About a national mourning — and understatement
I have been wondering what exactly a period of national mourning entails. Is everybody supposed to know how to observe it?
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As could be envisaged, President John Mahama declared a period of national mourning in memory of the victims of the floods of ‘Black Wednesday’, June 3, and the fuel station fire. It was for three days, from Monday, June 8, during which flags flew at half-mast. He also announced the allocation of GH¢50 million for relief and humanitarian support.
Usually, during such official honouring of the dead, there is only the terse announcement of the decision and a directive that flags should fly at half-mast. In some cases, the public is informed that a book of condolence has been opened at the deceased’s residence or at a venue for sympathisers to go and document their solidarity.
As I have pondered on similar occasions: what is the role of citizens? Beyond the flying of flags at half mast, what other form should a national mourning take?
A statement issued on June 7 by Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane-Boamah, provided more details: people should wear black or red arm bands and clothing; there would also be a memorial service on Wednesday, June 10, to climax the national mourning.
Flying flags at half-mast is, of course the international convention. But here in Ghana how many of us take notice of flags, to appreciate the significance when they’re at half-mast?
Also, at the vast majority of locations where there are no flags, how do the people there participate in the national expression of solidarity with the victims and the bereaved?
Is this practice, which is the Western way, adequate for the average Ghanaian to feel part of the mourning? Perhaps not, because Ghanaians, Africans, tend to demonstrate grief in a more conspicuous way.
Maybe we need to draw up a national mourning procedure to reflect our culture which would enable people nationwide feel involved and the bereaved feel comforted.
In my view, the National Commission for Civic Education, the Commission on Culture and the Ministry for Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs should have lead roles in this. The government could assign them to draw up an appropriate national mourning format, one that would be Ghanaian and African, to meet such adversities.
Of course one does not wish to tempt fate or invite calamities by such an initiative, but at the same time, some guidance as an outlet for the collective grief at such times might be useful.
Understandably people continue to agonize over the unbearably high price the country has paid for allowing insanitary conditions to get out of hand: the 160 deaths in Accra being quoted earlier this week; the orphaned; the destitute; the destruction of structures; as well as collapsed businesses.
There seems to be a consensus that the tragic events were caused mainly by filth. The clogged up gutters resulted in flooding; and the water also reportedly entered the tanks of the Goil fuel station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, causing the petrol to mix with the water and catch fire.
Black Wednesday has underscored vividly the urgent need to put in place a professional response to the protracted national sanitation crisis.
The long-term structural solution being proposed, in addition to freeing waterways and the prioritization of rubbish collection, is to cover all our gutters and widen the narrow ones. However, it can be imagined that this will take a long, long, time as well as huge amounts of money.
In the meantime, clearly there must be regular, daily, cleaning of streets and gutters. Also, no matter how well-intentioned the National Sanitation Day (NSD) idea is, it is evidently not the solution to the problem. We need full-time sanitary workers in our cities, towns and villages as before.
Some weeks ago, in my April 10 column, I wrote:
“But why are the teeming numbers of jobless people not being employed to take care of sanitation as is done in other countries? In our crisis situation can we afford to rely on a monthly NSD to solve the problem? Sanitation is a priority and the money must be found for that!”
The article also made the following points:
“Clearly, from day one not everybody felt committed to the NSD …. The NSD’s long-term prospects, as an activity attracting sustained, maximum participation were, and continue to be, doubtful.
“For one thing, it has been clear for some years that generally the communal labour spirit has virtually departed from our society …
“Secondly, a fundamental question prompted by the launch of the NSD is: Why do we have to do the cleaning ourselves when our taxes are supposed to pay for such services?
“And if the local assemblies are not getting the necessary funds from central government to carry out their duties, as some have suggested, why is that so?
“Now there is talk in some quarters of the need for a law to back the NSD, to compel people to participate, but how realistic would that be?
“In any case, what has happened to the Zoomlion, a waste management company which undoubtedly demonstrated competence in its work and attained a very high profile?”
Again, as I suggested in my April piece: “The NSD should be viewed as an emergency response to the sanitation crisis. It should not replace a dedicated waste management programme by experts, such as Zoomlion.”
What an irony, the June 3 floods dramatically unmasking Accra’s sanitation! This, at a time when mammoth billboards are trumpeting the election in Angola on April 30 of the city’s Mayor, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, as Africa’s Best Mayor and presumably Accra as a showpiece – sanitation included.
Thank God that apparently those who gave Mr. Vanderpuije the award and the mayors who witnessed that ceremony were still in Accra, after their World Summit of Mayors here, when our capital’s true situation was exposed by the torrential rain.
Interesting that Mr. Vanderpuije reportedly admitted in an interview with Rainbow Radio on June 4, a day after Black Wednesday, that he has “failed the people of Accra”. That probably qualifies as the understatement of the decade.