What Is The Number To Call? Reflection On Recent Happenings In Ghana

After reading news articles recently published in Ghanaian media about armed-robbery cases in Tema and the attack of Glory Oil Filling Station in Sunyani, a rhetorical question popped up in my mind and I felt obliged to give vent to my opinions about the spate of lethal violence recently rocking Ghana. The question is: “What is the number to call?” Indeed the Municipal Police Commander of Sunyani C.S. Yohonu was right in advising the public on July 15, 2007 to co-operate with the police in the fight against armed-robbery by swiftly informing them either by phone or rushing to the police station, but my question is: “What will be the number by which the public can reach the police station?” How many Ghanaians wielding cellular phones have committed into memory or the memory chips of their cellular phones or even written in their dairies such emergency numbers as those of the police or the fire service? Commendable though that publishers of recent dairies included such numbers in their products yet they are still not available to many a literate citizen.

It is indeed a plus for the economy that cellular phones have become “household toys,” thanks to the involvement of private companies in the provision of telecommunication services, but the benefits to be derived may be minimal if it is not followed with an intensive effort to educate the public on the contributions of such services to the creation of a stable society. My understanding of the circumstances leading to the murder of prominent Ghanaians in recent times is that the perpetrators could be arrested if timely alerts were given to the police by the witnessing public. Giving all cynicism surrounding services of the security agencies and the insensitivity of the Ghanaian society, I believe there still remains some patriots who would damn all consequences and call the police if they were informed of which numbers to use in such emergencies. I stand for correction though, if things have so changed these few years I left the country to let me sound anachronistic.

In the US, 5-year-olds are taught how to call 911 for the police in time of emergency by their parents and teachers. Besides, these numbers are posted at public places like the library, post offices, and even nursing homes. But I must shamefully confess having a hard time calling the Sekondi Police Station when my car was involved in a motor accident near Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in 2005. Let me challenge all gainsayers to conduct polls on what fraction of the literate population knows the numbers to reach their various emergency points of contact. And I know such educational exercises could be graciously undertaken by the AM/FM stations mushrooming in all nooks and crannies of our society should the Police Force or the Center for Civic Education accept it as a duty to impress it upon the minds of the operators of such media outlets. If the 999 is reliable even in the regions, further education could be given explaining how it works.

Closely related to the problem of lethal violence is that of documentation of foreign nationals in the country. How can we keep track of immigrants if we cannot keep proper records of our own people? Emphasis on the relevance of record-keeping to the development of a nation dates further back beyond the C1st BC when Caesar Augustus decreed a census to be conducted in the Roman Empire at the birth of Jesus. But how undaunted would the task be in Ghana where members of a whole community may possess no official residential address but would rely on one postal address for all purposes of correspondence and identification.

Admittedly, it would call for a complete overhaul of the communication system for Ghana Telecom to adopt the use of residential addresses to locate people, which, may be too ambitious a project for the ministry of interior and communication to jointly undertake at present, but I think it is time a positive change was initiated by planning prospective suburbs of cities to conform with modern standards. Writing from abroad, I know my views risk being slighted as recommending an impractical foreign paradigm but a visit to neighboring countries like Liberia and Nigeria would confirm that one needs only the residential address to locate people’s homes. I think we can make a good start by asking assemblies to give names to streets, properly demarcate prospective streets, and mark recreational centers, etc on undeveloped land, and educate landlords to boldly display house numbers to make it easier for homes to be located in times of fire outbreaks, emergency situations, and other purposes.

The causes of our poorly constructed neighborhoods, in my opinion, include, but not limit to, the irresponsible culture some have adopted in building houses. People build with impunity in waterways and other pieces of land earmarked for streets and others so it takes courage for succeeding governments to evict the victims most of whom may have bought the property ignorant of the assigned future use. Although some may disagree with COHRE, the NGO pleading the cause of victims who by building on such lands put their investments on line and may commend the authorities like the Ga West Assembly for boldly taking measures aimed at saving the nation’s capital from perennial flooding, I am rather looking forward to a time such authorities would be courageous enough to prosecute higher-ups whose signatures authorize such constructions.

Gone are the days when people built without permit, and my layman’s understanding tells me that such legal documents always bear authorizing signatures. When will African leaders start holding intellectuals whose pens authorize these illegal constructions accountable? Reading about massive demolition exercises in even recently- built cities like Abuja, justice-minded people kept longing for a time the elitist society in Africa would cease taking advantage of the ignorant and the unfortunate ones in our communities. Is irresponsibility in a high office less criminal than armed robbery?

Isn’t the builder of an illegal property as equally guilty as the one who authorizes or condones the act? In a society where the majority unfortunately cannot read and write, and more than half of the literates aren’t highly trained, the elitist segment should take the blame for the nation’s underdevelopment not only because of the deliberate plunder of state coffers by some unscrupulous leaders but also because of failing to either educate, educate, and reeducate the masses or relentlessly pursue the cause of justice.

Here are a few suggestions to consider in regard to solving some of these problems:

1. Education on crime prevention should be prominent on the agenda of the department for civic education.

2. Phone companies could be encouraged to include toll free services. The idea of subsidized service may not go down well with profit-oriented companies unless they are compelled by a legal instrument.

3. FM stations may be given incentives by way of tax rebates and high rating based on either the quality or/and the quantum of civic educational programs aired.

Kwadwo Frimpong-Manso,
Riverside, California, July 17, 2007

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.