Opinions, Features, Ghana news

If you decide to belong to a church that will humiliate you a guy for impregnating a lady out of wedlock or you a pregnant lady, then that is purely up to you. Apart from that confused angel, I haven't heard of any church that will dare assault a lady and a guy for engaging in sexual intercourse and ending up with pregnancy.  Because away from the religious self-righteous nonsense, assault is a criminal offence which is against, not only the individual but the state, and anyone who allows him or herself to be assaulted in the name of some god is just a plain idiot.

After the demise of the late President Atta Mills on July 24, 2012, we woke up to hear another news on Monday 19th November 2012, that the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) had declared Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, medically fit to undertake the demanding work of the presidency. 

Gone were the days when owners of Black and White television sets were demigods in their vicinity.
Hitherto, most people come from afar to encamp at vantage areas and stay glare at the emitting rays from the TV sets, with all their protruding foreheads and eyes determined not to miss a sight of programmes telecasted on GTV.

The answer to the above question is simple: The President has terribly failed the people of his home Region! They are deeply peeved with him and waiting to show him the exit on December 7.

Fellow Africans, exactly twenty-one years ago, on July 25, 1995, I set forth at dawn. My destination was exile. I needed to dialogue with my feet and escape in a jiffy from my dear beloved country without any prior notice. Nigeria was under a most brutal and brutish military dictatorship. Once you were considered a dissident, you were a target for incarceration or extermination.

Folks, any keen observer of the ebb and flow of contemporary Ghanaian politics will not undermine the influence of Franklin Cudjoe and his IMANI Ghana team on the political rhetoric that has portrayed the Mahama-led administration as “incompetent” (according to the Gospel of the NPP’s Akufo-Addo).

It is on record that the three governments headed by Former President J. J. Rawlings killed more people in Ghana than all the other governments combined in that endeavour. Former President Rawlings headed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) government in 1979 and within three months had executed his predecessor military rulers and superiors. In that brief period in government, he supervised the killings of many people.

Naa Andani II ruled Dagbon for 38 years (1858 to 1896). It is believe his ascention to the skin of Yani marks the beginning of the current rotation between the two royal houses, Abdulai (Abudu) Gate and Andani gate. Ya Naa Abdulai I and Ya Naa Andani II were of different mothers. According to Dagbon custom and tradition it is believe that no two princes of the same woman should be allow to ascend Yani.

Maybe we need to dig up all the statistics necessary to confirm or repudiate the report which is to the unenviable effect that Ghana has the highest road accident fatality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa and the world.

For some 11 odd years now, I have had my chambers or law offices within the Museum of Science and Technology compound which is opposite the Greater Accra Regional office of the Ghana National Service Scheme, situated at Education Close, Adabraka, Accra.

As the December election draws close, Ghanaians argue over the role of the church in politics. Those who believe the church should be walled from politics are growing loud by the day. But which is the right way? Should the church be walled or not?

This week I wanted to write about the tidal waves sweeping along the coastal regions of Ghana from Keta to Biriwa, destroying canoes, outboard motors and in some cases destroying houses.

A port-bound truck carrying a shipping container keels over on its side and lands on a saloon car as it the driver negotiates a roundabout in the heavy industrial area of Tema, flattening the car and killing its occupants.

A truck carrying a shipping container to the Tema Port falls on its side while trying to negotiate a turning close to TT Brothers not far from the Nungua Barrier, very narrowly missing a parked minibus full of passengers and causing a long traffic jam along the route for hours.

Far away in Accra Central, another truck carrying a shipping container falls on its side just outside the gate of a basic school but thankfully the children are in their classrooms.

Many indeed are the gory accidents in which poorly fastened shipping containers or trucks carrying containers have fallen on top of passing smaller motor vehicles or pedestrians.

With two sea ports which are favourite destinations for shippers across West Africa, Ghana’s major roads and highways have fairly large fleets of cargo trucks constantly transporting import and export cargo in shipping containers.

The heavy metal containers unfortunately, are often not well fastened and secured on the trucks and this threatens the safety of other road users including motorists and pedestrians.

It is scary seeing these huge trucks speeding along the country’s roads with the metal containers precariously positioned on the trucks sometimes shipping containers without the proper balance. The results have been accidents which have caused the deaths of many people.

Motorists who commute between Accra and Tema daily say they are terrified of the many trucks plying the route which carry shipping containers not properly fastened on or which appear to have problems with weight balance and . Drivers of passenger and private motor vehicles, say they are usually afraid when they overtake, are overtaken by or are parallel with the container carrying trucks on the road.

“I don’t know why in Ghana you see so many trucks carrying unfastened and poorly fastened shipping containers. It is a very serious road safety threat that needs to be dealt with immediately”, an expatriate factory owner in Tema says.

He says compliance with road safety regulations should not be optional for any category of motorists or road users.

Some of the causes of accidents involving the falling of containers from trucks or trucks carrying containers falling on their sides include improper weight balance, rusty or old trailers, defective or weak springs, bad roads, potholes, poor driving skills when it comes to negotiating curves, and over speeding.

“The drivers {of shipping container carrying trucks tend to tilt the weight of the container toward the side away from the driver’s side to make steering easier but because the rear springs, the trailer or the whole truck may be weak, the truck could fall on the side to which the weight of the container has been tilted” a road safety officer explained.

“This could happen when the truck is on a bad road, a road that slopes to the sides or a road riddled with potholes the driver frequently tries to avoid.”

In order to avoid paying road tolls, drivers of shipping cargo carrying shipping containers to or from Tema avoid the Tema Motorway and use the Beach Road instead, with many of them passing through the residential suburb of Sakumono. The roads in residential areas are not built to carry trucks laden with heavy shipping containers but the damage to the roads apart, the danger to the safety of hundreds of motorists and pedestrians is obvious.

Motorists and pedestrians in Tema Accra say it has become necessary for the Inspector-General of Police to reach an agreement with the authorities of the Tema and Takoradi Ports, that without the use of the appropriate fastening belts and container locks, trucks will not be permitted to convey loads form the ports.

The use of ordinary ropes and substandard cables should not be permitted and drivers who break the rules should be prosecuted. While the police play their part in enforcing the law, port authorities have a responsibility to critically inspect all trucks and ensure that containers are well fastened on and post-inspection certification done, before trucks are permitted to leave the ports.

Road safety experts say vertical belts should first be attached to the shipping cargo container’s securing loops and horizontal belts next used to keep the cargo firmly in place. To prevent the belt from slipping down, there should a firm binding over the load or a belt holder used to tape the container in place.

According to some freight manuals, the buckle should be placed so that there is between 30 and 40 centimeters of free belt remaining. This end should then be bound around the locking device to prevent it from opening during transport.

They emphasize that international container transportation regulations demand that lashing belts must be lashed to the container’s lashing points before loading and movement. The risk that horizontally loaded cargo such as cylinders could move during transportation is high.

Everyone is at risk from the dangers posed by the improper mode of transporting shipping containers and the public needs to join in a campaign to ensure the safe transportation of shipping cargo inland.

In other African countries with sea ports and large numbers of shipping cargo container carrying trucks, pressure is being brought on governments to institute measures for minimizing the threat posed to road users by container trucks:

Recently, there was a renewed public outcry about the need for the government of Nigeria to rebuild bad roads on which container trucks have been involved in accidents. This was after three persons were crushed to death when a truck with registration number XT AKD carrying a 40-foot shipping container fell on a Mazda car with registration number UK 641 KJA, on the Badagry-Seme Expressway.

A point was also made by the media about the absence of rescue and salvage equipment to try saving lives and clearing roads when container trucks fall on other vehicles:

The story is the same in Tanzania where I observed shipping container haulage trucks on the road. There, you see so many container carrying trucks on the roads. Here are a few examples of fatal accidents involving container trucks which have led to renewed public agitation for improved safety in the transportation of shipping cargo containers in that country:

At Kimara Baruti a shipping container fell on the back of commuter Hiace mini-buss, flattening the bus completely and killing eight people on board. Two unfastened shipping containers slid forward in a truck at Kibamba while it was in motion and damaged the driver’s cabin, causing him to lose control of the truck which then smashed into an oncoming Coaster bus killing 12 people on the spot.

A shipping container fell off a truck near Kimara. It killed three people on the spot including an up-coming TV film actor called Thomas Senzige. Ghana’s own campaign to promote public safety in the transportation of shipping cargo to and from the ports of Tema and Takoradi is apparently yet to begin.

Writer's e-mail: editing@sydneyabugri.com

In the debate following Dr Bawumia's presentation on the economy today, my good friend William Nyarko put up a post quoting the good doctor as saying "66% of Ghana's debt since independence has been accumulated by President John Mahama in the last three years”.

So, what does the data tell us about Ghana’s public debt? As John Osae-Kwapong often says data doesn’t lie and its sexy keke, hence let’s allow the data speak for itself. Here we go!

1. Ghana’s total public debt stock stood at US$6.1 billion in 2000 (123.3% of GDP)

2. This increased to US$9.5 billion (33.6% of GDP) as at the end of December 2008.

3. Total debt stock at the end of December 2012 increased to US$21.5 billion (51% of GDP)

4. Total debt stock at the end of December 2015 was US$27.6 billion (72.9% of GDP)

5. There was a 55% increase in the total debt stock equivalent to US$3.5 billion from US$6.1 billion to US$9.5 billion over the eight years from 2000 to 2008.

That is, President Kufuor left US$9.5 billion of total debt (i.e. monetary value of all of Ghana’s debt since independence). Of this amount, the NPP component was US$3.5 billion.

6. Similarly, there was an 188% increase in the total debt stock equivalent to US$18.02 billion from US$9.5 billion to US$27.6 billion in the seven years from 2009 to 2015. Of this US$18 billion amount, President Atta-Mills accumulated US$7.7 billion (2009-2011) and President Mahama has added US$10.3 billion from 2011 to 2015 (or 6.1 billion from 2012 to 2015).

7. Using the 2008 US$9.5 billion total debt stock since independence as the comparative basis or reference year, it is easy to see that the current government has accumulated 64% of Ghana’s debt since independence - that is, 6.1/9.5 = 64%. This equates to 107% in the more pessimistic scenario if one were to extend the starting period back a year to 2011. Notes:

(1) Total public debt stock includes all the historical and legacy debt since independence.

(2) All data can be crosschecked from MoFA fiscal outturn reports, Bank of Ghana, Ghana Statistical Service and the IMF/World Bank's World Development Indicators. I downloaded these from there.

(3) I'm just an independent economist who has worked with similar data sets that Dr Bawumia used in his presentation yesterday.

Dr. Mahmud Bawumia has since delivered his lecture on the true state of the Ghanaian economy based on what is available to him as an observer. A gloomy picture of the economy has been painted.

With respect to the gospel, Jesus Christ never established church during his ministry. However, after his earthly life, His followers imitated him so well that outsiders tagged them to be Christ-Like resulting into Christianity. Sadly enough, contemporary Christians, especially our ladies live on truncated motivation embodied in 1Samuel 16:7, "...

On 30 August 2016, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of Facebook caused a stir when he paid a surprise visit to Nigeria. During his stay, he visited the technology hub at Yaba (also known as Nigeria's Silicon Valley), interacted with young technology entrepreneurs, ate Jollof rice and met with President Buhari.

On 3, September 2016, Myjoyonline.com reported that a former Clerk of Ghana’s Parliament, Mr S N Darkwa, had described as an error, the “outright dismissal of a motion brought before [the current Speaker, Mr Doe Adjaho] by the Minority, in respect of the controversial Ford gift scandal involving President John Mahama”.