Sanitize religious broadcasting 

Some of the content of religious broadcasting on radio and television in Ghana belong to the profane category. Increasingly, anyone who claims to have been called by God (which god?) rushes to pay money to a broadcasting station and begin disseminating his (mostly his) own brand of religion to poison the minds of unsuspecting and gullible citizens. 

Anyone, even a crook, is free to enter a broadcast studio to say and do whatever is within their warped personal theologies. Since church has become big business in our country, some of these pastors use the broadcasts for self-promotion, staging popularity contexts, and doing things that are far from being sacred and qualify as religious.  

The worst offenders are the charismatic and evangelical one-man family-owned miracle-working prophetic hallelujah tongue-wagging churches. The 1992 Constitution fully grants religious freedom, free speech and a free media. But religious freedom does not permit craziness and irresponsibility. During this country’s struggle to liberate and open up the broadcast airwaves, no one anticipated that religious folks will use the hard-earned media freedom against the people of Ghana with an onslaught of fakery.

When you look at the way religious charlatans operate, it becomes clear that their targets are the most vulnerable, desperate, poor, sick and gullible in society. Broadcasts from the religious swindlers are packaged to draw in the vulnerable and to defraud them.

NIGHT-TIME AND DAWN RELIGIOUS BROADCASTS

I have monitored broadcasts during the night-time and at dawn in Accra and Kumasi; and get troubled and alarmed at the content, approach, and free-for-all nature of the broadcasts. In the darkness of night, the craziness in religious broadcasting is yanked up to the lowest-low because anything goes—anything. Any uncertified and untested person who claims to be a pastor, reverend, prophet, evangelist or something of the sort preach freely and engage in a heightened display of self-promotion.

On an egoistic trip, a prophet will announce his telephone numbers and invite callers into the programme. At times, he will give a general prophesy over the radio or television and with that, impress and grab the attention of the viewers/listeners.

To close the deal, the prophet quickly zooms in to invite listeners and callers to physically visit the church premises the following morning. Of course he provides vivid directions to the location as in: “Take a tro-tro; get down at Alomo Junction; ask the kenkey seller for directions on how to get to Prophet Abavadzor’s church, My Holy Redeemer Lives Forever Temple International. It is not far from the kenkey seller. You will only walk for about 15 minutes. If you want your life to change, rush and come see me tomorrow morning.” 

The above is a sales pitch that truly desperate persons cannot resist. So out of anguish over one issue or another, chiefly, grinding stinky poverty, a person (mostly women) may wake up at dawn and head to the church of the con-artist pastor, and to be exploited. It is not by accident that these funny religious locations are not found in the plush parts of our cities and towns, where the privileged live. 

Some pastors go to the extent of exposing children to ridicule, pronouncing them as witches on radio and television. By so doing, the children are traumatized and damaged for life. Without a doubt, such crude treatments will not be meted out to the children of the pastors or the children of the middle- or upper-class. Typically, it is the children of the poor, down-trodden and under-privileged who become victims of such abuses. 

ENTERS NMC’S GUIDELINES FOR RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING 

The highest number of complaints the public make to the NMC is about the abuses in religious broadcasting. So this week, the NMC launched Guidelines for Religious Broadcasting. Church groups, individuals who think they have a religious calling and need to propagate their messages, as well as broadcast stations are to be guided by the Guidelines. It is a very brief document, which is printed on a poster so it can be placed on walls and serve as a constant reminder and a guide.

The Guidelines were developed after broad consultations with various religious groups. The twelve rules are as follows:

i.     Religious broadcasts should always endeavour to promote cultural, moral and ethical values, and respect personal freedoms, rights, obligations and privacy. 

ii.   Religious broadcasts should not involve any abuse, exploitation, intimidation and manipulation of people, especially the vulnerable; and should reflect respect for fundamental human dignity.

iii.  Religious broadcasts should protect children and the vulnerable. 

iv.  Religious broadcasts should promote and defend the public interest, national identity, and cohesion.

v.    Religious broadcasts should not be used to incite, denigrate, ridicule and humiliate any faith, sect or people.

vi.  Religious broadcasts should not be used for the promotion of extremism, religious violence, and recruitment of people for religious militancy.

vii.The content of religious programmes should have high regard and respect for the cultures and beliefs of the Ghanaian society.

viii.                 Religious broadcasters should use language with decorum and decency.

ix.  Religious broadcasts should not show nudity and graphic images that undermine the dignity of the human condition.

x.    Religious broadcasts that contain manifestations within the healing, deliverance and prophetic ministry should be done with discretion, circumspection and respect for human dignity. This should be especially so in the case of children.

xi.  Public proclamations of directive prophecies or pronouncements that have the potential to cause fear and panic in people and threaten stability and social cohesion should be avoided.

xii.Re-broadcasts of materials, especially from social media, should be handled with care and circumspection.

TIME FOR RELIGIOUS RESPONSIBILITY

As a country, if we lose our morality at the altar of religious extremism, then all hope will be lost. We cannot afford to allow religious quacks to take over the soul of Ghana. We should save our culture from religious fraudsters and keep what is noble in us as a people. 

The indiscretion that has characterized religious broadcasts must cease. The “public proclamations of directive prophecies or pronouncements that have the potential to cause fear and panic in people” must stop. The vulnerable should be protected from religious gangsters and swindlers. 

The writer is a member of the National Media Commission (NMC)

Think of tomorrow today 

The very thought of thinking of tomorrow today also means that one would have thought of today yesterday. Active thinking is key. We should never take anything for granted. In particular, we take freedom for granted at our own peril. As a nation state, we could lose our tomorrow if we leave freedom on auto pilot, expecting that all will be well.

GOING DOWN PAINFUL MEMORY LANE

Unlike several African countries, Ghana has not gone to war. But admittedly, we went through some rough times during the periods we lived under the mighty thumbs of soldiers and autocrats. Our ruthless coup d’état years marked our own equivalence of national turmoil, with marauding soldiers brutalizing terrified citizens. That period marked the most tumultuous phase of our post-independence life as a nation state. Officially, war was not declared; but the citizens of this country lived under the conditions of war with curfews and all.

I vividly recall a day when soldiers stormed my former neighbourhood in Darkoman, entered the next house and in a matter of minutes, gunned down a man. My neighbourhood went into shock as we stared at the man’s lifeless body in the centre of his compound. We were never told what crime he committed that was so heinous that he had to be murdered in cold blood in broad daylight with his children looking on. That bloody matter I witnessed, and numerous other such bloody matters many of our citizens witnessed and endured are locked up in our collective memory.

So when last week, a journalist of Multimedia Company Ltd, Raymond Aquah, produced the brilliant historical documentary entitled, “Who killed the judges?”, it struck a chord. At the time the three judges and a retired soldier were kidnapped from their homes during curfew hours, driven about five hours outside Accra, murdered and their bodies burnt, my daughter was a classmate of Justice Cecilia Koranteng Addo’s daughter; in a primary boarding school. 

I had never discussed this issue with my daughter since it happened but with the release of the documentary, she went down the memory lane of her childhood. She described how as children, they felt about the murders. They were sad. They were terrified. But the matter was handled by the school authorities in a hush-hush manner, with no discussions.

Often, we do not think of how traumatic incidents affect children. Just because we do not discuss something does not in any way suggest that it goes away. After 36 years of the gruesome murders, there I was standing in my kitchen and for the first time, listening to my daughter tell me her thoughts of that brutal incident that stained our national consciousness. Ghana lost its innocence on June 30, 1982 when those horrific murders were committed.

Since the coming into effect of the 1992 Constitution, we have all been collectively trying to clean up the debris of our ugly past. The national reconciliation exercise in 2002-2004 was a clean-up intervention. People shared their experiences, whilst others confronted those who had deeply hurt them. The three judges and the soldier were only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. So much is untold and unknown; the excesses of power in that era touched all aspects of our national life.

UNENDING AND ENDURING QUESTIONS REMAIN 

As a country, we are supposed to have moved on. Have we? Undoubtedly, there must be people who have not moved on; and cannot move on. Taking a cue from my daughter’s childhood memories of the murder of Justice Koranteng Addo, I wonder if anyone followed up with the direct relatives of not only the four who were murdered on that day, but of the many other untold murders of those decades. 

It will be instructive to follow up on individuals who were personally affected. What happened to them? How many of the children of those murdered had to abandon school because there was no one to pay their school fees? On an even deeper level, how many of them lived in a state of depression? Depression is a darkness that envelops a person, locking him/her up in a prison outside the walls of a prison. Did any of them commit suicide? Did some become alcoholics and ‘no-gooders’? Where are they now? How are they now? How did the murder of their parents affect them? Did they ever recover? How did the adults in their lives explain things to them? Were they expected to just forget about everything and move on? What are the gaping and unhealed wounds in our country as a whole? 

THE GHOSTS OF THE REVOLUTION

Watching “Who killed the judges”, especially the part in which Captain (Retired) Kodzo Tsikatsa spoke at the National Reconciliation Committee session grabbed my full attention. He was perceived as the silent power behind the scenes, the quite unseen tactics guy who made all sort of things happen.

It is true what the elders say that time changes. In the 1980s, I feared his name like ‘kakai’; his name gave me shivers. I could never have imagined or even dreamt of mentioning Kodjo Tsikata’s name in an article for purely existential fears—that my sleeping place will be changed and something really horrible will happen to me and my loved ones. 

But here I am with the freedom to mention his name because I know that I will not be hauled into a national security facility. The 1992 Constitution and freedom of speech have made this possible. After watching the documentary, I found myself worrying about Captain Tsikata. I wondered: how he is taking these public remembrances of Ghanaians about the murder of the judges; and generally, of the excesses of the revolution? Are fingers pointing at him over the murders? 

This must be a heavy burden on his heart as he ages and nears the evening of his life. It will be interesting for him to share with this country, his reflections of the revolutionary days. He should grant a no-holds-bar national television interview with a team of crack journalists to tell his long version of the story from his vantage point. How about writing a book? He should not go to his maker with the secrets, the joys, the challenges, the accomplishments, and of course of the murders that occurred during the revolution.

Do ghosts exist? I do not know! But apparently, the ghosts of the revolution appear to be restless. They have not gone to sleep; they are hovering about, 25 years after the wicked drama ended. History does not die; it simply rolls into the present and the future.

There are deep lessons in these matters. Think of tomorrow today! The truth could find us out at the time when we least expect—so we should be mindful—at all times. The era of silencing the masses have ended. But freedom is only possible if we are eternally vigilant. It will be folly to take our freedoms, which are guaranteed in the Constitution, for granted. We cannot afford to blink for too long. We should constantly go through phases of reflection, with “never again” as our national mantra.

dorisdartey@gmail.com

A fine new road is fast becoming a garbage dump

……………On University of Ghana lands

About year ago, a beautiful back-road was constructed to connect Legon-GIMPA to Haatso and its environs. With the University of Ghana campus road closed to road users (unless one pays a whopping annual fee of GH400), the new by-pass is a life-saver for those journeying to Haatso, Agbogba, Ashongman and the general neighbourhood towards Abokobi/Pantang and Pokuase. In this sprawling capital city of Accra, very good by-pass roads are in much need.

For several months after this backroad came into use, it was almost barren, with very few vehicles. It was one of the biggest new-road secrets in Accra and I prayed that the secret remained forever. But now the secret is out so traffic has increased on that road.  

A BEAUTIFUL LAND GOING BAD

The area is very quiet. It is so quite that I avoid using it after dark. It is so quite that robbers harass motorists when the sunshine departs. Clearly, what people are unable to do with the sunshine, they hide out to do in the dark. 

On one side of the road, there are residential properties. Located on the same side, there are also residential kiosks (I have seen people brush their teeth in the mornings!). But the other side of the road is a lush-green forest—the undeveloped property of the University of Ghana. This provides a serene environment, especially so since Accra is a fully built-up concrete jungle and we see little of fresh nature. 

With the increase in traffic and usage of that road has come a disturbing and very visible phenomenon: garbage dumping. It started with a little pile of garbage by the roadside, which was probably dumped by someone in the neighbourhood. Then, other residents considered it as a normal thing to do: a bucket load here, a bucket load there. In no time, the little three-wheeler borla trucks began to dump garbage they had collected from homes for which they had been paid.  

I use that road often in the daytime and have never witnessed the dumping of refuse in broad daylight. I however see freshly dumped garbage in the mornings. I've therefore concluded that the dumping occurs after night falls. The quantity of fresh garbage suggests that vehicles intentionally target the area to dump.Over just a period of one year, several dumping sites have been created. This week alone, I counted a dozen of such borla piles. Some of the garbage piles are extensive and spread inwards. 

About two years ago, a similar situation occurred opposite the main entrance of Legon. A garbage dump grew as individuals and trucks dumped garbage along the main road for all to see. It was such an ugly sight in plain view for a while until public condemnation caused the Legon authorities to take charge of the very bad situation. The spot has now been fenced and converted into a beautiful garden. 

PANTANG SUFFERED A SIMILAR FATE

The problem with this fresh and rapidly growing borla site is that it is occurring on a back-road, on a vast stretch of barren land, and on the blind-side of the University and the district assembly. If this borla growth is not curbed soon, in a few years’ time, a garbage mountain would be created that will stretch over a large area. 

To curb this desecration, the University will soon need to construct a fence-wall around its property. If the University is in doubt, they should visit the Pantang borla site. I bore witness to the creation of that Pantang borla. I still have fresh memories of a day in 2006 or thereabouts when I saw a bucket-load of garbage dumped in the curve of an open lush-green field—what has now become the gigantic super-structure of Pantang borla. This eyesore is the equivalence of a two or three storey buildings. 

With the constant burning of garbage, the entire neighbourhood is engulfed in smoke at all times. This smoky scenery will be visible in satellite images as part of the Accra landscape.  

Is it that as a people, some of us do not like nice things? It appears that vacant plots of land easily become garbage dumping grounds. My brother-friend Kofi Howard maintains that if we dare leave any hole vacant, it will be filled with borla! By that, we desecrate the holy and convert holy places into the profane.  

Who is responsible for maintaining the Legon backroad? Interestingly, police officers stationed nearby, at the intersection of Legon's and GIMPA, do one thing only: regulate traffic. They appear blind to the looming environmental and sanitation disaster, which is just a walking distance away from them. Or they just don't care. 

THE LARGER PROBLEM WITH GARBAGE DISPOSAL

The people who have targeted the Legon backroad as a garbage dumping site do it because they can. Undoubtedly, they know that it is wrong; but they do so anyway. They have no fear of repercussions. They know that they will get away with it. Or, they do it because it is too much trouble to access the legitimate borla dumping sites of the city so they break the law as a short-cut to doing their work?

The city of Accra, with an estimated population of close to five million human beings, does not have legitimate garbage disposal sites. The word borla is a corruption of boiler. I have learned that in the olden days during the colonial era, garbage was incinerated. At the entrance of communities (villages and towns), there was a contraption to burn the garbage. Over time, boiler became borla. 

But today, in our civilization, we just dump borla. In this stage of our civilization, we have not figured out what to do to solve our solid waste disposal challenges. There have been some efforts but we are far from solving this pressing national problem. In the absence of a solution, we are scattering our garbage. 

The rains expose us. Increasingly, Accra can barely handle a 30-minutes rainfall without experiencing wicked floods. Part of the reason for this unfortunate and dangerous flooding situation is that some of our borla end up in drains. Now, a new road is also exposing us, with garbage piling up slowly but surely on our blind-side. It is as if we are waiting until a garbage mountain is created behind Legon. 

dorisdartey@gmail.com

M-CODe steps in to help cure spectacle of open defecation

On Founder’s Day last Friday, September 21 (which on our blind side, appears to have been re-named Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day), a group of media house representatives and journalists launched the Media Coalition Against Open Defecation (M-CODe). They are resolved to step into Ghana’s disgraceful problem, and push for the required multi-facet solutions. As a country, we are individually and collectively worried and ashamed about the spectacle of open defecation. On the global level, Ghana places very high as one of the leading countries in the world with one fifth of its citizens defecating openly. It is said that even cats dig holes when nature calls, and promptly cover up their thing. So we cannot continue with a situation where cats exhibit higher levels of civility than some of our people. That is unconscionable!

Language is fascinating and can be deceptive. Open defecation (OD) sounds like a very sophisticated phrase. If you do not know, you would think that OD stands for Organizational Development or something that is honourable. Open defecation steals dignity. Why would anyone squat in the open, with passers-by looking on, to ease him/herself? President Akuffo Addo should keep his sanitation promise of keeping at least Accra clean. We are holding the promissory note close to our chests. We must cash the cheque; we cannot accept a bounced cheque. We will not forgive President Nana if he squanders a four-year term, without fixing the filth problem of Ghana.

M-CODE’S CLEAR MISSION

Holidays should amount to something (we have too many of them anyway). But a birthday to celebrate the founding father(s) of our country should be a time for reflection, not just a day of simply not going to work. So it was very impressive that on the special day of remembrance, M-CODe issued a statement to urge “all Ghanaians to reflect on the contributions of our forebears that led to Ghana attaining independence”. Imagine if any of our forebears should rise from the dead to bear witness to our current state of disgraceful sanitation! M-CODe maintains that “Osagyefo would definitely be disappointed in us if he were to see or feel the way we have managed our sanitation in general, and especially where his beloved Ghana ranks among the league of filthy countries in the world 61 years after his toil.”

The statement highlighted the health and tourism repercussions of our poor state of sanitation. “Once among the most attractive countries to visit in Africa, Ghana now ranks among seven poorest performing countries in terms of sanitation. Open defecation is the main reason why Ghana still records cholera outbreaks and a lot of diarrhoea deaths amongst children and adults. One out of every five Ghanaians defecate outside a toilet each day, representing close to six million people who engage in open defecation.”

In a problem-solving posture, the Coalition made a number of demands in its statement: Ban open defecation at the beaches by December 2019.  By the end of 2020, every school and health centre (both private and public) should have access to clean and hygienic toilets. The government should develop and publicize a roadmap for the eradication of open defecation; and stablish a budget line to support the eradication. The Coalition is set to challenge the institutions with the mandate to solve this national problem through monitoring them; celebrate Ghana’s successes in this fight, and intensify public education to effect changes in citizens’ behaviours.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS SANITATION STATISTICS

The info-graphics on this page (created by Citi FM), pictorially tells the story of sanitary facilities in Ghana’s basic schools. It is troubling that 7,332 public basic schools (35%) have been constructed without toilets; or have toilets that do not function well. This means that several thousands of kids attend school in facilities without places of convenience. This further means that children and their teachers are unable (with dignity) to respond to nature when it makes the grand call—as it does daily.

We are also not doing well with the provision of urinal facilities in basis schools. 6,922 basis schools (33%) do not have places for pupils to urinate. The children who attend schools in those facilities either have to hold urine throughout the almost full day they are in school; or go and do it in the bushes, behind the school building, or in any awkward locations. 

If you think the dire situation of one third of basic schools not having places of convenience is not dire enough, here is another troubling dimension to the insanitary challenges children face in going to school. More than half of the public schools (11,985 schools—that is 58%) do not have water facilities. So the schools with water closets cannot be flushed. Children cannot wash their hands after using toilets and urinary facilities at school. 

This situation has disturbing gender dimensions. Girls will be the most disadvantaged. During the period of menstruation, managing that natural situation will be tricky. So the chances of girls staying away from school during the menstrual period is very high. This could easily result in high school drop-out rate for girls. Since females are half the sky, by not providing decent toilets in our public schools, we are already disadvantaging them out of school. Why should the girl child be exposed to such humiliation and stolen dignity by the lack of toilets in our schools? 

CURE THE SHAMEFUL SPECTACLE 

President Nana and the superstars of Christendom want a cathedral, a mighty infrastructure to give praise to God. So let’s cut a fair deal. Stop open defecation in Ghana! Schools, hospitals and public places should have toilets with running water. There should be convenient stops on all highways throughout the country with functional toilets for travellers to use.  

All the unsightly garbage that scatter our villages, towns, villages and hamlets (and our conscience) must be cleared. The stinky open gutters must be cleaned up. And please factor in the covering of those open gutters. With determination and focus, most of these things can be done satisfactorily in two years. Then we will vote for President Nana again in 2020. Then he can go ahead and build the largest most beautiful cathedral in the whole wide world. Then Jesus will come down and occupy it. A deal is a deal!

Mahatma Gandhi proclaimed these wise words: “Sanitation is more important than independence.” What a good food for thought! 

dorisdartey@gmail.com

Pay attention to your breasts

Would you know it if a pimple appears on your face? Of course you will! Let’s say a pimple (also known as zit or blackhead) comes to take position on your nose. You will immediately notice it in the mirror. A pimple might invite stares from both friends and foes. You will feel it with your fingers as you polish your face with pomade or powder. Some pimples may take the posture of a boil as if it is an occupying force. But a pimple may just be a spot or blemish on the face. Since it is our faces that we present to the world, we have zero tolerance for blemishes on them. 

But there is another body part that has gotten my full attention for the past 27 years. It is the breast! Yes, breasts! Some people consider the breast as a private part so abide by an unspoken rule to remain mute about it. For some, the word breast belongs in the category of bad words because of its obvious sexual association. But what you do not know can hurt it; it can even kill you because a breast can become diseased. That is why we must have a conversation about breasts—your breasts; my breasts!

KNOW YOUR OWN BREASTS

Breasts come in various sizes and shapes. Breasts are beautiful! Breasts are tender! Some look like fruits. But such tender beautiful parts of the body can cause so much grief when diseased. Just like fingerprints and the veins at the back of hands differ, breasts also differ. Even two breasts of the same person differ. If you know the contours and pimples on your face, then it is equally or more important to know the texture and contours of your own breasts. Your breasts are your own—regardless of what else you do with them. They belong exclusively to you and you alone. 

You can only know your breasts through regular self-breast examination. This knowledge should not be limited to what your breasts look like in the mirror—in an orgy of self-admiration. Breast knowledge should be about the make-up and build-up of the inner tissues. Specifically, you should know which parts of each breast are heavier; and the position of the inner texture that feels unusually denser than other parts. When you know your breasts like a close friend, then you will notice changes that appear either suddenly or those that develop over time. 

You do this exam by methodically pressing your fingers on every part of the breast including the armpit area to examine the lymph nodes. You should examine each breast from top to bottom and from side to side, including the nipples. This examination may be done by standing in front of a mirror (in your birthday suit), in the bath, or lying down. You may not be a doctor but through self-breast exam, you get the chance to play doctor to yourself at least once every month. This is a way to take charge of your own breast health. If you notice anything unusual during the self-examination, you should inform a medical doctor to explore the matter further for, and with you.  

Some people feel very shy to mention the word breast, let alone to touch them. But how are you going to detect an unusual lump in your breast if you are so shy about it that you view them as mere decorations on your chest, which are to be used only for periodic gratification? These important members of your chest region deserve regular tender loving attention. We should individually come to terms with this particular body part—the tender fruits on our chests. Because breasts are tender, we must take informed care of them. 

It is only when you know these tender members of your body that you will notice an unusual lump or tumour develop. Some lumps in the breast could be a symptom of cancer. A statement from Johns Hopkins Medical Centre, a prestigious American medical research institution is instructive. It states: “Forty percent of diagnosed breast cancers are detected by women who feel a lump, so establishing a regular breast self-exam is very important.”

Both women and men have breasts. Grown women have larger breasts and tend to report most cases of breast diseases including cancer. But some men have impressive breasts too; some are almost the size of grapefruits, similar to what female teenagers have. So not surprisingly, a small percentage of men report breast cancer. Men must therefore also do self-breast examinations.

CONFESSIONS ARE GOOD FOR THE SOUL

Having written this column for 12 years, I cannot help but periodically get into a self-disclosive mode. Fact: I am not writing this article from a detached perspective. To wholeheartedly establish sincerity with you my reader—I admit that for the past 27 years, I have periodically found lumps in my breasts; and in 2014, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a mastectomy to remove one of my breasts. 

The first time I found lumps in my breast was in 1991. And periodically, without any warning, a lump appears. My lumps are the painful types; they call for my full attention and stop me cold in my tracks. They begin with sudden almost gut-wrenching pains. At the onset of the pain, I quickly touch the heated breast to look for the lump, and lo and behold, it will be there—lumpy and painful. Each time I have found a fresh lump, I have gone into periods of full-blown panic attacks for fear of the unknown—cancer. 

Very early on when I first had the painful lumpy breast experience (while living in another country), doctors examined me thoroughly and diagnosed me with fibrocystic breast condition. Every doctor I have seen since then (both in Ghana and abroad) on my painful lumpy breast condition have exclaimed: “You have pains! That’s good. If you didn’t have pains, I will be more worried because it could be cancer!” But unfortunately, in 2014, when a breast lump appeared with the same heated and painful symptoms, it turned up to be a cancer. I continue to be eternally vigilant, taking care of my remaining breast. 

SO WHAT NEXT? MAMMOGRAM AND ULTRA SOUND

When in doubt of what the situation is with your breast, go to a health centre to do a mammogram and ultra sound. If you’re wondering what a mammogram is, it is simply an x-ray examination of the breast. So if you are diagnosed with breast cancer, then what? Well, you panic big-time, pray a lot, but cultivate hope for life and living. But what do you do when you’ve done all that you can? Give up or stand? Please stand! Lump or no lump in your breast, benign or cancerous breast tissue, live life as best as you can for after all, no one will live forever.

dorisdartey@gmail.com

We sleep-walked into the double track system

Unless refugees are invading Ghana (which is not the case), the main source of our population increase is through child birth—one baby at a time throughout the hamlets, corners, villages, towns and cities of our country. Some women cross streams to deliver babies; some manage things at home with traditional birth attendants; and others end up at health centres, clinics and hospitals. 

Mothers scream to deliver babies. Some go through caesarean sections; whilst some mothers and their babies die in the birthing process. As babies enter this life from the cosy environment of the womb, they scream out of shock and discomfort. After babies are born, society recognizes their arrival with full-blown and grand out-dooring ceremonies and congratulatory messages to the parents. 

Childbirth is dramatic. It is the drama that increases our population. It is a big drama we cannot afford to ignore—but we do. It is because we have continued to ignore the big drama of pain and joy of child birth and the associated population growth that this year, we suddenly have to introduce a double-track system for senior high school. We actually sleep-walked our way into the double track SHS! It is the irresponsiveness to our population growth that has brought us here.

We have been this way for a very long time. We have seen Ghana’s children increase in numbers on our road sides as hawkers, with desperation etched in their faces. A counting exercise I conducted of young people loitering and hawking along three principal streets of Accra over a two-year period pointed to a 66% annual increase These are young people we know are not going anywhere any time soon on the path of progression.

OUR RAPID POPULATION GROWTH 

The population pattern of Ghana gives a clear picture of rapid growth. From a baseline population of 6.7 million inhabitants in the freshly-minted nation state in 1961, we continued to get very busy at the baby-making factory. We increased to 8.7 million in 1970, 12.3 million in 1984, and 19.9 million in 2000. In the 2010 Housing and Population Census, we were 24.5 million. A Ghanaian Timesnews story in March this year cited the Statistical Service as estimating Ghana’s current population at 29.6 million. So already, this decade alone, we have added an estimated five million human beings (and still counting). 

The Fourth Republic has produced its own children—between 10 to 15 million. If we did not plan for the pre-1992 children, for a minimum, we should have planned for the children of the Fourth Republic!

So now, our number has grown by 23 million people since independence! Ghana’s population is growing at an estimated 2.5 percent annually; with the youth comprising of 38.8%. This is the almost 40% of the population we have not been planning for. If we were planning for them, the youth would have been an asset towards our national development. But now, they weigh heavily on our conscience. 

CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS IN EDUCATION

If we were to put a mirror before Ghana, we will acknowledge that we have collectively and woefully failed the children we have been busy giving birth to. We welcome them into this world and leave them to lose their innocence on the streets (unless they are the children of privileged people).

On education rights, the 1992 Constitution asserts that: “All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities.” But clearly, this is not the case. It is the children of the privileged and the lucky who have access to educational opportunities and facilities. The children of the ‘other’ are left on their own. 

The Constitution also says: “Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education.” Clearly, this is not the case.

The Directive Principle of state Policy also says: “The State shall, subject to the availability of resources, provide— (a) equal and balanced access to secondary and other appropriate pre-university education, equal access to university or equivalent education, with emphasis on science and technology.” If has been 61 years since the coming into effect of the 1992 Constitution. Access to secondary and other pre-university education has dodged many. The quality matter is another can of worms; it is ugly. 

CRISIS MANGEMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

As a country, we have been doing and not doing certain things, which have predictive consequences. When you do not solve problems when they come in drips, they grow in size and become major crises. So, we have over the years ended up with an over-flow of young people who have no chance of entering the closed spaces of secondary schools. We have therefore created an excess generation for which we have no use and no plans.

The double track system is therefore an attempt to crisis manage this sticky situation. It is sad that we have waited so irresponsibly for so long until this stage that has made it absolutely necessary to take Ghana’s children through a crisis management phase in providing secondary education.

The introduction of the double track system, by which the same facilities are used by two groups of pupils—back-to-back, is only a default position at crisis management. It is folly to forever stay in a crisis management mode in any aspect of life. Crises are avoidable if one stays on the alert of issues; but we were not! 

Crisis should be managed for just a season. When the crisis becomes the permanent state of affairs, it is beyond dysfunctional. If we keep the double track system for more than 3 years, it will imply extending the crazy state of sleep-walk. 

Formerly known as ‘somnambulism’, sleep-walking is an unconscious state of being—between sleep and wakefulness, in which people get up from sleep (without actually waking up) and walk about and engage in various activities but meanwhile, remain asleep. In the morning, the sleep walker would have no recollection of waking up to walk! Clearly, this is dangerous. The person can get hurt. It is said that sleep walking is a behaviour disorder, which is associated with sleep deprivation. We cannot manage a country in such a disorderly dysfunctional sleep-walking state for long.

There are several challenges with the crisis management of using the double track system. But we have to go around the problems and look at the benefits. The number one advantage I see is that some thousands of children who would not have gone to secondary school despite the free education intervention, have been mopped out of the unplanned and ruthless spaces that provide no guidance and future to young people.  

dorisdartey@gmail.com