When hospital workers acquire unexplained wealth The WatchWoman Column. By Doris Yaa Dartey

When hospital workers acquire unexplained wealth

The WatchWoman Column.          By Doris Yaa Dartey

What do you do when someone you know suddenly becomes wealthy and you cannot rationalise the sources of the person’s wealth? I can think of two options. The first option is to engage in juicy gossips in your attempt to figure out what the person might be up to in the money-making realm. In the other option, you gather the courage to confront this matter frontally by directly asking the person what he/she does that generate that much money. Both methods are legitimate and may not necessarily provide the desired answers.

CONFRONTING CORRUPT PRACTICES

No one begrudges anyone the status of wealth. But since money does not grow on trees, the sources of wealth must make sense. Unless a person either inherits wealth or makes a big win at the lottery, when there is incongruity between a person’s wealth status and what he/she earns from especially the monthly salaries of a job, we must seek to probe and understand the sources of such unexplained wealth.

A few years ago, I applied the second option by directly asking a cousin of mine who suddenly came into money. Prior to posing the big question, we had not seen each other for about three years. The absence made the newly acquired health status very obvious to me. I noticed that both he and his children had changed and acquired new characters. Whilst my cousin had become a pompous person, his children had become disrespectful in ways that were bewildering. Also, they had all gained much weight as if in correspondence with the wealth weight. 

So I did take a big risk by popping what today I will label as the corruption question: “What is the source of your wealth?” He could have retorted rudely with: “It’s none of your business” and cut me off his life. Or, he could have chosen to tell me a lie: “Oh, I won the lottery.” But instead, he surprised me by spelling out the truth to me with an honest and bold answer to my inquisitive question. 

A RICH PHARMACIST IN A STATE HOSPITAL

My cousin Mr Ofoe-Mensah (not his real name) was a pharmacist of state-owned hospitals. He was on the payroll of the state, which was not the kind of money anyone rolls out to become wealthy. From not even owning a piece of land prior to the three years when we last met, was like day and night in wealth-land. Suddenly, he owned an impressive mansion in an upscale neighbourhood of Accra. And, he was working toward other property acquisitions. 

The source of his sudden wealth was two-pronged, and they operated in tandem. On the first front was the money he made from the suppliers of drugs and other supplies for the pharmacy department, of which he was the director. He had cosy illicit arrangements with pharmaceutical suppliers, who added some amount to the true cost of the drugs to the hospital. 

That extra cost (the corruption top-up) was money that the supplier directly paid to Ofoe-Mensah. This meant that on any day, any week and any month, all supplies purchased by the hospital and sold to patients carried a percentage that was the direct cut to enrich Ofoe-Mensah. The cash was paid upfront, in envelops; delivered at specific locations. Periodically, he took care of his staff by giving them pittances. The staff received such gifts with much appreciation; no questions asked. Often, the staff members were informed that a certain supplier brought them a little gift. I doubt if the staff knew of the extent to which the payments of unlawful moneys were well-orchestrated.

Another method Ofoe-Mensah used to acquire wealth was through becoming the sole source of certain drugs and hospital supplies in the general neighbourhood of the government hospital. To be effective at gaining a monopoly in the drug selling business, he opened a pharmacy shop in close proximity to the hospital. It just so happened that his pharmacy shop was the only one in the vicinity of the hospital. So he decided which drugs and medical supplies will be sold at the hospital pharmacy and which ones will be sold exclusively at his private shop, creating a convenient scarcity situation. 

So when a patient came in and the drug prescribed by a doctor was on the list of his own pharmacy shop, he directed the patient appropriately. Being a scarce drug, the patient had no choice but to walk over to the neighbourhood pharmacy shop to buy; no questions asked, only gratitude for finding a scarce medication. 

The way Ofoe-Mensah explained things to me was that he was being wise. He did not find anything wrong with his sources of wealth. He did not feel guilty. For him, it was only normal that he was taking advantage of his public office for private gain. As he put it, “Everyone does it.” He considered himself as lucky that God placed him in that position. Besides, he maintained that it was the suppliers of drugs to government pharmacy departments who make the arrangement; and he could not turn it down, because after all, everyone does it! Ethics had gone to the pigs and rolled through the mud!

I recall the number of times I visited him at the hospital and bore witness to patients lounging on hard wooden benches, waiting for their names to be called out so they will pay and collect their medications. I tried to imagine the percentage of profit Ofoe-Mensah made off each patient in the queue. I also paid regular visits to his pharmacy shop and observed the brisk business. 

To think that such practices went on for several years still blows my mind. How many poor people parted with money they could barely afford to buy drugs at inflated prices? That way, the elite hospital executives profiteer over the poor sick!

CALLING PEOPLE TO ORDER

Over the period of his career that span over two decades, Ofoe-Mensah was the director of pharmacy in three government hospitals. He practiced the same illicit acts of corruption. He was never queried. He was never challenged for doing anything wrong. It was apparent that he had become very wealthy but apparently, her wealth was treated as if it was a normal progression in the career of a government pharmacist. Who should have called him to order? The hospital medical directors in charge? 

It appears that our government hospitals are susceptible to corruption. Next week, I will bring you the highlights of a fascinating research report on the incidence of corruption in hospitals in the erstwhile three regions of the north (Northern, Upper East and Upper West). Although the study focused on the northern part of Ghana, it gives a good snapshot of the acts of corruption in our government hospitals. 

Dorisdartey@gmail.com

Open pit latrines are inhumane ………….They should be banned! By Doris Yaa Dartey. The WatchWoman Column.

Open pit latrines are inhumane

………….They should be banned!

By Doris Yaa Dartey.        The WatchWoman Column.

Some memories from our yesteryears can lag on forever. One of such memories of mine was the day my brother’s daughter fell into an open pit latrine. It feels like it happened only yesterday but this incident occurred 35 years ago. It did not happen in a faraway forgotten rural back-wood part of our then 27-year-old country. It happened right here in Accra, our capital city. 

THE HORRORS OF A BAD MEMORY

The extent to which my memory of the incident is fresh leaves me wondering if my brother’s daughter also remembers it. By all definitions, my brother’s daughter is by extension my daughter! She has always called me Mama. At the time of the incident, she was about seven years old. 

Would she remember that day in broad daylight when she slipped on one of the wooden planks that covered the cursed dug-out hole, and fell into that unthinkable foul and putrid remains of human living? As much as I desire to know her personal perspectives, I cannot bring up such a subject matter for conversation with her. The horror of the memory tortures me to this day so I cannot trigger any bad memories in this daughter of mine. I sincerely hope that her own memory of the incident is repressed. 

Of course she did not remain stuck in the hole for so long. She was rescued in less than one hour by neighbours as panicky screams echoed loudly to houses around. But even 30 minutes is too long for any child or adult to be trapped in such an unholy hole. 

Today, she is a young beautiful woman. Periodically, over the past 35 years, I have reflected on the extent to which this mishap might have affected the trajectory of her life. Did it affect her self-esteem? Did it influence her capacity to stay in school and acquire a good education? Does the way she had related with people over the years been dictated by that unfortunate open latrine incident? But especially, has the experience impacted positively on her love and care for her only child, a girl, who is currently at the same age at which she fell into the open latrine? 

But more specifically, how many Ghanaians have fallen into open pit latrines? How often does such horrendous incidents occur?

THE SAD SITUATION OF OPEN PIT LATRINES

Any repressed memory I have had of the incident rushed to the surface when recently, I visited the old homestead and came face-to-face with my past. To my utter shock, the house still has a smelly open pit latrine. This time, it was located at the back corner of the house. It is as if civilization has not come to that household. A little bit of civilization, buttressed with enforcement of the byelaws of district assemblies, would have pushed households to construct improved hygienic household toilets.

Open pit latrines are inhumane. They are just as horrible, or probably worse than the practice of open defecation. The traditional open pit latrines are uncivilized hell holes into which fowls, dogs, children and small-sized human beings fall. Knick-named eleven-eleven, pit latrines are places of shame. They steal human dignity. 

They consist of dug-out holes on which wooden planks provide dividers and places to rest the feet during a squat. They may or may not have enclosures and roofs. Mostly, they are open to the elements of rain and sunshine. Reptiles can crawl into the spaces. Very offensive stench emanates from pit latrines, making them very unhygienic for human usage. By their nature, open pit latrines cannot be hygienic. 

Ideally, the state of Ghana must ban all open pit latrines as a way of claiming and operationalizing the total independence of our country. It is unconscionable for a country that is naturally endowed with gold, crude oil, bauxite, cocoa, arable lands, and water bodies to tolerate having any of its citizens respond to nature’s call in such extremely unhygienic places. Open pit latrines should be consigned to the garbage dumps of our distant history.

Communities that become open defecation free through the construction of well-maintained sanitary household latrines are quick to destroy their pit latrines. When individual households have their own toilets, their pride and sense of dignity become elevated; and will not reduce themselves to entering stinky public open latrines.

A few months ago, I travelled to the Ajumako area in the Central Region. As I entered Ajumako Assasan, trash greeted me. Plastic waste mixed with other waste scattered the roadsides in heaps. Without realizing it at the time, in retrospect, I now realize that the entrance communicated the psyche of the community. It is amazing how disorder and filth says much about a place and its people. The psyche of a people is locked up in the outward manifestations. 

The sleepy community of Ajumako Assasan has two “eleven-eleven” open pit latrines (one for males, and the other for females). The name “eleven-eleven” is a description of the wooden planks that cover the pit, to serve as feet rests. I decided to bravely enter one of their open pit latrines. The flies in those spaces are large, bluish, loud and robust, and healthier than normal flies in other spaces. The stench stayed on me for a couple of hours long after my visit to the community.

Generally, Ghana is doing poorly on the global open defecation front. It means that across the length and breadth of our country, when nature calls, a high number of people respond to the call in unhygienic places. Public schools, universities, hospitals, restaurants, homes, and even government offices have latrines that are disease-spreading places. It is known that some home owners go to the extent of converting the toilets in their houses into extra rooms for rental income. So as a country, we have a long way to go to get our latrine acts together. 

NANDOM IS THE FIRST ODF COMMUNITY

Good news are good for the soul. This good news is not the equivalence of launching a satellite, but celebrating small achievements can spur us on to greater heights and to keep our hope alive. On our developmental journey, we do need good news to keep us from weeping. Laughter is good for the soul. The soul of Ghana needs some good laughter.

It is therefore heart-warming to know that a lot of effort is being made to take away this national disgrace of open defecation. Earlier this year, the Nandom District in the Upper West Region was declared open defecation free. This suggests that the residents in the district no longer have open pit latrines.

If ongoing interventions across the country are followed through, more communities, districts and regions will also be declared open defecation free. So town by town, district by district, the independence of Ghana will be realised. 

dorisdartey@gmail.com

The male 11/11 public latrine in Ajumako Assasan (with a political campaign poster on waste bin)

What was hidden in the names of defunct Microfinance companies? By Doris Yaa Dartey. The WatchWoman Column

What was hidden in the names of defunct Microfinance companies?

By Doris Yaa Dartey. The WatchWoman Column

Microfinance in Ghana has become far removed from its humble and well-meaning origins in Bangladesh. Its pioneer, Mohammad Yunus’ clear intention was for microfinance to be used as an instrument to provide the balm of financial services to aid the unbanked poor who struggle at the bottom of the totem pole of deprivation. 

A good thing can go wrong. Good things do go wrong when they are left to suffer free-falls. Microfinance in Ghana is a great thing that over time, and to a large extent, had gone wrong. The on-going melt-down has been a long time coming. The revocation of the licenses of 347 microfinance companies last weekend by the Bank of Ghana is a verdict of what had gone so wrong for several years. 

Names say a lot! Going through the tall list of 347 microfinance companies whose licenses were revoked in an earth-shattering swoop on the over-sized murky industry, I became fascinated with several of the names. They read like a list of victims of a game gone bad. 

BORROWED AND SIMILAR NAMES

Without displaying a grain of creativity, some business owners get on the “copy-copy” bandwagon by adopting known names. This tendency in Ghanaian entrepreneurship to show lack of creativity, and the knack to copy whatever others are doing that appears to be successful is pathetic. As soon as someone begins a certain business, others assume that it must be profitable so quickly set up similar shops, at times in the same vicinity! 

A name may be borrowed with the clear intent of borrowing the accompanying benefits of name recognition and of association. A typical example on the list of 347 is Nationwide Microfinance. The first time I heard of Nationwide Microfinance, I wondered if the owner used to live in North America and borrowed the name from that part of the world where Nationwide Insurance is a major player in the insurance industry.  

The similarities in the names of some of the failed microfinance companies is troubling. It was as if the clear intention was to confuse potential clients. If these company names are stacked against each other, you must be a super alert person to notice the differences. 

The word Capital is the most used word in the names of the defunct microfinance companies; appearing in 34 of the 347 names. The intent might have been to attract their targets to patronize the companies and to grab some trading “capital”. I would not be surprised if most of the companies with the word capital in their names were registered about the same time when “capital” was the fad word!

“Connect Capital Microfinance Limited”and “Capital Connect Microfinance Limitedare both on the list. The only difference between them is in the mere arrangement of the two words—Capital and Connect! How does an average Ghanaian differentiate one from the other? I cannot!

The list also includes “All Ghana Microfinance Company” and “All Inclusive Microfinance Company”,both of which run amok in the microfinance industry. And then there are six companies with the word Cash: “Cash Multitrust Microfinance”,“Cashphase Microfinance”,“Cashplus Microfinance”, “Cashbridge Microfinance”,“Datacash Microfinance” and “LJ Cash Microfinance”.The names sound as if they belonged to a cash group of companies! 

And who won’t be confused with “Tipping Point Microfinance”side-by-side with “Turning Point Microfinance”? Or of “Noble Dreams Microfinance” and “Big Dreams Microfinance”? Imagine if these look-alike sound-alike companies operate in the same market! Confusion galore! If “Crown Capital Microfinance”was pitched against “Crown House Microfinance”, would you know the difference? I wouldn’t!

Were these similarities errors in the list released by the BoG? Or the Registrar General outdid itself by registering sound-alike companies in the same industry? Shouldn’t differentiation in naming be a pre-condition for registering companies? How did the BoG supervise and regulate the maddening crowd of sound-alike names? Didn’t the BoG officials feel dizzy with the task? Clearly, Ghana went through a comedy of errors with the naming of microfinance companies. 

RELIGIOUS FLAVOUR

As a super-Christian society, some owners hooked on to religion as if a microfinance company was an extension of church! There might have been a spiritual strategy behind this. For deeply gullible Christians, names with Christian undertones would get their attention. 

The company name that tickled me the most is “Sweet Jesus Microfinance”.Also on the list are: “Christian Community Microfinance”, “Nativity Microfinance Services”, “Ebenezer Microfinance”, “Redeemer Microfinance”,“St Mary’s Microfinance” and “God is Perfect Microfinance”(which is reminiscent of the erstwhile “God is Love Fun Club Microfinance”– which proudly carried the flag that preceded this major collapse of microfinance companies). 

But in the end, religion and the appeal to names and words associated with Jesus Christ did not save the collapsed companies. They have gone down the tubes with the secular non-religious names. Probably, “Eclipse Microfinance Limited”carried a prophesy!

STRATEGIC AND PRETENTIOUS NAMES

Some of the names reveal an irony, and were pregnant with lots of promises. Did the owners of some of the companies set out to deceive gullible clients? Was the intention hidden in the names—in plain view? Did the names of the companies impact on the acceptance of the companies by clients?

On the list are: “Expressway Microfinance”, “Fast Track Capital Microfinance”, “Multi Money Microfinance”, “Financial Republic Microfinance”, “Startwell Microfinance”, “Integrity Capital Microfinance”, “Giant Steps Microfinance”and “Advalue Microfinance”. 

Where is the value now? Wherein lies “Integrity” or“Financial Republic”? The “Fast-Track”did not end well. The “Express” crushed to a halt. The “Multi-Money”became a mirage. Some customers walked “Giant Steps”to their doom. “Easy Fast”did not happen because after all, nothing that is easy comes fast. “Easy Fast”carried a hidden warning: cheap things are dear! Probably some of the companies started well but apparently, did not end well. 

A display of pretentiousness was also evident through the use of the word “Global” in the names of five of the collapsed companies. They are: “Global Feed”, “Global Trust”,“Global One”, “Lead Global”, and “AC Global”! It was as if by laying some awkward claim to something beyond Ghana and stretch all the way into the global international arena would make the companies important and guarantee their success. The company founders might have used the word global as a marketing ploy, by telling unsuspecting clients, “See, we’re better than the other microfinance companies ooh! We are global! So come and do business with us! 

Key lesson is: Buyer beware!

dorisdartey@gmail.com

An open letter to the Yaa Naa ………………Deforestation and plastic waste are overwhelming Yendi area

An open letter to the Yaa Naa

………………Deforestation and plastic waste are overwhelming Yendi area

By Doris Yaa Dartey

Your Royal Highness, Yaa Naa Abubakari Mahama II, King of Dagbon. Your ascension to the Dagbon throne has brought a deep sigh of relief to Ghana and beyond. For about three decades, this country collectively held its breath, and literally cried—wishing and praying for peace in the Dagbon kingdom. During the years of conflict, Dagbon was not breathing right, and for that reason, the development of parts of the kingdom stalled. 

PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT ARE BEDFELLOWS

So your enskinment is to ensure not only peace but development as well. I recall my personal experience in 2012 when I attempted to visit Yendi, the Dagbon capital. As I approached the area, I spoke to a friend who calls the area home. He firmly cautioned me not to dare. His reason? It is a dangerous place and my safety could not be guaranteed. With fear in my heart, I quickly aborted the trip and headed back to Tamale. 

But as recently as mid-March, I finally visited Yendi and spent a full day touring various small communities in the municipality. My verdict is that your people are very nice! They are very welcoming! They are making strides to improve their lives. 

The purpose of my visit was to interact with community members regarding UNICEF’s intervention to promote the building of household toilets. The energy, determination and pride of your people to construct and maintain their own household toilets is very admirable, and a sign that they truly care about the quality of their lives and of the development of their area.

Your Majesty, the reason I am writing to you is to bring to your attention two key observations I made of the Yendi neighbourhood; and for you to find ways to resolve them. The two troubling issues are: the rapid deforestation of the area, and the interlocking of plastic waste with the earth. These problems are unconscionable and require strong leadership to resolve. Interestingly, these issues are very visible from the main roadside. Everything communicates! The roadsides of Yendi speak volumes. 

RAPID DEFORESTATION MUST CEASE!

Your Majesty, the deforestation of your area is observable from the booming commercial activities along the roadsides and in the trucks leaving the Yendi and Mion municipalities. I was shocked at the number of vehicles loaded to the brim with wood and wood products like firewood and charcoal. These fully loaded trucks were gleefully departing the Mion and Yendi area. The trucks had the appearance of people who are carting out the spoils of war! 

To top it up, there is brisk trading in firewood and charcoal by your own people, which was evident from the heaps of wood products displayed for sale by the roadside. I bore witness to a roadside that is piled up with the veins of your land! This gives the area an appearance that destroying the forest is the main money-making occupation. 

It is as if Dabgon is being destroyed just so people in Kumasi, Accra, Takoradi and beyond can cook with open fires! It is as if civilization had not come so the ecologically fragile lands of the northern parts of this country must be destroyed at all cost to satisfy the insatiable appetite of Ghanaians to cook in the same ways our forebears of yesteryears cooked! 

Why is the place that is closer to the Sahara Desert the chief supplier of firewood, charcoal and rosewood to Ghana and beyond? Is this behaviour from a certain self-destructive tendency, from a death wish of some sort? Or could it be that there are some periods outside the farming season, when the people of your area have no work to do so resort to cutting down trees, not thinking far into the consequences? 

A Cree Indian proverb has it that: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money.”We cannot wait for such a gloomy environmental fate to befall us. Your Majesty, could you therefore decree for an end to the indiscriminate cutting down of trees in your kingdom? 

PLASTIC WASTE: THE DABGON FLOWERS!

Your Majesty, I am a keen observer of plastic waste. Generally, I was shocked about the prevalence of plastic waste in your kingdom. Apart from the usual plastic waste scattered in and around habitations across the country, I observed a strange phenomenon, which I had not seen anywhere else in Ghana. 

Just before Mion and in communities towards Yendi and beyond, there are odd scenes of patches of plastic waste that had over time, become interlocked with the soil. They are multi-coloured so stand out from the colour of the earth. They comprise of sachet water waste as well as plastic bags. Clearly, they are single use plastic waste that the users mindlessly tossed about. So over some years, as the wind blew them around and the rain watered them down, they joined forces and grabbed onto the soil. 

So the plastic waste that had interlocked the earth is not new waste. They had been there for so long that they consider themselves as part of nature and therefore belong to the earth. But their very appearance betray their true character: that they are foreign to your environment. As is the nature of non-biodegradable plastics, if no one removes them from the spot where they had lodged, they will remain there for several hundreds of years.  

As I focused on this phenomenon, trying the make sense of it, the thought crossed my mind that this may be a classic case of the leftovers of the protracted Dagbon conflict. My guess is that during the period of conflict, when the area was in a free-fall, the environment suffered as much as (or probably more than) the human beings. 

Your Majesty, it will be great if you will organize your people to rake out the plastic waste from the roadsides as a sure way of removing these ugly scars of conflict and to truly usher in a new era of peace and development. 

Then in a grand move, please lead Ghana to place a ban on the sale and use of plastic bags. Granted that sachet water will have to be with us for a very long time. With some proper management of collection, disposal and recycling, the waste from sachet water can be controlled. But plastic bags of all sizes and colours do not belong in your kingdom, or anywhere else in Ghana.

dorisdartey@gmail.com

A man died last week; People rejoiced!

The announcement of a certain person’s death two days before Easter was received with a blizzard of cheers and raw unadulterated jubilation. As the elders say, it is only when a frog dies that you can know its actual length! That is just the nature of frogs! Otherwise, we know frogs mainly by their annoying sounds of croaking and grunting. Whilst alive, frogs pull their limbs inside, as if permanently ready for a jump, and to hide in dark muddy corners! 

I was shaken when I heard of the death of Mr Tony Obinako (not his real name of course). That night, I could not fall asleep. I stayed wide awake, contemplating about the deep meaning of life. For the next couple of days, I was dull, very quiet and reflective. It felt as if I was watching a lengthy horror Nigerian movie. As several scenes in the awkward narrative that culminated in Obinako’s death unfolded in the imaginary movie, I asked myself: What at all do human beings want earthly properties for? 

OPEN EXPRESSIONS OF JOY

Whilst being quiet and shaken by Obinako’s death, I bore witness to very open, visible and loudly expressed joy that overwhelmed my understanding of the world. I pointed out to more than a dozen people that their expression of joy over someone’s death was very awkward and that it was even unnatural. Some said that I was weird to be surprised at their joy. The following were some of the remarks from people as they discussed Obinako’s death.

“Finally, God has done it! Glory be to God almighty!” “We thank God!” “Eh, God is really good ooh!” “We thought ghosts had lost their powers and no longer existed like in the olden days! These days, ghosts may delay in exacting vengeance but Obinako’s death is proof positive that ghosts still deliver!” “Didn’t I predict that he will die soon? You see! There was no way he would have survived the extent of wickedness he unleashed on many people!” “He got what he deserved! But it took too long for this death to occur!” “He did not deserve to live!” “His death calls for celebration! We better find a bottle of Champaign to cheer up!” “May that monster’s soul rest in hell so we can have peace! He should have gone sooner!”

Typically, it is assumed that as we grow older, we probably would have seen and experienced just about everything so cannot be surprised. But I had never heard or witnessed such a phenomenon all my life—of open expression of joy over the death of a person. How could such jubilation be explained?

HOW OBINAKO EARNED JUBILATION OVER HIS DEATH

The said Obinako was exhausting in many ways. On the exterior, he was a calm gentleman who you will not guess could hurt a fly. He was handsome with the looks to be a heart-throb for the daughters of Eve. But when you got up close and personal to him, he shocked you and caused you to doubt your ability to understand human beings. He was like a whirlpool that will rudely and violently turn your world upside down and inside out. 

The alleged crimes Obinako had committed were the types for writing novels. It was suspected that he committed two murders. There were stories about him that suggested that he was a rapist. There were several evidence of him as a schemer, liar, grabber and insensitive; and generally as a very smooth operator. He was known to have cheated people out of properties, having sold two houses that had been bequeathed to children in a Will; and squandered the proceeds from the sales. He arranged for macho-men to seek out one of his sworn enemies for an attack. 

There were attempts to get the criminal justice system to deal with him but he was so slippery that he somehow sneaked out. He was a pocket lawyer of some sort and was often seen around the court house in Accra chasing after one case or the other because he always had a number of people he had filed law suits against.

Last October, he was ordained as a pastor by one of the new breed charismatic churches. So instantly, he went under the cover of clerical protection and was spotted around town wearing a clerical collar around his neck. It was when he suddenly popped dead last week that I realized the extent to which he had hurt several people. 

Without a doubt, his death has saddened his close family members and some friends, who are mourning him. But it is the sheer number of people who have reasons to rejoice over Obinako’s death that I find very striking and unusual.

OBINAKO’S LESSONS ABOUND

There are many lessons in this story of one man dying and many people jubilating. To the best of our ability, we must strive to live flawless lives. We should treat others well and not intentionally cause them pain. It is not for nothing that various versions of the Golden Rule is found in all major world religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism): “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.” 

Man proposes; but God disposes. As I replayed the incidents that seemed to have finally led to the death of Obinako, I came to a much fuller realization that we human beings do not understand this life. We are here today; then gone tomorrow. Everything can end instantly even whilst we are busy making other plans. Life is truly fleeting! The aspects of life we do not see may be more extensive than what we see in tangible forms.

Whilst you are busy planning wicked moves against people, remember that your maker could decide on any day to take your life away and all your evil intentions will come to nothing. The day before Obinako died, he threatened some people and bragged that right after Easter, he will unleash terror on them. He did not know that he will not be alive to celebrate Easter! Whilst he was planning, the universe had other plans for him. 

If Obinako could reincarnate, would he do things differently after eavesdropping on people’s outward expressions of joy over his death? But more specifically, what would you (dear reader) do if you were to live in the moment, with full realisation that you are not guaranteed tomorrow? How would you want to be remembered? Would you live life as a monster and wicked schemer like Obinako, over whom people will rejoice when they hear of your death and exclaim—“Good riddance”? Or you will live as a good, loving, kind, helpful person who will be greatly missed when your death is announced? Let the choice be the latter. We should all work toward attaining a progressive human-centred life.

Dorisdartey@gmail.com

A tale of two different national time-keepers

Over a period of four working days, I had the opportunity of being a member of two separate delegations to meet two of our leading duty bearers. Unfortunately, the experiences were so different; as different as night is from day. Whilst one experience was an admirable class-act, the other one was horrible and a very low-blow to decency and respect. For both encounters, appointments were scheduled about three weeks ahead and went through processes of confirmation and assurances of confirmation.

BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLE OF TIMELINESS

My first stop was at the Jubilee House for a scheduled meeting with the Vice President on a Friday. Although we were scheduled for 4pm, our 10-member delegation decided to gather at 3pm, an hour earlier to ensure that we will be together, and on time. By 3:40pm, all our team members were ready, seated in the Vice President’s conference room. At exactly 4pm, a staffer walked in to announce that the Vice President was ending another meeting so will run five minutes late. Then, at exactly 4:05pm, he walked in! With that, I bore witness to an excellent example of a duty bearer setting a beautiful example.

In a grand display of courteousness, he walked to each of us to shake hands and welcome us. The meeting went on for 45 minutes. At the end, he again walked to each of us to shake our hands and thank us for coming. The timeliness was respectful, professional and fully loaded with dignity. The experience was a best practice example that should be emulated in all state institutions. There was no wasting of our time or of his time. It occurred like a well-oiled machinery with a no-nonsense sort of efficiency. 

WORST PRACTICE EXAMPLE OF TIMELINESS

The fourth working day after Dr Bawumiah’s display of best practice time-keeping, I found myself in an awkward situation at the health ministry. Our survival depends on our good health. For that reason, I consider the Ministry of Health as one of the most critical ministries because poor handling of health could spell death. 

I was a member of an eight-member delegation to meet the Minister of Health. Four of our team members had travelled long distances for this meeting. Two came from Wa in the Upper West Region, one from Bolgatanga in the Upper East, and two from Tamale in the Northern Region. The remaining three of us were your average Accra folks. Our appointment with the Minister was scheduled for 2 pm. It had been confirmed through letters, telephone calls and face-to-face contacts. Our team decided to assemble 30 minutes earlier (by 1:30pm) to be double sure that we were on time.

By 1:40, we began to sense that something was not right. By 2:36, no one was around to see us; and we waited and waited at the reception hall downstairs—without the decency of an explanation. After our team leader pressed and literally lobbied for the powers that be to give us audience as scheduled and promised, at 3:15pm, we were invited to go upstairs to the conference room. Finally, at 3:30pm, one and a half hours after our scheduled appointment, a deputy minister appeared with an entourage of some sort. 

He gave a casual apology, explaining that he did not know anything about our appointment and that he had just been asked to meet us! At the end of the meeting, I made it my business to point out to the deputy minister that the ministry is ill, since it cannot even keep appointments. His attitude was that we should be grateful that he met us!

My take on the poor attitude displayed by the Ministry of Health is that when a person from upscale in officialdom is very late in meeting ordinary citizens, it presents a stark reminder of who is the boss. It is the person’s ego on display, and a glaring disregard for others owing to a warped feeling of self-importance.

PREZ NANA, LEAVE A LEGACY OF TIMELINESS 

How come the Vice President displayed respect toward us by being on time but the Minister of Health showed us so much disrespect by keeping us waiting for a whopping one and a half hours? In the end, he did not show up! Rather, he sent a deputy who had not been briefed about the purpose of our meeting. 

What is the policy of President Nana’s administration on timeliness? My experience at the Ministry of Health suggests that whatever good examples the presidency is setting is only skin deep and is not permeating into the fabric of government. There is no way change could occur at the top if the old mess is left to fester at the ministries, departments and agencies of governance. If the chieftains of Jubilee House respect the citizenry but their representatives do not care a hoot about us, then the president might as well stop putting in the effort!

Time is no respecter of persons. The kind universe allots to each of us the same number of seconds, minutes and hours in a day. It is 24 hours for a president or a commoner, male or female, a university professor or an unemployed depressed youth. It is the same 24 hours a day that roll into weeks, months and years. 

The interesting fact about time is that when it is gone, it is really gone! You cannot retrieve the time you wasted yesterday and make use of it today. Time is the boss and has a mind of its own. Time is the finite gift of the universe to living beings. Time is therefore a privilege. It is the quality of what we do with our time that makes all the difference. Wasting time is therefore tantamount to wasting one’s life.

When you have the majority of your population rolling by and wasting their time, they are by that wasting the national time and life. If we could compute the number of hours people waste when they go to work, the results will shock our national consciousness. Just observing the extent of idleness at some government offices gives me the chills. Some people have perfected time-wasting tactics. Chatting endlessly about inconsequential personal matters; or going on extended breaks even though they arrived very late for work. 

Indeed, laziness lurks in our national shadows! Our disrespect for time casts a large dark shadow over our collective effort to attain progress. Our national lackadaisical attitude toward time needs healing. Whatever President Nana and Dr Bawumiah could do to set the clock of Ghana to make us a time-respecting society should be done. If they succeed, it will be their greatest legacy to Ghana. 

dorisdartey@gmail.com

One household, one latrine: The success story of Ajumaim By Doris Yaa Dartey. The WatchWoman Column. 30 March, 2019

Truly, not all that glitters is gold! My recent travels to some small rural communities in the middle-of-no-where Ghana had demonstrated to me that the bright city lights of big cities probably just shine onto sub-standard existence. Accra, the city of my birth, which has become ungovernable, has much to learn from some well-functioning villages. 

AJUMAIM IS RICH, NOT POOR

I visited the small remote community of Ajumaim in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam district in the Central Region. As you enter Ajumaim, which is located on a hilly ground, the initial impression you get is that “Oh! They are really poor!” The narrow red-earth road on which you make your way to the village has a diseased surface, with holes and cracks. The thatch houses communicate deprivation. This village is like an afterthought. Yet, it is a farming community that contributes in putting food on our collective plates. 

Regardless of the usual under-development challenges they face, they have succeeded in getting their acts together. Ajumaim is a very clean village—swept clean with care and love. Plastic waste is absent. A green waste bin sits at a vantage point, empty! There is no drop of garbage anywhere. Ajumaim is a well-organized village. You can feel that there are elders in the community. There is order! There is leadership and effective local-level grass-roots governance.

In consistence with the cleanliness, every household in this community has its own latrine. No one defecates in the open. The household toilets are very clean, with no flies in sight. The toilets do not emanate any stench. Of course, the residents are very proud of this achievement. Without a doubt, the success story of Ajumaim is packed with lessons for several parts of Ghana, especially our major cities like Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale. 

The government of Ghana did not finance the construction of their household toilets. The inhabitants placed so much value on the idea of well-kept hygienic household latrines that they put their money where their hearts and values are located. 

Beneath the poverty-looking exterior, Ajumaim challenges you to rethink the concept of poverty and of development. Poverty should not just be about deprivation. One may lack in certain areas but have surplus of other requirements that enrich decent living.

HOW DID AJUMAM BECOME ODF?

From time immemorial, families in the isolated farming community of Ajumaim did not have household latrines. Whenever nature called them, they all responded with visits to the bush or an open pit public toilet —children and adults alike. That was the social norm. It was not an issue of concern. They were exposed to snakes, rain, sunshine and other vagaries of nature. But there was the matter of dignity.

Then sometime in 2016, a civil society organization visited the village and encouraged them to stop open defecation. They were receptive to the idea. A few households constructed their toilets, comprising of dug holes and slabs. But they found the slabs to be frightening because they were not firm. But in no time, new types of latrines were introduced to the community.

Looking unassuming, the Chief took a leadership role, effectively using soft power. Together with his elders, they set the rule that all homes in Ajumaim must have toilets. The district assembly got involved and sent environmental health officers to the community to encourage and guide them to construct household toilets. The intervention of the Assembly helped in increasing awareness. If the space inside their homes was inconvenient, the toilets were built a short walking distance away. 

The elders created a map of Ajumaim, which shows the location of each house. It was posted on a wall in the centre of the village for all to see. As households built hygienic toilets, the success story was marked on the community map. This highlighted households that practice open defecation for all to see. This act presented community pressure and shame, and resulted in conformity to the social dictates. 

Offenders of open defecation are fined Ghc10. The natural leaders of the town volunteer their time to go round Ajumaim to inspect the toilets. It is required that: the slabs are covered to keep flies away; the space is kept clean on a daily basis; there is a super-structure with a roof to ensure that users are protected from the rain and sun; and assures them of their dignity.

Also posted on the community notice wall are the sanitation bye-laws of the village, to which every resident adheres. The laws are successfully enforced. For the past two years, Ajumaim has been open defecation free. The Unit Committee Member, Samuel Donkor is a champion opinion leader. With an outspoken voice and a determined attitude, he is a natural leader who makes things happen. 

I entered four household toilets in Ajumaim. Of course they are not water-closets but they offer privacy, cleanliness and the high-level of dignity human beings need to keep their heads up in society. Every latrine I inspected had a tippy tap water station for handwashing.

It is estimated that the household latrines will last for about 30 years. This implies that if the community remains on this track, the children and those not yet born will cultivate the habit of using clean toilets. Open defecation will become an abnormality for the new generation, and possibly crush what was normal in previous generations.

Of the 157 communities in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District, 42 of them, including Ajumaim, are Open Defecation Free. This leaves 115 communities either practicing open defecation or using filthy public toilets, which are poorly maintained. Ajumaim has a population comprising of about 100 adults and children. It has no school. It has one water pump, which is located a long walk away.

THE POWER OF VOLUNTEERISM

Volunteers in Ajumaim contributed immensely to its open defecation free success story. Daniel Kweku Acquah is a mason, who volunteered his time and skills to construct toilets. The Assembly organized a five-day training for him and other artisans as Community Technical Volunteers to acquire the skills on proper latrine construction methods. So Acquah is skilled to give proper guidance to residents.  

Whenever a family decided to construct its toilet, they approached him and he guided them on how deep and wide they should dig, and also helped them to make the slab. Generally, the residents helped each other to construct their latrines. Hannah Baah cooks for free to feed the workers. She also inspects household latrines to ensure compliance with the neatness rules the community had collectively agreed to live by.

So today, Ajumaim can brag of being open defecation free because its citizens came together to volunteer and support each other. Love can birth human dignity.With a little help, this village can become a show-piece of development in a few years. Its success can potentially rub off positively on neighbouring communities that still practice open defecation, are unorganized, and not clean.

dorisdartey@gmail.com