The National Security of this country has been entrusted into the hands of a boy by name Larry Gbevlo Lartey. A boy in mind and at heart though he is advanced in age.
That is the only reason he would be senseless enough to personally issue threats at the editor of this paper. Someone should tell that boy to do his worst. Death is the ultimate. It is an inevitable end. Beyond that there is nothing he can do. He should abduct us (as he did to our editor on March 16, 2011), torture us, detain us, kill us and burry us in mass graves. After that he should live forever or perhaps grow and metamorphose into a hard rock.
Many at times, we make the mistake of thinking that any male child who crosses his teen years automatically becomes a man. Nothing can be further from the truth. Being a man is not about age, neither is it about muscles. It is about having brains that work, a mature attitude and having a sense of responsibility.
That Gbevlo boy, instead of focusing on his job and respecting the authority that appointed him, wastes his time on petty trivialities and hops from one radio station to another talking like a parrot that has eaten too much pepper.
Which National Security Coordinator who has the brains of a man would go on radio to debate and trade near-insults with top guns at the Presidency? Which National Security Coordinator who has the brains of a man would enter into a fight over who becomes or who does not become a District Chief Executive? Of course, only a boy would behave that way because boys have no sense of loyalty. They easily grow wings and get drunk with the little (temporal) power put in their care.
Instead of finding solutions to the security concerns of this country, that Gbevlo boy, would spend his time monitoring and doing a near-espionage on journalists and editors who he thinks are critical of him.
He is yet to appreciate that the two idiots trailing workers of this newspaper are simply on a wild goose chase. It is either they spend their time celebrating laziness and go to him with bogus information, or they simply see him as someone whose instructions are not worth following.
That is the only reason they would (mis) inform him that someone in this office meets with a certain top military officer for information. When we heard it, we laughed and popped open a bottle of (none alcoholic) champagne because we got delighted the dudes are reading from an old dusty diary.
What amazed us the most was the fact that the journalists he is sponsoring with the tax payer’s sweat at Dzorowulu seems to be more current with information than the two lazy idiots who think they are trailing journalists. If Gbevlo had asked his journalists, they would have told him that we now have eyes and ears in his own office.
Just when we were wondering whether or not the Gbevlo guy would ever grow into a man, we heard him on radio justifying the senseless attack on Gifty Lawson, a female photo-journalist who was lawfully going about her duties.
The poor lady was taking photographs of a suspect on the compound of a court, outside the court room when Gbevlo’s boys grabbed her, assaulted her, put their filthy hands into her panties in public, abducted her and shoved her into their vehicle, dumped her at the headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and released her hours later with no charges and no apologies.
Yet Gbevlo sees absolutely nothing wrong with this? That is the attitude of a boy. Boys never accept mistakes. They never take responsibility. They have an allergy for the three magical words “I am sorry.” They use their muscles to bully girls. They act with their hearts rather than their heads.
It is only a boy who would live in a glass house yet have the guts to throw stones. A boy would have dry raffia stuck in his pants yet would jump over fire. Instead of investigating how his own signature got forged in his own office and used to cash huge sums of money, the Gbevlo boy is running round chasing after lizards and hurling stones at them. Our only regret is that he is paid with our taxes.
It is still a mystery why the President exercised a voluntary blindness to the several mature minds that wanted the job and gave it to this boy.
The hens have come home to roost and Gbevlo has proven that when you give your pearls to swine, they trample on it.

Source :Daybreak 

The Appointment Of E.T. Mensah As An Overseer Is An Error Of Judgement

I author this piece in the interest of the education of all Ghanaian children and in the national interest. I am disappointed and disillusioned and so are many observers and sympathizers of our great National Democratic Congress (NDC) about events in the last few days leading to the appointment of Mr. E.T. Mensah to lead the political discourse on education as its overseer.

I consider this appointment as a complete error of judgment on the part of the president and those who offered him this advice. It is unfortunate that at a time when the general Ghanaian populace is dissatisfied with the outcomes of our educational engagements from the foundation level through the tertiary level, we will have the impudence to now begin to rub salt in their wounds by appointing a clueless and incompetent individual like Mr. E.T. Mensah to lead the national discourse on education. Let me be blank to say that Mr. E.T. Mensah should not even for a split of a second lead Ghana’s educational discourse for there is nothing he would bring to bear on that all-important discourse.

If, indeed, at its current state, the NDC lacks individuals with the requisite skills, the competence, and the hands-on experience to lead the national discourse on education, I am sure nothing prevents the president from extending a hand to an academician who can fill the void until such a time when a substantive card bearing member of the party is found to lead the educational discourse. After all, the logic on which we elected Professor John Evans Atta-Mills was because of his academic credentials. If that logic still holds, to the extent that some of us believe that a teacher who doesn’t understand simultaneous equation cannot teach it, then we expect the learned professor to respect Ghanaians and ensure Ghanaians get value for money. “How on earth can you appoint Mr. E.T. Mensah to head the vacant education ministry when we have stalwarts like Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah on the sidelines watching the unfolding events?” a caller who woke me up this morning to the story quizzed.

I do not want to belabor why E.T. Mensah’s appointment to the education ministry will only add to the undying crisis that has engulfed the NDC administration. I urge the president to return immediately to the drawing board to rectify this obvious blunder before it is too late. Ghana doesn’t lack the needed human resource to turn its fortunes around. It is the lack of vision, courage, and the dynamism to ensure we have the right mix of skills and competency in its political leadership to take bold decisions that will inure to the benefit of the whole nation that is causing us to still be wandering in the woods without a destination.

Once again, I reiterate the point that Mr. Enoch Tei Mensah does not have what it takes to lead Ghana’s educational discourse. There are thousands of Ghanaian professors who have excelled in the area of education and can bring their knowledge and expertise to bear on the educational system. Let’s, for once, be sincere to Ghanaians.

Prosper Yao Tsikata

NDC Member and Activist.

By Solomon Mensah

When night falls and the “Abayees” are snoring heavily like Okonkwo does in his sleep, brisk businesses are born on pavements of Accra. The items sold range from consumable to non-consumable goods. Brassieres, foot wears, jewels, and “kye-bom” with bread are but a few wares that compete with pedestrians on the pavements and spill over onto the streets of Mayor Okoe Vanderpuije’s Millennium City.

Clinking of bells, soothing voices calling on passersby to buy, sign languages and many more constitute traders’ advertisement. As someone born and bred in the woodlands of the Brong Ahafo Region, I get curious when I walk in the streets of the capital. In my part of the world, the sun does not set on traders. Back at Dodosuo (my holy village), one has to knock on Maame Kwaayie’s door when it is 6pm for condiments. And if it becomes your habit to be knocking on traders’ doors after sunset, you can easily be (mis)taken for a witch. But that seems to sharply contradict the marke ting trend in big cities. “Their market knows no night,” I mummer to myself . It is 8:10pm and I am walking down the lane leading from the V.I.P Bus Terminal at Kwame Nkrumah Circle towards the Ghana Commercial Bank tower. Men, women and children are seen busily buying and selling. I am so trapped in the crowd that I have to walk sideways like a man who has lost his bearing to alcohol. A young woman in her late twenties has the neck buried in the clothing she sells. Her right leg is mounted on a small post and one hand dipped into the pocket in an attempt to ‘balance’ a customer. Next to her is another fairly old woman selling a pile of second-hand clothes.

Asare Emmanuel sells ladies’ bags. He tells me this lane is the Circle Odorna Market. On a blue polythene rubber spread on the pavement, his stuffed bags sit like bull frogs in a swamp. “Oh the night market here is good. I make good sales each night”, Asare explains why he sells at night.

But aside this flourishing venture at night, the question as to whether it is good selling on pavements is what must be the concern of authorities of the city, if not the sellers and buyers.

Asare’s friend, Kwabena says the Abayees (AMA city guards) do not allow them sell on pavements. He corrects my impression of the Abayees sleeping heartily at night. For him, the Abayees only sleep with an eye closed.

“They come here sometimes around 11:30pm after us,” he screams into my voice recorder and makes a passionate appeal. “Please, tell them we beg them.” Business seems to be thriving in the night markets, especially as the economic rains of the single ‘swine’ sorry ‘spine’ keeps falling. But this act of indiscipline must not be allowed to continue for long. Pavements are meant for pedestrians’ passage but not for market. Simple! The night markets on the pavements have also become safe havens for pick-pockets. They mingle with the crowd and take advantage of the human traffic to terrorise unsuspecting passersby.

The most annoying attitude of traders on the pavement is the fact that they see it as their right to do what they do. In one of my rush hours to catch Burma Camp bus at Tema station for lectures, I got humiliated by a trader. My crime was my unknowingly kicking a pair of shoe he displayed on a pavement. The least attempt to rid our cities and towns of such acts of lawlessness is often met with the accusation of rendering people jobless. But the fact that there are no jobs does not mean that we should compound the situation with behaviours that have the tendency of making life uncomfortable for people in our towns and cities. We must all help the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to make our city clean and safe.

The writer is a student-journalist at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. Email: [email protected]

………..and falls on the dagger!

Worry no more about the jeopardy of the nation’s educational system; recording a massive failure in last year’s B.E.C.E. results – the then educational head is not even clean! She goofed with a fat pitch.

Maybe Betty Mould-Iddrisu needs to go back to the basic level (or pupils’ class one) and master spellings through “Dictation.” She needs some English lessons.

No wonder the nation’s educational system is going down in haste. Schoolchildren performed poorly under a poor minister.

If the then Minister of Education doesn’t even know spellings; could easily disgrace herself on a global platform, how does one expect schoolchildren to pass their examinations? Her grotesque weakness is appalling. Maybe, she thought she was dealing with a group of imbeciles; do anything and get away with it.

She posted an error-filled – and even lacking a full stop (.) – comment while she was at the same time talking about education: “acommodation” for accommodation, “asessment” for assessment, and “unaccetability” for unacceptability.

On Thursday, January 19, she laid a political grenade revealing a clear commingle of imbecility and incompetence – when showing a hypocritical solidarity for schoolteachers – on the social networking site, Facebook:

“I speak of more teachers accomodation being built all over Ghana and especially in the rural deprived communities, competency based asessments so headteachers are trained to manage, building teachers capacity, GES being alive to the unaccetability of not paying teachers for months, govt providing incentives and packages including facilitating purchase of means of transport, arrears and allowances paid promptly ..tbc,” posted by the just resigned Minister of Education, Betty Mould-Iddrisu.

That was a devastating and horrible performance by Ghana’s education chief, and got dozens of dumbasses – who live on another planet – to applaud her.

It’s too bad for the then education guru to tweet such lines riddled with errors. Someone must tell her to improve on it.

After shining light on her poorly tweeted grammar, I’d couple of her sympathizers who came to her defense and described it as “trivial.”

She knows that “competency based on (her) assessment,” did not qualify her to be where she was.

If the performances of schoolchildren are rated, so do that of the captain of the ship, too. The failed students may feel relieved if they learn that the self-yanked Education Minister has issues with spelling and grammar.

What you do makes you; her defects have become her.

She got it wrong in a row; left it on her page to roll – and it’s still rolling.

You can even ask her what she achieved since she took over the sinking ship and the answer will be simple: Zero. She’s no idea on how to fix the mess in Ghana’s education.

Through this same woman, the nation has mysteriously lost “gargantuan” sum of 52 million Ghana cedis to Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

She was nearly yanked from government as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, but later was saved by the Ministry of Education – and that is an area that is not of importance to the Mills-Mahama government.

And this made her go ballistic on the social utility to launch her extreme frustration with an improper grammar and ugly spelling.

Surprisingly, in less than a week after going public with her feelings, she fell on the dagger.

Jerry Amponsah (Sabbato) NPP Communication Group New York

Over the past month or so, The Ghanaian Chronicle has taken Nana Addo to task over his educational policy. In the said policy, aptly titled “Teachers First Educational Policy,” the first point of exit for pre- tertiary education would be at the Senior Secondary (SSS) level instead of the current system that has, over the years, thrown at least 50% of our children on the streets every year. To make the SSS exit point possible and accessible to all, Nana’s policy would make SSS education free.

To the Chronicle, Nana’s vision is too ambitious to be possible. As such, in an editorial, in I.K Gyasi’s column and recently, by Emmanuel Akli- in an article, “Politicians and Phantom Promises”-the question posed, in different forms, was how Nana was going to fund his free education. While the funding question is legitimate, it is surprising that after three major policy speeches –the Liberty Lectures, the Hamburg and the TESCON speeches, in which Nana laid out his main points- citizens are still not aware of how Nana would fund his educational policy.

In the Hamburg speech last June in Germany, Nana clearly made it known how his educational policy would be funded if giving the nod. “We intend to enhance quality of education in every public school in Ghana in our overriding goal of building a new society of opportunities by committing, BY LEGISLATION, A SIGNIFICANT AND CONSTANT PERCENTAGE OF OUR GDP TO EDUCATION,” stated Nana. In short, what Nana intends to do for education is what has been done for local government through the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF). Currently, 7% of our GDP is set aside for District Assemblies. So why can’t it be done for education? And as Nana rightly pointed out in the Hamburg speech, “the current situation, which has seen the percentage of GDP devoted to education decreasing gradually since 2009 …. do not show a nation serious about its future.” And indeed, we are a nation with misplaced priorities. For how could we devote 7% of GDP to District Assemblies (DACF) – toothless body due to patronage- and ONLY 2% of VAT annual receipts for the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund)? At the first meeting of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs this year – after the House had vowed to change voting patterns at last year’s general meeting- Togbe Afede XIV expressed his outrage and surprise at the high cost of SSS education and how it was making it difficult for the poor to access SSS education- in his region. The government representative at the meeting, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Mr. Dan Abodakpi, promised the House that he would take it up with the Education minister- lip service.

But Togbe Afede XIV and all well meaning Ghanaians know that nothing is going happen, for education is not Mills’ priority. A perfect example is how the government intends to waste money on providing motor cycles to all assembly members instead of giving them to teachers or National Service personnel posted in the educational sector in remote areas- the first batch had already been delivered to members in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly of all places…for votes I presume.

As a nation however, our only hope for the future in this globalized world is to put education first. And only Nana Addo has been able to spell out a vision meant to achieve this goal through his “Teachers First educational policy.” To the naysayers, there is nothing phantom or unsustainable when it comes to Nana’s educational policy As long as a percentage of the GDP would be set aside, backed by legislative instrument, Nana’s free SSS education is as feasible as the DACF….unless a P-ndc majority in parliament decide to vote against it when the time comes.

Akwasi. A. Afrifa Akoto

By: Christian Kpesese

Ghanaian Companies have over the years been relegated to the background to play second fiddle to foreign firms when it comes to involving themselves in industry, finance and the general control of the national economy for the maximum benefit of its people. In a sense, we seem to have forgotten that, Local Content is the degree of local ownership, control and financing by citizens of a host country in a specific venture or entity that promotes and enables the optimal use of the country`s human resources, raw materials and services. From the above definition, it is obvious that, the need for Ghana to develop a local content policy/legislation is long overdue. It is even more crucial and relevant at this point in time of the nation`s development when the country seems to have no choice than import almost everything.

It is therefore welcome news to note that, the Volta River Authority [VRA] is perfecting its vision of setting the standard for Public Sector excellence in Africa by organizing the first ever stakeholders forum on ways of maximizing local content as an important component for development.

The forum was on the theme; “Practical Initiatives for Promoting Local Content Development in the Power Utilities and Related Industries in Ghana – The Way Forward“. It brought together stakeholder experts from Academia, Industry, manufacturing and knowledgeable policy formulators who brainstormed and agreed on measures required to ensure capacity building to enhance local competitiveness, create better conditions for economic growth, employment generation and the development of the nation as a whole. VRA alone spends over 1billion US dollars annually on the importation of goods and components as part of its procurement processes. It has for over 50 years dealt mainly with foreign consultants and contractors for the purchase of components for construction and the maintenance of the Akosombo Dam, the Kpong Dam, and the Takoradi Thermal Generating Plant with little or no involvement of local partners.

The Local Content concept has the potential of reducing drastically or eliminating the financial burden of VRAs procurement system through foreign exchange. It would also strengthen relationship with indigenous contractors and create more jobs for Ghanaians.

The Volta River Authority`s major objective of ensuring and implementing a local content policy entails the following;

• Exploit the country`s resource endowment in an environmentally sustainable manner

• Attract increased local value-added investment in the industrial sector

• Facilitate technology transfer to Ghanaians and

• Domesticate knowledge, expertise and technology in industry.

It is important to note that, until the advent of a local content policy formulation agenda, foreign investors are not obliged by any law whatsoever to have local partners, employ indigenes, transfer technology and know-how or even have citizens of host nations of their firms in management positions. The development of a local content policy would require expatriate investors to obey laid down regulations and empower citizens to overcome challenges and limitations such as finance to do business, capacity building and the transfer of technology and knowledge to enable indigenes take control and maximize the benefits to the state and her people.

To demonstrate its commitment to a local content agenda, VRA has set up a Local Content team to develop strategies and put in place measures for the effective implementation of local content in VRA`s procurement process.

It is also gratifying to learn from the visionary leadership of VRA who has positioned itself as a strategic industry and gone ahead to set up a local content team and desk aimed at developing a suitable local content for the consideration of the envisaged National Content Policy covering all sectors of the economy.

VRA has indeed set the pace. It is hoped that other sectors of industry and the economy including, Tele- communication, Pharmaceuticals, Construction, Mining and Manufacturing would take a clue from the VRA example.

The Volta River Authority believes in the discipline of getting things done quickly and professes values of trust, integrity, innovation, teamwork and accountability.

The media cannot afford to be left behind but lead the crusade to ensuring that, the country develop a comprehensive National Local Content Policy to defend, protect and preserve the future generation.

[email protected]
024-6798847-The Insight

AFAG march, 25th jan 2012 –
On wednesday, 25th january 2012, ghanaians will have the opportunity of taking part

in a historic march to protest against the harsh living conditions under the

current Atta Mills”s administration. The march will be organised by the alliance for

accountable governance(AFAG) movement.

For sometime now, so may things have being going wrong in this country. Inspite of

the fact that the NPP discovered commercial oil and bequeathed tangible economic

prosperity legacy to Pres Mills”s admin, living conditions have rather deteriorated

sharply. For example a gallon of petrol now sells over 80,000 old cedis which is

highly unacceptable given that oil now sells at 110 dollars per barrel at the

international market ,and that even at the height of the oil price surge in 2007

during former pres kuffour” period, when the price of oil was 147 dollars a barrel,

a gallon of petrol sold just around 50,000 old cedis. Interestingly, it is not

only oil which is the good thing the NPP obtained for Ghana. They were all also able

to secure over 5 billion dollars debt -write off as a result of completing the hipc

program in 2004 and also over 2.5 billion dollars being further multilateral and

bilateral debt write- off (as a result

of the Gleaneaggles-UK arrangement in the spring of 2005). Simply put, the NPP was

able to save ghana over 7.5 billion dollars, the benefit of which will even be

extended to our children and our children”s children. Which govt since independence

has been able to secure this feat?. Certainly no govt comes any where close,

incuding this Atta Mills govt. Seriously, which NDC govt achievement even comes

near this?. None. Additionally, the NPP govt was able to secure grants

(outright dash) like the 545 million dollars millenium challenge facilty, which is

unlike the non -concessional loans the NDC govt is currently going for ( like

the controversial 3 billion dollar chinese loan which ghanaians will have to start

paying back in just 10 years from now). Also it was the NPP that initiated and

developed the West Africa Gas Pipeline Project that now brings gas from Nigeria at

40% reduced cost (compared to Akosombo) and feeds

the Aboadze thermal plant as well as the Asogli plant . Even the value of the cedi

to international currencies is at an all time low, with for instance, the dollar to

the cedi rate now at 1 dollar to 1.90 cedis. This is unprecedented and it has

adversely affected living conditions of ghanaians terribly. Ask any private

businessman, importer ,etc, and they will tell you the quagmire they find

themseves in.

Now, when you raise some of these issues about these unbearable living conditions,

some NDC apologists say the govt has done development. what developments? and which

govt doesn”t do development?.

After the NPP had saved the country of having to repay over 7.5 billion dollars(

which ghanaians should forever be grateful to the NPP for), and had also discovered

commercial oil for the country, who cannot do development. When for example

petroleum revenue from january to september last year, 2011, alone fetched a gross

1.9 billion dollars , who cannot do this so called piecemeal ndc developments?

And even here, we do no see any significant projects or infrastructure from our oil

money.

The above nothwithstanding, it is still not proper to compare the NPP developments

or economy to that of the NDC because the NPP did not have oil money but the NDC

has oil money and can affiord to borrow huge loans on the back of the oil wealth.

So NPP people should refrain from comparing the economies and developments of the

two regimes and move the debate to a more neutral and comparable area .

The only neutral area that will be worth comparing is govt corruption arena,

and here the Woyome matter alone in this NDC govt surpasses the combined

corruption of all the previous administrations. There are also a lot of

other serious due process breaches with the selection of SINOPEC to build the gas

plant in the western region as well as the appointment of CHINA HASSAN by govt,

which will be collecting not less than 100 million dollars to develop the sekondi

industrial estate( and all these breaches are associated with the controversial

chinese facility ) which ghanaians, as i said earlier ,will be coughing up the

repayment in a few years time.

But again, the issue of the moment is the wWoyome issue, where Pres Mills govt is

trying desperately to cover a garguantuan 58m dollar crime to the state, and this

is the essence of this AFAG march.

Now concerning the march, if you can, do physically take part, but if you cannot

because you are a civil servant or you will be out of town, contribute something

small or moblise some people in your locality who can make it to join the march. If

you can hire trotro for people , that will be very much appreciated. Also talk to

friends about it and just make it a point to be represented in the march.

A little sacrifice for a noble cause will not harm you. You may rather always be

proud of making history and contributing a little sacrifice to mother Ghana.

If for nothing at all , we owe it to our our family and our descendants . And

remember that the convergence point is at obra spot, Kwame Nkrumah circle and the

time is 6.am.wednesday 25-1-2012.

This is a national clarion call on ghanaians to stand up, and all of us concerned

citizens (when we hear it) must accordingly stand up and be counted.

Alhaji Adamu

AFAG activist

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi
21st January 2012

Introduction

This year is general election year for Ghana and seven other African countries, some of which are Angola, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and Mali, among others. In the inter-election period from 2008 to date, a lot of water has gone under the bridge and political parties are positioning themselves strategically once again for the showdown in September/October, 2012. What we must realize is that we have an onerous duty to uphold the high image we have carried for ourselves as regards the conduct of our peaceful elections in 2000 and 2008. Those peaceful and hotly contested elections were too close to call, yet like in any other race, there is a winner. Our Electoral Commission distinguished themselves admirably by their utmost diligence, fairness and transparency. Many of the foreign observers who witnessed those two major elections gave us the plaudits. Ghana is indeed seen as an oasis of pence and a beacon of light to other countries. It is sad and shameful that in this 21st century, Africa is still marking time and is lost in the woods while the wheels of progress are grinding and working efficiently in other parts of the world. I call upon the leaders of our political parties, the NPP, CPP, PPP, NDC and others to guard their utterances by showing maturity, sanity and reasonableness in their media utterances. It is said that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. The grass symbolizes the ordinary masses or the poor man in the street; what some people refer to as the foot soldiers Winston Churchill, the late distinguished PM of Britain during the Second World War, is remembered for his famous saying that, ‘it is better to jaw jaw than to war war’ on quote.
The Way Forward
As we are about 8 months away from the 2012 general elections, I appeal to the leaders of the main political parties in Ghana to behave like statesmen, by putting Ghana first and uppermost in their political ambitions. Secondly, they should show unity of purpose to their supporters by building bridges across the political divide and encouraging what is called Ubuntu or Insaka
in Southern Africa. This is the same as inter-party dialogue. Even if they engage in token public acts, it will go a long way to reduce tension and to send a clear message to their die-hard supporters that they can agree to disagree in an urbane, civil and rational manner. In unity is strength. Hear the song of the late music maestro, Dr Ephraim Amoo:
Ghanaman, Ghanaman, Ghanaman, Ghanaman, Ghanaman
Mo ma yensua biako yo o o o DC
Biakoyo y3 ahoodin, biakoy3 y3 nhyira
Biakoyo y3 o o o o

Which translates as:
Ghanaians, Ghanaians, Ghanaians, Ghanaians
Let us learn how to live in unity D.C
Unity is strength
Unity is blessing
Unity is good.

Conclusion
In conclusion, let us hope civil society, the churches, media houses and other partners will set in motion mechanisms to ensure peaceful, fair and credible elections. Let each and everyone exercise their franchise in the universal manner of one man one vote and secret ballot. Therein lies equity, freedom, and dignity. Let us put to shame the rabble-rousers, double-tongued twittering twisters, and confusionists. Let us confound them with our civilized actions to show that Ghana as an entity is greater than the mere aggregation or summation of us all as individuals. Let our politicians appreciate unity in diversity, which is like a beautifully sung song of different chords and tones, yet all the contrapuntal sounds blend wonderfully into a beautiful melody, symphony and is syntonic. Let the political parties be in sync.
I also hereby appeal to the editors and managers of the media houses to censure and vet what they feed the Ghanaian public with. There is the computer analogy of GIGO or garbage-in, garbage-out. You cannot plant maize and reap acorns. The Ghanaian media, to say the least, has become prostituted by bad eggs and the earlier they were called to order, the better it would be for all of us. I call upon the media houses to cross-check their facts before they go public. Otherwise, they will be peddling half-truths and unfounded fabrications, raising false alarms. I admire the newly found media freedom in Ghana, but then freedom comes with heavy responsibilities of self restraint and self or intrinsic regulation, and appropriate motivational behaviour. Only seared, dull and callous minds agitate for chaos and bedlam.

Suicide remains one of the baffling actions that man undertakes to the objection of many well thinking people since creation, with or without a message indicating reasons for opting to end one’s life. Death is said to be painful, hence for an individual to shoot his or her self, drink a poisonous chemical, throw one’s self from a height or the most popular, hang from a tree or ceiling is hard to comprehend. Unfortunate though, but suicide continue to be one of the oldest means of exiting the world. In ancient Greece, the belief was, for a person to avoid shame publicly and mental guilt, it was prudent for the fellow to take the life. It was seen as honourable. Zeno of the stoic’s school of philosophy, actually justified suicide then later on, took his own life. Biblical history has it that Judas Iscariot one of the disciples of Jesus Christ who later betrayed him, also hanged himself. Factually, hanging from a height remains one of the known and popular means of committing suicide. Suicide has serious psychological underpinnings which, criminalising it has overshadowed. Under normal circumstance, for a person to undergo suicide successfully or a failed one comes with high levels of anxiety, stress and depression. Thus, categorizing suicide among crime committed against humanity means, there has been lack of proper and thorough analysis of its psychological causalities. The admissible of suicide within the parameters of crime is farfetched. Suicide is unquestionably and without doubt rests within the purview of Psychology.

The inability to isolate this self elimination practise from crime, has switch off the Psychological effect that permeate in this stance. Social convoy, which Psychologist considers as a bandwagon that zip through the journey of life where some people alight while others aboard, involves a wife or husband if married, at school the student’s classmates and teachers. Others include a person’s siblings and parents within a family setting, members of the immediate religious society a person is affiliated to in a church, as well as the Pastor or Imam and Sheikh. Likewise, in the office set up colleague employees and employers.

At a drinking spot, the bar tender remains the social convoy, of revellers. These social convoys are persons a fellow can readily hold discourse with about an issue and be served with some refreshing counselling. Lack of social convoy can be very destructive. This has been a resultant vector of suicide in most instances. Most often, human rights activist have opposed solitary confinement. It has been classified as mental torture. Could you imagine being involved in a case of criminality which you have no one to recount your experiences to? In such instances there is pressure mentally, and failure to have in handy a social convoy can be disheartening.

Recent media reports of successful suicide, with less failed attempts should inform the authorities about the real causes of this sad and unfortunate medium of severing life. In a banner headline story reported by Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu at Kwesimintsim in the Western Region for the weekend edition of the Daily Graphic, dated Saturday 17th September, 2011 number, 18641 with the caption, ‘Jilted student commits suicide’. The story indicates Ms. Mary Rudolph, 17, a student of Fijai Senior High School (SHS) committed suicide by drinking a poisonous chemical after the boyfriend had jilted her. Mary lacked one basic Social psychology gift, social convoy. At school, Ms. Rudolph should have friends, and since she is not married her other social convoys are her parents. If she could not speak or share her jilted situation with her friends, the parents could have served as a buffer to positively intrude into her intra-psychic conflict through the power of counselling. Ms. Mary Rudolph could have discussed this with her teachers also. The question, that need to be asked is, how close are the parents to their daughter? Did the parents consent their daughter at age 17, should enter into a relationship? If, no, then she had kept it a secret, hence upon being jilted she could not break the news to her parents. If the parents approved of her relationship at 17, she could have been counselled as to how to manage the situation. Remember, Ms. Rudolph was fixated to the said partner. A realistic aspect of suicide is decision on it is taken individually and personally. In other words, desire to end one’s life always becomes a personal issue. Again, when a person loses the job without a proper negotiated transition from employable life to a state of redundancy, it could lead to suicide, if the employers ignore the social convoy role they play in the life of this retrenched staff. Most often, it could result in dire consequences for such fellows, especially when the employers just call the employee and throw the retrenchment letter at him or her, without any prior notice in the form of discussion.

A Psychologist is supposed to be engaged by every establishment, in most instances, many firms have broken ranks with this order. With no one to talk to and share the frustration of been without a job coupled with financial demands, and the telling responsibilities which will emanate from matrimonial homes if married, has the capacity to push hard such persons into the chilled arms of suicide. Can there be a legislation binding organisations to engage the services of Psychologist to deliver the goods in times such as stated above? Again, a teenager age 14, a J.H.S pupil of Yaabem, a suburb of Agona Swedru in the Agona West Municipality in the Central Region hanged himself. Suicide has no age limit. Unfortunately, this young gentleman went abruptly bereft of a note, thereby giving no indication as to the actual basis for his action. Those with grave yard flowers on their heads and others without have been going this way, though weird.

This story was also reported in the Daily Graphic, Saturday, weekend edition, number, 18695, dated 19th November, 2011, page 22. The reporter of this rather sad tale was, Gilbert Mawuli Agbey, from Agona Swedru.

The description of the deceased by the father a Cocoa farmer indicated that, the son was humble and obedient, and therefore surprises many as to what was really the cause for this action. The father though amazed, could get a true reflection of proceeding of overt behaviour of the son from his other siblings, if possible. Nonetheless, there is an aspect of suicide everyone needs to acquaint his or her self with, it’s a covert behaviour, which only becomes overt at the gory end. According to the caretaker of the deceased, whose name was simply given as Auntie Aggie, could not place her finger on reason(s) for the unfortunate action. There are overt and covert behaviours that could only be observed through psychoanalysis. These behaviours are not vivid to the eye, unless an assessment is psychologically executed. This has been the problem that is there for those who have criminalised suicide to solve. The young J.H.S. 2, pupil could be seen going to and from school, but what was transpiring mentally was the personal burden of the gentleman. A counsellor within reach could have been of real help to this pupil. Another question that has to be answered by the Private Institute he attended is, does the school have a counsellor, if it’s in the affirmative, how accessible was it to the students? If the answer is in the negative, then there should be an establishment of such with a qualified Guidance and Counseling Psychologist, and be brought much closer to the pupils. Another case of suicide has again been reported in the Ashanti Region of a teacher.

The 33 year old man, who was a tutor at the Komfo Anokye Senior High School (SHS), was said to have hanged himself, with the reason that he could not solve a personal issue that had been lingering on for a while. This story was also carried by The New Daily Guide, a daily newspaper based in Accra. It was made known on Joy FM an Accra based radio station, during one of their flagship morning programmes, ‘Newspaper review’ Whatever that personal issue was which he could not see it through, culminating into this bizarre end will be the cause of worry for the family and loved ones’ for time to come. What prevented him from confiding in any one? To what extent was the problem personal, which thwarted him from seeking help? The litany in recent stint of suicide with all directed to one personal problem or the other, clearly gives the indication there is real trouble than we can imagine. What the country ought to do in order to avert this sad gripping situation is, to make widely available facilities for the services of Specialist in Community, Clinical as well as Guidance and Counseling Psychology. All these expert services should come or fall under the National Health Insurance Scheme, (NHIS). This wedded with education will enable the populace to get empowered to handle the edge to execute suicide. Above and beyond the discussions as whether suicide should be gaoled as an act of criminality, let’s take a second look at this social evil again. Now, it awash the print media daily, with the electronic, reporting it in drops, stories pertaining to suicide. Stigmatisation is another resultant vector of suicide. This subtle social evil has been ignored to the detriment of many unfortunate situations. There is direct and indirect stigma. Direct stigma has to do with a person who have suffered a negative situation and is stigmatised by society. Whereas, indirect stigma is born by those associated or is affiliated directly or indirectly to the fellow who is stigmatised. Vivid examples worthy citing are the cured mental patients. Not long ago, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital integrated some cured inmates into their various communities throughout the country. These cured inmates are supposed to be embraced by society and be involved in decision making. If their immediate families and communities treat them as outcast with a frown face, it is a step to fencing these cured mental patients into themselves. This is possible with the African belief that, mental diseases are incurable. Hence, these unfortunate brothers and sisters, when they suffer such isolation might contemplate suicide, as the only means of escape from their psychological quagmire.

The indirectly stigmatised equally undergo agonising fend off behaviours from society. These include the immediate family members such as spouses, children and parents considered as been susceptible to mental illnesses. Members of the families of these directly stigmatised are refused marriages in some communities. This most often than not, push them (the stigmatised) out of society and deteriorate their association with the immediate communities. Gradually these mentally cured patients see themselves isolated from society and enclosed. The only escape route is taking their lives.

Additionally, the Ghanaian society and the world over, so to write, exhibit shunning behaviours towards ex-convicts. Many are ex-convicts who are rejected by their immediate families. Feeling pushed out, these ex-convicts hope to be embraced by the larger society. But, unfortunately they equally get a face-off. These ex-convicts relapse into intra-psychic conflict. In the cause of this mental melee, they rather find suicide as the safest hands to run. Again, ex-convicts are always the first suspects to be apprehended in cases of crimes in our societies. This societal behaviour serves as a barricade or screen which prevents them from integrating into society smoothly. The cagey condition leaves these former prisoners alone in their world, unengaged and despised by the human community; the consequence of insanity in taught, has the propensity to result in suicide. Abandonment and neglect by families of these unfortunate fellows or relations drive them to suicide, fastened with the Psychological covert behaviours.

In this write up what is sort for is to appeal to the authorities of this country not to only decriminalise suicide, but also understand that, such persons, who have tried and succeeded or failed in their attempt to commit suicide needs psychological as well as psychiatric help. Creating the dais for the prevention and elimination of acts that promote suicide will go a long way to save lives.

Depression is defined in abnormal Psychology as the common cold of a Psychiatric problem. Depressive moments are really trying. If the needed care, help and attention is not received it can be disastrous. Bouts of depression can disintegrate a normal and regular life, which consequence can be suicidal.

In spite of the above true reflections of the courses of suicide being psychological, one needs to come to terms with the fact that society plays a key role in this causality. For instance; the issue of people living with the stigma of albinism, society refuses these individuals certain privileges and are treated as outcast in some cases. In many communities people who live with albinism are pelted with stones, and worst of all, they are most often, killed for ritual purposes. These are fending off attitudes from society. Hence, the failure of society to look out for a means of protection to shield these lives room for suicide to accommodate itself mentally with them. Unless you are out of the field of Psychology you will find it monstrous to believe what our innocent brothers and sisters go through each day. They do not know when the next cat-call will be sounded and in some instances where a stone will emerge from as well as being considered a demon. When society rejects you, what you have, is yourself. Most often the result is dire.

The old mental legislation says in clause 76 (10) that a person who attempts suicide should first be suspected of mental disorder and taken for Psychiatric assessment and if found mentally healthy, may be prosecuted. The choice of suicide by an individual alone should speak enough of what is pertaining mentally with such fellows. Many who have tried to end their lives and ending it for one reason or the other, such as owning a debt, losing one’s job, being jilted by a love one, raises the question, are those persons the first, the only ones’ to transit through such a situation or the last to suffer same? But the answer lay in society. For instance, a retrenched fellow needs pure guidance and counseling on how to adopt and be adept to a new life. Besides, the person in question could be counselled to the effect that, life has though ended at a particular enterprise, but another would start elsewhere. The retrenched fellow would be made aware of the fact that, if he or she was not good enough for that entrepreneur, it would be of a different tail altogether somewhere else. It is the pressure that is exerted on such will-be suicide potentials and the thought of abandonment by society to help them emerge from their predicament which pushes these into the awaiting hands of self-handover-to-death problem. In a recent back page publication, The Ghanaian Times newspaper captioned, “Psychiatrist shortage hits Ghana…as only 2% mental cases are treated” is scary. It was contained in a World Health Organisation (WHO) 2011 report. This leaves 98 out of every 100 mental cases unattended to. The reporter was Kingsley E. Hope, from the Ashanti Regional and Metropolitan capital, Kumasi. The report indicates that, out of 50 Psychiatrics needed to attend to mental cases, only 18 are at post, leaving a deficit of 32. These are some of the indicators and external stimulus which contribute in no small way to heighten the prevalent rate of suicide. The onus berths at the nation towards eliminating suicide from our society. By all intends and purposes, immediate action should be employed to deal with this situation. It rest squarely at the door of policy formulators, as what are their priorities, to either do away with the enigma of suicide or stand by to see this social cancer claim innocent lives.

Nonetheless, society has a comprehensive duty to perform to alleviate these unfortunate brothers and sisters of ours who have failed suicide attempt to understand that, there are broad shoulders for them to rest on. Until then, companies, organisations and firms should also be made to hire the services of qualified Psychologist to help retrenched employees transit cautiously to avert this sad incidence.

Dr Martin Luther King, the late African-American Civil Rights Activist once echoed in the distant past, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”

Source: Twumasi Patrick

By Manasseh Azure Awuni

A few months ago my twin sister visited me. The following morning, which was a Saturday, she said I should give her my clothes to wash. I felt reluctant because the past still haunted me, it made me feel guilty. But she insisted. And I obliged.

While she washed, I prepared some rice. So by the time she finished, the rice was ready and we ate together and chatted like real twins. We didn’t behave like twins when we were young. We quarrelled a lot and since I was the stronger, I always had the upper hand. Our quarrels were, however, difficult to separate; we judged the loser by who received the last blow.

But age has changed everything. Today we sat and talked like mature siblings. We talked about the family and then zeroed in on our lives.

“So when are you getting married,” I asked her.

She told me she would get married when she got a husband. But before I had time to accost her about the young man I thought I knew, she indicated that marriage was not her priority.

“I want to pursue my degree before I settle down,” she said. She had been teaching for two years after completing the teacher training college, or college of education, as teacher trainees would want to refer to their institution. Ghanaians and names!
We discussed at length and the conversation shifted in my direction. “I will also apply for my masters,” I told her. “Now a degree is becoming like a BECE certificate. I have to upgrade myself.” She wished me well, and an awkward silence reigned.
It was when I was reflecting on our conversation after she had left that I realised how insensitive I had been with the remark about a degree. I don’t know the degree to which she took it, but I still feel bad about that thoughtless remark. But it made me reflect, for the first time, on how we came to be wide apart in our education.
I went to the same school on the same day and sat in the same class with my twin sister. We were together in P1 Madam’s class. Madam Grace Owusua, the great educationist whose remains lie in the bowls Mother Earth at Worawora, was a wonderful teacher. So good was she at handling beginners that for so many years, she taught in the Primary 1 classroom. With time, many people in Krachi forgot her real name and joined the pupils in calling her P1 Madam. Today if I’m able to swing sentences together to express a meaningful thought, I owe my beginning to the late Madam Grace Owusua of Kete Local Authority Primary School. May her soul rest in peace.

My sister and I stepped into the classroom empty-headed, knowing nothing about what awaited us in life. If any pupil was able to recite ABCD or count numbers from 1 to 10, my sister and I saw that pupil as magician. But that was period would not outlast eternity.
My twin sister, as Madam Grace Owusua would later put it, was smarter and naturally more intelligent that I was. All pupils started off by writing on wooden slates and as they improved, they were allowed to write in exercise books. So my twin sister started writing in an exercise book while I still struggled with much difficulty to draw the numbers and letters on the wooden slate. Even when I joined her later in writing in exercise books, I was still many miles behind her.
This didn’t go down well with my father. Why should a boy allow a girl to outperform him? Boys, he emphasised, were more useful to the family than girls. Girls would one day get married and fly out of the family nest. But boys would be the ones who would one day sustain the family’s name, its lineage, its heritage. It was unheard of, therefore, that my sister should be better than I academically. He didn’t say it once. He didn’t say it twice. He often repeated it, mostly in the presence of my sister.
So I learnt hard and somewhat caught up with my sister. At primary three, we were the star pupils of Madam Agartha, our class teacher. When it happened that the school was overpopulated and the only way out was to introduced the shift system, in which one group would come in the morning and the other in the afternoon, my twin sister and I got the same shift. But Madam Agartha would not tolerate that when she realised that neither of us would be in her class. “The two Awunis cannot be in the same class,” she protested and explained with reasons.
But as we progressed up the academic ladder up to upper primary my sister’s performance retrogressed. I saw it. She realised it. And the whole family noticed it. It was a great concern to everybody. So one day, my father took a calabash of water and said he was reversing the “curse” that might have been associated with his utterances. He and my mother had agreed that as a father, whatever negative thing he said had some spiritual repercussion on her children, hence my sister’s declining performance.
But my sister’s performance did not improve and it showed in her BECE and SSSCE results, in which I outperformed her. We wrote the BECE in the same class and at Krachi Senior High School we read Business Accounting together and sat the same examination.
As I later thought about the possible causes of my sister’s retrogression, two factors stood tall. One was the psychological demoralisation she suffered. Our father, instead of encouraging his brilliant daughter, openly said the education of a girl was not of paramount importance to the family. Psychologically, my twin sister had no motivation to learn.
The second, and perhaps worse, reason was my sister’s numerous chores as a girl. Her responsibilities were far greater than mine. We fetched water together, but she was also responsible for washing the dishes and sweeping the compound. I never washed. I never swept. And until the senior high school, she washed our school uniforms, sometimes before or after farm.
Back from farm, her load was always heavier than mine. Whether we were carrying konkonte, yam, cassava or firewood, she carried heavier load than I. In our part of the country, it is assumed that women have stronger necks than their male counterparts. And in a family whose income was barely enough to feed us, my sister had to carry the firewood to sell after walking several kilometres from the farm. She also sold the vegetables we harvested from farm.
So it will be cruel to imagine that the gaping margin between us was created by her. It was not created by my father either. It was created by discriminatory and anti-feminist beliefs that are steeped in the culture of our country.
In northern Ghana, for instance, if a family is to choose between educating a boy and girl, one can be sure as night after day that the lot will fall on the boy, no matter how intelligent and promising the girl might be. So it is with many parts of the country. My sister is not alone in this. And northern Ghana is not alone in our underestimation of the female gender. Many girls have suffered and continue to suffer this subtle but deadly violence against females.
A few weeks after I gained admission to read my masters, my twin sister also gained admission to the University of Education, Winneba (EUW), to read her degree. With hard work, I know she will surely rise. She has the resilience of long distance runner, which is actually her other talent. Between 2002 and 2004, she and one Evelyn Anku of Kadjebi Asato SHS ruled Northern Volta, and performed creditably in the region’s SHS sports festivals. My sister gained admission into UEW at a time the university was having its inter-hall sporting activities. Even without training, she was instrumental in the Kwagyir Aggrey Hall team. I’m just imagining where she would have been if she had been given the needed support to continue explore her God-given potential.
My father cannot recite beyond the first four letters of the English alphabets, so he might never have heard about Dr. Kwagyir Aggrey’s extremely overused but potent cliché: “If you educate a boy you educate an individual, but if you educate a girl, you educate a nation.” But not long ago, a member of parliament in Ghana went on air unprovoked and accused respected woman of using sexual favours to get an appointment. The woman’s only crime was that she expressed her intention to contest the MP in political party primaries. This explains why the Affirmative Action, as well as many other attempts to get some quota systems to aid women representation in parliament and decision making, has faced stiff opposition.
But the advocacy must continue. It’s not all doom and gloom. Even if every feminine sermon wins just one soul, it’s enough. My consciousness on gender issues was awakened by the Gender and Development Dialogue Series organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs in partnership with UN Women. I have since decided to use the stroke of my pen to help correct this social evil. And as Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “I know deep down in my heart that we shall overcome.”

Savannah View is a weekly column that appears in the Tuesday edition of The Finder newspaper/Ghana.

Writer’s Email: [email protected]