Egya Atta Speaks At The UN

The President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, last Friday, 24th September 2011, addressed the 66th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, the U.S.A. Below is the speech. �My brothers and sisters, since my government took office in Ghana on January 2009, our foreign policy which I believe is very consistent with international thinking is �Dzi Wo Fie Asem�. Dzi wo fie asem simply means mind your own business. If I should expand it further, it says that do not poke your mouth into other people�s internal affairs. The world has become too inquisitive such that it is gradually becoming too easy for others to peep through one�s windows to see the number of balls of kenkey and fried fish one takes in the morning. I think it is not good enough. I must also concede that our �dzi wo fie asem� foreign policy is sometimes selectively applied. That is why I found it very difficult to condemn Gbagbo in La Cote d�Ivoire over his hold on to power even though he lost the elections miserably. My delay in condemning Gaddafi was also purely on the �dzi wo fie asem� policy, but I had to be very quick in recognizing the National Transitional Council because everyone was going there. Internally, my government was confronted seriously by the actions of foot-soldiers of my party who thought that they had been sidelined by my government, considering the role they played during the campaigns preceding the elections of 2008. They had stayed in opposition for eight years and had been denied and deprived of the basic necessities of life under the Kufuor administration. It was natural that having come to office, their expectations would rise and since it was not forthcoming, they decided to go on a threatening spree, vandalizing public institutions and attacking public officials as well. My reaction was to dismiss some of my officers to satisfy them. Since then, calm has prevailed. What I was unable to do was bring back the staff of the NHIS and staff of NYEP who were chased out of their offices as well. In the area of job creations, my government created 1.6 million jobs for the youth while dismissing a lot more already in jobs. Mine is a principle of substitution by elimination. I must say however that the 1.6 million jobs have all faded away, even though we have further created Zoil to clean the beaches where tourists are likely to visit, while those areas where the people live can continue to be very filthy. Let me also say that some of the people I have sacked do not share in my vision, no matter how blared those visions are. At this point in time, it is not how competent one might be but how loyal one is. I sacrifice competence for loyalty. That is why I have a lot of greedy bastards in my government. They are there because they are loyal. My brothers and sisters of the UN, education has been very much dear to my heart. That is why I have provided children at the basic levels with free school uniforms. The problems which confronted me were whether to have them done in Ghana or in China. A mixture of Ghanaian and Chinese school uniforms solved the problem. Next year, we will add �charlie wote� to them to ensure that no child walks to school barefooted. We are also building a lot of schools under trees to give the children more shade from the tropical sun which saps the energies out of them and therefore makes them fail their exams. My brothers and sisters, as I speak to you now, more than 52% of the candidates we presented at the BECE have failed. Out of the about 47% that passed, I wonder whether 30% of them can gain admission into the Senior High School. Those without admissions would join the failures and flood the streets to sell dog chains even though dogs are scarce in Ghana today. In any case, that would also be education for them by negative experiences. They would learn that it would have been better for them to have studied hard when in school. In any case, in our part of the world, the more uneducated the greater population is, the better it is for political achievements. Tell lies continuously to this group of people and you win elections and sustain power with more lies. It is a strategy. My brothers and sisters, I have also cut so many sods throughout the country since I assumed office. My problem is that I have not been able to deliver and the areas cleared for the sod cutting have overgrown again. I will cut more sods in the coming months, courtesy the Chinese. Let me say that what would have been my biggest achievement in office would have been the STX deal to provide accommodation for our security officers who were abandoned by the previous regime. It is sad for me to tell you that the deal has �paskad�, to quote one of my able communication experts who also has an additional portfolio of identifying marijuana smokers and informing the CIA. I must also inform this house of the FONKAR-GAMES which took place at Sunyani recently, where I won by a landslide while my opponent was drowned by a sea-slide. 96.9% victory is no joke oo. I hope to do the same to my biggest political rival in 2012. My brothers and sisters, one of my greatest achievements has also been the establishment of our first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah�s birthday as a public holiday. This is indeed a great achievement not only for Ghana, but Africa and the black race in general. However, this otherwise noble achievement has been politicized to the point of Founder�s and Founders Day. The holiday itself is on course but how to christen it, is my worry. Even before I could address this problem, Wikileaks came to add its wahala to the existing one. Wikileaks did not even spare me. It said I have cancer of the throat, as stated by my Deputy Information Minister, Baba Jamal Askolondu of Akwatia. Wikileaks is in fact disturbing the stability and unity of my country. Plans are however in place to address it. It must also be stated here, my brothers and sisters, that I indeed declared this year an Action Year, but the inaction has been very phenomenal. Volta Region University is on the sick bed, a university in the Brong Ahafo is limping, harbour expansion is comatose, railways has cholera, as for STX, it is in the mortuary. I am only preparing its obituary and requiem mass for the final burial. The biggest challenge with the burial arrangement has to do with where STX should be buried, whether in Korea or in Ghana. The eastern corridor roads are also not likely to go beyond the sod cutting stages, just as others. In fact, the action year has seen more inactions than proper actions in Ghana. It is a source of worry for me, but with God on our side, we shall succeed. My brothers and sisters, in line with international standards in the maritime industry, I ensured that our recalcitrant fisher folks were recently shown where the power lies. They took advantage of the fact that I am from their stable and marched to my office. Hot water was poured on them to take away the ice and coldness in them. We followed up with the cessation of their illegal use of light and banned fishing nets which are inimical to the overall interest of the nation. Indeed, we are bent on meeting international fishing standards in as far as the fishing industry is concerned, even if that should go against the local fishing industry. Another issue of concern to me, my brothers and sisters, is the politics of insults in my country. I do not want to apportion blame but it is something which is seriously disturbing our body politics. Unfortunately for me, I have to be selective in my reactions and pronouncements on this issue for political advantage. I dare not say that I do not know Nana Akufo-Addo, who was my contemporary at the University of Ghana, as someone on drugs. Hei, the foot-soldiers and our party propagandists would skin me alive. However, I have to put up a spirited defence against my cancer of the throat. Selective application of fairness and justice is sometimes good for our political health. I would want to take this opportunity to apologize on behalf of my party chairman for the so many ways of killing a cat mantra. If there are many ways of killing anything, we should target mosquitoes which are the causes of malaria in Ghana. Finally, my brothers and sisters, there is another disturbing issue of rats eating corpse in our mortuaries in Ghana. My government is working on it and with God on our side, we shall succeed. Thank you.