IN the year 2000, the first destination inspection company (DIC) pitched camp in town to do business in the country. Since then, three other DICs, namely, BIVAC International, Inspection and Control Services and Ghana Link Network, have joined the Gateway Services Limited (GSL) to engage in some core businesses on behalf of the Government of Ghana and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
These DICs were engaged to do price qualification and classification of goods on behalf of the government, build price database for CEPS and subsequently transfer the know-how to CEPS at the end of their contract terms so that CEPS could take over those responsibilities.
As payment for their services, these DICs receive one per cent commission on all transactions made on behalf of the government.
The idea of the DICs became relevant apparently under the assumption that CEPS was deficient in the technological know-how and human capacity to effectively and efficiently perform those functions ceded to the DICs.
To prepare for the ultimate taking over of the job specifications of the DICs, CEPS took certain steps, including attachment of its staff to these DICs for on-the-job training, while organising overseas training programmes for core staff in the relevant fields.
CEPS also invested in space and equipment by inaugurating a fully equipped and furnished Classification and Valuation Unit at Ridge in Accra in anticipation of fully taking over all core destination inspection functions by January 2009.
This is because apart from the GSL, whose original 10-year contract was due to end in 2010, all the other DICs were to end their operations by December 2008. Even though a one-year extension contract was given to them, the idea was to prepare the DICs for a gradual withdrawal, while CEPS consolidates its control over destination inspection.
Mr Emmanuel Doku, the CEPS Commissioner, in an address at the inauguration of the Classification and Valuation complex in October last year, proclaimed that CEPS was now ready to take over all inspection functions.
A study commissioned by the Ministry of Trade and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) came to the conclusion that CEPS should be fully in charge of destination works.
The report recommended that the contracts of the three DICs – BIVAC, Inspection and Control Services and Ghana Link Network — should not be renewed, while that of GSL should also not be renewed when it expired in 2010.
Already, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was not in favour of the operations of the DICs.
The benefits for the nation and other stakeholders in the event of CEPS taking over all core functions are many. In terms of revenue mobilisation and maximisation, the state will eliminate leakage in government revenue or at least reduce it drastically. The CEPS system will also reduce human intervention and thereby close the gaps for possible corruption.
There are records indicating that on several occasions valuation figures provided by the DICs fell below CEPS’ own figures when they came up for further verification. Most important, the transaction being executed online will be easily available and accessible to importers.
The question now is, why the delay in handing over this important business to CEPS, after importers, freight forwarders and other stakeholders had expressed their support for a take-over of the destination inspection by CEPS?
Also questionable is the declaration in January 2009 by the same CEPS Commissioner that his organisation, about which he boasted in October 2008 that it was ready to handle its core duties, could suddenly find itself no longer capable of executing those same functions.
Has CEPS suddenly lost its professional staff who were positioned to take over destination inspection duties in January this year? What about the Classification and Valuation edifice the CEPS Commissioner inaugurated in October 2008? Has it lost its equipment and furnishings so soon to render it useless?
Another strange thing which needs explanation is how an eight-year agreement was signed on December 28, 2008 which was a Sunday (non-working day) with a new company, Ghana Customs Inspection Limited, which is apparently an offshoot of Ghana Link Network, to do destination inspection work in the country.
How can another company be given such a long-term contract when CEPS was a few days away from taking over those duties? Who the owners of that company are and the motives behind such a contract are questions begging for answers.
Can CEPS be working against itself by declaring its readiness to take over destination inspection duties in one breath, while at the same time sponsoring another company to remove the meat from its mouth?
The country must not lose the opportunity to maximise its revenue collection on import duties, neither should it isolate itself from international norms. That is why whatever the stumbling blocks are on the path of CEPS, they should be removed immediately so that the service could fully assume its classification and valuation functions in the country without delay.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The Chameleons are here
By Kofi Akordor
On Thursday, February 19, 2009, the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, delivered his maiden State of Nation address to Parliament as prescribed by the 1992 Republican Constitution. In simple terms, in the State of the Nation address, the President is to render account to Ghanaians on the true state of Ghana, outlining among other things, the state of the economy, social and industrial infrastructure, security and national stability and to tell the citizens how he is going to remedy the weaknesses identified and sustain and improve upon the gains made.
Even though it is reasonable to expect that some people may have political interest in the State of the Nation address, its importance and significance go beyond partisan considerations. Our interest as a nation is as to whether the address has identified our problems or not and as to whether the President has outlined strategies and programmes to address our concern.
It is, therefore, necessary that as much as possible, discussions on the State of the Nation address are handled by serious-minded persons in a fair and objective manner devoid of any party coloration.
Multiparty democracy demands that political parties take a critical look at the programmes and policies of their opponents and hammer on their weak points to advantage. That is good for the political game but not necessarily for the sake of it. Where national interest is at stake, an impartial and fair discussion on matters will serve a more useful purpose than mere politicking.
It is our life, our fate and our future that are at stake and, therefore, the address needs to be subjected to a critical analysis so that the President and his advisors, if they value public opinion, fair comment and objective criticism, will draw useful lessons from the debate and enrich the national agenda for development
That is why any attempt to turn the discussion into another political funfair of condemnations and praise singing should not be countenanced. On Friday, February 20, 2009, panellists were just warming themselves up for a discussion programme on the State of the Nation address on Ghana Television (GTV), a Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) television network’s Breakfast Show, when there was an abrupt stoppage.
Many thought the programme might have been a victim of the country’s erratic power supply system, more so when the host told viewers that the programme had suffered a technical hitch. Later there were rumours that the long arms of faceless but powerful figures in political authority were interfering with the programme. Then came the information that the programme was stopped in that abrupt manner on the orders of Mr William Ampem Darko, the Director-General of the GBC.
Mr Ampem Darko confirmed in his own words that he caused the abrupt end of the programme with the explanation that the panel was skewed in favour of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which had two panellists as against the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) one panellist. In the first place, why should a discussion on the President’s State of the Nation address on a national network be a matter between the NPP and the NDC?
What type of balance was the Director-General of GBC aiming at that compelled him to disrupt a national programme that was already in motion? The position of Mr Dan Botwe, Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere, that Mr Ampem Darko’s action was only to court the affection of the NDC cannot be brushed aside. Since when did it dawn on him that there is something called balance, when managing a national asset like GBC? If the Director-General had conducted himself professionally when it mattered most, he would not have found himself in this tight situation, where he is compelled to behave like an overzealous convert, in trying to interpret the rule of fairness, equity and objectivity.
Mr Ampem Darko, by that action, might have been trying to couch a new image for himself as someone who knows the rules and wants to play by them. Unfortunately, he has ended up exposing that characteristic common with most Ghanaians, who at the least opportunity change their tunes. He has also succeeded in creating a bad image for the government, since many Ghanaians were interpreting that Friday’s interruption as an attempt by the new government to overpower dissent or opposing views by emasculating the media, especially those that are state-owned.
Those who work in the media will testify about the pressures that practitioners have to overcome. This even becomes more serious for those who work in the state-owned media, where those in political power want to have their way. The dilemma of Mr Ampem Darko, and many others, can, therefore, be well understood.
Notwithstanding that, it is still possible for those who want to exhibit true professional standards to do so, if even in a limited way. Very often, some media practitioners are just in a hurry to please people in authority when even no pressure has been exerted on them. They are just happy playing the sycophantic game and satisfied with the falling crumbs that go with them without any regard for honour and integrity. Journalists are supposed to be fair and objective in their professional practice and I think if they should take sides, they should be on the side of the poor, oppressed and marginalised and not those who wield enormous state power, which they use to inflict more hardships on the people.
A combination of sycophancy and opportunism on the part of the media only destroys the nation and brings bad image and damnation to the governments we claim to be sheltering.
This is a new government and Mr Ampem Darko’s action was going to set it on a collision course with the public and dent its image even before it sets its feet down to do serious business.
During the election, we saw how people denounced their parties and celebrated their switch of allegiances. Some had dreams and some visions. Today, they will be wondering why they were driven by survival instincts to make fools out of themselves.
With a new government in place, sooner than later, we should expect more of the type of Mr Ampem Darko, who, like a chameleon, will begin to change colours to match the new environment. Those, who just yesterday, saw Professor Mills too sick to govern this country, will soon start pouring praises on him. Survive, we must, but it pays to operate within standards and with principles. At least those who are entrusted with state institutions should be bold enough to operate within the rules and even suffer the consequences so that they do not find themselves in a situation where their immediate past masters will begin to ridicule them in public for selling their conscience to them, when they should not have done so, while on the other hand, the new masters doubt their loyalty.
It is generally known that our politics is full of vindictiveness. But good and fair-minded people cannot fail to spot out those who have held their offices professionally and kept level heads in extreme conditions. Such persons should not fear any change in government.
Mr Ampem Darko will surely suffer scorn and disdain from his NPP colleagues and he should not think that his newly cultivated acrobatic stunts will endear him to those in the NDC either. He should have exhibited the qualities of independence, fairness and objectivity towards the parties when they were all in the trench fighting for the votes of Ghanaians. The NPP for all you know might not have given any instructions to the Director-General to be biased against any party during Election 2008. But as had been proved over last weekend’s incident, Mr Ampem Darko might have taken certain decisions to please the government of the day and once those decisions were pleasant to the government, the men and women in authority will remain silent. But in doing that, his professional integrity will be on the line. That is why today, he finds himself in this quagmire. But as it is now, both ways he is a loser.
On Thursday, February 19, 2009, the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, delivered his maiden State of Nation address to Parliament as prescribed by the 1992 Republican Constitution. In simple terms, in the State of the Nation address, the President is to render account to Ghanaians on the true state of Ghana, outlining among other things, the state of the economy, social and industrial infrastructure, security and national stability and to tell the citizens how he is going to remedy the weaknesses identified and sustain and improve upon the gains made.
Even though it is reasonable to expect that some people may have political interest in the State of the Nation address, its importance and significance go beyond partisan considerations. Our interest as a nation is as to whether the address has identified our problems or not and as to whether the President has outlined strategies and programmes to address our concern.
It is, therefore, necessary that as much as possible, discussions on the State of the Nation address are handled by serious-minded persons in a fair and objective manner devoid of any party coloration.
Multiparty democracy demands that political parties take a critical look at the programmes and policies of their opponents and hammer on their weak points to advantage. That is good for the political game but not necessarily for the sake of it. Where national interest is at stake, an impartial and fair discussion on matters will serve a more useful purpose than mere politicking.
It is our life, our fate and our future that are at stake and, therefore, the address needs to be subjected to a critical analysis so that the President and his advisors, if they value public opinion, fair comment and objective criticism, will draw useful lessons from the debate and enrich the national agenda for development
That is why any attempt to turn the discussion into another political funfair of condemnations and praise singing should not be countenanced. On Friday, February 20, 2009, panellists were just warming themselves up for a discussion programme on the State of the Nation address on Ghana Television (GTV), a Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) television network’s Breakfast Show, when there was an abrupt stoppage.
Many thought the programme might have been a victim of the country’s erratic power supply system, more so when the host told viewers that the programme had suffered a technical hitch. Later there were rumours that the long arms of faceless but powerful figures in political authority were interfering with the programme. Then came the information that the programme was stopped in that abrupt manner on the orders of Mr William Ampem Darko, the Director-General of the GBC.
Mr Ampem Darko confirmed in his own words that he caused the abrupt end of the programme with the explanation that the panel was skewed in favour of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which had two panellists as against the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) one panellist. In the first place, why should a discussion on the President’s State of the Nation address on a national network be a matter between the NPP and the NDC?
What type of balance was the Director-General of GBC aiming at that compelled him to disrupt a national programme that was already in motion? The position of Mr Dan Botwe, Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere, that Mr Ampem Darko’s action was only to court the affection of the NDC cannot be brushed aside. Since when did it dawn on him that there is something called balance, when managing a national asset like GBC? If the Director-General had conducted himself professionally when it mattered most, he would not have found himself in this tight situation, where he is compelled to behave like an overzealous convert, in trying to interpret the rule of fairness, equity and objectivity.
Mr Ampem Darko, by that action, might have been trying to couch a new image for himself as someone who knows the rules and wants to play by them. Unfortunately, he has ended up exposing that characteristic common with most Ghanaians, who at the least opportunity change their tunes. He has also succeeded in creating a bad image for the government, since many Ghanaians were interpreting that Friday’s interruption as an attempt by the new government to overpower dissent or opposing views by emasculating the media, especially those that are state-owned.
Those who work in the media will testify about the pressures that practitioners have to overcome. This even becomes more serious for those who work in the state-owned media, where those in political power want to have their way. The dilemma of Mr Ampem Darko, and many others, can, therefore, be well understood.
Notwithstanding that, it is still possible for those who want to exhibit true professional standards to do so, if even in a limited way. Very often, some media practitioners are just in a hurry to please people in authority when even no pressure has been exerted on them. They are just happy playing the sycophantic game and satisfied with the falling crumbs that go with them without any regard for honour and integrity. Journalists are supposed to be fair and objective in their professional practice and I think if they should take sides, they should be on the side of the poor, oppressed and marginalised and not those who wield enormous state power, which they use to inflict more hardships on the people.
A combination of sycophancy and opportunism on the part of the media only destroys the nation and brings bad image and damnation to the governments we claim to be sheltering.
This is a new government and Mr Ampem Darko’s action was going to set it on a collision course with the public and dent its image even before it sets its feet down to do serious business.
During the election, we saw how people denounced their parties and celebrated their switch of allegiances. Some had dreams and some visions. Today, they will be wondering why they were driven by survival instincts to make fools out of themselves.
With a new government in place, sooner than later, we should expect more of the type of Mr Ampem Darko, who, like a chameleon, will begin to change colours to match the new environment. Those, who just yesterday, saw Professor Mills too sick to govern this country, will soon start pouring praises on him. Survive, we must, but it pays to operate within standards and with principles. At least those who are entrusted with state institutions should be bold enough to operate within the rules and even suffer the consequences so that they do not find themselves in a situation where their immediate past masters will begin to ridicule them in public for selling their conscience to them, when they should not have done so, while on the other hand, the new masters doubt their loyalty.
It is generally known that our politics is full of vindictiveness. But good and fair-minded people cannot fail to spot out those who have held their offices professionally and kept level heads in extreme conditions. Such persons should not fear any change in government.
Mr Ampem Darko will surely suffer scorn and disdain from his NPP colleagues and he should not think that his newly cultivated acrobatic stunts will endear him to those in the NDC either. He should have exhibited the qualities of independence, fairness and objectivity towards the parties when they were all in the trench fighting for the votes of Ghanaians. The NPP for all you know might not have given any instructions to the Director-General to be biased against any party during Election 2008. But as had been proved over last weekend’s incident, Mr Ampem Darko might have taken certain decisions to please the government of the day and once those decisions were pleasant to the government, the men and women in authority will remain silent. But in doing that, his professional integrity will be on the line. That is why today, he finds himself in this quagmire. But as it is now, both ways he is a loser.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Our roads , our graveyard
our roads (feat)
Our roads, our graveyard
By Kofi Akordor
IT had always been an exciting experience when family members accompanied a relative who was travelling to the lorry station to board a vehicle to his/her destination. The children among the relatives did not fail to remind the person embarking on the journey not to forget to buy them something special upon his/her return. With great enthusiasm and joy, relatives waved the departing family member who also waved back, all with high expectations that they would soon meet again.
The welcome party was conducted in similar manner and family members gathered around the traveller to listen to his/her tales of the journey. The children were showered with gifts, which included food items, candies and toys while the adults might be lucky with items like shoes, trinkets and pieces of cloth, especially if the just-returned was a trader and had gone on a business trip in a neighbouring country.
Those days are receding fast. The great expectation that welcomes news of a trip is gradually giving way to fear and apprehension, especially if the route is known for its numerous accidents. These days, it is common knowledge that even before you reach home, the relative you had just seen off might have been dead, torn into pieces through an accident. Sometimes, a husband may call informing his wife to start preparing some fufu and palm-nut soup containing all the meat and fish that can easily qualify that soup as zoo nkwan.
Can you find the right words to describe the state of the woman if she was told a few minutes later that the husband will not taste that specially prepared soup again, because he had perished in an accident a few kilometres from home? Can you imagine the mental turmoil of children who were driven to school in the morning by their father when told that they would not see their father again because of something called accident? What about business partners who spent the whole day with the man on some projects, ending with the assurance to continue with the uncompleted job next time?
Travelling has become so dangerous and unpredictable that until you hear from a friend or a relative at the end, you cannot tell what is happening. It appears the more the auto makers improve upon their vehicles and the more governments invest in good roads, the more accidents we record on the roads. What could be the cause of this phenomenon that defies logic?
There are many factors that account for road accidents. The common ones include: The nature of the road, the condition of the vehicle, the disposition and competence of the driver and the role of other road users. Other road users may include drivers of other vehicles and pedestrians. It has, however, been established that of all the factors, the human element contributes to a greater percentage of road accidents. It is obvious that even if a road is not good, it is up to the driver to exercise caution. It is for the driver to observe all traffic regulations and to be alert for any carelessness on the part of other road users.
It is for the driver as a human being to do certain basic checks on his/her vehicle before setting off on a journey. Unfortunately, apart from negligence, the human error can be influenced by anger, excitement, tiredness, drunkenness, sickness, recklessness, carelessness and incompetence.
In all cases, a lot of bad situations could be avoided if only all the players will do a little bit of serious and honest work. If at the point of issuing a driving licence, the officer at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) office will do a diligent work, an unqualified mentally unstable person will not be certified to drive on the roads. If the inspector at the DVLA will do an honest work, a vehicle that is not roadworthy will not find its way on the roads. If the police officer who is to countercheck the work of the DVLA officer will perform his duties well, the vehicle that escaped the eagle eyes of the DVLA officer, or which was fraudulently passed by the DVLA officer, would have been removed from the road.
Granted that everything was well at the DVLA offices and the driver duly qualified for his licence and his vehicle met the full roadworthiness test, then the comportment of the driver on the road becomes the determining factor.
The truth is that 50 years after independence, most of our drivers, especially those who drive commercial vehicles, are with little or no formal education. Their appreciation of road conditions are, therefore, suspect. Most cannot read road signs and their understanding of certain situations on the road is very limited.
Sometimes one would expect that where literacy is limited, at least the natural sense that every human being is endowed with will prevail. But most of the time, that is not so. So they speed when they know their vehicle is not in good condition, or the road is rough, full of potholes. They overtake when they see a column of vehicles ahead or when they are in a curve.
When alcohol is involved, then the difference between the poor illiterate driver and the professor is not too clear. The only difference is that one may know his or her limit, while the other may not know when to knock off. But the fact that most fatal accidents involve commercial drivers is tempting enough for one to conclude that there is some kind of correlation between education and driver behaviour.
The Valentine weekend was a very bad one for many families because of some fatal accidents recorded. The most horrific one was the accident at Kadia near Diare on the Tamale-Bolgatanga road on Sunday, February 15, 2009. That accident claimed 35 lives.
Another accident that occurred earlier on Saturday, February 14, 2009 on the Walewale-Kumasi road claimed 28 lives. In both cases, there was evidence of human error.
The first accident involved four vehicles — a Benz bus, a Neoplan bus, a Blue Bird bus and an articulated truck. The driver of the Benz bus attempted to overtake the Neoplan and came head-on with the articulated truck in the process. In the confusion, the four vehicles got entangled resulting in the death of the 35 passengers.
In the second, one of the vehicles, a Benz bus, veered off its lane and crashed into a DAF bus. According to an official of the National Road Safety Commission, the driver of the Benz bus might have dosed off. So this was an accident that could have been avoided if the driver had responded appropriately when the signs of fatigue manifested themselves. That confirms the human error that was identified in the two accidents.
In any case, the accident rate in the country is alarming and it does not show any sign of improving. Hardly a day passes without an accident involving deaths being reported in any part of the country.
Incidentally, most of the fatal accidents are recorded on roads that could not be described as bad. That takes us back to the human element. It seems we have undervalued driving, reducing it to a mere mechanical function. That is why anybody who can go through the motion of moving a vehicle and manipulating the steering wheel is a driver.
The carnage on the roads demands that something serious is done about safety of road transportation in the country. According to the National Road Safety Commission, accidents rank ninth in cause of deaths in the country and cost the nation approximately US$165 million annually, which is about 1.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The cost relates to medical cost, damage to property, administrative cost and lost in productivity.
The greatest cost, however, lies in the emotional and psychological pain accidents inflict on children, parents, relatives and friends.
Road safety campaigns are good, but very often the message does not reach the main target group, that is commercial drivers, because of communication gap.
As stated earlier, most of these drivers lack formal education and, therefore, pay very little attention to educational programmes on the radio, television and in the newspapers.
We, therefore, need to start from the beginning — the point of certifying people as qualified to drive. The DVLA itself has made it clear that it intends to make basic formal education as a minimum requirement. It has also decided to make formal training in driving schools as a requirement for obtaining a driving licence. These are good declarations and we wait to see how the DVLA can effect its own policies. Members of the public are sceptical about the DVLA’s ability to carry out this agenda, because some staff of the DVLA, as it is well known, have a hand in most of the unqualified drivers who are plying the roads.
The next is to be serious with the vehicle testing regime. There are people who will confess that their vehicles were never seen by officials of the DVLA who passed them for roadworthy after paying an illegal fee. That means we need to weed out corruption from the transportation sector if we are to get close to improving road transportation in the country.
Personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service cannot escape mention. We know they are seriously handicapped in terms of human resources and logistics to do better on the roads than they are doing now. Notwithstanding their limitations, it is common knowledge that very often they turn a blind eye to infractions by drivers once the right ‘documents’ are presented.
We as drivers must know that a vehicle is a good servant but a bad master. That is why once we sit behind the steering wheel, we must realise that lives are at stake and, therefore, we must exercise due caution and diligence on the road.
Our roads, our graveyard
By Kofi Akordor
IT had always been an exciting experience when family members accompanied a relative who was travelling to the lorry station to board a vehicle to his/her destination. The children among the relatives did not fail to remind the person embarking on the journey not to forget to buy them something special upon his/her return. With great enthusiasm and joy, relatives waved the departing family member who also waved back, all with high expectations that they would soon meet again.
The welcome party was conducted in similar manner and family members gathered around the traveller to listen to his/her tales of the journey. The children were showered with gifts, which included food items, candies and toys while the adults might be lucky with items like shoes, trinkets and pieces of cloth, especially if the just-returned was a trader and had gone on a business trip in a neighbouring country.
Those days are receding fast. The great expectation that welcomes news of a trip is gradually giving way to fear and apprehension, especially if the route is known for its numerous accidents. These days, it is common knowledge that even before you reach home, the relative you had just seen off might have been dead, torn into pieces through an accident. Sometimes, a husband may call informing his wife to start preparing some fufu and palm-nut soup containing all the meat and fish that can easily qualify that soup as zoo nkwan.
Can you find the right words to describe the state of the woman if she was told a few minutes later that the husband will not taste that specially prepared soup again, because he had perished in an accident a few kilometres from home? Can you imagine the mental turmoil of children who were driven to school in the morning by their father when told that they would not see their father again because of something called accident? What about business partners who spent the whole day with the man on some projects, ending with the assurance to continue with the uncompleted job next time?
Travelling has become so dangerous and unpredictable that until you hear from a friend or a relative at the end, you cannot tell what is happening. It appears the more the auto makers improve upon their vehicles and the more governments invest in good roads, the more accidents we record on the roads. What could be the cause of this phenomenon that defies logic?
There are many factors that account for road accidents. The common ones include: The nature of the road, the condition of the vehicle, the disposition and competence of the driver and the role of other road users. Other road users may include drivers of other vehicles and pedestrians. It has, however, been established that of all the factors, the human element contributes to a greater percentage of road accidents. It is obvious that even if a road is not good, it is up to the driver to exercise caution. It is for the driver to observe all traffic regulations and to be alert for any carelessness on the part of other road users.
It is for the driver as a human being to do certain basic checks on his/her vehicle before setting off on a journey. Unfortunately, apart from negligence, the human error can be influenced by anger, excitement, tiredness, drunkenness, sickness, recklessness, carelessness and incompetence.
In all cases, a lot of bad situations could be avoided if only all the players will do a little bit of serious and honest work. If at the point of issuing a driving licence, the officer at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) office will do a diligent work, an unqualified mentally unstable person will not be certified to drive on the roads. If the inspector at the DVLA will do an honest work, a vehicle that is not roadworthy will not find its way on the roads. If the police officer who is to countercheck the work of the DVLA officer will perform his duties well, the vehicle that escaped the eagle eyes of the DVLA officer, or which was fraudulently passed by the DVLA officer, would have been removed from the road.
Granted that everything was well at the DVLA offices and the driver duly qualified for his licence and his vehicle met the full roadworthiness test, then the comportment of the driver on the road becomes the determining factor.
The truth is that 50 years after independence, most of our drivers, especially those who drive commercial vehicles, are with little or no formal education. Their appreciation of road conditions are, therefore, suspect. Most cannot read road signs and their understanding of certain situations on the road is very limited.
Sometimes one would expect that where literacy is limited, at least the natural sense that every human being is endowed with will prevail. But most of the time, that is not so. So they speed when they know their vehicle is not in good condition, or the road is rough, full of potholes. They overtake when they see a column of vehicles ahead or when they are in a curve.
When alcohol is involved, then the difference between the poor illiterate driver and the professor is not too clear. The only difference is that one may know his or her limit, while the other may not know when to knock off. But the fact that most fatal accidents involve commercial drivers is tempting enough for one to conclude that there is some kind of correlation between education and driver behaviour.
The Valentine weekend was a very bad one for many families because of some fatal accidents recorded. The most horrific one was the accident at Kadia near Diare on the Tamale-Bolgatanga road on Sunday, February 15, 2009. That accident claimed 35 lives.
Another accident that occurred earlier on Saturday, February 14, 2009 on the Walewale-Kumasi road claimed 28 lives. In both cases, there was evidence of human error.
The first accident involved four vehicles — a Benz bus, a Neoplan bus, a Blue Bird bus and an articulated truck. The driver of the Benz bus attempted to overtake the Neoplan and came head-on with the articulated truck in the process. In the confusion, the four vehicles got entangled resulting in the death of the 35 passengers.
In the second, one of the vehicles, a Benz bus, veered off its lane and crashed into a DAF bus. According to an official of the National Road Safety Commission, the driver of the Benz bus might have dosed off. So this was an accident that could have been avoided if the driver had responded appropriately when the signs of fatigue manifested themselves. That confirms the human error that was identified in the two accidents.
In any case, the accident rate in the country is alarming and it does not show any sign of improving. Hardly a day passes without an accident involving deaths being reported in any part of the country.
Incidentally, most of the fatal accidents are recorded on roads that could not be described as bad. That takes us back to the human element. It seems we have undervalued driving, reducing it to a mere mechanical function. That is why anybody who can go through the motion of moving a vehicle and manipulating the steering wheel is a driver.
The carnage on the roads demands that something serious is done about safety of road transportation in the country. According to the National Road Safety Commission, accidents rank ninth in cause of deaths in the country and cost the nation approximately US$165 million annually, which is about 1.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The cost relates to medical cost, damage to property, administrative cost and lost in productivity.
The greatest cost, however, lies in the emotional and psychological pain accidents inflict on children, parents, relatives and friends.
Road safety campaigns are good, but very often the message does not reach the main target group, that is commercial drivers, because of communication gap.
As stated earlier, most of these drivers lack formal education and, therefore, pay very little attention to educational programmes on the radio, television and in the newspapers.
We, therefore, need to start from the beginning — the point of certifying people as qualified to drive. The DVLA itself has made it clear that it intends to make basic formal education as a minimum requirement. It has also decided to make formal training in driving schools as a requirement for obtaining a driving licence. These are good declarations and we wait to see how the DVLA can effect its own policies. Members of the public are sceptical about the DVLA’s ability to carry out this agenda, because some staff of the DVLA, as it is well known, have a hand in most of the unqualified drivers who are plying the roads.
The next is to be serious with the vehicle testing regime. There are people who will confess that their vehicles were never seen by officials of the DVLA who passed them for roadworthy after paying an illegal fee. That means we need to weed out corruption from the transportation sector if we are to get close to improving road transportation in the country.
Personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service cannot escape mention. We know they are seriously handicapped in terms of human resources and logistics to do better on the roads than they are doing now. Notwithstanding their limitations, it is common knowledge that very often they turn a blind eye to infractions by drivers once the right ‘documents’ are presented.
We as drivers must know that a vehicle is a good servant but a bad master. That is why once we sit behind the steering wheel, we must realise that lives are at stake and, therefore, we must exercise due caution and diligence on the road.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A tale of courtesy calls
By Kofi Akordor
Every season has its peculiarities. Election 2008, with its suspense, fear and anxiety, is over. So soon, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, who just yesterday had been pronounced dead while in far away South Africa, the man who was sighted in a prayer camp in Nigeria looking for God's intervention in his presidential bid, the man some of whose own political party members declared could not go through a vigorous and rigorous political campaign because of his so-called failing health, the man whose victory was to spell the death of some people on a hit list, has suddenly become the centre of attraction.
Since his inauguration on January 7, 2009, the length of the queue on his corridors is not seeing any sign of reduction, with all manner of individuals and groups making a daily journey to the Castle to congratulate the President and the Vice-President on their new positions as the two most powerful men in the country and to wish them well in their new endeavours.
Every new arrival at the Castle means a new set of demands and expectations that the President should factor in his policies and programmes. The visitors vary from business people, trade unionists, religious bodies, traditional rulers to foreign diplomats. Everyone wants to be seen and recognised.
The visits are necessary because this is the right time to express one's allegiance to the new ‘king’ and to erase any doubts about one's loyalty, especially as it could be recognised that during the electioneering many things were said and done by people who behaved as if they could predict the future. The visits also serve as a morale booster for the President who has suddenly, against all odds, found himself as the leader of over 22 million Ghanaians whose fate he holds in his simple hands.
Even customary practice provides for courtesy calls, especially when there are very important matters that need to be heard by the chief himself.
But should there not be a limit?
There is no record of a national survey to seek the opinion of Ghanaians on their impression about these courtesy calls on our heads of state but if the opinions of a few persons sought by the Daily Graphic on the subject (Daily Graphic: Monday, February 9, 2009) can serve as a barometer, then the State Protocol people have to do a serious appraisal and conduct these courtesy calls in a more business-like and serious manner.
Receiving guests and listening to them are part of the functions of the presidency and we cannot run away from that. But there is need for selectivity based on importance and alternatives, otherwise our President will spend the whole day receiving courtesy calls, with little or no time left for any serious work.
According to an official of the State Protocol, what was read or seen by the public was just a tip of the iceberg because there were many other calls which did not come to public knowledge. He explained further that the new President received, on the average, visits from five groups daily between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. That is virtually the end of the active part of the day.
This is a new government which is working to consolidate its grip on the machinery of state authority and the President needs more time and concentration to 'hit the ground running', as President Mills himself put it. There are handing-over notes to study, new ministerial appointments to make, preparation of the 2009 budget for presentation to Parliament and numerous state duties to perform to stabilise the affairs of state. These cannot be done if the President and his lieutenants have to spend the whole day receiving guests who only go to congratulate the President and wish him well.
These courtesy calls are not going to be restricted to the early days of the presidency. As has become the pattern, they are going to run through his tenure, and that is why it is proper that they are made to conform to certain standards so that the President is not seen to be selective in the choice of those to receive and those not to.
There are enough government institutions in the system that can handle most of the things brought to the doorstep of the President. For instance, it should be possible for the district chief executives and regional ministers to receive messages announcing the death of certain chiefs, instead of delegations travelling all the way to the Castle in Accra to take the President off his duties for hours because of a simple message.
The ministries can also take a lot of the burden off the shoulders of the presidency if the State Protocol will arrange that as much as possible only certain delegations can visit the Castle.
The tendency for people or groups to believe that their cases can only receive serious attention when they present them to the President directly may have been informed by experience. It is time to give the concept of decentralisation true meaning by ceding some executive powers to the districts and regions so that people can feel confident to deal with their immediate authorities, instead of going as far as to the top of the executive ladder.
By all means one should not expect the President to detach himself from the people by locking himself up in the dungeons of the Castle poring over documents day in day out. He needs to have a feel of the people occasionally and listen to them directly. But this should be regulated so that the exercise of visiting the Castle to meet the President does not lose its lustre and significance.
We have, over the years, entangled ourselves with the culture of meetings, workshops and seminars, leaving very little time for thinking and acting. The presidency should be saved from those trappings and the first step is to curtail the courtesy calls
Every season has its peculiarities. Election 2008, with its suspense, fear and anxiety, is over. So soon, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, who just yesterday had been pronounced dead while in far away South Africa, the man who was sighted in a prayer camp in Nigeria looking for God's intervention in his presidential bid, the man some of whose own political party members declared could not go through a vigorous and rigorous political campaign because of his so-called failing health, the man whose victory was to spell the death of some people on a hit list, has suddenly become the centre of attraction.
Since his inauguration on January 7, 2009, the length of the queue on his corridors is not seeing any sign of reduction, with all manner of individuals and groups making a daily journey to the Castle to congratulate the President and the Vice-President on their new positions as the two most powerful men in the country and to wish them well in their new endeavours.
Every new arrival at the Castle means a new set of demands and expectations that the President should factor in his policies and programmes. The visitors vary from business people, trade unionists, religious bodies, traditional rulers to foreign diplomats. Everyone wants to be seen and recognised.
The visits are necessary because this is the right time to express one's allegiance to the new ‘king’ and to erase any doubts about one's loyalty, especially as it could be recognised that during the electioneering many things were said and done by people who behaved as if they could predict the future. The visits also serve as a morale booster for the President who has suddenly, against all odds, found himself as the leader of over 22 million Ghanaians whose fate he holds in his simple hands.
Even customary practice provides for courtesy calls, especially when there are very important matters that need to be heard by the chief himself.
But should there not be a limit?
There is no record of a national survey to seek the opinion of Ghanaians on their impression about these courtesy calls on our heads of state but if the opinions of a few persons sought by the Daily Graphic on the subject (Daily Graphic: Monday, February 9, 2009) can serve as a barometer, then the State Protocol people have to do a serious appraisal and conduct these courtesy calls in a more business-like and serious manner.
Receiving guests and listening to them are part of the functions of the presidency and we cannot run away from that. But there is need for selectivity based on importance and alternatives, otherwise our President will spend the whole day receiving courtesy calls, with little or no time left for any serious work.
According to an official of the State Protocol, what was read or seen by the public was just a tip of the iceberg because there were many other calls which did not come to public knowledge. He explained further that the new President received, on the average, visits from five groups daily between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. That is virtually the end of the active part of the day.
This is a new government which is working to consolidate its grip on the machinery of state authority and the President needs more time and concentration to 'hit the ground running', as President Mills himself put it. There are handing-over notes to study, new ministerial appointments to make, preparation of the 2009 budget for presentation to Parliament and numerous state duties to perform to stabilise the affairs of state. These cannot be done if the President and his lieutenants have to spend the whole day receiving guests who only go to congratulate the President and wish him well.
These courtesy calls are not going to be restricted to the early days of the presidency. As has become the pattern, they are going to run through his tenure, and that is why it is proper that they are made to conform to certain standards so that the President is not seen to be selective in the choice of those to receive and those not to.
There are enough government institutions in the system that can handle most of the things brought to the doorstep of the President. For instance, it should be possible for the district chief executives and regional ministers to receive messages announcing the death of certain chiefs, instead of delegations travelling all the way to the Castle in Accra to take the President off his duties for hours because of a simple message.
The ministries can also take a lot of the burden off the shoulders of the presidency if the State Protocol will arrange that as much as possible only certain delegations can visit the Castle.
The tendency for people or groups to believe that their cases can only receive serious attention when they present them to the President directly may have been informed by experience. It is time to give the concept of decentralisation true meaning by ceding some executive powers to the districts and regions so that people can feel confident to deal with their immediate authorities, instead of going as far as to the top of the executive ladder.
By all means one should not expect the President to detach himself from the people by locking himself up in the dungeons of the Castle poring over documents day in day out. He needs to have a feel of the people occasionally and listen to them directly. But this should be regulated so that the exercise of visiting the Castle to meet the President does not lose its lustre and significance.
We have, over the years, entangled ourselves with the culture of meetings, workshops and seminars, leaving very little time for thinking and acting. The presidency should be saved from those trappings and the first step is to curtail the courtesy calls
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Debates that lead no where
By Kofi Akordor
Some time ago someone wanted to draw the whole nation into a bout of fruitless debate. His argument was that Accra was no longer suitable as the national capital because of several problems, including congestion, poor amenities such as accommodation, good roads and poor sanitation. His solution was that the capital should be relocated at a place called Kintampo, which is in the Brong Ahafo Region, a place, according to him, which is more centrally situated.
It is true that Accra is congested, ill-planned and gradually being swallowed up by garbage. But relocating the capital may not offer the best solution. It may only amount to creating another jungle in the middle belt with time, since Accra’s woes will eventually visit the new capital if the culture of discipline, good planning and sanitation practices remains an illusion in our wildest dreams.
Thankfully, that debate fizzled out, even though echoes of it kept reverberating at respectable intervals. That is why I know it will take centre stage sooner than later, since, as a people, we prefer solving problems by creating more problems, instead of confronting the real issues head on.
There was a group which continued to advocate the changing of the name of the national football team, the Black Stars, because, according to that group, the misfortunes of the team were directly linked to the name. When the senior national team was the monarch of football on the continent in the 1960s and 70s, it was bearing the name the Black Stars. It was a name every Ghanaian was proud of because the Black Stars were the team to beat on the continent. When our football started to slide, some thought the solution lay in a change of name, instead addressing the real issues.
Debates will never end and we are currently confronted with another big one, that is, the one on the presidential pension awards. This is a continent where people enter political office empty-handed and return home heavily-laden. But, since there are still honest and honourable persons around, we, as a people, have to do the right thing by ensuring a comfortable retirement for our public officers.
It is just reasonable that a former president is given three vehicles — two for his personal use and one for his household. Any time any of our former presidents is traveling outside, it is only fair that officials at State Protocol are informed and the right thing is done. In the same way, should any of the former presidents receive foreign guests, State Protocol will be called in to handle accommodation, feeding, movement and all the necessary arrangements so that as a nation we do not lose face.
Medical care and personal security are basic things that should be enjoyed by every former head of state who remains a state asset that must be protected. Their pension should be reviewed periodically as pertains to other public pensioners. In order to avoid these facilities and services being provided at the whim and caprices of some politician filled with over-bloated ego and self-esteem, they should be documented and captured in our Constitution.
We have enough honourable and noble men and women in this country to have done this exercise for us without creating the problems that have generated another bout of debate in the country. It is strange that some people could still find justification for giving a former president six brand new vehicles, with one to be heavily armoured.
It is strange because even the palace the president is going to occupy during his tenure was built with borrowed funds. It means as a sovereign nation we are incapable of building a palace for our own president.
It is strange because after 50 years of independence, a lot of our children still squat on the bare floor to take their lessons. A lot of them stare into empty space the whole day because there are no teachers to take them through their daily lessons.
It is ridiculous because a lot of our hospitals, including the major ones, are partly transit camps and partly graveyards because they lack basic facilities and equipment that can save lives at critical times. Granted that the committee members are oblivious of the real conditions of our people in the country, they could have taken themselves out of their comfortable homes and visit a few places in the Accra-Tema metropolitan area and they would have realised that we are engulfed in a massive pool of poverty and misery. May be they have not suffered any frustration before, otherwise they would have understood the discomfort of drivers in Accra who have to battle it out at traffic intersections where traffic lights do not work on a regular basis.
If Accra is not good, then where is the paradise the former presidents have created on this small part of planet Earth to have deserved such a parting gift?
By the way, what is the toil that these people have gone through to attract all these concerns? Is it because they do not pay for anything, not even for sachet water while in office? Is it because they have access to every state property, including vintage land to dispose of as they please to themselves and their friends, relatives and cronies? Is it because they award contracts that are never executed but for which the state has paid huge sums of money? Or is it because when they are passing, the rest of us must give way and allow them and their wailing sirens to pass first? Somebody should tell me what are those sacrifices made that must be compensated for so lavishly.
By the way, which of our presidents or former presidents were dragged from the comfort of their homes and forced to slave for our comfort? Not too long ago, this nation witnessed 17 people from one party alone falling over one another to become the president of this country. Not even the hefty registration fee of GH¢25,000 could discourage them. Were they driven by the motivation to address the sufferings of the vast majority of the people or personal glory and aggrandisement?
We saw how money was splashed all over the place during Election 2008 and no one dares, not even the Electoral Commission, which is empowered by the Political Parties Law, to question the sources of those funds for the campaign.
So why should our former presidents and ministers be sent home like martyrs in that pomp and filthy pageantry?
If a fraction of the time used to think about the comfort of a few people could be used to think about the numerous frustrated and jobless youth of this country; if we could use a little of that time to worry about the congestion, desperation and pain in our health facilities; if we could spare a little thought about an educational system which is not bringing anything good out of our children; if we could think of how to remove the stigma of a beggar nation from this country, we would have done something generations will remember us about.
For now, we have only succeeded in making those who played a big role in our impoverishment, who contributed to the pillage and rape of this country and who amassed filthy wealth in the process to go home smiling all the way, while the rest of us place our hope on the shoulders of a new set of politicians.
The question is, where is the sacrifice?
Some time ago someone wanted to draw the whole nation into a bout of fruitless debate. His argument was that Accra was no longer suitable as the national capital because of several problems, including congestion, poor amenities such as accommodation, good roads and poor sanitation. His solution was that the capital should be relocated at a place called Kintampo, which is in the Brong Ahafo Region, a place, according to him, which is more centrally situated.
It is true that Accra is congested, ill-planned and gradually being swallowed up by garbage. But relocating the capital may not offer the best solution. It may only amount to creating another jungle in the middle belt with time, since Accra’s woes will eventually visit the new capital if the culture of discipline, good planning and sanitation practices remains an illusion in our wildest dreams.
Thankfully, that debate fizzled out, even though echoes of it kept reverberating at respectable intervals. That is why I know it will take centre stage sooner than later, since, as a people, we prefer solving problems by creating more problems, instead of confronting the real issues head on.
There was a group which continued to advocate the changing of the name of the national football team, the Black Stars, because, according to that group, the misfortunes of the team were directly linked to the name. When the senior national team was the monarch of football on the continent in the 1960s and 70s, it was bearing the name the Black Stars. It was a name every Ghanaian was proud of because the Black Stars were the team to beat on the continent. When our football started to slide, some thought the solution lay in a change of name, instead addressing the real issues.
Debates will never end and we are currently confronted with another big one, that is, the one on the presidential pension awards. This is a continent where people enter political office empty-handed and return home heavily-laden. But, since there are still honest and honourable persons around, we, as a people, have to do the right thing by ensuring a comfortable retirement for our public officers.
It is just reasonable that a former president is given three vehicles — two for his personal use and one for his household. Any time any of our former presidents is traveling outside, it is only fair that officials at State Protocol are informed and the right thing is done. In the same way, should any of the former presidents receive foreign guests, State Protocol will be called in to handle accommodation, feeding, movement and all the necessary arrangements so that as a nation we do not lose face.
Medical care and personal security are basic things that should be enjoyed by every former head of state who remains a state asset that must be protected. Their pension should be reviewed periodically as pertains to other public pensioners. In order to avoid these facilities and services being provided at the whim and caprices of some politician filled with over-bloated ego and self-esteem, they should be documented and captured in our Constitution.
We have enough honourable and noble men and women in this country to have done this exercise for us without creating the problems that have generated another bout of debate in the country. It is strange that some people could still find justification for giving a former president six brand new vehicles, with one to be heavily armoured.
It is strange because even the palace the president is going to occupy during his tenure was built with borrowed funds. It means as a sovereign nation we are incapable of building a palace for our own president.
It is strange because after 50 years of independence, a lot of our children still squat on the bare floor to take their lessons. A lot of them stare into empty space the whole day because there are no teachers to take them through their daily lessons.
It is ridiculous because a lot of our hospitals, including the major ones, are partly transit camps and partly graveyards because they lack basic facilities and equipment that can save lives at critical times. Granted that the committee members are oblivious of the real conditions of our people in the country, they could have taken themselves out of their comfortable homes and visit a few places in the Accra-Tema metropolitan area and they would have realised that we are engulfed in a massive pool of poverty and misery. May be they have not suffered any frustration before, otherwise they would have understood the discomfort of drivers in Accra who have to battle it out at traffic intersections where traffic lights do not work on a regular basis.
If Accra is not good, then where is the paradise the former presidents have created on this small part of planet Earth to have deserved such a parting gift?
By the way, what is the toil that these people have gone through to attract all these concerns? Is it because they do not pay for anything, not even for sachet water while in office? Is it because they have access to every state property, including vintage land to dispose of as they please to themselves and their friends, relatives and cronies? Is it because they award contracts that are never executed but for which the state has paid huge sums of money? Or is it because when they are passing, the rest of us must give way and allow them and their wailing sirens to pass first? Somebody should tell me what are those sacrifices made that must be compensated for so lavishly.
By the way, which of our presidents or former presidents were dragged from the comfort of their homes and forced to slave for our comfort? Not too long ago, this nation witnessed 17 people from one party alone falling over one another to become the president of this country. Not even the hefty registration fee of GH¢25,000 could discourage them. Were they driven by the motivation to address the sufferings of the vast majority of the people or personal glory and aggrandisement?
We saw how money was splashed all over the place during Election 2008 and no one dares, not even the Electoral Commission, which is empowered by the Political Parties Law, to question the sources of those funds for the campaign.
So why should our former presidents and ministers be sent home like martyrs in that pomp and filthy pageantry?
If a fraction of the time used to think about the comfort of a few people could be used to think about the numerous frustrated and jobless youth of this country; if we could use a little of that time to worry about the congestion, desperation and pain in our health facilities; if we could spare a little thought about an educational system which is not bringing anything good out of our children; if we could think of how to remove the stigma of a beggar nation from this country, we would have done something generations will remember us about.
For now, we have only succeeded in making those who played a big role in our impoverishment, who contributed to the pillage and rape of this country and who amassed filthy wealth in the process to go home smiling all the way, while the rest of us place our hope on the shoulders of a new set of politicians.
The question is, where is the sacrifice?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Honour in defeat
February 4,2009
By Kofi Akordor
The agony of defeat needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated. But in all things, it is a very miserable one. So excruciating is the pain that to soothe it, people always resort to explanations that end up accusing others.
After a typical football match, the defeated team will leave the stadium cursing the match officials for biased officiating. Some will blame the quality of the pitch. Others will put the defeat on the shoulders of hostile spectators or the weather.
What defeated teams never do is to take close look at themselves, for that reason they will never give credit to their opponents for superior display of skills and their ability to exploit chances to advantage.
They will not admit that they played below form, took things for granted and played to the cheers of the crowd most of the time instead of scoring the vital goals that will give them victory.
For such teams, they are more likely to make defeat bedfellows, since they will never make self-assessment and work on their weaknesses and formulate better strategies to confront their opponents in future assignments.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is still nursing its wounds and trying hard to locate where to place the blame. The defeat in Election 2008 was a painful one, it must be admitted, but the search for scapegoats is becoming too much.
At the national level, supporters are blaming the national executive and the campaign team for not doing enough, when enough means what? The NPP Election 2008 campaign cannot find its equal in the country’s political history in terms of resources ploughed into the field, the intensity and extensiveness of the campaign and the exploitation of incumbency to the fullest.
Apart from the rallies that witnessed tens of thousands of people attending, there were the live concert shows, beach jams and radio and television adverts that supplemented adverts in almost all the newspapers.
The billboards in various sizes are still where they were, dominating the highways, city streets and roundabouts with Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential face with its infectious smile beckoning every Ghanaian to give him the nod so that he can move this country forward. “The best man for Ghana”, is a bold statement, pairing a catchy slogan: “One Touch” on all the billboards, banners and posters.
The musicians, both secular and gospel, and the concert party people were not left out of the bandwagon. It was like the whole country was on a journey to a dreamland, where milk and honey were flowing in copious abundance.
There was no doubt about the results of the December 7, 2008 election. In the estimation and minds of many, it was going to be a day when Ghanaians would finally endorse Nana Akufo-Addo officially and complete the coronation process started at the NPP congress of December, 2007 held at the University of Ghana, to elect a presidential candidate for the party.
The presidential candidate went as far as touring some West African countries campaigning in international arena to espouse his foreign policy, more like a head of state interacting with his counterparts in the sub-region. He also addressed Ghanaians in some foreign lands in the US and Europe to sell himself and his party for Election 2008. So what more was expected from Nana Akufo-Addo and his campaign team?
At the regional level, constituency executives are venting their spleen on the regional executive, while at the constituency level; it is the ward chairmen and polling station chairmen who betrayed the party.
Perhaps, the party needs to take a closer look at its campaign message. Campaigning on the wings of continuity comes with its problems. For all you know, the saying that, “All that glitters is not gold”, has some relevance here. All that were being touted as major achievements of Kufuor’s government that the NPP was so proud of continuing, did not register with the majority of the people. It could also be that while looking at its achievements, and making a lot of noise about them, the NPP failed to take cognisance of its deficiencies captured in the mood of the people.
The apparent over confident posture of the presidential candidate, and the perception that he had not experienced suffering before and that he was in for the presidency for the sake of the rest of us poor people might not have endeared him to many people.
He was heard several times saying at every opportunity that he had not credited yor ke gari before and that he is a successful and famous lawyer. In an environment choked with very, very poor people, one does not score high marks boasting about wealth that may not necessarily have for its origins, hard work, honesty and selflessness. It is good politicians take note of some of these things in our next endeavours in the political arena. Sometimes it pays to be humble.
Notwithstanding their complaints and reservations, the rather antagonistic stance the party adopted towards the people of the Volta Region cannot be downplayed because of the dangerous forebodings it has for the unity and cohesion of this country.
The national executive, apparently to address the concerns of the rank and file, saw a good scapegoat among the people of the Volta Region. Their solace is that but for the people of the Volta Region, who were at their animalistic best, the NPP would have won the election.
It was only in the Volta Region that NPP’s hundreds of thousands of supporters were prevented from voting. It was only in the Volta Region that their polling station agents were intimidated, harassed, beaten and, in what turned out to be the most outrageous of all claims, murdered.
It is strange how the NPP should anchor their hope of victory in Election 2008 on the support they expected from the Volta Region. And here a few truths, albeit harsh, need to be confronted. This is a region that for eight years did not seem to be part of this unitary country called Ghana. For its record in the military and the police service, Volta Region was the only region in Ghana for eight years that did not have any officer qualified enough to hold any command position in the security services.
Those who care may kindly tell readers how many officers from that region in the military commanded any of the services or units of the Ghana Armed Forces or held any command position in the Ghana Police Service over the last eight years.
They should tell us how many of them headed any of the state public institutions or even served on their boards.
The absence of people from the Volta Region in former Kufuor’s cabinet was explained that Members of Parliament from the region were not on the Majority side. What about the positions of deputy ministers? What about the hundreds, if not thousands, of qualified and competent professionals the Volta Region has produced? Could their talents not have been exploited to the glory of this country?
A few of them were in the news though. That was when they were being escorted to serve prison sentences or when they were lucky to be granted presidential pardon. As a final act to seal their isolation, the people of the Volta Region were only those who suffered the pain and disgrace of having their border with their Togolese brothers and sisters closed at short notice before the December 7, 2008 election contrary to the assurances by the government to the diplomatic community that Ghana’s borders would remain open during the election.
To alienate a whole people like this, and expect them to support your bid for the highest office of the land, to say the least, is to credit them with no natural intelligence. That should not be and it is the naked truth people must be ready to face if they expect better things in future.
People may take things for granted, but when it matters most, the people of the Volta Region will prove that they are not blind to see. This country must be seen to belong to all and it should not be deemed as an act of charity or benevolence if a few crumbs should be thrown at some people while others are feeding fat on the nation’s resources.
By Kofi Akordor
The agony of defeat needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated. But in all things, it is a very miserable one. So excruciating is the pain that to soothe it, people always resort to explanations that end up accusing others.
After a typical football match, the defeated team will leave the stadium cursing the match officials for biased officiating. Some will blame the quality of the pitch. Others will put the defeat on the shoulders of hostile spectators or the weather.
What defeated teams never do is to take close look at themselves, for that reason they will never give credit to their opponents for superior display of skills and their ability to exploit chances to advantage.
They will not admit that they played below form, took things for granted and played to the cheers of the crowd most of the time instead of scoring the vital goals that will give them victory.
For such teams, they are more likely to make defeat bedfellows, since they will never make self-assessment and work on their weaknesses and formulate better strategies to confront their opponents in future assignments.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is still nursing its wounds and trying hard to locate where to place the blame. The defeat in Election 2008 was a painful one, it must be admitted, but the search for scapegoats is becoming too much.
At the national level, supporters are blaming the national executive and the campaign team for not doing enough, when enough means what? The NPP Election 2008 campaign cannot find its equal in the country’s political history in terms of resources ploughed into the field, the intensity and extensiveness of the campaign and the exploitation of incumbency to the fullest.
Apart from the rallies that witnessed tens of thousands of people attending, there were the live concert shows, beach jams and radio and television adverts that supplemented adverts in almost all the newspapers.
The billboards in various sizes are still where they were, dominating the highways, city streets and roundabouts with Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential face with its infectious smile beckoning every Ghanaian to give him the nod so that he can move this country forward. “The best man for Ghana”, is a bold statement, pairing a catchy slogan: “One Touch” on all the billboards, banners and posters.
The musicians, both secular and gospel, and the concert party people were not left out of the bandwagon. It was like the whole country was on a journey to a dreamland, where milk and honey were flowing in copious abundance.
There was no doubt about the results of the December 7, 2008 election. In the estimation and minds of many, it was going to be a day when Ghanaians would finally endorse Nana Akufo-Addo officially and complete the coronation process started at the NPP congress of December, 2007 held at the University of Ghana, to elect a presidential candidate for the party.
The presidential candidate went as far as touring some West African countries campaigning in international arena to espouse his foreign policy, more like a head of state interacting with his counterparts in the sub-region. He also addressed Ghanaians in some foreign lands in the US and Europe to sell himself and his party for Election 2008. So what more was expected from Nana Akufo-Addo and his campaign team?
At the regional level, constituency executives are venting their spleen on the regional executive, while at the constituency level; it is the ward chairmen and polling station chairmen who betrayed the party.
Perhaps, the party needs to take a closer look at its campaign message. Campaigning on the wings of continuity comes with its problems. For all you know, the saying that, “All that glitters is not gold”, has some relevance here. All that were being touted as major achievements of Kufuor’s government that the NPP was so proud of continuing, did not register with the majority of the people. It could also be that while looking at its achievements, and making a lot of noise about them, the NPP failed to take cognisance of its deficiencies captured in the mood of the people.
The apparent over confident posture of the presidential candidate, and the perception that he had not experienced suffering before and that he was in for the presidency for the sake of the rest of us poor people might not have endeared him to many people.
He was heard several times saying at every opportunity that he had not credited yor ke gari before and that he is a successful and famous lawyer. In an environment choked with very, very poor people, one does not score high marks boasting about wealth that may not necessarily have for its origins, hard work, honesty and selflessness. It is good politicians take note of some of these things in our next endeavours in the political arena. Sometimes it pays to be humble.
Notwithstanding their complaints and reservations, the rather antagonistic stance the party adopted towards the people of the Volta Region cannot be downplayed because of the dangerous forebodings it has for the unity and cohesion of this country.
The national executive, apparently to address the concerns of the rank and file, saw a good scapegoat among the people of the Volta Region. Their solace is that but for the people of the Volta Region, who were at their animalistic best, the NPP would have won the election.
It was only in the Volta Region that NPP’s hundreds of thousands of supporters were prevented from voting. It was only in the Volta Region that their polling station agents were intimidated, harassed, beaten and, in what turned out to be the most outrageous of all claims, murdered.
It is strange how the NPP should anchor their hope of victory in Election 2008 on the support they expected from the Volta Region. And here a few truths, albeit harsh, need to be confronted. This is a region that for eight years did not seem to be part of this unitary country called Ghana. For its record in the military and the police service, Volta Region was the only region in Ghana for eight years that did not have any officer qualified enough to hold any command position in the security services.
Those who care may kindly tell readers how many officers from that region in the military commanded any of the services or units of the Ghana Armed Forces or held any command position in the Ghana Police Service over the last eight years.
They should tell us how many of them headed any of the state public institutions or even served on their boards.
The absence of people from the Volta Region in former Kufuor’s cabinet was explained that Members of Parliament from the region were not on the Majority side. What about the positions of deputy ministers? What about the hundreds, if not thousands, of qualified and competent professionals the Volta Region has produced? Could their talents not have been exploited to the glory of this country?
A few of them were in the news though. That was when they were being escorted to serve prison sentences or when they were lucky to be granted presidential pardon. As a final act to seal their isolation, the people of the Volta Region were only those who suffered the pain and disgrace of having their border with their Togolese brothers and sisters closed at short notice before the December 7, 2008 election contrary to the assurances by the government to the diplomatic community that Ghana’s borders would remain open during the election.
To alienate a whole people like this, and expect them to support your bid for the highest office of the land, to say the least, is to credit them with no natural intelligence. That should not be and it is the naked truth people must be ready to face if they expect better things in future.
People may take things for granted, but when it matters most, the people of the Volta Region will prove that they are not blind to see. This country must be seen to belong to all and it should not be deemed as an act of charity or benevolence if a few crumbs should be thrown at some people while others are feeding fat on the nation’s resources.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
First Step in consensus building
read by SSB
January 27,2009
By Kofi Akordor
Our transition in 2001 was quite chaotic. But it could be pardoned. We were just picking our first steps in multiparty democracy after many years of military and civilian dictatorship.
It was also the first time a ruling party lost at the polls and was transferring power to a party coming out of opposition. Considering the fact that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had been in opposition for decades, that is if its roots could be traced to the Progress Party (PP), which was pushed out of government by soldiers on January 13, 1972, it could be understood, the frenzy with which the Kufuor Administration zoomed into power and captured the reins of government, giving little breathing space to the outgoing National Democratic Congress (NDC), then under President Jerry John Rawlings.
Those days, many things were done wrongly including the invasion of the residence of the then Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills, who contested and lost the presidency against Mr J.A. Kufuor. The scars of those acrimonious days remained with us throughout the administration of former President Kufuor and contributed a great deal to the tension which engulfed this nation, before, during and after the struggle for political supremacy in Election 2008. The transitional hiccups of 2000 drew a wedge between the then former President Rawlings and the then President Kufuor, which several prominent and distinguished personalities tried fruitlessly to remove.
If in 2000 we made mistakes because we were infants in the game of multiparty democracy and because people were overzealous to capture political power, we cannot get the same pardon the way we organised and celebrated our 50 years of nationhood. As if it was an afterthought, this nation made mockery of its Golden Jubilee and reduced it to a feast savoured by a few who made personal fortunes out of what should have been a national historic event.
Malaysia, which shares the same birth year with us but is younger by a few months, announced her 50th anniversary five years in advance, and notified the world about her intention to climax the celebration of its 50 years of excellence in 2007. The different ways the two countries celebrated their golden jubilee were a whole story about how they conducted themselves during the first 50 years of their national life.
Malaysia came out of backwardness and advanced into modernity and industrialisation, while Ghana continued to pride itself as a major exporter of raw cocoa beans. So when it came to celebrating the event, Ghana planned its own haphazardly, imported anniversary cloth and other souvenir items from China, while Malaysia did a meticulous planning and showcased its achievements over the 50 years and gave a hint where it wanted to be in the next 50 years.
Even as we struggled to lift up our celebration that was nothing to write home about, there was evidence to suggest people placed in responsible positions to see to a successful celebration, even though it was planned belatedly, were busy lining their pockets with state funds and acquiring properties in the name of Ghana@50.
Painfully, we could not, as a nation, point at any monument to remind us of Ghana@50 when we celebrate Ghana@100. We did not feel any shame, when we announced that we spent US$4 million to renovate the Independence Square constructed at independence and then known as the Black Star Square. Other projects envisaged including the Jubilee toilets, schools, recreational parks and many other things are nowhere to be found, even though their costs have been captured in the Jubilee Budget. That is the story of Ghana, which at the least opportunity will not fail to remind the world that it was the first country south of the Sahara to gain political independence from colonial rule.
We have come a long way between 2001 and 2009, so when the time came for another transition ritual the people of this nation were expecting something better, at least not the repetition of the mistakes of 2001.
The first glimmer of hope came when the new Parliament went through the motion of electing the Speaker and the two Deputy Speakers without any hitch. We have come of age, many applauded, and the expectation was that as the days rolled by more of such consensus building would emerge to prove us as a maturing democratic people.
Then the cracks started to emerge. Former President Kufuor in his last day in office decided to take credit for increasing the salary of public servants by between 16 and 32 per cent and left the burden of payment on the shoulders of President Mills, who is yet to confer with his economic team to know how much is in the national kitty. Will it appear as if President Mills is insensitive to the plight of workers and has, therefore, refused to pay public servants what the departed Kufuor administration had announced?
Thankfully, many saw the announced salary increase more of treachery than an act of genuine concern and have, therefore, rubbished it. Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, a senior member of the New Patriotic Party and one-time Minister of Finance and Economic Planning in the Kufuor Administration, did not find it difficult to condemn the increase as unfair and misplaced.
There were also last-minute appointments in the Foreign Service, which every well-informed person knows is a very strategic unit within the government bureaucracy. In the same last-minute effort, promotions, transfers and appointments were made in the police service and the military. Why should someone exiting from government make appointments in the security apparatus? It would help to recall here, some of the excesses of the new administration including seizure of vehicles suspected to be government vehicles being cladenstinely registered by individuals.
Government must continue to function even as a baton change is effected and things must be done in a way that does not create room for suspicion or where people could be pushed into a corner that would compel them to do things that could be misinterpreted. That is why it should be possible for an outgoing government to incorporate in its handover notes, outstanding issues such as salary increases for public servants and make recommendations where necessary for appointments, promotions and transfers for the new administration to apply its good judgement to take the appropriate decisions.
When outgoing governments leave such doubtful decisions in their trail, they put the incoming administration on the alert and they also begin to take panic measures such as dismissal of officers, who should be at post to brief the incoming ones.
The seeds of bitterness, rancour and suspicion are then planted and the cycle continues. We must be able to come out of our pettiness and do the right thing. We cannot continue to excuse our mistakes and misdeeds with the claim that ours is a young democracy. We do not need to trek 200 years to do what enlightened societies are doing today. We have all to learn from those who have treaded the same path we have chosen for ourselves.
Most of us were privileged to see via the international media what happened on Inauguration Day in Washington DC, on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 when Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th President of the United States of America. That was the culmination of events that began on November 5, 2008, when he was declared winner of the US presidential elections.
The transition was not at the pleasure of any individual or political party and when the Inauguration Day came, it was a national affair. All previous Presidents and Vice Presidents were present with their spouses. All those who matter in American politics including Senators and Members of the House of Representatives were there.
After Obama’s oath, it was a beauty when he escorted the immediate former President, George W. Bush, to Executive One, the official helicopter of the presidency, to be flown to Andrews Air Force Base and then to his home state of Texas.
From then on, President Obama was in full control. We can do the same here, and it should not take us a whole generation to learn from the American example and put some sanity into our political lives. The first step is for us to learn to be accommodating and to realise that public office is held at the behest of the people and not a personal property that should be guarded and protected even at the expense of human lives.
That is why the spirit which guided Parliament to elect the Speaker and the two deputy Speakers without any confrontation should be the preferred one to lead us to national consensus building on important matters of state.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
January 27,2009
By Kofi Akordor
Our transition in 2001 was quite chaotic. But it could be pardoned. We were just picking our first steps in multiparty democracy after many years of military and civilian dictatorship.
It was also the first time a ruling party lost at the polls and was transferring power to a party coming out of opposition. Considering the fact that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had been in opposition for decades, that is if its roots could be traced to the Progress Party (PP), which was pushed out of government by soldiers on January 13, 1972, it could be understood, the frenzy with which the Kufuor Administration zoomed into power and captured the reins of government, giving little breathing space to the outgoing National Democratic Congress (NDC), then under President Jerry John Rawlings.
Those days, many things were done wrongly including the invasion of the residence of the then Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills, who contested and lost the presidency against Mr J.A. Kufuor. The scars of those acrimonious days remained with us throughout the administration of former President Kufuor and contributed a great deal to the tension which engulfed this nation, before, during and after the struggle for political supremacy in Election 2008. The transitional hiccups of 2000 drew a wedge between the then former President Rawlings and the then President Kufuor, which several prominent and distinguished personalities tried fruitlessly to remove.
If in 2000 we made mistakes because we were infants in the game of multiparty democracy and because people were overzealous to capture political power, we cannot get the same pardon the way we organised and celebrated our 50 years of nationhood. As if it was an afterthought, this nation made mockery of its Golden Jubilee and reduced it to a feast savoured by a few who made personal fortunes out of what should have been a national historic event.
Malaysia, which shares the same birth year with us but is younger by a few months, announced her 50th anniversary five years in advance, and notified the world about her intention to climax the celebration of its 50 years of excellence in 2007. The different ways the two countries celebrated their golden jubilee were a whole story about how they conducted themselves during the first 50 years of their national life.
Malaysia came out of backwardness and advanced into modernity and industrialisation, while Ghana continued to pride itself as a major exporter of raw cocoa beans. So when it came to celebrating the event, Ghana planned its own haphazardly, imported anniversary cloth and other souvenir items from China, while Malaysia did a meticulous planning and showcased its achievements over the 50 years and gave a hint where it wanted to be in the next 50 years.
Even as we struggled to lift up our celebration that was nothing to write home about, there was evidence to suggest people placed in responsible positions to see to a successful celebration, even though it was planned belatedly, were busy lining their pockets with state funds and acquiring properties in the name of Ghana@50.
Painfully, we could not, as a nation, point at any monument to remind us of Ghana@50 when we celebrate Ghana@100. We did not feel any shame, when we announced that we spent US$4 million to renovate the Independence Square constructed at independence and then known as the Black Star Square. Other projects envisaged including the Jubilee toilets, schools, recreational parks and many other things are nowhere to be found, even though their costs have been captured in the Jubilee Budget. That is the story of Ghana, which at the least opportunity will not fail to remind the world that it was the first country south of the Sahara to gain political independence from colonial rule.
We have come a long way between 2001 and 2009, so when the time came for another transition ritual the people of this nation were expecting something better, at least not the repetition of the mistakes of 2001.
The first glimmer of hope came when the new Parliament went through the motion of electing the Speaker and the two Deputy Speakers without any hitch. We have come of age, many applauded, and the expectation was that as the days rolled by more of such consensus building would emerge to prove us as a maturing democratic people.
Then the cracks started to emerge. Former President Kufuor in his last day in office decided to take credit for increasing the salary of public servants by between 16 and 32 per cent and left the burden of payment on the shoulders of President Mills, who is yet to confer with his economic team to know how much is in the national kitty. Will it appear as if President Mills is insensitive to the plight of workers and has, therefore, refused to pay public servants what the departed Kufuor administration had announced?
Thankfully, many saw the announced salary increase more of treachery than an act of genuine concern and have, therefore, rubbished it. Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, a senior member of the New Patriotic Party and one-time Minister of Finance and Economic Planning in the Kufuor Administration, did not find it difficult to condemn the increase as unfair and misplaced.
There were also last-minute appointments in the Foreign Service, which every well-informed person knows is a very strategic unit within the government bureaucracy. In the same last-minute effort, promotions, transfers and appointments were made in the police service and the military. Why should someone exiting from government make appointments in the security apparatus? It would help to recall here, some of the excesses of the new administration including seizure of vehicles suspected to be government vehicles being cladenstinely registered by individuals.
Government must continue to function even as a baton change is effected and things must be done in a way that does not create room for suspicion or where people could be pushed into a corner that would compel them to do things that could be misinterpreted. That is why it should be possible for an outgoing government to incorporate in its handover notes, outstanding issues such as salary increases for public servants and make recommendations where necessary for appointments, promotions and transfers for the new administration to apply its good judgement to take the appropriate decisions.
When outgoing governments leave such doubtful decisions in their trail, they put the incoming administration on the alert and they also begin to take panic measures such as dismissal of officers, who should be at post to brief the incoming ones.
The seeds of bitterness, rancour and suspicion are then planted and the cycle continues. We must be able to come out of our pettiness and do the right thing. We cannot continue to excuse our mistakes and misdeeds with the claim that ours is a young democracy. We do not need to trek 200 years to do what enlightened societies are doing today. We have all to learn from those who have treaded the same path we have chosen for ourselves.
Most of us were privileged to see via the international media what happened on Inauguration Day in Washington DC, on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 when Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th President of the United States of America. That was the culmination of events that began on November 5, 2008, when he was declared winner of the US presidential elections.
The transition was not at the pleasure of any individual or political party and when the Inauguration Day came, it was a national affair. All previous Presidents and Vice Presidents were present with their spouses. All those who matter in American politics including Senators and Members of the House of Representatives were there.
After Obama’s oath, it was a beauty when he escorted the immediate former President, George W. Bush, to Executive One, the official helicopter of the presidency, to be flown to Andrews Air Force Base and then to his home state of Texas.
From then on, President Obama was in full control. We can do the same here, and it should not take us a whole generation to learn from the American example and put some sanity into our political lives. The first step is for us to learn to be accommodating and to realise that public office is held at the behest of the people and not a personal property that should be guarded and protected even at the expense of human lives.
That is why the spirit which guided Parliament to elect the Speaker and the two deputy Speakers without any confrontation should be the preferred one to lead us to national consensus building on important matters of state.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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