By Kofi Akordor
Some of us knew it will happen sooner or later. We foresaw the most rational thing being done when the management agreement with Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) will be thrown into the dustbin where it appropriately belongs.
The AVRL management agreement followed a pattern that has become our national culture. I mean the tendency to look outward at the least excuse for solutions to our problems. Just before the AVRL agreement, the country went through two similar agreements on behalf of Ghana Telecom, the national telecommunications operator.
In 1995 or there about, an agreement was signed with Telekom Malaysia to manage the telecom operator which was going through management and cash crises. By the time the Malaysian management experts left in 2001, Ghana Telecom was not left in any better health but was more devastated and pillaged by the high-earning expatriates from Malaysia.
Typically of us, we did not learn any lesson, and so a new management agreement was signed with Telenor of Norway who also brought its brand of management to Ghana Telecom in 2003. That agreement expired or was abrogated in 2005 because there was no visible sign that the health of Ghana Telecom was better than the Norwegians came to meet it.
We all know what happened to Ghana Telecom finally. It was sold under controversial circumstances in July 2008 for $900 million to the Vodafone Group which acquired 70 per cent shares, while the Government of Ghana took home a paltry 30 per cent. That was how the country lost control of its vast telecommunications industry.
Some of us were, therefore, genuinely apprehensive when the government of the day decided that the best solution to the challenges facing the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) was a foreign management consultancy. I put my thoughts in this column.
The truth is that the GWCL, like all other service providers and, to a large extent, many public institutions, is facing numerous challenges, but human resource is the least. The GWCL has some of the best engineers and managers the industry could boast of.
The company has not been able to deliver its mandate over the years because it suffered and continues to suffer from one major canker – heavy politicisation. The management of the GWCL and that of almost all other public institutions has been heavily politicised to the extent that management positions do not necessarily go to the best but the loudest in terms of sycophancy. Those who try to do the right thing often find themselves hitting the concrete wall of political agitators. They are either bent or are ejected.
Many of our public institutions, notable among them Ghana Airways, have collapsed not because as a nation we lack the requisite human resource or qualified and dedicated Ghanaians to manage them but because we lack committed political leadership that is prepared to separate politics from business.
When the AVRL, which has its origins from The Netherlands and South Africa, was given the contract to manage the country’s urban water systems for a five-year period, we knew it was a wrong move. Many of the details of the agreement were not made public, but we were told that, among other things, AVRL was to ensure that more people got access to water, to plug loopholes to check revenue leakage and ensure that less treated water was wasted.
The contract did not provide that AVRL should bring even a wheelbarrow or a shovel, so straight away it meant AVRL, under the contract, was not expected to lay even a metre of new pipeline or build new treatment plants. It came to feed on what was already in existence — something that was built from the sweat and toil of Ghanaians. Strangely, even its own workers were not in agreement with the renewal of the contract.
The AVRL came with nothing and it was to use GWCL revenue staff to collect money for services it had not rendered and went home with fat commissions and consultancy fees at the end of the day. There was nothing special about AVRL. What it had which our local managers did not get was insulation from interference from any quarters and the free hand to operate because it made sure those clauses were captured in the agreement.
Many well-meaning Ghanaians have said repeatedly that as Ghanaians, we cannot assert our independence if we fail to be our own masters. One person, Mr Kwame Pianim, arguably one of the best economists produced by this country, has been a crusader on that front. He keeps reminding the powers that be that our continued reliance on so-called foreign consultants is not only sapping our national resources but also trapping us in perpetual inferiority complex and taking away our national dignity.
Most of the people we bring here as consultants come nowhere near our local experts who are ignored because they do not sing the same political or ethnic tunes. Cronyism and patronage are the twin evils undermining the administration of our national affairs.
Second, those given the jobs are not given the free hand to deliver without hindrance and interference.
Giving the same autonomy and independence, local experts can easily manage most of our institutions with excellence and with better results. Mind you, the local manager is not only working for money but also he is determined to build his own country and so his commitment will be guaranteed.
The technical audit on the performance of AVRL proved the obvious — that it could not find answers to the problems of GWCL. Meanwhile, it has drained the national coffers of millions in foreign cash. We have also, in a way, succeeded in reducing our self-esteem and making us look more inferior.
We need to establish self-confidence and begin to recognise our strengths in every sphere of national endeavour, including managing our national institutions. We need to stop making appointments for their sake or as a reward for loyalty.
We should be able to entrust our companies into local hands who should also be given the same management contracts which assure them of good returns and the freedom to take bold decisions for the good of the companies involved.
We should be able to disengage politics from serious national business if we want to make progress. It does not make sense to train people and abandon them for less-qualified people just because the latter are foreigners.
The GWCL would have gone the way of Ghana Telecom, Ghana Airways and many others long ago but for the fact that the privatisation of water is a very dangerous proposition. The problem lies not in our incapability but the failure of our leadership style and a mentality which does not recognise self worth.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
VALCO, the heart of Ghana's aluminium industry
By Kofi Akordor
THE Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) is a very well-known name on the country’s industrial landscape, and for obvious reasons.
VALCO is perhaps the country’s largest industrial enterprise in terms of technology and employment and revenue generation. More important, it is the mother that gave birth to the giant Volta River hydroelectric project.
At the time of the construction of the hydroelectric dam at Akosombo, there was the need to guarantee a ready consumer of the enormous power that was expected to be generated, since Ghana’s industrial base was very small.
Funding institutions were not ready to finance the project at that huge cost if there was no evidence of an industrial base that could utilise the power and, consequently, pay for the investment.
VALCO, therefore, became a strategic team player when a consortium of aluminium companies, headed by Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Corporation, decided to build an aluminium smelter in Tema as the primary consumer of the power from Akosombo.
Even though the long-term agreement which guaranteed VALCO first-choice status in the use of power from Akosombo may not be the most favourable, President Kwame Nkrumah took consolation from the fact that no matter how long the power-sharing agreement went on, the Akosombo project would surely outlive that agreement.
More significant is the fact that President Nkrumah had already calculated the benefits of the dam and the smelter to Ghana’s future industrial advancement, with the aluminium industry playing a lead role.
With huge deposits of bauxite at Kibi, Nyinahin and Awaso which, at conservative estimates, could last more than 200 years at the current production capacity of VALCO, Dr Nkrumah foresaw an integrated aluminium industry (IAI) taking shape in the country.
Ghana, I am beginning to believe, has a special place in the heart of God. It is perhaps the only country that has all the major raw materials needed for an integrated aluminium industry. First, we have the bauxite in abundance; we have salt and lime which are needed at the refinery level and abundant energy resources for the smelter.
Knowing how multi-nationals operate, I am not surprised that after nearly 40 years of VALCO’s existence, we have still not attained full integration as was Kwame Nkrumah’s dream when the VALCO agreement was signed. They prefer to segment their operations, so that should there be any hostile political decision, they will not suffer unduly.
So while we export bauxite at approximately $25 per metric tonne (mt), VALCO imports alumina at approximately $400/mt for its operations and after processing the alumina, sells its aluminium ingots at approximately $2,500/mt. The vast difference between the price of the ore and the price of aluminium ingots and billets is a clear indication of a disservice to this nation so long as we continue to scrape our bauxite and sell it cheaply on the world market when we have better use for it.
As fate will have it, something that we never expected happened when Alcoa sold its last 10 per cent shares in VALCO to the government of Ghana in 2008, ending all foreign involvement in the ownership in VALCO.
What a coincidence that the ownership of VALCO changed hands just as Ghana made a breakthrough in the discovery of oil and gas in massive quantities!
The question is, now that we have VALCO, what are we going to do with it? Incidentally, the smelter is the most expensive both in terms of technology and cost and for that matter the most strategic in the aluminium production chain and, therefore, once we have the smelter, the only thing we need to complete the chain process is the refinery.
The benefits of an integrated aluminium industry cannot be over-emphasised. Apart from job-creation along the chain, from the mining level to the industrial level where aluminium products are converted into finished products, there will be foreign exchange conservation at all stages, such as the $186 million VALCO presently spends on the importation of alumina.
The energy situation will also improve dramatically, since about 100MW of electrical energy could be generated from steam from the alumina refinery. Other alumina refinery by-products can be used for housing construction.
The greatest explosion will be experienced at the industrial level when the end users of VALCO’s products, such as Aluworks, Tropical Cable, Western Rod and Wire, Ghanal, Ghana Pioneer Aluminium, and others can expand their plants, while new players can join the band wagon.
Ghana is close to a middle-income status not on paper but in reality. VALCO is currently operating at less than 30 per cent capacity of 200,000MT per annum. This will change when full power is restored and all the five potlines are put into full operation.
VALCO gave the economic justification for the building of the Akosombo Dam. It gave meaning to Nkrumah’s vision for an integrated aluminium industry in Ghana. Today, as a fully Ghanaian-owned company, VALCO is poised to lead Ghana into full industrialisation. It requires political will to get the refinery established, a protective cover to shield the company from political manipulation and watch Ghana move alongside Brazil, South Korea, China and India.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
THE Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) is a very well-known name on the country’s industrial landscape, and for obvious reasons.
VALCO is perhaps the country’s largest industrial enterprise in terms of technology and employment and revenue generation. More important, it is the mother that gave birth to the giant Volta River hydroelectric project.
At the time of the construction of the hydroelectric dam at Akosombo, there was the need to guarantee a ready consumer of the enormous power that was expected to be generated, since Ghana’s industrial base was very small.
Funding institutions were not ready to finance the project at that huge cost if there was no evidence of an industrial base that could utilise the power and, consequently, pay for the investment.
VALCO, therefore, became a strategic team player when a consortium of aluminium companies, headed by Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Corporation, decided to build an aluminium smelter in Tema as the primary consumer of the power from Akosombo.
Even though the long-term agreement which guaranteed VALCO first-choice status in the use of power from Akosombo may not be the most favourable, President Kwame Nkrumah took consolation from the fact that no matter how long the power-sharing agreement went on, the Akosombo project would surely outlive that agreement.
More significant is the fact that President Nkrumah had already calculated the benefits of the dam and the smelter to Ghana’s future industrial advancement, with the aluminium industry playing a lead role.
With huge deposits of bauxite at Kibi, Nyinahin and Awaso which, at conservative estimates, could last more than 200 years at the current production capacity of VALCO, Dr Nkrumah foresaw an integrated aluminium industry (IAI) taking shape in the country.
Ghana, I am beginning to believe, has a special place in the heart of God. It is perhaps the only country that has all the major raw materials needed for an integrated aluminium industry. First, we have the bauxite in abundance; we have salt and lime which are needed at the refinery level and abundant energy resources for the smelter.
Knowing how multi-nationals operate, I am not surprised that after nearly 40 years of VALCO’s existence, we have still not attained full integration as was Kwame Nkrumah’s dream when the VALCO agreement was signed. They prefer to segment their operations, so that should there be any hostile political decision, they will not suffer unduly.
So while we export bauxite at approximately $25 per metric tonne (mt), VALCO imports alumina at approximately $400/mt for its operations and after processing the alumina, sells its aluminium ingots at approximately $2,500/mt. The vast difference between the price of the ore and the price of aluminium ingots and billets is a clear indication of a disservice to this nation so long as we continue to scrape our bauxite and sell it cheaply on the world market when we have better use for it.
As fate will have it, something that we never expected happened when Alcoa sold its last 10 per cent shares in VALCO to the government of Ghana in 2008, ending all foreign involvement in the ownership in VALCO.
What a coincidence that the ownership of VALCO changed hands just as Ghana made a breakthrough in the discovery of oil and gas in massive quantities!
The question is, now that we have VALCO, what are we going to do with it? Incidentally, the smelter is the most expensive both in terms of technology and cost and for that matter the most strategic in the aluminium production chain and, therefore, once we have the smelter, the only thing we need to complete the chain process is the refinery.
The benefits of an integrated aluminium industry cannot be over-emphasised. Apart from job-creation along the chain, from the mining level to the industrial level where aluminium products are converted into finished products, there will be foreign exchange conservation at all stages, such as the $186 million VALCO presently spends on the importation of alumina.
The energy situation will also improve dramatically, since about 100MW of electrical energy could be generated from steam from the alumina refinery. Other alumina refinery by-products can be used for housing construction.
The greatest explosion will be experienced at the industrial level when the end users of VALCO’s products, such as Aluworks, Tropical Cable, Western Rod and Wire, Ghanal, Ghana Pioneer Aluminium, and others can expand their plants, while new players can join the band wagon.
Ghana is close to a middle-income status not on paper but in reality. VALCO is currently operating at less than 30 per cent capacity of 200,000MT per annum. This will change when full power is restored and all the five potlines are put into full operation.
VALCO gave the economic justification for the building of the Akosombo Dam. It gave meaning to Nkrumah’s vision for an integrated aluminium industry in Ghana. Today, as a fully Ghanaian-owned company, VALCO is poised to lead Ghana into full industrialisation. It requires political will to get the refinery established, a protective cover to shield the company from political manipulation and watch Ghana move alongside Brazil, South Korea, China and India.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Overtaken by events
By Kofi Akordor
For well over two hours there was no vehicular movement. All vehicles were trapped in heavy traffic which stretched kilometres, spilling in all directions. Those driving from the Accra-end of the Motorway suffered in the same way as those coming from Tema using the dual carriage from the Tema Port. Those going to Accra were naturally affected, and so while the empty road beckoned, the vehicles could not disentangle themselves from the trap at the roundabout.
The confusion and frustration at the Tema end of the Motorway needs to be experienced and not just imagined. No amount of description can paint the true picture of what motorists go through at peak hours at the Motorway Roundabout which has become a vital converging point for major roads leading into and out of Tema, our main port city, and Accra, the national capital.
More than 40 years ago when the Accra-Tema Motorway was under construction, there were some who protested that it was a frivolous expenditure on a misplaced priority. They felt the money for that road project could have been used in a more productive way.
However, the great architect of that project foresaw a future in which there would be a large volume of vehicular traffic between Accra and Tema, the industrial hub of the country. The Motorway was also not to carry traffic between Accra and Tema alone but beyond, towards the eastern corridor, which also means that it was to be a link between Ghana and its eastern neighbours of Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
Today, posterity is the best judge whether the investment was justified or not. Suffice it to say that the Motorway remains the most effective and reliable way of commuting between Accra and Tema and beyond.
What we have failed to do as a nation is expand the dreams of Nkrumah and improve upon what was constructed more than 40 years ago. The Accra-Motorway remains our national pride in road construction and even though it has long paid its due, we continue to enjoy collecting the tolls it generates, without devoting a fraction of those tolls for its maintenance.
With all its beauty and the aura around it, the Motorway is one of the most dangerous roads in the country. The reflective markings in the middle and edges which guide motorists have long faded and we are waiting, maybe, for the Chinese to come and help us mark the road. The craters especially on the outer lanes are so sharp that they can tear into pieces the best of tyres that fall into their open jaws.
At the time of the construction of the Motorway, all that expanse of land between Accra and the emerging industrial city of Tema was without human habitation. That was why those without foresight argued that the road was misplaced. Today, it divides human settlements with huge populations and consequently carries a large volume of traffic.
One would have thought that just as Nkrumah had the foresight to construct the Motorway, subsequent leaders would dream big and expand the Motorway from the present four-lane to a six- or even eight-lane dual carriage in response to current demands.
Typical of a mentality that does not create room for the future, we have allowed the Motorway in its present form for so long that today it has become more of a liability than an asset. While the surface has suffered a lot of wear and tear, its two ends have become a nightmare to motorists.
The Kufuor administration tried to open up the Accra-end of the Motorway with the construction of the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange. Unfortunately, the final product could not meet today’s expectations. One of the greatest engineering blunders that could be foisted on a nation was a roundabout that has become a major obstacle to vehicular movement at the interchange. Very little consideration was given to the strategic nature of the interchange and its grand design in the total traffic distribution in the city.
Unlike the Motorway which was constructed with the philosophy: ‘Suffer today, enjoy tomorrow’, the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange was designed and constructed with the philosophy: ‘Save money today, suffer tomorrow’. Yes, we are really suffering at Tetteh-Quarshie. Come to think of it — there is a huge shopping mall there which was built against good counsel.
The damage at Tetteh-Quarshie will require a lot of resources to rectify. But it must be done sooner than later if the objective of easing traffic and making driving a pleasant experience is to be met.
The challenge confronting users of the Motorway now is the obstacle at the roundabout at the Tema end. More than 40 years ago, Tema was a small place and all the settlements along the Tema-Ho-Akosombo and Tema-Aflao roads were non-existent or at best hamlets.
Today, gigantic towns have sprung up in all directions and with that the vehicle population has multiplied more than tenfold. That is why that roundabout has become a trap which saps the energy of motorists. Any country that cherishes productivity cannot afford to keep its workers trapped in traffic for hours through no fault of theirs.
The Accra-Tema Motorway story is a microcosm of a national situation. Accra’s roads have not developed to match the growth and expansion of human settlements. That is why all roads entering the city, whether from Takoradi-Cape Coast, Kumasi, Akosombo-Ho or Aflao-Lome are always choked. That is why leaving Accra on Fridays has become a punishment for every motorist.
Apart from the problem of inadequate roads, the few existing are poorly developed and hardly maintained. The result is that after a downpour and sometimes just a drizzle, almost all roads in the city become unmotorable. One can hardly drive for a kilometre on any major road in our capital without wading in mud, diving into ponds or crashing into potholes.
I do not want to believe that our leaders enjoy seeing us suffer. If that is the case, we want to see the removal of some roundabouts from the city. The Danquah Circle, the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle, the great Kwame Nkrumah Circle, the Akuafo Circle at the 37 Military Hospital and the roundabout at the Tema-end of the motorway are all eyesores and hindrances to the movement of vehicles in the city and must be removed.
Sometimes I wonder what goes through the minds of our big people when they travel outside and they are driven on those smooth and expansive roads. Do they just recline in the back seat and enjoy the good ride or they dream of having similar roads in our beloved country?
Money should not always be the excuse for our failures. Something very serious is lacking in us. Maybe we lack the self-esteem, the confidence, the ability to dream big, the desire to translate dreams into reality or the leadership to champion our aspirations.
There are many challenges confronting this country and even if we find ourselves helpless, at least we can take time to ponder over them, instead of worrying about imaginary tape recordings and the hallucinations of modern-day Don Quixotes. Our national aspirations should go beyond the frivolous and the trivial.
Whatever way we look at it, we are stagnating unless we want to equate personal acquisitions with national development. The Accra-Tema Motorway is a clear example of how a people without vision could be overtaken by events.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogpost.com
For well over two hours there was no vehicular movement. All vehicles were trapped in heavy traffic which stretched kilometres, spilling in all directions. Those driving from the Accra-end of the Motorway suffered in the same way as those coming from Tema using the dual carriage from the Tema Port. Those going to Accra were naturally affected, and so while the empty road beckoned, the vehicles could not disentangle themselves from the trap at the roundabout.
The confusion and frustration at the Tema end of the Motorway needs to be experienced and not just imagined. No amount of description can paint the true picture of what motorists go through at peak hours at the Motorway Roundabout which has become a vital converging point for major roads leading into and out of Tema, our main port city, and Accra, the national capital.
More than 40 years ago when the Accra-Tema Motorway was under construction, there were some who protested that it was a frivolous expenditure on a misplaced priority. They felt the money for that road project could have been used in a more productive way.
However, the great architect of that project foresaw a future in which there would be a large volume of vehicular traffic between Accra and Tema, the industrial hub of the country. The Motorway was also not to carry traffic between Accra and Tema alone but beyond, towards the eastern corridor, which also means that it was to be a link between Ghana and its eastern neighbours of Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
Today, posterity is the best judge whether the investment was justified or not. Suffice it to say that the Motorway remains the most effective and reliable way of commuting between Accra and Tema and beyond.
What we have failed to do as a nation is expand the dreams of Nkrumah and improve upon what was constructed more than 40 years ago. The Accra-Motorway remains our national pride in road construction and even though it has long paid its due, we continue to enjoy collecting the tolls it generates, without devoting a fraction of those tolls for its maintenance.
With all its beauty and the aura around it, the Motorway is one of the most dangerous roads in the country. The reflective markings in the middle and edges which guide motorists have long faded and we are waiting, maybe, for the Chinese to come and help us mark the road. The craters especially on the outer lanes are so sharp that they can tear into pieces the best of tyres that fall into their open jaws.
At the time of the construction of the Motorway, all that expanse of land between Accra and the emerging industrial city of Tema was without human habitation. That was why those without foresight argued that the road was misplaced. Today, it divides human settlements with huge populations and consequently carries a large volume of traffic.
One would have thought that just as Nkrumah had the foresight to construct the Motorway, subsequent leaders would dream big and expand the Motorway from the present four-lane to a six- or even eight-lane dual carriage in response to current demands.
Typical of a mentality that does not create room for the future, we have allowed the Motorway in its present form for so long that today it has become more of a liability than an asset. While the surface has suffered a lot of wear and tear, its two ends have become a nightmare to motorists.
The Kufuor administration tried to open up the Accra-end of the Motorway with the construction of the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange. Unfortunately, the final product could not meet today’s expectations. One of the greatest engineering blunders that could be foisted on a nation was a roundabout that has become a major obstacle to vehicular movement at the interchange. Very little consideration was given to the strategic nature of the interchange and its grand design in the total traffic distribution in the city.
Unlike the Motorway which was constructed with the philosophy: ‘Suffer today, enjoy tomorrow’, the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange was designed and constructed with the philosophy: ‘Save money today, suffer tomorrow’. Yes, we are really suffering at Tetteh-Quarshie. Come to think of it — there is a huge shopping mall there which was built against good counsel.
The damage at Tetteh-Quarshie will require a lot of resources to rectify. But it must be done sooner than later if the objective of easing traffic and making driving a pleasant experience is to be met.
The challenge confronting users of the Motorway now is the obstacle at the roundabout at the Tema end. More than 40 years ago, Tema was a small place and all the settlements along the Tema-Ho-Akosombo and Tema-Aflao roads were non-existent or at best hamlets.
Today, gigantic towns have sprung up in all directions and with that the vehicle population has multiplied more than tenfold. That is why that roundabout has become a trap which saps the energy of motorists. Any country that cherishes productivity cannot afford to keep its workers trapped in traffic for hours through no fault of theirs.
The Accra-Tema Motorway story is a microcosm of a national situation. Accra’s roads have not developed to match the growth and expansion of human settlements. That is why all roads entering the city, whether from Takoradi-Cape Coast, Kumasi, Akosombo-Ho or Aflao-Lome are always choked. That is why leaving Accra on Fridays has become a punishment for every motorist.
Apart from the problem of inadequate roads, the few existing are poorly developed and hardly maintained. The result is that after a downpour and sometimes just a drizzle, almost all roads in the city become unmotorable. One can hardly drive for a kilometre on any major road in our capital without wading in mud, diving into ponds or crashing into potholes.
I do not want to believe that our leaders enjoy seeing us suffer. If that is the case, we want to see the removal of some roundabouts from the city. The Danquah Circle, the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle, the great Kwame Nkrumah Circle, the Akuafo Circle at the 37 Military Hospital and the roundabout at the Tema-end of the motorway are all eyesores and hindrances to the movement of vehicles in the city and must be removed.
Sometimes I wonder what goes through the minds of our big people when they travel outside and they are driven on those smooth and expansive roads. Do they just recline in the back seat and enjoy the good ride or they dream of having similar roads in our beloved country?
Money should not always be the excuse for our failures. Something very serious is lacking in us. Maybe we lack the self-esteem, the confidence, the ability to dream big, the desire to translate dreams into reality or the leadership to champion our aspirations.
There are many challenges confronting this country and even if we find ourselves helpless, at least we can take time to ponder over them, instead of worrying about imaginary tape recordings and the hallucinations of modern-day Don Quixotes. Our national aspirations should go beyond the frivolous and the trivial.
Whatever way we look at it, we are stagnating unless we want to equate personal acquisitions with national development. The Accra-Tema Motorway is a clear example of how a people without vision could be overtaken by events.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogpost.com
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Monuments of waste
By Kofi Akordor
THE military regime of General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong took a wise decision to build modern office complexes to house the Ghana Police Service in all the regions. Those complexes were designed to provide office accommodation for a full-strength regional secretariat and workshops for the service and remove the personnel from the dilapidated and very often scanty buildings which had been their lot.
Those complexes had got to advanced stages of completion when the Acheampong/General F.W.K. Akuffo regime was removed by another group of coup makers on June 4, 1979, led by Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings. The abrupt end to that regime brought those laudable projects to a halt.
More than 30 years after the execution of General Acheampong and six others, namely, General Akuffo, General R.E.A. Kotei, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume, Air-Vice Marshal Yaw Boakye, General E.K. Utuka and Col Roger Felli, no government had found it necessary to complete the office complexes for the police.
Those abandoned complexes became the abode of miscreants until somebody decided that they should be turned into makeshift offices for the Ghana Police Service. The service still lacks the requisite office accommodation at the district and regional levels which exudes the authority and confidence it must portray to the public as the nation’s main law enforcing agency and its first line of defence, while the abandoned complexes remain ugly scars of national neglect.
The wanton neglect and abandonment of national projects did not begin yesterday. It was well pronounced after the overthrow of the government of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s first President. For ideological differences and to undermine all the good things the late Osagyefo stood for, all development projects initiated by that great man but which were not completed in his time were abandoned.
Prominent among such projects were the silos that were being constructed at various locations in the country for the storage of agricultural produce for very good reasons. While these silos remained uncompleted, we have just been reminded that sub-Saharan Africa loses an equivalent of US$4 billion as a result of post-harvest losses. Gone with the silos were the various processing plants established to give process and add value to agricultural produce in the country.
Today, Ghana, with a small population of 25 million or so, cannot support its food consumption, not only because we do not produce enough but significantly because even the little we produce go waste because of storage facilities. Unfortunately, our governments prefer to go begging for food aid from countries such as Japan which do not have a fraction of our fertile land, instead of addressing production and post-harvest losses in a more proactive and pragmatic manner.
Many years ago, Nkrumah’s administration decided on an integrated meat and leather industry by setting up the Aveyime Cattle Ranch and a tannery that would make industrial use of the hide of the cattle. His overthrow led to the abandonment of the equipment ordered from the then Czechoslovakia to rot in their containers. That display of hatred for one person also caused the collapse of our leather industry.
Today, after more than 40 years of that bad decision, we have gone back to the Czech Republic, one of the countries that emerged from the disintegration of Czechoslovakia, for assistance to build our leather industry.
Apart from the flagrant display of lack of any national development agenda which was characteristic of the immediate post-Nkrumah era, successive governments have not helped this country by following up and completing projects initiated by their predecessors.
The abandoned projects are many and varied and cumulatively undermine any pretence for a cohesive national development agenda. They include roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and housing projects which could be found in every part of the country. Some of them have been so totally forgotten that their original drawings could not even be found.
Most of these projects have been abandoned after heavy investments had been made in them. Take, for instance, cultural centres that were to be built in all the regional capitals. None of these have been completed, more than 30 years after they had been initiated. That means the annual national cultural festivals have to be celebrated in abandoned cultural centres, and at each celebration promises are made to complete the centres which were meant to be the central points of the nation’s cultural development and promotion to the outside world in the form of tourism.
The change over to multi-party democracy has not helped us much in this regard. While every new government initiates new projects to boost its political credentials, none makes the effort to complete what others have started. Incidentally, all the governments seldom see their projects through full completion before exiting office.
That is how, in the midst of our infrastructural shortfalls, we can boast bits and pieces of uncompleted projects all over the place. The latest in this haphazard approach to development is evidenced in the manner this government is handling the uncompleted housing projects started by the Kufuor administration.
This was a well-conceived and good-intentioned housing project but at the execution stage it ran into problems partly because of corruption, cronyism and the never-ending refrain of lack of funds. These estates which should have been accommodating workers in Accra, Ashanti-Mampong, Koforidua and other places have become dens of criminals and squatters who have a better use for a facility left to rot away slowly. Meanwhile, massive investments from our scarce resources have been sunk in the projects.
The Mills administration has its own housing agenda and is, therefore, not showing keen interest in the uncompleted ones started by the previous government. It has also initiated its own STX Housing Project which promises, among others, to accommodate the security agencies.
This project has its own challenges and by the time the first foundation stones are laid, there is no way the project will travel the full completion before President Mills completes his first term. So what happens if he does not get the chance for a second term? Does that leave our national investment in the lurch?
Take the Aflao Border Complex Project as another example. This was another project initiated under the Acheampong regime, designed to give a facelift to the Aflao Border Complex which is the country’s main gateway to the east linking us to our traditional neighbours Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
This project, which was to provide offices and residential accommodation for the various institutions operating at the border, including the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Immigration Service and the Ghana Police Service, was never completed.
The Pantang Psychiatric Hospital Complex, which was designed to be a one-touch facility, is hanging, with a lot of uncompleted buildings into which huge sums of money have been committed. The list does not end there.
Quite recently, in 2006, to be precise, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Kwadwo Asenso- Okyere, started the construction of a stadium complex for the university which, after completion, was to host the West Africa University Games in 2008. More than four years down the line, the stadium project has stalled and the place has become home to squatters.
Sure, there should be a more serious approach to national projects. We cannot continue to abandon projects midway and expect to start new ones with better results. If all these abandoned projects will be reactivated and completed, there is no doubt that this country will experience a major facelift.
These projects are financed by the taxpayer’s money and should not be allowed to go waste at the pleasure of any person or groups of persons. We cannot continue to complain of lack of resources if we allow projects to go waste because some people think their personal interests are not at stake.
The idea that the National Development Planning Commission should be depoliticised to serve as the brokerage of all national projects should be given serious attention, since, left to the Executive alone, we shall continue to count more uncompleted projects.
Anytime I see the uncompleted MDPI building complex at Baatsona which has now been encircled by private buildings; anytime I see the uncompleted National Science Museum; anytime I think of the Kumasi Asafo-Sofoline Interchange, the Achimota-Ofankor, Nsawam-Apedwa, Tetteh Quarshie-Adenta roads, I know we have a long way to go as a nation.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
THE military regime of General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong took a wise decision to build modern office complexes to house the Ghana Police Service in all the regions. Those complexes were designed to provide office accommodation for a full-strength regional secretariat and workshops for the service and remove the personnel from the dilapidated and very often scanty buildings which had been their lot.
Those complexes had got to advanced stages of completion when the Acheampong/General F.W.K. Akuffo regime was removed by another group of coup makers on June 4, 1979, led by Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings. The abrupt end to that regime brought those laudable projects to a halt.
More than 30 years after the execution of General Acheampong and six others, namely, General Akuffo, General R.E.A. Kotei, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume, Air-Vice Marshal Yaw Boakye, General E.K. Utuka and Col Roger Felli, no government had found it necessary to complete the office complexes for the police.
Those abandoned complexes became the abode of miscreants until somebody decided that they should be turned into makeshift offices for the Ghana Police Service. The service still lacks the requisite office accommodation at the district and regional levels which exudes the authority and confidence it must portray to the public as the nation’s main law enforcing agency and its first line of defence, while the abandoned complexes remain ugly scars of national neglect.
The wanton neglect and abandonment of national projects did not begin yesterday. It was well pronounced after the overthrow of the government of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s first President. For ideological differences and to undermine all the good things the late Osagyefo stood for, all development projects initiated by that great man but which were not completed in his time were abandoned.
Prominent among such projects were the silos that were being constructed at various locations in the country for the storage of agricultural produce for very good reasons. While these silos remained uncompleted, we have just been reminded that sub-Saharan Africa loses an equivalent of US$4 billion as a result of post-harvest losses. Gone with the silos were the various processing plants established to give process and add value to agricultural produce in the country.
Today, Ghana, with a small population of 25 million or so, cannot support its food consumption, not only because we do not produce enough but significantly because even the little we produce go waste because of storage facilities. Unfortunately, our governments prefer to go begging for food aid from countries such as Japan which do not have a fraction of our fertile land, instead of addressing production and post-harvest losses in a more proactive and pragmatic manner.
Many years ago, Nkrumah’s administration decided on an integrated meat and leather industry by setting up the Aveyime Cattle Ranch and a tannery that would make industrial use of the hide of the cattle. His overthrow led to the abandonment of the equipment ordered from the then Czechoslovakia to rot in their containers. That display of hatred for one person also caused the collapse of our leather industry.
Today, after more than 40 years of that bad decision, we have gone back to the Czech Republic, one of the countries that emerged from the disintegration of Czechoslovakia, for assistance to build our leather industry.
Apart from the flagrant display of lack of any national development agenda which was characteristic of the immediate post-Nkrumah era, successive governments have not helped this country by following up and completing projects initiated by their predecessors.
The abandoned projects are many and varied and cumulatively undermine any pretence for a cohesive national development agenda. They include roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and housing projects which could be found in every part of the country. Some of them have been so totally forgotten that their original drawings could not even be found.
Most of these projects have been abandoned after heavy investments had been made in them. Take, for instance, cultural centres that were to be built in all the regional capitals. None of these have been completed, more than 30 years after they had been initiated. That means the annual national cultural festivals have to be celebrated in abandoned cultural centres, and at each celebration promises are made to complete the centres which were meant to be the central points of the nation’s cultural development and promotion to the outside world in the form of tourism.
The change over to multi-party democracy has not helped us much in this regard. While every new government initiates new projects to boost its political credentials, none makes the effort to complete what others have started. Incidentally, all the governments seldom see their projects through full completion before exiting office.
That is how, in the midst of our infrastructural shortfalls, we can boast bits and pieces of uncompleted projects all over the place. The latest in this haphazard approach to development is evidenced in the manner this government is handling the uncompleted housing projects started by the Kufuor administration.
This was a well-conceived and good-intentioned housing project but at the execution stage it ran into problems partly because of corruption, cronyism and the never-ending refrain of lack of funds. These estates which should have been accommodating workers in Accra, Ashanti-Mampong, Koforidua and other places have become dens of criminals and squatters who have a better use for a facility left to rot away slowly. Meanwhile, massive investments from our scarce resources have been sunk in the projects.
The Mills administration has its own housing agenda and is, therefore, not showing keen interest in the uncompleted ones started by the previous government. It has also initiated its own STX Housing Project which promises, among others, to accommodate the security agencies.
This project has its own challenges and by the time the first foundation stones are laid, there is no way the project will travel the full completion before President Mills completes his first term. So what happens if he does not get the chance for a second term? Does that leave our national investment in the lurch?
Take the Aflao Border Complex Project as another example. This was another project initiated under the Acheampong regime, designed to give a facelift to the Aflao Border Complex which is the country’s main gateway to the east linking us to our traditional neighbours Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
This project, which was to provide offices and residential accommodation for the various institutions operating at the border, including the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Immigration Service and the Ghana Police Service, was never completed.
The Pantang Psychiatric Hospital Complex, which was designed to be a one-touch facility, is hanging, with a lot of uncompleted buildings into which huge sums of money have been committed. The list does not end there.
Quite recently, in 2006, to be precise, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Kwadwo Asenso- Okyere, started the construction of a stadium complex for the university which, after completion, was to host the West Africa University Games in 2008. More than four years down the line, the stadium project has stalled and the place has become home to squatters.
Sure, there should be a more serious approach to national projects. We cannot continue to abandon projects midway and expect to start new ones with better results. If all these abandoned projects will be reactivated and completed, there is no doubt that this country will experience a major facelift.
These projects are financed by the taxpayer’s money and should not be allowed to go waste at the pleasure of any person or groups of persons. We cannot continue to complain of lack of resources if we allow projects to go waste because some people think their personal interests are not at stake.
The idea that the National Development Planning Commission should be depoliticised to serve as the brokerage of all national projects should be given serious attention, since, left to the Executive alone, we shall continue to count more uncompleted projects.
Anytime I see the uncompleted MDPI building complex at Baatsona which has now been encircled by private buildings; anytime I see the uncompleted National Science Museum; anytime I think of the Kumasi Asafo-Sofoline Interchange, the Achimota-Ofankor, Nsawam-Apedwa, Tetteh Quarshie-Adenta roads, I know we have a long way to go as a nation.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Korle-Bu must stay alive
By Kofi Akordor
Accident victims lie groaning on the bare floor. Those luckier find solace on benches. In all cases, relatives are on hand to help in the administration of drips and other medications. They have to be available to push the wheelchairs, if they cab find one, while saying their silent prayers for the survival of their relatives.
This is not a scenario in some medical facility in a remote part of the country. Those who have ever had the unfortunate experience of rushing accident victims to the Accident Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital will tell you that the picture painted above is too generous to describe the pathetic situation on the ground.
That is just a small part of the Korle-Bu story. Naturally, not all victims survive the ordeal, even though with better and more adequate resources, supported with more caring and dedicated health professionals, the story will be quite different.
Korle-Bu is a human institution which cannot escape the challenges that confront institutions of that nature. Already, as a teaching hospital and the nation’s largest and arguably the last referral medical facility which is also home to some of the best brains in the medical profession, Korle-Bu’s resources, both human and material, are under constant pressure.
It should have been a last resort but patients want the best medical attention they can get and so those with simple ailments that can be handled by the polyclinics and even lesser medical facilities prefer going straight to Korle-Bu and creating congestion that should not have been the case.
These cases of clear misuse of vital national resources notwithstanding, Korle-Bu, for its strategic role in health delivery in the country, can do better than it is doing now. Korle-Bu, for many, has become a huge jungle where one could easily get lost in an emergency situation and what could easily be a manageable situation could result in death because of bureaucracy, neglect or both.
A friend said he saw his wife die before him on a stretcher at the OPD because it was a Saturday and no medical officer was available to handle a life or death situation.
Maintaining operational and administrative discipline in a vast place such as Korle-Bu, with its array of different professional groups, cannot be an easy task. All the same, its operational efficiency could be greatly undermined if workers are left to do their own thing, to the detriment of the general public.
As it is now, it seems the centre cannot hold and things are falling apart. The chain of command is blurred and patients are victims of circumstances beyond their control. That is why response to emergency situations in the country’s last referral medical facility is not the best.
The human factor aside, the most baffling thing is the neglect of Korle-Bu in terms of vital installations and equipment. Some time ago, we were told almost all the lifts were not working. Health workers and relatives are compelled to hire the services of labourers to carry patients to upper floors of the wards and consulting rooms. Surely, that cannot be a gracious commentary on our number one teaching hospital in this 21st century. Even as you read this piece, the rehabilitation/replacement of the lifts is not complete.
Korle-Bu is overcrowded and basic facilities that should be standard for any medical facility are very often unavailable at the place we all boast of as our number one hospital.
This cannot be a question of lack of funds. Installing and maintaining lifts at Korle-Bu should not be too expensive for the Republic of Ghana, the land of gold, diamond, cocoa and now oil and gas. Somebody somewhere or some groups of people are simply not taking the life of our people seriously.
Last week, we were told that 13 surgical theatres at the hospital had to be temporarily closed down because major equipment at the Anaesthesia Department had broken down. Such was the importance of the equipment that apart from emergency cases, Korle-Bu had to suspend most surgical operations.
The question is, why should this happen to Korle-Bu? We were not told what caused the breakdown of the anaesthetic machine. Whatever the cause, have we observed good practices in terms of maintenance and back-up plans?
As it is, we are not likely to get the problem resolved sooner. We have been told the hospital will require more than US$1 million to procure new machines. Secondly, the Ministry of Health has started the long process of scanning the market to identify suppliers who can deliver the equipment promptly and at competitive cost, while at the same time making efforts to mobilise funds for the procurement.
Unless the President intervenes, as has always been the case in such matters, we are not likely to get a new anaesthetic machine in the nearest future. That will be a big blow to health delivery in the country, as we have been told that Korle-Bu handles an average of 1,500 surgical operations a month.
If Korle-Bu paints such a gloomy picture, then we just have to admit that our health delivery system is in serious crisis. It seems we have tolerated our human failures for far too long. We have taken things for granted because we know at the end of the day no one would be held accountable or at worst we shall blame everything on lack of funds. And that ends the matter.
Korle-Bu is our last hope when it comes to our survival and nothing should be spared to make it function to the satisfaction of the general public. Korle-Bu must stay alive if we should not die of what is within the capability of human beings.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Accident victims lie groaning on the bare floor. Those luckier find solace on benches. In all cases, relatives are on hand to help in the administration of drips and other medications. They have to be available to push the wheelchairs, if they cab find one, while saying their silent prayers for the survival of their relatives.
This is not a scenario in some medical facility in a remote part of the country. Those who have ever had the unfortunate experience of rushing accident victims to the Accident Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital will tell you that the picture painted above is too generous to describe the pathetic situation on the ground.
That is just a small part of the Korle-Bu story. Naturally, not all victims survive the ordeal, even though with better and more adequate resources, supported with more caring and dedicated health professionals, the story will be quite different.
Korle-Bu is a human institution which cannot escape the challenges that confront institutions of that nature. Already, as a teaching hospital and the nation’s largest and arguably the last referral medical facility which is also home to some of the best brains in the medical profession, Korle-Bu’s resources, both human and material, are under constant pressure.
It should have been a last resort but patients want the best medical attention they can get and so those with simple ailments that can be handled by the polyclinics and even lesser medical facilities prefer going straight to Korle-Bu and creating congestion that should not have been the case.
These cases of clear misuse of vital national resources notwithstanding, Korle-Bu, for its strategic role in health delivery in the country, can do better than it is doing now. Korle-Bu, for many, has become a huge jungle where one could easily get lost in an emergency situation and what could easily be a manageable situation could result in death because of bureaucracy, neglect or both.
A friend said he saw his wife die before him on a stretcher at the OPD because it was a Saturday and no medical officer was available to handle a life or death situation.
Maintaining operational and administrative discipline in a vast place such as Korle-Bu, with its array of different professional groups, cannot be an easy task. All the same, its operational efficiency could be greatly undermined if workers are left to do their own thing, to the detriment of the general public.
As it is now, it seems the centre cannot hold and things are falling apart. The chain of command is blurred and patients are victims of circumstances beyond their control. That is why response to emergency situations in the country’s last referral medical facility is not the best.
The human factor aside, the most baffling thing is the neglect of Korle-Bu in terms of vital installations and equipment. Some time ago, we were told almost all the lifts were not working. Health workers and relatives are compelled to hire the services of labourers to carry patients to upper floors of the wards and consulting rooms. Surely, that cannot be a gracious commentary on our number one teaching hospital in this 21st century. Even as you read this piece, the rehabilitation/replacement of the lifts is not complete.
Korle-Bu is overcrowded and basic facilities that should be standard for any medical facility are very often unavailable at the place we all boast of as our number one hospital.
This cannot be a question of lack of funds. Installing and maintaining lifts at Korle-Bu should not be too expensive for the Republic of Ghana, the land of gold, diamond, cocoa and now oil and gas. Somebody somewhere or some groups of people are simply not taking the life of our people seriously.
Last week, we were told that 13 surgical theatres at the hospital had to be temporarily closed down because major equipment at the Anaesthesia Department had broken down. Such was the importance of the equipment that apart from emergency cases, Korle-Bu had to suspend most surgical operations.
The question is, why should this happen to Korle-Bu? We were not told what caused the breakdown of the anaesthetic machine. Whatever the cause, have we observed good practices in terms of maintenance and back-up plans?
As it is, we are not likely to get the problem resolved sooner. We have been told the hospital will require more than US$1 million to procure new machines. Secondly, the Ministry of Health has started the long process of scanning the market to identify suppliers who can deliver the equipment promptly and at competitive cost, while at the same time making efforts to mobilise funds for the procurement.
Unless the President intervenes, as has always been the case in such matters, we are not likely to get a new anaesthetic machine in the nearest future. That will be a big blow to health delivery in the country, as we have been told that Korle-Bu handles an average of 1,500 surgical operations a month.
If Korle-Bu paints such a gloomy picture, then we just have to admit that our health delivery system is in serious crisis. It seems we have tolerated our human failures for far too long. We have taken things for granted because we know at the end of the day no one would be held accountable or at worst we shall blame everything on lack of funds. And that ends the matter.
Korle-Bu is our last hope when it comes to our survival and nothing should be spared to make it function to the satisfaction of the general public. Korle-Bu must stay alive if we should not die of what is within the capability of human beings.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
A brothel called children's park
By Kofi Akordor
I was not in the least surprised to hear that the Children’s Park in Kumasi has become a haven for prostitutes, armed robbers and other miscreants. I was not amused to hear that the place which was to serve as a recreational and learning ground for our children has become a free range toilet for some members of the public. As usual, this is a tradition that is being observed.
The Children’s Park in Kumasi is just one of the numerous public facilities that have suffered neglect and left to rot with time. In the 1970s, the government of General I. K. Acheampong built the Kaneshie Sports Complex to serve the sporting needs of Kaneshie and its environs.
The place was designed to have playing fields for various sporting events including football, the nation’s most favourite game, and for indoor games. It also had hostel facilities to serve the camping purposes of our national teams.
It did not take long for the place to become the venue for major sporting events including international boxing tournaments. One would have thought that for its strategic importance for developing the talents of the youth apart from its recreational value, the Kaneshie Sports Complex would be developed to a higher standard beyond how the Acheampong regime left it.
Unfortunately, the place suffered total neglect until the mention of Kaneshie Sports Complex conjured images of criminal gangs, wild reptiles and mosquitoes in the minds of those who know the place very well and have had regular contact with it.
President J.A. Kufuor, in his genuine desire to honour some of our sporting heroes, decided to name the Kaneshie Sports Complex after Azumah ‘Zoom Zoom’ Nelson, the only professor of boxing in the country. One would have expected that the place will undergo a massive transformation before or after this honour. As it is now, I wonder if Azumah Nelson will feel honoured for having such a decrepit place as the Kaneshie Sports Complex named after him.
At the same time that former President Kufuor was doing honour to Azumah Nelson for his exploits in boxing, he honoured Mr Charles Kumi Gyamfi, arguably one of the best footballers, coaches and football administrators this country has ever had, by naming the Winneba Sports College after him.
Unfortunately, that was also another run-down national facility that does not do justice to the stature of C.K. Gyamfi. The good intentions notwithstanding, the deplorable conditions at the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex and the C.K. Gyamfi Sports College at Winneba have debased the spirit behind the change of name.
The Azumah Nelson Sports Complex which bears the name of a great boxer should have been provided with a modern gym to groom the up-and-coming ones, to rekindle interest in the sport and to make it more possible to raise more boxers with the pedigree of Azumah Nelson and even better.
The same can be said of the C.K. Gyamfi Sports College. The name should have conjured images of a soccer icon whose exploits both as a footballer and football coach were unmatched in the nation’s history. But the college named after a great footballer lacks the facilities that would inspire young budding stars and serve as a great monument and a symbol of Ghana’s achievements in football on the continent and on the world stage.
So if these facilities dedicated to two great sports personalities could be left to their fate, if the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in the heart of the capital could suffer neglect, why should anyone be surprised that playgrounds dedicated to children could be turned into brothels and havens for criminals in the country?
The story of the other children parks in the country is not different from the Kumasi one. Even the Efua Sutherland Park in Accra has not been spared the neglect. Most of the time, the place is in total darkness and only comes to life occasionally on national holidays.
Elsewhere, the Efua Sutherland Park or the Accra Children’s Park should have been a beehive of daily activity. It should have been boasting a library and other educational facilities in addition to recreational activities where working mothers could conveniently live their children while attending to their money-chasing activities.
It will not be surprising if Efua Sutherland Park, like the Kumasi Children’s Park and others in the regional capitals, is serving more as a brothel and a sleeping place for lunatics than as a recreational and educational ground for children. Culture of neglect at its best.
The Kumasi story ended on a promising note. The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has expressed his intention to take over the development of the park to bring it back to life. Knowing the Asantehene’s position vis-à-vis education and children’s welfare, the Kumasi Children’s Park may be on the way for recovery. What about the rest?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
I was not in the least surprised to hear that the Children’s Park in Kumasi has become a haven for prostitutes, armed robbers and other miscreants. I was not amused to hear that the place which was to serve as a recreational and learning ground for our children has become a free range toilet for some members of the public. As usual, this is a tradition that is being observed.
The Children’s Park in Kumasi is just one of the numerous public facilities that have suffered neglect and left to rot with time. In the 1970s, the government of General I. K. Acheampong built the Kaneshie Sports Complex to serve the sporting needs of Kaneshie and its environs.
The place was designed to have playing fields for various sporting events including football, the nation’s most favourite game, and for indoor games. It also had hostel facilities to serve the camping purposes of our national teams.
It did not take long for the place to become the venue for major sporting events including international boxing tournaments. One would have thought that for its strategic importance for developing the talents of the youth apart from its recreational value, the Kaneshie Sports Complex would be developed to a higher standard beyond how the Acheampong regime left it.
Unfortunately, the place suffered total neglect until the mention of Kaneshie Sports Complex conjured images of criminal gangs, wild reptiles and mosquitoes in the minds of those who know the place very well and have had regular contact with it.
President J.A. Kufuor, in his genuine desire to honour some of our sporting heroes, decided to name the Kaneshie Sports Complex after Azumah ‘Zoom Zoom’ Nelson, the only professor of boxing in the country. One would have expected that the place will undergo a massive transformation before or after this honour. As it is now, I wonder if Azumah Nelson will feel honoured for having such a decrepit place as the Kaneshie Sports Complex named after him.
At the same time that former President Kufuor was doing honour to Azumah Nelson for his exploits in boxing, he honoured Mr Charles Kumi Gyamfi, arguably one of the best footballers, coaches and football administrators this country has ever had, by naming the Winneba Sports College after him.
Unfortunately, that was also another run-down national facility that does not do justice to the stature of C.K. Gyamfi. The good intentions notwithstanding, the deplorable conditions at the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex and the C.K. Gyamfi Sports College at Winneba have debased the spirit behind the change of name.
The Azumah Nelson Sports Complex which bears the name of a great boxer should have been provided with a modern gym to groom the up-and-coming ones, to rekindle interest in the sport and to make it more possible to raise more boxers with the pedigree of Azumah Nelson and even better.
The same can be said of the C.K. Gyamfi Sports College. The name should have conjured images of a soccer icon whose exploits both as a footballer and football coach were unmatched in the nation’s history. But the college named after a great footballer lacks the facilities that would inspire young budding stars and serve as a great monument and a symbol of Ghana’s achievements in football on the continent and on the world stage.
So if these facilities dedicated to two great sports personalities could be left to their fate, if the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in the heart of the capital could suffer neglect, why should anyone be surprised that playgrounds dedicated to children could be turned into brothels and havens for criminals in the country?
The story of the other children parks in the country is not different from the Kumasi one. Even the Efua Sutherland Park in Accra has not been spared the neglect. Most of the time, the place is in total darkness and only comes to life occasionally on national holidays.
Elsewhere, the Efua Sutherland Park or the Accra Children’s Park should have been a beehive of daily activity. It should have been boasting a library and other educational facilities in addition to recreational activities where working mothers could conveniently live their children while attending to their money-chasing activities.
It will not be surprising if Efua Sutherland Park, like the Kumasi Children’s Park and others in the regional capitals, is serving more as a brothel and a sleeping place for lunatics than as a recreational and educational ground for children. Culture of neglect at its best.
The Kumasi story ended on a promising note. The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has expressed his intention to take over the development of the park to bring it back to life. Knowing the Asantehene’s position vis-à-vis education and children’s welfare, the Kumasi Children’s Park may be on the way for recovery. What about the rest?
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Flying on worn-out tyres
By Kofi Akordor
Alhaji Asuma Banda might have touched raw nerves when he suggested a few months ago that the government should ban the importation of second-hand vehicles as a way of minimising the carnage on the roads.
From where he is coming from — a business magnate who is well-resourced to acquire any model of vehicle he wishes — it is easy for him to come to the conclusion that banning second-hand vehicles from the roads will provide an answer to the accident menace.
There is no doubt that old vehicles contribute to road accidents. Anything old cannot perform at optimum level. Therefore, it should be expected that a very old vehicle will experience frequent breakdowns and sometimes accidents. But, in our circumstances, it has been established that, in majority of cases, accidents are the result of human failure.
These include speeding, wrong overtaking, disregard of other road users and driving under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs. Driving has been taken for granted and so there are many people behind the steering wheel who have not gone through any proper training but still managed to possess valid driving licences because of our corrupt nature. All these contribute 80 per cent or more to accident cases.
This means that no matter how new a vehicle is, unless we remove or reduce the above factors, the situation will not see any significant improvement.
But the greatest challenge to Alhaji Banda’s prescription is that majority of vehicles in the country are second-hand.
In the past, it was easy for any senior officer in the public service to acquire a brand new vehicle. Today, things are different. Apart from a few people who, because of their status or job specification, are given brand new vehicles by their organisations, the rest of us must go to the junk market.
At the ministries, departments and agencies, only the chief directors and a few privileged directors have access to brand new vehicles. Other officers have to fight for themselves with their meagre salaries. That was how the second-hand car business became a lucrative one.
Most of the banks have put up packages, in collaboration with the auto companies, to help workers purchase their own vehicles, but salary levels are so low that majority of workers cannot access big loans to go in for brand new vehicles.
So, as Alhaji Banda and others who share in his opinion will realise, it is not the wish of any person to purchase a used or second-hand vehicle. It is the economic status of majority of Ghanaians, including top grade professionals such as medical officers, lecturers, architects, engineers and pharmacists, that forces them onto the second-hand market.
Things are not so easy even on the second-hand market. A fairly good vehicle which is less than 10 years old, depending on the model and year of manufacture, ranges between GH¢12,000 and GH¢25,000.
The high cost of second-hand vehicles has been attributed to the excessive tax regime being applied by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). So a vehicle that may cost, say, US$2,000 (equivalent to GH¢3,000) may end up costing more than GH¢10,000 at the point of purchase.
Any attempt to ban the importation of used vehicles will mean that the vast majority of Ghanaians will be without their personal vehicles for private, commercial or industrial use. With the present very poor public transportation system, the situation could well be imagined.
What is even more humiliating to our dignity and dangerous to driving is the fact that about 75 per cent of tyres used by vehicles in Ghana are second-hand. This was the conclusion of a research conducted by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC).
According to the figures, in 2005, 2006 and 2007, about 6.6 million tyres were imported into the country, out of which about 5.1 million were used ones. That translates into the fact that three in every four tyres sold in Ghana are second-hand. It means the country is virtually driving on tyres used or rejected in other countries.
The same research showed that some imported tyres were not roadworthy, as their service lives had already expired. Other tyres, labelled snow tyres, have found their way into a tropical environment like ours. It is, therefore, not surprising that the research came to the conclusion that a third of accidents could be attributed to second-hand tyres.
The Ghana Standards Board, according to its Head of Marketing and Public Relations, Mr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako, said there were no immediate plans to ban second-hand tyres until there was a review of government’s trade policy on the importation of second-hand tyres.
In February, the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, called for a national debate on the importation of second-hand spare parts and tyres. The question is, where will the debate lead us? Second-hand goods are not a choice. No one wants anything second-hand. Even in marriage, every person would want to go in for somebody fresh.
We have been forced by our miserable circumstances to go second-hand in everything — from pants, towels, handkerchiefs, cutlery, plates, glasses, saucepans to electronic goods that have been declared waste in other countries.
Sometimes one may see a truck loaded with junk which under normal circumstances should head for the dumping site. In all probability, that truck may he heading for Abossey Okai from the Tema Port.
In the absence of a manufacturing industry, the second-hand goods business has become a major income-generation and job-creation avenue in the country. So any government will have to calculate the economic and social consequences before coming up with a policy to ban some of the used goods that have choked our markets.
Our poverty level is also a clear indication that no matter how hard we try, for a very long time to come we will have to endure the indignity of consuming what others have used and thrown away.
Maybe our oil and gas will change things later. But since we are not likely to end the importation of second-hand vehicles and worn-out tyres so soon, we just have to advise ourselves, especially the commercial drivers who get excited on the wheels, to go slow on the road.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Alhaji Asuma Banda might have touched raw nerves when he suggested a few months ago that the government should ban the importation of second-hand vehicles as a way of minimising the carnage on the roads.
From where he is coming from — a business magnate who is well-resourced to acquire any model of vehicle he wishes — it is easy for him to come to the conclusion that banning second-hand vehicles from the roads will provide an answer to the accident menace.
There is no doubt that old vehicles contribute to road accidents. Anything old cannot perform at optimum level. Therefore, it should be expected that a very old vehicle will experience frequent breakdowns and sometimes accidents. But, in our circumstances, it has been established that, in majority of cases, accidents are the result of human failure.
These include speeding, wrong overtaking, disregard of other road users and driving under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs. Driving has been taken for granted and so there are many people behind the steering wheel who have not gone through any proper training but still managed to possess valid driving licences because of our corrupt nature. All these contribute 80 per cent or more to accident cases.
This means that no matter how new a vehicle is, unless we remove or reduce the above factors, the situation will not see any significant improvement.
But the greatest challenge to Alhaji Banda’s prescription is that majority of vehicles in the country are second-hand.
In the past, it was easy for any senior officer in the public service to acquire a brand new vehicle. Today, things are different. Apart from a few people who, because of their status or job specification, are given brand new vehicles by their organisations, the rest of us must go to the junk market.
At the ministries, departments and agencies, only the chief directors and a few privileged directors have access to brand new vehicles. Other officers have to fight for themselves with their meagre salaries. That was how the second-hand car business became a lucrative one.
Most of the banks have put up packages, in collaboration with the auto companies, to help workers purchase their own vehicles, but salary levels are so low that majority of workers cannot access big loans to go in for brand new vehicles.
So, as Alhaji Banda and others who share in his opinion will realise, it is not the wish of any person to purchase a used or second-hand vehicle. It is the economic status of majority of Ghanaians, including top grade professionals such as medical officers, lecturers, architects, engineers and pharmacists, that forces them onto the second-hand market.
Things are not so easy even on the second-hand market. A fairly good vehicle which is less than 10 years old, depending on the model and year of manufacture, ranges between GH¢12,000 and GH¢25,000.
The high cost of second-hand vehicles has been attributed to the excessive tax regime being applied by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). So a vehicle that may cost, say, US$2,000 (equivalent to GH¢3,000) may end up costing more than GH¢10,000 at the point of purchase.
Any attempt to ban the importation of used vehicles will mean that the vast majority of Ghanaians will be without their personal vehicles for private, commercial or industrial use. With the present very poor public transportation system, the situation could well be imagined.
What is even more humiliating to our dignity and dangerous to driving is the fact that about 75 per cent of tyres used by vehicles in Ghana are second-hand. This was the conclusion of a research conducted by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC).
According to the figures, in 2005, 2006 and 2007, about 6.6 million tyres were imported into the country, out of which about 5.1 million were used ones. That translates into the fact that three in every four tyres sold in Ghana are second-hand. It means the country is virtually driving on tyres used or rejected in other countries.
The same research showed that some imported tyres were not roadworthy, as their service lives had already expired. Other tyres, labelled snow tyres, have found their way into a tropical environment like ours. It is, therefore, not surprising that the research came to the conclusion that a third of accidents could be attributed to second-hand tyres.
The Ghana Standards Board, according to its Head of Marketing and Public Relations, Mr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako, said there were no immediate plans to ban second-hand tyres until there was a review of government’s trade policy on the importation of second-hand tyres.
In February, the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, called for a national debate on the importation of second-hand spare parts and tyres. The question is, where will the debate lead us? Second-hand goods are not a choice. No one wants anything second-hand. Even in marriage, every person would want to go in for somebody fresh.
We have been forced by our miserable circumstances to go second-hand in everything — from pants, towels, handkerchiefs, cutlery, plates, glasses, saucepans to electronic goods that have been declared waste in other countries.
Sometimes one may see a truck loaded with junk which under normal circumstances should head for the dumping site. In all probability, that truck may he heading for Abossey Okai from the Tema Port.
In the absence of a manufacturing industry, the second-hand goods business has become a major income-generation and job-creation avenue in the country. So any government will have to calculate the economic and social consequences before coming up with a policy to ban some of the used goods that have choked our markets.
Our poverty level is also a clear indication that no matter how hard we try, for a very long time to come we will have to endure the indignity of consuming what others have used and thrown away.
Maybe our oil and gas will change things later. But since we are not likely to end the importation of second-hand vehicles and worn-out tyres so soon, we just have to advise ourselves, especially the commercial drivers who get excited on the wheels, to go slow on the road.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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