Many thumbs will be deprived of action on Election Day, December 7. My own pretty thumb is on the line too. For decades, I’ve kept her on high heat to vote but now her chances at participating in this very important civic duty have been dimmed by the misbehaviour of the Electoral Commission.
How? Recently, a strange thing happened on our shores for nine days that left me baffled, leaving me to believe that if God should ever grant the EC the task to register people for heaven, many will be left to toast and roast in super-heated hell. During the toasting and roasting, some will manage to sneak through to land in God’s cushy bosom. However, others, including me, will be left behind to roast into eternity and beyond.
The EC will ensure that there will be maximum gnashing of teeth till all teeth are chewed and mouth emptied. Throat-choking thirst will be the lot of prospective registrants. The devil will stop by to drop bitter poisonous fruit juices to quench thirst. But no amount of groaning and wailing will help. For the EC, hell is not just a welcoming place but the only way to get a ticket to vote.
There is a fascinating funeral practice in which the funeral ads state, “No wake-Keeping.” Don’t be fooled! If you are close to the bereaved, you better make your way to the funeral grounds between 10 pm and midnight, clothed in the right mourning colours, to lavish heartfelt condolences. While doing that, you are also expected to stare at the decomposing corpse. Fact is, “No Wake-Keeping” is only a decorative way of saying, “Let’s see how much you love the bereaved!”
So it is with the EC. To register to vote, you must first suffer because there is wake-keeping at the funeral. The EC announced that the exercise was to begin at 7 am. That was meant to test eligible voters to measure how much we love Ghana and the extent of our determination and desperation to vote. We were actually expected to show up for wake-keeping, and to have oil in our lamps, ready to receive Doctor EC at ungodly times with or without registration forms or Polaroid cameras, or else…. Some of us aging fragile first-time voters could not stay up; neither did we have adequate oil in our lamps. So, the registration exercise came and went, leaving us fish-eyed and disenfranchised.
The just-ended voter registration exercise was an endurance test of ones ability to suffer indignity in ‘logo-logi’ queues, and of high tolerance of the senseless spectacular drama while surviving heat exhaustion standing at one spot for endless hours in the harsh tropical sun. It was also meant to test ones willingness to risk dear life and sanity to arrive at registration centres at dawn. If you failed the endurance tests, your solemn constitutional right to vote was snatched from you; no questions asked. Unfortunately, the EC neglected to announce these basic qualifications.
Undoubtedly, the registration exercise was set up for the young and strong and idle. Ordinary-citizen Dr Afari-Gyan could not have withstood the torturous, heartless and vulgar endurance tests prevalent in parts of the country to have successfully registered as a voter because let’s face it, he is no chicken either! He would have ruptured!
He apologised afterwards. He spoke to us sorrowful disenfranchised from the bushes of Dodowa on August 13. I heard him from the back of the maddening crowd saying, “I’m sorry for degrading you, for the hot sunshine you had to endure, for your thirst, hunger and sleeplessness; for your stinky armpits and your smelly mouths; for the red dust high up your dark gaping nostrils, your uncombed hair and filthy look, worn out chale wote ……”
Some of us fragile people who couldn’t survive the sunshine and therefore could not be registered began to scream, lost in the crowd:
“Doctor, we couldn’t all register. What should we do?”
“Sir, what exactly are you apologizing for?”
“Papa, how soon can we register to vote?”
To these questions, Doctor EC yelled back at us:
“Suck it up! I gave you one full week plus two days! You couldn’t register? Deal with it! No vote for you!”
Akwasi Opia, an outspoken middle-aged disenfranchised ‘returnee’ babbled on with a quavering voice, “Doctor, this is not 1984. We no go sit down make you disenfranchise us today. Issue us all disenfranchised with Apology Certificates (AP) with which to vote.”
But before Opia’s frail voice faded away, Doctor EC walked away murmuring: “There are too many Ghanaians. The voters’ register is now full, bursting at the seams.”
So, the voter registration exercise is over. Really? Damn! Spit out the thought.
December 7 will therefore meet disenfranchised Ghanaians with idle thumbs, inkless thumbs, sorrowful thumbs, restless thumbs, useless thumbs, ink-starved thumbs …. The EC has no mercy for the many tired (like me) who had sharpened our thumbs for years, waiting for this unique opportunity to exercise our votes, probably a once-in-a-life-time event. So I’m changing directions, looking for a dark ink-stained bandage. If thanks to the EC, my pretty thumb will not be functional on December 7, it must at least be protected from ‘haters’ like Frank Ocran who might ridicule it.
If the present status quo does not change, my thumb might be unable to vote for either “The Best Man for Ghana” or “The Better Man for Ghana.” Hey, the December 7 election is about manhood. You didn’t know that? My parliamentary candidates should forget it too; the EC has stolen my vote in early August, long before December 7!
Goat thieves are horrible people. You rear your goats, dig through people’s rubbish to locate tired cassava peals to feed them. At times you intentionally let them loose to break into people’s yards to mess around, for fun. Then as you watch them fatten up, salivating for the night before Christmas when you plan to tie one of them to the stakes and convert it into a good meal, someone sneaks in to steal your most well-fed goat! Ouch! That hurts. That is the kind of pain you feel when unsuspectingly, a vote thief sneaks in to steal a vote you have nurtured for years.
While I wait, hoping that the EC may see the light and enfranchise me and many others, I go down on my wobbly knees to cry to heaven, “Dear God, your good book says that your son will return to take us good people to heaven to rest in your bosom. Father, you know that I have been very good, to the best of my ability, with the exception of the twelve or nineteen things I confessed to you recently. God, my current fears are centred on the Electoral Commission. Please God, if you desperately need an organization to assist you with the simple exercise of compiling names to enable you separate the wheat from the chaff for selection for heaven and hell, please look elsewhere. If you make the mistake of assigning this simple task to the EC, all my efforts at being good will be brought to naught and I might end up in the unquenchable fire of hell, forever! Amen!”
+233208286817; dorisdartey@yahoo.com
Monday, August 25, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
THE STATE OF OUR TOILETS IS OUR NATIONAL SHAME
One level playing field of all human beings: when we wake up in the morning, we ‘go’. That is just the way it is! King/Queen or slave, president or citizen, CEO or labourer, man or woman, rich or poor, adult or child, city dweller or villager, citizen of developed or underdeveloped country – on waking up, nature makes its grand and often urgent and relentless calls. Who are you not to respond to the all-important calls?
The fluids we drink and the food we eat all must come out a different route from how they entered after the body has digested and taken needed nutrients. If only all the stuff we load in stayed inside! I love banku and tilapia; can’t have enough of it. But after enjoying it, there must be an exit; the foul genie must get out of the bottle. Once the genie exits, it must stay outside.
It is in the response to the calls of nature to let out the stinky genie that we see the differences between the haves and the have-nots. The privileged just slide into comfortable rooms that are fit for others to sleep in, and simply let go, uninhibited – no drama. But for the many under-privileged, responding to the critical calls of nature presents challenges beyond measure – amidst high drama.
That is where we fail as a country. The toileting habits of our 51 year old country make a fail grade. Unsanitary toileting habits kill. Decent toileting should not just be for the privileged; it’s a human rights issue.
Figures released at a recent press conference of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) put this nation to shame. Only an estimated 10% of Ghanaians have access to sanitary latrines/toilets. This implies that as many as 90% of our people don’t ‘go’ well. They eat all right, but the exit is by disgusting and shameful means.
The reality of our present latrine situation places us as far back as 1896 when Mahatma Gandhi, in recounting the grievances of Indian untouchables said: “‘Latrines for us!’ They exclaimed in astonishment. ‘We go and perform our functions out in the open. Latrines are for you big people.’” That in this century, a large majority of our people still go and perform their functions out in the open is uncivilized, nauseating and unconscionable!
Consider the following mathematics of national bowel movements. At a very low conservative level, if each of our 22 million people makes an average of four bowel movements per week, that puts us at an estimated 4,576,000,000 (rounded to 4.6 trillion) national bowel movements per year. Beyond the numbers, just imagine the sheer volume of the estimated 4.6 trillion bowl movements! Never mind. Nasty!
Out of this number, if only 10% have sanitary places to go, then a whopping 4.1 trillion bowel movements occur at unacceptable, unhygienic and uncivilized places throughout the country. These sites of unhygienic defecation include public and shared toilets, bushes, beaches, gutters and road-sides.
Black polythene bags are the usual suspects; they easily become the carriers of choice as some people have excelled in the act of loading and tying up their faeces to throw away indiscriminately. These packages are knick-named ‘night-rider’ or ‘take-away.’ Step and slip on one and see; the gooey stuff could rupture upon the exertion of pressure to spit Ghana’s disgrace all over you! They choke gutters too!
Some heady landlords are known to convert toilets into living quarters to increase rental space and monetary gains. The decentralized governments have bye laws on their books against this practice. However, rarely are these violations of the law enforced.
Beyond the home setting, another site where toilets should be in unapologetic state is the workplace. However, even some so-called prestigious organizations have nothing but scary rooms that are too unhygienic to be called places of convenience.
Those who live in houses without toilets and are fortunate to work in organizations with toilet facilities hold their stuff in as long as is humanly possible and carry to work. So what happens if these individuals can’t hold it long enough? They resort to the toileting practice of choice of many – Ghana’s shameful little black plastic bags. This practice puts a major wrinkle on our civilization.
How about those without homes? This teeming band of ‘homeless’ join the ‘take away’ disposers. Open defecation is not just prevalent in villages; it’s right under the glare of the city lights of Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi/Takoradi. It occurs in all the ten regions. It is however most widespread in the three northern regions where more than 70% of people have no access to any form of latrines. So of course, the key sites of choice are bushes.
A toilet is called different things by different people. In the English language alone, a few of the printable names are: small, bathroom, private, loo, potty, throne, john, restroom, washroom, commode, latrine or lavatory. A toilet is a class/status differentiator; the reality of the haves and the have-nots quickly translate into toilets. It is perfectly right to wonder when you see someone behaving as if they are all-that, how they ‘go’. Fact: some ‘go’ cosy, some ‘go’ awkward; some ‘go’ decent, some ‘go’ filthy.
There is also the matter of improper disposal of the privileged 10% national bowel movements. Take Accra for instance. The bulk of it ends up at “Lavender Hill”, a raw dumping site devoid of sanitary treatment (near Korle Bu Teaching Hospital). If you love fish like I do, this bizarre situation should bother you because any fish that ends up on your plate as a yummy meal might come from the poisoned pool in the general oceanic neighbourhood of “Lavender Hill.’
Gleaning our recent national history reveals a point in time when having more than one household toilet was criminalized under the PNDC administration. You were labelled bourgeois and stood the risk of being pronounced guilty without trial. But now, we know better. The poet Maya Angelou once said, “When you know better, you do better.”
What would happen if we do nothing to improve our national toileting situation? Currently, 80% of diseases reported at hospitals throughout the country are sanitation-related with its attendant high cost on national development. Considering the rapid growth in our population from 12 million in the late 1980s to the current 22 million plus, we could easily double up again in another twenty years. That will quickly shoot up our annual national bowel movements from the current 4.6 trillion to probably double the present figures. And, 90% of it might still not be disposed of hygienically – just left to sprawl about. That will indeed be a super filthy Ghana! And very sickly too! Clearly, we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to diseases of epidemic proportions.
So what to do? An election year is a unique opportunity. Don’t just sing ‘kum-baya’ with politicians. Let’s push the latrine agenda on them. When they come to power, we must relentlessly remind them until the toileting shame of our beloved country is resolved and moved to a level of decency. Every home, every school, every workplace and every public space must have toilets; nothing less. A toilet/latrine is not a luxury.
The fluids we drink and the food we eat all must come out a different route from how they entered after the body has digested and taken needed nutrients. If only all the stuff we load in stayed inside! I love banku and tilapia; can’t have enough of it. But after enjoying it, there must be an exit; the foul genie must get out of the bottle. Once the genie exits, it must stay outside.
It is in the response to the calls of nature to let out the stinky genie that we see the differences between the haves and the have-nots. The privileged just slide into comfortable rooms that are fit for others to sleep in, and simply let go, uninhibited – no drama. But for the many under-privileged, responding to the critical calls of nature presents challenges beyond measure – amidst high drama.
That is where we fail as a country. The toileting habits of our 51 year old country make a fail grade. Unsanitary toileting habits kill. Decent toileting should not just be for the privileged; it’s a human rights issue.
Figures released at a recent press conference of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) put this nation to shame. Only an estimated 10% of Ghanaians have access to sanitary latrines/toilets. This implies that as many as 90% of our people don’t ‘go’ well. They eat all right, but the exit is by disgusting and shameful means.
The reality of our present latrine situation places us as far back as 1896 when Mahatma Gandhi, in recounting the grievances of Indian untouchables said: “‘Latrines for us!’ They exclaimed in astonishment. ‘We go and perform our functions out in the open. Latrines are for you big people.’” That in this century, a large majority of our people still go and perform their functions out in the open is uncivilized, nauseating and unconscionable!
Consider the following mathematics of national bowel movements. At a very low conservative level, if each of our 22 million people makes an average of four bowel movements per week, that puts us at an estimated 4,576,000,000 (rounded to 4.6 trillion) national bowel movements per year. Beyond the numbers, just imagine the sheer volume of the estimated 4.6 trillion bowl movements! Never mind. Nasty!
Out of this number, if only 10% have sanitary places to go, then a whopping 4.1 trillion bowel movements occur at unacceptable, unhygienic and uncivilized places throughout the country. These sites of unhygienic defecation include public and shared toilets, bushes, beaches, gutters and road-sides.
Black polythene bags are the usual suspects; they easily become the carriers of choice as some people have excelled in the act of loading and tying up their faeces to throw away indiscriminately. These packages are knick-named ‘night-rider’ or ‘take-away.’ Step and slip on one and see; the gooey stuff could rupture upon the exertion of pressure to spit Ghana’s disgrace all over you! They choke gutters too!
Some heady landlords are known to convert toilets into living quarters to increase rental space and monetary gains. The decentralized governments have bye laws on their books against this practice. However, rarely are these violations of the law enforced.
Beyond the home setting, another site where toilets should be in unapologetic state is the workplace. However, even some so-called prestigious organizations have nothing but scary rooms that are too unhygienic to be called places of convenience.
Those who live in houses without toilets and are fortunate to work in organizations with toilet facilities hold their stuff in as long as is humanly possible and carry to work. So what happens if these individuals can’t hold it long enough? They resort to the toileting practice of choice of many – Ghana’s shameful little black plastic bags. This practice puts a major wrinkle on our civilization.
How about those without homes? This teeming band of ‘homeless’ join the ‘take away’ disposers. Open defecation is not just prevalent in villages; it’s right under the glare of the city lights of Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi/Takoradi. It occurs in all the ten regions. It is however most widespread in the three northern regions where more than 70% of people have no access to any form of latrines. So of course, the key sites of choice are bushes.
A toilet is called different things by different people. In the English language alone, a few of the printable names are: small, bathroom, private, loo, potty, throne, john, restroom, washroom, commode, latrine or lavatory. A toilet is a class/status differentiator; the reality of the haves and the have-nots quickly translate into toilets. It is perfectly right to wonder when you see someone behaving as if they are all-that, how they ‘go’. Fact: some ‘go’ cosy, some ‘go’ awkward; some ‘go’ decent, some ‘go’ filthy.
There is also the matter of improper disposal of the privileged 10% national bowel movements. Take Accra for instance. The bulk of it ends up at “Lavender Hill”, a raw dumping site devoid of sanitary treatment (near Korle Bu Teaching Hospital). If you love fish like I do, this bizarre situation should bother you because any fish that ends up on your plate as a yummy meal might come from the poisoned pool in the general oceanic neighbourhood of “Lavender Hill.’
Gleaning our recent national history reveals a point in time when having more than one household toilet was criminalized under the PNDC administration. You were labelled bourgeois and stood the risk of being pronounced guilty without trial. But now, we know better. The poet Maya Angelou once said, “When you know better, you do better.”
What would happen if we do nothing to improve our national toileting situation? Currently, 80% of diseases reported at hospitals throughout the country are sanitation-related with its attendant high cost on national development. Considering the rapid growth in our population from 12 million in the late 1980s to the current 22 million plus, we could easily double up again in another twenty years. That will quickly shoot up our annual national bowel movements from the current 4.6 trillion to probably double the present figures. And, 90% of it might still not be disposed of hygienically – just left to sprawl about. That will indeed be a super filthy Ghana! And very sickly too! Clearly, we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to diseases of epidemic proportions.
So what to do? An election year is a unique opportunity. Don’t just sing ‘kum-baya’ with politicians. Let’s push the latrine agenda on them. When they come to power, we must relentlessly remind them until the toileting shame of our beloved country is resolved and moved to a level of decency. Every home, every school, every workplace and every public space must have toilets; nothing less. A toilet/latrine is not a luxury.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Roadside clutter and the underdevelopment of Ghana
Imagine a typical village in Ghana that has not been spoilt by ‘civilization.’ It is tidy. The inhabitants may not have much, may not need much – all the stuff, the excesses and trappings of ‘civilization.’ A case in point is Gbalahi, a suburb of Tamale, on the road to the landfill of the metropolis. There are the gorgeous indigenous round mud huts depicting serene family compound homes. There are no broken down vehicles packed permanently by the roadside or plastic trash flying around to spoil the look.
You can’t say the same about some major and minor urban centres. A drive through some parts of our 51 year old country reveals clutter, nonsensical footprints and signatures of neglect, confusion, chaos and indifference. Take a ride through the heart of Kumasi and suburbs of Accra especially Odokor, Madina, Adenta, Kaneshie and even East Legon and you will witness clutter. Brokenness abounds. There are multi-coloured and multi-sized shacks, kiosks and ‘containers’ as well as tree stumps and tree branches on road-sides, and ‘potholes’ next to ‘baby-coffins’ on roads.
There are also cancerous-looking zigzagged road shoulders competing for attention, without any rhyme or reason. At times, one suddenly comes across heaps of sand which do not belong on the edge of a road but is left there anyway, standing! Signboards of varied sizes and shapes are placed on road shoulders, posing dangers to road users. You could find car tyres, and signs like “Cement sold here” sticking into roads and drivers must swerve around them to save their lives. At any gutter-front and across unimaginable filth, anyone could mount a contraption of a stove to roast and sell ripe plantains – no questions asked; a living breathing restaurant across a gutter is completely acceptable. We are in a free-for-all regime in which anything goes. No voices are raised, let alone fingers of authority lifted to enforce bye-laws.
Between Accra and Kumasi, there are broken down vehicles abandoned in years past with no intent ever to be removed, but which are left permanently parked by the roadside ‘graveyard’ – rusting away quietly in the tropical sun and rains. The brokenness poses tremendous risks to motorists and all road users. Some of these broken down vehicles have their ugly rusty behinds boldly sticking into roads, waiting to usher unsuspecting folks into the afterlife where they will receive little or no welcome. Some of our roadsides look like victims of abuse, vandalism and of traumatic national disasters in the likes of tornados, cyclones, tsunamis or earthquakes.
The implications of clutter are deep. Clutter suggests confusion, disorder and a hot mess. Why is it that underdeveloped/developing societies/communities tend to exhibit more clutter than developed societies/communities? Clutter has the tendency to seep into the deep crevices of ones mind. Living in cluttered spaces can have a deep and long-lasting impact on one’s psyche, self-worth and world view. Clutter is like a smokescreen or a wall that one has to cut through to reach, see, touch and feel the beauty of the soul. Clutter is therefore covering up the beauty of our country, presenting a layering of development over under-development. Unless we pretend that clutter is just a natural and necessary aspect of hot tropical vibrancy!
The poignant words of Elle Wiesel, a holocaust survivor ring true. In a famous speech entitled: “The perils of indifference,” he said: “Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is always the friend of the enemy.” Is it that we don’t care enough? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that roadsides are not turned into ‘grave-yards’ for garbage? Why are we allowing this rapid descent into indifference until what is not acceptable becomes the norm?
How does one explain the disturbing unkempt grounds in respected organizations, and of partially chipped edges of staircases that remain broken for prolonged periods without repair? It is not uncommon to find bumps and cracks on the grounds of some organizations – all waiting for visitors to trip, fall, and break a limb or two and become handicapped and a liability to loved ones. And if you think of the sad fact that much of this country is not handicap accessible, the irresponsibility of carelessness becomes even more annoying.
Personally, whenever I feel a sense of depression or get too busy to take good care of myself, my living space becomes cluttered and my teeth begin to yellow. So I’ve pondered: Could it be that cluttered neighbourhoods in Ghana are suffering from a certain level of depression?
The growing clutter in urban and peri-urban areas cannot simply be an outcome of poverty. When I was growing up, we didn’t have much; we were for the most part poor. But there was order, not clutter. Our current growing clutter can therefore be attributed to deeper issues. I’m not a psychologist neither do I pretend to posses more than an elementary knowledge in the subject matter area. I therefore entreat some of our psychologists in our universities, our beloved ‘ivory towers’, to provide us with a more informed analysis of this matter. It is this: is there any relationship between clutter and under-development? In other words, are we lagging behind in development because of our increasing clutter and disorder?
Beauty is mesmerizing and generates peace and tranquillity. Clutter, on the other hand, is dysfunctional, ugly and annoying. Look around you – at cluttered roadsides and neighbourhoods. Envision what you would have preferred as against the continued descent into more clutter. Let’s have a national conversation on this matter. Here are a few odd suggestions.
Where are the eccentric artists in the country? Where are our Picassos? I thought every society has its own band of artists who just love to doodle around! They should take over some cluttered spaces. Save us from ourselves and bring some of our neighbourhoods to life by giving us something remarkable so we could stop and stare and admire. Colourful creative chaos of artists will definitely look better than the madness we have at Odorkor. Artists can transform selected parts of Ghana into local and foreign tourist attractions with murals and paintings. Children can join in too through school projects in “Children Colour Ghana” initiatives to express themselves.
On my treks through Ghana, I’ve noticed one odd beauty. Next door to Linda Dorr Restaurant at Bunsu, there is a small patch of field with flowers, well kept. It almost does not belong there. And it’s beautiful. We need more or such. In a tropical climate with good amount of rain water, you would think that at least for parts of the year, flowers would decorate our horizon. For instance school children could nurture shrubs, fruit plants and flowers on main roads near their schools. Flowers can brighten up attitudes and calm the nerves. Or, we are too consumed with ‘bread-and-butter’ daily bread issues to bother about decorations and ornamentations! Not!
As a country, should we consider instituting a “National Clutter Alleviation Day” to ease off some of the ‘ghetorization’ of our neighbourhoods and the increasing expanse of clutter and disorder that seems to be growing and engulfing us? Or – never mind: Once upon a time, there was a ministry for the Beautification of the Capital City! Whatever it accomplished is nothing to write home about.
You can’t say the same about some major and minor urban centres. A drive through some parts of our 51 year old country reveals clutter, nonsensical footprints and signatures of neglect, confusion, chaos and indifference. Take a ride through the heart of Kumasi and suburbs of Accra especially Odokor, Madina, Adenta, Kaneshie and even East Legon and you will witness clutter. Brokenness abounds. There are multi-coloured and multi-sized shacks, kiosks and ‘containers’ as well as tree stumps and tree branches on road-sides, and ‘potholes’ next to ‘baby-coffins’ on roads.
There are also cancerous-looking zigzagged road shoulders competing for attention, without any rhyme or reason. At times, one suddenly comes across heaps of sand which do not belong on the edge of a road but is left there anyway, standing! Signboards of varied sizes and shapes are placed on road shoulders, posing dangers to road users. You could find car tyres, and signs like “Cement sold here” sticking into roads and drivers must swerve around them to save their lives. At any gutter-front and across unimaginable filth, anyone could mount a contraption of a stove to roast and sell ripe plantains – no questions asked; a living breathing restaurant across a gutter is completely acceptable. We are in a free-for-all regime in which anything goes. No voices are raised, let alone fingers of authority lifted to enforce bye-laws.
Between Accra and Kumasi, there are broken down vehicles abandoned in years past with no intent ever to be removed, but which are left permanently parked by the roadside ‘graveyard’ – rusting away quietly in the tropical sun and rains. The brokenness poses tremendous risks to motorists and all road users. Some of these broken down vehicles have their ugly rusty behinds boldly sticking into roads, waiting to usher unsuspecting folks into the afterlife where they will receive little or no welcome. Some of our roadsides look like victims of abuse, vandalism and of traumatic national disasters in the likes of tornados, cyclones, tsunamis or earthquakes.
The implications of clutter are deep. Clutter suggests confusion, disorder and a hot mess. Why is it that underdeveloped/developing societies/communities tend to exhibit more clutter than developed societies/communities? Clutter has the tendency to seep into the deep crevices of ones mind. Living in cluttered spaces can have a deep and long-lasting impact on one’s psyche, self-worth and world view. Clutter is like a smokescreen or a wall that one has to cut through to reach, see, touch and feel the beauty of the soul. Clutter is therefore covering up the beauty of our country, presenting a layering of development over under-development. Unless we pretend that clutter is just a natural and necessary aspect of hot tropical vibrancy!
The poignant words of Elle Wiesel, a holocaust survivor ring true. In a famous speech entitled: “The perils of indifference,” he said: “Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is always the friend of the enemy.” Is it that we don’t care enough? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that roadsides are not turned into ‘grave-yards’ for garbage? Why are we allowing this rapid descent into indifference until what is not acceptable becomes the norm?
How does one explain the disturbing unkempt grounds in respected organizations, and of partially chipped edges of staircases that remain broken for prolonged periods without repair? It is not uncommon to find bumps and cracks on the grounds of some organizations – all waiting for visitors to trip, fall, and break a limb or two and become handicapped and a liability to loved ones. And if you think of the sad fact that much of this country is not handicap accessible, the irresponsibility of carelessness becomes even more annoying.
Personally, whenever I feel a sense of depression or get too busy to take good care of myself, my living space becomes cluttered and my teeth begin to yellow. So I’ve pondered: Could it be that cluttered neighbourhoods in Ghana are suffering from a certain level of depression?
The growing clutter in urban and peri-urban areas cannot simply be an outcome of poverty. When I was growing up, we didn’t have much; we were for the most part poor. But there was order, not clutter. Our current growing clutter can therefore be attributed to deeper issues. I’m not a psychologist neither do I pretend to posses more than an elementary knowledge in the subject matter area. I therefore entreat some of our psychologists in our universities, our beloved ‘ivory towers’, to provide us with a more informed analysis of this matter. It is this: is there any relationship between clutter and under-development? In other words, are we lagging behind in development because of our increasing clutter and disorder?
Beauty is mesmerizing and generates peace and tranquillity. Clutter, on the other hand, is dysfunctional, ugly and annoying. Look around you – at cluttered roadsides and neighbourhoods. Envision what you would have preferred as against the continued descent into more clutter. Let’s have a national conversation on this matter. Here are a few odd suggestions.
Where are the eccentric artists in the country? Where are our Picassos? I thought every society has its own band of artists who just love to doodle around! They should take over some cluttered spaces. Save us from ourselves and bring some of our neighbourhoods to life by giving us something remarkable so we could stop and stare and admire. Colourful creative chaos of artists will definitely look better than the madness we have at Odorkor. Artists can transform selected parts of Ghana into local and foreign tourist attractions with murals and paintings. Children can join in too through school projects in “Children Colour Ghana” initiatives to express themselves.
On my treks through Ghana, I’ve noticed one odd beauty. Next door to Linda Dorr Restaurant at Bunsu, there is a small patch of field with flowers, well kept. It almost does not belong there. And it’s beautiful. We need more or such. In a tropical climate with good amount of rain water, you would think that at least for parts of the year, flowers would decorate our horizon. For instance school children could nurture shrubs, fruit plants and flowers on main roads near their schools. Flowers can brighten up attitudes and calm the nerves. Or, we are too consumed with ‘bread-and-butter’ daily bread issues to bother about decorations and ornamentations! Not!
As a country, should we consider instituting a “National Clutter Alleviation Day” to ease off some of the ‘ghetorization’ of our neighbourhoods and the increasing expanse of clutter and disorder that seems to be growing and engulfing us? Or – never mind: Once upon a time, there was a ministry for the Beautification of the Capital City! Whatever it accomplished is nothing to write home about.
IT IS TIME TO TAKE STOCK AS WE SELL GT
WE ARE IN ANOTHER 20 YEAR CYCLE OF DIVESTITURE
Here is a short list of companies which were on life-support and have since given up the ghost through privatization/divestiture. State Fishing Corporation, Ghana Airways Corporation, State Hotels Corporation, Food Distribution Corporation, Black Star Line, and the GIHOC conglomerate. So naturally, there is the emotional issue of loss of companies we used to call our own.
Besides, since we are not in a state of collective amnesia, many people are jittery about the sale of yet another major state-owned corporation. Twenty years ago in 1988, the PNDC administration embarked on an elaborate scheme to divest the state of over 300 ailing companies. The selling continued long after the P was retired and it became NDC.
Twenty years earlier, after the 1966 coup d’etat, there was a short-lived eventful moment of privatization. Fact: divestiture does not sit on a moral high ground; funny things have happened. This country cannot brag of transparency and accountability in the sale of the difficult to determine number of SOEs. Hands have been soiled.
Disclosure: I was a staff member of divestiture from 1987 until 1990. I witnessed transparency thrown carelessly to the dogs. Professional work done by our technical team was constantly at the mercy of power-brokers at the Osu Castle with non-bidders winning companies after gleefully but audaciously skipping thorough processes of application, vetting and negotiations.
Divestiture is therefore fraught with managerial/executive corruption and plundering, and its attendant citizen cynicism. Not surprisingly, the current effort to privatize GT is seen by some against this backdrop of cloudy history. But a very important part of that history is what necessitates privatization.
State-owned companies are nobody’s uncle/father’s properties so some management and staff loot them at will. In the late 1980’s, our team discovered companies throughout this country that were not even on the books as belonging to Ghana! Expensive equipment ordered by the CPP administration, which arrived after the 1966 coup, had been left in boxes for two decades – untouched, unopened, abandoned. Additionally, we found many SOEs in such a sorry and unpardonable state of mismanagement that would have broken the mean hearts of even the worst enemies of Ghana.
I therefore can’t help but wonder: What are the insider organizational stories at GT? I want to be a pretty fly on GT walls to eavesdrop on endless private telephone conversations – both international and local – for which GT hugs the bills. I wish my alter ego fly could witness the extraordinary wastage that justifies this privatization! There is no smoke without fire.
Divestiture has had two 20-year cycles: late 1960s to 1980s and 1980s to present. I never thought this second cycle would last this long! So what to do? What you do at the end/beginning of a cycle: Review. The current hiccup about the sale of GT may suggest that it is time to take stock and have a national conversation about what to do with our lousy national assets.
Enduring Questions: Should we continue to privatize until there is nothing left to privatize? Is government completely getting out of the business of business so it can focus on the business of governing? If so, how do we deal with our nationalistic emotional attachment to companies we call our own?
But more so, why has the sale of GT hit a wall? Poor timing of the sale, weak and inconsistent messages, and fronting a not-so-beloved messenger have not helped. Loading on a non-GT asset, the little-understood national fibre optic network, for the purpose of the sale has led to stiffly raised eyebrows. But especially, the campaign against the sale of GT has had a strong relentless voice in the person of Dr Nii Moi Thompson, an economist and an unapologetically passionate CPP man with obvious ideological colouring. He often speaks eloquently on various national issues and appears to be a voice of credibility.
Then, as if the NPP government, in its folly, expected a muted public and did not anticipate public resistance to the privatization of GT just four months before an election, was not ready to respond in a timely manner and with a clear and consistent message. By the time government spokespersons began to stammer in defence of the sale, the train of discontent was out of the station.
And the tone of government did not help. Instead of calmly explaining the reasons for the sale, spokespersons screamed hoarse and even appeared to question the audacity of citizens to challenge the sale. If analysis of calls of ordinary citizens to radio stations is anything to go by, the perceived posture of arrogance of Minister Asamoah-Boateng as the frontline messenger did not help the matter. Marshall McLuhan rightly said: ‘the medium is the message.
Worst of all, the government fumbled when it offered two conflicting reasons to justify GT’s privatization. First, it was to inject technology and management of international repute. But this message was quickly diffused with hints and later, declarations of how urgently the money is needed to balance the books so this country will stay afloat!
The implication therefore was: GT is broke and Ghana is broke so let’s sell GT to chop – chew the ugly tail! These conflicting messages have not been carried to us the citizenry in a manner that touches not just our minds but our hearts. Divestiture of any form is both a matter of the intellect and emotions – mind and heart. The sale of GT is not just a rational financial matter but also an issue of credibility, trust and emotions. What could happen if divestiture is forced down our collective throat? Things could come back later to bite the government at the soft bottom where it hurts the most.
So, should GT be privatized? Yes, to save it from itself. When? Wait till after the December 7 elections – if government can suck it in. Why? Currently, the court of public opinion is increasingly against the sale. The tide is not in its favour. So ideally, the government should suspend the sale, indefinitely and find a graceful way to place GT firmly on life-support but ensure that the workers don’t fry and chop whatever is left of the company. Meanwhile, return to the drawing board. Explore some ‘ways and means’ to keep the company afloat financially.
What are the possible implications of going ahead with the sale after parliamentary endorsement? The period between now and the December election is just too short. Voters may suffer short memory especially since all opposition parties will cash in on such juicy anti-NPP material and get feisty as the political campaign rolls on. It will therefore be wise for the NPP to live and fight another day. It will be folly to commit political suicide today over GT and the small change of 50 million cedis! Considering the sweetness of African political power, what is 50 million cedis to a grasshopper when the Flag Staff Palace beckons!
There goes my patriotism if One Touch becomes Vodaphone! I only use One Touch. So MNT, Tigo and what-ma-call-it Kasapa will be laughing at me all the way to the bank saying “We’ve got you now, little woman!” But I’ll survive, somehow. My alter ego will gently relocate from One Touch to Vudu-phone, sorry –Vodafone!
Here is a short list of companies which were on life-support and have since given up the ghost through privatization/divestiture. State Fishing Corporation, Ghana Airways Corporation, State Hotels Corporation, Food Distribution Corporation, Black Star Line, and the GIHOC conglomerate. So naturally, there is the emotional issue of loss of companies we used to call our own.
Besides, since we are not in a state of collective amnesia, many people are jittery about the sale of yet another major state-owned corporation. Twenty years ago in 1988, the PNDC administration embarked on an elaborate scheme to divest the state of over 300 ailing companies. The selling continued long after the P was retired and it became NDC.
Twenty years earlier, after the 1966 coup d’etat, there was a short-lived eventful moment of privatization. Fact: divestiture does not sit on a moral high ground; funny things have happened. This country cannot brag of transparency and accountability in the sale of the difficult to determine number of SOEs. Hands have been soiled.
Disclosure: I was a staff member of divestiture from 1987 until 1990. I witnessed transparency thrown carelessly to the dogs. Professional work done by our technical team was constantly at the mercy of power-brokers at the Osu Castle with non-bidders winning companies after gleefully but audaciously skipping thorough processes of application, vetting and negotiations.
Divestiture is therefore fraught with managerial/executive corruption and plundering, and its attendant citizen cynicism. Not surprisingly, the current effort to privatize GT is seen by some against this backdrop of cloudy history. But a very important part of that history is what necessitates privatization.
State-owned companies are nobody’s uncle/father’s properties so some management and staff loot them at will. In the late 1980’s, our team discovered companies throughout this country that were not even on the books as belonging to Ghana! Expensive equipment ordered by the CPP administration, which arrived after the 1966 coup, had been left in boxes for two decades – untouched, unopened, abandoned. Additionally, we found many SOEs in such a sorry and unpardonable state of mismanagement that would have broken the mean hearts of even the worst enemies of Ghana.
I therefore can’t help but wonder: What are the insider organizational stories at GT? I want to be a pretty fly on GT walls to eavesdrop on endless private telephone conversations – both international and local – for which GT hugs the bills. I wish my alter ego fly could witness the extraordinary wastage that justifies this privatization! There is no smoke without fire.
Divestiture has had two 20-year cycles: late 1960s to 1980s and 1980s to present. I never thought this second cycle would last this long! So what to do? What you do at the end/beginning of a cycle: Review. The current hiccup about the sale of GT may suggest that it is time to take stock and have a national conversation about what to do with our lousy national assets.
Enduring Questions: Should we continue to privatize until there is nothing left to privatize? Is government completely getting out of the business of business so it can focus on the business of governing? If so, how do we deal with our nationalistic emotional attachment to companies we call our own?
But more so, why has the sale of GT hit a wall? Poor timing of the sale, weak and inconsistent messages, and fronting a not-so-beloved messenger have not helped. Loading on a non-GT asset, the little-understood national fibre optic network, for the purpose of the sale has led to stiffly raised eyebrows. But especially, the campaign against the sale of GT has had a strong relentless voice in the person of Dr Nii Moi Thompson, an economist and an unapologetically passionate CPP man with obvious ideological colouring. He often speaks eloquently on various national issues and appears to be a voice of credibility.
Then, as if the NPP government, in its folly, expected a muted public and did not anticipate public resistance to the privatization of GT just four months before an election, was not ready to respond in a timely manner and with a clear and consistent message. By the time government spokespersons began to stammer in defence of the sale, the train of discontent was out of the station.
And the tone of government did not help. Instead of calmly explaining the reasons for the sale, spokespersons screamed hoarse and even appeared to question the audacity of citizens to challenge the sale. If analysis of calls of ordinary citizens to radio stations is anything to go by, the perceived posture of arrogance of Minister Asamoah-Boateng as the frontline messenger did not help the matter. Marshall McLuhan rightly said: ‘the medium is the message.
Worst of all, the government fumbled when it offered two conflicting reasons to justify GT’s privatization. First, it was to inject technology and management of international repute. But this message was quickly diffused with hints and later, declarations of how urgently the money is needed to balance the books so this country will stay afloat!
The implication therefore was: GT is broke and Ghana is broke so let’s sell GT to chop – chew the ugly tail! These conflicting messages have not been carried to us the citizenry in a manner that touches not just our minds but our hearts. Divestiture of any form is both a matter of the intellect and emotions – mind and heart. The sale of GT is not just a rational financial matter but also an issue of credibility, trust and emotions. What could happen if divestiture is forced down our collective throat? Things could come back later to bite the government at the soft bottom where it hurts the most.
So, should GT be privatized? Yes, to save it from itself. When? Wait till after the December 7 elections – if government can suck it in. Why? Currently, the court of public opinion is increasingly against the sale. The tide is not in its favour. So ideally, the government should suspend the sale, indefinitely and find a graceful way to place GT firmly on life-support but ensure that the workers don’t fry and chop whatever is left of the company. Meanwhile, return to the drawing board. Explore some ‘ways and means’ to keep the company afloat financially.
What are the possible implications of going ahead with the sale after parliamentary endorsement? The period between now and the December election is just too short. Voters may suffer short memory especially since all opposition parties will cash in on such juicy anti-NPP material and get feisty as the political campaign rolls on. It will therefore be wise for the NPP to live and fight another day. It will be folly to commit political suicide today over GT and the small change of 50 million cedis! Considering the sweetness of African political power, what is 50 million cedis to a grasshopper when the Flag Staff Palace beckons!
There goes my patriotism if One Touch becomes Vodaphone! I only use One Touch. So MNT, Tigo and what-ma-call-it Kasapa will be laughing at me all the way to the bank saying “We’ve got you now, little woman!” But I’ll survive, somehow. My alter ego will gently relocate from One Touch to Vudu-phone, sorry –Vodafone!
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