Last Tuesday morning, I heard a heart-breaking report on Fiila FM radio in Tamale about the plight of young people who live on the streets. My heart raced to find the writer of the report. So today, I bring you verbatim, the report of child streetism in Tamale, which is said to be the fastest growing city in West Africa.
It’s an honour to share this page today with Ziem Liebyang Joseph Philip (better known as Joseph Ziem) who researched and wrote the said report. Ziem is the News Editor of Fiila FM and doubles as the Northern Regional Correspondent of the Daily Dispatch newspaper. You may contact him at ziemjoseph@yahoo.com. What immediately follows is his report.
“The negligence of some parents to cater adequately for their children is gradually breeding more street children in the Tamale Metropolis. The children are now using the Tamale main Transport station behind the Ghana Telecom Offices as their "homes" where they sleep, bath and eat.
Even though some street adults are also using the station as their sleeping place, about 75 percent of the people using the station as their homes are children usually referred to as "street children". Some of them are without parents and relatives while others are neglected by their irresponsible parents.
Smoking of cigarettes has become part of their lives. Nobody cares how they eat, sleep or access healthcare delivery. One can truly feel or get the clear picture on how these children are managing life only when you take the pain to roam around the Tamale town in the night.
These youngsters, both boys and girls ranging from the ages of 5 to 18 sleep together with some hard guys on pavements, in front of stores and on benches especially around the bus-stops. Most of them are involved in smoking, stealing and prostitution. Some of them are eager to go to school or learn trade but they have no support.
Reports available to Fiila FM from the Youth Idleness Control Centre (YICC), a Tamale based NGO which helps some of these children to learn a trade, has it that the Tamale Metropolis alone hosts close to 4,000 street children who are going through all forms of abuses and life difficulties.
However, our reporter Joseph Ziem asked the children whether they see themselves as street children? They all said yes, but they were ashamed of it, and did not like to be called ‘street children.’ They preferred to be called by their own names. They are apparently very aware of how other people see them, and they told our reporter they call themselves the ‘bad street boys’ because other people think they are bad, because some of them are stealing to survive.
One other important aspect that was considered about the lives of the street children was their security in general. Because most people perceive them as neglected and abandoned children with irresponsible or no parents, they usually intimidate, harass, suppress and use them to their advantage.
But the good thing is that most of them are very cautious of their lives and thus dance to their own tunes since they are fully aware that they will have no relatives to support or come to their defence in case of any eventuality.
I asked them, in clear words why they are not in school. Almost all of them expressed the desire to be in school. Some said though they have parents who have no money to take them to school. I quickly asked, but don’t you know basic education is free in Ghana?
The children intelligently replied: so will the government give us books, bags, pencils, pens, sandals and uniforms? There is no room for us to sleep and there will be no food after school. Some said they have to work to support their families and take care of junior ones because their parents have died, or are sick, or old, just don’t work at all.
The children expect to find work in the street, find friends, earn money, and be able to bring money home to cater for other family.
The children get sick easily, so they tell me, and there is no money for medicine. "If someone needs to go to hospital, we make contribution and if someone hasn’t earned money to buy food, we share what we have". This is the end of the Filla FM news report. My comments follow.
The above report about child streetism in Tamale should shock the conscience of Ghana. Several issues are apparent. First, there are irresponsible parents who enjoy making babies regardless of the reality of their situation. Why bring forth children when you know you do not have the means to take care of them? Child-bearing should not be like staking lotto, with the hopes that someday, some numbers will drop to change ones circumstance.
In times past when Ghana was an agrarian society, it was indeed critical to have several wives and children because they were needed as free labour to work on farms. But no more! The very nature of society has changed. Civilization has caught on with us making it unnecessary to empty ones groin just to populate the earth.
Without a doubt, it is the excess population that spills over into the streets. At one location in Tamale, the above report claims that children constitute 75 percent of people who live on the street. If this statistic is reliable, then we have a big problem on our hands. If nothing is done soon to stem the tide of the phenomenon of the increasing number of discarded youth throughout the county, then in ten, twenty to thirty years, this matter will get out of control and solving it will be next to impossible.
Tamale’s population stood at 300,000 in the 2000 population census. It is currently estimated that Tamale’s population is about 500,000 – still counting. In the above report, the number of street children who live on the fringes of society is estimated to be about 4,000. They are squatters in life and at the mercy of unscrupulous people like rapists. They are open to abuses and to a difficult life. Their safety is compromised.
These children are the victims of the break-down in our society. Not surprisingly, some of them consider the streets as places of hope, of promise and of opportunities, despite the risks because they do not have other options. Some young people spend endless hours of their youthful days as hawkers selling anything they can lay hands on while others are just idle. Yet, we claim that these are the future of tomorrow. Tomorrow indeed!
Fact: the street is no place to grow up. You don’t plant seeds by the roadside on rocky ground in thorns where the wind blows, where wild birds descend and pick the seeds, and yet, expect those seeds to germinate, sprout and bear fruits. As a society, if we do not straighten out this matter of child streetism, someday, we will bear these children like a crown of thorns and their children’s children like a mighty cross.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Our lacklustre national journey with water and sewerage
Without a doubt, there is a systemic failure in the management and distribution of safe water in Ghana. Besides, sewerage management is an albatross. Since the erstwhile Water and Sewerage Corporation was split up into the Ghana Water Company while the matter of sewerage was orphaned out to adoptive parents who do not particularly care or know much about how to manage waste, our country has been on a filthy slippery slope. Then a water marriage came into being with Aqua Viten Rand. Since then, many people continue to wait for their water promises to be fulfilled.
On World Water Day 2010 on Monday March 22, I went down memory lane to re-visit my life regarding water and sewerage. I came to a sad realization that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Let’s glean some wisdom from a Zen saying. It goes simply, but profoundly: “Before enlightenment, Chop wood, Carry water. After enlightenment, Chop wood, Carry water.”
My first memory of myself growing up was during the first decade of Ghana’s independence in Ocansey Kope, a little Ada village by the Atlantic Ocean. At the time, I chopped wood and carried water. At the time, when nature called, I promptly responded at the beach or under coconut trees where little black pigs rushed in, grunting, to pick up. I joined queues with several kids to fetch water from the only village well not far from the fetish shrine. That was before I became enlightened.
In my current state of enlightenment, here is my sorry situation. Literally, I still chop wood and carry water! This might represent your situation too! Today, I don’t live in a forgotten village or a slum. I live in a spacious house and appear to have all the trappings of civilization. If I’m to be judged by several standards, I would most likely qualify as a bit privileged. So why am I grunting over water and other matters now that Ghana is 53?
The truth of my existence with regard to water and toilets is no where far from the poverty-stricken village or slummy city suburbs. Today, I’m privileged to have a water-closet toilet. But, I don’t have water! What is the use of water-closet when you don’t have water to flush? Answer: The stuff remains in the closet! Yucky! They say that everyone has a right to a decent toilet. But without water, you can’t have a decent toilet.
Since January 4 this year, my taps have not run. My taps and bath-tub are home decorations, merely to remind me that I’m no longer in Ocansey Kope. But I am! Water is political; highly political. Months before the 2008 elections, it was announced that the water problem in my neighbourhood had been solved. With that pronouncement, water flowed regularly. Hurray! But not so fast! Soon after the elections, the water quickly dried out. I think we need to have elections frequently (annually?) to guarantee that our problems are paid the needed urgent attention.
In my enlightened state today, what has improved is that I don’t go out to fetch water, on my own tired old head. Instead, I pay someone to fetch water for me from a neighbourhood well. He joins a queue. Today, I have a bath-tub in my bathroom but I never use it for what the inventor had in mind – to be filled with water and laid in for relaxation. The well is the common denominator that links Ocansey Kope with my ‘enlightened’ life of today.
I used to buy water from 'Tutututu Boys' but have advised myself against what I consider to be a dangerous water shopping practice. I asked some of them, “What’s the source of your water for sale?” They just said something nonsensical and exclaimed, “As for you Madam paa!” Apparently, tutututu trucks are not photogenic. Not surprisingly, the Tutututu Boys resisted my attempt to take pictures of their ugly trucks. My deep thoughts of the sources of ‘tutututu’ water frighten me. I’m terrified to welcome poisonous water into my home. So now, I settle for the well water.
A year ago, someone dumped a certain something into my neighbourhood well so we abandoned it for a while, with disgust. But, without much of a choice, we’ve returned to the cursed well. We also haul water in Mills/Kufuor presidential gallons. Mine are blue, not yellow! Periodically, when I’m hard-pressed for ‘good’ water, I buy sachet water to contribute my own share of plastics into the already choked plastic wasteland called Ghana.
Throughout every year, several days are celebrated and I ignore most of them. But this year’s World Water Day hit me. On the Day, the United Nations Environment Program noted in a report entitled ‘Sick Water’, that "The sheer scale of dirty water means more people now die from contaminated and polluted water than from all forms of violence including wars."
What a frightening observation!
Our rivers are dumping grounds for waste. We drink water from these rivers either treated or untreated. Yet, it is said that water is life. To mark World Water Day of 2010, I share the following poignant quotations as food for thought.
In an assessment of America’s water resources, Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, wrote the following: “A nation that fails to plan intelligently for the development and protection of its precious waters will be condemned to wither because of its short-sightedness. The hard lessons of history are clear, written on the deserted sands and ruins of once proud civilizations.” We know that our rivers are dying. By our actions, we are contributing to their death. Once they die, rivers do not resurrect. Hmmm!
Here is a quote from the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights: “Water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights.” Really! So the human rights of those of us who are water-deprived and remain stuck in this troubling predicament are being violated by Ghana everyday? Wow!
I must sue the Ghana Water Company and its partner, Aqua Viten Rand for their unique impudence to bill me every month (without ever failing) for services they do not provide. My sister/friend, Nana Oye Lithur, please come to my rescue. I have a serious case of human right violation.
Finally, here is something profound for all the Bible folks, especially, those at the centre of Ghana’s super-Christian pretentiousness. In the Book of Revelation 8:10-11, John the Apostle who truly carried Christianity like a mighty cross, wrote: “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.” Truly, water is life! For Ghana to survive and thrive, our water and sewerage quagmire must be resolved – by any means necessary.
On World Water Day 2010 on Monday March 22, I went down memory lane to re-visit my life regarding water and sewerage. I came to a sad realization that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Let’s glean some wisdom from a Zen saying. It goes simply, but profoundly: “Before enlightenment, Chop wood, Carry water. After enlightenment, Chop wood, Carry water.”
My first memory of myself growing up was during the first decade of Ghana’s independence in Ocansey Kope, a little Ada village by the Atlantic Ocean. At the time, I chopped wood and carried water. At the time, when nature called, I promptly responded at the beach or under coconut trees where little black pigs rushed in, grunting, to pick up. I joined queues with several kids to fetch water from the only village well not far from the fetish shrine. That was before I became enlightened.
In my current state of enlightenment, here is my sorry situation. Literally, I still chop wood and carry water! This might represent your situation too! Today, I don’t live in a forgotten village or a slum. I live in a spacious house and appear to have all the trappings of civilization. If I’m to be judged by several standards, I would most likely qualify as a bit privileged. So why am I grunting over water and other matters now that Ghana is 53?
The truth of my existence with regard to water and toilets is no where far from the poverty-stricken village or slummy city suburbs. Today, I’m privileged to have a water-closet toilet. But, I don’t have water! What is the use of water-closet when you don’t have water to flush? Answer: The stuff remains in the closet! Yucky! They say that everyone has a right to a decent toilet. But without water, you can’t have a decent toilet.
Since January 4 this year, my taps have not run. My taps and bath-tub are home decorations, merely to remind me that I’m no longer in Ocansey Kope. But I am! Water is political; highly political. Months before the 2008 elections, it was announced that the water problem in my neighbourhood had been solved. With that pronouncement, water flowed regularly. Hurray! But not so fast! Soon after the elections, the water quickly dried out. I think we need to have elections frequently (annually?) to guarantee that our problems are paid the needed urgent attention.
In my enlightened state today, what has improved is that I don’t go out to fetch water, on my own tired old head. Instead, I pay someone to fetch water for me from a neighbourhood well. He joins a queue. Today, I have a bath-tub in my bathroom but I never use it for what the inventor had in mind – to be filled with water and laid in for relaxation. The well is the common denominator that links Ocansey Kope with my ‘enlightened’ life of today.
I used to buy water from 'Tutututu Boys' but have advised myself against what I consider to be a dangerous water shopping practice. I asked some of them, “What’s the source of your water for sale?” They just said something nonsensical and exclaimed, “As for you Madam paa!” Apparently, tutututu trucks are not photogenic. Not surprisingly, the Tutututu Boys resisted my attempt to take pictures of their ugly trucks. My deep thoughts of the sources of ‘tutututu’ water frighten me. I’m terrified to welcome poisonous water into my home. So now, I settle for the well water.
A year ago, someone dumped a certain something into my neighbourhood well so we abandoned it for a while, with disgust. But, without much of a choice, we’ve returned to the cursed well. We also haul water in Mills/Kufuor presidential gallons. Mine are blue, not yellow! Periodically, when I’m hard-pressed for ‘good’ water, I buy sachet water to contribute my own share of plastics into the already choked plastic wasteland called Ghana.
Throughout every year, several days are celebrated and I ignore most of them. But this year’s World Water Day hit me. On the Day, the United Nations Environment Program noted in a report entitled ‘Sick Water’, that "The sheer scale of dirty water means more people now die from contaminated and polluted water than from all forms of violence including wars."
What a frightening observation!
Our rivers are dumping grounds for waste. We drink water from these rivers either treated or untreated. Yet, it is said that water is life. To mark World Water Day of 2010, I share the following poignant quotations as food for thought.
In an assessment of America’s water resources, Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, wrote the following: “A nation that fails to plan intelligently for the development and protection of its precious waters will be condemned to wither because of its short-sightedness. The hard lessons of history are clear, written on the deserted sands and ruins of once proud civilizations.” We know that our rivers are dying. By our actions, we are contributing to their death. Once they die, rivers do not resurrect. Hmmm!
Here is a quote from the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights: “Water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights.” Really! So the human rights of those of us who are water-deprived and remain stuck in this troubling predicament are being violated by Ghana everyday? Wow!
I must sue the Ghana Water Company and its partner, Aqua Viten Rand for their unique impudence to bill me every month (without ever failing) for services they do not provide. My sister/friend, Nana Oye Lithur, please come to my rescue. I have a serious case of human right violation.
Finally, here is something profound for all the Bible folks, especially, those at the centre of Ghana’s super-Christian pretentiousness. In the Book of Revelation 8:10-11, John the Apostle who truly carried Christianity like a mighty cross, wrote: “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.” Truly, water is life! For Ghana to survive and thrive, our water and sewerage quagmire must be resolved – by any means necessary.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Is Constitutional Review for the Benefit of the Privileged?
At last week’s 10th anniversary celebration lecture of The Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) under the theme “Constitutional Reform and Democratic Governance”, Professor Kofi Quashigah of the University of Ghana Law School made some remarks that fully got my attention.He expressed the hope that the current review and subsequent amendments of the 1992 Constitution should “impact positively on the lives of the people, particularly the ordinary person.” He queried: “Why have we not yet thought of the elevation of socio-economic rights to the same constitutional level as is the case in the South African constitution? Are we scared of the potential consequences that would arise as a result of the right-based demands that the ordinary citizens could make on government?”
For starters, here are the preambles to the two constitutions. Ghana’s Constitution states, in part: “In exercise of our natural and inalienable right to establish a framework of government which shall secure for ourselves and posterity the blessing of liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity; ……The protection and preservation of fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Unity and Stability for our Nation.”
The preamble of the South African Constitution states, in part: "Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms." It also spells out in detail, specific socio-economic issues on rights such as: “Health care services, including reproductive health care; sufficient food and water; and social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance.” Wow!
What is missing in the preamble of Ghana’s Constitution, which embodies the spirit and intent and the very backbone of our nation’s law, is HUMAN DIGNITY. Human dignity necessarily includes the availability of sufficient food and water, health-care services as well as a social security net for the down-trodden. If South Africa can emphasize such very critical outcomes of democracy (the improvement of the human condition), then why not Ghana? The current condition of many of our people is that of crying muu muu maa maa for human dignity, with no one listening.
Many people are in situations of double-, triple- or quadruple-dipping poverty. They are not just hungry with no food to eat, but have poor health care, poor sanitation, lousy housing, struggle for water (even in Accra and major cities), and sub-standard education – among many others, while wrapped in a flimsy human condition with little or no hope. Some are like the living dead, laboriously scavenging through life, digging themselves through the jagged cracks in our economy.
Yet, in the 39 proposals for constitutional review of the Attorney General (AG), the focus is exclusively on the privileged leadership and institutions of Ghana. How come not a single socio-economic rights issue made it onto the AG’s radar for constitutional review?
Here is a breakdown of the categories of shopping list which floats the beautiful boat of the AG and which found space in her proposals: The Presidency, Parliament (including their salaries, allowances and facilities), Ministers of State, AG, Constitutional bodies (CHRAJ, NMC, EC and NCCE), Council of State, Speaker of Parliament, Supreme Court, Judges, chieftaincy institution, decentralization, malfeasance, retirement age of senior legal service lawyers, and the abolishing of the death penalty (How so kind! Thanks, Madam!).
The AG’s shopping list for constitutional review is at once shocking and troubling and irritating. So, where are the issues which are of paramount and urgent importance to the majority of our desperately poor?
Fact: Ghana does not belong solely to politicians and the privileged elite. The AG’s officialdom-tilted proposals render the very foundation and intent of the constitutional review suspect. Reading the proposals makes me feel smothered by officialdom. I wonder – would Ghana blossom under this pretence of constitutional review if the needs of the majority of our people are not addressed?
Visit Korle Bu, our leading hospital, our last stop for all diseases funky and debilitating and killing. On my most recent visit to check out my own sticky matters, I witnessed ailing emaciated women clutching on to tiny babies they have just given birth to. Now, this is where you should take in a deep breath and/or gasp for fresh air: Four women on IV (drips) laying on thinly-padded hard floor with IV cords hanging from wall nails! WHAT!
There is also the thorny issue of the thousands (or millions) of our discarded youth (the future of Ghana) who, like refugees, are either idle or tread pavements and dusty roads to sell anything made in China in pursuit of money to ensure their survival. So should we just pray up the youth question and leave the matter to God alone?
Next, put the searchlight on mental health. This is a country in which our psychiatric hospitals are over-crowded, under-funded and under-resourced; where some patients belong to the forgotten dead. We forget that you and/or I could lose our sanity any day and boldly join the sorry rank and file of the mentally ill. We might even take off and hit town butt-naked in our birthday suits and live the rest of our days by stinky gutters, eating scarce throw-away food.
This is a country in which environmental sanitation remains a national crisis matter; where human excreta is dumped directly into the ocean, and Ghana places second-to-last in toilet coverage in West Africa, only better than Niger. Ouch!
Yet, the Rawlingses house burns “small” and leaders from across the political divide and a myriad of pompous lie-lie sycophantic low-life characters go a-parading and a-commiserating and a-crying and a-mourning whilst Ghana’s attention quickly shifts from developmental issues. When would We the People also begin to live a little bit of hi-life on the red carpet of attention?
Any strengthening of the 1992 Constitution that does not acknowledge that ours is a developing country and therefore provide appropriate and bold provisions that can adequately take care of our desperately poor and deprived population is nothing but a cosmetic effort and a mere joke.
SIDEBAR: (1). On a lighter note, from my vantage point as an unrepentant nerd who also happens to love good dressing, my heart is completely broken that fire has quenched Konadu’s gorgeous outfits (head gears – oh, the head gears! jewellery, shoes and all. Holy Moses!) Fire, you are so cruel! If anything destroys my precious irreplaceable vintage shoes, large dangling ear-rings and all my other precious womanly stuff, I would faint and/or lose my mind (all of it!), and resignedly sit in sackcloth and ashes for a very long time. Madam, from the depth of my soul, do accept my condolences for your losses.
(2). Ex-President Rawlings is too much in the national public discourse. Week after week, media focus is on one raw Rawlings outburst or the other, for one reason or the other. With Rawlings on the national agenda, all other issues, especially developmental issues, are placed solidly on the back-burner. Doesn’t this situation constitute a distraction to our developmental agenda?
So therefore why shouldn’t a constitutional review make room for him to become president, again? With that, we could all stay on one agenda (Ghana’s agenda) and maybe, just maybe, by and by, succeed in moving this country forward, out of the freaking under-development trap.
The Case of Poets, Jukes and Edwards
Today’s article is dense stuff from dense territory. Pure and simple, it is food for thought as we search our national soul regarding the many young people who have descended into hawking or are idle in our villages and towns and cities as school drop-outs, ‘Area Boys’ with no hope for the present, and worst of all, for the future whilst our educational system sits in limbo.
This serious food for thought is based purely on age-old but relevant research that numbs the mind. The two research reports presented below about the long-lasting effects of poor foundations on generations are taken from the same period; one in England and the other in the United States of America.
The first research is taken from an old book, The art of writing, published in 1916 by a renowned professor of literature, the late Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. He analyzed the background of twelve great poets of the nineteenth century (Coleridge, Worsdworth, Byron, Shelley, Landor, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Morris, Ressetti and Swinburne). Only three of them did not have the benefit of university education and/or was not well to do.
His conclusion? Education matters! Financial security matters! Intellectual freedom depends on financial security. With either, or preferably, with both a good education and financial security at ones disposal, a person can have the liberty that gives power and space to contemplate, to think for ones self and to accomplish the utmost best in life. A further conclusion is that genius does not simply blow in any direction. Genius must be nurtured.
And you wonder why Ghana is in a development trap! Hold on for more. This is where the plot really thickens.
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch argues further: “These are dreadful facts but let us face them. It is – however dishonouring to us as a nation – certain that by some fault in our commonwealth, the poor poet has not in these days, now has had for two hundred years, a dog’s chance. Believe me – and I have spent a great part of ten years in watching some 320 elementary schools – we may prate of democracy, but actually, a poor child in England has little more hope than had the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom of which great writings are born.”
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch was writing about poets because that was the definition of intellectual greatness in those days. But today, we can relate his observations to all aspects of education and progress, and of national development.
Enduring Questions: Does the poor boy and girl child who begins life as a hawker of low-cost made in China products have a ‘dog’s chance’ of becoming anything but a low-cost adult? But look beyond the discarded youth of today to generations of their offspring. What ‘dog’s chance’ do their descendants have of making anything significant of themselves? We may brag of democracy, but does a poor child in Ghana today have more hope than ‘the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom’ of which greatness is made?
Let’s set up another scenario – between Max Jukes and Jonathan Edwards, both American-born who lived in the same period. I first heard of Jukes and Edwards in a sermon by Pastor James Obeng. I’ve done further research over the past few weeks and I present some of the disturbing facts below.
One hundred and ten years ago on July 22, 1900, the New York Times published a fascinating article under the headline, “Jukes and Edwards: Significant statistics about two American families.”Below is the full text of the newspaper publication.
“About the year 1720, one Max Jukes was born. Very little is known about him but his descendants have managed to keep themselves constantly in the eyes of the public. Some expert student of heredity devoted the better half of five years to a study of the family and located about 1,200 of them. Every one of them was either a pauper, an imbecile or insane. Only twenty of the number ever learned a trade and ten of the twenty learned trades in a state prison. Twenty years ago, his progeny had cost the public more than $1,250,000.
“In 1703, Jonathan Edwards was born and the history of 1,500 of his descendants was presented to the American Institute of Instruction at its meeting in Halifax N.S last week. There were only six criminals in the whole number and not one pauper or imbecile. In education, literature, statesmanship, mining and railroading, law, medicine, and theology, the descendants of Edwards have filled the highest places.
“Among their number were 283 college graduates and thirteen college Presidents. It may or may not be true that the law of heredity is as constant a factor as the law of gravitation, but the vital interest of the general public in the regeneration of the descendants of Max and all his kind is shown in these luminous figures.”
Beyond the New York Times publication, here is a further break-down of what became of the descendants of Jukes and Edwards. In the 1900s, the descendants of Max Jukes comprised of 680 Alcoholics, 300 Prisoners and 190 Prostitutes. In sharp contrast, Jonathan Edwards’ descendants comprised of 430 Ministers of God, 86 University Professors, 75 authors of good books and seven Congressmen.
Foundation matters! Poor and weak foundations echo far into the future. There is a vast difference between children born in the valley as compared with those born on privileged high-ground. For the valley children, our discarded youth – life comes at them as arrows. It is as if they have been washed away by the currents of failed irresponsible educational systems and corrupt governments. Of course, there is luck. But there are no guarantees that luck alone will drag everyone with a weak foundation out of the valley and lift them onto higher ground.
Further Enduring Questions: Since we can’t seem to figure out the how of our matter, we should just take refuge in the why. So therefore considering the way we are going, here are more fast and furious questions to ponder over. Considering the weak foundations we are giving to countless numbers of Ghana’s youth, what would be the fate of the descendants of this segment in the next generation? How many prisoners, armed robbers, alcoholics and prostitutes are we generating? What would be the burden of the social cost of these descendants?
Is Ghana generating a majority of the Max Jukes’ type of descendants with a thin minority of Jonathan Edwards’ types? What can possibly come out of the groin of an armed robber who dies in his twenties while in the line of duty after impregnating a young female adult prostitute? How about the children born of the streets, their mothers impregnated under jute bags in kiosks?
What is the future of the girl child who drops out of school before she knows how to clean herself properly and is sentenced to selling ‘pure water’? What kind of mother and grandmother and wife would she be? How about the boy child into whom Ghana is investing nothing and is left to fend for himself? What kind of father and grandfather and husband would he be?
Who is keeping track?
dorisdartey@gmail.com; dorisdartey.blogspot.com
This serious food for thought is based purely on age-old but relevant research that numbs the mind. The two research reports presented below about the long-lasting effects of poor foundations on generations are taken from the same period; one in England and the other in the United States of America.
The first research is taken from an old book, The art of writing, published in 1916 by a renowned professor of literature, the late Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. He analyzed the background of twelve great poets of the nineteenth century (Coleridge, Worsdworth, Byron, Shelley, Landor, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Morris, Ressetti and Swinburne). Only three of them did not have the benefit of university education and/or was not well to do.
His conclusion? Education matters! Financial security matters! Intellectual freedom depends on financial security. With either, or preferably, with both a good education and financial security at ones disposal, a person can have the liberty that gives power and space to contemplate, to think for ones self and to accomplish the utmost best in life. A further conclusion is that genius does not simply blow in any direction. Genius must be nurtured.
And you wonder why Ghana is in a development trap! Hold on for more. This is where the plot really thickens.
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch argues further: “These are dreadful facts but let us face them. It is – however dishonouring to us as a nation – certain that by some fault in our commonwealth, the poor poet has not in these days, now has had for two hundred years, a dog’s chance. Believe me – and I have spent a great part of ten years in watching some 320 elementary schools – we may prate of democracy, but actually, a poor child in England has little more hope than had the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom of which great writings are born.”
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch was writing about poets because that was the definition of intellectual greatness in those days. But today, we can relate his observations to all aspects of education and progress, and of national development.
Enduring Questions: Does the poor boy and girl child who begins life as a hawker of low-cost made in China products have a ‘dog’s chance’ of becoming anything but a low-cost adult? But look beyond the discarded youth of today to generations of their offspring. What ‘dog’s chance’ do their descendants have of making anything significant of themselves? We may brag of democracy, but does a poor child in Ghana today have more hope than ‘the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom’ of which greatness is made?
Let’s set up another scenario – between Max Jukes and Jonathan Edwards, both American-born who lived in the same period. I first heard of Jukes and Edwards in a sermon by Pastor James Obeng. I’ve done further research over the past few weeks and I present some of the disturbing facts below.
One hundred and ten years ago on July 22, 1900, the New York Times published a fascinating article under the headline, “Jukes and Edwards: Significant statistics about two American families.”Below is the full text of the newspaper publication.
“About the year 1720, one Max Jukes was born. Very little is known about him but his descendants have managed to keep themselves constantly in the eyes of the public. Some expert student of heredity devoted the better half of five years to a study of the family and located about 1,200 of them. Every one of them was either a pauper, an imbecile or insane. Only twenty of the number ever learned a trade and ten of the twenty learned trades in a state prison. Twenty years ago, his progeny had cost the public more than $1,250,000.
“In 1703, Jonathan Edwards was born and the history of 1,500 of his descendants was presented to the American Institute of Instruction at its meeting in Halifax N.S last week. There were only six criminals in the whole number and not one pauper or imbecile. In education, literature, statesmanship, mining and railroading, law, medicine, and theology, the descendants of Edwards have filled the highest places.
“Among their number were 283 college graduates and thirteen college Presidents. It may or may not be true that the law of heredity is as constant a factor as the law of gravitation, but the vital interest of the general public in the regeneration of the descendants of Max and all his kind is shown in these luminous figures.”
Beyond the New York Times publication, here is a further break-down of what became of the descendants of Jukes and Edwards. In the 1900s, the descendants of Max Jukes comprised of 680 Alcoholics, 300 Prisoners and 190 Prostitutes. In sharp contrast, Jonathan Edwards’ descendants comprised of 430 Ministers of God, 86 University Professors, 75 authors of good books and seven Congressmen.
Foundation matters! Poor and weak foundations echo far into the future. There is a vast difference between children born in the valley as compared with those born on privileged high-ground. For the valley children, our discarded youth – life comes at them as arrows. It is as if they have been washed away by the currents of failed irresponsible educational systems and corrupt governments. Of course, there is luck. But there are no guarantees that luck alone will drag everyone with a weak foundation out of the valley and lift them onto higher ground.
Further Enduring Questions: Since we can’t seem to figure out the how of our matter, we should just take refuge in the why. So therefore considering the way we are going, here are more fast and furious questions to ponder over. Considering the weak foundations we are giving to countless numbers of Ghana’s youth, what would be the fate of the descendants of this segment in the next generation? How many prisoners, armed robbers, alcoholics and prostitutes are we generating? What would be the burden of the social cost of these descendants?
Is Ghana generating a majority of the Max Jukes’ type of descendants with a thin minority of Jonathan Edwards’ types? What can possibly come out of the groin of an armed robber who dies in his twenties while in the line of duty after impregnating a young female adult prostitute? How about the children born of the streets, their mothers impregnated under jute bags in kiosks?
What is the future of the girl child who drops out of school before she knows how to clean herself properly and is sentenced to selling ‘pure water’? What kind of mother and grandmother and wife would she be? How about the boy child into whom Ghana is investing nothing and is left to fend for himself? What kind of father and grandfather and husband would he be?
Who is keeping track?
dorisdartey@gmail.com; dorisdartey.blogspot.com
The Case of Poets, Jukes and Edwards
Today’s article is dense stuff from dense territory. Pure and simple, it is food for thought as we search our national soul regarding the many young people who have descended into hawking or are idle in our villages and towns and cities as school drop-outs, ‘Area Boys’ with no hope for the present, and worst of all, for the future whilst our educational system sits in limbo.
This serious food for thought is based purely on age-old but relevant research that numbs the mind. The two research reports presented below about the long-lasting effects of poor foundations on generations are taken from the same period; one in England and the other in the United States of America.
The first research is taken from an old book, The art of writing, published in 1916 by a renowned professor of literature, the late Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. He analyzed the background of twelve great poets of the nineteenth century (Coleridge, Worsdworth, Byron, Shelley, Landor, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Morris, Ressetti and Swinburne). Only three of them did not have the benefit of university education and/or was not well to do.
His conclusion? Education matters! Financial security matters! Intellectual freedom depends on financial security. With either, or preferably, with both a good education and financial security at ones disposal, a person can have the liberty that gives power and space to contemplate, to think for ones self and to accomplish the utmost best in life. A further conclusion is that genius does not simply blow in any direction. Genius must be nurtured.
And you wonder why Ghana is in a development trap! Hold on for more. This is where the plot really thickens.
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch argues further: “These are dreadful facts but let us face them. It is – however dishonouring to us as a nation – certain that by some fault in our commonwealth, the poor poet has not in these days, now has had for two hundred years, a dog’s chance. Believe me – and I have spent a great part of ten years in watching some 320 elementary schools – we may prate of democracy, but actually, a poor child in England has little more hope than had the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom of which great writings are born.”
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch was writing about poets because that was the definition of intellectual greatness in those days. But today, we can relate his observations to all aspects of education and progress, and of national development.
Enduring Questions: Does the poor boy and girl child who begins life as a hawker of low-cost made in China products have a ‘dog’s chance’ of becoming anything but a low-cost adult? But look beyond the discarded youth of today to generations of their offspring. What ‘dog’s chance’ do their descendants have of making anything significant of themselves? We may brag of democracy, but does a poor child in Ghana today have more hope than ‘the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom’ of which greatness is made?
Let’s set up another scenario – between Max Jukes and Jonathan Edwards, both American-born who lived in the same period. I first heard of Jukes and Edwards in a sermon by Pastor James Obeng. I’ve done further research over the past few weeks and I present some of the disturbing facts below.
One hundred and ten years ago on July 22, 1900, the New York Times published a fascinating article under the headline, “Jukes and Edwards: Significant statistics about two American families.”Below is the full text of the newspaper publication.
“About the year 1720, one Max Jukes was born. Very little is known about him but his descendants have managed to keep themselves constantly in the eyes of the public. Some expert student of heredity devoted the better half of five years to a study of the family and located about 1,200 of them. Every one of them was either a pauper, an imbecile or insane. Only twenty of the number ever learned a trade and ten of the twenty learned trades in a state prison. Twenty years ago, his progeny had cost the public more than $1,250,000.
“In 1703, Jonathan Edwards was born and the history of 1,500 of his descendants was presented to the American Institute of Instruction at its meeting in Halifax N.S last week. There were only six criminals in the whole number and not one pauper or imbecile. In education, literature, statesmanship, mining and railroading, law, medicine, and theology, the descendants of Edwards have filled the highest places.
“Among their number were 283 college graduates and thirteen college Presidents. It may or may not be true that the law of heredity is as constant a factor as the law of gravitation, but the vital interest of the general public in the regeneration of the descendants of Max and all his kind is shown in these luminous figures.”
Beyond the New York Times publication, here is a further break-down of what became of the descendants of Jukes and Edwards. In the 1900s, the descendants of Max Jukes comprised of 680 Alcoholics, 300 Prisoners and 190 Prostitutes. In sharp contrast, Jonathan Edwards’ descendants comprised of 430 Ministers of God, 86 University Professors, 75 authors of good books and seven Congressmen.
Foundation matters! Poor and weak foundations echo far into the future. There is a vast difference between children born in the valley as compared with those born on privileged high-ground. For the valley children, our discarded youth – life comes at them as arrows. It is as if they have been washed away by the currents of failed irresponsible educational systems and corrupt governments. Of course, there is luck. But there are no guarantees that luck alone will drag everyone with a weak foundation out of the valley and lift them onto higher ground.
Further Enduring Questions: Since we can’t seem to figure out the how of our matter, we should just take refuge in the why. So therefore considering the way we are going, here are more fast and furious questions to ponder over. Considering the weak foundations we are giving to countless numbers of Ghana’s youth, what would be the fate of the descendants of this segment in the next generation? How many prisoners, armed robbers, alcoholics and prostitutes are we generating? What would be the burden of the social cost of these descendants?
Is Ghana generating a majority of the Max Jukes’ type of descendants with a thin minority of Jonathan Edwards’ types? What can possibly come out of the groin of an armed robber who dies in his twenties while in the line of duty after impregnating a young female adult prostitute? How about the children born of the streets, their mothers impregnated under jute bags in kiosks?
What is the future of the girl child who drops out of school before she knows how to clean herself properly and is sentenced to selling ‘pure water’? What kind of mother and grandmother and wife would she be? How about the boy child into whom Ghana is investing nothing and is left to fend for himself? What kind of father and grandfather and husband would he be?
Who is keeping track?
dorisdartey@gmail.com; dorisdartey.blogspot.com
Further Enduring Questions: Since we can’t seem to figure out the how of our matter, we should just take refuge in the why. So therefore considering the way we are going, here are more fast and furious questions to ponder over. Considering the weak foundations we are giving to countless numbers of Ghana’s youth, what would be the fate of the descendants of this segment in the next generation? How many prisoners, armed robbers, alcoholics and prostitutes are we generating? What would be the burden of the social cost of these descendants?
Is Ghana generating a majority of the Max Jukes’ type of descendants with a thin minority of Jonathan Edwards’ types? What can possibly come out of the groin of an armed robber who dies in his twenties while in the line of duty after impregnating a young female adult prostitute? How about the children born of the streets, their mothers impregnated under jute bags in kiosks?
What is the future of the girl child who drops out of school before she knows how to clean herself properly and is sentenced to selling ‘pure water’? What kind of mother and grandmother and wife would she be? How about the boy child into whom Ghana is investing nothing and is left to fend for himself? What kind of father and grandfather and husband would he be?
Who is keeping track?
dorisdartey@gmail.com; dorisdartey.blogspot.com
Monday, February 15, 2010
The things we don’t talk about hurt us
It is said that the scissors cut easiest past the buttonhole. The buttonhole gets in the way of successful cutting because it presents an obstruction. So we deceive ourselves if/when we deny the existence of the buttonhole thinking that in the denial, we can still cut through. Not!
In the matter of our national development, our attitudes and behaviours constitute the naughty buttonholes which get in the way of progress. In just 21 days (March 6, 2010), we would be celebrating the 53rd year of being on this development journey.
The power of talking things through lies in lifting the curtain off them and rendering them naked. It is only in their naked state that the issues can be confronted. At times you need to go bare to confront the truth. The things we don’t talk about can and do hurt us; worst of all, they can destroy us.
Try the following exercise alone, in privacy. This self-reflective exercise requires the sort of courage that passeth all understanding! Stand butt-naked in front of a full-sized mirror. No clothes on – nothing; lay bare all of your stuff. The state you’ll be in is what is known in earthy parlance as “birthday suit.” While standing in front of a full-sized mirror in your birthday outfit, engage in a bold confrontation of you as a person, just as you came into this God-blessed world.
Take a good look at what and how you look like; of how you’ve become.
If you are anything beyond 40, you are likely to see bulges and folds with extra flesh sitting on top of hidden folds where none were meant to be. If you’re like me, you’ll exclaim – WHAT!
If you are anything beyond 40, you are likely to see bulges and folds with extra flesh sitting on top of hidden folds where none were meant to be. If you’re like me, you’ll exclaim – WHAT!
When did this happen? You might not recognise what you’ve become. And you might not like others to see your naked state of affairs. These bulges are just the outcome of living – of eating and drinking and binging and merry-making and all that good and bad living stuff. You can’t see the bulges coming. They just come; and worst of all, they stay put, with audacity.
What you do after seeing the bulges in all their glory of nakedness depends on you. We also know that those bulges are not good for our health. The worst ones are those which stay put in the middle section around the stomach region. Called the apple shape, it is definitely not heart-healthy.
Ideally, once you know your situation, you’re expected to change your bad and unhealthy habits which include eating with reckless abandon without regard to a balanced diet; drinking excessively with complete disregard for moderation; high intakes of sugar; eating large balls of fufuu or banku late in the evening just so the food will hug you to sleep and not get a chance to digest and be useful for the body; and worst of all, not exercising.
Human beings are beings of habit. Below are five areas of our national life which we don’t talk about at all, or don’t talk about enough and which collectively, are having such a destructive impact on Ghana. The list is not exhaustive. Please add your own.
1). Ethnicity/Tribalism: Like the proverbial broom, there is strength in diversity. Our ethnic and tribal diversity can strengthen us as we bring all we have to the table for national development. Unfortunately, ethnicity is increasingly becoming our national fault-line. Yet, rarely do we talk about it. Instead, we stay in denial. Fact: There is no way Barack Obama would have become the President of the USA if that country had not been confronting the senseless and divisive issue of racism and if measures had not been instituted to openly talk about it throughout the educational system. Openly discussing racism is as difficult as it is to talk about ethnicity/tribalism. But easy come, easy go!
2). Disease Stigma: We talk about death, we love funerals but rarely do we talk about our funky diseases which kill us. No, not malaria! Malaria has dignity. At funerals, if the person died of one of those disease-stigma ailments, there is a hush-hush. AIDS? That’s the king of all stigmas! Cancer? Strangely, cancer also belongs to the hush-hush category of diseases. Prostate cancer is family secret.
Important people pop dead as much as ordinary people. Some are so privileged that they travel abroad to treat their ailments because of the low-cost nature of our death-trap health-care delivery system – but they die anyway. What diseases did our beloved Baah-Wiredu and Courage Quashiga die of? Oh, it’s none of my/your business? Here is why we should care. We could learn lessons to improve our own health and especially, we could embark on effective advocacy.
Our communication attitudes and behaviours about diseases are not productive. If diseases could get the kind of attention and publicity deaths and funerals get, we will make some real progress in national disease management.
Danny Whyte, a leukaemia (cancer of the blood) crusader, used his last days as the best disease advocate this country has ever had. Baah-Wiredu and Courage Quashiga wasted their diseases because they could have left a legacy beyond the political if with the knowledge of their diseases, they had used their powerful voices and faces to passionately push for public awareness and cure. Furthermore, we have the potential to become the medical tourism destination in the West African sub-region. Yet, our hospitals are death traps.
3). Sexism: Oh, that is in reference to male superior, female inferior. Even some women look down on the female gender; probably in conformity with traditional believes and practices. So therefore the education and progress of girls are not of paramount importance. For some, females are nothing beyond objects of sex. Meanwhile, females constitute about 51 percent of Ghana’s population. How does a country progress if one half operate from the fringes of society?
4). Indiscipline: Ex Vice President Mahama embarked on a behavioural change campaign to instil discipline into the Ghanaian psyche. But, it failed. We are still where we were, if not worse. We practice a culture of non-enforcement of laws. In the absence of law enforcement, habits and behaviours which should be objectionable are regularly displayed with impunity because culprits are not held accountable for their actions.
As a result of an environment characterized by indiscipline and minimum law abiding, corruption has room to blossom. The state of our environmental sanitation is sorrowful as people throw garbage away ‘by hat’ (by heart).
5). Obsession with witchcraft: Some newspapers invest space in publishing sensational stories about which spiritualist dug out some lousy lizard from someone’s backyard. What positive social impact can such publications have on our ignorant developing ailing society? Little. God created us with wisdom and the power of choice.
Change is tough but if we don’t tackle our funky issues, we would not move on as a country. Attitudes are the basis of Ghana’s development. Our attitudes toward driving, sanitation, environment and other vices draw us back from our developmental path. Openly talking about them will expose who we are as a people and maybe, just maybe, bring about the much needed change.
Don’t blink over crude oil
There are currents of motion underneath the ocean that can power Ghana . The power is in crude oil and gas. As a result, all roads are and will for the next two decades or so, lead to the twin city of Sekondi/Takoradi.
Ghana’s standing and image for the present and the near future will be tied to crude oil. Gold attracted strangers to our shores once upon a time; they nicknamed our land the Gold Coast and we are forever tied to gold as a natural resource even if we might not have much to show for it. If in doubt, visit the gold producing parts of the country! Poverty and brokenness and signs of plundering painfully stare at those parts of the country in the face. Whenever I visit gold mining towns, I view these parts as victims of unscrupulous and merciless gang rape.
We are excited that very soon, most probably before the end of this year, our own crude oil will start flowing. The mighty Atlantic Ocean is gifting us liquid black gold which lies far underneath its waters. Whose responsibility is it to manage our expectations about the upcoming heaven by way of crude oil? Fact: oil can intrude into paradise. Corruption, mismanagement, under-management and like vices can get in the way of our oil paradise!
The year 2010 is our Year of Grace – the year God is to smile on Ghana , saying, “My beloved children, you’ve been in a tight corner for too long. Crude oil is my precious gift to you. If you mess up this opportunity, you’ll be in a more wretched state than you are now.” So Ghana could unravel if we mismanage the gift of oil? Yes, for sure. The lives of our estimated 25 million people, plus the other millions yet unborn will lean on the edge of survival.
As we get high on expectations, let’s glean some wisdom from an Aesop fable. Aesop was an ancient Greek slave who was freed from slavery because of his wit, charm, style and sophistication in story telling abilities. Aesop fables go back more than 2,000 years. Very much like our own Kweku Ananse stories, witty sayings like “Look before you leap” and “Necessity is the mother of invention” are attributed to Aesop.
One such witty fable is entitled, The Milk-Woman and her pail. It goes: “A farmer’s daughter was carrying her pail of milk from the field to the farmhouse when she fell a-musing. ‘The money for which this milk will be sold, will buy at least three hundred eggs. The eggs, allowing for all mishaps, will produce two hundred and fifty chickens. The chickens will become ready for the market when poultry will fetch the highest price, so that by the end of the year, I shall have money enough from my share to buy a new gown. In this dress, I will go to the Christmas parties where all the young fellows will propose to me, but I will toss my head and refuse every one of them.
At that moment of day dreaming of all the things she would do with her new found wealth, she tossed her head in unison with her thoughts and hmmm! …. down fell the milk-pail to the ground and all her imaginary schemes perished in a moment.” Ouch! Gasp for breath!
With that spill, the Milk-Woman had no milk to sell to buy three hundred eggs to be hatched for chickens. So therefore there was no poultry to be sold for money to be made to buy the beautiful gown of her dreams to wear to the Christmas party. If our dreamy Milk-Woman could not attend the party, dreams of seducing some fellows of the opposite sex could not happen. What a naughty ultimate goal for gaining wealth! Not edifying but admittedly pleasant.
All it took was one reckless move; just a careless toss of the head in a dreamy state crushed her grandiose dreams. Mishaps do happen. Planning, care, and all the good intentions can still go wrong. Specifically, Murphy’s Law states that “if anything can go wrong, it will”. With a healthy sense of pessimism laced with optimism, the question asked here is: Who is responsible for managing our high expectations about Ghana ’s near-future status as a commercial crude oil producer nation? Even Ghanaians abroad are catching the expectation fever. “ Ghana has struck oil! Things are about to change for the better. So let’s return home!”
I wonder how the Milk-Woman felt after the spill and the crush of her dreams. What did her father say to her? “You reckless girl! You couldn’t carry the milk well, but went playing until you’ve lost it all.”
If expectations about how crude oil will change our lives and help us accomplish what currently appears impossible – to become a middle-income country – are not managed well, we could become like the Milk-Woman. Emotions will be varied: anger, disappointment, light-headedness, flapping-jaws, rolling-eyes, nausea and drooling mouths might be the least explosive emotions from sea to shinning sea.
Fact: the crude oil will not last forever. It is estimated that with oil from the Jubilee Fields, 2011 will be the first full year of production after the initial production toward the end of this year. It is expected that 2012 to 2015 will be the peak period of production with about 120,000 barrels a day. Production level is expected to taper off about 2029 with about 50,000 barrels per day. So the high excitement about crude might last for just about twenty years. Such a short time span! No big deal.
Considering that just a fraction of the proceeds will come to Ghana because investors put in their money to go under the ocean to suck the oil, so unless there’s a sizeable oil discovery in the near future, we might not really consolidate a whole lot of money to change our national circumstances.
So therefore we should pray harder for more and more oil to be discovered so we can have enough to bathe in, enough for wastage through corruption and plain theft, enough for developing Ghana’s infrastructure, enough for improving the overall human condition of the majority of our desperately poor people, and maybe – just maybe, have enough to leave something ‘small’ behind for generations yet unborn. God is!
There is something about crude oil that can potentially bring out the worst in people. Greed can suck in even good well-intentioned folks. And with the extent of endemic corruption in our national psyche, there is no way of knowing the extent to which those who can have access to our oil wealth would be tempted to dig in for self and significant others. So we must all shine our eyes about our crude oil. Whatever you do, don’t toss your head in careless anticipation. Don’t blink if you know that our major national fault-line is corruption at high, middle and even at annoyingly low-level places.
Oil management must necessarily include managing our expectations or else some of us would go kuku, weighed down heavily by vain imaginings. That won’t be healthy or funny!
Ghana’s standing and image for the present and the near future will be tied to crude oil. Gold attracted strangers to our shores once upon a time; they nicknamed our land the Gold Coast and we are forever tied to gold as a natural resource even if we might not have much to show for it. If in doubt, visit the gold producing parts of the country! Poverty and brokenness and signs of plundering painfully stare at those parts of the country in the face. Whenever I visit gold mining towns, I view these parts as victims of unscrupulous and merciless gang rape.
We are excited that very soon, most probably before the end of this year, our own crude oil will start flowing. The mighty Atlantic Ocean is gifting us liquid black gold which lies far underneath its waters. Whose responsibility is it to manage our expectations about the upcoming heaven by way of crude oil? Fact: oil can intrude into paradise. Corruption, mismanagement, under-management and like vices can get in the way of our oil paradise!
The year 2010 is our Year of Grace – the year God is to smile on Ghana , saying, “My beloved children, you’ve been in a tight corner for too long. Crude oil is my precious gift to you. If you mess up this opportunity, you’ll be in a more wretched state than you are now.” So Ghana could unravel if we mismanage the gift of oil? Yes, for sure. The lives of our estimated 25 million people, plus the other millions yet unborn will lean on the edge of survival.
As we get high on expectations, let’s glean some wisdom from an Aesop fable. Aesop was an ancient Greek slave who was freed from slavery because of his wit, charm, style and sophistication in story telling abilities. Aesop fables go back more than 2,000 years. Very much like our own Kweku Ananse stories, witty sayings like “Look before you leap” and “Necessity is the mother of invention” are attributed to Aesop.
One such witty fable is entitled, The Milk-Woman and her pail. It goes: “A farmer’s daughter was carrying her pail of milk from the field to the farmhouse when she fell a-musing. ‘The money for which this milk will be sold, will buy at least three hundred eggs. The eggs, allowing for all mishaps, will produce two hundred and fifty chickens. The chickens will become ready for the market when poultry will fetch the highest price, so that by the end of the year, I shall have money enough from my share to buy a new gown. In this dress, I will go to the Christmas parties where all the young fellows will propose to me, but I will toss my head and refuse every one of them.
At that moment of day dreaming of all the things she would do with her new found wealth, she tossed her head in unison with her thoughts and hmmm! …. down fell the milk-pail to the ground and all her imaginary schemes perished in a moment.” Ouch! Gasp for breath!
With that spill, the Milk-Woman had no milk to sell to buy three hundred eggs to be hatched for chickens. So therefore there was no poultry to be sold for money to be made to buy the beautiful gown of her dreams to wear to the Christmas party. If our dreamy Milk-Woman could not attend the party, dreams of seducing some fellows of the opposite sex could not happen. What a naughty ultimate goal for gaining wealth! Not edifying but admittedly pleasant.
All it took was one reckless move; just a careless toss of the head in a dreamy state crushed her grandiose dreams. Mishaps do happen. Planning, care, and all the good intentions can still go wrong. Specifically, Murphy’s Law states that “if anything can go wrong, it will”. With a healthy sense of pessimism laced with optimism, the question asked here is: Who is responsible for managing our high expectations about Ghana ’s near-future status as a commercial crude oil producer nation? Even Ghanaians abroad are catching the expectation fever. “ Ghana has struck oil! Things are about to change for the better. So let’s return home!”
I wonder how the Milk-Woman felt after the spill and the crush of her dreams. What did her father say to her? “You reckless girl! You couldn’t carry the milk well, but went playing until you’ve lost it all.”
If expectations about how crude oil will change our lives and help us accomplish what currently appears impossible – to become a middle-income country – are not managed well, we could become like the Milk-Woman. Emotions will be varied: anger, disappointment, light-headedness, flapping-jaws, rolling-eyes, nausea and drooling mouths might be the least explosive emotions from sea to shinning sea.
Fact: the crude oil will not last forever. It is estimated that with oil from the Jubilee Fields, 2011 will be the first full year of production after the initial production toward the end of this year. It is expected that 2012 to 2015 will be the peak period of production with about 120,000 barrels a day. Production level is expected to taper off about 2029 with about 50,000 barrels per day. So the high excitement about crude might last for just about twenty years. Such a short time span! No big deal.
Considering that just a fraction of the proceeds will come to Ghana because investors put in their money to go under the ocean to suck the oil, so unless there’s a sizeable oil discovery in the near future, we might not really consolidate a whole lot of money to change our national circumstances.
So therefore we should pray harder for more and more oil to be discovered so we can have enough to bathe in, enough for wastage through corruption and plain theft, enough for developing Ghana’s infrastructure, enough for improving the overall human condition of the majority of our desperately poor people, and maybe – just maybe, have enough to leave something ‘small’ behind for generations yet unborn. God is!
There is something about crude oil that can potentially bring out the worst in people. Greed can suck in even good well-intentioned folks. And with the extent of endemic corruption in our national psyche, there is no way of knowing the extent to which those who can have access to our oil wealth would be tempted to dig in for self and significant others. So we must all shine our eyes about our crude oil. Whatever you do, don’t toss your head in careless anticipation. Don’t blink if you know that our major national fault-line is corruption at high, middle and even at annoyingly low-level places.
Oil management must necessarily include managing our expectations or else some of us would go kuku, weighed down heavily by vain imaginings. That won’t be healthy or funny!
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