GHANA-ICT, GOOD GOVERNANCE AND THE ATTA MILLS FACTOR

His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills initiated and successfully commissioned a new Information and Communication Technology [ICT] Platform at the seat of Government in Christianborg Castle in Osu, that undertakes to bring his administration closer to the doorstep of the people of Ghana.

From the Blackstar Square in Accra where the Millennium City Project is taking shape to the sandy beaches of Keta and Elmia; from the resuscitated cotton farms in Tamale to the Gbewa College of Education in Bawku; away from the newly established Hila Liman Senior High School in Wa to the over 1, 700 rural communities connected to the national grid under the Better Ghana Agenda, His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills is not only interested in knowing how his programmes and policies have impacted positively on the lives of the people BUT equally committed to remaining in touch with his appointees and workforce across the regions towards improving the quality of life of the good people of Ghana.

It is in the light of this unprecedented development that I doff my hat to the NDC administration and His Excellency the President with support from President Hu jintao of China in making this project a reality. The special relationship between President Mills and his Chinese Counterpart, President Hu Jintao dates back to their respective stewardship as Vice Presidents under their respective leaders prior to 2001. This bond of friendship nurtured by the commitment by both leaders to promoting their respective countries on the world market of economic and industrial giants has yielded very inspiring results. Ghana Today has made significant gains that are unprecedented in our history. While China continues to exert her dominance on the world stage in many areas, Ghana equally earned the enviable reputation as the fasted growing economy hitting 13.6% economic growth in less than 3 years under President Mills’ leadership.

It is not surprising that today both leaders have dedicated their public service to good governance, development and steady growth in the living standards of their people. A clear evidence of this commitment is the $3 billion China Development Bank facility recently granted Ghana and the pledge to develop the University of Health and Allied Sciences in the Volta Region to a world class University of choice.

The launch of this technological infrastructure adds to the recent networking of all Ministries, Department and Agencies of government under Dr. Tony Aidoo’s Policy Monitoring Outfit at the Office of the President. This culminates into a web of high speed data transfer, retrieval and information dissemination, evaluation and assessment with the click of a button to facilitate timely policy interventions in the interest of the state.

As of today, Ministers, Deputies, District and Municipal Chief Executives do not need to travel over long distances to book an appointment with the President to discuss issues of rural migration, human rights, security, water delivery and all other matters that arise in the daily activities of the people of Ghana.

His Excellency the President now has a third eye on all his lieutenants across the country to take daily briefs of ongoing works, policy directions, impact assessment and participate in Regional and District Security Meetings [DISEC] and to take live reports as and when the need arises with this facility. Meeting with investors across regions can even be facilitated with ease without the stress associated with booking an appointment at the Osu Castle.

The work of the National Security Coordinator, Lt Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey is effectively enhanced with this infrastructure. If effectively and efficiently managed, it has tendencies of improving our governance system, transparency and facilitates effective communication between His Excellency President Mills and his workforce even when he is outside the country on official assignments.

We have come a long way as a nation since Dr. Kwame Nkrumah made the famous declaration on the eve of Independence and we still have a long road to traverse towards economic freedom in our lifetime. The inauguration of this platform is a great one by a leader as visionary as His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills.
Ghana needs these interventions that directly impact on the lives of her citizens. This is the beginning of a major breakthrough in our Information and Communication Technology by the government of Ghana and we look forward to better days under the Better Ghana Agenda.


p/s: the next time you see Agya Atta with a Smartphone, I bet you are sure he has go Ghana covered.

GHANA- A DEVELOPING AFRICAN TIGER AND THE ENERGY NEXUS

The Mills administration added 376 Megawatts of Power supply to the National Grid in 3 years and have so far connected 1,700 communities to electricity supply. This has significantly increased the load on the Volta River Authority [VRA]and the Independent Power Providers [IPP] to meet the rather growing volume of supply without any power reserve system, more like a hand-to-mouth kind of employment scenario. We consume all that we generate and even have huge shortages due to the absence of power reserve systems that can act as buffer stock anytime there is shortage in generation and supply.
The greater the demand, the supply falls, according to basic economic principles and the market forces fix the price. We cannot pay full cost for electricity and what we need to do as a nation is to invest heavily into power supply and a sustainable distribution system.
In Accra alone, 30 new power substations have been completed to ensure that the capacity of expanding communities are catered for. Gas supply to the Asogli Plnat remains a challenge and until a permanent solution is found to that, we will still experience such intermittent power outages.
The Bui Dam project will open the first turbine by September this year if all works according to plan and this will significantly improve supply.
President Mills returned from the USA recently with a 2nd Compact of the Millennium Challenge Account which is to be invested into energy generation and supply.
According to Prof. Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf in her Inaugural lecture delivered on September 16, 2004 at the University of Ghana, she posits that per capita energy consumption in Africa accounts for only 26.8 while China alone is 38. with the USA hitting 334. I am afraid our economic growth as a nation would be retarded if we do not find a permanent solution or near permanent one to our energy needs. In her Book, "Energy and the development Nexus-The realities, Challenges and Opportunities for the Future", Prof. E Ardafio-Schandorf argues, "..without access to energy, and opportunity to formal education and good health, the well-being of many people in developing countries and Africa remains doubtful".
As we debate, there are hospitals without power supply not to mention the high cost of energy supply and consumption even by MMDAs.
That is a major challenge uncorrelated to what government wins power or not. It is a real challenge we must deal with as a nation. Meanwhile President Mills continues to win the hearts of many people including market women with the successes we have chalked up under his leadership in a better Ghana in spite of the challenges.

FDB AND THE BATTLE FOR GHANA'S SURVIVAL

I must commend the Food and Drugs Board [FDB] of Ghana, under the leadership of Dr. Opuni, for the seriousness the agency has attached to the fight against the importation, distribution and use of counterfeit drugs, unwholesome and expired food substances since he assumed office under the Mills-led administration.

The FDB has been down to business in going after unscrupulous individuals and importers whose profiteering activities largely imperil the lives of our people in the long run. There have been reports of the upsurge of cancer cases and other deadly organ complications in our hospitals across the country traceable to the ingestion of semi poisonous substances that wreck these critical organs of the body over time.

The FDB had been on active on the storage of food substances and drugs in the warehouses of importers and manufactures and in keeping the players of the industry on their toes, the agency conducts periodic inspections and visits in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Boards and the Security agencies to the sites of these operators. These rounds have achieved much result with the impounding of some food products and their subsequent destruction and the arrest of owners of these products and warehouses.
Since the beginning of the year, Dr. Opuni and his hardworking team have been ahead of those who wished to swindle consumers and the state as regards their nefarious operations aimed at nothing but generating ill-gotten wealth and have accordingly arrested a number of business operators who flaunt provisions of the provisions of the Food and Drugs Law, 1992 (PNDC L 305B).

Impounded fake food products since January 2012 include Hord’s Cocoa Powder, imported and distributed by Buchberger Enterprise located at Batsonaa on the Spintex Road; assorted fake alcoholic beverages, gallons of flavourings, labels belonging to Multi Giant Ventures. Multi Giant Ventures is said to belong to one George Kofi Asomani who is also the distributor of some local alcoholic beverages including Agya Appiah Bitters, Ohene Ba KasempaAbe Nsuo Gin and Baron Captain’s Dry Gin.
The FDB further reveals that this same company has produced fake J.H Henke’s Schnapps, J.H Captain’s schnapps, Castle Bridge London Dry Gin and had been distributing these products on the Ghanaian market until he was busted. Upon his arrest, fifteen [15] bottles of fake Hennessy Cognac (a product of France0 was also found in his bedroom where the alcoholic beverages were produced.

A press statement released by Mr.Kofi Essel, Head of Food Inspectorate Division of the FDB on Thursday March 1, 2012 cautioned producers of salt that the board is set to deal ruthlessly with all those who violate the FDB Law of 1996 which makes it mandatory for salt to be iodized before consumption.

The unsuspecting public would not have known these facts and these products if Dr. Opuni and his men had not taken the fight to the homes, workplaces and warehouses of these unscrupulous manufacturers, importers and distributors, of course, with great cooperation from the public. One wonders how many patrons of these products in the past have not been adversely affected by what they have consumed with the manifestation lurking to take a toll on their health.

It is in the light of this danger that all and sundry must support the work of the Food and Drugs Board to enable them protect consumers and to guarantee healthier lifestyles of the good people of Ghana. In view of the fact that a majority of the population is still illiterate and rural dwellers, more is expected of Dr. Opuni and his team to reach out to our brothers and sisters out there with much education and exposures they make so that these companies, producers and distributors do not come up with ways of sneaking these fake products into the rural areas where they are most likely to exploit the ignorance of the masses.

It is my opinion that the FDB must introduce a policy via their Public Affairs outfit to publish full list of items whose expiry dates are due two months ahead of date so the public could be on red alert for these products. This will also offer some time for people outside the catchment areas of the major towns and cities to get the news ahead of time so they do not patronise these products upon expiry.

Our media houses must also spend time discussing such issues that directly affect the health of the citizenry to educate them enough on the features one should look out for on these fake products and accordingly report them to the outlets of the Food and Drugs Board for prompt action.

The delay in prosecuting manufacturers, importers and distributors who fall foul of the law is another major problem that must be addressed. Many of these cases take months if not years to discharge. The courts must be seen to be actively involved in dealing with such issues for the public to appreciate the seriousness of these crimes.

The Food and Drugs Board could also consider the possibility of exploring the inventions of Mr. Bright Simons to the best advantage of the board and the good people of Ghana. Bright Simons runs a company Mpedigree Network which uses mobile phone technology to check the authenticity of some anti-malaria products in Ghana and in Nigeria. It would be a major boost if that system is applicable to local food and drugs in Ghana and would support the efforts and reduce the cost for the FDB in clamping down on these unscrupulous manufacturers and producers.

I congratulate Dr. Opuni and the Food and Drugs Board for the successes they have chalked up for the good people of Ghana since he assumed office and I wish to encourage the public to be interested in the quality and source of the food and drug products they consume by day. This is crucial as a safety measure to protect ourselves from the vampires of businesses whose only interest is to male money at the expense of the consumer.

The Food and Drugs Board has over the period published these telephone numbers, 0244337235, 0244337251 and 0244337243 for the public to contact the agency with information on matters relating to the safety and security of Food and Drugs in Ghana. It would help our generation a lot if Dr. Opuni engages more on the activities of the FDB on social media like twitter, facebook, Google+ among others to reach out to the youth with sensitization, alerts and public information on their activities for on the spot references by the click of a button on our mobile phones and tablets.

God Bless our Homeland Ghana.

God Bless a Better Ghana.

About Ghana...

‎"The 2010 road condition mix improved over the 2009 level. The improvement was largely due to the improvement in the proportion in good condition. The proportion of roads maintained or rehabilitated also increased from 35% in 2009 to 50% in 2010. This increase was due to the increase in the routine maintenane activities on trunk roads. The performance of rail transport in 2010 showed an upward trend in both passenger traffic and goods traffic, while overall maritime cargo (in tonnes) and container traffic continued to show a decline in 2010. On the other hand, total air freight and number of air traffic continue to increase, except the number of domestic air passengers which decreased". [Implementaion of the Ghana Shared Growth And Development Agenda -GSGDA- 2010-2013@ page xix]