Abissath Features-Blog for Enlightened Souls

Learning from China's Experience

2009-06-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
The wisdom of our African ancestors is reflected in this proverb which says: “A child who has never travelled before says only his mother knows how to cook delicious soup.”

Do you know that after over 50 years of independence, it is now that some Ghanaians are waking up to the realization that, besides America and Britain, there are other countries in the Eastern world where mankind can progress and advance scientifically and technologically?

It is no other country than China that brought this realization to some 30 Ghanaian contractors who visited that country recently. To be precise, on May 1, 2009, a 30-member delegation of the Association of Road Contractors of Ghana (ASROC) embarked upon a two-week Trade and Investment Mission to Shanghai and Beijing, China.

The investment mission, the first of its kind in the history of the Association was under the patronage of the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Ministry of Trade and Industry and was co-sponsored by the Business Development Services Fund.

Without exaggerating, almost every member of the delegation, described trip to China as “life time experience.” Others say it was an eye-opener for them.
One of the wonders of China is the Great Wall. There is no way one can vividly describe the Great Wall which is said to have been built over 2000 years now. And the mountains on top which the large thick walls were constructed defile imagination.

Construction Equipment

One principal reason the Ghanaian contractors embarked on the trade and investment mission to China was to see at first hand, the kind of construction equipment available in China and how they could obtain some credit facility from the Ex-Embank of China to enable them to purchase such equipment for their members to do efficient job to contribute their quota to the economic development of mother Ghana.

The first manufacturing company visited was the Shanglin Company Limited at Shangzhou, Jianggsu, China. Mr Spencer Bao, Deputy General Manager of the company led the team to inspect a large stock of machinery being manufactured by the company. These include wheel loader, motor grader, road roller, backhoe loader, Crane Truck, Paver, Concrete Mixer, Vibratory Roller and many more.

During business meeting session with the delegation, Mr Bao expressed the desire to do business with Ghanaian contractors so that they can elevate the standard of road construction industry in their country.

Mr J.Twumasi-Mensah, the National Chairman of ASROC spoke for the delegation when he said that they were overwhelmed by the various types of construction equipment they saw. He said the Ghanaian contractors were highly impressed by the quality of the company’s products and the cost of such quality equipment which he described as “very, very moderate” as compared with what pertains in Ghana.
“We road contractors in Ghana will like to do business with Chinese construction firms, he stressed.

Another factory the contractors visited while in China before the Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon Joe Gidisu came later was the Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Imp. & Exp. Ltd. (XCMG). That is the Zoomlion China.

This company was founded in 1989 and is now one f the leading construction companies in China with 26 factories to its credit. It employs over 20,000 workers ranging from ordinary cleaners to the best engineers, scientists and technologists in China.
Ghanaian contractors made history when for the first time, the Chairman of the XCMG, Mr Wang Min, who is also the Party Secretary of the ruling Party, spared a few minutes of his heavy schedules to propose a toast at a memorable lunch he personally held in honour of the Ghanaian delegation.

Again, the Ghanaian contractors were interested in seeing the types of equipment being manufactured by XCMG. Mr Xin Yu Min, Vice General Manager who later conducted the contractors round said some of the machinery produced include crawler crane, truck crane, hydraulic component, roller rand paver, excavator, wheel loader, grader, just to mentioned few. Once again the Ghanaian contractors could not believe their eyes that such quality construction equipment were being manufactured in China. They held spell-bound.

Talks with Chinese Transport Minister

Ghana’s Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon Joe Gidisu, on Monday, May 11, 2009, held bilateral talks with the Chinese Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transport, Mr Weng Mengyong in Beijing, China.

The Ghanaian Minister conveyed the appreciation of the President and people of Ghana to the President of the People’s Republic of China for various supports Ghana has enjoyed over the years, especially in the development of road and bridge infrastructure.

The Minister mentioned specifically the Achimota-Ofankor-Nsawam road and the Bui Hydroelectric dam as some of the current projects still ongoing. He said at least 10 Chinese contractors are working in Ghana on projects in the road sector funded by the Government of Ghana and others from other international financial institutions, including China.

Hon Gidisu informed the Chinese Minster that the purpose of the visit was twofold: firstly to support the private sector initiative of the Association of Road contractors in their deliberation with the Ex-Im Bank of China and to seek further areas of collaboration and support from the Chinese Government in the development of the Transport sector of Ghana, with focus on roads and bridges.

The Minister stated Ghana is seeking support for five prioritized areas for development, namely the Trunk road network to accelerate economic development; the interchange development programme in the major urban areas to reduce the consequential cost of urban congestion; technology transfer in the area of bridge designs; the bridge development programmes of the feeder road network to reduce the cost of transportation of farm produce to marketing centres and the human capacity development to upgrade the skills of engineers, planners and allied professionals.

Furthermore, the Minister pointed out that in the transport sector, opportunities for collaboration exist in areas of Development of the rail industry as well as Development of regional airports in the Aviation industry.

In the area of human capacity development the Minister mentioned the establishment of a Technical Training Centre in Ghana for the training of Ghanaian artisans including contractors.

The Ghanaian Minister stated that China has become a global role model for socio-economic and technological development for developing nations and beyond. He said Ghana has prepared a development programme in areas mentioned above and invites the Minister to study the said programme and create a platform for further discussions leading the two countries to identify areas of interest to the Chinese Government and subsequent investments.

Responding, the Chinese Vice Minister of Transport said within the last 30 years, China’s road infrastructure development improved from 1million km to 3.45million km with Motorway moving from 0 km to 56,000km.

He commended Ghana for her efforts to develop rural roads to link cities. He said when China started its development strategy; it had to collaborate with foreign investors for technology transfer. For this reason, he said the Chinese Government will collaborate with the Government of Ghana for development.

Mr Weng Mengyong observed that the large number of delegation Ghana brought to China is an indication that the Ministry of Roads and Highways attaches great importance to the road sector of the economy. “When you have roads, then you have riches,” said the Vice Minister.

He therefore suggested that a copy of the programme for priority areas for cooperation (road and bridges) should be submitted to his Ministry for study without delay. He said the China Road and Bridge Corporation and other institutions of technical training will be contacted to deal with specific areas of collaboration with Ghana.

Consequently the Minister called for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two Governments for further discussions leading to concrete action.
Ghana’s Minister’s team at the meeting was made of 20 members including four members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Road Transport, headed by its Chairman, Hon Michael C. Boampong, MP, Bia Constituency, four executives of ASROC led its National Chairman, Mr J.Twumasi-Mensah, two other officials of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, two officers of Ghana Embassy in China as well as some Regional Chairmen of ASROC.

On the Chinese Minister’s side were seven other officials including two Deputy General Managers of the China Roads and Bridge Corporation. Later Hon Joe Gidisu met with the entire members of the ASROC delegation on the trade mission and shared some fruitful thoughts with them at their hotel in Beijing.

Meeting with Ex-Imbank President

One most important objective of ASROC mission to China which was achieved was the meeting with the President of Chin Export –Import Bank of China.

The Ghanaian Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon Joe Gidisu, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 led the executives of the Association and leading members of Parliamentary select committee on Road Transport as well as officials of Ghana Embassy in Beijing, China to hold preliminary talks with the President of the Export –Import Bank of China, Mr Li Ruogu, in Beijing, China.

Discussions centered on financial support for economic development in Ghana in general with particular focus on road transport sector.

Hon Joe Gidisu said the Ministry of Roads and Highways has planned to invest approximately US$800million for the maintenance and rehabilitation of its 67,189km of roads and bridges over the next four years. He said the annual investment required for the maintenance of roads and bridges in Ghana is about US$200 million. However, the development budget is about US$400m a year.

The Minister pointed out that his Ministry recognises also the need to provide work to contractors to enable them to have adequate turnover to cover the payment of their capital investment in equipment and other resources.

He said Government agenda in the road sector is to support the local road contractors in terms of capacity building as well as help them to acquire needed equipment to do their work for national development.

The Ex-ImBank President, Mr Li Ruogu, said his Bank has been working with Ghana Government over the years and would be prepared to support the Ministry and for that matter the new government.

He said development of roads and bridges is a viable area the Bank will consider credit facility, some of which are already in operation. He advised Ghanaian contractors to learn from Chinese contractors who work 24 hours a day through shift system.

He said China now builds some of the best roads and bridges in the world. That the Bank will be happy to support the road sector of Ghana. That for the procurement of equipment from China with credit facility from the Bank is feasible. He suggested that a feasibility study must be done for specific projects and submitted to the Bank for consideration.

He also recommended the World Bank and Ex-ImBank for support. He said some concessionary loan facility, too is available, adding that Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must be contacted to take the necessary procedures and processes for consideration.

Seminars

As part of the strategy to build the capacity of local contractors, members of the Association of Road Contractors also participated in special seminars and workshops while in China. The special seminars were organised by their Chinese counterpart contractors for the Equipment manufacturing companies to present papers and demonstrate the performance of their equipment for the Ghanaian contractors.

Thus, through the demonstrations and interactions during open forum sessions, the Ghanaian delegation were exposed and educated on various aspects of the construction industry of China which hitherto was unknown to them.

Little wonder when just half way in the programme, most Ghanaian contractors gapped their moths in wonderment about what the people of China can do. In fact many of them openly confessed that their perceptions which were largely based on prejudice were unfounded.

One contractor stated: “We have been brainwashed for a very long time about China that everything from a communist country is inferior.” Another said, “I don’t understand why China is referred to as a developing nation and not a developed country.”

Again another Ghanaian contractor postulated: “From now onward, we will turn our face towards China rather than say we are going to the West. Even the quality of the machines and the work that they are capable of doing with prices not cheap but very, very moderate is a proof that we should better do business with China rather than with the West,” the contractors unanimously concluded.

In all six different manufacturing companies did presentations and demonstrated the operation of their machinery. They included Balama Prima Equipment, Shandong Road Construction Machinery Factory, Xi’an Dangang Road Machinery Co., Ltd and Zoom Lion Environmental Sanitary Machine Series

The National Chairman of the Association of Road Contractors Ghana, Mr. J. Twumasi-Mensah, was full of praise to Chinese Manufacturing companies, especially those of the construction industry and promised that efforts would be made for more Ghanaian contractors to go to China to see things for themselves.

In terms of the actual construction of roads and bridges, he said Ghanaian engineers, architects and artisans in the road construction industry have a lot to learn from China. He was grateful to the Business Development Services Fund for co-sponsoring the trip to China.

Combating Road Accidents in Ghana

2009-06-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

By Mawutodzi K.Abissath
There is this serious Akan proverb which can literally be interpreted to mean: “When the eyes are red, they do not explode into conflagration or inferno.”
The Government and people of Ghana’s eyes are red! Yet, there is no fire in their faces. The entire nation is on war path.

On Thursday, 19th March, 2009, the President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, H.E. Professor J.E.A. Mills, declared a war and called on all Ghanaians to stand by and fight. But who is the enemy? RAOD ACCIDENTS is the answer! Road accidents have no respect for socio-economic or political status. When they occur, the kill or maim everybody involves. So, they must be as national danger and enemy and be treated as such.

Ghanaians have the knack to claim and proclaim that Ghana is always the first in everything and anything in the West Africa sub-region if not on the entire Africa Continent. But if the United Nations were to institute a Global Award for the best Manslaughter Nation of Road Accidents, will Ghana be proud to be the first to receive such an award?

The National Roads Safety Commission recently released road fatalities recorded within the first quarter of this year alone and it was horrifying. That on the average, six precious lives of this peaceful nation are lost just like through road accidents daily. (See Daily Graphic of Saturday, March 28, 2009 Page 22) The figure six may at first sight seem insignificant. But if you multiply that by 30 days in a month, times 165 days in the year, is the nation gaining or losing? This is besides those who are maimed and rendered hopeless and helpless for life.

The object of this piece is not to churn out statistics of deaths through manslaughter on roads in Ghana. Rather, to bring to attention of the general public highlights of some concrete measures the Ministry of Roads and Highways has adopted to combat the menace once and for all.

On Thursday, March 26, 2009, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon. Joe Gidisu, acting upon the directives of the President, held a Press Briefing at the Ministry’s Conference room here in Accra and officially placed in the public domain the outcome of Stakeholders Forum on Road Accidents held on Tuesday, March, 24, 2009 also in Accra.

The Forum itself was a brainstorming session attended by over 60 participants representing over 17 stakeholders in the transport industry as well as the general public. The sector Minister set the tone the deliberations when he cautioned that the session should be turned into an arena of blame game where individuals or organisations would be pointing accusing fingers at one another. Rather, the road accident menace confronting the country must be seen as a national crisis and be tackled as such, the Minister advised.

Contributory factors

First, participants identified the following, as key factors that actually contribute to fatal accidents on the nation’s roads: They include High Speeds; Fatigue or driving tired; Wrongful Overtaking; Tyre burst; Driving under the influence of Alcohol; Injury Control; Unsafe Vehicles; Unsafe ; Unsafe Drivers; Disabled Vehicles left unattended, Legislation and Accident Spots, among others.

Another important factor that was identified had to do with the transportation of what was termed “hazardous goods” which are increasingly contributing to untimely deaths on the county’s roads. Think of petroleum products including gaz.

Consequently, an unwritten resolution was unanimously adopted whereby the Ministry of Roads and Highways, the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and all the agencies of the Ministry and other stakeholder institutions have resolved to tackle and arrest the situation in phases thus, Immediate Actions, Short Term and Medium to Long Term Measures or strategies.

Immediate Interventions

That there is urgent need for NRSC to intensify their publicity efforts reaching out to various target groups with road user education across the country, especially on the use of seat belts. They must reach out to various target groups with road user education across the country and intensify education on use of seat belts. This simple rule of use of seat belts which many drivers in Ghana take for granted is a major factor in fatality in road accidents. Experts are of the view that if this simple rule can be respected, a lot of lives can be saved during accidents.

Again as immediate action, the Forum recommended that the Ghana Highway Authority must conduct an audit of the Winneba-Kasoa stretch and other hazardous locations and make necessary engineering measures which will help to reduce if not stop completely frequent accidents on that portion of the road.

The Authority has also been requested to consider erection of visible threatening signs at crash prone locations on the road. To address the fatigue and high speed problem of which most drivers are guilty, one strategy recommended was to ensure that all long distance vehicles are to introduce vehicle log books.

This is a practical strategy which will compel drivers to stop and rest in between journeys. The MTTU and the transport unions have been empowered to enforce this strategy to the letter. And if they adopt this basic measure, it will go a long way to drastically reduce accidents on the roads.

Another concrete action that has been adopted is that the National Road Safety Commission and MTTU have given authorization to Rutchen Trucks Ghana, a towing Service provider, to clear all roads in the country of any broken down vehicles which are left on the roads with impunity.

This dramatic action is starting immediately with Accra- Kumasi Highway to Accra-Takoradi and will soon be extended to cover the entire country. Experience has proved that this bad habit of drivers abandoning their disabled or broken down vehicles in the middle of the road without any proper warning sign has been one of the major causes of road accidents in this country.

That Transport Operators, Unions and Organisations must conduct basic checks on drivers and their vehicles at various Lorry Stations to ascertain the alertness of drivers and conditions of their vehicles before departure, and so on.

Short Term Interventions

With regard to short term interventions up to the end of this year, for instance, it was noted that Driving Standards and driver-quality must not be taken for granted the national target was to be achieved. In this respect the NRSC has put together a framework for the establishment of National Drivers Academy with the view to assuming leadership status in driver training and upgrading of all commercial drivers. The review of archaic road transport laws in the country cannot be overstressed.

The simple logic is that if driving is a profession like any profession in the county, a National Drivers Academy to train and certify people who want to be professional drivers. The current situation where any underage driver’s mate or apprentice can take his master vehicle on Sundays and pretend to be professional for life is an acceptable. Such Sunday drivers are part of people who are killing innocent passengers by heart.

Again, the NRSC will ensure that by the end of this year, all commercial vehicles will have speed limiters installed in their cars to enable drivers adhere to instructions and not what they desire to do with vehicles on the roads. Besides, other measures such as speed cameras on some selected corridors to manage the incidence of speeding and abuse of traffic regulations will be provided by the NRSC.

The NRSC and DVLA will also explore the possibility of using what is known as Tachographs to monitor driver fatigue and speeding as well as the establishment of Trauma Centers along some of the major highways throughout out the country.

It was cleared at the Stakeholders Forum that no one individual or institution can implement the strategies that have been adopted. There is therefore the urgent need for collaboration among all concerned such as Commercial Vehicle owners, Transport Operators, Unions and Organisations, the National Ambulance Service, NADMO, Fire Service, Ghana Army, Ghana Police Service, the Red Cross Society, all road users including pedestrians and passengers alike, must join hands with the Ministry of Roads and Highways to fight this national war against Road Accidents one and for all. As the President promised, financial support is assured.

GHANA: FIFTY-TWO YEARS OF HOPE

2009-02-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
There is this beautiful Ewe proverb which can literarily be interpreted to this effect: “A newly hatched chick that survives will not lack the opportunity to grow feathers.” The French version of this proverb may be “Tan que je vis jespere” or “when there is life, there is hope.”
Fifty-two years ago (6th March 1957 to be precised), Ghana made political history in tropical Africa. On that day, the Gold Coast became Ghana. How did it happen? At exactly midnight that night, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, flanked by some ambitious comrades of his, mounted a podium at the old Polo ground in the city of Accra and proclaimed:
“At long last, the battle has ended; and Ghana our beloved country is free for ever.”
The visionary Nkrumah then made a seemingly harmless statement which turned out to make him the African man of the 20th Century. He declared, “The Independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African Continent.”
Yes, it is important to tell the true story of the Independence of Ghana so that our children, their children, and their children’s children will know exactly how Ghana became a nation of “Freedom and Justice.” At the time Dr Nkrumah made that legendary declaration, only about eight out of 53 countries in Africa knew what independence was. In West Africa, all the 16 countries were clamped in the jaws of Colonialism. As for South Africa, she was deep in the throat of a hateful and horrible creature called “Apartheid.”
Ghana’s independence was not granted to our forefathers on a silver platter. In other words, our forefathers did not eat to their fill, drink, booze and went to bed and started snoring then someone went and called them to get their independence. “Kpaooo!” “Daabida” “Waalaaii!” Not at all! As a matter of fact, the independence struggle did not start on the 6th March 1957 when that celebrated proclamation was made.
If Osagyfo Dr Nkrumah talked of the end of a battle, we must ask ourselves what kind of a battle he was alluding to. Again, it must be borne in mind that it was not only Dr Nkrumah who single-handedly fought for Ghana’s independence. But he was the locomotive or the vanguard indeed! It is therefore imperative that any time we celebrate the independence anniversary of this blessed land called Ghana, other equally important national heroes must be accorded the recognition they deserve.
For example, homage must be paid to war veterans like Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey who were gunned down like common criminals on 28 February, 1948 at the Christiansburg, Accra. What crime did they commit? They were only going to present a petition to the Colonial Governor of the Gold Coast. They were only fighting for their ex gratia awards after they had been in war front for years.
It was their blood that galvanised the momentum and served as catalyst for the legendary BIG SIX to go for the gold –the INDEPENDENCE. The BIG SIX included Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Dr J.B.Danquah, Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey, Mr. Ofori Atta, Mr. Akufo-Addo and Mr. Ako-Adjei. These were collected and dumped in jails across the country; were they armed robbers? These are among the greatest national heroes we must pay homage to whenever we celebrate the independence anniversary of Ghana. This is why our National Pledge reminds us in part: “…I promise to hold in high esteem, our heritage won for us through the blood and toil of our fathers; I pledge myself in all things to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana.”
Today, as we celebrate the 52nd Anniversary of Ghana on the theme: “Unity and Peace: Pillars for National Development,” the least that we can do is to renew the promise and the pledge to our father and mother Ghana.
Besides the historical and political significance of the independence, what can one say about the economic achievements of Ghana since independence? Even the political journey of the nation since independence has not been all rosy at all. For the uncountable military coup d’états of the 60s, 70s and early 80s had dealt some deadly blows to democratic governance of the nation.
Fortunately, however, since the coming into being of the fourth Republican Constitution of 1992, which was ushered in by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on January 7, 1993, Ghana has been enjoying change of government through democratic elections instead of military coup d’états. This trend of affairs is commendable.
Just last year, 2008, for the first time in her 52 years of nationhood, Ghana scored high democratic marks among nations in Africa when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) another democratically elected Government successfully completed its constitutionally mandated term of eight years and handed over to NDC again. The beauty of this culture of “moko aya ne moko aba”( let someone go for someone to come)is progressive for the advancement of Ghana.
It is against this backdrop that the theme for this year’s anniversary celebration “Unity and Peace: Pillars for National Development” is most appropriate. It is common knowledge that without peace and unity, no meaningful development can take place, not only at the national level but at the District and Regional levels as well. This explains why the people of Ghana must pat themselves on the back for the just-ended peaceful general elections. I say belated Ayekoooo to all Ghanaians! “Mbo - Muaye adie!”
Now that the elections are over, there is the need for the nation to put all political games behind it and focus on national development agenda in unity. First, the leadership of the nation itself must be seen to be interested in peace and unity for national development. Selfishness, partisanship, greed and corruption must be reduced to the barest minimum if not eradicated entirely.
There cannot be peace and unity if political leaders are seen to be interested in their own welfare to the neglect of the majority of the people who elected them into office. The current hullaballoo about proposed ex-gratia awards for ex-Presidents, Members of Parliament and other public holders is a typical example of how political leadership can create disunity and disharmony among the populace leading to agitation and unrest instead of unity and peace for national development. It is gratifying to note that H.E. President J.E.A.Mills is making efforts to use constitutional means to review the whole saga of ex-gratia awards. If this is not done there will be no peace and unity and there will be no national development.
Ghana is not a poor country by nature. It is common place that Ghana is such a blessed land endowed with all kinds of resources including gold, diamond, bauxite, cocoa, timber, arable land, rivers, good rain fall patterns and abundant sun shine all year round. And yet Ghana is endemic with poverty. After 52 years of independence, if the nation’s natural resources had been effectively and efficiently managed, should a Ghanaian child go to bed without a meal? After 52 years of independence, should any Ghanaian child be denied basic education? Something might have gone amiss!
Besides natural resources, Ghana is equally endowed with human resources. She is blessed with some of the best brains in Africa if not in the whole world. One can cite the immediate past UN Secretary-General Busumuru Kofi Annan and others in international bodies to symbolise the human resource base of the country. These are just a few reasons why Ghana could have done better than she has done so far after 52 years of nationhood in terms of socio-economic, political and cultural prosperity.
Now one can speculate that a solid foundation has been laid for the economic take-off of the nation across board. Various sectors of the economy including Agriculture, Education, Health, Transportation, Communications, Investment, Tourism, Foreign Policies, Sports and others seem to be in a better shape today than they were before independence. For instance, the Capitation Grant, National Health Insurance Scheme and the School Feeding Programme and have created opportunity for some school-going children to be in school and be given at least one meal a day free of charge. The new government can improve upon what is in place for national development.
The National Health Insurance Scheme has come to stay, but there is more room for improvement. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is gradually but steadily taking roots in society. Ghana is on the Information Super High Way through the Government of Ghana Portal (www.ghana.gov.gh). Ghana has a comprehensive ICT Policy already in place. The National Portal needs to be revamped to make it a real electronic gateway in the true sense E-Government.
The previous Government started establishing what is referred to as Community Information Centres (CICs) in all the 230 electoral constituencies throughout the country. This is a viable strategy that concretely ensures that ICTs are taken closer to rural people who are in majority in the country. It is hoped the new administration will continue with this project and make it better for national development. Again, the discovery of oil in commercial quantity during the 50th anniversary celebration of Ghana was very opportune for this blessed nation, just to mention but a few.
On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, a delegation of Norwegian oil experts, led by that country’s Minister for Environment and International Development, Mr Erik Solheim, called on the Ghanaian Vice President, H.E. John Mahama at the Castle Osu, Accra. Among other things, Vice President Mahama, disclosed that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) was being restructured so as to reposition it to make it more responsive to meet government’s programme of making Ghana a wealthy nation in the not too distant future. Naturally Ghana can only become a wealthy nation in the near future only and if only the people of Ghana collectively make Unity and Peace as Pillars for National Development.

DEMOCRATIC MISSION ACCOMPLISHED IN GHANA

2009-01-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

“If you don’t know death, just take a glance at sleep,” so goes a popular Ghanaian proverb.

Without exaggeration, one can characterise the just-ended 2008 peaceful elections in Ghana as an event that sent the entire African Continent into coma and back. A simple analogy will best illustrate the scenario as it enfolded in Ghana. But it was more traumatic than dramatic!

A ninety-year-old-mother of 53 – Mama Africa, has lost all her other 52 daughters through a plague called democracy. The only surviving daughter – Ghana, became pregnant and was expecting a baby in sixteen days or so, according to the gynecologist in charge –the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.

Until the hour of delivery, the surviving expectant mother was not only energetic democratically, but was bubbling with vigour, vivacity and vitality. Having had four previous deliveries - elections through natural means the entire globe was expecting noting but another peaceful and natural display of political maturity.

Suddenly, this energetic expectant mother had a heart-attack and was rushed to a hospital and was admitted at the intensive care unit. Then she fell into deep, deep coma. All hell broke loose. Panics seized the entire nation throwing Africa in a state of helplessness and hopelessness.

‘Oh, Ghana, my only surviving daughter in whom I have faith, is this how you are going to end my life?” the desperate Mama Africa lamented. Into the empty air went the dejected arms of the poor woman, whirling and wailing in uncontrollable pain of a mother.

All the cardio specialists cum gyno gurus – international election observers, made up of all races on the face of the earth including, Africans, Europeans, Americans, Asians and Australians gathered at the hospital bedside of this moribund daughter to save her priceless life.

The surgeons were at their wits end. They were more confused than embarrassed. “Shall we undertake a cesarean operation to deliver the dying woman of her unborn baby first, or shall we tackle a heart surgery to correct her heart condition first?” they asked themselves in awe.

Whilst the medical scientists were racking their scientific brains in the theatre, global evangelical and theological specialists across religious boundaries rushed on their knees in shrines, cathedrals, mosques, synagogues and temples to invoke the presence of the Divine Intelligence, the Universal Mind and the Supreme Creator to descend and do something before He or She dies! The Lord spirituals concentrated, contemplated and meditated. They prayed without ceasing indeed! Did God hear their prayers?

Meanwhile, the two protagonists of this whole debacle entangled in tango over political supremacy were the Hon. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party NPP and H.E. Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress NDC. While they were doing their own things, the moribund expectant mother was still under the watchful eyes of the global surgeons.

Then the surgeons decided to perform a cesarean operation to remove the baby from the womb before the heart operation. Just as the leader of the team of surgeons was about to touch the dying woman’s skin with his sharp sterilised knife, she widely opened eyes and burst into cynical laughter.

The “resurrected” woman even had the audacity to query the doctors in the theatre as to why they tied her legs and arms for no apparent reason. In fact, the way she cast a cursing glance at the faces of the surgeons was enough warning for them to set her free unconditionally. Nobody dare utter a word but to take a deep breath and heed a sigh of relief.

That was how the historical and memorable general elections of the year 2008 took place in Ghana. Those who were not physically present in Ghana might have heard of the tribulations of that election but may not be able to imagine the excruciating trauma Ghanaians and all who were in the country to witness the event live went through.

At the end of the day, the presidential candidate of the NDC, Professor John Evans Atta Mills narrowly edged out the NPP presidential candidate, Hon. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, with 4,501, 466 (50.13%) as against 4,478.411 (49.87%) obtained out of the total valid votes of 9,001,478 in 230 constituencies including the now famous Tain constituency of the Brong Ahafo Region after the second presidential run-off.

On Saturday, January 3, 2009, the grey-haired Electoral Commissioner, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, with a head pregnant with wisdom proclaimed in Accra: “…Ladies and Gentlemen: On the basis of the official results given, it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the President-elect of Ghana.”

On Wednesday, January 7, 2009, the first ever woman Chief Justice of Ghana, Her Lordship Justice Theodora Wood swore the first Professor President of Ghana into office. He is President John Evans Atta Mills. The state sword, which is the insignia or emblem of presidential office, was handed-over to him by the Gentle Giant, Dr John Agyekum Kufuor. He previously took over from President Jerry John Rawlings on January 7, 2001.

Since journalism is said to be the first draft of history, it is imperative to put on record that when the then candidate Akufo-Addo and the then candidate Prof Mills were engaged in a fierce election tug-of-war pulling each other to the breaking point, thereby threatening to plunge the entire nation into a political tsunami, it took President Kufuor to just say a word and our souls were saved.

As Head of State, President of the Republic and the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, President Kufuor issued a timely statement which read in part: “…I wish to appeal to all Ghanaians, especially the supporters of the NPP and the NDC, to remain calm and wait patiently for the declaration of the result by the Electoral Commission, which alone has the constitutional mandate to undertake that function.”

Those were the magic words of wisdom and reason which charmed the two combatants and saved the image of Ghana and Africa. Having gone through that excruciating democratic experience, described by some observers as an initiation or a baptism of fire and come out in peace and not in pieces as a nation, never shall Ghana disintegrate because of politics. And that was how a democratic mission was accomplished in Ghana in 2008. May Jesus bless President Kufuor and God bless Ghana!

The Value of Employee Motivation

2008-10-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

There is this popular Ghanaian proverb: “Wo nni sika a wo se aduro nnye,” which literally translates: “If you have no money then you will say that medicine is not good.”

A quick on-line research using Google search engine gives the following inspirational interpretations of the word motivation.

“Motivation is the inner power or energy that pushes one toward performing a certain action. Motivation has much to do with desire and ambition, and if they are absent, motivation is absent too.

“Actually, motivation is one of the most important keys to success. Lack of motivation either does not bring results or brings only mediocre results, whereas motivation brings faster, better and bigger results.

“Often, a person has the desire and ambition to get something done or achieve a certain goal, but lacks the push, the initiative and the willingness to take action. This shows a lack of motivation and inner drive

“There is no doubt that we live in a money-motivated world. Any amount of human relations cannot compensate for a lack of monetary reward. If the reward is right, good human relations will give that extra zest to a team, motivating them to give of their best efforts.

“The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees.”

On Tuesday, 21^st October, 2008, the Hon. Minister for Information and National Orientation (MINO), Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, made a motivational history in the life of the Information Services Department (ISD) in Accra.

On that day, for the first time in a long memory, the sector Minister put the above-quoted motivational theories or philosophical statements into practical application. This, he did by honouring 21 employees of ISD for outstanding performance at one sitting.

This special package has never happened before since the Department was established by the colonial British government during the 2^nd World War in 1939 to provide information on the progress of the war to the people of the Gold Coast at the time.

What is normally done is a kind of annual get-together whereby one best worker of the year is declared and presented with some gifts. Sometimes due to “some unforeseen circumstances beyond the control” of management the yearly party itself does not take place at all to the annoyance of most workers.

The contribution of employees of ISD to the socio-economic, political and cultural development of this country using the famous Cinema Vans in the remotest and deprived rural communities to inform, educate and entertain people focusing on issues of national interest cannot be overstressed.

Just recently when Burkina Faso was about to open its hydro-dam for spillover waters, the Volta River Authorities (VRA) had to rely on ISD employees , using the Cinema Vans cris-crossing the three Northern regions to embark on intensive public education, day and night to avert a national disaster.

Last year, without any warning, a similar exercise caused a deluge which washed away precious human and animal lives, properties and cultivated farms, which afflicted pain and suffering on our brothers and sisters, resulting in untold hardships to our northern compatriots.

It is against this backdrop that this symbolic Excellence Performance Award Scheme instituted by the Minister to motivate employees of ISD must be commended and appreciated. I say symbolic because, it is not the amount of money that went to the award winners that matters so much but the value of the scheme and the honour, recognition and appreciation given to such dedicated workers of the Department.

“The award is my own initiative to motivate the staff of ISD and demonstrate my confidence in them. Any good manager must appreciate the contribution of the staff to the success of the organisation and the need to reward excellence to attain higher productivity,” Hon Asamoah Boateng opined.

Another statement the Minister made during the award ceremony which was even more inspiring than motivating was that as a Minister, he alone cannot be every where to do the entire job. “I therefore, believe in team work and outstanding performance to make Ghana better,” he noted.

This author totally agrees with the Minister that team work is the best policy to adopt for the progress of any organisation or an institution. For our ancestors say: “One tree cannot make a forest.”

The value of employee motivation through award schemes is indispensable not only in institutions or organisations but also in the life of a nation. Otherwise, the Government would not have instituted national award to reward distinguished citizens across board. And that is why there is National Farmers Day in Ghana where fantastic awards including houses, vehicles, tractors, outboard motors, deepfreezers, television sets and many more are presented to farmers and fishermen on a declared national holiday annually.

And that is why professional bodies like the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) have all instituted magnificent National Award Schemes to recognise outstanding members of their respective associations.

The Ghana Journalists Association, for instance has been upgrading its award schemes year after year since it was instituted over 50 years ago or so. And this year’s award packages at stake are more mouth-watering than ever before. Kudos to the GJA leadership. More grease to their elbows.

As for the Ministry of Information and National Orientation’s Recognition of Excellence Award for Outstanding Performance, it is the prayer of all employees of the Ministry and the Department that the scheme will be maintained and sustained by Minister after Minister till thy Kingdom come! “Tswa, tswa, tswa Omanye aba –Yao!”

Sowing the Seed of ICT in Ghana: “Baah-Wiredu’s computer a child” is fantastic

2008-10-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

This popular adage that “Rome was not built in a day,” or the famous Chinese proverb which says that “A journey of a thousand kilometers begins with one step” is self-evident.

All Information and Communication Technology (ICT) minded countries such as China, Singapore, Malaysia, India and others, that are becoming super ICT nations on this planet of technology did not achieve their feat overnight. Singapore, for instance, embarked on her ICT revolutionary journey over 30 years ago.

On Tuesday, October 7, 2008, hardworking Ghanaian teachers were rewarded with mouth-watering prizes. The event took place at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana and coincided with the 14th National Best Teacher Award/World Teachers’Day, celebrated globally. This writer wishes to join hands with the Government and people of Ghana to say a Big Ayeekoo to the Ghanaian Teacher. The days when a teacher’s reward was supposed be in heaven must be over forever. (Somebody say Aaamennn!)

As a matter of fact, Ghana Government must be commended for the magnificent prizes presented to the award winning teachers. The first prize of 60.000 Ghana Cedis which went to Mr Sadique Boateng of T.I. Ahmadiayya Senior High School in Kumasi to be used for the construction of a house of his choice must be motivating enough to lure any youth to want to embrace teaching as a profession. There is still room for improvement, though.

For instance, in the very near future when Ghana’s oil boom takes off, it should be possible for all ten best teachers from each region to be awarded houses at ago Then all 170 best district teachers must be given cars each, too. In view of the key role education plays in national development, and the fact that teachers constitute the foundation upon which all other professionals are educated, only the best should be good for the teacher. Therefore, teachers must be among the best paid professionals in the country.(True or false?)

But what actually motivated this author to write this piece was the revelation by the President of Ghana, H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor, on the day of the award ceremony that very soon all Ghanaian children between the ages of five and 12 in public schools will be provided with personal computers by the government.

The Daily Graphic of Wednesday, October 8, 2008, carried a front page banner headline: “COMPUTER PER CHILD – Govt’s initiative to boost ICT skills in public schools.” According to the story, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States of America (USA), had designed some computers that would enable Ghanaian children to acquire skills in Information and Communication Technology, “which is currently the most critical basic instrument of education world-wide,” the paper stressed.

President Kufuor used the occasion to disclose that the deal for the supply of the computers was negotiated on behalf of the Government by the late Finance Minister, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu about two years ago. That the very day the creators of these unique machines from the MIT, dubbed “Magic Computers for children” came to demonstrate the computers to him during his recent trip to the US, he received the agonising news of the transition of our beloved Finance Minister. So, in order to honour his memory, therefore, the President said the machines shall be christened as “Baah-Wiredu’s Computer for a child.” Another fantastic posthumous award for a worthy soul.

With this magnificent technological legacy bequeathed Ghana by the affable and humble late Minister, when it comes to write the history of ICT advancement in the country, Hon. Baah-Wiredu’s name shall not be written in water, but etched on the rock of technology. For he had sowed a seed of ICT that shall geminate, grow and produce fruits that shall feed Ghanaian children of today and those yet unborn.

It is most reassuring to learn from the President that the first batch of 10.000 units of the wonder machines are already on the way and will sooner than later arrive in our beloved country. Well, this writer is not in any position to know how these computers will be distributed equitably for the benefit of all public schools in the country. But the country’s educational authorities know best what to do.

Nevertheless, I shall take the liberty to make the following suggestions for consideration:

1. Even before the “magic computers” land on our soil, there must be “magic” ICT teachers who can use the machines to teach the children in the first place. So, if this is not yet done, then one or two experts who manufactured the computers must come down to provide some kind of “Train-the-trainers” programme for ICT teachers in Ghana without delay.

2. Where possible, all public schools in the 170 districts in the country must be supplied with these computers for children. One does not know whether the computers will use electricity power or solar energy or dry cell batteries; so that whether a school is located in a district connected to the national electricity grid or not, the children there must be given the opportunity at least to see and touch a computer in their life for the first time. The truth is that some Ghanaians are yet to see a computer in some parts of our country let alone use one.

3. Some of the Community Information Centres (CICs) that are currently in operation in some of the deprived rural areas in the country must serve as resource centres where some of the computers can be installed for the benefit of school children in those communities. It may be better that way rather than some school heads, suffering from “computer phobia” to dump the machines in some uncompleted buildings somewhere with the excuse that there are no computer laboratories in their schools.

For Ghana to make headway in the global market as far as employment opportunities are concerned the country must vigorously embark on mass production of ICT literates like India and unemployment and poverty shall gradually take care of themselves.

Ghana Must Not Joke With ICT At All

2008-08-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

An African proverb alerts us that: “A person who travels sees more things than a person who climbs up a tall tree.” Another one says: “What Cat saw and closed its eyes, Dog did not see it before barking at the top of its voice.”

It appears most of us Ghanaians take delight in talking, talking without actually focusing on what we are mandated or supposed to do for the advancement of our beloved country. If one were to do a sort of SWOT analysis of Ghana as a nation, this “Talk-talk No Action” would be one of her critical weaknesses.

On Friday, August 1, 2008, the Daily Graphic wrote a very pathetic editorial headed: “THAT ALL MAY ACCESS WWW.COM” The opening paragraph of that editorial comment even started with the word PATHETIC in capital letters. It reads:

“A PATHETIC picture was painted of the country’s poor Internet use and standing on the African continent, with Ghana placing only ahead of Sierra Leone and Liberia.”

Come to think of it! Ghana, a country that we Ghanaians always claim to be the first in everything and anything in Africa, is sharing a position with Sierra Leone and Liberia in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the African Continent. Did something go wrong somewhere, or have we just not moved from the talking point to the action point yet?

Graphic editorial continued: “This sordid state of affairs should be cause for concern to everybody in the 21^st century when Information and Communication Technology (ICT) rules the world”

The third paragraph opined: “Ghana’s hold on mobile phone patronage, undoubtedly, is high, as every nook and cranny of the country is somehow connected to some of the major mobile networks. Obviously, the high mobile phone patronage should translate into Internet use to make every hamlet of the country become part of the global village in order to share in its joy and benefits.”

The editorial quoted from 2007 World Bank report on the Internet use in the world, which said that, “only 401,300 Ghanaians, representing 1.8 percent of the country’s population of an estimated 22 million, have access to the Internet.”

“The report cited Ghana as one of the African countries with the lowest record of Internet patronage, coming behind South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Senegal.” The question is, how come Ghana, the most peaceful and stable country in Africa should be trailing behind these countries when Ghana has a comprehensive ICT Policy, known as ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) in place?

The editorial also quoted the President of the Ghana Association of Leasing Company (GALCO), Mr Ernest Mintah, to have made reference to the World Bank report and called for the government’s intervention to give more Ghanaians access to the Internet.

“According to him, the government should waive taxes and duties on computers and their accessories to allow for more importation of computers into the country in order to promote the use of computers and the Internet in schools and at workplaces.

“That Internet facilities and access to the personal computers enhance teaching and learning and increase the productivity of business can no longer be relegated to the background. But it is one thing having access to the personal computers and another having access to the Internet.”

This writer finds this point made by Graphic editorial very, very relevant. In countries like Singapore and others where ICT is leading them to become world superpower, they ensure that all pupils and students at various stages of the educational ladder, ranking from kindergarten the tertiary levels, computer and Internet facilities are made available for their studies. In fact, in Singapore, most students do no longer go to school with load of bags hanging on their necks. Students do their home works online and email them to their teachers for marking online.

In Ghana, the situation is diametrically the opposite. The evidence is that on the letters page of the Daily Graphic of the same Friday, August 1, 2008 when this pathetic editorial was written, there was a letter to the editor (page9), complaining about lack of computers in schools in Ghana. That letter, written by one Emmanuel Toklo of Gbawe Cluster of Schools, was captioned: “ICT with no computer?”

The opening paragraph of that letter read: “The academic year that ushers in the new educational system would come to an end on July 31, 2008. The introduction of the new system comes with ICT as a subject of study with a comprehensive syllabus.”

Then the second paragraph lamented: “But after three clear terms have passed, the teaching of ICT remains a theoretical subject such as history and social studies. What is more worrying is that there are no textbooks for the students to use to acquire basic computer literacy and they do not have the opportunity for acquiring practical experience.”

One unfortunate observation this writer has made about Ghana is that some times, if not most times, Government’s good intentions or laudable programmes and plans to help the citizenry is almost always frustrated and torpedoed by some individuals for their selfish end. If Government waives taxes and duties on computers and their accessories as recommended in the Graphic editorial under review, would importers of ICT equipment respond positively and reduce the prices of their goods for the benefit of the ordinary people, especially school pupils and students in this particular case?

Just take the recent fantastic gesture by government in abolishing or suspending taxes and duties on certain food items including rice, sugar, poultry, cooking oil, as well as petroleum products to alleviate economic hardships on the people of Ghana, being experienced globally. Some importers and retailers are taking undue advantage and have the pleasure to indulge in profiteering thereby making nonsense of Government’s magnanimity. Is it fair?

Right now Government has embarked upon the establishment of Community Information Centres (CICs) in all the 230 constituencies to take ICT closer to the door steps of rural communities and deprived zones in the country. There is the urgent need to expedite action on extension and expansion of telecommunications infrastructure to all parts of the country for computer and Internet facilities to reach everybody whether rich or poor.

This explains why this writer wishes to humbly appeal to politicians to minimise talking and politicking and as stated in the Graphic editorial, “that Ghana Telecom should be supported to become viable so that it can extend its land line system to the rural areas.”

I further agree with the last but one paragraph of Graphic editorial which pointed out that: “While we support Mr Minta’s appeal to the government to waive taxes and duties on computers and their accessories to allow for more importation of computers into the country, we also believe that mobile phone service providers which go to the aid of rural areas should be considered for tax rebates.”

As far back as 1997, a South African Minister for Communication predicted that the way ICT was ruling the world, “If you don’t Dot Com, you would be Dot Dead!” And, as Graphic editorial headline puts it, for Ghana to advance in the 21^st century, we must ensure “THAT ALL MAY ACCESS WWW.COM!”

Is Ghana ready for the upcoming oil boom?

2008-07-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Asks Mawutodzi K. Abissath
Oil boom

The traditional wisdom in African proverbs is beyond compare. Listen to this common one: “If you see your neigbour’s beard in flame, you must quickly run and fetch water near your own.”

Ghana is a blessed country in the true sense of the word! Ghana is a very fortunate nation not only in Africa but on the entire planet Earth. In fact, nature is so kind to Ghana that everyday the benevolence and the benediction of the Divine Intelligence are always pouring on her like showers from the heavens. The whole of Ghana is like the Garden of Eden. Delicious fruits, magnificent flowers, beautiful birds, singing melodious tunes in praise of the Creator from dawn to dusk non-stop. It is a land of queens and kings majestically dancing in palanquins from January to December. Ao! Ghana is a country every human being must visit at least once in one’s life!

The only sad thing about Ghana is that, some times, Ghanaians themselves do not seem to appreciate these blessings, let alone place any premium on them. Otherwise, how on earth will any citizen of Ghana dream of walking from Africa through the Sahara desert en route to Europe? Another African proverb admonishes us: “When the treasure is in the sitting room, you don’t need to go to the bedroom looking for it there.”

Ghana is also a very smart country in Africa indeed! In June 2007, when Ghana was at the zenith of her Golden Jubilee Celebrations, God sent his angel to bring a special message to the people of Ghana. That message was simple. The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and its partners including Kosmos Energy of the US and Tullow Oil of the UK broke the news of the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the offshore Tan/West Cape Three Points Basin in the Western Region of our beloved country.

Strategies

From the day the oil discovery message was delivered to the number one citizen of the land, in the person of President J.A.Kufuor at the Castle, Osu in Accra, the Government and people of Ghana have never gone to bed to sleep. In other words, Ghanaians are not sitting on the fence with their arms in their laps with their mouths gaped towards the blue skies waiting for the honey to drip onto their tongues. (Kpaooo! Daaabida! Waalaaii)!

Ghana Government has ever since embarked on some public education strategies such as campaigns, seminars, fora, symposia, newspaper adverts etc. to alert the citizenry about the discovery of oil and what Government was doing and what was expected of every citizen so that the oil find becomes a blessing and not a curse as is the case in some neigbouring countries in the West Africa sub-region.

In fact a high-powered ministerial committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Advisor to the President at the office of the President was set up to supervise the activities of the oil exploration in the country. Other ministries of that committee include Finance and Economic Planning, Local Government, Rural Development & Environment, Defence, Attorney General’s Department, Fisheries and Harbours and Railways. Besides this committee which is advisory in nature, there is also a technical committee made up of experts from various sectors of the economy including GNPC, Environmental Protection Agency, and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Institute, the Ghana Navy, the Internal Revenue Service and so on.

The first major event Government embarked upon in this regard was what was dubbed, the broad-based consultative initiative on Ghana’s oil and gas industry forum. This maiden forum was officially opened by President Kufuor at the Ghana Institute of Public Administration (GIMPA) on Monday, February 25, 2008, Accra.

Conscious of the fact that Ghana is novice in oil and gas industry, experts were invited from all over the world including Mr Erik Solheim, Minister for Environment and International Development from Norway, to share their experiences with Ghana. A Ghanaian proverb says, “Wisdom is like a baobab tree, one person cannot embrace it.” And another famous Adinkra symbol of Ghana places value on knowledge so much so that it says: “A person who does not know can learn to know.” As a matter of fact, the African University College of Communications, (AUCC) founded by a very simple and humble but wise son of Ghana, in the person of Mr Kojo Yankah has adopted the above-stated symbols as the emblem of the AUCC.

On Saturday, 19^th July 2008, this writer happened to have witnessed the graduation ceremony of that University at their new City Campus at Adabaraka in the heart of Accra. And I bet you, reader, besides the founder of that University, the original African brains with unadulterated African wisdom behind it, you don’t need to be an astrologer like the three wise men of the Christian Bible from the East, to see the star and foretell that an African saviour has been born in Ghana, (not in Israel) to deliver Africans from a mental slavery. The Creator made sure that everything needed to develop scientifically and technologically is right here in Ghana and Africa. (Sorry for the digression.)

As I was saying, since the announcement of oil discovery in Ghana, Government has not been sitting down for manna to fall from heaven for Ghanaians. At the first oil and gas forum, it came to light that petroleum exploration activities actually started as far back as in the 1890s in the Half Assini area in the same Western Region of Ghana. “Records show that there was a small production in the offshore Half Assini area just at the beginning of the World War II. Then in the early 1970s, during the Busia regime, the Saltpond field was also discovered but did not prove commercial enough. In spite of this, it was not abandoned and it is currently producing 600 barrels of oil per day.” This was President Kufuor speaking at that oil and gas forum at GIMPA.

After that forum, the Oil and Gas Ministerial and Technical Committees had embarked on nation-wide tours where similar workshops were held in all the ten regions of Ghana, collating and collecting people’s views and opinions as to how Ghana must manage the oil in order to make life prosperous for every Ghanaian citizen regardless of socio-economic, political and cultural status and geographical locations.

I remember vividly that at one of the fora held at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region or so, someone was reported to have suggested that a special Oil Fund should be established for the welfare of the indigenous people on whose land the oil was discovered. That a special package must be prepared for them; their children and children’s children so that their eyes shall see poverty but their feet shall never step in the land of the poor souls for ever and ever. (Do I hear somebody say Amen?) This strategy of listening to ordinary down trodden’s views to be embodied in a National Oil and Gas Policy for Ghana is commendable to say the least. This explains why this writer thinks that Ghana is a very smart country. This gesture on the part of Government is one of the fruits of democracy and good governance. “Wo mpe woyiaa, wope den?” To wit – if you don’t like this, what do you want? – Common Ghanaian idiom!

Frankly, what actually motivated this author to write this piece was the fact that, besides those official workshops and seminars, which Ghanaians adore and enjoy to the brim, the Management of the Ghana Petroleum Corporation has been serialising a very comprehensive and educative document in the national dailies, namely, the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times for some time now. I find these pull-outs on the oil industry titled: THE UPSTREAM PETROLEUM INDUSTRY IN GHANA – Oil and Gas Exploration, Development and Production,” very, very, timely and fantastic indeed!

With this educational material, anybody, especially a journalist or media practitioner who is desirous of writing about the oil and gas industry can educate himself or herself so as to communicate intelligibly about this highly scientific and technological sector of the economy. For instance, it is through this document that this writer got to know the basic difference between Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Industries. Upstream Petroleum Industry simply involves the Exploration, Development and Production of petroleum resources whilst when you talk of Downstream, you are referring to the refining/processing and distribution of petroleum products. All of these measures are indicative of Ghana’s readiness for the forthcoming oil boom in the country.

Suggestion

This writer, would, however, like to suggest that since Ghana is in transition from Oil Importing Country (OIC) to Oil Exporting (OEC) very soon, GNPC and its noble partners, Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil, should consider organising some special training programme for Ghanaian journalists who may want to specialise in science and technology reporting, with particular focus on the oil industry (they do not necessarily have to be science students, but have the interest in writing about the industry) to start preparing them for the task ahead. This initiative will not only be in the interest of Ghana but the oil exploration firms in Ghana as well.

The Value of Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT Projects in Ghana

2008-07-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

I am sure you know this popular Ghanaian proverb which admonishes that: “A person who is cutting a path does not know that his back is crooked.” This simple proverb epitomises the wisdom of African ancestors. For, it connotes that an unexamined life is not worth living.

A Zambian Information and Communication Specialist by name Mr Casius Chuma once remarked: “Monitoring and Evaluation is not there to spy on you, but to mirror your development trails.”

On Thursday, July 3, 2008, the Ghana Information and Knowledge Sharing Network (GINKS), a local-based coordinating partner of the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) of the Netherlands, orgnaised a half-day seminar for other ICT projects oriented partners including the Ministry of Information and National Orientation in Accra. The theme for the seminar was: “Enhancing Information and knowledge sharing as a tool for project sustainability.”

Dr Lawrence Kannae, Lecturer, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and Madam Martine Koopman, Information and Knowledge Officer, IICD served as main resource persons for the seminar. Dr Kannae’s presentation was on the topic, “Internal Strategies for Monitoring and Evaluating Projects” while Madam Koopman spoke on the topic, “Tips on Monitoring and Evaluation (IICD Pespective”)

Without exaggerating, this writer has participated in several seminars and workshops both at home and abroad in the course of his professional practice over the years, but this half a day seminar on monitoring and evaluation had been an eye opener for him in the true sense of the word. For, at the end of the day, it dawned on me that perhaps, many development projects in our beloved country, fail due to lack of effective monitoring and evaluation strategies.

Dr Kannae pointed out that Monitoring and Evaluation of any development project ought to be considered as a project in itself. Consequently, institutions or organisations that embark on projects in whatever capacity or scope must draw up a complete separate strategy for monitoring and evaluation. In other words, monitoring and evaluation plan must take into account the goals and objectives of the main development project in question. The input, processes, output, outcome as well as the anticipated impact of the project must be taken into consideration.

Monitoring and Evaluation activity must have an objective that is measurable, achievable and time-bound. It must be acceptable to management, relevant with valid data with a separate budget altogether. In fact, Monitoring and Evaluation is about performance, therefore, management must make provision for the necessary resources for its success. These resources include human, logistics and financial. The key stakeholders in the project must not be ignored in the monitoring and evaluation scheme of things or plan.

Another important point Dr Kannae made, which this writer find very, very crucial is communication monitoring and evaluation report. When monitoring and evaluation is conducted to assess the status of a project, a report must be filed and communicated to all concerned. This constitutes what can be termed as project feedback to management, financiers or sponsors of the project in question. One effective way to communicate the monitoring report to stakeholders is the creation of a special forum to reflect on the monitoring and evaluation report.

There could also be seminars, workshops or publication in a journal of such a report. And in communicating this report everybody connected with formulation and implementation of the project right from the secretary, field officers, the project manager, top management staff to the development partners or sponsors must have access to this report for analysis and evaluation. This will enable all concerned to pass their comments, or make suggestions or recommendations for the future plans of the main project.

Methodology

In her presentation, Madam Koopman enlightened participants on the methodology employed by IICD in the monitoring and evaluation of its ICT related projects sponsored in various countries in Africa including Ghana. She made it clear that Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is high on the agenda of many development organisations, including that of IICD.

However, Madam Koopman explained that, while M&E is generally used as a tool to measure results and provide accountability, IICD further introduced M&E for the purpose of learning. She then distributed copies of a leaflet which describes the added value of M&E for learning, how it is organised and what was learned over the years. It was a fantastic practical leaning strategy for all participants present at the seminar.

It came to light that the work IICD is carrying out in various countries is led by guiding principles. One of the most important principles is the local ownership of projects supported by IICD. Apparently the ultimate objective of IICD in supporting development partners is to help such partners be it financially or technically to take charge and be responsible for the results of the activities on the ground. Because of this eventual self-supporting strategy the M&E system designed by IICD is based on the same philosophy that monitoring and evaluation is not “to spy on you” but to help local partners to learn from experiences and to take ownership of their projects and manage them for the development of their respective nations.

In line with its unique approach, IICD makes M&E an integral part of project development and implementation in all of its country programmes globally. Consequently IICD’s Country Programme supports local partners in the developing countries and encourages them to make efforts to implement ICT as a tool for development in various sectors of their economies.

Other unique principles that IICD adopts in M&E methodology include, Marketing principles. The orgnisation came by this principle following a long process of experimenting and discussing the various options, the method of data collection used commercially for marketing purposes. Madam Koopman explained that one good way to reflect on progress is by asking the target group, including end-users of projects such as farmers, teachers or even traders, depending on the nature of the ICT project concerned and the locality in which it is being implemented.

Another important principle is Building trust. The IICD Information and Knowledge Officer related that one of the things IICD had learned over the years was that the term “evaluation” was often met with resistance. Thus to overcome the reluctance of partners and end-users to openly discuss difficulties and challenges, IICD separated the learning process from financial control. “Neither the online questionnaires nor the focus group meetings contain any financial aspects. This is a very strong feature of IICD’s M&E system,” Madam Koopman disclosed.

The technique of using questionnaires and results from focus group meetings over the past years have been immensely helpful in providing insight and creating a reflective tool for IICD’s partners. So far, over 18,000 questionnaires is reported to have been collected with almost 4,000 responses from project end-users. The end-user evaluation for each project is said to be repeated annually in order to learn over time from changes in the data how project cycle could possibly be improved.

The way forward

The IICD Resource Person told seminar participants that in the past years the organisation had accumulated a lot of experience with Monitoring and Evaluation through online tools. Through this strategy, the IICD learned a great deal from impact measurement at the end-user level, which makes it possible for it to see which questions work and which ones do not for assessment purposes.

The IICD hopes to further expand its learning strategy through the M&E. The organisation also looks into how local ownership of the entire Monitoring and Evaluation process can be further strengthened. The ultimate goal is to eventually make it possible for local project partners to learn to own, manage and use the M&E system to do their own learning as a way forward for effective and efficient implementation of sponsored ICT related project for the development of their respective countries for the benefit of their people. It is suggested that the ICT industry in Ghana will take Monitoring and Evaluation aspect of project management seriously the for scientific and technological advance of Ghana.

Challenges of the Information Officer of the Digital Age

2008-06-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

Digital Government

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

My beloved brothers and sisters in information and communication industry in Ghana, verily, verily, I say unto you that the World Wide Web (www) with its offspring, the Internet, brought about by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is very, very useful indeed! If it weren’t so, I wouldn’t have told you so. But it all depends on how you use its tools to advance your course.

When doing a research to write this feature, I browsed the web and used the Google search engine to look up the definition of the three key words in the headline above namely, “challenge”, “information” and “digital.” I was amazed at the thousand and one shades of meaning available on the net. Yet, for purposes of this article, I just picked the basic meanings that best suit my intention. And that intention was to try as much as possible to write on technical subjects without much indulging in technical jargons, so that ordinary readers can enjoy reading the piece and understand the real issue at stake.

Thus, Challenge was defined as “a situation or difficulty that tests one’s ability to do something.” Information - “a collection of related data; knowledge about a topic; data that have been processed into a format that is understandable by intended audience.” Digital – “generally, information is expressed, stored and transmitted by either analog or digital means. In a digital form, this information is seen in a binary state as either a one or a zero, a plus or a minus. The computer uses digital technology for most actions.”

Analogically, let’s say that, as an Information Officer of the digital age, it was possible for me to obtain the meanings of these words on the Internet while using the computer. Otherwise, I would have been obliged to look for a big dictionary, which might not be available for me at the time of writing. The challenge that would have confronted me would have been my inability to obtain these definitions on the Internet instantly if I had not acquired some basic knowledge or the technique of utilising the tools of ICT to search online or the web.

In Ghana, Information Officers, like any other professionals, have been contributing their quota to the development of the nation from time immemorial. They have been discharging their duties by disseminating government information to the people. They do this by interpreting government policies and explaining less understood or misunderstood issues to the people at the grassroots. They, in turn, send feedback to government by informing the authorities about the sentiments, views, opinions the real feelings of the people on such policies or programmes for necessary reviews or modifications in the best interest of the governed.

For example, the implementation of national policies such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme, the National Youth Employment Programme, the Cedi Redenomination Programme, the Education Reform, the Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, the National Identification Programme, just to mention a few, are issues that Information Officers have been supporting other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as other public and private organisations to educate the public about their value to society without playing politics with them at all. And where the desired impacts are lacking they have the responsibility to alert Government. Information Officers are professional civil servants who are mandated to play this role to assist any government in power for the prosperity of the nation.

Each year when the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning presents the national budget to Parliament, especially where new policy statements are made in the budget, all Regional and District Information Officers are convened in Accra for orientation. Experts from the Finance Ministry are invited to educate and explain policy issues to these Information Officers to enable them to understand and be well informed themselves first before they go back to their various districts to interpret the policies to ordinary citizens in their own local languages.

The latest policy issue, for instance, was the Communication Service Tax, popularly known as “Talk Tax.” Again, when the Bank of Ghana (BoG) came up with the Redenomination of the Cedi programme last year, this orientation was organised for Information Officers, who in turn, went to every corner of the country to explain the programme to the people at the grassroots, in addition to radio and television publicity embarked upon the BoG. This was how the Cedi Redenomination public education campaign was very, very effective and successful nation wide.

One principal and traditional means by which Information Officers have been discharging these functions in deprived and rural communities in the country was the use of the famous Information Cinema Vans. Today with the availability of over 130 FM Radio stations and appreciable number of television stations in the Ghana, Information Officers have access to other communication channels to complement the use of Cinema Vans. Again, Information Officers have the opportunity to diversify the use of Cinema Vans by producing video films, DVD and CD documentaries to supplement their traditional means of disseminating public information to the citizenry.

Now, with the Digital Age, ushered in by ICT, which has transformed the globe into a miniature community, and changed the way things are done from archeology to zoology, Information Officers, too, have new challenges to encounter. As Digital Information Officers now, therefore, there is no way they can discharge their duties effectively and efficiently if they do not acquire some basic knowledge and skills in the application of ICT tools. They need to know something about E-Government strategy. In this context e-Government simply means electronic government or government online.

About 20 years ago or so, the United Nations called on governments the world over to reengineer governance by adopting e-government strategies so as to provide public services to their citizens online. Singapore which was one of the countries in the world to adhear to the UN’s call quickly coined a slogan: “Any service that can be provided electronically must be provided electronically.” Little wonder by 2004, when UN conducted a global survey to ascertain which countries were providing effective public services to their citizens online, Singapore was second only to Canada. In fact, Canada was first in e-government strategy with Singapore and US sharing the second position before others followed, according to that survey. The question is how Singapore, a very tiny island with a population of less than six million with no natural resources whatsoever, share a position with the all might America in e-government strategy? Whether we like it or not, Singapore is a world superpower in ICT. Period!

E-government has objective and scope. Digital Information Officers need to know some of the basic e-government terminologies such as Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), Government-to-Employees (G2E) and Government-to-Government (G2G) etc, so that when they are disseminating government information electronically, they will know exactly what they are about.

Even though the digital gap between Ghana and Singapore may take some generations to bridge, it is gratifying to note that the Government of Ghana has also heeded the UN injunction for adoption of e-government strategy to provide public services to its citizens online. One of measures the Government adopted to this end was the establishment of the Government of Ghana Portal www.ghana.gov.gh which is being managed by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation since 2003.

At the moment the Portal provides information on all sectors of the economy online. It also publishes major development oriented news on daily basis. It is yet to provide public services online. This has to be done in collaboration with some public services providers. Measures are being put in place for online services delivery on the Portal professionally. One particular development partner which supported the Information Ministry in the establishment of the Ghana Portal under what was known as Ghana Dot.Gov Project was the International Institute for Communication Development (IICD), based in the Netherlands.

It is commendable to observe since 2003, the IICD has maintained its technical and financial support to the Ministry of Information in terms of capacity building in ICT for staff of the Ministry and provisions of some equipment such as computers for the management of the Ghana Portal. Having realised that it is only when Information Officers are trained in ICT that they can cope with the demands of the digital age, the IICD has accepted a proposal to help the Ministry to establish an ICT Training Centre within the Ministry to provide constant training and technological upgrading for staff of the Ministry, the Information Services Department and as well as other MDAs in the country.

At the time of writing this piece, work has started on the ICT Training Centre project. UNDP has also been collaborating with the Information Ministry in the capacity building in ICT as reported in a previous article titled: “Ghana’s Community Information Centres (CICs) Project on Course,” published in the Daily of May 29, 2008. IICD is also supporting the CICs project in some rural communities in Northern Ghana.

Ghana Government itself has embarked upon other far reaching e-government projects to make the provision of public services to citizens online a reality in the country. For instance, there is a major E-Ghana Project with the support of the World Bank being undertaken by the Ministry of Communications to transform the whole nation into an e-society. Within the framework of this project, a National Optic Fibre Backbone was needed as infrastructure development leading to achieving that goal. In fact, Ghana’s Ministry of Communications has already completed the first phase of the National Backbone project.

The Ghana Information and Communication Technology Directorate (GICTeD), which is responsible for the e-government component of the E-Ghana Project, is feverishly linking up with other MDAs to ensure the delivery of the following national tasks for the country to be classified among e-government nations of the world: 1. Establishment of Internet registry for Ghana; 2. Establishment of Digital Signature Registry; 3. Establishment of Certified Electronic Mail System for MDAs and 4.Establishment of Electronic Document Workflow System for Ghana. These entire digital infrastructures must be in place to enable the Information Officer to meet the challenges of the digital age squarely.

Preparing For Oil Boom in Ghana: Any lessons from others?

2008-06-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

Oil field in Ghana

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

Do not forget this simple but sagacious Ghanaian proverb which admonishes us: “If Sunday will be a magnificent day, it is Saturday that will ignite the taper.”

Ghana is one of the most blessed lands in Africa. Ghana is very, very rich in mineral resources. Ghana is endowed with gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese etc. Ghana has cocoa, timber, arable lands, and rivers, rain forests, nourished with alternating rains and illuminated by tropical sun shine all year round.

However, Ghana has been politically mismanaged for a long time by corrupt politicians and selfish military adventurers who make a ship-load of cocoa to be at large on the Atlantic Ocean. This explains why Ghana had to be christened a Heavily Indebted Poor Country ( HIPC) in the economic history of the country.

In June 2007, just about three months after Ghana had celebrated her Golden Jubilee Anniversary, on 6^th March that year, an American oil exploration company called Kosmos Energy in collaboration with Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) went to the Castle Osu in Accra to see the President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Mr John Agyekum Kufuor. In a typical Ghanaian traditional fashion, President Kufuor and his elders sat down to listen to the scientific and technological visitors.

The leader of Kosmos Energy, Mr. James C. Musselman, who is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of that oil exploration company, told the presidential linguist to inform the President that they had brought good news to him. Then the President responded: “In Ghanaian culture, news cannot be said to be good or bad until it is told. So, therefore, I, the first public servant of the land and my presidential elders are all ears to hear the news you brought this dawn when we are yet to put a drop of water on our tongues.”

It was then that Mr. Musselman told the presidential linguist to inform H.E. that he and his partners had come to announce to the President that Kosmos Energy had discovered oil in commercial quantity offshore the Republic of Ghana on the West Cape Three Points Block in the western region of the country. At first the President seemed not to have heard the message properly. So, he adjusted himself in his royal/presidential armchair, cleared his throat and commanded the presidential linguist to order the Komos engineer to repeat his message. Then Mr Musselman, a little bit apprehensive, as if he had committed some blunder, and with nervous voice said: “Pleeease, eerr –Okyeame, I say kindly inform His Excellency the President that our mission here this morning is to announce to him that our company has discovered about 600million barrels of light oil offshore his beloved country – Ghana.

One would have expected the President to jump to his feet at once and start jubilating.

Instead, President Kufuor further probed: “Okyeame, ask the Kosmos engineer what is the proof that Ghana has discovered oil as he claims.” Then Mr Musselman, put his hand in a goat skin leather bag and brought out a bottle of some dark-brownish liquid. Some of the liquid was poured into a plate. To a layman like this author, the said liquid looked very much like pure honey. “Take this,” says Mr Musselman, “present it to H.E. that this is the proof that Ghana has oil flowing under the sea in the Western Region.”

It was only after President Kufuor, has held the sample of the oil in his own hand and dipped his own forefinger in the honey-like liquid and smelled it before he nodded his head approvingly that Ghana has actually discovered oil in commercial quantity. Then President Kufuor repeated what he said in his broadcast to the nation on the eve of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee Anniversary: “IT IS GREAT TIME TO BE GHANAIAN.”

President Kufuor then expressed his personal gratitude and that of the people of Ghana to Kosmos and its partners for a wonderful job done. He quickly cautioned that honesty, transparency and the spirit of win-win principle must guide the operations of oil companies exploring the “black gold” in Ghana. The President was speaking from experience in terms of the living conditions of people and communities where Ghana’s red gold which has been mined from time immemorial and the environmental degradation being bequeathed to generations yet unborn.

On Tuesday, June 10, 2008, the entire front page of the Daily Graphic was devoted solely to oil discovery business in Ghana. In fact, the banner headline for that day read: Test of well yields positive results. OIL – 120,000 BARRELS IN A DAY – Production expected to rise in 2012. This headline was illustrated with a lead photograph in which President J.A.Kufuor was seen congratulating Mr James Musselman, the Chief Executive Officer of Komos Energy, after the latter had briefed the President on the latest development in the country’s oil find. In the same picture were spotted Mr George Owusu, said to be Ghana’s representative of Kosmos, as well as Mr Sekyere Abankwa, Board Chairman of GNPC.

The first paragraph of this lead story, written by Nehemia Owusu Achiaw read: “Commercial production of oil is scheduled to begin in the country in the first quarter of 2010 with an initial output of 120,000 barrels a day.”

The second most important story on the front page of the paper that day, too, had to do with oil exploration in Ghana. It was captioned: “…41 Firms apply for exploration” The opening paragraph read: “The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) says it has been inundated with applications from foreign companies expressing interest to invest in oil exploration between January 2007 and June 2008.”

The purpose of this piece is simply to remind the people of this country that whether we like it or not, Ghana is in transition from Oil Importing Country (OIC) to Oil Exporting Country (OEC). In other words, all being equal, there will be oil boom in Ghana, sooner than anticipated, judging from what experts in the industry are saying. Naturally, this calls for jubilation. But it is important for us as a nation to tread cautiously so that the oil find in Ghana will be a blessing and not a curse.

For now this author will only like to cite two oil producing countries in Africa namely, Nigeria and Libya and alert Ghanaians to take note of how those countries are managing their oil boom for the benefit of their people. It appears something is not being done properly in the management of the oil industry in Nigeria. As a result the delta oil rich region is being degraded environmentally. Media reports indicate that the poverty level of people living in that oil rich region in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. Why? No further comments for now.

On the other hand, it seems Libya is doing something worthy of emulating by Ghana. This writer has learnt that there is no single school-going-child in Libya who is not in school. That not a single adult citizen of that country has no apartment for himself or herself. In fact, Libya is a country located in the middle of a desert in northern part of Africa. But Libya has been able to create an artificial river of thousands of kilometers long and is in the process of transforming the desert into a virgin rain forest zone through irrigation schemes. How are Ghanaians preparing for oil boom in Ghana? Are they learning any lessons from others?

Preparing Tomorrow’s African Leaders Today: Interview with Prof. Ncube

2008-05-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Prof. Mthuli Ncube

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

There is a Ghanaian proverb which says: “If your friend is more handsome than you, you must admit it and praise him; rather than trying to envy and denigrate him.”

Undoubtedly, one positive legacy the defunct apartheid

South Africa

bequeathed modern

South Africa

is excellent educational system. What one may condemn is the fact that, perhaps in the past, only the “White” mostly benefited from that outstanding educational system to the detriment of the “Black.” It is hoped things are changing and rightly so, for the advance of humanity, regardless of colour of the skin.

This author is not unaware that since the end of the apartheid system in South Africa in the early 1990s, many African citizens from various parts of the continent including Ghana, have been receiving both professional and academic training in some of the institutions of higher learning in that country. This trends of event is very commendable and must be maintained and sustained if the entire African continent is to disentangle itself from the shackles of poverty and squalor in the midst of abundant natural resources on this planet of interdependence.

Wits Business School (WBS) of the University of Witwatersrand, is one the outstanding institutions of high learning which has distinguished itself in the training of future leaders in Africa. The School’s motto Sculpting Global Leaders in Africa speaks for itself. Since its establishment in 1968, WBS is said to have undergone tremendous leadership changes. This year, the School is poised to celebrate its 40th anniversary in higher education in grand style. Records show that the contribution of WBS to the business community in South Africa for the past 40 years cannot be overemphasised.

It is against this backdrop that this author set out to conduct this online interview with the Director and Head of the School, Professor Mthuli Ncube. The object of the interview is to find out what has made WBS what it is today. What is its prospect for the next 40 years? But then when I took a glance at the Prof’s profile, it did not take long to conclude to myself I was dealing with a man of a thousand lives. In other words, one may not be too wide of the mark to describe Professor Ncube as a multi-talented soul personality!

When I got to know that Prof. Ncube was once a Visiting Scholar in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and conscious of the fact that the IMF and the World Bank are sometimes perceived globally of being institutions that hardly grant loans to developing countries without strings attached, my first question to him was to share his experiences with the Fund to the rest of the African media.

Frankly, I was not only intrigued but also fascinated by the way Prof. Ncube answered my loaded question in one simple and straightforward sentence. He wrote: “The IMF was created, largely as a provider of Balance of Payments support to distressed economies.”

Second question: “What would be your personal assessment of the financial support of the Fund (IMF) over the years to the economic prosperity of developing countries, especially African nations?”

Answer: “The financial assistance from the IMF to Africa has been appropriate. It was mainly targeted at Balance of Payments (BOP) support. What was missing in the reform programs is support for institutional reforms, which largely explain the ineffectiveness of the reform programs,” he pointed out.

On the actual issue of my interview, which was the 40^th anniversary celebration of WBS, I requested the Professor to tell me how he came to be associated with that famous University of Witwatersrand of which he is the Director and Head of School of Business Administration. In other words, I wanted him to inform the rest of Africa about some of WBS’s achievements over the past 40 years, challenges and the way forward.

Hear him: “I joined with Wits Business School in 2005 as a Professor of Finance and was subsequently appointed Director of the School by the University. The challenges of the School are the attraction and retention of lecturers in the face of uncompetitive salaries in universities. However, the School has produced some of the most successful entrepreneurs and managers in the country. Going forward, the challenge is to grow our presence and relevance in the rest of the African continent, and stay competitive globally.”

My next question to Prof. Ncube was to find out whether his University has any plans for preparing future African leaders in terms of programs aimed at educating students for effective financial management of the unlimited natural resources of the continent, such as gold, uranium, diamond, oil and so on.

His response was to the point: “The School has launched a program for training future leaders in Africa, the Pan African Leadership Program. The School has various programs in finance and one jointly with Imperial College, UK, for managers in the mining sector.”

The final question I put to the Professor was this: “What is the position of WBS in the scheme of African Universities at the moment and what would the University be doing differently in the next 40 years of its existence?”

Simple answer from Prof. Ncube thus: “In the next forty years the School will become more involved in training leaders and managers in Africa – “Sculpting Global Leaders in Africa.”

If I were to pass any comment on this brief interaction with Professor Ncube through this online interview, I would simply say that this is a man who knows his left from the right. Period!

Ghana’s Community Information Centres Project On Course

2008-05-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Dr Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, Member of the NASA Mars Rover Mission, US (Source: AP Photo/NASA, Bill Ingralls

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

Shall we refresh our memory with this simple but tricky African proverb which says: “If your hair is dirty and you do not submit your head to a Barber, nobody will cut the hair for you.” To wit: “No initiative, no end result.”

Information and Communication Technology ICT has not only succeeded in transforming the world into a miniature community but has made it possible for mankind to be developing another dwelling place beyond the moon besides the planet Earth. But it seems to this author that the rate at which other continents are scrambling for space in the space, and the pace at which Africa is crawling scientifically and technologically, it may take another two centuries, that is, perhaps in the 23^rd century before Africa can book a place in the space.

Fortunately for Africa, however, even though the Continent itself seems to be hopeless technologically, there are abundant individual African citizens dotted in all corners of the globe who are contributing technologically to advancement of mankind into the space. This author can cite at least one citizen of Africa – a Ghanaian to be precise by name Dr Ashitey Trebi-Ollenu who is a Member of the NASA Mars Rover Mission in America. So, therefore, there is hope for Africa scientifically and technologically.

In 2003, Ghana Government completed the formulation of a comprehensive ICT Policy for the nation. It is known as Ghana Information and Communication Technology for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD). It was spearheaded by the Ministry of Communications. It may, however, be of historical interest to state in passing that the work on the ICT Policy for Ghana actually started in October 1998 by the then NDC Government. A National Communications Policy Conference dubbed, COMPOL ‘98 involving all stakeholders in the ICT sector was held at the Accra International Conference Centre in Accra. The policy document was finalised in October 2000 at Akosombe for the approval of Cabinet. However, due to bureaucracy the then Cabinet could not pass the Communications Bill before elections 2000.

Then in September 2001, the NPP Government also organised another National Communications Policy Conference, held at GIMPA to review and update the Communication Policy Document formulated by the previous Government. The result is what is today referred to as GHANA ICT POLICY FOR ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT. It is commendable to observe that when one Government initiates a project or programme which is in the national interest, another Government will take it up, review it, update and improve upon it instead of throwing it out altogether. And it is recalled that it was on that fateful Tuesday of September 11, 2001 when the communication conference was opened at GIMPA that the tragic news of terrorist bombing of the World Trade Centre flashed across the globe.

Within the frame work of ICT4AD, Ghana Government has embarked upon several projects including E-Ghana Project to transform Ghana into an information enabled society for knowledge based economic development. But the focus of this piece is on the Community Information Centres (CICs) project which is not only human-centered but underprivileged rural dweller-centered as well.

As a matter of fact, the CICs project also falls within the framework of World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), where all nations are enjoined to attain certain targets, including the provision of ICT access and skills to the underprivileged and rural dwellers globally. And one concrete strategy Ghana Government adopted to attain this target was to establish Community Information Centres in all the 230 constituencies throughout the country. Beyond WSIS’s broad objective for all nations, Ghana Government set its own clear cut and specific objectives to use the CICs project to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural dwellers in the country.

Government aims at demystifying that xenophobic aura surrounding Computers by taking ICT to the doorsteps of deprived and neglected brothers and sisters in remote rural areas through the Community Information Centres in about 170 districts in Ghana. The CICs are to serve as training centres where acquisition of ICT skills and knowledge are provided for underprivileged people. The CICs are to bring government services online closer to the people at the grassroots. Rural school pupils and students can access online library facilities from top educational institutions in any part of world. In fact the CICs are to serve as a hub in the provision of Wide Area Network for various district offices of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies as well as private business entities, NGOs and Community Based Organisations, Women Groups operating in rural zones of the country. Government is financing the CICs project through HIPC funds with support of the Country office of the UNDP in Accra.

Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GIFTEL) under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications is facilitating the provision of connectivity and infrastructure to the CICs that have been constructed at underserved/un-served and remote areas. The Project is being implemented jointly with the Ministry of Information and National Orientation (MINO) in terms of content development of the CICs nation wide with technical and administrative support from UNDP with particular reference to ICT capacity building for Information Officers throughout the country. For instance, between May 2007 and April 2008, MINO was able to provide basic ICT capacity building to over 100 of its District Information Officers, Public Relations Officers and Journalists. Some of the areas covered through workshops and seminars include Computer Literacy, Online-Journalism, Content Development and Information Technology Management, thanks to UNDP.

As of December 2007, GIFTEL was also able to provide training for over 300 persons from decentralised organisations in twenty-two beneficiary districts in the country. These are the people trained specifically to manage the CICs. Records also show that Wide Area Network had been completed to extend internet connectivity to tweny-six (26) CICs. Further, thirty-seven (37) CICs are currently said to be operational with full compliment of computers, Local Area Network and Wide Area Network. According to Mr. Samuel Mensah, Director of Administration at GIFTEL, a total of one hundred and ten (110) computers had been deployed at twenty-two (22) new CICs in some selected districts in the country.

It is important to clarity the point that more CICs are reported to be at various stages of development which an ICT technical person will be in a better position to explain or comment upon. But it is gratifying to note that slowly but steadily, Ghana’s Community Information Centres project is on course. And all things being equal, as this author was assured, H.E. President J.A. Kufuor will officially commission some selected CICs nation wide before the end of the year 2008.

Bright Future for Ghana after 50 years of Independence

2008-02-29T06:56:00.001-08:00

INDEPENDENCE ARCH OF GHANA

By Mawutodzi K.Abissath

Ghana is celebrating her 51^st Independence Anniversary this year. In other words, 51 years ago Ghana wrenched her political independence from colonial Britain to become the first independent country in black Africa on 6^th March, 1957.

It is common knowledge that before independence Ghana was known as the Gold Coast. The struggle for the independence had not been easy at all. The independence was not granted on a silver platter. People had to shed tears and blood. Lives had to be sacrificed here and there. This explains why the first sentence uttered by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah on the even of the proclamation of independence was: “At long last, the battle has ended; and Ghana, our beloved country, is free for ever!” What battle was he talking about?

It is therefore imperative that any time we celebrate the independence anniversary of this blessed land called Ghana, we must never forget to pay tribute to our national heroes. Do you remember that on 28^th February, 1948 war veterans like Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey were gunned down like armed robbers when they went to present a petition to the Colonial Governor of the Gold Coast at the Christianborg Castle at Osu in Accra? What crime did they commit? Indeed, it was their blood that galvanised the momentum and served as catalyst for the legendary BIG SIX to go for the gold –the INDEPENDENCE. These BIG SIX who were collected and dumped in jails across the country, were they armed robbers? These are among the greatest national heroes we must pay homage to whenever we are popping Champaign and tinkling glasses for independence celebrations today. For they shed their blood for us to enjoy all the freedom we are sometimes abusing today.

On March 6^th, 2007 when Ghana was celebrating the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of her Independence, H.E. President J.A.Kufuor made a very simple but profound statement when he addressed the nation. He said, and I quote: “It is a great time to be Ghanaian!” That simple but philosophical declaration by President Kufuor can be analysed, interpreted and fashioned out into volumes by this author for posterity. Why it is a great time to be Ghanaian, one may ask?

To answer that rhetoric question, let’s take a glance at the theme for this year’s 51^st Independence Anniversary Celebration, which is: GHANA AFTER 50: LOOKING FORWARD INTO THE FUTURE WITH HOPE. Without any stretch of imagination, it can be concluded that this theme is not only appropriate but also most thought provoking and the best at the threshold of the next 50 years of Ghana’s independence anniversary. In other words, the 51^st anniversary marks the first year of the Centenary or 100 years of Ghana’s nationhood. Because Ghanaians are human and cannot not be too sure of what the future holds in stock for them as a nation, they can only hope for the best. This is why Looking Forward into the Future with Hope is fantastically relevant.

There is this French proverb which says: “Every intelligent traveler ought to know where he is coming from and where he is going to.” After 50 years of independence, Ghanaians as intelligent people doubtlessly knew where they came from and they want to go from now on. Politically, the past 50 years had been fraught military coup d’etats that really dealt some deadly blows to the nation’s forward march towards good governance and democracy. Is this situation the nation would like to experience again in the next 50 years?

Economically, if the nation’s natural resources had been effectively and efficiently managed, would there have been any Ghanaian child who would go to bed without a meal? Would there have been any Ghanaian child denied basic education? It common place that Ghana is such a blessed land endowed with all kinds of resources including gold, diamond, bauxite, cocoa, timber, arable land, rivers, rain falls and abundant sun shine all year round. But how did we as a nation manage these resources in past 50 years? Did we allow corruption, selfishness and greed to dominate our way of doing things? In terms of human resources, Ghana is blessed with some of the best brains in Africa if not in the world as whole. One can cite the immediate past UN Secretary-General Busumuru Kofi Annan to symbolise the human resource base of Ghana. These are just a few reasons why Ghana could have done better than she did than she did in terms of socio-economic, political and cultural prosperity in the first 50 years of her independence.

Fortunately for Ghana, in last decade of the past decade or so of the past 50 years precisely from 1993 to today when democracy was allowed to operate, the country has seen tremendous improvement in the governance of the country. This is why there is abundant hope for the nation as we look forward into the future. For the past eight years Kufuor administration more improvement has been added to the previous administration especially in the area of good governance and rule of law. Here on can mention the abolishing of the criminal libel laws from the statues of Ghana.

Solid foundation has been laid for the economic take off across board. By this, I mean the various sectors of the economy including agriculture, education, health, transportation, communications, investment, tourism, foreign policies, sports and what have you? Capitation grant and school feeding programme has created opportunity for school going children to be in school and be given at least one meal free of charge. This is something we must not take for granted.

The National Health Insurance Scheme has come into being, 48% of Ghanaians are benefiting from it and it is being improved on progressively. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is gradually but steadily making taking Ghana on the Information Super High Way through the Internet. Ghana Government has a comprehensive ICT Policy already in place. Right now the Government has started establishing what is referred to as Community Information Centres (CICs) in all the 230 electoral constituencies throughout the country. This is a viable strategy that concretely ensures that ICTs are taken closer to rural people who are in majority in Ghana. First class roads, railways and ports and harbours are being constructed, or rehabilitated and expanded and extended to various parts of the country.

Above all, what makes the hope for the future more concrete and realistic is the miraculous discovery of oil in commercial quantity in the golden jubilee year in this most blessed nation on earth. The story of oil discovery in no long a fairy tale in the development history of Ghana. It is real. But a doubting Thomas may ask: Where is the proof that Ghana has discovered oil in commercial quantity?

On Monday February 25, 2008, the Government of Ghana did something which was described as unprecedented in the history of oil industry in the world. What was that? A two-day National Gas and Oil Forum was at GIMPA in Accra. That forum brought together experts in the oil industry and stakeholders to brainstorm and what was referred to as “Organic and Comprehensive National Gas Policy and Master Plan” for the oil sector in the country. If there was no oil discovered would the Government have spent tax payer’s scarce resources to embark on such a venture?

Ghanaian President Kufuor who opened that national forum on that memorable day said among other things: “… I am therefore using this occasion to invite all levels of investors in the oil and allied industries to invest in Ghana’s economy which is poised for accelerated growth.” This is the hope all well-meaning Ghanaians must hold as a torch as the 51^st Independence Anniversary Celebration 2008 leads the nation into a brighter future.

Ghana 2008 and the Spirit of Nationalism

2008-02-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

The pretty black angel taking the precious trophy to the podium for presentation

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

At long last, the golden jubilee 26thAfrica Cup of Nations – Ghana 2008 tournament has come and gone. Even though Ghana could not grab the gold, she was able to snatch the bronze medal; and the nation is patriotically richer than ever before.

But one legacy bequeathed Ghanaians by the tournament which must never be allowed to desert us as a people is the Spirit of Nationalism. And the 23 young players out of 22 million coaches, who carried the entire nation on their fragile shoulders and sweated under supreme pressures from January 20 to February 10, 2008, were the twinkle, twinkle Black Stars of Ghana. The stylish Stars did the trick with their superb “soccerlistic” skills and crowned it with their “kangaroonistic” acrobatic legs and pinching fingers to stride. It was simply titillating and infectious like flu. It did not take long before other African nations, starting with the almighty Nigeria, began to make photocopies of their copyright dancing steps. No piracy here, please! Michael Essien of Ghana is the originator, initiator and inventor of “Kangaroonistic” dance in Africa and in the world of soccer. Any body who wants to duplicate that dance must obtain permission from him. Period!

What shall we tell the gallant 23? “Ghana Black Starts, Ayikooo! Bravo! You have chalked up what Napoleon could not have achieved.” And we should always keep this African proverb at the back of our minds: “Those who did not take part in the warfare always have the pleasure to fume and critisise the battalions that they did not fight hard enough.” Do not blame them, for they know not how monkey sweats.

As matter of fact, Ghana did very, very well. To be able to crush Guinea 2 – 1 ; pip Namibia 1 – 0; demolish Nigeria 2 – 1; massacre Cote d’Ivoire 4- 2, before finally going down 0 – 1 against Cameroon under some technical mishaps and “huhudious” officiating conspiracy, it was not a mean feat at all. In other words, with exception of Namibia, all the countries that Ghana crushed like empty shells on the way before snatching the Bronze medal are super power nations as far as football in Africa is concerned. Just go and look at the FIFA ranking of those countries on the continent before the commencement of Ghana 2008 tournament.

About 20 years ago, in 1987 to be precise, this author watched an American film at the Executive Theatre of the then Ghana Film Industry Corporation (GFIC) in Accra. (I don’t quite remember the title of that film). But in the film, a little boy of about five, living with his mother was naughty in some way. It was as if the boy intentionally poured some water on the dinning table and his mother was mad. The mother started scolding him. She nagged and nagged and made insinuation to the boy’s father who was not at home at the time. Suddenly, this tiny boy flared up, looked at his huge mother in the face and retorted: “Mum, why are you nagging at me like that? Don’t you know that I am an American?” The mother was so shocked and spell-bound that she could no longer utter a word thereafter.

How do some nations on this planet of imperfection manage to infuse or inculcate the spirit of patriotism into their citizens to the extend that, even when they go wrong in one way or another, most of their citizens are still prepared to defend them or even lay down their lives for their countries? At what age do they start pumping the sense of patriotism into the minds of their citizens? And what returns do such patriotic citizens expect back from their nations?

Fired up by this “holy” spirit of nationalism, some Ghanaians went to the extent of not only draping themselves in national colours, but adorn their dogs, cats, rams, goats and fowls, with Ghana flags - all jubilating in support of the national team – the Black Stars. Even some foreign nationals in Ghana or visitors who just came in to witness the event were so infested with the Ghanaian spirit of nationalism that they started competing to prove that they were even more Ghanaians than the Ghanaians themselves. (We say they are more catholic than the Pope himself). It was just fantastic!

In August 2007, the Ministry of Information and National Orientation formally launched the National Orientation Sensitisation Programme at the Accra International Centre. It is relevant to quickly refresh our memory of the Five Pillars of the National Orientation which were unveiled on that occasion: 1. Proud to be Ghanaian; 2. Patriotism and a Spirit of “Ghana First”; 3. Positive and a “Can – Do – it “Attitude; 4. Productivity and Accountability and 5. Dedication and Discipline.

One is yet to conduct a scientific survey to determine the impact of the programme on the population. Nevertheless, through casual observation so far, it will not be out of place to opine that since the launch of the National Orientation programme, coupled with gradual but deliberate and sustained efforts by the Ministry to conscientise people about the need to do things in a certain ways as a people, slowly but progressively the spirit of patriotism or nationalism is being rekindled in the minds of many Ghanaians. It can be concluded that at least, the Pillar N0 1, “Proud to be Ghanaian” has virtually taken roots in the hearts of many citizens of this loving country of hospitable people.

Do you remember that during the tournament, the Minister for Information and National Orientation, Hon Oboshie Sai Cofie, had to issue an official statement, reminding the entire nation that any time the national anthem was being played or sung, every body ought to remain standing and quiet until the anthem was over? That was a simple but profound national orientation instruction. So, even in our anxiety to display the depth of our patriotism, it is important to take note of such basic ethics of nationalism.

Although it is the Information Ministry which initiated the policy, it needs the collaboration of other institutions such as the National Commission on Civic Education, the Ghana Education Service, Commission on Culture, Commission on Children, the Churches, Mosques, the Shrines as well as individual parents and teachers to be able to effectively executive it for the success of the National Orientation programme in the supreme interest of the nation.

At this juncture, it is imperative to say a word of appreciation to all Ghanaians from the President of the Republic to the truck pusher at the Sodom and Gomorrah market for the massive support accorded the National Team. Ghanaian Parliamentarians made better noises than even the Supporters Unions who were paid to make noises. For those Pastors who cast away their orthodox cassocks for a moment and put on dresses in national colours to preach with their congregations blowing horns in the churches all dressed in national colours, God has taken note of the holy spirit of nationalism that descended on them.

Our Muslim brothers and sisters as well as the traditional worshipers could not be outdone in the massive support for the Black Stars. Did you see that man who always went to the stadium with live guinea fowls? How about those who carried R.I.P.coffins of certain countries and opponent players? They were all part of psychological supporting strategies. As for those who do not believe in the existence of God, God still loves them any way.

But if prizes were to be awarded to individuals or groups of best supporters of the Black Stars, Ghanaian women would have cleared all at stake hands down. Ghanaian women do not only know how to play football but they can analyse soccer and support the national team in grand styles. My goodness! I saw women of all shapes and sizes from toddlers to octogenarian supporting the Black Stars from January to December non stop. It was incredible. Apart from supporting the Black Stars as a National Team, Ghanaian women instantly established women supporters unions for every individual Black Star player.

Here is the list of Women Supporters Unions for all 23 players of the Ghana 2008 tournament:

1. Sammy Adjei Women Supporters Union

2. Hans Adu Sarpei Women Supporters Union

3. Asamoah Gyan Women Supporters Union

4. John Paintsil Women Supporters Union

5. John Mensah Women Supporters Union

6. Anthony Annan Women Supporters Union

7. Laryea Kingston Women Supporters Union

8. Mihael Essien Women Supporters Union

9. Manuel Agogo Women Supporters Union

10. Kwadwo Asamoah Women Supporters Union

11. Sulley Ali Muntari Women Supporters Union

12. Andre Ayew Women Supporters Union

13. Baffour Gyan Women Supporters Union

14. Bernard Yao Kumordzi Women Supporters Union

15. Ahmed Apiamah Barusso Women Supporters Union

16. Abdul Fatawu Dauda Women Supporters Union

17. Nana Akwesi Asare Women Supporters Union

18. Eric Addo Women Supporters Union

19. Alhansan Illiasu Women Supporters Union

20. Quincy Owusu-Abeyie Women Supporters Union

21. Harrison Afful Women Supporters Union

22. Richard Kingson Women Supporters Union

23. Hamidu Draman Women Supporters Union.

These women supporters unions can be found in every home in Ghana today. And it was their singing, dancing and artistic antics alone that provided the necessary energy for the Black Stars to die for the nation. Any challenger?

Closing ceremony
Ghana has succeeded in proving to the entire world through the Africa Cup of Nations that Africa is a continent of beautiful cultural heritage. The simple but profound closing ceremony was exceptional in the history of the tournament. Only one person could have taken the trophy to the podium to be handed over to the winning team. But this simple act was dramatized with four solid bodybuilders a.k.a macho men, carrying an innocent pretty little girl like a huge queen mother in a palanquin was fabulous.

The smiling sweet “black angel” was adorned in royal ornaments of gold and colourful kente headgear with traditional touch. The multiple fontonfron divine drummers stirred the foundation of African culture and the Egyptian champions could not help but to try their own hands on the drums and dancing like ancient Pharohs. When their floating spirits were appeased, they solemnly and respectfully collected back the magnificent sparkling trophy they brought from Egypt from the fatherly hands of the President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E.J.A. Kufuor.

Fellow country men and women, even if Ghana could not fulfill the goal of “Host and Win” dream, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) has done the nation proud. The tournament has elevated Ghana to the zenith of World football pyramid. There is no country that is worth its name in the world today can say she has not heard of a country called Ghana in West Africa.

What must be done now as a nation is not to cry over spilt milk or engage in blame game. We must admit our little, little organisational short falls such as accreditations, ticketing and the potato-like fields of our magnificent stadia. The current Black Stars must be maintained and sustained so that they can remain in form at all times. There is a need to inject fresh blood of first class strikers into the team. As for technical and medical aspects of the team, I leave to the experts. If we do our home work very well, use creative visualisation techniques and petition God to be our Guide, come 2010, Ghana can win both the African Cup Nations in Angola and the World Cup in South Africa at ago. Remember that he who laughs last…

Cultural Heritage of Ghana CAN 2008

2008-01-25T06:48:00.000-08:00

Traditional Horn Blowers

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
Do you know that a nation without culture is like a man without soul? And a man without soul is as good as a still-born baby? And a still-born baby is that entity which could not take in the first breath of life at birth? That first breath of life is the soul which is part of the Almighty Creator Himself, without which, no human being can
survive?

Perhaps the Holy Bible will help to better illustrate the point I am trying to make here. Just open the Bible, (King James Version) and see Genesis Chapter 2: 7. It reads: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.”

On Sunday, 20^th January, 2008, the MTN 26^thAfrica Cup of Nations, dubbed Ghana 2008 kicked off in the capital city of Accra. The tournament would be running in four cities, namely Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi and Tamale until 10^th February, 2008. The object of this piece is to try to review the Grand Opening Ceremony of the event, where Ghanaian culture was planted like a flourishing rose flower in the centre of the earth for humanity to behold, relish and cherish. It was fantastic and “extraordinaire” as the French will say. Analogically, that cultural pageantry which heralded the event was the breath of life infused into the veins of the games like the living soul to make Ghana CAN 2008 a living tournament.

First of all Ghana and for that matter Africa must be proud that there are citizens of the continent whose creativity is beyond imagination. For the person or group of persons who sat down, or stood up or were in motion and through attunement and meditation, received inspiration from the Supreme Creator and were able to transform their visualisation into the realisation of what was displayed at the newly refurbished Ohene Djan Stadium for over 4 billion people to witness globally, merit acclamation. In fact, one would have wished that at the end of the show, at least the directors and coordinators of the entire episode should have come to the centre of the stadium to receive thunderous and endless applauses and ovations. They did fantastically well! Bravo for all performers and their directors.

I do not know them per se. But I learned that some of the cultural gurus in whose fertile wombs the baby was nurtured and given birth to included, Prof. F.Nii Yartey, Prof. Anku, Prof. Martin Owusu, Prof. Kofi Ansah and many, many others. May Jesus bless them all. Be it known to them that their reward is guaranteed in heaven! But those of them who want their pay instantly may have to kick the bucket any way. I permit myself to bestow the title of Professor upon all those who participated in that historical opening ceremony. And if anybody dares subpoena me before any lawful court of the land, because of professorship saga, I shall soberly plead for clemency, leniency and mercy. Period! I don’t want any palaver!

For the benefit of non-Ghanaians, who enjoyed the beauty of the cultural pageantry but might not have grasped the actual import of the denouement of the drama, here is the gist of what transpired that day. In the first place, it is important to know that there are ten administrative regions in Ghana. And every region is endowed with unique magnificent cultural heritage in terms music, dances, songs, festivals, cuisines, drumming and artifacts. There is no cultural or religious discrimination in Ghana. Therefore, any time there is an event of national dimension, Traditional Priests, Christian Priests and Muslim Priests are all invited to say prayers to God for the success of the event. Whether they call God, or Mawu or Nyankupong or Allah, He or She is the same Supreme Creator of all.

So, too, whenever, a national event is taking place in the country and cultural performance is organised, dances and songs from all the ten regions of the country are staged. For example, when the National Orientation Sensitisation Programme was organised by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation where the Five Pillars were officially launched in August last year at the Accra International Conference Centre, little kids from all the ten regions of the country performed cultural dances of their respective regions. This is what has made Ghana a unique land of cultural diversity in unity.

Thus, the mammoth cultural pageantry performed at the Ghana CAN 2008 opening ceremony was the superb representation of Ghana’s culture from all the ten regions as well as a symbolic representation of all the 16 African countries participating in memorable tournament in the country.

First, the helicopter that flew Ghana National Flag across the stadium symbolises that we are all Ghanaians first before any other ethnic consideration. The colourful fireworks represents the modern form of our tradition gun salutes when a great national event is about to take off. The three majestic ladies draped in treasured kente, who sang the National Anthem depicts the trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit whose presence must be acknowledged before any national event.

The over an hundred traditional horn blowers who carried the sparkling elephant tusks colourfully ornamented, was the highest point of the creativity of the originators who conceptualised the ceremony. Up till now this author is wondering where they obtained all the numerous gigantic elephant tusks from. Unless they are some artificial plastic improvisation, I would imagine that there would no more be elephants in the Bole National Park at Bole in the Northern region or in other forest reserved in Ghana. The marvel is the creativity that went into the creation of that traditional musical instrument used by traditional horn blowers in Ghana. The symbol is what can be found in the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra.

The cultural significance of traditional horn blowing is that; in chiefs or kings palaces in Ghana, it heralds the beginning of an event of great importance. Horns are used to announce the take off of an event. Like the talking drums, horns serve as traditional communication tool to send messages across people in towns and villages. So, the hundred horn blowers at the opening ceremony were symbolically announcing to the Africa and the rest of the world that the 26^th edition of the prestigious African Cup of Nations was about to kick off in Ghana, so the entire globe must be alert and ready to embrace the event. And the horn blowers emerged from the four cornerners of the stadium symbolising the four cardinal points of the earth, namely, East, West, South and North. And by providence, Ghana itself is positioned in centre of the earth. Again, symbolically, Ghana through the opening ceremony was radiating Light, Life and Love to all corners of the globe.

Another mind blowing aspect of the opening ceremony was the acrobatic display by the youth of Ghana. Besides various magical formations was the African Map with and Madagascar created by human beings with human bodies. The design was incredible when viewed on the television screen. As for various national dances performed, the least said the better. We witnessed dances ranging from Adowa, Atsiagbekor, Dambai , Kente, Borborbor, Kpanlogo just to mention but a few. They were performed with artistic finesse with fantastic colourful costumes to mach. It was simply great!

The final cultural aspect the opening ceremony which cannot escape mention in this review was the parade of national flags of various countries taking part in the tournament. Many people did not notice this aspect of the ceremony. I remember when I pointed out the flags to spectators around where I was sitting near the Scoreboard at the stadium, they marveled. Again the creativity that went into the creation of those flags was beyond compare.

The national flags of the participating teams, including Ghana, Angola, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Egypt, Guinea, Mali, Morocco Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, South Africa, Senegal, Sudan and Zambia were transformed into colourful umbrellas, held with reverence in for the parade as it is done in the solemn procession for a grand durbar of Kings and Queen mothers in Ghana. The scene was soul moving indeed!.

If for nothing at all, Ghana has used her rich culture through the opening ceremony of the 26^th Ghana CAN 2008 to project the beauty of African culture to the blue haven. I suggest that the Local Organising Committee (LOC) should adopt and adapt the opening ceremony on DVD and CD in any modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as African Cultural Heritage for the cultural advancement of mankind to the glory of the CREATOR.

Ghana: Winner Nation of African Cup of Nations 2008

2008-01-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

There is this inspirational Tanzanian proverb which says: “He, who trusts in God or Allah, or Mawu or Nyankupong, does not lack anything.” Therefore, all patriotic and faithful Ghanaians who trust in God should please rise, face the geographical East, raise their hands towards heaven and sing praise to the Lord; for Ghana, our beloved country is already a winner for merely hosting the 26^th Africa Cup of Nations tournaments (Ghana 2008) slated to kick off on Sunday, 20^th January 2008.

Beloved humble and noble fellow Ghanaians, in March 2007, when Ghana was celebrating her Golden Jubilee anniversary, President John Agyekum Kufuor, made a very simple but profound statement which must not be taken for granted. He said, “It is a great time to be Ghanaian!” This writer wishes to implore all Ghanaians to pause for just a moment to concentrate, contemplate and meditate on this simple statement by the President as we embark on the next 50 years journey of our nationhood.

On Thursday, 10^th January, 2008, the DAILY GRAPHIC wrote yet another nationalistic editorial under the heading, “NEW ERA DAWNS WITH GHANA 288.” That editorial comment was based on an article, titled “Ghana will gain a lot as host,” published on page 16 of that day’s issue. The article itself was based on an interview granted the author, Lucy Adoma Yeboah, by the Hon Minister for Information and National Orientation, Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie in Accra. The purpose of this review is to encourage the media in Ghana, both print and electronic to emulate the example of the “Daily Graphic” by discussing issues of national interest with some touch of patriotism, especially at this time of the forth coming tournament, no matter what. After all, we have no other nation to call our own. But constructive criticisms are always welcome!

The opening paragraph of the said editorial read: “If there was nothing to be gained from hosting sub-regional, regional and global tournaments, countries would not go to the extent of setting up committees to lobby sporting authorities for the right to host those tournaments.”

The next paragraph went on: “Indeed, countries go all out to build new stadia, rehabilitate existing ones, put new infrastructure and build roads, all at great cost, in order to win the right to host tournaments.”

The paragraph three stated: “Ghana’s hosting of the 26^th Africa Cup of Nations tournament (Ghana 2008) cannot be delinked from the benefits that accrue to hosting countries of sporting events.”

The paper continued, “It is in this regard that we agree with the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie, that Ghana was already ‘the winner of the tournament’ for the mere fact of being the host.”

The fifth paragraph of the editorial quoted the Minister, thus: “Ghanaians should recognise the fact that we have already won in prestige, revenue generation, in showcasing our beautiful country and its people; we have won because of the fact that our children will grow to acknowledge that their country is considered important in the global environment,” Mrs. Sai Cofie said in an interview.

Commenting on what the Information Minister had said in the interview, (see page 16 of Graphic of January 10, 2008), the paper wrote: “These are fine sentiments which the DAILY GRAPHIC would want every Ghanaian, male and female, young and old, to share, since they capture the very essence of hosting an international tournament of this nature.

“If for nothing at all,” it continued, “The tournament will bring with it commercial and economic gains which will permeate all sectors of the economy, not to talk about the exposure the country will get from TV screening of the matches worldwide, especially the opening and closing ceremonies, the rebranding of the country’s image abroad and potential to the outside world.”

The paper then gave the following advice: “We at the DAILY GRAPHIC can only advise our compatriots to put our best foot forward during the period of the tournament, so that our visitors will have a confirmation of the legendary Ghanaian hospitality, culture and tradition.”

Another vital point which Hon Oboshie Sai Cofie made in the interview with Lucy Adoma Yeboah, which, this writer deems imperative to mention here, was that, there was no need for any Ghanaian to feel down-hearted because of one reason or another, “but rather go all out and feel good because the tournament was taking place in Ghana and nowhere else.” The Minister advised that people should stop complaining that there was no excitement in the air, adding that it was left for individuals and groups to come together to create the needed excitement.

The Minister further pointed out that the government had played its part by providing the entire necessary infrastructure for a successful tournament, stressing that, “It is left to us as a people to make the best out of the event.” As a matter of fact it was stated that an amount of $157.2 million had so far been spent on the rehabilitation and construction of four stadia to host the tournament in the country. It was explained that the amount was said to have been exceeded the $152.1million initially projected by $5.1million.

It was very refreshing when the Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Hon Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, recently stated emphatically in Parliament that it was Ghana Government and for that matter the people of Ghana whose money was used to build the modern stadia for the tournament. If you are a Ghanaian and you are not proud of this achievement, then what will you be proud of? Every body knows that the rehabilitated stadia are the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra and the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, while the newly constructed ones re in Tamale and Sekondi. As was promised by the President when the Ohene Djan Stadium was commissioned recently, all the ten regions of Ghana will have a magnificent modern stadium each in due course.

Furthermore, the Information Minister made a very creative suggestion in her interview with the GRAPHIC that, “If for nothing at all, individual and groups should hang national flags on their property and make the right noises in readiness for the tournament.” She opined that the issue was not about winning but the need to look at other opportunities that would come along with the tournament.

As a matter of fact, if this tournament were to be taking place in any European country or in Nigeria here in Africa, inspiring and motivating noises such as “Oooyee oooyee oye oye oye….” would have been on everybody’s lips from January to December non-stop. In Ghana, we should be shouting “GHANA, GHANA, and GHANA OSEE-YIEEEEE!!!!”and “BLACK STARS, BLACK STARS, BLACK STARS, OSEE-YIEEEEE!!” from now until the hour the covetous trophy is handed over to the winner of the 16 participating African countries.

This author would want to add his voice to those of the Hon Information Minister and the DAILY GRAPHIC, which Ghanaians must be proud of being Ghanaians and be grateful and thankful to God that they are Ghanaians There are many nations in Africa and beyond whose citizens wish they were Ghanaians.

With Ghana’s oil discovery in commercial quantity within this same period in the history of our beloved country, the sky cannot even be the limit for the prosperity of Ghanaians in the next 50 years. Ghana indeed, is poised to become a glorious land on the continent of Africa. As for Ghana 2008 tournament, we all pray that the gallant Black Stars will lift the trophy at stake. But whether they win or not GHANA IS A WINNER by merely hosting the tournament.

ICT Sector Leadership in Africa: A Guru’s Point Of View

2007-11-26T09:08:00.001-08:00

MR. CRAIG YEATMAN

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

A Ghanaian proverb reminds us: “Wisdom is like the trunk of a baobab tree – no one person’s arms can embrace it and overlap it.”

It is the considered opinion of this author that the depth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is such that no IT expert can pretend to possess all knowledge in every department of the technology in such a fashion that when he or she speaks, all must be silent. No! Rather, the best an IT expert can do to advance the course of the industry is to share his or her views, knowledge and experiences with other gurus and neophytes alike in the sector.

Mr. Craig Yeatman is a leadership consultant and Chief Executive of WorldsView, a consulting and product development house based in South Africa. Through the magic of ICT, he granted an online interview to this Blogger right in Accra. Ghana. This article contains excerpts of the interview which, I feel are thought provoking enough to be shared with other African bloggers, leaders of the ICT sector on the continent, the youth and cherished readers of blogs and other related media – both locally and globally.

First, Mr. Yeatman was challenged to tell readers how long he had been handling leadership issues in Africa, with particular focus on the ICT sector on the continent. Hear him: “WorldsView Consulting has been working in the arena of management and leadership development in Africa since 1994.” He speaks on, “Post 2004, our emphasis focused even more tightly on partnering with organisations on transformational change, and developing deep and sustainable leadership competencies in organisations. We have no particular emphasis on any sector of the market – as the leadership issues are, by and large, generic ones,” he explained.

Throwing more light on what his firm does specifically, he expatiates: “Our model is to engage directly in consulting interventions using a small team of specialists. We then have a programmes development team that captures the intellectual Property from those interventions, blends it with the experiences of a wide variety of sources using African traditions as the ‘cooking pot’, and global experiences as the ingredients. He went on, “The outcome is the production of programmes that other people can be taught to deliver – thus democratising what is always old wisdom, but what suffers from being “owned” by specialists locked within educational and consulting institutions.”

Mr. Yeatman disclosed that their first programme was launched in 2006 after almost three years of development, was what was known as “the Nine Conversations in Leadership – a long-term leadership development programme that works with groups to drive leadership competencies at organizational, team and individual levels.” According to him, during 2007, some two hundred experienced the programme, and 82 people had so far been trained to deliver the programme. “As a result, the bookings for 2008 now exceed 1,500 people. We are due to release two further programmes within the next twelve months, as well as an update to the Nine Conversations in Leadership,” the WorldsView Chief Executive disclosed.

Second, to ascertain how far Mr. Yeatman’s brand of knowledge has reached on the continent, he was queried to cite at least five out of the 53 countries in Africa where he might have delivered lectures or talks in leadership in IT, or telecommunications in general. He went straight to the point thus:

“Our consulting interventions in the areas of leadership development and organisational change have taken place in various parts of South Africa, as well as in Senegal, Cameroon and Kenya.” He elaborates, “We have trained people to deliver the Nine Conversations in Leadership from Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Malawi (as well as from America, the United Kingdom and the Middle East).

Furthermore, he pointed out that through one of their companies (WorldsView Technologies) they had been engaged in developing a network of businesses across Africa. He then referred this interviewer to see a website www.worldsview.co.za for a complete list of the countries in which they had partners in the WorldsView Technologies stable.

What this author finds very progressive is the revelation that the WorldsView Consulting is seeking agency partners not only in Africa but across the world. This open invitation even goes with somewhat offers to the effect that, “These partners will take our programmes and add them to whatever portfolio of interventions they already carry.” It added, “To date, we have had some interest from Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia, but have not yet reached partnership agreements. Our team regularly speak at South African conferences and deliver University classes at MBA level,” it concluded.

Bearing in mind the reality that the majority of Africans, especially in the Sub-Sahara region, are yet to enjoy the fruits of ICT, Mr. Yeatman was asked to pinpoint which areas (rural or urban) on the continent which have been the focus of his leadership messages. He responded frankly that their focus was on organisational leadership, in the sense that they partner with formal organisations, adding that, “To date, this has included non-profit, for profit and governmental clients,” he noted.

The Consultant believes that, “organisations are a powerful force social change, and as Africa re-writes its story it will be organisations that provide the platform for the script to be written.” He states. “Organisations form the belly, or engine room of an emerging nation. Within that setting, the kinds of leadership that emerge at a micro level will aggregate to transform Africa ‘from the belly to the head,” he philosophised.

The next question put to Mr. Yeatman was whether he had any leadership message for the youth of Africa as far as IT was concerned. His response was that IT is an enabler, in the same way that a car helps people travel – IT helps people get a variety of things done. He explains that IT is not an end in itself – it is a means through which lives should be improved; adding, “Technology alone does not do that.”

The expert postulates that IT can just as easily help a community plan its own destruction through conflict and war as it can help a community to heal, grow and emerge as a part of a new African story. “The moral and spiritual choices people make are more important than the technology – and the technology should be used to expose our youth to the whole world of knowledge, choices and values that await them, he advised.

Another interesting challenge thrown to the leadership guru was to share some of his practical experiences with his peers in the industry and to indicate how IT could be deployed to solve the endemic poverty ravaging the African continent. Hear him:

“The obvious areas of deployment are the ICT sectors ability to address health and education issues. These are well documented and don’t need a “leadership person” to build on. It is possible that the less obvious and more natural deployments are the ones that might warrant more attention.” Mr. Yeatman went on, “People look for artifacts to solve problems - that has been the nature of the evolution of technology since time began.” He elaborates, “The reason for the rapid expansion of the ICT sector is that a technology has arrived that helps people to overcome challenges they experience in their daily lives – and the best, most meaningful of these are driven by the communities themselves,” he stressed.

Mr. Yeatman argues that one does need to prescribe, or pre-plan how poor communities must alleviate their poverty. In his view, such communities are already trying everything they can to alleviate their own poverty. Therefore, it is important to endeavour to provide them with the technology at the lowest possible price. He says the communities must be taught how to use the technology and ensure that connections that will allow health workers to connect to each other and to their patients in new ways are put in place for them. Furthermore, educators in deprived communities must also be connected to each other and to their students to facilitate networking through information sharing and knowledge management. He advocates that natural forces that are already at work must be allowed to take advantage of the platform the technology provides.

He points out that planning and regulation should not prescribe connections – it should make connections possible. Thereafter, people should lift their own horizons and make their own journey towards improving their lives and the lives of those around them. This, he says, can be facilitated and monitored, but cannot be prescribed. His view is that every attempt to regulate content (what may be transmitted and why) destroys more than creates, he reasoned.

Finally, the Chief Executive of WorldsView Consulting was asked to share his views on the future of ICT in Africa. Strategically, he thinks that, “ICT is still responding to the rampant demand for their services that is unfolding across Africa. At some point in each local market, that pace of challenge will settle into more mature competitive pressure if natural market forces are allowed to play out, he observed. He says to the extent that the market has been well regulated, the pace of this change will be rapid – as consumers are able to access and apply the technology as fast as it can be deployed. There is no time-lag for adoption of ICT in Africa – there is only a time-lag of deployment, the expert disclosed.

He speculates that the harder question of whether the industry will be able to move through these cycles efficiently will be answered at the local levels by the policy and regulatory responses of governments across Africa. He advises and warns at the same time that, “Attempts to increase competition in a sensible way will be rewarded. Attempts to regulate content and impose license bottlenecks will be punished by delays in deployment.” Such delays, according to the consultant, impact on the poorest people on the continent - as it is only when the market is allowed to move to maximum penetration that prices achieve lowest and most accessible points, he emphasised.

Touching on leadership quality, Mr. Yeatman says - both from the ICT sector and each of the local markets will determine the outcome. He explains that the levels to which people share a vision of “a connected” Africa over-and-above any visions of profit will drive the outcomes over the next few years. He confirms the global view that there is no doubt that the ICT sector is a money-pipeline. “With money comes power contests, and the ability of African leaders to serve their communities will be tested in this helter-skelter scramble for markets and connectivity, he concluded.

For more information on this leadership subject, please log onto www.worldsviewconsulting.com

Putting ICT To Positive Use In Africa

2007-11-15T00:56:00.000-08:00

ICT APPLICATIONS

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
An African proverb says, “Where there is the liver, there, too, one finds the bile.” It simply implies that good and evil move hand in hand.

During the first week of February this year, the entire Information Communication Technology (ICT) world converged in Accra, the capital city of Ghana for the Africa Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).

That event was of such a high profile that it was opened by no less a personality than the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor and attended by various dignitaries including President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, the Tunisian Prime Minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Yoshio Utsumi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, and the Executive Secretary the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Dr. Yao Kofi Amoako, just to mention a few.

As for the general attendance, over 1000 delegates ranging from media practitioners to educationists right down to legal technicians, NGOs, civil society and the youth did not give way at all. But predominantly were ICT gurus with their heavy jackets and flamboyant neck ties to match. And when these ICT engineers mounted the podium, everybody wanted to outclass one another in terms of technological jargon renditions. Some of us ordinary mortals among them could not help but to gap our mouths in wonderment.

The WSIS Accra programme was just what someone described as “John the Baptist”, for “Jesus the Christ” himself will be in Tunisia in November this year. It is hoped that after Tunisia, African ICT gurus will minimize their talking strategies and maximize their efforts towards the implementation of decisions that will help reduce if not eradicate poverty on the African continent through technologies.

Anyway, one session of the Accra WSIS which this author found very crucial from a layman’s point of view was the Workshop on Internet Governance. My imagination was tickled when my eyes inadvertently fell on the topic, Internet Governance. It was not surprising at all that this was one topic that generated heated debate among the gurus at the conference.

One particular bone of contention was who should have the authority over the management of the domain name across Africa. Consequently, a 22-man working group of experts was set up to convene in August (possibly in Nigeria) to resolve the dispute among feuding ICT sector groups. This strategy was indicative of the importance of Internet domain name, which Africa cannot afford to toil with if the continent is to move with times and occupy its right place in the scheme of global information infrastructure so as to be part of the electronic revolution.

It may be of interest to the reader to know that some of the issues raised under this topic included, Internet Resource Management and Technical Coordination; Public Polity Issues and Barriers to Internet Access; Ensuring Effective Public and Stakeholders Participation and above all INTERNET GOVERNANCE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF E-COMMERCE. I have placed emphasis on this topic because , even as a layman ,it has come to my attention that some African ICT experts who think they are smart are abusing or misusing the tool of ICT for negative purpose for their own selfish interest and to the detriment of the whole continent of Africa .

I was shocked when on Monday 21^st February 2005 an ICT expert who is a lecturer at one of the topmost technology universities in America sent me an e-mail message and asked me whether I knew that Ghana had been banned from internet shopping because of the extremely high credit card fraud originating from Ghana?

According to this expert, for more than four years he had predicted that this ban would one day come but some people in the industry thought he was “crazy”. In fact, this ICT tutor warned that if care was not taken Ghana stood a risk of being taken off from the entire web if nothing was done to ensure secure internet connectivity and to trace an individual on the web.

I was alarmed by this revelation. And I wondered whether Ghanaian ICT gurus knew of this problem. If yes, what advice did they give to the Ghana Government? African ICT gurus must be more creative and proactive. It is their duty to advise African governments as to what to do and how. African governments, too, must stop pussy-footing on matters of science and technology on the continent.

At the Accra WSIS conference, Africans did not hesitate to lament about the continent’s lost centuries of Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Age. They did, however, console themselves of the fact that a whole century of knowledge Economy brought about by the Information Communication Technology lies ahead of them and vow never to stand and stare.

But what will be the future of ICT in Africa if some of the so-called experts are already using the technology for fraudulent deals instead of developing user friendly programmes for the benefit of the rural poor? It is also a common knowledge that, for a very long time, African youth who patronise the services of Cybercafés devote their time browsing the Internet for negative sites such as pornographic scenes instead of e-libraries for online learning.

As the above-quoted proverb indicates, every good thing has its opposite side and ICT is no exception. Nevertheless, African ICT gurus must endeavour to put the technologies to constructive application for the advancement of the Continent.

NB: This article was written in 2005

The Ghanaian Media and the Future of Ghana

2007-11-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

GHANAIAN NEWSPAPER
By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
Have you realized the wisdom of African ancestors is beyond compare? This is reflected in their evergreen proverbs which modern scholars are wont to quote and unquote. Listen to this Ghanaian one: “If you cut your own tongue and chew it up, you‘ve not eaten any meat”. This is lucid, isn’t it?

One may be tempted to ask: “Which school did our ancestors attend to acquire such insightful knowledge and wisdom?” And are educated modern Africans creating new proverbs for posterity to quote? I leave the answers to the meditation of the reader. But I will postulate that, if the Ghanaian media set a negative agenda for Ghanaians to use for self-destruction, there will be no Ghana to build as a nation. I will explain presently.

Records show that media work, or journalism in Ghana started in 1822 in Cape Coast. That was when General Sir Charles McCarthy, the first colonial Governor of the then Gold Coast landed in Cape Coast on 27th March that year and within a few days launched an official paper, called the Royal Gold Coast Gazette.(Those who have value for historical facts can read the rest of this story in a book title : A Summary History of the GHANA PRESS, written by Mr. K.A.B. Jonses-Quartey, one time of the Institute of Adult Education, University of Ghana, Legon, Published by the Information Service Department in 1974.)

Based on the preceding fact, therefore, the Ghanaian media, born in 1822 up to today 2005, over 200 years of existence, cannot be described as a neophyte or amateur. And the contribution of the media in Ghana to freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of association and the entire freedoms one can think of including, the fight for self-rule, culminating into independence in 1957, cannot be quantified in real terms.

As a matter of fact, some of the experiences the Ghanaian media went through after independence were even more traumatic than during the colonial era. At some stage of military and civilian rules, for instance, the Ghanaian media operated under some of the most abhorrent laws under the sun. One of such Laws was the ‘late’ Criminal Libel law, which kicked the bucket in 2001, and the obituary of which we are celebrating today with fanfare.

In fact at some points in the media history of this country, media practitioners were treated like common criminals. Every small human error they committed, or were suspected to have committed, even without proof in competent court of law, they were bundled and dumped into jail like accursed armed robbers.

This writer has had his own share of that intolerance and absolute display of misplaced power of authority in May 1999.That was even during a civilian rule, so he knows what he is talking about. It was sad in deed! Such a situation did not allow cross fertilization of ideas. It did not consensus for nation building. That is not how other nations are moving from the ground into the orbit and back with smiles.

Having said all that, it is prudent to sound a note of caution to the Ghanaian media, too. Remember this African proverb which admonishes that, “If you cry for your chicken, you must cry for the hawk, too.” To be frank and blunt, the way some Ghanaian media practitioners are operating today is nothing to write home about at all as far as professionalism goes.

Observers are worried that even though the Ghanaian media are doing tremendous work for the growth of democracy and good governance in the country, some of their actions tend to be causing more harm than good to the image of Ghana, especially on the Internet. It appears some media practitioners take delight in fishing out only negative things to project to the world whilst turning a blind eye to some of the good things the nation is accruing, no matter how modest they may be. One of the consequences of such negativity is the recent heavy fines being imposed on some media houses by the courts in the country. This is very unfortunate. If care is not taken the media may drive the ship of state straight into ditch. The fact is whilst some practitioners are making conscious efforts others have thrown the ethics of the profession to swines.

In April 1994, the media in Rwanda were reported to have been the initiators of that nation’s genocide. Out come, over half a million souls perished in a twinkle of an eye. We in Ghana should not pretend to be angels. We are human beings, and as such, we are treading in the forest of errors. When our fellow human beings commit errors, we must have the courage to correct them and tolerate them. But it is important for the offenders, also to be humble enough to admit their shortcomings and apologize for them. When that is done we must move ahead with our development strategies as a nation. After all perfection is not attained in one incarnation. We must be prepared to agree to disagree as a people.

It has been observed that for few years now, the nation has been moving from the culture of silence to the culture of negativity. And it is unfortunate that it is the media that seem to be setting this agenda and the entire society is being led into a bottomless pit of negative thinking, negative talking and negative actions. The situation has not been helped by the mushrooming of Frequency Modulation (FM) radio stations here and there.

It is indisputable that radio stations in Ghana are making a great deal of impact on the development of the nation in terms of dissemination of information to citizens to know what is happening and how they can contribute their views and ideas to issues of national interest. The impact is even more enormous when the platform is created for listeners to express themselves in their own language. It has been a wonderful experience with the phone-in-programmes.

But, this is exactly where the worse problem of negative is originating from. When a radio presenter or a host of a programme introduces a topic, and some people who do not understand or know the first letter of that topic, pick up their telephones, even now with the advent of mobile phones, wherever they might be, can call into a programme and start contribution out of context. If the host of that particular programme himself or herself is not on top of the issue at stake and callers are allowed not only to display their ignorance, but encouraged to slander, castigate and even assassinate the character of innocent souls.

This happens often if the topics in questions have some semblance to political discussions. In fact, some callers may deliberately all in only to vent their spleen on their perceived opponents for the sake it. They normally have their way and their say by chanting all kinds of unprintable words and go scot free without any apologies fro the shame they deserve.

This is not good enough, especially if the perceived political opponent is not in the studio or on the other side of the line to respond. This is where professionalism in broadcast journalism is called for. If the media practitioner on duty does not know how to cut off or call that particular caller to order, the seed of animosity is sowed not only between that caller and the personality concerned. But the party members of that imaginary opponent, his relatives and all sympathizers who will be listening in to that particular programme at the material time. This is how the entire society is being poisoned like a well of water. The psychological result is that everybody’s mind is being poisoned against one another. And eventually, the collective mind of the nation is programmed as the head of a poisonous snake. Then the people begin to develop the tendencies of “YOU BITE ME, I BITE YOU”. Ghana is greater than any individual or personality, be he a media man or woman, politician, or an ordinary citizen in the street.

In May 1994, on the occasion of that year’s freedom day, Mr. Kofi Annan UN Secretary-General called on the media man and woman throughout the world to practice what he termed as “Preventive Journalism.” He was making reference to what happened in Rwanda the previous month then and pointed out that the genocide in that country could have been prevented if Rwandan journalists had engaged in preventive journalism rather than hatred one
This writer will like to add his voice to that of the UN Boss and appeal to the Ghanaian media to practice a kind of journalism that will guarantee the future socio–economic, political and cultural survival of Ghana. Let's say “NO” to hatred journalism in Ghana.

N/B: This article was first published in 2005.

AU Summit 2007: Praise Ghana, Alleluia!!!

2007-10-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

AFRICAN UNION LOGO

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
Long, long, long ago - long before Leonardo da Vinci of Italy flew the first air craft from a mountain top and crushed in a valley and got hurt badly, the legendary African Lizard had fallen off the tallest tree in the world and crushed on the ground without being hurt at all! Then still on the crushed spot, he looked up, down, left and right, expecting people around to clap for him for a great feat. But when the Lizard realised that nobody was minding him, he declared: “If nobody will praise me, I will praise myself!”

So, too, if nobody in this terrorist-infested world and highly coup d’état prone-continent of Africa will praise Ghana for having successfully hosted a terrorism-free AU Summit in the capital city of Accra from June 25, to July 3, 2007, with over 50 Heads of State, numerous Ministers and high-power diplomats and other dignitaries in attendance, I will praise Ghana on behalf of Ghana.

Commendation
There is no speck of doubt that Ghana as a nation deserves commendation for ensuring that not a single mosquito touched even the smallest toes of any of the African Heads of State who participated in the just-ended historical A U Summit in our country. Even Ghana Parliament has documented in its Hansards that there are incalculable mosquitoes in Accra and these mosquitoes do not need passports and visas to board a plane from any part of the city to the Accra International Conference Centre? This is why we must be grateful to the Creator and sing Praise to Ghana..! So Praise Ghana..! It was not an easy feat at all. Our ancestors coined a proverb that: “If you did not take part in the warfare, you would have the luxury to fume that people did not fight enough.”

Whether we like it or not, the 9th A U Summit Accra, with focused on the Grand Debate by the African Heads of State on the Union Government of the Continent has come and gone. I will prefer to call it a Golden Jubilee African Union Summit because it took place in the year that Ghana celebrated her Golden Jubilee Independence Anniversary. More importantly, the seed of the United States of Africa germinated in the fertile womb of a son of Ghana in the African personality of the 20th century, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who never dies. Over 40 years ago when he was wide awake, and dreaming during day time, his peers were snoring in the night – hrorrrr- hrorrr- hrorr…!

Dr Nkrumah’s soul
As a matter of fact, the invisible soul of Dr Nkrumah took his seat in a corner behind the 52 or so African Heads who locked themselves up in the dark room to engage in the invisible Grand Debate. Why wasn’t the debate telecast live for the over 800 million other Africans to see “feelee-feelee?” If the Grand Opening Ceremony could be broadcast live, why not the Grand Debate? It would have made the drama more exiting indeed! And the Heads of State would have even earned the sympathy and an understanding of their citizenry in Africa and the Diaspora instantly.

Can you imagine an African Cup of Nations match in any country in Africa where only the players are allowed into the stadium? Are they playing for themselves or they are playing for the people of their respective nations? Now the African media, African civil societies and individuals citizens on the mother continent and the Diaspora, have also fiercely engaged themselves in another Grand Debate arguing the merits and demerits of the outcome of the “secret” debate - the “Accra Declaration” as the communiqué of the Grand Debate is known.

The purpose of this write-up is not to join the debate but just to look at how Ghana as a nation prepared for the event in terms of accommodation, vehicles and other logistics which made the summit worthy of attending. I will also touch briefly on how most delegates or visitors who came to Ghana for the first time saw our beloved country.

Philosophically, let us first and foremost be honest with ourselves that, as human beings, we are still treading in the forest of errors. Thus, nothing we do on this material plane can be perfect as such. We should therefore, not pretend that everything at the summit was like angels singing and dancing in the kingdom of heaven. And there has never been any perfect human endeavour any where in the world. There can only be a degree of excellence at best or outstanding.

Apology
We must be humble enough to admit our mistakes and say sorry for our shortfalls. This explains why Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Information and National Orientation, Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie, deserves commendation for coming out boldly to apologise to the media for the problems encountered with some security officers at the event. That apology was indicative of humility, maturity and wisdom on the part of Government and people of Ghana to the rest of Africa and the world. All those who felt offended in one way or the other must accept that apology in good faith.

The truth is that the original arrangements made for the media coverage under the direct command of the AU Commission Headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, supported by the Ghana Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD and the Ministry of Information and National Orientation in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), was fantastic. But for the last minute security re-arrangements requested by some participating Heads of State, which protocol demanded Ghana Government to comply with, there would have been no much problems at all as far as media coverage of the event was concerned.

Again another factor that made things a bit difficult to accommodate the over 600 foreign journalists including local ones who descended from the media planet unto our land to cover the Grand Debate was the less than 2000 sitting capacity of the Accra International Conference Centre itself. Space in the Conference Centre became such a scarce commodity that GJA had to adopt a rationing strategy for the benefit of media personnel.

Whatever discussions and arguments we engage in now after the event is but a postmortem analysis or a review of the summit; which is very healthy for our democratic growth. This writer will therefore, humbly assert that we focus more on the positive aspects of the summit and pick up some lessons from the negative aspects so as to move forward not only as a nation but as a continent as well.

Let us also bear in mind that: “Darkness pervaded all before light came. But light came not from darkness. For darkness is the absence of light.” Therefore, as a nation we must endeavour to embrace light and shun darkness. Is there any Ghanaian of good will who will not wish only the best for Ghana?

Positive views about Ghana
Now listen to some positive comments made by most delegates about Ghana. Generally speaking, some foreign journalists whom this writer interacted with at the Media Centre confessed that they could not believe their eyes that they were in an African country. Two young Kenyan female journalists told me they were visiting Ghana for the first. Then when I asked them how they saw Ghana, they looked at each other’s faces and laughed. I wondered why. Then they exclaimed: “Your country is WAWO!” According to them, they found the city of Accra very “sparkling,” I felt flatted. And I was proud to be a Ghanaian. But inside me I knew most of the delegates did not have the opportunity to visit the Korle lagoon and the Sodom and Gomorrah areas of Accra.

One Cameroonian journalist put it this way: “I never knew that apart from South Africa there is another country in Africa which is so neat, clean and beautiful like Ghana.” Then he added, “Little wonder the World Bank and the IMF have always cited Ghana as a shining star of Africa.” Despite the problem with the media, some delegates at the Media Centre could not help it but to be dancing to the tune of highlife music being provided by the Global Media Alliance’s stand.

The Ministry of Information and National Orientation mounted a magnificent semi-photo exhibition of tourism pictures which attracted so many delegates. They collected all kinds of brochures and pamphlets about Ghana and wanted more. Some of them were snapping photographs of themselves, their shoes, belts and hats from January to December non-stop. They were enjoying the happiness of being in Ghana “keke,” as the Ga will say.

Another positive aspect of the Summit for which Ghana must be praised to the blue heavens was the splendid accommodation facilities made available for delegates ranging from the poorest messenger to the richest Head of State who came to Ghana. The Government and people of Ghana must be commended for sacrificing a little to make the august visitors feel at home away from home. It is these little, little basic things that add up to give Ghana a global branding as hospital and Friendliest people in the world.

The AU village at La Wireless area in Accra was a tourist attraction in itself. Coupled with the magnificent numerous three to four star hotels and others in the sparkling city of Accra made lodging and boarding enjoyable for the august visitors. In fact, Accra is on the way of becoming the neatest and cleanest city in West Africa if it is not yet there. However, the street lighting at night in the city is not good enough. We must do something about this street lights business before we die hen!

Again another successful aspect of the Accra Summit which must not be taken for granted was the harmonious and smooth fashion the delegates were conveyed in luxurious cars from their hotels to the Conference Centre and other venues for various activities such as the African First Ladies meetings, the Fashion Shows, the State Lunches, Dinners and Ghana’s Senior Citizens’ Party Gala with African Heads of State.

People who deserve commendation in this regard are the Ghana Police, the traffic wardens, the drivers who drove various delegates including the Heads of State, the young Ghanaian men and women who served as conductors, or guides and other security officers into whose hands the immediate safety of these delegates were entrusted while in Ghana. Sometimes, such officers had to spend long hours with these delegates to ensure that they safely returned to their lodges before they went home only to return the next moment to conduct them round again. The vital roles played by these ordinary officers must not be taken for granted. When the Big men and women are in the Paradise, they should not forget these small men and women on earth, oooo!

African First Ladies

Oh, less I forget! I have observed that most of the African First Ladies who came to Ghana including their host could participate in any beauty contest in any part of the world and they would win hands down. You see, the Creator Himself molded African women in a special way with their unique shapes from the toe to the head. Black beauty is always charming, soothing, graceful and consoling. On the Ghana Television, we saw that one of the African First Ladies was a gentle man. Something extraordinary happened at their meeting on Monday, July 2, 2007. When their Ghanaian Master of Ceremony was introducing them one by one, one of them was represented by a gentle man.

When that particular First Lady from a West African country was announced and a bearded-man in three-piece-costume moved to take the seat, the entire Parliament House where they were meeting burst into uncontrollable laughter. Was he a First Lady or First Gentleman? He himself could not help it. He laughed and laughed until tears started streaming from his eyes. It was fun. That is how life should be. Once in a while someone must create a situation where everybody will forget about their woes and laugh. Laughter is good for human beings. That is why of all creatures on earth only human beings have the gift to laugh haw-haw -haw- haw!

On a more serious note, I can vouch that African First Ladies are not only physically good-looking but their heads are impregnated with wisdom, intelligence and sense of purpose. They are bold, courageous and fearless in their outlook. At the time some of their husbands put their tails in-between their thighs and covering their faces so that television camera will not look into their eyes, their wives stoop up with chests high and decisively declared war on HIV/AIDS on the continent.

As mothers who go through the actual pain of labour, they reasoned that they could not sit down with their hands in their laps for HIV/AIDS to be robbing them of their babies at random. Consequently they have adopted a resolution to drastically deal with HIH/ AIDS here and now and not wait until January, 2008 or so.

The First Ladies’ resolution was so vital that it constitutes the foundation of the very survival of the future of Africa. How can there be United States of Africa in 50 years’ time if today’s African babies cannot live beyond the ages of five? Did African Heads of State embody the First Ladies’ resolution into the Accra Declaration? If not, why? African Women’s Rights Activists are you there? No further comment!

Frankly, there have been so many positive achievements of the Summit. I have not mentioned the economic gains such Dollars, Euros, and CFAC cash that poured into to the hospitality industry of our country during the period of the summit alone. But for purposes of this article the final one I should like to mention is the special website Ghana created for the event.

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Information and National Orientation developed a unique website which was devoted solely for online information dissemination on the Accra AU Summit 2007. The website address was: www.ausummit-accra.org.gh This site was located within the premises of the Ministry of Information and National Orientation and managed by the Information Services Department (ISD).

It must be admitted that, perhaps the publicity for the site was not adequate. But it was through this site that, in addition to publishing news stories on the summit on daily basis, speeches, communiqués and other papers presented at the Summit were dispatched online to the AU Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In fact, the AU Headquarters was very appreciative of the services received through this site. They admitted that but for the Accra Summit website, AU itself would have been totally out of coverage area of Ghana. As you know, Africa is still struggling in the forest of technology and power crisis. But we shall overcome someday.

Suggestion
Shall I make one small suggestion for the consideration of the nation? Alright! Ghana must embark, as a matter of urgency, upon the construction of a new International Conference Centre. The new Conference Centre must have at least 10.000 sitting capacity. In the main hall, provision must be made for a Press gallery of at least 3.000 sitting capacity. The Conference Centre must no longer be squeezed in the already congested city centre of Accra. It must be sited either at Dodowa or Kokrobite near Accra. Twah, twah, twah- Omanye abaa! Yaoo!!! Praise Ghana!

Taking ICTs Closer To Rural People in Ghana

2007-10-26T04:31:00.000-07:00

COMMUNITY INFORMATION CENTRE (SAMPLE)
By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
Once upon a time, the only means of transport available to mankind were human feet. There was no automobile, no locomotive, no sea-craft, let alone an air-craft. But then, King Hyena and King Tortoise had to embark upon a long journey to a common destination.

The two friends were to participate in a very crucial council of traditional rulers' meeting that was to adopt a resolution to transform all satellite kingdoms into one mighty kingdom with one supreme King. Of course, they had no choice but to make the trip on foot. However, because King Hyena was faster than King Tortoise, he left him behind and rushed to the meeting. Eventually the two friends reached their destination and successfully accomplished their mission. There is, therefore, this African proverb which reminds that: "Wherever Hyena will go, Tortoise, too, can go; the only difference may be the time each of them will reach their destination."

Ghana, like Malaysia, Singapore and other technologically minded countries, is today gradually but steadily taking Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) to rural communities so as to bridge the digital divide between the urban dwellers and the rural folks in the country.

One strategy Ghana Government has adopted to achieve this feat is the establishment of Community Information Centres (CICs) in all 138 districts throughout the country. The ultimate goal is to establish the CICs in all the 230 constituencies in Ghana. In fact the beauty underlining this concept is to replicate miniature kinds of Ghana-India Kofi Annan of Advanced Information Technology Centre of Excellence in all corners of the country. No matter how long it will take Government to accomplish this seemingly insurmountable task, the important fact is that Government has taken the first step towards the realisation of this vision and mission. It must be borne in mind that those countries like Singapore and others who are leading in this field of endeavour, known as E-Government started their journey almost 30 years ago. So Ghana, too, will get there. In this context, E-Government simply stands for Electronic Government. And Electronic Government signifies Governments providing public services to their citizens electronically or online. In Singapore, Government slogan is: Whatever services that can be provided electronically must be delivered electronically. Simple and short.

ICT Policy
It is relevant to mention in passing that Ghana Government through the Ministry of Communications, in 2003 formulated an ICT policy dubbed, Information and Communication Technology for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD). This policy can be characterised as the foundation upon which Ghana's vision for the information age was built. As a matter of fact the Ghana ICT4AD is the concrete evidence of the government's objective to ensure the availability of quality and affordable access to information and communications services to facilitate the transformation of Ghana into knowledge-based society and technological driven- economy as ratified by the country at the World Summit on Information Society in 2005 or so.

The formulation of the ICT4AD also takes in account the aspirations and the provisions of key socio-economic development framework documents such as Ghana's vision 2020 the First Step; the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) 2002 -2004; the Co-ordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development of Ghana (2003 -2012).
This has been updated within the thee-pronged Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) II development strategy. The focus is to enable Ghana attain her developmental goals faster and more efficiently.

At the time of writing this piece, Ghana Government has drawn up comprehensive Development Action Plans out of the ICT Development Policy. The implementation plans outlined specific areas of focus, dubbed Sub-plans. These include: the E-Government Sub-plan; the Accelerated Human Development Sub-plan; the E-education Sub-plan; the Private Sector Development Sub-plan and the E-Commerce Development Sub-plan. Others are the E-Health Sub-plan; the ICT and Physical Infrastructure Development and Roll-out Sub-plan; the Legal, Regulatory, Institutional Provisions and Standards Sub-plan; the Industrial, Scientific Research Drive and Promotion Sub-plan; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Drive in ICTs ; the E-Security Sub-plan and above all, the ICTs-in-Community Sub-plan; just to cite a few.

It is the ICTs-in-Community Sub-plan which is the special point of reference in this article. This plan is targeted at programmes and initiatives for facilitating rapid deployment of ICTs within the community especially in the rural zones to promote universal access to and the exploitation of ICTs and its resources in the population at large. And one of the concrete measures Government has adopted in achieving this transfer of ICTs to the rural dwellers is the establishment of the Community Information Centres in various districts of the country.

CICs
Ghana's Ministry of Communications since 2005 has embarked on infrastructure development of CICs at the, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies throughout the country. So far 71 CICs have been established in selected communities. The communities have been selected based on certain existing facilities such as electricity, telephones and so on in those communities.

It is important to underline the fact that the CICs are at various state of development. In other words, not all the established 71 CICs are in full operation yet. According to survey and evaluation mission conducted by the office of the UNDP in Accra in April, 2007, various CICs are at various operational and functional levels. For example, out of the total number of 71, five have been commissioned (C); eight have been classified as fully operationalised and functional (OF); two are described as operationalised (O); 11 of them are categorised as pending operationalisation (PO) and another 11 referred to as ready, while 34 are placed on status of Civil Works (CW). It must be noted that some of the terms used here to describe the status of the CICs are more or less technical and can best be interpreted by the technical experts. This writer is only trying to disseminate relevant public information for the benefit of the people of Ghana and beyond, and as such, will not pretend to be an ICT expert at all.

This year (2007) Government is determined to establish at least two CICs with full operational capacity in each of the ten regions of the country before the end of the year. And when we talk of CIC with full operational capacity, we mean a Centre that is fully equipped not only with machines but with the human being with ICT skills and managerial know how, who will operate the equipment and manage the Centre as well. In this regard a fully operationalised and functional level CIC must have the following: The physical building itself with electricity and telephone facilities; the Local Area Network (LAN); at least five (5) workstations, that is computers; one Server; one Switch; one Printer; one Scanner and five (5) UPSs. One may ask what are some of the services that a CIC is supposed to render to the community. And I will further probe to know the targeted beneficiaries of CICs in a typical deprived community.

Basically a CIC has a responsibility to provide not only an Internet cyber cafe services to the community, which is so far, the focus of most CICs visited in April this year. But the CICs are mandated to provide ICT training opportunity to the rural brothers and sisters in the area of basic computer literacy so that they will not see a computer as some ferocious creature ready to devour them whenever they touch it.

Further, the CICs are to support business activities in rural communities by providing marketing information on improved agricultural production and extension services. More importantly, the CICs are strategically positioned to disseminate and educate rural folks on government policies, programmes and projects, especially in the areas of health, education, agriculture, environment, local government by-laws, tourism potentials and investment opportunities in their own localities and how they can tap those using ICT tools. And the main beneficiaries of CICs among others are the general community members, school children, youth out of school, women and women groups, private business entities, Non-governmental organisations, local government authorities and of course our most venerable traditional authorities.

Stake holders
There are several stake holders or collaborators including the Ministry of Communications, the Assemblies themselves, the UNDP, the Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GIFTEL)and the Ministry of Information and National Orientation (MINO), who are putting their expertise at the disposal of the CICs to make them really productive and to live up to expectation. There are other indirect development partners, playing crucial roles behind the scene such as the World Bank, the International Institute for Communication Development (IICD) and others.

MINO for instance, is responsible for the content management of the CICs. In other words, it is the Ministry of Information and National Orientation through the Information Services Department that has the mandate to employ its experience in the communication and dissemination of public information and the technical know how in editorial matters of information gathering, processing, packaging and disseminating to the grassroots people in the rural zones through the famous ISD Cinema Vans. Information Services Department also has offices doted in most districts with officers who have the technical know how of sending feed-back to government to assess the impact of its policies on ordinary people in the street.

With the coming into being of CICs it has become imperative for these Information Officers to acquire relevant ICT skills in order to support the CICs in content management strategies. This is where, UNDP deserves tons of commendation for teaming up with Ghana Government by providing technical and financial support in the area of capacity building for MINO in training Information Officers to enable them upgrade themselves so as to add modern technique of information dissemination using ICT tools in addition to their traditional know-how.

Capacity Building
During the first and second weeks of June, 2007, UNDP organised a 'Train-the-Trainer' Course in ICTs for selected 22 Information Officers including some District Information Officers at the Ghana Multi-media Information Centre (GMIC) in Accra. At the closing session of that capacity building programme, Ghana's Minister for Information and Orientation, Hon.Kwamena Bartels (MP), was full of praise to the UNDP for their commitment to supporting Government in achieving its ICT 4 AD goals in the country.

The Minister disclosed that his Ministry had just embarked on a nation-wide recruitment exercise and over 116 additional District Information Officers are expected to be appointed to fill vacancies in the remaining districts where officers are not currently available. He pointed out that the CICs have come to stay and are to contribute to get the people at the grassroots to "be informed and enlightened to enable them make informed choices."

Honourable Bartels stated that a series of ICT capacity building programmes would be lined up for all new Information Officers to be engaged to acquire the requisite skills in content management to enable them discharge their duties effectively and efficiently at the CICs where they would be posted to. He, therefore, placed UNDP on "red-alert" to stand by. As he put it, "Oliver Twist."

Mr Fredrick Ampiah, Partnership Advisor and Head of Partnership Unit at the UNDP who represented the UNDP Country Director in Ghana was of the view that the entire country was strategically positioned to achieve the time-bound Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015. He noted that, "the initiative of developing ICT capacity within the Information Services Department will not only serve as the foundation for the full utilisation of the CIC concept, but will also go a long way to improve the creation of knowledge based societies in the rural areas where the majority of Ghanaians live."

Mobile Phone: A Tool For Modern Fishermen In Ghana

2007-10-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

EVOLUTION OF MOBILE PHONES OVER THE YEARS

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath
It is prudent to be guided by some of the thought-provoking African proverbs like this simple one: “A child who has never traveled before tends to think that only his mother knows how to cook delicious soup.”

Long, long ago; and long before the Pyramids of Egypt were built and before Amenhotep IV a.k.a Akhenaton who was the first human being to proclaim monotheism or the concept of One God, passed through transition in 1350 B.C., traditional fishermen went to sea with only two basic tools – a wooden canoe and fishing net. The canoe fishermen then could not sail into relatively deep sea to catch whatever fishes they wanted. They were compelled to spend long days and harsh nights at sea, all in vain like Apostle Peter and his colleagues before they met the Saviour, Jesus the Christ.

Later in the 20th century or so, when automobile was invented and mechanical engineering advanced to a cert degree of perfection, canoe fishermen added one more tool to their implements – the out-board motor. This tool helped tremendously to make sailing swift, fast and very smooth indeed. In fact, fishing became more pleasant and enjoyable. The canoes were propelled by four- stroke engines and fishermen could go as far as they wanted provided there was enough pre-mixed fuel in their petrol tank. The proud fishermen could ride and dive deep into the sea and chase fishes and harvest them in their very “dormitories” even when they are in the process of “procreating”.

In Ghana, during bumper harvest seasons, some fishermen had no choice but to dump some of their catches back into the sea to avoid selling them at heart-broken prices at the shore. Why? Because they did not have access to cold store facilities to preserve the extra catches for tomorrow. Further more; they did not have the means to communicate with their agents or customers beyond their immediate communities in advance to determine whether their catches could be sold at competitive prices before else where. Thus, they were at the mercy of some unscrupulous middle women fish mongers.

Today, at the threshold of the 21st century, thanks to Information Communication Technology (ICT) particularly Mobile Telephony, fishermen in Ghana have added the fourth most important tool to their fishing equipment – Mobile Phone. Ghanaian fishermen may be characterized as the latest segment of the Ghanaian society, especially in the rural community to join the technological train wagon of mobile phone users.

On Wednesday November 23, 2005, this writer was invited in his capacity as a Journalist interested in ICT or online-journalism or cyber-journalism to join a group of researchers, headed by the Coordinator of the Technology Assessment Project (TAP) of the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Amos Anyimadu on a study tour of some selected Districts in the Central Region of Ghana with particular focus on fisher folks of Moree.

Without attempting to bamboozle the reader with any ICT jargons such as “VSAT Technology”, “Telematics”, “Mobile telephony”, “Seamless Integration” and what have you, suffice to say that the purpose of the study tour was simply to find out how Information Communication Technology for Advanced Development (ICT4D) policy of the Government of Ghana was being impacted on the rural communities in general. In this particular case the research was further narrowed down on how the fishermen of Moree are making use of Mobile Phones to enhance their traditional fishing business to improve upon their living standards.

Moree is a prominent fishing town along the coast of Ghana. It is about two hours’ drive west of Accra, off Accra-Takoradi road a few kilometers away from Cape Coast Township. It is located in the Abura, Asebu, Kwankese District. Moree now has a population of about 30.000 according to the 2000 population census. Even before the research team got to Moree, the team leader, Dr Anyimadu, decided that a stop-over be made at Apam, another progressive fishing town in the Central Region to briefly interact with some fishermen there to see whether the Mobile phone fiver in Ghana has caught up with them, too.

In fact, we reached Apam rather late about 7.30p.m to 8.00p.m. We asked and were directed to the real area where typical fishermen and women live. The first question Dr Anyimadu asked in the language of the people (Fanti) was whether there was any Communication Centre in the area. A wooden quiosk was pointed out to us. Even though there was no electric light in it, it was operating as a Communication Centre alright.

Central Region fishermen were found to be very open and eager to offer information. As soon as they were made to understand the purpose of our visit in their community at that time of the day, the news spread like bush fires. They were told that we were a team of researchers from the University of Ghana trying to find out whether they had access to mobile phones. If yes, was there any way the communication gadgets were helping them to advance the business.

Within a twinkle of an eye, we were invaded by people and any questions put to them were responded to with alacrity. They even offered some information that we did not anticipate. They talked about how they use the mobile phones to check from their agents and customers from various parts of the country where the prices of fish were more competitive.

One revelation we did not know until then was that some fishermen go to sea only to buy fishes from other bigger fishing boats to come and sell. In a nutshell the Apam fishermen are making good use of the Communication Centres and “Space to Space operators” who are operating both fixed lines and mobile phones to enhance their fishing business. Shall I digress a bit?

About 18 years ago, precisely in September 1988, just after 12 months of the establishment of an Apam Community FM Station, I personally went to spend seven days in that town to administer survey questionnaires to a variety of respondents. The survey was in connection with my Project Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Diploma in Journalism of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Accra. My topic was “Communication and Organisation of Rural People for Development: A Case Study of Apam FM Station”. In fact the survey covered Apam and Mannford fishing communities. Even though the Station had been in existence for barely one year at the time, I wanted to know if it was making any impact on the rural people. As a matter of fact, the Apam Community FM Station was an experimental Project of the Ghana Broad Casting Corporation (GBC). The experiment was based on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) concept of Rural Broadcasting.

What was fascinating about the Apam FM Station was that, at that time, Ghana was the second country in Africa (after Kenya), selected by UNESCO to benefit from the Community FM Station Programme initiated by what was known as the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).The Station was commissioned on September 26,1987 by the then Ag. PNDC Secretary for Information, Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi on behalf of the then Chairman J.J.Rawlings.

One major benefit that the fishermen derived from that Community FM Station, according to the survey was that, every dawn before they embarked on their fishing expeditions, they would wait and listen to the weather forecast for the day on the radio in their own language before they went to sea. That service the Station was rendering them was more valuable to them than anything else in their vocation or trade. It helped them avoid storms and other unpredictable hazards at sea.

Thus, besides, relevant information, education, entertainment and other motivational programmes that the station was broadcasting to mobilize the rural folks for development as far as communication was concerned, the people were allowed to go to the studio to undertake some unique traditional performances themselves. Today the Apam Community FM Station is “dead”. The fishermen lamented when I inquired on Wednesday 23 November, 2005 when the Technology Assessment Project team visited the town. Apam fishermen expressed the desire to have their Community FM Station back. According to them, the 10kw transmitter donated by UNESCO has broken down and the Station had been off air for the past seven years or so.

Now they had to rely on Adom FM in Tema or Peace F M in Accra to listen to the weather forecast. May I take the liberty to suggest that the District Assembly responsible for Apam, the Member of Parliament for that constituency in collaboration with GBC, if possible, should do some feasibility study of the Community FM Station and come up with a proposal for the consideration of UNESCO for technical support to see if that Radio Station could not be revived for the development communication of the rural people?

On Thursday November 24, 2005, the Technology Assessment Project study team continued with their research findings at Moree. There is one Communication Centre in Moree, called “Shalom Communication Centre”. It has one fixed line. The land linetelephone number is virtually known to everybody in the town. With this strategy whoever in the town receives a call from any part of the country through the Communication Centre can be sent for to respond for a fee. The Communication Centre owner also has a mobile phone in addition to his fixed line. There are three other people who are operating “Table-top Space to Space system” in the town. Those who have mobile phones have to search for a suitable location to position themselves in order to receive network connectivity otherwise, their handsets will only be “museum pieces” in their hands. Mobile phone operating companies should not only crowd themselves in Accra and other big cities. They must consider investing in rural communities, too. They will still make profit considering what we saw at Moree.

In an interview with the chief fisher of Moree, Nana Fin and some of his elders, the Mobile phone has become one of the most important tools they are now using to enhance their business as far as the fishery industry is concerned. According to Chief fisherman, he himself has two mobile phones. He himself does no longer go to sea often. Therefore, when his people are sailing, he gives one mobile phone to them to take along. He keeps one with himself at home. With this strategy communication link is established between him and his fishermen at sea.

He explains that whenever there is any problem such as a shortage of pre-mixed fuel or someone falls sick at sea the fishermen at sea use the mobile phone to communicate with him at home. Then he will quickly respond and arrange for solution to whatever might be the difficulty being encountered at sea. Nana Fin is very happy and proud for this dimension brought about in their vocation thanks to Mobile Telephony. He recalls that previously, when his fishermen went to sea for about three or more days without any feedback, he would be restless until they returned safely. “But these days I am always in contact with my people at sea if only they are within 30km to 40km radius away from me. And I am able to know whatever is happening until they come back to shore”, he said with broad smiles in his face.

Furthermore, with the Mobile phone he could verify the prices of fish at various market places at Tema, Kumasi, Koforidua or even Accra before his people land with their catches. Other fishermen spoken to in Moree concurred with the Chief Fisherman. Messrs Kobina Otu, Mark Pratt and Kofi Sarsah, all of whom have one mobile phone each were very proud to possess the modern communication gadget which is making their business more enjoyable. They are calling on mobile phone operators to come and open mobile phone shops in Moree because more people are eager to acquire the equipment as part of heir fishing implements.

Nevertheless, the fisher folks of Moree have one particular problem which is militating against the smooth operation of the canoe fishing industry in the area. According to fishermen interviewed the basic problem is the use of very powerful lights by some fishing trawlers or boats in fishing in their waters. They said this problem has been persisting for over two years now and all efforts made to obtain the attention of authorities concerned to help solve the problem prove futile. They complained bitterly that the use of the powerful lights tends to drive the fishes away from canoe fishermen who are not able to do deep sea fishing. In fact the Chief fisherman of Moree stated that because of this problem the business of women fishmongers in the town has virtually come to an end. “Now our women are leaving for Abidjan, Kumasi and other places because they don’t have work to do in our town” he lamented.

Mr. Kobina Otu, another leading fisherman, put his lamentation in a rather philosophical fashion thus: “Look us,” he chipped in. “We don’t have forest into which we can go and hunt for games or cultivate cash crops like cocoa and so on. Fishing is the only vocation we depend on to feed ourselves, cloth our wives, and above all to education our children. If today others are making it impossible for us to undertake our God-given career, then what are we living for?”, he queried hypothetically. Moree fishermen are therefore, appealing to the authorities concerned to come to their aid by stopping those who are using the powerful lights in fishing in their area of operation.

The Technology Assessment Project has been mandated by the Ghana Office of the World Bank and other partners to undertake a radio production on Information and Decentralized Development. A follow-up forum on Mobile Communication will take place at Busy Internet in Accra on December 5,2005, while in-depth research findings of the Moree study tour will be published in a book later. Ghana now has no choice but to
embrace ICT to accelerate its development strategy for the prosperity of the nation.

Ghana’s Solar Eclipse 2006: It Came to Pass

2007-10-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

SOLAR ECLIPSE IN GHANA
By Mawutodzi K.Abissath

Ghana's Solar Eclipse2006,
And it came to pass!
It was a Wednesday,
March 29, 2006.
It was a magnificent day
In the true sense of the word.

And it came to pass!
Scientists predicted it,
And it came to pass!
Philosophers foresaw it,
And it came to pass!
Mystics knew it in advance,
And it came to pass!

Oh Divine Intelligence,
The Universal Mind,
How omnipotent art thou!
How omniscient art thou!
And how mysterious art!
Thy ways!
Thou art SUPREME
Glory be to thy name
Now and evermore!

The Solar Eclipse in Ghana was spectacular in the true sense of the word indeed!
It happened as was predicted by scientists. It was almost near to perfection. Scientists indicated it would occur between the hours of 0830 and 093 UT.

However, by 7.30 hours GMT some parts of the country, especially in the Western Region about 400km west of the capital city Accra, the lunar journey across the solar pathway had actually started in Ghana.
In the Ghanaian capital itself the magical movement was spotted around 7.45 am. That was the precise time this writer noticed the event for the first time with the solar eclipse goggles, purchased for that purpose.

The much anticipated eclipse of the sun and its resultant anxiety and eagerness was no longer a speculation .It happened on 29/03/06 in Ghana where it set off as its gateway to Africa. Scores of excited and enthusiastic overjoyed citizens viewed the phenomenon. At the time Ghanaians were enjoying the sight of the celestial romance between the sun and the moon with the planet earth acting as an eye witness, some selected other African countries were experiencing memorable event as well.

Those other nations included Benin, Nigeria, Niger and Togo, all in West Africa; Egypt and Libya in North Africa and Chad in Central Africa.The event attracted scientists and tourists from all parts of the world who trooped in to Ghana to witness once- in- a -century event. It was telecast live on the National Television for the world to behold.

Records show that the last time a total solar eclipse occurred in Ghana was in 1945.There was no television at the time in the country. Thus, in the next 50 years or so time, when the miracle is expected to occur again, our children's children would be privileged and likely to view what we watched today.

Interestingly virtually all hotels in six out of ten Regions in the country where the total eclipse was experienced were booked in advance. The regions included the Greater Accra, Eastern, Central, Volta and Western Regions. The rest of the Region experienced a partial eclipse.

Along the country’s coast, some high grounds offered unique spots such as hill or mmountain tops, in towns like Anomabo in the Central Region, McCarthy Hill in the Greater Accra, Shai Hills and Aburi Hills in Eastern Region. Tourists who came to Ghana enjoyed themselves to the blue heaven. They experienced the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality that would be engrained in their store house of memory forever.

In some hotels for instance, organised, special traditional drumming and dance programmed to entertain tourists while they were watching and snapping pictures of the natural phenomenon. In Accra, the usual traffic-jammed streets were deserted. Workers abandoned their desks for once and rushed out of their offices to experience the romantic relationship of the two celestial bodies.

And at about 9.10 a.m, when the moon succeeded in blocking the view of her superior astral sister, the sun, a Siren was sounded in Accra to alert the citizenry that some miracle was about to occur. Multi-coloured flames of fire works decorated the skies of the city. There was an extraordinary blissful breeze from the sea.

The atmosphere instantly changed to that of autumn-like-season in Europe. It was fantastic but sublime, indicative of the handiwork of some Divine engineering. Then a mini-Night fell during broad day time! While human beings were enjoying the scene, some poor birds and other creatures in the animal kingdom were thrown into some sort of semi-confusion.

I saw a vulture on top of a nearby storey building that had no choice but to go to bed prematurely. That was how the March 29, 2006 Total Eclipse of the Sun came to pass in Ghana. When shall we experience it again?

How wonderful and beautiful is Nature! Oh, Supreme Creator of the universe, You are the Divine Intelligence indeed! Oh, the Universal Mind, Your greatness is beyond human comprehension. It is only by Your grace that we mortals are privileged to be breathing the breath of life. Unfortunately, mankind prefers to terminate its own existence through the manufacturing of nuclear weapons and other instruments of mass destruction .

Please, Have mercy upon humanity, Oh Divine Love!

Putting Knowledge Management Into Practice

2007-10-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

By Mawutodzi K.Abissath
What do you think of this African proverb which says: “If your friend is more handsome than you are, admit it and praise him.” By so doing, he will be happy and you will be happy, too. But if you envy him and try to denigrate him, what will happen?

Ghana cannot compare herself to Singapore at all in terms of socio-economic and technological advancement using ICT. But Ghana is larger, richer and older than Singapore in terms of land area, natural resources and political independence. What both countries have in common is their colonisation by Britain at one time in human history. The point of this piece is to scratch the surface of this relatively new concept of Knowledge Management (KM) and see how countries like Singapore are putting it into practical application for the prosperity of their citizens. It is the belief of this writer that Ghana, too, can do the same or even better because she has the human and material resources. The problem, however, from my point of view, seems to be lack of sustained vision, focus and misplacement of priorities. I may be wrong though.

What is Knowledge Management (KM)?
Knowledge is said to be power! This has been a mantra from the day God first opened His/Her mouth and said: “Let there be light! And there was light!” God has the knowledge and so has the power to create. Not so? So if God created man in His own image and breathed into the nostril of man and man became a living soul, it implies that man also possesses some knowledge with which he can also create. Not so? All right! At the threshold 21st century, knowledge and management experts have been able to establish the fact that those who have information and knowledge can navigate their way to the economic kingdom. This is what brought about the term knowledge economy. It has also been established that for the last 15 years or so, economic, social and technological changes, especially ICT have changed the workplace and the way we work.

How come a country like Singapore, a miniature island with a population of less than 5million souls, and with no natural resources whatsoever, is able to become a world leader in technology and moving economically at a pace beyond compare? I will answer my own question because I know what I am talking about. Singapore is just putting Knowledge Management into practical application.

In July 2004 this author happened to be in Singapore to do a short training course in E-Government. The course took place at a polytechnic, Nanynag Polytechnic. In Singapore that polytechnic is one of the educational institutions where professionals like engineers, nurses, computer scientists and others are trained. At the Nanyang Polytechnic one particular room called Knowledge Management Centre is reserved purely for knowledge management and experience sharing. The school has one particular senior lecturer who is responsible for that Centre. What is done in that room is to invite experts in various field of specialty to come and share their knowledge and experiences with students of the polytechnic?

Day in day out, retired educationists, engineers, media practitioners, physicians, nurses, cooks, agriculturists, administrators, artists, dancers, musicians, accountants, and what have you, called upon with respect and dignity to come and interact with adolescent learners. As long as the person has some knowledge in a particular field and has worked successfully in life until he or she went on retirement, that person is qualified to come to the Knowledge Management Centre to impart his or her knowledge to the younger generation.

Do we have something like that in Ghana? If yes, where is it? If no, why not? Don’t we have knowledgeable retirees in Ghana? How do document their knowledge and expertise for the future? What happens to their knowledge when they pass through transition? This is why African traditional experts in herbal medicine and even some modern trained specialists enter their tombs with all their knowledge and experiences. Who is the loser?

Currently at the Institute of System Science (ISS) of the National University of Singapore, where this writer recently underwent another short training course in IT strategic management for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) a new concept of Knowledge Management has evolved. It is known as Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom (DIKW).

This DIKW is explained in this way: That Data is structured facts, values of parameters and measures. Information is data plus contextual references of meaning. Knowledge is that which guides humans in their use of information and data to make judgements, decisions and to do work. And finally, Wisdom is said to be proven confidence in one’s knowledge or decision making, usually gained through experience. The DIKW concept is simplified to mean that Data and Information are what get processed and Knowledge and Wisdom are how they get processed in the first place. This is where it was explained that there are two types of knowledge: They are Tacit Knowledge and Explicit Knowledge. Explicit Knowledge is that which can be written down or expressed verbally. It is said that 20% of knowledge is easier replicate and contribute to efficiency.

On the other hand, Tacit Knowledge is that which resides in the minds of the individuals and is surfaced in response to a situation or action. And 80% of knowledge is said to be hard to steal. That it leads to competency, but hard to articulate or transfer and has high competitive advantage. There is no doubt that a lot of Ghanaians know about what is being discussed here. But as to whether that knowledge is being put into practical application for the advancement of our society for the socio-economic prosperity of our citizens like Singapore, is what one is tempted to ascertain.

Ghana In The World Map Of ICT

2007-10-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

GHANA MAP

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

There is this simple Ewe proverb which prompts us that: “If Sunday will be a glorious day, it would reflect on the preceding Saturday”.

Ghana seems to be poised for glorious days in the coming year and beyond. In fact, if I were to pretend to be a clairvoyant, and looking into a crystal ball, I would predict that the year 2005 would be sparking for Ghana indeed.

The just-ended general election, which was universally acclaimed to be one of the best in recent political history of the country, has set the tone for magnificent things to follow. It has come to the attention of this writer that numerous foreign journalists who covered the 2004 elections marveled about the civility with which Ghanaians went about the entire event.

Some of them were amazed to learn for the first time that Ghana was the first country in black Africa to obtain independence in 1957. So they wired very inspiring stories about Ghana, hailing and praising Ghanaians to the blue heaven. Sadly, most of their foreign media institutions deliberately buried their faces in the sand like the proverbial ostrich as if those beautiful things did not exist in Ghana.

They refused to publish or broadcast the stories because they were positive in content and scope. They thought Ghanaians were primitive people who would start slaughtering and butchering each other and drive their women and children into refugee camps in the tropical forest because of elections. That would have been what the foreign media preferred to project about Ghana and Africa as they are wont to do.

Anyway, the actual reason why I am writing this article is to alert all Ghanaian journalists, and for that matter African media practitioners that Ghana is starting the year 2005 with a mammoth Information and Communication Technology (ICT) event that must be promoted and projected by the media.

Coming February, precisely from the 2^nd to 4^th, 2005, Ghana will host an international conference in the capital city of Accra. The conference is simply dubbed: African Region World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Preparatory Conference. Ghana has hosted conferences upon conferences in the past. But this conference is one that will strategically plant Ghana in the center of the world of ICT.

The conference is expected to bring over one thousand delegates made up of ICT gurus, media professionals, academicians, politicians, scientists, engineers, legal experts, agriculturalists, technologists, educationists, human rights activists, NGOs, the private sector, civil society, development partners and many more. And if Ghana does not gain anything at all out of this conference, the hospitality industry of the country would not close their doors without a few dollars in their coffers.

But the real purpose of the conference is for Africa to use the Accra event to build consensus to place the continent in a position where it will harness the potential of information and communication technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration before another summit scheduled for November 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia.

Documents available from the WSIS Accra National Planning Committee under the chairmanship of the Hon. Mike Gizo MP indicate that Ghana is ready to offer the world one of the memorable events in technological history of the globe.

The genesis of this whole WSIS business started in December 2001 when the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 56/183 ordering that the world summit on information society must be structured and fashioned out in two phases.

Consequently, the first phase was held in Geneva, Switzerland from 10^th to 12^th 2003.The second phase is what scheduled to take place in Tunisia.

It is imperative to put on record that it was as the Geneva summit this Declaration of Principles was made among other things:

“ We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, assembled in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the chapter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.

Respected reader, if you find the first paragraph of that declaration, which I have quoted verbatim, mouthful, then read the second one which says:

“ Our challenge is to harness the potential of information and communication technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration, namely the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education; promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women; reduction of child mortality; improvement of maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and development and agreed development goals, as contained in the Johannesburg Declaration and Plan of Implementation and the Monterrey consensus, and other outcomes of relevant United Nations Summits.”

The paragraph four of the Declaration reads: “We re-affirm, as an essential foundation of the Information Society, and as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Communication is a fundamental social, process, a basic human need and the foundation of all social organization. It is central to the Information Society. Everyone everywhere should have the opportunity to participate and no one should be excluded from the benefits the Information Society offers…..”

I have deliberately quoted only three out over 18 paragraphs of the Geneva WSIS Declaration. In my opinion, the paragraphs quoted here are not romantic but dealing with real issues that are facing developing countries, especially African nations. Such issues include poverty, hunger, starvation and above all the dreadful killer disease HIV/AIDS and malaria.

The benefits that the ICT tools or applications can be employed to solve some of these seemingly insurmountable challenges facing Africa are beyond human imagination. The Ghanaian media must be self-motivated and play their stated role to place Ghana on this World Map of ICT.

E-Government: The Singapore Experience(2)

2007-10-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE AT NIGHT
Mawutodzi K. Abissath

Another African proverb reminds us that, “If your tormentor who is running after you does not stop, you, too, must not stop running.” As long as Ghana remains a developing country, Ghanaians must not stop fighting to develop and progress.

In the first part of this article the definition of e-Government according to the United Nations was provided. Singapore government used the UN definition of e-Government as a guide, but simplified it for easy understanding by ordinary person in the street.

According to Singapore, e-Government is the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens and businesses. It pointed out that the beneficiaries of e- Government include the government itself, businesses and the citizens of the country concerned.

How did the Singapore Government use technology to enhance access to and delivery of government information and services to the people? E-Government Action Plan II (2003-2006)In order to achieve its stated goals the Singapore government formulated an action plan known as e-Government Action Plan II for the year 2003 to 2006.The vision of the Government was to be a leading e- Government to better serve the nation in the digital economy.

The objective of this Plan was to ensure “a Networked Government that delivers accessible, integrated, value-added e-services to our customers; and helps bring citizens closer together”. A slogan was developed thus: e-Government- Delighting Customers, Connecting Citizens.

What are some of the services that the Singapore Government provides for its customers who are the citizens of the country? Even before we touch on some of the services provided online, shall we find out why Singapore government came to the realization that the beneficiaries of e-Government include Government, businesses and citizens?

It is important to note that within the scope of e-Government, there are several categories that fit into the broad definition of e-Government. For example, e-Government constitutes: A Government- to-Citizens (G2C) ; B- Government-to-Business (G2B); C- Government-to-Employees (G2E); and eventually D-Government to- Government (G2G).

G2C: Government-to-Citizens, according to experts, includes all the interactions between a government and its citizens that can take place electronically. The objective of G2C is to offer citizens faster, more responsive, more convenient and less complicated means to public services.

G2B: In the case of Government-to-Business, it refers to e-commerce in which government sells to businesses or provides them with services, as well as businesses selling products and services to government. Again the objective of G2B is to enable businesses to interact, transact and communicate with government online, with greater speed and convenience.

G2E: Government-to-Employees includes activities and services between government units and their employees. As the term implies, the objective of G2E is to develop and cultivate IT capabilities among government employees to deliver efficient and cost-effective services.

G2G: Interestingly, Government-to-Government seems to have dual significance. One, G2G is said to consist of activities between government and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the same government.

The other meaning of G2G is a situation in which Governments have to deal with their other counterpart governments of different countries. This second G2G in the opinion of experts is anchored on trust and interdependence, which allows for information sharing among governments on regional, sub-regional and international issues.

For example, the control of terrorism; the management of cross border diseases like SARS, which occurred in Asia some time ago or even HIV/AIDS. This G2G also has to do with common economic challenges as well as ethnic wars and conflicts problems facing West African States for instance. For Singapore government to achieve the enviable e-Government status through effective online services delivery to its citizens, certain strategies were again adopted:

I) E-Government Infrastructure
The government put in place a National Information Infrastructure as backbone for e-government services delivery. This strategy was christened Public Service Infrastructure (PSI) in Singapore.

Physical Infrastructure
Government itself provided Internet access points in convenient places such as public libraries, shopping malls, government offices, hospitals, subway stations and clubs and relevant public places for the citizens to use free of charge.

Technology Infrastructure
Here, the Government provided computers, servers, networks (broadband and wireless), mobile devices, smart cards as well as technology standards that is open and scalable such as Java, XML, Web services.

Authentication Infrastructure
Under this the government provided E-Government ID and Password for all its citizens. It made it easier for very citizen to know how to log online and access Government information and services.

II) E-Government Legislation &Policy
Having put in place the necessary infrastructure for the e-government services to the citizens, the next strategy the Singapore government adopted was the enactment of relevant rules and regulations and policies that govern the implementation of the programme.

Some of the major regulations were meant to safeguard privacy and information security; data protection, data privacy, computer misuse, legal recognition of electronic transactions, official control of cryptography, security audits and well as standards and certification of security practices. Singapore’s legislation and code of practice include Computer Misuse Act; Electronic Transaction Act, which was enacted in 1998, tried to define the rights and obligations of transaction parties, and also provided legal status on the use of electronic records and signature. The Government also provided data Protection Code.

III) E-Government Services
After putting in place ICT infrastructure and legislation and policy the government then developed a website called E-Citizen Portal. This website was to enable citizens to ask questions and receive answers. Specific electronic services deliveries are provided on this site.

Some of the services on this website include payment of taxes and fines; Issuance and renewal of driver’s licenses; Helping citizens find employment; National campaigns and awareness creation on social services such health and education; Introduction of Internet and IT training courses; e-learning and smart card in schools. So computer literacy started right from the primary school in Singapore etc. In the poor and rural communities, the government provided free computers and Internet access points and posted officers who know how to operate the equipment to assist the illiterates to benefit from the online services.

In fact, in Singapore today some services like the issuing of Passports and Birth Certificates, you have to sit in the comfort of your home and fill the necessary forms and e-mail them to the appropriate authorities. Government will reward you for obtaining the services on line. Interestingly if you go personally to those offices for the services, you will pay penalty for going there personally. And after paying the penalty you will be directed to go and use a computer in a corner there in the office still to apply for the documents you wanted.

In the case of Businesses, E-Tender was introduced in that any company that wanted to bid for government contracts can only do that through the Internet. Corporate taxes could only be filed electronically. Annual Reports and periodic business reports are all presented online. As in the case of E-Citizens Portal, there is also one-stop Portal for all government procurement opportunities with over 8,000 trading partners. It is on this Portal that all corporate bodies do business with the government in Singapore. This is known as integrated e- Services.

This is the level of E-Government Services in Singapore. Is it any wonder that they are the 2nd e-Nation after Canada in the e-World? Ghana, too, can do the same no matter how long it takes. What is important is for the Ghanaian IT experts to give the correct technological advice to the government of Ghana.

E-Government: The Singapore Experience(1)

2007-10-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

BEAUTIFUL SINGAPORE

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

An African proverb admonishes us that: “Whenever the rhythm of the drum beats changes, you must change the dance movement accordingly.”

It is no longer privileged knowledge that Information and Communication Technology has launched the entire globe into what is now known as the e-world-meaning electronic world. Today Governments the world over are somersaulting to reinvent and reengineer governance so as to be more effective, efficient and transparent in the provision of information, goods and services to their citizens electronically.

Fortunately Ghana has already started dancing to the tune of the technological music because government has laid the foundation for e-government by establishing the government of Ghana website popularly referred to as Ghana Portal www.ghana.gov.gh which is being managed by the Information Services Department of the Ministry of Information in Accra. Government has also established the Ghana-India Kofi Anan IT Centre of Excellence and above all, Ghana has formulated an Information Communication Technology framework for accelerated development, being spearheaded by the Ministry of Communications and Technology.

Nevertheless, when it comes to the practicability, accessibility and usability of e-government services by citizens, Ghana still has some mountains to climb and some rivers and lagoons to wade through. It is against this backdrop that this writer deems it relevant to share the Singapore e-government experience with fellow Ghanaians. But, even before shedding some light on e-government strategies and implementations in Singapore, it may be necessary to explain what e-government is in the first place.

On Saturday July 31 this year, at the Johannesburg Airport in South Africa, this writer came across a group of Ghanaians on their way to Zimbabwe to take part in a book fair in that country. Then in a chart with one of them, where it was revealed that I was on my way from Singapore where I underwent a short training course in e-government, my interlocutor exclaimed: ‘Eeeee-Government!’ “What is that animal, too?” he virtually shouted unconsciously.

As a matter of fact, my friend confessed that, he was hearing for the first time the term e-government. Later when we parted company and he went to Zimbabwe and I was airborne to Ghana, I started debating with my inner self: “If this man, well-educated, living in the capital city of Accra, participating in an international event such as a book fair, has not yet heard of the term e-government until then, then what happens to the majority of uneducated and less fortunate brothers and sisters dwelling in deprived rural communities of the country?

Because we are living in a world of Knowledge Management (KM) and Experience Sharing, I cannot claim to be an expert in this field, but the little I know about e-government must be shared with others for the benefit of all who care to know; for the advancement of mankind and to the glory of the Divine Intelligence or the First Giver of knowledge itself.

The question is: What is E-GOVERNMENT? The United Nations defines e-Government as “Permanent commitment by government to improve the relationship between the private citizen and the public sector through enhanced, cost-effective and efficient delivery of services, information and knowledge.” It went further to explain that there are five categories of measuring a country’s “e-gov” progress in terms of Web Presence. This includes: Emerging – Enhanced – Interactive – Transactional and Fully Integrated. All UN member states have been called upon and encouraged to embark on this e-government project and programme.

Accordingly the world body has a way of assessing the progress of each country in this regard. Significantly in the UN Report for this year on e-government globally, Singapore, a small Island City State of Land- Area of 697.1sq km with a population of 4.185 million souls, is sharing the 2nd position with the mighty United States of America with Canada comfortably sitting on top of all.

How did Singapore make it to the top of e-government league table of the world? What strategies and policies were put in place; when and how did that country achieve such a technological feat over and above the super powers of this planet of economic inequalities?

Computerisation
Singapore set off on its e-government journey as far back as about 25 years ago. In 1981, Singapore embarked upon a computerization programme of the government machinery. It first established a National Computer Board and National Computerisation Plan. The Plan was to ensure a systematic growth of local IT industry; Development of IT manpower pool; Civil Service Computerisation Plan and the production of 850 IT Professionals.

National IT Plan
After the Computerisation programme, the Singapore government embarked upon what was referred to as the National IT Plan. The National IT Plan initiated what was known as the Beginnings of Computing Communications Convergence. It also constituted what was dubbed Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which was basically aimed at bridging Government and industry. This plan took place in 1986 that is five years or so after the Computerisation Programme.

IT 2000 Blueprint for Intelligence Island
This Blueprint strategy that also started over five years after the National IT Plan in 1992 was to effect what was called Flagship Projects on the Singapore Island. It had the objectives to create an electronic network linking all libraries in that country; secure infrastructure for e-commerce; Expert system for checking all building plans in the country and above all to establish Singapore ONE, that is, to create one network for everyone in Singapore. It was this strategy that shot Singapore up to the position of the world’s first nationwide broadband infrastructure nation in the e-world.

Infocomm 2001
The next step Singapore took, after attaining a nationwide broadband infrastructure, was to launch what was dubbed Infocomm 2001. This project was launched in year 2000 and aimed at developing Singapore into a vibrant and dynamic global information communication capital, with a thriving and prosperous e-Economy, and a pervasive and “Infocomm-savvy” e-Society and full telecom liberalisation in that country.

Connected Singapore
In 2003, Singapore government launched the final onslaughts on its e-government programme by establishing what was simply known as Connected Singapore. This strategy was to unleash the potential for the total realisation of all e-government possibilities through the Infocomm project of the country.

Briefly, the preceding steps known in Singapore as the five (5) National Strategic ICT Plans give us an overview of the method Singapore adopted to become the 2nd e-Nation in the e-World today behind Canada. The Singapore government has a philosophy that: “Whatever services that can be delivered electronically must be delivered electronically” Period. More details and practical examples are in the next article. Stayed tuned!