Features
Sim card re-registration and economic growth (Part 1)
For over one year now, many people have still not been able to re-register their SIM cards, giving reasons that at very unacceptable in some cases.
When the public was first advised to re-register their SIM cards over two years ago, many of them did not take it serious. In fact, each time a deadline is given, you find many people rushing to go and register to meet the deadline and anytime this deadline is relaxed, the numerous queues at the registration centres vanish immediately.
Surprisingly, many groups of people including politicians resort to attacks on the Minister of Communication as well as the entire government. This us surprising seeing that the re-registration exercise is being carried out to protect the interest of all Ghanaians.
One way of ensuring that business organisations are able to expand their activities freely and confidently is to fight hard to eliminate deceit of business men and also see to the elimination of all business fraudsters from society. If the system is not sanitised in this way, it would lead to the collapse of business and economic growth.
It is in the light of this that we need to try as much as much as possible to eliminate businesses fraudsters as well other scammers whose interest is always to destroy what is good and increase fear in security. It is this fear that discourage people from having confidence in the economy and dissuading people from expanding their economic activities at the individual as well as group or corporate levels.
Many people in this country have experienced situations in which strange numbers are used to deceive people into thinking that business transactions can be arranged with unknown people. Some people in this country have fallen victims to these scams.
As a result of all this, confidence in business has been adversely affected. At the International level, purple use fake numbers to influence others to pay money for the supply of certain goods. Many people have lost huge sums of money for which reason certain businesses have collapsed or are not doing well at all.
Some times, such tricks are used also to kidnap people so that the kidnappers can go for huge ransoms. All these have lead to the evaporation of confidence in the economic system.
It is for this reason that many business men and women find it very difficult to carry out large business activities and have to improve the economic situation in the country. When people lose confidence in this way, they find it difficult to expand their business activities and employ more people.
Similarly, when corporate organisations also find it difficult to expand business activities in this way, it slows down business growth and economic expansion. The result is slow rate of economic growth due to fear of business scam.
It is therefore important for managers of the economy and planners to do their best to ensure that the system is sanitised well enough for business growth. If this is done, it would boost confidence in the economy and facilitate business growth and expansion.
What this means is that business growth and expansion cannot come on their own but deliberate effort must be made to ensure the prevention of all economic crimes by scanners.
Seen in this way therefore, special effort must be made to ensure that all scammers and criminals are easily detected and punished. When such criminals are detected in this way, it will serve as a deterrent to other criminals who may want to cash in and make economic life uncomfortable and unbearable for business tycoons in the country.
When business tycoons lose hope in the economic system and are unable to promote business growth, it is the economy as a whole that suffers. As a result, economic expansion becomes limited and economic welfare also falls below standard.
It is in the light of this that efforts to re-register all SIM cards must be encouraged. While a section of the people support the re-registration exercise, others appear not too pleased with it. Thus explains why we all need to understand why the re-registration exercise is very important.
In the next part of this article, we shall try and explain why politics must be put aside for the promotion of common national economic interests to help in promoting the welfare of every person in this country
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By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediako
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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