[ASU] Message from PY Tsikata- Response to posting

[Bose Maposa]

Dear Members,

I wish to share with members of the organization this email that Mr. PY Tsikita
just sent me. I believe members of the organization have a right to know all
matters that concern our beloved organization. The email is apparently in
response to the piece I posted yesterday. I must state that the message has
already been distributed on Facebook.

I leave members to make their own judgment about me and our potential president.
But let me assure you all that I will respond appropriately.  


----- Forwarded message from PY Tsikata <pytsikata at yahoo.com> -----
From: PY Tsikata <pytsikata at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: pytsikata at yahoo.com
To: bm745207 at ohio.edu
Subject: hi
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:51:09 -0800 (PST)



Hi,
Lets Sanitize this debate with some level of maturity.

May I thank those who took the trouble reach me with their comments
regarding the blistering attack on me by Bose Maposa (Miss or Mrs). Though I
feel profoundly violated, the rules of civility greatly restrain me from
participating in such vituperations. Can we, in intelligentsia, cling to the
unwritten rules of our world by debating issues without resorting to insulting
people whose views we find unpalatable? After all, there are myriads of view
points and it is our duty to examine each carefully before drawing conclusions
devoid of emotions.

Bose has had the opportunity to serve the ASU for one whole year and I
believe before she ascended to office she must have stipulated certain dreams,
aspirations and hopes in the form of manifesto on which she was voted into
office. If that was not the case in her days, then she should come out clearly
to tell us the basis on which she became an office holder within the ASU. If she
can do that candidly, members can evaluate her pledges and the actuality as she
prepares to handover to a new administration.

Why did I say that? Many at times we find deception embellished in the
process we have just embarked now. Candidates are able to catalogue all kinds
of things and even promise bed of rose to the electorates but once they get
elected and assume office, you have no right, opportunity whatsoever to
question them anymore on how they exercise your mandate, especially when it
comes to what they promise and what they are able to deliver.  The bottom line
is that Bose has been here
longer than I have been. She had even had the opportunity to serve the ASU in
an executive position for 12 good months in the same 21st century
which we both are located. Why was she not able, by the auspices of the ASU,
organize a single leadership program for African students in OU? Since when did
she realize that Africa has leadership problems? 

Let me also point out to Bose that there is a vast difference between
organizing “cross-over” and other forms of food bazaar and operating a
restaurant. And the fact that there are African restaurants in Washington DC,
Columbus and other great cosmopolitan areas does not mean that it works
everywhere you find one or two Africans. The truth of the matter is that there
are mammoth numbers of Africans in those cities, so it is cost efficient for
the profit-seeking businessman or woman. I have been thinking of two
possibilities of funding this project. By inviting business or expending the
hard earned resources of ASU to launch the initiative. In the first instance, I
am aware two individuals of African descent had tried twice in the last three
years in Athens but folded up due to lack of patronage, which was as a result
of high overhead cost invariably translating into the cost of meals. If those
private initiatives have failed, are we now saying that by our CAN DO SPIRIT we
can now venture into the market with the contributions and other forms of fund
available to the union to embark on this wild geese chase? It is simply not
feasible and that’s what I mean. Please consider the African restaurant project
in light of the issues I have raised and the need for us to set
priorities.  I know I speak for the
majority of students on this matter.  

On the issue of the union becoming a promoter of intellectual or
leadership training I still hold that the University has a myriad of leadership
programs in place.  It is for us to
encourage our members to participate in these programs.  If we think there are
socio-cultural needs of
our members that are not being met, it is just okay for us to initiate moves to
ensure that those needs are taken care of. 
We must learn to make good use of what we already have in getting what
we don’t have.  We cannot afford to
expend what we don’t have in getting what we do have. I am simply not an
isolationist. Considering the facilities available to us here as Africans, I
hope we don’t wake up one day soon and start asking for “a swimming pool for
only African students”.

At any rate, these are concerns I had expected Titus to shed light on to
drive away the ignorance surrounding me and bring me to some elucidation.  It
is unfortunate that his “propagandist”
Bose has already taken the issue and arrogated all wisdom to herself to
denigrate my viewpoints she disagreed with. 
Bose, don’t be a trumpet that listens to no one else but yourself.  You are
not the only African student in this
school and on this forum.  There are
others who also have a vote and have views. Â If even in your own days, you were
vetted
before contesting for a position as ASU executive but you cannot do the same
for you successors, what does that say about you and the organization you have
helped led for 12 good months? 

On this note I would like you to do the honorable thing by retracting
your innuendos and apologize to me unreservedly.  I hope the union, in the
interest of the
unity that binds us and the fairness it is supposed to uphold, impresses upon
Bose to do the right thing. 

I would also urge Titus to also let the forum know his own views about
the issues in both my response and that of Bose’s.

 

Prosper Yao Africa Tsikata

With input from Campaign coordinator.

 




      
----- End forwarded message -----



Bose Maposa
Graduate Assistant
Ohio Valley International Council (OVIC)
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
740-274-1624

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both".
Dwight David Eisenhower