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Opinions of Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Columnist: Boakye, Yaw

Ghanaian Engineers Must Wake Up

And Tackle Problems Of Road Side Hawking.

The percentage of unemployed school levers in Ghana is alarming. This is why, it is not surprising to see several Ghanaian youths risk their lives on our roads to sell anything from “Pure Water” to “electronic Gadgets” I must confess, it is not their fault to engage in such risky ventures. They must survive as human beings and the fact is, that enterprise is better than stealing.

A thing of beauty, they say is a joy forever, so as much I appreciate the positives of those roadside hawkers, their appearance to the eye could be nauseating. I is disheartening to still see people in the 21st century carrying loads on their heads and shoulders, aside the physical strains and stress they have to go through, it makes them inefficient and ineffective in their businesses and their physical abilities in the long term.

A few of these hawkers have innovated in their business by using wheel barrows – an effective load handling mechanism and how CRIDy would it be, if it’s front wheels were designed for two wheel.

As an engineer & physicist, I think, something can be done to develop a device to improve their efficiency as well as reduce the fatigue and other risk factors in this challenging enterprise.

An excellent implement I would propose is the airport CRID of trolleys. The Ghanaian government must encourage engineers to CRID improved versions of “airport trolleys” as a new device for hawking or moving small goods & services on our pavements. These practices however, must make our roads, stations and airports “trolley friendly” More Stations like the current Kumasi station must be constructed and maintained to ensure, the health and safety of everyone.

If we are able to perform some of such simple tasks, we would be boosting employment and making our roads sides and stations beautiful and better organised.

Yaw Boakye

Y_boakye@hotmail.co.uk