Hello folks,

I'm reacting to a story at myjoyonline and theway some of us are reacting to it.

We should try to desist from this culture of intolerance where we jump to criticise people, government and institutions anytime something is reported in the media.

I'm not holding brief for anyone at the Home and believe they are expected to do a good job at all time but we should also appreciate that it is not very easy bringing up children in this day and age. In their case, it is not the easiest of tasks trying to bring up children that are not your own. These children are growing by the day and it naturally becomes difficult to control children in their teen ages. We should remember, these children are living in an institution not with their own parents. We should just consider what goes on in boarding schools. I think we are being unfairly and unduly harsh on the Children's Home and its staff. Like any government institution, they may be under paid and under resourced.

If problems have been reported, let's debate and discuss and try to offer and find solutions to make things better for the Children rather than just insulting and criticising.

I would appreciate if the journalists would investigate and find out how these poor staff are struggling to maintain the Home and get the government and Ghanaian society, at large, to be a bit more responsive to the plight of these poor children.

God bless our homeland Ghana!

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Below is a link to the story at Myjoyonline and the reaction of some of our people:

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It is becoming characteristic of us as a people to condemn (insult) or defend (with insults) public officials depending on which side of the political divide we happen to belong to. Also whether we are going to insult (condemn) or defend (with insults) will depend on which side of the divide we happen to be at any point in time. If the party we support is in power everything they do or say is defensible and those on the other side never see anything right about whatever the gov't does or says. However, if power changes hands those who are now in government (who were before in opposition)find excuses for the same things they were condemning when they were in opposition, and those now in opposition (who used to be in gov't) suddenly begin to realise everything is wrong with all the things they were defending when in power.<br><br>

Why is it that every move of the President is met with insults. We are gradually becoming a people who probably don't know what they want.<br><br>

When the gov't does not do anything, it gets insulted, and when it tries to do something it gets insulted. I don't think there is anything wrong in this project (upgrading the roads in the Central Business District in Accra). Anyone who loves Ghana would want to have a capital with good and well-engineered roads. The condition of these major roads in Accra is nothing to write home about. The current state of affairs lead to unnecesary congestions and its a poor reflection of our capital. We should therefore be grateful to have a government who wants to deal with the bull by taking it by its horn. We all know how difficult it is to demolish existing structures in order to carry out some of these road expansions that have long term benefits to our dear nation. It needs an awful lot of courage and political tact.<br><br>

We have to learn to be critically analytical of some of these proposals and stop being merely insulting. Often our stupidity is reflected in the way we contribute. When a President proposes to undertake a project why don't we analyse the issues involved instead of seeming to do a contest to find who will come out with the worst insults of the President and the tribe he belongs to. What at all has being Asante got to do with all this. Please!<br><br>

Let's just grow up. Our brains can do better than this, and let's use this "medium" JoyFM and other online platforms have provided to discuss how we can shape the future of our nation.<br><br>

Whatever our political affiliation or whichever part of Ghana we happen to come from or whatever tribe we happen to belong to, we should never forget that there is just one Ghana made up of different tribes. We cannot all belong to one tribe, but we all belong to one Ghana. Let's help to build and make Ghana stronger.

<br><br><em>Note:</em><a href="http://www.myjoyonline.com/ghananews.asp?p=21&a=30562" target="_blank">Accra central business district roads to be upgraded </a>

REACTING TO INSULTING COMMENTS ABOUT AFRICA ON BBC WEBSITE

Those who don't have respect for comments from Africans are themselves naive and ignorant about the real issues. Do they have any idea how long we have been free from under the inhuman rule of colonialism? Ghana, the first black African country to obtain independence is yet to celebrate its 50th anniversary. How do you expect people who were not in control of their lives to suddenly be able to do all the right things?

The population was about 100% illiterate and the few fortunate ones would be considered semi- illiterate by today’s standards. I am not by any way making excuses for bad governance, poverty and corruption but those arrogant whites who think Africans are stupid should know that bad governance started from when they were ruling us. How many hospitals, schools, factories, etc. did the whiteman leave behind when they handed over power unwillingly to us? May be, they built the roads and the "stupid" African destroyed them after independence. Basic amenities like electricity and pipe-bourne water was virtually non-existent for the people of Africa, yet the colonial masters had everything they wanted in our homeland. They lived lives they would not dream of living in their own countries. They had maid- servants, house-boys, and all sorts of slavery related titles you can think of. I have lived in Europe for sometime and have never come across anyone using the term "garden boy". The whiteman does everything by himself otherwise he pays some company to do it, and yet in Africa they get all these services for next to nothing.

During the industrial revolution when they were "raping" and looting Africa and Asia of all their resources they forgot their basic economic lessons. One of the fundamental factors for siting industries is close to the raw material base; they forgot to build industries in Africa where they were "milking" the raw materials from.

In every European country, there is a vibrant and effective public transport system. What did we have in Africa when we had the ever-efficient and competent Europeans at the helm of our economies? In Ghana all the railway lines link a raw material source to the harbour where they were transported or shipped to Europe.

Talking about human rights, since when did the whiteman discover this term? In less than 50 years Africans did not even have the right to decide who should be their leaders and how their economies should be managed.

My question is, who has created the mess? Of course the harm has already been done and we (Africans) have to realise that it will not serve the interest of the whiteman for us to be on our feet. We've got to learn to do things for ourselves and stop behaving like if they don't come to our help we cannot survive.

Come to think of it, why is the west so much against Mugabe of Zimbabwe but seem to have a liking for the likes of Museveni of Uganda and Yahya Jameh of The Gambia? These three are all dictators and in my humble opinion, the last two are worse because they took power by the gun and bloodshed and are now living lives which they condemned and killed people for. The whiteman is against Mugabe because he refuses to dance to their tune and some have expressed the opinion for him to be dealt with just like Saddam Hussein of Iraq. I do not agree with Mugabe, in principle, but I fail to understand why they are so angry with the old man.

They have become rich and powerful by taking from us what we could have used to also be rich and powerful and now they are telling us; “if you are wise why don’t you get rich”. When the former armed robber has become rich, powerful, and famous and has no need to go about looting and killing for what belongs to others, he can be moral and start preaching about the evils of armed robbery. He can even afford to do charity work and adopt the poor man’s children and be seen by society as a good and virtuous member of his community. That is the current situation in terms of the relationship between Africa and Europe.

Long live Africa!

I grew up with friends from the North and to me they were my friends. I spent my teenage years in the boarding school with friends from all parts of Ghana, and to me they were my friends. Suddenly, I wake up from my childhood dreams to realise we are all different. Seriously, I wish I had never woken up from those dreams. It was so beautiful because we were all one people; all Ghanaians. I look forward to that day when this tribalistic nonsense will be totally removed from among us; is it just a wish? Well, I know it shall come to pass someday. I am an Ashanti married to a Ga with an Ewe blood in her. What tribe will my children belong to? My children who are only 4 and 2 understand both Twi and Ga. The 4-year old knows he is from Ghana and tells it to his friends and teachers. I hope not that this boy will grow up only to realise that mummy's tribe doesn't like and respect daddy's tribe or vice versa. One of the legacies we can leave our children is to kill this tribal "demon". It has not benefited any one. At the end of the day it has not stopped us from having girlfriends and boyfriends as well as husbands and wives from other tribes.

We even bring tribalism into our politics. It does not help anyone if we continue to hang on to traditions that divide us as a people. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with Kuffour, Rawlings or any president who will be bold enough to choose all his cabinet from his own family if (and only if) those guys can deliver. What is happening in Ghana is that our leaders are so mindful of these tribal underpinnings such that they worry too much before they make any major decisions; will it please the Gas, the Frafras, the Ewes, the Kusasis, the Ashantis, the Kwahus, etc. Sometimes I hear people say the government has not chosen any one from the North or the South. Go to the North and even where someone has been chosen you still find people complaining they are not from their district, town, tribe, etc. Oh my God! We are so difficult to please. If we can kill this tribal demon and just see that we are all one people, we would have solved one of our biggest problems and we probably would do a lot better as a nation. Can't we see that tribalism is but dying? It certainly has no future in Ghana. Look around you and see the amount of people you know who have married from different tribes other than their own. My brothers and sisters, Ghana has a future and we must all see it as our own. My two little sons know they are from Ghana. It will be sad for them to grow up and realise that mummy's tribe doesn't respect daddy's tribe and vice versa. If that happens where would be their position? Because they are mixed.

Ghana first!

The problem I have with the NPP government is that, these problems that existed in the era of P/NDC are still hanging around our necks, and yet they found it necessary to discuss and pass ROPAL Every one knows these problems but permit me to mention a few:

1. Customs – when you want to clear your goods; unless you are connected to the government, you will definitely pay above the amount you are supposed to pay otherwise you get frustrated big time. The politicians know about this;
2. the Police – when you have to write a report, you are asked to pay for the sheet of paper to write the report on; when you are apprehended for a driving offence they can even negotiate the bribe at the police station in the presence of other police officers;
3. DVLA – you need to part with extra money if you want to register your vehicle. Valid Ghanaian International Driving Licences are issued based upon your ability to pay. It doesn’t matter whether you have pushed a wheelbarrow before. I thought International Driver’s Licences are supposed to be issued to those who already have valid Ghanaian Driver’s Licences. Road safety certificates are issued and renewed without the officials seeing the cars. The list goes on;
4. Registry of births and Deaths – any one can get a Ghanaian birth certificate without a hassle. They operate a hassle free system; once you are willing to part with money, no worries; they will sort you out
5. Land Title Registry – I have been wondering why they get away with it. Every building is issued a permit, yet you find people building on unauthorised sites everyday; they make us fight among ourselves and some go to the extent of taking the law into their own hands by bulldozing whole buildings where there is dispute. This is what has resulted in a trade referred to as “land guards”. Some have lost their lives due to land disputes.
6. Almighty passport office – these guys can sort out the birth certificate issue for you for an extra charge in case you don’t have one. They can issue passports within a day, especially if you are from “abrokyire” and need an express service.

I can go on and on but these are a few of the problems that Ghanaians have been living with. No one knows when they started but they have been with us for sometime now and we all know they are part of the system

Now with the passport issue, if the Director of passports or the government pretends not to know about it until the Crusading Guide story then they are taking us for granted. This does not need any investigation. It is a known fact that people pay bribes to get genuine passports.

I will not disagree with Okyere Bonna (GLU) for saying that our politicians are probably benefiting from this otherwise I find it strange that nothing has been done about this issue up until now. I personally have met other West African nationals who live abroad on Ghanaian passports. The problem is not only at the passport office. It starts from the registry of births and deaths where birth certificates are issued; remember one needs a birth cert to apply for a passport. The officials give you a piece of paper and a pen and ask you to write your name, mother's name, father's name, father's occupation, place of birth, and date of birth. They even give you free advice to write “Accra” for place of birth in case you were not born in Accra because to do the right thing would take longer. After that they ask you whether you want it express, and you pay according to how quick you want the application processed. They don't check your identity or do not ask for any proof to verify who you say you are; all they are interested in is the money.

This is the reason why people have multiple passports. When you lose your passport and you haven't traveled before, all you do is to apply for a new one. Or if you don’t like your passport for any reason (may be the picture), you just apply for a fresh birth cert and then a brand new passport afterwards. You can even apply with the same details as before but there is no mechanism at the passport office to check that.

Finding a solution to this should not be at the passport office. The Director of Passport was talking about awarding “a multi- million Pound Sterling contract to Buck Press Limited, a Ghanaian printing company in 2004 to start the printing of the new computerized, ICT Passports in 2005” (Myjoyonline, April 27, 2006). Somebody tell me, what does “computerized, ICT passports” mean?J

This is an example of how we throw good money away. If that system is not integrated with the issue of birth certificates it would just be a mere printing machine. Why can’t we implement a system to ensure that birth certs are issued once, and once only, and if there should be any genuine reason to issue another it would be a copy with the same serial number?

I hope by the time this matter is put to rest, the government would open a national debate for the issues involved to be discussed thoroughly in order to come up with a comprehensive solution. If we are still having these fundamental problems then in my humble opinion the time spent discussing ROPAB/ ROPAL and any monies that have gone into it has been wasted. ROPAL is not a priority (bear with me if you don’t share the same opinion.