Helsinki-Now most honest city in the world!!!

Growing up in Ghana,many young ones including myself were made to write essays titled:Honesty is the best policy.
However when one grows up we get to have the test of our integrity in diverse ways.The country is now bedeviled with news of alleged corruption in leadership,churches,and various sectors of our sociocultural life.
One city that caught my attention in recent times is Helsinki.What about them one may ask?                  A research conducted by Readers Digest magazine by dropping 192 wallets in 16 different cities around the world,Helsinki was found to be the city with most honest people. Each wallet dropped contained the equivalent of $50, plus a telephone number, a family photo, coupons and business cards.   
Helsinki. Finland’s capital city brought back 11 of the 12 “lost” wallets, which were left in parks, near shopping centres and on pavements.                               "Finns are naturally honest," said Lasse Luomakoski, a 27-year-old businessman who returned one of them. "We are a small, quiet, closely-knit community. We have little corruption, and we don't even run red lights."

Mumbai India came in close second with 9 of the 12 wallets returned, ahead of Budapest in Hungary, where 8 of 12 were returned.“I remember being in a car, when my dad noticed a wallet by the side of the road,” one 17 year old student explained. “When we reached the owner he was very grateful: Without the papers in the wallet he would have had to postpone his wedding which was to take place the very same day!”
The magazine also revealed however, a woman in her early sixties opened the wallet, and then entered a nearby building and never got back or got in touch.

New York also returned 8 out of 12 wallets, followed by Moscow and Amsterdam (7) and Berlin and Ljubljana (6).

Londoners returned 5 of the 12 wallets, alongside Warsaw in Poland.
The least honest city was Lisbon, which returned only 1 of the 12 wallets, just behind Madrid, where 2 were returned. The one wallet that was returned was not even returned by locals: they were a couple visiting from Holland.

In total, 47 per cent were returned. The surprising conclusions was that there is no set pattern to those who return lost wallets.

“Age could not be used in predicting whether a person is going to be honest or dishonest; young and old both kept or returned wallets; male and female were unpredictable; and comparative wealth seemed no guarantee of honesty.”

The bottom line? “There are honest and dishonest people everywhere.”
Can you just imaging what will happen in Accra-Ghana's capital? Your guess is as good as mine.Sign of the cross right?

10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Nelson Mandela

For most people Nelson Mandela is known to be the first black president of South Africa, a man who became a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement, and one who gave up nearly 30 years of his life in prison. He remains a hero to South Africans,Africans as well as the global community, and will continually represent the struggle for freedom. But it’s easy to forget that even legends are human. Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about Madiba as he is affectionately known.

1. Mandela’s tribal nickname is “Rolihlahla,” meaning “Troublemaker.”
 Other accounts translate Rolihlalhla to mean “to pull a branch from a tree,” which, of course, is something only a troublemaker would do. It was his teacher, Miss Mdingane, who gave him the English name “Nelson,” much to the relief of journalists everywhere when he became famous.

2. Mandela was expelled from university after less than a year.
 After finishing boarding school, Mandela headed to Fort Hare Missionary College. Less than 12 months later, he was expelled from college for helping to organize a strike against the white colonial rule of the institution. One might call this foreshadowing.

3. The United Nations decreed his birthday as Mandela Day.
 In 2009, the U.N. declared Mandela’s birthday, July 18, as Mandela Day to mark his contribution to world freedom. The holiday calls on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, reflecting the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the anti-apartheid movement.

4.  Mandela is often referred to as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name
 Mandela is a member of the Thembu, a Xhosa clan, and is often referred to by his clan name, Madiba. It is a sign of the incredible diversity of people and languages in South Africa. The country has 11 different official languages.

5. Mandela’s father had four wives, and Nelson is one of 13 children.
 Mandela’s father, a local chief and councellor to the Thembu king, died from tuberculosis when his son was 9yrs. Before that, he fathered 13 children by four wives, four boys and nine girls. After his father’s death, Mandela was put under the guardianship of Jongintaba, the Thembu regent.

6. Mandela has received more than 250 awards for his accomplishments.
 Among these awards is the shared 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. de Klerk, the last president of the apartheid government of South Africa (he too is widely credited as an instrumental force in ending apartheid). Additionally, Mandela has received more than 50 honorary degrees from international universities worldwide, became the first honorary Canadian citizen in 2001, and received the last Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union.

7. Stevie Wonder dedicated his 1985 Oscar for “I Just Called to Say I Love You” to Mandela.
 After Stevie accepted his award in honor of Nelson Mandela, the government-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation banned Stevie’s music from the airways. It wasn’t until Mandela was elected in 1994 that Stevie was finally allowed back in South Africa.

8. Mandela outlived his two oldest sons.
 Mandela had six children, but tragically lost his two oldest sons. Thembi died in a car crash at age 25. Mandela was in prison at the time of the death and was unable to attend the funeral. Another son died of AIDS in 2005 at age 54. While Mandela’s administration was criticized for not doing enough to fight the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, he established the Nelson Mandela Foundation in 1999 following his retirement to help fight the spread of AIDS.

9. Mandela ran away from home at age of 19.
 When his guardian tried to arrange a marriage, Mandela ran away from home in 1941 and headed to Johannesburg. He began to work as a night watchman at Crown Mines, but was fired after it was discovered that he was the Thembu regent’s runaway.

10. Mandela spent his first night after being freed from prison in Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s home.
 Tutu had his helpers prepare his own favorite meal of chicken curry, rice and green salad, followed by rum raisin ice cream and custard.

 Source:www.afkinsider.com

Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Serves 28yrs In Prison

DETROIT (AP) — A former Detroit mayor was sent to federal prison for nearly three decades Thursday, after offering little remorse for the widespread corruption under his watch but acknowledging he let down the troubled city during a critical period before it landed in bankruptcy.

Prosecutors argued that Kwame Kilpatrick's "corrupt administration exacerbated the crisis" that Detroit now finds itself in. A judge agreed with the government's recommendation that 28 years in prison was appropriate for rigging contracts, taking bribes and putting his own price on public business.

It is one of the toughest penalties doled out for public corruption in recent U.S. history and seals a dramatic fall for Kilpatrick, who was elected mayor in 2001 at age 31 and is the son of a former senior member of Congress.
While Detroit's finances were eroding, he was getting bags of cash from city contractors, kickbacks hidden in the bra of his political fundraiser and private cross-country travel from businessmen, according to trial evidence.
Kilpatrick, 43, said he was sorry if he let down his hometown but denied ever stealing from the citizens of Detroit.
"I'm ready to go so the city can move on," Kilpatrick said, speaking softly with a few pages of notes before U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds ordered the sentence.
"The people here are suffering, they're hurting. A great deal of that hurt I accept responsibility for," he said.
In March, he was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, fraud, extortion and tax crimes. The government called it the "Kilpatrick enterprise," a yearslong scheme to shake down contractors and reward allies. He was doomed by his own text messages, which revealed efforts to fix deals for a pal, Bobby Ferguson, an excavator.
Prosecutors said $73 million of Ferguson's $127 million in revenue from city work came through extortion. The government alleged that he in turn shared cash with Kilpatrick.
Agents who pored over bank accounts and credit cards said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his salary during his time as mayor, from 2002 to fall 2008. Defense attorneys tried to portray the money as generous gifts from political supporters who opened their wallets for birthdays or holidays.
"It is difficult to quantify the total cost of the devastating corruption instigated by Kilpatrick. ... But one thing was certain: It was the citizens of Detroit who suffered when they turned over their hard-earned tax dollars but failed to receive the best services," the judge said.
Kilpatrick was convicted in March, just days before Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder sent an emergency manager to Detroit to take control of city operations. The city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in July, overloaded with at least $18 billion in long-term debt.
Edmunds said Kilpatrick can't be blamed for the bankruptcy — he's been out of office for five years — but "corruption has its own cost."

"We're demanding transparency and accountability in our government. We expect it," the judge said. "If there has been corruption in the past, there will be corruption no more. We're done. It's over."

Kilpatrick covered much ground in his 30 minutes of remarks to the judge. He said he hated being mayor after just six months because the job was so difficult. He lamented that his three sons now will grow up without their father, a problem in black families, and said his scandals "killed" the political career of his mother, former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a Democrat who lost re-election in 2010.
The former mayor didn't specifically address his crimes, though he said he respected the jury's verdict. An appeal is certain. He said his family wasn't in the courtroom because he didn't want to make them uncomfortable under the media glare.
"I want the city to heal. I want it to prosper. I want the city to be great again," he told the judge. "I want the city to have the same feeling it had in 2006, when the Super Bowl was here."
The sentence was a victory for prosecutors. Defense attorneys argued for no more than 15 years in prison.
The punishment matches the 28-year sentence given to former Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Commissioner James Dimora in 2012. In Illinois, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for trying to peddle President Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat for personal gain.
Outside court, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said Kilpatrick seemed to be contrite but not enough.
"At the end of the day, he did not accept responsibility for stealing from the people of Detroit. ... That to me diminished the impact of his words," said McQuade, who noted that public contracts ended up costing more money because the fix was in for Kilpatrick's buddy Ferguson.
Kilpatrick also tapped a nonprofit fund, which was created to help distressed Detroit residents, to pay for yoga, camps for his kids, golf clubs and travel, according to evidence.
Kilpatrick quit office in 2008 in a different scandal. Sexually explicit text messages revealed that he had lied during a trial to cover up an affair with his top aide, Christine Beatty, and to hide the reasons for demoting or firing police officers who suspected wrongdoing at city hall.
After more than three hours in court Thursday, Kilpatrick stood up and stretched by twisting his waist. He looked for friendly faces in the gallery, placed his hands behind his back for handcuffs and was escorted away. He hopes to be assigned to a federal prison near family in Texas.

Source:yahoo news

Cyclone Phailin Heads For India's East Coast

A powerful cyclone intensified on Friday and was heading towards India's east coast, authorities said, forecasting a risk to life and extensive damage to property when it makes landfall in 36 hours.
Satellite images showed the storm in the Bay of Bengal to be about half the size of India.
Cyclone Phailin is expected to hit between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state and Paradip in Odisha state on Saturday evening as a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 205-215 km per hour (127-134 miles per hour), the India Meteorological Department said in a bulletin at 1930 EDT.
London-based storm tracking service Tropical Storm Risk described Phailin as a Category 4 storm, one notch below the most powerful Category 5 storms.
Authorities in the affected states had been stocking shelters with rations, as well as putting disaster response teams on standby and cancelling government employees' holidays as Phailin - some 800 km from the Indian coastline - moved closer.
"The cyclone is expected to impact life and properties. The districts likely to be affected by the impending cyclone have been asked to ensure all preparedness including evacuation of people in vulnerable areas to the cyclone shelters for their safety," Odisha's Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a letter to the defense minister on Thursday, asking for the armed forces to prepare to help with disaster relief.
India's largest gas field -- the Reliance Industries-operated D6 natural gas block -- lies in the Cauvery Basin off the east coast.
Report by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Ed Davies-NEW DELHI (Reuters)

World Bank Alerts Ghana On Rising Debt

The World Bank has cautioned Ghana against its rising debt, which it says has the tendency to stifle the country’s economic growth and deepen poverty.Ghana’s debt currently stands at 49.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product/GDP(GHc43.9 billion) at the end of August 2013.
At a teleconference beamed from Washington in the United States of America (USA) to Accra for Sub-Saharan African countries, the Deputy Regional Chief Economist of the World Bank Africa Region, Mr Francisco Ferreira, attributed Ghana’s rather high financial deficit to an increase in the country’s infrastructure development and pro-poor programs.
Ghana economy is still faced with liquidity challenges, with both revenue receipts and expenditure falling below their targets, nine months into the year.
The only exception is compensation for workers, which has overshot its target by 2.2 per cent, but Mr Diop indicated that the country could take charge of the situation if it improved its macroeconomic output.
Contributing to the conference, the Lead Economist of the World Bank Africa Region, Ms Punam Chuhan-Pole, said with the exception of South Africa, countries in the sub-region were doing well.
South Africa’s economic growth, according to her, was two per cent.
Ms Chuhan-Pole is also the author of ‘Africa’s Pulse’, a twice-yearly publication which analyses issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects.
Africa’s economic growth was projected to surge 4.9 per cent this year, but the bank said some were growing at an impressive six per cent.
 Currently, almost a third of countries in the region are growing at six per cent and more and African countries are now routinely among the fastest-growing countries in the world.
Growth not impacting poverty reduction

Despite that growth, poverty in the sub-region, the World Bank indicated, was still high, with almost one in every two Africans living in extreme poverty.
“As Africa’s growth rates continue to surge, with the region increasingly a magnet for investment and tourism, ‘Africa’s Pulse’ notes that poverty and equality remain unacceptably high and the pace of reduction unacceptably slow,” she said.
The World Bank is optimistic that the poverty rate is likely to fall to between 16 and 30 per cent by 2030.
‘Africa’s Pulse’ reports, however, suggested that by 2030 most of the world’s poor people would be living on the African continent.

Koko King-A tough adventure!

The decision by a young graduate to quit his job as a banker sounded weird to friend an family."Some even conclude I was going crazy"...that's the story of
Mr.Albert Osei, Chief Executive Officer of local food outfit, Koko King.
He mentioned this on a morning of a popular Accra based radio station JOY99.7fm,Monday 8th Oct.

Albert, a university graduate, quit his job as a banker and ventured into providing the popular breakfast to lower and middle level staff in offices and commuters in the capital.
A business which initially started with three people - a cook, a driver and Albert himself - now has over 150 sales agents scattered all over Accra providing variety of locally made breakfast to commuters at vantage locations.
Albert disclosed on the Joy FM Super Morning Show that his target is to employ about 1,000 sales agents across the country to build a major food brand in the country.
"We are looking at creating a major food brand in Ghana and in the world with time", Mr. Osei told Bernard Nasara Saibu, co-host of the show.
His success story like many others, did not come on a silver platter.Many of his friends and family members thought it was "crazy" for a university graduate to quit his banking job only to undertake a business in selling porridge, known locally as 'koko' on the streets.
"It was the toughest couple of years of my life [which] I don't want to wish for anybody... some people including his own colleagues saw me and they thought I was crazy", he said.
He had words of appreciation for his clients for having faith in his products, something he said was awe-inspiring and spurred him on to do more.
"Our biggest advertisers are the customers; they are so loyal, so fantastic.
"We do what we do because we love to do it, not because we have to do it," Albert stated profoundly.
image source:http://www.kokoking.com.gh

Egypt coach Bob Bradley Names Squad To Face Ghana:Oct 15th

The Egyptian national team coach has come out with his final squad to face the Black Stars in Kumasi next week in a 2014 World Cup play-off.

Egypt coach Bob Bradley has revealed his final 25-man squad to face Ghana in the final phase of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Kumasi on October 15.

The squad includes regulars such as Mohammed Salah, Abou Treika, Hosni, and Hossam Ghaly.

The Pharaohs will begin preparatory camp on October 7 before flying to Ghana later on in the week.

Ahmed Saeed Oka, Adam Al Abd, Ibrahim Salah, Omar Gaber, Mohamed Ibrahim, Ahmed Hamoudi, and Ahmed Temsah have been dropped.

The second leg is scheduled for the Cairo Military Stadium on November 19.

Full squad
Goalkeepers: Sherif Ekramy, Ahmed AL Shenawi, Mohamed Sobhi

Defenders: Ahmed Fathi, Ahmad Mohammadi, Hazem Emam, Wael Gomaa, Mohamed Naguib, Rami Rabia, Sayed Moawad, Mohamed Abdel Al Shafi, Ahmed Sheded

Midfielders: Amr Al Sulaya, Hossam Ashour, Hossam Ghaly, Mohamed Abu Trika, Hosni Abd Rabbo, Shikabala, Mohamed Elnenny, Walid Soliman, Abdullah Saeed, Ahmed Eid

Strikers: Amr Zaki, Mohamed Salah, Mahmoud Abdel Moneim "Kahraba", Mohamed Nagy "Gedo"

Source: Goal.com

The devils triangle mystery solved

BERMUDA TRIANGLE MYSTERY SOLVED

Computer studies of ocean floors around the world, particularly the area of The Bermuda Triangle reveals evidence of massive methane explosions in the past. For years, believers in the paranormal, aliens, and other outlandish theories pointed to the the disappearance of ships and aircraft as an indicator of mysterious forces at work in the “Devil’s triangle.” Scientists have finally pointed the rest of us to a more plausible cause.

The presence of methane hydrates indicates enormous eruptions of methane bubbles that would swamp a ship, and projected high into the air- take out flying airplanes, as well.

Any ships caught within the methane mega-bubble immediately lose all buoyancy and sink to the bottom of the ocean. If the bubbles are big enough and possess a high enough density they can also knock aircraft out of the sky with little or no warning. Aircraft falling victim to these methane bubbles will lose their engines-perhaps igniting the methane surrounding them-and immediately lose their lift as well, ending their flights by diving into the ocean and swiftly plummeting.

image source:www.factfictionandconjecture.ca

Rituals at Institute of Languages-How is that?

Some students at the Accra City Campus of the University of Ghana, which shares the same building with the Ghana Institute of Languages - GIL have expressed reservations about the performance of rituals at the premises of school over the weekend.
They questioned why the director of the GIL, Dr. John Rex Gadezkpo should hired the spiritualists following reports that workers were being haunted by ghosts.
According to the night shift workers they were attacked by these nocturnal spirits whose presence they were unable to explain.
One worker has reportedly suffered an ear infection following one such attack.
Speaking to a corespondent,students of the city campus were oblivious about the presence of these nocturnal spirits.They insisted they were in an academic environment, hence such practices described as scary, should not be entertained.
“If something of the sort is happening, this is not the right way to deal with it. This is not right. By doing this, they might worsen the case…” a female student said.
Another student who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “…We can’t tell if they are hiding something from us”.
Nonetheless,it is alleged  the Director Dr. Gadzekpo,downplayed the students concerns, saying everybody was free to practice what they believed in.
“…If we were a Christian group making noise here, nobody would say anything. Let other people practice what they want to practice as long as it doesn't worry you. I am the Chief Executive of this Institute and I don’t have to ask permission from anybody to do anything over here.”
IMAGE SOURCE:www.ghanaweb.com

Government Must Re-consider 3yr SHS policy – Educationist

An educationist, Professor Jerome Djangmah is advising government to re-consider its stance on the 3-year Senior High School (SHS) following the failure by many graduates to meet the minimum requirement for entry into tertiary institutions,notably the polytechnics

He said: “If we get to a point where we cannot even get qualified students into polytechnics, then this is the time for the government to take another look at its policy on educational systems ".
Government in collaboration with Polytechnic authorities as well as the National Council for Tertiary Education agreed to lower the minimum requirement for entry into polytechnics.

This was after about 17,000 applicants failed to get admission into the polytechnics due to poor grades from the SHS level.

Speaking to a popular Accra based radio Citi 97.3fm, Prof Djangmah a former Director of Ghana Education Service and the West African Examination Council (WAEC) opined that the decision to lower the education bar will ultimately affect the nation’s human resource saying, “going further to lower the entry requirement for polytechnics, I don’t think really it’s the best thing to do.”
He stated that the rapid transit through the Senior High School “is not good for the majority of our kids.”
The educationist lamented over the decision by the current government to revert the SHS system from four to three years; a decision he attributed to the increased failure of SHS students.
“This particular government didn’t listen and decided to revert to three years and I think that is part of reason. The students are not spending enough time in the Senior High School.”
He therefore suggested that the students should be given more time which is “really what you ought to do for the majority of our public schools.”
Image source:flicker.com

The Gambia Withdraws From Commonwealth!!!

The Gambia is to withdraw from the Commonwealth of nations, 48 years after joining.
The West African nation branded the 54-member grouping, which includes the UK and most of its former colonies, a "neo-colonial institution".
The withdrawal was announced on Gambia's state TV, but no other reasons were given.
Two years ago President Yahya Jammeh accused the UK of backing his political opposition ahead of elections. The UK said it would "very much regret" The Gambia leaving the Commonwealth.
There is a history of tension between President Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, and the UK.
Earlier this year, a Foreign Office report singled out The Gambia for its human rights record, citing cases of unlawful detentions, illegal closures of newspapers and discrimination against minority groups.
In August last year The Gambia was criticised by Amnesty International and others for executing nine prisoners by firing squad.
The Commonwealth was founded in 1931 but acquired its modern shape after 1949 as former British colonies and protectorates, including The Gambia, started to achieve self-government and varying degrees of independence.

'Colonialism extension'
The grouping dropped the word British from its name and the allegiance to the crown from its statute and other independent nations joined.
In its statement, The Gambian government said it had "withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth".
It said it had "decided that The Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism".
The last time a nation left the Commonwealth was in 2003, when Zimbabwe withdrew.
The UK's Foreign Office said: "Decisions on Commonwealth membership are a matter for each member government. We would very much regret Gambia, or any other country, deciding to leave the Commonwealth."
The Queen, who is 87, is the head of the Commonwealth, which holds its next heads of government meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, next month.
However, the gathering will be the first that the Queen has not attended since 1971. She is sending her son, the Prince of Wales instead, with Buckingham Palace saying she is making fewer overseas trips because of her age.
Two African countries have joined the Commonwealth in recent years. Rwanda was admitted in 2009 after applying for membership the previous year, while Mozambique became a member in 1995.


Source: BBC

Eclipse of the Sun on Nov 3

Ghana and other parts of West Africa, will on November 3, 2013, experience a partial hybrid solar eclipse.

A partial hybrid solar eclipse is an eclipse, where there is a maximum partial cover of the Sun by the Moon.

It will happen at 22 minutes after 1 p.m. that day, barring any rains or cloudy weather, and Ghanians will see the normal afternoon sunny light being dimmed to evening for about one-and-half minutes, when the face of the Sun would be covered 80-85 per cent by the Moon.

The rare phenomenon, was disclosed by Prof Emmanuel Amamoo-Otchere,formerly the Executive Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (CERSGIS) of the University of Ghana, Legon and now a member of the African Astronomical Society.

He said, the rare occurrence had been known for some time but had to be confirmed by partners such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has diagrams of the phenomenon on its website.

What to do
The last time Ghana experienced an eclipse was on Wednesday, March 29, 2006, and that was a total one, which occurred from 8.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m across the country.
Prof Amamoo-Otchere said it was important for Ghanaians to be aware of what was to happen and protect their sight on that day.

He said all needed shades to view the phenomenon as was the case in March,2006.

How it will happen :
There will be partial darkness, similar to dusk, and the eclipse will be seen in Eastern America, sliding to West Africa and finally dissipating in Central Africa.
People along the coast, from Half Assini to Aflao, will experience a wave of darkness in the skyline of a duration of a minute or two. He said inland, the phenomenon would be experienced in the northern parts of the country, as far as Burkina Fasso, he added.

Prof Amamoo-Otchere said what was not certain was animal behavior at the time of the eclipse, but he said it was likely that for the split moment of darkness, some birds would change direction in flight.

"It is possible to see some twinkling stars and some planets," he added.

Prof Amamoo-Otchere said for him, the phenomenon showed that there was a super engineer, that is God, who was super precise in all his doings and was still working.

He said, it also showed the scientific skill of man in calculating the point at which the Sun, Earth and Moon aligned that resulted in one blocking the other.
 Source: Daily Graphic

Just 3foods kept oldest person alive

Bolivian indigenous farmer Carmelo Flores who completed 123 years of his age this year attributes his longevity to the traditional Andean diet. He possesses a baptism certificate according to which his date of birth is July 16,1890. He said that he has been able to live this long because of 3 foods, namely, quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms and coca leaves. He keeps on chewing coca leaves. 

As per him potatoes with quinoa are quite tasty. When asked about the secret of his longevity, he said that he does a lot of walking with his animals,avoids eating noodles and rice. He walks without cane and does not wear glasses. All these things have made him lived long,strong and healthy. 

He drinks the water which comes from the snow-capped peak of Illampu which is one of the Bolivia’s highest mountains. He doesn’t drink alcohol but just imbibed some of it in his youth. 

In his diet, he has eaten a lot of mutton and pork. As per him he has never been farther afield than La Paz, 80 kilometres away and has been never badly sick. 

The local government official planned to award him with the title of “Living Heritage of Humanity”.

Asuma Banda: Against proposed national airline

The founder and Chairman of Antrak Group, Alhaji Asuma Banda, has told the B&FT that he will consider a court action against the state if government goes ahead to establish a new national airline.

He said a state-run airline is a conduit to waste public funds, hence he will not sit down for state resources to be spent on unprofitable ventures.

“If the government goes ahead to establish a new airline, I will challenge them in court. We have no money to throw away. It won't work,” he said.
  Alhaji Asuma Banda's dig at government plans to get a new national airline for the country resonates with the sentiments of many Ghanaians following two failed attempts to operate a national airline over the past decade.
Earlier this year, the Minister of Transport, Dzifa Ativor, told the media that government was evaluating some possibilities to set up a new airline partnership in an attempt to tap into prospects of the aviation industry.
Some aviation experts have said government only needs a carried interest, but the private sector must manage any new national carrier.
Previously, Ghana Airways Limited, founded in 1958, had been the national airline with the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) as its hub. However, the airline — ridden with debt — ceased operations in 2004. Attempts were made to revive its fortunes, but to no avail; and in June 2005 the airline was liquidated.
In 2010 government signed a partnership agreement with Arik Air of Nigeria in an attempt to relaunch the Ghana Airways carrier, but the deal was still-born.
Government has indicated that it is committed to settling all outstanding issues with the last national carrier, Ghana International Airlines (GIA) — which suspended operations in May 2010 - before proceeding to set up a new one.
The Ministry of Transport has therefore presented proposals to Cabinet, hoping to put to bed any lingering issues with GIA. Some analysts have welcomed the intention to set up a new national carrier, but have urged caution to avoid past pitfalls.
According to Alhaji Asuma Banda, mismanagement in the operations of the erstwhile national airlines is the principal reason for their collapse.
Industry experts contend that the best industry practice for national airlines is a partnership agreement with the private sector, wherein the latter controls majority shares as pertains in jurisdictions where national carriers have been running on such models - like Kenya Airways in Kenya, among others.


Source: B&FT