Wednesday, April 30, 2008

AGENDA FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

ELECTION 2008 marks the defining moment for Ghana's democracy. Indeed, some people are calling the December 7 elections the battle of the “Champion of Champions” because they are likely to define the strength of the two major political parties in the country, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
By the end of the tenure of the present NPP administration, it would have done two terms just as the NDC did from 1993 to 2001. So the two go into the contest having served Ghanaians two terms each, and, ordinarily, this should provide the electorate enough opportunity for objective and informed comparison.
But there are other political players who are staking their claim to the ultimate in the elections, the Presidency. The Convention People’s Party (CPP) is fast rebranding itself in order to appeal to the electorate, whereas the People’s National Convention (PNC) is also repackaging its message to win back so-called prodigal Nkrumaists. The Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) has also hit the road selling its message.
Some independent presidential candidates have also declared their intention to run for the highest office of the land.
For now, it is just a struggle for the high office and the role of the media in getting the Presidential hopefuls to address the concerns of the people is just as paramount as the outcome of Election 2008.
The media have to complement the efforts of the Electoral Commission as the umpire of Election 2008 so that the players will abide by the rules of the game and avoid any confusion arising out of a dispute over the election results.
Left on their own, some politicians will raise issues they know are unachievable within our Ghanaian context just to win power. It is even said that politicians are the same because they promise to build bridges over non-existent rivers.
It is in this context that every Ghanaian must support the call by Dr Kofi Amoah, a Ghanaian entrepreneur, on all Ghanaians to put presidential candidates to task by asking them questions on real issues. According to him, having survived four successful elections, Ghana is now well placed to engage in mature and issue-related politics.
Sometimes, in their frenzy to win people to their side, political parties talk about issues that are out of tune with current realities. However, they manage to convince or mislead the people to vote for them, and while in power put a spin on their promises and output in order to look good in the eyes of the electorate.
If Ghana is to demonstrate to the whole world that we are maturing in our democratic dispensation, then the present electioneering offers that opportunity to showcase our maturity and grip of the issues that will catapult us into the group of success stories on the continent.
The Daily Graphic urges the electorate to reject those who would promise them heaven but preach violence and rather rally behind political parties whose messages offer hope and a positive outlook for the country.
There is no doubt that 16 years into democratic practice, Ghanaians have rejected the path of arbitrariness and dictatorship in favour of participatory democracy.
The Daily Graphic believes that Election 2008 can get better than the previous ones but that can only be attained if all the interest groups — political parties, the media, the EC and the electorate — play by the rules.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

HEADING FOR CASHLESS SOCIETY

THE national electronic payment system, popularly called e-zwich, was launched in Accra yesterday by President John Agyekum Kufuor.
The new payment system is a biometrics smart card which works both online and off-line and is meant to ensure cashless transactions.
The e-zwich links the payment systems of all licensed banks and non-banking financial institutions, for example, savings and loans companies, credit unions, money transfer institutions and rural banks, in the country.
The card can also be used to perform other banking and retail functions that include cash withdrawals, payment for goods and services, money transfer, salary and wage payments and making bill payment from any e-zwich point of sale (POS) or ATMS across the country.
This innovative system to enhance business transactions is commendable and the DAILY GRAPHIC hopes that the e-zwich will not be affected by the common national malice of frustrating the implementation for personal gain, as is the case with many good initiatives launched in the past.
Many good programmes launched in the past, such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Metro Mass Transit, the Ghana School Feeding Programme and the Capitation Grant, meant to speed up the national development agenda are still bedevilled with bottlenecks because of man-made problems.
As President Kufuor said, it is our expectation that the e-zwich will help “small and medium-scale businesses and those involved in micro-credit transactions to take advantage of this new platform to be linked to the financial system aso as to benefit from the various services that the financial sector can offer”.
Presently, a large section of our population does not patronise our banking system and consequently large sums of cash are held up outside the banking system, thereby placing such money at the mercy of burglaries, fire and floods.
In a bid to mop up excess liquidity and make transactions more friendly, the Bank of Ghana last year introduced the new Ghana cedi. The introduction of the new currency has reduced considerably the burden of carrying large sums of money to effect payment and perform other forms of business.
However, its introduction has not led to a cashless business environment as pertains in most advanced countries.
Hopefully, this latest innovation will guarantee the lifespan of the notes and bring about transparency in the physical market as far as payments are concerned. Some members of the business community continue to handle our money in very non-conventional ways. They deface the notes with oil and other chemicals, giving them a very awful scent.
The DAILY GRAPHIC recalls with pain the fraud that has bedevilled government payrolls.
Some time in the 1980s, the government introduced the policy where all government institutions and parastatals were asked to channel the salaries of their employees through the banks in an effort to reduce fraud, especially the one linked to ‘ghost’ workers.
Unfortunately, the country continues to search for a solution to the over-bloated payroll system of government institutions.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, hopes that the e-zwich will prove useful in sanitising the country's financial system and bring credibility to the payroll system of the Controller and Accountant-General's Department.
It is also our wish that this new system will lead to a situation where our banking halls will no longer intimidate ordinary people but provide the congenial setting for easy access to financial services.

Monday, April 28, 2008

LET'S LOOK AT OUR CONSTITUTION

ONCE again the need for the creation of additional regions has come up for discussion between the government and our traditional leaders.
Responding to a request made by the chiefs and people of the Gonja Traditional Area for the creation of another region out of the existing Northern Region, President J. A. Kufuor hinted that soon there would be the need to create a new region in the northern part of Ghana to enhance development and the decentralisation process.
The chiefs and people of the northern part of the Volta Region have also made a request for the creation of a region for northern Volta. Some chiefs in the Brong Ahafo Region have made a similar request.
It appears that the interest being demonstrated by our traditional leaders and, indeed, the people is an indication that the decentralisation process is positively affecting the development process throughout the country.
Unfortunately, it is difficult for the government to respond to these demands because of the constitutional challenges. The provisions for the creation of new regions are quite complex and entrenched. New regions can only be created after the conduct of a referendum.
Sixteen years into the practice of the new democratic dispensation, we have realised that some of the entrenched provisions have created bottlenecks in our efforts to speed up the development process and entrench democratic values.
For some time now a section of society has believed that the only way to push the frontiers of our democracy forward is for district chief executives to be elected through universal adult suffrage so that they become accountable to the people. It is also an attempt to dilute central government interference in the running of district Assemblies to ensure that the people take over the ownership of the districts and determine their own development agenda.
Another operational difficulty arising out of the entrenched provisions in the Constitution is the appointment of majority of ministers from Parliament. This provision creates problems for the true functioning of the Executive and the Legislature as two separate bodies, with the Legislature acting as the bulwark against abuse of Executive powers.
It is in this vein that we endorse the suggestion by some parliamentarians and statesmen that we undertake an assessment of our Constitution and collate views on entrenched provisions that require amendment for the proper functioning of the democratic order. This way, all these provisions could be put together as one question which could be posed alongside the ballots for presidential and parliamentary elections in future in order to reduce cost.
The process of amending an entrenched provision, as pertains presently in our Constitution, is very cumbersome and may impact heavily on our national kitty.
Although the Constitution empowers the President to create a new region after receiving a petition to that effect or not, the President must first seek the advice of the Council of State and, based on that, appoint a Commission of Enquiry to look into the demand. Based on the recommendations that there is a strong case for a new region, the President is expected to task the Electoral Commission to conduct a referendum on the matter.
But that is not the major headache. The “Catch 22” can be found in Article 6 of the Constitution, which says that “An issue referred for determination by referendum under clauses (4) and (5) shall not be taken to have been determined by the referendum, unless at least 50 per cent of the persons entitled to vote cast their votes at the referendum, and of the votes cast at least 80 per cent were cast in favour of that issue”.
The Daily Graphic believes that in spite of the complex and expensive nature of the amendment of this provision, the general feeling is that our Constitution has come of age and some of the provisions, whether entrenched or not, must be amended to make our democratic practice more functional.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

BAD CONTRACTORS KILLING US

THE decision by the Ministry of Transportation to sanction engineers of the various departments under the ministry who endorse the certificates of contractors who undertake shoddy jobs must be a bold one, although it has come a bit late in the day. But, as it is said, the decision is better late than never.
It is the expectation of taxpayers, particularly road users, that Dr Richard Anane, the sector Minister, will be able to muster the courage and deal with this canker that has become a big drain on the national economy.
Oftentimes, our political leaders are able to identify the bane of our underdevelopment but they lack the will power to deal with the rot in the system. Consequently, such directives end up being mere rhetoric lacking in substance to address the development challenges confronting the country.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration has made infrastructure development one of the drivers of its development objectives. For this reason, a lot of taxpayers’ money, with assistance from donors, is being channelled into the road sector.
Through this effort, all major roads leading to the capital city are being rehabilitated, while roads in the countryside are also receiving attention, to make the movement of goods and services to the marketing centres more convenient.
But the drawback to these positive developments is the habit of some road contractors to engage in shoddy work. The evidence of these shoddy works done by some unscrupulous contractors is common in all parts of the country.
Bitumen surfaces start developing potholes sometimes within one month or following any rainfall after the projects have been certified by our engineers.
Those who use such roads wonder about the competencies of our engineers in certifying the works as having met engineering standards.
One other reason this canker is eating deep into the fabric of our road contractors is the lack of supervision by the supervising agencies or connivance of engineers with road contractors to make profit at the expense of the state for personal gain.
But, as the Minister of Transportation takes steps to introduce sanity into the activities of road contractors, it will be worthwhile to look at the claim by some contractors that kickbacks demanded by technocrats and, in some cases, politicians, reduce their ability to work to specifications and provide quality roads.
This is a major problem facing the award of contracts in the public service and the solution lies in concerted efforts by the government and anti-corruption agencies like the Public Procurement Authority to deal with all obstacles that inhibit the thorough execution of government contracts.
The DAILY GRAPHIC has no doubt about the capabilities of the Transportation Minister, but in a country where we are unable to walk the talk, the people will receive the directive with skepticism unless the axe begins to fall on incompetent road contractors and their collaborators at the Ghana Highway Authority, the Department of Urban Roads and the Feeder Roads Department.
Indeed, all Ghanaians share in the concern of the Transportation Minister that “the government cannot afford to waste the tax-payers’ money on unsatisfactory works of unpatriotic road contractors”.
Yet the ball is in the court of the minister and we expect him to act decisively to sanitise the road construction industry to make travelling by road a pleasurable endeavour and also halt the carnage on the roads caused by poor engineering works.
Dr Anane, we look up to you for the first axe to fall pretty soon to send a clear signal to all that a new dispensation has dawned and that the undesirable elements in the road sector will no longer have their way.

Friday, April 25, 2008

LET'S COPE WITH SITUATION

THE price of crude oil was yesterday quoted at $118 per barrel, the highest ever, sending shock waves down the spines of operators of financial markets across the world.
The heat being generated by the financial crisis in the West, coupled with the high prices of food and crude oil, threatens the economies of most countries in the developing world.
Already, there is civil strife in some countries as a result of the high food and crude oil prices because individual budgets cannot cope with the worsening economic challenges.
Although the level of the challenges is not the same across the globe, all countries are at their wits’ end trying to come to terms with the harsh realities of our times.
In Ghana, the government has called for sacrifices from the people in order to deal with the instability on the economic front.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, who made the call, noted that the rising crude oil prices were fast draining the government's foreign reserves and gradually eroding the macro-economic gains chalked up over the years.
The government has managed, over the last few years, to tame inflation and reduce interest rates drastically, while maintaining the value of the cedi against all the major currencies. But whether the trend can be sustained in the face of the economic difficulties cannot be guaranteed.
The disclosure by the minister that the high prices of crude oil had forced the government to resort to borrowing, both locally and internationally, to be able to continue to buy oil must be worrying, for we all know the spiral effects of borrowing on macro-economic stability.
This practice in the past led to the high cost of money in the market, galloping inflation and the falling value of the cedi. These also led to an over-heated economy and the private sector was crowded out of business.
Presently, the government faces a dilemma in trying to maintain a balance between the constant supply of goods and services and how to make those services available to the people during these challenging times.
We find ourselves in a very tight corner now with regard to the rising cost of crude oil because the prices of petroleum products dictate living conditions in the country. Any rise in the ex-pump price of petroleum products affects the prices of goods and services and, thereby, aggravate living conditions in the country.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that our present circumstances call for open debate of the options available to us to deal with the worsening economic situation in the world.
If the options do not include a reduction in the taxes on petroleum products to ease the burden on the people, then the government must engage all interested groups in the debate to find other alternatives to make life worth living for the people.
So far, we have been spared the mass agitation that greeted the rising cost of living in other countries. The people are also feeling the pinch but they have decided to endure it, in the hope that some solutions can be found.
It is our hope that the government will reciprocate the demonstration of goodwill by the people by coming up with pragmatic policies to deal with the economic difficulties and also ensure that the economic gains so far chalked up are not eroded. We should encourage our people to depend on local food crops as a major step towards cutting down on food imports.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on the government to come up with the options in a transparent and open manner by seeking the input of civil society groups, political parties, employers and, indeed, all Ghanaians in fashioning out an antidote to the worsening economic situation.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

WHO SHOULD PARTNER NANA ADDO? (PAGE 16)

Asks Kodwo Sakyi Oppong

WITH the dust settled on the choice of running mate for the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), all attention will now be focused on the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as the December 7 elections draw near.
As is to be expected, some names have been making the rounds since Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo put the gruelling task of winning the presidential nomination behind him in December last year and the topic among the chattering classes of Danquah-Busia followers is the question of who will emerge as the best choice on Nana's ticket.
So far, a number of personalities, including Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, a member of the Council of State; Ms Joyce Aryee, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines; Hajia Alima Mahama, the MP for Nalerigu and Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, and Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, have emerged.
Others include Lepowura Nurudeen Jawula, the Chief Director of the Health Ministry; Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, the Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister; Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, the Northern Regional Minister; Mr Rashid Bawa, Ghana’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the President of the ECOWAS Commission and former Deputy Minister of Education and Foreign Affairs in the NDC regime.
Generally, running mates are chosen because they possess qualities that the presidential candidate lacks or they represent political or geographical constituencies which the candidate finds difficult to appeal to. This is known as 'balancing the ticket'.
Balancing the ticket can also be a useful way to heal any wounds caused by a divisive primary campaign. Occasionally, however, a presidential candidate picks a running mate who reinforces his perceived strengths.
So what special qualities will each of the personalities bring to a Nana Akufo-Addo ticket or what qualities will he consider in choosing whoever will partner him for the critical December 7 poll?
MRS GIFTY AFFENYI-DADZIE: A journalist, businesswoman and God-centred member of the Council of State will bring to the table impeccable integrity.
She is hardworking, and it was during her tenure as President of the Ghana Journalists Association that she rallied the establishment to build the famous Accra International Press Centre.
She has, however, not held any high political office and she also has no real 'constituency' in terms of politics. But as the Prayer Director of the Women’s Aglow International, she has a big base in the Christian community.
Ms Joyce Aryee: Also a charismatic Christian, has great integrity and is the founder and executive director of Salt & Light Ministries, a Christian, para-church organisation in the country. She is not only the first woman to head the Ghanaian Chamber but the first in Africa as a whole. A graduate of the University of Ghana, Ms Aryee is an experienced scriptwriter. Her specialities are primarily in the fields of environmental management, public relations and the complete development of people. She is also a trainer in leadership skills.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Relations, has edited an educational magazine and is a contributing editor of a leading business publication in Ghana.
Ms Aryee served nine years as a minister, both of Information and Education, in the PNDC regime. She is currently the Chairperson of the UN Global Compact Subcommittee on Environment in Ghana, Vice-President of the Ghana Employers' Association, among other portfolios.
What does not seem to favour Ms Aryee is her lack of a 'constituency' to test her popularity. Nonetheless, her tenure as Minister of Education was one period when there was calm in the educational sector because of the tactful way she dealt with the needs of teachers and educational workers.
Hajia Alima Mahama: A lawyer by profession, hails from Nalerigu. She is the MP for the Nalerigu/Gambaga Constituency and an Old Girl of Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape Coast. She was born at Walewale in the Northern Region.
Hajia Mahama served as Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development from May 2001 to April 2003. She was also the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry from May 2003 to January 2005, before being appointed Minister of Women and Children's Affairs.
She is intelligent, popular and very much liked in the three northern regions. She has, however, not had a long enough exposure in politics.
Mrs oboshie Sai Cofie: She is a Ga from La and daughter of a prominent figure of the party, Prof. Fred Torgbor Sai. She is a successful communications practitioner who put her expertise to the service of the party in the 2000 elections..
She held various positions in government, topping it up with the Information Minister portfolio.
But like Gifty and Joyce, she has no real 'constituency' to test her popularity but the GaDangmes and gender activists would welcome a gesture from Nana Addo to make her his running mate.
Lepowura Jawula: Even though has always been in the Public Service (he has worked at the Finance Ministry, Ports and Railways before his present posting to the Health Ministry), is more famous in football circles where he served as the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association between 1997 and 2003. It was during his tenure that the Under-20 team won the African Championship in Accra while Hearts also won the Africa Champions Cup.
He has a powerful personality but is hardly known in political circles. Moreover, with the Constitution barring chiefs from active participation in politics, it will be difficult to see how the Lepowura can still remain a chief and dabble in politics.
Alhaji boniface: He has had a clean run in all the portfolios he has served in under President Kufuor. His records as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (as it was then), Deputy Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City (as it was then), Minister of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment and now Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing “are par excellent”, he pointed out, arguing that only a few people would have the kind of round experience that he had had over the last seven years, with the last three years being spent as a member of Cabinet.
He was appointed the Northern Regional Minister in 2005, by far the most complicated region to administer because of its sheer size and ethnic differences and conflict. It is yet to be seen whether his geographical appeal will go beyond the north.
Alhaji Idris: He is a strong member of the party and a graduate of the University of Ghana. He is a member of Vikings, the old students of the Mensah Sarbah Hall of the university. He was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the inception of the NPP regime and later Minister of Works and Housing.
Alhaji Idris is a former MP for the defunct Gukpegu-Sabongida Constituency in Tamale before three new constituencies were created. He later lost the Tamale South seat to Haruna Iddrisu, the NDC Youth Organiser, and subsequently lost his ministerial portfolio after the 2004 polls.
He was recalled to the Northern Region as minister after last year's ministerial reshuffle. Prior to that, he was Chairman of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
He is considered affable but one wonders how the Dagbon crisis will play out in case he pairs Nana Addo for the December polls.
Rashid Bawa: He is an outgoing, proactive, goal-oriented, affable and hardworking person. He was born at Kadjebi in the Volta Region on January 6, 1959.
Mr Bawa schooled at the Kadjebi-Asato Secondary School for both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level certificates, leaving the school in 1982 for the University of Ghana where he obtained a BA (Hons) in 1986.
He enrolled at the Ghana School of Law and graduated in 1988. Mr Bawa has worked in various capacities as Legal Adviser, Ga District Assembly; Legal Officer of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust (NPART). He also worked as Secretary and Head of NPART at various times.
In 2000, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Akan as an independent candidate. During the period that he was MP, he was a member of the ECOWAS Parliament and also a member of the Public Accounts, Business and Communications Committee of Parliament.
Mr Bawa stood on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2004 but lost. He has served as Deputy Minister and Minister of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and during the period he worked with the Bid Committee to ensure that Ghana won the right to host the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
Presently, Mr Bawa is the nation’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with concurrent accreditation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, the State of Qatar, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen and the State of Kuwait.
He is an affable person, with a big influence in the Muslim communities, particularly the Zongo areas.
DR IBN Chambas: A gentleman's gentleman, has got very rich credentials which easily make him the front-runner in the race for Nana Addo's running mate. A former NDC MP for Bimbilla in the Northern Region, media reports indicate that Dr Chambas is a card-bearing member of the NPP — a decision he personally took after being recommended by President Kufuor for the high office of Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission about seven years ago. And, clearly, that further strengthens his chances.
He was appointed President of the ECOWAS Commission by the Authority of African Heads of State and Government in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 14, 2006, when the sub-regional body was reformed.
As Chief Executive Officer of the 15 member West African regional organisation, Dr. Chambas has successfully positioned ECOWAS as a model regional organisation in Africa due to its accomplishments in the resolution of the conflicts in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Togo. He has increased the profile of the organisation internationally and forged beneficial relations between it and developments partners such as the United Nations, the European Union, The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and numerous donor countries. Also, the relationship between ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) Commission has grown stronger under his tenure.
Dr Chambas first entered Government in 1987 as Deputy Foreign Minister. As Deputy Foreign Minister, he was a member of the Head of State's summit delegations to a number of countries such as the United States of America, China, United Kingdom, France, Malaysia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, etc. He also led Ghana's delegation to several countries and conferences including the United Nations General Assembly, ministerial meetings of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African Sates (ECOWAS), the Movement of the Non-Aligned Countries (NAM), the Commonwealth, etc.
Dr Chambas, 57, has his rich experience in international relations and skills in negotiations and conflict resolution.
Born on December 7, 1950, Dr Chambas is a lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic who commands a lot of respect among a large number of Muslim leaders and has a huge reputation that cuts across nearly all ethnic divides in the country.
A former student leader, he attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, and the Government Secondary School, Tamale. He holds degrees in Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon, (B.A. 1973) and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, PhD (1980). He also has a law degree from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Between April 1997 and December 2000, he was the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education.
His skills in negotiations and conflict resolution clearly manifested themselves in the manner in which he handled volatile student protests and industrial disputes involving university and polytechnic teachers and other staff members.
Dr Chambas, a Muslim, is married. His hobbies are soccer and horse riding.
So, really, what qualities should Nana Addo be looking for? What qualities are important in choosing a running mate? Should he play the gender card because the NDC messed up with the choice of Betty Mould-Iddrisu? Should he go for a Muslim because that seems to be the tradition of the party? Just what should he do?
For me, the most essential qualities are: ONE: A patently obvious ability to handle the job of President. Voters would want the assurance that the Veep could step in at a moment's notice. Indeed, vice-presidents, as they say, are only a heartbeat away from the presidency and must be someone acceptable by all Ghanaians.
TWO: The running mate must also be quite youthful. Nana Addo himself is already 63 and he should not choose anybody who is over 60. Voters don't like instability. The thought of one candidate more than 60 might be acceptable but the thought that both candidates are past retiring age might be too risky.
THREE: The candidate ought to be well rounded. Not only must he be well versed in foreign policy but also show up some real expertise on domestic issues as well. Moreover, the running mate ought to have a resume that doesn't say he's a full-time conventional politician. At least, one item on the resume should say that this somebody isn't just a political climber but a doer.
FOUR: It is preferable for a running mate to have some executive experience, whether inside government or out.
FIVE: The Veep nominee needs to be more “cool” than “hot”. Whether one likes it or not, Nana is perceived as someone who wants to reach through the TV screen and shake sense into the viewer and he needs to be balanced by a calm voice.
SIX: The running mate also needs somebody solid on all three legs of the Danquah-Busia stool. He must be someone the media establishment and intelligentsia will universally recognise and respect. Again, he must be someone of solid principles and temperament.
SEVEN: The running mate must have superb brains. Being articulate and telegenic are also important.
So, what will an Ibn Chambas candidature bring to Nana's ticket? What qualities or additional values will Chambas or ‘Chambo’, as he is popularly called, bring to the table?
For me, the qualities or values I foresee Chambas bringing to Nana's ticket are simply priceless — he brings youthful exuberance, honesty, integrity, a great understanding of the political-economic situation of the country, rich experience and, above all, a huge international exposure.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will, therefore, not only woo some NDC voters, but also attract many floating voters in general. Indeed, the fact the NPP was able to capture the Bimbilla seat from the NDC, following Chambas' resignation after his appointment to the high office of Executive Secretary of the ECOWAS, speaks volumes of the man's popularity and his ability to swing voters.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will also hold greater attraction and voter appeal for a nation of predominantly Christians and Muslims than the monotonous Christian-Christian deal being offered by John and John on the NDC ticket.
Furthermore, a Nana-Chambas ticket will help deepen good governance, the rule of law and democracy because the two gentlemen are exponents of those great values.
Finally, a Nana-Chambas ticket will put paid to the ugly noises being produced by some commentators in hailing the NDC John and John pairing as the greatest thing that has happened in the Ghanaian political landscape in recent times.
Mr Bawa appears to be the man to partner Nana Addo for the December polls. However, Dr Chambas poses a great threat to that ambition. Even though many see Mr Bawa as a party man, if the NPP is looking for someone who appeals to voters beyond the NPP, then the odds really favour Dr Chambas.
So Nana, don't hesitate whatsoever. Go for Dr Chambas and go for victory on December 7. Don't put too much premium on the talk by some hawks in your party that Chambas is not a blue party man or that he is relatively too young in the party to be offered such a high office of state.
For goodness sake, his rich credentials and strengths far, far outweigh any such negative thoughts. Let your sound judgement prevail. Many, many Ghanaians simply love him. He is the amazing schemer you need to completely put your team in perfect shape for victory on December 7.
Go for him. And all Ghanaians would roar in unison — 'NAA NANA, NAA CHAMBAS! AGBE NAA!!'

WHO SHOULD PARTNER NANA ADDO?

Asks Kodwo Sakyi Oppong

WITH the dust settled on the choice of running mate for the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), all attention will now be focused on the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as the December 7 elections draw near.
As is to be expected, some names have been making the rounds since Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo put the gruelling task of winning the presidential nomination behind him in December last year and the topic among the chattering classes of Danquah-Busia followers is the question of who will emerge as the best choice on Nana's ticket.
So far, a number of personalities, including Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, a member of the Council of State; Ms Joyce Aryee, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines; Hajia Alima Mahama, the MP for Nalerigu and Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, and Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, have emerged.
Others include Lepowura Nurudeen Jawula, the Chief Director of the Health Ministry; Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, the Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister; Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, the Northern Regional Minister; Mr Rashid Bawa, Ghana’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the President of the ECOWAS Commission and former Deputy Minister of Education and Foreign Affairs in the NDC regime.
Generally, running mates are chosen because they possess qualities that the presidential candidate lacks or they represent political or geographical constituencies which the candidate finds difficult to appeal to. This is known as 'balancing the ticket'.
Balancing the ticket can also be a useful way to heal any wounds caused by a divisive primary campaign. Occasionally, however, a presidential candidate picks a running mate who reinforces his perceived strengths.
So what special qualities will each of the personalities bring to a Nana Akufo-Addo ticket or what qualities will he consider in choosing whoever will partner him for the critical December 7 poll?
MRS GIFTY AFFENYI-DADZIE: A journalist, businesswoman and God-centred member of the Council of State will bring to the table impeccable integrity.
She is hardworking, and it was during her tenure as President of the Ghana Journalists Association that she rallied the establishment to build the famous Accra International Press Centre.
She has, however, not held any high political office and she also has no real 'constituency' in terms of politics. But as the Prayer Director of the Women’s Aglow International, she has a big base in the Christian community.
Ms Joyce Aryee: Also a charismatic Christian, has great integrity and is the founder and executive director of Salt & Light Ministries, a Christian, para-church organisation in the country. She is not only the first woman to head the Ghanaian Chamber but the first in Africa as a whole. A graduate of the University of Ghana, Ms Aryee is an experienced scriptwriter. Her specialities are primarily in the fields of environmental management, public relations and the complete development of people. She is also a trainer in leadership skills.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Relations, has edited an educational magazine and is a contributing editor of a leading business publication in Ghana.
Ms Aryee served nine years as a minister, both of Information and Education, in the PNDC regime. She is currently the Chairperson of the UN Global Compact Subcommittee on Environment in Ghana, Vice-President of the Ghana Employers' Association, among other portfolios.
What does not seem to favour Ms Aryee is her lack of a 'constituency' to test her popularity. Nonetheless, her tenure as Minister of Education was one period when there was calm in the educational sector because of the tactful way she dealt with the needs of teachers and educational workers.
Hajia Alima Mahama: A lawyer by profession, hails from Nalerigu. She is the MP for the Nalerigu/Gambaga Constituency and an Old Girl of Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape Coast. She was born at Walewale in the Northern Region.
Hajia Mahama served as Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development from May 2001 to April 2003. She was also the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry from May 2003 to January 2005, before being appointed Minister of Women and Children's Affairs.
She is intelligent, popular and very much liked in the three northern regions. She has, however, not had a long enough exposure in politics.
Mrs oboshie Sai Cofie: She is a Ga from La and daughter of a prominent figure of the party, Prof. Fred Torgbor Sai. She is a successful communications practitioner who put her expertise to the service of the party in the 2000 elections..
She held various positions in government, topping it up with the Information Minister portfolio.
But like Gifty and Joyce, she has no real 'constituency' to test her popularity but the GaDangmes and gender activists would welcome a gesture from Nana Addo to make her his running mate.
Lepowura Jawula: Even though has always been in the Public Service (he has worked at the Finance Ministry, Ports and Railways before his present posting to the Health Ministry), is more famous in football circles where he served as the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association between 1997 and 2003. It was during his tenure that the Under-20 team won the African Championship in Accra while Hearts also won the Africa Champions Cup.
He has a powerful personality but is hardly known in political circles. Moreover, with the Constitution barring chiefs from active participation in politics, it will be difficult to see how the Lepowura can still remain a chief and dabble in politics.
Alhaji boniface: He has had a clean run in all the portfolios he has served in under President Kufuor. His records as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (as it was then), Deputy Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City (as it was then), Minister of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment and now Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing “are par excellent”, he pointed out, arguing that only a few people would have the kind of round experience that he had had over the last seven years, with the last three years being spent as a member of Cabinet.
He was appointed the Northern Regional Minister in 2005, by far the most complicated region to administer because of its sheer size and ethnic differences and conflict. It is yet to be seen whether his geographical appeal will go beyond the north.
Alhaji Idris: He is a strong member of the party and a graduate of the University of Ghana. He is a member of Vikings, the old students of the Mensah Sarbah Hall of the university. He was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the inception of the NPP regime and later Minister of Works and Housing.
Alhaji Idris is a former MP for the defunct Gukpegu-Sabongida Constituency in Tamale before three new constituencies were created. He later lost the Tamale South seat to Haruna Iddrisu, the NDC Youth Organiser, and subsequently lost his ministerial portfolio after the 2004 polls.
He was recalled to the Northern Region as minister after last year's ministerial reshuffle. Prior to that, he was Chairman of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
He is considered affable but one wonders how the Dagbon crisis will play out in case he pairs Nana Addo for the December polls.
Rashid Bawa: He is an outgoing, proactive, goal-oriented, affable and hardworking person. He was born at Kadjebi in the Volta Region on January 6, 1959.
Mr Bawa schooled at the Kadjebi-Asato Secondary School for both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level certificates, leaving the school in 1982 for the University of Ghana where he obtained a BA (Hons) in 1986.
He enrolled at the Ghana School of Law and graduated in 1988. Mr Bawa has worked in various capacities as Legal Adviser, Ga District Assembly; Legal Officer of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust (NPART). He also worked as Secretary and Head of NPART at various times.
In 2000, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Akan as an independent candidate. During the period that he was MP, he was a member of the ECOWAS Parliament and also a member of the Public Accounts, Business and Communications Committee of Parliament.
Mr Bawa stood on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2004 but lost. He has served as Deputy Minister and Minister of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and during the period he worked with the Bid Committee to ensure that Ghana won the right to host the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
Presently, Mr Bawa is the nation’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with concurrent accreditation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, the State of Qatar, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen and the State of Kuwait.
He is an affable person, with a big influence in the Muslim communities, particularly the Zongo areas.
DR IBN Chambas: A gentleman's gentleman, has got very rich credentials which easily make him the front-runner in the race for Nana Addo's running mate. A former NDC MP for Bimbilla in the Northern Region, media reports indicate that Dr Chambas is a card-bearing member of the NPP — a decision he personally took after being recommended by President Kufuor for the high office of Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission about seven years ago. And, clearly, that further strengthens his chances.
He was appointed President of the ECOWAS Commission by the Authority of African Heads of State and Government in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 14, 2006, when the sub-regional body was reformed.
As Chief Executive Officer of the 15 member West African regional organisation, Dr. Chambas has successfully positioned ECOWAS as a model regional organisation in Africa due to its accomplishments in the resolution of the conflicts in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Togo. He has increased the profile of the organisation internationally and forged beneficial relations between it and developments partners such as the United Nations, the European Union, The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and numerous donor countries. Also, the relationship between ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) Commission has grown stronger under his tenure.
Dr Chambas first entered Government in 1987 as Deputy Foreign Minister. As Deputy Foreign Minister, he was a member of the Head of State's summit delegations to a number of countries such as the United States of America, China, United Kingdom, France, Malaysia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, etc. He also led Ghana's delegation to several countries and conferences including the United Nations General Assembly, ministerial meetings of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African Sates (ECOWAS), the Movement of the Non-Aligned Countries (NAM), the Commonwealth, etc.
Dr Chambas, 57, has his rich experience in international relations and skills in negotiations and conflict resolution.
Born on December 7, 1950, Dr Chambas is a lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic who commands a lot of respect among a large number of Muslim leaders and has a huge reputation that cuts across nearly all ethnic divides in the country.
A former student leader, he attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, and the Government Secondary School, Tamale. He holds degrees in Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon, (B.A. 1973) and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, PhD (1980). He also has a law degree from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Between April 1997 and December 2000, he was the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education.
His skills in negotiations and conflict resolution clearly manifested themselves in the manner in which he handled volatile student protests and industrial disputes involving university and polytechnic teachers and other staff members.
Dr Chambas, a Muslim, is married. His hobbies are soccer and horse riding.
So, really, what qualities should Nana Addo be looking for? What qualities are important in choosing a running mate? Should he play the gender card because the NDC messed up with the choice of Betty Mould-Iddrisu? Should he go for a Muslim because that seems to be the tradition of the party? Just what should he do?
For me, the most essential qualities are: ONE: A patently obvious ability to handle the job of President. Voters would want the assurance that the Veep could step in at a moment's notice. Indeed, vice-presidents, as they say, are only a heartbeat away from the presidency and must be someone acceptable by all Ghanaians.
TWO: The running mate must also be quite youthful. Nana Addo himself is already 63 and he should not choose anybody who is over 60. Voters don't like instability. The thought of one candidate more than 60 might be acceptable but the thought that both candidates are past retiring age might be too risky.
THREE: The candidate ought to be well rounded. Not only must he be well versed in foreign policy but also show up some real expertise on domestic issues as well. Moreover, the running mate ought to have a resume that doesn't say he's a full-time conventional politician. At least, one item on the resume should say that this somebody isn't just a political climber but a doer.
FOUR: It is preferable for a running mate to have some executive experience, whether inside government or out.
FIVE: The Veep nominee needs to be more “cool” than “hot”. Whether one likes it or not, Nana is perceived as someone who wants to reach through the TV screen and shake sense into the viewer and he needs to be balanced by a calm voice.
SIX: The running mate also needs somebody solid on all three legs of the Danquah-Busia stool. He must be someone the media establishment and intelligentsia will universally recognise and respect. Again, he must be someone of solid principles and temperament.
SEVEN: The running mate must have superb brains. Being articulate and telegenic are also important.
So, what will an Ibn Chambas candidature bring to Nana's ticket? What qualities or additional values will Chambas or ‘Chambo’, as he is popularly called, bring to the table?
For me, the qualities or values I foresee Chambas bringing to Nana's ticket are simply priceless — he brings youthful exuberance, honesty, integrity, a great understanding of the political-economic situation of the country, rich experience and, above all, a huge international exposure.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will, therefore, not only woo some NDC voters, but also attract many floating voters in general. Indeed, the fact the NPP was able to capture the Bimbilla seat from the NDC, following Chambas' resignation after his appointment to the high office of Executive Secretary of the ECOWAS, speaks volumes of the man's popularity and his ability to swing voters.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will also hold greater attraction and voter appeal for a nation of predominantly Christians and Muslims than the monotonous Christian-Christian deal being offered by John and John on the NDC ticket.
Furthermore, a Nana-Chambas ticket will help deepen good governance, the rule of law and democracy because the two gentlemen are exponents of those great values.
Finally, a Nana-Chambas ticket will put paid to the ugly noises being produced by some commentators in hailing the NDC John and John pairing as the greatest thing that has happened in the Ghanaian political landscape in recent times.
Mr Bawa appears to be the man to partner Nana Addo for the December polls. However, Dr Chambas poses a great threat to that ambition. Even though many see Mr Bawa as a party man, if the NPP is looking for someone who appeals to voters beyond the NPP, then the odds really favour Dr Chambas.
So Nana, don't hesitate whatsoever. Go for Dr Chambas and go for victory on December 7. Don't put too much premium on the talk by some hawks in your party that Chambas is not a blue party man or that he is relatively too young in the party to be offered such a high office of state.
For goodness sake, his rich credentials and strengths far, far outweigh any such negative thoughts. Let your sound judgement prevail. Many, many Ghanaians simply love him. He is the amazing schemer you need to completely put your team in perfect shape for victory on December 7.
Go for him. And all Ghanaians would roar in unison — 'NAA NANA, NAA CHAMBAS! AGBE NAA!!'

WHO SHOULD PARTNER NANA ADDO?

Asks Kodwo Sakyi Oppong

WITH the dust settled on the choice of running mate for the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), all attention will now be focused on the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as the December 7 elections draw near.
As is to be expected, some names have been making the rounds since Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo put the gruelling task of winning the presidential nomination behind him in December last year and the topic among the chattering classes of Danquah-Busia followers is the question of who will emerge as the best choice on Nana's ticket.
So far, a number of personalities, including Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, a member of the Council of State; Ms Joyce Aryee, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines; Hajia Alima Mahama, the MP for Nalerigu and Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, and Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, have emerged.
Others include Lepowura Nurudeen Jawula, the Chief Director of the Health Ministry; Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, the Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister; Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, the Northern Regional Minister; Mr Rashid Bawa, Ghana’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the President of the ECOWAS Commission and former Deputy Minister of Education and Foreign Affairs in the NDC regime.
Generally, running mates are chosen because they possess qualities that the presidential candidate lacks or they represent political or geographical constituencies which the candidate finds difficult to appeal to. This is known as 'balancing the ticket'.
Balancing the ticket can also be a useful way to heal any wounds caused by a divisive primary campaign. Occasionally, however, a presidential candidate picks a running mate who reinforces his perceived strengths.
So what special qualities will each of the personalities bring to a Nana Akufo-Addo ticket or what qualities will he consider in choosing whoever will partner him for the critical December 7 poll?
MRS GIFTY AFFENYI-DADZIE: A journalist, businesswoman and God-centred member of the Council of State will bring to the table impeccable integrity.
She is hardworking, and it was during her tenure as President of the Ghana Journalists Association that she rallied the establishment to build the famous Accra International Press Centre.
She has, however, not held any high political office and she also has no real 'constituency' in terms of politics. But as the Prayer Director of the Women’s Aglow International, she has a big base in the Christian community.
Ms Joyce Aryee: Also a charismatic Christian, has great integrity and is the founder and executive director of Salt & Light Ministries, a Christian, para-church organisation in the country. She is not only the first woman to head the Ghanaian Chamber but the first in Africa as a whole. A graduate of the University of Ghana, Ms Aryee is an experienced scriptwriter. Her specialities are primarily in the fields of environmental management, public relations and the complete development of people. She is also a trainer in leadership skills.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Relations, has edited an educational magazine and is a contributing editor of a leading business publication in Ghana.
Ms Aryee served nine years as a minister, both of Information and Education, in the PNDC regime. She is currently the Chairperson of the UN Global Compact Subcommittee on Environment in Ghana, Vice-President of the Ghana Employers' Association, among other portfolios.
What does not seem to favour Ms Aryee is her lack of a 'constituency' to test her popularity. Nonetheless, her tenure as Minister of Education was one period when there was calm in the educational sector because of the tactful way she dealt with the needs of teachers and educational workers.
Hajia Alima Mahama: A lawyer by profession, hails from Nalerigu. She is the MP for the Nalerigu/Gambaga Constituency and an Old Girl of Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape Coast. She was born at Walewale in the Northern Region.
Hajia Mahama served as Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development from May 2001 to April 2003. She was also the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry from May 2003 to January 2005, before being appointed Minister of Women and Children's Affairs.
She is intelligent, popular and very much liked in the three northern regions. She has, however, not had a long enough exposure in politics.
Mrs oboshie Sai Cofie: She is a Ga from La and daughter of a prominent figure of the party, Prof. Fred Torgbor Sai. She is a successful communications practitioner who put her expertise to the service of the party in the 2000 elections..
She held various positions in government, topping it up with the Information Minister portfolio.
But like Gifty and Joyce, she has no real 'constituency' to test her popularity but the GaDangmes and gender activists would welcome a gesture from Nana Addo to make her his running mate.
Lepowura Jawula: Even though has always been in the Public Service (he has worked at the Finance Ministry, Ports and Railways before his present posting to the Health Ministry), is more famous in football circles where he served as the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association between 1997 and 2003. It was during his tenure that the Under-20 team won the African Championship in Accra while Hearts also won the Africa Champions Cup.
He has a powerful personality but is hardly known in political circles. Moreover, with the Constitution barring chiefs from active participation in politics, it will be difficult to see how the Lepowura can still remain a chief and dabble in politics.
Alhaji boniface: He has had a clean run in all the portfolios he has served in under President Kufuor. His records as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (as it was then), Deputy Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City (as it was then), Minister of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment and now Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing “are par excellent”, he pointed out, arguing that only a few people would have the kind of round experience that he had had over the last seven years, with the last three years being spent as a member of Cabinet.
He was appointed the Northern Regional Minister in 2005, by far the most complicated region to administer because of its sheer size and ethnic differences and conflict. It is yet to be seen whether his geographical appeal will go beyond the north.
Alhaji Idris: He is a strong member of the party and a graduate of the University of Ghana. He is a member of Vikings, the old students of the Mensah Sarbah Hall of the university. He was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the inception of the NPP regime and later Minister of Works and Housing.
Alhaji Idris is a former MP for the defunct Gukpegu-Sabongida Constituency in Tamale before three new constituencies were created. He later lost the Tamale South seat to Haruna Iddrisu, the NDC Youth Organiser, and subsequently lost his ministerial portfolio after the 2004 polls.
He was recalled to the Northern Region as minister after last year's ministerial reshuffle. Prior to that, he was Chairman of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
He is considered affable but one wonders how the Dagbon crisis will play out in case he pairs Nana Addo for the December polls.
Rashid Bawa: He is an outgoing, proactive, goal-oriented, affable and hardworking person. He was born at Kadjebi in the Volta Region on January 6, 1959.
Mr Bawa schooled at the Kadjebi-Asato Secondary School for both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level certificates, leaving the school in 1982 for the University of Ghana where he obtained a BA (Hons) in 1986.
He enrolled at the Ghana School of Law and graduated in 1988. Mr Bawa has worked in various capacities as Legal Adviser, Ga District Assembly; Legal Officer of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust (NPART). He also worked as Secretary and Head of NPART at various times.
In 2000, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Akan as an independent candidate. During the period that he was MP, he was a member of the ECOWAS Parliament and also a member of the Public Accounts, Business and Communications Committee of Parliament.
Mr Bawa stood on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2004 but lost. He has served as Deputy Minister and Minister of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and during the period he worked with the Bid Committee to ensure that Ghana won the right to host the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
Presently, Mr Bawa is the nation’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with concurrent accreditation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, the State of Qatar, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen and the State of Kuwait.
He is an affable person, with a big influence in the Muslim communities, particularly the Zongo areas.
DR IBN Chambas: A gentleman's gentleman, has got very rich credentials which easily make him the front-runner in the race for Nana Addo's running mate. A former NDC MP for Bimbilla in the Northern Region, media reports indicate that Dr Chambas is a card-bearing member of the NPP — a decision he personally took after being recommended by President Kufuor for the high office of Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission about seven years ago. And, clearly, that further strengthens his chances.
He was appointed President of the ECOWAS Commission by the Authority of African Heads of State and Government in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 14, 2006, when the sub-regional body was reformed.
As Chief Executive Officer of the 15 member West African regional organisation, Dr. Chambas has successfully positioned ECOWAS as a model regional organisation in Africa due to its accomplishments in the resolution of the conflicts in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Togo. He has increased the profile of the organisation internationally and forged beneficial relations between it and developments partners such as the United Nations, the European Union, The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and numerous donor countries. Also, the relationship between ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) Commission has grown stronger under his tenure.
Dr Chambas first entered Government in 1987 as Deputy Foreign Minister. As Deputy Foreign Minister, he was a member of the Head of State's summit delegations to a number of countries such as the United States of America, China, United Kingdom, France, Malaysia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, etc. He also led Ghana's delegation to several countries and conferences including the United Nations General Assembly, ministerial meetings of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African Sates (ECOWAS), the Movement of the Non-Aligned Countries (NAM), the Commonwealth, etc.
Dr Chambas, 57, has his rich experience in international relations and skills in negotiations and conflict resolution.
Born on December 7, 1950, Dr Chambas is a lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic who commands a lot of respect among a large number of Muslim leaders and has a huge reputation that cuts across nearly all ethnic divides in the country.
A former student leader, he attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, and the Government Secondary School, Tamale. He holds degrees in Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon, (B.A. 1973) and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, PhD (1980). He also has a law degree from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Between April 1997 and December 2000, he was the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education.
His skills in negotiations and conflict resolution clearly manifested themselves in the manner in which he handled volatile student protests and industrial disputes involving university and polytechnic teachers and other staff members.
Dr Chambas, a Muslim, is married. His hobbies are soccer and horse riding.
So, really, what qualities should Nana Addo be looking for? What qualities are important in choosing a running mate? Should he play the gender card because the NDC messed up with the choice of Betty Mould-Iddrisu? Should he go for a Muslim because that seems to be the tradition of the party? Just what should he do?
For me, the most essential qualities are: ONE: A patently obvious ability to handle the job of President. Voters would want the assurance that the Veep could step in at a moment's notice. Indeed, vice-presidents, as they say, are only a heartbeat away from the presidency and must be someone acceptable by all Ghanaians.
TWO: The running mate must also be quite youthful. Nana Addo himself is already 63 and he should not choose anybody who is over 60. Voters don't like instability. The thought of one candidate more than 60 might be acceptable but the thought that both candidates are past retiring age might be too risky.
THREE: The candidate ought to be well rounded. Not only must he be well versed in foreign policy but also show up some real expertise on domestic issues as well. Moreover, the running mate ought to have a resume that doesn't say he's a full-time conventional politician. At least, one item on the resume should say that this somebody isn't just a political climber but a doer.
FOUR: It is preferable for a running mate to have some executive experience, whether inside government or out.
FIVE: The Veep nominee needs to be more “cool” than “hot”. Whether one likes it or not, Nana is perceived as someone who wants to reach through the TV screen and shake sense into the viewer and he needs to be balanced by a calm voice.
SIX: The running mate also needs somebody solid on all three legs of the Danquah-Busia stool. He must be someone the media establishment and intelligentsia will universally recognise and respect. Again, he must be someone of solid principles and temperament.
SEVEN: The running mate must have superb brains. Being articulate and telegenic are also important.
So, what will an Ibn Chambas candidature bring to Nana's ticket? What qualities or additional values will Chambas or ‘Chambo’, as he is popularly called, bring to the table?
For me, the qualities or values I foresee Chambas bringing to Nana's ticket are simply priceless — he brings youthful exuberance, honesty, integrity, a great understanding of the political-economic situation of the country, rich experience and, above all, a huge international exposure.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will, therefore, not only woo some NDC voters, but also attract many floating voters in general. Indeed, the fact the NPP was able to capture the Bimbilla seat from the NDC, following Chambas' resignation after his appointment to the high office of Executive Secretary of the ECOWAS, speaks volumes of the man's popularity and his ability to swing voters.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will also hold greater attraction and voter appeal for a nation of predominantly Christians and Muslims than the monotonous Christian-Christian deal being offered by John and John on the NDC ticket.
Furthermore, a Nana-Chambas ticket will help deepen good governance, the rule of law and democracy because the two gentlemen are exponents of those great values.
Finally, a Nana-Chambas ticket will put paid to the ugly noises being produced by some commentators in hailing the NDC John and John pairing as the greatest thing that has happened in the Ghanaian political landscape in recent times.
Mr Bawa appears to be the man to partner Nana Addo for the December polls. However, Dr Chambas poses a great threat to that ambition. Even though many see Mr Bawa as a party man, if the NPP is looking for someone who appeals to voters beyond the NPP, then the odds really favour Dr Chambas.
So Nana, don't hesitate whatsoever. Go for Dr Chambas and go for victory on December 7. Don't put too much premium on the talk by some hawks in your party that Chambas is not a blue party man or that he is relatively too young in the party to be offered such a high office of state.
For goodness sake, his rich credentials and strengths far, far outweigh any such negative thoughts. Let your sound judgement prevail. Many, many Ghanaians simply love him. He is the amazing schemer you need to completely put your team in perfect shape for victory on December 7.
Go for him. And all Ghanaians would roar in unison — 'NAA NANA, NAA CHAMBAS! AGBE NAA!!'

WHAT IS THE EC WAITING FOR?

ON our front page today is the story that only three out of the eight political parties were able to file their statements of account for the year 2006 at the Electoral Commission (EC) in compliance with the Political Parties Act, Act 574, 2000. While some of the parties have defaulted since 2000, others have partially fulfilled the obligations in accordance with the law.
The Daily Graphic finds this situation quite worrying because of the importance of political parties in the governance process of the country. According to the law, political parties may participate in shaping the political will of the people or disseminate information on political ideas, social and economic programmes of national character and also help the people to influence the composition and policies of the government.
The least the electorate expect from our political parties is for them to take the lead in upholding the rule of law and democratic principles so that our decision in 1992 to adopt the democratic system of government will yield fruitful results. Anything to the contrary will really take us into a state of lawlessness and anarchy.
The political parties flout the provisions in Act 574, which requires that “a political party shall, within six months after a general or by-election in which it has participated, submit to the commission a detailed statement in such form as the commission may direct of all expenditure incurred for that election”.
The political parties are also required to have branches in all the regions and in addition, be fully organised in not less than two-thirds of the districts in each region. But is that the real picture on the ground?
In the past, the EC had rationalised its inability to enforce the laws to the letter with the flimsy excuse that if that was done, no political party would meet the standards set by the law. The EC also explained that it decided to treat the parties with kid gloves in order to allow them to grow to take steps to meet the requirements of the law.
It is an undeniable fact that our democracy is growing and the political parties, being one of the bulwarks of our democracy, must be nurtured and encouraged to stand the test of time.
But what makes the excuse of the EC untenable is the fact that political parties that seek the mandate to rule and make laws for the people must first respect the rule of the law. For, after all, example, they say, is better than precept.
Currently, there is a strong lobby for state funding of political parties. The taxpayer will feel comfortable to pay more when those entrusted with state funds demonstrate transparency and accountability in the discharge of their stewardship.
As of now, the political parties are yet to demonstrate openness in campaign financing and total expenditure in relation to their operations. The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on the EC to act quickly to sanitise the political system to avoid the situation where one day someone calls the whole electoral process into question on account of our utter disregard for the rules and regulations that we have crafted for ourselves.
The EC must go beyond the rhetoric and let the axe fall on the deviant political parties so that a clear signal will be sent to all, especially new ones, that from now on it will not be business as usual and that those who seek our mandate to govern must uphold the rule of law.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

MAKING 2008 ELECTIONS FREE & FAIR

THE National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) yesterday launched the eighth National Constitution Week in Accra, during which certain steps were outlined to make this year’s elections free and fair.
The Deputy Chairperson of the NCCE, Mrs Akosua Akumanyi, said three institutions and the political parties would meet next week to review the Code of Conduct for political parties to ensure free, fair and transparent presidential and parliamentary elections in December this year.
In retrospect, it is difficult to measure the extent to which the political parties complied with the Code of Conduct in 2000 and 2004. But the fact that those two elections were adjudged to be free and fair indicated that the code somehow impacted positively on the conduct of the polls.
The previous code laid the ground rules for campaigning devoid of violence and deviant behaviour among activists of the political parties. In the past, the parties signed undertakings to impress on their supporters to refrain from using offensive language and outright insults during the electioneering to make the elections violent free.
In the preamble to the code, the political parties affirmed that “peace and public order, freedom of political campaign and compliance with electoral laws and regulations are essential to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections and the ready acceptance of results”.
The parties and all Ghanaians have an obligation to maintain the stability and unity of the country after the December elections by adhering strictly to the rules.
It is precisely because of the responsibility placed on political parties to help in sustaining the democratic culture that the DAILY GRAPHIC welcomes the suggestion by the Chairman of the NCCE, Mr Larry Bimi, that “citizens should not sit on the fence and allow the country to take a nose-dive into violence after elections”.
The world celebrates the successes attained so far on all fronts of national endeavour and it is incumbent on all of us to use Election 2008 to set another enviable example for the rest of the continent to emulate.
Much of the political violence in the past had occurred because of the lack of understanding of the political game by the rank and file of the political parties. Meanwhile, the leadership of the parties demonstrate a high sense of camaraderie at every public function because although they may embrace different political persuasions, they belong to same school year groups, professional associations and other social clubs.
Unfortunately, they mount political platforms and incite their supporters to violence with hate speech as if the contest for the leadership of the country is a struggle between life and death.
The DAILY GRAPHIC advises all political parties seeking the mandate of the people to rule to state their cases very clearly and leave the electorate to make their decisions without intimidation.
For the code to endure and be a lasting legacy, all the political parties must make it a point to educate their rank and file on the need to exercise decorum during the electioneering.
If we are able to establish clear values in the contest for leadership, then we can produce that unique spark of respect for unity in diversity and thus help to entrench democracy with all its principles.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

PREVENTING ANOTHER BLACKOUT

THERE has been some uneasiness among consumers of electricity for some time now, following the steady drop in the water level of the Akosombo Dam.
Consumers heaved a sigh of relief in September last year when the Volta River Authority (VRA) ended almost one year of load-shedding. There was a hot debate at the time over the sustainability of power supply from the Akosombo Dam, particularly when it fell below 235 feet.
The load-shedding period was a difficult moment for both domestic and industrial consumers. Housewives could not preserve food items for the household, while industrial concerns had to cut down their orders. In more painful circumstances, some workers were retrenched and budgetary projections greatly affected.
For some time now, consumers have been wondering what lies ahead of them, following the steady drop in the water level and rising cost of crude oil on the world market.
The assurance by the VRA that there would be no load-shedding this year in spite of the fall in the water level must, therefore, be refreshing.
The acting Director of Corporate Services, Ms Abla Fiadjoe, explained that the fall in the water level was consistent with the depletion season and that the water level was expected to rise with the inflow season in July.
Last year’s load-shedding exercise brought in its wake the diversification of the power supply source in Ghana. The VRA and mining companies provided emergency power plants to augment the national grid while some independent power producers decided to come on board.
It is, however, important to point out that so long as the country continues to rely on hydro as its main source of power generation, there are likely to be challenges until many other sources of power such as thermal, solar and wind power are tapped.
It is essential for the government to create the necessary environment to facilitate the shift from our over-dependence on hydro to a ratio that would focus on renewable energy.
The Daily Graphic is aware that thermal energy is more expensive to produce in view of the rising cost of crude oil.
But whatever our present circumstances are, it would be helpful for the government to explore the possibility of using solar energy to power many of the services for which alternatives are cost-effective.
One cannot understand why our street and traffic lights cannot rely on solar energy. The advantage here is that instead of the intermittent disruption of power at traffic intersections because of non-availability of power, the traffic lights would be in operation throughout the day because of the ready source of sunlight, thereby facilitating the free flow of traffic.
The opportunity exists for more investment in the power sector. The government should provide the incentives for business concerns to invest in power generation, using renewable energy sources such as waste, biomass, solar power and wind.
The Daily Graphic believes that power is a major prerequisite for business expansion and growth. Without power, jobs cannot be created to improve the incomes of people and reduce poverty.
Consumers also have a responsibility to use power judiciously and pay their bills regularly for the system to be maintained.
Never again should the country be caught up in the quagmire of total darkness as a result of our inability to generate adequate power and our failure to renew existing infrastructure.

Monday, April 21, 2008

REAPING BENEFITS OF GLOBALISATION

The twelfth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) XII opened yesterday in Accra on the theme “Addressing the Opportunities and Challenges of Globalisation for Development”.
Opening the conference, President J.A. Kufuor touched on the essence of global co-operation and made a strong case for global support for Africa, to address the continent’s underdevelopment.
He said global trade should prove “beneficial to all and detrimental to none”.
It is significant to note that at the flag-raising ceremony of UNCTAD XII last week Friday, the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General, also echoed similar concerns of the African continent when he said “During UNCTAD XII we should be looking for answers, we will be proposing solutions, we will be offering alternatives and we hope to offer hope.”
Participants in the conference will be looking at a wide range of issues, particularly how to deepen the frontiers of trade and investments between developed and developing nations.
It is clear that Africa will take centre stage at the plenary sessions to help fashion out sustainable development strategies for the continent.
As expected at such international conferences, civil society groups have also gathered to offer their perspectives on the global development agenda and present their views on the new architecture for poverty reduction and job creation.
Presently, the world is on its knees trying to find reasons for the sudden slowdown in the world economy. The theme of the UNCTAD conference provides the platform for designing the conditions for sustainable economic development and poverty reduction with particular focus on regional experiences.
There is no doubt that globalisation has made the world a global village. The phenomenon has strengthened the nexus and helped us to know the needs of one another in a better way.
However, we should also be concerned about the dark side of globalisation because, for it to be mutually beneficial, the efforts at reforming the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to make it more embracing must be speeded up.
World trade still favours the advanced societies in the face of falling prices of primary products, while developing nations have no say in the fixing of the prices of finished goods.
Farmers in developed nations receive subsidies whereas governments in the developing world are persuaded not to give subsidy to their farmers.
The best approach ahead must be for the comity of nations to identify some common grounds on which people of goodwill on both sides of the heated controversies on globalisation may possibly agree.
Therefore, the way forward lies in transparency and accountability in trade policies. The debate on globalisation must be constructive and open.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that globalisation as a new phenomenon will generate winners and losers, but whatever the dark side of globalisation, transparent global competition can keep domestic businesses on their toes.
Let UNCTAD XII find solutions to unfair competition in the market so that all nations, particularly those in Africa, can have access to markets to trade on equal terms.
That achievement will be the bulwark of support for personal liberties and economic freedom to spur growth.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

KUDOS, TOGBE AFEDE, PARTNERS

SINCE the drought of 1983, the country’s energy resources have come under serious pressure because of the lack of an efficient energy supply mix. Until the Aboadze Thermal Plant, which has its own engineering and operational challenges, came on stream about a decade ago, the country’s main energy supply has been hydro.
Efforts so far at tapping into renewable energy such as solar energy and wind have not been very successful.
Elsewhere, the experiment on the use of daylighting, which is the tradition of orienting houses to benefit from natural resources such as the sun, has very little to show in terms of results. Sometimes the argument has been that renewable energy is not cost-effective as it often needs government incentives in order to be viable.
The government has been trying to stimulate investment in the energy sector in order to avoid a recurrence of the energy crisis that hit the country from August 2006 to September 2007.
Various cases of technology mix such as the use of gas, solar energy, wind and hydro are being explored with the aim of improving efficiency and reducing cost. The policy initiatives, which include the acquisition of generator sets, expediting work on the West African Gas Pipeline Project and the commencement of work on the Bui Dam Project, as well as the creation of the enabling environment for the private sector, are all geared towards meeting the demands of the market.
The underlying theory is that competition in the energy market will drive down the cost of supplying energy and thereby minimise the cost to the consumer.
It is against this background that the DAILY GAPHIC welcomes the commencement of work on the 560 MW gas-steamed combined cycle power generation plant in Tema.
The project, Sunon Asogli Power Generation Plant, which is the first privately-owned power plant in the country, is expected to complement the energy requirements of the country to forestall the energy crisis that hit the country last year as a result of the low level of water in the Volta Lake, the main source of hydro electric power generation.
It is encouraging that at the ceremony, the President again gave the assurance that the government had put in place interventions to increase the country’s energy needs and also to encourage private sector participation in the energy sector.
The DAILY GRAPHIC commends the Sunon Asogli Power Generation Plant project, spearheaded by Togbe Afede XIV, for efforts at seeking the joint venture with Shenzhen Energy Group Company Limited of China.
We recall the initial challenges the project faced but it is heart-warming that the initiators of the project managed to surmount those difficulties to set the pace for the attainment of their dreams.
This gigantic endeavour by Togbe Afede and his partners will impact positively on the country’s energy mix and make available the required energy to power the country’s development agenda without any interruptions.
However, the Daily Graphic believes that private sector investment in the energy sector will boom, if the government intervenes to provide the necessary incentives.
The sector should not be left to the market forces because the industry needs government sponsorship and incentives such as tax subsidies and various rebates to encourage investors to venture into the sector. This way, generation becomes more efficient and production cheaper so that consumers can afford it.
The Daily Graphic salutes Togbe Afede and his partners for this singular initiative which, when completed, will change the face of energy supply in the country. But let no one stand in their way because they need our co-operation to succeed.

Friday, April 18, 2008

AVERTING FOOD CRISIS

HUNGER threat looms all over the world as a result of rising prices of cereals, particularly rice and wheat. What makes the situation alarming is that it comes at the heels of a crisis on the world financial market, painting a gloomy picture of a global economy heading for recession.
Our present situation has been aggravated by the fact that huge resources are being invested in the production of bio-fuels to reduce the biting effects of rising crude oil prices.
Until recently, world renowned scientists had convinced countries struggling to survive rising crude oil prices to diversify their energy sources and rely on bio-fuels. But such countries, including Ghana, did not reckon that such diversification would come at a cost.
The attention being paid to bio-fuels led to the withdrawal of considerable resources from the food market, thereby making food more expensive.
Unable to afford the high cost of food, people in most of the poor countries struggling for survival have decided to take to the streets. In Africa, people in countries such as Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroun, Ethiopia and Togo have demonstrated against rocketing food prices.
Ghana has remained calm so far and, like most of the calamities confronting the continent, we seem to be lucky again. Nonetheless, the challenge offered by rising food prices poses a threat to the security of mankind.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, speaking to journalists in Accra yesterday, asked Ghanaians not to panic over soaring food prices on the international market because there was enough to meet the demand.
He outlined certain interventions to make food available to all, including the provision of new rice seedlings and fertilisers at affordable cost to farmers to ensure food security in the country.
Although the DAILY GRAPHIC is relieved because of the assurance by the government, it is not certain whether or not the country's economy can stand the shocks on the international scene for the rest of the year.
It will, therefore, be prudent to patronise locally produced food crops and thereby offer a ready market to our farmers to expand production.
Soaring food prices should also be a wake-up call to our agriculturists, environmentalists and scientists to look at more eco-friendly agricultural practices that will give us more yield per hectare, without the resort to certain hi-tech productive techniques which, in the long term, do not help in the conservation of our water sources and enrichment of our soil.
It is also worrying that the high food prices can undermine the fight against poverty and hunger, which is one of the major objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Large-scale poverty can lead to social explosion that can also disturb the country's peace and stability. The world’s food outlook is gloomy, thereby thwarting efforts at making food affordable to all.
Our only cause for optimism is the fact that the government has realised the danger signals and is ready to act now.
However, the Daily Graphic believes that the country does not need short-term emergency solutions but significant interventions to ensure long-term productivity and food production.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

AKWAABA, AHMADI SPIRITUAL LEADER

THE Supreme Head of the World-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is in the country for a four-day visit to interact with the members of the mission and exchange ideas with his counterparts of other faiths and political leaders.
He met yesterday with President J. A. Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, where the two leaders examined the present level of collaboration between Ghana and the Ahmadi Mission and how to strengthen that relationship.
Quite interesting is the advice by Hazrat Masroor Ahmad to the government to learn from the experiences of other countries to make the best use of the recent oil find for the development of the country.
Looking around us, one can confidently say that God has been very good to us and that despite the economic and political turbulence in some of our neighbouring countries, Ghanaians continue to demonstrate that they have a lot to gain by way of peaceful co-existence.
We know that the task ahead of us in trying to maintain our identity as Ghanaians, instead of pursuing sectarian interests, will be Herculean, but with unity of purpose and the determination to succeed, Ghana will continue to be the toast of the rest of the world.
The Daily Graphic believes that our continued success will depend on our partnership with well-meaning bodies like the Ahmadiyya Mission which has, since its establishment in Ghana, contributed immensely to the socio-economic development of the country.
The mission has partnered the government and other development agencies to provide schools, health facilities and agricultural projects, all in the grand design to provide for the physical and spiritual well-being of the people.
Ghana looks forward to more fruitful partnerships between the people and the mission. Particularly critical in this election year will be the mission’s prayers so that the election processes will be peaceful and serve as a good example for the rest of the continent to emulate.
We are also delighted that Ahmadis have always extended a hand of friendship to all religious faiths in the country. This demonstration of tolerance on their part is helping in the process of nurturing an inter-faith dialogue among all religious groups in the country.
We welcome Hazrat Masroor Ahmad to Ghana and wish him fruitful deliberations during his stay.

ADISCO REQUIRES OUR SUPPORT

AS if the incident at the Adisadel College in Cape Coast, in which a final-year student of the college jumped to his death, was not disturbing enough, the fallout of that event seems to be muddying the waters even further.
Apart from the report that students of the college had been asked to go home indefinitely, as a result of tension which was said to have mounted on the compound, it is also clear that already many people are reading religion into the incident.
The popular refrain seems to be that the unfortunate incident happened because the school authorities were bent on forcing the students to adhere to a certain religious belief.
For the DAILY GRAPHIC, that conclusion is, to say the very least, very unfortunate and that the earlier people discard it, the better.
We are very much aware that in such matters, people are wont to be emotional, leading to all manner of interpretations and conclusions. But the DAILY GRAPHIC cautions that we must be very careful in such matters.
That is why we find the reaction of the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, to this potentially dangerous misinterpretation of what transpired at ADISCO very welcome and refreshing.
He declared that as far as the GES was concerned, no religion was forced on any student in any educational institution and that even faith-based schools were not allowed to impose their religions on students who did not believe in the teachings or doctrines of those religions.
The DAILY GRAPHIC agrees with the GES Director-General that since schools are governed by rules and regulations, which are expected to be complied with by every student, then it behoves every student in every school to go by those rules.
Come to think of it — senior high school students are averagely below 18 years and so their upbringing should be guided and shaped so that they come out of school as people who are ready to be integrated into mainstream society.
That is why regulations on time to wake up, attendance at school gatherings, time to go to prep, grounds work, extra-curricular activities, etc., need to be enforced to ensure the churning out of fully-baked human resource.
The DAILY GRAPHIC would urge the GES to immediately constitute a body to go into the matter. Subsequently, its findings should be made public to set everybody’s mind at ease and to calm tempers.
We, however, plead with all who are, one way or another, affected by the incident at ADISCO to remain calm, hoping that matters will be resolved to the satisfaction of all.
The authorities in Cape Coast should also consider the situation in which traumatised SSS Three students of the school are in and not add to that trauma by keeping them at a home for long.
We can easily imagine what the teacher at the centre of the matter is going through and wish to encourage him not to be down-hearted over the issue.
Rather, he should bear in mind the Akan proverb which says: “Nea oko nsuo na obo ahina” — to wit it is the one who goes to the riverside with the pot to fetch water who is likely to break the pot!
To the bereaved family, we extend our heartfelt condolences and pray that the Creator Himself will see them through these trying times.