Gov`t and citizens` attitudes towards poverty alleviation

By Helena Selby


Poverty has always being the plight of many people in the world. In Ghana, many people face poverty such that getting even three square meals a day is a problem. Homelessness and hunger are always the order of the day. In Ghana the effect of poverty has compelled people in the rural to move to the cities, and those in the cities to move to the western world, all in the name of searching for greener pastures. If only poverty will be reduced, and state resources properly utilised, with the people and the government being dedicated, then poverty can in way be reduced. It is about time the theory of poverty eradication was put into real practice as people are gradually perishing.

Poverty in Ghana

At a seminar for poverty reduction in Accra, it was noted that by the last count, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) estimated that some 28.5% of compatriots, representing 6 million Ghanaians were living in poverty. In the rural areas, four out of every ten Ghanaians are living in poverty. In the Northern part of the country, about 60% of the inhabitants are considered as being poor by the estimate of the GSS. According to the GSS, 18% of the Ghanaian population is considered to be extremely poor.

An individual is classified as extremely poor if his standard of living is insufficient to meet the basic needs, and if he devotes the entire consumption budget to food. The incidence of extreme poverty declined from about 36% in 1991/92, to a little below 27% in 1998/99, and further in 2005/06.

According to the GSS, the incidence of poverty is highest in the rural savannah, where 60% of the people were poor in 2005/06. This level of incidence was an improvement on the rate of 70% in 1998/99. The portion of the country’s rural population living below the poverty line on the other hand, increased slightly from 82% in 1998/99 to 85% in 2005/06.

Poverty and unemployment

Unemployment in Ghana has always been a very big problem which many governments have found it difficult to conquer. A lot of people in Ghana find it difficult to find a job, or even to get capital to be self-employed. For those who find jobs, the per capita income, which is very, low is not able to satisfy the individual, let alone his entire family. The economy of Ghana has turned in such a way that the prices of items and commodities increase every now and then. However, the painful aspect is that while these items increase in prices, the wages and salaries of workers are not increased at all, or by just a tiny margin. This makes people spend either their entire income on basic needs, or with the little amount left, find it difficult to cater for themselves and their families, in terms of other needs.

If only the government and private employers will make it a point to increase the wages and salaries of workers as prices of items and commodities increase, then people’s standard of living will not be reduced. For those who are self-employed, the frequent increase in items and commodities most times, makes them to work at a loss.

In one way or the other, the poverty level of a country can as well be determined by the educational level of the people. The more the people are educated, the more they will be legible to fill certain job positions. However, in Ghana, the uneducated always seem to outnumber the educated.

According to the latest Ghana Living Standards report, the GSS estimates that about 31% of all adults in Ghana have never been to school, less than one-fifth (17.1%) attended school but did not obtain any qualification; 39% have only MSLC/ BECE/VOC certificates as their highest qualification. Looking at the percentage of adults who are uneducated, apart from him being self-employed, it would be very difficult for him or her to get a job, and even if he does get a good job, his or her salary will be extremely unable to support himself or his family. As every one thing leads to another, the low income of this employee will not be enough to take his children to school, hence they also being uneducated, resulting in the vicious cycle of poverty

Poverty can be reduced to a greater extent if jobs are created for the people. As poverty in a way blames itself on the people not being educated, it as well blames the economy for not being able to provide jobs for the educated. It is evident that jobs do not exist, however it is sad to note that the little vacancy available, is never given to people not only with the qualification, but with experience as well.

In Ghana, many workplaces seek to work with the experienced, making new graduates find it very difficult securing jobs after school, all in the name of lack of experience. According to the Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Mr. Kofi Asamoah, the only way to end poverty, is to place people in employment that pays decent wages and gives them the opportunity to be part of generating and sharing the benefits of economic growth. If that be the case, creating jobs should be the priority of the government, so as prevent the learned minds of these graduates from staying idle.

The way forward

The only way of reducing poverty, so far, has been through the creation of job opportunities, and increasing the per capita income of worker in the country. Recently, it was announced that President John Evans Atta Mills was on the verge of creating about 10,000 jobs for the people of Ghana. However, the already existing ones ought to make way for the youth to get employed, and if companies love to work with experienced personals, they can employ these youth under probation, or even train them to occupy certain positions in the company. For public companies those at their retirement age ought to go on retirement and make way for the youth to occupy the positions. Companies must make it a point to make good pension plans for their employees, so as to make them willing to leave for the youth to occupy their positions. If there is a good pension plan, it will prevent worker from falling into poverty upon retirement.

Women and poverty alleviation

It is apparent that the consequence of poverty affects all nations however, those greatly affected are women and children. In Africa, women, most of the times, are in charge of all domestic activities in the home. This compels them to go the extra mile to secure food for the table, especially when the husband is jobless. Single mothers also go through even the extra mile of taking care of the home, since they do not have a helping hand. The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) on realising this, is embarking on activities for women, which will go a long way in reducing poverty.

According to the Minister of the Ministry, Madam Akua Sena Dansua, women are the key resources to poverty alleviation. There is therefore the need to encourage gender equality and women empowerment. According to the Minister, if women are given financial knowledge, business will boom for them and reduce the rate of poverty in their various homes. She said, as part of the MOWAC’s plan to reduce poverty, it provided women in the rural areas with loans and capital to start their own business. Poverty being a contributor to child mortality in the country, the MOWAC has as well, through the Ministry of Health, set up certain activities which are helping to reduce the rate of child mortality in Ghana.

Conclusion

The government ought to act fast to help alleviate poverty in the country, even though it is impossible to meet the world’s target of eradicating poverty from the world by 2015, it can still put things in place to help reduce it, if not totally alleviated. The reduction of poverty can go along way in reducing all kind of social vices like armed robbery, mobile phone snatching, internet fraud, and drug trafficking by the youth. In is not only up to the government to alleviate poverty, but the people as the whole. It is about time people work with their whole heart, for there is the need for Ghanaians to eradicate the mentality that the government work can be done anyhow, since one will be paid at the end of the month.

Moreover the phrase “this work is not for my family, so I can’t kill myself for it,” needs to be eradicated from people’s minds. Many people tend to forget that their wages and salaries will be increased when there is an increase in productivity at the workplace, and as well have their incentives increased.

The prospects of a nation depends on the government and the people themselves, so there is the need to stop fighting, as the same people are the direct victims of poverty in the country.

GBC Soon to go Digital

By Helena Selby

The Director of Technical Programmes (DTP) of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Mr. Oscar Nchor, has noted that the migration of the analogue transmission to the digital transmission was a good decision, as it was a stepping stone to national television development

He noted that the shortcomings of the analogue, as susceptibility to noise, interference and reflections, inefficient use of radio spectrum, and unreliable performance in mobile reception conditions.

However the benefits of moving from the use of analogue are that it was resistant to noise and interference, uses compression techniques to allow more information to be transmitted, was more flexible, more efficient bandwidth utilisation, more channels, more programming, improved quality of service, clearer pictures, better quality sound, new media services, electronic programme guide, interactive services, high definition television (HDTV), has mobile reception, while individuals will not go through the stress of using too much electrical power, and moreover it bridges the digital divide

Explaining the difference between digital and analogue, he indicated that the digital sound and pictures are transmitted as bit stream, and reconverted by appropriate receivers, or set-top boxes, into sound or TV programs

Analogue broadcasting sound and pictures are transmitted as continuously varying electric signals, which after transmission, are reconverted to sound and pictures by television receivers.

Comparing the performances of the analogue and the digital, he noted that the analogue has inefficient use of radio spectrum, unreliable mobile reception, susceptibility to noise and interference, inefficient for editing, quality ranges from good, fair and bad.

However, digital has efficient spectrum, good mobile reception, resistant to noise and interference, efficient for editing and quality is between very good or no signal

Mr. Nchor mentioned that there was every reason for the country to go to digital, as the world was going digital. Moreover, by 2015, analogue terrestrial television would be completely replaced by digital globally.

Women Demand More Positions in Government

by: Helena Selby

The fight for the rights of women is not recent, but begun years ago. Society on realising the way women were always being under rated, brought about the fight for women to be heard, and allowed to partake in important decisions and proposals relevant for the development of society.

Even though the fight and plea of women to be heard in society has been going on for decades, the same society still underestimates their abilities and capabilities. Women all over the world, till date, have been fighting for their stand in society, and some have gone to the extent of gaining the position of presidents in their nations, but others keep on fighting, to no avail.

It didn’t just begin with the Beijing Conference in 1995, which brought about the slogan, “What a man can do, a woman can do, and even better,” but a conference held in Mexico. The first world conference on the status of women was convened in Mexico City to coincide with the 1975 International Women’s Year, observed to remind the international community that discrimination against women continues to be a persistent problem in much of the world. Even though these conferences have come and gone, women are still doubted about their ability and capabilities, due to one reason or the other.

Women in Ghana

The fight for women’s rights Ghana has never been a nine-day wonder, but a day to day activity. The aggressiveness of women gaining power compelled many political parties to make promises for women. One might not know the reason, but according to sources, these political parties made their promises due to way women outnumber men in the country. These political parties are of the notion that if these promises are made, the possibility of women voting for them was high. Irrespective of what society might think, what are women doing for themselves as women? The campaign for women’s rights might go on everyday, but the question is, what is the perception of women about fellow women? The saying that “women are their own enemies,” in one way or the other, seems to be a truism. The majority of women in Ghana and many parts of the world, whether educated or not, shun the fact that their fellow women lead them.

According to their reason, women are conceited when they are in power, are kind of too strict, never heed advice, and tend to be very disrespectful to society and their spouses as well, while some people also see a group as being unlucky when it is being led by a woman. According to Mrs. Gladys Akins, she once decided to buy an item from a nearby store, to her dismay the shopkeeper refused to sell the item to her with the explanation that she is a woman.

According to the reason of the storekeeper, it is bad luck, if a woman is the first to buy from a shop early in the morning, and that she could only sell to her if she waited for a man to come and buy first, or she goes somewhere else. Looking at the scenario of Mrs. Akins and the storekeeper, what is the possibility that a woman will be voted into power during election time? Many political parties have the desire to allow a woman to stand for them in certain constituencies, but fear that they will not be voted for by their fellow women.

Women in the fight for their rights

Irrespective of what some women do to underrate their fellow women, others have thought of the need to allow women’s voices to be heard in society, and continue to fight for their rights. There are a lot of organisations fighting today for women’s rights, but so far ABANTU for Development, through the Women’s Manifesto Coalition and Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) Ghana, are the two major women’s rights organisations.

They have been championing the cause for Affirmative Action Policy for Women’s Participation in Ghana. In April 2008, WiLDAF Ghana, ABANTU for Development, with sponsorship from Canadian Crossroads International (CCI), organised a roundtable discussion on the “Affirmative Action Now” Campaign. The objective of this discussion was to enable participants ascertain the status of the Ghana government’s commitment to the implementation of Ghana’s affirmative action and development of an affirmative action policy.

This was to enable participants discuss action plans and engage the government towards an affirmative action policy in all sectors, particularly political decision-making. In February 3, 2009, a courtesy call on President John Evans Atta Mills, among other demands, was for the Affirmative Action Policy. These organisations had always thought that with the promise of the present government in power, their dreams of being represented greatly will be fulfilled, as they were promised 40% women representation in government. However, this dream has been a mirage, as the promise of this present government was not really backed by any documentation, but just a saying.

Women in government in Ghana

During the 2008 presidential elections, all the presidential candidates promised to give women a chance to have their portion of percentage in government. The elected president, his Excellency John Evans Atta Mills, promised the women of Ghana of a 40% representation in his government. However, this promise of the President has not come to pass, as women are still being underestimated, when it comes to power in government. According to a research by WILDAF, after five months in power, though appointments for the various government positions have been done, the promise of 40% representation of women in governance has not come to pass. So far, the Government Economic Advisory Council has a total membership of 10, which is composed of only men. Does this mean that there are no woman economists in Ghana? The Council of State, with a total membership of 25, has 22 men and only three women. The total number of ambassadors is 32, with 25 men, and seven women. Cabinet Ministers total 19, with 15 as men and four women. Regional ministers are a total of 10, with 9 as men, and only one woman.

Proposed way of representing women in government

Many a time, there are complaints that women are not very interested in the politics and government appointments, so enough women are not gotten to take certain positions. In view of this, there has been a proposal as to how women will be trained to take an interest in governance. According to Madam Beatrix Allah Mensah, a member of WILDAF, there is the need to revise and implement existing affirmative action measures, including 40% representation of women in public appointive positions. It is as well very important to strengthen the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and its agencies with technical, financial and logistical support, and adopt and implement Gender Budgeting.

Gender-specific provisions need to be incorporated in development strategies with monitorable indicators. Moreover, the government needs to designate special funds from public or state funds, to support programs to increase women’s representation. Women are to be helped to adequately lobby for public positions, by supporting the development of a core training manual on women’s leadership, commitment to the implementation of political parties commitment to increase women’s presence in politics, re-organize women’s wings to be more integrated into the party structure and adequately resource the women’s wing financially and logistically.

Additionally, commit to selecting women to contest a selected number of their safe seats, and support to the development of a training manual for women leadership.

Conclusion

The cry of women is to just to have some kind of say in government, and be given a voice to speak for themselves, and to some extent, for the nation as a whole. It will be a good thing if the present government gives women a chance to prove themselves, by giving them 40% in government. It will be a sign of good governance and democratic rule, if the government in power will give women that chance.

Adjei-Kojo Suncity Community plead with gov`t…to prevent TDC demolition exercise

By Helena Selby

Some residents of the Adjei-Kojo Suncity community are pleading with the government to come to their aid and prevent the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) from demolishing their various houses.

According them, they were victims of circumstance, and had no idea that the land had been taken over by the government, and that it was meant for the TDC.

The residences claim that the land was originally sold to them by the Santoe Chief and elders, and that the only document they had concerning the land was the indenture that was provided to them when they bought the land.

According to the residents, the houses were built with their entire lives sweat, and with others their retirement/pensions benefits.

They have therefore come out with the suggestion that if there were any penalties to be paid they would gladly do so, so that they could keep their homes, instead of the intended demolition exercise which would render them homeless.

According to Rev. Mannford, Principal of the Redeemed International School Ajdei Kojo Suncity, three years ago his school was marked for demolition, but he later on went to the TDC to obtain a permit, and so does not understand why the TDC should still insist on demolishing building after three years.

According to him, if the land is meant to be given to a private estate developer, what would be the fate of the residents, as they would not receive any compensation?

To him, it would be very unfair of the TDC and the government, if they make the citizens of the country homeless, all in the name of a foreign private estate developer.

Moreover, as far as they were aware, there was no way any civil service worker would be able to buy or even rent a house from a private estate developer.

He said that if the government has not been able to rescue the homeless on the streets, it would be very insensitive of it to create more homeless people.

He mentioned that demolishing buildings and giving the land to a foreign private estate developer, would not only cause people to be homeless, but also create unemployment, which the government has never been able to solve.

He noted that apart from all the consequences of demolishing houses, the possibility of the incident leading to violence is there.

To Mr. Alfred Doe, who is also a resident, he does not understand why the TDC considers buildings in the community as just a handful and not decent enough.

According to him, the TDC was using this description in order to get approval quickly from the government.

He mentioned that there were many decent houses in the community, including bungalows, storey buildings, guest houses, a police station, and even schools.

He said with the presence of these houses in the community, the TDC could make the community an estate, by demarcating and planning the land to suit the situation of the already well-built houses, and as well provide social amenities.

He stressed that the people, as well, want to make the community look like an estate, and as a result have been able to bring electricity to the community, and as well contributed some seed money for the grading of the roads.

According to him, he sees the residents of the community as good citizens, and that all they a need from the TDC and the government, was to make their dream of turning the community into an estate, a reality, rather than just demolishing and destroying all that they had toiled for, these long years.

According to Mr. Joe Abbey, Managing Director of the TDC, the proposed place for demolition was bought by the government of the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, with the chiefs being compensated, for the purpose of turning it into an estate - that is Communities 23 and 24. The chiefs in this case do not have any legal right over any land there, and cannot sell them.

According to him, since the habitants over there did not seek permission from the TDC, but relied on an indenture given to them by the chiefs, it makes their houses liable to the demolition exercise.He noted that the only way some houses would be spared from the exercise, is through regularisation.

This, he said, would be possible if the house falls within the demarcation lines and plan of the TDC, but with houses which don't fall within it, they will be demolished.

However, for those who have a permit, and still eligible for demolition, they would be compensated by the TDC.

He blamed the inhabitants for not making the right enquiries from the TDC before purchasing the land, and building there.

The Police Service and the gradual fall in esteem

By Helena Selby

A country will definitely have no law breakers when it has no existing laws governing it. The differences in the nature of people and the presence of social vices in society have compelled leaders to set up laws to prevent people from stepping on other people's toes. Though everyone is capable of taking care of his or her own self, there are people purposely trained professionally to be extra vigilant about what happens in and around society. Despite the fact that they are in categories, namely the Military and the Police, they have different responsibilities.

The Police Service is for keeping the peace and upholding the law in society. The nature and the reason behind the police force makes the public trust them for their safety, especially when they are present at a particular time and place. However the trust the society has for them is gradually decliing, as the police is in a way tarnishing its reputation.

The police service, which has the responsibility of prevent risk or threat to the peace of the citizens, sometimes rather pose a great threat to them. Some bad nuts in the police service, instead of arresting and preventing an offense or crime from taking place, rather commit or join/assist others in committing crimes.

The community and the police
The Ghanaian society always makes it a point to give respect to the police, but not to the maximum. People are scared of the police in cases such as murder, rape robbery and other crimes, however, they give the police no respect when they are misbehaving in public. People do not care about the presence of the police when there is a misunderstanding that could lead to a fight, people fight right in front of a police station or before a policeman. According to Ibrahim Mutala, a truck pusher at Ashaiman, he once witnessed two of his friends fighting right in front of a policeman, when the policeman was informed, all he said, was that they should kill themselves, since they knew what is right from wrong.

The majority of people, looking at the how the police becoming less vigilant, commit any offense they like, as far it is not considered a serious felony.

Some bad attitudes of the police
Apart from the May 9th stadium disaster, which responsibility was put squarely on the police, was one fatal incident that discredited the service greatly. According to one Madam Teresa Osei, a trader in Ashaiman, her handbag was snatched right in front a policeman, she, thinking the policeman would do her a favour by running after the thief, realised that was way out of the question.

When she begged him to get the bag for her, he told her he had closed for the day. If one may ask, does the duty of the police to protect the citizen cease when their official working hours are over? A policeman will fail to recognise a faulty vehicle simply because he or she needs just a cedi.

It is very pitiful that the police service, which is supposed to be one of the respectable professions, off late, has become a profession of ridicule. Even drivers take the opportunity or their weakness for money to ridicule them.

According to one driver, Ishmael Yakubu, policemen are the least people he is afraid of on the street. He said, whenever he is wrong on the road and is asked to pull over, he puts GH¢1 in his license, gives it to them, and immediately he is set free. At certain points also when they find no fault on the vehicle, they beg for money, and drivers have no choice than to give in to them.

In the early part of this year, one Tuesday morning Joy FM, an Accra-based radio station, reported news about the Ashaiman police shooting at a crowd with live ammunition, killing two people on the spot and injuring 10.

The trouble started when some irate drivers were said to have stormed the Ashaiman Police Station to demand the release of their colleagues, who had been arrested the previous day and were being kept at the station. The drivers blocked access roads in the town as they converged on the police station. The police panicked and shot into the crowd, resulting in loss of two lives. Afterwards, a police officer defended the shooting on the grounds of self-defense, and explained that the police only had live ammunition for crowd control.

This is amazing and frightening, and must thus call into question what exactly is the content of police training in the area of crowd control. This is important, because almost every crowd trouble has resulted in serious incidents, involving fatal shots by the police.

Though the police knew that with Ashaiman being such dense urban environment, it was inappropriate to shoot into the crowd, they went ahead and did it. Does this mean there is no right equipment, in this case rubber ammo, water cannons, etc. for crowd control? If live ammunition must be used, is there no procedure for frightening the crowd, such as shooting into the air? The death of the young boy indicates that surely the police was shooting at eye-level, which was not good enough on the part of the people who need to render protection to the public.

Imagine a policeman shooting in the open during a chase to arrest a thief, ending up killing a young lady, as if there was no shooting practices or procedures during their recruit.

Duties of the police
It is assumed by the public that the police are taught very well how to go about their duties and to professionally protect the public, however, the police seem to forget their duty as peace makers. Since the police hold the responsibility of anchoring the internal security of the state to keep the peace, the Cheshire Police Website pointed out that, “Then there is the need for the police to uphold the law fairly and firmly to prevent crime. They have to pursue and bring to justice those who break the law, to protect, help and measure the community, and to be seen to do all this with integrity, common and sound judgment.

“The police must be compassionate, courteous and patient, act without fear, favour or prejudice to the rights of others. They need to be professional, calm and restrained in the face of violence, apply only force which is necessary to accomplish their lawful duty, and strive to reduce the fear of the public.”

It is a good thing to know what the responsibilities of the police are, but the question is, do they act according to their responsibilities or act anyhow they want to? Do they even know their responsibilities as police personnel? It is very unfortunate that people who are responsible for safeguarding the law, most often turn round to break the law, and in the end become criminals themselves.

Not long ago, a policeman in Tamale was convicted for defiling two sisters. A Member of Parliament was allegedly suspected of dealing in illicit drugs outside the country. A bank manager was allegedly suspected of being an accomplice in a robbery case that occurred in the bank. All these are incidences of crime, but does it really matter who commits the crime?

Conclusion
The duty of police personnel is evident; it is about time the police take their profession seriously, and not complain about low salaries, as the result of their attitudes.

The swearing of the oath to work diligently is deemed important, since the lives of the citizens are in their hands. It is up to them to set a good example to attract people to join the force, rather than always allowing themselves to be ridiculed by the public.

The ability depends on them, but partially on the government, if the government gives them good incentives and attractive salaries, they will take pains to protect the people and work diligently.