Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Precipice
The events of last week may not have come as a surprise to many. The principal character in the whole drama, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, the Honourable Member of Parliament for Assin North, is predictable. Those who listen to him will tell you that when in his elements, Mr Agyapong will not say anything that is pleasing to the ears even though he has his admirers.
Party solidarity was quite evident but for once, many agreed that the Assin North MP had gone too far if even his outbursts were in reaction to events of the period. He might not have meant the words but their consequences were quite devastating to warrant his arrest by the police.
What might have been of great concern to many Ghanaians was the manner the police and the Attorney Generals Department were struggling through the statute books to locate the appropriate charge(s) against Mr Agyapong.
You cannot blame them either. Maybe our lawmakers never had a place for words that have the potency of bringing war or causing mass murder in the country apparently because we always claim we are a peace-loving people.
Whatever the case, we got to the saturation point last week and as a nation we cannot take any more. Those who always claim we are different from others who lost their peace and stability due to careless behaviour would begin to revise their notes.
Suddenly everyone is advising everybody on the need to control our tongues and acts. The radio and television discussions toned down and the phone-in programmes lost their acidity. We all know now that this country can easily go the way others have gone if we do not play our political games well.
The high marks the international community had been dishing to us has suffered. We are trying to prove them wrong that we are politically matured and will continue to be the beacon to guide the rest of Africa on the democratic path. What a shame!
We thank Mr Kennedy Agyapong that he did not say what he was alleged to have said on election day when vote counting was taking place and people’s blood pressure was rising to abnormal levels. Those careless remarks would have sent people running for cover as gun and machete wielding people begin to charge on fellow Ghanaians.
The question some of us are constantly asking is: “Are these intolerable acts and insults motivated by nationalism and patriotism”? Or they are being influenced by greed and self-interest. If it is for our sake, then we beg all the politicians to leave this country intact for us.
Already, three institutions – the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) – have pointed out the effects this culture of political intolerance are having on the economy.
The cedi, the national currency, is falling against other currencies while the investment climate which was one of the best in this part of the continent cannot be said to be the same today.
The business community would be asking whether this country that was being touted as the oasis in the desert, when people are marching to registration centres with guns, machetes and other offensive weapons. What will then happen on voting day, they would be asking.
The media cannot escape blame in this sad situation. In the name freedom of expression and the independence of the media, a new breed of commentators and political analysts have emerged and have turned the airwaves and the newspaper pages into battle grounds where foul and abusive words are the most potent weapons.
We have failed to discuss our poverty in the midst of plenty, our illiteracy which is increasing and the ignorance that has enveloped us and instead chosen to make personalities the centre of our discussions.
We have failed to ask ourselves why Switzerland, a small country that has not got a single cocoa tree but has one of the biggest chocolate factories in the world, while we continue to pride ourselves as major producers of raw cocoa beans.
We have a lot of water resources that other countries do not have. But processing for consumption has become a big puzzle for us. The Volta Lake alone has the capacity to make a positive influence on our economy in the form of fishing, transportation, tourism and irrigation farming if only we can shelve our begging habits and confront our problems squarely.
We seem to have embarked on a number of projects none of which is ever completed. Our national capital is drenched in filth. We still have pan latrines in the capital and other major cities in the country in this 21st century. Our children are still crawling on their knees to take their lessons.
We have enough arable land but we continue to receive food aid from countries like Japan whose landscape is not suitable for serious agriculture. Today China is our everything and we are not doing anything to assert our independence.
This is the painful reality of our situation. These are issues that should engage our discussions on daily basis and not who has the strongest jaw out of which can come the most violent and abusive words.
Events of last week may be a blessing in disguise, that is if we are ready to learn the useful lessons it offered us. Perhaps it has jolted us into reality that we may be toying with our national peace after all.
Today we might have succeeded in treating the words of Kennedy Agyapong with the contempt they deserved. We may not be lucky the second time. That is why we should tone down our political discourse. We must focus on our miserable state and think of how to come out of poverty and misery using the abundant resources God has generously given us.
We are standing at the precipice. We saw it in 2008. One false step, the abyss.
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Japanese Gift
The Japanese Gift
Kofi Akordor
Japan is a country that fascinates me a lot. This is a cluster of 6,852 islands lying in a volcanic zone. The records indicate that Japan has 108 active volcanoes. The landmass of Japan is mostly mountainous (about 73 per cent) and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial or residential use.
Japan is perhaps one country that has suffered most in terms of human and property loss through natural disasters, especially devastating earthquakes. The latest of these destructive earthquakes which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, resulting in a tsunami, occurred on March 11, 2011.
The side effects of that quake forced the shutdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor. It also resulted in the shutdown of other nuclear power plants and, therefore, a massive reduction of power for industrial and domestic use.
The devastation caused by the Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011, according to rough estimates, will cost between US$235 billion and US$310 to rebuild homes, factories and infrastructure.
The nuclear meltdown also brought painful memories to most Japanese of the nuclear holocaust they suffered at the tail end of the World War II.
Japan, historically, is the only country in the world to have experienced the devastating consequences of the use of nuclear weapons when, in a matter of four days, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.
The first of the bombs, code-named ‘Little Boy’, was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The second, named ‘Fat Man’, was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The two blasts caused the death of over 500,000 people, mostly women and children, and the Japanese are still carrying the scars of those historic days.
Japan, incidentally, has very little in terms of natural resources. It has no energy resources. It is the world’s largest importer of coal and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and the second largest importer of oil and its massive industrial complex depends heavily on imported raw materials.
With all these limitations, Japan came out of World War II not as a pauper or beggar nation. It managed to rebuild itself to become the third largest donor of official development assistance after the USA and France.
Japan recovered from the ravages of war to build a strong economy pivoted around science and technology. It has some of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced producers of automobiles, electronic equipment, machine tools, ships, textiles, chemicals and processed foods.
Many Ghanaians are very much familiar with iconic names such as Toyota, Honda, Sony, Nissan, Panasonic, Canon and many others which espouse Japan’s industrial might.
Until China emerged from nowhere to dislodge it, Japan was the second largest economy after the USA. According to UN and WHO sources, Japan has the longest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rates in the world.
While still making efforts to rebuild its infrastructure after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japan is also reaching out to poor and hopeless countries, including Ghana.
That is the most interesting part of this story.
Just two weeks ago, the Japanese government presented disaster management equipment to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) which was received by the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama.
We were very profuse with our appreciation and characteristically asked for more.
The question we must ponder over is: Why should we always be the beneficiaries of other people’s largesse?
The Japanese are just as human as we are, unless someone wants to suggest that we belong to an inferior stock. So how are they able to make it, with virtually nothing, while we are not able to do anything with almost everything?
Why are we so excited about receiving gifts or begging for support when there is everything to make us self-sufficient and even support others? These are serious issues that should engage every Ghanaian in our sober moments.
We do not need to arm ourselves with machetes, axes, crowbars and guns and march ti biometric voters registration centres as an expression of nationalism or patriotism. We do not need to shout our voices hoarse spewing out filthy language at one another. Those are not the avenues to development; they can only lead to damnation and disintegration. We need to take a serious look at ourselves and find out why we in such a miserable state in the midst of abundance.
Japan and other countries will always come and throw something at us. That only prolongs our servitude and reinforces our position as destitute. Ghanaians deserve more than that.
The quest for personal wealth should not necessarily truncate our quest for development and national pride. That is why the race for political power should not be predicated on acquiring wealth at state expense.
We must swear to ourselves: ‘enough of the gifts’, and vow to use the abundant resources God the Creator and Architect of the universe has generously given us and move into the light as a great nation with a proud people.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Kofi Akordor
Japan is a country that fascinates me a lot. This is a cluster of 6,852 islands lying in a volcanic zone. The records indicate that Japan has 108 active volcanoes. The landmass of Japan is mostly mountainous (about 73 per cent) and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial or residential use.
Japan is perhaps one country that has suffered most in terms of human and property loss through natural disasters, especially devastating earthquakes. The latest of these destructive earthquakes which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, resulting in a tsunami, occurred on March 11, 2011.
The side effects of that quake forced the shutdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor. It also resulted in the shutdown of other nuclear power plants and, therefore, a massive reduction of power for industrial and domestic use.
The devastation caused by the Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011, according to rough estimates, will cost between US$235 billion and US$310 to rebuild homes, factories and infrastructure.
The nuclear meltdown also brought painful memories to most Japanese of the nuclear holocaust they suffered at the tail end of the World War II.
Japan, historically, is the only country in the world to have experienced the devastating consequences of the use of nuclear weapons when, in a matter of four days, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.
The first of the bombs, code-named ‘Little Boy’, was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The second, named ‘Fat Man’, was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The two blasts caused the death of over 500,000 people, mostly women and children, and the Japanese are still carrying the scars of those historic days.
Japan, incidentally, has very little in terms of natural resources. It has no energy resources. It is the world’s largest importer of coal and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and the second largest importer of oil and its massive industrial complex depends heavily on imported raw materials.
With all these limitations, Japan came out of World War II not as a pauper or beggar nation. It managed to rebuild itself to become the third largest donor of official development assistance after the USA and France.
Japan recovered from the ravages of war to build a strong economy pivoted around science and technology. It has some of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced producers of automobiles, electronic equipment, machine tools, ships, textiles, chemicals and processed foods.
Many Ghanaians are very much familiar with iconic names such as Toyota, Honda, Sony, Nissan, Panasonic, Canon and many others which espouse Japan’s industrial might.
Until China emerged from nowhere to dislodge it, Japan was the second largest economy after the USA. According to UN and WHO sources, Japan has the longest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rates in the world.
While still making efforts to rebuild its infrastructure after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japan is also reaching out to poor and hopeless countries, including Ghana.
That is the most interesting part of this story.
Just two weeks ago, the Japanese government presented disaster management equipment to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) which was received by the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama.
We were very profuse with our appreciation and characteristically asked for more.
The question we must ponder over is: Why should we always be the beneficiaries of other people’s largesse?
The Japanese are just as human as we are, unless someone wants to suggest that we belong to an inferior stock. So how are they able to make it, with virtually nothing, while we are not able to do anything with almost everything?
Why are we so excited about receiving gifts or begging for support when there is everything to make us self-sufficient and even support others? These are serious issues that should engage every Ghanaian in our sober moments.
We do not need to arm ourselves with machetes, axes, crowbars and guns and march ti biometric voters registration centres as an expression of nationalism or patriotism. We do not need to shout our voices hoarse spewing out filthy language at one another. Those are not the avenues to development; they can only lead to damnation and disintegration. We need to take a serious look at ourselves and find out why we in such a miserable state in the midst of abundance.
Japan and other countries will always come and throw something at us. That only prolongs our servitude and reinforces our position as destitute. Ghanaians deserve more than that.
The quest for personal wealth should not necessarily truncate our quest for development and national pride. That is why the race for political power should not be predicated on acquiring wealth at state expense.
We must swear to ourselves: ‘enough of the gifts’, and vow to use the abundant resources God the Creator and Architect of the universe has generously given us and move into the light as a great nation with a proud people.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Monday, April 2, 2012
No panic buttons please
By Kofi Akordor
Everything new comes with its challenges. So was the biometric registration exercise which started in all the regions last Saturday. Most of the problems recorded were anticipated and, therefore, quickly rectified by officials of the Electoral Commission (EC).
From reports received from some of the registration centres, it was obvious that many people did not get the message on the registration schedule in the cluster of four polling stations where the exercise was to last for 40 days with registration at each polling station in the cluster lasting 10 days.
This might have brought about the unusually large number of prospective voters to some registration centres to add up to some of the problems already expected. The EC, therefore, has to step up public education in this direction so that people do not resort to any panic measures that could trigger a chain of unpleasant events.
With the Nigerian experience as a guide, where even with a greater number of prospective voters, lesser number of days were used, we should assure ourselves that by the end of the 40-day exercise, every Ghanaian qualified to be registered to vote will have his or her name on the biometric register.
Some of the problems as stated earlier should be expected. They include equipment failures which were recorded at some of the registration centres. These machines are quite sophisticated and delicate and needed to be handled with utmost care.
Our tropical environment is also another factor which can prove hostile to the machines knowing perfectly their origins.
The human factor could not be ruled out as some of the registration officials were also handicapped in a way and could not operate efficiently on the machines as was expected of them. These and others might have contributed to the long delays experienced at some of the centres.
The fact that at one centre at Madina, an Accra suburb, as many as 196 people were registered on the first day means if prospective voters will comport themselves and go through the process patiently, the exercise will end successfully.
It is assuring that the EC has so far responded to some of the challenges such as equipment failure with the needed urgency.
What we must seriously guard against is the activities of overzealous party activists who may want to define their own rules at the registration centres. Already there are isolated reports of some people challenging the eligibility of some people and trying to prevent them from registering on the grounds of age or nationality.
There were also reports of unknown persons driving in an unregistered vehicle moving from one registration centre to another in parts of Kumasi to disrupt the registration process. These are clear recipes for disaster and the earlier the EC and the security agencies arrest the situation, the better.
The rules are quite clear. If in doubt of any person’s qualification, or eligibility, just fill the complaint form and leave the rest for the rightful institutions to do the rest. Any attempt to impose one’s will at the registration centres can prove disastrous.
The media, especially the radio stations, must also act responsibly when reporting on the exercise, especially where there are challenges in order not to inflame passion that could trigger a chain of events and jeopardise the exercise or even undermine national security. Every challenge must be seen as an isolated event that could be rectified without compromising our national equilibrium.
The exercise is still at its infant stage. But from all accounts, apart from the alleged hooliganism of some unknown persons in Kumasi, the exercise has proceeded smoothly and peacefully at most centres and it is the general expectation of every Ghanaian that that would be the situation throughout the registration period.
The EC must also pick useful lessons from the exercise and prepare adequately for voting day. On that day, many people will be more aggressive and agitated and may not have the patience in the event of equipment failure.
It was also evident that we spent more time wrangling among ourselves whether to go biometric or not. When the decision to go biometric was taken, another long period was taken to decide on biometric with verification. This left the EC with very little time to do intensive and extensive public education.
We must applaud ourselves for venturing into an unknown exercise with comparative success in the hope that each day will be better than the previous one.
It is better we harp on our strengths while working hard to remove all bottlenecks as we move along. It will, therefore, not be in the national interest for anyone to use one unfortunate episode to generalise the situation and press the panic button.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Everything new comes with its challenges. So was the biometric registration exercise which started in all the regions last Saturday. Most of the problems recorded were anticipated and, therefore, quickly rectified by officials of the Electoral Commission (EC).
From reports received from some of the registration centres, it was obvious that many people did not get the message on the registration schedule in the cluster of four polling stations where the exercise was to last for 40 days with registration at each polling station in the cluster lasting 10 days.
This might have brought about the unusually large number of prospective voters to some registration centres to add up to some of the problems already expected. The EC, therefore, has to step up public education in this direction so that people do not resort to any panic measures that could trigger a chain of unpleasant events.
With the Nigerian experience as a guide, where even with a greater number of prospective voters, lesser number of days were used, we should assure ourselves that by the end of the 40-day exercise, every Ghanaian qualified to be registered to vote will have his or her name on the biometric register.
Some of the problems as stated earlier should be expected. They include equipment failures which were recorded at some of the registration centres. These machines are quite sophisticated and delicate and needed to be handled with utmost care.
Our tropical environment is also another factor which can prove hostile to the machines knowing perfectly their origins.
The human factor could not be ruled out as some of the registration officials were also handicapped in a way and could not operate efficiently on the machines as was expected of them. These and others might have contributed to the long delays experienced at some of the centres.
The fact that at one centre at Madina, an Accra suburb, as many as 196 people were registered on the first day means if prospective voters will comport themselves and go through the process patiently, the exercise will end successfully.
It is assuring that the EC has so far responded to some of the challenges such as equipment failure with the needed urgency.
What we must seriously guard against is the activities of overzealous party activists who may want to define their own rules at the registration centres. Already there are isolated reports of some people challenging the eligibility of some people and trying to prevent them from registering on the grounds of age or nationality.
There were also reports of unknown persons driving in an unregistered vehicle moving from one registration centre to another in parts of Kumasi to disrupt the registration process. These are clear recipes for disaster and the earlier the EC and the security agencies arrest the situation, the better.
The rules are quite clear. If in doubt of any person’s qualification, or eligibility, just fill the complaint form and leave the rest for the rightful institutions to do the rest. Any attempt to impose one’s will at the registration centres can prove disastrous.
The media, especially the radio stations, must also act responsibly when reporting on the exercise, especially where there are challenges in order not to inflame passion that could trigger a chain of events and jeopardise the exercise or even undermine national security. Every challenge must be seen as an isolated event that could be rectified without compromising our national equilibrium.
The exercise is still at its infant stage. But from all accounts, apart from the alleged hooliganism of some unknown persons in Kumasi, the exercise has proceeded smoothly and peacefully at most centres and it is the general expectation of every Ghanaian that that would be the situation throughout the registration period.
The EC must also pick useful lessons from the exercise and prepare adequately for voting day. On that day, many people will be more aggressive and agitated and may not have the patience in the event of equipment failure.
It was also evident that we spent more time wrangling among ourselves whether to go biometric or not. When the decision to go biometric was taken, another long period was taken to decide on biometric with verification. This left the EC with very little time to do intensive and extensive public education.
We must applaud ourselves for venturing into an unknown exercise with comparative success in the hope that each day will be better than the previous one.
It is better we harp on our strengths while working hard to remove all bottlenecks as we move along. It will, therefore, not be in the national interest for anyone to use one unfortunate episode to generalise the situation and press the panic button.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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