Features
Cleanest city a mirage until we get our planning right
About ten years ago while on a company bus travelling towards Accra from Awutu Senya, I made an observation and commented on it to a colleague sitting beside me on the bus. I observed that structures had sprung up and covered a wide area such that the Kasoa I knew, had grown into a big suburb. The discussion that ensued between me and my colleague led to the long held view that there is a serious lack of planning of our suburbs, towns and cities. In fact, there is no serious effort in ensuring that the layouts displaying demarcations set out in plans submitted to the Town and Country Planning Department for various areas by land owners are strictly enforced. The result is a haphazard development which impedes the execution of the planned layout for the area and therefore ultimately results in slums and makes supply of essential services to such places a nightmare.
There is a stretch of road that gets flooded anytime there is heavy rain for a considerable length of time. It lies between the traffic light on the main Kasoa-Accra highway going from West Hills Mall towards Accra and the traffic light at Atta Mills Link. This prevents motorists from using that stretch when there is flooding, creating a heavy traffic jam for motorists travelling from Kasoa towards Accra. After the floods have subsided, the road gets littered with all kinds of rubbish and mud and it is just ‘disgusting’ for want of a better word. The cause of this flooding is simply the filling up of the wetlands along that stretch for construction of buildings. When the run off which ordinarily should have been trapped by the wetlands cannot find any resting place, it is left with no option than to flow into the narrow drains created. These narrow drains cannot contain the volume of the run-off and so it overflows into the street causing the floods.
There is a perennial lack of resources in this country which require that budgetary support is sought each year from our foreign development partners. The President has come out with the idea of a ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ and to this end, every effort must be made to ensure that wastage in the system is eliminated. It is the responsibility of government to provide utility services to residential areas through agencies like Electricity Company of Ghana and Ghana Water Company Limited. When the projected revenue falls short of the projected expenditure, the government is left with no choice than to seek additional funds, usually through borrowing. When the spread of development in terms of estate residential areas is very broad, the cost in extending these services is astronomical which increases government expenditure and will impact negatively on our economy.
Agricultural development forms an integral part of this drive to generate resources and hence availability of land becomes a key issue. However, the way land is being given out to estate developers and individuals for residential purposes is a worrying situation and must be addressed. When ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ was launched in 1972, individuals bought into the idea and started miniature farms in their backyards. Schools also initiated farming projects and the enthusiasm for farming was at its peak all across the country. There was a bumper harvest across the country. Bumper harvest translates into extra revenue for the country and if there is value addition through processing, the revenue gets much bigger.
It is estimated that the country needs over 1 million housing units to satisfy the housing requirement of the nation and therefore there is some justification for the release of land for building purposes. However, there must be efficient use of available land since land is not inexhaustible. There is a population growth on the average of about three percent which means that if an efficient planning of land use is not initiated, a time would come when there will not be land available for other uses.
Land economy should be given the needed attention and one of the ways to achieve this is by putting in place a policy of maximising usage of land. When individuals acquire land and develop them, ten plots of land would have only ten flats. A high rise building on a plot of land can easily contain these ten flats leaving the remainder for other purposes. Again, the cost of supplying utility services to the individual apartments would be minimal compared to extending same to ten different apartments on different plots of land.
Modern markets like the Kaneshie Market should be the kind of market that should be established. Such markets would provide the requisite infrastructure that would enable rubbish to be appropriately handled such that the immediate surroundings of the market would be clean. Foodstuffs would also be handled well so that contamination would be reduced to the barest minimum. All these would contribute to a clean city which has a direct link to productivity.
The role of town planning officers is critical and no effort should be spared in ensuring that they are provided with the necessary resources to effectively execute their job. Effective systems should be established such that building permit acquisition becomes easier. This would provide motivation for people to get town planning involved in the putting up of structures so that buildings are not erected in waterways to create environmental problems like flooding etc. The current system for land registration is better but there is more room for improvement. The inspection role of town planning officers must be improved so that wrong siting of structures would be eliminated completely. Again, when structures are properly sited, disaster management cost would be reduced, resulting in savings that can be utilised in other sectors of the economy and the government would not have to borrow.
There must be a conscious effort to ensure that our drains are covered and the necessary studies are conducted to determine the size of drains that would be able to contain the volume of water that would flow through it without overflowing. Provision must be made for tunnels under the roads through which cables can be passed from one side of the road to the other to preserve the designed life of our roads. The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) must ensure that vehicles do not spill oil on our roads so that the life of our roads would be preserved and also prevent our streets from being dirtied.
Laud Kissi-Mensah
(The Average Citizen)
A haircut I had about a week ago didn’t go down well with many. Someone quite close to my heart saw it, examined it critically and felt dizzy.
“What’s this?” she proceeded to ask me.
“An international hairdo,” I replied.
She was disgusted, in fact disappointed. The problem with the haircut is that the style is neither Punk, Tokyo Joe nor Show Your Back. If anything, it is a combination of all—and I liked it, for a change.
It was when I bounded downtown that someone called me and enquired whether I was no longer a journalist. He said I looked like a well-fed Warrant Officer.
“Class One or Class Two?” I asked.
Another studied my head as if he was studying physical geography and pronounced that I looked like a boxer who can throw dangerous punches. Still, someone was of the opinion that the haircut didn’t quite fit me, but admitted that I looked like a prosperous merchant.
Commendation
I remember some three months ago, I had a haircut that made two girls fall in love with me. In spite of the fact that the barber was not a graduate, the cut was such that they couldn’t help admiring it. One of them actually ‘checked out’ the style and commended the barber.
The other was more bent on the ‘love matter’ but I was too busy to give her any attention. LOVE!
I was reminded of this when I viewed a premier showing of the latest Sikaman film titled THE POWER OF LOVE. The film kept me thinking. Some of us have long forgotten about what it is like to be head-over-heels in love. When we were students, we had such experiences because there was nothing doing anyway.
We were either learning how stylishly to smoke ‘jot’ or how romantically to fall in love. Anyhow, I was intrigued by this latest movie because of the way love unlimited was portrayed on screen. It took my memory back many years to relive those youthful days when we felt we’d really die if jilted by our lovers.
The storyline of THE POWER OF LOVE is really an exciting one. The combination of love, treachery and intrigue made me feast my eyes intently on the screen, unbelieving the extent the force of love can reach.
Ama and Afua are good friends. But when it comes to matters of the heart, they have different tastes; Ama is content with only her boyfriend (a student) and Afua samples the bigwigs around town. Afua, not satisfied with the shots in town, wants Ama’s boyfriend Joe in addition. She lies to Joe that Ama has often been picked by a man on four-wheels, whereupon Joe dismisses Ama and takes on Afua.
Ama doesn’t realise that it is her best friend Afua who is destroying her relationship with Joe until she catches her having sex with him. She collapses and goes out of her mind from the broken heart. But before then, she had been made pregnant by Joe.
Having escaped from a psychiatric hospital, she roams town murmuring Joe’s name. Heavily pregnant now, she espies Joe boarding a mini bus and runs towards him. Joe, seeing her approaching, quickly disembarks and takes off.
Ama pursues him furiously, and he runs to his home where he finds his bosom friend Frank making love to Afua. He immediately realises the treachery of Afua who instigated him to leave Ama.
He intends leaving the home in disgust and meets mad Ama at the door and embraces her despite her madness. Instantly, she regains her sanity.
Love indeed heals the wounds of the mind and it is the greatest positive force in the world. Incidentally, the greatest negative force is hatred.
Greatest force
Now coming to talk about love, I reiterate it is the greatest force imaginable. That is why a man will butcher his rival to death if he catches him climbing his wife without asking permission; and a woman will go mad if jilted.
It is also for this reason that a young boy who is scared stiff of cemeteries and under normal circumstances would not dare go near one, will this time walk boldly through a cemetery at midnight if that is the only way to his lover’s abode.
The Bible describes love for our neighbours as the surest way to heaven: Love thy neighbour as thyself.
Unfortunately, what Ghanaians are more interested and skilful in is loving the opposite sex. Romance under the cover of darkness is what we understand love to be all about. When it comes to loving our fellow human beings, we are found wanting.
People hate others just because they are of another tribe and do not speak the same native language. Too much grudge-bearing that does not augur well for national development.
War in Liberia, carnage in Rwanda are the results of the absence of love for one’s fellow being. If everybody could express a little bit of love for his fellow being irrespective of tribe, race, politics or religion, Sikaman—and indeed, the world—will be a more habitable place.
This article was first published on Saturday, October 29, 1994
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“Sir,” Ms. Odame said when David Asante answered the call, “my name is Victoria Odame. I’m a teacher at Research School in Koforidua. I would like to come and see you concerning a student called Sarah.”
“Okay, madam. I would be very glad to meet you. How can I make your trip easier?”
“I was going to join a bus to Accra.”
“Here’s what we will do. Take a taxi and ask them to bring you to Accra. I will speak to the driver, give him the directions, and pay him when you get here.”
The taxi stopped in front of the house. The gate opened, and the driver moved to the long driveway and stopped.
“What a beautiful house,” he said.
David and Adoma came out to meet them. Adoma paid the driver as David and Sarah stared at each other.
“Please come in and sit down,” Adoma invited. She served them water.
“You are welcome,” Adoma continued. “We have been waiting anxiously since you called this morning. So please, let’s hear you.”
Before she could open her mouth, Sarah rose, moved to David, hugged him, and sat on his lap. They both broke into tears. Adoma and Ms. Odame also broke into tears.
“Sorry, madam,” David said. “This whole episode has been a very difficult one. But let’s do the proper thing. Let’s hear you first, and I will also speak. I’m sure we need to answer some questions immediately.”
“Okay, sir. I have been taking an interest in Sarah because, although she’s brilliant academically, she seemed to be troubled. Following my discussions with her and some whispers I had been hearing, I went to Aboso Senior High School and spoke to your former colleague, Mr. Hanson. He told me that you were an exemplary teacher who was loved by all, and he also told me about the unfortunate events that caused you to leave for Germany. So I returned to Koforidua with the view to finding the appropriate means of helping to solve this problem.”
“Great. Ms. Odame, I have to thank you for finally helping us to solve this problem. Now, let me state the facts. This is what happened.
“Gladys and I met and got married whilst we were both teachers in the school. Some months into our marriage, she told me that she needed to spend some days with her parents, and I agreed.
“It turned out that she was actually spending time in a hotel with her ex-boyfriend, Simon. This happened again after Sarah was born. I got wind of this and told her that I was no longer interested in the marriage.
“I started preparing to travel to Germany. She pleaded for forgiveness, but I stood my ground. Then she told me that she would punish me for rejecting her.
“She came out later to say that Sarah was not my child, but Simon’s. She went and hid her somewhere, obviously expecting that I would fight to take my child. I was actually going to do that, but my parents advised me that it was almost impossible to win such a fight.
“They advised that, difficult as it sounded, I should leave the child with her because she would come back to me eventually. I have absolutely no problem taking care of you, Sarah. I am taking care of quite a number of kids who are not mine. So that is what happened. My hands were tied. I have been trying to find out how you are doing.
“I kept hearing that you were doing well at school. I also heard that Gladys and her husband were having problems, but I kept hoping that my daughter would at least be okay till it was possible for me to go for her.”
“Sarah, now you have met your dad. You will be free to—”
“I’m not going anywhere!” she declared as she held on to him.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Sarah,” Adoma said. “We have been looking forward to the day you come home. This is your home. Now, you have to meet your siblings.” She called Abrefi and Adaawa.
“Girls, we told you that you have a sister who would join us anytime. Now here she is.”
“Sarah?” Abrefi asked.
“Yes,” Adoma replied. The girls hugged her and took her away.
“Now,” David said, “I think it is time to call Madam Gladys.” He dialed the number.
“My name is David Asante. I’m here in my house with my daughter Sarah. I hear you have told her all sorts of crazy stories about me. I could make life very difficult for you, but I won’t.
“You are your own worst enemy. I don’t think you should be expecting her anytime soon. What do you say?”
Gladys stayed silent for over a minute, then cut the line.
“Food is ready,” Adoma announced. “Everybody, please come to the table.”
Sarah chatted excitedly with her siblings as Adoma and David spoke with Ms. Odame. She kept staring at her father.
“Now, Ms. Odame, after you have brought such joy into our home, should we allow you to go back to Koforidua today, or should we wait till we are ready to release you? I could call your husband and ask permission.
“And please don’t tell me you didn’t bring anything for an overnight stay. There are several supermarkets around here. We can fix that problem quickly.”
“I will beg you to release me. Now that I have been so warmly welcomed here, I already feel part of this home. Koforidua is not that far away, so I will visit often.”
“Well, let’s see what the kids have to say. Ladies, shall I release Ms. Odame to go back to Koforidua?”
“No!” they shouted, and all broke into laughter.
“Ms. Odame, I will have mercy on you. But we are going to do something to make it easy for you to visit us. My wife wants to show you something. Please follow her.”
Adoma led her to the driveway as the others followed. They stopped in front of the car.
“This is a Toyota Corolla 1600. It is very reliable and good on petrol consumption. We are giving this to you in appreciation of your help in getting our daughter back to us.
“And here in this envelope is a little contribution to help you with maintenance. And here in this other envelope is a gift to help with your children’s school fees.”
As she stood, stunned, and stared from the car to the envelopes, David put his hand around his family.
“Let’s leave her to take a look at her car. Ms. Odame, one of my drivers will drive you to Koforidua and leave your car with you. We are waiting inside.”
By Ekow de Heer
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