Editorial
Wage sustained campaign on sickle cell, others
Dear Editor,
I read in the last edition of your esteemed newspaper a story about sickle cell and an advice to the youth, especially hoping to get married, to be aware of their sickle cell status before falling in love.
That is a very important call on the youth in my view because of the lack of awareness on the condition which has the tendency to affect one’s ability to live a decent life.
Sadly, awareness creation on some of these medical conditions have not been sustained ones.
Just like the breast cancer disease and many others, we often wait for particular periods earmarked for awareness on the existence and management of these diseases.
Although it is good enough to set aside particular days, weeks and months to thoroughly deliberate on some of the medical mishaps, it is equally important to wage a sustained programme to always referesh the minds of the people of these conditions.
Sickle cell for instance is one of the health conditions one don’t hear very often but its implication can prematurely curtail one’s life.
The youth must be aware of its existence and the importance in knowing status before falling in love.
For me, the education must even stretch beyond falling in love since there are those who also engage in casual sex. They can also be caught up in this web and in the case of pregnancy with both have the S OR c genes, then it becomes likely to have a sickle cell baby.
I want to appeal to the authorities to make those calls very regular for the youth to be aware.
Ofori Mike,
La
Dear Editor,
I wish to use this esteemed platform to urge the traditional councils of Osu and La to call for independent investigation into the recent demolition exercise at Kaajaano.
The exercise rendered hundreds homeless.
Information about the reason for the demolition has been scanty with those desiring to know feeding heavily on social media posts.
One particular name –Jato, has been associated with it but under whose instruction the exercise was carried is also not known.
Sadly, instead of getting to know who ordered the demolition and for what reasons, traditional authorities of Osu and La have been embroiled in a tug-of-war over ownership of the said land.
This is premature. At this moment, they should call for investigation into the exercise to know the people behind it.
When that is done, then discussions about the owners of the site can begin. That would end the posture of the two neighbouring town which has the potential to turn into something else.
Ataa Osa Mensah,
Osu
Dear Editor,
I wish to use your respected platform to draw the attention of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to the behaviour of traders and some drivers about the use of lower denomination coins, specifically the 20 and 10 pesewas.
About two weeks ago, I read in your sister newspaper, The Ghanaian Times about this problem and the caution that followed from the BoG and some economic analysts.
The warning they gave was that the continuous rejection of the notes could create pricing problems which can eventually affect inflation.
I thought that would put to bed that practice or refusal to accept the coins when given out as change or use to pay for particular service.
Unfortunately, the problem still persist among traders, drivers, customers and passengers alike. Only last week, there was as altercation in the Accra Central area where a woman refused to accept five 20 pesewas note totaling one cedi.
As the argument continued, the trader decided not to sell to the customer again after by-standers explained to her that it was still a legal tender and those that refused it could become offenders.
This is an issue the BoG and other regulatory agencies must go and explain to the people and let them know that it is unlawful not to accept a currency that is still in use.
It nothing was done, it could create a much more serious problems.
Mary Osei Badu,
Swedru
