Wednesday, March 31, 2010

LAW AND ORDER MUST PREVAIL (MARCH 31, 2010)

SIGNALS from some parts of the country portend a threat to law and order. It appears that a section of the people, especially the youth, plans to stampede the government into acquiescing to its whims and caprices.
For some time now a section of the youth of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed its dissatisfaction with the activities of officials of the government in ways that defy the norms of any law-abiding society.
The NDC youth are alleged to have closed down installations and offices and demanded the removal of government appointees for some perceived inaction or malfeasance. The latest case of the youth overstepping their bounds is the threat on the life of the Yendi Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Mahama Walvis — an action that must be condemned in no uncertain terms.
In other instances, students of some second-cycle institutions have vandalised school property, resulting in the closure of those schools.
At the Cocoa Affairs Court in Accra recently, some youth of the NDC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) clashed at the trial of Nana Darkwah Baafi who is alleged to have published falsehood with intent to cause alarm.
The Daily Graphic does not question the right of Ghanaians to demand accountability from public office holders. Indeed, our inability to hold our leaders accountable for their actions has led to bad governance practices in the country.
When we vote for our President and our parliamentarians, we do so on the premise that they have demonstrated the ability to manage our resources for the common good and if we notice any deviation from this contract they have signed with the people, we have the right to draw the attention of our leaders to the failed promises. But we should do so with decorum and with respect for our President.
It may be true that on the campaign trail, then candidate Mills did make many pledges. But no one, in all sincerity, can blame the non-fulfilment of some of them on want of trying. The challenges are, indeed, legion and the solutions require that every Ghanaian continues to sacrifice for the common good.
The present path of trying to hold our President and the government hostage to compel it to work according to the dictates of the youth may spell doom for the country. These acts of lawlessness may deviate from the planned programme of the government to deliver on its ‘better Ghana’ agenda.
The Daily Graphic encourages our youth, who are our future leaders, to continue to play an active role in the governance of this country because the foundation that is laid today will determine the direction of the country.
However, any attempt to take to self-help or the state of nature will lead to anarchy and confusion and make the country ungovernable.
We should take a cue from the challenges confronting some of our neighbouring countries which allowed emotions and indiscipline to get the better of them, instead of keeping to laid down procedures for addressing their grievances.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, encourages all those who are aggrieved by the actions and inaction of government functionaries or institutions to use the regulations in the country to seek justice. Anything short of that can prove disastrous.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

WELCOME ON BOARD, AFC & CO (MARCH 30, 2010)

YESTERDAY marked another historic day in the drive for independent power generation with the formal signing of an agreement on the Kpone Independent Power Project (Kpone IPP) by three private entities — Cenpower Holding Company Limited, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Infraco Limited.
Under the agreement, the AFC is the controlling shareholder in the project, with 46 per cent controlling stake. It has, since its establishment in 2007, built the reputation as an African-led financial institution with a mission to improve African economies by proactively creating, developing and financing infrastructure, industrial and financial assets.
It has already invested in Ghana’s Jubilee Oil Field as the main African participant in a seven-year $750 million syndicated reserved base lending facility to develop the field.
Its entry into the Kpone IPP as the lead investor, perhaps, is ample testimony of its confidence in the economic potential and viability of the project and also the favourable investment climate in the country.
The Kpone project, which is wholly privately owned, was initiated by an indigenous Ghanaian company, Cenpower Holding, and is expected to add 340 megawatts to the country’s energy stock.
This is, indeed, refreshing news, considering the critical role energy plays in the development of a country. Considering our energy woes over the years, this project is timely and deserves whatever push it can be given by Ghanaians.
Indeed, while the government has been playing a major role in the provision of energy, it has always extended a hand to well-placed private entities to help in the provision of energy.
It is heart-warming to note that not only has there been a response from private entities but also at the heart of the initiative is an indigenous Ghanaian company.
The Kpone IPP is expected to utilise gas that will be produced when the country starts the commercial production of oil later this year and it is expected to be the largest privately owned power provider when it comes on stream by 2013.
But while this initiative is being hailed, the DAILY GRAPHIC needs to caution that there is the need to institute measures to ensure that the interests of private investors are protected.
The energy sector has largely been dominated by the government. It has been projected that the country has to increase its installed capacity from the present 2,000 megawatts to 5,000 megawatts by 2015 to help us meet our development targets.
As noted by the Director of Power at the Ministry of Energy, Mr Gabriel Quain, in order to meet that target, the private sector would have to be a key player.
The government has demonstrated that it is ready to promote the active involvement of the private sector in the energy sector and that is very commendable. Yet the issue of the introduction of realistic tariffs again raises some concerns, especially as private entities may not survive under the present tariff regime.
While the DAILY GRAPHIC wishes to strongly emphasise the need to ensure quality service delivery, it also wishes to ask whether it is enough to ask utility producers to produce quality service while not thinking about how good their coffers are.
This is an issue that requires dispassionate discussions and analyses and the DAILY GRAPHIC wishes to urge the relevant authorities to address it in earnest.

Monday, March 29, 2010

SETTING AGENDA FOR SOCIETY (MARCH 29, 2010)

THE main functions of the media are to inform, entertain and educate the people. Besides these key functions, the media have, as a priority duty, to set the agenda for society and, thankfully, this authority has never been lost on the inky fraternity.
Walter Lippmann, in his 1922 classic, ‘Public Opinion’, noted, inter alia, that the news media were a primary source of those pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs, a world that, for most citizens, was “out of reach, out of sight, out of mind”.
He argued further that what we knew about the world was largely based on what the media decided to tell us. More specifically, the result of that mediated view of the world was that the priorities of the media strongly influenced the priorities of the public and that element prominent on the media became prominent in the public mind.
It is from this standpoint that the Daily Graphic agrees with the concern expressed by the Minister of Information, Mr John Tia Akologo, over the media’s obsession with politics, which had resulted in a situation where other equally important national issues had been pushed to the periphery.
We must state clearly that we are in no mood for any regulation to curtail the provisions in the Constitution that guarantee freedom and independence of the media. This, however, does not mean that 17 years after the coming into force of multi-party democracy in the country, we cannot step back to take stock of our activities in order to improve upon the governance system.
These days, newspaper publications and discussions on radio and phone-ins concentrate on political issues, to the neglect of equally relevant issues on education, health and the economy.
The support of the Daily Graphic for the minister’s concern should not be misconstrued to mean that the media should not hold the government and other public office holders responsible and accountable to the people of Ghana.
Our only worry lies in the mix of politics and the other issues in the media because as of now it appears the news media have an obsession with politics, especially issues involving the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In a situation where the media are awash with news on accusations and counter-accusations from the two leading political parties, how can we ensure a common feeling of nationalism in these circumstances?
The Daily Graphic thinks the media can help to defuse the tension in the system by creating elements, symbols and challenges with which we can, with pride, identify as a nation.
Since the media are regarded as effective agents in opinion formation, the Daily Graphic calls on journalists and media practitioners to break the monotony of political discussions in the media and draw attention to challenges in other spheres of endeavour.
The over-concentration of discussions on politicians will not free airtime and space to draw attention to classrooms without teachers, under-tree schools, hospitals without doctors and youth and graduate unemployment.
Newspaper reviews and phone-ins have enabled the people to discuss freely to decide what type of development they want. Certainly, this must be encouraged, but journalists must moderate the process, so that the development process takes into account all the needs of society.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, urges the media to focus on the most important challenges of our times, such as poverty, disease, unemployment and corruption.
This agenda the media must set to influence our understanding and perspective on the issues.
For, whether we like it or not, the pictures of reality created by the media have implications for personal behaviour and we cannot take anything for granted.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

BLACKLISTING CONTRACTORS (MARCH 27, 2010)

THE Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Alban Bagbin, has announced that all contractors, engineers and consultants who certify and get paid for shoddy jobs at the expense of the taxpayer are to be blacklisted.
He said the move had become necessary following the realisation that some firms undertook projects which became non-functional after completion.
This decision sounds like a familiar signature tune but as a new minister, the Daily Graphic wants to support the minister in this Herculean task to make sure that the taxpayer has value for money.
Every year, the state loses huge sums of money through the execution of shoddy works by contractors, but who is to blame? The Daily Graphic has said time and again that we seem to be groping largely because we have refused to play by the rules.
Any regular traveller on our roads will notice gaping potholes even on newly constructed roads on which the government has spent millions of cedis. What this means is that some people are not doing the work for which they are being paid. For, if those in charge of our public works, including the bureaucrats and technocrats, are up to their task, contractors who execute shoddy works will not be paid.
We know that a certain amount of the contract sum is always held up by the executing agency until after a certain period following the certification of the job by the consultants, the engineers and the agency that awarded the contract. But it appears that these procedures are not being followed hence the refusal of contractors to do the right thing.
There is also the canker of kickbacks affecting the efficiency and quality of the construction industry. This is an issue which is always denied by players in the industry, but it is making it increasingly difficult for the taxpayer to benefit from the sweat of his/her labour.
Another vexed question that must be asked following the minister’s directive is what happens to officials involved in the execution of shoddy works after they have been blacklisted?
If the regulations are not yet in place, then we would appeal to the minister to move quickly to put in adequate sanctions for public officials and contractors who collude to execute shoddy work.
Although the minister has spent only a few weeks in the ministry, he must be aware by now that his ministry deals with very powerful personalities and institutions in the country and he needs to develop a tough skin to face up to some of the negative things that are destroying our economy.
The Daily Graphic will throw its weight behind the minister in this national assignment to have value for money. However, we want to serve notice that our journalists will be knocking at the door of the minister to find out how effectively he has carried out this assignment so that we can open a new chapter in the management of public funds in the country.
We remind technocrats and bureaucrats who are offered opportunity to serve our society to do so more diligently so that our collective efforts will yield the right dividends.
The Daily Graphic is aware of the economic challenges facing our country, but if the people we entrust with the management of the public purse use the resources more judiciously the “better Ghana agenda” will materialise pretty soon.

Friday, March 26, 2010

LIFELINE FOR TOR, ECG (MARCH 26, 2010)

THE Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is one of the strategic state enterprises established by the government to lead the process of economic development in the country.
Its contribution to the growth of the economy of the country cannot be downplayed because of the significance of petroleum products as key drivers of economic growth.
The frequent adjustments in the prices of crude oil on the world market brought many economies, including those of the advanced countries, to their knees.
The oil cartel, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), suddenly became a force to reckon with, dictating the terms of oil trade as much as they could decide to manipulate supplies to influence the price of crude oil.
The furore that the debt overhang of TOR generated from 2001 to date should, therefore, be understandable. Efforts by the previous administration to bail out TOR, including the introduction of the TOR Recovery Levy into the cost build up of the ex-refinery price of petroleum products, did not resolve the problem.
Rather, Ghanaians were told of a huge debt overhang after the exit of the previous administration, compelling TOR’s creditors to withdraw support for the refinery.
The future of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), the principal financier of TOR, was threatened when the refinery could no longer raise letters of credit to import crude oil to produce petroleum products in order to raise the necessary funds to service the debt owed the bank.
The challenges that confronted the two major state-owned enterprises over the last 15 months or so were not limited to institutional breakdown but also brought about serious dislocations in the supply chain of petroleum products.
Consequently, shortages of petrol, gas and kerosene became regular occurrences, with long queues at gas stations throughout the country.
Just when many people began to lose hope in any attempt to bail out TOR, presto, the government, on Wednesday, paid GH¢445 million to the GCB on behalf of TOR to help reduce the indebtedness of the refinery to the bank. The amount is said to be more than half the GH¢598 million that the refinery owes GCB in overdrafts.
The Daily Graphic commends the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffour, and his team for working hard to raise the amount in three-year fixed rate bonds at a coupon rate of 14.99 per cent.
The fact that the amount was raised on the local capital market indicates that the business community has strong confidence in the local economy. For, if investors did not have confidence in the two institutions — GCB and TOR — to rise above the storm and operate more efficiently, they would not have staked their faith in the local economy.
While steps are being taken to fix the challenged economy, we should resolve never to repeat practices that plunged TOR into a huge debt and thereby create panic among customers and shareholders of GCB.
We know that the government is conscious of its social responsibility to the people and, therefore, cannot pass on the entire cost of crude oil to consumers.
Nonetheless, the Daily Graphic suggests that the tight balance between the commercial viability of state institutions and the welfare of the people be exercised more responsibly in order to safeguard the future of our institutions.
Well done, Dr Duffour and your team, but we urge the government to fashion out more stimulus packages to put back the ship of state on an even keel.
Meanwhile, we urge all the stakeholders to ensure that the government’s lifeline to the two institutions open a new chapter for the revival of GCB and TOR.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

BOON TO RICE FARMERS (MARCH 25, 2010)

THE decision of the World Food Programme (WFP) to purchase 1,433 metric tonnes of local rice worth US$780,000 must provide big relief for farmers, especially rice growers who find it difficult to market their produce.
Ghanaian consumers are reluctant to purchase local rice because they claim it is of poor quality. As a result of the exotic taste that many Ghanaians have developed, we tend to look down on our own as inferior, in spite of the fact that what is produced locally is highly nutritious.
The high import bill for rice has come about because of the taste for the so-called “perfumed rice” in parts of the country, although indications are that this “perfumed rice” is refined and of no nutritional value.
Ironically, most developed countries from where these imports come from are rejecting “perfumed rice” in favour of organic foods.
In the 1970s when Ghana introduced the Operation Feed Yourself (OFY) programme, it introduced the necessary incentives to motivate farmers and entrepreneurs to go into large-scale production of staples such as maize, rice, sorghum and millet.
At a certain stage during the OFY programme, Ghana was a net exporter of maize and rice to some neighbouring countries. During that period, a number of large-scale farmers emerged on the scene, particularly in the Northern Region where large tracts of land were ploughed for maize and rice cultivation.
For some reasons, interest in agriculture waned and today Ghana is a net importer of staples such as rice and maize. Plantain and tomatoes are also imported from neighbouring countries, although we have the potential to grow our own food to feed ourselves.
These factors include the lack of access to credit, inputs, the unfriendly land tenure system and the lack of market.
It is strange that although we have to rely on foreign imports to feed our people during certain periods of the year, when we experience a glut we are unable to purchase the excess for storage and use during the lean season.
Even as we encourage our farmers to produce in order to break away from our over-dependence on foreign imports, we are unable to provide ready markets for them.
It is refreshing, however, that the government recently established the National Buffer Stock Company to purchase food crops from farmers as a way of providing food growers with a ready market.
Agriculture can only be attractive to the youth if there is a ready market for locally produced food crops.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on all stakeholders to speed up action on encouraging the people to “eat what we grow and grow what we eat” so that we can end our dependence on food handouts.
We find it difficult to endorse any policy that will make it mandatory for all public institutions to purchase food produced locally because sometimes the capacity may not be there to supply the needs of our institutions, but as the Chinese say, “ A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”.
Indeed, the school feeding programme was conceived not only to provide one hot meal a day for all schoolchildren but also provide a ready market for our farmers.
We commend the WFP for its decision to buy rice locally which it will distribute to the school feeding programme in the three Northern Regions.
The Daily Graphic thinks the government should devise strategies to encourage more people to take to agriculture. The success of any agricultural programme, such as the Youth in Agriculture programme, depends on the availability of a ready market so that farmers are not exposed to unhealthy competition on the market.
Let us wean ourselves from food handouts, since we pride ourselves as a leading agricultural country in the sub-region.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

COTROL USE OF AGRO-CHEMICALS (MARCH 24, 2010)

THE revelation that some food crop farmers are using unapproved and fake agro-chemicals on their farms raises some serious concerns that must urgently be addressed.
The DAILY GRAPHIC definitely shares the concerns of Conservation Alliance and wishes to identify itself with the call for the appropriate state agencies and stakeholders to evaluate the current usage of agro-chemicals and the regulatory framework on the responsible use of agro-chemicals.
Inasmuch as the country wishes to improve agricultural production through the use of these chemicals, it is important to ensure that our farmers do not descend into such a mess and engage in acts that threaten the very lives they seek to improve with the cultivation of food crops.
There is no question about the important role agriculture has played in the growth of the Ghanaian economy over the years. Indeed, agriculture, for many years, has remained the backbone of the economy.
Therefore, any harm that is done to our agriculture will definitely have dire impact on the economy. In this particular instance, the health of Ghanaians, as well as the safety of the environment, is at stake.
Over the years, there have been concerns that agricultural production in the country has not seen a dramatic improvement because it has remained largely subsistence.
While it is always refreshing to hear of measures to improve mechanisation and also boost production levels using fertilisers, the DAILY GRAPHIC wishes to caution that there should be effective and efficient regulatory systems to ensure that the quest of our farmers to modernise their agricultural practices does not bring about other challenges.
The paper believes that the issues raised by Conservation Alliance cannot be dismissed as peripheral issues. They must be considered to be at the core of the development of agriculture in the country.
Again, this is not an issue that should be treated with the usual refrain, ‘Man must survive’, because no matter the intensity of the desire of the local farmer to succeed, the lives of innocent consumers cannot be sacrificed.
What is even more worrying are indications that some of the farmers are deliberately applying those chemicals in an unregulated manner and sometimes with the addition of banned substances such as DDT.
In the application of agro-chemicals, farmers need to bear in mind that some of the chemical do not break down easily and persist in the environment and in the plants long after they have served their intended purpose.
The DAILY GRAPHIC urges the relevant institutions to intensify the education of farmers on some of the implications of agro chemicals on food production.
The farmers need to be told in strong terms that such acts are not only inimical to the environment and patrons of their products but also their own lives.
Some time ago there were complaints about high levels of residues of agro-chemicals in some of our export crops and that revelation provided some anxious moments for our farmers.
Indeed, the country has worked hard to address those issues and our farmers cannot afford to draw us back.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, appeals to the relevant stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), to rise to the challenge and urgently address this bad practice.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

PROTECTING WATER BODIES (MARCH 23, 2010)

Yesterday was observed as World Water Day, on the theme, “Clean water for a healthy world”, with a durbar in Tarkwa in the Western Region.
There is no doubt in anybody’s mind about the importance of water in the daily endeavours of individuals and communities.
The lack of this basic but very priceless resource can create socio-economic, as well as health, challenges for the people.
In times past, community leaders used all kinds of interventions to protect water sources and bodies for the comfort and convenience of their societies.
Access to water is one of the key objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the target date for the attainment of that objective is just about five years away.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks that as a country our actions towards securing access to water by 2015 are quite slow and we need to step up our efforts to make that goal attainable.
Ghana is blessed with many water bodies but their management has been very poor, resulting in the pollution or drying up of our rivers and streams.
Human activities such as environmental degradation and pollution have combined to affect the quality of water and access to it by communities, even in the urban areas.
Many people in the country have given up hope of accessing potable water in their communities. Even where they have access, the cost is very prohibitive.
Reports abound of some communities sharing water sources with livestock, thereby exposing consumers to water- borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, guinea worm, Buruli ulcer and bilharzia.
We have for far too long paid lip-service to efforts at providing everybody with potable water.
The Daily Graphic calls on stakeholders in the water sector to work together with the communities to improve access to potable water. While efforts are stepped up to meet the 2015 MDG deadline, we must not lose sight of the cost of providing potable water.
The case of residents of Accra is a classic example of the unwillingness of consumers to pay more, making it difficult for the service providers to extend water to under-served areas.
Many residents of emerging communities buy water at a very high cost, while those in first-class residential areas are supplied with water at very reasonable rates and on a regular basis.
The provision of quality water is very critical for good human health and a friendly environment.
The DAILY GRAPHIC appeals to the authorities to come up with pragmatic policies to address the challenge of providing clean water for all.
Fortunately, the country is blessed with water sources; what the government needs to do is put in more resources to tap water for all communities in the country.
The daily search for potable water by women and children affects their output on the farms, at the markets, workplaces and in the schools.
The availability of clean water is key to the attainment of economic development. Therefore, let us all join forces with the government to protect our water bodies from contamination.
We should use this year’s celebration of World Water Day to come up with action plans to provide clean water for all communities by 2015.

Monday, March 22, 2010

URGENTLY NEEDED: INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SHSs (MARCH 22, 2010)

Three years ago, the four-year senior high school (SHS) programme was introduced and this year third-year students in SHS will go to the fourth year, making it necessary for additional classrooms and dormitories to accommodate them.
What makes the situation dire is the fact that more than 140,000 junior high school students who are due for admission to SHS this September may not get admission if the necessary infrastructure is not provided.
Since the introduction of the four-year SHS programme, not much has been done in terms of putting up infrastructural facilities such as classrooms, dormitories, dining halls, science laboratories, etc.
Across the entire country, heads of SHSs are complaining about the lack of infrastructure to accommodate fresh students next academic year.
Some SHSs in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region have warned that they will not be able to admit fresh students in September if the necessary infrastructure is not put in place.
From Koforidua in the Eastern Region, we hear that most of the SHSs are not prepared to admit new students in September due to lack of classrooms and dormitories.
The situation is the same in most parts of the country and it looks as if there is going to be disruption in some of the schools next academic year.
In the face of all this, we take consolation from the fact that the government has tasked groups of consultants who are working feverishly on how to address the problem of additional classrooms and dormitories to accommodate fresh students.
We would want to urge the consultants to fast-track the issue so that they can come up with options for the government to take a firm decision to enable those JHS students who will enter SHS this year to begin their academic work without any problems.
We should not forget that most parents are at the moment in a quandary as to whether their children will get admission to the SHS and, if they do, whether there will be dormitories and classrooms for them to pursue their academic work.
The government, we believe, will take this issue seriously and implement every recommendation that the group of consultants will come up with.
The necessary funds should be provided to build new classrooms and dormitories for the schools.
We believe that some schools have already initiated programmes to build more classrooms and dormitories.
If that is the case, then those schools should be helped to complete their projects, while those schools which are not in a position to start the construction of additional classrooms and dormitories should be assisted to do so as soon as practicable, bearing in mind that we have just six months for the new academic year to begin

Sunday, March 21, 2010

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES MUST FOCUS ON MANDATE (MARCH 20, 2010)

That private tertiary institutions have come in to fill a void that nearly became a national crisis cannot be denied. At the time when there were only three public universities to admit the thousands of students churned out by our secondary schools, it was the setting up of private tertiary institutions which absorbed the excess candidates and gave our educational authorities some semblance of respite.
But it appears that the private tertiary institutions themselves have come with their own problems which, if not addressed early, will create more problems for the country.
At the fourth anniversary of the inauguration of the Conference of Heads of Private Universities in Ghana (CHPUG) in Accra recently, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, himself a very seasoned educationist, drew attention to one of the problems associated with the private universities when he charged them to venture more into the areas of science and technology, as well as technical and vocational education and training, areas which he described as being “critical for national development”.
There are more than 50 private universities in the country and the dominant courses pursued in these institutions are Business Management, Theology, Computer Science, Marketing and Social Sciences, with very little emphasis on science and technology and vocational training which, to a very large extent, are what the country needs now.
It is about time the National Accreditation Board (NAB) put in place a policy that will compel private tertiary institutions to gear their courses towards national aspirations, so that they don’t train graduates who will only come to swell the already high levels of unemployed graduates.
The country looked on helplessly when the University of Cape Coast, which had been set up by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah to train teachers for our secondary schools, veered off course to take on courses that have nothing to do with the core objective of the university.
The result of that is the many vacancies in the classrooms in our second-cycle schools all over the country.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology suffered the same fate when it took on board courses which have nothing to do with its science and technology mandate.
Another concern we have with the private tertiary institutions is their over-concentration in Accra and their conspicuous absence in the hinterlands.
While we agree that Accra has the largest concentration of people in the country, we also believe that the private universities should spread their tentacles to other parts of the country to send tertiary education to the doorstep of the people.
There is a sense in which we can also say that the number of private tertiary universities — 50 and over — is too high for a country of about 23 million people.
There must be a policy to regulate the setting up of those institutions, so that we do not have them mushrooming all over the city in make-shift structures, instead of proper facilities.
The Daily Graphic thinks what has happened in the telecom sector, where there are already six companies operating in the country, should not be allowed to happen in the educational sector because we cannot and must not toy with the education of our people because we may not be able to regulate the huge number of tertiary institutions.
There is a similar problem in the broadcast industry where the airwaves were liberalised before the stakeholders woke up to the reality of a broadcasting law to regulate the operations of radio stations.
We welcome private universities, but we believe that if their courses and where they are established are regulated, they will serve the country and its people much better.

Friday, March 19, 2010

BOOSTING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION (MARCH 19, 2010)

FOR majority of the people, their daily pre-occupation is the struggle for their basic needs.
This category of people is always concerned about bread and butter issues and is, therefore, not abreast of technological innovations of our time.
In this day and age, our peasant farmers continue to contend with the hoe and the machete as the main implements for food cultivation in the country. Although the authorities are aware that plantation agriculture offers the way forward in ensuring food security, not much is being done to promote mechanised agriculture.
So in our efforts to catch up with the rest of the world in science and technology, we need to put in place the necessary interventions to carry along many of our people who feel alienated from the opportunities created by technological advancement.
The advent of the cellular phone has reduced the challenges of communication to such a level that people living in hitherto under-served areas can now interact freely with others anywhere in the world.
However, the lack of access to science and technology education by many of the present generation makes it difficult for rural dwellers in particular to reap the full benefits of the cellular phone, personal computers and laptops. Whereas in other jurisdictions the people are on Facebook and the Twitter, the Internet is not accessible to many Ghanaians, even those in the urban centres.
Unfortunately, many years after the introduction of educational reform programmes, some second-cycle institutions do not even have computer laboratories, while some pupils in some parts of the country have not seen a computer before.
We urge the government and other stakeholders to desist from the refrain of ‘lack of funds’ as an excuse not to do anything to advance the cause of development in the country.
Countries that are making a head way are always at the drawing board strategising to access the resources for the betterment of their people. The resources in themselves will mean nothing to the people unless we apply our knowledge to reap the benefits.
Our efforts at development will not make the desired impact if we fail to commit resources to promote science and technology in the country.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, commends the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology for organising a national forum on Ghana’s Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy in Accra on Wednesday.
It is also refreshing that the government has decided to institute a scholarship scheme to stimulate students in senior high schools to study science and technology as the key drivers for the country’s socio-economic development.
We have made it a policy to become a middle-income country in the next few years but we risk losing out if we do not pursue a development agenda driven by science and technology.
The support for secondary education may not be enough to harness the potential in the science and technology sector because we need a more holistic approach to bring all the sectors on board.
Recently, we were told that fewer people were seeking admission to our universities to read agriculture because of the erroneous impression that the sector is not rewarding.
We call for special incentives to be extended to all those who promote science and technology, including tax holidays for corporate bodies that support efforts at technological growth.
The move by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology has come late in the day but we can fast-track our approach in order to catch up with the rest of the world.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

KUDOS, CSIR (MARCH 18, 2010)

THE introduction of new varieties of staples such as rice, maize and cassava by the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to address the issue of food security in our country is heart-warming.
The new scientific breakthrough will help improve food security and increase the yields and incomes of our farmers.
It is our belief that if we move away from rudimentary ways of farming to more scientific and less laborious farming systems, more of our youth will be enticed into the Youth-in-Agriculture policy.
However, it is not just enough to come out with new varieties; it will be more beneficial if there are clearly established linkages between scientific and research institutions and industry, such that research findings will be used to improve the well-being of the people.
Very often, the CSIR comes out with varieties of food crops as its contribution to the promotion of food security in the country but the outcome of its activities has hardly impacted on food security.
The independence of any country can only be said to be meaningful when people are able to feed themselves and support others who are incapable of doing so to put meals on their tables.
It can be demeaning to always go, cup in hand, begging for food or relying on others to provide for our needs.
The country has, over the years, been faced with the high import of staples such as rice, maize and plantain from neighbouring countries, although we have the capacity to produce to feed ourselves.
All over the country, from north to south, east to west, we are blessed with arable land which can be put to better use if the unproductive land tenure is reviewed.
Our people are wallowing in poverty and lack certain basic necessities of life such as food in the midst of abundant resources because policy interventions are ineffective to drive the changes desired for our forward march.
The Daily Graphic thinks it is about time the unproductive land tenure system was reviewed in order to make land available for investors, especially the youth who are interested in pursuing endeavours in agriculture.
We are happy that interest rates are gradually coming down, but they are still unattractive to the agricultural sector because the risk factors involved in food production are quite high.
It can only be by some magic that any entrepreneur in the agricultural sector can borrow at about 30 per cent interest to put into food production to make any gain and still remain in business.
It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic calls on the government to make a special case for the agricultural sector so that banks can lend at about 10 per cent interest to those who are willing to return to the land.
The government can do this only when it is able to raise some funds which it can channel to the banks for on-lending to the agricultural sector.
Unless the government is able to make interventions for the agricultural sector, such as competitive interest rates, the availability of land and inputs, mere exhortations to the people, especially the youth, to return to the land cannot achieve the desired results.
Successes were achieved under the “Operation Feed Yourself” programme in the 1970s because that policy appealed to the emotions and passion of the people to make a swift break from the country’s dependence on food hand-outs to feed themselves.
Our agriculture can grow if we take a cue from the “OFY” introduced by the Acheampong regime that helped to inspire the youth, including students, to lend a hand on the land.
The Daily Graphic commends the CSIR for its continued support for the agricultural sector but we urge more action on the establishment of linkages between research and industry, such that the initiative of the CSIR will impact more positively on food security.

KUDOS, CSIR (MARCH 18, 2010)

THE introduction of new varieties of staples such as rice, maize and cassava by the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to address the issue of food security in our country is heart-warming.
The new scientific breakthrough will help improve food security and increase the yields and incomes of our farmers.
It is our belief that if we move away from rudimentary ways of farming to more scientific and less laborious farming systems, more of our youth will be enticed into the Youth-in-Agriculture policy.
However, it is not just enough to come out with new varieties; it will be more beneficial if there are clearly established linkages between scientific and research institutions and industry, such that research findings will be used to improve the well-being of the people.
Very often, the CSIR comes out with varieties of food crops as its contribution to the promotion of food security in the country but the outcome of its activities has hardly impacted on food security.
The independence of any country can only be said to be meaningful when people are able to feed themselves and support others who are incapable of doing so to put meals on their tables.
It can be demeaning to always go, cup in hand, begging for food or relying on others to provide for our needs.
The country has, over the years, been faced with the high import of staples such as rice, maize and plantain from neighbouring countries, although we have the capacity to produce to feed ourselves.
All over the country, from north to south, east to west, we are blessed with arable land which can be put to better use if the unproductive land tenure is reviewed.
Our people are wallowing in poverty and lack certain basic necessities of life such as food in the midst of abundant resources because policy interventions are ineffective to drive the changes desired for our forward march.
The Daily Graphic thinks it is about time the unproductive land tenure system was reviewed in order to make land available for investors, especially the youth who are interested in pursuing endeavours in agriculture.
We are happy that interest rates are gradually coming down, but they are still unattractive to the agricultural sector because the risk factors involved in food production are quite high.
It can only be by some magic that any entrepreneur in the agricultural sector can borrow at about 30 per cent interest to put into food production to make any gain and still remain in business.
It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic calls on the government to make a special case for the agricultural sector so that banks can lend at about 10 per cent interest to those who are willing to return to the land.
The government can do this only when it is able to raise some funds which it can channel to the banks for on-lending to the agricultural sector.
Unless the government is able to make interventions for the agricultural sector, such as competitive interest rates, the availability of land and inputs, mere exhortations to the people, especially the youth, to return to the land cannot achieve the desired results.
Successes were achieved under the “Operation Feed Yourself” programme in the 1970s because that policy appealed to the emotions and passion of the people to make a swift break from the country’s dependence on food hand-outs to feed themselves.
Our agriculture can grow if we take a cue from the “OFY” introduced by the Acheampong regime that helped to inspire the youth, including students, to lend a hand on the land.
The Daily Graphic commends the CSIR for its continued support for the agricultural sector but we urge more action on the establishment of linkages between research and industry, such that the initiative of the CSIR will impact more positively on food security.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL (MARCH 17, 2010)

THE actions of certain individuals in the country give the impression that we are gradually returning to the state of nature. We seem to be groping in the dark, struggling to find a way out of the national development dilemma because some of our conpatriots refuse to play by the rules.
On our roads and in our schools, at our workplaces and in our communities, the indisciplined have decided to hold majority of law-abiding citizens to ransom.
To the few lawless citizens in our society, the rule of law is an utopian concept or, at best, an ancient ideal discussed by ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. They do not consider it a fundamental principle which forms the basis of the “foundation of a civilised society”.
Somehow, the lawless elements think we are still in the state of nature where might is always right.
Last Monday, supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) clashed on the premises of the Cocoa Affairs Court in Accra when Nana Darkwa Baafi appeared in the court for allegedly publishing false news with intent to cause alarm.
There have been other instances of communal violence with dire consequences for parties in dispute because they refused to submit to the time-tested values of respect for the law and peaceful co-existence.
The behaviour of the supporters of the two major political parties in court was uncalled for and could have been avoided if the parties have faith in the rule of law.
We urge our people to respect the authority and independence of the judiciary because it is adequately clothed to deal with any matter before it. The opportunity also exists for those who are aggrieved by the ruling of the court to appeal to a higher court.
Communal violence in our communities can be attributed to our inability to tolerate divergent opinions. We are prepared to strike our opponents dead on account of diverse political beliefs, unmindful of Votaire’s admonition to all, “I may detest your views, but I will not prevent your right to express them.”
Article 12 Clause 2 of the Constitution states, “Every person in Ghana, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in the chapter but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest”.
The Daily Graphic reminds the people of the appeal made by President J. E. A. Mills at the national prayer and thanksgiving service last Sunday to Ghanaians to bury their differences in the supreme interest of national unity and progress.
We have a lot to gain from binding together and a lot to lose if we continue to divide our ranks along partisan considerations.
We do not think that everybody is happy with the performance of the judiciary but the opportunities exist for judicial view from the lowest court to the highest court of the land. So long as we share in the views of constitutional theorist A.V. Dicey on the rule of law, we will avoid the resort to self-help whenever we want to air our grievances.
Indeed, Dicey places emphasis on three aspects of the rule of law, which postulate that “no one can be punished or made to suffer except for a breach of law proved in an ordinary court; no one is above the law and everyone is equal before the law regardless of social, economic or political status; and the rule of law includes the results of judicial decisions determining the rights of private persons”.
Against this background, the Daily Graphic commends the government for acting swiftly to stem the looming chieftaincy conflict between the Asantehene and the Techimanhene over the Tuobodom stool.
We need every Ghanaian’s contribution towards the efforts of the government to pursue its ‘better Ghana’ agenda.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

LET'S AVOID COMPLACENCY (MARCH 16, 2010)

Ghanaians were yesterday hit with the news that the estimated national HIV prevalence (new cases) has risen from 1.7 per cent in 2008 to 1.9 per cent in 2009.
The report also indicates an increase in new cases among pregnant women who were tested at selected ante-natal clinics in the country.
The announcement, made at a forum in Accra to disseminate the results of the 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey (HSS), is a wake-up call.
The HSS, conducted annually, is a useful tool to observe trends, reinforce or increase the commitment to accelerate implementation and provide feedback for health workers, as well as local and international groups involved in AIDS prevention programmes.
That is why this country should not gloss over the rise in prevalence, however insignificant.
In the last five years, HSS data have been used as the primary data source for the national HIV and AIDS estimate in Ghana.
The trend clearly indicates that there is complacency among the Ghanaian populace. Over the years, public education has not manifested in behavioural change.
The 2008 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) revealed that many Ghanaians still had multiple sexual partners. Perhaps people are now careless because they know that there is treatment.
We know how people indulge in alcoholism during funerals and other festivities which influences all kinds of risky behaviour.
The DHS also showed that in-depth knowledge of the transmission of HIV was low and that condom use, which is one of the main modes of protection against HIV infection, had reduced among females, who formed about 58 to 60 per cent of the HIV population, and stagnated among males. Only between seven and eight per cent of the youth population use condoms.
If only a small portion of the youth, who predominantly engage in multiple sexual relations, use condoms, it is not surprising that the prevalence is rising.
We also know, through the DHS, that less than 10 per cent of Ghanaians know their HIV status.
It is also a fact that people Living with HIV (PLHIV) now live longer because they have access to anti-retrovirals and their numbers, added to new infections, could also be the cause of the rise in prevalence.
The Daily Graphic believes that the development offers the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) the opportunity to take on board emerging issues arising out of the HSS and incorporate them into the national response.
Whatever the factors that have contributed to the increase, it is clear that more efforts will be required by all stakeholders to keep HIV prevalence on the decline, otherwise complacency will erode all the gains made over the years.
Fortunately, this information is out at a time when the GAC is starting a joint review of the five-year strategic framework which comes to an end this year. The results of this review will directly feed into the next five-year plan, 2011 to 2015.
Equally important is the role of our development partners which have signed various instruments, such as the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, pledging to support the national response.
The Daily Graphic thinks that these partners need to remain focused in directing the needed resources towards addressing the gaps in the national response, such as human resource issues, particularly the deficiencies of civil society organisations working with the GAC.
All said and done, we must acknowledge that on the whole there is still a level of stability in HIV prevalence.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on all Ghanaians to heed the education by public health officials in order to bring the prevalence rate down considerably.
We should avoid complacency.

Monday, March 15, 2010

THANKSGIVING IDEA GREAT, BUT...(MARCH 15, 2010)

YESTERDAY climaxed the maiden National Day of Thanksgiving declared by His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills. And as was to be expected, thousands of Ghanaians from all walks of life and different religious denominations thronged the Independence Square in Accra and other venues in the regional capitals to offer thanks to God with their hearts, hands and voices for the many wondrous things that He had done for us as a people and a nation.
Indeed, our Muslim brothers and sisters started the event last Friday when they congregated at the Central Mosque in Accra for a special prayer and thanksgiving service for the nation.
Without any hesitation whatsoever, the Daily Graphic wholeheartedly welcomes the institution of this special day, which is expected to be an annual affair, and we congratulate the President on his vision and foresight.
The fact is that thanksgiving constitutes a common element in the religions of humankind and both the Bible and the Quran bear eloquent testimony to this. For instance, the Quran recognises thanksgiving as the most essential of the four pillars of worship, while the Bible encourages us to give thanks in all circumstances because it is the will of God.
To make the occasion more unifying and meaningful, we suggest that one particular day in the year be set aside for Ghanaians, regardless of their religion, colour or creed, to congregate and observe thanksgiving.
Just as the first Friday of December each year has been designated National Farmers Day, the Daily Graphic thinks it will be worthwhile and more propitious if we proclaim a particular day in the year as thanksgiving day.
Perhaps July 1, which is our Republic Day, could as well be designated a national day of prayer and thanksgiving.
Other nations give thanks, of course. The Netherlands, Grenada, Canada and the US all celebrate a national holiday of thanksgiving and in all cases a statutory date has been fixed for the celebration. In the US, for instance, it is the last Thursday in November each year, while in Canada Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October because by the end of November it is too cold to be much thankful for anything.
While we still ponder over the choice of a statutory date for prayer and thanksgiving, it is important to remind ourselves that another important issue we cannot gloss over is forgiveness. This is another moral trait both the Quran and Bible strongly recommend. The Quran, for instance, says “...But if you pardon and exonerate and forgive, Allah is ever-forgiving, most merciful” (Quran 64:14) while the Bible instructs us to forgive as the Lord forgave us (Colosians 3:13, NIV).
But the questions we must all earnestly answer are: Do we as a people and nation have a forgiving spirit? Are we ready to bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances we have against one another?
What we must remember is that God’s readiness to forgive and prosper us is contingent on our own ability to forgive others.Therefore, let us make a conscious effort to forgive out of obedience to the Lord. It is a choice, a decision we must make before standing to raise “holy hands” before God in thanksgiving.
Whether we like it or not, the vicious cycle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is assuming alarming proportions in our political and social live and it would take us nowhere. The earlier we nip the canker in the bud, the better it will be for all of us.
Finally, let us ponder on the following words of Martin Luther King Jr: “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

Sunday, March 14, 2010

THE AXE FALL MUST NOW (MARCH 13, 2010)

THE Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has struck again. Yesterday, it ordered the immediate withdrawal of two substandard antibiotics produced by Chinese companies from the local market.
The drugs — Cipro-Dor (Ciprofloxacin Hydrochlroride) and Clavu-Dor (Amoxicilin 500mg and Cluvulanic Acid 125 mg) — were produced by Shijazhuang Pharmaceutical Group, Ouyi Pharma Company Limited in China and Shandong Reyoung Pharmaceuticals Company Limited in China.
A statement issued by the FDB said Cipro-Dor was used in the treatment of diseases, including typhoid fever, urinary tract infections and bone joint infections, while Clavu-Dor was used for upper respiratory tract infections, dental infections and lower respiratory tract infections.
It said laboratory analysis conducted on the samples submitted for registration by the two companies conformed to their respective specifications (of the right quality) according to which they were manufactured and for which reason they were permitted to be sold in Ghana.
However, the statement said samples of the antibiotics selected from pharmacy shops nationwide and analysed at the FDB laboratory showed that they were substandard.
It said what had been done by the two Chinese companies was in contravention of Section 14 of the Food and Drugs Law (PNDCL 305B, 1992) and its subsequent amendment, Act 523 (1996).
The FDB said patients who had been put on those medications might be at risk, since they could not cure the diseases for which they were prescribed because of their unwholesome nature.
The Daily Graphic and, indeed, the public can only be grateful for the continuous vigilance of the FDB, which has ensured the protection of consumers. But like Oliver Twist, we wish to ask for more action from the FDB.
We are aware that under its consumer alert programme, the FDB has advised all consumers to look out for appropriate labels when buying products. Such labels must include name of the manufacturer, date of manufacture, expiry date, country of origin etc. All labels must be written in English language. Consumer responsibility also includes buying only products that are wholesome.
However, given the unfortunate situation that a great number of our populace is illiterate, the Daily Graphic urges the FDB to mount a special campaign in our local languages for the benefit of the people.
That is the only way to ensure that some unscrupulous manufacturers do not take undue advantage of our people and put them at risk.
But if we may ask: Is the withdrawal of the unwholesome drugs the end of the road for any company that breaches our laws? Are there no punitive measures in place?
We are aware that under PNDCL 305B and under LI 1541, it is a criminal offence to offer for sale products that are unwholesome, improperly labelled or expired. Why , to date, we have not applied the law to the letter only beats our imagination.
The Daily Graphic thinks for far too long we have allowed so many crooks to have things their way and get away with them. We cannot go on like that forever. It is time the axe fell and heavily too.

Friday, March 12, 2010

EXERCISING FREEDOM WITH RESPONSIBILITY (MARCH 12, 2010)

IT has been echoed over and over that freedom of the press, like all liberties, has its limits, for the simple reason that if abused, it can be like a lethal weapon.
The French philosopher, Voltaire, put it even more succinctly when he wrote, “We owe respect to the living; to the dead, we owe only truth.”
It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic welcomes Vice-President John Dramani Mahama’s admonition to the media to balance freedom with responsibility and avoid injuring other people’s reputation for no just cause when he launched the 60th anniversary of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Accra last Wednesday.
Indeed, given some serious infractions the nation has witnessed on the media landscape in the not-too-distant past, and even in recent times, we think the timing of the caution is most appropriate.
Much as the Constitution guarantees the freedom and independence of the media and outlaws censorship, we are enjoined to exercise this freedom with responsibility. This means that the media must be accurate, balanced and fair in their reportage.
In a fledgling democracy such as ours, the media have an even greater responsibility to uphold press freedom, promote responsible journalism and journalistic excellence and engage different sectors of society in the growth process.
But, as a people and a nation, can we honestly say we are satisfied with the happenings on our media front? Look at the danger posed by phone-in programmes on which people view every issue from a political standpoint and use intemperate language at will. Is that what media freedom is about?
The phone-ins empower people to speak their minds on issues but if the hosts do not control the excesses, people’s views will inflame passions and further polarise society.
The sad case of our brothers and sisters in Rwanda is a classic example to remind us that we are at risk all the time, that there is a very thin line between freedom and irresponsibility and that we need to exercise the greatest restraint anytime we pick our pens or computers to write or sit behind the microphone to host a programme.
Perhaps it is important at this stage to remind ourselves of the verdict of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on the ‘Media Trial’ of executives from RTLM and Kangura, the extremist private radio station and newspaper, respectively, of the Hutu people.
Said the ICTR, “The newspaper and the radio explicitly and repeatedly, in fact, relentlessly, targeted the Tutsi population for destruction. Demonising the Tutsi as having inherently evil qualities, equating the ethnic group with ‘the enemy’ and portraying its women as seductive enemy agents, the media called for the extermination of the Tutsi ethnic group as a response to the political threat that they associated Tutsi ethnicity. The killings began almost immediately in Kigali.”
The whole world was abhorred by the genocide that followed and it was not surprising that on one occasion the former UN boss, Kofi Annan, bluntly said, “The media was used in Rwanda to spread hatred, to dehumanise people and even to guide genocidaires toward their victims.... I hope that all of us, as diplomats, journalists, government officials or concerned citizens, will act promptly and effectively, each within our sphere of influence, to halt genocide wherever it occurs — or better still, to make sure there is no next time.”
That is the wish of the Daily Graphic, too, and, indeed, all true lovers of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Indeed, all of us — whether media professionals, the publics served by the media, public officials, the private sector, civil society groups, readers, viewers and listeners — have one binding obligation — to strengthen and protect the press as a pillar of democracy.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

TIME TO DEAL WITH 'GALAMSEY' (MARCH 11, 2010)

LOCAL artisanal gold mining or ‘galamsey’, as it is popularly known, has been with us for a very long time. From the Western Region, which is the hub of galamsey, through the Ashanti, Eastern and Brong Ahafo regions, our people struggle daily for survival at the very peril of their lives.
Despite the meagre wages they earn and the physical dangers operators face, galamsey has become a major source of livelihood for persons living in and around mining communities. Unskilled people from other communities across the length and breadth of this country travel to these mining communities to engage in illegal mining, with the aim of making some capital.
Over the years, there have been several attempts and efforts by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and the government to bring galamsey operators together and assist them to secure licences to operate as licensed small-scale mining entities, with the aim of having them conform to modern practices of mining.
The Ghana Chamber of Mines, which has been spearheading the talk-shop, has done little to help the galamsey operators secure licences to operate legitimately, despite the calls on these illegal miners to merge into a group to facilitate their acquisition of licences.
But with no definite solution in sight, the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amotia Ofori Panin, went to town on Wednesday with a call for the arrest and prosecution of any traditional ruler in his area of jurisdiction suspected of promoting the practice.
According to him, any chief who would be found to have collected money and given out land for the illegal miners to operate should be made to face the full rigours of the law without fear or favour.
The Daily Graphic appreciates the concerns of the Okyenhene, coming especially after two siblings — Kingsley Effah Agyeman, 11, and Kofi Darkwa, 15 — met their untimely death in an abandoned galamsey pit at the outskirts of Kyebi, the capital of the Abuakwa South Constituency.
That apart, the horrific deaths of 18 people — 14 of them women — at Dompoase, near Wassa Akropong in the Western Region, in November last year is also fresh in our minds, not to mention the everyday occurrence of people being trapped in pits during galamsey operations.
Another havoc being caused by galamsey operators is the degradation of arable land, the pollution of water bodies with poisonous chemicals such as mercury and cyanide and the destruction of farms and the forest cover.
Perhaps even more frightening is the fact that a 1999 UN study to assess environmental damage caused by artisanal small-scale mining found high blood mercury levels in the area. The study further showed that exposure to mercury could cause brain and kidney damage and that it was dangerous to babies and children.
According to The Global Mercury Project, an organisation devoted to preventing mercury pollution as a result of artisanal mining, 30 to 40 per cent of man-made mercury pollution in the world is a result of small-scale, galamsey-type mining operations.
And it is not only international agencies that are worried about the dangers of galamsey operations. Doctors also criticise the operators for endangering their own lives and the health of the people of the towns where they operate.
The question is: Are we waiting for another calamity to occur before we wake up from our slumber? Or shall we continue to look on sheepishly while the lives of our people are endangered, while the illegal mining activities assume alarming proportions?
The Daily Graphic insists that chiefs collaborating with these illegal miners must dissociate themselves from those illegal activities immediately, while the government also owes it a duty to clamp down on the illegal activities of galamsey operators.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

AVERT THE LOOMING CRISIS (MARCH 10, 2010)

BARELY a month from now, thousands of final-year students of junior high schools (JHS) will be writing the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) throughout the length and breadth of the country in their quest to seek admission to various senior high schools (SHS).
Ordinarily, this annual ritual would have passed off without any notice but the change of the SHS programme from three years to four years by the NPP government and the subsequent reversal to three years by the NDC government have brought to the fore very pertinent issues which must be tackled dispassionately and urgently to put the minds of our future leaders, their parents and teachers at ease.
Our real worry is that under the current four-year system, no SHS graduates will be produced this year and yet our already choked high schools are expected to have enough vacancies by the next academic year (that is September) for those who will qualify for admission via this year’s BECE.
And the challenge is: Do we have adequate infrastructure, such as classroom blocks, dormitories and dining halls and enough teachers to take care of the anticipated explosive situation?
Already, reports reaching the Daily Graphic paint a gloomy picture of events. The aggregate result is that most high schools (SHSs) are likely to dramatically reduce their intake for the next academic year unless something very concrete and drastic is done to address the problems.
The nation has barely five months between now and the start of the next academic year to put things in the right perspective if we must not jeopardise the future of our children.
This is a matter that calls for urgent attention. There can no foot-dragging whatsoever. And the Daily Graphic urges the appropriate agencies — the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service and the GETFund — to put their shoulders to the wheel immediately and produce the desired results.
When the three-year or four-year debate was on, we all spent sleepless days and nights trying to justify one policy or the other. For those who supported the four-year policy, the refrain was that even in the United States where school facilities, resources, curriculum and teachers are of very high quality, the JHS is a three-year system and SHS four-year.
But the Daily Graphic strongly believes that it is not a matter of how long the course is but one of improving school infrastructure and the lot of teachers so that they will stay in the classroom to teach. Over the years, our governments have only succeeded in paying lip service to our educational system, hence the continuous decline in standards.
In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Mills promised, among other things, that “the government will this year implement more educational programmes to raise the standard of education in the coming years”.
He mentioned some of the programmes as the refurbishing of science resource centres in schools, the provision of other infrastructural facilities in SHSs the cessation of schools under trees and the elimination of the shift system.
Additionally, he said measures were underway to improve the status of teachers in the country, saying: "At the end of the year, I expect the GNAT, NAGRAT and the UTAG to make separate pronouncements on whether the lot of teachers has improved under our administration or not."
The Daily Graphic hopes we can hold the President to his word and look out for a refreshing change in the direction of our education in the not-too-distant future.
Whether we like it or not, education is the gateway to achieving success in any field of human endeavour. Emerging socio-economic trends have shown that without quality, sound and accessible education, the youth will not be able to realise their full potential will for whatever career they want to pursue in future.
Successive governments have made so much noise about investing in the education of the youth as a guarantee for the country’s future. Enough is enough. The time to act is now. Is anybody listening?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

TUOBODOM, LET THERE BE PEACE (MARCH 9, 2010)

THE disturbances at Tuobodom in the Brong Ahafo Region over the weekend, which culminated in the death of three persons and critical injury to a policeman, must have sent shivers down the spines of all right-thinking members of society.
What triggered off the latest violence, we are told, has its roots in a protracted chieftaincy dispute involving two factions in the area — one of which owes allegiance to the Golden Stool, while the other owes allegiance to the Techimanhene.
It is also said to be linked to a shooting incident in October 2008 when the convoy of the Techimanhene, Oseadeeyo Ameyaw Akumfi IV, was fired at while on his way to Tuobodom to join the Akyempimhene of Techiman and rival Tuobodomhene, Barima Obeng Ameyaw, to celebrate the Yam Festival at Tuobodom.
But the immediate cause, we learn, was that one of the rival chiefs, Nana Asare Baffour II, who is said to owe allegiance to the Asantehene, was said to have been pounced on by some youth of Techiman and Wenchi when he stepped out of a courtroom and handed over to the police because he was alleged to be the brain behind the shooting incident that occurred in 2008.
When the news of Nana Baffour’s arrest got to his supporters at Tuobodom, they took up arms, resulting in the violent clashes leading to the unfortunate loss of lives and injury to the policeman.
Even though relative calm is said to have returned to the town, Tuobodom has virtually become a ghost town, as most able-bodied men, women and children have fled the town for fear of further reprisals. Furthermore, as many as 500 residents are said to have been displaced.
The Daily Graphic thinks the whole incident is shameful and stinks to the high heavens. In this time and age, why must we resort to “machoism” and the barrel of the gun to settle issues when the time-tested tradition of jaw-jaw has always been the winner?
Much as we agree that the Techiman Police and National Security appear to have spent a considerable period of time in hunting for the perpetrators of the crime against the convoy of the Techimanhene in 2008, that is no reason for the youth of Wenchi and Techiman to have taken the law into their own hands to forcibly arrest Nana Baffour.
As things stand now, the Daily Graphic urges the security agencies to go the extra mile and bring the culprits in the incident against the Techimanhene in 2008, as well as last Friday’s incident against Nana Baffour, to book. That, we strongly believe, is the surest way to promote absolute peace and fair play in the area.
On the long-standing dispute as to whether Tuobodom should owe allegiance to the Golden Stool or the Techimanhene, we note with concern the words of Oseadeeyo Akumfi that he “will not cede any part of his people’s land, including Tuobodom, to any other authority”.
We believe this is not the time to further poison the atmosphere. We call for tact and diplomacy — time-tested values — to bring the situation under control.
This is a task that must be carried out.

Monday, March 8, 2010

MOULDING CHARACTER OF OUR YOUTH (MARCH 8, 2010)

THE future of any society rests on the quality of the skills and character of its youth.
Just as today’s adults are encouraged to carry out development activities for posterity to be guaranteed its security, parents and the authorities are also reminded of the need to train the youth in such a way that when they mature they will not depart from it.
Even before independence and immediately thereafter, the authorities invested heavily in education in order to churn out the right calibre of skilful personnel to lead in the rebuilding of the new state.
We recall the massive investments in education during the First Republic that led to the setting up of the Ghana Education Trust schools in almost all parts of the country to facilitate Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s accelerated educational development plan.
These investments were not limited to infrastructural development; it was during the same period that the government introduced free and compulsory education in basic schools throughout the country, as well as fee-free education for children from northern Ghana.
It is significant that the government decided to actively involve students in the 53rd Independence anniversary parade throughout the country to ensure that the youth appreciate the struggle and toil that has brought this country this far and also inculcate in the youth the sense of nationalism.
Equally important is the pledge by President J.E.A. Mills to invest in the youth in order to build the critical mass that will sustain the development agenda.
It is our hope that this endeavour will yield the desired results because the country needs to train its youth properly now so that they can become useful citizens in future.
It is easier to form the character of the youth in our educational institutions, instead of waiting for them to mature into adults before we start encouraging them to be of good behaviour.
Building this critical mass of productive youth to take up the mantle of leadership is not going to be easy, but with determination and support from all the stakeholders — the government, teachers, parents and the community — a lot can be achieved.
We think that the provision of quality education for the youth should not be the task of the government alone because there are many more ends competing for the nation’s scare resources.
The business community that relies on the manpower churned out by the training institutions also needs to plough back part of its profits into education to complement the government’s efforts at improving standards at all levels of education.
The Daily Graphic urges the government to continue to cater for the needs of teachers, who are central to our quest to equip the youth with the capacity to take control of their destinies and that of the country in future.
We acknowledge the challenges involved in the task of forming the character of our future leaders. However, with the resolve of all the stakeholders and the readiness of the youth to take their education more seriously, the country can achieve its goals.
Besides inadequate facilities in the educational institutions, there is also the problem of rising indiscipline among the youth. The Daily Graphic appeals to the educational authorities to inculcate the virtues of hard work and discipline in our youth and not limit character formation to only academic work.
The adults in our society can set the tone for a more disciplined society by leading by example and desisting from the situation where vices have become virtues, while indiscipline is endorsed by majority of our people as a way of life.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

OUR DAY OF PRIDE (MARCH 6, 2010)

Today marks the 53rd anniversary of what is undoubtedly the greatest thing to have happened to our dear country — Independence.
On such an auspicious occasion, it is altogether proper that we take stock of our 53 years of nationhood to see where we have not done well so that we can chart a path that will bring us more prosperity.
The period just before and after March 6, 1957 held high hopes for the new Ghana. Our path towards independence had not been as torturous and acrimonious as that of other countries and our colonial masters did bequeath to us some legacies, both financial and material, which put the new nation state in good stead for a great take-off.
And, indeed, we did start well, under the inspirational leadership of our first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
Under him, every sector of the economy saw accelerated development — talk about the setting up of industries to produce what we needed and employ school leavers, schools in every corner of the country to educate the youth, the Workers Brigade to make agriculture the mainstay of our economy to produce enough to feed the people and the industries, massive infrastructural development as per the roads, harbours, buildings and dams to produce electricity to power industries, etc.
Nkrumah as a person might have had his foibles, but we dare say that he did enough to put the country on an even keel for accelerated development.
The sorry state in which the country finds itself today can, in a sense, be attributed to the failure of successive governments to acknowledge what their predecessors did in order to build on them.
The tendency to demonise what predecessor governments did, coupled with the acrimonious nature of take-overs, has tended to set the clock of progress back several years and so the countries with whom we gained independence, such as South Korea and Malaysia, have left us far behind in terms of the provision of the needs of the people.
But that is not to say that as a country we have not chalked up any successes at all. We have been able to produce a UN Secretary-General in the person of Kofi Annan and there are many other Ghanaians who have occupied and are still occupying high-profile positions in international and sub-regional bodies.
Our soldiers and policemen have done us proud in international peacekeeping operations and in the past 17 years our democracy has become the toast of the international community and talked about in superlatives.
Moreover, in spite of our individual differences that come about from the way we carry out our politics, our dear country has remained intact, so far, and as things stand now we don’t have any reason to believe that the status quo will change for us to cease to be the oasis of peace that we have always been in the sub-region.
But we could still do better if we resolve, as a country, to do away with pettiness, selfishness, corruption indiscipline and squabbles. These are tendencies that keep us away from our goals and aspirations.
From now onwards, we should all resolve to put Mother Ghana first in all our endeavours, individually and collectively, and we believe that in no time the progress we so desire and which has eluded us all this while will be ours.
The Daily Graphic wishes all Ghanaians a happy independence anniversary and may the Good Lord continue to shower His blessings on our President, other leaders and all Ghanaians.

POLITICS MUST UNITE US (MARCH 5, 2010)

IN spite of the sometimes explosive nature of our politics, the players in the game find the space and time to demonstrate the need for tolerance and accommodation.
Although our democratic journey so far cannot be said to be very smooth, the successes we have chalked up over the past 17 years or so are the envy of even well-established democracies in the world.
It is a delight to watch our Members of Parliament (MPs) share jokes on the floor of the House, in spite of the different ideologies that they espouse or the political persuasions they belong to.
In contrast to the esprit de corps exhibited by MPs and the leaders from across the political divide, ordinary supporters and members of the political parties attack their opponents on the least suspicion, as if belonging to different political persuasions is synonymous with being a common criminal.
This display of barbarism by sections of followers of the political parties is at its peak in the run-up to major elections.
The supporters of the political parties are the same Ghanaians who attend church together, support our national football teams and live in the same communities, but the moment issues of politics come to play, the gulf deepens.
This ugly spectacle is on display in contemporary Ghana when the issues concern the two major political parties in the country, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The Daily Graphic thinks that politics should divide us only along ideological lines but it should never be the basis for hatred, violence and disunity in the country.
We are not advocating a one-party state because our Constitution frowns on it, but we can build consensus on a number of major issues for the common good.
This is why the Daily Graphic lauds President J. E. A. Mills for his decision to regularly meet leaders of political parties with representation in Parliament as part of efforts to enhance the country’s democratic growth.
We think that all well-meaning Ghanaians should encourage our leaders to continue to share ideas on national issues, their political persuasions notwithstanding, because as a people we have a common destiny.
Indeed, the President echoed the feelings of many concerned Ghanaians when he said, “Ghana’s revered democratic credentials can only be sustained and enhanced on the virtues of multi-party democracy and consensus building in the country.”
Many countries on the African continent are learning from our experiences because of the advances we have made over the past 17 years, during which there have been the transfer of power from a sitting government to the opposition on two occasions.
The Daily Graphic calls on our leaders to make it a point to reward merit and hard work, irrespective of political persuasions, so that our people will be encouraged to share in the vision of the country, no matter which political party is in power.
First and foremost, we are Ghanaians with a common destiny. It will not be worthwhile if we continue to dissipate our energies on issues that divide us, instead of on the opportunities that we must collectively explore for the public good.
This regular platform created by the President, with support from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), should help us to put the politics of exclusion in the back burner and pursue an all-inclusive agenda from now on.
We commend the IEA, in partnership with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), for always trying to narrow the divisions in our politics by bringing the leaders together.
The IEA played a lead role in preparing the Right to Information Bill and it is working hard for the passage of the Presidential Transition Bill in order to facilitate a less problematic transfer of power from one government to another in future.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

ENFORCE THIS DIRECTIVE (MARCH 4, 2010)

GOVERNMENTS all over the world, including those in advanced countries, travel extensively to attract foreign investment because internal resources are not enough to drive the required development process to help improve the standard of living of their people.
But while governments look for resources from outside, they also look within for what can be obtained locally to propel the development agenda of their countries.
In recent times, the catch phrase in the new development paradigm is ‘the need for local content in every development initiative’, be it in the telecommunications industry, ICT or oil and gas.
Our traders travel to the Far East to import all kinds of goods, such as textiles, electrical and building materials because prices are cheaper in those countries.
The Daily Graphic will not advocate that Ghana becomes an island onto itself or adopts autarky, but it is absolutely necessary that as we seek partnership in promoting our development agenda, we should equally recognise the potential and opportunities available locally.
We shall always continue to remind Ghanaians about the good old days of the 1960s when Ghana produced most of its needs, albeit at lower quality compared to imported items, even though the then government and its people were determined to succeed.
Majority of our people were aware of the limitations of the late President Nkrumah’s import substitution policy because his government initiated the industrialisation policy before introducing the policy to produce raw materials locally.
Again, because we missed the local content in our industrial policy, it was difficult to sustain the industrialisation drive when the country was confronted with foreign exchange difficulties and other economic challenges in the 1970s.
Today, many of the industries established in the 1960s in the country have become warehouses for cheap imports.
The Daily Graphic has always taken a stance against unbridled liberalisation because it has the potential to kill local initiatives.
We think that in areas that the country has comparative advantage, the government should take a firm stand to encourage local entrepreneurs to invest in the economy.
It is for this reason that we endorse the 30-day ultimatum given by the President to telecommunications operators to print their scratch cards locally. We believe that the local capacity exists for the printing of scratch cards and we urge the government not to relent in this regard because the telecommunications industry has the potential to provide job opportunities for majority of the people.
Telecom companies are big-time businesses with big turnovers and they should be interested in growing the local economy so that our people can be empowered economically to patronise the services of those companies.
This goes to buttress the directive that telecom companies print their scratch cards locally to give jobs to our people.
The Daily Graphic urges the government not to listen to any excuses from the telecommunications operators that the capacity does not exist locally because this refrain has been used to undermine bold efforts in the past to create employment opportunities and grow the economy.
The efforts to make local content part of the development agenda is not going to be easy because of resistance from those benefiting from the status quo.
The implementation of the local content initiative as part of the paradigm shift will be fraught with many challenges, but we think the opportunities and benefits will boost our development agenda.
We all need to support the government in this campaign to create jobs for local entrepreneurs.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

LET THERE BE POWER (MARCH 3, 2010)

THE frequent power outages, sometimes resulting in fire outbreaks in homes and offices, have become a source of worry to many users of electrical power.
Indeed, over the last few years electricity has done considerable damage to household items, public and private buildings.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has, time and again, spoken about the challenges facing it in the distribution of power to all parts of the country.
It has told the public about the overloaded sub-stations in various parts of the country, making it difficult for it to supply power to the ever-growing population.
Besides, almost all the cities and major towns and even villages are expanding beyond their seams, thereby over-stretching the facilities of the ECG.
Looking at the physical development process throughout the country, it appears that our actions are feeding into the popular saying that “if your fail to plan, you plan to fail”. This is because physical or spatial development activities in the cities are not following any laid down plans or regulations.
The mood of consumers is not a pleasant one, especially relating to the attitude towards the ECG in recent times. To many consumers, the company does not bother itself about the plight of its customers because it does not inform them about any intended disruptions, and if disruptions are caused by technical faults, customers are not alerted.
Individuals and organisations are incurring extra cost in the running of their businesses because they have to buy generating sets as standby in case power goes off. It is very irritating when power goes off many times without a single word from officials of the ECG.
The Daily Graphic thinks what has become more disturbing is the fact that many of the recent fire outbreaks have been attributed to electrical faults.
Although it is yet to be established that power cuts are responsible for the fire outbreaks, it is about time the government enforced the regulations and standards in electrical installations in public, commercial and residential facilities in the country.
The DAILY GRAPHIC does not expect an immediate end to the frequent power cuts. However, what is reassuring is the decision by the Accra West Directorate of the ECG to engage various stakeholders in the Accra metropolis to find ways by which the frequent power cuts can be addressed.
Addressing the stakeholders, Alhaji Dauda Alhassan Jangu, the Accra West Director of the ECG, noted that it was facing problems which it needed to share with its customers and that it had put in place programmes to enable customers to access quality power.
For once, the ECG is being proactive in taking the problems to its customers, so that they can understand the present challenges and see how they can adjust to the circumstances.
The ECG did not treat its customers very well in the past, for which reason this latest move by the Accra West Directorate should be taken with a pinch of salt. After all, it is said, “Beware of the Greeks when they come with gifts.”
The only way the ECG can regain the confidence of its customers is to offer efficient and reliable services to its customers.
As things stand now, the company has lost all its goodwill and the only way it can regain it is to work hard to resolve the challenges.
The DAILY GRAPHIC knows that the task of solving the problems is quite Herculean but it can be done if the workers rededicate themselves to rendering dedicated services to the people.
We also appeal to consumers to honour their obligations to the ECG in a timely manner so that it can have the resources to provide reliable and efficient power for the people, as well as extend power to under-served areas.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

AVOID 'WATER POLITICS' (MARCH 2, 2010)

Water, they say, is life, and for this reason everybody places the greatest premium on water, as well as its sources.
It is one resource that has no substitute, compelling people to travel long distances for water for drinking and other domestic uses.
The basic necessities of life are food, shelter and clothing, but without water life will not be worth living on earth.
All over the world, due diligence is paid to the provision of potable water because many water-borne diseases, such as bilharzia, cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery, affect the people as a result of their reliance on untreated water.
Governments, therefore, spend huge portions of their resources on the provision of potable water for the people to avoid the outbreak of water-borne diseases.
When the taps are not running in the cities and urban centres, residents go through harrowing experiences to get water. In cases where that is not possible, they rely on water from gutters, ponds and streams that are heavily polluted.
This explains why the importance of water in the daily endeavours of the people cannot be toyed with.
Majority of Ghanaians, therefore, raised serious concerns yesterday when water sachet producers decided to increase the price of their product, in conformity with Act 787 which imposed ad-valorem excise tax on “distilled, bottled and other packaged water”.
Following the adjustment, the vendors of sachet water on the streets of Accra and other places in the country also decided to raise the price by 100 per cent, generating furore among patrons of the product.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has explained that Act 787, which imposes the tax, takes effect on Monday, March 1, 2010 but the implementation of the new tax regime does not include sachet water.
All that the Daily Graphic can say to this explanation is that it is well said and our hope is that the explanation will lay to rest the confusion on the streets of our cities and towns over the new price of sachet water.
We think, from our lay man’s point of view, that the inclusion of packaged water in the law may be the source of the confusion.
Already, some officials of tax-collecting agencies think that the law, as presently crafted, gives room for the collection of taxes on sachet water.
The Daily Graphic is, however, of the view that once the sector ministry has explained the rationale behind the law, the matter over taxes on sachet water should be laid to rest.
But we know that in our society when prices go up, operators are not willing to reduce them when the situation changes.
That is why the Daily Graphic encourages the Ministry of Finance to continue to engage the stakeholders and operators of the sachet water business in discussions to arrive at an amicable resolution of the challenge.
For, it will not be out of place to hear the operators begin to shift the goal post in order to engage in new arguments that because of the challenges with the supply of water and electricity, as well as the high cost of running their vehicles, they cannot reduce the price of sachet water.
If need be, the Ministry of Finance should refer the act back to Parliament with the intention of removing the grey areas from it in order to make for its smooth implementation and avoid creating any social tension
There are many challenges confronting the government in delivering on its social contract with the people and we should not allow the stakeholders to engage in ‘water politics’ to create disaffection for it.
The Daily Graphic also appeals to the operators of the water sachet business not to unjustifiably adjust the price of sachet water upwards because that is not what the law intends to achieve.
Water is precious to the sustenance of life and nothing should be done to make it unaffordable to the ordinary person.

LET'S RESTORE THE RAILWAY SYSTEM NOW

ONE refreshing piece of news in the State of the Nation Address delivered by President J. E. A. Mills last Thursday was the decision of the government to fast-track investment in the rehabilitation of the Western railway corridor.
The investment in the railway project, as well as deep sea port, with a dedicated oil services facility, would not only, as the President said, create significant employment themselves, but would also support the growth of other industries.
Many of our people have very fond memories of the safety and efficiency of the railway system in the immediate post-independent Ghana till about the mid-1970s.
The mention of the challenges in the railway sector to such people, especially those above 50 years, leads them to develop nostalgia because of the total deterioration of the railway system, once the pride of the entire nation.
Even to a section of the younger generation, the railway system represented the best in the movement of goods and people from areas served by the rail road.
Whenever news of the rehabilitation of the railway sector is made public, those who enjoyed the services of the system in those "good old days" recall the era of the "rail romance".
It was a lot of fun to travel by train when "sleeper" trains, otherwise known as "blue-blue", were introduced and the passengers were provided with absolute comfort during their travels, especially at night.
The railway sector itself has a rich history in trade unionism in the country because of the role the railway sector played in labour activism from their base at "Bottom Tree" in Sekondi-Takoradi.
The Daily Graphic will be first to admit that all is not well with the railway system in the country. A few of the services that are still operating through the ingenuity of the workers are not as reliable as they used to be in the so-called heydays.
That the railway system is a pale shadow of itself today may be an understatement. The various railway stations that used to be centres of brisk business are all in a state of disrepair. Major portions of the eastern corridor of the railway lines are overgrown with weeds.
Our governments have tried to revive the railway system but so far, action has been slow. A few years ago, the major portions of the Achimota-Tema Rail Road were rehabilitated and inaugurated amidst pomp and pageantry but the excitement died down soon after because the expectations could not be met.
In spite of the challenges in the sector, a few of the services being operated are highly patronised by the travelling public. The shuttle services from Accra to Nsawam and Accra to Tema are over-subscribed by passengers, especially workers and traders.
The huge patronage of these limited services sends very loud messages to the authorities that we cannot do without rail transport and the need to re-shape it to meet the expectations of the travelling public is without question.
The railway system is the means of transport of choice in all societies, including even the advanced ones, because it is reliable and safe. Working people and other adults in other spheres of endeavour will give very good testament of the railway system in the 1960s. Besides the safety guidelines observed by the officials, it hardly failed those in need of its services.
Every system has its merits and demerits but a trip down memory lane indicates that society tends to gain if more resources are directed at the rehabilitation of the railway sector.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, encourages the government to explore the opportunities available to restore the railway sector to its good old days when it was both fun and pleasure to travel by train. Nothing must stand in our way.