By Kofi Akordor
LAWS are made to regulate human behaviour. Where it becomes necessary, sanctions are applied as a form of punishment to serve as a deterrent to others who may be tempted to breach the law. Above all we have been told countless times that the penal system is geared more towards reformation and not to destroy or dehumanise.
Of course criminals such as murderers and armed robbers who suffer capital punishment may not have any opportunity of reforms since they are likely to spend the rest of their lives in jail in the absence of death penalty, which though in the statute books had not been applied for a very long time now.
Granted that our penal system is driven by the philosophy of reformation, we need to take a hard look at our court system and determine whether it meets this broad objective of reforming persons who have breached the law and offer them the opportunity to reintegrate into society as better and useful citizens.
Even though the argument could be made that the courts are exercising their judicial authority as prescribed by law, we are still of the belief that the courts or judges still have some discretionary powers which they exercise in certain critical situations.
Without trying to impute wrong-doing on the part of our judges, it is a general concern that some of the sentences imposed on teenagers and young adults are so outrageous that they could only serve as deterrents but not to reform by any stretch of imagination.
An 18-year-old who is jailed for 50 years for serious crime cannot be said to be on the path of reform, since a life that had barely began would have come to its end should he survive and serve the full sentence.
The police would argue that their job is to arrest and prosecute those who violate the law. The courts will also justify their decisions by saying they are only exacting penalties as prescribed by law. It is important that all stakeholders including the lawmakers, the law enforcements and the administrators of justice put their heads together to address some of the issues so that they do not remain a burden of one party alone.
A few cases may illustrate the point. In the first case, a 20-year-old young man was jailed 20 years in December last year for robbing a junior high school student of two mobile phones at knife point.
In a second case which is still in court, two students of Accra Academy were arrested for robbing a boutique in Dzorwulu, an Accra suburb. A third student was handed over to the police by his own father. The three students were aged 17, 18 and 19. We are yet to know the outcome of this case so we shall rest it for now.
The third case which attracted banner headlines, two students of the Keta Business High School aged 19 and 20 years were jailed 30 years each for robbery and five years each for conspiracy by an Aflao Circuit Court.
Emmanuel Nartey, 19, and Hope Dotse, 20, were said to have robbed a young woman of her mobile phone after one of them put his hand in his pocket pretending to be pulling out a gun.
The two boys were lucky because the harsh sentence attracted the sympathetic intervention of two members of parliament – Mr Richard
Lassey Agbenyefia (Keta) and Mr Clement Kofi Humado (Anlo) and a lawyer, Mr Chris Ackumey, who took the case up on an appeal.
The boys were freed by a Ho High Court. There are fundamental issues that need to be addressed. There was no evidence that any of the two students actually pulled out a gun so the charge of robbery becomes weak and a charge of stealing could have been better.
Also both the accused and the victim live in the same community and know themselves very well and for all you know what was being described as robbery could have been some childish pranks usually associated with students.
There is no doubt that the students did not act well but should they suffer the same penalty as those who rob violently? A mild sentence based on a charge of stealing or even a caution and a bond to be of good behaviour could have served the purpose of deterrent and at the same time reform the students for a better life.
We all know that the robbery has become a social menace that should be uprooted by all means. We also know that crime at all levels including juvenile, should be fought with all the means available to the state apparatus but that should not take away our power of discretion.
We know the problems of overcrowding and inadequate facilities confronting our prisons already so the least we could do is to cram these prisons with teenagers and juveniles when there could be an alternative ways of reforming youngsters most of whom have barely started their adult lives.
In the case of the students of Keta Business High School, the question is what would have been their future if the three gentlemen did not appeal their case and win? Would they have served 30 years of their active lives behind bars because of one mobile phone?
It was obvious that the jail sentence was not to reform but to destroy them for life even before they have started their life’s journey.
Very often, young offenders find themselves in prison for long jail terms for possessing marijuana when big time drug barons and their accomplices are walking free on the corridors of authority. The courts will say that is the law at work. Yes, but the law was made for man by man so we can straighten the rough edges if we have come to realise that the law, as it is now, is doing more damage to our national security and development.
The penal system itself needs reform and it is only fair that the institutions sit up to determine how to address deviant behaviour especially among the youth without necessarily cutting short their hopes and aspirations.
A lot of them who waste away in prisons could easily become the professionals that we desperately need for our national development. Sentencing a teenager to a jail term of 10, 15, 20, 30 years and more cannot have anything to do with reformation- at least not in our prisons which lack the facilities to train inmates in various vocations. It is better we make the effort and fail than when we do not make the attempt at all.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The police service and charity
By Kofi Akordor
The Ghana Police Service, under the Police Service Act 1970 (Act 350), has a clear mandate to maintain law and order. This translates into crime prevention and detection, apprehension and prosecution of offenders and to generally enforce the law to ensure that the security and safety of the citizenry are safeguarded.
Briefly, by their mandate, the police are to protect all and also to ensure that all conform to the laws of the land, a necessity that would guarantee internal stability, security and social harmony.
This is a broad mandate that, as would be expected, can only be executed effectively, if the Ghana Police Service is well resourced both materially and with the requisite personnel.
With a population of approximately 24 million and a police/civilian ratio of 1:1,200, the police service is overwhelmingly outnumbered and could, therefore, do with additional personnel. But this is constrained by a more serious problem – materials and logistics.
The authorities including government officials have always maintained that even though there is the need for additional hands, they can only do so if some major challenges facing the service are removed. These include inadequate office and residential accommodation.
Most of our police stations are housed in rented premises or in buildings constructed in the colonial times when the numbers were small and the mandate of the service very limited. The history of the service itself points to an institution that had as its core mandate, the protection of the interests of the colonial power.
After independence, even though numbers increased and the mandate and scope of the service increased, there was very little in terms of improved infrastructure. Nowhere was this evident more than the residential accommodation for service personnel. The cubicle for a family person with wife/wives and children is so small that the difference between them and those they have consigned into custody is very little.
Office accommodation for the service is very poor. During the Acheampong regime, a brave effort was made to build modern headquarters for all the regional commands. It is sad to say that more than 40 years after that regime came to an end, none of the regional police headquarters have been completed.
That lives us with the question: “Where do we place the Ghana Police Service in our scheme of things?” Efforts to address the situation are always piecemeal and the budgets for infrastructure are so meagre that at the end of the day, the effects are insignificant.
This has forced the administration to rent private premises for office and accommodation or simply leave the service personnel to sort things out on their own. That is where our problem lies. Apart from the inconvenience to service personnel, this type of arrangement greatly compromises the integrity and neutrality of the service in executing its mandate impartially and effectively.
The closest this current administration came to solving this accommodation problem confronting the service and other security agencies was the STX Housing initiative which targeted 30,000 housing units for the security agencies. It seems the death knell has been sounded for that project, unless the government can quickly put together another package with fresh partners to push forward its housing agenda.
Accommodation apart, the service is seriously constrained by lack of basic tools of their profession. Occasionally, we hear pleas from the authorities calling on individuals and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the service, which receive positive responses.
Public response have been varied. They include the donation of things like torches, reflector jackets, Wellington boots, computers, communication gadgets and vehicles for patrol duties. While these gestures are laudable and need commendation, they live in their trail, tendencies that could easily corrupt the service in the discharge of its mandate for obvious reasons.
Remember you cannot bite the hand that feeds you and the police service would be the last to show ingratitude to its benefactors whether as individuals or corporate bodies. Without trying to put the integrity of the service on the line, the police service is the last public institution that should be sustained on charity.
The reasons as stated earlier are obvious. Even a lift from a taxi driver will have its consequences that would not augur well for combating crime or dispensing justice in a fair, firm and impartial manner.
Individuals and corporate bodies can extend their corporate social responsibility to areas such as schools, health facilities, orphanages or even the fire and prison services. But these largesse should not be extended to the police service, otherwise we should not expect them to deliver on their mandate without bending the rules.
Just like week, Global Haulage Company donated 500 pieces of reflector jackets to the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service. That was a noble gesture by all means that should be commended. But what happens if say, a driver of Global Haulage Company should flout traffic regulations? Anything can happen but please do not tell me the law will take its natural course, because that course has been obscured by a gift of jackets. I say for the second time, you cannot bite the hand that feeds you, and they say, one good turn deserves another.
So what stops people with dubious minds or agenda from rushing to make donations to the police before putting their grand diabolic designs into action? That is why some of us would wish that the state takes full responsibility for equipping certain state institutions, especially where national security and justice delivery are concerned.
Those office accommodation structures started by the Acheampong regime more than four decades ago that have remained monuments of neglect should be reactivated and completed as early as possible. The government should also explore other avenues to raise capital to build residential accommodation for our policemen and women. The idea of the police service receiving material donations from individuals and corporate institutions should be discouraged.
The Ghana Police Service should not be allowed to rely on the public for logistic support since it opens the service to exploitation and abuse. The strength of the nation depends on a well-trained and highly-equipped police service. No amount spent on the service should be considered misplaced. All governments have expressed their determinaton and commitment to provide the service with the requisite logistic support. But the service could sill do with more vehicles, communication equipment and other accroutments of their trade for effective performance.
If we cannot do for others, at least we must ensure the police service operates as an independent and autonomous institution as much as possible. So that when they fail they do not feed us with excuses.
Our national security, our safety and protection as citizens and the sanctity of our laws and regulations cannot be sacrificed on the altar of charity.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
The Ghana Police Service, under the Police Service Act 1970 (Act 350), has a clear mandate to maintain law and order. This translates into crime prevention and detection, apprehension and prosecution of offenders and to generally enforce the law to ensure that the security and safety of the citizenry are safeguarded.
Briefly, by their mandate, the police are to protect all and also to ensure that all conform to the laws of the land, a necessity that would guarantee internal stability, security and social harmony.
This is a broad mandate that, as would be expected, can only be executed effectively, if the Ghana Police Service is well resourced both materially and with the requisite personnel.
With a population of approximately 24 million and a police/civilian ratio of 1:1,200, the police service is overwhelmingly outnumbered and could, therefore, do with additional personnel. But this is constrained by a more serious problem – materials and logistics.
The authorities including government officials have always maintained that even though there is the need for additional hands, they can only do so if some major challenges facing the service are removed. These include inadequate office and residential accommodation.
Most of our police stations are housed in rented premises or in buildings constructed in the colonial times when the numbers were small and the mandate of the service very limited. The history of the service itself points to an institution that had as its core mandate, the protection of the interests of the colonial power.
After independence, even though numbers increased and the mandate and scope of the service increased, there was very little in terms of improved infrastructure. Nowhere was this evident more than the residential accommodation for service personnel. The cubicle for a family person with wife/wives and children is so small that the difference between them and those they have consigned into custody is very little.
Office accommodation for the service is very poor. During the Acheampong regime, a brave effort was made to build modern headquarters for all the regional commands. It is sad to say that more than 40 years after that regime came to an end, none of the regional police headquarters have been completed.
That lives us with the question: “Where do we place the Ghana Police Service in our scheme of things?” Efforts to address the situation are always piecemeal and the budgets for infrastructure are so meagre that at the end of the day, the effects are insignificant.
This has forced the administration to rent private premises for office and accommodation or simply leave the service personnel to sort things out on their own. That is where our problem lies. Apart from the inconvenience to service personnel, this type of arrangement greatly compromises the integrity and neutrality of the service in executing its mandate impartially and effectively.
The closest this current administration came to solving this accommodation problem confronting the service and other security agencies was the STX Housing initiative which targeted 30,000 housing units for the security agencies. It seems the death knell has been sounded for that project, unless the government can quickly put together another package with fresh partners to push forward its housing agenda.
Accommodation apart, the service is seriously constrained by lack of basic tools of their profession. Occasionally, we hear pleas from the authorities calling on individuals and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the service, which receive positive responses.
Public response have been varied. They include the donation of things like torches, reflector jackets, Wellington boots, computers, communication gadgets and vehicles for patrol duties. While these gestures are laudable and need commendation, they live in their trail, tendencies that could easily corrupt the service in the discharge of its mandate for obvious reasons.
Remember you cannot bite the hand that feeds you and the police service would be the last to show ingratitude to its benefactors whether as individuals or corporate bodies. Without trying to put the integrity of the service on the line, the police service is the last public institution that should be sustained on charity.
The reasons as stated earlier are obvious. Even a lift from a taxi driver will have its consequences that would not augur well for combating crime or dispensing justice in a fair, firm and impartial manner.
Individuals and corporate bodies can extend their corporate social responsibility to areas such as schools, health facilities, orphanages or even the fire and prison services. But these largesse should not be extended to the police service, otherwise we should not expect them to deliver on their mandate without bending the rules.
Just like week, Global Haulage Company donated 500 pieces of reflector jackets to the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service. That was a noble gesture by all means that should be commended. But what happens if say, a driver of Global Haulage Company should flout traffic regulations? Anything can happen but please do not tell me the law will take its natural course, because that course has been obscured by a gift of jackets. I say for the second time, you cannot bite the hand that feeds you, and they say, one good turn deserves another.
So what stops people with dubious minds or agenda from rushing to make donations to the police before putting their grand diabolic designs into action? That is why some of us would wish that the state takes full responsibility for equipping certain state institutions, especially where national security and justice delivery are concerned.
Those office accommodation structures started by the Acheampong regime more than four decades ago that have remained monuments of neglect should be reactivated and completed as early as possible. The government should also explore other avenues to raise capital to build residential accommodation for our policemen and women. The idea of the police service receiving material donations from individuals and corporate institutions should be discouraged.
The Ghana Police Service should not be allowed to rely on the public for logistic support since it opens the service to exploitation and abuse. The strength of the nation depends on a well-trained and highly-equipped police service. No amount spent on the service should be considered misplaced. All governments have expressed their determinaton and commitment to provide the service with the requisite logistic support. But the service could sill do with more vehicles, communication equipment and other accroutments of their trade for effective performance.
If we cannot do for others, at least we must ensure the police service operates as an independent and autonomous institution as much as possible. So that when they fail they do not feed us with excuses.
Our national security, our safety and protection as citizens and the sanctity of our laws and regulations cannot be sacrificed on the altar of charity.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
AU stands accused
By Kofi Akordor
The political upheaval which swept across North Africa at the beginning of last year cannot be forgotten so soon. What started as a young man’s protestations against the harsh economic conditions in his country Tunisia snowballed beyond expectation.
On December 17, 2010, Mohammed Bouazizi, described as a fruit seller, set himself ablaze for what he considered harassment from the city authorities. That set in motion violent protests all over Tunisia, spilling across borders into other parts of North Africa.
The first casualty was President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia who had to beat a hasty retreat and fled to Saudi Arabia. The Jasmine Revolution or the Arab Spring as the protests became known, cleared Hosni Mubarak of Egypt from power.
The last to go was Col Muhammad Gaddafi whose 42 years of dictatorship came to a bloody and humiliating end in October, 2011.
As we reflect over events of last year, we need to factor in the role the African Union (AU) played in the upheavals, the invasion of the continent by foreign troops and the eventual overthrow of those leaders.
At the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the AU in 2002, African leaders pledged to emphasise the democratisation of the political process on the continent. They also committed to isolating all forms of dictatorship and nurturing a vibrant democratic culture which would in turn push forward the agenda of economic emancipation.
They opined reasonably that once the liberation struggle, which was spearheaded by the OAU, had come to an end, it had become more important to direct attention to economic development which is a weak spot on the continent, notwithstanding its rich and abundant resources.
Ironically, one of the strongest driving forces behind the formation of the AU was Libya’s Col Gaddafi, one of the longest serving leaders on the continent who came to power in 1969, overthrowing King Idris.
Straight away it became obvious it was going to be a Herculean task for the new AU to live up to its commitment to democratic governance and the rule of law. The AU also took on board veterans such as Paul Biya of Cameroun, Omar Bongo of Gabon, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda none of whom had shown any signs of relinquishing political power through democratic means.
Having inherited this heavy baggage of dictators and having failed to make multiparty democracy a pre-condition for membership of the AU, the new continental body became nothing but a huge farce which could not instil any democratic discipline among its members.
So it became the norm that the dictatorships became monarchies with sons taking over from their fathers. So Faure Gnasingbe took over from his father, Gnasingbe Eyadema; Joseph Kabila took over from his father Laurent Kabila; Ben Ali Bongo took over from his father Omar Bongo.
Before their overthrow, there were clear indications that Col. Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak were preparing the ground for their sons to take over from them. Currently, Senegal is in a turmoil because of rumours that President Abdoulaye Wade is grooming one of his sons to take over from him in future.
Apart from its failure to impress upon members to adhere to democratic principles, the AU looked powerless in the face of numerous electoral frauds which characterised many elections on the continent.
In January, 2008, Kenya, a country with peaceful credentials, exploded into sectarian violence which claimed hundreds of lives over electoral dispute. Our own beloved country, Ghana, came close to the brink of instability in December 2008 over the same electoral challenges with the then ruling New Patriotic Party and the main opposition National Democratic Congress.
Last year, it took French forces to dislodge Laurent Gbagbo from power after disputed polls, while the AU and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) played second fiddle to the French and other foreign powers.
Such was the ineffectiveness of the AU that the events of last year in North Africa could not be described as strange and unexpected. The leading role that was expected of the AU when the Jasmine Revolution was set in motion was absent.
That gave room for NATO and the US who had their own axe to grind with Gaddafi to put their grand agenda into motion. That last person to be treated so shabbily by the AU is Gaddafi, who, despite all his problems, poured a lot of funds into the AU and its predecessor, the OAU, whose liberation fund he poured copious amounts of money into.
If the AU had intervened earlier with much purpose and decisively, who knows, the revolution might not have taken so many lives and destroyed infrastructure which had taken many years to build. But as events proved, the AU allowed foreign powers to play their games on our continent with impunity.
Clearly, the AU is playing very little leadership role on the continent and it is time it began to make itself relevant in the affairs of the continent. On the political front, the AU must be able to define clearly, what constitutes good governance and makes sure all members operate within that framework.
It must be prepared to suspend or even expel countries that fell short of democratic governance. While it may not be able to prescribe specific constitutions for member countries, it should be in a position to supervise and police political affairs in member countries.
The tendency of African presidents amending constitutions to prolong their rule like the recent one in Cameroun and Senegal should call for swift action from the AU. It must also work against the creation of modern-day political monarchies which is gaining root on the continent.
Gaddafi is dead but the AU owe him an apology for betraying him and abandoning him when it mattered most. The same is for Hosni Mubarak, who, instead of enjoying his old age with his children and grandchildren, has to be ferried to court on a stretcher to answer charges of corruption and murder.
If the AU had acted well and purged itself of such dictators and prevented the creation of new ones, the Arab Spring would not have swept over the continent. That is why the AU cannot escape blame for the events of last year and for the continued stay in power of some of the continent’s dictators.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
The political upheaval which swept across North Africa at the beginning of last year cannot be forgotten so soon. What started as a young man’s protestations against the harsh economic conditions in his country Tunisia snowballed beyond expectation.
On December 17, 2010, Mohammed Bouazizi, described as a fruit seller, set himself ablaze for what he considered harassment from the city authorities. That set in motion violent protests all over Tunisia, spilling across borders into other parts of North Africa.
The first casualty was President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia who had to beat a hasty retreat and fled to Saudi Arabia. The Jasmine Revolution or the Arab Spring as the protests became known, cleared Hosni Mubarak of Egypt from power.
The last to go was Col Muhammad Gaddafi whose 42 years of dictatorship came to a bloody and humiliating end in October, 2011.
As we reflect over events of last year, we need to factor in the role the African Union (AU) played in the upheavals, the invasion of the continent by foreign troops and the eventual overthrow of those leaders.
At the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the AU in 2002, African leaders pledged to emphasise the democratisation of the political process on the continent. They also committed to isolating all forms of dictatorship and nurturing a vibrant democratic culture which would in turn push forward the agenda of economic emancipation.
They opined reasonably that once the liberation struggle, which was spearheaded by the OAU, had come to an end, it had become more important to direct attention to economic development which is a weak spot on the continent, notwithstanding its rich and abundant resources.
Ironically, one of the strongest driving forces behind the formation of the AU was Libya’s Col Gaddafi, one of the longest serving leaders on the continent who came to power in 1969, overthrowing King Idris.
Straight away it became obvious it was going to be a Herculean task for the new AU to live up to its commitment to democratic governance and the rule of law. The AU also took on board veterans such as Paul Biya of Cameroun, Omar Bongo of Gabon, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda none of whom had shown any signs of relinquishing political power through democratic means.
Having inherited this heavy baggage of dictators and having failed to make multiparty democracy a pre-condition for membership of the AU, the new continental body became nothing but a huge farce which could not instil any democratic discipline among its members.
So it became the norm that the dictatorships became monarchies with sons taking over from their fathers. So Faure Gnasingbe took over from his father, Gnasingbe Eyadema; Joseph Kabila took over from his father Laurent Kabila; Ben Ali Bongo took over from his father Omar Bongo.
Before their overthrow, there were clear indications that Col. Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak were preparing the ground for their sons to take over from them. Currently, Senegal is in a turmoil because of rumours that President Abdoulaye Wade is grooming one of his sons to take over from him in future.
Apart from its failure to impress upon members to adhere to democratic principles, the AU looked powerless in the face of numerous electoral frauds which characterised many elections on the continent.
In January, 2008, Kenya, a country with peaceful credentials, exploded into sectarian violence which claimed hundreds of lives over electoral dispute. Our own beloved country, Ghana, came close to the brink of instability in December 2008 over the same electoral challenges with the then ruling New Patriotic Party and the main opposition National Democratic Congress.
Last year, it took French forces to dislodge Laurent Gbagbo from power after disputed polls, while the AU and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) played second fiddle to the French and other foreign powers.
Such was the ineffectiveness of the AU that the events of last year in North Africa could not be described as strange and unexpected. The leading role that was expected of the AU when the Jasmine Revolution was set in motion was absent.
That gave room for NATO and the US who had their own axe to grind with Gaddafi to put their grand agenda into motion. That last person to be treated so shabbily by the AU is Gaddafi, who, despite all his problems, poured a lot of funds into the AU and its predecessor, the OAU, whose liberation fund he poured copious amounts of money into.
If the AU had intervened earlier with much purpose and decisively, who knows, the revolution might not have taken so many lives and destroyed infrastructure which had taken many years to build. But as events proved, the AU allowed foreign powers to play their games on our continent with impunity.
Clearly, the AU is playing very little leadership role on the continent and it is time it began to make itself relevant in the affairs of the continent. On the political front, the AU must be able to define clearly, what constitutes good governance and makes sure all members operate within that framework.
It must be prepared to suspend or even expel countries that fell short of democratic governance. While it may not be able to prescribe specific constitutions for member countries, it should be in a position to supervise and police political affairs in member countries.
The tendency of African presidents amending constitutions to prolong their rule like the recent one in Cameroun and Senegal should call for swift action from the AU. It must also work against the creation of modern-day political monarchies which is gaining root on the continent.
Gaddafi is dead but the AU owe him an apology for betraying him and abandoning him when it mattered most. The same is for Hosni Mubarak, who, instead of enjoying his old age with his children and grandchildren, has to be ferried to court on a stretcher to answer charges of corruption and murder.
If the AU had acted well and purged itself of such dictators and prevented the creation of new ones, the Arab Spring would not have swept over the continent. That is why the AU cannot escape blame for the events of last year and for the continued stay in power of some of the continent’s dictators.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Vain promises, fresh dreams
By Kofi Akordor
IT has become normal — call it a ritual — for individuals, companies and nations to make fresh resolutions as we prepare to enter a new year. In many cases, we fail to reflect soberly on the past to admit our weaknesses or failures before embarking on another journey of day-dreaming.
At the sunset of 2010, we went through that ritual of making resolutions and pledging to succeed where we failed or to do better where there had been successes in 2010.
As we look back and observe 2011 recede into history, it is only fair that we do a thorough examination to see whether we have succeeded in our individual, corporate, institutional and national resolutions before welcoming ourselves into the new year, which is only two days old.
Individually, there are some who might have achieved their targets and even gone beyond them. There were those whose lives had seen a vast improvement or transformation — big jobs, new houses, latest models of vehicles and so on and so forth.
Among these people can be found those in direct politics or those very close to politicians as business agents, flamboyant and business people parading as Men of God who have played on the gullibility and sincere religiousness of the people to acquire wealth, corporate executives and a few hardworking men and women who, through their own efforts, achieved their breakthrough.
There were those, quite a sizeable number, who experienced minimal improvement or, at best, things remained as they were before. Not-so-good-but-not-so-bad is the consolation for such people. These are mostly public servants who managed, through fair or foul means, to remain afloat, just keeping body and soul together.
But the vast majority of the people, as has always been the case, remained on the fringes of society, a better Ghana agenda or not. These include the urban and rural poor who, no matter how hard they try, do not seem to come close to the magnetic field of success.
Our success as a nation can only by measured by the degree to which our government made good its promises or what many of us in the majority can agree upon to be, to a very large extent, a national achievement.
Our government, led by President John Evans Atta Mills, declared 2011 a year of action and promised the nation a projects galore. Ghana had just started the commercial production of crude oil in the Jubilee Fields and the President’s declaration gave many of us hope.
Among the projects promised to be executed in 2011 were the Eastern Corridor Road Project, two state universities for the Brong Ahafo and the Volta regions and the now infamous and, to some extent very stubborn, STX Housing Project.
The year has come to an end without a wheelbarrow being at any of these construction sites, even though the President had gone through the ritualistic process of cutting the sod for all of them.
In the case of the two universities and the Eastern Corridor roads, we know the government has a strong excuse in the delay in accessing the $3 billion Chinese credit facility which, as far as the Mills administration is concerned, is the main source of project finance.
The same cannot be said of the STX Housing Project which, even to the uninitiated, looked very murky right from the beginning. That the government should entrust such a major national housing project in the hands of a few businessmen and women whose selfish profit-making motives were never hidden was very unfortunate, to say the least.
It is now on record that three years into his administration, President Mills has not been able to put a single dwelling place on the ground. He could have even shared the honours if efforts were made to complete those started by the Kufuor administration in various parts of the country.
These are failures that constitute heavy blots on the government of President Mills and it will be to his personal image and to the advantage of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) if he quickly takes advantage of the approval given to the country by the International Monetary Fund to extend its external lending quota to redeem his promise relative to these projects as early as possible.
We are in the 21st century and while other countries are counting their economic successes and advances in science and technology in glowing terms, we here, over the past 10 years or so, have sadly been harping on the capitation grant, school feeding and lately removing schools under trees as major achievements. One would have wished that we too could point at impressive expressways linking our major towns and cities, beating our chests that our schools are among the best, if not the best, in the world. We could also be inviting the rest of the world to visit our tourist sites which are among the best in the world.
As a well-endowed country with many natural resources, we would have expected that, as a people with higher aspirations and limitless horizon, we would be able to harness those resources and turn them into valued-added commodities for the international market for higher returns.
It proves how narrow our vision is as a nation and how simplistic our appreciation of what is defined as development is as a people. No doubt, nobody bothers whether our traffic lights work or not, nor do we care whether Accra, our national capital, and other cities and towns are swallowed by filth or not.
We paid a heavy price in October 2011 when two days of heavy rains brought Accra to its knees. Immediately promises were made to solve the city’s drainage problem and enforce building regulations as captured in our statute books. That might have been voices of desperation that ebbed away with the end of that episode.
The past year saw indiscipline in our national life at its best, and nowhere was that more evidenced than on the roads. The MTTU of the Ghana Police Service has failed miserably to check the activities of commercial drivers who continue to pose as a danger to society by carelessly and recklessly driving anyhow, especially on the shoulders of the roads, including my favourite Spintex Road, without any sanction.
This is one country where obeying the laws and rules makes you look like a fool instead of a proud responsible citizen, thanks to the impotence of those who are entrusted with the enforcement of the rules.
What we lack in positive thinking and action have been adequately compensated for by way of lose and careless talk interspersed with profuse promise-making. Our country should have been far developed and not at this place where giving school uniforms or free food to a fraction of our schoolchildren will be an issue.
As we resolve to improve on our personal lives in the new year, we would wish to see certain major achievements this year. I wish that most of our projects, especially the Eastern Corridor roads, the two new universities and those major uncompleted road projects, moved from the sod-cutting level to real construction and completion stages.
The Kotoka International Airport (KIA) is the only airport that opens the country to the outside world. That means any foreign visitor entering the country other than using the land ports will come by the KIA. I, therefore, plead that the traffic intersection at the Airport Junction be tackled.
For a foreign visitor to be confronted with faulty traffic lights or heavy traffic jam just minutes after arriving in the country and a few metres away from the airport is not only an eyesore but also a national disgrace.
Our leaders have travelled to other world capitals and I do not want to believe that that was how they were welcomed into those countries.
I have always affirmed that our problem is not about lack of money but how we think and how we apply our resources. If we can pay judgement debts running into hundreds of millions of cedis, there is no excuse for neglecting basic things that will make this country healthier and more beautiful to live in.
We also want to see the promise made to improve the drainage system in the national materialise. Our democracy has survived, albeit under heavy doses of insults and acrimonious statements, some close to ethnic and tribal vituperations, and wild promises.
This is an election year and some of us do not expect anything better. Whether we like or not, it will get worse, since politics is no longer a divine call but a big business which has turned near paupers into millionaires overnight.
Whatever the case, we should remember that Cote d’Ivoire will not be the same for the next 50 years, just like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo and Nigeria. Our strength lies in the fact that notwithstanding all the insults, we still watch our eyes. Let us, therefore, watch our eyes while we enter the political battle for the Castle (or is it Flag Staff House or Jubilee House?) later in the year.
I wish my numerous readers who have kept this column alive a resourceful and prosperous New Year and very stress less and peaceful elections later in the year. May all our wishes come true.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
IT has become normal — call it a ritual — for individuals, companies and nations to make fresh resolutions as we prepare to enter a new year. In many cases, we fail to reflect soberly on the past to admit our weaknesses or failures before embarking on another journey of day-dreaming.
At the sunset of 2010, we went through that ritual of making resolutions and pledging to succeed where we failed or to do better where there had been successes in 2010.
As we look back and observe 2011 recede into history, it is only fair that we do a thorough examination to see whether we have succeeded in our individual, corporate, institutional and national resolutions before welcoming ourselves into the new year, which is only two days old.
Individually, there are some who might have achieved their targets and even gone beyond them. There were those whose lives had seen a vast improvement or transformation — big jobs, new houses, latest models of vehicles and so on and so forth.
Among these people can be found those in direct politics or those very close to politicians as business agents, flamboyant and business people parading as Men of God who have played on the gullibility and sincere religiousness of the people to acquire wealth, corporate executives and a few hardworking men and women who, through their own efforts, achieved their breakthrough.
There were those, quite a sizeable number, who experienced minimal improvement or, at best, things remained as they were before. Not-so-good-but-not-so-bad is the consolation for such people. These are mostly public servants who managed, through fair or foul means, to remain afloat, just keeping body and soul together.
But the vast majority of the people, as has always been the case, remained on the fringes of society, a better Ghana agenda or not. These include the urban and rural poor who, no matter how hard they try, do not seem to come close to the magnetic field of success.
Our success as a nation can only by measured by the degree to which our government made good its promises or what many of us in the majority can agree upon to be, to a very large extent, a national achievement.
Our government, led by President John Evans Atta Mills, declared 2011 a year of action and promised the nation a projects galore. Ghana had just started the commercial production of crude oil in the Jubilee Fields and the President’s declaration gave many of us hope.
Among the projects promised to be executed in 2011 were the Eastern Corridor Road Project, two state universities for the Brong Ahafo and the Volta regions and the now infamous and, to some extent very stubborn, STX Housing Project.
The year has come to an end without a wheelbarrow being at any of these construction sites, even though the President had gone through the ritualistic process of cutting the sod for all of them.
In the case of the two universities and the Eastern Corridor roads, we know the government has a strong excuse in the delay in accessing the $3 billion Chinese credit facility which, as far as the Mills administration is concerned, is the main source of project finance.
The same cannot be said of the STX Housing Project which, even to the uninitiated, looked very murky right from the beginning. That the government should entrust such a major national housing project in the hands of a few businessmen and women whose selfish profit-making motives were never hidden was very unfortunate, to say the least.
It is now on record that three years into his administration, President Mills has not been able to put a single dwelling place on the ground. He could have even shared the honours if efforts were made to complete those started by the Kufuor administration in various parts of the country.
These are failures that constitute heavy blots on the government of President Mills and it will be to his personal image and to the advantage of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) if he quickly takes advantage of the approval given to the country by the International Monetary Fund to extend its external lending quota to redeem his promise relative to these projects as early as possible.
We are in the 21st century and while other countries are counting their economic successes and advances in science and technology in glowing terms, we here, over the past 10 years or so, have sadly been harping on the capitation grant, school feeding and lately removing schools under trees as major achievements. One would have wished that we too could point at impressive expressways linking our major towns and cities, beating our chests that our schools are among the best, if not the best, in the world. We could also be inviting the rest of the world to visit our tourist sites which are among the best in the world.
As a well-endowed country with many natural resources, we would have expected that, as a people with higher aspirations and limitless horizon, we would be able to harness those resources and turn them into valued-added commodities for the international market for higher returns.
It proves how narrow our vision is as a nation and how simplistic our appreciation of what is defined as development is as a people. No doubt, nobody bothers whether our traffic lights work or not, nor do we care whether Accra, our national capital, and other cities and towns are swallowed by filth or not.
We paid a heavy price in October 2011 when two days of heavy rains brought Accra to its knees. Immediately promises were made to solve the city’s drainage problem and enforce building regulations as captured in our statute books. That might have been voices of desperation that ebbed away with the end of that episode.
The past year saw indiscipline in our national life at its best, and nowhere was that more evidenced than on the roads. The MTTU of the Ghana Police Service has failed miserably to check the activities of commercial drivers who continue to pose as a danger to society by carelessly and recklessly driving anyhow, especially on the shoulders of the roads, including my favourite Spintex Road, without any sanction.
This is one country where obeying the laws and rules makes you look like a fool instead of a proud responsible citizen, thanks to the impotence of those who are entrusted with the enforcement of the rules.
What we lack in positive thinking and action have been adequately compensated for by way of lose and careless talk interspersed with profuse promise-making. Our country should have been far developed and not at this place where giving school uniforms or free food to a fraction of our schoolchildren will be an issue.
As we resolve to improve on our personal lives in the new year, we would wish to see certain major achievements this year. I wish that most of our projects, especially the Eastern Corridor roads, the two new universities and those major uncompleted road projects, moved from the sod-cutting level to real construction and completion stages.
The Kotoka International Airport (KIA) is the only airport that opens the country to the outside world. That means any foreign visitor entering the country other than using the land ports will come by the KIA. I, therefore, plead that the traffic intersection at the Airport Junction be tackled.
For a foreign visitor to be confronted with faulty traffic lights or heavy traffic jam just minutes after arriving in the country and a few metres away from the airport is not only an eyesore but also a national disgrace.
Our leaders have travelled to other world capitals and I do not want to believe that that was how they were welcomed into those countries.
I have always affirmed that our problem is not about lack of money but how we think and how we apply our resources. If we can pay judgement debts running into hundreds of millions of cedis, there is no excuse for neglecting basic things that will make this country healthier and more beautiful to live in.
We also want to see the promise made to improve the drainage system in the national materialise. Our democracy has survived, albeit under heavy doses of insults and acrimonious statements, some close to ethnic and tribal vituperations, and wild promises.
This is an election year and some of us do not expect anything better. Whether we like or not, it will get worse, since politics is no longer a divine call but a big business which has turned near paupers into millionaires overnight.
Whatever the case, we should remember that Cote d’Ivoire will not be the same for the next 50 years, just like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo and Nigeria. Our strength lies in the fact that notwithstanding all the insults, we still watch our eyes. Let us, therefore, watch our eyes while we enter the political battle for the Castle (or is it Flag Staff House or Jubilee House?) later in the year.
I wish my numerous readers who have kept this column alive a resourceful and prosperous New Year and very stress less and peaceful elections later in the year. May all our wishes come true.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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