What next after the familiarisation tours?

It is standard practice for newly-appointed ministers to pay what is described as familiarisation visits to installations, facilities and institutions under their ministerial responsibility. There is everything good about these visits since no minister will go straight and sit behind his/her executive table without having a fair idea about the issues at stake and expect to execute his/her mandate with any appreciable level of success. Some of the visits can be frivolous of course, because the problems therein are obvious and therefore no need for any visit before appreciating what is expected of a minister. However, all said and done, the visits are necessary and it will leave no room for excuses in the event of failures. The latest crop of ministers have not missed this ritual and like previous ministers, gone round the country to have first-hand experience of what are in wait for them. What is of great importance to some of us is that these tours should not end as purely ritual purposes but should be transformed into serious problem-solving exercises. One minister, whose visits caught my attention, is Mr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development. Mr Oppong-Fosu’s visits took him to the national offices of the Births and Deaths Registry. This is an institution that has been housed in some wooden structures for ages. You may call it a forgotten institution and one will not be wrong because by all indications, there is no evidence that our governments care about what goes on in the Births and Deaths Registry. Under normal circumstances, one would expect that if even it is a matter of inadequate resources, the interest of the Births and Deaths Registry would take precedence over many other public institutions, but in Ghana here, no. We are taking care of more important things. The Births and Deaths Registry is a storehouse of national record-keeping whose activities impact on other state agencies. We know that the acquisition of passports, insurance claims and even registration with the National Identification Authority and with the Electoral Commission as a voter have to rely on the records of the Births and Deaths Registry. We are in a country where even though national identity has been clearly defined in the Constitution, we still find it difficult to determine who a Ghanaian is anytime we are conducting a national exercise such as voters registration because we lack vital documents such as birth certificate to back our declarations or applications. Those who have been following American politics will remember that the nationality of President Barack Obama became an issue until a birth certificate issued in a hospital in Hawaii was produced to settle the matter. This is how far the neglect of a national institution such as the Births and Deaths Registry can cause damage to individuals and the whole country. Official attitude towards the institution has made it a case of abandonment. This has made it very easy for other nationals, especially those from neighbouring countries, to come here and in a matter of days, they are in possession of birth certificates as Ghanaians and with that enjoy all the privileges and rights as a national. Apart from the physical structures which are pathetically appalling, the registry lacks modern equipment to capture and maintain a credible database that could even be helpful to the security agencies and other state institutions when the need arises. As a result of the state neglect, the Births and Deaths Registry has become an empire of a sort which the workers, at least some, are exploiting to make extra income on the side. Mr Oppong-Fosu has seen the plight of the Births and Deaths Registry at close range. If in the past, he only heard of it, now he knows that the Births and Deaths Registry needs serious attention to put it at the proper place it belongs, as a very important institution. I believe he will make a resolution that by the time he leaves office, the Births and Deaths Registry will move into modern and well-equipped offices located on the plot at Kinbu-the land, we were told, belongs to the registry. Another department under his care which has been neglected is the Department of Parks and Gardens. Under this department comes the Aburi Botanical Gardens which is a monumental reflection of our lack of appreciation of our national institutions, monuments and historical places of national interest. The Aburi Botanical Gardens, which is a colonial legacy, has every potential to change the economy of Aburi and its environs and by extention, reflect on Accra, if managed well. This is a goldmine left to rot while poverty is stirring us in the face and without any sense of national shame, we are always on the move begging others for support. Accra was once a beautiful city buried under dense canopies of trees lining its streets. These trees provided protection against the scorching tropical sun and served as habitat for birds. Today, Accra is bare, deprived of foliage, thanks to the culture of tree-cutting for whatever reason, only God knows. Mr Oppong-Fosu should make it his target, the revamping of the Department of Parks and Gardens and to restore it to its past glory. Even bigger cities such as New York, Washington DC, Istanbul and many others have pockets of dense forests breaking the monotony of concrete and steel. Accra can do the same if we make conscious effort to plant trees and create more recreational parks which are non-existent in the national capital and other major towns in the country. I do not think I can offer any advice to the Minister of Roads and Highways, who even before his appointment, knows that a journey between Accra and Kumasi, the nation’s two major cities, can be a nightmare. I can only advise that every minister should make it a personal resolve to make history and not just be part of history as a former minister. If each of them could pledge to leave at least one major physical structure as a legacy and not just a pile of speeches, this country will be taking giant strides to glory. We have done enough development with our mouths in the form of plans, pledges, promises and expression of commitments. We have lost count of the number of projects that never went beyond the sod-cutting stage. A lot of them, and they are in the majority, are forgotten as soon as the fanfare of the sod-cutting ceremony ends. The familiarisation visits must begin to yield dividends through the positive changes we shall see in the state of our country after the problems have been seen and appreciated at first hand. Otherwise, they remain unnecessary and vain rituals that bring no benefit to anyone. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Beyond thanksgiving, pilgrimage and others

And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. ((1 Samuel 15:22).(KJV) Ghanaians are generally acknowledged as religious people. It is easy to come to that conclusion judging from the number of churches that have taken almost every space in the country. Apart from Christianity and Islam, the two dominant religions, other religions including Buddhism, Hare Krishna and Baha’i have followers in the country. There are still others who have held onto traditional African religion which was virtually suppressed into extinction by the colonial masters. Christianity itself has many appendages. In the main are the Catholics, the Methodists, the Anglicans and the Presbyterians. They are followed by the penteco-charismatics, some of which operate more or less like family businesses with husband and wife as heads. Even though Ghana is a secular state, every state function is flavoured with Christian, Muslim and traditional prayers. That is how religious we are. Historically, the foreign missionaries did not encounter any serious resistance when they arrived here with their brand of religion. Unlike other parts of the world such as Asia, where people held onto their traditional faiths, Africans were easily convinced and made to believe that all along they did not know anything about God even though they bore names that were significant and gave credit to the existence of God and which acknowledged His blessings. Foreign religions are part of our colonial heritage which we cannot do away with. There is nothing wrong with that so long as our lives are governed by the Word of God as they appear in the Holy Bible. Unfortunately, it appears religion has become more of a fashion than a way of living. The lifestyles of most of our religious leaders do not inspire the followers to do the right thing. Churches are now everywhere with all sorts of funny names – an indication that religion is losing its divinity and assuming more of a commercial character. Religion has taken a bigger dimension with the introduction of national thanksgiving and prayer to coincide with major events. These themselves are not bad. It is not out of place to devote a day as a nation to reach out to God and place our problems before His feet. Our political leaders and others in high places particularly need the presence of God in their undertakings and these national thanksgiving services are essential in so far as they rejuvenate our spirit and make us turn from our evil ways. The question is, will the thanksgiving services and fastings serve any purpose if our leaders return to the office the following Monday and continue with their old ways? The best prayer to God is service to humanity. Service in modesty, humility and honesty. Can we confidently say that about our leaders? Our country is suffering because over the years, our leadership have been lacking in most of these virtues. As a World Bank report has indicated, over a third of revenue generated by most African countries are lost through corruption. Our country cannot be a different case. Moneys diverted into private pockets means shortage of essential drugs and poor facilities in our hospitals; it translates into the importation of fake or expired drugs for our hospitals; it means bad roads and inadequate classrooms; it means uncompleted projects that are all over the country; it means more agitations from workers demanding what they consider to be legitimately theirs. Corruption is a disease that can eat away the soul of a country. We have survived so far as a nation mainly on charity not because we lack the resources but because we have failed to husband our resources and channel them into national development. We may be taking God for granted if we continue to indulge in these periodic thanksgiving services without matching them with good deeds. The Bible is quite clear about this. “Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mathew 7:21). Prayers alone will not carry us far if we do not make conscious effort to live according to the wishes of God. The thanksgiving services will remain mere symbolic gestures if they are not matched with deeds. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Misdirected aggression

Whoever chose last week to make public that members of the last parliament went home with hefty sums as ex gratia made a wrong decision. It was a week which saw many professional groups making demands for the payment of their salary arrears and better market premiums in relation to their migration onto the single spine pay policy (SSPP). Naturally that piece of information did not go down well with some members of the public and who directed their frustrations at the MPs who had no hand in their predicament. The justification, though very slim, was that if the government could raise GH¢47 million to pay the MPs why was it unable to pay the salary arrears of teachers and other professionals for over one year? Most of the worker groups have legitimate cases but in our desperation, we should be careful not to throw punches at the wrong direction. In fairness to the aggrieved professionals, some of whom have already embarked on strike actions while others have threatened to do so, one would expect that their cases were treated with the same urgency as was attached to that of the MPs and other category of public servants that fall under Article 71 office holders. For the MPs and others who fall under Article 71, we cannot blame them because they are receiving what they are entitled to as spelt out in the 1992 Constitution. If now we have come to the realisation that the arrangement under which every four years, some category of public servants have to go home with huge ex gratia and return to the House to wait for the end of another four years to collect again is bad, we just have to revisit those provisions in the Constitution to streamline things for the betterment of the national interest. We have ourselves to blame for some of the things we are experiencing today especially with regard to the emoluments of the Article 71 office holders. First, we should remember that when the Constituent Assembly was drafting the 1992 Constitution, some key professional groups, notably members of the Ghana Bar Association, boycotted its proceedings. Second, having experienced a long and unpleasant spell under military dictatorship, we were too eager to exit from that political arrangement to the extent that we did not pay attention to details. So a lot of loopholes were created which are being exploited by a few people to make money many think they do not deserve. For instance, under Article 71, the President shall determine the salaries, allowances and other facilities and privileges of certain categories of public office holders including MPs, the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of Parliament on the recommendation of a committee of not more five persons appointed by the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State. Article 71 (2) says: “The salaries and allowances payable, and the facilities available, to the President, the Vice-President, the Chairman and the other members of the Council of State; Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers, being expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund, shall be determined by Parliament on the recommendations of the committee referred to in clause (1) of this article. Simply put, the President determines the salaries and other allowances for MPs and others in their category, while MPs also determine that of the President and others in his category. It is simply a matter of “do me well and I will do you even better”. On a continent where public money is easy for the grabs, such a loose mandate will surely be abused and that is exactly what is happening. Instead of making the MPs and others the scapegoats, we should revisit the Constitution on this matter and streamline things for the better. We must also find out whether this nation is deriving the best or the maximum from its resources. There are too many loopholes for some individuals to siphon money from state coffers without any fear of exposure or sanctions. The revelations at the sittings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament have proved that most of the external assistance we have been receiving are not necessary if only we could use locally-generated revenue judiciously for national development. We are gradually being devoured by democracy, an institution we have nurtured with passion, which instead of ensuring our national success has rather opened the floodgates for vampires, marauders and rapists to plunder our national resources for selfish gain. Every corrupt person can conveniently seek refuge under the banner of a political party, whether in government or in opposition. So the incentive to loot is there. The professional groups are on the warpath because they have come to the realisation that the claims by our governments that there is no money to meet certain legitimate obligations are false because they could feel it, even if they could not see it, that huge sums of state money are going the wrong way. So they do not have the patient to wait any longer. We must take a critical look at our politics and find out whether the democracy we were yearning for and which we are touting as a national success is bringing us the returns we want. We must switch off that part of our politics which gives those with state power, the freedom to do anything they like with our collective resources without any fear of paying the appropriate penalties. We must be able to protect what belongs to us all. We must exert our collective energy against those who rape and plunder our national resources. Until we do that, we shall be hitting the wrong targets — call it misdirected aggression — while the real nation wreckers, the vampires and their collaborators continue to have a field day, celebrating our ignorance while strategising to loot the more. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

The noise menace

I was at this eating place, one of those places we call ‘chop bars’. I noticed that my message to the food seller across the counter was not getting through to her, even though I had raised my voice beyond normal levels. The person at the other end was also straining her ears but she could not hear me well. I was becoming desperate to the point of abandoning my mission when I saw the source of our problem. Resting in one corner of the bar was a loudspeaker punctuating the airwaves with a radio programme. It was one of those local frequency modulation (FM) radio stations where news is read as if somebody is running commentary, with all the embellishment one could think of. The volume was very high and communicating even at close range became a problem. One would expect that there would be serenity at a chop bar, so that as one consumes his/her food, he/she could also go over the day’s newspapers or ponder over what lies ahead for the day. It should even be possible for the patron to listen to the news or cool music while eating. But it becomes so irritating that the value of the news is lost, just as the sweetness of the music is drowned in the cacophony of noise. At another time, I joined a bus that would take me home. As soon as the driver took his seat, he pressed a knob and the vehicle started vibrating with noise. I say ‘noise’ because what was supposed to be music coming out of the speakers was so loud and ear-piercing that whatever entertainment was intended for the passengers became punishment. If you think you can run away from the noise in town by heading towards home for solace, think twice, for more noise awaits you in your neighbourhood. That noise will come from either a church next door or a drinking spot across the street. Some of these can operate till the wee hours of the following day and the deeper the night, the louder the noise. Life on the streets is not peaceful either. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes choke the atmosphere with the blaring of their horns. Sometimes one cannot tell whether it is a signal of distress or a driver just playing pranks, using the horn as an instrument. In some countries one could hardly hear the tooting of vehicle horns, since all the players know the rules of the game and play it fair. Here, you are likely to run over a pedestrian or into another vehicle if you ignore the use of your horn. Even, then, why on earth would an articulated truck driver toot his horn in a residential area at dawn when everybody is asleep? The strangest of all things is that there are laws against noise-making but their enforcement has become a problem, from the local authority to the national levels. As a result, individuals, groups and whole communities have been left to their fate to suffer in silence. Out of frustration, people have taken the law into their own hands, with devastating consequences. Should things remain this way? fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

A quarter down the greedy throats

GOOD news hardly come from the continent called Africa, so I do not think it will be a surprise to those following events on the continent at the revelation that 25 per cent of Africa’s annual gross domestic product (GDP), roughly $148 billion is lost through corruption, according to a World Bank survey. Even before this report was made public, the continent is well-known for its corrupt public officials who have turned public office into gold mines where they reap what they have not sown. That partly explains why the race for political office on the continent can be bitter and acrimonious, sometimes resulting in the spilling of precious blood and loss of lives. The latest World Bank report from which Ms Pat Alsup, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Accra quoted at a recent public event, may not have disclosed anything not known already except may be the figures. The revelation in that report that corrupt public officials in developing and transition countries received between $20bn and $40bn in bribes annually, which is equivalent to 20 and 40 per cent of official development assistance only goes to reinforce the perception that most public officers are not in office to serve but to enrich themselves. As rightly indicated by Ms Alsup at the opening of a West African Regional Anti-corruption workshop, the cost of corruption was not only measured just in terms of the billions of dollars squandered or in terms of stolen government resources. “Corruption’s cost is most poignantly measured in the absence of the hospitals, schools, clean water, roads and bridges that might have been built with that money and would have certainly changed the fortunes of families and communities,” Ms Alsup said at the workshop. In Ghana here, disclosures at the sittings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament are indications of how corruption has eaten deep into our public system and has cost the nation not only billions in lost revenue but a lot of abandoned projects that could have transformed the fortunes of this country. Another phenomenon of corruption which only became public concern quite recently is that of judgement debts. These are debts arising out of wrongful termination of contracts because some persons or groups lost out or debts orchestrated through fraudulent means and foisted on the nation. Corruption takes various forms, the well-known is the monies paid into the pockets of the wrong people which consequently puts a drain on the national coffers. Corruption also means the appointment of the wrong people to very sensitive positions who do damage to the national interest. It means lack of basic facilities and equipment in our schools, hospitals and other public institutions. It is manifested in the use of inferior materials in the construction industry, importation of fake and expired drugs for our hospitals. It influences serious national decisions whose ramifications could undermine national interest. At the recently held Ghana Economic Forum, Mr Prince Kofi Amoabeng, the Chief Executive Officer of the UT Group observed that if we could reduce corruption by 30 per cent, it would mark a turning point in the country’s development agenda. All the state institutions that could not survive the competition had collapsed not because of the lack of human resources to man those institutions ,but because of corruption in high places. All our governments have launched verbal attacks on corruption but so far all our top political office holders are angels because none has been caught in the anti-corruption net ,even though their official income do not come near their lifestyles. Under the circumstances, we cannot but say that we have a long way to go in the fight against corruption. Whatever the form, corruption is an evil canker that is destroying African countries and ours is not an exception. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.cocm

The missing link

What we have missed greatly and continue to miss as a nation is that binding glue of nationalism and patriotism which kept us together even in the most difficult of times. During the days of the so-called revolutions led by military dictators, Ghanaians – at least the majority – were unanimous in their abhorrence of dictatorship, abuse of human rights, nepotism, corruption and all the other evils associated with dictatorships. The return to multi-party democracy in 1993 was like sacrificing one thing for another. That oneness of purpose with which the country fought for the return to democracy gave way to extreme partisanship and split the country into a near two equal parts. Today, we cannot stand up as one people and confront poverty, disease and illiteracy, joblessness and the near hopelessness that is creeping into our midst. The cracks started to show right from the word go, when in 1992, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cried foul after the presidential election and withdrew from the parliamentary election. That decision effectively left the legislature, a vital wing in the administrative process, in the hands of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for four good years. Subsequent elections have never been without their hiccups even though we have succeeded in alternating governments formed by the NDC and the NPP, the two main political parties. A lot of accolades have been heaped on this country for the resoluteness and determination the citizens have so far demonstrated to tread the democratic path. Internally, however, it is increasingly becoming clear that fruits of democracy seem to be drifting away with the passing of the years. So polarised is the country on partisan lines that every important issue lacks national consensus and is rather seen through party lenses. Politicisation has become so extreme that there is no objective analysis of issues to see their true merits and demerits. In a winner-takes-all fashion, appointments to public offices are based more on party loyalty and influence than quality. In the process, the country is unable to make use of its abundant human talents – most of which are held in high esteem by foreign countries and international firms – to the detriment of the national good. So while those in government feels it is their time to create and share, those outside government sit passively on the fence watching things as innocent bystanders. Whatever the case, the nation is the loser. This fact was not lost on the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, when in his speech at the 56th Independence Day national parade, he called on all Ghanaians to collectively confront the challenges of the country and contribute meaningfully for its betterment. “Each and every one of us has a responsibility to make meaningful and constructive contributions towards the growth and betterment of this nation. We owe that much to ourselves and our children who will inherit this land. We owe that much to all those who fought for us to have a place to claim as ours and call Ghana,” President Mahama said to emphasise his point. That is a splendid talk and which captures the dilemma of the nation. But President Mahama must take the lead. As the Chief Executive Officer of the land and Chief Appointing Authority, a lot resides in him to prove that this country belongs to all of us and that we all have a stake in its fortunes. The President’s own people may try to derail any goodwill overtures on his part to cast the net wider to rope in human talents farther afield. But it is for him to remain committed to his conscience and what he thinks to be in the best interest of the country. It is for him to ensure that not only appointments to high offices go to the best available materials but also job and business opportunities are distributed fairly with the best always coming first. That is the first step towards an all-inclusive government and the biggest assurance that this country belongs to all and we must all fight for its survival. As individuals and groups, we can never think alike. That would be abnormal. But we can have a common objective – that is to succeed as individuals and as a nation. The acrimony must give way to harmony and this country must be able to harness all its talents and resources for the ultimate twin goals of unity and development. This is our nation. Let’s suffer the pains together and share the fruits equally. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com

The tragedy of our times

A NOISY self-proclaimed evangelist armed himself with all sorts of offensive weapons, stormed a radio station and in a savage mood, vandalised the place. His beef was that the station was holding a discussion in which his name was mentioned in a negative manner. The case went to court and everybody expected a speedy trial to make a strong case that this is not a lawless country where the laws of the jungle prevails. Unfortunately, we have been told that speed is not one of the characteristics of the wheel of justice; which according to the legal brains, grinds slowly. In this case, the wheel was not only grinding slowly, but virtually came to a halt until we started hearing murmurs that there were skirmishes of an out-of-court settlement. The final decision, we are yet to know. About two years or so ago, a prominent school proprietor was caught in the web of defilement when he got a 16-year-old pupil of one of his schools pregnant. The case attracted public attention for obvious reasons. First, a proprietor of a school should be the last person to subvert the future of any of his pupils and second, the man, had a few years before the incident, caught the attention of the president of the republic and had been decorated with a grand medal, apparently, for exceptional public service. We were all put to shame when the charge of forced marriage was dropped and the accused, the victim’s mother and grandmother were discharged. A clear message was sent. A crime is only a crime, when you cannot bargain your way out. The tone has been set and the path has been clearly demarcated, so it went on. A female musician who likes performing semi-nude had the audacity to violently confront a policeman who was doing his official duty and even held his shirt, tearing it in the process. Then, the usual chorus started flowing from the lips of the so-called influential persons of society. The offence or crime was overshadowed by the personality so the court started pandering to whims and caprices of the accused and the law became the victim. In one of such theatrical displays typical of our national tragedy, a court discharged a comedian who had turned himself into a consular officer of the United States of America Embassy in Ghana and took large sums of money from would-be travellers to secure visas for them. We know there is something called the alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which recognises settlement by consensus between feuding parties. But the blatant manner in which the court handled a purely criminal case in ADR fashion makes mockery of the law. As if the state had not suffered enough, the judge, in a jocular manner told the accused to go and make a movie about how he duped people but succeeded in walking out of a courtroom a free person. In a case which is a subject of a police investigation, a woman has been charged for illegal trafficking of Ghanaians, mostly women, to the Gulf States who end up doing menial jobs and forced prostitution. Even before the suspect could be sent to court, she is all over the place hopping from one radio station to the other and pouring invectives on journalists who only did their work by reporting the arrest from police sources. This is where we have come to, where people suspected of crimes could go outside the judicial system and with impunity and challenge the law enforcement agencies for daring to arrest and prosecute them. They go further to challenge the media for doing their work of informing the public of what is happening or taking place around them. This time, it is not our laws that have been made mockery of and turned into paper tigers, but the institutional indiscipline that has engulfed the country. The best place to see this in full evidence is on the roads. There are more unlicensed motor-bikes on the roads than the registered ones and these are not in any remote village outside the glare of the police but in Accra, the national capital. The carnage on the roads continue unabated and instead of taking drastic and decisive action, we prefer to pontificate and sermonise. We have become used to the lawlessness in the construction, especially the building sector and the filth that has engulfed our towns and cities is a product of lawlessness and indiscipline. Noise from churches and entertainment spots have polluted the atmosphere in residential areas, but who cares? After all, we are Ghanaians who care very little for the law. We always credit ourselves to be peaceful and law-abiding. Maybe, it is taking us too long to realise that we are getting very close to the outskirts of the jungle and unless our state institutions backup to and inject sanity into the system and unless we give the law the freedom to operate, we shall wake up one day to realise we are deep in the jungle. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordorblogspot.com