Tuesday, August 30, 2011
GCDC rekindles hope for local entrepreneurs
By Kofi Akordor
There was ample evidence of the entrepreneurial acumen of Ghanaian industrialists many years ago. Those were the days many indigenous Ghanaians were able to set up manufacturing companies whose products offered stiff competition to those of the multinationals manufactured locally and those imported from outside.
Industrial giants such as Tata Brewery Limited owned by Mr J.K. Siaw, the International Tobacco Ghana Limited (ITG) owned by Mr B. A. Mensah and Kowus Motors, owned by Mr E.K. Owusu, and Boakye Mattress owned by Mr E.O. Boakye to name but a few readily come to mind.
It was obvious that Ghanaian entrepreneurs were gradually building their capacities and filling the gap where foreign multinationals were unable to satisfy local demand and in some cases turning out products with superior qualities to emphasise the country’s independence and industrial prowess until two violent military interventions sent local industry and entrepreneurship into gloomy darkness.
In 1979, after the military mutiny by junior ranks of the Ghana Armed Forces which some chose to describe as a revolution, a lot of local entrepreneurs lost their businesses and other properties and this aborted any dream that others were nursing to join in the effort to expand the industrial horizon of the country.
Strangely, some of the industries seized and confiscated from indigenous entrepreneurs by the state found place in the bosom of multinationals who were objects of attack during the coups of June 4, 1979 and December 31, 1981.
Of particular interest is the case of Tata Brewery Limited, once one of the biggest breweries in the West African Sub-region, which after many tortuous routes finally became part of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, itself a minute part of the Diageo Family, one of the largest multinationals in the world.
With such a heavy blow dealt from within to the local industry, it was not surprising that even those who had the financial and instinctive ability to go into industry recoiled and the few brave ones decided to go into trading in imported items.
The state itself lost control over the industries established under the Nkrumah regime to give the country a starting leverage in the manufacturing sector and either sold them or allowed them to rot just like that.
If today, after half a century of political independence, we have to import everything including toothpicks, it is because at one stage in our political history, we decided to treat local entrepreneurship with scorn and disdain and even made it dangerous for those who wanted to brave the weather and start something on their own.
The 1992 Constitution which restored the country to democratic governance grants us a lot of freedoms including the right to establish business. But we are still not out of the era of political vindictiveness where people are not seen for their worth but more for what political lineage they are suspected to be supported.
Most of our politicians in spite of the loud talks of supporting the private sector as the engine of growth, are still prepared to front for a foreign company than to assist a local person to establish, nurture and expand a local industry.
In the last few years, against all odds, some Ghanaians are crawling out of hibernation and beginning to show the resilience and fortitude of the past to venture into industry and other major commercial ventures.
It is in this vein that the boldness and efforts of a wholly Ghanaian-owned company, the Great Consolidated Diamond Company Limited (GCDL), to own and revamp the Akwatia diamonds needs to be commended. Coming from the stable of Zoomlion, the company that has visibly made an impact on refuse waste collection in Ghana and other African countries, there is no doubt that GCDL will not be lacking in inspirational and managerial direction and competence.
Most of the mineral concessions have gone to foreign companies with the argument that we lack the technological and financial capacity and capability to operate mines.
Unfortunately most of our mining communities, especially Obuasi, once reputed to be one of the richest goldmines in the world, do not reflect the reality of their natural wealth. So, while as a country we paint a picture of mineral wealth to the world, our national coffers do not emphasise this.
Moreover, while our mineral wealth have made others rich we only suffer the consequences of mining, including environmental degradation and health hazards associated with the sector.
The emergence of GCDL may be the beginning of taking full control of our mineral resources and whose financial returns will reflect in the lives of Ghanaians. No one is against foreign investment in our economy, be it industrial or commercial. But where the relationship had always been that of master-servant with Ghanaians being the servants, it cannot be described as the best.
We challenge this and all other governments to go beyond the rhetoric and give practical support to entrepreneurs and private enterprises that have exhibited the readiness to face the challenge and ventured into major industries.
We must encourage local entrepreneurs to do what Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung and LG have done in South Korea or TATA is doing in India. Maybe we should have been where they are today, if we had not destroyed and mortgaged our industries and haunted our entrepreneurs out of the country to die as paupers in other countries.
Even though history may be a guide, there is no need crying over spilt milk. If yesterday, we lost Kowus Motors, Tata Brewery, International Tobacco and others to foreign interests who are reaping where our hardworking entrepreneurs have planted, today we must encourage and support the likes of Zoomlion and its new baby, the GCDL, and others that may follow not only with words but with deeds to attain, in the words of the late General I.K. Acheampong, “the commanding heights of the economy”.
If we have learnt from the bitter experiences of the past, then the re-emergence of local entrepreneurial efforts should also be a re-awakening and a realisation that society thrives on its resources, both material and human, and no amount of foreign or external assistance will drive this nation forward if we ignore and even try to destroy local ingenuity, industry and resourcefulness. We wish the people of Akwatia and its environs the best in this new effort to bring back life to the people.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Decent language, clean campaigning please
Almost to the last person, it has been generally acknowledged that the political atmosphere of the country has been polluted with insults and other violent words that place our democracy under severe threat.
While there is a common agreement that most of our political commentators have become aggressive and reckless in their choice of words, there is a rift as to how to end the practice. Our President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has on many occasions condemned the culture of political insults, which has become pervasive in the last few years and is assuming alarming proportions each passing day.
Unfortunately, the President has fallen short of displaying his abhorrence for the practice by not making any public pronouncement on verbal excesses from his government officials and party activists.
This apparently might have emboldened those on the other side to put on full display their skills in abusive language, citing the President’s silence on similar infractions from his camp as the motivation for doing what they are being accused of doing.
As a nation, we cannot continue to allow people who claim to be fighting for our national interest to engage themselves in verbal assaults while the real issues are sidelined. The beauty of democracy is that it creates the platform for political parties to trade in alternative policies and programmes which will ultimately give good health to national development.
Unfortunately, in our case, the emphasis is shifting from this noble objective with political parties trying to undo each other in the exchange of insults. This trend does not only harbour the potential of triggering violence but also has the tendency to undermine the confidence people have in the democratic institutions enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
Already some people are questioning the integrity of the media to play any meaningful and active role in fostering good democratic practice in the country because of the way media freedom and freedom of expression have been abused, particularly on radio and television.
Some people who foresee danger ahead are even suggesting the extreme that media freedoms should be curtailed if it means sanity can only prevail under restrictive laws such as the Criminal Libel Law which was repealed in 2001 by the Kufuor Administration.
Incidentally, all media institutions, including the National Media Commission (NMC), which has constitutional mandate to streamline media practice, do not have sanctioning powers. The others such as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) could at best only condemn while leaving the rest to the conscience of those involved.
Fortunately, it appears we are getting close to the realization that our democracy can only mature and advance our national aspirations if we play the game by the rules. Last week, some of the political leaders spoken to by the Daily Graphic admitted that the culture of insults was doing a lot of harm to our democracy and threatening to destabilise national cohesion, peace and security. They have all agreed that the best solution to the problem is to isolate and publicly denounce party activists who will breach protocol by using abusive words against political opponents during discussion programmes in the media, especially radio and television.
To cement this resolve, the parties have committed themselves to decent conduct and electioneering campaign in the run-up to the 2012 elections. Under the aegis of the Institute of Economic Affairs, the National Democratic Congress, (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the EGLE Party and the United Renaissance Party (URP) have set out a code of conduct which will govern their conduct of political activities in the country.
In a communique issued at the end of a workshop organised by the IEA, the parties have asked their leadership to use responsible language and condemn those who use abusive language against political opponents.
The communique enjoined all the parties to demonstrate their commitment towards enforcing and implementing the code of conduct by educating their membership and supporters on its provisions.
One needs to commend the political parties and their leaders for the initiative and hope they will be able to stick to their own set rules in the coming days when the political atmosphere will be charged the more with the approach of the 2012 election. The communique also called on the media to play its role to ensure a decent atmosphere for political discourse and this is where the danger lies. So far, the media, whether deliberately or out of ignorance, have failed to play their role as independent and neutral moderators in public discussions and have offered the platform for invective and other uncivilised behaviour to manifest on the public stage.
We are missing a lot that could be gained from a good democratic practice as a nation because of the hostile atmosphere needlessly created through the abuse of media freedom and it is the expectation of every Ghanaian that the media, especially those who are privileged to be hosting programmes on radio and television, would support the determination of the political parties to distance themselves from insults by ceasing to be the conduits for bad news.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
While there is a common agreement that most of our political commentators have become aggressive and reckless in their choice of words, there is a rift as to how to end the practice. Our President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has on many occasions condemned the culture of political insults, which has become pervasive in the last few years and is assuming alarming proportions each passing day.
Unfortunately, the President has fallen short of displaying his abhorrence for the practice by not making any public pronouncement on verbal excesses from his government officials and party activists.
This apparently might have emboldened those on the other side to put on full display their skills in abusive language, citing the President’s silence on similar infractions from his camp as the motivation for doing what they are being accused of doing.
As a nation, we cannot continue to allow people who claim to be fighting for our national interest to engage themselves in verbal assaults while the real issues are sidelined. The beauty of democracy is that it creates the platform for political parties to trade in alternative policies and programmes which will ultimately give good health to national development.
Unfortunately, in our case, the emphasis is shifting from this noble objective with political parties trying to undo each other in the exchange of insults. This trend does not only harbour the potential of triggering violence but also has the tendency to undermine the confidence people have in the democratic institutions enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
Already some people are questioning the integrity of the media to play any meaningful and active role in fostering good democratic practice in the country because of the way media freedom and freedom of expression have been abused, particularly on radio and television.
Some people who foresee danger ahead are even suggesting the extreme that media freedoms should be curtailed if it means sanity can only prevail under restrictive laws such as the Criminal Libel Law which was repealed in 2001 by the Kufuor Administration.
Incidentally, all media institutions, including the National Media Commission (NMC), which has constitutional mandate to streamline media practice, do not have sanctioning powers. The others such as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) could at best only condemn while leaving the rest to the conscience of those involved.
Fortunately, it appears we are getting close to the realization that our democracy can only mature and advance our national aspirations if we play the game by the rules. Last week, some of the political leaders spoken to by the Daily Graphic admitted that the culture of insults was doing a lot of harm to our democracy and threatening to destabilise national cohesion, peace and security. They have all agreed that the best solution to the problem is to isolate and publicly denounce party activists who will breach protocol by using abusive words against political opponents during discussion programmes in the media, especially radio and television.
To cement this resolve, the parties have committed themselves to decent conduct and electioneering campaign in the run-up to the 2012 elections. Under the aegis of the Institute of Economic Affairs, the National Democratic Congress, (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the EGLE Party and the United Renaissance Party (URP) have set out a code of conduct which will govern their conduct of political activities in the country.
In a communique issued at the end of a workshop organised by the IEA, the parties have asked their leadership to use responsible language and condemn those who use abusive language against political opponents.
The communique enjoined all the parties to demonstrate their commitment towards enforcing and implementing the code of conduct by educating their membership and supporters on its provisions.
One needs to commend the political parties and their leaders for the initiative and hope they will be able to stick to their own set rules in the coming days when the political atmosphere will be charged the more with the approach of the 2012 election. The communique also called on the media to play its role to ensure a decent atmosphere for political discourse and this is where the danger lies. So far, the media, whether deliberately or out of ignorance, have failed to play their role as independent and neutral moderators in public discussions and have offered the platform for invective and other uncivilised behaviour to manifest on the public stage.
We are missing a lot that could be gained from a good democratic practice as a nation because of the hostile atmosphere needlessly created through the abuse of media freedom and it is the expectation of every Ghanaian that the media, especially those who are privileged to be hosting programmes on radio and television, would support the determination of the political parties to distance themselves from insults by ceasing to be the conduits for bad news.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Crawling out of the dungeons of slavery
By Kofi Akordor
One of the most fascinating things about last week’s media encounter with the Minister for Tourism was the revelation by the Minister, Ms Akua Sena Dansua that the Cabinet had given APPROVAL (caps mine) for local dishes to be served at official functions. This, according to the minister, is to give local and international recognition to Ghanaian dishes. What a pity! I do not know whether to clap or weep at this announcement, coming 54 years after we raised our national flag at the Old Polo Grounds and lowered the Union Jack to signify our statehood and sang our own “Lift high the flag of Ghana” in nationalistic tones as we celebrated independence. Why should it take us so long to see the need to patronise what is our own and not only that but also making others savour our dishes just as we have relished those of others? That brings us to what our independence is really about not only for us as a country but as a people seeing how we crazily adore foreign things, including the food we eat. We have wondered why even under extreme hot temperatures, the standard for the educated and enlightened remains the three-piece suit and the tie virtually strangling us to death? We kept blaming our woes on slavery and colonialism for the evil they had done to our psyche and social cohesion, yet we do not make any conscious effort to overcome that colonial mentality which does not make us see anything good about ourselves. Everything is good about things that come from outside. Recently our men in cassock and clerical collars joined others to voice their abhorrence for homosexuality and lesbianism which appear being forced on us by superior human beings from the West. Most of the critics declared with one voice that these twin evils were not only unreligious but are against our cultural norms and moral values as a people. The question again is, since when have we realised that as a people made in a special image of God, we have certain cultural and values that must be protected in their sanctity and acceptance and practice? These values did not germinate overnight. They were part and parcel of our existence as a people. Many years ago, we relinquished our authority over ourselves and accepted these values that we are making much noise about today as satanic, barbaric and primitive and abandoned them for something more saintly and elevating from the colonialists from the West. Today, the same people who some time ago brought the Bible and told us everything about us was heathen are the same people who are not only trying to convince us, but are actually cajoling us to accept homosexuality and lesbianism as normal and so should be tolerated. They are telling us that as God’s creatures, we have the freedom to do anything, including co-habiting with the same sex or entering into intimate relations with same sex. There are even veiled threats that there is a harsh penalty to pay if we continue to resist homosexuals and lesbians. Knowing our propensity for begging, our political leaders are severely constrained to raise their voices against the growing phenomenon which threatens the social fabric of our country. The clergy who have mustered some courage to attack the menace are quoting copious verses from the Bible support their argument against the growing menace. What is our moral ground to quote from the same Bible brought to us many centuries ago by a people who have virtually embraced homosexuality and lesbianism regardless of what the Bible says? Now it is not only ordinary Christians who are gays but pastors and bishops of accredited churches. Are we quoting from the Bible they brought to us or another one created by us? If it is the same Bible, then we cannot pretend to know it better than those who wrote it and brought it to us and used it to make us unhinged us about our very existence and created a whole new identification for us. Maybe the homosexual doctrine is telling us something we lost several centuries ago — that after all, God made us in His image as blacks with our distinct moral, cultural and religious values and embraced something that separated us from our spiritual roots. If today, those who brought us the Bible can warn us (remember the British Under-Secretary’s warning two weeks ago), then it stands to reason that with time other things condemned in the Bible will become virtues while other vices may become virtues as well. In recent times, we have seen in this country what so-called men of God are capable of doing, things our cultural norms and religious values, which are embedded in the law of Kama or retribution will not tolerate. If in the past, some of these criminal activities and practices were being suppressed and kept away from us the ordinary people, today they are being brought into light and we should be wiser by these revelations and begin to look within. If we think by abandoning everything about us we are making a better impression about ourselves, we are making a terrible mistake. Serving local dishes at official functions should not have been by Cabinet approval. It should have come as natural as others have accepted theirs and made people like us to accept them as the best. This applies to other things including our dressing, which is a gift from God to suit our climatic conditions. If we as a nation can rise up and condemn homosexuality and lesbianism as an affront to our cultural and moral values, then with the same voice we should rise against all forms of foreign domination that have made us second-rate citizens in our own land. We can maintain the sanctity of our cultural and religious values if we can tell the rest of the world that we are a distinct people and cannot remain in the shadows of others just us the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and the Arabs have done.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Lamentations of David Cameron
By Kofi Akordor
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, while on an African tour last month had the opportunity to address very important personalities at Nigeria’s Lagos Business School. He used the occasion to say what has become a refrain of many Western leaders by warning African countries to be careful about the Chinese invasion of Africa.
Ever since China’s dominance on the world stage became a phenomenal reality, leaders of the big powers in the West have not spared the continent the warning against the Chinese scourge because of its communist ideology and disregard for human rights.
Western propaganda against China started many years ago and got to its peak during the Cold War when it pitched camp with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). They even came close to sabotaging the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games which ended up showcasing the might of China.
One of the greatest crimes committed by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, was his association with China and countries of Eastern Europe under the Soviet orbit. The story was that Nkrumah was about introducing communism into the country on the lines of China’s communist system.
The establishment of the Ghana Young Pioneers Movement as it were, by Nkrumah to instil discipline, nationalism and patriotism in the youth and other socialist movements such as the Ghana Federation of Women and the Farmers Council greatly lent credence to the anti-Nkrumah propaganda.
When the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) finally toppled Nkrumah using local collaborators, there was celebration of a good riddance of a bad lot. Many years later, China defied all odds to blossom into a world economic and industrial power that no country including the Western democracies could ignore.
China’s rise to world economic power did not happen by accident. It was a deliberate policy to attract foreign investment capital coupled with determination by a hardworking population. But should China’s growing influence be a worry to the West?
Unlike the West which set preconditions for aid, using democracy, human rights, rule of law and others as an excuse, China has nothing to bargain for, but to go into direct business with its African counterparts. Instead of pretending to be crying for Africa, the West will do well to worry over their dwindling influence on a continent they have controlled and pillaged for centuries.
Looking back, many African countries have suffered more from the long association with the Western colonialists than could be imagined. The Chinese are not in Africa for pleasure and no one should expect them to come and sprinkle money around without returns. But their approach to development projects is quite different and more mutually beneficial and should be exploited by African countries.
In Ghana, the Chinese are helping with the construction of the Bui Hydroelectric Dam. They are very much present in the transport sector, since most of the vehicles being used by the Metro Mass Transport come from China.
Hopefully, the Eastern Corridor road project and other major projects will see the light of day, after the Chinese loan package is approved by parliament.
In any case, the West cannot claim to love Africa more than the Chinese, since for every dollar given as aid, three dollars are taken away from Africa, leaving the continent in perpetual debt. Moreover the West has never been interested in infrastructural development on the continent, preferring to support those projects that would boost the continent as producers of raw materials.
A former Nigerian Finance Minister, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, speaking for Africa said, “China knows what it means to be poor and has evolved a successful wealth creation formula that it is willing to share with African countries”. It is up to individual African countries to negotiate and enter into agreements with their national interests being paramount.
Incidentally, the Western countries which are crying their head over Africa’s association with China, are desperately relocating most of their industries in China. Africa cannot afford to remain victims of Cold War propaganda about its relations with China.
African countries, however, have a big lesson to learn from China. That over-reliance on external assistance does not help. African countries must begin to chart a path of independence and self-reliance while collaborating with others.
African countries have more resources than China and if there are any lessons to be learnt, it is that China refused to accept its fate as a poor and primitive country that cannot make it without succumbing to capitalist interests.
As for David Cameron and his like who think China’s link with Africa is a “new scramble for Africa”, they should spare us that agony. They say man under water fears no cold. We have suffered enough from colonialism to worry about what the Chinese will do to us. So far, the Chinese strategy of give-and-take has worked for all the parties and Africa can position itself properly to make the best out of the China alliance.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, while on an African tour last month had the opportunity to address very important personalities at Nigeria’s Lagos Business School. He used the occasion to say what has become a refrain of many Western leaders by warning African countries to be careful about the Chinese invasion of Africa.
Ever since China’s dominance on the world stage became a phenomenal reality, leaders of the big powers in the West have not spared the continent the warning against the Chinese scourge because of its communist ideology and disregard for human rights.
Western propaganda against China started many years ago and got to its peak during the Cold War when it pitched camp with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). They even came close to sabotaging the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games which ended up showcasing the might of China.
One of the greatest crimes committed by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, was his association with China and countries of Eastern Europe under the Soviet orbit. The story was that Nkrumah was about introducing communism into the country on the lines of China’s communist system.
The establishment of the Ghana Young Pioneers Movement as it were, by Nkrumah to instil discipline, nationalism and patriotism in the youth and other socialist movements such as the Ghana Federation of Women and the Farmers Council greatly lent credence to the anti-Nkrumah propaganda.
When the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) finally toppled Nkrumah using local collaborators, there was celebration of a good riddance of a bad lot. Many years later, China defied all odds to blossom into a world economic and industrial power that no country including the Western democracies could ignore.
China’s rise to world economic power did not happen by accident. It was a deliberate policy to attract foreign investment capital coupled with determination by a hardworking population. But should China’s growing influence be a worry to the West?
Unlike the West which set preconditions for aid, using democracy, human rights, rule of law and others as an excuse, China has nothing to bargain for, but to go into direct business with its African counterparts. Instead of pretending to be crying for Africa, the West will do well to worry over their dwindling influence on a continent they have controlled and pillaged for centuries.
Looking back, many African countries have suffered more from the long association with the Western colonialists than could be imagined. The Chinese are not in Africa for pleasure and no one should expect them to come and sprinkle money around without returns. But their approach to development projects is quite different and more mutually beneficial and should be exploited by African countries.
In Ghana, the Chinese are helping with the construction of the Bui Hydroelectric Dam. They are very much present in the transport sector, since most of the vehicles being used by the Metro Mass Transport come from China.
Hopefully, the Eastern Corridor road project and other major projects will see the light of day, after the Chinese loan package is approved by parliament.
In any case, the West cannot claim to love Africa more than the Chinese, since for every dollar given as aid, three dollars are taken away from Africa, leaving the continent in perpetual debt. Moreover the West has never been interested in infrastructural development on the continent, preferring to support those projects that would boost the continent as producers of raw materials.
A former Nigerian Finance Minister, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, speaking for Africa said, “China knows what it means to be poor and has evolved a successful wealth creation formula that it is willing to share with African countries”. It is up to individual African countries to negotiate and enter into agreements with their national interests being paramount.
Incidentally, the Western countries which are crying their head over Africa’s association with China, are desperately relocating most of their industries in China. Africa cannot afford to remain victims of Cold War propaganda about its relations with China.
African countries, however, have a big lesson to learn from China. That over-reliance on external assistance does not help. African countries must begin to chart a path of independence and self-reliance while collaborating with others.
African countries have more resources than China and if there are any lessons to be learnt, it is that China refused to accept its fate as a poor and primitive country that cannot make it without succumbing to capitalist interests.
As for David Cameron and his like who think China’s link with Africa is a “new scramble for Africa”, they should spare us that agony. They say man under water fears no cold. We have suffered enough from colonialism to worry about what the Chinese will do to us. So far, the Chinese strategy of give-and-take has worked for all the parties and Africa can position itself properly to make the best out of the China alliance.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Betrayal of the national cause
By Kofi Akordor
THE President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, was not a happy person when his effort to retool the Ghana Air Force was mired in muddy waters of partisan politics. He got the opportunity to express his displeasure when he toured the flood areas in the Fanteakwa and Atiwa districts in the Eastern Region. He used the disaster situation in the two districts and other parts of the region to draw attention to the need for everyone, especially political leaders, to be circumspect and objective when discussing matters that were purely of national interest and separate them from what were for mere political gratification. In defence of the decision to purchase five aircraft to re-equip the Ghana Air Force, the President wondered why almost all important national issues were given political twists and colouration, saying the five aircrafts were not meant for the comfort of the presidency. Apart from their military use, experience had shown that in times of disaster such as what we are experiencing in most parts of the country now, military aircraft, especially helicopters, come handy to evacuate the injured and stranded and also ferry relief items to victims of national disasters. This is the reality that should inform all our discussions on the subject of equipping all our national institutions. In a similar vein, President Mills will by now begin to appreciate the frustrations and may be the humiliation former President John Agyekum Kufuor went through when he sent a similar application to the House in 2008 and put forward the same arguments that the aircraft earmarked for the Ghana Armed Forces were not for the aggrandisement of the presidency nor the political leadership but in the supreme national interest. There are many in the NPP who have still not forgiven former President Kufuor for introducing that package for the Air Force during those crucial moments close to an election which promised to be close and tough. Some were even more cynical, claiming former President Kufuor did that deliberately to destroy the chances of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 2008 elections. As a nation, we should decide whether we desire a military establishment with an Air Force or not. If we agree to have an Air Force, we should inform ourselves that the Air Force does not operate with wheelbarrows. It is a unit that executes its military operations mostly from the air and, therefore, necessarily must have military aircraft to execute that mandate. The argument yesterday that there was hunger and poverty in the country and that many schools were without good infrastructure are very relevant today. The most important thing is that every country can march on all fronts at the same time provided it is able to harness its resources and manage them well. We can debate cost and choice of aircraft dispassionately and objectively devoid of partisan motives. If we decide not to have an established military, that will be a different matter. In that case, we should be prepared to mobilise our Asafo companies to defend the country against external aggression whenever it becomes necessary. Until we make that choice, we should be able to equip our Armed Forces to the best of our ability and with enough firepower so that they can provide us with the protection we need as a sovereign nation. Throughout our history as an independent nation, almost every government has suffered condemnation, one way or another, for its plans, programmes and projects. The person who was vilified the most and became the biggest victim of this phenomenon, as many would agree, was Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President and the man whose vision and ideas became an inspiration to not only countries on the mother continent but also all Black communities globally. Interestingly, almost everything initiated by President Nkrumah was condemned by a section of the population just to make him unpopular. Even the Accra-Tema Motorway, the Tema Harbour, the Volta Dam at Akosombo and the now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) were described as grandiose, misplaced and not in the national interest at the time. Today, I am wondering if any person with an objective mind can confidently describe any of these national projects as grandiose and not in the interest of the nation. So soon we have come to realise how inadequate the facilities we thought were over abundant yesterday have become today. One of the crimes General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was accused of committing was the decision to purchase an aircraft for the Ghana Air Force which became the presidential jet. General Acheampong never travelled on that aircraft, partly for his phobia for flying. Incidentally, the person who amplified the accusation of Acheampong for profligacy was Flt Lt. J.J. Rawlings, who made good use of the aircraft from its prime until it became known as the Flying Coffin due to old age. It was this flying coffin that was to be replaced by the Kufuor regime when he ran into problems with the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). As fate would have it, the NDC, now in government, also took a package intended for retooling the Armed Forces to Parliament when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) felt it was an opportune time to return fire. Some of us expected that that chain would be broken, since we know it is not in the national interest. But no! The NPP wants to exact its pound of flesh, if even at great cost to the nation. As to cost and due diligence, some of us would not want go there, since we do not have the competence. But by all means let Parliament do its part by scrutinizing documents before it to ensure that the country is not short-changed in the transaction. But that should not take away the necessity of ordering the aircraft for the Air Force. By now we should be able to determine what we want as a nation and pursue those goals in a non-partisan manner and stop the unnecessary politicisation of serious matters. When the NDC administration first introduced the Value Added Tax (VAT), it was vehemently opposed by elements in the NPP parading under the umbrella of the Alliance for Change (AFC). Precious blood was shed and a few people paid the supreme price for what they thought to be a justifiable cause. The souls of those who died in the Kume Preko demonstrations will be turning in their graves upon the realization that the leadership of those demonstrations which turned violent and cost their lives, including Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Yves Wereko-Brobby and Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, later were part of a government which increased the percentage of the VAT. We did similar things upon the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) which has proved to be the backbone of the educational sector today. They are dead and gone, leaving behind their friends and relatives in misery, while their leaders have lived long enough to taste the sweetness of political power for eight years and are preparing feverishly for another round if Ghanaians so permit. The NDC, while in opposition, also walked out of Parliament when the debate on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which was its own baby when the party was in government, got to its crucial stage. Now back in government, the NDC is doing everything to streamline the operations of the NHIS. Maybe things would have been better for the scheme, and for that matter Ghanaians, if the party had allowed its input to enrich the debate. Our lives as a people cannot be allowed to go on this way. In a democratic environment, there is bound to be disagreements. In fact, disagreements and dissent generally are some of the strong pillars on which rest the fundamentals of democracy. These disagreements, therefore, if genuinely informed by the quest for accountability and concern for the general good of the people, will be articulated in a manner as will enrich debates on national issues, at the end of which the ultimate objective of making this country a better place will triumph. We may score cheap political points today, but if disagreements are not based on objective analysis of things but bear the fruits of mischief, malice and self-interest, it will always bring us to the situation where, instead of moving forward, we will constantly retrace our footsteps. If the NPP will admit that they made a mistake during the introduction of the VAT and the NDC will admit mixing serious national issues with narrow political interests during former President Kufuor’s attempt to purchase aircraft for the Air Force, this country will be learning useful lessons that will propel it to move on in the right direction. There are numerous examples but the few mentioned will illustrate the phenomenon which is not healthy for our political and overall national life. The politics of tit for tat is negative, must be condemned and not countenanced by all serious-minded people. If we continue to pursue that path, we will only succeed in betraying the national cause for the sake of narrow and sectional interests. Political parties are national institutions that are supposed to make the national interest the core agenda. If we depart from this goal and adorn party garbs at the least opportunity, we will do more harm to the democracy we claim to cherish so much and in effect destabilise the national development agenda. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com
THE President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, was not a happy person when his effort to retool the Ghana Air Force was mired in muddy waters of partisan politics. He got the opportunity to express his displeasure when he toured the flood areas in the Fanteakwa and Atiwa districts in the Eastern Region. He used the disaster situation in the two districts and other parts of the region to draw attention to the need for everyone, especially political leaders, to be circumspect and objective when discussing matters that were purely of national interest and separate them from what were for mere political gratification. In defence of the decision to purchase five aircraft to re-equip the Ghana Air Force, the President wondered why almost all important national issues were given political twists and colouration, saying the five aircrafts were not meant for the comfort of the presidency. Apart from their military use, experience had shown that in times of disaster such as what we are experiencing in most parts of the country now, military aircraft, especially helicopters, come handy to evacuate the injured and stranded and also ferry relief items to victims of national disasters. This is the reality that should inform all our discussions on the subject of equipping all our national institutions. In a similar vein, President Mills will by now begin to appreciate the frustrations and may be the humiliation former President John Agyekum Kufuor went through when he sent a similar application to the House in 2008 and put forward the same arguments that the aircraft earmarked for the Ghana Armed Forces were not for the aggrandisement of the presidency nor the political leadership but in the supreme national interest. There are many in the NPP who have still not forgiven former President Kufuor for introducing that package for the Air Force during those crucial moments close to an election which promised to be close and tough. Some were even more cynical, claiming former President Kufuor did that deliberately to destroy the chances of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 2008 elections. As a nation, we should decide whether we desire a military establishment with an Air Force or not. If we agree to have an Air Force, we should inform ourselves that the Air Force does not operate with wheelbarrows. It is a unit that executes its military operations mostly from the air and, therefore, necessarily must have military aircraft to execute that mandate. The argument yesterday that there was hunger and poverty in the country and that many schools were without good infrastructure are very relevant today. The most important thing is that every country can march on all fronts at the same time provided it is able to harness its resources and manage them well. We can debate cost and choice of aircraft dispassionately and objectively devoid of partisan motives. If we decide not to have an established military, that will be a different matter. In that case, we should be prepared to mobilise our Asafo companies to defend the country against external aggression whenever it becomes necessary. Until we make that choice, we should be able to equip our Armed Forces to the best of our ability and with enough firepower so that they can provide us with the protection we need as a sovereign nation. Throughout our history as an independent nation, almost every government has suffered condemnation, one way or another, for its plans, programmes and projects. The person who was vilified the most and became the biggest victim of this phenomenon, as many would agree, was Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President and the man whose vision and ideas became an inspiration to not only countries on the mother continent but also all Black communities globally. Interestingly, almost everything initiated by President Nkrumah was condemned by a section of the population just to make him unpopular. Even the Accra-Tema Motorway, the Tema Harbour, the Volta Dam at Akosombo and the now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) were described as grandiose, misplaced and not in the national interest at the time. Today, I am wondering if any person with an objective mind can confidently describe any of these national projects as grandiose and not in the interest of the nation. So soon we have come to realise how inadequate the facilities we thought were over abundant yesterday have become today. One of the crimes General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was accused of committing was the decision to purchase an aircraft for the Ghana Air Force which became the presidential jet. General Acheampong never travelled on that aircraft, partly for his phobia for flying. Incidentally, the person who amplified the accusation of Acheampong for profligacy was Flt Lt. J.J. Rawlings, who made good use of the aircraft from its prime until it became known as the Flying Coffin due to old age. It was this flying coffin that was to be replaced by the Kufuor regime when he ran into problems with the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). As fate would have it, the NDC, now in government, also took a package intended for retooling the Armed Forces to Parliament when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) felt it was an opportune time to return fire. Some of us expected that that chain would be broken, since we know it is not in the national interest. But no! The NPP wants to exact its pound of flesh, if even at great cost to the nation. As to cost and due diligence, some of us would not want go there, since we do not have the competence. But by all means let Parliament do its part by scrutinizing documents before it to ensure that the country is not short-changed in the transaction. But that should not take away the necessity of ordering the aircraft for the Air Force. By now we should be able to determine what we want as a nation and pursue those goals in a non-partisan manner and stop the unnecessary politicisation of serious matters. When the NDC administration first introduced the Value Added Tax (VAT), it was vehemently opposed by elements in the NPP parading under the umbrella of the Alliance for Change (AFC). Precious blood was shed and a few people paid the supreme price for what they thought to be a justifiable cause. The souls of those who died in the Kume Preko demonstrations will be turning in their graves upon the realization that the leadership of those demonstrations which turned violent and cost their lives, including Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Yves Wereko-Brobby and Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, later were part of a government which increased the percentage of the VAT. We did similar things upon the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) which has proved to be the backbone of the educational sector today. They are dead and gone, leaving behind their friends and relatives in misery, while their leaders have lived long enough to taste the sweetness of political power for eight years and are preparing feverishly for another round if Ghanaians so permit. The NDC, while in opposition, also walked out of Parliament when the debate on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which was its own baby when the party was in government, got to its crucial stage. Now back in government, the NDC is doing everything to streamline the operations of the NHIS. Maybe things would have been better for the scheme, and for that matter Ghanaians, if the party had allowed its input to enrich the debate. Our lives as a people cannot be allowed to go on this way. In a democratic environment, there is bound to be disagreements. In fact, disagreements and dissent generally are some of the strong pillars on which rest the fundamentals of democracy. These disagreements, therefore, if genuinely informed by the quest for accountability and concern for the general good of the people, will be articulated in a manner as will enrich debates on national issues, at the end of which the ultimate objective of making this country a better place will triumph. We may score cheap political points today, but if disagreements are not based on objective analysis of things but bear the fruits of mischief, malice and self-interest, it will always bring us to the situation where, instead of moving forward, we will constantly retrace our footsteps. If the NPP will admit that they made a mistake during the introduction of the VAT and the NDC will admit mixing serious national issues with narrow political interests during former President Kufuor’s attempt to purchase aircraft for the Air Force, this country will be learning useful lessons that will propel it to move on in the right direction. There are numerous examples but the few mentioned will illustrate the phenomenon which is not healthy for our political and overall national life. The politics of tit for tat is negative, must be condemned and not countenanced by all serious-minded people. If we continue to pursue that path, we will only succeed in betraying the national cause for the sake of narrow and sectional interests. Political parties are national institutions that are supposed to make the national interest the core agenda. If we depart from this goal and adorn party garbs at the least opportunity, we will do more harm to the democracy we claim to cherish so much and in effect destabilise the national development agenda. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
True meaning of national service
By Kofi Akordor
IN a small remote community in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region, a young man has initiated a journey that promises to leave his footprints in the sands of history. Without necessarily making a deliberate and conscious attempt to make history, Mr Wisdom Deku Apedo, who is doing national service at Barimayena in the district, is brightening his small corner and illuminating the way for children who, through no fault of theirs, have found themselves in a part of the country many see as forbidden territory.
Mr Apedo is not destined to suffer the same fate as others whose good deeds only come to light and are acknowledged long after they are gone. The 24-year-old service person has already won commendation from the Ashanti Regional Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS) for the transformation he is bringing to the small community where he is doing national service.
More significant are the kind words the Barimayena Unit Committee Chairman, Mr Stephen Agyapong, and the Chief of Barimayena, Nana Kofi Mensah, have for Mr Apedo for his self-less devotion to the progress of the small community.
Mr Apedo, an HND (Marketing) graduate from the Cape Coast Polytechnic, by some design or fate, found himself posted first to the Ashanti Region for his national. I believe he was excited that being a Marketing graduate, he was going to be assigned to a commercial firm where he would put his marketing skills to practice.
He might have got his first jolt when he was posted to the Atwima Mponua District where his initial expectations fizzled out. He was in a bigger shock when his final destination was Barimayena, which the chief of the place himself described as remote and not attractive to all the trained teachers posted there.
According to the Ashanti Regional Director of the NSS, Mr Kwesi Quainoo, Mr Apedo was tempted to follow others to abandon the people of Barimayena for obvious reasons. Mr Apedo said apart from the remoteness of the place, there was a serious handicap in the form of a language barrier. He is from Battor in the Volta Region and speaks Ewe, while his hosts are Asante Twi-speaking people.
Whatever made him to change his mind, only Mr Apedo will narrate it one day in a more vivid manner, but he told a reporter of the Daily Graphic that he saw his posting as a challenge to build the capacity of the pupils and the people of the community.
The most important thing is that good judgement prevailed and Mr Apedo decided to pitch camp at Barimayena and he is already enjoying doing real national service. He can see his efforts bearing fruits right before his eyes.
Mr Apedo’s story became public when officials of the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the NSS, led by Mr Quainoo, visited the district to acquaint themselves with the challenges facing national service persons posted to some of its remotest parts.
They heard the account of Nana Mensah himself, who said the local school which started with only 25 kindergarten pupils had seen tremendous growth and improvement since Mr Apedo’s arrival in the community. He said the school had now grown to Primary Two, bringing current enrolment to 83.
More startling was the revelation by the chief that through Mr Apedo’s personal initiative, the community had been able to raise GH¢1,700 to build additional classrooms and expressed the hope that very soon the school would expand intake to Primary Six to have the full complement of a primary school.
Mr Apedo’s case is edifying and worthy of mention because over the years the philosophy of the NSS has been diluted, making mockery of the vision of the founders and making it look as if the scheme is a big shade under which people will take rest while thinking of what to do next.
Some people even think that it is an extension of the political apparatus where they could exercise their pastime as party activists, collecting their allowances without rendering service to the people the way Mr Apedo and others are doing.
In the latter part of last year, a group of young men and women belonging to the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN), the students wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), subjected Mr Vincent Kuagbenu, the Executive Secretary of the NSS, to bouts of embarrassing heckling when he tried to address them in Winneba.
Mr Kuagbenu’s crime was that he had not pandered to the wishes of the young graduates by posting them to their preferred places to do national service.
Most of them complained that Mr Kuagbenu had posted them to remote parts of the country, instead of allowing them to enjoy the spoils of victory in the general election by posting them to juicy places.
These were youthful members of the party who are aspiring to become future leaders who thought certain parts of the country are too remote to deserve their skills and talents; people who, in the not-too-distant future, will mount platforms and tell Ghanaians to vote for them because they know their problems, care for them and are even prepared to die for them if only they (Ghanaians) will give them their votes.
What many of those who made those ugly noises that day did not know was that many years ago, between 1982 and 1984, many young men and, to a smaller extent, young women, broke their backs carrying cocoa which was getting rotten on the farms to the ports. Others turned themselves into human cranes to load cocoa onto ships at the Tema Port.
If those young people want to know the real story, the origins of the party called the NDC, they will come to realise why former President Jerry John Rawlings is still the toast of many: He was seen as a symbol of humility, dedication, selflessness and devotion to the national cause.
With such characteristics, he was able to convince students to abandon the lecture halls for the bush, the villages and the remotest parts of the country to do national service.
Those shouting youth should find out why national service became two years instead of one year and why even Sixth Formers joined the scheme. It was to clear the backlog of students who piled up when the universities were closed down for one full academic year.
Those days, the students did not have the luxury to indulge in noise-making but went into the bush to replant burnt cocoa farms. That was how the National Farmers Day started when, after a long and severe drought, the first harvests were made and the government felt there was cause to celebrate and reward the farmers who had brought food production to normalcy.
Some of the students went chasing cocoa smugglers on dangerous grounds. Some lost limbs; some even paid the supreme price in the service of mother Ghana. Some could not make it back to their universities and other institutions.
It was the efforts of those unsung heroes which culminated in the formation of the NDC. If, therefore, any young member of the NDC sees service in certain parts of this country as punishment, then that person, instead of exhibiting that with ugly noises in public, should rather bow his/her head in big shame.
The national service concept was not mooted to give employment to young graduates in the banks, hotels and cosy offices in Accra, Kumasi and other urban centres. If somewhere along the line the concept was abused and prostituted, it was not because the managers were doing the right thing.
It is imperative that before young graduates blossom into mature officers, they should render service without calculating the returns. In that case, they will be in a better position to appreciate the real problems confronting this country. They will know the beauty of this country and its people. When the time comes for them to assume leadership roles, they will know that Accra is only a minute fraction of the land mass called Ghana.
Many of the shortfalls the country is experiencing in the educational and health sectors in particular, especially with regard to posting to the rural areas, could be effectively addressed if the NSS operated true to the philosophy behind it. In that case, no service person will be in Accra or the regional capitals.
If today there are still poverty, disease and squalor in the rural areas; if today most of the rural schools are in dilapidated structures and without trained teachers, it is because most often our leaders behave like those TEIN members who are quick to disengage themselves from the reality on the ground through ignorance or criminal negligence.
It is time the youth wings of all the political parties were made to appreciate the problems of this country. It is time they were made to understand that no part of this country is a wasteland. It is time we considered service in the rural areas as a prerequisite for appointment to national offices.
The people of Barimayena are reaping the fruits of true national service, just as people such as Mr Apedo are proving to those who were heckling Mr Kuagbenu for the simple reason that he did not allow them to stay in Accra or Kumasi for their national service that there is great honour and self-satisfaction in serving the people with devotion and commitment.
Mr Apedo may finish his service and move on to pursue his ambitions elsewhere but the people of Barimayena will not forget his contribution any time the issue of education is brought up. Who knows — many decades to come some ministers and Members of Parliament will come out from that small village, thanks to national service rendered by one person when others saw the place as hell and abandoned the people to their fate.
Changing the fortunes of a people whose situation looks hopeless is what true national service means. This is a challenge to the youth of this country. Of course, the managers of the NSS should also do the right things which will motivate the youth and challenge them to plunge into national service wholeheartedly.
Mr Apedo and all others who are serving the people of this country in the remotest parts, at the expense of their comfort, deserve commendation and encouragement. The state must exhibit appreciation which will send the signal that service to one’s nation will not be in vain.
fokofi@yahoo.couk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
IN a small remote community in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region, a young man has initiated a journey that promises to leave his footprints in the sands of history. Without necessarily making a deliberate and conscious attempt to make history, Mr Wisdom Deku Apedo, who is doing national service at Barimayena in the district, is brightening his small corner and illuminating the way for children who, through no fault of theirs, have found themselves in a part of the country many see as forbidden territory.
Mr Apedo is not destined to suffer the same fate as others whose good deeds only come to light and are acknowledged long after they are gone. The 24-year-old service person has already won commendation from the Ashanti Regional Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS) for the transformation he is bringing to the small community where he is doing national service.
More significant are the kind words the Barimayena Unit Committee Chairman, Mr Stephen Agyapong, and the Chief of Barimayena, Nana Kofi Mensah, have for Mr Apedo for his self-less devotion to the progress of the small community.
Mr Apedo, an HND (Marketing) graduate from the Cape Coast Polytechnic, by some design or fate, found himself posted first to the Ashanti Region for his national. I believe he was excited that being a Marketing graduate, he was going to be assigned to a commercial firm where he would put his marketing skills to practice.
He might have got his first jolt when he was posted to the Atwima Mponua District where his initial expectations fizzled out. He was in a bigger shock when his final destination was Barimayena, which the chief of the place himself described as remote and not attractive to all the trained teachers posted there.
According to the Ashanti Regional Director of the NSS, Mr Kwesi Quainoo, Mr Apedo was tempted to follow others to abandon the people of Barimayena for obvious reasons. Mr Apedo said apart from the remoteness of the place, there was a serious handicap in the form of a language barrier. He is from Battor in the Volta Region and speaks Ewe, while his hosts are Asante Twi-speaking people.
Whatever made him to change his mind, only Mr Apedo will narrate it one day in a more vivid manner, but he told a reporter of the Daily Graphic that he saw his posting as a challenge to build the capacity of the pupils and the people of the community.
The most important thing is that good judgement prevailed and Mr Apedo decided to pitch camp at Barimayena and he is already enjoying doing real national service. He can see his efforts bearing fruits right before his eyes.
Mr Apedo’s story became public when officials of the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the NSS, led by Mr Quainoo, visited the district to acquaint themselves with the challenges facing national service persons posted to some of its remotest parts.
They heard the account of Nana Mensah himself, who said the local school which started with only 25 kindergarten pupils had seen tremendous growth and improvement since Mr Apedo’s arrival in the community. He said the school had now grown to Primary Two, bringing current enrolment to 83.
More startling was the revelation by the chief that through Mr Apedo’s personal initiative, the community had been able to raise GH¢1,700 to build additional classrooms and expressed the hope that very soon the school would expand intake to Primary Six to have the full complement of a primary school.
Mr Apedo’s case is edifying and worthy of mention because over the years the philosophy of the NSS has been diluted, making mockery of the vision of the founders and making it look as if the scheme is a big shade under which people will take rest while thinking of what to do next.
Some people even think that it is an extension of the political apparatus where they could exercise their pastime as party activists, collecting their allowances without rendering service to the people the way Mr Apedo and others are doing.
In the latter part of last year, a group of young men and women belonging to the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN), the students wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), subjected Mr Vincent Kuagbenu, the Executive Secretary of the NSS, to bouts of embarrassing heckling when he tried to address them in Winneba.
Mr Kuagbenu’s crime was that he had not pandered to the wishes of the young graduates by posting them to their preferred places to do national service.
Most of them complained that Mr Kuagbenu had posted them to remote parts of the country, instead of allowing them to enjoy the spoils of victory in the general election by posting them to juicy places.
These were youthful members of the party who are aspiring to become future leaders who thought certain parts of the country are too remote to deserve their skills and talents; people who, in the not-too-distant future, will mount platforms and tell Ghanaians to vote for them because they know their problems, care for them and are even prepared to die for them if only they (Ghanaians) will give them their votes.
What many of those who made those ugly noises that day did not know was that many years ago, between 1982 and 1984, many young men and, to a smaller extent, young women, broke their backs carrying cocoa which was getting rotten on the farms to the ports. Others turned themselves into human cranes to load cocoa onto ships at the Tema Port.
If those young people want to know the real story, the origins of the party called the NDC, they will come to realise why former President Jerry John Rawlings is still the toast of many: He was seen as a symbol of humility, dedication, selflessness and devotion to the national cause.
With such characteristics, he was able to convince students to abandon the lecture halls for the bush, the villages and the remotest parts of the country to do national service.
Those shouting youth should find out why national service became two years instead of one year and why even Sixth Formers joined the scheme. It was to clear the backlog of students who piled up when the universities were closed down for one full academic year.
Those days, the students did not have the luxury to indulge in noise-making but went into the bush to replant burnt cocoa farms. That was how the National Farmers Day started when, after a long and severe drought, the first harvests were made and the government felt there was cause to celebrate and reward the farmers who had brought food production to normalcy.
Some of the students went chasing cocoa smugglers on dangerous grounds. Some lost limbs; some even paid the supreme price in the service of mother Ghana. Some could not make it back to their universities and other institutions.
It was the efforts of those unsung heroes which culminated in the formation of the NDC. If, therefore, any young member of the NDC sees service in certain parts of this country as punishment, then that person, instead of exhibiting that with ugly noises in public, should rather bow his/her head in big shame.
The national service concept was not mooted to give employment to young graduates in the banks, hotels and cosy offices in Accra, Kumasi and other urban centres. If somewhere along the line the concept was abused and prostituted, it was not because the managers were doing the right thing.
It is imperative that before young graduates blossom into mature officers, they should render service without calculating the returns. In that case, they will be in a better position to appreciate the real problems confronting this country. They will know the beauty of this country and its people. When the time comes for them to assume leadership roles, they will know that Accra is only a minute fraction of the land mass called Ghana.
Many of the shortfalls the country is experiencing in the educational and health sectors in particular, especially with regard to posting to the rural areas, could be effectively addressed if the NSS operated true to the philosophy behind it. In that case, no service person will be in Accra or the regional capitals.
If today there are still poverty, disease and squalor in the rural areas; if today most of the rural schools are in dilapidated structures and without trained teachers, it is because most often our leaders behave like those TEIN members who are quick to disengage themselves from the reality on the ground through ignorance or criminal negligence.
It is time the youth wings of all the political parties were made to appreciate the problems of this country. It is time they were made to understand that no part of this country is a wasteland. It is time we considered service in the rural areas as a prerequisite for appointment to national offices.
The people of Barimayena are reaping the fruits of true national service, just as people such as Mr Apedo are proving to those who were heckling Mr Kuagbenu for the simple reason that he did not allow them to stay in Accra or Kumasi for their national service that there is great honour and self-satisfaction in serving the people with devotion and commitment.
Mr Apedo may finish his service and move on to pursue his ambitions elsewhere but the people of Barimayena will not forget his contribution any time the issue of education is brought up. Who knows — many decades to come some ministers and Members of Parliament will come out from that small village, thanks to national service rendered by one person when others saw the place as hell and abandoned the people to their fate.
Changing the fortunes of a people whose situation looks hopeless is what true national service means. This is a challenge to the youth of this country. Of course, the managers of the NSS should also do the right things which will motivate the youth and challenge them to plunge into national service wholeheartedly.
Mr Apedo and all others who are serving the people of this country in the remotest parts, at the expense of their comfort, deserve commendation and encouragement. The state must exhibit appreciation which will send the signal that service to one’s nation will not be in vain.
fokofi@yahoo.couk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
A capital in distress
By Kofi Akordor
FOR well over a week Tema, the country’s industrial and port city, and the eastern part of Accra, the national capital, were without water. Ours is not about the lack of water which God has generously provided in abundance. In other places, people have to dig the bowels of the Sahara Desert for water. In other places, people have to settle for sea water using desalination plants.
In our situation, there should not have been any problem but for our inability to convert raw water which is in abundance into potable water for human consumption. In the latest episode, consumers have been told that the pipe taking raw water from the Volta River to the treatment plant is broken, spilling water freely on the main Accra-Akosombo road. So the wise thing to do was to stop the flow of water until the broken pipe was repaired.
According to officials of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the 63-inch pipeline buried 15 feet underground had not seen any maintenance for the over 50 years of its existence. That is typical of us — always waiting for disaster before setting in motion remedial measures. Otherwise, the big question is, why should our national capital, after 54 years of independence, continue to rely on the sole treatment plant at Kpong for water supply?
Apart from technical failure, such as the one we are experiencing now, reliance on one source of water supply, and for that matter all other services, has other dangers, one of which is sabotage which cannot be ruled out. That was why, over the years, we should have taken steps to build more treatment plants at strategic places and properly inter-connected to avoid situations such as the one residents of Tema and Accra East have been going through for more than a week now.
Unfortunately, this type of thinking never occurred to us. Instead, we preferred signing a management contract with a foreign firm to collect tolls for a system it never built and take hefty sums in consultancy fees, while the main problem of inadequate infrastructure in the water sector remained with us.
As stated earlier, ours is not about lack of resources but more about our inability to harness those resources. In fact, the gift that God has given us in the form of the River Volta and the lake formed after the construction of the Akosombo Dam has been woefully under-utilised.
The water downstream of the Kpong Dam flows wastefully into the sea, while we continue to suffer water shortage, not only in Accra and Tema but also other places that are within the Volta Basin. Strangely, the idea to build a treatment plant at Sogakope to transport water from the Volta River to Togo, which is not fortunate like Ghana in terms of water resources, for cash was mixed up by some people, out of ignorance, who talked as if someone was carrying the Volta River away.
The truth is, downstream Sogakope, until we find a better way of using the water, it is a waste because we do not even do irrigation farming with the waters of the river. So any investment that will enable the country to supply its less fortunate eastern neighbour, not for free, while at the same time addressing the water needs of the coastal towns along the route, will not be misplaced. That plant could also have been connected to the existing distribution system, so that on bad days such as what is happening at Kpong, industrial and commercial activities in Accra and Tema will not come to a halt, let alone bring untold hardship to millions of residents.
It is sad to say that we are behind time when it comes to long-term planning. We seem to be putting all our eggs into one basket. Take the case of the Tema Oil Refinery. This was a facility built in the 1960s by the man whose name some people do not want to hear but whose legacy, whether we admit it or not, continues to keep this country going on all fronts. I am talking about Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the man who, in all things, thought beyond his time.
Even before oil and gas was discovered, the man knew that the best way to assert one’s independence was to be free of external control as much as possible. Today, the irony is that we have oil and gas in abundance but the only refinery cannot refine crude or extract gas because it is old and weak. So, as we have done in the cocoa industry, exporting the raw beans and importing finished cocoa products such as chocolate and beverages, we are exporting crude oil and importing refined petroleum products at great cost. That partly explains why we have been experiencing periodic shortage of gas, a waste material in the oil production chain, on the market.
What prevented us from encouraging the establishment of more refineries which have more advantages than disadvantages, if any. Apart from being avenues for the employment of skilled personnel in the petro-chemical industry, more refineries mean more tax revenue. And, very importantly, we will not be held to ransom by a monopoly.
Until recently, there was only one cement manufacturing factory in the country and the consequences were quite obvious. The monopoly is now broken and the consuming public will agree that they are better off.
Many of the roads in Accra epitomise our short-sightedness. They were not designed and constructed with the future in mind. That is why we speed on the Accra-Tema Motorway, only to be trapped in heavy traffic at a point described as an interchange.
Accra is no where near most capitals in terms of road infrastructure and it will need a massive dose of funds to raise the status of our national capital. That could have been avoided if we had been proactive and planned 50 or even 100 years ahead. This year’s heavy rains have exposed how miserable our city roads are.
In all cases, we wait until the damage is done, and then suddenly we begin to talk reasonably. In the recent Kpong problem, the minister was fast to reach Kpong when the situation was critical and he was heard saying what all rationale thinking people should have known long ago — that it was unwise to rely on one source of water supply.
The situation could have been avoided if there had been more than one treatment plant and there was a system that could feed, say, the Weija Dam water into the Kpong system. Why should this simple fact be lost on us all these years?
Instead of using precious time to think and plan, our leaders prefer using all the time to talk and make wild promises, knowing very well that a greater part of the population cannot remember the last time they heard similar promises.
In his time, Dr Nkrumah thought of what he described as the Golden Triangle. That was the road network linking Accra to Kumasi, Kumasi to Takoradi and Takoradi to Accra, forming a triangle. That was in the 1960s. Today, after 54 years of independence, we cannot drive on an expressway between Accra and Kumasi, our two major cities. That explains why, out of desperation, drivers are compelled to do wrong overtaking which brings with it the danger of accidents.
Apart from the road, water and petroleum sectors, all other areas have similarly been overtaken by population growth and increased demand. The springing up of mushroom tertiary institutions with dubious credentials is the price we are paying for not planning for our children’s education over the years. These institutions may appear to be filling the gap but are actually destroying the human resource of this country. This is a reality that will dawn on us in the next 10 to 20 years when we will have illiterate graduates parading the streets or even the corridors of power with pieces of paper called university degrees.
We may have been sleeping for far too long. Our handicap at Kpong should be a wake-up call for better planning and thinking into the future.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
FOR well over a week Tema, the country’s industrial and port city, and the eastern part of Accra, the national capital, were without water. Ours is not about the lack of water which God has generously provided in abundance. In other places, people have to dig the bowels of the Sahara Desert for water. In other places, people have to settle for sea water using desalination plants.
In our situation, there should not have been any problem but for our inability to convert raw water which is in abundance into potable water for human consumption. In the latest episode, consumers have been told that the pipe taking raw water from the Volta River to the treatment plant is broken, spilling water freely on the main Accra-Akosombo road. So the wise thing to do was to stop the flow of water until the broken pipe was repaired.
According to officials of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the 63-inch pipeline buried 15 feet underground had not seen any maintenance for the over 50 years of its existence. That is typical of us — always waiting for disaster before setting in motion remedial measures. Otherwise, the big question is, why should our national capital, after 54 years of independence, continue to rely on the sole treatment plant at Kpong for water supply?
Apart from technical failure, such as the one we are experiencing now, reliance on one source of water supply, and for that matter all other services, has other dangers, one of which is sabotage which cannot be ruled out. That was why, over the years, we should have taken steps to build more treatment plants at strategic places and properly inter-connected to avoid situations such as the one residents of Tema and Accra East have been going through for more than a week now.
Unfortunately, this type of thinking never occurred to us. Instead, we preferred signing a management contract with a foreign firm to collect tolls for a system it never built and take hefty sums in consultancy fees, while the main problem of inadequate infrastructure in the water sector remained with us.
As stated earlier, ours is not about lack of resources but more about our inability to harness those resources. In fact, the gift that God has given us in the form of the River Volta and the lake formed after the construction of the Akosombo Dam has been woefully under-utilised.
The water downstream of the Kpong Dam flows wastefully into the sea, while we continue to suffer water shortage, not only in Accra and Tema but also other places that are within the Volta Basin. Strangely, the idea to build a treatment plant at Sogakope to transport water from the Volta River to Togo, which is not fortunate like Ghana in terms of water resources, for cash was mixed up by some people, out of ignorance, who talked as if someone was carrying the Volta River away.
The truth is, downstream Sogakope, until we find a better way of using the water, it is a waste because we do not even do irrigation farming with the waters of the river. So any investment that will enable the country to supply its less fortunate eastern neighbour, not for free, while at the same time addressing the water needs of the coastal towns along the route, will not be misplaced. That plant could also have been connected to the existing distribution system, so that on bad days such as what is happening at Kpong, industrial and commercial activities in Accra and Tema will not come to a halt, let alone bring untold hardship to millions of residents.
It is sad to say that we are behind time when it comes to long-term planning. We seem to be putting all our eggs into one basket. Take the case of the Tema Oil Refinery. This was a facility built in the 1960s by the man whose name some people do not want to hear but whose legacy, whether we admit it or not, continues to keep this country going on all fronts. I am talking about Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the man who, in all things, thought beyond his time.
Even before oil and gas was discovered, the man knew that the best way to assert one’s independence was to be free of external control as much as possible. Today, the irony is that we have oil and gas in abundance but the only refinery cannot refine crude or extract gas because it is old and weak. So, as we have done in the cocoa industry, exporting the raw beans and importing finished cocoa products such as chocolate and beverages, we are exporting crude oil and importing refined petroleum products at great cost. That partly explains why we have been experiencing periodic shortage of gas, a waste material in the oil production chain, on the market.
What prevented us from encouraging the establishment of more refineries which have more advantages than disadvantages, if any. Apart from being avenues for the employment of skilled personnel in the petro-chemical industry, more refineries mean more tax revenue. And, very importantly, we will not be held to ransom by a monopoly.
Until recently, there was only one cement manufacturing factory in the country and the consequences were quite obvious. The monopoly is now broken and the consuming public will agree that they are better off.
Many of the roads in Accra epitomise our short-sightedness. They were not designed and constructed with the future in mind. That is why we speed on the Accra-Tema Motorway, only to be trapped in heavy traffic at a point described as an interchange.
Accra is no where near most capitals in terms of road infrastructure and it will need a massive dose of funds to raise the status of our national capital. That could have been avoided if we had been proactive and planned 50 or even 100 years ahead. This year’s heavy rains have exposed how miserable our city roads are.
In all cases, we wait until the damage is done, and then suddenly we begin to talk reasonably. In the recent Kpong problem, the minister was fast to reach Kpong when the situation was critical and he was heard saying what all rationale thinking people should have known long ago — that it was unwise to rely on one source of water supply.
The situation could have been avoided if there had been more than one treatment plant and there was a system that could feed, say, the Weija Dam water into the Kpong system. Why should this simple fact be lost on us all these years?
Instead of using precious time to think and plan, our leaders prefer using all the time to talk and make wild promises, knowing very well that a greater part of the population cannot remember the last time they heard similar promises.
In his time, Dr Nkrumah thought of what he described as the Golden Triangle. That was the road network linking Accra to Kumasi, Kumasi to Takoradi and Takoradi to Accra, forming a triangle. That was in the 1960s. Today, after 54 years of independence, we cannot drive on an expressway between Accra and Kumasi, our two major cities. That explains why, out of desperation, drivers are compelled to do wrong overtaking which brings with it the danger of accidents.
Apart from the road, water and petroleum sectors, all other areas have similarly been overtaken by population growth and increased demand. The springing up of mushroom tertiary institutions with dubious credentials is the price we are paying for not planning for our children’s education over the years. These institutions may appear to be filling the gap but are actually destroying the human resource of this country. This is a reality that will dawn on us in the next 10 to 20 years when we will have illiterate graduates parading the streets or even the corridors of power with pieces of paper called university degrees.
We may have been sleeping for far too long. Our handicap at Kpong should be a wake-up call for better planning and thinking into the future.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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