The article of Ghanaweb of January 6, 2010 that AMA has banned Pan Latrines provides interesting reading and comments. The article read:
“The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) says effective January 1, this year, the use of pan latrines in the metropolis has been outlawed. Consequently, the assembly has warned that it will begin prosecuting offenders, since it has given enough public education for residents to convert their facilities to approved ones.,,The move is part of attempts to comply with a Supreme Court order, which directed the assembly to completely phase out the use of the pan latrines in the metropolis by 2010” (Ghanaweb, 2010, Jan.6).
The article indicates how people still use the beaches to ease themselves and it is so shameful to even put this on a Website; but well, this is the modern global world we live in! Public officials in Ghana, over 99% do not use the Internet and pretend the world outside does not exist except perhaps when foreign grants are solicited! During the 2008 Presidential campaign Nana Akufo Addo’s NPP team cited that they had built 3,000 pit latrines in Ghana during their Kufuor-led administration compared to only 1,000 during the NDC1. I personally did not find that nice to cite such backward records of development.
We must plan for a modern Ghana, and let our Ghanaian and African pride be at par with expected standards of socio-economic and human development. We cannot condemn other humans in Ghana to perpetual backward life with no water, no sanitation, no decent roads, no stable electricity, and defecating in public! No! Our Presidents must get involved in our problems, and show they care, or else they should resign and/or be removed by Parliament! And if the MPs don’t act, the people must demand their removal through legal recall, just as our old Chieftaincy used to have a way to remove non-performing Chiefs. Ghana is far behind others in the year of our Lord 2010, and the only solution I see now is for taxpayer groups to seek appointments and creatively confront our elected and appointed leaders and executives in high office! If they do not act, we must find ways to remove them! Period!
I wrote this for the (Ghana Leadership Union) GLU forum, and edit and elaborate here for readers.
Folks, we Africans are a proud people. We can’t hide the shame anymore! Our leaders in Africa like the pomp and pageantry, even brag and like shine in the limelight when they travel overseas and receive praise from Westerners. We invite tourists, and we cannot hide and pretend these things do not exist. Yes, people still ease themselves in open beaches in Ghana! Our politicians and executives in public office, instead of facing the normal shame in Ghana, pretend and use taxpayer funds to build themselves private water reservoirs, cover their open gutters, and enter the airport through the VIP lounge where the AC is working whiles the rest of the people roast in the heat on entry to our airports! We the people must hold these elected and appointed people accountable!
The good news in the article is that there seems to be divisions of the AMA as one expects, and they have some statistics, well, some numbers, even if the AMA still cannot number houses and name streets to date to create a database! I confronted the AMA in 2004 when I moved into my house in East Legon and my bills were being sent to me and labeled “near Lakeside”. What a shame! Bills are still delivered house to house or to P. O. Boxes as of 2009! So now, does AMA have a PLAN? Can they show us at their Website? Does anybody out there know what a Website is, to share information to taxpayers?
I think Mayor Dr. Vanderpuije is trying. However, leaders do us and themselves a major disservice when they make laws without means and full plans to enforce them, and without adequate sharing of the information to the tax-paying public. According to the report, 5,294 households were given a warning to convert their pan latrines to other methods by this year 2010. Let’s ask a few questions and evaluate:
1. First what methods are recommended for this conversion?
2. Does the AMA have a plan for a CENTRAL SEWAGE SYSTEM?
3. Could this new regulation, if well publicized and planed have provided jobs for say 100 architects in Ghana, and say 500 masons and carpenters in Accra metro area alone?
4. Could the Banks have been coerced into giving small loans for landlords to convert?
5. What costs? If one estimates $5,000 for each conversion system, that is an input of $26,470,000 ($26.47 million) into the local economy alone.
6. What are the tax implications for the government? At approx 15% VAT and NHIL and so forth on the products used, we are looking at $3,970,500 ($3.97 million) for the government. Hopefully that buys a few more Toyota Landcruiser for the big men, eh – and it is earned money if they do things right! I prefer they used the money to hire Database engineers and hire a qualified CITY MANAGER, and CITY ENGINEERS, professionals who are hired and have experience to help us manage cities (as done in the USA).
7. Second, what is the punishment for non-compliance?
8. In Western systems like America there is a punishment for non-compliance to laws and regulations. If there are say 50% non-compliance, and the charge is $200, that comes to revenue of $529,400 revenue for government. I pay about $300 additional for my property in America if I am late in paying my property taxes here. However, I also know what the property taxes are used for – local roads, schools, mosquito abatement, sewage systems, schools and public libraries. Do we do this in Accra and Ghana?
We have heard that Mayor /Chief Executive Vanderpuije was educated and lived in North Carolina, USA. This is the kind of analysis and planning one expects from an American-trained executive. He needs to hire experienced professional City Managers and City Engineers and put them to work! He is a figurehead, a political appointee, and nobody expects him to know every detail in city planning! We need a PLAN not only for phasing out pan latrines, but for phasing out open gutters and sewage in Accra, to help eradicate the mosquito breeding! We need to cut down and gradually eliminate the malaria deaths! Our GLU team will plan to meet the Mayor early this year.
These are my proposed solutions!
Share yours!
Let's push for change!
Cheers,
Dr. Kwaku A. Danso (President, GLU)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
2010 NEW YEAR RESOLUTION FOR GHANA
What is My (and maybe our) NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION FOR 2010 FOR GHANA?
Right from the top of my head I’d say this:
An Improvement in the Living Conditions of the People of Ghana.
And How do you achieve these? Break it down into simple Terms:
1. Push Electricity Corporation and the Government of Ghana to provide STABLE DELIVERY OF ELECTRICITY, 99.99%, i.e. one hour interruption in 10,000 hours of operation per customer. A year has 8,760 hours, and that implies less than 1 hour interruption in the year! Most Western nations are able to achieve this, despite sometimes tumultuous weather conditions and we should aim for this in our nation of Ghana! The damage to electrical appliances such as refrigerators, computers and air conditioners perhaps exceeds $2 Billion in Ghana due to this electricity instability. It is time to PLAN and end this nightmare in Ghana! ECG must do ENGINEERING PLANNING and purchase the necessary equipment to ensure this delivery and stop giving excuses. If they are not able to figure this out, the Minister of energy and the President should simply hire somebody else who can deliver! Period!
2. Push GHANA WATER COMPANY Ltd.(GWCL) or its foreign Management Agency of Viten-Rands (?) company, to deliver WATER to 90% of all Customers in the city/metro areas and 85% to the rural areas in 2010, and by 2011 deliver to 100% of all customers who need water and pay for it. The country has received a grant of $103 million for water in 2005 and a loan of $500 million in 2006 and it is time to deliver! No more excuses! GWCL/Viten-Rands must show a concrete PLAN to achieve this by March 31, 2010 and follow through with delivery schedules for different areas. FAILING that the President and His Minister of Water and Works should fire the Managing Director and sever the relationship with Viten-Rands.
3. Push for GT/VODAFONE to deliver 99.9% on-time delivery service of true Broadband Communication services 24/7 to paying customers who can afford and are charged. This is only 1 hour down time per 1,000 hours of use.
4. Meet and Push the ACCRA-TEMA METRO Chief Executive (Mayor) to start planning to PHASE OUT OPEN GUTTERS in the capital city (and eventually spread this to the rest of Ghana). We all know how malaria kills over 22,000 children and over 55,000 nation-wide, with an estimated $2 Billion or more in financial and economic productivity losses per year! There is no more need to pretend! Let’s work to phase out the ugly chapter of open gutters and open sewage in Ghana now!
My New Year Resolution is to push for these things to happen, and I wish many more of you who are in Ghana will join me to meet the appropriate Officials in Ghana for Creative Confrontation Meetings to help our elected and appointed officials, Directors, Chief executives to concretize their PLANS and SCHEDULES for delivery.
Whiles praying, let us also pray to wake up our President to be more sensitive to the people’s needs and help with the push also! In fact he should be leading this change effort!
Folks, I am not greedy and will only ask for these for the year 2010. Stay in touch and let us push for change!
Dr. Kwaku A. Danso
k.danso@comcast.net
Right from the top of my head I’d say this:
An Improvement in the Living Conditions of the People of Ghana.
And How do you achieve these? Break it down into simple Terms:
1. Push Electricity Corporation and the Government of Ghana to provide STABLE DELIVERY OF ELECTRICITY, 99.99%, i.e. one hour interruption in 10,000 hours of operation per customer. A year has 8,760 hours, and that implies less than 1 hour interruption in the year! Most Western nations are able to achieve this, despite sometimes tumultuous weather conditions and we should aim for this in our nation of Ghana! The damage to electrical appliances such as refrigerators, computers and air conditioners perhaps exceeds $2 Billion in Ghana due to this electricity instability. It is time to PLAN and end this nightmare in Ghana! ECG must do ENGINEERING PLANNING and purchase the necessary equipment to ensure this delivery and stop giving excuses. If they are not able to figure this out, the Minister of energy and the President should simply hire somebody else who can deliver! Period!
2. Push GHANA WATER COMPANY Ltd.(GWCL) or its foreign Management Agency of Viten-Rands (?) company, to deliver WATER to 90% of all Customers in the city/metro areas and 85% to the rural areas in 2010, and by 2011 deliver to 100% of all customers who need water and pay for it. The country has received a grant of $103 million for water in 2005 and a loan of $500 million in 2006 and it is time to deliver! No more excuses! GWCL/Viten-Rands must show a concrete PLAN to achieve this by March 31, 2010 and follow through with delivery schedules for different areas. FAILING that the President and His Minister of Water and Works should fire the Managing Director and sever the relationship with Viten-Rands.
3. Push for GT/VODAFONE to deliver 99.9% on-time delivery service of true Broadband Communication services 24/7 to paying customers who can afford and are charged. This is only 1 hour down time per 1,000 hours of use.
4. Meet and Push the ACCRA-TEMA METRO Chief Executive (Mayor) to start planning to PHASE OUT OPEN GUTTERS in the capital city (and eventually spread this to the rest of Ghana). We all know how malaria kills over 22,000 children and over 55,000 nation-wide, with an estimated $2 Billion or more in financial and economic productivity losses per year! There is no more need to pretend! Let’s work to phase out the ugly chapter of open gutters and open sewage in Ghana now!
My New Year Resolution is to push for these things to happen, and I wish many more of you who are in Ghana will join me to meet the appropriate Officials in Ghana for Creative Confrontation Meetings to help our elected and appointed officials, Directors, Chief executives to concretize their PLANS and SCHEDULES for delivery.
Whiles praying, let us also pray to wake up our President to be more sensitive to the people’s needs and help with the push also! In fact he should be leading this change effort!
Folks, I am not greedy and will only ask for these for the year 2010. Stay in touch and let us push for change!
Dr. Kwaku A. Danso
k.danso@comcast.net
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