STICK TO SSSS IMPLEMENTATION DEADLINE (NOV 30)

SINCE the introduction of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), there have been varying views from public sector workers through the various workers’ groups and associations.
The SSSS was introduced to remove distortions in the current salary structure.
Pay equity is all about equal pay for equal work done by workers with the same qualification and experience.
For instance, in the public sector, where the government is the sole employer, work done in different ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) by people in the same profession and with equal qualification must, in all justification, attract the same pay.
Sadly, this has never been the case, as salaries across the board in the public sector have been grossly distorted, especially in favour of professionals in agencies popularly referred to as revenue earners.
Various forms of agitation and discussions have been going on since the SSSS policy was brought on board, leading to a stakeholders’ workshop at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from May 27 to 29, this year.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA), in particular, and some organised workers’ groups have kicked against the implementation of the new pay structure.
The stakeholders’ workshop was attended by representatives of the government, employers and organised labour who agreed on five acceptable and amicable points towards the implementation of the SSSS.
They agreed that the SSSS should be implemented on January 1, 2010 and that all challenges and concerns be addressed in line with the implementation of the policy.
It is for this that we are elated that the government has finally come out with a White Paper which, among others, say that the SSSS will commence, as agreed on by the stakeholders, on January 2010.
We are also happy that the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has welcomed the issuance of the government’s White Paper, even though the union thinks it is a bit late in coming.
We want to agree with the TUC that even though the issuance of the White Paper had delayed, what is needed at this moment is for the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to start negotiations for the base salary that will be the foundation for the single spine structure and conditions of service for the various public sector workers.
We, however, want to call on organised labour to exercise patience and bear with the government, as the implementation will be in phases and could take some time due to the resolution of some challenges likely to come up as a result of the huge wage bill the government may face if there is going to be any increases in salaries.
In implementing the SSSS, we should not forget what happened during the implementation of the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS) in the past.
After the end of the GUSS, a number of other salary structures emerged and based on those structures there were further inequalities in public sector pay, hence the introduction of this new pay structure — the SSSS.
We hope and pray that now that the government has indicated its intention to implement the road map, all stakeholders will come on board for the smooth implementation of the policy.
Whatever disagreement any workers’ group may have, we believe it can go to the FWSC for negotiations to iron them out.
We also believe that in spite of the implementation challenges, the SSSS would, in the end, be the policy to bring about equity and transparency in public sector pay administration.
We, therefore, call on the government to stick to the implementation deadline.

BAWKU CONFLICT REVISITED (NOV 28)

THE Bawku conflict never seems to go away. From all indications, the conflict seems to be spreading to other areas surrounding the Bawku municipality.
In the evening of Thursday, November 26, 2009, two Ghanaians who reside at Mognori, a suburb of Bawku, were beaten to death following a misunderstanding between them and some residents on the Burkina Faso side of Mognori.
And last Friday, the Northern Regional Police Command sent out reports that it had pick signals which indicated that some Mamprusi youth were being mobilised in the Northern Region for an operation in the Upper East Region, that is, the Bawku area, in support of their kinsmen involved in the intractable Bawku conflict.
Some residents of Nalerigu in the Northern Region have allegedly burnt down a house belonging to the prime suspect in the murder of the People’s National Convention (PNC) parliamentary candidate in the 2008 general election, Mr Moses Alando Banaba.
All these happenings show clearly that the Bawku conflict is gradually spreading to the border towns in the Upper East Region and some areas in the Northern Region.
These developments, if not checked but allowed to continue, will lead to a major conflict within the Upper East and the Northern regions, with devastating consequences which we can never dream of.
It is in line with this that we endorse the call by the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, that the government should beef up security in Bawku.
The government, we believe, should declare a state of emergency in Bawku and more security and intelligence operatives deployed to the area to search for and arrest those who are fomenting this internecine conflict in the area.
We also endorse the call that peacekeepers in Bawku should be provided with a helicopter and motorbikes for them to monitor the activities of the troublemakers from the air and move to all the corners of the area to chase and arrest them.
The security personnel should be given the mandate to arrest anybody found with dangerous and sophisticated weapons such as AK47 rifles.
What is happening in Bawku is so dangerous that we should come up with a more comprehensive security operation that will, as early as practicable, stop the conflict before it escalates to a veritable conflagration to consume all of us in the country.
Of late, some media houses and supposed human rights activists are using some unfortunate incidents in the conflict area to obfuscate the real issues on the ground in Bawku.
No one can deny the fact that chieftaincy issues lie at the heart of the Bawku conflict, but within it also lies the political issue which, of late, some people want to play up, albeit covertly, to confuse the people.
To the media, we will say they should be circumspect when setting the agenda, for in an armed conflict situation, sometimes gate-keeping comes in handy to stop a bad situation from getting worse and, more important, to save lives and property.
We need to get it clear that if we do not come together as one people and find a lasting and durable solution to the Bawku conflict and allow it to fester, the ensuing result could be anyone’s guess.
A solution must be found for the Bawku conflict, for it is becoming a growing problem. Everything humanly possible should be done to solve the problem.

DARKA DA SALLAH (NOV 27)

MUSLIMS the world over are today marking Eid-Ul-Adha, otherwise known as the Feast of Sacrifice, one of the most important events on the Islamic calendar.
At the Independence Square in Accra and elsewhere this morning, the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usman Nuhu Sharubutu, and the Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Wahab Adam, will lead thousands of Muslims in prayer to give thanks to Allah, the Almighty for the life, good health and countless, goodies He has bestowed on the nation in the course of this year and ask for His continued guidance, blessing, mercy and support for the leaders of this nation and the government in general.
Similar prayers will be held in many other areas across the country.
We salute our brothers and sisters in Islam and wish them the best of this important spiritual event and hope and pray that the Good Lord, Allah, hears their supplication and shower His blessings on this nation, so that we all prosper and live together in peace and harmony as we work towards building a better Ghana for all.
We are aware that Eid-Ul-Adha is more than congregational prayers, the slaughtering of rams and the sharing of food that represents the outward manifestation of the festival.
It is on record that the event is one of the most crucial tests one of the earliest Prophets of Islam, Prophet Abraham, had to endure and pass in order to win Allah’s favour.
By asking Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his only and beloved son, Ishmael, to Him, Allah was making a supreme demand of the test of loyalty and reverence to Him, as mortal and fallible as Abraham was.
In obeying Allah’s command and laying Ishmael on the sacrificial altar ready for slaughter, Allah exonerated Abraham and exalted him above other mortals and made him a shining example of the ultimate in all that is good and honourable and, therefore, worthy of emulation.
Thus, for Muslims, this obedience to the will of Allah represents the highest degree of worship and commitment to respect His commandments and guidance.
The ram that Allah ordered the Angel to bring to Prophet Abraham to substitute it for Ishmael as the item of sacrifice represents, for Muslims, a redemption of mankind from the supreme owner of the universe and the emergence of a covenant in which, in return for such continued faith and obedience, mankind could continue to enjoy His love, protection, support and sustenance.
It is these bounties stemming from the obedience our brothers and sisters in Islam have exhibited that we all hope to share in and benefit as a nation of one people with a common destiny.
We, in congratulating Muslims on this important occasion, urge them to endeavour to continue to abide by the laws of the land and work together with the government to rid communities such as Bawku, with a substantial Muslim population, of strife and conflict to let peace prevail.
We should step up the tempo of education in Islamic communities so that the children in these communities will grow up to be leaders who will propel this nation and themselves forward.
We are happy that as this Eid is being observed, the government, in concert with the National Hajj Committee, has fulfilled the important promise of organising a successful and incident-free Hajj, which was hailed by all.
This has restored dignity and self-respect to Islam and Muslims and has also helped all of us to forget the numerous indignities, humiliation and degrading treatments Muslims had to undergo in the course of the Hajj.
We trust that together — Muslims, Christians and others — we can work to build this nation.
Once again, we say Barka da Sallah.

ENFORCING THE LAW WITH CIRCUMSPECTION (NOV 26)

THE fight to reduce crime to the barest minimum in society is by no means an easy task.
In the technologically advanced times in which we are living today, criminals have devised more sophisticated ways of carrying out their trade and covering up their tracks to evade detection, identification, arrest and prosecution.
This calls for the adoption of more skilful and innovative approaches by our law enforcement agencies to decipher the modus operandi of these criminals.
It also requires the collective support and co-operation of members of the public, some of whom know the criminals, by way of offering relevant information and other vital leads to facilitate crime prevention and detection, as well as the arrest of those involved.
It is generally accepted that the methods chosen at any point in time to fight crime may vary according to the time, circumstances, the availability of resources, among others, and that these may change if circumstances change.
Only this week, the police served notice of its intention to clamp down on motorcyclists engaged in commercial business and also riding in the late hours of the day.
Already, a number of such motorcyclists have been arrested for allegedly engaging in illegal commercial motorised business, known in local parlance as “Okada” (see story on pages 24/49).
One of the causes of the near anarchy on our roads is sheer indiscipline. People and some categories of vehicles which are not permitted by law to operate on the roads do so with impunity.
Even some of those with permits to operate flout the rules of engagement and arrogate to themselves the right to do as they please at places and the time of their choosing.
We are, therefore, in principle in support of the police dealing with all those engaged in illegal activities, including on our roads.
The unmistakable word that must go out to members of the public is that the law works and that anyone who infringes it will not and must not be allowed to go scot-free.
That is how respect for the law across the board can be attained and sustained for discipline, vital for social peace and law and order, to be restored.
These notwithstanding, we wish to say that given the times and circumstances we are in and the services these “Okada” motorcyclists render to the low income and underprivileged sections of our society, a second look should be taken at our motor traffic laws to see if we cannot do something to legalise these “Okada” operations.
Legalising the “Okada” business will not only serve the convenience of some members of our society, in the face of the heavy traffic jams and high cost of transport, but also create jobs and give incomes to those in the business.
Additionally, the government can exact taxes from the operators to boost its revenue.
We also wish to appeal to the police that in enforcing the ban on the use of motorbikes late in the night, they should go about it with a great deal of circumspection and a human face, given the fact that these are the only means of transport for some of our working people who work late into the night.
We believe that with a combination of these measures and co-operation from the public, sanity will return to our roads and all can move freely in pursuit of their legitimate business.

HOUSES FOR THE PEOPLE (NOV 25)

SHELTER is a basic necessity of life. Indeed, apart from food and water, shelter is ranked as the next in the list of needs of man that qualifies to be classified as a human right.
Thus the right to shelter, which is universally recognised as a basic social right and enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), is accorded pride of place in many jurisdictions, especially in progressive societies where the principles of quality and the well-being of the masses hold sway.
It is no wonder, therefore, that in such progressive societies, homelessness, which is a denial of this important right, is a rare phenomenon, whereas in more affluent, laissez-faire nations, there are more homeless and destitute people.
In developing nations such as ours, the issue of rapid and unplanned urbanisation, coupled with underdevelopment and poverty, has brought to the fore the acute housing problem the people have to contend with.
In the urban centres where this problem is prevalent and acute, this problem is sometimes masked in the form of squatter settlements or shanty towns at the centre or prime areas of cities.
Many working class people and others who have thronged the cities to make a living, because of the absence of alternative means of livelihood in the rural and semi-urban areas, simply cannot afford the prohibitive rents that are charged for the regular and modest houses available for accommodation.
It is common in our urban centres for landlords to demand rent advances ranging between two and 10 years at exorbitant rates and completely out of reach of the majority of the people.
This, in part, arises from the fact that the demand for houses or homes far outstrips supply and, therefore, there is a big deficit.
Over the years, this gap has grown in width and depth into a gulf and with it the housing crisis in many urban centres of the country has aggravated.
Governments, over the years, have, through a number of interventions, put up some housing units, mostly dubbed affordable housing, for workers in urban centres.
Even though these facilities have provided substantial relief for many workers and their families, many more are still left out in the open.
The few private sector housing initiatives for workers have also not gone far to adequately address the problem.
It is, therefore, gratifying to note that the government, recognising the housing issue as a human right, has already launched an initiative, in partnership with the private sector, to construct 100,000 housing units across the country over the next eight years.
Additionally, 200,000 low-income housing units are to be constructed.
We are happy to note that these, in addition to the pledge by the government to complete the various affordable housing projects left hanging from the previous government, will help make a significant dent on the huge housing deficit and bring relief to more working people and their families.
We urge the government to ensure that working and low-income people for whom those houses are meant are the ones who get them.
We recall with sadness and regret the situation where ministers, party functionaries, wealthy businessmen and women and their cronies were those who rather scrambled for and got these affordable and low-cost housing units, some even before the buildings were completed, leaving out those for whom they were meant.
We wish to urge the government and the private sector to join hands to work urgently on bringing down or at least check the escalating prices of building materials such as cement, iron rods, wood and others, as these are responsible for the high cost of houses.

GBA, IT'S A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (NOV 24)

A SOCIETY is stable because it is anchored on a foundation of justice and not just because it is stable.
Justice and its delivery at the right or appropriate time are, therefore, of crucial importance to the development and progress of society, especially one that seeks to build and sustain discipline and order as core values.
In developing nations, including Ghana, justice and its delivery have often evoked mixed reactions or responses.
There are large numbers of people who, on a daily basis, have had to contend with the violation of their fundamental human rights and freedoms. This could be on account of the fact that they are either themselves ignorant of these rights or, where they are conscious of them, they are, for a variety of reasons, including economic, financial, cultural or others, unable to stand up to ensure their enforcement.
This is not confined to the realm of civil and political rights but also, in more pronounced forms, the economic, social and cultural rights of the people which many countries and governments pay lip service to on account of problems of how justifiable or otherwise they are.
It cannot be denied that the Judiciary, one of the three organs of the State, with the basic function of interpreting the law, has a critical role to play in ensuring respect for the rights of the people.
Of similar importance is the fraternity of legally trained and equipped individuals who defend before our law courts the rights of the people and help check these from being trampled upon by powerful forces in society.
Thus, in a democratic set up where there is a coincidence of interests between the Executive, which enforces the law, on the one hand, and those who help interpret it (the Bar and the Bench), on the other, the need to work together to build a just and orderly society becomes a critical imperative.
Only yesterday, the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) called on President John Evans Atta Mills at the Castle, Osu, to congratulate him on his election as President of the nation and explore avenues of fruitful co-operation with the Executive to move the fortunes of the country forward.
While President Mills stressed the adherence of the government to the rule of law and justice for all the people, the GBA expressed its belief that he would be guided by legality, national reconstruction and renewal of unity to move the nation forward.
We are happy that the GBA is emerging from its self-imposed moratorium on non-indulgence in “active politics” as in the recent past and is seeking to partner the government, albeit in a more critical role, in helping positively to transform the society into the better Ghana espoused by the President for the benefit of all.
We believe that in addition to the broad areas of law reforms and constitutional matters, the two can work actively together to help fast-track justice delivery to the vast majority of our people, many of whom have been denied this precious commodity for years.
We particularly like to highlight the plight of thousands of our countrymen and women and even children who, especially as remand suspects, have languished in prison for years without the prospect of justice in sight.
The GBA can help here by working to reduce the frequency of adjournment of cases pending before the courts, speeding up investigations and encouraging the resort of clients to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
Additionally, the offer of free legal aid for members of our society who need and deserve justice but do not have the ability to pay can also be stepped up to enhance justice delivery and propel us towards the ultimate goal of a free and orderly society where justice has not only to be done but must be seen to have been done.
We want to commend the President of GBA and his national executive members for taking the bold initiative to get to the Castle to interact with the President.
It is a step in the right direction.

RESOLVING THE GALAMSEY PROBLEM (NOV 23)

QUITE recently, the nation’s conscience was rudely awaken when more than a dozen people were killed following the collapse of an illegal mine at Dompoase in the Western Region.
The incident brought to the fore the heavy price the illegal mining enterprise, otherwise called galamsey, exacts on the nation. This is in addition to the devastating consequences the operations of these illegal mines have on the environment and, by logical extension, the very lives of the people in the affected communities.
In the face of this national tragedy, many were the voices which called for the adoption of very stringent measures, including an immediate and massive clampdown on the galamsey operators and their prosecution, to help bring them under control.
At a durbar of the chiefs and people of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area last Saturday, President John Evans Atta Mills served notice of his government’s intention to deal firmly with the galamsey menace.
The President pointed out that those illegal miners, in the course of their operations, used dangerous chemicals such as cyanide which polluted the Birim River and other sources of drinking water for the people of the area, thus subjecting them to serious danger (see front page story).
No rational and well-meaning person can quarrel with the observations of the President and his pledge to deal with the galamsey menace.
A practice that devastates such wide traces of arable land which, otherwise, could have been used to produce all kinds of food crops for domestic consumption and also for export and which also contaminates vital sources of drinking water for many communities must evoke the concern of any well-meaning leader.
Admittedly, while we agree that some action must be taken to help bring this galamsey practice under control, the real issue is, what is this action and what form should it take?
There is the tendency, in times like this, to advocate the wholesale arrest and prosecution of those who engage in galamsey as a means of ending it.
It is worth pointing out that even if it is possible to round up all those currently involved in galamsey and have them locked up in legal custody, a new batch of galamsey operators may spring up to take their place, as experience has shown.
This, at best, may only provide a short-term or temporary solution, not the comprehensive and durable one we need.
We believe that we need to look at other innovative ways, such as reorganising the galamsey operators into viable co-operatives with the requisite level of modern equipment and some concessions earmarked for them to operate under the close monitoring and supervision by government agencies.
With this approach, we will kill many birds with one stone — environmental degradation will be brought under check, the pollution of water bodies halted, employment generated for larger numbers of the youth and affected communities positioned to derive optimum benefits from the exploitation of resources.
A better solution holds the best prospect for a comprehensive and durable solution to the current unmitigated galamsey menace.

THESE THREATS WILL NOT SUCCEED (NOV 21, 2009)

ONE of the basic tenets of democracy is adherence to the principles of the rule of law.
By this, we mean that the process of governance is bound by the law, that the law is supreme and, therefore, the government and all who are subordinated to the law must obey and act in conformity with the law.
This implies that all citizens of the land, whether high or low, rich or poor, powerful or weak, and so on, are equal before the law and, therefore, deserve and must be seen to be treated as such.
It cannot be denied that for the rule of law to be realised in any society, the Judiciary, which has the constitutional mandate of interpreting the law, must be free and independent.
By judicial independence is meant the freedom of judges to interpret the law fairly and firmly without fear, favour or interference or control from the Executive, the Legislature or any other body. The law, they say, is in the bosom of the judges at this point.
Only this week a very important judgement was given by a High Court judge, Justice Iddrisu Mahamadu, in which six policemen and four accomplices were each given 20 years sentence for robbery.
For many, it was a landmark case as it involved so many policemen. That they were arrested and even processed and successfully prosecuted signalled the dawn of a new era of justice delivery.
Elsewhere and at other times, policemen and other high people flagrantly infringe on the law and do not even come any close to being arrested, let alone being prosecuted and punished.
The action, apart from vindicating the prevalence of judicial independence, also spoke volumes on the commitment of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, to fight crime, including from within the police itself.
We salute the Police Administration for that good act of self-cleansing, as it will help purge the Police Service of the few bad lots and position the many good and hardworking ones to function effectively to the expectation of the public.
It is against this background that we are duly concerned about the threats issued against Justice Mahamadu by some faceless people for doing no other act than his duty of fairly interpreting the law (see front story).
There can be no denying the fact that the intention of these cowards hiding behind anonymous sources to issue the threats is to intimidate and cow into submission Justice Mahamadu and other judges so that justice will be done at the convenience and calling of the blackmailers.
We are happy that the IGP, in demonstration of his commitment to respect the rule of law, has already directed that adequate security measures be instituted immediately to protect the judge and his family.
We applaud this proactive position of the IGP. We should not take such threats lightly and wait for the harm to be done before we start looking for what went wrong and who did not do what at what time.
We wish to appeal to the public to remain vigilant and co-operate with the police by being more forthcoming with information on these threats and other criminal matters so that the police can act expeditiously to protect all of us.
We all have a duty to act to prevent a few misguided people from undermining the delivery of justice upon which rests the foundation of peace, law and order and good governance in our society.

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (NOV 20, 2009)

IT is no mean a task for the government of a developing nation still dependent on the support of development partners for economic development to pursue a policy of indigenisation which seeks to insulate its local businesses from unfair external competition and position them to compete favourably with others on the market.
Apart from the threats of retaliation and withholding of development assistance from the developed countries whose products may be so affected, the domestic lobbyists for the importers and distributors of such products are certain to exert all manner of pressure, ranging from the influence of power politics, through the use of money to outright sabotage or blackmail, to get the policy reversed or defeated.
Not too long ago, precisely in the mid-1970s, the Acheampong government of the National Redemption Council (NRC) launched the Operation Feed Yourself (OFY) programme, as a result of which the nation produced abundant maize, rice, yams, millet, guinea corn, livestock, poultry and other agricultural produce to meet domestic needs and for export. The northern part of this country, which is the country’s granary, had silos filled with thousands of tonnes of rice and other cereals.
The tragedy, however, was that there was no market for the produce and farmers went bankrupt, leading to the general decline in agricultural production and specifically the collapse of the rice industry.
It has been a source of concern to all patriotic and well-meaning Ghanaians that this country, which has the capacity to produce rice, poultry and meat to meet our domestic needs and even for export, is today spending nearly $1 billion ($600 million for rice and more than $300 million for poultry and meat products) to import these products.
It is important to point out that for every bag of rice, chicken wing, goat or cow leg and pig feet imported into the country, we are giving jobs and better incomes to the people of the nations from whom we are importing.
Additionally, we are creating unemployment for our own people here by the collapse of many businesses in the agricultural sector, while a few importers may benefit from such import dependence, with the mass of the people and the economy as a whole becoming worse off.
Again, the collapse of such agricultural businesses triggers profound degrees of social dislocation and mass movement of people from such distressed agricultural zones to other areas for alternative livelihood.
The “kayayei” phenomenon in Accra, Kumasi and other big cities in the country is a prominent example here.
It is largely in respect of this that in our editorial of yesterday we lauded the government for the support it had declared in the 2010 Budget for local rice, poultry, fish and livestock farmers.
We are pleased to note that this positive policy intervention is already being acknowledged and commended by stakeholder groups such as the Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana (see front story).
By these pronouncements, the government has taken the vital step towards revamping the economy and improving the lives of our people.
The other important step is how and when these measures will be implemented, if at all.
Our country is fast becoming a dumping ground for all manner of products and this is not only killing our productive capacity but also posing a veritable threat to our economic survival.
The government has both the right and the duty to ensure that these measures it has outlined work and work well to the benefit of our nation and its people.

A FORWARD LOOKING BUDGET (NOV 19)

WHAT a government will do, where it will do it and how and when it will be done within the year are issues taken up in its financial statement, otherwise referred as a budget.
Budgets point the way forward to the ideological orientation of the regime and the kind of economic and social policies and programmes it wants to pursue. This, among other things, is done by drawing up a list of priorities and making the appropriate quantum of resources available for the implementation of these policies and programmes designed to improve the material conditions of the target group.
Yesterday, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, presented the government’s budget for 2010 before Parliament in Accra.
To all intents and purposes, the contents of the budget were as hope laden and inspiring as they were revealing.
From the background of an unprecedented budget deficit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated at about 22 per cent, steadily rising inflation and fast depreciating currency and high cost of living, the immediate task of the Finance Minister was first to arrest those sharp declines, stabilise the macro-economic environment and then proceed from there to work for growth.
We are happy to note that by dint of fiscal discipline, the prudent management of the economy, discipline and austerity of the political leadership and hard work and dedication, the inflationary spiral has been halted and brought down, the fiscal deficit reduced substantially to about 10 per cent and the plummeting value of the cedi halted and now appreciating against the major international currencies.
We find as laudable and heart-warming the pursuit in the 2010 budget of an array of pro-poor nationalistic and people-centred policies and programmes that will contribute to growing our economy and improving the material conditions our people. The decision to offer the physically challenged free education is highly commendable.
We are particularly elated at the decision of the government to provide an array of facilities to support our local farmers to produce more rice, poultry, livestock, cocoa, shea nuts and other crops to feed our people and industries, as well as for export.
Currently, we are spending in the region of $600 million a year to import only rice, a commodity we can readily produce here for local consumption and for export.
We believe that in addition to the incentives outlined for our local farmers, including poultry and livestock farmers, the additional tariffs the government intends to impose on imported rice and poultry products will help address the imbalance in the pricing structure and make the local products as competitive, if not more competitive than the imported products.
We urge the government to follow through these by, among others, encouraging the use of these local products in state institutions and on state occasions so that the requisite market will be guaranteed our local farmers to produce more.
We also wish to urge all in the country to endeavour to increase their patronage of made-in-Ghana goods so that together we can grow the economy and improve our standard of living.
We commend the government for the moves to create jobs through the agricultural sector, the Greening Ghana Project, innovative road building projects and more.
While we applaud the government for chalking these feats and preparing for more, we urge it not to relax the fiscal discipline and prudence it has sown so far, lest we relapse.
We salute the working people of this country for the immense sacrifices they have made and urge them to increase productivity so that more resources will be generated to meet the requirements of the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) by the government, come January 2010, to enhance their standard of living and leave more for other areas of the economy.

NIA MUST DO A DILIGENT JOB (NOV 18, 2009)

A SOCIETY that does not know much about itself runs the high risk of being relegated to the fringes of socio-economic development.
Governments are elected or instituted to mobilise, harmonise and co-ordinate resources — both human and material — of the state to create and distribute wealth in such a manner as will maximise the social well-being of the majority of the people.
To be able to discharge this obligation effectively, they must know the quantity and quality of their human resource, their geographical and occupational distribution, as well as other factors, so that proper and effective planning can be done to attain optimum results.
Thus, while planning is crucial to the attainment of socio-economic development, it cannot be undertaken without the requisite and reliable database which serves as a basic ingredient in the planning process.
It is, therefore, of crucial importance that the methodology for gathering and processing data be so sound as to ensure that the data secured will stand any test of validity, credibility and reliability.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has, for some time now, been engaged in the process of collecting such vital data from across the 10 regions of the country. Already, the Central, Western, Eastern and Volta regions have been featured, with the Greater Accra Region taking its turn from today to February next year.
It has generally been observed that in the regions where the exercise has already taken place patronage was low at the start, peaking towards the end and creating long queues of people waiting to be registered. This is typical of the “last-minute” attitude of the Ghanaian which, more often than not, results in some citizens not being captured in the exercise.
Given the immense importance of this exercise, in particular its ability to authenticate the citizenship of members of society, we appeal to every Ghanaian in the Greater Accra Region to endeavour to actively patronise the exercise and to do so on time and at the right place corresponding to his or her normal place of abode.
We hasten to add that there is no need for anyone to want to go and register more than once, as those who do so could easily be found out and the appropriate sanctions meted out to them. Besides, there is not much gain anyone could derive from indulgence in double registration.
We also wish to appeal to officials of the NIA to endeavour to address the concerns of enumerators to avoid the strikes that had threatened the exercise in some regions. Greater Accra has the biggest population in the country and, therefore, the task or challenge is greater and needs the attention and support of all to succeed.
We also urge the NIA to open more registration centres and deploy mobile registration work stations (MRWs) to ease the problems associated with long queues so that many do not wait for long only to get frustrated and turn away.
The NIA has done it in some regions and it can do it again in Greater Accra.
We wish it success in this onerous exercise.

KUDOS, GHANA POLICE SERVICE (NOV 17)

IT is generally known and accepted that the task of effectively combating crime, especially the sophisticated modern crimes of today, requires the involvement and support of the public to complement the efforts of the police.
Those who commit crimes are not just members of the various communities constituting our nation but are actually residents of those areas and are, more often than not, known to some members of society.
While the police, by their training and other individual attributes, are capable and, in fact, do tackle some criminals on their own without the involvement and support of the public, the nature and sophistication of the crimes of today and the increasing ingenuity of criminals to erase traces of their crime to avoid detection make public co-operation in dealing with crimes and criminals a critical imperative.
We are happy that today such vital support and co-operation from the public to the police is taking root and manifesting in the feats our law enforcement officers are chalking to help make society safer and peaceful for all to live their lives.
We are very elated to hear of the speedy breakthrough the Northern Regional Police Command has made in respect of the murder of the late Moses Alando Banaba, the People’s National Convention (PNC) parliamentary candidate in the Nalerigu Constituency in the 2008 election.
We say kudos to ACP Angwubutoge Awuni, the Northern Regional Police Commander, and his men for the speedy and effective manner in which they have gathered and collated intelligence and moved to arrest a number of people suspected to be responsible for Mr Banaba’s murder.
The swift action by the police speaks volumes about their competence, dedication to duty and fortitude and that given the needed support and independent room by the authorities to operate, they can do wonders.
We also recognise that in chalking this feat and others in recent times, including the relentless onslaught against armed robbers, public confidence in the police is once again on the upswing.
If actions such as these are replicated anytime crimes, especially very serious ones, are committed, the inescapable message that goes to the public is that the perpetrators, whoever they are and wherever they may be hiding, will be smoked out and dealt with according to the law. That is what the public expects of their men and women in uniform.
Now that the suspects have been apprehended, we believe that they will be taken through due process as early as possible so that justice will be done. This, among others, should assuage the hurt feelings of the late Banaba’s family and friends.
We urge the police not to rest on their laurels but intensify the hunt for other criminals in high-profile but unresolved murder cases in the region.
We take this opportunity to urge the public, in this free and invigorated atmosphere, to be more readily forthcoming with more information and other forms of support and co-operation to help the police get fully on top of criminal matters.
In doing this, we will be contributing our fair quota to rid our society of criminals and thereby create the opportunity for building a just, orderly and peaceful society.
Once again, kudos to our policemen and policewomen.

MAKING POSITIVE USE OF THE INTERNET (NOV 16)

IT is a truism that we are living in a globalised world where no one nation can claim being an island to itself and thereby seek immunity from major developments on the face of the earth.
The unprecedented growth and development of information and communications technology (ICT) and its speedy adoption and use across the world have reinforced the theoretical basis for the concept of a shrinking world — a world that has grown smaller, not in physical size but in the speed of reach.
The Internet, no doubt, is replete with benefits which are too many to recount here. Suffice it to say that it facilitates communication among individuals, businesses and even states in a matter of minutes, instead of days and weeks or even months, as was previously the case.
In so doing, it has considerably lifted the huge communication burden off the shoulders of mankind and saved a lot of precious time and energy that can be channelled into other areas to enhance the socio-economic development of nations and support the quest for a better life for the people.
Through its numerous websites — e-mail, facebook and twitter — people and institutions can readily access information of interest to them and this has contributed to bring down the cost of doing business in these times and also increased the stock of knowledge among people of different nationalities and background.
These notwithstanding, the Internet is like a double-edged sword — it cuts both ways.
In spite of its good attributes, it can also be used to do very bad and morally reprehensible things that undermine social peace, order and good governance.
There are, indeed, a number of websites which, when browsed, especially by very young people (children specifically), can very likely corrupt morals and contribute to their degeneration into criminals or social misfits, thereby making them unnecessary burdens for society.
Of late, many of our young people who patronise our Internet cafes drift to websites that showcase pornographic images and information, without any mechanism of censorship being enforced.
Additionally, these young people are increasingly resorting to the Internet to rip people off in clandestine business deals popularly called ‘Sakawa’.
Many people the world over have lost huge fortunes, some their lifetime savings, through such sinister manipulation of the Internet.
Our youth who will rise to lead this nation tomorrow need not only verbal admonitions against their indulgence in such vices but also, and more important, guidance and counselling and refined forms of regulation in the use of the Internet if they are to be saved form compromising their future and that of the nation.
It is against this backdrop that we fully endorse the call by the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, on Internet cafe operators to introduce or enforce mechanisms which will restrict the accessibility of minors to certain websites whose contents are not conducive to their smooth and orderly development.
While it will be a tall order to prevent the youth altogether from accessing the Internet, it is possible and, indeed, desirable to enforce standards among Internet cafes so that those which fail the test, including those who are not able to bar minors from such morally degenerating websites and ‘Sakawa’ activities, will be sanctioned.
We, in taking this position, are only too aware of the overwhelming importance of our youth to national development and progress, for which reason nothing should be left to chance in trying to get them to traverse the right path.
Let’s remember that these formative stages in the lives of the youth are the most important in shaping their minds for tomorrow. If they are left to imbibe negative attributes and values, they will be lost and our nation’s future will be compromised.

LET STOP THESE ACCIDENTS (PAGE 7, NOV 14)

SURVEYS of the motor traffic system of the West African sub-region indicate that Ghana has one of the highest motor or road accidents per vehicle population per annum in the region.
To any objective and critical observer of the motor traffic system in the country, this is hardly surprising.
The level of indiscipline on our roads is, for want of a better description, simply mind-boggling.
There are a good number of people behind steering wheels on our roads who are “murderers” disguised as drivers.
To begin with, some of these people are not qualified or eligible to operate the vehicles entrusted in their care.
Many spot checks by the police have revealed that a good number of commercial vehicles operators (taxi and trotro drivers) either do not have driving licences at all or, when they have, they are fake, expired or, worse still, both.
There are many people behind wheels who have not gone through any driving lessons or test by an authorised institution or body so that it could be certified that they, indeed, qualify to drive.
Indeed, a good number of these drivers go through the back-door driving school by way of a few hours of driving lessons from individual “masters” on less busy roads at weekends and self-graduate as qualified drivers on our roads.
There are even some of them who, with exaggerated levels of competence and confidence, take charge of vehicles with heavier weight than they can handle.
Additionally, the disregard by many motorists for traffic rules and regulations, some borne out of ignorance and others out of impatience or sheer recalcitrance, contributes to the spate of road accidents in the country.
There had been situations where victims of accidents could have been spared if the drivers involved had just respected a red traffic light and stopped or not sped recklessly or did a wrong overtaking.
We have lost and continue to lose lives on our roads and the time to seriously check the madness on our roads is now.
Only yesterday, 18 students from a number of schools in Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region sustained various degrees of injury when a 28-year-old driver of an Urvan bus ignored signals from the police to stop and ploughed into a procession of the students on a main road (see front page).
It is only a matter of luck that no lives were lost on the spot in this instance of reckless driving described as an accident.
We believe that a number of things, including strengthening our driver certification system, improving monitoring, enforcing the rules and letting our sanction regime work fairly, firmly and timeously, have to be done to nip these otherwise avoidable accidents in the bud and save the lives and limbs of our people.
We wish to acknowledge and commend the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) for instituting measures to reduce or eliminate the faking of its licences and also speed up the issuance of licences to those who qualify on examination and certification.
The DVLA boss, Mr Justice Amegashie, and his boys could extend this good work by rigorously checking the state of road worthiness of vehicles through proper physical examination before certifying them as road worthy. There are still a number of rickety or run-down vehicles operating on our roads and which poses a serious danger to all road users.
The MTTU, although working under difficult conditions, should endeavour to enforce road traffic regulations, not just reach amicable settlement with offending drivers and let them off the hook.
Once offenders are brought to court and found guilty and appropriately punished, many others contemplating similar acts will realise that it does not pay and, therefore, conform with the rules.
Above all, we all have to ensure that we make our roads safe for all road users to minimise, if not stop, these avoidable road accidents.

PRICKING THE CONSCIENCE OF SOCIETY TO ACT (NOV 13)

ONE of the beautiful things about democracy with a pluralistic and vibrant media is the provision of a platform for the vigorous discussion or debate of issues of national concern.
Through such exchange of diverse and often conflicting opinions, a synthesis of ideas is attained, from which society, particularly policy makers and implementors, will draw useful lessons to help enrich the content of legislation and national programmes.
In yesterday’s issue of this paper, we published on our front page the tragic report of the death of 18 people, most of them women, in a galamsey operation that went tragically wrong.
Along with the report was a picture of the victims of the disaster.
Since the publication of the picture, we have received mixed reactions from the public, ranging from commendations by individuals to loud protestations from the regulator of the state-owned media — the National Media Commission (NMC) — and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
The NMC, in stating its displeasure at the publication, described the picture as gory and its publication as a product of bad judgement and unprofessional conduct.
The GJA, on the other hand, described the picture as gruesome.
While we wish to respect the views and opinions of all in respect of this subject matter, we nevertheless wish to set the record straight regarding the charges of unprofessionalism and unethical conduct levelled against us by the NMC and the GJA.
Even as the pictures may appear to be tragic, with the capacity to shock many, it cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as gory and gruesome, as alleged by the NMC and the GJA.
In using the picture, care was taken to select one that did not openly show the faces of the victims so that they could be easily identified.
Again, the picture used did not display the tragic details of the accident involving the victims as other pictures in our possession did, for which we exercised the judgement not to use them.
Furthermore, in using the picture, we never sought, even remotely, to offend the sensibilities of the general public, let alone those of the families, relatives and well-wishers of the victims. Far from that.
This incident, by all accounts, represents a monumental national tragedy in which the government, state institutions, individuals involved in the galamsey business, mining concerns, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders have an interest.
Our prime consideration here is to prick the conscience of society and propel and galvanise the stakeholders to stop the endless talk of the menace of galamsey and act together in a more scientific and mature fashion to find amicable and lasting solutions to the matter to forestall another tragedy and further loss of lives which could be avoided.
If, in the course of our well intentioned action, we have offended the sensibilities of the bereaved families or some of our readers, we are sorry.
This, however, is not to say that it was recklessness or unprofessional conduct on our part, as some of the charges seem to suggest.
We wish to take this opportunity to reiterate our call to the government, the Minerals Commission, galamsey operators, NGOs and other stakeholders to act now and with a sense of urgency to find a durable and amicable solution to the problem of galamsey and thus prevent the recurrence of tragedies of this nature.
If this is done, we would have paid proper tribute to the victims, rather than persist in our inaction for more such tragedies to afflict us for us to engage in another round of profuse mourning and philosophical debates and the blame game as to who has done right or wrong and where.
We once again extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and pray and hope that our contribution to this discourse will yield fruitful dividends for the benefit of the entire nation.

SANITISING ACTIVITIES OF GALAMSEY OPERATORS (NOV 12)

THE penchant among many people in our society to wilfully violate the law and get away with it has encouraged others to believe that deviant behaviour always pays and, therefore, such misconduct is rewarding.
A lot has been written and said over the years about the phenomenon of illegal mining, popularly called galamsey.
In mining areas of our country, particularly in places where gold and diamond are mined, it is a matter of record that fierce competition for the concessions bearing the ore and the stones has, more often than not, led to very ugly confrontations between these galamsey operators and those holding legitimate title to those concessions.
What is more tragic for these practitioners of illegal mining and the nation as a whole is the loss of many lives due mainly to the lack of sound safety measures in the pits or tunnels they dig to exploit the ore.
Only last Tuesday, reports emerged from Dompoase, near Wassa Akropong in the Amenfi East District in the Western Region, to the effect that 18 people lost their lives when a mining pit they were prospecting for gold caved in and buried them (see front page).
It is always a sad occasion when precious human lives are lost, especially in circumstances that otherwise could have been avoided.
The loss of such lives, apart from the gnashing of teeth, the trauma, pain and anguish it unleashes to the families, relatives, friends and well-wishers of the bereaved, also adversely impacts on the development and progress of the nation, as the most vital resource of society, the people, are lost to it.
While it is often too easy or convenient to label these galamsey operators as criminals and set the law enforcement agents on them, in an attempt to attain a quick fix of the problem, a more sober reflection will counsel a better and more scientific approach to dealing with the issue.
More often than not, it is the big and established multinational mining firms which manage to secure vast areas of the gold-bearing ores as their concessions.
The general well-being of the indigenous people, including those from the surrounding areas, is, with the exception of a few notable cases, not the fundamental concern of these mining conglomerates.
Indeed, that is why mining communities, in spite of the huge wealth they are sitting on, still rank high among the league of the poor.
Not only do the majority of people of these areas fail to get jobs in these mines; their lands and water bodies which could be used to create alternative employment for them are also either taken up as part of the concessions or destroyed in the process of extracting the ore.
Thus vast numbers of people, including those from outside the mining communities attracted by the mineral wealth, are left without jobs and money to look after themselves and their dependants.
In the face of these difficulties, and with no hope of benefiting from the mineral wealth secured by these firms, galamsey becomes the only avenue for many of these desperate, largely unskilled people.
We believe that a better way of dealing with the galamsey menace is to integrate the operators into the general mining plan of such mineral rich communities.
The government, through the various district assemblies, community leaders and mining concerns, should look at the possibility of forming out of these desperate and unorganised group mining co-operatives which can be given some part of the concessions to operate .
Through these and other innovative measures, it is possible to manage and control the galamsey menace and thus save many more precious lives which are lost all the time to these unsavoury practices.

TOWARDS A PEOPLE-CENTRED BUDGET (NOV 11, 2009)

THE Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, will, a week from today, present before Parliament the financial statement of the government or budget for the 2010 financial year.
It is expected to outline not only the achievements, shortcomings and challenges of the 2009 budget but also important areas of government revenue and expenditure.
It will also deal with the measures the government will put in place to revamp the economy and place it on a sound footing to enable it to support a better life for the people, in line with President John Evans Atta Mills’s quest to build a better Ghana for all.
It is an established fact that the 2009 budget, coming as it did from a background of huge and unprecedented government deficit, balance of payment difficulties, substantial government debts, falling value of the cedi and rising inflation and cost of living, had to preoccupy itself with containing and reversing those negative macroeconomic indicators before securing any meaningful and sustainable growth.
Fortunately, and by dint of hard work, prudent and financial discipline exercised by the government, backed by good management of the economy, inflation has not only stabilised but is also on the decline. The exchange rate has also been stabilised and, indeed, in recent times shown some levels of appreciation.
Financial discipline, government’s prudence and less than flamboyant public spending have, according to financial experts, contributed to significantly bring down the huge public debt inherited from the previous government.
Gross Domestic Product (GDR) growth, which is said to be closer to five per cent, is commendable. In many African states, the projected growth for 2009 is not beyond two per cent, in real terms.
From this background, we believe that the budget Dr Duffuor is about to present will be oriented towards consolidating these gains, go for growth and institute policy measures that will create more jobs and improve the material conditions of the people, especially the poor and vulnerable sections of society.
The news in the grapevine that this new budget will see the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) will, if it materialises, be good news for the working people of this country who, for years, have fought hard for a wage and salary regime that will guarantee them better and dignified lives.
Increases in budgetary allocations for the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme and, the provision of free school uniforms for more than one million pupils should represent evidence of the government’s commitment to the pursuit of more pro-poor policies and programmes to ameliorate the plight of the poor, marginalised and underprivileged.
These notwithstanding, we believe more work still needs to be done to bring down interest rates, which are still high and crowd out the private sector which, as the engine of growth of the economy, is expected to spearhead the creation of jobs for the multitude of unemployed.
More should also be done to increase the productive and export base of the economy, especially the manufacturing sector, and reduce imports through the setting up of import substituting industries to reduce massive outflows of scarce foreign exchange.
We also wish to use this opportunity to remind the government of its pledge to cut down substantially on the imports of rice and poultry products by supporting local farmers to increase production.

BRAVO, GHANA POLICE SERVICE (NOV 10)

IT is not an easy task watching over others while they relax or sleep in comfort, irrespective of the time of the day.
As a principal law enforcement instrument of the state, the police have the onerous responsibility to ensure that the country’s laws are complied with and, where they are not, those engaged in the offensive acts are apprehended and made to face the full rigours of the law.
In recent times, the public spotlight has been on the police, in the face of the eruption of a number of crimes, in particular armed robbery, in some parts of the country.
The rather brazen manner in which some of these robberies are carried out and where they have been staged have evoked concerns over public safety from across the social strata.
The brazen robberies staged against bullion vans at Madina and other places last year have been replicated this year, with the police paying dearly through the loss of their officers.
But, just as the perpetrators of these criminal acts appeared to have seized the initiative, the police have struck back, nipping in the bud a number of criminal gangs plotting to unleash terror on innocent members of society.
Only last weekend, members of a criminal gang which reportedly robbed a bullion van and shot and killed a policeman were nabbed and the suspects put in protective custody.
Information obtained from the suspects, as well as other sources, has since led the police to effect more arrests, with the hunt continuing for the rest of those criminal gangs.
We take this opportunity to salute National Security, the Police Administration and the military for their joint efforts at unmasking these criminal gangs and preparing them to face the law.
Smoking out criminals and, more specifically, arresting and successfully prosecuting them are no mean achievements.
They require, among others, the gathering, synthesising and co-ordination of intelligence, planning and co-ordination of assault on the dens of criminals, vigilance and dedication to the job and, above all, an abundance of courage and fortitude in physically confronting and breaking the back of the criminals.
We are particularly impressed about the speed with which the perpetrators of these recent robberies have been arrested. This gives a clear indication that given the requisite level of support, our security officers can and will deliver to the public’s expectation.
While giving them a pat on their backs for a good job done, we hasten to remind our security officers that the job is far from finished and that they need to maintain or even increase their current levels of vigilance and competence to deal with outstanding crimes and even those that the criminals are planning to unleash on society.
We believe it is within the remit of civil responsibility and the best societal interest for people to volunteer vital information on criminals and their hideouts and be more forthcoming with other forms of co-operation to anchor our security officers to turn on the heat and finish the job.
The task of attaining and securing a safer and sounder society with a minimum level of threat to lives and property is a collective one and it behoves all of us to work together to rout these social misfits.

ENHANCING THE PEOPLE'S WELL-BEING (NOV 9)

ONE of the functions of a political party, apart from providing a vent for the realisation of representative government, is to provide leadership for the steering of the affairs of state after securing the mandate of the people in free-and-fair elections.
This mandate given by the people to the leadership of the political party transforms such personalities from sectional to national leaders.
This imposes upon the leadership a social contract between it (the government) and the people, in which the support and demands of the latter contribute substantially to informing the decisions and actions of the former.
Thus through this arrangement, which has secured the support of the people (the electorate), the government strives to work to meet the interests and aspirations of the people, foremost of which is improving the material conditions of their lives.
Only last week, the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, embarked upon a four-day tour of the Ashanti Region. This followed similar tours by the President to other regions of the country.
At a meeting with the chiefs and people of the region, the President emphasised two main themes:
That the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) he leads would not discriminate against the region on the grounds that he did not win there, and that measures had been put in place to reverse the myriad of economic challenges he inherited. He, therefore, called for patience to enable the measures to yield fruitful dividends sooner than later.
The massive deficit, rapid rise in inflation, the continued depreciation of the cedi and the huge debts at institutions ranging from the District Assemblies to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) among others, clearly undermine effecting an immediate and a significant improvement in the well-being of the people.
We have taken judicious notice of some of the dividends including the reduction in inflation rate, stabilisation and even improvement in the exchange rate regime and the payments of debts and consequent reduction in the deficit, all of which emanate from actions instituted by the government to arrest the decline. We are also not oblivious of the harsh global recession to which Ghana cannot claim immunity.
While we commend the government for these achievements and hope that the same level of financial and economic prudence will be attained to help attain a higher growth rate, we nevertheless believe that some waste still exists in the public sector and this needs to be tackled to save and conserve national resources.
The government also needs to tighten up serious areas of revenue leakage resulting from malfeasance by some officials of revenue collection agencies, in particular collusion, under-invoicing and the abuse of the transit process at the various entry points by officials of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
The challenge of attaining a higher growth to anchor a better life for the people, does not lie only in reducing government expenditure but also in increasing revenue and productivity in the productive areas of the economy. These need the collective efforts of all.
We are happy that the President has given the assurance of non-discrimination in the allocation of the national cake on political and other sectional grounds.
The President in the course of these tours has direct touch with the people and it is our hope that with this first-hand information from them, he would take their concerns and interests on board in the formulation and implementation of national policies.

TAKE BACK THIS AWARD (NOV 7)

THERE is this African saying that the elderly will prevent the grain that is being dried from being soaked by rain.
The elderly, by virtue of the wisdom he or she possesses and knowing that the grain could go bad when soaked by the rain, will instruct the children to evacuate it even as the children remain oblivious of the rain.
In African societies such as ours, people have advanced in age and have in the course of their lives acquired more wisdom and experience and are often regarded as sages and the appropriate level of respect and even reverence are accorded them.
Such very wise people more often than not lead good and exemplary lives which the rest of society, especially the youth, are encouraged to emulate.
They are also positioned to offer the requisite level of guidance and counselling to the younger generation, who, if they imbibe such positive values given, grow up to be useful and responsible members of society.
Thus the elderly have a bounded duty to specially mentor, guide and protect the youth against the bad and negative influences of social miscreants and serve as role models whose behaviour and conduct the youth yearn to emulate.
When an elderly person indulges in acts of malfeasance, moral turpitude or other licentious behaviour as would demean or lower his or her stature in the eyes of right thinking members of society, he or she loses the moral right to assert his or her status and to counsel the younger generation.
Only recently we carried a series of exclusive reports which unearthed the great depths of moral turpitude of Mr Enoch Nii Lamptey-Mills, who impregnated a 16-year-old girl in the school of which he is the proprietor and elder of the Governing Council and Administration.
After committing this atrocious act, he reneged on his word to the girl to take good care of her, build her a house and get her back to school to continue her education.
These multiple acts of having carnal knowledge of a teenager, impregnating her, breaking the promise to adequately cater for her and get her back to school, constitute an abuse of child rights and accordingly a ringing indictment on Mr Enoch Nii Lamptey-Mills.
His unmasking portrays him as unfit to head an important institution of learning which his late father strove to build by dint of hard work to groom the youth for the onerous task of leadership of the nation tomorrow.
We, therefore, endorse the call by the Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, for the national award conferred on him by former President J.A. Kufuor to be revoked and accordingly withdrawn.
The out-of-court settlement ordered by the court which was trying the case has left a sour taste in the mouths of many lovers of justice and fair play.
The question has been posed whether an ordinary man would have walked away a free man as Lamptey-Mills has, if that ordinary man had committed the same act.
National awards are honourable and sacred instruments and should only go to personalities of honourable disposition and conduct.
Leaving such honours in the hands of morally deprived individuals of questionable conduct debase such awards and make them objects of national scorn and derision.
This country deserves better and must do right by all means.

A NATION WORTH DYING FOR (NOV 6)

THE greatness or otherwise of a nation is a direct function of the quality of its people and what is done to and with them.
Leadership is crucial in this respect because it is strategically well placed to offer the right vision and guidance to the people and authoritatively allocate values (resources inclusive) to society.
It is, therefore, no wonder that in societies where the leader espouses a clear vision of progress anchored on egalitarian principles, is firm but fair in the application of the law to all and lives by example of selflessness and a strong commitment to the pursuit of the national interest, the people will be willing and ready to die for the nation.
Success here is inevitable, because the realisation that the society will recognise and reward the feats they chalk or the general contributions they make unleashes such levels of energy that sweeps away all who stand in the way.
Those who have followed the fortunes of the nation’s Under-20 team, the Black Satellites, cannot fail to realise that apart from trying to make a name for themselves by conquering the world, these gallant boys were goaded on to success by the example and motivation provided by leadership.
Additionally, the feeling they harboured that society would duly recognise and treat them as heroes and thus accord them a dignified place and standing in society presented an added fillip for success.
For a long time since the Starlets 91 conquered the world, victory at the global level has eluded our national teams.
While a variety of reasons could be advanced to justify such relative lack of success, the lack of proper and adequate motivation and recognition accorded those who held high the nation’s flag on the international scene is a contributory factor.
Promises made by the state to motivate and adequately recognise and reward such achievers have, in the past, been largely reneged upon. The promises of the state, which should be deemed sacred and irrevocable, are broken with careless abandon, with little or no remorse.
That is why we are so elated and blown that under this dispensation the government not only amply motivated the Satellites team during the World Under-20 tournament but it has also accorded them a hero’s welcome and rewarded them appropriately.
The decision of the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, to hold back other pressing national assignments to meet, reward and honour our gallant Satellites is a significant morale booster that will unleash the unbounded energies in other Ghanaians to excel, not only in soccer but also other spheres of human endeavour.
We commend the government for not only giving immediate material benefits such as brand new cars to these young people and their handlers but also demonstrating a vision in setting aside funds in investment to guarantee them a sound and safe future.
Stories abound here of many sportsmen and sportswomen who, in the past, chalked up important feats for the nation but who today are regrettably reduced to paupers, with cups in hand begging for crumbs for survival.
This is where we believe the decision by the government to factor such predicament of past heroes into the reward scheme for the Satellites team is laudable and deserves the total support of the people.
We urge that this approach be made a permanent feature of our national life so that Ghana will forever remain a nation worth dying for.
“Ayekoo”, “mbo”, “yiwaladonn” Satellites, you have made us and all Africans proud.

A MSOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (NOV 5)

THE founder of the our nation, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, made a poignant statement that highlights the contradiction in the state of affairs in Africa today.
According to Dr Nkrumah, while Africa is potentially the richest continent in the world, Africans are the poorest people on the face of the earth.
This clearly brings to the fore the issue of the extent of control and management of national assets and resources and the political will or the lack of it among our political leaders to act selflessly in these matters.
The sale of 70 per cent shares of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone International last year was, without doubt, the most controversial divestiture of a state organisation in the annals of the country.
It was one transaction that attracted a lot of heated arguments, emotions and sentimentalism across the broad political and social strata of our society, including seasoned economists and entrepreneurs, for a sound and more critical look to be taken at the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) between the government and Vodafone before it was okayed.
Indeed, in the heat of the arguments, many allegations of underhand dealings to hand over GT cheaply to Vodafone were traded.
Not surprisingly, the matter became a political issue, with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), then in opposition, pledging to take a second look at the matter if it won power, while the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and its leading members went to court to stop the deal. The case is still pending.
Last Tuesday, the government formally announced its position on the report of the committee it set up to review the SPA.
We are happy that after many twists and turns, the government has indicated its position based on the recommendations of the committee and signalled its desire to re-engage Vodafone on the matter.
It is also worthy of note that in the said announcement certain controversial aspects of the deal, including the national fibre optic facility, the Ghana Telecom University College, landed and other property of the erstwhile GT, will form the basis for the re-engagement.
So is it with the pledge by the government to look more closely at the operations of GT, particularly the huge debt it accumulated before the deal, to help determine its genuineness or otherwise.
We certainly are not oblivious to the sanctity of contracts nor the need to deepen and sustain the confidence of investors, local and foreign, in our economy as the gateway to investment in the sub-region.
However, we believe that the sale or handing over of national assets, especially those that are of strategic importance, to investors must not be vitiated by corruption or shady and murky transactions that evoke tongue-lashing and questions as to whether the national interest has not been compromised on the altar of parochial interests.
Open and transparent deals which secure value for money and offer new leases of life to such divested enterprises and their workers reflect the national interest and signal government’s desire to do clean business.
We wish to applaud the action by the government in fulfilling the electoral promise it made to Ghanaians.
We, as a people, need to monitor and hold politicians to account for the good things they promise when they are seeking the mandate of the people to govern, so that honesty and decency are injected into our politics for politicians to be more responsible and accountable.
This is the way forward towards deepening and entrenching our democracy and protecting and promoting the national interest.

GHANA-COTE D'IVOIRE MUST LEAD THE WAY (NOV 4)

FRATERNAL relations between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire date back to several decades. As for relations between the peoples of the two countries, they predate the colonial era when, Africa, the object of the greed and insatiable appetite for territory by Western imperialist powers, and its people were totally balkanised.
When Ghana, under the leadership of our visionary and illustrious Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, broke the back of the colonial regime and founded the new sovereign Republic of Ghana on March 6, 1957, it became the Mecca for Africanists who were thirsty to see the back of the colonial order and bring freedom and justice to their long-suffering people.
Notwithstanding ideological differences between Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah and the late Ivorian leader, Houphouet Boigny, the two states and their peoples continued to forge ahead in the decolonisation process, as well as in the bid to build sound and symbiotic economic systems for the mutual benefit of the two peoples.
It is important here to recall the immense contribution the two states made to the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the vanguard of the decolonisation process. Today, it goes without saying that relations between the two states and peoples have reached a higher level.
Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are not leading members of only the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) but also the African Union (AU) whose vision, commitment, actions and inaction contribute significantly to shaping the destiny of the continent and the millions of its people.
We recall with a sense of pride the positive collaboration between the two states and Nigeria that culminated in the formation of ECOMOG, a military expedition which intervened in the Liberian civil war.
The intervention not only rescued the Liberian state from joining the unenviable league of failed states but also saved millions of precious lives.
Given all these acts of positive collaboration between the two states, we are happy to welcome the Ivorian Leader, President Laurent Gbagbo, to Ghana on a two-day visit at the invitation of President John Evans Atta Mills.
While Ghana is not new to President Gbagbo, his visit comes at a time of profound global challenge — the crippling global recession which has far-reaching consequences for the entire humanity, especially the underprivileged and marginalised developing nations of which Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are part.
We believe that in addition to intensifying co-operation on the economic front to help improve the lives of the peoples of the two countries, Presidents Gbagbo and Mills will drink from the deep fountain of each other’s wisdom and experiences on a number of issues.
In particular, we pray that the protracted political problem in Cote d’Ivoire which has defied a durable solution all these years will receive due attention so that an amicable resolution of the problem can be found for the huge potential of Cote d’Ivoire to be mobilised for the mutual benefit of our two countries and their peoples.
As we say Amaraaba (Welcome) to President Gbagbo for coming home to Ghana, we also wish to urge the two leaders to endeavour to bring the other African leaders together to forge a stronger African Union so that, like the United States, Africa will stand tall and take its rightful place in the comity of nations as the legendary Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah had dreamt and worked selflessly for.
Once again, welcome home, President Gbagbo.

IMPLEMENT NEW PAY STRUCTURE ON TIME (NOV 3)

FOR some time now the government has given every indication that the process towards the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) is on course.
The Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao, has been giving assurances to the various workers groups that the government is doing everything within its power to see to the implementation of the new salary structure to the satisfaction of all.
The new salary structure was introduced by the previous government last year but because of the 2008 general election, it could not hold a stakeholders’ consultative conference to discuss the proposals and smoothen out all the rough edges before implementation.
When the Mills administration came into office in 2009, a three-day consultative workshop on the SSSS was held at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from May 27 to 29.
At that workshop, it was agreed that between September and November there should be negotiations with organised labour on negotiable aspects of the Single Spine Pay Structure, all job holders should be placed on the new pay structure by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and that the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department test runs the new pay structure.
It will be recalled that in June this year teachers in the Ashanti and Upper East regions called on the government to act with dispatch in the implementation of the SSSS.
And now organised labour is not happy with the implementation process.
It says that the road map for the implementation of the SSSS, as was agreed on by the stakeholders’ consultative workshop in May, is four months behind schedule.
The Employment and Social Welfare Minister concedes that there have been delays but he attributes them to the importance the government attaches to the implementation.
According to the minister, a technical sub-committee of Cabinet, headed by the Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, had been set up to ensure that the implementation of the SSSS was consistent with the government’s fiscal and economic policies.
The committee, it is understood, is also considering a memorandum from the Employment and Social Welfare Ministry advising the government on the SSSS before the issuance of a White Paper on the implementation.
Yes, we know that the FWSC has been working behind the scenes meeting various labour groups to resolve their grievances. There have also been a series of meetings between the FWSC and human resource managers of public sector organisations to ensure that all rankings, levels of salaries and allowances are rightly captured in the new salary structure.
But we believe that more should be done to accelerate the process of implementing the new salary structure.
We should not wait for workers to start agitating against the government for delaying the implementation of the SSSS.
Already, organised labour has stated unequivocally that the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy in January 2010 is not negotiable and that it will do everything within its power to bring the new pay structure on board.
The government must do everything humanly possible to ensure that the road map agreed upon at GIMPA is implemented on time.
A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.

EQUIPPING THE GHANA NAVY (NOV 2, 2009)

THE realities of our time dictate that the Ghana Navy is properly resourced to deliver on its mandate to protect the country against aggression in any form.
Today, the Navy’s function of protecting the country against any form of military threat may no longer be considered strategic because Ghana is not at war. However, the threat to Ghana’s territorial waters is now more daunting than ever before in the history of the country.
The threat of the illegal drug trade that has engulfed the West African sub-region and the sophistication in cross- border crimes demand that we put our act together.
Also, the threat posed by pair trawling, especially by foreign-owned vessels, that sweep every tiny fish imaginable, thereby depriving our fishermen of their livelihood, is even more pronounced and can be likened to economic sabotage and territorial aggression against which the country should use all its resources to fight.
Furthermore, the recent oil find in our waters calls for extra vigilance from personnel of the Ghana Navy to protect this important natural resource that all Ghanaians are looking up to to change our fortunes.
If these reasons are anything to go by, then the country cannot hide behind resource unavailability to deny the Navy the requisite resources to do its work in a more efficient and professional manner.
The Daily Graphic welcomes the pledge by the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, at the 50th anniversary parade of the Ghana Navy in Sekondi last Friday that the government would, within the constraints of the economy and other competing national development needs, ensure that the Navy was equipped within the requisite resources to effectively and efficiently perform its assigned role.
We need to devote more resources to the activities of the Ghana Navy because commercial oil drilling is expected to begin some time next year and we anticipate that these logistics will be required to ward off pirates.
The professionalism of the Ghana Navy will not be enhanced solely by the provision of logistics. The conditions of service of personnel also require attention.
The Daily Graphic lauds the decision by the government to provide accommodation for personnel of the Ghana Navy and we appeal to the government to find resources, including public-private partnership, to undertake this project, and in good time too, to motivate the personnel to discharge their duties more professionally.
Should we fail to tackle the problems of the Navy’s lack of logistics head on and continue to sing the same old song of “resource-scare”, we will be counting our losses, instead of our blessings, with the oil find.
The Daily Graphic believes that we have useful lessons to draw from the experiences of other countries during the preparatory period for the oil boom.
Some oil producers and exporters in Africa did not prepare adequately for the oil find and are, even today, grappling with challenges that threaten the stability of their countries.
We do not need to re-invent the wheel, but benefits from oil will accrue to us if we position all the institutions of state, including the Ghana Navy, to play their roles effectively.
The Daily Graphic salutes the Ghana Navy on the celebration of its Golden Jubilee and urges the government to do all within its mandate to give the Navy a fitting birthday gift.

HELPING THE POLICE TO FIGHT CRIME (OCT 31, 2009)

THE caution by the Ghana Police Service to the general public to stay clear of combat zones where violent criminals engage security personnel in open gun battle must be adhered to if we are to win the fight against armed robbery.
The caution is a sequel to the incidents at Ashiaman and the Spintex Road in which residents of those vicinities thronged the streets to see for themselves the shoot-out between the police and armed robbers.
In the end, the criminals had a field day as a result of the crowd that had massed up in the area to witness the police operations.
Professionals as they are, the police had to stop the combat in order to save the lives of innocent citizens.
The Daily Graphic is baffled as to why any person, on hearing gun fire, would, out of curiosity, come within the line of fire, so to speak. But the dangers inherent in such behaviour must be pointed out to the people.
Indeed, the cocking of guns must ordinarily send people running for their lives.
The plea by the police to the public to stay clear of combat zones should be widely amplified by all police establishments to enable members of the public to appreciate the risks they are exposed to during the exchange of gun fire.
We have expressed our concern over the unprofessional conduct of some policemen that culminated in stray bullets killing innocent lives, but it is out of place for the public to disrupt the work of the police, especially during gun battles with armed robbers.
The Daily Graphic is, however, full of praise for the police because in spite of the challenges they face as a result of the rather unfortunate behaviour of a section of the public, they have been on top of their job, as exemplified by their recent fight against armed robbers.
The public should take notice that while we can count on the police to exercise professionalism in the discharge of their duties, the same cannot be said of robbers who, without any regard for human lives, can shoot to kill just for mere material gain.
Therefore, the onus lies on the public to exercise utmost restraint during violent skirmishes in order to protect lives and property.
The Daily Graphic urges members of the public to heed the caution from the police because the hardened criminals might have decided to join the crowd just to escape arrest.
This trick has been exposed by the security forces but members of the public should not consider shoot-outs as movies or fun games to give space to criminals to get away with their nefarious activities.
It is our civic responsibility and duty to help the police to arrest criminals in our society, but we should not at any point obstruct the police in their line of duty.