Who cares for these neglected folks?

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng

Naturally, every animal extends special care to its offspring irrespective of whether it was born with deformity. In the animal kingdom although the concept of survival of the fittest predominates, there is this communal care exhibited towards the weakest and feeble ones when animals move in groups.

However, this concept of communal care among human societies which is manifested among many rural African settings, seem not to be extended to the physically challenged, hence they are left to their fate. Sometimes, the sense of insecurity starring some of them in the face, for fear of being attacked and used for rituals is enough to drive them into hiding all the time. At times, families who perceive their disabled children as a disgrace, lock them up in rooms to hide them from friends who may visit. The mean treatment meted out to persons with disability greatly affects their self-esteem and to a large extent their social lives.

A cursory look on our streets indicates the presence of not just street children but many mentally challenged people in our cities and villages. In fact there is no village in this country without one, but there is this begging question of who actually cares for them? Or better put, whose responsibility it is to take care of them?

The case of Tataa

I grew up in a small town of about 500 people but normally increased to over a thousand or more during market days. Tataa was a common name in Dodi-Papase then. He was a middle aged man of about six feet high without teeth in his mouth except his gums that showed each time he laughed at us. Tataa was a restless fellow who prowls the dusty roads from the town to Ahamansu Junction back and forth and usually stationed himself under a mango tree in the heart of the market, although with the constant threat of eviction by competing market women for the shade the branches of the tree provides.

Every child of my age knew Tataa and made fun of him especially after school. The harassment becomes unbearable or so I thought when we went on vacations, because we (children) had the whole day to ourselves and followed him.

Though we persistently worried him every day, Tataa was always calm and never lost his cool. Sometimes Tataa would usually chase the naughty-daring and mischievous ones away. We liked him in spite of his unkempt condition, and also because he made us giggle about the rat-race he engaged us in.

After tirelessly moving from his temporal market station to the main town, Tataa later comes back to rest. He lived by begging for food, water and anything edible from those selling at the market square and generally contributed to keeping the market place clean by picking abandoned foodstuffs and sometimes sweeps under the mango tree before resting.

Children of my age then were delighted to make fun of him by teasing and drumming cans after him. He would temporally stop and try to chase us back. That was how we lived, until Tataa disappeared from the town.

Although many people cooked explanations about his disappearance, none could boldly claim to know his whereabouts.

I kept wondering where Tataa might have gone. I still recollect vividly with nostalgia how during one of the Christmas celebrations Tataa visited us in our home. I sensed he was burning with hunger, after my mother served him with rice and stew she prepared. I had honestly wanted to eat from the same bowl with him but for the stern look, I advised myself and reluctantly revised my plan.

At my friends house, bowls used to serve Tataa were discarded to save the family from the possible contraction of his ‘mental disease’. I was shocked to realise how one woman bathed him by pouring soapy water on him for apparently entering the house uninvited. The shameful treatment I believe was one such incidence which perhaps drove Tataa away.

In fact I was never pleased with such treatment but it clearly showed how unfair we might have related to people with mental disability, physical challenges, cured lepers and even albinos in our society.

The Silent Social Stigma of neglect

There is no doubt we are created by one God who is eternally good and in discriminatory and extends His love and care to all His creation. As a society aimed at improvement, growth and development, it is surprising that many of us continue to perpetuate this discriminatory acts against Persons with Disability (PWDs). This silent stigmatisation is unfortunately ingrained in our social strata in very loud manner, killing the moral and self-esteem of many PWDs in the country.

Although there have been certain awareness campaigns in the past, there is still more to be done, especially in sensitising people about the essence of caring for the PWDs, especially those without homes.

Tataa vanished from the town and no one could trace his whereabouts. His case might be one of few mentally challenged people abandoned and neglected by families, community, society and the nation at large.

In our cities today, the likes of Tataa roam our streets freely, sometimes naked or wearing tattered clothes and living on the pavements or some slums, as if no one cares. At times, I sit back and wonder whether they have relatives. And if they had, why have they left them to roam the streets and sleep in the open. My conscience pricks me and I feel there is some serious disservice we are doing to ourselves as members of society which whittle away our claims to hospitality and God fearing, peace loving people and a religious nation. I never intend to pass judgement but rather propose a reflection on our attitude.

It is only human to associate with the affluent, successful and healthy individuals in a society, in order to engender a mutual relationship of "you scratch my back I scratch yours" symbiotic relations. But as a nation I would like to know whether we are actually fulfilling our religious and socio-cultural obligations to our disadvantaged compatriots?

Does the nation really care for them? Is it the Department of Social Welfare that is responsible for these people, if not then who? How do we properly integrate them into our society after they have been healed at our psychiatric hospitals?

The better we understand that we are all one people and must work together to improve upon our lot the better it would serve our collective interest. We have a role to play to ensure that we extend help, affection and love to these neglected folks on our streets. Whether we like it or not they are a part of our society and no matter how shabbily they may be, the regrettable truth is that they are still a part of us. Dissociating and detaching ourselves from them (poor, physically, mentally challenged) is tantamount to betraying our societal obligation as citizens of the same country.

This discrimination is present in our various places of worship. Sometimes I wonder whom we are pleasing by occasionally presenting some foodstuffs to inmates of orphanages but neglecting the very ones in front of our houses and on our streets. I am not against the idea of feeding and clothing the needy but I think there is more we can do as a people to help alleviate their plight.

Psychologically, living with them can be very irritating but it is a virtue of advancing our religious kindness to them that should anchor our motive of helping them. Many of them may genuinely be hungry but the most important thing they need more is a sense of feeling loved and cared for by others.

Some children even feel shy to associate with them, because most adults are unconsciously teaching them to do so. It should be possible for those of us healthy to extend the care and affection to them and not just neglect them as the case has always been.

We have more we can offer them than just giving them alms of some token amount in the name of enhancing our ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ but as a matter of assisting our fellow brothers and sisters who had to live like that. In fact, that we are begotten from one creator indicates that we have to relate with them as one of our kind and accord them the very basic rights we always seek to fight for.

Conclusion

Tracing the cause of the rigid stigma in our society would be another topic for another discussion. However, our priority should be directed at identifying how best we can collectively ‘kill’ the almost impossible social stigma against our brothers and sisters.

Creating systems and institutions to cater for PWDs may be a costly venture but improving upon those institutions involved in catering for their needs, healing and ensuring their proper integration into our society would be beneficial to the country, as most of them could be trained to acquire skills that would equip them to work and thus boost productivity of the country’s economy in the long-run.

As we all aspire to live better lives, we must also help others especially the underprivileged to see how beautiful life is. It is only by doing so that we can all contribute to harness their worth in the society, rather than see them as unfit and burdensome liabilities.

One unfortunate thing is that the social stigma tends to blind the so-called able bodies from seeing the talent in some of them. Neglecting or disregarding PWDs or writing them off in our quest for economic development, would be suicidal and a dent on our image as a people claiming to be among the world’s most hospital country. What a grave contrast in our national psyche.

The Disability Act and Mental Law will come to nothing if we fail to accept PWDs as part of our society and accord them the needed respect and care.

We owe it a duty to let them live a dignified life and guarantee their safety. We must therefore accept them as a part of humanity, invite them into our homes, and cater for their needs and gradually integrate them into our society of ‘NORMALCY’.

First posted on www.publicagendaghana.com/index.php on Tuesday May 17,2011

Pregnant Women Seek Clearance From Fetish Priest

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng, 13 May 2011

The assertion that religion is fundamental to the lives of many is not an overstatement, at least, to pregnant women in Adaklu-Anyigbe District. Pregnant women in some of the traditional areas in the District are so much imbued with their traditional beliefs to the extent that before they seek medical care; they seek clearance from the chief priest.
The Co-ordinator of the Adaklu-Anyigbe District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, Mr. Charles Agbeve, made this startling revelation in an interview following a day's outreach programme organized in Adaklu-Helegbe, and Adaklu-Ahunda, two of the communities in the District, by members of the Federation of Ghana Catholic Health Trainees (FGCHT), as part of their 10th Annual Congress at Ho.
According to him, whenever there was an outbreak of diseases like cholera or diarrhea the gods were consulted. He added that although about 65 per cent of people were registered with District Health Insurance Scheme, lack of the health and laboratory facilities coupled with the strong beliefs of the people in their deity and the vast nature of the District were adversely affecting the effective coverage of the Scheme.
He also observed that because of the lack of health facilities which were impeding on quality health care delivery, and the closeness of the District to other health facilities in neighbouring Districts, people in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District have rather registered with those District Mutual Schemes.
Mr. Agbeve said in the face of a strong belief system there was the need to employ face-face interaction and continuous sensitization to convince them to embrace the scheme.
The people of the Adaklu-Anyigbe District in the Volta Region are struggling to access quality health care, since the District lacks a hospital, a laboratory and the critical staff to man the few health centres in the District.
Of the five health centres in the District, there is only one Medical Assistant at the Adidome Health Centre, and with six midwives in the District.
The lack of these facilities and personnel is not just hampering quality health delivery but greatly impeding the country's drive to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing mother and child mortality rate by two-thirds in the country and improving the health care delivery, which is paramount in the socio-economic development of the people in the District.
At the programme, Madam Patience Nunoo, Acting District Health Director, formally introduced Madam Grace Agrigo, the new Midwife for the Adaklu-Ahunda Health Centre, and urged members of the surrounding communities, especially pregnant women and lactating mothers to patronize the facility.
The town for the past eight years has been without a Midwife. It only has two skilled Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). Meanwhile, the Acting District Health Director has re-echoed the District's resolve to encourage Skilled Birth Deliveries instead of the Traditional Birth Delivery.
Madam Nunoo, who was delighted at the health screening exercise in the two towns, bemoaned the people's lack of interest to access the health facilities.
She said the District Mutual Health Insurance Office would be rolling-out other programmes and these include drama by school children, and documentaries which would be shown in the various communities.
The Ahunda Electoral Area Assemblyman, Mr. Alexander Sheshie, who thanked the FGCHT for coming for the health screening programme and appealed for support to help furnish the Health Centre and stock it with the health equipment needed to make the facility functional.

2012 Election- A Time to Examine Political Promises

“It is up to us to change our community by holding ourselves accountable, and the politicians we elect accountable, to making a positive difference in all our communities...Get involved. Stop blaming others…”

-- Sam Sanchez, commentary aired on WAMU-FM, Washington, D.C. and quoted in Feb 15, 1995, The Washington Spectator.

Tsooo-boeeeiiiiii! Tso-tso-tsoo-boeeeeeei and the crowed resonated with a deafening thunderous response: Yeeeeeiiiiiiii!! Don’t mistake this chants and responses to be those of the famous Asafo groups of yesteryear. They are the usual exciting and vibrating humming, thumping of feet and shouting by a huge multitude of party fanatics at a mammoth political rally.

Yes the season is here again and the atmosphere is already charged, as we gradually inch towards the December 7 Polls.

The various political parties are at it again. Those who have gone numb after the 2008 general elections are trying very hard to rejuvenate their political image and ignite the spark of life into their political voices, as they feverishly rehearse their notes in anticipation of improving upon their fortunes of wining the upcoming elections.

With barely five months to the polls, it is obvious that various political parties including the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), the Peoples National Convention (PNC) and the newly formed Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) are vigorously positioning themselves and frantically employing all workable marketing techniques to sell their flag bearers and their political ideologies to the electorates. Some have already launched or are about launching their political campaigns albeit some auspicious media publicity.

 

As elections have become competitive and rare opportunities by which societies elect new leaders to form and serve in governments. Election periods are moments of charged emotions and agitated egos. They are moments when people who hitherto were living in complete obscurity suddenly assume patrician mentality and dazzle people with oratory skills that can only be likened to spirit possessed entities.

Season of promise galore   

Granted that elections are inevitable in any democratic dispensation and that it is obviously a contest of ideas, politicians with the aim of winning and governing the country would go every length to win the elections.

The Politician who suddenly becomes pro-poor and palpably concerned for citizen’s welfare with well-oiled tongues and gifted oratory would roam the entire length and breathe of our dear country, spewing sugar-coated words to convince the electorates.

During this time, they seem to know almost all routes leading to every nook and cranny of the country as they crisscross in their four-wheel drives to every hamlet, cottage, village and town in the name of canvassing for votes. Some even code name the tours: “listening tour, door-to-door campaigning, or restoring hope tour” among others.   

Often time, such meetings are opportunities used to persuade and depending on which party is visiting, either renew previous promises or make new ones to the electorates.

Promises of zero tolerance for corruption, improvement in general conditions of the people, running transparent and accountable governments, prudent management of the economy, as well as creation of jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country could be heard. It is this promise here and assurance there, irrespective of whether or not they are realistic and achievable or even within our reach as a people.

Interestingly, as these apostles' of power may appear, there seems to be a calculated medium which tend to goad them on without rest until the end where they are declared winners or losers. However, an interesting aspect of the game is symbolized in the way promises are made to bait uninitiated electorates, majority of them innocent and struggling with the challenges of life, to vote them into power.

Modus operandi

At mini rallies or ‘gargantuan’ durbars, these politicians are mostly intoxicated and charmed by their teeming supporters and sympathizers and like the proverbial Pentecostal episode two millennium ago, the politicians are emboldened by their inordinate desire for power to act in theatrical manner, sometimes to their own surprise, they act in strange manners and say words that they are unaware of its impact, but which are intended to capture the hearts and minds of the electorate. Yes, with much gusto they flow with the “big words” with such effortless effrontery. The promises flow and float on the wings of the thunderous cheers of the crowds.

Now hear them in their quixotic best.

They begin to ask the audience about their living conditions- which government did this or that when they were in power, and the usual ear-splitting response booms thunderously. Can you do this, can you afford that?

At this stage the spirit possession process is complete and the political chanting of promises begins.

This is what I will do when you vote for me… And do not be surprised to hear them promise they would provide all the niceties of life on their assumption of power. Listen to some of them, “I will build roads, very affordable houses for all, provide free education, electricity, water and oh reduce fuel prices”. As the crowd is bombarded with such promises don’t ever forget to hear this last point (to borrow a popular quote from Kwesi Pratt) For the teeming unemployed youth, “I will provide thousands”, and depending on the mood of the crowd, increase it to even millions of jobs for the “mobrowa’s” on the platform.

I just wonder if they even stop a bit to listen to themselves.  It is high time people started taking them on, on some of these promises. 

 

They use all the time to market themselves and sometimes make statements that projects them above their opponents.  Sometimes untrue statements feature and false claims cum accusations are made on those same platforms, which are supposed to be used to market themselves as well as endear themselves to the electorate.

  

In this regard the idea behind political campaigning is just a means of conveying the alternative approaches of arriving at the same destination. Here, propaganda, and other political gimmicks and spin are used to achieve the goal of convincing the electorates to vote for a candidate. The question, which reels on, is how honest these promises are and how can we hold them by their words?

 

Without really asking questions as to how the politicians are going to achieve the promises they make, the discerning Ghanaian voter, who sometimes receives these messages with a pinch of salt, realizes how important they are during such peak political seasons.     

 

Examining promises

So long as politicians remain human and continue to use persuasive language to convince the electorate to vote in their favour, means there ought to be a way of holding them accountable to the words.

Most of them renege on the promises they made in their quest to win political power only to get into office and not deliver. They sometimes dilly-dally with the situation and mostly play the comparison game to score cheap political points the electorate ought to know why the promises were not met.

As the Ghanaian electorate becomes enlightened, we must all endeavour to scrutinise some of these promises. We need to ask prudent questions in relation to how these promises would be met, how they intend to bring in lasting solutions.

To ensure a better scrutiny, I would like to suggest to political parties interested in governing Ghana to supply copies of their manifestos to Civil Society Organisations, the Electoral Commission, the Institute of Economic Affairs and the National Commission for Civic Education, as well as make copies available to the general public to assess. They should also post these campaign promises on a functional website that could be accessible to the general public.

Ghana’s vision

With the general belief that every political party has the interest of Ghana’s development at heart, and with the spirit of ensuring continuity of development programmes in the country, I believe developing and enacting a Ghana National Vision Plan, based on which political parties would draw their manifestoes and programmes for the country would be very helpful.

The vision should establish certain key areas of focus to Ghana’s development and help the country make projections in the areas of health, education, transportation, economy, agriculture, service industry, sustainable development, trade and industry, oil and mineral wealth extraction and the service industry, to mention but few in say the next 50 years.

This plan should help the country determine a national approach to addressing every aspect of our programme so that irrespective of the political party in office, the national programme and not necessarily political party manifestoes should be implemented. The Vision plan should be able to forecast the amount of loans or credit facilities that would be needed to reach our goal in the next fifty years and measure the progress being made.

Conclusion

Inasmuch as political promises cannot be curtailed in our political discourse, the electorate must listen carefully and seek information on the programme each political party has for the general good of Ghana before voting.

Although you may vote alone, always vote on principles and for parties with good programmes to ensure the development of the country.

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng

Email: kybem11@yahoo.com   

Chief Urges Kudje Citizens to Support Dev't

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng, 3 February 2012

Kudje-Buem — Nana Opraw Akwesi Akuamoah VIII, Chief of Kudje-Buem in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region, in pursuit of holistic development in the town, has urged indigenes of Kudje, especially those living in Accra and other cities to support developmental projects in the town.
He called for unity among the people to ensure the development of the town, noting that without unity there could be no meaningful development in the town.
Nana Akuamoah VIII, who is also the Nefahene of the Buem Traditional Area, made the appeal during last year's Annual Harvest programme organised by the chiefs and people of the town to raise funds towards the building of an ultra-modern community centre.
The Chief pledged to support the project with 100bags of cement, as well as help furnish the ICT Centre.
In consonance with his resolve to help with the development of the youth, he disclosed that the Bosompem Foundation, was putting in place measures to assist brilliant but needy students to further their education and acquire trade skills.
The Chairman for the function, Mr. Richard Adjei, Head of Accreditation at the National Accreditation Board, commended the Chiefs and people for their vision and initiatives.
He stated that Kudje, one of the prominent towns in the Buem Traditional Area, deserved better and therefore charged the indigenes to offer their best towards the development of the town.
The event was used to raise funds to support the construction of a 1,500-capacity community centre which will also house the Information Communication Technology (ICT) centre.
Mr. Martin Akotey, the Assembly Member for the Kudje Electoral Area, who initiated the project, regretted that both local and central governments have not provided adequate resources for the construction of community centres.
He described the non-existence of community centres in many communities as an aberration, considering the fact that many are those who have to block roads in order to organise events like funerals and naming ceremonies.
As part of the fund raising exercise, special levies were imposed on citizens both home and abroad as well as those living and working in Accra and other cities.
To this end, Mr. Akotey entreated the citizens of Kudje to pay their levies since it would be of great benefit to the entire community. He assured them that, monies received would be properly accounted for and judiciously channeled into the execution of the project.
Hon. Kamal Ford, Deputy Minister of Lands and Forestry and Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency, through a representative donated GH¢300 and pledged 200 bags of cement to support the project.
A total of GH¢5,300.00, in addition to a number of pledges, was realized at the function.
There were cultural displays and dances like the traditional Legongo' dance.
At the function, Mr. Daniel Yaw Nyarko, a retired educationist and elder of the town, who taught at the then Kudje LA Middle School in the 1980s, was rewarded for his meritorious services to the town, which raised the standards of education at the time.
His citation extolled him for tutoring the 1982 and 83 year groups of the school to achieve 100 per cent passes in their Common Entrance Examination, and for inspiring many students to embrace excellence.
Present at the ceremony were Nana Opong Kyekyeku, Chief of Akaa-Buem and his entourage, a representative of the Chief of Atonkor and Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim, Director of Jasikan District Coordinating Council.

Towards 2012 Elections and beyond:The Biometric approach

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng

Since the 1990’s, most African countries embraced democracy as a way to govern themselves and have since been trying to entrench the democratic principles in their governance.

This is very true in the sense that many countries have shifted to the era where the ballot boxes is much preferred  in determining the political leadership of a country that would help manage the aspiration and expectation of the people, than the barrel of the gun.

Ever since, general elections have been a crucial political event in every country,in their quest to select and elect the right leadership to help develop the people and reduce the scourge of poverty as well improve upon the welfare of the citizenry.

However, concerns of manipulation of electoral results, abuse of incumbency, lack of transparency in the electoral processes, that occasionally mare the beauty of the elections has prompted reforms in the electoral process, to ensure transparent and credible results that may be acceptable by all.

It is evident in the fact more than 22 African between 2011 and 2012 have and are about to hold general elections to elect their leaders. Although some countries including Nigeria, Ivory Coast and D.R. Congo have had their elections with their attendant challenges, the beef of many who challenged results were largely due to electoral disputes and problems of ensuring credibility.

In line with instituting reforms in the electoral process Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) as well as other Electoral Commissions across the African Continent, have adopted theBiometric Voter Registration System (BVRS).

Indeed, the good news could not have come at any opportune time than now when Ghana’s democracy, touted as a model in the West African Sub-region, would be put to yet another test come December 7, 2012.

Impending Biometric Voter Registration in Ghana

With a good history of electoral successes and the peaceful manner in which power was peacefully transferred from one government to another in 2001 and 2009, all eyes would be on the Ghana to see the outcome of the Biometric Registration Exercise schedule to start simultaneously in all Districts and Regions of Ghana from March 24 to May 5, 2012.

The Chairman of the EC, Dr. KwadwoAfari-Gyan has been explaining that 7,000 kits would be used for the biometric registration at the 23, 000 polling stations in the country, adding that since the kits were not enough, polling stations in every district had been grouped into clusters, each consisting of four polling stations.

He noted that a six member team of operators would take-charge of the registration of eligible voters in each cluster for 40 days, that is 10 days at each polling station within the cluster.

*Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum of Koforidua, going through the dummy biometric registration.

In line with the principle of where you register is where you vote, Dr. Afari-Gyan stated that registration of eligible voters during the exercise would be done at the registration centres, which would later serve as polling stations in the general elections come December.

A registered voter would be issued with an Identity (ID) Card embossed with the person’s picture on the spot and a bar code containing the ID number.

Although the biometric voter registration would ensure the capturing of features of an eligible voter with their pictures, Dr. Afari-Gyan said the kit would not know the difference between the thumbprint of a foreigner and that of Ghanaian and between a minor and that of an adult.

He therefore called on Ghanaians to be vigilant in the entire registration to prevent minors and foreigners from registering.   

What is the Biometric Voter Registration System?

Biometric voter registration represents a means to accurately capture unique physical features of an individual in addition to demographic data of the Ghanaian voter. The intent of implementing this project is to prevent multiple voter registration and voting, as well as mitigating the incidence of voter fraud.

The Biometric Voter Registration process captures facial images in conformance to the quality requirement and in compliance with quality standards.

The system is programmed to automatically capture multiple sequential facial images of eligible voters over a period of seconds to ensure that choices are available with both eyes open.

Automatically, checks for brightness to ensure acceptable image quality and optional manual cropping to ensure facial image quality are inbuilt in the manual kits.

Additionally, the system captures and stores finger images into templates of minutia in compliance with quality standards for use in the Automatic Finger Identification Software (AFIS).

Finger image data are stored in BMP and compressed file formats. These images may be converted with current or future generation software fingerprint templates for processing (primarily used for identification or matching).

Biometric Voter Registration System has been engineered to capture multiple fingerprint image samples from each finger and ensure all samples have sufficient image quality and is convertible into template minutia.

The systems automatically detects and ensures that fingerprint images are captured with acceptable contrast ratios, sufficient ridge quality and includes the detection and prevention of partial finger prints on the sensor.

The Catholic Church’s contribution

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Catholic Church in Africa has aside its evangelizing role, been a responsible partner in the socio-economic development of people and their countries, and its continued support toward the institution of rule of law, good governance, peaceful elections and the consolidation of gains made in democracies in Africa.

It is worth nothing that in September 2011, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in collaboration with the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) organiseda five-day Workshopon Elections in Africafor participants from 27 African Countries in Accra.

*Members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference with EC Officials

The workshopthemed: The Role of the Church in Supporting Peaceful and Credible Elections in Africa, was a response to the commitment of the Catholic Church and its Faith-Based Associates to support actions and measures that would ensure peaceful and credible elections in the 12 countries that held their elections last year and 14 others, including Ghana, who are vigorously preparing for their elections in 2012.

With the observationof some African countries being plagued by protracted inter-communal and electoral violence over the last three decades, the Church saw the need to strengthen cooperation at the national, regional and continental level in promoting common interests and addressing shared challenges with a focus on the need for promoting good governance, as poor governance is often the source of intimidations, violence or conflicts in Africa before during and after elections.

Thus participants in a communiqué at the end of the workshop resolved to among other things promote the civic education that ensure that citizens make informed choices free from ethnic or religious affiliations; strengthen ecumenical and inter-faith platforms for greater engagement in electoral processes and improve engagement with civil society especially women, the youth and the media.

Indeed, it is with this impetus that the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC), in pursuance of the Bishops civic and voter education agenda to complement the efforts of the EC in educating the public on the biometric voter registration system, that the Department of Human Development of theNational Catholic Secretariat (NCS), in partnership with STAR-Ghana, a pooled-funding mechanism, organized a day’s seminar on February 2, 2012, at the NCS Conference room in Accra for the Bishops.

In recognition of the Church’s contribution to peaceful elections, the Deputy Chairman of the EC in-charge of Finance and Administration, Mr. David Adenzee Kangah, who briefed the Prelates, together with some representatives of Heads of other Faiths on the biometric voter system, thanked the Catholic Church and other Religious Bodies for their contributions toward peaceful elections over the years.

Calling on Ghanaians to defend the electoral process, Mr. Kangah appealed to them to continue to educate their members on the forthcoming biometric registration.   

After a review of the 2008 general elections, he explainedthat the EC adoptedthe biometric voter registration, as a reformto improve upon the electoral process, noting that one of the significant departures of the previous systems was the choice of direct data entry method of data capturing.

“Instead of bringing down completed registration form to a central location (Head Office), to be captured into a computer systemto be captured into a computer system, biometric registration kits (comprising laptop computers, fingerprint scanners and digital cameras) would be made available at registration centres to capture the registration forms directly,” he said.            

Aspart of preparations for the upcoming biometric voter registration exercise, Mr. Kangah observed that new policies and procedures had been put in place to meet the challenges of the biometric technology that has been adopted.

Significantly, Most Rev. Peter K. Attuahene and Most Rev. Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, Bishops of Goaso and Koforidua respectively were taken through a demonstration of the of the biometric registration conducted by representative of Superlock Technologies Ltd, trainers of registration operators for the registration.

In response to a question about the possibility of Persons with Disability (amputees) registering, Mr. Kangah said the EC would take note of such exceptional cases.

Among Heads of other Faith represented at the briefing with the Bishops were Very Rev. Henry Ampaw-Asiedu from the Methodist Church of Ghana; Rev. Dominic NiiTettehTackie from the Pentecostal Church and Alhaji Adam MusahAbubakar from the Office of the Chief Imam, as well as stakeholders including Mr. Emmanuel Bombande, Executive Secretary of West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP).

Others were the Very Rev. Nicholas Afriyie, Secretary General of NCS, Mr. Samuel ZanAkologo, Executive Secretary of the Department of Human Development,  Rev. Fr. Patrick Amos, Director of Governance, Justice and Peace Directorate and Mr. Dan Dzide, Executive Secretary of the Department of Social Communications, all of the NCS and Mr. Isaac Fritz Andoh, Managing Editor of The Catholic StandardNewspaper and Rev. Bro. Stephen Domelevo, SVD, Director of Catholic Digest TV programme.

The Most Rev. Anthony Adanuty, Vice President of the GCBC thanked Mr. Kangah for enlightening the Bishops on the registration system and expressed the hope that the EC and stakeholders including Religious Bodies would work together in educating Ghanaians on the importance of the registration.

The question of verification

Commenting on the much talked about verification of the biometric voter registration, Dr. Afari-Gyan, admitted that “although the biometric voter registration would ensure the capturing of features of an eligible voter with their pictures, the kit would not know the difference between the thumbprint of a foreigner and that of Ghanaian and between a minor and that of an adult”.

He together with his deputy however, urged Ghanaians to have trust in the electoral system, be vigilant and willing to protect the electoral process.

In spite of the fact that the EC had adopted measures to check these cases, Mr. Kangah appealed to Ghanaians to volunteer information about aliens who might try to register and vote.

Conclusion

It is essentially true that reforms are inevitable when growth and progress are a necessary evil without any better alternatives. And as it is largely accepted that democracy thrives on functional institutions, the EC’s move to adopt and introduce the biometric voter registration is a worthy reform and an approach that deserves commendation.

Undeniably, the EC’s decision to institute a biometric voter register, which promises to build a credible data base of voters in the country, help reduce the incidences of multiple voter registration and voter fraud is only a way to address challenges in the electoral process.

So far as human beings and for that matter Ghanaians remain at the heart of any successes story in elections, we must all uphold the national interest not to do anything untoward, but head the call by the Chairman of the EC and his deputy to trust in the electoral process and work to ensure success.

The EC meant well with the biometric voter registration, thus all stakeholders including the political parties must join in efforts to educate the public, especially their supporters. They must help diffuse the notion of supporters that election are a do or die affair and take cognizance of the fact that as governments come and go, so would political parties be. This underscores the fact no political party is greater than the country.

Phenomenon of Highway markets: who is watching

Phenomenon of Highway markets: who is watching?

Certainly, in their quest to survive, every man is sometimes tempted or even compelled to sin or die to perhaps live, by just doing anything to make a living. For these men, the rule of the end justifies the means holds. They would do anything by hook or crook to live irrespective of the risk involve.

Interestingly, some people in some towns and villages along major highways in the country have risked their lives or taken advantage of the highways passing through their towns to establish mini table top selling spots, to attract passersby and travelers to their wares.

In fact these selling joints are not like the usual markets you see around; neither do they resemble makeshift hawking trade, nor even merit the status of satellite markets. So far, this new creation or a hybrid of hawking, which seems to defy definition, is on the rise in the country. Although the development is yet to be named and officially sanctioned by any authority, for the purpose of this discourse let’s refer to it as a wayside mini market.

Unlike the hawkers who shout and yell: “Yeeeees Tsofi worhaoo! Yesss fresh br-e-a-d! Yesss pure water!” operators of these wayside mini markets advertise their wares in the open just by the highways, sometimes at the mercy of the weather, just to attract customers.   

Depending on which highway you are using, one is likely to find edibles such as cucumber, watermelon, orange, tangerine, avocado pea, among others as items on offer. Sometimes one could find plantain, cassava, yam, mushroom, and even mortar and pestle, earthenware, palm oil, smoked or fresh fishes and palm wine among others.

With the intention of selling their wares and getting some monies, the sellers indirectly showcase the products of their farms, towns and villages.

One is likely to find products such as cassava, plantain, prekese, mushroom, palm oil, pear, tomatoes, garden eggs, kontomere, snails, mortar and pestle, earthenware, and bush meats on the Accra-Kumasi, Kumasi-Sunyani, Kumasi-Kintampo and Accra-Asamankese-Kade and Accra-Koforidua Highways.

On the Accra-Ada-Aflao, Accra- Hohoe, Accra- Cape-Coast-Takoradi Highways in the Southern sector of the country, one may find wares like watermelon, small onions, Keta school boys (Anchovies), pineapples, pear, salted, smoked or fresh fish, bush meat, shallots or small onions, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, gari and sometime drums and other handicrafts.

Similarly, though the highway mini-markets phenomenon are scares in the Northern sector, wares commonly on offer include yam, millet, watermelon, shea butter, groundnut and guinea fowl eggs on the Tamale-Kintampo, Tamale-Bolgatanga,  Techiman-Wa, Fufulso Junction –Damongo-Sawla,  as well as Nkwanta-Kpassa-Bimbila-Yendi roads.                     

Benefits

Indeed the highway markets phenomenon is an ingenious manner of utilizing the highway facility that passes through the towns and villages. While serving as an avenue for job creation for indigenes in these areas, it is in one breathe an indication of the viability of the agricultural industry and an exhibition of the entrepreneurial spirit of the people.

Although done on small bases, it is worth noting that the operators have largely succeeded in eliminating the middlemen problem and now have direct access to consumers, who are attracted to the wares in the comforts of the vehicles.

To a large extent the level of patronage of the wares hinges on the volume of traffic on the Highways. A cursory look at these highways shows that the operators are likely to make more sales on weekends as many people travel of Saturdays and Sundays. 

Risk

It might be an inappropriate market, especially considering its location along the roadside. Sometimes they are situated right on the shoulders of the road.

At a time when the country is battling with an incessant upsurge in road accident, wayside mini market is nothing but a risky venture.

On one of my numerous journeys outside Accra, an articulator truck carrying timber logs, and travelling ahead of the bus I boarded, nearly run into a group of women selling plantain and oranges at Apedwa on the Accra Kumasi Highway. This was after the truck developed a brake failure, and apparently tried avoiding crushing into the car which wrongfully joined the main road at its front, without watching, perhaps after buying some things from the wayside mini market.

Then came the sporadic shouts of Je-s-u-s, Je-s-u-s from the Christians and I think onlookers including the sellers for Jesus Christ to save the situation. Truly, Jesus intervened, as the truck managed to park after struggling to a halt. 

Momentarily panic gripped everybody at the scene and I thought to myself that but for the swift and timely intervention of God, all aboard including those selling by the wayside might have lost their lives by now.

A friend I narrated the incident to said the sellers were lucky to have escaped. Certainly, they were lucky on that day, but for how long can they depend on this miraculous luck?

For how long must we look-on helplessly for this development to continue before we act? Must the authorities necessarily give-in to people’s quest for survival, by allowing them conduct all sort of businesses without considering the risk?  

Conclusion

I would not subscribe to the notion that because man has to live he should be allowed to do anything, or engage in this risky business of operating the wayside mini markets.

It is in this vane that I appeal to the National Road Safety Commission as matter urgency to sensitize the operators of the wayside mini markets to vacate their designated selling places and relocate to safer grounds to operate their businesses.

I think the various Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies must create satellite markets that are much safer than these wayside mini markets. We cannot afford the luxury of sitting down unconcern about issues of street hawking, wayside mini market and streetism among other issues that challenge our effort at ensuring development of Ghana.   

We should act now to ensure that proper things are done the proper way, instead of waiting for the situation to get out of hand before acting.

The time to act is now!  

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng

kybem11@yahoo.com

*Watermelons and mangoes on sales by the Ada-Accra Highway