next year’s elections.

Earlier, the youth league of the Zanu-PF party called on President Mugabe to sack Mr Mnangagwa, and to replace him with the first lady. They accused Mr Mnangagwa’s supporters of heckling Mrs Mugabe at a rally in the second city, Bulawayo, and denounced them as “rebels”.

The post Zimbabwe: Mugabe sacks ‘disloyal’ Vice President appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Each member of the panel on the show on Tuesday listed three things they want the new IGP to fix.

Click below for the full audio:

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Citi Breakfast Show’s wish list for new IGP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In the immediate aftermath of the June 3 flooding, every Ghanaian was affected and afflicted by the awful, awful way these people died. It’s all we have talked about since that horrible Wednesday night. We were concerned and angry about the mess that caused the flooding.

There was what the writer, Nana Awere Damoah calls the ‘official walkabouts’. Those in government and opposition went on a tour of the affected areas. Officials promised – to do what they promised to do in 2014 to prevent future floods.

President Mahama promised again to take “drastic measures” to avoid a future occurrence.  The government has promised to release 50 million cedis for help victims and families of the dead.

Two weeks on, Accra is still dirty. The debris from the floods has not been cleared. City authorities have not apologized for the deaths. No one has offered to radically transform the city and to ensure that never again will people die when the rains come.

To make matters worse, the mayor of mayors, collected silt from the Odaw drains and dumped it on its banks, only for it to be pushed back into the drains by the slightest downpour the next day.

On Sunday, June 14, 2015, Accra flooded again. There were no deaths. There were damage and inconvenience. Kasoa and its environs were cut off from the rest of the city. Kwame Nkrumah Circle parts of Osu and Kokomlemle were submerged.

The sad reality is that, no one has offered a practical and comprehensive plan with timelines to end the city’s perennial flooding. The Odaw River is still choked. So are all the other receptacles for rainwater in the city.

I’m starting to despair. As always, we complained, ranted and went back to sleep.  Perhaps it is the shock and the years of neglect, but  our anger, angst and disappointment over the deaths seems to be fizzling out. We have returned to our usual ways of dealing with our government’s neglect – our ‘fa ma nyame’ ways. We have handed the deaths to God.

There have not been any protests over the deaths, no show of anger to say we know our compatriots died foolish deaths and we hold those in-charge accountable. We have not asked for a concrete plan to make the city safe and livable for all of us either.

Although I do not know my bible so well, I know God doesn’t perform foolish miracles. God will not come and demand accountability for the deaths.  We can pray all want,  the Odaw river will not magically become dredged. No amount of prayers or kindness to the displaced will keep us safe next time.

Accra has been flooding since the 60s. The topography of the area makes it flood prone. So are many cities in the world. In most places, city authorities use innovative tools to manage the water  and save lives. Not prayers.

If these 200 deaths had happened anywhere else,  the outrage would not have been on social media alone. The public rage would have compelled the government to do more than declare a three day national mourning period for the dead. The Municipal Chief Executive, Oko Vanderpuije would have resigned or sacked by his bosses.

It’s evident from the government’s deceit with the Conti project that our lives do not matter to them. President Mahama cut the sod for the Conti project in 2014  knowing the money for the project was not ready. The project was  supposed to transform the sewage system, get the Odaw River, Korle Lagoon dredged and storm drains and gutters desilted and perhaps, covered to prevent dumping. For three years, we had been told the Conti project would end the perennial flooding of the city.

In the USA, the government’s inept response to Hurricane Katrina led to protests. The head of FEMA, their equivalent of NADMO resigned. In France, the Charle Hedbo killings led to instant protests. We complained bitterly when five African leaders travelled to join the French to protest. The question was “ don’t African lives matter too?”

While its all good for the benevolent Ghanaian to donate to the victims, it is certainly not enough, except we want to act the proverbial ostrich, and just to be deemed kind to victims of preventable accidents, our kindness may be hypocritical if we don’t nip the problem in the bud!

When Mohammed Boazizi set himself alight Tunisia, the people in the region seized it to push for change, yes, they provided food for his family but didn’t go to sleep afterwards!

Let’s not waste this moment.  Afterall,   ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’  and we all know that Edmund Burke was right when he said ‘all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men do nothing.”

By: Nana Ama Agyemang Asante/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post God will not save Accra appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Like many colleagues in my profession, I am consistently accused of working for one of our two main political parties, depending on whichever party happens to be in power.

NDC officials spend much time texting and emailing my bosses about my perceived NPP bias. A few months ago I was even told by a Minister of State that my picture was being passed around on some platforms with the caption ‘the NPP girl on the Citi Breakfast Show.’ Everything I do and say on the show is sadly viewed through this limited lens.

To be clear, I am not a member of the NPP.

I will assume we all understand enough English to note that I said, ‘we don’t want them to implode’, where any literate NPP supporter might have said, ‘we don’t want to implode’. Which ‘them’ was I referring to?
English aside however, these accusations are irritating and disheartening in equal measure.

They are irritating because they are just so cliché. Journalism does not involve singing to whichever tune you are paid to sing to. Rather, our job comes with the very serious responsibility of keeping the people informed by scrutinizing and (where necessary) criticizing the words and actions of whoever is in power.

An informed people can then make informed political decisions: like who to keep or kick out at the next election (and why).
Every single electoral cycle, government officials accuse journalists like me of being members of the opposition until their incompetence loses them the vote, and then – guess what? – the new government (previously in opposition) soon starts making the same accusation. It suggests a very dangerous siege mentality that comes with government: you’re either with us or against us.

This is sad as it leaves no room for collaboration and consensus amongst the growing number of progressive, patriotic Ghanaians on either side of the political divide… or on neither side of the divide. Because – yes – there is life beyond the NDC-NPP binary, including the growing number of Ghanaians who are floating voters, third-party voters, or who (sadly) opt out of the political process altogether because they see no real difference between any of the parties.

These accusations are also disheartening because they are deeply, deeply undemocratic. A political system without a strong opposition party is not really a democracy. Democracies function when you have a government kept in check by an effective opposition. As such, it is in all our interests for the main opposition party not to implode, and it is my duty as a journalist paid to give commentary, perspective and to critique the work of people in the political space, to push our largest opposition party if it is not working as it should, which – frankly – it isn’t.

When I say ‘we’ or ‘our’, I am not referring to the NPP: I am referring to we the people of Ghana; the ‘y3n’ in ‘y3n araasaase ni’. I am pro-people, pro-progress and pro-Ghana. Our government and all our opposition parties should have enough imagination and patriotism to be so too. In fact, we all should.

It is utterly unacceptable for anyone to label me (or anyone else, for that matter) as NPP simply because my views do not favour the government. That chapter in our political development needs to be firmly closed: we are bigger than that. As citizens, we should all want a country that works for not just for us but for everyone else. And we should all want a country where the opposition parties do their best to keep the government in check.

Not a government who cannot take criticism without reducing it to the playground simplicity of ‘us vs. them’. Or an opposition so ineffective and divided that journalists and other active citizens have to do their job for them.

By: Nana Ama Agyemang Asante/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nana Ama’s statement: I am a journalist I don’t work for NPP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In Ghana, anyone who dares criticize government is fiercely attacked.

Usually these days, anyone who dissents is accused of working for the New Patriotic Party. Preachers in this town have been asked to leave the pulpit for active politics because they criticized the president.

To those very comfortably affiliated with the governing party, everything the administration does is right. President John Mahama’s people are the worst. They will not tell him the truth and they will take offense (where there is usually none) and attack anyone who dares speaks the truth they cannot and will not tell the president. But to stoop to misogyny is a new low, even for them.

A number of musicians and actresses took to social media on Friday to vent about the ongoing power crisis. Sarkodie did a song called “The Masses” to paint the horrible state of affairs. Lydia Forson wrote a letter asking the president to fix ‘dumsor’ like he promised. In a series of tweets, Yvonne Nelson got #dumsormuststop trending.

Not everyone is pleased. As usual, officials and foot-soldiers of the NDC swiftly took to social media to berate them. For the first time, they did not accuse the whole group of working for the NPP like they did to Occupy Ghana.

They did not even aim for the men in the group either. They simply went for the women who spoke up. One Alhaji Halidu Haruna put up a post on Facebook calling Lydia Forson and Yvonne Nelson irresponsible prostitutes because they are both above 30 and single.

In another post on Facebook, Dela Coffie, a known supporter of the NDC, wrote: “I am not sure if this your frequent throwing of tantrums is a menopausal irritability or a midlife issue. Whatever it is, I am sure President Mahama is ready to take an advise on morality, but certainly not from a brothel.”

This is cruel, disrespectful and unnecessary. I mean what has a woman’s sexuality got to do with her demand for a more reliable electricity supply. There is a name for this kind of attacks on women. It is called slut-shaming.

It is the act of disparaging a woman for her real or presumed sexual behavior. It is a powerful silencer. Women who are perceived to have deviated from patriarchal expectations of women are criticized until they leave the space humiliated.

Immediately a woman speaks up, her right to speak is questioned before she is heard. Her right to speak is determined by her marital status as stated. If she is married, people will listen and treat her with some respect because she has a man. Single women, however, are taunted for being sluts unworthy of being heard.

That was the reasoning behind Halidu Haruna and Dala Coffie’s comments. According to their twisted logic, the only human beings worthy of ever criticizing the government are men (single and married) and married women.

Every Ghanaian woman experiences some form of this silencing. Married women are told to dress and speak in a certain manner. Single women are told to cover up and be submissive to avoid the label. An outspoken single woman is told to tone down to avoid the shaming.

All women are told never to challenge or question a man’s word.
Married women are given some respect out of respect for their husbands, not because they are human beings. But even they do not escape the specter of silencing, most men, knowing the abuse an assertive woman gets, prevent their wives from engaging in the public space.

If the husband is a progressive man (not that there are many around), foot-soldiers of patriarchy will force him to silence his wife – because people will only discuss her body parts. It is not for nothing that most activists and outspoken women are either single or divorced.

The other day, when I criticized the government’s action on Facebook, someone I went to university with wrote: “you think you have grown wings, were we not sleeping with you in school.” He must have been a useless fuck because I don’t remember sleeping with him. He didn’t care about the truth. He thought if he could portray me as ‘loose’ that will diminish the value of my words.

That is what the Informer Newspaper (a newspaper affiliated with governing NDC) did when it put the picture of business executive Brigitte Dzogbenuku on their front page with some nasty story about her marriage for participating in the Occupy Flagstaff House protest. Ghanaian actresses and women parliamentarians suffer the worst forms of this attack. The unmarried ones are taunted for their perceived sexual behavior. When the outspoken and successful ones speak, they mocked for sleeping their way up.

It is if a woman cannot use her brain for anything other than please the powers that be. By pleasing, I mean, by remaining invisible and quiet. When men declare their respect for a well-known Ghanaian woman, it is often because she is not challenging the status qo.

Alhaji Halidu Haruna has since apologized for his comments. I’m Glad he did. It was the honorable to do. I’m treating all the comments with the ‘out-of -the-abundance-of-the-heart’ measure. All the attacks on the actresses and other women are born out of the ingrained misogyny that exist in Ghanaian society.

Out of it comes the tolerances for sexism, rape jokes, fat and slut-shaming. I am sick of it. I’m sick of the never-ending dehumanization of Ghanaian women.
The government is headed by a married man. Married men and men hold the majority of the key positions in government and other sectors of the economy. If being married added any extra value to one’s sense of responsibility, why are we in this mess?

It is dangerous to let it slide like Bani’s “stone cheating married women” comments because misogynist attacks like this, will keep more women out of the democratic space. Women make up 51 percent of Ghana’s population, yet there are only 29 women in Parliament.

The campaign to encourage more women to participate in the governance process has not yielded the needed results. Many women are put off by the sexist and sometimes misogynist attacks women already in the space endure. Let’s face it, no human being (women included) wants to be shamed and dehumanized for her sexual choices.

Women and girls are full human beings who have a right to participate in the democratic space. Marriage is not, as I have said before, the ultimate achievement for women. Married women are not better than single women.

Like men, women also have varied interests. They have the same rights and privileges the laws of the land give men. So if men are listened to without anyone reducing the content of their argument to real or perceived sexual behavior, women must be accorded the same respect.

Yvonne Nelson and Lydia Forson spoke about load-shedding that is killing businesses and lives.If you are not so affected, you can engage them by stating what this amazing government has done to end dumsor.

In fact, when men focus on the use of a woman’s vagina instead of her argument, they sound weak–like they’ve nothing intelligent to offer.

Truth is, if we were all going to base the value of people’s voices and contribution to the national conversation on their real or perceived slutiness, half the male talking heads will not make it. This is a place where monogamous men have pseudo-wives, mistresses and girlfriends. Married politicians have had babies while attending HIV/AIDS.

Seriously, is this measure we want to use?

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By: Nana Ama Agyemang Asante

The post The Ghanaian Fear of outspoken women appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Ghana lost out to Gabon. People took to social media to express their delight over the loss. Thanks were given to God for not giving officials the opportunity to swindle the state. People wondered what possessed the government to even bid when it could not provide 24 hours of power.

I’m overjoyed that the government and the Ghana Football Association didn’t get their wish. I’m even more thrilled at the reaction of other Ghanaians. “Unprecedented” was the word, Sports Journalist, Christopher Opoku used to describe the outpouring of joy and gratitude for this loss. People have been united in their outrage at the decision to bid.

I’m thankful to all the gods for Wednesday’s reaction.They’ve proven that they do not tolerate idiocy. When our government stopped thinking, they used Issa Hayatou and his band of elders for a good. Now I know they care more about Ghanaians and want us to have the best. Though the former Sports Minister, Mahama claims our jubilation over the loss will ruin the country’s reputation abroad,(Not that we care about others think) the reaction is significant.

Government has been notified, it cannot use football to distract us ever again. Successive governments have always capitalized on football and the Black Stars to divert attention state. Conversations about corruption, sanitation, poverty and all other issues are subordinated when the Black Stars win. Parties put hosting a successful AFCON and Black Stars performance on their report cards for election campaigns.

It was coming. After the Black Stars’ humiliating elimination from the 2014 World Cup, the revelations at the Dzamefe Commission hearings, and intense dumsor, Ghanaians were bound to jubilate over the failed bid.

The last time we hosted an AFCON, we ended up paying an illegal judgment debt. We’re still reeling from the cost of the deals and verbal contracts, officials made on our behalf for the 2014 World Cup.

The decision to bid to host the AFCON was unwise and the timing very inappropriate. We are currently going through our own kind of economic crisis. Government is so broke, it has had to turn to the International Monetary Fund to stabilize the falling cedi and reduce the fiscal deficit.

Presently we get light for two out of the seven days. People have lost their livelihoods. Things are bad for everyone – the employer, the employee and the unemployed. It is the insensitive and thoughtless among us who will go out of their way to spend money we do not have.

We love our football. We love to play and watch the game. People will watch a football game anywhere there is a game – live on the street corner or on TV in a kiosk. Every man has a story where they were the star of their neighborbood or school football team. Every adult Ghanaian man could have been football stars missed by the scouts.

Nothing makes us happier than watching our beloved Black Stars play at home. Watching the senior team participate in tournaments is the one thing that unites us and restores a bit of our pride.

But as I have written before our lives don’t depend on football. Our pride will be restored when our cities and villages are clean and businesses can operate for 24-hours on the national grid. We’ll be even more proud of our national team when our nation, particularly the senior team has players from a successful, thriving local league.

If the people in-charge were paying attention, they would have noticed that Ghanaians have had enough. If the government wants our full support in its football ventures, It should publish the Dzamefe report and implement the recommendations. We need to know if they plan to continue airlifting cash and fans each time the senior team plays. From now on, it should disclose how much it plans to spend on all trips, tournaments and friendlies.

It’s important the government does not classify this reaction as cynicism. It’s a gift from the gods who are not happy about the refusal to think and deliver the transformation they promised.

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by: Nana Ama Agyemang Asante/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Why I am happy Ghanaians jubilated over failed AFCON 2017 bid appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He catalogued them as follows:

1. North-South Christian Muslim divide
2. Jonathan’s problems in office
3. Depreciation of Nigeria’s currency
4. Boko Haram insurgency
5. Fierce battle from opposition

Click Below to listen to his argument on the Eyewitness News on Tuesday:

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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Bernard Avle: Why Goodluck Jonathan lost to Buhari appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Yaa Asantewaa was the queen mother of Edweso (Ejisu) who led the Asante to fight the British.

Yaa Asantewaa’s mother was Ata Po, and her father Kwaku Ampoma. Her parents were both from Ampabame near Besease in Ejisu. She had a brother called Kwasi Afrane.

The siblings Kwasi Afrane and Yaa Asantewaa were Asona royals of the Besease lineage of the Edweso stool. They were the only children of the marriage and were born in the 1830s.

Yaa Asantewaa grew up to marry Owusu Kwabena of Kantinkyiren near Trede. He was a paternal grandson of Asantehene Osei Yaw (1824–33).

His union with Yaa Asantewaa produced only one child, a daughter called Ama Sewaa Brakatu (or Ama Sewaa Boankra, after the Edweso village where her mother farmed and gave birth to her).

According to availabele records, Yaa Asantewaa’s brother died in 1894.

Yaa Asantewaa rose to prominence towards the turn of the 20th century. She inspired Asante to fight the British after the British abducted the then Asantehene, King Prempeh I and the Edwesohene, Nana Afrane II.

Why should she excite extra comments? Did she plan, inspire, lead and direct the uprising, or did she merely symbolize resistance? Did she fight in person, or oversee operations from Edweso?

Dr Wilhelmina Donkor, President of the Garden City University College and former head of the History Department – KNUST, shares the story of Yaa Asantewaa and her role in Asanteman.

Listen and download the audio below:

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By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post #HeritageMonth2015: The things you didn’t know about Yaa Asantewaa appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

1. Authenticity
2. Tenacity
3. Audacity
4. Simplicity
5. Capacity
6. Publicity
7. Velocity

According to the knowledgeable Bible teacher, two fears that cripple people and must be overcome are the fear of failure and the fear of competition.

Read a tweet-by-tweet account of the edition below:

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By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Effective Living Series: The 7 Cities of Success, with Bishop Titi Offei appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to Ruka, an enterpreneur must know that the business is not about him or her, but about the service quality and the good of the society.

“Your business is not about you. Demonstrate best practices all the time.”

She also advised that individuals and businesses must have long term strategic plans instead of new year’s resolutions.

She spoke on the Effective Living Series on the Citi Breakfast Show.

Read the tweet-by-tweet account of the session with Bernard Avle below: 

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By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Effective Living Series: Preparing for excellence, with Ruka Sanusi appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.