One major problem in this country is lack of proper maintenance culture which goes to adversely affect the lifespan of facilities built across the country.

Many a time, facilities such as water systems, electricity systems, buildings, roads and many other facilities are not given proper maintenance, a situation which leads to a decrease in the lifespan of such projects.

MAINTENANCE OF FACILITIES

Indeed, if all facilities are given proper maintenance, it will go a long way to ensure that these facilities enjoy a long span of life instead of seeing them getting deteriorated within a short time. Maintenance culture is what we need to increase productivity in the sense that the few facilities available and established in various parts of the country maximise their efforts in terms of durability and positive contribution to socioeconomic development.

When facilities are maintained regularly, it helps to ensure that they last for a long time and help productivity in all sectors to be facilitated to increase to the highest level.

Currently, we have been told that the Electricity Company of Ghana and GRIDCO are carrying out maintenance on certain power facilities in various parts of the country. For this reason, certain transformers are being expanded and replaced so that the quality of power supply will be enhanced.

POWER OFFS

It is very irritating when we experience power offs in our areas of residence due to unreliable power supply and lack of maintenance. For this reason, we need to regularly carry out maintenance of these facilities so that power supply to various homes, offices and factories can flow uninterrupted and thereby make power supply very reliable and satisfactory. When this happens, power consumers in the country will be very happy because the quality of supply will be dependable and good.

It is in light of this that the ongoing maintenance of power facilities across the country must be commended by all those who understand the importance of quality and reliable power supply. Needless to say, properly maintained systems offer continuous flow of power even when it is raining. In many parts of the country, even when light rains are experienced, power supply becomes interrupted and sometimes goes off unexpectedly. On the contrary, under a properly maintained culture, it will be seen that the lighting systems will continue to stay as they are even when the rains set in.

It is, therefore, good that GRIDCO, ECG and others have found it necessary to maintain their facilities from time to time beginning from this time so that the power supply can be stabilised. Without constant maintenance, a reliable power supply cannot be guaranteed and as a result the quality of power supply will be disappointing to consumers who deserve to be given better treatment.

ONGOING EXERCISE

The ongoing exercise is good but should not be a nine day wonder. If it becomes a nine day wonder, the end result will be very disappointing to the dissatisfaction of all residents in this country.

It is, therefore, good that power supply systems are being maintained and where necessary old gadgets are replaced from time to time.

The ongoing maintenance is creating some problems in certain parts of the country. In certain places around Kumasi, Accra, the Central Region and many other parts, the power goes off from time to time due to the ongoing exercise of maintenance.

STABLE POWER

These are good in so far as they help to strengthen the system and make power supply more enduring and reliable.

In light of all this, we prefer regular maintenance culture of our power supply systems to the complete absence of maintenance which makes the facilities deteriorate at a faster rate. When the facilities are maintained regularly, they are able to perform better and last for a long time. All these result in quality and satisfactory customer service to the admiration of people in the country.

COMMENDATION

The management and staff of the power supply systems must be commended and appreciated seeing that the occasional power offs will be a thing of the past, thereby resulting in quality power supplies which will help promote rapid socioeconomic development in the country.

This is what is needed and so must be encouraged and supported by all well meaning Ghanaians.

PHENOMENON OF RISING PRICES

The world today is going through difficult economic and financial situation making it very difficult for all countries to control inflation and make life bearable for their people.

Prices have been rising persistently in all countries to such an extent that consumers are protesting at this unbearable development. Many governments have found it very difficult to appeal to their people to understand the situation. It has become very difficult for people to accept the situation because their incomes are fixed and remained the same while prices of goods and services keep escalating to unbearable levels.

RECORD- HIGH INFLATION

Throughout the world, inflation has hit its highest levels in recent times so the situation is not as pleasant as one may think. This can lead to political upheavals, disorder and insecurity in many countries. When things are difficult in this way with prices rising and rising, the end result will be the development of disaffection for the government in power.

The government in power must, therefore, be able to explain itself to its citizens in order to calm them down.

If this is not done, the disaffection may create chaotic situations which may end up worsening the plight of people in the country concerned.

UNFAVOURABLE SITUATION

It is for this reason that people must see the current era as an unfavourable situation that must be borne by everyone no matter how unpleasant the situation may be.

The current unfavourable economic trends have come about because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 which adversely affected all productive systems in the world. As a result of COVID-19, goods and services could not be produced in their desired quantities. This led to the shortage of certain goods in the market. The situation has been made worse by the sudden Russia-Ukraine conflict. Many strategic goods come from these two countries that are fighting each other. Items like fertiliser, raw materials for cement and many things are not able to come in the quantities expected thereby creating shortages in many parts of the world.

The two countries (that is Russia and Ukraine) control close to a third of the supply of crude oil in the world. As a result, oil prices have been pushed up far above the $100 mark.

SANCTIONS

The US and other western countries have applied certain sanctions against Russia to force that country to stop its invasion of Ukraine. These and many others have forced the oil prices to come down a little even though it is still above the $100 mark.

The prices of crude oil have fallen slightly but many countries are still suffering from the harsh effect of the rapid rise of goods and services throughout the world.

The high rise of oil prices has adversely affected other prices of goods and services pushing the world to a situation which has become very unbearable. As a result, many motorists for example, are not able to fill their tanks due to the escalating prices of crude oil.

HIGH FUEL PRICES

In the United States for example, we heard of stories where some motorists had to drive all the way to the US border with Mexico to fill the tanks of their vehicles since fuel price around that area is relatively cheaper.

Thus, in all the different continents in the world, life has become unpleasant. Indeed, many developing countries are suffering more from the rising prices in the world.

INFLATIONARY TRENDS

As has been pointed out already, inflationary trends in various parts of the world have reached their record high. In Ghana, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has stated that inflation has reached 19.4 per cent. This is the highest ever recorded in Ghana over the past five or six years and it goes to show that even with the good management of the economy, inflationary trends have jumped high to a level that is not good for economic growth.

In spite of this, every effort is being made by government to come out with the best economic reforms for its people so that life can be made better for them.

UNPLEASANT DEVELOPMENTS

As a result of such unpleasant developments, the World Bank has revised the global economic growth rates. Previously, following COVID-19, the World Bank stated that global economic growth would be about 4.5 per cent and countries in the world thought that even though the figure was not good enough, it could be accepted as satisfactory so that from there, the world can grow at a higher level.

In view of the Russia-Ukraine war, economic situations have been worsened once again making economic growth and recovery more difficult. As a result, the World Bank has now revised the global economic growth rate from its previous more than four per cent to 3.1 per cent.

TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES

As has been stated, the world today is experiencing tough economic times so governments that are doing well must be warmly supported by its people so that things will not be thrown out of gear for any political expediency on the path of any groups of people whose only agenda is to satisfy their own selfish and myopic interests.

Contact email/whatsApp address of author:

Pradmat2013@gmail.com (0553318911)

By Dr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako