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