Let this attitudinal change stay

Hi, I am Inkenson, a resident of Takoradi in Ghana and a regular listener of the BBC’s World Have Your Say. Ahead of tomorrow’s programme I will like to share some thoughts with you.

Hunting with Spears

Have a look at the BBC news site, and CNN’s. The most popular story ATOW is Britney Spears going to hospital. Again. A motorcade of police vehicles escorted her. Again. Chased by the paparazzi. Again.

Where is Kenya’s moral leadership?

On Tuesday’s programme we heard from Abda, a Kenyan listening on WCPN in Cleveland. She asked why religious leaders were not condemning the violence. We’ve invited her onto the programme today – here’s what she wrote to us:

Time to talk about Afghanistan?

Good morning, I hope you’re all well. I’m at TVC but I’m sure there’ll be a cheery air in the WHYS office today as Mark will have enjoyed this last night. But we’re about today and what you’re talking about.

How about Afghanistan? Three reports have painted a grim picture of the situation in the country, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe and collapsing state institutions. An independent study in the United States warns that Afghanistan could revert to a “failed state”.

And Steve has written asking us to discuss the Afghanistan Blashpemy death sentence.

Can natural resources benefit everyone?

Hi everyone. We’re about to drive 70 miles north of Takoradi through the rubber trees and palms to a mining town called Tarkwa. We’ll be broadcasting WHYS from there today with the brilliantly named Dynamite FM (Power in the air – is their on air strap line).

Over the past 50 years, the region has produced millions of dollars worth of gold – but when we took part in a phone-in on Dynamite yesterday, one caller represented many others when he said the gold has ‘done more harm than good’.

What can be done to stop the violence in Kenya?

Hello, it’s Leonardo. Ros is on the road in Ghana, from where he’ll present today’s show. Another day of violence in several parts of Kenya today.

That’s after a weekend when more than 100 people were killed.

We heard horrific accounts this morning, of random shoots on crowds of people, neighbours turning into old friends of different ethnic brackground. What can be done to stop the violence? What can be done to avoid Kenya descending into genocide?

Kenyan violence

Violence has again erupted on the streets of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and in the Rift Valley following the murder of an opposition politician. Mugabe Were, a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of the defeated candidate, Raila Odinga, was attacked outside his home, police said.

This is what Omar in Naivasha told the BBC 2 hours ago.
“Naivasha is in a state of chaos. Bullets are raining down on people from planes. People are panicking and not sure what to do. They are trying to take refuge at the police station, kikuyu people are trying to break into the same police station. There is chaos all around and people unsure of where to go to protect themselves”.

I’ve just spoken to Omar who tells me he is afraid that Kenya could be worse than Rwanda.   He wants to tell you all about the situation on today’s programme.

Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society, writing in the Independent this morning, says the violence is horrific but Kenya will not become a new Rwanda.

What did Martin Luther King do for black people?

**UPDATE: Professor Farley has been through all of your comments and replied with a fresh post here.**

Hi there – Chloe here.

The black vote has been fiercely fought over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the recent US primary’s. Obama secured almost 80 per cent of African American Democrat votes to win in South Carolina on Saturday, as he continues to talk about the legacy of Martin Luther King to the call for change.

But did the late Dr King and the civil rights movement fail African Americans? You may remember Ros mentioned this story in Friday’s email. An article by a former Martin Luther King Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was published in the Guardian newspaper here with the title ” I Have a Nightmare”. Professor Jonathan Farley argues that the “aims and the character of the civil rights movement were flawed”. He says “it is time we all admitted our mistake. A black King did not redeem us. And neither will a black president.”

Martin Luther King’s legacy

Well a spectacular win in South Carolina on Saturday for Barack Obama.. In his victory speech, Mr Obama called on his supporters to overcome racial divisions and work for what he called the politics of shared prosperity. Throughout his campaign Obama has reached for the legacy of Martin Luther King to the call for change. Martin Luther King had a dream.. 40+ years on is Barack Obama the realisation of that dream?

Not according to Jonathan Farley. He’s a former Martin Luther King Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He argues that to liken Barack Obama to Martin Luther King does him no favours because King, like the civil rights movement failed African Americans. In a recent article in the Guardian newspaper, Dr Farley wrote that “King built nothing, and taught us only how to take a beating’ He adds ’A Black King did not redeem us. And neither will a black president.’

Jonathan Farley is a guest on today’s programme and happy to debate his views with you all. If you want to come on post a comment here on the blog and well get back to you or email the programme at worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Greetings from Ghana

Hi, Ros and I are in Ghana to produce two full editions of WHYS on Wednesday 30th January and Friday 1st February.We’re very near the coast in the twin cities of Sekondi-Takoradi, where we’ll do Friday’s programme in conjunction with local broadcaster Sky Power FM. On Wednesday we plan to do the programme from the minining town of Tarkwa, which is about an hour’s drive north of here, along with Dynamite FM.