Metamorphosis – The Eliot Spitzer Way

I just finished watching Eliot Spitzer’s CNN hit show ‘In the Arena’ on CNN. Since the show started, I have never ceased to admire the eloquence, oratorical skills and the debts of intellectual knowledge Mr. Spitzer displays on TV. Although the show is currently not the top rated cable TV news program, most people agree that it has broadened the quality of intellectual discussion on TV. For me, Mr. Spitzer’s performance on the show makes him a star that is bigger than any ratings the show has garnered so far. He has acquired a faithful audience for his show and his performance is no different if not better than most of the television anchors today.  Yet it surprises me to think that this was the man who was so ruled out by many of ever having a public career just recently. When his scandal hit the airwaves three years ago I was one of the many people who hastily concluded that Mr. Spitzer has dug himself a hole so deep and wide that not even the saving Grace of Christ can give him a second chance in the public domain. I am eating ‘humble pie’ right now because he has metamorphosized so drastically and endeared himself so much to the public that you cannot recognize the Eliot Spitzer who stood pitiful on national TV admitting to patronizing high end prostitution and the Eliot Spitzer who sits gracefully in the anchors chair on CNN brilliantly discussing and analyzing the many important issues of American politics. 

For those of you who know very little of Mr. Spitzer, here is a little background. Eliot Spitzer a product of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton and also Harvard Law School. After a stint in private legal practice, Mr. Spitzer was elected the 63^rd Attorney General of the State of New York. As the AG of the State of New York from 1999 to 2006, Eliot was so successful in pursuing white color crime and other civil wrongs that he was labeled the Sheriff of Wall Street. Although he made many enemies as he relentlessly pursued the fat cats on Wall Street, he endeared himself to the ordinary people of New York and the country. It came as no surprise when Mr. Spitzer was sworn in on January 2007 as the 54^th Governor of the state of New York after a successful electioneering campaign. By December 2007, although his approval rating had taken a dive as a result of dealing with a number of divisive policies like gay marriage and immigration, he was still very popular in the Democratic circles. With a good educational background, a stellar public service record and a sharp intellect, many people mentioned him as a possible future Democratic nominee for president. In fact by February 2008 some pundits were already tipping Eliot Spitzer as one of the front runners for vice presidential candidate if Obama was lucky to clinch the Democratic nominee for President.   

All these came crushing down when the New York Times reported in March 2008 that Eliot Spitzer had previously paid up to $15,000 for high priced prostitution services. A couple of days after the initial report, like the proverbial dog with his tail between his legs, Eliot Spitzer, flanked by his visibly shaken wife were broadcasted live on cable TV to the entire world announcing his resignation. The fall was very devastating especially as the weeks and months that followed was filled with daily commentaries, innuendos and parody of the Spitzer scandal. Contrary to what many people thought, Eliot has managed to save his marriage and he has gradually worked his way back into the limelight. There are even rumors of a possible run for public service again.

Watching him on TV a couple of minutes ago, I couldn’t help but think to myself that the guy is a chameleon – maybe a good chameleon if there is anything like that. He has been able to adapt so well to his new life. One thing I have quickly learned in my rather young existence is that life and its circumstances are full of twists and turns – a lot of surprises. You fall when you least expect – and the fall can be very distressing and life threatening when you go down from such a great height like Mr. Spitzer. One thing that I have also realized is that the successful people are those who are able to get up from a fall, wipe their tears, straighten their dresses, deal with the embarrassment and then get right back on the road again. Although I pray that I never experience the humiliation and disgrace people like Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Clinton have experienced in their lives, I pray that I develop their kind of tenacity and hardwork which helped them to get back on the road of success after they has fallen so hard.   

2010 Population Census in Ghana

The statistical service in Ghana announced recently that current population of Ghana is close to 24.5 million.  This figure will strike most readers as nothing to write about because as far as populous countries go, Ghana is nowhere near any of those ‘big’ countries. However, if you consider the 24.5 million people now living in Ghana and the number of people who lived in Ghana in 1957 you see a staggering population growth that will surely make any demographer palpitate. From a figure of a little over 5million in 1957, Ghana’s population has seen an astounding increase of over 390% to its current figure. At a time when most developed/rich countries are recording negative or less than 1% population growth rate, Ghana’s population growth rate stand at almost 2%. Interestingly, the current census revealed that there are 12.4 million males as against 11.8 million females. In a culture where males are implicitly encouraged to ‘see’ other women other than their wives, one can only conclude that more babies are in the offing. (High birth rate remains the largest culprit to population growth in Africa)  

Following the discussion on the census, some analysts seem to be arguing that the 24.5 million figure should be seen as a ‘glass is half full’ scenario. They claim that after all more people means a wider tax net, a bigger market pool and more people to contribute to the development match of the country. However, I wonder how these benefits can accrue to the nation when the figures clearly show that majority the population is below the age of 25. I wonder how these people, many of whom are in the unproductive age, are going to contribute to a bigger market pool when they do not have any real purchasing power. How is the tax net going to widen when they have no income in the first place? On the contrary, the evidence points to a higher rate of urbanization confirmed by the springing up and growth of shanty towns which themselves have becomes islands that create and export all the vices and evils you can think of that fights against development.

I believe the consensus is that the current demographic figures are serious cause for concern. At this unsustainable level, there is very little chance that any attempt at real economic growth will make a dent in the stagnation of the nation. Interestingly, these figures are not peculiar to Ghana, but they form a broad trend that is symptomatic of population growth of African countries. From Nigeria to Kenya to Zambia, we see an average of over 2% annual population growth within the last 30 years.  Within eastern Africa, not even the wars within the Congo Basin and high HIV/AIDS deaths have been able to slow population growth. 

In Africa, much of our notion of family size is cultural. And I am afraid not much can be done to change how we think about the size of families. We have been socialized from birth to think that it is the place of every woman to have children and many of them. For the men, you have to have a child to pass on your genes. Thus the typical African man will have kids with or without his wife. And they will keep on producing until they have a son, as if to say daughters are defective beings. Our culture has for a long time celebrated large families and we continue to do that today. Even when people are living in abject poverty, their prowess for having many kids has been praise by society.  For me accelerated access to education (specifically tertiary education) by females is one of the surest ways to reduce the rate of population growth. Let us give women something they can aspire to so that their lives will not be all about having babies. Research has shown that in almost every society, highly educated females have a lower birth rate than their less educated compatriots. As for the average African man, he cannot be trusted. No matter how educated he is, he still sticks to his basic instincts of producing and producing.

Ubuntu

Below are remarks i delivered at this year's African Night Celebrations at Mississippi State University where i was one of the speakers. February 27, 2011

I was very excited when I heard that ASA choose Ubuntu as the theme for this year’s African Night Celebration. Ubuntu represents the African sense of community which eschews overemphasizing individualism.  Yet the spirit of Ubuntu has been brutalized and debauched by years of colonialism and after that, years of misrule by African governments. Today, the sense of Ubuntu seems to be on life support, as people after people and country after country continue to pursue their parochial interest to the detriment of the entire continent.

 I hope the resurrection of Ubuntu here will not end tonight, but it will transform our attitudes in the way we deal with each other, that the knowledge that we have acquired in America will also be used to benefit the continent of Africa. 

Ubuntu in the nutshell is that Let us be each other’s keeper.

The spirit of Ubuntu recognizes that Irrespective of our race, ethnicity and gender we are all one people. We all have similar dreams and aspirations – we want what is best for ourselves, our loved ones and our neighbors. In the end, what we can ask of each other is that we treat each other with respect and dignity for the good of our common humanity. 

It is only when we recognize this that we will be able to solve the critical problems of our time – be it global warming, discrimination or the pervasive inequalities that permeates our humanity. 

I believe our attitudes towards each other will undergo a positive transformation when we begin to understand one another. It is refreshing therefore to see many people from different races, ethnicities and countries studying on the MSU campus. As we interact with each other we begin to see our sense of common purpose and our shared destiny as human beings. 

We at the African American Studies and the Political Science department have taken this level of interaction to the next step. As part of the vision of MSU, we are organizing a study abroad to Ghana in West Africa. At this moment, we are actively recruiting students to participate in a 3 week accelerated program which will take place in 7 different cities in Ghana. 

While in Ghana, participants will among other things attend lectures with lecturers from the 3 different universities in Ghana where they will learn about history, politics, gender relations and cultural patterns in Ghana. Outside of the classroom, students will visit various national cultural and historic sites including the W.E.B Dubois Center, The Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and the National Museum. The participants will also travel to Cape Coast and Elmina to visit the former Slave Castles built more than 400 years ago which are now preserved as UNESCO world heritage sites.

A New Political Culture? MPs Culture of Interruptions

Listening to the President’s State of the Nation Address I couldn’t but notice the regular interruptions of the President by the Members of Parliament (MPs). The President had to constantly repeat words and yell to project his voice over the shouts and taunts of the MPs. This is not the first time that MPs have behaved in this manner; in fact it seems to be the norm whenever the President or other government officials come to the House to discharge their constitutional mandate of addressing the Chamber. I don’t know if this is the new Political Culture we are trying to adopt. Already it seems like we are on track to develop a Political Culture of Insults on our public airwaves. This practice of heckling, taunts and regular boos on the floor of parliament must seize. I am not in any way implying that the MPs should sit on their bottoms with their mouths sealed throughout speeches delivered on the floor of Parliament. However for goodness sake they should remember that they are the Representatives of the People and they should exercise decorum in the conduct of their affairs. Their current behavior of taunts, jeers and regular interruption amounts to irresponsibility of the highest order. I wonder if this is the same body that has been preaching against public indiscipline. What is the difference between this behavior of MPs and taxi drivers who indiscrimately blow their car horns or for that matter the irate youth who have in recent times gone on rampage locking public building and preventing public officials from doing their jobs? 

Listening to the jeers and taunts of the MPs during this year’s State of the Nation address reminded me of my teenage years at secondary school. Whenever the food at the dining hall was not enough, we mounted the tables and shouted on the Dining Hall prefects as if it was their duty to buy food for the school. However even in this situation we quickly settled down when we heard the Head Master or any of members of the school administration was approaching the Hall. Yet the behavior of the MPs is uncontrollable and more disruptive than a bunch of hungry teenage boys at school. Sometimes I am inclined to believe that these MPs think they are at the sports stadium watching soccer. 

Please let us develop a political culture that we can be proud to bequeath to our children. How many of us teach our children that they should interrupt people when they are talking. How do they expect to hear what the speaker is saying when they will not keep quiet to listen in the first place? It is not surprising therefore that comments on such speeches by MPs are often distorted and without merit.

Cultural Legalities of the 2011 State of the Nation Address

It was rather unfortunate that the President did not acknowledge the presence of former President Kuffuor and Chief Justice Woods at the Chamber of Parliament when he delivered his State of the Nation Address a couple of days ago. However what is most regrettable and unacceptable is the behavior of the minority and the ensuing protracted discussion of the President’s omission in the media. This year seems to be an exciting year for Ghana as the government has promised “an action year”. A major housing project has just begun, two new universities are in the pipeline and our oil sector seems to be taking off. So I was looking forward to what the good people of Ghana are going to say with regard to President’s State of the Nation Address. I was particularly interested the discussion that will follow as to whether the government has set the right tone for the country.

However, the President’s failure to observe protocol has consumed the whole nation while the issues in the State of the Nation address have been relegated to the background. How is observing protocol or failure thereof going to put food on the tables of the millions of hungry Ghanaians? Too much political capital is spent on unnecessary discussions that have very little positive effect on the state of affairs of the nation. Yes, we take great pride in our culture and it is always respectful to acknowledge the presence of our elders, but for goodness sake we spent too much energy on these CULTURAL LEGALITIES. I wish such energies and strong passions would also be channeled to address the real problems that this nation faces. In any case the President realized his mistake right after the speech and quickly apologized. This should have ended the matter so that we could move onto the real issues. Yet 3 days after the President’s address the matter is still lingering in the public domain. 

It is interesting that all the attention seems to be focused on the conduct of the President. As far as I am concerned, the spotlight should have been on the unruly behavior of the minority MPs in the Chamber. They heckled and shouted on the president whiles he was still on his feet preparing to deliver the address to Parliament. These MPs should remember that the Presidency is an institution that represents all Ghanaians. Irrespective of whoever assumes the Presidency, we must treat the highest office of the land with the necessary respect it deserves. In any case what happened to giving a person the benefit of doubt? The President could have made a genuine mistake and yet the MPs quickly pronounce judgment on him and start behaving like school kids. It is a shame to think that these are the Representatives of the People. As far as Presidents of Ghana go, this President has distinguished himself as a gentleman and he will do everything possible to avoid a confrontation. The MPs could have at least exercised decorum in the Chamber and then registered their protest after the address. We would have applauded them for their sense of maturity. 

I believe that mistakes in such high charged situations are very common. Seasoned public speakers and TV personalities make similar simple mistakes all the time. Imagine having the onerous burden of delivering a speech to the entire world- literally (thanks to the internet) - with 24 million Ghanaians with different expectations all waiting to hear you address their 24 million different problems. Master, it is not easy at all and mistakes under these circumstances are not surprising. This debate should end. The President has done the right thing. He has apologized publicly and he has also called the affected persons privately to express his regret.