By Kofi Akordor
Sod-cutting ceremonies are great events that are very much anticipated by those directly affected. They are occasions which mark the beginning of the realisation of a much-cherished and long-awaited dream. It may be a chapel project by a religious body, a new classroom block for children who have suffered from the vagaries of weather as a result of learning under trees or unsafe sheds.
The bigger the project and the larger the beneficiary population, the higher the excitement. For instance, sod-cutting for the commencement of a road project for a community will be a great day. It signals bringing to a close years of trekking on bush paths before reaching the marketing centres, or if there was one, it means an improved road which will make the people to travel more comfortably and save vehicle owners the arduous task of changing vehicle parts every now and then.
Sod-cuttings became bigger events when politicians realised that they could fit into their propaganda machinery and sustain the support base of their parties or governments. So, if in the past sod-cuttings were mere rituals to signal the commencement of projects, in recent times especially after the return to constitutional multiparty democracy, the events have assumed a different posture, a strong mechanism to prove how caring, effective, sensitive and alive a government is to the plight of the people.
The ceremonies can be very simple or elaborate, covering every type of project including the simple ones such as village toilets, classrooms, markets, office buildings to big ones like medical complexes, housing estates, roads and now universities.
The stakes become higher and the anticipation bigger if the officiating officer happens to be the President of the Republic.
Ideally, and which is usually the case, a lot of ground work is done before the sod-cutting. There are occasions when actually work was ongoing and the sod-cutting becomes a mere public ceremony. Other times too, there will be visible signs of activity in the form of equipment on site.
Strangely, some of the projects never get started. Others get started with a lot of fanfare but are never completed. Going by the number of sods that have been cut for new projects since our return to constitutional rule in 1993, this country should have moved beyond a new middle income country to a young developed country brimming with beautiful roads, well-developed medical facilities and an educational infrastructure that will be the envy of other countries.
Unfortunately, next to the wild promises politicians make on campaign platforms, sod-cutting has become another tool of deceit to keep the electorate hoodwinked and kept in perpetual hope of a better tomorrow.
It is becoming clear that sod-cuttings as events are losing their vim and instead of giving us hope are making us dejected. The habit of going into frenzy and cutting sods or inaugurating uncompleted projects should end because what our political leaders are missing to realise is that they are not making things better for themselves or for the country.
Many people are prepared to accept the truth than to feel fooled. If you make a campaign promise and the reality on the ground makes it difficult it is better to admit so and suffer a few flacks from your political opponents than lose the confidence of the majority of the population.
In 2008, we saw what has become election gimmicks when former President J. A. Kufuor embarked on a frenzied sod-cutting spree, awarding contracts left and right and inaugurating half-completed projects. It did not work. You may say the die was cast. It was evidently clear that Ghanaians can endure many things but are not impressed by those gimmicks.
A recent instance is the ceremony to announce the start of a project especially major ones like the STX Housing Project and the University of Health and Allied Sciences for the Volta Region and the University of Energy and Renewable Natural Resources in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region.
If it did not work yesterday, there is no reason why it will work today. That is why the Mills Administration should look into the past and know how to manage its affairs today for a better tomorrow.
These are projects that the government, I want to believe, is seriously and genuinely committed to and determined to pursue to their logical conclusion. Unfortunately, we were not ready when the impression was created that everything was ready.
Under the circumstances we have created a credibility gap which is becoming difficult to fill. We may think this is just a political game, but that should not be case. Such things undermine our development agenda, since they have the tendency to disrupt the pace of development projects.
If we want to make it just like those countries that are on a firm path of development, then we must be consistent in the way we handle our development goals. Right now, there are a lot of projects that have been abandoned in various stages of construction. Some of these projects date back to the days of Dr Kwame Nkrumah. An example of that era are the silos that have been abandoned after his overthrow while we still grapple with the problem of storage of farm produce.
Some of us are saddened by the neglect of the housing projects started in the Kufuor Administration while the one promised by this government are yet to get a single foundation laid. So what will be the fate of say, STX, if it should ever be started and not completed before the exit of President Mills? Will it become another wasteful national venture while millions of Ghanaians do not have a place they can call home?
As a nation, we should stop the joke and be serious. A lot of us are not impressed at all at the pace of our development. We have saturated the air with empty talk while problems are begging for solution. Our politics is maturing if even slowly and sooner than later, many Ghanaians will begin to make fair and objective analysis of political issues bordering on our national development and survival devoid of emotions.
The fact that we have switched from one political party to another in 2000 and 2008 is a testimony of the fact that party propagandists may have their say, but the electorate will have their way at the crucial hour. Let us, therefore, slow down the talk and do the walk. Let us not count the chickens before they are hatched. Shall we not then concentrate on what we have achieved rather than promises which may remain nothing but day dreams?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Tough, soothing words
By Kofi Akordor
President John Evans Atta Mills virtually brought the country together when he publicly declared that the country will not go down on its knees for aid with strings attached. That sent the adrenalin pumping through our veins with excitement.
That was when the British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, made a statement linking aid to gay rights. That pronouncement created the platform for the President to make the most emphatic statement on homosexuals and lesbians, a subject that has gained currency in recent times.
The British Prime Minister’s threat did not come as a surprise to some of us. Earlier in June this year, Mr Stephen O’Brien, the UK Minister in charge of Department of International Development, visited the country and issued a warning against anti-gay sentiments and the repercussions of cutting aid. That means the British position is clear on gay rights.
Some of us are not going to spend time talking about gay rights and how the Western world in the name of human rights have become desperate about it, to the extent that a country’s right to assistance is going to be measured according to how it treats homosexuals and lesbians.
Ghanaians would have applauded Cameron if he had ended by saying the British government will tie aid to transparency and accountability in public expenditure especially by politicians who have developed the appetite for squandering state resources and lining their pockets with what belongs to all.
Unfortunately the issue of gays is something that is not dear to the hearts of many Ghanaians. At least that is what it seems publicly, hence the unanimity in the condemnations of Cameron’s threat.
Some of us would wish that President Mills’s declaration that the country will not succumb to aid with strings attached will advance beyond the gay issue and apply to all other foreign assistance that come with lots of strings attached, some subtle, some direct.
Our worry is how we have become so addicted to foreign aid to the extent that without it, our life as a nation is not complete. We live in a global village and there is no way we can pursue any development agenda without one form of foreign assistance or another. And so far as it is the only option we cannot but go that way.
However, looking at our natural resources, it seems we have made too much fetish about foreign aid. Some of the things we call foreign assistance are nothing but peanuts which only make us subservient to other countries without necessarily contributing to our national development.
Many Ghanaians strongly believe that with the right leadership, we can generate enough from our own natural resources to make nonsense of the type of threats we are getting from the UK government.
Most of the countries we go to begging for assistance do not have a fraction of our resources. So the question is what is wrong with us? For a small country like Ghana with a lot of mineral resources, abundant fresh water and now oil and natural gas we should be the last to be blackmailed in the name of development assistance.
We may be clapping today because we have rebuffed David Cameron’s gay rights and development aid. We will be fooling ourselves into believing that the matter will end there. Very soon, the pressure will be coming not only from Britain, but from all the powerful Western countries and by extension, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other funding agencies.
Knowing our peculiar situation, how long are we going to keep the fight and resist the demands of our donors? The best resistance and the most assuring is to develop and sustain the spirit of self-reliance.
In that case, any foreign engagement will be mutual and not that of master/servant as is the case now. It can be done. China has proved it. In relative terms, we have more than China in terms of natural resources and, therefore, have no excuse to fail.
For David Cameron, we will realise if we are serious that he is a saviour who has jostled us from our slumber because sooner than later the pressures will descend on us like an avalanche and will crumble weakly like a dry leaf. Let us begin to think within and accept the fact that no amount of foreign aid will move us away from poverty and underdevelopment.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
President John Evans Atta Mills virtually brought the country together when he publicly declared that the country will not go down on its knees for aid with strings attached. That sent the adrenalin pumping through our veins with excitement.
That was when the British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, made a statement linking aid to gay rights. That pronouncement created the platform for the President to make the most emphatic statement on homosexuals and lesbians, a subject that has gained currency in recent times.
The British Prime Minister’s threat did not come as a surprise to some of us. Earlier in June this year, Mr Stephen O’Brien, the UK Minister in charge of Department of International Development, visited the country and issued a warning against anti-gay sentiments and the repercussions of cutting aid. That means the British position is clear on gay rights.
Some of us are not going to spend time talking about gay rights and how the Western world in the name of human rights have become desperate about it, to the extent that a country’s right to assistance is going to be measured according to how it treats homosexuals and lesbians.
Ghanaians would have applauded Cameron if he had ended by saying the British government will tie aid to transparency and accountability in public expenditure especially by politicians who have developed the appetite for squandering state resources and lining their pockets with what belongs to all.
Unfortunately the issue of gays is something that is not dear to the hearts of many Ghanaians. At least that is what it seems publicly, hence the unanimity in the condemnations of Cameron’s threat.
Some of us would wish that President Mills’s declaration that the country will not succumb to aid with strings attached will advance beyond the gay issue and apply to all other foreign assistance that come with lots of strings attached, some subtle, some direct.
Our worry is how we have become so addicted to foreign aid to the extent that without it, our life as a nation is not complete. We live in a global village and there is no way we can pursue any development agenda without one form of foreign assistance or another. And so far as it is the only option we cannot but go that way.
However, looking at our natural resources, it seems we have made too much fetish about foreign aid. Some of the things we call foreign assistance are nothing but peanuts which only make us subservient to other countries without necessarily contributing to our national development.
Many Ghanaians strongly believe that with the right leadership, we can generate enough from our own natural resources to make nonsense of the type of threats we are getting from the UK government.
Most of the countries we go to begging for assistance do not have a fraction of our resources. So the question is what is wrong with us? For a small country like Ghana with a lot of mineral resources, abundant fresh water and now oil and natural gas we should be the last to be blackmailed in the name of development assistance.
We may be clapping today because we have rebuffed David Cameron’s gay rights and development aid. We will be fooling ourselves into believing that the matter will end there. Very soon, the pressure will be coming not only from Britain, but from all the powerful Western countries and by extension, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other funding agencies.
Knowing our peculiar situation, how long are we going to keep the fight and resist the demands of our donors? The best resistance and the most assuring is to develop and sustain the spirit of self-reliance.
In that case, any foreign engagement will be mutual and not that of master/servant as is the case now. It can be done. China has proved it. In relative terms, we have more than China in terms of natural resources and, therefore, have no excuse to fail.
For David Cameron, we will realise if we are serious that he is a saviour who has jostled us from our slumber because sooner than later the pressures will descend on us like an avalanche and will crumble weakly like a dry leaf. Let us begin to think within and accept the fact that no amount of foreign aid will move us away from poverty and underdevelopment.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The floating millennium city
By Kofi Akordor
We were getting submerged in that cacophony of noise of Accra becoming a millennium city until the rains of Tuesday, October 25, 2011, exposed the hollowness in that boisterous claim. After hours of heavy rainfall which went deep into the night the previous day, Ghanaians woke up on Wednesday to the unfortunate realisation that half of their national capital was floating on dirty, stinking flood waters.
Almost the whole of Accra West became a huge pond with a flotilla of containers, kiosks which served as shops and sleeping places. Floating on the flood waters were various household items including mattresses, trunks, chop-boxes, fridges, television sets and cooking utensils.
It was unbelievable but true that vehicles were overturned and drifting on the waters which also exhumed tonnes of refuse which lay buried under what were supposed to be the city’s drains.
The floods, apart from misery inflicted on individuals and corporate institutions, also seriously exposed the big slum Accra, our national capital, has become. Most of the places which the flood took a heavy toll on were clearly unplanned and lacked the necessary facilities to drain the rainwater.
Think of areas like Odawna, Alajo, Santa Maria, Sowutuom, then you can conjure a picture of containers placed everywhere, houses built in a haphazard manner and drains choked to the full with waste of all descriptions.
We all know the problem. We seem to know the solutions. What we lack is the capacity, the ability, the sincere determination and wherewithal to pursue a vigorous drainage development programme.
To begin with, our city drains are very small and shallow and, therefore, lack the capacity to take large volumes of water. Second, they are not covered and, therefore, are an attraction to careless and filthy people who throw rubbish in them.
Apart from these are the bigger problem of illegal structures that have sprung up everywhere, taking over watercourses, drains and marshy lands. It seems economic survival has overtaken all other survival instincts and, therefore, workshops, stores and markets have taken over every available space without any regard for building plans.
Over the years, our corrupt nature has taken strong possession of us, making it difficult for our state institutions to operate firmly and fairly. That is why unauthorised structures have survived even though we always see; “Stop Work, Produce Permit” boldly written on the walls of these structures.
The permits are never produced and the work never stopped. The city authorities and the Town and Country Planning Department have become impotent to exercise their mandate because of the lure of the envelop which their officials are unable to resist.
Our situation is not made better because of our brand of democracy which gives political twist to every action of the government. Since our departure from military dictatorship to multiparty democracy by virtue of the 1992 Constitutions, all governments have made some amount of effort to enforce building codes to no avail. You only need to bring down one or two buildings constructed at the wrong place or without permit, and the political vampires who want to capitalise on everything to make political gain condemn the action.
We have become so desperate for political power to have access to state resources that we do not know what is the common good to be pursued with common determination. Today, political parties want to remain in power or attain it at all costs and, therefore, find it difficult to enforce laws we have made ourselves to ensure sanity in the system.
Refuse collection and disposal has become a major problem for the country. Things have changed but we are still living in the past. What we termed waste management is actually refuse relocation. We collect from one place and dump it at another place. In other words, we attempt to save some citizens from filth and rather compound the condition of other citizens in another part of the city.
Waste recycling, which is big business elsewhere, is still remote to us and so we watch with helpless abandon while the capital city is being buried under tonnes and tonnes of garbage. From the photographs of the floods published, it was clear that choked gutters and drains played a big role in the floods.
Most major cities have made good use of the rivers flowing through them. Take the Thames in London, the Hudson in New York, the Potomac in Washington DC, the Seine in Paris. These rivers have been effectively used for water transportation, for harbours and for ecological balance.
Our Odaw which passes through Accra is a different story. It is dead and only brings death and destruction to city dwellers who find themselves close to its banks.
The floods are not only causing personal distress to individuals but are also doing damage to our investment ambitions. Graphic Road particularly suffered a lot and it was sad seeing big companies like Toyota Ghana Limited, Japan Motors, Azar Chemicals, Rana Motors and many others virtually submerged and products worth millions of Ghana cedis destroyed. This cannot be an invitation for other companies to come and do business here.
President John Evans Atta Mills responded the way others before him ritualistically did. First, to wade through the muddy, filthy flood waters to declare sympathy for victims and to make big promises to help victims recover from their shock and loss and then make a bigger promise to take all possible measures to prevent a recurrence of the disaster.
This year, we heard from the lips of the President that $500 million is being sourced to embark on major drainage works in Accra. We know, however, that all things being equal, the rains will come again, the floods will come and there will be another big promise to the people of Ghana. Talk, talk and talk, no action. That is a specialty no one can take away from us.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
We were getting submerged in that cacophony of noise of Accra becoming a millennium city until the rains of Tuesday, October 25, 2011, exposed the hollowness in that boisterous claim. After hours of heavy rainfall which went deep into the night the previous day, Ghanaians woke up on Wednesday to the unfortunate realisation that half of their national capital was floating on dirty, stinking flood waters.
Almost the whole of Accra West became a huge pond with a flotilla of containers, kiosks which served as shops and sleeping places. Floating on the flood waters were various household items including mattresses, trunks, chop-boxes, fridges, television sets and cooking utensils.
It was unbelievable but true that vehicles were overturned and drifting on the waters which also exhumed tonnes of refuse which lay buried under what were supposed to be the city’s drains.
The floods, apart from misery inflicted on individuals and corporate institutions, also seriously exposed the big slum Accra, our national capital, has become. Most of the places which the flood took a heavy toll on were clearly unplanned and lacked the necessary facilities to drain the rainwater.
Think of areas like Odawna, Alajo, Santa Maria, Sowutuom, then you can conjure a picture of containers placed everywhere, houses built in a haphazard manner and drains choked to the full with waste of all descriptions.
We all know the problem. We seem to know the solutions. What we lack is the capacity, the ability, the sincere determination and wherewithal to pursue a vigorous drainage development programme.
To begin with, our city drains are very small and shallow and, therefore, lack the capacity to take large volumes of water. Second, they are not covered and, therefore, are an attraction to careless and filthy people who throw rubbish in them.
Apart from these are the bigger problem of illegal structures that have sprung up everywhere, taking over watercourses, drains and marshy lands. It seems economic survival has overtaken all other survival instincts and, therefore, workshops, stores and markets have taken over every available space without any regard for building plans.
Over the years, our corrupt nature has taken strong possession of us, making it difficult for our state institutions to operate firmly and fairly. That is why unauthorised structures have survived even though we always see; “Stop Work, Produce Permit” boldly written on the walls of these structures.
The permits are never produced and the work never stopped. The city authorities and the Town and Country Planning Department have become impotent to exercise their mandate because of the lure of the envelop which their officials are unable to resist.
Our situation is not made better because of our brand of democracy which gives political twist to every action of the government. Since our departure from military dictatorship to multiparty democracy by virtue of the 1992 Constitutions, all governments have made some amount of effort to enforce building codes to no avail. You only need to bring down one or two buildings constructed at the wrong place or without permit, and the political vampires who want to capitalise on everything to make political gain condemn the action.
We have become so desperate for political power to have access to state resources that we do not know what is the common good to be pursued with common determination. Today, political parties want to remain in power or attain it at all costs and, therefore, find it difficult to enforce laws we have made ourselves to ensure sanity in the system.
Refuse collection and disposal has become a major problem for the country. Things have changed but we are still living in the past. What we termed waste management is actually refuse relocation. We collect from one place and dump it at another place. In other words, we attempt to save some citizens from filth and rather compound the condition of other citizens in another part of the city.
Waste recycling, which is big business elsewhere, is still remote to us and so we watch with helpless abandon while the capital city is being buried under tonnes and tonnes of garbage. From the photographs of the floods published, it was clear that choked gutters and drains played a big role in the floods.
Most major cities have made good use of the rivers flowing through them. Take the Thames in London, the Hudson in New York, the Potomac in Washington DC, the Seine in Paris. These rivers have been effectively used for water transportation, for harbours and for ecological balance.
Our Odaw which passes through Accra is a different story. It is dead and only brings death and destruction to city dwellers who find themselves close to its banks.
The floods are not only causing personal distress to individuals but are also doing damage to our investment ambitions. Graphic Road particularly suffered a lot and it was sad seeing big companies like Toyota Ghana Limited, Japan Motors, Azar Chemicals, Rana Motors and many others virtually submerged and products worth millions of Ghana cedis destroyed. This cannot be an invitation for other companies to come and do business here.
President John Evans Atta Mills responded the way others before him ritualistically did. First, to wade through the muddy, filthy flood waters to declare sympathy for victims and to make big promises to help victims recover from their shock and loss and then make a bigger promise to take all possible measures to prevent a recurrence of the disaster.
This year, we heard from the lips of the President that $500 million is being sourced to embark on major drainage works in Accra. We know, however, that all things being equal, the rains will come again, the floods will come and there will be another big promise to the people of Ghana. Talk, talk and talk, no action. That is a specialty no one can take away from us.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Houses for ex-Presidents
By Kofi Akordor
I havebeen trying hard to find the justification for or the wisdom which informed the recommendation that former Presidents, among other things, should be lavished with two houses, one in Accra and another at any place of their choice.
Any time I see the squalor and deprivations surrounding us, I wonder whether those who made that recommendation were part of this country and its people or they were some people from somewhere who were entirely oblivious of conditions in this country.
I am equally baffled that former President John Agyekum Kufuor, after seeing the final work of the Mary Chinery-Hesse Committee before it was made public, did not see anything wrong with the recommendations.
Some of us will not be surprised if former President Kufuor made a personal input into the Chinery-Hesse Report because of the religious fervor he has been demanding its implementation to the letter.
The ex gratia of the so-called Article 71 office holders became a very big issue soon after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Professor John Evans Atta Mills came to power because of some of the outrageous recommendations contained in the Chinery-Hesse Report and which we were told was ratified by the then Parliament.
For a former President, the committee recommended that as part of the resettlement plan, he be given two houses, not ordinary ones, one in Accra and the other at a place of his choice. In addition, he should be given six fresh vehicles, one to be armoured, which should be replaced every four years.
Did we elect people who offered themselves for the presidency only for them to become a burden on us for their imperial lifestyles? Did they offer themselves because they thought they had a vision for this country, or they just want to improve their lot it even means collapsing the economy of this country?
The argument was bandied around that the resettlement plan was so designed so that our former presidents will live in dignity after retirement and, second, to ensure that while in office, they do not dip their hands into the national kitty for personal aggrandizement.
That is a hollow argument, anyway. Even though it is not a constitutional requirement, we do not expect someone who is squatting in somebody’s hall and chamber to be our president. Anyone with good ideas for this country should be able to show by personal success that he is capable of delivering in the wider national context.
Former President Kufuor proved it by using his personal house as presidential palace for the eight years that he was in office.We do not see how justifiable it will be to build two new mansions for each former President, because that is the only way to guarantee him/her a dignified retirement.
Very importantly, even in jurisdictions where there are tight controls to check graft among public office holders, officers including presidents do not go home wish such lavish entitlements. We are in Africa and we cannot pretend to be unaware of the fact that our anti-corruption laws have very marginal chances of success.
We cannot also run away from the fact that most of the politicians in this part of the world cannot claim to be making sacrifices since they are in the main, more desperately committed to their stomachs than the national interest. Any decision that seems to push these realities into the background will be unfair to the conscience of the people.
The Chinery-Hesse Committee defended its position by claiming the members toured various countries and studied retirement packages for other presidents before coming out with their recommendations. It did not mention the names of the countries visited nor make public the types of packages they had for their retired heads of state.
If their trips took them to African countries, then straightaway they have made a big mistake, since most African leaders do not leave office voluntarily, anyway, and if they are compelled to leave, they are very likely to make such outrageous demands, hiding behind such presidential committees as the one we also did here.
Just as we were beginning to forget the matter, hoping it is now history, the news of our two former presidents rejecting offers of houses made to them at the plush Trassaco Valley hit us with a bang. The two former leaders were not impressed with the offer.While former President Rawlings was not enthused because it was not a permanent abode, Mr Kufuor was not interested because, according to his spokesperson, he was not consulted and did not make any input into the acquisition and allocation.
Why should we get entangled in such a web which should not have been in the first place? Our former presidents, like all other public office holders and public servants, deserve good pension packages.
If those doing the calculations think the present monthly pension for former presidents is not adequate, they can enhance it and subject it to periodic reviews, as is done for other workers.
The issue of houses should be ruled out completely. That is where I agree with PresidentMills that houses should not feature in the retirement packages for former presidents. I, however, disagree with his recommendation that former presidents should be paid rent allowances for their accommodation. That is also a burden that the state cannot carry. Every president of the Republic should be able to retire and go to reside in his or her home.
The state can pay bulk cash on retirement and monthly pension as will be prescribed by the appropriate authorities. Beyond that, State Protocol should be able to cater for other needs, such as foreign travels, allocation of vehicles for personal and official use and all other services a former president deserves.
The agitation we are experiencing on the labour front these days is in part due to the lifestyles of politicians who seem to have stumbled upon some fortune overnight. Many workers are beginning to believe that the men and women who came begging them for their mandate to lead them are not telling them all the truth.
While they are being told every day that there is not much to go round, a lot of the young politicians have developed bloated cheeks in a matter of months. Sometimes it is not easy to hide newly acquired wealth. That is why some of the professionals have become very aggressive in their demands.
The last thing we should do to aggravate the situation is turn what is considered a sacrificial job into a business empire for people. We need to treat our past leaders fair and square, but that should make them like albatrosses hanging on our necks.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
I havebeen trying hard to find the justification for or the wisdom which informed the recommendation that former Presidents, among other things, should be lavished with two houses, one in Accra and another at any place of their choice.
Any time I see the squalor and deprivations surrounding us, I wonder whether those who made that recommendation were part of this country and its people or they were some people from somewhere who were entirely oblivious of conditions in this country.
I am equally baffled that former President John Agyekum Kufuor, after seeing the final work of the Mary Chinery-Hesse Committee before it was made public, did not see anything wrong with the recommendations.
Some of us will not be surprised if former President Kufuor made a personal input into the Chinery-Hesse Report because of the religious fervor he has been demanding its implementation to the letter.
The ex gratia of the so-called Article 71 office holders became a very big issue soon after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Professor John Evans Atta Mills came to power because of some of the outrageous recommendations contained in the Chinery-Hesse Report and which we were told was ratified by the then Parliament.
For a former President, the committee recommended that as part of the resettlement plan, he be given two houses, not ordinary ones, one in Accra and the other at a place of his choice. In addition, he should be given six fresh vehicles, one to be armoured, which should be replaced every four years.
Did we elect people who offered themselves for the presidency only for them to become a burden on us for their imperial lifestyles? Did they offer themselves because they thought they had a vision for this country, or they just want to improve their lot it even means collapsing the economy of this country?
The argument was bandied around that the resettlement plan was so designed so that our former presidents will live in dignity after retirement and, second, to ensure that while in office, they do not dip their hands into the national kitty for personal aggrandizement.
That is a hollow argument, anyway. Even though it is not a constitutional requirement, we do not expect someone who is squatting in somebody’s hall and chamber to be our president. Anyone with good ideas for this country should be able to show by personal success that he is capable of delivering in the wider national context.
Former President Kufuor proved it by using his personal house as presidential palace for the eight years that he was in office.We do not see how justifiable it will be to build two new mansions for each former President, because that is the only way to guarantee him/her a dignified retirement.
Very importantly, even in jurisdictions where there are tight controls to check graft among public office holders, officers including presidents do not go home wish such lavish entitlements. We are in Africa and we cannot pretend to be unaware of the fact that our anti-corruption laws have very marginal chances of success.
We cannot also run away from the fact that most of the politicians in this part of the world cannot claim to be making sacrifices since they are in the main, more desperately committed to their stomachs than the national interest. Any decision that seems to push these realities into the background will be unfair to the conscience of the people.
The Chinery-Hesse Committee defended its position by claiming the members toured various countries and studied retirement packages for other presidents before coming out with their recommendations. It did not mention the names of the countries visited nor make public the types of packages they had for their retired heads of state.
If their trips took them to African countries, then straightaway they have made a big mistake, since most African leaders do not leave office voluntarily, anyway, and if they are compelled to leave, they are very likely to make such outrageous demands, hiding behind such presidential committees as the one we also did here.
Just as we were beginning to forget the matter, hoping it is now history, the news of our two former presidents rejecting offers of houses made to them at the plush Trassaco Valley hit us with a bang. The two former leaders were not impressed with the offer.While former President Rawlings was not enthused because it was not a permanent abode, Mr Kufuor was not interested because, according to his spokesperson, he was not consulted and did not make any input into the acquisition and allocation.
Why should we get entangled in such a web which should not have been in the first place? Our former presidents, like all other public office holders and public servants, deserve good pension packages.
If those doing the calculations think the present monthly pension for former presidents is not adequate, they can enhance it and subject it to periodic reviews, as is done for other workers.
The issue of houses should be ruled out completely. That is where I agree with PresidentMills that houses should not feature in the retirement packages for former presidents. I, however, disagree with his recommendation that former presidents should be paid rent allowances for their accommodation. That is also a burden that the state cannot carry. Every president of the Republic should be able to retire and go to reside in his or her home.
The state can pay bulk cash on retirement and monthly pension as will be prescribed by the appropriate authorities. Beyond that, State Protocol should be able to cater for other needs, such as foreign travels, allocation of vehicles for personal and official use and all other services a former president deserves.
The agitation we are experiencing on the labour front these days is in part due to the lifestyles of politicians who seem to have stumbled upon some fortune overnight. Many workers are beginning to believe that the men and women who came begging them for their mandate to lead them are not telling them all the truth.
While they are being told every day that there is not much to go round, a lot of the young politicians have developed bloated cheeks in a matter of months. Sometimes it is not easy to hide newly acquired wealth. That is why some of the professionals have become very aggressive in their demands.
The last thing we should do to aggravate the situation is turn what is considered a sacrificial job into a business empire for people. We need to treat our past leaders fair and square, but that should make them like albatrosses hanging on our necks.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Blackmail
By Kofi Akordor
Imagine the frustration of a young medical officer who, after a hard day’s work, got home only to realise that he could not unwind watching his favourite television programme because electricity was off. Technicians of the energy company are at war with their employees over service conditions and have, therefore, withdrawn their services.
What about the mother who could not prepare the evening meal for the family because the taps would not flow simply because the water company workers were at loggerheads with their managers over better service conditions and would not work.
I once made a wrong calculation and paid dearly for it. I was to attend an interview and misjudged the flow of traffic. Before I could realise it, I was hard up with time and desperately started to flag every taxi passing with the intention to pick ‘dropping’. As it were, all taxis seemed to have different missions that morning and, therefore, ignored my signals. In the end, I lost the opportunity.
We all suffer anytime electricity power goes off, for the sake of those so-called maintenance schedules, load-shedding or because the transformer had suffered a mishap because of lightning or through the activities of thieves.
We know what happens when the tap does not flow for a day or two for whatever reason. Programmes are thrown out of gear and even at the workplace we lack concentration because our minds are on where to get the precious water for household use.
The stench from the toilets at home, the office and other public places keeps reminding us that a very important resource — water — is missing in our lives.
Until we are confronted with such deprivations, nobody bothers to give a split-second thought to workers of the power company or that of water.
As for taxi drivers, we only remember them as illiterate rogues who will not wash in the morning before jumping behind the steering wheel for the day’s work. Wait until you are suddenly taken sick in the night; then you will realize that taxi drivers are gods.
Such is life that no matter how small or insignificant others are, we are inter-dependent and the collapse of one unit, whether deliberate or by accident, disorganises our personal, official, commercial and industrial activities.
We do not spare a moment to think about the policeman (after all the police only take bribes) until a thief or an armed robber raids our homes or a careless driver rams into our vehicle. Then we are on all fours seeking police intervention. Can we imagine the chaos at our traffic intersections where our traffic lights never work without the presence of the police? That is why we should not trivialise the importance of anyone in society.
No matter how hard we may try, we still fall sick or fall victim to accidents. That is why doctors will continue to play a big role in our daily lives. It will, therefore, be suicidal for anybody to underestimate the importance of medical officers. In fact, even the services of the village medicine man are greatly revered and his opinions on health matters are taken with all seriousness.
Ours is a very dirty environment, especially Accra, Kumasi and other big towns, and, coupled with poor nutrition and bad lifestyles, we are always at the mercy of various diseases. So doctors, whether we like it or not, will be our regular companions.
I do not think I will be wrong if I venture to say that the majority of Ghanaians value and appreciate the work of doctors and other health workers and would wish that they get everything they demand. Anytime I visit the hospital and see the condition under which health workers operate, I know that even though it is their choice, they are making a lot of sacrifices that must be appreciated and fully rewarded.
Doctors, like all other workers, have every right to agitate for better service conditions and I believe members of the public will support their cause, knowing the role they are playing in our survival as individuals and as a nation. But, as stated earlier, in all scheme of things, we should not forget that we are in an interdependent world and no matter how we value ourselves, we should not ignore the roles others play in our lives.
Many considerations might have gone into drafting the labour laws of the country which outlawed strikes by certain categories of workers, including doctors and other health workers. Unfortunately, doctors have ignored this law and not even the pleas of President John Evans Atta Mills will turn their hearts.
Whether it takes a few days, weeks, months or even years, they will get their money one day. But lives lost are gone forever, even though, as Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, the President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), declared, whether they the doctors worked or not, people would die anyway.
The doctors’ strike will eventually fall on the laps of some politicians who may want to make capital gain out of it, forgetting that the phenomenon has been with us for years.
In the past, strikes (call them industrial battles) were fought for two main reasons. First, to press home demands for better service conditions and two to settle political scores with the government in power.
Remember the Association of Recognised Professional Bodies (ARPB) and its battles against the Acheampong dictatorship. That umbrella body for various professionals, including doctors and lawyers, made it difficult for Acheampong to go ahead with his UNIGOV doctrine which was a form of a one-party state.
The ARPB also played a significant role in the return to civilian rule by the Supreme Military Council under General F.W.K. Akufo. Today, thanks to multi-party democracy, it will not be easy for any union or professional body to do political battle with a government, since membership of all bodies cuts across political parties.
So even though some political parties may want to capitalise on the genuine grievances of workers, at the end of the day, individual members of the same group will begin to advise themselves if they suspect an infiltration for diabolical purposes.
Medical doctors are part of us. They are our fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, friends and old school mates. Therefore, whatever affects them affects all of us. Their joy is our joy, just as their sorrow is our sorrow.
We would, therefore, wish that having registered their protest at the slow pace of their placement on the Single Spine Salary Structure and other matters, they will respect public sentiment and go back to work while the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and other relevant bodies dialogue with the GMA to thrash out all contentious issues.
Some of us do not know anything about single or any other spine. But even from afar, we can picture a mathematically complex assignment which will require a lot of patience and meticulous calculation. I do not think those who are already on the SSSS are fully satisfied with their lot and so it will be for a long time until things stabilise when the concept is mastered.
Doctors may hold the trump card today because we are all sick people and we are always at the risk of suffering from one form of health hazard or another. So we shall continue to beg the doctors to go back to work. But beyond their genuine grievances and appropriate demands, for them to continue to ignore our pleas could only amount to blackmailing a whole nation.
Dr Winful has boasted that no law or power will compel them to go back to work until they exact their pound of flesh. That is true. But there is one law that no one can run away from. That is Cause and Effect or the Law of Karma. You may call it the Universal Law and that one is a judgement that comes over us by our own doing. In simple terms, it says do unto others what you want others to do to you. I do not think our doctors would want to see their parents, relations and friends suffer undue pain and die eventually.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor,blogspot.com
Imagine the frustration of a young medical officer who, after a hard day’s work, got home only to realise that he could not unwind watching his favourite television programme because electricity was off. Technicians of the energy company are at war with their employees over service conditions and have, therefore, withdrawn their services.
What about the mother who could not prepare the evening meal for the family because the taps would not flow simply because the water company workers were at loggerheads with their managers over better service conditions and would not work.
I once made a wrong calculation and paid dearly for it. I was to attend an interview and misjudged the flow of traffic. Before I could realise it, I was hard up with time and desperately started to flag every taxi passing with the intention to pick ‘dropping’. As it were, all taxis seemed to have different missions that morning and, therefore, ignored my signals. In the end, I lost the opportunity.
We all suffer anytime electricity power goes off, for the sake of those so-called maintenance schedules, load-shedding or because the transformer had suffered a mishap because of lightning or through the activities of thieves.
We know what happens when the tap does not flow for a day or two for whatever reason. Programmes are thrown out of gear and even at the workplace we lack concentration because our minds are on where to get the precious water for household use.
The stench from the toilets at home, the office and other public places keeps reminding us that a very important resource — water — is missing in our lives.
Until we are confronted with such deprivations, nobody bothers to give a split-second thought to workers of the power company or that of water.
As for taxi drivers, we only remember them as illiterate rogues who will not wash in the morning before jumping behind the steering wheel for the day’s work. Wait until you are suddenly taken sick in the night; then you will realize that taxi drivers are gods.
Such is life that no matter how small or insignificant others are, we are inter-dependent and the collapse of one unit, whether deliberate or by accident, disorganises our personal, official, commercial and industrial activities.
We do not spare a moment to think about the policeman (after all the police only take bribes) until a thief or an armed robber raids our homes or a careless driver rams into our vehicle. Then we are on all fours seeking police intervention. Can we imagine the chaos at our traffic intersections where our traffic lights never work without the presence of the police? That is why we should not trivialise the importance of anyone in society.
No matter how hard we may try, we still fall sick or fall victim to accidents. That is why doctors will continue to play a big role in our daily lives. It will, therefore, be suicidal for anybody to underestimate the importance of medical officers. In fact, even the services of the village medicine man are greatly revered and his opinions on health matters are taken with all seriousness.
Ours is a very dirty environment, especially Accra, Kumasi and other big towns, and, coupled with poor nutrition and bad lifestyles, we are always at the mercy of various diseases. So doctors, whether we like it or not, will be our regular companions.
I do not think I will be wrong if I venture to say that the majority of Ghanaians value and appreciate the work of doctors and other health workers and would wish that they get everything they demand. Anytime I visit the hospital and see the condition under which health workers operate, I know that even though it is their choice, they are making a lot of sacrifices that must be appreciated and fully rewarded.
Doctors, like all other workers, have every right to agitate for better service conditions and I believe members of the public will support their cause, knowing the role they are playing in our survival as individuals and as a nation. But, as stated earlier, in all scheme of things, we should not forget that we are in an interdependent world and no matter how we value ourselves, we should not ignore the roles others play in our lives.
Many considerations might have gone into drafting the labour laws of the country which outlawed strikes by certain categories of workers, including doctors and other health workers. Unfortunately, doctors have ignored this law and not even the pleas of President John Evans Atta Mills will turn their hearts.
Whether it takes a few days, weeks, months or even years, they will get their money one day. But lives lost are gone forever, even though, as Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, the President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), declared, whether they the doctors worked or not, people would die anyway.
The doctors’ strike will eventually fall on the laps of some politicians who may want to make capital gain out of it, forgetting that the phenomenon has been with us for years.
In the past, strikes (call them industrial battles) were fought for two main reasons. First, to press home demands for better service conditions and two to settle political scores with the government in power.
Remember the Association of Recognised Professional Bodies (ARPB) and its battles against the Acheampong dictatorship. That umbrella body for various professionals, including doctors and lawyers, made it difficult for Acheampong to go ahead with his UNIGOV doctrine which was a form of a one-party state.
The ARPB also played a significant role in the return to civilian rule by the Supreme Military Council under General F.W.K. Akufo. Today, thanks to multi-party democracy, it will not be easy for any union or professional body to do political battle with a government, since membership of all bodies cuts across political parties.
So even though some political parties may want to capitalise on the genuine grievances of workers, at the end of the day, individual members of the same group will begin to advise themselves if they suspect an infiltration for diabolical purposes.
Medical doctors are part of us. They are our fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, friends and old school mates. Therefore, whatever affects them affects all of us. Their joy is our joy, just as their sorrow is our sorrow.
We would, therefore, wish that having registered their protest at the slow pace of their placement on the Single Spine Salary Structure and other matters, they will respect public sentiment and go back to work while the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and other relevant bodies dialogue with the GMA to thrash out all contentious issues.
Some of us do not know anything about single or any other spine. But even from afar, we can picture a mathematically complex assignment which will require a lot of patience and meticulous calculation. I do not think those who are already on the SSSS are fully satisfied with their lot and so it will be for a long time until things stabilise when the concept is mastered.
Doctors may hold the trump card today because we are all sick people and we are always at the risk of suffering from one form of health hazard or another. So we shall continue to beg the doctors to go back to work. But beyond their genuine grievances and appropriate demands, for them to continue to ignore our pleas could only amount to blackmailing a whole nation.
Dr Winful has boasted that no law or power will compel them to go back to work until they exact their pound of flesh. That is true. But there is one law that no one can run away from. That is Cause and Effect or the Law of Karma. You may call it the Universal Law and that one is a judgement that comes over us by our own doing. In simple terms, it says do unto others what you want others to do to you. I do not think our doctors would want to see their parents, relations and friends suffer undue pain and die eventually.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor,blogspot.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Koliko Street
Read by LHA
By Kofi Akordor
THE middle-aged woman chose a strategic place on the dusty road serving as a street in a developing part of the town and pitched a makeshift structure to start her business of frying yam, cocoyam and plantain. The locals call it ‘Koliko’.
It did not take long before members of the community identified her as one of those who satisfied their food needs from the afternoon till late evening. Her shrill voice advertising her business would cut through the din of the area at periodic intervals.
Auntie Dede and her spot became important and permanent features on the landscape of the area. With time, it became normal for residents trying to describe the location of their houses to friends and relatives to use Auntie Dede’s Koliko Spot as reference point. It was a matter of telling them to look out for Auntie Dede’s Koliko Spot and then follow other directions.
Of course those who may be unlucky to follow that direction on a day Auntie Dede was not at post would have themselves to blame. Local tro-tro and taxi drivers could not fail to notice new developments. ?????Passengers would be asked whether they are going to Auntie Koliko, as the place became known, and so the street which now has lights and has been tarred.
So the endeavours of a middle-aged woman to raise money to fend for herself and her family has given a community a name and without any naming ceremony, that street gained permanent place on the map of the city as Koliko Street.
Today, there are many streets, junctions and landmarks in Accra, the capital city, and other major towns in the country that acquired their names in the same pattern as Koliko Street. It just takes somebody’s fancy and then a street, a community or even a whole town is named after a person, a drinking or eating spot.
This situation has become the naming culture in our cities and towns and the local authorities seem impotent in their attempts to ensure sanity in street-naming the country. In Accra in particular, the practice has become so pervasive that most streets, roads and communities have lost their official names.
For example, there was once a street in Accra called Cantonment Road. Somehow, some people with their strong taste and fascination for foreign things and names reasoned that since the activities on the Cantonment Road are similar to those of another street in London, it was only desirable that we name ours after the one in London. That was how Cantonment Road in Osu, became Oxford Street without ceremony.
It has been many years now since that unofficial name change but the city authorities have not made any efforts to clear the air. So, while on the map of Accra, there will be nothing as Oxford Street, on the ground, there is nothing as Cantonment Road.
In some jurisdictions, names of places, especially in cities and major towns do not just spring up. They are thought of and chosen carefully because names have their historical and national significance.
Many people will open their mouths wide and ask whether there is any place in Ghana called Kokoedzor. They will, however, tell you they know or have heard of a place in Accra called Mandela. The original name of Mandela is actually Kokoedzor and those who have land documents prepared for them with regard to that area will attest to this.
Today, many communities in the Accra and Tema metropolises have developed fanciful names that are quite different from their original names. They are too numerous to mention but a few are Middle East and Lebanon near Tema, where the early soldiers who returned from peace-keeping duties in the Middle East acquired plots of land for their housing projects.
We are all too familiar with Rawlings Park, the Boom Junction and HIPIC Junction which are not official names but have become more or less official names of those places. But should we continue giving names to places in our national capital and other major towns like this?
Our city authorities and other agencies such as the Department of Town and Country Planning have a responsibility to ensure that we do not leave the naming process in the hands of a few individuals and groups.
The world is shrinking fast and one of the advantages of this phenomenon, especially with the introduction of the GPRS is to make location identification easier. We will be cut off from this explosion of technological advancement if we continue to name our streets in a haphazard manner.
Auntie Dede only started to fry Koliko to earn a living but she has entered the history books as an ordinary woman who has given a street a name. Welcome to Koliko Street.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
By Kofi Akordor
THE middle-aged woman chose a strategic place on the dusty road serving as a street in a developing part of the town and pitched a makeshift structure to start her business of frying yam, cocoyam and plantain. The locals call it ‘Koliko’.
It did not take long before members of the community identified her as one of those who satisfied their food needs from the afternoon till late evening. Her shrill voice advertising her business would cut through the din of the area at periodic intervals.
Auntie Dede and her spot became important and permanent features on the landscape of the area. With time, it became normal for residents trying to describe the location of their houses to friends and relatives to use Auntie Dede’s Koliko Spot as reference point. It was a matter of telling them to look out for Auntie Dede’s Koliko Spot and then follow other directions.
Of course those who may be unlucky to follow that direction on a day Auntie Dede was not at post would have themselves to blame. Local tro-tro and taxi drivers could not fail to notice new developments. ?????Passengers would be asked whether they are going to Auntie Koliko, as the place became known, and so the street which now has lights and has been tarred.
So the endeavours of a middle-aged woman to raise money to fend for herself and her family has given a community a name and without any naming ceremony, that street gained permanent place on the map of the city as Koliko Street.
Today, there are many streets, junctions and landmarks in Accra, the capital city, and other major towns in the country that acquired their names in the same pattern as Koliko Street. It just takes somebody’s fancy and then a street, a community or even a whole town is named after a person, a drinking or eating spot.
This situation has become the naming culture in our cities and towns and the local authorities seem impotent in their attempts to ensure sanity in street-naming the country. In Accra in particular, the practice has become so pervasive that most streets, roads and communities have lost their official names.
For example, there was once a street in Accra called Cantonment Road. Somehow, some people with their strong taste and fascination for foreign things and names reasoned that since the activities on the Cantonment Road are similar to those of another street in London, it was only desirable that we name ours after the one in London. That was how Cantonment Road in Osu, became Oxford Street without ceremony.
It has been many years now since that unofficial name change but the city authorities have not made any efforts to clear the air. So, while on the map of Accra, there will be nothing as Oxford Street, on the ground, there is nothing as Cantonment Road.
In some jurisdictions, names of places, especially in cities and major towns do not just spring up. They are thought of and chosen carefully because names have their historical and national significance.
Many people will open their mouths wide and ask whether there is any place in Ghana called Kokoedzor. They will, however, tell you they know or have heard of a place in Accra called Mandela. The original name of Mandela is actually Kokoedzor and those who have land documents prepared for them with regard to that area will attest to this.
Today, many communities in the Accra and Tema metropolises have developed fanciful names that are quite different from their original names. They are too numerous to mention but a few are Middle East and Lebanon near Tema, where the early soldiers who returned from peace-keeping duties in the Middle East acquired plots of land for their housing projects.
We are all too familiar with Rawlings Park, the Boom Junction and HIPIC Junction which are not official names but have become more or less official names of those places. But should we continue giving names to places in our national capital and other major towns like this?
Our city authorities and other agencies such as the Department of Town and Country Planning have a responsibility to ensure that we do not leave the naming process in the hands of a few individuals and groups.
The world is shrinking fast and one of the advantages of this phenomenon, especially with the introduction of the GPRS is to make location identification easier. We will be cut off from this explosion of technological advancement if we continue to name our streets in a haphazard manner.
Auntie Dede only started to fry Koliko to earn a living but she has entered the history books as an ordinary woman who has given a street a name. Welcome to Koliko Street.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Big dreams
By Kofi Akordor
I HAVE been wondering whether God has not been generous enough to give our leaders that magic power for dreaming. I know that every person in the subconscious state is supposed to experience dreams even though a friend told me once that he does not dream while asleep.
Sometimes too we indulge ourselves in daydreaming in our conscious state. This is when our imagination takes into the realm of fantasy as we dream about the most beautiful or the best of things which under normal circumstances are far beyond our reach.
Of course there are a few people who go beyond daydreaming and put certain plans on the ground which finally transform ordinary dreams into a vision which sustains their ambition and propels them towards attaining their ambitions.
I am particularly talking about the type of dreams which challenge people and nations into the future and drive them towards greater heights. I believe this is the type of the dream which spurred the former Soviet Union to put the first human into outer space in the person of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, a cosmonaut whose Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.
The Soviet Union’s arch-Cold War rival, the United States of America, took up the challenge and decided to do what was beyond human capability at the time. In 1963, President John F. Kenney of the US challenged space scientists of his country to go higher and land man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
President Kennedy did not live to witness it, but true to his vision, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), beat the deadline, by putting the first human beings on the Moon when the Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin, while the third astronaut, Michael Collins, orbited above.
Individuals, corporate institutions and nations which have made it big, flew on the wings of great men and women who dreamt big and transformed such into visions which led them on the path of success and fame.
The late Chairman Mao Zedong of China challenged his countrymen and women to choose between proving their critics, who claimed they are poor and primitive, right, or defy the odds and prove them wrong.
The Chinese chose the latter option and today, China has become the biggest economic attraction of the world to the amazement of the cynics. Other countries on other continents especially south-east Asia, where the group dubbed the Asian Tigers are doing marvelous things.Â
We all know the miracle stories of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, India and even Vietnam, which just emerged from years of war. They have all left Africa alone to carry the tag of Third World because they are in a different world of their own.
Do we have such dreamers in our national leadership? Let me illustrate my disappointment with what happened on the Accra-Aflao road last Saturday. An institution, Central University, was holding its matriculation ceremony on the campus around Dahwenya and for almost the whole day every activity came to a virtual standstill.
Traffic on a road which is supposed to link two countries and beyond became so jammed amid utter confusion that movement in both directions was severely disrupted. Some chose to blame the school for the problem. But are we justified to come to that conclusion?
Apart from Central University, many prime residential, commercial and industrial establishments have sprung up along this major road without any corresponding elevation of the standard of the road. What happened last Saturday, happened the same time last year when the same university was holding its matriculation or graduation ceremony and it will happen again next year.
Traffic on that road will increase tremendously when people move into those residential buildings which include the affordable housing project initiated by the Kufuor government which has stalled. We are waiting the day when nobody could move to work, when we are all trapped in unnecessary traffic then we will begin panic measures which will only compound matters.
The Accra-Aflao road should by now be elevated to international standards. In other words, it should have been an expressway passing through no town. If that had been done, nobody will be wrongly accusing Central University for the calamity travellers went through last weekend and which we will be going through for many years to come.
Just as the Americans set a target to reach the Moon within a decade and actually got there, can we seriously say that we have set ourselves as a nation any target to be somewhere in the next five, 10, 15, 20 or 50 years? For example, do we have any target to move beyond major producers of raw cocoa beans and become a major exporter of processed cocoa?
By now it should have been possible for someone working in Accra to close from work and pick an express train to Tamale, Bolgatanga or Wa and get to his/her destination in a matter of a few hours to spend the weekend with his/her family in those cities and return to Accra Sunday evening or Monday morning to resume work.
Even the old railways inherited from the colonial masters could not be maintained let alone new ones being added. Our road network is so bad that travelling in the country is a nightmare. The few good roads have become death traps because of careless and reckless driving.
We have failed to project into the future, our population growth and our educational needs. The result is what we are witnessing today when even BECE graduates cannot access admission to senior high schools.
We have not been able to draw up long-term programmes to facilitate the processing of our agricultural produce over the years. That is why the agriculture sector has not seen any progressive development all these years.
We can hardly point out with any boldness, any sector of national development that has seen progressive improvement over the years. Everything we do is on ad hoc basis which does not augur well for any meaningful development.
Journeying between Accra our capital city and Tema, the nation’s major port city, a distance of less than 30 kilometres, can on a very bad day, become nerve-wracking. We may have a thousand and one excuses, but others in our league at independence have proved that everything is possible if that missing link, the visionary leadership, is available.
We may be satisfied with and impressed by little mercies and indulge in self-praise at every opportunity for very little and insignificant things. We may spend the greater part of the time talking and insulting ourselves instead of thinking and acting. But the rest of the dynamic world will not be waiting for us and will, therefore, not be interested to hear that at 54 and in this 21st century, we still have our children studying under trees, when the world knows that we have more natural wealth than those we down on our knees begging them for assistance.
In the same way, they will not be enthused to hear that feeding a few schoolchildren or giving free school uniforms to a few children constitute a big national achievement. They have long passed those stages with serious-minded, focused and visionary leadership and judicious use of national resources.
What perhaps will interest them is the fact that we have an efficient and reliable transportation system to facilitate good business. They will be happy to hear that we have reliable and uninterrupted power and water supply system that can sustain their industries if they so decide to invest in the country.
They will be happy to hear that bottlenecks and redtapeism have been removed or reduced to the barest minimum in government working machinery to reduce the frustrations investors and even the local people go through in their daily transactions with public officials.
They will want to see a clean capital city where all traffic lights are working and filth and chaos that have engulfed us now are done away with.
They may even applaud us, if not necessarily pleased to hear that we have advanced from producers or raw materials to a giant industrial nation making good use of the abundant resources God has generously given to us.
It is time we also begin to dream big. It is time we transform those big dreams into real achievements to be part of the international world. It is time we stop making mockery of ourselves by getting excited at ordinary things we see as national achievements.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
I HAVE been wondering whether God has not been generous enough to give our leaders that magic power for dreaming. I know that every person in the subconscious state is supposed to experience dreams even though a friend told me once that he does not dream while asleep.
Sometimes too we indulge ourselves in daydreaming in our conscious state. This is when our imagination takes into the realm of fantasy as we dream about the most beautiful or the best of things which under normal circumstances are far beyond our reach.
Of course there are a few people who go beyond daydreaming and put certain plans on the ground which finally transform ordinary dreams into a vision which sustains their ambition and propels them towards attaining their ambitions.
I am particularly talking about the type of dreams which challenge people and nations into the future and drive them towards greater heights. I believe this is the type of the dream which spurred the former Soviet Union to put the first human into outer space in the person of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, a cosmonaut whose Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.
The Soviet Union’s arch-Cold War rival, the United States of America, took up the challenge and decided to do what was beyond human capability at the time. In 1963, President John F. Kenney of the US challenged space scientists of his country to go higher and land man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
President Kennedy did not live to witness it, but true to his vision, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), beat the deadline, by putting the first human beings on the Moon when the Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin, while the third astronaut, Michael Collins, orbited above.
Individuals, corporate institutions and nations which have made it big, flew on the wings of great men and women who dreamt big and transformed such into visions which led them on the path of success and fame.
The late Chairman Mao Zedong of China challenged his countrymen and women to choose between proving their critics, who claimed they are poor and primitive, right, or defy the odds and prove them wrong.
The Chinese chose the latter option and today, China has become the biggest economic attraction of the world to the amazement of the cynics. Other countries on other continents especially south-east Asia, where the group dubbed the Asian Tigers are doing marvelous things.Â
We all know the miracle stories of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, India and even Vietnam, which just emerged from years of war. They have all left Africa alone to carry the tag of Third World because they are in a different world of their own.
Do we have such dreamers in our national leadership? Let me illustrate my disappointment with what happened on the Accra-Aflao road last Saturday. An institution, Central University, was holding its matriculation ceremony on the campus around Dahwenya and for almost the whole day every activity came to a virtual standstill.
Traffic on a road which is supposed to link two countries and beyond became so jammed amid utter confusion that movement in both directions was severely disrupted. Some chose to blame the school for the problem. But are we justified to come to that conclusion?
Apart from Central University, many prime residential, commercial and industrial establishments have sprung up along this major road without any corresponding elevation of the standard of the road. What happened last Saturday, happened the same time last year when the same university was holding its matriculation or graduation ceremony and it will happen again next year.
Traffic on that road will increase tremendously when people move into those residential buildings which include the affordable housing project initiated by the Kufuor government which has stalled. We are waiting the day when nobody could move to work, when we are all trapped in unnecessary traffic then we will begin panic measures which will only compound matters.
The Accra-Aflao road should by now be elevated to international standards. In other words, it should have been an expressway passing through no town. If that had been done, nobody will be wrongly accusing Central University for the calamity travellers went through last weekend and which we will be going through for many years to come.
Just as the Americans set a target to reach the Moon within a decade and actually got there, can we seriously say that we have set ourselves as a nation any target to be somewhere in the next five, 10, 15, 20 or 50 years? For example, do we have any target to move beyond major producers of raw cocoa beans and become a major exporter of processed cocoa?
By now it should have been possible for someone working in Accra to close from work and pick an express train to Tamale, Bolgatanga or Wa and get to his/her destination in a matter of a few hours to spend the weekend with his/her family in those cities and return to Accra Sunday evening or Monday morning to resume work.
Even the old railways inherited from the colonial masters could not be maintained let alone new ones being added. Our road network is so bad that travelling in the country is a nightmare. The few good roads have become death traps because of careless and reckless driving.
We have failed to project into the future, our population growth and our educational needs. The result is what we are witnessing today when even BECE graduates cannot access admission to senior high schools.
We have not been able to draw up long-term programmes to facilitate the processing of our agricultural produce over the years. That is why the agriculture sector has not seen any progressive development all these years.
We can hardly point out with any boldness, any sector of national development that has seen progressive improvement over the years. Everything we do is on ad hoc basis which does not augur well for any meaningful development.
Journeying between Accra our capital city and Tema, the nation’s major port city, a distance of less than 30 kilometres, can on a very bad day, become nerve-wracking. We may have a thousand and one excuses, but others in our league at independence have proved that everything is possible if that missing link, the visionary leadership, is available.
We may be satisfied with and impressed by little mercies and indulge in self-praise at every opportunity for very little and insignificant things. We may spend the greater part of the time talking and insulting ourselves instead of thinking and acting. But the rest of the dynamic world will not be waiting for us and will, therefore, not be interested to hear that at 54 and in this 21st century, we still have our children studying under trees, when the world knows that we have more natural wealth than those we down on our knees begging them for assistance.
In the same way, they will not be enthused to hear that feeding a few schoolchildren or giving free school uniforms to a few children constitute a big national achievement. They have long passed those stages with serious-minded, focused and visionary leadership and judicious use of national resources.
What perhaps will interest them is the fact that we have an efficient and reliable transportation system to facilitate good business. They will be happy to hear that we have reliable and uninterrupted power and water supply system that can sustain their industries if they so decide to invest in the country.
They will be happy to hear that bottlenecks and redtapeism have been removed or reduced to the barest minimum in government working machinery to reduce the frustrations investors and even the local people go through in their daily transactions with public officials.
They will want to see a clean capital city where all traffic lights are working and filth and chaos that have engulfed us now are done away with.
They may even applaud us, if not necessarily pleased to hear that we have advanced from producers or raw materials to a giant industrial nation making good use of the abundant resources God has generously given to us.
It is time we also begin to dream big. It is time we transform those big dreams into real achievements to be part of the international world. It is time we stop making mockery of ourselves by getting excited at ordinary things we see as national achievements.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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