The return of the prodigal sons

The timing was near perfect and the message was well-packaged. We are about qualifying for our third World Cup participation in succession and it is time we bring back into the fold, the superstars who opted out of action. The intervention of the President was paramount and very significant. There were photographs with the President to signify how important they are and how dearly we miss them, at least that is how they may think. I am talking about four footballers – Michael Essien, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Andre Ayew and Jordan Ayew – who one time or the other, decided not to feature for the Black Stars, our national football team. The case of Michael Essien, to me, sound quite rational and reasonable. He had been on the injured list for a whole season. He got injured while on national duty and for almost a year, his club, Chelsea of London had to spend hard cash to restore him to good health and fit enough to go back into active football. As a reciprocal gesture, he decided to devote his time to his club, at least for a period while testing his fitness. Very few will fault him for such a decision for obvious reasons. What will be his club’s reaction, should he get injured again while on national duty? Do not forget that the man is not growing younger. Moreover, our country has not got any good record of compensating those who suffer on its behalf on such assignments. Essien did not snub us. He officially asked to be excused for national duty for some time. As stated earlier, it is only fair that considering his peculiar case, an accommodating ear was given to his plea. Kevin-Prince Boateng was blunt. He will not play for the national team again, period. Every effort was made to convince him to rescind his decision. He was approached by his coaches, friends, playing colleagues and other important personalities, but he will not budge. He had just been brought into the limelight by featuring for the Black Stars in the World Cup in South Africa and his market value had gone up, so it is only fair that he reciprocates that gesture. At first it was rumoured that his decision had something to do with travelling expenses and other monetary matters. His official explanation was that he could not cope with club and national duty which was taking a heavy toll on him. His excuse is one of the most unreasonable ever heard. Every member of the national team is first and foremost a club footballer and to say you cannot cope with both is to say that he does not care about the national interest. His interest is clearly where his stomach is, no two ways about that. When the management of the Black Stars changed hands, Coach Kwasi Appiah made fresh efforts to bring Kevin-Prince Boateng back into the fold, but like previous efforts were futile. Kevin-Prince Boateng is not going to play for the Black Stars alone. He will still play club football. If he could not yesterday when he was much younger, I do not see how he could cope today when age will be telling on him. Andre Ayew had a different case. He informed the management of the Black Stars that he was treating an injury with his personal physician. The coach agreed with him in part, but stressed that he still had to be with the team by a definite date or be counted out. The rules were not made by Coach Appiah. They are standard rules that every footballer worth his sort should be aware of. Every tournament has a deadline by which participating teams are to submit the names of their players and Ghana could be granted any special exemption. Under the circumstances, Coach Appiah did the most rational by submitting the names of those available. To prove how important and indispensable he is, Andre Ayew announced publicly and wrote officially to the management of the national team that he is not available for national duty until further notice, whatever that means. His younger brother, Jordan Ayew followed suit by dissociating himself from the Black Stars for the simple reason that he was not picked by the coach for CAN 2011 in South Africa. Nobody can discount the fact that those who feature for the nation in sporting events do so purely as a sacrifice, sometimes without any monetary reward. When they succeed, we all share in the glory. When they fail, very often, we vilify and distance ourselves from them. Of course it is not sacrifice all the way especially when the job has been well-executed. National players become instant heroes and sometimes their bank accounts swell up by a few thousands of Ghana Cedis. The possibility of signing bigger and more lucrative contracts are also enhanced. All said and done, an invitation to do anything including playing football on behalf of the nation is an honour which many will cherish. All the same, to be part of a national endeavour is still a matter of choice and no one could be forced to do anything contrary to his/her wish. Again it is within the right of Ghana as a sovereign state to determine who should be called to national duty anytime, provided that person(s) are prepared to do the national sacrifice. It is not within the might of any individual or group of individuals to hold the nation to ransom by determining its choice for any national assignment. To declare that you will be available when you so wish, amounts to rating oneself above all others. Nobody can claim that indispensability. Even the Sun which is the source of energy for Earth does not rise everyday all over the globe but the Earth survives. It tells you that there are alternatives which unknown to the ordinary person may be better than the known. Those who are prepared to listen to their ego and abandon this country when it matters most, have no business crawling back to paint a picture as if while they were away, the world had stood still. While we recognise and appreciate their sacrifice, those footballers who feel too big for this nation, should realize that there many other Ghanaians that are making a lot of sacrifices sometimes at the peril of their lives so that this country can move on. You can mention them. Teachers, doctors, nurses, straight politicians, sanitary engineers, farmers, traders, Even though it can be argued that they are earning their living from what they are doing, the fact remains that without those services, our world will not be the same. Brazil has won the World Cup five unprecedented times. But those victories even though might have made Brazil popular in the world of football, have not reflected positively in the lives of the ordinary Brazilians. As you read this piece, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians are demonstrating against what they described as monstrous expenditure on the 2014 World Cup and the 2014 Olympiad while they could not access good education, medical care, housing and transportation. Whether we win the World Cup in Brazil or not, those who will yield the direct benefits are the players. The rest of us will only shout our voices hoarse in support and go home to sleep in our small, dark and hot rooms and possibly on empty stomachs. The little that we have will be used as bonuses for players and team leaders. They may even get brand new vehicles which many professionals cannot afford throughout their working lives. The bluff must, therefore, end. In short, those who dedicated themselves to the national cause and took us through the qualifying rounds should take us to Brazil. If we win, we will celebrate. If we lose, we will lick our wounds in dignity. The last thing we should do is to make this proud nation, a victim of persons who behave as if without them, we shall not see another day. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

The triumphant return from Yokohama

AFRICAN leaders have a queer concept of achievements. Whenever they go outside and portray the continent as poor and desperate for support and receive the expected promises, they return home waiving white handkerchiefs in a triumphant manner, satisfied that a mission has been accomplished. The latest of such international forum a was the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) which was held in the Japanese city of Yokohama and ended last week. To the relief of African leaders, the Japanese government pledged a $32 billion development support for some African countries over the next five years. Our dear Ghana, is one of the beneficiaries of the Japanese bonanza. Our President, John Dramani Mahama, returned from Yokohama with the good news that the Japanese have offered to construct a new bridge over the Volta at Atimpoku to replace the old one at Adomi, which was constructed just before independence to link the southern part of the country to the north through the Volta Region. While we celebrate the kind gesture of the Japanese, it is important that we know the country called Japan, its resources and how it has become one of Africa’s major benefactors. Interestingly, Japan is a cluster of 6,852 islands with Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku as the four major ones which constitute about 97 per cent of the total land mass of the country. In terms of natural resources, Japan is nowhere near Africa. It does not command the rich mineral and forest resources that Africa can boast of. Japan has also not got good land for agricultural purposes. In short, Japan has to rely on China and south-east Asian countries for rice and other food imports. Apart from its limitations on natural resources, Japan is one country that has - over the years - suffered from natural and man-made disasters. Japan is the only country on record that has suffered from the evil effects of nuclear weapons. Getting close to the end of the Second World War, the United States of America (USA) dropped two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, which had very devastating consequences. On August 6, 1945, the USA dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which killed between 90,000 and 166,000 people. On August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, which killed between 60,000 and 80,000 people. Before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Americans, in an operation dubbed: ‘Operation Meetinghouse,’ killed over 100,000 people in Tokyo through aerial bombardments between March 9 and March 10, 1945. The Japanese have since recovered from the Second World War, but the scars of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continue to live with them. Japan is not only a victim of nuclear weapons. Almost all the islands are earthquake-prone. On January 17, 1995, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale occurred in Kobe, killing at least 6,434 people and rendering hundreds of thousands homeless. As recent as March 11, 2011, Japan suffered the strongest earthquake in its recorded history which triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster, one of the worst nuclear disasters in the world. From the ashes of nuclear annihilation and natural disasters notwithstanding, Japan emerged as an economic and industrial giant on the global landscape. Until a few years ago, Japan was the second largest economic power in the world, next to the USA. Its position has been taken over by another dark horse, China, as the new economic and industrial miracle of the world. Japan remains a major industrial power and big names such as Toyota Motor Corporation, Canon, Honda, Nissan, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Nippon Steel and Nippon Oil continue to hold high the flag of patriotism, nationalism, hard work and industrial acumen that Japan is noted for. This is the country that leaders of a continent that has unlimited resources troop to in search of resources, including money to build their countries. They were all excited for the promises and pledges made to them, not knowing that they had left behind in their own countries, resources that were more than enough for their needs. Japan and other countries are always excited when they see leaders of resource-rich African countries coming to them, cup in hand, begging for pittance. It keeps them in full control. It enables them to maintain the stranglehold on the so-called poor African countries. That is why they would not tell them the truth. That they should go back and think and act, instead of talking and begging. They will not tell them to stop stealing their own national resources and putting them in their private bank accounts and, instead, use the money to develop their countries. Are we not ashamed that Japan, a country of 127 million people, 73 per cent of whose land are not suitable for agriculture, industrial or residential use, should be our safety valve when we have everything that they do not have? It seems our leaders do not know that the rest of the world is laughing at us when we go out there soliciting for alms while it is common knowledge that unbridled corruption and ineptitude have conspired to strangulate all of our development efforts. Yokohama was the last stop. Where next? Is it going to be Brasilia, Beijing or Havana?

Still under the yoke of inferiority complex

I was not surprised to read from Dr Koku Awoonor-Williams’ article: “Good average B okay for medical school” published in yesterday’s issue of the Daily Graphic that there was initial resistance to President Kwame Nkrumah’s decision to establish a medical school in the country. When Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, the heart surgical specialist, came down from Germany with the lofty idea of setting up what has now become the National Cardiothoracic Centre, there were murmurs of dissent. There were those who, for lack of faith in their own abilities and capabilities, could not come to terms with the idea of Ghana, an African Third World country, dreaming of a medical facility that would demand highly trained specialists and sophisticated equipment. To such people, it would be better and, they claimed, cheaper to fly out heart and other related health patients for treatment overseas. Thanks to a listening President in the person of Flt-Lt J.J. Rawlings, Prof. Frimpong Boateng’s idea received support and crystallised into a centre that every patriot should be proud of. Our colonial past has left us with a deep scar that would not vanish; a scar that has affected our psyche as a people. So if it is not foreign, it is not good. Even the foreign comes with various classifications; it is best if it comes from Britain, Germany, France or the US. In the 1960s, made-in-Japan vehicles were considered inferior to those from UK and Germany. Today, Japanese vehicles are virtually out of our reach and we have now turned our attention to Chinese vehicles. Our obsession with foreign things have become a national disease. Hairdressers advertise themselves as London-trained or Paris-trained if that would testify to their expertise. Our carpenters are very good and could produce some of the best furniture in the world, but our mentality would not allow us to accept our own. We prefer Italian-made furniture. Without the necessary support and encouragement, our local furniture producers are not able to break into the international market with their products. Our country has become destination of furniture from various parts of the world, including the almighty China. Competitions or promotions held in Ghana come with tantalising prizes which include Accra-London-Accra or Accra-New York-Accra air tickets. Lately, Accra-Johannesburg-Accra has become part of the package because we have come to realise that the White population in South Africa have turned that country into a comparative paradise as compared to the rest of the continent. Nobody has given a thought to the fact that the numerous islands of the Volta Lake, the Mole Game Reserve, the high altitude at Amedzofe in the Volta Region and other tourist potentials in the country could become the tourist’s paradise if only we shirk the lethargy and our colonial mentality and its endemic inferiority complex and develop these places for our own pleasure for the millions of foreigners who would want to enjoy our tropical weather when it is winter in their home countries. Our under-development and near hopelessness rest in the fact that deep within us we believe that we are not capable of doing anything good on our own. Listen to the arguments people make when some of us raise issue with the fact that it is time for our football administrators to give our local coaches the opportunity to enter the world stage by coaching our national team – the Black Stars. Not that the foreign coaches have brought us any glory anyway but we are satisfied that a white-skinned person is coaching our national team. That is our joy. Projects, workshops and seminars are not complete unless a consultant is flown from outside—at great expense—preferably from Europe or the US, to come and deliver an incoherent lecture that may not have any bearing on our local circumstances. Some of these so-called foreign consultants are just above average performers who are nowhere near some of our local experts. Other people take pride in what they produce locally while we scorn ours. The dependency syndrome which will not allow us to harness our vast resources for national development is a product of inferiority complex that will make us see emptiness where there are tonnes of wealth. If China can shock the world with its development, there is no reason why Ghana cannot do so, but that will involve a change of mentality from that of subservience to self-confidence and the determination to succeed with local resources, whether human or material. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

From Manhyia with words of wisdom

They say if you have an elderly person in your house, you never get short of good counsel. It does not necessarily mean that every person matures with greater wisdom. However, it is generally anticipated that with age and years of accumulated experience, a person is better predisposed to offer good advice on matters. It is for the same reason that when there is a stalemate in any arbitration process, the panelists will withdraw to consult the ‘Old Lady’, and very often their verdicts rests very well with all the litigants. Last week, Ghanaians were fortunate to drink deep from the fountains of wisdom when the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, delivered a lecture on the theme: “Advancing Together”, to mark the Constitution Week of the National Centre for Civic Education (NCCE). It was a rare choice of the key speaker for such a topic and for the occasion. At first, many would have expected the NCCE to fall on a seasoned academician well-vexed in our political history or a matured politician who has retired from active service and, therefore, could draw on his/her experiences and advise his compatriots on the way forward. The Asantehene has proven through his delivery that the organisers after all, made the right choice when they settled on someone who stands in the middle of a political landscape that has become so antagonistic that nobody cares to reason with anybody from the other side. His mature observation and sense of judgement from where he sits in his palace, cannot but exude confidence and fairness to all. Even before he could proceed, the Asantehene told his audience of the advice from his elders to be wary in order not to be caught in the whirlwind of political mischief which is the order of the day. But like a true leader and father, he accepted the challenge, determined not to stir but to calm turbulent waters. Our fourth attempt at democratic rule is being marred by a culture of intolerance, insensitivity to the plight of the majority of the people, arrogance, impunity and naked dissipation of state funds. The signs are clear and only those who cannot read the consequences of the gathering clouds will continue to believe that this country is on course. The spirit of national unity planted in Ghanaians by the first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah at independence is still working magic for this country but we cannot continue to survive on the scanty reserve of this national resource if we do not make conscious effort to consolidate our unity and use it as a leverage to develop this country. The Asantehene spoke on all the issues bordering on the peace, unity and development of this country such that it would not require a lesser mortal like this writer to repeat them. He spoke about our politics of intolerance, vindictiveness, arrogance of power and what has become known as winner-takes-all syndrome which have all conspired to tear this nation apart. He addressed our politicians whether they are in government or in opposition whose focus have shifted from the national interest to personal and narrow sectional and party interests. He has addressed the issue of a media that has abused the freedom guaranteed it by the 1992 Constitution and in the main has become extensions of political parties to the extent that it has lost its legitimacy as the watchdog of society and the voice of the people. Media platform to encourage freedom of speech has become platform to freely abuse, defame and vilify people perceived to be political opponents. It is increasingly becoming clear that the best place to attract the attention of the political leadership for a possible appointment into high office is the media platform, where radio and television discussions could be used to launch verbal assaults on political opponents. It seems to be working because most of the young men and women who have found themselves in the political limelight, crowning it with ministerial and other high-profiled appointments did so not through any personal achievements or any other attributes but via media violence. Many Ghanaians have decided to be silent on important national issues because they have come to realise that no one would be interested in their views. More dangerous is the fact that one risks becoming a victim of verbal assault from a new breed of youthful politicians called members of government or party communication teams. They possess so much venom that you better keep away from them if you want to retain your dignity and sanity. As the Asantehene rightly observed, the press was the instrument that galvanised the people to rise against colonialism. We think this is the time for the media to put state officials and institutions on their toes and the instrument that will consolidate our democracy. But what do we see? We need to take the advice of Asantehene. “Please, let the media lift itself from mediocrity and beacon of light, of enlightenment and of hope for our people. I appeal to the electronic media in particular to release the nation from the hot air balloon and save us from the din of party propaganda”. He went on: “We should not remain captives to a cabal of party communicators and politically charged commentators and their serial callers to continue ramming their propaganda down our throats”. What better advice can media professionals and media owners expect to make themselves relevant in our political dispensation. Ghana has so far escaped and forever shall escape civil conflicts that have torn other countries in the sub-region apart. The pace of our development is, however, so slow that we seem not to have benefited significantly from our peace and national unity due mainly to poor leadership and the new brand of politics we are practising. Our constitutional experts must come out quickly to effect the necessary amendments to our Constitution that would enhance the check-and-balance mechanism to reduce the near-autocratic power of the presidency which is the source of most of the political frictions we are experiencing in the system. We are lucky like a house, Ghana is endowed with a huge stock of elderly men and women whose advice we can thrive on. The Asantehene has played his part. He can only offer good counsel and he has done that. Many others will follow if they believe they will get receptive ears. It is up to us as responsible and listening children to tap into the wisdom of his advice and mend our ways. It is only then that we can proudly declare that we are advancing together with a common and noble objective of making our nation stronger and better. * fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

A world of superstition, frustration and disillusionment

Many years ago, the story was told of how one of Ghana’s top football teams participating in a continental tournament went to consult a soothsayer for the outcome of a crucial match. According to the story, the team was told that they would win the match except that the first player to score a goal would die. As should be expected, no player would want to die in such a foolish manner, so all the top marksmen of the Ghanaian team were firing wildly while their opponents kept hitting the target. In the end, the Ghanaian team lost. Common sense should have informed the team officials that without scoring goals, a team could not win a match and if scoring will result in the death of a player, definitely there would not be any goals. So the big question is, why should they rely on such a prediction? Ghanaians are generally superstitious. It is embedded in our cultural and religious set-up. Football is the passion of the nation and it is one area that our superstitious nature is most evident. Things are changing because of the rigid application of the rules. In the past, teams refused to use the main entrance to the stadium because of the belief that a charm that would cause their defeat had been planted there. Others have refused to change jerseys because the Ekpelekpedzi or Magani man has assured them that their jerseys would make their players invincible to their opponents. There was a time a match was delayed for almost one hour at the then Accra Sports Stadium because none of the two teams wanted to step onto the pitch first. In all these things, football never made any progress but made a few team officials and the con men who styled themselves as fortune-tellers and soothsayers richer. If Lionel Messi of Barcelona Football Club were a Ghanaian, it would not be surprising if he was described as a wizard because in our part of the world, we do not believe that people are endowed with exceptional talents that are enhanced by training and personal efforts. At the peak of his career, Osei Kofi, one of the nation’s greatest football talents, was popular as the ‘Wizard Dribbler’. Opoku Afriyie, another marksman who played for Asante Kotoko, was called ‘Beyie’ because of his goal-scoring abilities. Maybe we are now beginning to realise that football matches are won more through hard training and good strategy rather than anything else, least of all, superstition. Without ruling out luck and what could be described as divine intervention, life is generally about careful planning, hard work, commitment and determination. But ours is in the main put in one bundle of superstition and its offshoots – curse and miracles. So it came to pass that about two weeks ago, business in about half of Accra, the capital city, came to a halt because one major artery into the city, the Spintex Road was jammed following information that a Nigerian evangelist named T.B. Joshua was coming to perform miracles. In attendance were all manner of people, from those at the lowest end of the social ladder to the mightiest in business and politics, each of them expecting his or her miracle. There were the poor and down-trodden who want the bare necessities of life; there were those who want marriage partners and those who want children. There were those already in business who want their businesses to flourish. There were the politicians who want God’s miracle for them to hold on to power or to win power. There were even so-called men of God who were there to seek superior guidance and blessing so that they can win more flock for their churches, which are now sources of wealth in the country. If the situation was riotous two weeks ago, the situation last Sunday turned tragic when four people were reported dead in a stampede that followed the sharing of ‘Holy Water’ sent by Prophet Joshua in his Synagogue Church of All Nations on the Spintex Road, the place of the first miracle crusade. As started earlier, we cannot do away with certain cultural and religious beliefs because certain things simply defy human interpretation or explanation. Nobody can also question people’s personal beliefs and I will be the last person to attempt such a futile exercise. But the truth must be told. We are gradually descending into a nation of superstition and questionable religious beliefs. We have elevated it to the point where we have national prayer and thanksgiving sessions. Life is what you make it and we must begin to take full responsibility for our actions and inaction. We must stop blaming our failures on superstition and religion. If we fail to harness the abundant resources God has generously given us, we should not turn round and with noise-making claim we are seeking God’s divine intervention in our national affairs. When we elect people into political office to change our lives for the better but they fail to exhibit vision and direction and rather use that mandate to enrich themselves, we should not expect any prayer and fasting to do any miracle. As a country, we must begin to confront the truth. We have ignored certain basic principles of life – truth, honesty, modesty, hard work and dedication – which are the pillars of success. In the process, we have rendered ourselves so miserable that we seek salvation from all sorts of people who parade rightly or wrongly as men of God. Those countries that are advancing cannot be said to be more religious than ours. That means the difference between development and stagnation lies not in the God we worship, which is universal, but in the determination of the people to pursue a national agenda to break the cycle of poverty, disease, ignorance and illiteracy, using all the resources available to them. If we fail in that regard, we cannot blame anybody but ourselves. We do not need to do any academic work to realise that some of the well-known men of God are among the most affluent members of our society today. That tells its own story. Events on the Spintex Road two weeks ago and last Sunday should send a strong signal to our leadership that our people are getting desperate and frustrated. They are losing hope. This frustration and desperation is driving them to see religion as a safety valve. It will not take long for them to realise that it takes more than prayers and miracles to make a successful living. When they finally realise that the solution to their physical problems is not in the chapels, synagogues, mosques or shrines, they will naturally look elsewhere and the consequences or the spillover can well be imagined. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

The police and demonstrations

The police and demonstrations Some of the benefits of the 1992 Republican Constitution are the individual freedoms and liberties it offers citizens. Article 21 is quite clear and explicit. It says in (1) All persons shall have the right to: (a) Freedom of speech and expression, which shall include freedom of the press and other media; (b) Freedom of thought, conscience and belief, which shall include academic freedom; (c) Freedom to practise any religion and to manifest such practice; (d) Freedom to assembly including freedom to take part in processions and demonstrations; (e) Freedom of association, which shall include freedom to form or join trade unions other associations, national and international, for the protection of their interest; (f) Freedom of information, subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society; (g) Freedom of movement, which means the right to move freely in Ghana, the right to leave and to enter Ghana and immunity from expulsion from Ghana. There is nothing like absolute freedom and it did not take long for the political leadership to realise this. That was how the Public Order Act came into being. Otherwise, it is possible to wake up one morning to see demonstrations going on all over the place by different people. The police, under the Public Order Act, Act 491 of 1994 are to act as impartial referees to ensure that the freedom to demonstrate is not abused. The act was also framed in such a manner that it does not give the police absolute power such as to take away from the individual, the right to demonstrate. Section 1 – Notification of Police of Special Event (1) Any person who desires to hold any special event within the meaning of this Act in any public place shall notify the police of his intention not less than 5 days before the date of the special event. (2) The notification shall be in writing and signed by or on behalf of the organisers of the special event and shall specify: (a) The place and hour of the special event; (b) The nature of the special event; (c) The time of commencement; (d) The proposed route and destination, if any; and (e) The proposed time of closure of the event. (3) The notification shall be submitted to a police officer not below the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) or other police officer responsible for the nearest police station to the location of the proposed special event. (4) Where a police officer notified of a special event under subsection (1) has reasonable grounds to believe that the special event if held may lead to violence or endanger the public defence, public order, public safety, public health or the running of essential services or violate the rights and freedoms of other persons, he may request the organisers to postpone the special event to any other date or to relocate the special event. There are good intentions behind the Public Order Act (Act 491) to ensure that in the application of freedom to demonstrate, society does not suffer because of the abuse of those freedoms. And whether we agree or not, demonstrations can turn hostile and violent depending on the issues at stake and the nature of those embarking on the demonstration, so it is necessary that the police are kept in the picture to protect the public good. Even though the Public Order Act confers a lot of powers on the police, it never gave the police the power to stop demonstrations. Where organisers of special events, in this case demonstrations, fail to take the advice of the police and insist on going ahead with their programme, the police can apply section (6) of the Act which says; “Where the organisers refuse to comply with the request under subsection (4) or fail to notify the police officer in accordance with subsection (5), the police officer may apply to any judge or a chairman of a tribunal for an order to prohibit the holding of the special event on the proposed date or at the proposed location.” Section (7) says; “The judge or chairman may make such order as he considers to be reasonably required in the interest of defence, public order, public safety, public health, the running of essential services or to prevent violation of the rights and freedoms of other persons”. Whatever the good intentions behind the Public Order Act, it is becoming increasingly clear that it has become a dangerous weapon that could be easily abused to curtail the freedoms of citizens. About two weeks ago, students of the Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon decided to embark upon a Hepatitis B awareness float as part of their Hall Week celebrations. The police went into action invoking the powers conferred upon them by the Public Order Act to stop the students and went further to arrest some of them. Even under military dictatorship, students had never been stopped from celebrating their hall week. Apparently, the police got wind that the students were going to demonstrate in support of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) who were on strike for their grievances in respect of the single spine salary pay policy. The police are on the warpath. Their posture may seem to be in the public interest but unknown to them they are denying Ghanaians some of their fundamental rights and freedoms – rights that even dictators could not take away from them. For the police to come out with a public statement that demonstrations have been suspended with the flimsy excuse that they are constrained by the Supreme Court hearing of the election petition is an insult to our democracy. The Supreme Court is not a battleground. If it is, the military would be the best institution to take care of things and providing security at the Supreme Court does not amount to a state of emergency, the only time the rights and freedoms of the citizens could be curtailed as prescribed by the 1992 Constitution. There is only one country in the world where public demonstrations are prohibited. That is North Korea. We do not believe that our democracy, which is being touted as the best or among the best on the continent, has reached a point where the citizens cannot express themselves freely on matters they feel strongly about. The political leadership may pretend that it is not aware of the statement from the police banning public demonstrations, a power that resides only in the President of the Republic when he declares a state of emergency. Article 31 (1) of the 1992 Constitution says; The President may, acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State, by proclamations published in the Gazette, declare that a state of emergency exists in Ghana or in any part of Ghana for the purposes of the provisions of this Constitution”. When it becomes reasonably necessary for the President to declare a state of emergency all over the country or parts of the country, it will amount to the curtailment of personal freedoms and liberties including the right to hold demonstrations as the case may be. In the absence of such emergency powers, no individual, group or organ of state can unilaterally trample upon the rights of the citizens of this country, hiding under any excuses. In any case, there is only one Supreme Court sitting in Accra. The police are not telling Ghanaians that because of the election petition, armed robbers and other criminals can have their way. Emotions are like water. They will definitely find their way. It is better to direct and control them than to allow them to find their own level which can be disastrous. When Margaret Thatcher died, there were those who jubilated. That is something abominable in our part of the world. On the day of her funeral, there were others who demonstrated in another part of London, against the state funeral being accorded her. Nobody tried to stop them. That is democracy. Let the people express themselves openly on matters that concern them. Nobody will suffer for that. It will not make any difference. But there will be a big difference when you try to suppress their feelings. Find out what happens when a dam collapses. The huge volume of water that was trapped behind it will come with a force that would wash everything on its path. If there should be a choice, I will prefer the trickles. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk

Corruption poses danger to national stability

There was a time when Ghanaians were walking long distances to work without complaining. That was when there was a nationwide shortage of fuel and vehicles had to queue for days for a few gallons of fuel because the product was being rationed. In those days, students decided to abandon the classrooms and lecture halls for a whole a year to cart cocoa which had piled up in the remotest parts of the producing regions to the ports of Takoradi and Tema for no fee. There were food shortages as result of drought and bush fires and food imports were limited because of the country’s precarious foreign exchange position. Even though people were hungry, very few blamed the government of the day for what, by all indications, was a national calamity. Everybody, or at least the majority of the people, felt there was a price to pay for nation-building, if even it meant enduring some form of hardship today for a better tomorrow. In those days, Ghanaians proved that they were prepared to make sacrifices as their contribution towards a better future. Time has the magic power of eroding sad episodes from our memories. At best, they seem so remote and insignificant as they recede deeper into history. Those old enough would remember that those were the days following the June 4, 1979 uprising which toppled the government of the Generals led by Lt Gen. F.W.K Akuffo. Things were not easy in those days, but Ghanaians survived in the belief that it was a necessary sacrifice for happier times in the future. The situation was repeated after the December 31, 1981 coup which overthrew the government of Dr Hilla Limann. Conditions in the days following the coup which was declared a revolution were very harsh as a result of international isolation and natural disasters such as drought and bush fires. The nation survived because of the trust majority of the people had in the political leadership of Flt Lt J.J. Rawlings. Once people came to believe that the political leadership was not taking undue advantage of them and that members of government were practising what they were asking the people to do, there was very little room for complaints. The perceived incorruptibility of the leadership was the strength of the government and served as an inspiration for the generality of the population. If Ghanaians were ready to make sacrifices yesterday, it means they can make sacrifices today, but on condition that the leadership is leading the way in making those sacrifices. Once there is a credibility gap, any appeal to the citizens to make sacrifices will not yield positive responses. The crisis we are in today has a lot to do with perceived corruption in high places. The lifestyles of many people in political leadership do not offer any inspiration for others to make sacrifices for a better tomorrow. The best form of leadership is by example. If the government is complaining that the country has not got enough money with which to do legitimate business but can afford to buy expensive vehicles for the use of a few people, it will naturally find itself in a tight corner trying to impress upon agitating professionals that there is not enough to pay them their due entitlements. For a country that is always on the move begging for support from countries that yesterday were its classmates, it is strange to see in its presidential fleet and that of ministers vehicles that the Presidents of China, South Korea and India, countries that have become our benefactors, hardly use. Under the circumstance, it is a tall proposition trying to convince people that this is a country in which money is scarce. Apart from the excessive expenditure for the comfort of a few, there is massive leakage of resources through various forms of malpractice. The public institutions tasked with the responsibility of checking corruption in public places lack the strength and capacity to execute their mandate. All of them, to the letter, at the end of the day derive their authority from the President of the Republic and, therefore, are functionally impotent to make any impact. The former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) (now the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO)) and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), in their current form, can at best do the barking but cannot bite. Until the law establishing EOCO in particular is amended to give it full autonomy like that enjoyed by the Electoral Commission, there is very little that body can do, especially when it comes to matters involving members of government. As it is now, any pretence that the country has powerful anti-graft laws should be discarded. Once there is very little public confidence in these institutions, the perception that there is corruption in high places will create very little room for nationalism and patriotism, two basic ingredients that can hold a country together and set it on a path towards development. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

What next after the familiarisation tours?

It is standard practice for newly-appointed ministers to pay what is described as familiarisation visits to installations, facilities and institutions under their ministerial responsibility. There is everything good about these visits since no minister will go straight and sit behind his/her executive table without having a fair idea about the issues at stake and expect to execute his/her mandate with any appreciable level of success. Some of the visits can be frivolous of course, because the problems therein are obvious and therefore no need for any visit before appreciating what is expected of a minister. However, all said and done, the visits are necessary and it will leave no room for excuses in the event of failures. The latest crop of ministers have not missed this ritual and like previous ministers, gone round the country to have first-hand experience of what are in wait for them. What is of great importance to some of us is that these tours should not end as purely ritual purposes but should be transformed into serious problem-solving exercises. One minister, whose visits caught my attention, is Mr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development. Mr Oppong-Fosu’s visits took him to the national offices of the Births and Deaths Registry. This is an institution that has been housed in some wooden structures for ages. You may call it a forgotten institution and one will not be wrong because by all indications, there is no evidence that our governments care about what goes on in the Births and Deaths Registry. Under normal circumstances, one would expect that if even it is a matter of inadequate resources, the interest of the Births and Deaths Registry would take precedence over many other public institutions, but in Ghana here, no. We are taking care of more important things. The Births and Deaths Registry is a storehouse of national record-keeping whose activities impact on other state agencies. We know that the acquisition of passports, insurance claims and even registration with the National Identification Authority and with the Electoral Commission as a voter have to rely on the records of the Births and Deaths Registry. We are in a country where even though national identity has been clearly defined in the Constitution, we still find it difficult to determine who a Ghanaian is anytime we are conducting a national exercise such as voters registration because we lack vital documents such as birth certificate to back our declarations or applications. Those who have been following American politics will remember that the nationality of President Barack Obama became an issue until a birth certificate issued in a hospital in Hawaii was produced to settle the matter. This is how far the neglect of a national institution such as the Births and Deaths Registry can cause damage to individuals and the whole country. Official attitude towards the institution has made it a case of abandonment. This has made it very easy for other nationals, especially those from neighbouring countries, to come here and in a matter of days, they are in possession of birth certificates as Ghanaians and with that enjoy all the privileges and rights as a national. Apart from the physical structures which are pathetically appalling, the registry lacks modern equipment to capture and maintain a credible database that could even be helpful to the security agencies and other state institutions when the need arises. As a result of the state neglect, the Births and Deaths Registry has become an empire of a sort which the workers, at least some, are exploiting to make extra income on the side. Mr Oppong-Fosu has seen the plight of the Births and Deaths Registry at close range. If in the past, he only heard of it, now he knows that the Births and Deaths Registry needs serious attention to put it at the proper place it belongs, as a very important institution. I believe he will make a resolution that by the time he leaves office, the Births and Deaths Registry will move into modern and well-equipped offices located on the plot at Kinbu-the land, we were told, belongs to the registry. Another department under his care which has been neglected is the Department of Parks and Gardens. Under this department comes the Aburi Botanical Gardens which is a monumental reflection of our lack of appreciation of our national institutions, monuments and historical places of national interest. The Aburi Botanical Gardens, which is a colonial legacy, has every potential to change the economy of Aburi and its environs and by extention, reflect on Accra, if managed well. This is a goldmine left to rot while poverty is stirring us in the face and without any sense of national shame, we are always on the move begging others for support. Accra was once a beautiful city buried under dense canopies of trees lining its streets. These trees provided protection against the scorching tropical sun and served as habitat for birds. Today, Accra is bare, deprived of foliage, thanks to the culture of tree-cutting for whatever reason, only God knows. Mr Oppong-Fosu should make it his target, the revamping of the Department of Parks and Gardens and to restore it to its past glory. Even bigger cities such as New York, Washington DC, Istanbul and many others have pockets of dense forests breaking the monotony of concrete and steel. Accra can do the same if we make conscious effort to plant trees and create more recreational parks which are non-existent in the national capital and other major towns in the country. I do not think I can offer any advice to the Minister of Roads and Highways, who even before his appointment, knows that a journey between Accra and Kumasi, the nation’s two major cities, can be a nightmare. I can only advise that every minister should make it a personal resolve to make history and not just be part of history as a former minister. If each of them could pledge to leave at least one major physical structure as a legacy and not just a pile of speeches, this country will be taking giant strides to glory. We have done enough development with our mouths in the form of plans, pledges, promises and expression of commitments. We have lost count of the number of projects that never went beyond the sod-cutting stage. A lot of them, and they are in the majority, are forgotten as soon as the fanfare of the sod-cutting ceremony ends. The familiarisation visits must begin to yield dividends through the positive changes we shall see in the state of our country after the problems have been seen and appreciated at first hand. Otherwise, they remain unnecessary and vain rituals that bring no benefit to anyone. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Beyond thanksgiving, pilgrimage and others

And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. ((1 Samuel 15:22).(KJV) Ghanaians are generally acknowledged as religious people. It is easy to come to that conclusion judging from the number of churches that have taken almost every space in the country. Apart from Christianity and Islam, the two dominant religions, other religions including Buddhism, Hare Krishna and Baha’i have followers in the country. There are still others who have held onto traditional African religion which was virtually suppressed into extinction by the colonial masters. Christianity itself has many appendages. In the main are the Catholics, the Methodists, the Anglicans and the Presbyterians. They are followed by the penteco-charismatics, some of which operate more or less like family businesses with husband and wife as heads. Even though Ghana is a secular state, every state function is flavoured with Christian, Muslim and traditional prayers. That is how religious we are. Historically, the foreign missionaries did not encounter any serious resistance when they arrived here with their brand of religion. Unlike other parts of the world such as Asia, where people held onto their traditional faiths, Africans were easily convinced and made to believe that all along they did not know anything about God even though they bore names that were significant and gave credit to the existence of God and which acknowledged His blessings. Foreign religions are part of our colonial heritage which we cannot do away with. There is nothing wrong with that so long as our lives are governed by the Word of God as they appear in the Holy Bible. Unfortunately, it appears religion has become more of a fashion than a way of living. The lifestyles of most of our religious leaders do not inspire the followers to do the right thing. Churches are now everywhere with all sorts of funny names – an indication that religion is losing its divinity and assuming more of a commercial character. Religion has taken a bigger dimension with the introduction of national thanksgiving and prayer to coincide with major events. These themselves are not bad. It is not out of place to devote a day as a nation to reach out to God and place our problems before His feet. Our political leaders and others in high places particularly need the presence of God in their undertakings and these national thanksgiving services are essential in so far as they rejuvenate our spirit and make us turn from our evil ways. The question is, will the thanksgiving services and fastings serve any purpose if our leaders return to the office the following Monday and continue with their old ways? The best prayer to God is service to humanity. Service in modesty, humility and honesty. Can we confidently say that about our leaders? Our country is suffering because over the years, our leadership have been lacking in most of these virtues. As a World Bank report has indicated, over a third of revenue generated by most African countries are lost through corruption. Our country cannot be a different case. Moneys diverted into private pockets means shortage of essential drugs and poor facilities in our hospitals; it translates into the importation of fake or expired drugs for our hospitals; it means bad roads and inadequate classrooms; it means uncompleted projects that are all over the country; it means more agitations from workers demanding what they consider to be legitimately theirs. Corruption is a disease that can eat away the soul of a country. We have survived so far as a nation mainly on charity not because we lack the resources but because we have failed to husband our resources and channel them into national development. We may be taking God for granted if we continue to indulge in these periodic thanksgiving services without matching them with good deeds. The Bible is quite clear about this. “Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mathew 7:21). Prayers alone will not carry us far if we do not make conscious effort to live according to the wishes of God. The thanksgiving services will remain mere symbolic gestures if they are not matched with deeds. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Misdirected aggression

Whoever chose last week to make public that members of the last parliament went home with hefty sums as ex gratia made a wrong decision. It was a week which saw many professional groups making demands for the payment of their salary arrears and better market premiums in relation to their migration onto the single spine pay policy (SSPP). Naturally that piece of information did not go down well with some members of the public and who directed their frustrations at the MPs who had no hand in their predicament. The justification, though very slim, was that if the government could raise GH¢47 million to pay the MPs why was it unable to pay the salary arrears of teachers and other professionals for over one year? Most of the worker groups have legitimate cases but in our desperation, we should be careful not to throw punches at the wrong direction. In fairness to the aggrieved professionals, some of whom have already embarked on strike actions while others have threatened to do so, one would expect that their cases were treated with the same urgency as was attached to that of the MPs and other category of public servants that fall under Article 71 office holders. For the MPs and others who fall under Article 71, we cannot blame them because they are receiving what they are entitled to as spelt out in the 1992 Constitution. If now we have come to the realisation that the arrangement under which every four years, some category of public servants have to go home with huge ex gratia and return to the House to wait for the end of another four years to collect again is bad, we just have to revisit those provisions in the Constitution to streamline things for the betterment of the national interest. We have ourselves to blame for some of the things we are experiencing today especially with regard to the emoluments of the Article 71 office holders. First, we should remember that when the Constituent Assembly was drafting the 1992 Constitution, some key professional groups, notably members of the Ghana Bar Association, boycotted its proceedings. Second, having experienced a long and unpleasant spell under military dictatorship, we were too eager to exit from that political arrangement to the extent that we did not pay attention to details. So a lot of loopholes were created which are being exploited by a few people to make money many think they do not deserve. For instance, under Article 71, the President shall determine the salaries, allowances and other facilities and privileges of certain categories of public office holders including MPs, the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of Parliament on the recommendation of a committee of not more five persons appointed by the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State. Article 71 (2) says: “The salaries and allowances payable, and the facilities available, to the President, the Vice-President, the Chairman and the other members of the Council of State; Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers, being expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund, shall be determined by Parliament on the recommendations of the committee referred to in clause (1) of this article. Simply put, the President determines the salaries and other allowances for MPs and others in their category, while MPs also determine that of the President and others in his category. It is simply a matter of “do me well and I will do you even better”. On a continent where public money is easy for the grabs, such a loose mandate will surely be abused and that is exactly what is happening. Instead of making the MPs and others the scapegoats, we should revisit the Constitution on this matter and streamline things for the better. We must also find out whether this nation is deriving the best or the maximum from its resources. There are too many loopholes for some individuals to siphon money from state coffers without any fear of exposure or sanctions. The revelations at the sittings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament have proved that most of the external assistance we have been receiving are not necessary if only we could use locally-generated revenue judiciously for national development. We are gradually being devoured by democracy, an institution we have nurtured with passion, which instead of ensuring our national success has rather opened the floodgates for vampires, marauders and rapists to plunder our national resources for selfish gain. Every corrupt person can conveniently seek refuge under the banner of a political party, whether in government or in opposition. So the incentive to loot is there. The professional groups are on the warpath because they have come to the realisation that the claims by our governments that there is no money to meet certain legitimate obligations are false because they could feel it, even if they could not see it, that huge sums of state money are going the wrong way. So they do not have the patient to wait any longer. We must take a critical look at our politics and find out whether the democracy we were yearning for and which we are touting as a national success is bringing us the returns we want. We must switch off that part of our politics which gives those with state power, the freedom to do anything they like with our collective resources without any fear of paying the appropriate penalties. We must be able to protect what belongs to us all. We must exert our collective energy against those who rape and plunder our national resources. Until we do that, we shall be hitting the wrong targets — call it misdirected aggression — while the real nation wreckers, the vampires and their collaborators continue to have a field day, celebrating our ignorance while strategising to loot the more. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

The noise menace

I was at this eating place, one of those places we call ‘chop bars’. I noticed that my message to the food seller across the counter was not getting through to her, even though I had raised my voice beyond normal levels. The person at the other end was also straining her ears but she could not hear me well. I was becoming desperate to the point of abandoning my mission when I saw the source of our problem. Resting in one corner of the bar was a loudspeaker punctuating the airwaves with a radio programme. It was one of those local frequency modulation (FM) radio stations where news is read as if somebody is running commentary, with all the embellishment one could think of. The volume was very high and communicating even at close range became a problem. One would expect that there would be serenity at a chop bar, so that as one consumes his/her food, he/she could also go over the day’s newspapers or ponder over what lies ahead for the day. It should even be possible for the patron to listen to the news or cool music while eating. But it becomes so irritating that the value of the news is lost, just as the sweetness of the music is drowned in the cacophony of noise. At another time, I joined a bus that would take me home. As soon as the driver took his seat, he pressed a knob and the vehicle started vibrating with noise. I say ‘noise’ because what was supposed to be music coming out of the speakers was so loud and ear-piercing that whatever entertainment was intended for the passengers became punishment. If you think you can run away from the noise in town by heading towards home for solace, think twice, for more noise awaits you in your neighbourhood. That noise will come from either a church next door or a drinking spot across the street. Some of these can operate till the wee hours of the following day and the deeper the night, the louder the noise. Life on the streets is not peaceful either. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes choke the atmosphere with the blaring of their horns. Sometimes one cannot tell whether it is a signal of distress or a driver just playing pranks, using the horn as an instrument. In some countries one could hardly hear the tooting of vehicle horns, since all the players know the rules of the game and play it fair. Here, you are likely to run over a pedestrian or into another vehicle if you ignore the use of your horn. Even, then, why on earth would an articulated truck driver toot his horn in a residential area at dawn when everybody is asleep? The strangest of all things is that there are laws against noise-making but their enforcement has become a problem, from the local authority to the national levels. As a result, individuals, groups and whole communities have been left to their fate to suffer in silence. Out of frustration, people have taken the law into their own hands, with devastating consequences. Should things remain this way? fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

A quarter down the greedy throats

GOOD news hardly come from the continent called Africa, so I do not think it will be a surprise to those following events on the continent at the revelation that 25 per cent of Africa’s annual gross domestic product (GDP), roughly $148 billion is lost through corruption, according to a World Bank survey. Even before this report was made public, the continent is well-known for its corrupt public officials who have turned public office into gold mines where they reap what they have not sown. That partly explains why the race for political office on the continent can be bitter and acrimonious, sometimes resulting in the spilling of precious blood and loss of lives. The latest World Bank report from which Ms Pat Alsup, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Accra quoted at a recent public event, may not have disclosed anything not known already except may be the figures. The revelation in that report that corrupt public officials in developing and transition countries received between $20bn and $40bn in bribes annually, which is equivalent to 20 and 40 per cent of official development assistance only goes to reinforce the perception that most public officers are not in office to serve but to enrich themselves. As rightly indicated by Ms Alsup at the opening of a West African Regional Anti-corruption workshop, the cost of corruption was not only measured just in terms of the billions of dollars squandered or in terms of stolen government resources. “Corruption’s cost is most poignantly measured in the absence of the hospitals, schools, clean water, roads and bridges that might have been built with that money and would have certainly changed the fortunes of families and communities,” Ms Alsup said at the workshop. In Ghana here, disclosures at the sittings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament are indications of how corruption has eaten deep into our public system and has cost the nation not only billions in lost revenue but a lot of abandoned projects that could have transformed the fortunes of this country. Another phenomenon of corruption which only became public concern quite recently is that of judgement debts. These are debts arising out of wrongful termination of contracts because some persons or groups lost out or debts orchestrated through fraudulent means and foisted on the nation. Corruption takes various forms, the well-known is the monies paid into the pockets of the wrong people which consequently puts a drain on the national coffers. Corruption also means the appointment of the wrong people to very sensitive positions who do damage to the national interest. It means lack of basic facilities and equipment in our schools, hospitals and other public institutions. It is manifested in the use of inferior materials in the construction industry, importation of fake and expired drugs for our hospitals. It influences serious national decisions whose ramifications could undermine national interest. At the recently held Ghana Economic Forum, Mr Prince Kofi Amoabeng, the Chief Executive Officer of the UT Group observed that if we could reduce corruption by 30 per cent, it would mark a turning point in the country’s development agenda. All the state institutions that could not survive the competition had collapsed not because of the lack of human resources to man those institutions ,but because of corruption in high places. All our governments have launched verbal attacks on corruption but so far all our top political office holders are angels because none has been caught in the anti-corruption net ,even though their official income do not come near their lifestyles. Under the circumstances, we cannot but say that we have a long way to go in the fight against corruption. Whatever the form, corruption is an evil canker that is destroying African countries and ours is not an exception. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.cocm

The missing link

What we have missed greatly and continue to miss as a nation is that binding glue of nationalism and patriotism which kept us together even in the most difficult of times. During the days of the so-called revolutions led by military dictators, Ghanaians – at least the majority – were unanimous in their abhorrence of dictatorship, abuse of human rights, nepotism, corruption and all the other evils associated with dictatorships. The return to multi-party democracy in 1993 was like sacrificing one thing for another. That oneness of purpose with which the country fought for the return to democracy gave way to extreme partisanship and split the country into a near two equal parts. Today, we cannot stand up as one people and confront poverty, disease and illiteracy, joblessness and the near hopelessness that is creeping into our midst. The cracks started to show right from the word go, when in 1992, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cried foul after the presidential election and withdrew from the parliamentary election. That decision effectively left the legislature, a vital wing in the administrative process, in the hands of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for four good years. Subsequent elections have never been without their hiccups even though we have succeeded in alternating governments formed by the NDC and the NPP, the two main political parties. A lot of accolades have been heaped on this country for the resoluteness and determination the citizens have so far demonstrated to tread the democratic path. Internally, however, it is increasingly becoming clear that fruits of democracy seem to be drifting away with the passing of the years. So polarised is the country on partisan lines that every important issue lacks national consensus and is rather seen through party lenses. Politicisation has become so extreme that there is no objective analysis of issues to see their true merits and demerits. In a winner-takes-all fashion, appointments to public offices are based more on party loyalty and influence than quality. In the process, the country is unable to make use of its abundant human talents – most of which are held in high esteem by foreign countries and international firms – to the detriment of the national good. So while those in government feels it is their time to create and share, those outside government sit passively on the fence watching things as innocent bystanders. Whatever the case, the nation is the loser. This fact was not lost on the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, when in his speech at the 56th Independence Day national parade, he called on all Ghanaians to collectively confront the challenges of the country and contribute meaningfully for its betterment. “Each and every one of us has a responsibility to make meaningful and constructive contributions towards the growth and betterment of this nation. We owe that much to ourselves and our children who will inherit this land. We owe that much to all those who fought for us to have a place to claim as ours and call Ghana,” President Mahama said to emphasise his point. That is a splendid talk and which captures the dilemma of the nation. But President Mahama must take the lead. As the Chief Executive Officer of the land and Chief Appointing Authority, a lot resides in him to prove that this country belongs to all of us and that we all have a stake in its fortunes. The President’s own people may try to derail any goodwill overtures on his part to cast the net wider to rope in human talents farther afield. But it is for him to remain committed to his conscience and what he thinks to be in the best interest of the country. It is for him to ensure that not only appointments to high offices go to the best available materials but also job and business opportunities are distributed fairly with the best always coming first. That is the first step towards an all-inclusive government and the biggest assurance that this country belongs to all and we must all fight for its survival. As individuals and groups, we can never think alike. That would be abnormal. But we can have a common objective – that is to succeed as individuals and as a nation. The acrimony must give way to harmony and this country must be able to harness all its talents and resources for the ultimate twin goals of unity and development. This is our nation. Let’s suffer the pains together and share the fruits equally. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

The tragedy of our times

A NOISY self-proclaimed evangelist armed himself with all sorts of offensive weapons, stormed a radio station and in a savage mood, vandalised the place. His beef was that the station was holding a discussion in which his name was mentioned in a negative manner. The case went to court and everybody expected a speedy trial to make a strong case that this is not a lawless country where the laws of the jungle prevails. Unfortunately, we have been told that speed is not one of the characteristics of the wheel of justice; which according to the legal brains, grinds slowly. In this case, the wheel was not only grinding slowly, but virtually came to a halt until we started hearing murmurs that there were skirmishes of an out-of-court settlement. The final decision, we are yet to know. About two years or so ago, a prominent school proprietor was caught in the web of defilement when he got a 16-year-old pupil of one of his schools pregnant. The case attracted public attention for obvious reasons. First, a proprietor of a school should be the last person to subvert the future of any of his pupils and second, the man, had a few years before the incident, caught the attention of the president of the republic and had been decorated with a grand medal, apparently, for exceptional public service. We were all put to shame when the charge of forced marriage was dropped and the accused, the victim’s mother and grandmother were discharged. A clear message was sent. A crime is only a crime, when you cannot bargain your way out. The tone has been set and the path has been clearly demarcated, so it went on. A female musician who likes performing semi-nude had the audacity to violently confront a policeman who was doing his official duty and even held his shirt, tearing it in the process. Then, the usual chorus started flowing from the lips of the so-called influential persons of society. The offence or crime was overshadowed by the personality so the court started pandering to whims and caprices of the accused and the law became the victim. In one of such theatrical displays typical of our national tragedy, a court discharged a comedian who had turned himself into a consular officer of the United States of America Embassy in Ghana and took large sums of money from would-be travellers to secure visas for them. We know there is something called the alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which recognises settlement by consensus between feuding parties. But the blatant manner in which the court handled a purely criminal case in ADR fashion makes mockery of the law. As if the state had not suffered enough, the judge, in a jocular manner told the accused to go and make a movie about how he duped people but succeeded in walking out of a courtroom a free person. In a case which is a subject of a police investigation, a woman has been charged for illegal trafficking of Ghanaians, mostly women, to the Gulf States who end up doing menial jobs and forced prostitution. Even before the suspect could be sent to court, she is all over the place hopping from one radio station to the other and pouring invectives on journalists who only did their work by reporting the arrest from police sources. This is where we have come to, where people suspected of crimes could go outside the judicial system and with impunity and challenge the law enforcement agencies for daring to arrest and prosecute them. They go further to challenge the media for doing their work of informing the public of what is happening or taking place around them. This time, it is not our laws that have been made mockery of and turned into paper tigers, but the institutional indiscipline that has engulfed the country. The best place to see this in full evidence is on the roads. There are more unlicensed motor-bikes on the roads than the registered ones and these are not in any remote village outside the glare of the police but in Accra, the national capital. The carnage on the roads continue unabated and instead of taking drastic and decisive action, we prefer to pontificate and sermonise. We have become used to the lawlessness in the construction, especially the building sector and the filth that has engulfed our towns and cities is a product of lawlessness and indiscipline. Noise from churches and entertainment spots have polluted the atmosphere in residential areas, but who cares? After all, we are Ghanaians who care very little for the law. We always credit ourselves to be peaceful and law-abiding. Maybe, it is taking us too long to realise that we are getting very close to the outskirts of the jungle and unless our state institutions backup to and inject sanity into the system and unless we give the law the freedom to operate, we shall wake up one day to realise we are deep in the jungle. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordorblogspot.com

Government business and courtesy calls

Government business, as could be expected, can be expansive. There are those strategic meetings that could travel deep into the night to plot serious development strategies; there are the regular cabinet meetings to discuss serious national issues and the usual workshops, seminars and conferences which are used as platforms by government officials to open the lid on government policies and programmes and use the same to receive feedbacks and to test the effectiveness of government business. It is to facilitate government business that various ministries have been created, both the traditional ones and those created at the fancy of every new government, alongside the departments and agencies of state to tackle defined sectors of national development. The presidency, which is the pinnacle and nerve-centre of government, must by necessity assume the characteristics of all the ministries, departments and agencies combined. Apart from attending to all the businesses mentioned earlier, the seat of government is also a target for various interest groups who believe that the best and most effective way of getting attention and receiving recognition is to present themselves at the The Castle, formerly, and now Flagstaff House. Among the groups are foreign delegations of business people all claiming to be investors who have the magic wand for our never-healthy economy, diplomats, social groups, religious bodies, chiefs and old schoolmates. Some of the objectives of the visiting delegations can be as mundane as going to wish the President well and to congratulate him on his elevation to the highest office of the land. Others go to announce the death of a chief or someone who in the estimation of the bereaved family was an important national figure whose demise must be announced to the President personally. I have never set eyes on the daily routine of a President but I can hazard one. The day will usually begin with a security briefing on the state of the nation and where there are possible security threats to the nation. The President will also receive a situation report (Sitrep) from the Chief of Staff and quickly go through the confidential mails from the Special Care or Confidential Registry before checking the diary for the day’s scheduled assignments which would inevitably include meetings, receiving visiting delegations and possibly attending out-of-office programmes such as delivering speeches at workshops, seminars and conferences, and using those opportunities to market the government on its policies, plans, programmes and achievements. On a normal day, by the time the President finishes his day’s schedule of assignments, the day would have come to an end and he would have had very little time to spend some critical moments to think of serious problems confronting the nation. If the daily schedule, as I guessed here, remains a regular feature of the presidency, it means the President will for most of the time be receiving delegations, delivering speeches, most of which would not necessarily represent his thoughts or ideas, but flowing from pens of speechwriters, among them government propagandists who have very little time to reflect soberly on national problems. Under the circumstances, the President of the Republic will be relying mostly on the briefings by his ministers and party apparatchik without necessarily making independent assessment of the situation on the ground. No doubt, with all the lofty plans and the sweet things we have been fed with most of the time, this country is still trapped in poverty, joblessness and misery. Not too strange is the fact that there is a vast gap between what our governments tell us they want to do and what they end up doing. If government machinery is functioning effectively, the presidency should be the last resort and this will reduce considerably the traffic to the Flagstaff House. The ministries, departments and agencies should be able to take a lot of the workload from the shoulders of the presidency and leave it to concentrate on serious government business. The regional and district coordinating councils should be able to function in such a way that people with grievances do not have to travel to Accra to the Flagstaff House before getting the assurance that their problems can be addressed. Some of the foreign delegations whether diplomats or business groups should not go beyond ministerial levels. There is no need for a minister of a foreign country visiting Ghana calling on the Vice-President and later calling on the President. Is it because we are so desperate for external support that we do not want to conform to international protocols that allow visiting dignitaries to be received by their equal counterparts? It is obvious that our country is not enjoying the best of health irrespective of what those who are at the centre of power may proclaim and our Executive President, on whose head lay all our problems, should find the time to devise solutions. The presidency must make the work of the ministries and other state institutions easier by restricting visitors to the presidency, limiting it to the most important. We agree that the presidency must be accessible to as many people as possible but that should also mean that there should be schedule officers that could represent the President and take care of most of the visits and leave the President to do more serious things. There is no need for delegations to travel to the presidency to hand an invitation to a traditional festival personally to the President. There is no justification for the President to spend the whole day receiving a funeral delegation when that could be done more conveniently by the regional and district coordinating councils on his behalf. Politically we may think that uncontrolled open-door policy will be yielding dividends but in reality, just like what our free-for-all trade liberalisation has done to our local industries, the practice will only reduce the presidency to a ceremonial one and push serious things into the background. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

What others think of us

Diplomats by their training and the nature of their job are very cautious with the choice of words. They hardly say YES or NO to questions and they give praise where it is not due or express cautious optimism even when things look very gloomy. Foreign diplomats who come to this country never fail to tell us all the pleasant things they have heard of Ghana and its people. They tell us we are very friendly and hospitable and that our country is one of the best on the whole continent of Africa. Some go into history and recall the splendid works of our past leaders, especially Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who they admit was a great leader who devoted much of his life fighting for the liberation and unity of Africa. Sometimes in the profusion of their praises, some of them forgot the role their governments played in the past to frustrate the independence of African countries and how they plotted against progressive leaders like Nkrumah to hound them out of office. Diplomats departing the country tell us how beautiful Ghana and its people are. They tell us how we are making progress in the economic and political fields. These days, the additional cliché is, Ghana is the beacon of democracy on the continent. Such sweet words make our leaders very happy, sometimes very proud and take our minds off the gloom surrounding us. Diplomats by tradition are not expected to tell us the truth, at least not when they are on our soil but God knows the confidential information they feed their governments with in the comfort of their offices. Classified information made public by WikiLeaks on various governments including that of Ghana about two years ago was just a small indication of what people say about us in public and what they think of us in reality. When we cast the sweet words of diplomacy aside, African countries do not conjure any positive image in the minds of many in the international arena. Ours is a picture of misery, poverty, disease, ignorance and corrupt leadership. If truth must be told, we need to make a sober reflection to determine whether we deserve the praises being heaped on us or whether the gloom being painted about the continent is a true reflection of state of affairs on the continent. At independence, the first president of the republic, Dr Nkrumah, set a high for the Black race and vowed to prove that what others could do, Africans and for that matter Blacks could do better. He set a cracking pace on all fronts and it became obvious that if that momentum was sustained for appreciable length of time, that pledge to redeem Ghana from political and economic bondage was going to be a reality. Things did not work the way we expected and as we prepare to celebrate 56 years of independence, the question on the lips of every serious-minded person is, ‘Where is the independence dream?’ The flag and anthem continue to be the symbols of nationhood. Beyond that independence has made limited impact in our national life. We still feel insecure and only regain some level of confidence at the approach of a white-skinned person. In the past, we were looking up to the great economic powers In Europe and the US for salvation. Today, our situation has deteriorated to an extent that we take solace in China, Korea, India and Malaysia. It appears the end is not in sight, and the more we celebrate independence with parades and big speeches, the more we get entangled in the begging syndrome. We are yet to know what we can do for ourselves. We still export our natural resources in their raw form which gives us very little value and import almost everything we need including toothpicks. While others have turned deserts into green fields, we are still at a loss as to how to make use of the abundant water resources at our disposal for agricultural production and other economic ventures. The River Volta alone could have done what the Nile has done for Egypt, but alas, water to drink in our homes let alone for commercial and industrial use has become headaches for us. We are praying for some people from China, India, Brazil and the latest on the block, Turkey or somewhere, to come and fetch water from River Volta into our homes. We cannot as a people get a boat on the Volta Lake for transportation purposes. We cannot exploit the enormous tourism potential of the Volta Lake and change the economy of this country for the better. What diplomats for purposes of their profession would not tell us, the social media on the Internet have made freely available. Just type in an African country and the truth about us would be staring at you. Hopeless people who are always complaining of hunger when they have some of the best lands on the planet. Talk of lack of funds and the social media will tell us how useless we are, always begging others, when our politicians are the most corrupt, stashing away national revenue in foreign banks, investing in grandiose properties overseas, while their citizens languish in poverty. There is a new lobby emerging in the US and Europe which many may not be aware. There are many in those places who are making a strong case against handouts from their countries to Africa. They claim the continent’s problems have very little to do with inadequate resources. They have identified lack of imagination and bad, uninspired and corrupt leadership and, therefore, could not carry the burden of Africa any longer. The Asians have started cashing in and would continue to do so until they have had their fill and left us in our misery. The solution is nowhere but here. We need to change our mindset that without others we cannot make it. The tendency to find excuse for our failures in lack of funds must end. As the saying goes, we need to pull ourselves by our own bootstraps if we are to make ourselves relevance on the international stage. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Making mockery of the law

There was this interesting case of a police corporal who effected the arrest of a suspect. While going through the process of preparing the suspect for court, pressure was brought upon him from various quarters to drop the case. Despite pressures from friends and relatives of the suspect, including some powerful and influential members of society, the corporal remained adamant and preferred to stick to the principles and dictates of his profession. The following day, while on duty at the charge office, the corporal saw some men in flowing robes and suits requesting to see the district commander. Not quite long, the district commander invited him to his office and ordered him to come along with the case file on the suspect. Minutes later, the visitors came down the stairs and waved at him smiling. That was the end of the matter. In police parlance, they say docket closed, case die. The police corporal who was doing his work according to the demands of the law, did not only feel humiliated but seriously deflated. Naturally, he swore never to make himself an object of ridicule again. Since he is at the frontline of criminal cases, your guess is as good as mine. This is not an isolated case. If you are very close to the men and women in uniform, you will hear a lot of such cases where police efforts to bring suspects to justice were thwarted by men and women in authority, who in one breadth tout the supremacy of the law and in another frustrate the law enforcement agencies in their work. It appears the law only works in one direction – of those who do not have a title or have any close associate with a title. The law enforcement agencies, the police in particular, have attracted the ire of the general public for ineptitude, inaction and corruption. Many even blame the high level of indiscipline prevailing in the country on the inefficient and ineffective performance of the law enforcement agencies, which the police form a pivotal part. While the police and other law enforcement agencies cannot escape blame for the national situation, many may not believe that officialdom has created the platform for even those who are prepared to discharge their duties to get frustrated and in extreme cases join the bandwagon in corrupt practices. When junior officers and the other ranks realise that their superior officers will play ball and allow suspects to go scot free they will not hesitate to collect their fair share of the bribe money: That is the national problem confronting us now. This was the point that was brought to the fore by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCO) Mr Kofi Danso Adei Acheampong, the Upper West Regional Police Commander, when he spoke at a forum on security and fire safety in Wa a week ago. The police officer spoke about the harm influential personalities who interfere in the work of the police are causing the country. Such interferences do not only embolden criminals. They also undermine the justice system of the country and discourage personnel of the security agencies and lower their morale. They also afford the bad lots the excuse to do the wrong things under the guise of obeying orders from above. Not too long ago, a popular musician was arrested for obstructing a police officer from performing his duty. Not only that. She assaulted the officer and tore his official uniform. This was a case which offered the opportunity to establish the sanctity and authority of the police as the nation's number one law enforcer. Strangely the case went into a kind of hibernation and when it was brought back to life after a long adjournment, there was a settlement and the suspect went free with a token fine which was readily paid without a wink. This cannot be a motivation for dedicated service to the nation, neither can it serve as a deterrent to others and establish the fact that this is not a lawless country and that the law will take its full course no matter whose ox is gored. Just last week, a Ghanaian actor, Kofi Adu, aka Agya, Koo was in the news for allegedly collecting various sums of money from some people with the promise to secure US visa for them. One of his clients who paid the US visa as far back as March 8, 2011 got fed up with the hide-and-seek antics of Agya Koo and reported the matter to the police. Agya Koo was arrested and charged among others, for defrauding under false pretences. We were waiting patiently expecting that the law would take its course and if the accused is proved guilty, suffer the penalty accordingly. When Agya Koo appeared before an Accra Circuit Court, he did not deny collecting those monies. Strangely, in the end, the court decided to act as a debt collector by asking the accused to refund the money and not even with interest. Agya Koo refunded the money and left the court a free person. Can we turn round and exact severe penalties on others with similar offences? Can we penalise any person who purchases an item with fake currency and comes to tell a court that he/she made a mistake and so was prepared to withdraw the fake currency and replace it with genuine currency to end the matter? We have all the laws a country needs to ensure sanity and order for its people but none of them seems to be working because right from the word go, influential people and those in authority who must ensure that the law works are ready to bend the rules to their selfish advantage. Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, would not have found himself where he is now, if the laws were not working or if they only swung in favour of the rich and famous. On May 15, 2011, Strauss-Kahn was arrested by the New York Police over allegations of sexual assault following a complaint lodged by a hotel worker. That cost him his position as the Managing Director of the world money-lending body when he tendered in his official resignation on May 18, 2011. The arrest also put to rest, his ambition to contest for the presidency of France. Can we allow the law to work in the same vein in our country? For now, there is no evidence that we are prepared to allow the law to take its course. Until we do that we cannot but contend with a lawless society where justice at best goes to the highest bidder. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Mr President, let it happen here

Our President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, was in the Republic of Turkey last week to undertake two major assignments in the interest of the republic. The first was the inauguration of a new embassy building in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, for Ghana’s Mission after many years of diplomatic hiatus between the two countries. The President also addressed the opening session of the Ghana-Turkey Trade and Investment Forum in Istanbul, which was organised mainly by TUSKON, a conglomerate of Turkish businessmen and industrialists and the Turkish Ministry of Economy, with collaboration from the Ghana Free Zones Board. TUSKON could be likened to our Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) and it has as its aim helping Turkish companies to penetrate new markets, especially the unexplored ones in Africa. The President’s visit started to bear fruits before it came to official end, with the extension of a US$300 million credit to the country by the Turkish government through the Turkey Export and Import Bank (Exim Bank). Expressing his gratitude, President Mahama said the money would be used to expand the Tema Port, construct a new international airport and build of bridges and roads. Turkey is one of those countries that are not tagged as developed but are best described as emerging economies or newly developed countries. Others in the same group include Brazil, India, South Korea, Malaysia and strangely China, the country with the second largest and the fastest growing economy in the world. Apart from the Republic of South Africa, no other African country has emerged from the Third World, where the newly developed countries and the rest of Africa belonged 50 years ago, and South Africa’s status could be attributed to the apartheid era, when the Whites took control of political and economic administration of that country. The fresh and rapidly growing romance between Ghana and Turkey is bound to yield fruitful results as the signs are showing already. There is now a direct flight between Ghana and Turkey, by courtesy of Turkish Airlines, one of the largest in the world. There is also frequent exchanges between Ghanaian and Turkish businessmen and industrialists which are expected to yield mutual results for both parties. The most recent trade and investment forum in Istanbul was attended by over 60 Ghanaian businessmen and women. We hope that Ghanaian businessmen and women were not in Istanbul only to find out what goods to import into the country but also, and more importantly, what goods to export from Ghana to that country. The most significant thing is that both Ghana and Turkey were in the same trench many years ago, so there is common ground for understanding and cooperation in trade, business and cultural exchanges to serve their mutual interests. Ghana stands to gain more, if it would study and learn from how a fellow Third World country could emerge from that stage to become one of the world’s industrialised countries within such a relatively short period. In terms of natural resources, Turkey has no comparative advantage over Ghana. In fact, the reverse is the case. Turkey cannot boast of the mineral resources Ghana has. Its oil and gas industry is still at its infant stage and it cannot compare its oil resources to that of its southern neighbours—Iraq and Iran. Turkey’s economy is driven mainly by industry. It is into the construction of ships and the manufacture of vehicles, textiles and electronics and aircraft. Turkey is not rich in gold or diamond but it has one of the world’s largest factories that manufactures gold and diamond jewels in Istanbul. It has exploited to maximum advantage its geographical location which is at the crossroad of Europe and Asia. Nowhere is this evident than Istanbul, the largest and commercial heart of Turkey, which straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus, a narrow sea way that links the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Turkey is a tourist destination, with Istanbul alone receiving more than nine million visitors a year and historic sites such as its mosques, cathedrals and museums continue to attract tourists. Apart from industry and commerce, there are a lot that Ghana can learn from Turkey. One of the most unfortunate things about being driven in fast convoys is that you hardly see things clearly through the window of the speeding limousine. But I believe our President did not miss the transport system in Istanbul, a city of 13 million (2011 census), about half of Ghana’s national population. Istanbul is one of those places described as mega-cities in terms of land and population size. Accra is but a small place compared to this vast city. In this category are cities such as Tokyo (Japan), Mexico City (Mexico), Cairo (Egypt), Lagos (Nigeria), Seoul (South Korea), New York (USA), Jakarta (Indonesia) Sao Paolo (Brazil) and Shanghai (China). For a vast city like Istanbul which stretches over 150 kilometres in length, the transport system is near perfect. It has the metro or the underground system, the rail and the tram in addition to well-paved expressways and flyovers to take care of hundreds of thousands of vehicles of all descriptions. The traffic lights work 24 hours for seven days and the energy sapping and nerve wracking traffic jams are absent. For the Ghanaian, a journey between Istanbul and Ankara, the national capital, will make him or her miserable with self-pity if he/she compares it to a journey between Accra and Kumasi. As stated earlier, Turkey is no better than Ghana in terms of resources. The difference may lie in the people and their leadership. This is why I would appeal to President Mahama not to rest with what we can get from Turkey by way of assistance, but more importantly, what lessons could be learnt from their experience. The Turks are hardworking, so are Ghanaians. What they have which we are still searching for is a leadership that will marshal our resources and our human energies for development. We must resolve not to remain beggars forever. We must resolve to come out of poverty and underdevelopment just as countries like Turkey have done and have become our benefactors. I pray that our President will resolve that what he saw in Turkey will be replicated in this country within the shortest time. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com