Opinions of Monday, 23 December 2013

Columnist: Damoah, Nana A.

Infoboxx GH Awards 2013

1. Most publicized job: Joint winners being jobs with GYEEDA, Zoomlion or SADA.

2. Seetay Waa (aka False hope) Project of the Year: Hope City.

3. The most anti-climax moment of the year: The final reading of the
Election Petition Verdict. So much anticipation, so quickly done.

4. Tragedy of the Year: The death of Prof Kofi Awoonor at the Westgate mall
in Nairobi in a terrorist attack by Somali group al-Shabaab. He was in the
city attending the Storymoja Hay literary festival, a celebration of
pan-African writing and storytelling. May his soul rest in peace.

5. The most consistent company: Graphic Communications Group Limited
(GCGL).

6. The most popular new word: Selfie.

7. The most debated word: Corruption. Dumsor was a very very close contender
as well.

8. The most popular phrase: Three serious contenders for this award are: ‘You
and I were not there’, ‘Pink sheet’ and ‘Boys abr?’. My vote is for ‘Boys
abr?’!

9. The most debated term: Over-voting. Even the Electoral Commissioner
couldn’t bring a finality to this debate!

10. Slanger of the Year (aka the LAFA award): Between Amicus Curiae (Benony
Tony Amekudze) and Stephen Atubiga, I believe Atubiga has it. Massa, I expect a
vote of thanks from the borrom of your heart!

11. The Most Difficult Item to Maintain: Still maintaining this award for
three years running, Streetlights. Have we been cursed with it or not?
12. The Open Secret of the Year: VickiLeaks. Boys kasa, Girls Di Nk?m?!
13. Beard of the Year: No challenger. And no one should accuse me of
nepotism. This goes to Uncle Dr ABS Oko Rick R Vanderpuije.
14. The Most Fire-prone spots: Markets
15. Manure Mouth of the Year: Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John)
16. The Most Energy-Efficient Sportsman: Olele. In 2013, he became a global
brand by being called into a team and not playing a single minutes of
competitive soccer.
17. NGO of the Year: Nana Konadu’s Party – NDP.
18. Critic of the Year: The duo of Dr Arthur Kennedy and Dr Charles Wireko
Brobbey, who never missed an opportunity to criticize their party NPP.
19. Most listened-to politician: Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
20. Most Active Facebook MP: Hon Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng
21. Cartoonist of the Year: The Black Narrator
22. Most Active Facebook Page: Kojo Anan Ankomah and Hon Rodney
Nkrumah-Boateng
23. Most Improved Politician: Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. Seems the good
Professor who is his minister is taking him through some Fanti seasoning
sessions.
24. Most Consistent Government MP/Minister: Finance Minister, Seth Tekper
25. The most silent politician: Ama Benyiwa Doe
26. Product of the Year: Corruption
27. The most talked about commodity: Pink sheets
28. Most Generous Governmental Agency (also CSR Organization of the Year):
Ghana Revenue Authority.
29. Most Silent Institution: CHRAJ, especially in the face of all the
corruption issues that surfaced this year.
30. Most Important Person: William A. Atuguba, JSC
31. Omnipresent Company of the Year: AGAMS
Group. They were everywhere – even in the search for the Media Development
Fund.
32. Political Gaffe of the Year: The renaming of the Theodosia Okoh pitch by
the Accra Mayor. The Black Narrator’s cartoon of Madam Okoh dragging Sir Ross
by his beard was my best cartoon of the year!
33. Tourist of the Year: Ken Kuranchie on his National Prisons Tour.
34. Picture of the Year: President Mahama in front of the CNN Logo.
35. Electronic Item of the Year: Biometric Verification Machine.
36. Religious Leader(s) of the Year: This award goes to the members of the
National Peace Council for the role they played in managing the tensions before,
and after the Supreme Court verdict, especially their Chairman Reverend
Professor Emmanuel Asante.
37. Lawyer of the Year: Now this one is very close. Is it Philip Addison,
Tsatsu Tsikata, Amicus Curia or Tony Lithur? These would be what most of my
readers would pick but my pick is Ayikoi Otoo who skillfully snatched Sir John
from the jaws of prison when he appeared before the Supreme Court on contempt
charges. And he did it in style on his birthday too!
38. Judge of the Year: William A. Atuguba, JSC
39. Paradox of the Year: Being told that five million trees have been
planted in the North and still finding that it is a savannah.
40. Mathematical/Econometric Topic of the Year: Five million tress by SADA
explained finally – the million is in old Ghana trees and the actual planted is
in new Ghana trees.
41. Most Popular Abbreviation of the Year: GYEEDA
42. Sacking of the Year: The dismissal of Deputy Communications Minister
Victoria Hammah after the leaked phone conversation saga.
43. Campaigner of the Year (aka Citizen Vigilante): Martin Amidu and Andrew Awuni
(re: Merchant Bank)
44. Writer/Journalist of the Year: Manasseh Awuni Azure of Joy FM and Mabel Aku
Baneseh of Graphic.
45. Biggest Prank of the Year: SADA Akomfem and Afforestation projects.
46. Quote of the Year: “You and I were not there.”
47. Renaming of the Year: Theodosia Okoh Hockey Pitch/Stadium. Errrm, was
the pitch renamed whilst the stadium was left intact or vice versa?
48. Political loss of the year: NPP and Nana Addo at the Supreme Court.
49. Bribery "Scandal" of the Year: Zoomlion’s bribery case in
Liberia, which led to a ban by the World Bank.
50. The most scarce product: ECG Pre-paid credits – they run like Usain
Bolt!
51. Most forgotten Prophet of the Year: God’s only daughter, Osofo Apraku
52. “S3 Asa” Moment of the year (sometime that finally happened after a long
time of expectation or postponements): The reading of the final verdict by
Justice Atugubah on the Election Petition. It was over so quickly that many people
asked, ‘Has he finished? What was the verdict?’
53. Most Interesting Group of the Year: The Association of Childless Couples of
Ghana (ACCOG).
54. Toll Collectors of the Year: The Finance Ministry. They attempted to tax
even condoms.
55. Synonym of the Year: Hammah = Million, as in “Thanks a Hammah!”
56. Surprise of the Year: Black Stars 6 -1 thrashing of the Pharoahs of
Egypt. Aww, what a great day it was!
57. The Most Dormant Group of the Year: Committee for Joint Action (CJA).
They have been dormant for almost 5 years. Do you see any link?
58. Stopped Cheque/Payment of the Year: Payment to Subah Info Systems. We
still don’t know what will happen to the payment they received before the
stoppage. By the way, did they do any work to increase revenue from the telcos?
59. TV Station of the Year: GTV – no other station freezes like them and
they have been consistent in being boring.
60. Hashtag of the Year: #Olelefacts
61. Most Connected Ghana(wo)man: Jointly won by Joseph Siaw Agyapong of Jospong
Group of Companies and Roland Agambire of AGAMS Group
62. Court Term of the Year: Contempt of Court
63. Colour of the Year: Pink
64. Most Expensive Fone Call: Made by Vicki Hammah. It cost her $1 million.
65. Traffic Warden of the Year: Uncle ABS
66. Command of the Year: 'If the kitchen is too hot, get out!' by Uncle NuNu.
First time we ever complained before obeying a military officer.
67. Confident Man of the Year: Sign language interpreter at Mandela's
funeral
68. Selfie of the Year: By Barack Obama
69. Question of the Year: ‘Do you now realise your real size?’ – a question
put to Sammy Awuku by Justice Atuguba.
70. Reporter of the Year: Mabel Aku
Baneseh of Graphic, for her excellent reports from the Supreme Court
during the Election Petition.
71. Most abused words of 2013: Pink sheet
72. Mistaken Identity of the Year: Winneba police shooting their colleagues
during a search for armed robbers.
73. Contract of the Year: SUBAH, who is said to have benefited from an
amount of GHC144 m from GRA for jobs (monitor and verify calls of telecom
companies for tax purposes) it had failed to execute.
74. Subject-Verb Disagreement of the Year: "Drug ADDICT is a disease,
but many people DOESN'T know." Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe-Ghansah, Minister of
State at the Presidency, during her vetting at Parliament.
75. Recognition of the Year: Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings’ acknowledgement
of Nana Akufo-Addo as a lawyer and asking him to help explain to Ghanaians the
meaning of the Supreme Court verdict in the Election Petition.
76. Showbiz Dancehall Spat of the Year: Between Shatta Wale and Samini
77. FB Community project of the year: Writing, compilation, publication and
online distribution of a book in record time – My Book of #GHcoats
78. Most Publicized Chopbar of the Year: Sister Akos Chopbar, Bantama. The
biggest fan was the Fufu King, Kojo Akoto Boateng
79. Most Difficult-to-Define Acronym: GYEEDA. It was tough to decide if it
was an NGO, a philanthropic organisation, a charity, a human-rights outfit or a
job providing entity.
80. The Most Significant Notification by a Yutong Driver: “We are in first
gear.”
81. Million-Dollar Heist of the Year: Stealing your boss' cheque book and cashing
GHC 800 before being caught.
82. Forgotten Head-Master of the Year: Koku Anyidoho
83. Redundancy of the Year: Dr Tony Aidoo’s position being made redundant
without his knowledge. In other circles, it is referred to as being ‘promoted
aside’.
84. Comeback of the Year: Zita’s appointment as an Ambassador-designate. It
is yet to be seen what her time away has transformed her into: wood or
platinum.
85. Facebook celebrity of the year: Hamdia Issah
86. The Most Disorganized Show of the Year: RTP Awards. It was so shambolic
that the discombobulated nature affected the apology letter written after the
effect in an attempt to assuage fans and to promise a better delivery the next
time. Considering the quality of the letter, there isn’t much hope that next
time will be any better.
87. Most Useless Arrest Order of the Year: The announcement by the Ghana
Police that it was going to arrest Chris Brown after his smoking act on stage
during his Hammah dollar event in Accra. If you don’t understand ‘Hammah
dollar’, refer to #54.
88. Comedian of the Year: Madam Akua Donkor
89. Jostling of the Year: Dr Papa K Mfimfim’s ‘chasing’ of Madam Akua Donkor
for his Toyota Tundra
90. Local Team of the Year: There have been many nominations but still not
settled on a clear winner.
91. Tragedy of the Year: The death of Prof Kofi Awoonor at the Westgate mall
in Nairobi in a terrorist attack by Somali group al-Shabaab. He was in the
city attending the Storymoja Hay literary festival, a celebration of
pan-African writing and storytelling.

Compiled by Nana Awere Damoah

Contributors: Abass Ibrahim
Tasunti, Kwame Gyan, Kwame Kekeli Bokpe, Winfred Ofori, Kwaku
Nyarko, Gameli Adzaho, Setor Dzisenu, Sam Dentu,
Abubakar Ibrahim, Francis Kennedy Ocloo, Appiah Kubi, Gretel Asigbe, Qouphy
Appiah Obirikorang, Richard Billy Hanyabui, Nicholas Opuni Opoku, Samuel Fahren
Otoo, Prosper Afuti, Richard Billy Hanyabui, Esther Amanor, Freda Nyarkoa
Nyarko, Elijah Ekow Atta-Aidoo, Stella Aba Yaa Bruce, Kwabena Brako, Max
Adjei-Twum, Kola Nut