It was sad, unbelievable, but real to see men and women sharing a common ward at a hospital, each battling for survival against various ailments. And the problem is whether that facility qualifies to be called so.
The place was overcrowded, the stench of medicines, laundry and various forms of excretions and toiletries was very repulsive and the groaning and moaning of patients very pathetic.
There were only a few on rusty beds with worn-out mattresses. The rest were put on stretchers mounted on wheels or left on the bare floor. But these are the lucky ones. In all cases, you will need a clean bed sheet and pillow cases from home or do with what is available. Others not so lucky have to be turned away to seek treatment elsewhere because the place is simply full.
The toilet facilities could themselves be potential sources of other infections, if you are compelled by circumstances to use them. Against all these odds, the hospital staff, at least most of them, could be seen doing their best to save their patients.
If the patient, and mind you, this is somebody whose condition may be very critical, is not followed by relatives who have stuffed their pockets with cash, then he/she is likely to be in trouble, since there will be a demand for cash or the need to take prescription for drugs or related items that the hospital cannot provide.
Dear reader, before your mind begins to drift towards a hospital in a God-forsaken rural community, let me tell you that this is the sight which meets you on daily basis at the Medical Emergency Ward of the 37 Military Hospital in the heart of Accra.
This is a place that has been touted as a centre of excellence in health delivery. You know any time we want to measure our performance, we do not look at those ahead of us, but those behind us and clap for ourselves.
The 37 Military Hospital is among the nation’s top public health institutions in terms of facilities and human expertise. It may rank third after Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, so if we are presented with such a situation at 37, as it is commonly referred to, can we guess the state of health delivery in the less endowed parts of our country? Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital itself has its own story to tell, especially if you are taken there in an emergency situation.
Sometimes, these stories sound remote in our ears until we are taken sick or have to take a relative in critical condition to the hospital. It is then that we realise that a lot of the talk by politicians that they are committed to efficient health delivery in the country is mere hot air they are blowing into our ears.
Ours may not be a rich nation but that cannot take away our capacity to paint our hospital wards and provide basic facilities that will soothe the pain of a sick person. How much does it take to provide water closets in our hospitals for our general use, if we can part with large sums of money running into billions of Ghana cedis to provide for the comfort of a few politicians and public servants?
If you drive around Accra, you will realise that most of the traffic lights have become symbols of national decay and negligence. These traffic intersections have become accident spots and have added to an already bad traffic situation in the city.
Why should it be so? Can this also be blamed on poverty or irresponsible behaviour on the part of some public officers? Most often, it is not easy where to place the blame for such lapses in our national life.
Recently, after a series of accidents, certain decisions were taken to enforce existing motor traffic regulations or the introduction of new elements to bring sanity onto the roads. We still see leaves and tree branches being used as signals on the roads.
Alcoholic beverages are still being sold at the lorry stations and vehicles with heavily-tinted windows are still common on the streets. We have done the talking but are inadequate when it comes to action.
Whoever ordered that the original design for the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange should be scaled down to cut cost has done a great disservice to this country. Whether we like it or not, we are going to spend a lot of money, far more than we should have spent in the first place, if we are to remove the mess at Tetteh-Quarshie.
Some of us may not have the technical brains of road engineers, but common sense told us that that roundabout in the middle of what is supposed to be an express way linking Accra and Tema could only create one thing – chaos – and it has succeeded in doing just that.
Against all good judgement, we have decided to construct a shopping mall where it is, and Ghanaians can go to hell with their protestations because the interest of one or two persons supersedes that of all other Ghanaians. In its present state, Tetteh-Quarshie is more than a jungle where only the fittest can survive.
We have treated poverty with too much dignity for far too long. We have gradually turned poverty into a kind of shield to cover incompetence, inefficiency, mediocrity and corruption to the detriment of our national growth and progress.
If we can go on a vehicle-buying spree to reward a few for national service, why can’t we get enough money to make our hospitals the true centres of health delivery instead of making them look like camps for prisoners of war?
Why can’t we make a few traffic lights to work to save us the agony of traffic jams and accidents? Why can’t we transform Tetteh-Quarshie into a masterpiece of engineering work we can be proud of? It is all about doing the first things first.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Putting nation's priorities right
By Kofi Akordor
It was sad, unbelievable, but real to see men and women sharing a common ward at a hospital, each battling for survival against various ailments. And the problem is whether that facility qualifies to be called so.
The place was overcrowded, the stench of medicines, laundry and various forms of excretions and toiletries was very repulsive and the groaning and moaning of patients very pathetic. There were only a few on rusty beds with worn-out mattresses. The rest were put on stretchers mounted on wheels or left on the bare floor. But these are the lucky ones. In all cases, you will need a clean bed sheet and pillow cases from home or do with what is available. Others not so lucky have to be turned away to seek treatment elsewhere because the place is simply full.
The toilet facilities could themselves be potential sources of other infections, if you are compelled by circumstances to use them. Against all these odds, the hospital staff, at least most of them, could be seen doing their best to save their patients.
If the patient, and mind you, this is somebody whose condition may be very critical, is not followed by relatives who have stuffed their pockets with cash, then he/she is likely to be in trouble, since there will be a demand for cash or the need to take prescription for drugs or related items that the hospital cannot provide.
Dear reader, before your mind begins to drift towards a hospital in a God-forsaken rural community, let me tell you that this is the sight which meets you on daily basis at the Emergency Medical Ward of the 37 Military Hospital in the heart of Accra. This is a place that has been touted as a centre of excellence in health delivery. You know any time we want to measure our performance, we do not look at those ahead of us, but those behind us and clap for ourselves.
The 37 Military Hospital is among the nation’s top public health institutions in terms of facilities and human expertise. It may rank third after Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, so if we are presented with such a situation at 37, as it is commonly referred to, can we guess the state of health delivery in the less endowed parts of our country? Korle Bu Teaching Hospital itself has its own story to tell, especially if you are taken there in an emergency situation.
Sometimes, these stories sound remote in our ears until we are taken sick or have to take a relative in critical condition to the hospital. It is then that we realise that a lot of the talk by politicians that they are committed to efficient health delivery in the country is mere hot air they are blowing into our ears. Ours may not be a rich nation but that cannot take away our capacity to paint our hospital wards and provide basic facilities that will soothe the pain of a sick person. How much does it take to provide water closets in our hospitals for our general use, if we can part with large sums of money running into billions of Ghana cedis to provide for the comfort of a few politicians and public servants?
If you drive around Accra, you will realise that most of the traffic lights have become symbols of national decay and negligence. These traffic intersections have become accident spots and have added to an already bad traffic situation in the city. Why should it be so? Can this also be blamed on poverty or irresponsible behaviour on the part of some public officers? Most often, it is not easy where to place the blame for such lapses in our national life.
Recently, after a series of accidents, certain decisions were taken to enforce existing motor traffic regulations or the introduction of new elements to bring sanity onto the roads. We still see leaves and tree branches being used as signals on the roads. Alcoholic beverages are still being sold at the lorry stations and vehicles with heavily-tinted windows are still common on the streets. We have done the talking but are inadequate when it comes to action.
Whoever ordered that the original design for the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange should be scaled down to cut cost has done a great disservice to this country. Whether we like it or not, we are going to spend a lot of money, far more than we should have spent in the first place, if we are to remove the mess at Tetteh-Quarshie.
Some of us may not have the technical brains of road engineers, but common sense told us that that roundabout in the middle of what is supposed to be an express way linking Accra and Tema could only create one thing – chaos – and it has succeeded in doing just that. Against all good judgement, we have decided to construct a shopping mall where it is, and Ghanaians can go to hell with their protestations because the interest of one or two persons supersedes that of all other Ghanaians. In its present state, Tetteh-Quarshie is more than a jungle where only the fittest can survive.
We have treated poverty with too much dignity for far too long. We have gradually turned poverty into a kind of shield to cover incompetence, inefficiency, mediocrity and corruption to the detriment of our national growth and progress.
If we can go on a vehicle-buying spree to reward a few for national service, why can’t we get enough money to make our hospitals the true centres of health delivery instead of making them look like camps for prisoners of war? Why can’t we make a few traffic lights to work to save us the agony of traffic jams and accidents? Why can’t we transform Tetteh-Quarshie into a masterpiece of engineering work we can be proud of? It is all about doing the first things first.
It was sad, unbelievable, but real to see men and women sharing a common ward at a hospital, each battling for survival against various ailments. And the problem is whether that facility qualifies to be called so.
The place was overcrowded, the stench of medicines, laundry and various forms of excretions and toiletries was very repulsive and the groaning and moaning of patients very pathetic. There were only a few on rusty beds with worn-out mattresses. The rest were put on stretchers mounted on wheels or left on the bare floor. But these are the lucky ones. In all cases, you will need a clean bed sheet and pillow cases from home or do with what is available. Others not so lucky have to be turned away to seek treatment elsewhere because the place is simply full.
The toilet facilities could themselves be potential sources of other infections, if you are compelled by circumstances to use them. Against all these odds, the hospital staff, at least most of them, could be seen doing their best to save their patients.
If the patient, and mind you, this is somebody whose condition may be very critical, is not followed by relatives who have stuffed their pockets with cash, then he/she is likely to be in trouble, since there will be a demand for cash or the need to take prescription for drugs or related items that the hospital cannot provide.
Dear reader, before your mind begins to drift towards a hospital in a God-forsaken rural community, let me tell you that this is the sight which meets you on daily basis at the Emergency Medical Ward of the 37 Military Hospital in the heart of Accra. This is a place that has been touted as a centre of excellence in health delivery. You know any time we want to measure our performance, we do not look at those ahead of us, but those behind us and clap for ourselves.
The 37 Military Hospital is among the nation’s top public health institutions in terms of facilities and human expertise. It may rank third after Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, so if we are presented with such a situation at 37, as it is commonly referred to, can we guess the state of health delivery in the less endowed parts of our country? Korle Bu Teaching Hospital itself has its own story to tell, especially if you are taken there in an emergency situation.
Sometimes, these stories sound remote in our ears until we are taken sick or have to take a relative in critical condition to the hospital. It is then that we realise that a lot of the talk by politicians that they are committed to efficient health delivery in the country is mere hot air they are blowing into our ears. Ours may not be a rich nation but that cannot take away our capacity to paint our hospital wards and provide basic facilities that will soothe the pain of a sick person. How much does it take to provide water closets in our hospitals for our general use, if we can part with large sums of money running into billions of Ghana cedis to provide for the comfort of a few politicians and public servants?
If you drive around Accra, you will realise that most of the traffic lights have become symbols of national decay and negligence. These traffic intersections have become accident spots and have added to an already bad traffic situation in the city. Why should it be so? Can this also be blamed on poverty or irresponsible behaviour on the part of some public officers? Most often, it is not easy where to place the blame for such lapses in our national life.
Recently, after a series of accidents, certain decisions were taken to enforce existing motor traffic regulations or the introduction of new elements to bring sanity onto the roads. We still see leaves and tree branches being used as signals on the roads. Alcoholic beverages are still being sold at the lorry stations and vehicles with heavily-tinted windows are still common on the streets. We have done the talking but are inadequate when it comes to action.
Whoever ordered that the original design for the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange should be scaled down to cut cost has done a great disservice to this country. Whether we like it or not, we are going to spend a lot of money, far more than we should have spent in the first place, if we are to remove the mess at Tetteh-Quarshie.
Some of us may not have the technical brains of road engineers, but common sense told us that that roundabout in the middle of what is supposed to be an express way linking Accra and Tema could only create one thing – chaos – and it has succeeded in doing just that. Against all good judgement, we have decided to construct a shopping mall where it is, and Ghanaians can go to hell with their protestations because the interest of one or two persons supersedes that of all other Ghanaians. In its present state, Tetteh-Quarshie is more than a jungle where only the fittest can survive.
We have treated poverty with too much dignity for far too long. We have gradually turned poverty into a kind of shield to cover incompetence, inefficiency, mediocrity and corruption to the detriment of our national growth and progress.
If we can go on a vehicle-buying spree to reward a few for national service, why can’t we get enough money to make our hospitals the true centres of health delivery instead of making them look like camps for prisoners of war? Why can’t we make a few traffic lights to work to save us the agony of traffic jams and accidents? Why can’t we transform Tetteh-Quarshie into a masterpiece of engineering work we can be proud of? It is all about doing the first things first.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
BATTLE OVER SPOILS OF WAR IN 100 DAYS (APRIL 7, 2009)
THE magic hundred days in office by President John Evans Atta Mills is here. Under normal circumstances, we should be celebrating our gains, especially considering the pains we went through to maintain our stability and sanity as a people. But can we celebrate? Yes, but to a limited extent.
The first 100 days into Professor Mills’s four-year term, we are still vetting people for ministerial appointments: A process that has in the main veered from its objective of assessing the suitability of nominees to manage state affairs in their respective ministries, to become an inquisition, more or less an extension of the acrimony and mudslinging we witnessed on the campaign platforms during Election 2008.
Though it is not easy to forget some of the things political opponents said during the campaign period, more so, when some of those things had serious bearings on the electoral fortunes of some political parties; many Ghanaians were of the opinion that the earlier we buried the campaign miseries behind us, the better for our national equilibrium.
By all means, people should not be allowed to escape with careless and irresponsible statements. However, an obsession with the past will also not augur well for national development.
In fact, if we have to always recall all the things that were said or done in the name of politics by all the political parties very few will have the peace to have a full night’s sleep.
The posture of certain Members of Parliament on the Appointments Committee, while it may seem to be an exercise in setting the records straight, is not only raking over old wounds but also dragging government business unduly. At the end of the day, it only offers an excuse for another set of people to exact their pound of flesh when the opportunity offers itself.
What is, however, more worrying is the way we have used the first 100 days of a new government not to confront national challenges, but to fight over who takes what in the previous administration.
One would have thought that, having gone through a gruelling transition in 2,001, which left us with a lot of scars, we would conduct ourselves better this time. But the accusations and suspicions will not just go away.
First, we engaged in unnecessary and senseless debate over what should be the appropriate ex gratia to be paid to the former President and other high public office-holders captured under Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution.
It is true the recommendations captured by the Chinnery-Hesse Report did not reflect this country’s status as a beggar nation, the majority of whose children continue to squat and take lessons under trees. It also made it seem as if the presidency is a battlefield, where an ex-president, like a conqueror, must go home with spoils of war.
While the world’s rich and powerful nations were meeting in London to map out strategies to overcome the global recession that is eating into their economies, we have spent more than three months haggling over acquisition of state properties as if that is the end of the world.
After that, we shall go back to those nations, with cup in hand, begging for their support for our national budget. While we condemn government agents for their impatience and unorthodox manner of retrieving state vehicles from previous ministers and other public office-holders, we equally condemn those former public officers who know they must not take away what does not belong to them.
For instance, do we always have to justify bad behaviour by taking refuge in the past? If something was not good yesterday and was condemned, should we repeat it and justify it in the present?
In 2000, former President Rawlings was alleged to have vacated the Osu Castle with a large fleet of state vehicles. Very few applauded that action and as was expected, they included some fanatics who would not see anything wrong with their idol.
Can we proudly say we have learnt lessons from the past and improved upon our performance, when former President Kufuor, after eight years, also decided to select his own state vehicles that he must retire with? No matter what some may think, the answer is a big NO!
What was not justifiable yesterday cannot be justifiable today. State property remains state property and nobody should be seen to be disregarding this basic fact, and more significantly a former President should be the last person to be making light of this.
The most honourable thing former President Kufuor should have done was retire peacefully to his residence and await the response of the new President. It is then that we can determine whether he had been treated fairly and honourably or not.
But to take the first step of making your own selection undermines one’s integrity and jeopardises national unity. It gives room for people who are prone to mischief to have a field day, just as we are witnessing in the country now.
As could be seen, the discussion on the matter has taken a partisan twist, which does not augur well for a more dispassionate approach to arrive at a national consensus for future and permanent application.
The same can be said about the choice of a state bungalow by former President Kufuor for his office. It is the duty of the new President to honour the previous President by allocating him a suitable place for an office, which must be appropriately furnished and equipped at state expense.
The new President stands accused if he fails to do that. The Presidency should be treated with dignity and not reduced to property-grabbing enterprise.
The former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Begyina Sekyi-Hughes, swept his official residence clean when he was vacating. What could be the excuse? And who is trying to defend this?
I hate to hear those who make reference to what happened in 2000 or before, to justify the bad things of today. Why do we yearn for a change, if we were pleased with what happened yesterday or are happening today? So what is change, if it only means different people repeating the same thing?
We must grow out of the iniquities of the past. We must know the things that are good for us as a people and pursue them with all determination and stop the merry-go-round business.
Public service should remain public business and those who offer themselves to serve should do so in humility and in similar vein accept whatever is due them with gratitude. State properties should not be treated like spoils of war that must be raped and plundered by invading armies and their generals.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
The first 100 days into Professor Mills’s four-year term, we are still vetting people for ministerial appointments: A process that has in the main veered from its objective of assessing the suitability of nominees to manage state affairs in their respective ministries, to become an inquisition, more or less an extension of the acrimony and mudslinging we witnessed on the campaign platforms during Election 2008.
Though it is not easy to forget some of the things political opponents said during the campaign period, more so, when some of those things had serious bearings on the electoral fortunes of some political parties; many Ghanaians were of the opinion that the earlier we buried the campaign miseries behind us, the better for our national equilibrium.
By all means, people should not be allowed to escape with careless and irresponsible statements. However, an obsession with the past will also not augur well for national development.
In fact, if we have to always recall all the things that were said or done in the name of politics by all the political parties very few will have the peace to have a full night’s sleep.
The posture of certain Members of Parliament on the Appointments Committee, while it may seem to be an exercise in setting the records straight, is not only raking over old wounds but also dragging government business unduly. At the end of the day, it only offers an excuse for another set of people to exact their pound of flesh when the opportunity offers itself.
What is, however, more worrying is the way we have used the first 100 days of a new government not to confront national challenges, but to fight over who takes what in the previous administration.
One would have thought that, having gone through a gruelling transition in 2,001, which left us with a lot of scars, we would conduct ourselves better this time. But the accusations and suspicions will not just go away.
First, we engaged in unnecessary and senseless debate over what should be the appropriate ex gratia to be paid to the former President and other high public office-holders captured under Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution.
It is true the recommendations captured by the Chinnery-Hesse Report did not reflect this country’s status as a beggar nation, the majority of whose children continue to squat and take lessons under trees. It also made it seem as if the presidency is a battlefield, where an ex-president, like a conqueror, must go home with spoils of war.
While the world’s rich and powerful nations were meeting in London to map out strategies to overcome the global recession that is eating into their economies, we have spent more than three months haggling over acquisition of state properties as if that is the end of the world.
After that, we shall go back to those nations, with cup in hand, begging for their support for our national budget. While we condemn government agents for their impatience and unorthodox manner of retrieving state vehicles from previous ministers and other public office-holders, we equally condemn those former public officers who know they must not take away what does not belong to them.
For instance, do we always have to justify bad behaviour by taking refuge in the past? If something was not good yesterday and was condemned, should we repeat it and justify it in the present?
In 2000, former President Rawlings was alleged to have vacated the Osu Castle with a large fleet of state vehicles. Very few applauded that action and as was expected, they included some fanatics who would not see anything wrong with their idol.
Can we proudly say we have learnt lessons from the past and improved upon our performance, when former President Kufuor, after eight years, also decided to select his own state vehicles that he must retire with? No matter what some may think, the answer is a big NO!
What was not justifiable yesterday cannot be justifiable today. State property remains state property and nobody should be seen to be disregarding this basic fact, and more significantly a former President should be the last person to be making light of this.
The most honourable thing former President Kufuor should have done was retire peacefully to his residence and await the response of the new President. It is then that we can determine whether he had been treated fairly and honourably or not.
But to take the first step of making your own selection undermines one’s integrity and jeopardises national unity. It gives room for people who are prone to mischief to have a field day, just as we are witnessing in the country now.
As could be seen, the discussion on the matter has taken a partisan twist, which does not augur well for a more dispassionate approach to arrive at a national consensus for future and permanent application.
The same can be said about the choice of a state bungalow by former President Kufuor for his office. It is the duty of the new President to honour the previous President by allocating him a suitable place for an office, which must be appropriately furnished and equipped at state expense.
The new President stands accused if he fails to do that. The Presidency should be treated with dignity and not reduced to property-grabbing enterprise.
The former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Begyina Sekyi-Hughes, swept his official residence clean when he was vacating. What could be the excuse? And who is trying to defend this?
I hate to hear those who make reference to what happened in 2000 or before, to justify the bad things of today. Why do we yearn for a change, if we were pleased with what happened yesterday or are happening today? So what is change, if it only means different people repeating the same thing?
We must grow out of the iniquities of the past. We must know the things that are good for us as a people and pursue them with all determination and stop the merry-go-round business.
Public service should remain public business and those who offer themselves to serve should do so in humility and in similar vein accept whatever is due them with gratitude. State properties should not be treated like spoils of war that must be raped and plundered by invading armies and their generals.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
SWEET DREAMS, BITTER REALITIES (MARCH 31, 2009)
THE nation is under siege. It is like we are being hemmed in on all sides. We have a new government that is still struggling to plant its feet firmly in the ground while the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that has suddenly, against all expectations, found itself in opposition, will not relent in its sustained pressure on the new administration.
On the international level, a new term has gained notoriety – the credit crunch. It has given a platform for bad and corrupt governments who can now find easy excuse for their failures.
On the home front, there is something gnawing at us which will not stop. The pain has sent us into frenzy, forcing desperate and sometimes elusive solutions out of us. I am referring to the road accidents that have become daily occurrences these days and the questions are; where next and how many casualties?
The Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service, in response to the menace swore to enforce speed limits on the highways. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Daniel Avorga, the man in charge of outfit was confident that he and his lieutenants are up to the task. According to him, motorised personnel in groups of between four and six will be deployed on the highways to check speed limits while educating drivers on the need to exercise caution on the roads.
The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), on their part came up with a bold decision — to install speed limiters on all passenger vehicles in the country to check speeding, which has been identified as a major cause of accidents.
The Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr David Adonteng, was on record telling the Daily Graphic that five companies have been identified for the installation of the device which will ensure that vehicles do not go beyond 100 kilometres per hour (km/h) on the highways.
At what could be described as a crisis meeting held last Tuesday, the Ministry of Roads and Highways and other interest groups in the transport industry came to certain decisions all aimed at curing the same ailment of road accidents. These include prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages at lorry stations, checking overloading of vehicles, speed checks and taking steps to clear broken down vehicles from the roads.
The problem has become so huge that every state institution seems to be joining the solution bandwagon. So the Ministry of Health also announced that it is going to collaborate with the Ghana Armed Forces to ferry accident victims with helicopters to medical facilities. At least if we cannot stop the accidents, we should be able to transport victims quickly for medical attention, so it means.
The Women’s Aglow International, went beyond the human dimension and moved into the spiritual realm by organising a special session on Sunday, March 22, 2009 to seek divine intervention to end the carnage.
Looking through all the remedies prescribed for this national calamity, one could hardly find anything new. The Police have always assured the motoring public of their determination to clampdown on careless driving maintain sanity on the roads. They have always threatened to deal ruthlessly with reckless driving and impose severe sanctions on recalcitrant drivers.
There have been a few heavily-publicised operations in the past to check speeding and other traffic offences but which faded into nothingness in no time. A few drivers may suffer and heaps of praises conferred on the police for a good job done and that ends the matter.
Where is the hope that this time, things will be better? The problems that existed yesterday which made highway patrols difficult and almost impossible still exist. The police simply lack the manpower and the requisite logistics to perform. That is why they concentrate their operations in Accra and the other big towns checking ‘papers’ on routine basis.
Highway patrol means being mobile and fast. It also means being in a position to communicate with others in the patrol team in case of reckless driving or suspected highway robbery. Are we up to the task?
Ideally, the police should have their own helicopters to patrol the highways and for rescue operations in emergencies. I know somebody will begin to say that we do not have funds for those things. Yes, when it comes to good things or the national interest, we never get the funds. However, we can dip into the same coffers to fund frivolities for the aggrandisement of a few.
The air ambulances that are to be provided by the Ghana Armed Forces sound quite interesting. We have failed miserably on the ground, so are we going to do better in the air?
How many helicopters equipped with life-saving devices are in the fleet of the Ghana Armed Forces? Remember one of such aircrafts crashed into the Atiwa Forest a few years ago killing all on board including the accident victims that were being brought to Accra. Has there been any replacement?
The next question: If the GAF is able to provide the choppers wherewill the victims be sent to? You know why? Even the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the nation’s largest hospital lacks the facilities to cope with major emergency situations. Visit the Accident Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and see how people with broken limbs and torn flesh are left on the ground groaning in pain, then you can picture where we are as a nation.
Our city roads have not been designed to handle emergencies. Can you imagine an ambulance trapped in heavy traffic with its sirens wailing miserably without any response from drivers who themselves are minding their own problems?
These days too, one cannot tell whether an ambulance is carrying someone who needs urgent attention or someone who has already passed on to the other world. The police have not been able to enforce the law on the use of sirens, though they keep on reminding the public about the existence of a law to that effect.
There is no doubt that we are confronted with a serious national problem. But that is not solved by any don quixotic approach.
The NRSC has never wavered in its public education campaigns. This idea of speed limiters is not new. Where are they going to start from and where will it end? Road safety work is not for one institution and a breakdown in any part of the chain will affect the whole process.
There are many who have acquired driving licenses through dubious means, most often with the connivance of officials of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). The crusade against road accidents must start from the corridors of the DVLA.
The MTTU, as it is now, cannot cope with the assignment of maintaining law and order on the roads both in terms of personnel and logistics. Having identified road accidents and reckless driving as a major national problem, we need to invest more in enforcing motor traffic regulations.
It should be possible for the police to be well equipped to patrol the highways not only for offensive drivers and highway crimes but to effect rescue missions in the event of accidents. That is why a few helicopters for this purpose will not be described as a misplaced priority.
All the offences being mentioned in recent times including alcoholism, over speeding, wrong overtaking, driving without valid driver’s licence or without roadworthy certificate are not new. What we have lacked over the years are the will and the honesty to enforce these laws and others.
Highway patrols should not be done sporadically as panic measures. They should be a regular feature on the schedule of the MTTU, or whichever institution that will be tasked to perform that duty.
Our national response to emergency situations cannot be described as the best. In a bad situation such as we have found ourselves in now, we are tempted to react in a manner that in the long run will not serve any purpose. We need to confront some painful realities. That is, we lack the capacity to do most of the things we are dreaming of. But once the will is there, there will be a way.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
On the international level, a new term has gained notoriety – the credit crunch. It has given a platform for bad and corrupt governments who can now find easy excuse for their failures.
On the home front, there is something gnawing at us which will not stop. The pain has sent us into frenzy, forcing desperate and sometimes elusive solutions out of us. I am referring to the road accidents that have become daily occurrences these days and the questions are; where next and how many casualties?
The Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service, in response to the menace swore to enforce speed limits on the highways. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Daniel Avorga, the man in charge of outfit was confident that he and his lieutenants are up to the task. According to him, motorised personnel in groups of between four and six will be deployed on the highways to check speed limits while educating drivers on the need to exercise caution on the roads.
The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), on their part came up with a bold decision — to install speed limiters on all passenger vehicles in the country to check speeding, which has been identified as a major cause of accidents.
The Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr David Adonteng, was on record telling the Daily Graphic that five companies have been identified for the installation of the device which will ensure that vehicles do not go beyond 100 kilometres per hour (km/h) on the highways.
At what could be described as a crisis meeting held last Tuesday, the Ministry of Roads and Highways and other interest groups in the transport industry came to certain decisions all aimed at curing the same ailment of road accidents. These include prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages at lorry stations, checking overloading of vehicles, speed checks and taking steps to clear broken down vehicles from the roads.
The problem has become so huge that every state institution seems to be joining the solution bandwagon. So the Ministry of Health also announced that it is going to collaborate with the Ghana Armed Forces to ferry accident victims with helicopters to medical facilities. At least if we cannot stop the accidents, we should be able to transport victims quickly for medical attention, so it means.
The Women’s Aglow International, went beyond the human dimension and moved into the spiritual realm by organising a special session on Sunday, March 22, 2009 to seek divine intervention to end the carnage.
Looking through all the remedies prescribed for this national calamity, one could hardly find anything new. The Police have always assured the motoring public of their determination to clampdown on careless driving maintain sanity on the roads. They have always threatened to deal ruthlessly with reckless driving and impose severe sanctions on recalcitrant drivers.
There have been a few heavily-publicised operations in the past to check speeding and other traffic offences but which faded into nothingness in no time. A few drivers may suffer and heaps of praises conferred on the police for a good job done and that ends the matter.
Where is the hope that this time, things will be better? The problems that existed yesterday which made highway patrols difficult and almost impossible still exist. The police simply lack the manpower and the requisite logistics to perform. That is why they concentrate their operations in Accra and the other big towns checking ‘papers’ on routine basis.
Highway patrol means being mobile and fast. It also means being in a position to communicate with others in the patrol team in case of reckless driving or suspected highway robbery. Are we up to the task?
Ideally, the police should have their own helicopters to patrol the highways and for rescue operations in emergencies. I know somebody will begin to say that we do not have funds for those things. Yes, when it comes to good things or the national interest, we never get the funds. However, we can dip into the same coffers to fund frivolities for the aggrandisement of a few.
The air ambulances that are to be provided by the Ghana Armed Forces sound quite interesting. We have failed miserably on the ground, so are we going to do better in the air?
How many helicopters equipped with life-saving devices are in the fleet of the Ghana Armed Forces? Remember one of such aircrafts crashed into the Atiwa Forest a few years ago killing all on board including the accident victims that were being brought to Accra. Has there been any replacement?
The next question: If the GAF is able to provide the choppers wherewill the victims be sent to? You know why? Even the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the nation’s largest hospital lacks the facilities to cope with major emergency situations. Visit the Accident Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and see how people with broken limbs and torn flesh are left on the ground groaning in pain, then you can picture where we are as a nation.
Our city roads have not been designed to handle emergencies. Can you imagine an ambulance trapped in heavy traffic with its sirens wailing miserably without any response from drivers who themselves are minding their own problems?
These days too, one cannot tell whether an ambulance is carrying someone who needs urgent attention or someone who has already passed on to the other world. The police have not been able to enforce the law on the use of sirens, though they keep on reminding the public about the existence of a law to that effect.
There is no doubt that we are confronted with a serious national problem. But that is not solved by any don quixotic approach.
The NRSC has never wavered in its public education campaigns. This idea of speed limiters is not new. Where are they going to start from and where will it end? Road safety work is not for one institution and a breakdown in any part of the chain will affect the whole process.
There are many who have acquired driving licenses through dubious means, most often with the connivance of officials of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). The crusade against road accidents must start from the corridors of the DVLA.
The MTTU, as it is now, cannot cope with the assignment of maintaining law and order on the roads both in terms of personnel and logistics. Having identified road accidents and reckless driving as a major national problem, we need to invest more in enforcing motor traffic regulations.
It should be possible for the police to be well equipped to patrol the highways not only for offensive drivers and highway crimes but to effect rescue missions in the event of accidents. That is why a few helicopters for this purpose will not be described as a misplaced priority.
All the offences being mentioned in recent times including alcoholism, over speeding, wrong overtaking, driving without valid driver’s licence or without roadworthy certificate are not new. What we have lacked over the years are the will and the honesty to enforce these laws and others.
Highway patrols should not be done sporadically as panic measures. They should be a regular feature on the schedule of the MTTU, or whichever institution that will be tasked to perform that duty.
Our national response to emergency situations cannot be described as the best. In a bad situation such as we have found ourselves in now, we are tempted to react in a manner that in the long run will not serve any purpose. We need to confront some painful realities. That is, we lack the capacity to do most of the things we are dreaming of. But once the will is there, there will be a way.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
AGEING, BUT NOT GROWING (MARCH 24, 2009)
On March 6, 2009, we went through, as we have been doing all the years, the motion of celebrating our freedom from colonialism. The children, as usual, marched in the scorching tropical sun for hours, just as their grandparents and parents before them did, to salute the National Flag.
In the national capital, our President, just as has been customary of all others who have occupied the throne, took the salute as the schoolchildren marched past. The celebration would not end without flowery speeches being made in which the tired children were promised that they would come to inherit a better Ghana than their grandparents and parents came to meet it.
After a good evening meal and drowning of a few gallons of wine, spirit and beer, the day had actually come to an end and the principal characters go on retirement to wait for another March Six.
At 52, even as a nation, Ghana has come of age. But has it been growing over the years? It is easy to answer this question by looking at those in our age group including those who are slightly younger or older than us. Immediately, names will begin to drop — China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and many others, of course not including our contemporaries on the continent who are in that leaking boat like us.
Some time ago, we (African, Latin American and most of the Asian countries) were being described as underdeveloped countries. We complained bitterly that that description did not suit us, since we believed that no matter the pace, we are also making some progress. To accommodate our sentiments, the rest of the world did us a favour by describing us developing countries.
Most of the Asian and Latin American countries, through pragmatic policies and visionary leadership over the years, have eased themselves out of that group of developing countries and for lack of better description are now called Emerging New Economies (ENE). Some are virtually at the doorsteps of the so-called developed countries but for a few development indices and the hypocrisy of the so-called league of developed countries to admit the truth that their days of glory are gone past.
Even though to soothe our psychological pain we may pretend to share things in common, there is no way we can belong to the group of countries such as Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia and the rest of the Asian Tigers. China’s methodical and determined advancement in science, technology and commerce was for years, blinded by Western propaganda which never gave any credit to that nation until the phenomenal explosion of China’s dominance on the international stage.
In comparative terms, it is easy to see a clear distinction between Ghana and its contemporaries in Asia and Latin America and that distinction does not make it look as if the country had been developing. What about when we take a look at our own progress over the years. I think we can only see ourselves developing if we are able to make improvement over what existed in the past. In that case even if the improvement is slow it still will amount to development, albeit not an encouraging one.
Unfortunately, that is not even the case. The general infrastructure existing today cannot seriously be said to be better than what existed in the past. If you take the educational infrastructure of today, it cannot compare favourably with what was in existence in the 60s and 70s when those who are managing the affairs of this country today were at school age. In a real developing situation, the children of today should have been enjoying better educational facilities than what their parents came to meet. Is that the case in the country?
The development of health facilities and other social amenities like water and sanitation facilities cannot match the pace of population growth.
Agriculturally, the country cannot in any way claim that it is doing better than it did 20 to 30 or more years ago. Food production is conspicuously lower than consumption and for a small country like Ghana with its relatively abundant resources, it is a sad commentary that it has to import food items from countries like Vietnam, Thailand, China, Burkina Faso, Mali, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa.
It is a sad spectacle to see the youth struggling in the scorching sun to sell grapes and apples from South Africa, Portugal, France and Spain, when locally produced oranges, mangoes, pear, banana, pineapple and other fruits rot away in the bush. From the streets, imported wine, fruit juices and vegetables dominate the shelves in our supermarkets. That itself tells a story of the state of the country’s agro-processing industry. The dominance of imported frozen meat of all sorts from different countries, a lot with questionable quality, is an indictment on our poultry and livestock industry.
Strangely, at 52, we still take pride in counting ourselves among the biggest producers of raw cocoa beans, unprocessed wood and unrefined gold. The industrial sector has virtually been stripped bare and the only thing we have improved upon over the years is the selling of foreign goods.
Every new government brings new hope. The President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, rekindled the dream of turning the Afram and Accra plains into the food basket of the nation when he harped upon the subject in his State of the Nation Address to Parliament three weeks ago. It is the hope of Ghanaians that this time it will not be another of those political talks that receive wild acclamation upon delivery and later consigned to the dustbins of history.
This is a country that has so much in abundance for food sufficiency that its worry should have been where to send the surplus. Unfortunately, we see the Volta flowing wastefully into the sea while we put severe strain on our little foreign reserves to import food from countries that come nowhere near us in terms of natural resources.
Ours had never been a question of resources but lack of ideas and commitment. We have turned the whole country into a giant trading post and everybody, including ministers of state who should spearhead the development drive, is in a frenzy to become net importers of all manner of commodities to the neglect of local industry.
The Accra-Tema Motorway, for instance, paints a sordid picture of how we have deteriorated over the years. A road which was constructed in the 60s to serve as a conduit between the national capital and the emerging industrial and port city of Tema and to announce our arrival as a newly independent nation has now become a death trap.
It is more or less a town road snaking through various residential and industrial settlements without the necessary corresponding upgrading and improvement. Driving on the motorway in the night can be a terrible experience. The lights that were to illuminate the road, by some grand design, do not function, and if they do, on only certain stretches of the road.
An attempt to bring some modernity at Tetteh-Quarshie has become a national disaster because we have chosen money over convenience and advancement. Matters are not better at the Tema end of the motorway because the small circle designed for fewer number of vehicles in the 60s cannot cope with the large volume of vehicles that flow from Accra and Tema towards the Aflao-Togo route, the Ho-Akosombo and beyond and the numerous settlements that have sprung up between Tema and Afienya.
Where we need to apply a little bit of imagination and diligently use our national resources to serve the nation, we find excuse in ‘the no money’ syndrome. But when it comes to frivolities we are second to none. That is why we are prepared to engage in endless and useless debate on how many vehicles should be given to a retiring President who already has more than enough to make a comfortable living for the rest of his life.
Gradually and maybe unconsciously, we are becoming a nation of cynics who use the greater part of our time, not thinking about moving this country forward but plotting how to dupe the nation or ditch one another. We dwell more on seeking revenge than focusing on the future and strategising for national development.
Our nation Ghana has come of age, but seriously speaking is suffering from stunted growth. Shall we say another opportunity has fallen on our laps with the arrival of a new government when we should endeavour to go beyond celebrating independence with march pasts in the scorching sun and point at landmarks as we progress as a nation?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
In the national capital, our President, just as has been customary of all others who have occupied the throne, took the salute as the schoolchildren marched past. The celebration would not end without flowery speeches being made in which the tired children were promised that they would come to inherit a better Ghana than their grandparents and parents came to meet it.
After a good evening meal and drowning of a few gallons of wine, spirit and beer, the day had actually come to an end and the principal characters go on retirement to wait for another March Six.
At 52, even as a nation, Ghana has come of age. But has it been growing over the years? It is easy to answer this question by looking at those in our age group including those who are slightly younger or older than us. Immediately, names will begin to drop — China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and many others, of course not including our contemporaries on the continent who are in that leaking boat like us.
Some time ago, we (African, Latin American and most of the Asian countries) were being described as underdeveloped countries. We complained bitterly that that description did not suit us, since we believed that no matter the pace, we are also making some progress. To accommodate our sentiments, the rest of the world did us a favour by describing us developing countries.
Most of the Asian and Latin American countries, through pragmatic policies and visionary leadership over the years, have eased themselves out of that group of developing countries and for lack of better description are now called Emerging New Economies (ENE). Some are virtually at the doorsteps of the so-called developed countries but for a few development indices and the hypocrisy of the so-called league of developed countries to admit the truth that their days of glory are gone past.
Even though to soothe our psychological pain we may pretend to share things in common, there is no way we can belong to the group of countries such as Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia and the rest of the Asian Tigers. China’s methodical and determined advancement in science, technology and commerce was for years, blinded by Western propaganda which never gave any credit to that nation until the phenomenal explosion of China’s dominance on the international stage.
In comparative terms, it is easy to see a clear distinction between Ghana and its contemporaries in Asia and Latin America and that distinction does not make it look as if the country had been developing. What about when we take a look at our own progress over the years. I think we can only see ourselves developing if we are able to make improvement over what existed in the past. In that case even if the improvement is slow it still will amount to development, albeit not an encouraging one.
Unfortunately, that is not even the case. The general infrastructure existing today cannot seriously be said to be better than what existed in the past. If you take the educational infrastructure of today, it cannot compare favourably with what was in existence in the 60s and 70s when those who are managing the affairs of this country today were at school age. In a real developing situation, the children of today should have been enjoying better educational facilities than what their parents came to meet. Is that the case in the country?
The development of health facilities and other social amenities like water and sanitation facilities cannot match the pace of population growth.
Agriculturally, the country cannot in any way claim that it is doing better than it did 20 to 30 or more years ago. Food production is conspicuously lower than consumption and for a small country like Ghana with its relatively abundant resources, it is a sad commentary that it has to import food items from countries like Vietnam, Thailand, China, Burkina Faso, Mali, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa.
It is a sad spectacle to see the youth struggling in the scorching sun to sell grapes and apples from South Africa, Portugal, France and Spain, when locally produced oranges, mangoes, pear, banana, pineapple and other fruits rot away in the bush. From the streets, imported wine, fruit juices and vegetables dominate the shelves in our supermarkets. That itself tells a story of the state of the country’s agro-processing industry. The dominance of imported frozen meat of all sorts from different countries, a lot with questionable quality, is an indictment on our poultry and livestock industry.
Strangely, at 52, we still take pride in counting ourselves among the biggest producers of raw cocoa beans, unprocessed wood and unrefined gold. The industrial sector has virtually been stripped bare and the only thing we have improved upon over the years is the selling of foreign goods.
Every new government brings new hope. The President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, rekindled the dream of turning the Afram and Accra plains into the food basket of the nation when he harped upon the subject in his State of the Nation Address to Parliament three weeks ago. It is the hope of Ghanaians that this time it will not be another of those political talks that receive wild acclamation upon delivery and later consigned to the dustbins of history.
This is a country that has so much in abundance for food sufficiency that its worry should have been where to send the surplus. Unfortunately, we see the Volta flowing wastefully into the sea while we put severe strain on our little foreign reserves to import food from countries that come nowhere near us in terms of natural resources.
Ours had never been a question of resources but lack of ideas and commitment. We have turned the whole country into a giant trading post and everybody, including ministers of state who should spearhead the development drive, is in a frenzy to become net importers of all manner of commodities to the neglect of local industry.
The Accra-Tema Motorway, for instance, paints a sordid picture of how we have deteriorated over the years. A road which was constructed in the 60s to serve as a conduit between the national capital and the emerging industrial and port city of Tema and to announce our arrival as a newly independent nation has now become a death trap.
It is more or less a town road snaking through various residential and industrial settlements without the necessary corresponding upgrading and improvement. Driving on the motorway in the night can be a terrible experience. The lights that were to illuminate the road, by some grand design, do not function, and if they do, on only certain stretches of the road.
An attempt to bring some modernity at Tetteh-Quarshie has become a national disaster because we have chosen money over convenience and advancement. Matters are not better at the Tema end of the motorway because the small circle designed for fewer number of vehicles in the 60s cannot cope with the large volume of vehicles that flow from Accra and Tema towards the Aflao-Togo route, the Ho-Akosombo and beyond and the numerous settlements that have sprung up between Tema and Afienya.
Where we need to apply a little bit of imagination and diligently use our national resources to serve the nation, we find excuse in ‘the no money’ syndrome. But when it comes to frivolities we are second to none. That is why we are prepared to engage in endless and useless debate on how many vehicles should be given to a retiring President who already has more than enough to make a comfortable living for the rest of his life.
Gradually and maybe unconsciously, we are becoming a nation of cynics who use the greater part of our time, not thinking about moving this country forward but plotting how to dupe the nation or ditch one another. We dwell more on seeking revenge than focusing on the future and strategising for national development.
Our nation Ghana has come of age, but seriously speaking is suffering from stunted growth. Shall we say another opportunity has fallen on our laps with the arrival of a new government when we should endeavour to go beyond celebrating independence with march pasts in the scorching sun and point at landmarks as we progress as a nation?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
DESTINATION INSPECTION COMPANIES...Are they still relevant? (TUESDAY, MARCH 17)
IN the year 2000, the first destination inspection company (DIC) pitched camp in town to do business in the country. Since then, three other DICs, namely, BIVAC International, Inspection and Control Services and Ghana Link Network, have joined the Gateway Services Limited (GSL) to engage in some core businesses on behalf of the Government of Ghana and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
These DICs were engaged to do price qualification and classification of goods on behalf of the government, build price database for CEPS and subsequently transfer the know-how to CEPS at the end of their contract terms so that CEPS could take over those responsibilities.
As payment for their services, these DICs receive one per cent commission on all transactions made on behalf of the government.
The idea of the DICs became relevant apparently under the assumption that CEPS was deficient in the technological know-how and human capacity to effectively and efficiently perform those functions ceded to the DICs.
To prepare for the ultimate taking over of the job specifications of the DICs, CEPS took certain steps, including attachment of its staff to these DICs for on-the-job training, while organising overseas training programmes for core staff in the relevant fields.
CEPS also invested in space and equipment by inaugurating a fully equipped and furnished Classification and Valuation Unit at Ridge in Accra in anticipation of fully taking over all core destination inspection functions by January 2009.
This is because apart from the GSL, whose original 10-year contract was due to end in 2010, all the other DICs were to end their operations by December 2008. Even though a one-year extension contract was given to them, the idea was to prepare the DICs for a gradual withdrawal, while CEPS consolidates its control over destination inspection.
Mr Emmanuel Doku, the CEPS Commissioner, in an address at the inauguration of the Classification and Valuation complex in October last year, proclaimed that CEPS was now ready to take over all inspection functions.
A study commissioned by the Ministry of Trade and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) came to the conclusion that CEPS should be fully in charge of destination works.
The report recommended that the contracts of the three DICs – BIVAC, Inspection and Control Services and Ghana Link Network — should not be renewed, while that of GSL should also not be renewed when it expired in 2010.
Already, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was not in favour of the operations of the DICs.
The benefits for the nation and other stakeholders in the event of CEPS taking over all core functions are many. In terms of revenue mobilisation and maximisation, the state will eliminate leakage in government revenue or at least reduce it drastically. The CEPS system will also reduce human intervention and thereby close the gaps for possible corruption.
There are records indicating that on several occasions valuation figures provided by the DICs fell below CEPS’ own figures when they came up for further verification. Most important, the transaction being executed online will be easily available and accessible to importers.
The question now is, why the delay in handing over this important business to CEPS, after importers, freight forwarders and other stakeholders had expressed their support for a take-over of the destination inspection by CEPS?
Also questionable is the declaration in January 2009 by the same CEPS Commissioner that his organisation, about which he boasted in October 2008 that it was ready to handle its core duties, could suddenly find itself no longer capable of executing those same functions.
Has CEPS suddenly lost its professional staff who were positioned to take over destination inspection duties in January this year? What about the Classification and Valuation edifice the CEPS Commissioner inaugurated in October 2008? Has it lost its equipment and furnishings so soon to render it useless?
Another strange thing which needs explanation is how an eight-year agreement was signed on December 28, 2008 which was a Sunday (non-working day) with a new company, Ghana Customs Inspection Limited, which is apparently an offshoot of Ghana Link Network, to do destination inspection work in the country.
How can another company be given such a long-term contract when CEPS was a few days away from taking over those duties? Who the owners of that company are and the motives behind such a contract are questions begging for answers.
Can CEPS be working against itself by declaring its readiness to take over destination inspection duties in one breath, while at the same time sponsoring another company to remove the meat from its mouth?
The country must not lose the opportunity to maximise its revenue collection on import duties, neither should it isolate itself from international norms. That is why whatever the stumbling blocks are on the path of CEPS, they should be removed immediately so that the service could fully assume its classification and valuation functions in the country without delay.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
These DICs were engaged to do price qualification and classification of goods on behalf of the government, build price database for CEPS and subsequently transfer the know-how to CEPS at the end of their contract terms so that CEPS could take over those responsibilities.
As payment for their services, these DICs receive one per cent commission on all transactions made on behalf of the government.
The idea of the DICs became relevant apparently under the assumption that CEPS was deficient in the technological know-how and human capacity to effectively and efficiently perform those functions ceded to the DICs.
To prepare for the ultimate taking over of the job specifications of the DICs, CEPS took certain steps, including attachment of its staff to these DICs for on-the-job training, while organising overseas training programmes for core staff in the relevant fields.
CEPS also invested in space and equipment by inaugurating a fully equipped and furnished Classification and Valuation Unit at Ridge in Accra in anticipation of fully taking over all core destination inspection functions by January 2009.
This is because apart from the GSL, whose original 10-year contract was due to end in 2010, all the other DICs were to end their operations by December 2008. Even though a one-year extension contract was given to them, the idea was to prepare the DICs for a gradual withdrawal, while CEPS consolidates its control over destination inspection.
Mr Emmanuel Doku, the CEPS Commissioner, in an address at the inauguration of the Classification and Valuation complex in October last year, proclaimed that CEPS was now ready to take over all inspection functions.
A study commissioned by the Ministry of Trade and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) came to the conclusion that CEPS should be fully in charge of destination works.
The report recommended that the contracts of the three DICs – BIVAC, Inspection and Control Services and Ghana Link Network — should not be renewed, while that of GSL should also not be renewed when it expired in 2010.
Already, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was not in favour of the operations of the DICs.
The benefits for the nation and other stakeholders in the event of CEPS taking over all core functions are many. In terms of revenue mobilisation and maximisation, the state will eliminate leakage in government revenue or at least reduce it drastically. The CEPS system will also reduce human intervention and thereby close the gaps for possible corruption.
There are records indicating that on several occasions valuation figures provided by the DICs fell below CEPS’ own figures when they came up for further verification. Most important, the transaction being executed online will be easily available and accessible to importers.
The question now is, why the delay in handing over this important business to CEPS, after importers, freight forwarders and other stakeholders had expressed their support for a take-over of the destination inspection by CEPS?
Also questionable is the declaration in January 2009 by the same CEPS Commissioner that his organisation, about which he boasted in October 2008 that it was ready to handle its core duties, could suddenly find itself no longer capable of executing those same functions.
Has CEPS suddenly lost its professional staff who were positioned to take over destination inspection duties in January this year? What about the Classification and Valuation edifice the CEPS Commissioner inaugurated in October 2008? Has it lost its equipment and furnishings so soon to render it useless?
Another strange thing which needs explanation is how an eight-year agreement was signed on December 28, 2008 which was a Sunday (non-working day) with a new company, Ghana Customs Inspection Limited, which is apparently an offshoot of Ghana Link Network, to do destination inspection work in the country.
How can another company be given such a long-term contract when CEPS was a few days away from taking over those duties? Who the owners of that company are and the motives behind such a contract are questions begging for answers.
Can CEPS be working against itself by declaring its readiness to take over destination inspection duties in one breath, while at the same time sponsoring another company to remove the meat from its mouth?
The country must not lose the opportunity to maximise its revenue collection on import duties, neither should it isolate itself from international norms. That is why whatever the stumbling blocks are on the path of CEPS, they should be removed immediately so that the service could fully assume its classification and valuation functions in the country without delay.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The Chameleons are here
By Kofi Akordor
On Thursday, February 19, 2009, the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, delivered his maiden State of Nation address to Parliament as prescribed by the 1992 Republican Constitution. In simple terms, in the State of the Nation address, the President is to render account to Ghanaians on the true state of Ghana, outlining among other things, the state of the economy, social and industrial infrastructure, security and national stability and to tell the citizens how he is going to remedy the weaknesses identified and sustain and improve upon the gains made.
Even though it is reasonable to expect that some people may have political interest in the State of the Nation address, its importance and significance go beyond partisan considerations. Our interest as a nation is as to whether the address has identified our problems or not and as to whether the President has outlined strategies and programmes to address our concern.
It is, therefore, necessary that as much as possible, discussions on the State of the Nation address are handled by serious-minded persons in a fair and objective manner devoid of any party coloration.
Multiparty democracy demands that political parties take a critical look at the programmes and policies of their opponents and hammer on their weak points to advantage. That is good for the political game but not necessarily for the sake of it. Where national interest is at stake, an impartial and fair discussion on matters will serve a more useful purpose than mere politicking.
It is our life, our fate and our future that are at stake and, therefore, the address needs to be subjected to a critical analysis so that the President and his advisors, if they value public opinion, fair comment and objective criticism, will draw useful lessons from the debate and enrich the national agenda for development
That is why any attempt to turn the discussion into another political funfair of condemnations and praise singing should not be countenanced. On Friday, February 20, 2009, panellists were just warming themselves up for a discussion programme on the State of the Nation address on Ghana Television (GTV), a Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) television network’s Breakfast Show, when there was an abrupt stoppage.
Many thought the programme might have been a victim of the country’s erratic power supply system, more so when the host told viewers that the programme had suffered a technical hitch. Later there were rumours that the long arms of faceless but powerful figures in political authority were interfering with the programme. Then came the information that the programme was stopped in that abrupt manner on the orders of Mr William Ampem Darko, the Director-General of the GBC.
Mr Ampem Darko confirmed in his own words that he caused the abrupt end of the programme with the explanation that the panel was skewed in favour of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which had two panellists as against the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) one panellist. In the first place, why should a discussion on the President’s State of the Nation address on a national network be a matter between the NPP and the NDC?
What type of balance was the Director-General of GBC aiming at that compelled him to disrupt a national programme that was already in motion? The position of Mr Dan Botwe, Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere, that Mr Ampem Darko’s action was only to court the affection of the NDC cannot be brushed aside. Since when did it dawn on him that there is something called balance, when managing a national asset like GBC? If the Director-General had conducted himself professionally when it mattered most, he would not have found himself in this tight situation, where he is compelled to behave like an overzealous convert, in trying to interpret the rule of fairness, equity and objectivity.
Mr Ampem Darko, by that action, might have been trying to couch a new image for himself as someone who knows the rules and wants to play by them. Unfortunately, he has ended up exposing that characteristic common with most Ghanaians, who at the least opportunity change their tunes. He has also succeeded in creating a bad image for the government, since many Ghanaians were interpreting that Friday’s interruption as an attempt by the new government to overpower dissent or opposing views by emasculating the media, especially those that are state-owned.
Those who work in the media will testify about the pressures that practitioners have to overcome. This even becomes more serious for those who work in the state-owned media, where those in political power want to have their way. The dilemma of Mr Ampem Darko, and many others, can, therefore, be well understood.
Notwithstanding that, it is still possible for those who want to exhibit true professional standards to do so, if even in a limited way. Very often, some media practitioners are just in a hurry to please people in authority when even no pressure has been exerted on them. They are just happy playing the sycophantic game and satisfied with the falling crumbs that go with them without any regard for honour and integrity. Journalists are supposed to be fair and objective in their professional practice and I think if they should take sides, they should be on the side of the poor, oppressed and marginalised and not those who wield enormous state power, which they use to inflict more hardships on the people.
A combination of sycophancy and opportunism on the part of the media only destroys the nation and brings bad image and damnation to the governments we claim to be sheltering.
This is a new government and Mr Ampem Darko’s action was going to set it on a collision course with the public and dent its image even before it sets its feet down to do serious business.
During the election, we saw how people denounced their parties and celebrated their switch of allegiances. Some had dreams and some visions. Today, they will be wondering why they were driven by survival instincts to make fools out of themselves.
With a new government in place, sooner than later, we should expect more of the type of Mr Ampem Darko, who, like a chameleon, will begin to change colours to match the new environment. Those, who just yesterday, saw Professor Mills too sick to govern this country, will soon start pouring praises on him. Survive, we must, but it pays to operate within standards and with principles. At least those who are entrusted with state institutions should be bold enough to operate within the rules and even suffer the consequences so that they do not find themselves in a situation where their immediate past masters will begin to ridicule them in public for selling their conscience to them, when they should not have done so, while on the other hand, the new masters doubt their loyalty.
It is generally known that our politics is full of vindictiveness. But good and fair-minded people cannot fail to spot out those who have held their offices professionally and kept level heads in extreme conditions. Such persons should not fear any change in government.
Mr Ampem Darko will surely suffer scorn and disdain from his NPP colleagues and he should not think that his newly cultivated acrobatic stunts will endear him to those in the NDC either. He should have exhibited the qualities of independence, fairness and objectivity towards the parties when they were all in the trench fighting for the votes of Ghanaians. The NPP for all you know might not have given any instructions to the Director-General to be biased against any party during Election 2008. But as had been proved over last weekend’s incident, Mr Ampem Darko might have taken certain decisions to please the government of the day and once those decisions were pleasant to the government, the men and women in authority will remain silent. But in doing that, his professional integrity will be on the line. That is why today, he finds himself in this quagmire. But as it is now, both ways he is a loser.
On Thursday, February 19, 2009, the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, delivered his maiden State of Nation address to Parliament as prescribed by the 1992 Republican Constitution. In simple terms, in the State of the Nation address, the President is to render account to Ghanaians on the true state of Ghana, outlining among other things, the state of the economy, social and industrial infrastructure, security and national stability and to tell the citizens how he is going to remedy the weaknesses identified and sustain and improve upon the gains made.
Even though it is reasonable to expect that some people may have political interest in the State of the Nation address, its importance and significance go beyond partisan considerations. Our interest as a nation is as to whether the address has identified our problems or not and as to whether the President has outlined strategies and programmes to address our concern.
It is, therefore, necessary that as much as possible, discussions on the State of the Nation address are handled by serious-minded persons in a fair and objective manner devoid of any party coloration.
Multiparty democracy demands that political parties take a critical look at the programmes and policies of their opponents and hammer on their weak points to advantage. That is good for the political game but not necessarily for the sake of it. Where national interest is at stake, an impartial and fair discussion on matters will serve a more useful purpose than mere politicking.
It is our life, our fate and our future that are at stake and, therefore, the address needs to be subjected to a critical analysis so that the President and his advisors, if they value public opinion, fair comment and objective criticism, will draw useful lessons from the debate and enrich the national agenda for development
That is why any attempt to turn the discussion into another political funfair of condemnations and praise singing should not be countenanced. On Friday, February 20, 2009, panellists were just warming themselves up for a discussion programme on the State of the Nation address on Ghana Television (GTV), a Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) television network’s Breakfast Show, when there was an abrupt stoppage.
Many thought the programme might have been a victim of the country’s erratic power supply system, more so when the host told viewers that the programme had suffered a technical hitch. Later there were rumours that the long arms of faceless but powerful figures in political authority were interfering with the programme. Then came the information that the programme was stopped in that abrupt manner on the orders of Mr William Ampem Darko, the Director-General of the GBC.
Mr Ampem Darko confirmed in his own words that he caused the abrupt end of the programme with the explanation that the panel was skewed in favour of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which had two panellists as against the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) one panellist. In the first place, why should a discussion on the President’s State of the Nation address on a national network be a matter between the NPP and the NDC?
What type of balance was the Director-General of GBC aiming at that compelled him to disrupt a national programme that was already in motion? The position of Mr Dan Botwe, Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere, that Mr Ampem Darko’s action was only to court the affection of the NDC cannot be brushed aside. Since when did it dawn on him that there is something called balance, when managing a national asset like GBC? If the Director-General had conducted himself professionally when it mattered most, he would not have found himself in this tight situation, where he is compelled to behave like an overzealous convert, in trying to interpret the rule of fairness, equity and objectivity.
Mr Ampem Darko, by that action, might have been trying to couch a new image for himself as someone who knows the rules and wants to play by them. Unfortunately, he has ended up exposing that characteristic common with most Ghanaians, who at the least opportunity change their tunes. He has also succeeded in creating a bad image for the government, since many Ghanaians were interpreting that Friday’s interruption as an attempt by the new government to overpower dissent or opposing views by emasculating the media, especially those that are state-owned.
Those who work in the media will testify about the pressures that practitioners have to overcome. This even becomes more serious for those who work in the state-owned media, where those in political power want to have their way. The dilemma of Mr Ampem Darko, and many others, can, therefore, be well understood.
Notwithstanding that, it is still possible for those who want to exhibit true professional standards to do so, if even in a limited way. Very often, some media practitioners are just in a hurry to please people in authority when even no pressure has been exerted on them. They are just happy playing the sycophantic game and satisfied with the falling crumbs that go with them without any regard for honour and integrity. Journalists are supposed to be fair and objective in their professional practice and I think if they should take sides, they should be on the side of the poor, oppressed and marginalised and not those who wield enormous state power, which they use to inflict more hardships on the people.
A combination of sycophancy and opportunism on the part of the media only destroys the nation and brings bad image and damnation to the governments we claim to be sheltering.
This is a new government and Mr Ampem Darko’s action was going to set it on a collision course with the public and dent its image even before it sets its feet down to do serious business.
During the election, we saw how people denounced their parties and celebrated their switch of allegiances. Some had dreams and some visions. Today, they will be wondering why they were driven by survival instincts to make fools out of themselves.
With a new government in place, sooner than later, we should expect more of the type of Mr Ampem Darko, who, like a chameleon, will begin to change colours to match the new environment. Those, who just yesterday, saw Professor Mills too sick to govern this country, will soon start pouring praises on him. Survive, we must, but it pays to operate within standards and with principles. At least those who are entrusted with state institutions should be bold enough to operate within the rules and even suffer the consequences so that they do not find themselves in a situation where their immediate past masters will begin to ridicule them in public for selling their conscience to them, when they should not have done so, while on the other hand, the new masters doubt their loyalty.
It is generally known that our politics is full of vindictiveness. But good and fair-minded people cannot fail to spot out those who have held their offices professionally and kept level heads in extreme conditions. Such persons should not fear any change in government.
Mr Ampem Darko will surely suffer scorn and disdain from his NPP colleagues and he should not think that his newly cultivated acrobatic stunts will endear him to those in the NDC either. He should have exhibited the qualities of independence, fairness and objectivity towards the parties when they were all in the trench fighting for the votes of Ghanaians. The NPP for all you know might not have given any instructions to the Director-General to be biased against any party during Election 2008. But as had been proved over last weekend’s incident, Mr Ampem Darko might have taken certain decisions to please the government of the day and once those decisions were pleasant to the government, the men and women in authority will remain silent. But in doing that, his professional integrity will be on the line. That is why today, he finds himself in this quagmire. But as it is now, both ways he is a loser.
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