Little Tiffany writes to the President from the grave

 Good day Mr. President. I am writing to you on behalf of Tiffany Justina Adoma who some day may have written to you herself. Unfortunately, that will never happen because three-and half years old Tiffany is dead.

She was killed by a vehicle in a convoy of metropolitan, municipal and district coordinating directors from the Eastern and Ashanti regions who were attending a colleague’s funeral.

It is possible that this was an accident, a very tragic accident. This is how we normally regard such tragedies and wipe them off our minds while giving it to God. On this occasion, Mr. President, I believe that we ought to learn some lessons, if for no reason at all, so that little Tiffany’s blood would not have been shed in vain.

Normally, I would address this communication to the Inspector General of Police but, as I will demonstrate to you, I don’t think the police are either interested or capable of stopping the kind of malaise that could have contributed to the death of this beautiful little girl. Given the kind of society that we are, only your personal leadership on this issue will lead to change.

Mr. President, the news about young Tiffany’s death did not go into much detail about how she died and I am not alleging any kind of wrongdoing, but I think it would be very helpful to order an investigation so that the full facts can be established.

Since the tragedy occurred, many commentators in the media, especially on social media have chastised the parents or guardians of the child for allowing her to go to school on her own, if that is what happened.

It is possible that as many of the commentators surmise, the parents and guardians were negligent in their care of the little girl. If that is the case the government has a role in reinforcing the message of absolute concern that adults must have towards children in their care.

The way in which children are treated is not a private matter; the conduct of care and responsibility towards children is regulated by law.

Unfortunately, Mr. President, in this country there is no active communication on the laws of the land so while they remain in force, few people actually know what these laws say.

For the sake of little Tiffany, we could start a public education campaign on children’s rights and welfare. It is imperative that we do this. We may call it the Tiffany Adoma Roadshow, dedicated to a child whose right to life has been curtailed.

It is also possible that the fault lay with the convoy of vehicles that went through Toamfom in the Bosomtwe District in the Ashanti Region where the child was killed. Mr. President, while I am being careful not to blame THIS convoy because I do not have the facts, the behaviour of other such convoys is simply unacceptable.

Let us remember that these convoys are usually made up huge 4 x 4 vehicles (mostly bought by public money), which are capable of reaching frightening speeds. These convoys brush aside all other road users, usually in their bid to flaunt their sense of importance and omnipotence.

Mr. President, in Ghana, powerful people break the law with impunity and nowhere is this truer than our conduct on the road. This is where the police must come in but simply don’t do so. I believe that the Spintex Road in Accra is the capital of road impunity in the world.

I have a friend who disputes this and argues that East Legon has a better claim to the title, but Mr. President, to paraphrase the Macedonia Call in the Bible at Acts 16: 6-10, please come over to the Spintex Road and help us!

Mr. President, nearly 41 years ago, on August 4, 1974, this country decided to drive on the right instead of the left as had been the case for more than a century. It is obvious that some powerful people in this country, including some diplomats who have sworn to respect the laws of this country, are not aware that we drive on the right.

For them, where they drive is a matter of choice and discretion; perhaps their moods dictate the side of the road on which they drive. If the mood pushes them they decide to drive on the left!

The main perpetrators are unknown because they mostly drive vehicles with ultra-darkened windows. This in itself is against the law, but who cares? They have darkened the front, backseat and rear windows such that even if they commit a crime and run away no-one can describe them. Mr. President, is this the kind of country you wish to preside over?

These huge vehicles are driven in a way that intimidates all else out of the road as they come with lights blazing, horns tooting at huge speeds – the better to terrorise those of your citizens who lack the resources to meet them headlong.

And, here is the catch, Mr. President; all along the route we have police being highly visible. It is not that the police do not know their work; they do. It is not that the police do not want to stop these people; they do. But they know the limits of their power.

I have been told by more than one police officer that it is useless to arrest any of these powerful perpetrators because simply they are above the law. A police officer told me “if you try to deal with these people you would rather put yourself in trouble. It takes only one phone call”.

Mr. President, the situation is getting out of hand. State officials, private security firms, general purpose big men (and a few women), politicians, business tycoons, indeed police vehicles that clearly are not on emergency call are all in the act. It is mayhem out there.

Meanwhile, while these people are flashing their lights and frightening the citizenry out of their wits you would find a police officer spending long minutes with a trotro driver on the roadside.

Mr. President, in a democracy, or any type of half-decent society powerful people cannot be allowed to flaunt their power in the faces of the ordinary people of the land. What is worse, this is a double whammy because the vehicles being used to intimidate us were mostly bought with our money. Indeed, it is a triple whammy because we buy the fuel as well.

Your Excellency, why couldn’t these people pool vehicles to save fuel? The fact that they were in convoy means they gathered together at one place, so they could have left some vehicles behind and travelled comfortably in a smaller number.

Mr. President, even in the UK where the case can be made for elaborate convoys, the royal motorcade with the Queen in it has about five or six cars with two motorcycle riders.

But Mr. President, my concern is about powerful people’s sense of entitlement and exhibition of impunity. Please come to the Macedonia of road hell and help us. This is happening all over the country. You can stop it if you want to do so. Yours is perhaps the only voice to which they will listen.

Our police officers are a fine bunch but they do not enjoy eternal security of tenure and theirs is not an independent force in the true sense of the expression. So they err on the side of caution.

Little Tiffany’s death has told us something: there is a heavy price to pay for indiscipline and impunity. There must be one rule for all of us. Of course, the President and the Vice President as well as medical, security and fire services are entitled to special treatment but the rest of us are all equal on the roads.

Mr. President, this has been inspired by little Tiffany. Let her not die in vain.

"Dumsor" is temporal Mahama Says

President John Dramani Mahama has in another reassurance message and a commitment to fix the worsening power crisis, told Ghanaian workers at the celebration of the 2015 May Day, that the crisis is only temporal and will soon be over.

Without going into details about emergency measures and timelines, the President noted that Government was working assiduously to fix the problem permanently rather than simply manage it.

Speaking on the theme 'Addressing the energy challenges 'the role of organized Labour', the President asked Ghanaian workers who were being celebrated on the day to bear with Government for the time being as it works hard to fix the problem.

Acknowledging the depth of the challenges, the President sympathized with Ghanaians especially those who are bearing the brunt of the power crisis a bit more severely due to the inconsistencies in the load management schedule by the Electricity Company of Ghana.

The President thus called on the Electricity Company of Ghana to as a matter of urgency treat customers properly and fairly not to worsen the already bad situation in such times.

The President reiterated his promise that there was not going to be job cuts as part of IMF conditionalities, but said there was going to be a rigorous staff rationalization programme to ensure some equity and fairness particularly in the areas of education and health.

President Mahama also noted that Government was working earnestly on issues of discrepancies about workers pension benefits adding that government would not do anything to deny any pensioner or worker their benefits.

On sanitation, the President asked all Ghanaians to embark on a drastic behavioral change to build a cleaner society and healthier people who can contribute effectively to nation building.

He thus rallied support and participation in the national sanitation exercise which takes place in the first Saturday of each month. That for the month of May, comes off in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

President Mahama urged Ghanaian workers to work diligently to contribute meaningfully to the country's progress.

He commended organized labor for fruitful and firm discussions that reached a daily minimum wage of Ghc7.00 for Ghanaian workers from an initial Ghc6.00.

On his part, the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Mr. Kofi Asamoaah, speaking on behalf of workers, said the power crisis was taking a huge toll on the working population and asked Government to fix it quickly.

On the IMF bailout, the TUC maintained that it was not in support of the programme since the IMF policy in the last thirty years has not made any positive mapct on the country. He however thanked the President for reassuring them that there was not going to be job cuts and said they would hold the President to his words.

Mr. Kofi Asamoah also waded into the issues hovering around the alleged privatization of the Agricultural Development Bank, ADB, and urged Government to discard such plans if there were any.

The TUC Boss also expressed concern about sanitation issues and asked Government to invest in that area and chart a new course that will ensure a cleaner society.

Organised Labour also appealed to President Mahama to withdraw its case against workers over pension issues from the court for an amicable out of court settlement.

He also commended the government for the national sanitation day initiative. Some active and retired workers who have distinguished themselves in various fields were awarded as part of the day to celebrate workers globally.

Checking Ghana's rising debt way to affect economy

 

Standard Chartered Africa research boss Razia Khan has maintained that checking Ghana rising debt, could be the way to stabilizing the economy.

Managers of the economy, over the past months have instituted several programmes and policies to halt the country’s economic decline.

These measures, like the homegrown policies, and the IMF programme have so far failed to do the trick in the immediate to short term.

Speaking to JOYBUSINESS in an interview, after the StanChart Africa Summit held in Accra, Razah Khan said the public debt which is inching close to 70 percent of GDP is Ghana’s biggest problem now, adding that things could improve greatly if much attention is given to the country’s debt issues.

The country’s public debt hit 76 billion as at December last year according to the Bank of Ghana. Some have argued that the amount could cross the 70 percent mark, as parliament has approved new loans since the beginning of this year.

The International Monetary Fund has put Ghana on a list of countries that could soon be classified as high debt distress countries.

Razia Khan says it might take a while before, investors react by bringing in capital after Ghana secured a programme with the IMF.

Some investor funds have been frozen because of uncertainty about the management of the economy, and delays in securing a programme. It was expected these funds will come in quickly after the board of the IMF approved Ghana’s programme.

But Razia Khan believes investors currently have a difficulty seeing their way clear because there's a lot going on elsewhere in the world economy.

“Yes investors are enthused about Ghana securing an IMF programme, but there is lot of things going on around the world, like African countries coming under pressure, the dollar in general this year has been strengthening and there are expectations that the US Federal Reserves’ decision to hike interest rates could even affect the decision of these investors,” She added.

She noted that it would be misplaced to expect that investors would react immediately, following the signing of the IMF programme with Ghana.

Mahama is that school kid who is always last – Lydia Forson

 Outspoken award winning Ghanaian actress, Lydia Forson has lashed out at President John Mahama for his failure to solve the numerous challenges facing the nation especially, the power crisis.

According to Ms Forson, despite the many chances Ghanaians have given to the President to make do his promises, the problems remain unsolved.

In a letter written to the President and posted on her Facebook page, Lydia Forson indicated that the general public should be aware that “the president really doesn’t care about us; we the little people we the ones who are not significant enough to be bothered about.”

She is the latest Ghanaian celebrity to speak up against government’s inability to permanently fix the energy crisis known as ‘dumsor’.

Below is Lydia Forson’s letter to President Mahama

I’ve been meaning to writing this for a while, but every time I start I’m just reminded of all the drama my friends face on my behalf every time I “speak” my mind. I’ve told them to stop fighting my battles, but well they won’t listen.

Personally I’m past caring about what people think of the things I have to say, it’s not for their benefit that I write; its for the many people who don’t have a voice or a platform like mine to express themselves.

But last night I had an encounter with a man who all but told me that I need to shut up about issues that aren’t about me or don’t concern me.

Now being the lady that I ” pretend” to be I basically tried to keep my cool and let him know, my parents didn’t raise me to be a fool. They raised me to ask questions, think and have an opinion.

So in honour of the fool who’s STUPIDTY can’t be cured I’m about to go in on something I’ve tried to stay out of, you know, just to piss him off a little. Ha, I like that, piss him of!

See I’ve kept mute of this #dumsor issue going on between my friends on social media because the last time I wrote to President Mahama he ignored me.

Chaii dude didn’t even call me !!?????

How much rejection can one take Huh?

One person refuses to marry me and other won’t call me?

Well I’m too much woman for them anyway.

Sorry I digress.

Anyway…. Mahama

Our president is like that kid in school who is always last, always gives the wrong answers and never seems to grasp what is being taught.

But for some reason you keep rooting for him, you keep hoping he will come out and shock everyone, come out and put people to shame, come out and make people take back every little mean thing they said about him.

You keep waiting and waiting until you all graduate and he’s still stuck in the same class because he didn’t pass.

I hate that I have to say this about someone I truly do admire and like many people really want him to make a change.

But when you frustrate people enough, your feelings don’t matter anymore.

The truth is by now you should know, the president really doesn’t care about us ;we the little people we the ones who are not significant enough to be bothered about.

I mean how do you believe the bulls**t he’s constantly trying to feed us about understanding us.

Please Mr.President take several seats on that one because you really have no clue what it’s like to live like us the COMMON people.

Hey I have an idea, why don’t you try having your lights off for maybe 48 hours( and thats being generous) And sleep in the heat because you’re afraid to leave the windows open, in case thieves try to break in.

Oh and on top of that add the fact that you can’t even afford a generator because you’re not making enough to buy one, and when you finally do make some money the value is basically useless because the cedi continues to depreciate.

Let’s see if you don’t lose your mind.

Then and only then will I believe you understand just about 3% of how frustrating to live in Ghana.

So really I’m not even going to address you Mr. President.

I’m going to sit here in the heat and hold my breath till you SHOCK me.( hope I don’t die from waiting)

FYI please tell your little minions who call me every time I write to you to stop, I don’t like that.

And their voices aren’t even sexy, aaah, its you I want to hear from. So if it’s not you they shouldn’t call me. They should also keep their threats in the sandbox they play in when they meet their buddies for play time; I don’t play with kids, too grown for that.

And please oh I apologize to everyone this post will offend, I already apologized the last time and hoped it would cover this post as well. But hey, there’s more to come so my apology covers all the things I haven’t even thought of writing yet.

Happy May Day

#dumsormustSTOP