Okay, so here I am again … Ghana’s been good so far. I’ve noticed the boom in the sale of alcohol, with adverts all over the place etc … kasapreko drinks – kasapak drinks, alcoholic atadwe milk and its variations etc. When I see the volume of these ads etc, I can’t help but think of the plight of Native Americans and Aborigines in Australia, and how alcohol and gambling have taken the place of survival concerns like food, education, health care etc. Very often a case of priorities being mixed up in the midst of bigger problems.
I was just looking through past writings – Ogyakromian Chronicles, and one issue that’s always been constant is our roads, the accidents etc… This time around, I see some work being done (perpetually, since Adam) on the stretch from the Adenta Barrier to Tetteh Quarshie through Madina and Legon. We’re all waiting for that main artery to be completed. One thing I’ve been curious about is how we build roads without sidewalks. Interesting, isn’t it? It just dawned on me that that explains how in many places on my beloved continent, we all share the same road space – cars, motors, bicycles, people – adults and children alike, goats, sheep, etc. Urban planning ooh, urban planning! It’s so common to see cars driving in the wrong lanes as they overtake, because their proper side of the road is ‘infested’ potholes. A forward-looking government will find students interested in urban planning, sift those who show great potential, and train them thoroughly and using them, set up a task force that will start looking to solve some of these age-old problems. Fresh ideas – fresh talent – fresh skills are what we need, guided by old wisdom! You get the older ones to teach the younger ones their mistakes, and then get the younger ones to carve out new solutions. It may sound utopian, but we have to acknowledge and make use of old wisdom and combine that with fresh new ideas etc. Our MBA mentality (me baa ha akye) doesn’t help us one bit, but we can find the few who are willing to contribute to national development through such an arrangement.
We have an upcoming holiday on July 1st. you know how we “Ghananians” and our African siblings loove holidays. We take the slightest opportunity to enjoy a day away from work, and yet, on the days we’re supposed to be working, we show up late, take a long lunch break, come back and take personal phone calls on the job, have friends visit, and then close early, and postpone doing the work to the following day. Ei! How will we make progress if nothing is more precious to us, than these ‘awam’ holidays? Hmm. Productivity is the opportunity cost here, and I tell you, we may not see it, but the price we pay for holidays is high.
Talking about people taking personal phone calls on the job – honestly, it annoys the living daylights out of me. It is so unprofessional, and sadly, workers at all levels – big bosses (big fish), medium fish and little fish all do it, and make excuses for it. Take these same people to the U.S. or other ‘western’ country, and they will learn to silence their phones and take only emergency calls. So why do we disrespect ourselves like that? It’s amazing that anybody I’ve mentioned this pet peeve to, makes excuses – ooh, but everybody does it; well, there’s no law or policy against it, etc etc etc. Royal nonsense!!! Absolute nonsense! Are you there to do the work or to carry on with personal business? At least put it on vibrate or something … you don’t interrupt your delivery of services with a loong, loud and annoying ringtone in order to chit chat with your girlfriend who is asking what you’re doing after work, and if you wanna go to Game to look around. You see, this is what I am trying to tackle through my research, and making a case for “conscientizing” the employee across sectors – public, private and nonprofit. Unless it’s an official phone used for work, make your use of it as discreet as possible.
Well, this is also what happens when you have few landlines and cell phones are the most commonly used options. I remember having a discussion with a friend sometime back about how Africa and the global south is trying to move from crawling to flying, without wanting to go through the growing pains. Yes, we all agree that cell phone make people more connected – more than ever before. Thank God for that. We have issues with landlines and the interruption in service when the illegal owners comes for their thing (yes indeed, thieves steel electricity and phone cables), or when it rains and lines get torn (yes, that’s exactly what I said – “torn.” Only in … you-know-where). We still need to have the option of landlines as a basic across the board and not become complacent mainly because people have easier access to cell phones. This is one of the reasons why I strongly believe in national enterprises (call me a socialist … who cares? Yes, I love the likes of Julius Nyerere). I believe that entities like Ghana Commercial Bank, Ghana Telecom and other state-owned utility firms have a social responsibility to serve as a cushion for the people who can’t survive in the corporately-run world. If the focus is on producing a public service, and producing it efficiently and effectively (2 words that are thrown around so often that I get nervous using them, but for lack of better, widely-understood options, gotta use ‘em.). I believe that such enterprises have a role to play, and that role must not be sacrificed as part of generic privatization efforts. Anyway … moving right along before I return to the topic of our unrealistic leap from hydroelectric power to nuclear energy. Tweaa. Moving right along … …
There are a few more interesting topics, so lemme get off that one … … The last couple of weeks brought about the G8 meeting and our royal African ‘beggars’ (forgive my use of such a dishonorable word, but I’m sticking to it) who showed up shamelessly to tell the big boys in the yard to deliver their promised aid. Okay, I have serious issues with that one. First of all, we have no shame in continually begging for aid and make little or no effort to help ourselves. Our leaders plan with aid in mind, and I don’t know how anyone can convince me that that is a healthy position to adopt. We keep getting aid, and can’t account for most of it, or get trapped in all sorts of arrangements that ultimately work against us. SeriouslyE Are we saying, with all our African ‘glory’ that unless we get handouts we cannot or will not move forward? Here’s how I see it … because of the track record of African nations getting aid and not being able to account for it, more often than not, we’re slapped with conditions we have to keep, often to our detriment. Our markets are pried … no, let’s say forced open (forgive the graphic picture here, but it conjures the image of rape), and we’re basically made to accept conditions that will help us create a market for foreign goods, putting our industries etc out of business. If we’re always begging, of course, others will continually tell us what to do, how to do it etc… Why do we keep showing up at these G8 meetings (and we’re especially happy that the big boys found us worthy and invited us to come and sit to listen to their deliberations. Hmm…
I tell you, we can seriously do without some of their help oh – cut down on the amount of money that sinks into political pockets; reduce the number of people in the political entourages who travel the globe like crazy, living in plush hotels etc, at the expense of the rest of taxpayers; cut down on the money wasted in ceremonial events – where we use $20 mil to celebrate, I tell you, we can use less for celebrations and then channel the rest into other areas, cut down on the ‘fringe benefits’, and let’s channel the money where it’s needed the most. Talking about our ‘bloc’ representation at the G8 meeting brings up the issue of regionalism.
I believe in regionalism and believe it’s one avenue that has great potential to move us forward. The regional blocs – ECOWAS, COMESA, SADC etc. can be key ways of gaining leverage on the world market. Imagine that Ghana and La Côte D’Ivoire decide to sell cocoa together – 50-50 contribution to vie for one price (details to be ironed out). If they agree on a price, and manipulate economies of scale to their advantage (locally), they can influence the pricing of cocoa more, so that other nations will not have options when it comes to prices – they can’t pit one nation against the other, or flee from one to the other, if they’re selling at the same price. Don’t ask me how the minor details of it will work – perhaps a forward-looking economist can answer that, but from the little I see and know, this would be a much better option. I see the relative strength of the CFA and the Dinar, and I am encouraged that perhaps the ECO will bring some currency stability to the region. For those who don’t know, the Eco is the proposed West African common currency. I believe it may be a very good thing for the region. Most often, people cite potential problems resulting from socio-economic and political globalization such as the spread of crime and conflicts across borders etc … a bullet we must bite. The advantages may outweigh the disadvantages, so we must forge ahead and deal with the change that comes with being a regional bloc.
Talking about crime, it is scary, how armed robberies have spiked. Gone are the days when you saw a thief and all you had to do was shout “e djulor ee!!” and people would come to your rescue. In those days, the thieves were the ones scared of alarms and instant justice would have dealt with them on the spot! I remember that some years back, in Ashaley Botwe, some truly brave thieves decided to steal goats. They lined corn or so up from the animals’ pen aah to the car, and they sat and watched as the animals ate aah and came close enough till they could trap them. After capturing about 3 of them, they started driving off when someone raised the alarm. Oh boy, I was there, and can’t tell you how serious and bloody our local instant justice system was. They were caught and severely beaten, some advocated burning them, but that was eliminated from out list of options, and they were taken to the Madina Police Station. Needless to say that at least one died by the time they got to the station. I remember the toli from Awudome, that thieves would be burnt alive, etc, when caught. In those days, right was might, until guns spilled on to our streets, and might became right. Now the thieves are brazen killers with guns, who frighten people with the guns, so there’s often no need for calling for help. Besides catching and prosecuting offenders, I’d like to see more proactive measures from the police service – asking people to turn guns in for rewards is one option. Some kind of gun control measures are needed oh, before things get out of hand. We don’t want our cities to become like Lagos, Nairobi and other ‘scary’ places. I used to feel so comfortable walking around aah, but ridee, I tread cautiously paa. The stories of people being robbed at gunpoint is a little too common/frequent for my liking. And then also, there are the issues of the police embroiled in all these cocaine affairs. Lord help us! This is why I advocate Civil Service Reform that focuses on HR. Reforming our police service, and entire civil service organ by focusing on HR – not on mechanics, but on the people behind everything!
Talking about our criminal justice stystem brings somebody to mind - Chief Justice Georgina Woode. I’m proud of her! I’m sure the challenges ahead of her – resistance from men etc. will not be easy kraa, but she is a beacon of hope – that women can be chosen for higher positions based on merit. Hope she excels! Kudos to her.
Ooh! I forgot - Aljazeera network via Metro TV is alive and well. There is some variety in our channel line up (GTV, TV3, Metro, TV Africa) ‘cos Metro brings us Aljazeera, while TV3 or GTV brings us Deutsche Welle at certain set times of the day. That helps to give a more balanced helping of the news. I would like to see more support going to stations such as TV Africa, who try to be the positive and ‘conscious’ option among all the others. I have seen all sorts of versions of European and American game and reality shows, and frankly, I’m sick of them. … Mentor, West African Idol, Deal Or No Deal etc etc…
Well, not much else to say. I’ll end here and start preparing for my trip to the Pearl of Africa – Idi Amin contry – Uganda. I have a conference there, and will be there for about a week or so. Will keep you posted! ... ...
PS. The news of Ghana oil broke while I was in Uganda. On my way back to Ogyakrom. Stay tuned for news from Uganda, and for more juice on the oil story as I catch up with local affairs back home. Enjoy ... ...
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