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How can we make 2014 a better year?

 

We can make 2014 a better year for the economy, education, sanitation, health and the other issues which plague us if we take a more intelligent and active interest in happenings around us.

Knowing what is really happening, we will know what to do to influence events and stop the puerile calls on the President and his government to put things right.  

Of course, the buck stops with the President and the government he has established.  We elected them to translate his vision, ideas and plans into action.  He does not need that much advice as many tell me.  He has a surfeit of them.  What he needs is translation of his vision and ideas into reality, according to plan, modified as made necessary, by local and world happenings.

Now, institutions have been established to promote the aims and purposes of the government in power.  We the people should see to it that they act to further these aims and the national interest.  For example, if there are reports that the institutions which deal with the safety of what we consume are not doing their work well, we should try to unearth the facts and join civil society groups to insist that what we drink and eat and take as medication do not harm us.

The water we drink can kill us if it is not as pure as the scientists and health authorities demand.  Obviously, we cannot individually test the safety of what we consume.  Boards and institutions have been set up to ensure that what is on the market is safe.  In the case of water, approval from the institution is put on the bottle of water we buy and we then assume it is safe to drink.  If it is reported that the authorities concerned are not diligent and the stamp of approval is put on an impure bottle of water, we should insist that the ministry or supervising authority ascertains the facts.  We should demand that the head of the approving authority is sacked if the report is proved true.

This demand is not harsh.  In some countries, the head will resign before being sacked.  It is his or her duty to ensure that the stamp of approval is not placed on the commodity anyhow.

It may be that officials down the line take bribes and authorise the approval label without going through the laid-down procedures of checks for bacteria and other pathogens.  The trouble with us is that we dwell on the allegation of bribery and the like and ignore the major issue — forgetting that bribery and corruption are difficult to prove.  

Insisting on laid-down administrative procedures can often keep the incidence of corruption down or stop it.  We want to end or reduce corruption, not to gossip about it.  If the head of an institution knows that he or she would be held responsible and may be sacked if things go drastically wrong, inefficient or corrupt officers will be removed, irrespective of their party, ethnicity or other connections.

No President in Ghana can shelter a friend or aide in high position if you and I join in an uncompromising call for his or her removal because of unpardonable lack of diligence which threatens life or results in death. 

Recently, there was a great deal of discussion and argument about drugs supplied by a company.  We were confused about letters written and relations between the company and the responsible authorities.  At any rate, I was confused, perhaps because of my aged brain!  To me, the major issue is whether it was as a result of the indolence on the part of those we pay to prescribe drugs which instead of curing rather incapacitate or even kill us.  Doctors assume the drugs to contain the essential ingredients stated on the packet.  They prescribe the drug to you trusting that it will assist you to be on your feet.  If the drug is fake or does not contain the essential elements in the right strength, you may die instead of becoming better.

It is, therefore, a serious matter if unapproved or expired drugs are placed on the market.  If this happens, the head of the institution which allowed the entry or distribution of unexamined drugs should be fired.  The company which distributed the unexamined drugs should also face the law.  The law dealing with this is simple.  You do not have to prove bribery or any act of corruption.  If the law says the drug should be approved before distribution and you distribute it before approval, you are guilty of an offence and you should be dealt with.

It may be that those who give approval want bribes before they inspect and approve.  If this happens, those in the trade should get together and call for appropriate action by the law enforcing agencies.  Giving bribes because others do it, and life is made simpler, will not solve the problem and will promote the corruption we all want to abolish.

And so let 2014 be the year in which those who know and understand do their duty.   Even if the media do not make things clear, we should try to understand and endeavour to do the right thing.  If your child performs well and does not get the school of his choice, you should insist that the rules are followed and rubbish any blame on the computer.  You do not aid that better life we want in 2014 if you try to see someone with influence to get your child placed as you wish.  We must insist on the right thing being done and be prepared to suffer a little for it.

There are issues which require governmental action.  Employment is one.  What we should realise is that employment is not created by ministries and committees.  Enterprises generate employment.  Let us understand this and stop the idle talk about private enterprise and foreign investment being the engine of growth to generate employment and so on.  Appropriate infrastructure supporting projects will facilitate government initiatives and attract investors, both local and foreign.  It is not necessary to go to the moon to woo investors.  They will go where money can be made.  We have a problem in getting involved.  

I was at a Ga naming ceremony or ‘Kpodziemo’ on the last day of the year.  The eight-day-old boy was advised to ‘see and not to see, to hear and not to hear’ [ona, onako, onu, onuko].  Of course, the little boy was not being asked to lie but to be circumspect.  However, we have a tendency to run away from difficult issues.  And it pays not to hear or see.  We like to settle matters amicably and not to be too harsh on wrong-doing.  A bottle of schnapps, a goat or ram often ends examination in-depth.  We need ‘self-comprehension’ to avoid “natural” tendencies.  We should know “us” if we are truly to confront issues and make 2014 a better year.

So let us gossip and engage in idle talk to while time in the New Year.  But let us also find time to understand the problems which confront us and the nation.  The future depends on us.  Let us get involved.  We can make 2014 a better year.

 

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