The increased demand for gold by Chinese traders has worsened illegal artisanal mining in the rivers of Ghana, leading to massive destruction of the water bodies. The Ghanaian authorities seem to be unconcerned. Before long, unless something drastic is done, people will lack clean water for use.

The ICC has taken a new step that could redeem its damaged image and endear it to progressive people in Africa and all the developing world. The court has announced that henceforth it will be investigating with a view to prosecuting crimes that result in the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources and  illegal dispossession of land.

In one province in Gabon, the stronghold of President Ali Bongo, the results declared by the Gabonese Electoral Commission indicated  that 99.83% of the electorate turned out to vote, and that 95.46% of them voted for Ali Bongo! The question is: how can we ensure that election results in Africa are not dependent on an electoral commission or constitutional court that is in the pocket of the incumbent?

In our drab world, with its wars, hunger and disease, athletics and other sports reveal to us the wonder of what we could be enjoying in this life if only we weren't so stupid as to waste our time, energy and resources on horrible things like war and selfish politics.

Municipal elections in South Africa returned the poorest result for the ruling ANC party since coming to power at the end of minority white rule in 1994. But the ANC is not the only once-dynamic party in Africa that has been ruined by party leaders who get infected with a sense of entitlement after they have led their parties through successful struggles against white rule.

Entrenched racism going back to the days of slavery is the reason behind frequent killings of Black men by White policemen in America. White officers see themselves as slave masters who must be obeyed without question by the Black slave.

The answer is that in America, stupid arguments are sometimes allowed to override sane ones, provided the organisation or person peddling the argument is powerful or rich enough. Around 3.7 million American households have a military-grade weapon similar to the one used in Sunday’s mass killings.

Muhammad said he was pleased to come to Ghana - from an America where black people had to struggle for their ordinary human rights - to find back people running their whole country “beautifully”. Americans, he said, were being misinformed that Africans were eating each other and climbing up and down trees.

Prof Adu Boahen who joined his ancestors ten years ago, left a worthy legacy to all Ghanaians, especially with regard to what must concern them most – living in freedom as proud citizens; a people able to choose their own governments, and prepared to be unsparing and vocal in their critical evaluation of the performance of those governments, once elected.

Pan-Africanism is not just a nice-sounding idea. It is a firm personal commitment to the lives of the peoples of Africa. When the latest Ebola crisis broke out in West Africa in 2014, Dr. Atai-Omorotu gathered some medical personnel in Uganda and headed to the region that everyone was running away from. She helped save many lives – only for her to die of pancreatic cancer two weeks ago.