I love it “naked”!

I must confess, the first time I tasted it “naked” was in 1995 at Sakyikrom, a village near Nsawam at the 3rd All African Scout Jamboree. I have since fallen in love with the salt-less taste of the” Fante kenkey”.

As leader of the “Elephant Troop” at the Jamboree, I was expected to show leadership in making the best out of what was available at the 10 days camp in the tickets of the Nsawam forests and as a first timer in the area too, I had initial difficulties with eating some of the local food. I however found it an opportunity to learn the best from other communities I have never visited outside the sandy beaches of Keta, my hometown.

I threw myself to the challenge and encouraged my troop members to do same as many of us were new to this kind of salt-less kenkey boiled in plantain leaves, called the “fante kenkey”.

Many years on, I have come to love this kind of kenkey as a better alternative to others owing to the nutritional value contained in the plantain leaves that gives the kenkey it’s the dark brown colour and acts as a good preservative.

This distinct colour and taste of the fante kenkey has however changed and worse of all, becoming dangerous and cancerous to consumers lately.

Almost everywhere on the streets, kiosks, shops, supermarkets and along the main Tarkoradi-Accra Highway where it is produced in abundance, a strange and recent development that confronts any consumer of the product is the unholy sight of polythene bag wrapped around and boiled with the kenkey before it is sold out.
In as much as some might find this new packaging trend a “sexy” innovation, I think the inherent danger it poses to unsuspecting patrons of the fante kenkey consumed as “mashed-kenkey” or for regular breakfast , lunch or supper cannot be over emphasized.
I am informed that the contact of polythene to anything edible under high temperatures and worse still, at boiling point renders the food substance toxic and dangerous for human consumption. We are encouraged to avoid as much as possible taking hot porridge, tea, hot beverages and anything edible from polythene bags and wrappers as the contact to polythene poisons the food.

I am sure many of the cooks and sellers of the fante-kenkey are ignorant to the dangers they are imposing on us as consumers.

A few weeks ago, I had to dispose of some balls of fante kenkey I bought off the Cape Coast-Kasoa road because the polythene bag wrapped around the kenkey would not just peel off. I got so alarmed about the millions of toxins I might have already consumed from earlier meals and was just about to consume that I opted going to bed famished than to eat something that is obviously poisonous.

On a daily basis, quantities fante-kenkey are sold to the public, we are then forced to consume what is available to the public and unconsciously draw ourselves closer and closer to the life-threatening scalpel of the surgeon.

I recall the ordeal of one young man who bought a ball of fante-kenkey sometime ago, and shockingly discovered a pair of scarlet female thongs in the kenkey. He was so traumatized that he vowed never to eat his favourite fante kenkey in his life time.
The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) have been doing well in ensuring that unwholesome food and drug products are taken off the shelves and the public encouraged not to consume these food and drug products. I wish to see the Food and Drugs Board take the fight to fante-kenkey sellers to outlaw the use of rubber polythene in the preparation, wrapping and packaging of the fante-kenkey immediately.

To be able to effectively outlaw this dangerous practice of boiling our favourite fante kenkey with polythene bags, these traders and sellers of the product must be educated on the dangers their actions pose to society and on our health so that they can understand the need to stop the practice. I presume that once they come to the understanding that the wholesomeness of the food is adulterated with the introduction of poisonous chemicals from these polythene bags, they will adopt safer measures in engaging in their business while maintaining the quality of the kenkey.

The Food and Drugs Board (FDB), in order to deal decisively with this matter, must work through the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and Community Health Nurses , not forgetting the Community Nursing module of the National Youth Employment Programme to bring a radical change and settle this matter permanently without any backlash from the traders and the communities to the central government.

I really love my fante kenkey “naked”, and I guess you do too.

OPEN LETTER TO THE VICE PRESIDENT- "LETS CALL IT THE “FJ I” PRESIDENTIAL JET"

Your Excellency,

Let me foremost congratulate you, your office and the Presidency for the dignity, integrity, honour and respect that Ghana has earned among her contemporaries on the African Continent under the able leadership of His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills and your good self since taking the reins of government twenty (20) months ago.

Indeed the progress and international goodwill that Ghana has chalked up under your management cannot be over emphasized for many citizens, both home and away, can boldly rise to be counted as citizens of this great nation.

Your Excellency, I have been brainstorming on the appropriate name that the Falcon EX 900 new jet should be christened soon after you commissioned it on October 7, 2010. I congratulate His Excellency the President for doing the right thing once again, by going ahead to procure the Falcon EX 900 for Executive travels to replace the thirty-seven (37) year old “Fokker 28” aka the “Flying Coffin”.

I guess that name scares you even more than it does to us as we are constantly reminded of the grave danger the continuous flying of this jet poses to the Presidency and the good people of Ghana.

Your Excellency, I have been day dreaming about a befitting name to be given this new jet . A name that would tell a tale of this aircraft; a name that will totally obliterate the chills that of the “flying coffin” send down our spines each time it taxies and subsequently airborne with His Excellency the President and other government officials aboard.

Your Excellency, let me share with you the ideas that came to me in my deep thoughts over the best names possible for the Falcon EX 900 Executive jet and why these suggestions:

i. THE “FJ 1”:

“Freedom and Justice” (FJ) is the motto of this great nation Ghana adopted the night Dr. Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana an Independent state on March 6, 1957. The words contained in this motto embody the democratic spirit of Ghana and I propose that these words must be etched on the Falcon EX 900 to open a new chapter to the return to the virtues in our motto as a nation. “Freedom and Justice”, our motto, will thus be flown with the Presidency into the air spaces of the world and on the tarmac of every jurisdiction where it touches down. This jet will be a great ambassador of Ghana’s gold, our wealth, our oil, our culture, our democracy and our future in Africa and to the nations of the world.

ii. THE “FJ 6-6-3”

“Freedom and Justice” our motto and our pride is duly captured in this name as well. Additionally, the first “6” represent the “Big Six” who were arrested and incarcerated as part of nationalist activities leading to Ghana’s fight against Indirect Rule in the colonial era.
The second “6” tells the tale of the Day Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana an Independent state at the Polo grounds in Accra.

The “3’ represents “March” the month of our Independence celebrations.
Therefore the name “FJ 663” tells the complete story of Ghana’s Independence History.

iii. The “FJ L”:

Your Excellency, again the relevance of the spirit and letter of our motto, “Freedom and Justice” cannot be over-emphasized.

The “L” is obviously the Roman numeral for the Figure “50”. Fifty is the Golden Jubilee year of Ghana and it is significant to be embossed on the Falcon EX900 Executive jet for no other reason than the fact that the Jet was procured when we attained fifty (50) years of our independence.

This jet is expected to fly the Presidency for the next thirty-five (35) years, thus it stands to reason that Ghana would be making her next move to buy another Executive jet when we are eighty-five (85) years old as a nation.

At that point, all we would need to do with the new Jet in thirty-five (35) years is simply to replace the “L” (50) with “LXXXV” or the Figure “85” to signify the birthday of Ghana within which that new jet is going to be bought.

This system, Your Excellency, will enable the Executive Jet tell her own story of its acquisition and use by the state and to emphasis the number of years and decades that Ghana had been a democratic state and an Independent one at that.

Your Excellency, the consideration of any of the above suggested names for the christening of our newly acquired Falcon EX900 Executive jet is to put to a permanent rest the debate about what name and what colours, (be it partisan, tribal, or religious), Ghana’s Executive Jet should fly from now till the end of time.

The presence of our motto ‘Freedom and Justice” etched on our Presidential Jet, will afford Ghana a golden opportunity to reignite the spirit of patriotism and nationalism among our citizens all over the world, as they will find a place in their hearts to continually promote the Freedoms that our forefathers fought for and the social Justice that we seek to promote as a nation.

Our democracy will be role model to many nations of Africa and the world will look up to us to chart that shining path to democratize many of Africa’s despotic regimes as ambassadors of the rule of law, good governance and the respect for Human Rights.

Your Excellency, these are but my humble thoughts on an appropriate name that the New Presidential Jet should fly.

I am convinced that my thoughts will be given some considerations anytime Your Excellency makes a decision to christen the Falcon EX 900 Executive Jet to reflect the spirit, the soul and the aspirations of the good people of Ghana.

God Bless our Homeland Ghana and Long Live His Excellency the President!

Faithfully yours,
Elolo.

VOODOOISM AND CHRISTIANITY; THE DISAPPEARING FAULT LINES...

Who are these so called “Prophets”, “Apostles” and Miracle Workers of God and who trained them?

This is the mind boggling puzzle that battles my spirit each time I watch or listen to these preachers on TV and on radio advertise their prowess as if they acquired them from unknown lands and can use them to manipulate the spirit of God. No wonder many church-goers (not Christians) are terribly frustrated as their cravings for the 24 hour-lifeline-miracle sponsored by these mountebank preachers never happen anyway.

Recently, I heard one prophet announce on radio that his area of specialization was in the use of a special “rod” cum the scriptures and that whoever visits his church will feel the true healing power of God and will never walk out the same. He went a step ahead to liken his rod to the “rod of Moses” as a surety to place value on wherever that rod came from.

Another tells us that his oil is called “back-to-sender-oil” and that whoever buys this oil will be free from witchcraft, “kooko”, spiritual marriages and all manner of allergies. It reminds me of an Ejisu-based herbalist I encountered a few months back on board a VIP Bus en route Kumasi. The man had the effrontery to watch me in the eyes and said that a birthmark under my eyelids was the early stages of piles (kooko) and that I should buy his concoction for GHc 5.00, store it in a bottle of gin and takes it 3 times daily. I smiled and questioned his basis for his conclusions?

Lately, many of us are falling prey to power-thirsty preachers, prophets, prophetesses and spiritualists who pump fear and panic into their unsuspecting victims with some extracted biblical verses to back their ignorance and selfishness. What will soon follow is the direction to his church or to a private meeting.
It is at this point that the real deal is unraveled. Either one will have to bath naked by some stinking lagoon , or buy the “back-to-sender oil “ or fasted forty (40) days and forty (40) nights to seek solutions to one’s problem.

The stock of the vulnerable ones are mostly women, especially on marital issues and these charlatans masquerading as servants of God, will stop at nothing in taking advantage of them. They are exploited emotionally, physically and sexually. Some even hypnotize their victims so as to keep them under their spell especially if it turns out that that very man or woman is wealthy.

Cars, shops, clothes etc are now objects that are being prayed over , exorcised and anointed by these so-called prophets.

The King James Bible warns us in Joel 1:11-21 “And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. 14. And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. 15. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: 16. Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17. The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, 18. The likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 20. But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. 21. Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

The question then arises that if “Holy water”, “Back-to-sender oil” perfumes, incense, rods, sticks, crucifixes are the totems that Christians should possess, purchase and trust in before God listens to their prayers, what difference then exists between the voodooist that consults his idols as his medium to reaching the Supreme God and the Christian who pays money in exchange of water, oil, perfumes crucifixes and body massages and even sexual intercourse as means of reaching God?

The crooks and charlatans in Christendom must be exposed for the harm they are causing to many Church-goers and Christians in search of solutions to their worries. We are thus constantly on the urge as we are scared of the next prophesy or revelation or vision that the man of God might be receiving from God which mostly includes accidents, accidental deaths, broken marriages and witchcraft attacks.

Church is now even getting scarier than the voodoo shrine as the word of God that is supposed to be a soothing balm to our bruised souls is now a weapon for fueling heart attacks, hypertensions and High Blood Pressure due to such quack revelations and revelations from these so-called prophets, pastors and Bishops.

God might deny us our ill-motive and ill-inspired prayers while we keep jumping from one prayer camp to the other, from one pastor to the other, from one prophet to the other messing ourselves and cutting short our blessings , happiness and our very existence lives in the name of spiritual exercises.

It is completely unbiblical for any Christian to transfer his or her belief and trust from the Great God Elohim unto objects like oil, water, sticks, rods and crucifixes for the performance of miracles and the answer to prayers.

The Christian Council, instead of getting too much involved in political, economic and pseudo-political debates should be more focused on the issues that are destroying the church, morality and society.

The disappearing fault lines between paganism, voodoo worship, astrology and Christianity is getting rather disturbing and many supposed Christians are losing their faith and belief to these ersatz entrepreneurs called servants of God.

God save our homeland Ghana.

IMPROVING SAFETY ON THE VOLTA LAKE

A major source of livelihood for many inhabitants, from time immemorial, within its catchment area had been the Volta Lake, the biggest man-made lake in West Africa. The lake, which plays host to the Akosombo hydro electrical dam, in the Eastern Region, equally provides the most important and reliable source of power supply to the nation and some neighbours as well. The construction of the dam, in the early days of the Nkrumah administration, has affected the lifestyle of many communities, some extinct, through the devastation the trapped waters of the dam left in its wake on homes and farmlands. Of course every project comes with its social cost and its social benefits as well.

Lately, portions of the Volta Lake has been in the news, not for its tourist potentials, electric generation capacity or its buoyant fishing industry but rather for the numerous boat accidents that claim the lives of many productive lives leaving many families wrecked and broken. Women and children bear the brunt of the devastation.

The problems associated with water transport on the Volta Lake, I believe has been belaboured in many documentaries, newspaper publications and academic materials but the outstanding question till this moment is, what has been done over the years to reduce the tragic effects that each accident bring to many hearts in the country? A common phrase that runs the mouth of many politicians over and over at any public gathering or press conference is the unending liturgy of “this government is committed to improving one situation or the other” while this so-called commitment has never been demonstrated over the years.

The recent disaster on the Lake that claimed over twenty (20) lives should not be treated as just another accident but rather a call on the new government to demonstrate her commitment to the many inhabitants along the banks of the lake including school children and their teachers; who use canoes to crisscross the lake in pursuit of basic education, doctors, traders, fishermen, travellers and all other who also use the various landing sites dotted along the banks of the lake.
It is sickening that just after lavishly celebrating fifty (50) years of Independence on an unprecedented million-dollar budget, Ghana should still go a begging for funds for the provision of basic needs that ensures the daily safety and survival of the minority in society.

Hope might be in sight in coming months especially in dealing with the annual accidents on the Volta Lake.

Foremost, the Ministry of Transport and a Dutch logging company specialized in underwater logging have collaborated to initiate an “Under water Logging” project on the lake. This concept is very new in this country. The idea being uprooting and removing all tree stumps, roots and logs that have been trapped on the basin of the river for export. Maybe our government and private individuals could device good use of these underground logs after they have been harvested, for the local industry. If it is possible, the Electricity Company of Ghana could find good use of these logs for transmission poles instead of over depending on our dwindling forests resources for the erection of transmission poles.

A direct benefit of underwater logging to the people who use the lake for various purposes, is the relief from the threats these tree stumps, fallen logs and twisted roots pose to the nets of fishermen, propellers of pontoons and outboard motors and those who use the river especially at night. The basin of the lake would be cleared of any foreign material that is likely to obstruct passenger boats and ferries thus causing tragic accidents on the lake.

Government via the Ministry of Transport has assured the citizens that they are in league with the Ghana Navy to form a Patrol Task Force on the Lake. This task force, I believe, will be engaged in rescue operations among other duties as and when the need arise. The challenge I envisage however, is an injection of capital expenditure in the procurement of expensive an non available logistical supplies for the Naval Task Force as they will seek to perform this new duty which is at variance with their traditional role. It is important for the Navy to set up a camp at a vantage point on lake that could connect the various landing sites. This camp should be provided with communication gadgets that would make them easily accessible to respond to emergency situations.

Additionally, the Ministry must focus some attention in this area of transportation just as they have done over the years in the roads, rail and aviation sectors. Now that the Minister of Transport has hinted that they have formed a task force to ensure safety and security on the lake, it is most important for the task force to begin serious sensitization, education and public relations exercise to educate users of the lake on safety measures, best practices and modern ways of avoiding accidents, rescue operations, first aid treatment and any other relevant practise that is needed to ensure safety and security of the users of the services and potentials the Lake offers.

As prelude to many other initiatives to be taken by the central government, Zoil Ghana Limited has gone out of their way to provide life jackets and lifebuoys to the Ministry of Transport and the Canoe owners Association on the lake for the use of passengers. To this exploit, I congratulate, Mr. Oscar Provincal and his team for the far sight in providing immediate solutions to the problems bedevilling water transport on the Lake.

It has been revealed that only one (1) out of four (4) pontoons on the lake is functioning. The Vice President, John Mahama , promised the delivery of a new engine for on of the pontoons by December this year to get it back to bay. This will be very critical to ease pressure on the only surviving pontoon and the risk of it breaking down under pressure. Getting all four (4) pontoons back to work, consequently, will help improve the solutions to the problems on the lake and also ease cost to many users as many more goods and services will be rendered in less time on the lake.

The extent of indiscipline among operators of boats and canoes on the lake should be addressed immediately. We have seen footages of evidence of overloading, over speeding, among other indiscipline acts on the lake, but nobody seem to care about dealing with the situation until another disaster strikes. How come the police stationed in these areas are indifferent to the situation? It is a case of the perpetrators of these indiscipline acts compromise the law enforcement authority thereby rendering impotent in dealing with the situation? In any case, how come the police would not attach the same level of commitment and seriousness that the Motor, Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service attach to road users? It is about time wrong doers, whose pursuit of their selfish interest plunge passengers into accidents, are dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land. Such cases must be dealt with as clear instances of murder and not mere boat accidents.

To this end, the Ministry of Transport and the Ghana Police Service must set aside days on their annual calendar to go round the major landing sites in the country to do serious public sensitization, education and engagements just as what pertains with the National Road safety Commission. Government could equally establish a commission for water transport to give them the needed mandate to deal with issues pertaining to water transport safety and security in totality.

As a society with strong traditional beliefs, it is important that we do not forget customs and traditional practices that are associated with these rivers and lakes as custom demands in settling the cultural twist to these accidents. Of course the Chief of the one of the towns badly hit by the accident lamented bitterly about the wanton disregard for the traditional practices associated with the Lake. According to him, customs does not allow the use of some portions of the lake for human activities on some days and coincidentally the day in question was the same day the accident occurred. He advised a return to the performance of those practices to pacify the gods of the lake to ensure safety. These cultural and religious underpinnings cannot be ignored.

One area of attention is the need for authorization and inspection and insurance cover before boats, ferries and pontoons are allowed to commence business on the lake. The National Insurance Authority should consider this as an important element in ensuring security on the rivers, lakes and other water bodies in the country, if this is not already in place. If boat owners and transport operators are made to pay insurance premiums annually, they will be more conscious of what they do with their boats and the cost to their passengers.

We need to join the crusade to ensure safety and security on our rivers, lakes and lagoons for these traditional sources of transport are still relevant today in many other countries as it provides cheaper and faster means of cutting goods and people from on island community to the other.

TRADING THE GOSPEL FOR COWRIES; THE CHANGING FACE OF CHRISTENDOM

The place of the church is to preach the message of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, win souls for the Kingdom of God, baptise them in the name of Jesus, and promote the Gospel of Christ and to impact positively on society through the principles and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The church in contemporary times have obviously moved beyond these virtues and are now busying itself in a fierce but silent inter-denominational competitive battle for laurels and materialism, first among leadership and then with corporate entities for limited and innovative advertisement space in the country.

Not too long, the airwaves was polluted by the abusive, unprintable and satanic exchanges between two Kumasi-based preachers, Rev. Dr. Prophet Ebenezer Darkwa-Yiadom (who now calls himself “Prophet1 Senior”) and one Bishop Daniel Obinim. So repulsive were their exchanges and threats that the Police had to step in to broker a truce between these two servants of God amidst threats of murder, occultism and allegations of kidnapping.

These and other acts of indiscipline, lawlessness and paganism have given the church a bad name in recent times. I vividly recall the His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills’ admonishment to the Clergy when he opened the 69th Synod of the Global Presbyterian Church. He advised the clergy to be trail blazers and lead lives that speaks well of their faith. In fact, His Excellency the President expressed his regret about the lifestyles of some leaders of the Christian community in Ghana which did not give credit to the Christian faith.

Not too long after this event, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Frimpong Manso stated at the 10th General Assembly of the Church that “I wish to restate that we move away from our overdependence on offerings and tithes in the light of current fatigue in giving the poverty of most of our members”.

The waste in church expenditure is lately evident in the fierce advertisement, promotions and live presenter mentions on TV, radio, posters and on giant digital signage and bill boards of activities of orthodox, pentecostal and charismatic churches irrespective of size, location or membership.

This new advertisement drive that has taken the better side of the ministry of the gospel has seen the walls of many of our public buildings, electricity and telephone poles, schools, pavements, cars, among other sites splashed with posters of all colours, sizes and shapes announcing one crusade, healing encounter, motivational lecture, seminar, pastoral conferences and conventions and the cycle repeats itself year after year, while the increasing cost is borne by members of the church especially those who are richer and more popular including our politicians.
We are thus under intense pressure to pay more in church to outdo the church next door in terms of popularity and advertisement which i deem very occultic.

Aside the very high quality and expensive nature of these posters, billboards, and banners displayed at various locations all over the city, the cost of the production of such advertisement materials are borne by no other but the members of the congregation. Members are tasked to provide the resources via tithes, offerings and other “sacrificial offerings” and lately “corporate tithes” for the production of these expensive advertisement materials among other capital intensive engagements of the church. To me, the church is gradually ceding their responsibilities of helping shape our moral and prepare our soul for the coming of Christ to uppish social activities. I won’t be surprised if some churches soon begin organising beach events and pool parties all in the name of socialization.

I am yet to pay detailed attention, let alone concentrate to read the contents of many of these posters that are mostly posted at places obviously illegal; ie; on walls, tress, electricity poles, on transformers, Telephone exchange boxes, AMA rubbish containers, and areas clearly designated with the “post no bill” sign. This is the level of indiscipline that some of these churches are promoting in our society.
Equally disgusting is the current trend of our men of the cloth, shedding their collars for military uniforms to speak at conventions and programmes to depict a posture against the devil. Some even carry these pictures onto their posters that look very awkward.

I support the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA)’s resolution to close down all illegal churches and mosques to help curb the noise they generate even in the still of the night.

Our Churches must be the first to respect our laws so that they would live their mission of influencing our society, our nation and work places by the word of God. And it is disappointing how out city authorities have sat down to allow our cities and highways to be littered by huge billboards, posters, advertisement announcements , by religious bodies, event planners, individuals and corporate organisations.

Again, the foremost culprits of noise making in public beside beer bars and pubs are Churches and Mosques with their excessive noise making even when residents are fast asleep after a very hectic day. I am looking forward to seeing Dr, Alfred Vanderpuije deliver on his promise that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) will close down all illegal churches and mosques springing up in every corner in the capital. Residents have the right to peaceful sleep and I am not sure that any church or mosque must be encouraged to deprive anyone of their sleep same way no resident should have the right to disturb any church legally located in an area.

It is even more annoying that lately, there are speakers mounted at vantage points in the capital where self-styled preachers scream their invectives into our ears with collection bowls placed tightly in front of them urging passer-byes to drop in their tithes, offerings and sacrifices. I wonder if the purpose for which the man erected those speakers was to preach or collect money from people.

I am convinced that the days when Evangelist roamed from village to village on foot and on bicycles mostly at dawn speaking to your very soul about the gospel of Christ and how he is ready to forgive us our sins if we believed in him and how we can find solace in a Bible believing Church in our neighbourhoods and develop our Christian lives are completely over! Those days are now replaced with fierce TV and Radio advertisement, paid up broadcast, text messaging, and digital banner and Radio Jingle advertisements all in the name of preaching the gospel of Christ.

In spite of the proliferation of churches in the capital, crimes and social vices seem to be on the increase and I shudder to ask why. Either many people are just tired of these preachers and their penchant for money or they have no reason to turn to Christ for salvation knowing too well that the message of salvation has been replaced by that of prosperity, riches and miracle.

In some churches, salvation and deliverance has now been tied to your ability to pay the preacher to say special prayers or prophesy or speak mysteries into your life which is gradually turning these churches into cults. The privileged will always be in the good books of the pastors as they are the ones who pay the more during pledges and contributions while the poor widow who needs the gospel to comfort her never gets noticed let alone the young man who has only pair sandals to enter the house of God to worship.

We have created a society within Christendom that is making the gospel of God look like some kind of joke as many people have lost touch with what they actually want in church and what the church offers them lately.

The world needs the gospel of Christ as I believe Jesus is coming soon to judge this world and our churches must rise to the occasion, feed our souls and turn away from such acts of idolatry.

The church should not be seen as a business entity in a fierce battle for recognition, competition and in search to make demagogues out of their leaders.
It is just a place where the poor, the meek, the rich, the humble and even repentant criminals can find solace and turn to God their maker.

For how long should the church trade the gospel of Christ for cowries?

THE SCRAMBLE FOR SPACE IN A MILLENNIUM CITY OF ACCRA.

I have been quite impressed by the performance of Dr. Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, the Mayor of the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA), since his appointment by His Excellency President John Mills. It is obvious that the successes of the AMA cannot be divorced from the progress this country has chalked up within the last nineteen months under the leadership of His Excellency the President.

The truce between the AMA and outraged traders in the Kimbu area for the relocation of the latter to the Pedestrian shopping Mall is worth noting owing to the disagreements that greeted the exercise.

A few months on, it appears the concerns of these traders have been met albeit the serious sanitation challenges in and around the Pedestrian Shopping Mall at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. A lot more has to be done to improve on the situation in the market so patrons can ply their trade under a better hygienic condition.

Another phenomenon that should engage the AMA, besides the search for new burial grounds for departed souls, is the daily reduction of parking space in the capital; a major contributor to the traffic situation on many streets and lanes.

The cosmopolitan nature of the capital Accra, has witnessed the construction of many high rising buildings for residential and commercial purposes without accompanying provisions for parking spaces in and around these property.

The real estate industry as of today has become more sophisticated. Apartment buildings for residential and commercial purposes are being encouraged as a first step to land optimization and space maximization.

This suggests that the population density per metre square on a plot of land has seen some increase and is still expected to rise. Hotels, flats, churches, mosques, banks, office complexes by individuals, entertainment centres, among others are increasing in the capital while the space upon which these property are erected have grown smaller and smaller exponentially.

It is sad that many developers put structures on every available space as high as ten to twelve storeys while very little consideration is made for parking by the staff, residents, patrons and visitors to these establishments. The chaos emanating from this negligence, lack of supervision and corruption is that many streets, lanes and roads are being used as parking spaces owing to the lack of space in and around these buildings.

Bus stops are being used by taxi drivers as parking lots and taxi ranks. The chaotic situation of hawking on our streets has added to the dangers on these busy roads and the daily hustle and bustle of huge traffic jams on our “shrinking” roads.
Along the Kwame Nkrumah Circle-Achimota Highway, bicycle vendors, garages, vulganizers, and motorbike vendors have virtually taken over the bus stops with their wares parked right on the streets. I am yet to understand how and why the AMA has neither noticed these people nor taken any serious action to clear them off the roads in another decongestion exercise.

The public cannot be denied the use of these public facilities under no circumstances. I wish to see the AMA take appropriate measures to decongest our streets, roads and highways with the same passion and motivation they have used in flushing out hawkers and illegal structures that have been built along water ways and ramser sites.

I am sure there are regulations that clearly spell out guidelines for the erection of property in our cities for both residential and commercial use. It is rather amazing that property owners will defy these rules and go ahead to build their property without recourse to these regulations. Many vehicles are forced to park on our streets due to the lack of car parks.

The Disability Act stipulates that buildings should be “disability-friendly”. I am yet to be educated on the monitoring or supervisory agency tasked by the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to ensure that the law was obeyed and the act implemented to favour that constituency of persons with disabilities. On this score, I wish to see the National Disability Council collaborate with the various MMDAs to enforce these regulations. New buildings are springing up daily and it is obvious that many of these contractors are not in tune with the dictates of this law. The construction companies must also be educated on the law and what is required of them to do to ensure its full implementation.

Our roads, streets and lanes are shrinking by the day due partly to the limited spaces available and the reckless abandon with which many real estate companies and property owners are erecting structures.

The AMA must wake up to this problem or else we might , in the next two decades, be overwhelmed by the terrible traffic jams if the combined threats of hawking, unavailable parking spaces, corruption and indiscipline are not dealt with to make more space available for road users in the country.

In a better Ghana, I wish to see a reduction in the time I spend each day commuting between my work place and my home.

In a better Ghana, I wish to see the sanitation situation, in the Pedestrian shopping Mall and many other markets dotted around the capital cities, improve.
In a better Ghana, I wish to see many Ghanaians express satisfaction in our collective effort to improve our living conditions and quality of life.

This is Accra; Live in-Love it!

GHANA’S FALLING STARS…

Ghana’s entertainment industry has witnessed some rejuvenation in recent times albeit the attendant excesses. Indeed, the verve introduced by some good film and music video directors within the last 4 years cannot be over emphasized. Ghana’s film and music industry today is rubbing shoulders with their counterparts in sister nations and even beating them up to it.

A recent African Movie Award ceremony held in Nigeria, saw many young and budding Ghanaian movie stars, directors and musicians winning awards. This is testimony to the reforms and changes that the industry has witnessed thus far. Besides the soccer teams of Ghana, I am of the view that the entertainment industry is another strong marketing tool the nation is yet to benefit from.

In spite of these successes, recent developments in the sector leave much to be desired. Our stars in the entertainment industry are either heading for destruction or assuming lifestyles that they can obviously support and thus forcing them into all manner of social vices including armed robbery, theft, cheating, drug abuse and sexual immorality.

From the Goodie’s cocaine smuggling syndicate, his arrest and subsequent imprisonment to the ongoing trial of Ibrahim Sima, of Exopa fame; the imprisonment of Ramzy; a finalist in the Stars of the Future fame, to the theft case against Miss Nasara, winner of TV3 Ghana’s Most Beautiful and her subsequence loss of the crown, the fracas between Miss Confidence Heugan and a hiplife artist, Ayigbe Edem over a million dollar Mobile phone theft; the death of Santo, a popular Akan movie actor after he was busted for swallowing some quantities of cocaine with the purpose of transporting them to the United States of America, just to mention but a few cases.

A few days ago, another Music Star, 31 year old Richard Cobbina, popularly known as Shaka Zulu, of the 4X4 fame, was arrested at a popular drinking spot at Adabraka on Monday night after he had been identified by another robbery suspect. The report, according to Ghananewslink.com, stated that Shaka Zulu allegedly confessed to taking part in robbery with some Nigerians on the Spintex Road.

This incident will go down as another blow to Ghana’s entertainment industry which has been saddled with negative publicity lately. I remember walking into a chop bar in Ashalley Botwe, a suburb of Accra, for launch one hot afternoon, only to be joined by some young Hiplife Musicians. Just after taking their seats, I realized something was wrong somewhere. I could not believe the sight that held me spellbound. This young man was heavily drunk and had to be virtually fed to the embarrassment of the owners of the joint and to the amusement of other patrons.

This is a young man whose group and their performance had won them and Ghana an international award for a song they made way back in 2006. Immediately it dawned on me, that what we watch on TV might be a creation of a world of these young men and women who are bent on copying blindly from the West and other culture so as to be accepted in society. For many of them who cannot afford living this high society lifestyle, they are quick to resort to unorthodox means of financing their greed via the drug trade, armed robbery and other social vices.

In their videos, life is always and will forever remain a party. Blings, big boots, expensive clothes, exotic cars, etc are what is portrayed as the life of the man behind the microphone, while in the secrets of their homes, the wear themselves down on drugs, booze among other social vices.

A serious challenge to our Stars, (soccer, music, movie or media) is that the image they cast for themselves today might haunt them in future. In some countries, entertainment and soccer stars have found themselves in public offices as members of parliaments and even attempting the highest office of President.

The dashed dreams of Wycleff Jean, the International HipHop Raggae Artist, in his quest to contest the Presidential elections of his country Haiti is a call on our Stars to live a life worthy of testimony and emulation.

I have heard some radio presenters who host reggae programmes on a number of radio stations across the country sing the praise of marijuana, a banned substance. Some even go to the extent of calling for a legalization of the drug. That is the extent to which we have allowed the entertainment sector the free hand to engage in all manner of social vices that has the tendency to derail our campaign towards greater discipline and morality.

Just watch our movies, music videos, live shows and other TV Reality Shows lately and you will appreciate the fast rate to which morality is fast becoming a stranger in the sector. In their music videos, nudity, smoking, drinking of hard liquor, riding in exotic cars, exotic tastes for clothes, jewelry and even the very language that they use to express themselves is sounding more American than Ghanaian!

The challenge is upon all of us to call our stars to order and ensure that they do the right thing to protect the moral fibre of our society. While it is common knowledge that many groups condemn publicly actions of politicians and call them all manner of names in their bid to deter them from engaging in some action or the other, we are dead silent on the very terrible things happening in the entertainment sector.
There are many of these Stars who are flying high the national colours in their chosen fields and there are others who are disgracing our country by their acts.

Our stars must project themselves as role models for our young generation. The way we dress, the way we speak, the way we even react to problems as young people is heavily influenced by what we watch on TV and in music videos.

Lately, the craze is about poolside and bikini parties. These parties are sustained by an array of hard booze, nudity and hard drugs. Worse of all, there are no restrictions as to the ages of patrons. I understand in other countries, some form of identification is needed before one is admitted into such parties and concerts but in Ghana, I doubt if we even concern ourselves about the age factor as many of the organizers busy themselves with bagging in their profits than caring too much about who attends.

It is sad that our entertainment industry is being infiltrated by hoodlums, criminals and drug addicts and it behooves you and I to work hard to clean it up if we are really interested in building a this nation.

I do not sympathize with these goons. The law must deal with them.

So Long, Mr. President!

Hello Mr. President,

In fact, we miss you back home in your beloved country Ghana. In your absence, your trusted Vice President and Acting President has been doing just fine and working tirelessly to sustain the momentum of the successes of the Better Ghana Agenda.

These are indeed good times within our great party and we appreciate the team work that you have built in your government and the good rapport between you and your able Vice President. I must confess that Ghanaians are really appreciative of your meticulous decisions and progress of work done thus far and we expect more upon your return soon. I am convinced that you will not return home empty handed but you are coming back with good investment deals, bilateral agreements, relationship and investment packages that you might have negotiated along the side of your holidays, like a good father who never returns home empty-handed.

Your Excellency, great things are happening in your absence and I cannot help but to draw your attention to the good news.

The first that is worth mentioning is the work of His Excellency the Vice President, John Dramani Mahama. Aside a dozen programmes that he had honoured in your stead, as Acting President, he launched the much awaited National Youth Policy, as a working tool for youth development and capacity building of the youth of Ghana towards national development. I remember the last time you came to my village on a campaign trail, you promised that under your administration, you would deliver to the youth of Ghana, a national policy within which youth related activities and development programmes would be coordinated. I am glad to see this day and the launch of the policy.

Additionally, our traditional rulers have expressed their gratitude in advance to a recent announcement you have communicated via your able Vice President, about your commitment to strengthening the chieftaincy institution by reviewing the allowances paid to our chiefs. The Vice President said you have decided to pay same allowances to out Queen Mothers, an action that is unprecedented in our history.

Your Excellency, following the Public Utilities Regulation Commission’s decision to adjust utility tariffs, which your administration heavily subsidized by almost 50%, there had been some anomalies in the implementation of the new tariff regime. There had been wide spread concerns that the implementation process had been fraught with some inconsistencies. There were some attempts by labour unions and industry to go on the streets on peaceful demonstrations to back demand for reduction of the newly implemented increases in utility tariffs. I must admit that this is an area of major concern of industry and the good people of Ghana who believed, still believe and are continually keeping faith with you and your promise to improve on their quality of lives. I understand a meeting was called by the Vice President in the Castle to bring on board all the power brokers in the energy sector to find an amicable solution to the matter.

Your Excellency, as I write, credible information reaching me indicates that a truce has been reached and all parties concerned are very comfortable with the agreement reached and they have pledged their commitment to support the PURC and government to do more in their various sectors to push the development process of Ghana a step further.

Mr. President, a few days ago, your Vice President again commissioned a fleet of Yutong Buses via a Private Public partnership agreement for the transport Unions in the country. This is a good development for the transport sector. I understand there is an elaborate plan to remove old, worn out and potentially dangerous vehicles off the road and replace them with these modern buses to promote the local transport industry and at the same time supporting the tourism sector. That is a good move and may I suggest that steps must be taken to begin a programme of importing spare parts, brand new tires among others to guarantee the safety, and maintenance of these buses on our roads. The beneficiary companies, including the Metro Mass Transport Company (MMT), The State Transport Company (STC), The Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) among others would not have difficulties servicing the new buses on the roads while repairing the old and damaged ones. It is obvious that many of the Metro Mass buses are off the road due to difficulties in securing spare parts and maintenance challenges.

As regards our farmers, your Excellency, I understand a new variety of cereals have been introduced to them and that is very intriguing. My information indicates that the new varieties are drought resistant and they can thrive within short harvest time. I crave your indulgence that the Agriculture Ministry takes this news closer to the doorsteps of the farmers so they as many can benefit from this initiative to support our food safety and security. This is a good addition to the subsidized fertilizer policy that you have brought to our hard working farmers.

Your Excellency, as of the time you took over office, I remember inflation was hovering around 20% in spite of all attempts by your predecessor to keep it down. For the past eighteen (18) months, however, we have witnessed a steady and consistent decline of inflation from that point to a single-digit and still dropping! This is another campaign promise that you have honoured and we cannot help but to commend you for the successes you have chalked up in less than two (2) years of your administration.

Coming events they say, cast their shadows. Ghana cannot wait but to expect more of these success stories under your leadership especially at this time that the Single Spine Salary Structure and the STX Housing deal has come as a lifeline to motivating our security personnel and our hardworking civil and public servants to do more for our nation.

As for the good news, Mr. President, there is more to say but I am limited by time and space, but I guess you have noticed the substantial gains the Ghana Stock Exchange (now international), has made in the past weeks. Our cedi has strengthened against all major currencies and that is definitely good economic pointer for many businesses in Ghana.

Mr. President, we thank God Almighty that he delivered your wife, the Second Her Excellency Naadu Mills from an accident that could have broken our hearts and cut short your leave. She is doing good and well by God’s Grace and we are continually supporting you and your family in prayers to grant you long life and wisdom to execute your good plans for mother Ghana.

Your Excellency, we have had some unpleasant developments in court over the Ghana@50 trial. In fact, the presiding Judge ruled that your government, our government and our nation for that matter, cannot hold these men accountable purely on procedural grounds. Personally, I found the Judge’s argument quite misleading and I cannot wait to see the Attorney General, Madam Betty Mould Iddrisu back to court to appeal the decision of the Judge. The furore generated by not just this but the Asamoah Boateng case and the Maame Dorkunu trials, have been quite disturbing especially due to some misleading reports in the public domain. Many are calling for the removal of the Attorney General, but I presume that her competence and her commitment to the course of your government and the National Democratic Congress cannot be questioned. I guess such set backs are part of life. I remember in one of your speeches, you admonished us that “Life without Challenges is not worth living”. This is just , but a challenge which must be surmounted with your full moral support to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

Mr. President, I would want the Attorney general to stay on her job and fight this case to its logical conclusion. Such reactions are normal, and expected, but since cases are not tried in the media but rather in the law courts, I trust in your sound judgment that you will grant the Attorney general all the support she needs to make sure that the case is reopened and the trial is initiated all over again. I know she has won more cases for Ghana than she has been branded to have lost in recent times. I will not rule out saboteurs who will want to collapse her professional and political career for whatever reasons. The media propaganda against her and her job is just an attempt to break her spirit, intimidate your government and to deter you from prosecuting the social justice upon which you were elected as President of the Republic.

Your Excellency, the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) is in trying moments and your intervention is paramount. Apart from the havoc that the rains had caused within the year, our Northern neighbours, La Cote D’Ivoire, served notice that they were going to spill water from their Bagri Dam again! It is heartbreaking that our farmers, their cotton, millet, livestock, homes, lives and property would be lost annually to the effects of the spillage from this dam. I would suggest some diplomatic arrangements to solve this problem once and for all. I will make my suggestions known to you in a separate letter pretty soon.

Mr. President, I cannot end without mentioning the election of Nana Akuffo Addo as Flag bearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party. In fact, hours before the election, Ex President Kufuor advised the party to elect a candidate with “moral authority” to contest you in 2012. Well, it is Nana Addo that they got now, who I cannot beat my chest to say, has that “moral authority” to outstrip your values and qualities. It was even interesting that just days after his election, Ex President Kufuor granted audience to the Press to deny his amorous relationship with Madam Gizzle Yadji. Some commentators saw the move as a clear attempt to divert the discussion from Nana Addo to J.A Kufuor , knowing too well that he never supported Nana Addo’s bid, let alone his election. It is their albatross and they must deal with it. In an interesting twist however, Nana Akufo Addo, decided to call you “Professor Do-little” in the foreign media. Knowing how humble, and God Fearing you have always been, I know you have ignored his tantrums, like those of a recalcitrant child who never learned lessons from his failures.

Your Excellency, just before I go, Rt Rev. Dr. Antwi Asante, the immediate past president of the Methodist Church used his pulpit to say some rather untruthful things about your administration. He did that when Nana Addo went to his church to worship.I know you smiling this one off already. The Reverend has been "taken care of" and reminded of his duties as a man of God. I guess he has regretted what he did and I won't be surprised if he calls upon you demanding your forgiveness one of these days. I know you have already forgiven him as the good father you have always been.

Thank you so much for all that you have been to this country and our great party. We love you and we will continue to support you spiritually, morally and physically to achieve every promise you made to the good people Ghana.

Indeed, you are the man we trust and our faith in you is unflinching. God richly Bless you.

Your friend,
Mawulolo

Over to you, Alban Bagbin!

I am tempted to believe that the torrential rains that came with the season (albeit, the earlier predictions of drought), is easing and that should be a huge relief for many citizens especially those living in flood prone areas of Accra, Swedru, Keta, and many parts of the Country.

Aside the destruction and the havoc the torrential rains have caused to life and property, I believe it is about time we considered housing and construction policy that harnessed the huge volume of rainfall year in and year out. I am sure that the destruction that the rains leave in their wake season after season would have been minimal but for human activities that impede the flow of surface and underground water at the onset of the season.

It is common k knowledge that many of us ignore warnings of the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (acting on behalf of government) to either pull down or stop the construction of structures in unapproved areas, especially on waterways, near dams, high tension masts, electricity poles, railway lines, streets, rivers and lagoons.

We are however quick to blame nature and even government for the woes that we suffer due to our own negligence as a result of our haphazard building and housing practices. There are areas in Ghana that should not and must not be used for any residential purpose but we ignore all cautions and develop these places. A case in point is the areas demarcated as earthquake zones along the Akwapim-Togo-Atakura ranges and the Mcarthy Hills area.

Take a walk to these places and u will be amazed at the fast pace of human earth movement activities in these areas. In the spur of the moment, residents around these disaster zones are having a field’s day and they have totally forgotten that their lives could change overnight in the case that the dreaded occurs to them. It is at that moment that our government would be running helter-skelter in search of relief items for victims.

A strict adherence to building and planning regulations, layouts and prohibitions would have saved us millions of cedis annually instead to going through the cycle of rebuilding and reconstruction after each rainy season.

In many of these instances, we are the cause of our own problems and yet we tend to believe that governments have done either little or nothing at all to help the situation. I am not sure there would be much to be done aside constructing drains within the limited spaces left of the waterways as a remedy to the situation which in the long run does very little to avert the chaos.

As the parliament of Ghana is lacing her boots to deal with the STX Ghana-Korean Housing Agreement which will help reduce the housing deficit in the country, it is important for the negotiators of this deal and the parliament of Ghana to ensure that the housing project incorporates a “rain-harvest scheme” that would help trap rain water for domestic consumption by those dwelling in the apartments.

I draw great inspiration from the Amedzofe Township in the Volta Region of Ghana, as to how a properly planned and managed rain harvest policy has kept the community water-sufficient till date. Amedzofe is the highest human settlement in Ghana. Mountain Gemi and the Amedzofe falls are two major tourist attractions that the community boasts of.

The high altitude of the area and the rugged nature of its topography make it very difficult for pipe-borne water to be supplied in the area so the community depends heavily on natural springs flowing in the mountains and the abundance of rain per the climate, for their water needs.

At the E.P Training College and the Amedzofe Guest House and many private residences in the township, right from Vane, Gbadzeame to Amedzofe, many of the property have water reservoirs buried under a portion of the buildings. It goes to say that the early Basel Missionaries who built the town, the college and the infrastructure there envisaged the water supply difficulties and adequately designed their buildings and structures to harness the abundance of the annual torrential rainfall for domestic and commercial use. In the rainy season, they shut their reservoirs and depend on the tasty natural springs for domestic consumption, while in the dry season when the pressure on the Springs are great, they augment their supply with harvested rain water until the rainy next season.

It would be a perfect replication of this ideal if the management of the STX Construction Company and the Government of Ghana agrees that in view of the unresolved pipe-borne water deficit that has hit the capital and many parts of the country, this agreement must as a matter of need, incorporate a rain-harvest component in the construction such that the apartments, when complete will have a good stock of water supply throughout the year for domestic use.

The company must established a central treatment and distribution point for the harvested rain to all apartments for domestic consumption so that we can move away from the over-dependence on the erratic pipe-borne water supply by the Ghana Water Company Limited and Aqua Vittens Rand Ltd. We could either directly consume the water of use the trapped water only for other purposes besides direct human consumption, i.e. washing of vehicles, watering the lawns and parks, fire fighting, water fountains, cleaning, laundry, etc .

The pressure then on pipe-borne water supply will be greatly reduced and conserved. Readers would bare me out that much of the water the flow in our taps are unclean and thus many prefer to drink sachet water and use the pipe-borne but use the tap water for other uses aside direct human consumption. The Ghana Water Company Limited must address this concern in other to restore public trust and confidence in the product of the company.

The enactment of government policy to tie the hands of building contractors and housing companies is paramount if indeed we are interested in resolving our water deficit while curtailing the havoc of annual torrential rains on our lives and property. The Ministry of Housing and water Resources headed by Honourable Alban Bagbin, must consider this as a matter of policy for consideration of cabinet before the STX deal is ratified.

It behoves on the Ministry to push this policy to the entire Housing and construction Industry not limited to STX-Korea only. The local industry heavily dominated by the likes of GREDA, Regimanuel Gray Ltd, Hydraform, Maria-O’Sullivan, HFC, etc must be brought under the policy which stipulates that all constructions projects (residential and office accommodation) must be provided with rain-gutters and Underground water reservoirs of a size commensurate with the size of the building.
If a policy of the sort existed during the Nkrumah Regime, I am sure that much of the surface water wastefully flowing into our polluted rivers and drains after every torrential rainfall would have been harvested or trapped and put into much more beneficial use. This would equally reduce the amount of money households spend on the purchase of water from water tanker operators while in the long run reduce the impact of flooding in some areas of the country.

A community that has made good this practise is the Dzodze-Penyi Township in the Ketu-North Constituency of the Volta Region of Ghana. For many decades, Dzodze-Penyi has no supply of pipe-borne water and the water table in the area is so deep that sank wells and boreholes are virtually dry or their contents unhygienic. The dwellers thus have constructed their own water reservoirs buried in the belly of the earth for the storage of water in the rainy season.

Dzodze and many of the surrounding communities dedicated to rain-harvest can only look forward to the rains with smiles as they know that they can only benefit from the blessing of nature, while many of us in the capital and elsewhere dread the onset of each rainy season. Some even pray to God to either reduce the volume of rains or altogether avert the consequences the heavy rains leave in its wake.

It is not late to introduce this idea into our Housing and construction policy in Ghana, with the full backing of the parliament of Ghana using the STX-Korean Housing Project as a starter and a pacesetter in the industry.

It is about time we did something about the abundance of rains in our atmosphere especially within the raining season to help address our water supply deficit and the harvesting of water for domestic and Industrial use as a matter of government policy.
Together, we can make change happen in Ghana if we pushed our parliament to consider this idea as a workable one so we can task the STX-Korean Housing Company to put it in fruition for the sake of the generation yet unborn. It will be a betrayal of trust for you and I to retire in our old age only to suffer the consequences of perennial torrential rains if we have the opportunity to make change the status quo in our generation.

The Consumer Protection Agency, the Civil Society organisations operating in the water sector, Chiefs, students Unions among other interest groups can support this dream so we can make it happen for mother Ghana.

By making rain-harvest a policy decision by this Mills administration and this Parliament, our generation would be remembered for delivering change in the Housing and Construction Industry that will benefit mother Ghana for many years to come. This is one sure way to trap the little drops of rain that run into crevices, gutters, drains, gullies and congregate into dangerous floods that kill, destroy and break our social and economic activities.

Over to you, Honourable Bagbin!

DANGER LOOMS AS THE CLOCK TICKS ON THE FLOODS!

Yes! I fear the outbreak of an epidemic even before the floods find their way through homes, workplaces, under bridges and over roads and rails till they unleash their accumulated shingles into the sea.

Take a look around your environment, the streets, market places and worse of all the huge undeveloped drains! It looks worse than scary to me. The Ghana Meteorological Agency warns or terrible conditions ahead and that scare me to the hilt!

It is totally unacceptable at this moment of grief for anyone to politicize the havoc that the rains and the floods have visited on many citizens within and outside the capital whereas we should be thinking through the next stage of managing this disaster, the worst in many years.

We are paying heavily for the systemic failure on the side of planning, supervision and the respect for our laws as regards building on ramsar sites and on unapproved designations.

We are also paying a huge prize for the indiscipline on the part of many of property owners and contractors acquire, develop and build all manner of structures anywhere and anyhow without any recourse to considerations of the nature of the land, topography, soil structure, architectural design, environmental threats among others.
While the Ghana Navy and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) is battling with providing bedspreads, tents, food and clothing to many displaced persons, the worst might hit us unannounced, in the event of a possible epidemic outbreak especially in the unplanned and haphazardly laid out areas of Ashaiman, Nima, Agbogbloshie,and Aladjo.

An observation I have made around the capital is that garbage is consistently amassing on may streets and market places, probably due to the inability of the refuse collection trucks to collect the garbage for disposal at the land filled sites as many of the roads linking the sites have either been flooded or completely rendered unmotorable.

The quantum of the garbage would surely multiply in coming days if the rains do not cease falling and the floods cease swelling any time soon.

This is bad news for us especially to those living in flood-prone areas. The garbage is likely to be washed into the drains and the gutters by the rains and carried across long distances and dumped in unknown areas thus worsening the already hydra-headed sanitation problems.

Worst still would be the possibility of some unrecovered and decomposing bodies, trapped under some bridges and drains, somewhere along the channel of the flood. The mess, the stench, the decomposing and fermentation of the garbage all put together coupled with destruction of many Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit latrines (KVIPs) and the flooding of septic tanks (man holes) would break forth a cholera epidemic that would demand millions of Ghana cedis to deal with.

Already we have a growing factor of the H1N1 outbreak on our hands and any outbreak of cholera in the ensuing weeks would either stretch our health facilities or collapse them altogether.

Dr. Benjamin Kumbour, Minister of Health together with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, must get themselves ready to deal with this angle of the flood as attention seem to be more focused on the politics of the rains and the distribution of relief and the mourning of the dead in some homes and communities.

This is not the time to haggle over which house should be demolished or what member of Parliament is frustrating the work of a District Assembly but we must shift gear into making immediate arrangements to protect the larger public against any health hazard the floods and the terrible excesses it is likely to pose to the wider public health.

I fear for the market women in and around the Pedestrian Shopping Mall at Odawna near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, as the entire environment stinks and the mess could be worsened by the fury of the floods.

The Ministry of Information and Health must commence an intensive education campaign (just as they are doing with the H1N1 virus) to immediately sensitize citizens on the likely health threats that the floods are likely to pose as many man-holes, bucket latrines, KVIPs and refuse dumps have either been washed away or completely dissolved in the rushing waters of the flood.

Let us move into action, for the clock ticks onto a looming catastrophe!

The Rawlingses & The Kufuors Any roles to support the development agenda of the nation?

By Felix Mawulolo Amegashie

President Barack H. Obama has come and gone but he left in his wake memories that will forever linger with this generation until perhaps he comes back some day to refresh us.

I must congratulate the Atta Mills-led government for the very simple and down-to-earth manner in which activities celebrating Obama’s historic visit to Ghana were handled in the face of obvious financial challenges confronting the country.

Equally deserving of commendation is the open arms with which President John Evans Mills embraced his political opponents including those who rated him undeserving of the office of president, to the tarmac of the Kotoka International Airport to welcome the visiting US President.

This is what I call leadership: making the best of relationships and resources for the common good of the people. President Mills did not submerge the opposition but rallied them around his good self in branding Ghana as an “adolescent democracy” in the eyes of the world.

It is only in Ghana that competitors in a bitter election can quickly recover from their age old rivalries and come together for a common purpose on a memorable day as that of the visit of Barack Obama.

We all deserve credit and I cannot agree more with President Obama when he stressed that “perhaps the minority deserves much commendation as the majority”.

“Domestication”

The breakfast meeting between Obama, the President and the two ex-presidents was the next attraction to the whole programme. There was life and humour amidst serious talk at that breakfast meeting that saw Nana Konadu Rawlings and Theresa Kufuor with their respective sweethearts, together on the same platform after a long period of unhealthy exchanges of cross-fire between the two former first gentlemen of the land.

President Obama, the social-democrat that he is, was more than delighted to eat with the President and the two ex-presidents the available ration and did not visit the loo as many had feared he might! All these tastes of the “domestication” of the visit added serious colour, culture and an African courtesy to the entire programme. This is indeed a feather in the cap of Ghana’s protocol department.

“Bad blood”

Soon after breakfast, Radio Gold and TV3 granted interviews to the two ex-Presidents. While Jerry Rawlings promised that the perceived “bad blood” between himself and John Kufuor would be dealt with, John Kufuor quickly riposted that there was no “bad blood” between the two of them. Jerry Rawlings and John Kufuor might not be enemies but they share different political ideologies and that makes them political opponents.

We may have our internal differences as individuals and sympathizers of different political parties, but when it comes to forging a common tie to project the image of Ghana beyond our borders, it is imperative for the government to do all that can be done to put the two gentlemen on the forefront.

Tasking them with specific roles to play on behalf of government in order to harness their contribution to the common good of the nation will not be too little too late.

To President Mills who is held in high esteem by the international community for his commitment to the rule of law and, freedom of speech, multi-party democracy and his readiness to combat corruption, drug-trafficking and ostentatious lifestyle as a sitting head of state, Obama’s visit is a real exercise to legitimize his office and Ghana’s “adolescent democratic” credentials of Ghana.

Konadu and Theresa

Mrs. Konadu Rawlings and Mrs. Theresa Kufuor might not be friends but in times as these when we need each of them to play one role or the other to support the development agenda of the nation, appointing the former first ladies as ambassadors of one government initiative or the other under the Mills administration will be very rewarding and a major plus to our “adolescent democracy” in order to attract major and minor policy advantages from all over the world so that we can perpetually remain on top as the beacon of democratic hope to a continent bedeviled with undemocratic regimes, crime, hunger, wars and diseases.

A move in this direction from the President, assures any sitting president that upon a peaceful transition and handing-over, one does not only retire, sit at home on a pension and tell mythical tales to his grandchildren but one is equally useful and respected as an ex-president to partake in the activities of the successive government. This will discourage the temptation of doing all one could, fair or foul, to perpetrate his party in office.

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana!

P/S: this article was originally published in July 2009.
(Edited: by Alhaji Haruna Atta, Editor of The Accra Daily Mail Newspaper)
http://www.modernghana.com/news/227576/160/can-mrs-rawlings-and-mrs-kufuor-ever-be-friends.html
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=165362

Hannah, Bagbin (Honourables), ”you do not drink tap water, I bet you don’t!

I am getting increasingly impatient at the sheer wickedness of Aqua Vittens Rand Limited, contract managers for the Ghana Water Company Limited. Consumers have complained about the poor services of this company especially in the area of water treatment and distribution but very little has been achieved in improving on their services so far.

Coming on the back of the recent adjustments in utility tariffs and the demand for improved services by many consumers, it is only reasonable that AVRL comes clear about their plans for improving on water treatment, expansion and distribution of clean pipe-borne water to many rural and urban communities who are currently in dire need of good drinking water.

Not many can afford to feed their homes with bottled mineral or sachet water. Even to those who can afford it, it adds to their daily expenses at home and in their workplaces. In many rural communities, wells and boreholes are the only source of good and healthy drinking water, but can same for Aqua Vittens Rand Limited for their services?

I have noticed that pipe borne water has fallen short of everything close to quality and standards. It is irregular in flow, and terribly dirty. Yes, terribly dirty!
Just store a bucket of pipe borne water overnight and take a good look at the water the next morning.

Rolls of dirt and brownish substances are visible to the naked eye which immediately deters any sane consumer from using the water to wash his/her face or to brush his teeth let alone to dare drinking.

Even if you would use it for anything edible, one has to be sure that it was thoroughly boiled to eliminate an obvious danger it might pose a consumer. I shiver to imagine what one would discover if samples are put to laboratory examination.

Consumers are faced with even worse fate as many of these sachet water companies cannot be physically located via registered addresses, let alone offer themselves to the Food and Drugs Board or the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Standards Board for routine inspection. Same can be said of the so-called herbal clinics and companies bottling all manner of unknown concoctions for public consumption.

While these unscrupulous businessmen and women are cashing in on the silent boycott for the consumption of AVRL managed pipe borne water at home, at work places, in public events, festivals and funerals, the AVRL seems to be indifferent to this lack of public confidence in their product, knowing too well, that they hold an absolute monopoly over public water management, treatment and distribution in Ghana.

If the AVRL had a conscious as manager of an essential commodity like water, they would have shown that commitment and corporate seriousness to avert the sheer wickedness and treachery they have shown their clients thus far.

Many of the communicable diseases are water borne especially via the consumption of untreated water. We are very helpless as it stands now because, it appears the AVRL has gone to bed on their duties and the laws to check those who exploit consumers are either absent or totally useless in protecting the citizenry.

Adding salt to our injuries is a Consumer Protection Agency that is more obsessed with complex issues of advertisements and telephone bills than the basic things that kill the common man on the streets.

Hon Alban Bagbin and Dr. Hannah Bissiw should wake up to this call and go after AVRL to do the right thing and treat us with dignity and respect while ensuring that a legal framework is developed to deal with the proliferation of all manner of sachet water companies who are worsening our environmental and sanitation problems.

What has it benefitted Ghana for a Minister or Deputy Minister to wake up at five (5) in the morning and drive to a radio or TV station to speak grammar on some useless newspaper publications, instead of using those few hours to either have enough rest to enable him meet the day’s challenges or to get to his office deal with some outstanding pressing need hours before scores of visitors and meetings clog his schedule?

Our public officials should desist from going on these media platforms to engage in endless debates and sit in their offices and work for a better Ghana.

We did not vote for them to speak grammar, but to take the timely actions to hasten our development agenda.

I do not remember the last time I drunk pipe borne water and I am not ready to risk my health in consuming the unclean and unhealthy water dripping down our taps.

It is a disgrace that we have sat down to see our citizens boycott the consumption of water, a basic necessity of life, while we run after sachet and bottled mineral water.

Ghana needs us alive to live our dreams.

Hon. Bagbin and Dr. Bissiw, Minister and Deputy for Housing and Water Resources, should not stand aside and watch while our citizens fall victim to preventable waterborne diseases.

HIGH ELECTRICITY TARIFFS…COULD ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING HELP SAVE COST?

Recent upward adjustment of electricity tariffs by some 43 percentage difference points to a bitter reality that electricity and water tariffs are not going to come down anytime soon though government has heavily subsidized these two amenities soon after the announcements were made.

In fact, it is argued that these subsidies in themselves have rather plunged the utility companies into huge debts as the subsidies were hardly paid to the companies.
As consumers, we have contributed to the waste in the system and added by our actions and inactions have paid more for electricity and water consumption.

It is a common sight that many streetlights, security lights, and many appliances are left on in our homes and offices and other work sites though they might not be in use.

A case in point is the refusal of the Electricity Company of Ghana to turn off street lights at the break of dawn in some communities. Consumers are rather billed to pay for the waste we did not help create in anyway.

Again in our homes and offices, it is common to keep empty fridges, air conditioners, and other electrical gadgets still turned on while we might not be in need of them within a certain time frame, not to talk about their economical use in the rainy season when temperatures are mostly tolerable.

We are tempted to use the water kettle, heater, the hair drier or the Microwave even though using the gas cooker for a few minutes as the most cost effective substitute could do our budget and our health a lot of good.

In short, we lack a sense of responsibility and savings as regards the judicious use of power, water and other resources.

An emerging trend development in our building and construction sector that must be encouraged by all and sundry is the use of transparent roofs that harness the power of the sunlight to lighten even the inner chambers of offices and buildings without the recourse to electric bulbs as the sole source of illumination.

The roofing of the Ring Road Head office of the Ghana Union Assurance Building, directly opposite the Head office of the State Insurance Company (SIC), the head office of Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of Tigo, the Old Parliamentary Affairs building near the Kofi Annan ICT centre and a few homes around cantonments challenged my thoughts as regards the use of architecture and its technology to save the high cost of electricity consumption to many individuals and institutions in the long run.
Foremost, the design of the buildings mentioned is such that the roofs are transparent and thus sunlight sips into the entire floors of the buildings.

Automatically, the cost that come with the use of electricity bulbs on many floors on the building is minimised if not total eliminated and this will definitely translate on their daily electricity consumption of those using this technology.
At nightfall in these homes, one could even enjoy the beauty of the skies from the comfort of your living room.

It would be very prudent if central air conditioning systems are encouraged in huge buildings, churches and mosques, especially the ones that are either under construction or those still on the draftsman’s table, instead on the single unit air conditioners dotted all over the windows of offices all over the country. I believe that the use of the central air conditional system would equally help save cost of electricity consumption and this would help reduce the overhead cost of production of some firms, offices or organisations. Huge savings would be made and channelled into other areas to promote the efficiency of the organization.

Furthermore, the stakeholders in the Energy sector must help design and promote a vigorous educational campaign, slogans and messages to instil in consumers the most effective and efficient energy saving practises so that we do not get to this point again in the future where the only remedy to ensuring effective service delivery by the Electricity Company of Ghana is via tariff increase.

Consumers must be encouraged through radio and television programmes, school outreach programmes, paraphernalia, text messages, Church services, mosque worships, and any other medium possible to promote a best practises to help consumers conserve and use electricity and water wisely or else we risk paying much higher tariffs in future for losses which could have been avoided through education.

The Consumer Protection Agency must be very interested in this action so that they can take the education even closer to the rural areas especially those who do not have the benefit of the power of radio and television.

It is about time our engineers considered new and modern ways of building and construction that would help conserve power and make use of these amenities to our maximum benefit but at the cheapest cost possible.

PROPOSALS FOR THE CONSTITUTION REVIEW COMMITTEE:

Felix Mawulolo Amegashie
P.O Box MS 422
New Achimota
Accra
June 9, 2010

The Executive Secretary
Constitutional review Committee
Republic of Ghana
Accra
Dear Sir,

PROPOSALS FOR THE CONSTITUTION REVIEW COMMITTEE:

I wish to make the following proposals for your consideration as a citizen of Ghana to the Constitutional Review Process;

1. APPOINTMENT OF MINISTERS FROM PARLIAMENT:

I propose this provision is reviewed so that Parliament can be left alone to concentrate on their legislative powers and duties devoid of Executive interference and manipulation while the Executive is equally left to pick and appoint whoever it deems competent for public office. I guess this will give true meaning to the multi-party democratic concept of separation of Powers.

2. APPOINTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL:

I propose that the Ministry of Justice is scrapped as it renders the Ombudsman redundant. CHRAJ must be empowered to deal entirely with issues of enforcing and ensuring justice for all citizens under the constitution. The Attorney General must be appointed by the President upon recommendation from the Judicial Counsel with a guaranteed tenure of office commensurate with terms and conditions of service of the Chief Justice, the NCCE Boss and the Commissioner of CHRAJ. This will grant the Attorney General enough freedom to prosecute those who fall foul of the law irrespective of the political head of state.

I propose this due to a rather dangerous trend of the state discontinuing cases initiated, prosecuted but left unfinished only for the sitting Attorney General to discontinue such high profiled corruption cases on the eve of handing over power to a new government because the Attorney General will automatically lose his office and has no prosecutorial powers anymore to finish what he started. It is huge financial loss to the state as many resources are committed into the investigations and prosecution of those cases. Again, it eradicates the temptation where an outgoing Attorney General could deliberately refuse discontinuing these cases and saddle the new Attorney General with the uncompleted case to generally prosecute members of his own government because he/she has no choice than to do so. It will create public discontent for the new Attorney General and even has the tendency to disturb the peace.

3. SCARPPING OF THE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENTS’ SHARE OF THE DISTRCIT ASSEMBLY COMMON FUND:

I propose this is scrapped on grounds that the Member of Parliament’s duties does not extend to undertaking development projects in their constituencies. Once the proposals in paragraph one are implemented, then the MPs will have no other business than sitting in the august house to deliver on their law-making duties and thus their share of the Common Fund will be totally needless. The District Assemblies must be given the Common Funds in full for the DCE and the Local Assembly to manage and to be accountable for. This will speed up development projects in the various districts and equally reduce tensions and “cold wars” between the DCEs and their respective Members of Parliament especially in areas where they both belong to different political parties. One will not use the Funds and its allocation and disbursement as a political tool against the other.


4. PROCUREMENT LAW MUST BE REMOVED: This would open up small and local companies to bid for government contracts and projects.

5. STATE SPONSORSHIP OF POLITICAL PARTIES:

I propose that the constitution must be reviewed to establish principles that would deepen multi-party democracy by providing a legal framework for the state sponsorship of political parties. The Political parties Act bars parties from raising funds outside the jurisdiction and thus cripples many of the parties who have interested sponsors who would want to support their cause especially those who belong to international political ideological organisations who would want to count on member groups to provide technical , material and financial support. The laws as it is now is discriminatory because the law is over bearing on the financial support while remaining silent on technical and other non-financial supports that are still quantified as “resources”.
The state must sponsor parties along the following lines:

• Remuneration for at least Constituency, Regional and National Executive members on salaries or allowances commensurate with their qualifications just like what pertains in the civil servant. This over will help draw very qualified and willing persons with the capacity, qualification and intellect to work full time for these parties without losing anything. I believe this would breed a new group of qualified and well informed technocrats into political parties who will serve with their skills and knowledge, rather than just electing any unemployed person and non-employable person (as regards level of education) into political parties. It would help reduce the wanton lack of resources that these parties suffer especially while in opposition. It has affected many minority parties especially as regards their performance in general elections since 1992. We must not sit to watch these smaller parties die out while we claim to promote a Multi-party democratic culture.

• CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING WORKSHOPS: This is already in the system but with state sponsorship, as in the earlier point, it becomes mandatory for all parties to participate in these programmes and those who do not attend, are sanctioned by the law just like absenteeism and laziness is dealt with in the civil service. I believe this will make the parties engage more in dialogue among others and thus help reduce the clashes and tensions that characterise these programmes as it stands now. Parties cannot boycott these programmes because it becomes unlawful to do so.

• The sponsorship must also be in the provision of equal time and equal coverage by the state owned media (print and electronic) instead of the parties paying huge monies just to preach their message that is intended to benefit Ghana and not just themselves. The culture of the parties with huge monies buying all airtime in the heat of the campaign thus blotting out the less resourced ones will be eliminated. The voter becomes more informed and can have the luxury of deciding who will make a better government in order to promote our democratic culture. This will reduce the huge media bills of many parties especially the few minority parties.

• The criteria for qualification for state sponsorship must be determined by Parliament.

6. CRIMINALIZING OR DECRIMINALIZING VERBAL ABUSE ON THE PRESIDENT AND EX PRESIDENTS:
I propose that the aspect of the repealed Criminal Libel Law that criminalised the insult of the Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and Head of State of the Republic of Ghana must be re visited. The Law as it stands now opens the President up for unsavoury verbal attacks and insults as we have witnessed in the past few months, on the persona of the President in the name of criticisms. The same Law maintains that it is an offence to insult a chief. I question the basis of this law as it appears very discriminatory.

The chief draws his authority from his subjects, who are mostly clan or tribesmen, but the president draws his authority both legally and legitimately from the people of Ghana who voted him for a limited mandate set out in the Constitution of Ghana. If therefore it is an offense to insult a chief, how can it be permitted under this same law to insult the President? The review must extend not only to the sitting President but our ex-presidents as Ghana will begin to count a number of ex-presidents in the next 30 years.

I believe this review will sanitize the use of foul language and insult foremost by the sitting presidents against their predecessors and the vice versa. This will again teach a positive moral lesson to the youth of Ghana that we can practise multi-party without resorting to unwarranted physical and verbal attacks on dissenting political opinions.

I hope my proposals would be considered.

Thank You.


Felix Mawulolo Amegashie
elolo.elolo@gmail.com

DYING MOTHERS AND THE KORLE BU TEACHING HOSPITAL’S LAXITY

News broke out, again, of the death of an expectant mother who had to do the unthinkable in her precarious state of climbing 6 flights of concrete stairs to the maternity ward of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. She reportedly died minutes upon making it up the final row of stairs to that ward.

These sorts of deaths, as inexcusable as they might be, must not be allowed to continue especially at this point in the nation’s history when our colonial masters, the Queen and her Crown government, support free maternity care delivery throughout the country with millions of their tax payers’ money.

What level of irresponsibility could this be for the hospital administrators, not only in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, but all other teaching hospitals and polyclinics benefiting or not from this facility, to put expectant mothers through the wobbly journey of climbing concrete stairs on these high rising and old blocks in our hospitals?

What makes the situation even more dangerous is the rampant breakdown of lifts (escalators) in the Korle Bu teaching hospital thus forcing doctors, fathers, mothers and husbands to carry pregnant and expectant mothers of their backs and shoulders in order to transport them up the maternity ward on these endless staircases. Whoever might have advised, designed, positioned and constructed the maternity ward as high as on the sixth (6th) floor of this colonial building would best pass for an idiot, knowing too well the purpose of the ward, No wonder, maternal mortality in the hospital are so high.

A nursing mother who gave birth to a premature baby after hours of caesarean surgery broke down in tears while narrating her ordeal of ascending and descending these terrifying flights of staircases to and from the ground and the sixth floor just to breastfeed her premature infant. Her tears did not only send shudders down my spine but also provoked outrage in many listeners, at hospital management all over the country, if nothing could have been done over the past fifteen years to either redesign, renovate and relocate the maternity blocks from the high rising storey buildings to ground floors and other buildings built and furnished with state-of-the art facilities.

I doubt if any father who has witnessed the struggles, tears and agony of his loving wife at Korle Bu in the quest to birth out their fruit of love, would consider impregnating the wife again after this terrifying scenario if the wife survives this torture.

I wonder why human rights activists and the women’s’ rights activists organizations have turned a blind eye and a death ear to the piercing cries of their contemporaries. While it is common for these interest groups to go digging and make unguarded statements in areas where their interest does not lie, especially in politics and governance, they have totally ignored their call to defend the rights of their own genders and citizens in the regard.

Medically, what is more life threatening than a patient who had just undergone any form of surgery to engage herself in a vigorous activity such as running up and down a flight of concrete stairs three times in a day. This situation is just the tip of the iceberg of the bigger picture of family relations, husbands, parents, nurses and doctors running helter-skelter in search of water, lanterns, candles and torchlight to perform one task or the other in their frustrations to save helpless lives?

As regards the broken down lifts in the maternity block, the Acting PRO of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mr. Kojo Opoku Manu, blamed the situation on the rampant power outages that have taken over the nation by surprise (after almost ten months of uninterrupted electricity supply).

According to a news report on an Accra Based radio station, Mr Opoku Manu insisted that though the hospital had backup generators, the “discotheque style” power interruption by the electricity company of Ghana has resulted in the collapse of the lifts. Hours after granting this interview, it was confirmed that the lifts in question have been fixed.

This report brings two issues to the fore. The first being whether it had to take the tears of an expectant mother who had just undergone caesarean surgery and the radio station to correct this dangerous and avoidable situation. Ghanaians will recollect that soon after Dr. George Sipa Yankey, the resigned Health Minister , assumed office, he took a tour to all government health facilities in the country to ascertain issues on the ground as they are experienced by the people of Ghana. He was shocked, to see for himself, that the lift in the maternity ward had broken down for weeks and no one was doing anything about it. He immediately gave the hospital a two (2) week ultimatum to fix the lift and also pay arrears of some category of health workers in the hospital who earlier threatened a strike action. The lift was immediately fixed until it broke down again.

The second issue it invokes is the management style of our state institutions and hospitals. The Acting PRO of Korle Bu Hospital again intimated that government has approved funds for the purchase of new lifts for the replacement of all existing ones on the block. He further explained that the lifts are to be brought in from foreign lands and that it takes time for the airlifting of the equipment and the installation. A question worth asking is that at what point was the requests made and at what point was the funds approved and again, what time table is the hospital administrators working with for the permanent solution to the problem and if the ward is going to be left where it is currently located.

I am not sure that the hospital administrators are adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude to finding quick solution to this and the acute water crises that has rocked the hospital over the past three (3) weeks especially on the back of reports from the Mamobi Polyclinic that, but for Ms Hannah Bissiw’s efforts from the Ministry of Water Resources, the Polytechnic would still not have tasted clean pipe borne water after fifteen (15) years of interruption. This looks scary and I hope the administrators of the Country’s Teaching Hospitals would adopted a more proactive and caring attitude to their work in consonance with the President’s mantra of “ I care for you” , upon which he successfully campaigned and appointed some of them to represent his interest in these public institutions.

If the decision were mine to take, I would rather the maternity ward was relocated somewhere on the ground floor or the first (1st) floor in the inevitable circumstance as part of long term measures to address this problem.

Additionally, a complaints’ and queries outfit must be opened under the public relations outfit to better address the problem of information flow and information management in the hospital. It might be possible that hospital administrators only hear of these challenges after the occurrence of a fatal accident. In the absence of this , the status quo remains unchanged as no one seem to care what happens to who and who cares about the other.

The establishment of this unit will be a convergent point for complaints, queries, reports and suggestions from patients and doctors, nurses and workers as well in the dissemination of information to the public and patients.


The Electricity Company of Ghana, at whom all fingers seem to be pointing, must clean their chambers in order to render quality service to the hospital and the public. I am sure very little has changed in the quality of service that ECG provides the public over the past 8 years though tariffs have increased more than 200 percent (2007).

At least adequate notice must be served the hospital administrators as and when their lines are scheduled for any temporary interruption for the hospital to be adequately aware and prepared to ensure free flow of service delivery especially in emergency situations.

The hospital should embark on a project of installing adequate water reservoirs on all blocks as soon as possible. These water reservoirs are to be monitored by the Estate Department of the hospital. The reservoirs must be stocked daily whether water flows or not so that the hospital will never be found wanting even if water supply is interrupted without notice for at least three days until the supply is restored.

The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is the one of the finest, if not the finest, hospitals in the country and we cannot afford to stand aloof to watch the hospital collapse due to causes that could be avoided if management were more proactive in dealing with the daily challenges that mitigates the smooth running of the hospital.

I am not sure that it would be a pleasant sight for one to rush a loved one to the Korle Bu Hospital under life threatening circumstances, to be told rudely in the face by a hospital staff that due to the absence of water, electricity of a lift, there was nothing they could do about you and your loved one’s helpless situation. It could be very paranoiac and the earlier we add our voices to this cause, the better for our future as a nation.