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I am ashamed as a Ghanaian
How did we get here? Burkina Faso which used to be called Upper Volta, when I was in Elementary School, is our neighbour on our northern border.
Much of that country is almost desert and comparing the level of development in say agriculture, they were nowhere near us at the time of independence.
In fact on many development indices, we are far ahead of them and it is therefore very shameful to find ourselves in a situation where we are importing tomatoes from Burkina Faso.
If what I have heard from some media platforms are true, that our government has started to plead with the Burkinabe government to rescind its decision to ban raw tomato exports to Ghana. What a shame.
If I were God, l definitely would have regretted creating a people called Ghanaians. We have all the resources both human and natural, to produce tomatoes beyond measure and for lack of seriousness, we are importing a greater percentage of our tomato requirement.
The sad thing is that we had tomato irrigation projects in the northern part of the country, but like everything else, we lose focus with the passage of time and allow things to deteriorate and then we suddenly wake up to the fact that we have to salvage the situation.
This is clearly a leadership failure. The plains bordering the voltage river and lake on either side, can easily be cultivated to feed thus country and why this vast land has not been properly utilised, clearly emphasise the point I just made about leadership failure.
Once we know that we do not have rains all year round, then the obvious option is irrigation to provide water for farming throughout the year. That is how you produce more than enough, to feed the nation, add value by processing the excess and become self-sufficient.
Sometimes, no plausible explanation regarding certain challenges confronting us as a nation can easily be offered.
If you go through the manifestos of the various political parties in the country, at least since the inception of this fourth Republic, you will find lofty ideas about how to improve our agriculture and how the nation’s growth is going to be anchored on it.
You will find mention being made of food self-sufficiency, the issue of adequate storage facilities to address post-harvest losses. What became of the planting for food and jobs program?
Over politicisation of the agric sector has led to a situation where we move one step forward and two steps backward.
The time to quit the rhetoric and engage in positive actions is now. We know the problems and the solutions to those problems but focusing on them and getting things resolved, seems to be the challenge.
The solution is not a rocket science issue. All we need to do is to copy from say what Nigeria did and tweak it to suit our peculiar environment and implement. Nigeria has achieved rice sufficiency and we can take useful lessons from them and we can also deal with the tomato production challenge.
Again, we can also take lessons from Burkina Faso, as to how they were able to transform their agriculture to this stage where tomato is being produced in abundance. If we are not able to transform our vegetable production, at least to become self-sufficient in tomato production, by the end of this year, as the Americans will say, it will be a crying shame.
We need to get our act together as a people. Our nation deserves better. God bless.
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THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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